# 017. City Series ## 01. Volume 01 ### 001. Afterword Imagine a woman you haven’t seen in a while approaches you and says you need to get married because she’s pregnant. I think getting a phone call saying your novel just won first prize is a lot like that. Or at least, it was for me. I felt like I had bloody sweat pouring from my nose, my ears, and the top of my head. After all, something I had prepared quite a while ago had all of a sudden shown up and was telling me to think about my future. On top of that, it was entirely my own fault. Really, what are you supposed to do then? Also, my friends are way too persistent. One of them called me up out of the blue. “Ah! Kawakami? I saw it, I saw it, I saw it! I saw that embarrassing thing of yours!” “You use a cellphone, don’t you? How can you yell something like that out in public? Anyway, what did you see?” “Your name’s in a magazine.” “Eh? Really? (I should really check on these things.)” “Heh heh heh. Exposing yourself in a national magazine. What a naughty guy. Now I’m gonna go tell the others.” “Dammit, don’t go telling everyone without asking permission.” “Fine. So can I tell everyone? Okay, I asked. Time to go tell them.” Everyone learned about it in no time. You don’t realize how scary our computerized society is until you experience it yourself. But since this is happening, it’s happening. Just a bit ago, I read back through the book while listening to Mighty Wings from Top Gun because it was my background music while writing it. “Who was rewarded the most in this novel?” It made me wonder that. Now then, now then. London will be the next stage. September 1996. A clear morning. -Kawakami Minoru ### 002. Part 1 12/25/1920 It was 4:05 PM. The ultra-high altitude control center of Berlin’s air force base was a giant stepped space located thirty meters below the base. Due to being a control center and due to being underground, it was only lit by the tiny lights of gauges and electric devices. Hopeless words filled that darkness. “The ascent trajectory is veering off!” A giant electric display covered one wall and the symbol it displayed verified those words. It was a danger signal. This was entirely unexpected. They had all just finished breathing a sigh of relief after successfully launching history’s first manned spacecraft. The multistage spirit engine rocket carried Huber Talstrasse, Germany’s most famous adventurer, and the rocket had risen while leaving only scorch marks on the giant launch pad. The footage of the rocket slicing through the night sky had excited the technicians and they had even grown intoxicated on the joy, so they did not immediately understand what the displayed symbol meant. The next words they heard brought them to their senses. “It’s going to soar out into space!” The manned spacecraft named the Wilhelm 2 was only built to travel in satellite orbit. If it left the gravitational field, the pilot would die. The technicians looked worriedly at the electric display and rushed back to their posts. A heavy atmosphere hung over them as work resumed. Among their strained muttering, a single man remained silent. He was a short middle-aged man with a protruding gut and he wore an air force work jacket. His bearded face looked up at the display covering an entire wall. The danger signal had already vanished. Instead, several ballistic curves illuminated the control room with blue light. None of the long curves showed any sign of returning to the original course. They indicated the spaceship would never again return. “How are we supposed to explain this?” Hearing someone mutter that, the man looked over toward a large communication device in the center of the room. It resembled a giant desk and was installed with several gauges and displays. A young man in a lab coat held his head in front of the communication mic sticking out from the desk. He was likely the communications technician. He would eventually have to inform the spaceship of the situation. However, he did not have the courage to tell the pilot the truth, so he was simply holding his head. The middle-aged man shouted at the technician’s cowardice. “Hey, you!” Those words rang sharply through the noisy control room. A surprised silence soon filled the room. Ignoring all of the technicians focused on him, the man moved his short legs to reach the communicator. The young technician took a step back to give the older man control. That was the right decision. In response, the older man grabbed the neck of the mic and looked up at the young man. “Connect me to the ship.” “Y-yes, sir.” The young man frantically manipulated the communicator. The needles on all of the device’s gauges moved back and forth and light filled a few of the display boards. “Is it still not ready?” “You can communicate once the gauge in front of the mic reaches the far right side.” The needle was slow. “Can’t you speed it up?” The older man must have realized his irritated question was immature because he glanced over and gave a quiet apology. “Sorry.” He did not know if the younger man replied or not because he immediately turned back to the communicator. The gauge’s needle was approaching the right side. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the technicians looking at him. Someone spoke quietly. “Who is he?” Without looking up from the gauge, he shouted an answer to the somehow spiteful voice. “I am Paul Wagner, a design officer for the air force! I’m the meister that designed the Wilhelm 2!” After that, he inhaled as if gathering strength. And he exhaled. The breath took the form of a screaming shout. “The pilot Huber Talstrasse is a close friend of mine!” ### 003. Part 1 12/20/1935 It was night and the moon was hidden by the clouds. The wind was strong and it was more than just a winter wind. This wind was filled with the chill of high altitude. This was the deck of the Bladlikburg, an aerial aircraft carrier of the German air force. The metal deck was large enough for a track meet and several people stood on the front. The men all wore military uniforms and they formed a half circle. A tall soldier stood in the center of their formation. He appeared to be the commander and he was wrapped in a tougher and icier atmosphere than the surrounding soldiers. He stared straight forward to the edge of the deck inside the half-circle formation. Their prey stood there. That prey was a young man in a lab coat. His pure white clothing seemed to glow in the darkness. His long black hair was tied back and the bottom of his coat danced in the wind. The commander spoke to him. “Are you sure you will not hand over your information on the dp-XXX, Walter?” The voice rang loudly even in the sky and the young man named Walter brought a hand to his head and showed off a bitter smile. “I’m really not sure what to do here.” His far too cheerful voice also rang loudly. “You promised us we could hold an experimental space launch if we built a powerful engine, didn’t you? So how did things get like this exactly?” “That engine is too dangerous. That is all.” Walter’s bitter smile transformed into a laugh. “Ha ha ha. Now you’re just being silly, Oscar. Just say the military wants the tech for themselves. It’s not nice to lie.” “You are the one being silly. You do not honestly think you can reach space with that engine, do you?” “With just one, probably not. You’d need to put in at least three of them.” Oscar looked the other man in the eye when he heard that. “I saw the experiment. When two of those engines are used together, they interfere with each other and refuse to function!” “That’s because of all the fine-tuning we did to make sure the moonlight wouldn’t mess with them. But even one of them produces as much energy as five of the current engines. That’s why the military wants them, isn’t it?” In the thirties, the military…no, the entire world used spirit engines that used spirit stones. Spirit stones were a stone made from crystallized ether. Ether was the element that made up all things, including space itself. Long ago, people had believed in the four classical elements, but research in the late eighteenth century had revealed that there was only a single basic element. Spirit engines used spirit stones to draw out energy. Emblems that determined the arrangement of ether were carved into the engines. When ether flowed from the spirit stones, it would travel through the grooves which would determine its form. Ether that touched a fire emblem would become fire. But even though spirit engines could create fire, water, thunder, and wind, they also had a massive flaw. Spirit stones would resonate with the light of the moon and their output would be sent out of control. Enough machines had lost control during nights with strong moonlight that night activities had been banned during the previous great war. It was not known why they were so affected by moonlight. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, scholars had thrown in the towel and simply declared it a “law of nature”. Ever since, spirit engines were only used outside of the moonlight because no one had discovered a method of avoiding that mysterious law. The military had simply thought Walter’s group was creating a new design for that same type of engine. Oscar wrinkled his brow before speaking. “And who do you think will allow you to foolishly try to reach space?” “Don’t be stupid. You don’t need anyone’s permission to transcend the sky.” “Why are you so intent on defying us?” Walter uncrossed his arms and exaggeratedly placed a hand on his forehead. “Why, you ask?” “…” “Well, you see…” “…” “My burning spirit of justice won’t allow me to hand it over to the military. Ha ha ha.” The soldier standing next to Oscar looked up at his commander. “Can I fill him with lead?” “No, that is just the sort of man he is. Be patient.” Oscar took a step forward. “You are young and you are rushing things, Walter. If you leave the dp-XXX with the military, you will receive even more funding and all the technology you need to reach space. Why not wait until then?” “You really are dumb. If I have to hand it over to the military, I might as well patent it and sell it to America. I’d make enough money to live the rest of my life in luxury.” “America!?” shouted Oscar. “We need that engine for our nation!” Walter stared right back at the man. “Our nation, huh?” He was no longer smiling. He stuck his hands in his lab coat’s pockets, raised his shoulders a little, and looked up into Oscar’s eyes. “You really do say some ridiculous things.” ### 004. Part 1 12/21/1935 Berlin was a city of machines and stone. Anyone walking through its streets was bound to see something inorganic. However, even Berlin had areas of green. In southeast Berlin, a one kilometer forest stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of the modern city. The forest was primarily made up of conifer trees. It was December, so the forest of tall cedars was cold. The midday sun washed over that forest which hid a large pond. The forest was dark and somewhat misty, but sunlight filled a straight line through it. That line was a stone-paved road. It was a walking path, but not a single dried leaf sat on it. It was a private road. Two people rode horses down that road and four white breaths floated in the air. The person on the front horse was a tall girl who wore a skirt in the saddle. The person on the horse behind hers was an elderly man in a thick coat. A delicate and tense atmosphere surrounded the two of them. The man’s square face was pointed straight forward. He looked at the girl’s back where her short-cut blonde hair reached the collar of her thin coat. He spoke hesitantly toward that back. “Hey, Else. How has university been going lately? Are your studies going well?” She did not reply, but he continued regardless. “When I was your age, the war was drawing close, so there was quite a commotion everywhere. Back then, you couldn’t study even if you wanted to. And that is why-…” “That’s why you started making weapons and got rich, right?” The back in front of him finally spoke. The man briefly frowned at being interrupted, but… “But, Else, I now have plenty of leeway in life, so I can think about my daughter and her future.” “In other words, you want to shove me into the university and have me study until I cry.” “Else.” “What?” “Face people when you speak to them!” “Y’know, dad.” “Hm?” “I am not in a good mood. I have a terrible look in my eyes, so are you sure you want me looking at you?” Her tone was devoid of all emotion. The man subconsciously pulled on the reins to slow his horse a step. Once he noticed, he frantically spoke up. “B-but, Else, you are already twenty and you still haven’t found someone to marry.” “There you go again treating women like baby-making machines.” Else gave an exaggerated shrug while still holding the reins. “I just hate restrictions like that.” “Else, a girl should not say she hates things.” “I loathe them.” “That is not any better!” “Shut up. You always talk about studying and marriage. You didn’t have this house and all its land to begin with. You may have made a lot of money selling weapons, but why do I have to do those things for something like this?” “It is for your own good!” “Now that I don’t understand. I mean, I do like this forest and the pond over there, but I could always go to a normal park and-…” She stopped her horse and he followed suit. “What is it, Else?” She did not turn around. Instead, she looked up a little. “…?” He did the same and noticed a single trail of smoke rising from the forest. The white smoke stood out in the clear winter sky. “That’s a fire,” he muttered to himself. Suddenly, Else’s horse began to run straight toward the smoke. “Ah! Wait! Else!” He looked around, unsure whether to head back to the mansion to get word out about the fire or to pursue Else. As a father, he chose the latter. He was delayed, but he had his horse run after her. He could see her in the distance ahead and he noticed her pull a rod-like object from below her coat. Seeing that left him speechless. What initially looked like a rod was a black submachine gun. It was the newest model of the MP18, a masterwork used by both police and vigilantes. “She swiped one from the storeroom again!” His daughter was too far up ahead to hear his groaning words. Else sped up her horse while resting the five kilogram submachine gun on her shoulder with slight difficulty. The man pursued and the eight hooves raced across the stone-pavement. ### 005. Part 1 12/23/1935 It was the day before Weihnachtsabend. The flow of happy people could be seen even in the shopping district along Mehring Street which continued south from Mehringplatz, a famous plaza in Berlin. Many of them were preparing to take time off of work and celebrate Weihnachts with their families. It was a crowded area. A bicycle raced along the roads while avoiding those crowded areas. It was moving quite quickly. Walter wore his lab coat as he controlled the bicycle and Else stood on the back luggage area. They were on their way back from the national library in the University of Berlin. They had tried to check out an encyclopedia of ancient emblems, but the receptionist had said encyclopedias could not be checked out. Else had been forced to secretly throw the book out the window to Walter who waited outside. In other words, they had stolen it. Incidentally, Else had been the one to suggest it and Walter had agreed. The encyclopedia was necessary to fix the Kaiserburg’s malfunction. They had spent the entire previous day working out the cause. Simply put, the engine’s output was too high and the emergency shutoff had activated. If they continued running it like that, the engine would burn out and never work again. This malfunction was the result of giving the ship an unfinished and powerful engine, so they needed to carve in the proper output control emblem. Else had stuck with Walter and Paul for the day it took them to realize that and she had gotten to see the inside of the Kaiserburg and even its engines. The first surprise had been that the three cylindrical engines on the back and wings were sealed. That meant the ship flew without emitting any kind of jet. “To put it simply, it manipulates gravity to fly. Unlike the previous engine designs, it provides a massive amount of energy and doesn’t need to create fire or wind using simple emblems. It instead uses the gravity techniques of the powerful divine spell users in ancient times.” As he explained that, Walter had opened the engine’s outer paneling. Inside were the guts made of metal pipes and gauges. Else had seen something truly unexpected in the center. “A spirit stone!” The spirit stone had been large enough to wrap ones arms around and it had emitted a faint light in its place as a component. Spirit stones were normally used as fuel, not as a component. A fighter craft could fly for six hundred hours using a standard fingertip-sized spirit stone mined from a vein of spirit stones. The average yearly flight time for military fighter craft was only five hundred hours. What Else had seen was absurdly large and it had detailed emblems carved into its surface. “What is this?” “It’s a new type of engine that has developed beyond the standard spirit engine. We call it an emblem engine.” “Where did you find such a huge spirit stone? …It isn’t a fake, is it?” “Of course not. It was inside a crater in the southern mountains. On earth, a spirit stone’s field is discharged into the air, so we searched for a fresh stone that had come from outside. And since it was so big, we could carve emblems into it like a normal component.” Wood could be burned more efficiently if it was first turned to charcoal instead of being burned as is. Similarly, ether produced greater power as a crystallized spirit stone than when it simply floated through empty space. So what if an engine was created from that crystal? “The engine itself absorbs ether from the surrounding space to produce its great power. That’s why the Kaiserburg doesn’t include a spirit stone for fuel.” “You mean it can keep moving forever without refueling?” “That’s right.” He had readily affirmed that ridiculous idea. The ultra-high power aerial ship could fly indefinitely without refueling. Of course it had been a military secret. “Well? Surprised?” The young man had smiled as he asked that. That had been yesterday. ### 006. Part 1 It felt like her head had been knocked off. They had been flying without feeling any inertia, but all of a sudden, a blow came from above. The great tremor passed from her head and out through her feet. The blow was so strong that she thought the ship had broken in two. “Kyah!” As soon as she cried out, Else felt an impact toss her upwards. At the same time, a deep roar hit her in the gut and the cockpit filled with scarlet flames. … I’m going to die! She squeezed her eyes shut, but heard an oddly cheerful voice. “We did it, professor! It advanced to the next form! The second engine is up and running!” ### 007. Part 1 Oscar sighed when he saw the two who were brought to the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge. “You certainly caused us a lot of trouble, Professor Wagner and Walter.” Walter smiled at that. He faced Oscar without even glancing at the soldiers restraining him on either side. “More importantly, you should probably check what we’re carrying, Oscar.” “I am aware. I will not let my guard down twice.” Oscar nodded and the two soldiers on either side of the two men checked through their clothes. Their hands moved quickly and professionally. “Are they carrying anything?” “Only a license, a wallet, and a seal, commander.” “You’d better give those back afterwards,” warned Paul. Oscar frowned. “If you want them back, why not tell us what we want to know?” “That’s a pretty sad offer.” “I know you two. You have nothing else.” “You’ve got us there.” As soon as Paul smiled, the soldier searching Walter’s clothes let out a low scream and was knocked away. “!” Oscar reached for the handgun at his waist. “Walter, what did you do?” “…” The young man did not answer. He only stared down at the soldier who was groaning and holding his stomach. Oscar realized Walter was holding the chest of his lab coat. “What are you hiding?” Walter returned his gaze. “A memento from my mother.” He showed off what looked like a scrap of paper. … Is that a photograph? Oscar frowned again. “I would like to apologize for my soldier’s rudeness, but I can’t.” He turned to a nearby soldier who had nothing to do. “Carry the fallen soldier out.” “Sorry about that. I tend to lash out without thinking.” Walter gave a quick nod to the man being carried away and then turned back to Oscar. Paul crossed his arms and looked up at Oscar. He was acting like he owned the ship, so Oscar frowned and looked outside the window. A dark shadow obstructed the sun in the western sky. It was another Bladlikburg flying alongside the Eins. A sword-like form could be seen on the Zwei’s deck. It was the dp-XXX and it was strapped to the deck with thick wires. Both the ship and the metal wires shined in the evening sun. “…” “What is it, Oscar?” asked Paul. But Oscar did not look away from that ship filled with advanced technology. However, he did speak. “I will say the dp-XXX was shot down after engaging my unit in combat.” He turned around and brought his gaze to the two men. “You have not hidden any documents related to the dp-XXX, have you?” “We have.” “What?” “Just kidding.” “I am trying to be serious here.” “I don’t want to hear that from someone trying to look cool by staring into the setting sun.” “If you want anything out of us, you’ll have to force it out. You’re good at that, aren’t you?” The two of them held out their chests proudly. … These two… When Oscar spoke again, some weariness had entered his voice. “If that is what you want, that is what you will get.” “Wow. You sure give in easily. You’re probably easy to trick.” “Silence.” Oscar snapped his fingers. “Take these two to a guest room. A first-class one.” “Yes, sir.” After a sharp reply, the soldiers restraining the two of them grabbed their arms and walked out. Walter and Paul made no attempt to resist as they were almost dragged off of the bridge. Oscar sighed as he watched them leave. Paul must have heard because he stopped walking and looked over his shoulder. “Oscar.” “What?” “You must have it tough.” That was all the elderly engineer said before facing forward again. The back of his blue work outfit seemed to want to say something more as he began walking once more. The soldiers on either side of him briefly glanced back at Oscar. “…” But he remained silent. … Tough? “Whose fault do you think that is?” His quiet comment sounded a little exhausted. Behind him, red filled the setting sun. ### 008. Part 1 12/25/1935 It was 5:25 AM and the Kaiserburg filled a large factory. The large machine tools such as cranes and winches had only been used to remove the Lanze skewering one of the engines, so they were now pushed up against the wall. Thirty hours had already passed since the repairs had begun. The wound to the engine was deep, but it was on the way to a full recovery with the help of the ship’s own self-repair ability and the Breuer Company’s technicians. The Kaiserburg itself simply hovered as if none of that mattered. An old man stood next to it. He was Steinmetz. He looked up at the ship and heard the voices of the younger technicians repairing it on the inside. The ship was sealed, but the factory was so quiet he could still just barely hear them. He could tell they were excitedly discussing something. It seemed to be an argument over the mysteries and problems with the ship. A ship that could fly to space would have to be endlessly fascinating. “…” He had a sudden thought. … Space, huh? He loved airplanes and flying through the sky. His interest in that would never wane. That was why he remained in this abandoned factory. He had spent forty years with airplanes now. In that time, he had come to realize that this was exactly where he belonged. And there was something he needed to do now. The girl who had come to play here when she was young had grown up and was asking for his help. She had a single goal: flying this ship to space. “A lot of people would think it’s impossible.” But they could not let that discourage them. If this test succeeded, it would undoubtedly usher in a new age. Steinmetz stood at the source of that. Some people would race ahead to make this crazy idea a reality, but others had to support them. They both needed each other and all either of them could do was what they needed to do. Repairing the Kaiserburg was his only way of assisting their journey to space, but that was something only he could do. “…” Strength filled his gaze and his silently wandering eyes looked up at the ship. Suddenly, a face poked out from below it and short blonde hair dangled down. It belonged to Else who was working on the lower wiring. She looked to him, briefly pulled her head back in, and lowered her legs down. With her boots, work outfit, work gloves, and short hair, she did not at all look like the daughter of a wealthy family. In fact, she had oil stains all over her clothes and face. “I’ve replaced the lower wiring and non-emblem panels. How much longer on the exterior?” “If that’s all you’re doing, you should finish in another five or six hours.” “Geh. …I’ve still got that much to do?” “This ship is not like any we’ve worked on before. And the exterior is far from uniform, so it requires a lot of parts. …But I’ll help from here on. Together, we can cut the time in half.” “Thanks.” “You’ve been working since last night. Aren’t you tired?” She shook her head. “Not at all. I’m not sure how to put it, though.” She lightly turned back toward the Kaiserburg. “Maybe this is what it feels like for a carpenter to build his own house.” “His own house?” Steinmetz frowned. The Kaiserburg was an aircraft or an aerial ship. It essentially had no living areas. Even so, the young woman in a work outfit spread her arms as if to embrace the ship. “Don’t you think making your own place in the world is great?” She turned around and showed him her bright smile. The old man was taken aback by the term “place in the world”. For him, that term referred to airplanes. … I get it now. Oblivious to his thoughts, Else changed the subject. “Oh, right. What did you find out about the Lanze after removing it?” That lance of light had stabbed into the Kaiserburg. The odd weapon was a bullet made of ether yet it retained its form without naturally scattering into its surroundings. Steinmetz pulled a small piece of metal from his work outfit’s breast pocket. It was shaped exactly like the bullet portion of an 8mm round. “This is the true identity of that lance.” “Eh? That is?” He nodded. “Normally, large weapons like fighter craft will have a field emitter installed which fires the bullets. The bullets are made entirely out of ether, so they will dissolve into the raw ether floating in the air and eventually disappear.” “But this one had a core?” “Yes. As far as I can tell, the surface is covered in tiny emblems. You could probably fire this thing from that machinegun you carry around. The bullet is entirely supported from within using the emblems carved into it, so it’s just as powerful as a Schwert. …No, given its speed, it would be even more powerful.” “Let me see it.” He handed it to her and she stared at the bean-sized bullet. “I see. It’s made from a spirit stone.” “Yes. It works just like this ship’s engines. Any impact to the flat bottom end will trigger the emblems to gather ether in a lance shape. It’s a lot like a miniature version of…what was it called again? Oh, right. A Panzer Emblem.” “The military’s been working hard to make something like this.” She smiled bitterly and looked Steinmetz in the eye. “The soldiers have a tough time too.” “What?” “After a discussion, I promised to meet one of them up in the sky.” She toyed with the Lanze bullet in her fingers. “Can I borrow this?” “Hm? I don’t mind, but don’t use it for anything you shouldn’t.” “Sure. I was just thinking I could use it for something fun.” “I’m pretty sure that falls under the category of things you shouldn’t use it for.” ### 009. Part 1 At 2:51 PM, Oscar watched the sky from the Bladlikburg’s bridge. Mayer stood behind him to provide a report on the incident. However, Oscar did not turn around. He continued facing forward as he responded. “I never thought this would happen.” He heard Mayer move behind him. “It was a mistake to remain armed at all times.” He nodded at his aide’s comment and asked a question. “How is he?” “First aid is complete and he is being taken to the infirmary.” “How is his injury?” That was what he wanted to know. “Oh,” said Mayer before answering. “My apologies. The bullet penetrated his right forearm. The state of the bone is unknown, but I would guess it is broken. The shot was at close range and he has not trained his body.” “Most likely.” “It seems his life is not in danger, so you can rest easy on that count.” “Rest easy, hm?” He smiled bitterly. “I suppose so.” Ever since hearing the report, he had been worried about his enemy’s well-being. … Why is that? They both had something they had to do, even if those two things were polar opposites. He had to determine once and for all which one of them was right. Normally, it would be Oscar since he was thinking of his nation and its people. But what if one looked at it from the viewpoint of personal dreams? What if acting on those dreams could change the world, change what was normal, and even change people? … Which one of us is right? He suddenly realized something. … I am hoping that the dp-XXX comes here. He had planned to hide that ship until the time came and he still hoped to do so if possible. But the coming confrontation would determine the future course of the world. “Mayer.” He wanted to say “win”, but he swallowed the word. He did not know why. It was possible he too hoped that the dp-XXX would make it to space. However, he could not allow that. As a father and as a soldier, he had a family to protect and men under his command. He had to eliminate anything that would harm them. “…” He bit his lip. At that moment, he heard a roar. Countless sounds much like bursting gunpowder reached his ears. They came from outside, so he slightly lowered his gaze as he looked out the window. “!” The Bladlikburg Zwei floating in front of him was being struck by a series of Kugel. The Kugel had come from far below and more were coming. The enemy had suddenly attacked with their full strength. The repeating sounds of impact reverberated in his gut. “Enemy ship detected! A single unidentified ship is attacking!” The navigator’s voice filled the bridge just as the Zwei’s giant form burst into flames. … Here it is! There was no need to confirm who this was, so he gave a shout. “It is the dp-XXX! All hands, prepare for battle! Scramble all fighters with the highest danger level equipment! This is all-out war!” ### 010. Part 10 “…!” Else gasped. She had realized why Walter was so intent on going to space. A certain statement connected that young man to his father. … The curiosity to see what no one has ever seen before and the ambition to go farther than anyone ever has before. He had not sounded any more serious than usual, but he had said that was a favorite quote of his. She now knew his father had been the adventurer to put those words to practice. “…” Her heart skipped a beat. She had realized what Walter was trying to do. It may not have been a pretty thing and it may have been a raw thing, but it was an important truth to her. This young man had a father who was in the farthest place in the world and he wanted to go farther than anyone ever had. Else looked at Walter. She wanted to say something, but she could not form the words. She could not find the right words. Every expression she came up with sounded silly. But… … I’m the same. That thought appeared clear in her mind. … I’m the same. …I am! The words formed in her heart. … Going farther than anyone! Going farther than anything! going anywhere! That was her way of doing things. And she had a means of fulfilling that dream. She only had to aim for space. She had the curiosity to want to go, she had gained the resolve needed to keep fighting, and she believed in the possibility of actually getting there. Her pulse began to race and refused to slow down. Walter turned toward her. When he saw her expression, he briefly looked surprised, but then he gestured for Paul to cut the radio connection. Once Paul complied, Walter took a breath and smiled at Else. “Is something making you nervous, Else?” “…Yes.” There was a lot she wanted to say, but one thing in particular left her mouth. “Hey. We aren’t going to give up here, are we?” The two men exchanged a glance when they heard that. And they both gave meaningful smiles. They were clearly plotting something. ### 011. Part 10 Meanwhile, the three in the vertically-oriented Kaiserburg looked up at the scene. “Did we get him!?” shouted Paul. He saw a legendary spell activating before his eyes. The black Finster Kunst swallowed up all light. At full power, it covered a radius of about one hundred meters. They had aimed a bit high so it would not reach the people in the square, but the enemy fighter craft had still been completely enveloped by the vortex of destruction. It sounded like a giant had punched the earth. The German Cathedral’s dome was instantly blown away and torn apart. But it only lasted an instant. The spherical black barrier burst from within. The shattering of gravity sounded surprisingly like shattering glass. A spear of flames flew from within. The Flammen Lanze had almost entirely solidified and its strong directionality had broken through the wall of gravity. The three in the Kaiserburg knew what that giant spear was. “A Panzer Emblem!” Paul frantically had the ship ascend, but his disbelief slowed his reaction time. In an instant, they felt an impact much like being kicked from behind. The spear had caught the ship somewhere. As the ship ascended, its tail end rose up as if to move forward and the entire ship rotated in three dimensions. “Kyah!” The western sunset was visible out the window where the city had been. After a few clouds rotated into view, the city returned from above. They saw the spear of flames instantly burn away the building the Kaiserburg had been hiding behind. “Else! Where were we hit!?” “Um…w-w-w-w-w-wait! Hold us steady!” “Shut up. I’m trying.” The ship twisted around as if tossing or turning in its sleep and it began to fly upside down. The scenery outside appeared upside down to them. Else held her skirt down and checked the electric display in front of her. “The two upper field emitters and the rear skirt have changed color!” “Crap. So the weapons and directional wings were damaged. What color are they?” “They’re both yellow.” “Keh. They’ll be back to normal in fifteen minutes.” “Professor, is the Kaiserburg still not growing?” “It probably needs just a little more. To be honest, that attack got us pretty good.” “It’s too early to celebrate. We have to win this battle first.” “Not a chance. The field emitters are one thing, but what can we do without the skirt?” “We can’t fly straight, so we can’t use our full speed for the next fifteen minutes.” “Can we escape?” asked Else. Still upside-down, Walter turned toward her while smiling and holding his right arm in his left hand. “We can’t. And so we’ll fight.” “How?” He gave her an awfully good-natured smile before answering. “We’ll do something unexpected.” “Eh?” “Professor, move us behind some convenient cover. We’ll search for a place to turn this all around.” “Sure thing.” After Paul’s response, the ship flipped right-side up. The items that had fallen to the ceiling fell back to the floor and Else’s bag fell behind Walter. ### 012. Part 11 At 3:43 PM, Mayer clicked his tongue inside the Flammen Ritter. “Did I go too far?” He could only see fire beyond the canopy. The separate building that the German Cathedral used for storage was burning despite being made of stone. That was thanks to a strike from the Panzer Emblem. He felt a twinge of regret, but he settled that by telling himself it was unlikely anyone had been inside the building. He then moved the control column. The stone walls and roof began to crumble as they burned in the flames. The Flammen Ritter activated its vertical ascent rocket and almost seemed to plunge its head into sand. The effects of the ether were turning the stone ceiling to ash and the fighter craft flew into it. Mayer breathed in, but he was still not feeling well. The pain in his chest likely came from a broken rib, so he simply had to put up with it. He toyed with the field emitter’s firing button located on the back of the control column. Two lights appeared in the flames outside the canopy. They were Schwert. He swung up the swords and tore through the roof. He stepped on the pedal below his foot and the fighter almost seemed to jump up. The floating fighter blew away the burning stones and instantly entered the cold winter air. It rotated so the building’s roof and Friedrichstraße were below and the Gendarmenmarkt was visible ahead. The now dome-less German Cathedral, the Schauspielhaus, and the French Cathedral were visible as well. However, the many people who had been enjoying Weihnachts in the large square were nowhere to be seen. They had all run away. “…” Mayer was briefly dumbfounded, but strength reentered his gaze and he looked around again. He spotted the enemy. A ship reflected the reddening light of the sky. It was moving east toward the city hall past the green area along the Spree. … Are they trying to run? But he shook his head. His opponents here were not the type to do that. They had a plan and they were moving to a new battlefield. In that case, he had no choice but to pursue and continue fighting. Mayer moved the Flammen Ritter forward. His opponents were right in front of him. ### 013. Part 12 At 3:45 PM, the clock tower of Berlin’s city hall was visible outside the Kaiserburg’s window. For better or for worse, the red brick building stood out for a number of reasons. From their current viewpoint, the difference from the surrounding buildings was immediately obvious. Else looked out at the red tower. “That clock tower sure is tall.” “Let’s use it.” “Use it how?” “To finish this.” After Walter’s response, the communicator in front of Paul emitted the tone of an incoming transmission. At the same time, Mayer’s voice filled the cockpit. “Walter, can you hear me?” “Yes, I can.” “I want to settle this soon. How does that sound?” “Do you think you could wait until our ship heals its wounds?” “I already waited once.” Else nodded at that. This young man had indeed been waiting for this moment. “I will now shoot down your ship,” said Mayer. “Okay?” “Hmm. No, that doesn’t sound very okay.” “Try to take this seriously,” cut in Else. “I don’t mind,” replied Mayer. “I will not hold back and I think you know what will happen if you do.” “Oh, we won’t hold back.” Walter’s voice rang throughout the cockpit and Else saw his right hand grab the sphere on the armrest again. The only functioning field emitters were the two on the bottom of the ship, but with only two, he could control them without moving his hands between controls. “Let me be honest,” he said to his opponent. “Mayer. Right now, I see you as an incredibly familiar enemy.” And… “I defeat my enemies.” Else gulped and faced forward. Walter did not turn around in the copilot seat, but she saw his right hand tense up on the armrest. … He’s serious. She could not see his face, but she felt like she knew the look on it. It somehow scared her. At the very least, she would have been completely speechless were she in Mayer’s position. That was how much intensity filled the young man. What was his opponent thinking? “I’m glad to hear you say that, Walter.” “Glad?” “So glad it terrifies me.” “You’re scared?” “So much I can’t stop trembling.” “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m serious about this, after all.” “So am I.” Mayer and Walter’s exchange sent Else’s pulse racing. … This is it. The tension somehow resembled joy. Her heart pounded in her chest as she sensed some sign of what was to come. They would compete and it would lead to some definite result. What would that result be? She did not know and she could not tell, but that unseen answer would settle everything. In short, it came down to whether they could reach space, but it was not that simple an issue. Many other problems had been drawn into this battle. She suddenly realized she had crossed her arms as if embracing her chest. Something threatened to escape from there. The young man named Mayer was trying to fight. Paul and Walter were as well. … What about me? Her seat gave her no device for directly controlling a weapon. Even the communicator was under Walter’s control. She had no way to fight. … Am I just going to watch? She did not like the sound of that. After all, she was the same sort of person as them. Before she realized it, a word had left her mouth. “Walter.” The young man did not turn around. He did not seem to care that she had called his name. She spoke as if begging him. “I don’t want to be left out.” “I know that,” he snapped back. Her slight surprise left her speechless, so he ignored her and continued. “Mayer, to make up for our damage, we’re going to have Else here fight alongside us. Is that okay?” “Absolutely. I had already made a promise to that end.” “Then our victory is pretty much guaranteed.” With that announcement, Walter ended the transmission. The battle was about to resume. It would likely be settled in an instant. ### 014. Part 13 At 3:47 PM, Mayer saw the Kaiserburg slide to the side. It moved left. He sent the Flammen Ritter in the same direction and the clock tower of Berlin’s city hall finally came into view. The Kaiserburg moved behind it and did not come out on the other side. The dot on the radar at the front of the cockpit indicated the ship was hiding behind the clock tower. It was luring him in. Which side would it attack from? It would likely fire a guided Kugel first, but they could not see him either. They would be using their radar to blindly guide it based on the distance between them. He guessed they intended to target him once he frantically avoided the Kugel. Dodging it would mean his loss, so he had to cut it from the air. … Can I do it? The Flammen Ritter was less than thirty meters from the clock tower and cutting down a Kugel at that range would not be easy. … But I have to. He would cut down the Kugel and continue on for a close-range dogfight with the Kaiserburg. This opponent had no close-range ability, so he would win. Or at least take it down with him. He produced Schwert on the right and left. He regulated his breathing. It did not matter if his ribs hurt because the pain would numb his tension. The nauseous feeling from before had passed. His focus grew sharper and he entered top form for this sort of battle. “Good,” he muttered. At that very moment, the Kugel flew out. But there were two: one from the right and one from the left. The left one was white and the right black, so they were an Eisen Kugel and a normal Kugel respectively. However, he did not have time or a need to check on that. They were both dangerous. He swung up the Schwert and had a feeling it would work. That was when something changed. The two Kugel made sharp turns right in front of the Flammen Ritter. “What!?” Before he could finish his question, the white Kugel struck the red brick clock tower. With a quick hardening sound, the clock tower turned pure white. The brick had been transformed into ice. The black Kugel struck its base. It only took a moment for the tower of ice to collapse. It sounded like a waterfall. The massive tower of ice scattered smoke made up of what looked like silver sand and it collapsed toward the Flammen Ritter. It was like a wall. No wall could have worked better. But the Flammen Ritter could not move. Mayer could not move. The great noise and pressure filled him with panic and a single thought dominated his mind. Right or left? Which direction would the Kaiserburg come from? The enemy was trying to drive out the Flammen Ritter using the falling tower and he could not give them what they wanted. … Which is it? The angle of the tower’s collapse grew, but Mayer continued to think. He had to choose one or the other. If he did not move, he would be crushed by the ice. He could destroy it with his Panzer Emblem, but he would be wide open afterwards. … Do I have to make a gamble? But then he realized something. An all or nothing gamble was not a true competition. Being suicidal and being willing to risk your life were not the same thing. He could not allow himself to think that way. Then what do I do? “…!” An idea came to him. This idea was almost guaranteed to take him to Walter. He threw out all of his previous predictions. He could not use conventional thinking when fighting that ship. He had been asking “left or right”, but the answer was obvious. “Straight down the center!” He shouted out and fired a Lanze. The lance of light stabbed into the center of the ice tower. He raised his fighter’s power as far as it would go and shot forward. He flew straight toward the spot the Lanze had hit. … Go! He swung up his two Schwert. For an instant, he saw a second Kugel fly by on either side. … I was right. … They tried to panic me, but I was slower to respond than they expected. … That’s why they fired again just to be sure. The dp-XXX had not moved. He was certain of it now. They intended to shoot him head on while he avoided the ice tower and expected an attack from the left and right. … But I didn’t fall for it! He felt insulted and the feeling grew into a blazing anger inside him. He flew toward a white wall with a Lanze sticking into it. He slammed his Schwert into the area weakened by the Lanze and the belly of the ice tower tore open. At the same time, he sent the Flammen Ritter flying into it. He tore through. Everything around him was pale blue and white. A powerful shock ran through the fighter. The tower may have been collapsing, but it had great mass. This was much like accelerating and flying into a sand dune. Metal across the black fighter cried out in protest, but he did not care. He raised the fighter’s power even further and swung the Schwert. The swords of light sliced through the ice and the tips of the swords seemed to reach the other side. Trusting this was the end, he jabbed the two Schwert forward. He felt them plunge deep into something heavy, but the tips felt light. They had reached the open air. “Gooooo!” With a roar, he accelerated even more and the space before him opened up. He almost gasped at the expanse of open air before him. Just as he had expected, the dp-XXX was there. It was exactly where his radar said it would be. “You’re mine!” Even with a guided shot, the field emitter had to change direction before firing a Kugel. The dp-XXX had only just fired Kugel to the left and right, so it had not had time to turn the field emitters forward. This was why taking the initiative led to victory. He charged forward with the Schwert still held straight out. He could destroy a Kugel even if one was fired. As he drew closer, Mayer faced straight forward and knew he had won. At the same time, he noticed something odd. For some reason, someone stood on top of the dp-XXX. He recognized the person. It was the young woman named Else he had met at the Breuer house. She was the one Walter had said would be fighting alongside him. She was the one he had promised a confrontation with. She wielded a submachine gun atop the dp-XXX. … ? In that spilt second, doubt filled Mayer. A bullet fired by such a tiny machinegun could never sink the Flammen Ritter. Nevertheless, she pressed it against her shoulder and aimed his way. … What is going on? He then remembered what Walter had said over the radio. “Then our victory is pretty much guaranteed.” What had he meant? Thoughts raced through Mayer’s head until he felt dizzy, but he made a single prediction. “It can’t be!” In that instant, he thought he heard a sound: a gunshot. It was the light, fleeting, and yet lingering sound of a submachine gun firing just once. That shot settled everything. ### 015. Part 14 At 3:48 PM, Else pulled the trigger. She felt the recoil in her arm and pain in her shoulder. She saw the bullet transform into a Lanze as it flew. That Flammen Lanze continued straight on and into the approaching black fighter craft. The Schwert the fighter held forward shattered when the lance reached them and that impact moved the lance slightly off target. The shot had been mercilessly aimed at the nose, but it instead struck the right shoulder of the black fighter and split it in two. The two pieces of the enemy fighter roared as they flew below Else’s feet and below the Kaiserburg. It had been shot down. Else slowly lowered her submachine gun. A single shot had ended it all. Instead of a bullet, she had used the Lanze she had carried in her pocket as a good luck charm. A round of ammunition could be divided between the cartridge and the actual bullet, so swapping it out had been easy. Walter had said they could win in a close-range fight, Else had suggested using the Lanze, and Paul had done the prep work. She was the only one who could have fired it. “I did it.” Her legs were shaking and she did not have it in her to see what had become of the enemy fighter she had shot down. She simply collapsed into a sitting position. As the trembling in her legs spread to the rest of her body, she returned to the Kaiserburg’s cockpit. Once she was back, the entire ship was creaking as if groaning. It was making the final preparations for its ascent into space. ### 016. Part 16 At 3:51 PM, the Kaiserburg began its transformation into its third form. It completely remade its damaged and worn-down body. It strengthened itself so it could fight at close range, so it would have more stability, and so it would never be damaged again. The nose extended sharply forward. The rear skirt-shaped semicircular wing stretched even wider and covered the bottom as well. It now looked like a tube. The horn-shaped angular wings on either side stretched up and hid the top of the ship. The sword-like ship had dressed itself in a feminine form and this transformation stretched it out in a straight line. Some traces of the original form remained, but it had grown to be something else entirely. It could fly to space like this. Even as the Kaiserburg continued to grow here and there, it faced upwards. The Bladlikburg floated there. It almost seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then the Kaiserburg began to soar. ### 017. Part 17 At 3:52 PM, the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge had grown perfectly silent. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the window. A certain man stood there: Oscar. He was staring down toward Berlin. No one said anything. They were all waiting for his instructions as their commander. He had two options here: continue to fight or admit defeat. … We should fight. He knew it was hopeless, but they still had to fight. Otherwise, the military would have no reason to exist. The dp-XXX flew up from below. It was wrapped in ether in preparation to use its Panzer Emblem. Its new form’s Panzer Emblem could undoubtedly destroy the Bladlikburg fleet in a single strike. … What do I do? He thought. He could not stop the dp-XXX here. Death would visit them in an instant and the world would change. In the end, he and the military had been unable to do anything. … Is it hopeless? It was too soon for the arrival of the next age. He knew that for certain, but there was no longer any way to stop this flow of events. … What can I do? Perhaps standing in the Kaiserburg’s path and dying would be pointless, but it would have honor. At the very least, the world would later know he tried to stop the age from changing too soon. But he knew that would not accomplish anything in reality. The world would change regardless. What good was some consolation after the fact? … What am I supposed to do? He slowly, slowly raised a hand. That was the sign he was about to give an order. His eyes were turned toward the dp-XXX. The ether surrounding the ship was taking form. It was a giant god. The giant god had wings, glowed white, and wielded a great hammer. That strike would crush them. Oscar felt the rumbling in his gut, but it did not reach his head. He watched that god created by human hands. He stared at this opponent who he could never understand. … The new era probably arrived from the moment that ship was made. That thought briefly flashed through his mind. … Then were all our efforts here meaningless? That thought startled him. If that were true, what had they been doing? What had been accomplished by all the fighting, the lives lost, and the people left behind? Why did the military exist? Fighting to the end and dying may have been honorable, but wouldn’t dying here mean not approving of any part of this new age? That would mean having their position rejected in the future. With that thought, he suddenly felt at ease. “I see,” he muttered. He gathered strength in his raised hand and gave his order. ### 018. Part 18 It was 3:53 PM. The Flammen Ritter lay in two pieces in the middle of the Gertraudenstraße in front of the tower-less city hall. Even as the blocked traffic piled up, Mayer made no attempt to move from the cockpit. He simply looked up into the sky. The red of sunset was growing purple and vanishing. A deep blue darkness colored the sky as the stars and moon came out. It looked like a scene from mythology. Four Bladlikburgs took position in the four cardinal directions to create a path down the center and a god passed through that ring. The god flew up into the blue sky and suddenly vanished. For a while, a single trail of smoke could be seen rising into the heavens. A white blade thrust upwards as if slicing the nearly dark sky in two. … It’s as beautiful as a miracle. “Well, it is Weihnachts . I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see a miracle.” Oscar had to be looking up into the same sky from the Bladlikburg Eins. “You made way for them, didn’t you, commander?” Walter’s group had maintained a confrontational attitude to the end, but Oscar had shown his understanding of them. He had shown compromise. … It’s over. It was all over, it was all going to change, and it would all begin anew. But before then, Mayer wanted to sleep. He was exhausted. “Next time, I’ll be even more…” He trailed off and closed his eyes. As he did, he heard a voice from his communicator. “Um, we are up above Berlin and transmitting on all frequencies. We are currently ascending toward space. Everyone in Germany and the neighboring countries, turn in the direction you think Berlin is in and look up in the sky. You should see a cloud rising through that sky. What you’re seeing is…” Mayer was no longer listening. He had fallen into a peaceful sleep. ## Final Chapter: The Legend Arrives 12/25/1935 At 4:05 PM, the change arrived gradually but clearly. Else gathered strength in her eyebrows and kept her eyes open. The Kaiserburg pierced through sound, split the sky, and broke free of gravity. It was desperate. The view outside the window changed from blue to indigo and from indigo to black. The stars looked like a sprinkling of sand in that black expanse. The ship seemed to let out a scream, but she did not mind. She did not feel that she was going to die. She simply felt a need to keep her eyes from closing. The moment she had been waiting for arrived almost too suddenly. The inertia the ship had been unable to neutralize vanished from her body. They were free of the bonds of gravity. They had left the earth. This was space. They had arrived in outer space. “…” She felt like it had happened too quickly. She felt a pain her chest, but it was nothing compared to the difficulties back on the surface. She remembered everything that had happened. She had disobeyed her father. She had met Walter and Paul and they had shown her the Kaiserburg. She had ridden a bicycle as the military pursued her. She had flown through the sky. She had learned why Walter wished to go to space. She had learned what it was she wanted. She had convinced her father and argued with Mayer. She had repaired the Kaiserburg and flown it. She had fought and ended that final battle. It may not have been a very long time, but it had been a dense, weighty, and passionate time. It was all of that which had led to this moment. “Ah…” She realized her body had grown tense. The great speed pressing her into her seat was gone. She looked down and found her clenched fists had grown white. She spread her hands and found marks from her nails on her palm. She spread her arms as if to embrace something. She deeply embraced the expanse of emptiness before her eyes and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Her body was trembling. … I’m here. She had arrived in the world of stars that she had always seen in the sky and reached a hand out toward. … Amazing. Not even she knew what exactly was amazing, but she had a feeling it would be a lot less fun if she did know. She simply had to think that something about this was amazing. She held in the feelings that threatened to escape her chest and she gave a meaningless and deep nod. She nodded again and again. … Thank goodness. She was truly thankful. The two in front of her began to move. They both gave sighs of relief, so they must have tensed up as well. “We’re here,” said Paul. “I’m thinking of stopping by the moon. Any complaints?” “No,” replied Walter. “Let’s start by going as far as Huber’s Treasure Island.” The ship moved slightly and the white moon came into view out the window. It was much clearer than on the surface. Else took her arms from her shoulders and asked a question. “How long will it take?” “About an hour.” “The moon’s pretty far away, isn’t it?” “We can accelerate like crazy, but it’s best to play it safe since the moon’s right in front of us. The engines are still roaring even though we gave them some moonlight resistance.” “Will they still work if we get close?” “Scared? Then I guess we’ll head back home.” “Don’t be silly.” Walter smiled at her sharp tone. “Yeah, after trashing Berlin like that, they probably won’t forgive us if we don’t do something that makes it worth it.” “Do you feel even a little bad about destroying your hometown like that?” asked Else. He sighed as he answered. “Yeah. I wish I’d done a more thorough job of it.” “Try to keep that to just a wish.” She frowned and removed her seatbelt. When she noticed that the metal seatbelt fastener was oddly light, she recalled the laws of the universe. “Come to think of it, isn’t space supposed to be weightless?” “Yes, but the ship is giving us half of Earth’s gravity right now.” “Eh? But I wanted to try swimming through the air.” “Your skirt would spread out and you’d have no way of holding it down. Also…” Walter removed his seatbelt with his left hand and stood up. He turned toward her while holding his right arm. “Without any gravity, the blood from my arm would get everywhere. That would be a complete mess.” “You’re right.” Unsure what expression to make, Else stood up. As she did, she placed a hand on the radar and accidentally altered its scale. … Oh, that’s probably not good. But then she realized there would not be any enemies up here anyway. That was when she noticed something odd on the radar. The scale was at its maximum which was meant for use in space. Every centimeter on the screen was a thousand kilometers, but all smaller readings would be ignored. Only something with as much power as the Kaiserburg would show up. However, the display showed something unbelievable. “Eh?” It was a wall of light. The radar showed that wall directly ahead of them. The entire tip of the display glowed brightly, so a very powerful spirit stone had to be there. “Does that mean…” A giant mass of spirit stone lay in their path. “You don’t mean…!” She looked forward where she saw Walter and, over his shoulder, the moon. … The moon!? Walter must have noticed her mouth hanging open. He followed her gaze, turned back toward her, and approached. “Walter, look at this.” He checked the radar as she asked. Paul also removed his seatbelt and walked over. The three of them stared at the radar display and sighed. The first to speak was Walter. “I see,” he muttered. “Professor, this is what my father was talking about at the very end, wasn’t it?” “You mean the ultimate treasure he said was floating in space?” “Yes.” Walter went on to say what they were all thinking. “The moon is made of spirit stone. This is a tremendous discovery!” “That explains why the engines resonate with the moonlight.” “It does! It really does!” He faced the moon and put a hand in his pocket. He pulled at a photograph, looked at it, and took a few steps. Slowly, while being careful about his right arm, he sat in his seat. Else almost said something, but Paul stopped her with a gesture. “He’s crying.” “Eh?” “That photo is the only one that shows all three members of his family.” “…” “It was torn in two. The half he has shows Huber…and the other half shows his mother and him as a kid.” Else said nothing. She simply listened to what Paul said next. “Huber took that other half.” “Do you have anything like that?” “Once you’re my age, you’re too embarrassed to tell anyone about things like that.” That man had to have his reasons for coming this far. That friend of Huber’s stared straight forward. So did Walter. … That’s right. Else felt her mood soften. She felt much closer to that young man who always seemed so detached. Then, a new question came to her. … He came all this way for that, but where will he go now? That question applied to herself as well. She nodded and spoke to him. “Walter.” He said nothing. “Do you have anything to tape the photo back together? If not, I’ll lend you some tape.” “…” He remained facing forward, but she did not mind. “Hey, Walter. What are you going to do now?” He finally gave a weak response to that. “What do you mean?” She took a step forward. “If the moon is made of spirit stone, a whole bunch of ships like the Kaiserburg can be made. Doesn’t that mean everyone can go to space? If so, there’s no need to sink the Kaiserburg in the ocean.” “In hindsight, I suppose so.” “Then what are you going to do?” “…?” She placed a hand on his head and faced forward. She saw the moon there. The man who had beaten them here would be orbiting it. … Just like you, we desired to go farther and came here. With those words in her heart, she spoke to Walter. “This isn’t enough to satisfy me.” “…” “What about you?” Walter looked up with a stiff expression. “Else…” He hesitated but finally spoke. “You’re wearing lipstick, aren’t you?” “Wh-why would you mention that now!?” She had not expected this and grew flustered, but he only smiled. It was his usual smile, but it had a somehow cheerful look to it. She heard Paul laugh bitterly behind them. She brought a hand to her lips and looked at Walter. He had already taken back control of the conversation, so he looked up at her spoke with strength back in his voice. “Fine. But if you stay with me, you’ll end up regretting it.” “And you’ll end up regretting it if you stay with me.” “Why?” “Because I dream big.” She felt heat in her cheeks, intentionally looked away from Walter, and faced forward again. However, she was no longer looking at the moon. She was looking at the black expanse beyond it. That was where she had to go. “Can we really do this?” “How far are you planning to go?” “That’s simple. …Farther than anyone, farther than anything, and as far as possible. Can you keep up?” “Farther than anyone, farther than anything, and as far as possible, you say?” “Yes! Farther than anyone! Farther than anything! As far as possible!” She stretched her arms out toward the scattered stars, the deep emptiness, and space. The world spread out infinitely before her. ## Closing Words And thus mankind took its first step into space. I am sure many will not accept this story as fact. It does speak much about people who are no longer living and much about things which have not been thoroughly investigated. However, it is the truth. I know this because I heard it from my adventurer of a grandfather. When I was young, I would ask him to tell the story at every opportunity. He would often say that he would not have lived such a fulfilling life if it had not been for them. My grandfather was a simple soldier who appeared in this story. He is no longer with us, but his way of living greatly influenced me. I believe I will eventually have another chance to tell stories of him. I will now set down my pen while I wish good fortune to earth’s civilization that is now able to fly from the Milky Way and to all the people who paved the way to this era. 12/25/1996 4:05 PM – The same time as when mankind first reached space for the second time. -Michael Schrier ### 019. Part 2 The first words over the communicator were inappropriately cheerful. “Hey. How’re things over there?” The voice came from Huber on the spaceship. Due to the radio link, his voice was a little scratchy. His words reverberated from all of the speakers in the control room. Hearing his friend’s voice so suddenly caused Paul to gasp for just an instant. He replied with his gaze still lowered. “How are things with you?” The distance to space created a time lag in the communication. The response came after a two second delay. “That you, Paul? It seems I’m wandering around outer space here. I’m doing fine, though.” “I see. That’s good to hear.” During that ridiculous exchange, Paul realized Huber knew everything. Normally, the man would never go out of his way to say he was fine. … I can’t believe this. “Hey, Huber.” “What is it?” “Um…well…” “Hey, Paul.” “…What?” “It wasn’t a mistake in your design, so don’t worry about it.” He hit him right where it hurt. And before he could say anything back, Huber spoke again. “Don’t say you’re sorry.” “But…” “Shut up. During the launch, I heard one of the launch pad’s connection hooks scrape along the external plating. It looks like that crack split open due to the air pressure. It was the quality of your design that kept the entire ship from blowing apart.” “…” “But I can’t reenter the atmosphere with the plating like this. The heat of the atmospheric friction would get in the hole and fry me. I eat a whole roast turkey every year on Weihnachts , so this is probably them getting back at me.” “Hey, Huber.” “Hm?” “What are you going to do now?” Silence fell after that question. “That’s a good question.” “So what are you going to do?” “I’m really not sure what to say. …Oh! I can see the moon out the window. It’s so big.” “The moon?” “Yeah, the moon. I feel like I could reach out and touch it.” His tone was a mixture of confusion and joy and Paul knew very well that was the tone his friend got when he was excited. Paul smiled bitterly at the odd atmosphere that stuck with his friend even in this emergency. He then placed a hand over the mic and spoke to a nearby technician. “Huber has a wife and kid. Call them here and hurry.” ### 020. Part 2 Twenty years before, Oscar had returned alive from the front lines of the previous great war. The nation he had returned to had been just as exhausted as him. Ever since, he had dedicated his life to rebuilding his nation as a soldier. Even now that he had a wife and daughter, that had not changed. And that was why he glared at the young man before him. “ I am the one saying ridiculous things?” His emphasized word pushed back at Walter’s gaze. “That would be you. You have no idea if your idea will work, so why not put that technology to more efficient use!?” “We didn’t create the dp-XXX for something so boring.” Walter took a step back and stood on the cliff-like edge of the deck. With nowhere left to go, he spoke slowly and clearly. “We care more about what we want to do than about anything as ridiculous as a nation or the military.” That was a way of thinking that Oscar could never understand. For better or for worse, he was an excellent soldier and an adult. Everyone had something that ran counter to their nature. … I see. He replied to those words by announcing his decision. “Negotiations have failed.” “Wow, you sure can make up your mind nicely, Oscar.” Oscar formed a bitter smile only on his lips. “I have made up my mind. I will deal with you here.” “Hmm. You can act all cool if you want…” “What?” “But next time you let someone on your ship, you should probably check what they’re carrying with them.” With that, Walter pulled something from his lab coat’s right pocket. He held what looked like a small black communicator. “I managed to buy enough time.” The young man’s line was accompanied by an urgent announcement behind Oscar and the other soldiers. “Emergency! Emergency! Addressing all ships! An unidentified craft is approaching from five o’clock! It is moving extremely quickly!” Oscar turned toward the deck speaker producing the voice. … What is approaching? As if to answer that question, the hatch onto the deck opened and a young officer ran out. The young man looked well-bred and wore his uniform impeccably. “Major General Oscar!” he shouted while holding his cap in place. “Please hurry back inside!” The young officer’s blue eyes faced Walter instead of Oscar. “The dp-XXX has destroyed the Wagner Laboratory and is headed this way! We will be sending out the Eisen Soldat, so please leave the deck! This will be a dogfight!” That statement was important. Knowing what it meant, Oscar turned toward Walter. Walter gave a quiet smile toward the young officer standing next to Oscar. “Sounds like you have it rough, Mayer. Military work is restricting, isn’t it?” “Walter!” shouted the young officer named Mayer even as he tried to catch his breath. “A-are you picking a fight with the military!?” “Wow, you’re asking that too? It was all of you that started the fight here. All I did was virtuously and kindly reject your offer.” “But you did it in a cruel and over-the-top way, didn’t you?” “Yeah, but whoever picked the fight, it’s starting after everything’s already settled. And in that case…how should I put it? Well, if you view it like a financial deal…” He took a breath. “You’re gonna be in the red.” Suddenly, the deck shook as if it had sunk down. Their knees threatened to collapse underneath them as the shaking continued three more times. Light resembling sparks scattered down below the deck. Eisen Soldat, the fighter craft attached to the aerial aircraft carrier’s port side, had been sent out. The sparks were the light produced when the craft were launched from their connectors. To provide initial velocity, they were fired out liked bullets using spirit gunpowder. After a moment’s delay, the ship shook four more times as the craft on the starboard side were launched. A ship-wide announcement reached the deck. “Fighter craft launch complete. Unit 1 will reach the unidentified ship in seventy-one seconds! Unit 2 will be in position to protect our airspace in thirty-five seconds! All hands…” Oscar frowned at that announcement and Mayer shouted out. “Fall back! And tell those down below that this is not an unidentified ship! It is an enemy ship!” “Y-yes, sir!” Mayer turned to Walter without bothering to watch the soldiers run off. “Do you think you’ve won!?” “The unidentified ship is not responding to our communications!” continued the announcement. “It is maintaining its direct course! The fighter craft are moving to intercept! …It’s fast! This is twelve seconds sooner than predicted!” That was the signal. The deck’s lights all lit and faint light leaked from below the deck as well. Four lights could be seen ascending into the night sky from below, two on each side. They were the four craft tasked with protecting the Bladlikburg. An alarm blared. “Unit 1 has made contact!” The announcement filling the night sky briefly stopped. The soldiers slowly backed away and frowned. Oscar realized Walter was the only one smiling in that tense atmosphere. … Is he convinced he can defeat the military? He received an answer an instant later. “Three of the fighter craft were destroyed! The enemy ship…is undamaged! At this rate…It will collide with us!” The announcement ended there. The wind could not even shake the Bladlikburg, but it seemed to hop up now. It was enough of a tremor to send everyone aboard a little airborne. A great rumbling accompanied it. If any one of them had been calm enough to think, they would have realized the impact came from the shockwave of something smashing the sound barrier. The soldiers on the deck fell to the metal floor as if they had tripped. Only two people remained standing: Oscar and… “Walter!” As if pushed by that shout, Walter jumped backwards. He did not hesitate to leap from the deck. An afterimage of his white lab coat remained in the empty night. The Bladlikburg’s shaking settled down and Oscar ran forward. “It is unknown if the approaching enemy ship intends to attack! Everyone evacuate the deck! I repeat…” As the commander, he ignored that command and reached the point Walter had jumped from. And that was when something slowly ascended. ### 021. Part 2 When surrounded by the blue sky, a beautiful pond, and a black cedar forest at midday, preparing a pleasant lunch was the only option. The pleasant aroma hanging in the air only increased that desire. That aroma was of cooking oil. A young man wearing a lab coat over work clothes sat on the sunny edge of the pond. He currently wore a green apron over the rest of his outfit. It was Walter. He sat in front of a fire made by gathering dry wood and a nice sound and smell came from the frying pan in his hand. He had gathered some nearby stones as a stove, but it was not all that effective. The heat of the fire could not be reaching the frying pan very well, but the smell suggested he was actually cooking proper food. “That should do it.” He looked over his shoulder. “Professor, food’s ready.” A giant mass of metal floated behind him. It was the dp-XXX or Kaiserburg. The collection of solid machinery and metal pipes was hovering about a meter off the ground. The man referred to as “professor” was on top of it. Only the back of his work outfit could be seen from Walter’s position because the man was clinging to the top of the Kaiserburg as if crawling. “Professor. Food.” The man still did not reply. The professor was lost in his work. He had removed one of the Kaiserburg’s outer panels and was fiddling around within the machine while almost climbing inside. “Hm.” Walter nodded, stuck his empty hand in his lab coat’s pocket, pulled out a small black communicator, and switched it on. “Kaiserburg, shake back and forth a little.” With a slight noise, the ship in front of him shook its head. And quickly. This panicked the professor clinging to it. “Whoooaaa! Walter! D-d-d-don’t move this thing!” “Want to eat something?” “I-I-I-I’m working right now!” “Is that so? Then maybe I should have it shake even harder.” “F-fine, just stop this thing!” “Are you sure? I feel like having a little more fun.” “Just stop it! I’ll finish up, so stop it!” “That’s a shame. …Kaiserburg, stop.” The ship’s shaking abruptly stopped and the professor sighed while still clinging to it. Walter placed the frying pan’s contents on a large plate sitting on the ground. Those contents were bratwurst and pommes frites. The trick to making the pommes frites was to use the oil produced when cooking the flavored wurst. After checking to make sure it was all done, Walter stood up. At that exact moment, he heard a metallic sound and felt like his hand almost flew off. A shock had run through the frying pan as if someone had kicked it. “…Eh?” He fixed his grip on it and looked at it. There was a fingertip-sized hole in the bottom of the frying pan and he could see straight through it. “What is it?” asked the professor. “This is a little strange from a physics perspective, but a hole suddenly appeared in this thing.” “That’s because you haggled down the price of an already cheap pan.” The professor’s explanation did not explain much of anything and he wiped his dirty hands on the stomach of his work outfit. He had the plumpness common among elderly men, but he must have had a decent frame because he still looked plenty solid. “It might be a new form of metal fatigue.” “But even it was cheap, I’d grown accustomed to this thing.” Walter looked up and saw the professor sigh, pull a cigarette from his pocket, and place it in his mouth. As soon as he did, Walter heard a light bursting sound and the cigarette flew from the professor’s mouth. “…!” Before the man could turn around with just the filter in his mouth, Walter asked a question. “So did you haggle down the price of some already cheap cigarettes?” That was when a sharp voice reached them. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing at our home!?” It was a female voice and Walter turned toward the forest it came from. ### 022. Part 2 “It’s been two years since I visited Berlin, but it hasn’t changed at all.” Walter sounded completely carefree as he pedaled the bicycle. Else asked him a question and held down her blowing skirt. “Um, did you graduate from the University of Berlin? …If so, do you think we ever saw each other somewhere before?” “Hard to say. I slept in the lab during university and left the country a lot in my fourth year.” “Left the country? That must be nice. …Japan or India sound like fun.” Walter’s shoulders shook in laughter when he heard that. “What?” “Oh, nothing. I just thought a girl would say she wanted to go to Paris.” “Shut up. Everyone goes there. I’d rather go somewhere interesting.” “Then you’re the same as me. I can’t believe this.” “Eh? Did you say something?” She asked him to repeat himself, but he did not respond. To fill the gap, Else asked another question. “Hey, that old guy is the meister who made the spaceship Huber Talstrasse rode, isn’t he?” “Yes, but what about it?” “When I spoke with him yesterday, I brought up that accident, didn’t I?” “Don’t worry about it. Or do you want me to tell him you feel bad?” “I can apologize for myself.” “That would be better. It’ll probably be embarrassing, but do your best.” She scratched her head as he smiled at her, but she suddenly asked something else. “I assume he’s going into space for Huber’s sake, but what about you, Walter?” Why was that young man trying to go to space? It was an obvious question for Else who had been arguing with her father about her future. Walter gently turned back toward her. “What if I said it was because of my curiosity to see what no one has ever seen before and my ambition to go farther than anyone ever has before? That’s a favorite quote of mine.” Else sighed at that answer. “C’mon, can’t you give a proper answer? That’s from Huber Talstrasse’s last words, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is. You know a lot about this, don’t you?” “I looked through my house’s library after you said you were going to space.” “I see. Being eager to learn is a good thing. Is that how you learned about the professor, too?” She could sense his smiling mood through the shoulders she rested her hands on and he had avoided giving her the answer she wanted. She thought about asking again but decided against it. … It must not be a simple enough reason to put to words. She wanted to know that reason for her own sake. … Do I have something like that too? Just then, something odd passed by them. It was an armored military bus. The inside, sides, and even roof of the rough green vehicle were covered with soldiers and they seemed to be in a hurry. “Walter, are we in trouble? That’s the military, isn’t it?” “We’re fine. They won’t recognize me with so many people around.” As soon as he said that, the armored bus’s external speaker produced a young voice. “Walterrrr! I found you!” At the same time, the steel box of a vehicle came to a sudden stop. Smoke spewed from its wheels and they produced a raw screech. The normal car behind it could not swerve in time and crashed into it. With a tremendous sound, the armored bus hopped upwards and knocked a few of the soldiers off of it. Chaos quickly spread through the street. The car that had failed to stop in time skidded to the side and more cars crashed into it from behind. More and more cars piled up from behind. The simple but lively metallic sounds continued and were joined by people’s voices. It was a quite a ruckus. While watching the commotion from the bicycle, Else asked Walter a question. “Didn’t you just say they wouldn’t recognize you?” “Eh? Who would say something silly like that?” “Try to be less blatant when you lie! …And look! Here they come!” With no moving cars left, the soldiers cut across the street. The people watching the commotion fled when they saw the soldiers charging. The bicycle continued on and weaved between the fleeing people at a decent clip. “Walter! Hurry!” Suddenly, five soldiers ran in from the side, each wielding an automatic handgun. “Get the traitors!” they shouted. Else turned toward them from the back of the bicycle. “Oh, shut up!” She pulled a submachine gun from the bag on her back. The action was so natural that the running soldiers did not immediately realize what she was aiming at them. “Waah!” Once they did, they quickly stopped their running feet. Seeing that, Else pulled the trigger, extended her arms, and endured the recoil. “…!” With a pleasant repeating sound, the sidewalk was torn apart. All five of the soldiers disgracefully jumped out of the way. She was making sure she did not hit them, but it must have been frightening from their perspective. “Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah!” Their screams quickly grew more distant and the bicycle accelerated. However, it was too soon to relax. Still holding the submachine gun, she caught her breath, lowered her hips, and sat sideways on the luggage area. “Um, Else?” “Hm? What is it?” “You can be pretty harsh when you need to be.” “Yeah, it happens a lot, so don’t worry about it.” “Else…” “What?” “I think we’re going to get along nicely.” His shoulders shook as he suppressed his laughter. “Oh, we’re about to enter the back alley, so we’ll be turning right!” The bicycle tilted to the right, the back wheel slid a bit, and they charged into the alley behind a store. In the process, Else caught a quick glimpse of the soldiers still pursuing them from behind. … This is pretty serious. Her thoughts remained carefree even as a hint of unease entered her chest. … What’s going to happen now? ### 023. Part 2 Oscar used binoculars to watch from the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge. Once it collided with the dp-XXX, the Eisen Soldat turned into a ball of flames and produced an explosive blast of smoke. The dp-XXX was swallowed up by those flames and smoke. Shouts of surprise and admiration filled the bridge, but Oscar alone had a different feeling. “Silence!” His barking voice quieted the bridge. “We may have gone too far.” He moved the binoculars to look around and saw the four remaining Soldat approaching the mass of smoke floating in the sky. They were firing Kugel as they approached to make sure the enemy truly had been sunk. … Were they really sunk? Oscar gulped. At that very moment, pure white Kugel shot from the smoke. These were no normal Kugel. They were Eisen Kugel with the ability to freeze. … It can’t be! Before he could say anything, the white Kugel assaulted the four flying fighter craft. The Soldat drew their Schwert, but the white trajectories slipped below and behind them as if mocking them. These were clearly auto-homing Kugel. Also, the dp-XXX had not possessed this functionality just a moment before. It had been built for close-quarters combat and had not possessed the spare power needed for long-range weapons like Kugel. After all, only one of its three engines had been running. However, it had definitely fired these Kugel and they had caught up to the four Soldat from behind and pierced straight through them. Instead of exploding, the fighter craft shattered like glass. The Eisen Kugel had flash-frozen and then destroyed them. At the same time, the smoke was blown away and a ship was revealed. Oscar shouted out loud as soon as he saw it. “So that is what it means for the ship to grow!” He now understood Walter’s confidence in the incomplete ship’s ability to reach space. He also understood the word he had found on the scraps of a document remaining in the Wagner Laboratory. “The ship itself grows and transforms to rid itself of its deficiencies!” The dp-XXX had literally evolved. Its basic form had not changed, so the sword-like shape remained. However, the arch-like wings on the back of the ship had stretched back like a skirt and spire-like horns extended forward from the wings. Also, a few areas on the outer paneling bulged out. The ship had a somewhat feminine beauty to it. The Schwert sticking out from the ship were gone, so its focus had likely shifted from close-quarters to long-range. In ancient times, fish had gained the legs needed to leave the ocean. In the same way, the dp-XXX had gained further power to combat larger numbers of enemies. “This is absurd!” Oscar shouted and clenched his teeth. ### 024. Part 2 The Bladlikburg Eins was primarily a command ship, so it was equipped with little weaponry. Instead, it had an abundance of patrol equipment and guest space. The vast metal box even contained a café lounge. It looked like a city’s café had been placed on the ship as-is. Twenty table and chair sets were attached to the floor and intentionally dim lighting filled the brown space. The window on the outer wall was shuttered and it was a nice place to relax if one ignored the stuffiness. Late at night, those with the night shift would often stop by to escape their drowsiness. At this time, it was relatively empty. The young officer in a dress uniform sitting by the window was the only person there. It was Mayer. He was blankly trying to kill time. Not long before, he had been resting in his room. Kaffee was good for waking one up and a bit of tension was perfect for his next job. He avoided alcohol. He had not had a drop of it since Walter and Paul had sent him to the hospital during the university lab’s freshmen welcoming party. As a German, this made him quite unusual. He checked his wristwatch and found it was 6:12. … Still too soon. He had to descend to the surface at 6:30. He was going to greet and apologize to the Breuer family for all the trouble they had caused. The military or police would normally just send out a brief document, but Oscar did not accept that. He would always talk it out without looking down on the other party or debasing himself. Mayer was certain the true form of a soldier could be seen in that man. He had a feeling everyone in Air Force Division 5 had felt the same thing in Oscar. But his thoughts were interrupted. “Oh, Mayer.” He looked up at the familiar voice and found Oscar. The man held a white cup of kaffee . Mayer quickly began to stand and salute, but… “No need.” Oscar sat across the table from him and tilted his body a little to look out the window. He looked somehow weak. “You aren’t going to drink any beer?” “After so many of my men died, I am not in the mood.” Oscar sighed. “What is the matter?” asked Mayer. “Nothing. I was just thinking.” His words lacked his usual sharp strength. “If it is about the Breuer family, do not worry. I will handle it. You please focus on your job.” “The moon will be out tonight, so do not travel in a spirit craft. …Got it?” “Yes, sir. I was not planning to.” On nights with strong moonlight, spirit engines could lose control, so gliders were used instead. Gliders were powerless ships with only floating emblems carved into them. They were a slow but safe means of transportation. “But that ship does not have to worry about the moonlight,” muttered Oscar. Mayer followed his gaze out the window and to the moonlit dp-XXX on the Zwei’s deck. The lance of light called a Lanze still skewered its back. “Are you curious?” He turned to the voice and found Oscar facing him. Strength had returned to his eyes. The sharpness in his gaze seemed like it would pierce through everything and see through any lies, so Mayer gave a definite nod. “I am.” “Why?” “I was working to build that ship just a few years ago.” He hesitated for a moment. “And the people I look up to are piloting it.” “I see.” Oscar sighed. “That is the ship created by Huber Talstrasse’s son and friend so they can reach space.” “I think it is an amazing piece of technology.” “But it is too much for this age.” Mayer nodded. The military was essentially controlled by a madman known as the Führer. That man would undoubtedly try to use the dp-XXX for war. The man had a strong love of heroes, so a one-of-a-kind ship like the dp-XXX would seem quite attractive to him. They wanted to avoid that. “What will we do?” “I have a mountain villa in Munich. We can dismantle it, take it there, and store it away.” “It seems to me using the ground forces would be a problem.” “Of course. That is why it will be done in absolute secrecy. The dismantled parts will be boxed up, labelled as items left behind by the deceased, and sent to the homes of those we can trust.” Twelve had died in the previous encounter with the dp-XXX. That was small for the size of the commotion, so it would not draw suspicion if they exaggerated the number killed. “From there, the boxes can be transported to my home during the time for New Years’ greetings. If they are carried to my mountain villa as materials for building a horse-riding field, no one will suspect a thing.” “The secret police have grown more active lately, so we can’t let our guard down.” “No.” Oscar’s expression loosened a bit. “Turning the villa into a storehouse will ruin the summer breaks, though.” “Your daughter is going to cry.” Mayer had never met Oscar’s daughter. Oscar did not like to mix his work with his private life, so he rarely mentioned her. The previous spring, Oscar had suddenly asked him a question. “Mayer, I only ask because you are young, but what do you think I should send my daughter who is about to enter middle school?” That was the first he had ever heard of her. He could only guess, but Mayer had a feeling Oscar was not working for his country or the military. He was probably working for the people, be they his family, soldiers, or simply citizens. Mayer doubted the man himself had realized what he worked for and he would probably refuse to admit it even if he had. Nevertheless, Mayer was certain of it. After all, an old soldier approaching retirement had once told him something. “That man is only harsh when he’s in the military.” Mayer had seen a few scenes since then that supported that. Currently, Oscar gave a small smile. “You’re right. Maybe I should take her to Italy this year.” Mayer had a thought while watching the man. … Family. A question occurred to him and he simply spoke it aloud “Is he pursuing his father?” “He? You mean Walter?” “Yes. “Most likely.” Oscar admitted it surprisingly readily. “I do understand. I heard some things about Huber while investigating the Wagner Laboratory, but it did not seem he was a man who showed much concern for his family.” “…” Mayer knew that as well. Walter would sometimes fall silent and it was almost always when his father came up. But… “Would you choose a father like that to pursue and set as your goal?” Mayer came from an old noble family, so he had been blessed by his family. He had long ago decided to take a different path from his father who managed a farm and his father had accepted his decision. When he had entered the military, his father had even asked him to bring honor to the family name. That left him unable to even imagine living in a family like Walter’s. “Soon after he lost his father, his mother passed away from the emotional burden. It was only then that he began to think seriously about going to space, but it almost feels like…” “Like he is doing it to spite his father?” “Yes.” That response brought a short silence. After three heavy breaths, Oscar looked up into Mayer’s eyes. “Mayer.” “What is it?” “Aren’t Huber and Walter a lot alike?” That comment shocked Mayer. “They both rush forward even if it means sacrificing those around them, don’t they? And isn’t that exactly why you looked up to him? Am I wrong, Mayer?” “You are exactly right.” Mayer sighed. “I undoubtedly looked up to his way of doing things. But…” I can’t do things the way he does, he thought. He had always run along the path laid out for a chosen one, so he could not recklessly believe in his own strength like Walter and Paul. Nevertheless, he was now opposing the two of them. And that was why he asked a nervous question. “What would happen if I fought them head-on now?” “If you used their way of doing things, you would lose.” “Then how am I supposed to fight?” He leaned forward as he asked and Oscar fell briefly silent. “Are you not satisfied with that previous fight?” “I do not want to think that was my true ability. …I simply caught them off guard.” “Then what will you do when you fight with everything you have and still lose?” This attack from an unexpected angle made Mayer look up. He found Oscar staring directly at him. “If you are to fight them head-on, you will need to use everything you have. Even so, you may still lose. Can you endure that loss?” What could he do if his own strength was rejected? He had never used his full strength or experienced a loss, so he had no way of immediately answering that question. However, he doubted Oscar was actually expecting an answer. The man slowly said something more. “And if you still wish to fight after hearing all that, remember these words.” He took a breath. “What matters most is determining what exactly it is you should be.” A moment of silence followed. “Do you understand, Mayer?” “…I do not.” Oscar nodded. “You are still young, so take your time and give it plenty of thought. You do not need to rush yourself like those two.” Once Oscar crossed his arms, Mayer realized something. “Those…two?” “Hm?” “No, um, I just mean… Don’t you mean three?” “What do you mean?” The look in Oscar’s eyes and his tone completely changed. Mayer felt a chill run down his spine. “When I faced the dp-XXX, there were three people in the cockpit.” “What!?” “You mean three people didn’t leave the ship!?” Mayer had heard Walter’s group had been taken into custody, but he had not heard the number of people. It had seemed so obvious an issue he had not bothered to ask. “But only Walter and Paul spoke over the radio,” groaned Oscar while wrinkling his brow. Mayer realized what had happened. The Bladlikburg had been too far from the dp-XXX to see inside, so they only had to avoid mentioning the third person’s presence and then hide them. They had not counted on Mayer noticing the third person, but that miscalculation had proved meaningless since he had not reported it. “…!” The two of them stood up simultaneously. At the same moment, the Zwei’s deck lit up outside the window. “What!?” The dp-XXX was preparing to take off. One of its engines could not run with the Lanze still skewering it, but the other engine was fine. As long as it did not try anything too difficult, it could at least glide through the sky. A few string-like objects shot through the moonlight on the deck. The wires holding down the dp-XXX were snapping at set intervals. “Commander Oscar!” said a ship-wide announcement. “We have an emergency! Please hurry to the bridge!” “Commander!” shouted Mayer. “This was my oversight,” clearly stated Oscar. “Do not worry about it.” “But!” “You do your job. Besides, we have no fighter craft that can fly tonight.” With that, Oscar ran from the room. Mayer began to follow him but stopped. There was nothing a fighter pilot like him could do. He looked out the window and saw the nearly full moon in the night sky. It was the strength of its light that prevented them from scrambling the fighters. There was a danger of the engines losing control and destroying the fighters. “Dammit.” Covered in that moonlight, the dp-XXX’s nose quickly rose. Nothing was restraining it any longer. That collection of advanced technology rotated and flew into the sky like a leaf in the wind. “…!” Mayer almost pressed against the glass to keep his eyes on the ship. The Lanze skewering it glowed in the darkness and the clouds spread out below. Small dots of light were visible far below the gaps in the clouds. Those were the lights of Berlin. It took only a few seconds for the Lanze’s light to dive between the gaps in the clouds and blend into the city’s lights. “They got us,” muttered Mayer as he pulled his face from the window. He then sighed and saw his own face reflected in the glass. It was only when he saw his face that he realized something. That reflected face contained a small but satisfied smile. ### 025. Part 2 It was 6:30 AM and the morning began early in Germany. Even after rising above the clouds, the sun had yet to come out. The Flammen Ritter rose in a straight line as purple filled the sky. He was testing the fighter’s ascension ability. The roar of the engine filled the fighter. It was still weak, but the moon was out. The Flammen Ritter had been given some moonlight resistance, but it was not perfect. The fighter shook. Mayer faced the moon from the cockpit. His body was pressed into the back of the chair. He had trouble breathing, but not enough to pass out. His thoughts were clear and a single idea filled his mind. How could he fight Walter and the others? “Why am I hesitating?” When he had said he wanted to fight the night before last, Else had asked him a question. “You’re just afraid of losing, aren’t you!? But you also know how skilled you are, so you aren’t prepared to go all out and crush your opponent!” That was definitely true. “You think someone like that can fight us? I have something that is mine alone, but what do you have!?” She had taken a breath. “You’ve done nothing but borrow from others, so you have no right to stop us!” Her harsh words had shocked him. They had also reminded him of what Oscar had told him. … What matters most is determining what exactly it is you should be. Her words had told him exactly what that had meant. He was not Walter. Nor was he Paul or Oscar. In that case, who should he be? That answer would give him the meaning for his fight. … But how should I fight? This was not like the tests and training he had completed in the past. This was a competition that would have a clear result. If he lost, he would lose everything. Why did he hope for a fight he had no confidence he could win? He accelerated his fighter craft. To continue rising, he had to continue accelerating. The needle slowly moved across the gauge. He was already higher than during the previous test. The sky was growing bluer and deeper. He accelerated further. The sky outside the window was nearly indigo already, he saw the stars in the distance, and the altitude needle had reached the red danger zone. The Flammen Ritter shook, but he ignored the disconcerting tremor. He accelerated. His speed had dropped quite a bit because the earth’s gravity had ensnared him. The altitude needle had reached the far side of the gauge. … Should I give up here? He saw the moon in the heavens far above the sky. The ship’s ability to rise would be about at its limit. Its acceleration was weakening. “Is this really enough?” His question to himself was immediately followed by an incoming transmission. “Mayer, you have ascended quite a bit. You have set an excellent record.” It was Oscar. Mayer asked a question on reflex. “Commander Oscar, how should I fight the dp-XXX?” He blatantly revealed his worries. After a short silence, the other man replied. “Mayer, do you have no intention of testing your own ability?” “!” … Testing!? He almost felt like this was his first time to hear that word. … Why do I want to fight? I don’t care if I lose. I want to fight so I can test what I can do when I go all out! He was certain to learn that if he fought Walter’s group. He would directly take on the person he respected and had set as his own goal. Through that battle, he could confirm just how far he could go. “!” Strength filled his gut. He forced a large burst of acceleration from the Flammen Ritter. “Mayer! Do not force yourself!” “I’m fine!” His tone was strong as he responded. His fingertips operated the field emitters. With a slight sound, glowing ether wrapped around the fighter craft. The fighter stopped shaking and only solidified flames were visible though the cockpit windows. “Activating Panzer Emblem – Flammen Lanze! I’m ascending even more!” With a lurch of impact, the Flammen Ritter rose intensely into the sky. Mayer smiled as he endured the inertia of the acceleration. ### 026. Part 2 It was 2:54 PM. The Bladlikburg’s infirmary was a tidy white room. Other than the beds by the window, it only had shelves of medical equipment and a treatment table. In that room, Walter and Paul faced the medical officer. “Hm.” The medical officer gave a quick nod while examining Walter’s arm as the young man lay on the table. “The bullet passed through quite cleanly. You were lucky. As long as you don’t move it, it should stop bleeding soon.” “Isn’t that great, Walter?” “What about the bone?” asked Walter. “It was hit quite nicely. It’s broken and it should take two months for a full recovery.” “Now that’s a problem. I won’t be able to do anything scholarly.” “How is that any different from normal?” “Um, you there? Please don’t provoke the patient.” “Don’t worry. My big heart is immune to damage.” “Doesn’t that just mean you’re callous?” “How rude. The only real callouses on my body are on my feet.” “That’s not what I meant!” shouted Paul. Suddenly, they heard a rumbling from outside. It was the low yet sharp sound of destruction. “Eh?” Walter looked around pointlessly. At the same time, the battle preparation alarm filled the Bladlikburg. The earsplitting noise filled the infirmary and a panicked voice made a ship-wide broadcast. “Enemy ship approaching! Enemy ship approaching! We are now engaged in combat! Prepare the Soldat unit for launch and all gunners to your stations!” Another rumbling reached them. And this time it continued again and again. The noise shook the walls and their bodies. This was the sound of bullets hitting the metal armor. “Wh-what?” The medical officer stood up and the Bladlikburg Eins lurched from another hit. “!” Walter looked to Paul and Paul reflexively jumped onto the bed and pressed against the stationary window. “How is it, professor!?” “Wait! What do you two think you’re-…” “Shut up, doc!” shouted Paul. His voice was loud enough to drown out the rumbling outside and the alarm filling the ship. And his voice contained a hint of joy. “Dammit… Is the little lady here? I can’t see!” The Eins shook again and medicine bottles on the shelves loudly clinked together. Paul pressed his face against the window in his attempt to peer out. “…” “Well, professor? Is it the Kaiserburg?” “I still can’t see very well.” “C’mon, find it already.” “Oh, shut u-…ahhh!!” “Eh?” Walter received a definitive answer to his question. “There it is!” Paul’s voice was filled with delight. “It’s here!” Walter held his injured arm, stood up, and stared intently at the wall he could not see through. Based on Paul’s posture, the Kaiserburg had to be flying alongside the Eins. Walter began to approach the window to check on it, but then Paul said something odd. “Hm? The Kaiserburg’s turning its nose this-… Whoa!” He frantically moved away from the window. A moment later, the window and the entire wall vanished. With a great roar, a Kugel fired by the Kaiserburg tore the wall away. Light burst and noise exploded. “!” “Watch out!” The difference in air pressure blew everything outside. Pillars and panels made of iron and steel were torn away and tossed into the empty sky. The noise was enough to hurt their ears. The beds were spat outside like paper and the white sheets spread out in the sky before being blown away. The paper and books on the desk danced across the floor and into the sky. The room’s warm air came in contact with the cold wind of the high altitude and produced an icy mist. A violent gust of wind danced through the room that was now directly connected to the sky. In an instant, the infirmary was reduced to ruins. The window-side wall and the beds were gone, so it was nothing but a treatment table and the edge of a cliff. The medical officer shouted over the harsh wind. “Wh-what the hell was that!?” “A Kugel obviously.” The Kaiserburg probably had no idea Walter and Paul were in here. It had simply opened a horizontal hole for them to escape through. Paul had jumped from the bed to the treatment table at the last second and he sighed. “That little girl is crazy.” Even as he spoke, the floor below the table crumbled. With a sound like rocks hitting each other, the floor scattered fragments and broke apart. The table tilted and then fell. Still looking like he did not know what was happening or what was going to happen, Paul sat on the table and fell. Only his shrill scream remained. “Ahhhhhhhh!” Their parting only took an instant. Some white sheets remained in the air and fluttered lightly as if saying goodbye, but they were quickly carried away by the wind. Walter stood speechless on the cliff’s edge. The medical officer stood behind him. “…” After a short silence, the medical officer gave a shout. He had likely been unable to bear the silence. “Wh-what!?” “It’s the sky. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you?” “That’s not what I was asking!” “Hm. From an objective point of view, the ship was hit, the wall was destroyed, and someone fell out. But the person who fell is a bit of a unique kind of person, so I doubt that’s enough to kill him. Don’t worry about it.” Even as he answered the medical officer’s shouted question, Walter looked down at his injured arm. The forearm was bent a bit about halfway down. It was broken and a fingertip-sized hole continued to the other side. The bleeding must have resumed because a blood stain appeared on his lab coat. It had to hurt quite a bit, but the young man did not even frown. He peered down from the edge of the cliff. “I can’t even see the professor anymore.” “Wh-what are you muttering about!? We need to get out of here! It’s dangerous!” Walter nodded at the medical officer’s words. “I see. I have to agree with you there.” He sighed as he stood on the very, very edge. “C’mon, professor. Rushing ahead is only going to hurt you.” “What are you talking about!? This is an enemy attack! Hurry up and evacuate inside!” Walter turned toward the desperate voice with a small smile. “You’re right. I should leave here and go somewhere safer.” With that, he jumped out into the windy sky. ### 027. Part 3 An hour passed. Huber’s spaceship, the Wilhelm 2, was in a dire situation. They had discovered the oxygen was leaking from the damaged part of the ship. All of the control room’s equipment was linked to the ship’s gauges via radio. According to them, the remaining oxygen would not even last ten minutes. Bad news had a way of continuing. Huber’s wife and child had not been in the audience for the rocket launch. Their reserved seats had been empty. They had called the house, but a servant had answered and said the wife had brought her child to a Weihnachts festival. She was apparently buying ingredients for a feast to celebrate her husband’s return. She had said she would return by nightfall. It had likely been her trust in Huber’s safety that had led his wife to not watch from the launch area. No one said anything in response. Most likely, the wife would not learn of her husband’s death until she returned home. There was nothing they could do. All that remained was cleanup work. And during that hour, they had learned another fact. The Wilhelm II had apparently been caught in lunar orbit. It was weak, but the moon had a gravitational pull too. It naturally had a gravitational field like the earth and it could keep a satellite in orbit. Huber’s spaceship had become a satellite of the moon which was itself a satellite of the earth. If ironies like that continued, it was going to be quite an unpleasant Weihnachts indeed. ### 028. Part 3 “What is this!?” It was a strange ship shaped like a sword. It was over ten meters wide, about six meters tall, and at least twenty-five meters long. It was nearly four times the size of traditional aircraft. However, it did not have the armor that aircraft used to reduce air resistance. The engine, power transfer pipes, and moving parts were all left exposed. It almost looked like a giant mass of metal organs. It had no main wings. Instead, it had a giant tail shaped like an arch bridge. The top and bottom of the ship both had two spherical field emitters. Of those, the two on the front were emitting swords of light as long as the ship itself. Those were close-quarters divine spell weapons known as Schwert. A divine spell weapon was a weapon that used an engine to construct solid objects. The power of the spirit stone was fully materialized and even fire or lightning could be made into a solid object. The Schwert was one of those and it could even slice through Kugel, a type of long-range divine spell weapon. Dogfights primarily came down to close-range battles with those swords. This ship had likely flown here while slicing through the intercepting Eisen Soldat in a single strike. “This is the dp-XXX, the unprecedented aerial warship we call the Kaiserburg.” Oscar heard Walter’s voice and saw the young man standing the cockpit-like box in the center of the ship. “What do you think? Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Oscar did not agree, but he was shocked by a certain fact. The ship before him was not producing any flames from its spirit engine rocket or jets. … Is it floating? The ship they called the dp-XXX was floating without sullying the dark night. Machines could be made to float in the air. A giant ship like the Bladlikburg had enough surface area to carve the floating emblems, but the dp-XXX was not that large. It was also not equipped with the jet an aircraft needed for propulsion. It was truly an unprecedented ship. … Impossible. Oscar saw Walter crouch down and open the hatch. The young man glanced back at him for just a moment. “Are you going to keep this pointless fight going?” “What do you mean!?” “You still haven’t caught on? If you get in our way, you might end up dead.” “Is going to space that important?” The young man did not reply. He only smiled. “Unit 2 is approaching the enemy!” After that announcement, Walter jumped inside the Kaiserburg and Oscar moved back while clicking his tongue. At the same time, the Kaiserburg’s Schwert rotated to face outward. “…!” Oscar lowered his head slightly as the two curves of light sliced apart the approaching Kugel that the attacking Eisen Soldat had fired. Four sounds of shattering glass filled the air. Walter shut the hatch after himself and the Kaiserburg moved backwards. After putting some distance between itself and the Bladlikburg, it showed its belly and quickly ascended. Oscar tightly clenched his teeth as he looked up at it and heard great roars from either side. The noise came from the Eisen Soldat. The rear-wing craft had a fairly round nose, so they were generally cross-shaped. They were the standard air force craft and each one had two spirit engine rockets. They were fast and their contrails remained in the night sky behind them. The four ascended in pursuit of the Kaiserburg. Their target fled into the clouds that hid the moon. Needless to say, the clouds would not be enough for these soldiers to lose it. … What is he planning to do? Oscar’s thoughts tested the Kaiserburg and the ship responded. Light formed in the clouds floating in the darkness. That light quickly grew and tore through the clouds like a ripple. Finally, something flew from the center of the ripple with a few explosive flames wrapped around it. It was a giant comet. “…!” A spear of light trailing a long tail blew away the clouds and flew onward even with the moonlight washing over it. Oscar knew what that was. It was a weapon the military had only recently managed to implement. “A Panzer Emblem.” All of the emblems engraved in an aircraft’s external paneling were activated to transform the craft itself into a Kugel. It was a ramming weapon that did not belong on an aircraft. The Soldat pursuing the Kaiserburg scattered when the Panzer Emblem struck them. Four explosions reverberated in Oscar’s gut. “He got us.” Oscar now knew where Walter’s confidence had come from. … In other words, modern weapons are no match for you, is that it? That thought made him shudder. He knew very well how frightening the advancement of weapons could be. During the previous great war, tanks and aircraft had been used for the first time and they had remarkably increased the number of deaths. And the dp-XXX’s abilities easily surpassed those technologies. On top of that, there were still several unknowns concerning the dp-XXX. It almost certainly had further abilities. With that in mind, he sighed. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Otherwise, he would never think of going to space in an incomplete ship.” He lowered his gaze a bit. The Kaiserburg had already vanished from view, but he could predict its destination from the direction into which it had torn through the sky. “Berlin!” ### 029. Part 3 Else was unsure what to do about the object before her eyes or the man standing in front of it. A young man wore a lab coat and apron over a work outfit and a giant mixture of metal pipes and panels sat behind him. Also, a plump elderly man in a work outfit stood on top of the machine. … Who are they? She could not deny that an exasperated look appeared on her lips as she aimed her submachine gun at them. Even she thought the look in her eyes was harsh, but she felt that look gave her even more strength as she asked a question. “What are you two doing?” The young man in an apron tilted his head and asked a question of his own. “And what are you doing here, lovely little lady?” “Cut the flattery. What are you doing at our home?” “This is your home? Do you live in the woods?” “Do you want me to shoot you?” “No, no. That sounds painful.” “Then answer me. I really will shoot you next time.” He looked down at the frying pan in his hand. “Um… Didn’t you already shoot at us?” “The first shot was practice, the second was a warning, and the next one will be for real.” This much was no more than a greeting. The young man must have caught on because he smiled and scratched at his head. “Hmm. I feel like you’re skipping quite a few steps here. Could you explain how we ended up in this situation?” “Y’know, you’re the ones making this so complicated. What is that machine behind you?” “Oh, this thing? It’s a secret weapon of the military.” He casually dropped a bombshell of a statement. Else lowered the submachine gun without thinking and looked at the young man without using the sight. “A secret weapon?” “Yep. The military told us to hand it over after we built it, so we ran off.” “The military? Then this-…?” She looked up at the mechanical mass behind the young man and her eyes met with the man standing on top of it. She lowered her head a bit on reflex. … I think I’ve seen him somewhere before. To check on that, she spoke to the young man in front of her. “Who are you two?” “I’m Walter, second-in-command of the Wagner Laboratory. The ship behind me is the dp-XXX Kaiserburg that was built there and the guy on top of it is the lab head, Paul Wagner.” She recognized the laboratory name and the older man’s name. “I’ve heard of you! You taught emblem technology at my university until two years ago!” The professor laughed on top of the Kaiserburg. “Oh? So you’re a student at the University of Berlin?” Else nodded and looked back and forth between Paul and Walter. “And I read in the newspaper that there was a commotion at the Wagner Laboratory and the lab head and second-in-command went missing.” “Missing? Oh, man. What do I do if my relatives put in a search request?” “ That’s what you’re worried about!? What are famous people like you doing here?” “Well, we used this new experimental weapon, but its power dropped like a rock and it malfunctioned. We decided it needed repairs and we happened to spot the perfect place to hide it down below.” “The perfect place to hide it, huh?” “Yeah, sorry about that. We thought it was a park.” “Fine, whatever. …More importantly, can that machine really fly?” “Yeah, it can even fly to space.” She frowned at that. “Sorry, but I seriously doubt that. You just said it malfunctioned, didn’t you?” “No, no. It can make it. It was made to reach space.” She sensed confidence in Walter’s fixation on the word “space”. “Hey…” “Yes?” “When you say space, you mean outer space, right?” “That’s right.” “Wait. Are you serious? No one has ever successfully done that before.” “It’ll be fine. As long as this thing grows properly, it can go anywhere.” One word from his explanation did not fit, so she asked to make sure she had heard right. “Grows?” “Yeah, isn’t that right, professor?” Paul’s only response was a meaningful smile. Realizing that smile was filled with confidence, Else decided they were serious. She also remembered something that had happened in the past. “But why are you keeping your attempt hidden? Before – you know, when that manned rocket failed – the military helped out and everyone was talking about it.” She saw Paul’s expression stiffen at that and he spoke before Walter could say anything. “We would rather not rely on the military. We want to reach space on our own while putting ourselves first.” “That sounds childish.” “Shut up. I’ve always been like that.” Else smiled bitterly at the elderly man’s statement. She could somehow understand that way of thinking. … That must be nice. That thought softened her expression. “I see. So you’re just doing it as a hobby.” “More or less. …Now, who are you?” “Are you familiar with the Breuer Company that sells weapons?” Walter tilted his head, but Paul looked up. “I am. They were building a giant mansion in Berlin about when I quit the military.” “That’s where you are now. I’m the president’s only daughter.” “Wait! Else!” A low voice reached them as a man on a horse burst from the forest to the side. Else turned back to the two men. “And that’s my father, Gaston,” she said more quietly. “Else! Who are those people! And what is that giant machine!?” “Shut up!” she shouted without turning around. “They’re criminals on the run from the military because they stole a secret ship!” Gaston had clearly been planning to shout something back, but that explanation drained all color from his face. Else nodded, satisfied in the influence of her words. She could be cruel. “W-wait! Why would people like that be-…” “I said shut up. Obviously their ship malfunctioned and they crashed here.” “I’m not sure that counts as ‘obviously’.” “Don’t nitpick my wording. And either way, they aren’t bad people! Would bad people sit around leisurely cooking bratwurst?” “I don’t think that’s the issue here.” “Who cares if it is? We’re not opposed to the military, but we have nothing against these two either. Besides, no respectable person would sell someone out to the military.” She knew her father was easily swayed by words like that. He seemed reluctant to let his daughter know he had to make nice to the military as a weapons dealer. Even if his job required it, that was a weakness of his, so he fell silent when she brought it up. She felt a little bad for having done so. “Now, then.” She took a breath and spoke to the two behind her. “You two, come to our place. You’ll tell us some interesting stories, won’t you?” ### 030. Part 3 The Kaiserburg floated unreliably in the backyard of a large white mansion. Even in winter, the warm currents from the ocean kept Germany from growing too cold. It was also a sunny day, so the top of the metal ship was comfortably warm. A man in a blue work outfit slept on top of that warm ship. It was Paul. He was enjoying a pleasant nap for the first time in a long while. He was completely relaxed after the tension of the last few days had suddenly left him entirely. … I’m like an old man. Suddenly, a shrill noise came from his body. The communicator in his pocket had rung. “…!” He frantically sat up and pulled it out. “Hey, it’s me. What is it, Walter?” The young man’s energetic voice replied to him. “Professor! Can you hear me!?” “Hm? You’re pretty far away, aren’t you? Did something happen?” “The military is headed your way.” “What do you mean exactly?” “A national military unit is heavily armed and travelling to your current location. Yeah, that’s definitely what’s happening.” “That isn’t what I meant! Keep it simple.” “The military is headed your way.” “Are you trying to pick a fight with me!?” “Mayer and his friends are already having a party and they’ve caused quite a commotion. Can’t you hear it?” Sure enough, he could hear some unusual sounds from both the communicator and the forest surrounding the mansion. Most notably, gunfire and collisions. It seemed something crazy was going on. “Hm. So how are you doing? Is the young lady with you?” “Yes, yes. The ‘young lady’ is with him, old man!” “You seem to be doing well. And young lady, don’t call me ‘old man’. Call me professor. Got it?” “Sure, sure. Then how about you stop calling me ‘young lady’. I’m already twenty, you old professor.” “Hey, Walter. Can’t you do something about this foulmouthed girl?” “Else, weren’t you just saying something about apologizing?” “Oh, damn. …Wait! This is no time to talk about that!” “You’re right, you’re right. Professor, given the situation, we’ll recite the emblem from here. Can you can carve it in as we do?” Paul did not immediately understand Walter’s question. “That is completely insane,” he replied. “Don’t worry, professor. You’re Germany’s best emblem technician, aren’t you? You’re the only one that can carve an emblem into stone with just a chisel these days, so how about showing off your skill?” “Y’know...” “You can’t do it?” The voice coming from the communicator was terribly dark and filled with disappointment. Paul replied on reflex. “Well, it isn’t that I can’t .” “Okay, then do it. Do it right now. Do it immediately. Got it? That settles it.” Walter’s tone immediately brightened and Paul frowned. “Fine then. Give me two minutes to prepare.” “Understood. Else will be the one reading off the emblem, so try to get along.” “Eh? Wait. I can’t read an emblem.” “Emblem reading is a required course at the university, isn’t it? Besides, my hands are more than full with controlling the bike.” Paul heard Else continue to protest, but he stopped listening. He scratched his head in exasperation and stood from the Kaiserburg. It seemed he was not going to get a relaxing nap after all. ### 031. Part 3 Else opened her eyes and found she was alive. “Eh?” Nothing had changed inside the cockpit. Paul was looking her way and Walter was staring at a scrap of paper in his hand. She could see the sky through the window beyond them. … I’m alive? As she thought that, Walter stuck the paper in his lab coat pocket and muttered to himself. “It looks like I’ll be able to get there soon. I mean it.” Then he turned around. “Are you okay, Else?” She realized the paper he had stuck in his breast pocket was a photograph, but she was not crass enough to ask whose photo it was. Also, she had a more important question. “We’re fine? But I saw fire…” “Yeah, the fighter craft on top of us exploded, so you probably saw the flames from that.” This had to be a sturdy ship if that was not enough to sink it. “Were you scared? Sorry about that.” “I-I was not scared.” As she put on a strong front, she heard a slight metallic creaking. She floated up slightly, returned to normal, and heard the ship shaking somewhere. “Wh-what is that? Is this thing broken after all?” “No. The metal parts are growing for the transformation as it evolves.” She must have given an unpleasant look at the number of unreasonable terms Walter used because he smiled a little. “To put it simply, all of the ship’s components have healing spell emblems carved into them. Not only does that allow it to repair itself, but it lets it modify itself.” “And?” “When activated too nearby each other, the Kaiserburg’s emblem engines resonate with each other and stop working, but that’s just because the engines aren’t used to each other.” “You mean the ship’s self-modification ability will adapt the engines to each other?” “Yeah, you’ve got the picture. Your heart beats without you telling it to, right? In the same way, the Kaiserburg realizes its own deficiencies as it fights and is injured, so it tries to unify all of its components toward a single goal.” “…” She had no words. The ship was completely ridiculous. It was a collection of metal parts, and yet it almost seemed alive. Previous technology was all about strengthening the armor or putting in a more powerful engine. In other words, the people determined the machine’s traits and created it that way. But the Kaiserburg was different. The ship strengthened itself. Paul and Walter had simply helped by loading it with the parts it would eventually use. And the Kaiserburg was living up to their expectations. … I see. “It seems that collision showed the Kaiserburg the need to combat a greater number of opponents. You could say this is like a fistfighting child growing into a young man who wields an actual weapon.” “Two of the emblem engines are running. Just one more.” “It will evolve further?” “Yep. According to our predictions, the next evolution will take it to space.” Walter then faced forward. Else gently crossed her arms and brought a hand to her chest. Her pulse was racing. … Why? She did not know. She felt a new kind of excitement or joy that was not quite the same as during a festival or after scoring well on a test. She felt a powerful urge to tell someone about this incomparable excitement. She may have been approaching her answer, little by little. … But I’m not there yet, am I? She bit her lip and nodded. The ship angled up just a little and gave her a view into the sky. There, she saw a number of aerial aircraft carriers with many small shapes flying from them. “Don’t they know they’re no match for us? They’re persistent, I’ll give them that.” “Some people will never understand until they’ve been beaten. Let’s get this over with.” The Kaiserburg shot forward as if responding to Paul’s words. Its acceleration was more stable than before. ### 032. Part 3 The commotion caused by the dp-XXX’s escape reached the interrogation room. It was a small room with bare metal walls and the two men strapped to chairs exchanged a smile. “Sounds like the young lady pulled it off.” “Sure does. At least we know the Kaiserburg won’t be caught in the middle of this trouble with the military.” Walter faced forward and the interrogator across the table frowned back at him. “What did you two do?” “We didn’t do anything. You all are the ones that overlooked something.” “Overlooked something?” “I learned my lesson in the past, and gave the spaceship an emergency life support chamber.” “L-life support chamber!?” The man seemed to have realized what had happened. A life support chamber was a small space about the size of a coffin. If its equipment was activated with someone inside, they would be instantly half-frozen and put them into hibernation by a spray of cold gas. “But the door is labelled ‘danger’ what with the cooling equipment inside, so an amateur isn’t going to want to open it. That label isn’t entirely accurate, though.” No one would be stupid enough to open it with that written on it. After all, the ship had been built with strange technology. It was unlikely the military had performed a thorough internal inspection. That was exactly what Walter and Paul had been hoping for. That was also why they had pretended to be the only two aboard over the radio. Their gamble had paid off. “They say savages fear advanced civilizations, but it looks like that’s true.” Walter smiled pleasantly. “Oscar really is easy to trick.” ### 033. Part 3 At 8:38 AM, the sun had risen to a certain extent. The sky was clear and filled with just enough of a chill to tense the skin. A cold fog covered the Grunewald Forest. A single car was parked in the forest’s airfield and a man stood next to it. It was Gaston. His shoulders shook once and he sighed. He began to walk with his face pointed straight forward. His gaze was on the giant factory. Its large door was open and the nose of a ship could be seen within. “She really is doing this, isn’t she?” He approached, and saw a man crouched below the ship with some kind of diagram in one hand. Gaston recognized the man. He was the old man in charge of the factory. “Steinmetz!” he called out and quickened his pace. The other man seemed to notice Gaston’s voice because he set the diagram on the floor, paused, and raised a hand. “Oh, Gaston.” He tapped his back as he stood up and Gaston asked him a question. “How is Else doing?” “She’s checking the course in the office.” “I see.” He was relieved that his daughter was still so nearby even if she was planning to leave him. She wanted to eventually fly into the sky and travel as far from this earth as she could. “She’s a good girl.” “I think you mean rebellious.” “No, it isn’t often you find someone who looks so at home in a work outfit.” “Is that supposed to be a compliment? I raised her to be the daughter of a respectable family.” “Are hard workers not respectable?” “I just want the Breuer family to be respectable.” The old man smiled bitterly at that. “She’s quite something. She did almost all of the external wiring and exterior on her own. She went two nights without sleep to do it.” “She did that much?” The old man scratched his head and nodded. “Well, she messed some of it up, but I fixed it for her.” “Sorry for the trouble.” “Don’t be. Getting this ship to fly is an important job.” He looked up into Gaston’s eyes from below. “Do you think it’s important, too?” Gaston hesitated but responded clearly. “I do.” He lowered his gaze a little. “This ship might end up filling the world with trouble. It could even start a war and that could destroy the world.” He took a breath and looked back up at the ship in front of him. “But…” “But?” “If the world would be destroyed by something like that, is there any point in letting it continue to exist? I feel like whatever place survives this will be a suitable place for Else and the people who can keep up with them.” That really sounds like something a weapons maker would say, he thought. “This may be a harsh thing to say…but the age we live in is definitely going to change.” “Ha ha ha. That isn’t something that just changes. We have to change it ourselves.” “Oh? Well said.” “I got that one from your daughter.” “Else said that?” “A nice saying, isn’t it?” “She was just trying to sound mature.” He just about smiled as he said that, but he restrained himself. “She’s an interesting girl,” said the old man. “She cut her hair because of that incident, right?” “Yes, she blew up the fireworks during the school festival last year.” “I hear that was a sight to see.” “Never before in the history of the University of Berlin has a student blown up the statue of the university president. I had to go apologize.” “Sounds a lot like you used to be,” commented Steinmetz. “The way both corners of her mouth rise when she smiles looks exactly like your smile. When I saw her smile like that earlier, it reminded me of something.” “What was that?” “Back in the day, you used to look that happy when you smiled too.” “…!” That line shocked Gaston. He had wanted Else to smile. “Back in the day?” His voice may have been trembling as he asked that question. “It was fifteen years ago. Didn’t you have a habit of visiting this factory to watch the planes fly? And you brought your young daughter with you.” “…” It all came back to him. … He might be…right. Else had smiled so innocently back then and he may have as well. “How about it? Can you look up into sky again? No, can you look up to a place even higher than the sky?” “…” “Personally, I’m having a blast doing this.” Gaston nodded. … Having a blast, huh? “You’re right,” he said. “Maybe I should do what I can.” ### 034. Part 3 At 3:08 PM, the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge was in a state of complete disarray. “Levels 1, 2, and 4 were completely destroyed on the starboard side! Level 3 was damaged on the rear starboard side! Levels 5 and 6 were partially damaged on the mid starboard side! Our fighters can no longer connect to the starboard side!!” “The Eins’s Eisen Soldat #1-4 will be unable land for the aforementioned reason. Have them land at Berlin Airport or Tempelhof Airport instead. Send out course instructions to ensure they do not collide with passenger planes.” “We are scattering fragments of the armor. All fighters in flight should avoid travelling below or behind the Eins.” “Our center of gravity is shifting to port! Everyone who is free, move starboard! Starboard!” “Lock down the starboard water storage tanks and ensure all water that will flow from the outer hull will do so. Focus on the ship’s center of gravity.” Amid the busy exchange of words and documents, Oscar sat in his command chair by the window and felt nearly worked to death by his instructions to the different ships. He suddenly looked out the window. Quite a bit of water and oil had spilled from above and stained the window. The water froze white on the glass and crystallized. … They really got us here. The components of the outer hull rained down from them. He was suddenly worried about the city of Berlin below. Even a single screw would become a deadly weapon when falling from this height. He looked down. The bridge’s window continued down to the floor, so his raised command seat gave him an excellent view of the area below them. He saw the clouds, but Berlin was visible through the gaps. … I’m sorry. After that thought, he looked back up. He could see the blue sky through the slightly dirtied window. Something even bluer fell outside the window. “Mh?” He recognized the shape and color from somewhere. It was a round shape with some flesh-color stuck to it. It was a person. And given the color of the clothing… “Wagner!” He reflexively stood from his chair. Suddenly, something else fell and he saw it clearly this time. The man wore a lab coat. “Walter!” The young man fell straight down and their gazes almost seemed to audibly meet through the glass. If anything could be called a coincidence, this was it. Neither of them had meant for it to happen, so it was a truly unexpected instant. The strength in the young man’s eyes filled Oscar’s head with pain. He ran from his chair, down the stairs, and to the window. He did not even hear the surrounding commotion. All he heard was the distant rumbling. And that rumbling was approaching from above. He knew what was coming after those two had fallen. “The dp-XXX.” That was exactly what descended before his eyes. Its shadow raced through the bridge for just an instant. The collection of metal organs appeared outside the window and shot downwards. It was fast. In a heartbeat, the glass shook so hard it threatened to break. This was a shockwave. The air beyond the window had been torn apart by the passing battleship and thin clouds formed as it cooled. The commotion inside the bridge was drowned out by the roar. Oscar felt the sound in his head, gut, and limbs, but he could not tear his eyes away from the window. The metal ship dropped toward the hazy city of Berlin. The ship remained horizontal, so it was a somewhat odd descent. A lab coat and blue work outfit were visible beyond it. The three falling objects grew smaller and smaller. However, the battleship was catching up. “…” Oscar silently stared down at them. The sword-like ship reached the lab coat. A moment later, it reached the blue work outfit. The dp-XXX then fluttered like a leaf. It stopped falling and slipped forward. It looked small at such a distance, but it glowed a brilliant gold as it reflected the sunlight. “So they did it.” Those words that not even he understood brought Oscar back to his senses. The commotion around him once more reached him. He suddenly realized he was clenching both fists so tightly it hurt. “The battle begins here!” ### 035. Part 4 “Honestly, you’re no help at all.” “Ha ha ha. Well, I am kind of far away at the moment.” Huber’s laugh was wrapped in blatant fatigue, which surprised Paul. “Are you okay?” “Don’t worry about it, Paul. I don’t have much time left, right? So let me speak some.” “Sure.” “Listen. I’m gonna say something profound, so make sure you write it down.” “Hey.” “What?” “You always did like unfunny jokes.” “Shut up. Now, are you listening?” “Wait just a second.” Paul pulled a pen from his work outfit and realized how terribly out of place the mood was. He was about to write down his friend’s last words. That thought suddenly welled up inside him and he spoke in an attempt to endure it. “Hey, Huber.” “What is it?” “Make it something cheerful.” “Ha ha ha. I will. …So are you listening?” “Yes.” “Okay, then. Well, there’s something an adventurer like me is supposed to do.” “And what’s that?” “Find treasure.” Paul frowned at that. “Treasure?” “Yeah, you heard me. Treasure.” “But…” “There’s some here.” “What?” Huber answered Paul’s question with an air of false ignorance. “I can’t quite explain it. Maybe I should keep it as my own personal secret. But whoever comes here next will probably notice this treasure.” Paul thought it was a joke. … Treasure? Is he hallucinating from oxygen deprivation? “Hey, Huber.” “Shut up and listen. I’m about to say something important.” “…Fine.” Paul grudgingly agreed and listened to Huber clear his throat. It sounded somehow painful, so the oxygen was likely growing thin. Paul squeezed the pen in his hand as Huber’s voice filled the control room. “Now, then. When people first began rowing out to sea, there had to have been people like me who never came back. But they all must have had the same thing in their hearts: the curiosity to see what no one has ever seen before and the ambition to go farther than anyone ever has before. Let’s just say that I too did this because I felt like there was a treasure out there.” When Huber exhaled, it was a horribly rough sound. Knowing what that meant, Paul squeezed the pen even harder as it raced along the paper. He took a breath. He had not finished copying down the previous comment, but he sensed his friend about to speak again. “Huber, wait a second.” The other man spoke his own words without replying. “I have something to tell all of the people clinging to the surface of the earth. I have – without a doubt – made it farther than anyone else.” The voice coming from the speakers dropped unpleasantly. Something gave Paul a very bad feeling. His hand suddenly stopped. He felt an odd uneasiness. He felt like something he had been waiting for had approached all at once. And he called out to stop it. “Listen, Huber. Can you hear me? You still have time, so speak slowly!” But the voice did not stop. “That alone would’ve been enough, but I found my life’s greatest treasure from inside this mechanical box.” Paul realized his friend was trying to adorn his own demise. He panicked and called out. “Hey! Don’t think of this as the end! There’s still so much you have to do! Don’t give up!” Huber still did not reply. After a pause, his quiet voice returned. “I think I’ll go to sleep while floating in space with this ultimate treasure and dreaming of someone someday coming here to find what I found.” … Sleep? Sleep!? He was not actually talking about going to sleep. He was talking about his final rest. “Huber! Hey! Listen! Quit trying to make yourself look good!” “I’ll pray for my family’s happiness from up here higher than heaven. And…” His next words would be his last. “Hey! Huber! We’ll go save you! Just wait there! So…so don’t end this!” A small breath that resembled a laugh came from the speakers, but the breath transformed into words. “Thanks, all of you.” “Hey!” Paul heard a dull sound in his hand. The pen had broken and black ink wet his thick fingers. He used that hand to grab the mic. “Huber! I will go get you from there! I swear it! I won’t let my ship become a coffin! Just wait! …Just wait there!” The other man did not reply. Only silence escaped the speakers and they all knew what that silence meant. “Dammit! Dammit! Goddammit!” Afterwards, a single man cried as so many people listened. ### 036. Part 4 Mayer answered the phone instead of Oscar who had gone to the remains of the Wagner Laboratory. As Oscar’s aide, looking after the place in his absence was a legitimate part of Mayer’s job. He had to do his best to preserve his commander’s good name. He looked out the window as he picked up the receiver, but it had already grown dark. The glass reflected his slightly tense face. He lowered his gaze and spoke into the receiver. “Yes, this is Mayer Schrier speaking for Major General Oscar Mirildorf.” “Oh, Lieutenant Mayer? This is Gaston of the Breuer Company.” He recognized the voice. This was the president of the weapons dealer that manufactured the air force’s aircraft and sold them firearms. His was the top company in the industry, but he seemed like a fairly sociable person. Mayer lowered his head toward the phone without thinking. “Thank you for calling. What do you need at this hour?” “Have you read today’s newspaper?” “The newspaper? I skimmed through it. What about it?” “I heard this from someone I know, but…” Gaston’s tone dropped and Mayer realized it would be crass to ask just who that “someone” was. Some important incident had to be happening around this man. Mayer allowed him to keep it a secret. “Go ahead. We are known for keeping secrets.” “I am well aware. …Anyway, from what I’ve heard, Major General Oscar’s unit is pursuing some sort of incident.” “…” Mayer’s silence acted as an answer and the other man seemed to pick up on what this meant. “Well, based on the assumption that you are, I believe what you are looking for is on my land.” “Is that so?” “And it is accompanied by two people.” … I see. Mayer realized what exactly was going on, so he spoke quickly. “Understood. That has nothing to do with us, but it may be of interest to someone. I will track them down and contact them, so please invite those two people in as a guest for the next few days.” “Understood. I will.” “Sorry about the trouble.” “No, not at all. …And one other thing.” “Yes?” “If something happens, I would prefer if you did not tell my family that I was the one to call you. Could you keep that a secret?” “Eh? Yes, we can…but why? If these guests turn out to be important, you would be richly rewarded.” “No, I’d much rather not be. …And I don’t need any more riches anyway.” Mayer detected hesitation in the man’s voice, but there was no need to look into it further. “I see. Then if it comes to it, we will reward you in another way.” “Thank you very much. And I hope you will continue to use our products in the future.” The man’s tone completely changed in an instant. … That’s a merchant for you. With that thought, Mayer lowered his head toward the telephone again. “Thank you very much.” “No, thank you. …And please come quickly.” With that, he hung up. Mayer held his breath as he set down the receiver and he looked out the window again. He was on the fifth and highest floor of Berlin’s air force base, so he could see the nightscape of Berlin through the glass. The Breuer home was about eight kilometers southeast of the base. “Is that you, Walter, teacher?” His expression grew even tenser as he muttered that question. He wanted to run out there right away to check, but Oscar had yet to return and he was too young to give orders of his own. “I can’t believe this.” His voice sounded troubled and yet somehow happy. “Why are those two like that?” His bitterly smiling eyes stared out into the night. Somewhere in those scattered specks of light were the people he sought. ### 037. Part 4 Six long aerial aircraft carriers floated in the sky above a sea of clouds. They were the Bladlikburg and others of the same model. Their designations were Bladlikburg Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier, Fünf, and Sechs. They were almost identical and were shaped like long panels. The bridge was a glass-covered basket attached on the bottom to give a view of the area below. This was the opposite of a normal ship or aircraft, but the upper deck had to be flat so the aircraft could take off or land. Currently, a man looked down on the sea of clouds from the front window of Eins’s bridge. It was Oscar. He pressed the communication intercom to his ear and frowned. “You ran across him, but he ran away? And he has entered the Breuer family’s land?” He thought about what to do and instantly made up his mind. “Okay. You have permission to pursue. But you come up here, Mayer. Only you can properly pilot the new craft.” He took a breath. “We cannot let them complete that ship.” And… “The Tempelhof Airport should be closest. We will also descend, so we should arrive in less than fifteen minutes. Hurry.” After emphasizing that, he ended the communication. … The fate of the military…no, of Germany itself is dependent on a single ship. He smiled bitterly. Germany had regained its economic footing in the first half of the twenties. In the thirties, a man rumored to be a madman had taken political control. Ever since, the nation had completely ignored the disarmament promised in the Treaty of Versailles and they had encouraged military expansion. If Germany gained the dp-XXX’s technology, another great war was bound to begin. If Oscar’s estimation was correct, the dp-XXX could singlehandedly destroy Air Force Division 5 aka Eisen Vogel that he commanded. The information retrieved from the destroyed Wagner Laboratory had supported that estimation. And if that craft flew into space, the problem would spread beyond the nation of Germany. Country after country would target the dp-XXX. … And that will lead to a war centered on this country! He could not allow that to happen. The dp-XXX was an unmistakably dangerous ship. However, he had another thought as well. … What if we could properly use its abilities? If so, Germany would most likely lead the world. America had invented the spirit engine and they now nearly ruled the world economy as the world’s greatest automobile producer. From that perspective, Germany needed the dp-XXX’s technology. Which view was correct? He did not know. Until he had seen the dp-XXX’s ability for himself, he had thought they could simply destroy it. He had thought it was a threat to the country that would only make the top brass of the military happy. But it had displayed more power than he had ever imagined. It was entirely different from the current technology and he had sensed the future in it. He had seen many new weapons on the battlefield, so he knew to trust that feeling. It could not be allowed to exist, but it would be such a shame to lose it. … What should we do? He thought. He did not have time to hesitate. The battle would begin in just a few minutes. He knew what he had to do: keep Germany from going to war or getting drawn into a war. And for that, he had to rethink what the purpose of the military was. A sudden thought occurred to him. … The military is meant to protect the nation. With that thought, he made a breakthrough. He immediately came to a decision. … We will hold the dp-XXX here and hide it until the time comes! That was it. That was the only possible answer. Strength filled his gaze and he barked orders. “Transfer the crew of artillery aircraft carriers Zwei and Fünf to other ships! If this comes to a fight, the dp-XXX will use its Panzer Emblem. Tell them to leave nothing but a unit of men prepared to die!” A plan formed in his mind. Most likely either Bladlikburg Zwei or Fünf would be sunk, but he would be happy if they could limit it to just that. “Once that is complete, all ships are to descend at full speed! The battle begins!” ### 038. Part 4 Oscar confirmed a certain fact. … We can’t win using normal methods. Most likely, the dp-XXX’s attack power was on the level of a battleship and its mobility was greater than that of a fighter craft. On top of that, it had no restrictions to its movements. The absurd actions captured by his binoculars were proof enough of that. A formation of eight Soldat descended to surround the enemy. The dp-XXX suddenly split into two. This was an illusion technique created by a weapon known as a Phantom. One of the ships accelerated upwards while the other accelerated downwards. The eight fighter craft hesitated. If one of them was being used as a decoy, the one escaping down below would be the real one. In an instant, the formation passed by the rising dp-XXX. That settled it. The descending dp-XXX vanished. “!” The rising one rolled onto its back and light gathered in its four field emitters. Oscar recognized that light. It was the light of a battleship weapon. “It can even use Kunst!?” Four bullets of light shot from the dp-XXX and to the formation below. The four afterimages of light quickly drew a shape in the sky. The shape was known as a Circle Emblem and it was created by lining up normal emblems in a circle. As soon as the emblem took form, great darkness filled a space one hundred meters across. But this was no mere darkness. The scenery around it seemed to bend. It was a mass of high gravity. Oscar had never actually seen this phenomenon before. He had only ever read of it in legends. God was said to have used that technique when transforming the earth as he liked. “The Finster gravity spell.” The eight Soldat were unable to avoid the darkness and crashed into it. Eight red flowers bloomed on the top of the darkness. Eight metallic rumbles followed. The giant mass of gravity vanished as if satisfied with the destruction of the enemy. The reflected shards of the Soldat floated in empty air a bit before falling. … The Soldat are no match for it. Just as Oscar frowned at the battlefield below, a new direction filled that battlefield. The dp-XXX was ascending right toward him. He shuddered as he briefly thought he sensed the intent to kill. But he gathered strength in his gut again. … We cannot afford to lose! “Have Zwei and Fünf’s guns target the dp-XXX. All remaining Soldat are to descend to Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport! We will settle this with shellfire!” “Understood!” “If you see an opportunity, send out Mayer’s new model! Prepare it for takeoff!” Strength filled his eyes as he barked orders. The dp-XXX was still slowly rising. ### 039. Part 4 A forest known as the Grunewald Forest was located on the northwest outskirts of Berlin. The Breuer Company’s aircraft repair factory had been built inside it. It was an old building. It had gone almost entirely unused since the Breuer Company had left the aircraft production industry. Even past eight at night, an old man in a work outfit remained in the factory’s office. He seemed to live there. The office table contained stacked dishes from dinner, half-eaten käse , and the knife used to eat it. His legs were resting up on the table and his arms were crossed behind his head. “There’s nothing to do around here,” he muttered leisurely. “And there used to be so much going on.” Ever since Hiram Maxim’s first successful flight in 1894, airplanes had become an industry of their own. Business had slowed at one point, but ironically, it was a world war that had truly expanded the airplane market. Immediately after the war, the industry had only targeted the wealthy, but airplanes had later become a much more household means of transportation. However, that prosperity had not lasted long. A mere three years after the Breuer Company had shifted from the defense industry to the aircraft industry, a certain accident had occurred. That was fifteen years ago. “If that hadn’t happened, people wouldn’t fear flying through the skies.” Currently, flight had become the exclusive realm of shipping along air routes and the military. Airplanes were much less safe than cars or boats. The incident fifteen years before had been powerful enough to place that fear in everyone’s hearts. From that day onward, the civilian aircraft market had declined. … In the old days… He scratched his thinning hair. “There was always the roar of engines coming from the airfield.” As soon as he forced a smile, the factory shook from a powerful blast of wind. A roar reverberated through his body as if some great mass was pressing down on him. The unpleasant creaking unique to old buildings reached him and his tilted chair almost fell backwards. “!?” … Was that an aircraft? He frantically stood from the chair, thought for a moment, and corrected himself. It could not have been an aircraft. If it had been one, he would have heard the loud sound of a rocket or jet being fired. “Was it just a gust of wind?” he muttered. He sat back down and reached for the käse and knife on the table. The office door burst open and a gust of wind blew in. “Old Man Metz!” The gust of wind was joined by a familiar voice and a familiar form. It was Else. “E-Else!? What are you doing out when it’s so cold!?” The girl used to visit the factory for fun, but now she approached the old man without responding or closing the door. She moved quickly and she snatched the knife and käse from his hand. “Old Man Metz. No, Breuer Company Aircraft Factory Manager Steinmetz. I want help repairing a ship.” She spoke quietly, ate the käse in her hand, and took a breath. Her shoulders fell and the old man, Steinmetz, spoke. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He sounded somewhat taken aback and Else seemed to understand why that would be. “Well, Old Man Metz. I need you to understand.” She pointed at the old man’s face. And she used the hand holding the knife. “Hyah!” Steinmetz leaned back in surprise and his chair fell backwards. “Oh, whoops.” Else set down the knife and helped the man up. “Else, what is going on? When you say a ship…do you mean an aircraft?” “No.” “Then what do you mean?” he asked while brushing off his butt. “A spaceship.” The old man could not contain his laughter at that unexpected answer. “Pfa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Now that’s a bad joke, Else! Like I can believe that!” “Then look at this!” Else walked over to the dew-covered window and threw it open. A mass of metal sat outside. “!” Else turned around and clenched her fist with her back to what looked like a collection of steel organs. It almost looked like a wall sitting outside the window. “I’m going to fly to space in this ship!” She faced the old man with the winter night’s wind on her back. Steinmetz was at a loss for words. He had stopped laughing. He had thought this was a young girl’s joke, but before he could make sense of anything, he had been shown this mass of steel. The intensity of this fact complicated his thoughts. When had something so large landed? Why was Else talking about going to space? How was he supposed to react? “Ah…” He tried to say something and forcibly calm himself, but it did not work. The beating of his heart only grew faster as Else stared directly at him. Her gaze was telling him to believe in the facts before his eyes. “You mean…” Sweat ran down his brow. Even with the cold winter air blowing in through the open door and window, he was sweating. That was how tense he was. He gulped a little and moved his lips. “What are you trying to do?” He barely managed to squeeze out that question and he looked away from Else. He instead looked at the ship outside the window. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. Else spoke calmly to him. “There was an aerial battle over Berlin today, right?” She quickly explained what had happened. “And this is the ship that held its own against the air force.” Steinmetz focused on the mass of metal outside the window. “Else, I’m going to ask again. You aren’t joking about this, are you?” “What do you mean?” “You really are…well, going to space with this?” “Yes, of course. Only an idiot wouldn’t go if they had the means.” “Are you serious?” Else nodded. “I am.” Her tone was light, but her expression was serious. The fact that she said nothing more prevented him from investigating further. “…” He sighed and looked out the window again. “I see,” he muttered. “I don’t really understand, but you can reach space in that ship, can you?” “Yes.” “And you’re asking me to fix it?” “Yes. You’re the only person who can do it.” “You’re overestimating me.” His voice was filled with resignation, but his lips were smiling. Else could not help but smile as well. Suddenly, his eyes stopped on her expression. “What is it?” “Just a little thing. More importantly, Else, have you told your father?” “I was about to go do that.” Her expression stiffened a little. She pulled a black communicator from her coat pocket and held it out. After a moment, he took it. “What is this?” “The ship will carry out simple actions if you give it orders with this. It’s pretty smart.” “So it has voice recognition? That’s pretty amazing.” He stared at the Kaiserburg. “The times have changed.” “Times don’t just change.” “What?’ “We have to change them.” Else closed the window. “Can you do it?” she asked. “Not on my own. I’ll need three more people and one of them has to be an emblem engineer.” “Okay. Got it.” “Now hurry to your father. Get the permission to use some engineers and to do what you’re trying to do.” She gave a powerful nod. “I’m on my way.” With that, she turned around and ran from the office. The old man smiled bitterly as he watched her go. “How is Gaston going to greet her?” ### 040. Part 4 At 10:07 AM, the Bladlikburg was silent, but it was not peaceful. It was simply unable to move after losing track of the dp-XXX the night before last. The bridge was filled with the sounds of normal work and communications conversations, but no actions stood out. Surrounded by that unnerving stillness, Oscar frowned in front of the phone on the wall. “Are you saying not even the truth serum was any use?” It took a several seconds to receive an answer and he sighed as he listened to it. “Do not let it get to you. They are scholars who are used to long nights. Their level of focus is on a different level from ours. Show them our true strength that does not rely on such things.” The person on the other end must have expressed their understanding because he asked a businesslike question. “You understand, don’t you?” He took a breath. “Do not force yourself too much.” After a quick word of confirmation, he set down the receiver. “What is it?” asked someone behind him. He turned toward it and found Mayer holding a pile of documents. “Did those two do something again?” He sounded a little amused as he asked. “They are a troublesome bunch,” replied Oscar. “They probably see you as the troublesome one.” “Do not be ridiculous.” “Yes, sir. I should not have said that.” “…But I have no choice but to do this.” “What?” Mayer did not seem to have heard the other man’s muttered words, but Oscar did not mind. “More importantly, how are you doing?” “Oh. Yes, sir. I have now tested the Flammen Ritter’s weapons under all circumstances: low altitude, normal altitude, high altitude, extremely high altitude, with and without an angle of elevation, in the early morning moon, and in the wind resistance of movement. I have the report on the results here.” “Excellent work.” “It wasn’t all that much. The results are as follows: the error in field emitter targeting during sudden turns is only 0.2 degrees and the prototype Panzer Emblem activated properly. It is much more stable than the previous fighter craft.” “Can you defeat the dp-XXX?” The young officer thought for a moment with the report in hand. “As the dp-XXX is now…” He hesitated, looked up, and spoke. “I most likely can.” “As it is now?” “Yes, sir. In other words, I can defeat the dp-XXX as it was when we captured it.” “What do you mean by that?” “Based on the battle records, its current form is only made for long-range combat. Its greatest advantage in long-range combat is its warship-level firepower and its mobility that exceeds that of a fighter craft.” “I see.” “But I believe the Flammen Ritter’s acceleration is equal to or even greater than the dp-XXX’s. If I attack that ship that has no close-range ability…” “You can use that acceleration to fly right up to it?” Mayer nodded. “Correct. It takes a short time for its Kunst to activate, so it cannot use it for a one-on-one battle. And I can use my Schwert to cut through the Kugel it fires. All I have to do is charge right in.” “That is easier said than done.” “Yes, but that is the only way to win. I would not have stood a chance against its close-range combat form from before it evolved, but there is an opening now.” “…” “What do you think?” Oscar looked into Mayer’s eyes as the young man asked. There was strength in those eyes that had not been present before. And so he nodded. “I will leave this to you.” There was a somewhat cheerful tone to his voice. ### 041. Part 4 At 3:12 PM, the Kaiserburg glided approximately four hundred meters above Berlin. The cockpit door was open. “Welcome back,” said Else as she stood from the pilot’s seat. When she turned around, she just about cried out. Paul was supporting Walter who was covered in blood. “A-are you okay?” Walter smiled. “Let’s just say I’m almost okay.” He spoke in a jocular tone, but he did not actually say he was okay. It must have been a serious injury. “What happened? Was it my bombardment?” “Don’t worry. His wound just reopened from the difference in air pressure and the pressure of the wind as he fell. It wasn’t your fault.” “Either way, this was our only choice. …More importantly, Else, thanks.” “I didn’t do all that much… And this isn’t the time! We need to treat your wound!” “This is the battlefield,” said the young man as he wiped splattered blood from his cheek. She sighed, approached him, and checked his right arm. It was still bleeding, but it looked like it would stop before long. She was more worried by how limply the arm was hanging at his side. “Walter, don’t tell me…” “Yeah, it’s broken. The bullet got me pretty good.” Else had a thought while looking up at him. … Does he not feel any pain? She mentally shook her head to reject that thought. It had to hurt. He was just not letting anyone else know about it. … Why? She had a hunch. Someone pursuing his dream could not show any weakness. Even if he wanted help, he would not let anyone reach out to him. With that in mind, she said one thing. “I’ll tie off the wound real quick.” He looked troubled by that. “But the enemy fighters should be approaching already.” She slapped the face that said that. It made a surprisingly satisfying sound. Paul gave a joking whistle while supporting Walter. She looked straight up at Walter. “This ship is filled with delicate machinery, so I don’t want to get blood all over it.” She gave a blatant lie and reached for the right sleeve of his lab coat and work outfit. Once she touched them, she realized the inside of the work outfit’s sleeve had become a wet rag. Ignoring how much she was dirtying her hand, she started by rolling the lab coat up to his upper arm. “Mister, get to the pilot’s seat. Enemy fighters might be coming.” “Sure, sure.” Paul sounded oddly happy about that and he patted Walter’s shoulder before moving to the pilot’s seat. Walter smiled bitterly at the touch on the shoulder. Else thought for just a moment and rolled up the work outfit sleeve as well. His arm was exposed and she could see the red oil-like blood covering it. She saw the wound, rolled the sleeve up further, and stopped at the elbow. “Is that too tight?” “You’re trying to stop the blood, so it’s perfect.” … Good. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his arm. “I wish I had a splint. …Should I make a sling?” “I can rest the arm on the armrest, so don’t bother.” It still had to hurt quite a bit and Else carefully tied the handkerchief around the wound. “That should do it.” She stepped away from him and finally looked at his face. He scratched his head with his other hand. “Else.” “What?” “I’d only ever been slapped by a woman once and I was kind of proud of that fact.” “Who was the first? If you say your mother, you’re about to get a third.” He thought for a moment before answering. “Try not to make it hurt too much, okay?” She slapped his opposite cheek before he had even finished speaking. This one sounded nice too. “Enough nonsense. Just get to your post. Honestly.” She looked at his face and saw blood on the handprint from her slap. … Ah. She realized her hand was covered in blood. It was drying and her fingerprints stood out. She sighed. “Do you have anything to wipe the blood up with?” “I always wipe my hands on the bottom of my lab coat.” “Please don’t say that so seriously.” She had no choice but to grab the bag she had left in Walter’s seat. She pulled a towel out and belatedly realized she could have used it on Walter’s arm. “Stick your face this way.” “…Are you going to slap me again?” “What has you so scared? Now stick your face over here or I really will.” He crouched down and leaned forward as she had asked. “Good boy.” She spoke as if to a pet and wiped the blood from his cheek. “There. That should do it.” “Am I back to my handsome self?” “You? Handsome?” “…I’m never asking you anything again.” He frowned, passed by her, and sat in the gunner seat. He used his left hand to place his right arm on the armrest, opened his right hand, and grabbed the sphere for the field emitter. Then he turned back toward her. “This seat is shaped a little different from before.” “I increased its range of transformation so I could sit in it. I also modified the voice recognition system a bit.” She pulled the communicator from her pocket and handed it to him. He extended his left hand and took it. “How much can we use it now?” “It should be a bit smarter than before.” “I see.” He faced forward and gave a single command. “Sit.” The Kaiserburg did not respond. “This thing isn’t smarter at all, Else.” “Are you sure it doesn’t try to match the intelligence of its user?” “Hm, you may be right. So when I use it, it’ll only accept a complicated, intellectual, and highly refined command.” “Are you sure you didn’t take a bullet to the head too?” “How rude. I’ve always been like this.” “Hey, you two. This is no time for saying stupid things.” “I was not saying stupid things.” “Neither was I.” “Shut up!” shouted Paul as he slammed a fist down on his armrest. “Try to be a little quieter. The enemy’s here and they’re trying to charge in at us all at once.” Sure enough, several contrails raced across the sky toward them. Else frantically sat in the seat with the navigation equipment. The enemy fighters appeared as dots of light on the radar. “Wow… There’s a whole army of them!” “Don’t say there’s an army! Give us some numbers! Can you not count above three!?” “That’s right, Else. Instead of calling this an army, call it a spectacular catch.” “Shut up, both of you. None of them stand a chance, so what does it matter? We only have to worry about that black one, right?” Was that fighter coming? Was Mayer coming? … If he is, we can have our battle. With that thought, she fastened her seatbelt. The battle was truly beginning. ### 042. Part 5 Forty minutes later, the spaceship’s carbon dioxide reached its maximum density and began to reduce. Two hours later, both the carbon dioxide and oxygen reached zero. In other words, it was a vacuum. Another five hours later, the Wilhelm 2 reached lunar orbit as predicted and it began a semi-permanent orbit there. After the accident was made public, astronomers began referring to the Wilhelm 2 orbiting the moon as Huber’s Treasure Island. There were a number of theories as to where that name came from, but the most likely one said it was a reference to Huber’s final words about a treasure. At the time, what had people thought when they looked through their telescopes and saw that artificial satellite orbiting the moon? From then, many different nations gave up on reaching space. Germany had lost a war and yet possessed the world’s most advanced ultra-high altitude technology, including rocket propulsion engineering. Nevertheless, they had failed. For that reason, the world realized they were too inexperienced and so gave up on space. That was the exact opposite of what Huber had hoped for. And from there, the story shifts fifteen years into the future. ### 043. Part 5 The bicycle raced through the forest. The mansion was not far away now. The noise coming from behind was their pursuers. “They sure are persistent. Doesn’t this count as trespassing?” asked Else while looking worriedly back. “We trespassed with the Kaiserburg too.” “What you did was landing or crashing, not trespassing.” She raised her head just as they left the forest. Her vision opened up and she saw a yard the size of a plaza. There was a giant mansion beyond it and a sword-like metal ship floated in front of it. “…!” The Kaiserburg’s nose was pointed their way. It moved forward as if someone had given it a light push. Meanwhile, the bicycle slowed to a stop and the two stepped off of it. The Kaiserburg slid gently through the air and stopped in front of them. There was no instability in its movements and it was no longer struggling to remain afloat like it had that morning. Even Else could tell the ship could fly. She watched it in silence. … Thank goodness! Walter glanced over his shoulder at her. “Hmm. Looks like the emblem worked. Good, good.” “…” “Else?” “Eh?” “Why do you look so nervous?” “I-I’m not exactly nervous…” “It’s thanks to you we got it running. You should be a little happier.” … I am happy! But that was why she could not speak. Even she felt her role had been too simple. She had only opened the book to the entry Walter had indicated and recited the most powerful emblem to Paul. Walter could have done it if she had not been there. Even so, she had been the one to actually do it. It may have been indirect, but it really was thanks to her that the only ship trying to reach space could fly once more. Her pulse began to race. “…” The man in front of her turned toward her with his usual smile. She smiled back. “Isn’t this great?” she asked. “It is. We can fly again.” He sounded almost embarrassed as he answered. At the very least, he was experiencing the same joy she had felt. And it was an ordinary experience for him. He also had the ridiculous goal of reaching space. No normal person would be willing to clash with the military for their goal. He and Paul were betting their own lives on this ship and a chance to reach space. She had nothing like that. Not only did she not have a physical representation like the Kaiserburg, but she had nothing in her heart either. … What is this? Am I jealous? Just as she wondered that… “Else! Move away from that ship!” Her gaze turned to a deep voice and she saw Gaston rushing out of the mansion. He pointed behind Else and Walter. Without even turning around, she knew what that meant: the military was entering the yard. She heard something whiz by and sparks flew from the Kaiserburg’s outer paneling. The gunshot reached her a moment later. If one bullet had flown, more would be coming. Sure enough, more and more sparks blossomed like flowers and the sounds of gunfire joined them. “…!” The tail end of the Kaiserburg slid to the side and formed a wall in front of Walter and Else. “Else! Hurry over here! It’s dangerous out there!” “You’re the one that made it so dangerous!” She knew those words would shut him up. … If it makes you feel so guilty, don’t do it in the first place. An amplified voice from the forest drowned out the gunfire. “You piloting the ship and you two hiding behind it! Surrender immediately!” “ ‘You two’? Does he mean Else and me?” “Seems that way.” “Hmm. This misunderstanding is quite interesting indeed. Are you going to surrender?” “Why do I have to surrender in front of my own house? I’d rather hole up in the house.” “A decent opinion, but we have the Kaiserburg here. The correct options are to escape or fight back.” “Hey! Else! What are you doing!?” She saw Gaston shouting while hiding behind the mansion’s door. “What are you doing, dad! Have some shame.” “Sh-shut up! The bullets are flying over here too!” She could indeed see a few broken windows and it did not seem the military was trying very hard to aim. It was quite a commotion. Else thought for just a moment. … What should I do? But a moment later, the distant amplified voice shouted at them again. “Hey! You two hiding there! Hurry up and surrender!” She frowned and turned to Walter. He was looking at her with a similar expression. “Hey, Walter.” “Yes?” “Am I part of your group?” Walter tilted his head at that question. “Based on the situation, that’s definitely a valid way of looking at it. …Hm.” After a short pause, he clapped his hands and changed his expression. “Okay. How about you join us on the Kaiserburg?” She had not expected him to say that. “Eh!? Ah, wait! Really?” “If we left you here, you’d be arrested by the military.” “But isn’t that ship important to you two?” “But you helped us get it flying again.” “…!” She looked taken aback and he smiled bitterly. “You’ll probably have fun if you do. And if you don’t, we can always drop you off somewhere or other.” His tone almost seemed to be testing her. It may have only been in her mind, but she felt like he was asking if she could keep up with them. And so she nodded. There was something she wanted to know. … Why are you so intent on going to space? I want to know. She knew this young man would not tell her if she simply asked. He looked her in the eye and gave his usual grin. “Well, if you force yourself to keep up with me, you’ll end up regretting it.” “Why?” “Because I dream big.” He turned his back on her and stepped up on the side of the Kaiserburg. He then turned his head to look back. “How about I show you just how amazing and frightening that dream is?” “Please do.” She smiled just like he was and nodded. She felt like flying through the sky would answer all of her past questions. ### 044. Part 5 Two ships of the Bladlikburg fleet moved forward and they continually fired red hot Bogen. The Kaiserburg had been waiting until it was closer to fire its Finster Kunst, but it did so now as a barrier. The emblem was instantly drawn in the sky and became a giant sphere of gravity. The Bogen could be heard bursting on the other side of the gravity sphere. Aboard the Kaiserburg, Walter scratched his head in the gunner’s seat. “Ahh, ahh. What a shame. It takes time, skill, and motivation to fire a Kunst.” “I don’t think motivation has anything to do with it.” “So what are we going to do? Run away?” “If we run here, they’ll just pursue us again. I’d like to settle it here.” Walter sounded confident, but Else did not see how they could fight any more than this. They were currently only avoiding or hiding from the enemy attack. Once they left the shelter of the gravity sphere, they would be hit by concentrated fire and the gravity sphere would eventually vanish on its own. She heard several loud noises beyond the gravity sphere. They reverberated in her gut and sounded like splitting stone. A few shots seemed to have missed their mark and fallen to Berlin. “Hmm. This is a problem. I don’t want the military to destroy Berlin like this.” “Oh? You can be surprisingly reasonable sometimes, Walter.” “Of course I can. If it was me, I’d find a more artistic way to destroy the city.” “Do you have any idea what you’re saying?” “C’mon, Else. Is there anything more beautiful than wanting it all to yourself?” He may not have been all that wrong. Else found herself looking up toward the heavens, but… “Hey, Walter. The Kunst is about to disappear.” “That isn’t good. Should I fire another one?” “That wouldn’t change our situation in the long run and the third engine isn’t showing any sign of running.” That meant they would not reach the next evolution doing this. After a short silence, Paul spoke. “Walter, let’s try out the Panzer Emblem. We have a perfect target in front of us.” “That would be best, given the situation.” “Eh? What are you two doing?” “Quiet, young lady. And stay seated.” After Paul’s comment, the Kaiserburg moved back a little. “Once the Kunst vanishes, we’re going to activate the Panzer Emblem, break through one of the big ones, correct our lowered power output, and then escape.” “C’mon, let’s go all out.” Walter sat back in his seat, quickly moved some of the controls in front of the seat, and then hit the control panel. Else heard something fit into place. He began hitting and stroking the four metal spheres on his armrests with a set rhythm. Similarly, Paul moved the control stick. “dp-XXX Kaiserburg Form Two – Eiskalt Königin. Activating Panzer Emblem,” muttered Walter. “Professor, I’m going to sync the power release and ether release in five seconds.” The sound of the Bogen striking the barrier shook the ship. “Understood. Panzer Emblem Form Two – Eiskalt Engel. Activation preparations…complete.” Paul’s words coincided with the Finster Kunst barrier vanishing. The blue sky opened up before their eyes. But that sky was obstructed by the next Bogen flying in from the Bladlikburg. They were fast. “Now, then.” As she watched the flaming shells approach, Else heard Walter take a breath. “Here we go!” She felt a sudden lurch. She could not even comprehend the instant that they began to fly. “Kyah!” An impact seemed to throw her backwards and the acceleration was great enough to sweep her short hair backwards. This was likely the first inertia she had felt from the Kaiserburg’s movements. They were racing along. The sky outside the cockpit window seemed to be blowing backwards. Light reflected from her eyes that she somehow managed to keep open. That light was entering through the window because the entire ship was glowing. … Is that ether? The emblems carved into the ship’s outer paneling were gathering ether from the air and forming a powerful field. Ether was the element that made up all things and the arrangement of the emblem was using ether to create a certain form. What could be seen as fire, ice, lightning, or weight wrapped around the ship, materialized, and turned the ship into a giant bullet. This was a Panzer Emblem. The Bogen flying their way collided with the glowing ether armor and were destroyed in an instant. They did not even produce any noise. … ! They accelerated further and she heard Paul speak. “We’ve reached Form 2’s estimated maximum propulsion of 9.3 times gravitational acceleration! We’re going to hit!” Else saw a large mass of metal. Before she could recognize it as a Bladlikburg, they collided with it. At that moment, Else was not watching the radar in front of her. If she had, she would have seen a single dot of light rapidly approaching the Kaiserburg. ### 045. Part 5 It was past nine as Gaston and Mayer walked down a hallway in the former’s mansion. “I apologize for the lack of hospitality.” “No, we are the ones who failed to show any courtesy.” “No, no. Compared to my daughter…” “Your daughter?” Gaston looked surprised. “Oh, she is out right now.” “Is that so?” There was no real question in Mayer’s tone. Gaston sighed. “I’m not sure what to do with my daughter. She runs around enjoying herself every day and causes me nothing but trouble.” “What’s wrong with that? She sounds like a cheerful person.” “She’s less cheerful and more…” Gaston trailed off. “What is it?” “Nothing.” “?” “It’s sad how rarely I see her smile.” He smiled bitterly. The only time he had seen a surprisingly large smile on Else’s face was when she had boarded that ship. He asked the young man a question. “Mr. Schrier, what do you think? I believe people must set aside all ridiculous things once they grow up.” The young man’s expression remained calm. “I was treating her as an adult. At twenty, all that remains is to prepare for entering society. She should have matured by now.” “…” Gaston stopped in front of the main entrance. “And yet she got herself involved in some nonsense and smiled as she did so.” Mayer also stopped and quietly listened to Gaston. “But why did I tremble when I saw that smile?” Gaston roughly brushed a hand through his hair. At the same moment, the door opened and a woman stepped inside. It was Else. “!” Gaston was dumbfounded and Mayer gave her a quick glance before nodding. “Okay, Mr. Breuer. I will take my leave now.” He reached for the door Else had opened. Else’s eyes followed him, but he did not respond. The door slowly closed and the outside air was cut off. Gaston and Else remained in complete silence. ### 046. Part 5 It was 12:51 PM. The factory’s office was surprisingly large. Six simple but large desks were lined up to form a rectangle and two old but large stoves were installed by the wall. The factory was cold during the winter. Else brushed a hand through her hair in front of the mirror near the office entrance. She had just gone to the trouble of washing her hair with the water heater in the break room and she was wiping the sweat from her body with a towel. She had needed to do that before changing in the office. Her work uniform was folded on top of one of the break room chairs. The lack of curtains on the window had bothered her when she had removed it, but the stoves had fogged up the window. “And I doubt anyone’s stupid enough to peep.” She sounded almost disappointed as she put on the stockings balled up in her hand and looked to the desk behind her. She had brought a change of clothes along with the submachine gun and other daily necessities. She unfolded the clothes and put on a blouse with puffy shoulders. Her damp hair caught on the hard collar. “Maybe I should get it cut again,” she muttered while looking back in the mirror. “Why isn’t there a mirror big enough to see my entire body?” … Well, I guess there wouldn’t be one in a factory. With that thought, she reached for the rest of the clothes on the table. They were all a sandy yellow color because that was the color worn by an explorer she had seen in an old magazine. “Now, then.” She grabbed the skirt first. The waist was long. It used two belts to keep it tight around the area from just below her chest to the bottom of her abdomen. She spread it out and suddenly remembered something. She recalled what Gaston often said to her when complaining. “ ‘You childish girl.’ ” … That may be true. She nodded. She was about to board a ship and pick a fight with the military. Having a skirt fluttering around as she did so would be careless. There were better and more functional outfits to wear into battle that would let her move more easily. But… “I am a woman. Why should I dress like I’m not?” That was right. She had not chosen this outfit because she was not taking this seriously or because she was joking around. She had chosen it and brought it with her because it was the outfit she thought fit her the best. “Don’t worry.” There was nothing to worry about and no reason to be nervous. Soon, she had to soar up into the sky and fight. The night before last, she had made a promise to the young man who had said he wanted to fight even as he hesitated. “We’ll be waiting for you up in the sky.” He had responded just before leaving. “I will definitely make it to where you all are.” She was certain they could both keep their promises. “This will settle it.” She nodded and put on the skirt. She put the two belts around her waist and stepped back. The mirror only showed her upper body, but she brought her waist into view by moving away and stretching upwards. She then tightened the belts. After retightening them two or three times, she took a breath. She slowly reached for the pocket of the shirt sitting on the table. “Can I do it right?” She tilted her head as she picked up the object in the pocket. It was pale lipstick. ### 047. Part 6 Gaston was entirely speechless. He clearly saw his own daughter boarding that ship. … What is going on!? For just an instant, she turned toward him and waved. She was smiling. It shocked him. The suspicion that she would never return began to spread through his heart. “Else!” He tried to run out from behind the door, but bullets were still flying. … What is the military thinking!? The soldiers formed up in the distance were scattering bullets wildly. It was enough of a commotion that the mansion’s servants were hiding in the cellar. Calling the police was meaningless when the military was the problem, so there was nothing to be done. … I will be using this as a bargaining chip later! With that in mind, he suddenly realized something. Else was nowhere to be seen. He could only see the floating mass of metal. … Else! He felt more panicked than he did angry. The men he had met yesterday had dreamed of going to space. They had claimed to have created a ship with a new kind of engine for that purpose. He had thought they were very childish. It was true that sort of atmosphere had filled the country fifteen years before. They had recovered from the war, they had been developing further, and they had been aiming for space, so Germany had been filled with excitement. But it had ended in failure. The people had realized it was too soon to pursue their dreams and they had pursued reality instead. Nevertheless, those two men still held onto their dreams. … I don’t get it. He simply could not understand why they were so intent on going to space. That was what made him panic. After all, his own daughter was going with them and she had smiled as she did so. “Else! I…!” That was the moment when shadows from the sky covered the mansion in darkness from right to left. It only took an instant. He saw a group of aircraft flying at extreme low altitude. “What!?” He heard a roar. These were the air force’s standard craft known as Eisen Soldat. A formation of them was flying above Berlin…no, above his mansion. Gaston saw this as an omen of the situation growing even further. And he realized his daughter would be flying right into the center of it. … Is there no way I can stop her? Is there nothing I can do!? “Else!” ### 048. Part 6 Just as the Kaiserburg prepared to activate its Panzer Emblem, Mayer sat in his cockpit with his eyes closed. The top and bottom of his fighter craft were attached vertically to the side of Bladlikburg Eins, so his position was similar to lying on his back with his legs curled up and his hands on the control stick. He had been piloting this new model ever since the prototype phase, so he was used to it and thought it was an excellent craft. It was most likely the only fighter craft that could take on the dp-XXX. “…” He had closed his eyes to contain his excitement. The men he knew had finally created the ideal ship they had dreamed of and were now fighting him and the military. He felt some small regret. He had attended college during the preparatory phase of entering the military, but the research and development of the dp-XXX had advanced so slowly that he had thought it would never end. He had even helped design the cockpit and wiring. However, he had not been there for its completion. He almost felt abandoned. Why had they not called him there to join them? … Was it because I’m in the military? “No.” Strength filled the inner ends of his eyebrows. … I would have declined even if they did call me there. He had a family, comrades, and a trustworthy commander. He could not abandon all that. It would be a shame to abandon them for a goal as ridiculous as going to space. … They would never invite someone with that kind of restriction. He sighed. At the same time, a voice reached him over the communicator. “Second Lieutenant Mayer! The dp-XXX is approaching and the Flammen Ritter will be launched in twelve seconds! Please get ready!” “Understood.” He answered and opened his eyes. He saw the deep blue sky. ### 049. Part 6 Else was the first to speak. She took a breath to calm herself first. “Dad.” Her voice resounded clearly through the entranceway. It was Gaston’s voice that drowned it out. “What have you been doing? Your disobedience is hardly new, but I cannot help you this time.” That was the usual line, but the exhaustion filling it was new. She must have noticed it because her expression changed slightly. With an odd stillness on her face, she asked him a question. “Would you believe me if I told you I was seriously thinking about going to space?” Her words left her father speechless. He had just realized how she had returned and what she was trying to do. “This is no time for jokes!” he emotionally shouted back. He then took a breath and relaxed his tensed shoulders. “Listen, Else. The man who once tried to go to space failed and became a star decorating the moon! No one has ever succeeded!” “I know that.” “Why would you do something that could kill you!?” “Because I believe I can do it.” “You just want to stand out! You can’t risk your life for something so ridiculous! And not just that! You’re troubling the military and spreading chaos through your country!” “What does the country or military have to do with this?” “Have you never thought about what it means for people to die!? You will be killing people who have nothing to do with this!” “Then why do you sell weapons!?” “…!” It was a sharp, painful statement. Gaston started to reply but stopped. He did have a reason to sell weapons: his daughter. But he could not say that here. If he did, it would include a dark meaning. … If Else wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have sold those deadly weapons. That was what it came down to. Anything he said would only sound like an excuse. He had no choice but to accept her next statement head-on. “Everyone does the same thing!” Gaston’s shoulders twitched as if from a spasm. He did not know what to say. At the same time, she began to move. She slowly lowered her hips, got down on one knee, and fixed the hem of her skirt. She placed one arm across her stomach, leaned forward, and bowed her head. Her action contained no hesitation. It was a prepared and perfected act. In noble etiquette, that was how a knight showed gratitude to his ruler, but the action was not even seen in royal palaces anymore. After a while, she raised her head. Her expression was calm and still. “I apologize for interrupting your busy schedule.” Her tone was relaxed and she did not stop. Unable to say anything, Gaston bit his lip and listened to his daughter’s voice. “It would seem I asked too much of you, but this is very important to me. Two people have bet their lives on this issue and it will help me decide what to do with my own life.” “…” “As president of the Breuer Company, please lend me some personnel. I beg you.” After that, she raised her head a little. “I honestly want to do this myself, but it seems you can’t reach space alone. I’m not just asking you. I want everyone’s help!” Hearing the uncontainable intensity in her voice, Gaston asked a reflexive question. “Do you think everyone will work for your sake?” “It isn’t for my sake! It’s for what I want to do! It’s for going to space!” “Mh…” He frowned at that. He had realized her desire was more than mere selfishness. His daughter was trying to lead others and accomplish a goal. He realized that action could also be expressed with the word “business”. However, realizing that fact meant accepting that Else was on the same level as him. It meant allowing her to leave him. … Can I really allow that now!? In order to hold her here and in order to test her, he asked one final question. “Are you saying you can sacrifice others just as I do?” Before answering, she stood and brought their eyes to equal height. “I simply believe in the possibility of reaching space. This is a challenge that includes the possibility of my own failure.” As she answered, she gave an unreliable and yet strong-willed smile. … Is she afraid? Someone who would sacrifice others had to keep in mind the possibility of their own demise. Gaston knew the transaction was completed by that principle. She was sacrificing others and herself in order to set a great number of people in motion and accomplish her own goal. She had a real goal now. If someone like that began to move, there was no stopping them. Just as Gaston had never stopped selling weapons no matter what Else had said. … I see. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. And he muttered the words of his resolve. “If I didn’t help you, you would go running elsewhere, wouldn’t you?” ### 050. Part 6 At 2:37 PM, a single soldier entered the interrogation room. Paul, Walter, and the interrogator who had already gotten to know them were inside, so there were now four people in the small room. The soldier looked at the other three and spoke. “What are you three doing?” The two prisoners were collapsed on the table sleeping and the interrogator was glaring at them with his arms crossed. The interrogator turned to the soldier. “These two are crazy.” “I can see that. No one normal could sleep in a situation like this.” “Not that! How can they sleep after we injected them with truth serum? Who was it that said scholars are the most intellectual of people!? Their focus or willpower or whatever you want to call it is on the level of a giant beast!” “Is that so?” The soldier did not seem to entirely understand, so he gave an arbitrary nod. “Then you should have used the kind of truth serum used for elephants.” “There’s no point. Do you know what they said before going to sleep? They said you can fight truth serum by focusing your mind and strengthening your will. That’s when they started focusing on sleeping.” “I see.” After another arbitrary nod, the soldier circled behind the sleeping men. “It doesn’t really matter, but I was ordered to send them into separate cells.” “Separate cells?” “Yes. It seems someone will be coming to rescue them, so the commander said we need to keep them separated.” “I see. Then…” “Don’t worry. The commander does not think you did anything wrong here.” “But…” “It’s fine. And you’re tired, aren’t you? You can’t interrogate them looking like that.” “I’m not… I am not tired.” “Saying that’s proof enough that you are. But can you help me carry them to their cells?” “Sure.” The interrogator stood and gently shook his weary head. “I’ll take the young one.” He moved behind Walter. “Are you sure you can manage?” “This isn’t much.” “But you seemed to be having a lot trouble with them.” “They are insane. I have no idea what they’re thinking.” “Really?” “They have no problem doing things hardened criminals wouldn’t do.” “Now you’re just trying to scare me.” “I’m serious. Honestly….” With that, he shook Walter’s shoulder. “Hey, wake up.” “Mh…” The young man’s eyebrows moved a bit. The interrogator grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up. “Are you awake yet?” The young scholar opened his narrowed eyes a little. “I’ve been staying up all night recently, so just five more minutes.” He closed his eyes and about collapsed back onto the desk. “Don’t go back to sleep!” The interrogator frantically stuck his hands beneath Walter’s arms to support him. As he did, one hand happened to slip inside the front of the young scholar’s lab coat. As soon as it did, Walter’s expression changed. His previously blank look grew distinct. The interrogator’s hand had touched the photograph in his coat’s inner pocket. “Don’t touch that!” His elbow shot up on reflex and smashed into the other man’s jaw. With a dull sound, the interrogator moved back from Walter and collapsed without even a chance to scream. He was clearly not getting up any time soon. He probably had no idea what had happened to him and his eyes closed from both the blow and his accumulated exhaustion. Walter stood, looked down at the man, and sighed. All of a sudden, he heard a gunshot. “!” Walter’s body lifted slightly into the air. He had been shot. This was similar to the events on the bridge. Back then, Oscar had placed a hand on his side arm, but things played out differently here. Oscar had realized Walter’s action was a misunderstanding, but this soldier had not. Walter slowly fell to his knees. And someone stood next to him. “You son of a bitch!” The soldier who had reflexively responded to the attack on his fellow soldier swore at Walter. The handgun he held was trembling ever so slightly. ### 051. Part 6 At 3:23 PM, the Flammen Ritter was still attached to the eighth connector on the Eins’s port side. Mayer stared into the sky from the cockpit. “Can’t they hurry up?” The sun would set before long and the moon’s effects would come into play. If he did not settle this before the moon came out, the Kaiserburg would almost certainly fly into space. “I can’t believe this.” When the Eisen Soldat had been launched, he had still been on the bridge with Oscar, so the damage to the Eins had delayed him. … I was careless. The commotion below seemed to have settled for the time being. Oscar had decided only this fighter could fight on even footing. It would come down to a one-on-one fight. … He has high expectations of me. That made him happy and he smiled bitterly when he realized how childish that was. He was enjoying this entire situation. That meant he had hoped for something like this. At the very least, he had not been forced into it and he had not been reluctantly dragged into it. He had wanted it himself. … Yes. “That’s right.” … There’s something I need to do. He closed his eyes. He had no goal. He could not truly say how much he could do. However, he was glad he could not say that. If he won here, he would aim even higher. If he lost, he would overcome that regret and still aim higher. He was prepared to keep doing that until the day he died. … How far can I go? He opened his eyes and saw the blue sky beyond the canopy. He suddenly reached out a hand and grabbed at the empty space with his glove-covered fingers. … I want to advance farther than anyone someday. As soon as he thought that, he received a transmission from the Bladlikburg. “Second Lieutenant Mayer, the Eins will have finished its preparations in about a minute.” “Understood. I’m ready when you are.” “Commander Oscar has a message. Do you want to hear it?” “I do.” The other man hesitated for just a moment, cleared his throat, and continued. “Believe in yourself.” “!” “That is all. Please wait just a little longer.” Mayer was so busy thinking about his commander that he completely forgot to respond. … He saw right through me. ### 052. Part 7 “This is surprisingly roomy.” This was her first time in the cockpit. It was four meters wide and across and two meters high, it contained two primary seats side by side, and it had a secondary seat behind them. Paul sat in the pilot seat on the right and Walter sat in the gunner seat on the left. “Else, you’re a passenger, so please sit in that seat. Can you watch the radar?” “You’re putting your passenger to work?” “You have to pay the fare somehow, so please take care of this. We’re shorthanded.” “That’s right. I had to do it all on my own before and it was not fun.” She listened to Paul’s teasing tone of voice while sitting in the chair that supported her down to the ankles. Once she sat down, the back automatically changed angle. “The back seems a little inadequate.” “Oh, sorry. I never thought a woman would be sitting there, so it’s probably a little tight in the butt. What is your hip measurement?” “Um, eighty-… Wait. What are you trying to get me to say!?” “Oh, c’mon. I’m only asking to know more about the ship and out of simple curiosity.” Meanwhile, Walter lightly tapped his seat’s armrests. With a metallic sound, the armrests rotated upside down. Else saw two palm-sized metal spheres embedded in them. They controlled the field emitters. When using the Schwert and Kugel divine spell weapons, he would rotate the spheres to determine their direction. “Walter, don’t use them too much. The output still isn’t at its best.” “Got it.” Walter’s tone hinted at a different mood from before. Else looked up at him. The back of his seat was in the way, but she felt like she knew what expression was on his face. “Okay, I’ve connected to the ship’s center of gravity. Professor, let’s get going.” “Good, good,” said Paul in an aged-sounding tone. “dp-XXX Kaiserburg Form One – Strahlen Ritter takes flight!” With a slight shaking, her vision quickly rose. “Eh?” They had ascended in an instant and she had not felt anything bearing down on her like she had expected. Since the ship flew by manipulating gravity, it must have been able to neutralize inertia too. She soon realized they had changed direction. It was strange how the ship did not tilt. … Wow. Light began to flash on the radar in front of her. The device reacted to the fields emitted by spirit stones. There were twelve dots on the screen. The gauge said the radar was scaled by a factor of thirty thousand, so each centimeter on the screen represented three hundred meters. The enemy was approaching fast. “Here they come! They’re directly ahead!” “I see them.” They had risen to about one hundred meters above Berlin. The forest around Else’s home was directly below. Beyond that was a group of stone-like buildings and the tops of brightly-painted housing complexes. Dark dots were floating above all that and white clouds trailed behind them. The thin clouds were created by the temperature difference between the air and the vacuum formed as they cut through the air. They were contrails. “Professor, I’m going to use two Schwert.” “Okay, I’ll send the power around in five seconds. Don’t forget that the weapons can only use thirty percent of their power.” After a short pause, Else saw something outside the cockpit window. It was light. The field emitters on the top and bottom of the ship were producing the divine sword of light known as a Schwert. “Why is the military trying to get in our way? They really aren’t very bright.” “But this ship has to be worth a lot. Sorry for thinking of it like a product, though.” “You wouldn’t be able to sell it anyway. Different groups would try to steal it and a war would break out,” calmly explained Paul. “Once we fly to space, the entire world will have its eye on us, but we don’t plan to give it to anyone. We’re thinking about letting it sink to the bottom of the ocean or something like that.” Else felt a chill. These two men simply wanted to go to space and they were prepared to vanish afterwards. “Professor, let’s go.” With that, Walter placed his hands on the armrests. The battle was about to begin. ### 053. Part 7 Oscar saw the newly evolved Panzer Emblem. It was an angel. It had grown giant white wings and they were the wings of a bird of prey. It resembled a white statue and it left a trail of light as it collided with the Bladlikburg Fünf aircraft carrier. The Fünf’s great hull was instantly dyed white. It had frozen. A moment later, the winged angel broke through the Fünf. The sound was quiet at first. It only resembled a stone breaking through glass. But a moment later, it grew to a great roar much like a waterfall being deflected. The giant aerial aircraft carrier crumbled. While wrapped in the angelic Panzer Emblem, the Kaiserburg had collided with and torn a hole through its center. The supposedly metal aircraft carrier crumbled like sand and fell apart around that hole. It had been struck by a mass of cold so great that even the metal froze over. Small fragments scattered through the sky. Behind it all, the Kaiserburg floated motionlessly. … What a monster! “Mayer! This is your chance! Go!” “Understood!” The speaker behind him produced Mayer’s voice. Not even a moment after the voice had vanished from the air, a shadow shot down next to the Kaiserburg. It moved too quickly to be seen. It was fast, but a white cloud clearly showed its path after the fact. “Nh!” After a short delay, the Bladlikburg Eins shook violently. The shockwave from the shadow breaking the sound barrier had struck it. Oscar watched the shadow even as the ship shook. “Did it hit!?” The hope in his shouted question was fulfilled. A glowing spear stabbed into the Kaiserburg as it floated in midair. ### 054. Part 7 The small interrogation room was surrounded by white walls with no windows. It only contained a metal door, a large table, and chairs. On one side, the interrogator sat with his arms crossed. On the other side, Walter and Paul sat in their chairs. The ropes binding them to the chairs had been removed once the dp-XXX had vanished into the darkness and not returned. “Hmm.” Walter groaned and looked up at the ceiling with his usual expression. “Ahh… It’s almost the 24th, isn’t it?” To add to the mental pressure, the interrogation room had no clock. Paul looked at Walter. “You can tell the time?” The question was relatively meaningless, but Walter nodded. “I inherited my father’s sense of time, so it’s perfect. Want me to tell you the time down to the seconds?” “Fine. What time is it now?” “December 23, 11:32 PM and 18 seconds. There’s no mistaking it.” The interrogator pulled a pocket watch from his uniform pocket. “That’s not even close, you fool. It’s 11:11 and 27 seconds.” Walter turned to Paul with a serious look. “See, professor? I got the time for you.” “Yes. Well done.” “Idiots really are easy to trick.” Walter’s tone seemed to finally clue the interrogator into what had happened. “What!?” He briefly grew pale, but his face was red with rage a moment alter. “Do you have any idea what position you are in here!?” “Do you? It would probably be a good idea to let us go sooner rather than later.” “That’s right. If you go home, you can help prepare for Weihnachts with your wife, whose personality is her only decent quality, and your kid, who excels in athletic ability and nothing else. A happy family sure is nice.” “ ‘Sure is nice’!? I could be living that kind of life if you two would hurry up and confess everything!” “Confess everything, you say?” Walter sighed. “Well, okay. Here’s everything about me: my height is 187 cm, my weight is 72 kg, my hobby is astronomy, my favorite food is rippchen , my favorite drink is moselwein , on Sundays I visit used book stores-…” “No one asked for any of that!” “But you did just now.” “That’s right. You’re contradicting yourself.” The two crossed their arms and nodded. The interrogator held his head and collapsed onto the table. “Are you okay? If you want someone to deliver the finishing blow, just ask.” “…I do not need that.” His voice was low and he slowly sat back up. “Oh, he can still move. Maybe we should’ve messed with him some more.” “Silence!” “…” “Not completely silent!” “You really are contradicting yourself.” “This guy really isn’t very smart. And he’s surprisingly weak-willed for an interrogator.” “This would happen to anyone who has to deal with you two!” After slowly standing up, the interrogator glared at the other two men. “I’m going to use the truth serum.” “On yourself? I suppose everyone is aware on some level of what they’ve done wrong. I’m willing to lend you my ear as you confess it all. But I will ask that you draw up a receipt.” “Walter, this guy has no sense of humor, so just stop.” “It’s cute when a woman does it. When she shouts ‘I can’t allow that!’ and beats you softly on the chest, it just makes you want to at least rub her head.” “ ‘At least’? Where else are you planning to rub her?” “We can leave that unsaid.” “Shut up!” The interrogator shouted and slammed his fist against the table. He glared at the other two with his face so red it looked like steam was going to rise from it. “You two!” “Yes?” “Don’t think you’ll get away with this! I’ll use truth serum, torture, or whatever it takes to get all the information you have!” “Don’t you think guys with too powerful a sense of duty are hard to deal with, Walter?” “I know what you mean. They shouldn’t get so heated up. And besides, if you’re announcing you’re going to do those things ahead of time, wouldn’t that mean you aren’t confident they’ll actually work?” “You two had better remember this.” “I wouldn’t have gone to university if I had a bad memory.” “Shut up! I’ll show you what I can do! Just you wait!” “Um, if this is going to take long, can you bring us some books or something to kill the time?” Before Walter had even finished speaking, the interrogator had vanished through the metal door. The door slammed shut behind him and they heard the lock click. Walter and Paul exchanged a glance. “He sure is short-tempered.” “We’ve been surrounded by people like that lately.” “Else’s probably having a hard time down below. Her father looked pretty stubborn.” “Her, hm?” Paul looked Walter in the eye. “What do you think?” “Are you asking if she’s my type?’ “No.” “I know, I know.” Walter nodded. “She will definitely return here with almost 100% certainty. I wouldn’t have left the Kaiserburg with her if I thought otherwise.” “You sound certain.” “Honest people like her…” He hesitated because he was unsure how to put it. “I guess you could say they’re never satisfied until they return what they’ve borrowed.” “Tell me what you really think.” Walter smiled at the hint of harshness in Paul’s voice. “Do I really have to when it’s so obvious? She’s the same as us. Once she takes the first step, she’ll break into a run, leap, and end up here.” His eyes faced straight forward as he said that. The look in them was filled with confidence. ### 055. Part 7 At 3:35 PM, Else saw a single unique dot appear on the radar. It approached much faster than the previous ones. Something resembling joy overpowered any fear of the unknown. “Here it is! That black fighter craft is approaching from the east-northeast on our right!” “Else, could you call it something other than ‘that black fighter craft’? That’s a pretty long name.” “That’s right. And mention the direction first.” “Shut up. Try to imagine what it’s like from my perspective.” “And you try to imagine what it’s like from ours.” “Hey, you two,” cut in Walter. “I see it. That’s it, isn’t it?” Else looked up and did indeed see a single contrail approaching from the right at tremendous speed. The enemy fighter showed up on the radar and the other dots began to move. “Huh? The small fries are running away.” “The sun’s about to set, so they must want to avoid losing control. Also…” “Also?” “Those Soldat can’t keep up with this battle.” Walter’s voice was filled with blatant joy and Paul sighed next to him. “We’ve got no choice. Let’s fly down into the city. We still don’t know how that weapon works.” “If you mean the Lanze, I have it.” She had kept the bullet in her pocket in case it could be some help. It was something like a good luck charm. Walter glanced her way. “Let me see it later.” “Sure.” Even as she spoke, her vision grew lower and building roofs grew up from below. The Kaiserburg had dived to fly through Berlin at extreme low altitude. The scenery rushed backwards at blinding speed. “W-wait! We’re gonna hit that! Wah!” A large white and rectangular building grew in front of her. She recognized it from somewhere, but she did not have time to dig through her memories. The white wall filled her vision. … Oh, no! An instant later, the Kaiserburg turned left at a right angle. It appeared to slide sideways as it flew just above the cars on the road. It was fast. … We avoided it? They had to have been moving three or four hundred kilometers an hour, so that had taken incredible piloting skill. Lines of apartments, stores, and other buildings flew by from left to right too quickly to see anything but their color. There was no time to watch them pass. “Look out!” “Don’t worry. We avoided the Zeughaus back there. Right, professor?” “Sorry, but I’m gonna hit this one.” “Eh?” Immediately afterwards, an impact reached them from the left and the view out the window briefly grew white. Something like dust filled the air outside. It was smoke. They had crashed into some kind of building. “Wah!” Else’s seatbelt dug painfully into her shoulder and she squeezed the armrests with all her might. A dull vibration ran from her butt and up her back. It refused to go away, so it had to have been a large building. Instead of a rumbling, the ship was surrounded by repeating sounds of splitting stone. What were obviously pieces of stone pillars flew by and almost struck the window. “Wah, wah, wah, wah! You’ve gone too far now!” “It’s not my fault – whoa, that was close! This was an accident!” “Hmm. This is a lot of fun.” After one final tremor, they broke through a giant wall. The Kaiserburg continued moving and pierced straight through the entire structure. The view outside the window quickly cleared and the city streets were visible once more. Their speed had only dropped a little and the people in the building probably had no idea what had hit it. “Don’t get carried away!” Else looked at the electric display showing the ship’s damage. Its overall surface temperature had risen because the external paneling’s emblems had activated to neutralize the impacts. … This thing’s sturdy. But her admiration was immediately followed by a realization. The building they had avoided had been the Zeughaus and they had moved left before hitting this building. That meant… “Wait! We just hit the University of Berlin, didn’t we!?” “Yeah, it really pains me to damage my alma mater.” “You didn’t just damage it! You downright destroyed it! And I’m still enrolled there!” “Shut up. It’s a national school, so it was built with my taxes. I can destroy it a bit if I want.” “What do you mean your taxes!? You just destroyed a hundred times more than you paid!” “Yeah, he’s got a long way to go. I would’ve destroyed 1500 times what I paid.” “You be quiet!” She looked down and found the dot for the fighter was almost right in front of them, but all the city apartments around kept them from seeing it out their window. “What can we do in this city!?” “The city actually works in our favor.” “Eh?” “That’s right. From what we’ve seen, that fighter is meant for close-range combat or mid-range when it uses that weird lance. All these obstacles will keep it from making quick attacks and flying off.” “In its current form, the Kaiserburg can fire four homing or guided shots at once. The obstacles don’t matter to us. Walter turned back with a smile. “Although I’m sure he’s thinking pretty much the same thing.” The enemy fighter was nearly right in front of them. ### 056. Part 8 Dogfights either ended in a single attack or after passing by the enemy. A fighter craft would fire Kugel or slice with Schwert either head on or while in pursuit. Giant warships mostly used shells so they could avoid accidental collisions, but craft like the Eisen Soldat primarily fought at close range. They had high mobility, so long-range attacks would not hit them and they could neutralize Kugel with their Schwert. One Soldat saw a fourth explosion blossom in the sky after another pilot was ejected with a white parachute. At this distance, the dp-XXX looked the size of a grain of rice. The ship slowed as if watching the dropping parachute. The Soldat received a transmission. “Eins 1 to Eins 2 and 3. Eins 4 and 6 will contact the enemy first. We will use an arrow formation. I’ll attack while you two cover for me.” Eins 2 nodded. “Understood.” He checked on Eins 3 to his right. Eins 1, their commander, was down below to complete the triangular formation. They had not broken the sound barrier, so he heard the roar enveloping the three of them. He saw two contrails form and draw an arc toward the dp-XXX from above. That would be Eins 4 and 6. The dp-XXX did not move. Eins 2 spoke to the neighboring craft. “Eins 3, what do you think of that ship?” “I’m not really sure. All I know is that it’s powerful.” “Even when it’s just floating there like that?” “Do you want to go up and poke a sleeping tiger?” Eins 3 had a point. The enemy ship appeared to just be floating, but it had already shot down more than ten of their craft. “We can’t let our guard down.” “Eins 2 and 3, this is Eins 1. Enough chatter. Let’s spread out.” “Understood.” As instructed, Eins 2 tilted his craft left. The roar of the craft slicing through the air filled his body as he moved away from Eins 3. The triangle grew larger. … Is this far enough? Once he had enough space to freely use his Schwert, he saw the others contact the enemy. Eins 4 and 6 shot toward the dp-XXX from above. The two craft rapidly descended toward the ship that almost seemed to be basking in the sun. Suddenly, the ship shot straight up. “!” It was on a collision course, so the descending craft corrected their courses to fly by the ship on either side. From his position, Eins 2 had no way of knowing which was Eins 4 and which was Eins 6. At any rate, the two drew their Schwert and tried to fly past the dp-XXX. … They’re going to hit! In that very instant, the giant ship suddenly moved in reverse. “What!?” A voice came from the communicator and the shout was filled with protest. It was only natural to protest. A ship flying straight up had suddenly changed course by ninety degrees as if it had been hit. And it rapidly came to a stop. An aircraft could not react to these movements. … This is ridiculous! “What kind of ship is this!?” The two craft fell defenselessly past the front of the dp-XXX and the ship swung its two Schwert up as if to strike them in the nose. Eins 2 saw the swords of light easily slice through the metal. With a sound much like splitting stone, the two fighter craft were transformed into four masses. The pilots ejected just before the craft collided with the air and exploded. Eins 2 had no time to sit idly by and watch. It was their turn next. His group of three had to take on that absurd ship now. … Can we beat it? As soon as he thought that, Eins 2 heard a voice that stifled the momentum of his thoughts. “Eins 1 here. I’m going to contact the enemy. Cover for me.” Strength gathered in his eyes and he saw Eins 1 move forward down below. The other craft was beginning its attack. As Eins 1 charged in below, Eins 2 and 3 had to cover from behind on either side. Tension wrapped around Eins 2’s body and his fear slowly vanished. He checked his radar. The dp-XXX was retreating at about the same speed as they were advancing. He operated the right and left field emitters to prepare a Kugel in each. He adjusted the field emitters’ direction based on his distance from the enemy. The loud sound of their movement pierced his body. “Eins 2 here. Beginning covering fire!” He launched the Kugel. A dull tremor ran though the metal craft and the sound of firing burst toward the back. The fear from before had completely vanished now. His focus on shooting down this enemy had overwhelmed the fear. He fired. “…!” He could not even hear his own shouting voice, but he continued firing the Kugel again and again. Eins 3 also fired Kugel from the right. No one could evade fire from two directions like this. Moving out of the way would expose your back or belly to either the left or right. Still moving backwards, the dp-XXX sliced through the Kugel with its Schwert. Eins 1 used the gap that created to approach from below. The covering fire kept the enemy in place, so he would make an attack using the third dimension from outside that line of fire. That was a basic tactic in aerial combat. As the commander charged in, he drew his Schwert and began flying upside down. He planned to cut into the dp-XXX as their bellies passed by each other. … Will it work? Eins 2 stared straight forward as his vision blurred from the vibration of firing his attacks. His shaking vision saw Eins 1’s attack preparing to tear apart the enemy. In the instant Eins 1 reached the enemy, Eins 2 stopped his covering fire. And that created an instantaneous opening. “!” The dp-XXX moved forward as if kicked. It went all out, ignored the fighter craft approaching from below, and soared with all of its might. “That thing’s fast!” That movement would have been impossible for a normal fighter craft. It had directly gone from stopped to soaring. After a moment, it exchanged attacks below and charged forward. It accelerated even further and their relative speeds filled the gap almost immediately. The mass of metal emitted dull light as it tore through the air. “…!” Eins 2 let out a cry not even he could hear and operated the field emitters. He switched from Kugel to Schwert. The swords of light thrust forward from the field emitters on the ends of the wings. At the same time, wind with actual mass slammed into him. “Wah!” The enemy ship was approaching with frightening speed. He did not even have time to swing the Schwert. A mass of roaring noise slammed into him from the right. Their shockwaves had collided as they passed by. He forcibly controlled the shaking of his craft and heard an unpleasant sound run through the core of his body. He heard an explosion behind him and he knew what it meant. Eins 3 had been destroyed. The dp-XXX had chosen to take care of Eins 3 before him. “…” He felt a surge of relief. The feeling of having been saved won out over the regret or anger that his ally had been destroyed. He subconsciously sped up to escape. Running was the only option. He was at a disadvantage now that the enemy was behind him. He sped up even further. He was now flying forward at full speed. He was desperate and he was gasping for breath. The wind and noise rushed behind him as he accelerated. He thought there was no way he could draw any more speed out of the craft. But that was when he sensed something truly unpleasant. He noticed an intense presence to his right. Something was approaching from behind and coming up beside him on the right. … It can’t be! He was dumbfounded. … Is something there? He knew what it was. He knew deep down, but he did not want to admit it. That contradictory thought asked him to check, so he looked to the right. “…!” The dp-XXX was there. “Impossible!” The enemy ship was flying in reverse. It had flown straight forward, destroyed Eins 3, and then caught up to him in reverse. It was absurd. He was moving forward and flying as quickly as possible. … That thing is on an entirely different level. Was its pilot even human? What about the centrifugal force? Wouldn’t the ship break? Who had built it and how? And…was there no way of defeating it? There was no one there to answer those questions. Eins 2’s mouth opened to ask a meaningless question. “What the hell are you!?” At the same time, he swung his Schwert as hard as he could. The horizontal strike was sharp and heavy. However, the dp-XXX was gone. It performed a side flip as if jumping over Eins 2 from the side. “…Ah.” Eins 2’s gaze followed the ship as it flew over him with the ceiling of the sky behind it. He looked up at the large leaping ship that almost seemed to be dancing. For just an instant, it showed its belly to the sky but then twisted around. The backlight of the sun vividly showed off its silhouette. … It’s beautiful. As soon as that thought ran through his mind, Eins 2’s fighter craft was sliced through by the Schwert extending from the dp-XXX. ### 057. Part 8 “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” The sudden impact had thrown Else from her seat. She held her head after hitting it on the floor and asked a question. “What was that? Did that Panzer Emblem thing fail?” She saw Walter had also been thrown from his chair and he now dangled from the armrest by his legs. Paul seemed to be stuck between the pilot’s seat and the window because she could see his feet busily kicking at the air. Walter reached a hand to the floor. The photograph she had seen before had fallen there. Without getting up, he collected it, put it in his pocket, and looked to Else. “Walter, what was that just now?” “A new model of military fighter craft, I’d wager.” “A new model?” “Yes, most likely. But more importantly, Else.” “What?” “You have some lovely legs on you.” She suddenly looked down and saw her skirt had caught on her chair’s armrest, revealing her legs. “Kyah!” She pulled the skirt down so quickly she almost tore it and she glared at Walter. “Where do you think you’re looking!? And now of all times!” “I have a…personal fondness for beautiful things and good-looking women.” “You…idiot.” She had trouble responding too strongly when he was so open about it. After all, she had confidence in her looks. Then again, she was the type that was also popular with underclassmen girls. “This isn’t good. One of the engines was damaged.” Paul had managed to right himself at some point and he was now looking at the control panel. “What was that impact?” “A new type of weapon fired by the craft that flew past us. We can’t see it from here, but something is probably stabbing into the ship. Maybe something like a projectile version of a Schwert.” “What does that mean?” Walter nodded at her question. “Even if you have the power to heal wounds, you can’t do anything if the patient still has the blade sticking into them.” “You mean…?” “Yes, the Kaiserburg can’t fight. Not the best turn of events.” “How are you so calm!?” “Panicking isn’t going to fix the engine. Instead, we need to think about what comes next.” That was when a young male voice came from the communicator. “dp-XXX, can you hear me? Um, how are you doing, Walter? And you, professor? This is Second Lieutenant Mayer Schrier piloting the dds-033 Flammen Ritter.” Else frowned and turned to Walter. “Who’s that?” “The underclassmen who spoke to me when we were on the bicycle. The kid who used to spill chemicals in the lab is piloting fighter craft now. That’s kind of scary.” “Try to take this seriously. Can you beat him? How skilled is he?” “He could target the Kaiserburg’s engine at that speed, so he’s probably better than me.” “What kind of person is he?” “He’s what you call a handsome young man. You saw him before, right?” “What kind of family is he from?” “An old noble family. Right, professor?” “How’s his personality?” “Patient and fairly good-natured.” “Then we don’t stand a chance.” “Relax. I’ve got him beat when it comes to height.” “And in stupidity, I see.” “Calm down, Else. Could you stay quiet for a little while?” She frowned and he only smiled. “I’ll show you I have him beat in brains too.” “You’re making this up as you go along, aren’t you?” “Oh, c’mon. It’s called a strategy.” As she sighed, he asked Paul a question. “Professor, what should we do about this traitor of an underclassman?” There was no ill will in Walter’s voice. Paul operated some of the controls and a scratchy sound came from somewhere in the cockpit. The communicator had been switched on, so Walter called out. “Um, Mayer? Can you hear me, you idiot? You stupid, pathetic novice.” “Yes, I can hear you! Please stop embarrassing me over the radio!” Those words were joined by a descending fighter craft. It was black. It somewhat resembled an Eisen Soldat, but the giant spherical propulsion devices at the bases of the wings were firing flames straight down. It was the Flammen Ritter which meant Flame Knight. “A vertical take-off and landing craft, huh? It must have been tough pulling that off with rocket technology.” Mayer laughed bitterly at Paul’s comment. “Yes, it seemed they had trouble without the technology you have. I’m sure this looks like old technology to you, but do not take it lightly. I believe this craft outdoes the dp-XXX in both acceleration and assault power.” “That previous attack got us pretty good, I’ll admit. So Mayer, what are you going to do with us?” “That is up to Commander Oscar. I do not have the authority to decide.” “Ha! You’re just a rank and file soldier!” “I see you haven’t changed, Walter.” At the same time, the deep sound of someone clearing their throat came from the communicator. A tense atmosphere quickly filled the cockpit. “The dp-XXX can no longer fly. Isn’t that right, Walter?” “Oh, it’s Oscar. Long time, no see.” “Quiet. Surrender is your only option. If you try to escape in that damaged ship, we will not hesitate to target the cockpit. After all, we would like to minimize damage to the ship itself.” “Hmm. You’re as good at provoking people as always.” “I was simply suggesting you surrender. How was I provoking you?” “I’m the kind of person that wants to do things I’m told I can’t.” “Then feel free to escape. If you can in that damaged ship, that is.” Walter exaggeratedly crossed his arms. “Oscar, do you want me that badly?” “It is the dp-XXX I am interested in, not you.” “But the Kaiserburg and I are inseparable.” “Be shot down or surrender. Those are your options. You have ten seconds to decide.” The older man’s tone suggested he was serious. Else saw Walter’s expression stiffen and she heard him say something more. “If you’re interested in the Kaiserburg, does it mean you’ve accepted it can reach space?” Oscar readily answered. “Perhaps.” He took a breath. “But it is still too soon. It may be able to reach space, but I cannot allow it just yet.” “I see, I see. Your opinion has changed a good bit, hasn’t it? After all, you’re letting us live when you say that now.” “Yes, you’re right. The dp-XXX cannot run without you two. I will admit you had guts to burn most of the documents in the laboratory.” “You think so, too? It burned as spectacularly as you’d expect of my lab.” “What do you mean ‘your’ lab? That laboratory was built by our nation! You were not free to destroy it as you pleased.” “See, professor? I told you we should’ve asked for permission before destroying it.” Walter clapped his hands with that comment, but the voice from the communicator silenced him. “Quiet. I have no idea what you are thinking, but you cannot waste any more time. The dp-XXX will be brought aboard the Bladlikburg with the Lanze still skewering it. You will be brought from the ship and interrogated.” “Ooh, I love clichés like that.” “But I am not foolish enough to think that is enough to quiet you.” “I’m honored you feel that way.” Walter laughed, stood up, and made a declaration. “I’ll make sure you truly regret not killing us here. We’ve decided we’re going to space no matter what might happen.” “I am aware and I am prepared to stop you.” “You sound confident.” Oscar replied to Walter’s smiling comment and the name he gave was powerful enough to shake Else’s heart. “Of course I am, Walter Talstrasse.” ### 058. Part 8 The night was beginning to fill with a deep chill as well as darkness. It was 10:30 PM. The front entrance of the Breuer mansion opened a little. The light extending into the yard was blocked by a human shadow. It was Else’s shadow. She carried a rucksack over her shoulder and closed the door behind her. No one was there to see her off and no one watched her from the house. After making sure the door was closed, she faced forward and began to walk. “…” After a few steps, she came to a sudden stop. She had noticed someone standing in the darkness. It was a man wearing a plain-colored coat. His blond hair had blended into the darkness, but it began to shine dully once the moon came out. The young man was revealed below the moonlight. He was a soldier. Specifically, he was the man who had left the mansion when Else had arrived. His breath appeared white as he spoke. “Did you fly down to Berlin in the dp-XXX?” “Yes, I did.” As she answered, she pulled a submachine gun from her rucksack and aimed it at the soldier. She had already released the safety. “I used it to escape. So what are you going to do? Arrest me?” The young man gently raised his hands. “I only waited here because I wanted to talk.” “I find that hard to believe.” “Isn’t the fact that I waited alone without calling for reinforcements enough proof?” “Would you believe me if I said this submachine gun can’t fire? This is the same.” “Then I will believe what you say.” Mayer stepped forward with his hands still raised. He slowly took step after step toward Else. She watched him with her finger still on the trigger. “Stop there.” By the time she said that, he was only two or three steps away from her. “You have guts.” She sounded surprised and she did not lower the gun. He approached no further and nodded. “Can the dp-XXX fly again?” “Eh?” “My upperclassman and teacher built that ship, so I want to know if it will fly again.” Else met Mayer’s gaze when she heard that. She saw a powerful light in the young officer’s eyes. He was truly worried about the dp-XXX. “I see. You must be Mayer, Walter’s underclassman that piloted that black fighter.” She smiled bitterly and nodded. “The Kaiserburg will be fully repaired within three days. I can even guarantee it with the skill of the Breuer Company.” Mayer breathed a sigh of relief. Noticing his hands starting to lower, Else re-aimed the submachine gun and he raised his hands again. “Why are you trying to fly the dp-XXX again? Wouldn’t you be satisfied with a normal life?” His tone had a hint of testing her and she suddenly smiled in the darkness. “Satisfied with a normal life?” She took a breath. “I suppose it would be nice to live a normal life without all this. I could take it easy in university, get married, have two or three kids, and play with those kids by the lake here. …That would be a happy life.” “Then…” Before he could ask why, Else shook her head. “But I don’t want that! If I chose that life, I could never look up into the sky again. Would you be fine with that?” What did she see in those words? “I see.” Mayer sighed, closed his eyes, and nodded. “You really do want to go to space, don’t you?” “You don’t?” It took a moment for him to answer. “I…do not want to go to space.” “Why not?” “Because that is what my upperclassman and you want, not what I want.” “Then why did you ask if the Kaiserburg would fly again?” Her question seemed to bite back at him and he answered in tone that said not even he could believe what he was saying. “Because I want to fight all of you.” That was a quiet declaration of war. ### 059. Part 8 It was 3:38 PM. A minute and a half had passed since the encounter had begun and the Flammen Ritter was on its enemy’s tail. It pursued its opponent while flying through the streets with precise movements one would never expect of an aircraft. The Kaiserburg tried to lose it by taking a southern right turn from the six-lane Unter den Linden and onto the four-lane Friedrichstraße. The Flammen Ritter tilted vertically and fired its vertical ascension rocket against its own inertia. The fighter’s rear rockets remained on full blast the entire time. The intersection took a shallow angle, but it made the turn. The Flammen Ritter also flew down Friedrichstraße. A train station flashed by to the right, but it vanished behind too quickly to read the name. Continuing straight would bring them to Möhringstraße, but a straight path was dangerous for someone on the run. The black fighter fired two red and burning Kugel. They were straight shots. The Kaiserburg neutralized them with guided shots of its own. One pair exploded and the other burst into flames as their remains scattered like flowers. The Flammen Ritter used that moment to fire a Lanze. The bluish-white spear of light tore through the explosive flames of the Kugel and flew straight for its target. This lance was faster and more powerful than an arrow. However, the large aerial ship avoided it. As if to say no simple projectile could defeat it, it elegantly slipped to the side, hopped up in the air, and slide-flipped over the building to its left. It was a calm action and it felt like the ship had eyes on the back. The black fighter pulled up without bothering to watch the Lanze stab into the ground further down the road. It used every last one of its rockets to twist through the air and shift leftward. It flew over the buildings. The German Cathedral was visible up ahead. Beyond that were the temple-like Schauspielhaus and the French Cathedral. The Gendarmenmarkt in front of the three buildings was full of Weihnachts stands and gathered people. The people in the square looked up at the Flammen Ritter in the sky that would soon grow red. They must have seen the ongoing dogfight because some of them were attempting to flee the square. The Kaiserburg was not in that square. Instead, the large warship was beyond the German Cathedral’s dome. The Flammen Ritter almost seemed to glide as it traveled above the square. As soon as the black fighter approached the German Cathedral’s dome, something happened. The Kaiserburg suddenly melted into the air and vanished. This was the Phantom illusion technique. The Flammen Ritter quickly altered its course. As if forcing itself to dance, it twisted its forward momentum and redirected itself backwards. Having turned around, it saw its enemy. The Kaiserburg was tilted and clinging to the wall of the building in front of the cathedral square. The Flammen Ritter eliminated its momentum, started forward, and tried to charge at the ship, but the Kaiserburg fired four bullets of light. They surrounded the fighter before it could pick up speed and drew a Circle Emblem in the space around it. This was the Finster Kunst. Given the distance and the Flammen Ritter’s speed, this attack was impossible to avoid. ### 060. Part 9 After Paul and Walter performed a ridiculous midair side-flip without batting an eye, the next enemy appeared in the cockpit’s front window. It descended from high in the sky like a giant comet. It was a shell known as a Bogen. A Bogen was a physical shell fired with gunpowder, but it was filled with divine spell charms that would spread damage over a wide area when it hit. It far outdid a Kugel in destructive power, but the ammunition was too bulky to be used in anything but a large ship. The scorching hot shell was terrifyingly accurate. The dp-XXX barrel rolled to escape it. If one strained their eyes, six great forms were visible just below the clouds. They were the Bladlikburg fleet. “So Oscar’s finally shown up! Their star player has joined the match.” “Really? And right when it’s about to grow, too.” Else was distracted by them, but she suddenly noticed a light on the radar and quickly looked back down. “Hey.” “Yes? What is it?” “That one we avoided earlier is approaching from above.” “What a pain. Walter, what should we do?” “Well, let’s try to avoid needless destruction. How about we move forward and avoid it while we go pay Oscar a visit.” Else and Paul both nodded in agreement. That may have been what created an opening. ### 061. Part 9 At 3:40 PM, Mayer built up his resolve in the Flammen Ritter’s cockpit. At this rate, the gravity barrier would hit him and there was only one way to break through. It would put a heavy burden on him, but he had no choice. He resisted the urge to vomit. His previous piloting had been reckless enough, so his shoulders ached as they threatened to dislocate and his blood was gathered in his back. But if he did not force himself even further, he could not continue on. “I don’t mind!” His shout did not actually leave his mouth. His fingers simply moved across the cockpit’s field emitter controllers. At the same time, the Circle Emblem surrounding him vanished and became a mass of gravity. ### 062. Preface ## Title Page Welcome to Panzerpolis Berlin Panzerpolis 1935 Kawakami Minoru ## Protagonists Background word: Wild Text: Walter: An arrogant young man who acts as though he fears nothing. Paul: Stubborn man and genius engineer who completed the world’s first manned spacecraft. Else: Daughter of one of Germany’s leading arms dealers. Attends University of Berlin. Kaiserburg: Powerful growing and evolving aerial warship. Text: Those who aim for space have hot blood rushing through their veins. ## Antagonists Background word: Calm Text: Those who wish for a stable nation stifle themselves to fulfill their duty. Oscar: Commander of Air Force Division 5. In many ways, the ideal soldier. Pursues the Kaiserburg. Mayer: Walter’s former underclassman and a kind soldier. Flammen Ritter (Flame Knight): The German military’s cutting-edge craft with jet-powered VTOL ability. Possesses a variety of special equipment. Eisen Soldat (Iron Soldier): The German Air Force’s spirit rocket craft. Equipped with a spirit scramjet so it can be launched from aerial ships. Bladlikburg (Bladlik Castle): The German Air Force’s giant armored aerial ship. The upper sail acts as a launch zone for aircraft, so it functions as an aerial aircraft carrier. ## Kaiserburg Background word: Evolution Left words: Final Form Second Form First Form Black box: Final Form = Göttlich König (Divine King): Possess both the perfect form and ability to be called the ultimate aerial warship. It is theorized that it can escape the atmosphere at this stage. Panzer Emblem: ??? Second Form = Eiskalt Königin (Frozen Queen): An aerial destroyer that specializes in long-range combat. Possesses powerful special divine weapons. Panzer Emblem: Eiskalt Engel (Frozen Angel) First Form = Strahlen Ritter (Shining Knight): Only one of its three engines functions. Primarily designed for close-quarters combat. Panzer Emblem: Strahlen Lanze (Shining Lance) Text: The machine merely ferociously and elegantly obeys its master’s will. ## Timeline 1698: Savery (English) creates a spirit engine model. 1710: Newcomen (English) creates a real spirit engine. 1853: The Black Ships arrive in Japan. Isolationist policies removed. 1871: Germany unified around Prussia. Holy German Empire formed. 1875: Paul Wagner is born. 1879: Huber Talstrasse is born. 1894: Maxim (English) flies the first spirit airplane. 1897: Paul joins the German military as a technician. 1901: Nobel Prize established. Huber discovers the Tomb of the Mother of a Thousand Pharaohs in Egypt. 1906: Paul successfully alters gravity with a spirit engine. 1910: Huber attempts to reach the South Pole but gives up. On the way, he gets to know Paul, one of the German military technicians sent as backup. 1911: Amundsen (Norwegian) reaches the South Pole. Walter is born. 1914: World War One begins. 1915: Else Breuer is born. 1916: Huber discovers the Great Cave on the battlefront of France. 1919: Holy German Empire collapses. Becomes the German Republic. 1920: The first manned extra-atmospheric probe is launched by Germany. Piloted by Huber Talstrasse. Designed by Paul Wagner. ### 063. Prologue: The Legend Begins ### Part 1 12/25/1920 It was 4:05 PM. The ultra-high altitude control center of Berlin’s air force base was a giant stepped space located thirty meters below the base. Due to being a control center and due to being underground, it was only lit by the tiny lights of gauges and electric devices. Hopeless words filled that darkness. “The ascent trajectory is veering off!” A giant electric display covered one wall and the symbol it displayed verified those words. It was a danger signal. This was entirely unexpected. They had all just finished breathing a sigh of relief after successfully launching history’s first manned spacecraft. The multistage spirit engine rocket carried Huber Talstrasse, Germany’s most famous adventurer, and the rocket had risen while leaving only scorch marks on the giant launch pad. The footage of the rocket slicing through the night sky had excited the technicians and they had even grown intoxicated on the joy, so they did not immediately understand what the displayed symbol meant. The next words they heard brought them to their senses. “It’s going to soar out into space!” The manned spacecraft named the Wilhelm 2 was only built to travel in satellite orbit. If it left the gravitational field, the pilot would die. The technicians looked worriedly at the electric display and rushed back to their posts. A heavy atmosphere hung over them as work resumed. Among their strained muttering, a single man remained silent. He was a short middle-aged man with a protruding gut and he wore an air force work jacket. His bearded face looked up at the display covering an entire wall. The danger signal had already vanished. Instead, several ballistic curves illuminated the control room with blue light. None of the long curves showed any sign of returning to the original course. They indicated the spaceship would never again return. “How are we supposed to explain this?” Hearing someone mutter that, the man looked over toward a large communication device in the center of the room. It resembled a giant desk and was installed with several gauges and displays. A young man in a lab coat held his head in front of the communication mic sticking out from the desk. He was likely the communications technician. He would eventually have to inform the spaceship of the situation. However, he did not have the courage to tell the pilot the truth, so he was simply holding his head. The middle-aged man shouted at the technician’s cowardice. “Hey, you!” Those words rang sharply through the noisy control room. A surprised silence soon filled the room. Ignoring all of the technicians focused on him, the man moved his short legs to reach the communicator. The young technician took a step back to give the older man control. That was the right decision. In response, the older man grabbed the neck of the mic and looked up at the young man. “Connect me to the ship.” “Y-yes, sir.” The young man frantically manipulated the communicator. The needles on all of the device’s gauges moved back and forth and light filled a few of the display boards. “Is it still not ready?” “You can communicate once the gauge in front of the mic reaches the far right side.” The needle was slow. “Can’t you speed it up?” The older man must have realized his irritated question was immature because he glanced over and gave a quiet apology. “Sorry.” He did not know if the younger man replied or not because he immediately turned back to the communicator. The gauge’s needle was approaching the right side. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the technicians looking at him. Someone spoke quietly. “Who is he?” Without looking up from the gauge, he shouted an answer to the somehow spiteful voice. “I am Paul Wagner, a design officer for the air force! I’m the meister that designed the Wilhelm 2!” After that, he inhaled as if gathering strength. And he exhaled. The breath took the form of a screaming shout. “The pilot Huber Talstrasse is a close friend of mine!” ### Part 2 The first words over the communicator were inappropriately cheerful. “Hey. How’re things over there?” The voice came from Huber on the spaceship. Due to the radio link, his voice was a little scratchy. His words reverberated from all of the speakers in the control room. Hearing his friend’s voice so suddenly caused Paul to gasp for just an instant. He replied with his gaze still lowered. “How are things with you?” The distance to space created a time lag in the communication. The response came after a two second delay. “That you, Paul? It seems I’m wandering around outer space here. I’m doing fine, though.” “I see. That’s good to hear.” During that ridiculous exchange, Paul realized Huber knew everything. Normally, the man would never go out of his way to say he was fine. … I can’t believe this. “Hey, Huber.” “What is it?” “Um…well…” “Hey, Paul.” “…What?” “It wasn’t a mistake in your design, so don’t worry about it.” He hit him right where it hurt. And before he could say anything back, Huber spoke again. “Don’t say you’re sorry.” “But…” “Shut up. During the launch, I heard one of the launch pad’s connection hooks scrape along the external plating. It looks like that crack split open due to the air pressure. It was the quality of your design that kept the entire ship from blowing apart.” “…” “But I can’t reenter the atmosphere with the plating like this. The heat of the atmospheric friction would get in the hole and fry me. I eat a whole roast turkey every year on Weihnachts , so this is probably them getting back at me.” “Hey, Huber.” “Hm?” “What are you going to do now?” Silence fell after that question. “That’s a good question.” “So what are you going to do?” “I’m really not sure what to say. …Oh! I can see the moon out the window. It’s so big.” “The moon?” “Yeah, the moon. I feel like I could reach out and touch it.” His tone was a mixture of confusion and joy and Paul knew very well that was the tone his friend got when he was excited. Paul smiled bitterly at the odd atmosphere that stuck with his friend even in this emergency. He then placed a hand over the mic and spoke to a nearby technician. “Huber has a wife and kid. Call them here and hurry.” ### Part 3 An hour passed. Huber’s spaceship, the Wilhelm 2, was in a dire situation. They had discovered the oxygen was leaking from the damaged part of the ship. All of the control room’s equipment was linked to the ship’s gauges via radio. According to them, the remaining oxygen would not even last ten minutes. Bad news had a way of continuing. Huber’s wife and child had not been in the audience for the rocket launch. Their reserved seats had been empty. They had called the house, but a servant had answered and said the wife had brought her child to a Weihnachts festival. She was apparently buying ingredients for a feast to celebrate her husband’s return. She had said she would return by nightfall. It had likely been her trust in Huber’s safety that had led his wife to not watch from the launch area. No one said anything in response. Most likely, the wife would not learn of her husband’s death until she returned home. There was nothing they could do. All that remained was cleanup work. And during that hour, they had learned another fact. The Wilhelm II had apparently been caught in lunar orbit. It was weak, but the moon had a gravitational pull too. It naturally had a gravitational field like the earth and it could keep a satellite in orbit. Huber’s spaceship had become a satellite of the moon which was itself a satellite of the earth. If ironies like that continued, it was going to be quite an unpleasant Weihnachts indeed. ### Part 4 “Honestly, you’re no help at all.” “Ha ha ha. Well, I am kind of far away at the moment.” Huber’s laugh was wrapped in blatant fatigue, which surprised Paul. “Are you okay?” “Don’t worry about it, Paul. I don’t have much time left, right? So let me speak some.” “Sure.” “Listen. I’m gonna say something profound, so make sure you write it down.” “Hey.” “What?” “You always did like unfunny jokes.” “Shut up. Now, are you listening?” “Wait just a second.” Paul pulled a pen from his work outfit and realized how terribly out of place the mood was. He was about to write down his friend’s last words. That thought suddenly welled up inside him and he spoke in an attempt to endure it. “Hey, Huber.” “What is it?” “Make it something cheerful.” “Ha ha ha. I will. …So are you listening?” “Yes.” “Okay, then. Well, there’s something an adventurer like me is supposed to do.” “And what’s that?” “Find treasure.” Paul frowned at that. “Treasure?” “Yeah, you heard me. Treasure.” “But…” “There’s some here.” “What?” Huber answered Paul’s question with an air of false ignorance. “I can’t quite explain it. Maybe I should keep it as my own personal secret. But whoever comes here next will probably notice this treasure.” Paul thought it was a joke. … Treasure? Is he hallucinating from oxygen deprivation? “Hey, Huber.” “Shut up and listen. I’m about to say something important.” “…Fine.” Paul grudgingly agreed and listened to Huber clear his throat. It sounded somehow painful, so the oxygen was likely growing thin. Paul squeezed the pen in his hand as Huber’s voice filled the control room. “Now, then. When people first began rowing out to sea, there had to have been people like me who never came back. But they all must have had the same thing in their hearts: the curiosity to see what no one has ever seen before and the ambition to go farther than anyone ever has before. Let’s just say that I too did this because I felt like there was a treasure out there.” When Huber exhaled, it was a horribly rough sound. Knowing what that meant, Paul squeezed the pen even harder as it raced along the paper. He took a breath. He had not finished copying down the previous comment, but he sensed his friend about to speak again. “Huber, wait a second.” The other man spoke his own words without replying. “I have something to tell all of the people clinging to the surface of the earth. I have – without a doubt – made it farther than anyone else.” The voice coming from the speakers dropped unpleasantly. Something gave Paul a very bad feeling. His hand suddenly stopped. He felt an odd uneasiness. He felt like something he had been waiting for had approached all at once. And he called out to stop it. “Listen, Huber. Can you hear me? You still have time, so speak slowly!” But the voice did not stop. “That alone would’ve been enough, but I found my life’s greatest treasure from inside this mechanical box.” Paul realized his friend was trying to adorn his own demise. He panicked and called out. “Hey! Don’t think of this as the end! There’s still so much you have to do! Don’t give up!” Huber still did not reply. After a pause, his quiet voice returned. “I think I’ll go to sleep while floating in space with this ultimate treasure and dreaming of someone someday coming here to find what I found.” … Sleep? Sleep!? He was not actually talking about going to sleep. He was talking about his final rest. “Huber! Hey! Listen! Quit trying to make yourself look good!” “I’ll pray for my family’s happiness from up here higher than heaven. And…” His next words would be his last. “Hey! Huber! We’ll go save you! Just wait there! So…so don’t end this!” A small breath that resembled a laugh came from the speakers, but the breath transformed into words. “Thanks, all of you.” “Hey!” Paul heard a dull sound in his hand. The pen had broken and black ink wet his thick fingers. He used that hand to grab the mic. “Huber! I will go get you from there! I swear it! I won’t let my ship become a coffin! Just wait! …Just wait there!” The other man did not reply. Only silence escaped the speakers and they all knew what that silence meant. “Dammit! Dammit! Goddammit!” Afterwards, a single man cried as so many people listened. ### Part 5 Forty minutes later, the spaceship’s carbon dioxide reached its maximum density and began to reduce. Two hours later, both the carbon dioxide and oxygen reached zero. In other words, it was a vacuum. Another five hours later, the Wilhelm 2 reached lunar orbit as predicted and it began a semi-permanent orbit there. After the accident was made public, astronomers began referring to the Wilhelm 2 orbiting the moon as Huber’s Treasure Island. There were a number of theories as to where that name came from, but the most likely one said it was a reference to Huber’s final words about a treasure. At the time, what had people thought when they looked through their telescopes and saw that artificial satellite orbiting the moon? From then, many different nations gave up on reaching space. Germany had lost a war and yet possessed the world’s most advanced ultra-high altitude technology, including rocket propulsion engineering. Nevertheless, they had failed. For that reason, the world realized they were too inexperienced and so gave up on space. That was the exact opposite of what Huber had hoped for. And from there, the story shifts fifteen years into the future. ### 064. Chapter 1: The Legend Activates ### Part 1 12/20/1935 It was night and the moon was hidden by the clouds. The wind was strong and it was more than just a winter wind. This wind was filled with the chill of high altitude. This was the deck of the Bladlikburg, an aerial aircraft carrier of the German air force. The metal deck was large enough for a track meet and several people stood on the front. The men all wore military uniforms and they formed a half circle. A tall soldier stood in the center of their formation. He appeared to be the commander and he was wrapped in a tougher and icier atmosphere than the surrounding soldiers. He stared straight forward to the edge of the deck inside the half-circle formation. Their prey stood there. That prey was a young man in a lab coat. His pure white clothing seemed to glow in the darkness. His long black hair was tied back and the bottom of his coat danced in the wind. The commander spoke to him. “Are you sure you will not hand over your information on the dp-XXX, Walter?” The voice rang loudly even in the sky and the young man named Walter brought a hand to his head and showed off a bitter smile. “I’m really not sure what to do here.” His far too cheerful voice also rang loudly. “You promised us we could hold an experimental space launch if we built a powerful engine, didn’t you? So how did things get like this exactly?” “That engine is too dangerous. That is all.” Walter’s bitter smile transformed into a laugh. “Ha ha ha. Now you’re just being silly, Oscar. Just say the military wants the tech for themselves. It’s not nice to lie.” “You are the one being silly. You do not honestly think you can reach space with that engine, do you?” “With just one, probably not. You’d need to put in at least three of them.” Oscar looked the other man in the eye when he heard that. “I saw the experiment. When two of those engines are used together, they interfere with each other and refuse to function!” “That’s because of all the fine-tuning we did to make sure the moonlight wouldn’t mess with them. But even one of them produces as much energy as five of the current engines. That’s why the military wants them, isn’t it?” In the thirties, the military…no, the entire world used spirit engines that used spirit stones. Spirit stones were a stone made from crystallized ether. Ether was the element that made up all things, including space itself. Long ago, people had believed in the four classical elements, but research in the late eighteenth century had revealed that there was only a single basic element. Spirit engines used spirit stones to draw out energy. Emblems that determined the arrangement of ether were carved into the engines. When ether flowed from the spirit stones, it would travel through the grooves which would determine its form. Ether that touched a fire emblem would become fire. But even though spirit engines could create fire, water, thunder, and wind, they also had a massive flaw. Spirit stones would resonate with the light of the moon and their output would be sent out of control. Enough machines had lost control during nights with strong moonlight that night activities had been banned during the previous great war. It was not known why they were so affected by moonlight. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, scholars had thrown in the towel and simply declared it a “law of nature”. Ever since, spirit engines were only used outside of the moonlight because no one had discovered a method of avoiding that mysterious law. The military had simply thought Walter’s group was creating a new design for that same type of engine. Oscar wrinkled his brow before speaking. “And who do you think will allow you to foolishly try to reach space?” “Don’t be stupid. You don’t need anyone’s permission to transcend the sky.” “Why are you so intent on defying us?” Walter uncrossed his arms and exaggeratedly placed a hand on his forehead. “Why, you ask?” “…” “Well, you see…” “…” “My burning spirit of justice won’t allow me to hand it over to the military. Ha ha ha.” The soldier standing next to Oscar looked up at his commander. “Can I fill him with lead?” “No, that is just the sort of man he is. Be patient.” Oscar took a step forward. “You are young and you are rushing things, Walter. If you leave the dp-XXX with the military, you will receive even more funding and all the technology you need to reach space. Why not wait until then?” “You really are dumb. If I have to hand it over to the military, I might as well patent it and sell it to America. I’d make enough money to live the rest of my life in luxury.” “America!?” shouted Oscar. “We need that engine for our nation!” Walter stared right back at the man. “Our nation, huh?” He was no longer smiling. He stuck his hands in his lab coat’s pockets, raised his shoulders a little, and looked up into Oscar’s eyes. “You really do say some ridiculous things.” ### Part 2 Twenty years before, Oscar had returned alive from the front lines of the previous great war. The nation he had returned to had been just as exhausted as him. Ever since, he had dedicated his life to rebuilding his nation as a soldier. Even now that he had a wife and daughter, that had not changed. And that was why he glared at the young man before him. “ I am the one saying ridiculous things?” His emphasized word pushed back at Walter’s gaze. “That would be you. You have no idea if your idea will work, so why not put that technology to more efficient use!?” “We didn’t create the dp-XXX for something so boring.” Walter took a step back and stood on the cliff-like edge of the deck. With nowhere left to go, he spoke slowly and clearly. “We care more about what we want to do than about anything as ridiculous as a nation or the military.” That was a way of thinking that Oscar could never understand. For better or for worse, he was an excellent soldier and an adult. Everyone had something that ran counter to their nature. … I see. He replied to those words by announcing his decision. “Negotiations have failed.” “Wow, you sure can make up your mind nicely, Oscar.” Oscar formed a bitter smile only on his lips. “I have made up my mind. I will deal with you here.” “Hmm. You can act all cool if you want…” “What?” “But next time you let someone on your ship, you should probably check what they’re carrying with them.” With that, Walter pulled something from his lab coat’s right pocket. He held what looked like a small black communicator. “I managed to buy enough time.” The young man’s line was accompanied by an urgent announcement behind Oscar and the other soldiers. “Emergency! Emergency! Addressing all ships! An unidentified craft is approaching from five o’clock! It is moving extremely quickly!” Oscar turned toward the deck speaker producing the voice. … What is approaching? As if to answer that question, the hatch onto the deck opened and a young officer ran out. The young man looked well-bred and wore his uniform impeccably. “Major General Oscar!” he shouted while holding his cap in place. “Please hurry back inside!” The young officer’s blue eyes faced Walter instead of Oscar. “The dp-XXX has destroyed the Wagner Laboratory and is headed this way! We will be sending out the Eisen Soldat, so please leave the deck! This will be a dogfight!” That statement was important. Knowing what it meant, Oscar turned toward Walter. Walter gave a quiet smile toward the young officer standing next to Oscar. “Sounds like you have it rough, Mayer. Military work is restricting, isn’t it?” “Walter!” shouted the young officer named Mayer even as he tried to catch his breath. “A-are you picking a fight with the military!?” “Wow, you’re asking that too? It was all of you that started the fight here. All I did was virtuously and kindly reject your offer.” “But you did it in a cruel and over-the-top way, didn’t you?” “Yeah, but whoever picked the fight, it’s starting after everything’s already settled. And in that case…how should I put it? Well, if you view it like a financial deal…” He took a breath. “You’re gonna be in the red.” Suddenly, the deck shook as if it had sunk down. Their knees threatened to collapse underneath them as the shaking continued three more times. Light resembling sparks scattered down below the deck. Eisen Soldat, the fighter craft attached to the aerial aircraft carrier’s port side, had been sent out. The sparks were the light produced when the craft were launched from their connectors. To provide initial velocity, they were fired out liked bullets using spirit gunpowder. After a moment’s delay, the ship shook four more times as the craft on the starboard side were launched. A ship-wide announcement reached the deck. “Fighter craft launch complete. Unit 1 will reach the unidentified ship in seventy-one seconds! Unit 2 will be in position to protect our airspace in thirty-five seconds! All hands…” Oscar frowned at that announcement and Mayer shouted out. “Fall back! And tell those down below that this is not an unidentified ship! It is an enemy ship!” “Y-yes, sir!” Mayer turned to Walter without bothering to watch the soldiers run off. “Do you think you’ve won!?” “The unidentified ship is not responding to our communications!” continued the announcement. “It is maintaining its direct course! The fighter craft are moving to intercept! …It’s fast! This is twelve seconds sooner than predicted!” That was the signal. The deck’s lights all lit and faint light leaked from below the deck as well. Four lights could be seen ascending into the night sky from below, two on each side. They were the four craft tasked with protecting the Bladlikburg. An alarm blared. “Unit 1 has made contact!” The announcement filling the night sky briefly stopped. The soldiers slowly backed away and frowned. Oscar realized Walter was the only one smiling in that tense atmosphere. … Is he convinced he can defeat the military? He received an answer an instant later. “Three of the fighter craft were destroyed! The enemy ship…is undamaged! At this rate…It will collide with us!” The announcement ended there. The wind could not even shake the Bladlikburg, but it seemed to hop up now. It was enough of a tremor to send everyone aboard a little airborne. A great rumbling accompanied it. If any one of them had been calm enough to think, they would have realized the impact came from the shockwave of something smashing the sound barrier. The soldiers on the deck fell to the metal floor as if they had tripped. Only two people remained standing: Oscar and… “Walter!” As if pushed by that shout, Walter jumped backwards. He did not hesitate to leap from the deck. An afterimage of his white lab coat remained in the empty night. The Bladlikburg’s shaking settled down and Oscar ran forward. “It is unknown if the approaching enemy ship intends to attack! Everyone evacuate the deck! I repeat…” As the commander, he ignored that command and reached the point Walter had jumped from. And that was when something slowly ascended. ### Part 3 “What is this!?” It was a strange ship shaped like a sword. It was over ten meters wide, about six meters tall, and at least twenty-five meters long. It was nearly four times the size of traditional aircraft. However, it did not have the armor that aircraft used to reduce air resistance. The engine, power transfer pipes, and moving parts were all left exposed. It almost looked like a giant mass of metal organs. It had no main wings. Instead, it had a giant tail shaped like an arch bridge. The top and bottom of the ship both had two spherical field emitters. Of those, the two on the front were emitting swords of light as long as the ship itself. Those were close-quarters divine spell weapons known as Schwert. A divine spell weapon was a weapon that used an engine to construct solid objects. The power of the spirit stone was fully materialized and even fire or lightning could be made into a solid object. The Schwert was one of those and it could even slice through Kugel, a type of long-range divine spell weapon. Dogfights primarily came down to close-range battles with those swords. This ship had likely flown here while slicing through the intercepting Eisen Soldat in a single strike. “This is the dp-XXX, the unprecedented aerial warship we call the Kaiserburg.” Oscar heard Walter’s voice and saw the young man standing the cockpit-like box in the center of the ship. “What do you think? Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Oscar did not agree, but he was shocked by a certain fact. The ship before him was not producing any flames from its spirit engine rocket or jets. … Is it floating? The ship they called the dp-XXX was floating without sullying the dark night. Machines could be made to float in the air. A giant ship like the Bladlikburg had enough surface area to carve the floating emblems, but the dp-XXX was not that large. It was also not equipped with the jet an aircraft needed for propulsion. It was truly an unprecedented ship. … Impossible. Oscar saw Walter crouch down and open the hatch. The young man glanced back at him for just a moment. “Are you going to keep this pointless fight going?” “What do you mean!?” “You still haven’t caught on? If you get in our way, you might end up dead.” “Is going to space that important?” The young man did not reply. He only smiled. “Unit 2 is approaching the enemy!” After that announcement, Walter jumped inside the Kaiserburg and Oscar moved back while clicking his tongue. At the same time, the Kaiserburg’s Schwert rotated to face outward. “…!” Oscar lowered his head slightly as the two curves of light sliced apart the approaching Kugel that the attacking Eisen Soldat had fired. Four sounds of shattering glass filled the air. Walter shut the hatch after himself and the Kaiserburg moved backwards. After putting some distance between itself and the Bladlikburg, it showed its belly and quickly ascended. Oscar tightly clenched his teeth as he looked up at it and heard great roars from either side. The noise came from the Eisen Soldat. The rear-wing craft had a fairly round nose, so they were generally cross-shaped. They were the standard air force craft and each one had two spirit engine rockets. They were fast and their contrails remained in the night sky behind them. The four ascended in pursuit of the Kaiserburg. Their target fled into the clouds that hid the moon. Needless to say, the clouds would not be enough for these soldiers to lose it. … What is he planning to do? Oscar’s thoughts tested the Kaiserburg and the ship responded. Light formed in the clouds floating in the darkness. That light quickly grew and tore through the clouds like a ripple. Finally, something flew from the center of the ripple with a few explosive flames wrapped around it. It was a giant comet. “…!” A spear of light trailing a long tail blew away the clouds and flew onward even with the moonlight washing over it. Oscar knew what that was. It was a weapon the military had only recently managed to implement. “A Panzer Emblem.” All of the emblems engraved in an aircraft’s external paneling were activated to transform the craft itself into a Kugel. It was a ramming weapon that did not belong on an aircraft. The Soldat pursuing the Kaiserburg scattered when the Panzer Emblem struck them. Four explosions reverberated in Oscar’s gut. “He got us.” Oscar now knew where Walter’s confidence had come from. … In other words, modern weapons are no match for you, is that it? That thought made him shudder. He knew very well how frightening the advancement of weapons could be. During the previous great war, tanks and aircraft had been used for the first time and they had remarkably increased the number of deaths. And the dp-XXX’s abilities easily surpassed those technologies. On top of that, there were still several unknowns concerning the dp-XXX. It almost certainly had further abilities. With that in mind, he sighed. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Otherwise, he would never think of going to space in an incomplete ship.” He lowered his gaze a bit. The Kaiserburg had already vanished from view, but he could predict its destination from the direction into which it had torn through the sky. “Berlin!” ### 065. Chapter 2: The Legend Takes Off ### Part 1 12/21/1935 Berlin was a city of machines and stone. Anyone walking through its streets was bound to see something inorganic. However, even Berlin had areas of green. In southeast Berlin, a one kilometer forest stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of the modern city. The forest was primarily made up of conifer trees. It was December, so the forest of tall cedars was cold. The midday sun washed over that forest which hid a large pond. The forest was dark and somewhat misty, but sunlight filled a straight line through it. That line was a stone-paved road. It was a walking path, but not a single dried leaf sat on it. It was a private road. Two people rode horses down that road and four white breaths floated in the air. The person on the front horse was a tall girl who wore a skirt in the saddle. The person on the horse behind hers was an elderly man in a thick coat. A delicate and tense atmosphere surrounded the two of them. The man’s square face was pointed straight forward. He looked at the girl’s back where her short-cut blonde hair reached the collar of her thin coat. He spoke hesitantly toward that back. “Hey, Else. How has university been going lately? Are your studies going well?” She did not reply, but he continued regardless. “When I was your age, the war was drawing close, so there was quite a commotion everywhere. Back then, you couldn’t study even if you wanted to. And that is why-…” “That’s why you started making weapons and got rich, right?” The back in front of him finally spoke. The man briefly frowned at being interrupted, but… “But, Else, I now have plenty of leeway in life, so I can think about my daughter and her future.” “In other words, you want to shove me into the university and have me study until I cry.” “Else.” “What?” “Face people when you speak to them!” “Y’know, dad.” “Hm?” “I am not in a good mood. I have a terrible look in my eyes, so are you sure you want me looking at you?” Her tone was devoid of all emotion. The man subconsciously pulled on the reins to slow his horse a step. Once he noticed, he frantically spoke up. “B-but, Else, you are already twenty and you still haven’t found someone to marry.” “There you go again treating women like baby-making machines.” Else gave an exaggerated shrug while still holding the reins. “I just hate restrictions like that.” “Else, a girl should not say she hates things.” “I loathe them.” “That is not any better!” “Shut up. You always talk about studying and marriage. You didn’t have this house and all its land to begin with. You may have made a lot of money selling weapons, but why do I have to do those things for something like this?” “It is for your own good!” “Now that I don’t understand. I mean, I do like this forest and the pond over there, but I could always go to a normal park and-…” She stopped her horse and he followed suit. “What is it, Else?” She did not turn around. Instead, she looked up a little. “…?” He did the same and noticed a single trail of smoke rising from the forest. The white smoke stood out in the clear winter sky. “That’s a fire,” he muttered to himself. Suddenly, Else’s horse began to run straight toward the smoke. “Ah! Wait! Else!” He looked around, unsure whether to head back to the mansion to get word out about the fire or to pursue Else. As a father, he chose the latter. He was delayed, but he had his horse run after her. He could see her in the distance ahead and he noticed her pull a rod-like object from below her coat. Seeing that left him speechless. What initially looked like a rod was a black submachine gun. It was the newest model of the MP18, a masterwork used by both police and vigilantes. “She swiped one from the storeroom again!” His daughter was too far up ahead to hear his groaning words. Else sped up her horse while resting the five kilogram submachine gun on her shoulder with slight difficulty. The man pursued and the eight hooves raced across the stone-pavement. ### Part 2 When surrounded by the blue sky, a beautiful pond, and a black cedar forest at midday, preparing a pleasant lunch was the only option. The pleasant aroma hanging in the air only increased that desire. That aroma was of cooking oil. A young man wearing a lab coat over work clothes sat on the sunny edge of the pond. He currently wore a green apron over the rest of his outfit. It was Walter. He sat in front of a fire made by gathering dry wood and a nice sound and smell came from the frying pan in his hand. He had gathered some nearby stones as a stove, but it was not all that effective. The heat of the fire could not be reaching the frying pan very well, but the smell suggested he was actually cooking proper food. “That should do it.” He looked over his shoulder. “Professor, food’s ready.” A giant mass of metal floated behind him. It was the dp-XXX or Kaiserburg. The collection of solid machinery and metal pipes was hovering about a meter off the ground. The man referred to as “professor” was on top of it. Only the back of his work outfit could be seen from Walter’s position because the man was clinging to the top of the Kaiserburg as if crawling. “Professor. Food.” The man still did not reply. The professor was lost in his work. He had removed one of the Kaiserburg’s outer panels and was fiddling around within the machine while almost climbing inside. “Hm.” Walter nodded, stuck his empty hand in his lab coat’s pocket, pulled out a small black communicator, and switched it on. “Kaiserburg, shake back and forth a little.” With a slight noise, the ship in front of him shook its head. And quickly. This panicked the professor clinging to it. “Whoooaaa! Walter! D-d-d-don’t move this thing!” “Want to eat something?” “I-I-I-I’m working right now!” “Is that so? Then maybe I should have it shake even harder.” “F-fine, just stop this thing!” “Are you sure? I feel like having a little more fun.” “Just stop it! I’ll finish up, so stop it!” “That’s a shame. …Kaiserburg, stop.” The ship’s shaking abruptly stopped and the professor sighed while still clinging to it. Walter placed the frying pan’s contents on a large plate sitting on the ground. Those contents were bratwurst and pommes frites. The trick to making the pommes frites was to use the oil produced when cooking the flavored wurst. After checking to make sure it was all done, Walter stood up. At that exact moment, he heard a metallic sound and felt like his hand almost flew off. A shock had run through the frying pan as if someone had kicked it. “…Eh?” He fixed his grip on it and looked at it. There was a fingertip-sized hole in the bottom of the frying pan and he could see straight through it. “What is it?” asked the professor. “This is a little strange from a physics perspective, but a hole suddenly appeared in this thing.” “That’s because you haggled down the price of an already cheap pan.” The professor’s explanation did not explain much of anything and he wiped his dirty hands on the stomach of his work outfit. He had the plumpness common among elderly men, but he must have had a decent frame because he still looked plenty solid. “It might be a new form of metal fatigue.” “But even it was cheap, I’d grown accustomed to this thing.” Walter looked up and saw the professor sigh, pull a cigarette from his pocket, and place it in his mouth. As soon as he did, Walter heard a light bursting sound and the cigarette flew from the professor’s mouth. “…!” Before the man could turn around with just the filter in his mouth, Walter asked a question. “So did you haggle down the price of some already cheap cigarettes?” That was when a sharp voice reached them. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing at our home!?” It was a female voice and Walter turned toward the forest it came from. ### Part 3 Else was unsure what to do about the object before her eyes or the man standing in front of it. A young man wore a lab coat and apron over a work outfit and a giant mixture of metal pipes and panels sat behind him. Also, a plump elderly man in a work outfit stood on top of the machine. … Who are they? She could not deny that an exasperated look appeared on her lips as she aimed her submachine gun at them. Even she thought the look in her eyes was harsh, but she felt that look gave her even more strength as she asked a question. “What are you two doing?” The young man in an apron tilted his head and asked a question of his own. “And what are you doing here, lovely little lady?” “Cut the flattery. What are you doing at our home?” “This is your home? Do you live in the woods?” “Do you want me to shoot you?” “No, no. That sounds painful.” “Then answer me. I really will shoot you next time.” He looked down at the frying pan in his hand. “Um… Didn’t you already shoot at us?” “The first shot was practice, the second was a warning, and the next one will be for real.” This much was no more than a greeting. The young man must have caught on because he smiled and scratched at his head. “Hmm. I feel like you’re skipping quite a few steps here. Could you explain how we ended up in this situation?” “Y’know, you’re the ones making this so complicated. What is that machine behind you?” “Oh, this thing? It’s a secret weapon of the military.” He casually dropped a bombshell of a statement. Else lowered the submachine gun without thinking and looked at the young man without using the sight. “A secret weapon?” “Yep. The military told us to hand it over after we built it, so we ran off.” “The military? Then this-…?” She looked up at the mechanical mass behind the young man and her eyes met with the man standing on top of it. She lowered her head a bit on reflex. … I think I’ve seen him somewhere before. To check on that, she spoke to the young man in front of her. “Who are you two?” “I’m Walter, second-in-command of the Wagner Laboratory. The ship behind me is the dp-XXX Kaiserburg that was built there and the guy on top of it is the lab head, Paul Wagner.” She recognized the laboratory name and the older man’s name. “I’ve heard of you! You taught emblem technology at my university until two years ago!” The professor laughed on top of the Kaiserburg. “Oh? So you’re a student at the University of Berlin?” Else nodded and looked back and forth between Paul and Walter. “And I read in the newspaper that there was a commotion at the Wagner Laboratory and the lab head and second-in-command went missing.” “Missing? Oh, man. What do I do if my relatives put in a search request?” “ That’s what you’re worried about!? What are famous people like you doing here?” “Well, we used this new experimental weapon, but its power dropped like a rock and it malfunctioned. We decided it needed repairs and we happened to spot the perfect place to hide it down below.” “The perfect place to hide it, huh?” “Yeah, sorry about that. We thought it was a park.” “Fine, whatever. …More importantly, can that machine really fly?” “Yeah, it can even fly to space.” She frowned at that. “Sorry, but I seriously doubt that. You just said it malfunctioned, didn’t you?” “No, no. It can make it. It was made to reach space.” She sensed confidence in Walter’s fixation on the word “space”. “Hey…” “Yes?” “When you say space, you mean outer space, right?” “That’s right.” “Wait. Are you serious? No one has ever successfully done that before.” “It’ll be fine. As long as this thing grows properly, it can go anywhere.” One word from his explanation did not fit, so she asked to make sure she had heard right. “Grows?” “Yeah, isn’t that right, professor?” Paul’s only response was a meaningful smile. Realizing that smile was filled with confidence, Else decided they were serious. She also remembered something that had happened in the past. “But why are you keeping your attempt hidden? Before – you know, when that manned rocket failed – the military helped out and everyone was talking about it.” She saw Paul’s expression stiffen at that and he spoke before Walter could say anything. “We would rather not rely on the military. We want to reach space on our own while putting ourselves first.” “That sounds childish.” “Shut up. I’ve always been like that.” Else smiled bitterly at the elderly man’s statement. She could somehow understand that way of thinking. … That must be nice. That thought softened her expression. “I see. So you’re just doing it as a hobby.” “More or less. …Now, who are you?” “Are you familiar with the Breuer Company that sells weapons?” Walter tilted his head, but Paul looked up. “I am. They were building a giant mansion in Berlin about when I quit the military.” “That’s where you are now. I’m the president’s only daughter.” “Wait! Else!” A low voice reached them as a man on a horse burst from the forest to the side. Else turned back to the two men. “And that’s my father, Gaston,” she said more quietly. “Else! Who are those people! And what is that giant machine!?” “Shut up!” she shouted without turning around. “They’re criminals on the run from the military because they stole a secret ship!” Gaston had clearly been planning to shout something back, but that explanation drained all color from his face. Else nodded, satisfied in the influence of her words. She could be cruel. “W-wait! Why would people like that be-…” “I said shut up. Obviously their ship malfunctioned and they crashed here.” “I’m not sure that counts as ‘obviously’.” “Don’t nitpick my wording. And either way, they aren’t bad people! Would bad people sit around leisurely cooking bratwurst?” “I don’t think that’s the issue here.” “Who cares if it is? We’re not opposed to the military, but we have nothing against these two either. Besides, no respectable person would sell someone out to the military.” She knew her father was easily swayed by words like that. He seemed reluctant to let his daughter know he had to make nice to the military as a weapons dealer. Even if his job required it, that was a weakness of his, so he fell silent when she brought it up. She felt a little bad for having done so. “Now, then.” She took a breath and spoke to the two behind her. “You two, come to our place. You’ll tell us some interesting stories, won’t you?” ### Part 4 Mayer answered the phone instead of Oscar who had gone to the remains of the Wagner Laboratory. As Oscar’s aide, looking after the place in his absence was a legitimate part of Mayer’s job. He had to do his best to preserve his commander’s good name. He looked out the window as he picked up the receiver, but it had already grown dark. The glass reflected his slightly tense face. He lowered his gaze and spoke into the receiver. “Yes, this is Mayer Schrier speaking for Major General Oscar Mirildorf.” “Oh, Lieutenant Mayer? This is Gaston of the Breuer Company.” He recognized the voice. This was the president of the weapons dealer that manufactured the air force’s aircraft and sold them firearms. His was the top company in the industry, but he seemed like a fairly sociable person. Mayer lowered his head toward the phone without thinking. “Thank you for calling. What do you need at this hour?” “Have you read today’s newspaper?” “The newspaper? I skimmed through it. What about it?” “I heard this from someone I know, but…” Gaston’s tone dropped and Mayer realized it would be crass to ask just who that “someone” was. Some important incident had to be happening around this man. Mayer allowed him to keep it a secret. “Go ahead. We are known for keeping secrets.” “I am well aware. …Anyway, from what I’ve heard, Major General Oscar’s unit is pursuing some sort of incident.” “…” Mayer’s silence acted as an answer and the other man seemed to pick up on what this meant. “Well, based on the assumption that you are, I believe what you are looking for is on my land.” “Is that so?” “And it is accompanied by two people.” … I see. Mayer realized what exactly was going on, so he spoke quickly. “Understood. That has nothing to do with us, but it may be of interest to someone. I will track them down and contact them, so please invite those two people in as a guest for the next few days.” “Understood. I will.” “Sorry about the trouble.” “No, not at all. …And one other thing.” “Yes?” “If something happens, I would prefer if you did not tell my family that I was the one to call you. Could you keep that a secret?” “Eh? Yes, we can…but why? If these guests turn out to be important, you would be richly rewarded.” “No, I’d much rather not be. …And I don’t need any more riches anyway.” Mayer detected hesitation in the man’s voice, but there was no need to look into it further. “I see. Then if it comes to it, we will reward you in another way.” “Thank you very much. And I hope you will continue to use our products in the future.” The man’s tone completely changed in an instant. … That’s a merchant for you. With that thought, Mayer lowered his head toward the telephone again. “Thank you very much.” “No, thank you. …And please come quickly.” With that, he hung up. Mayer held his breath as he set down the receiver and he looked out the window again. He was on the fifth and highest floor of Berlin’s air force base, so he could see the nightscape of Berlin through the glass. The Breuer home was about eight kilometers southeast of the base. “Is that you, Walter, teacher?” His expression grew even tenser as he muttered that question. He wanted to run out there right away to check, but Oscar had yet to return and he was too young to give orders of his own. “I can’t believe this.” His voice sounded troubled and yet somehow happy. “Why are those two like that?” His bitterly smiling eyes stared out into the night. Somewhere in those scattered specks of light were the people he sought. ### 066. Chapter 3: The Legend Accelerates ### Part 1 12/23/1935 It was the day before Weihnachtsabend. The flow of happy people could be seen even in the shopping district along Mehring Street which continued south from Mehringplatz, a famous plaza in Berlin. Many of them were preparing to take time off of work and celebrate Weihnachts with their families. It was a crowded area. A bicycle raced along the roads while avoiding those crowded areas. It was moving quite quickly. Walter wore his lab coat as he controlled the bicycle and Else stood on the back luggage area. They were on their way back from the national library in the University of Berlin. They had tried to check out an encyclopedia of ancient emblems, but the receptionist had said encyclopedias could not be checked out. Else had been forced to secretly throw the book out the window to Walter who waited outside. In other words, they had stolen it. Incidentally, Else had been the one to suggest it and Walter had agreed. The encyclopedia was necessary to fix the Kaiserburg’s malfunction. They had spent the entire previous day working out the cause. Simply put, the engine’s output was too high and the emergency shutoff had activated. If they continued running it like that, the engine would burn out and never work again. This malfunction was the result of giving the ship an unfinished and powerful engine, so they needed to carve in the proper output control emblem. Else had stuck with Walter and Paul for the day it took them to realize that and she had gotten to see the inside of the Kaiserburg and even its engines. The first surprise had been that the three cylindrical engines on the back and wings were sealed. That meant the ship flew without emitting any kind of jet. “To put it simply, it manipulates gravity to fly. Unlike the previous engine designs, it provides a massive amount of energy and doesn’t need to create fire or wind using simple emblems. It instead uses the gravity techniques of the powerful divine spell users in ancient times.” As he explained that, Walter had opened the engine’s outer paneling. Inside were the guts made of metal pipes and gauges. Else had seen something truly unexpected in the center. “A spirit stone!” The spirit stone had been large enough to wrap ones arms around and it had emitted a faint light in its place as a component. Spirit stones were normally used as fuel, not as a component. A fighter craft could fly for six hundred hours using a standard fingertip-sized spirit stone mined from a vein of spirit stones. The average yearly flight time for military fighter craft was only five hundred hours. What Else had seen was absurdly large and it had detailed emblems carved into its surface. “What is this?” “It’s a new type of engine that has developed beyond the standard spirit engine. We call it an emblem engine.” “Where did you find such a huge spirit stone? …It isn’t a fake, is it?” “Of course not. It was inside a crater in the southern mountains. On earth, a spirit stone’s field is discharged into the air, so we searched for a fresh stone that had come from outside. And since it was so big, we could carve emblems into it like a normal component.” Wood could be burned more efficiently if it was first turned to charcoal instead of being burned as is. Similarly, ether produced greater power as a crystallized spirit stone than when it simply floated through empty space. So what if an engine was created from that crystal? “The engine itself absorbs ether from the surrounding space to produce its great power. That’s why the Kaiserburg doesn’t include a spirit stone for fuel.” “You mean it can keep moving forever without refueling?” “That’s right.” He had readily affirmed that ridiculous idea. The ultra-high power aerial ship could fly indefinitely without refueling. Of course it had been a military secret. “Well? Surprised?” The young man had smiled as he asked that. That had been yesterday. ### Part 2 “It’s been two years since I visited Berlin, but it hasn’t changed at all.” Walter sounded completely carefree as he pedaled the bicycle. Else asked him a question and held down her blowing skirt. “Um, did you graduate from the University of Berlin? …If so, do you think we ever saw each other somewhere before?” “Hard to say. I slept in the lab during university and left the country a lot in my fourth year.” “Left the country? That must be nice. …Japan or India sound like fun.” Walter’s shoulders shook in laughter when he heard that. “What?” “Oh, nothing. I just thought a girl would say she wanted to go to Paris.” “Shut up. Everyone goes there. I’d rather go somewhere interesting.” “Then you’re the same as me. I can’t believe this.” “Eh? Did you say something?” She asked him to repeat himself, but he did not respond. To fill the gap, Else asked another question. “Hey, that old guy is the meister who made the spaceship Huber Talstrasse rode, isn’t he?” “Yes, but what about it?” “When I spoke with him yesterday, I brought up that accident, didn’t I?” “Don’t worry about it. Or do you want me to tell him you feel bad?” “I can apologize for myself.” “That would be better. It’ll probably be embarrassing, but do your best.” She scratched her head as he smiled at her, but she suddenly asked something else. “I assume he’s going into space for Huber’s sake, but what about you, Walter?” Why was that young man trying to go to space? It was an obvious question for Else who had been arguing with her father about her future. Walter gently turned back toward her. “What if I said it was because of my curiosity to see what no one has ever seen before and my ambition to go farther than anyone ever has before? That’s a favorite quote of mine.” Else sighed at that answer. “C’mon, can’t you give a proper answer? That’s from Huber Talstrasse’s last words, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is. You know a lot about this, don’t you?” “I looked through my house’s library after you said you were going to space.” “I see. Being eager to learn is a good thing. Is that how you learned about the professor, too?” She could sense his smiling mood through the shoulders she rested her hands on and he had avoided giving her the answer she wanted. She thought about asking again but decided against it. … It must not be a simple enough reason to put to words. She wanted to know that reason for her own sake. … Do I have something like that too? Just then, something odd passed by them. It was an armored military bus. The inside, sides, and even roof of the rough green vehicle were covered with soldiers and they seemed to be in a hurry. “Walter, are we in trouble? That’s the military, isn’t it?” “We’re fine. They won’t recognize me with so many people around.” As soon as he said that, the armored bus’s external speaker produced a young voice. “Walterrrr! I found you!” At the same time, the steel box of a vehicle came to a sudden stop. Smoke spewed from its wheels and they produced a raw screech. The normal car behind it could not swerve in time and crashed into it. With a tremendous sound, the armored bus hopped upwards and knocked a few of the soldiers off of it. Chaos quickly spread through the street. The car that had failed to stop in time skidded to the side and more cars crashed into it from behind. More and more cars piled up from behind. The simple but lively metallic sounds continued and were joined by people’s voices. It was a quite a ruckus. While watching the commotion from the bicycle, Else asked Walter a question. “Didn’t you just say they wouldn’t recognize you?” “Eh? Who would say something silly like that?” “Try to be less blatant when you lie! …And look! Here they come!” With no moving cars left, the soldiers cut across the street. The people watching the commotion fled when they saw the soldiers charging. The bicycle continued on and weaved between the fleeing people at a decent clip. “Walter! Hurry!” Suddenly, five soldiers ran in from the side, each wielding an automatic handgun. “Get the traitors!” they shouted. Else turned toward them from the back of the bicycle. “Oh, shut up!” She pulled a submachine gun from the bag on her back. The action was so natural that the running soldiers did not immediately realize what she was aiming at them. “Waah!” Once they did, they quickly stopped their running feet. Seeing that, Else pulled the trigger, extended her arms, and endured the recoil. “…!” With a pleasant repeating sound, the sidewalk was torn apart. All five of the soldiers disgracefully jumped out of the way. She was making sure she did not hit them, but it must have been frightening from their perspective. “Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah!” Their screams quickly grew more distant and the bicycle accelerated. However, it was too soon to relax. Still holding the submachine gun, she caught her breath, lowered her hips, and sat sideways on the luggage area. “Um, Else?” “Hm? What is it?” “You can be pretty harsh when you need to be.” “Yeah, it happens a lot, so don’t worry about it.” “Else…” “What?” “I think we’re going to get along nicely.” His shoulders shook as he suppressed his laughter. “Oh, we’re about to enter the back alley, so we’ll be turning right!” The bicycle tilted to the right, the back wheel slid a bit, and they charged into the alley behind a store. In the process, Else caught a quick glimpse of the soldiers still pursuing them from behind. … This is pretty serious. Her thoughts remained carefree even as a hint of unease entered her chest. … What’s going to happen now? ### Part 3 The Kaiserburg floated unreliably in the backyard of a large white mansion. Even in winter, the warm currents from the ocean kept Germany from growing too cold. It was also a sunny day, so the top of the metal ship was comfortably warm. A man in a blue work outfit slept on top of that warm ship. It was Paul. He was enjoying a pleasant nap for the first time in a long while. He was completely relaxed after the tension of the last few days had suddenly left him entirely. … I’m like an old man. Suddenly, a shrill noise came from his body. The communicator in his pocket had rung. “…!” He frantically sat up and pulled it out. “Hey, it’s me. What is it, Walter?” The young man’s energetic voice replied to him. “Professor! Can you hear me!?” “Hm? You’re pretty far away, aren’t you? Did something happen?” “The military is headed your way.” “What do you mean exactly?” “A national military unit is heavily armed and travelling to your current location. Yeah, that’s definitely what’s happening.” “That isn’t what I meant! Keep it simple.” “The military is headed your way.” “Are you trying to pick a fight with me!?” “Mayer and his friends are already having a party and they’ve caused quite a commotion. Can’t you hear it?” Sure enough, he could hear some unusual sounds from both the communicator and the forest surrounding the mansion. Most notably, gunfire and collisions. It seemed something crazy was going on. “Hm. So how are you doing? Is the young lady with you?” “Yes, yes. The ‘young lady’ is with him, old man!” “You seem to be doing well. And young lady, don’t call me ‘old man’. Call me professor. Got it?” “Sure, sure. Then how about you stop calling me ‘young lady’. I’m already twenty, you old professor.” “Hey, Walter. Can’t you do something about this foulmouthed girl?” “Else, weren’t you just saying something about apologizing?” “Oh, damn. …Wait! This is no time to talk about that!” “You’re right, you’re right. Professor, given the situation, we’ll recite the emblem from here. Can you can carve it in as we do?” Paul did not immediately understand Walter’s question. “That is completely insane,” he replied. “Don’t worry, professor. You’re Germany’s best emblem technician, aren’t you? You’re the only one that can carve an emblem into stone with just a chisel these days, so how about showing off your skill?” “Y’know...” “You can’t do it?” The voice coming from the communicator was terribly dark and filled with disappointment. Paul replied on reflex. “Well, it isn’t that I can’t .” “Okay, then do it. Do it right now. Do it immediately. Got it? That settles it.” Walter’s tone immediately brightened and Paul frowned. “Fine then. Give me two minutes to prepare.” “Understood. Else will be the one reading off the emblem, so try to get along.” “Eh? Wait. I can’t read an emblem.” “Emblem reading is a required course at the university, isn’t it? Besides, my hands are more than full with controlling the bike.” Paul heard Else continue to protest, but he stopped listening. He scratched his head in exasperation and stood from the Kaiserburg. It seemed he was not going to get a relaxing nap after all. ### Part 4 Six long aerial aircraft carriers floated in the sky above a sea of clouds. They were the Bladlikburg and others of the same model. Their designations were Bladlikburg Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier, Fünf, and Sechs. They were almost identical and were shaped like long panels. The bridge was a glass-covered basket attached on the bottom to give a view of the area below. This was the opposite of a normal ship or aircraft, but the upper deck had to be flat so the aircraft could take off or land. Currently, a man looked down on the sea of clouds from the front window of Eins’s bridge. It was Oscar. He pressed the communication intercom to his ear and frowned. “You ran across him, but he ran away? And he has entered the Breuer family’s land?” He thought about what to do and instantly made up his mind. “Okay. You have permission to pursue. But you come up here, Mayer. Only you can properly pilot the new craft.” He took a breath. “We cannot let them complete that ship.” And… “The Tempelhof Airport should be closest. We will also descend, so we should arrive in less than fifteen minutes. Hurry.” After emphasizing that, he ended the communication. … The fate of the military…no, of Germany itself is dependent on a single ship. He smiled bitterly. Germany had regained its economic footing in the first half of the twenties. In the thirties, a man rumored to be a madman had taken political control. Ever since, the nation had completely ignored the disarmament promised in the Treaty of Versailles and they had encouraged military expansion. If Germany gained the dp-XXX’s technology, another great war was bound to begin. If Oscar’s estimation was correct, the dp-XXX could singlehandedly destroy Air Force Division 5 aka Eisen Vogel that he commanded. The information retrieved from the destroyed Wagner Laboratory had supported that estimation. And if that craft flew into space, the problem would spread beyond the nation of Germany. Country after country would target the dp-XXX. … And that will lead to a war centered on this country! He could not allow that to happen. The dp-XXX was an unmistakably dangerous ship. However, he had another thought as well. … What if we could properly use its abilities? If so, Germany would most likely lead the world. America had invented the spirit engine and they now nearly ruled the world economy as the world’s greatest automobile producer. From that perspective, Germany needed the dp-XXX’s technology. Which view was correct? He did not know. Until he had seen the dp-XXX’s ability for himself, he had thought they could simply destroy it. He had thought it was a threat to the country that would only make the top brass of the military happy. But it had displayed more power than he had ever imagined. It was entirely different from the current technology and he had sensed the future in it. He had seen many new weapons on the battlefield, so he knew to trust that feeling. It could not be allowed to exist, but it would be such a shame to lose it. … What should we do? He thought. He did not have time to hesitate. The battle would begin in just a few minutes. He knew what he had to do: keep Germany from going to war or getting drawn into a war. And for that, he had to rethink what the purpose of the military was. A sudden thought occurred to him. … The military is meant to protect the nation. With that thought, he made a breakthrough. He immediately came to a decision. … We will hold the dp-XXX here and hide it until the time comes! That was it. That was the only possible answer. Strength filled his gaze and he barked orders. “Transfer the crew of artillery aircraft carriers Zwei and Fünf to other ships! If this comes to a fight, the dp-XXX will use its Panzer Emblem. Tell them to leave nothing but a unit of men prepared to die!” A plan formed in his mind. Most likely either Bladlikburg Zwei or Fünf would be sunk, but he would be happy if they could limit it to just that. “Once that is complete, all ships are to descend at full speed! The battle begins!” ### Part 5 The bicycle raced through the forest. The mansion was not far away now. The noise coming from behind was their pursuers. “They sure are persistent. Doesn’t this count as trespassing?” asked Else while looking worriedly back. “We trespassed with the Kaiserburg too.” “What you did was landing or crashing, not trespassing.” She raised her head just as they left the forest. Her vision opened up and she saw a yard the size of a plaza. There was a giant mansion beyond it and a sword-like metal ship floated in front of it. “…!” The Kaiserburg’s nose was pointed their way. It moved forward as if someone had given it a light push. Meanwhile, the bicycle slowed to a stop and the two stepped off of it. The Kaiserburg slid gently through the air and stopped in front of them. There was no instability in its movements and it was no longer struggling to remain afloat like it had that morning. Even Else could tell the ship could fly. She watched it in silence. … Thank goodness! Walter glanced over his shoulder at her. “Hmm. Looks like the emblem worked. Good, good.” “…” “Else?” “Eh?” “Why do you look so nervous?” “I-I’m not exactly nervous…” “It’s thanks to you we got it running. You should be a little happier.” … I am happy! But that was why she could not speak. Even she felt her role had been too simple. She had only opened the book to the entry Walter had indicated and recited the most powerful emblem to Paul. Walter could have done it if she had not been there. Even so, she had been the one to actually do it. It may have been indirect, but it really was thanks to her that the only ship trying to reach space could fly once more. Her pulse began to race. “…” The man in front of her turned toward her with his usual smile. She smiled back. “Isn’t this great?” she asked. “It is. We can fly again.” He sounded almost embarrassed as he answered. At the very least, he was experiencing the same joy she had felt. And it was an ordinary experience for him. He also had the ridiculous goal of reaching space. No normal person would be willing to clash with the military for their goal. He and Paul were betting their own lives on this ship and a chance to reach space. She had nothing like that. Not only did she not have a physical representation like the Kaiserburg, but she had nothing in her heart either. … What is this? Am I jealous? Just as she wondered that… “Else! Move away from that ship!” Her gaze turned to a deep voice and she saw Gaston rushing out of the mansion. He pointed behind Else and Walter. Without even turning around, she knew what that meant: the military was entering the yard. She heard something whiz by and sparks flew from the Kaiserburg’s outer paneling. The gunshot reached her a moment later. If one bullet had flown, more would be coming. Sure enough, more and more sparks blossomed like flowers and the sounds of gunfire joined them. “…!” The tail end of the Kaiserburg slid to the side and formed a wall in front of Walter and Else. “Else! Hurry over here! It’s dangerous out there!” “You’re the one that made it so dangerous!” She knew those words would shut him up. … If it makes you feel so guilty, don’t do it in the first place. An amplified voice from the forest drowned out the gunfire. “You piloting the ship and you two hiding behind it! Surrender immediately!” “ ‘You two’? Does he mean Else and me?” “Seems that way.” “Hmm. This misunderstanding is quite interesting indeed. Are you going to surrender?” “Why do I have to surrender in front of my own house? I’d rather hole up in the house.” “A decent opinion, but we have the Kaiserburg here. The correct options are to escape or fight back.” “Hey! Else! What are you doing!?” She saw Gaston shouting while hiding behind the mansion’s door. “What are you doing, dad! Have some shame.” “Sh-shut up! The bullets are flying over here too!” She could indeed see a few broken windows and it did not seem the military was trying very hard to aim. It was quite a commotion. Else thought for just a moment. … What should I do? But a moment later, the distant amplified voice shouted at them again. “Hey! You two hiding there! Hurry up and surrender!” She frowned and turned to Walter. He was looking at her with a similar expression. “Hey, Walter.” “Yes?” “Am I part of your group?” Walter tilted his head at that question. “Based on the situation, that’s definitely a valid way of looking at it. …Hm.” After a short pause, he clapped his hands and changed his expression. “Okay. How about you join us on the Kaiserburg?” She had not expected him to say that. “Eh!? Ah, wait! Really?” “If we left you here, you’d be arrested by the military.” “But isn’t that ship important to you two?” “But you helped us get it flying again.” “…!” She looked taken aback and he smiled bitterly. “You’ll probably have fun if you do. And if you don’t, we can always drop you off somewhere or other.” His tone almost seemed to be testing her. It may have only been in her mind, but she felt like he was asking if she could keep up with them. And so she nodded. There was something she wanted to know. … Why are you so intent on going to space? I want to know. She knew this young man would not tell her if she simply asked. He looked her in the eye and gave his usual grin. “Well, if you force yourself to keep up with me, you’ll end up regretting it.” “Why?” “Because I dream big.” He turned his back on her and stepped up on the side of the Kaiserburg. He then turned his head to look back. “How about I show you just how amazing and frightening that dream is?” “Please do.” She smiled just like he was and nodded. She felt like flying through the sky would answer all of her past questions. ### Part 6 Gaston was entirely speechless. He clearly saw his own daughter boarding that ship. … What is going on!? For just an instant, she turned toward him and waved. She was smiling. It shocked him. The suspicion that she would never return began to spread through his heart. “Else!” He tried to run out from behind the door, but bullets were still flying. … What is the military thinking!? The soldiers formed up in the distance were scattering bullets wildly. It was enough of a commotion that the mansion’s servants were hiding in the cellar. Calling the police was meaningless when the military was the problem, so there was nothing to be done. … I will be using this as a bargaining chip later! With that in mind, he suddenly realized something. Else was nowhere to be seen. He could only see the floating mass of metal. … Else! He felt more panicked than he did angry. The men he had met yesterday had dreamed of going to space. They had claimed to have created a ship with a new kind of engine for that purpose. He had thought they were very childish. It was true that sort of atmosphere had filled the country fifteen years before. They had recovered from the war, they had been developing further, and they had been aiming for space, so Germany had been filled with excitement. But it had ended in failure. The people had realized it was too soon to pursue their dreams and they had pursued reality instead. Nevertheless, those two men still held onto their dreams. … I don’t get it. He simply could not understand why they were so intent on going to space. That was what made him panic. After all, his own daughter was going with them and she had smiled as she did so. “Else! I…!” That was the moment when shadows from the sky covered the mansion in darkness from right to left. It only took an instant. He saw a group of aircraft flying at extreme low altitude. “What!?” He heard a roar. These were the air force’s standard craft known as Eisen Soldat. A formation of them was flying above Berlin…no, above his mansion. Gaston saw this as an omen of the situation growing even further. And he realized his daughter would be flying right into the center of it. … Is there no way I can stop her? Is there nothing I can do!? “Else!” ### Part 7 “This is surprisingly roomy.” This was her first time in the cockpit. It was four meters wide and across and two meters high, it contained two primary seats side by side, and it had a secondary seat behind them. Paul sat in the pilot seat on the right and Walter sat in the gunner seat on the left. “Else, you’re a passenger, so please sit in that seat. Can you watch the radar?” “You’re putting your passenger to work?” “You have to pay the fare somehow, so please take care of this. We’re shorthanded.” “That’s right. I had to do it all on my own before and it was not fun.” She listened to Paul’s teasing tone of voice while sitting in the chair that supported her down to the ankles. Once she sat down, the back automatically changed angle. “The back seems a little inadequate.” “Oh, sorry. I never thought a woman would be sitting there, so it’s probably a little tight in the butt. What is your hip measurement?” “Um, eighty-… Wait. What are you trying to get me to say!?” “Oh, c’mon. I’m only asking to know more about the ship and out of simple curiosity.” Meanwhile, Walter lightly tapped his seat’s armrests. With a metallic sound, the armrests rotated upside down. Else saw two palm-sized metal spheres embedded in them. They controlled the field emitters. When using the Schwert and Kugel divine spell weapons, he would rotate the spheres to determine their direction. “Walter, don’t use them too much. The output still isn’t at its best.” “Got it.” Walter’s tone hinted at a different mood from before. Else looked up at him. The back of his seat was in the way, but she felt like she knew what expression was on his face. “Okay, I’ve connected to the ship’s center of gravity. Professor, let’s get going.” “Good, good,” said Paul in an aged-sounding tone. “dp-XXX Kaiserburg Form One – Strahlen Ritter takes flight!” With a slight shaking, her vision quickly rose. “Eh?” They had ascended in an instant and she had not felt anything bearing down on her like she had expected. Since the ship flew by manipulating gravity, it must have been able to neutralize inertia too. She soon realized they had changed direction. It was strange how the ship did not tilt. … Wow. Light began to flash on the radar in front of her. The device reacted to the fields emitted by spirit stones. There were twelve dots on the screen. The gauge said the radar was scaled by a factor of thirty thousand, so each centimeter on the screen represented three hundred meters. The enemy was approaching fast. “Here they come! They’re directly ahead!” “I see them.” They had risen to about one hundred meters above Berlin. The forest around Else’s home was directly below. Beyond that was a group of stone-like buildings and the tops of brightly-painted housing complexes. Dark dots were floating above all that and white clouds trailed behind them. The thin clouds were created by the temperature difference between the air and the vacuum formed as they cut through the air. They were contrails. “Professor, I’m going to use two Schwert.” “Okay, I’ll send the power around in five seconds. Don’t forget that the weapons can only use thirty percent of their power.” After a short pause, Else saw something outside the cockpit window. It was light. The field emitters on the top and bottom of the ship were producing the divine sword of light known as a Schwert. “Why is the military trying to get in our way? They really aren’t very bright.” “But this ship has to be worth a lot. Sorry for thinking of it like a product, though.” “You wouldn’t be able to sell it anyway. Different groups would try to steal it and a war would break out,” calmly explained Paul. “Once we fly to space, the entire world will have its eye on us, but we don’t plan to give it to anyone. We’re thinking about letting it sink to the bottom of the ocean or something like that.” Else felt a chill. These two men simply wanted to go to space and they were prepared to vanish afterwards. “Professor, let’s go.” With that, Walter placed his hands on the armrests. The battle was about to begin. ### Part 8 Dogfights either ended in a single attack or after passing by the enemy. A fighter craft would fire Kugel or slice with Schwert either head on or while in pursuit. Giant warships mostly used shells so they could avoid accidental collisions, but craft like the Eisen Soldat primarily fought at close range. They had high mobility, so long-range attacks would not hit them and they could neutralize Kugel with their Schwert. One Soldat saw a fourth explosion blossom in the sky after another pilot was ejected with a white parachute. At this distance, the dp-XXX looked the size of a grain of rice. The ship slowed as if watching the dropping parachute. The Soldat received a transmission. “Eins 1 to Eins 2 and 3. Eins 4 and 6 will contact the enemy first. We will use an arrow formation. I’ll attack while you two cover for me.” Eins 2 nodded. “Understood.” He checked on Eins 3 to his right. Eins 1, their commander, was down below to complete the triangular formation. They had not broken the sound barrier, so he heard the roar enveloping the three of them. He saw two contrails form and draw an arc toward the dp-XXX from above. That would be Eins 4 and 6. The dp-XXX did not move. Eins 2 spoke to the neighboring craft. “Eins 3, what do you think of that ship?” “I’m not really sure. All I know is that it’s powerful.” “Even when it’s just floating there like that?” “Do you want to go up and poke a sleeping tiger?” Eins 3 had a point. The enemy ship appeared to just be floating, but it had already shot down more than ten of their craft. “We can’t let our guard down.” “Eins 2 and 3, this is Eins 1. Enough chatter. Let’s spread out.” “Understood.” As instructed, Eins 2 tilted his craft left. The roar of the craft slicing through the air filled his body as he moved away from Eins 3. The triangle grew larger. … Is this far enough? Once he had enough space to freely use his Schwert, he saw the others contact the enemy. Eins 4 and 6 shot toward the dp-XXX from above. The two craft rapidly descended toward the ship that almost seemed to be basking in the sun. Suddenly, the ship shot straight up. “!” It was on a collision course, so the descending craft corrected their courses to fly by the ship on either side. From his position, Eins 2 had no way of knowing which was Eins 4 and which was Eins 6. At any rate, the two drew their Schwert and tried to fly past the dp-XXX. … They’re going to hit! In that very instant, the giant ship suddenly moved in reverse. “What!?” A voice came from the communicator and the shout was filled with protest. It was only natural to protest. A ship flying straight up had suddenly changed course by ninety degrees as if it had been hit. And it rapidly came to a stop. An aircraft could not react to these movements. … This is ridiculous! “What kind of ship is this!?” The two craft fell defenselessly past the front of the dp-XXX and the ship swung its two Schwert up as if to strike them in the nose. Eins 2 saw the swords of light easily slice through the metal. With a sound much like splitting stone, the two fighter craft were transformed into four masses. The pilots ejected just before the craft collided with the air and exploded. Eins 2 had no time to sit idly by and watch. It was their turn next. His group of three had to take on that absurd ship now. … Can we beat it? As soon as he thought that, Eins 2 heard a voice that stifled the momentum of his thoughts. “Eins 1 here. I’m going to contact the enemy. Cover for me.” Strength gathered in his eyes and he saw Eins 1 move forward down below. The other craft was beginning its attack. As Eins 1 charged in below, Eins 2 and 3 had to cover from behind on either side. Tension wrapped around Eins 2’s body and his fear slowly vanished. He checked his radar. The dp-XXX was retreating at about the same speed as they were advancing. He operated the right and left field emitters to prepare a Kugel in each. He adjusted the field emitters’ direction based on his distance from the enemy. The loud sound of their movement pierced his body. “Eins 2 here. Beginning covering fire!” He launched the Kugel. A dull tremor ran though the metal craft and the sound of firing burst toward the back. The fear from before had completely vanished now. His focus on shooting down this enemy had overwhelmed the fear. He fired. “…!” He could not even hear his own shouting voice, but he continued firing the Kugel again and again. Eins 3 also fired Kugel from the right. No one could evade fire from two directions like this. Moving out of the way would expose your back or belly to either the left or right. Still moving backwards, the dp-XXX sliced through the Kugel with its Schwert. Eins 1 used the gap that created to approach from below. The covering fire kept the enemy in place, so he would make an attack using the third dimension from outside that line of fire. That was a basic tactic in aerial combat. As the commander charged in, he drew his Schwert and began flying upside down. He planned to cut into the dp-XXX as their bellies passed by each other. … Will it work? Eins 2 stared straight forward as his vision blurred from the vibration of firing his attacks. His shaking vision saw Eins 1’s attack preparing to tear apart the enemy. In the instant Eins 1 reached the enemy, Eins 2 stopped his covering fire. And that created an instantaneous opening. “!” The dp-XXX moved forward as if kicked. It went all out, ignored the fighter craft approaching from below, and soared with all of its might. “That thing’s fast!” That movement would have been impossible for a normal fighter craft. It had directly gone from stopped to soaring. After a moment, it exchanged attacks below and charged forward. It accelerated even further and their relative speeds filled the gap almost immediately. The mass of metal emitted dull light as it tore through the air. “…!” Eins 2 let out a cry not even he could hear and operated the field emitters. He switched from Kugel to Schwert. The swords of light thrust forward from the field emitters on the ends of the wings. At the same time, wind with actual mass slammed into him. “Wah!” The enemy ship was approaching with frightening speed. He did not even have time to swing the Schwert. A mass of roaring noise slammed into him from the right. Their shockwaves had collided as they passed by. He forcibly controlled the shaking of his craft and heard an unpleasant sound run through the core of his body. He heard an explosion behind him and he knew what it meant. Eins 3 had been destroyed. The dp-XXX had chosen to take care of Eins 3 before him. “…” He felt a surge of relief. The feeling of having been saved won out over the regret or anger that his ally had been destroyed. He subconsciously sped up to escape. Running was the only option. He was at a disadvantage now that the enemy was behind him. He sped up even further. He was now flying forward at full speed. He was desperate and he was gasping for breath. The wind and noise rushed behind him as he accelerated. He thought there was no way he could draw any more speed out of the craft. But that was when he sensed something truly unpleasant. He noticed an intense presence to his right. Something was approaching from behind and coming up beside him on the right. … It can’t be! He was dumbfounded. … Is something there? He knew what it was. He knew deep down, but he did not want to admit it. That contradictory thought asked him to check, so he looked to the right. “…!” The dp-XXX was there. “Impossible!” The enemy ship was flying in reverse. It had flown straight forward, destroyed Eins 3, and then caught up to him in reverse. It was absurd. He was moving forward and flying as quickly as possible. … That thing is on an entirely different level. Was its pilot even human? What about the centrifugal force? Wouldn’t the ship break? Who had built it and how? And…was there no way of defeating it? There was no one there to answer those questions. Eins 2’s mouth opened to ask a meaningless question. “What the hell are you!?” At the same time, he swung his Schwert as hard as he could. The horizontal strike was sharp and heavy. However, the dp-XXX was gone. It performed a side flip as if jumping over Eins 2 from the side. “…Ah.” Eins 2’s gaze followed the ship as it flew over him with the ceiling of the sky behind it. He looked up at the large leaping ship that almost seemed to be dancing. For just an instant, it showed its belly to the sky but then twisted around. The backlight of the sun vividly showed off its silhouette. … It’s beautiful. As soon as that thought ran through his mind, Eins 2’s fighter craft was sliced through by the Schwert extending from the dp-XXX. ### Part 9 After Paul and Walter performed a ridiculous midair side-flip without batting an eye, the next enemy appeared in the cockpit’s front window. It descended from high in the sky like a giant comet. It was a shell known as a Bogen. A Bogen was a physical shell fired with gunpowder, but it was filled with divine spell charms that would spread damage over a wide area when it hit. It far outdid a Kugel in destructive power, but the ammunition was too bulky to be used in anything but a large ship. The scorching hot shell was terrifyingly accurate. The dp-XXX barrel rolled to escape it. If one strained their eyes, six great forms were visible just below the clouds. They were the Bladlikburg fleet. “So Oscar’s finally shown up! Their star player has joined the match.” “Really? And right when it’s about to grow, too.” Else was distracted by them, but she suddenly noticed a light on the radar and quickly looked back down. “Hey.” “Yes? What is it?” “That one we avoided earlier is approaching from above.” “What a pain. Walter, what should we do?” “Well, let’s try to avoid needless destruction. How about we move forward and avoid it while we go pay Oscar a visit.” Else and Paul both nodded in agreement. That may have been what created an opening. ### Part 10 The fighter craft approaching from above was Eins 1 which they had avoided earlier. The dp-XXX moved to avoid him again by accelerating forward. But they did not escape. Instead of drawing his Schwert or firing a Kugel, he flew in a straight line and crashed into them. The screaming of metal filled the sky. ### 067. Chapter 4: The Legend Races ### Part 1 It felt like her head had been knocked off. They had been flying without feeling any inertia, but all of a sudden, a blow came from above. The great tremor passed from her head and out through her feet. The blow was so strong that she thought the ship had broken in two. “Kyah!” As soon as she cried out, Else felt an impact toss her upwards. At the same time, a deep roar hit her in the gut and the cockpit filled with scarlet flames. … I’m going to die! She squeezed her eyes shut, but heard an oddly cheerful voice. “We did it, professor! It advanced to the next form! The second engine is up and running!” ### Part 2 Oscar used binoculars to watch from the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge. Once it collided with the dp-XXX, the Eisen Soldat turned into a ball of flames and produced an explosive blast of smoke. The dp-XXX was swallowed up by those flames and smoke. Shouts of surprise and admiration filled the bridge, but Oscar alone had a different feeling. “Silence!” His barking voice quieted the bridge. “We may have gone too far.” He moved the binoculars to look around and saw the four remaining Soldat approaching the mass of smoke floating in the sky. They were firing Kugel as they approached to make sure the enemy truly had been sunk. … Were they really sunk? Oscar gulped. At that very moment, pure white Kugel shot from the smoke. These were no normal Kugel. They were Eisen Kugel with the ability to freeze. … It can’t be! Before he could say anything, the white Kugel assaulted the four flying fighter craft. The Soldat drew their Schwert, but the white trajectories slipped below and behind them as if mocking them. These were clearly auto-homing Kugel. Also, the dp-XXX had not possessed this functionality just a moment before. It had been built for close-quarters combat and had not possessed the spare power needed for long-range weapons like Kugel. After all, only one of its three engines had been running. However, it had definitely fired these Kugel and they had caught up to the four Soldat from behind and pierced straight through them. Instead of exploding, the fighter craft shattered like glass. The Eisen Kugel had flash-frozen and then destroyed them. At the same time, the smoke was blown away and a ship was revealed. Oscar shouted out loud as soon as he saw it. “So that is what it means for the ship to grow!” He now understood Walter’s confidence in the incomplete ship’s ability to reach space. He also understood the word he had found on the scraps of a document remaining in the Wagner Laboratory. “The ship itself grows and transforms to rid itself of its deficiencies!” The dp-XXX had literally evolved. Its basic form had not changed, so the sword-like shape remained. However, the arch-like wings on the back of the ship had stretched back like a skirt and spire-like horns extended forward from the wings. Also, a few areas on the outer paneling bulged out. The ship had a somewhat feminine beauty to it. The Schwert sticking out from the ship were gone, so its focus had likely shifted from close-quarters to long-range. In ancient times, fish had gained the legs needed to leave the ocean. In the same way, the dp-XXX had gained further power to combat larger numbers of enemies. “This is absurd!” Oscar shouted and clenched his teeth. ### Part 3 Else opened her eyes and found she was alive. “Eh?” Nothing had changed inside the cockpit. Paul was looking her way and Walter was staring at a scrap of paper in his hand. She could see the sky through the window beyond them. … I’m alive? As she thought that, Walter stuck the paper in his lab coat pocket and muttered to himself. “It looks like I’ll be able to get there soon. I mean it.” Then he turned around. “Are you okay, Else?” She realized the paper he had stuck in his breast pocket was a photograph, but she was not crass enough to ask whose photo it was. Also, she had a more important question. “We’re fine? But I saw fire…” “Yeah, the fighter craft on top of us exploded, so you probably saw the flames from that.” This had to be a sturdy ship if that was not enough to sink it. “Were you scared? Sorry about that.” “I-I was not scared.” As she put on a strong front, she heard a slight metallic creaking. She floated up slightly, returned to normal, and heard the ship shaking somewhere. “Wh-what is that? Is this thing broken after all?” “No. The metal parts are growing for the transformation as it evolves.” She must have given an unpleasant look at the number of unreasonable terms Walter used because he smiled a little. “To put it simply, all of the ship’s components have healing spell emblems carved into them. Not only does that allow it to repair itself, but it lets it modify itself.” “And?” “When activated too nearby each other, the Kaiserburg’s emblem engines resonate with each other and stop working, but that’s just because the engines aren’t used to each other.” “You mean the ship’s self-modification ability will adapt the engines to each other?” “Yeah, you’ve got the picture. Your heart beats without you telling it to, right? In the same way, the Kaiserburg realizes its own deficiencies as it fights and is injured, so it tries to unify all of its components toward a single goal.” “…” She had no words. The ship was completely ridiculous. It was a collection of metal parts, and yet it almost seemed alive. Previous technology was all about strengthening the armor or putting in a more powerful engine. In other words, the people determined the machine’s traits and created it that way. But the Kaiserburg was different. The ship strengthened itself. Paul and Walter had simply helped by loading it with the parts it would eventually use. And the Kaiserburg was living up to their expectations. … I see. “It seems that collision showed the Kaiserburg the need to combat a greater number of opponents. You could say this is like a fistfighting child growing into a young man who wields an actual weapon.” “Two of the emblem engines are running. Just one more.” “It will evolve further?” “Yep. According to our predictions, the next evolution will take it to space.” Walter then faced forward. Else gently crossed her arms and brought a hand to her chest. Her pulse was racing. … Why? She did not know. She felt a new kind of excitement or joy that was not quite the same as during a festival or after scoring well on a test. She felt a powerful urge to tell someone about this incomparable excitement. She may have been approaching her answer, little by little. … But I’m not there yet, am I? She bit her lip and nodded. The ship angled up just a little and gave her a view into the sky. There, she saw a number of aerial aircraft carriers with many small shapes flying from them. “Don’t they know they’re no match for us? They’re persistent, I’ll give them that.” “Some people will never understand until they’ve been beaten. Let’s get this over with.” The Kaiserburg shot forward as if responding to Paul’s words. Its acceleration was more stable than before. ### Part 4 Oscar confirmed a certain fact. … We can’t win using normal methods. Most likely, the dp-XXX’s attack power was on the level of a battleship and its mobility was greater than that of a fighter craft. On top of that, it had no restrictions to its movements. The absurd actions captured by his binoculars were proof enough of that. A formation of eight Soldat descended to surround the enemy. The dp-XXX suddenly split into two. This was an illusion technique created by a weapon known as a Phantom. One of the ships accelerated upwards while the other accelerated downwards. The eight fighter craft hesitated. If one of them was being used as a decoy, the one escaping down below would be the real one. In an instant, the formation passed by the rising dp-XXX. That settled it. The descending dp-XXX vanished. “!” The rising one rolled onto its back and light gathered in its four field emitters. Oscar recognized that light. It was the light of a battleship weapon. “It can even use Kunst!?” Four bullets of light shot from the dp-XXX and to the formation below. The four afterimages of light quickly drew a shape in the sky. The shape was known as a Circle Emblem and it was created by lining up normal emblems in a circle. As soon as the emblem took form, great darkness filled a space one hundred meters across. But this was no mere darkness. The scenery around it seemed to bend. It was a mass of high gravity. Oscar had never actually seen this phenomenon before. He had only ever read of it in legends. God was said to have used that technique when transforming the earth as he liked. “The Finster gravity spell.” The eight Soldat were unable to avoid the darkness and crashed into it. Eight red flowers bloomed on the top of the darkness. Eight metallic rumbles followed. The giant mass of gravity vanished as if satisfied with the destruction of the enemy. The reflected shards of the Soldat floated in empty air a bit before falling. … The Soldat are no match for it. Just as Oscar frowned at the battlefield below, a new direction filled that battlefield. The dp-XXX was ascending right toward him. He shuddered as he briefly thought he sensed the intent to kill. But he gathered strength in his gut again. … We cannot afford to lose! “Have Zwei and Fünf’s guns target the dp-XXX. All remaining Soldat are to descend to Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport! We will settle this with shellfire!” “Understood!” “If you see an opportunity, send out Mayer’s new model! Prepare it for takeoff!” Strength filled his eyes as he barked orders. The dp-XXX was still slowly rising. ### Part 5 Two ships of the Bladlikburg fleet moved forward and they continually fired red hot Bogen. The Kaiserburg had been waiting until it was closer to fire its Finster Kunst, but it did so now as a barrier. The emblem was instantly drawn in the sky and became a giant sphere of gravity. The Bogen could be heard bursting on the other side of the gravity sphere. Aboard the Kaiserburg, Walter scratched his head in the gunner’s seat. “Ahh, ahh. What a shame. It takes time, skill, and motivation to fire a Kunst.” “I don’t think motivation has anything to do with it.” “So what are we going to do? Run away?” “If we run here, they’ll just pursue us again. I’d like to settle it here.” Walter sounded confident, but Else did not see how they could fight any more than this. They were currently only avoiding or hiding from the enemy attack. Once they left the shelter of the gravity sphere, they would be hit by concentrated fire and the gravity sphere would eventually vanish on its own. She heard several loud noises beyond the gravity sphere. They reverberated in her gut and sounded like splitting stone. A few shots seemed to have missed their mark and fallen to Berlin. “Hmm. This is a problem. I don’t want the military to destroy Berlin like this.” “Oh? You can be surprisingly reasonable sometimes, Walter.” “Of course I can. If it was me, I’d find a more artistic way to destroy the city.” “Do you have any idea what you’re saying?” “C’mon, Else. Is there anything more beautiful than wanting it all to yourself?” He may not have been all that wrong. Else found herself looking up toward the heavens, but… “Hey, Walter. The Kunst is about to disappear.” “That isn’t good. Should I fire another one?” “That wouldn’t change our situation in the long run and the third engine isn’t showing any sign of running.” That meant they would not reach the next evolution doing this. After a short silence, Paul spoke. “Walter, let’s try out the Panzer Emblem. We have a perfect target in front of us.” “That would be best, given the situation.” “Eh? What are you two doing?” “Quiet, young lady. And stay seated.” After Paul’s comment, the Kaiserburg moved back a little. “Once the Kunst vanishes, we’re going to activate the Panzer Emblem, break through one of the big ones, correct our lowered power output, and then escape.” “C’mon, let’s go all out.” Walter sat back in his seat, quickly moved some of the controls in front of the seat, and then hit the control panel. Else heard something fit into place. He began hitting and stroking the four metal spheres on his armrests with a set rhythm. Similarly, Paul moved the control stick. “dp-XXX Kaiserburg Form Two – Eiskalt Königin. Activating Panzer Emblem,” muttered Walter. “Professor, I’m going to sync the power release and ether release in five seconds.” The sound of the Bogen striking the barrier shook the ship. “Understood. Panzer Emblem Form Two – Eiskalt Engel. Activation preparations…complete.” Paul’s words coincided with the Finster Kunst barrier vanishing. The blue sky opened up before their eyes. But that sky was obstructed by the next Bogen flying in from the Bladlikburg. They were fast. “Now, then.” As she watched the flaming shells approach, Else heard Walter take a breath. “Here we go!” She felt a sudden lurch. She could not even comprehend the instant that they began to fly. “Kyah!” An impact seemed to throw her backwards and the acceleration was great enough to sweep her short hair backwards. This was likely the first inertia she had felt from the Kaiserburg’s movements. They were racing along. The sky outside the cockpit window seemed to be blowing backwards. Light reflected from her eyes that she somehow managed to keep open. That light was entering through the window because the entire ship was glowing. … Is that ether? The emblems carved into the ship’s outer paneling were gathering ether from the air and forming a powerful field. Ether was the element that made up all things and the arrangement of the emblem was using ether to create a certain form. What could be seen as fire, ice, lightning, or weight wrapped around the ship, materialized, and turned the ship into a giant bullet. This was a Panzer Emblem. The Bogen flying their way collided with the glowing ether armor and were destroyed in an instant. They did not even produce any noise. … ! They accelerated further and she heard Paul speak. “We’ve reached Form 2’s estimated maximum propulsion of 9.3 times gravitational acceleration! We’re going to hit!” Else saw a large mass of metal. Before she could recognize it as a Bladlikburg, they collided with it. At that moment, Else was not watching the radar in front of her. If she had, she would have seen a single dot of light rapidly approaching the Kaiserburg. ### Part 6 Just as the Kaiserburg prepared to activate its Panzer Emblem, Mayer sat in his cockpit with his eyes closed. The top and bottom of his fighter craft were attached vertically to the side of Bladlikburg Eins, so his position was similar to lying on his back with his legs curled up and his hands on the control stick. He had been piloting this new model ever since the prototype phase, so he was used to it and thought it was an excellent craft. It was most likely the only fighter craft that could take on the dp-XXX. “…” He had closed his eyes to contain his excitement. The men he knew had finally created the ideal ship they had dreamed of and were now fighting him and the military. He felt some small regret. He had attended college during the preparatory phase of entering the military, but the research and development of the dp-XXX had advanced so slowly that he had thought it would never end. He had even helped design the cockpit and wiring. However, he had not been there for its completion. He almost felt abandoned. Why had they not called him there to join them? … Was it because I’m in the military? “No.” Strength filled the inner ends of his eyebrows. … I would have declined even if they did call me there. He had a family, comrades, and a trustworthy commander. He could not abandon all that. It would be a shame to abandon them for a goal as ridiculous as going to space. … They would never invite someone with that kind of restriction. He sighed. At the same time, a voice reached him over the communicator. “Second Lieutenant Mayer! The dp-XXX is approaching and the Flammen Ritter will be launched in twelve seconds! Please get ready!” “Understood.” He answered and opened his eyes. He saw the deep blue sky. ### Part 7 Oscar saw the newly evolved Panzer Emblem. It was an angel. It had grown giant white wings and they were the wings of a bird of prey. It resembled a white statue and it left a trail of light as it collided with the Bladlikburg Fünf aircraft carrier. The Fünf’s great hull was instantly dyed white. It had frozen. A moment later, the winged angel broke through the Fünf. The sound was quiet at first. It only resembled a stone breaking through glass. But a moment later, it grew to a great roar much like a waterfall being deflected. The giant aerial aircraft carrier crumbled. While wrapped in the angelic Panzer Emblem, the Kaiserburg had collided with and torn a hole through its center. The supposedly metal aircraft carrier crumbled like sand and fell apart around that hole. It had been struck by a mass of cold so great that even the metal froze over. Small fragments scattered through the sky. Behind it all, the Kaiserburg floated motionlessly. … What a monster! “Mayer! This is your chance! Go!” “Understood!” The speaker behind him produced Mayer’s voice. Not even a moment after the voice had vanished from the air, a shadow shot down next to the Kaiserburg. It moved too quickly to be seen. It was fast, but a white cloud clearly showed its path after the fact. “Nh!” After a short delay, the Bladlikburg Eins shook violently. The shockwave from the shadow breaking the sound barrier had struck it. Oscar watched the shadow even as the ship shook. “Did it hit!?” The hope in his shouted question was fulfilled. A glowing spear stabbed into the Kaiserburg as it floated in midair. ### Part 8 “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” The sudden impact had thrown Else from her seat. She held her head after hitting it on the floor and asked a question. “What was that? Did that Panzer Emblem thing fail?” She saw Walter had also been thrown from his chair and he now dangled from the armrest by his legs. Paul seemed to be stuck between the pilot’s seat and the window because she could see his feet busily kicking at the air. Walter reached a hand to the floor. The photograph she had seen before had fallen there. Without getting up, he collected it, put it in his pocket, and looked to Else. “Walter, what was that just now?” “A new model of military fighter craft, I’d wager.” “A new model?” “Yes, most likely. But more importantly, Else.” “What?” “You have some lovely legs on you.” She suddenly looked down and saw her skirt had caught on her chair’s armrest, revealing her legs. “Kyah!” She pulled the skirt down so quickly she almost tore it and she glared at Walter. “Where do you think you’re looking!? And now of all times!” “I have a…personal fondness for beautiful things and good-looking women.” “You…idiot.” She had trouble responding too strongly when he was so open about it. After all, she had confidence in her looks. Then again, she was the type that was also popular with underclassmen girls. “This isn’t good. One of the engines was damaged.” Paul had managed to right himself at some point and he was now looking at the control panel. “What was that impact?” “A new type of weapon fired by the craft that flew past us. We can’t see it from here, but something is probably stabbing into the ship. Maybe something like a projectile version of a Schwert.” “What does that mean?” Walter nodded at her question. “Even if you have the power to heal wounds, you can’t do anything if the patient still has the blade sticking into them.” “You mean…?” “Yes, the Kaiserburg can’t fight. Not the best turn of events.” “How are you so calm!?” “Panicking isn’t going to fix the engine. Instead, we need to think about what comes next.” That was when a young male voice came from the communicator. “dp-XXX, can you hear me? Um, how are you doing, Walter? And you, professor? This is Second Lieutenant Mayer Schrier piloting the dds-033 Flammen Ritter.” Else frowned and turned to Walter. “Who’s that?” “The underclassmen who spoke to me when we were on the bicycle. The kid who used to spill chemicals in the lab is piloting fighter craft now. That’s kind of scary.” “Try to take this seriously. Can you beat him? How skilled is he?” “He could target the Kaiserburg’s engine at that speed, so he’s probably better than me.” “What kind of person is he?” “He’s what you call a handsome young man. You saw him before, right?” “What kind of family is he from?” “An old noble family. Right, professor?” “How’s his personality?” “Patient and fairly good-natured.” “Then we don’t stand a chance.” “Relax. I’ve got him beat when it comes to height.” “And in stupidity, I see.” “Calm down, Else. Could you stay quiet for a little while?” She frowned and he only smiled. “I’ll show you I have him beat in brains too.” “You’re making this up as you go along, aren’t you?” “Oh, c’mon. It’s called a strategy.” As she sighed, he asked Paul a question. “Professor, what should we do about this traitor of an underclassman?” There was no ill will in Walter’s voice. Paul operated some of the controls and a scratchy sound came from somewhere in the cockpit. The communicator had been switched on, so Walter called out. “Um, Mayer? Can you hear me, you idiot? You stupid, pathetic novice.” “Yes, I can hear you! Please stop embarrassing me over the radio!” Those words were joined by a descending fighter craft. It was black. It somewhat resembled an Eisen Soldat, but the giant spherical propulsion devices at the bases of the wings were firing flames straight down. It was the Flammen Ritter which meant Flame Knight. “A vertical take-off and landing craft, huh? It must have been tough pulling that off with rocket technology.” Mayer laughed bitterly at Paul’s comment. “Yes, it seemed they had trouble without the technology you have. I’m sure this looks like old technology to you, but do not take it lightly. I believe this craft outdoes the dp-XXX in both acceleration and assault power.” “That previous attack got us pretty good, I’ll admit. So Mayer, what are you going to do with us?” “That is up to Commander Oscar. I do not have the authority to decide.” “Ha! You’re just a rank and file soldier!” “I see you haven’t changed, Walter.” At the same time, the deep sound of someone clearing their throat came from the communicator. A tense atmosphere quickly filled the cockpit. “The dp-XXX can no longer fly. Isn’t that right, Walter?” “Oh, it’s Oscar. Long time, no see.” “Quiet. Surrender is your only option. If you try to escape in that damaged ship, we will not hesitate to target the cockpit. After all, we would like to minimize damage to the ship itself.” “Hmm. You’re as good at provoking people as always.” “I was simply suggesting you surrender. How was I provoking you?” “I’m the kind of person that wants to do things I’m told I can’t.” “Then feel free to escape. If you can in that damaged ship, that is.” Walter exaggeratedly crossed his arms. “Oscar, do you want me that badly?” “It is the dp-XXX I am interested in, not you.” “But the Kaiserburg and I are inseparable.” “Be shot down or surrender. Those are your options. You have ten seconds to decide.” The older man’s tone suggested he was serious. Else saw Walter’s expression stiffen and she heard him say something more. “If you’re interested in the Kaiserburg, does it mean you’ve accepted it can reach space?” Oscar readily answered. “Perhaps.” He took a breath. “But it is still too soon. It may be able to reach space, but I cannot allow it just yet.” “I see, I see. Your opinion has changed a good bit, hasn’t it? After all, you’re letting us live when you say that now.” “Yes, you’re right. The dp-XXX cannot run without you two. I will admit you had guts to burn most of the documents in the laboratory.” “You think so, too? It burned as spectacularly as you’d expect of my lab.” “What do you mean ‘your’ lab? That laboratory was built by our nation! You were not free to destroy it as you pleased.” “See, professor? I told you we should’ve asked for permission before destroying it.” Walter clapped his hands with that comment, but the voice from the communicator silenced him. “Quiet. I have no idea what you are thinking, but you cannot waste any more time. The dp-XXX will be brought aboard the Bladlikburg with the Lanze still skewering it. You will be brought from the ship and interrogated.” “Ooh, I love clichés like that.” “But I am not foolish enough to think that is enough to quiet you.” “I’m honored you feel that way.” Walter laughed, stood up, and made a declaration. “I’ll make sure you truly regret not killing us here. We’ve decided we’re going to space no matter what might happen.” “I am aware and I am prepared to stop you.” “You sound confident.” Oscar replied to Walter’s smiling comment and the name he gave was powerful enough to shake Else’s heart. “Of course I am, Walter Talstrasse.” ### Part 9 The man who first went to space and never returned was named Huber Talstrasse. ### Part 10 “…!” Else gasped. She had realized why Walter was so intent on going to space. A certain statement connected that young man to his father. … The curiosity to see what no one has ever seen before and the ambition to go farther than anyone ever has before. He had not sounded any more serious than usual, but he had said that was a favorite quote of his. She now knew his father had been the adventurer to put those words to practice. “…” Her heart skipped a beat. She had realized what Walter was trying to do. It may not have been a pretty thing and it may have been a raw thing, but it was an important truth to her. This young man had a father who was in the farthest place in the world and he wanted to go farther than anyone ever had. Else looked at Walter. She wanted to say something, but she could not form the words. She could not find the right words. Every expression she came up with sounded silly. But… … I’m the same. That thought appeared clear in her mind. … I’m the same. …I am! The words formed in her heart. … Going farther than anyone! Going farther than anything! going anywhere! That was her way of doing things. And she had a means of fulfilling that dream. She only had to aim for space. She had the curiosity to want to go, she had gained the resolve needed to keep fighting, and she believed in the possibility of actually getting there. Her pulse began to race and refused to slow down. Walter turned toward her. When he saw her expression, he briefly looked surprised, but then he gestured for Paul to cut the radio connection. Once Paul complied, Walter took a breath and smiled at Else. “Is something making you nervous, Else?” “…Yes.” There was a lot she wanted to say, but one thing in particular left her mouth. “Hey. We aren’t going to give up here, are we?” The two men exchanged a glance when they heard that. And they both gave meaningful smiles. They were clearly plotting something. ### 068. Chapter 5: The Legend Leaps ### Part 1 Oscar sighed when he saw the two who were brought to the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge. “You certainly caused us a lot of trouble, Professor Wagner and Walter.” Walter smiled at that. He faced Oscar without even glancing at the soldiers restraining him on either side. “More importantly, you should probably check what we’re carrying, Oscar.” “I am aware. I will not let my guard down twice.” Oscar nodded and the two soldiers on either side of the two men checked through their clothes. Their hands moved quickly and professionally. “Are they carrying anything?” “Only a license, a wallet, and a seal, commander.” “You’d better give those back afterwards,” warned Paul. Oscar frowned. “If you want them back, why not tell us what we want to know?” “That’s a pretty sad offer.” “I know you two. You have nothing else.” “You’ve got us there.” As soon as Paul smiled, the soldier searching Walter’s clothes let out a low scream and was knocked away. “!” Oscar reached for the handgun at his waist. “Walter, what did you do?” “…” The young man did not answer. He only stared down at the soldier who was groaning and holding his stomach. Oscar realized Walter was holding the chest of his lab coat. “What are you hiding?” Walter returned his gaze. “A memento from my mother.” He showed off what looked like a scrap of paper. … Is that a photograph? Oscar frowned again. “I would like to apologize for my soldier’s rudeness, but I can’t.” He turned to a nearby soldier who had nothing to do. “Carry the fallen soldier out.” “Sorry about that. I tend to lash out without thinking.” Walter gave a quick nod to the man being carried away and then turned back to Oscar. Paul crossed his arms and looked up at Oscar. He was acting like he owned the ship, so Oscar frowned and looked outside the window. A dark shadow obstructed the sun in the western sky. It was another Bladlikburg flying alongside the Eins. A sword-like form could be seen on the Zwei’s deck. It was the dp-XXX and it was strapped to the deck with thick wires. Both the ship and the metal wires shined in the evening sun. “…” “What is it, Oscar?” asked Paul. But Oscar did not look away from that ship filled with advanced technology. However, he did speak. “I will say the dp-XXX was shot down after engaging my unit in combat.” He turned around and brought his gaze to the two men. “You have not hidden any documents related to the dp-XXX, have you?” “We have.” “What?” “Just kidding.” “I am trying to be serious here.” “I don’t want to hear that from someone trying to look cool by staring into the setting sun.” “If you want anything out of us, you’ll have to force it out. You’re good at that, aren’t you?” The two of them held out their chests proudly. … These two… When Oscar spoke again, some weariness had entered his voice. “If that is what you want, that is what you will get.” “Wow. You sure give in easily. You’re probably easy to trick.” “Silence.” Oscar snapped his fingers. “Take these two to a guest room. A first-class one.” “Yes, sir.” After a sharp reply, the soldiers restraining the two of them grabbed their arms and walked out. Walter and Paul made no attempt to resist as they were almost dragged off of the bridge. Oscar sighed as he watched them leave. Paul must have heard because he stopped walking and looked over his shoulder. “Oscar.” “What?” “You must have it tough.” That was all the elderly engineer said before facing forward again. The back of his blue work outfit seemed to want to say something more as he began walking once more. The soldiers on either side of him briefly glanced back at Oscar. “…” But he remained silent. … Tough? “Whose fault do you think that is?” His quiet comment sounded a little exhausted. Behind him, red filled the setting sun. ### Part 2 The Bladlikburg Eins was primarily a command ship, so it was equipped with little weaponry. Instead, it had an abundance of patrol equipment and guest space. The vast metal box even contained a café lounge. It looked like a city’s café had been placed on the ship as-is. Twenty table and chair sets were attached to the floor and intentionally dim lighting filled the brown space. The window on the outer wall was shuttered and it was a nice place to relax if one ignored the stuffiness. Late at night, those with the night shift would often stop by to escape their drowsiness. At this time, it was relatively empty. The young officer in a dress uniform sitting by the window was the only person there. It was Mayer. He was blankly trying to kill time. Not long before, he had been resting in his room. Kaffee was good for waking one up and a bit of tension was perfect for his next job. He avoided alcohol. He had not had a drop of it since Walter and Paul had sent him to the hospital during the university lab’s freshmen welcoming party. As a German, this made him quite unusual. He checked his wristwatch and found it was 6:12. … Still too soon. He had to descend to the surface at 6:30. He was going to greet and apologize to the Breuer family for all the trouble they had caused. The military or police would normally just send out a brief document, but Oscar did not accept that. He would always talk it out without looking down on the other party or debasing himself. Mayer was certain the true form of a soldier could be seen in that man. He had a feeling everyone in Air Force Division 5 had felt the same thing in Oscar. But his thoughts were interrupted. “Oh, Mayer.” He looked up at the familiar voice and found Oscar. The man held a white cup of kaffee . Mayer quickly began to stand and salute, but… “No need.” Oscar sat across the table from him and tilted his body a little to look out the window. He looked somehow weak. “You aren’t going to drink any beer?” “After so many of my men died, I am not in the mood.” Oscar sighed. “What is the matter?” asked Mayer. “Nothing. I was just thinking.” His words lacked his usual sharp strength. “If it is about the Breuer family, do not worry. I will handle it. You please focus on your job.” “The moon will be out tonight, so do not travel in a spirit craft. …Got it?” “Yes, sir. I was not planning to.” On nights with strong moonlight, spirit engines could lose control, so gliders were used instead. Gliders were powerless ships with only floating emblems carved into them. They were a slow but safe means of transportation. “But that ship does not have to worry about the moonlight,” muttered Oscar. Mayer followed his gaze out the window and to the moonlit dp-XXX on the Zwei’s deck. The lance of light called a Lanze still skewered its back. “Are you curious?” He turned to the voice and found Oscar facing him. Strength had returned to his eyes. The sharpness in his gaze seemed like it would pierce through everything and see through any lies, so Mayer gave a definite nod. “I am.” “Why?” “I was working to build that ship just a few years ago.” He hesitated for a moment. “And the people I look up to are piloting it.” “I see.” Oscar sighed. “That is the ship created by Huber Talstrasse’s son and friend so they can reach space.” “I think it is an amazing piece of technology.” “But it is too much for this age.” Mayer nodded. The military was essentially controlled by a madman known as the Führer. That man would undoubtedly try to use the dp-XXX for war. The man had a strong love of heroes, so a one-of-a-kind ship like the dp-XXX would seem quite attractive to him. They wanted to avoid that. “What will we do?” “I have a mountain villa in Munich. We can dismantle it, take it there, and store it away.” “It seems to me using the ground forces would be a problem.” “Of course. That is why it will be done in absolute secrecy. The dismantled parts will be boxed up, labelled as items left behind by the deceased, and sent to the homes of those we can trust.” Twelve had died in the previous encounter with the dp-XXX. That was small for the size of the commotion, so it would not draw suspicion if they exaggerated the number killed. “From there, the boxes can be transported to my home during the time for New Years’ greetings. If they are carried to my mountain villa as materials for building a horse-riding field, no one will suspect a thing.” “The secret police have grown more active lately, so we can’t let our guard down.” “No.” Oscar’s expression loosened a bit. “Turning the villa into a storehouse will ruin the summer breaks, though.” “Your daughter is going to cry.” Mayer had never met Oscar’s daughter. Oscar did not like to mix his work with his private life, so he rarely mentioned her. The previous spring, Oscar had suddenly asked him a question. “Mayer, I only ask because you are young, but what do you think I should send my daughter who is about to enter middle school?” That was the first he had ever heard of her. He could only guess, but Mayer had a feeling Oscar was not working for his country or the military. He was probably working for the people, be they his family, soldiers, or simply citizens. Mayer doubted the man himself had realized what he worked for and he would probably refuse to admit it even if he had. Nevertheless, Mayer was certain of it. After all, an old soldier approaching retirement had once told him something. “That man is only harsh when he’s in the military.” Mayer had seen a few scenes since then that supported that. Currently, Oscar gave a small smile. “You’re right. Maybe I should take her to Italy this year.” Mayer had a thought while watching the man. … Family. A question occurred to him and he simply spoke it aloud “Is he pursuing his father?” “He? You mean Walter?” “Yes. “Most likely.” Oscar admitted it surprisingly readily. “I do understand. I heard some things about Huber while investigating the Wagner Laboratory, but it did not seem he was a man who showed much concern for his family.” “…” Mayer knew that as well. Walter would sometimes fall silent and it was almost always when his father came up. But… “Would you choose a father like that to pursue and set as your goal?” Mayer came from an old noble family, so he had been blessed by his family. He had long ago decided to take a different path from his father who managed a farm and his father had accepted his decision. When he had entered the military, his father had even asked him to bring honor to the family name. That left him unable to even imagine living in a family like Walter’s. “Soon after he lost his father, his mother passed away from the emotional burden. It was only then that he began to think seriously about going to space, but it almost feels like…” “Like he is doing it to spite his father?” “Yes.” That response brought a short silence. After three heavy breaths, Oscar looked up into Mayer’s eyes. “Mayer.” “What is it?” “Aren’t Huber and Walter a lot alike?” That comment shocked Mayer. “They both rush forward even if it means sacrificing those around them, don’t they? And isn’t that exactly why you looked up to him? Am I wrong, Mayer?” “You are exactly right.” Mayer sighed. “I undoubtedly looked up to his way of doing things. But…” I can’t do things the way he does, he thought. He had always run along the path laid out for a chosen one, so he could not recklessly believe in his own strength like Walter and Paul. Nevertheless, he was now opposing the two of them. And that was why he asked a nervous question. “What would happen if I fought them head-on now?” “If you used their way of doing things, you would lose.” “Then how am I supposed to fight?” He leaned forward as he asked and Oscar fell briefly silent. “Are you not satisfied with that previous fight?” “I do not want to think that was my true ability. …I simply caught them off guard.” “Then what will you do when you fight with everything you have and still lose?” This attack from an unexpected angle made Mayer look up. He found Oscar staring directly at him. “If you are to fight them head-on, you will need to use everything you have. Even so, you may still lose. Can you endure that loss?” What could he do if his own strength was rejected? He had never used his full strength or experienced a loss, so he had no way of immediately answering that question. However, he doubted Oscar was actually expecting an answer. The man slowly said something more. “And if you still wish to fight after hearing all that, remember these words.” He took a breath. “What matters most is determining what exactly it is you should be.” A moment of silence followed. “Do you understand, Mayer?” “…I do not.” Oscar nodded. “You are still young, so take your time and give it plenty of thought. You do not need to rush yourself like those two.” Once Oscar crossed his arms, Mayer realized something. “Those…two?” “Hm?” “No, um, I just mean… Don’t you mean three?” “What do you mean?” The look in Oscar’s eyes and his tone completely changed. Mayer felt a chill run down his spine. “When I faced the dp-XXX, there were three people in the cockpit.” “What!?” “You mean three people didn’t leave the ship!?” Mayer had heard Walter’s group had been taken into custody, but he had not heard the number of people. It had seemed so obvious an issue he had not bothered to ask. “But only Walter and Paul spoke over the radio,” groaned Oscar while wrinkling his brow. Mayer realized what had happened. The Bladlikburg had been too far from the dp-XXX to see inside, so they only had to avoid mentioning the third person’s presence and then hide them. They had not counted on Mayer noticing the third person, but that miscalculation had proved meaningless since he had not reported it. “…!” The two of them stood up simultaneously. At the same moment, the Zwei’s deck lit up outside the window. “What!?” The dp-XXX was preparing to take off. One of its engines could not run with the Lanze still skewering it, but the other engine was fine. As long as it did not try anything too difficult, it could at least glide through the sky. A few string-like objects shot through the moonlight on the deck. The wires holding down the dp-XXX were snapping at set intervals. “Commander Oscar!” said a ship-wide announcement. “We have an emergency! Please hurry to the bridge!” “Commander!” shouted Mayer. “This was my oversight,” clearly stated Oscar. “Do not worry about it.” “But!” “You do your job. Besides, we have no fighter craft that can fly tonight.” With that, Oscar ran from the room. Mayer began to follow him but stopped. There was nothing a fighter pilot like him could do. He looked out the window and saw the nearly full moon in the night sky. It was the strength of its light that prevented them from scrambling the fighters. There was a danger of the engines losing control and destroying the fighters. “Dammit.” Covered in that moonlight, the dp-XXX’s nose quickly rose. Nothing was restraining it any longer. That collection of advanced technology rotated and flew into the sky like a leaf in the wind. “…!” Mayer almost pressed against the glass to keep his eyes on the ship. The Lanze skewering it glowed in the darkness and the clouds spread out below. Small dots of light were visible far below the gaps in the clouds. Those were the lights of Berlin. It took only a few seconds for the Lanze’s light to dive between the gaps in the clouds and blend into the city’s lights. “They got us,” muttered Mayer as he pulled his face from the window. He then sighed and saw his own face reflected in the glass. It was only when he saw his face that he realized something. That reflected face contained a small but satisfied smile. ### Part 3 The commotion caused by the dp-XXX’s escape reached the interrogation room. It was a small room with bare metal walls and the two men strapped to chairs exchanged a smile. “Sounds like the young lady pulled it off.” “Sure does. At least we know the Kaiserburg won’t be caught in the middle of this trouble with the military.” Walter faced forward and the interrogator across the table frowned back at him. “What did you two do?” “We didn’t do anything. You all are the ones that overlooked something.” “Overlooked something?” “I learned my lesson in the past, and gave the spaceship an emergency life support chamber.” “L-life support chamber!?” The man seemed to have realized what had happened. A life support chamber was a small space about the size of a coffin. If its equipment was activated with someone inside, they would be instantly half-frozen and put them into hibernation by a spray of cold gas. “But the door is labelled ‘danger’ what with the cooling equipment inside, so an amateur isn’t going to want to open it. That label isn’t entirely accurate, though.” No one would be stupid enough to open it with that written on it. After all, the ship had been built with strange technology. It was unlikely the military had performed a thorough internal inspection. That was exactly what Walter and Paul had been hoping for. That was also why they had pretended to be the only two aboard over the radio. Their gamble had paid off. “They say savages fear advanced civilizations, but it looks like that’s true.” Walter smiled pleasantly. “Oscar really is easy to trick.” ### Part 4 A forest known as the Grunewald Forest was located on the northwest outskirts of Berlin. The Breuer Company’s aircraft repair factory had been built inside it. It was an old building. It had gone almost entirely unused since the Breuer Company had left the aircraft production industry. Even past eight at night, an old man in a work outfit remained in the factory’s office. He seemed to live there. The office table contained stacked dishes from dinner, half-eaten käse , and the knife used to eat it. His legs were resting up on the table and his arms were crossed behind his head. “There’s nothing to do around here,” he muttered leisurely. “And there used to be so much going on.” Ever since Hiram Maxim’s first successful flight in 1894, airplanes had become an industry of their own. Business had slowed at one point, but ironically, it was a world war that had truly expanded the airplane market. Immediately after the war, the industry had only targeted the wealthy, but airplanes had later become a much more household means of transportation. However, that prosperity had not lasted long. A mere three years after the Breuer Company had shifted from the defense industry to the aircraft industry, a certain accident had occurred. That was fifteen years ago. “If that hadn’t happened, people wouldn’t fear flying through the skies.” Currently, flight had become the exclusive realm of shipping along air routes and the military. Airplanes were much less safe than cars or boats. The incident fifteen years before had been powerful enough to place that fear in everyone’s hearts. From that day onward, the civilian aircraft market had declined. … In the old days… He scratched his thinning hair. “There was always the roar of engines coming from the airfield.” As soon as he forced a smile, the factory shook from a powerful blast of wind. A roar reverberated through his body as if some great mass was pressing down on him. The unpleasant creaking unique to old buildings reached him and his tilted chair almost fell backwards. “!?” … Was that an aircraft? He frantically stood from the chair, thought for a moment, and corrected himself. It could not have been an aircraft. If it had been one, he would have heard the loud sound of a rocket or jet being fired. “Was it just a gust of wind?” he muttered. He sat back down and reached for the käse and knife on the table. The office door burst open and a gust of wind blew in. “Old Man Metz!” The gust of wind was joined by a familiar voice and a familiar form. It was Else. “E-Else!? What are you doing out when it’s so cold!?” The girl used to visit the factory for fun, but now she approached the old man without responding or closing the door. She moved quickly and she snatched the knife and käse from his hand. “Old Man Metz. No, Breuer Company Aircraft Factory Manager Steinmetz. I want help repairing a ship.” She spoke quietly, ate the käse in her hand, and took a breath. Her shoulders fell and the old man, Steinmetz, spoke. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He sounded somewhat taken aback and Else seemed to understand why that would be. “Well, Old Man Metz. I need you to understand.” She pointed at the old man’s face. And she used the hand holding the knife. “Hyah!” Steinmetz leaned back in surprise and his chair fell backwards. “Oh, whoops.” Else set down the knife and helped the man up. “Else, what is going on? When you say a ship…do you mean an aircraft?” “No.” “Then what do you mean?” he asked while brushing off his butt. “A spaceship.” The old man could not contain his laughter at that unexpected answer. “Pfa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Now that’s a bad joke, Else! Like I can believe that!” “Then look at this!” Else walked over to the dew-covered window and threw it open. A mass of metal sat outside. “!” Else turned around and clenched her fist with her back to what looked like a collection of steel organs. It almost looked like a wall sitting outside the window. “I’m going to fly to space in this ship!” She faced the old man with the winter night’s wind on her back. Steinmetz was at a loss for words. He had stopped laughing. He had thought this was a young girl’s joke, but before he could make sense of anything, he had been shown this mass of steel. The intensity of this fact complicated his thoughts. When had something so large landed? Why was Else talking about going to space? How was he supposed to react? “Ah…” He tried to say something and forcibly calm himself, but it did not work. The beating of his heart only grew faster as Else stared directly at him. Her gaze was telling him to believe in the facts before his eyes. “You mean…” Sweat ran down his brow. Even with the cold winter air blowing in through the open door and window, he was sweating. That was how tense he was. He gulped a little and moved his lips. “What are you trying to do?” He barely managed to squeeze out that question and he looked away from Else. He instead looked at the ship outside the window. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. Else spoke calmly to him. “There was an aerial battle over Berlin today, right?” She quickly explained what had happened. “And this is the ship that held its own against the air force.” Steinmetz focused on the mass of metal outside the window. “Else, I’m going to ask again. You aren’t joking about this, are you?” “What do you mean?” “You really are…well, going to space with this?” “Yes, of course. Only an idiot wouldn’t go if they had the means.” “Are you serious?” Else nodded. “I am.” Her tone was light, but her expression was serious. The fact that she said nothing more prevented him from investigating further. “…” He sighed and looked out the window again. “I see,” he muttered. “I don’t really understand, but you can reach space in that ship, can you?” “Yes.” “And you’re asking me to fix it?” “Yes. You’re the only person who can do it.” “You’re overestimating me.” His voice was filled with resignation, but his lips were smiling. Else could not help but smile as well. Suddenly, his eyes stopped on her expression. “What is it?” “Just a little thing. More importantly, Else, have you told your father?” “I was about to go do that.” Her expression stiffened a little. She pulled a black communicator from her coat pocket and held it out. After a moment, he took it. “What is this?” “The ship will carry out simple actions if you give it orders with this. It’s pretty smart.” “So it has voice recognition? That’s pretty amazing.” He stared at the Kaiserburg. “The times have changed.” “Times don’t just change.” “What?’ “We have to change them.” Else closed the window. “Can you do it?” she asked. “Not on my own. I’ll need three more people and one of them has to be an emblem engineer.” “Okay. Got it.” “Now hurry to your father. Get the permission to use some engineers and to do what you’re trying to do.” She gave a powerful nod. “I’m on my way.” With that, she turned around and ran from the office. The old man smiled bitterly as he watched her go. “How is Gaston going to greet her?” ### Part 5 It was past nine as Gaston and Mayer walked down a hallway in the former’s mansion. “I apologize for the lack of hospitality.” “No, we are the ones who failed to show any courtesy.” “No, no. Compared to my daughter…” “Your daughter?” Gaston looked surprised. “Oh, she is out right now.” “Is that so?” There was no real question in Mayer’s tone. Gaston sighed. “I’m not sure what to do with my daughter. She runs around enjoying herself every day and causes me nothing but trouble.” “What’s wrong with that? She sounds like a cheerful person.” “She’s less cheerful and more…” Gaston trailed off. “What is it?” “Nothing.” “?” “It’s sad how rarely I see her smile.” He smiled bitterly. The only time he had seen a surprisingly large smile on Else’s face was when she had boarded that ship. He asked the young man a question. “Mr. Schrier, what do you think? I believe people must set aside all ridiculous things once they grow up.” The young man’s expression remained calm. “I was treating her as an adult. At twenty, all that remains is to prepare for entering society. She should have matured by now.” “…” Gaston stopped in front of the main entrance. “And yet she got herself involved in some nonsense and smiled as she did so.” Mayer also stopped and quietly listened to Gaston. “But why did I tremble when I saw that smile?” Gaston roughly brushed a hand through his hair. At the same moment, the door opened and a woman stepped inside. It was Else. “!” Gaston was dumbfounded and Mayer gave her a quick glance before nodding. “Okay, Mr. Breuer. I will take my leave now.” He reached for the door Else had opened. Else’s eyes followed him, but he did not respond. The door slowly closed and the outside air was cut off. Gaston and Else remained in complete silence. ### Part 6 Else was the first to speak. She took a breath to calm herself first. “Dad.” Her voice resounded clearly through the entranceway. It was Gaston’s voice that drowned it out. “What have you been doing? Your disobedience is hardly new, but I cannot help you this time.” That was the usual line, but the exhaustion filling it was new. She must have noticed it because her expression changed slightly. With an odd stillness on her face, she asked him a question. “Would you believe me if I told you I was seriously thinking about going to space?” Her words left her father speechless. He had just realized how she had returned and what she was trying to do. “This is no time for jokes!” he emotionally shouted back. He then took a breath and relaxed his tensed shoulders. “Listen, Else. The man who once tried to go to space failed and became a star decorating the moon! No one has ever succeeded!” “I know that.” “Why would you do something that could kill you!?” “Because I believe I can do it.” “You just want to stand out! You can’t risk your life for something so ridiculous! And not just that! You’re troubling the military and spreading chaos through your country!” “What does the country or military have to do with this?” “Have you never thought about what it means for people to die!? You will be killing people who have nothing to do with this!” “Then why do you sell weapons!?” “…!” It was a sharp, painful statement. Gaston started to reply but stopped. He did have a reason to sell weapons: his daughter. But he could not say that here. If he did, it would include a dark meaning. … If Else wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have sold those deadly weapons. That was what it came down to. Anything he said would only sound like an excuse. He had no choice but to accept her next statement head-on. “Everyone does the same thing!” Gaston’s shoulders twitched as if from a spasm. He did not know what to say. At the same time, she began to move. She slowly lowered her hips, got down on one knee, and fixed the hem of her skirt. She placed one arm across her stomach, leaned forward, and bowed her head. Her action contained no hesitation. It was a prepared and perfected act. In noble etiquette, that was how a knight showed gratitude to his ruler, but the action was not even seen in royal palaces anymore. After a while, she raised her head. Her expression was calm and still. “I apologize for interrupting your busy schedule.” Her tone was relaxed and she did not stop. Unable to say anything, Gaston bit his lip and listened to his daughter’s voice. “It would seem I asked too much of you, but this is very important to me. Two people have bet their lives on this issue and it will help me decide what to do with my own life.” “…” “As president of the Breuer Company, please lend me some personnel. I beg you.” After that, she raised her head a little. “I honestly want to do this myself, but it seems you can’t reach space alone. I’m not just asking you. I want everyone’s help!” Hearing the uncontainable intensity in her voice, Gaston asked a reflexive question. “Do you think everyone will work for your sake?” “It isn’t for my sake! It’s for what I want to do! It’s for going to space!” “Mh…” He frowned at that. He had realized her desire was more than mere selfishness. His daughter was trying to lead others and accomplish a goal. He realized that action could also be expressed with the word “business”. However, realizing that fact meant accepting that Else was on the same level as him. It meant allowing her to leave him. … Can I really allow that now!? In order to hold her here and in order to test her, he asked one final question. “Are you saying you can sacrifice others just as I do?” Before answering, she stood and brought their eyes to equal height. “I simply believe in the possibility of reaching space. This is a challenge that includes the possibility of my own failure.” As she answered, she gave an unreliable and yet strong-willed smile. … Is she afraid? Someone who would sacrifice others had to keep in mind the possibility of their own demise. Gaston knew the transaction was completed by that principle. She was sacrificing others and herself in order to set a great number of people in motion and accomplish her own goal. She had a real goal now. If someone like that began to move, there was no stopping them. Just as Gaston had never stopped selling weapons no matter what Else had said. … I see. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. And he muttered the words of his resolve. “If I didn’t help you, you would go running elsewhere, wouldn’t you?” ### Part 7 The small interrogation room was surrounded by white walls with no windows. It only contained a metal door, a large table, and chairs. On one side, the interrogator sat with his arms crossed. On the other side, Walter and Paul sat in their chairs. The ropes binding them to the chairs had been removed once the dp-XXX had vanished into the darkness and not returned. “Hmm.” Walter groaned and looked up at the ceiling with his usual expression. “Ahh… It’s almost the 24th, isn’t it?” To add to the mental pressure, the interrogation room had no clock. Paul looked at Walter. “You can tell the time?” The question was relatively meaningless, but Walter nodded. “I inherited my father’s sense of time, so it’s perfect. Want me to tell you the time down to the seconds?” “Fine. What time is it now?” “December 23, 11:32 PM and 18 seconds. There’s no mistaking it.” The interrogator pulled a pocket watch from his uniform pocket. “That’s not even close, you fool. It’s 11:11 and 27 seconds.” Walter turned to Paul with a serious look. “See, professor? I got the time for you.” “Yes. Well done.” “Idiots really are easy to trick.” Walter’s tone seemed to finally clue the interrogator into what had happened. “What!?” He briefly grew pale, but his face was red with rage a moment alter. “Do you have any idea what position you are in here!?” “Do you? It would probably be a good idea to let us go sooner rather than later.” “That’s right. If you go home, you can help prepare for Weihnachts with your wife, whose personality is her only decent quality, and your kid, who excels in athletic ability and nothing else. A happy family sure is nice.” “ ‘Sure is nice’!? I could be living that kind of life if you two would hurry up and confess everything!” “Confess everything, you say?” Walter sighed. “Well, okay. Here’s everything about me: my height is 187 cm, my weight is 72 kg, my hobby is astronomy, my favorite food is rippchen , my favorite drink is moselwein , on Sundays I visit used book stores-…” “No one asked for any of that!” “But you did just now.” “That’s right. You’re contradicting yourself.” The two crossed their arms and nodded. The interrogator held his head and collapsed onto the table. “Are you okay? If you want someone to deliver the finishing blow, just ask.” “…I do not need that.” His voice was low and he slowly sat back up. “Oh, he can still move. Maybe we should’ve messed with him some more.” “Silence!” “…” “Not completely silent!” “You really are contradicting yourself.” “This guy really isn’t very smart. And he’s surprisingly weak-willed for an interrogator.” “This would happen to anyone who has to deal with you two!” After slowly standing up, the interrogator glared at the other two men. “I’m going to use the truth serum.” “On yourself? I suppose everyone is aware on some level of what they’ve done wrong. I’m willing to lend you my ear as you confess it all. But I will ask that you draw up a receipt.” “Walter, this guy has no sense of humor, so just stop.” “It’s cute when a woman does it. When she shouts ‘I can’t allow that!’ and beats you softly on the chest, it just makes you want to at least rub her head.” “ ‘At least’? Where else are you planning to rub her?” “We can leave that unsaid.” “Shut up!” The interrogator shouted and slammed his fist against the table. He glared at the other two with his face so red it looked like steam was going to rise from it. “You two!” “Yes?” “Don’t think you’ll get away with this! I’ll use truth serum, torture, or whatever it takes to get all the information you have!” “Don’t you think guys with too powerful a sense of duty are hard to deal with, Walter?” “I know what you mean. They shouldn’t get so heated up. And besides, if you’re announcing you’re going to do those things ahead of time, wouldn’t that mean you aren’t confident they’ll actually work?” “You two had better remember this.” “I wouldn’t have gone to university if I had a bad memory.” “Shut up! I’ll show you what I can do! Just you wait!” “Um, if this is going to take long, can you bring us some books or something to kill the time?” Before Walter had even finished speaking, the interrogator had vanished through the metal door. The door slammed shut behind him and they heard the lock click. Walter and Paul exchanged a glance. “He sure is short-tempered.” “We’ve been surrounded by people like that lately.” “Else’s probably having a hard time down below. Her father looked pretty stubborn.” “Her, hm?” Paul looked Walter in the eye. “What do you think?” “Are you asking if she’s my type?’ “No.” “I know, I know.” Walter nodded. “She will definitely return here with almost 100% certainty. I wouldn’t have left the Kaiserburg with her if I thought otherwise.” “You sound certain.” “Honest people like her…” He hesitated because he was unsure how to put it. “I guess you could say they’re never satisfied until they return what they’ve borrowed.” “Tell me what you really think.” Walter smiled at the hint of harshness in Paul’s voice. “Do I really have to when it’s so obvious? She’s the same as us. Once she takes the first step, she’ll break into a run, leap, and end up here.” His eyes faced straight forward as he said that. The look in them was filled with confidence. ### Part 8 The night was beginning to fill with a deep chill as well as darkness. It was 10:30 PM. The front entrance of the Breuer mansion opened a little. The light extending into the yard was blocked by a human shadow. It was Else’s shadow. She carried a rucksack over her shoulder and closed the door behind her. No one was there to see her off and no one watched her from the house. After making sure the door was closed, she faced forward and began to walk. “…” After a few steps, she came to a sudden stop. She had noticed someone standing in the darkness. It was a man wearing a plain-colored coat. His blond hair had blended into the darkness, but it began to shine dully once the moon came out. The young man was revealed below the moonlight. He was a soldier. Specifically, he was the man who had left the mansion when Else had arrived. His breath appeared white as he spoke. “Did you fly down to Berlin in the dp-XXX?” “Yes, I did.” As she answered, she pulled a submachine gun from her rucksack and aimed it at the soldier. She had already released the safety. “I used it to escape. So what are you going to do? Arrest me?” The young man gently raised his hands. “I only waited here because I wanted to talk.” “I find that hard to believe.” “Isn’t the fact that I waited alone without calling for reinforcements enough proof?” “Would you believe me if I said this submachine gun can’t fire? This is the same.” “Then I will believe what you say.” Mayer stepped forward with his hands still raised. He slowly took step after step toward Else. She watched him with her finger still on the trigger. “Stop there.” By the time she said that, he was only two or three steps away from her. “You have guts.” She sounded surprised and she did not lower the gun. He approached no further and nodded. “Can the dp-XXX fly again?” “Eh?” “My upperclassman and teacher built that ship, so I want to know if it will fly again.” Else met Mayer’s gaze when she heard that. She saw a powerful light in the young officer’s eyes. He was truly worried about the dp-XXX. “I see. You must be Mayer, Walter’s underclassman that piloted that black fighter.” She smiled bitterly and nodded. “The Kaiserburg will be fully repaired within three days. I can even guarantee it with the skill of the Breuer Company.” Mayer breathed a sigh of relief. Noticing his hands starting to lower, Else re-aimed the submachine gun and he raised his hands again. “Why are you trying to fly the dp-XXX again? Wouldn’t you be satisfied with a normal life?” His tone had a hint of testing her and she suddenly smiled in the darkness. “Satisfied with a normal life?” She took a breath. “I suppose it would be nice to live a normal life without all this. I could take it easy in university, get married, have two or three kids, and play with those kids by the lake here. …That would be a happy life.” “Then…” Before he could ask why, Else shook her head. “But I don’t want that! If I chose that life, I could never look up into the sky again. Would you be fine with that?” What did she see in those words? “I see.” Mayer sighed, closed his eyes, and nodded. “You really do want to go to space, don’t you?” “You don’t?” It took a moment for him to answer. “I…do not want to go to space.” “Why not?” “Because that is what my upperclassman and you want, not what I want.” “Then why did you ask if the Kaiserburg would fly again?” Her question seemed to bite back at him and he answered in tone that said not even he could believe what he was saying. “Because I want to fight all of you.” That was a quiet declaration of war. ### 069. Chapter 6: The Legend Soars ### Part 1 12/25/1935 It was 5:25 AM and the Kaiserburg filled a large factory. The large machine tools such as cranes and winches had only been used to remove the Lanze skewering one of the engines, so they were now pushed up against the wall. Thirty hours had already passed since the repairs had begun. The wound to the engine was deep, but it was on the way to a full recovery with the help of the ship’s own self-repair ability and the Breuer Company’s technicians. The Kaiserburg itself simply hovered as if none of that mattered. An old man stood next to it. He was Steinmetz. He looked up at the ship and heard the voices of the younger technicians repairing it on the inside. The ship was sealed, but the factory was so quiet he could still just barely hear them. He could tell they were excitedly discussing something. It seemed to be an argument over the mysteries and problems with the ship. A ship that could fly to space would have to be endlessly fascinating. “…” He had a sudden thought. … Space, huh? He loved airplanes and flying through the sky. His interest in that would never wane. That was why he remained in this abandoned factory. He had spent forty years with airplanes now. In that time, he had come to realize that this was exactly where he belonged. And there was something he needed to do now. The girl who had come to play here when she was young had grown up and was asking for his help. She had a single goal: flying this ship to space. “A lot of people would think it’s impossible.” But they could not let that discourage them. If this test succeeded, it would undoubtedly usher in a new age. Steinmetz stood at the source of that. Some people would race ahead to make this crazy idea a reality, but others had to support them. They both needed each other and all either of them could do was what they needed to do. Repairing the Kaiserburg was his only way of assisting their journey to space, but that was something only he could do. “…” Strength filled his gaze and his silently wandering eyes looked up at the ship. Suddenly, a face poked out from below it and short blonde hair dangled down. It belonged to Else who was working on the lower wiring. She looked to him, briefly pulled her head back in, and lowered her legs down. With her boots, work outfit, work gloves, and short hair, she did not at all look like the daughter of a wealthy family. In fact, she had oil stains all over her clothes and face. “I’ve replaced the lower wiring and non-emblem panels. How much longer on the exterior?” “If that’s all you’re doing, you should finish in another five or six hours.” “Geh. …I’ve still got that much to do?” “This ship is not like any we’ve worked on before. And the exterior is far from uniform, so it requires a lot of parts. …But I’ll help from here on. Together, we can cut the time in half.” “Thanks.” “You’ve been working since last night. Aren’t you tired?” She shook her head. “Not at all. I’m not sure how to put it, though.” She lightly turned back toward the Kaiserburg. “Maybe this is what it feels like for a carpenter to build his own house.” “His own house?” Steinmetz frowned. The Kaiserburg was an aircraft or an aerial ship. It essentially had no living areas. Even so, the young woman in a work outfit spread her arms as if to embrace the ship. “Don’t you think making your own place in the world is great?” She turned around and showed him her bright smile. The old man was taken aback by the term “place in the world”. For him, that term referred to airplanes. … I get it now. Oblivious to his thoughts, Else changed the subject. “Oh, right. What did you find out about the Lanze after removing it?” That lance of light had stabbed into the Kaiserburg. The odd weapon was a bullet made of ether yet it retained its form without naturally scattering into its surroundings. Steinmetz pulled a small piece of metal from his work outfit’s breast pocket. It was shaped exactly like the bullet portion of an 8mm round. “This is the true identity of that lance.” “Eh? That is?” He nodded. “Normally, large weapons like fighter craft will have a field emitter installed which fires the bullets. The bullets are made entirely out of ether, so they will dissolve into the raw ether floating in the air and eventually disappear.” “But this one had a core?” “Yes. As far as I can tell, the surface is covered in tiny emblems. You could probably fire this thing from that machinegun you carry around. The bullet is entirely supported from within using the emblems carved into it, so it’s just as powerful as a Schwert. …No, given its speed, it would be even more powerful.” “Let me see it.” He handed it to her and she stared at the bean-sized bullet. “I see. It’s made from a spirit stone.” “Yes. It works just like this ship’s engines. Any impact to the flat bottom end will trigger the emblems to gather ether in a lance shape. It’s a lot like a miniature version of…what was it called again? Oh, right. A Panzer Emblem.” “The military’s been working hard to make something like this.” She smiled bitterly and looked Steinmetz in the eye. “The soldiers have a tough time too.” “What?” “After a discussion, I promised to meet one of them up in the sky.” She toyed with the Lanze bullet in her fingers. “Can I borrow this?” “Hm? I don’t mind, but don’t use it for anything you shouldn’t.” “Sure. I was just thinking I could use it for something fun.” “I’m pretty sure that falls under the category of things you shouldn’t use it for.” ### Part 2 It was 6:30 AM and the morning began early in Germany. Even after rising above the clouds, the sun had yet to come out. The Flammen Ritter rose in a straight line as purple filled the sky. He was testing the fighter’s ascension ability. The roar of the engine filled the fighter. It was still weak, but the moon was out. The Flammen Ritter had been given some moonlight resistance, but it was not perfect. The fighter shook. Mayer faced the moon from the cockpit. His body was pressed into the back of the chair. He had trouble breathing, but not enough to pass out. His thoughts were clear and a single idea filled his mind. How could he fight Walter and the others? “Why am I hesitating?” When he had said he wanted to fight the night before last, Else had asked him a question. “You’re just afraid of losing, aren’t you!? But you also know how skilled you are, so you aren’t prepared to go all out and crush your opponent!” That was definitely true. “You think someone like that can fight us? I have something that is mine alone, but what do you have!?” She had taken a breath. “You’ve done nothing but borrow from others, so you have no right to stop us!” Her harsh words had shocked him. They had also reminded him of what Oscar had told him. … What matters most is determining what exactly it is you should be. Her words had told him exactly what that had meant. He was not Walter. Nor was he Paul or Oscar. In that case, who should he be? That answer would give him the meaning for his fight. … But how should I fight? This was not like the tests and training he had completed in the past. This was a competition that would have a clear result. If he lost, he would lose everything. Why did he hope for a fight he had no confidence he could win? He accelerated his fighter craft. To continue rising, he had to continue accelerating. The needle slowly moved across the gauge. He was already higher than during the previous test. The sky was growing bluer and deeper. He accelerated further. The sky outside the window was nearly indigo already, he saw the stars in the distance, and the altitude needle had reached the red danger zone. The Flammen Ritter shook, but he ignored the disconcerting tremor. He accelerated. His speed had dropped quite a bit because the earth’s gravity had ensnared him. The altitude needle had reached the far side of the gauge. … Should I give up here? He saw the moon in the heavens far above the sky. The ship’s ability to rise would be about at its limit. Its acceleration was weakening. “Is this really enough?” His question to himself was immediately followed by an incoming transmission. “Mayer, you have ascended quite a bit. You have set an excellent record.” It was Oscar. Mayer asked a question on reflex. “Commander Oscar, how should I fight the dp-XXX?” He blatantly revealed his worries. After a short silence, the other man replied. “Mayer, do you have no intention of testing your own ability?” “!” … Testing!? He almost felt like this was his first time to hear that word. … Why do I want to fight? I don’t care if I lose. I want to fight so I can test what I can do when I go all out! He was certain to learn that if he fought Walter’s group. He would directly take on the person he respected and had set as his own goal. Through that battle, he could confirm just how far he could go. “!” Strength filled his gut. He forced a large burst of acceleration from the Flammen Ritter. “Mayer! Do not force yourself!” “I’m fine!” His tone was strong as he responded. His fingertips operated the field emitters. With a slight sound, glowing ether wrapped around the fighter craft. The fighter stopped shaking and only solidified flames were visible though the cockpit windows. “Activating Panzer Emblem – Flammen Lanze! I’m ascending even more!” With a lurch of impact, the Flammen Ritter rose intensely into the sky. Mayer smiled as he endured the inertia of the acceleration. ### Part 3 At 8:38 AM, the sun had risen to a certain extent. The sky was clear and filled with just enough of a chill to tense the skin. A cold fog covered the Grunewald Forest. A single car was parked in the forest’s airfield and a man stood next to it. It was Gaston. His shoulders shook once and he sighed. He began to walk with his face pointed straight forward. His gaze was on the giant factory. Its large door was open and the nose of a ship could be seen within. “She really is doing this, isn’t she?” He approached, and saw a man crouched below the ship with some kind of diagram in one hand. Gaston recognized the man. He was the old man in charge of the factory. “Steinmetz!” he called out and quickened his pace. The other man seemed to notice Gaston’s voice because he set the diagram on the floor, paused, and raised a hand. “Oh, Gaston.” He tapped his back as he stood up and Gaston asked him a question. “How is Else doing?” “She’s checking the course in the office.” “I see.” He was relieved that his daughter was still so nearby even if she was planning to leave him. She wanted to eventually fly into the sky and travel as far from this earth as she could. “She’s a good girl.” “I think you mean rebellious.” “No, it isn’t often you find someone who looks so at home in a work outfit.” “Is that supposed to be a compliment? I raised her to be the daughter of a respectable family.” “Are hard workers not respectable?” “I just want the Breuer family to be respectable.” The old man smiled bitterly at that. “She’s quite something. She did almost all of the external wiring and exterior on her own. She went two nights without sleep to do it.” “She did that much?” The old man scratched his head and nodded. “Well, she messed some of it up, but I fixed it for her.” “Sorry for the trouble.” “Don’t be. Getting this ship to fly is an important job.” He looked up into Gaston’s eyes from below. “Do you think it’s important, too?” Gaston hesitated but responded clearly. “I do.” He lowered his gaze a little. “This ship might end up filling the world with trouble. It could even start a war and that could destroy the world.” He took a breath and looked back up at the ship in front of him. “But…” “But?” “If the world would be destroyed by something like that, is there any point in letting it continue to exist? I feel like whatever place survives this will be a suitable place for Else and the people who can keep up with them.” That really sounds like something a weapons maker would say, he thought. “This may be a harsh thing to say…but the age we live in is definitely going to change.” “Ha ha ha. That isn’t something that just changes. We have to change it ourselves.” “Oh? Well said.” “I got that one from your daughter.” “Else said that?” “A nice saying, isn’t it?” “She was just trying to sound mature.” He just about smiled as he said that, but he restrained himself. “She’s an interesting girl,” said the old man. “She cut her hair because of that incident, right?” “Yes, she blew up the fireworks during the school festival last year.” “I hear that was a sight to see.” “Never before in the history of the University of Berlin has a student blown up the statue of the university president. I had to go apologize.” “Sounds a lot like you used to be,” commented Steinmetz. “The way both corners of her mouth rise when she smiles looks exactly like your smile. When I saw her smile like that earlier, it reminded me of something.” “What was that?” “Back in the day, you used to look that happy when you smiled too.” “…!” That line shocked Gaston. He had wanted Else to smile. “Back in the day?” His voice may have been trembling as he asked that question. “It was fifteen years ago. Didn’t you have a habit of visiting this factory to watch the planes fly? And you brought your young daughter with you.” “…” It all came back to him. … He might be…right. Else had smiled so innocently back then and he may have as well. “How about it? Can you look up into sky again? No, can you look up to a place even higher than the sky?” “…” “Personally, I’m having a blast doing this.” Gaston nodded. … Having a blast, huh? “You’re right,” he said. “Maybe I should do what I can.” ### Part 4 At 10:07 AM, the Bladlikburg was silent, but it was not peaceful. It was simply unable to move after losing track of the dp-XXX the night before last. The bridge was filled with the sounds of normal work and communications conversations, but no actions stood out. Surrounded by that unnerving stillness, Oscar frowned in front of the phone on the wall. “Are you saying not even the truth serum was any use?” It took a several seconds to receive an answer and he sighed as he listened to it. “Do not let it get to you. They are scholars who are used to long nights. Their level of focus is on a different level from ours. Show them our true strength that does not rely on such things.” The person on the other end must have expressed their understanding because he asked a businesslike question. “You understand, don’t you?” He took a breath. “Do not force yourself too much.” After a quick word of confirmation, he set down the receiver. “What is it?” asked someone behind him. He turned toward it and found Mayer holding a pile of documents. “Did those two do something again?” He sounded a little amused as he asked. “They are a troublesome bunch,” replied Oscar. “They probably see you as the troublesome one.” “Do not be ridiculous.” “Yes, sir. I should not have said that.” “…But I have no choice but to do this.” “What?” Mayer did not seem to have heard the other man’s muttered words, but Oscar did not mind. “More importantly, how are you doing?” “Oh. Yes, sir. I have now tested the Flammen Ritter’s weapons under all circumstances: low altitude, normal altitude, high altitude, extremely high altitude, with and without an angle of elevation, in the early morning moon, and in the wind resistance of movement. I have the report on the results here.” “Excellent work.” “It wasn’t all that much. The results are as follows: the error in field emitter targeting during sudden turns is only 0.2 degrees and the prototype Panzer Emblem activated properly. It is much more stable than the previous fighter craft.” “Can you defeat the dp-XXX?” The young officer thought for a moment with the report in hand. “As the dp-XXX is now…” He hesitated, looked up, and spoke. “I most likely can.” “As it is now?” “Yes, sir. In other words, I can defeat the dp-XXX as it was when we captured it.” “What do you mean by that?” “Based on the battle records, its current form is only made for long-range combat. Its greatest advantage in long-range combat is its warship-level firepower and its mobility that exceeds that of a fighter craft.” “I see.” “But I believe the Flammen Ritter’s acceleration is equal to or even greater than the dp-XXX’s. If I attack that ship that has no close-range ability…” “You can use that acceleration to fly right up to it?” Mayer nodded. “Correct. It takes a short time for its Kunst to activate, so it cannot use it for a one-on-one battle. And I can use my Schwert to cut through the Kugel it fires. All I have to do is charge right in.” “That is easier said than done.” “Yes, but that is the only way to win. I would not have stood a chance against its close-range combat form from before it evolved, but there is an opening now.” “…” “What do you think?” Oscar looked into Mayer’s eyes as the young man asked. There was strength in those eyes that had not been present before. And so he nodded. “I will leave this to you.” There was a somewhat cheerful tone to his voice. ### Part 5 It was 12:51 PM. The factory’s office was surprisingly large. Six simple but large desks were lined up to form a rectangle and two old but large stoves were installed by the wall. The factory was cold during the winter. Else brushed a hand through her hair in front of the mirror near the office entrance. She had just gone to the trouble of washing her hair with the water heater in the break room and she was wiping the sweat from her body with a towel. She had needed to do that before changing in the office. Her work uniform was folded on top of one of the break room chairs. The lack of curtains on the window had bothered her when she had removed it, but the stoves had fogged up the window. “And I doubt anyone’s stupid enough to peep.” She sounded almost disappointed as she put on the stockings balled up in her hand and looked to the desk behind her. She had brought a change of clothes along with the submachine gun and other daily necessities. She unfolded the clothes and put on a blouse with puffy shoulders. Her damp hair caught on the hard collar. “Maybe I should get it cut again,” she muttered while looking back in the mirror. “Why isn’t there a mirror big enough to see my entire body?” … Well, I guess there wouldn’t be one in a factory. With that thought, she reached for the rest of the clothes on the table. They were all a sandy yellow color because that was the color worn by an explorer she had seen in an old magazine. “Now, then.” She grabbed the skirt first. The waist was long. It used two belts to keep it tight around the area from just below her chest to the bottom of her abdomen. She spread it out and suddenly remembered something. She recalled what Gaston often said to her when complaining. “ ‘You childish girl.’ ” … That may be true. She nodded. She was about to board a ship and pick a fight with the military. Having a skirt fluttering around as she did so would be careless. There were better and more functional outfits to wear into battle that would let her move more easily. But… “I am a woman. Why should I dress like I’m not?” That was right. She had not chosen this outfit because she was not taking this seriously or because she was joking around. She had chosen it and brought it with her because it was the outfit she thought fit her the best. “Don’t worry.” There was nothing to worry about and no reason to be nervous. Soon, she had to soar up into the sky and fight. The night before last, she had made a promise to the young man who had said he wanted to fight even as he hesitated. “We’ll be waiting for you up in the sky.” He had responded just before leaving. “I will definitely make it to where you all are.” She was certain they could both keep their promises. “This will settle it.” She nodded and put on the skirt. She put the two belts around her waist and stepped back. The mirror only showed her upper body, but she brought her waist into view by moving away and stretching upwards. She then tightened the belts. After retightening them two or three times, she took a breath. She slowly reached for the pocket of the shirt sitting on the table. “Can I do it right?” She tilted her head as she picked up the object in the pocket. It was pale lipstick. ### Part 6 At 2:37 PM, a single soldier entered the interrogation room. Paul, Walter, and the interrogator who had already gotten to know them were inside, so there were now four people in the small room. The soldier looked at the other three and spoke. “What are you three doing?” The two prisoners were collapsed on the table sleeping and the interrogator was glaring at them with his arms crossed. The interrogator turned to the soldier. “These two are crazy.” “I can see that. No one normal could sleep in a situation like this.” “Not that! How can they sleep after we injected them with truth serum? Who was it that said scholars are the most intellectual of people!? Their focus or willpower or whatever you want to call it is on the level of a giant beast!” “Is that so?” The soldier did not seem to entirely understand, so he gave an arbitrary nod. “Then you should have used the kind of truth serum used for elephants.” “There’s no point. Do you know what they said before going to sleep? They said you can fight truth serum by focusing your mind and strengthening your will. That’s when they started focusing on sleeping.” “I see.” After another arbitrary nod, the soldier circled behind the sleeping men. “It doesn’t really matter, but I was ordered to send them into separate cells.” “Separate cells?” “Yes. It seems someone will be coming to rescue them, so the commander said we need to keep them separated.” “I see. Then…” “Don’t worry. The commander does not think you did anything wrong here.” “But…” “It’s fine. And you’re tired, aren’t you? You can’t interrogate them looking like that.” “I’m not… I am not tired.” “Saying that’s proof enough that you are. But can you help me carry them to their cells?” “Sure.” The interrogator stood and gently shook his weary head. “I’ll take the young one.” He moved behind Walter. “Are you sure you can manage?” “This isn’t much.” “But you seemed to be having a lot trouble with them.” “They are insane. I have no idea what they’re thinking.” “Really?” “They have no problem doing things hardened criminals wouldn’t do.” “Now you’re just trying to scare me.” “I’m serious. Honestly….” With that, he shook Walter’s shoulder. “Hey, wake up.” “Mh…” The young man’s eyebrows moved a bit. The interrogator grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up. “Are you awake yet?” The young scholar opened his narrowed eyes a little. “I’ve been staying up all night recently, so just five more minutes.” He closed his eyes and about collapsed back onto the desk. “Don’t go back to sleep!” The interrogator frantically stuck his hands beneath Walter’s arms to support him. As he did, one hand happened to slip inside the front of the young scholar’s lab coat. As soon as it did, Walter’s expression changed. His previously blank look grew distinct. The interrogator’s hand had touched the photograph in his coat’s inner pocket. “Don’t touch that!” His elbow shot up on reflex and smashed into the other man’s jaw. With a dull sound, the interrogator moved back from Walter and collapsed without even a chance to scream. He was clearly not getting up any time soon. He probably had no idea what had happened to him and his eyes closed from both the blow and his accumulated exhaustion. Walter stood, looked down at the man, and sighed. All of a sudden, he heard a gunshot. “!” Walter’s body lifted slightly into the air. He had been shot. This was similar to the events on the bridge. Back then, Oscar had placed a hand on his side arm, but things played out differently here. Oscar had realized Walter’s action was a misunderstanding, but this soldier had not. Walter slowly fell to his knees. And someone stood next to him. “You son of a bitch!” The soldier who had reflexively responded to the attack on his fellow soldier swore at Walter. The handgun he held was trembling ever so slightly. ### Part 7 At the same time, a single ship rose from the forest southwest of Berlin. The people seeing it off said nothing and simply waved at the ship that might never return. No one could say how this incident would end or who was in the right. ### 070. Chapter 7: The Legend Rises ### Part 1 At 2:51 PM, Oscar watched the sky from the Bladlikburg’s bridge. Mayer stood behind him to provide a report on the incident. However, Oscar did not turn around. He continued facing forward as he responded. “I never thought this would happen.” He heard Mayer move behind him. “It was a mistake to remain armed at all times.” He nodded at his aide’s comment and asked a question. “How is he?” “First aid is complete and he is being taken to the infirmary.” “How is his injury?” That was what he wanted to know. “Oh,” said Mayer before answering. “My apologies. The bullet penetrated his right forearm. The state of the bone is unknown, but I would guess it is broken. The shot was at close range and he has not trained his body.” “Most likely.” “It seems his life is not in danger, so you can rest easy on that count.” “Rest easy, hm?” He smiled bitterly. “I suppose so.” Ever since hearing the report, he had been worried about his enemy’s well-being. … Why is that? They both had something they had to do, even if those two things were polar opposites. He had to determine once and for all which one of them was right. Normally, it would be Oscar since he was thinking of his nation and its people. But what if one looked at it from the viewpoint of personal dreams? What if acting on those dreams could change the world, change what was normal, and even change people? … Which one of us is right? He suddenly realized something. … I am hoping that the dp-XXX comes here. He had planned to hide that ship until the time came and he still hoped to do so if possible. But the coming confrontation would determine the future course of the world. “Mayer.” He wanted to say “win”, but he swallowed the word. He did not know why. It was possible he too hoped that the dp-XXX would make it to space. However, he could not allow that. As a father and as a soldier, he had a family to protect and men under his command. He had to eliminate anything that would harm them. “…” He bit his lip. At that moment, he heard a roar. Countless sounds much like bursting gunpowder reached his ears. They came from outside, so he slightly lowered his gaze as he looked out the window. “!” The Bladlikburg Zwei floating in front of him was being struck by a series of Kugel. The Kugel had come from far below and more were coming. The enemy had suddenly attacked with their full strength. The repeating sounds of impact reverberated in his gut. “Enemy ship detected! A single unidentified ship is attacking!” The navigator’s voice filled the bridge just as the Zwei’s giant form burst into flames. … Here it is! There was no need to confirm who this was, so he gave a shout. “It is the dp-XXX! All hands, prepare for battle! Scramble all fighters with the highest danger level equipment! This is all-out war!” ### Part 2 It was 2:54 PM. The Bladlikburg’s infirmary was a tidy white room. Other than the beds by the window, it only had shelves of medical equipment and a treatment table. In that room, Walter and Paul faced the medical officer. “Hm.” The medical officer gave a quick nod while examining Walter’s arm as the young man lay on the table. “The bullet passed through quite cleanly. You were lucky. As long as you don’t move it, it should stop bleeding soon.” “Isn’t that great, Walter?” “What about the bone?” asked Walter. “It was hit quite nicely. It’s broken and it should take two months for a full recovery.” “Now that’s a problem. I won’t be able to do anything scholarly.” “How is that any different from normal?” “Um, you there? Please don’t provoke the patient.” “Don’t worry. My big heart is immune to damage.” “Doesn’t that just mean you’re callous?” “How rude. The only real callouses on my body are on my feet.” “That’s not what I meant!” shouted Paul. Suddenly, they heard a rumbling from outside. It was the low yet sharp sound of destruction. “Eh?” Walter looked around pointlessly. At the same time, the battle preparation alarm filled the Bladlikburg. The earsplitting noise filled the infirmary and a panicked voice made a ship-wide broadcast. “Enemy ship approaching! Enemy ship approaching! We are now engaged in combat! Prepare the Soldat unit for launch and all gunners to your stations!” Another rumbling reached them. And this time it continued again and again. The noise shook the walls and their bodies. This was the sound of bullets hitting the metal armor. “Wh-what?” The medical officer stood up and the Bladlikburg Eins lurched from another hit. “!” Walter looked to Paul and Paul reflexively jumped onto the bed and pressed against the stationary window. “How is it, professor!?” “Wait! What do you two think you’re-…” “Shut up, doc!” shouted Paul. His voice was loud enough to drown out the rumbling outside and the alarm filling the ship. And his voice contained a hint of joy. “Dammit… Is the little lady here? I can’t see!” The Eins shook again and medicine bottles on the shelves loudly clinked together. Paul pressed his face against the window in his attempt to peer out. “…” “Well, professor? Is it the Kaiserburg?” “I still can’t see very well.” “C’mon, find it already.” “Oh, shut u-…ahhh!!” “Eh?” Walter received a definitive answer to his question. “There it is!” Paul’s voice was filled with delight. “It’s here!” Walter held his injured arm, stood up, and stared intently at the wall he could not see through. Based on Paul’s posture, the Kaiserburg had to be flying alongside the Eins. Walter began to approach the window to check on it, but then Paul said something odd. “Hm? The Kaiserburg’s turning its nose this-… Whoa!” He frantically moved away from the window. A moment later, the window and the entire wall vanished. With a great roar, a Kugel fired by the Kaiserburg tore the wall away. Light burst and noise exploded. “!” “Watch out!” The difference in air pressure blew everything outside. Pillars and panels made of iron and steel were torn away and tossed into the empty sky. The noise was enough to hurt their ears. The beds were spat outside like paper and the white sheets spread out in the sky before being blown away. The paper and books on the desk danced across the floor and into the sky. The room’s warm air came in contact with the cold wind of the high altitude and produced an icy mist. A violent gust of wind danced through the room that was now directly connected to the sky. In an instant, the infirmary was reduced to ruins. The window-side wall and the beds were gone, so it was nothing but a treatment table and the edge of a cliff. The medical officer shouted over the harsh wind. “Wh-what the hell was that!?” “A Kugel obviously.” The Kaiserburg probably had no idea Walter and Paul were in here. It had simply opened a horizontal hole for them to escape through. Paul had jumped from the bed to the treatment table at the last second and he sighed. “That little girl is crazy.” Even as he spoke, the floor below the table crumbled. With a sound like rocks hitting each other, the floor scattered fragments and broke apart. The table tilted and then fell. Still looking like he did not know what was happening or what was going to happen, Paul sat on the table and fell. Only his shrill scream remained. “Ahhhhhhhh!” Their parting only took an instant. Some white sheets remained in the air and fluttered lightly as if saying goodbye, but they were quickly carried away by the wind. Walter stood speechless on the cliff’s edge. The medical officer stood behind him. “…” After a short silence, the medical officer gave a shout. He had likely been unable to bear the silence. “Wh-what!?” “It’s the sky. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you?” “That’s not what I was asking!” “Hm. From an objective point of view, the ship was hit, the wall was destroyed, and someone fell out. But the person who fell is a bit of a unique kind of person, so I doubt that’s enough to kill him. Don’t worry about it.” Even as he answered the medical officer’s shouted question, Walter looked down at his injured arm. The forearm was bent a bit about halfway down. It was broken and a fingertip-sized hole continued to the other side. The bleeding must have resumed because a blood stain appeared on his lab coat. It had to hurt quite a bit, but the young man did not even frown. He peered down from the edge of the cliff. “I can’t even see the professor anymore.” “Wh-what are you muttering about!? We need to get out of here! It’s dangerous!” Walter nodded at the medical officer’s words. “I see. I have to agree with you there.” He sighed as he stood on the very, very edge. “C’mon, professor. Rushing ahead is only going to hurt you.” “What are you talking about!? This is an enemy attack! Hurry up and evacuate inside!” Walter turned toward the desperate voice with a small smile. “You’re right. I should leave here and go somewhere safer.” With that, he jumped out into the windy sky. ### Part 3 At 3:08 PM, the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge was in a state of complete disarray. “Levels 1, 2, and 4 were completely destroyed on the starboard side! Level 3 was damaged on the rear starboard side! Levels 5 and 6 were partially damaged on the mid starboard side! Our fighters can no longer connect to the starboard side!!” “The Eins’s Eisen Soldat #1-4 will be unable land for the aforementioned reason. Have them land at Berlin Airport or Tempelhof Airport instead. Send out course instructions to ensure they do not collide with passenger planes.” “We are scattering fragments of the armor. All fighters in flight should avoid travelling below or behind the Eins.” “Our center of gravity is shifting to port! Everyone who is free, move starboard! Starboard!” “Lock down the starboard water storage tanks and ensure all water that will flow from the outer hull will do so. Focus on the ship’s center of gravity.” Amid the busy exchange of words and documents, Oscar sat in his command chair by the window and felt nearly worked to death by his instructions to the different ships. He suddenly looked out the window. Quite a bit of water and oil had spilled from above and stained the window. The water froze white on the glass and crystallized. … They really got us here. The components of the outer hull rained down from them. He was suddenly worried about the city of Berlin below. Even a single screw would become a deadly weapon when falling from this height. He looked down. The bridge’s window continued down to the floor, so his raised command seat gave him an excellent view of the area below them. He saw the clouds, but Berlin was visible through the gaps. … I’m sorry. After that thought, he looked back up. He could see the blue sky through the slightly dirtied window. Something even bluer fell outside the window. “Mh?” He recognized the shape and color from somewhere. It was a round shape with some flesh-color stuck to it. It was a person. And given the color of the clothing… “Wagner!” He reflexively stood from his chair. Suddenly, something else fell and he saw it clearly this time. The man wore a lab coat. “Walter!” The young man fell straight down and their gazes almost seemed to audibly meet through the glass. If anything could be called a coincidence, this was it. Neither of them had meant for it to happen, so it was a truly unexpected instant. The strength in the young man’s eyes filled Oscar’s head with pain. He ran from his chair, down the stairs, and to the window. He did not even hear the surrounding commotion. All he heard was the distant rumbling. And that rumbling was approaching from above. He knew what was coming after those two had fallen. “The dp-XXX.” That was exactly what descended before his eyes. Its shadow raced through the bridge for just an instant. The collection of metal organs appeared outside the window and shot downwards. It was fast. In a heartbeat, the glass shook so hard it threatened to break. This was a shockwave. The air beyond the window had been torn apart by the passing battleship and thin clouds formed as it cooled. The commotion inside the bridge was drowned out by the roar. Oscar felt the sound in his head, gut, and limbs, but he could not tear his eyes away from the window. The metal ship dropped toward the hazy city of Berlin. The ship remained horizontal, so it was a somewhat odd descent. A lab coat and blue work outfit were visible beyond it. The three falling objects grew smaller and smaller. However, the battleship was catching up. “…” Oscar silently stared down at them. The sword-like ship reached the lab coat. A moment later, it reached the blue work outfit. The dp-XXX then fluttered like a leaf. It stopped falling and slipped forward. It looked small at such a distance, but it glowed a brilliant gold as it reflected the sunlight. “So they did it.” Those words that not even he understood brought Oscar back to his senses. The commotion around him once more reached him. He suddenly realized he was clenching both fists so tightly it hurt. “The battle begins here!” ### Part 4 At 3:12 PM, the Kaiserburg glided approximately four hundred meters above Berlin. The cockpit door was open. “Welcome back,” said Else as she stood from the pilot’s seat. When she turned around, she just about cried out. Paul was supporting Walter who was covered in blood. “A-are you okay?” Walter smiled. “Let’s just say I’m almost okay.” He spoke in a jocular tone, but he did not actually say he was okay. It must have been a serious injury. “What happened? Was it my bombardment?” “Don’t worry. His wound just reopened from the difference in air pressure and the pressure of the wind as he fell. It wasn’t your fault.” “Either way, this was our only choice. …More importantly, Else, thanks.” “I didn’t do all that much… And this isn’t the time! We need to treat your wound!” “This is the battlefield,” said the young man as he wiped splattered blood from his cheek. She sighed, approached him, and checked his right arm. It was still bleeding, but it looked like it would stop before long. She was more worried by how limply the arm was hanging at his side. “Walter, don’t tell me…” “Yeah, it’s broken. The bullet got me pretty good.” Else had a thought while looking up at him. … Does he not feel any pain? She mentally shook her head to reject that thought. It had to hurt. He was just not letting anyone else know about it. … Why? She had a hunch. Someone pursuing his dream could not show any weakness. Even if he wanted help, he would not let anyone reach out to him. With that in mind, she said one thing. “I’ll tie off the wound real quick.” He looked troubled by that. “But the enemy fighters should be approaching already.” She slapped the face that said that. It made a surprisingly satisfying sound. Paul gave a joking whistle while supporting Walter. She looked straight up at Walter. “This ship is filled with delicate machinery, so I don’t want to get blood all over it.” She gave a blatant lie and reached for the right sleeve of his lab coat and work outfit. Once she touched them, she realized the inside of the work outfit’s sleeve had become a wet rag. Ignoring how much she was dirtying her hand, she started by rolling the lab coat up to his upper arm. “Mister, get to the pilot’s seat. Enemy fighters might be coming.” “Sure, sure.” Paul sounded oddly happy about that and he patted Walter’s shoulder before moving to the pilot’s seat. Walter smiled bitterly at the touch on the shoulder. Else thought for just a moment and rolled up the work outfit sleeve as well. His arm was exposed and she could see the red oil-like blood covering it. She saw the wound, rolled the sleeve up further, and stopped at the elbow. “Is that too tight?” “You’re trying to stop the blood, so it’s perfect.” … Good. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his arm. “I wish I had a splint. …Should I make a sling?” “I can rest the arm on the armrest, so don’t bother.” It still had to hurt quite a bit and Else carefully tied the handkerchief around the wound. “That should do it.” She stepped away from him and finally looked at his face. He scratched his head with his other hand. “Else.” “What?” “I’d only ever been slapped by a woman once and I was kind of proud of that fact.” “Who was the first? If you say your mother, you’re about to get a third.” He thought for a moment before answering. “Try not to make it hurt too much, okay?” She slapped his opposite cheek before he had even finished speaking. This one sounded nice too. “Enough nonsense. Just get to your post. Honestly.” She looked at his face and saw blood on the handprint from her slap. … Ah. She realized her hand was covered in blood. It was drying and her fingerprints stood out. She sighed. “Do you have anything to wipe the blood up with?” “I always wipe my hands on the bottom of my lab coat.” “Please don’t say that so seriously.” She had no choice but to grab the bag she had left in Walter’s seat. She pulled a towel out and belatedly realized she could have used it on Walter’s arm. “Stick your face this way.” “…Are you going to slap me again?” “What has you so scared? Now stick your face over here or I really will.” He crouched down and leaned forward as she had asked. “Good boy.” She spoke as if to a pet and wiped the blood from his cheek. “There. That should do it.” “Am I back to my handsome self?” “You? Handsome?” “…I’m never asking you anything again.” He frowned, passed by her, and sat in the gunner seat. He used his left hand to place his right arm on the armrest, opened his right hand, and grabbed the sphere for the field emitter. Then he turned back toward her. “This seat is shaped a little different from before.” “I increased its range of transformation so I could sit in it. I also modified the voice recognition system a bit.” She pulled the communicator from her pocket and handed it to him. He extended his left hand and took it. “How much can we use it now?” “It should be a bit smarter than before.” “I see.” He faced forward and gave a single command. “Sit.” The Kaiserburg did not respond. “This thing isn’t smarter at all, Else.” “Are you sure it doesn’t try to match the intelligence of its user?” “Hm, you may be right. So when I use it, it’ll only accept a complicated, intellectual, and highly refined command.” “Are you sure you didn’t take a bullet to the head too?” “How rude. I’ve always been like this.” “Hey, you two. This is no time for saying stupid things.” “I was not saying stupid things.” “Neither was I.” “Shut up!” shouted Paul as he slammed a fist down on his armrest. “Try to be a little quieter. The enemy’s here and they’re trying to charge in at us all at once.” Sure enough, several contrails raced across the sky toward them. Else frantically sat in the seat with the navigation equipment. The enemy fighters appeared as dots of light on the radar. “Wow… There’s a whole army of them!” “Don’t say there’s an army! Give us some numbers! Can you not count above three!?” “That’s right, Else. Instead of calling this an army, call it a spectacular catch.” “Shut up, both of you. None of them stand a chance, so what does it matter? We only have to worry about that black one, right?” Was that fighter coming? Was Mayer coming? … If he is, we can have our battle. With that thought, she fastened her seatbelt. The battle was truly beginning. ### Part 5 At 3:21 PM, the number of destroyed fighters had reached the double digits and Oscar gave new orders. “Once the Eins’s center of gravity has recovered, send out the Flammen Ritter. Until then, have all fighters cruise above Berlin, pursue the Kaiserburg, and keep the pressure on it. But do not actually attack. Once the Flammen Ritter has launched, all fighters are to return to their ships.” ### Part 6 At 3:23 PM, the Flammen Ritter was still attached to the eighth connector on the Eins’s port side. Mayer stared into the sky from the cockpit. “Can’t they hurry up?” The sun would set before long and the moon’s effects would come into play. If he did not settle this before the moon came out, the Kaiserburg would almost certainly fly into space. “I can’t believe this.” When the Eisen Soldat had been launched, he had still been on the bridge with Oscar, so the damage to the Eins had delayed him. … I was careless. The commotion below seemed to have settled for the time being. Oscar had decided only this fighter could fight on even footing. It would come down to a one-on-one fight. … He has high expectations of me. That made him happy and he smiled bitterly when he realized how childish that was. He was enjoying this entire situation. That meant he had hoped for something like this. At the very least, he had not been forced into it and he had not been reluctantly dragged into it. He had wanted it himself. … Yes. “That’s right.” … There’s something I need to do. He closed his eyes. He had no goal. He could not truly say how much he could do. However, he was glad he could not say that. If he won here, he would aim even higher. If he lost, he would overcome that regret and still aim higher. He was prepared to keep doing that until the day he died. … How far can I go? He opened his eyes and saw the blue sky beyond the canopy. He suddenly reached out a hand and grabbed at the empty space with his glove-covered fingers. … I want to advance farther than anyone someday. As soon as he thought that, he received a transmission from the Bladlikburg. “Second Lieutenant Mayer, the Eins will have finished its preparations in about a minute.” “Understood. I’m ready when you are.” “Commander Oscar has a message. Do you want to hear it?” “I do.” The other man hesitated for just a moment, cleared his throat, and continued. “Believe in yourself.” “!” “That is all. Please wait just a little longer.” Mayer was so busy thinking about his commander that he completely forgot to respond. … He saw right through me. ### Part 7 At 3:35 PM, Else saw a single unique dot appear on the radar. It approached much faster than the previous ones. Something resembling joy overpowered any fear of the unknown. “Here it is! That black fighter craft is approaching from the east-northeast on our right!” “Else, could you call it something other than ‘that black fighter craft’? That’s a pretty long name.” “That’s right. And mention the direction first.” “Shut up. Try to imagine what it’s like from my perspective.” “And you try to imagine what it’s like from ours.” “Hey, you two,” cut in Walter. “I see it. That’s it, isn’t it?” Else looked up and did indeed see a single contrail approaching from the right at tremendous speed. The enemy fighter showed up on the radar and the other dots began to move. “Huh? The small fries are running away.” “The sun’s about to set, so they must want to avoid losing control. Also…” “Also?” “Those Soldat can’t keep up with this battle.” Walter’s voice was filled with blatant joy and Paul sighed next to him. “We’ve got no choice. Let’s fly down into the city. We still don’t know how that weapon works.” “If you mean the Lanze, I have it.” She had kept the bullet in her pocket in case it could be some help. It was something like a good luck charm. Walter glanced her way. “Let me see it later.” “Sure.” Even as she spoke, her vision grew lower and building roofs grew up from below. The Kaiserburg had dived to fly through Berlin at extreme low altitude. The scenery rushed backwards at blinding speed. “W-wait! We’re gonna hit that! Wah!” A large white and rectangular building grew in front of her. She recognized it from somewhere, but she did not have time to dig through her memories. The white wall filled her vision. … Oh, no! An instant later, the Kaiserburg turned left at a right angle. It appeared to slide sideways as it flew just above the cars on the road. It was fast. … We avoided it? They had to have been moving three or four hundred kilometers an hour, so that had taken incredible piloting skill. Lines of apartments, stores, and other buildings flew by from left to right too quickly to see anything but their color. There was no time to watch them pass. “Look out!” “Don’t worry. We avoided the Zeughaus back there. Right, professor?” “Sorry, but I’m gonna hit this one.” “Eh?” Immediately afterwards, an impact reached them from the left and the view out the window briefly grew white. Something like dust filled the air outside. It was smoke. They had crashed into some kind of building. “Wah!” Else’s seatbelt dug painfully into her shoulder and she squeezed the armrests with all her might. A dull vibration ran from her butt and up her back. It refused to go away, so it had to have been a large building. Instead of a rumbling, the ship was surrounded by repeating sounds of splitting stone. What were obviously pieces of stone pillars flew by and almost struck the window. “Wah, wah, wah, wah! You’ve gone too far now!” “It’s not my fault – whoa, that was close! This was an accident!” “Hmm. This is a lot of fun.” After one final tremor, they broke through a giant wall. The Kaiserburg continued moving and pierced straight through the entire structure. The view outside the window quickly cleared and the city streets were visible once more. Their speed had only dropped a little and the people in the building probably had no idea what had hit it. “Don’t get carried away!” Else looked at the electric display showing the ship’s damage. Its overall surface temperature had risen because the external paneling’s emblems had activated to neutralize the impacts. … This thing’s sturdy. But her admiration was immediately followed by a realization. The building they had avoided had been the Zeughaus and they had moved left before hitting this building. That meant… “Wait! We just hit the University of Berlin, didn’t we!?” “Yeah, it really pains me to damage my alma mater.” “You didn’t just damage it! You downright destroyed it! And I’m still enrolled there!” “Shut up. It’s a national school, so it was built with my taxes. I can destroy it a bit if I want.” “What do you mean your taxes!? You just destroyed a hundred times more than you paid!” “Yeah, he’s got a long way to go. I would’ve destroyed 1500 times what I paid.” “You be quiet!” She looked down and found the dot for the fighter was almost right in front of them, but all the city apartments around kept them from seeing it out their window. “What can we do in this city!?” “The city actually works in our favor.” “Eh?” “That’s right. From what we’ve seen, that fighter is meant for close-range combat or mid-range when it uses that weird lance. All these obstacles will keep it from making quick attacks and flying off.” “In its current form, the Kaiserburg can fire four homing or guided shots at once. The obstacles don’t matter to us. Walter turned back with a smile. “Although I’m sure he’s thinking pretty much the same thing.” The enemy fighter was nearly right in front of them. ### Part 8 It was 3:38 PM. A minute and a half had passed since the encounter had begun and the Flammen Ritter was on its enemy’s tail. It pursued its opponent while flying through the streets with precise movements one would never expect of an aircraft. The Kaiserburg tried to lose it by taking a southern right turn from the six-lane Unter den Linden and onto the four-lane Friedrichstraße. The Flammen Ritter tilted vertically and fired its vertical ascension rocket against its own inertia. The fighter’s rear rockets remained on full blast the entire time. The intersection took a shallow angle, but it made the turn. The Flammen Ritter also flew down Friedrichstraße. A train station flashed by to the right, but it vanished behind too quickly to read the name. Continuing straight would bring them to Möhringstraße, but a straight path was dangerous for someone on the run. The black fighter fired two red and burning Kugel. They were straight shots. The Kaiserburg neutralized them with guided shots of its own. One pair exploded and the other burst into flames as their remains scattered like flowers. The Flammen Ritter used that moment to fire a Lanze. The bluish-white spear of light tore through the explosive flames of the Kugel and flew straight for its target. This lance was faster and more powerful than an arrow. However, the large aerial ship avoided it. As if to say no simple projectile could defeat it, it elegantly slipped to the side, hopped up in the air, and slide-flipped over the building to its left. It was a calm action and it felt like the ship had eyes on the back. The black fighter pulled up without bothering to watch the Lanze stab into the ground further down the road. It used every last one of its rockets to twist through the air and shift leftward. It flew over the buildings. The German Cathedral was visible up ahead. Beyond that were the temple-like Schauspielhaus and the French Cathedral. The Gendarmenmarkt in front of the three buildings was full of Weihnachts stands and gathered people. The people in the square looked up at the Flammen Ritter in the sky that would soon grow red. They must have seen the ongoing dogfight because some of them were attempting to flee the square. The Kaiserburg was not in that square. Instead, the large warship was beyond the German Cathedral’s dome. The Flammen Ritter almost seemed to glide as it traveled above the square. As soon as the black fighter approached the German Cathedral’s dome, something happened. The Kaiserburg suddenly melted into the air and vanished. This was the Phantom illusion technique. The Flammen Ritter quickly altered its course. As if forcing itself to dance, it twisted its forward momentum and redirected itself backwards. Having turned around, it saw its enemy. The Kaiserburg was tilted and clinging to the wall of the building in front of the cathedral square. The Flammen Ritter eliminated its momentum, started forward, and tried to charge at the ship, but the Kaiserburg fired four bullets of light. They surrounded the fighter before it could pick up speed and drew a Circle Emblem in the space around it. This was the Finster Kunst. Given the distance and the Flammen Ritter’s speed, this attack was impossible to avoid. ### Part 9 At 3:40 PM, Mayer built up his resolve in the Flammen Ritter’s cockpit. At this rate, the gravity barrier would hit him and there was only one way to break through. It would put a heavy burden on him, but he had no choice. He resisted the urge to vomit. His previous piloting had been reckless enough, so his shoulders ached as they threatened to dislocate and his blood was gathered in his back. But if he did not force himself even further, he could not continue on. “I don’t mind!” His shout did not actually leave his mouth. His fingers simply moved across the cockpit’s field emitter controllers. At the same time, the Circle Emblem surrounding him vanished and became a mass of gravity. ### Part 10 Meanwhile, the three in the vertically-oriented Kaiserburg looked up at the scene. “Did we get him!?” shouted Paul. He saw a legendary spell activating before his eyes. The black Finster Kunst swallowed up all light. At full power, it covered a radius of about one hundred meters. They had aimed a bit high so it would not reach the people in the square, but the enemy fighter craft had still been completely enveloped by the vortex of destruction. It sounded like a giant had punched the earth. The German Cathedral’s dome was instantly blown away and torn apart. But it only lasted an instant. The spherical black barrier burst from within. The shattering of gravity sounded surprisingly like shattering glass. A spear of flames flew from within. The Flammen Lanze had almost entirely solidified and its strong directionality had broken through the wall of gravity. The three in the Kaiserburg knew what that giant spear was. “A Panzer Emblem!” Paul frantically had the ship ascend, but his disbelief slowed his reaction time. In an instant, they felt an impact much like being kicked from behind. The spear had caught the ship somewhere. As the ship ascended, its tail end rose up as if to move forward and the entire ship rotated in three dimensions. “Kyah!” The western sunset was visible out the window where the city had been. After a few clouds rotated into view, the city returned from above. They saw the spear of flames instantly burn away the building the Kaiserburg had been hiding behind. “Else! Where were we hit!?” “Um…w-w-w-w-w-wait! Hold us steady!” “Shut up. I’m trying.” The ship twisted around as if tossing or turning in its sleep and it began to fly upside down. The scenery outside appeared upside down to them. Else held her skirt down and checked the electric display in front of her. “The two upper field emitters and the rear skirt have changed color!” “Crap. So the weapons and directional wings were damaged. What color are they?” “They’re both yellow.” “Keh. They’ll be back to normal in fifteen minutes.” “Professor, is the Kaiserburg still not growing?” “It probably needs just a little more. To be honest, that attack got us pretty good.” “It’s too early to celebrate. We have to win this battle first.” “Not a chance. The field emitters are one thing, but what can we do without the skirt?” “We can’t fly straight, so we can’t use our full speed for the next fifteen minutes.” “Can we escape?” asked Else. Still upside-down, Walter turned toward her while smiling and holding his right arm in his left hand. “We can’t. And so we’ll fight.” “How?” He gave her an awfully good-natured smile before answering. “We’ll do something unexpected.” “Eh?” “Professor, move us behind some convenient cover. We’ll search for a place to turn this all around.” “Sure thing.” After Paul’s response, the ship flipped right-side up. The items that had fallen to the ceiling fell back to the floor and Else’s bag fell behind Walter. ### Part 11 At 3:43 PM, Mayer clicked his tongue inside the Flammen Ritter. “Did I go too far?” He could only see fire beyond the canopy. The separate building that the German Cathedral used for storage was burning despite being made of stone. That was thanks to a strike from the Panzer Emblem. He felt a twinge of regret, but he settled that by telling himself it was unlikely anyone had been inside the building. He then moved the control column. The stone walls and roof began to crumble as they burned in the flames. The Flammen Ritter activated its vertical ascent rocket and almost seemed to plunge its head into sand. The effects of the ether were turning the stone ceiling to ash and the fighter craft flew into it. Mayer breathed in, but he was still not feeling well. The pain in his chest likely came from a broken rib, so he simply had to put up with it. He toyed with the field emitter’s firing button located on the back of the control column. Two lights appeared in the flames outside the canopy. They were Schwert. He swung up the swords and tore through the roof. He stepped on the pedal below his foot and the fighter almost seemed to jump up. The floating fighter blew away the burning stones and instantly entered the cold winter air. It rotated so the building’s roof and Friedrichstraße were below and the Gendarmenmarkt was visible ahead. The now dome-less German Cathedral, the Schauspielhaus, and the French Cathedral were visible as well. However, the many people who had been enjoying Weihnachts in the large square were nowhere to be seen. They had all run away. “…” Mayer was briefly dumbfounded, but strength reentered his gaze and he looked around again. He spotted the enemy. A ship reflected the reddening light of the sky. It was moving east toward the city hall past the green area along the Spree. … Are they trying to run? But he shook his head. His opponents here were not the type to do that. They had a plan and they were moving to a new battlefield. In that case, he had no choice but to pursue and continue fighting. Mayer moved the Flammen Ritter forward. His opponents were right in front of him. ### Part 12 At 3:45 PM, the clock tower of Berlin’s city hall was visible outside the Kaiserburg’s window. For better or for worse, the red brick building stood out for a number of reasons. From their current viewpoint, the difference from the surrounding buildings was immediately obvious. Else looked out at the red tower. “That clock tower sure is tall.” “Let’s use it.” “Use it how?” “To finish this.” After Walter’s response, the communicator in front of Paul emitted the tone of an incoming transmission. At the same time, Mayer’s voice filled the cockpit. “Walter, can you hear me?” “Yes, I can.” “I want to settle this soon. How does that sound?” “Do you think you could wait until our ship heals its wounds?” “I already waited once.” Else nodded at that. This young man had indeed been waiting for this moment. “I will now shoot down your ship,” said Mayer. “Okay?” “Hmm. No, that doesn’t sound very okay.” “Try to take this seriously,” cut in Else. “I don’t mind,” replied Mayer. “I will not hold back and I think you know what will happen if you do.” “Oh, we won’t hold back.” Walter’s voice rang throughout the cockpit and Else saw his right hand grab the sphere on the armrest again. The only functioning field emitters were the two on the bottom of the ship, but with only two, he could control them without moving his hands between controls. “Let me be honest,” he said to his opponent. “Mayer. Right now, I see you as an incredibly familiar enemy.” And… “I defeat my enemies.” Else gulped and faced forward. Walter did not turn around in the copilot seat, but she saw his right hand tense up on the armrest. … He’s serious. She could not see his face, but she felt like she knew the look on it. It somehow scared her. At the very least, she would have been completely speechless were she in Mayer’s position. That was how much intensity filled the young man. What was his opponent thinking? “I’m glad to hear you say that, Walter.” “Glad?” “So glad it terrifies me.” “You’re scared?” “So much I can’t stop trembling.” “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m serious about this, after all.” “So am I.” Mayer and Walter’s exchange sent Else’s pulse racing. … This is it. The tension somehow resembled joy. Her heart pounded in her chest as she sensed some sign of what was to come. They would compete and it would lead to some definite result. What would that result be? She did not know and she could not tell, but that unseen answer would settle everything. In short, it came down to whether they could reach space, but it was not that simple an issue. Many other problems had been drawn into this battle. She suddenly realized she had crossed her arms as if embracing her chest. Something threatened to escape from there. The young man named Mayer was trying to fight. Paul and Walter were as well. … What about me? Her seat gave her no device for directly controlling a weapon. Even the communicator was under Walter’s control. She had no way to fight. … Am I just going to watch? She did not like the sound of that. After all, she was the same sort of person as them. Before she realized it, a word had left her mouth. “Walter.” The young man did not turn around. He did not seem to care that she had called his name. She spoke as if begging him. “I don’t want to be left out.” “I know that,” he snapped back. Her slight surprise left her speechless, so he ignored her and continued. “Mayer, to make up for our damage, we’re going to have Else here fight alongside us. Is that okay?” “Absolutely. I had already made a promise to that end.” “Then our victory is pretty much guaranteed.” With that announcement, Walter ended the transmission. The battle was about to resume. It would likely be settled in an instant. ### Part 13 At 3:47 PM, Mayer saw the Kaiserburg slide to the side. It moved left. He sent the Flammen Ritter in the same direction and the clock tower of Berlin’s city hall finally came into view. The Kaiserburg moved behind it and did not come out on the other side. The dot on the radar at the front of the cockpit indicated the ship was hiding behind the clock tower. It was luring him in. Which side would it attack from? It would likely fire a guided Kugel first, but they could not see him either. They would be using their radar to blindly guide it based on the distance between them. He guessed they intended to target him once he frantically avoided the Kugel. Dodging it would mean his loss, so he had to cut it from the air. … Can I do it? The Flammen Ritter was less than thirty meters from the clock tower and cutting down a Kugel at that range would not be easy. … But I have to. He would cut down the Kugel and continue on for a close-range dogfight with the Kaiserburg. This opponent had no close-range ability, so he would win. Or at least take it down with him. He produced Schwert on the right and left. He regulated his breathing. It did not matter if his ribs hurt because the pain would numb his tension. The nauseous feeling from before had passed. His focus grew sharper and he entered top form for this sort of battle. “Good,” he muttered. At that very moment, the Kugel flew out. But there were two: one from the right and one from the left. The left one was white and the right black, so they were an Eisen Kugel and a normal Kugel respectively. However, he did not have time or a need to check on that. They were both dangerous. He swung up the Schwert and had a feeling it would work. That was when something changed. The two Kugel made sharp turns right in front of the Flammen Ritter. “What!?” Before he could finish his question, the white Kugel struck the red brick clock tower. With a quick hardening sound, the clock tower turned pure white. The brick had been transformed into ice. The black Kugel struck its base. It only took a moment for the tower of ice to collapse. It sounded like a waterfall. The massive tower of ice scattered smoke made up of what looked like silver sand and it collapsed toward the Flammen Ritter. It was like a wall. No wall could have worked better. But the Flammen Ritter could not move. Mayer could not move. The great noise and pressure filled him with panic and a single thought dominated his mind. Right or left? Which direction would the Kaiserburg come from? The enemy was trying to drive out the Flammen Ritter using the falling tower and he could not give them what they wanted. … Which is it? The angle of the tower’s collapse grew, but Mayer continued to think. He had to choose one or the other. If he did not move, he would be crushed by the ice. He could destroy it with his Panzer Emblem, but he would be wide open afterwards. … Do I have to make a gamble? But then he realized something. An all or nothing gamble was not a true competition. Being suicidal and being willing to risk your life were not the same thing. He could not allow himself to think that way. Then what do I do? “…!” An idea came to him. This idea was almost guaranteed to take him to Walter. He threw out all of his previous predictions. He could not use conventional thinking when fighting that ship. He had been asking “left or right”, but the answer was obvious. “Straight down the center!” He shouted out and fired a Lanze. The lance of light stabbed into the center of the ice tower. He raised his fighter’s power as far as it would go and shot forward. He flew straight toward the spot the Lanze had hit. … Go! He swung up his two Schwert. For an instant, he saw a second Kugel fly by on either side. … I was right. … They tried to panic me, but I was slower to respond than they expected. … That’s why they fired again just to be sure. The dp-XXX had not moved. He was certain of it now. They intended to shoot him head on while he avoided the ice tower and expected an attack from the left and right. … But I didn’t fall for it! He felt insulted and the feeling grew into a blazing anger inside him. He flew toward a white wall with a Lanze sticking into it. He slammed his Schwert into the area weakened by the Lanze and the belly of the ice tower tore open. At the same time, he sent the Flammen Ritter flying into it. He tore through. Everything around him was pale blue and white. A powerful shock ran through the fighter. The tower may have been collapsing, but it had great mass. This was much like accelerating and flying into a sand dune. Metal across the black fighter cried out in protest, but he did not care. He raised the fighter’s power even further and swung the Schwert. The swords of light sliced through the ice and the tips of the swords seemed to reach the other side. Trusting this was the end, he jabbed the two Schwert forward. He felt them plunge deep into something heavy, but the tips felt light. They had reached the open air. “Gooooo!” With a roar, he accelerated even more and the space before him opened up. He almost gasped at the expanse of open air before him. Just as he had expected, the dp-XXX was there. It was exactly where his radar said it would be. “You’re mine!” Even with a guided shot, the field emitter had to change direction before firing a Kugel. The dp-XXX had only just fired Kugel to the left and right, so it had not had time to turn the field emitters forward. This was why taking the initiative led to victory. He charged forward with the Schwert still held straight out. He could destroy a Kugel even if one was fired. As he drew closer, Mayer faced straight forward and knew he had won. At the same time, he noticed something odd. For some reason, someone stood on top of the dp-XXX. He recognized the person. It was the young woman named Else he had met at the Breuer house. She was the one Walter had said would be fighting alongside him. She was the one he had promised a confrontation with. She wielded a submachine gun atop the dp-XXX. … ? In that spilt second, doubt filled Mayer. A bullet fired by such a tiny machinegun could never sink the Flammen Ritter. Nevertheless, she pressed it against her shoulder and aimed his way. … What is going on? He then remembered what Walter had said over the radio. “Then our victory is pretty much guaranteed.” What had he meant? Thoughts raced through Mayer’s head until he felt dizzy, but he made a single prediction. “It can’t be!” In that instant, he thought he heard a sound: a gunshot. It was the light, fleeting, and yet lingering sound of a submachine gun firing just once. That shot settled everything. ### Part 14 At 3:48 PM, Else pulled the trigger. She felt the recoil in her arm and pain in her shoulder. She saw the bullet transform into a Lanze as it flew. That Flammen Lanze continued straight on and into the approaching black fighter craft. The Schwert the fighter held forward shattered when the lance reached them and that impact moved the lance slightly off target. The shot had been mercilessly aimed at the nose, but it instead struck the right shoulder of the black fighter and split it in two. The two pieces of the enemy fighter roared as they flew below Else’s feet and below the Kaiserburg. It had been shot down. Else slowly lowered her submachine gun. A single shot had ended it all. Instead of a bullet, she had used the Lanze she had carried in her pocket as a good luck charm. A round of ammunition could be divided between the cartridge and the actual bullet, so swapping it out had been easy. Walter had said they could win in a close-range fight, Else had suggested using the Lanze, and Paul had done the prep work. She was the only one who could have fired it. “I did it.” Her legs were shaking and she did not have it in her to see what had become of the enemy fighter she had shot down. She simply collapsed into a sitting position. As the trembling in her legs spread to the rest of her body, she returned to the Kaiserburg’s cockpit. Once she was back, the entire ship was creaking as if groaning. It was making the final preparations for its ascent into space. ### Part 15 It was 3:50 PM. “Here it comes, professor! The transformation has begun! The field emitters and stabilizing wing have recovered and all the weapons and propulsion devices have fully expanded!” ### Part 16 At 3:51 PM, the Kaiserburg began its transformation into its third form. It completely remade its damaged and worn-down body. It strengthened itself so it could fight at close range, so it would have more stability, and so it would never be damaged again. The nose extended sharply forward. The rear skirt-shaped semicircular wing stretched even wider and covered the bottom as well. It now looked like a tube. The horn-shaped angular wings on either side stretched up and hid the top of the ship. The sword-like ship had dressed itself in a feminine form and this transformation stretched it out in a straight line. Some traces of the original form remained, but it had grown to be something else entirely. It could fly to space like this. Even as the Kaiserburg continued to grow here and there, it faced upwards. The Bladlikburg floated there. It almost seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then the Kaiserburg began to soar. ### Part 17 At 3:52 PM, the Bladlikburg Eins’s bridge had grown perfectly silent. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the window. A certain man stood there: Oscar. He was staring down toward Berlin. No one said anything. They were all waiting for his instructions as their commander. He had two options here: continue to fight or admit defeat. … We should fight. He knew it was hopeless, but they still had to fight. Otherwise, the military would have no reason to exist. The dp-XXX flew up from below. It was wrapped in ether in preparation to use its Panzer Emblem. Its new form’s Panzer Emblem could undoubtedly destroy the Bladlikburg fleet in a single strike. … What do I do? He thought. He could not stop the dp-XXX here. Death would visit them in an instant and the world would change. In the end, he and the military had been unable to do anything. … Is it hopeless? It was too soon for the arrival of the next age. He knew that for certain, but there was no longer any way to stop this flow of events. … What can I do? Perhaps standing in the Kaiserburg’s path and dying would be pointless, but it would have honor. At the very least, the world would later know he tried to stop the age from changing too soon. But he knew that would not accomplish anything in reality. The world would change regardless. What good was some consolation after the fact? … What am I supposed to do? He slowly, slowly raised a hand. That was the sign he was about to give an order. His eyes were turned toward the dp-XXX. The ether surrounding the ship was taking form. It was a giant god. The giant god had wings, glowed white, and wielded a great hammer. That strike would crush them. Oscar felt the rumbling in his gut, but it did not reach his head. He watched that god created by human hands. He stared at this opponent who he could never understand. … The new era probably arrived from the moment that ship was made. That thought briefly flashed through his mind. … Then were all our efforts here meaningless? That thought startled him. If that were true, what had they been doing? What had been accomplished by all the fighting, the lives lost, and the people left behind? Why did the military exist? Fighting to the end and dying may have been honorable, but wouldn’t dying here mean not approving of any part of this new age? That would mean having their position rejected in the future. With that thought, he suddenly felt at ease. “I see,” he muttered. He gathered strength in his raised hand and gave his order. ### Part 18 It was 3:53 PM. The Flammen Ritter lay in two pieces in the middle of the Gertraudenstraße in front of the tower-less city hall. Even as the blocked traffic piled up, Mayer made no attempt to move from the cockpit. He simply looked up into the sky. The red of sunset was growing purple and vanishing. A deep blue darkness colored the sky as the stars and moon came out. It looked like a scene from mythology. Four Bladlikburgs took position in the four cardinal directions to create a path down the center and a god passed through that ring. The god flew up into the blue sky and suddenly vanished. For a while, a single trail of smoke could be seen rising into the heavens. A white blade thrust upwards as if slicing the nearly dark sky in two. … It’s as beautiful as a miracle. “Well, it is Weihnachts . I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see a miracle.” Oscar had to be looking up into the same sky from the Bladlikburg Eins. “You made way for them, didn’t you, commander?” Walter’s group had maintained a confrontational attitude to the end, but Oscar had shown his understanding of them. He had shown compromise. … It’s over. It was all over, it was all going to change, and it would all begin anew. But before then, Mayer wanted to sleep. He was exhausted. “Next time, I’ll be even more…” He trailed off and closed his eyes. As he did, he heard a voice from his communicator. “Um, we are up above Berlin and transmitting on all frequencies. We are currently ascending toward space. Everyone in Germany and the neighboring countries, turn in the direction you think Berlin is in and look up in the sky. You should see a cloud rising through that sky. What you’re seeing is…” Mayer was no longer listening. He had fallen into a peaceful sleep. ### 071. Final Chapter: The Legend Arrives 12/25/1935 At 4:05 PM, the change arrived gradually but clearly. Else gathered strength in her eyebrows and kept her eyes open. The Kaiserburg pierced through sound, split the sky, and broke free of gravity. It was desperate. The view outside the window changed from blue to indigo and from indigo to black. The stars looked like a sprinkling of sand in that black expanse. The ship seemed to let out a scream, but she did not mind. She did not feel that she was going to die. She simply felt a need to keep her eyes from closing. The moment she had been waiting for arrived almost too suddenly. The inertia the ship had been unable to neutralize vanished from her body. They were free of the bonds of gravity. They had left the earth. This was space. They had arrived in outer space. “…” She felt like it had happened too quickly. She felt a pain her chest, but it was nothing compared to the difficulties back on the surface. She remembered everything that had happened. She had disobeyed her father. She had met Walter and Paul and they had shown her the Kaiserburg. She had ridden a bicycle as the military pursued her. She had flown through the sky. She had learned why Walter wished to go to space. She had learned what it was she wanted. She had convinced her father and argued with Mayer. She had repaired the Kaiserburg and flown it. She had fought and ended that final battle. It may not have been a very long time, but it had been a dense, weighty, and passionate time. It was all of that which had led to this moment. “Ah…” She realized her body had grown tense. The great speed pressing her into her seat was gone. She looked down and found her clenched fists had grown white. She spread her hands and found marks from her nails on her palm. She spread her arms as if to embrace something. She deeply embraced the expanse of emptiness before her eyes and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Her body was trembling. … I’m here. She had arrived in the world of stars that she had always seen in the sky and reached a hand out toward. … Amazing. Not even she knew what exactly was amazing, but she had a feeling it would be a lot less fun if she did know. She simply had to think that something about this was amazing. She held in the feelings that threatened to escape her chest and she gave a meaningless and deep nod. She nodded again and again. … Thank goodness. She was truly thankful. The two in front of her began to move. They both gave sighs of relief, so they must have tensed up as well. “We’re here,” said Paul. “I’m thinking of stopping by the moon. Any complaints?” “No,” replied Walter. “Let’s start by going as far as Huber’s Treasure Island.” The ship moved slightly and the white moon came into view out the window. It was much clearer than on the surface. Else took her arms from her shoulders and asked a question. “How long will it take?” “About an hour.” “The moon’s pretty far away, isn’t it?” “We can accelerate like crazy, but it’s best to play it safe since the moon’s right in front of us. The engines are still roaring even though we gave them some moonlight resistance.” “Will they still work if we get close?” “Scared? Then I guess we’ll head back home.” “Don’t be silly.” Walter smiled at her sharp tone. “Yeah, after trashing Berlin like that, they probably won’t forgive us if we don’t do something that makes it worth it.” “Do you feel even a little bad about destroying your hometown like that?” asked Else. He sighed as he answered. “Yeah. I wish I’d done a more thorough job of it.” “Try to keep that to just a wish.” She frowned and removed her seatbelt. When she noticed that the metal seatbelt fastener was oddly light, she recalled the laws of the universe. “Come to think of it, isn’t space supposed to be weightless?” “Yes, but the ship is giving us half of Earth’s gravity right now.” “Eh? But I wanted to try swimming through the air.” “Your skirt would spread out and you’d have no way of holding it down. Also…” Walter removed his seatbelt with his left hand and stood up. He turned toward her while holding his right arm. “Without any gravity, the blood from my arm would get everywhere. That would be a complete mess.” “You’re right.” Unsure what expression to make, Else stood up. As she did, she placed a hand on the radar and accidentally altered its scale. … Oh, that’s probably not good. But then she realized there would not be any enemies up here anyway. That was when she noticed something odd on the radar. The scale was at its maximum which was meant for use in space. Every centimeter on the screen was a thousand kilometers, but all smaller readings would be ignored. Only something with as much power as the Kaiserburg would show up. However, the display showed something unbelievable. “Eh?” It was a wall of light. The radar showed that wall directly ahead of them. The entire tip of the display glowed brightly, so a very powerful spirit stone had to be there. “Does that mean…” A giant mass of spirit stone lay in their path. “You don’t mean…!” She looked forward where she saw Walter and, over his shoulder, the moon. … The moon!? Walter must have noticed her mouth hanging open. He followed her gaze, turned back toward her, and approached. “Walter, look at this.” He checked the radar as she asked. Paul also removed his seatbelt and walked over. The three of them stared at the radar display and sighed. The first to speak was Walter. “I see,” he muttered. “Professor, this is what my father was talking about at the very end, wasn’t it?” “You mean the ultimate treasure he said was floating in space?” “Yes.” Walter went on to say what they were all thinking. “The moon is made of spirit stone. This is a tremendous discovery!” “That explains why the engines resonate with the moonlight.” “It does! It really does!” He faced the moon and put a hand in his pocket. He pulled at a photograph, looked at it, and took a few steps. Slowly, while being careful about his right arm, he sat in his seat. Else almost said something, but Paul stopped her with a gesture. “He’s crying.” “Eh?” “That photo is the only one that shows all three members of his family.” “…” “It was torn in two. The half he has shows Huber…and the other half shows his mother and him as a kid.” Else said nothing. She simply listened to what Paul said next. “Huber took that other half.” “Do you have anything like that?” “Once you’re my age, you’re too embarrassed to tell anyone about things like that.” That man had to have his reasons for coming this far. That friend of Huber’s stared straight forward. So did Walter. … That’s right. Else felt her mood soften. She felt much closer to that young man who always seemed so detached. Then, a new question came to her. … He came all this way for that, but where will he go now? That question applied to herself as well. She nodded and spoke to him. “Walter.” He said nothing. “Do you have anything to tape the photo back together? If not, I’ll lend you some tape.” “…” He remained facing forward, but she did not mind. “Hey, Walter. What are you going to do now?” He finally gave a weak response to that. “What do you mean?” She took a step forward. “If the moon is made of spirit stone, a whole bunch of ships like the Kaiserburg can be made. Doesn’t that mean everyone can go to space? If so, there’s no need to sink the Kaiserburg in the ocean.” “In hindsight, I suppose so.” “Then what are you going to do?” “…?” She placed a hand on his head and faced forward. She saw the moon there. The man who had beaten them here would be orbiting it. … Just like you, we desired to go farther and came here. With those words in her heart, she spoke to Walter. “This isn’t enough to satisfy me.” “…” “What about you?” Walter looked up with a stiff expression. “Else…” He hesitated but finally spoke. “You’re wearing lipstick, aren’t you?” “Wh-why would you mention that now!?” She had not expected this and grew flustered, but he only smiled. It was his usual smile, but it had a somehow cheerful look to it. She heard Paul laugh bitterly behind them. She brought a hand to her lips and looked at Walter. He had already taken back control of the conversation, so he looked up at her spoke with strength back in his voice. “Fine. But if you stay with me, you’ll end up regretting it.” “And you’ll end up regretting it if you stay with me.” “Why?” “Because I dream big.” She felt heat in her cheeks, intentionally looked away from Walter, and faced forward again. However, she was no longer looking at the moon. She was looking at the black expanse beyond it. That was where she had to go. “Can we really do this?” “How far are you planning to go?” “That’s simple. …Farther than anyone, farther than anything, and as far as possible. Can you keep up?” “Farther than anyone, farther than anything, and as far as possible, you say?” “Yes! Farther than anyone! Farther than anything! As far as possible!” She stretched her arms out toward the scattered stars, the deep emptiness, and space. The world spread out infinitely before her. ### 072. Closing Words And thus mankind took its first step into space. I am sure many will not accept this story as fact. It does speak much about people who are no longer living and much about things which have not been thoroughly investigated. However, it is the truth. I know this because I heard it from my adventurer of a grandfather. When I was young, I would ask him to tell the story at every opportunity. He would often say that he would not have lived such a fulfilling life if it had not been for them. My grandfather was a simple soldier who appeared in this story. He is no longer with us, but his way of living greatly influenced me. I believe I will eventually have another chance to tell stories of him. I will now set down my pen while I wish good fortune to earth’s civilization that is now able to fly from the Milky Way and to all the people who paved the way to this era. 12/25/1996 4:05 PM – The same time as when mankind first reached space for the second time. -Michael Schrier ### 073. Afterword Now, what am I supposed to say here? I’m not sure if I can talk about personal things like this here, but just the other day (specifically January 4 of this year), I appeared on a radio show. (Calm down, Kawakami.) It was a late night Sunday culture show. The show was sponsored by Media Works and called Dengeki Awards, but it was really a lot of fun. I hung out at a friend’s house and listened to the broadcast there, but on the way back, another friend called me even though it was 3:30 in the morning. “Oh, Kawakami? I heard you on the radio, you idiot.” “You heard that? What’s this? Are you out drinking?” “I’m at work. Now, while I was listening, I started wondering if anything bad had happened to you recently.” “What? Why would you think that?” “Well, your mood on the radio was something else. You were really intense.” “Aren’t I always like that?” “Yeah, but that’s not what society thinks an author is supposed to be like. I thought you were gonna ruin their show with all your jokes and casual comments.” “Are you saying how I normally act is enough to ruin a radio show?” “Dwa ha ha. Well, I had a good laugh about it. Now, a drink to Media Works for allowing that to air.” “So you are drinking!” As you can see, it was all sorts of trouble. That’s when I realized how much trouble being an author is. (Or is this problem unique to me?) But when reading the fan letters from Panzerpolis 1935, there really were a few that said they bought it after hearing me on the radio show, so maybe acting like that was for the best. Anyway, my background music while writing was EPO’s Hyakunen no Kodoku (it’s a perfect theme for the final chapter) and I was listening to it again while re-reading the book. “Everyone has a part of them that’s like Amon, don’t they?” It got me thinking about that. Now then, now then. I’m thinking about making Hong Kong the next stage. February 1997. A “Hey, I think it’s snowing outside” morning. -Kawakami Minoru ## Notes - ↑ Kawakami uses the English word aerial because the Japanese word for fictional literally means aerial. ### 074. Part 1 Let us say there was darkness in that place. It was a damp darkness. Plenty of water flowed silently below it. A wide river steadily continued on to the sea while supporting the darkness. That flowing river was the Thames. A steam whistle sounded somewhere in the distance. The sound came from a ship travelling down the Thames, raced through the fog covering the river, and reached the city. The city that heard the whistle was London. The very first to hear it were the people in the port. Precisely two figures sat in front of the warehouses lining a small wharf in the Port of London. They leaned against a large wooden box and passed a bottle of alcohol back and forth. “I knew there’d be some left unsold. And I hear the Prohibition in the States is about to come to an end.” Those words were spoken by a well-built elderly man. The right arm holding the bottle was a giant steam-powered false arm made of metal. The emblems engraved in the false arm suggested he belonged to the Hard Wolf race. He passed the bottle to the man sitting next to him. The middle-aged man in a suit took it and fidgeted as if the white wings between his back and the wooden box were in the way. “Amon’s probation period is ending soon too, isn’t it? What are you going to do then, Jonathan?” “What do you mean?” “Can that unsociable guy really keep working at a brewery?” “Gloss, you’ve always disliked Amon, haven’t you?” The angel named Gloss shook his wings a little and took a swig of alcohol. … How am I supposed to like him when he hates me? Jonathan smiled a little and nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” Hearing that, Gloss returned the bottle and clicked his tongue. He must have been a little drunk because he had apparently let his feelings out as Open Words. Nothing was more disturbing than having someone else read your emotions, so he applied Verbal Self Control to his thoughts. After calming down and keeping his feelings as unreadable Closed Words, he took a breath and spoke. “Amon never relaxes around heavenly races like me.” “Do you hate him?” “I wouldn’t say that. I trust your judgment in looking after him.” Jonathan bent and narrowed his eyes at that. “So you understand, do you? I will admit he looks like a failure of a demon at first glance, though.” “Yeah, I understand. But the blame for his lack of wings falls on those of us from the heavenly races, doesn’t it?” “Don’t worry about it. That’s due to the God-Demon War, not you.” “That was a terrible war. It took no time at all to destroy hell.” “And the aftermath even caused a world war in reality.” Jonathan held out his false right arm which expelled white steam from the shoulder like a sigh. “But a single arm was a small price to pay for protecting this Aerial City.” The fictional world of England had of course been attacked during that world war. They existed in the medium of writing, so there was only one way to attack them from reality: ignore them. So to start with, many of them had left that safe city of fiction and fought. They had reminded those in reality that monsters existed and they had filled them with fear. “Not that you all had it much better with most of heaven destroyed.” Gloss shook his head and replied. “It was a stupid war. It was a complete waste.” He sighed. “England was in trouble, but we angels did nothing but fight the demons. And yet we’re both residents of Aerial City.” “And all that escaped destruction was a small portion of heaven and the nine chapter title pages in between.” “That’s because it was all settled in the brief moment when those chapter title pages were flipped open. And even that led to an unexpected failure. We never thought heaven’s information would spread to the humans as Open Words.” Heaven was the spring of knowledge that had gathered all of the world’s wisdom. Even if the nine chapter title pages were opened for just an instant, knowledge would overflow from that spring and spill into the real world. That was what had happened during the war just over a dozen years before. As a result, tanks, fighter craft, poison gas, and other new weapons had been introduced in the world war and had produced far more deaths than in previous wars. “It was one of those new tank guns that blew off my right arm. How are you gonna pay me back for that?” “Isn’t that Hard Wolf false arm better than a flesh and blood one?” Gloss parried Jonathan’s words and tapped on the wooden box behind him. “Well, let’s stop being so gloomy and get back. I’ll put these unsold leftovers in the warehouse.” Jonathan looked down at the bottle in his hand and found it was almost empty. He had no interest in an empty bottle, so he chucked it behind him. After a beat, the two of them heard a metallic sound much like shattering ice and they stood up. Gloss’s white wings swayed in the darkness. Instead of a steam whistle, they heard a bell and music in the distance. The music came from a pipe organ. It had to be a powerful sound to reach this far, but the song sounded lonely out here at the port. This was the bell and music for twelve o’clock coming from Westminster Cathedral. And as that ringing and music slowly filled the air, a change occurred on the Thames. ### 075. Part 1 A man known simply as the Inspector had a private office on the second floor of Scotland Yard, London’s metropolitan police department. The light of midday entered the large and tidy room through the window and it washed over a man standing by the window. He was the Inspector. He wore a brown three-piece suit and the dandy-colored collar was perfectly stiff, so he looked like an elite businessman from the real world. He would have looked perfectly at home in a modernized office district. But regardless of how he looked, he could not be human if he lived in London. Even so, no one could say anything more than that because not a single person in London knew his identity. No one knew his race, his name, or even his initials. They only knew he had a somewhat troublesome personality and he excelled at Overriding and Overlossing. He demonstrated that now by Overriding a cigar into his mouth out of nowhere. The tip of the cigar suddenly lit, so it seemed he had a match or lighter Overlossed somewhere. He exhaled some smoke while making sure it did not touch his gray-streaked moustache. He brushed a hand through his hair, sat on the large work desk by the window, and crossed his legs in a calculated fashion. The action created a sharp noise that refused to be ignored. After that, he glanced toward the wall and his reflection in a tall, narrow mirror. “Yes.” He posed as if testing himself and slightly adjusted his tie. “The coloring is wonderful. Is this what they call Italian quality? No, or is this thanks to my own quality?” He breathed a satisfied sigh and seemed to be in an excellent mood. “Yes, truly a man of the heavens.” But as soon as he said that… “What are you doing, idiot?” He turned toward the blunt tone one would expect of an older sister. A uniformed woman stood at the huge door into the office. She had the well-formed eyes of a werecat and they were giving the Inspector a look of pity. He completely ignored the look and moved to the window while thinking about the backlight. “Oh? Fir, I thought you were off duty today. What do you need?” “C’mon, now. Everyone was called in because of the murders this morning. Isn’t that why you’re here, too?” Fir sighed and swept back her high ponytail. Her cyan hair darkened toward the front and it gently swayed behind her. Her eyes remained on the Inspector. “So don’t ask what I need. It’s my job to help you when you have a job, so try to act more like my boss.” “Don’t blame me. A capable man is always busy. And as you work for me, you are a capable secretary who-…” “Yes, yes, yes. Quit pretending to be a dandy gentleman and get in your seat. We’ve got a lot of paperwork today.” “I can read paperwork while I stand.” “You need to sign it,” she snapped back. When she placed the paperwork on the desk, it thudded down like a piece of luggage. “You want my autograph that badly? Well, if you insist.” “I don’t want it. This is just part of the job.” “What an unpleasant young girl.” The Inspector reluctantly sat in his seat and placed the cigar in the ashtray. He lightly cleared his throat, rested his elbow on the desk, used some Verbal Self Control, and Overrode the mood he was giving off. “Now, then. Fir, what kind of case is this one?” “If you want to know what this job is about, just read the paperwork.” He frowned when he saw her point at the paperwork on the desk. “Are you really my secretary?” “I do sometimes wish I wasn’t.” “A secretary needs to at least summarize all this paperwork!” “This is the summarized version. And it’s your fault for letting it pile up this much.” “Oh, c’mon.” “Aren’t you supposed to live as the quintessential dandy? So get to work.” “Wait, Fir. Listen.” The Inspector raised a finger at the perfect angle and with the perfect timing. “You keep talking about work, but I deal with trouble, not work!” “Trouble? All you ever do is cause that.” “When have I ever caused any trouble!?” “Well… Okay, you can start by signing this permit.” “Don’t ignore me!” Without looking up at the Inspector, Fir spread out a few pieces of paperwork on the desk. “Look, even a monkey can do this.” “You think I am on the level of a monkey, don’t you?” “Well, of course I do.” “I’ll prove you wrong one of these days,” he grumbled. He pulled a quill from the pen holder, checked on the ink, and quickly began signing the papers. He moved through the papers placed before him at a decent pace. He was quite fast. “…” As his hand flipped though the paperwork, Fir watched to make sure he was doing it right. At the fifth, sixth, or seventh page, she quickly snatched the cigar from the ash tray and naturally pressed it against his hand. It produced a quiet sizzling sound for a moment and his hand stopped moving. “Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! Fir! What did I do to deserve that!?” “Your signature is too messy, you stupid old man. People are going to think it’s just an ink stain!” “My signature always looks like this!” “Liar. I’ve been watching and every last one of them is different.” “I like to be original.” “Shut up! Stop making up excuses!” After shouting, Fir’s shoulders drooped. She could not let herself get so worked up. “I always end up Altering so quickly when I’m around you.” “I like it better when you're the Siamese cat.” “My claws are sharper that way, you know?” She used some Verbal Self Control. He Overlossed the burn on his hand, ignored it, and began signing again. This time, he did it properly. His pace had dropped, but it was still acceptable. After three, four, or five, the number of completed documents reached the double digits and continued to grow. The quill moved back and forth between the papers and the ink pot. “…” Silence fell over them. However, it was broken by a light knock on the office door. The Inspector gave some Open Words as he continued signing. … I’m busy, so have them come back later. Fir nodded in understanding. “Come in.” The Inspector bared his teeth and glared up at her as the door opened. A slender form slipped through the cracked-open door on unsteady feet. “Excuse me. It’s Klausl.” She was a girl from the main office. She entered the private office with her eyes closed and bowed. Her long blonde hair spilled from the shoulders of her black apron skirt and over her chest. The Inspector watched as she frantically fixed her hair. “What do you need, Klausl?” “Oh, right. Um, the reception desk has been getting a flood of complaints about late paperwork and we don’t know what to do.” Fir glared at him. “See? Your laziness is causing trouble for Klau.” “You don’t have to talk to me like I’m a child,” he complained. “Um, Fir? Is something wrong?” asked Klausl. “There’s always something wrong with this monkey.” She showed no mercy. “I am not a monkey!” “Not genetically, maybe. But you’re about as capable as one.” Klausl tilted her head with her eyes still closed, so the Inspector spoke to her. “This is between the two of us, so do not worry about it.” She replied with a pure smile. “Understood. You can rest easy because I will not worry about it in the slightest.” “I’d…kind of like it if you worried a little bit, though.” “?” Fir casually waved a hand toward Klausl’s confused look. “You can ignore what this…thing says, Klau. Any news on the murder case?” “Yes,” she immediately replied. “A lot is still unknown about it. The paperwork you were given before has the information on the victims and the surrounding situation. Currently, we have called in Amon, the one who first reported the murders.” That name instantly changed the atmosphere in the room. It was the Inspector and Fir who caused that drop in the room’s temperature. “Again?” muttered the man. Fir turned her back on that word and naturally looked toward Klausl. “Don’t say that, Inspector. It isn’t like he was the killer.” “Do you know him?” asked Klausl. “Back when I lived on the streets as the leader of a group of Urban Heroes, he led our combat unit.” Fir’s tone was emotionless as she talked about her childhood. The Inspector gave a deep nod and faced straight forward. “And I arrested him once.” He took a breath. “He was still on probation I believe.” “Yes, one of the victims was a Mr. Jonathan Holland who had taken him in. Amon has an alibi and it has been proven that he was not the murderer.” At that point, Klausl tilted her head. “What kind of person is Amon? I am about to bring him breakfast.” Fir was the one to answer. She crossed her arms and chose her words carefully. “Are you familiar with the idea of a death wish?” “No, I’m not.” “There once was a guy who always charged head-first and alone into fights and battles he had no chance of winning. No matter how much he was injured, he would keep fighting. He probably wanted to burn out and die.” “…” “The one who would always seek out a place to die like that is Death Wish Amon. He’s a demon, but he doesn’t use that power and he has no wings.” After some hesitation, she summed up her description. “He’s a pitiable guy.” ### 076. Part 1 As soon as he left the Yard, Amon was overrun by work to get his life in order. It would not have been so bad if he only had to move, but he had also been asked to deal with Jonathan’s brewery. By the time he closed the shop, got the inventory in order, cancelled the wharf warehouse rental, and brought all the paperwork to the municipal office’s late night service window, it was morning. Just like the day before, he returned home far too late. Out of habit, he started toward the brewery he had lived in with Jonathan, so he had to change direction. “My room’s this way now.” The morning was still dark as he walked through the residential Soho Square. The stone-paved road, brick-paved sidewalk, and gas lights all looked oddly faded. … I must be tired. His thoughts were answered by the deep, sinking bell and music indicating the top of the hour. The strangely clear sound resembled the colors of the sky as dawn arrived. The bell rang five times. He stopped to count the number and applied Verbal Self Control as the ringing reverberated through his body. Once he began walking again, his pace was quicker and he looked in the windows of the shopping district. The stores run by nocturnal races were about to close. “Maybe I should eat something now.” Only then did he realize someone was staring at him. Without a doubt, a weakly murderous gaze was focused on the back of his neck. “Did the Yard send out someone to monitor me?” He frowned and slowed his pace a little. He looked over his shoulder a bit, but he did not look with his eyes. He used Overriding to instead read his surroundings. … Oh? He found someone who worked for the Yard almost too easily. They were quite close by. He recognized their presence at the boutique across the road. It was a terribly defenseless presence that did not even hide its location. In other words, it was not the presence of an observer. “…” Confused, Amon stopped walking and looked over at the large show window of the boutique. He saw a girl that he recognized. She was the blind girl named Klausl. She held some modest clothing that ignored the latest trends and faced the half-fishwoman with beautiful scales who worked at the boutique. Klausl was chatting with the boutique worker and was clearly not monitoring Amon. … Is she out shopping on her way home from the Yard? How lovely. He gave a bitter smile of self-deprecation and looked around again. He could not sense anyone other than the girl in the boutique, but he still felt a gaze on the back of his neck. It was not a pleasant feeling. “…” He began walking again and sped up to draw out whoever it was. He hurried as he sidestepped the signs that had been standing there for several years now and slipped between them and the gas lights. “Kyah!” Suddenly, he just about ran into someone leaving a nearby bakery. They did not actually collide, but he must have frightened the other person. Her blue skirt spread out like a flower and she fell on her butt. He reflexively looked down at her. “That was close. Watch where you’re going, you idiot.” But then he gasped. The person sitting before him with a dazed look was Klausl who had been in the boutique just a second before. She sat on the brick sidewalk and looked up at him in confusion. “Eh?” he muttered. He turned back toward the boutique, but he could not see inside it from this angle. … ? A grim look covered his brow and he looked back at Klausl who held a paper bag of bread and nodded. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, Amon.” “Eh? O-oh, yeah. It was your fault.” Amon gave that terribly awkward response and thought about the situation. It had taken him a few dozen seconds to walk from the boutique to here, so it would have taken Klausl about the same amount of time. However, she would not have had enough time to end her conversation with the boutique worker, arrive here ahead of him, and leave the store holding a bag of bread. … ? He must have strongly Tasked and Opened his confusion because Klausl tilted her head as she stood up. “What is it?” “Oh, nothing.” He suddenly noticed a difference between the girl in the boutique and this one holding the paper bag. Their clothes were different. The previous one had been wearing the uniform of a Yard office worker. This Klausl’s clothes were similar, but the decorations were slightly different. “I see.” He nodded and applied Verbal Self Control. It was not uncommon to think a stranger was someone you knew. … That’s right. And right now I need to find whoever’s observing me. “Observing you?” asked Klausl. “Don’t read my Open Words.” “Oh, sorry. B-but, um… Excuse me.” “What?” he asked without bothering to hide his annoyance. “Do you like bread?” The question was so sudden and thoughtless that his mouth simply hung open for a bit. “…Eh?” “Um, there are some people in London who can’t eat certain things. …For example, there are those who have to eat carrots or can’t eat garlic or salt. So I just wanted to ask.” … That’s right. He just about answered, but quickly realized he was being an idiot. “W-wait just a second.” “Yes? What is it?” “Why on earth are you asking this out of the blue in the middle of the city?” With her eyes still closed, Klausl thought for a moment. “I suppose you’re right. …Okay, I would like to ask a question. May I?” Amon just about collapsed right then and there. “I wasn’t asking you to go through some kind of official procedure!” “But you said my question was too sudden…” … Someone help me. Amon let out a defeated sigh which was rare for him. “I may not be one to talk, but do you have screw loose in your head or something?” “Oh, my. That sounds serious. I need to ask father about that.” “Are you messing with me?” His shoulders drooped and Klausl must have picked up on his frustration because she seemed to give up on asking her strange question. Something akin to sadness reached him much like Open Words. “It seems I caught you at a bad time. …Sorry.” “…” He remained silent, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately turned his back. He walked off at a quick pace and scratched his head. “What a strange girl.” As he rushed away, he once more felt the gaze of the observer he had nearly forgotten about. It seemed they were sticking with him no matter what. … They sure are persistent. He checked the road and saw a stagecoach rushing down the stone pavement. Amon waved toward it and the skeleton driver brought the two headless horses known as Nightmares to a stop. The dry voice produced by the skeleton man’s cheap artificial vocal cords spoke cheerfully. “Keh keh keh. Where to? Ee hee hee hee.” “How far can you go?” “With me driving, you could go as far as hell. How about it?” “Just take me wherever.” Amon pulled a ten pence coin from his jacket and tossed it over. The skeleton man caught it with a dry sound from his palm. “Keh keh keh. Good, good! I’ll take you around for fifteen minutes. I’m also carrying a cute young lady, so don’t try anything. Ee hee hee hee!” “Keep up that nonsense and I’ll break some of those bones of yours.” With that, Amon climbed inside the enclosed passenger car. It had room for six with two three-person sofas facing each other. It was a common layout. “Now, then.” He took a breath just as the stagecoach began to move. The observer would be unable to keep up on foot, so they would have to react in some way. “Oh, right.” Just as he started to look out the window, he remembered the other passenger the skeleton man had mentioned. He Overrode the inside of the passenger car and saw a girl in the opposite seat. The person the driver had called a “cute young lady” had her head resting on the windowsill and her eyes closed in sleep. The happy look on her face suggested she was having a good dream. However, Amon was dumbfounded when he saw her. “What…the hell?” He stared at her. The girl in front of him was clearly Klausl. “Wah!” His scream did not come out properly. He frantically half-rolled and half-jumped off of the accelerating stagecoach. He gently hopped on the stone pavement and landed. His breathing showed how panicked he was, but he did not have time for Verbal Self Control. However, he did manage to Close his thoughts so no one could see into his confused mind. “What is going on?” He returned to the sidewalk and turned to the leaving stagecoach. “…” It must have turned a corner because it had vanished from the road. He frowned and saw his face reflected in a nearby store show window. He was amazingly pale. “What the hell is this?” He stared into the show window and saw a smiling girl reaching toward him with her eyes closed on the other side. Or at least, he thought he did. He quickly looked away and checked his surroundings for the observer’s presence, but he could no longer find it due to his panic. “This isn’t like me at all.” He gently shook his head Overrode his appearance, and began walking down the sidewalk. But suddenly… “Oh, it’s Amon.” As soon as he saw the smile peering at him from the side, he began to run. “Waaaahhh!” He shouted almost at the top of his lungs. After all, he had seen the exact same expression but in another different outfit. This time it was a light apron skirt, the kind of coat worn on a trip, and a travel bag. This was creepy. He shuddered at the thought that everyone in London looked like that now. He ran and ran. He suddenly realized he was going the wrong way. He had fallen into old habits and run to his previous home in Jonathan’s brewery. But he did not care. He was gasping for breath as he trudged up to the store that had a half-closed garage and sat down. Even he could tell all the color had left his face. “I-I’m going to die…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Are you okay?” He nodded at the voice. “Just tired.” “You must have had a rough time. …Here, have some water.” “Oh, thanks.” He took the glass and quickly drank the water. … Isn’t there something odd about this? He did not want to realize anything more, but the cause of that feeling approached him. A shadow fell over his face and he detected a faint scent of perfume. “You should get some rest.” When her face came into view, he stopped breathing altogether. … Why are you here!? Klausl smiled when she read his Open Words. “I acted as a witness to the word investigation held here this morning.” And yet Amon had been running all over trying to get away from her. … You’re kidding! He stood up. “Ah! Where are you going!?” He ignored her cry and dashed away. He tried to cut across the road and escape. On his second or third step, she called out to him. “Amon!” He turned toward her on reflex and he saw her pointing in the direction he was moving. “There’s a car coming!” “What?” The instant he faced forward, he saw exactly what she had warned him of. Consciousness was an easy thing to lose. And just before he did, he saw two or three Klausls inside the car plowing into him. ### 077. Part 1 For once, the sky was actually clear. That may have been because it was Sunday. There was no smoke from the factories and the sky was surprisingly empty. The chapter title page leading to heaven would be beyond that sky. Of course, that was invisible. It did have a physical form, but the door leading to heaven was naturally as transparent as the sky. If the nine chapter title pages were visible, the sunlight would not reach London even on a clear day. Monsters loved the night, but that did not mean they loved the darkness. Some of them enjoyed napping in the park on a sunny day. The area in front of Westminster Cathedral was the same, but it was not the best place for napping with the bell and music playing every hour. Still, there were other things one could do in the sun. An open area of grass was located in front of that cathedral with its tall red brick tower and a bazaar was customarily held there on weekends. It pulled in a fair number of mostly local customers. Some people sold used items laid out on sheets and others sold vegetables from the outskirts of the city laid out on the lawn. Only the bigger merchants selling their inventory had stands set up. Goods were being sold all over the area and the customers gathered around or lined up. Among them, a single non-monster shopped undetected. It was Moyla. … Why am I doing this when I’m supposed to be inspecting the area for our mission? But once the warm sun had washed over her, she had been drawn in. Not long after that, she had found herself picking up or looking at the various goods and she was now carrying around some things she had actually bought. “My old habits are coming out.” She left the crowds and checked on her purchases near the cathedral’s entrance. She had bought some plates, a comb, and other items. If she managed to return to her country, she would likely end up using them. Long ago, she had worked as a maid and shopping like this had been her favorite part of the job. At the time, she had assumed that life would continue forever. “I would ride the carriage to the market in town with Lady Melda and...” She hesitated on the next name, shook her head, and corrected herself. “All of them are gone now. Lady Melda is gone, Master Reichle is gone, and so is Ellis the maid who was like their little sister.” She sat on the edge of a raised flower bed in front of the cathedral and she sighed. “Now only Master Valeath the Swordsman and Moyla the Witch remain. …That’s all there is.” She suddenly remembered the woman’s pendant hanging from Valeath’s neck. “Lady Melda.” She placed a hand on her forehead and spoke as if questioning herself. “Why did you leave Master Reichle to me in the end?” She hung her head and closed her eyes. … If it hadn’t been for that… She fell silent and Closed her thoughts. She closed off her entire being. And she applied Verbal Self Control. After a while, she gave a deep sigh. … I made a promise to wait no matter how long it took. She nodded, opened her eyes, and found a girl standing in front of her. The girl had soft-looking blonde hair and she spoke to Moyla with her eyes closed. “Um, are you okay? You don’ seem to be in a bad mood.” ### 078. Part 1 On the second floor of Scotland Yard, the Inspector’s office was under attack from another wave of paperwork. The walkway he had just barely managed to maintain the day before was completely gone today. More cases seemed to have turned up. The setting sun shined through the window and reflected off of the white paper filling the room. The room and the paper were dyed in crimson light. “To think this is how I would get to enjoy the sunset again.” That annoyed comment came from Fir. She was lying on top of a pile of documents large enough to make a bed and inspecting the papers around her. Suddenly, she threw away the documents in her hand and Overrode the newspaper that must have been around somewhere. An article covered one entire page and she read it aloud for someone to hear. “In two days, a total of ninety-one people have died. Rumor says this is the return of Jack the Ripper, but the number of dead goes far beyond that. Some say they have heard occasional gunshots or other odd noises in the city and everyone is living in fear of this unseen murderer. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard has only shown their incompetence by saying ‘the investigation has only just begun, so no comment’.” She sighed. “So you really are incompetent, Inspector.” “Don’t just accept that.” The Inspector’s voice came from the inside the largest pile of documents in the center of the room. “I’m so busy dealing with this paperwork that I can’t do any real investigation!” “You’re going through it all pretty quickly for you. But…I’m sure there will be more deaths tonight.” “Fir, it is all over if we back down.” She heard the sound of the man striking a pose inside the mountain of paper. The mountain surrounding him shook unsteadily and suddenly collapsed inwards. “Gwaaaah!” Swallowing up his scream, the mountain collapsed into a hill. “Honestly, what are you doing?” Fir sighed, but the Inspector’s arm grew from the paper hill and beckoned her over. “Fir, dig me out real quick.” “If you want me to, then answer my question from earlier.” “You mean what kind of monster that young man is? Why do I need to make a judgment on his race?” “Because you always get so serious when it comes to him.” She sighed. “Or is it because you’re gay?” “Of course not!” The hill sank further inwards, so the internal density of paperwork had to be quite high. “Ow, ow, ow, ow. Fir, this is getting legitimately bad.” “Fine then. If you were a zombie, you’d be able to get out on your own when you’re buried.” She casually stood, but the phone suddenly rang. “?” “Wait, Fir. Hurry up and get me out of here.” “Shut up.” With that quick comment, she used her excellent balance and agility to walk along the piles of papers and to the ringing phone. The sound of the bell was muffled, so it had to be buried somewhere. “Is it around here?” Judging its general location, she stuck her hand into the sea of paper. She found it on her first try. Her hand felt the phone’s dial that vibrated as the bell rang. “Wait just a second.” She only pulled out the receiver because anything else would have been too much work, but the cord was too short to reach her ear. She solved that by lying on her stomach atop the paperwork. “Hello, this is Room 13.” She tried to sound as cheerful as possible and a voice reached her ear. The voice and what it said covered her skin with goose bumps. She directly Opened her first thought. … Not good! There was no way the Inspector had missed it. “What is it, Fir!” “Amon… That idiot’s gone off somewhere!” That was all she told him before pressing the receiver hard against her ear. “Eh? On the way back from the bazaar, he said he’d forgotten to buy something? And a Miss Moyla disappeared too? U-um, Klau, try to calm down a little. You’re at Westminster Cathedral right now, aren’t you?” “Has that young man vanished?” “Yes! So be quiet!” Fir gulped. The Amon she knew had not been the type to lie. So where had he gone after tricking the girl named Klausl? What was he hoping to do in this short time away from her observation? A bad feeling sent Fir’s pulse racing. She nodded several times with the receiver to her ear, but she suddenly frowned. “After he left you, he went back to the bazaar? Why?” She paused to listen. “A bouquet of flowers?” “What’s this about flowers?” “Shut up. Amon left Klau…and apparently he returned to the bazaar and bought a bouquet of flowers. But she doesn’t know where he went after that.” The Amon that Fir knew was not the kind of guy who would decorate his home with flowers. … So why? She soon found the answer. It was something she knew quite well. Amon had bought the bouquet on his way to a certain place. … St. James’s Park! That park had a lake and a small forest and a change came over Fir’s body as she prepared to say its name. “No, wait! Don’t get so worked up!” Before the Inspector had finished his complaint, the air in the room rapidly converged. The instantaneous gust of wind created a blizzard out of the piles of documents. At the same time, a large amount of fog appeared, wrapped around Fir, and gently exploded outward. She had Altered. “!” With a gentle sound, the wind let up and the flying papers fell like scattered flower petals. The papers accumulated like snow, but Fir had vanished from the top of the pile. Where had she gone? Only the uniform she had worn lay on its belly. “Fir, you did it, didn’t you?” As if to answer the Inspector’s question, the uniform lying on the sea of paper twitched slightly. The edge of the uniform lifted up and a Siamese cat crawled out. The cat sat in front of the phone receiver and mewed. … Now, what do I do? The cat’s Opened thoughts had Fir’s tone of voice. This completely normal looking cat was Fir’s Altered form. “Having you Alter whenever you get too worked up is a real pain.” Fir turned toward the Inspector’s voice. The man had somehow managed to sit up from the hill of paper and he pointed at the receiver sitting next to her. “Klausl is calling for you.” … I know. After Opening that, she used her paws to awkwardly grab the receiver. She heard Klausl’s voice from it, but Fir could not speak in this form. She could only express her thoughts through gestures and Open Words. And unfortunately, neither of those worked over the phone. … Inspector! She turned the receiver so it faced the man. He sighed at her urgent thought. His waist and below were still buried and he brought a hand to his chin in a pose of contemplation. “Klausl, can you hear me? The young man you are after has likely gone to St. James’s Park.” He then looked at Fir and Fir nodded. After some hesitation, he continued. “There is a memorial in the woods on the west side of the park. …Hurry there! We will head that way, too!” ### 079. Part 1 A plain concrete workroom existed on Scotland Yard’s first basement. The underground room was small but well equipped, so it somewhat resembled a medical examination room. That room was Klausl’s “home”. A waist-high table had a white sheet laid over it and Klausl lay on it after having lost her left arm. Amon stood next to the table and he tapped his fingers in annoyance. Based on the bandages wrapped around his body, his treatment seemed to be complete. He glared at the partition set up in the back of the room. There must have been someone behind it because sounds of movement could occasionally be heard. “Are you still not ready? I’m already done.” A face poked out from the side of the partition. It was an old man who had likely been human to begin with. He had a gentle face with sage-like features that made it impossible judge his age. He opened his narrow eyes wide and glanced at Amon. “Don’t get so worked up, young one. With a daughter of mine, an injury like this is nothing to worry about.” And… “It’s just been so long since Klausl was damaged this badly that my repair tools are scattered all over the place. …Oh, here’s the wrench I need.” The old man tossed a few tools over the partition and onto the floor. A wrench, pliers, a drill for making screw holes, and others clattered loudly to the floor. Amon frowned at the racket. “Hurry it up, old man!” “My name isn’t old man. It’s Flandre Aileppoc.” “Who the hell’s gonna use a weird name like that?” “You’re not going to use my name? Don’t be so embarrassed, young one.” Flandre vanished behind the partition again. Amon intentionally Opened his thoughts so the man could hear. … I guess I shouldn’t be surprised an idiot has an idiot for a father. Suddenly, the door opened. Amon quickly Closed his mind, turned around, and saw something that should not have been possible. Klausl stood in the room’s entrance. “Eh?” With a truly foolish look on his face, he quickly turned toward the Klausl sleeping behind him. The girl with her left arm missing was still sleeping there. Meanwhile, the Klausl who had entered the room bowed toward him and walked past him toward the partition. “Father, the coffee is ready.” She Overrode a tray of cups and turned back to Amon. “I prepared some for you too. I will leave it over here, so feel free.” “S-sure.” Whether she heard his response or not, the moving Klausl looked at the identical girl lying on the table and sighed. “I hope she gets better soon.” She then jogged out of the room. As she passed by him, Amon looked carefully at her face. But no matter how close he looked, she looked identical to the Klausl on the table. Even so… … She’s different? He had a feeling something was different. There was some kind of gap between the two Klausls. “Hey, old man.” “I know what you’re Opening.” “Who…was that?” “Klausl. She’s the 29th, so the third from last.” “The 29th?” Flandre stepped out from behind the partition while wrapping wire around a thick metal rod. “You saw the arm of the one on the table there, right? Klausl is a Sein Frau. She’s a mass-produced doll.” “!” Amon had no words. He Closed all of his thoughts and looked to Klausl in front of him. “You can’t believe it?” asked Flandre before continuing as if testing Amon. “A Sein Frau is a doll machine that simply carries out its orders and has no life of its own. They’re like a golem.” He took a breath. “Do you know why a Sein Frau with no life of its own was with you?” A normal person would have said a Sein Frau had no heart and thus anything they did was part of a job. But Amon did not give that answer. He stared silently down at Klausl’s face. She was always smiling, but now her expression was one of faint exhaustion. “…?” He suddenly remembered her making a similar expression before. It had been that morning when she had lent him her lap. She had made this expression while suffering from a nightmare. “!” At that very moment, he clenched his fists and spoke with a decisive look. “Enough nonsense. Hurry up and start healing her.” “You sure are impatient. You must clash with Klausl a lot.” The old man was dead on. Amon clicked his tongue and frowned, so Flandre said more. “I’ll be ready once I finish wrapping this. Then I can start fixing her right away. You remove her blouse.” “What?” Flandre turned toward Amon’s confused voice. “Can’t you do it? I’d rather not let other people see my daughter’s body either.” “Keh. So you’re a perverted old man who wants his daughter to himself?” “Shut up and do it already.” “Then why don’t you do it?” Even as he said that, Amon moved behind Klausl and weakly lifted her. She was completely limp. He rested her head against his chest and her soft blonde hair swayed a bit. The sweet scent of her hair faintly reached him. “…” She was strangely feminine at times like this. He intentionally kept his movements businesslike as he corrected her posture and removed one shoulder strap of her apron skirt. The left strap had already come off, so the apron skirt fell down to her waist. And suddenly… “Don’t get any funny ideas, young one.” “Sh-shut up!” He clicked his tongue again and turned to Flandre. The old man had his back to him. Amon tilted his head before getting back to work. He tried to remove the crimson scarf from her blouse collar. “Hey, old man.” “What?’ “Do you know how to remove a scarf?” “I’ll only tell you if you ask more politely.” “…Please tell me.” “I don’t know either.” “I’m gonna kill you!” “You only asked if I knew. You really are a lot of trouble. Just tug on it randomly.” He did as the man suggested. “I’m pretty sure this is strangling her.” “Then pull the other way.” He did so and the scarf did come off even if he still doubted the validity of the man’s instructions. He draped the red cloth over his shoulder and reached for the blouse’s buttons. Just as his hands hesitated in front of the first button, it happened again. “Hey, young one.” He jumped. “Wh-what?” “Are you good with your fingers?” “Of course I am. I’m not old and frail like you.” “I am not old and frail. I’m just farsighted and my fingers tremble a bit due to my high blood pressure.” “That’s what being old and frail means!” He sighed, but the exchange must have helped him relax because he casually unbuttoned Klausl’s blouse and removed it. This exposed her slender shoulders and her chest. He supported her back with a hand and her skin felt damp and warm. Even if she was unconscious, he could not exactly stare. He quickly looked to her left shoulder instead. Looking back at the break, he noticed it was a little melted. Her arm had likely burst from the heat more than the impact. He imagined being hit by something similar and gulped. “…Sorry.” “Hm? Did you say something?” “Nothing.” “Remove her bra too, young one.” He said nothing in response and did so with no inappropriate thoughts. He then lay her white body down on the table. Her body seemed like the ideal form of a young and quiet woman. “What do you think?” “Eh? Oh, she’s beautiful.” “What are you talking about? I mean her left arm.” Flandre turned toward him with a bitter smile. “Now, let’s get started.” The old man placed an arm on her side and looked at her body as if inspecting it. “Hm.” “Don’t just say ‘hm’. How is she?” “Just watch.” The skinny arm of an old man reached out and the dried fingers poked lightly at Klausl’s left collarbone and below her chest. “!” Cracks ran along her skin. Flandre turned to Amon. Amon said nothing, so the old man gave a satisfied nod and drew his thumb deep along the cracks. His thumb ran from her left shoulder, to her left collarbone, between her breasts, below her left breast, to her left side, and back up to her left shoulder. The sound it made was the irresponsibly commonplace sound of a box opening. The skin surrounding the cracks opened like a panel. “What?” It looked like a piece of a sculpture and Flandre placed it below the table. It had been as soft as real skin before, but for some reason, it made a metallic sound. “Surprised?” It was a strange sight. There was a lung-shaped hole in the left side of Klausl’s chest and a skeleton, gears, rims, and other objects made of different colors of metal were visible inside. It almost looked like a clock had been tied together with wire and stuffed inside a human body. Also, it all moved, stretched, contracted, and pulsed with a rhythm much like the beating of a living creature’s heart. The machine was alive. “Look.” Flandre pointed toward the left side of Klausl’s chest. There was a red wooden gear there. It was small enough to hide in the palm and it turned with a tempo much like a beating heart. “I believe this gear is her heart,” said Flandre. “Her heart?” asked Amon. Flandre gave a deep nod. “I can tell you about that later. More importantly, the left shoulder connector was damaged on the inside too. We’ll need to replace some parts in here.” He then said something unbelievable. “You fix her, young one.” “…” “Here, you’ll need this wrench first.” When he saw the tool he was handed, Amon came to his senses and frantically shouted back. “D-don’t be stupid! Why do I have to fix her!?” “Because I’m ‘old and frail’. My fingers aren’t too steady anymore.” Amon was speechless and Flandre smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you what to do.” ### 080. Part 1 Music played while a bell rang eleven times. London’s night was reaching its high point. The times when humans slept were the best times for monsters. At that time, a group of carts left the back of Scotland Yard. They were all drawn by Nightmares. Why were they leaving the Yard? And why were they loaded with wooden boxes of bottles which were clearly not needed for criminal investigations? The carts seemed odd when they first left the Yard, but as they moved slowly through the city, they soon blended into their surroundings. Once they turned left in front of the Houses of Parliament, Scotland Yard was no longer visible behind them. At that point, they only looked like a wholesale seller transporting alcohol. London consumed a lot of alcohol during the night, so one could easily imagine these were meant to provide those drinks. However, that was not the case. After all, Amon was in control of the lead card. He kept the horses moving a bit faster than normal and looked around. Whitehall was lined with political buildings and it had a certain dignity to it even at night. Everyone walking along the road was moving quickly because they had homes to return to. “…” Amon silently faced forward. He had the horses race by so quickly no one could read his Open Words. He heard the Inspector speak from the second cart behind him, but he ignored the man. He thought about a great many things all on his own. They were quickly approaching the Savoy Hotel. ### 081. Part 1 The Savoy Hotel was far from silent. The alarm Fir had activated filled it with hysteric noise. It pierced through and echoed off the entire building, gathered in the lobby, and finally reached Ralf’s ears. “What a racket.” He gave a sigh after finishing off his fleeing prey. He shook his head to loosen up his shoulders and Overlossed the rifle in his left hand. He grabbed a shotgun instead. Finally, he took a step from the center of the lobby. He made his way to the hallway leading to the Savoy’s first floor. More accurately, he made his way to the fire shutter blocking the way. He used his real left arm to swap out the shotgun’s magazine. “There’s no point in running, you know?” He cocked it with one arm. After sending the first round to the chamber, he opened the magazine and loaded another round. He swung the gun to close the magazine and aim at the shutter with a single smooth motion. With a loud gunshot, several small holes appeared in the pure white shutter. “Hm.” He nodded and took a few steps back. He lightly swung the shotgun forward and back to cock it. The used cartridge was ejected and fell to the floor where it scorched the carpet. Another gunshot rang out. Another group of holes appeared like a swarm of ants, but over a wider area this time. Without a pause, he cocked it again and fired the final shot. He Overlossed the shotgun at the same time and held a submachine gun in his left hand instead. He fired it. The bullets had less penetrative power, but when they struck the fire shutter, they connected and widened the previous holes until they became a single large hole. The alarm grew even louder. Ralf ignored it, slipped through the hole in the shutter, and looked around. “Where did she run off to?” He needlessly spoke his question aloud and pushed his sunglasses up his nose. Beyond the round black lenses, his blue eyes looked to the floor. His gaze was sharp and still. “I see.” The thick Savoy carpet clearly told him where his target had run. He turned toward the dining hall. After looking at the glass door from the side and entering, he found a large open space. The dining hall was actually a world-famous English restaurant known as Simpson’s. A tie was required when dining there and it had the formality and ambiance to match. Of course, no one was eating there now. The wooden tables, wooden chairs, lace tablecloths, and everything else were covered with the scorch marks of Ashing. Ralf had killed and destroyed everything here. “The roast beef was pretty good, but just that’s not enough.” While giving a completely different comment from the day before yesterday, he looked around the half-ruined restaurant. He searched for his target. He Overrode behind the tables, beyond the decorative plants, on the other side of the curtains, and everywhere else as he searched. He could not find her. “?” He frowned, but then he heard a noise. It came from the kitchen in the back of the restaurant. It sounded like something small falling over. It was enough of a sound to warrant walking that way. He pulled out the submachine gun magazine and threw it aside. He pulled a new one from his pocket and slammed it in. His eyes were trained on the kitchen the entire time. He started walking as soon as the magazine clicked into place. The bottom of his minister’s clothing fluttered behind him. After a few steps, he reached the counter between restaurant and counter. The kitchen beyond the counter was large. Just to be safe, he took a step back and walked from left to right along the counter. Once he reached the open door, he twisted his head to loosen his shoulders again. He continued doing it for a while but finally Overlossed his action and continued on. “Now, then.” He took a breath and quickly entered the kitchen. He moved silently, pressed his back against the wall next to the door, and searched for his enemy. He could see past the kitchen counter on the right, but not the one on the left. He saw no sign of anyone. But then he heard another noise. “!” He looked over and saw an open door in the back of the kitchen that led to the back entrance. The wind or something was moving the door enough to tap against the wall. That was the small sound he had heard before and what had led him to enter the kitchen. … Did she get away!? He briefly wondered if he had been led here and subconsciously started walking between the two counters. But then he saw something odd as the door moved. It was a cat. He guessed it was a pet of one of the guests he had killed because he saw a Siamese cat with black paws. It was playing with the door by pushing it into the wall. He had not seen it before because the kitchen counter had been in the way. He reflexively aimed his gun at it and smiled bitterly. “What a cute trap.” Had his target thought this cat would distract him with the noise? He lightly poked at his head with the grip of the submachine gun in his left hand. He started to take another step but suddenly stopped. “…?” His eyes were focused on the door the cat pushed with its front paws. He stared at the metal door. The door was polished like a mirror and it reflected the kitchen from an angle he could not see. It showed the area behind the left kitchen counter. The large door reflected a blue form. The reflection was far from perfect, but he recognized it. It was the Scotland Yard uniform worn by the girl who had escaped down the hallway. There was no mistaking it. “I see.” He Closed his feelings so she would not notice. Instead, he made a smile so large even he noticed. He must have surprised the cat because it stopped pushing on the door and moved away. It looked afraid and it escaped to Ralf’s right with its fur standing on end. He did not pursue the cat. He held the submachine gun in his left arm and made his way to the left kitchen counter. He moved in an instant. He jumped up on the counter, aimed at the corner she was hiding behind, and pulled the trigger. He fired again and again. Shell cases flew and smoke scattered from the gun while wood splinters and metal fragments burst from the counter. Even if it was only a submachine gun, it could still pierce a two centimeter steel panel at close range. The bullets half-destroyed the counter and turned what hid behind it into red pieces. The scattering tempo was eight per second. The music ended after just over two seconds. Ralf immediately threw away the magazine and loaded the next. Meanwhile, the blue uniform was thrown from behind the counter and into the wall. He looked to see her Ash…except she did not. “!?” The blue uniform came apart and he saw its contents roll out. It was filled with hunks of flesh. However, the body wearing the uniform had something it should not have. A femur grew from the top of the white and red flesh like a head. “It can’t be!” he shouted. At the same time, he heard a sharp voice from his right. “Freeze! I’ll blow your head off!” He moved just his eyes to look over. He found the girl pointing a handgun at him from behind the right kitchen counter. Her naked upper body stuck up above the counter and held the gun. “Sorry, but everything in the uniform was edible meat.” “Hm. But I didn’t see anyone back there before…” He did not avoid looking at Fir’s body. “Was that cat you? Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve seen it before.” “That’s right. We met in St. James’s Park.” “Oh, that’s right. That’s right.” He nodded and seemed oddly calm. The girl aiming a gun at him blatantly frowned at his attitude. “At any rate, put down that dangerous thing you’re holding there. Don’t try to shoot because I’ll be faster. Yours is in your left hand after all.” “I see the Yard makes up for not using guns by knowing how to handle an armed opponent.” He smiled bitterly. “But it doesn’t go beyond that.” “What!?” She grew more defensive and he laughed. “Did you not notice I haven’t Overridden my right arm this whole time?” “!” She stared at him as his body appeared more clearly. There was nothing inside his right sleeve. The false arm he had shown off on the terrace was gone. His gaze turned to the kitchen entrance he had used. The girl looked there too. “It seems setting up this trick paid off.” He focused on the kitchen entrance. At some point his metal right arm had appeared on the floor there. It held a rifle. Its aim was not perfect, but it was pointed at his final target. “Crap!” shouted the girl. Ralf’s face twisted into a slight smile. And he Opened a powerful Task. … Shoot her! The false arm reacted to his will and moved. It squeezed the trigger and fired. The girl’s white naked body was blown away. She was knocked into the air and slammed into the wall. She knocked kitchen tools to the floor and collapsed. “…Ah.” The bullet had not been fatal, but it had torn into her side. Regardless, it was still a serious wound. Ralf looked down on the silent girl from atop the counter. Her blood pooled on the cement kitchen floor. Her white skin and scarlet blood contrasted each other nicely and seemed to give off a scent. She was no longer moving. The shock may have knocked her out. “You put up a good fight, just like a final target should.” With that, he jumped down from the counter, started toward his false arm by the entrance, and sighed. “In the end, there’s no one to save you in times like this.” He picked up his false arm and slowly stuck it into his right sleeve. He gently closed his eyes and attached it as if twisting his shoulder. After a metallic sound, the contents of his right sleeve moved. Satisfied by the sensation, he aimed the rifle still held by the false right arm. This time, his aim was accurate. He targeted her head. “Amen.” His eyebrows twisted a bit and he silently tightened his grip on the trigger. But just before he pulled it, an impossible voice stopped him. “Don’t give in like that, holy man.” The voice came from the restaurant beyond the kitchen entrance. “!” He turned around and saw someone who should not have been there. He saw the target he had only just killed. He saw the man known as the Inspector. ### 082. Part 10 In a stupor, Fir heard someone calling her name. It was a nostalgic feeling. She had been woken like this as a kid living on the streets of the prostitution district. … Fine, fine. I’ll get up. She Opened her response in a good mood. She slowly opened her eyes, but found a familiar face instead of those old streets. “Oh, it’s you, Inspector.” “Have you finally woken?” Seeing his exasperated behavior, she fully woke. He propped her up in his arm while she half lay on the floor. What she wore were not her clothes. She smelled the Inspector’s cologne on the item wrapped around her. It seemed to be his coat, but why was she naked underneath? She dug through her memories. A lot was missing because she was a Werecat, but she managed to remember it all. “Inspector, weren’t you dead?” With that horribly casual comment, she checked her surroundings. She was in the kitchen. It was the scene of a massacre and the scorch marks of Ashing were just as she remembered. … But this is odd. “Isn’t something about this weird?” “You’re the weirdest one,” said the Inspector with a frown. “Don’t be killing me off in your mind.” “B-but…” “Quiet. The case is over and you helped quite a bit.” There was nothing she could do when he said that. She tilted her head and looked up at his face. For some reason, he was staring at the restaurant past the kitchen. “What is it, Inspector? You’re looking sad for once.” “Well…” He trailed off before opening his mouth again. He must have decided there was no point in hiding anything from Fir, so he asked her a question. “Hey, am I a hypocrite?” Hearing that, she blinked her large eyes in surprise. “Do you have a fever?” “Y-you know…” He blatantly frowned and Fir must have found the expression amusing because she smiled bitterly. “Just kidding. I’m just kidding. I couldn’t help myself when you said something so weird.” “Is it that weird?” “It is, it is. Besides, anyone who asks that about themselves isn’t a hypocrite. They’re what you call…um…” She paused to choose the right word. “A coward, I guess.” “Maybe so.” He laughed quietly. As he held her up, Fir felt over her body below the coat. When he realized what she was doing, he spoke up. “I didn’t find any injuries on you.” He sounded like he was hiding something and Fir glared at him. “You saw me naked, didn’t you?” “Eh? Oh, well, um… Is that anything to say to the person who saved your- ow, ow, ow, ow!” He smiled bitterly as she tugged on him, but he was back to his normal self. Fir breathed a sigh of relief at that and placed a hand on the cement floor to get up. “Huh?” Her hand touched something. “?” She picked it up and found it was a single feather. She assumed it was a chicken feather since this was a kitchen, but it was not. It was longer, it was sharper, and it glowed. “Inspector… What is this?” He gave a simple answer to her simple question. “Divine punishment.” ### 083. Part 11 The night sky visible through the broken dome was so clear it seemed to suck one in. The moon in the center of the dome was a half-moon. Its moonlight directly and softly illuminated the people inside the sanctuary. That pale moonlight lit two people. One was Amon who stood with his wings and the other was Valeath who sat on the floor. “So man truly cannot defeat the monsters…” Valeath looked up at Amon with a trail of blood dripping from his mouth. The blood from his mouth joined with the blood spilling from the hole in his stomach and spread across the sanctuary floor. Based on the amount of blood, it would be stopping soon. His end was near. “You’re strong.” All harshness had left Valeath’s face and he gave a small smile. “Sorry, but can I ask one thing?” Amon frowned at the unexpected question, so he asked a question of his own. “Are you going to sell your soul to me?” “My soul is already filled with darkness. I already know I can’t escape hell.” He spat out those words in a definite tone and looked Amon in the eye. “I want you to call in the soul of a girl.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and used the blood on the floor to write out a contract. “She is the precious girl who trusted me to the very end.” Valeath signed the contract, drew a circular emblem, and wrote out the girl’s name. That was enough for a contract. Amon took the cloth contract from him and read through it. He had nothing to say. The moonlight simply poured kindly down on them. The feathers that had scattered from Amon’s wings shined in the moonlight as they fluttered through the air. It was a truly, truly quiet night. ## Final Chapter: Another Meeting of Love Ten days had passed. Amon wore a black jacket, black pants, and a black hat he did not usually wear as he walked through Scotland Yard’s main entrance. At a glance, he looked no different than normal because he had Overlossed his wings so they would not get in the way. However, something was different. Unlike before, his overall atmosphere was not so holed up inside. “…” He walked straight forward without looking around. The stairs down to the underground storerooms were located at the end of the hall straight ahead from the entrance. His pace was quick. The people inside called out to him when they saw him, but he ignored all of them. He walked directly down the stairs and into Flandre’s room. “…!” Two people turned toward him. One of them was Flandre and the other was smiling. “Oh, we have a guest.” It was Klausl. Amon was left speechless. After all, the Klausl he saw was the one he knew. She asked him a question with her eyes closed. “Would you like some tea? Or would you prefer coffee?” Once she mentioned it, he noticed the scent of tea. They must have been on a break. “…Ah.” As Amon stared blankly, Flandre elbowed him in the side and spoke to Klausl. “Could you get him some tea?” “Of course.” Klausl turned around and walked to the simple kitchen in the back of the room. Flandre watched her leave, sighed, and sat in a nearby chair. Finally, he slowly looked up at Amon. “I fixed her. It used up all of my spare parts, though.” “Yeah, I can see that.” Amon’s voice was weak and he forced a small smile. Even he could tell that it was an oddly stiff and pathetic smile. He lowered his hat to hide his expression. “Does she not remember me?” “Her personality and her growth were engraved in that gear…but her memories were kept in her head. …Her head and everything else were completely crushed. I checked after the fact.” “Then that’s that, I suppose,” he said as if consoling Flandre. He lowered his hat further to hide more of his face and said something else. “It must be tough for you, old man.” Flandre nodded. “I was thinking about letting her out into the city instead of keeping her in the Yard. Should I give her to you?” The mouth peeking out from below Amon’s hat was smiling. “Don’t try to comfort me. Besides, she’s not a thing you can just give away.” Flandre finally smiled a bit at that. “Father, what has you so happy?” Klausl approached with a tray carrying a teapot and cups and she sounded happy too. Flandre turned toward her. “Well, this young one praised you saying you’re just like a human.” “Oh, how wonderful.” Her cheeks grew red and she smiled. She then turned her back to hide her embarrassment. She quickly placed the tray on a nearby table. “Are you from Scotland Yard?” “No, I’m not.” “He’s a friend of mine,” added Flandre. “Is that so? Then I look forward to your future visits.” “Sure.” She turned toward him with the usual expression Amon knew, but her ears were still red. “Okay, the tea is ready. …Um, what is your name?” “Amon.” There was a hint of testing in that name, but Klausl’s expression remained unchanged. She pointed at the teacup behind her. “Then this is your cup, Mr. Amon.” With that said, she stepped away. He nodded silently and slowly moved over with his hat still pulled low. He walked right in front of her. The two of them grew closer and were finally within arm’s reach. Suddenly, Klausl turned toward him. “Is something the matter?” “Eh?” “You look troubled by something.” He sighed at that and there was some self-deprecation mixed in. “I suppose I am. I’ve got a lot on my mind.” “It must be tough.” “Yeah, a bit.” He sighed again. “I’m thinking about saying some suitable words to a certain girl, but I end up trying to say something she wouldn’t know about.” She smiled at what he said. And she spoke her own words without knowing what he was talking about. “At times like that, I think you should say whatever would make her happiest.” “You’re probably right.” He smiled bitterly and reached for the teacup on the table. He forced his gaze down to keep himself from looking at Klausl. Due to that, his hat gave in to its deep angle and spilled from his head. “Ah.” Before he could reach down, Klausl picked it up. “Here you go, Mr. Amon.” He took the hat and said a single word. “Thanks.” Klausl gave a light bow. “You’re welcome.” She raised her head and her soft-looking blonde hair swayed. In that instant, Amon looked at her face and was left speechless. “…!” Flandre stood up so fast he knocked over his chair. “Eh?” Klausl only noticed once she saw how the two men were acting. She frantically brought her white hand to her cheek. Her slender fingertips grew damp. “Huh? My cheek is…wet?” She was crying. “Huh?” She brought her other hand to her other cheek and more tears flowed from between her closed eyelids and wet her hands. “Are these…tears?” “Y-yeah, they are,” said Flandre. “Huh? Isn’t this strange? I don’t know why, but this naturally happened when I heard what Mr. Amon said. …How odd. I have this weird feeling that I can’t seem to remember or forget.” “It isn’t strange at all.” Amon sounded troubled and like he was trying to convince himself. “And isn’t this enough?” She had no idea what he meant, but she still shook her head. “I don’t know why I’m crying, but I do know one thing for sure.” She spoke while shedding more tears. “I want to see your face.” Amon gasped with an indescribable expression on his face. A moment later, his hand reflexively yet hesitantly touched her cheek. “Ah.” She let out a quiet voice as he wiped away her tears. Her closed eyelids shook a bit and then moved. It was a frustratingly slow movement that seemed almost afraid of something and like she did not know how much strength to use. “It’ll be okay.” He spoke the words she had once said to him. “It’ll be okay. You can see. After all, I can already see your eyes.” “Yes.” She nodded and opened her eyes. They were Overridden. Amon looked her right in the eye. And her eyes looked back at his. No one said a word. Klausl simply narrowed her eyes and smiled. Her blue eyes were wet with tears as they looked at Amon. The eyes wavered from their first contact with light, they were an incredibly deep blue, and Amon was reflected in the few remaining tears. The blue of her eyes somehow resembled the color of the sky everyone could see overhead. ## Closing Words If you are looking for a drink in Soho, I recommend the shot bar named the Blue Sky. For some reason, the people of Scotland Yard frequent the bar, so it becomes a confused mix of uniforms and normal clothing during the evening. London’s famous Inspector and Hard Wolf priest can be seen there, so it is worth a visit at least once on the weekend. The bar is run by two people. Look over the counter, and you will see a stylish young demon and a beautiful girl serving the customers. Of course, there are no normal people in London, so that girl must be some kind of non-human being as well. That is most evident when you see the color of her eyes. Their beauty is probably where the place got its name and there is no way they could belong to a human. If you say that, the girl will stare up at the young demon next to her and he will give a meaningful smile when he notices. Of course, this is all the kind of story that you can only find in Aerial City – London. (From “Records of Modern England – Continued”) ### 084. Part 2 The fog covering the river split apart. It parted like white double-doors opening to either side and it flowed onward. A boat slowly travelled down the gorge between the foggy cliffs. The boat was loaded with something large covered in a blue sheet and a young man sat on top of that cargo. The young man was a minister. He slowly approached on the boat and his form grew clear in the darkness. He uncomfortably rubbed his very short blond hair. His overall casual aura may have been due to how he wore his minister’s outfit with the collar open or due to the round sunglasses he wore in the middle of the night. His narrow eyes were smiling beyond the sunglasses. Gloss stepped forward as if replying to that smile. “Who are you?” That question was accompanied by what sounded like metal panels piling up. The noise came from the boat. “!” Jonathan sensed motion, but when he turned toward it, he no longer saw anyone on the boat. He only saw the blue sheet and the cargo. He looked up just in case and, to his surprise, he found the young man. The young man was in London’s foggy night sky. He and his black minister’s outfit parted the fog as he leaped. He lightly and casually jumped the five meters from the boat to the wharf. He had made the jump with no running start and from poor footing. Then he landed. His feet made no noise as they contacted the ground, but another metallic sound came from inside his clothes. He seemed to be carrying something inside them and he was now about three steps in front of Gloss. The distant ringing and music from Westminster Cathedral had stopped. The young man looked up into the night sky as if to check on the lingering tone. “…” Suddenly, he looked at Gloss. Their eyes met and he raised his right hand to waist height as if in greeting. “Are we enemies now that I’ve come ashore?” As Jonathan heard that line, he also saw the young man’s naturally raised hand. He Overrode the young man’s movements to see if he had overlooked anything. The young man’s right hand held a shotgun. “Gloss!” “Too late.” Just as Jonathan shouted and the young man muttered quietly, the shotgun fired. With a great sound of destruction, a head-sized hole appeared in Gloss’s stomach. What had previously filled that hole splattered across the concrete of the wharf. “I hate angels and god just as much as monsters.” Jonathan prepared to run over to Gloss while listening to the young man’s kindly spoken words. The young man must have sensed Jonathan’s intent because he turned toward him with the shotgun still aimed at Gloss. His sharp gaze literally restrained Jonathan. “…!” He could not move. Simply being looked at was restricting his movements, even though he was a Hard Wolf who had once faced a tank in the Great War. Jonathan watched as Gloss Dis-Selfed. Still not sure what had happened to himself, the angel collapsed and used an arm to support himself on the wooden box behind him. However, he could not support his body with most of his abdomen gone, so his elbow slipped from the edge of the box and he fell into a sitting position with his wings still spread to the side. The second shotgun blast sounded out. Gloss’s head and a portion of the box were blown away. They were both smashed to pieces. What remained of his body trembled with the slight vestiges of life and then suddenly vanished. The angel’s feathers and the pieces splattered on the concrete all turned to ash just like burning paper. The faint scattering aroma was the smell of a burning angel. Jonathan said nothing. He simply watched what happened before him. But the young man did not bother watching Gloss go through the special process of Ashing. He was not looking at Jonathan either. The narrow eyes beyond his sunglasses were looking straight forward. He stared directly ahead with the sharpness of targeting something. Jonathan slowly moved his eyes in pursuit of the young man’s gaze. He found two new people standing there. ### 085. Part 2 Amon was certain that nightmares had a flavor. It was an unpleasant flavor. It was raw like blood or like boiling seawater. Whenever he had a nightmare, that flavor would endlessly seep into his mouth, his nostrils, and every last pore on his body. It felt like sinking into a marsh. No matter how much he screamed or struggled, there was nothing he could do. He could not fight it. He knew this because he had had the same nightmare again and again and again for so very long. He was having it again now. In the dream, he saw himself as a young child in a stone room. However, that child was not alone. He was with a woman who seemed to be his mother and they were hiding below a stone table. The mother held him and stared at the room’s entrance without even blinking. “Not again.” His mind was calm in the dream and his mind’s quiet words sounded exhausted. This was entirely normal and yet he still could not get used to it. The dream continued on. The young child turned his gaze in fear. His eyes were staring at something. A figure stood in the doorway to the room. The figure had wings, but they were not the wings of a demon. These were a dove’s wings. In other words, this was an angel. An angel was normally mostly white as the color of light, but the spear in his hand, the armor he wore, and even his wings were dyed crimson. The young child let out a small scream when he saw the angel. At the same time, the angel raised the spear in both hands and slowly entered the room. “Stay away!” Amon shouted as he watched the dream play out, but his voice was Overlossed by the presence of the nightmare. It was ignored. The armor on the angel’s feet clanked as he stepped on the stone floor. It was a cold sound. The mother faced the angel with her back to her fearful child. The hunter and prey had already confirmed each other’s presences. The young child clung to his mother’s back and trembled. Amon knew it was useless, but he tried to run into the scene. He panicked and shouted again. “Run away! Hurry! Don’t try to protect me!” But his mind’s pleas did not reach her. The angel pulled back his spear and his face was filled with the glee of taking down his prey. Seeing that kind of look for the first time shocked the young child to the point of tears. When scared, children would cry. That voice stopped the angel and his gaze turned directly toward the young child. The angel knocked the mother out of the way with the shaft of the spear. The woman collapsed to the cold floor without even crying out and the angel shouted vulgar words at her before facing the child again. He was planning to kill the crying child first. Amon knew what happened next and he knew there was no way for him to stop it. “Stop! I don’t want to see this!” He tried to close his eyes, but his mind continued to show it to him. The spear moved quickly. Its path took it straight toward the center of the child’s forehead. The child stopped crying and stared straight at the glint of the coming spear tip. And… “Stay away!” Just as Amon cried out, the young child was knocked out of the way. “…!” His mind gasped at this afterimage of the past. The spear meant for the child instead plunged into the mother that moved in front of him. The dream was silent, but he could swear he heard the low sound of metal piercing flesh. The spear passed diagonally from her back and out her stomach and the muddy dark red blood of a demon spilled to the floor. The young child endured the pain of falling to the floor and got up. His gaze naturally reached the stabbed mother who had fallen to a sitting position. “…” The mother’s lips clearly called Amon’s name. The child did not understand any of what was happening, but he answered her voice with a small nod. She must have been satisfied because she let out a quick breath and smiled. It was a smile of relief. “Why are you smiling?” The mother did not answer his mind’s question and she slowly collapsed the rest of the way to the floor. She continued smiling all the while. “Hey!” The child hesitantly started toward his mother, but he stopped. But not because the angel that had stabbed his mother was staring at him. He had seen a bright light beyond the angel and in the room’s entranceway. It was a white light and it had a great presence as if it had solidified. “…?” The angel must have sensed the approaching light’s presence because he quickly turned, kneeled, and set his spear down with the tip pointed backwards. This was how a retainer greeted his lord. By that time, a man stood in the room’s entranceway. The strange man carried light with him and his wings were larger and more numerous than the angel’s. His simple white robe was immaculate and it shined in the light emitted by his wings. He may have been a god. He faced the kneeling angel. … Stop. The child has not sinned. “I haven’t sinned? If that wasn’t a sin, what is!? I killed my mother!” The pressure of guilt was Overridden on the dream and began to press down on Amon’s mind. “I’ve lost so many people. If it wasn’t for me, none of them would have-…” Unable to hear Amon’s cries, the god slowly entered the room. He approached the young child who did not know what was happening and picked up his small body. “Stop! Don’t take me away from her!” The child must have realized he was being separated from his mother because he began to cry in the god’s arms and he reached for the woman lying on the floor. Feeling someone grab that outstretched hand, Amon woke from the dream. ### 086. Part 2 Scotland Yard was England’s national police and London’s city police. It was a large-scale organization, but it handled a great number of cases. And currently, it was facing the greatest case since its founding. Perhaps even the greatest in England’s history. The Yard was operating at full capacity, so no employee, department, or location was taking a break. Fir did not get a bite to eat until 1:30 PM that day. That was normally the time for post-lunch tea. She bought two servings of freshly made fish and chips from a bandaged man running a street food cart and raced back to the Inspector’s room. She had trained on this door, so she could fully open it with a single kick. “Take that! It’s refueling time! Do you want salt or vinegar?” “Salt.” The Inspector’s response seemed somewhat arbitrary and Fir Overrode the room. It was filled with documents. Her memory was not the most reliable, but she had a feeling the amount of documents had grown since she left. “By any chance, did a forty-second turn up?” She nimbly walked across the room while making sure not to tread on the scattered papers with her heels. “How did this many people end up dead in a single night?” No response came from beyond the work desk that had been transformed into a barricade by all the papers piled up on it. The Inspector seemed to be giving this serious thought for once. Fir shrugged and circled behind the desk. She found the man sitting in his chair and staring at one document in particular. She held out the wrapped serving of fish and chips. “Here, Inspector.” “Hm? Oh, thank you.” He took the food wrapped in oil paper, sighed, and placed the report on top of the pile. “I’m not sure what to do. The forty-second and forty-third came in at the same time.” “What did the word investigation say?” Fir began eating the fried fish first as the Inspector brought a hand to his forehead at the perfect angle. “This is a very important case.” “Well, yes. A lot of people have ended up dead.” He shrugged at that and shook his head. “Nn, that isn’t quite what I meant. I am getting the feeling that no one but me can solve this case.” “…What?” “Strange and similar massacres are spreading through London! Who can save the city from this evil but me? Heh heh heh. I will personally solve this case. If that is not important, then what is? Now, call the newspapers and the radio stations, Firry.” “Don’t call me Firry, you stupid old man!” “Ow ow ow! Don’t pinch me!” Fir looked up at the shouting Inspector. “So in other words, you’re taking full control of this case?” “Yes, I am.” “Are you saying all of these deaths were murders committed in the same way as Old Jon’s?” He nodded. “Forty three in a single night easily breaks Jack the Ripper’s record. And at the moment, we know two things.” He raised two fingers and folded down one. “First, the murders are being committed by more than one person. The blood stains at the crime scenes show two different types of shed blood. The first is a stream of blood in a single direction such as from a severed artery. The other is a splattering of flesh and blood as if from an explosion.” “So the first would be a cut from a blade and the other some kind of explosive?” More or less, Opened the Inspector. “The other mystery comes from the word investigator’s inspection of the blood stain ash. None of the ashes contain the elements of a voice.” “A voice?” Fir asked blankly. The Inspector placed a hand on his throat. “There is a slight projection of bone here, right? Due to that shape, the organ is known as a Horn. Well, that and because it produces sound.” “What about that Horn?” “The Horn and only the Horn was taken from the bodies and that organ is what allows us to shout and produce words. But that isn’t all. All forty three victims were from different races.” To produce words was to produce power, so what did it mean that the source of that power was being stolen? And why from so many different races? Fir thought for a while, but she was not going to find an answer so easily. “What does this mean, Inspector?” “I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about it. Either way, it would take great ability to slaughter so many of London’s residents.” Having finished off the contents of his oil paper wrapping, he balled it up and tossed it away. He then Overrode the previous document back into his hand. Fir peered down at it. “A report on Amon? Why?” “This is just my instincts talking, but I have a feeling that young man is at the center of this case too.” “Is that why you had Klau monitor him?” He looked up at the annoyed tone of her voice. “Oh, you knew about that?” “A call from her came in down below. What in the world are you thinking?” “I thought she would be the best for the job. You said she didn’t fear him, didn’t you?” “Yes, but…” “Are you jealous of her being so close to him?” Fir smiled bitterly. “It isn’t that. I can’t get near him. It would be too tragic.” She Closed her thoughts so no one could read them. The Inspector looked curiously at her, so she put on a devilish smile. “Hey, Inspector. When you first saw Klau, you asked why she didn’t open her eyes, didn’t you?” “Hm? …Oh, yes. I do remember doing that.” She gave a deep nod. “But when Amon saw her, he didn’t ask about her eyes. Probably because he doesn’t have any wings.” She took a breath. “Inspector, what kind of demon is he?” “Isn’t he a taciturn demon who doesn’t think about others and always acts like he wants to die?” “Not that. What about when he had his wings?” She leaned forward as she asked him. “Just like with the case two years ago, you always treat him differently. And the unit you put together to capture him back then had anti-demon god level equipment.” ### 087. Part 2 Amon was inside Westminster Cathedral’s large main sanctuary located past a corridor. He was alone, drinking some coffee sold at the bazaar. There was a giant square hole past the railing he rested his elbows on. Each side was fifteen meters long and there was no sign of the bottom. Someone who could see through the darkness would have seen the cathedral’s famous steam-powered automatic pipe organ located far, far below the ground. Needless to say, Amon could not see in the dark. He was looking at the two giant chains that rose straight up from the darkness below. The links of the chain were large enough for him to duck through and they led to the bell tower directly connected to the sanctuary’s ceiling. The large bell was visible up above. The support and the head of the hammer used to strike the bell were both as tall as Amon. The chains were connected to the back end of the hammer, so it seemed pulling on the chains caused the hammer to strike the bell. This was how the city’s hourly bell and pipe organ music worked. … Come to think of it, I’ve never taken a good look at this before. As soon as he thought that, the ropes formed from metal loops moved up and down. One moved up and the other down. The movement of the chains caused the hammer to strike the bell. The bell immediately produced a low, deep, and yet clear tone. The entire sanctuary resonated with the sound and shook a little. The very next moment, a wave of sound much like a physical blow erupted from the hole in front of Amon. Not only did the deluge of sound pass through his body, but it almost Overrode his body. The pipe organ music reverberated through the deep hole and transformed into a much greater sound than it had started as. The paper coffee cup in his hand was overwhelmed by the sound. The vibrations crushed it. No, the great presence of the sound was too much for it and triggered a Balance Fall. Amon grabbed onto the railing with both hands. He focused on gathering his strength and used that as a basis for his Verbal Self Control. He somehow managed to withstand the noise and avoid a Balance Fall of his own. “Now that was something.” By the time he muttered to himself, he could hear all the other sounds. Half hidden by the pipe organ’s music, he heard a metallic sound like grinding gears. He guessed it was the steam devices that let the organ play automatically. Rumor had it they were just as large as the chains. Someone had once jumped into the hole to commit suicide, their bones had jammed the gears of the steam devices, and the music had stopped. Of course, that did not happen now. The bell stopped after ringing thrice and the music finished nicely with an especially loud note. “Three o’clock, huh?” Amon rested his elbows on the railing as the lingering sound shook his body. “That was three o’clock too, wasn’t it?” He suddenly remembered what had happened that morning. It had been three in the morning which could still be called the middle of the night. He had woken to hear the bell and music coming from Westminster Cathedral, but that was not what had woken him. A dream had. He had not had his usual nightmares. He had fallen into a strangely calm sleep, but it had been so unusual that he had uncomfortably woken. … That’s just pathetic. He had woken to that thought. It had been dark, but enough light entered through the window to see across the room. He had been sleeping on a three-person sofa. Before going to sleep, he and Klausl had argued over which one would sleep on the sofa and he had forced his way onto it. “…?” He had felt something like a pillow below his head, but he had not had one before going to sleep. Not to mention that the only pillow had been on the bed Klausl was using. Nevertheless, he had felt it below his head. It had been a soft, warm sensation. He had suddenly realized the sensation was somehow familiar. He had frantically Overridden his surroundings and the dimly-lit room had grown clearer than before. “Not again.” Klausl had been sleeping by his head with a blanket pulled up to her shoulders. The pillow-like feeling had been her thigh. “You idiot.” He had started to get up and warn her, but he had stopped. He had stopped because he had known what she would say when he asked why she had done it. “Because you were having a nightmare again and I didn’t know what to do.” He had been certain she would say that with a serious look on her face. That was just the kind of selfish and yet worrying girl she was. Even after hearing he was Death Wish Amon, she did not fear him in the slightest and she would show any number of closed-eyed expressions whenever something happened. And she did it all seriously instead of out of pity. … Does she trust me? “If I said that, she’d take it the wrong way and get carried away.” He had muttered that so he could hear and rested his head on Klausl’s lap. Suddenly, his head had hit something hard. … ? It had been on the side of her hip, so he had guessed it was something in her skirt’s hidden pocket. “What is that?” Fully aware he probably should not have done so, he had touched whatever it was through the cloth. That had told him its general shape and that was enough to know what it was. … A hand mirror. He had looked up at her face in surprise. Her blonde hair had fallen across her closed eyes as she slept, but those eyes would not open even when she woke. … Why doesn’t she open her eyes? He had also asked another question he had not considered before. … What is she? She almost looked human, but that could not be the case. No human could move about normally without opening her eyes. However, she was not a demon or a divine race, she did not have the thin shadow of a spirit, and she did not vanish below the sun like a ghost. Given her multiplication the previous day, he had wondered if she was a relative of an amoeba or a slime. … I just don’t know. As soon as he had reached that conclusion, she had frowned slightly and let out a small breath that was half a sigh and half a groan. He had quickly begun to feign sleep, but she had spoken before he could. It had been a very, very quiet voice that only he could hear. “Sister… Why?” Hearing that, he had stopped pretending to sleep. He had simply stared at her face. Whatever dream she was having, she had been lightly biting her lower lip. “…” Amon had said nothing, but after seeing her slender hand stick out from the blanket, he had reached out his own hand. He had held her slightly tensed hand. Her expression had changed a little. The strength had left her lower lip and her eyebrows had grown more peaceful. Amon had sighed. … This is to repay her. Satisfied with that reasoning, he had closed his eyes. When he had woken the following morning, she had already left the sofa and he had heard someone preparing breakfast in the kitchen beyond the living room door. He recalled all of that while resting his elbows on the railing. “I must have been half asleep to do that.” Suddenly, he opened his right hand and looked at it. “But still…” His hand was hardened from all the fights he got into, but he could still feel her slender hand in it. He still felt the strength and warmth of her hand as she tensed up in fear of her dream. He remembered that, but what about her? ### 088. Part 2 The perfectly clear night sky covered the heavens with some purple remaining to the west. The moon filled the sky. It was not a full moon. Some of the roundness was lacking. The moonlight did not reach the city of London evenly. It fell weakly on the bright downtown area and strongly on the many nature parks. St. James’s Park was one such nature park. It was located east of Buckingham Palace, a large lake extended from east to west, and it was surrounded by woods. It was a quiet park. The sun had only just set, so not much noise was reaching it from the city. During winter, the entrance closed at four, so there were no guests in the park. Nothing moved and it gave off a faint pale light. That was the reflected moonlight. It almost looked like time had stopped there. With nothing to see it, the park did not move. It simply stayed still without Overriding itself. Or so it should have been. Everything should have been still and unchanging, but sudden motion entered the park. First, the trees of the woods trembled and shook their leaves. Small waves covered the lake surface. A slight wind blew through. This wind did not carry a wind spirit. The air itself had moved as if called by something. The wind danced at a gentle pace on its way to the western woods. It followed a stone-paved walking path through the woods and stopped halfway through. At that point, the path widened. A stone slab was installed near the curbstone. The stone had words carved into it. “We pray for the peaceful afterlife of the following victims of the slaughter that occurred here.” A voice read the inscription. At the same time, a bouquet of flowers was tossed on top of the moonlit stone. It had been thrown by the wingless demon named Amon. He called the names of those who had been killed here even though the inscribed names were covered by the bouquet. He called forty-two names and took a breath. “Sorry. I still haven’t died.” His pale breath scattered. “It’s been two years, but it doesn’t feel anywhere near that long. …The only survivors were Fir, me because I left the team, and two or three others.” His eyes turned toward the bouquet on the stone, but he was not looking at it. A bitter smile appeared on his lips, but he quickly erased it. “What do you think, Eilen? Why were you with me? Why did you decide to stay by my side? And…” And? “What were you trying to say when you died in my arms?” He recalled another instant from his nightmares. “My mother was the same. When she died in my place, why did she smile toward me? …Why?” There was no one there to answer his question. “…” He bit his lower lip and looked away from the stone slab. He closed his eyes as if to say he did not want to see anything. Suddenly, the wind struck his cheek. The bottom of his jacket waved about and his body swayed. The leaves rustled as if the woods were jumping around. It sounded like waves or spraying water. “!” This was a powerful wind and it was so cold and sharp it felt like it was cutting into him. This wind felt like it had actual mass and Amon knew what it was called: murderous intent. He opened his eyes. The bouquet on the stone slab had been blown away and the forty-two names were visible. “Wait for me.” With that, he turned his back on the stone and faced the source of the murderous blowing wind. He looked down the walking path and saw the moonlit stone pavement. A man stood there. His right hand held a sharp line of light that looked like it had been tempered in the moonlight. One glance was enough to know this was a quality sword. The man was about five meters away, so he was not in combat range just yet. The man was the first to name himself. “Hound Rickland Valeath.” He held the long sword in front of his face, split his own vision in two using the back of the blade, and stared at Amon. “I swear on this sword I shall slay you.” ### 089. Part 2 Westminster Cathedral’s bell sounded in the distance. The bell rang nine times before stopping along with the music. The night was filling with activity. It was a clear night, so the city’s lights were easily visible. Countless red lights floating in the darkness looked like flowers blooming in a forest. It was clear that many lives were visiting those flowers. That was how attractive the lights and night scenery were. A bedroom in the Savoy Hotel had an excellent view of that scenery. However, the two in that room were not looking out the window. The two humans were Valeath and Moyla. Just under an hour had passed while Moyla lay on the tall bed and Valeath stared down at her in silence. She had come to earlier and had been staring up at him with a weak look in her eyes and shallow breathing. Her skin was so white it reflected the electric lights. It looked like it was made of plaster instead of being sickly pale. The blanket was decorated with a floral pattern, but that only made an even starker contrast with her cold complexion. “…” Suddenly, she looked away from Valeath and asked a question. “This is goodbye, isn’t it?” “You will not last until the morning.” He spoke as if it were his duty to provide an accurate answer. But she narrowed her eyes and turned back to him with a weak but definite smile on her lips. “You finally responded to my voice.” He did not nod, but she continued smiling. “I’m glad.” With those quiet words, she closed her eyes, brought a hand to her forehead, and hid her eyes from the electric lights. “I really tried to kill that young man…who so resembled you. I truly, truly…truly hated him. But just as I fired, that girl called out to me and, the next thing I knew, I had fired on my other self.” And… “When I saw her collapse, something broke inside my body.” She gently coughed. It was not a deep cough. It sounded like she was hiccupping or swallowing something. After a pause, the coughing fit passed and her breathing was more erratic than before. But she could not stop speaking. The words inside her came to the surface and refused to be hidden. “If I don’t keep waiting and if I don’t believe that you will return to the person you used to be… If I don’t believe that, I could never look Lady Melda in the eye. I…I…” Just as her voice threatened to vanish, something very strange occurred. Someone squeezed the hand she held over her eyes. “…!?” Her eyes were exposed below the electric lights and tears flowed from them. But even so, she could clearly see the man who held her hand. “Ah…” The man in her blurry vision was Valeath. His expression and general atmosphere remained unchanged, but he stood next to the bed and held her hand. And that was enough. She tried to say something, but she simply could not form the words. She directly Opened the words in her heart. … I don’t want to die. He had to have seen those words, but he did not react. Regardless, she brought her mind to the surface. She almost did not seem to care if he ignored her as she silently said what she had been unable to say before. … I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I want to be by your side even longer. More tears accompanied her Open Words and she suddenly felt more comfortable. It felt like she was crumbling in some way. This was a more pleasant death than Ashing. She was being erased through the process of Balance Fall. … No. With her eyes closed, she used her own words instead of Open Words. She spoke to Valeath using the words only she could. “Use your Over Contract on me.” Her following words were her first and last confession. “Make me yours, Master Valeath.” ### 090. Part 2 “The preparations really took some time,” said the Inspector as he stopped his cart behind the Savoy. “We’re pretty late.” Fir glanced over at him from where she sat next to him in casual clothes. “You’re too obsessed with looking good. You said we needed to disguise ourselves so they wouldn’t catch on, but then you ended up wearing your usual coat and suit.” “I realized a brewery disguise does not suit me.” “Quiet,” cut in Amon. He had already stepped down from his cart and stood at the Savoy’s large back entrance. Unlike the main entrance, it was a plain metal door and it was currently closed. “Did you have this closed to keep them from escaping? These are normally open at delivery time.” “The Inspector brought a hand to his chin and tilted his head. “Hm. When I called the manager earlier, he told me to come right in.” Just as the man finished speaking, Amon placed a hand on the knob. It opened surprisingly smoothly. The white light of the hotel slowly cut into the darkness. It was brighter than they expected. They all cautiously looked into the bright hallway. “No one’s here,” muttered Amon as he moved inside the light. “Hey! The first one in needs the warrant!” He ignored the Inspector but stopped as soon as he set foot inside. He saw a large metal door to his right. The doorplate was polished enough to see his reflection and it said “Furniture Storage” in gold. The room likely stored their extra chairs, cupboards, and the like. “That’s not it.” He turned to a similar door on the opposite side. The gold word on its doorplate said “Kitchen”. A grim look filled his face when he read that word. “So this is it.” “Hey! Don’t do anything without permission! I am in charge of this-…!” “Shut up! Just stay put!” Amon cut off the Inspector and turned toward him, Fir, and the disguised police officers who had entered the hallway. “Can’t you smell this!? This is the stench of Ash!” He opened the door in front of him and it flew open as if inviting him inside. “!” The scene before his eyes went beyond anything he had expected. This was the result of mass-produced death. Dark scorch marks could be seen on the floor, walls, and even the ceiling. These were undoubtedly the stains and scorch marks of blood and Ashing. As they burned into Ash, they had seared their silhouettes into the surfaces they lay one. Some had collapsed atop the cooking tables, some had their upper bodies in the sink, and some had fallen on top of each other on the floor. A lot of “cooking” had occurred in this kitchen. No corpses remained. Instead, the pork legs and hunks of beef leftover from dinner were lying around and dripping blood. “We messed up.” Amon did not sound all that bothered by it as he turned his back on the kitchen. That seemed to say that he had no business with the tragedy before his eyes and that this was only the beginning. He walked further down the hallway. “Hey, wait!” He did not turn toward the voice behind him. “Come with me and you’ll die. I am Death Wish Amon after all.” With those parting words, he reached for the large door at the end of the hallway. And he pushed open the double doors all at once. The opening doors created convection in the air. The perfume-like aroma of the hotel flowed in, but it was accompanied by a stench of death even stronger than before. “…!” What Amon found beyond the door was exactly what he expected. ### 091. Part 2 Amon and Klausl ran. They had reached Westminster Cathedral. They ran across the open area the bazaar had been held in, passed through the main entrance that sat wide open despite the late hour, and ran down the hallway to the sanctuary. They did not have much time left and it was all over if they did not make it. Amon cursed his lack of wings. … Dammit! If he had them, he could move more quickly and he would have the power to fight as a demon. He felt that he was still a hindrance to himself. “Amon, what is it?” asked Klausl. He turned toward her and found her running alongside him with her usual expression. She was a bit out of breath and she smiled at him. “It’ll be okay. Let’s do our best!” He smiled bitterly at her words and faced forward. They were approaching the door to the sanctuary. He had a feeling that he would reach the conclusion of it all beyond that door. Would it be death? … Will it really? It was very unlike him to question death like that. To find the answer, he kicked open the wooden door in front of him. There was little resistance, so it flew open with a solid sound. “…!” A large space welcomed him in. The atmosphere was very different from during the day. The dark dome contained a deep dark pressure. It was a cloudy night, so no light entered through the skylights. At the center of the candlelit sanctuary was a large hole that looked like a bottomless pit. Two giant chains rose from its depths. Beyond the hole was the sanctuary’s altar. The altar was dyed slightly red by the candles’ flames and a man sat on it. It was Valeath. He held a drawn sword that shined in the candlelight. “So you’re here.” When he saw Amon, he slowly stood. He moved silently, but the presence accompanying the motion carried an impact on the level of the earth shaking. Amon received Valeath’s presence head on. He also shouted back to deflect that presence. “Why do you want to bring down heaven!?” Valeath looked upwards without answering the question. Amon followed suit and looked to the sanctuary ceiling. He saw the large hanging bell and the hammer to hit it. The hammer glowed red in the candlelight and it had a strange machine attached. It was the size of a human head and it had vacuum tubes, cords, and a strange antenna. Overall, it somewhat resembled a flower. Like vines, the cords extending from it continued straight down with the chains and vanished into the darkness. Valeath and Amon both lowered their raised heads and their gazes met. “!” Amon was directly pushed back by the other man’s murderous aura, but someone supported him from behind. It was Klausl. “It’ll be okay.” As she spoke those quiet words, the floor began to shake. “What!?” “Amon! The chain!” He looked in the direction she indicated and saw the thick chain connecting the hole to the ceiling beginning to move down. The series of ellipses large enough for him to pass through clearly picked up speed as it moved further and further down. “It is almost midnight. It is time for the Babel Cannon to be fired.” The sounds of the pipe organ and the bell would reverberate through the deep pit. The resultant sound would grow as the voices of London’s monsters resonated with it and it would all be fired toward heaven. Millions of monsters’ voices would be concentrated into a single blast to destroy the chapter title pages protecting heaven. Heaven would then lose its balance and fall down on London. “Once the bell rings twelve times, London will be destroyed. And in exchange, the knowledge of heaven will escape to the human world.” Amon listened to Valeath and looked up at the hammer on the ceiling. The metal device slowly moved according to the movement of the chains. It gradually pulled back and built up power. “If the bell rings twelve times, it means London and I have lost. That’s a lot of responsibility.” As he spoke, Amon moved his legs to circle around on the right and toward Valeath. He heard Klausl’s footsteps following him. They gave him an odd sense of calm. … It’ll be okay, hm? He Opened that thought so she could read it. He kept his eyes on Valeath and tensed his body. He snapped his suspenders with his fingers and created a rhythm. But then… “?” He detected an odd scent. It did not belong in this building. The sanctuary only smelled of stone, of the night air, and faintly of machinery, but a scent he knew all too well mixed in. It was the smell of alcohol. “It can’t be!” He quickly stopped and turned around. He was a little panicked because this smell of alcohol was mixed with the fragrance of blood. His gaze moved past Klausl and to the sanctuary entrance. Something strange appeared there. It looked like a person, but not quite. Its right arm ended partway down and looked like something had bitten it off. Its head lay on its side. It was Moyla. Her face was completely unrecognizable. Her head was twisted perpendicular to the floor, the front looked like a peeled tomato, and it looked like it could fall off at any moment with how much it shook with her movement. Either from the wine spilled from the bottles or some other liquid, her dress was stained pure red. “She can still move!?” Amon shouted out with pure revulsion in his voice and the bell rang. The great noise was accompanied by deep music bursting from underground. The noise was intense. The wave of sound could easily be called a physical impact. As if that had been her cue, Moyla ran straight forward. She made no wasted movement. Most of her body had been destroyed, but her feet kicked solidly off the floor and brought her to Amon and Klausl. She was fast. Amon, the primary cause of her injuries, grimaced. “Geh. This is pretty bad.” The bell rang again. A moment later, Moyla jumped toward him. Heavy with a variety of liquids, her dress waved behind her. She flew quickly through the air. Amon tugged on Klausl’s hand and escaped along the hole’s railing. A red flower landed on the spot he had just vacated and a chop of the hand smashed the railing in a spectacular fashion. The sound was great enough to be heard over the bell. The sound must have scared Klausl because she frantically ran alongside Amon. “That was intense.” “Don’t point out the obvious.” The two of them moved back and turned the corner. The straightaway felt long, but they were just one corner away from where Valeath was. The bell rang for a third time. Klausl looked up at Amon with her brow furrowed worriedly. He tried to decide what expression to give her, but finally Opened a thought. … We’ve got to do something, don’t we? Now he was pointing out the obvious, but she nodded and the two continued to flee. Moyla pursued with long strides. Pulled by Amon’s hand, Klausl reached into her apron skirt as if searching for something. “Hey! What are you doing!?” Just as he shouted at her, the bell rang for the fourth time. Moyla charged headfirst toward them as if driven on by the sound. “!” Amon reached for Klausl and tried to pull her toward him, but she looked over her shoulder at him. She gave a closed-eyed smile as if telling him not to worry. “Hey!” he shouted in surprise. In that instant, Moyla’s shoulder collided with Klausl. The slender back in front of Amon’s eyes bent and the blonde hair flew through the air. A complex metallic sound passed from inside her body and out her back. It was a sound of destruction. What had caused it? That was simple. He could tell at a glance. Moyla’s left hand had pierced through Klausl’s back. That was all. The red-nailed fingers were surrounded by wires and small gears. Those were the parts that made up Klausl. “…!” Amon opened his mouth wide and tried to shout something, but he only managed to inhale and no voice came out. The bell rang for the fifth time. Klausl moved a little in front of Amon. Her slender arms wrapped around Moyla’s body. He saw a match in her hand. It was a waterproof match used for cooking. “You mustn’t let yourself smell of alcohol.” Her trembling voice spoke kindly to Moyla and lightly struck the match. Even amid the din of the bell and pipe organ, the quiet scraping sounded clearly in Amon’s ears. The sound briefly hung in the air, a flame lit, and a soft aroma filled the area. It was a sweet aroma often smelled when cooking. It was the aroma of meat cooked in wine. Moyla’s entire body was immediately enveloped in flames. “…!” The back of the burning red dress jumped up. The flames rose along her entire body, her head, and her mangled face. She pushed at Klausl’s arms, let out a wordless cry as if afraid of the flames, and swung her body around. Klausl was removed from her, starting with the left arm. The bell rang for the sixth time. Klausl leaned back against the railing and just barely managed to remain standing. Moyla seemed to perform a crazed dance next to her. The dead could not feel pain, but the nerves controlling her muscles still functioned. Burning her body caused those nerves to burst and she lost control of her body. Her sickly white skin turned to keloids which then burned away along with her other wounds. Her right arm ended at the elbow and her left arm was wrapped in flames, but they both moved as if swimming to gather in air. Her lungs must have been burning. The arms pounded on and broke the railing. Now nothing supported her. But as she became a mass of flames, she walked aimlessly forward and seemed to beg for air. The bell rang for the seventh time. Her foot stepped out past the edge of the hole. As if called by the sound of the bell, she collapsed forward. Her arms and legs seemed to be swimming as she fell into the abyss. She fell into the hole that produced the pipe organ music. As a flower illuminating the darkness, she slipped down. For a while, an unpleasant sound of something being chewed to pieces came from far below. That may have been why the eighth ring of the bell seemed somewhat hesitant and awkward. Klausl stared down there. She supported herself on the railing while looking down to the bottom of the hole. Amon held her in his arms and supported her. He held her tight as she could not stand due to the hole in her gut. And he cried her name. “Klausl!” She looked up at him with her eyes still closed. As a doll she may not have felt pain because her expression was the same as always. However, her clothing was scorched by flames and covered in Moyla’s drying blood. Worst of all was the gaping hole from her stomach to back. Wires and chains dangled down from it, something like mercury dripped down like raindrops, and small nuts sprinkled out. The shaft that acted as her backbone seemed to have broken, so everything below her waist was unsteady and swayed just like a doll. She felt sadly fragile in his arms. He tried to say something, but stopped when her hand touched his cheek. “You finally called my name.” His lips trembled. “I…I…” “Please don’t apologize,” she said. He swallowed the words. After a short delay, the bell rang for the ninth time. “I decided on my own to do this for you. It would be too tragic if you apologized.” She smiled just as all strength left her lower body. The full weight of the doll filled his arms. The end was near, but she did not stop speaking. “I’m worried about you. You always blame yourself for everything.” “Don’t talk!” “You try to act cold and push others away, but you still get so desperate when something happens to me.” Her hands grabbed his right arm. “?” He was confused, but he did not fight it. He reached his right hand in the direction she led it. His hand touched the hole in her stomach. He felt the soft and warm skin inside her torn clothing and then his hand began to enter her body. He wrapped his left arm around her back and she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight as if embracing him. “…” The next thing he knew, his right hand had entered her body through the hole in her stomach. His hand slowly buried itself in that manmade body. First just the fingers and then up to the wrist. She gasped as he moved his fingers and she pressed her body into his arm. “Nn.” A metal component touched his fingers. It was not cold. It was a hard object with an almost damp warmth to it. He guessed it was a rim. But that was not what he was looking for. He reached further inside her. A quick tremor ran through her body. “Ah.” “Does it hurt?” “Deep in my stomach…I felt… No, don’t worry about it. Keep going.” He silently nodded. Sometimes he came across something wet and sometimes he came across something sharp and he searched through her body. He lifted his hand inside her stomach, scraped along the inside of her ribs, and moved toward the chest. By that time, his arm was in up to the elbow. “Hh.” Each time he touched a component, she would let out a small breath, but it only lasted a moment. Just as the bell rang for the tenth time, strength filled her hands. “Nn.” Her face flushed all the way to the ears and she clawed at his jacket as she endured something and spoke. “That’s…it. You’re…touching it.” His hand grabbed the object within the left side of her chest. “I’ll be taking this.” She slowly nodded. With a sound much like spilling coins, he pulled out his right hand. “Ahhh!” She pulled back from him as if from recoil and grabbed the railing behind her again. She then raised her head and forced a smile. The smile on her slightly flushed face looked somehow satisfied. He looked at her face and then down at what he had pulled from her body. He held the red gear said to be her heart. “…” She may not have been able to speak any longer because she faced him and asked an Opened question. … How strange. Why am I smiling? He was taken aback by her voice and slight smile. This was the same situation as in his nightmares. It was the same smile he had seen on his mother and Eilen. … How can you smile? What are you trying to say? Had she seen his question? She gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen and replied with her own words. … See you…again someday. She threw herself backwards and fell down as if pursuing Moyla. Amon stretched out his hand, but he could not reach her. “Klausl!” His yell did not reach her either. All that remained was the gear in his right hand and… “Revenge.” Valeath’s voice reached him from directly behind. “!” Amon began to turn toward the man who had approached at some point. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a silver arc filled with intent to kill. ### 092. Part 3 Jonathan saw two people in front of the warehouses lining the wharf. One was a woman. Her black hair waved in the wind where it extended below the shawl she wore over her shoulders. The features of her face were those of an adult. She was the kind of adult who one could easily imagine crying. He moved his eyes from the woman to the person next to her. He was a tall man and he gave off a sharp aura. He comfortably wore a long, dark green coat. The body inside the coat looked thin but not frail. He gave off a sense of defiance and dignity. Whatever life he had lived, his face was almost entirely expressionless. However, great experience and sharp strength were visible in that face even from a distance. The two of them looked straight toward the young man holding the shotgun. The young man smiled as he accepted their gazes and he was the first to speak. “It’s been two weeks, hasn’t it, Valeath?” His smile grew a little before he continued. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you too, Moyla. Now, I’ve brought in the cargo and weapons as originally…planned!” With that last word, he swung his empty left arm, but he instantly Overrode something in that hand to throw it. It was a long sword in a white scabbard. It was seeing the afterimage of the scabbard rotating through the air that told Jonathan who this was. Or rather, it was the smell. This was the same smell as his prey on the battlefields of the world war a dozen or so years ago. A monster’s prey was humans. For the first time in over a dozen years, the smell of human flesh and the human world reached his nose. And there was only one sort of human who would still fight with an anachronistic weapon like a sword. “Hounds!?” Some humans had been born to fight and, in some rare instances, one would appear whose power was equal or greater to a monster. A human who used their power to hunt “nonexistent” beings was known as a Hound. Why would the likes of them be in the monster-filled country of England? … Why? Valeath, the man in the long coat, caught the flying sword without answering that Opened question. And he immediately drew the white blade. The metal audibly sliced through the air. A silver light at least a meter long appeared in the darkness and the light looked like it could cut through anything and everything. Valeath stared at the blade that glowed as if wet. “It really is like you to shoot him right away, Ralf.” “It’s only natural for monsters to be killed by humans.” “I meant that you went for the angel first.” Valeath walked toward Jonathan as he spoke. “Moyla.” With the sword in his right hand, he called his partner’s name and Jonathan felt a deep tone in his gut. “!” Following the sound, all of the fog filling the wharf vanished in an instant. Wind raced through and formed a circle. This created an isolate space. The area expelling the fog grew wider and it encompassed Jonathan. The woman named Moyla stood at the center of that empty space and she was folding her fingers in a strange shape without losing her seemingly powerless expression. … A barrier!? Ralf, the young man dressed like a minister, must have read Jonathan’s unintentionally Opened thought because he smiled. “Moyla’s barrier cannot be broken. Not even by an above-average monster.” There was only one reason for a Hound to trap a monster in a barrier: to hunt it. Jonathan clicked his tongue. The battle had already begun. As proof of that, Valeath approached with drawn sword in hand and the look in his eyes expressed his intention via Open Words. … Fight. Goose bumps covered Jonathan’s entire body before his heart could respond to the man’s will. His past combat experience, those memories permeating his body, told him escape would be impossible. However, he could not let himself die here. He had to tell someone about this. Humans were trying to do something here in the monsters’ city of London. The Hounds, those natural enemies of monsters, were beginning something. “So I can’t escape without fighting, hm?” He spoke that seemingly contradictory statement so he could hear it himself and he strongly Tasked himself. His voice raced through his body as a Verbal Self Control of his Dis-Selfing thoughts. He calmed himself down. The old Hard Wolf looked up into the night sky. The barrier had cleared away the fog and the moon floated unobstructed in the night sky. The perfect circle of the moon was exactly the full moon a Hard Wolf desired. He howled. “Awooooooooooo!” A howl was a primitive type of word, so it possessed great power. As a Hard Wolf, he desired the power of the moon and the power of a wolf. He looked up to the heavens in search of it and he howled. He howled with all his might. Only a wolf could give a wolf’s howl. He Overrode himself into a wolf. He desired to change. He strongly Tasked himself: Altered, Altered, Altered! The body exposed to the sunlight rapidly transformed. Before he could take another breath, his nose extended, his ears stood tall, fur sprouted up, his skeleton seemed to swell out, and the air exploded. The fog, wind, and air swirled around him and his previously human form became that of a wolf. He exposed his true form as a Hard Wolf. His bluish-black fur had faded with age, but his build was well above average. Powerful light filled his eyes. This was the light of a beast. His fur stood on end as if to reach the heavens. He opened his mouth, bared his fangs, and howled again. “Awoooooooooooooooooooo!” He faced forward, but not at the swordsman named Valeath. He looked past that man and at the young man named Ralf who had Ashed Gloss. … I’ll kill you first! He shouted his bestial thoughts. His Opened intent to kill shot out like a knife and shook Valeath’s coat, but Ralf only smiled. “Valeath, this might be my job.” He happily cocked the shotgun and the atmosphere of the battlefield linked directly between the Hard Wolf and the young man. The man and beast faced each other with Valeath in between. It began in an instant. Jonathan made a sudden jump. The claws breaking out through his shoes kicked off the ground and launched him into the night air. But instead of reaching the two men before him, the jump took him to the woman named Moyla. “…Nh!” He had used his Open Words as a feint. Faking one’s actual intent was much more convincing than only using actions. This slowed Ralf’s reaction and likely did the same to Valeath. The great beast leaped over the men’s heads and he landed where only Moyla would be in his line of vision. He then dashed forward on all fours. His bestial claws tore into the concrete. His lupine eyes trained on his target. If he defeated this witch, the barrier would vanish. Targeting a woman was not the gentlemanly thing to do, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Also, the easier target that would lead to the least bloodshed was best. With the Hard Wolf after her, the witch folded her fingers below her shawl and in front of her chest. She showed no sign of fleeing even with Jonathan’s approach. She simply stared straight at him. And her eyes held a look of pity. Before he could wonder why, he had approached. As he ran, he held his left arm by his right side in preparation for a diagonal strike from below using the full speed of his charge. He pulled down his body to pour as much momentum into the strike as possible, but then he noticed the concrete ground in his vision. The moonlight falling from the night sky cast his shadow there, but another shadow was enveloping his own. … Someone’s above me!? That thought was immediately followed by an impact. “!” He was thrown to the left and he rolled along the ground. Sparks flew when his false right arm struck the concrete. The sparks were accompanied by the painful sound of scraping metal. His body twisted as he rolled, the unpleasant sound vanished, and he attempted to right himself. But when he tried to stand, he tilted to the right and collapsed. His right side was oddly heavy. … What’s going on? As if to answer his Opened question, something descended from the sky in front of him. A familiar object struck the ground with a splat. It was his own left arm. “Wha-?!” His groan of protest was followed by blood spraying from the severed arm and the stump at his shoulder. As he doubled over and held his left shoulder with his false arm, a figure wielding a long sword stood in front of him. It was Valeath. “…!” The kneeling Hard Wolf looked up at the man. The swordsman had seen through Jonathan’s feint, jumped, and made his strike, but he was not even out of breath. Behind him, Jonathan saw the witch sigh and remove the barrier. She looked like she wanted to tell Valeath something, but she coughed instead. It was the kind of deep cough that was unique to the ill. Even so, Valeath did not turn her way. He continued staring forward without even looking down at Jonathan. “Ralf, I will now show you how to remove their voice. Don’t waste them.” With natural movements, the tip of his sword raced toward Jonathan’s throat. It only took an instant. No one spoke and Jonathan held his throat with his false arm. However, there was no blood. His fur remained intact and the skin below was not harmed. Nevertheless, something white lay in a pool of blood between the Hard Wolf and the swordsman. Valeath reached out and picked up the thumb-sized white object so Jonathan could see. It was Jonathan’s voice. “This is a solidified voice. It is an organ located in the throat called a Horn.” … What!? Jonathan tried to shout that word, but he found he could not speak. That was unsurprising since his Horn was no longer in his throat. “Your Horn has been removed, so act like it. Ash yourself like that corpse.” The man was referring to Gloss. That angel was also meant to have had his voice removed before he was killed. These three had indeed come to this city to hunt monsters. … Are you trying to destroy Aerial City – London!? If you do that, this will go beyond simply deserving revenge! He used Open Words to ask his question and he received his response from behind. “You don’t seem to understand. In all the many books out there, have you ever read of humans being destroyed by monsters? But you hear about the opposite all the time.” He heard someone raise a gun just behind his ear. “You monsters are so conceited if you think people are really afraid of you. Humans can hunt monsters. If we wanted to, we could easily destroy this entire country. There’s only one reason we haven’t done it yet.” The young man took a breath. “We took pity on you monsters and protected you. We joined you in your fear of what we could do.” All of Jonathan’s fur bristled. The bleeding from his left shoulder was stopping thanks to the regeneration of a Hard Wolf, but he still could not move. He was surrounded and his enemy was far more powerful than him. He heard some metallic sounds behind him. He heard something fitting together and a trigger being pulled. “…!” But Valeath moved in front of Jonathan and placed a hand on the Hard Wolf’s false arm. The roughly bandaged hand had a circular emblem drawn in the colors of a burn. The brown, discolored bandages loosened and instantly wrapped around the false arm like vines. “Over Contract. Be destroyed by your own arm.” Unlike before, Jonathan actually moved after Valeath’s expressionless words. Except it was only his false arm that moved. It forcefully swung up as if to point toward the moon. “!?” It had left Jonathan’s control and the movement was horribly sharp and unhesitating. This was the precise movement of a machine moving as a machine. The metal claws glittered for an instant. It was a cold and pleasant glitter. And… “!” It struck. The false arm stabbed deep into the left side of his chest. It produced a pleasant sound that sent a shudder down his spine. Needless to say, this alone was not enough. The false hand was embedded up to the wrist, but it began to move about in his flesh. The sound of severing bone rang loudly out. The intermittent sound of sliced muscles sounded painfully in his ears. The Hard Wolf raised a voiceless scream. As only his breath escaped from his lips, blood burst from his chest, from his fang-lined mouth, from his nostrils, and from his left shoulder. The blood stopped his silent cry. A tremendous sound followed only a beat later. It was the wet sound of something being born. The false arm had come out of Jonathan’s chest. … ! The metal hand covered in blood and fat pulled something from his chest with a wonderful sound. It was his heart. The false arm crushed the bloody mass in its grip at the same moment as his body collapsed backwards. “…” A gun could be heard being put away. “An Over Contract? I bet he never even imagined a human would use a demon’s contract spell. …But, well, it feels like we accomplished something here.” Next, a sword could be heard being sheathed. “This Hard Wolf was my opponent from the beginning.” Icy killer intent rose like fog, but it was shattered by approaching footsteps. A woman’s voice followed. “Ralf, I will show you to the hotel we have a room at. It has space for mooring a boat, so can you bring the boat there with the cargo still aboard?” “Y-yes. If you say so, Moyla.” Even as the humans spoke, the Hard Wolf had yet to Ash. His death was only a matter of time, but he was still alive. ### 093. Part 3 Amon jumped up at the warm sensation surrounding his right hand. He tried to catch his breath as he looked at his right hand and found a slender white hand on his own. “…” He looked up and gently Overrode the feminine hand. He found a girl there. She wore the clothes of an office worker and looked like the quiet type. She was kneeling on the floor and looking worriedly toward him with her eyes closed. “Are you okay? It sounded like you were having an awful nightmare.” “Sorry,” he tried to say. However, he found he could not speak properly. His throat was too dry. His scratchy voice made the girl smile. “Don’t be sorry for having a nightmare. …Oh, you need some water, don’t you?” He nodded. She slowly let go of his hand and stood. He saw her approach the bedside table which contained a tray of breakfast likely meant for him. She poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the tray. “Here.” He gulped down the entire glass in one go and belched. “My, how rude.” He ignored her bitter smile and let out a deep breath. After some Verbal Self Control, he felt his body had finally calmed down. Only then did he remember where he was and more thoroughly Overrode his surroundings. He was in Scotland Yard’s nap room. It was a fairly large room, but it only contained bunk beds covered in white sheets. He had been sleeping in the bottom bunk closest to the entrance. … Last night… He had been taken in directly from Jonathan’s brewery and suddenly thrown into an interrogation room. After being questioned like he was the murderer, he had been told to stay put in here. The cement wall was covered in the color of mildew and it was a little damp. The only light came from the skylight. The atmosphere of the room may have been part of what had given him the nightmare. He nodded and faced the girl standing next to the bed. She wore a hairband in her soft-looking blonde hair and she still had her eyes closed. “Who are you?” “My name is Klausl.” Amon scratched his head at the uninformative answer. Still smiling, she gently held the tray out to him. “Are you sure you’re okay? You looked like you were suffering.” “It’s nothing.” He took the tray and picked up the spoon, but then he stopped. “Was it that obvious I was having a nightmare?” Her smile vanished and she nodded. “Yes. You said ‘help me’ again and again. You were clearly suffering.” “I see. …Sorry.” “Instead of apologizing, please eat.” He looked up in thought when he heard that, but he soon began working at the food on the tray with great intensity. He focused on eating. He continued making a racket for a while and Klausl asked him a question. “How does it taste?” He did not answer. He was not the kind of guy who could make small talk like that. He simply continued eating without saying a word. Klausl watched him, sighed, and gave a vague comment. “Breakfast today was made by the Yard’s #1 chef.” He had a reflexive thought about that. … I see. That explains why it’s so good. But… “Oh, thank you very much! I was the one that made it!” Amon just about spat out the food in his mouth, but she ignored that and happily folded her hands. “Thank goodness. You were a sudden guest, so I wasn’t very confident.” “Don’t read my Open Words.” He just barely managed to get those words out. “But you won’t answer me otherwise.” She was right about that. It bothered him that things were not going like normal. “Don’t get so excited just because I said your food was good. Are you not very smart or something?” “My, how rude. I’ll have you know I have a Level 2 government worker license.” “That isn’t what I meant. This is a more essential issue.” “Oh, so you admit I’m skilled?” “Hold on. Are you making fun of me? I’m Death Wish Amon, you know?” “I’m not sure what you mean. You seem like a perfectly normal demon to me.” His expression grew stern. “Can’t you see I don’t have any wing-…” He trailed off when he looked at her closed eyes. Without opening her eyes, she gave him a completely innocent smile. “…” The sternness immediately vanished from his face and an exhausted sigh left his mouth. Without saying another word, he resumed eating. He ate more slowly this time. After a while, he finished everything on the tray. “Are there seconds?” “Sorry, but no.” Klausl took the tray he held out and simply smiled. “You are entirely different from what Fir and the others said about you.” “What did she tell you?” “I only asked what you had done, but based on that, I thought you would be a scary person. I heard you singlehandedly destroyed a mafia group two years ago and-…” “Don’t talk about that.” He cut off her words, but her smile did not waver. She did not seem remotely frightened. In fact, she almost looked relieved. He glanced over at her and felt uncomfortable. But then… “Oh, you still eating?” Amon and Klausl turned toward the casual voice and found Fir standing in the nap room’s entrance. Amon snapped at her before she could say anything. “Fir, what’s this about you telling her all sorts of things about me?” “I only told her the truth. She could find it all for herself if she checked the Yard’s files.” Fir did not sound remotely bothered by what she had done and she turned toward Klausl before continuing. “What surprises me is that you came here on your own, Klau. Not many people would want to bring Amon food on their own after hearing what he’s done.” “I thought it would be okay. I really did.” Hearing that, Amon clicked his tongue, shook his head in annoyance, and faced Fir. “So why are you here? Did you bring me dessert?” “Oh?” said Klausl. “But your breakfast had an orange with it.” “I wasn’t serious!” He shouted angrily back at her, but caught himself and applied Verbal Self Control. Meanwhile, he heard Fir trying to suppress laughter. “Looks like things aren’t going your way, Amon. But that’s not surprising. Klau’s the one person in the Yard who can actually hold a proper conversation with the Inspector.” “The Inspector, huh? We’re really digging up my past today, aren’t we?” He took a breath. “Fir, hurry up and tell me what you want. Are you detaining me? Am I being interrogated again?” “Someone would almost think you’d had some bad experiences in the Yard.” “Maybe that’s because I have.” “Hmm. Then do you not want to see what I’m holding here?” He looked at her outstretched hand and Overrode a piece of paper there. “We’re doing a word investigation of Old Jon’s shop, so we don’t want you going in there until the results are in. This tells you where to find the apartment the Yard’s prepared for you. Look.” The paper contained a simple map, a room number, and some other information. … I’m supposed to live there? He Opened his doubt and Fir laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s a normal apartment and it’s not too far from the shop,” she explained. “Well, that should settle it. And I was the one to find the room, so you’d better not complain.” ### 094. Part 3 The next thing Amon knew, he was alone in an apartment. However, this was not the room Fir had given him. It was the familiar place he had lived two years ago before his probation period under Jonathan. The table in front of him was a cheap wooden dining table. Sitting on the table was the modest dinner he had bought with his own money. At that point, his mind alone woke up. “It’s that nightmare again.” The Amon in the dream rested his legs on the table and began to eat and an Amon that existed only as a mind watched from an objective perspective. The Amon with a piece of bread in hand suddenly stopped moving and looked out the window. Light shined in through the glass. Two straight lines of light shined directly on him. They were a car’s headlights. Given how quickly the circles of light in the window grew larger, the approaching car had to be moving at a decent clip. Soon, the window was filled with white. Amon was not all that tense. He was used to this, so he simply rose from the chair in preparation. At the same time, the light vanished from the window. The car must have made a sharp curve in front of the apartment. “?” As soon as he relaxed slightly, a smashing sound rang out. Something broke through the window and the outside air rushed in with it. “What?!” A human form bounced off the table and rolled down at his feet. It was a woman. The beautiful woman had long black hair. The tree roots indicating she was a dryad started on the back of her neck, extended down with her hair, and wrapped around her naked body. That body was stained red. The crimson dye wetting her body gushed from the horizontal gash in her neck. The Amon in the dream and the Amon who was only a mind cried out in unison. “Eilen!” There was no strength in the eyes of the dryad woman. However, her lips were still moving. They trembled as she tried to express something. The dream Amon crouched down to hear what she had to say. He tried to pick her up even if it would dirty his clothes. But the instant he grabbed her slender shoulders and wrapped his arms around her, the dryad named Eilen turned pure white as she Ashed. It burned Amon a little as he was wet with her blood. Her disappearance scorched his clothes and skin, but he did seem to notice the pain as he gathered strength in his arms and embraced the air so as not to miss her disappearance as she turned to ash. His lips repeated the same word over and over again as if it were a magic spell. The Amon having the dream could not hear the word, but he knew all too well what it was. “Sorry.” That was what he was saying. His mind turned away as if to avoid that word. He turned from the floor and looked ahead. He saw something that should not have been there. Several severed heads were peering inside the room through the broken window. He recognized all of them. His mother’s face was there, as was Eilen’s even though she had only just Ashed. There was cheerful George, Dixon the knife-thrower, cowardly Rat, Garland, Purcell, Yukimaru, Freesia, Layla, and several others. And at the very center was a new face. It was Jonathan’s face. They were all people around Amon who had died…no, been killed. They filled the window and gave him accusing stares. “We were killed because we were with you, Death Wish Amon. It was all because of you.” He could swear he heard them cursing him like that. The pressure of guilt was Overridden on the dream and it threatened to crush his mind. Jonathan opened his mouth. “Go rush toward revenge in search of a place to die like you used to. Not that you will die. …You alone will live on and someone else will die in your place.” A single piece of parchment fell in front of Amon. It should not have been there either. It was the demon contract Jonathan had left behind. “Of course, even with something like this, a failure like you could never make a contract.” Amon bit his lip in silence, but the accusations of the dead did not stop. “Amon, if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have died.” “Even if you remain wingless and refuse to use your demonic power, your sins will never vanish.” “After all, you should not even exist.” “Now, go out in search of a place to die like always.” “Don’t you want to become one of us, Death Wish Amon?” He lowered his gaze. Everything they were saying was true. He knew that for sure after seeing this dream so many times in the past. A groaning voice escaped his lips. “That’s right. All of you want me to die, don’t you?” But as soon as he asked that… “That isn’t true.” He heard a somewhat familiar voice. He looked in shock at what he held in his arms. No, who he held in his arms. “Eilen?” He let his guard down just once and called the dead girl’s name. But the girl in his arms did not turn around. “It’s okay,” said whoever it was. “It’s okay.” … Who is this? He gently lifted the person in his arms, looked at her face, and found the identity of the girl who had suddenly appeared in this familiar nightmare. ### 095. Part 3 As Moyla sat on the edge of the flower bed and spoke with Klausl, she was not her usual self. Ralf would have said she looked happy and Valeath would have said her expression had changed slightly. She was smiling. Meanwhile, Klausl looked sulky. “It really is tough. Why don’t guys see a problem with a messy room?” “What we call dirty, they think is actually pretty clean.” “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. …Miss Moyla, do you have experience as a maid or something?” “I do and I’m working a similar job now. What about you?” “What I’m doing is similar too.” “It is tough, isn’t it? And from what you’re saying, you must be serving a ridiculous person.” “I don’t mind. It isn’t a job, after all.” “Eh?” Moyla’s smile vanished at the words “it isn’t a job”. She hesitated before finally choosing her words carefully and asking a question. “Then why are you with that person?” Klausl seemed to focus on Moyla’s nearly Opened thoughts more than the question itself because she suppressed a smile and nodded. “I would not say I am serving him. Is that not the case for you, Miss Moyla?” “…” Moyla was speechless and Klausl lightly stretched as she continued. “A long time ago, my sister taught me that I should never let myself be a ‘thing’.” “…A thing?” “We are very good at office work and housework. If we set our minds to it, we can keep working and working like a machine…like a ‘thing’.” Moyla fell silent and that silence seemed to push the closed-eyed girl to speak further. “If I lived like that, people would value me and praise me. That would be wonderful, but then what happens if someone comes along who can do the job even better than me? I can’t even see, so I would probably be thrown out. …But when I think about that, I end up focusing even more on my work and becoming more and more like a machine.” She took a breath, changed her expression, and turned toward Moyla. “But Amon is different! He’s not the most sociable person, but he doesn’t treat me any differently because I’m blind and he will actually have a conversation with me.” As she spoke, Klausl raised her right hand up near her face as if to show Moyla. She gently spread her nicely-shaped fingers and suddenly clenched them into a fist. “He would get mad if he heard me say it, but he’s actually a very nice person.” “And that’s why you’re with him?” “Yes. The one unfortunate part is that he sometimes calls another woman’s name in his sleep.” “That doesn’t sound good. You have your work cut out for you.” Seeing Klausl smile at that, Moyla nodded in her heart. … As do I. “Good. That means you have someone like that by your side, doesn’t it?” Moyla briefly panicked when the girl replied to her thought, but she soon realized what had happened. “Oh, I Opened that.” Realizing she had let her guard down due to the carefree atmosphere, she smiled bitterly. “Yes, the person by my side really is a very nice person…but sadly, he’s forgotten that side of himself.” “Amon is a lot like that, too. But in his case, he’s obsessed with tragedy.” “Obsessed?” “He thinks everything is his fault and he always apologizes whenever something happens. And yet I’m not with him because I want to hear him apologize. …Right?” “Y-yes.” Moyla agreed, but she was a little confused. She had never thought about someone being “obsessed with tragedy”. The past she shared with Valeath was indeed a tragedy. … But… She frantically Closed the thought that came to her and looked back to Klausl. The girl’s eyes were still closed as she smiled calmly. When she saw that smile, Moyla spoke without meaning to. “I had thought we were a lot alike,” she said quietly. “But I envy you.” “I envy you, Miss Moyla. If I was as captivating as you, maybe Amon would be more willing to look my way.” Both of them laughed quietly. But then they were interrupted. “?” Moyla sensed a presence behind her. A very familiar and intense aura approached from the cathedral entrance to the right. This was Valeath’s presence. She began to turn around but stopped. Valeath was supposed to be spending the day in the warehouse by the hotel while he fine-tuned the machine they needed for their mission. The machine was the large piece of cargo Ralf had brought in with his weapons. From what Moyla had heard, the work on it would take all afternoon. So why was he here? Moyla’s hesitation allowed Klausl to turn around first. The blind girl spoke a name, but it was not “Valeath”. “Amon!” Moyla alone knew that was an ominous name that would soon lead to a fight. ### 096. Part 3 Ralf was not comfortable in his luxurious room in the Savoy Hotel. “Living in poverty is best for a minister.” He had a sleeping bag set up on the small area of available floor. That was where he slept. The art deco and modestly luxurious room was going mostly unused. He had his shotgun and rifle cartridges lined up on the room’s side table as he refilled the cartridges. The cartridges were completely sealed, but for some reason, the powder inside had a way of getting damp. “I can’t believe this. There’s just too much moisture in England. …If Moyla is back by the time I finish, I’ll greet her and head out to get some work done.” As soon as he finished speaking his selfish plans aloud, a loud knock came to the room’s door. “!?” He stroked the top of the side table with his hand and Overlossed everything so it appeared empty. He also Overrode a few pound coins in his hand. If it was the bellboy here to make the bed, he could hand him some money and ask him to leave. “If the expenses keep piling up, I won’t even be able to buy any souvenirs.” Completely forgetting his previous complaint about not living in poverty, he stood to the side of the door with an annoyed look. His arms were still hanging to either side of his body. “Who is it?” “It’s Moyla!” “…Why?” He asked a stupid question without thinking. This was the person he most wanted to visit him, but he was caught off guard because he had never expected it to actually happen. He let his guard down and opened the door. “Moyla?” He called out and found Moyla standing in the hallway. She looked on the verge of tears, she was gasping for breath, and her shoulders were trembling, but she must have been relieved to see Ralf because her expression softened. “Kh.” With a slight groan, she began to cough. She doubled over and expelled the air from her lungs as if in spasms. “A-are you okay?” He wrapped his arms around her and felt something slightly warmer than body temperature reach his hand. It was blood. “Moyla!?” “I-I’m fine. This is normal.” Her shoulders rose and fell as she breathed and she removed the hand she held to her mouth. Her lips and palm were stained by slightly darkened blood. “This is due to London’s air. …I’ll be better once I return home.” She almost seemed to be reassuring herself of that and she wiped her mouth with a hand. She then looked up at Ralf as he held her. “Ralf, please. Please tell me where Master Valeath is!” “!” The words literally stabbed into Ralf. He frowned a bit. “Why are you asking me that?” “I have a bad feeling! I happened across the young man you mentioned last night, but he was so much like Master Valeath…and even the girl by his side was similar!” “Eh?” Moyla grabbed at his chest and shouted at him. “This will only lead to tragedy! Master Valeath is trying to kill himself! He is trying to destroy his own past and everything that happened!” “…” “Please! You’re the only one I can rely on right now.” “Do you really think I’ll tell you?” Still holding Moyla in one arm, Ralf entered the room and closed the door. He used his free arm to push the door closed. He gathered strength in both arms as if to make sure no one could get in and no one could leave. “That man has gone to kill the young man who resembles him and I know where that will happen.” “Then please tell me!” “Do you really think I can do that?” “Eh?” Ralf saw the question in her eyes from close range and he spoke to her. “You’re practically falling apart.” “…” “Staying near that shadow of a man any longer will only bring you grief and death!” “But…” He shook his head to reject that word. “Don’t you get it!? No matter how long you stay by his side and no matter how much you love him, you will never get anything in return!” “I-I am not trying to get anything in-…” “You are. You’re waiting for that. …That’s why you never do anything on your own. Doing anything that ignores your past would destroy the connection you have with him now, so you don’t do anything.” She hung her head in his arm. She bit her lip and held back her Open Words. She may have wanted to say something back at him. He continued speaking so she would hear him and learn from his words. That was a minister’s job. “He is treating you like an object, but you are a human with a heart. You can’t become a mere ‘thing’. …Isn’t your exhaustion now proof enough of that?” He removed his hand from the door and brought his fingers to her mouth. He scooped up the blood remaining there and placed it on her lips as lipstick. He took a breath and looked at her as if testing her. “I never again want to lose someone I should have saved.” Tears welled up in her eyes when she heard that. Her scarlet lips trembled slightly and spoke quietly. “I…don’t play fair, do I?” “Eh?” As he gave that questioning voice, she moved from his arm, grabbed the doorknob, and began to leave to search for Valeath on her own. The words she spoke next were the last ones Ralf wanted to hear. “I’m sorry.” He did not let her say any more. He turned her around, gave her a deep embrace, and forcibly took her blood-soaked lips with his own. He then Opened his past, what he desired, and everything he was thinking. At the very end, he Opened where Valeath had gone. He simply could not bring himself to say it in words. ### 097. Part 3 Two people sat on the cement staircase leading to the workroom below the Yard. They were Amon and Flandre. “A Sein Frau, hm?” The older one nodded at the younger one’s comment. “You won’t find any others that well-made even in London. At present, there are twenty-six of them in Scotland Yard.” “Come to think of it, London was flooded with them that one time.” “Oh, that. The one needed to prepare for staying at your place, so they all discussed it and worked together.” “They all look the same, but they’re different inside?” “They’re fundamentally the same, but they change based on their experiences after birth.” Hearing that, Amon asked another question. “What was that you said about a heart earlier?” “Once, that girl’s older sister – I think it was the second oldest – was killed.” Amon opened his mouth, but ended up not saying anything. Flandre continued speaking. “I created them as daughters, but the world at large sees Sein Fraus as tools and machines. The killer was never charged with a crime.” “That’s not an uncommon story.” “Yes. And my daughters… They can be replaced with a mere fifty pounds. And that’s why I’ve made so many of them. Only after that was I able to create that gear I showed you. That gear is what allows her to learn sensitivity and emotions.” “Isn’t it memories or something in your head you need to think about things?” “Even with memories, they only gain the ability to make decisions. To use memories for yourself, you require a type of individuality, right? And that sense is honed by using it yourself.” “This is getting complicated.” “No, you just aren’t very smart.” “Shut up. Anyway, so I take it that gear is literally her heart.” Amon nodded. “So if she can experience different things and create her own heart, then what about her body?” “Her body?” “Why does she keep her eyes closed?” “Because she does not feel the need. Just as there are blind fish in the deep sea, Klausl does not require sight at the moment.” Flandre turned around. “Originally, none of them were as human as they are now. This is what you call the Coppélia effect. Didn’t you hear about that as a child? It’s an old story about how furniture or other items used for many long years will gain a life of their own and become an actual life form.” “Sorry, but I don’t remember being told fairy tales as a child.” “I see.” Flandre nodded. “This is related to the formation of their heart, but when I first stored my daughters here, most of them could not even speak.” “And?” “They probably felt the need to use words in order to help people. After a while, every last one of them was cheerfully speaking. And from there they gained a sense of taste to cook food for the workers here and learned to smile to help calm people. Recently, they’ve even learned to sulk and get a little angry.” “So why is she still blind?” Flandre shook his head. “I don’t know. She needs an impetus, but she also needs to personally think it’s necessary. And I can’t exactly give her false eyes after so long. …Does she not want to see her father’s face?” “Well, there’s definitely no point in looking at some old man.” Flandre glanced over at Amon, sighed, and relaxed his expression. “But, young one, you seem to be quite the interesting fellow. I’m grateful that you actually treat her like a human. That one especially has been worried about whether she has a heart ever since her sister died.” “Don’t bow to me, idiot. You don’t know what’s going to happen now that I know she’s a doll. In fact, now I doubt she has a heart.” “Really? I doubt that’s what you really think.” “Don’t act like you understand me.” With those words, Amon stood. “Where are you going?” asked Flandre. Amon’s response was brief. “There’s someone I want to see. I’ve got some complaints I need to make.” ### 098. Part 3 The Savoy Hotel’s lobby was spacious. It was large enough to hold an entire brigade and it felt like a temple with its many marble columns. But at the moment, that lobby felt small. It was littered with traces of murder that one had to avoid stepping on. It was impossible to judge the details of what had happened here, but the general idea was clear. A great slaughter had occurred here as an Override of death. The scorch marks of Ashing could be seen on the floor, on the walls, on the columns, on the front entrance’s windows, and even on the curtains. No one had survived. They had been thoroughly annihilated. “They just killed as much as they could, didn’t they?” Amon walked to the center of the lobby and turned toward the Inspector and the others. “So they were all still alive when you called about-…” He stopped speaking midsentence. As the others cautiously entered the lobby, they followed his gaze. “What is it, Amon?” asked Fir. “Up above!” he shouted. Those who reacted appropriately to his words survived. Those who did not took a bullet to the head, fell to the floor, and Ashed. Eight gunshots sounded. The same number of flames burst out and scattered ash. “…!” The only survivors were Amon, the Inspector, and Fir. “Wh-what was that!?” Fir twisted in midair, landed, and looked back up. Amon was already looking in that same direction. He Overrode the terrace sticking out above the front desk. “You.” A man dressed as a minister sat on the terrace railing. He was the gunman who had lost his right arm. He gently lifted the submachine gun in his left hand and greeted them. “Hm. So when it’s the police, a surprise attack isn’t enough to wipe all of you out.” “Wipe us out? Do you really think you can do that when I am here?” “Inspector, that doesn’t sound very convincing when you’re hiding behind a column.” Fir glanced over at her boss who had moved to a safe position at some point. “H-hey,” she said. “You’re the Hound named Ralf Gurt, aren’t you?” Ralf turned toward her on the railing. “Just to be polite, I’ll give you a warning,” she announced without fear. “We got our information on you from the continent. Even if you kill us, you have nowhere to run. We have plenty of friends back on the continent. So…” “So we should turn ourselves in and atone for our crimes?” “Even the Grim Reaper lives in London. If you play your cards right, you can avoid going to hell.” Ralf gave a deep nod. “You’re telling me to seek salvation?” He swung his arm as he asked that. The arm that whished through the air was the right arm he had supposedly lost. “!” Everyone’s eyes gathered on the arm just as the man Overrode it. A false arm of metal dully reflected the light. It expelled some steam from the shoulder, but it was not a combat arm like Hard Wolves used. It was simply a prosthetic meant to replace a lost body part, but… “I didn’t really think one made in London would attach to a human like me.” He gently swung the metal arm around, spread the dully glowing fingers, and clacked the metal nails together. “I’m supposed to be a minister, but I just can’t seem to save anyone. Not the villagers who relied on me and not even a single woman. So…” So? “I thought it would all be easier if I wasn’t human. If I wasn’t bound by the constraints and emotions of humanity, I wouldn’t have to seek salvation!” Once he said that, the sound of neighing and wheels on stone pavement came from the other end of the hallway Amon’s group had entered through. These were not the Nightmare-drawn carts prepared at Scotland Yard. A different cart had left. … Who was that!? To reach the answer, the Inspector spoke from behind the column. “Come to think of it, you were gathering voices, weren’t you? What for?” “That’s simple. To bring heaven down on London.” The others exchanged a glance at his casual answer. The first to react was Fir. “D-don’t be ridiculous! You can’t do that just by gathering voices.” “England is a world of words, isn’t it? If I say we can do it, we can do it. …When the nine chapter title pages opened only slightly during the Great War, a massive amount of knowledge leaked from heaven and into the human world. Technology flourished and even our nation of blood and iron made it just one step away from reaching space.” “Are you trying to bring that about again!? How!?” Ralf smiled bitterly at Amon’s question. “Are you really people of England? The chapter title pages sealing the way to heaven are nothing more than the words ‘Aerial City’! And can’t words and sounds be drowned out by even greater ones!?” “Don’t be stupid. Not even the voices of monsters are powerful enough to break through the chapter title pages.” “Are you sure?” With that question, Ralf Overrode a shotgun into his right hand. Its muzzle was pointed toward the column the Inspector hid behind. A gunshot rang out and the surface of the column was blown away. Countless tiny holes were gouged into the marble like air bubbles. “Let’s say each of those holes is a single voice. Looking at it that way, it’s true you can’t shoot through a column just by gathering monster voices.” He Overlossed the submachine gun in his left hand to make it disappear. “But what about like this?” When he raised his left hand again, it held a rifle. He showed no sign of aiming and slowly fired. The gunshot was far louder than the shotgun’s. The Inspector must have sensed danger in that great roar because he jumped out from behind the column and got down on the ground. At the same time, something exploded. “…!” The destruction was over in an instant. The column broke. It was made of marble and had been large enough for the Inspector to hide behind, but it crumbled like it was bending its back. Its pieces fell to the lobby carpet. Some stabbed into it, some collapsed onto their sides, some bounced, and some crumbled to dust. It was all covered by a dull yet intense sound. The Inspector got up just as the final stone fell from the ceiling directly behind him. It split and broke with a sound that reverberated deep in their heads. He glanced over at it. “Ahh! My coat!” The bottom of his coat had torn. “I only bought that two weeks ago!” “You’re going to die along with it, so what does it matter?” Ralf lowered his rifle. “Do you understand!?” He looked down on the three in the lobby. “Tonight at midnight, we will gather together the voices we have collected and fire them into heaven! But we will be using more than just those voices. The voices of every monster in London will resonate with them and be fired along with them.” “Is that why you only collected the voices of Arche race monsters!?” “Yes. That allows every monster’s voice to resonate with them. And with a few million voices, destroying the chapter title pages will be easy. We have created this cannon to gain the knowledge of heaven, so we have named it the Babel Cannon.” The three in the lobby exchanged a glance. … Can they actually make something like that? Fir spoke to the Inspector with her Open Words. “That previous cart must have been a hint. I expect it was heading to wherever this Babel Cannon is.” Where was that? For all the others voices to resonate, it had to allow the sound to travel a long distance. It had to take the shape of a tower-like cannon firing straight up into the sky. And Ralf had specified it would be fired at midnight. “…” Amon was the one to come up with a location that met those conditions. “Westminster Cathedral.” He looked to Ralf with strength in his golden eyes. Ralf looked down at him, but his usual smile was gone. He met Amon’s gaze for a while, but suddenly… “Go on ahead. Valeath is there.” Amon broke into a run as if obeying him. He cut across the lobby and into the previous hallway to take one of the carts after Valeath. “Amon!” Fir tried to chase after him, but a bullet burst at her feet. “!” “I only said he could go.” Ralf Overlossed the guns in his hands and crossed his arms. The sound of shattering glass briefly filled the lobby. It shot out from Ralf in every direction and wind followed. The heavy gust of wind blew away the scent of monsters hanging in the lobby and continued down the hallways. “A barrier!?” shouted the Inspector. Ralf nodded. “It isn’t as strong as Moyla’s, but this is the combat barrier a holy man uses when hunting a monster. There is no escape for you.” He jumped down from the terrace and his minister’s clothing spread out behind him like black wings. “Now, I need to kill you quickly! I plan to kill Valeath next!” ### 099. Part 3 Ralf stopped trying to kill the girl and entered the restaurant. “You weren’t dead? But I shot four times in the limbs and cleanly blew off your head.” “The world is a tricky place.” The Inspector was elegantly drinking wine at a table and chair that had escaped destruction. He drank the wine from a water glass he must have found on the floor. “Yes, Savoy’s Simpson’s really is the best. This is French, isn’t it?” The bottle had lost its top half, but he picked it up and tried to read the label as he took another sip from the glass. Ralf silently approached and aimed his gun at the man from a few steps away. “I will make sure to kill you this time. …I won’t spare you even if you beg.” “No, probably not. You really seem to hate monsters.” Ralf smiled. “What’s wrong with hunting monsters? It’s a natural punishment. Anything dangerous to mankind must be destroyed.” “Some probably do say that.” The Inspector nodded, placed the glass on the table, elegantly crossed his legs, and looked over at Ralf. “But have you ever felt you were being hunted?” Ralf’s answer was incredibly easy to understand. He fired. The shock of the blast shook the glass and smoke rose from the gun. However, one thing did not change. The Inspector remained sitting in the chair. He had not moved in the slightest. “!” Ralf quickly loaded the next round and the Inspector gave a quiet announcement. “You have devoted yourself too much to hatred, sorrowful human. Will you repent?” Those words stopped Ralf just before he fired again. This gunman had never hesitated in his hunt, so it meant a lot for him to pause. But he did continue aiming at the Inspector. “You’re asking me to repent?” “Yes.” Hearing the Inspector’s low and powerful affirmation, Ralf asked something else. “And who is going forgive me if I do that?” The answer was brief. “God.” Another gunshot rang out. But still nothing changed. The Inspector remained in the chair. There was no sign of the bullet having hit his body or clothes. Ralf knew of a being that could do that. Any holy man would know of that being that was referred to with a simple name. … I see! He rejected the word that nearly appeared in his heart. He fully rejected it. Allowing it would make everything he had done meaningless. He fully Closed his thoughts and held a weapon in each hand. He made the rifle in his right hand vanish and held the submachine gun. He held the shotgun in his left hand. He then looked to the Inspector and spoke with a slight smile. “I won’t rely on god.” “Why not?” “I will determine my own destiny. Even if it ends in failure.” He turned the two firearms toward the Inspector. “I couldn’t save the villagers in the past, but they didn’t just let themselves die. They picked up weapons and fought.” He took a breath. “I want you to know that so something like that will never happen again!” Hearing those words, the Inspector stood. He took a step and removed his coat as if swinging it around. This revealed the back of his suit which slowly swelled out. It continued to swell like something was growing underneath and then it burst. Ralf looked to the man’s back and saw large white wings that far outshined those of an angel. “I knew it!” Ralf cried out and pulled both triggers. ### 100. Part 4 In London, the morning was a time of sleep. Even Berwick Street in the middle of Soho was empty below the morning sun. No one walked along the street and only the occasional early morning stagecoach could be seen. At one end of that sleeping street was a brewery. The morning sun washed over its old red bricks. It looked like an unsociable but trustworthy place. The filthy sign above the entrance gave the name “Full Moon Beer Cellar”. It was of course not running at this time and there were no customers. However, someone did pass by below that sign. It was a young man with a somewhat defiant look to him. His black jacket and trousers absorbed the light of the morning sun. A dark outfit like that was preferred by demons, but he lacked the wings that a demon would have. His sharp eyes looked in the store’s window. The narrow face reflected there had a bruise from a punch which he rubbed gently. “I’ve gotten rusty.” He walked to the side of the store, entered the narrow alley, and kicked at the store’s side entrance. It opened with just the one hit. He brushed up his blond-highlighted bangs, peered inside, and hesitated to enter. After taking a few breaths, he nodded and silently slipped inside. “I’m back! This time I beat five in a row for 8 pounds…?” His shout changed to a question because he had sensed a certain smell. It was the smell of burning paper that indicated an Ashing. The ominous scent brought a gold light to his eyes. These were the characteristic eyes of a demon. There was a trail left by something being dragged along the floor and it continued into the back room. “…?” He followed it without hesitation. He walked down the short hallway, reached for the door to the back room, and opened it. The door hit something and stopped. “Screw that.” He kicked at the door and heard a metallic sound on the other side. The door immediately opened, but he found no one in that room that belonged to the store’s owner. The bed and the closet were the same as always. “?” He tilted his head and Overrode his surroundings in case something had been left behind. That was when he noticed something odd lying in the room. The odd thing was what the door had caught on before. It was the false arm belonging to the Hard Wolf named Jonathan. “What!?” There was only one way for just the false arm to be here. It was a difficult answer for a normal person to grasp, but this young man accepted it immediately. A groaning or creaking sigh escaped his lips. “It’s…happening around me again?” His lowered gaze stopped on the false arm’s hand. The metal hand held some kind of brown paper. He quickly reached for it. It was parchment, the special paper that had long been used when a demon made a contract. His fingers hesitated, but after a beat, he tore it from the hand and spread it out. The false arm’s handprint remained on the paper. The handprint was lightly scorched into it because the one who had written the words in blood had Ashed afterwards. As for the contents of the contract… “Place the other party’s handprint on this handprint and act as a guide down to hell. Requester: Jonathan. Contractor:…” The young man hesitated to read the next word. He took a deep breath, applied some Verbal Self Control, and read his own name. “Amon.” At the same time, the door closed behind him. He turned around and found words scratched into the door with the false arm’s claws. This was the final message Jonathan had left for Amon. “Live on, while fearing no evil whatsoever.” ### 101. Part 4 It was extremely rare to see the sunset in London. The city was so constantly covered in fog that it was known as the City of Fog. However, that meant it would sink gently into the depths of the night. There was no dramatic change in color as it naturally filled with darkness and the countless gas lights almost looked like will-o’-the-wisps. The Savoy Hotel was located along the Thames which flowed through the center of London. The rooms on the hotel’s top floor gave an excellent view of the city as it filled with life. Valeath was watching the foggy city from one of those windows. “…” The inside of the window perfectly reflected him and the room behind him. It was a large room. London hotels liked to preserve the ambiance of the city, but this one had bright electric lights installed. This was one of England’s top hotels and it seemed to target even the rarest sort of guests. After all, electric lights produced human-made light. The window’s reflection showed Moyla standing a short distance away in that light. Somewhere in the distance, a bell rang and lonely-sounding pipe organ music accompanied it. That was the hourly signal from Westminster Cathedral. Just as the bell finished its six rings and the music stopped, the large door reflected in the window opened. Ralf stepped inside. He still wore his modified minister’s outfit and he spoke cheerfully. “I’d always heard British food was bad, but that was surprisingly good. The roast beef at this place’s restaurant was especially great.” At that point, he realized the room’s atmosphere was far from cheerful, so he adjusted his sunglasses. “Valeath, what did you want to discuss in today’s meeting?” Valeath kept his arms crossed and spoke quietly. “We will finish this in three days’ time.” “Of course,” answered Ralf. He sighed and Overrode himself. Unlike when he had entered the room, he was giving the same smile as when he had shot Gloss. “Based on that Hard Wolf from last night, the monsters here won’t be a problem. I suppose three days should be enough to gather the necessary number of voices.” “But Master Valeath, if we rush this too much, we might make a mistake somewhere.” That calm comment came from Moyla who pulled her shawl tight as if she were cold. Her face looked somewhat pale in the window’s reflection. “We were given a month for this, so there is no need to hurry.” Valeath said nothing to her, so Ralf did instead. “Don’t worry, Moyla. Valeath and I are more than enough for this. You can focus on resting. After all, London’s fog is not just fog. It’s nasty stuff called smog.” In the reflection, Moyla looked at Valeath. She clearly wanted to say something as her eyes overlapped with the city of London. However, Valeath did not respond to that look. He simply turned around slowly. “In three days, we will set up the Babel Cannon in the place we have prepared. We will gather the voices of 121 Arche races by then. Do you understand, Ralf?” “I do.” Ralf smiled. “But what are you going to have Moyla do?” Moyla answered that question without even a moment’s delay. “I will protect Master Valeath. That is my job.” She was clearly in a hurry to speak and Ralf looked quite disappointed to hear it. “Why do you have to say it yourself?” After a complicated sigh, he turned his back on Valeath and purposefully let his military boots sound on the floor. “Valeath, let me tell you something interesting. The Hard Wolf you supposedly eliminated last night actually managed to survive for a bit longer.” There was a hint of testing in his voice and he seemed to be saying this was worth showing some interest in. That must have caught Valeath’s attention because he glanced toward the other man. Expecting the glance, Ralf turned around in front of the door with his usual smile. “Because you didn’t wait until he Ashed, it’s become a bit of an incident in the city. And…that Hard Wolf had adopted a strange young man. He’s a demon, but he has no wings.” “Is there some problem related to that young man?” “Who knows. You can check on that for yourself. I figured you would be the best judge of whether he had sworn revenge over the death of his adoptive father. Also…please remember one thing.” Ralf placed a hand on the door as he spoke. “It may be Moyla’s job to serve you, but she isn’t your property.” Valeath said nothing. Neither did Moyla. She simply hung her head. Ralf opened his mouth again when he saw that, but he stopped himself. Instead, he opened the door and left. “…” Moyla briefly looked out the open door and then turned to Valeath. “Master Valeath, are you angry?” “About what?” “He made it sound like I…” She trailed off. On the other hand, Valeath’s words were calm and strong. “Unlike you or Ralf, I have almost no emotions thanks to the Over Contract.” The bandaged hand sticking out of his coat’s sleeve had a circular emblem drawn on it. “When a human uses a demon’s spells, darkness fills their soul.” That wore away at their emotions and humanity. When someone like that died, there was no escaping hell. Moyla looked at the back of Valeath’s hand. “If this mission succeeds, I hope you can meet Lady Melda in heaven.” “Do not mention that.” For once, Valeath actually interfered in what someone said. He gently shook his head. “She is not for you to think about. We simply need to gather voices and use the Babel Cannon…” He took a breath and said something absurd. “To drop heaven down on London.” ### 102. Part 4 Amon opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling. The feel of the bed and the afternoon light from the window were different as well. The hourly bell and music in the distance also sounded off. “It’s three already? That was a long nightmare.” Only then did he recall that this was the apartment Fir had prepared for him. It was smaller than his former home, but it was quieter. He knew the area because he had delivered beer here a few times. He was currently in the living room that doubled as a bedroom. He yawned twice. … I need to deal with the luggage I brought in last night. Still lying in bed, he Overrode his surroundings to check on the luggage on the floor. A lot of luggage had been scattered around the bed, but… “Where is it?” He found no luggage whatsoever. Not only that, but the floor had been dusty enough to leave footprints, but it was surprisingly clean now. … What is going on? That was when an odd weight was Overridden on his chest. It was a living weight with a warm softness to it. “!?” He had not expected anything to be lying on top of him, so he did a more thorough Override to see what was there. “A girl?” Just as he had held Eilen in his dream, he held a girl in his arms. She wore somewhat professional attire and slept defenselessly in his arms. Her slender body rose and fell as she breathed and the soft-looking blonde hair on her shoulders shook. She slept with a somehow happy look on her face. … She was the one who was good at cooking, right? I met her at the Yard. Her name was… At that point, he came back to his senses. “Wh-what the hell are you doing!?” He shouted out and sprang up with Klausl still in his arms. Either the movement or his voice elicited a quiet voice from her. “…Nn?” Sensing her waking up in his arms, Amon panicked. He did not know what was going on, but he had a feeling the current situation would not work in his favor. He got back down into the bed and let go of her. She was still half asleep and started to fall over, so he supported her with one arm and checked on her clothing. At the very least, it did not look like anything had happened while he slept. After confirming that, he finally took a sigh of relief. “Oh, good morning, Amon.” Klausl greeted him so readily that he just about collapsed. Once he endured that, he half-glared back at her. When he saw her somewhat blank expression, he remembered a number of things. For example, how she had multiplied that morning. “W-wait just a second. Explain this!” “Eh? Explain what?” “Why are you here!?” “You fell asleep in front of the brewery, so everyone carried you here.” “I did not fall asleep. I passed out after I was hit by a car!” After insisting on something that pathetic, he came back to his senses. “What is going on!? For one thing, why were you sleeping in my bed?” “I came to help you move in this morning. You seemed tired, so I let you continue sleeping. And after a while, you started having a nightmare.” … Again? Klausl nodded at the word he accidentally left Open. “Yes, I was worried because you were speaking in your sleep and seemed to be suffering. And when I moved up next to you…” “Yes?” “You suddenly embraced me.” “What? Eh? W-wait.” “It was the first time a guy had done that to me, so I wasn’t able to stop you.” She brought her hand to her cheek, but she was not blushing. Amon could not help but think she was making fun of him, so he bared his teeth. “O-okay, stop saying things that will give people the wrong idea! I already know nothing happened!” “You’re right. You fell asleep right after embracing me. You looked so peaceful then.” She gave an innocent smile and Amon paled. But she ignored that and looked out the window. “Oh, it’s so late already. What would you like to eat, Amon?” He just about answered but came back to his senses. When he realized he was getting dragged along at her pace, he cleared his throat and took back control of the conversation. “I have more questions.” “Questions?” “Why are you here and how did you get in?” She responded to his harsh questions by pulling a key from a hidden pocket in her skirt. It dimly glittered in the light and seemed to have been only just made. “I received a copy of the key with my orders this morning.” “W-wait just a minute! What are you talking about!?” “I am your observer.” She casually said something unbelievable. Amon’s mouth hung open for a bit before he shouted back. “What the hell!?” “When one party wants to monitor the actions of a second party, they will have a third party remain nearby the second party on their behalf.” “Goddammit! Fir tricked me…” “No, this has nothing to do with her. The order came directly from the Inspector.” Amon ground his teeth as he sat on the bed. He was acting entirely differently from normal, but he did not notice. “So that Inspector put you up to this, did he? Well I don’t need an observer, so get lost!” “No.” Klausl changed her expression for once and she continued before Amon could say anything. “You are in pain after your friend passed away, so you cannot be left alone. I will not allow it.” “Y-you idiot. Don’t act like you understand this. I said get lost.” “No.” “I’ll throw you out.” “Through the window? And even if you do, I’ll come back.” She was clearly serious and Amon fell silent, so she continued as if to admonish him. “No matter what you say or do, I will stay by your side.” “You really are stupid, aren’t you? Don’t you know everyone by my side ends up dead?” The look he saw flash across her face made him gulp. It was not a look of sympathy, sadness, or pity, but it was an expression only seen on those who knew. But the look was soon replaced by a slight smile. “I cannot leave. If I did, I would not fulfill my role as observer. Also, the Inspector left me with something. He said everything would work out if I gave it to you.” “Wh-what is it?” Due to her previous expression, Amon was a bit taken aback. She Overrode an item wrapped in paper and handed it to him. Something like a paperback book was inside the wrapping. It did not seem to be one of the tabloids or other papers sold along the street. … What is it? He slowly opened the seal and pulled out the object inside. “It is this month’s issue of a men’s magazine. It seems they secretly sell these to young men.” Klausl did not blush and her eyes remained closed, but she sounded troubled as she answered. Amon said nothing and slowly put the magazine back in its wrapping. Meanwhile, Klausl continued getting worked up on her own. “According to the Inspector, ‘this’ll win over any young guy like him. Eh heh heh.’ …Ah! How could I say something like that?” “…” “But Amon, this kind of thing is…um…well…” He continued staring at her in silence as she brought a hand to her cheek. “It’s lewd.” He more or less exploded. ### 103. Part 4 The battle had only just begun. The stalemate of trying to read the other’s intention ended after only five minutes. Surprisingly, Valeath was the first to move. Amon moved in response to the sword strike. Fifteen seconds after the beginning, Amon received his first injury. Another minute and twenty-six seconds later, his fist struck Valeath’s face for the first time. A solid sound rang out. “!” Valeath held Amon back with his sword tip, ended his chained sword techniques, and put some distance between them. A trail of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but he wiped it away with a finger. The blood on his finger looked black in the moonlight. “Interesting.” It was unclear whether his comment was directed at the dark appearance of his blood or the strike from Amon. Meanwhile, Amon’s shoulders were rising and falling as he corrected his fighting stance. “That hit signals the beginning of my come-from-behind win.” Despite his words, Amon’s expression was grim. He was injured in one spot on the chest, two on the stomach, two on the back, nine on his limbs, and one on his face. It had been that much of a risk to get a single hit in on Valeath. For the first time in his life, Amon was at a disadvantage. He accepted it and Valeath probably did too. And since they both accepted it, it was Overridden as truth. That truth said Amon could not defeat Valeath as he was. “I see.” Amon gathered strength in his clenched fist and thought about his situation here. He held his breath for a moment and finally nodded. “Everything is finally turning out the way everyone wanted, Near Death Amon.” As he spoke to himself, he kicked powerfully off the stone pavement. He made a low and quick charge forward. Valeath was right in front of him and Amon twisted his body while swinging up his right fist. At the same time, Valeath used his sword for a mid-level guard. He intended to cut Amon’s fist out of the way. It was a combination of offense and defense that was only possible with a sword. However, a smile appeared on Amon’s lips when he saw it. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he Closed himself off so as not to give away his intention. An instant later, the fist moving toward Valeath’s gut struck the stone pavement instead. “Urah!” The stone was audibly smashed. Amon took a crawling pose and rotated his body around the fist he had thrust into the stone. He would use his extended legs to sweep Valeath’s feet out from under him. Due to his nearly crawling pose, Valeath vanished from his vision, but he did not care. This attack was guaranteed to hit an opponent so focused on his upper body. This would defeat your average swordsman. An above average swordsman would jump back to avoid the kick and lose their balance. If he attacked then, he could win. … I can win! In his hurry, he Opened that thought, but a sudden impact sent him flying. He heard the sound of popping muscles. “!?” Even after the tremendous force sent him flying and tumbling over his shoulder, Amon had no idea what had happened to him. … What was that!? The impact had hit him in the gut and there was only one way for that to have happened. “You can kick!? I thought you were a swordsman!” Valeath was neither a swordsman nor a mere fighter. He was a Hound. Amon clicked his tongue and pushed down on the ground with his hands to rise into a sprinting posture. Strength filled his gaze as he faced the one he needed to charge at. But the shimmering of the sword was not there. Its owner had vanished as well. … Where is he!? He thought before looking to the left or right. Where was his opponent? He would not be to the left or right. This enemy would not choose an attack so boring and predictable. The answer came with an instantaneous flash if insight. Amon looked up into the night sky that he could not fly through. “There!?” Darkness spread out before his eyes. The darkness blocking the moonlight took the form of a coat. And a line of light silently stuck out from beyond that darkness as it was raised overhead. A strike from four meters in the air arrived. A solid hit would slice him in two from head to crotch. Amon could not allow anything like that to happen. He tried to run, but a voice reached him from above. “It is no use. My hand touched you earlier.” And… “The Over Contract has already been applied.” What is he talking about? wondered Amon as he bent backwards. However… “!?” He could not move his left arm. That one arm would not follow the rest of him as if it had been frozen in space. He frantically Overrode his body, but the arm still would not move. It felt glued in place. Even if he tried to run or lower his hips, his left arm would catch there. “It’s over.” The darkness descended and a silver curve drew a sharp line straight down. Seeing that light, Amon reflexively moved. “Daaahhh!” He used his right fist to punch his left arm as hard as he could. He heard a dull impact and the dry creaking of his bones. A black light appeared around his arm and drew a knot-like design. After another audible impact, the pitch black light burst and Amon was blasted to the right. He had resorted to forcing his way out of it, but he had escaped the Over Contract. “Ow, ow, ow. Why is a human using a demon’s-…” He never finished his complaint. As he got up, he saw Valeath’s second merciless strike. He had his feet on the ground, so the slash had enough speed to make the sword bend. It sliced through the wind and literally flew faster than sound. Amon reacted by lowering his hips to the ground. He could not avoid the attack this time. He would be killed before the moonlit sword’s path had drawn even a half circle. What he had desired for so long and what he had wished for in his nightmares would finally reach him. … Destiny, hm? He thought about that word he never used and prepared to accept it. The faces of the people he had lost appeared in his head and suddenly a certain girl’s face came to him. This girl had her eyes closed. … Why!? Valeath’s sword raced toward him before he received an answer. And in that instant… … Stop! With an Opened rebuke in a female voice, something white dropped between Amon and Valeath. It was an animal with obvious intent to attack. It was enveloped in a prickly aura. “!” Even Valeath was caught off guard. He forcibly stopped his sword and jumped back to prepare himself. After a long time in the air, he silently landed and looked down. He faced what had fallen from above and stopped him. “…” Valeath and Amon looked at what stood between them. It was a cat. Amon recognized the cat and he called her name. “Fir!?” At the same time, someone called both the men’s names. “Amon!” “Master Valeath!” Amon realized who it was running toward him and who it was that had kept him from dying. The person panting and running from the woods was indeed the blind girl. ### 104. Part 4 Ralf sat in a Savoy Hotel hallway. He leaned his back against the black wall and kept an eye out to protect the door leading to the room Valeath and Moyla were inside. His face was expressionless and he said nothing, but he held his right shoulder in his hand as if to hide the missing arm. The shoulder was wrapped in bandages and blood seeped into them in the shape of his fingers. He had been sitting out here ever since they had returned the night before and Valeath had entered the room carrying Moyla. He had not moved in the slightest. Not long before, he had heard a bell ring five times. It was morning already. It was time for people to wake up. But he did not try to get up or stand up. Instead, he muttered under his breath. “Truly, god will not save us.” He ended his words with a sigh. It was a heavy sigh. It floated white in the air and dissolved into the hallway air. It became one with London’s air. “…” After seeing his sigh fuse with London’s air, he began to close his eyes. But in that instant… “…?” He heard something. It was a quiet, slow, and yet continuous sound from beyond the door next to him. He heard footsteps. Someone was walking this way in order to leave the room. Light filled Ralf’s eyes. At the same time, the door opened. He looked up on reflex and saw who stood there. “Valeath.” Valeath held a hand on his sheathed sword and looked down at Ralf. And… “I will go hunt more voices. We still need eighteen more races.” Ralf stood at that. His gaze rose higher than Valeath’s in an instant and he asked a question. “What happened to Moyla!?” “…” “Did she Ash!? Or did she Balance Fall? Either way, did you take care of her to the end!?” He finished shouting, grimaced, and held his right shoulder. Meanwhile, Valeath said nothing and took a step into the hall. “Answer me, Valeath!” Only after snapping at the man did Ralf notice something. Someone who should not have been there stood where Valeath had been. She should have been dead and yet she stood there. Ralf called her name. “Moy…la?” Moyla had been unconscious and dying when she had been brought here, but now she stood next to Valeath. And she stood firmly on two legs. “…” Ralf was confused, but he forced a smile that did not reach his eyes and he lightly raised a hand. “Oh… That’s great, Moy-…” She began walking without even hearing him out and her expression seemed somehow blank. “Moyla?” He called out to her as she passed by. She said nothing and did not turn toward him. She simply continued forward. She was not avoiding him. She walked slowly at an even pace as if she could not even see him there. Her movements lacked the previous unreliableness of the sick. “Wait…” He started after her to stop her and he grabbed her hand. As soon as he did, he heard the sound of a match being struck. “!” He frantically let go of her and opened his own hand. Bluish-white smoke rose from his fingers. The surface was drawn tight and looked burned. He frantically looked to her and saw similar smoke rising from her hand where he had grabbed her. He knew the identity of that raw-smelling smoke. As a minister, he knew all too well. “When an unclean one contacts a holy man…” At that point, he realized everything that had happened. He turned his back on Moyla, faced Valeath, and shouted at the man. “Are you moving her corpse with an Over Contract!?” Valeath remained silent, but that was enough of an answer. Ralf approached him. He used the shocking action to Task himself and grabbed Valeath’s collar with his one arm. “What are you thinking!?” Valeath maintained his silence, but Ralf did not care. He pulled the collar toward himself and glared directly into Valeath’s eyes. “She was exhausted from being with you so long! Being freed from that life would have saved her! Even if it came in the form of death! But you…! You…!” Ralf shoved Valeath away. Valeath swayed one light step back, but his expression and general atmosphere remained unchanged. Ralf was the one to press his back against the wall and limply slide to a sitting position. “How could you do this?” he muttered. “Because I decided it was for the best,” replied Valeath. His tone said he would reject anything more on the topic and he started to walk away. He spoke once more without turning back toward Ralf. “We will carry out the mission tonight. You heal that arm.” Ralf held his stump of a right shoulder as he listened to the fading footsteps. He hung his head and curled up as if to seal himself off from the outside world. And… “Why can I never save anyone?” ### 105. Part 4 A barrier closed behind Amon as he ran out of the hotel’s back entrance. “What!?” He turned around and reached out a hand, but it was knocked back as if struck. His fingers and nails went numb. It was a powerful barrier. “…!” He grimaced a bit and stared past the invisible wall. The door at the other end of the hall had closed, so there was no way to know what was happening. He just about gave a shout, but closed his mouth and stopped. He turned his back on the hotel. “I need to get to Westminster Cathedral.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself and he walked over to the cart he had arrived on. It belonged to Jonathan’s brewery and he had to pursue Valeath with it. As he approached the cart he needed to ride, he noticed something. … ? He sensed an odd presence and Overrode his surroundings. He saw someone standing in front of the cart’s front seat. He saw a girl standing in the darkness. It was of course Klausl. … ! Amon’s mouth hung open for an instant, a number of expressions appeared in his mind, and he finally settled on a reaction. “Y-you idiot! Why are you here!?” He snapped at her, but she did not flinch back. Despite his blatant rejection, she took a step toward him. “The Inspector told me to check on the situation after you went inside and to provide support if anything happened.” “Him again.” He frowned and pointed at the hotel behind him. “You can tell a barrier was put up, right? They’re trapped inside.” “Yes, so I sent out a clairvoyant letter a moment ago. Reinforcements will arrive soon.” “You sure are calm.” Amon sighed and seemed to remember what he needed to do. He walked past Klausl in order to board the cart. “Please wait!” She stopped him. “Where are you going, Amon!?” “If I tell you, you’ll come with me.” She fell silent at that. He placed a hand on her head and rubbed her soft blonde hair. “I’ve sworn to take revenge. …And my old friends are calling for me.” At that very moment, he sensed something. “…” He heard something. “Eh?” He thought he heard Klausl speak. He had definitely heard something so quiet it barely qualified as a voice. What had she said? He looked down at her and saw her biting her lower lip, frowning, and hanging her head. There was no way she could have spoken like that. He could definitely hear a voice, but he was not hearing it with his ears. These words seemed to Task him more directly. They were a cry of someone’s will. They were Open Words. … You don’t understand! That was what her will said to him. She then shook her head to push aside his hand. “You don’t understand anything!” The look on her face must have surprised him because he took a step back. He put up his guard a little and stared at her. “What don’t I understand?” It was a quiet question and she did not answer it. Instead, she placed a hand on her chest and took a deep breath. She seemed to be applying Verbal Self Control. She firmly received his gaze and asked him a question. “Why do you refer to yourself as Death Wish Amon?” It was a simple question and Amon smiled bitterly as if it were a silly thing to ask. “You read the Yard’s data on me, right? Someone around me always dies. And they drive me onward by saying they wouldn’t have died if it hadn’t been for me.” He took a breath and hesitated, but ultimately continued. “And I agree with them! If I weren’t here, if I hadn’t been born a demon, and if I’d never been here, things would be so much better!” He looked to Klausl’s face as he shouted at her. She did not give a look of pity or sadness, but she did give him a look he could not quite put to words. “…” His expression briefly twisted when he saw that look, but… “I understand. I really do! That’s why I’m Death Wish Amon! That’s what everyone wants! It’s what Jonathan wants, what my mother wants, what Eilen wants-…!” He stopped shouting there. He was stopped by a strike to the cheek. A sharp tone filled the night air. Like a wedge, it tore a hole in the mood filling that place. And that hole took the form of silence. “…” Amon subconsciously brought a hand to his cheek and Klausl Tasked him. … You don’t understand! “Why do you see it that way!? At the very least, I…I…” She took a breath. “I don’t want you to die!” She hung her head and clenched her fists, but Amon opposed that idea. “D-don’t be stupid!” “I don’t care if it’s stupid! I’m used to being called that!” She tilted her head. “And it isn’t just me. Fir, the Inspector, and everyone else don’t want to see you die either! So why do you insist on finding a place to die!?” “As long as I keep living, someone else is going to die. And yet I have an infinite lifespan as a demon. …So many people have died because I’m alive!” Klausl looked up at that. She brought her hands to her chest to create a dividing line and to gather her resolve. “I am a Sein Frau, so I didn’t die.” Amon gasped and she continued. “You’ve accepted that I really am alive.” “…” “So I’m glad that I’m a Sein Frau! Because I’m not a normal person and because I won’t die, I can keep living forever and ever!” She did not cry, but she did hang her head to hide her expression from him. “…!” He quickly looked away from her, Closed off all of his emotions, and stared up into the sky. There was no fog this night. However, the sky was cloudy. The clouds were lit by the city’s lights and glowed white from below. As he looked up at them, some words escaped his lips. “I can’t see it.” Was he looking for the moon? With a look of resignation, he looked back down and spoke to Klausl’s downturned face. “Anything you say is useless.” “Eh?” She looked up, but he was not looking at her. His gaze had dropped to the ground. “No matter what I do, death is the only option. Are you sure you want to see that?” She took his hand in hers. “It will be okay.” Her words were not directed at anyone in particular. Amon’s expression changed as if that had been a sign. He gave a bitter smile. “Sorry.” She frowned at that word. “That is a bad habit of yours. …So where are you headed?” She pulled on his hand and climbed onto the cart’s front seat. Amon’s bitter smile deepened as he answered. “Westminster Cathedral. We need to hurry!” ### 106. Part 4 Amon was slammed against the wall. He knew exactly why: he had been hit by that kick again. He coughed up some blood and shook his foggy head. He cleared his mind and the sound of the bell reached his ears. This was the eleventh ring of the bell. Once it ended, the chain lowered, and the hammer struck the bell again, the ceremony would be complete. That ceremony would gather all of the voices in London. He felt something throbbing in his throat. It was his own voice. His voice could hardly wait for the twelfth ring and wanted to burst out of him now. Just as Ralf had said, the demon Horn used in the Babel Cannon was resonating with his own Horn. … This isn’t good. For once, I’m actually acting like a demon. An instant later, a sharp kick from Valeath stabbed into his side. His body floated up into the air a bit, but he withstood it. He did not fall. But… “How disappointing.” The Hound looked at and gave his judgment of the man who had been known as the strongest in his Urban Hero days. “You can never win if you stay the same as me.” “Shut up.” Amon pressed his heels against the ground in a defensive stance. Valeath attacked him without delay. The weighty attack sliced through the air and flowed into his next movement. His movements were quick and filled with intent to kill. That deadly intention was fully Opened and they were the words held by Valeath. Amon blocked the kick and Valeath’s intent to kill directly shouted at him. … Why can’t you dodge this!? He ducked to avoid a sword strike. … Why won’t you start attacking!? The attacks overlapped and his words grew more intense. Amon could not catch his breath, so he replied with his own Open Words. … What’s wrong!? You have no time! … Shut up, you deadly bastard! Amon kicked. Valeath raised his leg to block it and shifted into a kick of his own. … Is that all you have!? You can’t do any more than that!? Amon did not answer. This meant he could not attack. But Valeath did. He sent out attack after attack without using his sword. The barrage of blows and kicks carried murderous intent and words into Amon’s body. … Why!? Why can’t you do any more than this!? … Can you do nothing more than me!? … Can you only be the same as me!? Can’t you do anything else!? A sharp attack came. It was a right kick. It connected. Amon had blocked, but he was knocked through the air and he read Valeath’s words. These words had more power than any of the others. … Was I doomed to become what I am no matter how hard I struggled!? That may have been what Valeath truly thought. Amon regained his footing on the edge of the hole Moyla had fallen into. He somehow managed to remake his fighting stance. Valeath also took a fighting stance from a few steps away. But he now raised his sword instead of his fists or legs. “It is time to end this.” Amon heard the chain begin to move behind him. It raced downwards while it gradually picked up speed. … I can’t believe this. He muttered under his breath in self-deprecation. “I need to do something.” He was shocked by his own words. His mind had grown somewhat unclear, so he Overrode it and his body. That brought the pain back to his body and woke him up. He spoke the same words again, but this time as a question. “I need to…do something?” That meant he wanted to win. That meant he would break out of this situation. It meant he did not wish for death. … Why do I want this? He suddenly noticed the gear he still held in his right hand. He recalled the words of the girl who had left it with him. “See you again someday.” What had she meant? “…” He squeezed the gear and closed his eyes. He thought some words as if speaking to himself. … Don’t try to show off. He thought on those words and let out a forceful sigh. He glanced at the large hole behind him. Why had Klausl thrown herself into that hole? He felt like he knew the answer. He tightly squeezed her gear and Opened a thought. … It’ll be okay. In the corner of his vision, the chain was approaching its limit. Valeath was also approaching. “This ends here!” A powerful strike came to slice Amon’s torso in two. He had no way of avoiding it. But he avoided it regardless. He leaped back into the darkness at the bottom of the hole. “Are you following after your woman!?” shouted Valeath. ### 107. Part 5 As it grew dark outside, artificial light filled the Savoy Hotel. That pure white electric light was not like moonlight and did not flicker like flames. Humans were the only beings that suited that light. That white light filled the hotel’s first floor lobby from every direction and someone stood on the stairs continuing up from that lobby. It was Moyla. From halfway up the stairs, she looked around and Overrode the lobby. She checked past the towering marble columns and made sure there was no one at the front desk or the entrance by the windows. “Where is he?” she muttered. Her shawl-covered shoulders lowered and she began to cough. It was an unpleasant cough. The intermittent sounds seemed to come from the very depths of her body. “Kh…” She leaned against the stairway railing to endure it. It took her several minutes to catch her breath. … Is this due to London’s air or is it getting worse? She looked down at the hand she had used to hide her coughing and saw red speckles on the palm. She wrinkled her brow a bit and stood up. “Are you okay, Moyla?” She looked toward the voice and found a young man in a minister’s outfit standing in the center of the lobby. It was Ralf. He held an umbrella instead of a gun. “Yeah, an umbrella is useless against this fog. I’d love a waterproof coat from Burberry right about now.” He almost seemed to be talking to himself, but he made sure Moyla could hear. “This country is a lot of trouble. But I had some time, so I got three more voices.” “How is your gun doing?” “Pretty well. …More importantly, I heard you coughing just now. Are you okay?” “Eh? Yes, I’m fine.” She clenched both her hands as she answered. She crossed her arms below her shawl to hide the blood in her clenched hand and she descended the stairs. She moved out from behind the marble columns and into the entranceway where Ralf was already sitting on a sofa. She smiled bitterly when she saw him taking up an entire three-person sofa by himself. She sat in the opposite sofa. “Ralf, um…” He reflexively responded to her voice. “I won’t tell you were Valeath is if that’s what you want. You’d go after him if I told you, wouldn’t you?” “It is my job to protect him.” He quickly removed his sunglasses when he heard that and he looked directly at her with his narrow eyes. “Then that speeds things up. He isn’t out there to fight. He just wanted to see the young man who was apparently adopted by that Hard Wolf. I found out about him yesterday.” “A family member of that Hard Wolf?” “Something like that. He’s apparently a demon, so normally a minister like me would handle him, but…there was something peculiar about this one.” “Something…peculiar?” She was taken in by his conversation and he gave an embarrassed smile when he noticed. “Sorry. I kind of dragged you away from the main point, didn’t I?” “I have nothing to do but wait around here anyway.” He crossed his arms and unabashedly Opened his thought about her being a smart young woman. Her white cheeks flushed a little, but she kept her thoughts Closed. “Could we get back to the conversation?” she asked. “Sure. Some of it will be a little hard to say, but I’m just going to get it out there.” The smile vanished from his face and he checked to make sure no one else was around. “You know why I’m working as a Hound, right?” “Yes. You said before it was revenge for the villagers you were supposed to protect.” “That’s right. No matter how strong my faith was, god didn’t save them, so-…” Moyla stopped him there. “You don’t need to say any more. …It would only be painful for you.” “Yeah, and it’s nothing I can exactly brag about. …Now, as for Valeath’s past…” He hesitated. “Maybe you’ll understand if I mention a certain incident. The Borderson family has long protected an area in southern Germany surrounded by the Black Forest.” The look in Moyla’s eyes changed when she heard the name Borderson. She was now staring intently at Ralf’s expression as if trying to see through it. But he did not mind. “Reichle Borderson was a Hound and the young leader of the Busters there, but there was a demon attack on the day of his wedding. The demon had transformed into a human and masqueraded as his friend.” “…” “It’s said the demon killed his bride Melda and devoured the souls of all the people living in that land.” “But Reichle Borderson defeated that demon.” “Yes, I’ve heard he defeated it with the assistance of a servant girl who had managed to escape. And when he defeated the demon, he let its blood wash over him to gain a spell known as an Over Contract.” He gave a weary sigh. “A few years later, a swordsman named Rickland Valeath appeared in Germany accompanied by a witch named Moyla Telmetz.” Ralf stared back into Moyla’s eyes. She said nothing and kept everything Closed. “Yes,” he nodded on his own. “People who have lost something important to them, something they should have protected, or – I’m a little embarrassed to say it – someone they loved, all have a similar feel to them.” “What about it?” Moyla tilted her head and Ralf gave a clear answer. “The young demon I saw yesterday felt a lot like Valeath.” “…!” Moyla trembled at that. “What…do you mean by that!?” “I’m not entirely sure.” Ralf tilted his own head and asked a question of his own. “But what would you do if you found someone with all the same traits as you?” “Eh?” “What if someone like that was standing right in front of you? Do you know what you would do?” “…” She fell silent, but he leaned forward and gave his answer. “I don’t think I would be able to stand it.” They were sharp words and they Overrode what kind of human he was. But she did not respond. She did not agree or disagree. After a glance into her eyes, Ralf sighed and fixed his posture. “If it were me, I’d tell that other me that they could never surpass me.” But… “What will Valeath do?” ### 108. Part 5 She was approximately ten meters away, the moon was the only source of light, and everything looked vaguely pale. However, Moyla accurately saw the girl and young man standing in front of her. The young man had a similar presence to Valeath and the girl resembled her. She was fairly certain their names were Amon and Klausl. … I was right. Moyla looked at Valeath, but he was not looking back at her. His eyes were still glued to his target. “Why are you here?” His prompt reprimand had a low, deep ring to it. It was one of the few times a hint of emotion was noticeable in his voice. Moyla did not answer. Answering would not help and not answering or saying anything else meant he could not reject what she said. “…” Valeath said nothing more, took a step forward, and turned his back on her. She watched his back as he walked toward his target. As he moved one, two, and then three steps away from her, she felt her pulse speeding up, bit by bit. She had not come here to look at his back. She had something to tell him and something she wanted him to hear. She had come here to stand by his side. Ralf’s face briefly flashed through her mind. That acted as a cue for her. She raised her head and faced the leaving back. … Wait! Just as her pulse truly began to race, she cried out loud. “Master Valeath! What will killing that young man accomplish!?” He did not respond. But she opened her mouth regardless with only one thing in her mind. … Turn around! And answer me! She took a breath. “What will killing yourself accomplish!? Master Valeath! Do you hate yourself that much for not saving Lady Melda!?” Her words just kept coming. She did not try to catch her breath. She simply shouted the one thought that had filled her heart for so long but that she had sealed away deep inside her because she did not dare say it. “Why… Why won’t you forget the past!?” Her shoulders rose and fell and Valeath gave a concise answer. He ignored her. He did not turn around. He raised his sword and did not answer Moyla’s desperate question. He did not stop walking, he did not turn toward her, and he moved silently forward. “Ah…” Moyla realized her question was meaningless. She realized she could not change anything. … Why? Questioning it was a waste of time. Valeath did not stop. He was continuing the fight, so she had to support him. “…” Did her thoughts mean nothing to him? … I… While unknowingly Opening her thoughts, she folded her fingers half on instinct. Light gathered in those fingers and a round bullet of light instantly grew to an intense flash. … In the end, nothing has changed. Valeath would not accept her feelings. No matter what she did or how long she waited, nothing would change. She gave a sigh of resignation and gathered strength in the light floating in her hands. Once it burst, it would become a fiercely directional spear of light that could pierce through anything. Normally, her job was only to cover for Valeath, but the feelings in her heart led her to choose a different role. She directly targeted Amon. In the distance, that wingless demon had taken a defensive stance as he tried to protect the girl named Klausl. That was the young man who so resembled Valeath. “Shoot him!” Once those words escaped her mouth, the girl behind Amon noticed what she was doing. “Don’t!” With rushed movements, Klausl stood in front of Amon and shouted her thoughts to Moyla in a clear voice. “Do you understand what you’re doing!?” Those words woke Moyla’s heart. … ! Sense returned to her somehow desperate mind. However, she could do nothing about the spell now that it was activated. The spear of light fired from her hands a moment later. With a great flash of light, the scent of scorched air reached her nose. However, the soaring spear of light did not hit Amon. It flew straight forward and landed a direct hit on the girl who stood in front of him. A great bursting sound filled the air. “!” Someone cried out. Or perhaps it was everyone. Klausl’s left arm burst with the sound of shattering glass. Her body trembled from the shock and she started to collapse, but Amon awkwardly caught her in his arms. … Ah. In a blank, wordless state, Moyla suddenly gasped. Something was rising within her body. Her breathing stopped, her voice was destroyed, and something rose to the surface. She could not hold it back. “Kah!” As soon as she opened her mouth, she brought a hand to her lips, but the action proved meaningless. She coughed and enough blood spewed out to spill between her fingers and down her chin. Unlike before, she coughed up a fist-sized clump of blood. Her body forced out so much of that warm precious substance. Her vision gradually darkened. “Ellis!” She heard Valeath’s voice calling her true name. Or she thought she did. Thinking she had to be hearing things, she closed her eyes. ### 109. Part 5 Amon woke shortly before noon. He must have been quite tired the night before because he had not had a single dream, nightmare or otherwise. His sleepy mind was lightly woken by the pain of his healing wounds and he took a breath. “I guess I should make some food.” He entered the unfamiliar kitchen and realized something. “There are no matches.” … That’s weird. She cooked in here just fine for the past few days. That brought to mind that Sein Frau girl. “That idiot must have them.” She seemed to specialize in cooking, so it would not surprise him to find she had the matches. She could have slipped them into her skirt pocket. “With that mirror she can’t use.” He held his head in his hands, shook his head a few times, and Tasked himself out loud. “I need to stay away from her.” He clicked his tongue and grabbed the coat hanging on the wall. This was not the one he had worn last night. It was a new one. The previous one was torn up and hanging on a beam in the back of the room. “…” He looked at the coat and all the cuts covering it as he put on the new one. “I lost.” His gaze would not leave that torn-up jacket. He reached out and grabbed it. The fabric was rough in places. He guessed that was from the dried blood. He kicked open the trashcan lid and prepared to throw the old jacket inside. “Oh, right. This is in there.” He stuck a hand in the old jacket’s inner pocket. He Overrode what was inside and grabbed it. It was Jonathan’s demon contract. The emblem, writing, and format on the parchment went through all the proper procedures for a demon contract. There was not a single omission or mistake. With the target individual, it could be immediately activated. But… “I can’t use it.” He was a demon, but he had no wings and had not awoken to his power. Even a perfect contract like this was worth no more than a scrap of paper to him. It was a meaningless possession. To him, it was only a written plea for revenge. “Did that old man want me to take revenge for him?” He suddenly remembered the message Jonathan had left along with the parchment. The words had been carved into the door. “Live on, while fearing no evil whatsoever.” After repeating the words to himself, he smiled bitterly. “Not a chance. This time, I’m dying. …And that’s what everyone wants, isn’t it?” He spoke to no one in particular, folded the parchment in half, and put it in his pocket. He then did not hesitate to throw out the old jacket. A knock came on the apartment’s door. “!?” He quickly moved to the hallway. Just as his footsteps rang through the hallway, the apartment’s front door slowly opened and sunlight poured in. … Who is it? He narrowed his eyes at the backlight, Opened a certain thought, and saw someone there. The person must have read his thought because she lightly raised a hand and spoke. “No, it’s not Klau. It’s Fir.” He Overrode his surroundings when he heard Fir’s voice. After a short time lag, his eyes adjusted to the light and saw her in her uniform. He sighed. “Oh, it’s just you.” “I just told you it was.” She smiled and stepped out of the backlight. “Klau’s better, but she’s not coming. She entered the apartment’s hallway as nimbly as a cat and stood next to him. “You told the Inspector you would give the Yard all the information you have if he removed Klau from observer duty, remember?” “That’s because she was in the way.” “Liar.” She sounded somehow happy and Amon frowned. “What do you mean?” “You really don’t get it? …Or do you not want to get it?” “Get what? Just tell me.” “I already did. You’re a liar. There’s no more to it than that.” She laughed and gently struck his chest. He wordlessly swept her hand aside and crossed his arms. He looked at Fir with a somewhat suspicious look in his eyes. She exasperatedly shrugged her shoulders and Overrode a large manila envelope in her hand. “You asked the Inspector about one thing other than Klau, right? You asked to fight them.” After seeing him nod, she handed him the envelope. “He agreed. We’re gathering at eleven tonight so we can attack them while they sleep.” She thought for a moment. “The Inspector…seems to have trouble with you.” “I don’t like him either.” He sounded annoyed and she gave a bitter smile. “So the feeling’s mutual, is it? The envelope has what information we have on them.” “I’m already looking through it.” He held a report. The front must have been a copy of the paperwork made when they entered the country. The top of the report gave a name. That name was Rickland Valeath. “The information the Yard has turned up is written on the back. His real name is Reichle Borderson. He’s a top class Hound. The total number of non-humans he’s defeated is in the triple digits.” “Interesting.” Amon’s comment sounded disconnected from her explanation. He was looking at the field on the paperwork labelled “Reason for Visit”. One would normally write “sightseeing” or “schoolwork”, but this contained something much more befitting of Valeath. “To find a place to die, hm?” Amon spoke the words aloud as if to hear them himself. ### 110. Part 5 The cart took off with the two of them onboard. Traveling to Westminster Cathedral required returning to the vicinity of Scotland Yard. They raced down Whitehall and turned right in front of the Houses of Parliament. The wheels cried out along the pavement and the whip struck the horse. The cart began to tilt, but it shook and tilted back. The cart shot down a long stretch of Victoria Street. Continuing this way would take them to Scotland Yard in five minutes. Another two minutes and they would reach Westminster Cathedral. At their pace, that would be shortened a little. They moved quickly. Klausl drove from the front seat. She was new to this, but she gave it her all. “You can be pretty reckless when you need to be,” shouted Amon as the wind whipped at his jacket and carried his voice behind them. “Sorry,” replied Klausl without looking over. Amon glanced at her. “I don’t mind. In fact, pick up the pace if you can.” “That isn’t what I meant.” “What?” “Um… I was talking about before…when I hit you.” Her voice grew weaker toward the end and Amon rubbed his slapped cheek. “That hurt.” Even after hearing his blunt comment, she continued facing forward. “But that was your fault, Amon.” “Why?” “You were speaking to me, but you suddenly mentioned another woman. I couldn’t help myself.” She tensed her shoulders uncomfortably and Amon frowned. “ That’s why I was slapped?” “S-sorry. But… But it’s an important issue, so…” Watching her as she trailed off, Amon frowned and sank down in his seat. “Well, whatever. At least the arm I healed is working.” “Eh?” “You don’t remember which hand you slapped me with?” “Oh, um, the arm you healed is doing great. Really. Look.” “Don’t swing the reins around!” The headless Nightmares directly responded to the movement of the reins. They nearly veered over into the opposing lane, but Amon got them back under control. They returned to the proper lane without dropping in speed. “That was close.” He turned around to make sure they had not left any confusion behind and then handed the reins back to Klausl. “Oh, thank you very much. Also, um, well…” “There’s more?” “When you healed me…um, I’m not sure how to put this… Did you see?” “What?” “Well, what I mean is… How was I?” “W-wait just a minute!” At that moment, the cart hit a stone and bounced up. The wooden boxes in the back clattered together as the cart landed. Amon had been trying to say something, but he must have bit his tongue because he covered his mouth with a hand. “~!” Meanwhile, Klausl continued facing forward and ignored Amon’s groan of pain. “That was the first time I let someone other than my father see my body.” “Y-y’know!” “Eh?” When Klausl turned toward Amon, her cheeks were flushed. “!” Amon was dumbfounded and Klausl continued to blush. “Is something the matter?” “Your face is red.” “Eh? Oh, yes. I don’t know why. This never happened before no matter how embarrassed I got, but it suddenly happened just now. …How strange. I wonder why.” A Sein Frau would grow as soon as she felt the need for that ability. So what did it mean if she blushed? “…” When the answer came to Amon, he placed a hand on her head. “Watch the road. The heat in your face is…from a cold. Yeah, a cold.” “But…” “Shut up. A cold is the beginning of all illnesses.” After that strange comment, he focused on the road ahead and sighed. He was on his way to a battle, but his body was not at all tense. As if to scold him for that, a blade-like presence suddenly stabbed into him. This was murderous intent. “Mh!?” The murderous intent belonged to someone standing in the center of Victoria Street. She wore a white dress, her black hair fluttered in the wind, and she stood there as if to stop the cart. “Miss Moyla!?” “It doesn’t matter! Drive right into her!” Amon jumped from the front seat to the back of the cart. He snapped his suspenders as he shouted toward the rapidly approaching witch. “Come on! I’ll take you on!” His roaring voice was filled with strength. They were less than three minutes to Westminster Cathedral and it was just under ten minutes until midnight when Ralf had said heaven would be brought down. ### 111. Part 5 Amon twisted in midair, took an upside-down position, and spread his arms. He resembled an upside-down cross as he fell into the darkness. Next to him, the chain was moving downwards to gather strength. The hammer on the ceiling had to have started moving too. But he did not care. He had a single reason for falling: he wanted to confirm his thought. He tore through the darkness. Far below, he saw a faint light. A steam-powered automatic pipe organ was lit by a small torch. And the giant steam-powered machine that moved it emitted a bit of light too. There were two giant gears directly below Amon. They were larger than water wheels and the two chains were wrapped around them. The chains moved sharply and the two gears suddenly moved. They were quickly wrapping around to provide the last bit of power for the hammer before they released the chains. The giant gears rotated as their teeth engaged with each other. “!” Amon looked to the right gear. Exactly what he was looking for lay on top of it and moved along with the gear’s movement. He called out its name. “Klausl!” Her metal body was caught in the gap between the two gears and was crushed. ### 112. Part 6 As the city filled the darkness with light, Amon went to get some dinner at a familiar pub called the Guinea. The Guinea was located near Bond Street which was filled with shops old even for London and the Guinea itself had been running since the fifteenth century. It had no seats and everyone ate and drank while standing at the counter or the tall tables. That was the standard for the good old pubs. The counter and tables were almost entirely full and the customers showed little sign of moving. However, no one stood on either side of Amon. Everyone else was chatting amongst themselves, but he was alone. He switched between eating his crisps and sandwich in silence. Despite any thoughts he might have about Amon, the stone demon bartender approached him. He must have reached a break in the number of customers because he stopped in front of Amon and Overrode a mug in one of his six arms. “This one’s for Jonathan. He helped me out a lot.” He held out the dark stout beer. Amon looked at it and pulled a ten pence coin from his jacket. When the stone demon saw the coin on the counter, he stopped the hand setting down the mug. “Hey, I said this one’s for Jonathan.” “And the money’s from Jonathan,” replied Amon as he grabbed a crisp. With an exasperated look, the stone demon set the mug on the counter next to Amon as if someone was standing there. “It’s been two years since you came here, but you haven’t changed at all.” “The pub hasn’t changed either.” “I lowered the price of lagers to ten pence since the ladies are drinking too these days. But…what has you here? I know there’s some big case in London, so are you out looking for the murderer?” Amon did not answer. The girl with the closed eyes appeared in the back of his mind, but he quickly erased that image. However, the bartender seemed to have noticed. “Is it a girl?” “No, it’s not. More like a high-pressure salesman. More importantly, give me some Cheshire cheese. The hard stuff.” “Sorry, but the hard kind isn’t very popular these days. I’m all out. …So what kind of girl is she?” “You sure are persistent.” “Of course I am. You haven’t been interested in a girl since Eilen, right?” The look in Amon’s eyes changed when he heard that name. “Don’t speak that name in front of me.” The bartender fell silent. This must have happened in the past because he comfortably turned his back on Amon and walked over to a different customer. Amon sighed and grabbed another crisp. He realized he should have ordered some Leicester if they were out of Cheshire, so he prepared to call the bartender over again. But then he found a man standing to his left where Jonathan’s mug had been set. The man had a sharp aura about him. His blond hair was tied back behind his neck, he wore a long dark green coat that seemed to absorb the surrounding light, and his presence gave one goose bumps even when he only stood there. The aura surrounding him had distanced the nearby customers. They had likely subconsciously moved away while they chatted. Amon grabbed his sandwich while brushing aside the man’s presence. “…” The man silently placed a hand on the counter. At some point, he had Overridden a glass in that hand. The scent that reached Amon’s nose told him the glass contained Glenmorangie malt whisky. The man seemed to be drinking it without diluting it. “What do you want?” Amon spoke only loud enough for the man to hear. The answer could not have been simpler. “For you to die.” A brief silence fell, but after a few seconds… “Why?” Amon turned his focus toward the man as he asked. In that instant, he found Jonathan’s mug in front of him for some reason. The man who had stood on his left now stood on his right. The sandwich and crisps Amon had ordered were in front of the man. Amon and the man. Their positions had swapped to that order. “…?” Amon had no clue what had happened and the man asked him a question. “Do you understand?” At that moment, the two of them swapped positions again. Just like before, the sandwich and crisps sat in front of Amon and Jonathan’s mug sat in front of the man to his left. The man and Amon. That was their order now. “I see,” said Amon. Then the man spoke. “When identical words are placed side by side, their order can change without altering the meaning or form of the sentence.” “…” “And no one needs two of the same word.” Silence fell. After reflecting on that silence, Amon spoke without looking at the man. “Are you the one who killed Jonathan and so many others?” “If I answered that, you would have to die here.” Amon said nothing and the man took a drink of his Glenmorangie. “If it comes to that, I would take care of everyone else here in the first ten seconds.” “And only then would you focus on me? You’re giving yourself a pretty big handicap there.” “A handicap? It would only last ten seconds and I would only have to slay the monsters here. I would not be injured or even tired afterwards.” When the man called the people in the pub “monsters”, Amon realized what he was. “I see. So that’s why so many people have been dying in this city.” “What will you do?” He was asking if Amon would fight here. Amon hesitated for just a moment, but after comparing his strength to the man next to him, he sighed. He fully Closed his thoughts so his mind could not be read and he shook his head. “Fighting here isn’t the best plan. How about tomorrow?” “Fine. And you can bring help if you want.” “I wouldn’t do that. …Oh, I know. Come to St. James’s Park tomorrow evening.” Only after saying that did he look at the man’s face for the first time. The man similarly looked down on Amon. In that instant, their gazes audibly clashed. The same light filled the man’s blue eyes and Amon’s golden eyes. “…!” Amon frantically applied Verbal Self Control and Overrode his own body for good measure. He felt he would otherwise trigger a Balance Fall where his writing fell out of balance. He had a feeling he would be sucked into the man’s eyes if he was not careful. “So we are not exactly alike,” muttered the man as he brought a hand to his chest. Amon saw a pendant hanging there. It was a beautiful women’s pendant that did not suit the man at all. He seemed to toy with it in his hand and he asked a single sharp question. “Can you defeat me?” Amon did not respond. He had a past. It was an unimaginable past which had led him to fight as he sought a place to die. But what about this man before his eyes? The man asked the same question again. “Can you defeat me?” Amon was reminded of a scene from his nightmares. In that nightmare, what did the people peering in through the apartment window want from him? “…” Suddenly, a smile so fearless that it looked forced appeared on Amon’s face He gave his answer immediately afterwards. “I’ll defeat you.” The man nodded at that and began to turn his back on Amon. But he stopped and his blue eyes turned to the mug on the counter. “…” He pulled a cigarette box from his coat pocket and pulled a cigarette from it. He held it between his fingers and lit it without placing it in his mouth. As he watched the smoke rise from the cigarette, Amon pushed the counter’s ashtray over to Jonathan’s spot next to the mug. As if answering Amon, the man placed the cigarette in the ashtray with the filter end pointed the other way. He was clearly implying that someone else was there. The two exchanged a glance and they both gave a small nod. But then they were interrupted. “Amon!” He reflexively turned toward a voice he had heard countless times that day. He found Klausl standing there, but unlike before, she was frowning and puffing out her cheeks. She seemed upset. He glanced toward the man standing next to him. The man was staring expressionlessly at Klausl. He did not seem to have any thoughts about her sudden appearance, but that could not be the case. The atmosphere created by the two of them had led everyone else to subconsciously avoid them and yet this girl had completely ignored that and called out to Amon. “Why did you leave without telling me? I had prepared dinner and everything.” Klausl walked over and her casual movements left Amon speechless. Even if she was blind, she should have been able to sense the general atmosphere. “…” The man took a step toward her and left no opening in his movements. Seeing that, Amon realized what he was trying to do. … You idiot! Amon Opened a comment that could have been directed at Klausl or the man. At the same time, he tensed his body and prepared for what happened next. However… “Good evening. Are you a friend of Amon’s?” Her words seemed far too out of place as they left her mouth and struck the man. He did not respond, but the hand reaching for his coat pocket stopped. “If not, I’m sorry. But you felt a lot like him.” She smiled at the man. “But don’t become exactly like him. That would be a lot of trouble.” The man let his arms hang at his sides when he heard that. He was showing Amon he had no intention of attacking and then he walked around Klausl. His footsteps were low and quiet and they grew more distant. At the same time, sound returned to the pub. The movements and voices of the other customers had seemed to stop at some point, but they surrounded Amon with noise once more. He let the atmosphere of a normal pub wash over him and he gave a sigh of relief. “So it worked out in the end. I can’t take much more of this.” “Don’t say that.” Klausl had reached his side at some point and she pinched his arm. “Ow! What is wrong with you!?” He glared at her and found her frowning at him. “Why did you leave without telling me? I’ve been looking for you.” “Oh, c’mon. Why do I have to eat the food my observer makes? Am I a prisoner or something?” “This is my job. …Well, making your food isn’t, but observing you is.” “Hey, Amon. Is this the girl you Opened about?” Amon ignored the bartender who looked over his shoulder from the other side of the counter. Amon was not the type to get involved with that kind of thing. However… “What’s this, Amon? Were you spreading rumors about me?” “How did you reach that conclusion?” He clicked his tongue. “Besides, I wouldn’t be eating here if you weren’t in my room.” “Oh? Young lady, are you sharing a room with Amon?” Before Amon could realize he might very well have dug his own grave here, Klausl answered. “Yes. This morning, he suddenly embra-…” “Dah! I told you not to say anything that would give people the wrong idea!” After cutting her off, he realized the bartender was giving him a surprised look. “Wh-what?’ “Amon… You’ve changed.” “That’s not what you said earlier.” He almost seemed to be sulking when he said that and he brought one of the remaining crisps to his mouth. The potato tasted bland to him, so he spoke to Klausl without turning her way. “Hey, go get the salt from over there.” “Oh, the salt? Sure.” She reached out and hesitated between the different bottles of spices. She really was blind, but after feeling around, she found the right one. After watching her, the bartender spoke to Amon. “Hey, she’s blind, isn’t she? Try to have some tact.” Amon did not respond. He casually took the small salt container and spoke to Klausl. “Does it make you happy when people are extra careful around you?” She did not answer, but she had a somehow relieved look on her face. It was not her usual smile. It was a relaxed and unguarded expression. “…” Unsure where to look, Amon averted his gaze. She had either noticed his embarrassment or wanted to smooth things over because she asked the bartender a question. “Bartender, can I order an Irish coffee and some Stilton?” “Y-yes. If you have 22 pence.” The bartender moved away and she pulled a wallet from a hidden pocket in her skirt. Amon spoke as he sprinkled salt on his crisps. “Alcoholic coffee and blue cheese? You drink a lot, don’t you?” “Care for an evening drink? It will help you sleep.” “No, thanks.” “You two get along well. Here’s your order, young lady.” The bartender set down the order as if to say “take your time” and Klausl picked up the glass of coffee. Amon reached for the cheese, but she slapped his hand. “Ow! You’re pretty damn stingy.” “You can’t touch that.” She picked up the plate of Stilton and placed it on the counter next to Amon as if offering it to someone. It was right next to the mug and ashtray. “This is what I ordered it for. I don’t know who this is for, but they looked sad without anything to eat.” Amon stared at her as she gave her cheerful explanation and returned to her part of the counter. … What a strange person. She smiled at his blatantly Opened thought. “You are strange too, Amon.” ### 113. Part 6 Before Valeath could support the woman who fell backwards, Amon wrapped his arms around Klausl. “You idiot!” he shouted as he embraced her. Klausl smiled in his arms. It was a smile he had seen somewhere before. She also tried to look up at his face. “Thank goodness.” After that quiet comment, strength left her body. She had likely lost consciousness. No matter what it was Amon wanted to say, he could not bring himself to say anything and he held her tighter in his arms. But he could not let his guard down yet. “I’m sorry.” He forcibly tore his vision off of her and glared at the enemy he had been facing. Valeath looked back while also holding someone in his arms. “To hell with this!” Amon had no idea who he was talking to. Suddenly, the stone pavement burst below his feet. After a short delay, he heard a gunshot. “Moyla!” With that cry, someone ran out from the forest to the side. He was dressed like a minister and held a long gun. He was clearly a new enemy. “Valeath! Hurry up and take her away! I’ll finish them off!” The cat version of Fir at Amon’s feet bared her fangs at the man’s words. The threat must have reached him because he aimed his gun at the cat while still facing Valeath. “Outta the way, Fir!” Amon did not hesitate to kick Fir away and jump for himself. The stone was once more smashed to pieces where Fir had been a moment before. … This isn’t good! While facing his enemy, Amon focused on the girl in his arms. He felt her breathing and her pulse. She was alive. He took a breath and a step back, but… “I can’t exactly let you escape now that you’ve seen our faces.” Amon heard those words and saw the muzzle of a gun. … ! He turned to the side to protect Klausl from the path of the bullet that was sure to come. … Amon! He heard Fir’s Open Words just as something grazed his ear as it flew in from behind him. “?” Before he could ask anything, the gunshot mercilessly sounded. Immediately afterwards, he heard a scream. The voice of pain came from the man who had been holding the long gun. “Gwaah!” Amon looked back in surprise and realized the man’s right arm was gone. The arm that had held the gun had fallen to the stone pavement. … What!? Whatever had grazed by Amon’s ear must have severed the man’s arm. The man held his hemorrhaging shoulder, but he did not seem to know what had injured him either. He seemed confused as he endured the pain and the disturbance filling him was obvious. He did not know what had happened and no one gave an answer. The only sound was the distant siren of a Yard police car. That signaled the end of the battle. “Ralf! We’re leaving!” By the time Valeath’s voice rang out, he was already gone. He had Overlossed himself somewhere to hide his form. Ralf looked down at his own arm on the ground and picked up only the gun. He then looked at a certain point behind him and clicked his tongue. “This just isn’t my day!” He leaped and his one-armed minister’s outfit instantly vanished into the darkness. The only people left were Fir in her cat form, Amon, Klausl in his arms, and… “I see you are all still alive. You’re a lot of trouble, you know that?” With that voice, someone appeared behind them. … Inspector! Amon turned around when he heard Fir’s Open Words. “!?” The Inspector was indeed standing there. The middle-aged man had the same look, same feel, and same attire as when Amon had seen him two years prior. “Were you the one that fired something in to save us?” “What are you talking about?” The Inspector seriously wrinkled his brow in the moonlight and his thoughts were impossible to read. Amon sighed and looked to the girl in his arms. “!” His heart skipped a beat. There was not a hint of blood on the rolled-up sleeve of her blouse. He quickly realized why. Her left arm was hollow. “Eh?” Her broken upper arm only contained a narrow metal rod as a central support and several wires running through it. There was no way she could bleed like that. Instead, a few wires were dangling down from the damaged point. Her skin seemed to be made of ceramic. She was artificially made. However, this was different from the prosthetics used by Hard Wolves and other combat races. The body in his arms had the body heat of human skin, had a pulse, and was soft. It felt like a real body. In that case, she was… “A doll?” The cat mewed and replied. … That’s right. She’s a Sein Frau. An automaton. And you won’t find one better made even here in London. Without even nodding at Fir’s Open Words, Amon turned to the Inspector. “What am I supposed to do?” “The man who made her is in Scotland Yard.” “I’m going on ahead.” He began to run. The Sein Frau girl in his arms had her eyes closed as always, but her eyebrows were slightly stiff and her breathing was very, very shallow. He bit his lip, looked down, and spoke. “I’m sorry.” He faced forward and toward the park’s exit. “I got careless.” Beginning to run caused blood to flow from the various wounds across his body. They left red dots along the path. He spilled countless signs indicating the path he was taking. But his focus was entirely on the girl in his arms. … This idiot is all that matters. As long as she… He was the only one that knew how that sentence ended. ### 114. Part 6 Just as Amon and Klausl encountered Moyla, the Savoy Hotel had become a giant execution site. Gunman Ralf was the executioner. He had two targets: the Inspector and Fir. The Inspector pulled on Fir’s hand and jumped to hide behind a marble column. “Ow ow ow ow ow!” “Don’t shout, Fir!” A loud gunshot rang out just as the Inspector shouted. The marble column broke down the middle as if its contents had been blown out. Fragments washed over the Inspector as he backed away. It was worth mentioning that he kept Fir safely behind his back. “There’s nowhere to hide. I’m in top form right now.” Ralf’s voice was cheerful. He had been standing in the center of the lobby and firing his gun without even turning to face them. He may have thought they were not worth pursuing. The Inspector actually clicked his tongue which was rare for him. “This isn’t good. I seem to be having a streak of bad luck right now.” “Oh? And when will that streak end?” “Good question.” He placed a hand on his chin at the perfect angle. “When you are gone, I suppose.” A sudden gunshot rang out. This time, Fir tugged on the Inspector’s collar. The two of them collapsed toward the entrance to escape. They hid behind a sofa, but the back was blown away and white fluff scattered everywhere. The fluff floated around like powdered snow, but some of it was scorched from the heat of the bullet’s passage. The Inspector crawled along the ground and knocked a table on its side as a barricade. “This guy can’t take a joke. You’ll never have a successful career like that.” “Well, I think your career’s about at its end too.” “That’s dark, Fir. Can’t you be more cheerful?” “I’m trapped in an inescapable barrier with an unreliable boss and a powerful enemy. How am I supposed to be cheerful?” “What if we add this to the equation?” The Inspector turned toward Fir and pulled a metal device from his coat pocket. It was a handgun. It was a six-shot revolver, but Fir did not recognize the type. “That does cheer me up. But the Yard doesn’t normally carry guns.” “I picked it up at home.” Fir’s expression showed she did not believe him, but he held out the gun. “Take it.” “You’re not going to use it?” “In the end, a dandy gentleman has to use his fists to fight.” “Idiot.” Fir took the gun with a frown and Ralf’s gunshot seemed to challenge them. The last decorative plant was blown away as if it had exploded. “What are you doing hiding back there? This isn’t any fun if you don’t try to run.” Fir bared her teeth and prepared to poke her head up, but the Inspector held her down. “Fir, listen carefully.” “Ow ow ow ow. C’mon, women only want their lover to touch their hair.” “The hair salon worker is your lover? ….No, we need to take this seriously.” “Wh-what is it?” Hearing her confused voice, he pointed behind her. “The hallway to the Savoy’s first floor is a few meters behind you. Run in there.” “He’ll shoot me halfway there!” “I’ll move at the same time. Once you slide into the hallway, close the fire shutter. The one in here’s electric, so you just have to hit the button and it will close.” “What about you?” He smiled at her question. “I’ll find a way to escape even if it means leaving you here.” “U-um, y’know…” “Shut up. This is your chance. Go!” He shoved her out toward the hallway door. … I can’t believe this! She stood without turning around and ran. She ignored the murderous intent on the back of her neck and Tasked herself to run. Her toenails jabbed into the bottom of her shoes as she kicked off the lobby floor. The gunman’s intent to kill struck her back and she almost stopped as it grew thicker and thicker. On the third step, she could feel that thick and heavy intent to kill focusing on the very center of her back. But at the same time… “What are you doing? I’m the bigger prize.” She heard the Inspector’s voice. The murderous intent vanished from her back. The pressure disappeared. She ran and ran and ran as fast as she could. She saw the hallway entrance right in front of her. … I can make it! She was certain of it. She Overrode her body forward and leaped. She used her feline nimbleness to leap as far as she could. She reached out her hand in midair and pressed the button for the emergency alarm. Three things happened all at about the same time: the bright red sound of the alarm rang out, Fir landed, and the fire shutter started to separate the hallway from the lobby. She slid across the carpet on her back and twisted around. She pressed against the hallway wall and looked back toward the lobby. “Inspector!” The man was persevering past Ralf on the other end of the lobby. His eyes turned toward Fir, but he did nothing and said nothing. Ralf had not moved from his spot between them. The two men glared at each other as the fire shutter continued down. Feeling like her field of vision was shrinking, Fir shouted again. “Inspector!!” She received a gunshot in response. A bullet moving too fast to see blew away the column the Inspector tried to hide behind and cut off his escape. Next, Ralf turned toward Fir. “I guess I’ll leave you until later.” His tone of voice showed clear delight and he aimed his rifle back at the Inspector. At the same time, the lobby was cut off from her view. The fire shutter had fully closed. “!” She stood up. At that moment, she heard multiple sounds that reverberated in her gut from beyond the shutter meant to defend against flames and smoke. The gunshots were low and deep. Fir knew what was happening, so she backed away from the shutter as if she refused to believe the scene occurring beyond it. “That…can’t be happening.” She held the revolver tight and backed down the hallway. She saw the dining hall to the left. “Does this connect to the kitchen we saw before?” She stopped moving. “…” After a short silence, she charged into the dining hall. She was not trying to flee. She was trying to find any possible way of winning. ### 115. Part 7 The witch’s jump surpassed the realm of humanity. Moyla kicked off the road toward Amon who took a defensive stance on the back of the cart. She leaped…no, flew toward him. Her white dress spread out in the night air and picked up the city’s lights. It looked like a snowflake. “Amon!” The white shadow flew over Klausl’s head and even Amon’s shoulder. She easily and silently landed behind Amon on the back of the cart. “!” Amon turned toward her and saw an open-handed jab coming at him like a spear. It was a quick strike and the fingernails growing from her white hand left a red afterimage behind. Was the scarlet decorating her nails a manicure or was it blood? The cart maintained its speed and Amon back-stepped out of the way without losing his balance. He then faced his opponent. There was no strength in Moyla’s eyes, but her movements were sharp. This time, she made a sudden karate chop. Not only that, but she made a full swing from directly to his side. It was not a straight-line movement. … This woman knows how to fight!? He felt a chill on his spine and his body crouched on its own. He reflexively stuck out a foot to kick Moyla in the gut. This was no time to hold back. The kick would have broken some ribs with a normal opponent, but she endured it while only taking a few steps back. “What!?” He gasped at that and she folded her fingers together with tremendous speed. The movement showed no sign of hesitation or damage. … Is she not human!? The very next moment, light flew through the air. The light grazed his right shoulder and struck a red brick building along Victoria Street. It was a school known as a Bluecoat School. The spear of light blew up the sculpture on top of the building. Stone fragments scattered everywhere and poured down on Amon and Moyla like colorful rain. However, they quickly left the fragments and commotion behind. Moyla charged toward Amon and threw an open-handed jab toward his crouched body. He Overrode one of the cart’s wooden boxes into his hands. It was empty and he used it to block Moyla’s strike. Her red nails easily broke through the wooden box and out the other side. But that was fine. As the splinters washed over him, he forcibly twisted the box. An unpleasant noise came from the box. It was the sound of scraping flesh and of a dry branch breaking. “Seyah!” He kicked her knee from the front to knock her down. With a dull sound, the white dress fell face down and swept Amon aside with her empty hand. Her face remained expressionless and her eyes weak. Amon kicked that face. He did not hold back. He heard a dull sound he would rather not have heard. Moyla’s teeth scattered across the cart and her nicely-shaped nose was turned at an odd angle. “How about that!?” As if to deny his triumphant tone, she stood unsteadily back up and prepared her unharmed hand. “You’re persistent.” Just as he clicked his tongue, Klausl shouted back at him. “Amon! We’re about to turn left!” “All right!” Moyla stepped forward as if his shout had been her cue and he picked up a new wooden box. The cart began to curve left. Centrifugal force tugged them to the outside. Amon faced the rear of the cart, so his balance shifted to the left and Moyla’s to her right. Perhaps due to the box hanging from her right arm, Moyla swayed outward. That motion settled the fight. “Seyaaahh!” Amon swung his box from the direction she was falling toward. He swung it free of the centrifugal force and into the side of her head. The box broke and Moyla’s face caved in. There was a great shattering sound. The box had been filled with bottles. The bottles collided with her head, broke, and spilled their contents. Their weight bent her neck at an unnatural angle and her blood mixed with the strong mixed cocktail. The cart reached the end of the curve and sped up. Moyla could not keep up with the change in speed and she swayed backwards. With boxes still attached to her right arm and face, she fell off the cart and to the road. Amon turned his back on her and the wind struck him in the face. He looked straight forward. He saw Westminster Cathedral up ahead. That was the final battlefield for them all. ### 116. Part 7 Amon was certain of everything. Klausl had thrown herself into the pit because she had noticed the strange ring of the bell after Moyla fell. If a human body could do that, what would her metal body do? She would not die. She would continue to live as long as her heart remained. She had wanted him to handle what came after that. The gears slowly turned while pressing her body. He had to win before they fully turned. He had to win. Why? Because he held a certain gear in his right hand. He held his own body in his arms as he fell. If he continued to fall, he would die. What did he have to do to avoid that and to win? There was only one answer. He gathered strength in the arms holding himself and tensed the flesh of his back. He let out a yell as if releasing everything he had been holding inside and enduring. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!” He remade his body. Just like a beastman, he strongly Tasked himself. He Tasked and Tasked and Tasked. He Overrode his own form. “!” Something ran through his body and mind and released everything that had been locked up. The transformation appeared instantly like a burning flame. ### 117. Part 8 Valeath saw Amon. He saw the full demon flap its wings in the deep hole and burst out into the candlelight like solidified darkness. “A demon god!?” The demon stood tiptoed on the railing and six giant owl wings grew from his back. These were not the two thin bat wings of a lesser demon. These were wings of a pure demon or a fallen angel and they were filled with a complex pattern. “…” The wings slowly wrapped around Amon’s body like separate living beings and then forcefully opened. At the same time, Amon flew toward Valeath. His new wings scattered feathers as he flew forward. “So you’re coming!?” Valeath raised his sword and leaped forward to meet Amon. Valeath was the first to move in midair. “Sheyaaah!” He released his breath just as the silver line raced forward and cut through one of Amon’s wings at the base. But that was all. Amon swung a fist down after Valeath’s blade and smashed it from above. With the sound of shattering glass, the white blade turned to snow. They both landed. Valeath had already cast aside the hilt. He approached in a lowered stance and reached Amon in only three steps. His right hand was pulled back for an open-hand jab. “Seyaaaah!” He cried out as he struck and Amon received the blow while turning around. His eyes were still closed and he received it on the left side of his chest. The sound of impact was dull. It was the sound of something breaking and it sounded empty, fragile, and even soft. “Kh.” The man known as the strongest Hound gave a gasp of surprise. His eyes were trained on Amon’s chest where his hand was buried to the wrist. He stared at it for a while before gasping again. With a damp sound, he pulled his right hand from the left side of Amon’s chest. His hand was wet with blood. But it was not Amon’s blood. His hand had been crushed beyond recognition. He had poured everything into that strike, but it had been blocked by something. His hand had been smashed by its own destructive force. “What was that?” Amon answered that question in a different way. He stuck his hand into the breast pocket of his jacket where Valeath’s hand had stopped and he pulled out a piece of paper. It was the demon contract Jonathan had left. The contract now contained Valeath’s handprint. It had a bloody print of his mangled hand. “!” Valeath drew back and Amon pursued him. Amon opened his eyes and looked at Valeath. His golden eyes stopped Valeath. Amon then spoke. “The contract is complete!” With a sharp cry, he released his full power. ### 118. Part 9 The light that exploded inside Westminster Cathedral’s sanctuary was pitch black. It rose with the force of a wild beast and surged toward heaven. It looked like a reverse waterfall. It was fierce, large, and unstoppable. The cathedral ceiling could not hope to contain it. The light’s destructive power tore the chains to pieces, smashed the bell, and blew away the brick dome. The sounds of destruction continued. The broken bricks, metal, bell, and hammer all fell into the abyss never to return. The light swallowed it all and sought even greater heights. The dark light instantly shot into the sky and broke through the clouds. It moved fast and rose high. As soon as it struck the clouds, the light roared. It was the frightening sound of striking a cliff face barehanded. Pushed on by that Task, the clouds covering London’s sky cleared away. The moon floated in the darkness that seemed to ripple out through the sky. It was not a full moon and it had shrunk down like a living thing, but it shined with a pale light. It was a cold but refreshing light. The pitch black light must have been satisfied with that because it mixed with the moonlight, spiraled around, looked like it would shoot in all four directions like a group of dragons, and suddenly vanished. It looked like a celebration of something. And with that light, a certain incident came to its end. ### 119. Preface ## Title Page Aerial City London Kawakami Minoru ## Characters 1 Corners text: Death Wish Amon Race: Demon Combat Method: Boxing A demon without wings “It’s…happening around me again?” Valeath Race: Human Combat Method: Sword or Demon Contract Spells A man who has lost everything “We simply need to drop heaven down on London.” ## Characters 2 Corners text: Devotion Klausl Race: Human? Combat Method: N/A A blind girl “That is a bad habit of yours, Amon.” Moyla Race: Human Combat Method: Incantation Magic A woman whose love has stopped “I will protect Master Valeath.” ## Characters 3 Corners Text: Feelings Inspector Race: Unknown Combat Method: Unknown London’s most pretentious man “Yes, truly a man of the heavens.” Firius Race: Werecat Combat Method: Altered Former Urban Hero and current female police officer “What are you doing, idiot?” Ralf Race: Human Combat Method: Gun A priest who turned his back on god “I hate angels and god just as much as monsters.” ## Excerpt From the moment you set foot in that foreign land, your own form and emotions are expressed in writing. Humans rarely have a chance to enter that space. The name of that world of fiction and the title of that book is “Aerial City – London.” (From “The Lost World”) ### 120. Opening Words England is sealed inside the world of writing known as a book. As people began moving from Europe to the New World in the latter half of the fifteenth century, the non-humans took over England. In order to create a protected land for them, the gods and demons that led them cut England away from reality and sealed it inside the book they had made. The monsters, gods, demons, and heroes that had existed in reality until that point moved to that imaginary England and lived on as fictional beings…that is, as beings that only exist in the form of writing and words. As a book, England has a cover known as heaven and a back cover known as hell. Between those are nine chapter title pages, the same number as there are orders of angels. From the moment you set foot in that foreign land, your own form and emotions are expressed in writing. Humans rarely have a chance to enter that space. The name of that world of fiction and the title of that book is “Aerial City – London.” (From “The Lost World”) ### Notes - ↑ Kawakami uses the English word aerial because the Japanese word for fictional literally means aerial. ### 121. Prologue: Strange Beginning ### Part 1 Let us say there was darkness in that place. It was a damp darkness. Plenty of water flowed silently below it. A wide river steadily continued on to the sea while supporting the darkness. That flowing river was the Thames. A steam whistle sounded somewhere in the distance. The sound came from a ship travelling down the Thames, raced through the fog covering the river, and reached the city. The city that heard the whistle was London. The very first to hear it were the people in the port. Precisely two figures sat in front of the warehouses lining a small wharf in the Port of London. They leaned against a large wooden box and passed a bottle of alcohol back and forth. “I knew there’d be some left unsold. And I hear the Prohibition in the States is about to come to an end.” Those words were spoken by a well-built elderly man. The right arm holding the bottle was a giant steam-powered false arm made of metal. The emblems engraved in the false arm suggested he belonged to the Hard Wolf race. He passed the bottle to the man sitting next to him. The middle-aged man in a suit took it and fidgeted as if the white wings between his back and the wooden box were in the way. “Amon’s probation period is ending soon too, isn’t it? What are you going to do then, Jonathan?” “What do you mean?” “Can that unsociable guy really keep working at a brewery?” “Gloss, you’ve always disliked Amon, haven’t you?” The angel named Gloss shook his wings a little and took a swig of alcohol. … How am I supposed to like him when he hates me? Jonathan smiled a little and nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” Hearing that, Gloss returned the bottle and clicked his tongue. He must have been a little drunk because he had apparently let his feelings out as Open Words. Nothing was more disturbing than having someone else read your emotions, so he applied Verbal Self Control to his thoughts. After calming down and keeping his feelings as unreadable Closed Words, he took a breath and spoke. “Amon never relaxes around heavenly races like me.” “Do you hate him?” “I wouldn’t say that. I trust your judgment in looking after him.” Jonathan bent and narrowed his eyes at that. “So you understand, do you? I will admit he looks like a failure of a demon at first glance, though.” “Yeah, I understand. But the blame for his lack of wings falls on those of us from the heavenly races, doesn’t it?” “Don’t worry about it. That’s due to the God-Demon War, not you.” “That was a terrible war. It took no time at all to destroy hell.” “And the aftermath even caused a world war in reality.” Jonathan held out his false right arm which expelled white steam from the shoulder like a sigh. “But a single arm was a small price to pay for protecting this Aerial City.” The fictional world of England had of course been attacked during that world war. They existed in the medium of writing, so there was only one way to attack them from reality: ignore them. So to start with, many of them had left that safe city of fiction and fought. They had reminded those in reality that monsters existed and they had filled them with fear. “Not that you all had it much better with most of heaven destroyed.” Gloss shook his head and replied. “It was a stupid war. It was a complete waste.” He sighed. “England was in trouble, but we angels did nothing but fight the demons. And yet we’re both residents of Aerial City.” “And all that escaped destruction was a small portion of heaven and the nine chapter title pages in between.” “That’s because it was all settled in the brief moment when those chapter title pages were flipped open. And even that led to an unexpected failure. We never thought heaven’s information would spread to the humans as Open Words.” Heaven was the spring of knowledge that had gathered all of the world’s wisdom. Even if the nine chapter title pages were opened for just an instant, knowledge would overflow from that spring and spill into the real world. That was what had happened during the war just over a dozen years before. As a result, tanks, fighter craft, poison gas, and other new weapons had been introduced in the world war and had produced far more deaths than in previous wars. “It was one of those new tank guns that blew off my right arm. How are you gonna pay me back for that?” “Isn’t that Hard Wolf false arm better than a flesh and blood one?” Gloss parried Jonathan’s words and tapped on the wooden box behind him. “Well, let’s stop being so gloomy and get back. I’ll put these unsold leftovers in the warehouse.” Jonathan looked down at the bottle in his hand and found it was almost empty. He had no interest in an empty bottle, so he chucked it behind him. After a beat, the two of them heard a metallic sound much like shattering ice and they stood up. Gloss’s white wings swayed in the darkness. Instead of a steam whistle, they heard a bell and music in the distance. The music came from a pipe organ. It had to be a powerful sound to reach this far, but the song sounded lonely out here at the port. This was the bell and music for twelve o’clock coming from Westminster Cathedral. And as that ringing and music slowly filled the air, a change occurred on the Thames. ### Part 2 The fog covering the river split apart. It parted like white double-doors opening to either side and it flowed onward. A boat slowly travelled down the gorge between the foggy cliffs. The boat was loaded with something large covered in a blue sheet and a young man sat on top of that cargo. The young man was a minister. He slowly approached on the boat and his form grew clear in the darkness. He uncomfortably rubbed his very short blond hair. His overall casual aura may have been due to how he wore his minister’s outfit with the collar open or due to the round sunglasses he wore in the middle of the night. His narrow eyes were smiling beyond the sunglasses. Gloss stepped forward as if replying to that smile. “Who are you?” That question was accompanied by what sounded like metal panels piling up. The noise came from the boat. “!” Jonathan sensed motion, but when he turned toward it, he no longer saw anyone on the boat. He only saw the blue sheet and the cargo. He looked up just in case and, to his surprise, he found the young man. The young man was in London’s foggy night sky. He and his black minister’s outfit parted the fog as he leaped. He lightly and casually jumped the five meters from the boat to the wharf. He had made the jump with no running start and from poor footing. Then he landed. His feet made no noise as they contacted the ground, but another metallic sound came from inside his clothes. He seemed to be carrying something inside them and he was now about three steps in front of Gloss. The distant ringing and music from Westminster Cathedral had stopped. The young man looked up into the night sky as if to check on the lingering tone. “…” Suddenly, he looked at Gloss. Their eyes met and he raised his right hand to waist height as if in greeting. “Are we enemies now that I’ve come ashore?” As Jonathan heard that line, he also saw the young man’s naturally raised hand. He Overrode the young man’s movements to see if he had overlooked anything. The young man’s right hand held a shotgun. “Gloss!” “Too late.” Just as Jonathan shouted and the young man muttered quietly, the shotgun fired. With a great sound of destruction, a head-sized hole appeared in Gloss’s stomach. What had previously filled that hole splattered across the concrete of the wharf. “I hate angels and god just as much as monsters.” Jonathan prepared to run over to Gloss while listening to the young man’s kindly spoken words. The young man must have sensed Jonathan’s intent because he turned toward him with the shotgun still aimed at Gloss. His sharp gaze literally restrained Jonathan. “…!” He could not move. Simply being looked at was restricting his movements, even though he was a Hard Wolf who had once faced a tank in the Great War. Jonathan watched as Gloss Dis-Selfed. Still not sure what had happened to himself, the angel collapsed and used an arm to support himself on the wooden box behind him. However, he could not support his body with most of his abdomen gone, so his elbow slipped from the edge of the box and he fell into a sitting position with his wings still spread to the side. The second shotgun blast sounded out. Gloss’s head and a portion of the box were blown away. They were both smashed to pieces. What remained of his body trembled with the slight vestiges of life and then suddenly vanished. The angel’s feathers and the pieces splattered on the concrete all turned to ash just like burning paper. The faint scattering aroma was the smell of a burning angel. Jonathan said nothing. He simply watched what happened before him. But the young man did not bother watching Gloss go through the special process of Ashing. He was not looking at Jonathan either. The narrow eyes beyond his sunglasses were looking straight forward. He stared directly ahead with the sharpness of targeting something. Jonathan slowly moved his eyes in pursuit of the young man’s gaze. He found two new people standing there. ### Part 3 Jonathan saw two people in front of the warehouses lining the wharf. One was a woman. Her black hair waved in the wind where it extended below the shawl she wore over her shoulders. The features of her face were those of an adult. She was the kind of adult who one could easily imagine crying. He moved his eyes from the woman to the person next to her. He was a tall man and he gave off a sharp aura. He comfortably wore a long, dark green coat. The body inside the coat looked thin but not frail. He gave off a sense of defiance and dignity. Whatever life he had lived, his face was almost entirely expressionless. However, great experience and sharp strength were visible in that face even from a distance. The two of them looked straight toward the young man holding the shotgun. The young man smiled as he accepted their gazes and he was the first to speak. “It’s been two weeks, hasn’t it, Valeath?” His smile grew a little before he continued. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you too, Moyla. Now, I’ve brought in the cargo and weapons as originally…planned!” With that last word, he swung his empty left arm, but he instantly Overrode something in that hand to throw it. It was a long sword in a white scabbard. It was seeing the afterimage of the scabbard rotating through the air that told Jonathan who this was. Or rather, it was the smell. This was the same smell as his prey on the battlefields of the world war a dozen or so years ago. A monster’s prey was humans. For the first time in over a dozen years, the smell of human flesh and the human world reached his nose. And there was only one sort of human who would still fight with an anachronistic weapon like a sword. “Hounds!?” Some humans had been born to fight and, in some rare instances, one would appear whose power was equal or greater to a monster. A human who used their power to hunt “nonexistent” beings was known as a Hound. Why would the likes of them be in the monster-filled country of England? … Why? Valeath, the man in the long coat, caught the flying sword without answering that Opened question. And he immediately drew the white blade. The metal audibly sliced through the air. A silver light at least a meter long appeared in the darkness and the light looked like it could cut through anything and everything. Valeath stared at the blade that glowed as if wet. “It really is like you to shoot him right away, Ralf.” “It’s only natural for monsters to be killed by humans.” “I meant that you went for the angel first.” Valeath walked toward Jonathan as he spoke. “Moyla.” With the sword in his right hand, he called his partner’s name and Jonathan felt a deep tone in his gut. “!” Following the sound, all of the fog filling the wharf vanished in an instant. Wind raced through and formed a circle. This created an isolate space. The area expelling the fog grew wider and it encompassed Jonathan. The woman named Moyla stood at the center of that empty space and she was folding her fingers in a strange shape without losing her seemingly powerless expression. … A barrier!? Ralf, the young man dressed like a minister, must have read Jonathan’s unintentionally Opened thought because he smiled. “Moyla’s barrier cannot be broken. Not even by an above-average monster.” There was only one reason for a Hound to trap a monster in a barrier: to hunt it. Jonathan clicked his tongue. The battle had already begun. As proof of that, Valeath approached with drawn sword in hand and the look in his eyes expressed his intention via Open Words. … Fight. Goose bumps covered Jonathan’s entire body before his heart could respond to the man’s will. His past combat experience, those memories permeating his body, told him escape would be impossible. However, he could not let himself die here. He had to tell someone about this. Humans were trying to do something here in the monsters’ city of London. The Hounds, those natural enemies of monsters, were beginning something. “So I can’t escape without fighting, hm?” He spoke that seemingly contradictory statement so he could hear it himself and he strongly Tasked himself. His voice raced through his body as a Verbal Self Control of his Dis-Selfing thoughts. He calmed himself down. The old Hard Wolf looked up into the night sky. The barrier had cleared away the fog and the moon floated unobstructed in the night sky. The perfect circle of the moon was exactly the full moon a Hard Wolf desired. He howled. “Awooooooooooo!” A howl was a primitive type of word, so it possessed great power. As a Hard Wolf, he desired the power of the moon and the power of a wolf. He looked up to the heavens in search of it and he howled. He howled with all his might. Only a wolf could give a wolf’s howl. He Overrode himself into a wolf. He desired to change. He strongly Tasked himself: Altered, Altered, Altered! The body exposed to the sunlight rapidly transformed. Before he could take another breath, his nose extended, his ears stood tall, fur sprouted up, his skeleton seemed to swell out, and the air exploded. The fog, wind, and air swirled around him and his previously human form became that of a wolf. He exposed his true form as a Hard Wolf. His bluish-black fur had faded with age, but his build was well above average. Powerful light filled his eyes. This was the light of a beast. His fur stood on end as if to reach the heavens. He opened his mouth, bared his fangs, and howled again. “Awoooooooooooooooooooo!” He faced forward, but not at the swordsman named Valeath. He looked past that man and at the young man named Ralf who had Ashed Gloss. … I’ll kill you first! He shouted his bestial thoughts. His Opened intent to kill shot out like a knife and shook Valeath’s coat, but Ralf only smiled. “Valeath, this might be my job.” He happily cocked the shotgun and the atmosphere of the battlefield linked directly between the Hard Wolf and the young man. The man and beast faced each other with Valeath in between. It began in an instant. Jonathan made a sudden jump. The claws breaking out through his shoes kicked off the ground and launched him into the night air. But instead of reaching the two men before him, the jump took him to the woman named Moyla. “…Nh!” He had used his Open Words as a feint. Faking one’s actual intent was much more convincing than only using actions. This slowed Ralf’s reaction and likely did the same to Valeath. The great beast leaped over the men’s heads and he landed where only Moyla would be in his line of vision. He then dashed forward on all fours. His bestial claws tore into the concrete. His lupine eyes trained on his target. If he defeated this witch, the barrier would vanish. Targeting a woman was not the gentlemanly thing to do, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Also, the easier target that would lead to the least bloodshed was best. With the Hard Wolf after her, the witch folded her fingers below her shawl and in front of her chest. She showed no sign of fleeing even with Jonathan’s approach. She simply stared straight at him. And her eyes held a look of pity. Before he could wonder why, he had approached. As he ran, he held his left arm by his right side in preparation for a diagonal strike from below using the full speed of his charge. He pulled down his body to pour as much momentum into the strike as possible, but then he noticed the concrete ground in his vision. The moonlight falling from the night sky cast his shadow there, but another shadow was enveloping his own. … Someone’s above me!? That thought was immediately followed by an impact. “!” He was thrown to the left and he rolled along the ground. Sparks flew when his false right arm struck the concrete. The sparks were accompanied by the painful sound of scraping metal. His body twisted as he rolled, the unpleasant sound vanished, and he attempted to right himself. But when he tried to stand, he tilted to the right and collapsed. His right side was oddly heavy. … What’s going on? As if to answer his Opened question, something descended from the sky in front of him. A familiar object struck the ground with a splat. It was his own left arm. “Wha-?!” His groan of protest was followed by blood spraying from the severed arm and the stump at his shoulder. As he doubled over and held his left shoulder with his false arm, a figure wielding a long sword stood in front of him. It was Valeath. “…!” The kneeling Hard Wolf looked up at the man. The swordsman had seen through Jonathan’s feint, jumped, and made his strike, but he was not even out of breath. Behind him, Jonathan saw the witch sigh and remove the barrier. She looked like she wanted to tell Valeath something, but she coughed instead. It was the kind of deep cough that was unique to the ill. Even so, Valeath did not turn her way. He continued staring forward without even looking down at Jonathan. “Ralf, I will now show you how to remove their voice. Don’t waste them.” With natural movements, the tip of his sword raced toward Jonathan’s throat. It only took an instant. No one spoke and Jonathan held his throat with his false arm. However, there was no blood. His fur remained intact and the skin below was not harmed. Nevertheless, something white lay in a pool of blood between the Hard Wolf and the swordsman. Valeath reached out and picked up the thumb-sized white object so Jonathan could see. It was Jonathan’s voice. “This is a solidified voice. It is an organ located in the throat called a Horn.” … What!? Jonathan tried to shout that word, but he found he could not speak. That was unsurprising since his Horn was no longer in his throat. “Your Horn has been removed, so act like it. Ash yourself like that corpse.” The man was referring to Gloss. That angel was also meant to have had his voice removed before he was killed. These three had indeed come to this city to hunt monsters. … Are you trying to destroy Aerial City – London!? If you do that, this will go beyond simply deserving revenge! He used Open Words to ask his question and he received his response from behind. “You don’t seem to understand. In all the many books out there, have you ever read of humans being destroyed by monsters? But you hear about the opposite all the time.” He heard someone raise a gun just behind his ear. “You monsters are so conceited if you think people are really afraid of you. Humans can hunt monsters. If we wanted to, we could easily destroy this entire country. There’s only one reason we haven’t done it yet.” The young man took a breath. “We took pity on you monsters and protected you. We joined you in your fear of what we could do.” All of Jonathan’s fur bristled. The bleeding from his left shoulder was stopping thanks to the regeneration of a Hard Wolf, but he still could not move. He was surrounded and his enemy was far more powerful than him. He heard some metallic sounds behind him. He heard something fitting together and a trigger being pulled. “…!” But Valeath moved in front of Jonathan and placed a hand on the Hard Wolf’s false arm. The roughly bandaged hand had a circular emblem drawn in the colors of a burn. The brown, discolored bandages loosened and instantly wrapped around the false arm like vines. “Over Contract. Be destroyed by your own arm.” Unlike before, Jonathan actually moved after Valeath’s expressionless words. Except it was only his false arm that moved. It forcefully swung up as if to point toward the moon. “!?” It had left Jonathan’s control and the movement was horribly sharp and unhesitating. This was the precise movement of a machine moving as a machine. The metal claws glittered for an instant. It was a cold and pleasant glitter. And… “!” It struck. The false arm stabbed deep into the left side of his chest. It produced a pleasant sound that sent a shudder down his spine. Needless to say, this alone was not enough. The false hand was embedded up to the wrist, but it began to move about in his flesh. The sound of severing bone rang loudly out. The intermittent sound of sliced muscles sounded painfully in his ears. The Hard Wolf raised a voiceless scream. As only his breath escaped from his lips, blood burst from his chest, from his fang-lined mouth, from his nostrils, and from his left shoulder. The blood stopped his silent cry. A tremendous sound followed only a beat later. It was the wet sound of something being born. The false arm had come out of Jonathan’s chest. … ! The metal hand covered in blood and fat pulled something from his chest with a wonderful sound. It was his heart. The false arm crushed the bloody mass in its grip at the same moment as his body collapsed backwards. “…” A gun could be heard being put away. “An Over Contract? I bet he never even imagined a human would use a demon’s contract spell. …But, well, it feels like we accomplished something here.” Next, a sword could be heard being sheathed. “This Hard Wolf was my opponent from the beginning.” Icy killer intent rose like fog, but it was shattered by approaching footsteps. A woman’s voice followed. “Ralf, I will show you to the hotel we have a room at. It has space for mooring a boat, so can you bring the boat there with the cargo still aboard?” “Y-yes. If you say so, Moyla.” Even as the humans spoke, the Hard Wolf had yet to Ash. His death was only a matter of time, but he was still alive. ### Part 4 In London, the morning was a time of sleep. Even Berwick Street in the middle of Soho was empty below the morning sun. No one walked along the street and only the occasional early morning stagecoach could be seen. At one end of that sleeping street was a brewery. The morning sun washed over its old red bricks. It looked like an unsociable but trustworthy place. The filthy sign above the entrance gave the name “Full Moon Beer Cellar”. It was of course not running at this time and there were no customers. However, someone did pass by below that sign. It was a young man with a somewhat defiant look to him. His black jacket and trousers absorbed the light of the morning sun. A dark outfit like that was preferred by demons, but he lacked the wings that a demon would have. His sharp eyes looked in the store’s window. The narrow face reflected there had a bruise from a punch which he rubbed gently. “I’ve gotten rusty.” He walked to the side of the store, entered the narrow alley, and kicked at the store’s side entrance. It opened with just the one hit. He brushed up his blond-highlighted bangs, peered inside, and hesitated to enter. After taking a few breaths, he nodded and silently slipped inside. “I’m back! This time I beat five in a row for 8 pounds…?” His shout changed to a question because he had sensed a certain smell. It was the smell of burning paper that indicated an Ashing. The ominous scent brought a gold light to his eyes. These were the characteristic eyes of a demon. There was a trail left by something being dragged along the floor and it continued into the back room. “…?” He followed it without hesitation. He walked down the short hallway, reached for the door to the back room, and opened it. The door hit something and stopped. “Screw that.” He kicked at the door and heard a metallic sound on the other side. The door immediately opened, but he found no one in that room that belonged to the store’s owner. The bed and the closet were the same as always. “?” He tilted his head and Overrode his surroundings in case something had been left behind. That was when he noticed something odd lying in the room. The odd thing was what the door had caught on before. It was the false arm belonging to the Hard Wolf named Jonathan. “What!?” There was only one way for just the false arm to be here. It was a difficult answer for a normal person to grasp, but this young man accepted it immediately. A groaning or creaking sigh escaped his lips. “It’s…happening around me again?” His lowered gaze stopped on the false arm’s hand. The metal hand held some kind of brown paper. He quickly reached for it. It was parchment, the special paper that had long been used when a demon made a contract. His fingers hesitated, but after a beat, he tore it from the hand and spread it out. The false arm’s handprint remained on the paper. The handprint was lightly scorched into it because the one who had written the words in blood had Ashed afterwards. As for the contents of the contract… “Place the other party’s handprint on this handprint and act as a guide down to hell. Requester: Jonathan. Contractor:…” The young man hesitated to read the next word. He took a deep breath, applied some Verbal Self Control, and read his own name. “Amon.” At the same time, the door closed behind him. He turned around and found words scratched into the door with the false arm’s claws. This was the final message Jonathan had left for Amon. “Live on, while fearing no evil whatsoever.” ### 122. Chapter 1: Sinister Call of the Past ### Part 1 A man known simply as the Inspector had a private office on the second floor of Scotland Yard, London’s metropolitan police department. The light of midday entered the large and tidy room through the window and it washed over a man standing by the window. He was the Inspector. He wore a brown three-piece suit and the dandy-colored collar was perfectly stiff, so he looked like an elite businessman from the real world. He would have looked perfectly at home in a modernized office district. But regardless of how he looked, he could not be human if he lived in London. Even so, no one could say anything more than that because not a single person in London knew his identity. No one knew his race, his name, or even his initials. They only knew he had a somewhat troublesome personality and he excelled at Overriding and Overlossing. He demonstrated that now by Overriding a cigar into his mouth out of nowhere. The tip of the cigar suddenly lit, so it seemed he had a match or lighter Overlossed somewhere. He exhaled some smoke while making sure it did not touch his gray-streaked moustache. He brushed a hand through his hair, sat on the large work desk by the window, and crossed his legs in a calculated fashion. The action created a sharp noise that refused to be ignored. After that, he glanced toward the wall and his reflection in a tall, narrow mirror. “Yes.” He posed as if testing himself and slightly adjusted his tie. “The coloring is wonderful. Is this what they call Italian quality? No, or is this thanks to my own quality?” He breathed a satisfied sigh and seemed to be in an excellent mood. “Yes, truly a man of the heavens.” But as soon as he said that… “What are you doing, idiot?” He turned toward the blunt tone one would expect of an older sister. A uniformed woman stood at the huge door into the office. She had the well-formed eyes of a werecat and they were giving the Inspector a look of pity. He completely ignored the look and moved to the window while thinking about the backlight. “Oh? Fir, I thought you were off duty today. What do you need?” “C’mon, now. Everyone was called in because of the murders this morning. Isn’t that why you’re here, too?” Fir sighed and swept back her high ponytail. Her cyan hair darkened toward the front and it gently swayed behind her. Her eyes remained on the Inspector. “So don’t ask what I need. It’s my job to help you when you have a job, so try to act more like my boss.” “Don’t blame me. A capable man is always busy. And as you work for me, you are a capable secretary who-…” “Yes, yes, yes. Quit pretending to be a dandy gentleman and get in your seat. We’ve got a lot of paperwork today.” “I can read paperwork while I stand.” “You need to sign it,” she snapped back. When she placed the paperwork on the desk, it thudded down like a piece of luggage. “You want my autograph that badly? Well, if you insist.” “I don’t want it. This is just part of the job.” “What an unpleasant young girl.” The Inspector reluctantly sat in his seat and placed the cigar in the ashtray. He lightly cleared his throat, rested his elbow on the desk, used some Verbal Self Control, and Overrode the mood he was giving off. “Now, then. Fir, what kind of case is this one?” “If you want to know what this job is about, just read the paperwork.” He frowned when he saw her point at the paperwork on the desk. “Are you really my secretary?” “I do sometimes wish I wasn’t.” “A secretary needs to at least summarize all this paperwork!” “This is the summarized version. And it’s your fault for letting it pile up this much.” “Oh, c’mon.” “Aren’t you supposed to live as the quintessential dandy? So get to work.” “Wait, Fir. Listen.” The Inspector raised a finger at the perfect angle and with the perfect timing. “You keep talking about work, but I deal with trouble, not work!” “Trouble? All you ever do is cause that.” “When have I ever caused any trouble!?” “Well… Okay, you can start by signing this permit.” “Don’t ignore me!” Without looking up at the Inspector, Fir spread out a few pieces of paperwork on the desk. “Look, even a monkey can do this.” “You think I am on the level of a monkey, don’t you?” “Well, of course I do.” “I’ll prove you wrong one of these days,” he grumbled. He pulled a quill from the pen holder, checked on the ink, and quickly began signing the papers. He moved through the papers placed before him at a decent pace. He was quite fast. “…” As his hand flipped though the paperwork, Fir watched to make sure he was doing it right. At the fifth, sixth, or seventh page, she quickly snatched the cigar from the ash tray and naturally pressed it against his hand. It produced a quiet sizzling sound for a moment and his hand stopped moving. “Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! Fir! What did I do to deserve that!?” “Your signature is too messy, you stupid old man. People are going to think it’s just an ink stain!” “My signature always looks like this!” “Liar. I’ve been watching and every last one of them is different.” “I like to be original.” “Shut up! Stop making up excuses!” After shouting, Fir’s shoulders drooped. She could not let herself get so worked up. “I always end up Altering so quickly when I’m around you.” “I like it better when you're the Siamese cat.” “My claws are sharper that way, you know?” She used some Verbal Self Control. He Overlossed the burn on his hand, ignored it, and began signing again. This time, he did it properly. His pace had dropped, but it was still acceptable. After three, four, or five, the number of completed documents reached the double digits and continued to grow. The quill moved back and forth between the papers and the ink pot. “…” Silence fell over them. However, it was broken by a light knock on the office door. The Inspector gave some Open Words as he continued signing. … I’m busy, so have them come back later. Fir nodded in understanding. “Come in.” The Inspector bared his teeth and glared up at her as the door opened. A slender form slipped through the cracked-open door on unsteady feet. “Excuse me. It’s Klausl.” She was a girl from the main office. She entered the private office with her eyes closed and bowed. Her long blonde hair spilled from the shoulders of her black apron skirt and over her chest. The Inspector watched as she frantically fixed her hair. “What do you need, Klausl?” “Oh, right. Um, the reception desk has been getting a flood of complaints about late paperwork and we don’t know what to do.” Fir glared at him. “See? Your laziness is causing trouble for Klau.” “You don’t have to talk to me like I’m a child,” he complained. “Um, Fir? Is something wrong?” asked Klausl. “There’s always something wrong with this monkey.” She showed no mercy. “I am not a monkey!” “Not genetically, maybe. But you’re about as capable as one.” Klausl tilted her head with her eyes still closed, so the Inspector spoke to her. “This is between the two of us, so do not worry about it.” She replied with a pure smile. “Understood. You can rest easy because I will not worry about it in the slightest.” “I’d…kind of like it if you worried a little bit, though.” “?” Fir casually waved a hand toward Klausl’s confused look. “You can ignore what this…thing says, Klau. Any news on the murder case?” “Yes,” she immediately replied. “A lot is still unknown about it. The paperwork you were given before has the information on the victims and the surrounding situation. Currently, we have called in Amon, the one who first reported the murders.” That name instantly changed the atmosphere in the room. It was the Inspector and Fir who caused that drop in the room’s temperature. “Again?” muttered the man. Fir turned her back on that word and naturally looked toward Klausl. “Don’t say that, Inspector. It isn’t like he was the killer.” “Do you know him?” asked Klausl. “Back when I lived on the streets as the leader of a group of Urban Heroes, he led our combat unit.” Fir’s tone was emotionless as she talked about her childhood. The Inspector gave a deep nod and faced straight forward. “And I arrested him once.” He took a breath. “He was still on probation I believe.” “Yes, one of the victims was a Mr. Jonathan Holland who had taken him in. Amon has an alibi and it has been proven that he was not the murderer.” At that point, Klausl tilted her head. “What kind of person is Amon? I am about to bring him breakfast.” Fir was the one to answer. She crossed her arms and chose her words carefully. “Are you familiar with the idea of a death wish?” “No, I’m not.” “There once was a guy who always charged head-first and alone into fights and battles he had no chance of winning. No matter how much he was injured, he would keep fighting. He probably wanted to burn out and die.” “…” “The one who would always seek out a place to die like that is Death Wish Amon. He’s a demon, but he doesn’t use that power and he has no wings.” After some hesitation, she summed up her description. “He’s a pitiable guy.” ### Part 2 Amon was certain that nightmares had a flavor. It was an unpleasant flavor. It was raw like blood or like boiling seawater. Whenever he had a nightmare, that flavor would endlessly seep into his mouth, his nostrils, and every last pore on his body. It felt like sinking into a marsh. No matter how much he screamed or struggled, there was nothing he could do. He could not fight it. He knew this because he had had the same nightmare again and again and again for so very long. He was having it again now. In the dream, he saw himself as a young child in a stone room. However, that child was not alone. He was with a woman who seemed to be his mother and they were hiding below a stone table. The mother held him and stared at the room’s entrance without even blinking. “Not again.” His mind was calm in the dream and his mind’s quiet words sounded exhausted. This was entirely normal and yet he still could not get used to it. The dream continued on. The young child turned his gaze in fear. His eyes were staring at something. A figure stood in the doorway to the room. The figure had wings, but they were not the wings of a demon. These were a dove’s wings. In other words, this was an angel. An angel was normally mostly white as the color of light, but the spear in his hand, the armor he wore, and even his wings were dyed crimson. The young child let out a small scream when he saw the angel. At the same time, the angel raised the spear in both hands and slowly entered the room. “Stay away!” Amon shouted as he watched the dream play out, but his voice was Overlossed by the presence of the nightmare. It was ignored. The armor on the angel’s feet clanked as he stepped on the stone floor. It was a cold sound. The mother faced the angel with her back to her fearful child. The hunter and prey had already confirmed each other’s presences. The young child clung to his mother’s back and trembled. Amon knew it was useless, but he tried to run into the scene. He panicked and shouted again. “Run away! Hurry! Don’t try to protect me!” But his mind’s pleas did not reach her. The angel pulled back his spear and his face was filled with the glee of taking down his prey. Seeing that kind of look for the first time shocked the young child to the point of tears. When scared, children would cry. That voice stopped the angel and his gaze turned directly toward the young child. The angel knocked the mother out of the way with the shaft of the spear. The woman collapsed to the cold floor without even crying out and the angel shouted vulgar words at her before facing the child again. He was planning to kill the crying child first. Amon knew what happened next and he knew there was no way for him to stop it. “Stop! I don’t want to see this!” He tried to close his eyes, but his mind continued to show it to him. The spear moved quickly. Its path took it straight toward the center of the child’s forehead. The child stopped crying and stared straight at the glint of the coming spear tip. And… “Stay away!” Just as Amon cried out, the young child was knocked out of the way. “…!” His mind gasped at this afterimage of the past. The spear meant for the child instead plunged into the mother that moved in front of him. The dream was silent, but he could swear he heard the low sound of metal piercing flesh. The spear passed diagonally from her back and out her stomach and the muddy dark red blood of a demon spilled to the floor. The young child endured the pain of falling to the floor and got up. His gaze naturally reached the stabbed mother who had fallen to a sitting position. “…” The mother’s lips clearly called Amon’s name. The child did not understand any of what was happening, but he answered her voice with a small nod. She must have been satisfied because she let out a quick breath and smiled. It was a smile of relief. “Why are you smiling?” The mother did not answer his mind’s question and she slowly collapsed the rest of the way to the floor. She continued smiling all the while. “Hey!” The child hesitantly started toward his mother, but he stopped. But not because the angel that had stabbed his mother was staring at him. He had seen a bright light beyond the angel and in the room’s entranceway. It was a white light and it had a great presence as if it had solidified. “…?” The angel must have sensed the approaching light’s presence because he quickly turned, kneeled, and set his spear down with the tip pointed backwards. This was how a retainer greeted his lord. By that time, a man stood in the room’s entranceway. The strange man carried light with him and his wings were larger and more numerous than the angel’s. His simple white robe was immaculate and it shined in the light emitted by his wings. He may have been a god. He faced the kneeling angel. … Stop. The child has not sinned. “I haven’t sinned? If that wasn’t a sin, what is!? I killed my mother!” The pressure of guilt was Overridden on the dream and began to press down on Amon’s mind. “I’ve lost so many people. If it wasn’t for me, none of them would have-…” Unable to hear Amon’s cries, the god slowly entered the room. He approached the young child who did not know what was happening and picked up his small body. “Stop! Don’t take me away from her!” The child must have realized he was being separated from his mother because he began to cry in the god’s arms and he reached for the woman lying on the floor. Feeling someone grab that outstretched hand, Amon woke from the dream. ### Part 3 Amon jumped up at the warm sensation surrounding his right hand. He tried to catch his breath as he looked at his right hand and found a slender white hand on his own. “…” He looked up and gently Overrode the feminine hand. He found a girl there. She wore the clothes of an office worker and looked like the quiet type. She was kneeling on the floor and looking worriedly toward him with her eyes closed. “Are you okay? It sounded like you were having an awful nightmare.” “Sorry,” he tried to say. However, he found he could not speak properly. His throat was too dry. His scratchy voice made the girl smile. “Don’t be sorry for having a nightmare. …Oh, you need some water, don’t you?” He nodded. She slowly let go of his hand and stood. He saw her approach the bedside table which contained a tray of breakfast likely meant for him. She poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the tray. “Here.” He gulped down the entire glass in one go and belched. “My, how rude.” He ignored her bitter smile and let out a deep breath. After some Verbal Self Control, he felt his body had finally calmed down. Only then did he remember where he was and more thoroughly Overrode his surroundings. He was in Scotland Yard’s nap room. It was a fairly large room, but it only contained bunk beds covered in white sheets. He had been sleeping in the bottom bunk closest to the entrance. … Last night… He had been taken in directly from Jonathan’s brewery and suddenly thrown into an interrogation room. After being questioned like he was the murderer, he had been told to stay put in here. The cement wall was covered in the color of mildew and it was a little damp. The only light came from the skylight. The atmosphere of the room may have been part of what had given him the nightmare. He nodded and faced the girl standing next to the bed. She wore a hairband in her soft-looking blonde hair and she still had her eyes closed. “Who are you?” “My name is Klausl.” Amon scratched his head at the uninformative answer. Still smiling, she gently held the tray out to him. “Are you sure you’re okay? You looked like you were suffering.” “It’s nothing.” He took the tray and picked up the spoon, but then he stopped. “Was it that obvious I was having a nightmare?” Her smile vanished and she nodded. “Yes. You said ‘help me’ again and again. You were clearly suffering.” “I see. …Sorry.” “Instead of apologizing, please eat.” He looked up in thought when he heard that, but he soon began working at the food on the tray with great intensity. He focused on eating. He continued making a racket for a while and Klausl asked him a question. “How does it taste?” He did not answer. He was not the kind of guy who could make small talk like that. He simply continued eating without saying a word. Klausl watched him, sighed, and gave a vague comment. “Breakfast today was made by the Yard’s #1 chef.” He had a reflexive thought about that. … I see. That explains why it’s so good. But… “Oh, thank you very much! I was the one that made it!” Amon just about spat out the food in his mouth, but she ignored that and happily folded her hands. “Thank goodness. You were a sudden guest, so I wasn’t very confident.” “Don’t read my Open Words.” He just barely managed to get those words out. “But you won’t answer me otherwise.” She was right about that. It bothered him that things were not going like normal. “Don’t get so excited just because I said your food was good. Are you not very smart or something?” “My, how rude. I’ll have you know I have a Level 2 government worker license.” “That isn’t what I meant. This is a more essential issue.” “Oh, so you admit I’m skilled?” “Hold on. Are you making fun of me? I’m Death Wish Amon, you know?” “I’m not sure what you mean. You seem like a perfectly normal demon to me.” His expression grew stern. “Can’t you see I don’t have any wing-…” He trailed off when he looked at her closed eyes. Without opening her eyes, she gave him a completely innocent smile. “…” The sternness immediately vanished from his face and an exhausted sigh left his mouth. Without saying another word, he resumed eating. He ate more slowly this time. After a while, he finished everything on the tray. “Are there seconds?” “Sorry, but no.” Klausl took the tray he held out and simply smiled. “You are entirely different from what Fir and the others said about you.” “What did she tell you?” “I only asked what you had done, but based on that, I thought you would be a scary person. I heard you singlehandedly destroyed a mafia group two years ago and-…” “Don’t talk about that.” He cut off her words, but her smile did not waver. She did not seem remotely frightened. In fact, she almost looked relieved. He glanced over at her and felt uncomfortable. But then… “Oh, you still eating?” Amon and Klausl turned toward the casual voice and found Fir standing in the nap room’s entrance. Amon snapped at her before she could say anything. “Fir, what’s this about you telling her all sorts of things about me?” “I only told her the truth. She could find it all for herself if she checked the Yard’s files.” Fir did not sound remotely bothered by what she had done and she turned toward Klausl before continuing. “What surprises me is that you came here on your own, Klau. Not many people would want to bring Amon food on their own after hearing what he’s done.” “I thought it would be okay. I really did.” Hearing that, Amon clicked his tongue, shook his head in annoyance, and faced Fir. “So why are you here? Did you bring me dessert?” “Oh?” said Klausl. “But your breakfast had an orange with it.” “I wasn’t serious!” He shouted angrily back at her, but caught himself and applied Verbal Self Control. Meanwhile, he heard Fir trying to suppress laughter. “Looks like things aren’t going your way, Amon. But that’s not surprising. Klau’s the one person in the Yard who can actually hold a proper conversation with the Inspector.” “The Inspector, huh? We’re really digging up my past today, aren’t we?” He took a breath. “Fir, hurry up and tell me what you want. Are you detaining me? Am I being interrogated again?” “Someone would almost think you’d had some bad experiences in the Yard.” “Maybe that’s because I have.” “Hmm. Then do you not want to see what I’m holding here?” He looked at her outstretched hand and Overrode a piece of paper there. “We’re doing a word investigation of Old Jon’s shop, so we don’t want you going in there until the results are in. This tells you where to find the apartment the Yard’s prepared for you. Look.” The paper contained a simple map, a room number, and some other information. … I’m supposed to live there? He Opened his doubt and Fir laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s a normal apartment and it’s not too far from the shop,” she explained. “Well, that should settle it. And I was the one to find the room, so you’d better not complain.” ### Part 4 It was extremely rare to see the sunset in London. The city was so constantly covered in fog that it was known as the City of Fog. However, that meant it would sink gently into the depths of the night. There was no dramatic change in color as it naturally filled with darkness and the countless gas lights almost looked like will-o’-the-wisps. The Savoy Hotel was located along the Thames which flowed through the center of London. The rooms on the hotel’s top floor gave an excellent view of the city as it filled with life. Valeath was watching the foggy city from one of those windows. “…” The inside of the window perfectly reflected him and the room behind him. It was a large room. London hotels liked to preserve the ambiance of the city, but this one had bright electric lights installed. This was one of England’s top hotels and it seemed to target even the rarest sort of guests. After all, electric lights produced human-made light. The window’s reflection showed Moyla standing a short distance away in that light. Somewhere in the distance, a bell rang and lonely-sounding pipe organ music accompanied it. That was the hourly signal from Westminster Cathedral. Just as the bell finished its six rings and the music stopped, the large door reflected in the window opened. Ralf stepped inside. He still wore his modified minister’s outfit and he spoke cheerfully. “I’d always heard British food was bad, but that was surprisingly good. The roast beef at this place’s restaurant was especially great.” At that point, he realized the room’s atmosphere was far from cheerful, so he adjusted his sunglasses. “Valeath, what did you want to discuss in today’s meeting?” Valeath kept his arms crossed and spoke quietly. “We will finish this in three days’ time.” “Of course,” answered Ralf. He sighed and Overrode himself. Unlike when he had entered the room, he was giving the same smile as when he had shot Gloss. “Based on that Hard Wolf from last night, the monsters here won’t be a problem. I suppose three days should be enough to gather the necessary number of voices.” “But Master Valeath, if we rush this too much, we might make a mistake somewhere.” That calm comment came from Moyla who pulled her shawl tight as if she were cold. Her face looked somewhat pale in the window’s reflection. “We were given a month for this, so there is no need to hurry.” Valeath said nothing to her, so Ralf did instead. “Don’t worry, Moyla. Valeath and I are more than enough for this. You can focus on resting. After all, London’s fog is not just fog. It’s nasty stuff called smog.” In the reflection, Moyla looked at Valeath. She clearly wanted to say something as her eyes overlapped with the city of London. However, Valeath did not respond to that look. He simply turned around slowly. “In three days, we will set up the Babel Cannon in the place we have prepared. We will gather the voices of 121 Arche races by then. Do you understand, Ralf?” “I do.” Ralf smiled. “But what are you going to have Moyla do?” Moyla answered that question without even a moment’s delay. “I will protect Master Valeath. That is my job.” She was clearly in a hurry to speak and Ralf looked quite disappointed to hear it. “Why do you have to say it yourself?” After a complicated sigh, he turned his back on Valeath and purposefully let his military boots sound on the floor. “Valeath, let me tell you something interesting. The Hard Wolf you supposedly eliminated last night actually managed to survive for a bit longer.” There was a hint of testing in his voice and he seemed to be saying this was worth showing some interest in. That must have caught Valeath’s attention because he glanced toward the other man. Expecting the glance, Ralf turned around in front of the door with his usual smile. “Because you didn’t wait until he Ashed, it’s become a bit of an incident in the city. And…that Hard Wolf had adopted a strange young man. He’s a demon, but he has no wings.” “Is there some problem related to that young man?” “Who knows. You can check on that for yourself. I figured you would be the best judge of whether he had sworn revenge over the death of his adoptive father. Also…please remember one thing.” Ralf placed a hand on the door as he spoke. “It may be Moyla’s job to serve you, but she isn’t your property.” Valeath said nothing. Neither did Moyla. She simply hung her head. Ralf opened his mouth again when he saw that, but he stopped himself. Instead, he opened the door and left. “…” Moyla briefly looked out the open door and then turned to Valeath. “Master Valeath, are you angry?” “About what?” “He made it sound like I…” She trailed off. On the other hand, Valeath’s words were calm and strong. “Unlike you or Ralf, I have almost no emotions thanks to the Over Contract.” The bandaged hand sticking out of his coat’s sleeve had a circular emblem drawn on it. “When a human uses a demon’s spells, darkness fills their soul.” That wore away at their emotions and humanity. When someone like that died, there was no escaping hell. Moyla looked at the back of Valeath’s hand. “If this mission succeeds, I hope you can meet Lady Melda in heaven.” “Do not mention that.” For once, Valeath actually interfered in what someone said. He gently shook his head. “She is not for you to think about. We simply need to gather voices and use the Babel Cannon…” He took a breath and said something absurd. “To drop heaven down on London.” ### 123. Chapter 2: Deadly Activation ### Part 1 As soon as he left the Yard, Amon was overrun by work to get his life in order. It would not have been so bad if he only had to move, but he had also been asked to deal with Jonathan’s brewery. By the time he closed the shop, got the inventory in order, cancelled the wharf warehouse rental, and brought all the paperwork to the municipal office’s late night service window, it was morning. Just like the day before, he returned home far too late. Out of habit, he started toward the brewery he had lived in with Jonathan, so he had to change direction. “My room’s this way now.” The morning was still dark as he walked through the residential Soho Square. The stone-paved road, brick-paved sidewalk, and gas lights all looked oddly faded. … I must be tired. His thoughts were answered by the deep, sinking bell and music indicating the top of the hour. The strangely clear sound resembled the colors of the sky as dawn arrived. The bell rang five times. He stopped to count the number and applied Verbal Self Control as the ringing reverberated through his body. Once he began walking again, his pace was quicker and he looked in the windows of the shopping district. The stores run by nocturnal races were about to close. “Maybe I should eat something now.” Only then did he realize someone was staring at him. Without a doubt, a weakly murderous gaze was focused on the back of his neck. “Did the Yard send out someone to monitor me?” He frowned and slowed his pace a little. He looked over his shoulder a bit, but he did not look with his eyes. He used Overriding to instead read his surroundings. … Oh? He found someone who worked for the Yard almost too easily. They were quite close by. He recognized their presence at the boutique across the road. It was a terribly defenseless presence that did not even hide its location. In other words, it was not the presence of an observer. “…” Confused, Amon stopped walking and looked over at the large show window of the boutique. He saw a girl that he recognized. She was the blind girl named Klausl. She held some modest clothing that ignored the latest trends and faced the half-fishwoman with beautiful scales who worked at the boutique. Klausl was chatting with the boutique worker and was clearly not monitoring Amon. … Is she out shopping on her way home from the Yard? How lovely. He gave a bitter smile of self-deprecation and looked around again. He could not sense anyone other than the girl in the boutique, but he still felt a gaze on the back of his neck. It was not a pleasant feeling. “…” He began walking again and sped up to draw out whoever it was. He hurried as he sidestepped the signs that had been standing there for several years now and slipped between them and the gas lights. “Kyah!” Suddenly, he just about ran into someone leaving a nearby bakery. They did not actually collide, but he must have frightened the other person. Her blue skirt spread out like a flower and she fell on her butt. He reflexively looked down at her. “That was close. Watch where you’re going, you idiot.” But then he gasped. The person sitting before him with a dazed look was Klausl who had been in the boutique just a second before. She sat on the brick sidewalk and looked up at him in confusion. “Eh?” he muttered. He turned back toward the boutique, but he could not see inside it from this angle. … ? A grim look covered his brow and he looked back at Klausl who held a paper bag of bread and nodded. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, Amon.” “Eh? O-oh, yeah. It was your fault.” Amon gave that terribly awkward response and thought about the situation. It had taken him a few dozen seconds to walk from the boutique to here, so it would have taken Klausl about the same amount of time. However, she would not have had enough time to end her conversation with the boutique worker, arrive here ahead of him, and leave the store holding a bag of bread. … ? He must have strongly Tasked and Opened his confusion because Klausl tilted her head as she stood up. “What is it?” “Oh, nothing.” He suddenly noticed a difference between the girl in the boutique and this one holding the paper bag. Their clothes were different. The previous one had been wearing the uniform of a Yard office worker. This Klausl’s clothes were similar, but the decorations were slightly different. “I see.” He nodded and applied Verbal Self Control. It was not uncommon to think a stranger was someone you knew. … That’s right. And right now I need to find whoever’s observing me. “Observing you?” asked Klausl. “Don’t read my Open Words.” “Oh, sorry. B-but, um… Excuse me.” “What?” he asked without bothering to hide his annoyance. “Do you like bread?” The question was so sudden and thoughtless that his mouth simply hung open for a bit. “…Eh?” “Um, there are some people in London who can’t eat certain things. …For example, there are those who have to eat carrots or can’t eat garlic or salt. So I just wanted to ask.” … That’s right. He just about answered, but quickly realized he was being an idiot. “W-wait just a second.” “Yes? What is it?” “Why on earth are you asking this out of the blue in the middle of the city?” With her eyes still closed, Klausl thought for a moment. “I suppose you’re right. …Okay, I would like to ask a question. May I?” Amon just about collapsed right then and there. “I wasn’t asking you to go through some kind of official procedure!” “But you said my question was too sudden…” … Someone help me. Amon let out a defeated sigh which was rare for him. “I may not be one to talk, but do you have screw loose in your head or something?” “Oh, my. That sounds serious. I need to ask father about that.” “Are you messing with me?” His shoulders drooped and Klausl must have picked up on his frustration because she seemed to give up on asking her strange question. Something akin to sadness reached him much like Open Words. “It seems I caught you at a bad time. …Sorry.” “…” He remained silent, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately turned his back. He walked off at a quick pace and scratched his head. “What a strange girl.” As he rushed away, he once more felt the gaze of the observer he had nearly forgotten about. It seemed they were sticking with him no matter what. … They sure are persistent. He checked the road and saw a stagecoach rushing down the stone pavement. Amon waved toward it and the skeleton driver brought the two headless horses known as Nightmares to a stop. The dry voice produced by the skeleton man’s cheap artificial vocal cords spoke cheerfully. “Keh keh keh. Where to? Ee hee hee hee.” “How far can you go?” “With me driving, you could go as far as hell. How about it?” “Just take me wherever.” Amon pulled a ten pence coin from his jacket and tossed it over. The skeleton man caught it with a dry sound from his palm. “Keh keh keh. Good, good! I’ll take you around for fifteen minutes. I’m also carrying a cute young lady, so don’t try anything. Ee hee hee hee!” “Keep up that nonsense and I’ll break some of those bones of yours.” With that, Amon climbed inside the enclosed passenger car. It had room for six with two three-person sofas facing each other. It was a common layout. “Now, then.” He took a breath just as the stagecoach began to move. The observer would be unable to keep up on foot, so they would have to react in some way. “Oh, right.” Just as he started to look out the window, he remembered the other passenger the skeleton man had mentioned. He Overrode the inside of the passenger car and saw a girl in the opposite seat. The person the driver had called a “cute young lady” had her head resting on the windowsill and her eyes closed in sleep. The happy look on her face suggested she was having a good dream. However, Amon was dumbfounded when he saw her. “What…the hell?” He stared at her. The girl in front of him was clearly Klausl. “Wah!” His scream did not come out properly. He frantically half-rolled and half-jumped off of the accelerating stagecoach. He gently hopped on the stone pavement and landed. His breathing showed how panicked he was, but he did not have time for Verbal Self Control. However, he did manage to Close his thoughts so no one could see into his confused mind. “What is going on?” He returned to the sidewalk and turned to the leaving stagecoach. “…” It must have turned a corner because it had vanished from the road. He frowned and saw his face reflected in a nearby store show window. He was amazingly pale. “What the hell is this?” He stared into the show window and saw a smiling girl reaching toward him with her eyes closed on the other side. Or at least, he thought he did. He quickly looked away and checked his surroundings for the observer’s presence, but he could no longer find it due to his panic. “This isn’t like me at all.” He gently shook his head Overrode his appearance, and began walking down the sidewalk. But suddenly… “Oh, it’s Amon.” As soon as he saw the smile peering at him from the side, he began to run. “Waaaahhh!” He shouted almost at the top of his lungs. After all, he had seen the exact same expression but in another different outfit. This time it was a light apron skirt, the kind of coat worn on a trip, and a travel bag. This was creepy. He shuddered at the thought that everyone in London looked like that now. He ran and ran. He suddenly realized he was going the wrong way. He had fallen into old habits and run to his previous home in Jonathan’s brewery. But he did not care. He was gasping for breath as he trudged up to the store that had a half-closed garage and sat down. Even he could tell all the color had left his face. “I-I’m going to die…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Are you okay?” He nodded at the voice. “Just tired.” “You must have had a rough time. …Here, have some water.” “Oh, thanks.” He took the glass and quickly drank the water. … Isn’t there something odd about this? He did not want to realize anything more, but the cause of that feeling approached him. A shadow fell over his face and he detected a faint scent of perfume. “You should get some rest.” When her face came into view, he stopped breathing altogether. … Why are you here!? Klausl smiled when she read his Open Words. “I acted as a witness to the word investigation held here this morning.” And yet Amon had been running all over trying to get away from her. … You’re kidding! He stood up. “Ah! Where are you going!?” He ignored her cry and dashed away. He tried to cut across the road and escape. On his second or third step, she called out to him. “Amon!” He turned toward her on reflex and he saw her pointing in the direction he was moving. “There’s a car coming!” “What?” The instant he faced forward, he saw exactly what she had warned him of. Consciousness was an easy thing to lose. And just before he did, he saw two or three Klausls inside the car plowing into him. ### Part 2 Scotland Yard was England’s national police and London’s city police. It was a large-scale organization, but it handled a great number of cases. And currently, it was facing the greatest case since its founding. Perhaps even the greatest in England’s history. The Yard was operating at full capacity, so no employee, department, or location was taking a break. Fir did not get a bite to eat until 1:30 PM that day. That was normally the time for post-lunch tea. She bought two servings of freshly made fish and chips from a bandaged man running a street food cart and raced back to the Inspector’s room. She had trained on this door, so she could fully open it with a single kick. “Take that! It’s refueling time! Do you want salt or vinegar?” “Salt.” The Inspector’s response seemed somewhat arbitrary and Fir Overrode the room. It was filled with documents. Her memory was not the most reliable, but she had a feeling the amount of documents had grown since she left. “By any chance, did a forty-second turn up?” She nimbly walked across the room while making sure not to tread on the scattered papers with her heels. “How did this many people end up dead in a single night?” No response came from beyond the work desk that had been transformed into a barricade by all the papers piled up on it. The Inspector seemed to be giving this serious thought for once. Fir shrugged and circled behind the desk. She found the man sitting in his chair and staring at one document in particular. She held out the wrapped serving of fish and chips. “Here, Inspector.” “Hm? Oh, thank you.” He took the food wrapped in oil paper, sighed, and placed the report on top of the pile. “I’m not sure what to do. The forty-second and forty-third came in at the same time.” “What did the word investigation say?” Fir began eating the fried fish first as the Inspector brought a hand to his forehead at the perfect angle. “This is a very important case.” “Well, yes. A lot of people have ended up dead.” He shrugged at that and shook his head. “Nn, that isn’t quite what I meant. I am getting the feeling that no one but me can solve this case.” “…What?” “Strange and similar massacres are spreading through London! Who can save the city from this evil but me? Heh heh heh. I will personally solve this case. If that is not important, then what is? Now, call the newspapers and the radio stations, Firry.” “Don’t call me Firry, you stupid old man!” “Ow ow ow! Don’t pinch me!” Fir looked up at the shouting Inspector. “So in other words, you’re taking full control of this case?” “Yes, I am.” “Are you saying all of these deaths were murders committed in the same way as Old Jon’s?” He nodded. “Forty three in a single night easily breaks Jack the Ripper’s record. And at the moment, we know two things.” He raised two fingers and folded down one. “First, the murders are being committed by more than one person. The blood stains at the crime scenes show two different types of shed blood. The first is a stream of blood in a single direction such as from a severed artery. The other is a splattering of flesh and blood as if from an explosion.” “So the first would be a cut from a blade and the other some kind of explosive?” More or less, Opened the Inspector. “The other mystery comes from the word investigator’s inspection of the blood stain ash. None of the ashes contain the elements of a voice.” “A voice?” Fir asked blankly. The Inspector placed a hand on his throat. “There is a slight projection of bone here, right? Due to that shape, the organ is known as a Horn. Well, that and because it produces sound.” “What about that Horn?” “The Horn and only the Horn was taken from the bodies and that organ is what allows us to shout and produce words. But that isn’t all. All forty three victims were from different races.” To produce words was to produce power, so what did it mean that the source of that power was being stolen? And why from so many different races? Fir thought for a while, but she was not going to find an answer so easily. “What does this mean, Inspector?” “I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about it. Either way, it would take great ability to slaughter so many of London’s residents.” Having finished off the contents of his oil paper wrapping, he balled it up and tossed it away. He then Overrode the previous document back into his hand. Fir peered down at it. “A report on Amon? Why?” “This is just my instincts talking, but I have a feeling that young man is at the center of this case too.” “Is that why you had Klau monitor him?” He looked up at the annoyed tone of her voice. “Oh, you knew about that?” “A call from her came in down below. What in the world are you thinking?” “I thought she would be the best for the job. You said she didn’t fear him, didn’t you?” “Yes, but…” “Are you jealous of her being so close to him?” Fir smiled bitterly. “It isn’t that. I can’t get near him. It would be too tragic.” She Closed her thoughts so no one could read them. The Inspector looked curiously at her, so she put on a devilish smile. “Hey, Inspector. When you first saw Klau, you asked why she didn’t open her eyes, didn’t you?” “Hm? …Oh, yes. I do remember doing that.” She gave a deep nod. “But when Amon saw her, he didn’t ask about her eyes. Probably because he doesn’t have any wings.” She took a breath. “Inspector, what kind of demon is he?” “Isn’t he a taciturn demon who doesn’t think about others and always acts like he wants to die?” “Not that. What about when he had his wings?” She leaned forward as she asked him. “Just like with the case two years ago, you always treat him differently. And the unit you put together to capture him back then had anti-demon god level equipment.” ### Part 3 The next thing Amon knew, he was alone in an apartment. However, this was not the room Fir had given him. It was the familiar place he had lived two years ago before his probation period under Jonathan. The table in front of him was a cheap wooden dining table. Sitting on the table was the modest dinner he had bought with his own money. At that point, his mind alone woke up. “It’s that nightmare again.” The Amon in the dream rested his legs on the table and began to eat and an Amon that existed only as a mind watched from an objective perspective. The Amon with a piece of bread in hand suddenly stopped moving and looked out the window. Light shined in through the glass. Two straight lines of light shined directly on him. They were a car’s headlights. Given how quickly the circles of light in the window grew larger, the approaching car had to be moving at a decent clip. Soon, the window was filled with white. Amon was not all that tense. He was used to this, so he simply rose from the chair in preparation. At the same time, the light vanished from the window. The car must have made a sharp curve in front of the apartment. “?” As soon as he relaxed slightly, a smashing sound rang out. Something broke through the window and the outside air rushed in with it. “What?!” A human form bounced off the table and rolled down at his feet. It was a woman. The beautiful woman had long black hair. The tree roots indicating she was a dryad started on the back of her neck, extended down with her hair, and wrapped around her naked body. That body was stained red. The crimson dye wetting her body gushed from the horizontal gash in her neck. The Amon in the dream and the Amon who was only a mind cried out in unison. “Eilen!” There was no strength in the eyes of the dryad woman. However, her lips were still moving. They trembled as she tried to express something. The dream Amon crouched down to hear what she had to say. He tried to pick her up even if it would dirty his clothes. But the instant he grabbed her slender shoulders and wrapped his arms around her, the dryad named Eilen turned pure white as she Ashed. It burned Amon a little as he was wet with her blood. Her disappearance scorched his clothes and skin, but he did seem to notice the pain as he gathered strength in his arms and embraced the air so as not to miss her disappearance as she turned to ash. His lips repeated the same word over and over again as if it were a magic spell. The Amon having the dream could not hear the word, but he knew all too well what it was. “Sorry.” That was what he was saying. His mind turned away as if to avoid that word. He turned from the floor and looked ahead. He saw something that should not have been there. Several severed heads were peering inside the room through the broken window. He recognized all of them. His mother’s face was there, as was Eilen’s even though she had only just Ashed. There was cheerful George, Dixon the knife-thrower, cowardly Rat, Garland, Purcell, Yukimaru, Freesia, Layla, and several others. And at the very center was a new face. It was Jonathan’s face. They were all people around Amon who had died…no, been killed. They filled the window and gave him accusing stares. “We were killed because we were with you, Death Wish Amon. It was all because of you.” He could swear he heard them cursing him like that. The pressure of guilt was Overridden on the dream and it threatened to crush his mind. Jonathan opened his mouth. “Go rush toward revenge in search of a place to die like you used to. Not that you will die. …You alone will live on and someone else will die in your place.” A single piece of parchment fell in front of Amon. It should not have been there either. It was the demon contract Jonathan had left behind. “Of course, even with something like this, a failure like you could never make a contract.” Amon bit his lip in silence, but the accusations of the dead did not stop. “Amon, if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have died.” “Even if you remain wingless and refuse to use your demonic power, your sins will never vanish.” “After all, you should not even exist.” “Now, go out in search of a place to die like always.” “Don’t you want to become one of us, Death Wish Amon?” He lowered his gaze. Everything they were saying was true. He knew that for sure after seeing this dream so many times in the past. A groaning voice escaped his lips. “That’s right. All of you want me to die, don’t you?” But as soon as he asked that… “That isn’t true.” He heard a somewhat familiar voice. He looked in shock at what he held in his arms. No, who he held in his arms. “Eilen?” He let his guard down just once and called the dead girl’s name. But the girl in his arms did not turn around. “It’s okay,” said whoever it was. “It’s okay.” … Who is this? He gently lifted the person in his arms, looked at her face, and found the identity of the girl who had suddenly appeared in this familiar nightmare. ### Part 4 Amon opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling. The feel of the bed and the afternoon light from the window were different as well. The hourly bell and music in the distance also sounded off. “It’s three already? That was a long nightmare.” Only then did he recall that this was the apartment Fir had prepared for him. It was smaller than his former home, but it was quieter. He knew the area because he had delivered beer here a few times. He was currently in the living room that doubled as a bedroom. He yawned twice. … I need to deal with the luggage I brought in last night. Still lying in bed, he Overrode his surroundings to check on the luggage on the floor. A lot of luggage had been scattered around the bed, but… “Where is it?” He found no luggage whatsoever. Not only that, but the floor had been dusty enough to leave footprints, but it was surprisingly clean now. … What is going on? That was when an odd weight was Overridden on his chest. It was a living weight with a warm softness to it. “!?” He had not expected anything to be lying on top of him, so he did a more thorough Override to see what was there. “A girl?” Just as he had held Eilen in his dream, he held a girl in his arms. She wore somewhat professional attire and slept defenselessly in his arms. Her slender body rose and fell as she breathed and the soft-looking blonde hair on her shoulders shook. She slept with a somehow happy look on her face. … She was the one who was good at cooking, right? I met her at the Yard. Her name was… At that point, he came back to his senses. “Wh-what the hell are you doing!?” He shouted out and sprang up with Klausl still in his arms. Either the movement or his voice elicited a quiet voice from her. “…Nn?” Sensing her waking up in his arms, Amon panicked. He did not know what was going on, but he had a feeling the current situation would not work in his favor. He got back down into the bed and let go of her. She was still half asleep and started to fall over, so he supported her with one arm and checked on her clothing. At the very least, it did not look like anything had happened while he slept. After confirming that, he finally took a sigh of relief. “Oh, good morning, Amon.” Klausl greeted him so readily that he just about collapsed. Once he endured that, he half-glared back at her. When he saw her somewhat blank expression, he remembered a number of things. For example, how she had multiplied that morning. “W-wait just a second. Explain this!” “Eh? Explain what?” “Why are you here!?” “You fell asleep in front of the brewery, so everyone carried you here.” “I did not fall asleep. I passed out after I was hit by a car!” After insisting on something that pathetic, he came back to his senses. “What is going on!? For one thing, why were you sleeping in my bed?” “I came to help you move in this morning. You seemed tired, so I let you continue sleeping. And after a while, you started having a nightmare.” … Again? Klausl nodded at the word he accidentally left Open. “Yes, I was worried because you were speaking in your sleep and seemed to be suffering. And when I moved up next to you…” “Yes?” “You suddenly embraced me.” “What? Eh? W-wait.” “It was the first time a guy had done that to me, so I wasn’t able to stop you.” She brought her hand to her cheek, but she was not blushing. Amon could not help but think she was making fun of him, so he bared his teeth. “O-okay, stop saying things that will give people the wrong idea! I already know nothing happened!” “You’re right. You fell asleep right after embracing me. You looked so peaceful then.” She gave an innocent smile and Amon paled. But she ignored that and looked out the window. “Oh, it’s so late already. What would you like to eat, Amon?” He just about answered but came back to his senses. When he realized he was getting dragged along at her pace, he cleared his throat and took back control of the conversation. “I have more questions.” “Questions?” “Why are you here and how did you get in?” She responded to his harsh questions by pulling a key from a hidden pocket in her skirt. It dimly glittered in the light and seemed to have been only just made. “I received a copy of the key with my orders this morning.” “W-wait just a minute! What are you talking about!?” “I am your observer.” She casually said something unbelievable. Amon’s mouth hung open for a bit before he shouted back. “What the hell!?” “When one party wants to monitor the actions of a second party, they will have a third party remain nearby the second party on their behalf.” “Goddammit! Fir tricked me…” “No, this has nothing to do with her. The order came directly from the Inspector.” Amon ground his teeth as he sat on the bed. He was acting entirely differently from normal, but he did not notice. “So that Inspector put you up to this, did he? Well I don’t need an observer, so get lost!” “No.” Klausl changed her expression for once and she continued before Amon could say anything. “You are in pain after your friend passed away, so you cannot be left alone. I will not allow it.” “Y-you idiot. Don’t act like you understand this. I said get lost.” “No.” “I’ll throw you out.” “Through the window? And even if you do, I’ll come back.” She was clearly serious and Amon fell silent, so she continued as if to admonish him. “No matter what you say or do, I will stay by your side.” “You really are stupid, aren’t you? Don’t you know everyone by my side ends up dead?” The look he saw flash across her face made him gulp. It was not a look of sympathy, sadness, or pity, but it was an expression only seen on those who knew. But the look was soon replaced by a slight smile. “I cannot leave. If I did, I would not fulfill my role as observer. Also, the Inspector left me with something. He said everything would work out if I gave it to you.” “Wh-what is it?” Due to her previous expression, Amon was a bit taken aback. She Overrode an item wrapped in paper and handed it to him. Something like a paperback book was inside the wrapping. It did not seem to be one of the tabloids or other papers sold along the street. … What is it? He slowly opened the seal and pulled out the object inside. “It is this month’s issue of a men’s magazine. It seems they secretly sell these to young men.” Klausl did not blush and her eyes remained closed, but she sounded troubled as she answered. Amon said nothing and slowly put the magazine back in its wrapping. Meanwhile, Klausl continued getting worked up on her own. “According to the Inspector, ‘this’ll win over any young guy like him. Eh heh heh.’ …Ah! How could I say something like that?” “…” “But Amon, this kind of thing is…um…well…” He continued staring at her in silence as she brought a hand to her cheek. “It’s lewd.” He more or less exploded. ### Part 5 As it grew dark outside, artificial light filled the Savoy Hotel. That pure white electric light was not like moonlight and did not flicker like flames. Humans were the only beings that suited that light. That white light filled the hotel’s first floor lobby from every direction and someone stood on the stairs continuing up from that lobby. It was Moyla. From halfway up the stairs, she looked around and Overrode the lobby. She checked past the towering marble columns and made sure there was no one at the front desk or the entrance by the windows. “Where is he?” she muttered. Her shawl-covered shoulders lowered and she began to cough. It was an unpleasant cough. The intermittent sounds seemed to come from the very depths of her body. “Kh…” She leaned against the stairway railing to endure it. It took her several minutes to catch her breath. … Is this due to London’s air or is it getting worse? She looked down at the hand she had used to hide her coughing and saw red speckles on the palm. She wrinkled her brow a bit and stood up. “Are you okay, Moyla?” She looked toward the voice and found a young man in a minister’s outfit standing in the center of the lobby. It was Ralf. He held an umbrella instead of a gun. “Yeah, an umbrella is useless against this fog. I’d love a waterproof coat from Burberry right about now.” He almost seemed to be talking to himself, but he made sure Moyla could hear. “This country is a lot of trouble. But I had some time, so I got three more voices.” “How is your gun doing?” “Pretty well. …More importantly, I heard you coughing just now. Are you okay?” “Eh? Yes, I’m fine.” She clenched both her hands as she answered. She crossed her arms below her shawl to hide the blood in her clenched hand and she descended the stairs. She moved out from behind the marble columns and into the entranceway where Ralf was already sitting on a sofa. She smiled bitterly when she saw him taking up an entire three-person sofa by himself. She sat in the opposite sofa. “Ralf, um…” He reflexively responded to her voice. “I won’t tell you were Valeath is if that’s what you want. You’d go after him if I told you, wouldn’t you?” “It is my job to protect him.” He quickly removed his sunglasses when he heard that and he looked directly at her with his narrow eyes. “Then that speeds things up. He isn’t out there to fight. He just wanted to see the young man who was apparently adopted by that Hard Wolf. I found out about him yesterday.” “A family member of that Hard Wolf?” “Something like that. He’s apparently a demon, so normally a minister like me would handle him, but…there was something peculiar about this one.” “Something…peculiar?” She was taken in by his conversation and he gave an embarrassed smile when he noticed. “Sorry. I kind of dragged you away from the main point, didn’t I?” “I have nothing to do but wait around here anyway.” He crossed his arms and unabashedly Opened his thought about her being a smart young woman. Her white cheeks flushed a little, but she kept her thoughts Closed. “Could we get back to the conversation?” she asked. “Sure. Some of it will be a little hard to say, but I’m just going to get it out there.” The smile vanished from his face and he checked to make sure no one else was around. “You know why I’m working as a Hound, right?” “Yes. You said before it was revenge for the villagers you were supposed to protect.” “That’s right. No matter how strong my faith was, god didn’t save them, so-…” Moyla stopped him there. “You don’t need to say any more. …It would only be painful for you.” “Yeah, and it’s nothing I can exactly brag about. …Now, as for Valeath’s past…” He hesitated. “Maybe you’ll understand if I mention a certain incident. The Borderson family has long protected an area in southern Germany surrounded by the Black Forest.” The look in Moyla’s eyes changed when she heard the name Borderson. She was now staring intently at Ralf’s expression as if trying to see through it. But he did not mind. “Reichle Borderson was a Hound and the young leader of the Busters there, but there was a demon attack on the day of his wedding. The demon had transformed into a human and masqueraded as his friend.” “…” “It’s said the demon killed his bride Melda and devoured the souls of all the people living in that land.” “But Reichle Borderson defeated that demon.” “Yes, I’ve heard he defeated it with the assistance of a servant girl who had managed to escape. And when he defeated the demon, he let its blood wash over him to gain a spell known as an Over Contract.” He gave a weary sigh. “A few years later, a swordsman named Rickland Valeath appeared in Germany accompanied by a witch named Moyla Telmetz.” Ralf stared back into Moyla’s eyes. She said nothing and kept everything Closed. “Yes,” he nodded on his own. “People who have lost something important to them, something they should have protected, or – I’m a little embarrassed to say it – someone they loved, all have a similar feel to them.” “What about it?” Moyla tilted her head and Ralf gave a clear answer. “The young demon I saw yesterday felt a lot like Valeath.” “…!” Moyla trembled at that. “What…do you mean by that!?” “I’m not entirely sure.” Ralf tilted his own head and asked a question of his own. “But what would you do if you found someone with all the same traits as you?” “Eh?” “What if someone like that was standing right in front of you? Do you know what you would do?” “…” She fell silent, but he leaned forward and gave his answer. “I don’t think I would be able to stand it.” They were sharp words and they Overrode what kind of human he was. But she did not respond. She did not agree or disagree. After a glance into her eyes, Ralf sighed and fixed his posture. “If it were me, I’d tell that other me that they could never surpass me.” But… “What will Valeath do?” ### Part 6 As the city filled the darkness with light, Amon went to get some dinner at a familiar pub called the Guinea. The Guinea was located near Bond Street which was filled with shops old even for London and the Guinea itself had been running since the fifteenth century. It had no seats and everyone ate and drank while standing at the counter or the tall tables. That was the standard for the good old pubs. The counter and tables were almost entirely full and the customers showed little sign of moving. However, no one stood on either side of Amon. Everyone else was chatting amongst themselves, but he was alone. He switched between eating his crisps and sandwich in silence. Despite any thoughts he might have about Amon, the stone demon bartender approached him. He must have reached a break in the number of customers because he stopped in front of Amon and Overrode a mug in one of his six arms. “This one’s for Jonathan. He helped me out a lot.” He held out the dark stout beer. Amon looked at it and pulled a ten pence coin from his jacket. When the stone demon saw the coin on the counter, he stopped the hand setting down the mug. “Hey, I said this one’s for Jonathan.” “And the money’s from Jonathan,” replied Amon as he grabbed a crisp. With an exasperated look, the stone demon set the mug on the counter next to Amon as if someone was standing there. “It’s been two years since you came here, but you haven’t changed at all.” “The pub hasn’t changed either.” “I lowered the price of lagers to ten pence since the ladies are drinking too these days. But…what has you here? I know there’s some big case in London, so are you out looking for the murderer?” Amon did not answer. The girl with the closed eyes appeared in the back of his mind, but he quickly erased that image. However, the bartender seemed to have noticed. “Is it a girl?” “No, it’s not. More like a high-pressure salesman. More importantly, give me some Cheshire cheese. The hard stuff.” “Sorry, but the hard kind isn’t very popular these days. I’m all out. …So what kind of girl is she?” “You sure are persistent.” “Of course I am. You haven’t been interested in a girl since Eilen, right?” The look in Amon’s eyes changed when he heard that name. “Don’t speak that name in front of me.” The bartender fell silent. This must have happened in the past because he comfortably turned his back on Amon and walked over to a different customer. Amon sighed and grabbed another crisp. He realized he should have ordered some Leicester if they were out of Cheshire, so he prepared to call the bartender over again. But then he found a man standing to his left where Jonathan’s mug had been set. The man had a sharp aura about him. His blond hair was tied back behind his neck, he wore a long dark green coat that seemed to absorb the surrounding light, and his presence gave one goose bumps even when he only stood there. The aura surrounding him had distanced the nearby customers. They had likely subconsciously moved away while they chatted. Amon grabbed his sandwich while brushing aside the man’s presence. “…” The man silently placed a hand on the counter. At some point, he had Overridden a glass in that hand. The scent that reached Amon’s nose told him the glass contained Glenmorangie malt whisky. The man seemed to be drinking it without diluting it. “What do you want?” Amon spoke only loud enough for the man to hear. The answer could not have been simpler. “For you to die.” A brief silence fell, but after a few seconds… “Why?” Amon turned his focus toward the man as he asked. In that instant, he found Jonathan’s mug in front of him for some reason. The man who had stood on his left now stood on his right. The sandwich and crisps Amon had ordered were in front of the man. Amon and the man. Their positions had swapped to that order. “…?” Amon had no clue what had happened and the man asked him a question. “Do you understand?” At that moment, the two of them swapped positions again. Just like before, the sandwich and crisps sat in front of Amon and Jonathan’s mug sat in front of the man to his left. The man and Amon. That was their order now. “I see,” said Amon. Then the man spoke. “When identical words are placed side by side, their order can change without altering the meaning or form of the sentence.” “…” “And no one needs two of the same word.” Silence fell. After reflecting on that silence, Amon spoke without looking at the man. “Are you the one who killed Jonathan and so many others?” “If I answered that, you would have to die here.” Amon said nothing and the man took a drink of his Glenmorangie. “If it comes to that, I would take care of everyone else here in the first ten seconds.” “And only then would you focus on me? You’re giving yourself a pretty big handicap there.” “A handicap? It would only last ten seconds and I would only have to slay the monsters here. I would not be injured or even tired afterwards.” When the man called the people in the pub “monsters”, Amon realized what he was. “I see. So that’s why so many people have been dying in this city.” “What will you do?” He was asking if Amon would fight here. Amon hesitated for just a moment, but after comparing his strength to the man next to him, he sighed. He fully Closed his thoughts so his mind could not be read and he shook his head. “Fighting here isn’t the best plan. How about tomorrow?” “Fine. And you can bring help if you want.” “I wouldn’t do that. …Oh, I know. Come to St. James’s Park tomorrow evening.” Only after saying that did he look at the man’s face for the first time. The man similarly looked down on Amon. In that instant, their gazes audibly clashed. The same light filled the man’s blue eyes and Amon’s golden eyes. “…!” Amon frantically applied Verbal Self Control and Overrode his own body for good measure. He felt he would otherwise trigger a Balance Fall where his writing fell out of balance. He had a feeling he would be sucked into the man’s eyes if he was not careful. “So we are not exactly alike,” muttered the man as he brought a hand to his chest. Amon saw a pendant hanging there. It was a beautiful women’s pendant that did not suit the man at all. He seemed to toy with it in his hand and he asked a single sharp question. “Can you defeat me?” Amon did not respond. He had a past. It was an unimaginable past which had led him to fight as he sought a place to die. But what about this man before his eyes? The man asked the same question again. “Can you defeat me?” Amon was reminded of a scene from his nightmares. In that nightmare, what did the people peering in through the apartment window want from him? “…” Suddenly, a smile so fearless that it looked forced appeared on Amon’s face He gave his answer immediately afterwards. “I’ll defeat you.” The man nodded at that and began to turn his back on Amon. But he stopped and his blue eyes turned to the mug on the counter. “…” He pulled a cigarette box from his coat pocket and pulled a cigarette from it. He held it between his fingers and lit it without placing it in his mouth. As he watched the smoke rise from the cigarette, Amon pushed the counter’s ashtray over to Jonathan’s spot next to the mug. As if answering Amon, the man placed the cigarette in the ashtray with the filter end pointed the other way. He was clearly implying that someone else was there. The two exchanged a glance and they both gave a small nod. But then they were interrupted. “Amon!” He reflexively turned toward a voice he had heard countless times that day. He found Klausl standing there, but unlike before, she was frowning and puffing out her cheeks. She seemed upset. He glanced toward the man standing next to him. The man was staring expressionlessly at Klausl. He did not seem to have any thoughts about her sudden appearance, but that could not be the case. The atmosphere created by the two of them had led everyone else to subconsciously avoid them and yet this girl had completely ignored that and called out to Amon. “Why did you leave without telling me? I had prepared dinner and everything.” Klausl walked over and her casual movements left Amon speechless. Even if she was blind, she should have been able to sense the general atmosphere. “…” The man took a step toward her and left no opening in his movements. Seeing that, Amon realized what he was trying to do. … You idiot! Amon Opened a comment that could have been directed at Klausl or the man. At the same time, he tensed his body and prepared for what happened next. However… “Good evening. Are you a friend of Amon’s?” Her words seemed far too out of place as they left her mouth and struck the man. He did not respond, but the hand reaching for his coat pocket stopped. “If not, I’m sorry. But you felt a lot like him.” She smiled at the man. “But don’t become exactly like him. That would be a lot of trouble.” The man let his arms hang at his sides when he heard that. He was showing Amon he had no intention of attacking and then he walked around Klausl. His footsteps were low and quiet and they grew more distant. At the same time, sound returned to the pub. The movements and voices of the other customers had seemed to stop at some point, but they surrounded Amon with noise once more. He let the atmosphere of a normal pub wash over him and he gave a sigh of relief. “So it worked out in the end. I can’t take much more of this.” “Don’t say that.” Klausl had reached his side at some point and she pinched his arm. “Ow! What is wrong with you!?” He glared at her and found her frowning at him. “Why did you leave without telling me? I’ve been looking for you.” “Oh, c’mon. Why do I have to eat the food my observer makes? Am I a prisoner or something?” “This is my job. …Well, making your food isn’t, but observing you is.” “Hey, Amon. Is this the girl you Opened about?” Amon ignored the bartender who looked over his shoulder from the other side of the counter. Amon was not the type to get involved with that kind of thing. However… “What’s this, Amon? Were you spreading rumors about me?” “How did you reach that conclusion?” He clicked his tongue. “Besides, I wouldn’t be eating here if you weren’t in my room.” “Oh? Young lady, are you sharing a room with Amon?” Before Amon could realize he might very well have dug his own grave here, Klausl answered. “Yes. This morning, he suddenly embra-…” “Dah! I told you not to say anything that would give people the wrong idea!” After cutting her off, he realized the bartender was giving him a surprised look. “Wh-what?’ “Amon… You’ve changed.” “That’s not what you said earlier.” He almost seemed to be sulking when he said that and he brought one of the remaining crisps to his mouth. The potato tasted bland to him, so he spoke to Klausl without turning her way. “Hey, go get the salt from over there.” “Oh, the salt? Sure.” She reached out and hesitated between the different bottles of spices. She really was blind, but after feeling around, she found the right one. After watching her, the bartender spoke to Amon. “Hey, she’s blind, isn’t she? Try to have some tact.” Amon did not respond. He casually took the small salt container and spoke to Klausl. “Does it make you happy when people are extra careful around you?” She did not answer, but she had a somehow relieved look on her face. It was not her usual smile. It was a relaxed and unguarded expression. “…” Unsure where to look, Amon averted his gaze. She had either noticed his embarrassment or wanted to smooth things over because she asked the bartender a question. “Bartender, can I order an Irish coffee and some Stilton?” “Y-yes. If you have 22 pence.” The bartender moved away and she pulled a wallet from a hidden pocket in her skirt. Amon spoke as he sprinkled salt on his crisps. “Alcoholic coffee and blue cheese? You drink a lot, don’t you?” “Care for an evening drink? It will help you sleep.” “No, thanks.” “You two get along well. Here’s your order, young lady.” The bartender set down the order as if to say “take your time” and Klausl picked up the glass of coffee. Amon reached for the cheese, but she slapped his hand. “Ow! You’re pretty damn stingy.” “You can’t touch that.” She picked up the plate of Stilton and placed it on the counter next to Amon as if offering it to someone. It was right next to the mug and ashtray. “This is what I ordered it for. I don’t know who this is for, but they looked sad without anything to eat.” Amon stared at her as she gave her cheerful explanation and returned to her part of the counter. … What a strange person. She smiled at his blatantly Opened thought. “You are strange too, Amon.” ### 124. Chapter 3: Dark Respite ### Part 1 For once, the sky was actually clear. That may have been because it was Sunday. There was no smoke from the factories and the sky was surprisingly empty. The chapter title page leading to heaven would be beyond that sky. Of course, that was invisible. It did have a physical form, but the door leading to heaven was naturally as transparent as the sky. If the nine chapter title pages were visible, the sunlight would not reach London even on a clear day. Monsters loved the night, but that did not mean they loved the darkness. Some of them enjoyed napping in the park on a sunny day. The area in front of Westminster Cathedral was the same, but it was not the best place for napping with the bell and music playing every hour. Still, there were other things one could do in the sun. An open area of grass was located in front of that cathedral with its tall red brick tower and a bazaar was customarily held there on weekends. It pulled in a fair number of mostly local customers. Some people sold used items laid out on sheets and others sold vegetables from the outskirts of the city laid out on the lawn. Only the bigger merchants selling their inventory had stands set up. Goods were being sold all over the area and the customers gathered around or lined up. Among them, a single non-monster shopped undetected. It was Moyla. … Why am I doing this when I’m supposed to be inspecting the area for our mission? But once the warm sun had washed over her, she had been drawn in. Not long after that, she had found herself picking up or looking at the various goods and she was now carrying around some things she had actually bought. “My old habits are coming out.” She left the crowds and checked on her purchases near the cathedral’s entrance. She had bought some plates, a comb, and other items. If she managed to return to her country, she would likely end up using them. Long ago, she had worked as a maid and shopping like this had been her favorite part of the job. At the time, she had assumed that life would continue forever. “I would ride the carriage to the market in town with Lady Melda and...” She hesitated on the next name, shook her head, and corrected herself. “All of them are gone now. Lady Melda is gone, Master Reichle is gone, and so is Ellis the maid who was like their little sister.” She sat on the edge of a raised flower bed in front of the cathedral and she sighed. “Now only Master Valeath the Swordsman and Moyla the Witch remain. …That’s all there is.” She suddenly remembered the woman’s pendant hanging from Valeath’s neck. “Lady Melda.” She placed a hand on her forehead and spoke as if questioning herself. “Why did you leave Master Reichle to me in the end?” She hung her head and closed her eyes. … If it hadn’t been for that… She fell silent and Closed her thoughts. She closed off her entire being. And she applied Verbal Self Control. After a while, she gave a deep sigh. … I made a promise to wait no matter how long it took. She nodded, opened her eyes, and found a girl standing in front of her. The girl had soft-looking blonde hair and she spoke to Moyla with her eyes closed. “Um, are you okay? You don’ seem to be in a bad mood.” ### Part 2 Amon was inside Westminster Cathedral’s large main sanctuary located past a corridor. He was alone, drinking some coffee sold at the bazaar. There was a giant square hole past the railing he rested his elbows on. Each side was fifteen meters long and there was no sign of the bottom. Someone who could see through the darkness would have seen the cathedral’s famous steam-powered automatic pipe organ located far, far below the ground. Needless to say, Amon could not see in the dark. He was looking at the two giant chains that rose straight up from the darkness below. The links of the chain were large enough for him to duck through and they led to the bell tower directly connected to the sanctuary’s ceiling. The large bell was visible up above. The support and the head of the hammer used to strike the bell were both as tall as Amon. The chains were connected to the back end of the hammer, so it seemed pulling on the chains caused the hammer to strike the bell. This was how the city’s hourly bell and pipe organ music worked. … Come to think of it, I’ve never taken a good look at this before. As soon as he thought that, the ropes formed from metal loops moved up and down. One moved up and the other down. The movement of the chains caused the hammer to strike the bell. The bell immediately produced a low, deep, and yet clear tone. The entire sanctuary resonated with the sound and shook a little. The very next moment, a wave of sound much like a physical blow erupted from the hole in front of Amon. Not only did the deluge of sound pass through his body, but it almost Overrode his body. The pipe organ music reverberated through the deep hole and transformed into a much greater sound than it had started as. The paper coffee cup in his hand was overwhelmed by the sound. The vibrations crushed it. No, the great presence of the sound was too much for it and triggered a Balance Fall. Amon grabbed onto the railing with both hands. He focused on gathering his strength and used that as a basis for his Verbal Self Control. He somehow managed to withstand the noise and avoid a Balance Fall of his own. “Now that was something.” By the time he muttered to himself, he could hear all the other sounds. Half hidden by the pipe organ’s music, he heard a metallic sound like grinding gears. He guessed it was the steam devices that let the organ play automatically. Rumor had it they were just as large as the chains. Someone had once jumped into the hole to commit suicide, their bones had jammed the gears of the steam devices, and the music had stopped. Of course, that did not happen now. The bell stopped after ringing thrice and the music finished nicely with an especially loud note. “Three o’clock, huh?” Amon rested his elbows on the railing as the lingering sound shook his body. “That was three o’clock too, wasn’t it?” He suddenly remembered what had happened that morning. It had been three in the morning which could still be called the middle of the night. He had woken to hear the bell and music coming from Westminster Cathedral, but that was not what had woken him. A dream had. He had not had his usual nightmares. He had fallen into a strangely calm sleep, but it had been so unusual that he had uncomfortably woken. … That’s just pathetic. He had woken to that thought. It had been dark, but enough light entered through the window to see across the room. He had been sleeping on a three-person sofa. Before going to sleep, he and Klausl had argued over which one would sleep on the sofa and he had forced his way onto it. “…?” He had felt something like a pillow below his head, but he had not had one before going to sleep. Not to mention that the only pillow had been on the bed Klausl was using. Nevertheless, he had felt it below his head. It had been a soft, warm sensation. He had suddenly realized the sensation was somehow familiar. He had frantically Overridden his surroundings and the dimly-lit room had grown clearer than before. “Not again.” Klausl had been sleeping by his head with a blanket pulled up to her shoulders. The pillow-like feeling had been her thigh. “You idiot.” He had started to get up and warn her, but he had stopped. He had stopped because he had known what she would say when he asked why she had done it. “Because you were having a nightmare again and I didn’t know what to do.” He had been certain she would say that with a serious look on her face. That was just the kind of selfish and yet worrying girl she was. Even after hearing he was Death Wish Amon, she did not fear him in the slightest and she would show any number of closed-eyed expressions whenever something happened. And she did it all seriously instead of out of pity. … Does she trust me? “If I said that, she’d take it the wrong way and get carried away.” He had muttered that so he could hear and rested his head on Klausl’s lap. Suddenly, his head had hit something hard. … ? It had been on the side of her hip, so he had guessed it was something in her skirt’s hidden pocket. “What is that?” Fully aware he probably should not have done so, he had touched whatever it was through the cloth. That had told him its general shape and that was enough to know what it was. … A hand mirror. He had looked up at her face in surprise. Her blonde hair had fallen across her closed eyes as she slept, but those eyes would not open even when she woke. … Why doesn’t she open her eyes? He had also asked another question he had not considered before. … What is she? She almost looked human, but that could not be the case. No human could move about normally without opening her eyes. However, she was not a demon or a divine race, she did not have the thin shadow of a spirit, and she did not vanish below the sun like a ghost. Given her multiplication the previous day, he had wondered if she was a relative of an amoeba or a slime. … I just don’t know. As soon as he had reached that conclusion, she had frowned slightly and let out a small breath that was half a sigh and half a groan. He had quickly begun to feign sleep, but she had spoken before he could. It had been a very, very quiet voice that only he could hear. “Sister… Why?” Hearing that, he had stopped pretending to sleep. He had simply stared at her face. Whatever dream she was having, she had been lightly biting her lower lip. “…” Amon had said nothing, but after seeing her slender hand stick out from the blanket, he had reached out his own hand. He had held her slightly tensed hand. Her expression had changed a little. The strength had left her lower lip and her eyebrows had grown more peaceful. Amon had sighed. … This is to repay her. Satisfied with that reasoning, he had closed his eyes. When he had woken the following morning, she had already left the sofa and he had heard someone preparing breakfast in the kitchen beyond the living room door. He recalled all of that while resting his elbows on the railing. “I must have been half asleep to do that.” Suddenly, he opened his right hand and looked at it. “But still…” His hand was hardened from all the fights he got into, but he could still feel her slender hand in it. He still felt the strength and warmth of her hand as she tensed up in fear of her dream. He remembered that, but what about her? ### Part 3 As Moyla sat on the edge of the flower bed and spoke with Klausl, she was not her usual self. Ralf would have said she looked happy and Valeath would have said her expression had changed slightly. She was smiling. Meanwhile, Klausl looked sulky. “It really is tough. Why don’t guys see a problem with a messy room?” “What we call dirty, they think is actually pretty clean.” “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. …Miss Moyla, do you have experience as a maid or something?” “I do and I’m working a similar job now. What about you?” “What I’m doing is similar too.” “It is tough, isn’t it? And from what you’re saying, you must be serving a ridiculous person.” “I don’t mind. It isn’t a job, after all.” “Eh?” Moyla’s smile vanished at the words “it isn’t a job”. She hesitated before finally choosing her words carefully and asking a question. “Then why are you with that person?” Klausl seemed to focus on Moyla’s nearly Opened thoughts more than the question itself because she suppressed a smile and nodded. “I would not say I am serving him. Is that not the case for you, Miss Moyla?” “…” Moyla was speechless and Klausl lightly stretched as she continued. “A long time ago, my sister taught me that I should never let myself be a ‘thing’.” “…A thing?” “We are very good at office work and housework. If we set our minds to it, we can keep working and working like a machine…like a ‘thing’.” Moyla fell silent and that silence seemed to push the closed-eyed girl to speak further. “If I lived like that, people would value me and praise me. That would be wonderful, but then what happens if someone comes along who can do the job even better than me? I can’t even see, so I would probably be thrown out. …But when I think about that, I end up focusing even more on my work and becoming more and more like a machine.” She took a breath, changed her expression, and turned toward Moyla. “But Amon is different! He’s not the most sociable person, but he doesn’t treat me any differently because I’m blind and he will actually have a conversation with me.” As she spoke, Klausl raised her right hand up near her face as if to show Moyla. She gently spread her nicely-shaped fingers and suddenly clenched them into a fist. “He would get mad if he heard me say it, but he’s actually a very nice person.” “And that’s why you’re with him?” “Yes. The one unfortunate part is that he sometimes calls another woman’s name in his sleep.” “That doesn’t sound good. You have your work cut out for you.” Seeing Klausl smile at that, Moyla nodded in her heart. … As do I. “Good. That means you have someone like that by your side, doesn’t it?” Moyla briefly panicked when the girl replied to her thought, but she soon realized what had happened. “Oh, I Opened that.” Realizing she had let her guard down due to the carefree atmosphere, she smiled bitterly. “Yes, the person by my side really is a very nice person…but sadly, he’s forgotten that side of himself.” “Amon is a lot like that, too. But in his case, he’s obsessed with tragedy.” “Obsessed?” “He thinks everything is his fault and he always apologizes whenever something happens. And yet I’m not with him because I want to hear him apologize. …Right?” “Y-yes.” Moyla agreed, but she was a little confused. She had never thought about someone being “obsessed with tragedy”. The past she shared with Valeath was indeed a tragedy. … But… She frantically Closed the thought that came to her and looked back to Klausl. The girl’s eyes were still closed as she smiled calmly. When she saw that smile, Moyla spoke without meaning to. “I had thought we were a lot alike,” she said quietly. “But I envy you.” “I envy you, Miss Moyla. If I was as captivating as you, maybe Amon would be more willing to look my way.” Both of them laughed quietly. But then they were interrupted. “?” Moyla sensed a presence behind her. A very familiar and intense aura approached from the cathedral entrance to the right. This was Valeath’s presence. She began to turn around but stopped. Valeath was supposed to be spending the day in the warehouse by the hotel while he fine-tuned the machine they needed for their mission. The machine was the large piece of cargo Ralf had brought in with his weapons. From what Moyla had heard, the work on it would take all afternoon. So why was he here? Moyla’s hesitation allowed Klausl to turn around first. The blind girl spoke a name, but it was not “Valeath”. “Amon!” Moyla alone knew that was an ominous name that would soon lead to a fight. ### 125. Chapter 4: Mistaken Blood ### Part 1 On the second floor of Scotland Yard, the Inspector’s office was under attack from another wave of paperwork. The walkway he had just barely managed to maintain the day before was completely gone today. More cases seemed to have turned up. The setting sun shined through the window and reflected off of the white paper filling the room. The room and the paper were dyed in crimson light. “To think this is how I would get to enjoy the sunset again.” That annoyed comment came from Fir. She was lying on top of a pile of documents large enough to make a bed and inspecting the papers around her. Suddenly, she threw away the documents in her hand and Overrode the newspaper that must have been around somewhere. An article covered one entire page and she read it aloud for someone to hear. “In two days, a total of ninety-one people have died. Rumor says this is the return of Jack the Ripper, but the number of dead goes far beyond that. Some say they have heard occasional gunshots or other odd noises in the city and everyone is living in fear of this unseen murderer. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard has only shown their incompetence by saying ‘the investigation has only just begun, so no comment’.” She sighed. “So you really are incompetent, Inspector.” “Don’t just accept that.” The Inspector’s voice came from the inside the largest pile of documents in the center of the room. “I’m so busy dealing with this paperwork that I can’t do any real investigation!” “You’re going through it all pretty quickly for you. But…I’m sure there will be more deaths tonight.” “Fir, it is all over if we back down.” She heard the sound of the man striking a pose inside the mountain of paper. The mountain surrounding him shook unsteadily and suddenly collapsed inwards. “Gwaaaah!” Swallowing up his scream, the mountain collapsed into a hill. “Honestly, what are you doing?” Fir sighed, but the Inspector’s arm grew from the paper hill and beckoned her over. “Fir, dig me out real quick.” “If you want me to, then answer my question from earlier.” “You mean what kind of monster that young man is? Why do I need to make a judgment on his race?” “Because you always get so serious when it comes to him.” She sighed. “Or is it because you’re gay?” “Of course not!” The hill sank further inwards, so the internal density of paperwork had to be quite high. “Ow, ow, ow, ow. Fir, this is getting legitimately bad.” “Fine then. If you were a zombie, you’d be able to get out on your own when you’re buried.” She casually stood, but the phone suddenly rang. “?” “Wait, Fir. Hurry up and get me out of here.” “Shut up.” With that quick comment, she used her excellent balance and agility to walk along the piles of papers and to the ringing phone. The sound of the bell was muffled, so it had to be buried somewhere. “Is it around here?” Judging its general location, she stuck her hand into the sea of paper. She found it on her first try. Her hand felt the phone’s dial that vibrated as the bell rang. “Wait just a second.” She only pulled out the receiver because anything else would have been too much work, but the cord was too short to reach her ear. She solved that by lying on her stomach atop the paperwork. “Hello, this is Room 13.” She tried to sound as cheerful as possible and a voice reached her ear. The voice and what it said covered her skin with goose bumps. She directly Opened her first thought. … Not good! There was no way the Inspector had missed it. “What is it, Fir!” “Amon… That idiot’s gone off somewhere!” That was all she told him before pressing the receiver hard against her ear. “Eh? On the way back from the bazaar, he said he’d forgotten to buy something? And a Miss Moyla disappeared too? U-um, Klau, try to calm down a little. You’re at Westminster Cathedral right now, aren’t you?” “Has that young man vanished?” “Yes! So be quiet!” Fir gulped. The Amon she knew had not been the type to lie. So where had he gone after tricking the girl named Klausl? What was he hoping to do in this short time away from her observation? A bad feeling sent Fir’s pulse racing. She nodded several times with the receiver to her ear, but she suddenly frowned. “After he left you, he went back to the bazaar? Why?” She paused to listen. “A bouquet of flowers?” “What’s this about flowers?” “Shut up. Amon left Klau…and apparently he returned to the bazaar and bought a bouquet of flowers. But she doesn’t know where he went after that.” The Amon that Fir knew was not the kind of guy who would decorate his home with flowers. … So why? She soon found the answer. It was something she knew quite well. Amon had bought the bouquet on his way to a certain place. … St. James’s Park! That park had a lake and a small forest and a change came over Fir’s body as she prepared to say its name. “No, wait! Don’t get so worked up!” Before the Inspector had finished his complaint, the air in the room rapidly converged. The instantaneous gust of wind created a blizzard out of the piles of documents. At the same time, a large amount of fog appeared, wrapped around Fir, and gently exploded outward. She had Altered. “!” With a gentle sound, the wind let up and the flying papers fell like scattered flower petals. The papers accumulated like snow, but Fir had vanished from the top of the pile. Where had she gone? Only the uniform she had worn lay on its belly. “Fir, you did it, didn’t you?” As if to answer the Inspector’s question, the uniform lying on the sea of paper twitched slightly. The edge of the uniform lifted up and a Siamese cat crawled out. The cat sat in front of the phone receiver and mewed. … Now, what do I do? The cat’s Opened thoughts had Fir’s tone of voice. This completely normal looking cat was Fir’s Altered form. “Having you Alter whenever you get too worked up is a real pain.” Fir turned toward the Inspector’s voice. The man had somehow managed to sit up from the hill of paper and he pointed at the receiver sitting next to her. “Klausl is calling for you.” … I know. After Opening that, she used her paws to awkwardly grab the receiver. She heard Klausl’s voice from it, but Fir could not speak in this form. She could only express her thoughts through gestures and Open Words. And unfortunately, neither of those worked over the phone. … Inspector! She turned the receiver so it faced the man. He sighed at her urgent thought. His waist and below were still buried and he brought a hand to his chin in a pose of contemplation. “Klausl, can you hear me? The young man you are after has likely gone to St. James’s Park.” He then looked at Fir and Fir nodded. After some hesitation, he continued. “There is a memorial in the woods on the west side of the park. …Hurry there! We will head that way, too!” ### Part 2 The perfectly clear night sky covered the heavens with some purple remaining to the west. The moon filled the sky. It was not a full moon. Some of the roundness was lacking. The moonlight did not reach the city of London evenly. It fell weakly on the bright downtown area and strongly on the many nature parks. St. James’s Park was one such nature park. It was located east of Buckingham Palace, a large lake extended from east to west, and it was surrounded by woods. It was a quiet park. The sun had only just set, so not much noise was reaching it from the city. During winter, the entrance closed at four, so there were no guests in the park. Nothing moved and it gave off a faint pale light. That was the reflected moonlight. It almost looked like time had stopped there. With nothing to see it, the park did not move. It simply stayed still without Overriding itself. Or so it should have been. Everything should have been still and unchanging, but sudden motion entered the park. First, the trees of the woods trembled and shook their leaves. Small waves covered the lake surface. A slight wind blew through. This wind did not carry a wind spirit. The air itself had moved as if called by something. The wind danced at a gentle pace on its way to the western woods. It followed a stone-paved walking path through the woods and stopped halfway through. At that point, the path widened. A stone slab was installed near the curbstone. The stone had words carved into it. “We pray for the peaceful afterlife of the following victims of the slaughter that occurred here.” A voice read the inscription. At the same time, a bouquet of flowers was tossed on top of the moonlit stone. It had been thrown by the wingless demon named Amon. He called the names of those who had been killed here even though the inscribed names were covered by the bouquet. He called forty-two names and took a breath. “Sorry. I still haven’t died.” His pale breath scattered. “It’s been two years, but it doesn’t feel anywhere near that long. …The only survivors were Fir, me because I left the team, and two or three others.” His eyes turned toward the bouquet on the stone, but he was not looking at it. A bitter smile appeared on his lips, but he quickly erased it. “What do you think, Eilen? Why were you with me? Why did you decide to stay by my side? And…” And? “What were you trying to say when you died in my arms?” He recalled another instant from his nightmares. “My mother was the same. When she died in my place, why did she smile toward me? …Why?” There was no one there to answer his question. “…” He bit his lower lip and looked away from the stone slab. He closed his eyes as if to say he did not want to see anything. Suddenly, the wind struck his cheek. The bottom of his jacket waved about and his body swayed. The leaves rustled as if the woods were jumping around. It sounded like waves or spraying water. “!” This was a powerful wind and it was so cold and sharp it felt like it was cutting into him. This wind felt like it had actual mass and Amon knew what it was called: murderous intent. He opened his eyes. The bouquet on the stone slab had been blown away and the forty-two names were visible. “Wait for me.” With that, he turned his back on the stone and faced the source of the murderous blowing wind. He looked down the walking path and saw the moonlit stone pavement. A man stood there. His right hand held a sharp line of light that looked like it had been tempered in the moonlight. One glance was enough to know this was a quality sword. The man was about five meters away, so he was not in combat range just yet. The man was the first to name himself. “Hound Rickland Valeath.” He held the long sword in front of his face, split his own vision in two using the back of the blade, and stared at Amon. “I swear on this sword I shall slay you.” ### Part 3 Ralf was not comfortable in his luxurious room in the Savoy Hotel. “Living in poverty is best for a minister.” He had a sleeping bag set up on the small area of available floor. That was where he slept. The art deco and modestly luxurious room was going mostly unused. He had his shotgun and rifle cartridges lined up on the room’s side table as he refilled the cartridges. The cartridges were completely sealed, but for some reason, the powder inside had a way of getting damp. “I can’t believe this. There’s just too much moisture in England. …If Moyla is back by the time I finish, I’ll greet her and head out to get some work done.” As soon as he finished speaking his selfish plans aloud, a loud knock came to the room’s door. “!?” He stroked the top of the side table with his hand and Overlossed everything so it appeared empty. He also Overrode a few pound coins in his hand. If it was the bellboy here to make the bed, he could hand him some money and ask him to leave. “If the expenses keep piling up, I won’t even be able to buy any souvenirs.” Completely forgetting his previous complaint about not living in poverty, he stood to the side of the door with an annoyed look. His arms were still hanging to either side of his body. “Who is it?” “It’s Moyla!” “…Why?” He asked a stupid question without thinking. This was the person he most wanted to visit him, but he was caught off guard because he had never expected it to actually happen. He let his guard down and opened the door. “Moyla?” He called out and found Moyla standing in the hallway. She looked on the verge of tears, she was gasping for breath, and her shoulders were trembling, but she must have been relieved to see Ralf because her expression softened. “Kh.” With a slight groan, she began to cough. She doubled over and expelled the air from her lungs as if in spasms. “A-are you okay?” He wrapped his arms around her and felt something slightly warmer than body temperature reach his hand. It was blood. “Moyla!?” “I-I’m fine. This is normal.” Her shoulders rose and fell as she breathed and she removed the hand she held to her mouth. Her lips and palm were stained by slightly darkened blood. “This is due to London’s air. …I’ll be better once I return home.” She almost seemed to be reassuring herself of that and she wiped her mouth with a hand. She then looked up at Ralf as he held her. “Ralf, please. Please tell me where Master Valeath is!” “!” The words literally stabbed into Ralf. He frowned a bit. “Why are you asking me that?” “I have a bad feeling! I happened across the young man you mentioned last night, but he was so much like Master Valeath…and even the girl by his side was similar!” “Eh?” Moyla grabbed at his chest and shouted at him. “This will only lead to tragedy! Master Valeath is trying to kill himself! He is trying to destroy his own past and everything that happened!” “…” “Please! You’re the only one I can rely on right now.” “Do you really think I’ll tell you?” Still holding Moyla in one arm, Ralf entered the room and closed the door. He used his free arm to push the door closed. He gathered strength in both arms as if to make sure no one could get in and no one could leave. “That man has gone to kill the young man who resembles him and I know where that will happen.” “Then please tell me!” “Do you really think I can do that?” “Eh?” Ralf saw the question in her eyes from close range and he spoke to her. “You’re practically falling apart.” “…” “Staying near that shadow of a man any longer will only bring you grief and death!” “But…” He shook his head to reject that word. “Don’t you get it!? No matter how long you stay by his side and no matter how much you love him, you will never get anything in return!” “I-I am not trying to get anything in-…” “You are. You’re waiting for that. …That’s why you never do anything on your own. Doing anything that ignores your past would destroy the connection you have with him now, so you don’t do anything.” She hung her head in his arm. She bit her lip and held back her Open Words. She may have wanted to say something back at him. He continued speaking so she would hear him and learn from his words. That was a minister’s job. “He is treating you like an object, but you are a human with a heart. You can’t become a mere ‘thing’. …Isn’t your exhaustion now proof enough of that?” He removed his hand from the door and brought his fingers to her mouth. He scooped up the blood remaining there and placed it on her lips as lipstick. He took a breath and looked at her as if testing her. “I never again want to lose someone I should have saved.” Tears welled up in her eyes when she heard that. Her scarlet lips trembled slightly and spoke quietly. “I…don’t play fair, do I?” “Eh?” As he gave that questioning voice, she moved from his arm, grabbed the doorknob, and began to leave to search for Valeath on her own. The words she spoke next were the last ones Ralf wanted to hear. “I’m sorry.” He did not let her say any more. He turned her around, gave her a deep embrace, and forcibly took her blood-soaked lips with his own. He then Opened his past, what he desired, and everything he was thinking. At the very end, he Opened where Valeath had gone. He simply could not bring himself to say it in words. ### Part 4 The battle had only just begun. The stalemate of trying to read the other’s intention ended after only five minutes. Surprisingly, Valeath was the first to move. Amon moved in response to the sword strike. Fifteen seconds after the beginning, Amon received his first injury. Another minute and twenty-six seconds later, his fist struck Valeath’s face for the first time. A solid sound rang out. “!” Valeath held Amon back with his sword tip, ended his chained sword techniques, and put some distance between them. A trail of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but he wiped it away with a finger. The blood on his finger looked black in the moonlight. “Interesting.” It was unclear whether his comment was directed at the dark appearance of his blood or the strike from Amon. Meanwhile, Amon’s shoulders were rising and falling as he corrected his fighting stance. “That hit signals the beginning of my come-from-behind win.” Despite his words, Amon’s expression was grim. He was injured in one spot on the chest, two on the stomach, two on the back, nine on his limbs, and one on his face. It had been that much of a risk to get a single hit in on Valeath. For the first time in his life, Amon was at a disadvantage. He accepted it and Valeath probably did too. And since they both accepted it, it was Overridden as truth. That truth said Amon could not defeat Valeath as he was. “I see.” Amon gathered strength in his clenched fist and thought about his situation here. He held his breath for a moment and finally nodded. “Everything is finally turning out the way everyone wanted, Near Death Amon.” As he spoke to himself, he kicked powerfully off the stone pavement. He made a low and quick charge forward. Valeath was right in front of him and Amon twisted his body while swinging up his right fist. At the same time, Valeath used his sword for a mid-level guard. He intended to cut Amon’s fist out of the way. It was a combination of offense and defense that was only possible with a sword. However, a smile appeared on Amon’s lips when he saw it. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he Closed himself off so as not to give away his intention. An instant later, the fist moving toward Valeath’s gut struck the stone pavement instead. “Urah!” The stone was audibly smashed. Amon took a crawling pose and rotated his body around the fist he had thrust into the stone. He would use his extended legs to sweep Valeath’s feet out from under him. Due to his nearly crawling pose, Valeath vanished from his vision, but he did not care. This attack was guaranteed to hit an opponent so focused on his upper body. This would defeat your average swordsman. An above average swordsman would jump back to avoid the kick and lose their balance. If he attacked then, he could win. … I can win! In his hurry, he Opened that thought, but a sudden impact sent him flying. He heard the sound of popping muscles. “!?” Even after the tremendous force sent him flying and tumbling over his shoulder, Amon had no idea what had happened to him. … What was that!? The impact had hit him in the gut and there was only one way for that to have happened. “You can kick!? I thought you were a swordsman!” Valeath was neither a swordsman nor a mere fighter. He was a Hound. Amon clicked his tongue and pushed down on the ground with his hands to rise into a sprinting posture. Strength filled his gaze as he faced the one he needed to charge at. But the shimmering of the sword was not there. Its owner had vanished as well. … Where is he!? He thought before looking to the left or right. Where was his opponent? He would not be to the left or right. This enemy would not choose an attack so boring and predictable. The answer came with an instantaneous flash if insight. Amon looked up into the night sky that he could not fly through. “There!?” Darkness spread out before his eyes. The darkness blocking the moonlight took the form of a coat. And a line of light silently stuck out from beyond that darkness as it was raised overhead. A strike from four meters in the air arrived. A solid hit would slice him in two from head to crotch. Amon could not allow anything like that to happen. He tried to run, but a voice reached him from above. “It is no use. My hand touched you earlier.” And… “The Over Contract has already been applied.” What is he talking about? wondered Amon as he bent backwards. However… “!?” He could not move his left arm. That one arm would not follow the rest of him as if it had been frozen in space. He frantically Overrode his body, but the arm still would not move. It felt glued in place. Even if he tried to run or lower his hips, his left arm would catch there. “It’s over.” The darkness descended and a silver curve drew a sharp line straight down. Seeing that light, Amon reflexively moved. “Daaahhh!” He used his right fist to punch his left arm as hard as he could. He heard a dull impact and the dry creaking of his bones. A black light appeared around his arm and drew a knot-like design. After another audible impact, the pitch black light burst and Amon was blasted to the right. He had resorted to forcing his way out of it, but he had escaped the Over Contract. “Ow, ow, ow. Why is a human using a demon’s-…” He never finished his complaint. As he got up, he saw Valeath’s second merciless strike. He had his feet on the ground, so the slash had enough speed to make the sword bend. It sliced through the wind and literally flew faster than sound. Amon reacted by lowering his hips to the ground. He could not avoid the attack this time. He would be killed before the moonlit sword’s path had drawn even a half circle. What he had desired for so long and what he had wished for in his nightmares would finally reach him. … Destiny, hm? He thought about that word he never used and prepared to accept it. The faces of the people he had lost appeared in his head and suddenly a certain girl’s face came to him. This girl had her eyes closed. … Why!? Valeath’s sword raced toward him before he received an answer. And in that instant… … Stop! With an Opened rebuke in a female voice, something white dropped between Amon and Valeath. It was an animal with obvious intent to attack. It was enveloped in a prickly aura. “!” Even Valeath was caught off guard. He forcibly stopped his sword and jumped back to prepare himself. After a long time in the air, he silently landed and looked down. He faced what had fallen from above and stopped him. “…” Valeath and Amon looked at what stood between them. It was a cat. Amon recognized the cat and he called her name. “Fir!?” At the same time, someone called both the men’s names. “Amon!” “Master Valeath!” Amon realized who it was running toward him and who it was that had kept him from dying. The person panting and running from the woods was indeed the blind girl. ### Part 5 She was approximately ten meters away, the moon was the only source of light, and everything looked vaguely pale. However, Moyla accurately saw the girl and young man standing in front of her. The young man had a similar presence to Valeath and the girl resembled her. She was fairly certain their names were Amon and Klausl. … I was right. Moyla looked at Valeath, but he was not looking back at her. His eyes were still glued to his target. “Why are you here?” His prompt reprimand had a low, deep ring to it. It was one of the few times a hint of emotion was noticeable in his voice. Moyla did not answer. Answering would not help and not answering or saying anything else meant he could not reject what she said. “…” Valeath said nothing more, took a step forward, and turned his back on her. She watched his back as he walked toward his target. As he moved one, two, and then three steps away from her, she felt her pulse speeding up, bit by bit. She had not come here to look at his back. She had something to tell him and something she wanted him to hear. She had come here to stand by his side. Ralf’s face briefly flashed through her mind. That acted as a cue for her. She raised her head and faced the leaving back. … Wait! Just as her pulse truly began to race, she cried out loud. “Master Valeath! What will killing that young man accomplish!?” He did not respond. But she opened her mouth regardless with only one thing in her mind. … Turn around! And answer me! She took a breath. “What will killing yourself accomplish!? Master Valeath! Do you hate yourself that much for not saving Lady Melda!?” Her words just kept coming. She did not try to catch her breath. She simply shouted the one thought that had filled her heart for so long but that she had sealed away deep inside her because she did not dare say it. “Why… Why won’t you forget the past!?” Her shoulders rose and fell and Valeath gave a concise answer. He ignored her. He did not turn around. He raised his sword and did not answer Moyla’s desperate question. He did not stop walking, he did not turn toward her, and he moved silently forward. “Ah…” Moyla realized her question was meaningless. She realized she could not change anything. … Why? Questioning it was a waste of time. Valeath did not stop. He was continuing the fight, so she had to support him. “…” Did her thoughts mean nothing to him? … I… While unknowingly Opening her thoughts, she folded her fingers half on instinct. Light gathered in those fingers and a round bullet of light instantly grew to an intense flash. … In the end, nothing has changed. Valeath would not accept her feelings. No matter what she did or how long she waited, nothing would change. She gave a sigh of resignation and gathered strength in the light floating in her hands. Once it burst, it would become a fiercely directional spear of light that could pierce through anything. Normally, her job was only to cover for Valeath, but the feelings in her heart led her to choose a different role. She directly targeted Amon. In the distance, that wingless demon had taken a defensive stance as he tried to protect the girl named Klausl. That was the young man who so resembled Valeath. “Shoot him!” Once those words escaped her mouth, the girl behind Amon noticed what she was doing. “Don’t!” With rushed movements, Klausl stood in front of Amon and shouted her thoughts to Moyla in a clear voice. “Do you understand what you’re doing!?” Those words woke Moyla’s heart. … ! Sense returned to her somehow desperate mind. However, she could do nothing about the spell now that it was activated. The spear of light fired from her hands a moment later. With a great flash of light, the scent of scorched air reached her nose. However, the soaring spear of light did not hit Amon. It flew straight forward and landed a direct hit on the girl who stood in front of him. A great bursting sound filled the air. “!” Someone cried out. Or perhaps it was everyone. Klausl’s left arm burst with the sound of shattering glass. Her body trembled from the shock and she started to collapse, but Amon awkwardly caught her in his arms. … Ah. In a blank, wordless state, Moyla suddenly gasped. Something was rising within her body. Her breathing stopped, her voice was destroyed, and something rose to the surface. She could not hold it back. “Kah!” As soon as she opened her mouth, she brought a hand to her lips, but the action proved meaningless. She coughed and enough blood spewed out to spill between her fingers and down her chin. Unlike before, she coughed up a fist-sized clump of blood. Her body forced out so much of that warm precious substance. Her vision gradually darkened. “Ellis!” She heard Valeath’s voice calling her true name. Or she thought she did. Thinking she had to be hearing things, she closed her eyes. ### Part 6 Before Valeath could support the woman who fell backwards, Amon wrapped his arms around Klausl. “You idiot!” he shouted as he embraced her. Klausl smiled in his arms. It was a smile he had seen somewhere before. She also tried to look up at his face. “Thank goodness.” After that quiet comment, strength left her body. She had likely lost consciousness. No matter what it was Amon wanted to say, he could not bring himself to say anything and he held her tighter in his arms. But he could not let his guard down yet. “I’m sorry.” He forcibly tore his vision off of her and glared at the enemy he had been facing. Valeath looked back while also holding someone in his arms. “To hell with this!” Amon had no idea who he was talking to. Suddenly, the stone pavement burst below his feet. After a short delay, he heard a gunshot. “Moyla!” With that cry, someone ran out from the forest to the side. He was dressed like a minister and held a long gun. He was clearly a new enemy. “Valeath! Hurry up and take her away! I’ll finish them off!” The cat version of Fir at Amon’s feet bared her fangs at the man’s words. The threat must have reached him because he aimed his gun at the cat while still facing Valeath. “Outta the way, Fir!” Amon did not hesitate to kick Fir away and jump for himself. The stone was once more smashed to pieces where Fir had been a moment before. … This isn’t good! While facing his enemy, Amon focused on the girl in his arms. He felt her breathing and her pulse. She was alive. He took a breath and a step back, but… “I can’t exactly let you escape now that you’ve seen our faces.” Amon heard those words and saw the muzzle of a gun. … ! He turned to the side to protect Klausl from the path of the bullet that was sure to come. … Amon! He heard Fir’s Open Words just as something grazed his ear as it flew in from behind him. “?” Before he could ask anything, the gunshot mercilessly sounded. Immediately afterwards, he heard a scream. The voice of pain came from the man who had been holding the long gun. “Gwaah!” Amon looked back in surprise and realized the man’s right arm was gone. The arm that had held the gun had fallen to the stone pavement. … What!? Whatever had grazed by Amon’s ear must have severed the man’s arm. The man held his hemorrhaging shoulder, but he did not seem to know what had injured him either. He seemed confused as he endured the pain and the disturbance filling him was obvious. He did not know what had happened and no one gave an answer. The only sound was the distant siren of a Yard police car. That signaled the end of the battle. “Ralf! We’re leaving!” By the time Valeath’s voice rang out, he was already gone. He had Overlossed himself somewhere to hide his form. Ralf looked down at his own arm on the ground and picked up only the gun. He then looked at a certain point behind him and clicked his tongue. “This just isn’t my day!” He leaped and his one-armed minister’s outfit instantly vanished into the darkness. The only people left were Fir in her cat form, Amon, Klausl in his arms, and… “I see you are all still alive. You’re a lot of trouble, you know that?” With that voice, someone appeared behind them. … Inspector! Amon turned around when he heard Fir’s Open Words. “!?” The Inspector was indeed standing there. The middle-aged man had the same look, same feel, and same attire as when Amon had seen him two years prior. “Were you the one that fired something in to save us?” “What are you talking about?” The Inspector seriously wrinkled his brow in the moonlight and his thoughts were impossible to read. Amon sighed and looked to the girl in his arms. “!” His heart skipped a beat. There was not a hint of blood on the rolled-up sleeve of her blouse. He quickly realized why. Her left arm was hollow. “Eh?” Her broken upper arm only contained a narrow metal rod as a central support and several wires running through it. There was no way she could bleed like that. Instead, a few wires were dangling down from the damaged point. Her skin seemed to be made of ceramic. She was artificially made. However, this was different from the prosthetics used by Hard Wolves and other combat races. The body in his arms had the body heat of human skin, had a pulse, and was soft. It felt like a real body. In that case, she was… “A doll?” The cat mewed and replied. … That’s right. She’s a Sein Frau. An automaton. And you won’t find one better made even here in London. Without even nodding at Fir’s Open Words, Amon turned to the Inspector. “What am I supposed to do?” “The man who made her is in Scotland Yard.” “I’m going on ahead.” He began to run. The Sein Frau girl in his arms had her eyes closed as always, but her eyebrows were slightly stiff and her breathing was very, very shallow. He bit his lip, looked down, and spoke. “I’m sorry.” He faced forward and toward the park’s exit. “I got careless.” Beginning to run caused blood to flow from the various wounds across his body. They left red dots along the path. He spilled countless signs indicating the path he was taking. But his focus was entirely on the girl in his arms. … This idiot is all that matters. As long as she… He was the only one that knew how that sentence ended. ### 126. Chapter 5: Manmade Doll ### Part 1 A plain concrete workroom existed on Scotland Yard’s first basement. The underground room was small but well equipped, so it somewhat resembled a medical examination room. That room was Klausl’s “home”. A waist-high table had a white sheet laid over it and Klausl lay on it after having lost her left arm. Amon stood next to the table and he tapped his fingers in annoyance. Based on the bandages wrapped around his body, his treatment seemed to be complete. He glared at the partition set up in the back of the room. There must have been someone behind it because sounds of movement could occasionally be heard. “Are you still not ready? I’m already done.” A face poked out from the side of the partition. It was an old man who had likely been human to begin with. He had a gentle face with sage-like features that made it impossible judge his age. He opened his narrow eyes wide and glanced at Amon. “Don’t get so worked up, young one. With a daughter of mine, an injury like this is nothing to worry about.” And… “It’s just been so long since Klausl was damaged this badly that my repair tools are scattered all over the place. …Oh, here’s the wrench I need.” The old man tossed a few tools over the partition and onto the floor. A wrench, pliers, a drill for making screw holes, and others clattered loudly to the floor. Amon frowned at the racket. “Hurry it up, old man!” “My name isn’t old man. It’s Flandre Aileppoc.” “Who the hell’s gonna use a weird name like that?” “You’re not going to use my name? Don’t be so embarrassed, young one.” Flandre vanished behind the partition again. Amon intentionally Opened his thoughts so the man could hear. … I guess I shouldn’t be surprised an idiot has an idiot for a father. Suddenly, the door opened. Amon quickly Closed his mind, turned around, and saw something that should not have been possible. Klausl stood in the room’s entrance. “Eh?” With a truly foolish look on his face, he quickly turned toward the Klausl sleeping behind him. The girl with her left arm missing was still sleeping there. Meanwhile, the Klausl who had entered the room bowed toward him and walked past him toward the partition. “Father, the coffee is ready.” She Overrode a tray of cups and turned back to Amon. “I prepared some for you too. I will leave it over here, so feel free.” “S-sure.” Whether she heard his response or not, the moving Klausl looked at the identical girl lying on the table and sighed. “I hope she gets better soon.” She then jogged out of the room. As she passed by him, Amon looked carefully at her face. But no matter how close he looked, she looked identical to the Klausl on the table. Even so… … She’s different? He had a feeling something was different. There was some kind of gap between the two Klausls. “Hey, old man.” “I know what you’re Opening.” “Who…was that?” “Klausl. She’s the 29th, so the third from last.” “The 29th?” Flandre stepped out from behind the partition while wrapping wire around a thick metal rod. “You saw the arm of the one on the table there, right? Klausl is a Sein Frau. She’s a mass-produced doll.” “!” Amon had no words. He Closed all of his thoughts and looked to Klausl in front of him. “You can’t believe it?” asked Flandre before continuing as if testing Amon. “A Sein Frau is a doll machine that simply carries out its orders and has no life of its own. They’re like a golem.” He took a breath. “Do you know why a Sein Frau with no life of its own was with you?” A normal person would have said a Sein Frau had no heart and thus anything they did was part of a job. But Amon did not give that answer. He stared silently down at Klausl’s face. She was always smiling, but now her expression was one of faint exhaustion. “…?” He suddenly remembered her making a similar expression before. It had been that morning when she had lent him her lap. She had made this expression while suffering from a nightmare. “!” At that very moment, he clenched his fists and spoke with a decisive look. “Enough nonsense. Hurry up and start healing her.” “You sure are impatient. You must clash with Klausl a lot.” The old man was dead on. Amon clicked his tongue and frowned, so Flandre said more. “I’ll be ready once I finish wrapping this. Then I can start fixing her right away. You remove her blouse.” “What?” Flandre turned toward Amon’s confused voice. “Can’t you do it? I’d rather not let other people see my daughter’s body either.” “Keh. So you’re a perverted old man who wants his daughter to himself?” “Shut up and do it already.” “Then why don’t you do it?” Even as he said that, Amon moved behind Klausl and weakly lifted her. She was completely limp. He rested her head against his chest and her soft blonde hair swayed a bit. The sweet scent of her hair faintly reached him. “…” She was strangely feminine at times like this. He intentionally kept his movements businesslike as he corrected her posture and removed one shoulder strap of her apron skirt. The left strap had already come off, so the apron skirt fell down to her waist. And suddenly… “Don’t get any funny ideas, young one.” “Sh-shut up!” He clicked his tongue again and turned to Flandre. The old man had his back to him. Amon tilted his head before getting back to work. He tried to remove the crimson scarf from her blouse collar. “Hey, old man.” “What?’ “Do you know how to remove a scarf?” “I’ll only tell you if you ask more politely.” “…Please tell me.” “I don’t know either.” “I’m gonna kill you!” “You only asked if I knew. You really are a lot of trouble. Just tug on it randomly.” He did as the man suggested. “I’m pretty sure this is strangling her.” “Then pull the other way.” He did so and the scarf did come off even if he still doubted the validity of the man’s instructions. He draped the red cloth over his shoulder and reached for the blouse’s buttons. Just as his hands hesitated in front of the first button, it happened again. “Hey, young one.” He jumped. “Wh-what?” “Are you good with your fingers?” “Of course I am. I’m not old and frail like you.” “I am not old and frail. I’m just farsighted and my fingers tremble a bit due to my high blood pressure.” “That’s what being old and frail means!” He sighed, but the exchange must have helped him relax because he casually unbuttoned Klausl’s blouse and removed it. This exposed her slender shoulders and her chest. He supported her back with a hand and her skin felt damp and warm. Even if she was unconscious, he could not exactly stare. He quickly looked to her left shoulder instead. Looking back at the break, he noticed it was a little melted. Her arm had likely burst from the heat more than the impact. He imagined being hit by something similar and gulped. “…Sorry.” “Hm? Did you say something?” “Nothing.” “Remove her bra too, young one.” He said nothing in response and did so with no inappropriate thoughts. He then lay her white body down on the table. Her body seemed like the ideal form of a young and quiet woman. “What do you think?” “Eh? Oh, she’s beautiful.” “What are you talking about? I mean her left arm.” Flandre turned toward him with a bitter smile. “Now, let’s get started.” The old man placed an arm on her side and looked at her body as if inspecting it. “Hm.” “Don’t just say ‘hm’. How is she?” “Just watch.” The skinny arm of an old man reached out and the dried fingers poked lightly at Klausl’s left collarbone and below her chest. “!” Cracks ran along her skin. Flandre turned to Amon. Amon said nothing, so the old man gave a satisfied nod and drew his thumb deep along the cracks. His thumb ran from her left shoulder, to her left collarbone, between her breasts, below her left breast, to her left side, and back up to her left shoulder. The sound it made was the irresponsibly commonplace sound of a box opening. The skin surrounding the cracks opened like a panel. “What?” It looked like a piece of a sculpture and Flandre placed it below the table. It had been as soft as real skin before, but for some reason, it made a metallic sound. “Surprised?” It was a strange sight. There was a lung-shaped hole in the left side of Klausl’s chest and a skeleton, gears, rims, and other objects made of different colors of metal were visible inside. It almost looked like a clock had been tied together with wire and stuffed inside a human body. Also, it all moved, stretched, contracted, and pulsed with a rhythm much like the beating of a living creature’s heart. The machine was alive. “Look.” Flandre pointed toward the left side of Klausl’s chest. There was a red wooden gear there. It was small enough to hide in the palm and it turned with a tempo much like a beating heart. “I believe this gear is her heart,” said Flandre. “Her heart?” asked Amon. Flandre gave a deep nod. “I can tell you about that later. More importantly, the left shoulder connector was damaged on the inside too. We’ll need to replace some parts in here.” He then said something unbelievable. “You fix her, young one.” “…” “Here, you’ll need this wrench first.” When he saw the tool he was handed, Amon came to his senses and frantically shouted back. “D-don’t be stupid! Why do I have to fix her!?” “Because I’m ‘old and frail’. My fingers aren’t too steady anymore.” Amon was speechless and Flandre smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you what to do.” ### Part 2 Westminster Cathedral’s bell sounded in the distance. The bell rang nine times before stopping along with the music. The night was filling with activity. It was a clear night, so the city’s lights were easily visible. Countless red lights floating in the darkness looked like flowers blooming in a forest. It was clear that many lives were visiting those flowers. That was how attractive the lights and night scenery were. A bedroom in the Savoy Hotel had an excellent view of that scenery. However, the two in that room were not looking out the window. The two humans were Valeath and Moyla. Just under an hour had passed while Moyla lay on the tall bed and Valeath stared down at her in silence. She had come to earlier and had been staring up at him with a weak look in her eyes and shallow breathing. Her skin was so white it reflected the electric lights. It looked like it was made of plaster instead of being sickly pale. The blanket was decorated with a floral pattern, but that only made an even starker contrast with her cold complexion. “…” Suddenly, she looked away from Valeath and asked a question. “This is goodbye, isn’t it?” “You will not last until the morning.” He spoke as if it were his duty to provide an accurate answer. But she narrowed her eyes and turned back to him with a weak but definite smile on her lips. “You finally responded to my voice.” He did not nod, but she continued smiling. “I’m glad.” With those quiet words, she closed her eyes, brought a hand to her forehead, and hid her eyes from the electric lights. “I really tried to kill that young man…who so resembled you. I truly, truly…truly hated him. But just as I fired, that girl called out to me and, the next thing I knew, I had fired on my other self.” And… “When I saw her collapse, something broke inside my body.” She gently coughed. It was not a deep cough. It sounded like she was hiccupping or swallowing something. After a pause, the coughing fit passed and her breathing was more erratic than before. But she could not stop speaking. The words inside her came to the surface and refused to be hidden. “If I don’t keep waiting and if I don’t believe that you will return to the person you used to be… If I don’t believe that, I could never look Lady Melda in the eye. I…I…” Just as her voice threatened to vanish, something very strange occurred. Someone squeezed the hand she held over her eyes. “…!?” Her eyes were exposed below the electric lights and tears flowed from them. But even so, she could clearly see the man who held her hand. “Ah…” The man in her blurry vision was Valeath. His expression and general atmosphere remained unchanged, but he stood next to the bed and held her hand. And that was enough. She tried to say something, but she simply could not form the words. She directly Opened the words in her heart. … I don’t want to die. He had to have seen those words, but he did not react. Regardless, she brought her mind to the surface. She almost did not seem to care if he ignored her as she silently said what she had been unable to say before. … I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I want to be by your side even longer. More tears accompanied her Open Words and she suddenly felt more comfortable. It felt like she was crumbling in some way. This was a more pleasant death than Ashing. She was being erased through the process of Balance Fall. … No. With her eyes closed, she used her own words instead of Open Words. She spoke to Valeath using the words only she could. “Use your Over Contract on me.” Her following words were her first and last confession. “Make me yours, Master Valeath.” ### Part 3 Two people sat on the cement staircase leading to the workroom below the Yard. They were Amon and Flandre. “A Sein Frau, hm?” The older one nodded at the younger one’s comment. “You won’t find any others that well-made even in London. At present, there are twenty-six of them in Scotland Yard.” “Come to think of it, London was flooded with them that one time.” “Oh, that. The one needed to prepare for staying at your place, so they all discussed it and worked together.” “They all look the same, but they’re different inside?” “They’re fundamentally the same, but they change based on their experiences after birth.” Hearing that, Amon asked another question. “What was that you said about a heart earlier?” “Once, that girl’s older sister – I think it was the second oldest – was killed.” Amon opened his mouth, but ended up not saying anything. Flandre continued speaking. “I created them as daughters, but the world at large sees Sein Fraus as tools and machines. The killer was never charged with a crime.” “That’s not an uncommon story.” “Yes. And my daughters… They can be replaced with a mere fifty pounds. And that’s why I’ve made so many of them. Only after that was I able to create that gear I showed you. That gear is what allows her to learn sensitivity and emotions.” “Isn’t it memories or something in your head you need to think about things?” “Even with memories, they only gain the ability to make decisions. To use memories for yourself, you require a type of individuality, right? And that sense is honed by using it yourself.” “This is getting complicated.” “No, you just aren’t very smart.” “Shut up. Anyway, so I take it that gear is literally her heart.” Amon nodded. “So if she can experience different things and create her own heart, then what about her body?” “Her body?” “Why does she keep her eyes closed?” “Because she does not feel the need. Just as there are blind fish in the deep sea, Klausl does not require sight at the moment.” Flandre turned around. “Originally, none of them were as human as they are now. This is what you call the Coppélia effect. Didn’t you hear about that as a child? It’s an old story about how furniture or other items used for many long years will gain a life of their own and become an actual life form.” “Sorry, but I don’t remember being told fairy tales as a child.” “I see.” Flandre nodded. “This is related to the formation of their heart, but when I first stored my daughters here, most of them could not even speak.” “And?” “They probably felt the need to use words in order to help people. After a while, every last one of them was cheerfully speaking. And from there they gained a sense of taste to cook food for the workers here and learned to smile to help calm people. Recently, they’ve even learned to sulk and get a little angry.” “So why is she still blind?” Flandre shook his head. “I don’t know. She needs an impetus, but she also needs to personally think it’s necessary. And I can’t exactly give her false eyes after so long. …Does she not want to see her father’s face?” “Well, there’s definitely no point in looking at some old man.” Flandre glanced over at Amon, sighed, and relaxed his expression. “But, young one, you seem to be quite the interesting fellow. I’m grateful that you actually treat her like a human. That one especially has been worried about whether she has a heart ever since her sister died.” “Don’t bow to me, idiot. You don’t know what’s going to happen now that I know she’s a doll. In fact, now I doubt she has a heart.” “Really? I doubt that’s what you really think.” “Don’t act like you understand me.” With those words, Amon stood. “Where are you going?” asked Flandre. Amon’s response was brief. “There’s someone I want to see. I’ve got some complaints I need to make.” ### Part 4 Ralf sat in a Savoy Hotel hallway. He leaned his back against the black wall and kept an eye out to protect the door leading to the room Valeath and Moyla were inside. His face was expressionless and he said nothing, but he held his right shoulder in his hand as if to hide the missing arm. The shoulder was wrapped in bandages and blood seeped into them in the shape of his fingers. He had been sitting out here ever since they had returned the night before and Valeath had entered the room carrying Moyla. He had not moved in the slightest. Not long before, he had heard a bell ring five times. It was morning already. It was time for people to wake up. But he did not try to get up or stand up. Instead, he muttered under his breath. “Truly, god will not save us.” He ended his words with a sigh. It was a heavy sigh. It floated white in the air and dissolved into the hallway air. It became one with London’s air. “…” After seeing his sigh fuse with London’s air, he began to close his eyes. But in that instant… “…?” He heard something. It was a quiet, slow, and yet continuous sound from beyond the door next to him. He heard footsteps. Someone was walking this way in order to leave the room. Light filled Ralf’s eyes. At the same time, the door opened. He looked up on reflex and saw who stood there. “Valeath.” Valeath held a hand on his sheathed sword and looked down at Ralf. And… “I will go hunt more voices. We still need eighteen more races.” Ralf stood at that. His gaze rose higher than Valeath’s in an instant and he asked a question. “What happened to Moyla!?” “…” “Did she Ash!? Or did she Balance Fall? Either way, did you take care of her to the end!?” He finished shouting, grimaced, and held his right shoulder. Meanwhile, Valeath said nothing and took a step into the hall. “Answer me, Valeath!” Only after snapping at the man did Ralf notice something. Someone who should not have been there stood where Valeath had been. She should have been dead and yet she stood there. Ralf called her name. “Moy…la?” Moyla had been unconscious and dying when she had been brought here, but now she stood next to Valeath. And she stood firmly on two legs. “…” Ralf was confused, but he forced a smile that did not reach his eyes and he lightly raised a hand. “Oh… That’s great, Moy-…” She began walking without even hearing him out and her expression seemed somehow blank. “Moyla?” He called out to her as she passed by. She said nothing and did not turn toward him. She simply continued forward. She was not avoiding him. She walked slowly at an even pace as if she could not even see him there. Her movements lacked the previous unreliableness of the sick. “Wait…” He started after her to stop her and he grabbed her hand. As soon as he did, he heard the sound of a match being struck. “!” He frantically let go of her and opened his own hand. Bluish-white smoke rose from his fingers. The surface was drawn tight and looked burned. He frantically looked to her and saw similar smoke rising from her hand where he had grabbed her. He knew the identity of that raw-smelling smoke. As a minister, he knew all too well. “When an unclean one contacts a holy man…” At that point, he realized everything that had happened. He turned his back on Moyla, faced Valeath, and shouted at the man. “Are you moving her corpse with an Over Contract!?” Valeath remained silent, but that was enough of an answer. Ralf approached him. He used the shocking action to Task himself and grabbed Valeath’s collar with his one arm. “What are you thinking!?” Valeath maintained his silence, but Ralf did not care. He pulled the collar toward himself and glared directly into Valeath’s eyes. “She was exhausted from being with you so long! Being freed from that life would have saved her! Even if it came in the form of death! But you…! You…!” Ralf shoved Valeath away. Valeath swayed one light step back, but his expression and general atmosphere remained unchanged. Ralf was the one to press his back against the wall and limply slide to a sitting position. “How could you do this?” he muttered. “Because I decided it was for the best,” replied Valeath. His tone said he would reject anything more on the topic and he started to walk away. He spoke once more without turning back toward Ralf. “We will carry out the mission tonight. You heal that arm.” Ralf held his stump of a right shoulder as he listened to the fading footsteps. He hung his head and curled up as if to seal himself off from the outside world. And… “Why can I never save anyone?” ### Part 5 Amon woke shortly before noon. He must have been quite tired the night before because he had not had a single dream, nightmare or otherwise. His sleepy mind was lightly woken by the pain of his healing wounds and he took a breath. “I guess I should make some food.” He entered the unfamiliar kitchen and realized something. “There are no matches.” … That’s weird. She cooked in here just fine for the past few days. That brought to mind that Sein Frau girl. “That idiot must have them.” She seemed to specialize in cooking, so it would not surprise him to find she had the matches. She could have slipped them into her skirt pocket. “With that mirror she can’t use.” He held his head in his hands, shook his head a few times, and Tasked himself out loud. “I need to stay away from her.” He clicked his tongue and grabbed the coat hanging on the wall. This was not the one he had worn last night. It was a new one. The previous one was torn up and hanging on a beam in the back of the room. “…” He looked at the coat and all the cuts covering it as he put on the new one. “I lost.” His gaze would not leave that torn-up jacket. He reached out and grabbed it. The fabric was rough in places. He guessed that was from the dried blood. He kicked open the trashcan lid and prepared to throw the old jacket inside. “Oh, right. This is in there.” He stuck a hand in the old jacket’s inner pocket. He Overrode what was inside and grabbed it. It was Jonathan’s demon contract. The emblem, writing, and format on the parchment went through all the proper procedures for a demon contract. There was not a single omission or mistake. With the target individual, it could be immediately activated. But… “I can’t use it.” He was a demon, but he had no wings and had not awoken to his power. Even a perfect contract like this was worth no more than a scrap of paper to him. It was a meaningless possession. To him, it was only a written plea for revenge. “Did that old man want me to take revenge for him?” He suddenly remembered the message Jonathan had left along with the parchment. The words had been carved into the door. “Live on, while fearing no evil whatsoever.” After repeating the words to himself, he smiled bitterly. “Not a chance. This time, I’m dying. …And that’s what everyone wants, isn’t it?” He spoke to no one in particular, folded the parchment in half, and put it in his pocket. He then did not hesitate to throw out the old jacket. A knock came on the apartment’s door. “!?” He quickly moved to the hallway. Just as his footsteps rang through the hallway, the apartment’s front door slowly opened and sunlight poured in. … Who is it? He narrowed his eyes at the backlight, Opened a certain thought, and saw someone there. The person must have read his thought because she lightly raised a hand and spoke. “No, it’s not Klau. It’s Fir.” He Overrode his surroundings when he heard Fir’s voice. After a short time lag, his eyes adjusted to the light and saw her in her uniform. He sighed. “Oh, it’s just you.” “I just told you it was.” She smiled and stepped out of the backlight. “Klau’s better, but she’s not coming. She entered the apartment’s hallway as nimbly as a cat and stood next to him. “You told the Inspector you would give the Yard all the information you have if he removed Klau from observer duty, remember?” “That’s because she was in the way.” “Liar.” She sounded somehow happy and Amon frowned. “What do you mean?” “You really don’t get it? …Or do you not want to get it?” “Get what? Just tell me.” “I already did. You’re a liar. There’s no more to it than that.” She laughed and gently struck his chest. He wordlessly swept her hand aside and crossed his arms. He looked at Fir with a somewhat suspicious look in his eyes. She exasperatedly shrugged her shoulders and Overrode a large manila envelope in her hand. “You asked the Inspector about one thing other than Klau, right? You asked to fight them.” After seeing him nod, she handed him the envelope. “He agreed. We’re gathering at eleven tonight so we can attack them while they sleep.” She thought for a moment. “The Inspector…seems to have trouble with you.” “I don’t like him either.” He sounded annoyed and she gave a bitter smile. “So the feeling’s mutual, is it? The envelope has what information we have on them.” “I’m already looking through it.” He held a report. The front must have been a copy of the paperwork made when they entered the country. The top of the report gave a name. That name was Rickland Valeath. “The information the Yard has turned up is written on the back. His real name is Reichle Borderson. He’s a top class Hound. The total number of non-humans he’s defeated is in the triple digits.” “Interesting.” Amon’s comment sounded disconnected from her explanation. He was looking at the field on the paperwork labelled “Reason for Visit”. One would normally write “sightseeing” or “schoolwork”, but this contained something much more befitting of Valeath. “To find a place to die, hm?” Amon spoke the words aloud as if to hear them himself. ### 127. Chapter 6: Honest Confession ### Part 1 Music played while a bell rang eleven times. London’s night was reaching its high point. The times when humans slept were the best times for monsters. At that time, a group of carts left the back of Scotland Yard. They were all drawn by Nightmares. Why were they leaving the Yard? And why were they loaded with wooden boxes of bottles which were clearly not needed for criminal investigations? The carts seemed odd when they first left the Yard, but as they moved slowly through the city, they soon blended into their surroundings. Once they turned left in front of the Houses of Parliament, Scotland Yard was no longer visible behind them. At that point, they only looked like a wholesale seller transporting alcohol. London consumed a lot of alcohol during the night, so one could easily imagine these were meant to provide those drinks. However, that was not the case. After all, Amon was in control of the lead card. He kept the horses moving a bit faster than normal and looked around. Whitehall was lined with political buildings and it had a certain dignity to it even at night. Everyone walking along the road was moving quickly because they had homes to return to. “…” Amon silently faced forward. He had the horses race by so quickly no one could read his Open Words. He heard the Inspector speak from the second cart behind him, but he ignored the man. He thought about a great many things all on his own. They were quickly approaching the Savoy Hotel. ### Part 2 “The preparations really took some time,” said the Inspector as he stopped his cart behind the Savoy. “We’re pretty late.” Fir glanced over at him from where she sat next to him in casual clothes. “You’re too obsessed with looking good. You said we needed to disguise ourselves so they wouldn’t catch on, but then you ended up wearing your usual coat and suit.” “I realized a brewery disguise does not suit me.” “Quiet,” cut in Amon. He had already stepped down from his cart and stood at the Savoy’s large back entrance. Unlike the main entrance, it was a plain metal door and it was currently closed. “Did you have this closed to keep them from escaping? These are normally open at delivery time.” “The Inspector brought a hand to his chin and tilted his head. “Hm. When I called the manager earlier, he told me to come right in.” Just as the man finished speaking, Amon placed a hand on the knob. It opened surprisingly smoothly. The white light of the hotel slowly cut into the darkness. It was brighter than they expected. They all cautiously looked into the bright hallway. “No one’s here,” muttered Amon as he moved inside the light. “Hey! The first one in needs the warrant!” He ignored the Inspector but stopped as soon as he set foot inside. He saw a large metal door to his right. The doorplate was polished enough to see his reflection and it said “Furniture Storage” in gold. The room likely stored their extra chairs, cupboards, and the like. “That’s not it.” He turned to a similar door on the opposite side. The gold word on its doorplate said “Kitchen”. A grim look filled his face when he read that word. “So this is it.” “Hey! Don’t do anything without permission! I am in charge of this-…!” “Shut up! Just stay put!” Amon cut off the Inspector and turned toward him, Fir, and the disguised police officers who had entered the hallway. “Can’t you smell this!? This is the stench of Ash!” He opened the door in front of him and it flew open as if inviting him inside. “!” The scene before his eyes went beyond anything he had expected. This was the result of mass-produced death. Dark scorch marks could be seen on the floor, walls, and even the ceiling. These were undoubtedly the stains and scorch marks of blood and Ashing. As they burned into Ash, they had seared their silhouettes into the surfaces they lay one. Some had collapsed atop the cooking tables, some had their upper bodies in the sink, and some had fallen on top of each other on the floor. A lot of “cooking” had occurred in this kitchen. No corpses remained. Instead, the pork legs and hunks of beef leftover from dinner were lying around and dripping blood. “We messed up.” Amon did not sound all that bothered by it as he turned his back on the kitchen. That seemed to say that he had no business with the tragedy before his eyes and that this was only the beginning. He walked further down the hallway. “Hey, wait!” He did not turn toward the voice behind him. “Come with me and you’ll die. I am Death Wish Amon after all.” With those parting words, he reached for the large door at the end of the hallway. And he pushed open the double doors all at once. The opening doors created convection in the air. The perfume-like aroma of the hotel flowed in, but it was accompanied by a stench of death even stronger than before. “…!” What Amon found beyond the door was exactly what he expected. ### Part 3 The Savoy Hotel’s lobby was spacious. It was large enough to hold an entire brigade and it felt like a temple with its many marble columns. But at the moment, that lobby felt small. It was littered with traces of murder that one had to avoid stepping on. It was impossible to judge the details of what had happened here, but the general idea was clear. A great slaughter had occurred here as an Override of death. The scorch marks of Ashing could be seen on the floor, on the walls, on the columns, on the front entrance’s windows, and even on the curtains. No one had survived. They had been thoroughly annihilated. “They just killed as much as they could, didn’t they?” Amon walked to the center of the lobby and turned toward the Inspector and the others. “So they were all still alive when you called about-…” He stopped speaking midsentence. As the others cautiously entered the lobby, they followed his gaze. “What is it, Amon?” asked Fir. “Up above!” he shouted. Those who reacted appropriately to his words survived. Those who did not took a bullet to the head, fell to the floor, and Ashed. Eight gunshots sounded. The same number of flames burst out and scattered ash. “…!” The only survivors were Amon, the Inspector, and Fir. “Wh-what was that!?” Fir twisted in midair, landed, and looked back up. Amon was already looking in that same direction. He Overrode the terrace sticking out above the front desk. “You.” A man dressed as a minister sat on the terrace railing. He was the gunman who had lost his right arm. He gently lifted the submachine gun in his left hand and greeted them. “Hm. So when it’s the police, a surprise attack isn’t enough to wipe all of you out.” “Wipe us out? Do you really think you can do that when I am here?” “Inspector, that doesn’t sound very convincing when you’re hiding behind a column.” Fir glanced over at her boss who had moved to a safe position at some point. “H-hey,” she said. “You’re the Hound named Ralf Gurt, aren’t you?” Ralf turned toward her on the railing. “Just to be polite, I’ll give you a warning,” she announced without fear. “We got our information on you from the continent. Even if you kill us, you have nowhere to run. We have plenty of friends back on the continent. So…” “So we should turn ourselves in and atone for our crimes?” “Even the Grim Reaper lives in London. If you play your cards right, you can avoid going to hell.” Ralf gave a deep nod. “You’re telling me to seek salvation?” He swung his arm as he asked that. The arm that whished through the air was the right arm he had supposedly lost. “!” Everyone’s eyes gathered on the arm just as the man Overrode it. A false arm of metal dully reflected the light. It expelled some steam from the shoulder, but it was not a combat arm like Hard Wolves used. It was simply a prosthetic meant to replace a lost body part, but… “I didn’t really think one made in London would attach to a human like me.” He gently swung the metal arm around, spread the dully glowing fingers, and clacked the metal nails together. “I’m supposed to be a minister, but I just can’t seem to save anyone. Not the villagers who relied on me and not even a single woman. So…” So? “I thought it would all be easier if I wasn’t human. If I wasn’t bound by the constraints and emotions of humanity, I wouldn’t have to seek salvation!” Once he said that, the sound of neighing and wheels on stone pavement came from the other end of the hallway Amon’s group had entered through. These were not the Nightmare-drawn carts prepared at Scotland Yard. A different cart had left. … Who was that!? To reach the answer, the Inspector spoke from behind the column. “Come to think of it, you were gathering voices, weren’t you? What for?” “That’s simple. To bring heaven down on London.” The others exchanged a glance at his casual answer. The first to react was Fir. “D-don’t be ridiculous! You can’t do that just by gathering voices.” “England is a world of words, isn’t it? If I say we can do it, we can do it. …When the nine chapter title pages opened only slightly during the Great War, a massive amount of knowledge leaked from heaven and into the human world. Technology flourished and even our nation of blood and iron made it just one step away from reaching space.” “Are you trying to bring that about again!? How!?” Ralf smiled bitterly at Amon’s question. “Are you really people of England? The chapter title pages sealing the way to heaven are nothing more than the words ‘Aerial City’! And can’t words and sounds be drowned out by even greater ones!?” “Don’t be stupid. Not even the voices of monsters are powerful enough to break through the chapter title pages.” “Are you sure?” With that question, Ralf Overrode a shotgun into his right hand. Its muzzle was pointed toward the column the Inspector hid behind. A gunshot rang out and the surface of the column was blown away. Countless tiny holes were gouged into the marble like air bubbles. “Let’s say each of those holes is a single voice. Looking at it that way, it’s true you can’t shoot through a column just by gathering monster voices.” He Overlossed the submachine gun in his left hand to make it disappear. “But what about like this?” When he raised his left hand again, it held a rifle. He showed no sign of aiming and slowly fired. The gunshot was far louder than the shotgun’s. The Inspector must have sensed danger in that great roar because he jumped out from behind the column and got down on the ground. At the same time, something exploded. “…!” The destruction was over in an instant. The column broke. It was made of marble and had been large enough for the Inspector to hide behind, but it crumbled like it was bending its back. Its pieces fell to the lobby carpet. Some stabbed into it, some collapsed onto their sides, some bounced, and some crumbled to dust. It was all covered by a dull yet intense sound. The Inspector got up just as the final stone fell from the ceiling directly behind him. It split and broke with a sound that reverberated deep in their heads. He glanced over at it. “Ahh! My coat!” The bottom of his coat had torn. “I only bought that two weeks ago!” “You’re going to die along with it, so what does it matter?” Ralf lowered his rifle. “Do you understand!?” He looked down on the three in the lobby. “Tonight at midnight, we will gather together the voices we have collected and fire them into heaven! But we will be using more than just those voices. The voices of every monster in London will resonate with them and be fired along with them.” “Is that why you only collected the voices of Arche race monsters!?” “Yes. That allows every monster’s voice to resonate with them. And with a few million voices, destroying the chapter title pages will be easy. We have created this cannon to gain the knowledge of heaven, so we have named it the Babel Cannon.” The three in the lobby exchanged a glance. … Can they actually make something like that? Fir spoke to the Inspector with her Open Words. “That previous cart must have been a hint. I expect it was heading to wherever this Babel Cannon is.” Where was that? For all the others voices to resonate, it had to allow the sound to travel a long distance. It had to take the shape of a tower-like cannon firing straight up into the sky. And Ralf had specified it would be fired at midnight. “…” Amon was the one to come up with a location that met those conditions. “Westminster Cathedral.” He looked to Ralf with strength in his golden eyes. Ralf looked down at him, but his usual smile was gone. He met Amon’s gaze for a while, but suddenly… “Go on ahead. Valeath is there.” Amon broke into a run as if obeying him. He cut across the lobby and into the previous hallway to take one of the carts after Valeath. “Amon!” Fir tried to chase after him, but a bullet burst at her feet. “!” “I only said he could go.” Ralf Overlossed the guns in his hands and crossed his arms. The sound of shattering glass briefly filled the lobby. It shot out from Ralf in every direction and wind followed. The heavy gust of wind blew away the scent of monsters hanging in the lobby and continued down the hallways. “A barrier!?” shouted the Inspector. Ralf nodded. “It isn’t as strong as Moyla’s, but this is the combat barrier a holy man uses when hunting a monster. There is no escape for you.” He jumped down from the terrace and his minister’s clothing spread out behind him like black wings. “Now, I need to kill you quickly! I plan to kill Valeath next!” ### Part 4 A barrier closed behind Amon as he ran out of the hotel’s back entrance. “What!?” He turned around and reached out a hand, but it was knocked back as if struck. His fingers and nails went numb. It was a powerful barrier. “…!” He grimaced a bit and stared past the invisible wall. The door at the other end of the hall had closed, so there was no way to know what was happening. He just about gave a shout, but closed his mouth and stopped. He turned his back on the hotel. “I need to get to Westminster Cathedral.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself and he walked over to the cart he had arrived on. It belonged to Jonathan’s brewery and he had to pursue Valeath with it. As he approached the cart he needed to ride, he noticed something. … ? He sensed an odd presence and Overrode his surroundings. He saw someone standing in front of the cart’s front seat. He saw a girl standing in the darkness. It was of course Klausl. … ! Amon’s mouth hung open for an instant, a number of expressions appeared in his mind, and he finally settled on a reaction. “Y-you idiot! Why are you here!?” He snapped at her, but she did not flinch back. Despite his blatant rejection, she took a step toward him. “The Inspector told me to check on the situation after you went inside and to provide support if anything happened.” “Him again.” He frowned and pointed at the hotel behind him. “You can tell a barrier was put up, right? They’re trapped inside.” “Yes, so I sent out a clairvoyant letter a moment ago. Reinforcements will arrive soon.” “You sure are calm.” Amon sighed and seemed to remember what he needed to do. He walked past Klausl in order to board the cart. “Please wait!” She stopped him. “Where are you going, Amon!?” “If I tell you, you’ll come with me.” She fell silent at that. He placed a hand on her head and rubbed her soft blonde hair. “I’ve sworn to take revenge. …And my old friends are calling for me.” At that very moment, he sensed something. “…” He heard something. “Eh?” He thought he heard Klausl speak. He had definitely heard something so quiet it barely qualified as a voice. What had she said? He looked down at her and saw her biting her lower lip, frowning, and hanging her head. There was no way she could have spoken like that. He could definitely hear a voice, but he was not hearing it with his ears. These words seemed to Task him more directly. They were a cry of someone’s will. They were Open Words. … You don’t understand! That was what her will said to him. She then shook her head to push aside his hand. “You don’t understand anything!” The look on her face must have surprised him because he took a step back. He put up his guard a little and stared at her. “What don’t I understand?” It was a quiet question and she did not answer it. Instead, she placed a hand on her chest and took a deep breath. She seemed to be applying Verbal Self Control. She firmly received his gaze and asked him a question. “Why do you refer to yourself as Death Wish Amon?” It was a simple question and Amon smiled bitterly as if it were a silly thing to ask. “You read the Yard’s data on me, right? Someone around me always dies. And they drive me onward by saying they wouldn’t have died if it hadn’t been for me.” He took a breath and hesitated, but ultimately continued. “And I agree with them! If I weren’t here, if I hadn’t been born a demon, and if I’d never been here, things would be so much better!” He looked to Klausl’s face as he shouted at her. She did not give a look of pity or sadness, but she did give him a look he could not quite put to words. “…” His expression briefly twisted when he saw that look, but… “I understand. I really do! That’s why I’m Death Wish Amon! That’s what everyone wants! It’s what Jonathan wants, what my mother wants, what Eilen wants-…!” He stopped shouting there. He was stopped by a strike to the cheek. A sharp tone filled the night air. Like a wedge, it tore a hole in the mood filling that place. And that hole took the form of silence. “…” Amon subconsciously brought a hand to his cheek and Klausl Tasked him. … You don’t understand! “Why do you see it that way!? At the very least, I…I…” She took a breath. “I don’t want you to die!” She hung her head and clenched her fists, but Amon opposed that idea. “D-don’t be stupid!” “I don’t care if it’s stupid! I’m used to being called that!” She tilted her head. “And it isn’t just me. Fir, the Inspector, and everyone else don’t want to see you die either! So why do you insist on finding a place to die!?” “As long as I keep living, someone else is going to die. And yet I have an infinite lifespan as a demon. …So many people have died because I’m alive!” Klausl looked up at that. She brought her hands to her chest to create a dividing line and to gather her resolve. “I am a Sein Frau, so I didn’t die.” Amon gasped and she continued. “You’ve accepted that I really am alive.” “…” “So I’m glad that I’m a Sein Frau! Because I’m not a normal person and because I won’t die, I can keep living forever and ever!” She did not cry, but she did hang her head to hide her expression from him. “…!” He quickly looked away from her, Closed off all of his emotions, and stared up into the sky. There was no fog this night. However, the sky was cloudy. The clouds were lit by the city’s lights and glowed white from below. As he looked up at them, some words escaped his lips. “I can’t see it.” Was he looking for the moon? With a look of resignation, he looked back down and spoke to Klausl’s downturned face. “Anything you say is useless.” “Eh?” She looked up, but he was not looking at her. His gaze had dropped to the ground. “No matter what I do, death is the only option. Are you sure you want to see that?” She took his hand in hers. “It will be okay.” Her words were not directed at anyone in particular. Amon’s expression changed as if that had been a sign. He gave a bitter smile. “Sorry.” She frowned at that word. “That is a bad habit of yours. …So where are you headed?” She pulled on his hand and climbed onto the cart’s front seat. Amon’s bitter smile deepened as he answered. “Westminster Cathedral. We need to hurry!” ### Part 5 The cart took off with the two of them onboard. Traveling to Westminster Cathedral required returning to the vicinity of Scotland Yard. They raced down Whitehall and turned right in front of the Houses of Parliament. The wheels cried out along the pavement and the whip struck the horse. The cart began to tilt, but it shook and tilted back. The cart shot down a long stretch of Victoria Street. Continuing this way would take them to Scotland Yard in five minutes. Another two minutes and they would reach Westminster Cathedral. At their pace, that would be shortened a little. They moved quickly. Klausl drove from the front seat. She was new to this, but she gave it her all. “You can be pretty reckless when you need to be,” shouted Amon as the wind whipped at his jacket and carried his voice behind them. “Sorry,” replied Klausl without looking over. Amon glanced at her. “I don’t mind. In fact, pick up the pace if you can.” “That isn’t what I meant.” “What?” “Um… I was talking about before…when I hit you.” Her voice grew weaker toward the end and Amon rubbed his slapped cheek. “That hurt.” Even after hearing his blunt comment, she continued facing forward. “But that was your fault, Amon.” “Why?” “You were speaking to me, but you suddenly mentioned another woman. I couldn’t help myself.” She tensed her shoulders uncomfortably and Amon frowned. “ That’s why I was slapped?” “S-sorry. But… But it’s an important issue, so…” Watching her as she trailed off, Amon frowned and sank down in his seat. “Well, whatever. At least the arm I healed is working.” “Eh?” “You don’t remember which hand you slapped me with?” “Oh, um, the arm you healed is doing great. Really. Look.” “Don’t swing the reins around!” The headless Nightmares directly responded to the movement of the reins. They nearly veered over into the opposing lane, but Amon got them back under control. They returned to the proper lane without dropping in speed. “That was close.” He turned around to make sure they had not left any confusion behind and then handed the reins back to Klausl. “Oh, thank you very much. Also, um, well…” “There’s more?” “When you healed me…um, I’m not sure how to put this… Did you see?” “What?” “Well, what I mean is… How was I?” “W-wait just a minute!” At that moment, the cart hit a stone and bounced up. The wooden boxes in the back clattered together as the cart landed. Amon had been trying to say something, but he must have bit his tongue because he covered his mouth with a hand. “~!” Meanwhile, Klausl continued facing forward and ignored Amon’s groan of pain. “That was the first time I let someone other than my father see my body.” “Y-y’know!” “Eh?” When Klausl turned toward Amon, her cheeks were flushed. “!” Amon was dumbfounded and Klausl continued to blush. “Is something the matter?” “Your face is red.” “Eh? Oh, yes. I don’t know why. This never happened before no matter how embarrassed I got, but it suddenly happened just now. …How strange. I wonder why.” A Sein Frau would grow as soon as she felt the need for that ability. So what did it mean if she blushed? “…” When the answer came to Amon, he placed a hand on her head. “Watch the road. The heat in your face is…from a cold. Yeah, a cold.” “But…” “Shut up. A cold is the beginning of all illnesses.” After that strange comment, he focused on the road ahead and sighed. He was on his way to a battle, but his body was not at all tense. As if to scold him for that, a blade-like presence suddenly stabbed into him. This was murderous intent. “Mh!?” The murderous intent belonged to someone standing in the center of Victoria Street. She wore a white dress, her black hair fluttered in the wind, and she stood there as if to stop the cart. “Miss Moyla!?” “It doesn’t matter! Drive right into her!” Amon jumped from the front seat to the back of the cart. He snapped his suspenders as he shouted toward the rapidly approaching witch. “Come on! I’ll take you on!” His roaring voice was filled with strength. They were less than three minutes to Westminster Cathedral and it was just under ten minutes until midnight when Ralf had said heaven would be brought down. ### Part 6 Just as Amon and Klausl encountered Moyla, the Savoy Hotel had become a giant execution site. Gunman Ralf was the executioner. He had two targets: the Inspector and Fir. The Inspector pulled on Fir’s hand and jumped to hide behind a marble column. “Ow ow ow ow ow!” “Don’t shout, Fir!” A loud gunshot rang out just as the Inspector shouted. The marble column broke down the middle as if its contents had been blown out. Fragments washed over the Inspector as he backed away. It was worth mentioning that he kept Fir safely behind his back. “There’s nowhere to hide. I’m in top form right now.” Ralf’s voice was cheerful. He had been standing in the center of the lobby and firing his gun without even turning to face them. He may have thought they were not worth pursuing. The Inspector actually clicked his tongue which was rare for him. “This isn’t good. I seem to be having a streak of bad luck right now.” “Oh? And when will that streak end?” “Good question.” He placed a hand on his chin at the perfect angle. “When you are gone, I suppose.” A sudden gunshot rang out. This time, Fir tugged on the Inspector’s collar. The two of them collapsed toward the entrance to escape. They hid behind a sofa, but the back was blown away and white fluff scattered everywhere. The fluff floated around like powdered snow, but some of it was scorched from the heat of the bullet’s passage. The Inspector crawled along the ground and knocked a table on its side as a barricade. “This guy can’t take a joke. You’ll never have a successful career like that.” “Well, I think your career’s about at its end too.” “That’s dark, Fir. Can’t you be more cheerful?” “I’m trapped in an inescapable barrier with an unreliable boss and a powerful enemy. How am I supposed to be cheerful?” “What if we add this to the equation?” The Inspector turned toward Fir and pulled a metal device from his coat pocket. It was a handgun. It was a six-shot revolver, but Fir did not recognize the type. “That does cheer me up. But the Yard doesn’t normally carry guns.” “I picked it up at home.” Fir’s expression showed she did not believe him, but he held out the gun. “Take it.” “You’re not going to use it?” “In the end, a dandy gentleman has to use his fists to fight.” “Idiot.” Fir took the gun with a frown and Ralf’s gunshot seemed to challenge them. The last decorative plant was blown away as if it had exploded. “What are you doing hiding back there? This isn’t any fun if you don’t try to run.” Fir bared her teeth and prepared to poke her head up, but the Inspector held her down. “Fir, listen carefully.” “Ow ow ow ow. C’mon, women only want their lover to touch their hair.” “The hair salon worker is your lover? ….No, we need to take this seriously.” “Wh-what is it?” Hearing her confused voice, he pointed behind her. “The hallway to the Savoy’s first floor is a few meters behind you. Run in there.” “He’ll shoot me halfway there!” “I’ll move at the same time. Once you slide into the hallway, close the fire shutter. The one in here’s electric, so you just have to hit the button and it will close.” “What about you?” He smiled at her question. “I’ll find a way to escape even if it means leaving you here.” “U-um, y’know…” “Shut up. This is your chance. Go!” He shoved her out toward the hallway door. … I can’t believe this! She stood without turning around and ran. She ignored the murderous intent on the back of her neck and Tasked herself to run. Her toenails jabbed into the bottom of her shoes as she kicked off the lobby floor. The gunman’s intent to kill struck her back and she almost stopped as it grew thicker and thicker. On the third step, she could feel that thick and heavy intent to kill focusing on the very center of her back. But at the same time… “What are you doing? I’m the bigger prize.” She heard the Inspector’s voice. The murderous intent vanished from her back. The pressure disappeared. She ran and ran and ran as fast as she could. She saw the hallway entrance right in front of her. … I can make it! She was certain of it. She Overrode her body forward and leaped. She used her feline nimbleness to leap as far as she could. She reached out her hand in midair and pressed the button for the emergency alarm. Three things happened all at about the same time: the bright red sound of the alarm rang out, Fir landed, and the fire shutter started to separate the hallway from the lobby. She slid across the carpet on her back and twisted around. She pressed against the hallway wall and looked back toward the lobby. “Inspector!” The man was persevering past Ralf on the other end of the lobby. His eyes turned toward Fir, but he did nothing and said nothing. Ralf had not moved from his spot between them. The two men glared at each other as the fire shutter continued down. Feeling like her field of vision was shrinking, Fir shouted again. “Inspector!!” She received a gunshot in response. A bullet moving too fast to see blew away the column the Inspector tried to hide behind and cut off his escape. Next, Ralf turned toward Fir. “I guess I’ll leave you until later.” His tone of voice showed clear delight and he aimed his rifle back at the Inspector. At the same time, the lobby was cut off from her view. The fire shutter had fully closed. “!” She stood up. At that moment, she heard multiple sounds that reverberated in her gut from beyond the shutter meant to defend against flames and smoke. The gunshots were low and deep. Fir knew what was happening, so she backed away from the shutter as if she refused to believe the scene occurring beyond it. “That…can’t be happening.” She held the revolver tight and backed down the hallway. She saw the dining hall to the left. “Does this connect to the kitchen we saw before?” She stopped moving. “…” After a short silence, she charged into the dining hall. She was not trying to flee. She was trying to find any possible way of winning. ### Part 7 The witch’s jump surpassed the realm of humanity. Moyla kicked off the road toward Amon who took a defensive stance on the back of the cart. She leaped…no, flew toward him. Her white dress spread out in the night air and picked up the city’s lights. It looked like a snowflake. “Amon!” The white shadow flew over Klausl’s head and even Amon’s shoulder. She easily and silently landed behind Amon on the back of the cart. “!” Amon turned toward her and saw an open-handed jab coming at him like a spear. It was a quick strike and the fingernails growing from her white hand left a red afterimage behind. Was the scarlet decorating her nails a manicure or was it blood? The cart maintained its speed and Amon back-stepped out of the way without losing his balance. He then faced his opponent. There was no strength in Moyla’s eyes, but her movements were sharp. This time, she made a sudden karate chop. Not only that, but she made a full swing from directly to his side. It was not a straight-line movement. … This woman knows how to fight!? He felt a chill on his spine and his body crouched on its own. He reflexively stuck out a foot to kick Moyla in the gut. This was no time to hold back. The kick would have broken some ribs with a normal opponent, but she endured it while only taking a few steps back. “What!?” He gasped at that and she folded her fingers together with tremendous speed. The movement showed no sign of hesitation or damage. … Is she not human!? The very next moment, light flew through the air. The light grazed his right shoulder and struck a red brick building along Victoria Street. It was a school known as a Bluecoat School. The spear of light blew up the sculpture on top of the building. Stone fragments scattered everywhere and poured down on Amon and Moyla like colorful rain. However, they quickly left the fragments and commotion behind. Moyla charged toward Amon and threw an open-handed jab toward his crouched body. He Overrode one of the cart’s wooden boxes into his hands. It was empty and he used it to block Moyla’s strike. Her red nails easily broke through the wooden box and out the other side. But that was fine. As the splinters washed over him, he forcibly twisted the box. An unpleasant noise came from the box. It was the sound of scraping flesh and of a dry branch breaking. “Seyah!” He kicked her knee from the front to knock her down. With a dull sound, the white dress fell face down and swept Amon aside with her empty hand. Her face remained expressionless and her eyes weak. Amon kicked that face. He did not hold back. He heard a dull sound he would rather not have heard. Moyla’s teeth scattered across the cart and her nicely-shaped nose was turned at an odd angle. “How about that!?” As if to deny his triumphant tone, she stood unsteadily back up and prepared her unharmed hand. “You’re persistent.” Just as he clicked his tongue, Klausl shouted back at him. “Amon! We’re about to turn left!” “All right!” Moyla stepped forward as if his shout had been her cue and he picked up a new wooden box. The cart began to curve left. Centrifugal force tugged them to the outside. Amon faced the rear of the cart, so his balance shifted to the left and Moyla’s to her right. Perhaps due to the box hanging from her right arm, Moyla swayed outward. That motion settled the fight. “Seyaaahh!” Amon swung his box from the direction she was falling toward. He swung it free of the centrifugal force and into the side of her head. The box broke and Moyla’s face caved in. There was a great shattering sound. The box had been filled with bottles. The bottles collided with her head, broke, and spilled their contents. Their weight bent her neck at an unnatural angle and her blood mixed with the strong mixed cocktail. The cart reached the end of the curve and sped up. Moyla could not keep up with the change in speed and she swayed backwards. With boxes still attached to her right arm and face, she fell off the cart and to the road. Amon turned his back on her and the wind struck him in the face. He looked straight forward. He saw Westminster Cathedral up ahead. That was the final battlefield for them all. ### 128. Chapter 7: Blissful Death ### Part 1 The Savoy Hotel was far from silent. The alarm Fir had activated filled it with hysteric noise. It pierced through and echoed off the entire building, gathered in the lobby, and finally reached Ralf’s ears. “What a racket.” He gave a sigh after finishing off his fleeing prey. He shook his head to loosen up his shoulders and Overlossed the rifle in his left hand. He grabbed a shotgun instead. Finally, he took a step from the center of the lobby. He made his way to the hallway leading to the Savoy’s first floor. More accurately, he made his way to the fire shutter blocking the way. He used his real left arm to swap out the shotgun’s magazine. “There’s no point in running, you know?” He cocked it with one arm. After sending the first round to the chamber, he opened the magazine and loaded another round. He swung the gun to close the magazine and aim at the shutter with a single smooth motion. With a loud gunshot, several small holes appeared in the pure white shutter. “Hm.” He nodded and took a few steps back. He lightly swung the shotgun forward and back to cock it. The used cartridge was ejected and fell to the floor where it scorched the carpet. Another gunshot rang out. Another group of holes appeared like a swarm of ants, but over a wider area this time. Without a pause, he cocked it again and fired the final shot. He Overlossed the shotgun at the same time and held a submachine gun in his left hand instead. He fired it. The bullets had less penetrative power, but when they struck the fire shutter, they connected and widened the previous holes until they became a single large hole. The alarm grew even louder. Ralf ignored it, slipped through the hole in the shutter, and looked around. “Where did she run off to?” He needlessly spoke his question aloud and pushed his sunglasses up his nose. Beyond the round black lenses, his blue eyes looked to the floor. His gaze was sharp and still. “I see.” The thick Savoy carpet clearly told him where his target had run. He turned toward the dining hall. After looking at the glass door from the side and entering, he found a large open space. The dining hall was actually a world-famous English restaurant known as Simpson’s. A tie was required when dining there and it had the formality and ambiance to match. Of course, no one was eating there now. The wooden tables, wooden chairs, lace tablecloths, and everything else were covered with the scorch marks of Ashing. Ralf had killed and destroyed everything here. “The roast beef was pretty good, but just that’s not enough.” While giving a completely different comment from the day before yesterday, he looked around the half-ruined restaurant. He searched for his target. He Overrode behind the tables, beyond the decorative plants, on the other side of the curtains, and everywhere else as he searched. He could not find her. “?” He frowned, but then he heard a noise. It came from the kitchen in the back of the restaurant. It sounded like something small falling over. It was enough of a sound to warrant walking that way. He pulled out the submachine gun magazine and threw it aside. He pulled a new one from his pocket and slammed it in. His eyes were trained on the kitchen the entire time. He started walking as soon as the magazine clicked into place. The bottom of his minister’s clothing fluttered behind him. After a few steps, he reached the counter between restaurant and counter. The kitchen beyond the counter was large. Just to be safe, he took a step back and walked from left to right along the counter. Once he reached the open door, he twisted his head to loosen his shoulders again. He continued doing it for a while but finally Overlossed his action and continued on. “Now, then.” He took a breath and quickly entered the kitchen. He moved silently, pressed his back against the wall next to the door, and searched for his enemy. He could see past the kitchen counter on the right, but not the one on the left. He saw no sign of anyone. But then he heard another noise. “!” He looked over and saw an open door in the back of the kitchen that led to the back entrance. The wind or something was moving the door enough to tap against the wall. That was the small sound he had heard before and what had led him to enter the kitchen. … Did she get away!? He briefly wondered if he had been led here and subconsciously started walking between the two counters. But then he saw something odd as the door moved. It was a cat. He guessed it was a pet of one of the guests he had killed because he saw a Siamese cat with black paws. It was playing with the door by pushing it into the wall. He had not seen it before because the kitchen counter had been in the way. He reflexively aimed his gun at it and smiled bitterly. “What a cute trap.” Had his target thought this cat would distract him with the noise? He lightly poked at his head with the grip of the submachine gun in his left hand. He started to take another step but suddenly stopped. “…?” His eyes were focused on the door the cat pushed with its front paws. He stared at the metal door. The door was polished like a mirror and it reflected the kitchen from an angle he could not see. It showed the area behind the left kitchen counter. The large door reflected a blue form. The reflection was far from perfect, but he recognized it. It was the Scotland Yard uniform worn by the girl who had escaped down the hallway. There was no mistaking it. “I see.” He Closed his feelings so she would not notice. Instead, he made a smile so large even he noticed. He must have surprised the cat because it stopped pushing on the door and moved away. It looked afraid and it escaped to Ralf’s right with its fur standing on end. He did not pursue the cat. He held the submachine gun in his left arm and made his way to the left kitchen counter. He moved in an instant. He jumped up on the counter, aimed at the corner she was hiding behind, and pulled the trigger. He fired again and again. Shell cases flew and smoke scattered from the gun while wood splinters and metal fragments burst from the counter. Even if it was only a submachine gun, it could still pierce a two centimeter steel panel at close range. The bullets half-destroyed the counter and turned what hid behind it into red pieces. The scattering tempo was eight per second. The music ended after just over two seconds. Ralf immediately threw away the magazine and loaded the next. Meanwhile, the blue uniform was thrown from behind the counter and into the wall. He looked to see her Ash…except she did not. “!?” The blue uniform came apart and he saw its contents roll out. It was filled with hunks of flesh. However, the body wearing the uniform had something it should not have. A femur grew from the top of the white and red flesh like a head. “It can’t be!” he shouted. At the same time, he heard a sharp voice from his right. “Freeze! I’ll blow your head off!” He moved just his eyes to look over. He found the girl pointing a handgun at him from behind the right kitchen counter. Her naked upper body stuck up above the counter and held the gun. “Sorry, but everything in the uniform was edible meat.” “Hm. But I didn’t see anyone back there before…” He did not avoid looking at Fir’s body. “Was that cat you? Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve seen it before.” “That’s right. We met in St. James’s Park.” “Oh, that’s right. That’s right.” He nodded and seemed oddly calm. The girl aiming a gun at him blatantly frowned at his attitude. “At any rate, put down that dangerous thing you’re holding there. Don’t try to shoot because I’ll be faster. Yours is in your left hand after all.” “I see the Yard makes up for not using guns by knowing how to handle an armed opponent.” He smiled bitterly. “But it doesn’t go beyond that.” “What!?” She grew more defensive and he laughed. “Did you not notice I haven’t Overridden my right arm this whole time?” “!” She stared at him as his body appeared more clearly. There was nothing inside his right sleeve. The false arm he had shown off on the terrace was gone. His gaze turned to the kitchen entrance he had used. The girl looked there too. “It seems setting up this trick paid off.” He focused on the kitchen entrance. At some point his metal right arm had appeared on the floor there. It held a rifle. Its aim was not perfect, but it was pointed at his final target. “Crap!” shouted the girl. Ralf’s face twisted into a slight smile. And he Opened a powerful Task. … Shoot her! The false arm reacted to his will and moved. It squeezed the trigger and fired. The girl’s white naked body was blown away. She was knocked into the air and slammed into the wall. She knocked kitchen tools to the floor and collapsed. “…Ah.” The bullet had not been fatal, but it had torn into her side. Regardless, it was still a serious wound. Ralf looked down on the silent girl from atop the counter. Her blood pooled on the cement kitchen floor. Her white skin and scarlet blood contrasted each other nicely and seemed to give off a scent. She was no longer moving. The shock may have knocked her out. “You put up a good fight, just like a final target should.” With that, he jumped down from the counter, started toward his false arm by the entrance, and sighed. “In the end, there’s no one to save you in times like this.” He picked up his false arm and slowly stuck it into his right sleeve. He gently closed his eyes and attached it as if twisting his shoulder. After a metallic sound, the contents of his right sleeve moved. Satisfied by the sensation, he aimed the rifle still held by the false right arm. This time, his aim was accurate. He targeted her head. “Amen.” His eyebrows twisted a bit and he silently tightened his grip on the trigger. But just before he pulled it, an impossible voice stopped him. “Don’t give in like that, holy man.” The voice came from the restaurant beyond the kitchen entrance. “!” He turned around and saw someone who should not have been there. He saw the target he had only just killed. He saw the man known as the Inspector. ### Part 2 Amon and Klausl ran. They had reached Westminster Cathedral. They ran across the open area the bazaar had been held in, passed through the main entrance that sat wide open despite the late hour, and ran down the hallway to the sanctuary. They did not have much time left and it was all over if they did not make it. Amon cursed his lack of wings. … Dammit! If he had them, he could move more quickly and he would have the power to fight as a demon. He felt that he was still a hindrance to himself. “Amon, what is it?” asked Klausl. He turned toward her and found her running alongside him with her usual expression. She was a bit out of breath and she smiled at him. “It’ll be okay. Let’s do our best!” He smiled bitterly at her words and faced forward. They were approaching the door to the sanctuary. He had a feeling that he would reach the conclusion of it all beyond that door. Would it be death? … Will it really? It was very unlike him to question death like that. To find the answer, he kicked open the wooden door in front of him. There was little resistance, so it flew open with a solid sound. “…!” A large space welcomed him in. The atmosphere was very different from during the day. The dark dome contained a deep dark pressure. It was a cloudy night, so no light entered through the skylights. At the center of the candlelit sanctuary was a large hole that looked like a bottomless pit. Two giant chains rose from its depths. Beyond the hole was the sanctuary’s altar. The altar was dyed slightly red by the candles’ flames and a man sat on it. It was Valeath. He held a drawn sword that shined in the candlelight. “So you’re here.” When he saw Amon, he slowly stood. He moved silently, but the presence accompanying the motion carried an impact on the level of the earth shaking. Amon received Valeath’s presence head on. He also shouted back to deflect that presence. “Why do you want to bring down heaven!?” Valeath looked upwards without answering the question. Amon followed suit and looked to the sanctuary ceiling. He saw the large hanging bell and the hammer to hit it. The hammer glowed red in the candlelight and it had a strange machine attached. It was the size of a human head and it had vacuum tubes, cords, and a strange antenna. Overall, it somewhat resembled a flower. Like vines, the cords extending from it continued straight down with the chains and vanished into the darkness. Valeath and Amon both lowered their raised heads and their gazes met. “!” Amon was directly pushed back by the other man’s murderous aura, but someone supported him from behind. It was Klausl. “It’ll be okay.” As she spoke those quiet words, the floor began to shake. “What!?” “Amon! The chain!” He looked in the direction she indicated and saw the thick chain connecting the hole to the ceiling beginning to move down. The series of ellipses large enough for him to pass through clearly picked up speed as it moved further and further down. “It is almost midnight. It is time for the Babel Cannon to be fired.” The sounds of the pipe organ and the bell would reverberate through the deep pit. The resultant sound would grow as the voices of London’s monsters resonated with it and it would all be fired toward heaven. Millions of monsters’ voices would be concentrated into a single blast to destroy the chapter title pages protecting heaven. Heaven would then lose its balance and fall down on London. “Once the bell rings twelve times, London will be destroyed. And in exchange, the knowledge of heaven will escape to the human world.” Amon listened to Valeath and looked up at the hammer on the ceiling. The metal device slowly moved according to the movement of the chains. It gradually pulled back and built up power. “If the bell rings twelve times, it means London and I have lost. That’s a lot of responsibility.” As he spoke, Amon moved his legs to circle around on the right and toward Valeath. He heard Klausl’s footsteps following him. They gave him an odd sense of calm. … It’ll be okay, hm? He Opened that thought so she could read it. He kept his eyes on Valeath and tensed his body. He snapped his suspenders with his fingers and created a rhythm. But then… “?” He detected an odd scent. It did not belong in this building. The sanctuary only smelled of stone, of the night air, and faintly of machinery, but a scent he knew all too well mixed in. It was the smell of alcohol. “It can’t be!” He quickly stopped and turned around. He was a little panicked because this smell of alcohol was mixed with the fragrance of blood. His gaze moved past Klausl and to the sanctuary entrance. Something strange appeared there. It looked like a person, but not quite. Its right arm ended partway down and looked like something had bitten it off. Its head lay on its side. It was Moyla. Her face was completely unrecognizable. Her head was twisted perpendicular to the floor, the front looked like a peeled tomato, and it looked like it could fall off at any moment with how much it shook with her movement. Either from the wine spilled from the bottles or some other liquid, her dress was stained pure red. “She can still move!?” Amon shouted out with pure revulsion in his voice and the bell rang. The great noise was accompanied by deep music bursting from underground. The noise was intense. The wave of sound could easily be called a physical impact. As if that had been her cue, Moyla ran straight forward. She made no wasted movement. Most of her body had been destroyed, but her feet kicked solidly off the floor and brought her to Amon and Klausl. She was fast. Amon, the primary cause of her injuries, grimaced. “Geh. This is pretty bad.” The bell rang again. A moment later, Moyla jumped toward him. Heavy with a variety of liquids, her dress waved behind her. She flew quickly through the air. Amon tugged on Klausl’s hand and escaped along the hole’s railing. A red flower landed on the spot he had just vacated and a chop of the hand smashed the railing in a spectacular fashion. The sound was great enough to be heard over the bell. The sound must have scared Klausl because she frantically ran alongside Amon. “That was intense.” “Don’t point out the obvious.” The two of them moved back and turned the corner. The straightaway felt long, but they were just one corner away from where Valeath was. The bell rang for a third time. Klausl looked up at Amon with her brow furrowed worriedly. He tried to decide what expression to give her, but finally Opened a thought. … We’ve got to do something, don’t we? Now he was pointing out the obvious, but she nodded and the two continued to flee. Moyla pursued with long strides. Pulled by Amon’s hand, Klausl reached into her apron skirt as if searching for something. “Hey! What are you doing!?” Just as he shouted at her, the bell rang for the fourth time. Moyla charged headfirst toward them as if driven on by the sound. “!” Amon reached for Klausl and tried to pull her toward him, but she looked over her shoulder at him. She gave a closed-eyed smile as if telling him not to worry. “Hey!” he shouted in surprise. In that instant, Moyla’s shoulder collided with Klausl. The slender back in front of Amon’s eyes bent and the blonde hair flew through the air. A complex metallic sound passed from inside her body and out her back. It was a sound of destruction. What had caused it? That was simple. He could tell at a glance. Moyla’s left hand had pierced through Klausl’s back. That was all. The red-nailed fingers were surrounded by wires and small gears. Those were the parts that made up Klausl. “…!” Amon opened his mouth wide and tried to shout something, but he only managed to inhale and no voice came out. The bell rang for the fifth time. Klausl moved a little in front of Amon. Her slender arms wrapped around Moyla’s body. He saw a match in her hand. It was a waterproof match used for cooking. “You mustn’t let yourself smell of alcohol.” Her trembling voice spoke kindly to Moyla and lightly struck the match. Even amid the din of the bell and pipe organ, the quiet scraping sounded clearly in Amon’s ears. The sound briefly hung in the air, a flame lit, and a soft aroma filled the area. It was a sweet aroma often smelled when cooking. It was the aroma of meat cooked in wine. Moyla’s entire body was immediately enveloped in flames. “…!” The back of the burning red dress jumped up. The flames rose along her entire body, her head, and her mangled face. She pushed at Klausl’s arms, let out a wordless cry as if afraid of the flames, and swung her body around. Klausl was removed from her, starting with the left arm. The bell rang for the sixth time. Klausl leaned back against the railing and just barely managed to remain standing. Moyla seemed to perform a crazed dance next to her. The dead could not feel pain, but the nerves controlling her muscles still functioned. Burning her body caused those nerves to burst and she lost control of her body. Her sickly white skin turned to keloids which then burned away along with her other wounds. Her right arm ended at the elbow and her left arm was wrapped in flames, but they both moved as if swimming to gather in air. Her lungs must have been burning. The arms pounded on and broke the railing. Now nothing supported her. But as she became a mass of flames, she walked aimlessly forward and seemed to beg for air. The bell rang for the seventh time. Her foot stepped out past the edge of the hole. As if called by the sound of the bell, she collapsed forward. Her arms and legs seemed to be swimming as she fell into the abyss. She fell into the hole that produced the pipe organ music. As a flower illuminating the darkness, she slipped down. For a while, an unpleasant sound of something being chewed to pieces came from far below. That may have been why the eighth ring of the bell seemed somewhat hesitant and awkward. Klausl stared down there. She supported herself on the railing while looking down to the bottom of the hole. Amon held her in his arms and supported her. He held her tight as she could not stand due to the hole in her gut. And he cried her name. “Klausl!” She looked up at him with her eyes still closed. As a doll she may not have felt pain because her expression was the same as always. However, her clothing was scorched by flames and covered in Moyla’s drying blood. Worst of all was the gaping hole from her stomach to back. Wires and chains dangled down from it, something like mercury dripped down like raindrops, and small nuts sprinkled out. The shaft that acted as her backbone seemed to have broken, so everything below her waist was unsteady and swayed just like a doll. She felt sadly fragile in his arms. He tried to say something, but stopped when her hand touched his cheek. “You finally called my name.” His lips trembled. “I…I…” “Please don’t apologize,” she said. He swallowed the words. After a short delay, the bell rang for the ninth time. “I decided on my own to do this for you. It would be too tragic if you apologized.” She smiled just as all strength left her lower body. The full weight of the doll filled his arms. The end was near, but she did not stop speaking. “I’m worried about you. You always blame yourself for everything.” “Don’t talk!” “You try to act cold and push others away, but you still get so desperate when something happens to me.” Her hands grabbed his right arm. “?” He was confused, but he did not fight it. He reached his right hand in the direction she led it. His hand touched the hole in her stomach. He felt the soft and warm skin inside her torn clothing and then his hand began to enter her body. He wrapped his left arm around her back and she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight as if embracing him. “…” The next thing he knew, his right hand had entered her body through the hole in her stomach. His hand slowly buried itself in that manmade body. First just the fingers and then up to the wrist. She gasped as he moved his fingers and she pressed her body into his arm. “Nn.” A metal component touched his fingers. It was not cold. It was a hard object with an almost damp warmth to it. He guessed it was a rim. But that was not what he was looking for. He reached further inside her. A quick tremor ran through her body. “Ah.” “Does it hurt?” “Deep in my stomach…I felt… No, don’t worry about it. Keep going.” He silently nodded. Sometimes he came across something wet and sometimes he came across something sharp and he searched through her body. He lifted his hand inside her stomach, scraped along the inside of her ribs, and moved toward the chest. By that time, his arm was in up to the elbow. “Hh.” Each time he touched a component, she would let out a small breath, but it only lasted a moment. Just as the bell rang for the tenth time, strength filled her hands. “Nn.” Her face flushed all the way to the ears and she clawed at his jacket as she endured something and spoke. “That’s…it. You’re…touching it.” His hand grabbed the object within the left side of her chest. “I’ll be taking this.” She slowly nodded. With a sound much like spilling coins, he pulled out his right hand. “Ahhh!” She pulled back from him as if from recoil and grabbed the railing behind her again. She then raised her head and forced a smile. The smile on her slightly flushed face looked somehow satisfied. He looked at her face and then down at what he had pulled from her body. He held the red gear said to be her heart. “…” She may not have been able to speak any longer because she faced him and asked an Opened question. … How strange. Why am I smiling? He was taken aback by her voice and slight smile. This was the same situation as in his nightmares. It was the same smile he had seen on his mother and Eilen. … How can you smile? What are you trying to say? Had she seen his question? She gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen and replied with her own words. … See you…again someday. She threw herself backwards and fell down as if pursuing Moyla. Amon stretched out his hand, but he could not reach her. “Klausl!” His yell did not reach her either. All that remained was the gear in his right hand and… “Revenge.” Valeath’s voice reached him from directly behind. “!” Amon began to turn toward the man who had approached at some point. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a silver arc filled with intent to kill. ### Part 3 Ralf stopped trying to kill the girl and entered the restaurant. “You weren’t dead? But I shot four times in the limbs and cleanly blew off your head.” “The world is a tricky place.” The Inspector was elegantly drinking wine at a table and chair that had escaped destruction. He drank the wine from a water glass he must have found on the floor. “Yes, Savoy’s Simpson’s really is the best. This is French, isn’t it?” The bottle had lost its top half, but he picked it up and tried to read the label as he took another sip from the glass. Ralf silently approached and aimed his gun at the man from a few steps away. “I will make sure to kill you this time. …I won’t spare you even if you beg.” “No, probably not. You really seem to hate monsters.” Ralf smiled. “What’s wrong with hunting monsters? It’s a natural punishment. Anything dangerous to mankind must be destroyed.” “Some probably do say that.” The Inspector nodded, placed the glass on the table, elegantly crossed his legs, and looked over at Ralf. “But have you ever felt you were being hunted?” Ralf’s answer was incredibly easy to understand. He fired. The shock of the blast shook the glass and smoke rose from the gun. However, one thing did not change. The Inspector remained sitting in the chair. He had not moved in the slightest. “!” Ralf quickly loaded the next round and the Inspector gave a quiet announcement. “You have devoted yourself too much to hatred, sorrowful human. Will you repent?” Those words stopped Ralf just before he fired again. This gunman had never hesitated in his hunt, so it meant a lot for him to pause. But he did continue aiming at the Inspector. “You’re asking me to repent?” “Yes.” Hearing the Inspector’s low and powerful affirmation, Ralf asked something else. “And who is going forgive me if I do that?” The answer was brief. “God.” Another gunshot rang out. But still nothing changed. The Inspector remained in the chair. There was no sign of the bullet having hit his body or clothes. Ralf knew of a being that could do that. Any holy man would know of that being that was referred to with a simple name. … I see! He rejected the word that nearly appeared in his heart. He fully rejected it. Allowing it would make everything he had done meaningless. He fully Closed his thoughts and held a weapon in each hand. He made the rifle in his right hand vanish and held the submachine gun. He held the shotgun in his left hand. He then looked to the Inspector and spoke with a slight smile. “I won’t rely on god.” “Why not?” “I will determine my own destiny. Even if it ends in failure.” He turned the two firearms toward the Inspector. “I couldn’t save the villagers in the past, but they didn’t just let themselves die. They picked up weapons and fought.” He took a breath. “I want you to know that so something like that will never happen again!” Hearing those words, the Inspector stood. He took a step and removed his coat as if swinging it around. This revealed the back of his suit which slowly swelled out. It continued to swell like something was growing underneath and then it burst. Ralf looked to the man’s back and saw large white wings that far outshined those of an angel. “I knew it!” Ralf cried out and pulled both triggers. ### Part 4 Amon was slammed against the wall. He knew exactly why: he had been hit by that kick again. He coughed up some blood and shook his foggy head. He cleared his mind and the sound of the bell reached his ears. This was the eleventh ring of the bell. Once it ended, the chain lowered, and the hammer struck the bell again, the ceremony would be complete. That ceremony would gather all of the voices in London. He felt something throbbing in his throat. It was his own voice. His voice could hardly wait for the twelfth ring and wanted to burst out of him now. Just as Ralf had said, the demon Horn used in the Babel Cannon was resonating with his own Horn. … This isn’t good. For once, I’m actually acting like a demon. An instant later, a sharp kick from Valeath stabbed into his side. His body floated up into the air a bit, but he withstood it. He did not fall. But… “How disappointing.” The Hound looked at and gave his judgment of the man who had been known as the strongest in his Urban Hero days. “You can never win if you stay the same as me.” “Shut up.” Amon pressed his heels against the ground in a defensive stance. Valeath attacked him without delay. The weighty attack sliced through the air and flowed into his next movement. His movements were quick and filled with intent to kill. That deadly intention was fully Opened and they were the words held by Valeath. Amon blocked the kick and Valeath’s intent to kill directly shouted at him. … Why can’t you dodge this!? He ducked to avoid a sword strike. … Why won’t you start attacking!? The attacks overlapped and his words grew more intense. Amon could not catch his breath, so he replied with his own Open Words. … What’s wrong!? You have no time! … Shut up, you deadly bastard! Amon kicked. Valeath raised his leg to block it and shifted into a kick of his own. … Is that all you have!? You can’t do any more than that!? Amon did not answer. This meant he could not attack. But Valeath did. He sent out attack after attack without using his sword. The barrage of blows and kicks carried murderous intent and words into Amon’s body. … Why!? Why can’t you do any more than this!? … Can you do nothing more than me!? … Can you only be the same as me!? Can’t you do anything else!? A sharp attack came. It was a right kick. It connected. Amon had blocked, but he was knocked through the air and he read Valeath’s words. These words had more power than any of the others. … Was I doomed to become what I am no matter how hard I struggled!? That may have been what Valeath truly thought. Amon regained his footing on the edge of the hole Moyla had fallen into. He somehow managed to remake his fighting stance. Valeath also took a fighting stance from a few steps away. But he now raised his sword instead of his fists or legs. “It is time to end this.” Amon heard the chain begin to move behind him. It raced downwards while it gradually picked up speed. … I can’t believe this. He muttered under his breath in self-deprecation. “I need to do something.” He was shocked by his own words. His mind had grown somewhat unclear, so he Overrode it and his body. That brought the pain back to his body and woke him up. He spoke the same words again, but this time as a question. “I need to…do something?” That meant he wanted to win. That meant he would break out of this situation. It meant he did not wish for death. … Why do I want this? He suddenly noticed the gear he still held in his right hand. He recalled the words of the girl who had left it with him. “See you again someday.” What had she meant? “…” He squeezed the gear and closed his eyes. He thought some words as if speaking to himself. … Don’t try to show off. He thought on those words and let out a forceful sigh. He glanced at the large hole behind him. Why had Klausl thrown herself into that hole? He felt like he knew the answer. He tightly squeezed her gear and Opened a thought. … It’ll be okay. In the corner of his vision, the chain was approaching its limit. Valeath was also approaching. “This ends here!” A powerful strike came to slice Amon’s torso in two. He had no way of avoiding it. But he avoided it regardless. He leaped back into the darkness at the bottom of the hole. “Are you following after your woman!?” shouted Valeath. ### Part 5 Amon twisted in midair, took an upside-down position, and spread his arms. He resembled an upside-down cross as he fell into the darkness. Next to him, the chain was moving downwards to gather strength. The hammer on the ceiling had to have started moving too. But he did not care. He had a single reason for falling: he wanted to confirm his thought. He tore through the darkness. Far below, he saw a faint light. A steam-powered automatic pipe organ was lit by a small torch. And the giant steam-powered machine that moved it emitted a bit of light too. There were two giant gears directly below Amon. They were larger than water wheels and the two chains were wrapped around them. The chains moved sharply and the two gears suddenly moved. They were quickly wrapping around to provide the last bit of power for the hammer before they released the chains. The giant gears rotated as their teeth engaged with each other. “!” Amon looked to the right gear. Exactly what he was looking for lay on top of it and moved along with the gear’s movement. He called out its name. “Klausl!” Her metal body was caught in the gap between the two gears and was crushed. ### Part 6 Valeath was the first to notice the change. “Impossible!” The chains had stopped moving. Even the hammer stopped just before it moved to hit the bell. The battle was not over yet. ### Part 7 Amon was certain of everything. Klausl had thrown herself into the pit because she had noticed the strange ring of the bell after Moyla fell. If a human body could do that, what would her metal body do? She would not die. She would continue to live as long as her heart remained. She had wanted him to handle what came after that. The gears slowly turned while pressing her body. He had to win before they fully turned. He had to win. Why? Because he held a certain gear in his right hand. He held his own body in his arms as he fell. If he continued to fall, he would die. What did he have to do to avoid that and to win? There was only one answer. He gathered strength in the arms holding himself and tensed the flesh of his back. He let out a yell as if releasing everything he had been holding inside and enduring. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!” He remade his body. Just like a beastman, he strongly Tasked himself. He Tasked and Tasked and Tasked. He Overrode his own form. “!” Something ran through his body and mind and released everything that had been locked up. The transformation appeared instantly like a burning flame. ### Part 8 Valeath saw Amon. He saw the full demon flap its wings in the deep hole and burst out into the candlelight like solidified darkness. “A demon god!?” The demon stood tiptoed on the railing and six giant owl wings grew from his back. These were not the two thin bat wings of a lesser demon. These were wings of a pure demon or a fallen angel and they were filled with a complex pattern. “…” The wings slowly wrapped around Amon’s body like separate living beings and then forcefully opened. At the same time, Amon flew toward Valeath. His new wings scattered feathers as he flew forward. “So you’re coming!?” Valeath raised his sword and leaped forward to meet Amon. Valeath was the first to move in midair. “Sheyaaah!” He released his breath just as the silver line raced forward and cut through one of Amon’s wings at the base. But that was all. Amon swung a fist down after Valeath’s blade and smashed it from above. With the sound of shattering glass, the white blade turned to snow. They both landed. Valeath had already cast aside the hilt. He approached in a lowered stance and reached Amon in only three steps. His right hand was pulled back for an open-hand jab. “Seyaaaah!” He cried out as he struck and Amon received the blow while turning around. His eyes were still closed and he received it on the left side of his chest. The sound of impact was dull. It was the sound of something breaking and it sounded empty, fragile, and even soft. “Kh.” The man known as the strongest Hound gave a gasp of surprise. His eyes were trained on Amon’s chest where his hand was buried to the wrist. He stared at it for a while before gasping again. With a damp sound, he pulled his right hand from the left side of Amon’s chest. His hand was wet with blood. But it was not Amon’s blood. His hand had been crushed beyond recognition. He had poured everything into that strike, but it had been blocked by something. His hand had been smashed by its own destructive force. “What was that?” Amon answered that question in a different way. He stuck his hand into the breast pocket of his jacket where Valeath’s hand had stopped and he pulled out a piece of paper. It was the demon contract Jonathan had left. The contract now contained Valeath’s handprint. It had a bloody print of his mangled hand. “!” Valeath drew back and Amon pursued him. Amon opened his eyes and looked at Valeath. His golden eyes stopped Valeath. Amon then spoke. “The contract is complete!” With a sharp cry, he released his full power. ### Part 9 The light that exploded inside Westminster Cathedral’s sanctuary was pitch black. It rose with the force of a wild beast and surged toward heaven. It looked like a reverse waterfall. It was fierce, large, and unstoppable. The cathedral ceiling could not hope to contain it. The light’s destructive power tore the chains to pieces, smashed the bell, and blew away the brick dome. The sounds of destruction continued. The broken bricks, metal, bell, and hammer all fell into the abyss never to return. The light swallowed it all and sought even greater heights. The dark light instantly shot into the sky and broke through the clouds. It moved fast and rose high. As soon as it struck the clouds, the light roared. It was the frightening sound of striking a cliff face barehanded. Pushed on by that Task, the clouds covering London’s sky cleared away. The moon floated in the darkness that seemed to ripple out through the sky. It was not a full moon and it had shrunk down like a living thing, but it shined with a pale light. It was a cold but refreshing light. The pitch black light must have been satisfied with that because it mixed with the moonlight, spiraled around, looked like it would shoot in all four directions like a group of dragons, and suddenly vanished. It looked like a celebration of something. And with that light, a certain incident came to its end. ### Part 10 In a stupor, Fir heard someone calling her name. It was a nostalgic feeling. She had been woken like this as a kid living on the streets of the prostitution district. … Fine, fine. I’ll get up. She Opened her response in a good mood. She slowly opened her eyes, but found a familiar face instead of those old streets. “Oh, it’s you, Inspector.” “Have you finally woken?” Seeing his exasperated behavior, she fully woke. He propped her up in his arm while she half lay on the floor. What she wore were not her clothes. She smelled the Inspector’s cologne on the item wrapped around her. It seemed to be his coat, but why was she naked underneath? She dug through her memories. A lot was missing because she was a Werecat, but she managed to remember it all. “Inspector, weren’t you dead?” With that horribly casual comment, she checked her surroundings. She was in the kitchen. It was the scene of a massacre and the scorch marks of Ashing were just as she remembered. … But this is odd. “Isn’t something about this weird?” “You’re the weirdest one,” said the Inspector with a frown. “Don’t be killing me off in your mind.” “B-but…” “Quiet. The case is over and you helped quite a bit.” There was nothing she could do when he said that. She tilted her head and looked up at his face. For some reason, he was staring at the restaurant past the kitchen. “What is it, Inspector? You’re looking sad for once.” “Well…” He trailed off before opening his mouth again. He must have decided there was no point in hiding anything from Fir, so he asked her a question. “Hey, am I a hypocrite?” Hearing that, she blinked her large eyes in surprise. “Do you have a fever?” “Y-you know…” He blatantly frowned and Fir must have found the expression amusing because she smiled bitterly. “Just kidding. I’m just kidding. I couldn’t help myself when you said something so weird.” “Is it that weird?” “It is, it is. Besides, anyone who asks that about themselves isn’t a hypocrite. They’re what you call…um…” She paused to choose the right word. “A coward, I guess.” “Maybe so.” He laughed quietly. As he held her up, Fir felt over her body below the coat. When he realized what she was doing, he spoke up. “I didn’t find any injuries on you.” He sounded like he was hiding something and Fir glared at him. “You saw me naked, didn’t you?” “Eh? Oh, well, um… Is that anything to say to the person who saved your- ow, ow, ow, ow!” He smiled bitterly as she tugged on him, but he was back to his normal self. Fir breathed a sigh of relief at that and placed a hand on the cement floor to get up. “Huh?” Her hand touched something. “?” She picked it up and found it was a single feather. She assumed it was a chicken feather since this was a kitchen, but it was not. It was longer, it was sharper, and it glowed. “Inspector… What is this?” He gave a simple answer to her simple question. “Divine punishment.” ### Part 11 The night sky visible through the broken dome was so clear it seemed to suck one in. The moon in the center of the dome was a half-moon. Its moonlight directly and softly illuminated the people inside the sanctuary. That pale moonlight lit two people. One was Amon who stood with his wings and the other was Valeath who sat on the floor. “So man truly cannot defeat the monsters…” Valeath looked up at Amon with a trail of blood dripping from his mouth. The blood from his mouth joined with the blood spilling from the hole in his stomach and spread across the sanctuary floor. Based on the amount of blood, it would be stopping soon. His end was near. “You’re strong.” All harshness had left Valeath’s face and he gave a small smile. “Sorry, but can I ask one thing?” Amon frowned at the unexpected question, so he asked a question of his own. “Are you going to sell your soul to me?” “My soul is already filled with darkness. I already know I can’t escape hell.” He spat out those words in a definite tone and looked Amon in the eye. “I want you to call in the soul of a girl.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and used the blood on the floor to write out a contract. “She is the precious girl who trusted me to the very end.” Valeath signed the contract, drew a circular emblem, and wrote out the girl’s name. That was enough for a contract. Amon took the cloth contract from him and read through it. He had nothing to say. The moonlight simply poured kindly down on them. The feathers that had scattered from Amon’s wings shined in the moonlight as they fluttered through the air. It was a truly, truly quiet night. ### 129. Final Chapter: Another Meeting of Love Ten days had passed. Amon wore a black jacket, black pants, and a black hat he did not usually wear as he walked through Scotland Yard’s main entrance. At a glance, he looked no different than normal because he had Overlossed his wings so they would not get in the way. However, something was different. Unlike before, his overall atmosphere was not so holed up inside. “…” He walked straight forward without looking around. The stairs down to the underground storerooms were located at the end of the hall straight ahead from the entrance. His pace was quick. The people inside called out to him when they saw him, but he ignored all of them. He walked directly down the stairs and into Flandre’s room. “…!” Two people turned toward him. One of them was Flandre and the other was smiling. “Oh, we have a guest.” It was Klausl. Amon was left speechless. After all, the Klausl he saw was the one he knew. She asked him a question with her eyes closed. “Would you like some tea? Or would you prefer coffee?” Once she mentioned it, he noticed the scent of tea. They must have been on a break. “…Ah.” As Amon stared blankly, Flandre elbowed him in the side and spoke to Klausl. “Could you get him some tea?” “Of course.” Klausl turned around and walked to the simple kitchen in the back of the room. Flandre watched her leave, sighed, and sat in a nearby chair. Finally, he slowly looked up at Amon. “I fixed her. It used up all of my spare parts, though.” “Yeah, I can see that.” Amon’s voice was weak and he forced a small smile. Even he could tell that it was an oddly stiff and pathetic smile. He lowered his hat to hide his expression. “Does she not remember me?” “Her personality and her growth were engraved in that gear…but her memories were kept in her head. …Her head and everything else were completely crushed. I checked after the fact.” “Then that’s that, I suppose,” he said as if consoling Flandre. He lowered his hat further to hide more of his face and said something else. “It must be tough for you, old man.” Flandre nodded. “I was thinking about letting her out into the city instead of keeping her in the Yard. Should I give her to you?” The mouth peeking out from below Amon’s hat was smiling. “Don’t try to comfort me. Besides, she’s not a thing you can just give away.” Flandre finally smiled a bit at that. “Father, what has you so happy?” Klausl approached with a tray carrying a teapot and cups and she sounded happy too. Flandre turned toward her. “Well, this young one praised you saying you’re just like a human.” “Oh, how wonderful.” Her cheeks grew red and she smiled. She then turned her back to hide her embarrassment. She quickly placed the tray on a nearby table. “Are you from Scotland Yard?” “No, I’m not.” “He’s a friend of mine,” added Flandre. “Is that so? Then I look forward to your future visits.” “Sure.” She turned toward him with the usual expression Amon knew, but her ears were still red. “Okay, the tea is ready. …Um, what is your name?” “Amon.” There was a hint of testing in that name, but Klausl’s expression remained unchanged. She pointed at the teacup behind her. “Then this is your cup, Mr. Amon.” With that said, she stepped away. He nodded silently and slowly moved over with his hat still pulled low. He walked right in front of her. The two of them grew closer and were finally within arm’s reach. Suddenly, Klausl turned toward him. “Is something the matter?” “Eh?” “You look troubled by something.” He sighed at that and there was some self-deprecation mixed in. “I suppose I am. I’ve got a lot on my mind.” “It must be tough.” “Yeah, a bit.” He sighed again. “I’m thinking about saying some suitable words to a certain girl, but I end up trying to say something she wouldn’t know about.” She smiled at what he said. And she spoke her own words without knowing what he was talking about. “At times like that, I think you should say whatever would make her happiest.” “You’re probably right.” He smiled bitterly and reached for the teacup on the table. He forced his gaze down to keep himself from looking at Klausl. Due to that, his hat gave in to its deep angle and spilled from his head. “Ah.” Before he could reach down, Klausl picked it up. “Here you go, Mr. Amon.” He took the hat and said a single word. “Thanks.” Klausl gave a light bow. “You’re welcome.” She raised her head and her soft-looking blonde hair swayed. In that instant, Amon looked at her face and was left speechless. “…!” Flandre stood up so fast he knocked over his chair. “Eh?” Klausl only noticed once she saw how the two men were acting. She frantically brought her white hand to her cheek. Her slender fingertips grew damp. “Huh? My cheek is…wet?” She was crying. “Huh?” She brought her other hand to her other cheek and more tears flowed from between her closed eyelids and wet her hands. “Are these…tears?” “Y-yeah, they are,” said Flandre. “Huh? Isn’t this strange? I don’t know why, but this naturally happened when I heard what Mr. Amon said. …How odd. I have this weird feeling that I can’t seem to remember or forget.” “It isn’t strange at all.” Amon sounded troubled and like he was trying to convince himself. “And isn’t this enough?” She had no idea what he meant, but she still shook her head. “I don’t know why I’m crying, but I do know one thing for sure.” She spoke while shedding more tears. “I want to see your face.” Amon gasped with an indescribable expression on his face. A moment later, his hand reflexively yet hesitantly touched her cheek. “Ah.” She let out a quiet voice as he wiped away her tears. Her closed eyelids shook a bit and then moved. It was a frustratingly slow movement that seemed almost afraid of something and like she did not know how much strength to use. “It’ll be okay.” He spoke the words she had once said to him. “It’ll be okay. You can see. After all, I can already see your eyes.” “Yes.” She nodded and opened her eyes. They were Overridden. Amon looked her right in the eye. And her eyes looked back at his. No one said a word. Klausl simply narrowed her eyes and smiled. Her blue eyes were wet with tears as they looked at Amon. The eyes wavered from their first contact with light, they were an incredibly deep blue, and Amon was reflected in the few remaining tears. The blue of her eyes somehow resembled the color of the sky everyone could see overhead. ### 130. Closing Words If you are looking for a drink in Soho, I recommend the shot bar named the Blue Sky. For some reason, the people of Scotland Yard frequent the bar, so it becomes a confused mix of uniforms and normal clothing during the evening. London’s famous Inspector and Hard Wolf priest can be seen there, so it is worth a visit at least once on the weekend. The bar is run by two people. Look over the counter, and you will see a stylish young demon and a beautiful girl serving the customers. Of course, there are no normal people in London, so that girl must be some kind of non-human being as well. That is most evident when you see the color of her eyes. Their beauty is probably where the place got its name and there is no way they could belong to a human. If you say that, the girl will stare up at the young demon next to her and he will give a meaningful smile when he notices. Of course, this is all the kind of story that you can only find in Aerial City – London. (From “Records of Modern England – Continued”) ### 131. Afterword Now, what am I supposed to say here? I’m not sure if I can talk about personal things like this here, but just the other day (specifically January 4 of this year), I appeared on a radio show. (Calm down, Kawakami.) It was a late night Sunday culture show. The show was sponsored by Media Works and called Dengeki Awards, but it was really a lot of fun. I hung out at a friend’s house and listened to the broadcast there, but on the way back, another friend called me even though it was 3:30 in the morning. “Oh, Kawakami? I heard you on the radio, you idiot.” “You heard that? What’s this? Are you out drinking?” “I’m at work. Now, while I was listening, I started wondering if anything bad had happened to you recently.” “What? Why would you think that?” “Well, your mood on the radio was something else. You were really intense.” “Aren’t I always like that?” “Yeah, but that’s not what society thinks an author is supposed to be like. I thought you were gonna ruin their show with all your jokes and casual comments.” “Are you saying how I normally act is enough to ruin a radio show?” “Dwa ha ha. Well, I had a good laugh about it. Now, a drink to Media Works for allowing that to air.” “So you are drinking!” As you can see, it was all sorts of trouble. That’s when I realized how much trouble being an author is. (Or is this problem unique to me?) But when reading the fan letters from Panzerpolis 1935, there really were a few that said they bought it after hearing me on the radio show, so maybe acting like that was for the best. Anyway, my background music while writing was EPO’s Hyakunen no Kodoku (it’s a perfect theme for the final chapter) and I was listening to it again while re-reading the book. “Everyone has a part of them that’s like Amon, don’t they?” It got me thinking about that. Now then, now then. I’m thinking about making Hong Kong the next stage. February 1997. A “Hey, I think it’s snowing outside” morning. -Kawakami Minoru ### 132. Morning Section - Opening: 6/13/1997 (1:16) You have forgotten The answer that you surely must recite Someday and somewhere So now I ask you from heaven When this city changes Your answer will be absolutely necessary ## Morning Section - Opening: 6/13/1997 (1:16) Now, before heading to Hong Kong, let us move our gaze to a land covered in the light of dawn. It was a dry wasteland covered in red sand. The round morning sun was visible in the vast sky supported by that wasteland. The sunlight beat down on the wasteland with transparent heat. The blazing wasteland contained a crater created by smashing the earth. Shimmering heat rose from the broken red clay of the crater that was at least a kilometer in radius and one hundred meters deep. The center of the hole rose up a bit like a circular pedestal. A young man stood atop the pedestal. His straight brown hair stood up and he had a carefree look in his eyes. He carried a traveler’s gunny sack over his shoulder. He held a blade that looked like a mix between a wind instrument and a sword. It was a weapon known as a Device. The end of the Device’s blade touched the ground and several shining objects had fallen to the ground around it. They were fragments of metal. The fragments were made of brass, steel, bronze, and other metals, but they all shined like glass. And… “…” The young man carried out his action in silence. He gently tapped the tip of the Device’s blade against the ground. This produced a loud sound. At the same time, sound and light came from the Device’s blade. It was a white light and sound. The tone coming from the blade was the same color as the light and the light was the same color as the tone. And both of them were much like the tone color of the Device tapping the ground. The Device was amplifying the “Action Live” of “tapping”. The clear Live emitted light and sound. The young man raised the Device in his right hand. The gloved hand gripped the hilt and he unemotionally swung the Device down on the Live and its white Word Color. The light and sound swallowed up the metal fragments on the ground. The Lives giving the fragments form were changed. The metal fragments had caused countless sharp reflections of light, but now they undulated, shook, trembled, and burst like a liquid spilled from a bowl. When they burst, they emitted a faint light and the Verbal Tempo of a quiet cry. Afterwards, they vanished. The tone of the Live had vanished from the young man’s Device as well. The fingernail-sized fragments of metal had vanished from around the blade tip kissing the ground. Their Lives had lost to the Live emitted by the young man and been destroyed. He took a breath, stuck his left hand in his pocket, and pulled out a letter. “From Hong Kong, hm?” England was set to return that city to China in just a few weeks. He muttered the name a few more times and faced forward. He saw the gentle wall that formed the edge of the crater. The reddish brown earthen wall had already cooled. When he saw it, the young man’s face suddenly twisted a bit. This twisting was the complete opposite of a smile or joy. But he immediately got rid of it and took a step forward. He was preparing to leave that hole. And he said just one thing. “It’s been five years since I last saw my brother.” ### 133. Act 2: Take a Reason (5:13) ### Part 1 Hong Kong Yard’s main office was in the Kowloon administrative district in the center of Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula. At first glance, the building looked like a giant bridge. Specifically, a bridge made of junk. There were a few different reasons for that. First, the first floor had been entirely removed to make a parking lot for tanks and motorcycles. Second, the building was connected to Kowloon’s shopping district to form one giant piece of artwork. And third, gathering all those different buildings created a mosaic of varying structures. Hong Kong Yard had been created when the British Hong Kong Force had been privatized. Morning was currently arriving there. The pale light reached the bricks, the wooden walls, and the windows that contained giant bars instead of glass. The sunlight gradually grew. It was most bright on the eastern end of the second floor where a single white wall miraculously continued for five whole meters. That was the center of the Yard’s headquarters where about three hundred people worked. If one followed the light and looked in through the windows, one would see facilities far more refined than the exterior suggested. In a room that looked like a great hall, partitions were set up between the different divisions and personnel were gathered at all of the desks. Expensive-looking sofas were lined up by the windows. Currently, one person was sitting in a sofa with their back to the white sky. It was a woman wearing a men’s suit. Her unrounded glasses eliminated any kindness in her expression, but her braided hair gave her a feminine look that looked out of place with her suit. “Kouga,” she said. “Have the newspapers caught scent of it?” She was speaking to a desk near the window. The young man at the desk had a blonde pompadour and wore a red Hawaiian shirt that did not at all suit the city of Hong Kong. Despite his appearance, he nodded respectfully to his boss and showed her the newspaper he held. “Yup. It’s front page news. They’re even speculating about the breakup of Archs RDC and its collapse as a corporation. …But they’re missing one important thing.” “The predicted unemployment rate? Your calculations said this would leave nearly 5% of Hong Kong’s laborers unemployed, right?” “And most of those workers are fathers, so their families are in trouble too.” That meant three to five times that number would have no way to put food on the table. “I’d like to think they realized the truth but decided not to print it because they didn’t want to cause a panic,” said Rin as she pushed up her glasses. “There’s nothing fun about this case. Not only is the secret king of Hong Kong dead, but it happened in a strange ‘suicide’.” “That’s right. Did you see Huang Daquan’s face?” “Yes. For some reason, an ageless Archs had grown old.” “What does that mean?” “If only I could see his Live. …I’ve seen that kind of aging once before.” “Eh!? Where?” “I don’t have any proof yet, but I’ll tell you eventually. …But Huang’s death was probably suicide after he aged liked that. Maybe it’s some new kind of disease.” “Sure,” said Kouga. After a pause, he gave a small sneeze. Rin glanced his way and reached for the window blind. It was bright outside and comfortably sunny, but she blocked out that light with the blind. “Oh, don’t worry about me, boss. Even if I am part vampire.” “It was too bright for me.” “Really?” She ignored his question. Instead, she let out a quiet bitter laugh. “But those Nein Engels have caused us quite the problem with only half a month until Hong Kong is returned to China.” “Rough, isn’t it? Especially since this is your last chance.” “Are you talking about Fei?” “You haven’t found him after five years of searching, right?” “Don’t worry about it. It isn’t your problem.” “But this time when Hong Kong can act on its own is your chance to-…” “I said it isn’t your problem.” Rin’s tone silenced Kouga. After a while, he cleared his throat and opened the newspaper again. “What kind of person was this Huang Daquan guy?” “A dictator. According to the General anyway.” “Eh?” “He died at age 140. All I really know about him is that he was an Archs born in Hong Kong and his father was an Archangel. If his personal history is to be believed, he used the confusion of World War One to create Archs RDC and bring it under his control.” “The article says Archs RDC supports the Nein Engels living in Hong Kong Cave while gaining heavenly knowledge from them by… I can’t read this character.” Rin frowned. “Basically, the corporation was made to eliminate the past stigma about Nein Engels. If Huang had lived another hundred years, the Nein Engels probably could have left Hong Kong Cave without having anything to fear.” “If only they could all come out like Akira.” “She’s a special case. But…” “This is a strange suicide, isn’t it? He died of massive blood loss, but not a single blood stain was found in his home.” “You sent out a familiar to search for the blood stains, didn’t you?” Kouga nodded as if to say that was only natural. At the same time, the door into the headquarters opened. The person who walked in was an old man with a bent back who wore the jumpsuit of the tank force. His gray hair and narrow eyes gave him an Asian appearance, but he had another defining feature to his face. He had a large scar from a blade on his right cheek. Rin quickly stood and bowed when she saw him. Kouga followed suit. “Good morning, General. You’re here early.” The old man known as the General narrowed his eyes that already only looked like lines and he waved a hand for the two of them to sit. “What’s with you two? It’s normal for an old man to be up early in the morning.” He stroked the scar on his cheek and sat in his seat by the window. He was known as a hero who once saved Hong Kong, but he did not act self-important in the slightest. He turned his back on all the papers scattered across his desk and rotated his chair toward Rin and Kouga. “It seems somethin’ weird happened last night, so this morning, my wife insisted I actually work every day ‘til Hong Kong’s returned to China. I can’t stand this.” “Oh, your imaginary wife again?” “She ain’t imaginary. She’s just too good to let anyone else see.” “I’d love to see this supposed wife of yours someday,” said Rin with a small smile. Kouga gave a cheerful smile of his own. “Don’t say that, boss. The General’s hatred of Nein Engels and guests is legendary.” “Don’t both of you start makin’ things up. How ‘bout fillin’ me in on this incident instead?” “The one about Archs RDC? Or the Qinghu from last night?” “Both of ‘em were on the news. What I’m interested in is the death. Y’know, the one about that Buster. You two handled that one, right?” “If you mean J-Gun Maldrick, I just finished the report earlier. It came in after the news about Huang Daquan, so it took some time.” The General leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and suddenly showed his teeth in a smile. “I’ve got a bad feelin’ about this. On the same night a big shot Nein Engel dies, Hong Kong’s top Buster falls from the sky and dies. …Is Akira still not here?” “I had her take the day off until noon since I had her show up last night when she was off duty.” “Well, that’s too bad.” The General gave the bitter smile of someone who found the person waiting for them was not there. “Do you need Akira for something?” asked Kouga. “Just a little somethin’. On my way here, the folks at Aberdeen said some of ‘em saw an Earth Serpent out at sea last night.” “An Earth Serpent?” Kouga tilted his head, so Rin explained. “It’s a powerful Live form associated with the earth. The great beast takes an Octave of over 20,000,000 to control, so you could almost call it a fantasy. It’s one of the Death Technos of Tuning.” “Well, there haven’t been any records of a dragon showin’ up in about a century and an Earth Serpent would appear below Hong Kong, not out at sea. They probably saw it wrong.” “J-Gun was a Buster, so he wouldn’t be able to create a dragon.” “I was hopin’ to ask Akira if she knows anyone who could do somethin’ like that. Do you, Rin?” “I’m the most powerful one I know and I can only control an Octave of 320,000. As you well know.” She shook her head. The General nodded and scratched his head with a thin smile on his lips. “Well, if Akira was too busy to be makin’ that dragon, I really do feel like somethin’ bad’s gonna happen.” ### Part 2 It was just before noon on the seventy-second floor of the Archs RDC headquarters building. One wall of the hall was entirely covered with windows which gave a sense of vertigo unique to elevated areas. Several chairs were lined up in a row. The chairs were pointed in different directions and papers covered in lots of typed text were scattered over the thick carpet. Earlier, a press conference on Archs RDC President Huang Daquan had been held here. Once the press conference had ended, the reporters packed inside had all left. Only one person remained in the room. A six-winged Nein Engel sat in a chair in the center of the floor as he stared out the window. He was the Seraph who had been on Beaufort Island the night before. He held a multi-page report and looked down on the city of Hong Kong. His eyes moved. First, he saw a large park in Kowloon. Next, it was the buildings of the coastal Tsim Sha Tsui area. His gaze moved across the sea to Hong Kong Island’s Central business district. Lastly, he looked to Hong Kong Cave in the center of Hong Kong Island. The deep hole looked like a giant had dug it for fun. “It all starts with Hong Kong Cave.” As he spoke, he heard a quiet noise behind him. It was only the sound of the elevator arriving, so it was not worth turning around. “I’ve finished settling things on my end, Double Lee.” The Nein Engel did turn around once his Urban Name had been called. Two other Nein Engels stood in front of the elevator in a corner of the hall. One was a Galgallin. Befitting of a combat Nein Angel, his tall body had been almost entirely remade into an assault Custom Body. No wings stuck out from the back of his black combat jacket. If not for the unique shape of his Custom Body, he would have been indistinguishable from a human. The other was a female Nein Engel. She wore a suit and had four wings. She was one of the Cherubim said to control light in the Bible. She lightly brushed a hand through her brown hair which was cut at shoulder length. “After all the work Master Huang put into making it, this means the end of Archs RDC, doesn’t it? Come to think of it, we were the only Nein Engels working here. If only we’d brought more here.” “There is no helping that now. We simply have to continue on as Master Huang decided. Double Lee, what do you plan to do? The four ADs used in the ceremonies are one thing, but we have lost our method of creating the final one.” Double Lee stood. “True. I do think I made a bit of a mistake last night. I also lost one bottle of the blood taken from Master Huang’s body. Genius, I’m sorry about what happened to J-Gun.” Her brown-spotted wings moved a bit when she heard that. “It doesn’t really matter.” She took a breath. “He’s just a human, so he couldn’t enter heaven anyway. And I once saw a picture of his old lover. …She looked a lot like me.” She touched her short hair as she spoke. Double Lee shrugged when he noticed that action. “Oh, dear. It seems I’ve offended you. What about you, Fei?” The Galgallin’s false eyes glowed red behind his mirrorshades. “I ordered the guard unit to leave. Even if other corporations gather, there is no clear target to protect here. I have written letters of recommendation for all of the personnel. For foreign corporations.” Double Lee put the report he held into his pocket. “What a pain. I was reading through Master Huang’s notes. Looking at it again, he really gave us one hell of an order upon his death.” “Yes. If it hadn’t been for his abnormal aging, he probably could have used a different method.” “Restoring heaven, hm? Double Lee, how is your sister? Does she know about this?” Fei’s question brought a sudden change to Double Lee’s expression. It grew dark. He must have noticed himself because he soon lowered his head. “Hmm.” He gave a forced groan of thought and looked back up. By that time, his expression was back to normal. “Akira probably hasn’t noticed. She’s no different from a human.” “She left Hong Kong Cave and joined the Yard instead of Archs RDC, right? That’s pretty amazing,” said Genius. “It’s obvious she is being persecuted, though. Just like your parents.” “Fei, wasn’t it the same for your parents?” “Perhaps, but I have lost those memories along with my emotions. I showed you the scar from my Psyche Outer surgery, didn’t I?” “…” After a pause, Double Lee spoke. “Well, that persecution will end before long. …What matters now is the final Device. In other words, the fifth one J-Gun died before completing.” “?” “Genius, you said J-Gun had a brother, right? Could you find him?” “I doubt that would work.” “Why not?” “J-Gun once said he doubted his brother could ever make a Device.” “…? A human of the Maldrick family can’t create a Device?” “I don’t know what he meant, but I did hear that brother has a prosthetic right hand.” “I see,” said Double Lee with a nod. Tuners and Busters had to touch their Devices to send their Live through it. And it had to be with a flesh-and-blood body part. “In that case, Genius, we will have to find J-Gun’s corpse and use necromancy on him. Is that okay?” Genius just about said something on reflex when she heard the word “necromancy”, but she stopped herself. Double Lee must have taken her silence as consent because he nodded. “Good. You take care of the preparations.” He then began to walk toward the other two and the elevator. “Now that we have a plan, it’s time we left this place. The humans can have this company.” He took a breath and said one last thing as if speaking to himself. “Because we will have heaven.” ### 134. Act 3: Running Image (11:42) ### Part 1 The morning’s clear air was already gone. Instead, the air contained the warm afternoon sun and the footsteps and voices of people moving through the streets. Sounds of cars and trams also covered the streets. The city was beginning to move again after finishing lunch. That movement was especially noticeable in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of central Kowloon. The area contained countless tourist-oriented stores near the station and it could be called the face of Hong Kong. From the heat-filled street, the blue sky was visible between the towering buildings. The city had the Word Color of blowing wind and its heat somewhat dulled the color of the sky. The city’s Tempo was as slow as the walking people, but it contained a powerful stepping sound. It created a unique flow that breathed powerful life into Hong Kong. “…” Akira walked through that flowing Live. When she turned from Peking Road to Nathan Road in front of Tsim Sha Tsui Station, the road opened up. The government office was working to develop Tsim Sha Tsu, so it had none of the roadside stands or shops that Hong Kong was famous for. In Akira’s opinion, that made it a bit boring. … This isn’t the city my dad told me about when I lived in Hong Kong Cave. She walked around randomly. She was on patrol for the Yard, so she simply walked and walked in her uniform. She had been wandering around since morning. The only thing she carried with her was her Device spear. She had never been the type to stay put in a building all day and, after the incident the night before, she had wanted some time to gather her thoughts. … If only I could speak with Rin. When she had arrived at the Yard that morning, Rin had not been there. She had asked one of the Searchers and learned Rin had only just left for home. The General of the Tank Force had been out on some kind of job, so she had not even had anyone to chat with. “I can’t believe this.” … What was that last night? The Buster rumored to be Hong Kong’s best had fallen injured from the sky and died. Why had that happened? How had he been so badly injured and where had he jumped from? “I just don’t know.” Of course, finding the answer from so little information would have been strange in and of itself. Still, she stopped walking, crossed her arms, leaned against a roadside streetlight, and groaned. “Hmm.” Not even wrapping her white wings around herself produced an answer. Instead, she heard the Lives of the surrounding passersby. She came back to her senses once she noticed a few of those Lives sounding in her direction. The Lives shooting straight toward her like arrows were a pale purple with a low Tempo. They were Lives of suspicion. Those glimpses of suspicion also contained a Word Color similar to hostility. “?” Once she heard those Lives, she stopped thinking. She looked up, corrected her wings, and looked around. The surrounding flow of people momentarily hesitated. “…” And the unpleasantly colored Lives vanished. Akira paid it no heed. She lowered her Yard uniform’s hat to cover her eyes and corrected the uniform’s collar. Her eyes unemotionally reflected the street of Tsim Sha Tsui and the passersby. “There are plenty of non-humans, so why do they find Nein Engels so strange?” Feeling a little down, she began to walk again. But something suddenly appeared in front of her. It was a face. A collision and dull pain rang through her head. “Owwww!” She held her forehead and crouched down. The force of the headbutt had knocked her hat to the ground, so she picked it up and faced forward. A man was crouching down in front of her. He was a young man in a long coat. His straight hair stood up from his head and he seemed to be a traveler. He carried an oblong bag on his back and a large travel bag sat by his side. The insides of his eyebrows rose as he stared at Akira. “Ow, ow, ow. Are you okay, officer? You hit me somewhere I can’t train.” His forehead was a little red, so she must have run into him pretty hard. Akira rubbed her own forehead. “Ow, ow, ow. Hey, you.” “Hm? What is it?” “Watch where you’re going. And what are you anyway?” He suddenly looked up into the sky. “What am I, hm?” “Eh?” “That’s quite a philosophical question. What am I…?” “That isn’t what I meant!” “Eh? It isn’t?” “Of course not! You really couldn’t tell?” “I could, I could. I was just joking. Ha ha ha. …Hey, wait. Where are you going? Hold up.” She turned her back and started walking away, but he suddenly stopped her. And he happened to grab the small deformed wing on her back. The sensation on that sensitive area was hard and cold. The unexpected action sent a shudder up her spine that escaped as a voice. “Hyah! …W-wait! You’re molesting me now!?” “Molesting!? What are you talking about? All I did was touch you.” “That’s what it means to molest someone!” “Ehh? Th-then what about between lovers? It always pisses me off seeing them flirt, but i-is that actually a crime? Can I get after them for it?” “It’s okay if you have consent!” “Oh, I get it. Then there’s no reason to hold back here.” “No one ever said we were lovers!” “Ehh? Don’t be like that. I’m only touching it because it’s so pretty.” She crossed her arms at that. “Pretty? Don’t think you can get out of this with flattery.” “Flattery? What, has no one ever complimented your wings before?” “Eh?” she asked. “That’s a shame. I’ve never seen wings like that before, but they’re a lot prettier than the ones I’ve seen in church paintings.” He gave her a carefree smile. His blue eyes were smiling and Akira looked away because she felt those eyes were looking deep inside her. She noticed her cheeks were a little warm. She worked her ears a bit and found her own Live was embarrassed. The Word Color was a transparent red and the Tempo resembled a quiet pulse. … Not good, not good. He’s dragging me around at his pace. With that thought, she cleared her throat toward the ground. When she looked at him again, she noticed something odd. She belatedly realized she could not see his Live. She could not even see its Word Color or Tempo. … Eh? She quickly looked around and found she could still see the Lives of the city, the buildings, the cars, and the people. This young man’s Live was the only one she could not see. … What is going on? She had seen people who had “lost” their Live before. Those were either the dead or victims of violence who had undergone Balance Fall. This young man was neither of those. It would be best to say he was hiding his Live. Only a minuscule tremor escaped his body into the air. “Why are you staring at me like that?” “Hm? Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Even as she answered, Akira did not remove her gaze from him. … Who is he? If he can do this, he must be a Buster or a Tuner. She wanted to ask, but she was naturally hesitant. Someone’s Live was their individuality. If he was hiding his, he had to have a good reason. She looked up at him because he was about two heads taller than her. “Come to think of it, do you need something?” she asked. “Yeah,” he answered. “I’ve been wondering. Are you actually a real police officer?” … Is there such a thing as a fake police officer? She frowned but pointed to the Yard hat on her head. “I’m from Hong Kong Yard’s Cleared division. I’m still on the lowest level, but I am an actual police officer.” He responded immediately “That’s wonderful! This must be the work of heaven!” He suddenly hugged her. She gave a terribly unsexy shout and slammed an uppercut into the bottom of his jaw. “Gwoh! Wh-what do you think you’re doing!?” “That’s my line, you idiot! What are you doing!?” “It’s a pretty common way of expressing your feelings when someone helps you find your way.” He took a breath before continuing. “Then again, this was my first time to ever get lost.” “Then how could that possibly be common!?” “Calm down, calm down. You’re disturbing your Live.” Hearing that, she lowered the hand she had prepared to attack. She then pouted her lips and spoke. “Honestly, just tell me where you want to go and I’ll help you.” “Oh, you’ll act as my guide? That simplifies things.” “I can’t believe you. I never said I would go with you!” “Of course not. You won’t be going with me. You have to lead the way.” “I don’t ‘have to’ do anything! I am not a guide! I’m a Yard Tuner!” Her voice grew shrill and the young man suddenly looked up to think. After a while, he scratched his head and pulled out a traveler’s pocket map. “Um, I need to get to Canton Road in Yau Ma Tei. But going there alone would be pretty boring, so if you can take me there…” “Hmm.” Akira looked down at the map but quickly came back to her senses. “Hey! Why are you forcing me into this?” “Eh? Forcing you? You’re imagining things. Hey, taxi!” The tall young man’s gesture must have stood out because a yellow taxi immediately stopped in front of them. Rare for Hong Kong, the back door opened automatically. “C’mon, let’s go.” Grinning, he tugged on her hand. After two or three steps, Akira frowned. “Wait a second! What are you plotting!?” “Plotting? Whatever do you mean?” He threw his travel bag in the taxi and looked to her. She tore her hand from his and asked him a question. “Aren’t you forcing me to go with you!?” “D-don’t be ridiculous. What part of a gentleman like me is being forceful?” “How about everything from the top of your head to the tips of your toes!?” As soon as she shouted back, the taxi door closed behind the young man and the taxi itself drove off. “…” He turned around and paused for a few seconds. “Huh?” He tilted his head. “Now, a question for you.” “Oh?” “Did I ask them to carry my luggage for me?” “You don’t know?” “Okay, time’s up. Next contestant.” “It was stolen, you idiot!” shouted Akira. “People commit crimes like this all the time. Look!” She pointed at the speeding taxi with her spear. The yellow vehicle was already about one hundred meters down the road. It was still close enough for her to catch up if she flew. The young man looked at it and commented “oh, that thing’s moving fast”, so she performed a roundhouse kick on him. “I’ll go get it back for you, so wait here!” She prepared to fly, but then a great roar filled the surroundings. ### Part 2 The noise was an explosion. A pure white Live instantly raced through the area. “!” Akira gave a shout, but her voice was drowned out. At the same time, the taxi she was preparing to pursue hopped straight up. Long after the great roar, a solid wind blew in from the road. The wind’s Live had the Word Color of smoke with the red of flames mixed in and it had a damp Tempo much like a car’s engine. All of the passersby got down on the ground. Even Akira ducked down, but the young man alone remained standing and looked down the road. Akira followed his gaze and saw a tank. It was a Yard tank. It was an English-made Grant tank with the main gun on the side instead of on a turret. To match the city of Hong Kong, the midsized tank was covered in red, blue, and yellow labels and advertisement stickers for different shops. Someone’s upper body was sticking out of the top hatch. “General!” The General was checking the spot the shell hit through a pair of binoculars, but he suddenly turned toward Akira and looked at her through the binoculars. “Ohh, what’s this? If it ain’t Akira.” “Don’t say that. …And you need to stop firing in the middle of the city.” “It’s no problem. My aim’s perfect and the shell’s loaded with divine spell powder. No one’ll die.” He smiled. “But, Akira. Why’re you lettin’ yourself almost get kidnapped?” “Kidnapped?” “Accordin’ to my wife, things’re gettin’ dangerous. You need to be careful.” “Be careful, hm?” Akira glared at the distant taxi burning away in the flames. … If just “being careful causes that, what happens when he actually fights back? She tilted her head just as the tank began to turn around. Its rubber treads scraped along the ground as it slowly turned to face the young man standing in front of her. The diagonally-positioned gun came to a stop about thirty centimeters from his face. If it fired, it would be a direct hit. Even if the young man dodged, he could not escape being seriously wounded by the shockwave. But the young man made no attempt to flee and stared straight down the barrel. “I’ve never seen one of these before,” he calmly commented. “You a kidnapper?” asked the General. “I’ll shoot.” His words of warning caused the people on the sidewalk and in the nearby stores to run away. Akira and the young man were the only ones left on the sidewalk and the young man looked troubled. He scratched his head for a bit but finally turned to Akira. “What should I do?” “You brought this on yourself. Why don’t you stick your hand down the barrel? The tank might blow up.” “That’s not very nice. If I did that and he fired a shell, I’d end up splattered around like something from a Hollywood movie.” “I’m impressed you can say something like that in this situation.” “Hey, Akira!” shouted the General. “What should I do?” She just about told him to shoot the man with the machinegun, but she restrained herself. “General, he isn’t a kidnapper, so don’t worry. I do think I need to lecture him a bit after this, though. …More importantly, is that taxi you shot okay?” The flow of cars on the street had ground to a halt due to the smoking taxi in the distance. “Ahh, if he wasn’t workin’ with a kidnapper, I probably shouldn’t’ve done that.” “The bastard still stole my luggage, so it’s fine by me. Ha ha ha!” “Then should I fire another one?” “What are you two saying!? C’mon! We need to get over there!” Akira began to walk, so the young man glanced over at the tank. “Can I ride it? It’s my first time for this kind of thing.” “Do whatever you want!” He ignored Akira’s shout and hopped onto the tank with a gleeful look. Akira sighed when she saw it. … Why did I have to meet someone so strange? “It’s rude to call people strange, you know?” Hearing his voice, she looked back in surprise. The tank was already moving and he had his back turned to her. … He read my Live!? He had read her thoughts from her Live. Instead of simply seeing her Live or reading its Message, he had directly read it as words. That required great skill. Not even she could do it. … It can’t be. She motionlessly watched the tank leave, but finally began to catch up. ### Part 3 Akira was the first to reach the scene. The tank carrying the young man had activated the rotating police light jury-rigged to the upper armor and it would arrive in another two or three minutes. “Ahh, all you cars movin’ around in my path? You’d better get outta the way or I’ll move you myself. Got that?” She heard the General speaking over a megaphone and occasionally heard sounds of crunching metal. That was likely when he had to “move a car himself”. Akira paid it no heed. In fact, she intentionally ignored it as she worked to organize the site of the blast. The taxi driver had gotten lucky and survived. He seemed to have been thrown through the windshield when the shell hit. The middle-aged driver was complaining about the pain, but Akira lightly rapped him on the head. “Do you have any idea how wrong what you did was?” “Ow, ow, ow…” He groaned, but his expression changed the instant he saw her wings. “W-wah! Why is a Nein Engel out in the city!?” “Shut up. What’s wrong with that?” “I-it’s your fault my parents were-…ow, ow!” “Stop moving. If you don’t quiet down, I can’t heal you.” She began Tuning the driver. She rotated her spear around in one hand and touched the back of his neck with her other hand. “Don’t be afraid. I can’t see your Live if you are.” With that said, she focused her mind. When she closed her eyes, she could see it and hear it. The driver’s Live was sounding out. Its Word Color was red, its Tempo was quick, and its Message was a state of agitation. Anyone would feel like that after being injured by a shell blast. She read his Live and its Tempo. … Is it “ta ta ta”? Or “ta ta-ta ta-ta”? And then it repeats? Its original color would be close to orange, but that had been disturbed and grown red and quick. She suddenly thought of the previous young man. … He read my Live, didn’t he? Just how powerful is he? And is he a Tuner or a Buster? But thinking about it here would not help. She shook her head and focused on picking up the driver’s Live. … Got it. She had picked up that sound and form that could not be expressed in words. It was a lot like a flavor. Some things could not be clearly conveyed no matter how many words one used. But a Live could be expressed with a voice. To do that, she started by calling out. This was the method her mother had once taught her. It was an ancient Chinese method of calling in Lives and Tuning them known as a Wind Up. “Oh, you Lives of 120,000 Octave surrounding me. You murmuring of a trembling person. Can you hear my Live?” She opened her eyes, breathed in, paused, and finally let out her Live. It began with “la” and its Tempo continued with “la-la la-la”. She accurately and purely sang the driver’s original Live. The first “la” she gave was a little off, so she calmed down and corrected it. The “la” needed to be a tad nasal. The Device she held answered her voice and amplified it. Her wing’s trembled as she sang. Her voice grew louder. The Device’s Live quickly expanded as if bursting. In that instant, she stabbed the Device’s spear blade into the driver’s back. “!” In a flash, she felt resistance. The blade had touched the Live core within the driver. She sent out her Device’s Live to arrange the driver’s Live. The two Lives resonated and blew away the distortion. It took less than three seconds. A large tremor ran through the driver’s body and she removed her blade. “I did it.” All of the scrapes and bruises had vanished from his body. There was no mark from the blade either. Without the distortions to his Live, his body would be in better shape than before the accident. Akira sighed. … Why couldn’t I save that man last night? She briefly recalled that bloody Buster. Not even she had ever healed someone that badly injured in her work for the Yard. “Well, it worked this time. Right?” She tapped the driver’s shoulder and he collapsed from his sitting position. Normal Tune healing was done using a different form as an intermediary like when she had broken down that Qinghu into cats the night before. She had omitted that step here, so the shock of having his Live directly altered had knocked him unconscious. … Well, it makes it easier to arrest him for theft. As she muttered that in her heart, a shadow enveloped her. It was cast by the tank. “Hey, the driver alive?” That dangerous question came from the General. “Ahh, ahh. My luggage was blown up, wasn’t it?” That comment came from the young man straddling the tank’s gun. Akira stood up and looked to the taxi. It had originally been yellow, but the paint had burned away. It was now pure white and flipped onto its roof. The spirit fuel had likely had its driving force instantly sent in reverse because the trunk had opened like a flower. “Well, damn. There’s no crane on my Grant, so we can’t get it back without fixin’ it first.” “That’s fine. I can Tune the taxi too while I’m at it.” “Tuning, huh?” Hearing the young man speak, Akira turned toward him. He gave her a look of brooding hesitation. “What is it?” “Oh, nothing. It’s just that my suspicions were true.” … Huh? What does he mean by that? She tilted her head and he shook his hand toward her. “Sorry, sorry. It’s nothing. More importantly, can you really fix that pile of junk?” “I can manage. It is inorganic, after all.” Despite what she said, this would be a bit tricky. It would have helped if it had been moving, but the taxi’s Live was unchanging and settled. Tuners could transform and fix Lives that were changing or distorted. That made it easy to Tune living things, moving things, or anything in the process of being destroyed. But there was nothing she could do about a Live that had settled in its distorted state. … I have no choice. “Stand back a little. I’ll use a Discord Bomb.” She pulled a black rod resembling a pencil from a hidden pocket in her tight skirt. When it exploded, it shook and slightly disturbed the Lives in a five meter radius. That created an opening for Tuning, but it was not the easiest thing to use. It would affect unrelated Lives as well. “Now, then.” Just as she prepared to set up the Discord Bomb, a voice reached her from above. “Hey, are you going to destroy it?” “This only disturbs the Live.” “Then I can help you there.” “What?” She looked up and saw the young man standing on the tank. He held the oblong bag he had carried on his back. He stepped along the gun and jumped down. He landed surprisingly lightly next to her and pulled out the contents of the bag. His gloved right hand held… “A Device?” The young man turned toward her and smiled. “Yeah, you can call it that.” “Are you a Tuner? Or are you a Buster?” “Neither. I don’t like letting people see my Live.” Akira saw a brief grim look on his face when he said that, so she avoided asking any further. “Can you really help me disturb the taxi’s Live?” “I should be able to manage that.” He gave a casual nod and approached the taxi with the Device resting on his shoulder. “…” He tapped his shoulder with the Device and observed the taxi. He crouched down, peered into the crushed inside, and commented, “Wow, you got this thing good.” “Heyyy! Kid, you okay?” “General, be quiet.” She had no idea when the young man would destroy the Live, so she kept her spear at the ready. “Hm.” He nodded and lightly tapped the taxi’s chassis. A small sound came from it. In an instant, the taxi burst. It was a solid sound. “!” The young man had not used his own Live. He had not used the Wind Up that Akira used or the Over Up that was the standard for Tuning and Busting. He had only used the sound of tapping the taxi’s chassis. He had instantly amplified the Live of “tapping” and used that as a great power. The Live constructing the taxi flew through the air. Its Word Color was a yellow mixed with scarlet. Its tempo resembled the engine sound that the Live just barely remembered. … How can he do that while ignoring the basics of Tuning and Busting? But Akira did not have time to think. She quickly breathed in and released her Live. She created a random Message in her mind and released it as an indescribable Live. It had originally been a car, so she decided an energetic Tempo would be best. It was a Tempo filled with staccato. … Okay!! She nodded, and rotated her Device. She used the blade to scoop up the scattering ginkgo leaf pattern Lives and placed her own image on top of them. “Oh, you Lives of 80,000 Octaves floating around me. You notification of a machine. Can you hear this?” She sang her own Live that began with “la”. It was an energetic song that sounded like small balls bouncing about. It took only five seconds for the Message to gather together. The raised tip of her spear trembled and the surrounding space briefly shook. A moment later, a very, very high pitched sound rang out. That meant it was done. The Live had taken its new form. “Oh?” The young man’s voice was filled with surprise. His surprise was warranted because the flipped taxi at her feet was now a yellow dog. It had originally been a taxi, so it was as tall as a child. However, it must have been a newborn because it sat at her feet and begged for attention. “That’s amazing. That’s definitely worth some praise.” “Why are you acting like this is so strange?” “Well… Tuners normally create something that can attack. Like a tiger or wolf.” It was true Lives were more easily influenced by powerful images like killer intent or intimidation. “I thought you’d be making something more violent and dangerous.” “Yes, well, I am a genius.” Wondering if he had been making fun of her, she looked his way, but he was not smiling and he watched the dog with a serious look in his eyes. … Oh, was he really praising me? Immediately following that thought, his expression changed. His eyebrows rose a bit and he formed a small, masculine smile. It was almost as if… … Can you really read my Live? But he did not answer her question. Instead, he crouched down. “I’ve seen Tuning plenty of times, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone make a dog like this. Is it really alive?” “I don’t think it’s quite alive. It’s just a combination of my Message and the taxi’s Message. Once the Live resonance inside it ends, it will return to its original form. And that would be the car.” That was obvious when she touched it. Its fur felt cold and metallic and the moisture in its eyes looked like glass. It would be most accurate to call it a dog made from a car. “Ahem, this is Hong Kong Yard. We’re about to lift the traffic restriction, so could you all get back on the road like normal?” After that announcement over the megaphone, the cars started down the road again. They just made sure to stay away from the tank. Akira moved in front of the tank and looked to the young man while petting the dog’s head. “But…you’re pretty amazing yourself.” “Eh?” “Don’t give me that.” She looked to the road where the taxi had been. All that remained was the damage from the taxi crashing into the ground. … The Discord Bomb would tear into the road too. Lives normally radiated outward just like sound, but he had made sure only the taxi resonated with his Device’s tone. … How did he do that? And he can read Lives too. She approached the young man and looked at his Device. “This has some weird writing on it.” “Yeah, that says Nein König.” “König? Is that English?” “It’s German.” “Let me see that.” She looked at Nein König’s blade. A relief of two intertwined dragons was engraved near the hilt. That had to be the Wild Emblem of his family. Just as she touched the blade partially of curiosity, he spoke up. “Wait. If someone with any power touches that barehanded-…!” “What?” A small Live sounded out. A direct Live with the sharpness of a blade carried into the distance. Shocked, Akira looked toward the destination of the Live. Past the various stores and even further north than Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok, she saw a group of buildings. Archs RDC stood at the center of those buildings and Hong Kong’s mountains were visible in the background. They looked small from where Akira was, but they had to be at least one hundred stories tall. … No, that’s not possible. “It could never reach that far.” Suddenly, smoke rose from that direction. “Ohh, that’s impressive. You tore into the mountain.” That comment came from the General who rubbed the scar on his cheek. Akira felt all color leave her face. “W-wait! Why are you carrying around such a dangerous Device!?” “Ah! I told you not to touch it!” It was already too late. The young man made a mistake when he spun the Device around to hide it. With a wind-like sound, all of the glass in the shops along Nathan Road shattered. The glass turned into a spray of pure white dust. A moment later, the spray transformed into feathers in accordance with Akira’s subconscious Message when she touched the Device. The destruction propagated at the speed of sound. Even the windows of the cars on the road turned to feathers with a well-regulated Tempo. “…!” As the afternoon sun washed over Nathan Road, it was filled with a soft white spray like someone had dumped buckets of water over it. And the process repeated again and again as it moved further and further away. “Ahh, ahh. That was your fault, Akira.” “Wait. Don’t use my Urban Name without permission.” “Oh? Oh? Are you trying to distract me from what just happened?” “No! I’m used to writing out official apologies.” After insisting something she was far from proud of, she looked to the young man. He was a traveler, he used a strange kind of Busting, and he possessed a ridiculous Device. “Who are you anyway?” “Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I?” “No, you haven’t! You’ve been moving from one thing to another since I met you!” “Is that so?” he said. “Well, don’t worry. I don’t mind.” “I mind!” “Oh, you want to know about me that badly? Have you fallen for- ow! N-not there!” “I’ll stab you in the gut next time. Now, identity yourself! And you don’t get a choice in the matter!” “I’m… I’m just a perfectly normal person. …Gwaah! Who jabs someone with a device!?” “Don’t worry. I used the back of the blade.” “You can’t jab with the back of the blade!” The young man finally sighed in resignation. He lowered his shoulders a little and spoke. “You can call me Gunmal. That’s only my Urban Name, though.” “What?” That was the Urban Name of the man who had died before her eyes the night before. This other Gunmal turned toward her blank look and narrowed his eyes. … Is he reading my Live? Her heart shrank down. His expression softened and he apologized before saying more. “I’m here in Hong Kong to see my brother. But then I happened across a police officer who just so happened to be thinking about him, so I thought I would read a little more of her Live.” “And you ended up headbutting me? …So you really can read Lives.” “It’s no different from your Tuning. And if you don’t want me reading your Live, you should be more reserved in your thoughts. They call that Closed Words in England.” He rubbed the dog’s throat, stood up, and asked her something. “My brother’s dead, isn’t he?” “Eh?” “I saw it in your Live.” His expression was neither dark nor bright and she still could not see his Live. ### Part 4 The moon had risen to the top of the sky. The ruins of Kowloon Walled City were on a small hill in the center of Hong Kong, so they gave a good view of the moon. Not much remained of the large flat walled city. The moonlight only showed walls without ceilings and a forest of faded stone columns. Two people stood within that forest. One was Rin. The other was the young man named Gunmal. They sat facing each other on broken columns and they looked into the city of Hong Kong. They were occasionally lit up by something other than the moonlight because Gunmal was smoking a cigarette. He had already gone through five of those small lights since sitting down. He threw away yet another one and it vanished after bouncing off the ground. At the same time, the wind blew through. The wind came from the ocean, so it smelled of saltwater. Rin opened her mouth as if responding to the blowing wind. “Sorry you had to visit the catacombs so soon after arriving in Hong Kong.” She looked to the metal hatch embedded in the ground behind Gunmal. That was the entrance to the Yard’s morgue. “I knew about the underground space below Kowloon left after the Second Divine Punishment War, but I’m surprised to see it’s being used for this.” There was no hint of sadness in Gunmal’s voice and no stiffness in his expression. “Well, I’m thankful I at least got to see my brother this way.” “Were you here to see him?” “I explained that when you questioned me, didn’t I? I was here for his wedding, but all I found was his funeral. Since I’m already here, I guess I’ll do some sightseeing.” “If you want to drink, I’ll join you.” “I don’t have time for that. This city looks pretty interesting. It’s British territory so it has a door to the same heaven as Aerial City and there are both Glossolalians and humans on the surface. Even sleeping feels like a waste of time.” He smiled and added “I reserved a room for a whole month.” “Are you planning to look into your brother’s death?” asked Rin. His expression did not even budge at the blunt question. “I dunno.” He sounded casual, so Rin sighed. She looked him in the eye as if trying to see something there and spoke. “I think Akira has the night shift tomorrow, so rely on her if something happens during the day. …I feel like the two of you will get along.” “Get along?” “Both of you have a unique feel to you. And since you’re from the direct line of the Maldrick family, I assume you’re pretty talented.” “Can you see my Live?” “Don’t worry. I may have an official Tuning education, but not even I can see it. …This is about what my instincts tell me.” “Talented, huh?” He smiled bitterly. “Please stop using that word.” “Why?” “Busting and Tuning are a killer’s profession. It’s the same here in Hong Kong, isn’t it? You’ve fought several Divine Punishment Wars against China or the Nein Engels and it had to have been Busters and Tuners at the center of the fighting.” A brief silence fell. “You’re right about that. It was true of my parents and my grandfather.” Rin thought for a bit and nodded. She met Gunmal’s gaze before asking another question. “You said you intend to quit Busting after you destroy J-Gun’s Device here in Hong Kong, didn’t you?” She sighed. “That will be the end of Europe’s top Busting family. And the Maldrick family only took that position from the Borderson family fifty years ago.” Gunmal said nothing and looked up into the sky with a slight smile. Rin looked up as well. Perhaps drawn by the city lights, a single dove was flying south even though it was night. Gunmal spoke quietly while watching the dove. “That’s because Busting is boring.” “?” “You can’t even make a single bird. All you can make are ugly weapons.” “Really? I think both Busting and Tuning have their interesting sides.” She answered on reflex and almost seemed to be making an excuse, so he suddenly looked back at her. “Do you really think that?” “Why do you ask?” “A Message sometimes leaks out of your Live.” She looked to him in surprise, but his eyes were closed and his hand was on his forehead. “I’m sensitive to other people’s Lives.” “I see. Then I guess you read that I used to be so full of myself I thought I could make a dragon.” “A dragon? You mean one of the three secret techniques of Tuning and Busting?” “Yes, but ever since the texts on it were lost during the Fifth Divine Punishment War, you only ever hear about it in Peking opera or from Akira.” Rin gave a self-deprecating smile. “Also, I’ve lost sight of why I wanted to Tune in the first place. I’m so busy that I just don’t have the time. …And about five years ago, I realized you need wings to fly.” “Wings, huh?” Gunmal paused for a moment. “Her wings are so pretty.” “You mean Akira’s?” “Yeah.” “Well, she is a Nein Engel.” He started to say something, but stopped and asked something else instead. “A Nein Engel?” “It’s Hong Kong slang. There didn’t used to be many of them, but about forty years ago, the angels were nearly wiped out by a bacteriological weapon in the Fourth Divine Punishment War. To leave behind some descendants, a lot of them began procreating with humans.” “I see. And the person you’re searching for is one of those Nein Engels.” Her expression changed at that. It stiffened. “Why do you know about that?” “During a break in the questioning, I met Akira at the Yard’s restaurant. She told me while we were eating.” “The Yard’s restaurant? You mean the Human Meat Bar?” “Yeah. She was busy putting together her written apology at the time, so we promised to drink there later. …You want to join us?” “No thanks. That place is meant for Glossolalians. They even serve rocks for Rockbiters.” She crossed her arms. “But Akira does have a bad habit of talking too much” “She was worried about the person you’re looking for. She said Nein Engels tend to be persecuted in this city, so I would guess your story has something to do with that too.” “We just happened to be moving in different directions. And don’t dig too deeply into my personal issues.” A slight seam appeared in the stiffness of her expression. That seam gave a glimpse of darkness below. Gunmal must have seen it because he clapped his hands to change the general mood. “Well, don’t get too mad at her.” “Hm? Have you fallen for her? If so, you’ll need the General’s permission.” “Is he her father?” “No, but he’s an old acquaintance of her father. When she came here three years ago, the General took her to meet her father on his deathbed. I was there too to tend to him,” she explained. “He may not look it, but he’s a decent Tuner. He wandered in from who knows where and saved everyone during the Fourth Divine Punishment War.” “Oh? Sounds like I’ve got a decent rival on my hands.” “Are you serious about going after Akira?” He nodded. “Yeah. She’s a good girl. She never said it out loud, but her Live apologized over and over for not saving my brother. She really is a good girl. But…” “?” “It’s still too soon for me to fall for her. …After all, I don’t like Tuners.” With that said, he stood. His eyes looked down into the city lights far below. ### 135. Act 4: Corresponding Pair (7:11) ### Part 1 Mong Kok’s Ladies’ Street was busy even early in the morning. That shopping district was filled with stores for women and a single Live dominated the area. “Shopping!” That was everything. Hong Kong’s return to China was only half a month away, but the city showed no sign of decline. That may have been because the current system would continue for fifty years after the return. Or perhaps they were confident they could move to some other land even if they lost their stores. At first glance, no one would suspect the return was so near. But a closer examination showed posters put up around the streets. They said things like, “Attention! Find great bargains at the night festival celebrating the coming return to China!” To the people living in the city, the change of ownership was apparently nothing more than an excuse for a festival Excitement was clearly filling the city as the event drew near. The city’s Live performance grew day by day and it would occasionally give off a sharp, firecracker-like Live. This was a problem for anyone sensitive to Lives. “Can’t they keep it down?” complained Akira while lying in her apartment’s bed. She had the night shift today, so she had to leave at six PM. It had only been one the last time she had checked the clock, so she wanted to sleep some more if she could. … I drank way too much last night. After the General had taken her back in his tank, she had been stuck writing one hundred pages of written apologies for destroying Tsim Sha Tsui so spectacularly. Partway through, she had taken a dinner break and eaten with Gunmal as he briefly skipped out on his questioning. After finishing the written apologies, she had left to go drinking with Gunmal who had returned from the catacombs. After eating, drinking, and enjoying herself, she had cheerfully parted ways with him at past five in the morning. … I feel like I spent all day yesterday complaining to him. Remembering it cleared her head. Reality returned to her senses. The white sensation of the sheets felt good on her bare skin. She always slept in the nude. In the past, she had worn special Nein Engel pajamas with a hole in the back, but she had not liked how they felt. … And anything that covers the wings is out of the question. With that thought, she gently moved her wings. That pushed away the blanket covering her. “Ugh.” That seemed to be telling her to get up. … Come to think of it, I haven’t been taking time out for morning training recently. She had watched what her mother did when she was younger and started training her Tuning every morning. When washing her face, she would Tune the water flowing from the tap. She would make birds or beasts from the water and blow life into them. Even if it was simply training, it was no easy task. Even now, she sometimes ended up with water covering the room. … If I keep doing that…I won’t end up like mom or dad. To ensure that, she had to gain even more skill than she had now. And if she did that… … I can send out a dragon, heal the city, and bring everyone together. And… “Right.” She remembered the night before last. She remembered feeling the death of J-Gun’s Live as she held his hand. His Word Color and Tempo had vanished and grown clear. It had all been replaced with death. She had seen it with her eyes, heard it with her ears, and felt it in her heart. It had felt like eliminating the refreshing side of water and being left with something heavy, flowing, and impossible to grab. She subconsciously clenched her fist and felt that same sensation inside it. … If that happens again…will I be able to save them? At that point, she felt a chill that seemed to sap her of all strength. “No!” She reflexively sat up to shake off that chill. “…” She was out of breath. She started to sink deep into the Italian bed she had splurged on, but she let out a long sigh and restrained herself from going back to sleep. She rested her head on her hand and faced forward. She saw Gunmal there. He was reading a newspaper that he must have bought on the roadside. “Hi. Good morning.” In place of a greeting, her reflexes threw a kick back at him. ### Part 2 Hong Kong’s municipal office was in the Kowloon administrative district. The old brick building had one major characteristic: it did not trust the people. That was immediately obvious upon entering. The counter between the lobby and the clerks was covered with ten centimeter thick bulletproof glass colored blue so no one could see inside. The exchange of documents was carried out through a small hole in the gap between glass and counter. Similarly, all fifteen of the data lookup computers in one corner of the lobby were thoroughly chained down. Gunmal and Akira were at one of those computers looking up some information. “Don’t blame me for that one. Rin told me to ask you for help with this kind of thing. I didn’t mean any harm.” “Anyone would view that as harmful, you pervert!” Akira’s Device leaned up against the desk and she looked over at Gunmal. “Don’t give me that angry look,” he responded. “And who are you calling a pervert? Well?” “You. Think carefully about what you did.” “Fine, but you explain yourself logically first.” “You entered my room without permission and watched me sleep. And while I was naked too. How about that?” “Hmm. You sure do like to argue.” “What!? You’re the one that asked me to explain it!” He gestured with his hand as if to say he understood. “So to not be a pervert, instead of watching you sleep, I should’ve touched you?” “No! That makes you even more of a pervert!” She raised her wings in anger and Gunmal gave an exaggerated show of being flustered. “Th-then what am I supposed to do?” “Don’t force your way into my room! Your very first step was wrong!” “I couldn’t help that. And I didn’t force my way in. The doors just opened on its own. They have a way of doing that when you break the lock.” “You just casually confessed to something insane, didn’t you?” “Don’t worry about it. I made sure to give your landlord a present.” It was now Akira’s turn to be flustered. “W-wait! What’s this about my landlord and a present?” “Since I’m a young man visiting a young woman, I thought I should at least bring a box of sweets and give a quick greeting.” “Wait. What kind of greeting?” “Just that they’d probably be seeing a lot of me from- ow!” A powerful elbow jab sent Gunmal tumbling from his chair. “Owww! What’s wrong with seeing you naked? It’s not like it hurts you or anything. Besides, your breasts were pretty bi-…” “Don’t say that so loudly!” She frantically covered his mouth and looked around to find everyone in the large lobby – whether in flashy casual clothes or business suits – was looking at the two of them. “…” They likely all had their own thoughts on the matter. While looking at Akira and Gunmal, they all sighed and then returned to what they had been doing. Akira frowned at the Live Message that came with that sigh. “Um, we really drew a lot of attention just- hyah!” Akira shrieked, grabbed her palm, and drew back. Meanwhile, Gunmal wet his lips with his tongue. “Looks like you used too much oyster sauce to season your breakfast. And are your hands dried out?” “No, they are not! And what was that all of a sudden!? You really are a pervert!” “A pervert? That’s just being rude to my gourmet spirit.” He then sighed and continued in a tone that made it clear he was ready to end this. “Besides, you didn’t refuse when I entered your room.” “I can’t refuse when I’m asleep!” He crossed his arms and thought deeply. After a while, he announced his conclusion. “I see. So if you’re asleep, I have a blank check to do whatever I want.” “No, you don’t, idiot! I know you can read my Live, so pay more attention!” “…” “What? Do you have something to say?” “You had better remember thi- ow!” She kneed him. He fell from the chair again and she turned aside to pretend she did not know him. … Why do I have to deal with this idiot? Gunmal would be able to read her exaggerated thought. “Rin really is shoving extra work onto me.” “What’s wrong with this? Getting data on my brother is part of the investigation, isn’t it?” The Maldrick family had sent over data on J-Gun the night before, but they still needed the data from his life in Hong Kong. That data was in the municipal office’s databank, so someone had to visit the municipal office when it was open and sit at a computer like they were doing. “If we don’t have time, we can always ask Rin to get it for us, though.” After a few more comments back and forth, they began the search. “That just leaves the address… Hey, Gunmal. Why did you decide to gather the data? This may not be the best way to put it, but you could have left it all to the Yard.” “I want to finish up the job my brother left for me.” “What job?” He paused for two or three beats before answering. “Destroying his Device.” He said it lightly while holding out the envelope with J-Gun’s address written on it. She took the manila envelope. “Why would you destroy his Device?” He gave a fake-sounding groan of thought, suddenly looked her in the eye, and spoke too quietly for anyone but her to hear. “To put it simply, because people will die.” ### Part 3 Gunmal’s answer was so short and simple that Akira was slow to react. … So… She placed the envelope on the desk and took a breath. “What do you mean?” she asked. “As a Tuner, you must know the history of Tuning and Busting.” “But what about that history?” “Tuning and Busting are techniques to destroy the world. Busters destroy Lives and Tuners can only act as healers to support those Busters. The gentle and Tuner-oriented Wind Up used to be at the base of it all, but now the simplified Over Up used by Busters is the standard, right?” “…” They both looked away from the other. That created a gap in the time and the sound. The silence was enough to emphasize the surrounding noise and it continued for a little while. But before it could grow awkward, Akira spoke. “So because of that past…” She hesitated before quietly asking her question. “You’re going to destroy that Device?” He nodded once. “With a powerful Device, both Busters and Tuners will end up killing-…” Before he could finish, a great sound came from his cheek. “!?” The solid sound gathered the attention of the surrounding people once more. Akira felt their Lives of curiosity stabbing into her body, but she ignored it. She did not care. Instead, she spoke without looking him in the eye. “Gunmal, do you really think that?” He did not answer. “Do you think I’m that kind of person too?” She regretted the words as soon as she spoke them. … That was too much. I got carried away. This would only escalate things further. Another slight silence fell and nothing but awkwardness filled it, so she frantically opened her mouth. “I’m sorry.” She meaninglessly apologized on her own, nodded, and continued. “I-I’m a little sorry. I want to calm down, so I’m going to step outside for a-…” She stood, but a tug came at her hand. “…” She turned around to find Gunmal’s gloved right hand holding her hand. He immediately looked her in the eye and scratched his head with his other hand. “Sorry.” He gave a one word apology. His hand felt hard and cold through his glove and she finally realized something about him. … His right hand is a prosthetic. The hand inside the glove was a machine, so it did not send out a Live or anything else. But this was enough to tell Akira she had relaxed. “…” … He must have his reasons. She still could not see his Live. “Okay.” She nodded for no reason and sat back down. She then resumed the search. In only took a few seconds. Once they started, they found J-Gun’s citizen data right away. “The Yard’s name is pretty powerful, isn’t it?” “Y-yes, it is.” Once he finally spoke again, she quickly agreed with him. She also typed on the keyboard. “Should I get a printout for you?” She turned to ask and saw a red mark on his cheek. She could vaguely make out the shape of her hand. … Oh, dear. She sighed in her heart just as the printer on the side of the desk began spitting out paper. “My brother hadn’t been working for about the last three months. He was paying a fixed amount of taxes.” “Will this data help?” “Who knows. But this is no surprise when it comes to my stupid brother.” There was not a hint of ill will on Gunmal’s face. Akira breathed a sigh of relief and smiled a little. “He must have been a good brother. …Unlike mine. All we ever did was fight.” “I’d say that’s a nice sibling relationship, too. …What’s your brother doing now?” “I don’t know. I was the only one our mom trained as a Tuner. He had apparently self-taught himself Tune Emblems, but I don’t know what he’s been doing since reaching an Octave of 160,000.” “Tune Emblems? That’s unusual.” She nodded and gave an additional comment. “Rumor has it my parents were amazing Tuners. They could supposedly control an Octave in the tens of millions. They apparently met about twenty years ago and retired after having my brother.” “I see. So your parents taught you. …That would explain why you slapped me.” “That isn’t what I was taught Tuning is for and it isn’t what I think it’s for.” “Then what do you think it’s for?” He asked in a teasing tone, so she thought about it and gave a short answer. “That’s a secret.” “It’s a secret?” She shrugged. “I used to tell everyone, but no one believed me.” She kept her Live as restrained as possible so he could not read her thoughts. “And I don’t want to make it look cheap.” “Makes sense.” Gunmal looked down at the paperwork and sighed a comment. “They must have been good parents.” “Eh?” “I saw the photo in your room and I could tell. Especially your dad.” “He looks like the General, doesn’t he?” “Eh?” “Like the scar on the cheek.” That seemed to give Gunmal a sudden thought. “Yeah, they do have similar scars. …Is it a sign of something?” “I don’t know, but my dad would laugh and say something cryptic about it being Hong Kong’s most important scar.” “I see.” Gunmal nodded. “Hey, this may be sudden, but what if I said I wanted to see you Tune?” “Eh?” The sudden question confused her and he turned toward her. “How is your Tuning different from the Tuning I know?” ### Part 4 Hong Kong Cave was a large hole. It was a massive pit about a kilometer across and three kilometers deep. When standing on the edge, the other edge was so distant it felt like a cliff. But it was more than just a large hole. The inside wall of the hole was divided into layers about ten meters thick to form three hundred stories of residential areas. This was a “manmade hole”. But man had long since abandoned it. The pit sank down below the dark night and it was almost entirely blocked off by reinforced concrete barricades. Avoiding those and descending below would reveal two facts. First, most of the three hundred stories of residences were unused. And second, the only people inside were Nein Engels. Even they were not a common sight. The only signs of them were a few lit houses on the inside of the cylindrical cave. Following those lights down would eventually bring the bottom level into view. It was a stone-paved space about one hundred meters across. It resembled a park lit by torches. It was three kilometers below ground and the barricades covering the top of the hole prevented any sunlight from reaching it even during the day. The park was filled with moss instead of trees, but even that could not just grow as it pleased. It was maintained into something like a yard. If there was moss, there had to be water. No water could be heard, but it could be smelled. There was a pond in the center of the park. It was a Western-style pond surrounded by stone. A single monument stood to the side of the pond. When compared to the pristine stone paving, the monument looked intentionally aged and mossy, but the reason for that could be read in the inscription. “1842. Blocked by the water, the construction of the cave will end here.” Below that, the Flight Song was inscribed. “彼街通天地 墜朝地仰雲 昇夜空謳月 惟望再笑君” The first inscription had a name underneath it, but the Flight Song’s author had been chipped away for some reason. But comparing the two inscriptions suggested the Flight Song had also been inscribed there in 1842. That was the year Hong Kong had become British territory. Evan after approximately a century and a half, the pond still had water. There was no sign of the water flowing away, but it was not overflowing the stone either. It had likely come up from below just like a well. The pond’s water was clear. It must have been moving because it would sometimes ripple a bit. A single white feather rocked as it floated in one of those ripples. It was a Nein Engel’s feather. Three Nein Engels were gathered by the pond. The six-winged Seraph named Double Lee sat on the stones. He flipped through some documents and read them by the torchlight while looking at Genius and Fei who stood in front of him. “I see. Even as a crumbling corporation, it can still be useful. And you say J-Gun’s younger brother has arrived in Hong Kong?” “J-Gun called him here. To, well…” “Attend his marriage with you?” Genius frowned at Double Lee’s comment. “No, not that. He had always had his brother destroy the attack Devices he created.” “If that is why he is here, he is our enemy. We must kill him.” “Yes, but from the picture, he looks like your average good-natured person. Also, he was eliminated from the Maldrick family’s records and he keeps his Wild Name hidden, so he seems to have been driven out of the family.” “Well, a one-handed Buster would be useless,” concluded Double Lee. He stroked each of his six wings. “With 622 Nein Engels in total, I cannot believe that we are the only ones with no deformities who are willing to risk our lives for this mission.” “Double Lee, that isn’t the only reason you’re the leader.” “I know that. That has more to do with the technique I inherited from my parents. And if I had never joined Archs RDC, I would have only ever thought they were normal Tuners.” He gave a meaningful smile and reached for the monument next to the pond. “Hong Kong Cave was built by man, but the Nein Engels will use it to ascend into heaven. This city truly does connect heaven and earth.” “Another one of your interpretations of the Flight Song? You always have been obsessed with that song.” “Yes. Even now that I know its significance, I am still obsessed with it.” “It only seems like a nice song to me,” said Genius. “I will tell you everything eventually,” quietly answered Double Lee. “But it is a shame. …Just as Master Huang said, Nein Engels and humans won’t be able to smile together. It’s no different from one hundred and fifty years ago.” “History here is filled with unfortunate events. After the biological weapon was released here during the Second Divine Punishment War, angels just so happened to have a better resistance than humans or your average Glossolalian, but that led to suspicion and retribution during the Fourth Divine Punishment War. Who do you think made the vaccine back then?” “The excellent are always targets of envy.” With a gritty sound, Double Lee tore the moss from the monument. “We cannot get along with humans as well as most demons and monsters, but we are not revered like an angel who has just descended from heaven either. We are…” He swallowed his last words and tossed aside the moss in his hand. The damp moss fell in the pond, producing a small splash and ripples. Suddenly, Fei spoke quietly. “Someone’s there.” Double Lee and Genius turned to the Galgallin in mirrorshades. He gently pointed at the back of his neck. “Double Lee, someone has arrived at one your three ceremony locations.” “Which one?” “The southwestern one on Lamma Island. They are definitely investigating us.” “Oh? They are skilled enough to have sniffed us out already?” Fei nodded and concluded what they had to do in just a few words. “We must fight.” ### 136. Act 5: Series of Phenomena (14:11) ### Part 1 It was ten PM, the border between night and late night. Hong Kong Yard was a bit busy because the second night shift was arriving to replace the first. Akira had started working at six and she had returned from her patrol for some office work. However, she now stood next to Rin’s desk in her patrol outfit. Gunmal stood next to her and they both looked to Rin. “I see. You want to spend the night shift out on patrol instead of in the office…and you want to go with Gunmal?” “That’s right. If she’s with me, she won’t get lost.” “That’s my line. You’re the one who was lost when I met you yesterday.” “Quiet, both of you. …I don’t mind if you work together and Gunmal might find a key to the J-Gun case, so it could help our investigation. But…” “But?” “Get permission from Cleared Chief Yong. You get involved in our division too much, Akira.” “But Cleared only lets me clean up the city. …And Rin, you can Tune better than anyone else in Cleared, so you should join us.” Rin did not answer and changed the subject. “Anyway, you need to take this up with your actual boss, not me.” “I told the General about it, so it’ll probably reach him.” “Probably doesn’t cut it. …And the General is too easy on you.” … Is he? Gunmal must have read her thought because he spoke up. “The General is that old guy with the tank, right? The one from the Fourth Divine Punishment War.” “Yes, he may not look it, but he’s a hero known throughout Hong Kong. Normally, he would have a private office and command the entire Yard, but he insists on working alongside the rest of us.” “What a nice old man.” “Gunmal, you couldn’t read his Live, could you?” He gave a small embarrassed smile. “You could tell? I could see his Word Color, though.” “Eh? Eh? You could do that with the General’s?” Akira’s eyes opened in surprise because she was not powerful enough to read his Live, but Rin quickly cut in. “Like I was saying, you need to take this seriously.” “C-c’mon, Gunmal. She’s talking about you.” “I’m pretty sure she’s talking about you.” “I’m talking about both of you.” Rin sighed and reached for a paper on her desk. “What’s that?” “A montage. It has to do with you two, so take a look.” … ? Akira did as she was told and saw a drawing of a woman’s face. She had a slender face and well-shaped eyes. Akira succinctly expressed her thoughts. “She has me beat.” “Hm? What was that?’ “Nothing. Just talking to myself.” Akira looked back at the drawing of the woman and read the Live contained within. The lines and shading expressed a Message containing the thoughts of the drawer, not the depicted person. … Her hair is long and brown. … She is beautiful and her eyes are clear yet sad. … She has a Caucasian facial structure. And… “Is this person a Nein Engel?” “Looks like it.” Gunmal and Rin both nodded. “Come to think of it, my brother said something in his letter about maybe getting married. Is this the woman?” “I don’t know that much, but Kouga’s investigation has revealed that she visited J-Gun’s house quite a few times. …Do either of you know her?” “I…” … Do I? “I don’t think I ever met her when I lived in Hong Kong Cave.” “My brother never told me the woman’s name.” “I see.” Rin nodded again and there was no hue of disappointment in her expression or Live. She must not have expected anything in the first place. Frustrated by that, Akira looked down at the drawing again. “What do you think about that long hair?” she muttered. “Eh? I like it,” answered Gunmal. “That’s not what I meant. …It’s possible she’s cut her hair.” “Why would she?” asked Rin. Akira looked up at Rin’s long braided hair. “You let your hair grow out, but that isn’t because you’re lazy, is it?” “Eh? What are you talking about?” … It’s called women’s intuition. “It’s a mystery.” “Hm.” Gunmal nodded and suddenly looked to the clock on the wall. It was already ten. “Shouldn’t we be going?” “You’re right. Rin, we’ll be leaving, okay? Sorry we weren’t any help.” “Don’t worry about it. More importantly, make sure you do what I told you to. …Oh, and Gunmal.” “?” “We should finish our investigation of J-Gun’s house tonight, so you can visit it tomorrow.” “Okay.” He smiled and lightly raised a hand in parting. At the same time, the phone on Rin’s desk rang. … Who is that? Akira turned around before leaving and she could tell who it was from Rin’s tone of voice when she answered. It was Kouga. “She seems busy,” said Gunmal. Akira nodded. There was indeed a lot they had to do. ### Part 2 Lights of fishing boats could be seen in the distance. The ocean wind carried the sounds of waves from far below. Repeated splashes could be heard from below as well. While soaking his feet in those sounds, Kouga walked alone through the moonlit night. His voice joined the sounds of the waves and wind. “Yeah, I’m on Lamma Island right now. I can really see the lights of Hong Kong Island since I’m up on a mountain.” The wind quickly swept away his voice as he spoke into his cellphone. The wind carried the saltiness of the ocean below. Lamma Island was just over three kilometers long and its tallest mountain was three hundred fifty meters. The powerful ocean wind flew over the forest and raced up the mountain ridge. Not even the locals approached this place. “But it’s strange. Why was the blood of Archs RDC’s president spilled here? Do you have any idea? …Yeah, I still have to visit Tsing Yi Island and Beaufort Island.” Meanwhile, a small form rode the wind and flew down through the darkness. The moonlight illuminated its two wings. It was a bat. When Kouga casually reached out his right hand, it landed on his white fingertips and vanished. It had combined with him. He gently swung his right hand and brushed it through his pompadour. “I’m almost at the peak. I’m gonna start some real investigation, so I’ve gotta hang up. …Right. I’ll be careful.” He ended the call and put the phone in his pocket. He continued up the steep slope without getting out of breath and the slope suddenly vanished. A flat space about the size of a small park appeared. This was the peak. Some volcanic rock protruded out of it, but it was relatively level and as flat as a stage. Perhaps due to the powerful wind, there were no trees to obstruct one’s view. “You could probably land a helicopter here.” Kouga looked around. As a vampire and human mix, he could see in the dark. The darkness of the night was not an obstacle for him. It was his ally. “The north and south sides are sheer cliffs. I can see why the locals never approach the place.” He looked back to the bottom of the trail he had climbed. The forest below resembled the kind of jungles unique to the tropics. Past the forest were a sandy beach and the dark ocean. The giant mass of light on the ocean was Hong Kong Island and the smaller lights were the other islands. “That must be Beaufort Island. The scent is stronger over there, so it may be what I’m looking for.” His nose detected the scent of blood his familiar had found. That same scent filled this place. Just as Akira and Gunmal could see Lives, Kouga could see the scent of blood. The scent before his eyes here was thick and high quality. It floated around the area with the density of a light mist. … Why can I smell so much blood? Did someone perform a Demon Summoning or something? The scent of blood was strongest two or three steps ahead. “?” In the very center of the small peak, he saw traces of a large amount of blood. The traces seemed to glow before Kouga’s eyes. “It’s filled with the power of Yang. There’s no mistaking it now.” This blood belonged to Huang Daquan, an Archs. As he approached, the bloodstains became evident. “But that Nein Engel committed suicide in his home, so why is his blood here? …Ah!” He immediately found his answer. He saw countless glowing words written there. The words formed emblems. Many different emblems made of Chinese characters were joined together into a circle on the volcanic rock ground. It was six or seven meters across and no one but Kouga would have been able to see it. “A Tune Emblem. And a huge one at that. …Is this one of the Death Technos lost during the Fifth Divine Punishment War?” A Tune Emblem was like sheet music that encoded a Live’s Word Color and Tempo in writing. It was arranged in a circle, it was activated by striking a point in the center called the Baton, and it would Tune the surrounding space according to what was written in it. “If it’s Death Techno, the General would probably know what it does at first glance.” Kouga spotted the Baton in the center and noticed it had already been struck. This emblem had already been activated. He pulled a Discord Bomb from his pocket and looked at it. A close inspection of the pencil-sized bomb showed it had an emblem drawn on it too. That small Discord Bomb would destroy the Lives within five meters when it detonated, but the Tune Emblem in front of him was many times larger. “When you make it this big… Well, the effective Octave of a Tune Emblem is equal to ten thousand times four to the power of how many meters it is, right? This thing has a radius of about six meters, so…” … Four to the sixth times ten thousand is an Octave of…40,960,000!? That was a massive Octave. Akira was the most powerful Tuner that Kouga knew and even she could only control an Octave of 1,280,000. Rin was called a genius for her 320,000 and a normal person did well to control 80,000. What could be created or destroyed from controlling an Octave in the tens of millions? Kouga wanted to call it insane, but he recalled a certain fact. “There aren’t others like this on Beaufort Island and Tsing Yi Island, are there?” “Well done. The ADs Device has already reached the depths of the ley line.” “!” Kouga turned toward the sudden voice just as his right arm vanished at the shoulder. “What!?” The attack had been too intense to feel any pain. Losing his arm threw off his balance and he fell to his knee. He held his right shoulder and found his hand was touching bone. The ocean wind blew across the peak and onto his exposed bone. It felt hard, but even more… … It feels cold. As soon as he thought that, blood spewed from his shoulder. It was too much to contain with his left hand. A normal person would have died of blood loss from it all, but Kouga’s eyes remained strong as they faced forward through his sunglasses. Two men stood before him. One was a six-winged Seraph wearing a white combat coat. He held a Device-like sword, so he had likely been the one to sever Kouga’s arm. The other wore a black combat outfit over a Custom Body. A closer look showed his Custom Body swelling out tightly around the neck and shoulders. … He had a lot of alterations done around the neck and back? Does that mean…? Kouga had his thoughts cut off. “Yes, only a winged-race would need to modify that area. That is what happens when you remove your wings.” “!?” The Seraph had read his thoughts. Before he could ask how, the Seraph smiled and spoke. “It would be best not to think. I can read your Live quite easily.” That told him who this was, but if this Seraph could read his Live… “Ha! So you know Akira. I see, so the Yard has already made it this far in pursuing Huang Daquan’s death, have they?” The Seraph read Kouga’s thoughts again and stepped forward. Kouga shuddered at his unhesitating movement. He held his right shoulder, stood up, and backed away, but the Seraph only smiled. “I can’t have you viewing me on the same level as Akira. I am not a mere child playing around with Tuning Lives into small animals.” The Seraph stopped and lightly raised his Device toward the night sky. “The moon is nice tonight,” he whispered. He gave a short and simple call to the surrounding Lives using an Over Up. “Word Accel! Oh, you Lives of 160,000 Octaves.” The wind immediately produced a shape. It was a leopard colored the blue of the wind. “That was fast!” Normally, Tuning took some time. To transform a Live, one had to learn the target object’s Live, have the Live hear you, and fuse it with your own Message. Kouga remembered it taking five or six seconds for Akira to create a dog or a cat. But this Seraph had created a leopard in under a second. … This isn’t good. Kouga let go of his shoulder and let it bleed as he dug through his pocket. He pulled out his handgun: a Webley & Scott 6-round revolver. While backing away, he pressed down the hammer. He heard the metal locking into place. At the same time, the leopard began to run. And it did so along the wind in midair. Its roar sounded just like the roar of the wind. He stopped and held up his Webley & Scott in one hand. He stiffened his entire body to brace against the recoil of the .45 caliber round. He fired and the blast cut through the wind. The recoil hit him hard. The blood must have loosened his grip because his arm flew upwards and the Webley & Scott slipped from his hand. But the shot had been accurate. The bullet flew straight and light wrapped around it in midair. Just like the Discord Bomb, it had an emblem drawn on it. The light trailed behind it like a comet and transformed into a spear. This was a German anti-demon round. “!” The Seraph gave a gasp of surprise. The leopard stopped, but it could not evade. The spear hit it right in the face. The weapon stabbed in up to the base. The leopard rolled along a nonexistent midair ground and roared. However, that cry ended it. The floating leopard quickly expanded and burst. It made a “sh” sound as it did so. Only the spear of light remained and it fell. When it reached the volcanic rock, it stabbed in with a white sound. Kouga stared forward while shaking the fingers he had hurt when the gun had slipped from his grasp. The Seraph still held his Device in the same place as before. “I see. I suppose you are part of the Yard that protects Hong Kong. That was quite the strange bullet.” “But unlike the ones used by our forces, it had not been refined.” There was no inflection to the cyborg Galgallin’s voice. He must have eliminated his emotions when altering his body. Kouga sighed and realized the blood flowing from his shoulder was slowing, so he brought his hand back to it. “What are Nein Engels doing here?” “We detected someone investigating our ceremony, so we stopped by to…eliminate them.” “Your ceremony?” That would be the Tune Emblem drawn on the ground here. … That big an emblem is a ceremony? He suddenly remembered something. “The General mentioned rumors of an Earth Serpent out at sea.” “An Earth Serpent?” asked the Seraph. Kouga frowned and the Seraph continued. “People thought that was an Earth Serpent? A ceremony that small can only awaken an Earth Wyvern. …Then again, I am the only one that can create something even at that level.” The other Nein Engel tapped the Seraph on the shoulder. He seemed to be saying not to say anything more. “I know, Fei,” answered the Seraph. Kouga reacted to that name. “Fei!? You mean Fei the Galgallin!?” That was the man Rin was searching for. The man referred to as Fei turned toward Kouga. His false eyes glowed red behind his mirrorshades. It was a cold, emotionless light. Kouga instinctually put up his guard just as Fei charged in. He was fast. He immediately covered the ten step distance. Kouga immediately made a counterattack. “Headbutt!” He did exactly as his shout suggested. … It hit! With that realization, a great shock reached him. His body was blown away and his bones cried out. Instead of simply breaking, they were smashed to pieces. … !? For just an instant, he saw Fei standing next to him despite having charged in straight ahead. Only then did Kouga realize he had been kicked. He saw the sky and the moon and stars filled that night sky. The only thing he felt was his body falling. He fell from top to bottom and from back to stomach. To his left was a rising cliff face, so he had apparently fallen from the cliff. For a few seconds, he felt like he was floating, but he soon completed the nearly one hundred meter drop and his back slammed into the ground. The ground below was the bare volcanic rock of the mountainside. His body burst like a melon and his vision went dark. ### Part 3 Even Hong Kong grew a little quieter by two in the morning. Even with plenty of nocturnal Glossolalians, the majority of the population was still human. But one place was reaching its peak business as the final challenge for the day. The Bird Garden was a famous market west of Mong Kok Station. The squawking of birds created a great din. Many birds, both large and small, were chirping and tweeting together. The eaves of the shops on either side of the narrow road were close enough to bump into each other and bird cages were hanging from them all. The smell of birds, chirping, the scissoring and mechanical noises of bird cages being made, the smell of varnish, and the lights all mixed together into a vague heat. The combined Live of the market was naturally a bright yellow. The people walking down the road were nocturnal Glossolalians as well as Hong Kong residents and tourists who did not want to waste the night sleeping. A closer look revealed that there were children there as well as adults. Most of the children were locals who were used to being up at this time, so they showed no sign of weariness. The entire market was filled with bright and lively Lives. But there was a single gap in that Live performance. In that one place, the Lives did not advertise their presence. The birds, people, and other things that entered that gap were all focused on the individual at the center. It was a female Nein Engel with four wings. It was Genius. Everyone’s eyes were focused on her wings. They were wings that no one could ever create and no bird could ever gain. They were wings that could only exist in one’s imagination. The birds and people were all focused on those wings. But Genius did not mind. When the birds stopped chirping and looked up at her, she would look them in the eye and sometimes touch their cage or smile. She was taking a walk through the city for the first time since leaving J-Gun. “His younger brother is using the Urban Name of Gunmal, too?” She smiled bitterly. … J-Gun had me call him that when we first met. The two of them had walked through this area back then. Even while working at Archs RDC, she had almost never gone out into the city of Hong Kong. She would leave Hong Kong Cave using a dedicated transportation vehicle and she had been able to spend the night in her office. Also, the idea that Nein Engels were hated by the people of Hong Kong was a fact, not a persecution complex. That was evident even now. There was a strange look in the eyes of the people she passed by. They saw her as something that should not be here. She could sense it all the more when walking alone like this. “How can Double Lee’s sister manage to live here?” Genius had never met Double Lee’s younger sister who went by the Urban Name of Akira, but she had long heard the rumors. She was a Seraph, but she had only two wings due to the deformities all too common in Nein Engels. She was a tuner just like her brother. Three years before, she had suddenly left Hong Kong Cave. And Double Lee had not forgotten her. “He must have a reason.” Genius touched a nearby cage. A white dove stared at her from inside the bamboo cage. She stared back for a while, but finally removed her hand from the cage. “Sorry,” she said before resuming her walk. That was when she heard a strange sound. It was a loud and intense, but it was only a single sound. It came from a shop that had a rest bench sticking out into the road. “?” The sound came again. It was the chirping of birds, but it was too coordinated. It sounded like they were beginning to sing on some kind of signal. Someone could possibly teach a myna to do that, but this included the voices of much smaller birds. Curious, Genius walked forward. A man sat on a bench. He had his back to Genius, he was facing the birds and local children inside the shop, and he held a yueqin. The birds and children inside the shop were all looking to the man and waiting for him to do something. “Listen. Basically, the birds just have to make the sound you want. Akira taught you about Tuning, right? This is the same. You let the birds hear your Live.” The man’s voice sounded a lot like J-Gun’s. He played a note on the yueqin and the birds sang the same note. “See? Neat, isn’t it?” The children nodded and expressed their surprise or amazement. “From what you said, Akira taught you like this, didn’t she?” The children voiced their affirmation. “Then continuing like that would probably be best. At the very least, you won’t become the boring kind of Busters or Tuners that your parents would think of. So when you get home and your mom gets after you, tell her you’re doing it because it’s fun. Ask her what’s wrong with that.” He laughed and answered someone’s question. “Me? I’m Akira’s… well, I’m kind of like her friend. We were doing stupid stuff together a bit ago.” He handed the yueqin to a nearby child. He seemed to have borrowed it. When the children saw he had returned the yueqin, they grew excited. The man rubbed one boy’s head and slowly stood. Genius recognized the profile she saw. It was J-Gun. … You’re kidding. “That’s… his brother?” Before she could accept that fact, he turned his back and she had no way of checking on him any further. He began to walk away with the children surrounding him. Even though he was leaving, she took a step back. … He mentioned Akira, didn’t he? It can’t be… Or could it? Without answering her own question, she bit her lip. She turned her back on the man. She ignored everything and hurried away. She left that market as quickly as she could. ### Part 4 There was no such thing as a peaceful night at Hong Kong Yard. Even in the middle of the night, the headquarters had its lights on. The white fluorescent light shined on a few night shift workers… and Rin. She faced a desktop computer and wore the same clothes as when Akira and Gunmal had left. She had been here dealing with this or that for over six hours. “I finally got the search macro built… Now I just have to gather all the data.” She removed her hands from the keyboard and stretched lightly. “You work hard,” commented an elderly worker at a nearby seat, so she gave an arbitrary response and wiped away the tears in the corners of her eyes. She finally looked to the window. It was growing brighter and a blanket with wings lay on the sofa below it. That was Akira. “I can’t believe she can sleep face-down like that. …Of course, Kouga can only sleep inside a coffin.” She tilted her head. “But when did she pair up with Gunmal like that?” The two of them had patrolled the streets of Hong Kong ever since then. Akira belonged to Cleared which more or less dealt with the citizen’s troubles. They would get rid of poltergeists created by disturbed Lives or Tune destroyed houses to fix them. “That’s a lot like a mother’s way of thinking.” … Well, I doubt it will end as pathetically as with me and Fei. She then changed the look in her eyes and the direction of her gaze. She looked to the monitor beyond her glasses. The cursor on the screen followed the movements of her eyes thanks to the sight device in the edge of her glasses. The cursor moved along the displayed results of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and searched for the company names that matched the conditions she gave. “So Archs RDC really is going to break up at seven tonight. The stocks of the inheriting companies are rising, so the insider traders must already be at work.” She muttered her thanks for that as she closed the stock exchange page. The screen now showed the system’s OS. She looked to the icon on the far left that led to the Yard’s databank. The cursor moved there and she clicked on the keyboard. As soon as the databank server’s screen opened, she began typing. She displayed the business details of the companies from her previous search and saved them. Overlapping windows of text appeared on the screen. More and more appeared at a pace of about one every three seconds. “Hm, this is a lot.” She grabbed her coffee cup and took a sip. It was cold, but she did not care. She could barely taste anything this late at night, so she only tasted the bitterness. She thought about the flavor of the bitter coffee while connecting the computer to Hong Kong’s network line. It immediately asked whether she wished to use any assistance software. “…” She silently inserted the MD-ROM she had prepared. The computer read in the communications assistance software approved by the Governor of Hong Kong. Once the official title popped up, she forcibly ejected the MD-ROM. She then pulled a different MD-ROM from her pocket and shoved it in. “No matter how much the corporations go crying to the governor, they can’t come up with a way of keeping me from doing this.” Without waiting a moment, the computer resumed reading the MD-ROM. The title on the screen blacked out and the network map appeared instead. The commands were displayed on the upper right, but the display was different from the legitimate program. “These Japanese programs are frightening. This thing can even destroy pursuing programs. …ID spoofing, ID changes every hour, decoy creation, and the option to transfer into a decoy. And it’s all automated from a single command.” She went through all of the commands and began working. That was when the headquarters’ door opened. … ? She turned around when she heard all of the night shift personnel quickly stand and she found the General standing in the entrance. “Ah.” Surprised, she stood too and saluted. Before she could greet him, he gestured for them to sit. As they all did, he walked over to her. He looked toward her and Akira who slept over by the window. “Oh, what’s this? A young girl like you shouldn’t be workin’ so late. It ain’t good for you, Rin.” “This is my job.” “I see. …Are you usin’ that machine to search for that cheeky Huang bastard? Oh, you’ve got a lot you’re searchin’ for there.” Rin looked to the text already displayed on the screen and nodded. “I always have these in reserve for dummy searches. If they can tell what you’re focusing on as soon as you get your footing, they put their guard up a lot quicker.” She brought her hands back to the keyboard. “I’m going to input the search terms I need now.” She looked at the text lined up on the monitor. The very top of the search list was the name Fei Garland. That was a dummy search. That name had yet to return any search results. … I haven’t found anything in five years now. Just as she began to type, the General spoke up as if he had just remembered something. “Oh, right. Hey, Rin. If you’ve got the time, could you search for ‘Device’ and ‘J-Gun Maldrick’ too?” “Are you referring to Akira’s case?” she asked with a bitter smile. “I’m doing those searches at the same time here. The two of them asked me personally, but…as they said, you shouldn’t hope for much.” No matter how skilled a Buster swordsmith he had been, she could not imagine a personal workshop would have a connection to Archs RDC. Still, she could at least use it as a dummy search. “What, are things not goin’ well?” “Why do you think I’ve been up all night? …And does this mean you’re curious about Akira’s case too?” “Yeah, a little. I suppose.” After hearing his answer, she continued. “General, you told me before that Akira’s father was your subordinate, right?” “…” “And just between the two of us, her father died in the exact same way as Huang Daquan.” “Oh?” “By any chance, do you secretly know everything going on behind the scenes in this case?” “Why would I know that?” She hesitated but answered. “I feel a connection here. A human and a Nein Engel died in the exact same way and you have the exact same scar on your cheek as that human.” “A connection, huh?” “You may not have noticed, but you’re a bit of a mystery. What were you doing before the Fourth Divine Punishment War, why do you never call anyone over to your house, and does your wife actually exist?” “I hear everyone’s bettin’ money on the truth of some of that.” Hearing that, Rin looked taken aback and quietly cleared her throat. “I-I apologize. I got carried away just now. …I haven’t gotten enough sleep.” She then looked to Akira’s sleeping form and gave a deep sigh to shift her focus. The General looked over, too. “Is somethin’ the matter with Akira?” “Apparently she wasn’t able to do anything when J-Gun died.” “Well, there’s no helpin’ that. Not even a Tuner can just walk up and Tune someone who’s about to die.” “But she’s kept her Device by her side ever since then. She used to keep it safely in her locker” That had changed over the past few days. “I think it’s a good change. Recently, she’s been teaching the local children about Tuning and she’s changed in a number of other ways too.” “Sigh. I see you’re really watchin’ closely, Rin.” “That’s just the kind of person I am.” Rin looked back to the monitor and gently licked her lipstick-covered lips. “Now, I’m about to make my way into Archs RDC’s databank. This is probably my last chance at this.” She then hit the enter key to set it all in motion. It only took five seconds for something unexpected to happen. ### Part 5 A loud warning sound came from Rin’s computer and the General gave a shout. “Danger!?” The fifth window had been caught by a defense program. Rin quietly frowned and had the fifth window displayed on top. Her search program was on the run and the defense program was in pursuit. “That’s a special type. …Does it pursue a specific search term?” The security check had reacted to the search term instead of her entry into the databank. “This isn’t good. I’ll scatter dummies and jump to a decoy waiting outside. If I go through a slow local network, I can launch the destruction program while the data’s being consumed there.” She gave a number of commands and started the process. The commands ran in an instant. “Meanwhile, I’ll gather the data I can with the surviving programs. Once I have it, I’ll escape.” The contents of the fifth window changed as per her instructions. All the while, the other windows were rapidly completing their searches. “What was that? This is some security company’s databank, right?” “Yes, the one in charge of Archs RDC’s security. That company is why Archs RDC doesn’t need the Yard’s help.” “Kah. That cheeky bastard’s cheeky company sure is cheeky.” “It goes back to that ‘cheeky’ company’s rival breaking the law and angering them.” The eleven windows finished their searches and closed. All of the necessary data had been extracted. As for the fifth window… “Did it escape?” Rin immediately switched networks and jumped to Japan via satellite connection. “I’ll take it inside Zenon City – Tokyo’s market and…” She deleted the program there. The display instantly blacked out, but the system OS screen soon returned. She had fully escaped from the network. She sighed, removed her glasses, and rubbed her eyes. “That last one was definitely a surprise.” “I don’t know anythin’ about this stuff, so I couldn’t follow any of it.” “I doubt you could.” She put her glasses back on and began operating the computer with only the keyboard. She opened a programming editor and placed the data inside. In less than a second, she eliminated the test from the dummy searches and began to read. “…” Her breath contained a hint of disappointment. “None of it has anything to do with the case.” “Did you find any dirt on Huang?” “If it was that easy to find, no one would do that kind of thing in the first place. …The information you want tends to be the hardest to find, General. Look.” She made a single search as a test. Search : “J-Gun” : Run The name was not found anywhere in the data. “Hm. You’re right.” “This is pretty common.” With that short answer, she went ahead and checked the other search term: Device. Something suddenly popped up. … ? She checked the screen and saw one of the corporations was a trader that dealt in decorations. Devices were sometimes used as gifts instead of for their power. “Not quite. J-Gun would have made them on his own.” The Devices the corporation dealt in were all special orders from jewelers, shops for nobles, or sporting goods companies. The orders were mostly sent to factories, used units of dozens or gross, and had numbers like ten or twenty. However, one odd number caught her eye. “An order for five. …With four cleared for production? And a request for more?” All the other deals involved more than a hundred Devices, but this one order was for a mere five. “The order was placed by…Genius Elias? She recognized the name. It was the name J-Gun had called just before dying. Rin stopped moving for a moment. “…” She suddenly gave a large nod, turned toward the General, and voiced her thoughts. “I don’t have any real proof, but there’s a good possibility this Genius woman was the connection between Archs RDC and J-Gun.” The General tilted his head, so she pointed to the monitor. “Look. This order was made about three months ago, but the number of Devices is just right for making in an individual’s workshop. At the very least, it’s different from the other wholesale deals made by the dozen or gross.” “Hm.” “And look at the phone number. The three leading digits don’t exist in Hong Kong and the rest of the digits are too short. I bet if you add something…yes, like a ‘#’ in front of those three leading digits, you would get an internal Archs RDC number. Also…” “Also?” “According to Gunmal, there’s a good chance J-Gun hadn’t returned home in the past three months.” At that point, the cellphone sitting on her desk began to ring. “Hm?” Akira showed signs of waking by the window, but Rin ignored it and answered the phone. She recognized the voice she heard. “Kouga? You’re late. What have you been doing?” “Sigh. Rin, don’t get too mad at him,” said the General. “Men have a lot we’ve got to deal with.” After listening to Kouga, she summed up the situation for the General. “It seems he died a little.” “Oh? But he got better?” “Yes. He apparently turned to ash once. …What? You’re heading back there to retrieve your right arm? I wouldn’t. You might get killed again. Go drink some blood at the Human Meat Bar to recover. …Don’t worry. I’ll take it out of your welfare expenses.” “Ahh, what do we do about his clothes? Last time he came back with bloody clothes, I gave him a hundred lashes.” “Then he’ll need some new clothes. No, General, I’ll take them for him. …So how’d it go? I assume something happened since you were killed.” Her expression changed as she asked that. It stiffened and she slowly asked something else. “A Tune Emblem…and a Nein Engel with a Device?” “What about me?” sleepily asked Akira from behind. Rin ignored her and gasped at what Kouga said next. “Fei?” She adjusted her grip on the phone. “It was a Galgallin!? Yes, white hair and about as tall as you…. He’d Customized himself and…eh? He killed you? …Kouga! Don’t be ridiculous!” The call ended there. She briefly heard a quiet electronic tone, so Kouga’s phone had likely had its battery die. She stared at the phone in her hand and sighed. She realized the General and the other nearby personnel were looking at her. “Ah.” “Sounds like this has gotten kinda tricky.” “Sorry. I shouldn’t be dragging private issues into this.” “Really? But this Fei you’ve been searchin’ for all this time was at that place Kouga went to. What was it? Where he found Huang’s blood?” “Please don’t say that!” Rin shouted and crossed her arms as if holding her body. “Give me some time to think about what this means.” She closed her eyes and mouth. Silence fell and a chilly atmosphere filled the area. Before long, something broke that chilliness. “Huh? What is it, Rin?” She turned toward the voice and saw Akira standing there with a sleepy look in her eyes. “Rin, your monitor.” She turned back around and saw the data on the corporation from the fifth window that had gone through the chase. It had not managed to even start its search, so only the initial search term was displayed. The defense program had been triggered by that term. “Fei Garland? Isn’t that the guy you’re…?” Akira fell silent when she saw Rin staring at the screen. The woman remained silent without caring that her thoughts could be seen in her Live. After a while, she forcefully stood from her chair and put on her coat. “I’m going to meet up with Kouga.” “Rin!?” She did not answer Akira’s cry. Her footsteps rang throughout the office, a stark contrast to her Live that was oddly still and filled with hesitation. It was a painful Live to see or hear. ### Interlude 2 Tedious and deep darkness slipped past several metal beams and fell down through a giant pit. On its way down to the bottom of the hole, the darkness was blocked by some faint light. There was a small light source on Hong Kong Cave’s 163rd floor down. It came from Hong Kong Cave’s reserve lights. A comparatively large number of Nein Engels lived in that area. The edge of the hole was used as the main pathway and some could be seen walking here and there even though morning had yet to arrive. Among them, a Nein Engel rested her elbows on the railing and stared at the metal beams far overhead. It was Genius. She had been born on this level and seemed to be known around here. A passing Nein Engel would occasionally greet her and she would wave back. It was a common scene. “Today is the day of the second repatriation ceremony,” she muttered while looking up at the dimly-lit heavens. She held her left hand toward those heavens and she wore a plain ring on that hand. “That city connects heaven and earth, hm?” She clenched that hand into a fist. At that very moment, a voice replied to her previous comment. “But you do not have anyone to smile with. And neither do I.” She turned around to find Double Lee. He gave a self-deprecating smile and said more. “But reviving the destroyed heaven is still necessary.” Genius put her guard up, hid her left hand by crossing her arms, and gave a deep sigh. She replied while making sure Double Lee could not read her mind. “Heaven was destroyed and returned to nothing during World War Two, but you’re going to revive it by destroying Hong Kong. …Which will take more lives? The past return to nothingness or the present destruction?” “Instead of comparing the two, you must continue adding everything in the positive direction. That will lead you to the proper answer.” “Are you turning this into a holy war?” Double Lee smiled bitterly at that. “Can you call it a holy war before the battle even begins? The distinction between holy and evil is decided by the outcome.” “That may be true, but…” “From here on, anyone but a Nein Engel will die if they are caught in the repatriation ceremony. The only ones who can withstand heaven’s air are us and the souls of the dead. …That is why I did the most I could to help. I broke up Archs RDC and matched the timing with Hong Kong’s return to China. Also…” “Today’s second repatriation ceremony will blow away nearly half of Hong Kong?” He nodded at her question. “On the night of Hong Kong’s return in two weeks’ time, the final repatriation ceremony will take place and the entirety of Hong Kong will be destroyed. …This second repatriation ceremony is merely the prelude, but it will be enough of a demonstration that only the truly foolish or indecisive will not leave.” “Are you sure?” “?” “I think the people who love this city will stay.” “What a sentimental idea.” Double Lee seemed to cast aside the words. “Only the people with nowhere left to go will stay. Those people who have resigned themselves to death will be caught in the ceremony, but that is a net gain for the world.” “Hong Kong’s greatest Tuner certainly sees things differently.” “I simply know what is truly important.” He spoke with a powerful tone and looked up into the sky. “Once the four Earth Wyverns and the Earth Serpent guided by them reach heaven, that destroyed place will regain its land. The surface will simply lose one small city, but in exchange, the many angels, Nein Engels, and wandering souls will gain a home.” Could he see the door to heaven in Hong Kong’s sky? That door would vanish once England returned Hong Kong to China. “We have no time. This will likely be called the Sixth Divine Punishment War, but it must be done. If J-Gun is resurrected today and he creates the Device in the next two weeks, we can hold the final repatriation ceremony on the night of Hong Kong’s return.” He took a breath. “We will only just barely make the time limit.” “You’re right,” said Genius. “Double Lee, you’re resurrecting J-Gun with necromancy, aren’t you? Fei just left again.” “Do you resent me?” “Of course not. …Have you seen his past? A murderer’s soul could certainly never go to heaven. And…” “And?” “I was walking through Hong Kong for the first time in a while and I saw J-Gun’s brother.” “Really?” Double Lee gave an exaggerated look of surprise and she continued. “He seems to know your sister.” “!?” “J-Gun’s younger brother and your younger sister. …Do you think we’ll end up fighting them?” He pulled a report from his pocket and glanced at it. “Yes, just as it says here, Master Huang said someone would oppose me if I tried to connect this city to heaven with Tuning.” “I heard him say that, too. Whenever he said it, he would give this satisfied smile like he knew everything that was going to happen. …But was he referring to your sister?” He did not answer her, but he did say something else. “It seems we really do need the help of Hong Kong’s #1 Buster.” His expression was as calm as ever and he gently tapped the bottom of his coat so she would see. It produced a quiet metallic sound. The ADs Device that J-Gun had created was there. “He was immensely skilled, just like me.” Genius had a feeling he was avoiding the previous subject, but she did not pursue it any further. Meanwhile, he continued. “Busting is the destruction of your opponent’s Live, but that requires more than simply slamming your own Live against them. To effectively strike their Live, you must have a thorough knowledge of it.” “J-Gun could do that.” Double Lee nodded. “But he was not talented.” “…? Then what about you, Double Lee? Do you claim to have inborn talent?” He did not immediately answer. He frowned and seemed to choose his words carefully for once. “Do you know the difference between normal people and those known as talented or prodigies? Do you know why he left the formal Maldrick family and moved to this mixture of a city?” “Well…” “It is not a happy thing. …And I more or less understand it.” He once again looked into the narrow sky. “It is all known by the Flight Song, that single beautiful song passed down from the founding of Hong Kong Cave.” “The Flight Song?” “It is a wonderful song. …A wonderful song that’s meaning contains a great contradiction that only I know at present.” His words were directed at someone other than Genius, but only he knew who that person was. ### 137. Act 6: Chase the Rhythm (9:56) ### Part 1 It was 9:30 AM, a subtle time in which the air transitioned between morning and midday. People were beginning to work at that time, but the restaurant inside the Yard was still packed full. It had the dangerous-sounding name of the Human Meat Bar. The entire place was painted red and it was too small for more than around a dozen people to fit. However, it was not just the small size that made it feel busy. The Human Meat Bar’s main selling point was its exclusive focus on Glossolalian clientele. The individuals in blue uniforms causing all the lively noise at the counter and tables were Hard Wolves, Half Fish, and the like. They came here to mark the start of the day. The steam rising from the bowls and pots surrounded the blue of their uniforms and the red of the walls. Mixed in with it all was a pure white that almost looked gold. The color took the form of two wings which stood up within the steam. They were Akira’s wings. She sat across from Gunmal at a small table in the back of the small restaurant. She had a bowl of fish porridge, but… “Gunmal, how can you eat that ramen? It’s meant for Lin Xiao Ren . You know, those forest dwarfs?” “Hm? Not to worry, not to worry. I trained my stomach to handle just about anything when I was in Japan.” “Japan? You went there?” “You know Osaka, right? That city where the kids fight by singing and dancing? One of my brother’s Devices ended up there.” Her eyebrows lowered at his use of the word “brother”. She sighed as she spoke. “I’m not sure what to do about this morning’s meeting. It was so sudden after Rin brought Kouga back.” He paused before replying. “It had to have been a surprise. …Do you feel like quitting the Yard?” … It’s hardly new to get complaints as a Nein Engel. “…is what I’d like to say.” “But you aren’t.” He smiled bitterly, so he had to have read her Live. Realizing that, she looked up. She started to say something to him, but said something else instead. “Both of our brothers are causing us trouble, aren’t they?” “The trouble with mine is over. Yours sounds like it could last a while longer, though.” … You make it sound like it isn’t your problem. She intentionally let him read her Live. Just as he tilted his head at her sharp words, she swung around her ceramic spoon. “Honestly, what was all that? A Tune Emblem drawn with Huang Daquan’s blood? And it was probably done by him. That makes him a suspect for murder and desecration of a corpse… That’s two crimes!” “Yeah, I remember that from the meeting. They don’t know what it was for, but the giant Tune Emblem could control an Octave of 40,960,000. …Did that delinquent guy investigate the site further after resurrecting?” “I don’t know, but I think the information on the Death Techno Tune Emblem is from what he saw before being killed.” “I see.” Gunmal nodded. “Come to think of it, what is this Death Techno they mentioned in the meeting?” “When Hong Kong was burned in the Fifth Divine Punishment War, the imperial documents on Tuning and Busting were burned too. Those had instructions on secret techniques beyond normal Tuning and Busting.” “Secret techniques? You mean like controlling the Lives of Yin and Yang instead of the standard elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water? Or controlling the Space-Time Lives or the Three Laws for summoning dragons?” Akira was stared blankly as he rattled it off like it was nothing. “Wow. How do you know all that?” “I’m from Europe’s head Buster family.” “Hmm. I only have the General and Rin to hear about this stuff from. But I have heard of the Three Laws.” “They’re called ‘secret techniques’, but they’re really just two types of Lives and some dragons. …So they call that Death Techno here?” “What do they call it in Europe?” “Legends. My family is all about Busting, but no one thinks about secret techniques. They’re too busy fighting wars.” “I see…” Gunmal tilted his head. “If that Tune Emblem was made with Huang What’s-His-Name’s blood, were they trying to draw out the Death Techno power of Yang? …I see. Having a skilled brother sure isn’t easy. For either of us.” “You know…” Akira frowned, but he stopped her with a hand. “He has my brother’s Device, which makes this part of my job. …Did you say his Urban Name was Double Lee?” “His Wild Name is Lee Leed. Hence, Double Lee.” … Just to be clear, I’m not telling you my Wild Name. He blatantly grimaced at her thought and sighed. “I’m not going to search your Live for your Wild Name or anything.” “Shut up. That’s just standard etiquette for anyone involved in Tuning or Busting.” “You’re not very friendly. …Not that I’m much different.” “Honestly, you sure are carefree. How did your second questioning go?” “I had to use my brain way too much for so early in the morning.” “I do get the feeling you don’t like using your brain. …And don’t change the subject.” “You want to know about my brother’s relationship?” … You mean the woman named Genius? He silently nodded and skillfully used his chopsticks to grab a piece of chicken from his ramen. “Want some?” “Can you not see my wings?” “Is that how that works?” “Of course.” “So I was right. You do primarily eat caterpillar- ow! Don’t throw your spoon!” She ignored his protest, lowered her eyes, and thought. … All of this is centered on Nein Engels. This isn’t good. “What’s wrong with that? Your brother’s your brother, right?” “You can only say that because you don’t know how Nein Engels are treated in Hong Kong.” “Really? I doubt my brother and the girl in that picture yesterday were giving much thought to persecution. At least not between the two of them.” “How can you say that? You’re being irresponsible.” “I can tell.” He sounded strangely decisive for once. Akira, on the other hand, grew briefly determined. “But…” However, she trailed off and never finished. Her eyebrows meekly lowered and she remained quiet to hide something. A short silence fell. Once the silence grew awkward, Gunmal swallowed it up along with his ramen soup. “According to Rin, she contacted my brother to have him make some Devices, but I personally think the situation changed some after that.” … Changed? You mean… “Does that kind of thing interest you?” “Don’t even think about asking if I want to experience it for myself.” “Tch.” Gunmal clicked his tongue, but she still could not see his Live. … But I’m starting to get the hang of his pattern. She looked to him and suddenly thought of J-Gun and Genius. A human and a Nein Engel. Her parents and Rin and Fei had made the same combination. … Can it just not work? As that question filled her heart, he clenched his fist. “Okay, I get it now. You’re worried about the issue of a human and Nein Engel couple.” Before she could complain that he had read her Live, he leaned forward. She tried to resist, but he placed his hands on hers and skillfully held them. Instead of an attack, she only let out a protest. “Wait, wait, wait! Who ever said anything about you and me!?” “Don’t worry. I’m perfectly fine with equalizing our Lives in a Live exchange session.” “You need to stop doing things so suddenly! And let go of my hands!” “No thanks. If I let go, you’d definitely hit me.” He used a jocular tone and leaned further forward, so she counterattacked with a headbutt. “Gwoh!” “Go die!” He leaned back and cried out in pain while she shouted at him, but then she looked around. “…” She had thought the surrounding Lives were awfully quiet and that turned out to be accurate. The customers at the tables and counters and even the cook in the kitchen were looking at her and Gunmal. And they all seemed dumbfounded. “You got a problem with us?” she asked. They all quickly turned around, exaggeratedly cleared their throats, and resumed speaking or eating. “They sure have a lot of free time,” she muttered. When she faced forward, she saw Gunmal with blood staining his face below the nose. She watched him press a handkerchief against his upper lip. … Did I overdo that a little? For once, she actually felt bad for what she had done. “Should I Tune that for you, Gunmal?” “No, you don’t have to. It’s not a problem.” “How can you say that when you’re covered in blood?” “It’s fine, it’s fine. It’ll stop before long. …And didn’t I say I don’t want anyone to see my Live?” She tilted her head at that. … Not even me? “Do you want to see it that badly?” There was a bitter smile in his voice and she realized what her thought had meant. She chose to give an exaggerated shrug. “Of course not,” she answered. After that, both of them went quiet. They could only hear the surrounding noise. “…” They matched the surrounding Lives by getting back to their food. After finishing her meal, Akira got some dessert from the counter. “Here, this will give you some energy for the morning. This is made for a Mei Yuan , so it should taste a lot like human food.” “Soup and…what are these?” “Annin tofu and black sesame red bean soup.” “What was that second one?” “You can just call it black-red soup. It’s really dark, but it’s surprisingly sweet and good for your hair.” “I see. So you are a girl.” “Why do you sound like you just discovered that?” “Oh, I already knew that. I saw you naked earlier and you had everything necessary to be a gir-…” “Don’t say that out loud!” Her shout gathered the other people’s attention once more. … Ugh. She looked around, unsure what to do, and they all resumed eating again. Their Lives all had a somehow bright Word Color. It was not a bad color. “Just calm down and get back to your seat.” She did as Gunmal suggested. She dropped her hips down in to the chair and he spoke. “To get back to our discussion, I know very well that you’re a girl.” “Liar,” she immediately replied. “You don’t have to humor me. …I’m unsociable, I’m overly proud of my talent at Tuning, and my confidence is more masculine than feminine.” “…” “I’m a Nein Engel, I’m selfish, I have thick eyebrows, I like staying up late, and I like sweets.” “You’re getting a little off topic there.” “Oh, you’re right.” She cleared her throat and thought. … Gunmal, how can you say things like that? “Like what?” … Like when you compliment me. He smiled bitterly. “It’s really not fair to ask me through your Live.” “That’s because I don’t know if I can say it out loud. …Will you answer me?” “These things are best left unsaid.” “But…” She trailed off and let him alone read her thoughts. He simply nodded and smiled. She did not look him back in the eye and drank the black-red soup in front of her. It was only a little hot, so it must have cooled some. Gunmal followed her lead and tilted his own bowl. “I see… It’s a bit strong, but I can drink this just fine.” “It was originally a Chinese medicine. Hong Kong’s desserts tend to be either crushed or hardened.” “You know a lot about this.” “I’ve learned a lot since I came here. We didn’t have any of this in Hong Kong Cave. Everyone there does things the British way, so there were a lot of heavy sweets.” “Is that so?” He nodded just as someone entered the restaurant. It was Kouga and the General. When they spotted Akira and Gunmal, they rushed over through the small room. Akira looked up when she noticed. “What is it?” The two had already reached the side of the table by then. Kouga was the first to speak. “I know you’re eating, but do you have a moment? Both of you.” He brushed a hand through his blond pompadour. “Um, Akira? Rin wants you in the headquarters at 10:30.” “Eh? I thought I had patrol duty today.” “That’s right. She’s supposed to show me around the city tod- ow!” “Oh, sorry. A punch slipped out. And there? That had to have hurt. …So, Kouga, what’s going on?” “Well… Is that guy all right?” asked the General. “He’s fine, he’s fine.” Akira answered in Gunmal’s stead. Kouga glanced over at Gunmal as he groaned in pain, but he quickly answered Akira. “I was originally supposed to go, but Rin stopped me.” “Yeah, you did just grow in your right arm. So that’s what this is. …Well, don’t push yourself. You’ve been working all day, haven’t you? You should get some rest.” “Sorry about this. Can you ask Rin about the job directly?” Kouga looked over at Gunmal. “It’s not something I want to say here.” “Something you don’t want to say in front of me? Is it something indecent?” The General smiled bitterly at Gunmal’s comment. “Don’t be silly. You’re comin’ with me.” “Geh. I’m stuck doing the indecent things with an old man?” “Not that. You can visit J-Gun’s workshop now. I’ll show you the way.” Gunmal and Akira exchanged a glance at that. They gave each other a look that sarcastically said “have fun”. ### Part 2 It was a clear day, so the midday sun looked white as it shined straight down from the heavens. On this day, areas normally filled in shadow received direct sunlight. This was true even in Hong Kong Cave. On the sixth floor down, the sun lit up an old residential area with a good view of the blue sky. No Nein Engels lived on this floor. The floors near the surface were abandoned ruins. Nevertheless, a Nein Engel with six wings stood in front of one house on the edge of the hole. It was Double Lee. “…” Without speaking a word, he viewed the plain embedded house and sighed. He then slowly pulled a Device from his coat. It was the Device called ADs that J-Gun had made. He placed it against the rusted metal door. “Word Accel. Oh, you Live of 8,000 Octaves.” He emitted a small Live. “Ha.” He produced a low but definite voice. The Live responded with a slight metallic sound. The door opened. He put ADs away and impatiently pulled the door the rest of the way open. He took a step inside. There, he saw a small entranceway and a small kitchen. Dust was piled up on the sunlit floor. The thickness of the dust showed years had passed. Double Lee remained silent. He entered without removing his shoes and left footprints in the dust. He looked down and saw no tracks other than his own. As soon as he noticed that, his expression distorted a bit. This distortion was different from anger or a smile. “…” He looked back up and to the kitchen sink. There was a discoloration in the dust where water had dripped from the faucet. Other than that, the dust was entirely undisturbed. Sun shining on a sink covered in a thick layer of dust was the perfect imagery to make the place feel truly abandoned. He looked away from the sink and faced forward. He walked and his footsteps sounded a bit muffled due to the dust. He opened the door in the back of the kitchen to reach a fairly large living room. It had a proper sofa and table. If it was cleaned, it could be used to entertain guests almost immediately. If not for the dust, the room would have looked like someone had lived there quite recently. The bright light from the window washed over him as he looked around the entire room. His gaze suddenly stopped at a certain spot. “…” An upright piano was placed in one corner of the room. It was covered in white dust and a picture frame sat on top of it. He picked up that small wooden frame and he spoke. “I’m home, I suppose.” There was too much dust to see it properly, but the frame contained a photograph of four people. The two standing on either side were likely the parents. The quiet-looking mother was smiling and had a few wings, but there was not a wing to be seen on the father whose fearless smile twisted the scar on his cheek. They were an unbalanced pair. So were the two children standing between the parents. One had several white wings that looked too large for him, but the other only had two small wings. The child with two wings was clinging to her mother. If her expression had been visible, it would likely have shown her fear of the camera. The rest of the family was probably smiling at that. But in the present, Double Lee did not smile as he looked at it. “You were so attached to mother, so why did you flee to the surface?” he asked the photograph. “Even if father’s death was near, you still could have saved mother. With Tuning…or with the secret meaning of the Flight Song.” He sighed. “It could have been you instead of me.” He hung his head and looked at the floor in silence. That silence was broken by a voice from outside. “Double Lee! Are you in there!?” It was Genius’s voice and she sounded somewhat uneasy. “Double Lee! Fei is calling for you!” He ignored her second call as well. He gently set down the picture frame and wiped the dust off with his fingers. With the dust gone, the Nein Engel girl came into view. His gaze met the frightened gaze of that girl from the past. He gave a bitter smile that did not reach his eyes. That must have been enough because he gave a large nod and called outside. “Genius! What is it?” In the time it took him to take a breath, his expression reverted to his normal, composed one. “Double Lee!? Are you there?” “Yes, I am. You say Fei is calling for me? I’ll be right there.” He immediately began to walk. His pace was calm and he quickly walked through the kitchen and out the front entrance. “Oh.” As soon as he left the dim room, the bright sunlight reached him. He felt the heat in his wings more than his skin. It took several seconds for his eyes to adjust. Once they did, he saw Genius standing in front of him. She looked relieved to see him and she sighed. “I’ve been visiting all sorts or ruins these past few days.” “These are not ruins,” he corrected. “You say Fei is calling for me?” “Yes, he wants to know the details for the Necromancy. …And he seems to want to put together a plan to bring everyone out of here before the second repatriation ceremony today.” “I see.” “We’re counting on you. You’re the only one Master Huang told everything to.” “Only me, hm? Master Huang seemed very attached to my parents.” “Your parents? Not to you?” asked Genius. “I was only talking to myself,” he assured her with a bitter smile. She frowned and he showed her his usual expression. “We have to help Fei prepare, don’t we? We should hurry. It seems someone is looking for him.” “Eh?” “I would guess it’s only someone from the Yard with odd tastes, so we can probably ignore it.” “But… How are they searching for him? He’s never revealed his name in his work and he lost his memories in the Customization process, right?” Double Lee smiled bitterly before answering. “It may be a connection from before he lost those memories.” He took a breath. “Genius, have you ever hated someone? Have you ever used that as your own driving force?” “Eh?” “I think that is why Fei altered himself like that and why you are going along with everything without trying to protect J-Gun.” “…” She fell silent with a heavy and stiff look on her face. Double Lee laughed and started walking. “No need to give me that frightening look. …I think everyone has something like that. I do, you do, Fei does, and even Master Huang did.” And… “There is nothing wrong with it.” He did not hesitate to jump into the giant pit of Hong Kong Cave. He spread his six wings. The white wings briefly let the sunlight wash over them, but they soon sank deep into the shadows of Hong Kong Cave. Almost like a flower sinking into some watery depths. ### Part 3 As the sun rose to the top of the heavens on the surface, Akira and Rin were underground. This was not Hong Kong Cave. Just as that great pit had been created in Hong Kong Island, a layered sealed space existed below the Kowloon Peninsula. However, no one lived there anymore. Instead, the Yard used it as a morgue and catacombs for murder victims. The concrete corridor was fairly wide and about four people could walk abreast. The side walls had doors embedded in them like on a ship. “No one’s really maintaining the place, but it still doesn’t fall apart.” “That’s because it was originally made for people to live in, just like Hong Kong Cave. They drilled through the volcanic rock and everything. …Oh, get a light ready. We’re heading down to the second level.” “Sure, sure. We’re there already? We’ve walked a good ways from the entrance in the Kowloon Walled City.” As she spoke, Akira attached a charm to the blade of her Device spear. It had a Tune Emblem written on it. “Oh, you Lives concealing an Octave of 40,000. Oh, you mutterings of the light. Can you hear my Live?” Then she let out a distinctive voice. “La.” As soon as her short and high-pitched Live rang through the air, the charm on the blade vanished. Instead, light filled the blade. The light’s Live was white and with a quick Tempo. It looks a lot like fluorescent light, thought Akira. “The problem is you can’t get rid of the charm’s light if you want to.” “I need you to light everything up, so forgive me.” “I don’t really mind. It’s a nice change of pace from the usual investigations. Let’s go.” A staircase landing was located on one side of the corridor. The stairs heading up were sealed off with a shutter, but the ones heading down led into the darkness. That was the darkness that continued deeper underground and Akira began to take a step in that direction. … ? But she stopped. She focused on her ears and looked around. “What is it, Akira?” “You didn’t hear that, Rin?” “What…kind of Live was it?’ “I think it was Tuning. I heard a Tempo much like a human pulse.” “They’re probably doing something up above. There’s a university on the surface around here.” A bitter smile entered Rin’s voice. “Or are you afraid of the dark?” “Of course not,” replied Akira with a shrug. She tilted her head and focused her ears again, but the Tempo was gone. … I could have sworn it was coming from below. But she had no proof, so she quickly caught up with Rin. Her Device swept away the darkness and revealed the stairs and the second level’s landing below. She briefly hesitated but started down ahead of Rin. She also glanced down at her wristwatch. “It’s been that long? We’ve been down here for almost half an hour.” “We had to pass through several Emblem Seals on the way here, remember? If the corpses transform, we can’t have them getting out to the surface like with the Second Divine Punishment War’s…” Rin trailed off and hung her head. “Sorry.” “Eh?” Rin’s Live was emitting an indigo light. Akira smiled a bit, stepped down onto the second level’s landing, and spoke to Rin. “Don’t worry about it. That happened over a hundred years ago, so it has nothing to do with me.” “Well, there is that. But there’s also our meeting this morning.” “You mean my brother? I don’t really mind. He was a weird brother,” she commented. “He’s always been weird. You know the Flight Song? It’s written on a monument at the very bottom of Hong Kong Cave and he would check on it every single day.” “The Flight Song? Why?” “He said it contained a contradiction. …Hm, how should I put it?” She thought for a moment. “When you sing the Flight Song, it’s a pretty cheerful song, right? But he said it didn’t match the state of Hong Kong Cave.” “That’s for sure. I’ve heard that historians claim it’s so bright and hopeful specifically because it was created in the darkness.” “My brother’s a pessimist, so he said he couldn’t believe that. And…just between you and me, I kind of feel the same way when I’m underground like this.” Akira did not turn to look at Rin. She kept her eyes on the stairs leading down to the third level. Those stairs were also sealed with a shutter, but the shutter was shaped differently from the one on the first level. The steel shutter had been transformed. It had swelled out and bent like a giant had punched at it from within. “Don’t look at it. It’ll only make this harder.” “The sixth level is supposed to connect to Hong Kong Cave, isn’t it?” “These are only ruins. Keep that in mind.” Rin worked to keep all emotion out of her voice. “This is an afterimage of Hong Kong’s terror. When Hong Kong became British territory, the people fled underground in fear of the Glossolalians, but they sealed off the underground once they heard bacteria were spreading through it. These are the scars of the city’s foolish history.” Akira hung her head, kept her eyes on the illuminated wall, and followed the markings forward. “His name’s J-Gun, so is he in Block J?” “No, it’s determined by species and then by surname, so Area 1 Block M.” The two of them walked side by side. “I’ve always wondered. Isn’t it a lot of work to carry the bodies down here?” “This is the most practical option. If I have to choose between exhaustion and danger, I’ll go with exhaustion every time.” “What if the choices are fame and fortune?” “I’ll take them both and then take a break.” “That’s about what I expected from you, Rin. Are you really going to do this with J-Gun’s corpse?” “I got the medicine from Kouga’s house, so there’s nothing to worry about.” Rin pulled a small bottle from her pocket for Akira to see. “Who would have thought we’d be communicating with the dead in this day and age.” “It just uses Tuning, right? All you do is try to replay as much of a vanished Live as possible.” “It must be nice being able to accept everything so quickly.” “But doing this counts as procuring evidence. England’s Royal Law is really convenient.” Directly speaking with the victim was a necessary part of a criminal investigation. That was usually not too difficult when they were still alive, but forcibly questioning a spirit of the dead was considered inappropriate. British Territory was connected to heaven, so the dead had their own civil liberties. They were only able to summon J-Gun’s soul because of everything that had happened between Rin, Kouga, Akira, and Gunmal and because J-Gun was confirmed to be the victim of a crime. “At the very least, we can summon Genius Elias, Lee Leed, and Fei Garland as persons of interest. …We don’t have much time.” “Why not?” “Hong Kong Cave is not a part of Hong Kong, so no data on them officially exists. The only direct connection between those three and us is Archs RDC.” “Oh, right. And Archs RDC was broken up yesterday.” “That’s right. In another three days, all of the remaining data will be swallowed up by the firms that take over. Then it will all be erased from every last corner of the internet.” “Wow, Rin. You really know your stuff.” “I have to as a Searcher. …Oh, not that way. Area 1 is this way.” They took the corridor left and reached an open area. The cramped shadows of the corridor suddenly grew into a vast darkness. The two of them used the spear’s light to walk through it. After one, two, and then three steps, they stopped. “…?” On the large room’s side wall, they saw a stairway landing much like the one they had used previously. All of the stairways down had supposedly been sealed off and the Yard only used the second level for their catacombs. But this one was open. No, “open” was not quite the right word. The shutter had been blown away down to the very bottom. The steel panel lay in the middle of the room and it contained a deep depression in the very center. “Was it destroyed by a fist?” “Of course not. Not even a Hard Wolf or a Bigfoot could destroy that door. You saw that other one, right?” “Unfortunately, the truth is right in front of us.” “Rin, are you the type to meticulously keep track of your finances?” “Of course.” Rin stuck both her hands in her pockets and pulled something out. She held a handgun in her right hand and a bundle of Tune Emblem charms in her left. Both weapons gave off powerful Lives of destruction. Rin began to resonate with them and identical Lives appeared and disappeared across her suit. “Why do you have all that? Were you planning to start working as a Hound?” “A true woman uses her entire body as a weapon.” Her tone made it clear she was not at all joking as she faced forward. The charms were held together by a metal ring like flashcards and she attached the ring to her watchband. And with a hand on the charms, she was ready for a quick-draw. Akira held her glowing Device in both hands and glanced over at Rin’s handgun. “You’re using a different one again, aren’t you?” “It’s a Henry Ball 90 my grandfather won in a duel.” “Last time it was your father. Why do you feel the need to use your entire collection like this?” “My collector of a grandfather was Chinese, you see.” She chose her words carefully. “And he was a totalitarian.” “That’s not funny.” As soon as Akira said that, something moved ahead of them. “!” Before she saw it, she heard the offensive Live. Something flew out of the darkness in front of her. The Word Color was red, the Tempo was cold, and the Message was as sharp as a scythe. It was the Live of… “A shockwave!” Rin reacted to Akira’s shout by activating her charms. With a single snap of the wrist, she threw three of them at once. They flew straight forward and transformed into explosions of light. They collided with the shockwave approaching through the large room. With a great impact, the charms’ explosions negated the shockwave. A heavy wind and a deep noise shook the room. Akira squinted at the wind and placed her Live in her Device. “…!” Before the wind could die down, she amplified the Device’s light to help it grow. The extended range of the light revealed the entire concrete room that measured fifteen meters on each side. It was a little cramped to move around it. … Where’s the enemy? Akira’s thought was cut off by a gunshot near her ear. Rin had fired her Henry Ball. The stench of gunpowder contained a hint of calcium, meaning she had fired an anti-demon round. Instead of aiming in the direction the shockwave had come from, she fired into the wall by the opposite corridor entrance. The anti-demon round grew into spear of light in midair and stabbed halfway into the concrete wall. “This is Hong Kong Yard! Your ridiculous defenses are meaningless! Come out with your hands up!” Akira glanced over at Rin. “You’re so cool, Rin.” “Shut up. …I won’t tell you again! You have ten seconds!” No one answered, but they did hear something. “Footsteps,” said Akira. “Two sets.” Rin nodded, so she too must have heard with her ability as a Tuner. However, she did not seem to understand what Akira said next. “They both have hard Lives. They might not be human!” “What?” Akira was unable to answer. Just as she had said, the Lives she heard in the darkness down that corridor were hard. They were as harsh, flat, and unwavering as steel. … Sein Fraus? No, then I would see mechanical Lives. Which meant… “Who are you?” The answer came almost immediately. Two men stepped out of the corridor and into the lit room and both women cried out when they saw them. “J-Gun Maldrick!?” “Fei!?” The Buster and Galgallin faced them and said nothing. Fei’s prosthetic eyes glowed red beyond his mirrorshades and J-Gun’s eyes were lifeless, but both men stared intently at the women. The chilly Lives of their gazes caused Akira to shrink back. When she saw Rin take a mindless step forward as if being lured in, Akira panicked. “Rin!?” Rin did not respond. “What is this? Why is Fei here and why is J-Gun alive?” “Rin! Don’t lower your gun!” Akira’s warning did not reach Rin. … Not good. Akira saw the Lives drifting through the room. Normally, those hard Lives may have been called tension. The Lives making up that space were waiting to see just what kind of Live would be played her and by whom. And whatever it was, it was not going to be peaceful. The Device in J-Gun’s hand was visibly vibrating ever so slightly, so it had to have been what fired the previous shockwave. … They’re our enemies. With those silent words, Akira nodded. However, Rin had yet to come to her senses. “Rin!” Akira included her Live in her shout this time and Rin finally gasped. But instead of feeling relieved, Akira said more. “Look carefully! Those two are-…” Before she could say “enemies”, the men made their move. J-Gun raised his Device high while Fei raised his right arm to shoulder height. The latter’s forearm opened and a mortar protruded from the wrist. “!” The men attacked in unison. The Live of destruction blew through the room and it all collapsed in an instant. ### Part 4 With some guidance from the General who knew the area well, Gunmal found J-Gun’s workshop right away. It was located in the center of Yau Ma Tei, the business district for Hong Kong citizens. The simple one-story workshop was located among the barracks and cement houses. A Wild Emblem depicting two intertwined dragons was engraved above the door. “This the Maldrick family’s Wild Emblem, Gunmal?” “You mean the Uroboros Rondo? Supposedly, my grandfather and the Wolf Worg – that’s the werewolf king – defeated two dragons. That’s how we became the head Buster family,” explained Gunmal while peering into the workshop. “The interior’s the same as the workshop back home. It’s all about function and looks like something out of the middle ages.” “You mean it’s hopelessly outdated?” The stone and cement workshop was filled with a strange scent. It was a mixture of various metals: brass, copper, steel, lead, etc. It was a cold scent that seemed to seep into one’s body. But the odor of rust that joined it was due to the owner’s long absence. If it was left alone much longer, the machinery would rust too and the entire workshop would be unusable. But the bigger problem was a common point between the workshop and the adjoining home. “What kinda idiot trashed the place?” muttered the General as he sat in one of the workshop’s chairs. Gunmal looked around before nodding. The workshop equipment was still in place, but the half-completed Devices and materials were scattered everywhere. Even the floorboards had been overturned, so whoever it was had to have been frantic. “This must be why the Yard’s investigation took so long. Everywhere they wanted to check had already been messed with.” “The things that Buster… The things J-Gun made were just that good. Hearing that, Gunmal suddenly crouched down. “…? What is it, kid?” “Hm? When did the investigation end yesterday?” “Last night. I think about the time you were out havin’ some fun with Akira.” “Then someone with feathers like this was here since then. Look. And this, too.” Gunmal showed the old man a long feather and a ring. Based on the length of the feather, it undoubtedly belonged to a Nein Engel. “A brown feather and a ring? That mean what I think it means? J-Gun’s de facto wife?” “Probably. She must have stopped by to check on the place one last time. Or maybe because she’s relying on her memories.” “If it’s the latter, she must be a good girl what with the ring and all.” “Someone like that was wasted on my brother,” muttered Gunmal with a smile. He put the ring on his left pinky as if testing it out. “If he was still alive, I probably could’ve gotten him to make a Device for Akira.” “No, one of J-Gun’s Devices would’ve been wasted on Akira.” “Really? I think an excellent Device would be perfect for someone who enjoys Tuning so much.” “Enjoys it, hm? You were with her last night, weren’t you? How was she?” “She was fun.” “That so?” “Yeah, the European Tuners I know were…rough people who would deal with a destroyed house by letting it blow away in the wind. The dogs, cats, and birds yesterday were pretty amazing.” Gunmal sounded like he was enjoying himself, but there was no smile in his eyes. He actually chose his words carefully for once and spoke slowly as if checking with himself. “She wasn’t using Lives as a toy. To me, it looked like she and the Lives were playing together.” “That’s what she does, all right. Her parents were that kinda person too.” “Her parents, huh?” Gunmal’s eyebrows moved slightly. “Did her parents know a lot about Death Techno?” “Sure did.” The General nodded and Gunmal glanced over at him. “Is there more to that story?” “Yeah. Why I can’t stand the sight of Huang Daquan and why I look after Akira are all a part of that story. You could call it a souvenir from Hong Kong’s many Divine Punishment Wars. Maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime.” The General almost spat out those last words and then cleared his throat. And suddenly… “Gunmal, don’t you think you and Akira could make a nice team?” “…” Gunmal said nothing, but the General did not care. “J-Gun said all of Europe’s threats – Glossolalians, war, and chivalry – used Tuning and Busting as their weapons. …Is this your first time seein’ a Tuner like Akira? Is this your first time seein’ some girl playin’ with the Lives instead of just usin’ Tuning as a weapon?” “Yes. It certainly is a…” He started cheerfully, but trailed off, scratched his head, and reworded his thoughts. “Well… I’ve changed my view a little.” The General smiled bitterly and nodded. “Rin wasn’t able to do that. …Actually, was it the same with you? I hear you were kicked outta your family.” Gunmal said nothing, but he did silently pick up a half-completed Device from the floor. It was likely meant to be a sword, but it still looked like an oblong metal panel with the hilt just barely formed. He sighed while staring at it. “…” At the same time, he gently tapped a finger on the spot meant to be the blade. It was his left pinky, the same finger he had put the ring on. The ring struck the sword and produced a sound. The ring was a Device. The elegant sound bent the air and caused a change. “…Mh?” The General could not help but gasp. It was not much, but the sword Gunmal held now had a bit of a blade. “Was that Busting? Device-creation Busting?” “I can’t do anything as high-level as Tuning. I just destroy the Live a little and have it auto-replay. That gives it a resistance to that kind of destruction, effectively strengthening it.” A Buster created items by repeating that process thousands or even tens of thousands of times. They could not make a mistake on even one of those repetitions. One wrong sounding of the Live and the half-made Deivce would break. It would become dirt or smoke and it would vanish. “Hey, old man.” Gunmal gave the sword an appraising look. “What does Akira want to do using Tuning?” “Oh? You haven’t heard about the dragons and the Three Laws?” “Not from her. And like Rin said, the dragons are something from Peking opera. Aren’t they several kilometers long and don’t they have an Octave in the tens of millions? That’s a hell of a lot more than some cats or dogs.” “That’s what Akira’s tryin’ to create.” “Why?” “You know Hong Kong Cave, right?” Gunmal nodded, so the General explained. “It’s rumored in Hong Kong that the biological weapons from the Second and Fourth Divine Punishment Wars still linger in Hong Kong Cave. So Akira…” He took a breath. “She wants to Tune everythin’ in and around that ruined cave, turn it into a dragon, and return it to what it once was. People think the place is full of bacteria, so by sweepin’ it all away, she thinks the Nein Engels can start comin’ to the surface and the humans can start goin’ into the cave.” “I see.” “But recently, Akira’s stopped talkin’ about that kinda fantasy. It might be because people like me used to tease her about it so much.” “There’s no helping that,” said Gunmal. This time, the General asked a question. “Gunmal, do you have somethin’ you want to do?” The answer he received was simple. “I can’t say.” He must have felt that was not enough because he said more. “But, well… It’s nothing as grand as Akira’s dream.” There was some disgust in his voice and he passed the barely-made sword to the General. As soon as the older man casually accepted it, his hand sank down. He adjusted his grip and lightly touched the blade. Once he checked the feel of the weapon, his expression quickly changed. “This is Emblem Stone, ain’t it? That’s no mere steel. You need to use an Octave of at least a million to work on it.” He looked to Gunmal’s left hand. His flesh-and-blood left hand. “When you used your Device, you used the false right hand in that glove, didn’t you?” Gunmal replied with a self-deprecating sigh, but something else cut them off. “Hey, General, Gunmal. You two here?” Someone stepped into the workshop. It was Kouga. “What is it, Kouga?” “Rin had the Tune Emblem I saw analyzed and the results just came in, so I thought I’d pay you two a visit.” “What? Can’t we just have another meeting at the Yard?” “Not when this is something that could destroy Hong Kong. That Tune Emblem requires an Octave of 40,960,000 to use and it’s seriously gonna activate. And four of them at once!” After Kouga gave his explanation in a single breath, the young and old men exchanged a glance. “Four at once? What on earth are you-…” Just as Gunmal was going to say “talking about”, he raised his head. “…?” “What is it, kid?” He did not reply to the General’s call and turned toward the workshop entrance. “Akira’s Live? And was that my brother’s?” Gunmal’s gaze was fixed on the outside light entering through the rectangular workshop door. He could of course only see a section of blue sky boxed off by four pointed corners. The General and Kouga looked in the same direction. The distant gray buildings of Tsim Sha Tsui were visible below the blue sky. “What is it?” asked Kouga while tilting his head. At the same time, a rumbling reached them. “!?” It sounded like distant thunder. The workshop creaked a bit and black smoke rose into the sky above Tsim Sha Tsui. “The hell’s that!?” By the time the old man cried out, the two young men were on the move. Gunmal had already pulled Nein König from below his coat. ### Interlude 3 One room still had power below the abandoned Archs RDC building. The small living space was surrounded by white plastic walls. Inside, Double Lee had set down a travel bag and a Device sword. He removed his Nein Engel coat without it catching on his six wings and tossed it onto the provided chair. “Returning to the location you have abandoned really is the perfect way to hide without being found.” He sounded self-deprecating as he opened the bag and pulled out the pile of papers he usually had in his pocket. These were the instructions from Huang Daquan that were not quite a will. He placed them on a table sticking out of the wall and his expression changed slightly. He frowned and looked up at the ceiling and the unseen surface above. “So the battle has begun.” He eventually lowered his gaze to the papers on the table and a small smile appeared on his lips. “Just as you said, Master Huang, everything is shifting out of place, bit by bit. Once J-Gun died and that shift began in earnest, I was finally able to believe everything you told me. That you and my parents saved Hong Kong’s destiny.” He took a breath. “That until then, you did not even have the Flight Song, the song meant to save this city. And…the reason you died of the same illness as my parents when you supposedly had no lifespan.” He added “it is still hard to believe, though” below his breath and looked around the room. It was an undecorated room. The clock on the wall had a calendar embedded in the face which said it was June 16. Double Lee stared at that date and nodded. “If we complete today’s ceremony, the time limit for the final repatriation ceremony is in two weeks on the thirtieth when Hong Kong is returned to China. We need to hurry if we want to make it in time.” Silence fell once he was done speaking to himself. He tapped a finger on the table for a few seconds and closed his eyes. He focused his ears on the battle on the surface. He listened to the battle caused by people he knew. ### 138. Act 7: A Tell (7:21) ## Act 7: A Tell (Ether) (7:21) ### Part 1 Black smoke rose into and flew through the blue sky. Some flames were mixed in and many different sounds came from Tsim Sha Tsui’s Chatham Road below. It was an ensemble of uncountable shouts, screams, and metallic crashes. And all of that must not have been enough noise because a metallic sound resembling a loud shouting voice joined in. It was the sound of a double-decker bus breaking apart. A massive hole covered both lanes on one side of Chatham Road and the bus had fallen in. The sounds of destruction linked with one’s imagination and two people were able to sigh from a vantage point giving them a view down. “It looks like something from a movie.” That slightly out-of-place comment came from Rin as she tried to catch her breath. “They really are violent,” agreed Akira. “I wouldn’t do it like that at all.” Both of their voices were somehow stiff and located somewhere up high. They had “escaped” by flying straight up from the hole and onto the roof of a dozen or so story department store on Chatham Road. Akira glanced over at Rin who was peering down from the edge of the building. “That was close, wasn’t it?” Rin nodded while still catching her breath and she pulled a combat knife from her pocket. “You sure carry a lot of weapons around.” Rin did not respond, but she did produce a voice. It was a fairly low, undulating sound. “Lu.” This was Rin’s Live. As she produced the voice, she pressed the knife against the back of her own neck. A moment later, a small orange bird flew from her body. The bird frantically flapped its wings and ran along the rooftop without flying. It was a Live of impatience. After driving it from herself, Rin sighed. “It was close. If you had been just a little slower with the Tuning, you wouldn’t have been able to deconstruct the flames and we would have been killed. …Look.” Akira looked in the direction Rin indicated with a jerk of her chin. That was where the giant hole filled the asphalt road to a ridiculous extent. The edges of the hole were brightly melted and shimmering heat still rose from them. The shimmering was very thick, but two men could still be seen standing nearby. One was a man holding a Device sword and the other was a man with a fully customized body. Both of them looked around slowly like travelers in a foreign land. They were searching for something. “Are they looking for us?” “Of course not.” As soon as Rin spoke, J-Gun and Fei began walking. However, they started toward the opposite side of the road. The cars in those lanes were worried about the large hole in the ground, but they were still slowly moving along. Or they should have been. The orderly current of Lives controlling the road was suddenly disturbed by the two men who cut into those lanes. The disturbed Lives began with the bright red of screeching brakes. A double-decker bus slammed on its brakes, blue smoke rose from the tires, and it honked at the two men walking in front of it. Unfortunately, it was too late. To make matters worse, the following car crashed into it from behind. With a metallic crash, the car was knocked backwards and the bus forwards. And the bus collided with the two on the road. “Oh, no!” shouted Akira. Fei briefly turned in her direction as the bus crashed into him. The destructive Live was not one she wanted to see or hear. “ That had to hurt.” “Don’t turn away, Akira! Look!” She kept watching and saw that Fei had not been knocked away despite all the noise. His body was embedded in the front of the bus as if his feet were glued to the ground. “You’re kidding.” Akira gulped because she saw no change in the faint Live coming from Fei. “Rin, did that Galgallin go through a Psyche Outer surg-…” “Wait five seconds and they’ll head out.” Due to her harsh tone, Akira glanced over at Rin and found her checking on the Henry Ball she had miraculously not dropped during the explosion. She was preparing for battle. Akira did the same by gathering strength in her gut and gripping her Device. … This is serious. Looking back down at the road, she noticed Lives of fear overflowing from the bus’s windows and door. The bluish-white Word Color and trembling Tempo formed a wave as it spilled out. After a beat, the passengers followed the wave out. Fei may have been waiting for that moment because the double-decker bus floated up like it was a prop made of paper. He had lifted it. And Akira also saw Fei’s dried but slightly remaining Live reverberating pure red toward her. That Live was known as intent to kill. “Oh, crap. He noticed us.” She pulled back, worked to keep her Live from escaping, and asked Rin a question. “Rin?” “Yes?” “Are you much of a weightlifter?” “I carry a gun everywhere.” “I’m talking about things much heavier than- Ah! He can throw it!?” “What is it, Akira!?” “Don’t look down! You’ll want to just give up!” But Rin looked down regardless. And so did Akira. The red double-decker bus flew up into the air and instantly arrived over their heads. “…” It blotted out the sun for them. At the same time, it seemed to freeze about ten meters above them. And once it stopped, it was bound to fall. “Fly, Akira!” shouted Rin. “Yes, ma’am!” Without even hearing Rin out to the end, Akira grabbed the other woman and jumped out into the air. A fall from that height would be lethal, but she did not hesitate. She flew out over the road. She could see Chatham Road below and she felt the wind on her spread wings. With a strong flap of those wings, she supported Rin’s weight and descended. Almost immediately, a splendid sound of destruction reached them from behind, but Akira did not care. She had no intention of looking back. Below, Fei and J-Gun had only just hijacked a convertible stopped at the front of the traffic jam. “Ah, you thieves!” Akira’s protest chased futilely after them as the convertible took off. As she watched it go, Akira glanced backwards for just an instant. “Rin! Tram!” Her monosyllabic shout seemed to have gotten through because Rin nodded. With a large flap of her wings, Akira gently flew along, ignored the panicking roadway, and approached a tram running along the center line. The tram was moving in the same direction as the fleeing car. “Now!” Using Rin’s shout as a cue, Akira released the other woman. Rin fell toward the tram’s blue roof from about three meters up and… “Well, I don’t have time to watch.” Akira pursued their enemy without bothering to look down. She flapped her wings to fly through the air while using her legs as ballast. She prepared her Device and listened to the wind blowing through the road. Perhaps due to the smoke, the blue of the wind was somewhat hazy. It looked in a worse mood than normal. But Akira did not particularly care. She could deal with some small differences now. In fact, a slight disturbance saved her some trouble. She stabbed the Device’s blade into the wind. As she flew through the sky above the road and held her breath a bit, she began Tuning. “Oh, you Lives flowing around me with an Octave of 400,000, you monologue of the wind and crying of the air. Can you hear…my Live!?” And… She released her Live that began with “la”. It was gentle, but the high-pitched sound contained a rising intonation. The clear reverberation flew as a song and Tuned the wind’s Live into that of a bird. The miracle was complete in only four seconds. “Go!” The bird of blue wind spread its two meter wings the instant it was born and it flew. It charged straight toward the convertible racing on ahead. The bird would become a shockwave once it hit and it had enough power to stop the car. It was about twenty meters away which would take about five seconds at the bird’s speed. J-Gun reacted to it with his back to Akira. He slowly stood up atop the convertible’s trunk and he swung his Device while turning around. The slight hint of his Live shook as if trying to convey something. … That’s the same shaking as an Over Up. That fact gave Akira a chill. Meanwhile, J-Gun did not utter a word as he released a Live beginning with “oh”. It was low, but its Tempo was sharp and straight instead of groaning. The Word Color was the red of offense and it was shaped in the bent half arc of a sickle. “!” The strike smashed Akira’s bird. And… “Get down, Akira!” Rin had a good reason for her advice that was less relevant for someone who could fly. J-Gun’s attack had done more than just destroy the bird; it continued toward Akira as a destructive Live. Akira could see the red destructive sound. “Wah!?” The red Live approached before her surprised eyes. But then it burst. That was thanks to Rin’s anti-demon round fired from behind. The sound of the red Live scattering was very much like breaking glass. Both the Live and the anti-demon round’s spear of light shattered and scattered throughout Hong Kong’s wind. But Akira did not overlook those smaller Lives. She frowned, rotated her Device, and gathered together all of the Lives scattering in the wind. … An anti-demon round and J-Gun’s Live! …This is pretty heavy. “But…I can’t allow this!” Akira raced forward again and gathered up the Lives of the wind with her Device. At the same time, Chatham Road took a shallow curve to the right and the coastline came into view. The valley of buildings would end in another five hundred meters, so this was the time to settle things. “Oh, you Lives dancing around me with an Octave of 1,120,000, you rumblings of power, roars of wind, and announcements of destruction! Can you hear my Live!?” It took her a few seconds to call in the greatest Octave she could manage. A giant spear shining a bright red resided in her Device. It was at least five meters long, but she did not have time to appreciate it. She swung the Device and immediately fired it. “Hit them!” “Wait, you idiot! Don’t kill them!” Rin’s wish was granted. The spear was on the level of a tank’s gun, but it flew toward the convertible’s trunk instead of directly at J-Gun. Meanwhile, J-Gun raised his Device to eye level and lowered his stance. He planned to block the spear that was over twice his height and not even aimed at him. “Are you suicidal!?” Rin’s question was well deserved. That spear included J-Gun’s own Live, so attacking it would have the same result as punching himself with his own fist. The reflexive echoing of his own Live would destroy him. However, he made no attempt to escape. Instead, he opened his mouth, and gave a powerful Task for the first time since being resurrected. “Ohhhhhhh!” His Device responded to the bestial roar escaping his throat. He did not hesitate to radially amplify the Live and it gained a scarlet coloration much more vivid than mere red. It was a wave of killer intent. Its Tempo was that of a high-pitched shaking and its size was massive. “An Octave of more than two million!? And it’s still growing!?” That was an inarguably abnormal size. The solid murderous intent was instantly amplified until it filled the entire road. The spear Akira had fired slammed into that Live and shattered. J-Gun’s own Live and the wind’s Live were included in the spear, but they were both immediately destroyed. She could not hear the destruction of the three Lives. Only the sound of the destructive Live filled her surroundings. This destructive power was on an entirely different level from before. The destruction did not even allow for any kind of reflexive echoing. “Was he not serious before!?” As if to answer her question, J-Gun held his Device low and then quickly swung it upwards. It fired a Live shell large enough to fill the road and it was aimed at Akira. “!” She did not even have time to scream. … Not good! She pulled a Discord Bomb from her pocket and threw it toward the scarlet Live that approached like a solid wall. At the same time, she twisted her body, kicked off the air, and flew straight down. The enemy’s attack had been fired toward her as she flew, so she could only escape by heading down toward the ground. The Discord Bomb exploded and its shockwave Live struck the scarlet Live to cancel it out. The sound of impact was intense, but it proved meaningless. The Discord Bomb’s shockwave burst, released a black Word Color, and was swallowed up. Meanwhile, the scarlet Live flew onwards while still roaring. Akira remained in midair and had yet to escape. “…!” She gave a voiceless shout and moved down with all her might. It was decided by a paper-thin margin. The scarlet Live grazed her wings. Just as she felt a slight heat, some pain reached her and a few of her white feathers were pulled out. But that was all. … Did I make it!? As soon as she wondered that, her right shoulder slammed into the asphalt. “Ow!” She had sent herself downwards, so she did not take too much damage and she could keep going. She frowned, quickly got up, and raised her head. Once her vision rose, she saw something shocking. ### Part 2 All of the cars, people, voices, winds, and Lives were trying to escape Chatham Road. The overall flow was rushing away to avoid danger. However, there was one form flying into the center of the danger. It was a motorcycle with two men onboard. Kouga held the handlebars and Gunmal sat on the back with a Device sword resting on his shoulder. The bike was Kouga’s. It was apparently from the Honda CB series, but it had been modified so often that its original form was all but lost. It was currently racing forward while blasting its six tone horn. It was fast. It was clearly exceeding the speed limit. In fact, it was going nearly triple the number designated on the signs. It would occasionally run across a bump in the road and the back would hop violently up and land again. The back wheel would slide a bit before it accelerated again. “Hey! I’m not sure if I should call it ‘a little’ or ‘a whole lot’, but aren’t we going too fast here!?” asked Gunmal. The wind distorted Kouga’s face and he did not turn around as he answered. “Don’t worry. People used to call me Swift Skanda, you know!?” “Wait, wait, wait. Where are you even from!?” “What? You hadn’t heard? I was born and raised on the puny island nation next door.” His words were blown away by the wind and he tilted to the left. “We’re about to turn!” “Wah!” Gunmal could not keep up with Kouga’s movements, but his voice was swept away as the bike cut across the road and into the opposing traffic. Two cars were coming their way, side by side. “Wahh! I think you took a wrong turn!” “No, this is perfect!” Kouga shouted as he twisted the accelerator and sent the bike even further forward. The racing machine made its way in between two of the lanes. “Lean back!” he told Gunmal as he pulled on the handlebars. He could feel Gunmal lean back in the seat behind him and the front wheel rose just a bit. And like that, they charged in between the oncoming cars. The wind slammed into them and produced a low sound much like flesh being struck. The raised handlebars passed above the cars’ side mirrors. They passed by in an instant with a relative speed of over two hundred kph. The wall of wind it produced was enough to lightly tear at their clothing but not enough to knock them over. They passed through the wall of wind. “!” The front wheel landed and their speed dropped a little. Kouga leaned forward to press the shaking front tire against the road and then accelerated again. Or he meant to. “Hey! Why’d you head into the opposite lanes!?” “Look to the right!” Kouga could see a traffic jam filling all four lanes of the road on the right. “If we went that way, we’d have to keep doing that wheelie over and over.” “Okay, got it. Your decision was horribly wrong yet right.” More cars came their way, so they swerved back and forth while breaking through the waves of wind they produced. Soon, they saw the cause of the traffic jam in the right lanes. It was a giant hole. “Gunmal! What is that!?” “It’s artistic is what it is.” “The road was destroyed!” As soon as Kouga shouted that, a shadow enveloped the two of them. Something was falling towards them. “!?” Kouga reflexively looked up and saw an unbelievable red object above them. “Why is a double-decker bus falling from the sky?” “Don’t look back!” After Gunmal’s harsh cry, Kouga tensed his body and faced forward. A moment later, the great pressure vanished from overhead, as did the shadow threatening to crush them. “!?” Kouga looked back and saw Gunmal holding his Device in his flesh-and-blood left hand. “Gunmal!? What did you just do!?” “Shut up! Just keep going!” Kouga almost said something else but decided against it. Instead, he shook his head a bit and sighed. He then gathered some different words and let them out into the wind. “It’s not often you get serious. …Are you worried about Akira?” “I still haven’t heard her answer.” “Her answer? Did you confess to her?” Gunmal did not reply. Instead, he muttered some other words into the wind. “This really takes me back. I keep hearing Lives of fear.” ### Part 3 Akira watched as the city fell apart. The scarlet Live flying her way tore through the center of a fifteen-story park hotel located along the road. The white building was destroyed in an instant. “…!” The smashing of the stone, metal, and glass mixed together into a rumble much like that of a waterfall. And it did not end there. Perhaps due to colliding with the massive object, J-Gun’s Live literally exploded. Briefly, a near-indescribable smell of sweet fire hung in the air. Immediately afterwards, a deep sound was let loose. The four or five buildings around the park hotel collapsed from the speed of the blast. The multiple roars resonated with each other and numbed Akira’s ears. The smoke of the scarlet killer intent wrapped the buildings in red flames. … What is this? Akira watched on while kneeling on the asphalt, but… “Akira! Ahead of you!” Rin’s voice brought her back to her senses. The enemy’s convertible was stopped up ahead and J-Gun was no longer standing on top of it. The Galgallin named Fei was there instead. … What is he going to do!? Her question was immediately answered. Just as when they had met underground, he raised his arm and a mortar jutted out. White light was already gathering in the barrel. … Heat!? Just as Akira realized what his attack was based on its Live, an explosion shook Hong Kong for the third time that day. “!” Heat lost all color once it reached a certain temperature. It would roast the air and only contain the color white. That was the identity of the white pillar that shot horizontally along Chatham Road. “Kyah!” She did not have time to dodge. The white heat filled both sides of the road and vaporized the asphalt. “You goddamn idiot!!” A man’s shout collided head-on with the mass of pure white heat. The clash was settled in an instant and it ended with a surprisingly refreshing sound of steam. Fei’s heat projectile had been utterly destroyed. “!?” It had all happened in an instant. The white heat, the intent to kill, and everything else had vanished and it had all become a still wind. Only the melted road remained up ahead. The melted portion ended less than ten meters ahead of Akira, but she could no longer detect even a hint of heat. The heat Live had been destroyed and she saw its many pieces floating through the air and vanishing. “…” She was speechless. She had her Device raised as if to Tune because she had instinctually prepared to Tune the heat Live as it flew toward her. She could also tell her fingers were stiff with tension. She checked and found that Fei and J-Gun had vanished from the road up ahead. The convertible was gone too, so they must have escaped. However, she no longer had the energy to give chase. Strength left her body and she sighed. She trembled and almost succumbed to the desire to drop her spear Device and fall to her hands and knees, but she just barely managed to move her wings and withstand that exhaustion. She then looked to the destruction before her eyes. “That’s unbelievable. And…” … They eliminated it in an instant. All she knew was that a powerful Live had flown in from behind. It had been a shockwave produced by the action of “slicing the air”. The Live had been produced with a strange sort of Busting and not many people could pull it off. “…” To confirm her suspicions, she turned around. There, she saw the tram Rin rode on stopped in the road. Kouga sat atop a thoroughly modified motorcycle, and next to him was… “Gunmal.” He stood with his Device in hand. … Did you eliminate that just now? He did not answer. He only smiled bitterly, looked her way, and said something else. “Thank goodness. Are you alive?” He asked in his usual tone. And as always, his Live was hidden from view. ### 139. Act 8: Talk Show (6:18) ### Part 1 The white-walled meeting room on Hong Kong Yard’s second story was large enough to fit two hundred people. It was designed much like a university lecture hall and it was indeed being used for a lecture. A teacher and assistant stood on the stage up front where their voices could reach everyone else. Rin and Kouga wore their Yard uniforms in front of the large display they were using instead of a blackboard. And if there was a teacher, there had to be students. About eighty percent of the meeting room’s seats were filled. The model students did not utter a word or produce any noise at all and, other than the police superintendent acting as the director, they were all from field units. There was a total of one hundred fifty eight from the Tank Force, the Custom Force, the Ninja Force, and the Hounds. They were all prized members of the Yard and they displayed their diligence by filling the front half of the meeting room’s seats. On the other hand, Akira, Gunmal, and the General sat on the very back row. They all silently listened to Rin and they were taking this seriously. After all, Rin started with this: “I am mainly here to explain the process by which Hong Kong will be destroyed and sent up to heaven.” She then began talking about World War Two. “You are all familiar with Aerial City’s self-sacrifice, I assume. At the end of the war, the Germans fired a Wort Bombe at England. To save England, the bomb was taken to heaven and heaven was utterly destroyed.” She went on to say that the Nein Engels were attempting to Tune Hong Kong, carry it up to the destroyed heaven, and create a new heaven. From there, her explanation continued to build. “If Hong Kong’s Kowloon is seen as the center, then the Tune Emblems in question have been drawn at the northwestern Tsing Yi Island, the southwestern Lamma Island, and the southwestern Beaufort Island. Also, Earth Burns have been seen in the ocean near those islands.” A map of Hong Kong appeared on the large display behind Rin and red circles expanded from three points on it. “Based on the size of the Tune Emblems, Earth Burns made from Lives with an Octave of 40 million have already fused with the land within these red circles.” The three red circles seemed to pin down the map and they were each about ten kilometers across. The three of them covered most of Hong Kong. If they became dragons and suddenly ascended into the sky, the casualties would be more than just one or two hundred thousand. Everyone gave a stiff gasp, but a voice broke that tense atmosphere. “Hey, Rin.” The casual, questioning tone came from the General. “There’s somethin’ I don’t get.” “Yes, I had a feeling you would ask about this.” “Quit flatterin’ me,” he said before continuing. “Well, I’ll start with just one thing. If someone made these three Earth Burns, then why’d they only have them swim in the ocean and disappear on the night those dragons were spotted?” “Anything else?” “Yeah, one more. With Tunin’, the Lives’ll end up back here even if they are taken up to heaven. Tune arrangements are nothin’ but healin’ after all.” “I see.” Rin gave a deep nod to show she had understood his questions. “The answer to that is found in J-Gun’s Devices that the Nein Engels wanted and in how Huang Daquan died. Why did they create four identical Devices and yet want another device now? And where did Huang Daquan’s blood end up?” She continued. “When the Tune Emblems were activated and the Earth Burns appeared, one of those Devices was driven into each of them. The blades must have been soaked in the blood just like the Tune Emblems…and those were J-Gun’s Devices which could withstand an Octave of several dozen million.” She turned toward the large display just as a new circle appeared. It was centered on the eastern Kowloon Peninsula, near Hung Hom. Its position created a square with the previous three circles. The four red circles covered almost everything. Rin turned sideways to let everyone see the screen. “The Earth Burns obeyed the Message of their creator and vanished into the sea before their bodies could fully develop, but that was to use a Bust System.” “You mean the four elements of wood, fire, earth, and water, plus the element of metal that is created from the combination of the other four?” asked Gunmal. “So my brother’s Devices acted as the key to the three Earth Burns and they will…um, resonate with the ceremony to bring out an Earth Burn in that new circle in Hung Hom, which will Tune all four Earth Burns at once?” “Yes. The identical Devices will act as a resonating whistle. …But that isn’t all.” “?” “You said the element of metal is created when the other four are combined, right? We should assume the ceremonies they’ve completed or will complete correspond to those four elements.” Lamma Island’s rainforest land made it wood. Tsing Yi Island’s name meant “blue clothes”, so it was water. Beaufort Island’s bare volcanic rock made it earth. And Hung Hom’s thermal power station was fire. Symbols of the four elements had been gathered. And that meant… “If the four dragons are Tuned here, the foundation needed to activate the element of metal will be created at the central point! Look, if these four elements are activated, what land is left!?” Rin indicated a single point on the large display. It covered the Kowloon Peninsula from the center to the very end. “Hong Kong Cave.” “!” A stir ran through the audience like a wave. But… “Don’t panic!” Rin’s shout eliminated the stir and silence returned. But this silence was different. The audience was intentionally suppressing any noise and Rin’s voice soon reached them. “Look carefully. How much power will the metal Live have as it ascends along the path created by the other four elements?” As soon as she spoke, an even larger red circle appeared over northern Hong Kong Island on the map. It encompassed the other four circles and grew even larger. “Wait, wait, wait,” said some of the Yard members, but the circle only continued to grow. “The Four Elements Acceleration of the Tune System squares the power of a single element, so some simple math tells us that all land within a one hundred kilometer radius will be Tuned as an Earth Serpent!” The circle did not just cover Hong Kong Island, the large Lantau Island to the west, and the Kowloon Peninsula. It also included a portion of the ocean and China. “Using a form of Death Techno, Huang Daquan’s blood was used to fill the dragons with the power of Yang, a heavenly element, so even if the Tuning is dispelled, it will not return to the earth. …Heaven will be restored and Hong Kong will be destroyed.” Everyone silently listened to her and looked at the screen. But Rin only lowered her head slightly and smiled. “Sorry for frightening you,” she began. “This is why I summoned you here today. Do you all understand the nature of the mission given in the documents you hold? Do you understand why we are breaking into Hong Kong Cave when even the governor continues to ignore it and everyone writes it off as ‘nonexistent’ or ‘outside their jurisdiction’ due to the past Divine Punishment Wars?” She took a breath. “We are up against two of the three secret Tune Bust techniques. If we don’t seal off the four elements today, the metal dragon will eventually activate. …No, it’s sure to happen before the gate to heaven vanishes from Hong Kong’s sky in two weeks’ time!” With that said, she once more looked to the meeting room’s back row. No one had said anything, but the Nein Engel sitting there had stood up. The girl was Akira. Akira scratched her head and started to leave the meeting room. The only ones to notice this were the others in the back row and Rin. No one tried to stop her and Gunmal simply watched her go. She was part of Cleared, so even as a participant, she wasn’t part of a field unit. Also, Rin had seen Akira’s Live. Her Live had contained a difficult color that had stopped Rin from calling out to her. ### Part 2 “Hey, kid. The meeting’s gonna keep goin’, but what’ll you do? Go after Akira?” “Well, I have a bit of a thought.” “And what’s that?” “To put it in a literary way, my sensible right brain just chopped my impulsive left brain to stop it.” “Hm. Well, I already knew you were a special kind of person, but how ‘bout you take this more seriously?” “You sure are rude. What part of me isn’t taking this seriously?” “Every single part of you as a whole.” “Yeah, well, each of those parts is taking it seriously individually.” “Hey, quiet down, you two. …And General, you’re supposed to be our leader, so please take this meeting seriously.” “See? You just got her mad at us.” “…” “Akira needs to be more honest.” “At this rate, it might crush her.” “Really? “Yeah. Gunmal, what do you want from her? You hate Bustin’ and Tunin’, but you still went to save her.” “I’m not trying to use her for anything like you seem to be thinking.” “Really? Then…” “Then I shouldn’t save her? Well, I have to. I still haven’t gotten the answer I want from her. Not the whole answer, anyway.” “Answer? What answer?” “Isn’t it obvious?” “Just tell me. And if it’s an awful joke, I’ll kill you.” “What if it’s a funny joke?” “I’ll make sure you die.” “Tch.” “You aren’t honest either.” “That’s what makes me cool.” “Fine, fine. …But try to think about this. This is probably the first time Akira’s seen Tunin’ used to take lives. …She may be talented, but she wasn’t able to protect the city from destruction.” “And even accounting for how nice the Device is, she’s still suddenly found out that her brother has gotten powerful enough to summon an Earth Burn. Man, there are a ton of problems for her here, aren’t there?” “It’s true Akira has no chance against those Tune Emblems based on what I’ve seen.” “You sound certain. Do you know something about the Emblems?” “…” “Anyway, this city is just filled with mysteries.” “Oh? Like what?” “Like why you and Akira’s old man have the exact same scar on the cheek.” “Hu and I are different people.” “I thought as much. The glimpses I’ve seen of your Live don’t show any compassion toward Akira and she said she watched over her old man’s last moments with you and Rin.” “…” “See? It’s filled with mysteries. So can you answer me this one?” “…Hm.” “?” “It goes back to the Fifth Divine Punishment War twenty five years ago.” “Yeah, you mentioned that in the workshop. The Fifth Divine Punishment War was a fight started by Hong Kong’s mafia and it was led by a British spy, so it goes back to Hong Kong’s scheduled return to China, right?” “Sounds like you don’t know what that British spy was tryin’ to accomplish with all that.” “You don’t mean…” “I do. There’s an original version of that Tune Emblem and it was created by Lee Hu and Luna Azuel, Akira’s parents.” “!?” “Well, a lot happened. Officially, they were makin’ a local destruction Tune Emblem to use in the battles against the Chinese military. But Hu and Luna ended up tryin’ to seal it away. They fought a lot to that end…and they were fightin’ against Huang Daquan.” “Against Huang Daquan? That big shot of the financial world…and the underworld?” “They had their reasons. Hu, Luna, and Huang ended up steppin’ into a realm I never could. It was that fight that caused Huang to age all at once like he did and it also made Hu quit the Yard and Luna quit Tunin’.” “Did Akira and her brother inherit something of theirs?” “How should I know? But I do know the last thing Hu said after comin’ up to the surface that last time: ‘This city will eventually connect heaven and earth.’ He also asked me to look after the children who would follow him.” “…” “I have no idea what’s goin’ to happen to Hong Kong. …J-Gun said you’d be the one to save the city, but make sure you at least protect Akira.” “Hm.” “…How ‘bout it?” “Well, I think it should work out. I am kind to women after all. But only if they’re no older than twenty-eight and no younger than sixteen.” “If it weren’t for that flippant side of you, I might be able to trust you.” “Shut up. That’s just who I am. …Oh, it’s this late already?” “Hm?” “I was just thinking I should get going to Akira’s place.” “Why are you goin’ after her now?” “I thought it would be best to give her some time first. …I like to calculate everything out.” “It doesn’t look that way to me.” “That’s cause I was just kidding. …Well, good luck, old man.” ### Part 3 It was four in the afternoon and the sun was starting to sink. The wind blowing in from the sea had vanished and a wind blowing in from the mainland replaced it. The scent of greenery and sand filled that thick continental wind. The wind was stronger in elevated places and it dropped down from those heights at night. In Hong Kong, the wind was strongest and night fell fastest on the roof of the former Archs RDC headquarters. Someone there was experiencing the faint Live of the night with his entire body. A six-winged Seraph stood on the railing at the edge of the roof and his shallow gaze stared into the distance. He was Double Lee. He faced forward and he stood firm despite the wind. He was looking to Hong Kong Cave, that great hole in Hong Kong Island across the distant ocean. The Nein Engels lived there and no one else ever set foot inside. Tilted shadows bordered the entrance to the hole thanks to the angled light of the sun. Double Lee held a hand to his forehead as if the sun was getting in his eyes, but he suddenly thrust that hand forward. He then swept the hand to the side as if scooping something up. “Not enough,” he muttered while clenching his fist. “And yet I sought heaven as I had promised.” He stopped speaking there. He closed his eyes a little and turned around just in time for another Nein Engel to descend from the sky. The four-winged Nein Engel was Genius. She alighted on the rooftop and looked up at Double Lee. “Everyone has finished moving. They have all escaped through Hong Kong Cave’s underground tunnels. The boats all left Hong Kong Island’s western port almost simultaneously half an hour ago. They should be in position in another two hours.” “I see.” Double Lee nodded. “They will not be used to the boats and, when looking through the list, I saw the elderly Zhu family on Boat D4. Make sure they link the boats as instructed before heading out to sea.” “Understood. ..Also, the Yard called an emergency meeting.” “Ignore it.” “What will your sister do?” “Oppose us, I would imagine.” His emotionless tone led Genius to ask something else. “You said that before, but are you actually hoping that will happen?” He did not answer. Instead, he turned his back on her, so she spoke to the six white wings spread before her eyes. “Hey, I have another question. To resurrect someone using necromancy, you need to remind their soul of something they regret or have left undone. …What did you tell J-Gun’s soul?” “Fei performed the necromancy, not me.” “Someone who underwent a Psyche Outer surgery couldn’t persuade a soul. You must have told him what to say. For example…” She took a breath. “Maybe you were giving him a chance to get back at the younger brother who was more skilled than him.” “So what if that was it? If we had not resurrected J-Gun, our plan would have fallen apart. We are willing to use any means necessary for our plan, aren’t we?” “How can you say that!?” She just about said more, but something stopped her. Double Lee spoke in a lower and calmer tone than hers, but there was much more power hidden below his words. “Genius, do you think every question needs an answer?” “Eh?” “Long ago, some people asked a great question but were unable to come up with an answer. Sadly, they fell in love with the same woman and then fought to save Hong Kong.” “…” “But they did not entirely succeed and Hong Kong was left in its current state. …And while hoping the future would find true salvation, they died without finding their answer. It is a truly hopeless fact,” he muttered. “All that remained was that great question and a great answer that is all too difficult to reach.” As he spoke, Double Lee took a step forward. He moved as casually as someone heading out on a stroll, but in so doing, he entrusted himself to the sky. “Genius, it is about time to get ready. We need to hurry.” With those words, he spread his six white wings which shined in the light of the setting sun. ### Interlude 4 The color purpled filled the sky. Night was fast approaching. Scattered lights covered the city and the bustling movement of the streets was different from that of the daytime. But even in Hong Kong, one area attempted to gain the stillness of night: the public graveyard of Kowloon’s administrative district. The British-style graveyard was mostly covered by grass and had no lanterns. The only lights were those in the sky. There was some slight sound there. It was music played in the high notes of a sanxian. The music rang long and short from near the center of the park filled with rows of gravestones and crosses. A girl with white wings was playing the instrument and she sang the lyrics of the Flight Song. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” Akira’s high-pitched voice flowed and resounded with the notes of the sanxian…but then it stopped. “…” Once she finished singing, she placed the sanxian in the grass. With a sigh, she turned around to face the polished slab-shaped gravestone there. The brown stone was engraved with two names: those of her parents. “I can’t believe this,” she said quietly while touching the gravestone. … For once, I really am not sure what to do. Her slender fingers stroked the smooth stone surface, but she suddenly stopped. “…” Her fingertips wrapped around her father’s name and she asked a question. “Gunmal? …You’re here, aren’t you?” Her question led a figure to move along the grass. The figure sighed and spoke in an exasperated tone. “How did you know? I was suppressing my Live even more than usual.” “It wasn’t your Live. I just thought you were probably there.” Akira turned around and found Gunmal there. She then asked him a question with her thoughts. … Why are you here? “Why do you ask?” “Because it would seem a little too contrived if you were just here by chance.” “Too contrived? Isn’t there a better way of putting that?” He smiled bitterly and sat on the grass to put him at eye level with her. His blue eyes looked down to the sanxian next to her. She could not read anything from his still gaze. “My dad taught me how to play that.” Hearing that, he looked up with a hint of surprise on his face. “What is it?” she asked. “Well… It’s just that you answered the question I was thinking. …Could you see it?” She shook her head. “Of course not. I’m not as talented as you.” “Talented?” “…Yeah.” … Lately, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to learn what level I’m on. “Yeah, you probably would think that right now.” “It isn’t just right now. That Tune Emblem uses Yin and Yang Lives, which are two of the secret Tune Bust techniques which include the space-time Lives, and it can even summon a dragon. That was kind of a shock.” “So you feel kind of beaten?” Gunmal sighed, let his shoulders droop a little, and looked down at the sanxian again. “That thing sounded nice. …What was that song?” “The Flight Song. My mom taught it to me.” “Hm, she must have taught you well. And she must have been a good mom.” … What was your mom like? He did not answer and she sighed. “You didn’t get along.” “Because she pissed me off. I haven’t forgotten a thing about those parents of mine.” … What were they like? He crossed his arms to put on a show of thinking. “Let’s see… I think one was a man and the other a woman. Oh, and I have a feeling they were older than me.” “You idiot. You’ve forgotten plenty.” “Then what were your parents like?” “Do I have to answer?” “You can give a joke answer if you want.” “I can’t believe you.” She scratched her head. “It’s a little complicated. Because of a weird illness, my dad died of old age when he was still young.” … When I was a child, I was separated from them. “And not long after I left for the surface, my mom died of Balance Fall…I think.” “You think? So she might still be alive?” “No. She noticed when I snuck out at night. And I found her braided hair on the table as all that remained.” “And that’s in here too?” He turned to the gravestone behind her and the Nein Engel girl nodded. She then looked at him and eventually started laughing. “What’s with that look, Gunmal?” “Sorry.” “The General knows about all this too, so it’s fine. And my parents left me with more than the sanxian. They taught me about Tuning and plenty of other things, so I’m pretty satisfied.” “About Tuning too?” “Yes, but didn’t I tell you they only taught me that?” She looked away from him. … When I was a child, I tried to Tune in a weird way and I was never able to do much. “A weird way?” “When releasing your Live, you usually use a single note, but I was singing the Flight Song. My mom told me to learn the basics before using that method, so she taught me how to use the Wind Up method and I just got better and better from there.” “…” “And that’s how I got to where I am now. …But now my progress has stalled.” She stopped speaking there. … Am I talking too much? “It’s a lot better than sitting in silence.” “Then what about you, Gunmal? You aren’t saying anything. Your brother is on the enemy’s side, so don’t you want to stop him?” She turned toward him as she asked and their gazes seemed to audibly collide. The silence lasted three full breaths, but Gunmal finally spoke while still looking her in the eye. “I’m a pacifist, so instead of fighting…” He shrugged. “I prefer love and peace. Watching them from afar is best.” … Are you serious? Her expression was harsh. Puzzlement filled his face and he waited for her to speak, so she lowered her head and did so. “With your talent, couldn’t you stop J-Gun?” “Y’know, if my brother and I went on a rampage, it wouldn’t just hurt the city. It would hurt the people living there, us, and everyone else too.” … Aren’t you just running away? “Running away?” “Yes. And you’re using everything around you as a shield.” “I see.” He nodded and replied in a rather frivolous tone. “And what’s wrong with that?” Akira briefly bit her lip and suppressed the Live containing the words she impulsively wanted to say. Instead, she chose her words carefully and spoke slowly. “I think that would be the least of our worries if Hong Kong is blown away. Something much, much worse would happen. And if the Nein Engels go to heaven, they’ll never again live alongside-…” She suddenly stopped saying the words that she seemed to want someone to hear. Her hand touched the gravestone behind her. “…?” She quickly looked up and at Gunmal. … Sorry. “Hm?” “I should have been saying all of that to myself.” … Did you read my Live and play along? “Maybe.” He smiled bitterly, reached out, and rubbed her head. She closed her eyes and let him. And at that moment, sound raced across the sky. “!?” The two of them looked up and saw a Live. The sound raced by again. The sound-producing Live was a brilliant red and its Tempo was high-pitched and almost earsplitting. This was an alarm. “The fifth alarm!? That’s the Divine Punishment Alarm!” As if to answer Akira’s cry, her cellphone rang in her pocket. She answered it quickly. “Hello!? This is Akira! …Rin!? Why is the Divine Punishment Alarm going off!?” “It’s an emergency! The Nein Engels have vanished from Hong Kong Cave!” Despite the blaring alarm, Rin’s voice was perfectly clear over the phone’s speaker. She seemed to be placing her Live and a powerful Message in her voice. “They aren’t going to wait until the Tank Force gets back! We need to head to the predicted spot! Will you be coming!?” Akira turned to Gunmal. … What should I do? He gave a deep nod. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you no matter what happens.” “Y-you idiot. Where did that nonsense come from?” “Can’t you appreciate it a little?” “Sure, sure.” She smiled bitterly and spoke into the phone. “I’m coming! Besides…it’s a sister’s job to stop her brother! Tell me where!” “The Hung Hom thermal power station in eastern Kowloon!” Rin then shouted something that truly went without saying. “Hurry!” ### 140. Act 9: Verdict of Normality (3:31) ### Part 1 Taking Chatham Road north from Tsim Sha Tsui for twenty minutes on foot brought one to the eastern Hung Hom region of the Kowloon Peninsula. If the shopping districts such as Tsim Sha Tsui were Hong Kong’s face, then this manufacturing district was the city’s body. It was filled with factories and high-class residential areas for the nouveau riche who kept Hong Kong’s economy running. Unlike the shopping districts, the region was filled with bright Lives that lacked any heat. Or it normally did. “Wow.” Ma Tau Wai Road cut east to west through Hung Hom. Akira ran east down it with Gunmal and she could not help but voice her opinion of the odd Lives surrounding the streets of Hung Hom. They were Lives of alarm. The fifth alarm ringing throughout Hong Kong was transforming the streets of Hung Hom. Having subconsciously noticed, the people were trying to flee that region. Cars flooded the roads and the sidewalks were even more crowded than usual. Everyone was moving west, away from Hung Hom and away from the Kowloon Peninsula as a whole. Their voices were all filled with doubts and unease. Akira found it hard to breathe under the auditory pressure of their Lives. … This is harsh. “Don’t you think it’s that alarm’s fault? Yeah, I can feel it tingling from my brain down to my toes.” “You sound like that makes you happy.” Akira avoided the people while replying to Gunmal’s comment. Everyone on the sidewalk carried large bags and a lot of them had children with them. The two ran as well as they could without getting in the people’s way. “Akira, it would definitely be faster if you flew.” “But what about you? You don’t know where the thermal power station is, right?” “Don’t worry. I’ll ask a police officer to show me the way.” … And where are you going to find that police officer? “There’s one right in front of- Hey, don’t ignore my clever joke.” “Shut up.” They continued running. “There aren’t any people on the sidewalks anymore. Is it because only the roads are clogged up?” “Hm. I guess you could say manpower won out over civilization.” “That is not what it means. …Oh, we take a left at this signal. They turned left at the intersection. They left the show windows and lights of Ma Tau Wai Road and entered a residential street that looked a lot more like a shopping district. There was a lot of green. A church came into view on their left. It was the Holy Carpenter Church that the area was well known for. The church had an Anglican and Victorian style and the plaza out front was surrounded by green and filled with… “People.” Akira heard quiet Lives ringing from the church. “So they’re seeking salvation from god, are they? Maybe if they pray, they’ll get to go to heaven even if they still die. …Oh, wait. Heaven was destroyed.” “That’s inappropriate.” She warned Gunmal while looking up into the night sky. The destroyed heaven was up there. It itself was not visible, but she could faintly see its Live. One spot in the sky glowed faintly as if more stars were gathered there than elsewhere. That was likely the chapter title page that acted as an entrance to heaven. “Restoring heaven, hm?” She faced forward again and saw a land bridge. Once they crossed that, they would arrive at the thermal power station. … We need to hurry. As soon as she thought that, she heard a mighty blast of a six-tone horn from behind. An engine rumbled in the background. She looked back while running and saw Kouga riding a motorcycle with… “Akira! Gunmal!” It was Rin. She wore body armor over her usual suit and held a shotgun. The motorcycle decelerated to match Akira and Gunmal’s speed. Kouga looked to the two of them in the eye and smiled bitterly. “Honestly, those clogged streets didn’t make it easy. They really need to work on the traffic control around here. What are the cops doing these days?” “You’re one of those cops, you know?” said Rin. “I see Gunmal is here, too. You’re a normal civilian, so you didn’t have to come.” “Oh, c’mon. As a normal civilian, I’ve gotta enjoy all the events the city has to offer.” “…I’d call you an abnormal civilian,” added Akira. “Well, I am cooler than average and smarter than the standard.” “Don’t forget far more special than normal,” cut in Rin while facing forward. Her eyes were fixed on the thermal power station visible in the darkness. “Our opponent is probably in there.” “And we’re all that showed up? This’ll probably make them cry.” After his joking comment, Gunmal looked to Rin. Akira noticed where he was looking and realized his gaze had suddenly grown a lot calmer and colder than a moment before. … Is something the matter with Rin? Gunmal may have heard her question because he spoke. “Why are you prepared to die?” “!?” Akira gasped and Kouga slowed the motorcycle. Just as they all focused on Rin, she responded. “Hurry. The enemy is over there.” Her calm voice contained no emotion, but Akira could see her Live. What she saw there was far too unstable to call an emotion. ### Part 2 Hung Hom’s thermal power station was a four hundred square meter facility bordering the ocean. It contained several reactors that narrowed in the center like a pot. Four of the reactors were situated in the center of the power station to create a square. Something like a small park surrounded that square and mercury lamps revealed four figures in that park. It was the Nein Engel group. The group contained Double Lee, Fei, Genius, and J-Gun. They were currently preparing for their ceremony. “This is the last of Master Huang’s blood,” muttered Double Lee. He looked to the ADs, one of the Devices J-Gun had made, which was stabbed into the asphalt. And his right hand held a glass bottle. It was their final bottle of Huang Daquan’s blood. He tilted the bottle and poured its contents onto the ADs. The Device’s blade reflected the light of the mercury lamps as the dark red blood slid down it, reached the asphalt ground, and pooled up. “…” Soon, the bottle was empty. And at the same time… “Word Accel, you Live with an Octave of 80,000!” After shouting his Over Up, Double Lee grabbed the Device’s hilt. “Ha!” He released a slight Live. And what happened then? Waves formed in the blood creating a puddle on the ground. The waves spread and produced countless ripples. The blood was moving. In places, it spread in a ring. In others, it moved in a single direction. In yet others, it stayed in place. Altogether, it drew circles, lines, and words. It drew a Tune Emblem. Fei, Genius, and J-Gun silently watched the Earth Burn summoning Tune Emblem take form. However, it was hard to say J-Gun was actually watching. There was no strength in his eyes. He was dead, after all. And one of them was distracted by his presence: Genius. She was watching Double Lee create the Tune Emblem, but she was not focused on that. Her ears and other senses were all turned toward J-Gun next to her. Only her eyes were turned elsewhere. It looked like she was waiting silently for him to say something to her. She must have known how it looked because there was a bitter smile on her lips, although it did not leave her lips. … That would never happen. He’s a corpse without a heart. “Does his presence bother you?” She looked up in surprise and found Double Lee looking her way. He had already pulled the ADs from the ground and held it in his hand. He had finished creating the Tune Emblem. It would take time for it to be complete as the blood had to dry. “It really would have been better not to bring him here so he could work on the final Device needed to summon the Earth Serpent, but the enemy has made some…troubling movements.” “I know,” said Genius. “The Yard has your sister, J-Gun’s brother, and… Fei?” Fei nodded. “There is someone from my past. The past I do not know.” “It’s strange, isn’t it?” said Double Lee. “Long ago, Fei too must have had his acquaintances on the surface.” “Fei…you really can’t remember?” “I have no reason to enter the mental state you would call ‘wanting to remember’, but it is possible my modified brain tissue contains residual pieces of the information.” Genius looked to the cybernetix plug at the base of Fei’s neck which was evidence of his brain modifications. It was a small plug about the size of a pencil eraser. It was embedded in his lightly armored body, it was not as large as the ones seen in old B movies, and it was not wired. “Fei only agreed to join Archs RDC if they Customized his body, right? I remember because it was a pretty big issue at the time.” … Why did he want to erase his memories and emotions? Double Lee was the only one to answer Genius’s thoughts. “The three of us, no… Master Huang and…all of us are probably the same in that way. We have something that leaves us with a grudge against the surface.” He lightly swung ADs as he spoke. It was not a powerful swing, but it still audibly sliced through the wind. And that sound briefly froze the air. “They’re here,” said Double Lee. “I can hear their Lives. …There are three…no, four? One of them has an oddly quiet Live. And…ha ha ha.” “?” “That is the Live of the young man Fei killed before. Ha ha ha. He seems to be a vampire or some other immortal race. In that case, the one near him is his boss and…the last one is Akira.” “That’s your sister, right?” asked Genius. He silently nodded. His expression was the same as always, but she sensed something different about him: she could not see his Live. She had no idea what he was thinking as she heard him speak. “So this ceremony will not reveal the answer. …What a shame.” ### Part 3 The battle had a sudden start. As soon as the Yard group set foot in the power station, the Nein Engel group began to move. The time was 7:13 PM. The night was only just getting started. ### 141. Morning Section - Final Act: Rotation (10:32) ### Part 1 A certain noise could be heard in the distance: gunfire. The sharp yet low-pitched tone rumbled through the power station. Akira and Gunmal heard it as they made their way to the center of the power station. They heard more gunfire that seemed to match their pace. “That’s Rin,” muttered Akira as she jogged along and kept an eye on her surroundings. Gunmal made long strides next to her and nodded. “I guess they’ve already started. …Worried?” “Well, yes. Especially after what you said earlier.” … That she’s prepared to die. She looked to Gunmal. His sword Device was resting on his shoulder and he faced forward with a look that made her think he had dropped his tension somewhere. In other words, he was the same as always. “Hey, Gunmal.” “?” “Sorry about forcing you to come with me.” … But why are you here? “Well…” “And if you say because you ran here, I’ll smash your head open.” He trailed off there, so she had apparently guessed right. “…This stupid guy.” She clicked her tongue and looked to his Device. It was shaped like a bladeless mixture of a musical instrument and a sword. It was named Nein König and was a lot like him. “I’ve been wondering. Did you create that Device?” “How would I give birth to something like this? I’m not equipped for that.” “I-I didn’t mean it like that!” … If you can make something like that, then why did you quit Busting? He did not answer her. He only faced forward and said something else. “We have some opponents.” She saw them too. About fifty meters straight ahead, two figures stood before the reactor. It was a similar group to Akira and Gunmal: a female Nein Engel and a human Buster. Akira and Gunmal gradually slowed to a walk and then stopped altogether. Both sides could see each other’s faces at that range. For those who used Lives, they were already within range. “Long time no see, brother. You’re not looking too hot.” J-Gun did not reply. Instead, Genius spoke next to him. “Leave, both of you. This is not worth dying over.” “No one said we’re going to die.” … Gunmal, is that woman Genius? Gunmal silently nodded. “Your beauty’s wasted on my mute brother.” “You don’t go easy on your own family, do you?” “Don’t worry. I make sure to praise myself.” As soon as he spoke, the mercury lamp next to them burst. “!?” The area grew a little darker and the lamp’s glass fragilely clattered to the asphalt. … What just happened? Akira realized that Genius held a sword and that light was wrapped around the blade. That light was not a Live; it was actual light. It slithered up the weapon like a snake and the fine grooves along the blade formed an emblem. Gunmal whistled lightly. “Wow. Now that’s SF.” “What are you talking about, you idiot? She has four wings, so she’s a cherub. That’s the kind of Nein Engel that controls light.” “Miss Akira? If you’re Double Lee’s sister, you must know how strong I am. No matter how powerful you are in Busting or Tuning, you can’t react to flying light.” She lightly swung the sword and the light flew like a whip. She targeted the mercury lamp positioned opposite the previous one. With a solid sound, this white light also burst. Gunmal heard the glass falling again and gave Akira a serious look. “Akira, listen carefully to what I’m going to say.” “What?” “I’m a normal civilian, so can I leave now?” “No.” “That’s just mean. You said earlier I could leave, didn’t you?” “Shut up. From now on, I’m going to automatically reject any ideas like that.” “Fine then. Busting without producing a Live is hard, though.” With that, he raised his Device in his prosthetic right hand. “Hey, lady! Where’s Akira’s brother!?” “About one hundred meters beyond this reactor. …But you’ll have to defeat us first.” “I see,” he muttered before changing his tone. “Hey, Akira. Is Tuning fun?” “What?” Akira tilted her head at the unexpected question, so he asked again. “Well, there’s a lot to it, but let’s keep it simple. Is Tuning fun?” “W-well, I suppose.” Her answer was vague, but it seemed to convey her thoughts because he nodded. “I see. Then maybe you can make Busting fun for me.” “Eh?” “…” He said nothing. Like always. “So you’re going to fight?” asked Genius. Gunmal nodded and so did Akira. J-Gun did not, but he did take a single step forward. They all raised their weapons at once and a distant gunshot was their cue to attack. ### Part 2 Rin and Kouga were in the power station’s courtyard. It was a gravel-covered space surrounded by school-like buildings. The buildings were abandoned and all of the windows were dark. “Is that a security center? Since this is a power station, we can’t do anything too reckless.” “Where’s the enemy?” “I don’t know. He can move fast and I saw him moving this way earlier, but…” “Ahh, maybe we should have stayed on the motorcycle. …I left it right back there, so should I go get it?” “No. We should stay where we can see each other.” With that simple reply, Rin looked up and gave a shout. “Here he comes!” The two of them split to the left and right. At the same time, a series of light bursting sounds arrived. Their feet sent some of the gravel flying and the spot they had just vacated was blown away. The gunfire was pursuing them. Specifically, it pursued Rin while scattering gravel everywhere. It was fast. … He certainly is confident. While running, Rin cocked her shotgun and fired once toward the roof she had had seen a figure on before. Instead of normal shot or a normal bullet, she used a specialized anti-demon round. Unlike those made for handguns, this one did not send out a spear. Instead, it fired a three meter stake made of light. The barely-aimed bullet flew and burst in every direction once it hit the edge of the roof. If one carved a deep groove in the tip of the bullet, it would scatter like that. With the sound of shattering stone, a portion of the roof was blown away and the pursuing bullets stopped. … Did I hit him? No, I doubt it. Without stopping her running feet, Rin pressed up against the wall ahead. She looked up and saw pieces of the concrete roof pouring down as powder. “…” There was no sign of the enemy. She used her Tune power to listen for his Live, but it was no use. The residual ringing of the previous gunfire was still too strong, so the area’s Lives were still disturbed. She exhaled, looked down, and saw Kouga behind a tree in front of the opposite building. When they exchanged a glance, he pointed to the roof over her head and tilted his head. … So he can’t see anything from there either? Did he run away? “No, it wouldn’t be that easy.” She only wished this opponent had fled. He was a Galgallin with a Custom Body. “Galgallins are said to be the chariots of heaven, but it looks like that holds true even with a Nein Engel.” She cocked her shotgun as she spoke. She shoved a round into the chamber and loaded it. She attached a new tube-shaped magazine and counted how many she had left: two. There were seven rounds in each, so she had twenty-two rounds left, counting those inside the gun. “And…” She had her combat knife Device and a handgun inside her body armor. The handgun was a Colt New Service she had received from her father. It was loaded with the normal light spear anti-demon rounds. She was ridiculously over-stocked for a normal firefight. … But will this be enough to defeat him? Her opponent had a lot of firepower even without considering the advantages of the Galgallin race. “That Custom Body is dangerous even for one custom made by Archs RDC. Even one of Detroit’s virtual Custom Bodies would only be an even match.” Suddenly, Kouga moved behind the tree. He pointed overhead. “…!” Rin reflexively fired her shotgun into the sky. “Ah,” she uttered in surprise. What she saw in the sky was not their enemy. It was a band of light. The gathering of white points resembled stardust as it flowed through the sky like a river. She eventually realized it was a group of Nein Engels and the white came from their wings. These would be a portion of the six hundred Nein Engels who had vanished from Hong Kong Cave. They had somehow arrived in the sky above Hung Hom where they decorated the night sky like stars. They looked like angels flying around god and forming a great white wind to decorate heaven. “Are they waiting for the Earth Burn to fly?” At some point, the stream of Nein Engels formed a massive white ring in the sky. Rin’s shoulders trembled because it felt like they were looking down at her. She was certain a similar dance had begun above Beaufort Island, Lamma Island, and Tsing Yi Island as well. “…” She shook her head a little and looked back to the rooftop from which the enemy had vanished. And just as she raised the shotgun again… “Boss!” shouted Kouga. Before she could wonder why, she heard a rumble. It sounded a lot like collapsing rubble. It was the sound of a great mass being destroyed. And it came from the wall directly behind her. “!?” Their opponent had broken through the concrete wall behind Rin and appeared there. She could not turn around in time. Countless stone-like chunks of concrete poured down to crush her. The powdery crumbling sounds continued as they struck her. And amid that concrete cascade, an attack hit her from the side with the weight of a log. It was a powerful strike. The great impact plowed into her and she could not even cry out. She was only aware that her consciousness cut out. ### Part 3 Destruction and rebirth went hand in hand. This was a standard law, but it normally took a good bit of time. It could take years, decades, or even centuries for green to return to war-torn land or for a destroyed city to be rebuilt. However, the battle Akira and Gunmal fought was different. J-Gun would send out a Live as if swinging a baseball bat and Gunmal would negate it. Gunmal did not use his own Live. He would strike the ground with his Device and amplify the Live of the “striking sound” that produced. And when their colliding Lives broke apart, Akira would Tune them. She would Tune them into hounds or large birds and sometimes swords or spears. And sometimes when Gunmal tore the ground away, she would simply remake it into a “wall” that would block their opponent’s attacks. It was Genius’s job to destroy what Akira’s Tuning created. The light she fired with each swing of her sword easily pierced through the Tuned animals. Once destroyed by her light, the animals would immediately return to their original forms. The torn ground would return to normal and the weaponized air would stabilize. The cycle of destruction and rebirth was stuck on repeat. Each time, their aim grew more accurate and their speed increased. They had a clear division of offense and defense. Unless they broke through their opponent’s defenses, they could never harm them, so all of their attacks had been focused on the defender. J-Gun’s Live did not expand as a sphere. It was a direct attack produced by swinging down his Device. Gunmal would swiftly “break” it. Akira would send her Tuning after Genius. Genius’s beam of light would shoot toward Akira’s Tuning. The cycle sped up. J-Gun attacked, Gunmal defended, Akira Tuned, and Genius fired light. That sequence grew tighter as it continued. J-Gun – Gunmal – Akira – Genius. It gradually grew faster and reached tremendous speed. Attack, defense, attack, defense, and then attack once more. It accelerated further. Light mixed in with the Tuning and Busting. On the fourteenth cycle, something changed: Akira. When Gunmal “tore apart” the air and produced a Live, she stuck the tip of her spear in it and Tuned it. “Oh, you Lives swimming in the 440,000 Octaves around me! You cries of the dirt and excitement of the wind! Can you hear my Live!?” The Tempo of her “la” was a long and somewhat low andante. The Tempo rang thrice. It reverberated nicely through her Device and she focused her feelings. She sent her Message into the Live and completed her Tuning in approximately three seconds. She created a normal-sized white tiger. It was not as large as the Qinghu because it had a greater Live density. “Oh? You’re trying something bigger, are you? Since it’s a tiger…” “This isn’t the time for lame jokes.” “Tch.” Akira smiled bitterly. “Let’s settle this!” She sent the white tiger running forward. Unlike the previous Tunings modelled after small animals, Genius’s light did little damage despite piercing through the tiger. The light was so sharp it simply broke through without breaking apart the dense Live. The tiger charged in and Genius moved back a little. “Gunmal!” shouted Akira. Without responding, he “tore apart” the air. “Oh, you Lives running through the 240,000 Octaves around me! You roars of the wind! Can you hear my Live!?” She quickly Tuned that Live to produce a bird that flew after the tiger. “Go!” Just as the bird flapped its wings, the tiger pounced on Genius. “…!” With a shout that could be interpreted as a scream or a cry of focus, Genius jabbed her sword into the tiger’s face. After a short delay, light raced out from the within the tiger. Genius had likely stabbed the beast and then fired the light from inside. The white tiger audibly burst. Akira noticed claw marks on Genius’s cheeks and arms. She was bleeding. As a fellow woman, Akira felt a little guilty for harming her opponent’s face. … Sorry. But it was not over. The bird born from the torn air flew toward Genius. It charged toward her feet, so even a direct hit would not be fatal. Akira had no intention of taking the other woman’s life; she just wanted to reach Double Lee. The bird raced through the air and Genius’s movements were too slow. “…” She tried to raise her sword again while looking at her wounds as if she found them unbelievable. … She won’t make it in time. But just as Akira realized that, someone else moved: J-Gun. And he did not use his Busting. He fired light from his Device. “!” That light had the same qualities as the light Genius fired. It was less powerful than his Busting, but it was sharp and fast. It instantly sliced through Akira’s Tuned bird and the creature scattered into the wind. “My brother exchanged Lives with you in a Live Session!?” It was only natural for Gunmal to be surprised. J-Gun, a Buster, had fired a Cherub’s light. And while he had previously been mechanically using his Live to attack, he had done this to protect Genius. The cycle was broken. The first to begin anew was not Akira, Gunmal, or even J-Gun. It was Genius who had already started to raise her sword overhead. She briefly glanced over at J-Gun and then stepped forward. She swung down her sword and the light wrapped around it. “Seaaaah!” Her voice shook the air despite not including her Live and her light reached Akira in an instant. “!?” … It’s cold? A strange sensation raced through various parts of Akira’s body. It was entirely different from the pain she had predicted. … Am I just imaging this? Did it not hit me? But then the pain arrived. Her feathers scattered and her right side split open. “…!” She instinctually squeezed her eyes shut. A deep and sharp pain stabbed through her body as if a thick pin had been driven into her spine. Her heart skipped a beat when the fingers holding her side sank deeper than her skin. “Akira!” She opened her eyes at Gunmal’s voice and saw a wall in front of her. … Why is there a wall? Then she realized why. It was not, in fact, a wall. It was the ground. She had collapsed without even noticing. “Kh.” She groaned and got up. Ahead, she saw the Device she had dropped. Beyond it, she saw J-Gun and Genius preparing their second attack a distance away. … Not good. She moved the hand from her side and reached for the Device. The bloody hand looked like a stranger’s. To wipe away that feeling, she squeezed the Device tightly in her hand. And she got up on her knees. She tried to force her breathing into order so she could Tune, but then she heard a voice. “You don’t have to fight here.” It was a horribly cold yet kind and calm voice. “…Eh?” She looked up just as Gunmal tapped her shoulder with Nein König. As soon as he did, a blue Live burst out of her and scattered. “!?” Before she could ask what had happened, she found the answer: the pain had vanished from her. He had Busted the pain Lives in her body to destroy them. “Thanks.” He had already lowered the Device a little and faced their opponent. He had gone completely expressionless. The look there made her forget her pain, sent a chill down her spine, and yet still showed some emotion. She had never seen this look on his face before. “I’ll deal with those two,” he said. … Can you do that? He did not answer her question, but he did speak. “If the Earth Burn is activated, call me. …I’ll give you your next chance.” … How? “?” “How…can you do that?” He still did not answer. He only stepped forward with lowered Device in hand. She looked up at his back and prepared her own Device. She closed her eyes, calmed her breathing, and gathered Message of “herself” that her Live was singing. … It’s really disturbed. Maybe because of the blood loss, its Tempo was quick yet weak. And she was more than just injured. There was an odd Message in there, too. … I’m surprised by Gunmal. Strangely, it was not a bad feeling. She did not know what to call this Message, but she felt it would be a shame to Tune it away. … But I need to hurry up and heal myself. She was driven to do that by the blood that had reached her thigh and the enemy’s movements. She could tell even with her eyes closed that J-Gun and Genius had both begun to move. Meanwhile, Gunmal was not revealing his Live. He was defenseless. However, she did not panic. “Oh, you Lives within me. You shouts that form my Wild Name. Can you hear my voice?” She released her Live. “La.” It was a gentle yet vivid Tempo and Word Color. It was her own Live that she remembered from long ago. She sang a Live with some pointed bits. She amplified her own Live in her Device and felt it reside in the spear tip. Immediately afterwards, she plunged the spear into her own chest. The Live, its Message, its Tempo, and its Word Color all echoed through her body. It was not quite a wave, not quite an impact, not quite a ripple, not quite a vibration, and it covered her with goose bumps. However, it cooled some of the unpleasant heat covering her. “!” She opened her eyes, stood up, and pulled the Device from her chest. In that instant, a massive Live exploded before her eyes. Gunmal fought by amplifying a Live of destruction without using any kind of preliminary Up. She heard him shout. “Go!” The exploding Live blew away all other sounds, so she may have imagined hearing his voice. Still, she obeyed it. She looked up slightly, took two or three steps, and flew. ### Part 4 Akira flew. She arrived above the twenty meter reactor in the span of a breath and then continued forward. The floor of the concrete reactor’s rooftop released a strangely thick Live of heat and produced a visual shimmering. … This region is producing the fire element Earth Burn, isn’t it? With that on her mind, she spun her Device around and gathered Lives of wind and heat. “Oh, you Lives floating in the 1,280,000 Octaves around me. You roars of wind and proclamations of heat. Can you hear my Live?” She cleared the reactor’s rooftop with a single step and gathered quite a few Lives in the process. The wind was blue and the heat red. She gathered those Lives around her like heavenly raiment and descended from the rooftop. She saw a small park-like space lit by mercury lamps from all sides. A Tune Emblem was drawn in the center and someone holding a sword Device stood at the center of the large Tune Emblem. “Brother!” Double Lee looked up at her voice. A look of slight surprise appeared on his face. … This doesn’t look like the start of an emotional reunion. She put up her guard and he nodded. He had read her Live. “So you are finally here, Akira.” He looked up at the night sky. The moon was visible as the Nein Engels danced. “Such a lovely moon. Perfect for a reunion of siblings.” He then asked Akira a question. “But why are you here?” She landed and held her spear at the ready as she answered. “Why? To stop you of course.” “Are you serious?” “What do you mean?” Double Lee laughed when she answered him with another question. “Interesting. So you didn’t notice on your own?” His deep laugh continued but suddenly stopped. After that moment of silence, he spoke directly to her. “Are you kidding me?” “!?” “Do you really think you have any chance against me?” She tensed up, but only for a moment. She soon squeezed her Device and spoke. “Stop this. …Can’t you just turn yourself in?” And… “Please, brother.” The brother frowned at his sister’s words. “You want me to stop this? But this is what father, mother, and Master Huang wanted. …No, not only that. This is what the two of us wanted as well.” “Stop!” she shouted. “A lot of lives will be lost if you destroy Hong Kong! Don’t you get that!?” “I do. That is reality. …Did you not think about that when you used to talk about creating a dragon?” “!?” “If you wish to stop me, then do it by force. I am a criminal at the moment.” “Then…take this!” Akira Tasked herself. She Tuned the Live residing in her Device. “La.” The Tempo was powerful and long. The color was red. The Message in her mind was strong. After a short time lag, the Live transformed. She felt it happening. … This will work! She created something large indeed. It was a dragon. The crimson-scaled dragon wrapped around her spear was about ten meters long. It would be classified as a Lesser Dragon, but it still had proper fangs and horns. … Okay! She let Double Lee see her thought and raised her spear. He looked a bit surprised to see her Lesser Dragon and she did not hold back. She suddenly swung down her spear. “Go!” The Lesser Dragon roared as it was released from the spear. It shook the air as it flew toward Double Lee. It was fast. It raced through the air with the speed of something sliding down an icy slope and it raised its head. It opened its mouth and roared again. Its red eyes were focused on Double Lee’s right arm which held his Device. He remained silent. He stared straight at the charging Lesser Dragon and made no attempt to run. “I see.” All he did was quickly tilt his body and raise his empty left hand. The Lesser Dragon must not have known how to react because it tried to latch its jaws onto his left arm. “!” … Not that arm! And just as Akira tried to say something… “Word Accel, you Live with an Octave of 1,280,000.” He spoke quietly and the Lesser Dragon burst. “What!?” The tearing sound drowned out Akira’s shout of protest. The Lesser Dragon came apart from head to tail and released the original Lives. The sound of the dragon’s destruction continued as the red and blue Lives scattered into the air. It took the span of only three breaths for the Lesser Dragon to completely vanish. Red and black Lives flew and Double Lee remained unscathed. His left arm was still raised overhead as if nothing had happened. “Targeting my dominant arm? You always were naive.” He slowly lowered his left hand and spread it out before his face. He wore Device rings on the middle and index fingers. “I can destroy your Lesser Dragon with Devices this small.” “…” Akira said nothing, but he must have read her Live because he smiled bitterly. “What’s wrong? I had heard you and the rest of Hong Kong saw you as the city’s #1 Tuner.” As he spoke, the scattering Lives of the Lesser Dragon wrapped around him and stayed in place. He intended to Tune the Lesser Dragon he had destroyed. … Is it coming? She raised her guard. “Word Accel, you Live with an Octave of 2,080,000!” It suddenly appeared above his head. “The Vermilion Bird!?” It was a large bird with a burning red Word Color. He had placed his Message inside the Lives of heat, wind, and the night. As if flapping its wings, it throbbed with a refreshing yet heavy and deep Tempo and it did nothing else. “I suppose you wouldn’t be able to pull off a trick like this. …Not if you haven’t changed in the last three years.” The Vermilion Bird responded to him with a cry. It was a high-pitched voice. It then spread its wings. The vermilion wings were over twenty meters across, so it was more than enough to outdo Akira’s Lesser Dragon. Some yellow and black feathers were mixed in as decorations and the coloration gave a sense of heat and pressure as soon as one looked at it. The wings moved and produced a sound of flight. The Vermilion Bird flew toward Akira. “!?” It flapped its wings once, glided just off the ground, and prepared its beak. It targeted her torso and would crush her with its wings if she dodged. … Will I make it in time!? She did not have time to answer her own question. She flew while throwing pencil-like Discord Bombs so that they would not scatter. She flew upwards. She moved her white wings to fly up the reactor wall behind her. The Vermilion Bird raised its head and slammed its red wings on the ground to flap them. Its body was small for the size of its wings, so it was launched upwards. It was not going to let her escape, but then the Discord Bombs exploded. The Vermilion Bird’s body, shoulders, wings, and tail were blown away with the Lives composing them. The cry that escaped its beak sounded like a scream. “Did I get it!?” She looked down from halfway up the reactor. “!” The Vermilion Bird was not dead. It moved its wings even harder, broke through the Lives that had scattered from itself, and ascended. It pursued Akira as if crawling up the reactor wall. … Not good! The only place left to escape was the sky, but the bird would be faster than a Nein Engel there. It would catch up and attack her. So she gave up on escaping. She reversed her grip on her Device to point it straight down. Without averting her gaze, she targeted the spot where a Discord Bomb had hit the bird’s right shoulder. That was where its Live was most shaken. … Its Octave should be lower there! The contact lasted an instant. It was only long enough for her to take three running steps. Her spear accurately pierced the enemy’s weak point. She auto-reversed the Live in her Device to read the Vermilion Bird’s Live. She was searching for a Live she knew very well: her brother’s Wild Name. … Leed Lee! Her heart shouted that Wild Name, which was the key to an individual’s Live. “Oh, you Live with an Octave of 1,480,000…directly in front of me! You shout of heat, roar of wind, and Live of a name with an eternal form!” It reacted to her call. The Vermilion Bird’s Live lost its balance. The bird gave a small scream during the quick pause. “Can you hear my Live!?” That settled it. “La.” She released her Live and the Vermilion Bird crumbled. The resistance reaching her spear weakened, she twisted her body, and she passed the bird by. … I did it! Just as she was certain of her victory, the Vermilion Bird noisily exploded. ### Part 5 “You’re kidding!” By the time she cried out in protest, she had already been slammed into the ground. The impact made all the bones in her body ache. At the same time, she heard a hard metallic sound in her hand. The sensation in her hand told her that her Device had broken. However, this was no time to be groaning in pain. “…” She clenched her teeth, got up, and faced forward. Double Lee still stood at the center of the Tune Emblem. “You took far too much time. …Can you not grow any stronger without our mother?” She started to answer but then froze in place. The wound in her side had opened a little. Blood was flowing and spilling out once more. She reflexively threw aside the broken spear and held her side. The liquid wetting her hand felt like warm oil. Still, she faced her brother. She did not look up or down at him. She looked straight at him. Her brother responded with a bitter smile. “With that look in your eyes, you would think I was in the wrong here. …As a Tuner, you should have better judgment.” … About what? “Both Tuning and Busting are not just for fun. Have you never heard about the past wars? These are true weapons meant to kill.” He slowly raised the sword Device in his hand. After gently, gently raising the straight line of silver light overhead, he took a breath. His eyes were looking to the center of the Tune Emblem at his feet. “…!” Akira stood up and tried to run. … I have to stop him! Double Lee watched her take the first step. Their gazes seemed to audibly collide. “Move!” The Live carrying his voice knocked her out of the way. In the span of a breath, she was knocked back to the reactor and her winged back slammed into the wall. She felt the impact and the pain while also hearing a dry sound much like a breaking branch. Her main right wing and the small, deformed wing had broken. “…!” She grimaced but still faced forward as Double Lee spoke with his Device still raised. “This is not something someone as weak as you can participate in. You know nothing. You do not know what our parents and the Archs they fought wished of us, so there is nothing for you to do here.” … What are you saying our parents wanted!? She asked him a question. “All mom said was that she wanted to see heaven because dad died! She only wanted to see him after he had died! She never said she wanted anyone to kill people with Tuning!” “You are simply ignorant,” he spat back at her before closing his eyes. “Either way, you are no match for me with your spoiled style of Tuning. …Just watch.” He took a breath. “This is true Tuning!” He moved his Device in an absolute straight line to use it as the Baton. With an ear-splitting metallic sound, the Device’s tip stabbed into the asphalt. “Word Accel, you Live with an Octave of 40,960,000!” After his shout, he released his Live. “Haaaaaaaa!” Pushed on by his voice, the Device sank further down. The sword seemed to actually fall straight down as the guard and hilt were swallowed up by the asphalt. It vanished almost immediately. A short pause followed. In contrast to Double Lee’s previous actions, all sound vanished. However, that great silence was soon broken. ### Part 6 The reactor was destroyed. The top of the concrete structure split open like a rice bowl and flames burst out. A scarlet pillar rose toward the heavens. The sound of the blaze shook the air and did not stop. More pillars of flames rose at set intervals like an echoing sound. There were just as many as there were reactors in the thermal power station. The sixteen pillars reached the night sky. The Nein Engels were gathered there. However, the sixteen pillars of fire surpassed the Nein Engels and rose further and further, where they slowly pressed together and overlapped. The sixteen pillars spiraled and intertwined until they had become one. By that time, a bestial face had formed at the end. It was a dragon’s face. The scarlet dragon began to gain a real body instead of one made of fire. It bent its nearly kilometer-long body in the night sky, each and every scale twinkled like the stars, and it opened its great maw. It roared. Its voice shook the atmosphere from the sky. And other voices answered. They were also dragon voices. They belonged to the three dragons produced elsewhere. And at the same time, Hong Kong shook. ### Part 7 “!” Akira looked down at the vertical shaking of the earth below her feet. Double Lee used his six wings to float in the air before her. Roaring dragons shook the sky overhead. There were four dragon cries in all. The dragons of the four elements had been activated. The ground was torn away before Akira’s eyes. “Eh?” By the time she voiced her confusion, the ground became Lives and flew up into the sky. Similarly, the ground, the grass, and even the lamps became Lives and lost their form. They all floated upwards. Akira knew where they were headed. They were joining that which the white Nein Engels clung to as they decorated the sky. They were joining the body of the Earth Burn that ruled this land. The red earth Burn’s long body formed a white spiral and rose further and further toward heaven. Its roar shook without end. The rumbling of the earth never ended its groaning. With those two performances in the background, Akira heard an unpleasant Live. … This Live!? Her questioning thoughts were crushed. “Ahh!?” She heard screams at overwhelming volume. This was not just one or two and it was not a solidified chorus of voices. These were probably the screams of the tens of thousands of humans and Glossolalians who had failed to escape in time. The simple Tempo pierced through Akira as a Live with a yellow Word Color. And amid it all, she heard a Live similar to the ringing of a bell. She knew what it was. This was the scream of Hung Hom’s Holy Carpenter Church. It was the screams of the people praying there. She covered her ears to escape it all, but that was not enough to block out the ringing Lives. Hong Kong’s scream produced a Message carrying the word “tragedy” and she heard the crying voices of the panicked, fleeing people vanishing into the sky. It was enough for her knees to give out below her. “…!” Speechless, she heard Double Lee speak. “Look. This is Tuning!” He moved his wings to take flight. Surprised, Akira grimaced at the screams and reached out toward her brother. But there was no way she could reach him. Her fingers tightly grasped only empty air. And she reflexively gave a shout. “Gunmal!” She was nearly in tears as Double Lee joined the chorus in the sky. “Remember this! Our parents used Tuning and Busting as a weapon! Do you understand!? This is how Tuning is used! It is meant for destruction like this!” “No!” she shouted. “That…that has to be wrong!” ### 142. Morning Section - Ending: Autograph Session “I was right! Akira is still herself!” Genius heard Gunmal give a shout. … Akira? She wiped away the blood flowing from her injured cheek and looked at Gunmal. His Device was still lowered in his right hand and it did not move. The coat that matched his height was in tatters. His face, body, arms, and legs were injured. He had been pierced by Genius’s light in several places. But despite all the injuries, he had not changed his fighting style. He did not try to kill his opponent, he did not release his Live, and he avoided any definitive blows. “I’m impressed you can fight while Busting like that.” … He’s used to this. Genius stopped moving and J-Gun stepped up next to her. Gunmal also stopped to face the Nein Engel and dead man. He looked a bit up toward heaven. “So I finally get my answer.” “Your answer?” He only smiled at her question and there was strength in his eyes. “I doubt anything I say would get through to him, so you tell my brother there’s no reason to feel guilty about me.” “Eh?” “You’ve shared your Live with him, so you can get through to him, right?” With that, he looked fully up into the night sky. A river of Nein Engels flowed through that moonlit and starlit darkness and the flight of four Earth Burns controlled the flow of that river. “It’s been a while since I’ve done this.” He sounded carefree, but he adjusted his grip on his Device. He moved it to his flesh-and-blood left hand. And Genius saw something in the movement she had not seen before. In an instant, he swung down the Device. But this time, he did not remain silent. He did not “tear” at the air or “strike” the earth. He released his own Live. “Ahhhhhhhh!” As Hong Kong approached the brink of destruction, his powerful Live clawed at and raced through the city. The changing city was further changed by his Live. No one there knew where that change would take it. ### 143. Afterword Miss, how are you feeling in this lazy afternoon sun? I, for one, am sleepy. (Omitted) the ominous time of 4:30 AM, so I’m only so wide awake because I finished writing the second part of Hong Kong (omitted) through the first half while eating the Häagen-Dazs I bought at the convenience store with the pale kid, so (omitted) That’s no good at all. When I’m feeling this sleepy, there’s nothing like calling a friend to wake me up. “Hello, this is T.” “The phone number you just answered is not currently in use. Please hang up and-…” “This is Kawakami, isn’t it?” “How did you know?” “I had a feeling it was just about my turn.” “Well done, then. Did you look through the rough draft of Hong Kong A I gave you before?” “Yeah, I read it. I loved how manly the warrior from the continent of Mu was when he showed up partway through.” “There wasn’t anything like that in there.” “Just kidding. Get mad too much and you’ll go bald. I still curse you for getting it all cut off at the barbershop.” “I just fell asleep and they cut it way too short. …Hey! Don’t just hang up!” The selfish bastard didn’t know how to respond. Anyway, I’ve been so very thankful for all the letters from readers I’ve been getting. I sent a New Year’s card or commemorative card to everyone who sent their thoughts in a letter or postcard. If anyone feels like yelling “I didn’t get anything like that, dammit!” like some of the more violent people on the streets, then your letter must not have reached me for some reason. If you don’t mind the trouble, please send it again. (This is getting long. I really like writing, don’t I?) Now, then. This one was split into two parts, so it’s really turned into something amazing. What is the connection between Akira’s parents and Huang Daquan? What is their connection with the General? What happened in Double Lee, Gunmal, and the others’ pasts? What is the contradiction in the Flight Song? And what will happen to Hong Kong? I’ve left all that hanging, but it will all be resolved in the second part. A lot of it is closely related, so make sure you don’t miss anything while reading. And the story has grown so much because I decided to start the City Series in earnest with Hong Kong. That’s why I threw in a whole bunch of the ideas for the setting I’d been stocking up on. (This is all thanks to the people who supported me with Berlin and London. Thank you.) And as the story expands, the Afterword quickly grew by two pages, the book itself also got longer, and the second part is longer still. Am I trying to write a dictionary here? I don’t really get it, but I’ve been hearing something about Osaka lately? That’s right. Osaka. What’s that about? To answer your question, um, it’s the City world’s version of Osaka, Japan. I’m making a game set there. I make it sound simple, but let me make one thing clear: producing video games is my real job. I’m producing it and writing the scenario because that’s where my abilities lie. But it would be cheating to talk too much about a game in a novel afterword, so if you’re interested check on the internet: That should tell you what I’m doing. And with that personal business out of the way, I just finished rereading this first part while listening to Angel Night by PSY・S. (It fits this book so well.) “Everyone has this kind of power, don’t they?” That’s what it made me think. What that means and what happens next will be in the second part and I hope to talk about a number of things in that afterword. Let’s hurry onward. October 1997. A morning of a sudden cold wave. -Kawakami Minoru ### 144. Afterword I’ll just start with the phone call this time. “Oh, is this Kawakami? What is it? We already had our chat for Hong Kong’s second part, didn’t we?” “It was censored. …And maybe this one will be too if I mention that? Oh, well.” “Hmmm, okay. So let’s have a serious chat this time.” “Um, I think I…played around a lot with this novel. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I did.” “You said you thought of this one like a song, didn’t you?” “To see that, you probably need to read it a second time. I think you’ll get a different impression than the first time.” “What about the color pages stuff you mentioned before?” “Yes, after reading both books, make sure to reread the image story in their color pages. It should answer most of your questions…maybe.” “Just so you know, this guy (He means me –Kawakami), played with the actual text based on the titles of the acts. Part A Act 4 plays shiritori with some of the dialogue and Part B Act 2 has a seven character line every seven lines. He said it’s because he wrote it like he was writing a song, but who would ever notice that?” “I didn’t do anything like that in Part A’s Opening, Act 9, or Final Act or in Part B’s Act 7 or later, so don’t worry. Some of the tricks are pretty short and nonsensical, so it would probably be bad for your health to try to find them all.” “With that kind of code in there, this has got to be one of the weirder books out there.” “But isn’t that what we all wanted?” What did all of you think? Anyway, this lazy afterword is pretty long this time too. If you read through both books, you should understand that Hong Kong is a city of music and time. Or I hope you do, anyway. I really wrote a lot for this one. I meddled a lot in Akira and Gunmal’s designs, so they really turned out to be something amazing in both the text and illustrations. (I’m really thankful to my editor Mr. S and my illustrator Yasu-san for accepting my designs.) Am I the only one who wants to make an encyclopedia for all this someday? Anyway, this is goodbye for Hong Kong. The story of Akira, Gunmal, and Akira’s parents is complete and I have no intention of adding anything more. If you want to know what happened in Hong Kong’s past, make sure to think on what the living characters said and did. My hints are to focus on the General and to check out the differences between the two stories in the color pages of the two books. We’ll be leaving Hong Kong with a somewhat dry relationship, but I think that makes it a good starting point for the City Series. After all, Hong Kong’s illustrator, Yasu-san, is also designing the main characters and illustrating the next entry, Osaka (both the novel and game). This should help solidify the previously unclear structure of the City Series. This series includes the fantastical ideas of Lives, ether, and emblems; the half century or more that has passed since London and Berlin; the history that has occurred in the meantime; and the names of different cities and people. With all that, it should feel like something of a crossover. Which cities’ histories will be closely intertwined from now on? (Well, I have enough material for about ten more stories.) Now, then. I read back through Part B while listening to the new version of PSYS’s From The Planet With Love. (It would be the ending theme.) “What was the difference between Double Lee and Akira.” I also belatedly thought about that. Now then, now then. The next city is finally in Japan! It’s Osaka! (For information on Osaka, check out the website mentioned in Part A. You’ll find everything there.) Early November 1997. The morning after coming down with a cold. -Kawakami Minoru ## Notes - ↑ Only in the original text, not the translation. ### 145. Interlude 1 Rin awoke in the night. “…?” Her body awoke before her mind. Her eyes opened, but her vision was hollow and unclear. She dug back into her memories based on her senses and found herself lying on her back when she should have been sitting on a motorcycle. … Where am I? Only her body could answer her. Something warm and solid was wrapped around her right arm from the elbow down. And she felt nothing below the knee of her right leg. She closed her eyes and listened to the Lives. All across her body, she sensed the cold blue Lives of injury. Her right arm was broken and held in a hard cast. … A cast? So is this a hospital? She accepted that question as the answer and gave a sigh of relief. She listened to her slightly rapid pulse and to her own body’s Live. She could not sense her Live from below her right knee, but the rest of the leg was not emitting the blue Word Color of injury. … My Live has stabilized. Her body had accepted the loss. … Well, not even Tuning can add on what was lost. She spoke in her heart and slowly opened her eyes. She vaguely saw a white room in the darkness. As expected, it was a hospital room. “…” The glow-in-the-dark hands of the clock on the wall told her it was nearly two in the morning. A glowing digital calendar was contained near the center of the clock face, so she knew it was June 17. … So only six hours have passed since Hong Kong was destroyed. She realized that her body and mind both wanted sleep. The waking effect of her panicked mind had gone, so the power of the anesthesia was returning. She used her unfocused mind to think. The dragons of the four elements had activated. On the night of June 30, the Nein Engels would use the acceleration of the four elements to activate the Earth Serpent. Fearing that fact, some would choose to flee and some would choose to fight. She suddenly spoke. “Why did I survive to see this through to the end?” Her voice vanished unheard into the corner of the room. She smiled bitterly and closed her eyes. Sleep was quickly taking hold. “I’m exhausted.” Thinking she would take action once this exhaustion left her, she fell back to sleep. ### 146. Interlude 2 Night reached all parts of the land equally. How they dealt with that night was up to the individuals living on that land. Some would reject it with lights and others would let it do as it pleased. Akira did neither. In her apartment’s kitchen, she neither rejected it nor let it do as it pleased; she ignored it as simple darkness. The descending moonlight turned the north-facing window into a pale blue sheet. Everything else was dark. A single Live with a bright Tempo ran through the heavy Live of the darkness. It was the Live of water. The water poured from the tap and into the sink. Its Live tore refreshing and enjoyable gaps into the darkness. As if responding to it, Akira’s Live pulsated from where she was sat below the sink. She sat there with her arms wrapped around her spear. Even her wings and hair had sunk into the darkness. Her Yard uniform had also lost its luster. The ring of her Live was weak. The Live emitted from her entire body had grown damp. Its Word Color had sunk coldly and its Tempo was deep and muffled. One’s Live accurately represented their mental and physical state. Akira was soaking wet. Her hair, wings, and uniform were all so soaked that one would have thought she had run through the pouring rain. The kitchen’s floor was similarly wet. The poorly-made wooden floor was absolutely covered in puddles. The dark blue, chilly Live of the unmoving water drifted through the darkness. Suddenly, a voice joined it all. Akira had muttered something aloud. “I can’t believe this.” She had no idea how often she had said those same words this day. “I…can’t Tune anymore.” At the same time, a metallic sound rang out. She was squeezing the spear in her hands. “…” A rough sigh fell to the floor. “What should I do?” And… “Why?” Some time passed. For a long while, the sound of dripping water ruled the area. Regardless, the moon slowly moved in the sky. It was not visible from the window, but the faint light of its pale blue air did enter through the window. The Live of moonlight filled that air a little. That vague, clear, and pale Live illuminated her through the rectangular window. The color of her skin, hair, and wings became hues of blue and white. The water soaking her had not dried. It was still falling as drops from the corners of her eyes and down her cheeks. “Was it because of the one week blank? Now I can’t manage anything past an Octave of about 600,000.” If one’s maximum Octave dropped, their power would drop accordingly. “That’s half of my original power.” Her gaze moved to the floor where the moonlight had yet to reach. There, she saw the end result of the animals she had been creating for her Tune Education since the previous day. Not even one of the water animals had been able to leave the apartment. She sighed once and corrected her previous statement. “This might be less than half of my original power.” She hung her head, and… “Why? It isn’t…” She started to say more but stopped. After a few seconds, she tried to close her slightly opened mouth but lightly shook her head. She closed her eyes, frowned, and spoke the words as if placing them on her lips. “It isn’t any fun.” She touched her lips with her fingers. She brought the hand back to her Device and held a thought in her heart. … Gunmal. “What has happened to me?” That was all she said before sinking back into silence. Despite her body growing chilled, she closed off her mind. Sleep came quickly. ### 147. Interlude 3 The hospital lobby Akira had passed through the day before last had sunken into a darkness that did not quite fit the term “late night”. During the day, it was a bright place meant for victims to communicate with each other, but at night, it was only a space of empty darkness. The emergency lights were dim and only illuminated what lay directly below them. Two men could be seen below one of those weak light sources. One was the General who stood directly below the light. The other was Gunmal who sat on the lobby bench below the light. He wore his one-armed coat directly over his bandaged skin. Exhaustion colored his face…no, his entire body. His lips moved. “What’s Akira up to, old man?” “C’mon, is that really what you’re gonna ask after callin’ me here? What about your own body? Like that prosthetic hand.” “I’m fine. And I can always get a new hand. …So how’s Akira?” “She’s sleepin’ at my house.” “Oh, you’ve finally crossed that line, have you?” The General frowned. “That’s not what I meant. My wife’s looking after her right now. She dragged someone as big as you out from all that heat. Also…” “Also?” “She went back in to retrieve your burned-up Device.” “What was she thinking?” “Don’t ask me,” simply replied the General. “But the exhaustion and dehydration’s done her in for the time being. I thought I’d let her rest at her own place, but…” “Yeah, her place is a mess and full of water.” “You knew about that? You knew, and yet…” “Don’t get so upset, old man.” Gunmal sighed. “Akira wasn’t the one that healed me, was she? I doubt she can Tune right now.” “She’s clingin’ to your Device and refuses to let go. My wife wanted to heal her, but she was complainin’ that Akira won’t let her remove her clothes.” Gunmal smiled bitterly at the General’s joking tone of voice. “You know why Akira can’t Tune, don’t you?” “Why would that be?” “The same reason you taught Rin how to Tune but didn’t teach Akira.” “That’s because Akira could already do it.” “If you keep lying in your old age, you’re going to be a lonely old man.” “…” “I caught a glimpse of Rin’s Live.” “Rin’s was an accident,” muttered the General. “If it wasn’t for that, she wouldn’t even be in Hong Kong. She’d be somewhere else entirely livin’ with that young man named Fei.” “Sounds tricky.” “I got a phone call at home. Rin’s visited a Custom Body shop in the New Territories and she’s connected to Detroit to customize her body. And without tellin’ her parents.” The General smiled bitterly. “It never seems to work out right. Where did we fail to make the change?” “Really? I feel like I’m always at my best no matter how hard I work.” “?” “You realized long ago that nothing you can do can change the past itself, right?” “Yeah. You can remake the past, but you just end up pilin’ up the means to do that and never move forward.” “Who in Hong Kong was the first one to realize that fact?” “Why do you want to know?” “To feel satisfied.” Gunmal’s answer was an incredibly normal thing, so the General smiled bitterly again. “The ones who realized that fact of yours were me, my wife…and Huang Daquan.” “…” “But we realized it too late. So the pasts that we and the others piled up had to be settled by Hu and Luna.” “Settled?” “After several Divine Punishment Wars and the creation of Hong Kong Cave, the Nein Engels and humans parted ways in this city, but there’s still one thing here that thinks of it all in a positive light.” Gunmal fell silent for a few seconds. “You mean the song?” It had taken quite a long time in the night for him to say those few words. A moment later, Gunmal moved a little. He had nodded. Then he stood up. The General looked up at him and narrowed his eyes. “I can see your Live.” “There’s no point in searching for another reason to hide it.” He smiled bitterly. “I’ll use the remaining five days to create a Device.” With those simple words, he clenched his left fist. That flesh-and-blood hand filled with tremendous strength. ### 148. Interlude 4 The rain had grown stronger. So had the wind. It was past noon, but Akira stood in the thick darkness, wind, and rain created by the storm. She was in the center of Yau Ma Tei, where most of the buildings and homes had collapsed. J-Gun’s workshop was there. Or more accurately, had been there. The workshop had been destroyed. There must have been an explosion inside because it and the attached home had scattered fragments of stone and wood outwards. A small mortar-shaped crater had formed where the workshop must have been. Needless to say, there was no one there and rainwater had pooled to knee height at the bottom of the crater. “…I can’t believe this.” Akira’s shoulders drooped as she held the umbrella in both hands. “I can’t believe this.” She repeated herself. She looked down. The stone of the workshop had shattered to the point that the ground looked like the rocky bank of a river. A fist-sized emblem had fallen among the stones there. The black stone was engraved with two dragons spiraling around each other. That was the Wild Emblem of the Maldrick family. “And after I came all this way in the rain…” She kicked the Wild Emblem stone. With a solid sound, it split down the middle. One dragon fell in the crater and sank into the water. The other was covered by the umbrella Akira had been holding. “You idiot.” She did not bother picking up the dropped umbrella. She crossed her arms as if embracing herself. And then she looked up at the rainy heavens. Clouds covered the sky, creating a stormy darkness. Water was falling from them. The clouds moved in a number of arcs as the storm clouds made Hong Kong their home. And Akira spoke into that sky. “Gunmal…” Her voice was drowned out by the storm and never reached the heavens. The day continued within the darkness of the storm. Night would soon arrive. ### 149. Interlude 5 Akira looked around after flying into the night sky. The Lives that Gunmal had disturbed had already vanished. “…” Wild Königin was not emitting any kind of Live in her hand. … Did it not work? As she muttered those words in her heart, she heard the dragon’s roar from behind. It was approaching from where she had been thrown out into the sky. It was chasing after her. “Uh, oh.” As if to confirm her worries, the dragon roared again. It was even closer now. She needed to run away. To check how far away it was, she flapped her wings and looked over her shoulder, but she saw something strange there. It was a dragon, but it was not the Earth Serpent. It was a green Earth Burn that was much skinnier and smaller than the Earth Serpent. The wood element Earth Serpent was following her. “…Eh?” She was so confused she forgot to flap her wings and she fell below the wood element Earth Burn. Her eyes were fixed on the Earth Burn behind her, so she ended up looking overhead by the time the green dragon flew by there. That brought another dragon into view. A blue dragon was flying through the heavens. “You’re kidding!?” But that was not all. As she fell, something appeared below her and supported her. “It can’t be…” She hesitantly looked down and found a great expanse of brown stone pavement. Needless to say, it was not actually stone pavement. She was seeing a dragon’s scales. She was on the earth element Earth Burn’s back. She gasped and turned in a different direction. She looked to the Wan Chai district of eastern Hong Kong Island. A pure-white Earth Serpent waited there. It raised its head and stared down at the three dragons that were not even a tenth its size. The battle had reached a new stage. ## Afternoon Section - Final Act: Akira (4:57) ### 150. Part 1 Hong Kong’s destruction began. Four giant dragons flew through the night sky and Nein Engels were gathered around them. As if called by the dragons’ roars, the earth was Tuned and flew up toward heaven. The roads, houses, buildings, greenery, rivers, and everything else became light and sound before seeking the sky. It truly was a show of destruction. And Akira ran along the stage of that show. She always chose the path leading to the weakest of the destructive Lives as she travelled west along Ma Tau Wai Road to return the way she had come and escape Hung Hom. She was running with all her strength. She did not turn around and she took no breaks. Occasionally, her foot would catch on the uncertain ground and she would almost trip. She would move her wings to balance herself, but… “Ow…” She would grimace at the pain in her broken wing and the wound in her side. … I could heal that if I had my Device. But she did not. Her trusty Device was broken and unusable. She had lost her Device and injured her wing and body. That was what she had accomplished in the fight against her brother. “…” She said nothing, looked down at her feet, and ran. But the ground suddenly broke apart below her. “!?” She felt her foot break through and a fissure opened much like a gaping maw. It was deep. … Oh, no! She flapped her wings on reflex. Intense pain shot through her broken right wing and a numbing pain ran along her spine. … Ah! Not even she knew whether her swallowed scream was in response to the pain or the fear below her feet. She lost her balance at the unstable movement of her wings and she fell onto her right shoulder. She felt a dull pain and rolled two or three times along the broken asphalt. She did not fall into the fissure, but the roll caused her right wing to ache again. That pain would not even let her pass out. “Ow, ow, ow, ow…” She sat up and shook her head. Miraculously, her Yard cap remained on her head, so she adjusted its position as she stood up…until her knees began to give out underneath her. “Ah.” She placed her hands on her sinking knees and somehow managed to remain standing. She took a breath, listened to the surrounding Lives again, and looked at her own body. She had several injuries on her skin and her uniform and wings were stained all over with dust and blood. “…” She silently rubbed her eyes as if they were dirty too. “I need to focus on escaping.” She nodded and immediately heard an odd Live. It was a distinctive Live. It rang in her gut, had a low Tempo with a wave-like motion, and was colored a metallic gray. It only lasted an instant, but it raced around her like a ripple. … ? She looked up and saw the four Earth Burns dancing in the heavens while consuming Hong Kong. The Lives of destruction rang loud in the distance, but they were very different and much more harmonized than the Live she had just heard. It had been such a strange Live that she completely forgot about the pain in her wing and frowned. … What was that? Just as she asked herself that, her upturned eyes saw something in the heavens. The fire element Earth Burn that had risen from Hung Hom had its long red body split in two. “!?” The reason arrived after a slight delay. It was that previous Live. However, it was somehow different. It was larger, it was more powerful, and its omnidirectional rippling motion had been focused in a single direction. It was a monosyllabic shout. She heard it as a continuous “ah”. She felt the low Tempo in her body and saw the heavy metallic Word Color. It had to be the after-effect of the shout that had cut the dragon in two. However… “The after-effect is this loud? Its Octave is easily over ten million.” The Lives of destruction vanished from her surroundings and the disintegration of the earth slowed. “Is it over? …No, that isn’t it.” As proof, she saw a small mountain of land and a few buildings rise into the air far to the south. The destruction was simply shifting from the surface and into the crust. It was only getting started. … Then why? It was due to the splitting of the red dragon. The Lives the dragon had destroyed had been returned to their original forms, which counteracted its continuing destruction and slowed its pace. The split crimson dragon began a descent in order to restore the lost portion of its body. … Who cut that dragon? She could make a guess and she was confident that guess was correct. “ ‘If the Earth Burn is activated, call me’, hm?” She finally gave a slight smile. She also slapped her knees and faced forward to begin running again. “?” She noticed a small figure on the broken roadway. It was a boy in pajamas who was on the borderline between a small child and just a child. Akira ran over to him as he slowly walked around and looked up in the sky. She caught up in only a few seconds. “Hey! You have to run!” His small body gave a start and he turned toward her. At the same time, she heard a high-pitched cry. It was the mewing of a cat. “Hm?” She looked down and found the short-haired boy was holding a white cat. It seemed to be a pet because it had a red string and a bell around its neck. She looked at the green-eyed cat and the boy and then sighed in relief. She placed a hand on the boy’s back. “You have to run. C’mon, you’ve stopped.” “…” The boy silently faced forward and began to walk. “Run!” She gave his back a gentle shove and he sped up. She also began to jog while looking around to protect the boy. Taking solid steps made her right wing throb, but she could hardly complain given the situation. She looked at the boy’s Live and lamented in her heart that she did not have her Device. That was just how disturbed his Live was. Both in body and mind. … Sorry. She apologized only in her heart and the cat mewed once. At the same time, the boy spoke. “…My house.” That was all. Ignoring the pain in her wing, Akira looked down at him and the serious expression that looked far too mature for his age. … Where have I seen that expression before? She quickly found her answer. When watching over J-Gun’s final moments, she had read the Message of his memories from his Live. The crying boy facing J-Gun in a destroyed city had made that same expression. And thinking back on it… … That boy must have been Gunmal. She would never have imagined that kind of past based on how he acted now, but she accepted it all the same. “…” She remained silent for a while. After a few breaths, she nodded toward the boy running with her and repeated herself. “You have to run.” He nodded a few times as if accepting her words. He then looked up at her a bit and asked a question. “Are you from the Yard?” “Yes, I’m part of the General’s Yard.” “Where’s the Great General?” “He’s waiting for everyone in the center of the city where it’s safe.” “I see.” The boy pouted his lips. “Then I wish I could have gotten on that motorcycle at the beginning.” “Motorcycle?” “A delinquent was riding it with a woman. I was in my broken house and they didn’t make it in time.” “What an awful delinquent,” she said with a bitter smile. … That would be Kouga and Rin. I guess I’m the only one that hasn’t escaped. Something appeared just as she frowned. “!” A great form flew by only ten meters overhead. “…What!?” “The red dragon!” The boy was correct. The red dragon flew by over their heads again. The roar of its passage was much louder and more powerful than an airplane. It was thirty meters across and, despite being sliced apart earlier, at least five hundred meters long. It was simply on too great a scale. … Wow. As she thought that, the ground seemed to loosen below her feet. “Run!” she shouted while following her own advice. On the second step, her feet seemed to rise. A crack ran by in front of her and the ground floated up beneath her and the boy. The crust was being Tuned instead of just the surface. The destruction had begun at a more fundamental spot. Akira held the boy in her arms and leaped. She glanced backwards just once while in midair and saw something she wished she had not. Far, far down Ma Tau Wai Road, about five hundred meters behind her, the red dragon’s head had dropped to the surface. … It’s so big. From this distance, she judged its head to be at least thirty meters across and over forty meters tall if the horn was included. And bestial eyes glowed yellow in that massive face. … It’s looking this way? She felt like she could sense its gaze on her and her wings trembled lightly. “…” The earth swelled up behind her, blocking the red dragon from view. She and the boy landed and hit the ground running. She was now certain she felt the dragon’s gaze on her. Despite the wall of earth behind her, the Live of its gaze reached her through it. There was no doubting it. Its gaze sent a disturbing Live her way. Its Word Color was an oddly warm purplish-red, its Tempo was much like a pulse, and it contained an unpleasantly sticky Message. It was much like the curious looks she often received around town just for being a Nein Engel. The red dragon was interested in her. More than wondering why, she sensed the panic in the boy. … Oh, no. She pushed on his back and spoke. “Listen. Run as fast as you can without looking back.” “Eh?” He started to turn toward her, but she placed her Yard cap on his head. “Don’t look. If you hear something or start to see something, cover your eyes with the brim of my cap.” “Why?” “It’s like a magic charm. If you do that, you won’t be scared.” “Eh?” That monosyllabic question was interrupted by the crust being destroyed underfoot once more. The ground was rising like a pillar. “C’mon, run!” Akira shouted and jumped backwards. The cat in the boy’s arms gave a quick mew as if to say goodbye. Several pillars of earth rose between her and the boy, creating a wall to separate them. The street swelled up like a hill and Akira descended the opposite side. Having turned back, she saw the red dragon. The crimson dragon was stretched along the road and its long tail still flowed through the sky. She descended the rising hill and stood on some of the limited flat ground still remaining. She was surrounded by tilted ground, pillars of earth, and the foundations and walls of the houses and buildings still attached. “Instead of simply breaking it all down, it’s destroyed and devoured. My brother’s dragon really is cruel.” She then realized why the red dragon was focused on her. “My brother.” When an object was Tuned into another form, it would give shape to the Tuner’s Message. And the Message was the Tuner’s thoughts, including the elements of emotion. “And that includes hostility.” After that monotone comment, she bit her lower lip. At the same time, the ground shook. She looked forward and saw the red dragon moving. It was moving forward, toward her. ### 151. Part 1 A week had passed. It was noon on June 23 and Akira was walking through the lobby of a large hospital in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district. She wore a new Yard uniform and a new spear Device hung at her waist. She and her clothes were completely unharmed. She had been hospitalized ever since the day of Hong Kong’s destruction. In addition to her broken wing, she had apparently cracked her ribs at some point. She had been more passed out than asleep when she had been brought in, so she had not noticed at the time. However, she had received a few large-scale Tune treatments before she woke up. The female Tuner doctor who had treated her had spoken to her when she had woken. “You were lucky.” And… “You received good first aid and the General ordered us to give you top priority above the other injured. Your wing will be as good as new, so you should thank the people who brought you here.” Despite the harshness of the doctor’s words, they had not included a sharp Live. Akira had shrunk down on the bed and smiled bitterly. The doctor had stroked Akira’s wings. “I didn’t say it was wrong. Of everyone I treated, your injuries were the worst.” The woman had added “Aren’t you glad?”, which had made Akira shrink down even further. She was happy to be released from the hospital, but more because she could leave than because she had recovered. As she walked through the lobby, she saw the conspicuous white of bandages here and there. Most of the patients in the hospital were surgery patients. Also, she felt their eyes on her. “…” She thought they were curious looks at first, but they were not. Their Word Color was a pale red and their Tempo was faint but heavy. These were Lives of hostility. Their weak but definite presence shocked her. When she turned around, the humans and Glossolalians standing or sitting in the lobby all looked away. The Lives of hostility vanished, too. None of them were looking at Akira. She bit her lower lip and turned toward the hospital’s main entrance. She spotted a small shop to the side of the large glass doors. There was no one working there. She stood in front of the shop and looked around, but there really was no sign of a clerk. “Maybe because it’s noon?” She tilted her head and checked through the pockets of her uniform’s coat. She felt some change. She intentionally rattled the coins around so everyone around her would know she was setting them on the counter and she reached for the newspaper rack. She noticed something once she prepared to choose one. “These are the only ones?” There had always been dozens of different papers put out every day, but there were only six today. They were printed only in black and red, so they lacked their usual ambition. She grabbed the paper she always saw in the Yard and then she walked off. While opening the newspaper, she opened the glass door with her fingertips and stepped outside. The clear sunlight illuminated her body and the blowing wind seemed almost too perfect. Something was wrong. This was not Hong Kong’s usual light and wind. “But that couldn’t be.” She lightly shook her head as if she did not want to accept something. However, the changes could be clearly seen. The cityscape visible from this central Kowloon hospital had grown shorter and the outlines of collapsed buildings were clearly visible even in the distance. … There’s no smoke or heat created by people. As her gaze moved south along the Kowloon Peninsula, she noticed the city’s shadow growing narrower. When the Earth Burns had ascended, they had torn into the east and west sides of the peninsula. These were the scars left by those Earth Burns. “I can’t believe this.” After making sure there was no one else around, she let her shoulders droop. She sighed and continued walking. This was close to her apartment in Mong Kok. It was just far enough to finish reading the newspaper by the time she arrived home. She looked down to the paper in order to fill the time and she read the headline on page one: Ripples in the Relationship between Britain and China. The transformation of Hong Kong and restoration of heaven has been called the Sixth Divine Punishment War. China has placed all blame on Britain, but Britain is denying all responsibility. There reasoning is as follows: ・This incident was a terrorist act committed without the knowledge or approval of the state. ・Hong Kong is still British territory, so it is none of China’s concern what happens there. Even if Hong Kong is moved to heaven, it does not change the size of Britain’s territory, so there is nothing for other nations to accuse them of. ・If anyone in China can confirm heaven’s state now that Hong Kong has been transformed, Britain will allow them to investigate. ・And if any Chinese were harmed in Hong Kong, Britain wishes to apologize and is prepared to provide any appropriate compensation requested.” … I see. “They handled that well,” muttered Akira. Britain was clearly reacting after the fact and there were slight contradictions in their statements, but they had found a logical escape route. “No matter how many people died, they were British citizens, so this will be handled as a domestic British issue.” If heaven was restored, their souls could be saved. It was a rough method, but… “It’s all they have.” It was because their methods looked a lot like a sudden accident that everything was progressing with ex-post-facto approval. There had been too much political pressure to act out in the open from the beginning. No matter how noble their goal might be, they could not drive out the people living in the city and obliterate such a vast area of land. “So it only works because Britain is prepared to stand their ground and argue their case. And if Britain denies responsibility here…” Rin had already predicted the next ceremony. And even if that ceremony created the metal element Earth Serpent that would carry the rest of the land to heaven, Britain would be able to argue their way out of it in the same way. … Who thought up this plan? My brother? Or Huang Daquan? As she pondered that, she flipped to the second page of the newspaper. What she saw written there depressed her. The headline read, “The Number of Victims is Enormous”. Number of Victims: Dead – 600,000. Seriously Injured – 1,300,000. Missing – 800,000. Lost Land: Hong Kong Island and 70% of the Kowloon Peninsula. Total Damages: An estimated 69 billion HKD (and still rising). “This is like the result of a war. …These numbers don’t feel real at all.” … If you include the areas outside the city center, Hong Kong’s total population was about five million, wasn’t it? More than half of that had been affected. At least one in eight had died and one in two or three had been otherwise harmed. … Was this all part of their calculations? Even long ago when their family had all been together, her brother had talked about restoring heaven and had researched the issue. And his method was exactly what Akira had always wished to do: sending out a dragon. “So he beat me to it. What a shame.” Her voice was light, but her expression was stiff. She remembered what her brother had said on the night the dragons had taken flight. He had said the following about Hong Kong’s destruction: “That is reality.” She bit her lower lip as she thought about what that meant. She heard several airplanes flying by far above her lowered head. “…? Things have gotten a lot louder since I was hospitalized.” … Well, it’s an emergency, so there’s bound to be a lot they have to do. With that thought, she crumpled up the newspaper, threw it to the ground, and kicked it. She saw Mong Kok’s shopping district up ahead. That was her home. Or it should have been. ### 152. Part 1 Rin experienced the somewhat tight-pulsed doze of just before waking. She had entirely lost consciousness before, but now she was dreaming. The dream filled the back of her mind in just an instant of her doze. The images in one’s brain felt no different from reality and this dream of hers felt especially realistic. This dream was playing back her memories of the past. This specific past was from the night the dragons had flown. At one point during that night, she had been lying on the ground. She had been collapsed in the courtyard of Hung Hom’s thermal power station with Nein Engels flying in the night sky. Unlike in reality, her past self was conscious in the dream. “…?” She opened her eyes and found her body collapsed near the center of the courtyard. … Why am I here? Her memory was gone, so she tried to recall it all in her dazed mind. She remembered as far as the attack that had hit her from behind after breaking through the wall. … I let my guard down. She tried to prop herself up on her right arm, but all strength left it. It was broken. In an undeniably pathetic movement, she collapsed shoulder-first to the ground. “…Ugh.” Strangely, there was no pain. Her body was tense and her sense of pain had numbed over. … I can’t believe this. She gasped for breath while lying face-down and she focused on different parts of her body once more. Perhaps due to her body armor, she had not been too badly injured. She only felt an ache in her ribs. It seemed she could move her left arm. Her left leg felt numb from the shin down, but it seemed she could move it too. She could not move her right leg from the knee down. She had not looked at it, but she still knew why. She could feel something lying on top of her right thigh. It was likely a pile of concrete. Since she could not feel the lower leg, it had probably been crushed. “Is it broken? …No, or did I lose it?” As soon as she spoke, intense pain shot through the leg. … ! It was the pain of the bone, flesh, and tendons snapping in the knee. The pain crawled up her body while crisscrossing like a net. The pain refused to even let her pass out. “…Kh!” She gathered strength in her left hand and clawed at the gravel. And she got up. “Phew.” She breathed out and looked back. What she saw was exactly what she had expected to find. A piece of a nearly fifty centimeter thick wall of reinforced concrete was crushing her leg. She chose not to look at it any longer. An unpleasant sweat poured from her entire body. A salty, visceral smell reached her nose. … This isn’t good. Even she could tell she was on the verge of panic. She was about to lose physical and mental stability. She needed to gather her thoughts. “Calm down,” she said while trying to catch her breath … The enemy. “I need to defeat the enemy.” She chanted that line under her breath over and over. Finally, her vision brightened and her eyes focused once more. She gradually caught her breath and spoke those magic words again. “Defeat the enemy.” As if to answer those words, she spotted a shotgun on the ground in front of her. The collapsible stock was bent, but it looked otherwise unharmed. “…” She reflexively reached out for it, but it was too far away. Her crushed leg restricted her movement. Then pain raced through her again. “…!” But she did not stop reaching out. Her left hand and left leg clawed at the gravel as if trying to crawl forward. Suddenly, the concrete pinning her right leg moved. She heard moving rubble and a much more unpleasant sound. It was a bloody snapping sound. “!?” For an instant, her body was pierced by a sensation better described as scorching heat than pain. She did not have it in her to think about what had just happened. She still felt excess weight below her right knee, but the connection must have weakened because her range of movement had increased slightly. She moved forward. She reached out her hand and tried to grab the shotgun. In that instant, a military boot cut into view and kicked the firearm away. “…Eh?” She blankly looked up and saw a man standing there. “Fei!” The Galgallin in mirrorshades looked down at her. She reflexively reached for the handgun in her body armor’s inner pocket. “Don’t bother. That will have no effect on me.” The deep voice stopped her. Fei looked to the concrete crushing her leg. “You will not last five minutes after losing that much blood. Would you like for me to finish you off? Answer me.” His emotionless tone of voice brought Rin fully to her senses. She used just her left arm to lift her body. “Do you not remember me?” “I have no memories of you.” He opened his right wrist and a mortar stuck out. Rin knew all too well how powerful the heat rounds it fired were. “Are you serious?” “…” “Why? Why do this!?” “To restore heaven.” He briefly glanced over at the shotgun he had kicked away and he said just one more thing. “I will eliminate the enemy.” Rin’s shoulders drooped when she heard that. She gave a heavy sigh. “I thought I could take care of the misunderstanding…if our paths ever crossed…” And… “Why?” Fei did not reply. He simply looked at Rin’s face and she looked straight back up at him. “There is nothing I wish to remember.” “!” In the instant he aimed the mortar again, his large form was knocked to the side. … What!? A gunshot from behind seemed to answer her question. The roaring of a motorcycle engine joined it. “Boss!” With that cry, Kouga charged into the courtyard on a motorcycle. The roar of the engine sounded all the louder as it echoed off the buildings. Out of the corner of her eye, Rin saw Fei slowly standing back up. Kouga was driving in from straight ahead. “Boss! Take my hand!” He intended to snatch her up as he passed by. She looked to Fei. He was already standing and he was staring at the spear of light stabbed into his right arm. That anti-demon round could slay a tiger, but it had done little damage to the Galgallin. The spear had stabbed deep into the right arm of his custom body, but he had not shed a single drop of blood. His expression gave no hint of injury either. He looked ready to begin fighting immediately. If she was to run, this would be the time. … What should I do!? Her hesitation was interrupted by Kouga’s shout. “We can try this again later!” She reacted by pulling the handgun from her body armor’s pocket. The Colt New Service was a .45 caliber which focused more on impact than penetrative power. When it fired an anti-demon round, it provided little rotation and the spear of light would fly in a completely straight line. Rin aimed it at her own right leg and she fired. She severed her right leg at the knee. At the same time, Kouga scooped her up and continued on with a one-handed accelerating turn. The motorcycle spun around while throwing gravel everywhere. “Boss! Your leg!” “Don’t worry about it.” Saying that was the most she could manage. She supported herself by clinging to the raised back of the backseat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fei looking her way. … Fei. She did not speak her thought aloud. He briefly seemed to sway and then he grew more distant. The motorcycle had started away. He did not pursue. Instead, he pulled out the spear of light sticking into his right arm. It was a casual action. He then threw it toward Rin and Kouga as they fled. “!” It was an accurate throw. The spear flew straight toward the motorcycle as it escaped on a curved trajectory. Kouga had tilted his body in the direction they were headed, so he had not noticed the danger. … I have to go to so much trouble for him. She managed to think that in her hazy mind and she raised her New Service in one hand. She fired. The gunshot rang out and the recoil knocked her hand from the grip. The spear of light she fired collided with the one Fei had thrown and cancelled it out. A solid sound shook the air. “!? What was that, boss!?” Rin did not have the strength to answer. The New Service was hanging from her finger by the trigger guard, so she picked it up and looked at it. The ejector rod had bent. It must have broken when she had been crushed by the wall, so she was surprised it had worked at all. … And this isn’t actually mine. Dad isn’t gonna be happy. With that carefree thought, she placed the New Service back in her pocket. The motorcycle made it behind one of the buildings by taking a sharp turn around the corner. She braced herself and clung to the back of the seat to make sure she was not flung off by centrifugal force. This speed would normally have been nothing to her, but her body had grown far too weak. … I can’t believe this. She closed her eyes and felt an intense urge to sleep. However, that would be a dangerous slumber. She knew that, but she still gave into the temptation. It was not tension, pain, or even the fear of death that ruled her body. It was nothing more than a heavy exhaustion. And as soon as she closed her eyes and gave herself over to that peace, reality demanded that she wake. “…Hm?” Suddenly remembering when she had woken in the middle of the night before, Rin opened her eyes. It was now daytime. Her vision was still not clear, but she could sense the light. It took her an awfully long time to realize the white fog before her eyes was the color of the ceiling. … This isn’t good. I’ve been sleeping so long that my body’s grown dull. She smiled bitterly and heard a set of slippered footsteps rushing down the hallway. … Is that a nurse? Do they know I woke up? “Are you awake!?” The young nurse who entered the hospital room could not hide the joy in her voice. Rin nodded and tried to get up. “Don’t force yourself. You probably won’t be able to move much yet. You slept for eight days, after all.” “Eight days?” Rin asked in a scratchy voice. She remembered checking the calendar on the bottom of the clock face when she had woken during the night before. “But didn’t I go to sleep on…the seventeenth?” She dug back through her memories and looked at the clock on the wall. The display that had said June 17 now said June 24. There were only six days until Hong Kong was returned to China on June 30. On that night, an Earth Serpent would likely be activated and it would destroy the entirety of Hong Kong. … Oh, no! Shocked, Rin forced her body up. Her back, stomach, and thigh muscles let out a scream and the nurse hurried over. “Please don’t move! You’re seriously injured!” Without listening to the nurse, Rin looked to the clock with strength filling her gaze. She then spoke the same words she had thought just before having that dream. “I’ll take action once this exhaustion leaves me, huh? Well, that certainly took a while.” “Eh?” She sighed without answering the nurse’s confusion. And she had a certain thought. … If I’m up against a Galgallin with a full custom body, I guess I have no choice but to fight fire with fire. ### 153. Part 1 A clear morning sky covered Hong Kong. It was such a deep blue that not even the white outlines of the clouds could blend into it. Hong Kong’s sky had not been this way before. This was a pure sky, unpolluted by shimmering heat or smoke. A single Nein Engel looked up into that sky. It was Akira. She slowly walked through the nearly abandoned streets. Her feet took her from Kowloon’s administrative district to the Yard’s base. She had not been into work for nine days, but she had not told anyone she would be starting today. “I can’t believe this…” She lowered her gaze, but her view was unobstructed because most of the buildings had been destroyed and shortened. She could see the previously hidden mountains at the center of the Kowloon Peninsula. The green of vegetation did not cover the mountains. Their dry earthen color contrasted with the blue sky above. They had experienced landslides from the earthquake during the Sixth Divine Punishment War nine days before. “…” Akira remained silent and touched the collapsible Device hanging from her waist. The metal blade felt cold. “An Octave of 280,000, hm?” That was the highest Octave she had managed to control that morning. … I’ve gotten even worse than last night. “Do I have a cold?” Her carefree tone was belied by her expression. Her face was stiff around the eyebrows. When she noticed, she placed a finger between her eyebrows and sighed. She shook her head lightly and moved her hand up to her forehead. “Do I have a fever? I did go to sleep covered in water last night.” She sounded like she was trying to convince someone. “This isn’t good. If I do have a cold…” She stopped walking and looked up into the sky with her hand still on her forehead. “If I do have a cold…” She repeated herself and moved her hand slightly to cover her eyes. She then fell silent. She stood in the empty street while covering her skyward gaze and not speaking a word. She did not say a thing as if waiting for time to pass before her eyes. She took several breaths as silence filled her surroundings. That silence was first broken by the quiet sound of someone clearing their throat. Movement soon followed. Her hand moved before her mouth. She lowered the hand covering her eyes. However, those eyes were closed. She was not looking at anything. She still did not open her eyes, but she kept her head lowered and rather roughly turned around as if shaking something off of her. “I’m so stupid.” She took a breath. “If I want the day off, I can use a vacation day.” She began to walk once more, but in the opposite direction from before. She continued talking to herself, but she only seemed to complaint about her workplace, such as improvements needed in the Yard’s labor policies or the drop in quality at the Chinese restaurant. She complained the longest about the pay. Each time she spoke, her pace picked up. “I really am stupid.” She was more running than walking now, but she did not use her wings. Her Tuning power had weakened, so she could no longer read the Lives of the wind and she could not fly. If she misread those Lives even slightly, she would move her wings wrong and lose all of her speed. She ran through the empty streets like a normal human and the Device hanging from her waist made a sound each time she moved. It was a metallic sound. “…” She stopped talking, but she did not stop her legs. She held the Device in her hand to keep it from making so much noise. The metallic sound vanished. This created a world of silence only broken by footsteps and breathing. Her running feet leaped from the ground. Her heavy breathing sounded loudly. For a brief moment, she looked back. As if to prove the silence of the city, she could only see the broken buildings and blue sky. There was no one there. Only then did she finally slow her pace. She slowly faced forward again and brought her racing feet down to a walk. The only change from before was the hand holding her Device. “I can’t believe this.” She looked forward and saw her apartment building. She had already arrived at the bottom of the old black metal stairs. She took a few heavy breaths before saying more. “This isn’t a cold, is it?” She was speaking to herself. A few seconds later, she nodded as if deciding on something. With that as her signal, she slowly ascended the stairs one step at a time. “…?” She stopped halfway up. “Someone’s…there?” She sensed someone on the second story corridor. She cleared her ears and saw a slight yellow Live. … Who is it? She moved her legs to climb the rest of the stairs. Her eyes were directed straight forward and her gaze stabbed down the corridor and in front of her room. She saw a single figure there. “Gunmal?” When the person turned toward her voice, it turned out to be someone else. “Akira. …Yeah, sorry about this, but it’s only me.” It was Kouga. Just like always, he wore his blond hair in a pompadour and wore a Hawaiian shirt, but she did see some slight exhaustion on his face. Akira asked this unexpected visitor a question. “Wh-what is it? …A-and more importantly, you were okay?” “Yeah, I was just fine. I don’t die even when you kill me, after all.” “That’s true, but…” “What are your plans for today, Akira?” “Eh?” “Are you heading to the Yard? You are wearing your uniform.” She hesitated to answer that, but she soon did so with a smile. “Yes. I figure there are a lot of jobs for a Tuner after what happened to Hong Kong. Everyone’s going to be in trouble if I don’t get back to work soon, right?” Kouga answered her smile with a serious expression. “The Yard was almost entirely wiped out.” “…” “There are a lot of jobs for you.” “Eh?” She tilted her head and he crossed his arms. “It’s pretty bad. The injuries and destroyed houses are no joke. We need you to get started healing all the destruction that hasn’t settled into place yet.” “Oh, that’s what you meant.” “Eh?” “I thought we were going to start fighting again so soon.” “Of course not.” Kouga smiled bitterly. “Didn’t I tell you? The Yard was almost entirely wiped out. We couldn’t put up a fight even if we wanted to.” “…I see.” “During that thing everyone’s calling the Sixth Divine Punishment War, most of the Yard made an attack on Hong Kong Cave.” “But the Nein Engels weren’t there. I know that much.” “Most of them were caught on the way back to the base.” “Eh?” Kouga sounded disinterested as he answered. “You can only get to Hong Kong Island through the undersea tunnel or by ferry, right? Well, an earthquake split that undersea tunnel apart.” “…” “Pretty much everyone but the unit that took the ferry was wiped out.” “Wiped out?” “It’s best not to think about it.” “Wait! Wh-what about the General!?” “He was one of the lucky survivors. …Huh? Hadn’t you heard? He was the one that arranged for your hospitalization.” Come to think of it, I did hear that when I was released, she thought. She was panicking a bit, so she sighed to help calm herself. “Then what is the Yard doing now?” “All police-related stations have been automatically locked down. We’re still on Stage 2 Alert.” “Then you’re on the civil team?” “Because I’m no use in a fight.” “That’s not something to laugh about.” “Sorry.” “Well, whatever. …So where’s Rin?” “Oh, about that. That’s why I’m here.” He looked up. “Can you heal her? It’s on the General’s orders.” She answered with a question of her own. “Can’t Rin…heal herself?” “Eh?” “What do you mean ‘eh’?” “Oh, well, I just didn’t expect to hear you say that.” “Wh-what do you mean? I was just asking. So has she not woken up yet?” “She has. She did yesterday.” “But she can’t heal herself?” “It’s a pretty serious injury and the Live has settled in pretty bad, so you’ll have to find a slight disturbance to start with…” “That’s not easy, you know?” “That’s why we’re asking you.” “…I suppose so.” She nodded and felt her heart begin to race. … This isn’t good. In her Tune training that morning, she had only been able to control an Octave of about 280,000. Rin could control up to 320,000. If Rin could not do it, there was no way Akira could now. Not to mention that Akira’s power was vanishing as time passed. “I wonder why.” “Why what?” “Oh, just talking to myself.” … Why is it going down? If it’s because it isn’t fun… “Maybe there isn’t enough tension.” “For the boss? I seriously doubt that.” “No, not that. I just can’t hold a conversation today…” She started to say something more and nodded. … You usually escape this kind of decline by getting desperate enough. She was tasked with healing a serious injury. She briefly recalled when she had seen J-Gun die. “…” … Am I losing my confidence? Then I just have to get it back, right? That’s pretty cheap reasoning, but it has to be right, she added. “Okay. Then let’s get to the hospital.” “Eh? Really?” “What’s that look for?” “Well, you sounded like you didn’t want to go.” “What good is a Tuner that can’t Tune? You have your motorcycle, right?” With that, she lightly tapped the Device at her waist. It no longer made the metallic sound that had been hurting her ears before. ### 154. Part 1 The azure sky was covered in Lives the color of dark clouds with a low, thick Tempo. Those Lives of powerful intimidation were so thick they almost erased the sky itself. The dark clouds slowly flew and wriggled around the sky like a mass of great serpents. And their intimidating gaze was pointed down toward the city of Hong Kong. The serpents viewed only one thing: Gunmal as he stood in the center of a two lane road. “Sister complexes are awful things. Did he find out I kissed her? …He’s definitely mad, that’s for sure.” While complaining to himself, he ran toward the previous explosion. As he hurried there, he intended to start by saving Akira. “Not that I expect things to go that smoothly. I can run this easily after getting that first attack in, but…” His voice trailed off and a harsh strength filled his expression instead. “But it looks like he caught up just before I got there.” He faced forward. A mere five meters ahead, the intimidation in the air gathered together and descended. The wind blew. “!” Gunmal put up his defenses as the sky’s dark cloud Lives gathered in front of him. They gathered in the powerful rotation at the bottom of the vortex and they took a certain form. It was fast. All of the intimidation covering the sky instantly stabbed toward him. The Lives gave a low roar. A moment later, someone could be heard quietly landing. “…” Double Lee now stood in front of Gunmal. He stared at Gunmal with all of the previous intimidation filling his gaze. But Gunmal was not frightened or pushed back by that gaze. “That was a pretty low-key appearance for the flashy lead up.” “To the average person, all I did was descend from the sky. But my will and gaze may have looked more impressive to someone who can see Lives.” “Then was all that for little old me?” His tone said “you’re gonna make me cry”, but he suddenly swung Nein König in his left hand. “Ah.” He Busted the air with that steel-colored Live. The air exploded with a heavy metallic sound. And it did not stop at a single explosion. Just as he had done in front of the General, a chain of explosions covered a wide range. He Busted the Lives of the air, transformed it into thousands of pure white ion spheres, and swung Nein König over a wide path. And he charged in amongst it all. He had stopped breathing and he thrust Nein König forward while running in the same direction. Nein König’s tip created a path by piercing through an explosion that was becoming a mass of light. That explosion had been created by Busting the air, so he Busted it again to disperse it. Gunmal crouched low as he ran through the tunnel dug by Nein König. The end of his hair, the bottom of his coat, and his shoes were torn into by the exploding air. But he did not care. A few seconds later, Nein König’s tip contacted normal un-Busted air. He immediately broke free of the forest of exploding light. He took a quick breath and continued running. Behind him, the explosions grew accustomed to the surrounding air and showed signs of diffusing. “He’d have to be a real monster to escape that unharmed.” Gunmal did not even bother turning around, but… “I can’t believe this.” He tilted his head as he ran. “Looks like he really is a monster.” He smiled bitterly and looked back to see a large bird. The bird of prey had a wing span of at least ten meters and it was filled with pure white light. It was a beast created from Tuning. And Gunmal realized what Live its pure white body had been created from. “My own Busting!?” He took a large leap forward. The great bird’s beak tore into the spot he had just vacated and he heard the asphalt being torn apart. While listening to the events behind him, he flipped Nein König back over his shoulder and continued running. “This is no laughing matter. …Um, I think I used an Octave of just over two million for that attack, so to erase it again, I’ll need… Hey, give me time to think!” Another attack arrived. Gunmal jumped right to escape. A beak the size of his body descended within arm’s reach to the left. And it mercilessly stabbed into the road. A great roar sounded and Gunmal took action. He was resting Nein König over his left shoulder, so he slammed it horizontally toward the bird. He did not emit a Live. Nein König struck the base of the beak and produced a solid sound. “!” Gunmal Busted that sound. He directly Busted the action of “striking”. Nein König amplified the “striking” Live inside itself and instantly released a Live powerful enough to swallow up the great bird. The great bird was enveloped by the Live reverberating from Nein König. It reverberated with the sound of being struck. With a solid sound, the great bird voicelessly came apart. It exploded. Light and a bursting sound spread and multiplied. Gunmal reversed Nein König’s swing and negated the explosion of light. Then, he sighed. He faced forward to find the road open and becoming an arcade. Some dull gray smoke hung in the air. His destination was close by. He began running once more. “It’s pretty impressive you can keep up with my Busting using an Over Up.” “Staying true to the fundamentals is my style.” Double Lee’s voice rang out and Gunmal sent his gaze around the area as he ran. He looked to the sky, the destroyed buildings, the road, behind him, and straight ahead once more. After looking at all that, he smiled bitterly. “How about you quit hiding and show yourself? You cheapskate.” “I cannot afford to be hit by an attack like that last one.” “Did it get you?” “A bit.” “Hell yeah. I’ve still got a chance.” “Yes, but your brother did not even manage to scratch me.” “That’s because he was gay. He would always hesitate when it was a good-looking guy.” “…” “I’m just kidding.” Gunmal received a response after a beat. “I was beginning to wonder if you could not see Genius.” “Oh, I saw that. I saw the other person’s Live inside her,” he said lightly. “And that means I’m old enough to be called uncle. This is truly a sad day.” “Only if you survive this.” “Oh, how scary. You certainly are a confident genius.” “A genius, hm? I suppose you were called that as well.” “It’s not a bad thing to have people calling you, right?” Gunmal slowed his pace a little. He passed between two buildings and entered a larger street. It was destroyed as well. There were three lanes on either side and it was piled with wreckage from collapsed buildings. The wreckage formed a several dozen meter concrete mountain with the wide base of a stratovolcano. Gunmal came to a stop and looked to the peak of the mountain before his eyes. Something that stood out against the color of the concrete had fallen there. The color was a nearly-gold white. They were wings. They were Akira’s wings. She lay at the peak of the mountain. Gunmal smiled bitterly. “I see. That’s some nice bait. …Do you love me that much?” “You do often hear people say they love someone enough to kill them.” “I can’t believe this… I don’t protect guys, you know?” “Neither do I.” “Then is it because you hate me?” “Yes.” “And is that because I laid a hand on Akira, you great genius who stays true to the fundamentals?” Double Lee responded with a bitter smile of his own. “That sarcasm… You understand everything, don’t you?” “Didn’t Genius tell you? My brother’s Busting was always true to the fundamentals. To me, it seemed unbelievably stiff.” “Did your brother look up to you?” Gunmal laughed quietly at that question. “Personally, I think staying true to the fundamentals is one form of style.” With that, he walked forward. He slowly began to climb the mountain of rubble to reach Akira. Meanwhile, he raised Nein König in his left hand. “How about we bring this farce to an end? I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can’t be dying anytime soon.” His casual tone was belied by the intense attack he launched as he swung the down the Device. ### 155. Part 1 By the time Akira arrived at her apartment, night had already fallen over Hong Kong. After checking on the destroyed workshop, she had walked to the Yard and to the inn at which Gunmal was staying. The Yard’s base had received her with silence. She could tell someone had been there just a few hours before, but she had found no one there. Gunmal’s inn had also been empty to the point that it was a mystery who had been staying in which room. She was currently walking back to her own home without using an umbrella. The clouds violently swirling through the sky kept her from telling the exact time, but the darkness descending from that sky had nearly grown as deep as it was ever going to. She looked north as the rain hit her. She could see the mountains of the Kowloon Peninsula beyond the shortened buildings. Dark clouds were falling from directly above them. The ink black clouds were soaked with rain and the night. A closer look showed some brightness on the bottom of the clouds. The lights of the Chinese mainland were reflecting off of them. “…” After watching that for a while, Akira looked straight up. Dark clouds wandered above Hong Kong as well, but they remained entirely dark. She realized what was causing that difference, so she hung her head and remained silent. She was soaked with rain, but she said nothing and trudged forward without running. The next thing she knew, she had finished climbing the stairs to her apartment. The corrugated plastic roof was audibly trembling from the rain. Her soaked shoes produced wet squishing sounds as she walked down the corridor. She soon arrived before her own room, stuck her key in the knob, and unlocked the metal door. She opened the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her to cut off the sounds from outside. She could now only hear the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. “…” She silently took a step from the entranceway to the empty kitchen. But that was as far as she got. With a small sigh, she fell to her knees. She hung her head, bent over, and placed her hands on the floor. Then she gave a much deeper sigh. At the same time, the bathroom door beyond the kitchen opened and bright light shined out. Finally, Gunmal stepped out. ### 156. Part 1 There was a half hour gap between the first gun blast and the second. When Kouga heard the second blast on his motorcycle, he was passing through an abandoned shelter in the mountains of the New Territories. He was in the process of escaping to the mainland. “…” The motorcycle came to a stop as its headlight cut through the darkness of the night. He placed his feet on the road near the peak of the Hong Kong side of the mountain. The ocean and Hong Kong were to his left and he looked that way through his sunglasses. There was no light there. “So I’ve abandoned my comrades and my family while I escape all on my own, huh?” His tone was extremely light and he smiled bitterly. “Still, I have a duty to escape.” He looked to the rucksack on his back. It contained some documents the General had given him. Those documents were two old notebooks. The old man had not said who had written them, but he had said they contained the whole truth of Hong Kong. Oddly enough, both notebooks had the same title: “1971 – Notes of Certain Tuner”. The appearance and contents of the notebooks both seemed different, but the handwriting was the same. “I don’t really get it, but I guess there’s some history to these things.” Kouga nodded and recalled when he and the General had parted ways at the wharf two hours before. The General and the others had managed to get a boat from the little assistance being supplied by the mainland and they had started for Hong Kong Island while fully equipped. The General had told Kouga the following: … Take these and go to London. And he had not stopped there. … It’s that city that created a link between Hong Kong and heaven. However this might end, they need to know everythin’. If you do that now and they react, it’ll save us the trouble of cleanin’ up afterwards. “So it’s to make sure this isn’t all for nothing? The boss said the same thing.” Rin had arrived at the Yard before the General and almost her entire body had been customized for combat. Kouga had been surprised, but Rin had casually checked over her equipment like normal and urged him to escape Hong Kong. She had given a different reason from the General, but it had been reasonable enough. … If you survive, we at least won’t suffer a total defeat. He had nodded in agreement, ridden with her to the wharf, and said goodbye to everyone. The Tank Force, Customs, Ninja, and Hounds remaining in Hong Kong had only numbered at twenty-one, but he had seen them off and waved goodbye. The rain that had been falling then had since let up. But it had taken him longer than normal to come this far. And he had just heard the gun blast signaling the beginning of the fighting. “…” He kicked off the ground and twisted the accelerator without saying a word. The wet road gave a smoothness to his speed and he soon caught a pleasant wind. The great expanse of the sky appeared up ahead as he drove up the slope. It was a cloudy sky, robbed of all light. Below it, he saw the mountain’s peak. Once he crossed it, he would never see Hong Kong again, but he did not slow down. The motorcycle’s headlight extended toward the heavens for just a moment, but then the red tail light seemed to crawl along the earth before vanishing over the peak. ### 157. Part 1 Fifteen seconds after the battle began, Akira noticed her disadvantage. The three Earth Burns were making constant hit and away attacks and she was creating spears from the wind Lives, but… “It’s not affecting that Earth Serpent at all!” She swung Wild Königin while yelling. A great wind bird was instantly born. She had used an Octave greater than three million and the giant bird of prey had a wingspan of forty meters. The bird gave a high-pitched screech and flew at the Earth Serpent. The three Earth Burns moved out ahead of the bird as they too flew toward the dragon over ten times their size. The dragons of blue, green, and brown tore at the Earth Serpent with their claws and fangs. The bird of prey performed a tackle. The beak, wings, and talons made of wind were enough for the Earth Serpent to move back a little. But that was all. The Earth Burns and her Tuning were showing little noticeable effect. She continued attacking, but the Earth Serpent was devouring Hong Kong all the while. “I need to destroy that giant body,” she muttered. At the same time, the Earth Serpent raised its head in the Wan Chai district and looked up into the heavens. Its yellow eyes focused on the cloud-covered sky. A beat later, it roared. The roar was a physical blow. “!” Akira’s wings shook and some smaller feathers scattered into the air. The three Earth Burns were overpowered and retreated defensively into the sky. That cry had been more than just a roar. The great sea surrounding Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula exploded from the very bottom. “…!?” The nighttime sea had the same color as deep darkness and its Lives had the same Word Color. The air was pushed back by the Lives bursting from the sea and became a salty wind. The roar created a powerful gust of wind, but even then it did not end. In every direction, the Lives of the sea drew upward-pointing arcs and gathered around the Earth Serpent. The great dragon’s great roar was summoning the appropriate Lives. The Lives making up the sea created giant angular wings for the Earth Serpent. It intended to fly. “Wait… That’s no joke!” Wild Königin replied to Akira’s shout. … Akira! Look down! It was Gunmal’s Live. She did as he said and saw a small space at Central’s wharf that had escaped the destruction. She also saw a few of her friends there. … !? She gasped and Gunmal said more. … We’re ready for the fire element! It’s only gonna last an instant, okay!? “Eh!?” … Don’t act so surprised! Hurry on down! It’s after you! When she heard that last comment, Akira cleared her ears. Lives filled with great pressure were attempting to leave the earth. The Earth Serpent was going to fly and Akira understood everything. She held Wild Königin under her arm and let the Lives around her ring. … I’m going to create an Earth Serpent, too! The three Earth Burns roared in response to her will. It was a pleasant noise and she kicked off the air while listening to the trio. She made a rapid descent to where Gunmal had called her. She flapped her wings, split the air, and moved in a straight line. The wharf grew below her and the individual people came into view. Gunmal was there and he raised a hand as if in greeting when he saw her. That was the signal. The four tanks gathered in the center of the wharf exploded, producing pillars of fire. “You want me to use-…!?” She never finished her shouted question. Without slowing her descent, she held Wild Königin down and flew right into the explosive flames. Wild Königin’s blade split the rising flames. … This will work! She immediately started singing and the desired change was instantly achieved. With a single swing, Wild Königin broke down the Lives of fire, heat, light, and smoke. The surrounding space was dyed in crimson. “She did it!” She heard the General’s voice as she flew back up into the sky and a second explosion followed after her. Flames burst from the four tanks from left to right and four pillars of fire rose into the night sky. Those four flaming pillars ascended in a straight line before spiraling around each other and combining. The resultant crimson pillar swelled out much farther than the tanks from which it was born. A red dragon was created in the sky and Akira flew right in front of it. She lightly tapped the fire Earth Burn’s nose with Wild Königin as if greeting it. The dragon narrowed its eyes a little and nodded. The previous three Earth Burns joined them. With the Earth Burns of all four elements following her, Akira briefly looked down. Her companions were looking up at her and the dragons from the wharf. Akira looked back down at them. “Oh, it’s Rin.” She spotted someone she had not seen for a while. The woman wore a black combat outfit and a similarly-dressed young man – Fei – stood next to her. Akira breathed a sigh of relief before her eyes stopped on another point of the wharf. Gunmal stood there with Wild König in his hand. “…” She smiled a little and redirected her gaze upwards. The typhoon had covered the sky with storm clouds. The sky was dark, but a light illuminated it from below. “…?” It was the Earth Serpent. Its horns, face, body, and wings all glowed with a somewhat yellowish coloration. That was the power of Yang provided by Double Lee’s blood. “Is it the power of Yang and my brother’s Live that are driving the dragon higher?” She nodded. “Then I only have one option.” The very next moment, she flew straight up. “Let’s go, everyone.” She flew toward heaven. Toward a higher place. ### 158. Part 2 Hong Kong’s destruction continued. Above the earth, city, and sea in four directions, a crazed performance was underway that mixed together all sorts of sounds. The volume and sound quality was a lot like the roar of a waterfall. Asphalt, water, wind, plants, light, and fire were all broken down and carried upwards. But there was a restful place from which the party of destruction could be seen in all four directions. It was a band of land that included Hong Kong Cave and portions of Kowloon’s business district and administrative district. Rin and Kouga had indicated that this area would not be harmed when the massive four Tune Emblems were activated. It was a narrow strip of land. The roads were overflowing with cars trying to escape destruction and crowded with people seeking help. The destruction of Hung Hom’s thermal power station had cut the city’s lights by two-thirds and the partial lighting only accentuated the darkness of the night. Sounds of destruction, the roars of the dragons, the rumbling of cars, the fear of the people, and the Lives of all those things filled the area as densely as water in the depths of the ocean. Nathan Road cut vertically through Hong Kong and its northern end was normally the quiet border between the business district and administrative district, but it was no exception. The General’s Tank Force was buried among the cars like stones in a river and could not move. “This has really turned into somethin’ else,” muttered the General with his upper body sticking out of his Grant’s turret. He had driven down the center passing lane to keep his field of vision open, but now he could not budge from there. He glanced up at the three dragons in the sky and sighed. “I guess what was taken isn’t comin’ back.” Those dragons had been made from Huang Daquan’s blood. His blood had contained Yang Lives, so the dragons would not return to Hong Kong even if the Tuning was dispelled. They would combine with heaven, which was filled with the same power. “The red one was actin’ strange earlier and I heard an odd Live, but that won’t be enough.” He lightly shook his head and squeezed the speaker microphone in his hand. “Um, no one in this street is to move. Put your hands up and I can at least say you won’t die.” He sighed. Rare for him, he frowned, crossed his arms, and looked around with narrowed eyes as if he were unsure what to do. He then heard something strange. It was a Live of silence. He could hear Lives of destruction and screaming in the distance and he could hear rumbling engines from much closer by, but despite all the surrounding noise and people, there was not a great din. “Is that ‘cause of my influence?” He smiled bitterly. “I guess it was the same durin’ that Divine Punishment War. The Tune Emblem is different from the secret technique used then, but it’s funny that it’s the son doin’ it this time.” He gently stroked the scar on his cheek. “The mother created by Huang and the son that became Huang’s protégé, huh? I just hope it’ll be stopped the way it was during Hu’s time, and not like it was during mine.” Once he said that, he heard a familiar, loud sound. It was a motorcycle engine. And he heard the actual sound rather than the Live. “Kouga!?” That was exactly who he saw when he turned around. Kouga was driving his motorcycle through the congestion, but he was not using the road or the sidewalk. He was driving straight along the Nathan Road’s central divider. The General saw someone on the back of the motorcycle. Based on the Word Color of the Live, he could tell it was Rin. “The Tempo’s a little weak for Rin, though.” The motorcycle shot toward him with enough speed to blow away that concern. But despite the speed, it was accurately controlled. The Live of Kouga’s panicked gaze pierced through the General. “What is it?” As soon as the General spoke up, the motorcycle came to a rapid stop. The tires screeched and blue smoke blew out. The back wheel hopped up a bit, the motorcycle skidded a little past the General’s Grant, and it came to a stop. Kouga hopped off and picked Rin up from the back. He had not lowered the kickstand, so the motorcycle slid and toppled over, but he ignored it and shouted to the General. “General, you’ve gotta Tune her!” The General caught on as soon as he saw Rin in the man’s arms. The woman’s right leg was missing from the knee down. ### 159. Part 2 Hong Kong Cave was dead. After the Sixth Divine Punishment War in which most of Hong Kong had been destroyed, a five-day investigation by the Yard and investigators from various nations had not found a single Nein Engel there. All they had found were the newly-abandoned ruins. However, the air began to move in that pit that now lacked even those investigators. The surface was sunny and the air was warm. That warm air flowed down into Hong Kong Cave and gained a damp, green smell as it came into contact with the darkness. It sank into the pit and slowly gathered at the bottom as if piling up, but instead of becoming air, it rotated and whirled around the spring at the lowest level. It created a slight wind. That wind contained gentle warmth. Two people let that wind wash over them on the edge of the spring. One was a large man wearing a combat jacket the same color as the shadows accumulated on the lowest level. In contrast, the other was a six-winged Nein Engel wearing a white coat that reflected light even in those same shadows. They were Fei the Galgallin and Double Lee the Seraph. These were the Nein Engels who had caused the Sixth Divine Punishment War. Neither of them moved. Fei remained standing and Double Lee remained sitting on the edge of the spring. They simply stared silently up into the shadows of Hong Kong Cave. They could not see the light of the surface from three kilometers deep. Since the creation of the hole, a number of structures had been created to cover everything up and hide the residents from the outside. Still, they stared intently upwards. Double Lee was the first to move. He opened his mouth and said something. That something was a question. “Is Genius still not done?” “There were a lot of rooms on that floor. It will take some time on her own.” “She only has to place charms for the final ceremony in the four cardinal directions, but I guess that isn’t easy with such a large space.” “It is necessary, so she has to do it.” Double Lee looked down and laughed bitterly at Fei’s clear tone, void of all cruelty or concern. “Ha ha. It’s been a week since most of Hong Kong was sent to heaven, so it’s sad that what you consider ‘necessary’ still isn’t complete.” “Should we hasten our preparations?” “I would really hate to rush this and make a mistake. But anyway, it looks like we can turn Hong Kong Cave into the site of the final ceremony by the end of the day. As for the remaining week…” “We must stop anyone who would get in our way before the night Hong Kong is returned to China and we must acquire J-Gun Maldrick’s most powerful Device.” Double Lee gave a small shrug. “Sorry for making you wait this long. It took me an entire week to make the charms to use here which slowed down the setup for J-Gun’s Device.” “That was unavoidable. Just like President Huang’s death, everything is a race against time. And, Double Lee, you have not slept much for the past few days, have you?” “Because I’m still too inexperienced. If I had more power, I could have cut out the need for these extra preparations.” “You do have power.” “Not as much as you think I do. Just to start up the dragons, I needed the Tune Emblem and a powerful Device.” “…” “Yin and Yang lie at the foundation of Tuning and Busting. Ancient Tuners and Busters could easily draw those out from light and darkness. Not only that, but they could even play the Lives of time and space. But look at the modern Tuners and Busters.” He fell silent and thought for a moment. “Even I need Master Huang’s blood to obtain the power of Yang.” “That is because of the Death Techno. Approximately seventy percent of the information related to Tuning and Busting was destroyed during the World Wars and the Divine Punishment Wars, so sending out dragons is worthy of praise in the present time.” “That’s a nice consolation.” “It is not a consolation; it is a relative evaluation,” readily corrected Fei. “You are growing faint of heart. Do you feel bad about destroying most of Hong Kong?” “Of course not. My parents did something far worse.” “Unfortunately, I have no detailed information on your parents.” “Are you sure about that? …Fei, do you know the Flight Song?” Fei nodded. “That city connects heaven and earth. …It is the most well-known song in this city.” “Yes, and it was created right here. Whenever a book introduces the Flight Song, it always has a picture of humans standing by this spring and looking up. Just like we were doing earlier.” With that said, Double Lee once more looked up toward the heavens. Fei looked in the same direction. “Can you see down here, Fei?” Double Lee’s question was a simple one. Fei’s answer was also a simple one. “It would be a problem if I could not.” The Galgallin had customized the majority of his body, so he stated that as if it were obvious. On the other hand, Double Lee smiled bitterly and lowered his gaze. His eyes turned from heaven and stopped on the monument next to the spring. That mossy stone monument was engraved with the Flight Song. Double Lee confirmed via Lives that Fei had turned in the same direction. “Don’t you find it interesting?” “The Flight Song?” “Yes.” He nodded. “Fei, I have long thought about this song’s meaning. I thought and thought and thought.” “I am aware. When President Huang first met you, that was the first thing you asked about.” “I see you’re remembering old times again.” “President Huang smiled and did not answer, but did he tell you in the end?” “Yes, he did.” “And you will not tell us?” Double Lee lightly answered through body language. He narrowed his eyes, twisted his lips a little, and simply smiled. He finally opened that smile and produced some calm words that he seemed to have prepared in advance. “Some things are best left unknown.” “…” The two fell silent. Double Lee stood up and walked over to the monument carved with the Flight Song. He arrived after one, two, three steps and reached out a hand. He could be heard peeling moss away and he lowered his head. His next words were directed toward the stones paving the ground. “If you think about it carefully, it is a simple matter. …Why doesn’t Hong Kong truly connect heaven and earth like the song says?” “Because the Divine Punishment Wars created a gap between the humans and the Glossolalians.” “Between the humans and the Glossolalians?” “The humans created Hong Kong Cave because they feared the Glossolalians. If not for that fearful avoidance, this place would not exist and neither would we as we are…or I as I am.” “I see. An excellent guess.” “That is the general opinion of all historians for the past century.” “Even that last part? …I can’t imagine you without your customized body.” “I only know this version of myself.” “Archs RDC Security Division’s Active Duty Section 1 Commander and Division Commander…Fei Garland. When customizing your body, you received a Psyche Outer surgery and lost all of your memories. But…” “My past remained.” “Could you not kill her? I looked into it. Her Urban Name is Rin, but her Wild Name is Feng Ling. She’s a detective who made a name for herself as one of the Yard’s searchers, but she’s also a Tuner. Comparing her history to yours, your old self would have met her well before five years ago. And…when you parted ways, she was not even twenty.” “How strange. You know more about me than I do.” “She would know even more. …So could you not get rid of her…no, of your past?” “Could you?” “I’m the same as you. In more ways than one,” said Double Lee. “And so is Hong Kong.” “?” “No one can erase the past. And in its prediction of the coming future – to return to our previous topic – the Flight Song does not match up with Hong Kong’s past.” “We already discussed this.” “What the historians think does not matter. I don’t care that they believe the song was created and sung as some faint hope for the people being sealed below the earth.” He laughed quietly, and… “Such ridiculous sympathy.” He looked up and his expression changed slightly. “Genius is here.” A quiet flapping reached them like the spilling of sand. A four-winged female Nein Engel descended down the center of the pit. It was Genius. “Were you waiting long?” She landed on the spring. The tips of her toes sank into the pure water and she vibrated the wings extended both up and down in order to remain afloat. She looked down but could not see the bottom of the spring. The bottomless hole looked like a gaping maw below her. “Double Lee… You’ll perform the final ceremony here, won’t you?” “Yes. I will drive the Baton into the water right where you are standing.” “So the metal element dragon lives in the depths of the earth. …This is going to be destructive.” “If I only had more power, I could have used a more peaceful method.” “Peaceful destruction?” “That’s not a very nice way of putting it. …But regardless, I had to send the four elements in advance to start up the metal dragon. I have no choice but to follow those fundamental rules.” Double Lee laughed bitterly with no harshness in his expression. Fei asked Genius something without looking away from Double Lee. “How are your preparations going? …The preparations other than the charms.” “J-Gun is working in the workshop below the Archs RDC building and the building is entirely empty. The contract is working perfectly.” “Master Huang did a good job of setting everything up. We informed them in advance this land would be blown away, but in exchange for letting us go through with it, we gave them a portion of what we own in the foreign markets, not Hong Kong’s market.” “A good decision,” said Fei without turning away from Double Lee. “Double Lee, you said that, when the Flight Song predicted the coming future, it did not match up with Hong Kong.” “Eh? What are you talking about?” Genius tilted her head and Double Lee smiled a little. “That is what we were discussing. …So what about it, Fei?” “How do you view President Huang’s instructions that continue to match up with Hong Kong even after his death?” “They are the formula to reach the answer.” “The answer? Is your answer the restoration of heaven?” “Do we have anything else?” “I am not talking about us. I am talking about you personally.” “What about for you personally? Or for Genius personally? …No, not just that. That is what it was for Master Huang as well. And in the end, that objective is the one thing bringing us together.” “I see. And you are fine with that?” Double Lee’s answer made it sound like it was a stupid question. “What else could there be?” He also looked Fei in the eye. For an instant, a metallic tone sounded in reality. The Lives of their gazes had collided. Fei seemed to have lost to that sound because he looked away. His gaze wandered a bit before stopping on the Flight Song monument next to the spring. “Double Lee,” he said. “You know everything, you have great power, and you desire something that we don’t more powerfully than we do anything. But you never try to fit in with us and people would likely call you…” He thought for a moment. “Pitiable.” Fei went on to add that he did not understand that kind of emotion. No one said anything after that. Double Lee and Genius did not agree with or deny it. The wind simply blew. ### 160. Part 2 Gunmal looked up in the seemingly never-ending expanse of Hong Kong’s clear blue sky. “In another six days, Hong Kong will be returned to China, hm? I wonder if Akira has calmed down some now that she’s left the hospital,” he said. “I kind of want to go to the beach before that final ceremony Rin mentioned.” He began to walk. He was in Mong Kok, which had received relatively little damage during the Sixth Divine Punishment War despite being on the coast. “Supposedly, most of the coastal factories were swallowed up.” He looked around his surroundings while continuing to walk. Even if it had received relatively little damage, the scars of destruction were visible all over. All of the barracks had been crushed as if by a giant foot. Most of the houses and stores had lost their windows and even the seemingly unharmed buildings had cracks in the walls. That was enough to prevent anyone from living there anymore. “Hm,” he muttered as he looked up into the sky. A round VTOL aircraft slowly moved by far overhead. Its external speakers were producing words in what sounded like Cantonese. “An announcement from the government, hm?” For the past few days, aircraft like that were more common sights in the skies than birds. Investigation teams, rescue squads, volunteers, and some military from different counties had been visiting and leaving. A shelter had been set up in the New Territories and a simple airport had been built there. Some Chinese were leaving to live overseas and some non-Chinese were returning to their homelands. The residents of Hong Kong were scattering throughout the world. “The only people still here in central Hong Kong are the doctors, the patients, the eccentrics, and…” He smiled bitterly. “Saying ‘and us’ would sound awfully cool, wouldn’t it?” He sounded fairly pleased with himself and he looked forward once more. Akira’s apartment building was there. A white crack ran through the concrete side wall like someone had made a diagonal sword strike. He looked up at it and whistled. He approached the side of the apartment with a light step and he quickly arrived at the bottom of the old black metal stairs. He then slowly climbed a step at a time, while making sure not to make a noise. “…” Silence followed for a several seconds, but that was enough for him to reach the top of the stairs without incident. His tall form stood on the second story corridor, but he had stopped. His legs had been moving so casually before, but they had come to a quick stop. Even his expression had stiffened at some point. The only thing that had not changed was his silence. His eyes looked straight ahead. His gaze stabbed into the area of the corridor in front of Akira’s room. There was trash piled up there. A tablecloth and glass shards were packed inside trash bags. Wood pieces of a bed frame and a refrigerator were lying on their side, blocking the corridor. “Did Akira move? No…I guess not.” He spoke but soon closed his mouth again. His gaze moved slightly down. The corridor floor was wet in front of her room. The glass shards and scraps of cloth that had escaped the trash bags were flowing with the water spreading across the corridor. “…?” His eyes moved toward the source of the water. “…” He soon found it: the door to Akira’s room. Water was flowing from between the door and the floor. He spent a few seconds staring at that spot. The light reflecting off of the flowing glass shards grew duller. They had sunk into the water. That meant water was continuing to flow from the source. “Is she training? No, her Live is too weak for that. …Then why?” He shook his head. His expression was still stiff and he sighed. But… “…” He remained silent. He simply watched the movement of what lay before his eyes. After a few breaths, his legs began to move. He did not step forward. He turned around and away from Akira’s room. “Is she doubting?” He took a breath and looked to the hand inside his glove. That was his prosthetic right hand. Still staring at it, he descended the stairs as silently as he had come. For once, strength filled his gaze and eyebrows. But… “Interesting…” Without ever looking away from his hand, his lips twisted slightly. They formed a small smile. ### 161. Part 2 The hospital was the same one Akira had been hospitalized at. However, they went to a different building. “Building 2’s power supply is on the fritz, so she’s in Building 3 despite her serious injury. You were in a special room in Building 1.” “Well, I am a Nein Engel. I can’t use a normal bed. …Oh, using the main entrance would be the long way around, so let’s head directly in over there.” Akira avoided the main entrance and walked to Building 3’s courtyard-side entrance. “It sounds like the boss has some kind of idea. I was hoping you could ask her what it is.” “Just between us girls, you mean?” “Sorry.” Akira nodded and circled the entire hospital from the courtyard. There was no one on the grassy courtyard. The buildings surrounded the courtyard with Building 1 on the left, Building 2 straight ahead, and Building 3 to the right. They were all giant white-walled buildings. However, all of the windows in Building 2 were dark. As Kouga had said, it seemed to have stopped functioning. … The hospital’s power supply is out? Building 2 was used for seriously injured patients. “…” “What’s that worried look for?” “Oh, just feeling a little down.” “Yeah, I can’t stand the smell of disinfectant either.” “Because you’re a vampire?” asked Akira. “Oh, sorry,” she quickly added. However, Kouga only smiled bitterly without getting angry. “Maybe that is why. Now that you mention it.” “Come to think of it, I didn’t ask about your family.” “My mother’s a vampire and my father’s human. It’s the same arrangement as your family.” “No, not that. Have they left Hong Kong?” “They went to London for a six-month trip,” he answered. “They’ll come back eventually. This is the only place where people like us can live and enjoy ourselves. I doubt my old man’s thinking of completely ditching this place.” “I see.” “I wish I could strike back at the enemy like you can. The civil team will probably be stuck taking everyone left in Hong Kong to the New Territories.” “That’s an important job, isn’t it?” “The General said the same thing.” “Well, he and I can be a lot alike.” They arrived at Building 3’s entrance as they spoke. Akira hesitated a little, but she walked ahead of Kouga and pushed the glass door. The door silently opened and she stepped inside. The smell of disinfectant grew stronger and she was surprised to find it was brighter than outside. The brightness of the lights confused her and Kouga ran into her when she flinched back. She began walking again. “Which room is she in?” “404. …Oh, I was told not to use the elevator.” “That’s fine since I don’t like elevators, but I need to Tune heal her as quickly as I can.” “You sound motivated now.” “Yeah. I need to take this seriously, so I’m psyching myself up.” With that, she turned toward the emergency staircase. She climbed the stairs. As they moved their feet, Kouga spoke to break the silence. “Speaking of families, the boss’s came by. They apparently have some connections on the mainland.” “Will Rin…be moving there?” “In liberated Broad City – Shanghai, apparently. But that was the first time I learned her Wild Name.” “She’s from the Feng family, right? And your family name is Yamashiro, isn’t it? I know everyone’s since I’m with Cleared.” “The Feng family is famous. That must be why her family wants to get moving so soon.” “Probably. …What do you think the General will do? Will he move to the mainland, too?” “Who knows. No one knows much about his family.” “He apparently has a wife. He’s always talking about her. Have you ever seen her?” “Nope.” “Maybe she’s imaginary.” With that offhand comment, Akira came to a stop. She took a breath and heard Kouga speak behind her. “What is it?” “I was just thinking the fourth floor is so high up.” As she climbed the stairs, she found herself out of breath and her pulse racing. … Maybe because I always use my wings to fly. She smiled bitterly and Kouga gave her a serious look. “Are you still not feeling well?” “Eh? Why do you ask?” “Well…” He pointed at the number on the landing. They were only on the second floor. It was true this was too early to be exhausted. “Maybe it was too early to ask you here…” Kouga sounded worried and Akira frantically spoke up. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I was just kidding.” Akira herself knew best of all that was a lie. Her breathing and pulse were far from “fine”. … Kouga’s right…but what does it mean? She started up the stairs again to hide her confusion. She forcefully stepped forward to continue the climb. She consciously restrained her breathing. That quieted her breaths, but they were even more disturbed than before. And that disturbance sent her pulse racing even faster. She started sweating. It was a cold sweat. This was not the warm sweat of exhaustion. … What is going on? The answer became clear once she reached the fourth floor. “…” She could no longer walk properly. “Eh?” She looked down and found her legs shaking on the fourth floor landing. No, it was not just her legs that were trembling. Her arms and body were also shaking. It was a weak tremor, different from the tension of exertion. … A chill? No, this is different. She had seen the Lives of people trembling like this. Their Live would have a cold purple Word Color and a Tempo like a racing metallic pulse that was too high-pitched to hear. “Why am I afraid?” She suddenly looked up. “I get it now…” She realized she had made a serious misunderstanding. At the same time, she received the answer to all of her questions. It was not her exhaustion or the lack of practice that was keeping her from Tuning. … I’m afraid of Tuning. Her body briefly recalled the ensemble of screaming Lives she had heard on the night of the flying dragons. “!” Her pulse grew stronger, the purple Word Color surrounding her turned black, and the Tempo briefly stopped. Her chill grew worse and her arms moved on their own to hold her body. Kouga passed by her without noticing how she was acting. “404’s right in front of you.” Rin’s hospital room was straight ahead from the landing. “Right here. They weren’t allowing visitors until yesterday.” She spoke without turning around and she did not respond. Akira watched him reach for the doorknob and she removed the Device at her waist. She then hid it from Kouga by placing it behind the railing of the next flight of stairs up. Her pulse calmed a little. She looked back just in time to see Kouga opening the hospital room door. A chill of surprise raced through her body like an icicle had stabbed down her spine. Once that door opened, she would have to Tune. “Kouga!” She just about shouted for him to stop, but the sunlight on the other side of the door stopped her. The hospital room was bright. It was pure white. The bed was best described as sterile, but… “It’s empty,” weakly muttered Kouga. Akira also saw the empty space. Rin had vanished from the hospital room. “…” She also found she had stopped trembling. ### 162. Part 2 A great rumbling tore apart the asphalt. The General’s beloved modified Grant raced toward the Yard HQ at full speed. Each time it drove over a head-sized piece of rubble, the thirty ton tank would shake. That shaking affected the top canopy the most, so the General’s body shook about as he leaned out. “Has my Tunin’ gotten weak? How’d I let a big-shot like that get so close?” He held his arms sharply forward to fight the shaking and looked back in the direction Gunmal had gone. For once, his expression was tense. “Honestly… Gunmal’s gettin’ pretty close to some interestin’ parts of Hong Kong’s past. Kids these days need to quit scarin’ their elders so much.” He sighed, peered inside the tank, and asked a question. “Hey, are we still not in relay range for the radio?” He nodded when a crewmember told him they would be in range after moving another three hundred meters north. “Once we’re in range, transmit a message to all of Hong Kong, tellin’ everyone who can to gather at the Yard. I’ll take responsibility for whatever happens.” He then leaned out into the wind once more. And he gathered his thoughts on his own. “Since Akira’s brother’s on the move, then the final ceremony must be close, just like that young lady and Rin said. They must be gettin’ desperate.” As soon as he nodded to himself, he heard an explosion from behind. “!” The ground shook a bit and the Grant trembled. “Now that’s a frightenin’ Live. …Is it Gunmal?” He moved just his gaze back and spotted smoke rising into the sky. He clicked his tongue and faced forward again. In that instant, someone ran out in front of the Grant. “…!? Full stop!” He shouted far louder than one would expect of such a small body and the Grant immediately reacted. The sharp silhouette of the tank pitched forward. The treads coated in resin using the European method blew blue smoke backwards and peeled away. After a long sound like piles of cloth being torn, a metallic sound finished it all off. After that, the wheels screeched and the Grant stopped. To make sure he was not thrown out, the General had lowered his upper body onto the upper surface of the tank. “…Wait.” The word that escaped his lips was directed at the figure frozen in place only two meters in front of the Grant. The female figure had two sharply-angled wings on her back. It was Akira. “Impossible.” The General gasped. “Weren’t you fightin’ in that battle back there!?” He got up as he spoke and Akira blinked in confusion. “F-fighting? Me?” “Yeah, that’s what they said…” “What? Didn’t Kouga contact you? I’ve been searching for Rin this entire time. But I thought things were getting dangerous when I saw that explosion, so I was on my way to somewhere safe.” “Explosion?” “Yeah. You saw that smoke, right? Over there… I wonder what it was. Maybe some remaining fuel caught fire like they mentioned in the newspaper.” “That was no explosion! It’s a battle between a Buster and Tuner.” “It couldn’t be.” Akira frowned. “If that was Tuning and Busting, there would be Lives with powerful Messages…” She slowly trailed off and her expression changed entirely. It was the look of someone who had stepped on something they should not have. When she hid her mouth to hide it, the General spoke up. “Get goin’.” “…Wh-what about you?” “I’ve got my own job to do.” “D-don’t say that! That’s irresponsible!” “Yeah, and this problem is your responsibility.” “H-has something bad happened?” “If you want to know, then get goin’!” His shout sent a tremor through her body. She opened her lips as if to say something back. “…” But only silence came out. Instead, she nodded once and moved her legs. She passed by the General’s Grant and began to run. She continued forward while hanging her head. ### 163. Part 2 When Akira awoke, she was surrounded by darkness. … Is it nighttime? She quickly realized it was not. The faint light of a cloudy day slipped in through the gap at the center of the thick curtains. That light fell on her face as she lay below a single sheet. The bed was located in the corner of a wood-floored room. She noticed her clothes neatly folded by the pillow. … Where am I? Her sense of smell answered her question. A slight scent of lubricating oil filled the room. That was the General’s scent. … Is this his house? He never tells anyone about his family, so did he really bring me here? She had only just woken, so that question rolled around her blank mind while she heard distant cicada cries. … Am I dreaming? His house would be in the middle of the city, so why would I hear cicadas? That was when it hit her. … There is no city anymore. Hong Kong was no longer filled with rising smoke, sounds of movement, or human figures. After confirming that fact, her mind gradually grew more alert. And she realized something else too. … I can’t hear any Lives. “!” She could not hear the city’s Lives that she always heard when she woke up. She could only hear the cicada cries. A large tremor ran through her body. She started sweating. She felt blood rushing to her head and her mind grew entirely clear. She tried to get up from the bed. “Ah.” She slid right back down. She had been lying on her right side, so her right arm was numb. She grabbed her numb arm with her left hand, crossed her arms, and stopped moving. … How long was I asleep? My body won’t loosen up. She silently asked her body, but she heard no Lives in response. She only sensed something vague and elusive like with Gunmal. But this time, it was with herself. Just like a normal person who could neither Tune nor Bust, she could only hear the sounds reverberating in her ears and body and she could only see what reflected in her eyes. That was not nearly enough. She could not see the sounds dancing in the air and she could not hear the light or the shadow. Her anxious pulse pounded loud in her ears and the shadows enveloping the room felt far too powerful. The daily calendar on the wall said it was the twenty-ninth. From somewhere else in the house, she heard a pendulum clock ringing at the top of the hour. The bell rang four times, so it had to be 4:00 PM. Hong Kong would be utterly destroyed the night after this. “…” Without saying a word, she sank into the bed. She used her will more than her strength to hold herself with her unmoving arms. And she sensed something in those tense arms. She held something hard in her right hand and her arms were wrapped around it. She looked down. It took a beat before her eyes focused. But then she saw it. She held something like a metal panel in her arms. The metal panel had been molded into something like a musical instrument. It was a Device. She recognized it. “Nein König.” She tried to speak the name of the man associated with that Device. “…” But she could not. The broken Device had no hilt and it showed no reaction to her emotions. … Not that it would react to the Live of a Tuner who’s losing her powers. She gathered strength in her brow and tore her gaze from Nein König. Her eyes then turned to a certain point in the shadowy room: the wall. A wooden vase hung from the white earthen wall. A jinyinhua vine grew there with several yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. Jinyinhua was a vine plant, so it needed to wrap around something to grow. It was wrapped around a long, angular, and golden feather. She recognized the color. … Is that my feather? But then… “Have you woken up?” The General’s voice reached her from beyond the room’s sliding door. She looked that way but did not move her body. She felt a little wary and remained silent. She pretended to still be asleep. “…” But despite her silence, she heard a sound from beyond the door. She could imagine what it was, but first… “My wife escaped outside this morning. But…here’s some simple boiled water and rice porridge.” His voice was muffled by the door, but it still reached Akira. She shrunk down in shock and closed her eyes. … I’m being a nuisance again… The General did not answer her thought. After a while, she heard his slow, quiet footsteps walking down the wood-floored hall. She had not heard those footsteps when he had approached. “I can’t believe this…” She gathered her will and embraced Nein König again. She briefly recalled an unpleasant Live: the ensemble of countless screams as the Earth Burn had flown through the sky. “…” She tried to ignore it by closing her heart and sinking deeper into the bed. She wanted to fall asleep so she could accept the facts that had stabbed into her over the past few minutes. ### 164. Part 2 With a bath towel over his shoulder, he spotted Akira. “Hey, welcome back. The bath’s ready.” She slowly looked up at him. “…?” She asked “why?” with only the look in her eyes, so Gunmal answered while sticking his hands in the sink. “You didn’t have a fridge and you’d left the water on for a while, so I figured you wouldn’t mind.” With a splash, he pulled out two cans of beer. He placed on in front of Akira and kept the other one for himself. He opened the pull tab and the carbonation audibly escaped. All he had to do was drink it. After two gulps, he took a breath and looked to Akira. “…What’s the matter? What’s that look for?” She opened her mouth and tried to say something, but only a sob escaped. “…!” She silently released a few things she wanted to say and they were all summed up what spilled from her eyes: tears. Gunmal seemed to panic. “W-wait, wait. What’s this about all of a sudden?” She did not respond, so he brushed a hand through his damp hair and tilted his head. “C’mon, cheer up. Look, I’ll bet you’ll like this.” He moved to the back room for a few seconds and returned with a Yard cap in his hand. He placed it on Akira’s head so it hid her tearful face. “I got a little carried away and blew up the workshop, so I carried my stuff back to the Yard. But the place was deserted, so I had no choice but to come here about two hours ago.” “…” “And y’know what? Those kids you were teaching Tuning to? A bunch of them showed up and left some stuff here. Like a picture frame and a sanxian.” “A picture frame…and a sanxian?” She let out a shaky voice when she heard the names of the objects she had thought were lost. Gunmal nodded. “They said something about their dads and some other people trashing this room, but they were talking so fast I didn’t catch it all.” He sighed. “Well, one of them left that hat.” Akira lowered her head at that. Then she sobbed and let out a choking sigh. After a beat, she started crying again. “Damn, it had the opposite effect.” Sounding troubled, Gunmal sat down. “Really, what’s the matter?” Akira called the name of the man who asked her that. “…Gunmal.” “Hm?” “…Gunmall.” “Yeah, what is it?” “…Gunmalll!” “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah?” “Gunmal!” “I get it, I get it. Hey, quit rubbing at your eyes.” He grabbed the hand she was pressing to her face and that action gave her the opportunity she needed. She moved up the arm grabbing her and collapsed into his chest. “Hey, wait! And I only just got changed into dry clothes…” She wrapped her arms around his back to cling to him and refused to let go. And she spoke to no one in particular. “You really do show up when I call for you…” By the time she finished muttering those words, his arms had wrapped around her back as well. Her tears began to dry up and he asked something. “What’s the matter? What happened?” “…You can’t see my Live, can you?” “…” He remained silent and that was enough to answer her question. So she smiled bitterly. “That’s what happened. …Yeah.” “I don’t mind.” He spoke quietly and moved a bit back from her. Her teary eyes and his eyes met at the same level. “I’ll be borrowing those lips.” “You really are forceful.” Akira smiled a little and closed her eyes. Gunmal’s lips met with hers. She could not sense Lives at the moment, so it was just the one sensation. The action ended after a mere two seconds. The removal of her vision let her sense the dampness of his lips all the more as they left hers. She heard his voice from close enough that it drowned out all other sounds. “I see.” He let out a sigh and she asked him something. “You understand?” “I understand a lot now. …And I’ve learned my lesson too.” “About what?” “Well,” he hesitantly replied. “I can’t have the woman I kiss thinking my breath reeks of beer.” “I-idiot, you don’t have to read that much!” “Shut up. And don’t worry. Your Live isn’t dead yet.” “Really?” “Really.” “Really really?” “Really really… You’re pretty argumentative today, you know that?” “What’s wrong with that? I want to make sure of some things, okay?” She sounded relieved and she rested her head on his shoulder. He stroked her wet wings. “You’re going to catch cold. Go take a bath.” “Sure.” “…” “C’mon, get going.” “Sure.” She agreed again but did not move, so Gunmal tilted his head. “Y’know, you do feel pretty cold right now. You need to get going before you really do catch cold.” “I know that, but…” “But?” “Didn’t you read what I was thinking before?” “What might that have been?” “Well…um…” “Out with it.” “Ah. …Is that any way to speak to a woman?” “Don’t get mad. So what is it you want to say, Akira?” She frowned at that question. “You mean you really didn’t read it earlier?” “I mean I really want to know what you’ve been trying to say since earlier.” “Well…” Her cheeks flushed a little and she turned her head away from Gunmal. “Um…” “Yeah?” “I’ve been thinking, and this is the best way of doing it. I don’t have any ulterior motive.” “Best way of doing what?” “…I want to learn a lot about you.” “Ohhh. And what is this ‘best way’ you were talking about?” She stopped moving when she heard his tone of voice. “…You’ve caught on, haven’t you?” “Oh, you noticed?” He let out a bitter laugh and she dug her fingernails into his back while blushing. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! I’m still not fully healed, you know!?” “I don’t care! You shouldn’t tease people!” “Sorry, sorry. …You’re quit the romantic for a woman, Akira.” “Don’t guys normally read too much into things instead of too little!?” “Yeah, but I’m a realist.” “You could have balanced this out if you were a feminist instead.” “Anyway, enough with the jokes.” He nodded and his tone grew suddenly serious. “Why do you want to read my Live?” “You didn’t see that when you kissed me?” “…Are you serious? As you’ve realized, Tuning can easily become a dangerous weapon.” “But I don’t think that’s all it can be.” “…” Gunmal fell silent, but she felt strength fill his arms on her back. Then she heard his voice. “You saved me.” Akira’s eyes widened at that. “Um, Gunmal, make no mistake here.” “?” “What I want…really isn’t just the practical side of things.” “Yeah, I saw that too.” “Like you said, I’m a romantic.” “Then let me give you my opinion as a realist.” “Hm?” Gunmal quietly and heavily answered her questioning tone. “Hurry up and take a bath.” Akira jabbed her nails into his back. ### 165. Part 2 The Earth Burns had torn into the crust during the Sixth Divine Punishment War, so Hong Kong Island’s shape had changed. The east and west sides of the island had become cliffs of exposed volcanic rock. The rock faces curved a bit as they rose about two hundred meters from the ocean surface. The sea breeze that had normally blown across the island ran into those cliff faces, collided with the ocean, and burst into the sky. The sound of the wind was surprisingly loud and it created a great roar. Facing the windy rock face on the eastern end of the island was enough to have the blowing wind drown out all other noises. It was a space cut off from the outside world. Two figures stood at the top of the cliff. One was a large man and the other was a slender woman. They were Fei and Rin. The two of them were injured. Fei’s left arm had been severed partway down and the spear of light from an anti-demon round was skewered into his left shoulder. Rin had fallen to her knees, but the only visual damage was the scorched black hair behind her neck. Rin was fighting much more evenly than during their previous matchup. Rin had run across Fei almost immediately after landing at Central’s port on the north end of Hong Kong Island. The General and the others had been with her, but they had started fighting J-Gun Maldrick and Genius Elias. Rin’s first job was to draw Fei away from the others and her second was to finish him off. She had accomplished that first job. This cliff was three kilometers from Central because they had run at full speed as they fought. She had used up all of the firearms on her person and thrown them away. She was now armed with a flat black combat knife. Fei had tensed the fingers of his right hand and five close-combat Hard Nails had jutted three centimeters out from the fingertips of his hard white false arm. From there, close-quarters combat had begun. Rin glanced at the watch on her left wrist. The bluish-white digital display of the men’s diving watch said it was 11:40 at night. In twenty more minutes, Hong Kong would be returned to China. “…” She said something, but it was drowned out by the wind tearing into the cliff. She closed her mouth and faced forward. Fei was close enough to reach immediately at a run and he was more damaged, but he was also larger. She was not yet fully accustomed to her Custom Body and the difference in body size also worked against her. It was hard to say which one had the advantage at the moment. Fei was the first to move in order to determine which one of them had the upper hand. The first thing he did was walk. Almost immediately, the walk turned into a run. The spear of light was still stabbed into his left shoulder as he charged toward Rin. She stood up and kicked forward at the ground of volcanic rock. She made a shallow jump backwards so as not to give him an opening. Fei’s nails stabbed into the space she had just vacated. The jab using his elbow and forearm set the wind in motion. As soon as Rin landed, she jumped forward. At the same time, she kicked at the ground. First to the right and then to the left. Her position in the air shifted. She made a quick and powerful feint. By the time Fei lowered his hips in a combat stance, Rin had left his field of vision. She was above him. To maintain her momentum while leaping, she rotated her body once and used the centrifugal force to drop straight down. She placed all of her weight on the knife she held in both hands as she launched her attack. “!” Fei was slow to react, but he was accurate. His right arm caught the blade, so it dug into that false arm. The sound of impact was crushed and the wind rising from the cliff sounded all the louder. “…!” One of them shouted something. In midair, Rin briefly stood on Fei’s arm as if she had no weight. And she kicked off his arm to pull out the knife. With an impact, she flew spinning back through the air. She twisted her body to absorb the blow from Fei’s arm. Fei was the first to move the next time. He leaped forward as Rin landed and lowered down. He thrust the Hard Nails out from the hand held in front of his chest. His stance and strength were far more powerful than Rin’s. It was a sharp attack. Rin took a defensive stance against the mass of great pressure launched toward her. Instead of fleeing or fearing, she simply took that light stance. “…” Some words were spoken. In that instant, Fei’s right arm scattered. “!?” The solid sound was somewhat audible through the wind. Fei had been thrown off balance in midair and he fell onto his left knee. Then he looked to his false right arm. The arm had defended against the knife attack, but it had vanished starting halfway down the upper arm. It now looked like glass shards. The wind blew his arm behind him like a comet’s tail. “…!” This was the power of Tuning. As proof, a torn piece of paper was attached to the bit of the false arm that remained past his right shoulder. It was a charm. Rin had placed it there when making her knife attack and it had paid off here. She stepped forward at a speed one could call slow. She targeted Fei’s head as he stood up and tried to fall back. She started to run and in a straight line this time. She was fast, so she quickly covered the distance between them. She charged toward his chest and raised the knife in her right hand, but just as she gathered strength, she froze in place in that stance. Meanwhile, Fei had no means of defending and no weapons with which to fight. But he moved his thick neck and revealed his intent to fight. “!” He twisted his head around to bite into the handle of the spear of light stabbed into his left shoulder. He moved just like a beast attempting to escape a trap. The spear of light was pulled from his shoulder and the rest was simple. As he held the spear between his teeth, the blade swept horizontally toward Rin’s throat. She had no way of avoiding the slash and the blow sent her flying through the air. A crack-like line ran halfway through her neck. Blood spurted out at about the same time as the spear left Fei’s mouth. ### 166. Part 2 Akira flew without looking down. “I need to be able to reach heaven.” She used the strength of her wings to lift her body higher and higher. The air grew heavier and heavier, but she accelerated to overcome that weight. To continue flying, she needed to read the wind. She flew higher. Toward a higher place. “I need draw in the moonlight for the power of Yin.” She flew. … The wind is weak. She desperately read the Lives. She picked up the wind even as it thinned from the great altitude and she rode that current to accelerate. She sharpened her mind. She closed her eyes and ears and she focused her senses on her wings and the hands holding Wild Königin. When she did, she found she could see and hear the surrounding Lives. Even with no wind, the wind Lives were there. And if those were there, so were the air Lives. Many different kinds of Lives floated in the air, even if only in small quantities: water, cloud, heat, chill, and the excitement rising from those in Hong Kong. It all reached Akira and saw her off. She combined acceleration and flight and felt many different Lives passing through her body. It was the same as when she had seen Gunmal’s Live. She sped up, flew between the floating Lives, and passed through them. It was a pleasant feeling. … Amazing. Her mind smiled a little. Her Live was joyfully shouting that she needed to climb even higher. … I can’t fight it. Her heart desired to move higher, higher, and faster. That desire cut off her senses and created everything. She could sense the four dragons holding their breath and following her. The wind, the air, and even gravity spoke to her with their Messages rather than any physical form. Her own Live responded and she flew ever higher as if pushed on by them. She accelerated. She needed to reach a great height, so she flew. The Message sung by her Live desired what was there: the power of Yin that filled the moonlight. Every time she flapped her wings, she could feel herself approaching her destination. The word “joy” filled her mind. … Why? A question occurred to her. … Why did I try to get rid of this? She had no time to answer the question. She simply ascended. Spatially, her destination was far. Temporally, it was close. “Here it is,” she said. She shifted her focus from the sensations in her body and back to reality. Her beating pulse proved her own existence. “…” Without speaking a word, she looked around. The four Earth Burns surrounded her. Below, Hong Kong Island’s broken shape and the Kowloon Peninsula looked even smaller than on a map. The sea spread out around them and she could see small lights at the ends of that ocean. Those were the cities of other countries. Akira breathed a sigh of relief while looking at the lights of cities she had never visited. Her elated senses heard the voices of Lives ringing in the heavens and the earth. They belonged to the night, the sky, the clouds, the wind, the city, the earth, and the people. “Yes.” She gave a satisfied nod. “It’s so full of life.” She then looked up to the dark clouds. They formed a dome-like curtain that turned somewhat downward. She could not see the heavens, but she still asked a question without looking away. “Gunmal?” She spoke quietly, but Wild Königin still answered. … What is it? She smiled at his somehow kind tone. “I want to see the moon.” … I see. A few seconds after that, he continued with a bitter laugh. … I told you what to do if you need something, didn’t I? “Yes, but are you sure? I’m going to call your Wild Name.” … Go for it. I wouldn’t be able to reach you otherwise. “That’s true.” She nodded, raised Wild Königin like a sword, and closed her eyes. She exhaled and then inhaled deeply. She gathered all of her senses on Wild Königin and felt Wild König reaching her. When she realized Gunmal was doing the same thing, her smile deepened. A moment later, they moved in unison, called each other’s Wild Names, and spoke. ### 167. Part 3 Hong Kong’s destruction was approaching its climax. The black earth dragon, the green wood dragon, and the blue water dragon were already flying about high in the night sky and the Nein Engels decorated their surroundings like stars. Where they had left the earth, the surface had torn away and muddy seawater was filling the great holes left behind. There were no more Lives rising from those places. The red dragon alone had yet to ascend. It calmly floated over the land of Hung Hom. It smashed the earth, swallowed the greenery and wind, and restored its torn body. Its prey was Akira. In a single word, she was exhausted. She had removed her uniform’s coat and all she could do was run and jump. Even when running at full speed, the great dragon could fill the gap with the slightest of actions. A few times, it had caught up to her and just about crushed her or devoured her. However, she was much too small for the dragon. It would misjudge the distance and bite at the wrong spot or drop its maw in the wrong area. “But I still can’t take much more of this,” she sighed while weakly running along. She had tripped and slammed against the ground or rocky walls so often that she could no longer feel the pain in her right wing. … Have I knocked myself silly? As she had that overly carefree thought, she heard a heavy Live behind her. She looked back and saw the red dragon’s face. “!” The Live of its gaze pierced into her body and she escaped it by moving to the right. She ran and a giant red wall burst through the spot she had just vacated. The dragon bent its neck while practically lying on the ground. It turned its head toward Akira. “…!?” The yellow light of its eyes faced Akira and the Live racing from it was no longer one of curiosity. This intense red Word Color and low rumbling Tempo belonged to a Live of fury. And she had no weapon with which to deflect that Live. She felt a squeezing in her heart as her own Live was crushed and nearly broken by that fury. If it broke, this was all over. That would mean her Live had been Busted. Her voice escaped her throat, but it did not reach the level of a scream. “You have to be kidding me!” It was only a small shout, but it helped her regain a grip on her own Live. … Calm down. Instead of calming her Live with Tuning, she created the rhythm of a song. This was the Flight Song that she had known for a very long time and it flowed through her heart. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” As she sang, strength returned to her gaze and she used that strength to force back the dragon’s gaze. Her feet had nearly stopped, but they began moving again. The dragon reacted to her movement. It released a furious protest at the recovery of its nearly defeated prey. It opened its fang-lined mouth and released a voice of pure attack rather than words or breath. It was a roar. “!” The great noise nearly blew Akira away. “…Kh!” But she held her ground. She sensed a presence behind her. “What!?” She turned only her head and saw an earthen wall that had not been there before. Called by the dragon’s cry, it had risen from the ground as if by springs. By the time she noticed, it was too late. Shock and pain ran through her back and wings, but it did not end there. She did her best to not lose her balance, but the rising earth proved too much for her. A cylindrical pillar of earth jutted up with the speed of an elevator. Akira lost to that inertia and collapsed onto her back. “Ow!” For a winged Nein Engel, falling onto her back was filled with only pain and fear. She felt instinctual fear at having her defenseless stomach turned toward the nearly empty night sky. She raised her head in a frantic attempt to get up and she saw the red dragon’s face. She had been raised from the ground by a few meters, so there was nothing to obstruct the dragon’s gaze. From the dragon’s point of view, she was nothing but an offering. … Oh, no. The dragon must have noticed what she was thinking because it smiled. An unpleasant chill ran down her back and she trembled. She felt a reflexive urge to run, but her body would not move. Her arms, legs, and torso seemed pinned to the ground. … Eh? Her will responded to her question, but her body did not. She was exhausted and her body had given up, regardless of her will. She gasped at this unexpected betrayal and looked to the enemy. It raised its head and opened its maw with the other three dragons and the Nein Engels flying in the night sky behind it. And it rushed toward her. “!” She could not even scream. Her voice refused to come out. Only her thoughts raced through her heart. The wordless thoughts powerfully raced into the sky in pure Live form. Only one person in the entire world heard that rushing Live. And he responded. He responded by blowing the dragon away from the side. She heard a great rumbling. “…!?” When the great dragon’s face was only around a dozen meters from her, a gust of wind struck it from the side. Instead of a light impact, that wind was enough of an attack to knock it onto its side. And something much more crucial reached her a moment later: a distinctive Live. It rang in her gut, had a low Tempo with a wave-like motion, and was colored a metallic gray. It had blown the red dragon away. … It can’t be. She glanced around, but before she found anything, she felt something solid touching her back and below the knees. A moment later, she was lifted up from those points. “Eh?” “Don’t act so confused.” She looked up and saw Gunmal’s face before her eyes. ### 168. Part 3 Destroyed. That single word described the state of Akira’s apartment. It was not that the entire apartment building had been destroyed. Her home – that is, her room – was the only one destroyed. She noticed as soon as she unlocked and opened the door. Light from the window reflected off the white porcelain fragments and rounded glass shards covering the old wooden flooring of the small kitchen. The pieces of blackened boards in the shadows on the floor had originally been the cupboards and the toppled pillar by the wall was the refrigerator with its door torn off. There was also graffiti spray-painted on the walls, broken lights, and every other kind of destruction imaginable. “What…is this?” As she muttered those words in the entranceway, the Lives remaining in the room stroked her cheeks. Attracted by the outside wind, those residual Lives tried to escape the room. Their Word Color was the dark red of molten metal and the Tempo following that red was a loud, racing pulse. These were Lives of hatred. “With Lives this dense, several people must have done this.” She weakly nodded in acceptance of what had happened. “Because I’m a Nein Engel…they thought I was a part of my brother’s group.” … They were taking revenge. She also remembered the Lives of the patients staring at her in the hospital lobby. Those had been lighter than the hatred left here, but they had still contained hostility. “…” She placed a hand on her chest to contain her rising pulse. The Lives of hatred were disturbing her own Live. She took two, then four deep breaths. “This kind of thing happens all the time.” As soon as she gave that emotionless comment, she noticed someone standing right next to her. She had not expected them there. “!?” She was shocked to find how defenseless she was and she reflexively reached for the Device at her waist. She turned around and swiftly brought the person into view. “My landlord?” That was exactly who was there. The middle-aged woman wearing a green dress was the landlord of Akira’s apartment and she peered into Akira’s room. “Are you okay, Akira?” “Yes, I’m fine. But…” “That’s some rotten luck.” “Yes, it is. …But who did this and why?” “It’s unthinkable what happened to your room.” The landlord closed her eyes and gave a sympathetic nod. “I think it was the night two days after that new Divine Punishment War. That would be five days ago. A group showed up as they were preparing to flee to the mainland because of what happened to Hong Kong. …I think there were about twenty of them.” “And they did all this?” “I was shocked when I noticed the next morning, but I can’t tell you exactly what happened.” “I suppose not.” As she responded to the landlord, Akira realized her Live was oddly still. … I’m trying to ignore the emotion of anger. She felt bad doing this to the landlord, but she could see the woman’s Live. She could not read it, but she could hear and see the Live coming from her body and that told her what emotions she was feeling. The landlord’s Live was currently playing fast and yellow. It was a Live of panic. … She’s lying. To be sure, Akira checked on the main entrance’s doorknob. There was no sign of damage to the lock or of the doorknob being replaced. Someone had led the destroyers into her home. … This kind of thing happens all the time. She accepted it with that thought. She ignored the landlord who was continuing to talk next to her and she stepped into her own room. She switched on the light out of habit and heard a sound much like tearing paper come from the ceiling. The broken light had short-circuited. “Well, you still have power here. …What will you do, Akira?” “Maybe I should leave.” “No, you can stay if you want. …We’ll be leaving this city, too.” “Then what will happen here?” Akira turned around with a hand on the door leading to the living room in the back. “What will happen to this apartment?” “Britain bought them all. They didn’t pay very much, though. …Still, I think we’ll be using that money to move to the mainland.” “…” Akira said nothing in response, but the landlord continued speaking. “You probably haven’t heard, but the only things functioning in the city center are the emergency hospitals, the Yard, and some slight distribution of supplies. Everyone else has fled to the shelter in the New Territories.” “They all fled?” “Yes. The state set up a shelter – really just a tent city – in the New Territories twenty kilometers from here. There’s apparently a distribution center there, too.” “…” “VIPs from Britain and other countries are supposedly using that as their base. …You hear all the planes flying around, right? People are moving to other countries and that shelter is the only place where you can arrange for a flight out.” “You’re running-…moving away, aren’t you?” “Yes. My son and his wife have already gone there and we’re thinking of settling down in Broad City – Shanghai now that it’s been liberated. …The resident of the next room over and the Ban family down below are all doing the same.” “This is the only place I have… Could I maybe stay?” “That’s fine by me.” The landlord’s Live remained unchanged, but her tone grew brighter. “Think of it as making up for what happened to your room. At the very last, no one’s going to complain about someone living here for the week until Hong Kong is returned to China. If you like, why not move down into the Ban family’s room?” Akira replied with silence. “…” She turned the doorknob and opened the way to the living room. As soon as she did, she lost her sense of sight. “…!?” At first, she did not know what it was before her eyes. It was darkness. But it was not actual darkness. Light from the window was definitely filling the room. That meant she was seeing Lives with a black Word Color that had the same density as darkness. “No…” She instinctually drew back. Drawn by her movement, the Lives filling the living room flowed out. She pressed her shoulder against the side of the door so they would not touch her. She squeezed her wings shut, crossed her arms tightly, and held her own body. She saw the pitch black stream at her feet swell up like a swarm of snakes and swim outside. … That’s an amazing amount of chaos. The Word Color resembled the detonation of a Discord Bomb and its Tempo was not uniform. The Word Color that looked like darkness was probably formed from a variety of Word Colors packed together in the small room. She could not see the individual emotions. It was a disturbing mixture of Lives. However, the room slowly came into view as they flowed outside. “Is everything okay?” asked the landlord behind her. … If everything was okay, there wouldn’t be any Lives like this left here. She hung her head and glanced inside the room. The living room had doubled as her bedroom, but it was now utterly destroyed. Books, glass shards, and scraps of cloth were strewn across the floor and the walls were covered in lacquer spray graffiti of colors reminiscent of internal organs. These were the scars of revenge. Akira sighed. “I need to clean up.” She took a step forward while ignoring all of the worried-sounding comments from the landlord behind her. She walked toward the back of the room where some of the darkness remained. Her feet felt like lead weights. ### 169. Part 3 The high-rise structure that had once been the Archs RDC building was now entirely empty. There was no sign of human life. There was, however, sign of nonhuman life. It could be seen in a corridor of the underground factory of Archs RDC’s headquarters on the twenty-third basement. Genius stood below the fluorescent lights with her shoulders leaning on the wall. “…” Her arms were crossed and a door was located next to her. Unlike the soft material of the wall, the bulkhead door was made of exposed metal. The solid door was about as thick as it was wide and something had been carved into the center of the door. It was an emblem of two dragons playing together and forming a spiral. That was the Wild Emblem of the Maldrick family. The emblem indicated that this was a Maldrick family workshop. Genius was waiting for the man inside. “J-Gun.” The corpse that now functioned much like a machine had spent three days holed up inside. Creating a Device with Busting produced intense noise, but no sound escaped the bulkhead. It was entirely sealed within. … Although the neighbors often complained when he used that workshop in the city. Only a few months before, she had been living with J-Gun. It had been different at first. “I was so afraid of going to the surface. I wouldn’t have done it if Master Huang hadn’t directly ordered me to.” She had only moved around at night. Birds that flew the skies at night would fly off before dawn arrived. And at some point, she had become a bird that returned to its cage when night fell. The hierarchical relationship of client and hirer had vanished between the two of them. The others in the neighborhood had realized she was there, but they had said nothing. As if to show off what kind of person he was, their peaceful life had continued. But that peace had been destroyed by a photograph she had found. The old photograph had been of a woman who looked a lot like Genius. “I felt like that had opened my eyes to what I was doing.” She smiled bitterly. “Why did I think something so silly?” After she spoke to herself, she heard a slight noise. “!?” She looked to the bulkhead door. … Is it opening? But that hope was not fulfilled. She heard the same noise again. It came from the speaker in the corridor ceiling. “Genius, I would like to hold our usual meeting. Is that okay?” It was Fei’s machine voice. His custom body was connected directly into the central management system and his mind was directly forming the voice. Genius sighed, and… “This is my post. Are you sure I should leave?” “Double Lee says he still hears a Live ringing from within. The work is still ongoing.” “I see,” she said quietly. “Hey, Fei?” “…” “Are you listening?” “I am.” She smiled bitterly. “Can you tell me something?” “What do you want to know?” “What condition was used for the necromancy that resurrected J-Gun?” “You should ask Double Lee.” “I can’t. He won’t tell me.” “You have yet to ask him, so it is too soon to conclude that.” She crossed her arms and hung her head a little. “Have you ever been afraid of something, Fei?” “No.” “Because you lost your memories of the past during your Psyche Outer surgery?” “Yes. My thoughts are derived from my accumulated knowledge, not from emotion.” “I…I’m afraid.” “Of hearing Double Lee’s answer? That is what is leading to your hasty conclusion.” “That sure is a coolheaded deduction.” “I am merely rational.” “Yes.” I suppose being coolheaded is also a type of emotion, she thought while moving from the wall. She then suppressed her emotions and spoke. “Fei, I slept with J-Gun, just like Master Huang told me to.” “It was necessary for the mission.” “…Thanks.” “There is no need to thank me.” Genius gave a thin smile that did not reach her eyes. “That may be why J-Gun used my light before.” “Your light?” “Cherubim can control light. …It’s probably a form of Busting, but he emitted it as his Live.” “So you exchanged Lives in a Live Session?” “Do you think Busters and Tuners gain each other’s abilities when they sleep together?” “An exchange of Lives could create evolution or degeneration.” “Doing it with me…may have brought degeneration.” … If it wasn’t for that, he might not have died. Her walking pace slowed as she thought. “I wonder why,” she said. “Why what?” “If it meant exchanging our Lives, then when J-Gun slept with me…” She took a breath. “Wouldn’t he have read my Live…and thus read my thoughts and memories?” “…” Fei did not answer, so Genius continued. “There are so many unknowns.” “?” “I never thought I would hear you say what you did to Double Lee.” “What did I say?” “You called him pitiable.” She finally began walking again and his voice grew more distant. “That was a statistical evaluation. It was not my personal decision.” “Once you say it, there’s no difference. And…what is Double Lee thinking?” “He is thinking about a contradiction between the Flight Song and Hong Kong.” “A contradiction?” Fei gave a simple answer. “The Flight Song says Hong Kong connects heaven and earth, but in reality, Hong Kong still separates heaven and earth.” “…” “Normally, people sealed inside the earth would not create a song that approves of their enemy.” “Does Double Lee have an answer to that?” “He does have an answer, but he will not tell us what it is.” “Do your statistical evaluations give you the answer?” “I have an answer, but I do not understand it.” “?” “Double Lee thinks the Flight Song is a definite hope that was created at one point in history.” “What does that mean?” When Fei replied, his voice came from a different speaker in the corridor. This one was directly over Genius’s head. “It means it was something only one with knowledge of the future could create. To use a similar word…it was a prophecy.” “A prophecy?” “To be more accurate, it was a recording of future fact with one hundred percent accuracy.” Hearing that, Genius stopped walking and frowned. “I…can’t believe that.” “But all of the instructions that President Huang left us in his report have matched what has happened.” “What proof do you have that it’s a prophecy? Are you saying Master Huang knew how this would turn out for us?” “That is the most consistent explanation.” “I don’t like that way of thinking,” she said as she started walking again. “Besides, a prophecy?” “The Lives of space and time are one of the three secret techniques of Tuning and Busting. One only needs read them.” “But…I’ve never heard of a Tuner who could read time.” “Double Lee said no Tuner that powerful currently exists in Hong Kong.” “Currently?” “During the Fifth Divine Punishment War, there was one other Nein Engel in Archs RDC besides President Huang.” His words came from far behind her. “That Nein Engel was Luna Azuel, Double Lee’s mother.” Genius reached the end of the corridor as she listened. She turned right and Fei’s voice came from both up ahead and behind. “She began developing a Tune Emblem.” “The one Double Lee uses, right?” “Yes. And that knowledge was erased after the Fifth Divine Punishment War.” “What are you trying to say?” “I am simply stating facts.” “And you’re asking me to think about what they mean? You’re not just a puppet, you know?” Fei did not reply and she said more as she walked. “And unfortunately, I tend to view things pessimistically.” “That is a very human way of thinking.” She smiled a little at that. “I think Double Lee is the same.” The elevator hall came into view. “What is this meeting about?” “Double Lee believes J-Gun’s brother and his own sister are dangerous.” “!?” “This is only a prediction, but we need blood for the next ceremony, correct?” “You mean he’ll use his sister’s blood?” “I do not know, but a Seraph’s blood should make a sufficient replacement.” “A pessimistic view, hm?” … But it is true we don’t have any bottles of Master Huang’s blood left since J-Gun destroyed one. “I wonder if Master Huang had predicted this part of the future as well.” Fei did not respond to her musing. That silence seemed to envelop her surroundings. ### 170. Part 3 The afternoon had arrived, but the blue sky still retained its color. Below it, a tank was stopped in the center of the destroyed Nathan Road. That Grant from the Yard belonged to the General. The brightly decorated vehicle was not even idling as it sat there watching a young man facing away from it. That young man, Gunmal, held Nein König in his flesh-and-blood left hand. “The weather sure is nice today. You can see the sky perfectly.” He gave a triumphant snort. “If the coast wasn’t so badly damaged, I’d invite Akira to the beach. …Right?” He looked back and a bit up. The General sat on the Grant’s turret. The old man frowned and rested his head on his hand. “In five days and a bit, Hong Kong will be returned to China. You need to worry about gettin’ a visa before worryin’ about the beach.” “I don’t really care. If I have to choose between being treated like an illegal immigrant and the beach, I’ll choose the beach.” “How ‘bout you look around you before sayin’ that?” Gunmal did as he was told. This part of Nathan Road was near where he and Akira had fought Fei and J-Gun. It had also been hit by the earthquake and tsunami caused by the destruction. Most of the buildings were much shorter than before. There was no one on the road, so his vision was clear. Once he saw all that, he nodded. “This place was destroyed pretty good, wasn’t it?” “That isn’t all.” The General sighed. In addition to the city’s damage, the ground itself was torn up for about two hundred meters in front of Gunmal. Shimmering heat rose from the damaged earth. This destruction was new. “Just because you run across a monster is no reason for goin’ that far.” “Don’t blame me, old man. It’s my first day on the job.” Gunmal showed off his armband. The green plastic armband said “Cleared” in white. “The four Earth Burns really disturbed the ley lines around here, so without Akira…” “Askin’ for your help might’ve been the biggest mistake of my life.” “Stop flattering me.” “Is that so?” The General sounded annoyed and he looked down to his pocket. Gunmal noticed the motion. “Are you worried about the call from that guy?” “More or less.” “So Rin left the hospital and Akira’s emotionally unstable, hm?” “The two of them are searchin’ around the city, but knowin’ Rin, they won’t find her.” “You sound like you know where she is.” “Of course. I know where all the young girls go.” “Then where’s Rin, you dirty old man?” “Well… Probably in somethin’ of a secret base of hers. Injured animals tend to go into hidin’ until they can make a comeback.” Gunmal nodded at the old man’s answer. “She’s going to heal herself between now and Hong Kong’s return to China?” He looked to his own right hand. “Customizing her body would be the only way, but can she complete a surgery that major in time?” “I don’t know. From Hong Kong, she’d probably have to get a complete rearrangement of her Live in Shanghai or Detroit’s virtual network. The question would be how well equipped her secret base is and whether it’s still up and runnin’.” “Rewriting the data in the human genome, huh? At best, it would take three days hooked up to the network. Although she might be able to shorten that by routing through London to more easily convert her body’s Live into text data.” “Either way, that isn’t a surgery a normal woman should go through.” One of the tank’s crew shouted from inside it. “General! We have a reading to five o’clock!” Based on the direction the tank was facing, five o’clock was south-southwest, or looking down Nathan Road toward the sea. The General and Gunmal looked in that direction. The eight lane road had four lanes in each direction and most of the buildings on either side had collapsed, but the walls where still quite large compared to a human. Something even larger than those walls was moving. A white mountain could be glimpsed behind one of the collapsed buildings. “A white tiger, huh?” said Gunmal without really checking. “Comparing it to that building, it must be around twenty meters tall.” The General’s eyebrows moved in response. “A tiger? That’ll be the biggest one today.” “I hate these Live disturbances that grow as they devour the city.” “Is this any time to complain? Oh, that thing’s got an Octave of 1,600,000.” “So it’s two buildings’ worth of disturbed Lives?” Gunmal thought for a moment. “Compare that to the amount of destruction on the overhead map. We’ll probably be done here once I defeat this one.” “You make it sound easy. Hurry up and finish it off before it comes runnin’ this way.” “Sure thing.” Gunmal swung Nein König without looking that way. “Ah.” He placed that simple Live reverberation inside Nein König. It was an impressive Live. It had a low Tempo that moved like a wave and rumbled in one’s gut. Its Word Color was the gray of metal. He amplified it within Nein König and sent it racing out. “!” The quiet Live of his voice burst out as a roar too great to read. The Word Color of the light made it look like a giant line of steel. Its destination was a building looking down on the white form. The metallic Live pierced through the building and destroyed it. That was only the beginning. The light burst from within the building that still had its first four floors. A bestial cry shook the air from beyond the building, but Gunmal’s Live consumed even the beast’s roar. It pierced through everything. The rumbling sound resembled a giant piece of ice falling into the ocean. The steel-colored light devoured both the building and the beast behind it. However, it did not end there. Three buildings of the same height were destroyed behind the tiger. They were annihilated. Not even their Lives remained. There was only rubble and shimmering heat. “That should do it.” “Y’know…” “I held back. Honest.” Gunmal’s tone was light and the General looked away from him. He looked to the earth torn up in a different direction. “Bustin’ sure has gone a long way in Europe.” “But Tuning hasn’t. And it looks like it hasn’t here either, maybe due to the Divine Punishment Wars. Most of the material about it has been lost, hasn’t it? Not as much as in my homeland, though.” The General smiled bitterly. “If more of it were left…I could’ve been a better teacher than I am.” “Hm? For Rin and Akira, you mean?” “Yeah.” “…” “Gunmal. Didn’t you stop by Akira’s place?” “Yes… But I might as well not have.” “Why didn’t you actually meet her?” “It didn’t seem like the right time. The ocean still hasn’t calmed down, after all. If I’m gonna ask her to the beach, we’ve at least gotta be able to swim.” “Pervert.” “You’re one to talk when you always bring up Akira in every conversation. Are you into younger women or something?” “I’m not about to get turned on by a girl who could be my granddaughter. It’s just that my wife keeps insistin’ I look after Akira.” “Your wife? Does she know Akira?” “No.” “Then what are you talking about, old man? Was there some glitch in your brain?” “Don’t blame me. That’s just how women are.” The General nodded and sighed. The old man rubbed the scar on his cheek and looked back to the young man. “It’s not time to meet her yet? …You’re soundin’ like a prophet.” “A prophet? I’m not a Tuner.” “True. There’re the Lives of Yin, Yang, and space-time above normal Bustin’ and Tunin’.” “It sure would be convenient to draw out the Live of time and read the future.” “It wouldn’t be that easy for Hong Kong at the moment.” “Are all of the commands and books left by the emperor really gone?” “All of that stuff was lost durin’ the Fifth Divine Punishment War.” “The Fifth Divine Punishment War, huh?” “A lot happened then.” Gunmal nodded and looked up at the General. “A lot, huh?” His eyes turned to the scar on the General’s cheek. He then stopped moving. “I’ve been wondering.” He fell silent. “…” His expression was unusually stiff. He paused to breathe and then he spoke quietly. “I’ve been wondering about something.” “About what?” “The official story is the original version of that giant Tune Emblem was made for local destruction.” “Yes.” “But what was it really made for?” Gunmal’s eyes turned to the tank the General sat on. He frowned and sighed. “I guess that isn’t something to talk about in public.” “I can tell you a little bit.” “?” “This has been repeated again and again and even this age has been overwritten countless times.” “Is that supposed to be a hint?” “You just have to worry about the present.” “So I’m not supposed to worry about the past? There’s no way a young guy can do that.” “It’s your loss. …A real shame after the last Hu went a little overboard and destroyed our old system. That produced a new system.” Gunmal stuck out his tongue. “System? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Some people fight because they don’t understand.” Gunmal tilted his head and the General twisted his mouth into a slight smile. He then peered inside the tank and gave the crew some instructions. The tank started up immediately. Its engine roared to life and it began to idle. “Hey, at least tell me one thing!” shouted Gunmal. “What is it?” “If my previous prediction is correct, then you’re actually Akira’s father, aren’t you?” “…?” The General frowned for once and looked to Gunmal. “Why would you think that?” “Because of that scar on your cheek…and because you’re the only person in Hong Kong whose Live I can’t read.” “And the rest is your prediction? Didn’t you see Akira’s family grave?” “Oh, that’s right. …Come to think of it, she saw her father die. I guess I was wrong.” Gunmal scratched his head. “It was a good guess, though.” With that comment and a bitter smile on his lips, the General turned around. In that instant, someone descended onto the idling Grant’s secondary weapon, a 70mm machinegun. The wind blew through. ### 171. Part 3 The swing of Nein König used a steel-colored Live to strike Akira as she lay at the peak of the rubble mountain. When the solid sound struck her, she broke apart into Lives for some reason. The blue, refreshing wind Lives that gently floated up were not the Lives of a person. Gunmal watched them go and muttered “It really was a doll”. He then looked around, ignoring the peak of the rubble mountain, and looked to a building rooftop on the left. “Hey, could you quit hiding?” “I suppose there is no point in hiding now.” With those words, a figure appeared standing on the edge of the rooftop pierced by Gunmal’s gaze. The six-winged Nein Engel was Double Lee. The right shoulder of his pure white combat coat was torn. The white material was dyed red from the shoulder to the chest and it was definitely his own blood. “Red looks pretty good on you. …But this isn’t the time. Why? Why isn’t Akira here?” “I’m not sure I should tell you or not.” “I’ll make you tell me one way or another. A Tuner can instantly heal the wounds after all.” Double Lee smiled bitterly at those hostile words. “I see. So I was right.” “Hm? About what?” “I wanted to know what you thought about my sister…about Akira.” “So are you done with your little test? If so, I’d like to know how I did.” Gunmal sounded carefree and Double Lee smiled back. Then he slowly raised his right arm that had been limply hanging down. The hand held a sword that emitted a transparent light. It was a Device. It was a commercial model, but it was obvious at a glance that the precise mold gave it great accuracy. But Gunmal was faster. “Is that your answer!?” He swung up Nein König. He was not preparing for an attack. He made a diagonal strike from below. “Ah.” He amplified his own Live as he ran. With a metallic tempo that rang into the distance and a steel Word Color, the Live formed a silver pillar of light. The pillar was fifteen meters across and it swallowed up Double Lee with no chance to escape. Or it should have. Gunmal’s Live burst in front of Double Lee. The pillar of light scattered in every direction and then gathered back together. It had been Tuned. Double Lee had given Gunmal’s Live a new form. It became a Lesser Dragon. The Lesser Dragon made of silver light was twenty meters tall and it even had scales, claws, and fangs. “Not bad.” Gunmal muttered lightly as he ran. He ran to the top of the rubble where the doll of Akira had been. “At that height, I’ll be on the same level as him.” The Lesser Dragon pursued him as he ran up the rubble. Man and dragon moved at different speeds, so the giant fangs approached behind Gunmal in an instant. But… “Ah.” He fired a shot while looking back. A great rumble rang out. A moment later, the Lesser Dragon was blown away like a mere toy. It gave a screaming roar. And that was all. Its twenty meter form collapsed at the base of the rubble and exploded. Concrete shrapnel flew into the air, fell back down, and struck both the ground and rubble mountain. But Gunmal paid it no heed. “I hate being hit by my own Live. It makes me shudder.” Meanwhile, he reached the peak and looked to the roof of the building to the left. Double Lee stood there. Blue, refreshing Lives flew around him. They were Lives of the wind. Based on the sheer quantity, they probably had an Octave of about one million. He swung his Device as if to slice through those Lives. He looked to Gunmal and gave a shout. “Word Accel! Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 1,300,000!” It only took an instant for the wind to become a long, thick spear. “!” The spear flew toward Gunmal. Unlike the Lesser Dragon, this attack moved directly toward him. “You don’t make this easy!” With that shout, Gunmal swung up Nein König. And he voiced his own Live. “Ahhhhhh!” The Live was sharper and had a higher Tempo than before. Nein König amplified the Live and produced a much brighter Word Color light than before. Without even checking on that, he swung Nein König back down. The bladeless sword-shaped Device sliced through the wind. The released Live was narrower but several times brighter than before. It was a powerful strike. It pierced through the center of Double Lee’s wind spear. With a great bursting sound, the wind scattered in every direction. But Gunmal’s Live did not stop. Beyond the destroyed and vanishing spear, it flew straight toward Double Lee. Meanwhile, Double Lee thrust his Device forward to endure it. “Don’t think you can defend with that!” Gunmal stared at the man while raising Nein König once more. In that instant, a slight smile covered Double Lee’s lips just as he prepared to receive Gunmal’s Live with his Device. “!?” Just as doubt filled Gunmal, Double Lee gave a shout. “Fei!” Gunmal followed Double Lee’s gaze. He turned behind him and found someone else standing on the opposite building. The name Double Lee had shouted belonged to a Galgallin man who had customized his entire body. A mortar was already extending from his arm. Gunmal saw the pure white Live of great heat building down the barrel. Meanwhile, Gunmal had yet to prepare Nein König for his next attack. “Just when I was wondering if you had gone after Akira!” His shout was drowned out by the mortar’s blast. At the same time, Gunmal’s Live struck Double Lee. “!” The two intense sounds joined together to fill Hong Kong with a single great roar. ### 172. Part 3 “It’s going to rain soon,” said Double Lee as he sat in his chair. He was in a room on the fifteenth basement of the former Archs RDC building. He was using it as a simple residence, but it contained nothing that would let him see outside. He had determined that by listening to the Lives of Hong Kong. “Typhoons are proof that nature can take some pretty drastic measures. Don’t you think, Genius?” He rotated his chair toward the room’s entrance. The automatic door was the same flat white as the wall and Genius stood in front of it. “…” She remained silent. “Is something the matter?” Double Lee tilted his head and smiled thinly. “You were the one that came to my room, so we can’t start speaking until you ask me something.” “I’m sure you already know what I want to ask,” replied Genius. Double Lee closed his eyes with the smile still plastered to his lips. Then the smile moved to produce words. “I want to hear it in words, Genius. I am not your translator.” “…Why?” “That’s what I want to know. If you aren’t even willing to say it out loud, why do I need to say anything? So why are you asking me with a Message carried by your Live?” Genius’s shoulders drooped. “I suppose you’re right.” “I always am.” “I know.” “Then go ahead.” “…” “?” “Aren’t you going to accuse me?” “Of what?” “Of showing off. I told J-Gun’s brother and the Yard’s General about the final ceremony.” “I do not mind. It’s not like they can stop the ceremony.” Genius frowned at how casually he said that. “But I need to make up for acting against our interests.” “Then how about you go without any dinner? The ceremony is coming up, so a fast wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.” “I’m not talking about something personal. I mean something to help the organization-…” “Do you see an organization anywhere around here?” Double Lee cut her off. “All I see is myself walking at the forefront of the words Master Huang left us.” His smile had vanished. “I must guide everyone else. And I do not believe I ever required that the rest of you follow me.” “…” Genius lowered her gaze a little. “Why are you so intent on this?” “On what?” “On continuing this ceremony even though it will kill so many people. You even returned badly injured after fighting J-Gun’s brother. …What are you thinking?” “If we were an organization, that would be a decent criticism.” He gave a slight bitter smile and sighed. “Hong Kong’s history contains several wars that killed many people. I am sure everyone lamented those losses as you are now. …But I do not mind and I can heal myself even if I am injured.” “That doesn’t answer my question. …Why are you so intent on this?” “Why do you want to know?” “You can read my Live, but I can’t read yours.” “A fair answer. …But I would like to hear a more direct answer.” She hesitated at that. “…” She loosely crossed her arms by her waist and looked him in the eye. “I want to know why J-Gun died.” “I see.” Double Lee sighed and sank deep into his chair. The tips of his main wings, the longest of the six, slid on the linoleum. He continued looking Genius in the eye. “That was not mentioned in Master Huang’s instructions or in his predictions. His instructions simply said to have J-Gun make the Device.” “Isn’t that because Master Huang’s instructions aren’t absolute?” “Are they not?” “Perfect predictions are impossible. He couldn’t possibly account for everything.” “But what if he could?” That question confused Genius. “…?” “This is an old story, but a human man and a Nein Engel woman once fought a Nein Engel man and read the Live of time.” “…Eh?” “Before, they had only been able to read the past, but using a certain individual’s instructions, they read the future. …Master Huang was one of those who read the Live of time.” Genius uncrossed her arms. “Do you…do you really believe that!?” “I do. And as proof, Master Huang died. As an Archs, he was the closest being to god and thus should have had a long, illness-free life. And yet, he aged.” “How is that proof? Are you saying that was why he died!?” “It is simple.” “…” “Master Huang realized Hong Kong’s future was headed toward destruction, so he resonated with the other two who had read time with him and they broke down the Lives of Hong Kong.” He took a breath. “Then, the three of them swapped out their own lifespans with Hong Kong’s lifespan.” “…” “Master Huang in particular received a large portion of the destruction, so he did what he could to keep his own destiny from overlapping with the other two’s. Those other two left a prophetic song in the time period they found themselves in…and then they returned to their original time period.” Double Lee kept his eyes on Genius the entire time. And Genius kept her eyes on his. “Then what was J-Gun’s death?” she asked. “Proof that the future is changing.” “To something different from the future Master Huang saw…and different from the one he was trying to create?” “Yes. Most likely…” Double Lee closed his eyes. “We are paving the way ahead.” As soon as he said that, his eyebrows moved slightly. “Genius, J-Gun is coming to a stop.” “J-Gun is?” “Yes. Based on his Live, he is slowly adding the finishing touches to his work. It should take…another half day.” Genius reacted to the word “work”. She frantically turned toward the automatic door behind her. “Genius, you are getting ahead of yourself. He will not be done until tomorrow morning at the earliest.” “It’s never too soon or too late to start waiting.” She reached for the button to open the door. “Double Lee.” “Yes?” “Did Master Huang’s instructions about the future or destiny or whatever… Did they mention the bottle of his blood breaking?” “Do not worry. I have a way of acquiring blood filled with the power of Yang.” “You do?” “Yes. I have a sister, so everything will work out.” “!?” “Please do not look so shocked. Besides, your blood or Fei’s would not work.” Genius steadied her breathing and let out a deep sigh. “I don’t understand you.” “Why not?” “I can never tell if you mean what you say or not.” “Really?” “Really.” After nodding, Genius pressed the button. The door quickly opened and she passed through the newly-formed opening. She walked forward. ### 173. Part 3 Gunmal’s things were piled up in a corner of the bedroom. Two of his sleeping bags were spread out to form a simple mattress by the window. The only other things in the room were the darkness of the night and the sounds of the storm coming from the roof and window. That was all. As Akira sat on the sleeping bags, the supposedly familiar room felt strangely large. She wore a single Nein Engel shirt and Gunmal was embracing her from the side. “How strange… When I first met you, Gunmal, I never thought we would doing this.” “Really? I kind of had an inkling.” “Why? Because you believe in destiny?” He lightly shook his head. “Because…I’m a pervert.” “You can make jokes, but please make it something better than that. …Hey, quit unbuttoning my shirt.” “Too late.” Nein Engel clothing was made to hang from the neck so it would not obstruct the movement of their wings. Removing the button at the bottom of her neck was enough for it to fall to her waist. She held the falling collar up with her hands. “Did you turn over that picture frame you showed me earlier?” “Yeah. Your parents were looking disgusted with their delinquent of a daughter.” “That would be nice…” Her voice trailed off. “Wait, Gunmal. Don’t move your hands like that. It’s too lewd.” “That’s kind of the point, you know?” “You really don’t know how to set the mood, do you? …Ah.” “Ah?” “Don’t ask that. Be quiet.” “…” “C-c’mon. Say something when you’re touching me. It’s scary.” “Like what?” “Anything.” “Um… I think the greatest problem facing modern European industry is the regional disparity in education. Being good at soccer isn’t everything.” “Shut up, you idiot.” “So am I supposed to say something or shut up?” “Don’t blame me… I-it’s my first time, so…ah!” She cried out as Gunmal’s hands quickly removed her shirt. She shrank back in surprise. “O-oh, no. Do you think someone could see me through the window?” “It’s frosted glass.” “Then the lights. Turn out the lights.” “They’re already off.” “Th-then don’t look.” “Don’t ask the impossible. Besides, you might want to use your hands to hide something other than your face.” “But I don’t want you to see my face…” “You’re only flushed because of that beer from earlier, right? Oh, and from the bath.” “Yeah.” “Well, there you go. That settles it.” He grabbed her hands and tore them from her face. Her cheeks was an almost desperate shade of scarlet and her eyes were squeezed shut. Gunmal’s lips met hers. “…Nn.” But he did not end with the kiss. His lips moved down to her neck, her collarbone, and her shoulder. “Don’t suck on me there.” “?” “My clothes don’t cover my shoulders.” Meanwhile, his flesh-and-blood left hand touched her nervous body. As his lips moved down the nape of her neck and to her back, his hand slid forward from her thighs and stopped on the most important part. His hand tickled and his lips kissed parts of her skin that were normally never exposed to the open air. “…” As his fingers traced along the curve of her waist, she grew short of breath, so she held her breath to hide it. She found she could not move her body and realized Gunmal was using his prosthetic right hand to hold her in place. Her heart skipped a beat at that fact. She let out a breath and asked a question. “H-hey, Gunmal?” Even she was surprised by how weak her voice was. And as soon as her question smoothly flowed out, Gunmal bit one of the smaller deformed wings on her back. His teeth reached the bone connecting the small wing to her back and she even felt the bone bending. A tremor ran through the core of her body. … ! Her heart throbbed and sweat soaked her. “S-stop!” She cried out and moved her wings. The two main wings rose in the dark room, knocking his arms off of her. “H-hey.” Gunmal sounded surprised and like he did not know how to react. Akira gasped for breath and curled up in his lap. “What was that about?” “W-well…” “?” “Well…” “Did I surprise you?” She took small breaths and gave a small nod to the question asked behind her. Her sweaty shoulders rose and fell and she slowly got up. “Y-you’re going too fast, Gunmal. …This is my first time, so don’t restrain me.” “Sorry.” He honestly apologized for once and she placed her hand on his right one. The solid prosthetic hand felt cold and dull, but she placed it on her left breast. She let out a breath. It was a deep breath. “It’s okay.” Her pulse was racing, but she was breathing deeply with only a bit of heat mixed in. She closed her eyes and spoke. “It’s okay. I’m not afraid. …So you don’t have to hold back.” “…You won’t break?” “It’s a Tuner’s job to fix anything that breaks.” As she said that, her face grew so warm she could not ignore it. She breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “…Keep going.” “Are you sure? I can be forceful, remember?” “…It’s fine.” “Really?” “Ah, b-but… No, not there all of a sudden.” “You’re contradicting yourself.” “B-but…” He tilted his head. “Hmm. Hey, Akira?” “?” “Can I ask something to help this go a lot smoother?” “Eh?” She tilted her head while breathing a little heavily and he asked a quiet question. “How do you do it on your own?” “Y-you idiot!” “Hm.” “Wh-what do you mean ‘hm’!? Read my Live any further and I’ll stop you by force!” “I see. So you start with the right breast.” “O-oh, come on!” “Don’t worry. I’ll change it up a bit to keep things interesting.” While he followed the usual process she had briefly pictured in her head, his lips also sucked at the areas she could not normally touch: her back, her wings, and even the smaller wings. It took her a moment to realize his lips moved so smoothly across her skin due to her sweat. “You really are perverted…” Despite what she said, she did not move her wings. Time passed as she let out a few breaths and syllables. By the time the sweat beaded up on her skin, she was breathing heavily. And without bothering to catch her breath, she spoke to Gunmal. “…My Wild Name.” “?” “It’s…Lee Liangyue.” “Liangyue?” “Yes. …Combine the two characters and you get a character read as ‘Akira’ in Japanese.” “Are you sure you should tell me that?” “Yes.” She let out another heated breath. She seemed to follow the breath down and left Gunmal’s arms. She then lay face-down on the soft sleeping bags. “Akira?” She gave a meaningless nod to his call. Without looking back, she gently lifted her hips toward him. “W-wait, Akira.” “It’s fine.” “What?” “I mean, I have wings, don’t I? So…I couldn’t do it on my back.” “…” “You understand. You understand, don’t you? …This is a position of submission. And…” “Don’t say it.” She felt Gunmal leaning over her back. He embraced her from behind as he did so. She closed her eyes and spoke. “Please give me…” She continued after a moment. “Please give me your Live.” ### 174. Part 3 The Yard unit led by the General was caught in such a hard fight that they could not even approach Hong Kong Cave. They were in Central’s wharf area on the northern end of Hong Kong Island. Their opponents were the resurrected J-Gun Maldrick and the light-controlling Genius Elias. The battle against them had split into two poles. As soon as they had landed, Rin had spotted Fei and parted ways with them. The four tanks of the Tank Force had faced J-Gun while the remaining twenty people from the Customs, Ninja, and Hounds had faced Genius. The enemy’s movements were accurate. J-Gun’s role was to keep the Tank Force from focusing on Genius. He would release his Live toward the Tank Force so they had to destroy it with their shells. If he saw an opening in their timing and destructive power, he intended to destroy the tanks. And since she did not have to fear those powerful weapons, Genius worked to incapacitate all the others. The bullets of light launched from her sword could not be seen, much less dodged. Ten minutes after the battle began, the treads to the General’s Grant had been damaged to the point that it could only move awkwardly in a circle. The General opened the canopy of the unmoving Grant and poked his upper body out. He grabbed the machinegun on top of the turret. “This is insane… It’d be sad to call it what I expected, but it’d be more accurate to say it’s what I planned for.” He looked around and found the entire wharf had become a battlefield. And the winner had more or less already been decided. In front of him, his two opponents stood in his way. On his right, two light Scorpion tanks had been knocked on their sides and the injured were hiding behind them. On his left, another Grant was stopped with the front of the tank torn open. Behind him, the Yard members who could still fight waited to continue the battle. They were all facing forward. Drawn by their gazes, the General also faced forward. About five meters ahead was the large central road surrounded by giant wharf warehouses. J-Gun and Genius stood there. One was the man known as Hong Kong’s greatest Buster and the other was a four-winged Nein Engel who could control light. If not for the battle, the pairing would not have been all that strange. The General gave a self-deprecating comment as he looked to them. “So is it just hopeless for an old man to hope to beat you youngsters?” His question crossed the five meter gap and Genius answered. “It is currently 11:47. If you are admitting your defeat, then leave. You might just be able to survive.” The General smiled bitterly. “Don’t be stupid. If I ran on home without doing everythin’ I could, my wife’d laugh at me.” “I take it your wife scares you.” “No, not really. Do you not know who I am?” “…Eh?” “I’m…the General.” Genius closed her eyes and smiled a little at that. It could have been taken as a smile of bitterness, of self-deprecation, or of amusement. “You’re a kind person. Are you telling me to accept the side of myself that hesitated to kill you?” “Hah, you sure are self-centered. I have no intention of dyin’ just yet.” “What are you talking about? Look, it’s already twelve till. We’ll be activating the dragon to devour the crust, so the complete destruction of the city will begin in less than five minutes.” “I see. Then can I ask you one thing?” “What?” “If you do activate the dragon, will it stay here on earth or will it ascend to heaven? Which would be the right answer?” “…” Genius did not answer his question, but she did reply to him. “That question is meaningless. We will stop anyone who tries to get in our way like you are now.” “I see, I see. …Sounds like this night’s gonna be bad for my health.” “You sound confident. What are you plotting?” “I’m not plottin’ anythin’. I’m just…how should I put it?” “?” “Puttin’ up a hopeless fight to buy some time.” Genius frowned at that and J-Gun’s shoulders trembled a little. “…J-Gun?” Genius’s question did not reach J-Gun. The man looked back over his shoulder. There was nothing there, but he continued staring in that direction. Genius turned back toward the General. “…Is there something there!?” “Yup.” The General smiled and nodded. “Our goal was only to land here.” “!?” “It’s probably about time. None of the tanks are fully destroyed, no one’s died, and there’s not much fire for how many shells we were throwin’ around. …I guess you could say everythin’s ready now. Right!?” His last question was directed at his comrades. And at the same time, he laughed loudly. Those in the other Grant and behind the toppled Scorpions laughed too. Twenty-one voices laughed together. They formed a chorus of laughter. Genius could not hide her confusion. “You mean…you didn’t come here to fight!?” “There’s more than one way to fight. Havin’ a strategy’s what matters most.” “…” “Your boss is all alone right now, ain’t he? Since you were dealin’ with us here.” “…You don’t mean!?” “That ain’t all. We’ll show you some more tricks later. Like how to simultaneously activate the dragons of the four elements in this incomplete city!” After the General’s shout, Genius grabbed J-Gun’s arm. “J-Gun! We need to get back!” He did not respond to her. He simply stared behind them and his arm moved a little. It was the right arm that held his Device. He raised that sword Device high. At that moment, the sound of steel rang out. It came from the ground. “Eh?” A change occurred before she could ask what was happening. As J-Gun and Genius looked behind them, a twenty square meter area of the wharf’s concrete ground rose up. “!” With a great roar much like more and more ice breaking, the gray concrete ground stood up and started to fall over like the page of book turning. “Kyaaah!” After Genius’s scream, J-Gun launched his Live. The scarlet Live contained a hostile Tempo. It was a Live of destruction and it quickly tore through the risen concrete wall. Another great roar rang out. The large wall of concrete became a band of thousands of black and red Lives as it scattered. Their view opened up and J-Gun and Genius saw a giant hole. The hole was too deep to see the bottom and it was pitch black inside. A man stood on the opposite end of that black hole. It was Gunmal. A large Device rested on his shoulder and he looked to J-Gun and Genius with a cigarette in his mouth. “Oh, did I interrupt your date?” “No, you idiot.” Gunmal tilted his head at the shocked complaint and looked away from his brother and that brother’s lover. His eyes found the General instead. “You’re late, youngster.” “If you’re doing well enough to complain, there’s nothing to worry about. I forced my way through from the catacombs in Kowloon, so I’m pretty exhausted.” “I’ll buy you a sports drink later on, so take this seriously.” “Take what seriously?” “The fight between you and those two there.” “Eh? What about you?” Gunmal gave an exaggerated tilt of the head and the General frowned. “Y’know…” “Oh, what’s this? Are you losing, old man?” “Do I need to run over there and show you what it means to lose?” “I’m just kidding.” Gunmal smiled bitterly and looked away. He stared at Genius and J-Gun instead. “Sorry. Akira’s gone to see her brother, so I’ll take you on instead.” “Akira… You mean Double Lee’s sister?” “Yeah.” Gunmal nodded and Genius sighed. “You really are stupid. Both you and that old man called…the General was it?” “?” “Double Lee’s sister will be killed.” “What?” A faint harsh tone entered Gunmal’s voice and Genius shook her head. “This is probably all going according to the future Double Lee chose. …You hadn’t noticed? The Tune Emblems used to complete our ceremonies have to be drawn with the blood of a high-level Nein Engel.” She looked to the General. “I will answer your previous question now.” “…” “I don’t know what would be ‘right’, but the Earth Serpent that ascends to heaven is what binds Hong Kong to heaven!” Gunmal began to move when he heard that. He raised his Device, Wild König, in his left hand. “Nonsense!” With that shout, he launched his attack. It had the Word Color of steel and was filled with his powerful Live. ### 175. Part 3 “La.” Akira’s Live began with that sound. “Ah.” Gunmal’s Live began with that sound. The two Lives resonated with each other and raced through Hong Kong’s heavens and earth. “…!” The powerful steel-colored Live fired from the surface collided with Akira’s Wild Königin in the heavens and was amplified into even greater power. Light exploded into the dark clouds. The wave of light tore into the eye of the typhoon and blew away the peak of the dark clouds spiraling around Hong Kong. Like a ripple, a hole opened and spread through the clouds. The receding clouds flowed even faster than water. The sound of the wind contained a metallic sharpness. It was a bursting sound. It only took three seconds for the light to destroy the clouds. A different light appeared afterwards. This was not a steel-colored light rising from below, the unnecessarily bright light of Yang, or an artificial light. This pale, refreshing light took the form of the full moon positioned above Hong Kong. ### 176. Part 4 Hong Kong’s destruction was approaching its conclusion. The red dragon writhed along the earth from the unexpected attack, Akira did not lose her life, and Gunmal held her in his right arm. His blue eyes looked at her and he finally smiled bitterly. “You should’ve called me sooner. How else am I gonna know where you are?” “…” She looked silently at his face. He started to say something more, but tilted his head at the awkwardness in her gaze. He then jumped from the raised earth below his feet. He landed lightly and immediately began running. Finally, Akira managed to speak. “Wh-what about the dragon?” “It’s no use. It’s gotten even bigger than before. I was trying to blow off its head, but it didn’t work.” “It’s no use?” “I’m still a little rusty. And personally, I think knocking that thing away is a pretty amazing feat.” “That’s true,” she agreed. He glanced behind them. “I guess it’s about over.” “Eh?” In the same breath as her question, the earth around them began rising. It was time for the dragon’s ascent. The earth came from the crust and was Tuned. “The Tuner’s ability, the Devices, the Tune Emblems, the blood of an Archs, and dragons that destroy the earth to further develop themselves. They’ve used a ton of methods to increase the Octave they can control.” “This is no time for casual commentary. A-are we going to make it?” The earth was torn deeply next to them and it flew up toward the sky. He looked down at her. “We will. I created a path before the destruction resumed.” “A path?” “It’s just like making a Device. I just forged the earth a little.” “Enough to keep that dragon from destroying it? You have to be joking.” But she could decide whether he was joking or not after they safely escaped Hung Hom. She sighed and he asked her a question. “Why didn’t you escape right away?” “Eh?” “You had time after I cut the red dragon, right?” “Well…” She hesitated and lowered her eyes. “I was held up by some things.” He then spoke to her. “Hey.” “Hm?” She looked up to ask him what he wanted and he kissed her. “…!” She was surprised, but before long… “…” She fell silent. She felt it was inappropriate, but she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to him. The contact between their lips allowed him to forcibly read her Live. That irritatingly pleasant activity ended after only two seconds. Perhaps due to having her vision cut off, the wet sensation of his parting lips seemed especially distinct. When she heard his voice, it was too close for any other sounds to get in the way. “I see.” He took a breath. “So you were saving a kid. You can tell people about that kind of thing, you know? And I’m not talking about what suits you or not. I guess…well…I sort of like that kind of thing.” “Yeah.” “And I also wanted to know why you’re dressed so sexily.” “Eh?” “That torn clothing is pretty erotic, you know?’ “What are you talking about?” She frowned and opened her eyes. He was looking straight forward. Huh? she thought. … Didn’t he just say something? There was no sign of that left in him, but he looked down at her a bit. “Go to sleep,” he said. “You’re tired, aren’t you? Then go to sleep. Once you wake up, you’ll probably be in a hospital bed.” “But…” “Don’t worry about it.” He smiled a little and picked up his pace. “It’s a straight shot from here, so get some rest.” As if in response, the red dragon roared behind them. That signaled the conclusion of Hong Kong’s destruction. ### 177. Part 4 Five hours went by. Cleaning the room proved extremely difficult. First of all, Akira had no cleaning supplies. The vacuum cleaner had been thrown through the living room window and onto the balcony and the broom seemed to have been used as a weapon to destroy the room. “Humans are so uncivilized.” However, that light joke was not going to change the situation. The resident of the neighboring room had apparently moved to the mainland, so she finally decided to enter that room through the window and borrow their cleaning supplies. “Getting ready is a job in and of itself.” As she began to clean, she noticed a few things. “The city’s Live is so calm.” There were barely any Lives being emitted even in the shopping district. She could tell that by looking out the window. Most of the stores there had no merchandise on the shelves. There was only the occasional shop with stocked shelves and the owner would be sitting alone by the street, looking bored. “The channels of distribution have been cut off, haven’t they?” She moved her gaze to the road down below. There was dried mud and a thin coating of white powder on the asphalt. She initially thought it was sand, but it was not. It was salt. The seawater had come this far. When the dragons had flown, Hong Kong’s land had been torn away in the four cardinal directions and seawater had flowed into the crust. “Liquefaction, hm?” There had been a large near-field earthquake and a hole five kilometers deep. The after effects had been devastating. The coastal areas had collapsed like a landslide and then a thirty meter wall of water had crashed into it all. “That’s probably what happened to most of the missing.” As soon as she said that, she heard the air trembling in the distance from another airplane. She ignored it and resumed cleaning her room. She had already carried out or swept out the bed, the bedding slashed with a blade, the broken bookshelf, the torn books, and all the broken glass. “I can’t believe this…” There was no strength in her voice as she removed the broken lightbulbs. “What happened to my sanxian and photo?” She could not find the sanxian her father had given her or the only photograph she had of her family. She cleaned every nook and cranny of the room and checked every splinter of wood and scrap of paper, but they were nowhere to be found. … Were they thrown out the window? The vacuum cleaner had been caught on the balcony, but the photo and sanxian may have fallen to the road. … And if they did… “I’d never find them.” She sighed and walked to the kitchen holding a lightbulb that was really only the socket. She threw it in a trash bag and drank some water. Fortunately, the water purification plant was running, so the water was still clear. She brought her mouth directly to the tap and drank the water. “That’s a huge help.” She took a breath and relished the cold dampness in her fairly dry mouth. She worked to refresh her mood. … I’ll find the photo and sanxian eventually. She told herself to think positively and her eyes stopped on the water flowing down from the tap. “I haven’t done that in a while.” She normally did some Tune Education with water every morning, but she had not done it even once since being hospitalized. … So it’s been a week. “If I don’t keep practicing, I’ll never be like mom and the others.” She opened up the tap even more and the water forcefully struck the sink. The refreshing sound of impact rang throughout the kitchen. As she listened to it, Akira grabbed the spear Device from her waist. She unfolded the collapsible spear with practiced motions. After a single metallic sound, the spear was complete. It was a little long to swing around in the kitchen and she held it under her arm. “…” She breathed in, closed her eyes, and… “Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 160,000, you laughter of flowing water. Can you hear my Live?” She made her Wind Up. She called in the Lives with the usual method and sang her own Live. Hers began with “la”. It had a white Word Color and a loud, gentle Tempo. She created a Message with it. The Message combined the spilling water with a flying bird. “…!” She completed it all in an instant. The water falling from the tap became a colorless bird. It was a dove. Its Live was dense for its size, so it had little of the water’s amorphousness. It stepped up onto the edge of the sink and chirped. “Good, good.” Akira smiled. “Just like always.” She stroked the dove’s head and walked toward the entrance. She stopped after three steps and threw open the door. Several doves would fly from there every morning. Anything transformed with Tuning would go where it could regain its original form. The doves created from water Lives would always fly toward the sea. This one was no different. “Now, it’s time to leave.” She gestured out the door and the dove flew that way. It flew from the sink and flapped its wings well despite them hitting the wall. Its flapping wings sounded loudly as it took a midair turn toward the main entrance. It flew right past Akira’s eyes…and it burst. “!” The water scattered everywhere. What had been a dove distorted and fell apart as if it had been hit by a rock. She heard a sound just like pouring rain and water flew through the apartment hallway. “Kyah!” Akira’s legs and the hem of her skirt were wet. The water was cold. This was the blood of the dove she had created. The dove was dead. “…” With the Device in one hand, she looked to her wet clothes and the wet hallway. “What just happened?” There was no need to ask; she already knew. “I messed up…the Tuning?” That was the only explanation, so she nodded. “I can’t believe this. …I guess I’m a little rusty.” She took a breath. “I’ll take it a little more seriously this time. Yes.” She shut the front door and held the Device tight in her hand. Her eyes turned to the water pouring from the tap. The water was the same as always. It flowed the same as a week before and it contained the same Live. … So why did I fail?” Her expression was stiff as she asked herself that. “I can’t believe this…. What could it be?” As soon as she said those words, she began Tuning once more. ### 178. Part 4 A four-winged female Cherub stood on the tank’s gun with a refreshing wind surrounding her. “It’s been a while.” Genius looked to Gunmal. She was not holding her light-summoning sword, so she had no intention of fighting. Noting that, Gunmal lowered Nein König. “Hey.” As he left his combat stance, the General called out to him. “Who’s this girl?” “My brother’s wife.” “I see.” The General looked to Genius and sighed. “Young people these days don’t know how to introduce themselves.” “Will ‘nice to meet you’ suffice, General of the Yard?” Genius smiled bitterly and showed no hostility. “Oh?” The General nodded. “So what do you want? Keep it short. It’s well known that I don’t like Nein Engels.” “I’d be careful if I were you,” interjected Gunmal. “This old man seems to only like younger female Nein Engels.” “Shut up.” “I thought you wanted to keep this short?” Gunmal and the General exchanged a glance at Genius’s unfazed tone of voice. “See, old man? She’s scolding you.” “That was your fault and you know it. …Now, then. What brought you here?” “I have a warning.” “A warning?” Genius nodded and looked back to Gunmal. “Leave this city immediately and never return.” “What? Why would I-…?” “You don’t have time, so listen to me. Either Double Lee or Fei are going to come kill you. …They saw you have enough power to perhaps destroy a dragon.” “That’s definitely a problem… I have no intention of being killed by a guy.” “I’m not joking.” The General nodded toward her. “This idiot ain’t jokin’ either.” Genius looked to the old man and spoke while he gave her a harsh look. “You should leave the city, too. You know that no one can stop the Earth Serpent that will be activated next, don’t you? Not even by Gunmal here.” “Cause of the power of Yang?” She nodded at the General’s question. “Gunmal, you saw it, didn’t you? When you cut the dragon, it recovered and grew even stronger.” “Yeah, I saw it. I tried to blow it away a second time, but I couldn’t.” “That wasn’t made with the normal Tuning or Busting that you all use. Thanks to the power of Yang, it is obligated to rise to heaven.” “It’s true I could cut it but not destroy it using my Busting.” “You can’t win, can you? To oppose the power of Yang, you need the opposite power of Yin.” “So it’s like the sun and moon?” asked the General. Genius nodded. “It is because the power of Yang is born from sunlight that the dragon belongs to heaven. …If you do want to destroy the dragon and return it to Hong Kong…” “We have to hit it with a Yin dragon made from moonlight?” “Yes. But is there a Tuner in Hong Kong that can do that?” “There is.” “Double Lee’s sister?” Gunmal remained silent and Genius sighed quietly. “It’s too bad. Even I can tell she doesn’t have as much talent as Double Lee.” “Talent, huh?” Gunmal gave a thin smile. “Then we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’ve still got a lot I have to do here, so I won’t be leaving for a while.” “You’ll die. Even J-Gun was killed.” “I’m good at running away.” With that, he raised Nein König. Genius stopped moving. “What are you doing?” “So either Akira’s brother or Rin’s lover is coming to kill me?” “Yes, that’s right.” “Then what’s the other one going to be doing?” “…” “Based on what you were saying, both of them could have come for me.” Genius kept her silence, but… “I can read your Live, Genius.” “!” “The power of Yang you were talking about came from Huang Daquan’s blood, didn’t it? Do you still have any of that left? Do you have the fresh blood needed for the final ceremony?” “Well…” “How about I answer for you? The other one is after Akira, aren’t they? They’re after her blood!” As soon as he said that, a rumbling reached his ears. “An explosion!?” It was nearby. It was only a few blocks north from this district. Gunmal’s head shot up. “They’ve already started!?” “Yes, it’s best to get this kind of thing done quickly.” A new voice reached him from the left. “!?” He saw wings on Nathan Road. It was a six-winged Seraph. “Are you Double Lee!?” “You must be Gunmal.” Double Lee walked forward and Genius jumped backwards. She hopped from the gun barrel to the ground. But Double Lee ignored her movement. He simply walked straight to the midpoint between the tank and Gunmal. A slight wind blew through. Gunmal and Double Lee were not even three meters apart. Gunmal still held Nein König at the ready, but Double Lee was empty-handed with his sword Device at his waist. Gunmal gave a light whistle at his opponent’s attitude. “You sure are confident. We’ve got a tank on our side, you know?” “I am sure you would try to let the rest of your ‘side’ escape. I suggest we make this one-on-one.” “Hm. Then what if I try taking that woman hostage?” “It was her decision to come here. She can take responsibility for her own actions. Also, that would not stop me. But…” It was the General and not Gunmal who urged Double Lee on. He did so while instructing the tank crew not to move. “But what?” “I have a question. …Why are you panicking?” “…” “Are you afraid of losing Akira?” “What about you?” “Would you believe me if I told you?” “Yes. Based on your actions, I’d say you’re a lot like me.” “You are overestimating me,” said Double Lee with a slight smile. “I am only doing what is necessary. It is all to find the answer.” Gunmal’s expression changed at that point. “I…can’t read your Live either.” The usual smile had vanished from his face. “Old man.” “What is it?” “You should leave.” He did not tell him to run away. “Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve been moved to emotion like this.” “Oh? Are you gonna stick with us to the end?” “It’s not you I’m sticking with.” “Then who?” “Akira.” That was all Gunmal had to say. He raised Nein König in his left hand. ### 179. Part 4 Akira ran between two nearly collapsed buildings. Her wings felt heavy on her back, but she still felt no desire to fly. … Why does it have to be now that I can’t read the wind properly? “Now I’m just a human with wings.” She gathered strength in her legs. The great sounds of battle had continued for more than thirty seconds now. The last roar had brought an intense wind with it, and silence had followed. The battle was over. Akira silently mouthed a man’s name. She repeated the name a second and third time and nodded. “It’s okay.” She faced forward. The alley came to an end and a road opened up. The sun shined down there, so it was a little bright. She charged out into that light. “!” She found a street covered in rubble. But these were not ruins. She found scorched earth. A few buildings and the ground had been melted and vaporized by heat, leaving nothing behind. Akira recognized the scene. That destruction had been turned her way before. “That’s the mortar of that Galgallin named Fei.” Her running feet came to a quick stop. She could feel the heat through the soles of her shoes. A closer look showed bluish-white smoke and shimmering heat rising all over the place. “It’s so hot…” With that obvious observation, she looked around again. The scorching blast had cut across the road in an elliptical shape. The ellipse had been fifty meters across at the widest and twenty meters at the narrowest. The ellipse’s curve grew larger to the left because it had been fired a bit downwards from above on the right. A pile of concrete had been blown away in the center of the road. The heat had been so great that the concrete’s surface had turned to white ash, everything had bent, and some things had fused together. They all gave off intense shimmering heat to make their presence known. “…” Akira remained silent. But not because she was so focused on the shimmering heat coming from the concrete. Her eyes were turned toward the top of the pile. A single Device was stabbed into the concrete pillar there. It was Nein König. That blade-less Device had suited Gunmal perfectly. Amid the rippling shimmers, its color remained unchanged, but its hilt was missing. Its owner was nowhere to be seen. “You’re kidding…” Akira took a step back. She looked around but found no one. “Gunmal…” No one answered her. She looked up into the sky. “Is my brother not here either!?” The surrounding scenery gave her a clear response: silence. Akira fell to her knees. The heated asphalt surrounded her with shimmering heat. “Gunmal…” She called that man’s name. “Gunmal! Aren’t you supposed to show up when I call your name!? Gunmal!” As soon as she gave that shout, she heard what sounded like rock being struck. It was the sound of a Live being destroyed. She looked up in surprise and saw a man in the sky. “…!?” Before she could ask anything, the man fell down to her feet. She heard a dull sound and a wet sound. “Blood!?” The dark red substance spreading on the road produced white smoke as it contacted the heated surface. She ran over to him. “Gunmal!?” She called the Urban Name used by Busters and Tuners and she lifted him in her arms. She realized his coat had burned away from his right shoulder on down and his prosthetic hand was exposed. The hand’s fingers had been crushed and slightly fused. She gasped. “You idiot! Why…why are you about to die!?” He did not answer her question. He only breathed weakly yet deeply with half his face dyed from the blood flowing down his forehead. She looked around. There was no one there, but she still shouted out. “Is anyone there!?” Her voice lost to the heat and did not travel far. The surrounding heat enveloped them and stagnated. They were surrounded by silence and the presence of time seemed to vanish entirely. It was a still place. “…” Akira felt sweat on her skin. She lifted her head a little. She opened her mouth and tears spilled from her eyes, perhaps due to the heat. “…!” Her first cry did not even produce a voice. Nor did it form a Live. She held Gunmal in her arms. Finally, she managed to produce just one word. “Someone…!” And… “I can’t! I can’t do it myself!” The only one listening was Nein König which had broken in two. It took quite a long time for the surrounding heat to cool. ### 180. Part 4 The hour hand and minute hand were both approaching the top of the clock, meaning it was almost midnight. The General was facing a guest in his house. The guest was Rin. Hey sat in a Chinese-style wood-floored room containing only a television and a round table. Like a true Hong Kong resident, the General was dressed in a polo shirt and chino pants. Even though it was summer, Rin wore a black combat suit and a black leather jacket over that. She had swapped out her glasses for mirrorshades with a similar design. She was dressed to head off to battle somewhere. The General kept his eyes on her. “Want some tea, Rin?” He held out a teacup filled with tea he had made. She smiled bitterly and gently raised a hand. “No, letting me in your home is enough.” “You sure are cold.” “Am I?” She nodded. “But I am surprised.” “About what?” “That you let me in when you’re usually so secretive.” “Don’t be surprised by that. I knew your old man… I even knew when you were born.” “But you always held training at my house.” “I like houses with big yards.” “…You really are kind.” “Hm? You say something?” “You’re trying to change the subject.” “Am I?” “Is it because tomorrow is the end?” He answered her with silence. And that lack of a response was a sort of response. So Rin nodded again. “June 29 is ending.” “Yeah.” And tomorrow at midnight, Hong Kong will be returned from England to China, but the metal Earth Serpent still hasn’t been created. The Sixth Divine Punishment accelerated the four elements, but they have yet to be activated.” “Yeah.” “Why are you here, General?” “I’m not plannin’ to die, if that’s what you’re askin’.” “Are you planning to fight?” “Ridiculously enough.” “?” “There are some weirdos in the Yard who’ve stuck around to see me in action.” “You have some excellent subordinates, don’t you?” “So do you.” “You mean Kouga?” “Yeah. He found the Device that Akira seems to have dropped. And he brought it to J-Gun’s workshop to help out Gunmal.” After confirming what that meant, Rin spoke up. “Do you think Gunmal can make Devices for himself and Akira?” “I don’t know what he thinks he can make in just five days.” “What did he say?” “That if he couldn’t make anythin’ in five days, he’d be so embarrassed he’d head back home. The bastard’s probably makin’ a run for it right now.” The General turned back toward Rin. “Rin.” He sighed. “I’m gonna change the subject and lecture you, okay?” “Okay?” “A woman shouldn’t be makin’ her chest flatter. Got that?” “You can tell?” “You’re standin’ on two legs, aren’t you? …Plus, I’m your master.” “That’s true,” she said with a slight smile. She reached for her mirrorshades and shifted them out of the way. Beyond the two mirrors, her right eye was green and her left was red. “How do you like it? I took my time choosing just the right colors.” “They look like candy.” “Sorry.” Rin smiled bitterly. “But modern body customization technology has advanced farther than you know.” “Where’d you get it done?” “A virtual workshop in Detroit. There, I could have myself digitized rather than going through a surgery. I left my body here and had the customization done in the computer.” “Hmm. Well, that’s about what I discussed with Gunmal. …That had to have cost a fortune and you didn’t tell your old man.” “I’ve been working as a detective for five years without marrying, so I can afford this much.” “Hm. …Well, is it all workin’ out all right?” “That’s why I had the original data stored away. That took some time since I swapped out everything but my head and torso, but if something happens, it won’t be hard to return to my original body.” “I’d recommend not returnin’ that one leg to normal.” “True. But I got a look at the hardened Lives from the lost leg, and it looked like another Tuner might be able to heal it.” “You don’t find Tuners on your level every day.” “You’re one, aren’t you? Not to mention Akira.” “I’m too old and Akira has bigger things to worry about.” The General pointed toward the wall behind him. Rin frowned at the gesture. “Is Akira here?” “Yeah.” She tilted her head. “Why do you always watch over her?” “Jealous?” “Curious.” “You can be a lot like Gunmal sometimes.” “But…could you maybe answer me? You’re famous for hating Nein Engels, so why do you look after Akira and why do you always hide anything about your family or home? I’ve always wondered about that.” “Would a made-up story suffice?” “If the truth is hidden in it.” The General looked out to the yard. “…?” He heard rain and Rin looked in the same direction. “It’s raining.” “It’s not a bad rain.” “Are you going to quit talking?” “No, we can keep goin’.” They faced each other again. After a breath, the General opened his mouth with the growing pitter-patter of rain in the background. “Then listen up.” “Sure.” “Is it possible for someone to be born the same person but end up as two different people?” “…Eh?” “So. What if I was born as Lee Hu?” “Stop joking.” “Why would you say that?” “I saw Lee Hu die. Akira was with me…and so were you. We buried his remains in his grave,” explained Rin. “So you couldn’t possibly be Lee Hu.” The General nodded. “Then this is my final question.” “Go ahead.” “If you wanted to travel through time and change the past, would you need to entirely rewrite the time period or would you simply need to add a single new element brought from the future?” “…” “Here’s a hint. …I made sure the mistake I made would never be made again. When I was born, there was no Flight Song in Hong Kong.” “No Flight Song? But that song has existed since Hong Kong Cave was made.” “And that’s my hint. A hint only me and my wife know now.” Rin frowned a little. “Can I answer that along with your previous question?” “Sure.” “Are you saying Lee Hu travelled to the past without returning to the present, did something to become known as ‘the General’ during the Fourth Divine Punishment War, and corrected the next Lee Hu’s actions so he would not end up the same?” “C’mon, now. You’re not makin’ any sense.” “No, that makes perfect sense. When your next self was going to travel back in time, did you tell him to create the Flight Song that would support Hong Kong? And after returning to the present, Lee Hu left the rest to Akira and the others and died, so you felt you owed him something.” “Like I said, it’s a made-up story.” As soon as he said that, the clock on the wall began to ring. It rang quietly but deeply twelve times to tell them a new day had arrived. “It’s the thirtieth now.” “That was pretty loud. I hope it didn’t wake Akira.” “Are you sure she isn’t already listening in? She’s pretty sensitive to Lives.” “No. She can’t use Tunin’ at the moment.” “Can’t use Tuning? …You mean like how I used to be?” The General nodded. “She’s afraid.” “Afraid, hm?” “Yeah. She’s so freaked out that she doesn’t like havin’ her hand touched. …And ridiculously enough, she thinks she’s hidin’ it, but it couldn’t be more obvious.” “That’s because…Tuning is a weapon. A handgun is less of a burden.” “Hey, Rin.” “Yes?” “I hate to dig this back up now, but what happened with you was an accident.” Rin fell silent and he took a sip of tea. “And it was the proper punishment for those fools who go out huntin’ Nein Engels.” “Then why was I punished too? All I did was try to save Fei…” She sighed, and… “Akira is probably feeling the same thing.” “What do you think we should do?” “The best plan would be to abandon Hong Kong and flee. …Akira’s brother, Lee Leed, is going to activate the metal Earth Serpent. And the only way to fight back…” “Yes?” “No, it’s too reckless.” “Out with it.” “Aren’t you already thinking the same thing?” “That’s why I want to hear you say it.” “You would have to activate an equally powerful Earth Serpent. In other words, a Yin one equal to Lee Leed’s Yang one. If the two counteracted each other, it would all come to an end.” “Is that…really the only way?” Rin gently lowered her head. “But that would be impossible,” she said. “Earth Burns of the four elements are needed to activate the Earth Serpent, but even if we could activate new Yin-oriented water, earth, and wind ones, we lack the catalyst needed to activate the fire one. Also…” “Who would we draw the Yin power from?” “Yes. The Lives of Yin and Yang are one of the three secret techniques of Tuning and Busting. There’s no one in Hong Kong we can draw that power from anymore. Besides, the Live of Yin is based in the moonlight that opposes the sunlight, but…” “?” “Unfortunately, General, this rain is supposed to continue for several days.” The General frowned at that. “Um, Rin, I’m not sure I like the idea of decidin’ Hong Kong’s fate based on the weather forecast.” “Try to face reality. A powerful typhoon is approaching from the east-northeast. The winds apparently reached High Powered City – Taiwan about an hour ago.” “It’s true the winds are pretty still right now. …That would explain why the cicadas have been so loud all day.” “Rain will further remove the chances of finding a catalyst for the fire element. …There’s no saving Hong Kong now.” Rin stood up. “You said Kouga is at J-Gun’s workshop, right?” “No, I told him to head to the Yard. I have some business with him. …You want to say hello?” “Yes. Him at least…I don’t want to die.” “He’d cry if he heard you say that. And he’d say he’d follow you until the day he dies.” “Yes, and that’s why I won’t say it to him.” As soon as she said that, a gust of wind hit the window. The sound of the wind filled the room. And a moment later, rain sprayed against the glass. The rain seemed to fall sideways. The Genseral looked to the window as it rattled from the wind and rain. “Weather forecasts these days have a real attitude.” “Could I borrow an umbrella?” “Sure.” “Thanks. …When my custom body gets wet, I feel like it’s soaking directly into my Live.” Rin left the wood-floored room and the General called after her. “You’d better return that umbrella.” She did not respond. ### 181. Part 4 There once was a certain boy. But Akira did not know how long ago that “once” referred to. And before even reaching that question, she did not understand what she was seeing and hearing at the moment. “Eh? This was a little sudden. …What’s going on?” She looked around and found darkness. She tried holding out her hand, but she could not see it. This was pure darkness, so she began to panic. “…Oh, no. Gunmal was embracing me from behind…and then…” She trailed off from there. … And then I found myself in this darkness? A certain fact rang in her mind as if to answer her. There once was a certain boy. That fact stabbed deeply into her mind. Only then did she realize what she was seeing and hearing. “This is Gunmal’s Live.” She tried closing her eyes, but the surrounding darkness remained unchanged. It really was pure darkness. … I’m directly seeing this with my mind. …This is like a replaying of his memories. She could not possibly have a body here. Once she understood that, light appeared in the darkness. Far, far ahead, a horizontal line of light appeared like the sun appearing behind the horizon. And with that light as the horizon, the expanse of the sky appeared above and the expanse of the ground appeared below. Both expanses contained an awkward stream. A few wave-like motions filled them both and they approached above Akira’s head or below her feet. A closer look showed these waves of the sky and earth were not like the waves formed in water. Thousands or even millions of domino-like blocks drew out the sky and earth and those blocks created the waves as they fell over. And these dominoes formed more than a flat plane. Whenever they seemed to crawl vertically like caterpillars on a wall, they would produce clouds or buildings. Whenever they seemed to tilt diagonally, they would form rivers or slopes. A few of the blocks fell from the sky and become wind just before reaching the earth. “Gunmal’s Live is a lot like a pop-up book.” Meanwhile, the stream of dominoes passed by Akira’s vision. In that instant, she felt the wind. “!” She sensed the wind’s Live, something she had not done in what felt like a long time. She felt a chill. … There’s no doubting it now. “Gunmal is showing me his Live.” She spoke her thought aloud and the position in which she stood grew clear. The sky was visible overhead and a small village was visible below. She was positioned high in the sky. “That won’t do. I can’t see anything from up here.” She relaxed her mind to keep herself from worrying. An odd sensation shook her mind to its core. Deep in her mind, she felt like fingers were tickling her inside her stomach. “Ah.” A voice escaped her mind. … Oh, no. The sensation from reality is getting mixed in. “Something incredible must be going on outside of my mind right now…” She twisted her mind to reject the somehow pleasant sensation. She then relaxed herself in a different way. Instead of leaving herself defenseless, she cleared her ears and closed her eyes to place herself amid the silence. That was the correct decision. “…” The next thing she knew, she was standing in a strange world. The remnants of an unfamiliar village spread out before her eyes. She saw broken pillars, crumbled walls, scattered roofs, twisted and broken roads, and things that were so smashed their original forms had been lost. Gathered altogether, they created the ruins of a village. She was standing in the center of it all. “!?” She knew this scenery. … This is the same as the final Live that J-Gun showed me. So am I seeing this through Gunmal’s eyes!? Her question was answered by seeing a boy standing in front of her. He looked to be seventeen or eighteen and he had the same hair color as Gunmal. This was J-Gun when he had been a boy. Two Devices had fallen at his feet. One was simply cracked and the other was shattered. “…” J-Gun picked up the fragments of the shattered one and spoke. “Our Devices lie in the center of the war. …Brother, which one of us will succeed the Maldrick family?” And… “My Device shattered after clashing with yours.” J-Gun pulled a ring from his pocket and looked to his younger brother’s face. After a pause, he smiled a little. “It’s fine. Like this, they won’t even find the bodies buried in graves. …People who wish to live together didn’t need deadly Busters or Tuners in the first place.” J-Gun threw the ring into the ruins and said more. “Don’t end up like me.” As soon as he said that, the footage changed. As Gunmal, Akira stood in a large stone blacksmith workshop. It was dark inside. Gunmal’s gaze was positioned a little higher than in the ruins. That gaze looked gently across the workshop, looked down about a step ahead, and stopped. A stone pedestal sat there. A single Device sat on the pedestal: Nein König. “…” Gunmal’s right hand grabbed Nein König’s hilt. The hand was still made of flesh at this point. He stared intently at the bladeless sword. “I won’t need to use my Wild Name now that I’m leaving my family.” He slowly moved Nein König to his left hand. He placed his right hand on the stone pedestal and raised Nein König in his left. He kept his eyes on his right hand the entire time. At that point, Akira realized what he was about to do. … Gunmal!? Her mind cried out just as he swung Nein König down. “Ah.” He placed a bit of his Live inside the Device. It was amplified inside and gained a calm Tempo. In place of a blade, a brave, steel-colored Live burst from it. With a heavy strike, a curve of steel raced out. Before her mind could reject the image, Gunmal had Busted his right hand with Nein König. There was a solid sound and pain. The pain reached Akira’s mind as well. “!?” The pain resonated in her mind and created a Live resonance. Gunmal’s Live – which included his memories and abilities – burst inside Akira. It was hot. And with that sensation, the image being shown to her blacked out for a moment. It was cold. Gunmal’s Live felt hot as it burst within her mind, but the exterior of her mind felt cold in comparison. With that movement of heat, she felt her mind returning to reality. She was waking up. Her mind hesitated to do so and she quickly yet thoroughly experienced his Live inside her before it cooled. “…Nn.” With a quiet voice, she experienced Gunmal. What remained inside her body was a thought he sent her and it began with a certain sentence. She spoke that sentence aloud. “There once was a boy named Logan Maldrick, hm?” She smiled bitterly and her mind returned to reality as she asked a question. “Does that boy…still exist?” ### 182. Part 4 Akira ran through the darkness. The only light was the portable fluorescent one hanging from her shoulder. She was running down a passageway in the catacombs under Kowloon Walled City. She had passed through a sealed barrier with Gunmal and had remained with him until quite recently. As soon as the slope of the passageway had gotten steeper, he had come to a sudden stop. “Someone up above wants to be my dance partner.” “Eh?” “Your partner…is probably even deeper down here. I can feel a tremor in the air.” “You…won’t go with me?” “I’ll dance with you later. You’ve gotta save the best for last, after all.” “I might not win.” “Weren’t you the one that said you had to stop your brother and draw out the Tune Emblem?” “It’s true that my brother…needs my blood for his ritual.” “You could always run away before Hong Kong is returned to China.” She had shaken her head at that. “That won’t answer any of my questions.” “Is losing, getting killed, and allowing Hong Kong to be destroyed one of the possible answers?” “You’re the one that said to protect and to hate are two sides of the same coin.” “…You’re a stubborn one.” He had rubbed her hair and she had felt an indescribably pale, warm-colored Live from his hand. So she had simply nodded and resumed running. She was still running now. Her watch said it was eleven till midnight. She ran and felt like the darkness was pressing in on her, but she was not afraid. She was confident Gunmal and the others were behind her and she held Wild Königin even if she could not use it. She ran until she was out of breath. The downward-sloping passageway seemed to sap the strength from her legs with each step. Even so, she kept herself moving forward. A sudden change occurred. The weight of the darkness filling the passageway vanished. “!?” The wind had changed. Even if she could not sense a change in the color of the darkness, she could tell she had left the passageway and entered a large space. She had reached Hong Kong Cave. … It’s chilly. With that silent comment, she picked up her pace that had slowed a little. The fluorescent light fell from her shoulder and rolled along the ground, but she still ran. Several changes reached her with each step. She felt a slight breeze. Her surroundings grew a little brighter. She found herself in a residential area. The concrete floor became stone pavement. She smelled water. She smelled moss. A large space appeared before her eyes. The stone monument and spring she had seen long ago were still there. And she saw someone on the water’s surface. “…Brother.” It was a six-winged Nein Engel. Double Lee stood on the water. He was facing Akira as if awaiting her arrival. His small frown was not much different from the look of a young man accusing his lover of being late. “…” Akira fell silent and Double Lee remained silent as well. Akira stopped running and Double Lee remained entirely motionless in midair. The only sound was Akira trying to catch her breath. Soon, the blade of Double Lee’s short sword Device glowed with a dark inner light. Her eyes drawn by the light, Akira’s gaze stopped on the Device. “?” The damply glowing blade reflected the darkness in its smooth surface. The darkness flowed along the blade, slid down the tip, and gathered there. Finally, the gathered darkness fell as a droplet. It was a drop of darkness. When it touched the water below his feet, it burst. A quiet splashing sound reached Akira. And with that sound, Double Lee moved his stopped body. He raised the short sword and pointed the blade tip directly toward Akira’s eyes. Akira reacted by using both hands to raise her Device that looked too large for her. There was strength in her gaze but no raw hostility for her brother. Their gazes met in the air between them. Akira’s gaze was painfully powerful and Double Lee’s was cold and emotionless. Instead of repelling each other or clashing with each other, those gazes simply crossed paths. Neither one looked away from the other. Akira opened her mouth to say something. “…” But no words came out. Double Lee simply gave a small nod. He then gathered strength in the hand holding the short sword and inhaled some air. A moment later, he made his move to settle everything. ### 183. Part 4 The moonlight washed over Akira’s entire body. Each feather of her angular wings spread out to increase the surface area exposed to the moonlight. Her wings cried out in flight. She looked down at Hong Kong far below. She saw a glowing beast there: the Earth Serpent. It had stopped moving as it lay on the Kowloon Peninsula and let its wings smolder a little. She could sense its gaze on her. It was clearly looking up at her. … Could it be waiting? “That would be nice, brother.” She nodded and spoke with her eyes stopped on the white beast. “Gunmal, um, once this battle is over…” She took a breath. “How about we go to the beach?” He did not respond, but she continued anyway. “We can invite everyone, talk by the water…and go swimming. I did buy a swimsuit for this year.” … It had better be a two-piece. She smiled bitterly at his sudden comment. “I had a feeling you’d say that. …But don’t worry. I think we have similar tastes.” … Ha ha ha. Then I guess I should prepare a car. I’ll need to get my license. “Hm? You’ll take me?” … Yeah. If I didn’t, you’d fly there. “True.” She nodded and looked up to the moon. “Wait for me. I’ll be right back.” … Don’t push yourself too hard. “Eh?” … You’re on even footing now. So don’t rush this and go have some fun until you’re worn out. Okay? She was the one not to answer his question this time. She slowly closed her eyes and opened her mouth instead. The voice that left her lips was her Live. “La.” She hummed the Live that began with that sound. But that gentle hum gradually filled with strength and stretched out to a longer sound. “…!” She released a loud voice and then sang the Flight Song. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” She sang the song with the perfectly round moon overhead and the moonlight washing over her body. She embraced Wild Königin with her entire body. “…!” Her song rang out for a long time. Her body began to fall as if pulled down by the voice descending toward Hong Kong. The fall began slow, but it gradually picked up speed. As if synchronized to the gravitational acceleration, Wild Königin amplified her Live more and more. Her body broke down into Lives. It turned to dust or a glowing mist using the same process her brother had used. Wild Königin fell while surrounded by her song, her Lives, and the moonlight. The single spear simply dropped while shining in the moonlight. The four Earth Burns gathered and spiraled around it. The four-colored streams wrapped around the moonlight in the center. The transformation only took an instant. A bluish-white dragon with a single great horn appeared in the heavens. It was an Earth Serpent with the power of Yin. It roared to express the joy of its birth. That loud voice was as metallic as a peacock cry as it burst out. It was the voice of the dragon Akira had become. The Yang Earth Serpent consuming Hong Kong’s earth reacted to the cry. It looked up toward heaven and gave a sharp roar of its own. The dragon roars reverberated without end. The city rumbled without end. The two dragons flew. The Yin Earth Serpent flew from heaven to earth. The Yang Earth Serpent flew from earth to heaven. They charged toward each other with nimbleness unthinkable for their size. They were fast and they would collide in an instant. But a certain movement appeared just before those sparks audibly scattered. ### 184. Part 5 The underground workshop J-Gun had holed up inside had grown silent. The workshop was a square with twenty meter sides and it rose to a height of three stories. It was the largest of the building’s underground rooms. After pushing open the bulkhead-like door, Genius saw darkness enveloping the large space. There was no light. It was underground and J-Gun did not need light since he could see Lives. She found absolute darkness. She hesitated and checked the clock. It was 6:00 AM on June 30. “It’s probably okay if I come in now.” She muttered to herself and took a step inside. The darkness enveloped her as well. “Let there be light.” She snapped her fingers in the darkness and light appeared. A glowing halo appeared a mere thirty centimeters above her head. It resembled a transparent fluorescent light, it appeared to be quickly rotating, and sharp pieces of light would occasionally scatter from it. Genius caught the halo on her fingers and grabbed it. When she passed her hand through it like a bracelet, it continued to rotate but stayed around her wrist. She looked around with it on her right arm. The white light illuminated the workshop. A few concrete pillars, the gate for the elevator that brought in supplies, a lathe, and large steel panels for materials all became visible in the light and shadow. Also, a single figure could be seen in that space of metal and stone. It was J-Gun. He sat on one of the I-beams lined up in the center of the workshop and he had his back to Genius. “…J-Gun.” She walked forward as she muttered his name. Her heels rang loudly on the concrete floor. After about a dozen of the hard sounds, she stood behind him. The man’s back was right in front of her. The back of his combat blouson was bent from his hanging head. He almost seemed to have fallen asleep while sitting, but corpses did not sleep. He had simply stopped until he felt he had a new mission. “Just like a machine.” She did not smile as she said that and circled in front of him. J-Gun was still wearing his glasses and the eyes behind them were closed. He did not move or even breathe. “…” She looked away and noticed something on the floor. What Double Lee had requested was placed on the concrete. “The Device.” Two swords were there. One was what J-Gun had been using. Its colors had grown clear and all of its previous scratches were gone, but that was the side effect of forging another one with it. “He took good care of this for so long.” With a bitter smile in her voice, Genius looked to the other one. It was quite different from all the Devices she had seen in the past. It was a short sword. J-Gun’s Device was long at a meter and twenty centimeters. The ADs which had activated the four Earth Burns had been over a meter. But the final Device in front of Genius was only about sixty centimeters, including the hilt. It was shaped like an expensive paper knife. But Genius could not take her eyes off of it. “Amazing…” She stared at the light reflected from its short blade. “It’s like a mirror…or the water’s surface at night.” As she spoke, the light flowed along the blade. And that was not a metaphor. The blade reflected the light wrapped around Genius’s wrist and caused the Lives of light to flow toward the blade’s tip. The light took a droplet shape at the tip, dripped to the floor, and vanished. Genius gasped. “So this is what you’re really capable of.” She picked up the Device. The light reflected sharply from the blade and sprayed outward. For an instant, letters appeared on the blade like a watermark. “Pd.? Period? Is that the Device’s name?” No one answered her. She tilted her head and looked away from the light emitted by the blade. She sighed and placed the short sword back on the floor as light continued to scatter from it. It made a light, metallic sound. As she did, her fingers felt something hard on the floor. “?” She found a ring there. It was not a mechanical component like a washer or nut. The surface was polished and processed. It was made from the same light-manipulating metal as Pd. J-Gun had made it. “It can’t be…” She looked to her left hand. She had once worn a ring there, but she had abandoned it in J-Gun’s workshop on the surface. “…!?” She turned around and found J-Gun’s head still slightly lowered. His eyes were closed and he said nothing. But she did spot a small smile on his lips. “Am I imagining that?” She shook her head to reject it. Still, she took the ring from the floor. She hesitated for a moment, but she slowly placed it on her left ring finger. The ritual-like action did not take much time. The ring fit in place and silently reflected the light. “I don’t understand. I was too afraid to ask…but what did Double Lee say to you to resurrect you?” She faced J-Gun while sitting on the floor. “You had to have been able to read my Live, so why did you stay with me?” She took a breath. “Will you tell me someday?” There was of course no one to answer or respond to her question. J-Gun simply accepted her words without moving. ### 185. Part 5 Clouds covered Hong Kong. Below them, the rain had let up and the wind had calmed. The typhoon had not left Hong Kong. The city had merely entered the calm eye of the storm. Compared to the clouds circling so intensely in the sky, the night looked heavy and still. The weight of the night darkly filled Akira’s room through the window. Inside, Akira and Gunmal’s viewpoints and gazes had returned to their original positions. Akira was wearing her Nein Engel shirt and she sat in Gunmal’s lap. She held the sanxian the children had brought for her. Her father had given it to her as a memento. Her fingers were strumming it and her voice was singing. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” She sang the Flight Song. She finished the mere four lines of the song and the sanxian grew quiet. Both of them let out a sigh and Akira spoke. “I think it’s been ten days since I sang. …I used to sing up on the roof a lot.” “I know. I saw your Live too.” “Yeah.” “Can you hear the Lives now?” She cleared her ears a little and shook her head. “No.” But she gave a small smile. “But I think I’m going to go.” “To where your brother is?” “No. That isn’t what I meant.” “?” “I’m going to go find the answer… The answer to a lot of things.” “But Akira, you can’t Tune, so…” He sounded worried, but she cut him off. “You have something too, don’t you? You showed it to me. You have something you’ve always, always trusted in…even if you try to cut it away from yourself.” With that, she stood up and began to walk. She walked to a corner of the room where Gunmal’s things were piled up. Hidden by the travel bag and attaché case, were two objects wrapped in black cloth. They were both about as long as Akira was tall. She grabbed one of them. The object inside was metal. It was surprisingly light and she could stand it up on the floor with only one hand. Then she took a breath. After a moment, she untied the cloth wrapping. In the darkness of the night, the black cloth fell away like an empty shell and a pale light filled the room. What stood on the floor in front of her was a spear-shaped Device. The hilt was rounded and long. The blade was wide to better produced Lives. The giant spear’s overall mold resembled a musical instrument. “It’s pretty…” “Kouga brought me the one you forgot in the hospital.” “And you Busted it to remake it?” “Yeah. Look, this one actually has a blade.” She looked as instructed and saw a single-edged blade on the end of the spear. She briefly gasped at the light of the large blade. “The one I made for myself has a single-edged blade too.” “Are you going to kill someone?” “That’s not the point,” he said quietly. “To protect and to hate are two sides of the same coin.” “You really are strong.” “It was a certain woman that taught me that.” “Eh?” “That winged woman never rejected her own power no matter what happened.” “…” “I just wish I’d met her sooner.” “Thanks.” Akira removed her hand from the cloth wrapping and let it fall the rest of the way to the floor. It made a soft sound. The Device had been precariously balanced on the floor, but now it started to tilt. She reached out while holding her breath and grabbed the metal hilt. The roundness of the cold metal caused her pulse to race. But she did not let go. After a few seconds, her hand got used to the feeling. She wrinkled her brow a little, let out a breath, and spoke to Gunmal. “Hey, don’t you think we would make a good team? That’s the point of these two Devices, isn’t it? The two blades make a single whole.” “…” “What are their names?” “That one is Wild Königin and mine is Wild König.” As soon as he said that, a distant sound reached them from the direction of the ocean. It sounded like a great mass of metal had been dropped onto the ground. It was the low sound of shellfire. “That’s the old man’s tank, isn’t it?” “!? So the battle’s started!?” “No. He’s going to Hong Kong Island…on a boat, looks like. The tank is on the boat. That was probably the sign that he’s leaving.” “Let’s go, Gunmal.” Akira’s voice was quiet and weak. “Everyone’s…waiting.” ### 186. Part 5 Fei stood alone in the noisy night. There was not a hint of light in the vicinity and he was entirely surrounded by the roaring of the wind. His right arm was slowly regenerating. It had only been Tuned into shards of glass, so it would naturally return to normal given enough time. The dust-like shards that had scattered on the ground and in the wind started floating over toward him and gathering around where his right arm should be. Their temporary transformation ended and they began retaking their original form, so they burst out into the shape of the arm. The process should have produced the quiet murmuring of his Live, but it was drowned out by the surrounding wind. It took a few breaths before the arm returned to normal. “…” He remained silent. The eyes behind his mirrorshades watched his arm regenerate. Even the Custom Body lining of the arm had returned and the damage from the knife had vanished. He looked to his feet where a large knife sat on the exposed rock of the ground. He slowly picked it up in his right hand. He frowned a little while staring at the blade. He slowly looked around, but no one else stood there but him. There was, however, another figure lying at his feet. It was Rin. She lay face-up and simply looked like she was asleep. Her sunglasses had fallen away somewhere, revealing her peacefully closed eyelids. Her face had gone pale. The blood that should have colored it had flowed out through the slash running halfway through her well-formed neck. She had not customized her entire body. That was the difference between her and Fei and that was why she had died. She was no longer moving in the slightest. “…” Fei dropped the knife next to her. The blade dropped first and it stabbed into the exposed volcanic rock instead of bouncing off. It almost looked like a gravestone. He then removed his mirrorshades and sat down next to her. His face was as expressionless as ever. “…?” He asked her something, but there was no response and she did not move. The dead did not move. But that definition was suddenly overturned. “!?” Rin’s body jumped up and turned toward Fei with abnormal speed. Her bloody body forcefully embraced him. For a brief moment, Fei saw two small mole-like holes on her neck, slightly above the wound from his fatal attack. Fei knew what those holes were: the marks left from a vampire’s fangs. That female detective’s subordinate had been an immortal young man. She embraced him and her hand held the knife he had stabbed into the ground a moment earlier. And she gave a shout. “Word Accel! Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 12,000!” Her shout was loud enough to overpower the blowing wind. The thick knife was a Device and it faithfully amplified Rin’s Live. “Lu.” It began as a quiet sound. It was a monosyllabic sound of motion. It had a warm orange Word Color and an accurate three-beat Tempo. Rin stabbed her blade into Fei. The Device plunged into the back of his neck to reach the device controlling his modified Brain Bios. The blade tip tore into the device which had caused him to lose his memories and emotions. At the same time, he wrapped his right arm around Rin and stood up. His right hand was stabbed into her back. The Hard Nails of that hand were entering her body through her back. “!” To defeat a vampire, one had to tear out their heart. Fei was doing that now. Rin’s mouth opened wide and she shouted something. The roaring wind swallowed it up, so who could say if it had been her Live or a scream. But a moment later, something else escaped her mouth: blood. She coughed up a fist-sized clump of blood which stained Fei’s shoulder. Strength immediately left her and her entire body trembled a little in his arm. The Device fell from her hand. “…” Her upper body fell limply toward Fei and there was no strength in her eyes. Fei’s right hand was buried in her back up to the wrist. His hand was trembling slightly. One or the other of them muttered something and Fei pulled out his hand. Rin collapsed to the ground. Even as her body doubled over, she could still move. She held a hand to the hole in her back and looked up in front of her. Fei stood there. He was looking up into the sky while holding the inner corners of his eyes with the hand he had used to skewer her. “…?” He lowered his hand as a look of resignation and confusion filled Rin’s face. He went limp and stopped moving while still staring up into the sky. Rin briefly saw tears on his face. But that was an illusion. The blood on his hand had simply dripped down his cheeks. Regardless, he had stopped moving. He silently stared up into the sky, so she lowered her head in his place. She spoke some words that were drowned out by the wind. Her lips moved again and again to repeat the same words. There was no light in the vicinity. The only sound was the blowing of the wind. The only two people there had stopped moving. ### 187. Part 5 The two dragons shifted their positions just before colliding. “…!” Just as it looked like they would wrap around each other as if to tie a knot, they rapidly parted. The Yang Earth Serpent curved to the right and ascended while the Yin Earth Serpent curved to the left and descended. Together, they formed a double helix shape. A bluish-white spiral and a yellowish-white spiral raced through Hong Kong’s night sky. The intersection of the two dragons below the moon created a puff of light. It was a collection of Lives. The Yang dragon split off the Lives it had created by breaking down Hong Kong and the Yin dragon absorbed them. It almost looked like the one was handing its excess nutrients to its starving sister. The two great dragons raised simultaneous cries. That signaled the end of the ceremony. The Yang Earth Serpent moved first and it pushed the air out of the way to fly toward heaven. The Yin Earth Serpent looked up at it for just a moment before facing down once more. The one-horned dragon descended in a straight line. Its gaze was centered on Hong Kong Cave. After the sound of something slicing through the wind, the Yin Earth Serpent twisted its bluish-white body and dove inside Hong Kong Cave. ### Song of Farewell Gunmal ran up the Hong Kong Island mountain path that led to Hong Kong Cave. When he glanced upwards, he could not see the door to heaven or the Yang Earth Serpent. A few minutes had passed since the dragon Akira had become had dove into Hong Kong Cave with a great roar. Hong Kong had already left England’s control. “…” He ran. He swung Wild König to break the rocks blocking his way and he hurried to the mountain peak. He was out of breath, but he did arrive there. He reached the edge of the great hole once known as Hong Kong Cave. “…Akira.” He stood on the very edge and looked down. There, he saw what Akira had wanted. He saw Hong Kong Cave after it had been Tuned by the dragon she had become. Nothing was out of place and there was not a stain to be seen. The barriers built out of fear of others were gone, but the empty city had been perfectly recreated along the sides of the great pit. It was a pretty city. It was so delicate that it almost looked like a paper model. Gunmal smiled and stared down at it. His gaze dropped down to the very bottom of the pit where he saw a light. It was the moon. “The moon?” He tilted his head but then realized what it was. It was the spring. The water at the very bottom was reflecting the moon. It was a perfectly round and wonderful moon. “I can’t believe this.” He sat down, took a breath, placed a hand on his chin, and glanced up at the heavens. The real full moon floated there. He sighed and spoke to no one in particular as its light washed over him. “You really do lose out when you try to act tough, don’t you?” His words were carried away by the wind blowing up from the sea. Only his silhouette cast a dark mark on the ground thanks to the moonlight. ## All Sections - Ending: Encore - The Flight Song (2:17) A festival was underway in Hong Kong Cave. It was celebrating the fifth year since Hong Kong Cave had been Tuned by Akira’s Earth Serpent. The city was bright. There were now people in Hong Kong Cave. Some were Glossolalians and some were Nein Engels. No accurate census had been taken, but it was known that more than a million lived there now. There was a height difference of three kilometers from the bottom to the surface and most of the wide levels were residential areas. There was more than enough space for people to live. The city was full of life. The festival played a role, but the city was also filled with the shouts and songs from shops and performers. Currently, three people were slowly descending through the pleasant noise of the giant layered city. One was an old man, one was a young man, and the last was a child who ran out ahead of them. The boy in a nice child’s suit had four wings. He unsteadily ran down the stairs and turned back toward the two adults walking more slowly behind him. “Hey, Uncle Gunmal! Can I go on ahead!?” “Yes, but…hey, G2! Don’t get lost.” The young man replied to the boy with the Urban Name of G2. Gunmal wore a coat of contrasting black and white and he carried Wild König on his back. There was no harshness in his expression and the passage of five years could clearly be seen on his face. Similarly, the General still wore his usual work uniform, but he was surrounded by a somehow calm aura. The old man rubbed the scar on his cheek and glanced up at the young man. “Heh heh heh. You go by uncle now, do you?” “I don’t want to hear that from someone who could be his great-grandfather.” “…Where’s his mother?” “In London.” “Rin is too, isn’t she? That’s probably for the best. Kouga handled things pretty well.” “…” “Rumor has it the god there is personally performin’ Double Lee’s resurrection ceremony to question him. If so, maybe he’ll eventually come here for Akira’s-…” Gunmal cut off the General. “Let’s not talk about that.” “It’s been five years. Hong Kong Cave is back to normal…so why hasn’t she come back?” “We can only wait.” “Then why are you here? Weren’t you goin’ to wait it out?” “My nephew said he wanted to come here.” “Liar. Quit tryin’ to act tough.” “But it makes me look cool.” The General sighed. “I understand …You’re here to give up, ain’t you?” “…” “After five years, Hong Kong’s been revived inside this hole and we’re all more or less back to normal. But Akira alone is missin’.” “But we made a promise.” “For what?” “We were gonna go to the beach once she came back.” “Then why are you givin’ up?” Gunmal smiled bitterly. “I’m not giving up.” “Really? Then why’d you choose to take over the Maldrick family?” “Because that lets me make the rules.” “?” “Next year, I’m building a workshop here. Just like my brother did.” “…” The General fell silent as they arrived at the lowest level. The stone-paved plaza had shops set up here and there and the sunlight poured down from directly above. A large spring sat at the center and Gunmal’s nephew, G2, was scooping up and playing with the water. The General narrowed his eyes when he saw the boy. “That boy really does look a little like J-Gun.” “Really? When he was born, I thought he looked just like a monkey.” “Don’t say that when the boy can hear you.” “Don’t worry. According to my mom, my brother and I were the same.” “So you’re a family of damn monkeys?” “Please, enough compliments.” While exchanging verbal jabs, Gunmal and the General walked forward. Gunmal stopped next to the spring-side stone monument engraved with the Flight Song. He sat down and G2 stood next to him. “Hey, hey, hey, hey! Uncle! This is where that Nein Engel you love is sleeping, isn’t it!?” “She’s not the Nein Engel I love. She’s she Nein Engel who loved me.” “Quit lyin’ to the kid.” The boy did not hear the General’s warning and he asked Gunmal a question from pure curiosity. “Hey! Uncle! Can I Tune and Bust too?” “I don’t think your mom would like that idea.” “What does that matter, Gunmal?” The General smiled bitterly. “Hey, boy. Do you want to be a Tuner or a Buster?” “A Buster!” The two adults exchanged a puzzled glance at the energetic answer. Once they turned back his way, the boy said more. “I want to be able to help people like you and dad did! So can I become a Buster too?” “Precocious little brat,” muttered Gunmal as he stood up and rubbed the boy’s head with his false right hand. “A dirty brat like you’ll definitely end up like me.” He was smiling as he said it. The boy narrowed his eyes and those eyes fell on the stone monument next to his uncle. “Hey, I’ve been wondering.” “Hm?” “What does this rock say?” “Eh? …Oh, right. You can’t read Chinese.” “Yeah, so what’s it say?” “It’s a song,” replied Gunmal. “A long, long time ago, those who came before us wrote it to make sure Hong Kong would end up the way it is.” “Those who came before us?” “Yeah.” “Were they famous?” “Of course.” “How much?” “Just a little more than me.” “That’s not very much.” The General laughed bitterly at the child’s blunt comment. Hearing the laugh, Gunmal touched the stone monument. At the same time, an entertainer in the plaza started playing a song on a sanxian. “The Flight Song, huh?” Gunmal suddenly opened his mouth as he listened to the accompaniment. 彼街通天地 (That city connects heaven and earth) 墜朝地仰雲 (I fall in the morning and look up to the clouds from the earth) 昇夜空謳月 (I rise at night and sing with the moon in the sky) 惟望再笑君 (All I desire is to smile with you again) His voice carried on the sanxian’s music and his Live sounded loudly on top of it all. The reverberation expanded upwards from the bottom of the pit. Gunmal’s Flight Song carried a hint of his Live as it slowly but surely filled the air of Hong Kong Cave. It rang out. The song came to an end. Silence followed. G2 then tugged on the bottom of his coat. “?” The boy answered Gunmal’s confusion by pointing upwards. “Encore.” Gunmal cleared his ears and heard applause coming from somewhere in Hong Kong Cave. His song had been mistaken for an entertainer’s and people were applauding in hopes of an encore. It gradually grew louder. As more applause piled on, it gained a certain beat. It settled at a certain tempo and the synchronized clapping built to a great thickness. It sounded like one giant set of hands clapping. Unable to bear with that beat any longer, accompaniment for the Flight Song began playing from a higher level. The previous sanxian similarly played on the lowest level. “…!?” Drawn out by that ensemble, a male voice sang the Flight Song somewhere in the city. It only grew from there. Singing voices and accompaniment rang from every corner of Hong Kong Cave. Countless voices burst from every level. “Oh,” muttered the General. Everyone’s voices had joined as one for the chorus. The music played loud. The ensemble and beat of clapping hands enveloped Gunmal, the General, and G2. “…” They heard the voices. Man, woman, boy, and girl all sang or played the Flight Song. Hong Kong Cave was singing. Their singing voices were drawn out by Gunmal’s Live in his voice. And Gunmal stared straight up. “…?” But he suddenly pulled Wild König from his back. “What is it?” The young man held the large Device out in front of his and the old man’s eyes. The base of the Device’s hilt contained the Uroboros Rondo Wild Emblem. Gunmal had created that Device and it was now trembling ever so slightly. “It’s resonating.” Wild König would only resonate with Wild Königin which had been created at the same time. He looked to the spring. They were faint, but he saw ripples on the water’s surface. The small ripples were spreading along the large spring, but they did not vanish. More and more were created as if to make their presence known. Similarly, the tremor inside Wild König gradually grew larger and faster. Gunmal gulped. “It really is. Wild König is resonating.” A smile appeared on his lips. “Can you believe this!? Wild Königin is singing! Who is it!? Who’s singing!? It’s coming up from the bottom of the spring!” He knew perfectly well who it was and G2 shouted up at him. “Sing, uncle!” That small wish was granted. Gunmal held Wild König close and he opened his mouth. He began with a prelude that could have been an “ah” or a “la” and he began to sing. As countless singing voices rang through Hong Kong Cave, he sang the Flight Song as if his voice was the most correct and as if he wanted someone to hear it. The hands clapping to the beat cheered him on. “…!” Gunmal sang. Hong Kong sang with him. The ripples in the spring grew larger. And a song rang out in response to that movement. “La!” Gunmal’s voice rang out powerfully and loudly while sounding just like Akira’s Live. The song danced and reverberated through the city that connected heaven to earth. To wake a certain girl. And to be able to laugh in the end. Loudly. Loudly! Hey, can you hear it!? This is my answer! ### 188. Part 6 Akira listened to the rain outside the dark window behind her. She had changed into her Yard uniform and she sat below the vase containing the jinyinhua and feather. She placed her left arm on the wall and felt the characteristic damp chilliness of an earthen wall. About an hour had passed since she had woken and been able to move her arm. She had spent the time eating the food the General had left in the hallway. It was dark outside the window, but the clock had rung nine times earlier. It was now 9:00 AM of June 30. … The Earth Serpent will fly tonight. … There’s nothing I can do. I wouldn’t be any help…and my room was ransacked. She sighed. The light meal seemed to have given her some energy. The room was dark from the typhoon, but she looked around while holding the broken Nein König. Her senses had grown more sensitive to her body and her surroundings. She could hear the wind. She could hear the rain. But those were mere noises. Neither the wind nor the rain showed its Message. The same was true of the darkness in the room. The daytime darkness brought by the storm clouds felt no different than having her eyes go bad. … What am I supposed to do now? As soon as she wondered that, she heard a sound through the walls. She heard footsteps. They belonged to the General. They were approaching her down the hallway. Akira faced the door with her eyes still closed. … Is he bringing breakfast? She frowned in her heart because that made her feel like a freeloader. But as if to ignore her thoughts, she heard something being placed in front of the door. Then she heard the General’s voice. “You awake?” “Oh, yes,” she answered. She heard a quiet laugh from beyond the door. “Good. You youngsters have so much energy.” … Not really. She tilted her head and heard more from beyond the door. “You’re hidin’ your Live pretty well there, Akira.” She looked up at those unexpected words. … I’m hiding my Live? Now? She was not doing so consciously, but he was telling her he could not see it. The words beyond the door continued. “Yet I could still see plenty when you woke up yesterday.” She gasped, but he was not done. “Gunmal wasn’t showin’ his either. …Is that the latest fad with you youngsters?” “No…it isn’t.” “Then is it not some short-lived thing?” She did not answer. She simply looked at Nein König in her arms. The mass of metal told her nothing, but she still stared at it. The beautiful steel Device looked like a musical instrument. She noticed slight scratches and chips on its surface and corners. Those were evidence that Gunmal had used this Device for years. As it received her gaze in the dim light, the Wild Emblem of the Maldrick family glowed dully. She could see two dragons dancing within the round relief. And as she looked at it, her lips began to move. “Why am I… No, why does Gunmal hide his Live?” Her own words confused her. … Why am I saying this? But before she could find out, a voice reached her. “He’s makin’ Devices right now. At that workshop.” “Eh?” Just as she looked up in surprise, her shoulders touched something. It felt raw and soft, almost like lips. The surprise caused her pulse to race. “…?” She looked over at her shoulder and found some yellow flower petals. It was a jinyinhua flower. It had fallen from the vine growing in the wall-mounted vase. She stared at it. After a few breaths of silence, she moved. “…” She suddenly but slowly moved. She took her time to hesitantly stand up. And as she took the first step forward, Nein König slipped from her arms. “…!” When she let out a voiceless scream and crouched down, she heard a voice from beyond the door. “I’ll be goin’.” She did not answer, but she did nod. She heard the front door slide open and the sounds of the storm grew louder. “Don’t bother lockin’ up when you leave.” Finally, she heard the door slide shut. She was cut off from the outside world once more. She was alone in the house. “…” She held her breath and stared at Nein König and the yellow jinyinhua flower on the floor. She picked up the flower and placed it on top of the Device. She sighed and stood back up without smiling. The vase was at eye level. It contained the jinyinhua which had dropped a single flower and the single feather. She started turning away to face forward, but… “Huh?” She noticed something. Her eyes stopped on the feather that shined a golden white in the dimly lit room. “This feather…” She spoke the truth before her eyes as if reflecting on the fact. “It isn’t mine.” … What does that mean? She had no way of answering that. She kept her eyes on it while slowly walking away. She arrived in front of the door and steadied her breathing. She slowly opened it to find the entranceway. The door to leave this house appeared before her eyes. As she started toward it, she found something left in the entranceway. It was what the General had left for her. She had expected a tray carrying breakfast, but it was an umbrella. “It’s storming outside, isn’t it?” She picked it up and nodded with a tense expression. “Everything might be blown away.” ### 189. Part 6 Genius realized Gunmal’s fighting style was different from before. He was releasing his own Live to Bust. And instead of using the Over Up that J-Gun used, he used a more unique method. It was the same method he had shown her at the very end of their last fight. It was a pure shout. “Ah!” He would raise his voice in a way much like his Live and use that to Bust. The attacks were heavy and sharp and they had the same destructive power as J-Gun’s full power strikes. … I can see why J-Gun praised him. She smiled bitterly when she remembered that. “Who am I even jealous of?” She released her light. A spear of light flew in a straight line, but Gunmal’s Wild König struck it head-on and it burst. Gunmal could not possibly move faster than light, so the light had to be moving just as he expected it to. The Lives of the space around him were working for him. That was made possible by his shouts and he could freely control those Lives so long as the reverberation of those shouts lingered around him. This was not like the Over Up, which was a contract that immediately came to an end. Seeing him reminded Genius what Double Lee had said before. … Do you know the difference between normal people and those known as talented or prodigies? She now knew the answer. … There is no difference. The talented and prodigies needed some kind of method or standard. In Tuning and Busting, that would be the Over Up or Wind Up. But Gunmal was not bound by such things. He did not use an established Up and produced great power fighting only by the definitions of Busting. J-Gun, on the other hand, used the Over Up to produce his power. They both used the best method for themselves. Currently, their fight shook the wharf. The battle had moved to the edge of the wharf and into the tourist beach that was perfect for walking. Genius watched as J-Gun launched a horizontal slash. “Oh.” He sent out his Live which had a crimson Word Color and sounded like a low rumble. It flew toward Gunmal as a giant scythe of light. “Ah.” Meanwhile, Gunmal received the Live attack head-on. He instantly swung Wild König down from above. The steel-colored pressure struck the ground while also splitting the scythe. The broken scythe burst and sliced through the thick streetlights of the tourist road behind him. The sound of slicing metal was followed by the streetlights hitting the ground and breaking. After one, two, three, four such sounds, Gunmal made his move. “You’re not the ones I really want to dance with!” His shout immediately became his Live. His eyes were directed toward J-Gun in front of him and Genius further back. He had just swung down Wild König, so he used his entire body to swing it back up and let out a monosyllabic roar. “Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!” The emitted Live had a heavy metal Word Color and a Tempo that rumbled in the earth. This was not a slash or strike like before. It was a powerful blast. A pillar of light two hundred meters long and fifty meters wide shot out toward Genius and J-Gun. Genius had no way to protect herself, but J-Gun took action. He stood in front of her, prepared his Device at his waist, and shouted a different Live from before. “Kohhhhhhhhhhah!” A moment later, an intense blast of light raced from J-Gun’s Device. The white blast was made from pure solidified light. It was the same as the light Genius fired. … He’s using my Live!? The Live of anyone who used Tuning or Busting was affected by the Live of anyone they had a relationship with. She had seen something similar when fighting Akira and Gunmal before. But unlike then, the Live that J-Gun was firing now was strongly mixed with his own Live. He used the double attack power of light and destruction to intercept Gunmal’s Live. The pure white light collided with the steel-colored light. The produced sound was powerful, high, and clear. It sounded both like a metallic sound and like an electronic sound. Afterwards, their Lives burst and scattered through the air. The dense mist of light spread out before Genius’s eyes and briefly robbed her of her vision. She closed her eyes for just a moment. When she reopened them, the enemy stood in the blind spot right next to J-Gun. In the light, Gunmal held his Device at the ready. … When did he get there!? Her surprise produced a reflexive shout. “J-Gun!” J-Gun faithfully responded to her voice. Without turning her way, he made an accurate strike with his Device. An even deeper crimson Live gouged into the gap in the light. His attack scored a direct hit and the color red scattered. Gunmal wobbled with his Device at the ready. And his body burst. He was not cut or broken. His entire body fell apart as if a thread had unraveled. “!?” The scattering Lives were the blue, refreshing Lives of the gently blowing wind. These were not the Lives of a person. Genius’s eyes widened and she heard a voice from the opposite direction. “Sorry! I kind of plagiarized that method!” Before she realized it was Gunmal’s voice, she noticed something different about J-Gun. A giant blade was stabbed into his back. Gunmal’s Device grew from J-Gun’s back at an odd angle. “…” Without speaking a word, J-Gun’s knees gave out and his body bent forward a little. Gunmal came into view beyond him. “I don’t believe it…” Genius took a step back and Gunmal responded without smiling. “Just like my brother could use your power, I can use a little of Akira’s power.” “…” Genius was dumbfounded, but Gunmal frowned. He looked to J-Gun who had been skewered by Wild König. “Stop.” As Gunmal spoke that word, J-Gun moved. His head was still lowered, but his legs trembled as he tried to stand up. Gunmal frowned a little. “Stop it, J-Gun.” He could not stop his brother from moving. J-Gun took a deep breath that was meaningless for a dead body and raised his Device once more. “Please stop this already, J-Gun!” shouted Gunmal. But J-Gun gently spread his arms and legs with Wild König still stabbed into him. His stance almost seemed meant to hide Genius from Gunmal. The Device in his right hand was gently lifted overhead. Gunmal’s expression crumbled and he opened his mouth to give a shout. But in that instant, someone stopped the brothers. It was Genius. She embraced J-Gun from behind and that was enough to stop him. The stillness brought silence and they all simply stood there for a moment. It was a blank moment. J-Gun was the first to move afterwards. He slowly stepped back with Genius still leaning against his back. He took one, two, and three steps before Wild König fell from his slender body. As if that had been a trigger, he slowly collapsed backwards. “!” Genius crouched down to support him. She rested his upturned head on her shoulder. … J-Gun! She gave a silent cry and he turned his head to look at her. And he spoke one quiet word. “Sorry.” That truly was his final moment. Immediately afterwards, his Live broke down, leaving only his clothes behind. “…!” Genius sat on the ground embracing the remaining clothes. J-Gun’s Device made a dry clank as it hit the concrete ground. “What just happened?” she asked. “Why would he apologize to me!?” To bring back the dead via necromancy, one needed a condition based on something the dead regretted during life. Genius realized what condition Double Lee had presented to J-Gun’s soul. “You don’t mean…!?” ### 190. Part 7 Double Lee looked to Akira. He stared at her. He turned his powerful gaze her way and nodded. “…” Then he gave a slight smile. Two simple words escaped his opened lips. “Thank goodness.” A moment later, he took action. The tip of his raised Device drew an upwards-facing arc to point downwards. As darkness flowed down the blade, it stabbed into Double Lee’s own body. Akira heard it plunge into his flesh. “!?” She gave a voice of surprise more than a scream. At the same time, her brother’s body collapsed backwards. His six-wings bent deeply as if to support his collapsing body. Needless to say, that was not enough to stop him. His body fell toward the water. Blood seeped out from where the short sword had stabbed him. He spoke quietly with his eyes closed and his hands around the hilt. “Word Accel. Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 120,000,000.” Just as he finished his Over Up, he landed in the water. The soft sound of the splash almost sounded like flapping wings. “…!” Akira ran over to the spring and reached out a hand toward him as he started sinking. Her well-formed hand plunged into the water to touch her brother’s wings, but she could not quite reach. He sank further down with his wings pointed down. His blood flowed out into the water, but it did not dissolve. Instead, it formed a pattern on the spring’s wide surface. It created a Tune Emblem. As it was drawn, his body slowly came apart. He was making his own body a part of the Earth Serpent. “Wait… Brother!” As soon as she shouted to him, his blood completed the Tune Emblem on the spring’s surface. And… “!” The ground shook vertically just once. Akira nearly lost her balance, but she used Wild Königin to support herself. Then, she looked to the Tune Emblem drawn on the water. It was large enough to fill the entire spring and a single blade was sticking down from the center. It was Double Lee’s Device. That Device was made by Hong Kong’s greatest Buster and it had floated up to act as the Baton. That meant two things. First, the Tune Emblem had been activated. Second, her brother’s body had been Tuned and had sunk to the depths of the earth. She wordlessly gasped for breath. She was sweating. “I’m nervous.” She spoke to herself and wiped the sweat from her brow. A moment later, an intense pulse-like shaking rose from underground. The Earth Serpent was waking. She checked her watch to find it was 11:53. With seven minutes left, Hong Kong would be utterly destroyed. ### 191. Part 8 Hong Kong shook. Unlike during the Sixth Divine Punishment War, this shaking could not be mistaken for an earthquake. It was a vertical shaking that felt like something was directly striking the underside of the ground. Gunmal and Genius had both run back to the wharf. There, Gunmal stabbed Wild König into the wharf’s shaking ground. The General and his men only questioned his action for a moment. They soon realized just what was going on. The shaking vanished from that corner of the wharf and the General gave a light whistle. “Did you change the crust here to your likin’ before the Earth Serpent could get to it?” “It’s only for the area within twenty meters of me, but I completely remade it. This area should be a safe zone.” “I see.” The General nodded as a great roar surrounded them. At the same time, the ground outside the twenty meter range Gunmal had mentioned began peeling up and flying toward the sky. “Here it comes!” someone shouted. They all turned toward Hong Kong Cave. Beyond the curtain of stones falling upwards, they saw something unbelievable. The one kilometer entrance to Hong Kong Cave had opened up on Hong Kong Island’s mountain peak. A massive pure-white dragon’s head was sticking out from the hole. It was enormous. Using the hole as a reference, its neck had to be easily more than three hundred meters across. “That’s ten times the size of the previous dragon!” That estimation was no exaggeration. The dragon was so large it did not seem real. It was pure white and glowing because it was filled with the power of Yang. The Earth Serpent raised its head like a snake and tried to leave the hole. Everyone at the wharf subconsciously put up their defenses, but the dragon paid them no heed. The rumbling of breaking stone sounded as it extended skywards and its front legs finally left the hole. Based on the diameter of its neck, the distance from the shoulders of its front legs to its face was approximately 1.5 kilometers. Its head scattered the small dark clouds floating below the rain clouds. In all, it was over ten kilometers long. Its pure-white serpentine body illuminated the typhoon’s dark clouds like a glowing tube rotating in the night sky. The dragon opened its great maw toward the heavens hidden by the clouds. After a brief delay, a roar rang out. It was more a physical blow than a sound. The massive wall of air shook its body, raced through the air as a wave, and slammed into those standing on the ground. Affected by that impact, the stones taken up from the ground all turned to Lives. The Earth Serpent raised its head, dragged its body further along, and fell down toward Hong Kong as if to receive those Lives. Its fall took it toward the Wan Chai district left of Gunmal and the others in Central. They heard the wind. The great dragon was pushing out the surrounding air as it fell. The General’s voice shouted over that wind. “Hey! Is that…Akira!?” Gunmal looked up on reflex and did indeed see it. A certain color floated at one point high in the sky near the falling dragon’s head. A slight golden-white flower stood out against the pure white of the dragon. It was Akira’s wings. She was wobbling and falling after being knocked away by the dragon’s movement. “…!? What are you doing, Akira!?” Gunmal gave a yell as he pulled Wild König from the ground. ### 192. Part 9 Akira did not know what had happened to her. As soon as she had stabbed Wild Königin into the ground to bear with the shaking, she and the stone-pavement had been carried into the sky. While hanging down from Wild Königin’s hilt, she had been carried to the edge of a pure-white glowing cliff, but then she heard a great roar. Just as she thought her inner ears had been destroyed, she and Wild Königin were thrown out into the empty air at 1.5 kilometers above the ground. That was when she had realized what had looked like a pure-white wall had been part of the Earth Serpent. But that was all. She could see the typhoon’s storm clouds in the night sky. She could move her body, but the previous noise had left her without a sense of direction or even a sense of up and down. She could not read the wind and the position and direction of her center of gravity felt vague, like the core of her body was asleep. She fell backwards. “A Nein Engel isn’t supposed to die from a fall.” A voice seemed to answer that comment. … Akira! It was Gunmal’s voice. “!?” She expressed her confusion and the voice continued. … Why are you falling!? Aren’t you supposed to do something about that Earth Serpent!? His voice came from Wild Königin in her right hand. Wild König and Wild Königin were resonating and he was using that to send his Live to her. … C’mon, you activate your own dragons! We need to start with the Earth Burns of wood, earth, and water! “H-how!?” Gunmal’s Live answered. … Remember the Tuning you wanted to use! You’ve done enough of the basics now, haven’t you!? Let Hong Kong ring in your own way! Or have you still not realized how much I’ve been pushing you around!? “Y-you idiot! Why would you say something like that now!?” … Shut up. I’ll prepare the elements of wood, earth, and water. Fire can come later! I’m busy, so I need to hang up. “Hang up…? Hey! This isn’t a cellphone!” There was no response. “~!” Akira gave a voiceless shout and glanced behind her. She was only five hundred meters from the ground. … At this rate, I really will die. That was when she noticed something odd on the ground. “!” She saw intense destruction. The city shook in every direction around Central. She could not see Lives at the moment, but she could see that. The Bust strikes continued for more than two kilometers with a width of at least five hundred meters. There were a total of ten and they all occurred in an instant. The steel-colored barrage created a great roar and something like a pale mist covered Hong Kong Island and the edge of the Kowloon Peninsula. … So that’s what Busting looks like when you can’t see Lives. But those attacks did not bring absolute destruction. They simply disturbed the Lives. If they were not Tuned soon, they would return to normal. “Honestly, you’re rushing me too much!” As soon as she shouted down at him, she heard a roar from the Earth Serpent. “!?” Her eyes widened as the Earth Serpent looked down at her with the heavens behind it. Its giant face was growing even larger. … It’s charging toward me!? “You’re kidding!!” Once she saw its fangs, she remembered when the red dragon had chased her. She remembered the damage and injury to her wings, the brief meeting with the boy, and the people’s screams covering the city. In an instantaneous chain reaction, it all resurrected in her memories. … I can’t let that happen again! She raised Wild Königin and sharpened her mind. She linked all of her body’s senses directly to her heart. The floating feeling of falling, the sound of the splitting air, and the sensation of Wild Königin in her hands all flashed through her mind and overcame her fear of the Earth Serpent. She Tuned the Live of fear and opened her eyes. “!” A sudden change reached her. … The Lives!? She could now see and hear the Lives of the wind. She reflexively spread her wings wide and flapped them. Her wings and feathers groaned under the strain of her rapid fall, but that only lasted an instant. Instead of falling, she flew forward as if she had been kicked. She took a course out from under the descending Earth Serpent and recalled what she needed to do. Gunmal had told her what that was. … How did I want to Tune long ago? She had not wanted to use the Wind Up that she had used ever since her mother had taught it to her. She soon found the answer. She had told Gunmal about it in the graveyard before the dragons had flown. “This is how I used to want to Tune, isn’t it?” She breathed in. “…” After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth and produced a song. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” It was the Flight Song. She placed her Live on that song and sang. It was not a forced method like the Over Up and it was not a summoning like the Wind Up. She simply sang the Flight Song so the surrounding Lives could hear. Then, she swung Wild Königin. She sent out the Messages for three Earth Burns. She had closed her eyes, so she did not know if Wild Königin’s blade had sent out her Live. She did not know what had happened, but her feet landed on the concrete ground of the wharf. She opened her eyes and flapped her wings. Her forward-moving force had negated the downward force of her fall. She ran, she raced, and she accelerated. She extended her wings at a sharp angle to catch the wind. She saw some blue Lives. They were the Lives of the wind. She adjusted the angle of her wings to catch the front of that current. Wings produced more lift the more powerfully they resisted the wind. She kicked off the ground and floated up. Her final two footsteps sounded much louder. Finally, she flew up into the night sky. ### 193. Preface ## Characters 1 1: Opening: “Destruction’s Beginning and End” (5:36) After receiving a warning from someone who somewhat looked like him, he and I began to run. That person insisted again and again that I write a song. The battle was fought with voices and we (me, him, and our enemy) saw the destiny of this city: destruction. The idea of a destined fate is very philosophical and I don’t like it, but that seems to just be how it is. What a pain. And yet I am ill. So which is destined to vanish first? My life or the city’s life? Akira Race: Seraph Occupation: Tuner, Hong Kong Yard Cleared Officer [[New – 1971 – Notes of Certain Tuner] Gunmal Race: Human Occupation: Buster (Second son of the Maldrick family, a European Buster family) 2: “Progress of the Seven Word Song” (7:18) 3: “Bracket-Shaped Twin Vertical Lines” (5:44) Next thing I knew, he and I were collapsed at the bottom of that hole. We were surrounded by people and they all kneeled when I stood up. However, I have lost all confidence in myself. Maybe it’s my illness or maybe I’m just tired. My strength keeps dropping and now I can’t even see the moon. What should I do? Nothing will change if I don’t do anything, but I feel like nothing will change even if I do. This is quite a problem. I watch the children playing out of the corner of my eye while listening to the adults arguing. My five senses are exhausted. ## Characters 2 Double Lee Race: Seraph Occupation: Tuner, Formerly of Archs RDC Special Duty Division 4: “Everyone’s Beginning Occurs in the Five Elements” (4:21) After trying a great variety of things, I realized that I’m awfully afraid of myself. Earlier, I felt like I understood why the people had kneeled before me. I have to think about what to do. How did I manage to be myself for so long? It wasn’t like I had gathered others around me to create myself. But time is terribly complex, so my life is shortening at this very moment and he has begun fighting. And before I could say a thing, he was injured. [New – 1971 – Notes of Certain Tuner] 5: “Three Secrets of the Fifth Row” (5:55) Now, what was it the person who looked like him told me? To write a song. So what kind of songs do I like? I can’t think of anything. Oh, dear. I had always thought I only tilted from the norm as much as the earth’s axis, but it looks like my tilt is far more extreme. The next thing I knew, I was alone. This is a problem. All alone, I tell myself I can be too timid and I realize that you can only be timid or forceful once there’s someone else with you. I immediately think of him. 6: “Consciousness on June 30” (3:01) 7: “Gunmal” (1:23) Something fun arrived without warning. I can’t see his hands as they stroke my wings, but I can definitely feel them. And I begin thinking that it doesn’t matter if I can’t see his Live. I belatedly decide I want to live and realize just how great the resonance between us is, but that wish most likely won’t be granted. After all, I have to write a song. Just like you must know the past to see the future, you have to choose the right people if you want to gain hope. And the final battle begins. Fei Race: Galgallin Occupation: Formerly of Archs RDC Security Division ## Characters 3 8: “Double Lee” (9:13) We have to end our fight here. After getting involved in this old thing, how many of him and me have swung back and forth like a pendulum, unable to move on? I want to believe it is all reliant on us now and the one who will continue on after us. The moon has come out. I want to sing below the moon. I want to sing a song to guide the people. Yes, more than a map, we need a single song with the great power to see what is coming. I run in search of that. I move forward and upward. J-Gun Race: Human Occupation: Buster (First son of the Maldrick family, a European Buster family) [New – 1971 – Notes of Certain Tuner] 9: “Akira” (4:57) When I thought about us (me, him, and our enemy), I found a certain answer. After saving this city, we must correct everything. In other words, we must return. All three of us must return together. Now, what to do? I am destined to disappear before long, but when I asked them what they would do, they simply smiled and nodded. I didn’t understand. But fine. If history is viewed as a map, then I will draw an X at this time. And that X will take the form of a song. 10: “The Flight Song” (2:17) Can Destiny be described logically? The song spreads, he and I raise our children, and our enemy prepares for a new fight. We have put all the problems off to the future. We cannot tell our children that or have them believe it, but they will surely find their own answers. So perhaps we should take a picture when they are too young to be told apart by their wings. And one day, I will have him pass these notes onto the person who looks like him. I need to do that before I disappear. Genius Race: Cherub Occupation: Formerly of Archs RDC General Affairs Division ## Timeline Summary of Hong Kong History 1840: Opium War begins. England wins and Hong Kong Island is ceded to them. Their rule begins under a policy of laissez-faire. 1842: The First Divine Punishment War begins. The Flight Song is born at the bottom of Hong Kong Cave. 1843: History’s first Nein Engel, Huang Daquan, is born. 1863: Archs Trade Organization, the foundation of Archs RDC, is established. 1895: A terrorist attack by radicals from the Revive China Society begins the Second Divine Punishment War. 1898: England demands the Qing dynasty take responsibility for the Second Divine Punishment War, so the Kowloon Peninsula and 235 islands are conceded to England until 1997. 1912: The Republic of China is established. 1913: World War One begins. 1918: World War One ends. 1912: The Communist Party rises in China. 1925: Under the anti-British guidance of Liu Shaoqi of the Chinese Communist Party, Hong Kong begins a 17 month strike. The strike leads into the Third Divine Punishment War. 1939: World War Two begins. 1941: Hong Kong falls under Japanese rule until 1945. 1945: World War Two ends. 1949: The People's Republic of China is established. 1950: The Korean War begins. A flood of war refugees enters Hong Kong. 1956: The massively inflated working class riots, causing the Kowloon Riots. 1958: The Fourth Divine Punishment War begins. The General appears and saves Hong Kong. 1967: The Cultural Revolution begins in China and anti-British riots occur in Hong Kong as well. 1973: The Fifth Divine Punishment War begins. Hong Kong Yard is established. 1984: Discussion between England and China reconfirm Hong Kong’s return. 1989: China begins economic reform. 1994: Lee Hu and Luna Azuel die. 1997: Huang Daquan dies. The Sixth Divine Punishment War begins. “Flight Song” 彼街通天地 That city connects heaven and earth 墜朝地仰雲 I fall in the morning and look up to the clouds from the earth 昇夜空謳月 I rise at night and sing with the moon in the sky 惟望再笑君 All I desire is to smile with you again Map Locations: Top left: Tsing Yi Top middle left: Mong Kok Top middle right: Kowloon Below Kowloon: Hung Hom Middle: Hong Kong Island Bottom Left: Lamma Island Bottom Right: Beaufort Island ### 194. Afternoon Section - Opening: Destruction’s Beginning and End (5:36) You have always believed That you will hear the answer Sometime, somewhere, surely But eventually I think I will give you the answer from the depths of the earth I will give the words that have been needed for so very, very long I will give the various answers that will resound in both heaven and earth ## Afternoon Section - Opening: Destruction’s Beginning and End (5:36) ### Part 1 Hong Kong’s destruction began. Four giant dragons flew through the night sky and Nein Engels were gathered around them. As if called by the dragons’ roars, the earth was Tuned and flew up toward heaven. The roads, houses, buildings, greenery, rivers, and everything else became light and sound before seeking the sky. It truly was a show of destruction. And Akira ran along the stage of that show. She always chose the path leading to the weakest of the destructive Lives as she travelled west along Ma Tau Wai Road to return the way she had come and escape Hung Hom. She was running with all her strength. She did not turn around and she took no breaks. Occasionally, her foot would catch on the uncertain ground and she would almost trip. She would move her wings to balance herself, but… “Ow…” She would grimace at the pain in her broken wing and the wound in her side. … I could heal that if I had my Device. But she did not. Her trusty Device was broken and unusable. She had lost her Device and injured her wing and body. That was what she had accomplished in the fight against her brother. “…” She said nothing, looked down at her feet, and ran. But the ground suddenly broke apart below her. “!?” She felt her foot break through and a fissure opened much like a gaping maw. It was deep. … Oh, no! She flapped her wings on reflex. Intense pain shot through her broken right wing and a numbing pain ran along her spine. … Ah! Not even she knew whether her swallowed scream was in response to the pain or the fear below her feet. She lost her balance at the unstable movement of her wings and she fell onto her right shoulder. She felt a dull pain and rolled two or three times along the broken asphalt. She did not fall into the fissure, but the roll caused her right wing to ache again. That pain would not even let her pass out. “Ow, ow, ow, ow…” She sat up and shook her head. Miraculously, her Yard cap remained on her head, so she adjusted its position as she stood up…until her knees began to give out underneath her. “Ah.” She placed her hands on her sinking knees and somehow managed to remain standing. She took a breath, listened to the surrounding Lives again, and looked at her own body. She had several injuries on her skin and her uniform and wings were stained all over with dust and blood. “…” She silently rubbed her eyes as if they were dirty too. “I need to focus on escaping.” She nodded and immediately heard an odd Live. It was a distinctive Live. It rang in her gut, had a low Tempo with a wave-like motion, and was colored a metallic gray. It only lasted an instant, but it raced around her like a ripple. … ? She looked up and saw the four Earth Burns dancing in the heavens while consuming Hong Kong. The Lives of destruction rang loud in the distance, but they were very different and much more harmonized than the Live she had just heard. It had been such a strange Live that she completely forgot about the pain in her wing and frowned. … What was that? Just as she asked herself that, her upturned eyes saw something in the heavens. The fire element Earth Burn that had risen from Hung Hom had its long red body split in two. “!?” The reason arrived after a slight delay. It was that previous Live. However, it was somehow different. It was larger, it was more powerful, and its omnidirectional rippling motion had been focused in a single direction. It was a monosyllabic shout. She heard it as a continuous “ah”. She felt the low Tempo in her body and saw the heavy metallic Word Color. It had to be the after-effect of the shout that had cut the dragon in two. However… “The after-effect is this loud? Its Octave is easily over ten million.” The Lives of destruction vanished from her surroundings and the disintegration of the earth slowed. “Is it over? …No, that isn’t it.” As proof, she saw a small mountain of land and a few buildings rise into the air far to the south. The destruction was simply shifting from the surface and into the crust. It was only getting started. … Then why? It was due to the splitting of the red dragon. The Lives the dragon had destroyed had been returned to their original forms, which counteracted its continuing destruction and slowed its pace. The split crimson dragon began a descent in order to restore the lost portion of its body. … Who cut that dragon? She could make a guess and she was confident that guess was correct. “ ‘If the Earth Burn is activated, call me’, hm?” She finally gave a slight smile. She also slapped her knees and faced forward to begin running again. “?” She noticed a small figure on the broken roadway. It was a boy in pajamas who was on the borderline between a small child and just a child. Akira ran over to him as he slowly walked around and looked up in the sky. She caught up in only a few seconds. “Hey! You have to run!” His small body gave a start and he turned toward her. At the same time, she heard a high-pitched cry. It was the mewing of a cat. “Hm?” She looked down and found the short-haired boy was holding a white cat. It seemed to be a pet because it had a red string and a bell around its neck. She looked at the green-eyed cat and the boy and then sighed in relief. She placed a hand on the boy’s back. “You have to run. C’mon, you’ve stopped.” “…” The boy silently faced forward and began to walk. “Run!” She gave his back a gentle shove and he sped up. She also began to jog while looking around to protect the boy. Taking solid steps made her right wing throb, but she could hardly complain given the situation. She looked at the boy’s Live and lamented in her heart that she did not have her Device. That was just how disturbed his Live was. Both in body and mind. … Sorry. She apologized only in her heart and the cat mewed once. At the same time, the boy spoke. “…My house.” That was all. Ignoring the pain in her wing, Akira looked down at him and the serious expression that looked far too mature for his age. … Where have I seen that expression before? She quickly found her answer. When watching over J-Gun’s final moments, she had read the Message of his memories from his Live. The crying boy facing J-Gun in a destroyed city had made that same expression. And thinking back on it… … That boy must have been Gunmal. She would never have imagined that kind of past based on how he acted now, but she accepted it all the same. “…” She remained silent for a while. After a few breaths, she nodded toward the boy running with her and repeated herself. “You have to run.” He nodded a few times as if accepting her words. He then looked up at her a bit and asked a question. “Are you from the Yard?” “Yes, I’m part of the General’s Yard.” “Where’s the Great General?” “He’s waiting for everyone in the center of the city where it’s safe.” “I see.” The boy pouted his lips. “Then I wish I could have gotten on that motorcycle at the beginning.” “Motorcycle?” “A delinquent was riding it with a woman. I was in my broken house and they didn’t make it in time.” “What an awful delinquent,” she said with a bitter smile. … That would be Kouga and Rin. I guess I’m the only one that hasn’t escaped. Something appeared just as she frowned. “!” A great form flew by only ten meters overhead. “…What!?” “The red dragon!” The boy was correct. The red dragon flew by over their heads again. The roar of its passage was much louder and more powerful than an airplane. It was thirty meters across and, despite being sliced apart earlier, at least five hundred meters long. It was simply on too great a scale. … Wow. As she thought that, the ground seemed to loosen below her feet. “Run!” she shouted while following her own advice. On the second step, her feet seemed to rise. A crack ran by in front of her and the ground floated up beneath her and the boy. The crust was being Tuned instead of just the surface. The destruction had begun at a more fundamental spot. Akira held the boy in her arms and leaped. She glanced backwards just once while in midair and saw something she wished she had not. Far, far down Ma Tau Wai Road, about five hundred meters behind her, the red dragon’s head had dropped to the surface. … It’s so big. From this distance, she judged its head to be at least thirty meters across and over forty meters tall if the horn was included. And bestial eyes glowed yellow in that massive face. … It’s looking this way? She felt like she could sense its gaze on her and her wings trembled lightly. “…” The earth swelled up behind her, blocking the red dragon from view. She and the boy landed and hit the ground running. She was now certain she felt the dragon’s gaze on her. Despite the wall of earth behind her, the Live of its gaze reached her through it. There was no doubting it. Its gaze sent a disturbing Live her way. Its Word Color was an oddly warm purplish-red, its Tempo was much like a pulse, and it contained an unpleasantly sticky Message. It was much like the curious looks she often received around town just for being a Nein Engel. The red dragon was interested in her. More than wondering why, she sensed the panic in the boy. … Oh, no. She pushed on his back and spoke. “Listen. Run as fast as you can without looking back.” “Eh?” He started to turn toward her, but she placed her Yard cap on his head. “Don’t look. If you hear something or start to see something, cover your eyes with the brim of my cap.” “Why?” “It’s like a magic charm. If you do that, you won’t be scared.” “Eh?” That monosyllabic question was interrupted by the crust being destroyed underfoot once more. The ground was rising like a pillar. “C’mon, run!” Akira shouted and jumped backwards. The cat in the boy’s arms gave a quick mew as if to say goodbye. Several pillars of earth rose between her and the boy, creating a wall to separate them. The street swelled up like a hill and Akira descended the opposite side. Having turned back, she saw the red dragon. The crimson dragon was stretched along the road and its long tail still flowed through the sky. She descended the rising hill and stood on some of the limited flat ground still remaining. She was surrounded by tilted ground, pillars of earth, and the foundations and walls of the houses and buildings still attached. “Instead of simply breaking it all down, it’s destroyed and devoured. My brother’s dragon really is cruel.” She then realized why the red dragon was focused on her. “My brother.” When an object was Tuned into another form, it would give shape to the Tuner’s Message. And the Message was the Tuner’s thoughts, including the elements of emotion. “And that includes hostility.” After that monotone comment, she bit her lower lip. At the same time, the ground shook. She looked forward and saw the red dragon moving. It was moving forward, toward her. ### Part 2 Hong Kong’s destruction continued. Above the earth, city, and sea in four directions, a crazed performance was underway that mixed together all sorts of sounds. The volume and sound quality was a lot like the roar of a waterfall. Asphalt, water, wind, plants, light, and fire were all broken down and carried upwards. But there was a restful place from which the party of destruction could be seen in all four directions. It was a band of land that included Hong Kong Cave and portions of Kowloon’s business district and administrative district. Rin and Kouga had indicated that this area would not be harmed when the massive four Tune Emblems were activated. It was a narrow strip of land. The roads were overflowing with cars trying to escape destruction and crowded with people seeking help. The destruction of Hung Hom’s thermal power station had cut the city’s lights by two-thirds and the partial lighting only accentuated the darkness of the night. Sounds of destruction, the roars of the dragons, the rumbling of cars, the fear of the people, and the Lives of all those things filled the area as densely as water in the depths of the ocean. Nathan Road cut vertically through Hong Kong and its northern end was normally the quiet border between the business district and administrative district, but it was no exception. The General’s Tank Force was buried among the cars like stones in a river and could not move. “This has really turned into somethin’ else,” muttered the General with his upper body sticking out of his Grant’s turret. He had driven down the center passing lane to keep his field of vision open, but now he could not budge from there. He glanced up at the three dragons in the sky and sighed. “I guess what was taken isn’t comin’ back.” Those dragons had been made from Huang Daquan’s blood. His blood had contained Yang Lives, so the dragons would not return to Hong Kong even if the Tuning was dispelled. They would combine with heaven, which was filled with the same power. “The red one was actin’ strange earlier and I heard an odd Live, but that won’t be enough.” He lightly shook his head and squeezed the speaker microphone in his hand. “Um, no one in this street is to move. Put your hands up and I can at least say you won’t die.” He sighed. Rare for him, he frowned, crossed his arms, and looked around with narrowed eyes as if he were unsure what to do. He then heard something strange. It was a Live of silence. He could hear Lives of destruction and screaming in the distance and he could hear rumbling engines from much closer by, but despite all the surrounding noise and people, there was not a great din. “Is that ‘cause of my influence?” He smiled bitterly. “I guess it was the same durin’ that Divine Punishment War. The Tune Emblem is different from the secret technique used then, but it’s funny that it’s the son doin’ it this time.” He gently stroked the scar on his cheek. “The mother created by Huang and the son that became Huang’s protégé, huh? I just hope it’ll be stopped the way it was during Hu’s time, and not like it was during mine.” Once he said that, he heard a familiar, loud sound. It was a motorcycle engine. And he heard the actual sound rather than the Live. “Kouga!?” That was exactly who he saw when he turned around. Kouga was driving his motorcycle through the congestion, but he was not using the road or the sidewalk. He was driving straight along the Nathan Road’s central divider. The General saw someone on the back of the motorcycle. Based on the Word Color of the Live, he could tell it was Rin. “The Tempo’s a little weak for Rin, though.” The motorcycle shot toward him with enough speed to blow away that concern. But despite the speed, it was accurately controlled. The Live of Kouga’s panicked gaze pierced through the General. “What is it?” As soon as the General spoke up, the motorcycle came to a rapid stop. The tires screeched and blue smoke blew out. The back wheel hopped up a bit, the motorcycle skidded a little past the General’s Grant, and it came to a stop. Kouga hopped off and picked Rin up from the back. He had not lowered the kickstand, so the motorcycle slid and toppled over, but he ignored it and shouted to the General. “General, you’ve gotta Tune her!” The General caught on as soon as he saw Rin in the man’s arms. The woman’s right leg was missing from the knee down. ### Part 3 Hong Kong’s destruction was approaching its climax. The black earth dragon, the green wood dragon, and the blue water dragon were already flying about high in the night sky and the Nein Engels decorated their surroundings like stars. Where they had left the earth, the surface had torn away and muddy seawater was filling the great holes left behind. There were no more Lives rising from those places. The red dragon alone had yet to ascend. It calmly floated over the land of Hung Hom. It smashed the earth, swallowed the greenery and wind, and restored its torn body. Its prey was Akira. In a single word, she was exhausted. She had removed her uniform’s coat and all she could do was run and jump. Even when running at full speed, the great dragon could fill the gap with the slightest of actions. A few times, it had caught up to her and just about crushed her or devoured her. However, she was much too small for the dragon. It would misjudge the distance and bite at the wrong spot or drop its maw in the wrong area. “But I still can’t take much more of this,” she sighed while weakly running along. She had tripped and slammed against the ground or rocky walls so often that she could no longer feel the pain in her right wing. … Have I knocked myself silly? As she had that overly carefree thought, she heard a heavy Live behind her. She looked back and saw the red dragon’s face. “!” The Live of its gaze pierced into her body and she escaped it by moving to the right. She ran and a giant red wall burst through the spot she had just vacated. The dragon bent its neck while practically lying on the ground. It turned its head toward Akira. “…!?” The yellow light of its eyes faced Akira and the Live racing from it was no longer one of curiosity. This intense red Word Color and low rumbling Tempo belonged to a Live of fury. And she had no weapon with which to deflect that Live. She felt a squeezing in her heart as her own Live was crushed and nearly broken by that fury. If it broke, this was all over. That would mean her Live had been Busted. Her voice escaped her throat, but it did not reach the level of a scream. “You have to be kidding me!” It was only a small shout, but it helped her regain a grip on her own Live. … Calm down. Instead of calming her Live with Tuning, she created the rhythm of a song. This was the Flight Song that she had known for a very long time and it flowed through her heart. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” As she sang, strength returned to her gaze and she used that strength to force back the dragon’s gaze. Her feet had nearly stopped, but they began moving again. The dragon reacted to her movement. It released a furious protest at the recovery of its nearly defeated prey. It opened its fang-lined mouth and released a voice of pure attack rather than words or breath. It was a roar. “!” The great noise nearly blew Akira away. “…Kh!” But she held her ground. She sensed a presence behind her. “What!?” She turned only her head and saw an earthen wall that had not been there before. Called by the dragon’s cry, it had risen from the ground as if by springs. By the time she noticed, it was too late. Shock and pain ran through her back and wings, but it did not end there. She did her best to not lose her balance, but the rising earth proved too much for her. A cylindrical pillar of earth jutted up with the speed of an elevator. Akira lost to that inertia and collapsed onto her back. “Ow!” For a winged Nein Engel, falling onto her back was filled with only pain and fear. She felt instinctual fear at having her defenseless stomach turned toward the nearly empty night sky. She raised her head in a frantic attempt to get up and she saw the red dragon’s face. She had been raised from the ground by a few meters, so there was nothing to obstruct the dragon’s gaze. From the dragon’s point of view, she was nothing but an offering. … Oh, no. The dragon must have noticed what she was thinking because it smiled. An unpleasant chill ran down her back and she trembled. She felt a reflexive urge to run, but her body would not move. Her arms, legs, and torso seemed pinned to the ground. … Eh? Her will responded to her question, but her body did not. She was exhausted and her body had given up, regardless of her will. She gasped at this unexpected betrayal and looked to the enemy. It raised its head and opened its maw with the other three dragons and the Nein Engels flying in the night sky behind it. And it rushed toward her. “!” She could not even scream. Her voice refused to come out. Only her thoughts raced through her heart. The wordless thoughts powerfully raced into the sky in pure Live form. Only one person in the entire world heard that rushing Live. And he responded. He responded by blowing the dragon away from the side. She heard a great rumbling. “…!?” When the great dragon’s face was only around a dozen meters from her, a gust of wind struck it from the side. Instead of a light impact, that wind was enough of an attack to knock it onto its side. And something much more crucial reached her a moment later: a distinctive Live. It rang in her gut, had a low Tempo with a wave-like motion, and was colored a metallic gray. It had blown the red dragon away. … It can’t be. She glanced around, but before she found anything, she felt something solid touching her back and below the knees. A moment later, she was lifted up from those points. “Eh?” “Don’t act so confused.” She looked up and saw Gunmal’s face before her eyes. ### Part 4 Hong Kong’s destruction was approaching its conclusion. The red dragon writhed along the earth from the unexpected attack, Akira did not lose her life, and Gunmal held her in his right arm. His blue eyes looked at her and he finally smiled bitterly. “You should’ve called me sooner. How else am I gonna know where you are?” “…” She looked silently at his face. He started to say something more, but tilted his head at the awkwardness in her gaze. He then jumped from the raised earth below his feet. He landed lightly and immediately began running. Finally, Akira managed to speak. “Wh-what about the dragon?” “It’s no use. It’s gotten even bigger than before. I was trying to blow off its head, but it didn’t work.” “It’s no use?” “I’m still a little rusty. And personally, I think knocking that thing away is a pretty amazing feat.” “That’s true,” she agreed. He glanced behind them. “I guess it’s about over.” “Eh?” In the same breath as her question, the earth around them began rising. It was time for the dragon’s ascent. The earth came from the crust and was Tuned. “The Tuner’s ability, the Devices, the Tune Emblems, the blood of an Archs, and dragons that destroy the earth to further develop themselves. They’ve used a ton of methods to increase the Octave they can control.” “This is no time for casual commentary. A-are we going to make it?” The earth was torn deeply next to them and it flew up toward the sky. He looked down at her. “We will. I created a path before the destruction resumed.” “A path?” “It’s just like making a Device. I just forged the earth a little.” “Enough to keep that dragon from destroying it? You have to be joking.” But she could decide whether he was joking or not after they safely escaped Hung Hom. She sighed and he asked her a question. “Why didn’t you escape right away?” “Eh?” “You had time after I cut the red dragon, right?” “Well…” She hesitated and lowered her eyes. “I was held up by some things.” He then spoke to her. “Hey.” “Hm?” She looked up to ask him what he wanted and he kissed her. “…!” She was surprised, but before long… “…” She fell silent. She felt it was inappropriate, but she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to him. The contact between their lips allowed him to forcibly read her Live. That irritatingly pleasant activity ended after only two seconds. Perhaps due to having her vision cut off, the wet sensation of his parting lips seemed especially distinct. When she heard his voice, it was too close for any other sounds to get in the way. “I see.” He took a breath. “So you were saving a kid. You can tell people about that kind of thing, you know? And I’m not talking about what suits you or not. I guess…well…I sort of like that kind of thing.” “Yeah.” “And I also wanted to know why you’re dressed so sexily.” “Eh?” “That torn clothing is pretty erotic, you know?’ “What are you talking about?” She frowned and opened her eyes. He was looking straight forward. Huh? she thought. … Didn’t he just say something? There was no sign of that left in him, but he looked down at her a bit. “Go to sleep,” he said. “You’re tired, aren’t you? Then go to sleep. Once you wake up, you’ll probably be in a hospital bed.” “But…” “Don’t worry about it.” He smiled a little and picked up his pace. “It’s a straight shot from here, so get some rest.” As if in response, the red dragon roared behind them. That signaled the conclusion of Hong Kong’s destruction. ### Interlude 1 Rin awoke in the night. “…?” Her body awoke before her mind. Her eyes opened, but her vision was hollow and unclear. She dug back into her memories based on her senses and found herself lying on her back when she should have been sitting on a motorcycle. … Where am I? Only her body could answer her. Something warm and solid was wrapped around her right arm from the elbow down. And she felt nothing below the knee of her right leg. She closed her eyes and listened to the Lives. All across her body, she sensed the cold blue Lives of injury. Her right arm was broken and held in a hard cast. … A cast? So is this a hospital? She accepted that question as the answer and gave a sigh of relief. She listened to her slightly rapid pulse and to her own body’s Live. She could not sense her Live from below her right knee, but the rest of the leg was not emitting the blue Word Color of injury. … My Live has stabilized. Her body had accepted the loss. … Well, not even Tuning can add on what was lost. She spoke in her heart and slowly opened her eyes. She vaguely saw a white room in the darkness. As expected, it was a hospital room. “…” The glow-in-the-dark hands of the clock on the wall told her it was nearly two in the morning. A glowing digital calendar was contained near the center of the clock face, so she knew it was June 17. … So only six hours have passed since Hong Kong was destroyed. She realized that her body and mind both wanted sleep. The waking effect of her panicked mind had gone, so the power of the anesthesia was returning. She used her unfocused mind to think. The dragons of the four elements had activated. On the night of June 30, the Nein Engels would use the acceleration of the four elements to activate the Earth Serpent. Fearing that fact, some would choose to flee and some would choose to fight. She suddenly spoke. “Why did I survive to see this through to the end?” Her voice vanished unheard into the corner of the room. She smiled bitterly and closed her eyes. Sleep was quickly taking hold. “I’m exhausted.” Thinking she would take action once this exhaustion left her, she fell back to sleep. ### 195. Act 2: Progress of the Seven Word Song (7:18) ### Part 1 A week had passed. It was noon on June 23 and Akira was walking through the lobby of a large hospital in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district. She wore a new Yard uniform and a new spear Device hung at her waist. She and her clothes were completely unharmed. She had been hospitalized ever since the day of Hong Kong’s destruction. In addition to her broken wing, she had apparently cracked her ribs at some point. She had been more passed out than asleep when she had been brought in, so she had not noticed at the time. However, she had received a few large-scale Tune treatments before she woke up. The female Tuner doctor who had treated her had spoken to her when she had woken. “You were lucky.” And… “You received good first aid and the General ordered us to give you top priority above the other injured. Your wing will be as good as new, so you should thank the people who brought you here.” Despite the harshness of the doctor’s words, they had not included a sharp Live. Akira had shrunk down on the bed and smiled bitterly. The doctor had stroked Akira’s wings. “I didn’t say it was wrong. Of everyone I treated, your injuries were the worst.” The woman had added “Aren’t you glad?”, which had made Akira shrink down even further. She was happy to be released from the hospital, but more because she could leave than because she had recovered. As she walked through the lobby, she saw the conspicuous white of bandages here and there. Most of the patients in the hospital were surgery patients. Also, she felt their eyes on her. “…” She thought they were curious looks at first, but they were not. Their Word Color was a pale red and their Tempo was faint but heavy. These were Lives of hostility. Their weak but definite presence shocked her. When she turned around, the humans and Glossolalians standing or sitting in the lobby all looked away. The Lives of hostility vanished, too. None of them were looking at Akira. She bit her lower lip and turned toward the hospital’s main entrance. She spotted a small shop to the side of the large glass doors. There was no one working there. She stood in front of the shop and looked around, but there really was no sign of a clerk. “Maybe because it’s noon?” She tilted her head and checked through the pockets of her uniform’s coat. She felt some change. She intentionally rattled the coins around so everyone around her would know she was setting them on the counter and she reached for the newspaper rack. She noticed something once she prepared to choose one. “These are the only ones?” There had always been dozens of different papers put out every day, but there were only six today. They were printed only in black and red, so they lacked their usual ambition. She grabbed the paper she always saw in the Yard and then she walked off. While opening the newspaper, she opened the glass door with her fingertips and stepped outside. The clear sunlight illuminated her body and the blowing wind seemed almost too perfect. Something was wrong. This was not Hong Kong’s usual light and wind. “But that couldn’t be.” She lightly shook her head as if she did not want to accept something. However, the changes could be clearly seen. The cityscape visible from this central Kowloon hospital had grown shorter and the outlines of collapsed buildings were clearly visible even in the distance. … There’s no smoke or heat created by people. As her gaze moved south along the Kowloon Peninsula, she noticed the city’s shadow growing narrower. When the Earth Burns had ascended, they had torn into the east and west sides of the peninsula. These were the scars left by those Earth Burns. “I can’t believe this.” After making sure there was no one else around, she let her shoulders droop. She sighed and continued walking. This was close to her apartment in Mong Kok. It was just far enough to finish reading the newspaper by the time she arrived home. She looked down to the paper in order to fill the time and she read the headline on page one: Ripples in the Relationship between Britain and China. The transformation of Hong Kong and restoration of heaven has been called the Sixth Divine Punishment War. China has placed all blame on Britain, but Britain is denying all responsibility. There reasoning is as follows: ・This incident was a terrorist act committed without the knowledge or approval of the state. ・Hong Kong is still British territory, so it is none of China’s concern what happens there. Even if Hong Kong is moved to heaven, it does not change the size of Britain’s territory, so there is nothing for other nations to accuse them of. ・If anyone in China can confirm heaven’s state now that Hong Kong has been transformed, Britain will allow them to investigate. ・And if any Chinese were harmed in Hong Kong, Britain wishes to apologize and is prepared to provide any appropriate compensation requested.” … I see. “They handled that well,” muttered Akira. Britain was clearly reacting after the fact and there were slight contradictions in their statements, but they had found a logical escape route. “No matter how many people died, they were British citizens, so this will be handled as a domestic British issue.” If heaven was restored, their souls could be saved. It was a rough method, but… “It’s all they have.” It was because their methods looked a lot like a sudden accident that everything was progressing with ex-post-facto approval. There had been too much political pressure to act out in the open from the beginning. No matter how noble their goal might be, they could not drive out the people living in the city and obliterate such a vast area of land. “So it only works because Britain is prepared to stand their ground and argue their case. And if Britain denies responsibility here…” Rin had already predicted the next ceremony. And even if that ceremony created the metal element Earth Serpent that would carry the rest of the land to heaven, Britain would be able to argue their way out of it in the same way. … Who thought up this plan? My brother? Or Huang Daquan? As she pondered that, she flipped to the second page of the newspaper. What she saw written there depressed her. The headline read, “The Number of Victims is Enormous”. Number of Victims: Dead – 600,000. Seriously Injured – 1,300,000. Missing – 800,000. Lost Land: Hong Kong Island and 70% of the Kowloon Peninsula. Total Damages: An estimated 69 billion HKD (and still rising). “This is like the result of a war. …These numbers don’t feel real at all.” … If you include the areas outside the city center, Hong Kong’s total population was about five million, wasn’t it? More than half of that had been affected. At least one in eight had died and one in two or three had been otherwise harmed. … Was this all part of their calculations? Even long ago when their family had all been together, her brother had talked about restoring heaven and had researched the issue. And his method was exactly what Akira had always wished to do: sending out a dragon. “So he beat me to it. What a shame.” Her voice was light, but her expression was stiff. She remembered what her brother had said on the night the dragons had taken flight. He had said the following about Hong Kong’s destruction: “That is reality.” She bit her lower lip as she thought about what that meant. She heard several airplanes flying by far above her lowered head. “…? Things have gotten a lot louder since I was hospitalized.” … Well, it’s an emergency, so there’s bound to be a lot they have to do. With that thought, she crumpled up the newspaper, threw it to the ground, and kicked it. She saw Mong Kok’s shopping district up ahead. That was her home. Or it should have been. ### Part 2 Hong Kong Cave was dead. After the Sixth Divine Punishment War in which most of Hong Kong had been destroyed, a five-day investigation by the Yard and investigators from various nations had not found a single Nein Engel there. All they had found were the newly-abandoned ruins. However, the air began to move in that pit that now lacked even those investigators. The surface was sunny and the air was warm. That warm air flowed down into Hong Kong Cave and gained a damp, green smell as it came into contact with the darkness. It sank into the pit and slowly gathered at the bottom as if piling up, but instead of becoming air, it rotated and whirled around the spring at the lowest level. It created a slight wind. That wind contained gentle warmth. Two people let that wind wash over them on the edge of the spring. One was a large man wearing a combat jacket the same color as the shadows accumulated on the lowest level. In contrast, the other was a six-winged Nein Engel wearing a white coat that reflected light even in those same shadows. They were Fei the Galgallin and Double Lee the Seraph. These were the Nein Engels who had caused the Sixth Divine Punishment War. Neither of them moved. Fei remained standing and Double Lee remained sitting on the edge of the spring. They simply stared silently up into the shadows of Hong Kong Cave. They could not see the light of the surface from three kilometers deep. Since the creation of the hole, a number of structures had been created to cover everything up and hide the residents from the outside. Still, they stared intently upwards. Double Lee was the first to move. He opened his mouth and said something. That something was a question. “Is Genius still not done?” “There were a lot of rooms on that floor. It will take some time on her own.” “She only has to place charms for the final ceremony in the four cardinal directions, but I guess that isn’t easy with such a large space.” “It is necessary, so she has to do it.” Double Lee looked down and laughed bitterly at Fei’s clear tone, void of all cruelty or concern. “Ha ha. It’s been a week since most of Hong Kong was sent to heaven, so it’s sad that what you consider ‘necessary’ still isn’t complete.” “Should we hasten our preparations?” “I would really hate to rush this and make a mistake. But anyway, it looks like we can turn Hong Kong Cave into the site of the final ceremony by the end of the day. As for the remaining week…” “We must stop anyone who would get in our way before the night Hong Kong is returned to China and we must acquire J-Gun Maldrick’s most powerful Device.” Double Lee gave a small shrug. “Sorry for making you wait this long. It took me an entire week to make the charms to use here which slowed down the setup for J-Gun’s Device.” “That was unavoidable. Just like President Huang’s death, everything is a race against time. And, Double Lee, you have not slept much for the past few days, have you?” “Because I’m still too inexperienced. If I had more power, I could have cut out the need for these extra preparations.” “You do have power.” “Not as much as you think I do. Just to start up the dragons, I needed the Tune Emblem and a powerful Device.” “…” “Yin and Yang lie at the foundation of Tuning and Busting. Ancient Tuners and Busters could easily draw those out from light and darkness. Not only that, but they could even play the Lives of time and space. But look at the modern Tuners and Busters.” He fell silent and thought for a moment. “Even I need Master Huang’s blood to obtain the power of Yang.” “That is because of the Death Techno. Approximately seventy percent of the information related to Tuning and Busting was destroyed during the World Wars and the Divine Punishment Wars, so sending out dragons is worthy of praise in the present time.” “That’s a nice consolation.” “It is not a consolation; it is a relative evaluation,” readily corrected Fei. “You are growing faint of heart. Do you feel bad about destroying most of Hong Kong?” “Of course not. My parents did something far worse.” “Unfortunately, I have no detailed information on your parents.” “Are you sure about that? …Fei, do you know the Flight Song?” Fei nodded. “That city connects heaven and earth. …It is the most well-known song in this city.” “Yes, and it was created right here. Whenever a book introduces the Flight Song, it always has a picture of humans standing by this spring and looking up. Just like we were doing earlier.” With that said, Double Lee once more looked up toward the heavens. Fei looked in the same direction. “Can you see down here, Fei?” Double Lee’s question was a simple one. Fei’s answer was also a simple one. “It would be a problem if I could not.” The Galgallin had customized the majority of his body, so he stated that as if it were obvious. On the other hand, Double Lee smiled bitterly and lowered his gaze. His eyes turned from heaven and stopped on the monument next to the spring. That mossy stone monument was engraved with the Flight Song. Double Lee confirmed via Lives that Fei had turned in the same direction. “Don’t you find it interesting?” “The Flight Song?” “Yes.” He nodded. “Fei, I have long thought about this song’s meaning. I thought and thought and thought.” “I am aware. When President Huang first met you, that was the first thing you asked about.” “I see you’re remembering old times again.” “President Huang smiled and did not answer, but did he tell you in the end?” “Yes, he did.” “And you will not tell us?” Double Lee lightly answered through body language. He narrowed his eyes, twisted his lips a little, and simply smiled. He finally opened that smile and produced some calm words that he seemed to have prepared in advance. “Some things are best left unknown.” “…” The two fell silent. Double Lee stood up and walked over to the monument carved with the Flight Song. He arrived after one, two, three steps and reached out a hand. He could be heard peeling moss away and he lowered his head. His next words were directed toward the stones paving the ground. “If you think about it carefully, it is a simple matter. …Why doesn’t Hong Kong truly connect heaven and earth like the song says?” “Because the Divine Punishment Wars created a gap between the humans and the Glossolalians.” “Between the humans and the Glossolalians?” “The humans created Hong Kong Cave because they feared the Glossolalians. If not for that fearful avoidance, this place would not exist and neither would we as we are…or I as I am.” “I see. An excellent guess.” “That is the general opinion of all historians for the past century.” “Even that last part? …I can’t imagine you without your customized body.” “I only know this version of myself.” “Archs RDC Security Division’s Active Duty Section 1 Commander and Division Commander…Fei Garland. When customizing your body, you received a Psyche Outer surgery and lost all of your memories. But…” “My past remained.” “Could you not kill her? I looked into it. Her Urban Name is Rin, but her Wild Name is Feng Ling. She’s a detective who made a name for herself as one of the Yard’s searchers, but she’s also a Tuner. Comparing her history to yours, your old self would have met her well before five years ago. And…when you parted ways, she was not even twenty.” “How strange. You know more about me than I do.” “She would know even more. …So could you not get rid of her…no, of your past?” “Could you?” “I’m the same as you. In more ways than one,” said Double Lee. “And so is Hong Kong.” “?” “No one can erase the past. And in its prediction of the coming future – to return to our previous topic – the Flight Song does not match up with Hong Kong’s past.” “We already discussed this.” “What the historians think does not matter. I don’t care that they believe the song was created and sung as some faint hope for the people being sealed below the earth.” He laughed quietly, and… “Such ridiculous sympathy.” He looked up and his expression changed slightly. “Genius is here.” A quiet flapping reached them like the spilling of sand. A four-winged female Nein Engel descended down the center of the pit. It was Genius. “Were you waiting long?” She landed on the spring. The tips of her toes sank into the pure water and she vibrated the wings extended both up and down in order to remain afloat. She looked down but could not see the bottom of the spring. The bottomless hole looked like a gaping maw below her. “Double Lee… You’ll perform the final ceremony here, won’t you?” “Yes. I will drive the Baton into the water right where you are standing.” “So the metal element dragon lives in the depths of the earth. …This is going to be destructive.” “If I only had more power, I could have used a more peaceful method.” “Peaceful destruction?” “That’s not a very nice way of putting it. …But regardless, I had to send the four elements in advance to start up the metal dragon. I have no choice but to follow those fundamental rules.” Double Lee laughed bitterly with no harshness in his expression. Fei asked Genius something without looking away from Double Lee. “How are your preparations going? …The preparations other than the charms.” “J-Gun is working in the workshop below the Archs RDC building and the building is entirely empty. The contract is working perfectly.” “Master Huang did a good job of setting everything up. We informed them in advance this land would be blown away, but in exchange for letting us go through with it, we gave them a portion of what we own in the foreign markets, not Hong Kong’s market.” “A good decision,” said Fei without turning away from Double Lee. “Double Lee, you said that, when the Flight Song predicted the coming future, it did not match up with Hong Kong.” “Eh? What are you talking about?” Genius tilted her head and Double Lee smiled a little. “That is what we were discussing. …So what about it, Fei?” “How do you view President Huang’s instructions that continue to match up with Hong Kong even after his death?” “They are the formula to reach the answer.” “The answer? Is your answer the restoration of heaven?” “Do we have anything else?” “I am not talking about us. I am talking about you personally.” “What about for you personally? Or for Genius personally? …No, not just that. That is what it was for Master Huang as well. And in the end, that objective is the one thing bringing us together.” “I see. And you are fine with that?” Double Lee’s answer made it sound like it was a stupid question. “What else could there be?” He also looked Fei in the eye. For an instant, a metallic tone sounded in reality. The Lives of their gazes had collided. Fei seemed to have lost to that sound because he looked away. His gaze wandered a bit before stopping on the Flight Song monument next to the spring. “Double Lee,” he said. “You know everything, you have great power, and you desire something that we don’t more powerfully than we do anything. But you never try to fit in with us and people would likely call you…” He thought for a moment. “Pitiable.” Fei went on to add that he did not understand that kind of emotion. No one said anything after that. Double Lee and Genius did not agree with or deny it. The wind simply blew. ### Part 3 Destroyed. That single word described the state of Akira’s apartment. It was not that the entire apartment building had been destroyed. Her home – that is, her room – was the only one destroyed. She noticed as soon as she unlocked and opened the door. Light from the window reflected off the white porcelain fragments and rounded glass shards covering the old wooden flooring of the small kitchen. The pieces of blackened boards in the shadows on the floor had originally been the cupboards and the toppled pillar by the wall was the refrigerator with its door torn off. There was also graffiti spray-painted on the walls, broken lights, and every other kind of destruction imaginable. “What…is this?” As she muttered those words in the entranceway, the Lives remaining in the room stroked her cheeks. Attracted by the outside wind, those residual Lives tried to escape the room. Their Word Color was the dark red of molten metal and the Tempo following that red was a loud, racing pulse. These were Lives of hatred. “With Lives this dense, several people must have done this.” She weakly nodded in acceptance of what had happened. “Because I’m a Nein Engel…they thought I was a part of my brother’s group.” … They were taking revenge. She also remembered the Lives of the patients staring at her in the hospital lobby. Those had been lighter than the hatred left here, but they had still contained hostility. “…” She placed a hand on her chest to contain her rising pulse. The Lives of hatred were disturbing her own Live. She took two, then four deep breaths. “This kind of thing happens all the time.” As soon as she gave that emotionless comment, she noticed someone standing right next to her. She had not expected them there. “!?” She was shocked to find how defenseless she was and she reflexively reached for the Device at her waist. She turned around and swiftly brought the person into view. “My landlord?” That was exactly who was there. The middle-aged woman wearing a green dress was the landlord of Akira’s apartment and she peered into Akira’s room. “Are you okay, Akira?” “Yes, I’m fine. But…” “That’s some rotten luck.” “Yes, it is. …But who did this and why?” “It’s unthinkable what happened to your room.” The landlord closed her eyes and gave a sympathetic nod. “I think it was the night two days after that new Divine Punishment War. That would be five days ago. A group showed up as they were preparing to flee to the mainland because of what happened to Hong Kong. …I think there were about twenty of them.” “And they did all this?” “I was shocked when I noticed the next morning, but I can’t tell you exactly what happened.” “I suppose not.” As she responded to the landlord, Akira realized her Live was oddly still. … I’m trying to ignore the emotion of anger. She felt bad doing this to the landlord, but she could see the woman’s Live. She could not read it, but she could hear and see the Live coming from her body and that told her what emotions she was feeling. The landlord’s Live was currently playing fast and yellow. It was a Live of panic. … She’s lying. To be sure, Akira checked on the main entrance’s doorknob. There was no sign of damage to the lock or of the doorknob being replaced. Someone had led the destroyers into her home. … This kind of thing happens all the time. She accepted it with that thought. She ignored the landlord who was continuing to talk next to her and she stepped into her own room. She switched on the light out of habit and heard a sound much like tearing paper come from the ceiling. The broken light had short-circuited. “Well, you still have power here. …What will you do, Akira?” “Maybe I should leave.” “No, you can stay if you want. …We’ll be leaving this city, too.” “Then what will happen here?” Akira turned around with a hand on the door leading to the living room in the back. “What will happen to this apartment?” “Britain bought them all. They didn’t pay very much, though. …Still, I think we’ll be using that money to move to the mainland.” “…” Akira said nothing in response, but the landlord continued speaking. “You probably haven’t heard, but the only things functioning in the city center are the emergency hospitals, the Yard, and some slight distribution of supplies. Everyone else has fled to the shelter in the New Territories.” “They all fled?” “Yes. The state set up a shelter – really just a tent city – in the New Territories twenty kilometers from here. There’s apparently a distribution center there, too.” “…” “VIPs from Britain and other countries are supposedly using that as their base. …You hear all the planes flying around, right? People are moving to other countries and that shelter is the only place where you can arrange for a flight out.” “You’re running-…moving away, aren’t you?” “Yes. My son and his wife have already gone there and we’re thinking of settling down in Broad City – Shanghai now that it’s been liberated. …The resident of the next room over and the Ban family down below are all doing the same.” “This is the only place I have… Could I maybe stay?” “That’s fine by me.” The landlord’s Live remained unchanged, but her tone grew brighter. “Think of it as making up for what happened to your room. At the very last, no one’s going to complain about someone living here for the week until Hong Kong is returned to China. If you like, why not move down into the Ban family’s room?” Akira replied with silence. “…” She turned the doorknob and opened the way to the living room. As soon as she did, she lost her sense of sight. “…!?” At first, she did not know what it was before her eyes. It was darkness. But it was not actual darkness. Light from the window was definitely filling the room. That meant she was seeing Lives with a black Word Color that had the same density as darkness. “No…” She instinctually drew back. Drawn by her movement, the Lives filling the living room flowed out. She pressed her shoulder against the side of the door so they would not touch her. She squeezed her wings shut, crossed her arms tightly, and held her own body. She saw the pitch black stream at her feet swell up like a swarm of snakes and swim outside. … That’s an amazing amount of chaos. The Word Color resembled the detonation of a Discord Bomb and its Tempo was not uniform. The Word Color that looked like darkness was probably formed from a variety of Word Colors packed together in the small room. She could not see the individual emotions. It was a disturbing mixture of Lives. However, the room slowly came into view as they flowed outside. “Is everything okay?” asked the landlord behind her. … If everything was okay, there wouldn’t be any Lives like this left here. She hung her head and glanced inside the room. The living room had doubled as her bedroom, but it was now utterly destroyed. Books, glass shards, and scraps of cloth were strewn across the floor and the walls were covered in lacquer spray graffiti of colors reminiscent of internal organs. These were the scars of revenge. Akira sighed. “I need to clean up.” She took a step forward while ignoring all of the worried-sounding comments from the landlord behind her. She walked toward the back of the room where some of the darkness remained. Her feet felt like lead weights. ### Part 4 Five hours went by. Cleaning the room proved extremely difficult. First of all, Akira had no cleaning supplies. The vacuum cleaner had been thrown through the living room window and onto the balcony and the broom seemed to have been used as a weapon to destroy the room. “Humans are so uncivilized.” However, that light joke was not going to change the situation. The resident of the neighboring room had apparently moved to the mainland, so she finally decided to enter that room through the window and borrow their cleaning supplies. “Getting ready is a job in and of itself.” As she began to clean, she noticed a few things. “The city’s Live is so calm.” There were barely any Lives being emitted even in the shopping district. She could tell that by looking out the window. Most of the stores there had no merchandise on the shelves. There was only the occasional shop with stocked shelves and the owner would be sitting alone by the street, looking bored. “The channels of distribution have been cut off, haven’t they?” She moved her gaze to the road down below. There was dried mud and a thin coating of white powder on the asphalt. She initially thought it was sand, but it was not. It was salt. The seawater had come this far. When the dragons had flown, Hong Kong’s land had been torn away in the four cardinal directions and seawater had flowed into the crust. “Liquefaction, hm?” There had been a large near-field earthquake and a hole five kilometers deep. The after effects had been devastating. The coastal areas had collapsed like a landslide and then a thirty meter wall of water had crashed into it all. “That’s probably what happened to most of the missing.” As soon as she said that, she heard the air trembling in the distance from another airplane. She ignored it and resumed cleaning her room. She had already carried out or swept out the bed, the bedding slashed with a blade, the broken bookshelf, the torn books, and all the broken glass. “I can’t believe this…” There was no strength in her voice as she removed the broken lightbulbs. “What happened to my sanxian and photo?” She could not find the sanxian her father had given her or the only photograph she had of her family. She cleaned every nook and cranny of the room and checked every splinter of wood and scrap of paper, but they were nowhere to be found. … Were they thrown out the window? The vacuum cleaner had been caught on the balcony, but the photo and sanxian may have fallen to the road. … And if they did… “I’d never find them.” She sighed and walked to the kitchen holding a lightbulb that was really only the socket. She threw it in a trash bag and drank some water. Fortunately, the water purification plant was running, so the water was still clear. She brought her mouth directly to the tap and drank the water. “That’s a huge help.” She took a breath and relished the cold dampness in her fairly dry mouth. She worked to refresh her mood. … I’ll find the photo and sanxian eventually. She told herself to think positively and her eyes stopped on the water flowing down from the tap. “I haven’t done that in a while.” She normally did some Tune Education with water every morning, but she had not done it even once since being hospitalized. … So it’s been a week. “If I don’t keep practicing, I’ll never be like mom and the others.” She opened up the tap even more and the water forcefully struck the sink. The refreshing sound of impact rang throughout the kitchen. As she listened to it, Akira grabbed the spear Device from her waist. She unfolded the collapsible spear with practiced motions. After a single metallic sound, the spear was complete. It was a little long to swing around in the kitchen and she held it under her arm. “…” She breathed in, closed her eyes, and… “Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 160,000, you laughter of flowing water. Can you hear my Live?” She made her Wind Up. She called in the Lives with the usual method and sang her own Live. Hers began with “la”. It had a white Word Color and a loud, gentle Tempo. She created a Message with it. The Message combined the spilling water with a flying bird. “…!” She completed it all in an instant. The water falling from the tap became a colorless bird. It was a dove. Its Live was dense for its size, so it had little of the water’s amorphousness. It stepped up onto the edge of the sink and chirped. “Good, good.” Akira smiled. “Just like always.” She stroked the dove’s head and walked toward the entrance. She stopped after three steps and threw open the door. Several doves would fly from there every morning. Anything transformed with Tuning would go where it could regain its original form. The doves created from water Lives would always fly toward the sea. This one was no different. “Now, it’s time to leave.” She gestured out the door and the dove flew that way. It flew from the sink and flapped its wings well despite them hitting the wall. Its flapping wings sounded loudly as it took a midair turn toward the main entrance. It flew right past Akira’s eyes…and it burst. “!” The water scattered everywhere. What had been a dove distorted and fell apart as if it had been hit by a rock. She heard a sound just like pouring rain and water flew through the apartment hallway. “Kyah!” Akira’s legs and the hem of her skirt were wet. The water was cold. This was the blood of the dove she had created. The dove was dead. “…” With the Device in one hand, she looked to her wet clothes and the wet hallway. “What just happened?” There was no need to ask; she already knew. “I messed up…the Tuning?” That was the only explanation, so she nodded. “I can’t believe this. …I guess I’m a little rusty.” She took a breath. “I’ll take it a little more seriously this time. Yes.” She shut the front door and held the Device tight in her hand. Her eyes turned to the water pouring from the tap. The water was the same as always. It flowed the same as a week before and it contained the same Live. … So why did I fail?” Her expression was stiff as she asked herself that. “I can’t believe this…. What could it be?” As soon as she said those words, she began Tuning once more. ### 196. Act 3: Bracket-Shaped Twin Vertical Lines (5:44) ### Part 1 Rin experienced the somewhat tight-pulsed doze of just before waking. She had entirely lost consciousness before, but now she was dreaming. The dream filled the back of her mind in just an instant of her doze. The images in one’s brain felt no different from reality and this dream of hers felt especially realistic. This dream was playing back her memories of the past. This specific past was from the night the dragons had flown. At one point during that night, she had been lying on the ground. She had been collapsed in the courtyard of Hung Hom’s thermal power station with Nein Engels flying in the night sky. Unlike in reality, her past self was conscious in the dream. “…?” She opened her eyes and found her body collapsed near the center of the courtyard. … Why am I here? Her memory was gone, so she tried to recall it all in her dazed mind. She remembered as far as the attack that had hit her from behind after breaking through the wall. … I let my guard down. She tried to prop herself up on her right arm, but all strength left it. It was broken. In an undeniably pathetic movement, she collapsed shoulder-first to the ground. “…Ugh.” Strangely, there was no pain. Her body was tense and her sense of pain had numbed over. … I can’t believe this. She gasped for breath while lying face-down and she focused on different parts of her body once more. Perhaps due to her body armor, she had not been too badly injured. She only felt an ache in her ribs. It seemed she could move her left arm. Her left leg felt numb from the shin down, but it seemed she could move it too. She could not move her right leg from the knee down. She had not looked at it, but she still knew why. She could feel something lying on top of her right thigh. It was likely a pile of concrete. Since she could not feel the lower leg, it had probably been crushed. “Is it broken? …No, or did I lose it?” As soon as she spoke, intense pain shot through the leg. … ! It was the pain of the bone, flesh, and tendons snapping in the knee. The pain crawled up her body while crisscrossing like a net. The pain refused to even let her pass out. “…Kh!” She gathered strength in her left hand and clawed at the gravel. And she got up. “Phew.” She breathed out and looked back. What she saw was exactly what she had expected to find. A piece of a nearly fifty centimeter thick wall of reinforced concrete was crushing her leg. She chose not to look at it any longer. An unpleasant sweat poured from her entire body. A salty, visceral smell reached her nose. … This isn’t good. Even she could tell she was on the verge of panic. She was about to lose physical and mental stability. She needed to gather her thoughts. “Calm down,” she said while trying to catch her breath … The enemy. “I need to defeat the enemy.” She chanted that line under her breath over and over. Finally, her vision brightened and her eyes focused once more. She gradually caught her breath and spoke those magic words again. “Defeat the enemy.” As if to answer those words, she spotted a shotgun on the ground in front of her. The collapsible stock was bent, but it looked otherwise unharmed. “…” She reflexively reached out for it, but it was too far away. Her crushed leg restricted her movement. Then pain raced through her again. “…!” But she did not stop reaching out. Her left hand and left leg clawed at the gravel as if trying to crawl forward. Suddenly, the concrete pinning her right leg moved. She heard moving rubble and a much more unpleasant sound. It was a bloody snapping sound. “!?” For an instant, her body was pierced by a sensation better described as scorching heat than pain. She did not have it in her to think about what had just happened. She still felt excess weight below her right knee, but the connection must have weakened because her range of movement had increased slightly. She moved forward. She reached out her hand and tried to grab the shotgun. In that instant, a military boot cut into view and kicked the firearm away. “…Eh?” She blankly looked up and saw a man standing there. “Fei!” The Galgallin in mirrorshades looked down at her. She reflexively reached for the handgun in her body armor’s inner pocket. “Don’t bother. That will have no effect on me.” The deep voice stopped her. Fei looked to the concrete crushing her leg. “You will not last five minutes after losing that much blood. Would you like for me to finish you off? Answer me.” His emotionless tone of voice brought Rin fully to her senses. She used just her left arm to lift her body. “Do you not remember me?” “I have no memories of you.” He opened his right wrist and a mortar stuck out. Rin knew all too well how powerful the heat rounds it fired were. “Are you serious?” “…” “Why? Why do this!?” “To restore heaven.” He briefly glanced over at the shotgun he had kicked away and he said just one more thing. “I will eliminate the enemy.” Rin’s shoulders drooped when she heard that. She gave a heavy sigh. “I thought I could take care of the misunderstanding…if our paths ever crossed…” And… “Why?” Fei did not reply. He simply looked at Rin’s face and she looked straight back up at him. “There is nothing I wish to remember.” “!” In the instant he aimed the mortar again, his large form was knocked to the side. … What!? A gunshot from behind seemed to answer her question. The roaring of a motorcycle engine joined it. “Boss!” With that cry, Kouga charged into the courtyard on a motorcycle. The roar of the engine sounded all the louder as it echoed off the buildings. Out of the corner of her eye, Rin saw Fei slowly standing back up. Kouga was driving in from straight ahead. “Boss! Take my hand!” He intended to snatch her up as he passed by. She looked to Fei. He was already standing and he was staring at the spear of light stabbed into his right arm. That anti-demon round could slay a tiger, but it had done little damage to the Galgallin. The spear had stabbed deep into the right arm of his custom body, but he had not shed a single drop of blood. His expression gave no hint of injury either. He looked ready to begin fighting immediately. If she was to run, this would be the time. … What should I do!? Her hesitation was interrupted by Kouga’s shout. “We can try this again later!” She reacted by pulling the handgun from her body armor’s pocket. The Colt New Service was a .45 caliber which focused more on impact than penetrative power. When it fired an anti-demon round, it provided little rotation and the spear of light would fly in a completely straight line. Rin aimed it at her own right leg and she fired. She severed her right leg at the knee. At the same time, Kouga scooped her up and continued on with a one-handed accelerating turn. The motorcycle spun around while throwing gravel everywhere. “Boss! Your leg!” “Don’t worry about it.” Saying that was the most she could manage. She supported herself by clinging to the raised back of the backseat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fei looking her way. … Fei. She did not speak her thought aloud. He briefly seemed to sway and then he grew more distant. The motorcycle had started away. He did not pursue. Instead, he pulled out the spear of light sticking into his right arm. It was a casual action. He then threw it toward Rin and Kouga as they fled. “!” It was an accurate throw. The spear flew straight toward the motorcycle as it escaped on a curved trajectory. Kouga had tilted his body in the direction they were headed, so he had not noticed the danger. … I have to go to so much trouble for him. She managed to think that in her hazy mind and she raised her New Service in one hand. She fired. The gunshot rang out and the recoil knocked her hand from the grip. The spear of light she fired collided with the one Fei had thrown and cancelled it out. A solid sound shook the air. “!? What was that, boss!?” Rin did not have the strength to answer. The New Service was hanging from her finger by the trigger guard, so she picked it up and looked at it. The ejector rod had bent. It must have broken when she had been crushed by the wall, so she was surprised it had worked at all. … And this isn’t actually mine. Dad isn’t gonna be happy. With that carefree thought, she placed the New Service back in her pocket. The motorcycle made it behind one of the buildings by taking a sharp turn around the corner. She braced herself and clung to the back of the seat to make sure she was not flung off by centrifugal force. This speed would normally have been nothing to her, but her body had grown far too weak. … I can’t believe this. She closed her eyes and felt an intense urge to sleep. However, that would be a dangerous slumber. She knew that, but she still gave into the temptation. It was not tension, pain, or even the fear of death that ruled her body. It was nothing more than a heavy exhaustion. And as soon as she closed her eyes and gave herself over to that peace, reality demanded that she wake. “…Hm?” Suddenly remembering when she had woken in the middle of the night before, Rin opened her eyes. It was now daytime. Her vision was still not clear, but she could sense the light. It took her an awfully long time to realize the white fog before her eyes was the color of the ceiling. … This isn’t good. I’ve been sleeping so long that my body’s grown dull. She smiled bitterly and heard a set of slippered footsteps rushing down the hallway. … Is that a nurse? Do they know I woke up? “Are you awake!?” The young nurse who entered the hospital room could not hide the joy in her voice. Rin nodded and tried to get up. “Don’t force yourself. You probably won’t be able to move much yet. You slept for eight days, after all.” “Eight days?” Rin asked in a scratchy voice. She remembered checking the calendar on the bottom of the clock face when she had woken during the night before. “But didn’t I go to sleep on…the seventeenth?” She dug back through her memories and looked at the clock on the wall. The display that had said June 17 now said June 24. There were only six days until Hong Kong was returned to China on June 30. On that night, an Earth Serpent would likely be activated and it would destroy the entirety of Hong Kong. … Oh, no! Shocked, Rin forced her body up. Her back, stomach, and thigh muscles let out a scream and the nurse hurried over. “Please don’t move! You’re seriously injured!” Without listening to the nurse, Rin looked to the clock with strength filling her gaze. She then spoke the same words she had thought just before having that dream. “I’ll take action once this exhaustion leaves me, huh? Well, that certainly took a while.” “Eh?” She sighed without answering the nurse’s confusion. And she had a certain thought. … If I’m up against a Galgallin with a full custom body, I guess I have no choice but to fight fire with fire. ### Part 2 Gunmal looked up in the seemingly never-ending expanse of Hong Kong’s clear blue sky. “In another six days, Hong Kong will be returned to China, hm? I wonder if Akira has calmed down some now that she’s left the hospital,” he said. “I kind of want to go to the beach before that final ceremony Rin mentioned.” He began to walk. He was in Mong Kok, which had received relatively little damage during the Sixth Divine Punishment War despite being on the coast. “Supposedly, most of the coastal factories were swallowed up.” He looked around his surroundings while continuing to walk. Even if it had received relatively little damage, the scars of destruction were visible all over. All of the barracks had been crushed as if by a giant foot. Most of the houses and stores had lost their windows and even the seemingly unharmed buildings had cracks in the walls. That was enough to prevent anyone from living there anymore. “Hm,” he muttered as he looked up into the sky. A round VTOL aircraft slowly moved by far overhead. Its external speakers were producing words in what sounded like Cantonese. “An announcement from the government, hm?” For the past few days, aircraft like that were more common sights in the skies than birds. Investigation teams, rescue squads, volunteers, and some military from different counties had been visiting and leaving. A shelter had been set up in the New Territories and a simple airport had been built there. Some Chinese were leaving to live overseas and some non-Chinese were returning to their homelands. The residents of Hong Kong were scattering throughout the world. “The only people still here in central Hong Kong are the doctors, the patients, the eccentrics, and…” He smiled bitterly. “Saying ‘and us’ would sound awfully cool, wouldn’t it?” He sounded fairly pleased with himself and he looked forward once more. Akira’s apartment building was there. A white crack ran through the concrete side wall like someone had made a diagonal sword strike. He looked up at it and whistled. He approached the side of the apartment with a light step and he quickly arrived at the bottom of the old black metal stairs. He then slowly climbed a step at a time, while making sure not to make a noise. “…” Silence followed for a several seconds, but that was enough for him to reach the top of the stairs without incident. His tall form stood on the second story corridor, but he had stopped. His legs had been moving so casually before, but they had come to a quick stop. Even his expression had stiffened at some point. The only thing that had not changed was his silence. His eyes looked straight ahead. His gaze stabbed into the area of the corridor in front of Akira’s room. There was trash piled up there. A tablecloth and glass shards were packed inside trash bags. Wood pieces of a bed frame and a refrigerator were lying on their side, blocking the corridor. “Did Akira move? No…I guess not.” He spoke but soon closed his mouth again. His gaze moved slightly down. The corridor floor was wet in front of her room. The glass shards and scraps of cloth that had escaped the trash bags were flowing with the water spreading across the corridor. “…?” His eyes moved toward the source of the water. “…” He soon found it: the door to Akira’s room. Water was flowing from between the door and the floor. He spent a few seconds staring at that spot. The light reflecting off of the flowing glass shards grew duller. They had sunk into the water. That meant water was continuing to flow from the source. “Is she training? No, her Live is too weak for that. …Then why?” He shook his head. His expression was still stiff and he sighed. But… “…” He remained silent. He simply watched the movement of what lay before his eyes. After a few breaths, his legs began to move. He did not step forward. He turned around and away from Akira’s room. “Is she doubting?” He took a breath and looked to the hand inside his glove. That was his prosthetic right hand. Still staring at it, he descended the stairs as silently as he had come. For once, strength filled his gaze and eyebrows. But… “Interesting…” Without ever looking away from his hand, his lips twisted slightly. They formed a small smile. ### Part 3 The high-rise structure that had once been the Archs RDC building was now entirely empty. There was no sign of human life. There was, however, sign of nonhuman life. It could be seen in a corridor of the underground factory of Archs RDC’s headquarters on the twenty-third basement. Genius stood below the fluorescent lights with her shoulders leaning on the wall. “…” Her arms were crossed and a door was located next to her. Unlike the soft material of the wall, the bulkhead door was made of exposed metal. The solid door was about as thick as it was wide and something had been carved into the center of the door. It was an emblem of two dragons playing together and forming a spiral. That was the Wild Emblem of the Maldrick family. The emblem indicated that this was a Maldrick family workshop. Genius was waiting for the man inside. “J-Gun.” The corpse that now functioned much like a machine had spent three days holed up inside. Creating a Device with Busting produced intense noise, but no sound escaped the bulkhead. It was entirely sealed within. … Although the neighbors often complained when he used that workshop in the city. Only a few months before, she had been living with J-Gun. It had been different at first. “I was so afraid of going to the surface. I wouldn’t have done it if Master Huang hadn’t directly ordered me to.” She had only moved around at night. Birds that flew the skies at night would fly off before dawn arrived. And at some point, she had become a bird that returned to its cage when night fell. The hierarchical relationship of client and hirer had vanished between the two of them. The others in the neighborhood had realized she was there, but they had said nothing. As if to show off what kind of person he was, their peaceful life had continued. But that peace had been destroyed by a photograph she had found. The old photograph had been of a woman who looked a lot like Genius. “I felt like that had opened my eyes to what I was doing.” She smiled bitterly. “Why did I think something so silly?” After she spoke to herself, she heard a slight noise. “!?” She looked to the bulkhead door. … Is it opening? But that hope was not fulfilled. She heard the same noise again. It came from the speaker in the corridor ceiling. “Genius, I would like to hold our usual meeting. Is that okay?” It was Fei’s machine voice. His custom body was connected directly into the central management system and his mind was directly forming the voice. Genius sighed, and… “This is my post. Are you sure I should leave?” “Double Lee says he still hears a Live ringing from within. The work is still ongoing.” “I see,” she said quietly. “Hey, Fei?” “…” “Are you listening?” “I am.” She smiled bitterly. “Can you tell me something?” “What do you want to know?” “What condition was used for the necromancy that resurrected J-Gun?” “You should ask Double Lee.” “I can’t. He won’t tell me.” “You have yet to ask him, so it is too soon to conclude that.” She crossed her arms and hung her head a little. “Have you ever been afraid of something, Fei?” “No.” “Because you lost your memories of the past during your Psyche Outer surgery?” “Yes. My thoughts are derived from my accumulated knowledge, not from emotion.” “I…I’m afraid.” “Of hearing Double Lee’s answer? That is what is leading to your hasty conclusion.” “That sure is a coolheaded deduction.” “I am merely rational.” “Yes.” I suppose being coolheaded is also a type of emotion, she thought while moving from the wall. She then suppressed her emotions and spoke. “Fei, I slept with J-Gun, just like Master Huang told me to.” “It was necessary for the mission.” “…Thanks.” “There is no need to thank me.” Genius gave a thin smile that did not reach her eyes. “That may be why J-Gun used my light before.” “Your light?” “Cherubim can control light. …It’s probably a form of Busting, but he emitted it as his Live.” “So you exchanged Lives in a Live Session?” “Do you think Busters and Tuners gain each other’s abilities when they sleep together?” “An exchange of Lives could create evolution or degeneration.” “Doing it with me…may have brought degeneration.” … If it wasn’t for that, he might not have died. Her walking pace slowed as she thought. “I wonder why,” she said. “Why what?” “If it meant exchanging our Lives, then when J-Gun slept with me…” She took a breath. “Wouldn’t he have read my Live…and thus read my thoughts and memories?” “…” Fei did not answer, so Genius continued. “There are so many unknowns.” “?” “I never thought I would hear you say what you did to Double Lee.” “What did I say?” “You called him pitiable.” She finally began walking again and his voice grew more distant. “That was a statistical evaluation. It was not my personal decision.” “Once you say it, there’s no difference. And…what is Double Lee thinking?” “He is thinking about a contradiction between the Flight Song and Hong Kong.” “A contradiction?” Fei gave a simple answer. “The Flight Song says Hong Kong connects heaven and earth, but in reality, Hong Kong still separates heaven and earth.” “…” “Normally, people sealed inside the earth would not create a song that approves of their enemy.” “Does Double Lee have an answer to that?” “He does have an answer, but he will not tell us what it is.” “Do your statistical evaluations give you the answer?” “I have an answer, but I do not understand it.” “?” “Double Lee thinks the Flight Song is a definite hope that was created at one point in history.” “What does that mean?” When Fei replied, his voice came from a different speaker in the corridor. This one was directly over Genius’s head. “It means it was something only one with knowledge of the future could create. To use a similar word…it was a prophecy.” “A prophecy?” “To be more accurate, it was a recording of future fact with one hundred percent accuracy.” Hearing that, Genius stopped walking and frowned. “I…can’t believe that.” “But all of the instructions that President Huang left us in his report have matched what has happened.” “What proof do you have that it’s a prophecy? Are you saying Master Huang knew how this would turn out for us?” “That is the most consistent explanation.” “I don’t like that way of thinking,” she said as she started walking again. “Besides, a prophecy?” “The Lives of space and time are one of the three secret techniques of Tuning and Busting. One only needs read them.” “But…I’ve never heard of a Tuner who could read time.” “Double Lee said no Tuner that powerful currently exists in Hong Kong.” “Currently?” “During the Fifth Divine Punishment War, there was one other Nein Engel in Archs RDC besides President Huang.” His words came from far behind her. “That Nein Engel was Luna Azuel, Double Lee’s mother.” Genius reached the end of the corridor as she listened. She turned right and Fei’s voice came from both up ahead and behind. “She began developing a Tune Emblem.” “The one Double Lee uses, right?” “Yes. And that knowledge was erased after the Fifth Divine Punishment War.” “What are you trying to say?” “I am simply stating facts.” “And you’re asking me to think about what they mean? You’re not just a puppet, you know?” Fei did not reply and she said more as she walked. “And unfortunately, I tend to view things pessimistically.” “That is a very human way of thinking.” She smiled a little at that. “I think Double Lee is the same.” The elevator hall came into view. “What is this meeting about?” “Double Lee believes J-Gun’s brother and his own sister are dangerous.” “!?” “This is only a prediction, but we need blood for the next ceremony, correct?” “You mean he’ll use his sister’s blood?” “I do not know, but a Seraph’s blood should make a sufficient replacement.” “A pessimistic view, hm?” … But it is true we don’t have any bottles of Master Huang’s blood left since J-Gun destroyed one. “I wonder if Master Huang had predicted this part of the future as well.” Fei did not respond to her musing. That silence seemed to envelop her surroundings. ### Interlude 2 Night reached all parts of the land equally. How they dealt with that night was up to the individuals living on that land. Some would reject it with lights and others would let it do as it pleased. Akira did neither. In her apartment’s kitchen, she neither rejected it nor let it do as it pleased; she ignored it as simple darkness. The descending moonlight turned the north-facing window into a pale blue sheet. Everything else was dark. A single Live with a bright Tempo ran through the heavy Live of the darkness. It was the Live of water. The water poured from the tap and into the sink. Its Live tore refreshing and enjoyable gaps into the darkness. As if responding to it, Akira’s Live pulsated from where she was sat below the sink. She sat there with her arms wrapped around her spear. Even her wings and hair had sunk into the darkness. Her Yard uniform had also lost its luster. The ring of her Live was weak. The Live emitted from her entire body had grown damp. Its Word Color had sunk coldly and its Tempo was deep and muffled. One’s Live accurately represented their mental and physical state. Akira was soaking wet. Her hair, wings, and uniform were all so soaked that one would have thought she had run through the pouring rain. The kitchen’s floor was similarly wet. The poorly-made wooden floor was absolutely covered in puddles. The dark blue, chilly Live of the unmoving water drifted through the darkness. Suddenly, a voice joined it all. Akira had muttered something aloud. “I can’t believe this.” She had no idea how often she had said those same words this day. “I…can’t Tune anymore.” At the same time, a metallic sound rang out. She was squeezing the spear in her hands. “…” A rough sigh fell to the floor. “What should I do?” And… “Why?” Some time passed. For a long while, the sound of dripping water ruled the area. Regardless, the moon slowly moved in the sky. It was not visible from the window, but the faint light of its pale blue air did enter through the window. The Live of moonlight filled that air a little. That vague, clear, and pale Live illuminated her through the rectangular window. The color of her skin, hair, and wings became hues of blue and white. The water soaking her had not dried. It was still falling as drops from the corners of her eyes and down her cheeks. “Was it because of the one week blank? Now I can’t manage anything past an Octave of about 600,000.” If one’s maximum Octave dropped, their power would drop accordingly. “That’s half of my original power.” Her gaze moved to the floor where the moonlight had yet to reach. There, she saw the end result of the animals she had been creating for her Tune Education since the previous day. Not even one of the water animals had been able to leave the apartment. She sighed once and corrected her previous statement. “This might be less than half of my original power.” She hung her head, and… “Why? It isn’t…” She started to say more but stopped. After a few seconds, she tried to close her slightly opened mouth but lightly shook her head. She closed her eyes, frowned, and spoke the words as if placing them on her lips. “It isn’t any fun.” She touched her lips with her fingers. She brought the hand back to her Device and held a thought in her heart. … Gunmal. “What has happened to me?” That was all she said before sinking back into silence. Despite her body growing chilled, she closed off her mind. Sleep came quickly. ### 197. Act 4: Everyone’s Beginning Occurs on the Five Elements (4:21) ## Act 4: Everyone’s Beginning Occurs in the Five Elements (4:21) ### Part 1 A clear morning sky covered Hong Kong. It was such a deep blue that not even the white outlines of the clouds could blend into it. Hong Kong’s sky had not been this way before. This was a pure sky, unpolluted by shimmering heat or smoke. A single Nein Engel looked up into that sky. It was Akira. She slowly walked through the nearly abandoned streets. Her feet took her from Kowloon’s administrative district to the Yard’s base. She had not been into work for nine days, but she had not told anyone she would be starting today. “I can’t believe this…” She lowered her gaze, but her view was unobstructed because most of the buildings had been destroyed and shortened. She could see the previously hidden mountains at the center of the Kowloon Peninsula. The green of vegetation did not cover the mountains. Their dry earthen color contrasted with the blue sky above. They had experienced landslides from the earthquake during the Sixth Divine Punishment War nine days before. “…” Akira remained silent and touched the collapsible Device hanging from her waist. The metal blade felt cold. “An Octave of 280,000, hm?” That was the highest Octave she had managed to control that morning. … I’ve gotten even worse than last night. “Do I have a cold?” Her carefree tone was belied by her expression. Her face was stiff around the eyebrows. When she noticed, she placed a finger between her eyebrows and sighed. She shook her head lightly and moved her hand up to her forehead. “Do I have a fever? I did go to sleep covered in water last night.” She sounded like she was trying to convince someone. “This isn’t good. If I do have a cold…” She stopped walking and looked up into the sky with her hand still on her forehead. “If I do have a cold…” She repeated herself and moved her hand slightly to cover her eyes. She then fell silent. She stood in the empty street while covering her skyward gaze and not speaking a word. She did not say a thing as if waiting for time to pass before her eyes. She took several breaths as silence filled her surroundings. That silence was first broken by the quiet sound of someone clearing their throat. Movement soon followed. Her hand moved before her mouth. She lowered the hand covering her eyes. However, those eyes were closed. She was not looking at anything. She still did not open her eyes, but she kept her head lowered and rather roughly turned around as if shaking something off of her. “I’m so stupid.” She took a breath. “If I want the day off, I can use a vacation day.” She began to walk once more, but in the opposite direction from before. She continued talking to herself, but she only seemed to complaint about her workplace, such as improvements needed in the Yard’s labor policies or the drop in quality at the Chinese restaurant. She complained the longest about the pay. Each time she spoke, her pace picked up. “I really am stupid.” She was more running than walking now, but she did not use her wings. Her Tuning power had weakened, so she could no longer read the Lives of the wind and she could not fly. If she misread those Lives even slightly, she would move her wings wrong and lose all of her speed. She ran through the empty streets like a normal human and the Device hanging from her waist made a sound each time she moved. It was a metallic sound. “…” She stopped talking, but she did not stop her legs. She held the Device in her hand to keep it from making so much noise. The metallic sound vanished. This created a world of silence only broken by footsteps and breathing. Her running feet leaped from the ground. Her heavy breathing sounded loudly. For a brief moment, she looked back. As if to prove the silence of the city, she could only see the broken buildings and blue sky. There was no one there. Only then did she finally slow her pace. She slowly faced forward again and brought her racing feet down to a walk. The only change from before was the hand holding her Device. “I can’t believe this.” She looked forward and saw her apartment building. She had already arrived at the bottom of the old black metal stairs. She took a few heavy breaths before saying more. “This isn’t a cold, is it?” She was speaking to herself. A few seconds later, she nodded as if deciding on something. With that as her signal, she slowly ascended the stairs one step at a time. “…?” She stopped halfway up. “Someone’s…there?” She sensed someone on the second story corridor. She cleared her ears and saw a slight yellow Live. … Who is it? She moved her legs to climb the rest of the stairs. Her eyes were directed straight forward and her gaze stabbed down the corridor and in front of her room. She saw a single figure there. “Gunmal?” When the person turned toward her voice, it turned out to be someone else. “Akira. …Yeah, sorry about this, but it’s only me.” It was Kouga. Just like always, he wore his blond hair in a pompadour and wore a Hawaiian shirt, but she did see some slight exhaustion on his face. Akira asked this unexpected visitor a question. “Wh-what is it? …A-and more importantly, you were okay?” “Yeah, I was just fine. I don’t die even when you kill me, after all.” “That’s true, but…” “What are your plans for today, Akira?” “Eh?” “Are you heading to the Yard? You are wearing your uniform.” She hesitated to answer that, but she soon did so with a smile. “Yes. I figure there are a lot of jobs for a Tuner after what happened to Hong Kong. Everyone’s going to be in trouble if I don’t get back to work soon, right?” Kouga answered her smile with a serious expression. “The Yard was almost entirely wiped out.” “…” “There are a lot of jobs for you.” “Eh?” She tilted her head and he crossed his arms. “It’s pretty bad. The injuries and destroyed houses are no joke. We need you to get started healing all the destruction that hasn’t settled into place yet.” “Oh, that’s what you meant.” “Eh?” “I thought we were going to start fighting again so soon.” “Of course not.” Kouga smiled bitterly. “Didn’t I tell you? The Yard was almost entirely wiped out. We couldn’t put up a fight even if we wanted to.” “…I see.” “During that thing everyone’s calling the Sixth Divine Punishment War, most of the Yard made an attack on Hong Kong Cave.” “But the Nein Engels weren’t there. I know that much.” “Most of them were caught on the way back to the base.” “Eh?” Kouga sounded disinterested as he answered. “You can only get to Hong Kong Island through the undersea tunnel or by ferry, right? Well, an earthquake split that undersea tunnel apart.” “…” “Pretty much everyone but the unit that took the ferry was wiped out.” “Wiped out?” “It’s best not to think about it.” “Wait! Wh-what about the General!?” “He was one of the lucky survivors. …Huh? Hadn’t you heard? He was the one that arranged for your hospitalization.” Come to think of it, I did hear that when I was released, she thought. She was panicking a bit, so she sighed to help calm herself. “Then what is the Yard doing now?” “All police-related stations have been automatically locked down. We’re still on Stage 2 Alert.” “Then you’re on the civil team?” “Because I’m no use in a fight.” “That’s not something to laugh about.” “Sorry.” “Well, whatever. …So where’s Rin?” “Oh, about that. That’s why I’m here.” He looked up. “Can you heal her? It’s on the General’s orders.” She answered with a question of her own. “Can’t Rin…heal herself?” “Eh?” “What do you mean ‘eh’?” “Oh, well, I just didn’t expect to hear you say that.” “Wh-what do you mean? I was just asking. So has she not woken up yet?” “She has. She did yesterday.” “But she can’t heal herself?” “It’s a pretty serious injury and the Live has settled in pretty bad, so you’ll have to find a slight disturbance to start with…” “That’s not easy, you know?” “That’s why we’re asking you.” “…I suppose so.” She nodded and felt her heart begin to race. … This isn’t good. In her Tune training that morning, she had only been able to control an Octave of about 280,000. Rin could control up to 320,000. If Rin could not do it, there was no way Akira could now. Not to mention that Akira’s power was vanishing as time passed. “I wonder why.” “Why what?” “Oh, just talking to myself.” … Why is it going down? If it’s because it isn’t fun… “Maybe there isn’t enough tension.” “For the boss? I seriously doubt that.” “No, not that. I just can’t hold a conversation today…” She started to say something more and nodded. … You usually escape this kind of decline by getting desperate enough. She was tasked with healing a serious injury. She briefly recalled when she had seen J-Gun die. “…” … Am I losing my confidence? Then I just have to get it back, right? That’s pretty cheap reasoning, but it has to be right, she added. “Okay. Then let’s get to the hospital.” “Eh? Really?” “What’s that look for?” “Well, you sounded like you didn’t want to go.” “What good is a Tuner that can’t Tune? You have your motorcycle, right?” With that, she lightly tapped the Device at her waist. It no longer made the metallic sound that had been hurting her ears before. ### Part 2 The hospital was the same one Akira had been hospitalized at. However, they went to a different building. “Building 2’s power supply is on the fritz, so she’s in Building 3 despite her serious injury. You were in a special room in Building 1.” “Well, I am a Nein Engel. I can’t use a normal bed. …Oh, using the main entrance would be the long way around, so let’s head directly in over there.” Akira avoided the main entrance and walked to Building 3’s courtyard-side entrance. “It sounds like the boss has some kind of idea. I was hoping you could ask her what it is.” “Just between us girls, you mean?” “Sorry.” Akira nodded and circled the entire hospital from the courtyard. There was no one on the grassy courtyard. The buildings surrounded the courtyard with Building 1 on the left, Building 2 straight ahead, and Building 3 to the right. They were all giant white-walled buildings. However, all of the windows in Building 2 were dark. As Kouga had said, it seemed to have stopped functioning. … The hospital’s power supply is out? Building 2 was used for seriously injured patients. “…” “What’s that worried look for?” “Oh, just feeling a little down.” “Yeah, I can’t stand the smell of disinfectant either.” “Because you’re a vampire?” asked Akira. “Oh, sorry,” she quickly added. However, Kouga only smiled bitterly without getting angry. “Maybe that is why. Now that you mention it.” “Come to think of it, I didn’t ask about your family.” “My mother’s a vampire and my father’s human. It’s the same arrangement as your family.” “No, not that. Have they left Hong Kong?” “They went to London for a six-month trip,” he answered. “They’ll come back eventually. This is the only place where people like us can live and enjoy ourselves. I doubt my old man’s thinking of completely ditching this place.” “I see.” “I wish I could strike back at the enemy like you can. The civil team will probably be stuck taking everyone left in Hong Kong to the New Territories.” “That’s an important job, isn’t it?” “The General said the same thing.” “Well, he and I can be a lot alike.” They arrived at Building 3’s entrance as they spoke. Akira hesitated a little, but she walked ahead of Kouga and pushed the glass door. The door silently opened and she stepped inside. The smell of disinfectant grew stronger and she was surprised to find it was brighter than outside. The brightness of the lights confused her and Kouga ran into her when she flinched back. She began walking again. “Which room is she in?” “404. …Oh, I was told not to use the elevator.” “That’s fine since I don’t like elevators, but I need to Tune heal her as quickly as I can.” “You sound motivated now.” “Yeah. I need to take this seriously, so I’m psyching myself up.” With that, she turned toward the emergency staircase. She climbed the stairs. As they moved their feet, Kouga spoke to break the silence. “Speaking of families, the boss’s came by. They apparently have some connections on the mainland.” “Will Rin…be moving there?” “In liberated Broad City – Shanghai, apparently. But that was the first time I learned her Wild Name.” “She’s from the Feng family, right? And your family name is Yamashiro, isn’t it? I know everyone’s since I’m with Cleared.” “The Feng family is famous. That must be why her family wants to get moving so soon.” “Probably. …What do you think the General will do? Will he move to the mainland, too?” “Who knows. No one knows much about his family.” “He apparently has a wife. He’s always talking about her. Have you ever seen her?” “Nope.” “Maybe she’s imaginary.” With that offhand comment, Akira came to a stop. She took a breath and heard Kouga speak behind her. “What is it?” “I was just thinking the fourth floor is so high up.” As she climbed the stairs, she found herself out of breath and her pulse racing. … Maybe because I always use my wings to fly. She smiled bitterly and Kouga gave her a serious look. “Are you still not feeling well?” “Eh? Why do you ask?” “Well…” He pointed at the number on the landing. They were only on the second floor. It was true this was too early to be exhausted. “Maybe it was too early to ask you here…” Kouga sounded worried and Akira frantically spoke up. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I was just kidding.” Akira herself knew best of all that was a lie. Her breathing and pulse were far from “fine”. … Kouga’s right…but what does it mean? She started up the stairs again to hide her confusion. She forcefully stepped forward to continue the climb. She consciously restrained her breathing. That quieted her breaths, but they were even more disturbed than before. And that disturbance sent her pulse racing even faster. She started sweating. It was a cold sweat. This was not the warm sweat of exhaustion. … What is going on? The answer became clear once she reached the fourth floor. “…” She could no longer walk properly. “Eh?” She looked down and found her legs shaking on the fourth floor landing. No, it was not just her legs that were trembling. Her arms and body were also shaking. It was a weak tremor, different from the tension of exertion. … A chill? No, this is different. She had seen the Lives of people trembling like this. Their Live would have a cold purple Word Color and a Tempo like a racing metallic pulse that was too high-pitched to hear. “Why am I afraid?” She suddenly looked up. “I get it now…” She realized she had made a serious misunderstanding. At the same time, she received the answer to all of her questions. It was not her exhaustion or the lack of practice that was keeping her from Tuning. … I’m afraid of Tuning. Her body briefly recalled the ensemble of screaming Lives she had heard on the night of the flying dragons. “!” Her pulse grew stronger, the purple Word Color surrounding her turned black, and the Tempo briefly stopped. Her chill grew worse and her arms moved on their own to hold her body. Kouga passed by her without noticing how she was acting. “404’s right in front of you.” Rin’s hospital room was straight ahead from the landing. “Right here. They weren’t allowing visitors until yesterday.” She spoke without turning around and she did not respond. Akira watched him reach for the doorknob and she removed the Device at her waist. She then hid it from Kouga by placing it behind the railing of the next flight of stairs up. Her pulse calmed a little. She looked back just in time to see Kouga opening the hospital room door. A chill of surprise raced through her body like an icicle had stabbed down her spine. Once that door opened, she would have to Tune. “Kouga!” She just about shouted for him to stop, but the sunlight on the other side of the door stopped her. The hospital room was bright. It was pure white. The bed was best described as sterile, but… “It’s empty,” weakly muttered Kouga. Akira also saw the empty space. Rin had vanished from the hospital room. “…” She also found she had stopped trembling. ### Part 3 The afternoon had arrived, but the blue sky still retained its color. Below it, a tank was stopped in the center of the destroyed Nathan Road. That Grant from the Yard belonged to the General. The brightly decorated vehicle was not even idling as it sat there watching a young man facing away from it. That young man, Gunmal, held Nein König in his flesh-and-blood left hand. “The weather sure is nice today. You can see the sky perfectly.” He gave a triumphant snort. “If the coast wasn’t so badly damaged, I’d invite Akira to the beach. …Right?” He looked back and a bit up. The General sat on the Grant’s turret. The old man frowned and rested his head on his hand. “In five days and a bit, Hong Kong will be returned to China. You need to worry about gettin’ a visa before worryin’ about the beach.” “I don’t really care. If I have to choose between being treated like an illegal immigrant and the beach, I’ll choose the beach.” “How ‘bout you look around you before sayin’ that?” Gunmal did as he was told. This part of Nathan Road was near where he and Akira had fought Fei and J-Gun. It had also been hit by the earthquake and tsunami caused by the destruction. Most of the buildings were much shorter than before. There was no one on the road, so his vision was clear. Once he saw all that, he nodded. “This place was destroyed pretty good, wasn’t it?” “That isn’t all.” The General sighed. In addition to the city’s damage, the ground itself was torn up for about two hundred meters in front of Gunmal. Shimmering heat rose from the damaged earth. This destruction was new. “Just because you run across a monster is no reason for goin’ that far.” “Don’t blame me, old man. It’s my first day on the job.” Gunmal showed off his armband. The green plastic armband said “Cleared” in white. “The four Earth Burns really disturbed the ley lines around here, so without Akira…” “Askin’ for your help might’ve been the biggest mistake of my life.” “Stop flattering me.” “Is that so?” The General sounded annoyed and he looked down to his pocket. Gunmal noticed the motion. “Are you worried about the call from that guy?” “More or less.” “So Rin left the hospital and Akira’s emotionally unstable, hm?” “The two of them are searchin’ around the city, but knowin’ Rin, they won’t find her.” “You sound like you know where she is.” “Of course. I know where all the young girls go.” “Then where’s Rin, you dirty old man?” “Well… Probably in somethin’ of a secret base of hers. Injured animals tend to go into hidin’ until they can make a comeback.” Gunmal nodded at the old man’s answer. “She’s going to heal herself between now and Hong Kong’s return to China?” He looked to his own right hand. “Customizing her body would be the only way, but can she complete a surgery that major in time?” “I don’t know. From Hong Kong, she’d probably have to get a complete rearrangement of her Live in Shanghai or Detroit’s virtual network. The question would be how well equipped her secret base is and whether it’s still up and runnin’.” “Rewriting the data in the human genome, huh? At best, it would take three days hooked up to the network. Although she might be able to shorten that by routing through London to more easily convert her body’s Live into text data.” “Either way, that isn’t a surgery a normal woman should go through.” One of the tank’s crew shouted from inside it. “General! We have a reading to five o’clock!” Based on the direction the tank was facing, five o’clock was south-southwest, or looking down Nathan Road toward the sea. The General and Gunmal looked in that direction. The eight lane road had four lanes in each direction and most of the buildings on either side had collapsed, but the walls where still quite large compared to a human. Something even larger than those walls was moving. A white mountain could be glimpsed behind one of the collapsed buildings. “A white tiger, huh?” said Gunmal without really checking. “Comparing it to that building, it must be around twenty meters tall.” The General’s eyebrows moved in response. “A tiger? That’ll be the biggest one today.” “I hate these Live disturbances that grow as they devour the city.” “Is this any time to complain? Oh, that thing’s got an Octave of 1,600,000.” “So it’s two buildings’ worth of disturbed Lives?” Gunmal thought for a moment. “Compare that to the amount of destruction on the overhead map. We’ll probably be done here once I defeat this one.” “You make it sound easy. Hurry up and finish it off before it comes runnin’ this way.” “Sure thing.” Gunmal swung Nein König without looking that way. “Ah.” He placed that simple Live reverberation inside Nein König. It was an impressive Live. It had a low Tempo that moved like a wave and rumbled in one’s gut. Its Word Color was the gray of metal. He amplified it within Nein König and sent it racing out. “!” The quiet Live of his voice burst out as a roar too great to read. The Word Color of the light made it look like a giant line of steel. Its destination was a building looking down on the white form. The metallic Live pierced through the building and destroyed it. That was only the beginning. The light burst from within the building that still had its first four floors. A bestial cry shook the air from beyond the building, but Gunmal’s Live consumed even the beast’s roar. It pierced through everything. The rumbling sound resembled a giant piece of ice falling into the ocean. The steel-colored light devoured both the building and the beast behind it. However, it did not end there. Three buildings of the same height were destroyed behind the tiger. They were annihilated. Not even their Lives remained. There was only rubble and shimmering heat. “That should do it.” “Y’know…” “I held back. Honest.” Gunmal’s tone was light and the General looked away from him. He looked to the earth torn up in a different direction. “Bustin’ sure has gone a long way in Europe.” “But Tuning hasn’t. And it looks like it hasn’t here either, maybe due to the Divine Punishment Wars. Most of the material about it has been lost, hasn’t it? Not as much as in my homeland, though.” The General smiled bitterly. “If more of it were left…I could’ve been a better teacher than I am.” “Hm? For Rin and Akira, you mean?” “Yeah.” “…” “Gunmal. Didn’t you stop by Akira’s place?” “Yes… But I might as well not have.” “Why didn’t you actually meet her?” “It didn’t seem like the right time. The ocean still hasn’t calmed down, after all. If I’m gonna ask her to the beach, we’ve at least gotta be able to swim.” “Pervert.” “You’re one to talk when you always bring up Akira in every conversation. Are you into younger women or something?” “I’m not about to get turned on by a girl who could be my granddaughter. It’s just that my wife keeps insistin’ I look after Akira.” “Your wife? Does she know Akira?” “No.” “Then what are you talking about, old man? Was there some glitch in your brain?” “Don’t blame me. That’s just how women are.” The General nodded and sighed. The old man rubbed the scar on his cheek and looked back to the young man. “It’s not time to meet her yet? …You’re soundin’ like a prophet.” “A prophet? I’m not a Tuner.” “True. There’re the Lives of Yin, Yang, and space-time above normal Bustin’ and Tunin’.” “It sure would be convenient to draw out the Live of time and read the future.” “It wouldn’t be that easy for Hong Kong at the moment.” “Are all of the commands and books left by the emperor really gone?” “All of that stuff was lost durin’ the Fifth Divine Punishment War.” “The Fifth Divine Punishment War, huh?” “A lot happened then.” Gunmal nodded and looked up at the General. “A lot, huh?” His eyes turned to the scar on the General’s cheek. He then stopped moving. “I’ve been wondering.” He fell silent. “…” His expression was unusually stiff. He paused to breathe and then he spoke quietly. “I’ve been wondering about something.” “About what?” “The official story is the original version of that giant Tune Emblem was made for local destruction.” “Yes.” “But what was it really made for?” Gunmal’s eyes turned to the tank the General sat on. He frowned and sighed. “I guess that isn’t something to talk about in public.” “I can tell you a little bit.” “?” “This has been repeated again and again and even this age has been overwritten countless times.” “Is that supposed to be a hint?” “You just have to worry about the present.” “So I’m not supposed to worry about the past? There’s no way a young guy can do that.” “It’s your loss. …A real shame after the last Hu went a little overboard and destroyed our old system. That produced a new system.” Gunmal stuck out his tongue. “System? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Some people fight because they don’t understand.” Gunmal tilted his head and the General twisted his mouth into a slight smile. He then peered inside the tank and gave the crew some instructions. The tank started up immediately. Its engine roared to life and it began to idle. “Hey, at least tell me one thing!” shouted Gunmal. “What is it?” “If my previous prediction is correct, then you’re actually Akira’s father, aren’t you?” “…?” The General frowned for once and looked to Gunmal. “Why would you think that?” “Because of that scar on your cheek…and because you’re the only person in Hong Kong whose Live I can’t read.” “And the rest is your prediction? Didn’t you see Akira’s family grave?” “Oh, that’s right. …Come to think of it, she saw her father die. I guess I was wrong.” Gunmal scratched his head. “It was a good guess, though.” With that comment and a bitter smile on his lips, the General turned around. In that instant, someone descended onto the idling Grant’s secondary weapon, a 70mm machinegun. The wind blew through. ### Part 4 A four-winged female Cherub stood on the tank’s gun with a refreshing wind surrounding her. “It’s been a while.” Genius looked to Gunmal. She was not holding her light-summoning sword, so she had no intention of fighting. Noting that, Gunmal lowered Nein König. “Hey.” As he left his combat stance, the General called out to him. “Who’s this girl?” “My brother’s wife.” “I see.” The General looked to Genius and sighed. “Young people these days don’t know how to introduce themselves.” “Will ‘nice to meet you’ suffice, General of the Yard?” Genius smiled bitterly and showed no hostility. “Oh?” The General nodded. “So what do you want? Keep it short. It’s well known that I don’t like Nein Engels.” “I’d be careful if I were you,” interjected Gunmal. “This old man seems to only like younger female Nein Engels.” “Shut up.” “I thought you wanted to keep this short?” Gunmal and the General exchanged a glance at Genius’s unfazed tone of voice. “See, old man? She’s scolding you.” “That was your fault and you know it. …Now, then. What brought you here?” “I have a warning.” “A warning?” Genius nodded and looked back to Gunmal. “Leave this city immediately and never return.” “What? Why would I-…?” “You don’t have time, so listen to me. Either Double Lee or Fei are going to come kill you. …They saw you have enough power to perhaps destroy a dragon.” “That’s definitely a problem… I have no intention of being killed by a guy.” “I’m not joking.” The General nodded toward her. “This idiot ain’t jokin’ either.” Genius looked to the old man and spoke while he gave her a harsh look. “You should leave the city, too. You know that no one can stop the Earth Serpent that will be activated next, don’t you? Not even by Gunmal here.” “Cause of the power of Yang?” She nodded at the General’s question. “Gunmal, you saw it, didn’t you? When you cut the dragon, it recovered and grew even stronger.” “Yeah, I saw it. I tried to blow it away a second time, but I couldn’t.” “That wasn’t made with the normal Tuning or Busting that you all use. Thanks to the power of Yang, it is obligated to rise to heaven.” “It’s true I could cut it but not destroy it using my Busting.” “You can’t win, can you? To oppose the power of Yang, you need the opposite power of Yin.” “So it’s like the sun and moon?” asked the General. Genius nodded. “It is because the power of Yang is born from sunlight that the dragon belongs to heaven. …If you do want to destroy the dragon and return it to Hong Kong…” “We have to hit it with a Yin dragon made from moonlight?” “Yes. But is there a Tuner in Hong Kong that can do that?” “There is.” “Double Lee’s sister?” Gunmal remained silent and Genius sighed quietly. “It’s too bad. Even I can tell she doesn’t have as much talent as Double Lee.” “Talent, huh?” Gunmal gave a thin smile. “Then we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’ve still got a lot I have to do here, so I won’t be leaving for a while.” “You’ll die. Even J-Gun was killed.” “I’m good at running away.” With that, he raised Nein König. Genius stopped moving. “What are you doing?” “So either Akira’s brother or Rin’s lover is coming to kill me?” “Yes, that’s right.” “Then what’s the other one going to be doing?” “…” “Based on what you were saying, both of them could have come for me.” Genius kept her silence, but… “I can read your Live, Genius.” “!” “The power of Yang you were talking about came from Huang Daquan’s blood, didn’t it? Do you still have any of that left? Do you have the fresh blood needed for the final ceremony?” “Well…” “How about I answer for you? The other one is after Akira, aren’t they? They’re after her blood!” As soon as he said that, a rumbling reached his ears. “An explosion!?” It was nearby. It was only a few blocks north from this district. Gunmal’s head shot up. “They’ve already started!?” “Yes, it’s best to get this kind of thing done quickly.” A new voice reached him from the left. “!?” He saw wings on Nathan Road. It was a six-winged Seraph. “Are you Double Lee!?” “You must be Gunmal.” Double Lee walked forward and Genius jumped backwards. She hopped from the gun barrel to the ground. But Double Lee ignored her movement. He simply walked straight to the midpoint between the tank and Gunmal. A slight wind blew through. Gunmal and Double Lee were not even three meters apart. Gunmal still held Nein König at the ready, but Double Lee was empty-handed with his sword Device at his waist. Gunmal gave a light whistle at his opponent’s attitude. “You sure are confident. We’ve got a tank on our side, you know?” “I am sure you would try to let the rest of your ‘side’ escape. I suggest we make this one-on-one.” “Hm. Then what if I try taking that woman hostage?” “It was her decision to come here. She can take responsibility for her own actions. Also, that would not stop me. But…” It was the General and not Gunmal who urged Double Lee on. He did so while instructing the tank crew not to move. “But what?” “I have a question. …Why are you panicking?” “…” “Are you afraid of losing Akira?” “What about you?” “Would you believe me if I told you?” “Yes. Based on your actions, I’d say you’re a lot like me.” “You are overestimating me,” said Double Lee with a slight smile. “I am only doing what is necessary. It is all to find the answer.” Gunmal’s expression changed at that point. “I…can’t read your Live either.” The usual smile had vanished from his face. “Old man.” “What is it?” “You should leave.” He did not tell him to run away. “Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve been moved to emotion like this.” “Oh? Are you gonna stick with us to the end?” “It’s not you I’m sticking with.” “Then who?” “Akira.” That was all Gunmal had to say. He raised Nein König in his left hand. ### 198. Act 5: Three Secrets of the Fifth Row (5:55) ### Part 1 The azure sky was covered in Lives the color of dark clouds with a low, thick Tempo. Those Lives of powerful intimidation were so thick they almost erased the sky itself. The dark clouds slowly flew and wriggled around the sky like a mass of great serpents. And their intimidating gaze was pointed down toward the city of Hong Kong. The serpents viewed only one thing: Gunmal as he stood in the center of a two lane road. “Sister complexes are awful things. Did he find out I kissed her? …He’s definitely mad, that’s for sure.” While complaining to himself, he ran toward the previous explosion. As he hurried there, he intended to start by saving Akira. “Not that I expect things to go that smoothly. I can run this easily after getting that first attack in, but…” His voice trailed off and a harsh strength filled his expression instead. “But it looks like he caught up just before I got there.” He faced forward. A mere five meters ahead, the intimidation in the air gathered together and descended. The wind blew. “!” Gunmal put up his defenses as the sky’s dark cloud Lives gathered in front of him. They gathered in the powerful rotation at the bottom of the vortex and they took a certain form. It was fast. All of the intimidation covering the sky instantly stabbed toward him. The Lives gave a low roar. A moment later, someone could be heard quietly landing. “…” Double Lee now stood in front of Gunmal. He stared at Gunmal with all of the previous intimidation filling his gaze. But Gunmal was not frightened or pushed back by that gaze. “That was a pretty low-key appearance for the flashy lead up.” “To the average person, all I did was descend from the sky. But my will and gaze may have looked more impressive to someone who can see Lives.” “Then was all that for little old me?” His tone said “you’re gonna make me cry”, but he suddenly swung Nein König in his left hand. “Ah.” He Busted the air with that steel-colored Live. The air exploded with a heavy metallic sound. And it did not stop at a single explosion. Just as he had done in front of the General, a chain of explosions covered a wide range. He Busted the Lives of the air, transformed it into thousands of pure white ion spheres, and swung Nein König over a wide path. And he charged in amongst it all. He had stopped breathing and he thrust Nein König forward while running in the same direction. Nein König’s tip created a path by piercing through an explosion that was becoming a mass of light. That explosion had been created by Busting the air, so he Busted it again to disperse it. Gunmal crouched low as he ran through the tunnel dug by Nein König. The end of his hair, the bottom of his coat, and his shoes were torn into by the exploding air. But he did not care. A few seconds later, Nein König’s tip contacted normal un-Busted air. He immediately broke free of the forest of exploding light. He took a quick breath and continued running. Behind him, the explosions grew accustomed to the surrounding air and showed signs of diffusing. “He’d have to be a real monster to escape that unharmed.” Gunmal did not even bother turning around, but… “I can’t believe this.” He tilted his head as he ran. “Looks like he really is a monster.” He smiled bitterly and looked back to see a large bird. The bird of prey had a wing span of at least ten meters and it was filled with pure white light. It was a beast created from Tuning. And Gunmal realized what Live its pure white body had been created from. “My own Busting!?” He took a large leap forward. The great bird’s beak tore into the spot he had just vacated and he heard the asphalt being torn apart. While listening to the events behind him, he flipped Nein König back over his shoulder and continued running. “This is no laughing matter. …Um, I think I used an Octave of just over two million for that attack, so to erase it again, I’ll need… Hey, give me time to think!” Another attack arrived. Gunmal jumped right to escape. A beak the size of his body descended within arm’s reach to the left. And it mercilessly stabbed into the road. A great roar sounded and Gunmal took action. He was resting Nein König over his left shoulder, so he slammed it horizontally toward the bird. He did not emit a Live. Nein König struck the base of the beak and produced a solid sound. “!” Gunmal Busted that sound. He directly Busted the action of “striking”. Nein König amplified the “striking” Live inside itself and instantly released a Live powerful enough to swallow up the great bird. The great bird was enveloped by the Live reverberating from Nein König. It reverberated with the sound of being struck. With a solid sound, the great bird voicelessly came apart. It exploded. Light and a bursting sound spread and multiplied. Gunmal reversed Nein König’s swing and negated the explosion of light. Then, he sighed. He faced forward to find the road open and becoming an arcade. Some dull gray smoke hung in the air. His destination was close by. He began running once more. “It’s pretty impressive you can keep up with my Busting using an Over Up.” “Staying true to the fundamentals is my style.” Double Lee’s voice rang out and Gunmal sent his gaze around the area as he ran. He looked to the sky, the destroyed buildings, the road, behind him, and straight ahead once more. After looking at all that, he smiled bitterly. “How about you quit hiding and show yourself? You cheapskate.” “I cannot afford to be hit by an attack like that last one.” “Did it get you?” “A bit.” “Hell yeah. I’ve still got a chance.” “Yes, but your brother did not even manage to scratch me.” “That’s because he was gay. He would always hesitate when it was a good-looking guy.” “…” “I’m just kidding.” Gunmal received a response after a beat. “I was beginning to wonder if you could not see Genius.” “Oh, I saw that. I saw the other person’s Live inside her,” he said lightly. “And that means I’m old enough to be called uncle. This is truly a sad day.” “Only if you survive this.” “Oh, how scary. You certainly are a confident genius.” “A genius, hm? I suppose you were called that as well.” “It’s not a bad thing to have people calling you, right?” Gunmal slowed his pace a little. He passed between two buildings and entered a larger street. It was destroyed as well. There were three lanes on either side and it was piled with wreckage from collapsed buildings. The wreckage formed a several dozen meter concrete mountain with the wide base of a stratovolcano. Gunmal came to a stop and looked to the peak of the mountain before his eyes. Something that stood out against the color of the concrete had fallen there. The color was a nearly-gold white. They were wings. They were Akira’s wings. She lay at the peak of the mountain. Gunmal smiled bitterly. “I see. That’s some nice bait. …Do you love me that much?” “You do often hear people say they love someone enough to kill them.” “I can’t believe this… I don’t protect guys, you know?” “Neither do I.” “Then is it because you hate me?” “Yes.” “And is that because I laid a hand on Akira, you great genius who stays true to the fundamentals?” Double Lee responded with a bitter smile of his own. “That sarcasm… You understand everything, don’t you?” “Didn’t Genius tell you? My brother’s Busting was always true to the fundamentals. To me, it seemed unbelievably stiff.” “Did your brother look up to you?” Gunmal laughed quietly at that question. “Personally, I think staying true to the fundamentals is one form of style.” With that, he walked forward. He slowly began to climb the mountain of rubble to reach Akira. Meanwhile, he raised Nein König in his left hand. “How about we bring this farce to an end? I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can’t be dying anytime soon.” His casual tone was belied by the intense attack he launched as he swung the down the Device. ### Part 2 A great rumbling tore apart the asphalt. The General’s beloved modified Grant raced toward the Yard HQ at full speed. Each time it drove over a head-sized piece of rubble, the thirty ton tank would shake. That shaking affected the top canopy the most, so the General’s body shook about as he leaned out. “Has my Tunin’ gotten weak? How’d I let a big-shot like that get so close?” He held his arms sharply forward to fight the shaking and looked back in the direction Gunmal had gone. For once, his expression was tense. “Honestly… Gunmal’s gettin’ pretty close to some interestin’ parts of Hong Kong’s past. Kids these days need to quit scarin’ their elders so much.” He sighed, peered inside the tank, and asked a question. “Hey, are we still not in relay range for the radio?” He nodded when a crewmember told him they would be in range after moving another three hundred meters north. “Once we’re in range, transmit a message to all of Hong Kong, tellin’ everyone who can to gather at the Yard. I’ll take responsibility for whatever happens.” He then leaned out into the wind once more. And he gathered his thoughts on his own. “Since Akira’s brother’s on the move, then the final ceremony must be close, just like that young lady and Rin said. They must be gettin’ desperate.” As soon as he nodded to himself, he heard an explosion from behind. “!” The ground shook a bit and the Grant trembled. “Now that’s a frightenin’ Live. …Is it Gunmal?” He moved just his gaze back and spotted smoke rising into the sky. He clicked his tongue and faced forward again. In that instant, someone ran out in front of the Grant. “…!? Full stop!” He shouted far louder than one would expect of such a small body and the Grant immediately reacted. The sharp silhouette of the tank pitched forward. The treads coated in resin using the European method blew blue smoke backwards and peeled away. After a long sound like piles of cloth being torn, a metallic sound finished it all off. After that, the wheels screeched and the Grant stopped. To make sure he was not thrown out, the General had lowered his upper body onto the upper surface of the tank. “…Wait.” The word that escaped his lips was directed at the figure frozen in place only two meters in front of the Grant. The female figure had two sharply-angled wings on her back. It was Akira. “Impossible.” The General gasped. “Weren’t you fightin’ in that battle back there!?” He got up as he spoke and Akira blinked in confusion. “F-fighting? Me?” “Yeah, that’s what they said…” “What? Didn’t Kouga contact you? I’ve been searching for Rin this entire time. But I thought things were getting dangerous when I saw that explosion, so I was on my way to somewhere safe.” “Explosion?” “Yeah. You saw that smoke, right? Over there… I wonder what it was. Maybe some remaining fuel caught fire like they mentioned in the newspaper.” “That was no explosion! It’s a battle between a Buster and Tuner.” “It couldn’t be.” Akira frowned. “If that was Tuning and Busting, there would be Lives with powerful Messages…” She slowly trailed off and her expression changed entirely. It was the look of someone who had stepped on something they should not have. When she hid her mouth to hide it, the General spoke up. “Get goin’.” “…Wh-what about you?” “I’ve got my own job to do.” “D-don’t say that! That’s irresponsible!” “Yeah, and this problem is your responsibility.” “H-has something bad happened?” “If you want to know, then get goin’!” His shout sent a tremor through her body. She opened her lips as if to say something back. “…” But only silence came out. Instead, she nodded once and moved her legs. She passed by the General’s Grant and began to run. She continued forward while hanging her head. ### Part 3 The swing of Nein König used a steel-colored Live to strike Akira as she lay at the peak of the rubble mountain. When the solid sound struck her, she broke apart into Lives for some reason. The blue, refreshing wind Lives that gently floated up were not the Lives of a person. Gunmal watched them go and muttered “It really was a doll”. He then looked around, ignoring the peak of the rubble mountain, and looked to a building rooftop on the left. “Hey, could you quit hiding?” “I suppose there is no point in hiding now.” With those words, a figure appeared standing on the edge of the rooftop pierced by Gunmal’s gaze. The six-winged Nein Engel was Double Lee. The right shoulder of his pure white combat coat was torn. The white material was dyed red from the shoulder to the chest and it was definitely his own blood. “Red looks pretty good on you. …But this isn’t the time. Why? Why isn’t Akira here?” “I’m not sure I should tell you or not.” “I’ll make you tell me one way or another. A Tuner can instantly heal the wounds after all.” Double Lee smiled bitterly at those hostile words. “I see. So I was right.” “Hm? About what?” “I wanted to know what you thought about my sister…about Akira.” “So are you done with your little test? If so, I’d like to know how I did.” Gunmal sounded carefree and Double Lee smiled back. Then he slowly raised his right arm that had been limply hanging down. The hand held a sword that emitted a transparent light. It was a Device. It was a commercial model, but it was obvious at a glance that the precise mold gave it great accuracy. But Gunmal was faster. “Is that your answer!?” He swung up Nein König. He was not preparing for an attack. He made a diagonal strike from below. “Ah.” He amplified his own Live as he ran. With a metallic tempo that rang into the distance and a steel Word Color, the Live formed a silver pillar of light. The pillar was fifteen meters across and it swallowed up Double Lee with no chance to escape. Or it should have. Gunmal’s Live burst in front of Double Lee. The pillar of light scattered in every direction and then gathered back together. It had been Tuned. Double Lee had given Gunmal’s Live a new form. It became a Lesser Dragon. The Lesser Dragon made of silver light was twenty meters tall and it even had scales, claws, and fangs. “Not bad.” Gunmal muttered lightly as he ran. He ran to the top of the rubble where the doll of Akira had been. “At that height, I’ll be on the same level as him.” The Lesser Dragon pursued him as he ran up the rubble. Man and dragon moved at different speeds, so the giant fangs approached behind Gunmal in an instant. But… “Ah.” He fired a shot while looking back. A great rumble rang out. A moment later, the Lesser Dragon was blown away like a mere toy. It gave a screaming roar. And that was all. Its twenty meter form collapsed at the base of the rubble and exploded. Concrete shrapnel flew into the air, fell back down, and struck both the ground and rubble mountain. But Gunmal paid it no heed. “I hate being hit by my own Live. It makes me shudder.” Meanwhile, he reached the peak and looked to the roof of the building to the left. Double Lee stood there. Blue, refreshing Lives flew around him. They were Lives of the wind. Based on the sheer quantity, they probably had an Octave of about one million. He swung his Device as if to slice through those Lives. He looked to Gunmal and gave a shout. “Word Accel! Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 1,300,000!” It only took an instant for the wind to become a long, thick spear. “!” The spear flew toward Gunmal. Unlike the Lesser Dragon, this attack moved directly toward him. “You don’t make this easy!” With that shout, Gunmal swung up Nein König. And he voiced his own Live. “Ahhhhhh!” The Live was sharper and had a higher Tempo than before. Nein König amplified the Live and produced a much brighter Word Color light than before. Without even checking on that, he swung Nein König back down. The bladeless sword-shaped Device sliced through the wind. The released Live was narrower but several times brighter than before. It was a powerful strike. It pierced through the center of Double Lee’s wind spear. With a great bursting sound, the wind scattered in every direction. But Gunmal’s Live did not stop. Beyond the destroyed and vanishing spear, it flew straight toward Double Lee. Meanwhile, Double Lee thrust his Device forward to endure it. “Don’t think you can defend with that!” Gunmal stared at the man while raising Nein König once more. In that instant, a slight smile covered Double Lee’s lips just as he prepared to receive Gunmal’s Live with his Device. “!?” Just as doubt filled Gunmal, Double Lee gave a shout. “Fei!” Gunmal followed Double Lee’s gaze. He turned behind him and found someone else standing on the opposite building. The name Double Lee had shouted belonged to a Galgallin man who had customized his entire body. A mortar was already extending from his arm. Gunmal saw the pure white Live of great heat building down the barrel. Meanwhile, Gunmal had yet to prepare Nein König for his next attack. “Just when I was wondering if you had gone after Akira!” His shout was drowned out by the mortar’s blast. At the same time, Gunmal’s Live struck Double Lee. “!” The two intense sounds joined together to fill Hong Kong with a single great roar. ### Part 4 Akira ran between two nearly collapsed buildings. Her wings felt heavy on her back, but she still felt no desire to fly. … Why does it have to be now that I can’t read the wind properly? “Now I’m just a human with wings.” She gathered strength in her legs. The great sounds of battle had continued for more than thirty seconds now. The last roar had brought an intense wind with it, and silence had followed. The battle was over. Akira silently mouthed a man’s name. She repeated the name a second and third time and nodded. “It’s okay.” She faced forward. The alley came to an end and a road opened up. The sun shined down there, so it was a little bright. She charged out into that light. “!” She found a street covered in rubble. But these were not ruins. She found scorched earth. A few buildings and the ground had been melted and vaporized by heat, leaving nothing behind. Akira recognized the scene. That destruction had been turned her way before. “That’s the mortar of that Galgallin named Fei.” Her running feet came to a quick stop. She could feel the heat through the soles of her shoes. A closer look showed bluish-white smoke and shimmering heat rising all over the place. “It’s so hot…” With that obvious observation, she looked around again. The scorching blast had cut across the road in an elliptical shape. The ellipse had been fifty meters across at the widest and twenty meters at the narrowest. The ellipse’s curve grew larger to the left because it had been fired a bit downwards from above on the right. A pile of concrete had been blown away in the center of the road. The heat had been so great that the concrete’s surface had turned to white ash, everything had bent, and some things had fused together. They all gave off intense shimmering heat to make their presence known. “…” Akira remained silent. But not because she was so focused on the shimmering heat coming from the concrete. Her eyes were turned toward the top of the pile. A single Device was stabbed into the concrete pillar there. It was Nein König. That blade-less Device had suited Gunmal perfectly. Amid the rippling shimmers, its color remained unchanged, but its hilt was missing. Its owner was nowhere to be seen. “You’re kidding…” Akira took a step back. She looked around but found no one. “Gunmal…” No one answered her. She looked up into the sky. “Is my brother not here either!?” The surrounding scenery gave her a clear response: silence. Akira fell to her knees. The heated asphalt surrounded her with shimmering heat. “Gunmal…” She called that man’s name. “Gunmal! Aren’t you supposed to show up when I call your name!? Gunmal!” As soon as she gave that shout, she heard what sounded like rock being struck. It was the sound of a Live being destroyed. She looked up in surprise and saw a man in the sky. “…!?” Before she could ask anything, the man fell down to her feet. She heard a dull sound and a wet sound. “Blood!?” The dark red substance spreading on the road produced white smoke as it contacted the heated surface. She ran over to him. “Gunmal!?” She called the Urban Name used by Busters and Tuners and she lifted him in her arms. She realized his coat had burned away from his right shoulder on down and his prosthetic hand was exposed. The hand’s fingers had been crushed and slightly fused. She gasped. “You idiot! Why…why are you about to die!?” He did not answer her question. He only breathed weakly yet deeply with half his face dyed from the blood flowing down his forehead. She looked around. There was no one there, but she still shouted out. “Is anyone there!?” Her voice lost to the heat and did not travel far. The surrounding heat enveloped them and stagnated. They were surrounded by silence and the presence of time seemed to vanish entirely. It was a still place. “…” Akira felt sweat on her skin. She lifted her head a little. She opened her mouth and tears spilled from her eyes, perhaps due to the heat. “…!” Her first cry did not even produce a voice. Nor did it form a Live. She held Gunmal in her arms. Finally, she managed to produce just one word. “Someone…!” And… “I can’t! I can’t do it myself!” The only one listening was Nein König which had broken in two. It took quite a long time for the surrounding heat to cool. ### Interlude 3 The hospital lobby Akira had passed through the day before last had sunken into a darkness that did not quite fit the term “late night”. During the day, it was a bright place meant for victims to communicate with each other, but at night, it was only a space of empty darkness. The emergency lights were dim and only illuminated what lay directly below them. Two men could be seen below one of those weak light sources. One was the General who stood directly below the light. The other was Gunmal who sat on the lobby bench below the light. He wore his one-armed coat directly over his bandaged skin. Exhaustion colored his face…no, his entire body. His lips moved. “What’s Akira up to, old man?” “C’mon, is that really what you’re gonna ask after callin’ me here? What about your own body? Like that prosthetic hand.” “I’m fine. And I can always get a new hand. …So how’s Akira?” “She’s sleepin’ at my house.” “Oh, you’ve finally crossed that line, have you?” The General frowned. “That’s not what I meant. My wife’s looking after her right now. She dragged someone as big as you out from all that heat. Also…” “Also?” “She went back in to retrieve your burned-up Device.” “What was she thinking?” “Don’t ask me,” simply replied the General. “But the exhaustion and dehydration’s done her in for the time being. I thought I’d let her rest at her own place, but…” “Yeah, her place is a mess and full of water.” “You knew about that? You knew, and yet…” “Don’t get so upset, old man.” Gunmal sighed. “Akira wasn’t the one that healed me, was she? I doubt she can Tune right now.” “She’s clingin’ to your Device and refuses to let go. My wife wanted to heal her, but she was complainin’ that Akira won’t let her remove her clothes.” Gunmal smiled bitterly at the General’s joking tone of voice. “You know why Akira can’t Tune, don’t you?” “Why would that be?” “The same reason you taught Rin how to Tune but didn’t teach Akira.” “That’s because Akira could already do it.” “If you keep lying in your old age, you’re going to be a lonely old man.” “…” “I caught a glimpse of Rin’s Live.” “Rin’s was an accident,” muttered the General. “If it wasn’t for that, she wouldn’t even be in Hong Kong. She’d be somewhere else entirely livin’ with that young man named Fei.” “Sounds tricky.” “I got a phone call at home. Rin’s visited a Custom Body shop in the New Territories and she’s connected to Detroit to customize her body. And without tellin’ her parents.” The General smiled bitterly. “It never seems to work out right. Where did we fail to make the change?” “Really? I feel like I’m always at my best no matter how hard I work.” “?” “You realized long ago that nothing you can do can change the past itself, right?” “Yeah. You can remake the past, but you just end up pilin’ up the means to do that and never move forward.” “Who in Hong Kong was the first one to realize that fact?” “Why do you want to know?” “To feel satisfied.” Gunmal’s answer was an incredibly normal thing, so the General smiled bitterly again. “The ones who realized that fact of yours were me, my wife…and Huang Daquan.” “…” “But we realized it too late. So the pasts that we and the others piled up had to be settled by Hu and Luna.” “Settled?” “After several Divine Punishment Wars and the creation of Hong Kong Cave, the Nein Engels and humans parted ways in this city, but there’s still one thing here that thinks of it all in a positive light.” Gunmal fell silent for a few seconds. “You mean the song?” It had taken quite a long time in the night for him to say those few words. A moment later, Gunmal moved a little. He had nodded. Then he stood up. The General looked up at him and narrowed his eyes. “I can see your Live.” “There’s no point in searching for another reason to hide it.” He smiled bitterly. “I’ll use the remaining five days to create a Device.” With those simple words, he clenched his left fist. That flesh-and-blood hand filled with tremendous strength. ### 199. Act 6: Consciousness on June 30 (3:01) ### Part 1 The evening of June 29 arrived awfully slowly. ### Part 2 When Akira awoke, she was surrounded by darkness. … Is it nighttime? She quickly realized it was not. The faint light of a cloudy day slipped in through the gap at the center of the thick curtains. That light fell on her face as she lay below a single sheet. The bed was located in the corner of a wood-floored room. She noticed her clothes neatly folded by the pillow. … Where am I? Her sense of smell answered her question. A slight scent of lubricating oil filled the room. That was the General’s scent. … Is this his house? He never tells anyone about his family, so did he really bring me here? She had only just woken, so that question rolled around her blank mind while she heard distant cicada cries. … Am I dreaming? His house would be in the middle of the city, so why would I hear cicadas? That was when it hit her. … There is no city anymore. Hong Kong was no longer filled with rising smoke, sounds of movement, or human figures. After confirming that fact, her mind gradually grew more alert. And she realized something else too. … I can’t hear any Lives. “!” She could not hear the city’s Lives that she always heard when she woke up. She could only hear the cicada cries. A large tremor ran through her body. She started sweating. She felt blood rushing to her head and her mind grew entirely clear. She tried to get up from the bed. “Ah.” She slid right back down. She had been lying on her right side, so her right arm was numb. She grabbed her numb arm with her left hand, crossed her arms, and stopped moving. … How long was I asleep? My body won’t loosen up. She silently asked her body, but she heard no Lives in response. She only sensed something vague and elusive like with Gunmal. But this time, it was with herself. Just like a normal person who could neither Tune nor Bust, she could only hear the sounds reverberating in her ears and body and she could only see what reflected in her eyes. That was not nearly enough. She could not see the sounds dancing in the air and she could not hear the light or the shadow. Her anxious pulse pounded loud in her ears and the shadows enveloping the room felt far too powerful. The daily calendar on the wall said it was the twenty-ninth. From somewhere else in the house, she heard a pendulum clock ringing at the top of the hour. The bell rang four times, so it had to be 4:00 PM. Hong Kong would be utterly destroyed the night after this. “…” Without saying a word, she sank into the bed. She used her will more than her strength to hold herself with her unmoving arms. And she sensed something in those tense arms. She held something hard in her right hand and her arms were wrapped around it. She looked down. It took a beat before her eyes focused. But then she saw it. She held something like a metal panel in her arms. The metal panel had been molded into something like a musical instrument. It was a Device. She recognized it. “Nein König.” She tried to speak the name of the man associated with that Device. “…” But she could not. The broken Device had no hilt and it showed no reaction to her emotions. … Not that it would react to the Live of a Tuner who’s losing her powers. She gathered strength in her brow and tore her gaze from Nein König. Her eyes then turned to a certain point in the shadowy room: the wall. A wooden vase hung from the white earthen wall. A jinyinhua vine grew there with several yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. Jinyinhua was a vine plant, so it needed to wrap around something to grow. It was wrapped around a long, angular, and golden feather. She recognized the color. … Is that my feather? But then… “Have you woken up?” The General’s voice reached her from beyond the room’s sliding door. She looked that way but did not move her body. She felt a little wary and remained silent. She pretended to still be asleep. “…” But despite her silence, she heard a sound from beyond the door. She could imagine what it was, but first… “My wife escaped outside this morning. But…here’s some simple boiled water and rice porridge.” His voice was muffled by the door, but it still reached Akira. She shrunk down in shock and closed her eyes. … I’m being a nuisance again… The General did not answer her thought. After a while, she heard his slow, quiet footsteps walking down the wood-floored hall. She had not heard those footsteps when he had approached. “I can’t believe this…” She gathered her will and embraced Nein König again. She briefly recalled an unpleasant Live: the ensemble of countless screams as the Earth Burn had flown through the sky. “…” She tried to ignore it by closing her heart and sinking deeper into the bed. She wanted to fall asleep so she could accept the facts that had stabbed into her over the past few minutes. ### Part 3 “It’s going to rain soon,” said Double Lee as he sat in his chair. He was in a room on the fifteenth basement of the former Archs RDC building. He was using it as a simple residence, but it contained nothing that would let him see outside. He had determined that by listening to the Lives of Hong Kong. “Typhoons are proof that nature can take some pretty drastic measures. Don’t you think, Genius?” He rotated his chair toward the room’s entrance. The automatic door was the same flat white as the wall and Genius stood in front of it. “…” She remained silent. “Is something the matter?” Double Lee tilted his head and smiled thinly. “You were the one that came to my room, so we can’t start speaking until you ask me something.” “I’m sure you already know what I want to ask,” replied Genius. Double Lee closed his eyes with the smile still plastered to his lips. Then the smile moved to produce words. “I want to hear it in words, Genius. I am not your translator.” “…Why?” “That’s what I want to know. If you aren’t even willing to say it out loud, why do I need to say anything? So why are you asking me with a Message carried by your Live?” Genius’s shoulders drooped. “I suppose you’re right.” “I always am.” “I know.” “Then go ahead.” “…” “?” “Aren’t you going to accuse me?” “Of what?” “Of showing off. I told J-Gun’s brother and the Yard’s General about the final ceremony.” “I do not mind. It’s not like they can stop the ceremony.” Genius frowned at how casually he said that. “But I need to make up for acting against our interests.” “Then how about you go without any dinner? The ceremony is coming up, so a fast wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.” “I’m not talking about something personal. I mean something to help the organization-…” “Do you see an organization anywhere around here?” Double Lee cut her off. “All I see is myself walking at the forefront of the words Master Huang left us.” His smile had vanished. “I must guide everyone else. And I do not believe I ever required that the rest of you follow me.” “…” Genius lowered her gaze a little. “Why are you so intent on this?” “On what?” “On continuing this ceremony even though it will kill so many people. You even returned badly injured after fighting J-Gun’s brother. …What are you thinking?” “If we were an organization, that would be a decent criticism.” He gave a slight bitter smile and sighed. “Hong Kong’s history contains several wars that killed many people. I am sure everyone lamented those losses as you are now. …But I do not mind and I can heal myself even if I am injured.” “That doesn’t answer my question. …Why are you so intent on this?” “Why do you want to know?” “You can read my Live, but I can’t read yours.” “A fair answer. …But I would like to hear a more direct answer.” She hesitated at that. “…” She loosely crossed her arms by her waist and looked him in the eye. “I want to know why J-Gun died.” “I see.” Double Lee sighed and sank deep into his chair. The tips of his main wings, the longest of the six, slid on the linoleum. He continued looking Genius in the eye. “That was not mentioned in Master Huang’s instructions or in his predictions. His instructions simply said to have J-Gun make the Device.” “Isn’t that because Master Huang’s instructions aren’t absolute?” “Are they not?” “Perfect predictions are impossible. He couldn’t possibly account for everything.” “But what if he could?” That question confused Genius. “…?” “This is an old story, but a human man and a Nein Engel woman once fought a Nein Engel man and read the Live of time.” “…Eh?” “Before, they had only been able to read the past, but using a certain individual’s instructions, they read the future. …Master Huang was one of those who read the Live of time.” Genius uncrossed her arms. “Do you…do you really believe that!?” “I do. And as proof, Master Huang died. As an Archs, he was the closest being to god and thus should have had a long, illness-free life. And yet, he aged.” “How is that proof? Are you saying that was why he died!?” “It is simple.” “…” “Master Huang realized Hong Kong’s future was headed toward destruction, so he resonated with the other two who had read time with him and they broke down the Lives of Hong Kong.” He took a breath. “Then, the three of them swapped out their own lifespans with Hong Kong’s lifespan.” “…” “Master Huang in particular received a large portion of the destruction, so he did what he could to keep his own destiny from overlapping with the other two’s. Those other two left a prophetic song in the time period they found themselves in…and then they returned to their original time period.” Double Lee kept his eyes on Genius the entire time. And Genius kept her eyes on his. “Then what was J-Gun’s death?” she asked. “Proof that the future is changing.” “To something different from the future Master Huang saw…and different from the one he was trying to create?” “Yes. Most likely…” Double Lee closed his eyes. “We are paving the way ahead.” As soon as he said that, his eyebrows moved slightly. “Genius, J-Gun is coming to a stop.” “J-Gun is?” “Yes. Based on his Live, he is slowly adding the finishing touches to his work. It should take…another half day.” Genius reacted to the word “work”. She frantically turned toward the automatic door behind her. “Genius, you are getting ahead of yourself. He will not be done until tomorrow morning at the earliest.” “It’s never too soon or too late to start waiting.” She reached for the button to open the door. “Double Lee.” “Yes?” “Did Master Huang’s instructions about the future or destiny or whatever… Did they mention the bottle of his blood breaking?” “Do not worry. I have a way of acquiring blood filled with the power of Yang.” “You do?” “Yes. I have a sister, so everything will work out.” “!?” “Please do not look so shocked. Besides, your blood or Fei’s would not work.” Genius steadied her breathing and let out a deep sigh. “I don’t understand you.” “Why not?” “I can never tell if you mean what you say or not.” “Really?” “Really.” After nodding, Genius pressed the button. The door quickly opened and she passed through the newly-formed opening. She walked forward. ### Part 4 The hour hand and minute hand were both approaching the top of the clock, meaning it was almost midnight. The General was facing a guest in his house. The guest was Rin. Hey sat in a Chinese-style wood-floored room containing only a television and a round table. Like a true Hong Kong resident, the General was dressed in a polo shirt and chino pants. Even though it was summer, Rin wore a black combat suit and a black leather jacket over that. She had swapped out her glasses for mirrorshades with a similar design. She was dressed to head off to battle somewhere. The General kept his eyes on her. “Want some tea, Rin?” He held out a teacup filled with tea he had made. She smiled bitterly and gently raised a hand. “No, letting me in your home is enough.” “You sure are cold.” “Am I?” She nodded. “But I am surprised.” “About what?” “That you let me in when you’re usually so secretive.” “Don’t be surprised by that. I knew your old man… I even knew when you were born.” “But you always held training at my house.” “I like houses with big yards.” “…You really are kind.” “Hm? You say something?” “You’re trying to change the subject.” “Am I?” “Is it because tomorrow is the end?” He answered her with silence. And that lack of a response was a sort of response. So Rin nodded again. “June 29 is ending.” “Yeah.” And tomorrow at midnight, Hong Kong will be returned from England to China, but the metal Earth Serpent still hasn’t been created. The Sixth Divine Punishment accelerated the four elements, but they have yet to be activated.” “Yeah.” “Why are you here, General?” “I’m not plannin’ to die, if that’s what you’re askin’.” “Are you planning to fight?” “Ridiculously enough.” “?” “There are some weirdos in the Yard who’ve stuck around to see me in action.” “You have some excellent subordinates, don’t you?” “So do you.” “You mean Kouga?” “Yeah. He found the Device that Akira seems to have dropped. And he brought it to J-Gun’s workshop to help out Gunmal.” After confirming what that meant, Rin spoke up. “Do you think Gunmal can make Devices for himself and Akira?” “I don’t know what he thinks he can make in just five days.” “What did he say?” “That if he couldn’t make anythin’ in five days, he’d be so embarrassed he’d head back home. The bastard’s probably makin’ a run for it right now.” The General turned back toward Rin. “Rin.” He sighed. “I’m gonna change the subject and lecture you, okay?” “Okay?” “A woman shouldn’t be makin’ her chest flatter. Got that?” “You can tell?” “You’re standin’ on two legs, aren’t you? …Plus, I’m your master.” “That’s true,” she said with a slight smile. She reached for her mirrorshades and shifted them out of the way. Beyond the two mirrors, her right eye was green and her left was red. “How do you like it? I took my time choosing just the right colors.” “They look like candy.” “Sorry.” Rin smiled bitterly. “But modern body customization technology has advanced farther than you know.” “Where’d you get it done?” “A virtual workshop in Detroit. There, I could have myself digitized rather than going through a surgery. I left my body here and had the customization done in the computer.” “Hmm. Well, that’s about what I discussed with Gunmal. …That had to have cost a fortune and you didn’t tell your old man.” “I’ve been working as a detective for five years without marrying, so I can afford this much.” “Hm. …Well, is it all workin’ out all right?” “That’s why I had the original data stored away. That took some time since I swapped out everything but my head and torso, but if something happens, it won’t be hard to return to my original body.” “I’d recommend not returnin’ that one leg to normal.” “True. But I got a look at the hardened Lives from the lost leg, and it looked like another Tuner might be able to heal it.” “You don’t find Tuners on your level every day.” “You’re one, aren’t you? Not to mention Akira.” “I’m too old and Akira has bigger things to worry about.” The General pointed toward the wall behind him. Rin frowned at the gesture. “Is Akira here?” “Yeah.” She tilted her head. “Why do you always watch over her?” “Jealous?” “Curious.” “You can be a lot like Gunmal sometimes.” “But…could you maybe answer me? You’re famous for hating Nein Engels, so why do you look after Akira and why do you always hide anything about your family or home? I’ve always wondered about that.” “Would a made-up story suffice?” “If the truth is hidden in it.” The General looked out to the yard. “…?” He heard rain and Rin looked in the same direction. “It’s raining.” “It’s not a bad rain.” “Are you going to quit talking?” “No, we can keep goin’.” They faced each other again. After a breath, the General opened his mouth with the growing pitter-patter of rain in the background. “Then listen up.” “Sure.” “Is it possible for someone to be born the same person but end up as two different people?” “…Eh?” “So. What if I was born as Lee Hu?” “Stop joking.” “Why would you say that?” “I saw Lee Hu die. Akira was with me…and so were you. We buried his remains in his grave,” explained Rin. “So you couldn’t possibly be Lee Hu.” The General nodded. “Then this is my final question.” “Go ahead.” “If you wanted to travel through time and change the past, would you need to entirely rewrite the time period or would you simply need to add a single new element brought from the future?” “…” “Here’s a hint. …I made sure the mistake I made would never be made again. When I was born, there was no Flight Song in Hong Kong.” “No Flight Song? But that song has existed since Hong Kong Cave was made.” “And that’s my hint. A hint only me and my wife know now.” Rin frowned a little. “Can I answer that along with your previous question?” “Sure.” “Are you saying Lee Hu travelled to the past without returning to the present, did something to become known as ‘the General’ during the Fourth Divine Punishment War, and corrected the next Lee Hu’s actions so he would not end up the same?” “C’mon, now. You’re not makin’ any sense.” “No, that makes perfect sense. When your next self was going to travel back in time, did you tell him to create the Flight Song that would support Hong Kong? And after returning to the present, Lee Hu left the rest to Akira and the others and died, so you felt you owed him something.” “Like I said, it’s a made-up story.” As soon as he said that, the clock on the wall began to ring. It rang quietly but deeply twelve times to tell them a new day had arrived. “It’s the thirtieth now.” “That was pretty loud. I hope it didn’t wake Akira.” “Are you sure she isn’t already listening in? She’s pretty sensitive to Lives.” “No. She can’t use Tunin’ at the moment.” “Can’t use Tuning? …You mean like how I used to be?” The General nodded. “She’s afraid.” “Afraid, hm?” “Yeah. She’s so freaked out that she doesn’t like havin’ her hand touched. …And ridiculously enough, she thinks she’s hidin’ it, but it couldn’t be more obvious.” “That’s because…Tuning is a weapon. A handgun is less of a burden.” “Hey, Rin.” “Yes?” “I hate to dig this back up now, but what happened with you was an accident.” Rin fell silent and he took a sip of tea. “And it was the proper punishment for those fools who go out huntin’ Nein Engels.” “Then why was I punished too? All I did was try to save Fei…” She sighed, and… “Akira is probably feeling the same thing.” “What do you think we should do?” “The best plan would be to abandon Hong Kong and flee. …Akira’s brother, Lee Leed, is going to activate the metal Earth Serpent. And the only way to fight back…” “Yes?” “No, it’s too reckless.” “Out with it.” “Aren’t you already thinking the same thing?” “That’s why I want to hear you say it.” “You would have to activate an equally powerful Earth Serpent. In other words, a Yin one equal to Lee Leed’s Yang one. If the two counteracted each other, it would all come to an end.” “Is that…really the only way?” Rin gently lowered her head. “But that would be impossible,” she said. “Earth Burns of the four elements are needed to activate the Earth Serpent, but even if we could activate new Yin-oriented water, earth, and wind ones, we lack the catalyst needed to activate the fire one. Also…” “Who would we draw the Yin power from?” “Yes. The Lives of Yin and Yang are one of the three secret techniques of Tuning and Busting. There’s no one in Hong Kong we can draw that power from anymore. Besides, the Live of Yin is based in the moonlight that opposes the sunlight, but…” “?” “Unfortunately, General, this rain is supposed to continue for several days.” The General frowned at that. “Um, Rin, I’m not sure I like the idea of decidin’ Hong Kong’s fate based on the weather forecast.” “Try to face reality. A powerful typhoon is approaching from the east-northeast. The winds apparently reached High Powered City – Taiwan about an hour ago.” “It’s true the winds are pretty still right now. …That would explain why the cicadas have been so loud all day.” “Rain will further remove the chances of finding a catalyst for the fire element. …There’s no saving Hong Kong now.” Rin stood up. “You said Kouga is at J-Gun’s workshop, right?” “No, I told him to head to the Yard. I have some business with him. …You want to say hello?” “Yes. Him at least…I don’t want to die.” “He’d cry if he heard you say that. And he’d say he’d follow you until the day he dies.” “Yes, and that’s why I won’t say it to him.” As soon as she said that, a gust of wind hit the window. The sound of the wind filled the room. And a moment later, rain sprayed against the glass. The rain seemed to fall sideways. The Genseral looked to the window as it rattled from the wind and rain. “Weather forecasts these days have a real attitude.” “Could I borrow an umbrella?” “Sure.” “Thanks. …When my custom body gets wet, I feel like it’s soaking directly into my Live.” Rin left the wood-floored room and the General called after her. “You’d better return that umbrella.” She did not respond. ### Part 5 The underground workshop J-Gun had holed up inside had grown silent. The workshop was a square with twenty meter sides and it rose to a height of three stories. It was the largest of the building’s underground rooms. After pushing open the bulkhead-like door, Genius saw darkness enveloping the large space. There was no light. It was underground and J-Gun did not need light since he could see Lives. She found absolute darkness. She hesitated and checked the clock. It was 6:00 AM on June 30. “It’s probably okay if I come in now.” She muttered to herself and took a step inside. The darkness enveloped her as well. “Let there be light.” She snapped her fingers in the darkness and light appeared. A glowing halo appeared a mere thirty centimeters above her head. It resembled a transparent fluorescent light, it appeared to be quickly rotating, and sharp pieces of light would occasionally scatter from it. Genius caught the halo on her fingers and grabbed it. When she passed her hand through it like a bracelet, it continued to rotate but stayed around her wrist. She looked around with it on her right arm. The white light illuminated the workshop. A few concrete pillars, the gate for the elevator that brought in supplies, a lathe, and large steel panels for materials all became visible in the light and shadow. Also, a single figure could be seen in that space of metal and stone. It was J-Gun. He sat on one of the I-beams lined up in the center of the workshop and he had his back to Genius. “…J-Gun.” She walked forward as she muttered his name. Her heels rang loudly on the concrete floor. After about a dozen of the hard sounds, she stood behind him. The man’s back was right in front of her. The back of his combat blouson was bent from his hanging head. He almost seemed to have fallen asleep while sitting, but corpses did not sleep. He had simply stopped until he felt he had a new mission. “Just like a machine.” She did not smile as she said that and circled in front of him. J-Gun was still wearing his glasses and the eyes behind them were closed. He did not move or even breathe. “…” She looked away and noticed something on the floor. What Double Lee had requested was placed on the concrete. “The Device.” Two swords were there. One was what J-Gun had been using. Its colors had grown clear and all of its previous scratches were gone, but that was the side effect of forging another one with it. “He took good care of this for so long.” With a bitter smile in her voice, Genius looked to the other one. It was quite different from all the Devices she had seen in the past. It was a short sword. J-Gun’s Device was long at a meter and twenty centimeters. The ADs which had activated the four Earth Burns had been over a meter. But the final Device in front of Genius was only about sixty centimeters, including the hilt. It was shaped like an expensive paper knife. But Genius could not take her eyes off of it. “Amazing…” She stared at the light reflected from its short blade. “It’s like a mirror…or the water’s surface at night.” As she spoke, the light flowed along the blade. And that was not a metaphor. The blade reflected the light wrapped around Genius’s wrist and caused the Lives of light to flow toward the blade’s tip. The light took a droplet shape at the tip, dripped to the floor, and vanished. Genius gasped. “So this is what you’re really capable of.” She picked up the Device. The light reflected sharply from the blade and sprayed outward. For an instant, letters appeared on the blade like a watermark. “Pd.? Period? Is that the Device’s name?” No one answered her. She tilted her head and looked away from the light emitted by the blade. She sighed and placed the short sword back on the floor as light continued to scatter from it. It made a light, metallic sound. As she did, her fingers felt something hard on the floor. “?” She found a ring there. It was not a mechanical component like a washer or nut. The surface was polished and processed. It was made from the same light-manipulating metal as Pd. J-Gun had made it. “It can’t be…” She looked to her left hand. She had once worn a ring there, but she had abandoned it in J-Gun’s workshop on the surface. “…!?” She turned around and found J-Gun’s head still slightly lowered. His eyes were closed and he said nothing. But she did spot a small smile on his lips. “Am I imagining that?” She shook her head to reject it. Still, she took the ring from the floor. She hesitated for a moment, but she slowly placed it on her left ring finger. The ritual-like action did not take much time. The ring fit in place and silently reflected the light. “I don’t understand. I was too afraid to ask…but what did Double Lee say to you to resurrect you?” She faced J-Gun while sitting on the floor. “You had to have been able to read my Live, so why did you stay with me?” She took a breath. “Will you tell me someday?” There was of course no one to answer or respond to her question. J-Gun simply accepted her words without moving. ### Part 6 Akira listened to the rain outside the dark window behind her. She had changed into her Yard uniform and she sat below the vase containing the jinyinhua and feather. She placed her left arm on the wall and felt the characteristic damp chilliness of an earthen wall. About an hour had passed since she had woken and been able to move her arm. She had spent the time eating the food the General had left in the hallway. It was dark outside the window, but the clock had rung nine times earlier. It was now 9:00 AM of June 30. … The Earth Serpent will fly tonight. … There’s nothing I can do. I wouldn’t be any help…and my room was ransacked. She sighed. The light meal seemed to have given her some energy. The room was dark from the typhoon, but she looked around while holding the broken Nein König. Her senses had grown more sensitive to her body and her surroundings. She could hear the wind. She could hear the rain. But those were mere noises. Neither the wind nor the rain showed its Message. The same was true of the darkness in the room. The daytime darkness brought by the storm clouds felt no different than having her eyes go bad. … What am I supposed to do now? As soon as she wondered that, she heard a sound through the walls. She heard footsteps. They belonged to the General. They were approaching her down the hallway. Akira faced the door with her eyes still closed. … Is he bringing breakfast? She frowned in her heart because that made her feel like a freeloader. But as if to ignore her thoughts, she heard something being placed in front of the door. Then she heard the General’s voice. “You awake?” “Oh, yes,” she answered. She heard a quiet laugh from beyond the door. “Good. You youngsters have so much energy.” … Not really. She tilted her head and heard more from beyond the door. “You’re hidin’ your Live pretty well there, Akira.” She looked up at those unexpected words. … I’m hiding my Live? Now? She was not doing so consciously, but he was telling her he could not see it. The words beyond the door continued. “Yet I could still see plenty when you woke up yesterday.” She gasped, but he was not done. “Gunmal wasn’t showin’ his either. …Is that the latest fad with you youngsters?” “No…it isn’t.” “Then is it not some short-lived thing?” She did not answer. She simply looked at Nein König in her arms. The mass of metal told her nothing, but she still stared at it. The beautiful steel Device looked like a musical instrument. She noticed slight scratches and chips on its surface and corners. Those were evidence that Gunmal had used this Device for years. As it received her gaze in the dim light, the Wild Emblem of the Maldrick family glowed dully. She could see two dragons dancing within the round relief. And as she looked at it, her lips began to move. “Why am I… No, why does Gunmal hide his Live?” Her own words confused her. … Why am I saying this? But before she could find out, a voice reached her. “He’s makin’ Devices right now. At that workshop.” “Eh?” Just as she looked up in surprise, her shoulders touched something. It felt raw and soft, almost like lips. The surprise caused her pulse to race. “…?” She looked over at her shoulder and found some yellow flower petals. It was a jinyinhua flower. It had fallen from the vine growing in the wall-mounted vase. She stared at it. After a few breaths of silence, she moved. “…” She suddenly but slowly moved. She took her time to hesitantly stand up. And as she took the first step forward, Nein König slipped from her arms. “…!” When she let out a voiceless scream and crouched down, she heard a voice from beyond the door. “I’ll be goin’.” She did not answer, but she did nod. She heard the front door slide open and the sounds of the storm grew louder. “Don’t bother lockin’ up when you leave.” Finally, she heard the door slide shut. She was cut off from the outside world once more. She was alone in the house. “…” She held her breath and stared at Nein König and the yellow jinyinhua flower on the floor. She picked up the flower and placed it on top of the Device. She sighed and stood back up without smiling. The vase was at eye level. It contained the jinyinhua which had dropped a single flower and the single feather. She started turning away to face forward, but… “Huh?” She noticed something. Her eyes stopped on the feather that shined a golden white in the dimly lit room. “This feather…” She spoke the truth before her eyes as if reflecting on the fact. “It isn’t mine.” … What does that mean? She had no way of answering that. She kept her eyes on it while slowly walking away. She arrived in front of the door and steadied her breathing. She slowly opened it to find the entranceway. The door to leave this house appeared before her eyes. As she started toward it, she found something left in the entranceway. It was what the General had left for her. She had expected a tray carrying breakfast, but it was an umbrella. “It’s storming outside, isn’t it?” She picked it up and nodded with a tense expression. “Everything might be blown away.” ### Interlude 4 The rain had grown stronger. So had the wind. It was past noon, but Akira stood in the thick darkness, wind, and rain created by the storm. She was in the center of Yau Ma Tei, where most of the buildings and homes had collapsed. J-Gun’s workshop was there. Or more accurately, had been there. The workshop had been destroyed. There must have been an explosion inside because it and the attached home had scattered fragments of stone and wood outwards. A small mortar-shaped crater had formed where the workshop must have been. Needless to say, there was no one there and rainwater had pooled to knee height at the bottom of the crater. “…I can’t believe this.” Akira’s shoulders drooped as she held the umbrella in both hands. “I can’t believe this.” She repeated herself. She looked down. The stone of the workshop had shattered to the point that the ground looked like the rocky bank of a river. A fist-sized emblem had fallen among the stones there. The black stone was engraved with two dragons spiraling around each other. That was the Wild Emblem of the Maldrick family. “And after I came all this way in the rain…” She kicked the Wild Emblem stone. With a solid sound, it split down the middle. One dragon fell in the crater and sank into the water. The other was covered by the umbrella Akira had been holding. “You idiot.” She did not bother picking up the dropped umbrella. She crossed her arms as if embracing herself. And then she looked up at the rainy heavens. Clouds covered the sky, creating a stormy darkness. Water was falling from them. The clouds moved in a number of arcs as the storm clouds made Hong Kong their home. And Akira spoke into that sky. “Gunmal…” Her voice was drowned out by the storm and never reached the heavens. The day continued within the darkness of the storm. Night would soon arrive. ### 200. Act 7: Gunmal (1:23) ### Part 1 By the time Akira arrived at her apartment, night had already fallen over Hong Kong. After checking on the destroyed workshop, she had walked to the Yard and to the inn at which Gunmal was staying. The Yard’s base had received her with silence. She could tell someone had been there just a few hours before, but she had found no one there. Gunmal’s inn had also been empty to the point that it was a mystery who had been staying in which room. She was currently walking back to her own home without using an umbrella. The clouds violently swirling through the sky kept her from telling the exact time, but the darkness descending from that sky had nearly grown as deep as it was ever going to. She looked north as the rain hit her. She could see the mountains of the Kowloon Peninsula beyond the shortened buildings. Dark clouds were falling from directly above them. The ink black clouds were soaked with rain and the night. A closer look showed some brightness on the bottom of the clouds. The lights of the Chinese mainland were reflecting off of them. “…” After watching that for a while, Akira looked straight up. Dark clouds wandered above Hong Kong as well, but they remained entirely dark. She realized what was causing that difference, so she hung her head and remained silent. She was soaked with rain, but she said nothing and trudged forward without running. The next thing she knew, she had finished climbing the stairs to her apartment. The corrugated plastic roof was audibly trembling from the rain. Her soaked shoes produced wet squishing sounds as she walked down the corridor. She soon arrived before her own room, stuck her key in the knob, and unlocked the metal door. She opened the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her to cut off the sounds from outside. She could now only hear the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. “…” She silently took a step from the entranceway to the empty kitchen. But that was as far as she got. With a small sigh, she fell to her knees. She hung her head, bent over, and placed her hands on the floor. Then she gave a much deeper sigh. At the same time, the bathroom door beyond the kitchen opened and bright light shined out. Finally, Gunmal stepped out. ### Part 2 With a bath towel over his shoulder, he spotted Akira. “Hey, welcome back. The bath’s ready.” She slowly looked up at him. “…?” She asked “why?” with only the look in her eyes, so Gunmal answered while sticking his hands in the sink. “You didn’t have a fridge and you’d left the water on for a while, so I figured you wouldn’t mind.” With a splash, he pulled out two cans of beer. He placed on in front of Akira and kept the other one for himself. He opened the pull tab and the carbonation audibly escaped. All he had to do was drink it. After two gulps, he took a breath and looked to Akira. “…What’s the matter? What’s that look for?” She opened her mouth and tried to say something, but only a sob escaped. “…!” She silently released a few things she wanted to say and they were all summed up what spilled from her eyes: tears. Gunmal seemed to panic. “W-wait, wait. What’s this about all of a sudden?” She did not respond, so he brushed a hand through his damp hair and tilted his head. “C’mon, cheer up. Look, I’ll bet you’ll like this.” He moved to the back room for a few seconds and returned with a Yard cap in his hand. He placed it on Akira’s head so it hid her tearful face. “I got a little carried away and blew up the workshop, so I carried my stuff back to the Yard. But the place was deserted, so I had no choice but to come here about two hours ago.” “…” “And y’know what? Those kids you were teaching Tuning to? A bunch of them showed up and left some stuff here. Like a picture frame and a sanxian.” “A picture frame…and a sanxian?” She let out a shaky voice when she heard the names of the objects she had thought were lost. Gunmal nodded. “They said something about their dads and some other people trashing this room, but they were talking so fast I didn’t catch it all.” He sighed. “Well, one of them left that hat.” Akira lowered her head at that. Then she sobbed and let out a choking sigh. After a beat, she started crying again. “Damn, it had the opposite effect.” Sounding troubled, Gunmal sat down. “Really, what’s the matter?” Akira called the name of the man who asked her that. “…Gunmal.” “Hm?” “…Gunmall.” “Yeah, what is it?” “…Gunmalll!” “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah?” “Gunmal!” “I get it, I get it. Hey, quit rubbing at your eyes.” He grabbed the hand she was pressing to her face and that action gave her the opportunity she needed. She moved up the arm grabbing her and collapsed into his chest. “Hey, wait! And I only just got changed into dry clothes…” She wrapped her arms around his back to cling to him and refused to let go. And she spoke to no one in particular. “You really do show up when I call for you…” By the time she finished muttering those words, his arms had wrapped around her back as well. Her tears began to dry up and he asked something. “What’s the matter? What happened?” “…You can’t see my Live, can you?” “…” He remained silent and that was enough to answer her question. So she smiled bitterly. “That’s what happened. …Yeah.” “I don’t mind.” He spoke quietly and moved a bit back from her. Her teary eyes and his eyes met at the same level. “I’ll be borrowing those lips.” “You really are forceful.” Akira smiled a little and closed her eyes. Gunmal’s lips met with hers. She could not sense Lives at the moment, so it was just the one sensation. The action ended after a mere two seconds. The removal of her vision let her sense the dampness of his lips all the more as they left hers. She heard his voice from close enough that it drowned out all other sounds. “I see.” He let out a sigh and she asked him something. “You understand?” “I understand a lot now. …And I’ve learned my lesson too.” “About what?” “Well,” he hesitantly replied. “I can’t have the woman I kiss thinking my breath reeks of beer.” “I-idiot, you don’t have to read that much!” “Shut up. And don’t worry. Your Live isn’t dead yet.” “Really?” “Really.” “Really really?” “Really really… You’re pretty argumentative today, you know that?” “What’s wrong with that? I want to make sure of some things, okay?” She sounded relieved and she rested her head on his shoulder. He stroked her wet wings. “You’re going to catch cold. Go take a bath.” “Sure.” “…” “C’mon, get going.” “Sure.” She agreed again but did not move, so Gunmal tilted his head. “Y’know, you do feel pretty cold right now. You need to get going before you really do catch cold.” “I know that, but…” “But?” “Didn’t you read what I was thinking before?” “What might that have been?” “Well…um…” “Out with it.” “Ah. …Is that any way to speak to a woman?” “Don’t get mad. So what is it you want to say, Akira?” She frowned at that question. “You mean you really didn’t read it earlier?” “I mean I really want to know what you’ve been trying to say since earlier.” “Well…” Her cheeks flushed a little and she turned her head away from Gunmal. “Um…” “Yeah?” “I’ve been thinking, and this is the best way of doing it. I don’t have any ulterior motive.” “Best way of doing what?” “…I want to learn a lot about you.” “Ohhh. And what is this ‘best way’ you were talking about?” She stopped moving when she heard his tone of voice. “…You’ve caught on, haven’t you?” “Oh, you noticed?” He let out a bitter laugh and she dug her fingernails into his back while blushing. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! I’m still not fully healed, you know!?” “I don’t care! You shouldn’t tease people!” “Sorry, sorry. …You’re quit the romantic for a woman, Akira.” “Don’t guys normally read too much into things instead of too little!?” “Yeah, but I’m a realist.” “You could have balanced this out if you were a feminist instead.” “Anyway, enough with the jokes.” He nodded and his tone grew suddenly serious. “Why do you want to read my Live?” “You didn’t see that when you kissed me?” “…Are you serious? As you’ve realized, Tuning can easily become a dangerous weapon.” “But I don’t think that’s all it can be.” “…” Gunmal fell silent, but she felt strength fill his arms on her back. Then she heard his voice. “You saved me.” Akira’s eyes widened at that. “Um, Gunmal, make no mistake here.” “?” “What I want…really isn’t just the practical side of things.” “Yeah, I saw that too.” “Like you said, I’m a romantic.” “Then let me give you my opinion as a realist.” “Hm?” Gunmal quietly and heavily answered her questioning tone. “Hurry up and take a bath.” Akira jabbed her nails into his back. ### Part 3 Gunmal’s things were piled up in a corner of the bedroom. Two of his sleeping bags were spread out to form a simple mattress by the window. The only other things in the room were the darkness of the night and the sounds of the storm coming from the roof and window. That was all. As Akira sat on the sleeping bags, the supposedly familiar room felt strangely large. She wore a single Nein Engel shirt and Gunmal was embracing her from the side. “How strange… When I first met you, Gunmal, I never thought we would doing this.” “Really? I kind of had an inkling.” “Why? Because you believe in destiny?” He lightly shook his head. “Because…I’m a pervert.” “You can make jokes, but please make it something better than that. …Hey, quit unbuttoning my shirt.” “Too late.” Nein Engel clothing was made to hang from the neck so it would not obstruct the movement of their wings. Removing the button at the bottom of her neck was enough for it to fall to her waist. She held the falling collar up with her hands. “Did you turn over that picture frame you showed me earlier?” “Yeah. Your parents were looking disgusted with their delinquent of a daughter.” “That would be nice…” Her voice trailed off. “Wait, Gunmal. Don’t move your hands like that. It’s too lewd.” “That’s kind of the point, you know?” “You really don’t know how to set the mood, do you? …Ah.” “Ah?” “Don’t ask that. Be quiet.” “…” “C-c’mon. Say something when you’re touching me. It’s scary.” “Like what?” “Anything.” “Um… I think the greatest problem facing modern European industry is the regional disparity in education. Being good at soccer isn’t everything.” “Shut up, you idiot.” “So am I supposed to say something or shut up?” “Don’t blame me… I-it’s my first time, so…ah!” She cried out as Gunmal’s hands quickly removed her shirt. She shrank back in surprise. “O-oh, no. Do you think someone could see me through the window?” “It’s frosted glass.” “Then the lights. Turn out the lights.” “They’re already off.” “Th-then don’t look.” “Don’t ask the impossible. Besides, you might want to use your hands to hide something other than your face.” “But I don’t want you to see my face…” “You’re only flushed because of that beer from earlier, right? Oh, and from the bath.” “Yeah.” “Well, there you go. That settles it.” He grabbed her hands and tore them from her face. Her cheeks was an almost desperate shade of scarlet and her eyes were squeezed shut. Gunmal’s lips met hers. “…Nn.” But he did not end with the kiss. His lips moved down to her neck, her collarbone, and her shoulder. “Don’t suck on me there.” “?” “My clothes don’t cover my shoulders.” Meanwhile, his flesh-and-blood left hand touched her nervous body. As his lips moved down the nape of her neck and to her back, his hand slid forward from her thighs and stopped on the most important part. His hand tickled and his lips kissed parts of her skin that were normally never exposed to the open air. “…” As his fingers traced along the curve of her waist, she grew short of breath, so she held her breath to hide it. She found she could not move her body and realized Gunmal was using his prosthetic right hand to hold her in place. Her heart skipped a beat at that fact. She let out a breath and asked a question. “H-hey, Gunmal?” Even she was surprised by how weak her voice was. And as soon as her question smoothly flowed out, Gunmal bit one of the smaller deformed wings on her back. His teeth reached the bone connecting the small wing to her back and she even felt the bone bending. A tremor ran through the core of her body. … ! Her heart throbbed and sweat soaked her. “S-stop!” She cried out and moved her wings. The two main wings rose in the dark room, knocking his arms off of her. “H-hey.” Gunmal sounded surprised and like he did not know how to react. Akira gasped for breath and curled up in his lap. “What was that about?” “W-well…” “?” “Well…” “Did I surprise you?” She took small breaths and gave a small nod to the question asked behind her. Her sweaty shoulders rose and fell and she slowly got up. “Y-you’re going too fast, Gunmal. …This is my first time, so don’t restrain me.” “Sorry.” He honestly apologized for once and she placed her hand on his right one. The solid prosthetic hand felt cold and dull, but she placed it on her left breast. She let out a breath. It was a deep breath. “It’s okay.” Her pulse was racing, but she was breathing deeply with only a bit of heat mixed in. She closed her eyes and spoke. “It’s okay. I’m not afraid. …So you don’t have to hold back.” “…You won’t break?” “It’s a Tuner’s job to fix anything that breaks.” As she said that, her face grew so warm she could not ignore it. She breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “…Keep going.” “Are you sure? I can be forceful, remember?” “…It’s fine.” “Really?” “Ah, b-but… No, not there all of a sudden.” “You’re contradicting yourself.” “B-but…” He tilted his head. “Hmm. Hey, Akira?” “?” “Can I ask something to help this go a lot smoother?” “Eh?” She tilted her head while breathing a little heavily and he asked a quiet question. “How do you do it on your own?” “Y-you idiot!” “Hm.” “Wh-what do you mean ‘hm’!? Read my Live any further and I’ll stop you by force!” “I see. So you start with the right breast.” “O-oh, come on!” “Don’t worry. I’ll change it up a bit to keep things interesting.” While he followed the usual process she had briefly pictured in her head, his lips also sucked at the areas she could not normally touch: her back, her wings, and even the smaller wings. It took her a moment to realize his lips moved so smoothly across her skin due to her sweat. “You really are perverted…” Despite what she said, she did not move her wings. Time passed as she let out a few breaths and syllables. By the time the sweat beaded up on her skin, she was breathing heavily. And without bothering to catch her breath, she spoke to Gunmal. “…My Wild Name.” “?” “It’s…Lee Liangyue.” “Liangyue?” “Yes. …Combine the two characters and you get a character read as ‘Akira’ in Japanese.” “Are you sure you should tell me that?” “Yes.” She let out another heated breath. She seemed to follow the breath down and left Gunmal’s arms. She then lay face-down on the soft sleeping bags. “Akira?” She gave a meaningless nod to his call. Without looking back, she gently lifted her hips toward him. “W-wait, Akira.” “It’s fine.” “What?” “I mean, I have wings, don’t I? So…I couldn’t do it on my back.” “…” “You understand. You understand, don’t you? …This is a position of submission. And…” “Don’t say it.” She felt Gunmal leaning over her back. He embraced her from behind as he did so. She closed her eyes and spoke. “Please give me…” She continued after a moment. “Please give me your Live.” ### Part 4 There once was a certain boy. But Akira did not know how long ago that “once” referred to. And before even reaching that question, she did not understand what she was seeing and hearing at the moment. “Eh? This was a little sudden. …What’s going on?” She looked around and found darkness. She tried holding out her hand, but she could not see it. This was pure darkness, so she began to panic. “…Oh, no. Gunmal was embracing me from behind…and then…” She trailed off from there. … And then I found myself in this darkness? A certain fact rang in her mind as if to answer her. There once was a certain boy. That fact stabbed deeply into her mind. Only then did she realize what she was seeing and hearing. “This is Gunmal’s Live.” She tried closing her eyes, but the surrounding darkness remained unchanged. It really was pure darkness. … I’m directly seeing this with my mind. …This is like a replaying of his memories. She could not possibly have a body here. Once she understood that, light appeared in the darkness. Far, far ahead, a horizontal line of light appeared like the sun appearing behind the horizon. And with that light as the horizon, the expanse of the sky appeared above and the expanse of the ground appeared below. Both expanses contained an awkward stream. A few wave-like motions filled them both and they approached above Akira’s head or below her feet. A closer look showed these waves of the sky and earth were not like the waves formed in water. Thousands or even millions of domino-like blocks drew out the sky and earth and those blocks created the waves as they fell over. And these dominoes formed more than a flat plane. Whenever they seemed to crawl vertically like caterpillars on a wall, they would produce clouds or buildings. Whenever they seemed to tilt diagonally, they would form rivers or slopes. A few of the blocks fell from the sky and become wind just before reaching the earth. “Gunmal’s Live is a lot like a pop-up book.” Meanwhile, the stream of dominoes passed by Akira’s vision. In that instant, she felt the wind. “!” She sensed the wind’s Live, something she had not done in what felt like a long time. She felt a chill. … There’s no doubting it now. “Gunmal is showing me his Live.” She spoke her thought aloud and the position in which she stood grew clear. The sky was visible overhead and a small village was visible below. She was positioned high in the sky. “That won’t do. I can’t see anything from up here.” She relaxed her mind to keep herself from worrying. An odd sensation shook her mind to its core. Deep in her mind, she felt like fingers were tickling her inside her stomach. “Ah.” A voice escaped her mind. … Oh, no. The sensation from reality is getting mixed in. “Something incredible must be going on outside of my mind right now…” She twisted her mind to reject the somehow pleasant sensation. She then relaxed herself in a different way. Instead of leaving herself defenseless, she cleared her ears and closed her eyes to place herself amid the silence. That was the correct decision. “…” The next thing she knew, she was standing in a strange world. The remnants of an unfamiliar village spread out before her eyes. She saw broken pillars, crumbled walls, scattered roofs, twisted and broken roads, and things that were so smashed their original forms had been lost. Gathered altogether, they created the ruins of a village. She was standing in the center of it all. “!?” She knew this scenery. … This is the same as the final Live that J-Gun showed me. So am I seeing this through Gunmal’s eyes!? Her question was answered by seeing a boy standing in front of her. He looked to be seventeen or eighteen and he had the same hair color as Gunmal. This was J-Gun when he had been a boy. Two Devices had fallen at his feet. One was simply cracked and the other was shattered. “…” J-Gun picked up the fragments of the shattered one and spoke. “Our Devices lie in the center of the war. …Brother, which one of us will succeed the Maldrick family?” And… “My Device shattered after clashing with yours.” J-Gun pulled a ring from his pocket and looked to his younger brother’s face. After a pause, he smiled a little. “It’s fine. Like this, they won’t even find the bodies buried in graves. …People who wish to live together didn’t need deadly Busters or Tuners in the first place.” J-Gun threw the ring into the ruins and said more. “Don’t end up like me.” As soon as he said that, the footage changed. As Gunmal, Akira stood in a large stone blacksmith workshop. It was dark inside. Gunmal’s gaze was positioned a little higher than in the ruins. That gaze looked gently across the workshop, looked down about a step ahead, and stopped. A stone pedestal sat there. A single Device sat on the pedestal: Nein König. “…” Gunmal’s right hand grabbed Nein König’s hilt. The hand was still made of flesh at this point. He stared intently at the bladeless sword. “I won’t need to use my Wild Name now that I’m leaving my family.” He slowly moved Nein König to his left hand. He placed his right hand on the stone pedestal and raised Nein König in his left. He kept his eyes on his right hand the entire time. At that point, Akira realized what he was about to do. … Gunmal!? Her mind cried out just as he swung Nein König down. “Ah.” He placed a bit of his Live inside the Device. It was amplified inside and gained a calm Tempo. In place of a blade, a brave, steel-colored Live burst from it. With a heavy strike, a curve of steel raced out. Before her mind could reject the image, Gunmal had Busted his right hand with Nein König. There was a solid sound and pain. The pain reached Akira’s mind as well. “!?” The pain resonated in her mind and created a Live resonance. Gunmal’s Live – which included his memories and abilities – burst inside Akira. It was hot. And with that sensation, the image being shown to her blacked out for a moment. It was cold. Gunmal’s Live felt hot as it burst within her mind, but the exterior of her mind felt cold in comparison. With that movement of heat, she felt her mind returning to reality. She was waking up. Her mind hesitated to do so and she quickly yet thoroughly experienced his Live inside her before it cooled. “…Nn.” With a quiet voice, she experienced Gunmal. What remained inside her body was a thought he sent her and it began with a certain sentence. She spoke that sentence aloud. “There once was a boy named Logan Maldrick, hm?” She smiled bitterly and her mind returned to reality as she asked a question. “Does that boy…still exist?” ### Part 5 Clouds covered Hong Kong. Below them, the rain had let up and the wind had calmed. The typhoon had not left Hong Kong. The city had merely entered the calm eye of the storm. Compared to the clouds circling so intensely in the sky, the night looked heavy and still. The weight of the night darkly filled Akira’s room through the window. Inside, Akira and Gunmal’s viewpoints and gazes had returned to their original positions. Akira was wearing her Nein Engel shirt and she sat in Gunmal’s lap. She held the sanxian the children had brought for her. Her father had given it to her as a memento. Her fingers were strumming it and her voice was singing. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” She sang the Flight Song. She finished the mere four lines of the song and the sanxian grew quiet. Both of them let out a sigh and Akira spoke. “I think it’s been ten days since I sang. …I used to sing up on the roof a lot.” “I know. I saw your Live too.” “Yeah.” “Can you hear the Lives now?” She cleared her ears a little and shook her head. “No.” But she gave a small smile. “But I think I’m going to go.” “To where your brother is?” “No. That isn’t what I meant.” “?” “I’m going to go find the answer… The answer to a lot of things.” “But Akira, you can’t Tune, so…” He sounded worried, but she cut him off. “You have something too, don’t you? You showed it to me. You have something you’ve always, always trusted in…even if you try to cut it away from yourself.” With that, she stood up and began to walk. She walked to a corner of the room where Gunmal’s things were piled up. Hidden by the travel bag and attaché case, were two objects wrapped in black cloth. They were both about as long as Akira was tall. She grabbed one of them. The object inside was metal. It was surprisingly light and she could stand it up on the floor with only one hand. Then she took a breath. After a moment, she untied the cloth wrapping. In the darkness of the night, the black cloth fell away like an empty shell and a pale light filled the room. What stood on the floor in front of her was a spear-shaped Device. The hilt was rounded and long. The blade was wide to better produced Lives. The giant spear’s overall mold resembled a musical instrument. “It’s pretty…” “Kouga brought me the one you forgot in the hospital.” “And you Busted it to remake it?” “Yeah. Look, this one actually has a blade.” She looked as instructed and saw a single-edged blade on the end of the spear. She briefly gasped at the light of the large blade. “The one I made for myself has a single-edged blade too.” “Are you going to kill someone?” “That’s not the point,” he said quietly. “To protect and to hate are two sides of the same coin.” “You really are strong.” “It was a certain woman that taught me that.” “Eh?” “That winged woman never rejected her own power no matter what happened.” “…” “I just wish I’d met her sooner.” “Thanks.” Akira removed her hand from the cloth wrapping and let it fall the rest of the way to the floor. It made a soft sound. The Device had been precariously balanced on the floor, but now it started to tilt. She reached out while holding her breath and grabbed the metal hilt. The roundness of the cold metal caused her pulse to race. But she did not let go. After a few seconds, her hand got used to the feeling. She wrinkled her brow a little, let out a breath, and spoke to Gunmal. “Hey, don’t you think we would make a good team? That’s the point of these two Devices, isn’t it? The two blades make a single whole.” “…” “What are their names?” “That one is Wild Königin and mine is Wild König.” As soon as he said that, a distant sound reached them from the direction of the ocean. It sounded like a great mass of metal had been dropped onto the ground. It was the low sound of shellfire. “That’s the old man’s tank, isn’t it?” “!? So the battle’s started!?” “No. He’s going to Hong Kong Island…on a boat, looks like. The tank is on the boat. That was probably the sign that he’s leaving.” “Let’s go, Gunmal.” Akira’s voice was quiet and weak. “Everyone’s…waiting.” ### 201. Act 8: Double Lee (9:13) ### Part 1 There was a half hour gap between the first gun blast and the second. When Kouga heard the second blast on his motorcycle, he was passing through an abandoned shelter in the mountains of the New Territories. He was in the process of escaping to the mainland. “…” The motorcycle came to a stop as its headlight cut through the darkness of the night. He placed his feet on the road near the peak of the Hong Kong side of the mountain. The ocean and Hong Kong were to his left and he looked that way through his sunglasses. There was no light there. “So I’ve abandoned my comrades and my family while I escape all on my own, huh?” His tone was extremely light and he smiled bitterly. “Still, I have a duty to escape.” He looked to the rucksack on his back. It contained some documents the General had given him. Those documents were two old notebooks. The old man had not said who had written them, but he had said they contained the whole truth of Hong Kong. Oddly enough, both notebooks had the same title: “1971 – Notes of Certain Tuner”. The appearance and contents of the notebooks both seemed different, but the handwriting was the same. “I don’t really get it, but I guess there’s some history to these things.” Kouga nodded and recalled when he and the General had parted ways at the wharf two hours before. The General and the others had managed to get a boat from the little assistance being supplied by the mainland and they had started for Hong Kong Island while fully equipped. The General had told Kouga the following: … Take these and go to London. And he had not stopped there. … It’s that city that created a link between Hong Kong and heaven. However this might end, they need to know everythin’. If you do that now and they react, it’ll save us the trouble of cleanin’ up afterwards. “So it’s to make sure this isn’t all for nothing? The boss said the same thing.” Rin had arrived at the Yard before the General and almost her entire body had been customized for combat. Kouga had been surprised, but Rin had casually checked over her equipment like normal and urged him to escape Hong Kong. She had given a different reason from the General, but it had been reasonable enough. … If you survive, we at least won’t suffer a total defeat. He had nodded in agreement, ridden with her to the wharf, and said goodbye to everyone. The Tank Force, Customs, Ninja, and Hounds remaining in Hong Kong had only numbered at twenty-one, but he had seen them off and waved goodbye. The rain that had been falling then had since let up. But it had taken him longer than normal to come this far. And he had just heard the gun blast signaling the beginning of the fighting. “…” He kicked off the ground and twisted the accelerator without saying a word. The wet road gave a smoothness to his speed and he soon caught a pleasant wind. The great expanse of the sky appeared up ahead as he drove up the slope. It was a cloudy sky, robbed of all light. Below it, he saw the mountain’s peak. Once he crossed it, he would never see Hong Kong again, but he did not slow down. The motorcycle’s headlight extended toward the heavens for just a moment, but then the red tail light seemed to crawl along the earth before vanishing over the peak. ### Part 2 The Earth Burns had torn into the crust during the Sixth Divine Punishment War, so Hong Kong Island’s shape had changed. The east and west sides of the island had become cliffs of exposed volcanic rock. The rock faces curved a bit as they rose about two hundred meters from the ocean surface. The sea breeze that had normally blown across the island ran into those cliff faces, collided with the ocean, and burst into the sky. The sound of the wind was surprisingly loud and it created a great roar. Facing the windy rock face on the eastern end of the island was enough to have the blowing wind drown out all other noises. It was a space cut off from the outside world. Two figures stood at the top of the cliff. One was a large man and the other was a slender woman. They were Fei and Rin. The two of them were injured. Fei’s left arm had been severed partway down and the spear of light from an anti-demon round was skewered into his left shoulder. Rin had fallen to her knees, but the only visual damage was the scorched black hair behind her neck. Rin was fighting much more evenly than during their previous matchup. Rin had run across Fei almost immediately after landing at Central’s port on the north end of Hong Kong Island. The General and the others had been with her, but they had started fighting J-Gun Maldrick and Genius Elias. Rin’s first job was to draw Fei away from the others and her second was to finish him off. She had accomplished that first job. This cliff was three kilometers from Central because they had run at full speed as they fought. She had used up all of the firearms on her person and thrown them away. She was now armed with a flat black combat knife. Fei had tensed the fingers of his right hand and five close-combat Hard Nails had jutted three centimeters out from the fingertips of his hard white false arm. From there, close-quarters combat had begun. Rin glanced at the watch on her left wrist. The bluish-white digital display of the men’s diving watch said it was 11:40 at night. In twenty more minutes, Hong Kong would be returned to China. “…” She said something, but it was drowned out by the wind tearing into the cliff. She closed her mouth and faced forward. Fei was close enough to reach immediately at a run and he was more damaged, but he was also larger. She was not yet fully accustomed to her Custom Body and the difference in body size also worked against her. It was hard to say which one had the advantage at the moment. Fei was the first to move in order to determine which one of them had the upper hand. The first thing he did was walk. Almost immediately, the walk turned into a run. The spear of light was still stabbed into his left shoulder as he charged toward Rin. She stood up and kicked forward at the ground of volcanic rock. She made a shallow jump backwards so as not to give him an opening. Fei’s nails stabbed into the space she had just vacated. The jab using his elbow and forearm set the wind in motion. As soon as Rin landed, she jumped forward. At the same time, she kicked at the ground. First to the right and then to the left. Her position in the air shifted. She made a quick and powerful feint. By the time Fei lowered his hips in a combat stance, Rin had left his field of vision. She was above him. To maintain her momentum while leaping, she rotated her body once and used the centrifugal force to drop straight down. She placed all of her weight on the knife she held in both hands as she launched her attack. “!” Fei was slow to react, but he was accurate. His right arm caught the blade, so it dug into that false arm. The sound of impact was crushed and the wind rising from the cliff sounded all the louder. “…!” One of them shouted something. In midair, Rin briefly stood on Fei’s arm as if she had no weight. And she kicked off his arm to pull out the knife. With an impact, she flew spinning back through the air. She twisted her body to absorb the blow from Fei’s arm. Fei was the first to move the next time. He leaped forward as Rin landed and lowered down. He thrust the Hard Nails out from the hand held in front of his chest. His stance and strength were far more powerful than Rin’s. It was a sharp attack. Rin took a defensive stance against the mass of great pressure launched toward her. Instead of fleeing or fearing, she simply took that light stance. “…” Some words were spoken. In that instant, Fei’s right arm scattered. “!?” The solid sound was somewhat audible through the wind. Fei had been thrown off balance in midair and he fell onto his left knee. Then he looked to his false right arm. The arm had defended against the knife attack, but it had vanished starting halfway down the upper arm. It now looked like glass shards. The wind blew his arm behind him like a comet’s tail. “…!” This was the power of Tuning. As proof, a torn piece of paper was attached to the bit of the false arm that remained past his right shoulder. It was a charm. Rin had placed it there when making her knife attack and it had paid off here. She stepped forward at a speed one could call slow. She targeted Fei’s head as he stood up and tried to fall back. She started to run and in a straight line this time. She was fast, so she quickly covered the distance between them. She charged toward his chest and raised the knife in her right hand, but just as she gathered strength, she froze in place in that stance. Meanwhile, Fei had no means of defending and no weapons with which to fight. But he moved his thick neck and revealed his intent to fight. “!” He twisted his head around to bite into the handle of the spear of light stabbed into his left shoulder. He moved just like a beast attempting to escape a trap. The spear of light was pulled from his shoulder and the rest was simple. As he held the spear between his teeth, the blade swept horizontally toward Rin’s throat. She had no way of avoiding the slash and the blow sent her flying through the air. A crack-like line ran halfway through her neck. Blood spurted out at about the same time as the spear left Fei’s mouth. ### Part 3 The Yard unit led by the General was caught in such a hard fight that they could not even approach Hong Kong Cave. They were in Central’s wharf area on the northern end of Hong Kong Island. Their opponents were the resurrected J-Gun Maldrick and the light-controlling Genius Elias. The battle against them had split into two poles. As soon as they had landed, Rin had spotted Fei and parted ways with them. The four tanks of the Tank Force had faced J-Gun while the remaining twenty people from the Customs, Ninja, and Hounds had faced Genius. The enemy’s movements were accurate. J-Gun’s role was to keep the Tank Force from focusing on Genius. He would release his Live toward the Tank Force so they had to destroy it with their shells. If he saw an opening in their timing and destructive power, he intended to destroy the tanks. And since she did not have to fear those powerful weapons, Genius worked to incapacitate all the others. The bullets of light launched from her sword could not be seen, much less dodged. Ten minutes after the battle began, the treads to the General’s Grant had been damaged to the point that it could only move awkwardly in a circle. The General opened the canopy of the unmoving Grant and poked his upper body out. He grabbed the machinegun on top of the turret. “This is insane… It’d be sad to call it what I expected, but it’d be more accurate to say it’s what I planned for.” He looked around and found the entire wharf had become a battlefield. And the winner had more or less already been decided. In front of him, his two opponents stood in his way. On his right, two light Scorpion tanks had been knocked on their sides and the injured were hiding behind them. On his left, another Grant was stopped with the front of the tank torn open. Behind him, the Yard members who could still fight waited to continue the battle. They were all facing forward. Drawn by their gazes, the General also faced forward. About five meters ahead was the large central road surrounded by giant wharf warehouses. J-Gun and Genius stood there. One was the man known as Hong Kong’s greatest Buster and the other was a four-winged Nein Engel who could control light. If not for the battle, the pairing would not have been all that strange. The General gave a self-deprecating comment as he looked to them. “So is it just hopeless for an old man to hope to beat you youngsters?” His question crossed the five meter gap and Genius answered. “It is currently 11:47. If you are admitting your defeat, then leave. You might just be able to survive.” The General smiled bitterly. “Don’t be stupid. If I ran on home without doing everythin’ I could, my wife’d laugh at me.” “I take it your wife scares you.” “No, not really. Do you not know who I am?” “…Eh?” “I’m…the General.” Genius closed her eyes and smiled a little at that. It could have been taken as a smile of bitterness, of self-deprecation, or of amusement. “You’re a kind person. Are you telling me to accept the side of myself that hesitated to kill you?” “Hah, you sure are self-centered. I have no intention of dyin’ just yet.” “What are you talking about? Look, it’s already twelve till. We’ll be activating the dragon to devour the crust, so the complete destruction of the city will begin in less than five minutes.” “I see. Then can I ask you one thing?” “What?” “If you do activate the dragon, will it stay here on earth or will it ascend to heaven? Which would be the right answer?” “…” Genius did not answer his question, but she did reply to him. “That question is meaningless. We will stop anyone who tries to get in our way like you are now.” “I see, I see. …Sounds like this night’s gonna be bad for my health.” “You sound confident. What are you plotting?” “I’m not plottin’ anythin’. I’m just…how should I put it?” “?” “Puttin’ up a hopeless fight to buy some time.” Genius frowned at that and J-Gun’s shoulders trembled a little. “…J-Gun?” Genius’s question did not reach J-Gun. The man looked back over his shoulder. There was nothing there, but he continued staring in that direction. Genius turned back toward the General. “…Is there something there!?” “Yup.” The General smiled and nodded. “Our goal was only to land here.” “!?” “It’s probably about time. None of the tanks are fully destroyed, no one’s died, and there’s not much fire for how many shells we were throwin’ around. …I guess you could say everythin’s ready now. Right!?” His last question was directed at his comrades. And at the same time, he laughed loudly. Those in the other Grant and behind the toppled Scorpions laughed too. Twenty-one voices laughed together. They formed a chorus of laughter. Genius could not hide her confusion. “You mean…you didn’t come here to fight!?” “There’s more than one way to fight. Havin’ a strategy’s what matters most.” “…” “Your boss is all alone right now, ain’t he? Since you were dealin’ with us here.” “…You don’t mean!?” “That ain’t all. We’ll show you some more tricks later. Like how to simultaneously activate the dragons of the four elements in this incomplete city!” After the General’s shout, Genius grabbed J-Gun’s arm. “J-Gun! We need to get back!” He did not respond to her. He simply stared behind them and his arm moved a little. It was the right arm that held his Device. He raised that sword Device high. At that moment, the sound of steel rang out. It came from the ground. “Eh?” A change occurred before she could ask what was happening. As J-Gun and Genius looked behind them, a twenty square meter area of the wharf’s concrete ground rose up. “!” With a great roar much like more and more ice breaking, the gray concrete ground stood up and started to fall over like the page of book turning. “Kyaaah!” After Genius’s scream, J-Gun launched his Live. The scarlet Live contained a hostile Tempo. It was a Live of destruction and it quickly tore through the risen concrete wall. Another great roar rang out. The large wall of concrete became a band of thousands of black and red Lives as it scattered. Their view opened up and J-Gun and Genius saw a giant hole. The hole was too deep to see the bottom and it was pitch black inside. A man stood on the opposite end of that black hole. It was Gunmal. A large Device rested on his shoulder and he looked to J-Gun and Genius with a cigarette in his mouth. “Oh, did I interrupt your date?” “No, you idiot.” Gunmal tilted his head at the shocked complaint and looked away from his brother and that brother’s lover. His eyes found the General instead. “You’re late, youngster.” “If you’re doing well enough to complain, there’s nothing to worry about. I forced my way through from the catacombs in Kowloon, so I’m pretty exhausted.” “I’ll buy you a sports drink later on, so take this seriously.” “Take what seriously?” “The fight between you and those two there.” “Eh? What about you?” Gunmal gave an exaggerated tilt of the head and the General frowned. “Y’know…” “Oh, what’s this? Are you losing, old man?” “Do I need to run over there and show you what it means to lose?” “I’m just kidding.” Gunmal smiled bitterly and looked away. He stared at Genius and J-Gun instead. “Sorry. Akira’s gone to see her brother, so I’ll take you on instead.” “Akira… You mean Double Lee’s sister?” “Yeah.” Gunmal nodded and Genius sighed. “You really are stupid. Both you and that old man called…the General was it?” “?” “Double Lee’s sister will be killed.” “What?” A faint harsh tone entered Gunmal’s voice and Genius shook her head. “This is probably all going according to the future Double Lee chose. …You hadn’t noticed? The Tune Emblems used to complete our ceremonies have to be drawn with the blood of a high-level Nein Engel.” She looked to the General. “I will answer your previous question now.” “…” “I don’t know what would be ‘right’, but the Earth Serpent that ascends to heaven is what binds Hong Kong to heaven!” Gunmal began to move when he heard that. He raised his Device, Wild König, in his left hand. “Nonsense!” With that shout, he launched his attack. It had the Word Color of steel and was filled with his powerful Live. ### Part 4 Akira ran through the darkness. The only light was the portable fluorescent one hanging from her shoulder. She was running down a passageway in the catacombs under Kowloon Walled City. She had passed through a sealed barrier with Gunmal and had remained with him until quite recently. As soon as the slope of the passageway had gotten steeper, he had come to a sudden stop. “Someone up above wants to be my dance partner.” “Eh?” “Your partner…is probably even deeper down here. I can feel a tremor in the air.” “You…won’t go with me?” “I’ll dance with you later. You’ve gotta save the best for last, after all.” “I might not win.” “Weren’t you the one that said you had to stop your brother and draw out the Tune Emblem?” “It’s true that my brother…needs my blood for his ritual.” “You could always run away before Hong Kong is returned to China.” She had shaken her head at that. “That won’t answer any of my questions.” “Is losing, getting killed, and allowing Hong Kong to be destroyed one of the possible answers?” “You’re the one that said to protect and to hate are two sides of the same coin.” “…You’re a stubborn one.” He had rubbed her hair and she had felt an indescribably pale, warm-colored Live from his hand. So she had simply nodded and resumed running. She was still running now. Her watch said it was eleven till midnight. She ran and felt like the darkness was pressing in on her, but she was not afraid. She was confident Gunmal and the others were behind her and she held Wild Königin even if she could not use it. She ran until she was out of breath. The downward-sloping passageway seemed to sap the strength from her legs with each step. Even so, she kept herself moving forward. A sudden change occurred. The weight of the darkness filling the passageway vanished. “!?” The wind had changed. Even if she could not sense a change in the color of the darkness, she could tell she had left the passageway and entered a large space. She had reached Hong Kong Cave. … It’s chilly. With that silent comment, she picked up her pace that had slowed a little. The fluorescent light fell from her shoulder and rolled along the ground, but she still ran. Several changes reached her with each step. She felt a slight breeze. Her surroundings grew a little brighter. She found herself in a residential area. The concrete floor became stone pavement. She smelled water. She smelled moss. A large space appeared before her eyes. The stone monument and spring she had seen long ago were still there. And she saw someone on the water’s surface. “…Brother.” It was a six-winged Nein Engel. Double Lee stood on the water. He was facing Akira as if awaiting her arrival. His small frown was not much different from the look of a young man accusing his lover of being late. “…” Akira fell silent and Double Lee remained silent as well. Akira stopped running and Double Lee remained entirely motionless in midair. The only sound was Akira trying to catch her breath. Soon, the blade of Double Lee’s short sword Device glowed with a dark inner light. Her eyes drawn by the light, Akira’s gaze stopped on the Device. “?” The damply glowing blade reflected the darkness in its smooth surface. The darkness flowed along the blade, slid down the tip, and gathered there. Finally, the gathered darkness fell as a droplet. It was a drop of darkness. When it touched the water below his feet, it burst. A quiet splashing sound reached Akira. And with that sound, Double Lee moved his stopped body. He raised the short sword and pointed the blade tip directly toward Akira’s eyes. Akira reacted by using both hands to raise her Device that looked too large for her. There was strength in her gaze but no raw hostility for her brother. Their gazes met in the air between them. Akira’s gaze was painfully powerful and Double Lee’s was cold and emotionless. Instead of repelling each other or clashing with each other, those gazes simply crossed paths. Neither one looked away from the other. Akira opened her mouth to say something. “…” But no words came out. Double Lee simply gave a small nod. He then gathered strength in the hand holding the short sword and inhaled some air. A moment later, he made his move to settle everything. ### Part 5 Fei stood alone in the noisy night. There was not a hint of light in the vicinity and he was entirely surrounded by the roaring of the wind. His right arm was slowly regenerating. It had only been Tuned into shards of glass, so it would naturally return to normal given enough time. The dust-like shards that had scattered on the ground and in the wind started floating over toward him and gathering around where his right arm should be. Their temporary transformation ended and they began retaking their original form, so they burst out into the shape of the arm. The process should have produced the quiet murmuring of his Live, but it was drowned out by the surrounding wind. It took a few breaths before the arm returned to normal. “…” He remained silent. The eyes behind his mirrorshades watched his arm regenerate. Even the Custom Body lining of the arm had returned and the damage from the knife had vanished. He looked to his feet where a large knife sat on the exposed rock of the ground. He slowly picked it up in his right hand. He frowned a little while staring at the blade. He slowly looked around, but no one else stood there but him. There was, however, another figure lying at his feet. It was Rin. She lay face-up and simply looked like she was asleep. Her sunglasses had fallen away somewhere, revealing her peacefully closed eyelids. Her face had gone pale. The blood that should have colored it had flowed out through the slash running halfway through her well-formed neck. She had not customized her entire body. That was the difference between her and Fei and that was why she had died. She was no longer moving in the slightest. “…” Fei dropped the knife next to her. The blade dropped first and it stabbed into the exposed volcanic rock instead of bouncing off. It almost looked like a gravestone. He then removed his mirrorshades and sat down next to her. His face was as expressionless as ever. “…?” He asked her something, but there was no response and she did not move. The dead did not move. But that definition was suddenly overturned. “!?” Rin’s body jumped up and turned toward Fei with abnormal speed. Her bloody body forcefully embraced him. For a brief moment, Fei saw two small mole-like holes on her neck, slightly above the wound from his fatal attack. Fei knew what those holes were: the marks left from a vampire’s fangs. That female detective’s subordinate had been an immortal young man. She embraced him and her hand held the knife he had stabbed into the ground a moment earlier. And she gave a shout. “Word Accel! Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 12,000!” Her shout was loud enough to overpower the blowing wind. The thick knife was a Device and it faithfully amplified Rin’s Live. “Lu.” It began as a quiet sound. It was a monosyllabic sound of motion. It had a warm orange Word Color and an accurate three-beat Tempo. Rin stabbed her blade into Fei. The Device plunged into the back of his neck to reach the device controlling his modified Brain Bios. The blade tip tore into the device which had caused him to lose his memories and emotions. At the same time, he wrapped his right arm around Rin and stood up. His right hand was stabbed into her back. The Hard Nails of that hand were entering her body through her back. “!” To defeat a vampire, one had to tear out their heart. Fei was doing that now. Rin’s mouth opened wide and she shouted something. The roaring wind swallowed it up, so who could say if it had been her Live or a scream. But a moment later, something else escaped her mouth: blood. She coughed up a fist-sized clump of blood which stained Fei’s shoulder. Strength immediately left her and her entire body trembled a little in his arm. The Device fell from her hand. “…” Her upper body fell limply toward Fei and there was no strength in her eyes. Fei’s right hand was buried in her back up to the wrist. His hand was trembling slightly. One or the other of them muttered something and Fei pulled out his hand. Rin collapsed to the ground. Even as her body doubled over, she could still move. She held a hand to the hole in her back and looked up in front of her. Fei stood there. He was looking up into the sky while holding the inner corners of his eyes with the hand he had used to skewer her. “…?” He lowered his hand as a look of resignation and confusion filled Rin’s face. He went limp and stopped moving while still staring up into the sky. Rin briefly saw tears on his face. But that was an illusion. The blood on his hand had simply dripped down his cheeks. Regardless, he had stopped moving. He silently stared up into the sky, so she lowered her head in his place. She spoke some words that were drowned out by the wind. Her lips moved again and again to repeat the same words. There was no light in the vicinity. The only sound was the blowing of the wind. The only two people there had stopped moving. ### Part 6 Genius realized Gunmal’s fighting style was different from before. He was releasing his own Live to Bust. And instead of using the Over Up that J-Gun used, he used a more unique method. It was the same method he had shown her at the very end of their last fight. It was a pure shout. “Ah!” He would raise his voice in a way much like his Live and use that to Bust. The attacks were heavy and sharp and they had the same destructive power as J-Gun’s full power strikes. … I can see why J-Gun praised him. She smiled bitterly when she remembered that. “Who am I even jealous of?” She released her light. A spear of light flew in a straight line, but Gunmal’s Wild König struck it head-on and it burst. Gunmal could not possibly move faster than light, so the light had to be moving just as he expected it to. The Lives of the space around him were working for him. That was made possible by his shouts and he could freely control those Lives so long as the reverberation of those shouts lingered around him. This was not like the Over Up, which was a contract that immediately came to an end. Seeing him reminded Genius what Double Lee had said before. … Do you know the difference between normal people and those known as talented or prodigies? She now knew the answer. … There is no difference. The talented and prodigies needed some kind of method or standard. In Tuning and Busting, that would be the Over Up or Wind Up. But Gunmal was not bound by such things. He did not use an established Up and produced great power fighting only by the definitions of Busting. J-Gun, on the other hand, used the Over Up to produce his power. They both used the best method for themselves. Currently, their fight shook the wharf. The battle had moved to the edge of the wharf and into the tourist beach that was perfect for walking. Genius watched as J-Gun launched a horizontal slash. “Oh.” He sent out his Live which had a crimson Word Color and sounded like a low rumble. It flew toward Gunmal as a giant scythe of light. “Ah.” Meanwhile, Gunmal received the Live attack head-on. He instantly swung Wild König down from above. The steel-colored pressure struck the ground while also splitting the scythe. The broken scythe burst and sliced through the thick streetlights of the tourist road behind him. The sound of slicing metal was followed by the streetlights hitting the ground and breaking. After one, two, three, four such sounds, Gunmal made his move. “You’re not the ones I really want to dance with!” His shout immediately became his Live. His eyes were directed toward J-Gun in front of him and Genius further back. He had just swung down Wild König, so he used his entire body to swing it back up and let out a monosyllabic roar. “Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!” The emitted Live had a heavy metal Word Color and a Tempo that rumbled in the earth. This was not a slash or strike like before. It was a powerful blast. A pillar of light two hundred meters long and fifty meters wide shot out toward Genius and J-Gun. Genius had no way to protect herself, but J-Gun took action. He stood in front of her, prepared his Device at his waist, and shouted a different Live from before. “Kohhhhhhhhhhah!” A moment later, an intense blast of light raced from J-Gun’s Device. The white blast was made from pure solidified light. It was the same as the light Genius fired. … He’s using my Live!? The Live of anyone who used Tuning or Busting was affected by the Live of anyone they had a relationship with. She had seen something similar when fighting Akira and Gunmal before. But unlike then, the Live that J-Gun was firing now was strongly mixed with his own Live. He used the double attack power of light and destruction to intercept Gunmal’s Live. The pure white light collided with the steel-colored light. The produced sound was powerful, high, and clear. It sounded both like a metallic sound and like an electronic sound. Afterwards, their Lives burst and scattered through the air. The dense mist of light spread out before Genius’s eyes and briefly robbed her of her vision. She closed her eyes for just a moment. When she reopened them, the enemy stood in the blind spot right next to J-Gun. In the light, Gunmal held his Device at the ready. … When did he get there!? Her surprise produced a reflexive shout. “J-Gun!” J-Gun faithfully responded to her voice. Without turning her way, he made an accurate strike with his Device. An even deeper crimson Live gouged into the gap in the light. His attack scored a direct hit and the color red scattered. Gunmal wobbled with his Device at the ready. And his body burst. He was not cut or broken. His entire body fell apart as if a thread had unraveled. “!?” The scattering Lives were the blue, refreshing Lives of the gently blowing wind. These were not the Lives of a person. Genius’s eyes widened and she heard a voice from the opposite direction. “Sorry! I kind of plagiarized that method!” Before she realized it was Gunmal’s voice, she noticed something different about J-Gun. A giant blade was stabbed into his back. Gunmal’s Device grew from J-Gun’s back at an odd angle. “…” Without speaking a word, J-Gun’s knees gave out and his body bent forward a little. Gunmal came into view beyond him. “I don’t believe it…” Genius took a step back and Gunmal responded without smiling. “Just like my brother could use your power, I can use a little of Akira’s power.” “…” Genius was dumbfounded, but Gunmal frowned. He looked to J-Gun who had been skewered by Wild König. “Stop.” As Gunmal spoke that word, J-Gun moved. His head was still lowered, but his legs trembled as he tried to stand up. Gunmal frowned a little. “Stop it, J-Gun.” He could not stop his brother from moving. J-Gun took a deep breath that was meaningless for a dead body and raised his Device once more. “Please stop this already, J-Gun!” shouted Gunmal. But J-Gun gently spread his arms and legs with Wild König still stabbed into him. His stance almost seemed meant to hide Genius from Gunmal. The Device in his right hand was gently lifted overhead. Gunmal’s expression crumbled and he opened his mouth to give a shout. But in that instant, someone stopped the brothers. It was Genius. She embraced J-Gun from behind and that was enough to stop him. The stillness brought silence and they all simply stood there for a moment. It was a blank moment. J-Gun was the first to move afterwards. He slowly stepped back with Genius still leaning against his back. He took one, two, and three steps before Wild König fell from his slender body. As if that had been a trigger, he slowly collapsed backwards. “!” Genius crouched down to support him. She rested his upturned head on her shoulder. … J-Gun! She gave a silent cry and he turned his head to look at her. And he spoke one quiet word. “Sorry.” That truly was his final moment. Immediately afterwards, his Live broke down, leaving only his clothes behind. “…!” Genius sat on the ground embracing the remaining clothes. J-Gun’s Device made a dry clank as it hit the concrete ground. “What just happened?” she asked. “Why would he apologize to me!?” To bring back the dead via necromancy, one needed a condition based on something the dead regretted during life. Genius realized what condition Double Lee had presented to J-Gun’s soul. “You don’t mean…!?” ### Part 7 Double Lee looked to Akira. He stared at her. He turned his powerful gaze her way and nodded. “…” Then he gave a slight smile. Two simple words escaped his opened lips. “Thank goodness.” A moment later, he took action. The tip of his raised Device drew an upwards-facing arc to point downwards. As darkness flowed down the blade, it stabbed into Double Lee’s own body. Akira heard it plunge into his flesh. “!?” She gave a voice of surprise more than a scream. At the same time, her brother’s body collapsed backwards. His six-wings bent deeply as if to support his collapsing body. Needless to say, that was not enough to stop him. His body fell toward the water. Blood seeped out from where the short sword had stabbed him. He spoke quietly with his eyes closed and his hands around the hilt. “Word Accel. Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 120,000,000.” Just as he finished his Over Up, he landed in the water. The soft sound of the splash almost sounded like flapping wings. “…!” Akira ran over to the spring and reached out a hand toward him as he started sinking. Her well-formed hand plunged into the water to touch her brother’s wings, but she could not quite reach. He sank further down with his wings pointed down. His blood flowed out into the water, but it did not dissolve. Instead, it formed a pattern on the spring’s wide surface. It created a Tune Emblem. As it was drawn, his body slowly came apart. He was making his own body a part of the Earth Serpent. “Wait… Brother!” As soon as she shouted to him, his blood completed the Tune Emblem on the spring’s surface. And… “!” The ground shook vertically just once. Akira nearly lost her balance, but she used Wild Königin to support herself. Then, she looked to the Tune Emblem drawn on the water. It was large enough to fill the entire spring and a single blade was sticking down from the center. It was Double Lee’s Device. That Device was made by Hong Kong’s greatest Buster and it had floated up to act as the Baton. That meant two things. First, the Tune Emblem had been activated. Second, her brother’s body had been Tuned and had sunk to the depths of the earth. She wordlessly gasped for breath. She was sweating. “I’m nervous.” She spoke to herself and wiped the sweat from her brow. A moment later, an intense pulse-like shaking rose from underground. The Earth Serpent was waking. She checked her watch to find it was 11:53. With seven minutes left, Hong Kong would be utterly destroyed. ### Part 8 Hong Kong shook. Unlike during the Sixth Divine Punishment War, this shaking could not be mistaken for an earthquake. It was a vertical shaking that felt like something was directly striking the underside of the ground. Gunmal and Genius had both run back to the wharf. There, Gunmal stabbed Wild König into the wharf’s shaking ground. The General and his men only questioned his action for a moment. They soon realized just what was going on. The shaking vanished from that corner of the wharf and the General gave a light whistle. “Did you change the crust here to your likin’ before the Earth Serpent could get to it?” “It’s only for the area within twenty meters of me, but I completely remade it. This area should be a safe zone.” “I see.” The General nodded as a great roar surrounded them. At the same time, the ground outside the twenty meter range Gunmal had mentioned began peeling up and flying toward the sky. “Here it comes!” someone shouted. They all turned toward Hong Kong Cave. Beyond the curtain of stones falling upwards, they saw something unbelievable. The one kilometer entrance to Hong Kong Cave had opened up on Hong Kong Island’s mountain peak. A massive pure-white dragon’s head was sticking out from the hole. It was enormous. Using the hole as a reference, its neck had to be easily more than three hundred meters across. “That’s ten times the size of the previous dragon!” That estimation was no exaggeration. The dragon was so large it did not seem real. It was pure white and glowing because it was filled with the power of Yang. The Earth Serpent raised its head like a snake and tried to leave the hole. Everyone at the wharf subconsciously put up their defenses, but the dragon paid them no heed. The rumbling of breaking stone sounded as it extended skywards and its front legs finally left the hole. Based on the diameter of its neck, the distance from the shoulders of its front legs to its face was approximately 1.5 kilometers. Its head scattered the small dark clouds floating below the rain clouds. In all, it was over ten kilometers long. Its pure-white serpentine body illuminated the typhoon’s dark clouds like a glowing tube rotating in the night sky. The dragon opened its great maw toward the heavens hidden by the clouds. After a brief delay, a roar rang out. It was more a physical blow than a sound. The massive wall of air shook its body, raced through the air as a wave, and slammed into those standing on the ground. Affected by that impact, the stones taken up from the ground all turned to Lives. The Earth Serpent raised its head, dragged its body further along, and fell down toward Hong Kong as if to receive those Lives. Its fall took it toward the Wan Chai district left of Gunmal and the others in Central. They heard the wind. The great dragon was pushing out the surrounding air as it fell. The General’s voice shouted over that wind. “Hey! Is that…Akira!?” Gunmal looked up on reflex and did indeed see it. A certain color floated at one point high in the sky near the falling dragon’s head. A slight golden-white flower stood out against the pure white of the dragon. It was Akira’s wings. She was wobbling and falling after being knocked away by the dragon’s movement. “…!? What are you doing, Akira!?” Gunmal gave a yell as he pulled Wild König from the ground. ### Part 9 Akira did not know what had happened to her. As soon as she had stabbed Wild Königin into the ground to bear with the shaking, she and the stone-pavement had been carried into the sky. While hanging down from Wild Königin’s hilt, she had been carried to the edge of a pure-white glowing cliff, but then she heard a great roar. Just as she thought her inner ears had been destroyed, she and Wild Königin were thrown out into the empty air at 1.5 kilometers above the ground. That was when she had realized what had looked like a pure-white wall had been part of the Earth Serpent. But that was all. She could see the typhoon’s storm clouds in the night sky. She could move her body, but the previous noise had left her without a sense of direction or even a sense of up and down. She could not read the wind and the position and direction of her center of gravity felt vague, like the core of her body was asleep. She fell backwards. “A Nein Engel isn’t supposed to die from a fall.” A voice seemed to answer that comment. … Akira! It was Gunmal’s voice. “!?” She expressed her confusion and the voice continued. … Why are you falling!? Aren’t you supposed to do something about that Earth Serpent!? His voice came from Wild Königin in her right hand. Wild König and Wild Königin were resonating and he was using that to send his Live to her. … C’mon, you activate your own dragons! We need to start with the Earth Burns of wood, earth, and water! “H-how!?” Gunmal’s Live answered. … Remember the Tuning you wanted to use! You’ve done enough of the basics now, haven’t you!? Let Hong Kong ring in your own way! Or have you still not realized how much I’ve been pushing you around!? “Y-you idiot! Why would you say something like that now!?” … Shut up. I’ll prepare the elements of wood, earth, and water. Fire can come later! I’m busy, so I need to hang up. “Hang up…? Hey! This isn’t a cellphone!” There was no response. “~!” Akira gave a voiceless shout and glanced behind her. She was only five hundred meters from the ground. … At this rate, I really will die. That was when she noticed something odd on the ground. “!” She saw intense destruction. The city shook in every direction around Central. She could not see Lives at the moment, but she could see that. The Bust strikes continued for more than two kilometers with a width of at least five hundred meters. There were a total of ten and they all occurred in an instant. The steel-colored barrage created a great roar and something like a pale mist covered Hong Kong Island and the edge of the Kowloon Peninsula. … So that’s what Busting looks like when you can’t see Lives. But those attacks did not bring absolute destruction. They simply disturbed the Lives. If they were not Tuned soon, they would return to normal. “Honestly, you’re rushing me too much!” As soon as she shouted down at him, she heard a roar from the Earth Serpent. “!?” Her eyes widened as the Earth Serpent looked down at her with the heavens behind it. Its giant face was growing even larger. … It’s charging toward me!? “You’re kidding!!” Once she saw its fangs, she remembered when the red dragon had chased her. She remembered the damage and injury to her wings, the brief meeting with the boy, and the people’s screams covering the city. In an instantaneous chain reaction, it all resurrected in her memories. … I can’t let that happen again! She raised Wild Königin and sharpened her mind. She linked all of her body’s senses directly to her heart. The floating feeling of falling, the sound of the splitting air, and the sensation of Wild Königin in her hands all flashed through her mind and overcame her fear of the Earth Serpent. She Tuned the Live of fear and opened her eyes. “!” A sudden change reached her. … The Lives!? She could now see and hear the Lives of the wind. She reflexively spread her wings wide and flapped them. Her wings and feathers groaned under the strain of her rapid fall, but that only lasted an instant. Instead of falling, she flew forward as if she had been kicked. She took a course out from under the descending Earth Serpent and recalled what she needed to do. Gunmal had told her what that was. … How did I want to Tune long ago? She had not wanted to use the Wind Up that she had used ever since her mother had taught it to her. She soon found the answer. She had told Gunmal about it in the graveyard before the dragons had flown. “This is how I used to want to Tune, isn’t it?” She breathed in. “…” After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth and produced a song. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” It was the Flight Song. She placed her Live on that song and sang. It was not a forced method like the Over Up and it was not a summoning like the Wind Up. She simply sang the Flight Song so the surrounding Lives could hear. Then, she swung Wild Königin. She sent out the Messages for three Earth Burns. She had closed her eyes, so she did not know if Wild Königin’s blade had sent out her Live. She did not know what had happened, but her feet landed on the concrete ground of the wharf. She opened her eyes and flapped her wings. Her forward-moving force had negated the downward force of her fall. She ran, she raced, and she accelerated. She extended her wings at a sharp angle to catch the wind. She saw some blue Lives. They were the Lives of the wind. She adjusted the angle of her wings to catch the front of that current. Wings produced more lift the more powerfully they resisted the wind. She kicked off the ground and floated up. Her final two footsteps sounded much louder. Finally, she flew up into the night sky. ### Interlude 5 Akira looked around after flying into the night sky. The Lives that Gunmal had disturbed had already vanished. “…” Wild Königin was not emitting any kind of Live in her hand. … Did it not work? As she muttered those words in her heart, she heard the dragon’s roar from behind. It was approaching from where she had been thrown out into the sky. It was chasing after her. “Uh, oh.” As if to confirm her worries, the dragon roared again. It was even closer now. She needed to run away. To check how far away it was, she flapped her wings and looked over her shoulder, but she saw something strange there. It was a dragon, but it was not the Earth Serpent. It was a green Earth Burn that was much skinnier and smaller than the Earth Serpent. The wood element Earth Serpent was following her. “…Eh?” She was so confused she forgot to flap her wings and she fell below the wood element Earth Burn. Her eyes were fixed on the Earth Burn behind her, so she ended up looking overhead by the time the green dragon flew by there. That brought another dragon into view. A blue dragon was flying through the heavens. “You’re kidding!?” But that was not all. As she fell, something appeared below her and supported her. “It can’t be…” She hesitantly looked down and found a great expanse of brown stone pavement. Needless to say, it was not actually stone pavement. She was seeing a dragon’s scales. She was on the earth element Earth Burn’s back. She gasped and turned in a different direction. She looked to the Wan Chai district of eastern Hong Kong Island. A pure-white Earth Serpent waited there. It raised its head and stared down at the three dragons that were not even a tenth its size. The battle had reached a new stage. ### 202. Afternoon Section - Final Act: Akira (4:57) ### Part 1 Fifteen seconds after the battle began, Akira noticed her disadvantage. The three Earth Burns were making constant hit and away attacks and she was creating spears from the wind Lives, but… “It’s not affecting that Earth Serpent at all!” She swung Wild Königin while yelling. A great wind bird was instantly born. She had used an Octave greater than three million and the giant bird of prey had a wingspan of forty meters. The bird gave a high-pitched screech and flew at the Earth Serpent. The three Earth Burns moved out ahead of the bird as they too flew toward the dragon over ten times their size. The dragons of blue, green, and brown tore at the Earth Serpent with their claws and fangs. The bird of prey performed a tackle. The beak, wings, and talons made of wind were enough for the Earth Serpent to move back a little. But that was all. The Earth Burns and her Tuning were showing little noticeable effect. She continued attacking, but the Earth Serpent was devouring Hong Kong all the while. “I need to destroy that giant body,” she muttered. At the same time, the Earth Serpent raised its head in the Wan Chai district and looked up into the heavens. Its yellow eyes focused on the cloud-covered sky. A beat later, it roared. The roar was a physical blow. “!” Akira’s wings shook and some smaller feathers scattered into the air. The three Earth Burns were overpowered and retreated defensively into the sky. That cry had been more than just a roar. The great sea surrounding Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula exploded from the very bottom. “…!?” The nighttime sea had the same color as deep darkness and its Lives had the same Word Color. The air was pushed back by the Lives bursting from the sea and became a salty wind. The roar created a powerful gust of wind, but even then it did not end. In every direction, the Lives of the sea drew upward-pointing arcs and gathered around the Earth Serpent. The great dragon’s great roar was summoning the appropriate Lives. The Lives making up the sea created giant angular wings for the Earth Serpent. It intended to fly. “Wait… That’s no joke!” Wild Königin replied to Akira’s shout. … Akira! Look down! It was Gunmal’s Live. She did as he said and saw a small space at Central’s wharf that had escaped the destruction. She also saw a few of her friends there. … !? She gasped and Gunmal said more. … We’re ready for the fire element! It’s only gonna last an instant, okay!? “Eh!?” … Don’t act so surprised! Hurry on down! It’s after you! When she heard that last comment, Akira cleared her ears. Lives filled with great pressure were attempting to leave the earth. The Earth Serpent was going to fly and Akira understood everything. She held Wild Königin under her arm and let the Lives around her ring. … I’m going to create an Earth Serpent, too! The three Earth Burns roared in response to her will. It was a pleasant noise and she kicked off the air while listening to the trio. She made a rapid descent to where Gunmal had called her. She flapped her wings, split the air, and moved in a straight line. The wharf grew below her and the individual people came into view. Gunmal was there and he raised a hand as if in greeting when he saw her. That was the signal. The four tanks gathered in the center of the wharf exploded, producing pillars of fire. “You want me to use-…!?” She never finished her shouted question. Without slowing her descent, she held Wild Königin down and flew right into the explosive flames. Wild Königin’s blade split the rising flames. … This will work! She immediately started singing and the desired change was instantly achieved. With a single swing, Wild Königin broke down the Lives of fire, heat, light, and smoke. The surrounding space was dyed in crimson. “She did it!” She heard the General’s voice as she flew back up into the sky and a second explosion followed after her. Flames burst from the four tanks from left to right and four pillars of fire rose into the night sky. Those four flaming pillars ascended in a straight line before spiraling around each other and combining. The resultant crimson pillar swelled out much farther than the tanks from which it was born. A red dragon was created in the sky and Akira flew right in front of it. She lightly tapped the fire Earth Burn’s nose with Wild Königin as if greeting it. The dragon narrowed its eyes a little and nodded. The previous three Earth Burns joined them. With the Earth Burns of all four elements following her, Akira briefly looked down. Her companions were looking up at her and the dragons from the wharf. Akira looked back down at them. “Oh, it’s Rin.” She spotted someone she had not seen for a while. The woman wore a black combat outfit and a similarly-dressed young man – Fei – stood next to her. Akira breathed a sigh of relief before her eyes stopped on another point of the wharf. Gunmal stood there with Wild König in his hand. “…” She smiled a little and redirected her gaze upwards. The typhoon had covered the sky with storm clouds. The sky was dark, but a light illuminated it from below. “…?” It was the Earth Serpent. Its horns, face, body, and wings all glowed with a somewhat yellowish coloration. That was the power of Yang provided by Double Lee’s blood. “Is it the power of Yang and my brother’s Live that are driving the dragon higher?” She nodded. “Then I only have one option.” The very next moment, she flew straight up. “Let’s go, everyone.” She flew toward heaven. Toward a higher place. ### Part 2 Akira flew without looking down. “I need to be able to reach heaven.” She used the strength of her wings to lift her body higher and higher. The air grew heavier and heavier, but she accelerated to overcome that weight. To continue flying, she needed to read the wind. She flew higher. Toward a higher place. “I need draw in the moonlight for the power of Yin.” She flew. … The wind is weak. She desperately read the Lives. She picked up the wind even as it thinned from the great altitude and she rode that current to accelerate. She sharpened her mind. She closed her eyes and ears and she focused her senses on her wings and the hands holding Wild Königin. When she did, she found she could see and hear the surrounding Lives. Even with no wind, the wind Lives were there. And if those were there, so were the air Lives. Many different kinds of Lives floated in the air, even if only in small quantities: water, cloud, heat, chill, and the excitement rising from those in Hong Kong. It all reached Akira and saw her off. She combined acceleration and flight and felt many different Lives passing through her body. It was the same as when she had seen Gunmal’s Live. She sped up, flew between the floating Lives, and passed through them. It was a pleasant feeling. … Amazing. Her mind smiled a little. Her Live was joyfully shouting that she needed to climb even higher. … I can’t fight it. Her heart desired to move higher, higher, and faster. That desire cut off her senses and created everything. She could sense the four dragons holding their breath and following her. The wind, the air, and even gravity spoke to her with their Messages rather than any physical form. Her own Live responded and she flew ever higher as if pushed on by them. She accelerated. She needed to reach a great height, so she flew. The Message sung by her Live desired what was there: the power of Yin that filled the moonlight. Every time she flapped her wings, she could feel herself approaching her destination. The word “joy” filled her mind. … Why? A question occurred to her. … Why did I try to get rid of this? She had no time to answer the question. She simply ascended. Spatially, her destination was far. Temporally, it was close. “Here it is,” she said. She shifted her focus from the sensations in her body and back to reality. Her beating pulse proved her own existence. “…” Without speaking a word, she looked around. The four Earth Burns surrounded her. Below, Hong Kong Island’s broken shape and the Kowloon Peninsula looked even smaller than on a map. The sea spread out around them and she could see small lights at the ends of that ocean. Those were the cities of other countries. Akira breathed a sigh of relief while looking at the lights of cities she had never visited. Her elated senses heard the voices of Lives ringing in the heavens and the earth. They belonged to the night, the sky, the clouds, the wind, the city, the earth, and the people. “Yes.” She gave a satisfied nod. “It’s so full of life.” She then looked up to the dark clouds. They formed a dome-like curtain that turned somewhat downward. She could not see the heavens, but she still asked a question without looking away. “Gunmal?” She spoke quietly, but Wild Königin still answered. … What is it? She smiled at his somehow kind tone. “I want to see the moon.” … I see. A few seconds after that, he continued with a bitter laugh. … I told you what to do if you need something, didn’t I? “Yes, but are you sure? I’m going to call your Wild Name.” … Go for it. I wouldn’t be able to reach you otherwise. “That’s true.” She nodded, raised Wild Königin like a sword, and closed her eyes. She exhaled and then inhaled deeply. She gathered all of her senses on Wild Königin and felt Wild König reaching her. When she realized Gunmal was doing the same thing, her smile deepened. A moment later, they moved in unison, called each other’s Wild Names, and spoke. ### Part 3 “La.” Akira’s Live began with that sound. “Ah.” Gunmal’s Live began with that sound. The two Lives resonated with each other and raced through Hong Kong’s heavens and earth. “…!” The powerful steel-colored Live fired from the surface collided with Akira’s Wild Königin in the heavens and was amplified into even greater power. Light exploded into the dark clouds. The wave of light tore into the eye of the typhoon and blew away the peak of the dark clouds spiraling around Hong Kong. Like a ripple, a hole opened and spread through the clouds. The receding clouds flowed even faster than water. The sound of the wind contained a metallic sharpness. It was a bursting sound. It only took three seconds for the light to destroy the clouds. A different light appeared afterwards. This was not a steel-colored light rising from below, the unnecessarily bright light of Yang, or an artificial light. This pale, refreshing light took the form of the full moon positioned above Hong Kong. ### Part 4 The moonlight washed over Akira’s entire body. Each feather of her angular wings spread out to increase the surface area exposed to the moonlight. Her wings cried out in flight. She looked down at Hong Kong far below. She saw a glowing beast there: the Earth Serpent. It had stopped moving as it lay on the Kowloon Peninsula and let its wings smolder a little. She could sense its gaze on her. It was clearly looking up at her. … Could it be waiting? “That would be nice, brother.” She nodded and spoke with her eyes stopped on the white beast. “Gunmal, um, once this battle is over…” She took a breath. “How about we go to the beach?” He did not respond, but she continued anyway. “We can invite everyone, talk by the water…and go swimming. I did buy a swimsuit for this year.” … It had better be a two-piece. She smiled bitterly at his sudden comment. “I had a feeling you’d say that. …But don’t worry. I think we have similar tastes.” … Ha ha ha. Then I guess I should prepare a car. I’ll need to get my license. “Hm? You’ll take me?” … Yeah. If I didn’t, you’d fly there. “True.” She nodded and looked up to the moon. “Wait for me. I’ll be right back.” … Don’t push yourself too hard. “Eh?” … You’re on even footing now. So don’t rush this and go have some fun until you’re worn out. Okay? She was the one not to answer his question this time. She slowly closed her eyes and opened her mouth instead. The voice that left her lips was her Live. “La.” She hummed the Live that began with that sound. But that gentle hum gradually filled with strength and stretched out to a longer sound. “…!” She released a loud voice and then sang the Flight Song. “彼街通天地 “墜朝地仰雲 “昇夜空謳月 “惟望再笑君” She sang the song with the perfectly round moon overhead and the moonlight washing over her body. She embraced Wild Königin with her entire body. “…!” Her song rang out for a long time. Her body began to fall as if pulled down by the voice descending toward Hong Kong. The fall began slow, but it gradually picked up speed. As if synchronized to the gravitational acceleration, Wild Königin amplified her Live more and more. Her body broke down into Lives. It turned to dust or a glowing mist using the same process her brother had used. Wild Königin fell while surrounded by her song, her Lives, and the moonlight. The single spear simply dropped while shining in the moonlight. The four Earth Burns gathered and spiraled around it. The four-colored streams wrapped around the moonlight in the center. The transformation only took an instant. A bluish-white dragon with a single great horn appeared in the heavens. It was an Earth Serpent with the power of Yin. It roared to express the joy of its birth. That loud voice was as metallic as a peacock cry as it burst out. It was the voice of the dragon Akira had become. The Yang Earth Serpent consuming Hong Kong’s earth reacted to the cry. It looked up toward heaven and gave a sharp roar of its own. The dragon roars reverberated without end. The city rumbled without end. The two dragons flew. The Yin Earth Serpent flew from heaven to earth. The Yang Earth Serpent flew from earth to heaven. They charged toward each other with nimbleness unthinkable for their size. They were fast and they would collide in an instant. But a certain movement appeared just before those sparks audibly scattered. ### Part 5 The two dragons shifted their positions just before colliding. “…!” Just as it looked like they would wrap around each other as if to tie a knot, they rapidly parted. The Yang Earth Serpent curved to the right and ascended while the Yin Earth Serpent curved to the left and descended. Together, they formed a double helix shape. A bluish-white spiral and a yellowish-white spiral raced through Hong Kong’s night sky. The intersection of the two dragons below the moon created a puff of light. It was a collection of Lives. The Yang dragon split off the Lives it had created by breaking down Hong Kong and the Yin dragon absorbed them. It almost looked like the one was handing its excess nutrients to its starving sister. The two great dragons raised simultaneous cries. That signaled the end of the ceremony. The Yang Earth Serpent moved first and it pushed the air out of the way to fly toward heaven. The Yin Earth Serpent looked up at it for just a moment before facing down once more. The one-horned dragon descended in a straight line. Its gaze was centered on Hong Kong Cave. After the sound of something slicing through the wind, the Yin Earth Serpent twisted its bluish-white body and dove inside Hong Kong Cave. ### Song of Farewell Gunmal ran up the Hong Kong Island mountain path that led to Hong Kong Cave. When he glanced upwards, he could not see the door to heaven or the Yang Earth Serpent. A few minutes had passed since the dragon Akira had become had dove into Hong Kong Cave with a great roar. Hong Kong had already left England’s control. “…” He ran. He swung Wild König to break the rocks blocking his way and he hurried to the mountain peak. He was out of breath, but he did arrive there. He reached the edge of the great hole once known as Hong Kong Cave. “…Akira.” He stood on the very edge and looked down. There, he saw what Akira had wanted. He saw Hong Kong Cave after it had been Tuned by the dragon she had become. Nothing was out of place and there was not a stain to be seen. The barriers built out of fear of others were gone, but the empty city had been perfectly recreated along the sides of the great pit. It was a pretty city. It was so delicate that it almost looked like a paper model. Gunmal smiled and stared down at it. His gaze dropped down to the very bottom of the pit where he saw a light. It was the moon. “The moon?” He tilted his head but then realized what it was. It was the spring. The water at the very bottom was reflecting the moon. It was a perfectly round and wonderful moon. “I can’t believe this.” He sat down, took a breath, placed a hand on his chin, and glanced up at the heavens. The real full moon floated there. He sighed and spoke to no one in particular as its light washed over him. “You really do lose out when you try to act tough, don’t you?” His words were carried away by the wind blowing up from the sea. Only his silhouette cast a dark mark on the ground thanks to the moonlight. ### 203. All Sections - Ending: Encore - The Flight Song (2:17) A festival was underway in Hong Kong Cave. It was celebrating the fifth year since Hong Kong Cave had been Tuned by Akira’s Earth Serpent. The city was bright. There were now people in Hong Kong Cave. Some were Glossolalians and some were Nein Engels. No accurate census had been taken, but it was known that more than a million lived there now. There was a height difference of three kilometers from the bottom to the surface and most of the wide levels were residential areas. There was more than enough space for people to live. The city was full of life. The festival played a role, but the city was also filled with the shouts and songs from shops and performers. Currently, three people were slowly descending through the pleasant noise of the giant layered city. One was an old man, one was a young man, and the last was a child who ran out ahead of them. The boy in a nice child’s suit had four wings. He unsteadily ran down the stairs and turned back toward the two adults walking more slowly behind him. “Hey, Uncle Gunmal! Can I go on ahead!?” “Yes, but…hey, G2! Don’t get lost.” The young man replied to the boy with the Urban Name of G2. Gunmal wore a coat of contrasting black and white and he carried Wild König on his back. There was no harshness in his expression and the passage of five years could clearly be seen on his face. Similarly, the General still wore his usual work uniform, but he was surrounded by a somehow calm aura. The old man rubbed the scar on his cheek and glanced up at the young man. “Heh heh heh. You go by uncle now, do you?” “I don’t want to hear that from someone who could be his great-grandfather.” “…Where’s his mother?” “In London.” “Rin is too, isn’t she? That’s probably for the best. Kouga handled things pretty well.” “…” “Rumor has it the god there is personally performin’ Double Lee’s resurrection ceremony to question him. If so, maybe he’ll eventually come here for Akira’s-…” Gunmal cut off the General. “Let’s not talk about that.” “It’s been five years. Hong Kong Cave is back to normal…so why hasn’t she come back?” “We can only wait.” “Then why are you here? Weren’t you goin’ to wait it out?” “My nephew said he wanted to come here.” “Liar. Quit tryin’ to act tough.” “But it makes me look cool.” The General sighed. “I understand …You’re here to give up, ain’t you?” “…” “After five years, Hong Kong’s been revived inside this hole and we’re all more or less back to normal. But Akira alone is missin’.” “But we made a promise.” “For what?” “We were gonna go to the beach once she came back.” “Then why are you givin’ up?” Gunmal smiled bitterly. “I’m not giving up.” “Really? Then why’d you choose to take over the Maldrick family?” “Because that lets me make the rules.” “?” “Next year, I’m building a workshop here. Just like my brother did.” “…” The General fell silent as they arrived at the lowest level. The stone-paved plaza had shops set up here and there and the sunlight poured down from directly above. A large spring sat at the center and Gunmal’s nephew, G2, was scooping up and playing with the water. The General narrowed his eyes when he saw the boy. “That boy really does look a little like J-Gun.” “Really? When he was born, I thought he looked just like a monkey.” “Don’t say that when the boy can hear you.” “Don’t worry. According to my mom, my brother and I were the same.” “So you’re a family of damn monkeys?” “Please, enough compliments.” While exchanging verbal jabs, Gunmal and the General walked forward. Gunmal stopped next to the spring-side stone monument engraved with the Flight Song. He sat down and G2 stood next to him. “Hey, hey, hey, hey! Uncle! This is where that Nein Engel you love is sleeping, isn’t it!?” “She’s not the Nein Engel I love. She’s she Nein Engel who loved me.” “Quit lyin’ to the kid.” The boy did not hear the General’s warning and he asked Gunmal a question from pure curiosity. “Hey! Uncle! Can I Tune and Bust too?” “I don’t think your mom would like that idea.” “What does that matter, Gunmal?” The General smiled bitterly. “Hey, boy. Do you want to be a Tuner or a Buster?” “A Buster!” The two adults exchanged a puzzled glance at the energetic answer. Once they turned back his way, the boy said more. “I want to be able to help people like you and dad did! So can I become a Buster too?” “Precocious little brat,” muttered Gunmal as he stood up and rubbed the boy’s head with his false right hand. “A dirty brat like you’ll definitely end up like me.” He was smiling as he said it. The boy narrowed his eyes and those eyes fell on the stone monument next to his uncle. “Hey, I’ve been wondering.” “Hm?” “What does this rock say?” “Eh? …Oh, right. You can’t read Chinese.” “Yeah, so what’s it say?” “It’s a song,” replied Gunmal. “A long, long time ago, those who came before us wrote it to make sure Hong Kong would end up the way it is.” “Those who came before us?” “Yeah.” “Were they famous?” “Of course.” “How much?” “Just a little more than me.” “That’s not very much.” The General laughed bitterly at the child’s blunt comment. Hearing the laugh, Gunmal touched the stone monument. At the same time, an entertainer in the plaza started playing a song on a sanxian. “The Flight Song, huh?” Gunmal suddenly opened his mouth as he listened to the accompaniment. 彼街通天地 (That city connects heaven and earth) 墜朝地仰雲 (I fall in the morning and look up to the clouds from the earth) 昇夜空謳月 (I rise at night and sing with the moon in the sky) 惟望再笑君 (All I desire is to smile with you again) His voice carried on the sanxian’s music and his Live sounded loudly on top of it all. The reverberation expanded upwards from the bottom of the pit. Gunmal’s Flight Song carried a hint of his Live as it slowly but surely filled the air of Hong Kong Cave. It rang out. The song came to an end. Silence followed. G2 then tugged on the bottom of his coat. “?” The boy answered Gunmal’s confusion by pointing upwards. “Encore.” Gunmal cleared his ears and heard applause coming from somewhere in Hong Kong Cave. His song had been mistaken for an entertainer’s and people were applauding in hopes of an encore. It gradually grew louder. As more applause piled on, it gained a certain beat. It settled at a certain tempo and the synchronized clapping built to a great thickness. It sounded like one giant set of hands clapping. Unable to bear with that beat any longer, accompaniment for the Flight Song began playing from a higher level. The previous sanxian similarly played on the lowest level. “…!?” Drawn out by that ensemble, a male voice sang the Flight Song somewhere in the city. It only grew from there. Singing voices and accompaniment rang from every corner of Hong Kong Cave. Countless voices burst from every level. “Oh,” muttered the General. Everyone’s voices had joined as one for the chorus. The music played loud. The ensemble and beat of clapping hands enveloped Gunmal, the General, and G2. “…” They heard the voices. Man, woman, boy, and girl all sang or played the Flight Song. Hong Kong Cave was singing. Their singing voices were drawn out by Gunmal’s Live in his voice. And Gunmal stared straight up. “…?” But he suddenly pulled Wild König from his back. “What is it?” The young man held the large Device out in front of his and the old man’s eyes. The base of the Device’s hilt contained the Uroboros Rondo Wild Emblem. Gunmal had created that Device and it was now trembling ever so slightly. “It’s resonating.” Wild König would only resonate with Wild Königin which had been created at the same time. He looked to the spring. They were faint, but he saw ripples on the water’s surface. The small ripples were spreading along the large spring, but they did not vanish. More and more were created as if to make their presence known. Similarly, the tremor inside Wild König gradually grew larger and faster. Gunmal gulped. “It really is. Wild König is resonating.” A smile appeared on his lips. “Can you believe this!? Wild Königin is singing! Who is it!? Who’s singing!? It’s coming up from the bottom of the spring!” He knew perfectly well who it was and G2 shouted up at him. “Sing, uncle!” That small wish was granted. Gunmal held Wild König close and he opened his mouth. He began with a prelude that could have been an “ah” or a “la” and he began to sing. As countless singing voices rang through Hong Kong Cave, he sang the Flight Song as if his voice was the most correct and as if he wanted someone to hear it. The hands clapping to the beat cheered him on. “…!” Gunmal sang. Hong Kong sang with him. The ripples in the spring grew larger. And a song rang out in response to that movement. “La!” Gunmal’s voice rang out powerfully and loudly while sounding just like Akira’s Live. The song danced and reverberated through the city that connected heaven to earth. To wake a certain girl. And to be able to laugh in the end. Loudly. Loudly! Hey, can you hear it!? This is my answer! ### 204. Afterword “Hey, bro! I’ve got some good stuff from Taiwan for just 58 yen a bag!” Have you ever gotten a dangerous-sounding wrong number like that? I have. And that’s why (okay, that’s not actually why) I had to move. Also, I’ve started using the internet. (I feel like a ramen shop saying “We’ve started serving chilled noodles”.) It makes for a decent environment. However… The phone line isn’t up yet. Nor is the fax line. I’m really not sure if my lifestyle has moved forward or back here. Anyway, this was another long book and I was in a traffic accident, so my life’s been pretty exciting. After all, I was driving safely along when a dump truck slammed into me from behind and my car was squished in like a Choro-Q. The car was of course totaled. As I stared at it while saying goodbye at the car dealership, I had to wonder if it would pop a wheelie if you stuck a manhole cover in by the license plate. That was quite the experience. (I may be joking around, but it was pretty amazing. It’s really wonderful that I wasn’t hurt, though.) Anyway, it’s looking like the page number just keeps going up with each book I write. When Berlin through Hong Kong are lined up on the shelf at a bookstore, it’s funny how clearly you can see that each one is longer than the last. Let’s all laugh together if Osaka’s second book ends up being even longer. Now that I’ve talked about some completely unrelated stuff, let’s get to the traditional phone call. This time it’s a conversation over email. “Hey, so what do you think of the story this time?” “Eh? You’re really asking me that without giving me the second half again? Die.” “I haven’t written the second half yet, so could you find something to say at this point? In fact, just do it.” “Ehh? Seriously? But I don’t want to say something stupid.” “The best thing to do is to honestly say what’s in your heart. C’mon.” “Hmm. I like Yuuki more than Takada. I like girls that get mad at me.” “I’m not interested in speaking with a masochist, so this line will shut down in five seconds.” “Wait, you bastard! I was being serious!” What an annoying guy. Oh, but I’ve been busy since Osaka is being made into a video game too. The game takes place in Osaka two years after the novel. The main character is from Tokyo and he investigates Osaka’s past and the connections between people there. It doesn’t overlap much with the novel characters, but since it has the same setting, I hope you’ll play it if you’re the wonderful sort of person who would like to live in this kind of world. I also created a tentative website for myself. I’ll be posting unpublished novels, illustrations, and materials on the City Series. The address is And the address for the company I work at (this will be for information on the Osaka game and on my current situation) is Now, then. I just read through Part A while listening to Orbital’s The Girl with the Sun in Her Head. (It’s Western techno. I think this might be what a Rhythm sounds like.) “Whose question is the strongest?” Well, I guess that mystery will be solved next time. September 1998. Early morning on a workday. -Kawakami Minoru ### 205. Part 1 9:51 PM A torrent of water surged through the night. It was a waterfall. That rumbling with actual mass shook one’s body and had a seemingly tangible power to it. The night was dampened by the mist produced by the waterfall. Someone walked through that damp night. A single presence climbed the mountain path dampened by the night and the mist. It was a girl. The strong-willed girl was in her mid-teens. She wore a dry suit for diving, but it was a little big for her and she had a belt wrapped around the waist to keep it from falling down. A diving mask hung from her neck like a necklace and each step produced a light plastic sound as it hit the collar of the dry suit. That dry sound was contrasted by the wet footsteps of her mountain-climbing shoes. “…” She silently climbed that mountain path that was filled with the night and the mist. The waterproof maglite in her right hand was off. Her pace remained steady even when she stepped on branches or leaves. She was used to walking here. With each footstep, the rumble of the waterfall grew louder and the ratio of night to mist changed. The mist grew thicker and the night began to lose its darkness. The waterfall was nearby, so the girl walked to make its roar even louder. She stopped treading on branches and leaves and her footsteps gained the distinctive note of rock. The heavy atmosphere of the surrounding trees thinned. The waterfall’s roar grew even louder as it echoed off the rock. The girl briefly stopped and took a breath. “I wonder if he’ll get mad at me afterwards. I didn’t tell him I repaired this at home…” The girl touched the chest of her dry suit. The words “Tochigi Yakushi Firefighters” were written in white, acrylic letters. The family name Fujiwara was written below. The shoulder contained a station name and member number. The dry suit belonged to the rescue team in charge of Tochigi Prefecture’s Mt. Yakushi. “…” She started walking again and the waterfall grew even louder. Her pace had picked up. She was in the mountains in December, but she had sweat on her brow. That was just how well-insulated the dry suit was. But despite the sweat, she rushed through the darkness. She was close to her destination. She walked across the stones. Suddenly, her vision was surrounded by a hazy but bright white mist. She had entered an open space. The mist was white even at night because of a bright light far overhead. She stopped and looked back to see the shape of the forest in the dark mist. She took a breath and turned her back on that forest. There was only mist up ahead as well. She used a technien she had only just learned in middle school. — Fujiwara – Sight Tech – Take – Secure Vision – Hit. As she muttered those words in her heart, strength filled her gaze. She had used a Tech. Techs were specialized physical or mental techniques one learned at school or elsewhere. Modern cybernetic and organic technology allowed people to use them with a single command. Her conditioned reflex training used a certain Tempo as the keyword that activated this bodily skill. With the word “take”, light reached her vision. She could somewhat see through the mist now. She looked back and found she could see the damp shapes of the trees in what had only looked like dark mist before. She looked forward and saw the pure emptiness of the night instead of mist. The power of her Tech did not allow her to see through some of the darkness and she could hear the great rumbling of water coming from beyond that darkness. It was the roar of a great waterfall in Nikko’s Mt. Yakushi. That was the surging voice of Kegon Falls. As one of the most well-known waterfalls in Japan, it made its presence known with a great torrent of water even at night and even when out of view. “…” She shuddered. — Fujiwara – Mind Tech – Take – Restrain Urge – Miss. Her legs trembled and she pursed her lips while looking up. Even with her Sight Tech, a thick layer of mist hid the sky, but she could still see the artificial light that illuminated the mist from above. A rectangular terrace-like platform jutted out twenty meters up the giant stone wall to her right. It was the viewing platform for the waterfall. There was no one on that platform, so only the sunlamp on its edge looked down at her. Looking at that artificial light stopped her trembling. She faced forward again and saw the end of the mountain path. She left that path that only the few locals knew of and found herself halfway up the rock walls surrounding Kegon Falls. She descended the rocks which had no path to follow. Soon, the downward slope vanished and she stood on a simple rocky area. A collection of pointed rocks and stones formed the ground. She could now hear a flowing river mixed in with the roar of the falls. The wind had also started to blow. She brushed back her bangs which were wet from the mist. When she touched her cheek, she found her face wet as if from tears. … I didn’t want to start playing it yet, but I guess I’ll do this like always. With that silent comment, she pulled a single cord from the dry suit’s waist pocket. The cord had headphones attached. The speakers were larger than normal because it was waterproofed. She stuck them in her ears and switched them on. A gentle and refreshing Irish sound started playing. It was instrumental music with a Live contained inside. The music’s Message was that of water and she let the water music flow through her. The Live in the music washed over the flowing Lives making up her body. She raised the volume to increase the Octave. She used an Octave of 80,000. Among normal people, that took some talent. Finally, she sang her Words to fully place herself in the music. Time flows like water She who flows through time People do not stop Time does not stop Simply flow like water And inherit all of the questions As she sang, she squeezed the maglite in her right hand. “Aqua Middle Rhythm.” With that clear voice, the mist around her right hand began to move. — Fujiwara – Aqua Middle/Mind Tech – Multiple Take – Water Control – Hit. As the music known as a Rhythm sent the water Live into her body, that Live became her power. By listening to the water Live just like activating a Tech, she could control the water. The boys in her class were always arguing over what combination of power and commercial Device they could use to fight. Needless to say, she was not interested in such uncivilized things. The girl only used her Rhythm when she wanted to control water. This was one such time. “Open the way.” The mist parted before her eyes and her vision cleared. The environmental change allowed the wind that lacked mist to strike her cheeks. Her Rhythm’s power parted the mist and her Tech’s power let her see through the darkness. She looked straight forward and saw water. The fifty meter waterfall basin was filled with dark water before her eyes. To her left across that water was Kegon Falls. The large cascade’s water raised an excited roar. The solid downpour struck the water’s surface beyond the mist split by the Aqua Middle Rhythm. The rumble echoed off the rocky walls surrounding the waterfall. The reverberation shook the Aqua Middle Rhythm and somewhat numbed her senses. She absentmindedly glanced over, but then a look of shocked realization covered her face and she shook her head. She sighed. She checked the neck and waist of the dry suit and pressed the headphones further into her ears. She hummed the rhythm of the song so as not to be distracted by the waterfall’s roar. The song would not end for another five minutes and she could control water until then, so she removed her mountain climbing shoes. Her bare feet were cold on the winter rocks. In another month, Kegon Falls would freeze. The cold rock seemed to stab into her feet as she walked forward. On the third step, her feet touched the water. The power of the Rhythm caused the water at her feet to waver and lose its current. That December water should have been even colder than the rocks, but… … It’s warm. It only felt that way because her own Live and the Lives of the water were so similar. It felt like she was being embraced by someone, but then a voice split through the roar of the cascade. “Who is that!? What are you doing there!?” She looked up on reflex and saw someone looking down at her from the viewing platform. She could see the silhouette of his boxy hat in the sunlamp’s light. … I was spotted!? Her body reacted to that thought on reflex. She ran along the wet rocks. The splashing of her steps soon rose to her shins and knees. She ran forward and even deeper. On the third step, she put on the diving mask. Someone’s voice was still shouting overhead. On the seventh step, she leaped forward. She flew in a parabolic arc and into the water. She plunged into the darkness embraced by the waterfall basin. ### 206. Part 1 4:25 PM A boy directly faced the sunset while holding his forehead over his bandanna. Whenever he lost himself in thought, the scar on his forehead would throb. Whenever he was nervous and surrounded by enemies, that scar below his bandanna would throb. And that was why he asked a question with his kind-looking eyes narrowed in a troubled look. “Um, do we really have to do this because the Emergency Teachers are off duty today?” Several students holding weapons surrounded the boy on the schoolyard which had been dug up here and there for construction work. The excellent quality of their weapons was enough to know they were from the Chancellor’s Officers who provided student defense for the Osaka region. The boy scratched his head as he looked to them, the schoolyard, and the large boxy building of Osaka Prefectural #2 beyond them. “I can’t believe this… I really don’t think you should be surrounding a transfer student for no reason.” He really did sound like he could not believe it. Suddenly, the circle of students around him took a step inwards. The pressure of their presence caused the boy to hold his chest and take a step back. That was enough for his back to reach the large concrete wall. He could not escape. … Wow, I really can’t believe this. He complained in his heart, placed a hand on his forehead again, and faced forward. An odd heat enveloped the group surrounding him. It was a suspicious heat that bordered on madness and a voice spoke from within it. “Hizaka Shoui, Class 2-B Student #21, Critical Forcer. What brought you to our school? I don’t see what a Mountain drop-out needs with a school.” The boy, Hizaka Shoui, raised his head at that. He silently touched his bandanna and tilted his head. “Well, it is true even a drop-out from the Mountain’s chancellor training knows more than a university graduate, but…” “But what?” “By any chance… are you bullying little old me because my smarts scare you ?” “Don’t be ridiculous, you moron! Do you think we want to pick on a kid who just transferred in!?” “Th-then why am I being cornered like this? And by the Chancellor’s Officers no less!” Shoui frantically asked his question while pressing his back against the wall and the others exchanged a glance. Finally, some voices of doubt escaped them. “Hey…” “What?” “Are you sure this is the guy who trained at the Mountain for two whole years?” “Yeah, I thought he would be weird since he spent two years when it normally takes half a year, but I didn’t expect this …” “Maybe he was so bad at it he was held back that long.” “It could be. All he’s been doing is complain.” “He looks really weak to me.” “That he does.” “But Saki-san seems to know something about this.” “Hey, hey, hey. I’m the one in trouble here, so don’t leave me out of the conversation.” Shoui shouted back at the people talking about him loud enough that he did not need to use a Tech to hear it. “What is this, anyway!? It’s my first day here, so what is this all about!?” “You’ve been judged to be highly dangerous, obviously.” A sharp voice broke through the crowd and the crowd split apart. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! A tall, slender boy with a spear in hand walked straight through the center of everyone’s gazes. His short-cut blond hair and sunglasses stood out the most. The tip of his spear shined in the setting sun. It shined with a scarlet light. “!” A phantom pain ran through Shoui’s forehead when he saw the almost damp scarlet light on the blade. Instead of the earlier prickling pain, this was powerful enough to wake him up. … This is bad. The phantom pain from the reflected light replayed a certain image in the back of his mind. It was a scene from the past. A raised spear was swung down through the darkness to split open his forehead. He felt blood spraying from his forehead, he was filled with a scorching pain, and… … Yuuki. A girl’s name appeared in his heart, but… — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Self-Control – Hit! After three heartbeats and some sweat on his back, he endured the replaying of his past and his fear. The next thing he knew, the spear boy stood right in front of him. “…” They were five meters away from each other. At just a few steps apart, the boy pulled a memo pad from his pocket using the hand not holding the spear. He looked back and forth between Shoui’s face and the memo pad before asking a question. “Hizaka Shoui. You have a tendency to compromise, so it’s never clear what you’re thinking. You used to live at the Nandaimon Shrine, you trained at the Mountain for two years, and…now you’re a Dis-Worder. Is that accurate?” “Y-yes. Perfectly accurate.” Shoui looked the boy in the eye and quickly nodded several times. The boy nodded just once. “I see. I understand now.” “Oh, good. You understand? Can we handle this peacefully now?” “Yes, I understand you need to be executed.” “What?” “So we’ll be sending you to the hospital.” Shoui pointed at the boy who was still calmly staring at the memo pad. “Y-y-y-y-y-you rotten monster! What’s going on here!?” “The details don’t matter. Word Accelerator Ixolde is being activated the day after tomorrow, so could you stay away from here until then?” “I have no idea what you’re even talking about! Please give me a logical explanation!” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit! The boy must have realized what the look in Shoui’s eyes meant because he gave him an upturned look and spoke. “You spent two years at the Mountain before they kicked you out and you still didn’t become a Chancellor, so why are you joining our Prefectural #2 just before Ixolde’s activation? …After all, Prefectural #2 is home to the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers Headquarters and current Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou.” “Eh? W-well, I’d always wanted to go to school here. Besides, what’s wrong with me being here?” “Why would you want to go to school here?” “Well, it’s a mixed boys and girls school and it even has student dorms to live in.” The boy silently held his spear below his right arm in preparation to fight. “Ah, I can’t believe you! You just ignored everything I said, didn’t you!?” “Shut up. I’m First Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji. As head of intelligence, I will eliminate you here.” “I can’t believe this. I’m no good at fighting Strike Forcers, you know?” “Oh? …Hizaka Shoui, I’ve long heard rumors of you and your lack of Words.” “Wow, am I famous? I can’t believe it… Really, I’m gonna blush. What do I do?” “Quit wiggling around. At the very least, any fighter these days will have heard your name somewhere or another. …Except for the last two years, that is.” “…” “Normally, you have to be sixteen to undergo chancellor training at the Mountain and it only lasts a year. So why did you go the Mountain at fifteen and what were you doing for those two years?” “That’s what I’d like to know.” “Hm? …What do you mean?” “It doesn’t really matter. More importantly, could you maybe do something about this current situation?” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Expression Decoding – Hit. “I guess not.” “Oh? Is that how it looks?” “I don’t think anyone could see it differently. I can’t believe this. And I’m supposed to be the ultimate pacifist. Nowadays, anyway.” “ ‘Nowadays’? Then what about two years ago?” “Two years ago?” “Yeah, that’s right.” Saki nodded and a slight smile entered his voice. “On that snowy night when you, a guest at the Nandaimon Shrine, made the Koto Guardian kill someone.” “…” Shoui did not respond. He remained silent. He only pressed his back against the wall and lowered his bandanna. He touched the scar on his forehead through the bandanna. The bandanna was mounted on a forehead protector which was split in two down the center. He touched the cold metal edge and took a deep breath. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Self-Control – Hit. As he controlled his heart, words filled it rather than images. … Childhood friend. … My own lack of Words. … My duty to protect her. … Her injury and her eye. … Murderer. “Do you see how dangerous you are now? From our perspective, we have no idea why you lack the Words all of us have, you’ve undergone some unknown training for an excessive amount of time, and you’re friends with a murderer.” Shoui remained silent and his vision was mostly covered by his bandanna. This was a method he had learned over the past two years. At the very least, his vision would not pick up any blades swung down toward him. But he could hear his opponent. “Whatever your situation is, your words are going to fall on deaf ears. All that matters are the facts I laid out for you. Understand?” “In other words, you don’t want to have a deactivated time bomb anywhere near you?” “At the very least, we don’t want you coming to this school until Ixolde’s activation is complete. Will you take a hit from my Pressure High and spend the time in the hospital, or will you stay home on your own? It’s your choice.” “I can’t believe this. I don’t like either of those options… I really can’t believe this.” “Then let me give you one piece of information.” Saki used his empty hand to tell the other students to back away. “It may not have reached your ears, but Koto Guardian and Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki currently has a certain Urban Name.” “An Urban Name?” “Killing Holder.” Saki gave a brief answer and continued with a bitter smile. “It means she holds death inside herself. Since she killed someone.” Shoui’s body gave a single quick tremor at the word “kill”. But his silence did not seem to bother Saki Seiji. “So what’ll it be? At this rate, I’ll be acting as a member of the Chancellor’s Officers to eliminate someone I’ve deemed dangerous…but how do you want this to end, ‘Dog of Nandaimon’ Hizaka Shoui-kun?” “I can’t believe this.” Shoui’s voice remained light and his shoulders drooped. After a beat, he immediately took action. ### 207. Part 1 7:11 PM One of Osaka’s landmarks was a tower known as the Tsutenkaku. It was about one hundred meters tall, it towered above the streets of houses and shops, and no thought had been given to the danger of it collapsing. There was a small plaza around its base, but that was it. The hundred meter tower sat right alongside people’s homes. The structure brought the word “local” to mind. Currently, a boy stood on the tile-covered stone pavement below the Tsutenkaku. It was Hizaka Shoui. He drank a can of coffee while looking to the city lights shining into the dark night. He was waiting for a girl. That girl was Yamashita Taeko who he had met at Prefectural #2’s front gate. “Later, let’s meet up at that place called the Tsutenkaku. I’ll treat ya to some food once the meetin’s over.” He had been obediently following her casual suggestion, but… “It’s been almost two hours now. And curfew was at seven…” He looked up, wishing he had walked around Osaka for a bit instead. Far overhead near the top of the Tsutenkaku, the bottom of the observation deck looked like a dark shadow. He had not looked up at that tower for a long time. Even after two years, Osaka remained the same as in his faint memories. Not long before, he had learned that it was his own situation that had changed so drastically. … I didn’t stick with that training for two years because I wanted to… It was true he had gained permission to enter the Mountain during the winter two years before, even though he had not been in high school yet. His training should have ended half a year after that, but for some reason, he had repeated the same training four times. That previous Chancellor’s Officers member may have been right that it simply was not for him. Still looking up, Shoui leaned his back against one of the pillars forming the Tsutenkaku’s base. He brought a hand to the bandanna on his forehead. There was no phantom pain, but it would appear if he tried to remember. Everything from that time would come rushing back if he thought back to what had happened one night during the winter two years before. “…” It had all begun two years ago. It had been a night with a chilly wind when he had made Yuuki Yuuki, history’s youngest Koto Guardian and Koto Chancellor, kill someone It had been a cold night. Everyone had been holed up in their homes, the only lights in the streets had come from windows, and a silent liveliness had seemed to highlight one’s existence like a form of shadow puppetry. The same had been true of the shopping district in front of Nara’s Kofuku-ji. There was a park there containing a large lake called Sarusawa Lake. During the day, the locals would have been resting in the park, but it was simply an empty space with a lake during the night. A wind had carried a sobering chill as it had raced across the lake and through the park. Shoui had been with Yuuki there. He had sat on the stone bank of the lake while she wore a red blazer. They had not been looking each other in the eye and Shoui had been holding his reddened right cheek. “Do you really need to slap me just because I touched your butt, Yuuki?” He had called her name, but the intellectual face behind her glasses had not turned his way. That was due to the headphones in her ears. A terribly refreshing holy sound had escaped them. Based on the volume he could hear, it had to be easily over an Octave of 320,000. “The Geist Middle Rhythm…” His words had trailed off and vanished because he had noticed the many lights floating around her. The lights had been the size of a fist. Those cool, bluish-white fluorescent lights had flown around her, landed on her shoulders, hair, and hands, left her again, and continued to dance about. The light had illuminated her black hair, white skin, and red clothing, making it all stand out in the darkness. He had briefly watched in fascination, but then he had come to his senses. “Y-Yuuki, that’s too many spirits… If you’re dragged in…” She had not turned toward him, so he had sighed with a look of exasperation. Her lips had begun to sing a refreshing song as if his sigh had been a sign. — Yuuki – Geist Middle – Take – Speak with the Dead – Hit. The winter cries out frigidly Someone cries in loneliness They speak words yet nothing is said They speak Words yet nothing is said They simply wait for the ice to melt They draw near and never give up As he listened to her Words, Shoui had looked to the lights floating around her. “They draw near and never give up, huh? That fits perfectly for the spirits in Koto that can’t rest in peace, but in a way, those are really dark Words.” She had finally turned around at that. “That can’t be helped. My Words were originally for an ice god.” “…You could hear me?” “I could hear all the awful things you said about me.” “Is that so?” He had rested his head in his hand. “It’s weird that you can communicate with the spirits of the dead without using specialized Words.” “You’re the weird one, Shoui-kun. What with being a Dis-Worder and all.” He had shrugged at that. “I don’t really mind.” “But it is weird. People normally get these powers from Rhythms, but you can use them all without a Rhythm.” “But it’s all weakened since I don’t recite any Words. Even with High Rhythm powers, an Octave of 150,000 is the most I can manage.” “I wonder why. Why don’t you have your own Words?” “Well, wouldn’t that be because during the Kinki Riot-…” He had smiled bitterly and lightly shaken his head. “Because my wife has been sucking them out of me every night?” Yuuki had narrowed her eyes offensively when she heard that. “You moron… Did you forget your promise?” “Ha ha. I remember that promise just fine.” “And I just had you promise again the day before yesterday. …Hey.” “Yes?” “Your hand.” Yuuki’s words and gaze had fallen toward Shoui’s hand touching her butt through her skirt. “What’s so fun about that?” — Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Counter-Take – Intimidation Reflection – Hit. “You’re right. I probably need to stick my hand up your skirt for it to be really fun.” “What do you mean ‘need’?” “You’re the one that begged me with the ends of your eyebrows lowered last nigh- ow, ow, ow, ow! Is that really worth a backhand blow!?” “Honestly, why do you have to bring up those things?” “You’re the one that asked!” “Shut up. Anyway, why are you here?” “Um…” “I’ll push you in the lake? Five, four, three…” “Don’t count so fast! Um, Grandma Senga contacted me and said representatives of each region are holding a meeting about Ixolde. It’s apparently about whether to run a startup test.” “I see.” Yuuki had nodded. “A startup test, hm? That tragedy may be more than a decade old now, but I still can’t believe they’re trying to create the ultimate Rhythm with that giant word accelerator. Prefectural #2’s Chancellor’s Officers are really being a nuisance.” — Shoui – School Tech –Take – Recall Memory – Hit. “Either way, Prefectural #2 was only recently built, so it’s the only place that can gather the funds needed for that kind of facility. The academy rules ban financial support from corporations and the government, after all.” “Shoui-kun, you intend to go to Prefectural #2 next year, don’t you?” “Your grandma is too strict, so she won’t open Nandaimon up to boys.” “There were apparently some boys as guards just after the Kinki Riot twelve years ago, but things have calmed down now with Japan still split between east and west.” “Ixolde is going to bring some trouble, though. Tokyo sees the ultimate Rhythm as a danger, so they’ve held several world-class meetings about it, right?” “Yes, but Osaka loves being the best in Japan.” Yuuki had sighed without changing her expression much. “In the past, they even crushed our plans to build a tower called Babel. …Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do about that.” Yuuki had stood up and Shoui had followed her lead. Their difference in age had put a difference in their heights. Yuuki was a year older than Shoui, so her eyes were positioned one step above his. She had looked down at him and removed the MD headphones from her ears. “Well, it’s my job, so I have to go. Where’s the meeting?” “At Prefectural #2 of course. You have to change trains three times.” Just as the two of them had started walking, the north wind had blown in. A moment later… — Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Suddenly, Yuuki’s glasses had shattered and a Japanese sword had thrust up. “Yuuki!?” Her body had floated up and fallen onto its back with a dull sound. “…Uuh.” She had made a small groan on the ground and covered her right eye with a hand. Blood had spilled from between her fingers. When Shoui had seen it, he had started to run over. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. He had turned around. — Shoui – Sight/Dodge Tech – Multiple Auto-Take – Dodge – Hit! He had rolled forward on reflex as a silver arc swept by overhead. “Wah…toh!” He had punched the ground to propel himself back to his feet and he had faced forward. A tall boy in a combat coat student uniform had stood there with a bloody sword. Shoui had recognized his somewhat slanted eyes and tense face. “Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei!? …What’s someone that important doing here!?” Without even nodding, Yamashita had suddenly released his Words. The Words had contained an intense low rumbling that called in lightning. At that point, the phantom pain ran through Shoui’s forehead. That pain came from the wound he had received soon afterwards. “…!” He had known he had to win, but his memories refused to play back any further. He returned to reality. He was below the Tsutenkaku and not by the Sarusawa Lake in Koto. What had happened afterwards raced through his mind as facts, not as memories. … Breaking my promise, murder, and a unilateral farewell. “If only I hadn’t passed out…” The pulse behind those words was racing. Once his vision returned, all five senses grew clearer. He realized he was now sitting down with his legs outstretched and his back still against the Tsutenkaku’s pillar. The can of coffee lay by his feet with its contents pooled up around it. He smiled bitterly, but then heard the continuation of the lightning Words that marked the end of his memories. ### 208. Part 1 11:02 PM The winter night was growing late and a sandy wind passed below the moonlight. That wind blew above the desert known as the Altered Line that covered northern Nagoya. It danced freely through the sky. A large bridge crossed the sky as if following the wind. The long, straight bridge was located several kilometers above the ground. The giant bridge cast its shadow on the vast sea of sand below and it had a certain name: New Route 155. The ultra elevated bridge crossed the region of desert covering northern Nagoya. The moon had risen directly above New Route 155. The elevated bridge cast its shadow in that moonlight and a four-track freight railroad traveled east to west across it. Currently, two men faced each other on the track leading to the Nagoya region. Standing on the west was a large boy with two false arms and a sleeveless school uniform. Standing on the east was a boy with short-cut hair and a red mountain hoodie. They were both students. They both had their legs spread wide across the railroad track. A powerful silence ruled the region. Tension itself seemed to float around them. Something like uncontainable murderous intent surrounded the area with a low Tempo. That Tempo could only be broken by new words and the first to open his mouth was the large boy. “To think you would use 155 to try to sneak into the Nagoya region.” His low voice elicited a confident bend of the eyebrows and a bitter smile from the other boy. “If we hadn’t been questioned at Inuyama Station, we could have gotten through without having to pass over the Altered Line. I didn’t think they would bother with an inspection for a night train.” “I had heard Inuyama was caught in a battle …Supposedly, they were faced with a giant wolf-like beast and someone immune to all attacks.” “We’re all pretty much demons, so you all don’t stand a chance. …Nagoya got the short end of the stick on this one.” “Nonsense. …Ever since the Kinki Riot, Nagoya has never met anything we could not eliminate at this east-west gate.” “So you take a neutral stance in combat? Interesting. Now, I know your Vice Chancellor from two years ago tried to side with Tokyo, but I hear he was killed by the Koto Chancellor. So which side will you choose now?” The large boy responded by holding his false hands forward. “I would prefer to know what you’re thinking, Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide.” “Oh? I’d thought student information on the east wasn’t getting to the west and vice versa, but it looks like I’m more famous than I thought.” “Nagoya stands at the center between east and west. The information reaches us.” He continued. “We know that you won East Japan’s Student Karate Openweight Championship despite being a middleweight with no prosthetics and not using a Rhythm. And that you are a problem student who has not once appeared as East Japan’s representative for the thrice a year World Student Conference.” “Ha ha. That’s how you see me? Damn, I’m cool.” “What are you thinking? You may be a problem student, but you are still Tokyo’s Chancellor. Why would the representative of East Japan break the world-regulated school rules by traveling west?” “That’s simple. My sister is calling me.” “…Your sister?” “That’s right. My sister said goodbye during the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago.” He took a breath. “And my final connection to her is in that city.” He resumed a forward-and-back stride while raising his arms in preparation. He spread his right hand, looked at the silver ring on the middle finger, and asked a question. “I know all about you too. You’re the winner of West Japan’s Student Karate Openweight Championship and you’re Nagoya Vice Chancellor. You’re Ichiyama Yuusei the Zapper, aren’t you?” “…So we are about to determine who is Japan’s greatest student karate fighter, are we?” “The greatest student karate fighter? That’s not what this is about.” “?” “The fight I am about to begin is the war to become king.” Hisahide began to sing. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength A human heart flows into nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run down another’s path without looking Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future Despite the song, he showed no hint of using a Rhythm’s power. “Was that song not the Words needed to use a Rhythm?” asked Ichiyama. “For now, it’s nothing but a prophecy.” “A prophecy?” “When I do use that song as my Words, then I will become king, just as the lyrics say.” He took a breath. “I will become a king who can only choose the future.” His fantastical words brought a brief frown to Ichiyama’s face. A moment later, Hisahide began to run forward. “You aren’t blocking my way!” With that shout, he won the initiative. ### 209. Part 1 11:36 AM A large enclosed space was visible from a hall surrounded by glass. The hall stuck out like a ship’s bridge and was filled with operating equipment. Beyond the glass was a square pit with one hundred meter sides, rivaling the size of a dock. This was the operating room for the Ixolde Word Accelerator and it was located below Osaka Prefectural #2’s schoolyard. Shutters had covered the glass the day before, but now a giant mechanical pillar made its presence known as it rose from the darkness. That pillar that appeared to be connected to a giant container was a Babel Gun. Instructions from the operating room would fire pure compressed words down from the top of the Babel Gun. The fired words would accelerate as they collided with the word particles of light inside the acceleration pathway. Upon reaching the turnaround point at the very bottom, the excess heavy word dregs were cast off as the words bounced back up. Those words were further accelerated by the ricochet effect. They were gathered inside the ascending acceleration pathway that fired word particles of darkness. Darkness pulled in the words with the same speed as the light. As the words travelled up the long pathway, the ricochet effect would cause them to scatter, but they were kept together by the double helix Babel Gun positioned near the surface. The pure Lives had been given acceleration by the double arrangement of light and darkness. As they reflected around the double helix pathway, they gathered together and accelerated more and more. The Babel Gun contained a pocket to record the voice emitted when the words surpassed the speed of time. “We are after the sound that reaches the voice pocket when the maximum value is reached.” That comment came from a student in a lab coat standing in front of the large window giving a view of the Babel Gun. He was speaking to Nanba Souichirou and Saki Seiji who stood in front of him. Once he finished his explanation, he gave a quick bow and left. Drawn by his movement, Saki Seiji looked back. As he and Souichirou remained in front of the window, the students working on the final setup of the operating room were inspecting programs and equipment or running simulations of the final stage. A large digital clock next to the room’s entrance told Saki it was eleven in the morning. The large terminal below the clock was the mainframe for connecting directly to Ixolde’s core. Once the activation password was typed into that terminal the following day, Ixolde would boot up. Some technical terminology and instructions were exchanged, footsteps rushed here and there across the floor, and fingers typed furiously at keyboards. “…” Saki faced forward again. Standing next to him, Souichirou had his one eye focused on the Babel Gun standing tall in the space before them. Saki scratched his head with the attaché case in his hand. “So we’re finally activating it tomorrow, huh?” “Yes. …At this point, only Nagoya’s Chancellor is taking part, so we must really be hated. I wonder if the others will give their approval if we succeed.” “We have a 100% chance of success here. After all, two years ago-…” “Do not mention that accident.” Souichirou cut Saki off and looked back with his one eye. Saki also turned around and saw the work being done by the science club elites selected from different schools. They were all doing their very best to get Ixolde up and running by the following day. Saki scratched his head again and spoke up hesitantly. “Well, Nandaimon has always hated Ixolde and tomorrow night isn’t going to be any different, right? They’re coming for the night’s Osaka security meeting, but they didn’t come to see the inside of this place.” “Nandaimon’s leader, Yuuki Senga, is the only human in Japan who can teach how to use Heavy Rhythms. She sealed those techniques away at the end of the Kinki Riot, so it’s understandable she would not want them appearing in the world once more.” “Heavy Rhythms, huh?” “I heard at the Mountain that it was their presence that caused the Kinki Riot.” “What do you think of that Killing Holder girl? Is she the same as Yuuki Senga?” “You met her yesterday, didn’t you? When you had to ‘clean up’ after the Koto Guardian.” “She’s no laughing matter,” said Saki quietly. “She has exclusive access to the world’s only combat satellite, the Suzaku Ver. 40, and she wields the giant staff Housei, which was given its power using Death Techno.” “She destroyed an entire schoolyard and school building, didn’t she? That goes beyond an Octave of 5,000,000.” “There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to her. After that stuff yesterday, some weird people showed up.” “Weird?” “Yeah.” Saki pulled an MD from his pocket. “I recorded the commotion if you want to hear it.” “You will play it for me?” “Of course.” Saki smiled bitterly as he shoved the MD into an MDD and played it. “There’s a bit of static…but they really were weird.” A quiet voice played from the headphones extending by a cord from Saki’s neck. “Get lost.” “That was the Koto Chancellor. Next up is the Nagoya Chancellor. They confront each other right away.” “Oh? Yer willin’ to get that close with yer staff? Does distance not matter with yer power?” And immediately afterwards… “Hyah!” “A moron was standing between the Chancellors, so the Nagoya Chancellor shoved him toward the Koto Chancellor.” “So that was a boy’s scream?” asked Souichirou as he crossed his arms. “Yuuki…” “The moron muttered that just before he was tossed behind her by the collar.” “!?” “See? Now, this next line is a big one.” “It is no use. If you try using a student as a shield, I will simply kill both of you.” Saki and Souichirou’s expressions changed at the word “kill”. They exchanged a glance and waited for more sound without nodding. Their silence was answered by Taeko’s staticky voice. “A shield? …Hah. Ya haven’t seen this guy for two years…and ya call him a shield?” “The Killing Holder probably would.” “Hey. I thought ya’d be at least a little worried ‘bout Shoui, so what’s this? Yer callin’ him a shield that’s keepin’ ya from movin’?” “What else could he be?” That line was immediately followed by a low rumble from the headphones. The sound continued for a while. “That’s the Nagoya Chancellor’s Dragon Emperor automatically starting up. It went all the way up to the third stage right off the bat. She was pretty mad.” “Hold it right there!” “…Shoui!?” “The moron restrained the Koto Chancellor from behind, which really surprised the Nagoya Chancellor.” A sound resembling shattering glass came from the headphones. “Yuuki!?” “You morons!” Saki’s voice and the sound of breaking rock came next. “Was he unable to restrain the Koto Chancellor, so she still managed to launch an attack?” asked Souichirou. “I used my spear to destroy the pillar of ice she sent flying. She’s a frightening girl. That was a clash between Chancellors.” “C’mon, now! This is Osaka! Why are you acting so impulsively, Koto Chancellor!? Are you still going to act selfish after blowing away some students from our territory!? You too, Nagoya Chancellor!” “Didn’t I tell you before?” “You mean that you’ll do what it takes to take advantage of any opportunity? You did, Chancellor of the Turbulent City.” “And that’s exactly right. Turbulent City – Nagoya will use any means necessary to survive, even if it means bringin’ shame to ourselves. …That’s been our motto since the Warring States period.” “An excellent opinion,” said Souichirou. Saki grimaced and the voice from the headphones spoke his thoughts for him. “Once you reach the Chancellor level, you aren’t supposed to get to know people like that! Do you think this is a friendship manga!? Not to mention that Osaka is busy with Ixolde right now.” “Oh, shut up. Nagoya is full of fightin’ on a daily basis. We sit on the dividin’ line between east and west, so information warfare and corporate warfare are bein’ waged on a daily, hourly, and even secondly basis. Do ya understand? …We can only trust someone who’s either lost to us or defeated us.” “But…” “I said shut up. Don’t you agree, Shoui?” “…” The slight static of silence continued for a while. “Oh, go ahead and continue talking, boss.” “What are ya doin’, ya moron?” “Can you not feel this dangerous atmosphere?” asked Saki’s voice. “Eh? Well, given the situation, I just couldn’t help myself, so, um, uh…” Saki switched off the MD there. “Now then,” he said with a serious expression. “We parted soon after that. …The Nagoya Chancellor’s brother was killed by the Koto Chancellor, but she got weirdly angry partway through there. …Did you notice it?” “Yes. After the Koto Chancellor treated the ‘moron’ you mentioned so carelessly, she started acting weird.” “That moron was our new student you saw yesterday. The Dis-Worder boy who for some reason stayed at the Nandaimon Shrine until two years ago.” Saki took a breath. “He apparently met the Nagoya Chancellor at the Mountain. …Just as the legend says, the Dis-Worder boy is bringing calamity to Osaka.” Souichirou gave a small bitter smile. He opened his eye and held his right false arm forward to touch the large window there. His spread palm pointed toward the Babel Gun that looked like a layered container. “This is a lot like two years ago.” “Yeah, it is.” “Do you think an ogre will appear this time too?” “You’ll defeat it if it does, won’t you?” “…” Souichirou fell silent, so Saki did as well. The ensemble of typing reached them from behind. Souichirou finally spoke slowly as if to deny the rapid pace of the keystrokes. “We will create the ultimate Rhythm here. …I just hope no calamity befalls the supernatural music of the Heavy Rhythm that no one can use. But if calamity does befall it, will it be an ogre?” “As long as you don’t have to cut down a person. We can’t have you being called a Killing Holder too.” “I see. But…” “?” Saki tilted his head and Souichirou asked him a question. “That moron you mentioned… He seemed flustered at the end. What happened?” “Oh, that.” “You said he was restraining the Koto Chancellor from behind, didn’t you?” Some serious suspicion filled Souichirou’s gaze, so Saki placed a hand on his chin as he quietly responded. “While standing behind the Koto Chancellor, he moved his arms sharply around like this…” “I see.” “And he fondled her breasts.” ### 210. Part 1 6:30 PM Coastal lights illuminated Osaka Bay in the dark winter night and that bay was visible to the right of a train traveling south. The limited express train cut through the nighttime sea breeze. The third car from the front contained only two people. One was a one-eyed student, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. The other was an elderly man in a suit. They were both silent and motionless. Nanba Souichirou crossed his false arms and stared out the window while the elderly man stared at the boy. A roar cut in through the sounds of the train itself. An airplane was flying low in the sky above Osaka. It was passing over the train on its way to Kansai International Airpor.t Its great mass produced a great noise that made its presence known within the train. The jumbo jet’s lights glided through the sky at what seemed like arm’s reach outside the window. The roar grew more distant and the sounds of the train returned. “…” The two people’s silence continued until the elderly man finally spoke to Souichirou. “The Sakai Branch dojo is up next…but aren’t you tired?” “This is my duty. After what happened two years ago, that is.” “But…” “Iwai, surely you too haven’t forgotten who it was that fought most valiantly against that ogre created from the failed test activation of Ixolde.” “…” “It was gratitude for that and my possession of Kusanagi that led your Houzenji family to support my Modified Purple Electricity Style, wasn’t it?” He smiled bitterly. “But someone else might have been able to defeat it more effectively.” “You are the only one that can slay an ogre as you are a descendent of the Watanabe clan, Japan’s only ogre-busters. Isn’t that why Kusanagi has been passed down by your family ever since the Great Mistake two hundred years ago?” Souichirou interrupted the old man’s admonishing tone. “You certainly are talkative.” Souichirou turned away from the window and calmly crossed his legs, creating the mechanical sounds of prosthetics. “A certain girl has been called the Killing Holder ever since that time.” “You mean the Koto Guardian?” “She can control the Suzaku Ver. 40… Shouldn’t you have asked her to do this instead?” The man did not reply and silence fell. Souichirou faced the window once more and he heard another airplane pass by overhead. “Iwai.” “Yes?” “Enough small talk. Tell me why you took the train with me.” “…Why? What do you mean by that?” “You are Iwai Sanzou, head butler of the Houzenji family. You support the wealthy Houzenji Group and you control the greatest intelligence network in the Osaka region. Are you asking me to believe you appeared before me for no real reason?” The elderly butler named Iwai Sanzou twisted his lips a little at that. He formed a slight smile and looked to Souichirou again. “There is something I wish to tell you and you alone.” “I see your attempts to make people feel indebted to you are as blatant as ever.” “Now,” said Iwai while ignoring that comment. “It is about Nagoya.” “Nagoya? I met with Nagoya’s Chancellor yesterday, but I didn’t hear anything.” “Of course not. The communications network of Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers has been completely wiped out. Without anyone to transport the information, Nagoya’s Chancellor has no way of knowing the details.” “Hm? Are you saying something happened in Nagoya?” “Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers have been destroyed.” Souichirou immediately asked another question. “You haven’t told anyone else about this, have you?” His expression changed a little as he asked. It grew tense. “…?” Souichirou’s gaze landed on a certain shadow on the coastal road running parallel with the railroad track. The golden yellow streetlights revealed the shadow to be a youth on a motorcycle. They were riding alongside the train with the winter night wind blowing their white blouson behind him. The full-face black helmet expressionlessly reflected the streetlights. “Who could that be? I am impressed they can match our speed when it is this cold out.” Iwai Sanzou commented from behind and Souichirou responded by taking action. Without speaking a word, he stood up and drew the sword at his waist. “Souichirou-sama?” “That is an enemy.” “Why?” “Ask them.” As soon as Souichirou said that, the person outside the window moved. The rider pulled something like a rod out of the motorcycle frame and swung it. The golden yellow streetlights reflected brightly off of the rod as it grew longer. It was a metal hexagonal rod. “Stand back, Iwai!” As soon as Souichirou gave a shout, light appeared outside the window. Intense light resided in the rider’s hexagonal rod. That rod instantly became a bullet of light with a diameter of about three meters. “Are they firing a Lightning High Rhythm projectile?” “Not many people can control light on such a large scale.” “Quiet. Move back through the cars and have all the passengers evacuate to the rearmost one.” Iwai Sanzou nodded in agreement and immediately took off running. After seeing the old man pass through the door to the next car back, Souichirou returned his attention to the window. “Should I hurry?” The rider had just raised the giant mass of light atop the motorcycle. The ether being transformed into light and flames by a Rhythm had become a single entity. The three meters of light had become the same as a wrecking ball filled with intense heat. If it hit the train, the train could derail. “They’re at that level…and still unnamed?” As he muttered those words, the light suddenly flew toward him. “Oh?” With a calm voice of surprise, he stopped, turned away from the approaching light, and walked toward the next car up. He took one, two, then three steps. He also sang the Word used to emit his Kusanagi Rhythm. Ah. It was only that short sound. Kusanagi was a Wind Rhythm. Unlike the currently popular Over Rhythms, Wind Rhythms had their foundation in the primitive music of ancient times. No MD was needed to activate them and only the bare minimum was needed to be said in order to break through everything. He swung the sword at his waist. — Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Train Car Slice – Hit! The outside light filled the window and cast Souichirou’s shadow on the opposite wall. Even so, he silently continued walking and took his ninth step. — Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Train Car Slice – Hit! While taking his tenth step, his sword moved twice. The blade calmly drew a large circle in front of him. It was the gentle motion of flowing water and no strength could be sensed behind it. The seats, walls, and floor did not intrude the blade’s movement. It pierced through them all. A moment later, the light collided with the train car. ### 211. Part 1 7:01 PM “Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers were?” Taeko spoke to Souichirou with sirens blaring in the background. Souichirou moved his thick head vertically while backlit by the lights of the Osaka Hilton hotel. “I see,” muttered Taeko. “If the 1st Special Duty Officer was taken out, it makes sense that our special line wouldn’t get through.” “Can you contact your family?” “The Student Council must be restrictin’ the information. They didn’t know anything.” “If both the current Chancellor and the Yamashita family that has held the Chancellor position generation after generation are unaware…this is a problem.” Taeko did not even nod. “Nagoya’s Student Council ain’t too fond of the Chancellor’s Officers. As the Turbulent City, our ability to fight gives us more influence.” “So it seems. Is this an internal issue?” “They’ll probably make some kind of decision by the time I get back from seein’ Ixolde. They’ll say they couldn’t contact me.” Taeko gave a bitter smile of self-deprecation and slowly looked around. They stood in front of the Osaka Hilton hotel as sirens blared. The sports car she had destroyed lay upside down in the road running by in front of Osaka Station. “Anyway… To get back on topic, ya chased down the motorcycle that attacked ya, cut it down over there, and found it had no driver?” “Yes. Just as I fired Kusanagi’s sword pressure, the driverless motorcycle tried to turn a corner. And after I destroyed it, I heard another commotion.” “And ya showed up just in time to see the car I’d crushed, huh? …And they were both radio controlled?” “I am having our Special Duty Officers check on that. They are asking a general aviation institute to go over all of the wireless signals for the area at that time. That will tell us if they were radio controlled or not.” Souichirou crossed his false arms. In front of their eyes, youths in school uniforms were frantically running around inspecting the scene and guiding traffic. They all wore armbands with the mark of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers. Taeko commented on them. “Osaka sure does follow the academy rules strictly. We just have all the adults and kids work together without much structure.” Hearing that, Souichirou’s one eye turned to a single police car stopped on the road. A single supervising officer was there. “The academy rules guarantee a separation between the adults and children.” “That started when a bunch of people died in a student conflict and the adults wanted to wash their hands of any responsibility for what the students did, right?” “And now it has spread to the entire world…giving us this.” Sirens filled the air and people ran about to direct traffic, inspect the scene, or question witnesses, but it was all being done by students from Souichirou and Taeko’s generation. “This has the same unpleasant atmosphere as the ogre two years ago.” “But from what I’d heard, ya beat that ogre in the end. And since ya’d cut off the ogre’s arm, it didn’t break down into its component Lives like the rest of it, so it’s stored in the Nandaimon Shrine.” “But the price of victory was my arms, legs, and an eye.” “Nothin’ wrong with that. Now ya’ve got nothin’ more to lose.” Souichirou looked to Taeko’s left arm aka the Dragon Emperor. “Was your false arm a choice?” “A choice?” “Did you choose it of your own free will? That is, did you chop off your original arm for it?” She smiled bitterly back at him. “I had my reasons.” “…” “I am who I am now because of this arm. …Before getting it, there was one person I thought I could never forgive, but, well, now I feel like I could forgive them.” “One person?” “Have ya ever thought about killin’ someone?” Taeko’s bitter smile deepened. “If so, I’ll tell you.” Souichirou said nothing. He simply shrugged and looked up into the night sky as he listened as Taeko’s smile grew to a bitter laugh. The moon floated there. It was a bluish-white crescent moon. ### 212. Part 1 7:46 PM Shoui and Saki ran down the stairs from the roof to the first floor. “What the hell!?” The first thing they saw were collapsed students filling the hallway that cut east to west across the student dorm’s first floor. The hundred meter linoleum floor was covered in people wearing the gray uniform of Osaka Prefectural #2. There were at least one hundred of them. Most of them held weapons and wore armor and they lay unconscious on the floor with no noticeable injuries. “What in the world happened?” — Shoui – Medical Tech – Take – Identity Injuries – Hit. “They were kicked.” “…? You can tell?” “I saw this a lot when I used to do karate. You can tell they took a hit to the jaw from the angle of their neck. See?” — Saki – Medical Tech – Take – Identify Injuries – Miss. “I can’t really tell. But the problem is that this was done by a single person.” “It looks that way to you too, Saki-san? You think one person did all this?” Shoui looked around the hallway. “Come to think of it, what are the defenses like here? Even if it isn’t Nandaimon class, shouldn’t the automatic defenses react to an intruder?” Saki looked to one corner of the ceiling. There was a television camera there, but its power light was off. “This isn’t good. That’s supposed to be connected to the Chancellor’s Officers HQ out back.” Shoui nodded and looked to the collapsed students. He recognized a few he had met over the past few days. He had taken classes with them during the day. He then looked to the doors lining the hallway. They were all open, so everyone had come out to challenge the enemy. “I can’t believe this. Should I revive them all?” “Finding the enemy comes first. …Can anyone move!? Someone who knows where the enemy went!” Someone responded to Saki’s shout. “Your enemy hasn’t run away, idiot. He’s right here.” It was a male voice and it came from the stairway on the left that Saki and Shoui had descended. The two boys looked over in surprise and found the enemy there. ### 213. Part 1 4:36 AM Before sunrise, the early winter morning was indistinguishable from night. Wind blew through the Koto region. It was a wintery north wind. The wind raced through the basin-like Koto plateau and cleansed the air of the night. As the process repeated, the air of the winter night became that of morning. The wind blew from north to south, pushing the night air south. That wind moved toward Nara Station to the south of the Koto region. It was a single-story train station, but it was large enough for limited express trains to stop at. This early in the morning, the platform had only just opened for business. The lights were on, but no one was there. The people were all gathered at another part of the station: the ticket gate. About ten station attendants had gathered at the ticket gate despite the chilly north wind. They wore the blue uniforms of the national railway, three of them were positioned inside the station, and the rest were placed outside. Based on the weapons they held, they were apparently making sure someone could not leave the station. Their gazes were fixated on a man standing in front of the ticket gate. The short man was dressed like a Buddhist monk. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and he had strangely straightforward eyes. Instead of a shaved head, he had short hair. A red basketball bag hung from his shoulder and he wore basketball shoes on his feet. Only his clothing and face looked anything like a monk. He looked up at the three station attendants directly in front of him who were much older than him. He looked straight ahead to the station master who had some white hair on his chin. “I would rather not hit an old man. Move out of the way.” Each word was well-enunciated and quickly spoken. The station master cleared his throat and answered. “Unfortunately, Iba-sama, a few organizations have – and I’m sorry to say this – requested that you be returned to Tokyo.” “Organizations? You mean the Emergency Teachers and the Mountain?” “I cannot say.” “What will happen if I do pass through here?” “Those waiting behind us will hit the emergency switch and the railroad police will rush here.” “Why haven’t you already called the police?” “If we do that, people will question the safety of our station. As a tourist-focused station, the police are an unwelcome presence.” “A wise decision.” The man named Iba stopped asking questions and the station master bowed toward him. “I apologize, but if possible could you leave the Koto region and enter through a different route?” “I cannot do that.” “Why not?” “I came here for my own objective. I have done nothing wrong.” Iba then asked another question. “Will you let me through?” None of them answered his straightforward question, so he said more. “Then how about this? You detained me here, but I escaped before the police could arrive.” “We can’t do that. The request we received contained a certain statement.” “What request?” “We were told we must not allow you through here and that you must pass through here.” “That is contradictory.” “Indeed it is.” “Now, let me tell you what that statement you mentioned was.” The station master fell silent at that. The one who spoke instead was of course Iba. “Did it say my presence carried the risk of another Kinki Riot?” As soon as he said that, someone behind the station master rushed forward to attack Iba. — Iba – Savate/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Hit! “Oh?” Iba evaded the attack with a tone of slight surprise. A station attendant stood before him with headphones in his ears and a sword in his hand. He was one of those who had been waiting behind the station master. Even through his blue uniform, Iba could easily imagine the powerful body below. He rested the sword on his left shoulder. “Nijou Makoto. My Dance Combat is the Youmon Nijou style.” “Nijou of Youmon? You were the Koto Chancellor nine years ago, weren’t you?” The man named Nijou nodded at Iba’s comment. The square face below his hat contained a slight smile. “I’ve heard the name Iba. …You were Osaka’s 1st Special Duty Officer who stood between Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai and Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori during the Kinki Riot.” “…” “I thought you’d gone missing in the Tochigi mountains along with the two Chancellors, but are you working as a Mountain instructor in the Tokyo region?” “Ask any more and this will develop into a fight.” Nijou smiled bitterly at Iba’s expressionless tone. “That’s why I came out here in the first place.” “So if you are going to call the railroad police anyway, you might as well do what you can before then?” Iba glanced over at the station master. “It may be a bit extreme, but a wise decision all the same.” The station master did not reply and looked to Nijou. And… “Don’t hold back.” “He is already holding back a fair bit,” replied Iba. Ibe held out a hand to stop Nijou from swinging the sword on his shoulder and stared straight at the man. “You seem to have gone soft during your nine years away from the front lines. Your primary weapon is not the sword.” — Nijou – Mind Tech – Take – Prevent Disturbance – Miss. “…What makes you say that?” “Your previous slash was shifted slightly to the right. Even if you are right handed, no swordsman would do that.” “I see!” Nijou used his empty right hand to pull a bullpup SMG from his pocket. It had the characteristic white plastic body of the Izumo Company and a larger caliber than one would ever imagine from how light it looked. It fired normal bullets, but Nijou sang his Words as he fired them. The words I send out carry the weight of metal The body that receives them carries the pain of metal It is all supported by the power of metal The words and the attack both lasted only an instant. — Nijou – Shot/Metal High Rhythm – Multi-Take – Ether Rapid Fire – Hit! Ether enveloped the eight fired bullets and they transformed into long metal spears. They would cause far more than injuries if they hit, but Iba did not use any kind of Tech. He did not dodge. “Hit him!” As soon as Nijou yelled, the eight metal spears touched Iba’s body and were deflected with a metallic noise. “…!?” Iba ran while ignoring the confused voices coming from Nijou and the rest. He ran straight forward. He was moving right up to Nijou, but he still did not use a Tech. Nijou pulled the trigger of his SMG. He did not hesitate to fire straight ahead at Iba’s face. — Nijou – Shot/Metal High Rhythm – Multi-Take – Ether Rapid Fire – Hit! Metal spears were fired once more. Iba only held his hand straight forward as he ran. The metal spears were deflected every which way by that hand. They stabbed into the station platform or roof, but not even one stabbed into Iba. “…!” Nijou threw aside his SMG and jumped backwards. As Iba continued toward him, Nijou moved forward for his own attack. Jumping back had been a feint. — Nijou – Sword/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit! But Iba slipped past Nijou’s sword and right up to the man. “…What!?” Iba answered Nijou’s question through actions. His right heel stomped on Nijou’s right knee. With a dull sound, Nijou’s knee bent at an odd angle and his body collapsed. “I must compliment your willingness to aim for the face. As a student, I would have lost.” As Nijou collapsed, Iba thrust the heel of his palm up into the man’s jaw at a diagonal angle. “But that was thirteen years ago.” The blow landed and Nijou’s face turned upwards. The battle was over. ### 214. Part 1 1:03 PM A bullet train traveling west from Nagoya would arrive in Osaka after two hours. Taeko and Saki had left Nagoya at noon, so they were currently halfway between Osaka and Nagoya in both time and distance. Taeko took up an entire double seat on the right side of the aisle with the Dragon Emperor’s fist resting on one of the seats. Saki sat in one of the opposite seats while writing something in the memo book he had taken from his attaché case. Taeko faced the train’s window. The scenery below the winter sky was the concrete wall of the elevated track. They were passing through the mountains of Oumi and about to enter the Koto region, so Lake Biwa was located past the wall. However, Taeko was not looking at that scenery. She was looking at the reflection of herself and Saki who sat across from her. “What are ya doin’?” “Going over everything that’s happened. I need to have some predictions before we get back to Osaka.” “Predictions?” “About what the Tokyoites are thinking.” “Aren’t they tryin’ to destroy Ixolde? If it’s completed and creates the strongest Rhythm, the east-west power balance will shift westward pretty quick.” “Unfortunately, we don’t plan to use the Flame High even if we do make it.” “…What are ya talkin’ about? No one actually believes yer presentin’ it to the Mountain.” “Don’t be stupid. Whether you want to call it the strongest Rhythm, Yamata, or the Flame High, it isn’t like a normal Rhythm.” “…What do ya mean?” “The Mountain and the Emergency Teachers are hiding the truth of the Kinki Riot from us, so there are some records we can’t view even as part of the Officers. But our upperclassmen managed to piece together the half-erased technical documents and historical records to figure out what Techs Tokyo’s Chancellor used during the Kinki Riot.” “And the Ixolde Word Accelerator is goin’ to create that?” Saki cut her off. “Just listen. The Flame High used to be called a Heavy Rhythm, but that’s because they didn’t understand how it worked. After some tests, we’ve figured out the theory behind it.” He took a breath. “It creates music with a Tempo overwhelmingly faster than any currently existing Rhythm.” “How much faster?” “To use your Thunder High as a comparison, it would complete eighty sequences in the time yours took to complete just one. That’s twenty-eight times faster than the Break High which is the current fastest. It’s so fast you can’t think up your Words fast enough. And…” “And?” “Its flames spread.” Taeko moved for the first time when she heard that. She faced Saki who closed his memo book and faced her. “I guess I can tell you why we have no intention of using the Flame High after creating it.” “Oh?” “The biggest problem is that we couldn’t determine what Rhythm the Osaka Chancellor had used at the time.” “There aren’t any records of that?” “They’re vague. It says he ‘used a Rhythm without using a Rhythm’. Can you decode that?” Taeko thought for a second. “That can wait. It’s an even bigger mystery than the Flame High’s mechanism.” “Right? Anyway, having a trump card against Tokyo was of political importance, so some years back, Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers used the remaining records to build Ixolde.” He sighed. “But two years ago, there was an accident during a preliminary experiment.” “…The ogre?” “Yes. A mistake in the word acceleration caused one of the machines on the double helix pathway to burst into flames and produce an ogre. Simply put, that ogre was a failed creation of the Flame High.” Saki put the memo book in his pocket and lightly struck his left palm with his right fist. “From that, we learned about two of the Flame High’s powers. One, it can perfectly pierce any object. Its ultra-high speed Tempo creates a vibration that can ‘eat’ both the Lives composing an object and even the Rhythm techniques we create.” “And the other one?” “The spreading flames I mentioned before. …Anything the ogre set on fire would utterly burn away. The great speed of the Flame High intoxicates and steals the Lives making up the object.” “…” “Do you know why Souichirou took on mechanical arms and legs?’ “Ya don’t mean…?” “I do.” Saki smiled a little. “His right arm caught on fire during the first battle, so he immediately chopped it off. And…he adopted prosthetic arms and legs for the next battle. That way he could purge them and attach a new one if any of them caught on fire.” “So it’s a Rhythm that pierces the opponent’s body and burns them away? …That really is different from our Over Rhythms.” “Do we really need a Rhythm that brings certain death to our opponents? Either way, it isn’t something anyone wants to master.” “I see…” “The Flame High is too dangerous. We know that all too well. The only reason we’re making it is…” “Politics, right?” “Giving up on what the previous years worked so hard on would be an embarrassment. This has gotten to be a lot of trouble.” Saki sank back into his seat. “Osaka’s 1st Special Duty Officer was said to be the third major base of the Kinki Riot because he held all the information on it, but I can’t understand any of it.” “Will the other two bases not tell ya anythin’?” “You’re talking about the Nandaimon Shrine and the Mountain. They’re both too secretive. They’re clearly trying to hold us in check, so we decided to present the Flame High to the Mountain right away.” “I see… Well, that’s probably proof that the Mountain and Nandaimon both know the power of the Flame High.” “It’d be a problem if the students caused another major conflict now that Japan has been split between east and west.” He sighed. “It’d be a problem for both of us,” said Taeko. “Yes. …I get the feeling you’d never hear the end of it from Nagoya’s Student Council.” “The students in my year wouldn’t have it too bad. It’s the younger years I’m worried about. …If somethin’ like that happened, they could even end up joinin’ Tokyo’s side.” “I’m surprised you’re willing to come back to Osaka with all that local trouble going on.” “I’m indebted to someone there.” Taeko touched the Dragon Emperor with her right hand while still looking out the window. “But if that happens, it’ll be just like my brother wanted.” “Oh, the brother killed by the Killing Holder…” “He went to the Mountain for Chancellor’s trainin’ that year, but Yuuki Yuuki was given the Koto Chancellor position on the recommendation of the previous Chancellor who was expected to keep the spot. My brother ended up as Vice Chancellor.” “So he had the skill, but he couldn’t outdo her?” “The Yamashita family has produced Chancellors for generations. …Due to the eyes of our family on his back and the Ixolde issue, he wanted to turn Nagoya’s focus toward Tokyo by defeatin’ the Koto Chancellor.” “But Yamashita Gihei lost…and the age remained unchanged.” “I couldn’t accept the remains of a loser, so his right arm was apparently buried somewhere at Nandaimon.” She laughed quietly and Saki said nothing. “Let’s get back on topic,” she said with a slight shrug. “In yer opinion, who in Kansai could defeat an opponent wieldin’ the Flame High?” “Either Souichirou who has fought a close approximation before…or Yuuki Yuuki the Killing Holder.” “I see…” “But what is Tokyo thinking? If they’re worried about the Flame High, why didn’t they destroy Ixolde when they attacked the night before last?” Saki crossed his arms. He looked Taeko in the eye through his sunglasses but seemed to be speaking to himself. “And there’s more. Why did they crush Nagoya?” “Because we got in their way, right?” “They didn’t crush Gifu or the Koto region on their way to Osaka. They had to have gone through those areas too, so why did they only crush Nagoya?” “…” “There’s only one answer.” “What’s that?” “They have to be waiting for Ixolde to be activated. That way they can steal the Flame High.” And… “They might be planning to attack Nagoya.” “Ya mean they’ll take over Nagoya as a midway point and continue west from there?” “Yes. If they can rule Nagoya with the Flame High in hand, it’ll give them some decent publicity in both the east and the west.” “But that would require havin’ someone who can control the Flame High, right?” Saki smiled at Taeko’s question. “Nakamura Hisahide said he was going to Osaka in search of a bond with his sister.” “What about it?” “Who was the Tokyo’s female Chancellor that used the Flame High during the Kinki Riot?” “Nakamura Midori…” Tension filled Taeko’s voice when she spoke that name. Saki smiled and nodded at her obvious concern. “There’s no doubting it.” He took a breath. “Nakamura Hisahide is Nakamura Midori’s brother.” ### 215. Part 1 2:29 PM A shopping district known as Europe Town existed near the Shinsaibashi district of Osaka. Several dozen shops were densely packed in between two short roads. It was primarily made up of boutiques and cafes, so it acted as a contrast to the northern business district. The stores were filled with people and bright colors. Two people stood on the second floor of a certain brick building there. One was a boy in a suit and the other was a girl in rough personal clothes. They were Ikemaru Takahiro and Aoi Hijiri. The two of them were inside a lingerie shop. Colorful underwear was displayed half-disorderly and half-orderly under the white lights of the store that was larger than it looked from the outside. Since it was only early afternoon, the store was relatively empty and most of the customers were women, but there was also an older couple. When she saw that couple, Aoi gently elbowed Ikemaru in the side. “That middle-aged couple has got to be cheating.” “Why do you say that?” “They’re using separate wallets. …So what do you think about this color?” “I think it would look great on you.” “Then what about this color?” “I think it would look great on you.” “Then what about this risqué one?” “It would not suit you in the slightest.” “You have some pretty solid preferences, Takahiro.” “I prefer to keep some of it left to the imagination.” “Yeah, but I’m not sure I can live up to your imagination…” Aoi looked to Takahiro’s suit. A manila envelope was poking out from below the scarf she had made. “Will that idiot Hisahide really be okay with those documents…and those Discord Bombs you bought?” “We are in trouble if he isn’t. Hacking into the government office only revealed the one sewage line running by near Ixolde and we only have the three Discord Bombs.” “So we have to know where to set the Discord Bombs? We’re really relying on others a lot on this expedition.” “I would prefer to obtain a lot more information. Preparing the charms is not easy either.” “You put a lot of effort into this. That’s an information broker for you.” “I prefer to be called a businessman.” Aoi smiled bitterly. “It’s true you might not be an information broker after all. You haven’t been able to figure out where Seigi is.” “It hasn’t been easy.” “Hisahide’s upset. After all, Seigi was the first person to agree that he would become the king.” Aoi lightly tapped the underwear-wearing mannequin standing next to her. With a small sound, the plastic body shook a little. “The king, hm?” “Personally, my top priority is your issue, not making him the king.” “We’re having trouble finding that too, aren’t we?” “Not even the Live laboratory I hacked into said anything about cherry blossoms blooming in the winter.” Takahiro looked to his own right hand. He wore a black leather glove and the gaze behind his glasses was cold. But… “Don’t worry about it. Even the power of your kotodama can’t create data that wasn’t in the databank to begin with.” “Even without the data, I could still alter the Lives of the cherry blossoms like when I created the Dog God.” “Altering the Lives of organic objects takes a lot out of you, right? Seigi told me.” “…” “Besides, I doubt the cherry blossoms my mom and that man saw blooming in the winter had anything to do with Lives. Maybe you could call it an unusual phenomenon that occurs under the right conditions. That’s what I think it was.” “In that case, we won’t find anything written about it at the sightseeing spots.” “Iba isn’t going to tell us, so we need to be patient. Maybe look through some of Osaka’s historical records. …And if we can help Hisahide rejoin the east and west, finding the cherry blossoms will be a lot easier.” “You sure are positive.” “Being negative is pretty attractive too. Like Seigi used to be. I was jealous that she could tremble like that. Don’t you agree, Takahiro?” “Being able to tremble in your indecisiveness is the ultimate luxury.” “I used to be like that. Until that man died and I learned the true reason the Shinkage Style was created.” She sighed and fell silent. Meanwhile, Ikemaru removed his right glove. “…” As soon as he lightly shook his white hand, a single copper coin appeared between his index and middle finger. He placed the dull brown coin in his palm and showed it to Aoi. “Flower.” As soon as he spoke that quiet word, the coin split open with a sound much like breaking ice. It did not just break in half. The surface peeled away like a skin, split apart, and extended outwards and upwards. It almost looked like a blossoming flower bud. The small coin produced thin flower petals. After a mere five seconds, a red copper flower had formed in his palm. It resembled a cherry blossom and Aoi commented on it. “A Tune Bust transformation… That was your Word Master power, wasn’t it?” “I can read all Lives and freely change the Live structure of anything I speak to while touching it with my skin. …It is a useful power.” “Didn’t you used to call it an unpleasant power?” “Not to worry. I now have someone who can reject my power.” “Then is this flower for the one person in the world you know will be fine touching it with her bare hands?” “Yes.” Aoi smiled, narrowed her eyes, and tilted her head. “Are you trying to cheer me up because I fell silent like that?” “Do you not want this flower?” “It only cost ten yen, didn’t it?” “Only I can make one.” “Then I’ll take it.” When she accepted, Ikemaru placed the metal flower in the breast pocket of her blouson. And… “Sorry, Takahiro. I have been kind of gloomy lately.” “Didn’t you just say being negative is attractive?” “I got that line from my mom.” “But it’s true.” “Then…why did you save Seigi? You were the one that saved her from her negativity even though creating that Dog God put you in the hospital for three days.” “I will answer that…when the time is right.” It was a vague response, but Aoi thought about it and nodded. She then looked away from him. “Oh?” she said after looking out the window. “What is it?” he asked. “This is convenient. There’s the person we were thinking about speaking with at the hotel.” The two of them looked down to the road where a tall girl walked along the sidewalk. Her ponytail and giant false left arm made her quite recognizable. It was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. “She must be on the way to Prefectural #2. Probably to wait for Ixolde’s activation.” “If we’re going to stop her, now would be the time,” agreed Aoi. “If what our master said is true, then Nagoya won’t side with us unless we get her on our side.” “Then let’s stop her before she meets up with the Kansai group. It will probably mean a fight, but first…” “But first?” Ikemaru gave Aoi a serious look. “You need to buy a bra and put it on. You will probably have difficulty fighting without the proper support.” Aoi forcefully elbowed him in the side. ### 216. Part 1 4:15 PM The Osaka Hilton hotel’s sky lounge gave a view of the city of Osaka. Two people viewed the colors of that city: Hisahide and Takada. Hisahide stared at the silhouette of Osaka Castle visible in the distance. “Sorry the day you arrived is already the big day of Ixolde’s activation, Takada.” “I don’t mind. I never was interested in Rhythms.” The Dog God on her shoulder spoke for her as she sipped at a teacup. Hisahide faced her from across the table, seemed to have something he wanted to say, and sighed. “You really stick to your own pace, you know that?” “I am simply playing the role that was given to me. Right?” The question was directed to Taromaru who replied in a quiet, bell cricket-like voice. “A Dog God lives by devouring people’s indecision, hm? That creature was made from a portion of your Lives, right? Has he ever gotten along with anyone else?” “Yes. Just today, he ran up onto someone else’s shoulder for the first time.” “…Eh?” “You’re the one that asked. Why do you sound so surprised?” “Oh, well, y’know?” He scratched at his hair. “There’s really someone else like you in this city?” “Yes. He is trying to play his role…and he’s far more indecisive than you or me.” “Was he good person?” he asked while sipping at his tea. “Yes. Although he did stare at my butt.” Hisahide immediately spat out his mouthful of tea. “H-he what!?” “Hisahide-san, please don’t spit out your tea. You scared Taromaru.” “Y-yeah, but more importantly…” “I’ve said I can read other people’s Lives, haven’t I? Well, I could read his even more once Taromaru possessed him.” “He still has some guts to admire your ass without permission.” “You used to always look at my chest, though.” “That’s because a girl’s all about the breasts, not the ass.” “If you say so.” That was all Takada said before taking another sip of her tea. The waiter brought over a new pot of tea and a cake, so she pulled out her fork while speaking again. “But he was an interesting person.” “By looking at your ass?” “In many ways, including that. He was indecisive about so many things yet he was still trying to do something about it on his own. I was jealous of that.” “If you ask me, someone who can’t make up their mind is just weak.” “Then I guess I’m fundamentally weak too.” “Would it be conceited of me to say that’s why I’ll always protect you?” “No, you’re working quite hard there, even if it isn’t as much as between Takahiro and Hijiri.” “I’m glad to hear it. …But I’d like to meet this guy you’ve taken such an interest in.” “You can if you want. He’s the one the Nagoya Chancellor brought with her.” She took a breath. “He is a key person. I could tell after prophesying his future.” “His future?” “Yes, I read his kotodama, but… What’s the matter?” Hisahide brought a hand to his forehead. “Ahh… I do want to go out with you, you know?” “Yes, and I said that was fine.” Takada held out her right hand to show the golden ring on the middle finger. Hisahide looked to the silver ring on his own right hand’s middle finger. “You weren’t thinking at all, were you?” He sighed when she and Taromarou on her shoulder both tilted their head. “Well, I guess this is destiny too,” he muttered before telling Takada to recite the prophecy she had seen. She briefly hesitated and looked to Taromaru. Taromaru erased all intonation from his voice and seemed to squeeze out the voice so only Nakamura could hear. A white flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in the fire A memory of death floats in nothingness A king saves him A queen laments him A sage resigns himself Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path Choose your own path and hesitate The true path lies in the past His expression changed upon hearing it. He looked Takada in the eye and voiced his own prophecy. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength Human memories dance within nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run without looking to another’s path Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future His lips then uttered something else. “That prophecy is the flipside of mine.” “If so, he is the soldier who will save you and make you the king.” “You’re one scary girl. Are you planning to drag him onto our side?” “No. He is a key person because he is indecisive.” “…?” “He does not have his own rails…his own Words. Whether he saves you or not will likely be highly dependent on what happens now and on his own indecision.” “So he’s just wishy-washy? He can’t take a stand about his own destiny?” “No, that isn’t it.” “Then…” “He is hesitant because the possibilities presenting themselves to him are so great.” “…” She smiled at his silence. “I understand because I was once crippled by indecision and closed off the possibility of becoming a Tuner, Buster, or Rhythm user.” “Takada.” “Yes?” “Between me and him, which one’s the better guy?” She answered with a slight smile. “I think the one that can draw out his possibilities to their fullest is the better guy.” “I see.” Hisahide checked his watch. “Okay, I guess it’s about time to head out.” “Are you really forgoing the original plan and descending to the sewers from this hotel’s basement?” “Yeah, it’s looking that way. Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers seem to have caught wind of Ikemaru and Aoi’s battle with the Nagoya Chancellor, so they’ve already set up some guards.” “That makes things difficult. …So are you finally taking action to become king?” Nakamura nodded and smiled at Takada. “Well, I’ll be king by the time I reach Nagoya.” ### 217. Part 1 6:03 PM A single light was visible after night fell on the Nandaimon Shrine. The door to the sanctuary was open and a single girl cast a shadow in that light while crouched down. It was Yuuki Yuuki in her red blazer modeled after the Suzaku. She had her back to the light coming from the open sanctuary and her eyes were staring into the night. She had no expression on her face as she simply sat there. Her unmoving gaze was directed toward the Ikoma Mountains west of the Koto region. Time passed. As it did, the surrounding darkness grew deeper and the air grew colder. Small, white breaths escaped her lips. A dog howled somewhere in the distance. It sounded fearful. It was pleading for its owner. When she heard it, a small change came over her expression. She wrinkled her brow ever so slightly. But… “Sorry about the wait, Yuuki.” After that sudden voice, a giant red and white staff was thrust in front of her eyes. She turned around to find Senga in the sanctuary’s entrance. The woman held Housei out in one hand. “I wasn’t too sure about swapping out the parts, but I think it came out well. As you asked, the contents are focused more on the Aqua High than the Cold High.” “Thank you.” Yuuki stood up, looked down at short Senga, and gave a quick bow. “Thank you, grandmother.” Senga smiled bitterly at her granddaughter’s thanks. “You really haven’t changed, Yuuki.” “Isn’t it normal to thank people?” “Not your family. You didn’t two years ago.” Yuuki said nothing in response and took Housei from the woman. She used a single hand to swing around the staff that resembled a tuning fork shaped like a long triangle. Senga watched the giant staff slicing through the air. “Your father and I couldn’t use Housei that well when we were eighteen.” “This much is to be expected of a girl who can kill.” Yuuki stopped Housei in front of her eyes. “It feels light when holding it, but it feels heavy when stopping it.” “The gaps are filled with floating emblem panels sold by Izumo Aviation and Virtual Industries. It has a lot of heavy components in order to increase its power, after all. …That means it isn’t very heavy, but it has more mass than before. Be careful.” “I don’t mind. More mass should make it more satisfying when I hit someone with it.” “Hit someone? There’s someone who can get that close to you?” “Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko.” Yuuki spoke the name quietly and nodded while looking to Housei in her hand. “Now that Nagoya has joined Tokyo, I have no reason to avoid fighting the girl whose brother I killed.” “That Nagoya Chancellor hasn’t left her hotel. …Are you going to attack her yourself?” “I don’t need to. Everything is going to gather around Ixolde.” “Then you need to hurry. Ixolde will be activated in another hour.” Yuuki looked to the western mountains again. Wrapped in the colors of the night, the boundary between mountain and sky was growing blurry. “Hey, grandmother.” “Hm?” “You tried to do a few things thirteen years ago, and failed, didn’t you?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “That’s fine. I know you sometimes have nightmares…and that you call the names Kuki Udai, Nakamura Midori, and Iba Masaaki when you do.” “I do not recall raising the kind of granddaughter that spies on people as they sleep.” Yuuki ignored Senga’s bitter smile and asked another question. “Is this the same?” “Is what?” “Are Hizaka Shoui’s apparent lack of Words and my current state leading us in the same direction as thirteen years ago, as the rumors say?” “Are you asking if I’m going to have the students kill each other like during the Kinki Riot in order to adjust everything to my liking?” Yuuki did not nod at that and more of Senga’s words reached her back. “You are who you are because of your own decisions. And Shoui didn’t have any Words when he was found, right? He had already lost his Words as he trembled in the burned-out ruins of that building, right?” “Words…hm?” Yuuki gave a powerful swing of Housei. The joint between the rod and power device bent, and the staff transformed into something like a giant wing. With a metallic sound, the transformation was complete. She held the device in its portable form and looked to Senga. “Grandmother, does it look to you like Hizaka Shoui has no Words?” “Hm? Has he ever recited any Words?” “When you traveled around the country thirteen years ago, you said there is a mystery concerning Words and Rhythms, didn’t you?” “…” “The former Osaka Chancellor used a Rhythm without using a Rhythm. …Weren’t you investigating that sort of mystery concerning the relationship between Words and Rhythms? Wasn’t that the point of the Kinki Riot?” Senga sighed as if to deflect Yuuki’s tone. “Hah. I’m surprised you still remember that.” “How could I forget when that mystery was solved two years ago? …What are Rhythms and Words? Where do they come from and why? All of those mysteries were solved.” “And that’s why you became the Killing Holder, right?” Yuuki did not answer that question. She looked away from Senga and began walking. She left the shrine and started toward the city. She was on her way to Osaka. But she did say one final thing. “Either way, all I can do is wait.” ### 218. Part 2 10:24 PM Water surrounded her entire body. She could breathe because the Aqua Middle Rhythm’s power acted just like scuba gear. To her, the water was no different from viscous air. The view through her diving mask was dark. This was not her first time in here because she had helped her father with a few jobs here. But it was her first time diving here. The sounds of the wind and waterfall were gone down here. She only heard the low rumble of the water pouring into the basin. Looking up, the surface glowed a little and she was still only about three meters deep. She felt a tickling sensation in her the stomach and left leg of the dry suit. Water was getting in. … Looks like I didn’t repair it all the way. That was a miscalculation, but she would be fine as long as she had the Aqua Middle Rhythm. She would only end up trembling from the cold once she resurfaced. After nodding to convince herself of that, she looked down again. There was only darkness there. The Aqua Middle music in her ears flowed through her body and altered the current of the water around her. When she desired to move deeper, the surrounding current started moving down. With the water compression, the 80,000 Octave volume could reach one meter around her. Guided by that power, she descended into the basin. Her hair trailed behind her as she slowly dropped further and further down. She turned on the maglite and a beam of light stretched through the water. She could not see the bottom. … I really am weird for doing this in the winter. That guy up there must think I’m committing suicide. Around one hundred people committed suicide at Kegon Falls every year. Her father’s job was to dive into the basin and search for their corpses and belongings. She was currently copying him. Her motive was pure. A certain boy had stopped coming here. The boy had noticeably straight hair, he always seemed to be smiling, and he had been a little older than her. Unlike her classmates, he had not worn a Device or anything else to fully use a Rhythm. A somehow lonely atmosphere had surrounded the boy. He had come here every Sunday for about five years and he had always dropped a single flower while staring into the basin from the viewing platform. The large, white, rose-like flower had sunk under its own weight instead of floating on the basin’s water. Due to her father’s job and her part-time work at the viewing platform’s shop, the falls had long been her home ground. Every week, the boy had arrived, thrown the flower in the basin, and left. According to the owner of the shop, he had started visiting five years before. … Did a relative of his kill themselves here? Two years before, she had asked her father about it out of curiosity. That was the first time she had heard her father raise his voice in anger. After telling her not to pay any attention to the boy, he had turned his back and apologized. “I haven’t dived down to the very bottom of the basin since eleven years ago.” She had never asked him about it again. She had sealed the question in her heart and watched from the shop each week as the boy dropped the flower in the basin. But he had stopped showing up about a month before. And yet he had always shown up before, even when the waterfall had frozen. There had been a sign leading up to it. One day, he had brought some friends with him. It had been a weekday afternoon. She had happened to stop by on the way home from middle school and spotted him sitting on the viewing platform railing and speaking with his friends. The girl had eavesdropped on the conversation from the counter of the café next to the shop. She had heard the terms “sister” and “flames” as well as the names “Osaka” and “Tokyo”. He had also discussed the Kinki Riot, a student riot that had split Japan between east and west. … Are they discussing politics? She had wondered that, but she had not actually asked. Unable to move, she had simply glanced over at them and listened. But she had fallen from her chair when one of his friends, a girl with a stole over her shoulders, had suddenly kissed him. Just as she wondered what they were doing, that girl had spoken some Words. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength A human heart flows into nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run without looking to another’s path Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future It was a song. These were the Words one needed to use a Rhythm. Hearing it had only brought one thought to mind. … But the flower he throws in the basin is white, not red. They had then left without even taking a picture. He had never shown up again. Each week for the past month, she had thrown a flower in instead. The flower was sold at a single flower shop in the town at the base of the mountain. The old lady who ran the flower shop was proud of how early she got up in the morning and she had known the boy. When the girl had found the white flower in the shop, the woman had smiled and spoken of the boy. “That flower blooms year-round, but it’s hard to get your hands on. I’ll be losing money with no one to buy it.” So the girl had bought one each week and thrown it into the basin. … What am I even doing? Her thoughts cleared inside the water. She thought about her father’s anger and silence, about what could have happened thirteen years ago, about the boy and his friends, about the girl who had kissed him, and about the Words that girl had spoken. Finally, she focused her thoughts on the boy who had stopped visiting the waterfall. The answer had to lie at the bottom of the basin. She dropped straight down in the darkness. The music flowing into her ears would continue for about three more minutes. She felt the weighty current of the water on her cheeks. She also felt the water temperature beginning to cool. The water’s traits were growing too strong for the Aqua Middle Rhythm to resist. The water at the bottom of the basin had been compressed for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, so its Lives were viscous enough to almost be solid. Instead of leaving it all up to the Rhythm, she swam through the water. — Fujiwara – Gym Tech – Take – Dive – Hit. The water rose toward her with the mass of a wall, but she broke through it to continue further down. Time passed and she started to panic when she still could not see the bottom. — Fujiwara – Aqua Middle/Gym Tech – Multiple Take – Sink – Hit! She moved further and further down. She approached the solution to her questions. To strengthen her Live, she sang her Words once more. “…!” As if to keep her from answering her questions, the water’s current would not stop, but she did not stop either. She swam down to find those answers. But the water leaping up from the depths became a wind and tried to blow her away. A thought flashed through her mind. … If this water is coming up from the very bottom… Then it might have swept everything away, leaving nothing there. She was about to reach the point of no return for her Rhythm’s music. Diving any further would be dangerous. … Should I go back? Her mind suggested that, but her body wished to dive further. “!” Her hand reached the MD in her pocket and raised the Octave to about 20,000. That was her limit. She swam while listening to a volume she could only just barely control. A slight change came over the surrounding current, even if it was awkward. Her body could not defy her Words. The answer to her questions lay below. If she found nothing, that would be her answer. Her body continued swimming despite her hesitation. She shut off the maglite and continued down with darkness before her. In her desperation, time seemed to slow. Her hand broke through the wall of wind created by the water. A moment later, all motion ground to a halt. ### 219. Part 2 4:31 PM Shoui jumped straight up. — Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Great Leap – Hit. His long leap gave him plenty of air time and his blue uniform-wearing form landed on top of the wall between the schoolyard and street. Without losing his balance, the wind washed over him five meters from the ground. Below him, he could see Saki Seiji, the students who had surrounded him, and the schoolyard dug up for construction. “Is that for Ixolde, the giant word accelerator installed underground? This place looks like a tilled field.” “What are you talking about? The Nandaimon Shrine was the only place that opposed creating the ultimate Rhythm using Ixolde. What about you!?” “What about me? Sorry, I’m not interested in politics.” “Then what are you interested in!?” Shoui suddenly brought his fists to his waist and spread his hands. “!” The Chancellor’s Officers students scattered at the combat stance. “I’m interested in…” He used his spread hands to mime grabbing something from below. “First of all, girls.” His tone was entirely serious. “Next would be honor and finally money. Aren’t those the main three driving forces for guys?” He asked with his serious expression intact and received only silence in response. The wind blew and more silence followed. Finally, he looked down at the others and asked a question. “Am I…wrong?’ “That settles it. I’m killing you even if I don’t have a good reason.” Saki pointed his spear at Shoui and clicked his tongue. “Besides, you’re a hell of a guy. Even with a Tech, jumping up onto a five meter wall isn’t easy.” “That’s because I don’t want to fight if I don’t have to. I’ll jump five meters if it means getting out of this.” “You went to that much effort to weasel your way out of this!? Hey! Don’t run away!” “Oh, c’mon. I’m just heading out to play until you’ve all left and I can sneak into the dorm behind the school building. I still have to unpack my things.” “That’s called running away!” “Oh, what a quick retort.” “Why you…” “Calm down. There’s no rule saying you have to accept a fight someone picks with you, is there? Right? Right?” Shoui lifted the bandanna from his eyes and smiled. “And with that, I’ll be going. Farewell.” With a quick wave, he tried to jump back, but… “I’m not letting you get away, you moron!” — Saki – Draw Tech – Take – Throw – Hit! The spear rotated as it flew toward Shoui. He had just taken his stance to jump, so it audibly slammed into the side of his waist. “Wah!” It did little damage, but the inertia of the rotating spear knocked him to the side. He fell from the wall and into the schoolyard again. — Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Land – Hit. He spun through the air and managed to land right next to the main gate. He could leave the school ground by taking a jump backwards, but… “I said I’m not letting you get away!” Saki charged forward with a weapon shaped like a short sword. When he swung it, the hilt extended to create a spear. This was a new spear. When Shoui realized his enemy had not lost his weapon, his mouth tensed. “H-h-h-h-ow many of those do you have!? No fair!” “Just shut up and die!” With that conclusion, Saki used his empty hand to stick headphones into his left ear. — Saki – Spear Tech/Pressure High Rhythm – Take – Charge – Hit. Saki’s Words were spoken in a low, quiet voice. Heaven, please answer the longing found in the sky of my final moments Simply let the white snow fall on the heavy darkness as you raise your cry The spear tip flew straight toward Shoui’s gut as a black force of high gravity surrounded it. A hit from that would take out two or three ribs in a concentrated attack. “…!” Shoui did not respond by singing or uttering his Words. Instead, he stuck his left hand in his pocket and his right straight forward. … Will I make it in time!? He shut his eyes and wished for power in his heart. In that instant, his right fist stuck Saki’s spear. “!” The explosion lasted only a brief moment. The black light burst with a sound like a breaking board. The spear shattered and Saki was knocked backwards. “The hell!?” — Saki – Gym Tech – Take – Landing Control – Hit. Shoui, on the other hand, remained motionless. His right fist was still held forward and he stared silently at Saki. Saki’s gaze turned toward Shoui’s right fist and Shoui listened to his question. “What is that!?” Saki was pointing at the black light residing in Shoui’s right fist. Lives at an Octave of about 100,000 had emitted a powerful Word Color and summoned some ether. “Did you instantly call in the same Pressure High as me without using any Words!?” Shoui did not answer. To let the music of a Rhythm flow through one’s body, the user normally had to sing their own Words and place the Rhythm’s Message inside those Words. But Shoui never sung the necessary Words when he used a Rhythm. In fact, he could not sing them. That was why his Urban Name was Dis-Worder. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Saki. “Can you use any Rhythm indiscriminately because you don’t have the individuality of Words?” “I don’t know how it ended up like this, but it seems I’m a popular guy when it comes to Rhythms.” “…” “Um, by any chance, are you still going to try to fight?” “Yeah…” Saki Seiji stuck a hand in his pocket and pulled out another new spear. Shoui looked up into the sky when he saw his opponent’s weapon. “Ahh… Can’t you stop this?” “I have no reason to.” “But I really don’t get why I’m being attacked here.” “Then let me tell you one thing.” “?” Saki pointed the new spear Shoui’s way. — Saki – Talk Tech – Take – Long-Distance Conversation – Hit! The movements of Saki’s lips became noise which sounded directly in Shoui’s ears. Only Shoui could hear these words. “Ever since the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago, Osaka’s 1st Special Duty Officer has been given the following information.” “Information?” “The Dis-Worder must not be allowed near Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers.” “Th-that’s completely unscientific!” “This information is backed by something that I can’t tell the likes of you about. But if you knew what I did, you’d probably leave the city of your own volition.” Saki’s words were backed by absolute confidence. “Plenty of people lose their Words due to aphasia or other disorders, but every decade or so, one moron impaired by that silence will still rush into the world of Rhythms and Words. This year, it’s you.” “But this wasn’t supposed to be an unlucky year… Are you sure you can’t overlook me?” “Yeah, I’m sure. You’ve heard the theory that people without Words of their own can influence other people’s Words, haven’t you?” Saki switched back on the MD in his pocket. The Pressure High Rhythm’s music replayed from the beginning. “In that case, your actions could easily influence Osaka during the tension of the Ixolde problem. Do you get what that means?” Saki took a step forward, but his aura was completely different now. Instead of observing or asking a question of his opponent, he simply moved forward. Shoui took a defensive stance. … I can’t believe this. How am I supposed to escape? He lowered his hips in preparation to move. At the same time, Saki charged forward. “Seaaaaaaahhhh!” He pulled his spear back as far as it would go as he made his charge, but he never finished his war cry. Something unexpected cut in between Saki and Shoui. It was a wind. The air gently fluttered and a shimmering of heat rose between the two boys. “Is this-…!?” Before Saki could finish his question, a voice raced in a straight line across the schoolyard. “Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” It was a deep male voice speaking a simple, monosyllabic Word. That Word caused the air to explode. The tearing raced across the schoolyard in a straight line. The destructive roar created an echoing ensemble. “!?” The tearing wind and impact slammed into the ground. Dirt and sand were blasted skyward with a great noise. … This Rhythm!? “Is that Kusanagi, the ogre-slaying Wind Rhythm!?” Before Shoui was even done speaking, a loud metallic sound instantaneously distorted the surrounding scenery. And before that distortion returned to normal, the great roar suddenly vanished. The sudden silence was followed by plenty of dirt and sand falling from the sky. And in that downpour of dirt, Shoui was looking toward the schoolyard gate instead of at Saki. The attack had flown form that direction and two people stood there. One was a boy and the other a girl. The boy wore a student combat coat and raised a sword in his two false arms. The girl wore personal clothes and her long ponytail fluttered in the wind as she brushed it back with a false arm far too large for her body. The previous attack had been made by a diagonal upwards slash of the boy’s sword. He spoke as he sheathed the sword. “What are you doing, Saki? Depending on your answer, I, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou, will pass my judgment on you.” Nanba Souichirou looked to Shoui and Saki with his one eye. Shoui whistled at the one-eyed gaze. “Wow. I can see how you slayed an ogre with that.” “You don’t think our Chancellor’s a Chancellor, do you?” “But I was complimenting him. …Man, that’s way more powerful than the Over Rhythms we use.” His eyes briefly stopped on the sword guard eyepatch, but then he looked to the girl standing next to Nanba Souichirou. The ponytailed girl with a giant false arm attached to her left shoulder bent her eyes in a cheerful expression before staring intently at Shoui. When their gazes met, her mouth moved. “It’s been a year, Shoui. How’ve ya been?” “Oh, it’s you, boss.” When he heard Shoui’s troubled expression, Souichirou turned toward the girl behind him. The girl nodded. “That guy…Shoui’s, well, a friend of mine.” She smiled a little. “It was beatin’ him at the Mountain last year that got me my spot as Nagoya Chancellor.” “Don’t tell them that, boss! You’ll hurt their impression of me!” “Don’t worry about it. More importantly, it’s good to see ya again.” She took a breath. “Shoui, if ya get caught in anythin’ too weird, I, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, will give ya some advice in place of your parents. …Okay?” When they heard that, a stir ran through the boys spread out in the schoolyard. Hearing those overlapping voices, Shoui held his forehead over his bandanna. The phantom pain had vanished at some point. ### 220. Part 2 7:21 PM They were Words and they were sung in a female voice unlike the voice of that former enemy. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The Words reverberated in the singer’s throat with a somewhat fast tempo and they contained a rumble much like thunder. Shoui knew whose voice that was. “Boss!?” He turned around to find Taeko standing there. “Were ya waitin’ long?” “Eh? Yes, a very long time.” “Ya sure are honest,” replied Taeko with a slight smile. She laughed out loud and used her giant false left arm to grab Shoui’s collar as he sat on the ground. “Ya really don’t change, do ya!? I wouldn’t have it any other way, though!” He was quickly lifted up higher than her and he sighed while dangling down like his clothes were placed on a hanger. “I’m glad to see you haven’t changed either, boss.” “Of course I haven’t. In Nagoya, we take pride in the fact that we don’t change no matter where we go. More importantly…” “?” “Can ya go up on the Tsutenkaku this late?” “They close at six. See?” Shoui pointed toward the gate at the bottom of the tower that was only lit by the emergency lighting now. Realizing the truth, Taeko sighed in obvious disappointment. “Ahh, ahh. If only the meetin’ had ended sooner.” “What was the meeting about? Or is that a secret?” “Ixolde’s gonna be activated in two days, so they needed our final approval. Ixolde’s pretty neat on the inside.” “Oh, you went inside?” Taeko showed off her white teeth in a smile. “Well, all the important bits were still closed off behind shutters. They showed us a room full of computers and stuff, though.” “I see…” “Is something the matter?” “So all the Kansai Chancellors really are gathered at #2?” “Not all. Kobe’s still a mess after that earthquake last year, so they haven’t selected a new Chancellor. And Kanazawa never responded to the request and didn’t send anyone.” Taeko lowered Shoui. Even when standing, she was about three sizes taller than him and she looked at him with a perfect look of indifference. “Then again, yer precious Koto Chancellor didn’t show up either, sayin’ she had other business to take care of. I was hopin’ to say hi if I met her.” “…” “Have ya met her? Accordin’ to that Saki guy who was attackin’ ya, ya only just left the Mountain yesterday.” “Yeah, I took my things here and moved into the dorm yesterday.” Unable to look Taeko in the eye, Shoui looked down. “And I haven’t met her yet. I haven’t contacted Nandaimon either.” “Why not? Because I beat ya and become Chancellor?” “Well…” “Or because yer precious Koto Chancellor killed my brother? With that flash freezin’?” “That was-…!” Shoui looked up and started to say something, but Taeko smiled and patted his shoulder. “Let’s just leave it at that.” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Persuasion – Hit. “I’m glad even a guy like you would try not to hurt my feelings.” “I feel like you keep insulting me here…” “Don’t worry about it. Now, how about ya go visit Nandaimon Shrine?” “I plan to eventually…” — Taeko – Boxing Tech –Take – Headlock – Hit. “Ow, ow, ow, ow!” “What’s this ‘eventually’ nonsense? If ya don’t get goin’ right away, I’ll bully ya. I heard what ya really think back at the Mountain. I forced it out of ya, remember?” “Yeah, that Boston crab was no laughing matter… But that’s not the- ow ow! M-my brains are gonna come out!” — Shoui – Gym/Dodge Tech – Multiple Counter-Take – Escape – Hit. “Ahh, I think you changed the shape of my head.” “It’s what ya get for not pullin’ yourself together.” Taeko tapped his shoulder with the thumb of her false arm. “I got this Eighth Dragon Emperor after our fight, but am I any different than I was before? Even the Koto Chancellor is-…” “But Yuuki is different.” “How?” “She…” “Because she killed someone?” Taeko let out a deep sigh. “Then ya should become a Chancellor, too. Then ya’d get permission to kill. And when it comes to the Koto Chancellor…well, I can see how yer thoughts get the better of ya.” “But I don’t have my own Words. …And I let other people influence me too much. Like with that 1st Special Duty Officer.” “Ya’ll find yer words somewhere eventually. Mine only came to me durin’ our fight…and they were the same as my brother’s. More importantly,” she added. “Lecutrin’ ya here isn’t gonna help, so just go meet her.” “You’re probably right. …Then for now, how about we get something to eat? Where do you want to go?” “Ya moron. I can’t do anything if ya don’t lead the way.” “Do you not know your way around Osaka?” She shook her head, so Shoui accepted it. “Then let’s walk around and find a dote-yaki place or something. They have large counters.” As soon as he made that suggestion, he saw a light. A bolt of lightning fell on Osaka. “!?” When they heard the deep, tearing Live rumbling around them, Shoui and Taeko turned to the west. An electrical discharge filled the sky over the Yodo ward. “Winter lighting? That sure was flashy.” “No! That wasn’t lightning!” Shoui took a few steps forward. “!? Shoui!” He did not turn back toward Taeko’s voice. — Shoui – Army Tech – Take – Projectile Recognition – Hit! “What’s the matter!?” Taeko ran up behind him, but he still did not turn her way. He focused on a single point in the sky and spoke. “I’ve seen this once before. That wasn’t lightning. It was ether being loaded from Suzaku Ver. 40!” “Suzaku Ver. 40? You mean that combat satellite!?” “Yes. Since they can’t use an orbital Word Particle Cannon in urban areas, Nandaimon has Suzaku Ver. 40 provide the ether that powers holy spells.” “Um, so that means…what?” “That light would only fall toward the person who can directly contact Suzaku Ver. 40…and that means Yuuki.” Shoui slowly walked forward. “Shoui!?” When Taeko called after him, he reflexively broke into a run. “Ya moron! Is that what ya do after worrying someone!?” His shoulders tensed at her voice. A sort of fascination filled his gut. On that night two years before, the injury to his forehead had caused him to pass out for a few moments. By the time he had woken, her opponent had already been dead. Not even a single drop of blood had stained the ground and only Yamashita Gihei’s right arm had remained. With blood staining half his face, he had supported her as she nearly collapsed and he had called for Senga in the blowing wind of Sarusawa Lake. Two years had passed since Senga had determined Yamashita had died of “disintegration” due to an impact after being flash frozen. The hands that had embraced her back then were now tightly clenched as he ran forward. Saki Seiji had called her Killing Holder. Even back then, she had not showed her emotions much, so it may have been an appropriate name for her. … Are you still the girl I know? He hid that question in his heart and ran forward to find the answer. He ran to meet her. ### 221. Part 2 11:06 PM Ichiyama Yuusei was calm. He successfully used several reactive Techs that did not require initiative. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Activate False Eye “Akashi” – Hit. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Reinforced Organs – Hit. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Cut Prosthetics Limiter – Hit. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Internal Rhythm “Explosion High” – Hit. By the time Hisahide got close, the steam of activation blew from both false arms. The power of Ishiyama’s false eyes allowed him to ignore the darkness of the night. Losing the initiative was the only way he was at any disadvantage. Hisahide quickly reached him and threw a kick. “!” He rotated his compactly bent knee. Rather than a karate roundhouse kick, this kick focused on speed and aim as in Muay Thai. But… … There’s nothing much of note. Is he testing me? Ichiyama had faced countless people with kicks at this level. — Ichiyama – Dodge Tech – Take – Sway Back – Hit. After confirming that his opponent was neatly rotating on the heel of his pivot leg, he bent his upper body back to escape the path of the kick. Or he should have. “!?” The strike from the armored hit pointer attached to Hisahide’s white sneakers scored a solid blow on the side of Ichiyama’s broad jaw. With a dull sound of impact, Ichiyama’s large body floated up into the air. … What just happened!? He had successfully dodged with his Tech. … So why did the kick still hit me? — Ichiyama – Gym Tech – Take – Stabilize – Hit! Using a sway back to dodge had been a stroke of good luck. If he had ducked, he would have been hit by a counter. The kick had been stronger than it looked. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Control False Eye “Akashi” – Miss. The impact had removed the effects of his false eyes. With the power of Akashi gone, Hisahide had suddenly become a mere silhouette as he rushed further forward. Ichiyama was at a disadvantage. However, he did not rely on the power of his false eyes. He instead worked to solve the mystery of how his opponent had broken his Dodge Tech. … It would be dangerous not to take this seriously. With a metallic flavor in his mouth, he sang his Words. In the cold, still air The force that disturbs the field via destruction Is born of a grand power That song caused his arms to explode. This was the Explosion High Rhythm. A series of explosions resided in the fists of his false arms. The ether floating in the air was not transformed into gunpowder or fuel. It was transformed into pure impacts and explosions. A roar came from each fist. The destructive power of an impact from them was at its highest level. If his opponent blocked, their arm would be blown off and a solid hit would blow them away altogether. — Ichiyama – Explosion High/Boxing Tech – Multiple Take – Consecutive Attacks – Hit. “…!” The pistons of his false arms began to run, giving him complete control over both straight and curved motions. With the limiters cut and with the reinforced organs contained within his body to endure the extreme movement, he could pull off a barrage of twelve hits a second. His Boxing Tech had succeeded, so if Hisahide’s Dodge Tech failed… “Is that all you’ve got?” Nakamura Hisahide did not even use a Tech. He simply danced into Ichiyama’s storm of fists as if nothing was happening at all. … Is he insane!? Despite Ichiyama’s question, his fists never hit his opponent. Hisahide avoided all of the attacks as if bending his body in a dance. He bent forward, right, left, forward, and back. Even as the bottom of his mountain hoodie was torn by the explosions, he slowly walked forward. There was no hint of excitement or worry on his face. Even a grazing hit from the Explosion High Rhythm would blow someone away, so people were normally filled with fear. The Explosion High Rhythm briefly slowed, so Ichiyama frantically opened his mouth to send the Rhythm’s Message to his body. But… “That’s not going to help.” With those words, Hisahide arrived right in front of Ichiyama. His clothing was torn up, but he himself was completely unharmed. Ichiyama came to a stop when he saw it, but Hisahide took action. While standing right in front of Ichiyama, he thrust his knee up to chest height and threw a kick. His lower leg drew a swift sideways arc and his toes flew toward Ichiyama’s jaw. This kick required great flexibility. … ! A belated chill ran down Ichiyama’s spine. His response was entirely powered by instinct. He tried to block the kick from below using his Explosion High fist. — Ichiyama – Dodge/Boxing Tech – Take – Block – Hit! Instead of dodging, he defended. He would take a good bit of damage, but the technique was guaranteed to succeed unless his opponent’s attack failed. After all, he was using the Explosion High Rhythm. Hisahide would not escape this unscathed. However, that assumption was completely overturned when the kick struck his jaw from directly below. “…Gh!?” He did not understand. He had never heard of an attack that could slip past an absolute defense. … What’s going on? He truly did not understand, but he did know two things: First, he was collapsing backwards. “Seaaaaaaaahhhh!” And second, Hisahide’s right heel was swinging down toward his face like a battle axe. His consciousness cut out almost immediately. ### 222. Part 2 1:28 PM A vermilion shrine stood quietly in the afternoon sun. It was Nandaimon Shrine. Its current master, Yuuki Senga, stood before the sanctuary. The entrance to the vermilion wooden structure was closed by a bulkhead painted with yellow and black danger stripes. “Use Extreme Caution” was written in red letters at the center. “…” Senga silently operated the key panel on the wall next to it. She pressed a few keys and inserted a card she pulled from her pocket. After a pause, she pressed her thumb against a point on the panel. — Senga – Mechanic Tech – Take – Machine Operation – Hit. The bulkhead moved. It had looked like a solid piece, but it split into four pieces and receded into the sanctuary wall. The sanctuary had looked wooden on the outside, but it was a fully-equipped modern shelter on the inside. The bulkhead revealed a slope leading underground. In the darkness beyond, another bulkhead could be heard opening. It led to the sanctuary proper. The low sound of heavy moving metal was accompanied by the slope’s lights turning on. The bright light reflected off the flexible gray metal of the walls and floor. Senga stared down the pathway and sighed. “Maybe it’s about time to let Yuuki put the sanctuary and history books to rest. Her grandfather’s soul hasn’t been showing up lately…” She complained as she walked down and reached for a touch panel on the wall. When she did… “Hey, wait! Wait just a second!” She turned in surprise toward a male voice. A boy stood there. He wore a red mountain hoodie with a tattered bottom and he looked young. … Is he a student? But… “Is sneaking up on a woman without letting her sense your presence your idea of a greeting?” “Sorry, sorry. But my personal rules say you can only yourself a woman up to the age of twenty-eight. You didn’t know that?” “I don’t like to brag, but I turned twenty-five this year.” “That I didn’t know. That’s called being a nonagenarian, right?” “…Are you trying to pick a fight? What brings a Critical Forcer here?” The boy whistled lightly at what she said. “That’s the former head teacher at the Mountain for you. How could you tell my Combat Style?” “The soles of your shoes are scraped up at the toes. That’s because you shift your center of gravity with kicks, isn’t it? It’s impressive that both shoes are like that.” “I see…” He looked into the sanctuary behind Senga. “I’ve been wondering. What’s in there?” “What will you do if I tell you?” “Feel impressed. …Hey, quit sighing and tell me.” “Hah. This is where the Devices, prosthetics, and history books created by the Nandaimon Shrine are kept. They’re all so old that their spirits tend to get a little rowdy, so they have to be put to rest once a day.” “Hmm. Do you have the rumored hand of that Rashoumon ogre? Y’know, the arm of the ogre Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou fought and slayed last year.” Senga smiled bitterly. “That arm is valuable for research, so it’s being preserved. But it wasn’t a Rashoumon ogre.” “That’s just what the rumors say. I don’t actually think it was either.” “You’re an interesting boy. Everything you say is so vague. …What are you truly after?” Senga gave a small smile and the boy smiled back. “I’m here to defeat the Koto Chancellor.” Both the sudden comment and how casually he had said it left Senga speechless. A short time passed. “…What?” “After all, she’s the only Chancellor that’s killed someone over the last ten years, right? Nanba Souichirou’s strong too, but he killed an ogre, not a person. That means defeating the Koto Chancellor would be better from an image standpoint.” “…” “Huh? Eh? Umm, don’t give me that scary look. I was just stopping by, but she wasn’t here. She wasn’t at her school either. I had nothing to do with her gone, but then I spotted you.” With that, he took a step toward the inside of the sanctuary. “Do not go inside!” shouted Senga. “…” “The sanctuary is under constant surveillance from the Suzaku Ver. 40 in orbit.” “You mean that combat satellite that was launched before the Wort Bombe created the Great Canopy? …So what about its surveillance?” “If anyone but me goes inside, a word particle cannon will fire on them from orbit when they leave. Do you want to be hit by a cannon blast that destroys everything in a kilometer at full power?” “That’s just cruel. Wouldn’t you destroy your own Koto region with that?” “It’s better than having anything taken from here. The people of Koto are prepared for that.” “Hmm.” The boy nodded and took a step back. He stuck both hands in his mountain hoodie’s pockets and let out a disinterested sigh. “The Suzaku Ver. 40 is a machine, so it wouldn’t be using a Tech to fire… And even if I dodged it, I wouldn’t be in the clear with a blast of that size.” Senga frowned at that. “Tech? Dodged it?” “Hm? What about it?” Senga stared at the boy’s face and their gazes clashed. It took some time before she spoke. “I once…” She took a breath as if hesitating. “I once heard someone say the same thing as you. During the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago, an idiot said they could dodge the Suzaku Ver. 40’s cannon.” “…” “Tell me your name and your teacher’s name.” “Will you fire on me from orbit if I don’t?” “That might not help if you’re who I think you are.” “You’re overestimating me,” he said with a bitter smile. He straightened his back, looked down at Senga, and spoke with a pleasant smile. “I’m Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. …My teacher’s name is Iba Masaaki. You know him, don’t you?” His question was answered with silence. Senga’s gaze wandered. She looked down, seemed about to say something, and then looked Hisahide in the eye again. “I was right.” “That old man said you, Yuuki Senga, would probably make up your mind pretty quickly.” “Only probably? That idiot’s underestimating me. Does this mean Iba created a White Noise user!?” “I wanted to be one.” “Why?” “To meet my sister and become the king.” Hisahide continued in an almost arrogant tone. “I’d like to hear the opinion of Yuuki Senga, leader of the Nandaimon Shrine, former head teacher of Mt. Kouya’s Mountain, and leader of the Kansai Temple and Shrine League. Are the rumors true that Ixolde is going to create the most powerful Rhythm?” “You came to Kansai because you think they are true, didn’t you?” “I want to hear the truth from you, the only person to oppose the Ixolde project.” He lowered his hips, crossed his arms, and sat on the ground. “I’m not moving until you tell me.” “What will you do if I tell you?” “Cry.” His tone was jocular, but a horrible stillness filled his expression. He looked up at Senga with the look of a student awaiting his teacher’s lesson. — Senga – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. “I see.” “…” “I don’t know what you’re thinking or what you feel obligated to do, but you must deem this necessary.” Hisahide said nothing. He waited motionlessly for Senga to speak, so she responded to his silence. “The Rhythm it will create is far more powerful than the Wind Rhythm Kusanagi that Souichirou uses. It will be the Heavy Rhythm Yamata, aka the Flame High. That mysterious Rhythm is said to exist in this Land of Fire and Land of the Rising Sun.” She took a breath. “But it was lost when used by Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori during the Kinki Riot.” ### 223. Part 2 6:35 PM Light struck metal. The sound of a hammer on stone rang out again and again. The train car shook and the shock-resistant glass shattered when it could not withstand the bending of the metal walls. Souichirou was the only one inside the shaking train car and he remained motionless after sheathing his sword. A roar sounded out. The dry sound resembled splitting stone and it coincided with the bullet of light exploding from its collision. Souichirou was brightly illuminated inside the car and his sword guard eyepatch glowed dully. At the same time, he took action. He gently lifted his vertical scabbard to eye level. “!” He then struck the plastic floor with the tip of the scabbard. The sound of the powerful strike joined the countless metallic screams surrounding him. A change occurred after that. The car was sliced into three pieces. The two gentle slashes made while walking had cut this space free. That block had received all of the impacts and noise and thus took on the fate meant for the entire train. Just like removing a single piece of sliced bread from the loaf, the block was knocked to the left and away from the rest of the train car. Sparks scattered from the floor because the metal pieces were still biting into each other and creating a lot of friction. More sparks flew and all of the movement and noise came to a brief stop. A moment later, the ball of light and hexagonal rod exploded outside the window. After a solid sound, the movement resumed. One step ahead of Souichirou, the floor contained between two straight cracks was lifted up. As that piece toppled over, the floor disappeared upwards. The seats and floor collapsed to the left before Souichirou’s eyes. As soon as the floor reached shoulder height, he used his right false arm to strike the bottom of the floor. With an intense sound, sparks flew from the metal seam and a red circle was drawn around the cut. That settled it all. No more sparks formed. The train car had been completely cut apart. The car separated into three sections with an ensemble of roaring sounds. The giant piece of metal bent and spun as it fell from the elevated track. — Souichirou – Sight Tech –Take – Confirm Landing Location – Hit! They were passing by an elementary school schoolyard. After confirming that the cut-away car fell there, he faced forward again. He stood in the front of the train car and the back of it followed after a short gap. Both had completely escaped the impact of the attack. He heard emergency alarms coming from the unharmed cars. “Souichirou-sama!” The door to the next car back opened and Iwai Sanzou stepped out. He took a few steps into the trisected car and looked around. “Splendid! Well done, Souichirou-sama!” “I am sick of hearing your praise.” With that blunt response, Souichirou looked outside from the edge of the car. The train had stopped accelerating in order to come to a natural stop, but it had not stopped yet. The ocean and coastal road rushed by in his vision. “Did they get away, Souichirou-sama?” — Souichirou – Hear Tech – Take – Track – Hit! “No, I can still hear the engine.” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Reinforced Internals – Hit. “Who exactly…are they?” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Reinforced Muscle Integrity – Hit. “They are an enemy.” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate False Arms ALR-C31 – Hit. “You said that before…” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate False Legs LLR-C39 – Hit. “Is any other description needed?” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Cut Prosthetic Limiters – Hit. “You’re still as obsessed with combat as you were two years ago, aren’t you?” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Install Gym Tech Booster – Hit. “That is because I gained this body. Thanks to my two battles with the ogre and thanks to your support.” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Install Sight Tech Booster – Hit. “Are you going to pursue them? …What about getting to Sakai?” — Souichirou – Mind Tech – Take – Control – Hit. “I might be late, but I will be there.” With that, Souichirou jumped from the train car. — Souichirou – Gym Tech – Take – Attitude Control – Hit. He landed on the elevated track’s fence and began running. He ran alongside the train for a bit, but he quickly passed it. He was fast. — Souichirou – Savate/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit. He leaped toward the crescent moon floating in the sky. He jumped high enough to look down on the city of Osaka. ### 224. Part 2 7:13 PM … The moon looked a lot like this on that night. As Shoui muttered those words in his heart, he had already closed his eyes and started sinking into darkness. He was falling asleep. He felt a strong wind blowing around him. When he closed his eyes, he could only sense the wind, the noise, and the floor below him while he was surrounded in darkness. His senses constantly informed him of his own body’s presence sprawled out on the floor. His mind was looking at darkness. If he did open his eyes, he would find himself on the roof of Osaka Prefectural #2’s student dorm building, but he did not do so. There was something he had to remember on his own. It had been worth cutting short his daily nighttime combat training. This had been bothering him since the previous night. This was another important memory besides the one of the pain that had become a phantom pain. “…” He sighed. His vision was filled with darkness. He gave himself over to this unimaginable darkness that he could only see by closing his eyes. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Regulate – Hit. He used some Techs. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Release Memory – Hit. The Tech vividly resurrected his memory. ### 225. Part 2 7:48 PM A boy in a red mountain hoodie stood high up on the stairway landing. He brushed up his straight, short-cropped hair as he looked down at Shoui and Saki. “So you had some forces left over, did you?” The first to react was Shoui, not Saki. He took a slow half-step forward. He did not put up his guard and remained in a natural stance. “Um, excuse me. I’m a normal student, so can I just leave? …Gwoh! S-Saki-san!?” Shoui shouted in protest at the kick from the side and Saki glared at him. “Get outta here, moron! And…hey, you! Who the hell are you!? Answer me!” “You really do love your boke and tsukkomi routine in Osaka, don’t you?” “Answer the question I asked!” “Shut up. You’re the one that needs to answer my question. Has Osaka’s Chancellor still not come back?” Saki’s expression shifted from tense to grim when he heard that. “Damn you…” “Hey, you up there! I wouldn’t anger Saki-san if I were you. His special attack is to gang up on you with his friends.” Shoui ducked to avoid the backhand punch Saki threw his way, so Saki glanced back at him. “Why would you dodge that?” “The rules of boke and tsukkomi have nothing to do with this. Oh, and pay attention.” The enemy walked down one step. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. The enemy gave off no killer intent. That meant one of two things. One: the enemy was not taking this seriously yet. Two: the enemy was maintaining a natural stance. Shoui chose the latter, so he gave a shout. “Hold it!” “…?” Once the enemy reached the third step down, Shoui saw him stop. Saki gave Shoui a puzzled look from the side, but he did not care. He simply asked a question of the enemy who stood higher up from him. “Are you here to pick a fight with Osaka’s Chancellor?” “Of course. Besides, after going this far, the Chancellor’s really the only one left.” Saki stepped forward when he heard that. He pulled out two spears and held one at the ready in each hand. “You mean you defeated all the guards!? You defeated Vice Chancellor Hirano and the Special Duty Officers!?” “Yeah, they were quite brave. My officers grew defiant and refused to cross the Altered Line, so they could learn a thing from yours.” “Cross the Altered Line?” “Yes, I’m saying I crossed Nagoya’s ultra-dangerous desert region created when the word structure was destroyed by the nuclear syllable bomb dropped during the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago.” “…” “Do you understand what that means?” “If that’s true, this is no joke!” “Why would it be a joke?” The enemy sat down on the stairs. “Well, if Osaka’s Chancellor hasn’t shown up after all this, maybe he was already taken out.” “What?” “This place seems pretty shorthanded, but that’s because something happened in the city, isn’t it? …My companions picked a fight with Osaka’s and Nagoya’s Chancellors.” “Is that true, Saki-san?” Saki answered Shoui’s question without nodding. “I was #2 for tonight, but I’d heard there was an Alert Level C commotion earlier.” “Have you heard whether the Chancellors are okay?” “The Souichirou I know would never lose to anyone with his Kusanagi. …What about you, Hizaka?” “The boss I know would never lose to anyone with her breast size. …No, wait. I think Yuuki’s are bigger.” “I really am going to kill you later.” “That probably isn’t happening. After all, I’m going to knock both of you out right here,” calmly commented the enemy up the stairs. “I really don’t care either way when it comes to Osaka’s power. Ever since the Kinki Riot, we’ve researched techniques to defeat the Rhythms and Techs you primarily use here.” Before he even finished, Saki silently lowered his body. And a moment later… — Saki – Spear/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Throw Left and Right Spears – Hit! He stretched upwards and his two spears flew in a straight line. The twin lines tore through the wind on their way to the person sitting on the stairs. With two solid sounds, the spears stabbed into the edge of the concrete stairs. Their shafts vibrated, but they had not pierced anything. The enemy had stood up at some point. He was turned to the side on the steps and the spear shafts filled the space just barely past his chest and back. “That was close.” His voice contained no hint of panic, tension, or killer intent. Shoui frowned. … That wasn’t trying to hit? It had looked like Saki had thrown the spears as a threat to restrict the enemy’s movement. Wondering why, he glanced over at Saki, but the slight smile on Saki’s face and the sweat on his brow told Shoui he had been wrong. … He tried to hit, but didn’t? The enemy had dodged Saki’s spears. And without using a Tech. “I can’t believe this,” said the enemy. “And I haven’t even met my sister or her lover yet.” Hearing a slight laugh, Shoui looked up at the enemy. The boy was smiling as he stood between the two spears. “Didn’t I tell you? No Rhythm or Tech will work on me.” Without saying a word, Saki pulled out two more spears and held them at the ready. … Saki-san? Just as Shoui was going to say something, Saki took action. — Saki – Spear/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Throw Left and Right Spears – Hit! His actions were perfectly flowing and swift. If the previous spears marked the ends of a horizontal line, these two marked the ends of a vertical line. They were aimed at the chest and waist of the boy standing between those other spears. But… “Don’t hold back. You need to aim for my face. C’mon, the face.” With that comment, the enemy made his move. Shoui watched as the boy avoided the supposedly unavoidable attack. He stepped toward the tips of the spears flying his way. He started down the stairs at a walking pace. Just before the flying spears were going to hit him, he had moved outside the range of the spears on his left and right. It was impossible. The spears were flying faster than he was walking. … He couldn’t possibly have moved forward before he was skewered. But he had done exactly that to dodge. With two solid sounds, the spears stabbed into the edge of the concrete stairs. The vibrating shafts of the four spears now marked the ends of a cross. The enemy did not stop walking in front of that geometric diagram. He continued down the stairs. He showed no tension, hesitation, or killer intent. Shoui instinctually took a step back and glanced over to Saki. The tall spear-user watched his opponent with a smile still plastered on his face. There was brightness to his expression, much like the surprise of suddenly waking up. “Let me guess. That’s Zenon’s paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, isn’t it?” “So you figured it out?” confirmed the enemy without stopping his descent of the stairs. Shoui gave Saki a confused look. “…?” “It’s a paradox from the heretical Zenon school of Western wordology. No matter how fast someone is, it still takes some time to arrive at a destination.” The enemy picked up where Saki left off. “Even movement on a microscopic scale requires some slight time. Using that theory, units of distance can be divided nearly infinitely, right? In other words, motion takes a nearly infinite amount of time.” “He dodged using that paradox?” “Of course he did! He’s from the Zenon City! …You’re from Tokyo, aren’t you!?” shouted Saki. “You’re Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide, aren’t you!?” “Correct.” The enemy, Nakamura Hisahide, reached the bottom of the stairs as he spoke that word. His gaze was three sizes lower than Saki’s and one higher than Shoui’s. He pulled his hands from his pockets and let them dangle at his sides. He gently raised his right hand and looked at the silver ring on his middle finger. “Of course, the theory I’m using isn’t quite that well put together. It’s just the persuasion I need to activate my power. It’s something like what they call an Override in England.” With that, his right toes spun like a top on the floor and his left leg raced out in a straight line. — Saki – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Guard – Hit! But for some reason, Hisahide’s toes stabbed into Saki’s side before he could guard. “Saki-san!” By the time Shoui shouted his name, Saki’s feet had already left the floor. ### 226. Part 2 7:30 AM Shoui came to shortly after sunrise. The first sensation was that of lying down. He opened his eyes to find a large white ceiling filling his blurry vision. … A hallway? That was his first thought when he saw how large the ceiling was and he moved just his head to look around. He was in a lobby. To his right was a counter built into the wall. The counter was closed off by a curtain and a few labels were displayed on the wall. … Reception, New Patients, Outpatient, and Accounting. After reading those labels, Shoui finally realized where he was: Osaka Central Hospital. “!?” He shot up in surprise. … Why am I sleeping in the hospital lobby? That question brought back the memories of the previous night. He had met Saki on the rooftop and Tokyo’s Chancellor in the dorm. Then he had fought that second boy. But that final scene did not lead into this one. … I faced him in a room…? What had happened after that? He could not answer. His forehead briefly hurt, but he ignored it and looked around to check on the situation. A student was lying in each of the sofas lined up in the lobby. They were lying on the floor as well. A few were receiving an IV. This was a war wound hospital. Anyone who had experienced the Kinki Riot thirteen years before was familiar with that term. Every hospital in Osaka had once worked at full capacity with the injured filing the lobby and hallways. … I can’t believe this. That thought brought more pain to his forehead. He reflexively brought a hand to it and felt cloth there. … My bandanna. After that thought of confirmation, the pain receded. He sighed, got up, and put on the shoes placed next to the sofa. As he did, he remembered what he had wanted to do the previous night. He had wanted to ask Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide if he intended to attack Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. That would have let him protect Yuuki, but he had not received an answer. … This isn’t good. He glanced at the clock and found it was not much past 7:30. However, at least ten hours had passed since the previous night’s tragedy. That was plenty of time for that boy to attack Koto. … I need to find out. A payphone was located by the mirror on the wall next to the counter. He took his wallet from his uniform’s hidden pants pocket and pulled out his telephone card. … I need to ask if Yuuki knows about this. He picked up the receiver and searched his memories from two years ago to place the call. He also had to ask if Tokyo’s Chancellor had visited Yuuki. He had to ask if she knew if Tokyo’s Chancellor was after her as the Killing Holder. He had to ask if she knew about what had happened at the student dorm the night before. He had to ask about it all and tell her about it all. A thought filled his chest during the short time it took him to dial the number. … She isn’t going to ignore me about this, is she? He recalled the night before last. He recalled the term Killing Holder. Killing Holder referred to someone who held the will to kill inside themselves and would not hesitate to kill. Yuuki had earned that Urban Name during the two years he had been gone. … I guess she isn’t going to cry and say she wants me to protect her anymore. The phone rang. He realized he was holding his breath. There was something he wanted to ask. He wanted to ask it far more then about the previous night or about Tokyo’s Chancellor. … Is there any meaning in protecting Yuuki now? He had wondered that ever since descending from the Mountain. Asking that question threatened to destroy everything, even his promise on that night three years ago. “…” The phone continued to ring. Unable to bear it any longer, he just about hung up, but then they answered. “This is the Yuuki family of the Nandaimon Shrine. …Who is it?” It was Yuuki’s voice. Shoui adjusted his grip on the receiver. He knew what he had to say first: a greeting. … Chancy seeing you here. He shook his head to erase that thought and gave a quick sigh. He quietly cleared his throat, and… “It’s Shoui,” he said. Or so he thought he said. However, Yuuki gave the following reply: “…Who is it?” For a brief moment, he had no idea what she was saying. She sounded just like she was speaking to a complete stranger. … Has she forgotten me?! “It’s Shoui! Can’t you hear me!?” Only after saying that did he realize why she had ignored him. “…!?” He had not actually spoken. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Hurry it up already.” He heard Yuuki’s voice and tried to say something, but… “…Ah.” Only a rough breath escaped his throat. He quickly brought a hand to his throat and found bandages wrapped around it. “…” He thought back to the previous night while Yuuki fell silent. He had fought Tokyo’s Chancellor… … And took a kick to the throat. His vocal cords had been crushed. He could not speak. “Who is this?” asked Yuuki. “It’s Shoui!” Even his shout only created a slight disturbance in his breathing. He could not get anything through to her. He could not ask any of the questions he wanted to ask her. “Yuuki!” The abnormal breath that should have been her name spilled from his throat. A moment later, she hung up. “!” On reflex, he prepared to punch the wall. — Shoui – Mind/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Restraint – Hit! He stopped his fist right before it reached the white wall. He dropped the receiver that only produced a dial tone. He was breathing heavily. He touched his throat and found the bandages there. He grabbed the cloth in his fingers and quickly unraveled them. After throwing the bandages and the compress to the floor, he tried to speak. “…!” Nothing came out. He could not form any words. He truly was a Dis-Worder, just as his Urban Name said. “…” He gave a deep sigh and relaxed his entire body. He looked around and saw the many students sleeping in the lobby. … I can’t cause a commotion here. He shoulders drooped and he placed a hand on the wall. An unexpectedly cold sensation reached his fingers. It felt like ice. “?” He turned back and saw another lobby where the wall should have been. It was a mirror. The large mirror on the wall reflected the lobby and Shoui. The Shoui in the mirror was covered in bandages. His coat and shirt had been removed and he wore bandages in place of that clothing. He could see charms in a few of the gaps between bandages, so he must have undergone Tune healing. Barely any pain or fatigue remained in his body. … Huh? He noticed a gray cloth sticking out of his front pants pocket. It was his bandanna. … Didn’t I feel that on my head when my forehead hurt? He had felt some cloth on his forehead. “…” He checked the mirror again. A bandage was wrapped around the forehead of the Shoui in the large mirror. The center of the bandage had grown a light reddish brown, so some blood must have seeped out below it. That was the location of the wound Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei had given him two years before. The previous night’s attack had caused that wound to bleed again. … Last night. He remembered everything when he looked at himself in the mirror. After seeing the bruise on his throat and the blood on his forehead, the memories returned to him. He had taken Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide’s kick to the throat and then the boy’s heel to the head. It was just like two years before, just with a heel instead of a slash. The nightmare had replayed itself. … So I lost. That thought filled him with exhaustion. Strength left his knees, so he pressed his shoulder against the shoulder in the mirror and crumbled to the floor. It did not take long for him to fall asleep. ### 227. Part 2 1:36 PM Students were visible here and there as Shoui carried a Dog God on his shoulder and walked around Osaka with the girl named Takada Seigi. They were looking for the hotel at which she had a reservation. She tilted her head as they walked along the road in front of Nanba Station. “Was it the Osaka Hotel?” There were hotels with names like that everywhere. That name was especially little help in the category of hotels cheap enough for a normal student to stay at them. “This is quite the problem… I can see why you were searching around since morning.” Shoui scratched at his head and looked around. The semi-cylindrical Nanba Station was right in front of them and a few phones were located in front of the station’s entrance. “How about you call home to ask?” “Oh, I can’t do that. I left on this trip without telling anyone.” “What?” “It’s sort of a graduation trip and I’m skipping school.” “Skipping school, are you? …Kids these days sure like to have fun.” “You understand, don’t you? If you were to run away from home…” … Well, I kind of get it. He tried to say that with a bitter smile, but… “I don’t have any parents, so I don’t understand,” answered the Dog God on his shoulder. Takada’s expression changed before he could scold the Dog God. Her cheerful look clouded over. “Ah, don’t worry about it!” But it was too late. The cloudy expression soon produced rain. Tears welled up in Takada’s eyes. Shoui looked around quickly to check the afternoon crowd in front of the station. … I can’t believe this. I hope no one’s watching… / “I can’t believe this. I hope no one’s watching…” He panicked when the Dog God spoke his thoughts aloud. “Wait! I don’t mean that in a bad away! Um…!” Takada nodded and quickly lowered her head. “Sorry about that. My emotions burst out without warning again. That was a nuisance, wasn’t it?” “I wouldn’t call it a nuisance. Honestly, it just surprised me. …What was that about?” “People’s thoughts reach me through Taromaru.” The Dog God licked at the tears on her cheek. “So I read your memories…” “Oh, so you saw when I was buried alive and nearly died during the Kinki Riot…” He smiled bitterly as the girl wiped away the tears with her ring-bearing hand. “I can’t believe this. So this Dog God is connected to you?” “Taromaru…no, the entire Dog God race speaks people’s thoughts.” “I see.” “But they can’t speak thoughts people can’t put into words. Instead, they try to understand those thoughts and share them with each other.” “So the memories and images I briefly thought of were sent back to you through the Dog God?” Takada nodded. “As they grow more and more accustomed to reading someone’s thoughts, that person’s thoughts and memories…are directly transmitted to me.” “I can’t read your thoughts, though.” “You probably need to get used to reading them.” “That’s not fair…” Shoui then realized something and the Dog God on his shoulder reflexively put it to words. “You can see my lewd thoughts too?” “Yes, I can.” Shoui’s face stiffened at her Dog God’s simple answer. She smiled bitterly while wiping away the tears and then leaned against the station’s outer wall. “You were sneaking peeks at my butt and legs from behind before.” “W-well! They’re pretty great! Wait, what am I saying!? Calm down! Agh!” “…Taromaru is reading all of your thoughts.” “Wait, wait, wait! That’s, um, the thing about that is…” “You like legs in stockings?” “Indeed I do. …Wait, no!” “Don’t worry. I understand.” “That stockings are amazing?” “No.” “Th-then, it’s something worse? I do have a feeling I was thinking some pretty awful things…” “I said don’t worry. There are people out there thinking even more unbelievable things.” “That doesn’t make me feel much better!” Takada giggled as Shoui shouted through the Dog God. She was laughing even though she had been crying just a moment before. When he noticed that change, Shoui sighed and let his shoulders droop. “You’re an interesting person…” “Am I?” “Yes. This girl I know almost never lets her emotions show.” “Really? I’m jealous…” “You are?” “People used to say I never hide anything I’m feeling or that I’m emotionally unstable.” “Used to, hm?” “Oh, right. My memories don’t get through to you.” Shoui looked to the Dog God named Taromaru on his shoulder. The animal looked him in the eye and tilted his head. “How smart is this guy?” “I’m not sure. My cousin said his intelligence matches whoever he’s possessing.” “Your cousin?” “Yes, he was the one who created Taromaru. He’s a Word Master, you see. Taromaru was based on one that was possessing that cousin, but it left him because he found someone to support him.” “They stop possessing you once you’re no longer no single?” Takada shook her head. “They possess someone who is indecisive.” “…Indecisive?” Shoui placed a hand on his chin in thought and Taromaru spoke his thoughts aloud. “It’s probably not over whether stockings or panty hose are better. That’s getting into the perverted area again, which could cause some problems for me. So what could she be indecisive about? It’s probably something more pleasant. Something pleasurable…no, that’s getting back into pervert territory again.” “Shoui-san, Shoui-san. I can hear everything you’re thinking.” “Eh? Oh, really?” “It sounded like a bunch of nonsense.” “I can’t believe this…” He looked to the Taromaru on his shoulder, but the creature only scratched at the back of his head with his back paw. “I need to get back to normal as soon as possible. That way this guy won’t have to speak for me anymore.” “Really? He saved me. I’ve always been able to read a little bit of other people’s Lives. That’s why they influence me so much.” She smiled a little. “I couldn’t even go outside during elementary school, but then my cousin came and made Taromaru from my Live without speaking a word.” “Then, he’s…” “Yes. He’s apparently a Dog God highly tuned to my thoughts. I said I could read the thoughts of the people he possesses because it was a trait of Dog Gods, but that might be unique to Taromaru.” “I see.” “Dog Gods apparently choose someone to possess if not given any specific orders, but to be honest, you’re the first one he’s chosen on his own other than me.” “Really?” “Yes. If what my cousin said is true, then you must be indecisive about something.” “I’m not sure what to tell you…” “But it’s true,” said Takada. “Taromaru reads people’s thoughts and eats them as Lives, so he possesses people who are indecisive and conflicted…” “And speaks for them like this?” Takada spoke as Shoui scratched at his head. “I think it means you have a dual nature.” “What? Is that like being both an S and an M? …Wait, no!” “I like how you’ve been playing both the boke and tsukkomi.” “Well, I guess playing both roles myself would be another sort of dual nature.” He sighed. “Anyway, I guess this means I’m worrying over something even more than I thought.” “Yes, that kind of dual nature. But it isn’t a bad thing.” “Really?” “Most people have something like that, even if it isn’t on the same level as you. Including those indecent thoughts. …Some people’s public side is stronger and some people’s private side is stronger.” “…” “The way I see it, the more indecisive someone is, the stronger their ultimate answer will be.” “…Their answer, huh?” Takada nodded. “You have more on your mind than those indecent things, don’t you?” “Personally, those are the things I’ve been trying to think about the most, though. …Why does this bastard have to say all those things aloud!?” “I don’t mind.” “Eh? Really? You don’t mind that the guy standing next to you was imagining you naked? …Stop it, you idiot!” Shoui reached for the Taromaru on his shoulder, but the creature hid behind his back. He chased after the creature as if scratching at his body, but he could not catch the thing. Takada gave an honest laugh as she watched. “Don’t worry, Shoui-san. I know you’re only thinking those things on the surface.” “…R-really?” “Yes, I can see the girl in glasses you’re thinking about deep down.” “Oh, wow. So I’m talking to a girl while thinking about another girl? Am I a wishy-washy A-type with a lucky color of red, or something?” “You’re troubled by this self-analysis, aren’t you?” said Takada while peering into his face. “My family is naturally skilled with Lives, so how about I read your destiny a little?” “…You can do that? That sounds like a Tuner.” “I am a Tuner, actually. It’s just that I abandoned that path due to the instability I mentioned before.” “…” “I called myself a Fast Reader when I introduced myself, didn’t I? I borrow Taromaru’s power to read the Lives of people’s or the world’s destiny.” “Hmm… I’m not so sure about this. It sounds more legit than a fortune-telling.” “Please close your eyes. That will help calm your mind.” She did not give him a choice and he closed his eyes on reflex. She immediately held his cheeks between her hands. “!?” He opened his eyes and found her face right in front of him. She had kissed him. After two breaths, she pulled her lips away and returned to her previous position. He stared at her face. “Oh, dear. I just had my lips stolen…” “Why the effeminate tone of voice?” “Well, it was so sudden…” “Is it that surprising? You went all the way with that glasses girl.” “…You have no problem saying some pretty outrageous things, you know that?” “Anyway, that wasn’t what this was about. I was reading your kotodama . In other words, your Live.” “…That seems like a bit of a sad explanation to me.” “If you hadn’t been so surprised, I could have read a little deeper.” She closed her eyes and the Taromaru on her shoulder looked up toward heaven. The creature sang with her voice. A white flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in the fire A memory of death floats in nothingness A king saves him A queen laments him A sage resigns himself Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path Choose your own path and hesitate The true path lies in the past After the clear voice came to an end, Taromaru sighed. Speaking so much seemed to have been tough on his small body. Takada opened her eyes and Shoui asked a question. “Was that…my Words?” “No, it wasn’t. Not in your case.” “Then what was it?” “Good question. …Your destiny can always be changed, but that song was your future based on your current Live. It’s a little vague since I didn’t get a perfect read on you, though.” She smiled and Shoui sighed. The Dog God spoke his calmed thoughts. “I’m not gonna be able to fondle this girl’s breasts… Wait, no!” ### 228. Part 2 2:34 PM Taeko walked through the streets of Osaka. Walking from the hotel in front of Osaka Station to Prefectural #2 on the southern edge of the Chuo Ward took about half an hour, but it took closer to two hours when leisurely window shopping along the way. She was taking some detours and looking around the southern streets near Nanba Station. “Ixolde’s activation isn’t until seven anyway.” The watch on her right arm said it was only 2:35. Not even ten minutes had passed since she had parted ways with Saki at Osaka Station. She had spent the time looking around a few boutiques and a sporting goods store that doubled as a weapons store. Osaka was home to more corporations than Nagoya and it had plenty of nice weapons. The cold war that had triggered the split between east and west had created plenty of suspicion which in turn had led to the development of weapons and a system to provide them cheaply to students. As the number of purchasers had grown, the level of weaponry and prosthetics had also grown and the mass production abilities of multinational corporations supported the dissemination of those advancements. But while some weapons and prosthetics had continued to advance and were now treated just like sporting goods, there were some cruder old-fashioned designs that still focused on destructive power. The Eighth Dragon Emperor that took the place of Taeko’s left arm was one of those. It was a special false arm created at the Mountain that had a global registration license plate attached. “…” She touched the Dragon Emperor and faced forward. She saw the show window of a boutique much like the others in this southern area. Beyond the large pane of glass, four mannequins were wearing the same suit in different colors. “…” She silently touched the Dragon Emperor with her right hand. — Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Visually Detect – Hit. She looked into the store beyond the mannequins. She saw some girls in white and green sailor uniforms. They seemed to be third years who had already finished their closing ceremony. A group of five held a somewhat mature aura around them as they calmly and patiently perused the lipstick section. When Taeko noticed herself watching them, she looked away. When she turned her eyes from the boutique, she turned to the left. She then started walking. Following the road from this shopping district would take her to Prefectural #2 in about ten minutes. She walked a few steps. — Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. “Huh? …Shoui! What are ya doin’!?” Her voice immediately reached the boy as he walked down the road, so he stopped and turned back. There was a girl next to him. — Taeko – Person Tech – Take – Identify Person – Hit. Taeko did not recognize the girl. “…?” She tilted her head and stopped in front of Shoui. “What are ya doin’ in a place like this?” “Hm? Well, just a little bit of socialization.” Taeko noticed something odd about his answer. His mouth was not moving, yet she heard his voice. She frowned and peered at his face. “…? Shoui?” “Wh-why are you staring at me like that?” “When did you learn ventrilo-…?” Before she could say “quism”, a mouse-like creature poked its head out from his collar. The animal opened its mouth and spoke in his voice. “Oh, sorry. …I guess I didn’t mention it, but I’m stuck like this for a while.” “…Eh?” “You can tell this guy’s talking for me, right?” “Wait a second.” Taeko reached her right hand out toward the creature. When it saw her approaching hand, it gave a cry of warning that sounded like tearing silk. It bared surprisingly sharp fangs as it did so. “…” She pulled her hand back and the girl next to Shoui spoke without moving her lips either. “You can’t do that. He doesn’t like people who aren’t indecisive.” “Indecisive? What’s this creature and who’s this girl, Shoui?” Taeko looked to the girl who wore a stole. The innocent-looking girl had an identical creature on her shoulder. Shoui scratched his head and the creature at his collar spoke. “I can’t believe this. How am I supposed to explain it?” “I don’t understand any of this, Shoui.” “I’m still not used to it myself, to be honest. Anyway, my throat was crushed.” “Yer throat?” “Yes. See these bandages? I took a kick to the neck.” “Oh, I thought ya’d slit yer throat or somethin’, but I guess not.” “You say some scary things sometimes.” Shoui smiled bitterly and used his thumb to point at the creature poking its head out from his collar. “She’s letting me borrow this guy. He’s a Dog God and he reads and speaks people’s thoughts.” “…That’s pretty weird.” “Agreed. …But anyway, I’m showing her around the city as a way of repaying her.” “I see,” said Taeko with a slight nod. She had avoided the main question at hand, so she ignored the creatures sitting on the two of them and looked to the girl. “Miss, don’t ya have school?” she asked. “No. I came to this city on a trip.” Taeko scratched her head at the answer. She looked to Shoui and gave an exasperated sigh. “Ya do know Shoui’s busy right now, don’t ya?” “Yes, I read his kotodama.” “His kotodama?” “I read it mouth-to-mouth.” When she heard that, Taeko punched Shoui with the Dragon Emperor’s fist. He was knocked flat onto the brick sidewalk, but he quickly hopped back up. “~! Wh-what was that for!?” “Ah?” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Emit Killer Intent – Hit. “Ya spent so much time worryin’ over the Killin’ Holder and now ya’ve forgotten all about her and are kissin’ some other girl?” “It wasn’t really a ki-…ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! P-please, not the gut!” “Shut up, ya moron.” “Wait! Um, Takada-san! Please say something!” “Oh, right. Um… It was kind of embarrassing.” “That isn’t helping!” “I see. Then it’s time ya died, Shoui.” Takada placed a hand on Taeko’s arm that was grabbing Shoui’s collar. “Please wait.” During a pause, Taeko looked down at Takada in silence. Her gaze was sharp, but Takada received it without fear. “What is it?” quietly asked Taeko. “I know perfectly well that there is a girl who needs to be by Shoui-san’s side.” “…” “You know that too, right?” Her confident tone settled everything. Taeko finally let go of Shoui’s collar while also shoving him away. “Ahh,” he sighed. “That was scary.” “Ya really are a moron.” “Wh-why?” “If ya don’t restrain her properly, I’ll kill her!” Taeko looked to Shoui and saw his expression change at the word “kill”. It shifted from peaceful to tense. His body did not move in the slightest, but an aura filled with power left it. The Dog God put that aura to words. “Don’t do that.” “Then ya’d better hurry up and restrain her! The only reason I didn’t kill her was because ya were there for her. Ya haven’t forgotten that, have ya?” “…” He said nothing, but the creature at his collar did. “I haven’t forgotten, but… Wait, don’t say that, you idiot!” “I don’t mind. Ya haven’t forgotten, but what?” “Please wait!” The girl stood in front of Shoui and looked up at Taeko. “Don’t use Taromaru to force people to speak their thoughts! It isn’t natural!” “Isn’t havin’ everythin’ out in the open for the best?” “No. No matter what you might say, Shoui-san’s indecision belongs to him. No matter what might happen, no one but him can make up his mind for him.” The girl spoke in a strong, clear tone, so Taeko looked down at her. But the girl once more accepted her gaze and did not fall back. She wrinkled her brow and a look of seriousness rather than anger filled her innocent face. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Taeko closed her eyes and sighed toward the ground. “It’s no use.” “What is?” “No matter how much ya worry over it, this guy will never leave that girl’s side.” “That’s why I want to see what he does,” said the girl. The seriousness on her face was replaced by a slight smile. Her expressions seemed to change a lot and Taeko also smiled. “All the girls by his side are too clever for their own good.” “So are you, aren’t you?” Taeko turned to Shoui. “Am I by yer side?” “You’re definitely close enough to grab my collar.” “That’s fine then.” — Taeko – Box Tech – Take – Backhand Blow – Hit! Unable to react to the sudden attack by the Dragon Emperor, Shoui flipped once and collapsed to the ground. “Owww! Wh-what was that for!?” “It’s yer punishment for messing with people’s emotions. Complain and ya’ll get another one.” “You two seem to get along well.” “How!?” / “How!?” Their slight difference in intonation allowed their voices to harmonize perfectly. Takada smiled a little and she giggled without using the Dog God. Shoui and Taeko exchanged a glance when they saw it. A moment later… — Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. “Boss.” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. “Yeah.” “Hm? What is it, you two?” — Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Measure Distance – Hit. “I wish I could say it’s nothing, but it isn’t. Boss, know anyone who might have a grudge against you?” — Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Measure Distance – Hit. “Well, when ya’ve lived for eighteen years, ya tend to make five hundred or so enemies.” “That’s too many enemies.” — Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Determine Number of Enemies – Hit. “Don’t be stupid. We need to get goin’ as soon as I turn around. Prepare yerself.” — Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Dragon Emperor 1st Activation – Hit. — Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Determine Number of Enemies – Hit. “Oh, c’mon. You mean we aren’t running away?” “Fleein’ in the face of the enemy is punishable by a fatal beatin’.” “Why is everyone around me so hot-blooded?” “Um, you mean me too?” “No, no. You’re the nonconformist on this one, Takada-san.” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit. “Here they come!” shouted Taeko as she turned around. Shoui kept Takada behind him and turned a bit to the side. They both saw the same thing. “A burning bullet!?” Two balls of fire the size of a human head flew straight toward them like meteors. — Shoui – Break High/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Knock Down – Hit! — Taeko – Lightning High/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Knock Down – Hit! Two bursting sounds rang out in quick succession. A moment later, screams finally erupted from the road, but it was so sudden that the people could only express their surprise. They did not have time to take cover or anything like that. Taeko clicked her tongue, pulled a flare from her pocket, and fired it into the sky. A blue ball of light rose into the sky in order to inform the local guard station of the danger. At the same time… “Boss!? Look at the ground!” When she heard the confusion in Shoui’s voice, Taeko kept her attention on their surroundings while looking to the ground. The identity of the burning bullet lay on the brick path after she had knocked it down. It was a ten yen coin so hot it was smoking. “…?” Shoui’s voice answered her puzzlement. “I don’t know how, but those weren’t bullets that were emitting flames and flying through the air. They were coins.” “What does that mean?” “Who knows. How about we ask the people who did this?” — Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Detect Enemy – Hit! She readily found who she was looking for. As the people hid inside the nearby stores and side roads, two people walked out onto the sidewalk in front of Taeko’s group. They were about a five second run away. One was a tall, slender boy in a suit and the other was a girl in a blouson and with a hexagonal rod in hand. They looked to Taeko and Shoui without smiling but without any hostility either. “I guess I can figure out who ya are by fightin’ ya,” said Taeko. As soon as she stepped forward, someone cried out from behind her. “Takahiro!?” It was Takada. The enemy gave an obvious reaction to her voice. “Seigi!?” asked the girl. The boy next to her frowned a bit as he looked beyond Taeko and Shoui. The battle was beginning with a truly strange composition. ### 229. Part 2 4:51 PM Ixolde’s underground control room was preparing for Ixolde’s activation in two hours’ time. The elites of Osaka’s Science Club Alliance were speaking only the necessary words and moving between the electronic equipment lined up in the control room. Their mechanical actions created the illusion that they were nothing more than a portion of the overall machine known as Ixolde. It was a powerful illusion. Two people in the control room’s entrance viewed it from close up. One, an eyepatched boy, faced forward as he spoke. “Compared to the emptiness of the celebration outside, this room is filled with quiet energy.” The tall boy standing next to him nodded. “I really don’t fit in with the Student Council and those VIPs. I was right to leave partway through.” “You’ve never fit in anywhere.” They both laughed bitterly at that and Souichirou said more with that atmosphere intact. “It seems Nagoya…didn’t work out.” “That Fourth Alarm, right? I’d placed some guards around the Hilton earlier just in case, so we have confirmed Nakamura Hisahide, Ikemaru Takahiro, and Aoi Hijiri are there. But there’s something odd about this.” “?” “One of the guests there is a girl named Takada…Kiyogi? Not sure how to read her name. And…word of this just reached me.” Saki pulled out his attaché case and pulled the memo pad from inside it. He opened it and read through it in a businesslike manner. “According to the scout unit, the Nagoya Chancellor and the Tokyoites entered the Hilton together at 16:23, but they had a little something extra.” “Extra?” Saki scratched his head at Souichirou’s question. “Hizaka Shoui. He was apparently unconscious and being carried, so I bet he was caught in the middle of something. What should we do? We could always break in on the pretext of saving Hizaka.” “I leave that decision in your hands. For today, I’m only thinking about my personal actions.” Souichirou continued facing the working students and never once turned toward Saki. “But…the Shinkage Style is here, is it?” “What? I’d heard the Modified Purple Electricity Style passed down by your family includes the Kage Style, so is there a connection there?” “Yes. …This means a bond from before my birth has returned to Osaka. I will tell you the details eventually.” He still did not face Saki. “Well, even if the Shinkage Style is here, at least there won’t be an ogre this time,” said Saki. Souichirou moved slightly. He nodded. “That celebration up above is such an empty farce. They will be pressing Ixolde’s remote activation button, but how many of them know that button is a dummy?” “I wonder what moron’s gonna press that button without knowing a thing.” “I have no interest, but I’m sure Iwai Sanzou would know.” “If they actually thought about it, they’d be able to figure it out. Live acceleration requires both timing and personnel, so they’d never give it a remote control like that.” “The gathered sound will be sealed in the MD located inside the unmanned refinery at the central pocket in the deepest part of Ixolde. Only after eliminating as much as possible will it be automatically placed in storage.” Souichirou repeated the same words he had heard in the underground operating room the day before. Saki rested his head in his hand. “The storage room is in the center of Ixolde. You can’t get there without going through the emergency passageway in front of the operating room unless you dug a new hole in the schoolyard. And where else could they hope to steal that strongest Rhythm from?” “The only other option is the central pocket three hundred meters below ground.” Saki sighed at Souichirou’s words and looked to the Babel Gun visible from the control room’s window. “Ixolde’s a tricky thing.” “From Tokyo’s perspective, the only damage will be to Kansai if they can steal the strongest Rhythm and return triumphant to Nagoya.” “And if they defeat you, Kansai will lose its cornerstone.” Souichirou finally turned to face Saki. “Sorry. I’m going to graduate soon, and I had hoped to end my term uneventfully.” “Don’t be like that. I’ll follow you for life.” A quiet laugh rang emptily in the air. “This is probably our last festival before graduation.” “I need to make sure I am not burned,” said Souichirou quietly. “I do not want to be the festival bonfire.” With that, he turned around to face the automatic door out of the control room. “I’ll be waiting in the lobby, Seiji.” “Huh? You aren’t going to watch the gathering of the sound?” “This will soon be a holy ground meant only for those who have put in so much work here.” “I see.” Saki nodded and sighed. The two boys left everything to those who belonged there and exited the room to prepare for battle. ### 230. Part 3 10:27 PM Before she could wonder what had happened, her shoulder slammed into the hard ground. … Ow! Her hand touched the ground. It was a somewhat warm stone surface. The speed of her descent had pressed her face-down against the exposed stone and she stopped moving. As her exhausted breaths escaped into the water, the air bubbles tickled her cheeks and led her to realize two things. First, the darkness surrounding her now was quite still. Second, the intense current had vanished. … Where am I? She had reached the bottom of the basin. “…” Unable to even speak in her heart, she straightened up. She slowly stood up as if bouncing up inside the dark water. She sensed the torrent roaring by overhead, but the very bottom was disturbingly quiet. She had miraculously held onto the maglite, so she shined it around the dark space. … There’s nothing here. That thought was immediately proven wrong. There was snow. White snow drifted in the light before her eyes. No, it was actually snow-like flower petals. Her movements had caused the small white flower petals to dance about the bottom of the basin. She recognized the petals. They belonged to the white flower the boy and then she had thrown in. Those petals had become snow and now danced about as if surprised by her sudden visit. … What is this? The white snow gently flew through the dark water like cherry blossoms. … Was he creating this? Her question led her to walk slowly forward. She walked to the center of the snow-filled basin and spotted a rock. The large, pedestal-shaped rock was five meters across and two meters tall. It had likely broken off of the rock wall above because there was still moss and a tree on the rock. But she was not looking at the moss or the tree. She looked to the top of the pedestal where two people lay. … !? She lightly kicked off the ground to gently jump through the water and get a better look. Atop the pedestal covered in white flowers, a boy and girl lay on top of each other. “…” She shined her maglite on the two of them. The one on top was a girl with short hair in a white sailor uniform. Below her was a boy with long hair in a black school uniform. Their eyes were closed and they held each other in an embrace. Their uniforms had some outdated combat gimmicks worked in. Those gimmicky uniforms and their hair were flowing in the water’s current. … Who are they? No one was going to answer her and the maglite strayed from those two in order to gain more information. A long arc reflected the light back at her. — Fujiwara – Sight Tech – Take – Detect – Hit. It was a long blade. The curved blade of a Japanese sword stuck out from the girl on top’s back. The object jutting out of the man on the bottom’s chest was likely a spear’s shaft. The spear tip had to be stabbed through his body and into the rock behind him. The two of them were dead. The girl only now confirmed that obvious fact, but the idea of death did not feel unpleasant here. Their hair simply flowed in the current and they almost seemed to be sleeping. … Who were they? When she tried to find an answer, she found a Device fallen next to them. The long spear with a wooden shaft had fallen alongside them on the stone. Unlike the Devices stabbing them, this spear looked old. “…” New questions occurred to the girl. … Who were they to the boy who was throwing in the flowers? … Why did they stab each other? … Why are they smiling? … What is that spear next to them? Those two embraced each other in the depths of the water, never to move again. The flower petals danced around them like snow, but they remained silent. Their deaths and smiles only raised further questions for the visiting girl. “…?” Another question mark filled her mind. A moment later, her Rhythm stopped. “!” The water Live vanished from her body. The chill of the water inside her dry suit stiffened her body. Her mind was numbed by the loud roar of the water pouring down above. … Oh, no! It was already too late. She was going to die. First, fear raced through her entire body. Next, the powerful water pressure pressing down on the basin’s depths crushed her from every direction. The pain of the pressure reminded her what divers called the water. … Their holy ground. An intense pain deep in her ears directly throbbed into her head and the pressure on her stomach forced the air from her lungs. The snow danced around her. As she questioned the scattering of those white flower petals, she used all her remaining air to shout. “Dad!” ### 231. Part 3 5:39 PM In south Nara Prefecture, a hill existed on the border between the cities of Nara and Koriyama. It was a small hill. Just an hour before, the setting sun had washed over the slope and trees, but it was now dyed in the pale color of the moonlight. The most moonlight reached the top of the hill which contained a large one-story estate and a single large shrine colored by vermilion lacquer. It was a large shrine with sanctuaries on either side. An old wooden panel was nailed to the eaves of the shrine. The panel had fallen into darkness and had grown dark from the rain and dew, but the stickily shining lacquered writing was still visible. It said Nandaimon Shrine. Nandaimon referred to the Suzakumon and the Rashoumon. During the Nara period, a city had existed on the plain visible from this hill. Heijou-kyo, Nagaoka-kyo, and Heian-kyo. The great gate built to protect those cities from the south was known as Nandaimon. Nandaimon Shrine was the shrine that worshiped Nandaimon. As time passed, the city had transformed and Nandaimon had been remade several times, so Nandaimon Shrine had been moved to the hill where the gate would be visible no matter where it moved. Over a thousand years were said to have passed since. Needless to say, Nandaimon itself had vanished during that long time and the shrine had been remade a few times. Only the cherry and pine trees on the hilltop accurately recorded the passage of time. A silent winter chill surrounded those trees as a slight breeze and produced a lonely rustling from the leaves. Called by the rustling, the chill sitting in the shrine’s grounds began to move. That chill called someone in. A single figure used the path to the shrine to climb into the winter wind. It was a girl whose long black hair shined in the moonlight. Hidden below that black hair was a blazer red enough to be seen even in the moonlight. The uniform had a feminine yet weighty outline and the wearer held a large staff in her right hand. The right arm wielding the staff had large writing stitched into the blouse’s shoulder. The golden stitching that shined in the moonlight said “Koto Guardian”. That title belonged to the individual who put to rest the spirits in the grounds of the Koto region to prevent natural disasters. She silently finished climbing the shrine path and stepped onto the gravel of the shrine grounds. The wind blew gently as if stirred up by her refreshing footsteps. It cut across the shrine grounds, past the main temple, and to the side of the estate. The footsteps on gravel soon stopped as they followed the wind. The girl had stopped walking. She looked up to the moon and the moonlight covered her face. The bespectacled features were those of a girl with hint of sharpness. A single color could be seen in the pale moonlight on her face: red. It was the color of her right eye. In the shadows, a faint red light filled that eye like a fire opposing the moon. It was a false eye. She used that eye to view a point in the sky, as if searching for something. She spent a few seconds like that. “One hour until the Suzaku reaches its standard position.” Her lips barely moved to form the words and she lowered her gaze once more. Instead of the sky, she looked to the Nandaimon estate where she lived. Light filled the one-story vermilion estate that measured more than thirty meters across. She had family there. But the girl’s face still showed no hint of an expression. Her thoughts were a complete mystery. And… “…” After a moment, she turned around without speaking a word. She turned left and her footsteps on the gravel took her to the estate’s detached room. She walked over to the small detached room placed alongside one of Nandaimon’s sanctuaries. She heard a sudden metallic sound from her left. It was a bell. Her left hand held a key attached to a small keyring. At the same time, the footsteps on gravel stopped. But she had not stopped. There was simply no more gravel on the ground. There was a five square meter area of exposed dirt in front of the detached room. Even in just the moonlight, it was obvious that ground was oddly hard. That dirt ground had been packed down so much that not a single weed was allowed to grow through and it smoothly reflected the moonlight. As she crossed the dirt, she saw a single wooden pillar standing up from the center of the small clearing. It was thirty centimeters thick and about two meters tall, it contained several shallow mortar-like indentations, and the top was badly broken. Her left hand touched one of the many indentations driven into the pillar. A bell rang and her hand stroked across the gentle curves of the indentation. The curves were identical to the ones that formed a human fist. “…” The bell rang again and she walked forward. A few steps were all it took to arrive in front of the detached room’s main entrance. She did not hesitate to stick her key into the sliding door’s lock. ### 232. Part 3 7:35 PM The wind blew. Osaka had plenty of geographical ups and downs, so the wind would weave through those lower areas. One such path for the wind followed the Yodo River as it cut through the city east to west. The wind picked up the scent of the river as it blew along it. This time of year, it was the scent of a winter river. The scent of the dried grass along the bank was stronger than that of the water. It was a dry scent. A hint of iron was mixed in with the wind. It was a rusty smell. The dry wind held that iron fragrance as it blew along the bank of the river. Shoui and Taeko broke through that wind as they ran. They soon realized the source of the iron scent in the wind: blood. “…!?” They did not even need to confirm it with a Tech. After smelling it several times in their training at the Mountain, it had permeated their bodies. Police and ambulance sirens blared in the distant center of the city as if to prove their sense of smell was not deceiving them. “…Yuuki.” “Does it bother ya? Ya’ve been hesitatin’ all this time.” “I’m still hesitating a hell of a lot right now.” “Do ya take anythin’ seriously?” “A cool guy doesn’t let anyone see how he really feels.” “Ya moron. …Why are ya so obsessed with protectin’ girls?” “That’s simple,” answered Shoui. “Because it’s cool.” “Do ya want the Koto Chancellor to accept you?” He did not answer that question. He picked up speed and saw their destination up ahead. A school had a wall around it by the riverside and he saw definite destruction there. The large schoolyard of Private Showa Academy, which was known for both its academics and combat training, was utterly destroyed, one school building included. One of the southern school buildings had a large hole torn in the front as if a giant mouth had bitten into it. And the two hundred square meter schoolyard had a large mortar-like hole covering it. … Did Yuuki do this? He ran down the straight bank with that question in his heart. “Hey! Shoui! Wait up!” He ignored her. He ran from the bank to the asphalt road of the city. In five seconds, he was running through the residential area near the school. He could see the wall surrounding the school and several vehicles were parked in front of that concrete wall. “…” There was a crowd near the main gate. That was the only bright area, so he could not see past the wall. He ran closer. He did not hesitate to cross the road and to jump on top of one of the cars parked in front of the wall separating the school from the city. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?” He ignored someone’s shout and kept moving. He used the car’s roof to jump toward the wall which was at least five meters tall. — Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Great Leap – Hit! The boys’ body flew through the darkness. He flipped through the air to cross the wall in a single breath. The wind carried an even stronger iron smell now. By the time he sensed that, he had already entered Private Showa’s grounds. — Shoui – Gym/Savate Tech – Multiple Take – Super Landing – Hit. He twisted his outstretched body to silently land on the schoolyard and then he looked around. “…” The large schoolyard was in an even more unusual state than it had looked from afar. It had been torn into along with the school building and it had transformed into a sea of red sand. The red came from the clay laid out over the schoolyard, but… “Why is there sand here?” He touched the thin coat of red sand covering the ground and found it was cold. It was even chillier than the winter air. … What is going on? “It’s called an intense freeze drying. This entire space was instantly frozen to get rid of all the moisture until it completely disintegrated. It’s the same technique used to kill former Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei.” “Saki-san?” Saki Seiji, the boy he had met just that evening, stood in front of Shoui. He looked to Shoui while wearing the student combat coat that was essentially the official uniform of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers. “But what was that jump you just made? It was a hell of a lot better than the one you showed me before.” “Oh, hi there. Good evening. Um, where’s Yuuki?” “Hey, do you have a habit of ignoring people or something?” “I don’t have my own Words, so I don’t want to let in any extraneous voices.” Saki clicked his tongue at Shoui’s joking answer. “I should’ve dealt with you before Souichirou showed up back there.” “C’mon, calm down.” — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Search for Individual – Miss. He could not find the person he was looking for. The only people there were the Tuners and Busters carrying Devices on the schoolyard and in the school building. They were apparently starting to fix the damage with Tuning, so cats and birds would occasionally appear near them. “…This is horrifying.” Saki responded to his absentminded comment. “What? You were taken in by Nandaimon, so didn’t you see stuff like this on a daily basis?” “It was a long time ago when I saw Suzaku Ver. 40 activate. …So Yuuki did that?” “Yeah, the Koto Chancellor can apparently use the transmitter installed in Phoenix, her false eye, to really let her opponent have it.” “Her false eye?” “The Killing Holder’s vermilion eye. It’s just like Nandaimon to go with the vermilion of the Suzaku.” Shoui sighed at the boy’s explanation. “I can’t believe this,” he muttered before pulling his bandanna over his eyes. “But why are you here?” asked Saki. “Did you really come here to meet the Koto Chancellor?” “Yes, I did. What about it?” — Saki – Boxing Tech – Counter-Take – Strike – Hit. — Shoui – Dodge Tech – Take – Swayback – Hit. “Wow, that was close. What was that for, Saki-san?” “So you dodged it. I tried to catch you off guard, but mine got the counter judgement.” “Of course I dodged that. …You’re kind of scary, you know that? I bet you don’t have many friends.” “Shut up. And get lost. I’m in charge of dealing with this incident, so it pisses me off when someone comes wandering onto the scene.” “I see. That must be tough. But what do you mean by ‘this incident’?” “Apparently, the Nandaimon girl took out one of the idiots here at Private Showa, so they wanted revenge.” Shoui looked around the schoolyard again. “Girls sure are scary when they’re mad.” “These things are normally done with a duel between representatives, but Private Showa must have thought they could overpower her with numbers. It only lasted an instant and you can see how it turned out. There were thirty-two serious injuries and five minor injuries, so this is no laughing matter.” “Where are the injured?” “They were already taken away in ambulances. Tuners are treating the worst ones in the emergency ward over there. We’re not talking about a landmine race at an athletics festival here.” At that point, Saki glared at Shoui. “You aren’t going to follow me to the hospital too, are you?” “Again! Why are you so suspicious of me?” “What? My intuition, of course.” “I appreciate the nonscientific reasoning. Now, um, do you know where Yuuki is?” “You really don’t listen to people, do you?” Saki sighed. “Besides, what are you even gonna do if you meet the Koto Chancellor?” “Grab her butt or fondle her breasts.” “Eh? …What was that?” “Oh, um, just speaking to myself. It’s been two years since we’ve done anything like that after all.” “Two years since doing anything like what? Was it just me or did you say something pretty weird just-…” Saki was cut off by a girl’s voice. “Hey! Outta the way!” ### 233. Part 3 11:10 PM Kasumi Ryuuichi was 1st Special Duty Officer of Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers and his primary duty was to relay intelligence. But at the moment, he had abandoned that duty to instead face an opponent on a bridge passing through the mountains. The moonlight seemed to drip down on top of Kasumi as he faced an opponent who wore a white blouson, jeans, and a shirt around their waist for defense. Kasumi focused on the somewhat androgynous face of this opponent who held a long hexagonal rod. … A girl? He nodded and looked around the area. He saw the moonlit mountains and river. This was the Kagamihara Mountain Range located between Nagoya and Gifu. He had been trying to carry his intelligence to the Kansai region while avoiding the intense fighting on New Route 155 which would have taken him from Inuyama Station to the Nagoya region. … The West Japan Chancellors are holding a meeting about Ixolde in Kansai. He had intended to escape and use a direct line of communication in Gifu, but the enemy had caught up. Speed was his main selling point as 1st Special Duty Officer, but someone had caught up from behind. “…” He pulled a memo pad from the attaché case he held under one arm and placed it in his pocket. That memo pad was special made in the Mountain and carried by any 1st Special Duty Officer. It contained the information left behind by the previous holders of that position. … I can’t let it fall into enemy hands. The attaché case would only be a burden during a fight, so he threw it down on the road. He took a deep breath, pulled headphones from his pocket, and switched the MD on. He raised the volume to an Octave of 160,000 and sent his main weapons from his sleeve and into his hands. They were dart knives. He held one, two, three, and then four between the fingers of both hands. — Kasumi – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. He heard a freight train. “…” It was probably transporting lime or something. But he did not panic. Only one track crossed this bridge. That straight-line layout was ideal for a knife-thrower like him. He prepared to throw and waited for his opponent to make their move. He gently tensed his body with his hips lowered. Before throwing, he would gather strength in his entire body rather than just his arms, so he needed to release that tension like a spring. His hands sank into the opposite pockets and his eyes focused on his opponent. That opponent gave him a disinterested look with the hexagonal rod sill in her right hand. Then her lips moved to form a question. “Out of respect to a fellow warrior, I will ask your name.” “…And if I don’t tell you?” “You will be a loser who I don’t even bother remembering. That’s all.” “And If I win? What then?” “Don’t worry. You’ll lose.” With that cheerful answer, she gave a jerk of her chin to demand he answer. Kasumi smiled bitterly as he complied. “Nagoya 1st Special Duty Officer Kasumi Ryuuichi. My Dance Combat is the Secret Five Families Style.” She nodded and responded in kind. “Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. My Dance Combat is the Shinkage Style.” Kasumi frowned at the region she mentioned. “Tokyo!? Are you invading Kantou!?” “Does it matter? For this fight anyway? More importantly…” “More importantly?” “I have two questions. To start with…have you ever been to Osaka?” “?” “I’ve heard there are cherry trees that bloom even in winter there. I’m searching for them.” “Someone from Tokyo is interested in Osaka’s cherry blossoms?” “If you don’t know, that’s fine.” She took a breath. “My other question is about Osaka’s Chancellor who uses the Modified Purple Electricity Style which includes the Kage Style. …How strong is he?” “Haven’t you heard he defeated an ogre that appeared in Osaka two years ago?” “An ogre, hm?” Her response was terribly calm. To make sure Kasumi did not have a chance to attack, she remained in her combat stance as she sighed. … Cherry trees that bloom in winter and Osaka’s Chancellor? There’s something more to this Vice Chancellor of Zenon City Tokyo. Kasumi’s thoughts were cut off by the sound of the freight train. It had grown a lot louder, it came from behind him, and it was surprisingly close by. “I need to get this intelligence through no matter what.” With that, the back of his tensed body swelled out. He stopped breathing and everything else stopped too. Then, it all suddenly exploded. “Seaaaahhh!” His left hand shot up. It moved too quickly for the average person to see. — Kasumi – Draw Tech –Take – Rapid Throw – Hit! Four silver lines raced through the air. He was aiming below the enemy’s collarbone, below her chest, at her hip, and at her thigh. The locations drew a vertical line down her right half. Aoi Hijiri responded with a vertical swing of the hexagonal rod in her right hand. As the metal rod covered her vitals, four knives stabbed into it up to the hilt. The four nearly identical sounds seemed to pierce straight through Kasumi and brought a chill to his skin. Aoi started forward after catching the knives, but that was when Kasumi’s right arm shot upwards. “It’s still my phase!” As he pulled his right hand from his left pocket, it was wrapped in ether light. He was adding in his Rhythm. — Kasumi – Draw Tech – Take – Rapid Throw – Hit! The knives were wrapped in ether light this time. They were aimed at Aoi’s left side, making it a mirror image of the previous attack. Her right hand had stopped after the previous movement and she could not yet move again thanks to the impact and weight of the knives remaining in the hexagonal rod. “…” Instead, she moved her left hand. To Kasumi, it looked like she turned diagonally and held her left arm at her waist. He smiled a little. … Don’t think you can dodge my attack by turning to the side. With that thought, he recited his Words. He jumped straight to the climax. Beyond the farthest reaches of time Beyond the most distant lands Where power becomes a harmony of destruction — Kasumi – Explosion High/Mind Tech – Multiple-Take – Remote Control – Hit! The ether wrapped around the back of the four knives became explosions. A quartet of bursting sounds followed The path of the four silver lines changed like ricocheting bullets. But their angle was not all that changed. Their speed also increased considerably. They had been given the kinetic energy of both the throw and the explosions. Aoi’s expression changed. She could not follow the changed path of the knives with her eyes. One flew toward her throat, two toward her right chest, and one toward her solar plexus. Even if both her arms were metal prosthetics, she could not fully cover that complex intersection of attacks. … There’s nothing she can do! But her left arm demonstrated its opposition to that thought. That arm was much slower than the flying knives, but a portion of it still brushed against the four knives as it made a flowing forward motion. That settled it all. The four knives fell to the ground. ### 234. Part 3 3:41 PM Osaka was a cramped city. It was known as the sloped city, but the city center was relatively flat. Climbing to the top of a tall tower was enough to see it all. The Osaka Hilton was a hotel in Osaka’s Umeda district. The sky lounge on the top floor of the thirty-five story hotel allowed one to look down on Osaka as the setting sun washed over it. A couple looked down at the city like that from a two-person table by the window. They were Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri and Tokyo Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro. Ikemaru still wore his three-piece suit and black leather gloves while Aoi roughly wore a blouson and jeans. They looked somehow mismatched. “…” Aoi looked at the silhouettes of Osaka that had grown sharper in the setting sun. “I can’t seem to find them, Takahiro.” Ikemaru asked her a question while still looking out the window. “Do you mean Takada?” “Hm? No, not her. The cherry blossoms blooming in winter that my mom mentioned.” “We have only been here for half a day. Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself if you’re even thinking about finding them quite yet?” “Master Iba probably knows the answer, but he can be so stingy.” “He called them the cherry blossoms that bring misfortune, didn’t he?” Aoi nodded. “Apparently, the Tokyo Chancellor and Osaka Chancellor saw them during the Kinki Riot and it brought misfortune to everything.” “The winter cherry blossoms that triggered a riot, huh?” While Ikemaru thought, Aoi turned a slight smile his way. “I’m causing you a ton of trouble by making you come with me, aren’t I?” Ikemaru corrected his posture and looked straight at Aoi. He adjusted his tie a little and took a breath. “Please do not worry about me. My family prides itself in being a family of Japan’s greatest businessmen. That is why my parents agreed that I should visit Osaka while I am young.” “Well, that is why I can stay in a hotel like this. …I’m thankful.” “I am delighted to hear it.” Ikemaru placed a hand on his chest, bowed, and smiled bitterly at the troubled smile on Aoi’s face. “Your parents really are amazing, Takahiro. …Although maybe that’s because I don’t have either of mine anymore.” “Didn’t you come to this city in order to understand the two of them better?” “…” “Before the Kinki Riot, they met below the winter cherry blossoms you mentioned, didn’t they?” “Yes. And that’s what brought misfortune to my mom…and that man. Who told you that?” “Your father when he was alive.” “He always did tend to tell the most important things to people other than his family.” Just as Aoi sighed, their iced coffee and iced tea arrived. Ikemaru took the iced tea and Aoi drank some of the iced coffee without placing a straw in the glass. “Are you sure you don’t want to order a cake or something?” he asked her. “This is being charged to your card, isn’t it?” “I see. And we usually pay with our shared wallet. …But I don’t mind.” “No, I wouldn’t feel right doing that.” “Really?” “Really.” “Is that why you only ordered toast at the restaurant earlier?” “No, that’s because I’m on a diet.” “But my mother told me women are more aesthetically pleasing when a little plump.” “I’m more worried about building up any more muscle. And it’s an issue with my personal aesthetics.” “What do you mean by that?” Ikemaru tilted his head and Aoi answered with her head resting on her hand. “You’re the kind of person that split us up between a boys room and a girls room, so you wouldn’t understand.” “?” He tilted his head and she smiled bitterly. “That’s why we haven’t made any progress after fourteen years together.” “?” “It’s fine, it’s fine. More importantly, has Seigi really not made it to Osaka yet?” “I did tell her about this place when we left Tokyo.” “She’s your cousin, so you need to take better care of her. …Besides, did you tell Taromaru too? That girl can make prophecies, but she can be a little careless when it comes to reality.” Aoi’s gaze turned toward Ikemaru’s hands. He wore black leather gloves as if to hide them. The corners of his mouth tightened a little when he noticed her gaze. “Are you afraid of my power?” “No. I know that your tone of voice changes when you speak with me.” She looked to the seat next to him. His scarf was draped over the back of the chair. “Thanks for using that crappy handmade one.” “And thank you for being so kind to someone as constantly rude as me.” “It’s fine. And I’m not much better since I tend to talk in a pretty masculine way with other people.” “I think it has a wonderfully gallant ring to it.” “Oh? Then will you speak to me as rudely as you do to others?” “I cannot do that. You are a unique and precious person to me, so of course I would speak to you differently from others.” “Well, as long as that’s what you really think. I still have room for improvement too.” “Is there a problem with your Shinkage Style that opposes Rhythms with a divine shadow?” “That’s not what I meant.” Aoi looked to the leather gloves covering Ikemaru’s hands. “It’s okay, Takahiro. I’m willing to use the power of my Shinkage Style to let you touch me.” “Then what is the problem?” “I know why you won’t kiss me on the lips,” she said quietly. “Kissing someone on the lips lets you read their Live, doesn’t it? You’re a Word Master, after all.” “Sorry.” “You don’t need to apologize. I like the stylish compromise we have going. Remember what you’ve always said? A kiss to the forehead is for parental love, to the cheek is for friendship, and to the eyelid like you always do…” She smiled bitterly. “Now I’m too embarrassed to finish.” “Just remember that a kiss to the lips signifies lust.” “Oh? How dirty.” He fell silent at her teasing tone of voice and she looked out the window again. She smiled and changed her expression. Her face left no opening. “But Nakamura has it tough, too. He went to finish off the Koto Chancellor today…and then he’s attacking the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers headquarters, right? Will he be okay?” “People are not made to defeat him.” “He tries to hide it, but he’s pretty panicked. …If only Seigi could be by his side.” “None of us can let down our guard until those two are brought back to Nagoya.” Before Ikemaru finished speaking, a sound came from Aoi’s watch. She quickly stopped the electronic tone that rang throughout the quiet lounge and then she looked around. All of the other guests were looking their way, so she shrugged and smiled bitterly. “How about we get going too?” “I have a target prepared. There is a black motorcycle and a white car in the parking lot.” Ikemaru stood up and removed his leather gloves. His hands were untanned, pale, and could almost be described as delicate. “How about we start stirring up some trouble for the Osaka Chancellor and Nagoya Chancellor?” Aoi nodded at the mention of the Osaka Chancellor. “Do you remember that my mom was originally from Osaka?” “She knew a lot about the Nanba family’s Modified Purple Electricity Style of Dance Combat that was derived from the Kage Style.” “I wonder which is stronger, the Modified Purple Electricity Style or the Shinkage style that my mom created with that man?” Ikemaru gave a brief answer to her question. “Today we are only introducing ourselves. I am sure the time will eventually come to truly crush him.” ### 235. Part 3 6:51 PM The moon was out. It could be seen in the night sky even from the shopping district near Osaka Station. But in a shopping district at nearly seven in the evening, very few people were taking the time to leisurely look up at the moon. Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko was one such leisurely person. She stood in front of the Osaka Hilton hotel that gave a view of both Osaka Station and Hankyu Umeda Station from south of the former station. She was staring into the night sky while sitting on a sidewalk fire hydrant. During this moon viewing, she tilted her head with a cellphone in her right hand. “The emergency line won’t get through? And the Student Council’s number is too busy to get in, so the answering machine kicks in. …What happened?” She set the phone to wait for a call and put it in her pocket. After a sigh, she fixed both her eyes and mind on the moon. She was tall. Even while sitting, she kept about the same height as the people walking along the sidewalk. Her ponytail only accentuated her height. But even so, the three claws of the Dragon Emperor false arm touched the sidewalk as it hung from her left shoulder. It was a massive prosthetic. A green combat-use license plate was attached to the shoulder like an armor panel. The artificial muscles and framework made it an embodiment of offensive functionality. She touched the Dragon Emperor’s armor with her right hand. “It’s been a year since I met Shoui and got this at the Mountain. I still haven’t used its final stage, though.” She stood up and used her flesh-and-blood right hand to stroke the dragon relief on the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder. She stroked it like petting a cat’s back and the shoulder transformed somewhat. The armor split open and bluish-white light escaped the gap. “Hey. don’t get carried away just cause it’s yer monthly moonlight bath.” The Dragon Emperor emitted steam from the exhaust pipe at the top of the upper arm. It was a living motion. A slight sound came from the shoulder armor that was swollen out into a single horn at the top. She had not done a thing, but it began opening and closing its armor panels for some self maintenance. It almost looked like something lurked within the armor. Taeko narrowed her eyes as she watched the Dragon Emperor. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! A stabbing presence suddenly reached her. “!?” After that presence, she heard loud voices. They were screams. The people walking along the road all produced the screams of victims. The killer intent and the attacker were elsewhere. — Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Sound Classification – Hit! Taeko picked through the overlapping screams to listen only to the sound that mattered. It was the rumbling of an engine. The vehicle was clearly out of control instead of driving normally along. It came from the center of the main road to her right. — Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Dragon Emperor #1 Activation – Hit! “Dragon Emperor! Take it up to #3!” With that shout, Taeko turned around and saw her enemy. A white sports car was drifting sideways around the roundabout in front of the station. — Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Spot – Hit. The car was empty. There was no driver beyond the windshield. “Is it being radio controlled!?” She turned her right shoulder forward and held the Dragon Emperor at the ready. “Didn’t ya know a Steel Master has no blind spots or limits?” Meanwhile, the sports car drove straight toward her. The white car bounced over the curb and onto the sidewalk. It was less than thirty meters away, so it would arrive in two seconds at sixty kph. With the sound of tires on the sidewalk, it shot straight toward her. A bus stop was knocked from the sidewalk. The screeching of tires and roar of the wind were louder than the roar of the engine. That was proof that it was picking up momentum with its speed. The sports car brightened its headlights as it charged straight forward. People screamed, but Taeko was unfazed. She had the Dragon Emperor and her enemy was not interested in a simple battle. The change came suddenly. The empty white sports car hopped up. “!?” It was a quick movement. Like a cat pouncing on its prey, the car’s tires acted as legs and it jumped high into the air. It was an impossible action, but it really did happen and the sports car vanished from Taeko’s field of vision. “…Kh!” — Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit! She could no longer see the moon overhead. The white car was blotting out the sky. For the first time in her life, Taeko saw a car perform a moonsault. The mechanical beast intended to crush her. Based on its angle of rotation, the bottom of the car’s front end would strike her. If she dodged, it would slam into the hotel, so she had to intercept it. Her impatience brought a few questions to mind. Why was she being targeted? How could the car perform this odd action? Thoughts about Shoui and Yuuki also raced through her mind. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Focus on Battle – Hit! “Dragon Emperor!” she shouted. “Activate Thunder High!” The Dragon Emperor responded with a full-body roar. The metal arm’s armor trembled as it roared. The vibration had a set rhythm which easily produced the same music as a Rhythm. Taeko sang her Words to match the Dragon Emperor’s cry. She sang the song that summoned lightning. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The Dragon Emperor emitted bluish-white electricity from its shoulder, fist, and claws. Now it only needed to move. The bottom of the sports car had arrived within arm’s reach, so Taeko did not hesitate to step forward. In a normal fight, she would have sent a jabbing feint out from her right shoulder, but that flesh-and-blood arm would be of little use against a car. It all came down to the one attack, so she made her move. — Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Step Forward – Super Hit. — Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Leap – Hit. — Taeko – Thunder High Rhythm/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Ether Strike – Super Hit! A series of Tech decisions created a series of movements. She used her entire body to perform a smash uppercut with the Dragon Emperor and it struck the car’s chassis. Her anti-shock reflective-armor bodysuit briefly fixed her joints in place to receive the Dragon Emperor’s several tons of recoil. There was a loud sound of impact, but it did not end there. She knew the car was empty, so she kept her attack going to the end. While still punching the car from below, she forcibly jumped upwards. With a roar, the sports car was carried into the night sky. The Dragon Emperor’s fist stabbed into the engine space and started tearing through the engine as they continued to ascend. Immediately, the Dragon Emperor emitted lightning in plasma form. The car let out a scream as the heat caused the glass and decorations to explode. This was the power of the Thunder High. The night sky was dyed white. She yelled in the center of that light while tearing the car’s engine to pieces. “Perish!” She swung the Dragon Emperor all the way up. The metal emitted a further scream, the lightning light gathered together, and the car’s bumper was melted apart. Taeko added a gentle rotation to her uppercut and prepared for her landing. The sports car’s white paint had been scorched beyond recognition and the force of the blow sent it flying even higher in the opposite direction from Taeko. Just as she landed, a flower blossomed from the car in the night sky. A deafening explosion sounded out. The crimson flames scattered metal components in every direction. The residual effect of the Thunder High caused each one to become plasma and vanish in midair. Taeko swung up the Dragon Emperor and smiled. At the same time… — Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Detect – Hit. A single person moved against the flow of people who were panicking and gathering on the road. The boy wore an obviously high-quality three-piece suit and had a white scarf around his shoulders. He alone moved against the crowd, was not panicked, did not look to Taeko through his glasses, and calmly walked to the entrance of the Osaka Hilton. “What an odd guy…” Just as she said that, a slight shadow covered the moonlight falling from above. “?” The source of that shadow landed right in front of her eyes. Someone holding a sheathed sword landed there. It happened so quickly that not even Taeko had time to put up her guard. “!?” The sound of his landing had a metallic ring to it. That was the unique sound of someone with prosthetics. Taeko recognize the boy who landed in a kneeling position, so she shouted out on reflex. “Osaka Chancellor…Nanba Souichirou!?” ### 236. Part 3 7:14 PM (12/18/1993) At that time three years before, Yuuki Yuuki had just been named the Koto Guardian and had the current Koto Chancellor’s recommendation for being the next Chancellor. It was a cold and clear December night. Shoui sat below the eaves of the Nandaimon Shrine’s detached room. Yuuki sat next to him. It was the usual situation. He wore his training outfit of a black T-shirt and his school uniform pants. She wore her vermilion and white shrine maiden outfit that acted as the Nandaimon Shrine’s uniform. A night breeze blew through and Shoui spoke while facing forward. “It’s been two weeks since you last visited me during my night training.” “…” Yuuki did not reply, but she did speak. “Sorry.” Her unemotional tone showed no hint of apology, but Shoui nodded. “It’s not like you have a choice. Your grandmother was one of the best during the Showa era…” “It’s because I’m from Nandaimon.” “…” “You were against it, weren’t you? You didn’t want me to become the Koto Guardian.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sensed Yuuki turning to face him. “My grandmother told me the day before yesterday.” That led Shoui to slap his forehead and sigh. “Why does she have to tell everyone about all the pathetic things I do?” “She laughed and said there was a ‘kid’ who was afraid I would leave him.” Shoui let out a sigh of resignation and collapsed onto his back. He sprawled out on the floor. … I can’t believe this. He pulled his bandanna over his eyes to block his view. With his vision gone, he was more sensitive to the presences around him. He heard Yuuki speak without warning. “It seems you were concerned for me, Shoui-kun.” “Now that you’ve found out, it just makes me a worrier.” He pulled his bandanna further down and sat up. He sighed inside his personal darkness. “I can’t believe this. Did you visit me to tell me that?” “You don’t like it?” “It’s pathetic.” “Really? This is complicated.” “What makes it complicated?” “Because I was glad.” Shoui froze in place with his bandanna still covering his eyes, but she did not stop speaking there. “Is it ‘pathetic’ to bring me happiness?” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Hit. Shoui remained silent, so she asked about it. “Why are you so silent all of a sudden? …Did I say something weird?” “Yes, a little… How should I put it? You made me a just a little bit extremely surprised…somewhat.” “What kind of surprise is that?” He responded to the bitter smile in her voice. “I never expected to hear you say that… As rude as that may be.” “Should I have chosen my words more carefully?” He nodded. “It’s a problem.” “Why?” “I’d been keeping quiet because I knew you had become one of those people.” “One of those people?” “…” He tried to maintain his silence but could not. “You’ve become someone who can kill people.” “I see.” “You know why I have no Words, right? During the Kinki Riot…” “You don’t have to tell me.” “I’m afraid of seeing any relatives or people close to me as corpses.” “I said you don’t have to tell me. I understand.” “…You understand?” A small tremor had entered his voice. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Miss. Something like impatience pushed his thoughts forward and formed his next words. “You couldn’t possibly understand… I was trapped in the darkness and had to make a friend of the nothingness…” “Shoui-kun?” When he heard Yuuki’s voice, the night appeared before his eyes. She had pushed up his bandanna. As soon as he felt the night air on his cheeks, she turned his head toward her. “You don’t cry like you used to when you talk about that.” “…” She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him in from the side. Confusion filled his mind and he closed his eyes so as not to look her in the eye. As soon as he did, his head was carelessly pulled even closer. “?” And she kissed him. Surprisingly, it was in a place he could not have seen even with his eyes open: the eyelid. He felt a light sucking sensation on his eye. Her glasses tapped against his forehead through the bandanna. Naturally, neither of them said anything. Enough time passed for a few breaths, but neither of them took a single one. After that span of time that felt both long and short, she removed her lips. She embraced him and he kept his eyes closed. But a slight impatience filled him and he reached for her butt to change the mood. Normally, she would have moved out of the way and lightly scolded him. If she would escape here, he could laugh it all off, but… “Ah.” She let out a quiet voice and permitted his touch. With the slight sound of rustling clothes, she lifted her feet from the veranda and snuggled up next to him. She pressed against him. Shoui’s heart skipped a beat and he reflexively opened his eyes to look up at Yuuki. She looked down at him with the moonlight behind her. Her face was still nearly emotionless and she spoke the first words that came to mind. “You don’t want to?” He reflexively sat up and scratched his head. “Eh? Um, well, how should I put it?” “You really are stupid. …I prepared myself for a lot when I agreed to be Koto’s Guardian and Chancellor.” “…Even for placing yourself in a position where you could kill people?” “Even if I do, I won’t change.” “Really?” “Even if I kill someone, I will still be me.” As soon as she said that, a sudden raindrop fell on his cheek. … !? The raindrop had not fallen from the sky. It had come from Yuuki’s eye. She was shedding tears from her usual expressionless face. “!” The second he saw the tears dripping down her cheeks, he realized that all of his thoughts had been wrong. He sat the rest of the way up and faced her. “…? Shoui-kun?” He shook his head. “I just about let an older girl trick me.” “Eh?” “You’re afraid, aren’t you? You’re afraid of your current situation and that you might change.” “I am not-…” “You have to be. Everything you just said was a lie, wasn’t it?” He embraced her and removed her glasses. She closed her eyes as if to keep him from seeing them, so he kissed her eyelid. “…Ah.” He heard her quiet voice and tasted some slight saltiness on his tongue. He sensed that undeniable flavor. “It tastes a lot like blood…” His casual comment seemed to act as a signal. She lowered her head in his arms and she began to cry. She suppressed her voice and her shoulders shook. She silently shed tears. Shoui held her shaking shoulders and sighed. “You’ve always been stupid… You have a bad habit of putting on an act and trying to solve everything yourself.” “…” “Were you trying to escape the unease by sleeping with me? …Does your current position scare you that much?” She raised her head and her expression left him speechless. The ends of her eyebrows were lowered in the first look of anguish he had ever seen from her. “Yuuki?” He quickly pulled her from his body. Their movements while pressed together had nearly pulled her shrine maiden outfit from her shoulders. “Nn?” She sniffed once to suppress the tears and wiped at her eyes. The tears vanished, but the expression did not. She held that silent anguish inside and asked a question. “…What’s the matter?” Shoui realized his eyes were fixated on her face. “Oh, um…” He quickly began to pull his bandanna down. “You don’t want to?” But those words stopped him. He saw a smile on her face and she continued without the smile crumbling. “You don’t want to spend some of your time on me?” “…Can’t we keep things the way they were? Doing this kind of thing to make up for your fear isn’t-…” She cut him off with a quiet voice. “Can’t you tell I’m blushing?” With that question, she let her clothing drop from her shoulders. With a soft sound, the clothing fell away like a blooming flower. She gathered the clothing around her chest to hide her exposed skin, but she faced Shoui with a bold look in her eyes. “If something happens, will you…?” “Will I?” “Will you protect me from myself?” He knew what she meant by that. If she were to harm someone else, she would be harming herself too. And to protect her from herself, he would need to be by her side at all times. He suddenly recalled her Words. The winter cries out frigidly Someone cries in loneliness They speak words yet nothing is said They speak Words yet nothing is said They simply wait for the ice to melt They draw near and never give up He nodded but still felt hesitant as he spoke. “It’s really not fair to show me the prize in advance…” She narrowed her eyes and smiled. “Don’t act like you haven’t wanted to see this for a long time.” Hearing that, he sighed and gave up. From then on, she had occasionally visited him at night. It had always been on the nights when she left without him to complete a job outside Nandaimon. It had all happened long ago, but it had made Shoui who he was today. ### 237. Part 3 7:59 PM Shoui caught Saki’s airborne body. “Are you okay!?” “He was probably knocked out. I heard something cracking inside him,” lightly commented Hisahide as he pulled his leg back with a compact motion. “I just hope it wasn’t a bone.” “How irresponsible can you be?” Shoui supported the taller boy with his shoulder. In that moment, he heard a quiet voice. “Hisaka.” It was Saki’s voice. He was using a Tech to speak remotely. … !? “Don’t move. He’ll notice. He’s probably feeling pretty full of himself even though he only broke a spare spear.” Saki’s hand tapped Shoui on the back. “I know this is selfish, but buy me some time so I can escape.” “…?” “That was enough for me to know I can’t win this. I’ll run to the nearest guard station and get the security system back up and running.” He took a breath. “The cameras will at least capture him and the automatic defenses might even blow him away.” As he listened to Saki, Shoui glanced over at Hisahide. — Shoui – Mind/Sight Tech – Multi-Take – Analyze Mind – Hit! … Doesn’t look like he’s noticed. So what should I do!? The enemy gave him the answer he needed. Hisahide took a step forward. Shoui fled on reflex. As Hisahide charged in from straight ahead, he escaped to the side. He ran into the dorm room to his right. “You’re running!?” Hisahide’s shout was cut off by the sound of the slamming door. Shoui locked the door behind him and shoved Saki toward the window. Saki looked back for just a moment. “Hizaka!?” “Get going!” Saki did not reply or ask anything more. His nod was all the answer he needed. His tall form left the window and vanished into the darkness. Shoui remained in the silent space. He started breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that his split-second decision had worked and at the sudden change of scenery. But then he slapped his cheeks. The distinct sound woke him up, so he placed one foot out front and stood in front of the door. … How is he going to come in? The enemy had no weapon, but he had the kicking technique that had sent Saki flying, a strange evasive method, and absolute confidence. That thought brought unease to Shoui’s heart, but… “I’m going to protect Yuuki, aren’t I?” So he had to ask this boy who had come to attack Kansai whether he was prepared to defeat Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. “…” He lowered his hips and held his right arm at waist height. His target was the wooden door. Nakamura Hisahide had to be on the other side. In the instant the boy started to open the door, Shoui would blow the door away to catch him off guard. He would need to time this perfectly. He could not surprise his opponent without attacking just before the door opened. Shoui thought about that opponent. … Because I don’t have Words of my own, I can sense my opponent’s will, huh? “Old Lady Senga used to say that all the time.” He closed his eyes, read his opponent’s presence, and then predicted that opponent’s actions. … Twenty-two seconds have passed since I shut this door. That was a long time and his opponent had been waiting silently the entire time. Shoui thought about how long he needed to hide here. And… “!” He opened his eyes and he began to move. — Shoui – Boxing/Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Destroy Object – Hit! A Rhythm would give away his presence, so he did not use one. He simply stepped straight forward. It was a quick movement. He simultaneously stomped his foot and thrust out the heel of his right palm. The sound of the stomp reverberated around him. A blow struck the center of the wooden door. The door bent as the sound of impact rang out. In that instant, he mentally pictured what he needed to do next. Whether Hisahide had dodged or was caught in the destruction of the door, Shoui would grab the collar of his mountain hoodie. Once he grabbed it, the boy could no longer dodge. His thoughts arrived there in an instant. In a span of time so small it went out several digits past the decimal point, a strange recoil reached Shoui’s hand. The bending of the wood vanished. … He pushed it back!? His thought was cut off by a sound much like a crack of thunder. The door had been split apart. Instead of flying outward or breaking inward, the wooden door split in two and flew to either side. “…!?” As Shoui wondered what had happened, something touched the heel his outstretched right hand’s palm. It was a slightly heated flat surface that felt both hard and springy. It was the sole of a shoe. “Wha-…!?” Nakamura Hisahide stood before him after throwing a forward kick. The sole of his raised right foot was in the exact same position as the heel of Shoui’s palm. They had apparently both been thinking the exact same thing. “Interesting,” said Hisahide as he lowered his leg. “Your fist can negate my kick through a door, can it?” Their gazes clashed with a slight height difference. Shoui’s plans for the fight fragilely crumbled in his mind. ### 238. Part 3 9:22 AM A thick curtain covered the room’s large window, cutting off the outside world. It was a twin room on the twentieth floor of the Osaka Hilton hotel. Tokyo chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro were staying in the room. The warm red cloth created a solid barrier that completely hid those two boys from the outside world. The concepts of human presences, gazes, outside light, noise, and time did not exist in that room. The room primarily contained darkness. The one light destroying that darkness was a TV displaying a dark forest. That slight light gave a vague view of the room’s structure. The TV and table could be seen as shadows. Hisahide and Ikemaru sat at sofas surrounding the short table. They were both looking to the dark sky, earthen ground, and forest shown on the TV screen. It was night. The structure of that darkness suddenly changed. After a great shaking of the footage, the heavens and earth tilted on their side. The camera had fallen over. The forest footage showed a hand which lay unmoving on the ground. Then a giant humanoid figure passed by in front of the camera. It was tall enough to surpass the trees behind it. It was over five meters tall. A roar left the TV. It was a bestial roar, released as the great beast passed by the camera. “I feel bad for the collapsed cameraman.” Legs appeared on the screen. They were mechanical legs not wearing any shoes. “Nanba Souichirou took prosthetic limbs after the battle that occurred prior to this footage,” said Ikemaru. “Aren’t you going to watch? The battle is starting.” Nanba Souichirou walked across the screen wearing white burial clothes. He walked to the back of the screen, where the giant form stood. It resembled a human and was colored with red and black tiger stripes. “An ogre, huh?” said Hisahide when he looked to the screen. “Kyoto’s Nandaimon apparently has the arm that was cut off here.” “You went to see it? I can’t believe you…” “Don’t lecture me. I was turned down by a girl, so that’s better than going to the movie theater alone, isn’t it? “A girl…? Oh, the Koto Chancellor.” Ikemaru glanced over at Hisahide. “I thought my cousin was the only girl you would talk about.” “To me, Takada is the same as you and Aoi. She’s more than just a girl. But, I’d heard rumors that the Koto Chancellor is a decent girl…and she’s the Killing Holder, so that’s a plus.” “How is that a plus?” “She’s killed someone, so she sounds stronger than me.” “Are you really planning to do what your master told you to?” “If I’m going to call myself the strongest, I have to be better than everyone else.” “I hear your sister said that a lot too.” “I live by those words. Always have.” Ikemaru nodded. “Look at the screen. The ogre is starting to move.” “Every time I see this I’m amazed by how much it moves. It’s like watching an anime with a budget in the hundreds of millions.” A black form and a white form moved around on the screen. Souichirou’s left arm was gone. He fought with his sword in his remaining right false arm. Ikemaru crossed his arms. “He really is intent on fighting. And after that ogre devoured the Lives of twelve people.” “Don’t dodge the issue. It literally ate five people and not just their Lives.” A large motion occurred onscreen. The giant humanoid form swung its red right arm like a bear. In that instant, Souichirou jumped in and severed the ogre’s right arm at the base. “Here comes Kusanagi.” Souichirou swung his sword in midair. He released his Words: “Ah.” A tearing blow struck the ogre. It produced an explosion of wind. The ogre as instantly knocked to the ground by the lightless and heatless explosion. Destruction burst out, a gust of wind spread in every direction, and dust approached the camera. After some static, there was a glimpse of the night sky and then nothing. “Since he has Kusanagi, I doubt Osaka’s Chancellor will be the one using the strongest Rhythm,” said Hisahide as he watched the dusty screen. “What do you mean?” asked Ikemaru. “The Heavy Rhythm Flame High is neither a Wind Rhythm nor an Over Rhythm. Nanba Souichirou may be able to use any of the lower Wind or Over Rhythms, but there’s no chance he can use the Flame High.” “You mean the skill needed to use Kusanagi isn’t enough to use the Flame High?” “Even with his Modified Purple Electricity Style of Dance Combat, he only raises his power, not his skill. He’s only able to use Kusanagi.” “He can ‘only’ use that incredible destructive power?” “The Rhythms greater than Wind Rhythms are given names like Kusanagi, Yata, or Yakusa, but do you know what the Heavy Rhythm Flame High was called in the past?” “?” “Yamata.” “…The great serpent of flames?” “Yes. Kusanagi came from the body of Yamata…of the Kuzuryu after Susanoo defeated it.” He smiled bitterly. “In other words, Kusanagi was swallowed by a dragon once. It’s not that great a sword.” Hisahide got up, grabbed the remote from the table, and turned off the TV. Darkness filled their surroundings. “I can’t defeat an ogre. My attack power is the same as that of a child who can’t use Rhythms.” “But this conflict is only between people.” “Exactly. And that makes me the strongest. When you know how it’s going to turn out, these battles are surprisingly boring.” After that satisfied comment, Hisahide yawned. “Takada hasn’t shown up, so I’m pretty bored. …And you’re not subordinate to me.” “I am that girl’s servant.” “How about you quit being her servant and be her butler? You and Aoi will be together eventually. Takada’s prophecy said so.” A bitter laugh rang out, but it was impossible to tell which boy it came from in the darkness. Ikemaru was the next to speak. “You need to get to sleep. We can’t do anything if our leader is sleep deprived.” “Don’t act like you didn’t stay up all night too. Just say you don’t want me interfering with your date.” “It is not a date. We are shopping for a bra. A piece of the bike apparently cut the strap yesterday.” “She doesn’t have any more with her?” “She apparently forgot her clothes at Inuyama Station. I will be shopping for a bra and creating charms until time for today’s diversion.” “I’m less important than a bra?” “Not quite, no.” Suddenly, an electronic tone came from the intercom. “Takahiro? Are you there? How about some breakfast? Or do you want to sleep a little longer?” Aoi’s somewhat scratchy voice came from the speaker. “The bra is calling you, combat salaryman.” “I prefer the term businessman. My Ikemaru family has served the emperor for generations.” With that, Ikemaru stood up and left the room. After the door opened and closed, only the darkness and Hisahide’s presence remained. It did not take long for him to begin the deep breaths of sleep. ### 239. Part 3 1:48 PM As the morning sun slowly began to drop from its midday height, a single guest arrived at the Nandaimon Shrine. It was the monk who had been referred to as Iba back at Nara Station. He stood at the center of the shrine’s grounds. Without speaking a word, he stared straight forward. Senga stood before him with a bamboo broom in hand. She spoke with Iba’s gaze on her. “Instead of standing there, how about you say something?” “…I see you haven’t changed in the last thirteen years.” “That’s because I’m so young.” “I believe you turned sixty-seven this year.” “The man with the greatest grudge against me was indeed the type to say such hopeless things with a straight face.” — Senga – Mind Tech – Take – Sense Killer Intent – Hit. “Iba, you’re the same as back then. You can be silently and expressionlessly staring at someone but still overflowing with killer intent.” “That is my way of doing things.” Senga smiled bitterly. “More importantly, Iba, what do you want? I would like to finish cleaning before the sun sets.” “Then I shall get straight to the point.” Iba furrowed his brow as he was wont to do. “I would like to declare war.” “Oh?” “This is a declaration from Tokyo to Osaka, and from those who died in the Kinki Riot to you.” “Oh? And why would you be doing this?” “To clear away all of the mistakes that led to the Kinki Riot.” “For how expressionless you are, you must really see me as an enemy.” “I no longer have any comrades.” “Did you learn nothing from the Kinki Riot, Iba?” “I have a question concerning that.” “?” Senga gave an exaggerated tilt of the head and Iba gave a straightforward question. “What was the Kinki Riot from the perspective of the teachers?” “Based on that killer intent, I’m guessing you already know more or less. …That explains why you hid in the Mountain and never appeared before me in the thirteen years since that battle came to an end.” “I would like to hear the truth in your words.” “For example?” “Most of those at the center of that war were taught by you.” “Yes, that’s true. Once Yuuki could walk, I made a trip around Japan and visited the local Mountains.” “Was it a coincidence?” “Was what?” Iba maintained his straightforward gaze and clarified his question in an emotionless voice. “That you taught students to use Heavy Rhythms everywhere you went.” “What do you think, Iba?” “…” “Tell me.” “Very well.” Iba nodded before opening his mouth. “That battle was meant to reveal all of the Heavy Rhythms the Mountain had sanctified and to create a public fear of those Rhythms.” “And?” “This is only my personal view, but did you set it all up in order to eliminate those Heavy Rhythms that you viewed as such a danger to the world?” “I see.” “It is a fact that the students you taught to use the Heavy Rhythms fought each other, even when they were friends or family.” “If I had not taught them to use the Heavy Rhythms, that conflict would not have dragged on so long…” “And the Heavy Rhythms would not have been eliminated.” “…So you’re focusing on the result, are you?” “The Kinki Riot added most of Japan’s Rhythms to the list of Death Techno.” “Although most of them were only sealed by the Mountain or by me.” Senga smiled bitterly. “You plan to bring back the Heavy Rhythms, don’t you? A moron showed up here before…and named you as his teacher.” “…His teacher?” “Yes. He sounded proud of it. It was a kid with spiky hair.” “He sounded…proud?” “Yes.” “…Ha.” “?” “Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!” Iba laughed. He opened his mouth, shook his shoulders, and erased his usual self in laughter. A moment later… “Interesting!” By the time he shouted that word, his usual lack of expression had returned. He stared straight toward Senga. “I am honestly surprised he would call me his teacher.” “Does it delight you that much for Nakamura Midori’s brother to call you his teacher?” “Oh? I see you did your homework.” “He was interested in the Flame High and in his sister, his family name was Nakamura, and he called you his teacher. Who else could it be? …So you want to clear away your regrets from thirteen years ago?” “Is that so strange?” “I respect you for it.” “And I you. …I came to realize that over the past thirteen years.” “Did you?” “Out of concern for this country, you gave everyone power and then killed them in an attempt to eliminate the king.” “You sound confident in that theory.” “I did not spend thirteen years at the Mountain for nothing.” “Is that so? Then are you building on my plan to kill everyone but one in an attempt to create a king?” Iba did not nod. Senga rotated her broom with her wrist and aimed the bottom at him like a spear. “Iba, is this conversation a declaration of war from former student to former teacher? History will repeat itself. This could lead to many deaths once more.” “Do not worry. We have a prophet with us, so we can avoid all danger.” “You’re hopeless.” “Then shall we spar as we used to? I never could get a single strike past your spear at that Mountain training ground…but things have changed.” “Have you dabbled in White Noise and the Shinkage Style?” That brought a change to Iba’s expression: he frowned. But Senga continued regardless. “I prefer my method over all else. If you are intent on destroying the situation I have created here, then I will take the appropriate countermeasures.” “Can I take that as an acceptance of my declaration of war? Yet the only card in your deck is your granddaughter.” “Your trump card is Ixolde’s activation tonight, isn’t it? The only way you can conquer this country is to borrow Osaka’s power. Befitting of the former Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer who let Kuki and Midori die…” — Senga – Intimidation Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit! “…to become the sole survivor of the Kinki Riot!” “!!” Iba released a voiceless shout and took a defensive stance. At the same moment, the cellphone in Senga’s pocket rang far too quietly for the scene. “…?” Their eyes met. Iba released killer intent and Senga spoke with the broom in hand. “When you hear why this emergency phone is ringing, you’ll have better things to do than fight me.” “Nonsense.” “Can you still say that after I tell you only the Emergency Teachers or the Mountain leaders can call this phone?” — Senga – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. “See? You’re curious. …And there goes your bad habit of growing even more expressionless when I say that. Listen. There’s only one reason the Emergency Teachers or the Mountain would be in a hurry to contact me now.” She went on to tell him what that reason was. The persistently ringing phone seemed to show just how badly whichever group it was wanted to contact her. The words Senga spoke over that background noise elicited movement from Iba. He began to run. That signaled the end of this confrontation between teacher and student and signaled the beginning of a new battle. ### 240. Part 3 2:45 PM The battle began with both sides working to protect a single girl. The siren known as the Fourth Alarm rang and two boy-girl pairs began moving at the center of the quickly emptying shopping district. A single girl watched them. Shoui was worried about her. “I can’t believe this.” He saw Takada holding Taromaru in her arms, but Taromaru’s size had changed. Instead of mouse-sized, he was now the size of a puppy. Sensing her fear, he had grown to confront the situation she was facing. Shoui now understood what had happened at that scene when he had first met her. The fleeing students had been attacked by the grown Taromaru. He had a feeling he understood her fear. “Is she afraid that her own fear will hurt others?” He saw her desperately petting Taromaru’s head to calm him. But Taromaru kept his fangs bared and produced a low growling from deep in his throat. The Dog God was no longer reading her thoughts. The fear of this battle that resided deep in her heart was more powerful than her thoughts. She was both trying to calm Taromaru and to calm her own emotions. Without speaking a word, she was trying to calm her own fear of hurting others. “…” Shoui recalled the past. Yuuki had once said something to him when visiting his room. “ ‘Protect me from myself’, hm?” He muttered that while facing forward. Taeko and the enemy were glaring at each other from a distance. The enemy had named themselves and Taeko had responded in kind. The enemies were Tokyo’s Vice Chancellor and Special Duty Officer. The night before, Shoui had met and lost to a boy claiming to be Tokyo’s Chancellor. That meant the main force of Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers was in Osaka. Shoui did not know what was going on, but he could tell Takada knew them and that she was afraid of this battle. “…” He walked forward and the two from Tokyo reacted. They had been entirely focused on Taeko, but now they began to focus on Shoui too. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Presence – Hit. As soon as Shoui arrived alongside Taeko, she took off running. “!” She ran forward. She had won the initiative. Her Dragon Emperor gave a roar. With that roar to summon the Lightning High, lightning enveloped her metal arm. The enemy moved back, but Taeko did not care. She continued forward with the Dragon Emperor at the ready. “Yer still in range!” As a Steel Master, she was an all-rounder who could make long-distance attacks too. The Dragon Emperor gave its thunderous roar and her attack range spread. — Taeko – Shot Tech – Take – Prepare to Fire – Hit. — Taeko – Lightning High/Steel/Shot Tech – Multi-Take – Electro Cannon – Hit! “!” She held forward the Dragon Emperor arm and the lightning wrapping around it was instantly fired forward. The electric attack was wide enough to fill the road and flew toward her opponents more like a pillar than a net. The wide-range attack of white light raced through the air, but… “Leave it to me.” With a refreshing voice, Aoi Hijiri stepped forward with her hexagonal rod in hand. She stood in front of Ikemaru and raised the rod with awfully slow movements. She raised her head and looked to Taeko through the electric attack. She gave a slight smile just as the lightning struck her. A great roar burst out, but the result was not at all what Taeko had expected. “!?” The white light fired by the Dragon Emperor scattered in every direction like a shattered plate. The explosion of light slammed noisily into the shops on either side of the road. The shopping district shattered from the heat and impact. After a series of explosions and a chorus of solid impacts, only Aoi remained standing. She was unscathed. “…It missed!?” Aoi spoke without answering Taeko’s question. “Like that would work, you idiot. …If this is all you’ve got, I don’t see how you can claim Nagoya won’t surrender.” “…Damn ya.” “Don’t panic. We’ll take our time finishing you off. …Once you go down, Nagoya is ours.” Shoui ignored Aoi’s mocking comment and looked behind the girl. The man who had been standing there was gone. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Detect Enemy – Hit! “Boss!” He saw Ikemaru Takahiro walking up the sidewalk. Several bicycles were lined up there. As he walked along, he traced his bare hand along those bicycles. “Peck at your prey, you birds.” The group of bicycles flew up into the sky as if something had kicked at them. It happened suddenly. With a harmony of light metallic sounds, the bicycles flew along a gentle slope no matter which way they were pointed and no matter how they were oriented. They filled the sky just like a flock of birds. “!” They then dropped down toward Shoui and Taeko. “Dragon Emperor!” Taeko raised her voice and a hemisphere of lightning was released from the exhaust port on the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder. — Shoui – Dodge/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Leaping Dodge – Hit! Just as he escaped the range of the lightning, the wheeled birds crashed down into the lightning light. With a scorching smell, their metal and plastic melted and scattered. “Th-that was close!” “Just stay quiet and get outta the way! The next one’s comin’!” He looked up to see Aoi raising her hexagonal rod. Those two had incredible coordination, so they did not give Shoui and Taeko a chance to act. There was a distance of over ten steps between Aoi and Taeko, so this attack would presumably fill that gap. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! For some reason, Shoui recognized the aura emitted by that pose. “But I’ve never met her before.” Confused, he raised his defenses and glanced behind him. Takada was no longer holding Taromaru in her arms. The light brown Dog God had grown to the size of a large dog and now stood on the ground. Takada said nothing as she embraced his neck and desperately tried to hold him back. Without that, he almost certainly would have rushed in to join the battle. The slightest opening could settle everything here, so who would her fear attack? The question sent a shudder down his spine, but no one could answer it. Meanwhile, Aoi made her move. She attached Words to the hexagonal rod simply by swinging it down in front of her. Ah. “Kusanagi!?” Shoui understood everything when he heard what Taeko said. Two days before, that shockwave attack had stopped the confrontation between him and Saki in the schoolyard. Aoi’s attack contained the same presence and killer intent as that. If the equation was the same, the answer would also be the same. She swung the rod down until it hit the ground and shattered the asphalt. The shock broke the rod’s central bolt, but the Rhythm activated. First, it created a wind. “!?” The air shook and a shimmering of heat pierced through Taeko and Shoui. “It can’t be…!” Before Taeko could take evasive action, the air cutting across the road exploded. A powerful tearing raced by. The chorus of tearing sounds sounded like an echo. The tearing wind and shockwave slammed into the ground and scattered. — Taeko – Savate/Gym/Steel/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Great Dodge – …Hit! Taeko avoided the power rushing toward her. Shoui tried to do the same, but something stopped him: a beast’s roar. Taromaru was unable to bear the killer intent of Kusanagi that Aoi was emitting. “…!” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. The killer intent growing behind him grew all the larger in response to the attack approaching from the front. He heard Takada’s voiceless scream within the din, so he did not dodge. The Dis-Worder released the most powerful Rhythm he could use: the Break High. — Shoui – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Fix Stance – Hit! He filled his entire body with strength and held his fist forward. He did not know if he could break Kusanagi, but if he failed, Takada’s fear would explode. “Shoui!?” shouted Taeko. But it was too late. — Shoui – Break High/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit! His aim was true and his fist contacted the great power. A moment later… “What are you doing!?” A deep voice gave a shout and the power of Kusanagi vanished before Shoui’s eyes. ### 241. Part 3 5:43 PM Osaka was bright and busy on the surface, but there were a few differences below the surface. First, it was pitch black as no light could get in. Second, water calmly flowed through the sewers. Those two things were always true below Osaka’s surface, but at the moment, something much like the surface was running through below the surface: noise. “What’s with this salty-smellin’ sewage!? It’s up to my ankles.” “They sent out some guards, so we had no other choice. Besides, my shoes are just as soaked!” “Yer shoes don’t cost nearly as much as mine, ya moron!” “Ah? Cost? How much could they possibly cost!?” “79.8 thousand yen.” “…Okay, I can see why you’re mad.” “See?” Taeko sighed in the darkness. “But are ya sure yer ready? I know that glasses guy was real busy, but still.” “Yes, Ikemaru was teaching me how to use his charms and the Discord Bombs.” “Are you really gettin’ in to Ixolde from below ground?” “According to the map Ikemaru had, I need to break down the wall two hundred meters ahead.” “And meanwhile, I create a diversion on the surface? Ya sure ya trust me enough for that? I might betray ya for Osaka.” “I don’t mind if you do. Once I have the Flame High, no one stands a chance against me. Not Nagoya and not Osaka.” And… “Hey,” said Taeko. “What’s yer connection with that guy from the Mountain who knew a lot about this sewer’s structure?” “…” “Ya don’t have to answer if ya don’t want to.” “Iba was my sister’s boyfriend’s friend.” “…That’s complicated.” “Yeah. My sister and her boyfriend died after they were betrayed by their teacher, but Iba survived.” Hisahide’s voice rang in the darkness. “I think Iba might have had feelings for my-…” He trailed off and his footsteps came to a stop. “What is it?” “Look up ahead.” His voice and focus were directed toward the shadows of some metal bars in the darkness. They were arranged like a window lattice and they ran from the ceiling to the floor to block the two students’ way. “According to Iba, these have a high-voltage current running through them. Removing them will sound the alarm…but your Eighth Dragon Emperor should be able to neutralize that with its lightning attack. Try ignoring the current and bending one of the bars.” “…You make it sound easy.” The Dragon Emperor could be heard powering up. “Dragon Emperor, release protection on the Third Activation.” Before she had even finished speaking, the armor panel on the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder opened slightly and expelled white smoke and light. The sewer grew bright and their silhouettes covered the wall as shadows. A low, heavy noise slowly but surely sounded from the Dragon Emperor with a pulse-like Tempo. “…!” That was the roar of the Lightning High. It was the sound preferred by the lightning dragon. The sewer wall trembled and the roar of thunder raced along below Osaka’s surface. Hisahide spoke even as his voice was drowned out. “I’d heard the Dragon Emperor is a false arm that only activates once a dragon eye has been placed inside it.” “That’s right. The dragon’s armor is emperor-class and there are eight right and left pairs. Each of them has the power of a dragon inside.” “Is it alive?” “Want to test it out? Not even I have taken it to the final activation needed to wake it up.” “Please don’t. …There’s no point in destroying half the city here, and that’s what I’ve heard the other Dragon Emperors did.” “True enough.” Taeko grabbed the metal bars with the Dragon Emperor’s fist and white smoke rose from between the metal claws and metal bars. “Hold on. Are you sure you’re okay there?” “It’s just the rubber on the palm melting. …There.” — Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Brute Force – Hit. The metal bars bent quite a bit, creating a low sound like a root being pulled from the dirt. A moment later, the bars and their frame came out as the Dragon Emperor’s fist held them. In the pale light of the Dragon Emperor, Taeko looked back and forth between its shoulder and the bars. “Did ya say removin’ it would sound the alarm?” “You idiot!? Wh-what did you do!?” “Well, I broke it…and it broke.” “You’ve ruined all the worked we’ve been doing here!” “I didn’t mean to, though. Ha ha ha.” “This is no laughing matter!” “Calm down, calm down. Don’t panic. I’ve just gotta create a diversion on the surface while ya head straight there, right?” Taeko held the metal bars out toward Hisahide. “So what should I do with these?” He did not hesitate to answer. “Throw them away, idiot!” ### 242. Part 4 11:48 PM “…” When the girl woke from the dark pain, her vision was filled with bright light. … Is this heaven!? She quickly sat up and realized this was a familiar place. It was the bench on top of the waterfall viewing platform. The sunlamp was shining in the darkness overhead. When she identified the artificial light, she let out a white breath. “It’s cold.” That was when she realized she was naked. The blanket that had covered her had fallen from the bench. There was another blanket over the bench and she could feel the warmth that her own body had given it. … It really is cold. She moved to pick up the fallen blanket. — Fujiwara – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Gazes – Hit! She looked forward in surprise and several people in the café at the back of the viewing platform quickly turned their backs. They were all wearing firefighter uniforms, so they were her father’s colleagues. The café’s lights were on even though it was after hours and the men drank cans of coffee and glanced back at her. “Don’t look, you idiots!” She shook her long, lowered hair and hid her body behind the blanket. “You’re the idiot here.” A low male voice spoke from surprisingly close by. “…!?” She turned around and found her father sitting on the bench behind her with his back turned. He wore a borrowed dry suit which was pulled down from his shoulders and a bath towel was draped over the shoulders of his T-shirt. White steam rose from his shoulders and through the towel. It was the steam of sweat. When the girl saw that, she realized what had happened. So she wrapped herself in the blanket below her butt instead of the one she had picked up. She then used her feet to push the other blanket toward her father. “Sorry,” she quietly apologized. “Who are you apologizing to?” “You.” “Only me?” “And to everyone else. …The chief must have been surprised.” “That old man just got a prosthetic heart, so try not to surprise him too much.” The girl nodded silently and stared at the blanket sitting between her and her father. “Aren’t you going to say anything else?” “I didn’t think you could use the Aqua Middle.” “You’re the one that bought me the MD for my birthday last month.” “I kind of thought I was getting you a coming-of-age present five years early.” “Didn’t you say something similar to mom when you gave her the engagement ring?” “And it turned out the same way too. She decided we were getting married right away.” Her father reached back to grab the blanket, draped it over his shoulders, and continued speaking without looking back. “What did you see?” “More questions.” “Just like your Words.” “Unlike yours, my Words are full of mysteries.” “But did you see it?” “…What was that?” “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” “Because I’m a child?” “Then do you understand why those two were smiling?” “…” “Once you understand that, you won’t need to know anything about their past.” “What do you mean?” “There are two sides to everything. There were smiles even in that tragedy.” Her father hesitated for a moment. “Most of us have never told anyone about them for that reason. If we did, it would cause a commotion and disturb their slumber.” “You mountain men sure are sentimental.” “That’s because we’re the only ones who know what happened there.” “Then what about that boy? He was throwing flowers in there.” Her father turned around, showing her his square face covered in facial hair. “You’ll understand a little once you enter high school next year. You’ll year about the Mountain and the Kinki Riot.” “I’m not going to join the Chancellor’s Officers. That’s just my homeroom teacher Takoyama getting all worked up.” “That isn’t what I meant.” Her father stood up. “You’ll be able to understand your questions even as they remain questions.” “So you’re telling me to gain the knowledge and experience to do that?” “I’m telling you to grow up.” “…You’re always treating me like a child.” “You’ll be an adult before long. That’s what I meant when I praised you earlier.” “About what?” “About surprising me as much as your mother did before we got married.” He rubbed the girl’s head. “C’mon, everyone’s worried, so leave those questions for the future and go say hi.” “The questions never end, huh?” She looked up at her father. “If people can’t fight their Words, this could be a problem.” “Yeah, you’ll be stuck wondering about your questions forever.” “Yes, but…” “But?” The girl tilted her head. “Didn’t mom say people’s Words are what will make them happiest?” She took a breath. “If so, then what are these questions to me?” ### 243. Part 4 5:45 PM The bell rang and the door opened. In the moonlight and gentle breeze, the girl remained motionless in front of the small rectangle of darkness. The wind searched through and washed over that darkness as her eyes turned to the nameplate next to the door. The old, darkened nameplate gave a certain boy’s name: Hizaka Shoui. She simply stared at the name without really reading it. A few beats later, she suddenly moved. She stepped into the darkness and into the detached room’s entranceway. Closing the door further darkened the already dark room. The external world was shut out. All she could see was the moonlight shining in from the glass of the front sliding door, but she reached an arm into the darkness without relying on that light. “…” A bright fluorescent light turned on. She leaned her staff against the small entranceway’s wall. The sound of the staff bottom hitting the concrete floor reverberated solidly through the entranceway. Next, silence fell. After a few breaths, she very quietly opened the sliding door dividing the entranceway from the room itself. She almost seemed to be trying to spy on who or what was inside. After confirming that the dark space was fully opened, she removed her shoes, climbed the step, and made sure her shoes were properly aligned. The series of actions had clearly become a habit. She was now standing on the detached room’s tatami mat floor and she switched on the light here too. At about seven square meters, the room before her eyes was only meant as a space to sleep in. There was no closet and an unmarked futon was still folded up on the floor. A large sand-colored dresser sat in front of the identically colored wall. The only thing on the wall was a calendar hanging next to the dresser. It was truly a dreary room. It had almost no coloration. Everything was either the color of the walls or the color of the tatami mats. Someone had clearly avoided bringing any color into the room as a way to suppress something. It felt like a method of restricting oneself. The girl’s vermilion uniform stood out strongly below the fluorescent light. Her eyes turned to the calendar on the wall. It contained a picture of a snowy Kyoto mountain along with the days for December, the current month. However, the year given on the calendar was 1994, which was two years in the past. The girl remained silent when she saw that. Her eyes then moved to top of the dresser. The owner of the room had allowed two pieces of color there. The first was a folded karate uniform. It had somewhat faded from numerous washings and a black belt lay with it. The name Hizaka was spelled out at the end of the belt in bright gold, somewhat twisted stitching. The other color sat next to it. It was a trophy. The extravagant trophy rose almost to the ceiling and the shine of its gold plating had not dulled in the slightest. A vermilion and white ribbon was double-knotted at the top. Without speaking a word, the girl faced the futon folded up in the corner. Some new colors had been added behind the futon: a red vacuum cleaner, a metal bucket, and a dry rag on the rim of the bucket. Those colors looked out of place in the monotone, sand-colored room, but she did not seem to care as she reached for the vacuum cleaner. But then… “Yuuki.” She slowly turned toward a voice from outside the detached room. A woman’s voice came from the large window on the east end of the room. She did not hesitate to unlock the window and open it to either side. The empty night spread out before her eyes. A square of bright light fell onto the tightly packed dirt ground out front. Two figures stood there. One was the wooden pillar rising from the dirt and the other was a short old woman. The woman wore a shirt and jeans and she had a slight smile on her aged face. “Doing your daily cleaning, Yuuki? You sure are faithful.” A hint of a bitter smile filled the lighthearted tone, but the girl called Yuuki said nothing in response. The old woman realized her teasing would accomplish nothing, so she placed a hand on her back and looked directly at Yuuki. “A Nandaimon child was attacked at Private Showa, so weren’t you on your way to deal with that?” “I still have sixty-seven minutes until the designated time. This is a duel following the school rules, so they won’t run away.” “If you give them that much time, I expect they’ll gather some friends to help. You do always tell them they’re free to get help, after all.” “I prefer to take care of those pathetic people all at once. More importantly, what do you really want, Grandma Senga.” The old woman looked up at Yuuki with a look of exasperation. “They’re holding a meeting between the Chubu and Kansai Chancellors at Prefectural #2, but are you really not joining them?” “What good would the Killing Holder do there?” “Really? Are you sure it isn’t that you don’t want to disturb things too much? Like with the Nagoya Chancellor and-…” — Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit. — Senga – Mind Tech – Counter-Take – Intimidation Reflection – Hit. “You sure do get scary when it comes to that topic, Yuuki.” “And you get in a bad mood when I mention your spear,” said Yuuki. “Specifically, that Yuuki Senga was known as Kansai’s greatest spear-user but that she set aside her spear thirteen years ago.” With that line, silence ruled their surroundings. But that rule of silence was broken by a movement rather than a sound. Senga shrugged her shoulders in exasperation. And… “Then how about this information? …That idiot Shoui has returned from the Mountain.” She looked up as if to peer into Yuuki’s face, but the girl gave no visible reaction. “I see.” When the girl accepted the fact without even nodding, Senga frowned and leaned against the wooden pillar next to her. “Is that all? Don’t you have something to say to him? Like why he didn’t stop by to say hi, about two years ago, or maybe that you’ve been cleaning this place ever since?” “It’s no use.” “What?” “None of that would make bring him back.” With that, Yuuki turned her back on Senga. Her eyes fell on the karate uniform and trophy on top of the dresser. A question from Senga reached her silent back. “You don’t want to see him?” “…” “Or are you no longer waiting for him?” “…” “Do you not need a man who doesn’t keep the promise he made to you?” Yuuki moved her head in response to that question. It made the small up and down of a nod. “I don’t need Hizaka Shoui.” Senga had stopped talking, so Yuuki took over. “It’s not possible for a guy like that to protect me.” “That’s quite a statement. It’s not possible even though he won the West Japan Middle School Karate Championship? He won that title by defeating Ichimura Yuusei in the finals, but isn’t Ichimura now Nagoya’s Vice Chancellor who you’ve asked to spar with a few times since?” “I don’t need anyone else’s opinion.” “Then in your own opinion, do you truly think you don’t need him?” “…” “Even after picking him up from the ruins left by the Kinki Riot, healing his aphasia…and spending so much time with him?” “…” “If so, why have you been taking such good care of this detached room for the past two years?” “It’s a linchpin,” said Yuuki. “The linchpin needed to keep the Killing Holder the Killing Holder.” With that said, she closed the window behind her. With a sharp sound, the light was cut off from the night. Only the lingering tone remained in the air. ### 244. Part 4 7:37 PM The voice came from overhead. Shoui recognized the voice, so he took immediate action. — Shoui – Gym/Dodge Tech – Multiple Counter-Take – Leaping Dodge – Hit! But Saki… “What?” Taking time to look up proved unwise. A giant false arm and a girl were falling toward him. “!” And they landed on him. The impact sounded a lot like metal striking flesh. — Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Balance – Hit! Immediately after punching Saki to the ground like a cushion, Taeko performed a cartwheel and ended up on her feet next to where Saki lay on the ground. “That was a close one! Hey, boy! Ya alive?” Saki did not respond, so Shoui did so in his stead. “Hm, I think he might be a goner.” “Oh, ya think so too? …I tried to copy ya, but it didn’t turn out too good.” “You lost your balance due to that heavy Dragon Emperor, didn’t you?” “Yeah, pretty much. Wah ha ha ha ha!” “Ah ha ha ha ha!” “Wah ha ha ha ha!” “What do you think you’re laughing about, you morons!?” Saki jumped to his feet and pointed at Taeko. “You bitch! Don’t think I’ll hold back just cause you’re the Nagoya Chancellor!” As he shouted at her, a trail of blood flowed from his hair and down his forehead. The number of flowing red lines quickly grew and covered his entire face. “Ohhhhh! I’m bleeding!” “This guy sure is noisy. Is he really one of Osaka’s Special Duty Officers?” “He has been pretty bloody and noisy, but he really is. Right, Saki-san?” “Don’t give me that ‘Right, Saki-san?’ nonsense! Anyway, why are you here, Nagoya Chancellor!?” Still shouting with blood flowing down his face, Saki glared at Taeko and Shoui before looking around the area. Shoui followed his gaze and found a lot of people looking their way: the Tuners who were repairing the schoolyard, the police officers investigating the scene, and the many students. “Oh, look. I’m the center of attention. I’m so cool.” “Shut up! …Hey! Quit letting us distract you and get back to work! You want me to punch you!?” Saki’s angry voice set everyone in motion again and Shoui nodded. “That looks just like the townsfolk obeying their ruler’s reign of terror.” “Do you want me to kill you?” “Ya like saying scary things, don’t ya? Don’t tell me ya actually think ya can beat Shoui.” Saki Seiji wiped the blood from his forehead and answered Taeko. “A member of the Chancellor’s Officers would never lose to an amateur. But more importantly…” “More importantly? …What is it?” “Why are you even here, Nagoya Chancellor?” “Explainin’ that would take a while.” “Keep it short.” “I felt like it.” “What do you mean you ‘felt like it’, you utter moron!?” “Oh, shut up. I just followed Shoui.” “And that made you crash into me? …Are you really Nagoya’s Chancellor? You take everything you do too lightly!” “Lookin’ for opportunities and changin’ yerself when they come along is the heart of Nagoya. ….The Nagoya Chancellor needs to be able to do what she wants and keep tabs on what’s goin’ on.” As soon as she narrowed her eyes and smiled, Taeko suddenly grabbed Saki’s chin with her Dragon Emperor hand. “Now, it’s my turn to ask. …Where is the Koto Chancellor?” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Coerce – Hit! Saki frowned and answered. “You can’t see her? She’s sitting perfectly still right over there!” He used his chin to gesture toward a cherry tree to the left. The tree had split down the center due to the localized low temperature that had hit the school. There was a glimpse of red in the shadow of the split trunk. Shoui observed that fluttering red cloth hidden by the color of the tree. — Shoui – School Tech – Take – Uniform Recognition – Hit… There was no mistaking it. It was the uniform of Nandaimon Academy’s main school. That was the girl’s school attended by Koto Chancellor and Koto Guardian Yuuki Yuuki. The color moved. The girl taking a break in the shadow of the broken and split tree trunk stood up. The moving colors were the black and red of her uniform, the white of her blouse, and the pitch black of the hair that fell all the way to the back of her knees. He saw her face look back his way. “…” In that instant, he saw the two years he had missed. Yuuki had always had a mature look to her face, but in the past two years, she had grown to adulthood on the inside and transformed from being a girl to being a woman. Her expression and movements contained a sharp, quick, cold, sleek, and powerful strength. As if to confirm and smile at his surprise, her right eye glowed somewhat vermilion. That false eye was known as the Phoenix, an alternative name for the Suzaku. That eye of the vermilion bird faced motionlessly forward as if to more easily communicate with its main form floating in the heavens. In contrast, her left eye slowly moved toward Shoui’s group. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Sense Gaze – Miss. Shoui could not tell if Yuuki’s eye was looking only at him or not. Meanwhile, she began walking around the fallen tree. She moved toward Shoui’s group. “Here she comes, Shoui. This is what ya wanted.” Shoui responded to Taeko with several forced nods. “Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you supposed to say when seeing someone again like this?” “When it’s been a while since ya’ve seen them, ya should probably say ‘fancy seein’ you here’ or something.” “You moron,” said Saki. “Don’t pretend this is some kind of coincidence. And when you meet someone again after a long time, you need to greet them with a smile to calm their heart! That’s the Osaka way! …Ow! Don’t grab me with that metal arm, you bitch!” “Quit movin’ around and stay quiet. …Here she comes, Shoui.” “Eh? Oh, right, um… Well, it’s true I should probably smile.” Shoui turned around and found Yuuki there. She was within arm’s reach now. The past two years seemed concentrated into the spot at which she stood. He wanted to say something but was not quite sure what. “…” After a few moments of silence, he raised his head and looked her in the eye. It was too late now to say “fancy seeing you here”, so he causally raised a hand and did his best to sound cheerful. “Hi, chancy seeing you here!” Yuuki gave a short greeting in response. It was only two words long. “Get lost.” ### 245. Part 4 11:14 PM Kasumi watched in a daze. He understood what had happened. He had seen it with his own eyes. First, Aoi’s left hand had shot forward while drawing an outward-facing spiral. At the end of the jab, her palm was facing upwards. By then, the knives should have reached her body, but they had changed direction again. They seemed to have been swallowed up by the spiraling motion of her left arm. They were like branches caught in whirlpool. It had only lasted an instant, but they had clearly swam along with the motion of her left hand and then been deflected. He could see a large outward-facing wrinkle in the left sleeve of her blouson. He did not know what kind of power it was or even if it came from within or without, but a great power had created a current there to apply a twist to the straight movement of the knives. … What was that? A simple touch had caused the blades to fall despite each one flying in from a different direction. She was entirely unharmed. … What was that!? No one answered his question. Meanwhile, Aoi silently spun the hexagonal rod in her right hand. She pointed the grip toward Kasumi so the knives stabbed into it were closer to her. She grabbed the hilt of the topmost knife and slowly pulled it out. With a sound that brought a chill to his teeth and she held the knife’s long hilt in her slender fingers. Ether light glowed in her hand and her lips parted. She produced upbeat drum and bass Words. Beyond the farthest reaches of time Beyond the most distant lands Where power becomes a harmony of destruction That was Kasumi’s song. She did not have an MD. She simply uttered the Words from her own mouth. “!?” She ignored his confusion. — Aoi – Draw Tech – Take – Rapid Throw – Hit! The knife moved swiftly but horribly silently. Its speed as it flew straight toward his chest filled him with vivid fear. “…!” — Kasumi – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Miss! — Kasumi – Gym/Dodge Tech – Multiple Take – Leaping Dodge – Hit! As soon as he took a large jump backwards, Aoi jabbed her metal rod into the railroad crossing the bridge. A solid sound rang out. — Aoi – Explosion High –Take – Remote Control – Hit! An explosion suddenly appeared on the back of the knife and it ricocheted. “!?” Before Kasumi could feel surprise, the knife stabbed into his left leg. It plunged deep into the limb. “…Wha-!?” His voice of question was accompanied by pain racing through his brain. She had definitely used his techniques and Words. The force of the throw, that way of using the Explosion High, the intensity of the blast, and the Words that should only have belonged to him were no different from what he had used. … What is going on!? “You deflected all my attacks…and copied them…?” The answer to his question contained an overwhelming meaning. “I surpass you.” He tried to oppose her words, but his voice of protest would not come. Instead, the pain from the knife in his leg brought a scream. And that voice was answered by a steam whistle behind him. A mechanical roar and artificial light washed over him from behind. The freight train was rushing toward his back as he crouched at the edge of the bridge. The tracks shook and let out a metallic groan to tell him of the great weight approaching. With his leg injured, he had no way of avoiding the train. “…!” He gasped. “Do I really have to go to the trouble?” With that question, he heard Aoi sigh right by his ear. … !? By the time he saw her graceful face in front of him, she had already grabbed his collar. “What are you doing!?” he asked in utter fear. “The loser doesn’t get to speak.” With that, she threw him into the river below. … ! A cry of terror and surprise escaped his throat. As he flew through the air, the metal bumper of the freight train’s first car grazed his feet. That first car continued on and passed through the position Aoi had stood in. It had hit her. He could not imagine any other outcome, yet he was confident that girl who claimed to be Tokyo’s Vice Chancellor had not been hit. A beat later, he fell into the winter river and broke through the surface. He sank deep into the chilly water. ### 246. Part 4 7:27 PM In the present, Shoui looked up at the moon in the night sky and sighed. … Is she who she is now because I didn’t protect her? He could not answer that question. He could think of plenty of causes. He had let her kill someone. He had not been able to stop her from being hurt. He had gone to the Mountain without telling her anything. He had spent two years on meaningless training without contacting her. And most importantly… “Even after that training, I’m not a Chancellor and I couldn’t reach the same level as her.” He got up and walked to the metal fence on the edge of the roof. The wind blowing up along the dormitory wall was powerful. He could see the schoolyard and the giant school building silently rising five stories into the night. The schoolyard had pockmark-like holes dug here and there. However, there was a pattern to the pockmarks. Those dots drew a giant circle with a few more dots drew lines from the center to the cardinal directions. Word Accelerator Ixolde was buried below there. That giant double helix word accelerator was buried two hundred meters belowground. It would create a Rhythm with a Tempo faster than any existing Rhythm could hope to have. “They claim that Rhythm will be presented to the Mountain, but who knows what will happen.” With those words, he turned his back on the schoolyard. The wind hit his back. … What am I supposed to do now? As soon as he thought that, he realized someone was standing in front of him. “!?” He put up his guard on reflex and heard a voice. “Hey, are you the only one here?” Shoui realized who it was. “Oh, Saki-san.” He stood up and took three steps back. He was keeping his distance. When Saki realized what Shoui was doing, he silently pulled out his spear and held it at the ready. “Why are you running away? …And more importantly, what were you doing up on the roof?” “Eh? Well… Um, I was doing a bit of combat training and then some thinking.” “…Combat training?” “I know that look. You don’t believe me, do you? That’s not very nice of you.” “No, it isn’t that.” “If my stomps were making a racket down below, I apologize. That might have been loud.” “Yeah, I’m here because we got some complaints about that.” Saki sighed. “Well, I also used to cause a lot of noise training here.” “Really?” “Yeah, and so did Nanba Souichirou who’s Chancellor now. Back when he hadn’t fought that ogre and had all his limbs, he would train here every night like you were.” “How do you know that? Are you an obsessed fan or something?” “Don’t be stupid. As the 1st Special Duty Officer, I’m in charge of intelligence. Besides, Souichirou and I are from the same year.” Saki held up the black leather attaché case in the opposite hand from his spear. The words “For the 1st Special Duty Officer Only” were printed on it in gold. “Two years ago, there was a malfunction during Ixolde’s test activation being held in the schoolyard in front of you. So many Lives were disturbed that an ogre was born in Osaka.” “I heard about that while I was at the Mountain.” “That ogre lived in the mountains of Sakai and ate people’s Lives, so Souichirou – whose family, by the way, is descended from Ogre-Buster Watanabe no Tsuna – fought the ogre with his Modified Purple Electricity Style of Dance Combat and his Kusanagi Rhythm.” “And during their second fight, Nanba Souichirou won in exchange for losing the use of his arms and legs, right?” “Yes. Ever since that victory, we stopped gathering here.” “Because it reminds you of a time when none of you had been hurt?” “None of your business, moron.” Saki laughed quietly after that. And… “You want to pick up where we left off?” He pointed his spear toward Shoui. The moonlight reflected dully from the blade and Shoui took a few steps back. “W-wait juuust a second. …Sorry, though.” “What is it?” “You seem to think my lack of Words is a wonderful little threat, but why exactly?” “Do you think you’re in any position to order me around?” “Ah, why do adults always dodge the issue like that?” “Don’t be stupid. There’s a reason I can’t tell you. A good reason.” “A reason?” Saki nodded and looked down at the attaché case in his left hand. And… “Since I doubt you’ll accept that, I’ll give you a simple explanation. Ever since a certain incident, the 1st Special Duty Officer of Osaka’s Chancellor Officers has been told to be cautious of any Dis-Worder that approaches us.” “A certain incident?” “Yes, but I can’t get into the details.” “W-wait a second. Um…are you saying your issue with me is based on something like a prophecy!?” Shoui was answered by Words. Saki crossed his arms as if to better hold the attaché case as he began his recitation. Companions vanish Even he vanishes She too vanishes A hand that can hold onto no one remains A hand that fosters destruction remains That hand pleads for no one to leave Saki spoke to Shoui with his arms still crossed. “Once, there was a boy who had no Words. After he and his girl saw some cherry blossoms blossoming in winter, he brought misfortune to Osaka and died. The 1st Special Duty Officer at the time was his friend. …The first page of the history notebook inside this case contains that Officer’s altered Words after seeing it all through to the end.” “Those are some harsh Words…” “Really? I don’t think so.” “But doesn’t ‘pleading for no one to leave’ sound like he isn’t letting their spirits rest in peace?” After saying that, Shoui realized what the Words meant. “He’s asking them to stay by his side even after they’ve died?” “Interpret it however you want. I can’t get into the details, but your situation is awfully like that boy’s.” “You mean bringing damage to his surroundings, dying…and filling someone with sorrow?” Saki did not nod. He simply looked Shoui in the eye. His silence seemed to be pressing Shoui to make a decision. He kept his spear at the ready so he could act at any moment. But… — Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Sense Danger – Hit! — Saki – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Sense Danger – Hit! “…!?” They heard a scream. It came from the dormitory directly below. The two of them exchanged a glance. “Gwaaaaah!” They heard that shout and the shattering of glass from downstairs, but then the noise vanished. “Saki-san!?” / “…What is going on!?” By the time they yelled, they were already on the move. They were running toward the stairs down from the roof. Something was happening downstairs. Most likely, it was a fight. ### 247. Part 4 8:02 PM Hisahide moved swiftly after stepping inside the room. First, he sent a right kick toward Shoui’s gut. — Shoui –Dodge Tech – Take – Dodge – Hit! But he could not dodge it. The blow audibly hit his solar plexus and brought him to the limits of his endurance. His knees unexpectedly gave out. “!” As he tilted forward and nearly fell over, Nakamura’s kicking leg came into view. The foot wore basketball shoes, but it was the opposite foot from the one that had kicked Shoui in the gut. … Just how fast can he kick!? Before he could feel any surprise, Hisahide’s toes slammed into Shoui’s face from below. Shoui no longer felt any pain. A strange floating sensation ruled his mind. “!?” Hisahide was not done attacking. After swinging his left leg straight up, he swung it straight back down. And that dropped his heel onto Shoui’s collapsing head. “This might just cause the first death!” Shoui’s foggy mind was more focused on his enemy’s raised leg than his shout. That leg brought on an odd sense of déjà vu. His forehead started aching. It was a heated pain as if from a slash. … What!? With a great weight, the pain returned to his forehead. The pain somewhat brought him back to his senses, so he desperately tried to avoid the danger. — Shoui –Dodge Tech – Take – Dodge – Hit! But that technique did not work on Hisahide. The boy swung down his leg and Shoui realized where the sense of déjà vu came from. “Two years ago…” On the night Yuuki had killed someone, he had received a similar attack and lost consciousness. That nightmare was repeating itself. He could not avoid it. The powerful kick knocked Shoui to the floor. The pain of the blow was joined by the sensation of blood spraying from his forehead. “!” Instead of a scream, a thought raced through his mind. … Am I going to lose and accomplish nothing yet again? He could not even check to see whether Yuuki was in danger or not. The word “powerless” came to mind as he lost consciousness. He heard sirens, but they were so distant that he thought he was imagining them. ### 248. Part 4 11:16 AM By the time the sun reached its late morning height, Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji was in Nagoya. He was not sightseeing. He was visiting Nagoya’s student hospital with Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Specifically, they were visiting a room on the top floor of the four story building. The label on the door gave the names Ichiyama Yuusei and Kasumi Ryuuichi. Both were weighty names to Saki because he had heard they were powerful individuals. “We’re comin’ in.” Taeko’s carefree voice completely erased Saki’s tension as he stepped into the hospital room. The room was unexpectedly small. It was utterly colorless except for the blue sky and the boxy Nagoya Tower visible out the window. It was all white walls, white ceiling, white curtains, white beds, white blankets, and white bandages. Ichiyama Yuusei’s large body was covered in bandages on the closer bed and he sat up to look at the two visitors. He had swapped out his combat false arms for thinner ones meant for daily life. He had bandages around his face at forehead, nose, and chin height. The wrinkles in the bandages moved a little and a voice came out. “I must apologize for my shameful appearance.” “Don’t worry about it. Where’s Kasumi?” “In that bed.” A blanket was wrapped around a human form on the other bed. It did not move in the slightest even though Nagoya 1st Special Duty Officer Kasumi Ryuuichi was inside. “After losing, he’s too embarrassed to look you in the eye,” explained Ichiyama as he looked over at Kasumi. “Who is that?” “Oh, he’s…” “I am Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji. On my Chancellor’s orders, I am here to gather some information.” “Oh?” — Saki – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of doing anything to Nagoya.” “How can you prove that?” Taeko answered that one. “Because most of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers were beaten down too. By a single boy.” “Silence filled the room and Ichiyama’s expression stiffened. “But the news this morning didn’t say anything had happened in Osaka.” “We’re just keeping it quiet. We have some influence over the media. …The incident was contained to the school after all.” After saying that, Saki asked a question. “Now, I’ve given you some information, so how about you return the favor?” “Ichiyama, tell him.” “Well…” Ichiyama thought for a moment and asked a question. “I’d like to ask one thing. After this boy attacked you, what did he do?” “He fought for a bit and left once our security system was back up and running. We did get him on video and my men are analyzing the footage.” “He left, did he? I guess machines wouldn’t be easy for him since they don’t have a will of their own.” “…What do you mean by that?” “Have you ever heard the term White Noise?” Saki did not answer, so Taeko asked about it. “What’s that?” “Occasionally, there are people who have no Words of their own. No matter what Rhythm they listen to, it doesn’t affect them.” “Like Shoui?” “Hizaka is different,” replied Saki. “He doesn’t have any Words, but he can use pretty much any Rhythm, can’t he?” “A White Noise master can’t even use Techs properly.” “So like the ancients?” “It’s just like how you can’t cook, boss. …Gwoh!” “…I’m impressed. Not many people could throw a wall clock at their badly injured subordinate.” “Shut up. A moron isn’t the same as a subordinate.” She glared at the boy as she continued. “In other words, it’s someone who’s senses aren’t suited toward learnin’ Rhythms or Techs?” “It used to be that everyone was like that.” “Why were those ancients so strong?” “Since they didn’t know about Rhythms and Techs, they could attack and defend from outside those things,” explained Ichiyama while holding his head after being clocked with a clock. Saki then told him what had happened the night before. “Zenon’s paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise. And he is from Zenon City – Tokyo. I guess that’s how he came up with his theory to reach White Noise.” “Can you defeat him?” “I don’t know. Besides, we don’t even know what he’s…” Saki trailed off, but Ichiyama continued for him with a serious expression. “I can only imagine he’s after Ixolde. Nakamura Hisahide mentioned a bond with his sister.” “His sister? Seriously?” “He also said he would become king. …Sadly, that’s all the information I have.” “I see,” said Saki. “Have ya figured somethin’ out?” asked Taeko with a puzzled look. “Well, the Chancellor’s Officers HQ acts as a second security building and, but the computers there were left a complete mess after he attacked last night. …It’s possible he hacked in to get some information on Ixolde.” “Oh, in that case, he probably did. This could be trouble.” Taeko nodded and Ichiyama asked her a question. “But…you mentioned Hizaka Shoui just now, didn’t you?” “Yeah, the moron’s come down from the Mountain. I was plannin’ to bring him to see ya too, but he was beat up during that attack last night.” “I managed to reboot the security system while he was being taken out,” emotionlessly said Saki. — Ichiyama – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. — Saki – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Ichiyama smiled bitterly. “And what happened to him?” “Seven blunt blows across his body, two cracked ribs, and plenty of abrasions. He’s probably sleeping at the hospital right now.” “I see… So did he get serious?” “Serious?” Taeko nodded at Saki’s question. “I doubt he did. He was probably on the receivin’ end the whole time.” “…? What’s this about Hizaka getting serious?” Ichiyama looked to Saki. “I was in the West Japan Middle School Karate Championship three years ago. During the final round, I got the first hit in on my opponent’s side…and broke their ribs.” “…I see.” “But that opponent made a miraculous comeback. Both of my false arms were destroyed and I was lying unconscious on the floor just a few minutes later.” “Are you saying Hizaka did that?” “He passed out and was taken to the hospital afterwards, though. …I haven’t met him since.” “The calmer they seem, the scarier they are when they snap,” said Taeko as she stroked the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder. “But…” “?” “Shoui is probably weaker than he was then. On a fundamental level, both in strength and skill.” “And so you don’t know if he would’ve won that battle yesterday?” “He couldn’t have won!” The blanket on the other bed gave a shout. It was Kasumi. “No matter how strong he is and even if he snaps, he can’t win as long as he’s using a Rhythm and Techs! Everything he does will be dodged and copied…so he’ll lose!” “Ryuuichi…” “Boss, you wouldn’t be able to think of it like a normal fight if you’d fought them! Ichiyama! You lost to them too, so face reality! No one stands a chance!” “Ryuuichi.” “Answer me, Ichiyama. Tell them he can’t win!” Ichiyama said nothing and Kasumi roared back. “Are you afraid to admit you lost!?” “Ryuuichi!” Taeko’s sharp voice rang out. — Taeko – Intimidation Tech – Take – Stop – Hit! Kasumi’s voice stopped and silence fell. The Dragon Emperor moved slowly so as not to interrupt that silence. The giant metal hand lightly struck the blanket wrapped around Kasumi. “Don’t worry. As long as I haven’t lost, Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers haven’t lost.” “B-but the Student Council…is discussing whether Nagoya should surrender to Tokyo…” “That is one way to respond, but what matters is that we survive, right?” “…” “Turbulent City – Nagoya is a city that desires to survive whether that means winnin’ or not. …I came here to find a method of survivin’. Not to fight and lose.” “But if we’re going to survive, how are you going to fight, boss!?” “Our opponent might be more powerful than me, but I have somethin’ that no one in Osaka or Tokyo has.” “What’s that?” “This left arm, the Eighth Dragon Emperor, and the information I can get here.” “…” “Work with me, Ryuuichi.” The Dragon Emperor’s hand once more tapped the blanket surrounding Kasumi. Soon, suppressed sobs escaped the blanket. No one said a thing. Saki Seiji scratched his head with the attaché case he held. Time slowly moved toward noon. ### 249. Part 4 2:51 PM There was nothing there. “!?” Shoui looked forward as his Break High fist thrust out into empty air. “…It vanished?” His vision tried to answer his question. The boy named Ikemaru stood in the distance. The girl named Aoi stood in front of him with her hexagonal rod still held against the ground. At the midpoint between Aoi and Shoui, Taeko had fallen onto her butt and was looking toward Shoui. The ground had been torn up almost all the way to him. However, someone stood right in front of him. A short man dressed like a Buddhist monk faced away from him. The air around the man was still vibrating, but Kusanagi’s power was gone. The mass of power that had raced along the street while destroying it had utterly vanished in front of Shoui, just like when Aoi had deflected Taeko’s electric attack. The Fourth Alarm was still sounding and had begun to rule the surrounding atmosphere. Shoui gasped for breath and heard the man in front of him speaking. “Enough meaningless fighting. I managed to deflect Kusanagi, but what would have happened if I had not been here?” “Iba…” The man took a step toward Aoi’s quiet voice. Then he looked around the area and looked Shoui straight in the eye. “That was a reckless decision,” he said. “But it was also a brave one.” Shoui could not reply. He did not know what had happened, so his body still contained extreme tension. But the man paid him no more heed and looked to Aoi and Ikemaru instead. “A moment ago, Nagoya’s Student Council announced their unconditional surrender to Tokyo.” “!?” “Nagoya Chancellor. No matter what you might say, Nagoya now belongs to Tokyo.” “Don’t be ridiculous! Got any proof of that!?” “If you do not believe me, would you prefer to keep fighting?” When Aoi heard the man’s arrogant words, she quickly raised her hexagonal rod again. Taeko clicked her tongue and looked to Shoui. “I can’t believe this.” She looked behind him, so he looked back as well. “?” The great beast the Dog God had become was no longer there. He only saw Takada sitting on the road and crying with Taromaru on her shoulder. Her cries filled his ears more than the siren of the Fourth Alarm. “I can’t believe this,” said Shoui as well. At the same time, he heard a metallic sound. He turned toward it and saw Taeko standing up and wiping the dust from her coat. “Boss?” “After talkin’ with Saki Seiji earlier, I had a feelin’ this would happen.” She shrugged and looked to the Buddhist monk. “Are ya sayin’ this is the only way for Nagoya to survive?” “At the very least, your hometown has decided so.” “Then it can’t be helped.” She sighed and walked over to Shoui. Aoi kept her weapon at the ready, but… “I won’t do anythin’,” said Taeko as she came to a stop in front of Shoui. Her expression contained both exasperation and exhaustion. “I can’t believe this, Shoui. …Are ya tremblin’?” “Y-yes. I did try to do something pretty reckless.” “Hm. That’s convenient.” “Eh? Wh-what’s convenient?” “Well, I ended up sidin’ with Osaka because ya were here.” “Is that so?” “And now Nagoya has gone over to Tokyo’s side.” “Yes, so it seems.” “That gives me contradictory feelings. Do I keep havin’ fun with ya or do I protect Nagoya?” “Yes, I understand how you must feel.” “Sorry.” “Eh?” — Taeko – Boxing/Steel Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit! Without giving him a chance to dodge, the Dragon Emperor’s fist punched Shoui. Even through his bandanna, a hit to the back of the head was effective. “Okay. I’ll be joinin’ you along with this guy.” The Dog God expressed Shoui’s thoughts in response to Taeko’s selfish words. “I’m passing out again?” That was exactly what happened. But in so doing, Nagoya had fully surrendered to Tokyo. The power balance of Japan’s students was greatly changing. ### 250. Part 4 5:58 PM The first thing Shoui saw when he opened his eyes was a brown shadow. His eyes focused on that brown color instead of the dimly-lit space around him. Finally, he could tell what it was: a Dog God. The small, foxlike animal was resting on Shoui’s chest as he lay on his back. He was also staring curiously at the boy’s face. “You don’t need to worry.” The words came from the Dog God’s mouth rather than his own. He placed a hand on his throat and felt the bandages there. He still could not speak. “I can’t believe this.” After having the Dog God say that, he looked in a different direction. His focus shifted and the ceiling came into view. It was an expensive-looking ceiling with a pattern drawn in warm colors. It was both high and large. “Is this a mansion or something?” “No, it’s a hotel.” He turned toward that male voice. He removed the blanket placed over his chest and the Dog God quickly hopped over to his shoulder. Shoui looked to the speaker while feeling the Dog God’s claws through his thin innerwear. A Buddhist monk sat cross-legged on the twin bed next to the one Shoui was lying on. Shoui recognized the monk outfit as the kind worn at the Mountain. The man wearing it had folded up the bed’s blanket and sat on the flat sheet. A tray on the sheet held a glass and a rectangular bottle of whisky. The glass only contained some damp ice, so he had apparently already drank the contents. But Shoui looked to the man without paying that any heed. The short man had not sunk into the bed at all, so he was lighter than he seemed. “Who are-…?” “Wait.” When Shoui started to get up, the man held out a hand and gestured to the boy’s feet with his chin. “?” Shoui looked down and found Takada lying on the bed. She had removed her stole, the blanket by his feet was placed over her, and her eyes were closed. He saw a ring on the hand gripping the top of the blanket. It was an unadorned golden ring. He tilted his head at the glittering ring of unknown origin, but then he noticed some small movement. It was Takada’s Dog God. The creature ran up onto her back and hesitantly looked between Shoui and the man’s gazes. The one on Shoui’s shoulder replied with a quiet voice reminiscent of a creaking door. “It seems Takada and the Dog God have taken a liking to you,” said the man. “Is that so?” “To be honest, this is a problem.” “Is she your daughter?” “Of course not.” “Then why?” “That Takada girl is destined to become the queen.” Shoui stared at the monk when he heard that. His mouth remained closed, but… “Talk about sticking with the classics. Don’t tell me you’re seriou-… Don’t say it! Not now!” “I do not mind.” “Oh, that’s luck-… Stop that!” “I see the Dog God is reading all of your thoughts.” “Yeah, and it’s not exactly fun. Can’t you stop it?” “This is the first time the Dog God has naturally taken a liking to anyone other than Takada, so there is nothing I could do.” “Is that so?” Shoui shrugged and lay down on his side. He made sure not to wake Takada as he adjusted his position and sighed while propping his head up with his hand. “So what’s going to happen to me here?” “It seems Nakamura can become the king with you here.” “Nakamura…” “If what he said is true, then he is the one that kicked you in Osaka Prefectural #2’s student dorm.” “Oh, the guy who crushed my throat.” The man frowned a little at that. “…Your throat?” “Yeah, he kicked it. Got a nice solid blow from directly below.” “It’s unusual for Nakamura to miss.” “Miss? …Where was he trying to hit me?” “When going for the face, he was trained to hit the side of the head here or the jaw.” “If I took that kick to the jaw, I think I’d have lost about five teeth.” “It was an additional attack meant to keep you from speaking, so the end result was little different. Still, allow me to apologize in place of my student.” The man obediently bowed. Shoui was impressed that the man still did not sink into the bed even when he moved. “Who are you?” “Yuuki Senga hasn’t told you? I used to train under her.” “Oh, so I was kind of following in your footsteps. Sorry. …It’s only been three days since I came down from the Mountain, so I still haven’t been by Nandaimon.” “But I had heard the boy named Hizaka Shoui was Nandaimon’s protégé.” “That may have been true two years ago.” He laughed bitterly. “I trained at the Mountain for two years and still didn’t become a Chancellor. I haven’t figured out how to face her when I go back.” “Two years? Has Yuuki Senga had anything to say about that?” “Like I said, I haven’t seen her. She hasn’t come to say anything to me either, so I feel like I missed my timing.” “I see. Then…” The man crossed his arms for a few seconds. “You may have been lucky to be so talentless.” “What?” “I assume you know Yuuki Senga used to be a head teacher at the Mountain.” “Yes.” “But I doubt you know that she traveled around Japan thirteen years ago, creating Chancellors as she did so. She created Chancellors who could use the Heavy Rhythms that have since become Death Techno.” “Thirteen years ago?” “Yes, the same year as the Kinki Riot that began as a sports riot after the Koshien game went into extra innings.” The man pushed back his right sleeve to show off the arm. The entire right arm was covered in keloids. Shoui gasped and the man continued. “As we fought each other, something seemed wrong. I began to worry over why we were fighting. And…” “And?” “After the third death, when the Heavy Rhythms began to be feared, I realized that we had been placed on the path to conflict.” He covered his arm with the sleeve once more. “Yuuki Senga tried to seal away the Heavy Rhythms that the world viewed as dangerous and she tried to suppress that age in which student conflicts were frequent. To do so, she taught the Chancellors supporting Japan how to use the Heavy Rhythms and had them fight.” “You’re lying.” “I am not.” “Do you have any proof?” “…” Shoui laughed quietly at the man’s silence. “Not even Old Lady Senga could manipulate people’s hearts to that extent. Besides, the sports riot that began the Kinki Riot wasn’t faked. It was a natural incident caused by the cheering squad. She couldn’t have interfered in that.” “Then why did I alone survive?” asked the man. “We realized our mistake and wished to settle our differences, but our surroundings did not allow it. Most notably, the Mountain. …The Tokyo Chancellor and Osaka Chancellor were driven to death by the Mountain and the corporations.” “But…” “They were pursued by the private army of the corporations that feared the Heavy Rhythms…and they were surrounded by the special forces of the Mountain led by Yuuki Senga.” “…” “That was when my Words changed.” The man breathed a deep and heavy sigh. At the same time, he sank cross-legged into the bed. His head was still hanging. “Dis-Worder, it was only Chancellors with special abilities like yours that Yuuki Senga taught to use the Heavy Rhythms.” “Eh?” asked Shoui. He recalled what Saki had said on the roof the other night. “There was once a boy who had no Words. He brought misfortune to Osaka and died…” “You heard that from the 1st Special Duty Officer of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers, didn’t you?” “Yes,” confirmed Shoui. “The 1st Special Duty Officer at the time was his friend. And his Words…” He looked to the monk, but the man did not raise his head. His shoulders shook a little but there was a small smile on his downturned face. He was laughing. “Yes, this hand is all that remains. …This hand that, at the end of it all, could not defend against Yuuki Senga’s spear and allowed those two to kill each other!” Shoui was left speechless. “Do not worry. You were kicked out of the Mountain, so they must have decided you cannot use a Heavy Rhythm. Even if it took them two years to do so.” “Why would they want to have me use a Heavy Rhythm?” “Because of what I said.” “…?” The Dog God on Shoui’s shoulder expressed his confusion by tilting its head. The monk raised his head with a powerful smile on his face. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Miss! The expression was too powerful to read. A chill ran down his spine and the Dog God hid behind his head. “I said I would create someone who could use a Heavy Rhythm, so Yuuki Senga attempted to create someone to oppose them.” “What?” “You still do not understand? Think carefully. It is not just you. Her granddaughter is the same.” The man took a breath. “Remember this, boy. While Yuuki Senga erased all kings and split Japan between east and west, I intend to create a king and reunite Japan once more. …She does not like it, though.” “Doesn’t like it? …And that’s why she made Yuuki like that?” “Yes, the Killing Holder. …She mentally trained up her own granddaughter after the girl killed someone. I assume she did so once she realized she could not rely on you.” “…” Shoui silently removed his head from his hand and lay down on the bed. “Ahh, ahh,” he sighed. “So it’s all my fault.” “I don’t think it is,” said Takada’s voice without warning. Shoui froze in place on the bed. “Don’t be so mean, Iba-sensei,” said her voice. “I’ve been listening, and you make it sound like Shoui-san caused all this.” “No, I was saying Yuuki Senga had-…” “Shoui-san trusts this Yuuki person.” The man named Iba fell silent at that. Shoui realized the weight of Takada’s arms had left his legs, so he got up. “…” He saw her smiling. It felt like the room’s dim light was illuminating only that smile. He scratched at and tilted his head. “I feel like these past few days have been the busiest in my life. Everyone who shows up says whatever they want and I’m faced with these huge revelations on a daily basis.” “You are probably working through two years’ worth of truths and obligations,” said the Dog God on Takada’s shoulder. Shoui nodded and the man to his right cleared his throat. “Takada, I need to get going soon.” “Oh, you’re causing a diversion in the city, right? From underground.” “I really should have gone with the other two…but I wanted to speak with Yuuki Senga’s current student.” Shoui tilted his head at that. “Um, what are you two talking about?” “We’re stealing the strongest Rhythm from Ixolde.” Takada sounded entirely casual as she clasped her hands and stretched a little. Shoui’s head dropped forward. “What?” “You understand the situation, don’t you? We’re from Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers. Since Osaka creating the strongest Rhythm would be a threat, we’re going to steal it.” “Um… This is kind of sudden.” “Don’t worry. We aren’t making the attack. We’re only creating a diversion.” “Attack? Diversion? I’m hearing a lot here that makes me worry.” “You don’t have to worry because you have time to figure it all out. …The diversion team doesn’t have to start moving until the attack team has made their attack and escaped. We still have plenty of time.” Takada smiled. “Please understand your position here. If you do, nothing like the Kinki Riot will happen. That misfortune only occurred because there was no one to worry about who they were.” ## Final Chapter: The Battle Does Not End (Next Volume Preview) ### 251. Part 5 11:17 PM A new figure appeared on New Route 155 where the Tokyo Chancellor and Nagoya Vice Chancellor had fought. Five minutes had passed since the fight ended. A tall, skinny boy in a first-class three-piece suit took long strides to catch up to the boy in a red mountain hoodie. The long scarf draped over his shoulders blew in the night wind as he spoke. “Nagoya’s Vice Chancellor was on the ground back there. Did you kill him?” Hisahide shrugged and shook his head at the sharp question. “It isn’t easy with just my hands and feet. I can’t pull off a one-hit kill.” “That is the weakness of White Noise. Although that talent does allow you to use silence to ignore Techs and Rhythms that are programmed using the flow of Lives.” He pulled rectangular glasses from his suit’s breast pocket and placed them on his nose. “I doubt Nagoya thought someone like that could actually exist. According to legend, I believe the last Harmonist existed thirteen years ago.” “As the Kinki Riot continued to intensify over the course of a year, two Chancellors personally brought it to an end: Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai and Tokyo Chancellor-…” “And the only one who can follow in their footsteps is you, Nakamura Hisahide.” When the tall boy interrupted, Hisahide nodded, smiled bitterly, and looked at the silver ring on his right hand. “And yet I used to be called worse than a Dis-Worder because I couldn’t use Techs or Rhythms.” “Yes, even a one-in-a-million Dis-Worder can apparently use Over Rhythms and Techs.” “It’s like the Ugly Duckling. After all, that turned out to be a shortcut to being the strongest.” “…The strongest, hm? To think the key to unifying east and west was strength.” The boy stroked the scarf that floated around him like the legendary hagoromo of a tennin and Hisahide smiled bitterly. “Ikemaru, where’s Aoi?” “She is apparently dealing with a runner. She will meet up with us in Nagoya.” “Hold on. So she isn’t with Takada?” Ikemaru quietly nodded. “Even if she is my cousin, it is not my job to look over that Dog God user.” “So you ran on up here, leaving my future wife all on her own?” “I did not run. I walked.” Ikemaru ignored Hisahide’s bitter look as he continued. “Besides, I doubt Takada Seigi of all people would want anything to do with you. She did give you a prophecy, though.” “A prophecy, huh?” Hisahide nodded. “Have we finished all the preparations to make me king?” Ikemaru used a hand wearing black leather gloves to pull two pieces of paper from his pocket. They were charms. “As Ikemaru Takahiro, future representative of the Ikemaru family, I have sealed two powerful kotodama. One is for Ixolde and the other…well, it will likely help you on your way back to Nagoya.” “You couldn’t make it three?” “I am traveling with you as an inspector, but helping that girl find what she is looking for matters more to me. …But don’t worry. You could even call the words inside these ‘excessive’.” “So we have the two charms. That leaves an underground map and information on Ixolde. The former we can swipe from a government office, but what about the latter? The HQ for Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers?” “Most likely. And on the personnel front, Master Iba will be joining us later.” “Now I’m worried. That old man should have no trouble getting into Osaka. But the person we really need here is Takada, so where is she? I haven’t seen her since you blew away the station’s roof back there.” “The Dog God will protect her. I assume she’s helping heal the injured. I can hardly believe the way she thinks sometimes.” “That’s because she’s pure. Unlike you.” Hisahide gave a deep sigh. “This has been a long story, but getting to Nagoya is something like the halfway point.” “Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t met Master Iba at the Mountain.” “Three years ago, huh? Ikemaru, what were you doing back then?” “Facing the death of that girl’s mother.” “Don’t say that so casually. Aoi wouldn’t want that, would she?” Hisahide turned around and started walking down New Route 155. He resumed his journey to Nagoya. “Let’s go, Ikemaru. We don’t need anything else in Nagoya. If possible, I want to regroup with Takada and Aoi there…and then we make our attack on Osaka.” “You’re really doing it? You’re going to make yourself king? You’re going to crush Osaka as they build something as ridiculous as Ixolde?” Hisahide answered with a nod and simply stated his own personal theory. “There only needs to be one king.” ### 252. Part 5 12:41 PM By the time Shoui left the hospital, the sun was already approaching its afternoon angle. … Today was the last day of the second term, but the closing ceremony is probably already over. He was on a bus to the Chuo Ward where Osaka Prefectural #2 was, but he decided to get off in Naniwa Ward. He walked toward Tennoji. The Ousaka district of the Tennoji Ward was a relatively calm section of Osaka. As he walked along the hill there, he could already see the white walls of the Shitennoji that gave the Ward its name. “That takes me back,” he muttered as a scratchy sigh. He held his throat. … When will my voice come back? He had no answer to that question. At some point, he realized he had passed Shitennoji and was walking south toward Tennoji Station. He left a residential area and entered an open commercial district. He slowly walked down the wide stone steps giving shape to the hill and touched the white walls on either side of the hill. … After walking to Tennoji Park, I guess I’ll circle around back to the bus stop. Just as he was silently making his plans, he heard screams. He heard several male voices. — Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Determine Position – Hit. It came from up ahead. The slowly curving stone steps had a wall on either side, so he could not see very far ahead. He gently continued down. “A monster!” With that shout, some people ran up the stairs. It was three male students. None of them was wearing their uniform’s coat and they wore their own coats and jackets instead. They had been skipping school. They would normally use a harsh look to pick a fight with people, but those expressions were completely distorted at the moment. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. … They’re afraid of something? They did not answer him as they practically crawled up the stairs on all fours. They did not so much as glance at Shoui because they were so focused on the area further down the stairs. They seemed to be rushing, but they were not moving all that fast. “…?” Shoui tilted his head and one of their shoulders ran into him. This type of student would normally use that as a pretext for a fight, but the boy said nothing. Also, the force of the impact splattered a few drops of a liquid on Shoui’s cheek. “?” He touched it with his hand and looked down to find his fingertips dyed slightly red. … !? He quickly turned around and saw quite a few bloodstains on the stone stairs. He then noticed something odd about their clothing as they hurried up the stairs. There were holes at the shoulders and thighs. They were giant bite marks. … An animal!? Confused, Shoui looked forward. He shifted his position to peer down the curving walls. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit. He saw a figure standing next to the wall. It was a human form. A girl was pressing her back against that white wall. The short girl had semi-long black hair and wore a stole. She was breathing heavily with a look of fear on her face. She was afraid. Shoui could sense that emotion without even using a Tech, so he ran forward on reflex. The enemy stood in front of her, hidden from view by the wall. It was the animal which had left bite marks on those three boys. “!” He covered the distance in just five racing steps. He ran in front of the wide-eyed girl, prepared to fight, and faced his opponent. He looked in the same direction as the girl. But… “…?” There was nothing there. There was only a wall in front of him. There was no animal and none of the monsters created by a disturbance in the Lives. There was only empty space and a wall. … Hm? That’s odd. He glanced around, relaxed his stance, and looked back. A girl stood by the wall. Her eyes were unfocused and she was breathing heavily. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Shared Thoughts – Miss. He could not tell what she was afraid of. He could not speak and his Tech had failed, so he could only express himself through clumsy actions. He looked her in the eye, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her a little. “…Hh.” She gasped and a set rhythm finally returned to her breathing. He could tell she was holding her own body in her arms below the stole. She wanted to eliminate her trembling. Shoui breathed a sigh of relief and recalled the past. He recalled when Yuuki had visited him that night. … Did Yuuki want to eliminate her trembling back then? But he smiled bitterly when he realized this was not the time to be thinking that. The girl’s breathing was still heavy, but it was not as erratic. He looked around once more to make sure no one else was around and then nodded. … I guess everything’s okay now. And as soon as he thought that… “I guess everything’s okay now.” His own voice rang in his ears. … Eh!? / “Eh!?” He turned around in surprise and his confused voice reached his ears. However, there was no one behind him. … That’s strange. / “That’s strange.” The voice came from his left, so he looked left. There was no one there. … What is going on? / “What is going on?” This time, the voice came from his right. In that instant, he used his reflexes to swipe at his right shoulder. — Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Grab – Hit! He grabbed something like a soft puffball in his left hand. … An animal!? / “An animal!?” The puffball in his left hand gave a shout. At the same time… “D-don’t treat him roughly! He’s taken a liking to you!” He heard a girl’s voice and felt something press against his hands. “…” The girl who had looked so afraid was now reaching out her hands and gently pressing down on his hands. The chill of the golden ring on her right hand stopped him. She looked up at him with a somewhat pale but desperately pleading look. However, he did notice one odd fact. “Sorry if he scared you.” The girl’s lips were still held somewhat tightly shut. She was speaking with her mouth closed. … Eh? / “Eh?” His voice once more came from the puffball in his left hand and she spoke to him again without moving her mouth. “Please let go of him. …If you don’t, I can’t guarantee what will happen.” … O-okay. Understood. / “O-okay. Understood.” He opened his left hand. Immediately, a brown mass ran from his opened fingertips to his hand, arm, and shoulder. “!?” Surprised and anticipating an impact, he swung his head to the side, but the brown color hopped up from his shoulder. As the silhouette leaped over his head, he could tell it was a small fox or rat. “What?” It was now directly speaking his thoughts for him. It finally landed on his right shoulder. He felt no impact and he turned just his head to see a creature of about fifteen centimeters. Its body and face resembled a rat, but its coloration and tail were more like a fox. “What…is this thing?” The creature opened its mouth and spoke his thoughts. “He is a Dog God.” The answer to his question came in the girls’ voice. She was still restraining his hands and she looked up at him with some slight fear in her eyes. “Please do not be afraid. He has taken a liking to you.” Her lips were not moving, but an identical creature was poking its head out from the neck of the stole placed over her shoulders. He nimbly slipped out onto her shoulder and looked up at him. The Dog God looked him in the eye from her shoulder. “I’m sorry for surprising you…but it’s the first time he’s taken such a liking to someone else.” As she was speaking, another Dog God fell from the bottom of her stole. It scrambled to its feet on the stone steps and looked up. A moment later, about five more fell from her stole. “Hey, stop that. Quit playing around!” The Dog God on her shoulder shouted for her as she reached for the ones that had fallen. The six on the ground began running around her legs as if to tease her. … ? Once they appeared in front of her again, five of the six had vanished and just the one remained. She grabbed the back of its neck and placed it inside her stole. She sighed and Shoui was left all alone in his confusion. “What is all this?” he asked via the Dog God on his shoulder. She turned around in surprise when she heard his voice. “It’s a type of the Dog God said to possess and control people. …Have you heard of them? They’re a type of monster created by a disturbance in the Lives.” “This thing is?” When Shoui looked to the Dog God on his shoulder, it looked him in the eye and tilted its head. The girl looked to him and the animal. “Sorry. I seem to have worried you.” “Well, I saw you looking scared, so I thought something had happened.” “…Did I look scared?” “Yeah. So did those three who ran away.” “Those three.” She hung her head. “Then they all survived?” “Survived? So something did happen?” “Taromaru… That’s this Dog God’s name, but he did that to them.” “…Eh?” The girl looked away from Shoui and the Dog God on his shoulder as she answered. “I was lost and I tried to ask them for directions, but…well…” The Dog God on her shoulder scratched at its head with its short front paw. “They hit on her,” it quickly said. She blushed and glared at the Dog God which spoke on her behalf. “You didn’t have to say that!” Shoui was shocked by this exchange that sounded like a one-man comedy routine, but then she seemed to recall the situation. The Dog God spoke in her voice. “Ah.” Both of them bowed down. “Sorry. I forgot I was speaking to you.” “No, no. Go right ahead.” “Um, anyway, I didn’t like it and a lot happened…” She took a breath. “Taromaru can sense my will and turn into a beast. He’s usually so small, but he turns into a large beast.” “Then…the bite marks on those guys were-…” “S-sorry for surprising you…but, u-um, please forgive me! I was scared too!” Shoui decided to trust the girl who was honestly letting the creature speak her feelings. He understood that the Dog God on her shoulder would directly read her thoughts without hiding anything. “Of course, being deceived by a girl this cute might not be so bad. …Ah, wait! I take it back!” “Eh? What do you mean you take it back?” Shoui chose his words carefully and had the Dog God speak them. “Um, how should I put it? You don’t have to worry about whether I forgive you or not. If they were skipping school at this time of day, you know they’re up to no good.” He crossed his arms and gave a serious nod. “Ah.” But then he looked back to her. She was once again pressing up against the wall to move away from him. “Yeah, I guess you would do that. But I have a reason to be skipping school! I’m not like those guys! …I can’t believe this!” “You don’t need to make any excuses. I trust you. I have to when Taromaru seems to like you so much.” “Thanks. But, um, you really don’t have to worry about it. Those guys will be ashamed of running away, so they won’t accuse you of anything.” “Really?” “You being afraid is another issue entirely, though.” “That’s true,” she agreed. Shoui sighed and looked to the creature on his shoulder. “Well, I got to see something neat, so I’m personally fine with all this. …More importantly, Miss Pet Owner.” “Don’t call me that. That isn’t my Urban Nam. I’m Takada Seigi, the Fast Reader.” “Then Takada-san, um, I’d like to give back this guy on my shoulder.” “Oh, don’t worry about that. A Dog God has seventy-two copies. Plus, Taromaru went to you because he’s taken a liking to you.” “Th-that really isn’t the issue. I’d like head home…” “Then take Taromaru with you. He went to you of his own free will, so there’s nothing I can do.” “I can’t believe this… Are you sure this isn’t any trouble for you?” “Then how about we make a deal?” “What might that be?” “I want you to give me directions.” “What?” Seigi smiled at his confusion. She hid her mouth with the right hand she wore a ring on and nonchalantly continued. “I’m not used to Osaka, you see.” Shoui did not have a single reason to refuse. ### 253. Prologue: First of All (Instructions) — (12/16/1996) No talent Strength or material Is contained to man Not even one (From Miyazawa Kenji’s Spring and the Demon ) ### Part 1 9:51 PM A torrent of water surged through the night. It was a waterfall. That rumbling with actual mass shook one’s body and had a seemingly tangible power to it. The night was dampened by the mist produced by the waterfall. Someone walked through that damp night. A single presence climbed the mountain path dampened by the night and the mist. It was a girl. The strong-willed girl was in her mid-teens. She wore a dry suit for diving, but it was a little big for her and she had a belt wrapped around the waist to keep it from falling down. A diving mask hung from her neck like a necklace and each step produced a light plastic sound as it hit the collar of the dry suit. That dry sound was contrasted by the wet footsteps of her mountain-climbing shoes. “…” She silently climbed that mountain path that was filled with the night and the mist. The waterproof maglite in her right hand was off. Her pace remained steady even when she stepped on branches or leaves. She was used to walking here. With each footstep, the rumble of the waterfall grew louder and the ratio of night to mist changed. The mist grew thicker and the night began to lose its darkness. The waterfall was nearby, so the girl walked to make its roar even louder. She stopped treading on branches and leaves and her footsteps gained the distinctive note of rock. The heavy atmosphere of the surrounding trees thinned. The waterfall’s roar grew even louder as it echoed off the rock. The girl briefly stopped and took a breath. “I wonder if he’ll get mad at me afterwards. I didn’t tell him I repaired this at home…” The girl touched the chest of her dry suit. The words “Tochigi Yakushi Firefighters” were written in white, acrylic letters. The family name Fujiwara was written below. The shoulder contained a station name and member number. The dry suit belonged to the rescue team in charge of Tochigi Prefecture’s Mt. Yakushi. “…” She started walking again and the waterfall grew even louder. Her pace had picked up. She was in the mountains in December, but she had sweat on her brow. That was just how well-insulated the dry suit was. But despite the sweat, she rushed through the darkness. She was close to her destination. She walked across the stones. Suddenly, her vision was surrounded by a hazy but bright white mist. She had entered an open space. The mist was white even at night because of a bright light far overhead. She stopped and looked back to see the shape of the forest in the dark mist. She took a breath and turned her back on that forest. There was only mist up ahead as well. She used a technien she had only just learned in middle school. — Fujiwara – Sight Tech – Take – Secure Vision – Hit. As she muttered those words in her heart, strength filled her gaze. She had used a Tech. Techs were specialized physical or mental techniques one learned at school or elsewhere. Modern cybernetic and organic technology allowed people to use them with a single command. Her conditioned reflex training used a certain Tempo as the keyword that activated this bodily skill. With the word “take”, light reached her vision. She could somewhat see through the mist now. She looked back and found she could see the damp shapes of the trees in what had only looked like dark mist before. She looked forward and saw the pure emptiness of the night instead of mist. The power of her Tech did not allow her to see through some of the darkness and she could hear the great rumbling of water coming from beyond that darkness. It was the roar of a great waterfall in Nikko’s Mt. Yakushi. That was the surging voice of Kegon Falls. As one of the most well-known waterfalls in Japan, it made its presence known with a great torrent of water even at night and even when out of view. “…” She shuddered. — Fujiwara – Mind Tech – Take – Restrain Urge – Miss. Her legs trembled and she pursed her lips while looking up. Even with her Sight Tech, a thick layer of mist hid the sky, but she could still see the artificial light that illuminated the mist from above. A rectangular terrace-like platform jutted out twenty meters up the giant stone wall to her right. It was the viewing platform for the waterfall. There was no one on that platform, so only the sunlamp on its edge looked down at her. Looking at that artificial light stopped her trembling. She faced forward again and saw the end of the mountain path. She left that path that only the few locals knew of and found herself halfway up the rock walls surrounding Kegon Falls. She descended the rocks which had no path to follow. Soon, the downward slope vanished and she stood on a simple rocky area. A collection of pointed rocks and stones formed the ground. She could now hear a flowing river mixed in with the roar of the falls. The wind had also started to blow. She brushed back her bangs which were wet from the mist. When she touched her cheek, she found her face wet as if from tears. … I didn’t want to start playing it yet, but I guess I’ll do this like always. With that silent comment, she pulled a single cord from the dry suit’s waist pocket. The cord had headphones attached. The speakers were larger than normal because it was waterproofed. She stuck them in her ears and switched them on. A gentle and refreshing Irish sound started playing. It was instrumental music with a Live contained inside. The music’s Message was that of water and she let the water music flow through her. The Live in the music washed over the flowing Lives making up her body. She raised the volume to increase the Octave. She used an Octave of 80,000. Among normal people, that took some talent. Finally, she sang her Words to fully place herself in the music. Time flows like water She who flows through time People do not stop Time does not stop Simply flow like water And inherit all of the questions As she sang, she squeezed the maglite in her right hand. “Aqua Middle Rhythm.” With that clear voice, the mist around her right hand began to move. — Fujiwara – Aqua Middle/Mind Tech – Multiple Take – Water Control – Hit. As the music known as a Rhythm sent the water Live into her body, that Live became her power. By listening to the water Live just like activating a Tech, she could control the water. The boys in her class were always arguing over what combination of power and commercial Device they could use to fight. Needless to say, she was not interested in such uncivilized things. The girl only used her Rhythm when she wanted to control water. This was one such time. “Open the way.” The mist parted before her eyes and her vision cleared. The environmental change allowed the wind that lacked mist to strike her cheeks. Her Rhythm’s power parted the mist and her Tech’s power let her see through the darkness. She looked straight forward and saw water. The fifty meter waterfall basin was filled with dark water before her eyes. To her left across that water was Kegon Falls. The large cascade’s water raised an excited roar. The solid downpour struck the water’s surface beyond the mist split by the Aqua Middle Rhythm. The rumble echoed off the rocky walls surrounding the waterfall. The reverberation shook the Aqua Middle Rhythm and somewhat numbed her senses. She absentmindedly glanced over, but then a look of shocked realization covered her face and she shook her head. She sighed. She checked the neck and waist of the dry suit and pressed the headphones further into her ears. She hummed the rhythm of the song so as not to be distracted by the waterfall’s roar. The song would not end for another five minutes and she could control water until then, so she removed her mountain climbing shoes. Her bare feet were cold on the winter rocks. In another month, Kegon Falls would freeze. The cold rock seemed to stab into her feet as she walked forward. On the third step, her feet touched the water. The power of the Rhythm caused the water at her feet to waver and lose its current. That December water should have been even colder than the rocks, but… … It’s warm. It only felt that way because her own Live and the Lives of the water were so similar. It felt like she was being embraced by someone, but then a voice split through the roar of the cascade. “Who is that!? What are you doing there!?” She looked up on reflex and saw someone looking down at her from the viewing platform. She could see the silhouette of his boxy hat in the sunlamp’s light. … I was spotted!? Her body reacted to that thought on reflex. She ran along the wet rocks. The splashing of her steps soon rose to her shins and knees. She ran forward and even deeper. On the third step, she put on the diving mask. Someone’s voice was still shouting overhead. On the seventh step, she leaped forward. She flew in a parabolic arc and into the water. She plunged into the darkness embraced by the waterfall basin. ### Part 2 10:24 PM Water surrounded her entire body. She could breathe because the Aqua Middle Rhythm’s power acted just like scuba gear. To her, the water was no different from viscous air. The view through her diving mask was dark. This was not her first time in here because she had helped her father with a few jobs here. But it was her first time diving here. The sounds of the wind and waterfall were gone down here. She only heard the low rumble of the water pouring into the basin. Looking up, the surface glowed a little and she was still only about three meters deep. She felt a tickling sensation in her the stomach and left leg of the dry suit. Water was getting in. … Looks like I didn’t repair it all the way. That was a miscalculation, but she would be fine as long as she had the Aqua Middle Rhythm. She would only end up trembling from the cold once she resurfaced. After nodding to convince herself of that, she looked down again. There was only darkness there. The Aqua Middle music in her ears flowed through her body and altered the current of the water around her. When she desired to move deeper, the surrounding current started moving down. With the water compression, the 80,000 Octave volume could reach one meter around her. Guided by that power, she descended into the basin. Her hair trailed behind her as she slowly dropped further and further down. She turned on the maglite and a beam of light stretched through the water. She could not see the bottom. … I really am weird for doing this in the winter. That guy up there must think I’m committing suicide. Around one hundred people committed suicide at Kegon Falls every year. Her father’s job was to dive into the basin and search for their corpses and belongings. She was currently copying him. Her motive was pure. A certain boy had stopped coming here. The boy had noticeably straight hair, he always seemed to be smiling, and he had been a little older than her. Unlike her classmates, he had not worn a Device or anything else to fully use a Rhythm. A somehow lonely atmosphere had surrounded the boy. He had come here every Sunday for about five years and he had always dropped a single flower while staring into the basin from the viewing platform. The large, white, rose-like flower had sunk under its own weight instead of floating on the basin’s water. Due to her father’s job and her part-time work at the viewing platform’s shop, the falls had long been her home ground. Every week, the boy had arrived, thrown the flower in the basin, and left. According to the owner of the shop, he had started visiting five years before. … Did a relative of his kill themselves here? Two years before, she had asked her father about it out of curiosity. That was the first time she had heard her father raise his voice in anger. After telling her not to pay any attention to the boy, he had turned his back and apologized. “I haven’t dived down to the very bottom of the basin since eleven years ago.” She had never asked him about it again. She had sealed the question in her heart and watched from the shop each week as the boy dropped the flower in the basin. But he had stopped showing up about a month before. And yet he had always shown up before, even when the waterfall had frozen. There had been a sign leading up to it. One day, he had brought some friends with him. It had been a weekday afternoon. She had happened to stop by on the way home from middle school and spotted him sitting on the viewing platform railing and speaking with his friends. The girl had eavesdropped on the conversation from the counter of the café next to the shop. She had heard the terms “sister” and “flames” as well as the names “Osaka” and “Tokyo”. He had also discussed the Kinki Riot, a student riot that had split Japan between east and west. … Are they discussing politics? She had wondered that, but she had not actually asked. Unable to move, she had simply glanced over at them and listened. But she had fallen from her chair when one of his friends, a girl with a stole over her shoulders, had suddenly kissed him. Just as she wondered what they were doing, that girl had spoken some Words. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength A human heart flows into nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run without looking to another’s path Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future It was a song. These were the Words one needed to use a Rhythm. Hearing it had only brought one thought to mind. … But the flower he throws in the basin is white, not red. They had then left without even taking a picture. He had never shown up again. Each week for the past month, she had thrown a flower in instead. The flower was sold at a single flower shop in the town at the base of the mountain. The old lady who ran the flower shop was proud of how early she got up in the morning and she had known the boy. When the girl had found the white flower in the shop, the woman had smiled and spoken of the boy. “That flower blooms year-round, but it’s hard to get your hands on. I’ll be losing money with no one to buy it.” So the girl had bought one each week and thrown it into the basin. … What am I even doing? Her thoughts cleared inside the water. She thought about her father’s anger and silence, about what could have happened thirteen years ago, about the boy and his friends, about the girl who had kissed him, and about the Words that girl had spoken. Finally, she focused her thoughts on the boy who had stopped visiting the waterfall. The answer had to lie at the bottom of the basin. She dropped straight down in the darkness. The music flowing into her ears would continue for about three more minutes. She felt the weighty current of the water on her cheeks. She also felt the water temperature beginning to cool. The water’s traits were growing too strong for the Aqua Middle Rhythm to resist. The water at the bottom of the basin had been compressed for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, so its Lives were viscous enough to almost be solid. Instead of leaving it all up to the Rhythm, she swam through the water. — Fujiwara – Gym Tech – Take – Dive – Hit. The water rose toward her with the mass of a wall, but she broke through it to continue further down. Time passed and she started to panic when she still could not see the bottom. — Fujiwara – Aqua Middle/Gym Tech – Multiple Take – Sink – Hit! She moved further and further down. She approached the solution to her questions. To strengthen her Live, she sang her Words once more. “…!” As if to keep her from answering her questions, the water’s current would not stop, but she did not stop either. She swam down to find those answers. But the water leaping up from the depths became a wind and tried to blow her away. A thought flashed through her mind. … If this water is coming up from the very bottom… Then it might have swept everything away, leaving nothing there. She was about to reach the point of no return for her Rhythm’s music. Diving any further would be dangerous. … Should I go back? Her mind suggested that, but her body wished to dive further. “!” Her hand reached the MD in her pocket and raised the Octave to about 20,000. That was her limit. She swam while listening to a volume she could only just barely control. A slight change came over the surrounding current, even if it was awkward. Her body could not defy her Words. The answer to her questions lay below. If she found nothing, that would be her answer. Her body continued swimming despite her hesitation. She shut off the maglite and continued down with darkness before her. In her desperation, time seemed to slow. Her hand broke through the wall of wind created by the water. A moment later, all motion ground to a halt. ### Part 3 10:27 PM Before she could wonder what had happened, her shoulder slammed into the hard ground. … Ow! Her hand touched the ground. It was a somewhat warm stone surface. The speed of her descent had pressed her face-down against the exposed stone and she stopped moving. As her exhausted breaths escaped into the water, the air bubbles tickled her cheeks and led her to realize two things. First, the darkness surrounding her now was quite still. Second, the intense current had vanished. … Where am I? She had reached the bottom of the basin. “…” Unable to even speak in her heart, she straightened up. She slowly stood up as if bouncing up inside the dark water. She sensed the torrent roaring by overhead, but the very bottom was disturbingly quiet. She had miraculously held onto the maglite, so she shined it around the dark space. … There’s nothing here. That thought was immediately proven wrong. There was snow. White snow drifted in the light before her eyes. No, it was actually snow-like flower petals. Her movements had caused the small white flower petals to dance about the bottom of the basin. She recognized the petals. They belonged to the white flower the boy and then she had thrown in. Those petals had become snow and now danced about as if surprised by her sudden visit. … What is this? The white snow gently flew through the dark water like cherry blossoms. … Was he creating this? Her question led her to walk slowly forward. She walked to the center of the snow-filled basin and spotted a rock. The large, pedestal-shaped rock was five meters across and two meters tall. It had likely broken off of the rock wall above because there was still moss and a tree on the rock. But she was not looking at the moss or the tree. She looked to the top of the pedestal where two people lay. … !? She lightly kicked off the ground to gently jump through the water and get a better look. Atop the pedestal covered in white flowers, a boy and girl lay on top of each other. “…” She shined her maglite on the two of them. The one on top was a girl with short hair in a white sailor uniform. Below her was a boy with long hair in a black school uniform. Their eyes were closed and they held each other in an embrace. Their uniforms had some outdated combat gimmicks worked in. Those gimmicky uniforms and their hair were flowing in the water’s current. … Who are they? No one was going to answer her and the maglite strayed from those two in order to gain more information. A long arc reflected the light back at her. — Fujiwara – Sight Tech – Take – Detect – Hit. It was a long blade. The curved blade of a Japanese sword stuck out from the girl on top’s back. The object jutting out of the man on the bottom’s chest was likely a spear’s shaft. The spear tip had to be stabbed through his body and into the rock behind him. The two of them were dead. The girl only now confirmed that obvious fact, but the idea of death did not feel unpleasant here. Their hair simply flowed in the current and they almost seemed to be sleeping. … Who were they? When she tried to find an answer, she found a Device fallen next to them. The long spear with a wooden shaft had fallen alongside them on the stone. Unlike the Devices stabbing them, this spear looked old. “…” New questions occurred to the girl. … Who were they to the boy who was throwing in the flowers? … Why did they stab each other? … Why are they smiling? … What is that spear next to them? Those two embraced each other in the depths of the water, never to move again. The flower petals danced around them like snow, but they remained silent. Their deaths and smiles only raised further questions for the visiting girl. “…?” Another question mark filled her mind. A moment later, her Rhythm stopped. “!” The water Live vanished from her body. The chill of the water inside her dry suit stiffened her body. Her mind was numbed by the loud roar of the water pouring down above. … Oh, no! It was already too late. She was going to die. First, fear raced through her entire body. Next, the powerful water pressure pressing down on the basin’s depths crushed her from every direction. The pain of the pressure reminded her what divers called the water. … Their holy ground. An intense pain deep in her ears directly throbbed into her head and the pressure on her stomach forced the air from her lungs. The snow danced around her. As she questioned the scattering of those white flower petals, she used all her remaining air to shout. “Dad!” ### Part 4 11:48 PM “…” When the girl woke from the dark pain, her vision was filled with bright light. … Is this heaven!? She quickly sat up and realized this was a familiar place. It was the bench on top of the waterfall viewing platform. The sunlamp was shining in the darkness overhead. When she identified the artificial light, she let out a white breath. “It’s cold.” That was when she realized she was naked. The blanket that had covered her had fallen from the bench. There was another blanket over the bench and she could feel the warmth that her own body had given it. … It really is cold. She moved to pick up the fallen blanket. — Fujiwara – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Gazes – Hit! She looked forward in surprise and several people in the café at the back of the viewing platform quickly turned their backs. They were all wearing firefighter uniforms, so they were her father’s colleagues. The café’s lights were on even though it was after hours and the men drank cans of coffee and glanced back at her. “Don’t look, you idiots!” She shook her long, lowered hair and hid her body behind the blanket. “You’re the idiot here.” A low male voice spoke from surprisingly close by. “…!?” She turned around and found her father sitting on the bench behind her with his back turned. He wore a borrowed dry suit which was pulled down from his shoulders and a bath towel was draped over the shoulders of his T-shirt. White steam rose from his shoulders and through the towel. It was the steam of sweat. When the girl saw that, she realized what had happened. So she wrapped herself in the blanket below her butt instead of the one she had picked up. She then used her feet to push the other blanket toward her father. “Sorry,” she quietly apologized. “Who are you apologizing to?” “You.” “Only me?” “And to everyone else. …The chief must have been surprised.” “That old man just got a prosthetic heart, so try not to surprise him too much.” The girl nodded silently and stared at the blanket sitting between her and her father. “Aren’t you going to say anything else?” “I didn’t think you could use the Aqua Middle.” “You’re the one that bought me the MD for my birthday last month.” “I kind of thought I was getting you a coming-of-age present five years early.” “Didn’t you say something similar to mom when you gave her the engagement ring?” “And it turned out the same way too. She decided we were getting married right away.” Her father reached back to grab the blanket, draped it over his shoulders, and continued speaking without looking back. “What did you see?” “More questions.” “Just like your Words.” “Unlike yours, my Words are full of mysteries.” “But did you see it?” “…What was that?” “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” “Because I’m a child?” “Then do you understand why those two were smiling?” “…” “Once you understand that, you won’t need to know anything about their past.” “What do you mean?” “There are two sides to everything. There were smiles even in that tragedy.” Her father hesitated for a moment. “Most of us have never told anyone about them for that reason. If we did, it would cause a commotion and disturb their slumber.” “You mountain men sure are sentimental.” “That’s because we’re the only ones who know what happened there.” “Then what about that boy? He was throwing flowers in there.” Her father turned around, showing her his square face covered in facial hair. “You’ll understand a little once you enter high school next year. You’ll year about the Mountain and the Kinki Riot.” “I’m not going to join the Chancellor’s Officers. That’s just my homeroom teacher Takoyama getting all worked up.” “That isn’t what I meant.” Her father stood up. “You’ll be able to understand your questions even as they remain questions.” “So you’re telling me to gain the knowledge and experience to do that?” “I’m telling you to grow up.” “…You’re always treating me like a child.” “You’ll be an adult before long. That’s what I meant when I praised you earlier.” “About what?” “About surprising me as much as your mother did before we got married.” He rubbed the girl’s head. “C’mon, everyone’s worried, so leave those questions for the future and go say hi.” “The questions never end, huh?” She looked up at her father. “If people can’t fight their Words, this could be a problem.” “Yeah, you’ll be stuck wondering about your questions forever.” “Yes, but…” “But?” The girl tilted her head. “Didn’t mom say people’s Words are what will make them happiest?” She took a breath. “If so, then what are these questions to me?” ### 254. Chapter 1: Protagonists (Prologue) — (12/17/1996) ### Part 1 4:25 PM A boy directly faced the sunset while holding his forehead over his bandanna. Whenever he lost himself in thought, the scar on his forehead would throb. Whenever he was nervous and surrounded by enemies, that scar below his bandanna would throb. And that was why he asked a question with his kind-looking eyes narrowed in a troubled look. “Um, do we really have to do this because the Emergency Teachers are off duty today?” Several students holding weapons surrounded the boy on the schoolyard which had been dug up here and there for construction work. The excellent quality of their weapons was enough to know they were from the Chancellor’s Officers who provided student defense for the Osaka region. The boy scratched his head as he looked to them, the schoolyard, and the large boxy building of Osaka Prefectural #2 beyond them. “I can’t believe this… I really don’t think you should be surrounding a transfer student for no reason.” He really did sound like he could not believe it. Suddenly, the circle of students around him took a step inwards. The pressure of their presence caused the boy to hold his chest and take a step back. That was enough for his back to reach the large concrete wall. He could not escape. … Wow, I really can’t believe this. He complained in his heart, placed a hand on his forehead again, and faced forward. An odd heat enveloped the group surrounding him. It was a suspicious heat that bordered on madness and a voice spoke from within it. “Hizaka Shoui, Class 2-B Student #21, Critical Forcer. What brought you to our school? I don’t see what a Mountain drop-out needs with a school.” The boy, Hizaka Shoui, raised his head at that. He silently touched his bandanna and tilted his head. “Well, it is true even a drop-out from the Mountain’s chancellor training knows more than a university graduate, but…” “But what?” “By any chance… are you bullying little old me because my smarts scare you ?” “Don’t be ridiculous, you moron! Do you think we want to pick on a kid who just transferred in!?” “Th-then why am I being cornered like this? And by the Chancellor’s Officers no less!” Shoui frantically asked his question while pressing his back against the wall and the others exchanged a glance. Finally, some voices of doubt escaped them. “Hey…” “What?” “Are you sure this is the guy who trained at the Mountain for two whole years?” “Yeah, I thought he would be weird since he spent two years when it normally takes half a year, but I didn’t expect this …” “Maybe he was so bad at it he was held back that long.” “It could be. All he’s been doing is complain.” “He looks really weak to me.” “That he does.” “But Saki-san seems to know something about this.” “Hey, hey, hey. I’m the one in trouble here, so don’t leave me out of the conversation.” Shoui shouted back at the people talking about him loud enough that he did not need to use a Tech to hear it. “What is this, anyway!? It’s my first day here, so what is this all about!?” “You’ve been judged to be highly dangerous, obviously.” A sharp voice broke through the crowd and the crowd split apart. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! A tall, slender boy with a spear in hand walked straight through the center of everyone’s gazes. His short-cut blond hair and sunglasses stood out the most. The tip of his spear shined in the setting sun. It shined with a scarlet light. “!” A phantom pain ran through Shoui’s forehead when he saw the almost damp scarlet light on the blade. Instead of the earlier prickling pain, this was powerful enough to wake him up. … This is bad. The phantom pain from the reflected light replayed a certain image in the back of his mind. It was a scene from the past. A raised spear was swung down through the darkness to split open his forehead. He felt blood spraying from his forehead, he was filled with a scorching pain, and… … Yuuki. A girl’s name appeared in his heart, but… — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Self-Control – Hit! After three heartbeats and some sweat on his back, he endured the replaying of his past and his fear. The next thing he knew, the spear boy stood right in front of him. “…” They were five meters away from each other. At just a few steps apart, the boy pulled a memo pad from his pocket using the hand not holding the spear. He looked back and forth between Shoui’s face and the memo pad before asking a question. “Hizaka Shoui. You have a tendency to compromise, so it’s never clear what you’re thinking. You used to live at the Nandaimon Shrine, you trained at the Mountain for two years, and…now you’re a Dis-Worder. Is that accurate?” “Y-yes. Perfectly accurate.” Shoui looked the boy in the eye and quickly nodded several times. The boy nodded just once. “I see. I understand now.” “Oh, good. You understand? Can we handle this peacefully now?” “Yes, I understand you need to be executed.” “What?” “So we’ll be sending you to the hospital.” Shoui pointed at the boy who was still calmly staring at the memo pad. “Y-y-y-y-y-you rotten monster! What’s going on here!?” “The details don’t matter. Word Accelerator Ixolde is being activated the day after tomorrow, so could you stay away from here until then?” “I have no idea what you’re even talking about! Please give me a logical explanation!” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit! The boy must have realized what the look in Shoui’s eyes meant because he gave him an upturned look and spoke. “You spent two years at the Mountain before they kicked you out and you still didn’t become a Chancellor, so why are you joining our Prefectural #2 just before Ixolde’s activation? …After all, Prefectural #2 is home to the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers Headquarters and current Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou.” “Eh? W-well, I’d always wanted to go to school here. Besides, what’s wrong with me being here?” “Why would you want to go to school here?” “Well, it’s a mixed boys and girls school and it even has student dorms to live in.” The boy silently held his spear below his right arm in preparation to fight. “Ah, I can’t believe you! You just ignored everything I said, didn’t you!?” “Shut up. I’m First Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji. As head of intelligence, I will eliminate you here.” “I can’t believe this. I’m no good at fighting Strike Forcers, you know?” “Oh? …Hizaka Shoui, I’ve long heard rumors of you and your lack of Words.” “Wow, am I famous? I can’t believe it… Really, I’m gonna blush. What do I do?” “Quit wiggling around. At the very least, any fighter these days will have heard your name somewhere or another. …Except for the last two years, that is.” “…” “Normally, you have to be sixteen to undergo chancellor training at the Mountain and it only lasts a year. So why did you go the Mountain at fifteen and what were you doing for those two years?” “That’s what I’d like to know.” “Hm? …What do you mean?” “It doesn’t really matter. More importantly, could you maybe do something about this current situation?” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Expression Decoding – Hit. “I guess not.” “Oh? Is that how it looks?” “I don’t think anyone could see it differently. I can’t believe this. And I’m supposed to be the ultimate pacifist. Nowadays, anyway.” “ ‘Nowadays’? Then what about two years ago?” “Two years ago?” “Yeah, that’s right.” Saki nodded and a slight smile entered his voice. “On that snowy night when you, a guest at the Nandaimon Shrine, made the Koto Guardian kill someone.” “…” Shoui did not respond. He remained silent. He only pressed his back against the wall and lowered his bandanna. He touched the scar on his forehead through the bandanna. The bandanna was mounted on a forehead protector which was split in two down the center. He touched the cold metal edge and took a deep breath. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Self-Control – Hit. As he controlled his heart, words filled it rather than images. … Childhood friend. … My own lack of Words. … My duty to protect her. … Her injury and her eye. … Murderer. “Do you see how dangerous you are now? From our perspective, we have no idea why you lack the Words all of us have, you’ve undergone some unknown training for an excessive amount of time, and you’re friends with a murderer.” Shoui remained silent and his vision was mostly covered by his bandanna. This was a method he had learned over the past two years. At the very least, his vision would not pick up any blades swung down toward him. But he could hear his opponent. “Whatever your situation is, your words are going to fall on deaf ears. All that matters are the facts I laid out for you. Understand?” “In other words, you don’t want to have a deactivated time bomb anywhere near you?” “At the very least, we don’t want you coming to this school until Ixolde’s activation is complete. Will you take a hit from my Pressure High and spend the time in the hospital, or will you stay home on your own? It’s your choice.” “I can’t believe this. I don’t like either of those options… I really can’t believe this.” “Then let me give you one piece of information.” Saki used his empty hand to tell the other students to back away. “It may not have reached your ears, but Koto Guardian and Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki currently has a certain Urban Name.” “An Urban Name?” “Killing Holder.” Saki gave a brief answer and continued with a bitter smile. “It means she holds death inside herself. Since she killed someone.” Shoui’s body gave a single quick tremor at the word “kill”. But his silence did not seem to bother Saki Seiji. “So what’ll it be? At this rate, I’ll be acting as a member of the Chancellor’s Officers to eliminate someone I’ve deemed dangerous…but how do you want this to end, ‘Dog of Nandaimon’ Hizaka Shoui-kun?” “I can’t believe this.” Shoui’s voice remained light and his shoulders drooped. After a beat, he immediately took action. ### Part 2 4:31 PM Shoui jumped straight up. — Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Great Leap – Hit. His long leap gave him plenty of air time and his blue uniform-wearing form landed on top of the wall between the schoolyard and street. Without losing his balance, the wind washed over him five meters from the ground. Below him, he could see Saki Seiji, the students who had surrounded him, and the schoolyard dug up for construction. “Is that for Ixolde, the giant word accelerator installed underground? This place looks like a tilled field.” “What are you talking about? The Nandaimon Shrine was the only place that opposed creating the ultimate Rhythm using Ixolde. What about you!?” “What about me? Sorry, I’m not interested in politics.” “Then what are you interested in!?” Shoui suddenly brought his fists to his waist and spread his hands. “!” The Chancellor’s Officers students scattered at the combat stance. “I’m interested in…” He used his spread hands to mime grabbing something from below. “First of all, girls.” His tone was entirely serious. “Next would be honor and finally money. Aren’t those the main three driving forces for guys?” He asked with his serious expression intact and received only silence in response. The wind blew and more silence followed. Finally, he looked down at the others and asked a question. “Am I…wrong?’ “That settles it. I’m killing you even if I don’t have a good reason.” Saki pointed his spear at Shoui and clicked his tongue. “Besides, you’re a hell of a guy. Even with a Tech, jumping up onto a five meter wall isn’t easy.” “That’s because I don’t want to fight if I don’t have to. I’ll jump five meters if it means getting out of this.” “You went to that much effort to weasel your way out of this!? Hey! Don’t run away!” “Oh, c’mon. I’m just heading out to play until you’ve all left and I can sneak into the dorm behind the school building. I still have to unpack my things.” “That’s called running away!” “Oh, what a quick retort.” “Why you…” “Calm down. There’s no rule saying you have to accept a fight someone picks with you, is there? Right? Right?” Shoui lifted the bandanna from his eyes and smiled. “And with that, I’ll be going. Farewell.” With a quick wave, he tried to jump back, but… “I’m not letting you get away, you moron!” — Saki – Draw Tech – Take – Throw – Hit! The spear rotated as it flew toward Shoui. He had just taken his stance to jump, so it audibly slammed into the side of his waist. “Wah!” It did little damage, but the inertia of the rotating spear knocked him to the side. He fell from the wall and into the schoolyard again. — Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Land – Hit. He spun through the air and managed to land right next to the main gate. He could leave the school ground by taking a jump backwards, but… “I said I’m not letting you get away!” Saki charged forward with a weapon shaped like a short sword. When he swung it, the hilt extended to create a spear. This was a new spear. When Shoui realized his enemy had not lost his weapon, his mouth tensed. “H-h-h-h-ow many of those do you have!? No fair!” “Just shut up and die!” With that conclusion, Saki used his empty hand to stick headphones into his left ear. — Saki – Spear Tech/Pressure High Rhythm – Take – Charge – Hit. Saki’s Words were spoken in a low, quiet voice. Heaven, please answer the longing found in the sky of my final moments Simply let the white snow fall on the heavy darkness as you raise your cry The spear tip flew straight toward Shoui’s gut as a black force of high gravity surrounded it. A hit from that would take out two or three ribs in a concentrated attack. “…!” Shoui did not respond by singing or uttering his Words. Instead, he stuck his left hand in his pocket and his right straight forward. … Will I make it in time!? He shut his eyes and wished for power in his heart. In that instant, his right fist stuck Saki’s spear. “!” The explosion lasted only a brief moment. The black light burst with a sound like a breaking board. The spear shattered and Saki was knocked backwards. “The hell!?” — Saki – Gym Tech – Take – Landing Control – Hit. Shoui, on the other hand, remained motionless. His right fist was still held forward and he stared silently at Saki. Saki’s gaze turned toward Shoui’s right fist and Shoui listened to his question. “What is that!?” Saki was pointing at the black light residing in Shoui’s right fist. Lives at an Octave of about 100,000 had emitted a powerful Word Color and summoned some ether. “Did you instantly call in the same Pressure High as me without using any Words!?” Shoui did not answer. To let the music of a Rhythm flow through one’s body, the user normally had to sing their own Words and place the Rhythm’s Message inside those Words. But Shoui never sung the necessary Words when he used a Rhythm. In fact, he could not sing them. That was why his Urban Name was Dis-Worder. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Saki. “Can you use any Rhythm indiscriminately because you don’t have the individuality of Words?” “I don’t know how it ended up like this, but it seems I’m a popular guy when it comes to Rhythms.” “…” “Um, by any chance, are you still going to try to fight?” “Yeah…” Saki Seiji stuck a hand in his pocket and pulled out another new spear. Shoui looked up into the sky when he saw his opponent’s weapon. “Ahh… Can’t you stop this?” “I have no reason to.” “But I really don’t get why I’m being attacked here.” “Then let me tell you one thing.” “?” Saki pointed the new spear Shoui’s way. — Saki – Talk Tech – Take – Long-Distance Conversation – Hit! The movements of Saki’s lips became noise which sounded directly in Shoui’s ears. Only Shoui could hear these words. “Ever since the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago, Osaka’s 1st Special Duty Officer has been given the following information.” “Information?” “The Dis-Worder must not be allowed near Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers.” “Th-that’s completely unscientific!” “This information is backed by something that I can’t tell the likes of you about. But if you knew what I did, you’d probably leave the city of your own volition.” Saki’s words were backed by absolute confidence. “Plenty of people lose their Words due to aphasia or other disorders, but every decade or so, one moron impaired by that silence will still rush into the world of Rhythms and Words. This year, it’s you.” “But this wasn’t supposed to be an unlucky year… Are you sure you can’t overlook me?” “Yeah, I’m sure. You’ve heard the theory that people without Words of their own can influence other people’s Words, haven’t you?” Saki switched back on the MD in his pocket. The Pressure High Rhythm’s music replayed from the beginning. “In that case, your actions could easily influence Osaka during the tension of the Ixolde problem. Do you get what that means?” Saki took a step forward, but his aura was completely different now. Instead of observing or asking a question of his opponent, he simply moved forward. Shoui took a defensive stance. … I can’t believe this. How am I supposed to escape? He lowered his hips in preparation to move. At the same time, Saki charged forward. “Seaaaaaaahhhh!” He pulled his spear back as far as it would go as he made his charge, but he never finished his war cry. Something unexpected cut in between Saki and Shoui. It was a wind. The air gently fluttered and a shimmering of heat rose between the two boys. “Is this-…!?” Before Saki could finish his question, a voice raced in a straight line across the schoolyard. “Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” It was a deep male voice speaking a simple, monosyllabic Word. That Word caused the air to explode. The tearing raced across the schoolyard in a straight line. The destructive roar created an echoing ensemble. “!?” The tearing wind and impact slammed into the ground. Dirt and sand were blasted skyward with a great noise. … This Rhythm!? “Is that Kusanagi, the ogre-slaying Wind Rhythm!?” Before Shoui was even done speaking, a loud metallic sound instantaneously distorted the surrounding scenery. And before that distortion returned to normal, the great roar suddenly vanished. The sudden silence was followed by plenty of dirt and sand falling from the sky. And in that downpour of dirt, Shoui was looking toward the schoolyard gate instead of at Saki. The attack had flown form that direction and two people stood there. One was a boy and the other a girl. The boy wore a student combat coat and raised a sword in his two false arms. The girl wore personal clothes and her long ponytail fluttered in the wind as she brushed it back with a false arm far too large for her body. The previous attack had been made by a diagonal upwards slash of the boy’s sword. He spoke as he sheathed the sword. “What are you doing, Saki? Depending on your answer, I, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou, will pass my judgment on you.” Nanba Souichirou looked to Shoui and Saki with his one eye. Shoui whistled at the one-eyed gaze. “Wow. I can see how you slayed an ogre with that.” “You don’t think our Chancellor’s a Chancellor, do you?” “But I was complimenting him. …Man, that’s way more powerful than the Over Rhythms we use.” His eyes briefly stopped on the sword guard eyepatch, but then he looked to the girl standing next to Nanba Souichirou. The ponytailed girl with a giant false arm attached to her left shoulder bent her eyes in a cheerful expression before staring intently at Shoui. When their gazes met, her mouth moved. “It’s been a year, Shoui. How’ve ya been?” “Oh, it’s you, boss.” When he heard Shoui’s troubled expression, Souichirou turned toward the girl behind him. The girl nodded. “That guy…Shoui’s, well, a friend of mine.” She smiled a little. “It was beatin’ him at the Mountain last year that got me my spot as Nagoya Chancellor.” “Don’t tell them that, boss! You’ll hurt their impression of me!” “Don’t worry about it. More importantly, it’s good to see ya again.” She took a breath. “Shoui, if ya get caught in anythin’ too weird, I, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, will give ya some advice in place of your parents. …Okay?” When they heard that, a stir ran through the boys spread out in the schoolyard. Hearing those overlapping voices, Shoui held his forehead over his bandanna. The phantom pain had vanished at some point. ### Part 3 5:39 PM In south Nara Prefecture, a hill existed on the border between the cities of Nara and Koriyama. It was a small hill. Just an hour before, the setting sun had washed over the slope and trees, but it was now dyed in the pale color of the moonlight. The most moonlight reached the top of the hill which contained a large one-story estate and a single large shrine colored by vermilion lacquer. It was a large shrine with sanctuaries on either side. An old wooden panel was nailed to the eaves of the shrine. The panel had fallen into darkness and had grown dark from the rain and dew, but the stickily shining lacquered writing was still visible. It said Nandaimon Shrine. Nandaimon referred to the Suzakumon and the Rashoumon. During the Nara period, a city had existed on the plain visible from this hill. Heijou-kyo, Nagaoka-kyo, and Heian-kyo. The great gate built to protect those cities from the south was known as Nandaimon. Nandaimon Shrine was the shrine that worshiped Nandaimon. As time passed, the city had transformed and Nandaimon had been remade several times, so Nandaimon Shrine had been moved to the hill where the gate would be visible no matter where it moved. Over a thousand years were said to have passed since. Needless to say, Nandaimon itself had vanished during that long time and the shrine had been remade a few times. Only the cherry and pine trees on the hilltop accurately recorded the passage of time. A silent winter chill surrounded those trees as a slight breeze and produced a lonely rustling from the leaves. Called by the rustling, the chill sitting in the shrine’s grounds began to move. That chill called someone in. A single figure used the path to the shrine to climb into the winter wind. It was a girl whose long black hair shined in the moonlight. Hidden below that black hair was a blazer red enough to be seen even in the moonlight. The uniform had a feminine yet weighty outline and the wearer held a large staff in her right hand. The right arm wielding the staff had large writing stitched into the blouse’s shoulder. The golden stitching that shined in the moonlight said “Koto Guardian”. That title belonged to the individual who put to rest the spirits in the grounds of the Koto region to prevent natural disasters. She silently finished climbing the shrine path and stepped onto the gravel of the shrine grounds. The wind blew gently as if stirred up by her refreshing footsteps. It cut across the shrine grounds, past the main temple, and to the side of the estate. The footsteps on gravel soon stopped as they followed the wind. The girl had stopped walking. She looked up to the moon and the moonlight covered her face. The bespectacled features were those of a girl with hint of sharpness. A single color could be seen in the pale moonlight on her face: red. It was the color of her right eye. In the shadows, a faint red light filled that eye like a fire opposing the moon. It was a false eye. She used that eye to view a point in the sky, as if searching for something. She spent a few seconds like that. “One hour until the Suzaku reaches its standard position.” Her lips barely moved to form the words and she lowered her gaze once more. Instead of the sky, she looked to the Nandaimon estate where she lived. Light filled the one-story vermilion estate that measured more than thirty meters across. She had family there. But the girl’s face still showed no hint of an expression. Her thoughts were a complete mystery. And… “…” After a moment, she turned around without speaking a word. She turned left and her footsteps on the gravel took her to the estate’s detached room. She walked over to the small detached room placed alongside one of Nandaimon’s sanctuaries. She heard a sudden metallic sound from her left. It was a bell. Her left hand held a key attached to a small keyring. At the same time, the footsteps on gravel stopped. But she had not stopped. There was simply no more gravel on the ground. There was a five square meter area of exposed dirt in front of the detached room. Even in just the moonlight, it was obvious that ground was oddly hard. That dirt ground had been packed down so much that not a single weed was allowed to grow through and it smoothly reflected the moonlight. As she crossed the dirt, she saw a single wooden pillar standing up from the center of the small clearing. It was thirty centimeters thick and about two meters tall, it contained several shallow mortar-like indentations, and the top was badly broken. Her left hand touched one of the many indentations driven into the pillar. A bell rang and her hand stroked across the gentle curves of the indentation. The curves were identical to the ones that formed a human fist. “…” The bell rang again and she walked forward. A few steps were all it took to arrive in front of the detached room’s main entrance. She did not hesitate to stick her key into the sliding door’s lock. ### Part 4 5:45 PM The bell rang and the door opened. In the moonlight and gentle breeze, the girl remained motionless in front of the small rectangle of darkness. The wind searched through and washed over that darkness as her eyes turned to the nameplate next to the door. The old, darkened nameplate gave a certain boy’s name: Hizaka Shoui. She simply stared at the name without really reading it. A few beats later, she suddenly moved. She stepped into the darkness and into the detached room’s entranceway. Closing the door further darkened the already dark room. The external world was shut out. All she could see was the moonlight shining in from the glass of the front sliding door, but she reached an arm into the darkness without relying on that light. “…” A bright fluorescent light turned on. She leaned her staff against the small entranceway’s wall. The sound of the staff bottom hitting the concrete floor reverberated solidly through the entranceway. Next, silence fell. After a few breaths, she very quietly opened the sliding door dividing the entranceway from the room itself. She almost seemed to be trying to spy on who or what was inside. After confirming that the dark space was fully opened, she removed her shoes, climbed the step, and made sure her shoes were properly aligned. The series of actions had clearly become a habit. She was now standing on the detached room’s tatami mat floor and she switched on the light here too. At about seven square meters, the room before her eyes was only meant as a space to sleep in. There was no closet and an unmarked futon was still folded up on the floor. A large sand-colored dresser sat in front of the identically colored wall. The only thing on the wall was a calendar hanging next to the dresser. It was truly a dreary room. It had almost no coloration. Everything was either the color of the walls or the color of the tatami mats. Someone had clearly avoided bringing any color into the room as a way to suppress something. It felt like a method of restricting oneself. The girl’s vermilion uniform stood out strongly below the fluorescent light. Her eyes turned to the calendar on the wall. It contained a picture of a snowy Kyoto mountain along with the days for December, the current month. However, the year given on the calendar was 1994, which was two years in the past. The girl remained silent when she saw that. Her eyes then moved to top of the dresser. The owner of the room had allowed two pieces of color there. The first was a folded karate uniform. It had somewhat faded from numerous washings and a black belt lay with it. The name Hizaka was spelled out at the end of the belt in bright gold, somewhat twisted stitching. The other color sat next to it. It was a trophy. The extravagant trophy rose almost to the ceiling and the shine of its gold plating had not dulled in the slightest. A vermilion and white ribbon was double-knotted at the top. Without speaking a word, the girl faced the futon folded up in the corner. Some new colors had been added behind the futon: a red vacuum cleaner, a metal bucket, and a dry rag on the rim of the bucket. Those colors looked out of place in the monotone, sand-colored room, but she did not seem to care as she reached for the vacuum cleaner. But then… “Yuuki.” She slowly turned toward a voice from outside the detached room. A woman’s voice came from the large window on the east end of the room. She did not hesitate to unlock the window and open it to either side. The empty night spread out before her eyes. A square of bright light fell onto the tightly packed dirt ground out front. Two figures stood there. One was the wooden pillar rising from the dirt and the other was a short old woman. The woman wore a shirt and jeans and she had a slight smile on her aged face. “Doing your daily cleaning, Yuuki? You sure are faithful.” A hint of a bitter smile filled the lighthearted tone, but the girl called Yuuki said nothing in response. The old woman realized her teasing would accomplish nothing, so she placed a hand on her back and looked directly at Yuuki. “A Nandaimon child was attacked at Private Showa, so weren’t you on your way to deal with that?” “I still have sixty-seven minutes until the designated time. This is a duel following the school rules, so they won’t run away.” “If you give them that much time, I expect they’ll gather some friends to help. You do always tell them they’re free to get help, after all.” “I prefer to take care of those pathetic people all at once. More importantly, what do you really want, Grandma Senga.” The old woman looked up at Yuuki with a look of exasperation. “They’re holding a meeting between the Chubu and Kansai Chancellors at Prefectural #2, but are you really not joining them?” “What good would the Killing Holder do there?” “Really? Are you sure it isn’t that you don’t want to disturb things too much? Like with the Nagoya Chancellor and-…” — Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit. — Senga – Mind Tech – Counter-Take – Intimidation Reflection – Hit. “You sure do get scary when it comes to that topic, Yuuki.” “And you get in a bad mood when I mention your spear,” said Yuuki. “Specifically, that Yuuki Senga was known as Kansai’s greatest spear-user but that she set aside her spear thirteen years ago.” With that line, silence ruled their surroundings. But that rule of silence was broken by a movement rather than a sound. Senga shrugged her shoulders in exasperation. And… “Then how about this information? …That idiot Shoui has returned from the Mountain.” She looked up as if to peer into Yuuki’s face, but the girl gave no visible reaction. “I see.” When the girl accepted the fact without even nodding, Senga frowned and leaned against the wooden pillar next to her. “Is that all? Don’t you have something to say to him? Like why he didn’t stop by to say hi, about two years ago, or maybe that you’ve been cleaning this place ever since?” “It’s no use.” “What?” “None of that would make bring him back.” With that, Yuuki turned her back on Senga. Her eyes fell on the karate uniform and trophy on top of the dresser. A question from Senga reached her silent back. “You don’t want to see him?” “…” “Or are you no longer waiting for him?” “…” “Do you not need a man who doesn’t keep the promise he made to you?” Yuuki moved her head in response to that question. It made the small up and down of a nod. “I don’t need Hizaka Shoui.” Senga had stopped talking, so Yuuki took over. “It’s not possible for a guy like that to protect me.” “That’s quite a statement. It’s not possible even though he won the West Japan Middle School Karate Championship? He won that title by defeating Ichimura Yuusei in the finals, but isn’t Ichimura now Nagoya’s Vice Chancellor who you’ve asked to spar with a few times since?” “I don’t need anyone else’s opinion.” “Then in your own opinion, do you truly think you don’t need him?” “…” “Even after picking him up from the ruins left by the Kinki Riot, healing his aphasia…and spending so much time with him?” “…” “If so, why have you been taking such good care of this detached room for the past two years?” “It’s a linchpin,” said Yuuki. “The linchpin needed to keep the Killing Holder the Killing Holder.” With that said, she closed the window behind her. With a sharp sound, the light was cut off from the night. Only the lingering tone remained in the air. ### 255. Chapter 2: Everyone’s Movements (Basic Controls Tutorial) ### Part 1 7:11 PM One of Osaka’s landmarks was a tower known as the Tsutenkaku. It was about one hundred meters tall, it towered above the streets of houses and shops, and no thought had been given to the danger of it collapsing. There was a small plaza around its base, but that was it. The hundred meter tower sat right alongside people’s homes. The structure brought the word “local” to mind. Currently, a boy stood on the tile-covered stone pavement below the Tsutenkaku. It was Hizaka Shoui. He drank a can of coffee while looking to the city lights shining into the dark night. He was waiting for a girl. That girl was Yamashita Taeko who he had met at Prefectural #2’s front gate. “Later, let’s meet up at that place called the Tsutenkaku. I’ll treat ya to some food once the meetin’s over.” He had been obediently following her casual suggestion, but… “It’s been almost two hours now. And curfew was at seven…” He looked up, wishing he had walked around Osaka for a bit instead. Far overhead near the top of the Tsutenkaku, the bottom of the observation deck looked like a dark shadow. He had not looked up at that tower for a long time. Even after two years, Osaka remained the same as in his faint memories. Not long before, he had learned that it was his own situation that had changed so drastically. … I didn’t stick with that training for two years because I wanted to… It was true he had gained permission to enter the Mountain during the winter two years before, even though he had not been in high school yet. His training should have ended half a year after that, but for some reason, he had repeated the same training four times. That previous Chancellor’s Officers member may have been right that it simply was not for him. Still looking up, Shoui leaned his back against one of the pillars forming the Tsutenkaku’s base. He brought a hand to the bandanna on his forehead. There was no phantom pain, but it would appear if he tried to remember. Everything from that time would come rushing back if he thought back to what had happened one night during the winter two years before. “…” It had all begun two years ago. It had been a night with a chilly wind when he had made Yuuki Yuuki, history’s youngest Koto Guardian and Koto Chancellor, kill someone It had been a cold night. Everyone had been holed up in their homes, the only lights in the streets had come from windows, and a silent liveliness had seemed to highlight one’s existence like a form of shadow puppetry. The same had been true of the shopping district in front of Nara’s Kofuku-ji. There was a park there containing a large lake called Sarusawa Lake. During the day, the locals would have been resting in the park, but it was simply an empty space with a lake during the night. A wind had carried a sobering chill as it had raced across the lake and through the park. Shoui had been with Yuuki there. He had sat on the stone bank of the lake while she wore a red blazer. They had not been looking each other in the eye and Shoui had been holding his reddened right cheek. “Do you really need to slap me just because I touched your butt, Yuuki?” He had called her name, but the intellectual face behind her glasses had not turned his way. That was due to the headphones in her ears. A terribly refreshing holy sound had escaped them. Based on the volume he could hear, it had to be easily over an Octave of 320,000. “The Geist Middle Rhythm…” His words had trailed off and vanished because he had noticed the many lights floating around her. The lights had been the size of a fist. Those cool, bluish-white fluorescent lights had flown around her, landed on her shoulders, hair, and hands, left her again, and continued to dance about. The light had illuminated her black hair, white skin, and red clothing, making it all stand out in the darkness. He had briefly watched in fascination, but then he had come to his senses. “Y-Yuuki, that’s too many spirits… If you’re dragged in…” She had not turned toward him, so he had sighed with a look of exasperation. Her lips had begun to sing a refreshing song as if his sigh had been a sign. — Yuuki – Geist Middle – Take – Speak with the Dead – Hit. The winter cries out frigidly Someone cries in loneliness They speak words yet nothing is said They speak Words yet nothing is said They simply wait for the ice to melt They draw near and never give up As he listened to her Words, Shoui had looked to the lights floating around her. “They draw near and never give up, huh? That fits perfectly for the spirits in Koto that can’t rest in peace, but in a way, those are really dark Words.” She had finally turned around at that. “That can’t be helped. My Words were originally for an ice god.” “…You could hear me?” “I could hear all the awful things you said about me.” “Is that so?” He had rested his head in his hand. “It’s weird that you can communicate with the spirits of the dead without using specialized Words.” “You’re the weird one, Shoui-kun. What with being a Dis-Worder and all.” He had shrugged at that. “I don’t really mind.” “But it is weird. People normally get these powers from Rhythms, but you can use them all without a Rhythm.” “But it’s all weakened since I don’t recite any Words. Even with High Rhythm powers, an Octave of 150,000 is the most I can manage.” “I wonder why. Why don’t you have your own Words?” “Well, wouldn’t that be because during the Kinki Riot-…” He had smiled bitterly and lightly shaken his head. “Because my wife has been sucking them out of me every night?” Yuuki had narrowed her eyes offensively when she heard that. “You moron… Did you forget your promise?” “Ha ha. I remember that promise just fine.” “And I just had you promise again the day before yesterday. …Hey.” “Yes?” “Your hand.” Yuuki’s words and gaze had fallen toward Shoui’s hand touching her butt through her skirt. “What’s so fun about that?” — Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Counter-Take – Intimidation Reflection – Hit. “You’re right. I probably need to stick my hand up your skirt for it to be really fun.” “What do you mean ‘need’?” “You’re the one that begged me with the ends of your eyebrows lowered last nigh- ow, ow, ow, ow! Is that really worth a backhand blow!?” “Honestly, why do you have to bring up those things?” “You’re the one that asked!” “Shut up. Anyway, why are you here?” “Um…” “I’ll push you in the lake? Five, four, three…” “Don’t count so fast! Um, Grandma Senga contacted me and said representatives of each region are holding a meeting about Ixolde. It’s apparently about whether to run a startup test.” “I see.” Yuuki had nodded. “A startup test, hm? That tragedy may be more than a decade old now, but I still can’t believe they’re trying to create the ultimate Rhythm with that giant word accelerator. Prefectural #2’s Chancellor’s Officers are really being a nuisance.” — Shoui – School Tech –Take – Recall Memory – Hit. “Either way, Prefectural #2 was only recently built, so it’s the only place that can gather the funds needed for that kind of facility. The academy rules ban financial support from corporations and the government, after all.” “Shoui-kun, you intend to go to Prefectural #2 next year, don’t you?” “Your grandma is too strict, so she won’t open Nandaimon up to boys.” “There were apparently some boys as guards just after the Kinki Riot twelve years ago, but things have calmed down now with Japan still split between east and west.” “Ixolde is going to bring some trouble, though. Tokyo sees the ultimate Rhythm as a danger, so they’ve held several world-class meetings about it, right?” “Yes, but Osaka loves being the best in Japan.” Yuuki had sighed without changing her expression much. “In the past, they even crushed our plans to build a tower called Babel. …Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do about that.” Yuuki had stood up and Shoui had followed her lead. Their difference in age had put a difference in their heights. Yuuki was a year older than Shoui, so her eyes were positioned one step above his. She had looked down at him and removed the MD headphones from her ears. “Well, it’s my job, so I have to go. Where’s the meeting?” “At Prefectural #2 of course. You have to change trains three times.” Just as the two of them had started walking, the north wind had blown in. A moment later… — Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Suddenly, Yuuki’s glasses had shattered and a Japanese sword had thrust up. “Yuuki!?” Her body had floated up and fallen onto its back with a dull sound. “…Uuh.” She had made a small groan on the ground and covered her right eye with a hand. Blood had spilled from between her fingers. When Shoui had seen it, he had started to run over. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. He had turned around. — Shoui – Sight/Dodge Tech – Multiple Auto-Take – Dodge – Hit! He had rolled forward on reflex as a silver arc swept by overhead. “Wah…toh!” He had punched the ground to propel himself back to his feet and he had faced forward. A tall boy in a combat coat student uniform had stood there with a bloody sword. Shoui had recognized his somewhat slanted eyes and tense face. “Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei!? …What’s someone that important doing here!?” Without even nodding, Yamashita had suddenly released his Words. The Words had contained an intense low rumbling that called in lightning. At that point, the phantom pain ran through Shoui’s forehead. That pain came from the wound he had received soon afterwards. “…!” He had known he had to win, but his memories refused to play back any further. He returned to reality. He was below the Tsutenkaku and not by the Sarusawa Lake in Koto. What had happened afterwards raced through his mind as facts, not as memories. … Breaking my promise, murder, and a unilateral farewell. “If only I hadn’t passed out…” The pulse behind those words was racing. Once his vision returned, all five senses grew clearer. He realized he was now sitting down with his legs outstretched and his back still against the Tsutenkaku’s pillar. The can of coffee lay by his feet with its contents pooled up around it. He smiled bitterly, but then heard the continuation of the lightning Words that marked the end of his memories. ### Part 2 7:21 PM They were Words and they were sung in a female voice unlike the voice of that former enemy. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The Words reverberated in the singer’s throat with a somewhat fast tempo and they contained a rumble much like thunder. Shoui knew whose voice that was. “Boss!?” He turned around to find Taeko standing there. “Were ya waitin’ long?” “Eh? Yes, a very long time.” “Ya sure are honest,” replied Taeko with a slight smile. She laughed out loud and used her giant false left arm to grab Shoui’s collar as he sat on the ground. “Ya really don’t change, do ya!? I wouldn’t have it any other way, though!” He was quickly lifted up higher than her and he sighed while dangling down like his clothes were placed on a hanger. “I’m glad to see you haven’t changed either, boss.” “Of course I haven’t. In Nagoya, we take pride in the fact that we don’t change no matter where we go. More importantly…” “?” “Can ya go up on the Tsutenkaku this late?” “They close at six. See?” Shoui pointed toward the gate at the bottom of the tower that was only lit by the emergency lighting now. Realizing the truth, Taeko sighed in obvious disappointment. “Ahh, ahh. If only the meetin’ had ended sooner.” “What was the meeting about? Or is that a secret?” “Ixolde’s gonna be activated in two days, so they needed our final approval. Ixolde’s pretty neat on the inside.” “Oh, you went inside?” Taeko showed off her white teeth in a smile. “Well, all the important bits were still closed off behind shutters. They showed us a room full of computers and stuff, though.” “I see…” “Is something the matter?” “So all the Kansai Chancellors really are gathered at #2?” “Not all. Kobe’s still a mess after that earthquake last year, so they haven’t selected a new Chancellor. And Kanazawa never responded to the request and didn’t send anyone.” Taeko lowered Shoui. Even when standing, she was about three sizes taller than him and she looked at him with a perfect look of indifference. “Then again, yer precious Koto Chancellor didn’t show up either, sayin’ she had other business to take care of. I was hopin’ to say hi if I met her.” “…” “Have ya met her? Accordin’ to that Saki guy who was attackin’ ya, ya only just left the Mountain yesterday.” “Yeah, I took my things here and moved into the dorm yesterday.” Unable to look Taeko in the eye, Shoui looked down. “And I haven’t met her yet. I haven’t contacted Nandaimon either.” “Why not? Because I beat ya and become Chancellor?” “Well…” “Or because yer precious Koto Chancellor killed my brother? With that flash freezin’?” “That was-…!” Shoui looked up and started to say something, but Taeko smiled and patted his shoulder. “Let’s just leave it at that.” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Persuasion – Hit. “I’m glad even a guy like you would try not to hurt my feelings.” “I feel like you keep insulting me here…” “Don’t worry about it. Now, how about ya go visit Nandaimon Shrine?” “I plan to eventually…” — Taeko – Boxing Tech –Take – Headlock – Hit. “Ow, ow, ow, ow!” “What’s this ‘eventually’ nonsense? If ya don’t get goin’ right away, I’ll bully ya. I heard what ya really think back at the Mountain. I forced it out of ya, remember?” “Yeah, that Boston crab was no laughing matter… But that’s not the- ow ow! M-my brains are gonna come out!” — Shoui – Gym/Dodge Tech – Multiple Counter-Take – Escape – Hit. “Ahh, I think you changed the shape of my head.” “It’s what ya get for not pullin’ yourself together.” Taeko tapped his shoulder with the thumb of her false arm. “I got this Eighth Dragon Emperor after our fight, but am I any different than I was before? Even the Koto Chancellor is-…” “But Yuuki is different.” “How?” “She…” “Because she killed someone?” Taeko let out a deep sigh. “Then ya should become a Chancellor, too. Then ya’d get permission to kill. And when it comes to the Koto Chancellor…well, I can see how yer thoughts get the better of ya.” “But I don’t have my own Words. …And I let other people influence me too much. Like with that 1st Special Duty Officer.” “Ya’ll find yer words somewhere eventually. Mine only came to me durin’ our fight…and they were the same as my brother’s. More importantly,” she added. “Lecutrin’ ya here isn’t gonna help, so just go meet her.” “You’re probably right. …Then for now, how about we get something to eat? Where do you want to go?” “Ya moron. I can’t do anything if ya don’t lead the way.” “Do you not know your way around Osaka?” She shook her head, so Shoui accepted it. “Then let’s walk around and find a dote-yaki place or something. They have large counters.” As soon as he made that suggestion, he saw a light. A bolt of lightning fell on Osaka. “!?” When they heard the deep, tearing Live rumbling around them, Shoui and Taeko turned to the west. An electrical discharge filled the sky over the Yodo ward. “Winter lighting? That sure was flashy.” “No! That wasn’t lightning!” Shoui took a few steps forward. “!? Shoui!” He did not turn back toward Taeko’s voice. — Shoui – Army Tech – Take – Projectile Recognition – Hit! “What’s the matter!?” Taeko ran up behind him, but he still did not turn her way. He focused on a single point in the sky and spoke. “I’ve seen this once before. That wasn’t lightning. It was ether being loaded from Suzaku Ver. 40!” “Suzaku Ver. 40? You mean that combat satellite!?” “Yes. Since they can’t use an orbital Word Particle Cannon in urban areas, Nandaimon has Suzaku Ver. 40 provide the ether that powers holy spells.” “Um, so that means…what?” “That light would only fall toward the person who can directly contact Suzaku Ver. 40…and that means Yuuki.” Shoui slowly walked forward. “Shoui!?” When Taeko called after him, he reflexively broke into a run. “Ya moron! Is that what ya do after worrying someone!?” His shoulders tensed at her voice. A sort of fascination filled his gut. On that night two years before, the injury to his forehead had caused him to pass out for a few moments. By the time he had woken, her opponent had already been dead. Not even a single drop of blood had stained the ground and only Yamashita Gihei’s right arm had remained. With blood staining half his face, he had supported her as she nearly collapsed and he had called for Senga in the blowing wind of Sarusawa Lake. Two years had passed since Senga had determined Yamashita had died of “disintegration” due to an impact after being flash frozen. The hands that had embraced her back then were now tightly clenched as he ran forward. Saki Seiji had called her Killing Holder. Even back then, she had not showed her emotions much, so it may have been an appropriate name for her. … Are you still the girl I know? He hid that question in his heart and ran forward to find the answer. He ran to meet her. ### Part 3 7:35 PM The wind blew. Osaka had plenty of geographical ups and downs, so the wind would weave through those lower areas. One such path for the wind followed the Yodo River as it cut through the city east to west. The wind picked up the scent of the river as it blew along it. This time of year, it was the scent of a winter river. The scent of the dried grass along the bank was stronger than that of the water. It was a dry scent. A hint of iron was mixed in with the wind. It was a rusty smell. The dry wind held that iron fragrance as it blew along the bank of the river. Shoui and Taeko broke through that wind as they ran. They soon realized the source of the iron scent in the wind: blood. “…!?” They did not even need to confirm it with a Tech. After smelling it several times in their training at the Mountain, it had permeated their bodies. Police and ambulance sirens blared in the distant center of the city as if to prove their sense of smell was not deceiving them. “…Yuuki.” “Does it bother ya? Ya’ve been hesitatin’ all this time.” “I’m still hesitating a hell of a lot right now.” “Do ya take anythin’ seriously?” “A cool guy doesn’t let anyone see how he really feels.” “Ya moron. …Why are ya so obsessed with protectin’ girls?” “That’s simple,” answered Shoui. “Because it’s cool.” “Do ya want the Koto Chancellor to accept you?” He did not answer that question. He picked up speed and saw their destination up ahead. A school had a wall around it by the riverside and he saw definite destruction there. The large schoolyard of Private Showa Academy, which was known for both its academics and combat training, was utterly destroyed, one school building included. One of the southern school buildings had a large hole torn in the front as if a giant mouth had bitten into it. And the two hundred square meter schoolyard had a large mortar-like hole covering it. … Did Yuuki do this? He ran down the straight bank with that question in his heart. “Hey! Shoui! Wait up!” He ignored her. He ran from the bank to the asphalt road of the city. In five seconds, he was running through the residential area near the school. He could see the wall surrounding the school and several vehicles were parked in front of that concrete wall. “…” There was a crowd near the main gate. That was the only bright area, so he could not see past the wall. He ran closer. He did not hesitate to cross the road and to jump on top of one of the cars parked in front of the wall separating the school from the city. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?” He ignored someone’s shout and kept moving. He used the car’s roof to jump toward the wall which was at least five meters tall. — Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Great Leap – Hit! The boys’ body flew through the darkness. He flipped through the air to cross the wall in a single breath. The wind carried an even stronger iron smell now. By the time he sensed that, he had already entered Private Showa’s grounds. — Shoui – Gym/Savate Tech – Multiple Take – Super Landing – Hit. He twisted his outstretched body to silently land on the schoolyard and then he looked around. “…” The large schoolyard was in an even more unusual state than it had looked from afar. It had been torn into along with the school building and it had transformed into a sea of red sand. The red came from the clay laid out over the schoolyard, but… “Why is there sand here?” He touched the thin coat of red sand covering the ground and found it was cold. It was even chillier than the winter air. … What is going on? “It’s called an intense freeze drying. This entire space was instantly frozen to get rid of all the moisture until it completely disintegrated. It’s the same technique used to kill former Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei.” “Saki-san?” Saki Seiji, the boy he had met just that evening, stood in front of Shoui. He looked to Shoui while wearing the student combat coat that was essentially the official uniform of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers. “But what was that jump you just made? It was a hell of a lot better than the one you showed me before.” “Oh, hi there. Good evening. Um, where’s Yuuki?” “Hey, do you have a habit of ignoring people or something?” “I don’t have my own Words, so I don’t want to let in any extraneous voices.” Saki clicked his tongue at Shoui’s joking answer. “I should’ve dealt with you before Souichirou showed up back there.” “C’mon, calm down.” — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Search for Individual – Miss. He could not find the person he was looking for. The only people there were the Tuners and Busters carrying Devices on the schoolyard and in the school building. They were apparently starting to fix the damage with Tuning, so cats and birds would occasionally appear near them. “…This is horrifying.” Saki responded to his absentminded comment. “What? You were taken in by Nandaimon, so didn’t you see stuff like this on a daily basis?” “It was a long time ago when I saw Suzaku Ver. 40 activate. …So Yuuki did that?” “Yeah, the Koto Chancellor can apparently use the transmitter installed in Phoenix, her false eye, to really let her opponent have it.” “Her false eye?” “The Killing Holder’s vermilion eye. It’s just like Nandaimon to go with the vermilion of the Suzaku.” Shoui sighed at the boy’s explanation. “I can’t believe this,” he muttered before pulling his bandanna over his eyes. “But why are you here?” asked Saki. “Did you really come here to meet the Koto Chancellor?” “Yes, I did. What about it?” — Saki – Boxing Tech – Counter-Take – Strike – Hit. — Shoui – Dodge Tech – Take – Swayback – Hit. “Wow, that was close. What was that for, Saki-san?” “So you dodged it. I tried to catch you off guard, but mine got the counter judgement.” “Of course I dodged that. …You’re kind of scary, you know that? I bet you don’t have many friends.” “Shut up. And get lost. I’m in charge of dealing with this incident, so it pisses me off when someone comes wandering onto the scene.” “I see. That must be tough. But what do you mean by ‘this incident’?” “Apparently, the Nandaimon girl took out one of the idiots here at Private Showa, so they wanted revenge.” Shoui looked around the schoolyard again. “Girls sure are scary when they’re mad.” “These things are normally done with a duel between representatives, but Private Showa must have thought they could overpower her with numbers. It only lasted an instant and you can see how it turned out. There were thirty-two serious injuries and five minor injuries, so this is no laughing matter.” “Where are the injured?” “They were already taken away in ambulances. Tuners are treating the worst ones in the emergency ward over there. We’re not talking about a landmine race at an athletics festival here.” At that point, Saki glared at Shoui. “You aren’t going to follow me to the hospital too, are you?” “Again! Why are you so suspicious of me?” “What? My intuition, of course.” “I appreciate the nonscientific reasoning. Now, um, do you know where Yuuki is?” “You really don’t listen to people, do you?” Saki sighed. “Besides, what are you even gonna do if you meet the Koto Chancellor?” “Grab her butt or fondle her breasts.” “Eh? …What was that?” “Oh, um, just speaking to myself. It’s been two years since we’ve done anything like that after all.” “Two years since doing anything like what? Was it just me or did you say something pretty weird just-…” Saki was cut off by a girl’s voice. “Hey! Outta the way!” ### Part 4 7:37 PM The voice came from overhead. Shoui recognized the voice, so he took immediate action. — Shoui – Gym/Dodge Tech – Multiple Counter-Take – Leaping Dodge – Hit! But Saki… “What?” Taking time to look up proved unwise. A giant false arm and a girl were falling toward him. “!” And they landed on him. The impact sounded a lot like metal striking flesh. — Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Balance – Hit! Immediately after punching Saki to the ground like a cushion, Taeko performed a cartwheel and ended up on her feet next to where Saki lay on the ground. “That was a close one! Hey, boy! Ya alive?” Saki did not respond, so Shoui did so in his stead. “Hm, I think he might be a goner.” “Oh, ya think so too? …I tried to copy ya, but it didn’t turn out too good.” “You lost your balance due to that heavy Dragon Emperor, didn’t you?” “Yeah, pretty much. Wah ha ha ha ha!” “Ah ha ha ha ha!” “Wah ha ha ha ha!” “What do you think you’re laughing about, you morons!?” Saki jumped to his feet and pointed at Taeko. “You bitch! Don’t think I’ll hold back just cause you’re the Nagoya Chancellor!” As he shouted at her, a trail of blood flowed from his hair and down his forehead. The number of flowing red lines quickly grew and covered his entire face. “Ohhhhh! I’m bleeding!” “This guy sure is noisy. Is he really one of Osaka’s Special Duty Officers?” “He has been pretty bloody and noisy, but he really is. Right, Saki-san?” “Don’t give me that ‘Right, Saki-san?’ nonsense! Anyway, why are you here, Nagoya Chancellor!?” Still shouting with blood flowing down his face, Saki glared at Taeko and Shoui before looking around the area. Shoui followed his gaze and found a lot of people looking their way: the Tuners who were repairing the schoolyard, the police officers investigating the scene, and the many students. “Oh, look. I’m the center of attention. I’m so cool.” “Shut up! …Hey! Quit letting us distract you and get back to work! You want me to punch you!?” Saki’s angry voice set everyone in motion again and Shoui nodded. “That looks just like the townsfolk obeying their ruler’s reign of terror.” “Do you want me to kill you?” “Ya like saying scary things, don’t ya? Don’t tell me ya actually think ya can beat Shoui.” Saki Seiji wiped the blood from his forehead and answered Taeko. “A member of the Chancellor’s Officers would never lose to an amateur. But more importantly…” “More importantly? …What is it?” “Why are you even here, Nagoya Chancellor?” “Explainin’ that would take a while.” “Keep it short.” “I felt like it.” “What do you mean you ‘felt like it’, you utter moron!?” “Oh, shut up. I just followed Shoui.” “And that made you crash into me? …Are you really Nagoya’s Chancellor? You take everything you do too lightly!” “Lookin’ for opportunities and changin’ yerself when they come along is the heart of Nagoya. ….The Nagoya Chancellor needs to be able to do what she wants and keep tabs on what’s goin’ on.” As soon as she narrowed her eyes and smiled, Taeko suddenly grabbed Saki’s chin with her Dragon Emperor hand. “Now, it’s my turn to ask. …Where is the Koto Chancellor?” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Coerce – Hit! Saki frowned and answered. “You can’t see her? She’s sitting perfectly still right over there!” He used his chin to gesture toward a cherry tree to the left. The tree had split down the center due to the localized low temperature that had hit the school. There was a glimpse of red in the shadow of the split trunk. Shoui observed that fluttering red cloth hidden by the color of the tree. — Shoui – School Tech – Take – Uniform Recognition – Hit… There was no mistaking it. It was the uniform of Nandaimon Academy’s main school. That was the girl’s school attended by Koto Chancellor and Koto Guardian Yuuki Yuuki. The color moved. The girl taking a break in the shadow of the broken and split tree trunk stood up. The moving colors were the black and red of her uniform, the white of her blouse, and the pitch black of the hair that fell all the way to the back of her knees. He saw her face look back his way. “…” In that instant, he saw the two years he had missed. Yuuki had always had a mature look to her face, but in the past two years, she had grown to adulthood on the inside and transformed from being a girl to being a woman. Her expression and movements contained a sharp, quick, cold, sleek, and powerful strength. As if to confirm and smile at his surprise, her right eye glowed somewhat vermilion. That false eye was known as the Phoenix, an alternative name for the Suzaku. That eye of the vermilion bird faced motionlessly forward as if to more easily communicate with its main form floating in the heavens. In contrast, her left eye slowly moved toward Shoui’s group. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Sense Gaze – Miss. Shoui could not tell if Yuuki’s eye was looking only at him or not. Meanwhile, she began walking around the fallen tree. She moved toward Shoui’s group. “Here she comes, Shoui. This is what ya wanted.” Shoui responded to Taeko with several forced nods. “Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you supposed to say when seeing someone again like this?” “When it’s been a while since ya’ve seen them, ya should probably say ‘fancy seein’ you here’ or something.” “You moron,” said Saki. “Don’t pretend this is some kind of coincidence. And when you meet someone again after a long time, you need to greet them with a smile to calm their heart! That’s the Osaka way! …Ow! Don’t grab me with that metal arm, you bitch!” “Quit movin’ around and stay quiet. …Here she comes, Shoui.” “Eh? Oh, right, um… Well, it’s true I should probably smile.” Shoui turned around and found Yuuki there. She was within arm’s reach now. The past two years seemed concentrated into the spot at which she stood. He wanted to say something but was not quite sure what. “…” After a few moments of silence, he raised his head and looked her in the eye. It was too late now to say “fancy seeing you here”, so he causally raised a hand and did his best to sound cheerful. “Hi, chancy seeing you here!” Yuuki gave a short greeting in response. It was only two words long. “Get lost.” ### 256. Chapter 3: A New Movement (Character Introduction) ### Part 1 11:02 PM The winter night was growing late and a sandy wind passed below the moonlight. That wind blew above the desert known as the Altered Line that covered northern Nagoya. It danced freely through the sky. A large bridge crossed the sky as if following the wind. The long, straight bridge was located several kilometers above the ground. The giant bridge cast its shadow on the vast sea of sand below and it had a certain name: New Route 155. The ultra elevated bridge crossed the region of desert covering northern Nagoya. The moon had risen directly above New Route 155. The elevated bridge cast its shadow in that moonlight and a four-track freight railroad traveled east to west across it. Currently, two men faced each other on the track leading to the Nagoya region. Standing on the west was a large boy with two false arms and a sleeveless school uniform. Standing on the east was a boy with short-cut hair and a red mountain hoodie. They were both students. They both had their legs spread wide across the railroad track. A powerful silence ruled the region. Tension itself seemed to float around them. Something like uncontainable murderous intent surrounded the area with a low Tempo. That Tempo could only be broken by new words and the first to open his mouth was the large boy. “To think you would use 155 to try to sneak into the Nagoya region.” His low voice elicited a confident bend of the eyebrows and a bitter smile from the other boy. “If we hadn’t been questioned at Inuyama Station, we could have gotten through without having to pass over the Altered Line. I didn’t think they would bother with an inspection for a night train.” “I had heard Inuyama was caught in a battle …Supposedly, they were faced with a giant wolf-like beast and someone immune to all attacks.” “We’re all pretty much demons, so you all don’t stand a chance. …Nagoya got the short end of the stick on this one.” “Nonsense. …Ever since the Kinki Riot, Nagoya has never met anything we could not eliminate at this east-west gate.” “So you take a neutral stance in combat? Interesting. Now, I know your Vice Chancellor from two years ago tried to side with Tokyo, but I hear he was killed by the Koto Chancellor. So which side will you choose now?” The large boy responded by holding his false hands forward. “I would prefer to know what you’re thinking, Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide.” “Oh? I’d thought student information on the east wasn’t getting to the west and vice versa, but it looks like I’m more famous than I thought.” “Nagoya stands at the center between east and west. The information reaches us.” He continued. “We know that you won East Japan’s Student Karate Openweight Championship despite being a middleweight with no prosthetics and not using a Rhythm. And that you are a problem student who has not once appeared as East Japan’s representative for the thrice a year World Student Conference.” “Ha ha. That’s how you see me? Damn, I’m cool.” “What are you thinking? You may be a problem student, but you are still Tokyo’s Chancellor. Why would the representative of East Japan break the world-regulated school rules by traveling west?” “That’s simple. My sister is calling me.” “…Your sister?” “That’s right. My sister said goodbye during the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago.” He took a breath. “And my final connection to her is in that city.” He resumed a forward-and-back stride while raising his arms in preparation. He spread his right hand, looked at the silver ring on the middle finger, and asked a question. “I know all about you too. You’re the winner of West Japan’s Student Karate Openweight Championship and you’re Nagoya Vice Chancellor. You’re Ichiyama Yuusei the Zapper, aren’t you?” “…So we are about to determine who is Japan’s greatest student karate fighter, are we?” “The greatest student karate fighter? That’s not what this is about.” “?” “The fight I am about to begin is the war to become king.” Hisahide began to sing. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength A human heart flows into nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run down another’s path without looking Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future Despite the song, he showed no hint of using a Rhythm’s power. “Was that song not the Words needed to use a Rhythm?” asked Ichiyama. “For now, it’s nothing but a prophecy.” “A prophecy?” “When I do use that song as my Words, then I will become king, just as the lyrics say.” He took a breath. “I will become a king who can only choose the future.” His fantastical words brought a brief frown to Ichiyama’s face. A moment later, Hisahide began to run forward. “You aren’t blocking my way!” With that shout, he won the initiative. ### Part 2 11:06 PM Ichiyama Yuusei was calm. He successfully used several reactive Techs that did not require initiative. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Activate False Eye “Akashi” – Hit. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Reinforced Organs – Hit. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Cut Prosthetics Limiter – Hit. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Internal Rhythm “Explosion High” – Hit. By the time Hisahide got close, the steam of activation blew from both false arms. The power of Ishiyama’s false eyes allowed him to ignore the darkness of the night. Losing the initiative was the only way he was at any disadvantage. Hisahide quickly reached him and threw a kick. “!” He rotated his compactly bent knee. Rather than a karate roundhouse kick, this kick focused on speed and aim as in Muay Thai. But… … There’s nothing much of note. Is he testing me? Ichiyama had faced countless people with kicks at this level. — Ichiyama – Dodge Tech – Take – Sway Back – Hit. After confirming that his opponent was neatly rotating on the heel of his pivot leg, he bent his upper body back to escape the path of the kick. Or he should have. “!?” The strike from the armored hit pointer attached to Hisahide’s white sneakers scored a solid blow on the side of Ichiyama’s broad jaw. With a dull sound of impact, Ichiyama’s large body floated up into the air. … What just happened!? He had successfully dodged with his Tech. … So why did the kick still hit me? — Ichiyama – Gym Tech – Take – Stabilize – Hit! Using a sway back to dodge had been a stroke of good luck. If he had ducked, he would have been hit by a counter. The kick had been stronger than it looked. — Ichiyama – Steel Tech – Take – Control False Eye “Akashi” – Miss. The impact had removed the effects of his false eyes. With the power of Akashi gone, Hisahide had suddenly become a mere silhouette as he rushed further forward. Ichiyama was at a disadvantage. However, he did not rely on the power of his false eyes. He instead worked to solve the mystery of how his opponent had broken his Dodge Tech. … It would be dangerous not to take this seriously. With a metallic flavor in his mouth, he sang his Words. In the cold, still air The force that disturbs the field via destruction Is born of a grand power That song caused his arms to explode. This was the Explosion High Rhythm. A series of explosions resided in the fists of his false arms. The ether floating in the air was not transformed into gunpowder or fuel. It was transformed into pure impacts and explosions. A roar came from each fist. The destructive power of an impact from them was at its highest level. If his opponent blocked, their arm would be blown off and a solid hit would blow them away altogether. — Ichiyama – Explosion High/Boxing Tech – Multiple Take – Consecutive Attacks – Hit. “…!” The pistons of his false arms began to run, giving him complete control over both straight and curved motions. With the limiters cut and with the reinforced organs contained within his body to endure the extreme movement, he could pull off a barrage of twelve hits a second. His Boxing Tech had succeeded, so if Hisahide’s Dodge Tech failed… “Is that all you’ve got?” Nakamura Hisahide did not even use a Tech. He simply danced into Ichiyama’s storm of fists as if nothing was happening at all. … Is he insane!? Despite Ichiyama’s question, his fists never hit his opponent. Hisahide avoided all of the attacks as if bending his body in a dance. He bent forward, right, left, forward, and back. Even as the bottom of his mountain hoodie was torn by the explosions, he slowly walked forward. There was no hint of excitement or worry on his face. Even a grazing hit from the Explosion High Rhythm would blow someone away, so people were normally filled with fear. The Explosion High Rhythm briefly slowed, so Ichiyama frantically opened his mouth to send the Rhythm’s Message to his body. But… “That’s not going to help.” With those words, Hisahide arrived right in front of Ichiyama. His clothing was torn up, but he himself was completely unharmed. Ichiyama came to a stop when he saw it, but Hisahide took action. While standing right in front of Ichiyama, he thrust his knee up to chest height and threw a kick. His lower leg drew a swift sideways arc and his toes flew toward Ichiyama’s jaw. This kick required great flexibility. … ! A belated chill ran down Ichiyama’s spine. His response was entirely powered by instinct. He tried to block the kick from below using his Explosion High fist. — Ichiyama – Dodge/Boxing Tech – Take – Block – Hit! Instead of dodging, he defended. He would take a good bit of damage, but the technique was guaranteed to succeed unless his opponent’s attack failed. After all, he was using the Explosion High Rhythm. Hisahide would not escape this unscathed. However, that assumption was completely overturned when the kick struck his jaw from directly below. “…Gh!?” He did not understand. He had never heard of an attack that could slip past an absolute defense. … What’s going on? He truly did not understand, but he did know two things: First, he was collapsing backwards. “Seaaaaaaaahhhh!” And second, Hisahide’s right heel was swinging down toward his face like a battle axe. His consciousness cut out almost immediately. ### Part 3 11:10 PM Kasumi Ryuuichi was 1st Special Duty Officer of Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers and his primary duty was to relay intelligence. But at the moment, he had abandoned that duty to instead face an opponent on a bridge passing through the mountains. The moonlight seemed to drip down on top of Kasumi as he faced an opponent who wore a white blouson, jeans, and a shirt around their waist for defense. Kasumi focused on the somewhat androgynous face of this opponent who held a long hexagonal rod. … A girl? He nodded and looked around the area. He saw the moonlit mountains and river. This was the Kagamihara Mountain Range located between Nagoya and Gifu. He had been trying to carry his intelligence to the Kansai region while avoiding the intense fighting on New Route 155 which would have taken him from Inuyama Station to the Nagoya region. … The West Japan Chancellors are holding a meeting about Ixolde in Kansai. He had intended to escape and use a direct line of communication in Gifu, but the enemy had caught up. Speed was his main selling point as 1st Special Duty Officer, but someone had caught up from behind. “…” He pulled a memo pad from the attaché case he held under one arm and placed it in his pocket. That memo pad was special made in the Mountain and carried by any 1st Special Duty Officer. It contained the information left behind by the previous holders of that position. … I can’t let it fall into enemy hands. The attaché case would only be a burden during a fight, so he threw it down on the road. He took a deep breath, pulled headphones from his pocket, and switched the MD on. He raised the volume to an Octave of 160,000 and sent his main weapons from his sleeve and into his hands. They were dart knives. He held one, two, three, and then four between the fingers of both hands. — Kasumi – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. He heard a freight train. “…” It was probably transporting lime or something. But he did not panic. Only one track crossed this bridge. That straight-line layout was ideal for a knife-thrower like him. He prepared to throw and waited for his opponent to make their move. He gently tensed his body with his hips lowered. Before throwing, he would gather strength in his entire body rather than just his arms, so he needed to release that tension like a spring. His hands sank into the opposite pockets and his eyes focused on his opponent. That opponent gave him a disinterested look with the hexagonal rod sill in her right hand. Then her lips moved to form a question. “Out of respect to a fellow warrior, I will ask your name.” “…And if I don’t tell you?” “You will be a loser who I don’t even bother remembering. That’s all.” “And If I win? What then?” “Don’t worry. You’ll lose.” With that cheerful answer, she gave a jerk of her chin to demand he answer. Kasumi smiled bitterly as he complied. “Nagoya 1st Special Duty Officer Kasumi Ryuuichi. My Dance Combat is the Secret Five Families Style.” She nodded and responded in kind. “Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. My Dance Combat is the Shinkage Style.” Kasumi frowned at the region she mentioned. “Tokyo!? Are you invading Kantou!?” “Does it matter? For this fight anyway? More importantly…” “More importantly?” “I have two questions. To start with…have you ever been to Osaka?” “?” “I’ve heard there are cherry trees that bloom even in winter there. I’m searching for them.” “Someone from Tokyo is interested in Osaka’s cherry blossoms?” “If you don’t know, that’s fine.” She took a breath. “My other question is about Osaka’s Chancellor who uses the Modified Purple Electricity Style which includes the Kage Style. …How strong is he?” “Haven’t you heard he defeated an ogre that appeared in Osaka two years ago?” “An ogre, hm?” Her response was terribly calm. To make sure Kasumi did not have a chance to attack, she remained in her combat stance as she sighed. … Cherry trees that bloom in winter and Osaka’s Chancellor? There’s something more to this Vice Chancellor of Zenon City Tokyo. Kasumi’s thoughts were cut off by the sound of the freight train. It had grown a lot louder, it came from behind him, and it was surprisingly close by. “I need to get this intelligence through no matter what.” With that, the back of his tensed body swelled out. He stopped breathing and everything else stopped too. Then, it all suddenly exploded. “Seaaaahhh!” His left hand shot up. It moved too quickly for the average person to see. — Kasumi – Draw Tech –Take – Rapid Throw – Hit! Four silver lines raced through the air. He was aiming below the enemy’s collarbone, below her chest, at her hip, and at her thigh. The locations drew a vertical line down her right half. Aoi Hijiri responded with a vertical swing of the hexagonal rod in her right hand. As the metal rod covered her vitals, four knives stabbed into it up to the hilt. The four nearly identical sounds seemed to pierce straight through Kasumi and brought a chill to his skin. Aoi started forward after catching the knives, but that was when Kasumi’s right arm shot upwards. “It’s still my phase!” As he pulled his right hand from his left pocket, it was wrapped in ether light. He was adding in his Rhythm. — Kasumi – Draw Tech – Take – Rapid Throw – Hit! The knives were wrapped in ether light this time. They were aimed at Aoi’s left side, making it a mirror image of the previous attack. Her right hand had stopped after the previous movement and she could not yet move again thanks to the impact and weight of the knives remaining in the hexagonal rod. “…” Instead, she moved her left hand. To Kasumi, it looked like she turned diagonally and held her left arm at her waist. He smiled a little. … Don’t think you can dodge my attack by turning to the side. With that thought, he recited his Words. He jumped straight to the climax. Beyond the farthest reaches of time Beyond the most distant lands Where power becomes a harmony of destruction — Kasumi – Explosion High/Mind Tech – Multiple-Take – Remote Control – Hit! The ether wrapped around the back of the four knives became explosions. A quartet of bursting sounds followed The path of the four silver lines changed like ricocheting bullets. But their angle was not all that changed. Their speed also increased considerably. They had been given the kinetic energy of both the throw and the explosions. Aoi’s expression changed. She could not follow the changed path of the knives with her eyes. One flew toward her throat, two toward her right chest, and one toward her solar plexus. Even if both her arms were metal prosthetics, she could not fully cover that complex intersection of attacks. … There’s nothing she can do! But her left arm demonstrated its opposition to that thought. That arm was much slower than the flying knives, but a portion of it still brushed against the four knives as it made a flowing forward motion. That settled it all. The four knives fell to the ground. ### Part 4 11:14 PM Kasumi watched in a daze. He understood what had happened. He had seen it with his own eyes. First, Aoi’s left hand had shot forward while drawing an outward-facing spiral. At the end of the jab, her palm was facing upwards. By then, the knives should have reached her body, but they had changed direction again. They seemed to have been swallowed up by the spiraling motion of her left arm. They were like branches caught in whirlpool. It had only lasted an instant, but they had clearly swam along with the motion of her left hand and then been deflected. He could see a large outward-facing wrinkle in the left sleeve of her blouson. He did not know what kind of power it was or even if it came from within or without, but a great power had created a current there to apply a twist to the straight movement of the knives. … What was that? A simple touch had caused the blades to fall despite each one flying in from a different direction. She was entirely unharmed. … What was that!? No one answered his question. Meanwhile, Aoi silently spun the hexagonal rod in her right hand. She pointed the grip toward Kasumi so the knives stabbed into it were closer to her. She grabbed the hilt of the topmost knife and slowly pulled it out. With a sound that brought a chill to his teeth and she held the knife’s long hilt in her slender fingers. Ether light glowed in her hand and her lips parted. She produced upbeat drum and bass Words. Beyond the farthest reaches of time Beyond the most distant lands Where power becomes a harmony of destruction That was Kasumi’s song. She did not have an MD. She simply uttered the Words from her own mouth. “!?” She ignored his confusion. — Aoi – Draw Tech – Take – Rapid Throw – Hit! The knife moved swiftly but horribly silently. Its speed as it flew straight toward his chest filled him with vivid fear. “…!” — Kasumi – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Miss! — Kasumi – Gym/Dodge Tech – Multiple Take – Leaping Dodge – Hit! As soon as he took a large jump backwards, Aoi jabbed her metal rod into the railroad crossing the bridge. A solid sound rang out. — Aoi – Explosion High –Take – Remote Control – Hit! An explosion suddenly appeared on the back of the knife and it ricocheted. “!?” Before Kasumi could feel surprise, the knife stabbed into his left leg. It plunged deep into the limb. “…Wha-!?” His voice of question was accompanied by pain racing through his brain. She had definitely used his techniques and Words. The force of the throw, that way of using the Explosion High, the intensity of the blast, and the Words that should only have belonged to him were no different from what he had used. … What is going on!? “You deflected all my attacks…and copied them…?” The answer to his question contained an overwhelming meaning. “I surpass you.” He tried to oppose her words, but his voice of protest would not come. Instead, the pain from the knife in his leg brought a scream. And that voice was answered by a steam whistle behind him. A mechanical roar and artificial light washed over him from behind. The freight train was rushing toward his back as he crouched at the edge of the bridge. The tracks shook and let out a metallic groan to tell him of the great weight approaching. With his leg injured, he had no way of avoiding the train. “…!” He gasped. “Do I really have to go to the trouble?” With that question, he heard Aoi sigh right by his ear. … !? By the time he saw her graceful face in front of him, she had already grabbed his collar. “What are you doing!?” he asked in utter fear. “The loser doesn’t get to speak.” With that, she threw him into the river below. … ! A cry of terror and surprise escaped his throat. As he flew through the air, the metal bumper of the freight train’s first car grazed his feet. That first car continued on and passed through the position Aoi had stood in. It had hit her. He could not imagine any other outcome, yet he was confident that girl who claimed to be Tokyo’s Vice Chancellor had not been hit. A beat later, he fell into the winter river and broke through the surface. He sank deep into the chilly water. ### Part 5 11:17 PM A new figure appeared on New Route 155 where the Tokyo Chancellor and Nagoya Vice Chancellor had fought. Five minutes had passed since the fight ended. A tall, skinny boy in a first-class three-piece suit took long strides to catch up to the boy in a red mountain hoodie. The long scarf draped over his shoulders blew in the night wind as he spoke. “Nagoya’s Vice Chancellor was on the ground back there. Did you kill him?” Hisahide shrugged and shook his head at the sharp question. “It isn’t easy with just my hands and feet. I can’t pull off a one-hit kill.” “That is the weakness of White Noise. Although that talent does allow you to use silence to ignore Techs and Rhythms that are programmed using the flow of Lives.” He pulled rectangular glasses from his suit’s breast pocket and placed them on his nose. “I doubt Nagoya thought someone like that could actually exist. According to legend, I believe the last Harmonist existed thirteen years ago.” “As the Kinki Riot continued to intensify over the course of a year, two Chancellors personally brought it to an end: Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai and Tokyo Chancellor-…” “And the only one who can follow in their footsteps is you, Nakamura Hisahide.” When the tall boy interrupted, Hisahide nodded, smiled bitterly, and looked at the silver ring on his right hand. “And yet I used to be called worse than a Dis-Worder because I couldn’t use Techs or Rhythms.” “Yes, even a one-in-a-million Dis-Worder can apparently use Over Rhythms and Techs.” “It’s like the Ugly Duckling. After all, that turned out to be a shortcut to being the strongest.” “…The strongest, hm? To think the key to unifying east and west was strength.” The boy stroked the scarf that floated around him like the legendary hagoromo of a tennin and Hisahide smiled bitterly. “Ikemaru, where’s Aoi?” “She is apparently dealing with a runner. She will meet up with us in Nagoya.” “Hold on. So she isn’t with Takada?” Ikemaru quietly nodded. “Even if she is my cousin, it is not my job to look over that Dog God user.” “So you ran on up here, leaving my future wife all on her own?” “I did not run. I walked.” Ikemaru ignored Hisahide’s bitter look as he continued. “Besides, I doubt Takada Seigi of all people would want anything to do with you. She did give you a prophecy, though.” “A prophecy, huh?” Hisahide nodded. “Have we finished all the preparations to make me king?” Ikemaru used a hand wearing black leather gloves to pull two pieces of paper from his pocket. They were charms. “As Ikemaru Takahiro, future representative of the Ikemaru family, I have sealed two powerful kotodama. One is for Ixolde and the other…well, it will likely help you on your way back to Nagoya.” “You couldn’t make it three?” “I am traveling with you as an inspector, but helping that girl find what she is looking for matters more to me. …But don’t worry. You could even call the words inside these ‘excessive’.” “So we have the two charms. That leaves an underground map and information on Ixolde. The former we can swipe from a government office, but what about the latter? The HQ for Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers?” “Most likely. And on the personnel front, Master Iba will be joining us later.” “Now I’m worried. That old man should have no trouble getting into Osaka. But the person we really need here is Takada, so where is she? I haven’t seen her since you blew away the station’s roof back there.” “The Dog God will protect her. I assume she’s helping heal the injured. I can hardly believe the way she thinks sometimes.” “That’s because she’s pure. Unlike you.” Hisahide gave a deep sigh. “This has been a long story, but getting to Nagoya is something like the halfway point.” “Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t met Master Iba at the Mountain.” “Three years ago, huh? Ikemaru, what were you doing back then?” “Facing the death of that girl’s mother.” “Don’t say that so casually. Aoi wouldn’t want that, would she?” Hisahide turned around and started walking down New Route 155. He resumed his journey to Nagoya. “Let’s go, Ikemaru. We don’t need anything else in Nagoya. If possible, I want to regroup with Takada and Aoi there…and then we make our attack on Osaka.” “You’re really doing it? You’re going to make yourself king? You’re going to crush Osaka as they build something as ridiculous as Ixolde?” Hisahide answered with a nod and simply stated his own personal theory. “There only needs to be one king.” ### 257. Chapter 4: Battlefield Arrangements (Screen Layout) – (12/18/1996) ### Part 1 11:36 AM A large enclosed space was visible from a hall surrounded by glass. The hall stuck out like a ship’s bridge and was filled with operating equipment. Beyond the glass was a square pit with one hundred meter sides, rivaling the size of a dock. This was the operating room for the Ixolde Word Accelerator and it was located below Osaka Prefectural #2’s schoolyard. Shutters had covered the glass the day before, but now a giant mechanical pillar made its presence known as it rose from the darkness. That pillar that appeared to be connected to a giant container was a Babel Gun. Instructions from the operating room would fire pure compressed words down from the top of the Babel Gun. The fired words would accelerate as they collided with the word particles of light inside the acceleration pathway. Upon reaching the turnaround point at the very bottom, the excess heavy word dregs were cast off as the words bounced back up. Those words were further accelerated by the ricochet effect. They were gathered inside the ascending acceleration pathway that fired word particles of darkness. Darkness pulled in the words with the same speed as the light. As the words travelled up the long pathway, the ricochet effect would cause them to scatter, but they were kept together by the double helix Babel Gun positioned near the surface. The pure Lives had been given acceleration by the double arrangement of light and darkness. As they reflected around the double helix pathway, they gathered together and accelerated more and more. The Babel Gun contained a pocket to record the voice emitted when the words surpassed the speed of time. “We are after the sound that reaches the voice pocket when the maximum value is reached.” That comment came from a student in a lab coat standing in front of the large window giving a view of the Babel Gun. He was speaking to Nanba Souichirou and Saki Seiji who stood in front of him. Once he finished his explanation, he gave a quick bow and left. Drawn by his movement, Saki Seiji looked back. As he and Souichirou remained in front of the window, the students working on the final setup of the operating room were inspecting programs and equipment or running simulations of the final stage. A large digital clock next to the room’s entrance told Saki it was eleven in the morning. The large terminal below the clock was the mainframe for connecting directly to Ixolde’s core. Once the activation password was typed into that terminal the following day, Ixolde would boot up. Some technical terminology and instructions were exchanged, footsteps rushed here and there across the floor, and fingers typed furiously at keyboards. “…” Saki faced forward again. Standing next to him, Souichirou had his one eye focused on the Babel Gun standing tall in the space before them. Saki scratched his head with the attaché case in his hand. “So we’re finally activating it tomorrow, huh?” “Yes. …At this point, only Nagoya’s Chancellor is taking part, so we must really be hated. I wonder if the others will give their approval if we succeed.” “We have a 100% chance of success here. After all, two years ago-…” “Do not mention that accident.” Souichirou cut Saki off and looked back with his one eye. Saki also turned around and saw the work being done by the science club elites selected from different schools. They were all doing their very best to get Ixolde up and running by the following day. Saki scratched his head again and spoke up hesitantly. “Well, Nandaimon has always hated Ixolde and tomorrow night isn’t going to be any different, right? They’re coming for the night’s Osaka security meeting, but they didn’t come to see the inside of this place.” “Nandaimon’s leader, Yuuki Senga, is the only human in Japan who can teach how to use Heavy Rhythms. She sealed those techniques away at the end of the Kinki Riot, so it’s understandable she would not want them appearing in the world once more.” “Heavy Rhythms, huh?” “I heard at the Mountain that it was their presence that caused the Kinki Riot.” “What do you think of that Killing Holder girl? Is she the same as Yuuki Senga?” “You met her yesterday, didn’t you? When you had to ‘clean up’ after the Koto Guardian.” “She’s no laughing matter,” said Saki quietly. “She has exclusive access to the world’s only combat satellite, the Suzaku Ver. 40, and she wields the giant staff Housei, which was given its power using Death Techno.” “She destroyed an entire schoolyard and school building, didn’t she? That goes beyond an Octave of 5,000,000.” “There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to her. After that stuff yesterday, some weird people showed up.” “Weird?” “Yeah.” Saki pulled an MD from his pocket. “I recorded the commotion if you want to hear it.” “You will play it for me?” “Of course.” Saki smiled bitterly as he shoved the MD into an MDD and played it. “There’s a bit of static…but they really were weird.” A quiet voice played from the headphones extending by a cord from Saki’s neck. “Get lost.” “That was the Koto Chancellor. Next up is the Nagoya Chancellor. They confront each other right away.” “Oh? Yer willin’ to get that close with yer staff? Does distance not matter with yer power?” And immediately afterwards… “Hyah!” “A moron was standing between the Chancellors, so the Nagoya Chancellor shoved him toward the Koto Chancellor.” “So that was a boy’s scream?” asked Souichirou as he crossed his arms. “Yuuki…” “The moron muttered that just before he was tossed behind her by the collar.” “!?” “See? Now, this next line is a big one.” “It is no use. If you try using a student as a shield, I will simply kill both of you.” Saki and Souichirou’s expressions changed at the word “kill”. They exchanged a glance and waited for more sound without nodding. Their silence was answered by Taeko’s staticky voice. “A shield? …Hah. Ya haven’t seen this guy for two years…and ya call him a shield?” “The Killing Holder probably would.” “Hey. I thought ya’d be at least a little worried ‘bout Shoui, so what’s this? Yer callin’ him a shield that’s keepin’ ya from movin’?” “What else could he be?” That line was immediately followed by a low rumble from the headphones. The sound continued for a while. “That’s the Nagoya Chancellor’s Dragon Emperor automatically starting up. It went all the way up to the third stage right off the bat. She was pretty mad.” “Hold it right there!” “…Shoui!?” “The moron restrained the Koto Chancellor from behind, which really surprised the Nagoya Chancellor.” A sound resembling shattering glass came from the headphones. “Yuuki!?” “You morons!” Saki’s voice and the sound of breaking rock came next. “Was he unable to restrain the Koto Chancellor, so she still managed to launch an attack?” asked Souichirou. “I used my spear to destroy the pillar of ice she sent flying. She’s a frightening girl. That was a clash between Chancellors.” “C’mon, now! This is Osaka! Why are you acting so impulsively, Koto Chancellor!? Are you still going to act selfish after blowing away some students from our territory!? You too, Nagoya Chancellor!” “Didn’t I tell you before?” “You mean that you’ll do what it takes to take advantage of any opportunity? You did, Chancellor of the Turbulent City.” “And that’s exactly right. Turbulent City – Nagoya will use any means necessary to survive, even if it means bringin’ shame to ourselves. …That’s been our motto since the Warring States period.” “An excellent opinion,” said Souichirou. Saki grimaced and the voice from the headphones spoke his thoughts for him. “Once you reach the Chancellor level, you aren’t supposed to get to know people like that! Do you think this is a friendship manga!? Not to mention that Osaka is busy with Ixolde right now.” “Oh, shut up. Nagoya is full of fightin’ on a daily basis. We sit on the dividin’ line between east and west, so information warfare and corporate warfare are bein’ waged on a daily, hourly, and even secondly basis. Do ya understand? …We can only trust someone who’s either lost to us or defeated us.” “But…” “I said shut up. Don’t you agree, Shoui?” “…” The slight static of silence continued for a while. “Oh, go ahead and continue talking, boss.” “What are ya doin’, ya moron?” “Can you not feel this dangerous atmosphere?” asked Saki’s voice. “Eh? Well, given the situation, I just couldn’t help myself, so, um, uh…” Saki switched off the MD there. “Now then,” he said with a serious expression. “We parted soon after that. …The Nagoya Chancellor’s brother was killed by the Koto Chancellor, but she got weirdly angry partway through there. …Did you notice it?” “Yes. After the Koto Chancellor treated the ‘moron’ you mentioned so carelessly, she started acting weird.” “That moron was our new student you saw yesterday. The Dis-Worder boy who for some reason stayed at the Nandaimon Shrine until two years ago.” Saki took a breath. “He apparently met the Nagoya Chancellor at the Mountain. …Just as the legend says, the Dis-Worder boy is bringing calamity to Osaka.” Souichirou gave a small bitter smile. He opened his eye and held his right false arm forward to touch the large window there. His spread palm pointed toward the Babel Gun that looked like a layered container. “This is a lot like two years ago.” “Yeah, it is.” “Do you think an ogre will appear this time too?” “You’ll defeat it if it does, won’t you?” “…” Souichirou fell silent, so Saki did as well. The ensemble of typing reached them from behind. Souichirou finally spoke slowly as if to deny the rapid pace of the keystrokes. “We will create the ultimate Rhythm here. …I just hope no calamity befalls the supernatural music of the Heavy Rhythm that no one can use. But if calamity does befall it, will it be an ogre?” “As long as you don’t have to cut down a person. We can’t have you being called a Killing Holder too.” “I see. But…” “?” Saki tilted his head and Souichirou asked him a question. “That moron you mentioned… He seemed flustered at the end. What happened?” “Oh, that.” “You said he was restraining the Koto Chancellor from behind, didn’t you?” Some serious suspicion filled Souichirou’s gaze, so Saki placed a hand on his chin as he quietly responded. “While standing behind the Koto Chancellor, he moved his arms sharply around like this…” “I see.” “And he fondled her breasts.” ### Part 2 1:28 PM A vermilion shrine stood quietly in the afternoon sun. It was Nandaimon Shrine. Its current master, Yuuki Senga, stood before the sanctuary. The entrance to the vermilion wooden structure was closed by a bulkhead painted with yellow and black danger stripes. “Use Extreme Caution” was written in red letters at the center. “…” Senga silently operated the key panel on the wall next to it. She pressed a few keys and inserted a card she pulled from her pocket. After a pause, she pressed her thumb against a point on the panel. — Senga – Mechanic Tech – Take – Machine Operation – Hit. The bulkhead moved. It had looked like a solid piece, but it split into four pieces and receded into the sanctuary wall. The sanctuary had looked wooden on the outside, but it was a fully-equipped modern shelter on the inside. The bulkhead revealed a slope leading underground. In the darkness beyond, another bulkhead could be heard opening. It led to the sanctuary proper. The low sound of heavy moving metal was accompanied by the slope’s lights turning on. The bright light reflected off the flexible gray metal of the walls and floor. Senga stared down the pathway and sighed. “Maybe it’s about time to let Yuuki put the sanctuary and history books to rest. Her grandfather’s soul hasn’t been showing up lately…” She complained as she walked down and reached for a touch panel on the wall. When she did… “Hey, wait! Wait just a second!” She turned in surprise toward a male voice. A boy stood there. He wore a red mountain hoodie with a tattered bottom and he looked young. … Is he a student? But… “Is sneaking up on a woman without letting her sense your presence your idea of a greeting?” “Sorry, sorry. But my personal rules say you can only yourself a woman up to the age of twenty-eight. You didn’t know that?” “I don’t like to brag, but I turned twenty-five this year.” “That I didn’t know. That’s called being a nonagenarian, right?” “…Are you trying to pick a fight? What brings a Critical Forcer here?” The boy whistled lightly at what she said. “That’s the former head teacher at the Mountain for you. How could you tell my Combat Style?” “The soles of your shoes are scraped up at the toes. That’s because you shift your center of gravity with kicks, isn’t it? It’s impressive that both shoes are like that.” “I see…” He looked into the sanctuary behind Senga. “I’ve been wondering. What’s in there?” “What will you do if I tell you?” “Feel impressed. …Hey, quit sighing and tell me.” “Hah. This is where the Devices, prosthetics, and history books created by the Nandaimon Shrine are kept. They’re all so old that their spirits tend to get a little rowdy, so they have to be put to rest once a day.” “Hmm. Do you have the rumored hand of that Rashoumon ogre? Y’know, the arm of the ogre Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou fought and slayed last year.” Senga smiled bitterly. “That arm is valuable for research, so it’s being preserved. But it wasn’t a Rashoumon ogre.” “That’s just what the rumors say. I don’t actually think it was either.” “You’re an interesting boy. Everything you say is so vague. …What are you truly after?” Senga gave a small smile and the boy smiled back. “I’m here to defeat the Koto Chancellor.” Both the sudden comment and how casually he had said it left Senga speechless. A short time passed. “…What?” “After all, she’s the only Chancellor that’s killed someone over the last ten years, right? Nanba Souichirou’s strong too, but he killed an ogre, not a person. That means defeating the Koto Chancellor would be better from an image standpoint.” “…” “Huh? Eh? Umm, don’t give me that scary look. I was just stopping by, but she wasn’t here. She wasn’t at her school either. I had nothing to do with her gone, but then I spotted you.” With that, he took a step toward the inside of the sanctuary. “Do not go inside!” shouted Senga. “…” “The sanctuary is under constant surveillance from the Suzaku Ver. 40 in orbit.” “You mean that combat satellite that was launched before the Wort Bombe created the Great Canopy? …So what about its surveillance?” “If anyone but me goes inside, a word particle cannon will fire on them from orbit when they leave. Do you want to be hit by a cannon blast that destroys everything in a kilometer at full power?” “That’s just cruel. Wouldn’t you destroy your own Koto region with that?” “It’s better than having anything taken from here. The people of Koto are prepared for that.” “Hmm.” The boy nodded and took a step back. He stuck both hands in his mountain hoodie’s pockets and let out a disinterested sigh. “The Suzaku Ver. 40 is a machine, so it wouldn’t be using a Tech to fire… And even if I dodged it, I wouldn’t be in the clear with a blast of that size.” Senga frowned at that. “Tech? Dodged it?” “Hm? What about it?” Senga stared at the boy’s face and their gazes clashed. It took some time before she spoke. “I once…” She took a breath as if hesitating. “I once heard someone say the same thing as you. During the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago, an idiot said they could dodge the Suzaku Ver. 40’s cannon.” “…” “Tell me your name and your teacher’s name.” “Will you fire on me from orbit if I don’t?” “That might not help if you’re who I think you are.” “You’re overestimating me,” he said with a bitter smile. He straightened his back, looked down at Senga, and spoke with a pleasant smile. “I’m Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. …My teacher’s name is Iba Masaaki. You know him, don’t you?” His question was answered with silence. Senga’s gaze wandered. She looked down, seemed about to say something, and then looked Hisahide in the eye again. “I was right.” “That old man said you, Yuuki Senga, would probably make up your mind pretty quickly.” “Only probably? That idiot’s underestimating me. Does this mean Iba created a White Noise user!?” “I wanted to be one.” “Why?” “To meet my sister and become the king.” Hisahide continued in an almost arrogant tone. “I’d like to hear the opinion of Yuuki Senga, leader of the Nandaimon Shrine, former head teacher of Mt. Kouya’s Mountain, and leader of the Kansai Temple and Shrine League. Are the rumors true that Ixolde is going to create the most powerful Rhythm?” “You came to Kansai because you think they are true, didn’t you?” “I want to hear the truth from you, the only person to oppose the Ixolde project.” He lowered his hips, crossed his arms, and sat on the ground. “I’m not moving until you tell me.” “What will you do if I tell you?” “Cry.” His tone was jocular, but a horrible stillness filled his expression. He looked up at Senga with the look of a student awaiting his teacher’s lesson. — Senga – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. “I see.” “…” “I don’t know what you’re thinking or what you feel obligated to do, but you must deem this necessary.” Hisahide said nothing. He waited motionlessly for Senga to speak, so she responded to his silence. “The Rhythm it will create is far more powerful than the Wind Rhythm Kusanagi that Souichirou uses. It will be the Heavy Rhythm Yamata, aka the Flame High. That mysterious Rhythm is said to exist in this Land of Fire and Land of the Rising Sun.” She took a breath. “But it was lost when used by Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori during the Kinki Riot.” ### Part 3 3:41 PM Osaka was a cramped city. It was known as the sloped city, but the city center was relatively flat. Climbing to the top of a tall tower was enough to see it all. The Osaka Hilton was a hotel in Osaka’s Umeda district. The sky lounge on the top floor of the thirty-five story hotel allowed one to look down on Osaka as the setting sun washed over it. A couple looked down at the city like that from a two-person table by the window. They were Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri and Tokyo Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro. Ikemaru still wore his three-piece suit and black leather gloves while Aoi roughly wore a blouson and jeans. They looked somehow mismatched. “…” Aoi looked at the silhouettes of Osaka that had grown sharper in the setting sun. “I can’t seem to find them, Takahiro.” Ikemaru asked her a question while still looking out the window. “Do you mean Takada?” “Hm? No, not her. The cherry blossoms blooming in winter that my mom mentioned.” “We have only been here for half a day. Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself if you’re even thinking about finding them quite yet?” “Master Iba probably knows the answer, but he can be so stingy.” “He called them the cherry blossoms that bring misfortune, didn’t he?” Aoi nodded. “Apparently, the Tokyo Chancellor and Osaka Chancellor saw them during the Kinki Riot and it brought misfortune to everything.” “The winter cherry blossoms that triggered a riot, huh?” While Ikemaru thought, Aoi turned a slight smile his way. “I’m causing you a ton of trouble by making you come with me, aren’t I?” Ikemaru corrected his posture and looked straight at Aoi. He adjusted his tie a little and took a breath. “Please do not worry about me. My family prides itself in being a family of Japan’s greatest businessmen. That is why my parents agreed that I should visit Osaka while I am young.” “Well, that is why I can stay in a hotel like this. …I’m thankful.” “I am delighted to hear it.” Ikemaru placed a hand on his chest, bowed, and smiled bitterly at the troubled smile on Aoi’s face. “Your parents really are amazing, Takahiro. …Although maybe that’s because I don’t have either of mine anymore.” “Didn’t you come to this city in order to understand the two of them better?” “…” “Before the Kinki Riot, they met below the winter cherry blossoms you mentioned, didn’t they?” “Yes. And that’s what brought misfortune to my mom…and that man. Who told you that?” “Your father when he was alive.” “He always did tend to tell the most important things to people other than his family.” Just as Aoi sighed, their iced coffee and iced tea arrived. Ikemaru took the iced tea and Aoi drank some of the iced coffee without placing a straw in the glass. “Are you sure you don’t want to order a cake or something?” he asked her. “This is being charged to your card, isn’t it?” “I see. And we usually pay with our shared wallet. …But I don’t mind.” “No, I wouldn’t feel right doing that.” “Really?” “Really.” “Is that why you only ordered toast at the restaurant earlier?” “No, that’s because I’m on a diet.” “But my mother told me women are more aesthetically pleasing when a little plump.” “I’m more worried about building up any more muscle. And it’s an issue with my personal aesthetics.” “What do you mean by that?” Ikemaru tilted his head and Aoi answered with her head resting on her hand. “You’re the kind of person that split us up between a boys room and a girls room, so you wouldn’t understand.” “?” He tilted his head and she smiled bitterly. “That’s why we haven’t made any progress after fourteen years together.” “?” “It’s fine, it’s fine. More importantly, has Seigi really not made it to Osaka yet?” “I did tell her about this place when we left Tokyo.” “She’s your cousin, so you need to take better care of her. …Besides, did you tell Taromaru too? That girl can make prophecies, but she can be a little careless when it comes to reality.” Aoi’s gaze turned toward Ikemaru’s hands. He wore black leather gloves as if to hide them. The corners of his mouth tightened a little when he noticed her gaze. “Are you afraid of my power?” “No. I know that your tone of voice changes when you speak with me.” She looked to the seat next to him. His scarf was draped over the back of the chair. “Thanks for using that crappy handmade one.” “And thank you for being so kind to someone as constantly rude as me.” “It’s fine. And I’m not much better since I tend to talk in a pretty masculine way with other people.” “I think it has a wonderfully gallant ring to it.” “Oh? Then will you speak to me as rudely as you do to others?” “I cannot do that. You are a unique and precious person to me, so of course I would speak to you differently from others.” “Well, as long as that’s what you really think. I still have room for improvement too.” “Is there a problem with your Shinkage Style that opposes Rhythms with a divine shadow?” “That’s not what I meant.” Aoi looked to the leather gloves covering Ikemaru’s hands. “It’s okay, Takahiro. I’m willing to use the power of my Shinkage Style to let you touch me.” “Then what is the problem?” “I know why you won’t kiss me on the lips,” she said quietly. “Kissing someone on the lips lets you read their Live, doesn’t it? You’re a Word Master, after all.” “Sorry.” “You don’t need to apologize. I like the stylish compromise we have going. Remember what you’ve always said? A kiss to the forehead is for parental love, to the cheek is for friendship, and to the eyelid like you always do…” She smiled bitterly. “Now I’m too embarrassed to finish.” “Just remember that a kiss to the lips signifies lust.” “Oh? How dirty.” He fell silent at her teasing tone of voice and she looked out the window again. She smiled and changed her expression. Her face left no opening. “But Nakamura has it tough, too. He went to finish off the Koto Chancellor today…and then he’s attacking the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers headquarters, right? Will he be okay?” “People are not made to defeat him.” “He tries to hide it, but he’s pretty panicked. …If only Seigi could be by his side.” “None of us can let down our guard until those two are brought back to Nagoya.” Before Ikemaru finished speaking, a sound came from Aoi’s watch. She quickly stopped the electronic tone that rang throughout the quiet lounge and then she looked around. All of the other guests were looking their way, so she shrugged and smiled bitterly. “How about we get going too?” “I have a target prepared. There is a black motorcycle and a white car in the parking lot.” Ikemaru stood up and removed his leather gloves. His hands were untanned, pale, and could almost be described as delicate. “How about we start stirring up some trouble for the Osaka Chancellor and Nagoya Chancellor?” Aoi nodded at the mention of the Osaka Chancellor. “Do you remember that my mom was originally from Osaka?” “She knew a lot about the Nanba family’s Modified Purple Electricity Style of Dance Combat that was derived from the Kage Style.” “I wonder which is stronger, the Modified Purple Electricity Style or the Shinkage style that my mom created with that man?” Ikemaru gave a brief answer to her question. “Today we are only introducing ourselves. I am sure the time will eventually come to truly crush him.” ### 258. Chapter 5: The Battle Begins (Vs. Com. Instructions) ### Part 1 6:30 PM Coastal lights illuminated Osaka Bay in the dark winter night and that bay was visible to the right of a train traveling south. The limited express train cut through the nighttime sea breeze. The third car from the front contained only two people. One was a one-eyed student, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. The other was an elderly man in a suit. They were both silent and motionless. Nanba Souichirou crossed his false arms and stared out the window while the elderly man stared at the boy. A roar cut in through the sounds of the train itself. An airplane was flying low in the sky above Osaka. It was passing over the train on its way to Kansai International Airpor.t Its great mass produced a great noise that made its presence known within the train. The jumbo jet’s lights glided through the sky at what seemed like arm’s reach outside the window. The roar grew more distant and the sounds of the train returned. “…” The two people’s silence continued until the elderly man finally spoke to Souichirou. “The Sakai Branch dojo is up next…but aren’t you tired?” “This is my duty. After what happened two years ago, that is.” “But…” “Iwai, surely you too haven’t forgotten who it was that fought most valiantly against that ogre created from the failed test activation of Ixolde.” “…” “It was gratitude for that and my possession of Kusanagi that led your Houzenji family to support my Modified Purple Electricity Style, wasn’t it?” He smiled bitterly. “But someone else might have been able to defeat it more effectively.” “You are the only one that can slay an ogre as you are a descendent of the Watanabe clan, Japan’s only ogre-busters. Isn’t that why Kusanagi has been passed down by your family ever since the Great Mistake two hundred years ago?” Souichirou interrupted the old man’s admonishing tone. “You certainly are talkative.” Souichirou turned away from the window and calmly crossed his legs, creating the mechanical sounds of prosthetics. “A certain girl has been called the Killing Holder ever since that time.” “You mean the Koto Guardian?” “She can control the Suzaku Ver. 40… Shouldn’t you have asked her to do this instead?” The man did not reply and silence fell. Souichirou faced the window once more and he heard another airplane pass by overhead. “Iwai.” “Yes?” “Enough small talk. Tell me why you took the train with me.” “…Why? What do you mean by that?” “You are Iwai Sanzou, head butler of the Houzenji family. You support the wealthy Houzenji Group and you control the greatest intelligence network in the Osaka region. Are you asking me to believe you appeared before me for no real reason?” The elderly butler named Iwai Sanzou twisted his lips a little at that. He formed a slight smile and looked to Souichirou again. “There is something I wish to tell you and you alone.” “I see your attempts to make people feel indebted to you are as blatant as ever.” “Now,” said Iwai while ignoring that comment. “It is about Nagoya.” “Nagoya? I met with Nagoya’s Chancellor yesterday, but I didn’t hear anything.” “Of course not. The communications network of Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers has been completely wiped out. Without anyone to transport the information, Nagoya’s Chancellor has no way of knowing the details.” “Hm? Are you saying something happened in Nagoya?” “Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers have been destroyed.” Souichirou immediately asked another question. “You haven’t told anyone else about this, have you?” His expression changed a little as he asked. It grew tense. “…?” Souichirou’s gaze landed on a certain shadow on the coastal road running parallel with the railroad track. The golden yellow streetlights revealed the shadow to be a youth on a motorcycle. They were riding alongside the train with the winter night wind blowing their white blouson behind him. The full-face black helmet expressionlessly reflected the streetlights. “Who could that be? I am impressed they can match our speed when it is this cold out.” Iwai Sanzou commented from behind and Souichirou responded by taking action. Without speaking a word, he stood up and drew the sword at his waist. “Souichirou-sama?” “That is an enemy.” “Why?” “Ask them.” As soon as Souichirou said that, the person outside the window moved. The rider pulled something like a rod out of the motorcycle frame and swung it. The golden yellow streetlights reflected brightly off of the rod as it grew longer. It was a metal hexagonal rod. “Stand back, Iwai!” As soon as Souichirou gave a shout, light appeared outside the window. Intense light resided in the rider’s hexagonal rod. That rod instantly became a bullet of light with a diameter of about three meters. “Are they firing a Lightning High Rhythm projectile?” “Not many people can control light on such a large scale.” “Quiet. Move back through the cars and have all the passengers evacuate to the rearmost one.” Iwai Sanzou nodded in agreement and immediately took off running. After seeing the old man pass through the door to the next car back, Souichirou returned his attention to the window. “Should I hurry?” The rider had just raised the giant mass of light atop the motorcycle. The ether being transformed into light and flames by a Rhythm had become a single entity. The three meters of light had become the same as a wrecking ball filled with intense heat. If it hit the train, the train could derail. “They’re at that level…and still unnamed?” As he muttered those words, the light suddenly flew toward him. “Oh?” With a calm voice of surprise, he stopped, turned away from the approaching light, and walked toward the next car up. He took one, two, then three steps. He also sang the Word used to emit his Kusanagi Rhythm. Ah. It was only that short sound. Kusanagi was a Wind Rhythm. Unlike the currently popular Over Rhythms, Wind Rhythms had their foundation in the primitive music of ancient times. No MD was needed to activate them and only the bare minimum was needed to be said in order to break through everything. He swung the sword at his waist. — Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Train Car Slice – Hit! The outside light filled the window and cast Souichirou’s shadow on the opposite wall. Even so, he silently continued walking and took his ninth step. — Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Train Car Slice – Hit! While taking his tenth step, his sword moved twice. The blade calmly drew a large circle in front of him. It was the gentle motion of flowing water and no strength could be sensed behind it. The seats, walls, and floor did not intrude the blade’s movement. It pierced through them all. A moment later, the light collided with the train car. ### Part 2 6:35 PM Light struck metal. The sound of a hammer on stone rang out again and again. The train car shook and the shock-resistant glass shattered when it could not withstand the bending of the metal walls. Souichirou was the only one inside the shaking train car and he remained motionless after sheathing his sword. A roar sounded out. The dry sound resembled splitting stone and it coincided with the bullet of light exploding from its collision. Souichirou was brightly illuminated inside the car and his sword guard eyepatch glowed dully. At the same time, he took action. He gently lifted his vertical scabbard to eye level. “!” He then struck the plastic floor with the tip of the scabbard. The sound of the powerful strike joined the countless metallic screams surrounding him. A change occurred after that. The car was sliced into three pieces. The two gentle slashes made while walking had cut this space free. That block had received all of the impacts and noise and thus took on the fate meant for the entire train. Just like removing a single piece of sliced bread from the loaf, the block was knocked to the left and away from the rest of the train car. Sparks scattered from the floor because the metal pieces were still biting into each other and creating a lot of friction. More sparks flew and all of the movement and noise came to a brief stop. A moment later, the ball of light and hexagonal rod exploded outside the window. After a solid sound, the movement resumed. One step ahead of Souichirou, the floor contained between two straight cracks was lifted up. As that piece toppled over, the floor disappeared upwards. The seats and floor collapsed to the left before Souichirou’s eyes. As soon as the floor reached shoulder height, he used his right false arm to strike the bottom of the floor. With an intense sound, sparks flew from the metal seam and a red circle was drawn around the cut. That settled it all. No more sparks formed. The train car had been completely cut apart. The car separated into three sections with an ensemble of roaring sounds. The giant piece of metal bent and spun as it fell from the elevated track. — Souichirou – Sight Tech –Take – Confirm Landing Location – Hit! They were passing by an elementary school schoolyard. After confirming that the cut-away car fell there, he faced forward again. He stood in the front of the train car and the back of it followed after a short gap. Both had completely escaped the impact of the attack. He heard emergency alarms coming from the unharmed cars. “Souichirou-sama!” The door to the next car back opened and Iwai Sanzou stepped out. He took a few steps into the trisected car and looked around. “Splendid! Well done, Souichirou-sama!” “I am sick of hearing your praise.” With that blunt response, Souichirou looked outside from the edge of the car. The train had stopped accelerating in order to come to a natural stop, but it had not stopped yet. The ocean and coastal road rushed by in his vision. “Did they get away, Souichirou-sama?” — Souichirou – Hear Tech – Take – Track – Hit! “No, I can still hear the engine.” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Reinforced Internals – Hit. “Who exactly…are they?” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Reinforced Muscle Integrity – Hit. “They are an enemy.” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate False Arms ALR-C31 – Hit. “You said that before…” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Activate False Legs LLR-C39 – Hit. “Is any other description needed?” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Cut Prosthetic Limiters – Hit. “You’re still as obsessed with combat as you were two years ago, aren’t you?” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Install Gym Tech Booster – Hit. “That is because I gained this body. Thanks to my two battles with the ogre and thanks to your support.” — Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Install Sight Tech Booster – Hit. “Are you going to pursue them? …What about getting to Sakai?” — Souichirou – Mind Tech – Take – Control – Hit. “I might be late, but I will be there.” With that, Souichirou jumped from the train car. — Souichirou – Gym Tech – Take – Attitude Control – Hit. He landed on the elevated track’s fence and began running. He ran alongside the train for a bit, but he quickly passed it. He was fast. — Souichirou – Savate/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit. He leaped toward the crescent moon floating in the sky. He jumped high enough to look down on the city of Osaka. ### Part 3 6:51 PM The moon was out. It could be seen in the night sky even from the shopping district near Osaka Station. But in a shopping district at nearly seven in the evening, very few people were taking the time to leisurely look up at the moon. Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko was one such leisurely person. She stood in front of the Osaka Hilton hotel that gave a view of both Osaka Station and Hankyu Umeda Station from south of the former station. She was staring into the night sky while sitting on a sidewalk fire hydrant. During this moon viewing, she tilted her head with a cellphone in her right hand. “The emergency line won’t get through? And the Student Council’s number is too busy to get in, so the answering machine kicks in. …What happened?” She set the phone to wait for a call and put it in her pocket. After a sigh, she fixed both her eyes and mind on the moon. She was tall. Even while sitting, she kept about the same height as the people walking along the sidewalk. Her ponytail only accentuated her height. But even so, the three claws of the Dragon Emperor false arm touched the sidewalk as it hung from her left shoulder. It was a massive prosthetic. A green combat-use license plate was attached to the shoulder like an armor panel. The artificial muscles and framework made it an embodiment of offensive functionality. She touched the Dragon Emperor’s armor with her right hand. “It’s been a year since I met Shoui and got this at the Mountain. I still haven’t used its final stage, though.” She stood up and used her flesh-and-blood right hand to stroke the dragon relief on the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder. She stroked it like petting a cat’s back and the shoulder transformed somewhat. The armor split open and bluish-white light escaped the gap. “Hey. don’t get carried away just cause it’s yer monthly moonlight bath.” The Dragon Emperor emitted steam from the exhaust pipe at the top of the upper arm. It was a living motion. A slight sound came from the shoulder armor that was swollen out into a single horn at the top. She had not done a thing, but it began opening and closing its armor panels for some self maintenance. It almost looked like something lurked within the armor. Taeko narrowed her eyes as she watched the Dragon Emperor. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! A stabbing presence suddenly reached her. “!?” After that presence, she heard loud voices. They were screams. The people walking along the road all produced the screams of victims. The killer intent and the attacker were elsewhere. — Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Sound Classification – Hit! Taeko picked through the overlapping screams to listen only to the sound that mattered. It was the rumbling of an engine. The vehicle was clearly out of control instead of driving normally along. It came from the center of the main road to her right. — Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Dragon Emperor #1 Activation – Hit! “Dragon Emperor! Take it up to #3!” With that shout, Taeko turned around and saw her enemy. A white sports car was drifting sideways around the roundabout in front of the station. — Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Spot – Hit. The car was empty. There was no driver beyond the windshield. “Is it being radio controlled!?” She turned her right shoulder forward and held the Dragon Emperor at the ready. “Didn’t ya know a Steel Master has no blind spots or limits?” Meanwhile, the sports car drove straight toward her. The white car bounced over the curb and onto the sidewalk. It was less than thirty meters away, so it would arrive in two seconds at sixty kph. With the sound of tires on the sidewalk, it shot straight toward her. A bus stop was knocked from the sidewalk. The screeching of tires and roar of the wind were louder than the roar of the engine. That was proof that it was picking up momentum with its speed. The sports car brightened its headlights as it charged straight forward. People screamed, but Taeko was unfazed. She had the Dragon Emperor and her enemy was not interested in a simple battle. The change came suddenly. The empty white sports car hopped up. “!?” It was a quick movement. Like a cat pouncing on its prey, the car’s tires acted as legs and it jumped high into the air. It was an impossible action, but it really did happen and the sports car vanished from Taeko’s field of vision. “…Kh!” — Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit! She could no longer see the moon overhead. The white car was blotting out the sky. For the first time in her life, Taeko saw a car perform a moonsault. The mechanical beast intended to crush her. Based on its angle of rotation, the bottom of the car’s front end would strike her. If she dodged, it would slam into the hotel, so she had to intercept it. Her impatience brought a few questions to mind. Why was she being targeted? How could the car perform this odd action? Thoughts about Shoui and Yuuki also raced through her mind. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Focus on Battle – Hit! “Dragon Emperor!” she shouted. “Activate Thunder High!” The Dragon Emperor responded with a full-body roar. The metal arm’s armor trembled as it roared. The vibration had a set rhythm which easily produced the same music as a Rhythm. Taeko sang her Words to match the Dragon Emperor’s cry. She sang the song that summoned lightning. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The Dragon Emperor emitted bluish-white electricity from its shoulder, fist, and claws. Now it only needed to move. The bottom of the sports car had arrived within arm’s reach, so Taeko did not hesitate to step forward. In a normal fight, she would have sent a jabbing feint out from her right shoulder, but that flesh-and-blood arm would be of little use against a car. It all came down to the one attack, so she made her move. — Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Step Forward – Super Hit. — Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Leap – Hit. — Taeko – Thunder High Rhythm/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Ether Strike – Super Hit! A series of Tech decisions created a series of movements. She used her entire body to perform a smash uppercut with the Dragon Emperor and it struck the car’s chassis. Her anti-shock reflective-armor bodysuit briefly fixed her joints in place to receive the Dragon Emperor’s several tons of recoil. There was a loud sound of impact, but it did not end there. She knew the car was empty, so she kept her attack going to the end. While still punching the car from below, she forcibly jumped upwards. With a roar, the sports car was carried into the night sky. The Dragon Emperor’s fist stabbed into the engine space and started tearing through the engine as they continued to ascend. Immediately, the Dragon Emperor emitted lightning in plasma form. The car let out a scream as the heat caused the glass and decorations to explode. This was the power of the Thunder High. The night sky was dyed white. She yelled in the center of that light while tearing the car’s engine to pieces. “Perish!” She swung the Dragon Emperor all the way up. The metal emitted a further scream, the lightning light gathered together, and the car’s bumper was melted apart. Taeko added a gentle rotation to her uppercut and prepared for her landing. The sports car’s white paint had been scorched beyond recognition and the force of the blow sent it flying even higher in the opposite direction from Taeko. Just as she landed, a flower blossomed from the car in the night sky. A deafening explosion sounded out. The crimson flames scattered metal components in every direction. The residual effect of the Thunder High caused each one to become plasma and vanish in midair. Taeko swung up the Dragon Emperor and smiled. At the same time… — Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Detect – Hit. A single person moved against the flow of people who were panicking and gathering on the road. The boy wore an obviously high-quality three-piece suit and had a white scarf around his shoulders. He alone moved against the crowd, was not panicked, did not look to Taeko through his glasses, and calmly walked to the entrance of the Osaka Hilton. “What an odd guy…” Just as she said that, a slight shadow covered the moonlight falling from above. “?” The source of that shadow landed right in front of her eyes. Someone holding a sheathed sword landed there. It happened so quickly that not even Taeko had time to put up her guard. “!?” The sound of his landing had a metallic ring to it. That was the unique sound of someone with prosthetics. Taeko recognize the boy who landed in a kneeling position, so she shouted out on reflex. “Osaka Chancellor…Nanba Souichirou!?” ### 259. Chapter 6: The Battle Assembles (Background Information on Character Traits) ### Part 1 7:01 PM “Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers were?” Taeko spoke to Souichirou with sirens blaring in the background. Souichirou moved his thick head vertically while backlit by the lights of the Osaka Hilton hotel. “I see,” muttered Taeko. “If the 1st Special Duty Officer was taken out, it makes sense that our special line wouldn’t get through.” “Can you contact your family?” “The Student Council must be restrictin’ the information. They didn’t know anything.” “If both the current Chancellor and the Yamashita family that has held the Chancellor position generation after generation are unaware…this is a problem.” Taeko did not even nod. “Nagoya’s Student Council ain’t too fond of the Chancellor’s Officers. As the Turbulent City, our ability to fight gives us more influence.” “So it seems. Is this an internal issue?” “They’ll probably make some kind of decision by the time I get back from seein’ Ixolde. They’ll say they couldn’t contact me.” Taeko gave a bitter smile of self-deprecation and slowly looked around. They stood in front of the Osaka Hilton hotel as sirens blared. The sports car she had destroyed lay upside down in the road running by in front of Osaka Station. “Anyway… To get back on topic, ya chased down the motorcycle that attacked ya, cut it down over there, and found it had no driver?” “Yes. Just as I fired Kusanagi’s sword pressure, the driverless motorcycle tried to turn a corner. And after I destroyed it, I heard another commotion.” “And ya showed up just in time to see the car I’d crushed, huh? …And they were both radio controlled?” “I am having our Special Duty Officers check on that. They are asking a general aviation institute to go over all of the wireless signals for the area at that time. That will tell us if they were radio controlled or not.” Souichirou crossed his false arms. In front of their eyes, youths in school uniforms were frantically running around inspecting the scene and guiding traffic. They all wore armbands with the mark of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers. Taeko commented on them. “Osaka sure does follow the academy rules strictly. We just have all the adults and kids work together without much structure.” Hearing that, Souichirou’s one eye turned to a single police car stopped on the road. A single supervising officer was there. “The academy rules guarantee a separation between the adults and children.” “That started when a bunch of people died in a student conflict and the adults wanted to wash their hands of any responsibility for what the students did, right?” “And now it has spread to the entire world…giving us this.” Sirens filled the air and people ran about to direct traffic, inspect the scene, or question witnesses, but it was all being done by students from Souichirou and Taeko’s generation. “This has the same unpleasant atmosphere as the ogre two years ago.” “But from what I’d heard, ya beat that ogre in the end. And since ya’d cut off the ogre’s arm, it didn’t break down into its component Lives like the rest of it, so it’s stored in the Nandaimon Shrine.” “But the price of victory was my arms, legs, and an eye.” “Nothin’ wrong with that. Now ya’ve got nothin’ more to lose.” Souichirou looked to Taeko’s left arm aka the Dragon Emperor. “Was your false arm a choice?” “A choice?” “Did you choose it of your own free will? That is, did you chop off your original arm for it?” She smiled bitterly back at him. “I had my reasons.” “…” “I am who I am now because of this arm. …Before getting it, there was one person I thought I could never forgive, but, well, now I feel like I could forgive them.” “One person?” “Have ya ever thought about killin’ someone?” Taeko’s bitter smile deepened. “If so, I’ll tell you.” Souichirou said nothing. He simply shrugged and looked up into the night sky as he listened as Taeko’s smile grew to a bitter laugh. The moon floated there. It was a bluish-white crescent moon. ### Part 2 7:13 PM … The moon looked a lot like this on that night. As Shoui muttered those words in his heart, he had already closed his eyes and started sinking into darkness. He was falling asleep. He felt a strong wind blowing around him. When he closed his eyes, he could only sense the wind, the noise, and the floor below him while he was surrounded in darkness. His senses constantly informed him of his own body’s presence sprawled out on the floor. His mind was looking at darkness. If he did open his eyes, he would find himself on the roof of Osaka Prefectural #2’s student dorm building, but he did not do so. There was something he had to remember on his own. It had been worth cutting short his daily nighttime combat training. This had been bothering him since the previous night. This was another important memory besides the one of the pain that had become a phantom pain. “…” He sighed. His vision was filled with darkness. He gave himself over to this unimaginable darkness that he could only see by closing his eyes. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Regulate – Hit. He used some Techs. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Release Memory – Hit. The Tech vividly resurrected his memory. ### Part 3 7:14 PM (12/18/1993) At that time three years before, Yuuki Yuuki had just been named the Koto Guardian and had the current Koto Chancellor’s recommendation for being the next Chancellor. It was a cold and clear December night. Shoui sat below the eaves of the Nandaimon Shrine’s detached room. Yuuki sat next to him. It was the usual situation. He wore his training outfit of a black T-shirt and his school uniform pants. She wore her vermilion and white shrine maiden outfit that acted as the Nandaimon Shrine’s uniform. A night breeze blew through and Shoui spoke while facing forward. “It’s been two weeks since you last visited me during my night training.” “…” Yuuki did not reply, but she did speak. “Sorry.” Her unemotional tone showed no hint of apology, but Shoui nodded. “It’s not like you have a choice. Your grandmother was one of the best during the Showa era…” “It’s because I’m from Nandaimon.” “…” “You were against it, weren’t you? You didn’t want me to become the Koto Guardian.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sensed Yuuki turning to face him. “My grandmother told me the day before yesterday.” That led Shoui to slap his forehead and sigh. “Why does she have to tell everyone about all the pathetic things I do?” “She laughed and said there was a ‘kid’ who was afraid I would leave him.” Shoui let out a sigh of resignation and collapsed onto his back. He sprawled out on the floor. … I can’t believe this. He pulled his bandanna over his eyes to block his view. With his vision gone, he was more sensitive to the presences around him. He heard Yuuki speak without warning. “It seems you were concerned for me, Shoui-kun.” “Now that you’ve found out, it just makes me a worrier.” He pulled his bandanna further down and sat up. He sighed inside his personal darkness. “I can’t believe this. Did you visit me to tell me that?” “You don’t like it?” “It’s pathetic.” “Really? This is complicated.” “What makes it complicated?” “Because I was glad.” Shoui froze in place with his bandanna still covering his eyes, but she did not stop speaking there. “Is it ‘pathetic’ to bring me happiness?” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Hit. Shoui remained silent, so she asked about it. “Why are you so silent all of a sudden? …Did I say something weird?” “Yes, a little… How should I put it? You made me a just a little bit extremely surprised…somewhat.” “What kind of surprise is that?” He responded to the bitter smile in her voice. “I never expected to hear you say that… As rude as that may be.” “Should I have chosen my words more carefully?” He nodded. “It’s a problem.” “Why?” “I’d been keeping quiet because I knew you had become one of those people.” “One of those people?” “…” He tried to maintain his silence but could not. “You’ve become someone who can kill people.” “I see.” “You know why I have no Words, right? During the Kinki Riot…” “You don’t have to tell me.” “I’m afraid of seeing any relatives or people close to me as corpses.” “I said you don’t have to tell me. I understand.” “…You understand?” A small tremor had entered his voice. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Miss. Something like impatience pushed his thoughts forward and formed his next words. “You couldn’t possibly understand… I was trapped in the darkness and had to make a friend of the nothingness…” “Shoui-kun?” When he heard Yuuki’s voice, the night appeared before his eyes. She had pushed up his bandanna. As soon as he felt the night air on his cheeks, she turned his head toward her. “You don’t cry like you used to when you talk about that.” “…” She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him in from the side. Confusion filled his mind and he closed his eyes so as not to look her in the eye. As soon as he did, his head was carelessly pulled even closer. “?” And she kissed him. Surprisingly, it was in a place he could not have seen even with his eyes open: the eyelid. He felt a light sucking sensation on his eye. Her glasses tapped against his forehead through the bandanna. Naturally, neither of them said anything. Enough time passed for a few breaths, but neither of them took a single one. After that span of time that felt both long and short, she removed her lips. She embraced him and he kept his eyes closed. But a slight impatience filled him and he reached for her butt to change the mood. Normally, she would have moved out of the way and lightly scolded him. If she would escape here, he could laugh it all off, but… “Ah.” She let out a quiet voice and permitted his touch. With the slight sound of rustling clothes, she lifted her feet from the veranda and snuggled up next to him. She pressed against him. Shoui’s heart skipped a beat and he reflexively opened his eyes to look up at Yuuki. She looked down at him with the moonlight behind her. Her face was still nearly emotionless and she spoke the first words that came to mind. “You don’t want to?” He reflexively sat up and scratched his head. “Eh? Um, well, how should I put it?” “You really are stupid. …I prepared myself for a lot when I agreed to be Koto’s Guardian and Chancellor.” “…Even for placing yourself in a position where you could kill people?” “Even if I do, I won’t change.” “Really?” “Even if I kill someone, I will still be me.” As soon as she said that, a sudden raindrop fell on his cheek. … !? The raindrop had not fallen from the sky. It had come from Yuuki’s eye. She was shedding tears from her usual expressionless face. “!” The second he saw the tears dripping down her cheeks, he realized that all of his thoughts had been wrong. He sat the rest of the way up and faced her. “…? Shoui-kun?” He shook his head. “I just about let an older girl trick me.” “Eh?” “You’re afraid, aren’t you? You’re afraid of your current situation and that you might change.” “I am not-…” “You have to be. Everything you just said was a lie, wasn’t it?” He embraced her and removed her glasses. She closed her eyes as if to keep him from seeing them, so he kissed her eyelid. “…Ah.” He heard her quiet voice and tasted some slight saltiness on his tongue. He sensed that undeniable flavor. “It tastes a lot like blood…” His casual comment seemed to act as a signal. She lowered her head in his arms and she began to cry. She suppressed her voice and her shoulders shook. She silently shed tears. Shoui held her shaking shoulders and sighed. “You’ve always been stupid… You have a bad habit of putting on an act and trying to solve everything yourself.” “…” “Were you trying to escape the unease by sleeping with me? …Does your current position scare you that much?” She raised her head and her expression left him speechless. The ends of her eyebrows were lowered in the first look of anguish he had ever seen from her. “Yuuki?” He quickly pulled her from his body. Their movements while pressed together had nearly pulled her shrine maiden outfit from her shoulders. “Nn?” She sniffed once to suppress the tears and wiped at her eyes. The tears vanished, but the expression did not. She held that silent anguish inside and asked a question. “…What’s the matter?” Shoui realized his eyes were fixated on her face. “Oh, um…” He quickly began to pull his bandanna down. “You don’t want to?” But those words stopped him. He saw a smile on her face and she continued without the smile crumbling. “You don’t want to spend some of your time on me?” “…Can’t we keep things the way they were? Doing this kind of thing to make up for your fear isn’t-…” She cut him off with a quiet voice. “Can’t you tell I’m blushing?” With that question, she let her clothing drop from her shoulders. With a soft sound, the clothing fell away like a blooming flower. She gathered the clothing around her chest to hide her exposed skin, but she faced Shoui with a bold look in her eyes. “If something happens, will you…?” “Will I?” “Will you protect me from myself?” He knew what she meant by that. If she were to harm someone else, she would be harming herself too. And to protect her from herself, he would need to be by her side at all times. He suddenly recalled her Words. The winter cries out frigidly Someone cries in loneliness They speak words yet nothing is said They speak Words yet nothing is said They simply wait for the ice to melt They draw near and never give up He nodded but still felt hesitant as he spoke. “It’s really not fair to show me the prize in advance…” She narrowed her eyes and smiled. “Don’t act like you haven’t wanted to see this for a long time.” Hearing that, he sighed and gave up. From then on, she had occasionally visited him at night. It had always been on the nights when she left without him to complete a job outside Nandaimon. It had all happened long ago, but it had made Shoui who he was today. ### Part 4 7:27 PM In the present, Shoui looked up at the moon in the night sky and sighed. … Is she who she is now because I didn’t protect her? He could not answer that question. He could think of plenty of causes. He had let her kill someone. He had not been able to stop her from being hurt. He had gone to the Mountain without telling her anything. He had spent two years on meaningless training without contacting her. And most importantly… “Even after that training, I’m not a Chancellor and I couldn’t reach the same level as her.” He got up and walked to the metal fence on the edge of the roof. The wind blowing up along the dormitory wall was powerful. He could see the schoolyard and the giant school building silently rising five stories into the night. The schoolyard had pockmark-like holes dug here and there. However, there was a pattern to the pockmarks. Those dots drew a giant circle with a few more dots drew lines from the center to the cardinal directions. Word Accelerator Ixolde was buried below there. That giant double helix word accelerator was buried two hundred meters belowground. It would create a Rhythm with a Tempo faster than any existing Rhythm could hope to have. “They claim that Rhythm will be presented to the Mountain, but who knows what will happen.” With those words, he turned his back on the schoolyard. The wind hit his back. … What am I supposed to do now? As soon as he thought that, he realized someone was standing in front of him. “!?” He put up his guard on reflex and heard a voice. “Hey, are you the only one here?” Shoui realized who it was. “Oh, Saki-san.” He stood up and took three steps back. He was keeping his distance. When Saki realized what Shoui was doing, he silently pulled out his spear and held it at the ready. “Why are you running away? …And more importantly, what were you doing up on the roof?” “Eh? Well… Um, I was doing a bit of combat training and then some thinking.” “…Combat training?” “I know that look. You don’t believe me, do you? That’s not very nice of you.” “No, it isn’t that.” “If my stomps were making a racket down below, I apologize. That might have been loud.” “Yeah, I’m here because we got some complaints about that.” Saki sighed. “Well, I also used to cause a lot of noise training here.” “Really?” “Yeah, and so did Nanba Souichirou who’s Chancellor now. Back when he hadn’t fought that ogre and had all his limbs, he would train here every night like you were.” “How do you know that? Are you an obsessed fan or something?” “Don’t be stupid. As the 1st Special Duty Officer, I’m in charge of intelligence. Besides, Souichirou and I are from the same year.” Saki held up the black leather attaché case in the opposite hand from his spear. The words “For the 1st Special Duty Officer Only” were printed on it in gold. “Two years ago, there was a malfunction during Ixolde’s test activation being held in the schoolyard in front of you. So many Lives were disturbed that an ogre was born in Osaka.” “I heard about that while I was at the Mountain.” “That ogre lived in the mountains of Sakai and ate people’s Lives, so Souichirou – whose family, by the way, is descended from Ogre-Buster Watanabe no Tsuna – fought the ogre with his Modified Purple Electricity Style of Dance Combat and his Kusanagi Rhythm.” “And during their second fight, Nanba Souichirou won in exchange for losing the use of his arms and legs, right?” “Yes. Ever since that victory, we stopped gathering here.” “Because it reminds you of a time when none of you had been hurt?” “None of your business, moron.” Saki laughed quietly after that. And… “You want to pick up where we left off?” He pointed his spear toward Shoui. The moonlight reflected dully from the blade and Shoui took a few steps back. “W-wait juuust a second. …Sorry, though.” “What is it?” “You seem to think my lack of Words is a wonderful little threat, but why exactly?” “Do you think you’re in any position to order me around?” “Ah, why do adults always dodge the issue like that?” “Don’t be stupid. There’s a reason I can’t tell you. A good reason.” “A reason?” Saki nodded and looked down at the attaché case in his left hand. And… “Since I doubt you’ll accept that, I’ll give you a simple explanation. Ever since a certain incident, the 1st Special Duty Officer of Osaka’s Chancellor Officers has been told to be cautious of any Dis-Worder that approaches us.” “A certain incident?” “Yes, but I can’t get into the details.” “W-wait a second. Um…are you saying your issue with me is based on something like a prophecy!?” Shoui was answered by Words. Saki crossed his arms as if to better hold the attaché case as he began his recitation. Companions vanish Even he vanishes She too vanishes A hand that can hold onto no one remains A hand that fosters destruction remains That hand pleads for no one to leave Saki spoke to Shoui with his arms still crossed. “Once, there was a boy who had no Words. After he and his girl saw some cherry blossoms blossoming in winter, he brought misfortune to Osaka and died. The 1st Special Duty Officer at the time was his friend. …The first page of the history notebook inside this case contains that Officer’s altered Words after seeing it all through to the end.” “Those are some harsh Words…” “Really? I don’t think so.” “But doesn’t ‘pleading for no one to leave’ sound like he isn’t letting their spirits rest in peace?” After saying that, Shoui realized what the Words meant. “He’s asking them to stay by his side even after they’ve died?” “Interpret it however you want. I can’t get into the details, but your situation is awfully like that boy’s.” “You mean bringing damage to his surroundings, dying…and filling someone with sorrow?” Saki did not nod. He simply looked Shoui in the eye. His silence seemed to be pressing Shoui to make a decision. He kept his spear at the ready so he could act at any moment. But… — Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Sense Danger – Hit! — Saki – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Sense Danger – Hit! “…!?” They heard a scream. It came from the dormitory directly below. The two of them exchanged a glance. “Gwaaaaah!” They heard that shout and the shattering of glass from downstairs, but then the noise vanished. “Saki-san!?” / “…What is going on!?” By the time they yelled, they were already on the move. They were running toward the stairs down from the roof. Something was happening downstairs. Most likely, it was a fight. ### 260. Chapter 7: Trembling in Fear (Vs. Human Instructions) ### Part 1 7:46 PM Shoui and Saki ran down the stairs from the roof to the first floor. “What the hell!?” The first thing they saw were collapsed students filling the hallway that cut east to west across the student dorm’s first floor. The hundred meter linoleum floor was covered in people wearing the gray uniform of Osaka Prefectural #2. There were at least one hundred of them. Most of them held weapons and wore armor and they lay unconscious on the floor with no noticeable injuries. “What in the world happened?” — Shoui – Medical Tech – Take – Identity Injuries – Hit. “They were kicked.” “…? You can tell?” “I saw this a lot when I used to do karate. You can tell they took a hit to the jaw from the angle of their neck. See?” — Saki – Medical Tech – Take – Identify Injuries – Miss. “I can’t really tell. But the problem is that this was done by a single person.” “It looks that way to you too, Saki-san? You think one person did all this?” Shoui looked around the hallway. “Come to think of it, what are the defenses like here? Even if it isn’t Nandaimon class, shouldn’t the automatic defenses react to an intruder?” Saki looked to one corner of the ceiling. There was a television camera there, but its power light was off. “This isn’t good. That’s supposed to be connected to the Chancellor’s Officers HQ out back.” Shoui nodded and looked to the collapsed students. He recognized a few he had met over the past few days. He had taken classes with them during the day. He then looked to the doors lining the hallway. They were all open, so everyone had come out to challenge the enemy. “I can’t believe this. Should I revive them all?” “Finding the enemy comes first. …Can anyone move!? Someone who knows where the enemy went!” Someone responded to Saki’s shout. “Your enemy hasn’t run away, idiot. He’s right here.” It was a male voice and it came from the stairway on the left that Saki and Shoui had descended. The two boys looked over in surprise and found the enemy there. ### Part 2 7:48 PM A boy in a red mountain hoodie stood high up on the stairway landing. He brushed up his straight, short-cropped hair as he looked down at Shoui and Saki. “So you had some forces left over, did you?” The first to react was Shoui, not Saki. He took a slow half-step forward. He did not put up his guard and remained in a natural stance. “Um, excuse me. I’m a normal student, so can I just leave? …Gwoh! S-Saki-san!?” Shoui shouted in protest at the kick from the side and Saki glared at him. “Get outta here, moron! And…hey, you! Who the hell are you!? Answer me!” “You really do love your boke and tsukkomi routine in Osaka, don’t you?” “Answer the question I asked!” “Shut up. You’re the one that needs to answer my question. Has Osaka’s Chancellor still not come back?” Saki’s expression shifted from tense to grim when he heard that. “Damn you…” “Hey, you up there! I wouldn’t anger Saki-san if I were you. His special attack is to gang up on you with his friends.” Shoui ducked to avoid the backhand punch Saki threw his way, so Saki glanced back at him. “Why would you dodge that?” “The rules of boke and tsukkomi have nothing to do with this. Oh, and pay attention.” The enemy walked down one step. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. The enemy gave off no killer intent. That meant one of two things. One: the enemy was not taking this seriously yet. Two: the enemy was maintaining a natural stance. Shoui chose the latter, so he gave a shout. “Hold it!” “…?” Once the enemy reached the third step down, Shoui saw him stop. Saki gave Shoui a puzzled look from the side, but he did not care. He simply asked a question of the enemy who stood higher up from him. “Are you here to pick a fight with Osaka’s Chancellor?” “Of course. Besides, after going this far, the Chancellor’s really the only one left.” Saki stepped forward when he heard that. He pulled out two spears and held one at the ready in each hand. “You mean you defeated all the guards!? You defeated Vice Chancellor Hirano and the Special Duty Officers!?” “Yeah, they were quite brave. My officers grew defiant and refused to cross the Altered Line, so they could learn a thing from yours.” “Cross the Altered Line?” “Yes, I’m saying I crossed Nagoya’s ultra-dangerous desert region created when the word structure was destroyed by the nuclear syllable bomb dropped during the Kinki Riot thirteen years ago.” “…” “Do you understand what that means?” “If that’s true, this is no joke!” “Why would it be a joke?” The enemy sat down on the stairs. “Well, if Osaka’s Chancellor hasn’t shown up after all this, maybe he was already taken out.” “What?” “This place seems pretty shorthanded, but that’s because something happened in the city, isn’t it? …My companions picked a fight with Osaka’s and Nagoya’s Chancellors.” “Is that true, Saki-san?” Saki answered Shoui’s question without nodding. “I was #2 for tonight, but I’d heard there was an Alert Level C commotion earlier.” “Have you heard whether the Chancellors are okay?” “The Souichirou I know would never lose to anyone with his Kusanagi. …What about you, Hizaka?” “The boss I know would never lose to anyone with her breast size. …No, wait. I think Yuuki’s are bigger.” “I really am going to kill you later.” “That probably isn’t happening. After all, I’m going to knock both of you out right here,” calmly commented the enemy up the stairs. “I really don’t care either way when it comes to Osaka’s power. Ever since the Kinki Riot, we’ve researched techniques to defeat the Rhythms and Techs you primarily use here.” Before he even finished, Saki silently lowered his body. And a moment later… — Saki – Spear/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Throw Left and Right Spears – Hit! He stretched upwards and his two spears flew in a straight line. The twin lines tore through the wind on their way to the person sitting on the stairs. With two solid sounds, the spears stabbed into the edge of the concrete stairs. Their shafts vibrated, but they had not pierced anything. The enemy had stood up at some point. He was turned to the side on the steps and the spear shafts filled the space just barely past his chest and back. “That was close.” His voice contained no hint of panic, tension, or killer intent. Shoui frowned. … That wasn’t trying to hit? It had looked like Saki had thrown the spears as a threat to restrict the enemy’s movement. Wondering why, he glanced over at Saki, but the slight smile on Saki’s face and the sweat on his brow told Shoui he had been wrong. … He tried to hit, but didn’t? The enemy had dodged Saki’s spears. And without using a Tech. “I can’t believe this,” said the enemy. “And I haven’t even met my sister or her lover yet.” Hearing a slight laugh, Shoui looked up at the enemy. The boy was smiling as he stood between the two spears. “Didn’t I tell you? No Rhythm or Tech will work on me.” Without saying a word, Saki pulled out two more spears and held them at the ready. … Saki-san? Just as Shoui was going to say something, Saki took action. — Saki – Spear/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Throw Left and Right Spears – Hit! His actions were perfectly flowing and swift. If the previous spears marked the ends of a horizontal line, these two marked the ends of a vertical line. They were aimed at the chest and waist of the boy standing between those other spears. But… “Don’t hold back. You need to aim for my face. C’mon, the face.” With that comment, the enemy made his move. Shoui watched as the boy avoided the supposedly unavoidable attack. He stepped toward the tips of the spears flying his way. He started down the stairs at a walking pace. Just before the flying spears were going to hit him, he had moved outside the range of the spears on his left and right. It was impossible. The spears were flying faster than he was walking. … He couldn’t possibly have moved forward before he was skewered. But he had done exactly that to dodge. With two solid sounds, the spears stabbed into the edge of the concrete stairs. The vibrating shafts of the four spears now marked the ends of a cross. The enemy did not stop walking in front of that geometric diagram. He continued down the stairs. He showed no tension, hesitation, or killer intent. Shoui instinctually took a step back and glanced over to Saki. The tall spear-user watched his opponent with a smile still plastered on his face. There was brightness to his expression, much like the surprise of suddenly waking up. “Let me guess. That’s Zenon’s paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, isn’t it?” “So you figured it out?” confirmed the enemy without stopping his descent of the stairs. Shoui gave Saki a confused look. “…?” “It’s a paradox from the heretical Zenon school of Western wordology. No matter how fast someone is, it still takes some time to arrive at a destination.” The enemy picked up where Saki left off. “Even movement on a microscopic scale requires some slight time. Using that theory, units of distance can be divided nearly infinitely, right? In other words, motion takes a nearly infinite amount of time.” “He dodged using that paradox?” “Of course he did! He’s from the Zenon City! …You’re from Tokyo, aren’t you!?” shouted Saki. “You’re Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide, aren’t you!?” “Correct.” The enemy, Nakamura Hisahide, reached the bottom of the stairs as he spoke that word. His gaze was three sizes lower than Saki’s and one higher than Shoui’s. He pulled his hands from his pockets and let them dangle at his sides. He gently raised his right hand and looked at the silver ring on his middle finger. “Of course, the theory I’m using isn’t quite that well put together. It’s just the persuasion I need to activate my power. It’s something like what they call an Override in England.” With that, his right toes spun like a top on the floor and his left leg raced out in a straight line. — Saki – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Guard – Hit! But for some reason, Hisahide’s toes stabbed into Saki’s side before he could guard. “Saki-san!” By the time Shoui shouted his name, Saki’s feet had already left the floor. ### Part 3 7:59 PM Shoui caught Saki’s airborne body. “Are you okay!?” “He was probably knocked out. I heard something cracking inside him,” lightly commented Hisahide as he pulled his leg back with a compact motion. “I just hope it wasn’t a bone.” “How irresponsible can you be?” Shoui supported the taller boy with his shoulder. In that moment, he heard a quiet voice. “Hisaka.” It was Saki’s voice. He was using a Tech to speak remotely. … !? “Don’t move. He’ll notice. He’s probably feeling pretty full of himself even though he only broke a spare spear.” Saki’s hand tapped Shoui on the back. “I know this is selfish, but buy me some time so I can escape.” “…?” “That was enough for me to know I can’t win this. I’ll run to the nearest guard station and get the security system back up and running.” He took a breath. “The cameras will at least capture him and the automatic defenses might even blow him away.” As he listened to Saki, Shoui glanced over at Hisahide. — Shoui – Mind/Sight Tech – Multi-Take – Analyze Mind – Hit! … Doesn’t look like he’s noticed. So what should I do!? The enemy gave him the answer he needed. Hisahide took a step forward. Shoui fled on reflex. As Hisahide charged in from straight ahead, he escaped to the side. He ran into the dorm room to his right. “You’re running!?” Hisahide’s shout was cut off by the sound of the slamming door. Shoui locked the door behind him and shoved Saki toward the window. Saki looked back for just a moment. “Hizaka!?” “Get going!” Saki did not reply or ask anything more. His nod was all the answer he needed. His tall form left the window and vanished into the darkness. Shoui remained in the silent space. He started breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that his split-second decision had worked and at the sudden change of scenery. But then he slapped his cheeks. The distinct sound woke him up, so he placed one foot out front and stood in front of the door. … How is he going to come in? The enemy had no weapon, but he had the kicking technique that had sent Saki flying, a strange evasive method, and absolute confidence. That thought brought unease to Shoui’s heart, but… “I’m going to protect Yuuki, aren’t I?” So he had to ask this boy who had come to attack Kansai whether he was prepared to defeat Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. “…” He lowered his hips and held his right arm at waist height. His target was the wooden door. Nakamura Hisahide had to be on the other side. In the instant the boy started to open the door, Shoui would blow the door away to catch him off guard. He would need to time this perfectly. He could not surprise his opponent without attacking just before the door opened. Shoui thought about that opponent. … Because I don’t have Words of my own, I can sense my opponent’s will, huh? “Old Lady Senga used to say that all the time.” He closed his eyes, read his opponent’s presence, and then predicted that opponent’s actions. … Twenty-two seconds have passed since I shut this door. That was a long time and his opponent had been waiting silently the entire time. Shoui thought about how long he needed to hide here. And… “!” He opened his eyes and he began to move. — Shoui – Boxing/Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Destroy Object – Hit! A Rhythm would give away his presence, so he did not use one. He simply stepped straight forward. It was a quick movement. He simultaneously stomped his foot and thrust out the heel of his right palm. The sound of the stomp reverberated around him. A blow struck the center of the wooden door. The door bent as the sound of impact rang out. In that instant, he mentally pictured what he needed to do next. Whether Hisahide had dodged or was caught in the destruction of the door, Shoui would grab the collar of his mountain hoodie. Once he grabbed it, the boy could no longer dodge. His thoughts arrived there in an instant. In a span of time so small it went out several digits past the decimal point, a strange recoil reached Shoui’s hand. The bending of the wood vanished. … He pushed it back!? His thought was cut off by a sound much like a crack of thunder. The door had been split apart. Instead of flying outward or breaking inward, the wooden door split in two and flew to either side. “…!?” As Shoui wondered what had happened, something touched the heel his outstretched right hand’s palm. It was a slightly heated flat surface that felt both hard and springy. It was the sole of a shoe. “Wha-…!?” Nakamura Hisahide stood before him after throwing a forward kick. The sole of his raised right foot was in the exact same position as the heel of Shoui’s palm. They had apparently both been thinking the exact same thing. “Interesting,” said Hisahide as he lowered his leg. “Your fist can negate my kick through a door, can it?” Their gazes clashed with a slight height difference. Shoui’s plans for the fight fragilely crumbled in his mind. ### Part 4 8:02 PM Hisahide moved swiftly after stepping inside the room. First, he sent a right kick toward Shoui’s gut. — Shoui –Dodge Tech – Take – Dodge – Hit! But he could not dodge it. The blow audibly hit his solar plexus and brought him to the limits of his endurance. His knees unexpectedly gave out. “!” As he tilted forward and nearly fell over, Nakamura’s kicking leg came into view. The foot wore basketball shoes, but it was the opposite foot from the one that had kicked Shoui in the gut. … Just how fast can he kick!? Before he could feel any surprise, Hisahide’s toes slammed into Shoui’s face from below. Shoui no longer felt any pain. A strange floating sensation ruled his mind. “!?” Hisahide was not done attacking. After swinging his left leg straight up, he swung it straight back down. And that dropped his heel onto Shoui’s collapsing head. “This might just cause the first death!” Shoui’s foggy mind was more focused on his enemy’s raised leg than his shout. That leg brought on an odd sense of déjà vu. His forehead started aching. It was a heated pain as if from a slash. … What!? With a great weight, the pain returned to his forehead. The pain somewhat brought him back to his senses, so he desperately tried to avoid the danger. — Shoui –Dodge Tech – Take – Dodge – Hit! But that technique did not work on Hisahide. The boy swung down his leg and Shoui realized where the sense of déjà vu came from. “Two years ago…” On the night Yuuki had killed someone, he had received a similar attack and lost consciousness. That nightmare was repeating itself. He could not avoid it. The powerful kick knocked Shoui to the floor. The pain of the blow was joined by the sensation of blood spraying from his forehead. “!” Instead of a scream, a thought raced through his mind. … Am I going to lose and accomplish nothing yet again? He could not even check to see whether Yuuki was in danger or not. The word “powerless” came to mind as he lost consciousness. He heard sirens, but they were so distant that he thought he was imagining them. ### 261. Chapter 8: New Words (Special Moves of Each Character) – (12/19/1996) ### Part 1 4:36 AM Before sunrise, the early winter morning was indistinguishable from night. Wind blew through the Koto region. It was a wintery north wind. The wind raced through the basin-like Koto plateau and cleansed the air of the night. As the process repeated, the air of the winter night became that of morning. The wind blew from north to south, pushing the night air south. That wind moved toward Nara Station to the south of the Koto region. It was a single-story train station, but it was large enough for limited express trains to stop at. This early in the morning, the platform had only just opened for business. The lights were on, but no one was there. The people were all gathered at another part of the station: the ticket gate. About ten station attendants had gathered at the ticket gate despite the chilly north wind. They wore the blue uniforms of the national railway, three of them were positioned inside the station, and the rest were placed outside. Based on the weapons they held, they were apparently making sure someone could not leave the station. Their gazes were fixated on a man standing in front of the ticket gate. The short man was dressed like a Buddhist monk. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and he had strangely straightforward eyes. Instead of a shaved head, he had short hair. A red basketball bag hung from his shoulder and he wore basketball shoes on his feet. Only his clothing and face looked anything like a monk. He looked up at the three station attendants directly in front of him who were much older than him. He looked straight ahead to the station master who had some white hair on his chin. “I would rather not hit an old man. Move out of the way.” Each word was well-enunciated and quickly spoken. The station master cleared his throat and answered. “Unfortunately, Iba-sama, a few organizations have – and I’m sorry to say this – requested that you be returned to Tokyo.” “Organizations? You mean the Emergency Teachers and the Mountain?” “I cannot say.” “What will happen if I do pass through here?” “Those waiting behind us will hit the emergency switch and the railroad police will rush here.” “Why haven’t you already called the police?” “If we do that, people will question the safety of our station. As a tourist-focused station, the police are an unwelcome presence.” “A wise decision.” The man named Iba stopped asking questions and the station master bowed toward him. “I apologize, but if possible could you leave the Koto region and enter through a different route?” “I cannot do that.” “Why not?” “I came here for my own objective. I have done nothing wrong.” Iba then asked another question. “Will you let me through?” None of them answered his straightforward question, so he said more. “Then how about this? You detained me here, but I escaped before the police could arrive.” “We can’t do that. The request we received contained a certain statement.” “What request?” “We were told we must not allow you through here and that you must pass through here.” “That is contradictory.” “Indeed it is.” “Now, let me tell you what that statement you mentioned was.” The station master fell silent at that. The one who spoke instead was of course Iba. “Did it say my presence carried the risk of another Kinki Riot?” As soon as he said that, someone behind the station master rushed forward to attack Iba. — Iba – Savate/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Hit! “Oh?” Iba evaded the attack with a tone of slight surprise. A station attendant stood before him with headphones in his ears and a sword in his hand. He was one of those who had been waiting behind the station master. Even through his blue uniform, Iba could easily imagine the powerful body below. He rested the sword on his left shoulder. “Nijou Makoto. My Dance Combat is the Youmon Nijou style.” “Nijou of Youmon? You were the Koto Chancellor nine years ago, weren’t you?” The man named Nijou nodded at Iba’s comment. The square face below his hat contained a slight smile. “I’ve heard the name Iba. …You were Osaka’s 1st Special Duty Officer who stood between Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai and Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori during the Kinki Riot.” “…” “I thought you’d gone missing in the Tochigi mountains along with the two Chancellors, but are you working as a Mountain instructor in the Tokyo region?” “Ask any more and this will develop into a fight.” Nijou smiled bitterly at Iba’s expressionless tone. “That’s why I came out here in the first place.” “So if you are going to call the railroad police anyway, you might as well do what you can before then?” Iba glanced over at the station master. “It may be a bit extreme, but a wise decision all the same.” The station master did not reply and looked to Nijou. And… “Don’t hold back.” “He is already holding back a fair bit,” replied Iba. Ibe held out a hand to stop Nijou from swinging the sword on his shoulder and stared straight at the man. “You seem to have gone soft during your nine years away from the front lines. Your primary weapon is not the sword.” — Nijou – Mind Tech – Take – Prevent Disturbance – Miss. “…What makes you say that?” “Your previous slash was shifted slightly to the right. Even if you are right handed, no swordsman would do that.” “I see!” Nijou used his empty right hand to pull a bullpup SMG from his pocket. It had the characteristic white plastic body of the Izumo Company and a larger caliber than one would ever imagine from how light it looked. It fired normal bullets, but Nijou sang his Words as he fired them. The words I send out carry the weight of metal The body that receives them carries the pain of metal It is all supported by the power of metal The words and the attack both lasted only an instant. — Nijou – Shot/Metal High Rhythm – Multi-Take – Ether Rapid Fire – Hit! Ether enveloped the eight fired bullets and they transformed into long metal spears. They would cause far more than injuries if they hit, but Iba did not use any kind of Tech. He did not dodge. “Hit him!” As soon as Nijou yelled, the eight metal spears touched Iba’s body and were deflected with a metallic noise. “…!?” Iba ran while ignoring the confused voices coming from Nijou and the rest. He ran straight forward. He was moving right up to Nijou, but he still did not use a Tech. Nijou pulled the trigger of his SMG. He did not hesitate to fire straight ahead at Iba’s face. — Nijou – Shot/Metal High Rhythm – Multi-Take – Ether Rapid Fire – Hit! Metal spears were fired once more. Iba only held his hand straight forward as he ran. The metal spears were deflected every which way by that hand. They stabbed into the station platform or roof, but not even one stabbed into Iba. “…!” Nijou threw aside his SMG and jumped backwards. As Iba continued toward him, Nijou moved forward for his own attack. Jumping back had been a feint. — Nijou – Sword/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit! But Iba slipped past Nijou’s sword and right up to the man. “…What!?” Iba answered Nijou’s question through actions. His right heel stomped on Nijou’s right knee. With a dull sound, Nijou’s knee bent at an odd angle and his body collapsed. “I must compliment your willingness to aim for the face. As a student, I would have lost.” As Nijou collapsed, Iba thrust the heel of his palm up into the man’s jaw at a diagonal angle. “But that was thirteen years ago.” The blow landed and Nijou’s face turned upwards. The battle was over. ### Part 2 7:30 AM Shoui came to shortly after sunrise. The first sensation was that of lying down. He opened his eyes to find a large white ceiling filling his blurry vision. … A hallway? That was his first thought when he saw how large the ceiling was and he moved just his head to look around. He was in a lobby. To his right was a counter built into the wall. The counter was closed off by a curtain and a few labels were displayed on the wall. … Reception, New Patients, Outpatient, and Accounting. After reading those labels, Shoui finally realized where he was: Osaka Central Hospital. “!?” He shot up in surprise. … Why am I sleeping in the hospital lobby? That question brought back the memories of the previous night. He had met Saki on the rooftop and Tokyo’s Chancellor in the dorm. Then he had fought that second boy. But that final scene did not lead into this one. … I faced him in a room…? What had happened after that? He could not answer. His forehead briefly hurt, but he ignored it and looked around to check on the situation. A student was lying in each of the sofas lined up in the lobby. They were lying on the floor as well. A few were receiving an IV. This was a war wound hospital. Anyone who had experienced the Kinki Riot thirteen years before was familiar with that term. Every hospital in Osaka had once worked at full capacity with the injured filing the lobby and hallways. … I can’t believe this. That thought brought more pain to his forehead. He reflexively brought a hand to it and felt cloth there. … My bandanna. After that thought of confirmation, the pain receded. He sighed, got up, and put on the shoes placed next to the sofa. As he did, he remembered what he had wanted to do the previous night. He had wanted to ask Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide if he intended to attack Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. That would have let him protect Yuuki, but he had not received an answer. … This isn’t good. He glanced at the clock and found it was not much past 7:30. However, at least ten hours had passed since the previous night’s tragedy. That was plenty of time for that boy to attack Koto. … I need to find out. A payphone was located by the mirror on the wall next to the counter. He took his wallet from his uniform’s hidden pants pocket and pulled out his telephone card. … I need to ask if Yuuki knows about this. He picked up the receiver and searched his memories from two years ago to place the call. He also had to ask if Tokyo’s Chancellor had visited Yuuki. He had to ask if she knew if Tokyo’s Chancellor was after her as the Killing Holder. He had to ask if she knew about what had happened at the student dorm the night before. He had to ask about it all and tell her about it all. A thought filled his chest during the short time it took him to dial the number. … She isn’t going to ignore me about this, is she? He recalled the night before last. He recalled the term Killing Holder. Killing Holder referred to someone who held the will to kill inside themselves and would not hesitate to kill. Yuuki had earned that Urban Name during the two years he had been gone. … I guess she isn’t going to cry and say she wants me to protect her anymore. The phone rang. He realized he was holding his breath. There was something he wanted to ask. He wanted to ask it far more then about the previous night or about Tokyo’s Chancellor. … Is there any meaning in protecting Yuuki now? He had wondered that ever since descending from the Mountain. Asking that question threatened to destroy everything, even his promise on that night three years ago. “…” The phone continued to ring. Unable to bear it any longer, he just about hung up, but then they answered. “This is the Yuuki family of the Nandaimon Shrine. …Who is it?” It was Yuuki’s voice. Shoui adjusted his grip on the receiver. He knew what he had to say first: a greeting. … Chancy seeing you here. He shook his head to erase that thought and gave a quick sigh. He quietly cleared his throat, and… “It’s Shoui,” he said. Or so he thought he said. However, Yuuki gave the following reply: “…Who is it?” For a brief moment, he had no idea what she was saying. She sounded just like she was speaking to a complete stranger. … Has she forgotten me?! “It’s Shoui! Can’t you hear me!?” Only after saying that did he realize why she had ignored him. “…!?” He had not actually spoken. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Hurry it up already.” He heard Yuuki’s voice and tried to say something, but… “…Ah.” Only a rough breath escaped his throat. He quickly brought a hand to his throat and found bandages wrapped around it. “…” He thought back to the previous night while Yuuki fell silent. He had fought Tokyo’s Chancellor… … And took a kick to the throat. His vocal cords had been crushed. He could not speak. “Who is this?” asked Yuuki. “It’s Shoui!” Even his shout only created a slight disturbance in his breathing. He could not get anything through to her. He could not ask any of the questions he wanted to ask her. “Yuuki!” The abnormal breath that should have been her name spilled from his throat. A moment later, she hung up. “!” On reflex, he prepared to punch the wall. — Shoui – Mind/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Restraint – Hit! He stopped his fist right before it reached the white wall. He dropped the receiver that only produced a dial tone. He was breathing heavily. He touched his throat and found the bandages there. He grabbed the cloth in his fingers and quickly unraveled them. After throwing the bandages and the compress to the floor, he tried to speak. “…!” Nothing came out. He could not form any words. He truly was a Dis-Worder, just as his Urban Name said. “…” He gave a deep sigh and relaxed his entire body. He looked around and saw the many students sleeping in the lobby. … I can’t cause a commotion here. He shoulders drooped and he placed a hand on the wall. An unexpectedly cold sensation reached his fingers. It felt like ice. “?” He turned back and saw another lobby where the wall should have been. It was a mirror. The large mirror on the wall reflected the lobby and Shoui. The Shoui in the mirror was covered in bandages. His coat and shirt had been removed and he wore bandages in place of that clothing. He could see charms in a few of the gaps between bandages, so he must have undergone Tune healing. Barely any pain or fatigue remained in his body. … Huh? He noticed a gray cloth sticking out of his front pants pocket. It was his bandanna. … Didn’t I feel that on my head when my forehead hurt? He had felt some cloth on his forehead. “…” He checked the mirror again. A bandage was wrapped around the forehead of the Shoui in the large mirror. The center of the bandage had grown a light reddish brown, so some blood must have seeped out below it. That was the location of the wound Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei had given him two years before. The previous night’s attack had caused that wound to bleed again. … Last night. He remembered everything when he looked at himself in the mirror. After seeing the bruise on his throat and the blood on his forehead, the memories returned to him. He had taken Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide’s kick to the throat and then the boy’s heel to the head. It was just like two years before, just with a heel instead of a slash. The nightmare had replayed itself. … So I lost. That thought filled him with exhaustion. Strength left his knees, so he pressed his shoulder against the shoulder in the mirror and crumbled to the floor. It did not take long for him to fall asleep. ### Part 3 9:22 AM A thick curtain covered the room’s large window, cutting off the outside world. It was a twin room on the twentieth floor of the Osaka Hilton hotel. Tokyo chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro were staying in the room. The warm red cloth created a solid barrier that completely hid those two boys from the outside world. The concepts of human presences, gazes, outside light, noise, and time did not exist in that room. The room primarily contained darkness. The one light destroying that darkness was a TV displaying a dark forest. That slight light gave a vague view of the room’s structure. The TV and table could be seen as shadows. Hisahide and Ikemaru sat at sofas surrounding the short table. They were both looking to the dark sky, earthen ground, and forest shown on the TV screen. It was night. The structure of that darkness suddenly changed. After a great shaking of the footage, the heavens and earth tilted on their side. The camera had fallen over. The forest footage showed a hand which lay unmoving on the ground. Then a giant humanoid figure passed by in front of the camera. It was tall enough to surpass the trees behind it. It was over five meters tall. A roar left the TV. It was a bestial roar, released as the great beast passed by the camera. “I feel bad for the collapsed cameraman.” Legs appeared on the screen. They were mechanical legs not wearing any shoes. “Nanba Souichirou took prosthetic limbs after the battle that occurred prior to this footage,” said Ikemaru. “Aren’t you going to watch? The battle is starting.” Nanba Souichirou walked across the screen wearing white burial clothes. He walked to the back of the screen, where the giant form stood. It resembled a human and was colored with red and black tiger stripes. “An ogre, huh?” said Hisahide when he looked to the screen. “Kyoto’s Nandaimon apparently has the arm that was cut off here.” “You went to see it? I can’t believe you…” “Don’t lecture me. I was turned down by a girl, so that’s better than going to the movie theater alone, isn’t it? “A girl…? Oh, the Koto Chancellor.” Ikemaru glanced over at Hisahide. “I thought my cousin was the only girl you would talk about.” “To me, Takada is the same as you and Aoi. She’s more than just a girl. But, I’d heard rumors that the Koto Chancellor is a decent girl…and she’s the Killing Holder, so that’s a plus.” “How is that a plus?” “She’s killed someone, so she sounds stronger than me.” “Are you really planning to do what your master told you to?” “If I’m going to call myself the strongest, I have to be better than everyone else.” “I hear your sister said that a lot too.” “I live by those words. Always have.” Ikemaru nodded. “Look at the screen. The ogre is starting to move.” “Every time I see this I’m amazed by how much it moves. It’s like watching an anime with a budget in the hundreds of millions.” A black form and a white form moved around on the screen. Souichirou’s left arm was gone. He fought with his sword in his remaining right false arm. Ikemaru crossed his arms. “He really is intent on fighting. And after that ogre devoured the Lives of twelve people.” “Don’t dodge the issue. It literally ate five people and not just their Lives.” A large motion occurred onscreen. The giant humanoid form swung its red right arm like a bear. In that instant, Souichirou jumped in and severed the ogre’s right arm at the base. “Here comes Kusanagi.” Souichirou swung his sword in midair. He released his Words: “Ah.” A tearing blow struck the ogre. It produced an explosion of wind. The ogre as instantly knocked to the ground by the lightless and heatless explosion. Destruction burst out, a gust of wind spread in every direction, and dust approached the camera. After some static, there was a glimpse of the night sky and then nothing. “Since he has Kusanagi, I doubt Osaka’s Chancellor will be the one using the strongest Rhythm,” said Hisahide as he watched the dusty screen. “What do you mean?” asked Ikemaru. “The Heavy Rhythm Flame High is neither a Wind Rhythm nor an Over Rhythm. Nanba Souichirou may be able to use any of the lower Wind or Over Rhythms, but there’s no chance he can use the Flame High.” “You mean the skill needed to use Kusanagi isn’t enough to use the Flame High?” “Even with his Modified Purple Electricity Style of Dance Combat, he only raises his power, not his skill. He’s only able to use Kusanagi.” “He can ‘only’ use that incredible destructive power?” “The Rhythms greater than Wind Rhythms are given names like Kusanagi, Yata, or Yakusa, but do you know what the Heavy Rhythm Flame High was called in the past?” “?” “Yamata.” “…The great serpent of flames?” “Yes. Kusanagi came from the body of Yamata…of the Kuzuryu after Susanoo defeated it.” He smiled bitterly. “In other words, Kusanagi was swallowed by a dragon once. It’s not that great a sword.” Hisahide got up, grabbed the remote from the table, and turned off the TV. Darkness filled their surroundings. “I can’t defeat an ogre. My attack power is the same as that of a child who can’t use Rhythms.” “But this conflict is only between people.” “Exactly. And that makes me the strongest. When you know how it’s going to turn out, these battles are surprisingly boring.” After that satisfied comment, Hisahide yawned. “Takada hasn’t shown up, so I’m pretty bored. …And you’re not subordinate to me.” “I am that girl’s servant.” “How about you quit being her servant and be her butler? You and Aoi will be together eventually. Takada’s prophecy said so.” A bitter laugh rang out, but it was impossible to tell which boy it came from in the darkness. Ikemaru was the next to speak. “You need to get to sleep. We can’t do anything if our leader is sleep deprived.” “Don’t act like you didn’t stay up all night too. Just say you don’t want me interfering with your date.” “It is not a date. We are shopping for a bra. A piece of the bike apparently cut the strap yesterday.” “She doesn’t have any more with her?” “She apparently forgot her clothes at Inuyama Station. I will be shopping for a bra and creating charms until time for today’s diversion.” “I’m less important than a bra?” “Not quite, no.” Suddenly, an electronic tone came from the intercom. “Takahiro? Are you there? How about some breakfast? Or do you want to sleep a little longer?” Aoi’s somewhat scratchy voice came from the speaker. “The bra is calling you, combat salaryman.” “I prefer the term businessman. My Ikemaru family has served the emperor for generations.” With that, Ikemaru stood up and left the room. After the door opened and closed, only the darkness and Hisahide’s presence remained. It did not take long for him to begin the deep breaths of sleep. ### Part 4 11:16 AM By the time the sun reached its late morning height, Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji was in Nagoya. He was not sightseeing. He was visiting Nagoya’s student hospital with Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Specifically, they were visiting a room on the top floor of the four story building. The label on the door gave the names Ichiyama Yuusei and Kasumi Ryuuichi. Both were weighty names to Saki because he had heard they were powerful individuals. “We’re comin’ in.” Taeko’s carefree voice completely erased Saki’s tension as he stepped into the hospital room. The room was unexpectedly small. It was utterly colorless except for the blue sky and the boxy Nagoya Tower visible out the window. It was all white walls, white ceiling, white curtains, white beds, white blankets, and white bandages. Ichiyama Yuusei’s large body was covered in bandages on the closer bed and he sat up to look at the two visitors. He had swapped out his combat false arms for thinner ones meant for daily life. He had bandages around his face at forehead, nose, and chin height. The wrinkles in the bandages moved a little and a voice came out. “I must apologize for my shameful appearance.” “Don’t worry about it. Where’s Kasumi?” “In that bed.” A blanket was wrapped around a human form on the other bed. It did not move in the slightest even though Nagoya 1st Special Duty Officer Kasumi Ryuuichi was inside. “After losing, he’s too embarrassed to look you in the eye,” explained Ichiyama as he looked over at Kasumi. “Who is that?” “Oh, he’s…” “I am Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji. On my Chancellor’s orders, I am here to gather some information.” “Oh?” — Saki – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of doing anything to Nagoya.” “How can you prove that?” Taeko answered that one. “Because most of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers were beaten down too. By a single boy.” “Silence filled the room and Ichiyama’s expression stiffened. “But the news this morning didn’t say anything had happened in Osaka.” “We’re just keeping it quiet. We have some influence over the media. …The incident was contained to the school after all.” After saying that, Saki asked a question. “Now, I’ve given you some information, so how about you return the favor?” “Ichiyama, tell him.” “Well…” Ichiyama thought for a moment and asked a question. “I’d like to ask one thing. After this boy attacked you, what did he do?” “He fought for a bit and left once our security system was back up and running. We did get him on video and my men are analyzing the footage.” “He left, did he? I guess machines wouldn’t be easy for him since they don’t have a will of their own.” “…What do you mean by that?” “Have you ever heard the term White Noise?” Saki did not answer, so Taeko asked about it. “What’s that?” “Occasionally, there are people who have no Words of their own. No matter what Rhythm they listen to, it doesn’t affect them.” “Like Shoui?” “Hizaka is different,” replied Saki. “He doesn’t have any Words, but he can use pretty much any Rhythm, can’t he?” “A White Noise master can’t even use Techs properly.” “So like the ancients?” “It’s just like how you can’t cook, boss. …Gwoh!” “…I’m impressed. Not many people could throw a wall clock at their badly injured subordinate.” “Shut up. A moron isn’t the same as a subordinate.” She glared at the boy as she continued. “In other words, it’s someone who’s senses aren’t suited toward learnin’ Rhythms or Techs?” “It used to be that everyone was like that.” “Why were those ancients so strong?” “Since they didn’t know about Rhythms and Techs, they could attack and defend from outside those things,” explained Ichiyama while holding his head after being clocked with a clock. Saki then told him what had happened the night before. “Zenon’s paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise. And he is from Zenon City – Tokyo. I guess that’s how he came up with his theory to reach White Noise.” “Can you defeat him?” “I don’t know. Besides, we don’t even know what he’s…” Saki trailed off, but Ichiyama continued for him with a serious expression. “I can only imagine he’s after Ixolde. Nakamura Hisahide mentioned a bond with his sister.” “His sister? Seriously?” “He also said he would become king. …Sadly, that’s all the information I have.” “I see,” said Saki. “Have ya figured somethin’ out?” asked Taeko with a puzzled look. “Well, the Chancellor’s Officers HQ acts as a second security building and, but the computers there were left a complete mess after he attacked last night. …It’s possible he hacked in to get some information on Ixolde.” “Oh, in that case, he probably did. This could be trouble.” Taeko nodded and Ichiyama asked her a question. “But…you mentioned Hizaka Shoui just now, didn’t you?” “Yeah, the moron’s come down from the Mountain. I was plannin’ to bring him to see ya too, but he was beat up during that attack last night.” “I managed to reboot the security system while he was being taken out,” emotionlessly said Saki. — Ichiyama – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. — Saki – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Ichiyama smiled bitterly. “And what happened to him?” “Seven blunt blows across his body, two cracked ribs, and plenty of abrasions. He’s probably sleeping at the hospital right now.” “I see… So did he get serious?” “Serious?” Taeko nodded at Saki’s question. “I doubt he did. He was probably on the receivin’ end the whole time.” “…? What’s this about Hizaka getting serious?” Ichiyama looked to Saki. “I was in the West Japan Middle School Karate Championship three years ago. During the final round, I got the first hit in on my opponent’s side…and broke their ribs.” “…I see.” “But that opponent made a miraculous comeback. Both of my false arms were destroyed and I was lying unconscious on the floor just a few minutes later.” “Are you saying Hizaka did that?” “He passed out and was taken to the hospital afterwards, though. …I haven’t met him since.” “The calmer they seem, the scarier they are when they snap,” said Taeko as she stroked the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder. “But…” “?” “Shoui is probably weaker than he was then. On a fundamental level, both in strength and skill.” “And so you don’t know if he would’ve won that battle yesterday?” “He couldn’t have won!” The blanket on the other bed gave a shout. It was Kasumi. “No matter how strong he is and even if he snaps, he can’t win as long as he’s using a Rhythm and Techs! Everything he does will be dodged and copied…so he’ll lose!” “Ryuuichi…” “Boss, you wouldn’t be able to think of it like a normal fight if you’d fought them! Ichiyama! You lost to them too, so face reality! No one stands a chance!” “Ryuuichi.” “Answer me, Ichiyama. Tell them he can’t win!” Ichiyama said nothing and Kasumi roared back. “Are you afraid to admit you lost!?” “Ryuuichi!” Taeko’s sharp voice rang out. — Taeko – Intimidation Tech – Take – Stop – Hit! Kasumi’s voice stopped and silence fell. The Dragon Emperor moved slowly so as not to interrupt that silence. The giant metal hand lightly struck the blanket wrapped around Kasumi. “Don’t worry. As long as I haven’t lost, Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers haven’t lost.” “B-but the Student Council…is discussing whether Nagoya should surrender to Tokyo…” “That is one way to respond, but what matters is that we survive, right?” “…” “Turbulent City – Nagoya is a city that desires to survive whether that means winnin’ or not. …I came here to find a method of survivin’. Not to fight and lose.” “But if we’re going to survive, how are you going to fight, boss!?” “Our opponent might be more powerful than me, but I have somethin’ that no one in Osaka or Tokyo has.” “What’s that?” “This left arm, the Eighth Dragon Emperor, and the information I can get here.” “…” “Work with me, Ryuuichi.” The Dragon Emperor’s hand once more tapped the blanket surrounding Kasumi. Soon, suppressed sobs escaped the blanket. No one said a thing. Saki Seiji scratched his head with the attaché case he held. Time slowly moved toward noon. ### Part 5 12:41 PM By the time Shoui left the hospital, the sun was already approaching its afternoon angle. … Today was the last day of the second term, but the closing ceremony is probably already over. He was on a bus to the Chuo Ward where Osaka Prefectural #2 was, but he decided to get off in Naniwa Ward. He walked toward Tennoji. The Ousaka district of the Tennoji Ward was a relatively calm section of Osaka. As he walked along the hill there, he could already see the white walls of the Shitennoji that gave the Ward its name. “That takes me back,” he muttered as a scratchy sigh. He held his throat. … When will my voice come back? He had no answer to that question. At some point, he realized he had passed Shitennoji and was walking south toward Tennoji Station. He left a residential area and entered an open commercial district. He slowly walked down the wide stone steps giving shape to the hill and touched the white walls on either side of the hill. … After walking to Tennoji Park, I guess I’ll circle around back to the bus stop. Just as he was silently making his plans, he heard screams. He heard several male voices. — Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Determine Position – Hit. It came from up ahead. The slowly curving stone steps had a wall on either side, so he could not see very far ahead. He gently continued down. “A monster!” With that shout, some people ran up the stairs. It was three male students. None of them was wearing their uniform’s coat and they wore their own coats and jackets instead. They had been skipping school. They would normally use a harsh look to pick a fight with people, but those expressions were completely distorted at the moment. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. … They’re afraid of something? They did not answer him as they practically crawled up the stairs on all fours. They did not so much as glance at Shoui because they were so focused on the area further down the stairs. They seemed to be rushing, but they were not moving all that fast. “…?” Shoui tilted his head and one of their shoulders ran into him. This type of student would normally use that as a pretext for a fight, but the boy said nothing. Also, the force of the impact splattered a few drops of a liquid on Shoui’s cheek. “?” He touched it with his hand and looked down to find his fingertips dyed slightly red. … !? He quickly turned around and saw quite a few bloodstains on the stone stairs. He then noticed something odd about their clothing as they hurried up the stairs. There were holes at the shoulders and thighs. They were giant bite marks. … An animal!? Confused, Shoui looked forward. He shifted his position to peer down the curving walls. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit. He saw a figure standing next to the wall. It was a human form. A girl was pressing her back against that white wall. The short girl had semi-long black hair and wore a stole. She was breathing heavily with a look of fear on her face. She was afraid. Shoui could sense that emotion without even using a Tech, so he ran forward on reflex. The enemy stood in front of her, hidden from view by the wall. It was the animal which had left bite marks on those three boys. “!” He covered the distance in just five racing steps. He ran in front of the wide-eyed girl, prepared to fight, and faced his opponent. He looked in the same direction as the girl. But… “…?” There was nothing there. There was only a wall in front of him. There was no animal and none of the monsters created by a disturbance in the Lives. There was only empty space and a wall. … Hm? That’s odd. He glanced around, relaxed his stance, and looked back. A girl stood by the wall. Her eyes were unfocused and she was breathing heavily. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Shared Thoughts – Miss. He could not tell what she was afraid of. He could not speak and his Tech had failed, so he could only express himself through clumsy actions. He looked her in the eye, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her a little. “…Hh.” She gasped and a set rhythm finally returned to her breathing. He could tell she was holding her own body in her arms below the stole. She wanted to eliminate her trembling. Shoui breathed a sigh of relief and recalled the past. He recalled when Yuuki had visited him that night. … Did Yuuki want to eliminate her trembling back then? But he smiled bitterly when he realized this was not the time to be thinking that. The girl’s breathing was still heavy, but it was not as erratic. He looked around once more to make sure no one else was around and then nodded. … I guess everything’s okay now. And as soon as he thought that… “I guess everything’s okay now.” His own voice rang in his ears. … Eh!? / “Eh!?” He turned around in surprise and his confused voice reached his ears. However, there was no one behind him. … That’s strange. / “That’s strange.” The voice came from his left, so he looked left. There was no one there. … What is going on? / “What is going on?” This time, the voice came from his right. In that instant, he used his reflexes to swipe at his right shoulder. — Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Grab – Hit! He grabbed something like a soft puffball in his left hand. … An animal!? / “An animal!?” The puffball in his left hand gave a shout. At the same time… “D-don’t treat him roughly! He’s taken a liking to you!” He heard a girl’s voice and felt something press against his hands. “…” The girl who had looked so afraid was now reaching out her hands and gently pressing down on his hands. The chill of the golden ring on her right hand stopped him. She looked up at him with a somewhat pale but desperately pleading look. However, he did notice one odd fact. “Sorry if he scared you.” The girl’s lips were still held somewhat tightly shut. She was speaking with her mouth closed. … Eh? / “Eh?” His voice once more came from the puffball in his left hand and she spoke to him again without moving her mouth. “Please let go of him. …If you don’t, I can’t guarantee what will happen.” … O-okay. Understood. / “O-okay. Understood.” He opened his left hand. Immediately, a brown mass ran from his opened fingertips to his hand, arm, and shoulder. “!?” Surprised and anticipating an impact, he swung his head to the side, but the brown color hopped up from his shoulder. As the silhouette leaped over his head, he could tell it was a small fox or rat. “What?” It was now directly speaking his thoughts for him. It finally landed on his right shoulder. He felt no impact and he turned just his head to see a creature of about fifteen centimeters. Its body and face resembled a rat, but its coloration and tail were more like a fox. “What…is this thing?” The creature opened its mouth and spoke his thoughts. “He is a Dog God.” The answer to his question came in the girls’ voice. She was still restraining his hands and she looked up at him with some slight fear in her eyes. “Please do not be afraid. He has taken a liking to you.” Her lips were not moving, but an identical creature was poking its head out from the neck of the stole placed over her shoulders. He nimbly slipped out onto her shoulder and looked up at him. The Dog God looked him in the eye from her shoulder. “I’m sorry for surprising you…but it’s the first time he’s taken such a liking to someone else.” As she was speaking, another Dog God fell from the bottom of her stole. It scrambled to its feet on the stone steps and looked up. A moment later, about five more fell from her stole. “Hey, stop that. Quit playing around!” The Dog God on her shoulder shouted for her as she reached for the ones that had fallen. The six on the ground began running around her legs as if to tease her. … ? Once they appeared in front of her again, five of the six had vanished and just the one remained. She grabbed the back of its neck and placed it inside her stole. She sighed and Shoui was left all alone in his confusion. “What is all this?” he asked via the Dog God on his shoulder. She turned around in surprise when she heard his voice. “It’s a type of the Dog God said to possess and control people. …Have you heard of them? They’re a type of monster created by a disturbance in the Lives.” “This thing is?” When Shoui looked to the Dog God on his shoulder, it looked him in the eye and tilted its head. The girl looked to him and the animal. “Sorry. I seem to have worried you.” “Well, I saw you looking scared, so I thought something had happened.” “…Did I look scared?” “Yeah. So did those three who ran away.” “Those three.” She hung her head. “Then they all survived?” “Survived? So something did happen?” “Taromaru… That’s this Dog God’s name, but he did that to them.” “…Eh?” The girl looked away from Shoui and the Dog God on his shoulder as she answered. “I was lost and I tried to ask them for directions, but…well…” The Dog God on her shoulder scratched at its head with its short front paw. “They hit on her,” it quickly said. She blushed and glared at the Dog God which spoke on her behalf. “You didn’t have to say that!” Shoui was shocked by this exchange that sounded like a one-man comedy routine, but then she seemed to recall the situation. The Dog God spoke in her voice. “Ah.” Both of them bowed down. “Sorry. I forgot I was speaking to you.” “No, no. Go right ahead.” “Um, anyway, I didn’t like it and a lot happened…” She took a breath. “Taromaru can sense my will and turn into a beast. He’s usually so small, but he turns into a large beast.” “Then…the bite marks on those guys were-…” “S-sorry for surprising you…but, u-um, please forgive me! I was scared too!” Shoui decided to trust the girl who was honestly letting the creature speak her feelings. He understood that the Dog God on her shoulder would directly read her thoughts without hiding anything. “Of course, being deceived by a girl this cute might not be so bad. …Ah, wait! I take it back!” “Eh? What do you mean you take it back?” Shoui chose his words carefully and had the Dog God speak them. “Um, how should I put it? You don’t have to worry about whether I forgive you or not. If they were skipping school at this time of day, you know they’re up to no good.” He crossed his arms and gave a serious nod. “Ah.” But then he looked back to her. She was once again pressing up against the wall to move away from him. “Yeah, I guess you would do that. But I have a reason to be skipping school! I’m not like those guys! …I can’t believe this!” “You don’t need to make any excuses. I trust you. I have to when Taromaru seems to like you so much.” “Thanks. But, um, you really don’t have to worry about it. Those guys will be ashamed of running away, so they won’t accuse you of anything.” “Really?” “You being afraid is another issue entirely, though.” “That’s true,” she agreed. Shoui sighed and looked to the creature on his shoulder. “Well, I got to see something neat, so I’m personally fine with all this. …More importantly, Miss Pet Owner.” “Don’t call me that. That isn’t my Urban Nam. I’m Takada Seigi, the Fast Reader.” “Then Takada-san, um, I’d like to give back this guy on my shoulder.” “Oh, don’t worry about that. A Dog God has seventy-two copies. Plus, Taromaru went to you because he’s taken a liking to you.” “Th-that really isn’t the issue. I’d like head home…” “Then take Taromaru with you. He went to you of his own free will, so there’s nothing I can do.” “I can’t believe this… Are you sure this isn’t any trouble for you?” “Then how about we make a deal?” “What might that be?” “I want you to give me directions.” “What?” Seigi smiled at his confusion. She hid her mouth with the right hand she wore a ring on and nonchalantly continued. “I’m not used to Osaka, you see.” Shoui did not have a single reason to refuse. ### 262. Chapter 9: Presentation of Mysteries (Rhythm Rule Explanation) ### Part 1 1:03 PM A bullet train traveling west from Nagoya would arrive in Osaka after two hours. Taeko and Saki had left Nagoya at noon, so they were currently halfway between Osaka and Nagoya in both time and distance. Taeko took up an entire double seat on the right side of the aisle with the Dragon Emperor’s fist resting on one of the seats. Saki sat in one of the opposite seats while writing something in the memo book he had taken from his attaché case. Taeko faced the train’s window. The scenery below the winter sky was the concrete wall of the elevated track. They were passing through the mountains of Oumi and about to enter the Koto region, so Lake Biwa was located past the wall. However, Taeko was not looking at that scenery. She was looking at the reflection of herself and Saki who sat across from her. “What are ya doin’?” “Going over everything that’s happened. I need to have some predictions before we get back to Osaka.” “Predictions?” “About what the Tokyoites are thinking.” “Aren’t they tryin’ to destroy Ixolde? If it’s completed and creates the strongest Rhythm, the east-west power balance will shift westward pretty quick.” “Unfortunately, we don’t plan to use the Flame High even if we do make it.” “…What are ya talkin’ about? No one actually believes yer presentin’ it to the Mountain.” “Don’t be stupid. Whether you want to call it the strongest Rhythm, Yamata, or the Flame High, it isn’t like a normal Rhythm.” “…What do ya mean?” “The Mountain and the Emergency Teachers are hiding the truth of the Kinki Riot from us, so there are some records we can’t view even as part of the Officers. But our upperclassmen managed to piece together the half-erased technical documents and historical records to figure out what Techs Tokyo’s Chancellor used during the Kinki Riot.” “And the Ixolde Word Accelerator is goin’ to create that?” Saki cut her off. “Just listen. The Flame High used to be called a Heavy Rhythm, but that’s because they didn’t understand how it worked. After some tests, we’ve figured out the theory behind it.” He took a breath. “It creates music with a Tempo overwhelmingly faster than any currently existing Rhythm.” “How much faster?” “To use your Thunder High as a comparison, it would complete eighty sequences in the time yours took to complete just one. That’s twenty-eight times faster than the Break High which is the current fastest. It’s so fast you can’t think up your Words fast enough. And…” “And?” “Its flames spread.” Taeko moved for the first time when she heard that. She faced Saki who closed his memo book and faced her. “I guess I can tell you why we have no intention of using the Flame High after creating it.” “Oh?” “The biggest problem is that we couldn’t determine what Rhythm the Osaka Chancellor had used at the time.” “There aren’t any records of that?” “They’re vague. It says he ‘used a Rhythm without using a Rhythm’. Can you decode that?” Taeko thought for a second. “That can wait. It’s an even bigger mystery than the Flame High’s mechanism.” “Right? Anyway, having a trump card against Tokyo was of political importance, so some years back, Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers used the remaining records to build Ixolde.” He sighed. “But two years ago, there was an accident during a preliminary experiment.” “…The ogre?” “Yes. A mistake in the word acceleration caused one of the machines on the double helix pathway to burst into flames and produce an ogre. Simply put, that ogre was a failed creation of the Flame High.” Saki put the memo book in his pocket and lightly struck his left palm with his right fist. “From that, we learned about two of the Flame High’s powers. One, it can perfectly pierce any object. Its ultra-high speed Tempo creates a vibration that can ‘eat’ both the Lives composing an object and even the Rhythm techniques we create.” “And the other one?” “The spreading flames I mentioned before. …Anything the ogre set on fire would utterly burn away. The great speed of the Flame High intoxicates and steals the Lives making up the object.” “…” “Do you know why Souichirou took on mechanical arms and legs?’ “Ya don’t mean…?” “I do.” Saki smiled a little. “His right arm caught on fire during the first battle, so he immediately chopped it off. And…he adopted prosthetic arms and legs for the next battle. That way he could purge them and attach a new one if any of them caught on fire.” “So it’s a Rhythm that pierces the opponent’s body and burns them away? …That really is different from our Over Rhythms.” “Do we really need a Rhythm that brings certain death to our opponents? Either way, it isn’t something anyone wants to master.” “I see…” “The Flame High is too dangerous. We know that all too well. The only reason we’re making it is…” “Politics, right?” “Giving up on what the previous years worked so hard on would be an embarrassment. This has gotten to be a lot of trouble.” Saki sank back into his seat. “Osaka’s 1st Special Duty Officer was said to be the third major base of the Kinki Riot because he held all the information on it, but I can’t understand any of it.” “Will the other two bases not tell ya anythin’?” “You’re talking about the Nandaimon Shrine and the Mountain. They’re both too secretive. They’re clearly trying to hold us in check, so we decided to present the Flame High to the Mountain right away.” “I see… Well, that’s probably proof that the Mountain and Nandaimon both know the power of the Flame High.” “It’d be a problem if the students caused another major conflict now that Japan has been split between east and west.” He sighed. “It’d be a problem for both of us,” said Taeko. “Yes. …I get the feeling you’d never hear the end of it from Nagoya’s Student Council.” “The students in my year wouldn’t have it too bad. It’s the younger years I’m worried about. …If somethin’ like that happened, they could even end up joinin’ Tokyo’s side.” “I’m surprised you’re willing to come back to Osaka with all that local trouble going on.” “I’m indebted to someone there.” Taeko touched the Dragon Emperor with her right hand while still looking out the window. “But if that happens, it’ll be just like my brother wanted.” “Oh, the brother killed by the Killing Holder…” “He went to the Mountain for Chancellor’s trainin’ that year, but Yuuki Yuuki was given the Koto Chancellor position on the recommendation of the previous Chancellor who was expected to keep the spot. My brother ended up as Vice Chancellor.” “So he had the skill, but he couldn’t outdo her?” “The Yamashita family has produced Chancellors for generations. …Due to the eyes of our family on his back and the Ixolde issue, he wanted to turn Nagoya’s focus toward Tokyo by defeatin’ the Koto Chancellor.” “But Yamashita Gihei lost…and the age remained unchanged.” “I couldn’t accept the remains of a loser, so his right arm was apparently buried somewhere at Nandaimon.” She laughed quietly and Saki said nothing. “Let’s get back on topic,” she said with a slight shrug. “In yer opinion, who in Kansai could defeat an opponent wieldin’ the Flame High?” “Either Souichirou who has fought a close approximation before…or Yuuki Yuuki the Killing Holder.” “I see…” “But what is Tokyo thinking? If they’re worried about the Flame High, why didn’t they destroy Ixolde when they attacked the night before last?” Saki crossed his arms. He looked Taeko in the eye through his sunglasses but seemed to be speaking to himself. “And there’s more. Why did they crush Nagoya?” “Because we got in their way, right?” “They didn’t crush Gifu or the Koto region on their way to Osaka. They had to have gone through those areas too, so why did they only crush Nagoya?” “…” “There’s only one answer.” “What’s that?” “They have to be waiting for Ixolde to be activated. That way they can steal the Flame High.” And… “They might be planning to attack Nagoya.” “Ya mean they’ll take over Nagoya as a midway point and continue west from there?” “Yes. If they can rule Nagoya with the Flame High in hand, it’ll give them some decent publicity in both the east and the west.” “But that would require havin’ someone who can control the Flame High, right?” Saki smiled at Taeko’s question. “Nakamura Hisahide said he was going to Osaka in search of a bond with his sister.” “What about it?” “Who was the Tokyo’s female Chancellor that used the Flame High during the Kinki Riot?” “Nakamura Midori…” Tension filled Taeko’s voice when she spoke that name. Saki smiled and nodded at her obvious concern. “There’s no doubting it.” He took a breath. “Nakamura Hisahide is Nakamura Midori’s brother.” ### Part 2 1:36 PM Students were visible here and there as Shoui carried a Dog God on his shoulder and walked around Osaka with the girl named Takada Seigi. They were looking for the hotel at which she had a reservation. She tilted her head as they walked along the road in front of Nanba Station. “Was it the Osaka Hotel?” There were hotels with names like that everywhere. That name was especially little help in the category of hotels cheap enough for a normal student to stay at them. “This is quite the problem… I can see why you were searching around since morning.” Shoui scratched at his head and looked around. The semi-cylindrical Nanba Station was right in front of them and a few phones were located in front of the station’s entrance. “How about you call home to ask?” “Oh, I can’t do that. I left on this trip without telling anyone.” “What?” “It’s sort of a graduation trip and I’m skipping school.” “Skipping school, are you? …Kids these days sure like to have fun.” “You understand, don’t you? If you were to run away from home…” … Well, I kind of get it. He tried to say that with a bitter smile, but… “I don’t have any parents, so I don’t understand,” answered the Dog God on his shoulder. Takada’s expression changed before he could scold the Dog God. Her cheerful look clouded over. “Ah, don’t worry about it!” But it was too late. The cloudy expression soon produced rain. Tears welled up in Takada’s eyes. Shoui looked around quickly to check the afternoon crowd in front of the station. … I can’t believe this. I hope no one’s watching… / “I can’t believe this. I hope no one’s watching…” He panicked when the Dog God spoke his thoughts aloud. “Wait! I don’t mean that in a bad away! Um…!” Takada nodded and quickly lowered her head. “Sorry about that. My emotions burst out without warning again. That was a nuisance, wasn’t it?” “I wouldn’t call it a nuisance. Honestly, it just surprised me. …What was that about?” “People’s thoughts reach me through Taromaru.” The Dog God licked at the tears on her cheek. “So I read your memories…” “Oh, so you saw when I was buried alive and nearly died during the Kinki Riot…” He smiled bitterly as the girl wiped away the tears with her ring-bearing hand. “I can’t believe this. So this Dog God is connected to you?” “Taromaru…no, the entire Dog God race speaks people’s thoughts.” “I see.” “But they can’t speak thoughts people can’t put into words. Instead, they try to understand those thoughts and share them with each other.” “So the memories and images I briefly thought of were sent back to you through the Dog God?” Takada nodded. “As they grow more and more accustomed to reading someone’s thoughts, that person’s thoughts and memories…are directly transmitted to me.” “I can’t read your thoughts, though.” “You probably need to get used to reading them.” “That’s not fair…” Shoui then realized something and the Dog God on his shoulder reflexively put it to words. “You can see my lewd thoughts too?” “Yes, I can.” Shoui’s face stiffened at her Dog God’s simple answer. She smiled bitterly while wiping away the tears and then leaned against the station’s outer wall. “You were sneaking peeks at my butt and legs from behind before.” “W-well! They’re pretty great! Wait, what am I saying!? Calm down! Agh!” “…Taromaru is reading all of your thoughts.” “Wait, wait, wait! That’s, um, the thing about that is…” “You like legs in stockings?” “Indeed I do. …Wait, no!” “Don’t worry. I understand.” “That stockings are amazing?” “No.” “Th-then, it’s something worse? I do have a feeling I was thinking some pretty awful things…” “I said don’t worry. There are people out there thinking even more unbelievable things.” “That doesn’t make me feel much better!” Takada giggled as Shoui shouted through the Dog God. She was laughing even though she had been crying just a moment before. When he noticed that change, Shoui sighed and let his shoulders droop. “You’re an interesting person…” “Am I?” “Yes. This girl I know almost never lets her emotions show.” “Really? I’m jealous…” “You are?” “People used to say I never hide anything I’m feeling or that I’m emotionally unstable.” “Used to, hm?” “Oh, right. My memories don’t get through to you.” Shoui looked to the Dog God named Taromaru on his shoulder. The animal looked him in the eye and tilted his head. “How smart is this guy?” “I’m not sure. My cousin said his intelligence matches whoever he’s possessing.” “Your cousin?” “Yes, he was the one who created Taromaru. He’s a Word Master, you see. Taromaru was based on one that was possessing that cousin, but it left him because he found someone to support him.” “They stop possessing you once you’re no longer no single?” Takada shook her head. “They possess someone who is indecisive.” “…Indecisive?” Shoui placed a hand on his chin in thought and Taromaru spoke his thoughts aloud. “It’s probably not over whether stockings or panty hose are better. That’s getting into the perverted area again, which could cause some problems for me. So what could she be indecisive about? It’s probably something more pleasant. Something pleasurable…no, that’s getting back into pervert territory again.” “Shoui-san, Shoui-san. I can hear everything you’re thinking.” “Eh? Oh, really?” “It sounded like a bunch of nonsense.” “I can’t believe this…” He looked to the Taromaru on his shoulder, but the creature only scratched at the back of his head with his back paw. “I need to get back to normal as soon as possible. That way this guy won’t have to speak for me anymore.” “Really? He saved me. I’ve always been able to read a little bit of other people’s Lives. That’s why they influence me so much.” She smiled a little. “I couldn’t even go outside during elementary school, but then my cousin came and made Taromaru from my Live without speaking a word.” “Then, he’s…” “Yes. He’s apparently a Dog God highly tuned to my thoughts. I said I could read the thoughts of the people he possesses because it was a trait of Dog Gods, but that might be unique to Taromaru.” “I see.” “Dog Gods apparently choose someone to possess if not given any specific orders, but to be honest, you’re the first one he’s chosen on his own other than me.” “Really?” “Yes. If what my cousin said is true, then you must be indecisive about something.” “I’m not sure what to tell you…” “But it’s true,” said Takada. “Taromaru reads people’s thoughts and eats them as Lives, so he possesses people who are indecisive and conflicted…” “And speaks for them like this?” Takada spoke as Shoui scratched at his head. “I think it means you have a dual nature.” “What? Is that like being both an S and an M? …Wait, no!” “I like how you’ve been playing both the boke and tsukkomi.” “Well, I guess playing both roles myself would be another sort of dual nature.” He sighed. “Anyway, I guess this means I’m worrying over something even more than I thought.” “Yes, that kind of dual nature. But it isn’t a bad thing.” “Really?” “Most people have something like that, even if it isn’t on the same level as you. Including those indecent thoughts. …Some people’s public side is stronger and some people’s private side is stronger.” “…” “The way I see it, the more indecisive someone is, the stronger their ultimate answer will be.” “…Their answer, huh?” Takada nodded. “You have more on your mind than those indecent things, don’t you?” “Personally, those are the things I’ve been trying to think about the most, though. …Why does this bastard have to say all those things aloud!?” “I don’t mind.” “Eh? Really? You don’t mind that the guy standing next to you was imagining you naked? …Stop it, you idiot!” Shoui reached for the Taromaru on his shoulder, but the creature hid behind his back. He chased after the creature as if scratching at his body, but he could not catch the thing. Takada gave an honest laugh as she watched. “Don’t worry, Shoui-san. I know you’re only thinking those things on the surface.” “…R-really?” “Yes, I can see the girl in glasses you’re thinking about deep down.” “Oh, wow. So I’m talking to a girl while thinking about another girl? Am I a wishy-washy A-type with a lucky color of red, or something?” “You’re troubled by this self-analysis, aren’t you?” said Takada while peering into his face. “My family is naturally skilled with Lives, so how about I read your destiny a little?” “…You can do that? That sounds like a Tuner.” “I am a Tuner, actually. It’s just that I abandoned that path due to the instability I mentioned before.” “…” “I called myself a Fast Reader when I introduced myself, didn’t I? I borrow Taromaru’s power to read the Lives of people’s or the world’s destiny.” “Hmm… I’m not so sure about this. It sounds more legit than a fortune-telling.” “Please close your eyes. That will help calm your mind.” She did not give him a choice and he closed his eyes on reflex. She immediately held his cheeks between her hands. “!?” He opened his eyes and found her face right in front of him. She had kissed him. After two breaths, she pulled her lips away and returned to her previous position. He stared at her face. “Oh, dear. I just had my lips stolen…” “Why the effeminate tone of voice?” “Well, it was so sudden…” “Is it that surprising? You went all the way with that glasses girl.” “…You have no problem saying some pretty outrageous things, you know that?” “Anyway, that wasn’t what this was about. I was reading your kotodama . In other words, your Live.” “…That seems like a bit of a sad explanation to me.” “If you hadn’t been so surprised, I could have read a little deeper.” She closed her eyes and the Taromaru on her shoulder looked up toward heaven. The creature sang with her voice. A white flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in the fire A memory of death floats in nothingness A king saves him A queen laments him A sage resigns himself Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path Choose your own path and hesitate The true path lies in the past After the clear voice came to an end, Taromaru sighed. Speaking so much seemed to have been tough on his small body. Takada opened her eyes and Shoui asked a question. “Was that…my Words?” “No, it wasn’t. Not in your case.” “Then what was it?” “Good question. …Your destiny can always be changed, but that song was your future based on your current Live. It’s a little vague since I didn’t get a perfect read on you, though.” She smiled and Shoui sighed. The Dog God spoke his calmed thoughts. “I’m not gonna be able to fondle this girl’s breasts… Wait, no!” ### Part 3 1:48 PM As the morning sun slowly began to drop from its midday height, a single guest arrived at the Nandaimon Shrine. It was the monk who had been referred to as Iba back at Nara Station. He stood at the center of the shrine’s grounds. Without speaking a word, he stared straight forward. Senga stood before him with a bamboo broom in hand. She spoke with Iba’s gaze on her. “Instead of standing there, how about you say something?” “…I see you haven’t changed in the last thirteen years.” “That’s because I’m so young.” “I believe you turned sixty-seven this year.” “The man with the greatest grudge against me was indeed the type to say such hopeless things with a straight face.” — Senga – Mind Tech – Take – Sense Killer Intent – Hit. “Iba, you’re the same as back then. You can be silently and expressionlessly staring at someone but still overflowing with killer intent.” “That is my way of doing things.” Senga smiled bitterly. “More importantly, Iba, what do you want? I would like to finish cleaning before the sun sets.” “Then I shall get straight to the point.” Iba furrowed his brow as he was wont to do. “I would like to declare war.” “Oh?” “This is a declaration from Tokyo to Osaka, and from those who died in the Kinki Riot to you.” “Oh? And why would you be doing this?” “To clear away all of the mistakes that led to the Kinki Riot.” “For how expressionless you are, you must really see me as an enemy.” “I no longer have any comrades.” “Did you learn nothing from the Kinki Riot, Iba?” “I have a question concerning that.” “?” Senga gave an exaggerated tilt of the head and Iba gave a straightforward question. “What was the Kinki Riot from the perspective of the teachers?” “Based on that killer intent, I’m guessing you already know more or less. …That explains why you hid in the Mountain and never appeared before me in the thirteen years since that battle came to an end.” “I would like to hear the truth in your words.” “For example?” “Most of those at the center of that war were taught by you.” “Yes, that’s true. Once Yuuki could walk, I made a trip around Japan and visited the local Mountains.” “Was it a coincidence?” “Was what?” Iba maintained his straightforward gaze and clarified his question in an emotionless voice. “That you taught students to use Heavy Rhythms everywhere you went.” “What do you think, Iba?” “…” “Tell me.” “Very well.” Iba nodded before opening his mouth. “That battle was meant to reveal all of the Heavy Rhythms the Mountain had sanctified and to create a public fear of those Rhythms.” “And?” “This is only my personal view, but did you set it all up in order to eliminate those Heavy Rhythms that you viewed as such a danger to the world?” “I see.” “It is a fact that the students you taught to use the Heavy Rhythms fought each other, even when they were friends or family.” “If I had not taught them to use the Heavy Rhythms, that conflict would not have dragged on so long…” “And the Heavy Rhythms would not have been eliminated.” “…So you’re focusing on the result, are you?” “The Kinki Riot added most of Japan’s Rhythms to the list of Death Techno.” “Although most of them were only sealed by the Mountain or by me.” Senga smiled bitterly. “You plan to bring back the Heavy Rhythms, don’t you? A moron showed up here before…and named you as his teacher.” “…His teacher?” “Yes. He sounded proud of it. It was a kid with spiky hair.” “He sounded…proud?” “Yes.” “…Ha.” “?” “Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!” Iba laughed. He opened his mouth, shook his shoulders, and erased his usual self in laughter. A moment later… “Interesting!” By the time he shouted that word, his usual lack of expression had returned. He stared straight toward Senga. “I am honestly surprised he would call me his teacher.” “Does it delight you that much for Nakamura Midori’s brother to call you his teacher?” “Oh? I see you did your homework.” “He was interested in the Flame High and in his sister, his family name was Nakamura, and he called you his teacher. Who else could it be? …So you want to clear away your regrets from thirteen years ago?” “Is that so strange?” “I respect you for it.” “And I you. …I came to realize that over the past thirteen years.” “Did you?” “Out of concern for this country, you gave everyone power and then killed them in an attempt to eliminate the king.” “You sound confident in that theory.” “I did not spend thirteen years at the Mountain for nothing.” “Is that so? Then are you building on my plan to kill everyone but one in an attempt to create a king?” Iba did not nod. Senga rotated her broom with her wrist and aimed the bottom at him like a spear. “Iba, is this conversation a declaration of war from former student to former teacher? History will repeat itself. This could lead to many deaths once more.” “Do not worry. We have a prophet with us, so we can avoid all danger.” “You’re hopeless.” “Then shall we spar as we used to? I never could get a single strike past your spear at that Mountain training ground…but things have changed.” “Have you dabbled in White Noise and the Shinkage Style?” That brought a change to Iba’s expression: he frowned. But Senga continued regardless. “I prefer my method over all else. If you are intent on destroying the situation I have created here, then I will take the appropriate countermeasures.” “Can I take that as an acceptance of my declaration of war? Yet the only card in your deck is your granddaughter.” “Your trump card is Ixolde’s activation tonight, isn’t it? The only way you can conquer this country is to borrow Osaka’s power. Befitting of the former Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer who let Kuki and Midori die…” — Senga – Intimidation Tech – Take – Intimidation – Hit! “…to become the sole survivor of the Kinki Riot!” “!!” Iba released a voiceless shout and took a defensive stance. At the same moment, the cellphone in Senga’s pocket rang far too quietly for the scene. “…?” Their eyes met. Iba released killer intent and Senga spoke with the broom in hand. “When you hear why this emergency phone is ringing, you’ll have better things to do than fight me.” “Nonsense.” “Can you still say that after I tell you only the Emergency Teachers or the Mountain leaders can call this phone?” — Senga – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. “See? You’re curious. …And there goes your bad habit of growing even more expressionless when I say that. Listen. There’s only one reason the Emergency Teachers or the Mountain would be in a hurry to contact me now.” She went on to tell him what that reason was. The persistently ringing phone seemed to show just how badly whichever group it was wanted to contact her. The words Senga spoke over that background noise elicited movement from Iba. He began to run. That signaled the end of this confrontation between teacher and student and signaled the beginning of a new battle. ### 263. Chapter 10: Composition of Battle (List of Characters Special Moves) ### Part 1 2:29 PM A shopping district known as Europe Town existed near the Shinsaibashi district of Osaka. Several dozen shops were densely packed in between two short roads. It was primarily made up of boutiques and cafes, so it acted as a contrast to the northern business district. The stores were filled with people and bright colors. Two people stood on the second floor of a certain brick building there. One was a boy in a suit and the other was a girl in rough personal clothes. They were Ikemaru Takahiro and Aoi Hijiri. The two of them were inside a lingerie shop. Colorful underwear was displayed half-disorderly and half-orderly under the white lights of the store that was larger than it looked from the outside. Since it was only early afternoon, the store was relatively empty and most of the customers were women, but there was also an older couple. When she saw that couple, Aoi gently elbowed Ikemaru in the side. “That middle-aged couple has got to be cheating.” “Why do you say that?” “They’re using separate wallets. …So what do you think about this color?” “I think it would look great on you.” “Then what about this color?” “I think it would look great on you.” “Then what about this risqué one?” “It would not suit you in the slightest.” “You have some pretty solid preferences, Takahiro.” “I prefer to keep some of it left to the imagination.” “Yeah, but I’m not sure I can live up to your imagination…” Aoi looked to Takahiro’s suit. A manila envelope was poking out from below the scarf she had made. “Will that idiot Hisahide really be okay with those documents…and those Discord Bombs you bought?” “We are in trouble if he isn’t. Hacking into the government office only revealed the one sewage line running by near Ixolde and we only have the three Discord Bombs.” “So we have to know where to set the Discord Bombs? We’re really relying on others a lot on this expedition.” “I would prefer to obtain a lot more information. Preparing the charms is not easy either.” “You put a lot of effort into this. That’s an information broker for you.” “I prefer to be called a businessman.” Aoi smiled bitterly. “It’s true you might not be an information broker after all. You haven’t been able to figure out where Seigi is.” “It hasn’t been easy.” “Hisahide’s upset. After all, Seigi was the first person to agree that he would become the king.” Aoi lightly tapped the underwear-wearing mannequin standing next to her. With a small sound, the plastic body shook a little. “The king, hm?” “Personally, my top priority is your issue, not making him the king.” “We’re having trouble finding that too, aren’t we?” “Not even the Live laboratory I hacked into said anything about cherry blossoms blooming in the winter.” Takahiro looked to his own right hand. He wore a black leather glove and the gaze behind his glasses was cold. But… “Don’t worry about it. Even the power of your kotodama can’t create data that wasn’t in the databank to begin with.” “Even without the data, I could still alter the Lives of the cherry blossoms like when I created the Dog God.” “Altering the Lives of organic objects takes a lot out of you, right? Seigi told me.” “…” “Besides, I doubt the cherry blossoms my mom and that man saw blooming in the winter had anything to do with Lives. Maybe you could call it an unusual phenomenon that occurs under the right conditions. That’s what I think it was.” “In that case, we won’t find anything written about it at the sightseeing spots.” “Iba isn’t going to tell us, so we need to be patient. Maybe look through some of Osaka’s historical records. …And if we can help Hisahide rejoin the east and west, finding the cherry blossoms will be a lot easier.” “You sure are positive.” “Being negative is pretty attractive too. Like Seigi used to be. I was jealous that she could tremble like that. Don’t you agree, Takahiro?” “Being able to tremble in your indecisiveness is the ultimate luxury.” “I used to be like that. Until that man died and I learned the true reason the Shinkage Style was created.” She sighed and fell silent. Meanwhile, Ikemaru removed his right glove. “…” As soon as he lightly shook his white hand, a single copper coin appeared between his index and middle finger. He placed the dull brown coin in his palm and showed it to Aoi. “Flower.” As soon as he spoke that quiet word, the coin split open with a sound much like breaking ice. It did not just break in half. The surface peeled away like a skin, split apart, and extended outwards and upwards. It almost looked like a blossoming flower bud. The small coin produced thin flower petals. After a mere five seconds, a red copper flower had formed in his palm. It resembled a cherry blossom and Aoi commented on it. “A Tune Bust transformation… That was your Word Master power, wasn’t it?” “I can read all Lives and freely change the Live structure of anything I speak to while touching it with my skin. …It is a useful power.” “Didn’t you used to call it an unpleasant power?” “Not to worry. I now have someone who can reject my power.” “Then is this flower for the one person in the world you know will be fine touching it with her bare hands?” “Yes.” Aoi smiled, narrowed her eyes, and tilted her head. “Are you trying to cheer me up because I fell silent like that?” “Do you not want this flower?” “It only cost ten yen, didn’t it?” “Only I can make one.” “Then I’ll take it.” When she accepted, Ikemaru placed the metal flower in the breast pocket of her blouson. And… “Sorry, Takahiro. I have been kind of gloomy lately.” “Didn’t you just say being negative is attractive?” “I got that line from my mom.” “But it’s true.” “Then…why did you save Seigi? You were the one that saved her from her negativity even though creating that Dog God put you in the hospital for three days.” “I will answer that…when the time is right.” It was a vague response, but Aoi thought about it and nodded. She then looked away from him. “Oh?” she said after looking out the window. “What is it?” he asked. “This is convenient. There’s the person we were thinking about speaking with at the hotel.” The two of them looked down to the road where a tall girl walked along the sidewalk. Her ponytail and giant false left arm made her quite recognizable. It was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. “She must be on the way to Prefectural #2. Probably to wait for Ixolde’s activation.” “If we’re going to stop her, now would be the time,” agreed Aoi. “If what our master said is true, then Nagoya won’t side with us unless we get her on our side.” “Then let’s stop her before she meets up with the Kansai group. It will probably mean a fight, but first…” “But first?” Ikemaru gave Aoi a serious look. “You need to buy a bra and put it on. You will probably have difficulty fighting without the proper support.” Aoi forcefully elbowed him in the side. ### Part 2 2:34 PM Taeko walked through the streets of Osaka. Walking from the hotel in front of Osaka Station to Prefectural #2 on the southern edge of the Chuo Ward took about half an hour, but it took closer to two hours when leisurely window shopping along the way. She was taking some detours and looking around the southern streets near Nanba Station. “Ixolde’s activation isn’t until seven anyway.” The watch on her right arm said it was only 2:35. Not even ten minutes had passed since she had parted ways with Saki at Osaka Station. She had spent the time looking around a few boutiques and a sporting goods store that doubled as a weapons store. Osaka was home to more corporations than Nagoya and it had plenty of nice weapons. The cold war that had triggered the split between east and west had created plenty of suspicion which in turn had led to the development of weapons and a system to provide them cheaply to students. As the number of purchasers had grown, the level of weaponry and prosthetics had also grown and the mass production abilities of multinational corporations supported the dissemination of those advancements. But while some weapons and prosthetics had continued to advance and were now treated just like sporting goods, there were some cruder old-fashioned designs that still focused on destructive power. The Eighth Dragon Emperor that took the place of Taeko’s left arm was one of those. It was a special false arm created at the Mountain that had a global registration license plate attached. “…” She touched the Dragon Emperor and faced forward. She saw the show window of a boutique much like the others in this southern area. Beyond the large pane of glass, four mannequins were wearing the same suit in different colors. “…” She silently touched the Dragon Emperor with her right hand. — Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Visually Detect – Hit. She looked into the store beyond the mannequins. She saw some girls in white and green sailor uniforms. They seemed to be third years who had already finished their closing ceremony. A group of five held a somewhat mature aura around them as they calmly and patiently perused the lipstick section. When Taeko noticed herself watching them, she looked away. When she turned her eyes from the boutique, she turned to the left. She then started walking. Following the road from this shopping district would take her to Prefectural #2 in about ten minutes. She walked a few steps. — Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. “Huh? …Shoui! What are ya doin’!?” Her voice immediately reached the boy as he walked down the road, so he stopped and turned back. There was a girl next to him. — Taeko – Person Tech – Take – Identify Person – Hit. Taeko did not recognize the girl. “…?” She tilted her head and stopped in front of Shoui. “What are ya doin’ in a place like this?” “Hm? Well, just a little bit of socialization.” Taeko noticed something odd about his answer. His mouth was not moving, yet she heard his voice. She frowned and peered at his face. “…? Shoui?” “Wh-why are you staring at me like that?” “When did you learn ventrilo-…?” Before she could say “quism”, a mouse-like creature poked its head out from his collar. The animal opened its mouth and spoke in his voice. “Oh, sorry. …I guess I didn’t mention it, but I’m stuck like this for a while.” “…Eh?” “You can tell this guy’s talking for me, right?” “Wait a second.” Taeko reached her right hand out toward the creature. When it saw her approaching hand, it gave a cry of warning that sounded like tearing silk. It bared surprisingly sharp fangs as it did so. “…” She pulled her hand back and the girl next to Shoui spoke without moving her lips either. “You can’t do that. He doesn’t like people who aren’t indecisive.” “Indecisive? What’s this creature and who’s this girl, Shoui?” Taeko looked to the girl who wore a stole. The innocent-looking girl had an identical creature on her shoulder. Shoui scratched his head and the creature at his collar spoke. “I can’t believe this. How am I supposed to explain it?” “I don’t understand any of this, Shoui.” “I’m still not used to it myself, to be honest. Anyway, my throat was crushed.” “Yer throat?” “Yes. See these bandages? I took a kick to the neck.” “Oh, I thought ya’d slit yer throat or somethin’, but I guess not.” “You say some scary things sometimes.” Shoui smiled bitterly and used his thumb to point at the creature poking its head out from his collar. “She’s letting me borrow this guy. He’s a Dog God and he reads and speaks people’s thoughts.” “…That’s pretty weird.” “Agreed. …But anyway, I’m showing her around the city as a way of repaying her.” “I see,” said Taeko with a slight nod. She had avoided the main question at hand, so she ignored the creatures sitting on the two of them and looked to the girl. “Miss, don’t ya have school?” she asked. “No. I came to this city on a trip.” Taeko scratched her head at the answer. She looked to Shoui and gave an exasperated sigh. “Ya do know Shoui’s busy right now, don’t ya?” “Yes, I read his kotodama.” “His kotodama?” “I read it mouth-to-mouth.” When she heard that, Taeko punched Shoui with the Dragon Emperor’s fist. He was knocked flat onto the brick sidewalk, but he quickly hopped back up. “~! Wh-what was that for!?” “Ah?” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Emit Killer Intent – Hit. “Ya spent so much time worryin’ over the Killin’ Holder and now ya’ve forgotten all about her and are kissin’ some other girl?” “It wasn’t really a ki-…ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! P-please, not the gut!” “Shut up, ya moron.” “Wait! Um, Takada-san! Please say something!” “Oh, right. Um… It was kind of embarrassing.” “That isn’t helping!” “I see. Then it’s time ya died, Shoui.” Takada placed a hand on Taeko’s arm that was grabbing Shoui’s collar. “Please wait.” During a pause, Taeko looked down at Takada in silence. Her gaze was sharp, but Takada received it without fear. “What is it?” quietly asked Taeko. “I know perfectly well that there is a girl who needs to be by Shoui-san’s side.” “…” “You know that too, right?” Her confident tone settled everything. Taeko finally let go of Shoui’s collar while also shoving him away. “Ahh,” he sighed. “That was scary.” “Ya really are a moron.” “Wh-why?” “If ya don’t restrain her properly, I’ll kill her!” Taeko looked to Shoui and saw his expression change at the word “kill”. It shifted from peaceful to tense. His body did not move in the slightest, but an aura filled with power left it. The Dog God put that aura to words. “Don’t do that.” “Then ya’d better hurry up and restrain her! The only reason I didn’t kill her was because ya were there for her. Ya haven’t forgotten that, have ya?” “…” He said nothing, but the creature at his collar did. “I haven’t forgotten, but… Wait, don’t say that, you idiot!” “I don’t mind. Ya haven’t forgotten, but what?” “Please wait!” The girl stood in front of Shoui and looked up at Taeko. “Don’t use Taromaru to force people to speak their thoughts! It isn’t natural!” “Isn’t havin’ everythin’ out in the open for the best?” “No. No matter what you might say, Shoui-san’s indecision belongs to him. No matter what might happen, no one but him can make up his mind for him.” The girl spoke in a strong, clear tone, so Taeko looked down at her. But the girl once more accepted her gaze and did not fall back. She wrinkled her brow and a look of seriousness rather than anger filled her innocent face. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Taeko closed her eyes and sighed toward the ground. “It’s no use.” “What is?” “No matter how much ya worry over it, this guy will never leave that girl’s side.” “That’s why I want to see what he does,” said the girl. The seriousness on her face was replaced by a slight smile. Her expressions seemed to change a lot and Taeko also smiled. “All the girls by his side are too clever for their own good.” “So are you, aren’t you?” Taeko turned to Shoui. “Am I by yer side?” “You’re definitely close enough to grab my collar.” “That’s fine then.” — Taeko – Box Tech – Take – Backhand Blow – Hit! Unable to react to the sudden attack by the Dragon Emperor, Shoui flipped once and collapsed to the ground. “Owww! Wh-what was that for!?” “It’s yer punishment for messing with people’s emotions. Complain and ya’ll get another one.” “You two seem to get along well.” “How!?” / “How!?” Their slight difference in intonation allowed their voices to harmonize perfectly. Takada smiled a little and she giggled without using the Dog God. Shoui and Taeko exchanged a glance when they saw it. A moment later… — Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. “Boss.” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. “Yeah.” “Hm? What is it, you two?” — Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Measure Distance – Hit. “I wish I could say it’s nothing, but it isn’t. Boss, know anyone who might have a grudge against you?” — Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Measure Distance – Hit. “Well, when ya’ve lived for eighteen years, ya tend to make five hundred or so enemies.” “That’s too many enemies.” — Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Determine Number of Enemies – Hit. “Don’t be stupid. We need to get goin’ as soon as I turn around. Prepare yerself.” — Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Dragon Emperor 1st Activation – Hit. — Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Determine Number of Enemies – Hit. “Oh, c’mon. You mean we aren’t running away?” “Fleein’ in the face of the enemy is punishable by a fatal beatin’.” “Why is everyone around me so hot-blooded?” “Um, you mean me too?” “No, no. You’re the nonconformist on this one, Takada-san.” — Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit. “Here they come!” shouted Taeko as she turned around. Shoui kept Takada behind him and turned a bit to the side. They both saw the same thing. “A burning bullet!?” Two balls of fire the size of a human head flew straight toward them like meteors. — Shoui – Break High/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Knock Down – Hit! — Taeko – Lightning High/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Knock Down – Hit! Two bursting sounds rang out in quick succession. A moment later, screams finally erupted from the road, but it was so sudden that the people could only express their surprise. They did not have time to take cover or anything like that. Taeko clicked her tongue, pulled a flare from her pocket, and fired it into the sky. A blue ball of light rose into the sky in order to inform the local guard station of the danger. At the same time… “Boss!? Look at the ground!” When she heard the confusion in Shoui’s voice, Taeko kept her attention on their surroundings while looking to the ground. The identity of the burning bullet lay on the brick path after she had knocked it down. It was a ten yen coin so hot it was smoking. “…?” Shoui’s voice answered her puzzlement. “I don’t know how, but those weren’t bullets that were emitting flames and flying through the air. They were coins.” “What does that mean?” “Who knows. How about we ask the people who did this?” — Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Detect Enemy – Hit! She readily found who she was looking for. As the people hid inside the nearby stores and side roads, two people walked out onto the sidewalk in front of Taeko’s group. They were about a five second run away. One was a tall, slender boy in a suit and the other was a girl in a blouson and with a hexagonal rod in hand. They looked to Taeko and Shoui without smiling but without any hostility either. “I guess I can figure out who ya are by fightin’ ya,” said Taeko. As soon as she stepped forward, someone cried out from behind her. “Takahiro!?” It was Takada. The enemy gave an obvious reaction to her voice. “Seigi!?” asked the girl. The boy next to her frowned a bit as he looked beyond Taeko and Shoui. The battle was beginning with a truly strange composition. ### Part 3 2:45 PM The battle began with both sides working to protect a single girl. The siren known as the Fourth Alarm rang and two boy-girl pairs began moving at the center of the quickly emptying shopping district. A single girl watched them. Shoui was worried about her. “I can’t believe this.” He saw Takada holding Taromaru in her arms, but Taromaru’s size had changed. Instead of mouse-sized, he was now the size of a puppy. Sensing her fear, he had grown to confront the situation she was facing. Shoui now understood what had happened at that scene when he had first met her. The fleeing students had been attacked by the grown Taromaru. He had a feeling he understood her fear. “Is she afraid that her own fear will hurt others?” He saw her desperately petting Taromaru’s head to calm him. But Taromaru kept his fangs bared and produced a low growling from deep in his throat. The Dog God was no longer reading her thoughts. The fear of this battle that resided deep in her heart was more powerful than her thoughts. She was both trying to calm Taromaru and to calm her own emotions. Without speaking a word, she was trying to calm her own fear of hurting others. “…” Shoui recalled the past. Yuuki had once said something to him when visiting his room. “ ‘Protect me from myself’, hm?” He muttered that while facing forward. Taeko and the enemy were glaring at each other from a distance. The enemy had named themselves and Taeko had responded in kind. The enemies were Tokyo’s Vice Chancellor and Special Duty Officer. The night before, Shoui had met and lost to a boy claiming to be Tokyo’s Chancellor. That meant the main force of Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers was in Osaka. Shoui did not know what was going on, but he could tell Takada knew them and that she was afraid of this battle. “…” He walked forward and the two from Tokyo reacted. They had been entirely focused on Taeko, but now they began to focus on Shoui too. — Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Presence – Hit. As soon as Shoui arrived alongside Taeko, she took off running. “!” She ran forward. She had won the initiative. Her Dragon Emperor gave a roar. With that roar to summon the Lightning High, lightning enveloped her metal arm. The enemy moved back, but Taeko did not care. She continued forward with the Dragon Emperor at the ready. “Yer still in range!” As a Steel Master, she was an all-rounder who could make long-distance attacks too. The Dragon Emperor gave its thunderous roar and her attack range spread. — Taeko – Shot Tech – Take – Prepare to Fire – Hit. — Taeko – Lightning High/Steel/Shot Tech – Multi-Take – Electro Cannon – Hit! “!” She held forward the Dragon Emperor arm and the lightning wrapping around it was instantly fired forward. The electric attack was wide enough to fill the road and flew toward her opponents more like a pillar than a net. The wide-range attack of white light raced through the air, but… “Leave it to me.” With a refreshing voice, Aoi Hijiri stepped forward with her hexagonal rod in hand. She stood in front of Ikemaru and raised the rod with awfully slow movements. She raised her head and looked to Taeko through the electric attack. She gave a slight smile just as the lightning struck her. A great roar burst out, but the result was not at all what Taeko had expected. “!?” The white light fired by the Dragon Emperor scattered in every direction like a shattered plate. The explosion of light slammed noisily into the shops on either side of the road. The shopping district shattered from the heat and impact. After a series of explosions and a chorus of solid impacts, only Aoi remained standing. She was unscathed. “…It missed!?” Aoi spoke without answering Taeko’s question. “Like that would work, you idiot. …If this is all you’ve got, I don’t see how you can claim Nagoya won’t surrender.” “…Damn ya.” “Don’t panic. We’ll take our time finishing you off. …Once you go down, Nagoya is ours.” Shoui ignored Aoi’s mocking comment and looked behind the girl. The man who had been standing there was gone. — Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Detect Enemy – Hit! “Boss!” He saw Ikemaru Takahiro walking up the sidewalk. Several bicycles were lined up there. As he walked along, he traced his bare hand along those bicycles. “Peck at your prey, you birds.” The group of bicycles flew up into the sky as if something had kicked at them. It happened suddenly. With a harmony of light metallic sounds, the bicycles flew along a gentle slope no matter which way they were pointed and no matter how they were oriented. They filled the sky just like a flock of birds. “!” They then dropped down toward Shoui and Taeko. “Dragon Emperor!” Taeko raised her voice and a hemisphere of lightning was released from the exhaust port on the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder. — Shoui – Dodge/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Leaping Dodge – Hit! Just as he escaped the range of the lightning, the wheeled birds crashed down into the lightning light. With a scorching smell, their metal and plastic melted and scattered. “Th-that was close!” “Just stay quiet and get outta the way! The next one’s comin’!” He looked up to see Aoi raising her hexagonal rod. Those two had incredible coordination, so they did not give Shoui and Taeko a chance to act. There was a distance of over ten steps between Aoi and Taeko, so this attack would presumably fill that gap. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! For some reason, Shoui recognized the aura emitted by that pose. “But I’ve never met her before.” Confused, he raised his defenses and glanced behind him. Takada was no longer holding Taromaru in her arms. The light brown Dog God had grown to the size of a large dog and now stood on the ground. Takada said nothing as she embraced his neck and desperately tried to hold him back. Without that, he almost certainly would have rushed in to join the battle. The slightest opening could settle everything here, so who would her fear attack? The question sent a shudder down his spine, but no one could answer it. Meanwhile, Aoi made her move. She attached Words to the hexagonal rod simply by swinging it down in front of her. Ah. “Kusanagi!?” Shoui understood everything when he heard what Taeko said. Two days before, that shockwave attack had stopped the confrontation between him and Saki in the schoolyard. Aoi’s attack contained the same presence and killer intent as that. If the equation was the same, the answer would also be the same. She swung the rod down until it hit the ground and shattered the asphalt. The shock broke the rod’s central bolt, but the Rhythm activated. First, it created a wind. “!?” The air shook and a shimmering of heat pierced through Taeko and Shoui. “It can’t be…!” Before Taeko could take evasive action, the air cutting across the road exploded. A powerful tearing raced by. The chorus of tearing sounds sounded like an echo. The tearing wind and shockwave slammed into the ground and scattered. — Taeko – Savate/Gym/Steel/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Great Dodge – …Hit! Taeko avoided the power rushing toward her. Shoui tried to do the same, but something stopped him: a beast’s roar. Taromaru was unable to bear the killer intent of Kusanagi that Aoi was emitting. “…!” — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. The killer intent growing behind him grew all the larger in response to the attack approaching from the front. He heard Takada’s voiceless scream within the din, so he did not dodge. The Dis-Worder released the most powerful Rhythm he could use: the Break High. — Shoui – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Fix Stance – Hit! He filled his entire body with strength and held his fist forward. He did not know if he could break Kusanagi, but if he failed, Takada’s fear would explode. “Shoui!?” shouted Taeko. But it was too late. — Shoui – Break High/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit! His aim was true and his fist contacted the great power. A moment later… “What are you doing!?” A deep voice gave a shout and the power of Kusanagi vanished before Shoui’s eyes. ### Part 4 2:51 PM There was nothing there. “!?” Shoui looked forward as his Break High fist thrust out into empty air. “…It vanished?” His vision tried to answer his question. The boy named Ikemaru stood in the distance. The girl named Aoi stood in front of him with her hexagonal rod still held against the ground. At the midpoint between Aoi and Shoui, Taeko had fallen onto her butt and was looking toward Shoui. The ground had been torn up almost all the way to him. However, someone stood right in front of him. A short man dressed like a Buddhist monk faced away from him. The air around the man was still vibrating, but Kusanagi’s power was gone. The mass of power that had raced along the street while destroying it had utterly vanished in front of Shoui, just like when Aoi had deflected Taeko’s electric attack. The Fourth Alarm was still sounding and had begun to rule the surrounding atmosphere. Shoui gasped for breath and heard the man in front of him speaking. “Enough meaningless fighting. I managed to deflect Kusanagi, but what would have happened if I had not been here?” “Iba…” The man took a step toward Aoi’s quiet voice. Then he looked around the area and looked Shoui straight in the eye. “That was a reckless decision,” he said. “But it was also a brave one.” Shoui could not reply. He did not know what had happened, so his body still contained extreme tension. But the man paid him no more heed and looked to Aoi and Ikemaru instead. “A moment ago, Nagoya’s Student Council announced their unconditional surrender to Tokyo.” “!?” “Nagoya Chancellor. No matter what you might say, Nagoya now belongs to Tokyo.” “Don’t be ridiculous! Got any proof of that!?” “If you do not believe me, would you prefer to keep fighting?” When Aoi heard the man’s arrogant words, she quickly raised her hexagonal rod again. Taeko clicked her tongue and looked to Shoui. “I can’t believe this.” She looked behind him, so he looked back as well. “?” The great beast the Dog God had become was no longer there. He only saw Takada sitting on the road and crying with Taromaru on her shoulder. Her cries filled his ears more than the siren of the Fourth Alarm. “I can’t believe this,” said Shoui as well. At the same time, he heard a metallic sound. He turned toward it and saw Taeko standing up and wiping the dust from her coat. “Boss?” “After talkin’ with Saki Seiji earlier, I had a feelin’ this would happen.” She shrugged and looked to the Buddhist monk. “Are ya sayin’ this is the only way for Nagoya to survive?” “At the very least, your hometown has decided so.” “Then it can’t be helped.” She sighed and walked over to Shoui. Aoi kept her weapon at the ready, but… “I won’t do anythin’,” said Taeko as she came to a stop in front of Shoui. Her expression contained both exasperation and exhaustion. “I can’t believe this, Shoui. …Are ya tremblin’?” “Y-yes. I did try to do something pretty reckless.” “Hm. That’s convenient.” “Eh? Wh-what’s convenient?” “Well, I ended up sidin’ with Osaka because ya were here.” “Is that so?” “And now Nagoya has gone over to Tokyo’s side.” “Yes, so it seems.” “That gives me contradictory feelings. Do I keep havin’ fun with ya or do I protect Nagoya?” “Yes, I understand how you must feel.” “Sorry.” “Eh?” — Taeko – Boxing/Steel Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit! Without giving him a chance to dodge, the Dragon Emperor’s fist punched Shoui. Even through his bandanna, a hit to the back of the head was effective. “Okay. I’ll be joinin’ you along with this guy.” The Dog God expressed Shoui’s thoughts in response to Taeko’s selfish words. “I’m passing out again?” That was exactly what happened. But in so doing, Nagoya had fully surrendered to Tokyo. The power balance of Japan’s students was greatly changing. ### 264. Chapter 11: Beginning of the End (After-Sales Service) ### Part 1 4:15 PM The Osaka Hilton hotel’s sky lounge gave a view of the city of Osaka. Two people viewed the colors of that city: Hisahide and Takada. Hisahide stared at the silhouette of Osaka Castle visible in the distance. “Sorry the day you arrived is already the big day of Ixolde’s activation, Takada.” “I don’t mind. I never was interested in Rhythms.” The Dog God on her shoulder spoke for her as she sipped at a teacup. Hisahide faced her from across the table, seemed to have something he wanted to say, and sighed. “You really stick to your own pace, you know that?” “I am simply playing the role that was given to me. Right?” The question was directed to Taromaru who replied in a quiet, bell cricket-like voice. “A Dog God lives by devouring people’s indecision, hm? That creature was made from a portion of your Lives, right? Has he ever gotten along with anyone else?” “Yes. Just today, he ran up onto someone else’s shoulder for the first time.” “…Eh?” “You’re the one that asked. Why do you sound so surprised?” “Oh, well, y’know?” He scratched at his hair. “There’s really someone else like you in this city?” “Yes. He is trying to play his role…and he’s far more indecisive than you or me.” “Was he good person?” he asked while sipping at his tea. “Yes. Although he did stare at my butt.” Hisahide immediately spat out his mouthful of tea. “H-he what!?” “Hisahide-san, please don’t spit out your tea. You scared Taromaru.” “Y-yeah, but more importantly…” “I’ve said I can read other people’s Lives, haven’t I? Well, I could read his even more once Taromaru possessed him.” “He still has some guts to admire your ass without permission.” “You used to always look at my chest, though.” “That’s because a girl’s all about the breasts, not the ass.” “If you say so.” That was all Takada said before taking another sip of her tea. The waiter brought over a new pot of tea and a cake, so she pulled out her fork while speaking again. “But he was an interesting person.” “By looking at your ass?” “In many ways, including that. He was indecisive about so many things yet he was still trying to do something about it on his own. I was jealous of that.” “If you ask me, someone who can’t make up their mind is just weak.” “Then I guess I’m fundamentally weak too.” “Would it be conceited of me to say that’s why I’ll always protect you?” “No, you’re working quite hard there, even if it isn’t as much as between Takahiro and Hijiri.” “I’m glad to hear it. …But I’d like to meet this guy you’ve taken such an interest in.” “You can if you want. He’s the one the Nagoya Chancellor brought with her.” She took a breath. “He is a key person. I could tell after prophesying his future.” “His future?” “Yes, I read his kotodama, but… What’s the matter?” Hisahide brought a hand to his forehead. “Ahh… I do want to go out with you, you know?” “Yes, and I said that was fine.” Takada held out her right hand to show the golden ring on the middle finger. Hisahide looked to the silver ring on his own right hand’s middle finger. “You weren’t thinking at all, were you?” He sighed when she and Taromarou on her shoulder both tilted their head. “Well, I guess this is destiny too,” he muttered before telling Takada to recite the prophecy she had seen. She briefly hesitated and looked to Taromaru. Taromaru erased all intonation from his voice and seemed to squeeze out the voice so only Nakamura could hear. A white flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in the fire A memory of death floats in nothingness A king saves him A queen laments him A sage resigns himself Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path Choose your own path and hesitate The true path lies in the past His expression changed upon hearing it. He looked Takada in the eye and voiced his own prophecy. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength Human memories dance within nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run without looking to another’s path Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future His lips then uttered something else. “That prophecy is the flipside of mine.” “If so, he is the soldier who will save you and make you the king.” “You’re one scary girl. Are you planning to drag him onto our side?” “No. He is a key person because he is indecisive.” “…?” “He does not have his own rails…his own Words. Whether he saves you or not will likely be highly dependent on what happens now and on his own indecision.” “So he’s just wishy-washy? He can’t take a stand about his own destiny?” “No, that isn’t it.” “Then…” “He is hesitant because the possibilities presenting themselves to him are so great.” “…” She smiled at his silence. “I understand because I was once crippled by indecision and closed off the possibility of becoming a Tuner, Buster, or Rhythm user.” “Takada.” “Yes?” “Between me and him, which one’s the better guy?” She answered with a slight smile. “I think the one that can draw out his possibilities to their fullest is the better guy.” “I see.” Hisahide checked his watch. “Okay, I guess it’s about time to head out.” “Are you really forgoing the original plan and descending to the sewers from this hotel’s basement?” “Yeah, it’s looking that way. Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers seem to have caught wind of Ikemaru and Aoi’s battle with the Nagoya Chancellor, so they’ve already set up some guards.” “That makes things difficult. …So are you finally taking action to become king?” Nakamura nodded and smiled at Takada. “Well, I’ll be king by the time I reach Nagoya.” ### Part 2 4:51 PM Ixolde’s underground control room was preparing for Ixolde’s activation in two hours’ time. The elites of Osaka’s Science Club Alliance were speaking only the necessary words and moving between the electronic equipment lined up in the control room. Their mechanical actions created the illusion that they were nothing more than a portion of the overall machine known as Ixolde. It was a powerful illusion. Two people in the control room’s entrance viewed it from close up. One, an eyepatched boy, faced forward as he spoke. “Compared to the emptiness of the celebration outside, this room is filled with quiet energy.” The tall boy standing next to him nodded. “I really don’t fit in with the Student Council and those VIPs. I was right to leave partway through.” “You’ve never fit in anywhere.” They both laughed bitterly at that and Souichirou said more with that atmosphere intact. “It seems Nagoya…didn’t work out.” “That Fourth Alarm, right? I’d placed some guards around the Hilton earlier just in case, so we have confirmed Nakamura Hisahide, Ikemaru Takahiro, and Aoi Hijiri are there. But there’s something odd about this.” “?” “One of the guests there is a girl named Takada…Kiyogi? Not sure how to read her name. And…word of this just reached me.” Saki pulled out his attaché case and pulled the memo pad from inside it. He opened it and read through it in a businesslike manner. “According to the scout unit, the Nagoya Chancellor and the Tokyoites entered the Hilton together at 16:23, but they had a little something extra.” “Extra?” Saki scratched his head at Souichirou’s question. “Hizaka Shoui. He was apparently unconscious and being carried, so I bet he was caught in the middle of something. What should we do? We could always break in on the pretext of saving Hizaka.” “I leave that decision in your hands. For today, I’m only thinking about my personal actions.” Souichirou continued facing the working students and never once turned toward Saki. “But…the Shinkage Style is here, is it?” “What? I’d heard the Modified Purple Electricity Style passed down by your family includes the Kage Style, so is there a connection there?” “Yes. …This means a bond from before my birth has returned to Osaka. I will tell you the details eventually.” He still did not face Saki. “Well, even if the Shinkage Style is here, at least there won’t be an ogre this time,” said Saki. Souichirou moved slightly. He nodded. “That celebration up above is such an empty farce. They will be pressing Ixolde’s remote activation button, but how many of them know that button is a dummy?” “I wonder what moron’s gonna press that button without knowing a thing.” “I have no interest, but I’m sure Iwai Sanzou would know.” “If they actually thought about it, they’d be able to figure it out. Live acceleration requires both timing and personnel, so they’d never give it a remote control like that.” “The gathered sound will be sealed in the MD located inside the unmanned refinery at the central pocket in the deepest part of Ixolde. Only after eliminating as much as possible will it be automatically placed in storage.” Souichirou repeated the same words he had heard in the underground operating room the day before. Saki rested his head in his hand. “The storage room is in the center of Ixolde. You can’t get there without going through the emergency passageway in front of the operating room unless you dug a new hole in the schoolyard. And where else could they hope to steal that strongest Rhythm from?” “The only other option is the central pocket three hundred meters below ground.” Saki sighed at Souichirou’s words and looked to the Babel Gun visible from the control room’s window. “Ixolde’s a tricky thing.” “From Tokyo’s perspective, the only damage will be to Kansai if they can steal the strongest Rhythm and return triumphant to Nagoya.” “And if they defeat you, Kansai will lose its cornerstone.” Souichirou finally turned to face Saki. “Sorry. I’m going to graduate soon, and I had hoped to end my term uneventfully.” “Don’t be like that. I’ll follow you for life.” A quiet laugh rang emptily in the air. “This is probably our last festival before graduation.” “I need to make sure I am not burned,” said Souichirou quietly. “I do not want to be the festival bonfire.” With that, he turned around to face the automatic door out of the control room. “I’ll be waiting in the lobby, Seiji.” “Huh? You aren’t going to watch the gathering of the sound?” “This will soon be a holy ground meant only for those who have put in so much work here.” “I see.” Saki nodded and sighed. The two boys left everything to those who belonged there and exited the room to prepare for battle. ### Part 3 5:43 PM Osaka was bright and busy on the surface, but there were a few differences below the surface. First, it was pitch black as no light could get in. Second, water calmly flowed through the sewers. Those two things were always true below Osaka’s surface, but at the moment, something much like the surface was running through below the surface: noise. “What’s with this salty-smellin’ sewage!? It’s up to my ankles.” “They sent out some guards, so we had no other choice. Besides, my shoes are just as soaked!” “Yer shoes don’t cost nearly as much as mine, ya moron!” “Ah? Cost? How much could they possibly cost!?” “79.8 thousand yen.” “…Okay, I can see why you’re mad.” “See?” Taeko sighed in the darkness. “But are ya sure yer ready? I know that glasses guy was real busy, but still.” “Yes, Ikemaru was teaching me how to use his charms and the Discord Bombs.” “Are you really gettin’ in to Ixolde from below ground?” “According to the map Ikemaru had, I need to break down the wall two hundred meters ahead.” “And meanwhile, I create a diversion on the surface? Ya sure ya trust me enough for that? I might betray ya for Osaka.” “I don’t mind if you do. Once I have the Flame High, no one stands a chance against me. Not Nagoya and not Osaka.” And… “Hey,” said Taeko. “What’s yer connection with that guy from the Mountain who knew a lot about this sewer’s structure?” “…” “Ya don’t have to answer if ya don’t want to.” “Iba was my sister’s boyfriend’s friend.” “…That’s complicated.” “Yeah. My sister and her boyfriend died after they were betrayed by their teacher, but Iba survived.” Hisahide’s voice rang in the darkness. “I think Iba might have had feelings for my-…” He trailed off and his footsteps came to a stop. “What is it?” “Look up ahead.” His voice and focus were directed toward the shadows of some metal bars in the darkness. They were arranged like a window lattice and they ran from the ceiling to the floor to block the two students’ way. “According to Iba, these have a high-voltage current running through them. Removing them will sound the alarm…but your Eighth Dragon Emperor should be able to neutralize that with its lightning attack. Try ignoring the current and bending one of the bars.” “…You make it sound easy.” The Dragon Emperor could be heard powering up. “Dragon Emperor, release protection on the Third Activation.” Before she had even finished speaking, the armor panel on the Dragon Emperor’s shoulder opened slightly and expelled white smoke and light. The sewer grew bright and their silhouettes covered the wall as shadows. A low, heavy noise slowly but surely sounded from the Dragon Emperor with a pulse-like Tempo. “…!” That was the roar of the Lightning High. It was the sound preferred by the lightning dragon. The sewer wall trembled and the roar of thunder raced along below Osaka’s surface. Hisahide spoke even as his voice was drowned out. “I’d heard the Dragon Emperor is a false arm that only activates once a dragon eye has been placed inside it.” “That’s right. The dragon’s armor is emperor-class and there are eight right and left pairs. Each of them has the power of a dragon inside.” “Is it alive?” “Want to test it out? Not even I have taken it to the final activation needed to wake it up.” “Please don’t. …There’s no point in destroying half the city here, and that’s what I’ve heard the other Dragon Emperors did.” “True enough.” Taeko grabbed the metal bars with the Dragon Emperor’s fist and white smoke rose from between the metal claws and metal bars. “Hold on. Are you sure you’re okay there?” “It’s just the rubber on the palm melting. …There.” — Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Brute Force – Hit. The metal bars bent quite a bit, creating a low sound like a root being pulled from the dirt. A moment later, the bars and their frame came out as the Dragon Emperor’s fist held them. In the pale light of the Dragon Emperor, Taeko looked back and forth between its shoulder and the bars. “Did ya say removin’ it would sound the alarm?” “You idiot!? Wh-what did you do!?” “Well, I broke it…and it broke.” “You’ve ruined all the worked we’ve been doing here!” “I didn’t mean to, though. Ha ha ha.” “This is no laughing matter!” “Calm down, calm down. Don’t panic. I’ve just gotta create a diversion on the surface while ya head straight there, right?” Taeko held the metal bars out toward Hisahide. “So what should I do with these?” He did not hesitate to answer. “Throw them away, idiot!” ### Part 4 5:58 PM The first thing Shoui saw when he opened his eyes was a brown shadow. His eyes focused on that brown color instead of the dimly-lit space around him. Finally, he could tell what it was: a Dog God. The small, foxlike animal was resting on Shoui’s chest as he lay on his back. He was also staring curiously at the boy’s face. “You don’t need to worry.” The words came from the Dog God’s mouth rather than his own. He placed a hand on his throat and felt the bandages there. He still could not speak. “I can’t believe this.” After having the Dog God say that, he looked in a different direction. His focus shifted and the ceiling came into view. It was an expensive-looking ceiling with a pattern drawn in warm colors. It was both high and large. “Is this a mansion or something?” “No, it’s a hotel.” He turned toward that male voice. He removed the blanket placed over his chest and the Dog God quickly hopped over to his shoulder. Shoui looked to the speaker while feeling the Dog God’s claws through his thin innerwear. A Buddhist monk sat cross-legged on the twin bed next to the one Shoui was lying on. Shoui recognized the monk outfit as the kind worn at the Mountain. The man wearing it had folded up the bed’s blanket and sat on the flat sheet. A tray on the sheet held a glass and a rectangular bottle of whisky. The glass only contained some damp ice, so he had apparently already drank the contents. But Shoui looked to the man without paying that any heed. The short man had not sunk into the bed at all, so he was lighter than he seemed. “Who are-…?” “Wait.” When Shoui started to get up, the man held out a hand and gestured to the boy’s feet with his chin. “?” Shoui looked down and found Takada lying on the bed. She had removed her stole, the blanket by his feet was placed over her, and her eyes were closed. He saw a ring on the hand gripping the top of the blanket. It was an unadorned golden ring. He tilted his head at the glittering ring of unknown origin, but then he noticed some small movement. It was Takada’s Dog God. The creature ran up onto her back and hesitantly looked between Shoui and the man’s gazes. The one on Shoui’s shoulder replied with a quiet voice reminiscent of a creaking door. “It seems Takada and the Dog God have taken a liking to you,” said the man. “Is that so?” “To be honest, this is a problem.” “Is she your daughter?” “Of course not.” “Then why?” “That Takada girl is destined to become the queen.” Shoui stared at the monk when he heard that. His mouth remained closed, but… “Talk about sticking with the classics. Don’t tell me you’re seriou-… Don’t say it! Not now!” “I do not mind.” “Oh, that’s luck-… Stop that!” “I see the Dog God is reading all of your thoughts.” “Yeah, and it’s not exactly fun. Can’t you stop it?” “This is the first time the Dog God has naturally taken a liking to anyone other than Takada, so there is nothing I could do.” “Is that so?” Shoui shrugged and lay down on his side. He made sure not to wake Takada as he adjusted his position and sighed while propping his head up with his hand. “So what’s going to happen to me here?” “It seems Nakamura can become the king with you here.” “Nakamura…” “If what he said is true, then he is the one that kicked you in Osaka Prefectural #2’s student dorm.” “Oh, the guy who crushed my throat.” The man frowned a little at that. “…Your throat?” “Yeah, he kicked it. Got a nice solid blow from directly below.” “It’s unusual for Nakamura to miss.” “Miss? …Where was he trying to hit me?” “When going for the face, he was trained to hit the side of the head here or the jaw.” “If I took that kick to the jaw, I think I’d have lost about five teeth.” “It was an additional attack meant to keep you from speaking, so the end result was little different. Still, allow me to apologize in place of my student.” The man obediently bowed. Shoui was impressed that the man still did not sink into the bed even when he moved. “Who are you?” “Yuuki Senga hasn’t told you? I used to train under her.” “Oh, so I was kind of following in your footsteps. Sorry. …It’s only been three days since I came down from the Mountain, so I still haven’t been by Nandaimon.” “But I had heard the boy named Hizaka Shoui was Nandaimon’s protégé.” “That may have been true two years ago.” He laughed bitterly. “I trained at the Mountain for two years and still didn’t become a Chancellor. I haven’t figured out how to face her when I go back.” “Two years? Has Yuuki Senga had anything to say about that?” “Like I said, I haven’t seen her. She hasn’t come to say anything to me either, so I feel like I missed my timing.” “I see. Then…” The man crossed his arms for a few seconds. “You may have been lucky to be so talentless.” “What?” “I assume you know Yuuki Senga used to be a head teacher at the Mountain.” “Yes.” “But I doubt you know that she traveled around Japan thirteen years ago, creating Chancellors as she did so. She created Chancellors who could use the Heavy Rhythms that have since become Death Techno.” “Thirteen years ago?” “Yes, the same year as the Kinki Riot that began as a sports riot after the Koshien game went into extra innings.” The man pushed back his right sleeve to show off the arm. The entire right arm was covered in keloids. Shoui gasped and the man continued. “As we fought each other, something seemed wrong. I began to worry over why we were fighting. And…” “And?” “After the third death, when the Heavy Rhythms began to be feared, I realized that we had been placed on the path to conflict.” He covered his arm with the sleeve once more. “Yuuki Senga tried to seal away the Heavy Rhythms that the world viewed as dangerous and she tried to suppress that age in which student conflicts were frequent. To do so, she taught the Chancellors supporting Japan how to use the Heavy Rhythms and had them fight.” “You’re lying.” “I am not.” “Do you have any proof?” “…” Shoui laughed quietly at the man’s silence. “Not even Old Lady Senga could manipulate people’s hearts to that extent. Besides, the sports riot that began the Kinki Riot wasn’t faked. It was a natural incident caused by the cheering squad. She couldn’t have interfered in that.” “Then why did I alone survive?” asked the man. “We realized our mistake and wished to settle our differences, but our surroundings did not allow it. Most notably, the Mountain. …The Tokyo Chancellor and Osaka Chancellor were driven to death by the Mountain and the corporations.” “But…” “They were pursued by the private army of the corporations that feared the Heavy Rhythms…and they were surrounded by the special forces of the Mountain led by Yuuki Senga.” “…” “That was when my Words changed.” The man breathed a deep and heavy sigh. At the same time, he sank cross-legged into the bed. His head was still hanging. “Dis-Worder, it was only Chancellors with special abilities like yours that Yuuki Senga taught to use the Heavy Rhythms.” “Eh?” asked Shoui. He recalled what Saki had said on the roof the other night. “There was once a boy who had no Words. He brought misfortune to Osaka and died…” “You heard that from the 1st Special Duty Officer of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers, didn’t you?” “Yes,” confirmed Shoui. “The 1st Special Duty Officer at the time was his friend. And his Words…” He looked to the monk, but the man did not raise his head. His shoulders shook a little but there was a small smile on his downturned face. He was laughing. “Yes, this hand is all that remains. …This hand that, at the end of it all, could not defend against Yuuki Senga’s spear and allowed those two to kill each other!” Shoui was left speechless. “Do not worry. You were kicked out of the Mountain, so they must have decided you cannot use a Heavy Rhythm. Even if it took them two years to do so.” “Why would they want to have me use a Heavy Rhythm?” “Because of what I said.” “…?” The Dog God on Shoui’s shoulder expressed his confusion by tilting its head. The monk raised his head with a powerful smile on his face. — Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Miss! The expression was too powerful to read. A chill ran down his spine and the Dog God hid behind his head. “I said I would create someone who could use a Heavy Rhythm, so Yuuki Senga attempted to create someone to oppose them.” “What?” “You still do not understand? Think carefully. It is not just you. Her granddaughter is the same.” The man took a breath. “Remember this, boy. While Yuuki Senga erased all kings and split Japan between east and west, I intend to create a king and reunite Japan once more. …She does not like it, though.” “Doesn’t like it? …And that’s why she made Yuuki like that?” “Yes, the Killing Holder. …She mentally trained up her own granddaughter after the girl killed someone. I assume she did so once she realized she could not rely on you.” “…” Shoui silently removed his head from his hand and lay down on the bed. “Ahh, ahh,” he sighed. “So it’s all my fault.” “I don’t think it is,” said Takada’s voice without warning. Shoui froze in place on the bed. “Don’t be so mean, Iba-sensei,” said her voice. “I’ve been listening, and you make it sound like Shoui-san caused all this.” “No, I was saying Yuuki Senga had-…” “Shoui-san trusts this Yuuki person.” The man named Iba fell silent at that. Shoui realized the weight of Takada’s arms had left his legs, so he got up. “…” He saw her smiling. It felt like the room’s dim light was illuminating only that smile. He scratched at and tilted his head. “I feel like these past few days have been the busiest in my life. Everyone who shows up says whatever they want and I’m faced with these huge revelations on a daily basis.” “You are probably working through two years’ worth of truths and obligations,” said the Dog God on Takada’s shoulder. Shoui nodded and the man to his right cleared his throat. “Takada, I need to get going soon.” “Oh, you’re causing a diversion in the city, right? From underground.” “I really should have gone with the other two…but I wanted to speak with Yuuki Senga’s current student.” Shoui tilted his head at that. “Um, what are you two talking about?” “We’re stealing the strongest Rhythm from Ixolde.” Takada sounded entirely casual as she clasped her hands and stretched a little. Shoui’s head dropped forward. “What?” “You understand the situation, don’t you? We’re from Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers. Since Osaka creating the strongest Rhythm would be a threat, we’re going to steal it.” “Um… This is kind of sudden.” “Don’t worry. We aren’t making the attack. We’re only creating a diversion.” “Attack? Diversion? I’m hearing a lot here that makes me worry.” “You don’t have to worry because you have time to figure it all out. …The diversion team doesn’t have to start moving until the attack team has made their attack and escaped. We still have plenty of time.” Takada smiled. “Please understand your position here. If you do, nothing like the Kinki Riot will happen. That misfortune only occurred because there was no one to worry about who they were.” ### 265. Afterword God, is it cold. I forgot to write the afterword, so I’m writing it at the office now. But it really is cold. It’ll be March by the time this book comes out and it’ll probably be warm then, but then I’ll have to deal with allergies. I’m not looking forward to that. But this is no time to be complaining. Still, I’m always running into trouble like this. First, the machine I was writing the manuscript on died. Then when I tried to rely on the backup I had secretly sent to the office, that machine died too. I really thought I was going to die as well when that happened. Now, a phone call. (I’m not using the office phone without permission, am I?) “Hey, Osaka’s done.” “Oh, you finished that thing? Then…” “What?” “How many is this for the City Series?” “8.” “Stop making tricky lies like that. I know it’s only 4.” “If you know the answer, then don’t ask.” “Hmm. So did you sneak in some lewd scenes again?” “Oddly enough, yes.” “I see. Then is there a blond girl this time too?” “No.” “Does someone get slapped?” “No.” “What about a maid?” “There haven’t been any of those!” “Then…then how is this a proper entry in the City Series!?” “Oh, shut up!!” Dammit, what does he think this series is? Don’t any of you grow up to be like that, okay? Anyway, I wrote everything I wanted to this time. I’m satisfied. As a writer, I am truly blessed to be able to write as much as I want like this. It’s thanks to all of you. Thank you. Hmm. Now to change the subject. I’ve heard a variety of opinions and there seem to be three different ways to read my novels: 1. For the action. 2. For a theory on victory and defeat and on the journey leading to them. 3. For the relationships. Which one did this one work as? I threw in everything I wanted to say. And with that, I’m reading back through Part B while listening to Reimy’s Two of Us. (I can’t think of a better image song for Yuuki…even if it is a pretty minor song.) But… “Who was the strongest of all?” I really don’t change, do I? Now, then. Next up is Paris. Late December 1998. A morning stuck at the office. -Kawakami Minoru Okay. Now, then. This is Satoyasu who helped with this book. I was able to just do whatever it was I wanted. At first, Yuuki was really hard to draw, but now I’m the second best in Japan at it. Kawakami is the best at it. Thank you. ## Noise City Osaka 1944: Even as they lose World War Two, Germany bombs cities around the world with Wort Bombe. The city concepts collapse even further than before and each of the cities evolves in its own way. The word collapse creates an invisible field known as the Great Canopy around the earth and also creates similar canopies over each of the cities. This prevents the people from reaching outer space. While unable to send signals down from the sky, the worldwide network is effectively cut off. 1945: At the Yalta Conference, most of the weapons used during the war are made illegal. The dp Series of Aerial Ships. The Glossolalian Word Plates. The Three Tune Bust Techniques. The Attesor Project Automatons. Those, among others, are banned. 1950: The Korean War begins. The resultant security issues lead to an increase in student movements and a lower age of those involved in violence. This becomes a problem for the Universal Student Councilor Committee (later known as the USCC). 1962: A position is created to end military activity and to properly guide the students. (According to the International Student Special Senior Faculty Academy Rules.) The Leader of the Numbers system is introduced. It is a ranking system. 1963: The 1st and 2nd Emergency Teachers Committees are added. Techs are introduced to the schools. 1965: Testing for the Leader of the Numbers begins. Ten training grounds are opened numbered from 0 to 9. 1967: The 3-man system using the Leader of the Numbers, the Chancellor, and the Vice Chancellor is changed to an 8-man system that includes 2 Vice Chancellor aides, 2 Special Duty Officers, and a PR leader. 1969: After some security protests, college students are entirely removed from the ranking system. After 3 years repeating the same year, a student is automatically expelled under the shared academy rules. (Returning to school and transferring schools is not permitted.) 1970: The Nara region and Kyoto region combine into the Koto region. 1972: Babel, a broadcast tower that can cover the entire world, begins construction in Osaka. Once it is complete, the worldwide network can recover with Babel at the center. 1973: The 3rd and 4th Emergency Teachers Committees are added. The Leader of the Numbers is allowed to also hold a position on the Student Council. 1974: The Olympic boom leads to sporting goods companies developing Devices. Competition begins over selling Devices as cheaply as possible. 1978: The MD Walkman is developed and goes on sale. Cheap Rhythms become widely available. The Universal Student Councilor Committee changes its name to the USCC. 1980: Osaka and Tokyo work together to hunt down delinquents. More than 2000 are injured. 1982: Another Olympic boom. Athletic shoes and clothing begin to grow fashionable. 1983: The Kinki Riot begins. 1984: A Nuclear Syllable Bomb goes off near Nagoya. Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori and Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai go missing in the mountains of Ibaraki. Their ultimate Rhythms (the Storm High and Flame High) go missing. The Kinki Riot ends. The Nuclear Syllable Bomb detonated near Nagoya creates the Altered Line between the east and west. The construction of Babel is temporarily halted. 1985: The USCC divides Japan’s student representatives just like in America and China. This effectively cuts off all interactions between the students of the east and west. To deal with this, the Emergency Teachers Committees create the East-West Passage Permit. 1986: Imperial Capital #1 High School is constructed in Tokyo. Osaka Prefectural #1 High School is constructed in Osaka. Azuchi National High School is constructed in Nagoya. The Emergency Teachers Committees that bind the east and west use those schools for exchange students and gifted students. The aerial network connecting Kantou and Kansai recovers. 1988: Recovery of the Altered Line begins. The Kinki-Kansai Chancellors Committee is created. 1991: The Chip Walkman goes on sale. 1992: Osaka Prefectural #2 High School begins extraction of the fastest Rhythm. 1993: As the Altered Line recovers, the bullet trains resume service. 1996: A largescale terrorist attack occurs in Osaka. The Reconciliation Riot. 1997: Construction of Babel begins in earnest. Applications for the Net War over Babel are taken. Selection begins. Students from Kantou are also selected as a sign of friendship. The summer high school baseball tournament is held at Koshien once more. 1998: Selection for participants in the Net War over Babel ends. The Net War over Babel begins. ### 266. Part 1 6:58 PM A pure white light filled the large room. Those inside the room wore white. They all wore pristine lab coats. All of the computers and desks filling the room were just as white. It was a sterile space. But the large window in the wall opposite the entrance was dark. It gave a view of the subterranean darkness beyond. Through there, the Ixolde Babel Gun could be seen extending further underground. Ixolde’s control room functioned within that clear divide between white and black. The only sounds were quiet footsteps and typing at keyboards. Time passed calmly. Suddenly, a long, pleasant beep sounded. The large digital clock on the wall by the entrance had struck seven. On that signal, everyone stopped moving. Those carrying documents, those typing, and everyone else looked to the clock. Then one man in a lab coat started to move. He wore an armband indicating he was the room’s manager. It said, “Osaka Science and Chemistry Research Alliance Head”. He wordlessly walked down the room’s center aisle and toward everyone’s gazes. His feet took him below the clock gathering so much attention and he stopped at a terminal there. As soon as he arrived, the clock’s display changed to 7:01. “…” He maintained his silence as he looked up at the clock. He bent over to peer at the screen instead of sitting at the terminal’s chair. The screen displayed a small blue window on a white background. The window was a password prompt. He stared at the question there and opened his mouth. “To settle the east-west split begun by the Kinki Riot, Osaka will create the ultimate Rhythm and use its power to subjugate Japan. …That’s what you call peace by deterrence.” No one said anything in response, but he was not done speaking. “Including our upperclassmen, we’ve all worked hard for the past ten years.” And… “We will now record the ultimate Rhythm: Yamata, aka the Flame High.” The prompt asked a question. “1st Lock: What is your wish?” “>Peace” “2nd Lock: Who is your wish?” “>A King” “3rd Lock: What is your need?” “>A Rhythm” “4th Lock: Really?” “>No, not really.” “5th Lock: Really?” “>Yes, not really.” “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” “>Original Words” “Complete…!” The conversation with the machine ended there. The screen briefly displayed a graph. The white bar instantly filled up to 100% and then closed. The Flame High had been recorded. That announced the end of a decade’s worth of research. But no one moved. That meant there was no noise. However, the armband-wearing Alliance Head looked away from the screen and straightened up. Without turning around, he spoke on behalf of everyone behind him. “…That was kind of anti-climactic.” He laughed a little. “Now, let’s get the data in the underground pocket, send it to the storage room, and seal it in the MD.” As he spoke, a single clapping sound rang through the room. … ? He turned around in confusion. Then another clap came from somewhere. Before he could ask anything, more and more clapping filled the air. The overlapping sounds were applause. Chairs could be heard scraping on the floor as the previously unmoving people stood up. As the applause sounded, papers spilled to the floor with a sound much like a crashing wave. The girl carrying the documents had dropped them in her attempt to applaud. That sound elicited laughter from the others. Rather than hurrying to transfer the recorded data to the storage room, the Alliance Head looked at them all and nodded. A moment later, a shrill beep came from the terminal below the clock. ### 267. Part 1 7:04 PM The attack occurred suddenly. The schoolyard was large enough for two baseball fields and the defensive formation of the Student Council’s guard unit was knocked to the ground by an instantaneous lightning strike. The Chancellor’s Officers field work unit rushed out of the guard station and immediately joined the battle. Luckily, the alarm from the sewer had reached the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers guard station. Before the attack began, the VIPs in Ixolde’s hall for the celebration of Ixolde’s activation were moved to the spare party site prepared outside. But that was the only piece of luck. By the time Saki Seiji, 1st Special Duty Officer of the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers, ran out of Ixolde and onto the surface, he saw only a few members of the field work unit still moving and… “Yamashita Taeko! This was you!?” A girl with a false left arm turned back toward him in the center of the schoolyard. She shook her ponytail and calmly smiled his way. “Oh? Ya’ve come out?” As she walked toward Saki, several collapsed members of the field work unit were visible at her feet. Saki lowered his sunglasses to look directly at Taeko. “…Did you betray us!?” “Betray ya? Nagoya always chooses whichever side’s winnin’.” “…!” – Saki – Spear/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Left and Right Spear Throw – Hit! He threw two spears. But… “Like that’ll work, moron!” – Taeko – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit! With two light metallic sounds, the Dragon Emperor grabbed and crushed the flying spears. She swept the metal fragments aside and looked to Saki. By then, he had already stuck his headphone in his ear. – Saki – Pressure High/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Singularity Shot – Hit! Saki made four throwing actions. The four spears stabbed into the ground surrounding Taeko. Each one was wrapped in ether, making it look like a glowing serpent. He kept his eyes on that ether light and recited his Words. Heaven, please answer the longing found in the sky of my final moments Simply let the white snow fall on the heavy darkness as you raise your cry “Cry into the darkness!” – Saki – Pressure High/Intimidation Tech – Multi-Take – Crush Explosion – Hit! The spears exploded with a black light. It was a mass of gravity with an Octave exceeding 600,000. The solidified gravity roared on all four sides of Taeko, instantly absorbed the fragments of the spears, and rapidly expanded. Gusts of wind blew in toward the masses of gravity and the light grew distorted as the space around the explosive quartet glowed. Taeko was swallowed up by the black explosions surrounding her on four sides. The four gravity explosions each attempted to obliterate the person in between them. But… “Dragon Emperor, take this up to Sixth Activation!” A voice sounded louder than the overwhelmingly massive gravity and a single sound exploded this time. It was a dragon’s roar. It started as a “gi” or a “ga” and rose into a deep cry. The dragon’s powerful roar easily shook the surrounding Lives. The four masses of gravity were blown away. The breaking of the gravity sounded a lot like the shattering of glass. In no time, the light and wind carried the four solid sounds across the schoolyard. The light and air that the masses of gravity had been absorbing were freed all at once. “A dragon’s voice can surpass mass!?” shouted Saki. Unscathed, Taeko stood up after using the Dragon Emperor as a shield. “Yeah, and it works as an attack too. It’s been a while since I’ve brought it up to the Sixth, though.” “I can see why you’re known as the Drachen Königin. Although I thought you’d have to take it up to the Ninth.” “Ya want to see the Dragon Emperor’s Final Activation? There’d be nothin’ but ashes left around here.” Taeko did not smile as she said that. When she did smile, Saki began to move on reflex. But… – Saki – Sense Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! He looked up when he noticed a powerful and heavy presence in the sky above. It all happened in an instant. Light fell from the heavens. The clear night sky was split apart and a single beam of light dropped toward where they stood. “…!?” Saki, Taeko, and the other people around them all looked up. Their faces were all illuminated by the light from heaven. The sound of the splitting atmosphere sounded like paper tearing. Just as someone raised their voice in what sounded like a scream, the light was stopped above their heads. It had been stopped by a staff shaped like a tuning fork that was thrown into the air. The device’s long striking end and bottom end were made from triangular parts and it was known as Housei It was the giant staff of the Koto Guardian. It rotated in midair and fell with the light from heaven contained within itself. As the light extending from heaven grew thinner and ultimately vanished, the light within the staff wriggled fiercely along the surface like a snake. It was ether light. Housei rotated toward the ground now that it was full of power from one of Suzaku Ver. 40’s ether rounds. Someone standing at the main gate to Osaka Prefectural #2 caught the large staff that fell from the sky. “Koto Chancellor…Yuuki Yuuki!” Taeko raised her voice when she saw the red individual standing there. Yuuki wore a red blazer modeled after the Suzaku and she held Housei at her waist without saying a word. – Saki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Yuuki already had a headphone in her ear. “So the Killing Holder is here!” Before Taeko could finish her shout, Yuuki suddenly fired a scythe of ultra-high pressure water from Housei. The blade made from a thin film of water instantly grew to about five meters and it easily sliced across the schoolyard and toward Taeko who was surrounded by other people. A few screams rose in harmony and the battle resumed. The city’s siren only now went off. ### 268. Part 1 7:17 PM The night sky and the scattered winter stars were visible straight ahead. Only that great expanse could be seen and the ground was nowhere to be found. This was a view only available to someone lying parallel to the night sky. Shoui was the one enjoying that view. He felt déjà vu as his thoughts drifted in an almost sleepy sort of way. “I’ve seen an expanse of stars like this before.” For some reason, the thought was vocalized even though he did not open his mouth. Before he could wonder why, he realized where the déjà vu came from. It was from two years before. After he had been defeated by Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei’s sword strike, the night sky had filled his vision when he had come to. But back then, he had seen snow rather than stars. That scene was indelibly burned into his memory. –Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Release Memory – Hit. The memory was replayed as a video. It was a video of the past. It was snowing and he was indeed collapsed and staring up toward heaven. … I have to fight. If I don’t, I can’t protect Yuuki, he thought even though he had trouble moving. That was likely paralysis from the Lightning High Rhythm’s additional attack. But he could not accomplish anything if he did not move. –Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Strengthen Mind – Hit. “I have to fight!” He muttered those words as he got up. When he lowered his vision from the heavens to human height, he saw Yuuki. The girl he had needed to fight and protect had her back to him. Almost as if she were protecting him. He could sense no strength in her. “Yuuki…?” He did not even need to use a Sight Tech to notice a certain fact. A male right arm lay on the ground in front of her after being severed at the shoulder. “Yuuki…!” When he shouted, Yuuki looked back. She had lost her glasses and the right half of her face was dyed red with blood. A sword had stabbed her in the right eye. The blood had yet to stop. But her left eye looked to Shoui. As he stood up, his gaze audibly clashed with hers. She was tall, so her gaze was situated higher than his. As if to accept their age difference, she narrowed her one eye in a slight smile. Then she opened her mouth and spoke one simple word. “Sorry.” That was all. She closed her eye and collapsed backwards. He ran over and supported her. As he did, great pain ran through his forehead. As soon as that phantom pain struck his head like a hammer, the replayed memory was cut off by his own scream from two years ago and an external voice from the present. “Yuuki!?” / “Shoui-san!” He awoke in an instant. His eyes came into focus on the starry sky before them. A girl looked down at him with that winter sky in the background. It was Takada Seigi, the girl with the Urban Name of Fast Reader. “Please pull yourself together! You need to wake up!” Shoui obediently sat up while placing a hand on his forehead. He could see Osaka’s cityscape, but the neon and streetlights were flying backwards with surprising speed. –Shoui – Mind/Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. As he felt a vibration reaching him through his butt, he realized he was sitting in the back of a dump truck. The scene around him was moving because he was being carried down the road. The city continued to move around him and he could hear the city’s siren. Takada kneeled next to him with the Dog God. His mind was still muddy, so he asked for some confirmation. “We survived jumping down from that building?” “You don’t remember? You kicked off a pole, kicked off a traffic light, and then rolled on top of here.” Once she mentioned it, he did remember planning to do that. “I see.” He nodded. “How long was I out?” “Quite a while. While you were, some weird lightning struck over there. It was a completely straight line.” She pointed to some clouds in the southern sky. That was the only point in the night sky with any clouds and they were too small and oddly shaped to be natural. They were rainclouds created by loud noise, ionization, or extreme atmospheric convection. “A Word Particle Cannon, huh?” He clenched his teeth, but stopped almost immediately and slowly stood up instead. “They said Tokyo’s Chancellor and his group are escaping to Nagoya, didn’t they?” The Fourth Alarm’s siren continued to sound even after Suzaku Ver. 40’s Word Particle Cannon had fired. The battle was not over yet. “Takada-san, this dump truck will probably stop at that light up ahead, so you need to climb off and get to safety. I’ll keep going to New Osaka Station.” “Eh? Why New Osaka-…?” “The rest of Takada’s question was cut off by Shoui’s answer. “Because Yuuki will be pursuing Tokyo’s Chancellor.” “Why do you seek her?” Shoui could not answer that question. He had far too many reasons to pursue her. He felt like he could sum it all up, found he could not, and ultimately said nothing. The Dog God was unable to articulate his self-questioning, so Takada asked another question. “Do you not know?” He was unable to answer that and neither could the Dog God on his shoulder. Takada and her Dog God smiled bitterly. “Then I’m going to New Osaka Station with you. I’m supposed to go to Nagoya too.” She pulled a ticket from within her stole. Shoui noticed that it was a ticket for a designated seat on a bullet train. He sighed. “We can’t have a teenage boy and girl going on a trip without their parents’ permission.” “What are you talking about? Despite how Hisahide-san acts, he won’t do anything to me. Unlike you, Shoui-san.” “Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you’re a pretty rude girl, you know that!?” “Why are you getting so flustered? Honestly…” She went on to smile mischievously and held the ring on her right hand to her mouth. “But that’s not the only reason I’m going with you.” “Eh?” “I also want to see you, Shoui-san.” He thought on that for a bit and scratched his head. “You ‘also’ want to see me, hm? I can’t believe this.” “Hisahide-san is the main reason I am going there. …It’s the same for you, isn’t it?” Unable to answer that, Shoui asked a question of his own. “Why do you want to see me?” “As I said before, there is possibility in indecisive people.” “Possibility…” “They have a great number of options. …I ended my indecision and closed off those other paths, but it is possible I could have escaped the fear I had of my own power. It is possible could have become a Tuner or Buster instead of a Fast Reader.” She spoke with the city of Osaka moving by in the background. “I gave up on indecision.” “But you can’t just never make a decision.” “Yes, that’s true. The time will come when a decision must be made.” Takada looked up at Shoui. “But the stronger one’s indecision, the stronger their resolve when that time comes. And the greater one’s resolve, the more they will wander in indecision.” “In that case…” “Your prophecy fits into Hisahide-san’s Words, so your indecision and the decision it leads to will certainly bring great possibility to us…no, to the people around you and me.” She took a breath. “And that possibility can bring everyone happiness…or bring them unhappiness.” “I’m shocked.” Shoui smiled bitterly. “That’s why you’re staying with me? In order to point my possibility in as good a direction as possible?” “Yes. And as I said, you have what I gave up on.” “This is the first time anyone has been this deluded about what I’m capable of.” “Liar. Someone else has cared for you since long before this.” “I hope you don’t mean Old Lady Senga. I’ve already decided anything over 28 is too old.” Shoui felt a slight shaking below him as he gave that serious comment. The dump truck was coming to a stop. The city of Osaka slowed down around them and Takada asked him a question as he looked out toward New Osaka Station. “Please tell me one thing. When did you start thinking about her?” “When was it for you?” He returned the question as if bargaining with her. She looked a bit hesitant, but after two breaths, her usual expression returned. “At the summer festival two years ago. He said he needed my power and everything else about me. …Now, what about you?” When she returned the question to him again, he sighed. “Do I have to tell you?” “I told you.” “Girls are willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want, aren’t they?” “There is no point in letting shame hold you back on vacation… Now, will you answer me?” “It’s the continuation of the image you saw from my thoughts before. During the Kinki Riot, my house collapsed and I was…” His thoughts must have been reaching her because a cloud fell over Takada’s expression. At the same time, the dump truck stopped. The lurch caught Takada by surprise. “Ah.” The Dog God cried out for her and she started to topple over. –Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Pick Up – Hit. He supported her and picked her up. “I’m going to get off here. It would be dangerous to cause a scene on here.” “I’m sorry…” “Eh?” “I thought it was a happier story. I’m sorry.” As she apologized, he smiled a little and responded. “You sound just like Yuuki from two years ago.” “…Two years ago?” “When we first met wasn’t like that. After Yuuki worked with Old Lady Senga to pull me out into the light, she rejoiced that I was alive.” “Do you not want to apologize to her?” –Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Control Emotions – Hit. “I promised…to protect her.” With that, he turned his back on Takada. He could see the city of Osaka. He jumped down in that direction and spoke too quietly for Takada to hear. “I promised to fight…and protect her.” His voice jumped down to the road and his body followed. ### 269. Part 1 7:40 PM Yuuki fired water from the end of Housei. The straight-line shot was like a stake containing incredible pressure. A transparent drill several millimeters thick flew forward. She fired between the two enemies. A red charm was attached to the wall there. That charm was moving the train. The supersonic pressurized water was right on target in order pierce through the crimson paper. But… “How naïve.” With those words, red flames consumed the water from the front. This was the Flame High. The all-piercing, colorless stake burned like oil in the flame blazing in Hisahide’s hand. The Ether Lives forming the water burned and turned to ash. And the flames did not stop there. The Flame High Rhythm user ran straight toward Yuuki. Yuuki reacted by firing again. – Yuuki – Gym Tech – Take – Prepare For Rapid Fire – Hit. – Yuuki – Aqua High/Shot Tech – Multi-Take – Water Spell Rapid Fire – Hit. Just as all of the spells activated and the water flew, Hisahide vanished from her vision. This was his power as a Harmonist. As long as he could react to something, he could move with even greater speed than it. It was a White Noise technique that only Hisahide could use due to his ignorance of Techs. The many lines of water passed through the spot he had just been in. He was outside of that. She could not even take a breath before his attack was on its way. But she took action without panicking. She held up a hand and swung it. “Water!” With that word, the air around her feet whipped up into a wind. – Yuuki – Water High/Mind Tech – Take – Water Spell Barrier – Hit! The Ether Lives forming the air came into contact with her Rhythm and became something else. Water spears thrust up from the ground. The colorless blades drew a circle around Yuuki as they thrust up toward heaven. And… “Gh!” With a short groan, someone was thrown atop the seat to her right. It was Hisahide. He knocked over two seats with broken backs and fell between more of the seats. He was not moving. Without even glancing that way, Yuuki looked to Taeko on the far end of the car. “So you’re next.” Taeko took a defensive pose with the Dragon Emperor and looked to Yuuki. She glared at Yuuki. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when yer the Killin’ Holder…” “What will you do? This is your last chance to surrender.” “Did my brother surrender to ya?” Yuuki fell silent as the girl asked her question from beyond the Dragon Emperor. The silence lasted a few moments, but then she slowly answered. “He was dead before he had the chance.” Taeko reacted with immediate movement. However, that movement came to a sudden end thanks to a certain noise. The Dragon Emperor gave a cry. ### 270. Part 1 11:57 AM The sun was at its peak in the sky. There were no clouds. There was no wind either. Unusual for winter, warm sunlight shined down. But that sunlight did not provide heat to all parts of Osaka evenly. Most of the narrow land known as Osaka was occupied by cold buildings. There was little land in the city that could be warmed by the sunlight. The Tennoji Park in the Tennoji Ward was one of those few places. The large park contained large flower beds, many trees, and brick pavement. Occasional bird calls and beast cries could be heard from the Tennoji Zoo inside the park. It was the carefree time of midday on a weekday. The flow of time seemed slower than usual. Few people walked through the park and none of them were in a hurry. Some of those were casually-dressed boys and girls. The schools were on winter break. Freed from the bonds of time, they were able to walk slowly. The occasional bird calls from the zoo were the only sound supporting that pace. They all slowly but surely made their way to their destinations. But there was one person who had come to a stop inside the large park. She sat on the edge of a large round flower bed in the center of the park. She was Aoi Hijiri. She had a shirt wrapped around the waist of her jeans and she wore a white blouson. The outfit combined with her short hair gave her an androgynous look. She sat on the brick flower bed and ate a somewhat late lunch while facing the sun. She was eating some takoyaki she had bought at a stand at the park entrance. She slowly but precisely took the nine takoyaki from their paper box and tossed them into her mouth while her gaze was fixated on the ground at her feet. A newspaper sold on the roadside was opened there. It was a sports newspaper that sold itself on the entertaining gossip articles. “The rumors were right. This newspaper really did change its name from the Tokyo version…” Hijiri moved her foot to skillfully turn the page with the toe of her sneaker. She kicked past the TV section as she read it in reverse. She was looking for an article on the previous night. Hijiri had no idea what had happened since she had escaped the Osaka Hilton and spent the night in a business hotel. If things had gone as planned, the newspaper would probably mention that Nakamura had escaped to Nagoya. “…” She skipped the entertainment section and the horse racing information, but she stopped on the financial section. While eating two takoyaki, she read the fashion information, glanced at the actions of an Osaka corporate group, and turned the page again. Then her expression stiffened somewhat. Not a single article mentioned the previous night’s incident. Not a word about the Osaka Hilton turning into a flower, about Osaka Prefectural #2 collapsing, or about Nakamura. Her hand stopped with the toothpick stabbed inside a takoyaki and she kicked at the newspaper again. She reached page three. She passed by it after only glancing across the page. There was nothing there. She looked at page two across from it. She glanced across it and prepared to turn to the final page. “…Oh?” But her foot stopped. On the edge of page two was a notice about the temporary suspension of a bullet train. The bullet train route from Osaka to Nagoya would be stopped from the first train early in the morning to the third train in the afternoon. The only reason given was a train car malfunction. There were no related articles, but… “Come to think of it, there was a weird story earlier…” She used her toes to flip back a few pages at once. In the financial section, one piece of information about a corporation had caught her attention. “The Houzenji Group’s special forces had a live-fire exercise late at night, hm?” The Houzenji Group was a corporate group that had been under the protection of Nanba Souichirou’s Modified Purple Electricity Style. An article mentioned that the group’s corporate combat special forces had held a live-fire exercise in Osaka Plain the night before. No matter the age, corporations would always secretly fight over their patents and technology. These exercises were daily events and normal people and students like Hijiri would likely end up dragged into those conflicts if not for the academy rules. “But why did a simple exercise make the news?” Hijiri looked down at the article that expressed some questions about this exercise. Most of the exercise had occurred on national land without receiving permission from the appropriate government departments, so the article simply gossiped about a possible true meaning behind the actions. The author ultimately concluded that they did not know the truth but that it might have been a way of disguising a search for Hideyoshi’s buried treasure or making contact with aliens. Hijiri, however, sighed. She stuffed all four remaining takoyaki into her mouth. And she swallowed them. Five seconds passed. After another sigh, she picked up the newspaper and looked at page one, which she had been unable to see while it was lying on the ground. The headline article was about a professional baseball winter camp. There was no record of their rampage from the night before. But Hijiri was no longer frowning. She quickly flipped through the newspaper while moving her lips. “One, two, three,” she counted as she flipped through. When she reached the end, her count had stopped at 32. She closed the newspaper and looked up into the sky. “Including the five text ones and the seven 1/8 size ones, that’s how many ads the Houzenji Group has in here…” To have their ads printed, they had to be paying the newspaper. Newspapers of course made money by publishing articles to bring in readers, but they more directly made money through advertisements. Most of this newspaper’s direct income was paid by the Houzenji Group. “They bought up the page, did they? If the other newspapers are the same, it must have cost quite a lot.” “Does that frighten you?” A man’s voice suddenly reached her. Hijiri turned around to see a man dressed like a monk standing in front of the flower bed on her left. He was Iba Masaaki. He too was holding a rolled-up newspaper in his hand. “I overlooked the fact that the Osaka Chancellor’s patron is from the Houzenji family. I never thought the wealthiest merchant in Sakai would be so fixated on a child who merely slayed an ogre.” “Looks like they’ve made a really big move here. Is that newspaper the same?” Iba frowned slightly and nodded. “It mentions the collapse of Ixolde and the damage from the destroyed hotel, but it blames those on a localized Clockquake, ridiculously enough. The victims will apparently receive disaster relief from the anti-Godquake fund set up after last year’s Godquake – that battle between gods – in Kobe.” “That was fast…” “That’s what happens with the Houzenji family, Osaka’s wealthiest merchant group. They intend to conceal Osaka’s defeat.” “There’s no helping that. The Kusanagi Rhythm works on the emperor, so the Kinki-Kansai corporate group that includes Kyoto probably also wants to hide that it lost.” “Yes, they cannot afford a loss. …Most likely, this was the doing of Houzenji’s Iwai Sanzou.” “Do you know him?” “Yes, although I doubt he remembers me .” Hijiri did not comment on the emphasis Iba put on the word “me”. She asked about something else instead. “Do you know where that idiot Nakamura is, Iba?” “He did not arrive in Nagoya.” “…What?” Hijiri rolled up her newspaper. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me the Koto Chancellor-…” “The Koto Chancellor was out on patrol in the city today, but Nakamura did not lose to her.” “Then…” “The bullet train they were riding derailed in Osaka Plain and the remaining front car stopped at Kyoto Station instead of continuing on to Nagoya. But…” He took a breath. “Nothing remained inside the cars besides a handful of ashes.” Hijiri remained seated and silent. She slowly set the newspaper down on the edge of the flower bed and rested her chin on her hand with a serious look on her face. A few seconds passed. Then she looked over at Iba. He looked her in the eye and spoke with no apparent expression. “Takada is dead.” “Are you certain? Those ashes could have belonged to the Osaka boy or Nagoya’s Chancell-…” “Nakamura is not in Nagoya.” Iba’s short and powerful statement seemed to be all the reason he needed. Hijiri looked away from him and down at her own feet. Iba’s voice reached her from above. “What do you think Nakamura will do?” “…Wouldn’t you know that better than me?” “Why?” “What did you do when someone important to you died?” Iba fell silent and Hijiri did not look in his direction. She kept her head lowered as she quietly asked herself a question. She kept a carefree tone throughout. “Now, what will I do?” She smiled bitterly. “So this is what it’s like, Seigi, Takahiro.” “What what is like?” “Being alone.” With that, Hijiri stood up. And she faced Iba. “I don’t like the possibility of Seigi having died, but Nakamura is a problem.” “What will you do?” “For now, do what I was doing before: search for the winter cherry blossoms.” “Those cherry blossoms are the beginning of misfortune. Will you still search for them?” “What greater misfortune could I find? I never thought the destruction of an entire hotel would be played off as no big deal.” “The Osaka Hilton, Prefectural #2, and the New Yodo River Bridge are already being repaired. …By repair companies belonging to the Houzenji Group.” “So a red flower did not bloom in the darkness.” Hijiri’s bitter smile deepened and a manly smile appeared on her lips. “Iba, if you have any hints about the cherry blossoms, please tell me. If they bring misfortune, then I intend to start with them as I find a number of things.” “Are you serious?” “Yes,” she confirmed. Iba fell silent for a few seconds. Then he crossed his arms and gave Hijiri an upturned glance. But that too only lasted a moment. He then practically spat out his next words. “Those cherry blossoms are born from battle.” “Battle?” “Yes, that’s right.” He nodded. “Nakamura Midori and Kuki Udai had interacted in the past, but then they became enemies. When they fought in a certain location, cherry blossoms were seen at the end of the battle.” “…” “Your parents must have been the same.” “My parents never told me much about that kind of thing.” “But those cherry blossoms are born from battle. …Your father, mother, or both of them must have seen them at the end of a battle.” Hijiri suppressed a bitter smile at that. A possibility came to mind. Her father had abducted her mother from Osaka and returned to Tokyo with her. It would not be surprising if a battle had occurred then. What effect had those cherry blossoms had on the two of them? “…” Iba would not tell Hijiri that. And Hijiri chose not to ask. But she did ask something else. “What do you intend to do now?” “Bear all responsibility by fulfilling the prophecy.” “For who?” “For those who have died.” With that brief answer, he looked Hijiri straight in the eyes. There was no intimidation or questioning in his eyes. It was a powerless gaze. And he spoke with no hesitation in his voice. “Aoi, promise me one thing about what is to come.” “?” “No matter what might happen, please stay on Nakamura’s side.” “Eh?” Hijiri lowered her head. “S-sure, that’s fine. But why?” Iba turned around without answering. He began to walk away. Just as Hijiri prepared to call out to him, his voice stopped her. He uttered some Words. Companions vanish Even he vanishes She too vanishes A hand that can hold onto no one remains A hand that fosters destruction remains That hand pleads for no one to leave They were Iba’s own Words. Hijiri simply listened to the low rhythm of the quiet Words. The back of the monk’s outfit slowly, slowly vanished into the few people walking through the park. “Iba…” She could not ask where he was going. The wind blew through. It was a quick gust of the north wind that instantly swept away the midday warmth. “!” Hijiri covered her face against the dry dust carried by the wind. She faced forward while surrounded by quiet cries of surprise about the wind. Iba was already gone. She could no longer see his back, as if he had been swept away by that wind. ### 271. Part 1 11:05 AM It was less than ten days until New Year’s Eve. It was winter. The morning was nearing its end, but the cloudy day was terribly cold. Shoui continued to move below the clouds. He stood in front of the training post he had attacked so thoroughly the day before. He sighed deeply in front of that single piece of wood sticking up from the ground. The sigh carried a Tempo similar to relief and it refused to blend into the winter air even as it floated whitely in it. He gently held out his left fist as if to sweep his sigh away. He hit the training post. He could see the marks from the previous day’s attacks. He had thrown those punches to confirm in which direction he was headed. And after making those marks, a thought had occurred to him. … What is it I lack? It was not strength. He had that. Similarly, it was not willpower. He had that too. In that case… … Is it Words? – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. The sudden series of blows somewhat expressed the Dis-Worder boy’s thoughts. A constant rhythm of harsh and intense sounds accompanied it. Shoui recalled the prophecy Takada had sung for him. The prophecy had changed form as time had passed. A changing prophecy and a boy without Words. When he combined those two ideas, he suddenly realized something. … Maybe it isn’t that I don’t have Words. Maybe they’re just in constant flux so I can’t grasp them. He tested that theory. He turned a bit to the side and used a Rhythm toward empty air instead of the training post. – Shoui – Cold High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Freeze Strike – Hit. He threw a punch that carried frost even whiter than the winter air. People normally had to listen to a Rhythm to use that technique, but Shoui could use it if he found it necessary. … What does that mean? He remembered what Saki Seiji had said about the Osaka Chancellor during the Kinki Riot. … He used Rhythms without using a Rhythm. That had likely been similar to Shoui’s Rhythm mechanism. But if he was to oppose the Flame High… … What kind of power should I seek? He did not know. So he tried out what he did know. He first considered using the Flame High, but abandoned the idea. That was due to the memory of that unknown fear lingering in his mind. He tried something else. – Shoui – Kusanagi/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Sever Strike – Miss. He could not produce Kusanagi. “…?” He did not know why. The Words needed to produce Kusanagi was a single tone. There was no detailed Message and it had no MD. But Shoui could not produce it. The method he used for Over Rhythms did not work for Wind Rhythms and Heavy Rhythms. … If my Words were in constant flux, I should be able to use those. He lacked something. If he was missing something, he would not be able to use those Rhythms. And if he was missing something, he could not protect her. … It isn’t Words. It was something stronger than Words that could control his power. Something that surpassed his Words that were in constant flux. Something to make full use of his power as a Harmonist and those ultra-fast Rhythms. Something to release Kusanagi with a single voiced tone. “…” Shoui sighed. At the same time, he heard an animal cry. It came from the house. “…?” It was the same voice as the previous day. It sounded a lot like a distant dog howling. It contained a melancholy tone and carried into the distance. Next, the sounds of bamboo swords came to a sudden stop in the dojo building to his left. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! “!” A sharp will oozed out of the dojo’s first floor. It was a powerful killer intent. Instead of a mere threat, it was pure intent to kill. Shoui frowned and faced that direction. He was also curious about the animal cry from the house, but he was more interested in the oddity closer to him. He walked toward the source of the killer intent. Most of the dojo’s first floor was a wood-floored practice area and it had small windows to let sunlight in. He peeked inside through one of the window’s facing the open-air training ground. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. He saw the large Kendo dojo. Wooden swords and real swords hung on the walls and Shoui had a view of two Kendo courts positioned longwise to him. The locker rooms were on the right while the entrance, reception area, and stairs to the second floor were straight ahead. There were around a dozen people in the dojo at the moment. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm People – Hit. They were all students wearing Kendo outfits. They all held wooden swords instead of bamboo swords and were facing the main entrance. Their gazes were sharply focused on the entrance. Shoui also looked in that direction. He saw a surprising person in the wide entranceway. It was Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro. He wore a three-piece suit with a white scarf over his shoulders. He was entirely relaxed without a hint of timidity. That was the polar opposite of the dojo students who were brimming with killer intent. … What’s going on here? Before he could even finish that thought, he heard Takahiro’s voice. “Send out Osaka’s Chancellor. I visited his home, but they said he was not there.” It was an arrogant demand and one of the dojo students answered him. “Souichirou-san isn’t here! Come back later.” “I am well aware of that.” Takahiro’s expression did not change in the slightest. “I have already confirmed that Osaka’s Chancellor has not left his home since he was carried there after the battle at Prefectural #2.” “Then why are you here?” Takahiro answered without a moment’s hesitation. “It would be impolite to suddenly destroy his home in search of what I am after.” He took a breath. “You have two options.” He removed the black leather glove hiding his right hand. He raised his index and middle fingers to indicate the number two. “One, ask the Nanba family to let me meet Osaka’s Chancellor.” He lowered his middle finger and left the index finger up. “Two, your brutal defeat at my hands will show the Nanba family just how dangerous it is to ignore me.” “…!” The killer intent grew. But Takahiro did not mind. “I have no interest in crushing the Nanba family just because they are too stingy to let me meet their next leader, so this kind of threat would be the best way to show how serious I am.” As soon as he said that, all of the dojo students moved at once. Around a dozen sets of killer intent and footsteps focused in on Takahiro. The raised wooden swords looked a lot like a bamboo thicket. But Shoui saw Takahiro slowly sigh behind the thicket of wooden swords. Tokyo’s 1st Special Duty Officer extended his right hand to the side with some slight inertia in the action. The wooden wall next to the reception desk was there. As soon as his white and fairly slender hand touched it, he spoke to the wall while ignoring the killer intent directed his way. “Lay down.” That settled it all. ### 272. Part 1 4:33 PM The Umeda Sky Building normally used a see-through elevator to ascend the first 33 floors to the floating garden 170 meters off the ground. After climbing to the observation deck on the 40th floor positioned between the two towers, one only had to exit onto the floating garden on the rooftop. But the Sky Building was currently running on emergency power and the elevators were not running. The only option was the emergency staircase facing the building’s windows. Those stairs were the key to the battle. Yuuki was an Energy Gunner. Taeko was a Steel Master. Both their Combat Styles focused on long-range attacks. And at the moment, the stairway acted as a narrow, straight pathway, so they had to prepare themselves for their enemy’s sniper shots. If they moved out ahead of their enemy, they would be fired on from below. If they fell behind their enemy, they would be fired on from above. Standard combat theory said higher was better. And right now, Taeko was below. There were two reasons for this. One of those being… “How can that girl keep firin’ such powerful attacks so fast!?” Her complaint was answered by two water spears flying down from the stairway landing and skewering her body. They were narrow blasts of water, but they accurately pierced her right shoulder and right chest. After a breath, blood spirted from the holes in her inner suit. – Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Control Pain – Hit. The sight of blood did not frighten her. She simply searched for her enemy. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit. Her enemy was no longer on the next landing up. She had already continued upwards. Taeko took a breath and started running. Her right arm was not moving properly. – Taeko – Medical Tech – Take – Check Injury – Hit. Her right shoulder was broken. “So I’ve only got my Dragon Emperor left arm to work with.” She muttered to herself as she ran and she looked over at the Dragon Emperor. The Dragon Emperor was not roaring. Its activation had stopped at the Third. On the bullet train before, it had stopped working when she tried to use it against Yuuki. It seemed to not reach the higher activation levels where the dragon’s will awoke. That was the second reason that Yuuki had the higher position. “Why are ya refusin’ to fight her? She killed my brother and she’s ignorin’ Shoui.” The metal fist did not explain its actions. Taeko ran up the stairs. She had run like this once before: on her way to where her brother had died. She had shaken free of the Koto Chancellor’s Officers when they tried to stop her, but there had been nothing there to see. Nothing had remained. Only a white chalk oval drawn on the road next to the Sarusawa Pond. That was where her brother’s right arm had fallen. There had been no bloodstains. According to the boy in charge of the scene, her brother had likely been flash frozen by the Koto Chancellor. After that, Taeko had trained and entered the Mountain to support her family. And now she was running up the stairs. Her brother’s killer was up above. She reached a landing. She ran up the next flight. The next thing she knew, the floor number label said 33. An emergency exit opened onto a passageway into the building. She ran through it and reached a large space. There was a long escalator straight ahead. Unlike the previous escalators, this one had a roof. It continued past the windows. It led to the observation deck suspended between the two towers. A red figure was running up it. “!” Taeko’s body moved on reflex. – Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Dash – Hit. She ran. Blood dripped down her right arm and onto the floor. Even so, her body moved forward. The soles of her shoes split the floor tiles below her feet. She produced a series of solid sounds. For just a moment, Yuuki looked back toward that noise while climbing the escalator. She ran. “Ya ain’t gettin’ away!” Taeko ran up the escalator. She was fast. Her speed allowed her to start catching up. She could see the sky through the glass overhead. The floating garden on the roof was near. She released her Words. She used her poorly-moving right arm to stick just the right side of her headphones in her ear. She surrounded herself in the light of her own Lightning High instead of the Dragon Emperor’s. She did not rely on the dragon. Someone stood in front of her with the setting sun washing over her. It was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. “!” Taeko no longer said anything. She ran up the escalator. Ice flew her way. – Taeko – Savate/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Dash Dodge – Hit! She ducked down as she continued forward. The string holding her ponytail in place was torn by the ice spear and her black hair spread into the air. But she did not stop. They were a mere three meters apart. Yuuki held Housei and light filled its ether firing section. She was going to fire. But Taeko moved before that happened. – Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Grab – Hit. – Taeko – Boxing/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Brute Force – Hit! Taeko used the Dragon Emperor’s fist to punch the escalator stairs with all her might. Even with the power out, the stairs would move if enough pressure was applied. The aluminum stairs lost to the Dragon Emperor’s strength and broke. The escalator only shook slightly. But that was enough. The vibration propagated through the stairs and Housei’s tip hopped up slightly in Yuuki’s hands. “…!?” It produced ice, but that ice shot past above Taeko’s head. Yuuki had an opening, so Taeko aimed for it. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit! The Dragon Emperor’s fist powerfully punched Housei from below. The intense sound was that of a great weight and metal colliding. The confrontation between the Suzaku and the dragon was easily won by the dragon. The tuning fork shaped staff was knocked from Yuuki’s hands and flew toward the heavens. It broke through the escalator’s ceiling and spun as it continued upwards. Housei stabbed into the base of the floating garden that they could see from below. “!” Now Yuuki had no weapon. Wind blew icy air into the escalator. Taeko looked up at Yuuki in that chill. Yuuki looked back down at Taeko. Yuuki jumped back. Taeko pursued. “I said ya ain’t gettin’ away!” – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit! She launched the imperial fist toward Yuuki. Or she tried to. The Dragon Emperor suddenly stopped. “Wha-…!?” Again with this. The dragon was refusing to fight the Suzaku user. The dragon’s will was interfering at the low level of the Third Activation. Taeko’s body tilted to the left thanks to the Dragon Emperor’s weight. The raised metal fist was pulled down by gravity and slammed against the escalator railing. Yuuki escaped upwards. Taeko clenched her teeth. Her right arm was injured, so she could not fight properly without the Dragon Emperor. If Yuuki had time to prepare, she could use spells even without her staff. Taeko looked at the Dragon Emperor that was no more than a weight now. “Ya…piece of shit!!” She roared at it and reached her right hand toward her left shoulder. The bloody right hand manually released the Dragon Emperor’s removal bolts. There were three. The Dragon Emperor was removed somewhat and her left shoulder felt lighter. A moment later, she reattached the Dragon Emperor as if tackling it with her shoulder. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – False Arm “Dragon Emperor” Initial Activation – Hit. When restarting the Dragon Emperor while it was attached, the dragon’s will would interfere and slow the process down. It was faster to unplug it and plug it back in to restart from the very beginning. The floating emblems carved on the inside activated and the weight vanished. Taeko stood up and ran forward while dragging along the sleeping Dragon Emperor. She ran toward the rooftop where her enemy waited. ### 273. Part 1 4:58 AM It was still too early for sunrise. Shoui stood alone in a dark blue world that was beginning the change from night to morning. He stood in the Nanba family’s open-air training ground. He had spent the past few days doing nothing more than sleep in the house and visit this training ground. He felt restless when he was not moving his body. He only visited this place to punch the training post until that feeling left him. He had chosen this early morning hour because the destruction of the nearby dojo and the Fourth Alarm the day before had distracted him and kept him from moving much. Tuners had reconstructed the foundation of the destroyed dojo the day before and the wood construction would likely begin this morning. Once that started, he would be too distracted to train. So he was here now. The winter morning was cold. He wore a jacket to keep himself warm and he began his warmup exercises in full combat equipment. After a total of 1500 knuckle pushups and 800 squats, he could finally release a long white breath into the darkness. “…” He tried to blow that white breath as far as he could and then smiled bitterly. … How about I get started? He pulled a golden ring from his pocket and held it in his left fist. He raised his fists and made a few slow straight punches into the air. After confirming his ideal form like that, he began for real. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit! The solid sound of fist against wood rang clearly through the darkness. Immediately afterwards, the woods around the house shook and the branches rustled like a wave. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Listen – Hit. There were birds. The sound spooked the birds living in the trees and they took flight. The birds could not see well in the darkness, but they chirped to confirm each other’s positions. “…” Shoui started up again. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit! A solid sound rang out. It was a nice sound and his body moved just as he wanted it to. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit! This was working. His fists were picking up momentum. – Shoui – Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! The straight punch was the same, but he twisted his hips and spun his body to increase the speed, destructive power, and reach. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! He also took a step to strengthen those things further. But stepping too far increased the odds of receiving a counterattack from his opponent. When stepping in for an attack, he moved in a straight line instead of the curve he used for dodging. So… – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! He normally used a combination attack that linked all of the actions together. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Control Stance – Hit. He would occasionally move too close, so he adjusted his body’s position with quick movements of his feet. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! He made his combination attack. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! The critical blow was used as a finisher after the combination. If his opponent did not leave him with an opening, he would control his stance and judge what distance and timing to use. The key to that decision between offense and defense was how to shift from the combination to the single attack. It did not matter how many moves he had if he could not defeat his opponent. Unlike a competition match, there was no such thing as winning by decision in actual battle. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! Shoui specialized in a combination of straight blows similar to close-range short uppercuts. And on occasion… – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Elbow Strike – Hit! He would move right up to his opponent and use his elbow. He was fast and there was no hesitation in his actions. All of the moving he had done over the past few days had built up, so he could draw out his body’s full power. And his movements grew even more varied. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Tackle – Hit! He used a technique that resembled a shoulder tackle. He generally made blows with his upper body. And he made use of every kind of technique that used his upper body. There were sounds of blows and impacts. There were sounds of punches and strikes. They created a quick rhythm and would not stop. Even the rest notes when he adjusted his stance were only pauses that assisted his acceleration. He moved. He moved quickly. But he realized his movements were lacking something. “!” – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! An especially loud noise was accompanied by what sounded like tearing cloth. The training post had broken. “…” The top 3 cm of the post had succumbed to the impact and broken off. Small wood fibers were visible along the break. The fallen portion continued to roll along the training ground. This was not a normal break. If it was just the accumulation of blows, it would have broken at the center or where it met the ground. The post had been cut by a sharp strike much like a blade. Shoui was surprised at this unexpected power, but he also sighed. … Come to think of it, something similar happened at the Nandaimon training ground. That training ground was located in front of the detached room he had once called home and he had once punched off the top of a training post there. He smiled a little. And bitterness slowly filled it. … So I’m finally feeling like I did back then. At the time, Yuuki had watched from the side as he learned the techniques of the Nandaimon Unarmed Style. “…” He clenched his fist. He held Takada’s ring inside it. He did not say or think anything about that ring. He simply placed his fist on the break in the post. He seemed to be showing his fist what it had done. A few seconds passed. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Listen – Hit. He looked behind him. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit. As the darkness gradually thinned, he saw a man standing in the center of the training ground. The man was dressed like a monk. He was Iba Masaaki. He briefly looked Shoui in the eye and then spoke. “I have come for you on Yuuki Senga’s instructions.” “…?” “You will now spar with Nanba Souichirou on a Minato Ward beach.” Shoui had a single reaction to that. … Huh? Speechless, he tilted his head. And Iba nodded. “I do not like it either, but I came to summon you as repayment for healing my wounds. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. For some reason, he could now read Iba’s previously inscrutable expression. As he crossed his arms, his expression lacked its previous harshness and also lacked the displeasure he claimed to feel. And upon seeing that… … Why me? Shoui asked his question through his own expression. He did not immediately receive an answer. Iba nodded, scratched his head, and nodded again. “Most likely, Nanba Souichirou lost his Words after Kusanagi was consumed by the Flame High. If he is to retrieve them through combat, he must view himself in the mirror and objectively observe what his Words are.” “…” “But playing the opponent in this battle will be dangerous.” “?” “Nanba Souichirou uses a real sword while you fight unarmed. And if he retrieves Kusanagi, you will be faced with death as you lack the Shinkage Style or anything else.” Shoui listened to those words. … It sounds like things have really made progress. He almost felt like he was entirely uninvolved in it all. Everyone else had been in motion while he simply punched the training post. So… … This might be my last chance to get involved. It was true he was powerless against Kusanagi. When he had tried to block Kusanagi when Aoi Hijiri had launched it, tension and fear had filled his body. He had not forgotten that. And that Kusanagi had been a copy created by the Shinkage Style of Dance Combat, so it had not come from Aoi Hijiri’s own Words. The original would likely be even more powerful. “What will you do? It goes against my principles to bring an unwilling person with me. It seems Yuuki Senga has already left with someone from Houzenji.” Shoui was no longer listening. He simply clenched his fist and faced the training post. He moved. He pictured a cutting motion and thrust out his fist. – Shoui – Kusanagi/Boxing Tech – Take – Kusanagi Strike – Miss. Sure enough, he could not produce Kusanagi. There was some trick to using it that was different from an Over Rhythm. Only Nanba Souichirou could use that Rhythm with such short Words and no MD. It was a special Rhythm. … If I fight that, will I gain what it is I’m missing? Instead of just watching it, he could experience the process with which someone who had lost their Words regained Kusanagi. “…” Shoui looked down at his fist. He held Takada’s ring there. So he gave a deep nod. He turned back toward Iba and began walking. “Are you going?” Instead of answering Iba’s question, he walked past the man. He was currently a Dis-Worder who could speak no words. His pace was slow, but he walked toward the exit from the house. ### 274. Part 1 6:00 AM Shoui and Souichirou’s match began as they faced each other. They were on a flat beach. The sun was just beginning to show its bright circle over the mountains. The two of them stood and faced each other without exchanging a greeting. And with a hint of exhaustion on his face, Souichirou spoke a single word to Shoui. “…Sorry.” He said nothing more. He did not need to. He knew who his opponent was and he knew their background. He also knew their skill. And he knew what he should do and what was necessary. The two of them stood there with no need for words. Shoui pulled a golden ring from his pocket and clenched it in his left fist. And he looked to his feet. Their shadows stretched long across the beach and toward the ocean. The ocean was to Shoui’s left and to Souichirou’s right. They heard the splashing of the waves as those waves washed across the heads of their shadows. And after several waves crashed, the shadows silently took their combat stances. Two two-dimensional afterimages slowly moved on the sand. One shadow raised a sword. The other raised its guard to protect its face. The former was Souichirou’s shadow and the latter was Shoui’s. Both their stances were unique. Souichirou held his drawn sword down and below his side like an iai pose. Shoui leaned forward much like the peek-a-boo style of boxing. Neither stance allowed them to escape. They were both on the verge of moving. But that did not happen and neither of them took action. Time passed as they held their poses. They looked each other in the eye as the waves continued to crash. It looked like it had all ended after they took their stances. The crashing of the waves grew louder. But they still did not move. They could not move. There was a reason for this: their stances and tactics fit together too well. Souichirou held his sword in a go no sen stance that was meant to counterattack once the opponent approached. Shoui held his fists in a sen no sen stance that was meant to charge up to his opponent to attack. Go no sen meant to take action after seeing your opponent move and to get your attack in before theirs. Sen no sen meant to move before your opponent could and to get your attack in first. Both stances did not take a second attack into consideration. Whoever hit fastest would win. They could not move carelessly. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. – Souichirou – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. They searched each other’s expressions, but that changed nothing. They were too focused to hide their expressions. And Shoui moved slowly enough to not show an opening. He changed his stance. Slowly and silently, he pulled his left fist back and turned his body at an angle while making sure he did not leave an opening for attack. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Change Stance – Hit. Souichirou similarly altered his stance. – Souichirou – Gym Tech – Take – Change Stance – Hit. “…” The sun moved one spot higher into the sky before they finished. Shoui was turned to the side. He held his left fist by his waist and his right hand a bit out in front. This stance allowed him to make a powerful step forward and swing his entire body to throw his left fist. It was the same stance he had used to destroy the dorm door with Nakamura on the other side. Since he could throw his fist while stepping forward, he could attack in a single action instead of needing the two beats of movement with the sen no sen . He had used the heel of his palm on the dorm door, but now he clenched his fist for the slight bit of extra reach. The speed of a single finger’s length could decide this battle. He lightly clenched the fist and gathered strength in the shoulder and elbow. His fist would fly with great speed once he moved. Meanwhile, Souichirou had a similar idea. He prepared a thrusting stance just like when he had faced Nakamura. He normally held his sword low to cut with the front of the blade, but now he held it at a mid-level height to stab with the tip. That was the fastest strike possible with a sword. And the small point of the sword tip was hard to see and thus hard to dodge. It was still a go no sen technique, but the great difference in reach and speed would make up for acting second. However, there was another small factor that could decide this match. – Shoui – Break High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Break High Charge – Hit. That was the Rhythms. Shoui could use a Rhythm, but Souichirou could not. The white light of breaking burst from Shoui’s fist, but the blade of Souichirou’s Device remained silent. That difference in meaning was crucial. A single touch from Shoui’s fist could carve the meaning of an impact into his opponent’s body, but Souichirou’s Device could only do damage once its blade tip stabbed into his opponent’s flesh. Kusanagi could scatter everything if even the sword’s pressure hit someone. Souichirou had always relied on that power, so this was a first for him. He had a handicap both practically and mentally. If that led to hesitation, the superior reach of his sword would mean nothing. “…” – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. – Souichirou – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Their expressions were the same as before. They did not move. They sped up, gathered strength, and made every preparation for victory, but they did not move. Time passed and the waves washed across the shoulders of their shadows. A sudden female voice reached them from the distance. “Shoui!?” It was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. While turned to the side, Shoui reacted to that voice by lowering his gaze somewhat. Souichirou immediately responded to that movement. – Souichirou – Boxing/Savate/Gym/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Full Speed Strike – Hit! He did not move. It was a pure thrust. A straight line reflected the morning sun as it made a swift and accurate movement. Shoui reacted by dodging. He had to move up to his opponent. Would he circle to the left or the right? There were only two options. And his vision answered that question. – Shoui – Sight/Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Dodge – He had seen his and Souichirou’s shadows on the beach. Souichirou’s shadow silently showed his blade as well. The three-dimensional thrust became a two-dimensional action when viewed through the shadow. His options of dodging left or right were replaced with two other options: above or below. – Hit!! He chose below. His shadow ducked below the straight line shadow racing across the beach. He was fast. His feet tossed sand into the air. His fist flew. He made a counterattack against Souichirou’s step forward. He was moving even further ahead of Souichirou’s go no sen attack. He ignored the blade racing by overhead and took aim while ducked low. His target was Souichirou’s solar plexus. Even if that Osaka Chancellor had replaced so much of his body with prosthetics, a heavy blow to the center of his body would do some damage. This would be the end for a normal Strike Forcer. And it should have been so here. But Souichirou was not normal. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. The movement Shoui saw was proof enough of that. “!?” It was an instantaneous movement. Souichirou’s left hand let go of the hilt, formed a fist, and punched the back of the blade from above. The straight forward line of the thrust had its vector shifted downward. The Device was essentially swinging down from above. – Souichirou – Boxing/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Extra Attack – Hit! – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Hit!! The attacker was far from normal, but the dodger was just as abnormal. Shoui leaped toward the water. His hands and feet landed on the wet sand and he formed a proper stance once more. By that time, Souichirou was already moving. He let go of and abandoned the Device as it swung down in his right hand. He could not move swiftly with the heavy Device in hand. He turned toward Shoui and charged toward him while reaching his left hand for the short sword at his waist. That automatically meant he held it low. It was a lot like his usual attack. – Souichirou – Boxing/Savate/Gym/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Upwards Diagonal Strike – Hit! Shoui tried to dodge. But… – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Miss!! “…!?” Nothing about the timing kept him from dodging. He failed for another reason. A wave had washed up at his feet. His feet sank into the sand. In no time at all, Souichirou swung his short sword in sweeping motion. It audibly sliced through the air. And before that sound ended, a vertical cut raced up Shoui’s chest. The anti-shock reflective material of his inner suit provided no protection against a slicing power like this. He was cut. He did not bleed yet. So soon after being cut, the muscles had contracted and the blood vessels were squeezed shut. But the blood would come a breath later. And it did. The bone had not been cut, so it was only a light spray of blood. But it was not over yet. Before the wave could recede, Souichirou raised his blade for another attack. He moved fast. His actions and resolve showed no mercy. The next attack would definitely slice Shoui through from head to crotch. And… “Ah.” Souichirou weakly released his voice. And that voice grew stronger as the silver arc began down its path. “Ah…!” His voice became his Words. In his case, that was only a single sound. “!” Great pressure filled the short sword. It was Kusanagi. A powerful shimmering surrounded the attack as it moved to take down Shoui. Kusanagi was swung to defeat the one who had dodged its attack and tried to make an attack of his own. A direct hit would mean death. And for Shoui, this was the repeat of a nightmare. ### 275. Part 1 4:40 PM The setting winter sun was a deep red. It was not the warm color of autumn twilight or the piercing color of a summer afternoon. It was only a moment of color changing into the darkness of the heavy sunset. That red washed over the city of Osaka every day. The red and the shadows created a powerful contrast on the white walls of Osaka Castle in the center of the city and the waves of roof tiles dully reflected the light. It was a strong color. The Kyobashi bridge to the northwest gave a diagonal view of Osaka Castle where one could look up at the colors of that light and shadow. Someone was viewing Osaka Castle from atop the Kyobashi bridge. There were two of them: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. Nakamura stood in the center of the bridge with his MD’s headphones still in his ears. Hijiri stood next to him with her arms crossed and looking in the same direction as him. A few people were walking by or leaving behind them, but those two ignored the flow of people and kept their eyes on the castle. They did not move. Instead, one of them spoke. It was Hijiri. “So the battle’s coming up soon, is it?” She pulled a flyer from her pocket that she had torn from a wall somewhere. The flyer said that Kansai’s Chancellor’s Officers were holding a Christmas party at Osaka Castle that day. All current and former members of the Chancellor’s Officers were invited. But even as late as it was, Osaka Castle was not prepared for a party and no preparations were underway. Hijiri looked to the castle. “The party is probably camouflage to give us a battlefield. They want to keep the damage contained, unlike during the Kinki Riot.” She sighed, tore up the flyer, and dropped it into the moat. “What do you think? We could always ignore their invitation and make them look like fools.” She asked her question, but Nakamura did not answer. He kept his eyes on the castle without looking back and Hijiri turned in his direction for just a moment. He was staring straight ahead. There was strength in his gaze. He was focused. And that powerful focus was quite serious. He used his gaze to direct that internal strength straight ahead. But his facial expression was horribly lacking in heat. Even with the setting sun shining on the side of his face, he stared forward with a cooled expression. He would seem expressionless if not for his eyes. It was the look of a Killing Holder. “…” Hijiri looked away from him. She breathed a bitter laugh mixed with a sigh of relief as if she had resigned herself to something. “Are you gonna go for it before they gather there? …Or are you gonna wait?” Nakamura did not answer, but she did not mind. She glanced toward the city. “There are more and more from the Chancellor’s Officers and Houzenji Group hanging around. I bet the tourists will be driven out of the castle before long.” Nakamura still did not acknowledge her words. Hijiri smiled bitterly at him. She uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on the bridge’s railing. Since she did not look Nakamura’s way, she seemed to be speaking to herself. “If you say something, will what’s hidden inside come spilling out?” she asked. There was no response. Nakamura said nothing. But he did move. Still looking to Osaka Castle, he turned to face the castle’s entrance. “…” He began walking. One beat later, Hijiri followed through the blowing north wind. She remained behind him instead of lining up beside him. They walked toward the castle grounds. Toward the site of the scheduled party. In the setting sun, the uninvited guests entered the battlefield before anyone else. Hijiri said one thing on the bridge dividing the city from the battlefield. “…I wonder if Takahiro will show up.” ### 276. Part 1 7:07 PM Taeko faced a boy below the cherry trees alongside the inner moat. He wore a three-piece suit with a white scarf dangling from his shoulders. He was Ikemaru Takahiro. He removed the black gloves on his hands. “I saw a strange advertisement and came to take a peek at a Chancellor’s Officers party, but this commotion is what I find?” “Yeah… Apparently, the superiority of the east and west is on the line.” “I am not interested.” He threw the gloves away. “There are a few things I would like to discuss with Aoi-san, so could you let me through?” “That ain’t happenin’. She’s fightin’ right now.” Taeko smiled a little. Takahiro did not bat an eye. “I am not interested in a fight.” “But if ya go over there, you’ll help that girl out, won’t ya?” “Of course. That is my duty.” “Then it’s my duty to stop ya here.” “Even when we have nothing against each other?” “Do ya need somethin’ against someone to fight them? I don’t.” She laughed quietly. “There are those I’ve gotta save, though. There’s a lotta those around me.” With that, she lightly swung the Dragon Emperor’s fist. “6th Activation.” The Dragon Emperor roared. With that bestial cry, the shoulder armor panels opened to release steam. And lightning surrounded the metal fist. A deep thrum reverberated pleasantly across the wide space lined with cherry trees. “You must have nerves of steel,” responded Takahiro. “What makes ya say that?” “That you actually want to fight me.” He lightly brushed up his hair. “My kotodama is most effective against objects without a will of their own. I am the greatest enemy of anyone with prosthetics.” “And that’s why I can’t afford to run away.” “This isn’t your usual method. Don’t you tend to join the stronger side?” Taeko raised her fist and smiled a little before answering. “I feel like doin’ some volunteer work.” With that, she moved. “!” Taeko won the initiative. She race toward Takahiro who seemed to simply stand there. – Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Sprint – Hit. Her long-legged stride kicked up the dirt as she filled the gap between them in only a few steps. She approached the enemy. Takahiro’s hand moved just before she arrived. His white left hand reached out and touched one of the cherry trees. “Fly.” That one word surpassed all logic. The tree flew. This was nothing as simple as being knocked from the ground. The thick tree with no leaves or flowers flew, roots and all. The dirt was audibly torn up and the tree whistled through the wind. It flew horizontally in from the right with even more force than gravitational acceleration. It did not tilt at all and flew almost comically straight. She could not avoid it. Taeko’s Dragon Emperor was attached to her left shoulder, so it could not block an attack from the right. She made a split second decision. “Daaahhhh!” – Taeko – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit. She slammed her right fist into the flying tree near the roots. A dull sound mixed with the sound of breaking bone. Her fist was smashed in a single blow. Of course it was. The difference in mass was overwhelming. But the impact ran through the tree. And the hit near the roots caused it to rotate in midair as if pitching forward. Taeko did not overlook that movement. She briefly glanced at the tree falling toward her head. – Taeko – Steel/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Grab – Hit. – Taeko – Steel/Spear Tech – Multi-Take – Swing – Hit! She held the Dragon Emperor’s palm overhead, grabbed the tree trunk, and then swung it like a club. She easily swung the 7 meter cherry tree like it was a bat. But Takahiro had already jumped backwards. Taeko let go of the swinging tree. The centrifugal force sent it flying into the inner moat. The sound of splashing water rang coldly through the winter air. She began running again. She ran so fast her footsteps seemed to follow after her. Her white breaths were scattered by her speed and they vanished into the reddish-brown light of the streetlights. She ran below the cherry trees which had no leaves or flowers. Meanwhile, Ikemaru kept his distance from her while pulling a few 10 yen coins from his suit pocket. He lightly threw them. “Byakko.” They instantly transformed. The white light of the coins’ paths flew toward Taeko in several curves. They were targeting a point on the back of her neck. It was the same motion as a beast rushing in to bite her. She responded by thrusting the Dragon Emperor forward. “Dragon Emperor!” – Taeko – Shot Tech – Take – Prepare Sniping – Hit! – Taeko – Steel/Shot/Lightning High Tech – Multi-Take – Snipe – Hit! The light produced an explosive roar. The sound produced glowing flares. The tiger’s white lines struck the dragon’s bluish-white beams. The explosion formed a wall between Taeko and Takahiro and below the trees. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit! In the span of time known as an instant, Takahiro stepped back slightly. Taeko did not overlook it. But the explosion was in the way. So… “I won’t die!!” She chose to charge right through it. The explosion had yet to fully expand, but she charged into the bright light. And she sang. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The azure light surrounding her body was the same as the Dragon Emperor’s Lightning High light. It could cancel out the explosion. So she did not hesitate to run through the clash between dragon and tiger. Light. Noise. Heat. They all burst out and something shot through her right leg. – Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit! Pain could be ignored, so she ran forward. As her ponytail danced behind her, the end was scorched by the heat. She rushed. A mere 3 steps seemed to last forever. But she immediately broke out the other side. “!” She suddenly left the pure white space and found a more colorful scene. She saw the cherry trees. And she saw her enemy. Ikemaru Takahiro stood before her while preparing to take a step back. “!?” She did not let him escape. What she did was simple. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Dragon Emperor Strike – Hit! Takahiro could not use Techs or a special Dance Combat style, so he had no way of avoiding it. The metal fist flew in an overhand swing and its entire mass slammed into Takahiro’s chest. It was a solid hit. She heard the pleasant sounds of impact and breaking bones. She fully extended the Dragon Emperor arm to push out with the maximum mass. She heard even more breaking bones in Takahiro’s chest. “Gh…” The sound escaping his mouth might have been an inhalation or an exhalation. His glasses fell from his face. The black-framed glasses audibly bounced off of the Dragon Emperor fist’s armor panel. And just as they fell to the ground, his head hung down. Taeko took a breath with the Dragon Emperor fist still extended. As the white breath left her, all strength left Takahiro’s body. “…” The tall boy in a suit silently fell to his knees and collapsed forward. Except his hand was extended as if to embrace the Dragon Emperor. “Go mad.” His words rang quietly. ### 277. Part 1 7:17 PM The heat of the Word Particle Cannon grazed Osaka Castle with its massive wind pressure. A full third of the castle’s main tower was torn away. Needless to say, the shot of light did not end there. After shattering the mass of ice, the light collided with the ground. The glowing spear stabbed into the ruins of Yamazato Maru to the north of the castle. It was a beam of light and great heat. The impact was too soft to call an explosion, but it still hit the ground, scattered in every direction, and reflected back toward the sky. The trees, the lawn, and even the dirt burst and burned instantly. It left a crater 100 meters across in the ground and an inaudible noise and heat burst into the sky. The turbulent noise formed an instantaneous tornado and rose toward heaven. The wind wailed. The dark clouds shook with a clear hole through them after the Word Particle Cannon fired through them. The noise of the explosion reverberated through the sky and finally became an audible sound. The sky heavily roared. The deep rumbling shook the city of Osaka. The clouds, air, buildings, trees, streets, and water all shook. The deep roar was almost frustratingly slow. Afterwards, only the scars of disaster remained. No one could survive a hit from an attack like that. ### 278. Part 1 7:23 PM Nakamura remained motionless after taking Shoui’s punch. He stood almost entirely upright and looked to Shoui. He said nothing. He looked Shoui in the eye and then lowered his gaze with no readable expression. Shoui’s left fist had hit the left side of his chest. “…” Nakamura was wordless. But there was a sound. A small but solid sound came from his chest below Shoui’s fist. It was the sound of metal falling away. It sounded like flowing sand and it quietly fell from his chest and to the castle tower’s roof. The sound came from the pieces of his MD. The Flame High’s MD and its drive had shattered. When he saw that, Nakamura remained silent and looked over to his hand. He clenched his right hand, but no fire appeared. “…” He was silent. He clenched his right fist a second time, but still no fire. The Flame High would not ignite. After confirming that, he looked Shoui in the eye again. And he suddenly smiled. “Was that not…what I really wanted?” With those words, he took a step back. Shoui kept his left fist extended and he slowly opened the hand, starting with the little finger. Nakamura held out his right hand as if he knew what Shoui was doing. A small light dropped from Shoui’s fist and into Nakamura’s hand. It was a ring. Nakamura held it in his hand and shut his eyes. And he collapsed backwards. He lost his balance and tilted back as if to fall asleep, so Shoui reached out toward him. “———!?” But he saw someone support Nakamura from behind. So he stopped moving. He saw Iba standing behind Nakamura. The man dressed as a monk supported Nakamura’s unconscious form with his shoulder and looked to Shoui. And… “You have my thanks.” With that short comment, Iba turned around. And then he slowly walked to the edge of the roof and jumped down. He left. Shoui breathed a white sigh after watching him go. He looked down to his feet and picked up the Ogre God that had fallen a short distance away. – Shoui – Steel Tech – Take – Attach Arm – Hit. He reattached the ogre’s right arm and gently clenched and unclenched the hand. He said nothing. After confirming he could move the arm satisfactorily, he finally turned around. He looked to the peak of the roof. He saw Yuuki sitting in front of the shachihoko . She quietly looked up at him and also said nothing. Without warning, the Dog God sitting next to her became two. One stayed by Yuuki’s side. But the other ran over. It passed by Shoui’s side and ran toward the edge of the roof where Iba had disappeared with Nakamura. Its footsteps sounded quietly on the roof, but after reaching the edge, it briefly glanced back toward Shoui. He nodded. “Go on.” Pushed on by those words, the Dog God faced forward. And it jumped. Its long, light brown tail fell into the darkness and vanished. It was a goodbye with no regrets. “…” Shoui sighed and faced forward. Yuuki was there. That was all. But that was enough. The snow fell in silence. ### 279. Part 1 4:49 AM It was already spring, but the weather was terrible that morning. It was much too early for the sun to be out. Only the stars and moon filled the dark sky. Below that heavy sky, a loud and low rumbling never ceased in one place. It was the Kegon Falls in Nikko, Tochigi. The air was heavy on that spring morning, so there was no fog and the falls were fully visible. It was a large waterfall. It had a long history. Its majestic form and noise could be seen from close up on the observation platform built out from the cliff wall. It was much too early for sightseers, so only locals would be on that observation platform now. There was one such person below the observation platform’s sunlamp. The girl had her long black hair tied back behind her neck and she wore a black tracksuit. She held the railing and stared at the waterfall. There was some silent exhaustion on her face. “So it’s finally my turn to leave this place.” She held her hands to her chest where the family name Fujiwara was written. “I can’t believe this. …I’ll be standing in Osaka in only 6 hours.” … So what am I doing here? She looked to the school tracksuit she wore in place of pajamas. In about 2 hours, she would have to change into her new uniform. It was the uniform of Osaka Prefectural #1. A girl from Kantou was attending an Osaka school. She would never have imagined this back when she had nearly drowned the year before. The east and west had been reunited. From what she had heard, there had been a largescale terrorist attack in Osaka just a few days after she dove into the waterfall basin. That may have acted as a trigger because by January the politicians got to work and the east and west were reunited in the blink of an eye. Once they had gotten started, it had been apparently been simple. The Emergency Teachers and the Mountain had acted quickly, talk shows had discussed it almost every night, and foreign politicians had either celebrated or worked to stop it, but there had been no changing it once it had started. As a result, the east and west were accepting exchange students as a test case. She had been hesitant, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She had taken the entrance exam for an Osaka school and passed. She had always had good grades. But… “I didn’t think I would have to give a greeting at the entrance ceremony today.” The greeting itself was simple. They would tell her what to do once she arrived, so she only had to get up on stage when they said to and read the text they gave her. To help students coming from afar like her, the ceremony was being held in the afternoon. There was nothing to worry about. But even so… … Something’s still eating at me. She still had too many questions. Now that she was actually taking the plunge, she was nervous about this new world. … How will this turn out? She found herself quietly speaking her Words. Time flows like water She who flows through time People do not stop Time does not stop Simply flow like water And inherit all of the questions She realized those Words described her situation perfectly. None of her questions had been answered. She did not know what any of it meant, but she was climbing to the next stage. She sighed. She simply thought about that boy. He had not appeared for half a year now, but what did he think about the unification of the east and west? … It isn’t like me to think about all this complicated stuff. “I should really be thinking about the entrance ceremony today.” She looked into the sky. Dark clouds spread out there. According to the TV news, they were experiencing out-of-season snowfall in Kansai. April snow was not unusual where she lived, but it was apparently newsworthy in the cities. “…Snow, huh? I need to wear some proper shoes.” And as she said that… – Fujiwara – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! She sensed someone standing to her left and quickly straightened up. She turned around and found him there. ### 280. Part 2 7:02 PM “!?” They all stopped applauding. Their gazes pierced through the Alliance Head as they looked to the terminal. He looked back as if thrown around by those gazes. He found a new black space in front of him. The terminal’s screen had blacked out. “…?” He grabbed the edge of the screen and peered at it. A white cursor appeared at the upper left of the black screen and the same question as before appeared again. “Is this an error?” Focusing on action over words, he reached for the keyboard. The keys he pressed were immediately written out by the cursor. “So it’s responding… Everyone, back to your posts!” With that, he pulled out the chair and sat down. He pulled the keyboard close and resumed his conversation with the machine. “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” The repeated password prompt was asking for the final answer. He answered by trying to quit. “>exit” But… “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” He only got the same question again. He thought for a bit and tried again. “>Original Words” And… “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” The question would not stop appearing. “…!?” It was no longer responding to the keyboard. Something was wrong, so he shouted on reflex. “This is an emergency! Status report!” At that moment, fire burst from the terminal’s screen. “!” It was not an explosion. It was a directional flame, much like from a flamethrower. For just an instant, the terminal spewed a bonfire-like flame as if it had become a burning altar. The machine burned. The Alliance Head rolled from the chair to escape the heat and intensity of this abnormality. But his eyes remained glued to the terminal as it burned to ash. He viewed the machine that Ashed into nothingness without leaving a single scorch mark on the wall or floor. He watched that audible fire and shouted a name. “The Flame High!?” At the same time, an alarm sounded from the speaker on the ceiling. The room’s white lights vanished at the same time. Deep red warning lights switched on in place of those fluorescent ones. Tension rapidly filled the control room and someone’s voice raced through the room. “Someone has hacked into Ixolde’s control computer!” “Into the completely isolated control system!?” “It’s a direct connection from within! The target firewall’s spoofing supplement was broken through two minutes ago!” “You moron! Even if they’re inside, could they really break through the defenses!?” Something answered that shouted question. The Ixolde Babel Gun gave a roar outside the large window. It was a great roar. “Wha-…!?” The sound acted as a physical blow as it mixed with the alarm and shook their bodies and the room. Then that machine, which looked like it was made from linked-together containers, began a rapid transformation. While shaking and producing a mechanical cry, it erased its seams and strengthened its connections. The mass of metal wriggled like a giant snake. “A Live transformation!? Is it a Tuner?” “No! There’s no interference at its Octave! This is…a Word Master!” “You mean there’s a Word Master capable of transforming Ixolde at will?” “There’s no other way to explain this! They didn’t hack into Ixolde! They tamed its kotodama !” The Babel Gun raised a metallic cry as needle-like objects jutted out from it. Those needles split and spread out thinly to become leaves. The metal leaves grew out from the seams between containers like heat sinks. Several of them stuck out long and sharp on either side and straight line veins were visible on them. Ixolde was rearranging its Live to become a flower. But that was not all. That vast underground space was covered by a ceiling. The Babel Gun’s base was attached to that, but it was torn away by a great force pulling downward. The giant metal stalk rose like a cobra head and the head instantly became a flower bud. The growth and transformation produced great noise. Several cracks ran through that bud and an intense noise rang out. It was blooming. What had been a machine was blooming as a flower with the alarm, the metallic noises, and the sounds of impact acting as its cries of birth. It was red. Even in the red lights of the alarm, it was noticeably deep red as it spread out. The red flower blossomed in the darkness. Scarlet ivy wrapped around its stalk, its leaves, and its flower. That ivy was fire. The flames raced up from below and wrapped tightly around the surface of the flower petals. The flower burned. Just like the terminal, the giant red flower of metal was instantly wrapped in scarlet flames. It crumbled. With a roar much like that of a waterfall, the metal blossom crumbled in the darkness. The roar of impacts created by the bright flames assaulted everyone watching. “————!!” Then tension and screams filled their surroundings. The crumbling flower was falling toward the control room. Before they could even gasp, the burning red flower petals filled the entire window. The Alliance Head tried to say something to them all, but… “Take cover!” With a roaring voice behind them, the wind raced in. ### 281. Part 2 7:06 PM The city’s siren could be heard in the distance through the Osaka Hilton’s window. Shoui looked around the room as he listened to it. He was inside a bedroom with three other people. Takada sat on the bed in front of him, Aoi stood by the wall, and Ikemaru stood in front of the door. A few minutes had passed since Iba had left the room to begin a diversion in the city and the others had gathered in this one room. Shoui stood by the window and listened to the siren. “I can’t believe this.” When the Dog God spoke for him, Ikemaru glanced his way and then close his eyes again. He was definitely keeping an eye on Shoui to make sure he did not leave the room. Because she knew that, Aoi looked no one in the eye and smiled a little. “Well, we just have to stay put a while longer. Everything will be settled before long.” “Are you sure?” asked Shoui through the Dog God. “An ether round dropped from the sky earlier…” “Don’t worry. It’s fine. Prefectural #2 is being attacked from underground and above ground simultaneously. Nakamura is underground and…he can tame Ixolde with the charm Takahiro made. That should more or less end it.” “Can he really steal the strongest Rhythm like that?” “Takahiro’s kotodama will transform Ixolde itself and bring it to our side. You saw those bikes flying like birds, didn’t you? …This is more than that. It will be a complete transformation.” “It’s a lot like Tuning. Right, Takahiro?” Ikemaru looked unsure how to answer Takada’s question. But after a while, he corrected his expression and silently nodded. Aoi gave an exasperated sigh at his behavior. “More importantly…Hizaka-kun, was it? There’s a more personal matter I would like to ask you about.” “What is it?” “I know this is sudden, but do you know of any cherry trees that bloom in winter?” “That bloom in winter?” “I can’t tell you why, but I’m searching for those. Supposedly whoever sees those cherry trees will invite in bad luck as a jinx. For example…causing the Kinki Riot or leading to my birth.” “Why are you looking for them? If the jinx is true, won’t it only bring bad luck?” It was Ikemaru and not Aoi who answered Shoui’s question. “She has her reasons.” “I see.” Shoui crossed his arms and wrinkled his brow. “I think Saki-san said something about that, but it didn’t sound like he knew much about it.” “Do you have any idea where I might find information on it?” “Old Lady Senga might know something, but…sorry. I don’t know anything.” He gave a quick bow and looked back again. He found a view from twenty stories up. And a shadow suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. It was a window washing robot. Its boxy one meter body had a cleaning brush installed and it moved down past Shoui’s eyes as it cleaned the window. Shoui relaxed and sighed as it slowly passed by. With the increased transparency of the fresh cleaning, he could see the area in front of Osaka Station below. People were moving around like normal despite the sound of the siren. “I can’t believe this,” said his Dog God once more. “What can’t you believe?” asked Takada behind him. He answered without looking back. “You can already tell thanks to the Dog God, can’t you?” “There are some things I can’t accept unless you actually say them.” Yuuki’s face appeared in Shoui’s mind. He pictured her as she was now: known as the Killing Holder and acting accordingly. But he also knew who she had been in the past. “I really can’t believe this. What does it all mean?” “You can’t believe she has two sides to her? The past and the present. The seen and the unseen. And can you not believe that the Killing Holder can be the Killing Holder now that she has lost her doubt?” “I’m not worrying about anything as cool as that.” When he turned around while scratching his head, he found Takada standing right there. … !? Surprise showed on his face as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Before he could resist, she placed her lips on his with her eyes closed. “Ah,” said Aoi, but Shoui’s vision was blocked by Takada’s face. Ikemaru sighed on the far end of the room and the girl finally moved away. Shoui was unsure what to say as Takada took several steps back and sat on the bed with her eyes still closed. The bedsprings creaked quietly and softly and the sound gently overlapped with the background noise of the siren for a few seconds. Then she opened her eyes and looked up at Shoui. She lowered her eyebrows and gave a small smile. “You’re a liar.” “…” “Are you scared? Scared you might reject that girl?” Shoui could not answer. But Takada said more. Taromaru recited some words with her voice. A white flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in the fire A memory of death floats in nothingness A king resents him A queen smiles at him A sage resigns himself Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path Choose your own path and hesitate The true path lies in the past The prophecy had changed somewhat from those he had heard before. Taromaru explained why. “Possibility is on the move around you, Shoui-san.” “Possibility?” “Unlike with Hisahide-san, I doubt my prophecy will become your Words, Shoui-san. I believe you lost your Words somewhere.” Shoui repeated that under his breath. Without actually speaking, the Dog God on his shoulder moved its mouth to match the muttering in his heart. Takada raised her lowered eyebrows and smiled a little as she watched the boy and the animal. “But please do not forget my prophecy. Without your own feelings, it would likely have become your Words.” Aoi and Ikemaru looked Shoui’s way when they heard that. Aoi pulled the parts to her hexagonal rod from behind her waist and instantly connected them. Shoui frowned at her action. “Why pull out your weapon?” “To keep you from leaving here. Based on what Seigi just said, it sounds like your destiny is closely related to what we’re doing here. And…” “In that case, we cannot allow you to do anything that would lead the king to resent you.” Ikemaru pulled out a few coins and squeezed them in his hand. “At 7:10, Nakamura will defeat Osaka’s Chancellor and board a bullet train for Nagoya at New Osaka Station. We will begin a diversion at the same time. We must hurry and synchronize our timing to make sure that we do not get in his way and that inspection points are set up around the city.” Aoi nodded in agreement. “If anyone is going to do anything unnecessary, we might have to silence them.” When Shoui heard her mischievous tone of voice, he scratched his head and turned toward the city once more. And he surreptitiously placed a hand on his forehead. The scar below the bandanna ached. “I can’t believe this.” He spoke those words by proxy yet again and looked down at the city. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. Then he noticed something odd about the city. The flow of people on the road in front of the Osaka Hilton had been disturbed. The people would normally walk by the hotel, but most of the people visible below were slowly making their way inside the hotel. And all of them had one thing in common. They were all boys Shoui’s age wearing casual clothing. “It can’t be…” Ikemaru replied to the Dog God’s words behind Shoui. “So they’re here. …The special forces of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers are here to suppress us.” Shoui looked back over his shoulder at the other three. Takada looked up at him somewhat worriedly. Aoi’s eyebrows gave her a belligerent look that was the polar opposite of Takada’s expression. Ikemaru kept his eyes closed and toyed with the coins in his hand. Shoui asked them all a question. “Do you think Tokyo’s Chancellor will face Koto’s Chancellor?” “Osaka’s Chancellor comes first. After that, it depends how long he has until the bullet train leaves. It’s possible he’ll have to head for New Osaka Station without tying up all the loose ends.” Aoi took a breath. “But if she pursues him, I think he’ll kill her.” A serious look filled her face. She lightly placed her hexagonal rod against the floor. “The only things Nakamura lacks are the decisive attack power of a Rhythm and the experience of having killed someone. So if he has the Flame High and the Koto Guardian pursues him…” “The odds are good he will eliminate this country’s only Killing Holder.” “…” Shoui said nothing, crossed his arms, and leaned toward the window. He glanced outside and saw Takada reflected on the image of the city’s night. She looked worriedly up at him from the bed and the clock on the room’s wall was visible above her head. The white clock on the warm colored wall said it was 7:09. In another minute, the special forces of the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers would make their move below and the diversion Ikemaru had mentioned would begin. Shoui had only a minute left to make the one decision he was allowed. And when he looked out the window again, he heard a roar and saw light fall to earth from the western sky. It was one of Suzaku Ver. 40’s ether rounds. A single charge from one of those contained enough energy to destroy Private Showa’s schoolyard and this was a second charge. As he watched that light, Shoui repeated what Takada had said. “A liar, huh?” As soon as he did, he gave a large nod. “Time to go!!” With that shout, he forcefully turned toward Ikemaru and the others. – Shoui – Savate Tech – Take – Run – Hit. He reached full speed on the very first step. And as he ran forward, Aoi swung her hexagonal rod like a baseball bat. “I like that sort of thing…but it’s not enough!” However… – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Carry – Hit! – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Shield Dodge – Hit! Shoui snatched up Takada as she sat on the bed. “Kyah!” Her Dog God cried out for her and a look of shock appeared on Aoi’s face. “Y-you idiot!” With that, Aoi frantically diverted her swing upwards so as not to hit Takada. Shoui ducked below Aoi’s attack and the hexagonal rod grazed his hair. The door outside was right in front of him now. “Takahiro!” Ikemaru Takahiro moved in response to Aoi’s cry. He stood next to the door, so he removed his right glove and squeezed the coins in his hand. By that time, Shoui had already raised a leg to kick down the door as he ran. But Ikemaru calmly moved in front of Shoui and threw the coins forward. “Become shooting stars.” As soon as he said that, flares burst from behind the coins and they rocketed toward Shoui. The coins ignored Takada’s presence as they become meteors meant to strike their opponent. The speed and force they were given by brief words was equal to that of a clump of ore burning up in the atmosphere. Shoui charged straight toward the group of flaming bullets. “!” An explosion followed. ### 282. Part 2 7:25 PM The hustle and bustle of Osaka’s night grew duller and duller the farther one got from the city center. Northern Osaka’s border between noise and silence was the Yodo River, Osaka’s greatest river. It was about a kilometer wide and it was spanned by a few bridges. One of those was the New Yodo River Bridge which contained a wide road and had one primary geographic feature. The bridge was the shortest route between Osaka’s city center and New Osaka Station. There were no cars on the bridge. That was due to the Fourth Alarm. The ear-splitting siren rang from Osaka’s center. The sound seemed even louder as it was carried by the river’s winds. Two people ran across the New Yodo River Bridge as if pursued by that wind and noise. One was a youth in a T-shirt and jeans. The other was a girl with a large false left arm. The youth asked a question as he ran. “Are you okay? That Word Particle Cannon didn’t hurt you, did it?” “It might’ve if it had hit me directly, but the Dragon Emperor’s roar is enough to handle anythin’ else.” The false arm girl, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, lightly tapped the Dragon Emperor’s armor. As if answering the vibration of the tap, steam burst from the gaps between armor panels. “I can’t believe I had to take it up to the Seventh Activation, though.” “Is bringing it to too high an activation a problem?” “It eats up a ton of power. It’s a bit of a problem when I can only fire cannon blasts,” she explained as she ran. “And if I take it up to the final Ninth Activation, I’ll lose the Dragon Emperor’s arm itself.” “Rumor has it that would wake up the lightning dragon contained inside the thing.” “Don’t ya get too interested. When the Third Dragon Emperor was taken to its Final Activation durin’ World War Two, the wearer and everythin’ within a kilometer was turned to scorched earth.” “Wasn’t that because someone other than the original wearer tried to use it by force?” “The Dragon Emperor is a false arm with a dragon’s will, so it’ll try to kill any master it doesn’t take a likin’ to.” “That’s pretty scary. So it’s a false arm that’s on the verge of being Death Techno, huh?” “I guess. But it does seem that I’ve got some kinda connection with it. It’s probably watchin’ me while it sleeps inside this armor.” Taeko smiled bitterly. “I just hope it accepts me as its master when I go for the Final Activation.” “Instead, how about you pray you never come across a danger warranting that?” After that comment, Hisahide sneezed. “Damn, it’s cold.” They were in the middle of the bridge, where the wind on the river’s surface was strongest. Taeko glanced over at him as he bent forward and held his arms around his sides for warmth. “Maybe if ya hadn’t burned yer hoodie…” “I had to. I needed some kindling to spread the Flame High to the Word Particle Cannon’s light.” He sighed. “And after Takada chose it for me and everything…” “Oh, ya mean that girl who was hangin’ out with Shoui?” “Don’t put it like that.” “Why not?” He looked up at Taeko. “Because she’s my prophet.” “Well, she sees it that way too. What’s got ya so mad?” “…” “Jealous?” “Of course not.” Hisahide briefly fell silent. “I’m Tokyo’s Chancellor, I’m the strongest, I’m definitely the star of this incident, and I’m going to be king. I have no reason to feel jealous of or indebted to that Hizaka guy.” “Then what does that girl see in Shoui?” “I can never tell what girls are thinking.” “Ya can’t tell, huh? …Well, it sounds like ya trust her, so that’s fine.” Taeko gave a pleasantly bitter smile. “So all the resentment is directed at Shoui,” she said. –Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! But then she gave a sudden shout. “Jump!” For just an instant, they heard a roar from overhead. A moment later, both of them saw several giant icicles fall from above. “The Koto Chancellor!?” The thirty meter transparent masses dropped down after they had leaped out of the way. Several deafening noises and powerful impacts followed. One, two, and then three ice spears with sharp points stabbed into the New Yodo River Bridge. The destruction continued without stopping. –Taeko – Dodge/Gym/Savate Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Running Dodge – Hit! “That’s a helluva lot of power!” “This is no time to be praising her! She’s figured out my weakness as a Harmonist!” “Yer weakness?” “An attack with greater speed than my paradox. In other words, a surprise attack.” The giant icicles formed within the ether light that suddenly appeared overhead, so they were impossible to predict. Seven of them stabbed into the ground ahead of Taeko and Hisahide. They were well over ten meters in diameter, so they blocked the way as a wall. The two stopped and briefly saw ether light twinkling overhead. More were coming. And come they did. Eight icicles appeared overhead and giant hunks of rock came into view directly below. The Lives of the ether that formed the space around them was altered to change everything into ice weapons. This was the technique of the Cold High Rhythm user. It was the technique of Koto’s Chancellor. But Taeko fearlessly took action. She had already activated the Dragon Emperor, so she recited her Words as the dragon gave a cry. She shouted the song that summoned lightning. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The Dragon Emperor released bluish-white electricity from her shoulder, fist, and claws. Taeko took action in a big way. –Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Step Forward – Hit. –Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Leap – Hit. –Taeko – Lightning High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Ether Strike – Hit! She jumped and made a simultaneous smash uppercut with the Dragon Emperor to destroy one icicle. But the overwhelming difference in mass pulled the icicle down and tried to slam Taeko to the ground. Her jump was forced to a stop and her feet reached the bridge. But she managed to fully support the icicle with her one fist. “I can’t let myself die here!” With that cry, she finished swinging the Dragon Emperor. She was supported by the Dragon Emperor, her Techs, her Rhythm, her own physical strength, and the anti-shock inner suit she wore. The Dragon Emperor gave a roar. Then the icicle flew back up into the air, lightning surrounded it, and it broke. It shattered. With the sound of a broken waterfall, a transparent spray scattered through the sky. Taeko sighed as she looked up at it. “That was a close one… This is no laughin’ matter!” As soon as she said that, the ninth icicle arrived without warning. It dropped in no time. Taeko had already lost her chance to dodge and she was not prepared to attack. She could not move, but… “Get down!” Hisahide leaped over. He had his MD’s headphone in his ear. He spun in midair and swung up a foot that produced fire. The fire immediately grew into a flame that illuminated the ice while drawing a trail behind his foot. The clash of ice and heat was over before it began. The icicle burned. It became a giant torch thirty meters tall and ten meters wide, it lost its qualities as ice, and it was blown away by the pure flame. The mass of heat and flame fell over onto the New Yodo River Bridge and rolled loudly. The other icicles that had stabbed into the bridge were caught in the flames and ignited. The Flame High’s fire was spreading. And these icicles had been created by altering the ether’s Lives, so they burned especially well. Several giant pillars of fire were created. The ice burned. The seven giant icicles piercing the bridge became fiery towers. Their light called in a scorching wind. As the flames grew stronger, so did the wind. The bridge itself ignited and was enveloped by hellfire. Taeko and Hisahide maintained fighting poses as they looked across the burning field that had been a bridge. And… –Taeko – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Hear – Hit. “…!? The bridge is burnin’ down!” The flames reacted to her shout. With a blast of scorching wind, the flames rose up like a wall and the bridge was crushed. The collapse began at the locations weakened by the icicles piercing it. The center of the bridge crumbled over a length of three hundred meters. The road, the sidewalk, the railings, and the bridge girders all burned and sank into the flowing river. “Man, the Flame High kicks ass!” Hisahide acted like this had nothing to do with him even as the sounds of destruction surrounded him. Taeko asked a question next to him. “If Tokyo’s Chancellor had this much power, how’d she die during the Kinki Riot?” “Well, according to Iba, she was killed by his master, Yuuki Senga.” “Eh?” “A corporation was involved in the Kinki Riot and they wanted to end it via single combat between a representative of Tokyo and a representative of Osaka. …The corporation’s troops surrounded the two of them, so they had no choice but to go through with it.” The din of destruction drowned out Hisahide’s voice. But he did not stop speaking. “Then Yuuki Senga arrived and the two of them died. That’s all Iba is willing to tell me. I don’t know what Yuuki Senga did, but her arrival must have triggered the end. In other words, their death.” He added that he did not hold a grudge against anyone over that. His words vanished within the roaring of the flames. The only sounds were that roaring and the splashing of water. Pieces of the bridge were turning to fire in midair and vanishing into the Yodo River. The scene of destruction continued. And as it did… –Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. “Hey, ya’ve noticed this, haven’t ya?” “Yeah, I have. You mean this killer intent, right?” Taeko and Hisahide let the intense noise wash over them as they stared straight ahead. Three hundred meters away, the other end of the break in the bridge looked like a distant cliff. A girl stood there. She wore a red blazer modeled after the Suzaku and held a staff that resembled a giant tuning fork. She was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. Across the crumbling bridge and through the gaps in the red forest of burning pillars, they could see a blazer colored an even brighter red. “So the Killing Holder really is here!” There was excitement in Hisahide’s voice, but he turned around. “Ya aren’t gonna fight here?” “I’d be at a disadvantage in a wide open space like this. She’d just attack from above like before.” There was a smile on his face. A smile also appeared on Taeko’s lips and she nodded. “Yeah, I suppose so…” “And our real goal is getting to Nagoya. Takada will be on her way to the station too.” With that, he started running. Taeko followed while keeping her focus on Yuuki. Just as the two started running toward New Osaka Station, the destruction reached its climax. One of the bridge girders burned away and sank into the river. Flames scattered like snow and spread across the river’s surface as the air shimmered. The destruction of immense heat signaled its end. ### 283. Part 2 7:42 PM It was a cry of lamentation. The Dragon Emperor released a long and loud cry from its shoulder armor as if wringing out its lungs. It was an almost tearful and plaintive howl. Surprise colored Taeko’s face when she heard it. “Dragon Emperor…!?” Before she could ask anything of it, the Dragon Emperor’s engine noise began to lower. The pulse-like engine noise of that false arm’s Eighth Activation slowly vanished. It grew quieter and quieter. Taeko looked to Yuuki for a moment and then gave a panicked shout. “D-Dragon Emperor! What’re ya doin’!? Hurry up and activate!!” – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Dragon Emperor – Hit! Her Tech succeeded, but the dragon ignored its master and cried. The long, lonely cry reverberated through the train car. “Dragon Emperor! She killed my brother!” Taeko’s voice did not reach it. It ignored her, lost all strength, and let its giant fist fall to the floor. Taeko fell to her knees at the Dragon Emperor’s unexpected deactivation. The dragon’s will vanished, so the Dragon’s Emperor became nothing more than a hunk of metal to reject her attempt to fight. That meant it had not accepted her as its master. “Dragon Emperor!” – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Reactivate Dragon Emperor – Hit! Even though the Tech succeeded, the metal disobeyed and gave no response. “Why…?” “Bringing the Dragon Emperor to such a high activation was a mistake. Once the dragon’s will awoke, the prosthetic disobeyed you.” “…But why?” “What do you mean why?” “Why would the dragon’s will refuse to fight ya!? The dragon’s will can see people’s wills and supply them with heaven’s will, so why won’t it attack ya!?” Yuuki ignored Taeko’s question. She did not respond and simply held Housei at the ready as she spoke. “Will you surrender?” “Why would we surrender!?” With a shout full of rejection, someone charged in from Yuuki’s right. It was Hisahide. In a single bound, he rose nearly to the ceiling and landed in the center of the aisle. He stood at the midpoint between Yuuki and Taeko. He stood tall, but he was covered in blood. The blood was coming from his right collarbone, his right chest, and his left side. He held his side as he spoke. “So you get us used to attacks from straight ahead and finish it off with something from directly below? You play pretty dirty.” Yuuki attacked without warning. – Yuuki – Aqua High/Sight/Shot Tech – Take – Create Water Barrier – Hit. Her vision filled with a giant wall of water formed from the whirling wind. The water created a high-pressure current in the wall. It smashed the seats and pressed on the air as it raced forward like a bulldozer. It was an instant away from a direct hit, but then the wall came to a sudden stop. “…!?” A few meters in front of Yuuki, Hisahide threw a kick beyond that transparent wall. He dropped his heel down. As usual, flames surrounded that foot. The one difference was the amount of fire. This was an explosion. Unlike before, the flames reached an Octave of more than 1,000,000. “Don’t you underestimate me!!” The flying water wall was burned to ashes by the Flame High. As he swung his foot down with the force of an axe, the explosive flames flew out toward Yuki. Yuuki reacted by staring at her opponent’s fire using her natural left eye. The power of incineration descended with a diameter of about two meters. –Yuuki – Aqua High/Sight/Shot Tech – Take – Create Water Barrier – Hit. The water she created was kicked into oblivion while it was still small. As she tried to move back, her back reached the door leading to the connection between cars. “…!?” She had destroyed the door’s lock, so she could easily open it if she reached for it. But she did not have time for that. “…Kh!” With a hint of panic, she knew the attack would reach her. But in that instant, the door behind her burst open and someone behind her grabbed her in their arms. ### 284. Part 2 2:00 PM The repairs to Osaka Prefectural #2 would take about two weeks. Even with workers sent out from the prefectural health department, a repair company from the Houzenji Group, and the Kansai General Student Onmyouji Unit, restoring a three kilometer square of collapsed earth was no small task. The work was officially said to be the measurement and repairs for a localized Clockquake experiment, but everyone in Osaka knew the truth. The people avoided that truth because it would not benefit them in any way. As long as they received large Godquake insurance payouts, rumors would spread, but no one would demand a public announcement of the truth. And even if some smaller voices demanded it, they would fade in time. Various parts of Osaka were repaired within that almost dependent mood of utilitarianism. It was lucky that winter break had begun for the schools. With no classes, it did not matter if the school did not function. The supplementary and extra lessons for the second term were held at Osaka Prefectural #1 and most of the dorm students temporarily moved to the dorms of other schools or the residences of local wealthy families. And the wealthy family that took in the greatest number of Prefectural #2 dorm students was the Nanba family. A large green space was located behind the Naniwa Ward Office. That was the Nanba family residence. Two buildings were hidden in the woods surrounded by 200 meter walls. One was a single-story wooden house and the other was a five-story reinforced concrete dojo for the Modified Purple Electricity Style. The dojo cut through the wall to border the road and sporadic sounds of bamboo swords could be heard from within. The first afternoon general lesson was underway. The retired, housewives with too much time on their hands, college students without a class that afternoon, and workers sent by their company as a form of training were all sparring. Outside the dojo, the colliding bamboo swords blended together with the rustling of the leaves in the wind. It was a horribly pure and relaxed sound. And that sound was audible to the single person in the open-air training ground behind the dojo building. It was Shoui. He had removed his coat as he moved his body in the open-air training ground. He was repeating the simple action known as a push-up. But his technique was different from normal. It came down to how he positioned his hands. The palms were normally pressed against the ground, but he pressed his clenched fists against the ground. This technique was known as knuckle push-ups. It required grip strength, wrist strength, and the balance to extend one’s arms perfectly straight. A normal person would be unable to do 30 of them, but Shoui’s breaths carried a count that had passed 300. His voice was not yet leaving his throat, but the sound of his breaths provided the count. As his body moved up and down, his breaths passed 400 and quickly reached 500. Then he maintained the same position but brought his right hand behind his back. He used just his left arm to continue the knuckle push-ups. His pace did not drop. The muscles on his back and shoulders slowly moved without end below his inner suit. By the time he passed 300, white steam rose into the winter air from his shoulders. He was beginning to sweat. That meant his body had only now begun to activate. He reached 500. Without taking a break, he placed his right fist on the ground and placed his left hand behind his back. He began knuckle push-ups with just his right arm. His pace still did not drop. In fact, his slow movements were beginning to grow faster. He passed 200. As his movements evolved, the steam rose from his back as well as his shoulders. His body was activating. The back and shoulder muscles pushed up at the inner suit and moved like a separate creature. Shoui’s body stored a power that looked ready to begin moving and explode out at any moment. It was a great strength. The monotonous exercise restrained that power. He passed 300. The strength and speed building up inside him had already grown to nearly twice their original size. But Shoui gradually stored that power inside himself. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. His ears listened to the sporadic sounds of bamboo swords coming from within the dojo building. The rustling of the trees blended together with them. He let the sounds wash over his body as he continued his exercise in silence. He passed 400. More and more strength built up inside him. It was a nostalgic feeling. At Nandaimon, he had done this exercise in front of the detached room he had used. Yuuki had often stood by his side and counted his knuckle push-ups and sit-ups. … Two years ago, 200 was plenty. He reached 500. He stopped moving and stopped breathing too. He brought his left hand forward and placed both fists on the ground. He spread his fingers. He dug his fingers into the ground like an animal’s claws to raise the palms from the ground. In that position, he used his toes to kick lightly at the ground. His legs lifted into the air. He did not stop there. He bent his arms to control his balance with his legs pointed toward heaven. He performed a handstand. His fingers supported his entire body. But that alone was insufficient. Once 30 seconds passed, he bent both middle fingers. His body was supported by a total of eight fingers now. After another 30 seconds, he bent both index fingers. After 30 seconds, he bent the ring fingers. He was down to a total of four fingers. But his body remained motionless in its handstand. His grip strength and overall balance supported everything. This was a trick one could not pull off with the unnecessary muscles gained through bodybuilding. He slowly removed his pinkies. He supported his body with only the thumbs sticking out from his clenched fists. 30 seconds passed. “…” Shoui deeply bent his arms for just a moment, extended them again, and used that force to jump in the direction his back was facing. He made a perfect half-flip and landed on his feet. He then faced the wooden training post on the east side of the open-air training ground. Some faint exhaustion colored his face as he stared at it. He had only just taken a short break after finishing some questioning from Saki which had lasted until the afternoon. The slight scars from his injuries the night before had not had a chance to heal and his skin was worn out. But he stood up. He said nothing. He did not move. He was simply alone. He continued to stare at the training posts with no apparent expression on his face. His hair blew in the afternoon wind. The branches and leaves shook and rustled in the woods. Several bamboo swords audibly collided. Shoui moved his hand as if drawn by that sound. He opened his right fist and raised it for just a moment. The object in his fist flew straight up. It was a small gold light. It was a ring. The Dog God had given it to him the night before. It was the one Takada had worn. The light rose to Shoui’s eye level and then dropped back down. And the wind blew. The tree branches shook and the sounds of bamboo swords seemed to combine into a single spray. On that signal, Shoui’s hand caught the falling gold light and closed into a fist. From there, he carried it straight forward. His gauntleted fist struck the training post. It was a quick movement. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. The sound of the strike rang out. It was a loud sound. A water bird flew from the large lake located between the open-air training ground and the house. Needless to say, Shoui paid it no heed. And he did not stop moving there. He pulled his arm back and threw a somewhat exaggerated punch. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. It was a highly telegraphed strike that he would never use in an actual battle. Due to his lack of warming up, it was a somewhat stiff motion. But it worked just fine against a training post. It was a strike that allowed him to feel his own strength. He threw a right. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. He threw a left. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. The sounds of strikes never ended. The wind blew. The woods rustled. The bamboo swords crashed together. And pushed on by those sounds, the audible blows continued and accelerated. He did not cry out as he threw his punches. He could not speak with the bandages around his throat. He did not have a Dog God. He did not even have a Rhythm. The Dis-Worder boy silently punched the unspeaking training post. He moved quickly. The continuous sounds rang loud through his steel gauntlets. It was fast, but it had not been enough. “…!” – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. He added in some footwork for a barrage of blows. He used his entire body to strike the training post from the left and right. He stepped in close, spun on his heel, shifted his center of gravity, rotated his hips, put his shoulders into the blows, and timed the extension of his arms. By combining all of those things, he kept up the blows as a series of motions. The actions could be called the ultimate in anaerobic exercise. But this was not enough either. Shoui thought as he moved. He thought about how to overcome his opponents. His opponents were Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. Both of them were Killing Holders. He tried and failed to imagine himself surpassing them. Something was missing. Something very, very important. Until the night before, he had had it in some form. … The desire to grow stronger so I can fight and protect her. That desire was missing. That driving force of his will had disappeared after Yuuki had rejected it the night before. She had rejected him by telling him he did not need to fight. “…” – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. The sounds of the blows and the impacts returning through his arms briefly blew away his indecision. He kept up the barrage. He threw the punches to determine his direction. With each audible hit, thought filled his mind, his indecision vanished, and only pure imagination remained. But even in that faint remnant of imagination, Shoui could not defeat his opponents. He had felt undeniable fear on that bullet train. He had feared the Flame High’s fire. Flames could be seen as a manifestation of death and destruction. But he had overreacted to the fire burning Takada. If he had not feared the Flame High’s fire, he might have been able to save her. Shoui had no Words and was familiar with all sorts of Techs and Over Rhythms, so he could of course use healing Rhythms. But his instinctual fear had overpowered the desire to use one to save her. … Why is that? He did not know. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. … What did Yamashita Gihei think when he faced Yuuki and me back then? In his sorrow over Nagoya’s future and his desire to escape the bonds of his family, that boy had fought Yuuki and been killed. When he had faced Yuuki, had he not feared the power of death and destruction? Had his mind only contained images of himself defeating Yuuki? “…Kh.” A breath escaped. Shoui had been continuing the barrage without breathing so far. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. He released a single punch from a short distance and breathed lightly enough to maintain the tension in his body. He drew the oxygen into his gut and moved. He made no preparation whatsoever, but he simply punched to further his thoughts. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. Thoughts floated up in his mind: The promise on that night three years ago. A certain incident two years ago. His ultimately wasted training over the two years since. His defeat by and fear of Nakamura. The truth of his training according to Iba. Takada’s death. Yuuki’s rejection. All of those grew into one large doubt which was answered by his fists. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. His question grew clear. … How can I protect her? If he could not fight and win, he could not protect her. But he could not imagine himself defeating them. And yet if he could not defeat those Killing Holders, he could not protect her. Yuuki Yuuki had killed Yamashita Gihei who had opposed her and Nakamura Hisahide had killed Takada Seigi who should have become his queen. Shoui recalled Nakamura’s cry when Takada had burned away and vanished. It had been a powerful cry. It was a cry only made by someone who had experienced someone’s death. Shoui could not do that. He was missing something. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. He had to regain what he had lost. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. He suddenly realized something. … I’m still thinking about this even after she rejected me… If he had given up on it all after the rejection, he would not be out here agonizing over it all while punching the training post. But he was moving now with no relation to his promise or his past. He remembered Takada’s words. “The more indecisive someone is, the stronger their ultimate answer will be. And the people who make powerful decisions are quite indecisive.” In that case… … Am I still trapped in indecision? The rejection, his fear, and the death of a girl had not led him to a decision. And his body desired to move. At the very least, the will of his body had not come to a stop. “…” He smiled bitterly. He stopped his punching. He stopped his feet. He took a breath. He looked up. He saw the sky. It was a vast winter sky. The sun grew pale as it started to sink and the wind whipped through the sky. The wind was blowing. The woods were rustling. He could hear the bamboo swords. And then he heard something like a dog howling in the distance. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Listen – Hit. It was not a dog. It was some other animal. It had come from the house. … What is that? The animal did not howl again, leaving him with no answer. “…” He felt there was more to that, but even greater indecision stopped him from pursuing it. He nodded. He remained silent, but his body resumed moving. He stretched his hand behind him to strike the training post and took a deep breath. Then he truly began moving once more. And he tried to figure out a way to catch up to those two. ### 285. Part 2 2:13 PM The temperature below the clouds remained relatively unchanged even in the early afternoon. The gray sky in the background made the scene look all the more wintery. Especially in an area with a good view. Nandaimon Shrine on its hill in the southern Koto region had an excellent view of that dimly-lit sky. If one looked up from the center of the gravel shrine grounds, the surrounding woods were out of view and only the sun filled their vision. Koto Chancellor and Koto Guardian Yuuki Yuuki was viewing the sky just like that. She wore her Nandaimon shrine maiden outfit and held a broom. Phoenix, her false right eye, viewed a certain point in the sky. Suzaku Ver. 40 was there. It was the world’s only combat satellite and it was situated at a gravitational and centrifugal Lagrange point, so it moved in an oval above the Koto and Osaka regions. The time it took to complete a circuit changed depending on the phase of the moon and the season, so it was not always in the same place. “It will enter the Osaka region in two hours.” After that muttered comment, she looked back down. She saw the woods surrounding the shrine in all directions. The withered trees looked horribly cold below the cloudy sky. She swept their fallen leaves into a pile. – Yuuki – Spear/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Sweep – Hit. There was a trick to sweeping up just the leaves while leaving the gravel in place. She quietly, slowly, and accurately swept up the leaves. And… – Yuuki – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Hear – Hit. She heard the gravel moving behind her. “…?” She looked back and saw a small animal standing in the spot she had been in a moment before. It was a Dog God. It was five meters away. That animal had kept that distance behind her since the day before. When she walked, so did it. When she stopped, so did it. When she sat down, it lay down. When she had gone to sleep that night, it had curled up in its tail while just barely keeping a distance of five meters in the corner of her austere room. When she had woken up, it had already been up and wagging its tail. It did not do anything. It simply stayed with her and watched her. That was all. “…” Yuuki looked around. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. There was no one here except for herself and the Dog God. Once she confirmed that, she faced the Dog God. Five seconds. After that, she suddenly took a forceful step forward on the gravel. The Dog God took a frantic step back. She took two steps forward. It ran back two steps. It watched her the entire time to accurately keep its distance. Yuuki stopped. The Dog God stopped. She looked up into the sky a little. It was a cloudy sky. The Dog God did so as well. In that instant, she stepped forward with a loud step on the gravel. Shocked, the Dog God hopped up for just a moment and then ran back. But Yuuki had not taken a step. She had placed her foot forward and stopped. It was a feint. The Dog God looked confused as it ran back while looking back toward her. A moment later, it ran head-first into one of the shrine’s lanterns. With a quiet sound, its light brown body rolled a few times with its long tail wrapping around it. It got up and quickly shook its head in a sitting position. Yuuki narrowed her eyes and laughed quietly as she watched. Her laughter was followed by an unexpected voice behind her. “You can have fun with that thing if you want, but have you finished sweeping yet, Yuuki?” It was Senga’s voice. Yuuki stopped laughing and looked back. Senga stood surprisingly close behind her. She looked up at Yuuki with a bitter smile. “That part of you hasn’t changed, Yuuki.” “…” Yuuki said nothing. She simply faced Senga with all emotion erased from her face. Senga maintained her bitter smile as she spoke to Yuuki. “I know you were scheduled to patrol the shrine border this afternoon, but could you head over to Osaka instead?’ “Why?” “I’ve received word that the Nanba family’s Modified Purple Electricity Style dojo was half-destroyed, but none of the details made it here. Could you go check that out?” “Why not ask that…Iwai Sanzou from yesterday?” Senga tilted her head at that question. “I did, but he only said it was a training accident. …But something like that would never destroy the Kusanagi-user’s dojo, would it?” “What, so is the Nanba family hiding something?” “I called the Osaka Guardian, but they apparently don’t know anything either.” “So I have to actually pay them a visit, do I?” Yuuki nodded and handed the broom to Senga. “Here, grandmother. You take care of the rest.” “Yes, yes. I always do get stuck with the cleaning for some reason or another.” Senga slapped Yuuki’s butt, and… – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! – Senga – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! Grandmother and granddaughter simultaneously raised their right hands. They faced the stairs up to the shrine. Someone lay at the top of the stairs. He wore a monk’s outfit. “Did he collapse…?” speculated Yuuki. But Senga ran over before she could finish. “Iba!” she shouted. She called his name, but the monk-dressed man did not get up. Yuuki jogged after Senga. “Grandmother, should I call an ambulance?” “Wait! There must be more to this! We can’t make it public.” Senga stopped her and Yuuki obeyed. They reached Iba’s side in the span of a breath. This was Yuuki’s first time seeing the man. Senga would sometimes call his name in her sleep. During the Kinki Riot, he had stood between Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori and Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai. And he was closely involved to everything going on this time. He was now collapsed in front of her. Senga crouched down next to Yuuki and asked the most crucial question. “What happened!?” Iba lay face down, so she lifted him up. That was when she received an answer of sorts. His mouth and below were so bloody it looked like he had eaten raw meat. He had bleeding in his lungs. The blood was fresh and had yet to dry. The impact of collapsing and the relaxation of passing out had likely induced the coughing. Senga flipped her former student onto his back in her arms. “…” The wind blew through. It was a chilly north wind. When its chill washed across his face, Iba’s eyes opened ever so slightly. His empty eyes focused and looked up at Senga. His bloody lips moved. “I can no longer see the future and the Kinki Riot begins anew…” “The Kinki Riot?” asked Yuuki. But when Iba nodded, he kept his eyes on Senga. His lips moved. He raised the corners of his mouth to force a smile, but… “I never thought he would be even greater than Midori…” His expression changed to one on the verge of tears. Then he began coughing up blood. The blood splattered on Senga’s clothing and face and on Yuuki’s shrine maiden outfit. But the two of them were unfazed. Without panicking or rushing, Senga lay Iba’s head back down now that his eyes had closed once more. The cold wind washed away the stench of blood. And Senga spoke in a voice so cold it cut off that wind. “I will heal him. Yuuki, you hurry to the Nanba family.” “Will you be okay on your own?” “I took care of him a lot in the past.” Senga did not look back toward Yuuki, so Yuuki said nothing more and walked toward the house. The Dog God ran after her. The wind very, very quietly and coldly brushed across the person and animal. ### 286. Part 2 4:47 PM After reaching the rooftop, Taeko first looked around the battlefield. The floating garden had a large circular hole in the middle and the narrow walkway drew a circle around it. It was only wide enough for three adults to walk abreast. That was enough room for walking, but not much for fighting. The landings provided more space, so they would be the key to this battle. “…” Taeko silently stepped out onto the rooftop. The first thing to greet her was the wind. The winter north wind blew in strong and cold to cool her heated body. But Taeko defied the wind’s will as her long hair whipped behind her. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! The enemy was extremely close by. She saw Yuuki standing not even five meters ahead. Taeko spoke to the silhouette she saw in the setting sun. “It’s been too long.” She smiled bitterly and Yuuki’s voiced asked a quiet question. “What is the Tokyo Chancellor doing?” “Oh, he gave me a single day to take care of my own plans.” Yuuki did not respond, but Taeko could not help but say more. “He really plans on crushin’ Kansai. What are ya gonna do about that?” Yuuki did not respond. Nor did she move. “Hmph,” snorted Taeko as she raised the Dragon Emperor which was wrapped in the Lightning High’s light. The Dragon Emperor’s First Activation could only pull off simple actions. The dragon’s will could not interfere now. So she ran forward. “Yuukiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” She shouted her enemy’s name. That name had long been on her mind. She had once tried but failed to forget it. For her, coming to Osaka with the Tokyo Chancellor had been a ceremony announcing Kansai as the enemy. But that had only been an excuse to fight Yuuki. Her enemy was right in front of her. She would reach her in the next moment. – Taeko – Lightning High/Steel/ Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Lightning High Strike – Hit! Her fist slammed into Yuuki’s body. There was no impact. There was no sound. There was only… “…Eh!?” Taeko voiced her confusion as Yuuki’s body crumbled away. It was a liquid. It splashed down like water. What had taken Yuuki’s shape and color regained the transparency and strength of water as it crumbled. It was not Yuuki. As proof, neither of the eyes in the sinking face were prosthetic. “A dummy!?” Tuners would sometimes rearrange the Lives of the wind or dirt to create a copy of themselves to act as a decoy. As if to prove that, Yuuki’s voice arrived clearly from behind Taeko. “That is the Suzaku Reflection passed down by Nandaimon.” Without turning around, Taeko jumped left on reflex. She jumped toward the large space of the landing instead of the walkway. Rather than icy pressure, a pure chill pursued her and dropped down from above. This attack was different from before. – Taeko – Savate/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Great Dodge – Hit! She leaped. She leaped for the sole purpose of escaping. She leaped with her back to her enemy and without a single thought of her brother or Shoui in her mind. That was the right thing to do. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. A five meter spherical mass of air had frozen white and it crashed down onto the rooftop. The attack had no weight or anything else, but when it burst, it created great destruction. The temperature difference whipped up the wind. Even the winter air was further cooled by the barrier of air, so a mist of frost formed. The barrier ate into the floor and railings. With a sound like breaking glass, the floor and railings shattered. This world of frigid temperatures left even metal so brittle it would break from the slightest impact. Everything was turned to sand. Yuuki had once used this technique to destroy the schoolyard of Private Showa. And it had also been the one to kill Taeko’s brother. “————!” After dodging the attack, Taeko saw the broken floor and railings falling along with the building. Taeko cried out. She made her presence known with a cry of both fear and anger as the sound of freezing faded away. And a thought flashed through her mind. No, that will told her. Her will uttered Words when she saw Yuuki’s technique. Something isn’t right. She did not know what was not right or how it was not right, but definite doubt rose within her when she saw Yuuki’s technique. Something did not match her memories or predictions. But that doubt did not arrive in time. “!” Her shout erased her hesitation. She searched for the enemy. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! A figure in a red blazer was circling to her right, between her and the landing’s wall. That was a good decision. Taeko could not use her injured right arm very much, so she would have trouble with the enemy on that side. But she did not care. “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” – Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Strike – Hit! With no Rhythm or anything else, she slammed her right fist toward Yuuki. She hit. She felt her fist sink into her opponent’s gut. Yuuki doubled over. At the same time, Taeko lost all sensation from her right arm past the shoulder. The broken shoulder had completely shattered. “!” She clenched her teeth and spun around. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Grab – Hit! – Taeko – Steel/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Throw – Hit! She grabbed her opponent’s collar with the Dragon Emperor and threw her with an overhand swing. “Gahh!” She slammed the girl head-first into the tile floor as cold air continued to rise from it. Yuuki’s glasses slid across the floor and the sound of impact was accompanied by a quieter metallic sound. Yuuki bounced and landed face down. She was right next to the hole she herself had created earlier. If she fell, she would not escape unharmed. Taeko would not let her escape. She stepped forward. She crouched down just as Yuuki tried to lift herself up with her arms. Taeko swung the Dragon Emperor’s first upwards. – Taeko – Steel/Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Great Strike – Hit! Just before that attack hit, Yuuki rolled on her side to turn toward Taeko while still on the floor. She launched a spell. It was water. It had the form and meaning of a wall. It was a powerful and unavoidable impact. The transparent wall of ultra-pressurized water slammed into Taeko at almost the same time as the Dragon Emperor broke through the water wall and hit Yuuki. They collided. Both their bodies were blown away. Taeko was knocked back a few meters and thrown toward the walkway. She hit the wall of the circular walkway. – Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Control Balance – Miss. She continued rolling backwards. “Ow, ow, ow, ow…” She muttered to herself and stood up. The water soaking her body returned to ether and vanished. She searched for her enemy while feeling cold due to the body heat it had taken from her. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! Her Tech worked, but she could not see Yuuki. She only saw the large hole torn in the landing floor. It was five meters across and had been formed by the flash freezing. There was nothing and nobody there. It was obvious what had happened. Yuuki had fallen. “…” Taeko sighed as her long hair fluttered in the wind. “Is it…over?” Just as she said that… – Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Hear – Hit. She heard the sound of bending metal. “…?” – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! Taeko saw a hand holding onto the edge of the hole. In the blink of an eye, the right arm puled Yuuki’s upper body through the hole. Taeko realized her face was colored by surprise. “Ya survived!?” Yuuki did not answer. She silently pulled the rest of herself back up onto the floating garden. But that was not all. She held a giant object in her left arm. It was Housei. It was the giant staff that Taeko had punched away from her earlier. “…It can’t be!?” Taeko realized the flash freezing spell had been both a means of attack and a means of retrieving Housei. Housei had stabbed into the ceiling from the perspective of the escalator below, so from the roof, she had only needed to peel back the floor. “…” Yuuki silently raised Housei. Ether light already filled Housei’s ether firing section. It was a powerful light. That light would end this. “Kh…!” Taeko clicked her tongue and prepared to defend. Her left shoulder was suddenly pulled down. “Dragon Emperor!?” The Dragon Emperor would not move. It was only at the First Activation, but it stopped moving on its own. The dragon’s will fully controlled the false arm now. “Dragon Emperor…!” Taeko shouted at it and Yuuki launched her spell toward her. It was the flash freezing. The white bullet was nearly ten meters across and it filled the space overhead as it dropped down like a fist. There was no dodging it. The Dragon Emperor was heavy and would not move. The air audibly exploded with the icy temperature. Hearing that, Taeko knew she would be turned to sand. “…!” In that instant, a question reached her mind. Something was odd. And she realized what it was: the result. Her brother had died, leaving behind only his arm. Not a single drop of blood had remained at the scene. But she would be scattered as sand. Why was there a difference? In fact, how much power did this flash freezing spell have against a human? The schoolyard and school building had been shattered at Private Showa, but no one had died. Something was odd. This was the doubt she had subconsciously noticed when she saw the previous destruction. Before she could wonder what it meant, a certain fact occurred to her: The Dragon Emperor refused to fight Yuuki. The results were different and the dragon that could read people’s wills had made a baffling decision. Those two facts led to a single truth. Taeko was surprisingly willing to accept it. “…Ya moron.” The icy blast collided with her and she shut her eyes. In that instant, the Dragon Emperor instantly activated itself. ### 287. Part 2 5:02 AM Yuuki awoke in her own bed. The room’s lights were on. She was facing the wall and lying on her side in an unnatural pose. She quickly realized why. Below the blanket, her right ankle was wrapped in bandages. If she was lying on her back, the weight of the blanket on her toes would hurt her ankle. It was likely a light sprain. She could feel bandages and charms placed on her joints. – Yuuki – Medical Tech – Take – Check Injuries – Hit. Her right ankle, ribs, and right knee must have been broken. That would normally be some serious injuries, but she seemed to have received Tune healing while she was passed out. “I suppose those injuries are surprisingly light for a building collapse at that height.” She sighed. She looked to the wall and then narrowed her eyes. She had dropped her glasses during the battle and had not seen them since. She silently started to close her eyes, but then she raised her head a little. She looked to the edge of the bed. Some paperback and hard cover novels were sitting where she had left them in a pile. But there was something other than a book on the very top. It was a paper bag. It contained what she had bought the day before. She reached from the blanket and grabbed it. After placing both hands on it, she slowly pulled it below the blanket and held it to her chest. “…” She curled up around the paper bag while sinking back into the blanket. She closed her eyes and sighed. Strength filled the hands holding the bag, producing a crinkling sound. She opened her mouth while listening to that. And she prepared to speak the precious words she could only say while alone. Except… “What’s that paper bag? Somethin’ important?” The blanket sprang up in response to that sudden voice. She got up. She had never suspected there was anyone else in the room, so her face was filled with panic. It was a rare response for her. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit! The enemy who was not really an enemy was right in front of her. It was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. She was sitting down while wearing a yukata over a Nandaimon shrine maiden outfit. She had the Dragon Emperor on her left arm, so the shrine maiden outfit’s sleeve was loosened to allow the metal fist out. A guest futon was laid out below her and that fist. “…?” Yuuki used her eyes to ask what was going on, so Taeko answered while combing her undone hair with her hand. “Yer gramma apparently put us in the same room.” “She did…?” “She asked to get a look at me, said I wasn’t an enemy, and then told me to get along with ya.” Taeko sat cross-legged, rested her cheek in her hand, and breathed a masculine sigh. “I can’t stand it.” “?” “Ya understand, don’t ya? There’s so much about this I can’t stand.” Yuuki remained silent, so Taeko tilted her head. “Yer not good with people, are ya?” “…” Taeko took Yuuki’s silence as a yes and gave an agreeable smile. “There’s so much I don’t understand, though. …Do ya know why I managed to escape yer technique?” Yuuki shook her head. “Just when I thought I had hit you with my barrier, the building was blown away.” “That might’ve been the Dragon Emperor.” “The Dragon Emperor?” “I solved a question of mine, so it might’ve helped me out.” Taeko looked to her prosthetic arm. She sounded more like she was talking to herself than asking a question. “Why did the Dragon Emperor avoid fightin’ with ya? I think I get it now. …But that guess leads to a pretty serious conclusion.” She took a breath. “But I can’t think of any other reason the Dragon Emperor would stop in front of ya. …That’d only happen if yer on the side of justice and my actions are evil.” Taeko held the Dragon Emperor’s fist in front of her eyes. She clenched the steel fist, producing the sound of creaking metal. “Do ya understand?” She did not receive an answer, but she did not care. Her bitter smile deepened and she lowered the fist to her side. She looked to Yuuki from the floor. “Hey.” “…” “I can tell ya wouldn’t answer me if I asked about the truth.” “…” “So I’ll ask in a different way.” Taeko closed her eyes. “How did ya kill my brother?” It was a quiet question. But unlike the previous questions, Yuuki answered this one immediately. “With Suzaku’s flash freezing.” “Really?” “Yes.” Taeko asked another question without opening her eyes. “Then why weren’t there any pieces of him left?” That question did not receive an answer. But Taeko asked more. “And at Private Showa, yer flash freezin’ technique didn’t kill anyone. …The reason why is simple: unlike mere objects, people will subconsciously negate the Rhythm attack with their own Rhythm.” An exhausted sigh left Taeko’s mouth. It was a heavy sigh. And that breath seemed to draw out more words. “Ya might lie, but the Dragon Emperor won’t.” “What lie are you talking about?” “The one about how ya became the Killing Holder!” shouted Taeko. She raised her head and opened her eyelids to look at Yuuki. Her expression was entirely serious. “I’ve made my decision.” “About what?” “Koto Chancellor, ya are the only one I’ll follow.” Yuuki frowned at that. Taeko smiled bitterly. And she said more with that tearful smile. “A moron who can never catch a break like ya needs someone by her side.” “…” “Shoui would really be the best choice, though…” “I do not need Hizaka Shoui.” “Probably not.” Taeko narrowed her eyes and looked to the corner of the room. “And I guess ya do have that thing…” She was referencing the small creature with light brown fur sitting in the corner. It was a Dog God. “It’s been there this whole time. Is it Shoui’s?” “I don’t know.” The Dog God was about 3 meters from Yuuki. “…It’s closer.” “Eh?” “Nothing.” Taeko tilted her head and nodded at that. And she glanced over at the Dog God. “I kinda hope it is Shoui’s.” She sighed. And before that breath could fall to the futon, Yuuki began to move. She pulled her blanket in close and curled up to hide the paper bag in her arms. “Why are you so fixated on him?” It was the Dragon Emperor that first responded to her question. It raised its low rumbling voice. The armor panels opened somewhat as it rose to the combat mode known as the 3rd Activation. Taeko looked to the false arm that had started up on its own. “When earnin’ the position of Chancellor at the Mountain, ya end it with some battles, right?” “I was given the position on a recommendation based on my testing, so I wouldn’t know.” “Is that so?” asked Taeko with a bitter smile. “Well, whatever.” The bitterness left her smile. “I fought Shoui during the semi-finals and I punched him out once.” Some tenseness came to her face. “And I know that he fought my brother to protect ya. …We had trained at the same trainin’ ground, so when I learned that, I felt some hesitation and resentment. And when I hit him…” She sighed. “That moron completely snapped.” “…And?” “Would ya call it combat instincts? Well, when he passed out…he started movin’ at frightenin’ speed. He circled behind me in the blink of an eye…” Yuuki said nothing. Taeko placed her hand on the Dragon Emperor. “The Rhythm he used was the Break High. My left arm was torn off and sent airborne in no time at all. But…” “…” “Right afterwards, he seemed to come back to his senses. Would ya call it a look of regret? He had that dumb look on his face and didn’t move at all…” She said nothing more. The answer was already known. Taeko had been the one to become a Chancellor. That meant she had defeated Shoui. Someone who could not defeat their opponent when they needed to could not become a Chancellor. That unwritten rule was absolute. So she said something else instead. “It’s thanks to his instincts that he doesn’t die when he should’ve been killed.” “Is that so?” “There are two sides to everythin’. Someone who’s strong with one power is strong with the opposite power.” With that, she stood up. Her head reached the fluorescent light illuminating the room. And she looked down at Yuuki from that height. “I have a number of things to check on. Your gramma said to go to the coast of Osaka Bay before sunrise.” With that, she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. The location was written there. And Taeko spoke to supplement it. “The match held here will save Japan from a second Kinki Riot.” The Dog God seemed to answer her by quietly barking in the corner of the room. ### 288. Part 2 6:07 AM When Shoui saw the power approaching before his eyes, a phantom pain ran through his forehead. He felt déjà vu. … What is this!? His battle with Yamashita Gihei had ended like this as well. He had been knocked unconscious and woken up to find Yuuki had killed the enemy. And now this was happening, so… … I have to win. If he did not, he could not protect her. He had thought the same thing when he had been hit by Yamashita Gihei’s attack. … I have to win or I can’t protect her! His will desired battle. It desired victory. It desired the defeat of his enemy. It was an extremely powerful desire. “…!” And then something changed. As Shoui tried to raise his fist to guard, ether light wrapped around it. But this was not the light of the Break High. This light had a highly sticky power that seemed to consume the Break High’s power. It was a desire to attack. It instantly surrounded his fist and took form. It was fire. The blaze of the Flame High. “!?” Before he could express surprise, an incredible pain raced through his forehead. The phantom pain felt like having a nail driven into his brain and it instantly erased his fear of the Flame High. He snapped. His body suddenly moved on its own. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Counterattack Dodge – Hit! His fiery fist instantly burned the descending short sword. At the same time, his body leaped across the beach while staying low to the ground. He did not stop. With the flames still residing in his fist, he left sand in the air behind him while circling behind Souichirou. He was a heated gust of wind. His body moved. It moved to attack and purely to defeat his opponent. But he asked a question. … What is going on!? The question was directed at himself. His body split the early morning wind as it moved, but this was more the power of the Rhythm than his own will. And… … Why can I use this Rhythm so well!? ### 289. Part 2 6:30 PM The chill of the night was beginning to descend from the sky. Shoui was lying down, but he had already woken up. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. His upward-facing vision saw the ceiling of Nandaimon’s detached room. This had been his room 2 years before. The room was bright. The ceiling’s fluorescent light was on. “…” His eyes could see the scene around him, but his head was far from clear. It felt like waking from a long sleep. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Awaken Mind – Hit. After a single powerful heartbeat, the blood slowly rose through his neck and to his head. He trembled. He felt the cold. He sat up. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. He found himself in a nostalgic place. He removed the blanket covering him and revealed his body. The chilly air hit his skin and he realized he was not wearing his inner suit. He crossed his arms to keep out the cold, but his skin still felt the cold quite sensitively. The cold brought back his body’s senses. Similarly, all of his memories returned. And he realized why he was here. In his battle with Souichirou… … My right arm. He had lost a part of his body. However, he was currently crossing his arms. That meant he had the right arm that Souichirou had chopped off. He looked to that arm. From the shoulder to the fingertips, it was entirely contained in bandages. He had his arm. It was wrapped in bandages, but when he tried to open the hand, he had no trouble moving it. He had feeling in the fingers as well. … Was I healed? Just as he wondered that… “Shoui! Shoui! Have you woken up!?” He heard a voice from outside and the large window was shoved open. He saw the darkness of the night. He felt the chill of the night. That chilly expanse opened up before his eyes. And Senga stood in the center of it. Their eyes immediately met. Shoui was unsure what to say. “Umm, long time no see?” “What are you talking about, moron? We saw each other just two days ago.” “I’m pretty sure we only passed by each other on the beach…” After saying that, Shoui was relieved to find he actually could speak. And then he realized what she had actually said. “…Two days ago? I was out for that long?” “You weren’t just out. I’ll explain everything, so come on out of there.” “Oh, right, right, right.” He nodded, got out of the bed, and tried to stand up. “?” He felt something at his feet. There was a small paper bag by the pillow. “What is this…?” he muttered while picking it up. There was something light and soft inside. … Who left this? No one answered his question. He heard something else instead. “Hurry it up, Shoui! Get a move on!” Senga yelled at him from outside. He sighed, lightly folded the bag, and stuck it in the hidden pocket of his pants. And he walked. He was a little unsteady on his feet, but he regained his balance after a few steps. He closed the large window Senga had opened and circled around to the front door. He put on his shoes which were lying there and opened the door. “Shoui! Hurry up and put this on.” He found Senga’s rushed voice as well as an inner suit and coat dumped over his head. The clothes were obscuring his vision, so he set them on the ground and looked to Senga. “Old Lady Senga.” “What is it?” “Before I put on the inner suit.” He pointed to his right shoulder. “Can I remove the bandages on my right arm?” “What do you mean?” “I’m skeptical that it was completely healed in only 2 days after being so cleanly lopped off.” The anti-shock reflective material inner suit both reduced any impacts and strengthened his body’s movements. If he was still injured, any vigorous activity could instantly reopen the wound. So he asked. “Was it fully healed?” “Of course it was. That’s why you were asleep for so long.” Senga smiled bitterly. “On the Emperor’s own orders, you were given the best Tune healing Japan has to offer and a group from Detroit was called in for some Live modifications. Two days was enough, so remove the bandages.” He did as he was told. – Shoui – Surgical Tech – Take – Remove Bandage – Miss. “Huhh?” “What are you even doing…?” – Senga – Surgical Tech – Take – Remove Bandage – Hit. Senga slowly removed the bandages and they fell to the hard ground in front of the detached room. Shoui watched the bandages fall away and scratched his head with his left hand. “I always had Yuuki do this, so I’m no good at it.” His voice faded away toward the end. He had seen his right arm exposed in the air. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Miss. His right arm was now a red biological prosthetic. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Accept – Hit. “Is this…?” He looked to his right arm with no shock or confusion. It looked like a human arm, but it was not. When he held it up toward the moon, he could tell exactly what it was. It was vermilion. The arm was made from a glossy vermilion that looked a lot like blood and stood out even in the dark night. And black stripes of lightning patterns were visible on the developed muscles. – Shoui – Military Tech – Take – Identify Weapon – Hit. – Shoui – Commercial Tech – Take – Identify Product – Hit. He used two different Techs, but he could find no knowledge on this false arm. He had never seen anything like it. Senga identified it for him. “That’s the ogre’s arm.” He looked back in surprise and she nodded. “It was made using the Lives of the ogre arm severed by Nanba Souichirou. But the base of the actual biological matter came from your severed arm and…” She hesitated a moment. “The arm of Yamashita Gihei who you killed.” “…” Shoui said nothing about the origin of his new arm. With a serious expression, he simply raised his right arm, thrust it forward, and clenched the fist. “It’s a great false arm.” “It’s an honor, isn’t it?” “What’s it called?” “There is no literature about a false arm made from an ogre, so you could even call it the Ogre God if you wanted.” “I see. Would this make me a Steel Forcer instead of a Critical Forcer?” “No, I think you could call yourself whichever you wanted. It was made to be no different from a normal arm, so ability-wise, you’re still a Critical Forcer.” Shoui smiled bitterly at that. “For being made from an ogre’s arm, it’s a pretty boring prosthetic.” “Yes, save for one power.” “Power?” “It can ignore the Flame High. Thanks to the ogre’s Lives,” explained Senga. “Since you still can’t use your power as a Loudist very well, that should help you out.” “…Huh?” “What do you mean ‘huh’?” “Well, uh…you said ignoring the Flame High should help me out.” He tilted his head. “But why would that help me?” “You moron. Kantou and Kansai are about to clash at Osaka Castle!” “Ho ho. Well, isn’t that something?” “And you’re going too.” “Eh?” He froze just as he was staring to put on the inner suit. “Why am I going?” Senga sighed and brought an exasperated hand to her forehead. “Do you not remember the Rhythm you used to defeat Nanba Souichirou?” “…” “Do you not remember the power that negated his Kusanagi?” He did remember. His right arm had negated Kusanagi’s sword pressure the instant he touched it. But even after Kusanagi vanished, the blade itself remained and chopped off his right arm. “What was-…?” Before he could finish his question, Senga slapped his right arm. “It was your will. It’s a Rhythm meant to protect instead of fight. It’s the Heavy Rhythm that stands opposite of the Flame High and is easiest to use for a Loudist.” “And I used it?” “Yes, only a Loudist familiar with all Rhythms and Techs can understand that soundless Rhythm. That blocking Rhythm negates any other Rhythm it touches.” She sighed. “It was once used by Kuki Udai alongside Nakamura Midori who used the Flame High. …And because it is soundless, it is a Rhythm that can be used without using a Rhythm.” Shoui looked to his left hand. … Can I really use something like that? He had used it. He did not know how. While fighting Souichirou, he had seen Yuuki standing on the beach embankment. It had happened the instant he had wanted to protect her instead of escape the Flame High or win. He remembered a certain will within him. So he spoke. “That power is needed, isn’t it?” “Hurry to Osaka Castle.” “Are the Flame High…and Yuuki there?” “Yes, they are. …But your power is probably still unstable, so use that Ogre God well as you fight. Your enemy has the Harmonist’s power. Don’t let your guard down and screw up like you always do.” “It’s not that I let my guard down. I screw up all the time because I’m weak.” He smiled bitterly and put on his inner suit. He fastened it to the suit on his lower body to cover his entire body in a single suit. And then he put on the coat. “Does my Rhythm have a name?” “The Storm High.” “The Storm High?” “And as a Heavy Rhythm, it’s also known as Totsuka.” She took a breath. “It’s the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi from when Susanoo chopped off Yamata-no-Orochi’s heads.” “I see,” said Shoui with a nod. The coat had the right sleeve removed to accommodate the false arm. He lightly swung the ogre’s right arm to double-check how it felt. “Okay, I’ll be going.” “You forgot this.” Senga held out his bandanna. He smiled a little and took it. He wrapped it around his forehead. When his hand touched it, he felt the chill of the split forehead protector. It had been split by Yamashita Gihei’s attack 2 years before. … It all started here. With that thought, he bowed toward Senga. And he started walking. The walk quickly grew to a jog and then a run. The gravel crunched below his feet as he raced through the winter darkness. He ran. – Shoui – Savate Tech – Take – Sprint – Hit! He ran down the path leading to the shrine. The wind was blowing. It was a powerful north wind. ### 290. Part 2 7:10 PM Taeko pulled back in surprise. But it was too late. The change was instantaneous and the effects were everlasting. Her left arm suddenly moved. “…!? Dragon Emperor!?” – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Control Dragon Emperor – Miss! Her voice of doubt did not get through. The steel fist thrust up toward the heavens and roared. It was a high, high pitched sound much like a pheasant cry. It was a beautiful voice. It was the voice of a dragon seeking heaven. And it summoned lightning. The Dragon Emperor faced heaven and emitted a lightning attack. The sound of exploding electricity shook the air. It was thunder. The metal arm waved wildly back and forth like a snake and scorched the surrounding air with its lightening. “Dragon Emperor!” The Dragon Emperor was deaf to Taeko’s shout. It roared. It roared fiercely and showed off its power. – Dragon Emperor – Steel Tech – Auto-Take – 7th Activation – Hit! “!?” It ascended a stage from the 6th Activation. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Control Dragon Emperor – Miss! If the Dragon Emperor let loose, it could easily blow away an entire city. And it was trying to do just that now. “…Dragon Emperor! Stoooop!” Taeko yelled within the dancing light and noise. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Control Dragon Emperor – Miss! It would not stop. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Taeko saw something in the center of the destruction. Ikemaru Takahiro slowly stood up after falling to his knees from the previous hit. Meanwhile, Taeko had lost control of her weapon. He smiled a little while holding his side. A slight trail of blood fell from the corner of his mouth, but he ignored it. His right hand slowly removed the scarf from his shoulders. The rustling of the scarf sounded oddly loud within the deafening noise and light. And he gently wrapped it around his right hand as he raised his voice. “Hear me, oh dragon!” ### 291. Part 2 Same Time As the heat rose into the sky, something was visible on the peak of the castle tower. It was a person. It was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. She stood perfectly still as the turbulence vanished from the sky and the night quieted down. The loud sounds of impact in the distance were the proof that someone else continued to fight. They were the sounds of a fight she could not take part in. “…” She pushed her glasses up her nose and stared down below. The first thing to enter her field of vision was the exposed wood and insulation where the roof tiles had been stripped away. Then she looked further down below the broken edge of the roof. “Nothing there.” Sure enough, there was only darkness on the ground below. Even in the night, she could see the pitch black hole 100 meters across. That was the scar of the Word Particle Cannon hit. It was the same attack that had destroyed the schoolyard of Prefectural #2 where Ixolde was. Ixolde’s underground space had been there to receive it before, but that was not the case here. The ruins of Yamazato Maru had been a park with trees, but the 1 hectare space had been entirely blown away. The hole of destruction had devoured the stone steps and height differences that should have been there and it extended as far as the inner moat on the other side. “…” Yuuki said nothing and looked up into the sky. Smoke, rather than clouds, was spreading through Osaka’s sky. That smoke had been created when everything that had made this land had been blown away and annihilated. That smoke could be called “priceless”. An airplane’s identifier lights pierced through the smoke. The corporate airplane was likely checking on the status of the battle. She brushed up her hair as she watched it. Small pieces of dirt spilled from her hair as she did so. A gentle wind began to blow and it carried the scent of shimmering heat. And… – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Yuuki looked at a certain point in the sky. – Yuuki – Army Tech – Take – Identify – Hit! It was not an airplane’s identifier lights. It was a more primitive light. It was the light of fire and it was descending from the sky. The Dog God barked quietly at her feet. But she kept her eyes on the sky. She confirmed the identity of the fire. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm – Hit! It was clothing. A mountain hoodie fell as it burned. She recognized the hoodie. “It can’t be…” “Oh, but it can.” She heard a voice behind her. It was a boy’s voice. It was Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide’s voice. “!” She looked back surprise, but it was too late. She tried to quickly turn around, but a presence much like a heated wind reached her right hand. Immediately afterwards, an artillery-like kick jabbed into her side. The impact rang loud. “———!” She could not scream. She just barely kept herself from falling and grabbed at the roof with her left hand which did not hold Housei. She performed a side flip. – Yuuki – Gym Tech – Take – Control Position – Miss. When her right foot landed back on the tile-less roof, the ankle went limp. She had twisted the ankle that had been injured in the battle with Taeko. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit. She could ignore the pain and her body could obey its own functions. “…” She slowly stood up by extending her right leg. A boy stood in front of her: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. He raised his right hand into the sky with a terribly serious look on his face. The mountain hoodie fell into that hand. “I escaped trouble like this in Prefectural #2’s schoolyard too.” He forcefully swung the burning hoodie around. The fire was extinguished. Some faint ashes flew into the night air. Yuuki spoke quietly when she saw those ashes. “You burned the hoodie…to use it as a shield?” “I had the fire on the hoodie spread to the Word Particle light.” He put on the hoodie. He pulled headphones from the pocket of the red hoodie with one sleeve burned off. He hummed the Fire High Rhythm as he put the headphones in his ears. And he smiled bitterly. He looked to Yuuki. “That attack seems to have shaken me.” “You mean it disturbed your Lives?” “My pulse is too disturbed to use the Flame High.” He removed the headphones and his smile grew even bitterer. His lips formed a smile that was barely even a smile. He immediately rushed in at full speed. The bottom of his red hoodie instantly spread out in the darkness. He moved fast. – Yuuki – Dodge Tech – Take – Dodge – Hit! It was no use. It happened before she could dodge. It happened too soon for her to react. Nakamura’s Rhythm-less kick hit her right arm from the side. The blow had the weight of a log. “!” The impact knocked Housei from her hand and the staff rolled along the roof. She lost her balance and nearly rolled off of the roof. – Yuuki – Gym Tech – Take – Control Position – Hit! But before even that could happen, Nakamura kicked again from the left. Not even a Dodge Tech would have been fast enough. Before the damage could even reach her, she was sent flying in the opposite direction. She stumbled and returned to the peak of the roof. She somehow managed to stand. “————!” She belatedly gasped at the weight of the blows to her body. But she did not scream. No, she could not. “That’s a Killing Holder for you.” She heard Nakamura’s voice. By the time she realized he was right in front of her, it was too late. He made an attack from the White Noise that prevented her Sight or Hear Techs from sensing his presence. The Harmonist’s attack arrived instantly. She caught a brief glimpse of a forward kick that could break through a sheet of steel. “!?” It was a direct hit. Her right ankle collapse and she was unable to reduce the damage by dodging or falling back, so she was blown away. Her body doubled over and flew through the air. A moment later, her back struck one of the shachihoko on the ends of the roof. “…!” She gasped. The breath was knocked out of her. The vibration that hit her body had numbed her lungs. She could not produce her Words. All strength left her legs and her butt fell onto the roof. Her sides were numb after the two kicks and her arms hung limply down. She could not move. Only her eyes moved behind the glasses that had miraculously stayed on her face. The Dog God was to her right. The spirit beast was within arm’s reach and it only looked silently up at her. Her eyes met the small animal’s and she mouthed something to it. “…” But the Dog God did not understand. She narrowed her eyes when it tilted its head a little. And she looked forward. Nakamura Hisahide stood there. He was 3 meters away. From there, he could make a kick after a single step approach. He rolled up the surviving sleeve of his hoodie. “You’re not making this easy.” His breath appeared white in the air. “I think I’ll settle this and things down below all at once.” He spread his hand and held it forward. A silver ring glittered on his right hand’s ring finger. He clenched the hand into a fist. He tightly clenched it. His lips moved and formed a statement. “I am king.” Yuuki said nothing. She looked at Nakamura without even nodding. Her gaze alone held strength. It was far from a resigned strength. Nakamura snorted a little when she looked him in the eye. “It’s no use.” He breathed in deeply and put in his headphones. He breathed out. That white breath was followed by fire bursting from his hands. The crimson light of the flames danced in the darkness with Osaka’s nightscape in the background. The fire raced out while crackling in the air. Nakamura moved. He took a step forward. His straight line kick was directed toward Yuuki’s face as she sat on the roof. A yell of focus escaped his lips. “Sheahhh!!” The kick flew. And at that exact moment, a vermilion pillar rose between the two of them. “!?” It was a staff. It was Yuuki’s staff known as Housei. It stabbed into the roof with a solid sound. The unexpected intruder threw off Nakamura’s movement. His kick changed course and hit Housei instead of Yuuki. With a metallic clang, the giant tuning fork of a staff turned to ashes in an instant. The kick rotated around and toward Yuuki’s back. “Kh…!” But he made a jump without leaving any kind of opening. He moved away from Yuuki and landed. He put up his guard and shouted. “Who is it!?” Yuuki looked in the direction he had yelled. A boy stood on the edge of the roof with Osaka’s nightscape behind him. The boy had a bandanna around his forehead and a red prosthetic in place of his right arm. Yuuki recognized him. His presence and the look in his eyes were the same as 3 years ago. So she called his name. She called the name of the boy she had been waiting for. She squeezed at her lungs and forced the voice from her throat. “…Shoui-kun!!” ### 292. Part 2 7:30 PM Below the snow, Ikemaru Takahiro and Aoi Hijiri were reunited at the edge of Osaka Castle’s inner moat. Hijiri sat below a cherry tree to keep out of the snow and she healed Takahiro. She removed his jacket that was soaked after falling into the moat and she opened the chest of his shirt. He sometimes grimaced, but he let Hijiri do as she wished. “How did you know I was here?” “That much noise was hard to miss.” She attached a healing charm and briskly wrapped bandages around him, but she too was covered in wounds. “Sorry. I lost the scarf.” “We’re both still alive, so I’m not about to complain.” “Did you lose?” He sounded surprisingly carefree and she silently tightened the bandages around him. He grimaced. “Was it a draw then?” “I suppose. I feel like…nothing changed. Not the Shinkage Style, not the Modified Purple Electricity Style, and not me…” She looked to her quickly moving hands. “But I feel so refreshed after saying everything I wanted to say and hitting him as much as I wanted.” “What happened to the Osaka Chancellor after he had to listen to everything you wanted to say and was hit as much as you wanted?” “When I came to, he was rescued by a friend and left. He didn’t even look my way.” She lightly tapped Takahiro’s chest and he frowned. “Does that hurt?” “Not enough for me to cry out in pain.” “Then you’ll be fine. Let’s get back to the hotel before I heal you for real.” Hijiri sat on a root that was not yet covered in snow. “But I really am tired.” “Hijiri-san, what about your injuries?” “It’s only a cracked rib and my wrist. I have a lot of bruises, though.” She smiled a little and looked to Takahiro. “Once we’re back at the hotel, will you heal me?” “Hijiri-san.” “What?” “You keep mentioning a hotel…” “Oh, we have a room. One we’ll be sharing.” Hearing that, Takahiro’s expression stiffened somewhat. And Hijiri spoke to him. “Don’t worry. I made sure to change my family name to Ikemaru.” “…” “Is that a problem?” “Hijiri-san.” “What?” He looked at her puzzled face. “…You are quite the delinquent.” “So are you for playing around here at night.” Then they both sighed. And Takahiro’s sigh led to a voice. “Sorry.” He apologized. Hijiri looked up. “For what? I can think of far too many things you need to apologize for.” “…For Seigi.” “It’s too late to say that now that it’s over. And I promise you she didn’t think badly of you.” She tapped Takahiro’s shoulder on the final “you”. Her relieved white breath vanished within the falling snow. She held one knee in her arms. “Aren’t you cold? You are soaking wet.” “Yes, I am cold.” He buttoned his shirt back up and she got up. She sat next to him and held one knee in her arms again. He nodded. “…I wonder what happened to Nakamura.” “Who knows. But I doubt it was anything bad.” “True…” He looked up slightly. And… “!?” He gasped and Hijiri responded. “What?” She saw his eyes were looking into the sky. The snow was falling from the heavens. And several cherry tree branches extended toward heaven. “Is this…?” The snow fell with the dark heavens in the background. It gathered on the branches. And it scattered. In the reddish-brown light of the streetlights, the snow looked somewhat reddish as it fell. And with the white covering all of the cherry trees in this courtyard, the snow’s new color and its shape looked like… “Cherry blossoms!?” shouted Hijiri. She looked around. The snow was falling. The withered cherry trees looked like they were in full bloom. “Cherry blossoms in winter…” It was the snow and the lights. The way they came together at night created the winter cherry blossoms. White flower petals scattered through the darkness. It was a snowstorm of cherry blossoms. The cold flowers continued to fall, scatter, and dye the surrounding space. Hijiri stared blankly at the scene before her eyes. “Dad and mom must have-…” She tried to stand up, but Takahiro grabbed her hand. He pulled her back and hugged her. She panicked when a slight creaking sound came from his ribs. “Takahiro!? Is your chest okay!?” “I do not mind.” With that, he looked up at the heavens. This was what the two of them had wanted. It was the same scene the Osaka Chancellor and Tokyo Chancellor had once seen. They had found what Hijiri’s mother had told her to find. Takahiro held Hijiri even tighter. “How is this supposed to bring misfortune…?” Just as Hijiri nodded a little, she heard singing voices from the lights of the city. Takahiro glanced in that direction. “Oh.” Hijiri nodded. “It’s the outdoor concert. They were having one in the Otemon Gate plaza.” They could hear the orchestra even as the snow fell. It was playing… “Beethoven’s 9th. Perfect for the end of the year.” Hijiri closed her eyes. Then she opened them again and began singing. She sang the lyrics of Beethoven’s 9th that Takahiro had once taught her. “Joy. “Beautiful spark of divinity, daughter from Elysium. “Your magic brings together what custom has sternly divided. “All men shall become brothers, wherever your gentle wings hover.” Takahiro responded by throwing his words into the sky. He sang the end of Beethoven’s 9th, which was a line from a certain poet. “Our father must dwell beyond the stars.” Hijiri nodded at that line. “Mom, dad…” She nodded again and again and suddenly lowered her head. Takahiro held her in his arms and stared up into the sky. Into the sky of falling snow that became cherry blossoms. ### 293. Part 2 4:55 AM Straight hair, a red mountain hoodie, and somehow sobered eyes. It was him. The boy who had once thrown white flowers in the waterfall basin was next to her. He was close enough to reach out and touch. But… “…” The atmosphere around him forced her to silence. She looked to him, but she said nothing. There was so much she wanted to say. There was so much she wanted to ask. But the boy stared at the waterfall basin and not her. He was silent. There was no hesitation or hurry on his face. He simply moved. First, he held his right hand out in the chilly morning air. He had a silver ring on his ring finger. Then he grabbed the glittering ring with his left hand and pulled it from the finger. The rest was the same action as always. Instead of throwing it, he tossed the ring into the waterfall basin. The light of the sunlamp caused the silver ring to shine a little as if saying goodbye. The ring fell toward the basin. Its small light quickly vanished from view. It was hard to tell whether or not it fell into the water. But the girl knew. His ring had definitely reached the two sleeping at the bottom of the basin. “…” She looked to the boy. He continued staring at the basin and this time pulled a new ring from his pocket. It was a golden ring. He slowly placed it on his right hand’s ring finger. He took his time but finally put it on. He raised his right hand and stared at the ring’s light. A wavering strength filled his eyes. It was a faint and unstable strength that seemed on the verge of tears. That strength led to him clenching his fist. How much time had it taken? The boy kept his eyes on the basin as he took a single slow step backwards. And then he quickly turned around. “!” The girl reflexively reached out toward his back. The bottom of his mountain hoodie fluttered up and briefly touched her hand. “…” That was all. He walked away without looking back. As she watched him go, the girl opened her lips and tried to say something again and again. … What do I do? She covered her mouth with both hands and lowered her head. And she heard a voice. “…I won’t forget you.” It was the boy’s voice. She looked up in surprise. She saw the boy leaving. She doubted he had said anything. … Then what was that voice? No one could answer her question. But… – Fujiwara – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! A light brown mouse-like animal sat on his shoulder. Its tail swayed and floated as he walked. She looked to him and the animal. “…” She said nothing and did not move. She remained motionless as he walked toward the emergency staircase and disappeared behind the wall. She watched him leave. But even afterwards, she still did not move. Countless thoughts spiraled in her mind. Why had he stopped coming until now? Who was he? What were those rings? What was that animal on his shoulder? And how was he connected to the two at the bottom of the basin? She did not know any of the answers. But she was confident of one thing. “He’ll never come here again, will he?” She spoke her thought aloud and realized something. The fear-like emotion inside her was gone. “…Eh?” She searched her heart, but the pressure on her stomach was completely gone. She was no longer hesitant about entering a new world. Something had changed. Something was different after that brief and one-sided reunion and parting. She did not know what it was. She did not know anything. But… … I’m okay with that? She nodded at her own question. Again and again, she nodded firmly and deeply. For some reason, tears spilled from her eyes. And as they fell… “!” She suddenly started running. She ran toward the emergency staircase as if pursuing the boy who was no longer here. When she wiped away the tears, she felt strength in her gaze. It was a great strength different from cheer or ambition. She ran. She turned her back on the familiar waterfall and did not look back. She raced. Her footsteps produced a nice tempo. She dashed. She jumped over the fence blocking off the metal staircase and ran up two steps at a time. She heard a car driving on the road above. He was in that car. It was probably a taxi. But she ran up the stairs without pursuing it. Once at the top, she was right on the road. She saw the taxi’s tail lights ascending the mountain road in the distance. She looked that way and smiled. That was her one-sided goodbye. She looked to the sky. There were clouds there, but it was undoubtedly vast. That same sky continued to Kansai and beyond. “…” Without saying a word, she looked down and hopped onto her bicycle leaning against the guardrail. She impatiently switched all the cycling gears to the inner setting and began pedaling. She was gathering her thoughts. And those thoughts led her body to start moving. She rode the bicycle down the mountain, so she picked up speed. She moved fast. She raced to the bottom of the mountain. She picked up more and more speed in the clear morning air and had a sudden thought. … Oh, I know. “I’ll buy a flower.” She would buy a flower to take to Osaka. The old lady who ran the flower shop at the bottom of the mountain woke early, so she would already be up at this time. She knew what flower to buy. “…A red one would be nice.” It was snowing in Osaka. The snow falling from the dark sky would probably look like the white flower petals that had floated down into the waterfall basin. So if it was to bloom among those, a red flower would be nice. … That’s what I’ll do. “That’s what I’ll do!” She shouted that thought, cut through the wind on her bicycle, and spoke her Words. Time flows- She started with the same tempo as always but stopped. She was just not into it. … That isn’t it. That just isn’t it. She did not hesitate to voice the Words that came to mind. As her new Words, she spoke the feeling inside herself now. She sang them. Time flows like water She who flows through time A human heart that does not flow into emptiness. People do not stop Time does not stop A single flower resides in the dancing time Choose your own path and hesitate Choose your own path and sprint Do not give up on any of the questions Her singing voice flowed through the spring morning air. She repeated the refrain again and again as she rode her bicycle. She was on her way to buy a red flower. She was on her way to Osaka. Someday. It did not matter when. But she felt certain she would answer all of her questions someday. ### 294. Part 3 7:04 PM A shimmering of heat raced through the center of the room. The shimmering was heading for the large window and the flower beyond. Someone’s Words rang out. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” The shimmering responded by producing Kusanagi. A spatial cutting power that could slice through anything raced in a straight line and broke the large window. With the repeated sounds of shattering glass and dull impacts, the power collided with the flower. A few screams filled the air and everything was drowned out by the wind and heat. But the flower and its petals were sliced through, the flames were blown away, and they all fell into the darkness. Every student in Osaka knew who could pull off something like this: Nanba Souichirou, the Ogre Buster who wielded Kusanagi. He stood in the control room’s entrance and did not lower his raised sword. “We have an attacker! And once the space underneath here burns, the entire area will collapse!” A few of them nodded at Souichirou’s words, a few moved, and one spoke. “Something activated the mid-level freight elevator and it’s headed to this floor!” The enemy was ascending from underground. This enemy had tamed Ixolde and controlled the Flame High to burn the giant flower. As if to confirm that fact, all of the computer screens blacked out below the red lights. Everyone saw white text on the black screens before their eyes. “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” The machine asked the question none of them could answer. The battle was beginning. ### 295. Part 3 7:10 PM Shoui was blown away with Takada still in his arms. He had kicked one of Ikemaru’s shooting stars with the bottom of the foot raised to kick down the door. He used that to jump backwards. The shootings stars were even more powerful than he had expected. The others moved out ahead of him, broke through the bedroom window, and flew outside. Several spider web cracks ran through the window. “Seigi!?” Aoi raised her voice in concern just as Shoui crashed back-first into the cracked window. The window bent outwards with a sound like spilling sand. But that did not last long. The window was not strong enough to stop him. It broke. The shattering of the glass sounded like water thrown to the floor. Shoui and Takada were thrown outside along with the spray of solid water. This was the twentieth floor, so they were approximately eighty meters up and the winds between the buildings were strong. Shoui realized he was in the air. “I’m gonna fall!?” He could see the night above him. The city was below his downturned back. “I can’t believe this!” He gave a shout and Takada’s slender arms held onto him. How weak those tensed arms felt brought him back to his senses. He made up his mind with no more surprise or hesitation. As proof, he powerfully swung his legs as he floated in midair. – Shoui – Savate/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Attitude Control – Hit! He kicked off the window frame with his toe tips and used that to change his position in midair. He turned his face downwards so he was facing the ground and perpendicular to the building wall. He started to fall. Even so, he kicked at the building wall. He kicked himself downward. He chose to fall. He turned his back on the night sky and kicked powerfully off the wall. He had to escape from here. He kicked off the wall again and again to forcibly run down the wall. “————!” After only the third step, he had run down two stories. He was moving quickly. He was roused from the overflowing tension by the chilly sensation from one of Takada’s fingers as she wrapped her arms around his neck. It was the ring she wore. He did not know the meaning of that ring. But something else mattered more. “What can I use as footing…? That!?” A cleaning robot was slowly descending the windows. He landed straight on top of its boxy white body. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Land – Hit!! With an intense noise, parts of the cleaning machine burst off and the roof broke. The wire it dangled from loudly snapped. But Shoui had jumped again before the machine could completely break. His eyes were searching for a means of survival. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! He found it. It was a window frame. – Shoui – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Jump Control – Hit! He kicked sideways off of the slight protrusion of the window frame. “…!” He nearly lost control. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Attitude Control – Hit! But he maintained control. He ran. He continued to race. He seemed to fly downwards. The way he ran side to side from window to window was a lot like a skier in a speed race. But the speed of his fall was gradually converted into horizontal movement speed. He was moving quickly. After the current window frame, he looked to the next target object he needed to stay alive. A flag stuck out toward the road at the fifth floor. He used that as a stepping stone to further reduce the momentum of his fall. “Here we go!” He spoke to Takada who he held to his side. She responded by gathering strength in the arms around his neck. He made the jump. ### 296. Part 3 7:29 PM Aoi and Ikemaru stood on the twentieth floor hallway of the Osaka Hilton. They stood before their room and they were repelling the enemies who had entered the hotel. The battle had a light start when Ikemaru turned the floor into an ocean while the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers members approached. As soon as the carpet-patterned ocean appeared everywhere except where Ikemaru and Aoi stood, Aoi used her Shinkage Style to copy Taeko’s lightning attack and used that on the ocean. That instantly defeated all of those who had sunk into or were sinking into the ocean. It was a nice combination. The two of them stood on the isolated island of floor located in front of their room. Beyond the end of the hall, they could hear quite a few people talking and moving around. It was most likely a second wave from the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers. Aoi spoke as she looked that way. “It’s ironic. Some of our enemy probably use the Modified Purple Electricity Style.” “Please do not let your guard down. The next group will soon-…” “Don’t be so strict. …I’m trying to gather my thoughts.” Aoi closed her eyes before saying more. “Takahiro…did you know this?” “Know what?” “The Dance Combat style born from the Kage Style split between an Osaka and an Edo Style that fought for supremacy.” “…” “But the eastern style fell into decline after the war. Then…was it twenty years ago? The elder of the Aoi family unscientifically claimed the reason behind the decline was in our blood and snatched a girl away from the main western family.” And… “Now, the sole survivor of the eastern style…is kicking their asses like this. It’s kind of ironic, really.” When she said that, Aoi felt someone gently embrace her from behind and heard a whisper in her ear. “…Aoi-san.” “Hm? What?” “You did not come here to fight.” Hearing that, she opened her eyes and smiled a little. “Yes,” she began. “That’s right. Once this battle is over, let’s go look for those cherry blossoms. If we can find those, then a Shinkage Style created to fight may not be so worthless after all.” “Can you make that decision in the place your parents first met?” “Yes. And if we do find that place…I have a request, Takahiro.” “What is it?” “Hold me tight…and don’t let go.” She giggled and gently elbowed confused Ikemaru in the chest. “The battle isn’t over yet, but don’t push yourself too hard. I don’t want you collapsing like you did when you created Seigi’s Dog God.” “I believe I have grown since then.” “It’s only been five years, right? Your height’s the only thing that’s grown.” “Aren’t you judging me rather harshly?” “But you have the exact same look on your face as back then.” “The same look on my face?” “Whatever you might say, you always get this hint of a smile when you know you can use your power to its fullest.” She sighed and added, “That’s the opposite of me.” She then looked to Takahiro’s hands as he hugged her. When he noticed her gaze, he spoke. “Do not worry. I cannot speak to the Lives while holding you in my arms.” “And you don’t need to worry about me. …Why do you think I was training in the Shinkage Style?” “Wasn’t it because your mother asked you to?” “Do you really think a girl of five would train under that man for nothing more than that?” Aoi smiled bitterly. Then the cellphone in Ikemaru’s pocket rang. “Excuse me.” With that, he let go of her. Aoi leaned back against the door as he pulled out the phone and held it to his ear. “It’s from Nakamura. It’s about my cousin.” “In other words, it’s for me, huh?” She gave a troubled look as she took the phone. “It’s Aoi.” “Hey. Just won. On my way to New Osaka. Any word on Takada?” “Could you maybe speak in complete sentences?” “I’m in a hurry. I was having some fun and got hit by a Word Particle Cannon, so I burned my hoodie and now I’m freezing.” “Burned it? So I take it you stole the Flame High?” “I put a lot of work into it.” “That was all thanks to Takahiro’s charm, wasn’t it? You didn’t lose the other one, did you?” “No. I’m about to use the charm to steal a bullet train with Nagoya’s Chancellor. …So where’s Takada?” “Seigi, well… Y’know that boy we picked up earlier? She left with him.” “I see… Oh, crap! She’s catching up, so I’ve gotta run.” “She?” “Koto’s Chancellor! I haven’t re-listened to the Flame High yet, so this is bad timing. …Later!” Just before he hung up, Aoi heard Nagoya’s Chancellor shouting. The shout apparently accompanied some kind of attack. Probably aimed at their pursuer. “I see.” Aoi nodded and returned the phone to Ikemaru. “Sounds like everything’s more or less going as planned. Iba must be doing well outside.” As soon as she said that, a change came over the ocean. Starting from the far end of the hallway, the slightly wavy carpet turned white. It was ice. The ocean was being frozen. “It would seem they called in a holy spell user. …They are cleverer than I gave them credit for.” “What should I do?” asked Aoi. “Fire Kusanagi?” Ikemaru suddenly embraced her again. “…Eh?” Before she could ask anything, he opened their room’s door with one hand, placed her inside, and closed the door. He shut only her inside the room. She blankly stood there for a few seconds, but then she realized what had happened and turned back toward the door. “H-hey! Takahiro! What do you think you’re doing!?” She received an answer from beyond the door. “I shall crush Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers here. But there is a danger of you being caught in the middle…so please stay in the room.” “What are you planning to do?” “To use my power. I shall use my kotodama power to its fullest.” His answer was punctuated by gunfire. Aoi heard the almost pleasant bursting sounds through the door. “T-Takahiro!” “Is something the matter?” “You idiot! Why are you getting yourself shot!?” “Calm down. I have not been hit ye-…” He paused for a second. “I have been grazed once. My apologies.” “How can you be so calm!? Open this door. I’ll support you!” “Become a wall.” The door became a wall. “Stop that! Takahiro!” “Please. I am trying to focus.” “Focus…? What are you trying to do!?” “One of the hotel’s main supports runs through the side wall here and I can only speak to it from the hallway.” Before he could finish speaking, Aoi kicked at the wall that had been a door. “What are you planning to do with the entire building’s kotodama !? If you just want to defeat them, there are better battlefields!” “But those would not function as a diversion… And those would not allow me to understand them.” “…Eh?” “Don’t you find them to be baffling? Why can they not do what we do? And why can we not do what they do?” Aoi could hear a slight smile in Takahiro’s question, so she asked a question of her own. “They? Do you mean Seigi and that boy?” “ ‘Everyone but us’ may be the better answer. I have never before seen anyone who can act while filled with such great indecision.” “Well, Seigi would say we’re the ones who’ve cut off our own indecision. …And open up already. I can hear all that gunfire!” “You said you were jealous of Takada, didn’t you?” She stopped moving when she heard his question. And he said more. “I had already met you when I created the Dog God from Takada. That is why I could not allow her indecision to contin-…” “Takahiro!!” “…Yes?” “She was the one who decided to close off her path to being a Tuner or Buster! That wasn’t because you gave her the Dog God. Don’t be so conceited.” His silence was filled by gunfire. Aoi ignored the sounds of bullets as she spoke. “The fact that you aren’t honest, that you’re strict on Hisahide, and that you’re blunt with Seigi are two sides of the same coin, aren’t they? Just like with the Shinkage Style’s raison d’etre, the one side is strong because the other side is also strong.” “…” “Well? Am I wrong?” “Making assumptions about others’ thoughts is a bad habit of the O blood type.” “The blood type horoscope doesn’t matter, so just open this already.” “Unfortunately, that would not fulfill the prophecy.” “The prophecy?” “The prophecy of the king’s birth. The red flower should bloom toward the sky, not underground.” A moment later, a giant glowing blade stabbed through the door before Aoi’s eyes. It was an anti-demon round. That special sort of bullet had been developed in Europe. The blade was created by solidifying the ether’s Lives as light and it rolled across the room. She could see Ikemaru’s face in the narrow gap created in the door. He had lost his glasses and his face and clothes were both stained with blood. That was the result of the gunfire. Aoi honestly gasped. “…” But after a moment’s hesitation, she finally smiled toward him. “I see… So Seigi wasn’t the only one you were jealous of.” “…” “You’re really cool, Takahiro.” “I was waiting for you to say that.” He smiled a little. “Whether or not you find the cherry blossoms, whether or not he becomes the king, and whether or not the east and west reunite are all an issue of possibility.” “And so we too need to step inside that ring of possibility?” “At the very least, that boy increased his possibility by jumping out that window. That should have left him with zero possibility, but he transformed it into an uncertain future.” “Then do you know why he jumped out that window?” “Yes.” “In that case,” she said. “You’ve found someone to pursue, just like that boy and Hisahide have.” “My apologies. This does not mean I have any complaints about the current state of affairs.” “It’s fine, if it’ll help everyone out.” “Everyone?” “You’re a businessman, aren’t you? Then you need to make everyone happy.” When he heard that, Takahiro’s smile grew bitter. At the same time… “Please leave this building. I will now turn it into a flower.” Hijiri obediently began to run. She turned her back on Takahiro and did not hesitate to run for the window. As she did, leaf veins appeared on the walls and floor. Just before she jumped out the window, she looked back. “Takahiro! I’ll see you again below those cherry trees! Don’t give up and continue searching!” A bitter smile came to her lips as she spoke. “Honestly. You deny it, but you really are a competitive boy!!” Her voice was soon a part of the night sky. ### 297. Part 3 7:44 PM It all happened in an instant. As soon as the door with the broken lock was opened, Shoui noticed Yuuki’s back in front of him. – Shoui – Sight/Tactical Tech – Multi-Auto-Take – Confirm Situation – Hit! – Shoui – Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi- Take – Grab – Hit. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Multi-Counter-Take – Great Dodge – Hit! – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Prepare for Landing – Hit! He quickly fell back with Yuuki in his arms. He moved back to the front car’s rear deck, the second car’s front deck, and back halfway through the passenger space after opening the door to the second car. Yuuki looked back in his arms. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Identify Individual – Hit. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidate – Hit! – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Counter-Take – Ignore – Hit. – Yuuki – Gym/Dodge Tech – Take – Release – Hit! – Shoui – Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Counter-Take – Grab – Miss. Yuuki forced his arms off of her and stood up. At the same time, the door to the front deck was knocked down with embers flying everywhere. Shoui stood with his back to the embers to protect Yuuki. And he looked directly at Yuuki. The Dog God on his shoulder expressed his thoughts for him. “Please hurry away from here. Not even you can win this, Yuuki.” “Hizaka Shoui…” “Y-yes?” When she called his name and he answered, the look on her face changed slightly. An expression briefly entered her natural left eye. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Hit – Decode Expression – Hit. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Counter-Hit – Psychological Resistance – Hit! Her thoughts immediately vanished from her face. Instead, she spoke. “Hizaka…Shoui.” “What is it you want? We need to hurry.” Before he could say the enemy was approaching, she seemed to spit some words out onto the floor. “Why are you here?” “I promised on that night three years ago I’d protect you, didn’t I?” “I do not remember making any such promise with you.” “…Eh?” He frowned and she gave a simple reaction. She ignored him. Instead of at him, the Killing Holder was now looking to the front car where their enemy was. The Dog God frantically spoke up as the power of her cold eyes pierced Shoui’s heart. “Wh-what does that mean!?” He had nothing further to say and she did not answer his question. She rejected him. The answer could be found in her behavior. And a voice spoke from behind him as if to mock his thoughts. “What’s this? I thought you were supposed to help me become king.” – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Hit – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. Shoui turned around in surprise and saw Hisahide stepping in from the front deck. His clothes were dyed with blood and he stood proudly tall as he looked back Shoui’s way. The horribly heated look in his sharp eyes contrasted Yuuki’s cold gaze. Shoui’s Dog God hid behind his back in apparent fear of the boy’s gaze. Hisahide laughed a little at the small animal’s reaction. “Outta the way, kid. Takada might like you, but get in the way and I’ll turn you to ashes.” His warning was filled with a number of emotions, including jealousy and intimidation. But Shoui was not the one to respond. Nor was Yuuki. A girl’s voice responded. “That’s going a little too far, Hisahide-san.” It was Takada’s voice. ### 298. Part 3 4:12 PM By the time the afternoon north wind began to wash across the Koto region’s fields, Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki had just finished climbing the stairs to the Nandaimon Shrine. She looked around with Housei in her right hand and a small paper bag in her left. “…” In the setting sun, the leaves of the shrine’s pine trees rustled coolly in the wind and some of the weak brown leaves fell to the ground. With the green breath of life gone, the dried leaves were only trash. Cleaning the shrine of such filth was Senga’s job. But Senga was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Instead, someone else stood in the shrine. It was an elderly man in a suit. He slowly walked toward Yuuki from the house behind the sanctuary. He approached with the sound of gravel underfoot. – Yuuki – Person Tech – Take – Identify Person – Hit. “Houzenji Head Butler Iwai Sanzou…” The man stopped when Yuuki spoke that name. They were ten meters apart. They faced each other with too much room between them to attack in a single beat. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Her Tech succeeded, but she still could not read his expression. Iwai’s gentle smile was so tense that not even Yuuki’s Tech could read through it. With his many years of experience, he did not even need to focus to guard against that sort of search. It was an expressionless-looking smile and it moved only slightly as he spoke. “Oh, if it isn’t the Koto Guardian. It has been far too long. Three years, is it?” “Not since the ceremony giving me the title of guardian. …Why are you here today?” “To discuss old times.” His casual answer put a derisive smile on Yuuki’s face. “Are you sure you didn’t come with some treats as you gave a report on last night’s incident?” “Well, I did bring some treats. But…” Iwai Sanzou made a show of tilting his head. “What is this incident you speak of?” “…I see. So that’s how it’s going to be.” “Is something the matter?” “You’re the head butler now, but it seems you have just as much influence as 13 years ago.” Yuuki aimed Housei toward Iwai. “You aren’t planning to use your corporate power to intervene and take control of everything like you did during the Kinki Riot, are you?” “You seem quite mistaken. I am no more than a loyal servant of the Houzenji family.” “Did it slip your mind that you used to be the commander of the Houzenji Group’s special forces?” “…” “You and my grandmother are probably the only adults who were involved in the Kinki Riot to the end and know everything that happened.” “Are you all that different, Koto Guardian? You too know the secret of the Rhythms and Techs.” He took a breath. “I heard from Senga-sama why you are a Killing Holder. …And if you know why Rhythms and Techs exist in this world, then I suppose that works.” “You talk too much.” Just as Yuuki said that, Senga’s voice cut in. “Stop it, Yuuki.” Senga stood in front of the house’s sliding door in her usual white shirt. She grabbed the broom leaning against the wall and walked toward the other two. The gravel crunched under her feet as she did so. “That man and his corporation are no fools. They will not do the same thing they did during the Kinki Riot.” “…Really?” “Besides, Yuuki, think about it. It is because Houzenji covered up last night’s incident that you can remain the only Killing Holder.” If word of Takada’s death got out, Nakamura would also be given that name. It was a side effect of the press restrictions that that had not happened. “For the time being, their corporate group is not your enemy. Please make no mistake here.” Iwai slowly walked forward, as if encouraged by Senga’s worried-sounding words. He made a wide circle around Yuuki to keep his distance while also lining up next to her. Senga stopped in the same position he had been in. “You should leave, Iwai. You have a lot of preparations to make, don’t you?” “Yes, I must prepare to protect Osaka.” The elderly man bent his straight back in a bow. “I will be going then,” he said as he turned his back. And he began to walk. Yuuki stared at his back. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Emit Killer Intent – Hit. Pure tension came from Yuuki’s biological left eye. The wind blew and the pine leaves rustled or fell. But Iwai Sanzou did not look back. His pace did not falter as he descended the stairs and disappeared from view. Her killer intent had to have reached him, but he had ignored it. “…” Yuuki frowned and looked away before looking to Senga who was smiling bitterly a short distance away. “What’s so funny?” “It’s no use, Yuuki. Honestly… He and I are very different from the people we were in the old stories I tell.” “Isn’t he the one who cornered Kuki Udai and Nakamura Midori when you tried to protect them? Have you forgotten your grudge over that interference?” “What good is causing more deaths?” muttered Senga as she approached Yuuki. “You know why I set aside the spear, don’t you? He is the same.” Yuuki said nothing. She held her tongue and hid her expression, so Senga sighed. “You really are serious when it comes to yourself.” Then Senga’s eyebrows moved. Her eyes turned toward Yuuki’s left side. Yuuki held a small paper bag there. “What is that?” asked Senga. “Ingredients for dinner?” “No.” “Stationery.” “No.” “Medicine?” “No.” “Then what is it?” “Something I will need once I leave my past.” “Eh?” Yuuki responded to that confused syllable. “It’s something I will need to ensure I don’t give up.” She held the paper bag in her arms, and… – Yuuki – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. She heard a quiet, barely-audible sound behind her. She turned around in surprise at the small presence she had failed to notice until now. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Spot – Hit. Something strange grew up from the tall grass that separated the hill’s slope from the shrine grounds. It looked like a light brown calligraphy brush with a white tip. It was an animal tail. “…?” When Yuuki took a step back and readied Housei, it half-frantically ran out from the grass. The 15 cm creature looked something like a fox and something like a mouse. It stood on its hind legs and shook its long tail as it looked up at Yuuki. “Oh…” Senga opened her narrow eyes. “How unusual. That’s a Dog God.” “A Dog God?” “They are a relatively docile type of spiritual beast. …I wonder why it’s here.” “Maybe it was drawn here by something in the sanctuary.” “No, I wouldn’t think so. Dog Gods are known for holding an interest in people.” “Hm.” Yuuki nodded and took a step forward to approach the Dog God. The Dog God jumped back the exact distance of her step forward. With a rustling from the grass, she saw just its tail sticking up again. Yuuki looked to Senga. Senga looked to Yuuki. They both looked back to the tail in the grass once more. The tail did not flee. “…?” Yuuki took a step back. Again, the Dog God ran forward to fill exactly the distance of her step. The small animal looked up at Yuuki from a distance of approximately five meters. Yuuki looked at the Dog God. The human and animal motionlessly waited for the other to do something. Senga smiled bitterly as she watched. “Reminds me a lot of Shoui and you right now.” “Hizaka Shoui…” Emotion briefly filled her eyes as she muttered that name. She looked at the Dog God with slight surprise in her eyes. “Come to think of it, Hizaka Shoui had an animal like this with him yesterday…” “Oh? Perhaps it came to visit you.” “I seriously doubt it.” Yuuki looked away from the Dog God, but she sounded more intrigued by the idea than the words themselves let on. She began walking toward the house. Senga quickly called out to her. “Yuuki, what about the animal?” “You said they’re docile, right? Then it doesn’t matter.” She listened to the quiet footsteps following her. It stepped much more lightly on the gravel than a human. These were the footsteps of a Dog God that may have been accompanying Hizaka Shoui. “…” Yuuki embraced the paper bag as she walked. The wind blew and her hair fluttered. That wind gave a chill to the growing colors of evening. ### 299. Part 3 3:35 PM The Nanba family home was extremely large. Four footsteps could be heard in a winding hallway in the single-story house. An old woman servant holding a lantern took the lead. Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji followed her. Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro followed him. The old woman walked silently and the two boys’ footsteps reflected off the low ceiling and narrow walls of the hallway. The first to speak was Takahiro. “How far are you taking me?” “You’re our enemy, but you showed up to meet Souichirou without an appointment. Pipe down and follow her.” The hallway turned to the right. The old woman carried the light on ahead as her feet almost slid along the floor. Saki glanced up at her and then looked back at Takahiro. “What the hell are you even doing here?” “I want information. Information on cherry trees that blossom in winter and on this family’s connection to the Aoi family.” “I can’t tell you anything about the Shinkage style, but was what I told you before about the cherry blossoms not enough?” “What am I supposed to do with the vague information that cherry blossoms bloom during battle? And more importantly,” continued Takahiro. “Where is Osaka’s Chancellor?” “You are here for information, aren’t you? Follow her.” The two of them followed the leading light. Saki asked Takahiro a question while watching he light sway like a firefly’s light. “Are Nakamura Hisahide’s actions what will determine whether or not you’ll be our enemy?” “No, I serve someone else,” explained Takahiro. “And unless that person once more makes an enemy of Osaka, I will remain a mere tourist.” Saki’s bitter smile deepened at that expressionless comment. “A mere tourist? You destroyed Inuyama Station in Nagoya as well as a hotel and the Modified Purple Electricity Style dojo here in Osaka.” “Then are you going to arrest me?” “I would if I had anyone who could restrain you.” Takahiro smiled bitterly at Saki’s way of thinking. The two of them slowed their pace as they caught up with the old woman. “How very accommodating of you.” “That’s just how desperate we are.” The hallway continued upwards. They saw a narrow stairway before them. Takahiro frowned. “I thought this was a single-story house.” The old woman in the lead answered him. “It is an old house.” “It’s an old samurai mansion,” added Saki, almost cutting off the old woman. He glanced back at Takahiro and continued in a whisper. “Sorry, but…” “What?” “If you have any questions about this house, ask me rather than her.” “Why?” “The Nanba family has a long history you aren’t familiar with.” “Are you saying the Kusanagi family that protects the emperor wishes to keep its distance from others?” “If you can accept that line of thinking, then let’s go with that.” Saki walked on ahead as he spoke. The steps were short and steep. It was 17 steps. At the top, they found a hallway with sand walls. They walked down it and soon came to a turn. The long vertical slits in the wall were entrances to hidden rooms. Takahiro commented on them. “Is Osaka’s Chancellor up ahead?” “Do you doubt it?” He touched the wall as he walked. “Terribly heavy emotion has built up in here. It is a powerful emotion, much like fear.” “Well, of course,” answered Saki without looking back. “Some of the possessions and bodies of those killed in the disaster two years ago are stored here.” “Why here? Possessions of the dead should be-…” “Some people wish to continue fighting even after death. When it’s against that ogre, anyway.” “Even after death…?” He soon received his answer. It came from the old woman. “The young master’s prosthetics were created from them.” “You mean…?” Takahiro started to ask more, but Saki tapped his chest. It was a sign not to ask. Takahiro fell silent and Saki sighed. “That’s just how it is.” “Can you really allow that?’ “They wanted it themselves. …And that’s why Souichirou has to seek battle.” “But…” Takahiro’s voice deepened in doubt, but Saki tapped his chest again. “We’re almost there. This will clear up all your confusion.” The old woman followed the hallway to a dead end. The gap between the wall and the column suggested the dead end was another door to a hidden room. “I see.” Takahiro watched the old woman walk up to the dead end wall. That was when something strange happened. She was absorbed by the wall and vanished. “…?” The two boys approached the wall in question. Takahiro stepped past Saki and gently touched the wall. It was a normal solid sand wall. “You get it, don’t you?” asked Saki. The old woman’s lantern was fallen at Takahiro’s feet and he asked a question as it illuminated him from below. “Was she a ghost so dense that not even a Word Master like me noticed?” “That old lady always served Souichirou, but she was attacked by the ogre when she was out picking edible plants in the mountains. She’s lived here ever since.” “Is that why you insisted I not ask her anything?” “Someone mysteriously vanished for three days after speaking with her. They probably got dragged away by her,” explained Saki. “The problem is that she didn’t seem to be trying to hurt anyone.” Takahiro looked at the lantern at his feet. “Why?” “Why what?” “Why do they rely on this place?” “I don’t know. …All I can say is that Souichirou will never betray them.” Another sound immediately followed that. “!” It was a cry. It was a bestial roar. A lament containing a large portion of sorrow burst out through the wall. Saki did not hesitate to push open the wall. There was a dim darkness inside. Saki picked up the lantern to illuminate the stairs leading down. The roar rang heavy and loud as it echoed down the hallway beyond that. “Let’s go.” Takahiro nodded. Saki began descending the stairs. The animal cry weakened and vanished. The stairway had exactly 49 steps. Subtracting that from the previous stairs told Takahiro they were now underneath the Nanba house. The air gradually had grown chillier as they made the descent and their breath was white by the time they stood on the hallway’s wooden floor. They were underground. They were surrounded by darkness and Saki’s lantern was the only light source. The candlelight from the lantern did not actively light the area, so its faint light only brought their surroundings vaguely into view. The walls were made from rows of iron bars. “Cells…” Saki nodded to confirm Takahiro’s short statement. His shadow also nodded, and… “Come.” He resumed walking. There were several cells. They lined the hallway on either side and were each about 10 square meters. They were empty save for a futon in the corner. “…” The two boys continued walking. They passed by four pairs of cells, all vacant. But as Saki and Takahiro walked past the cells, they heard quiet voices from the darkness within. They were too faint to make out, but many people were speaking together. Saki commented on them. “The residents here are reacting to you. You are a new face, after all.” “The sad part is I can’t tell if they are welcoming me or not.” “I know what you mean,” said Saki as he came to a stop. He had arrived at the end of the hallway. A set of metal double doors was there. Several new charms were attached to the door. “Based on those emblems, those must be locking charms. What is beyond this door?” “A secret path that comes out through an old well.” “…? Did you recently seal off that path?” “Yes. Because we didn’t know what would happen.” With that. Saki held the lantern out to his right. The cell to his right contained a great mass of darkness. It was a person. He wore tatters of clothes and had lost both arms and his right leg. His body was held in place by several thick chains attached to the stone wall. He seemed to be sitting with his back to the wall. His long unkempt hair fell down over his face, hiding his identity. Saki stared at him and Takahiro asked a question. “Who is that?” As soon the words left his mouth, the sitting boy opened his mouth. Despite the lantern as the only light source, his ferocious teeth and horribly red mouth could be seen. He released his voice with a harsh breath. “Ah!!” That single tone ran strong and loud. The cell’s metal bars shook. The chains bent and a metallic noise spread through the links to color the single voice. That was not all. The sound set power in motion. It was a great power. The strongest power in the darkness was the light of a flame. Flames burst out from his right shoulder. But this was not the fire of a lantern or torch. Nor was it the flames of a campfire. It was a burning cascade. The voice rang out. The flames burst out. The flames whirled around and rose up to fill the cell. As the voice gradually lost its color and grew more plaintive, the flames rapidly burned forward. A great flaming serpent raced toward the metal bars. The Word Master beyond the bars held out his hand. But… “Stop!” Saki shouted over the roar of the flames and held back Takahiro’s hand. A moment later, the voice ended and the flames collided with the metal bars. The fire burst and brightly lit the subterranean darkness. A barely audible noise came from within the cell. Then the fire vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. The voice had also vanished. The lantern was once more the only light in the darkness. The pale light illuminated the cell and that revealed the fire-emitting demon who sat by the wall. A horribly emaciated face could be seen beyond the unkempt hair. Takahiro spoke a name when he saw the unconscious face with its closed eyes. “…Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou.” “That’s right,” confirmed Saki. “The Flame High is known as Yamata for a reason. It did a pretty good job of swallowing up Souichirou’s Kusanagi. He can’t control his own Words anymore, so restraining the Flame High is the most he can manage.” “Is he enduring the spread of the flames?” “He removed his false arms, but it wasn’t fast enough.” Saki sighed. “We quickly got the finest quality divine steel from Hong Kong and remade this cell. …We closed off that door to make sure his fire couldn’t get out if something goes wrong.” “I see.” Takahiro looked to Saki. “Are you saying I need to use my kotodama power to heal Osaka’s Chancellor if I want information from him?” “Your average Tuner can’t heal him and we’d rather word of this didn’t get out. This was the perfect time to run across a Word Master who can destroy an entire building.” Saki smiled bitterly and pulled a key from his pocket. It was the key to the cell. He stuck it in the lock and said one last thing. “So take care of this, will you?” ### 300. Part 3 4:51 PM After an instant of light, the floating garden of Umeda’s famous Sky Tower fell from its central location. The structure was positioned between the two 170 meter buildings and it brought down both towers with it. First the west tower and then the east tower collapsed. Shards of glass were thrown as far as a kilometer away, the pieces of the Sky Tower did slight damage to the surrounding homes and buildings, and the evacuation by the Fourth Alarm was proven justified. The Fourth Alarm stopped only five minutes after the collapse had ended. ### 301. Part 3 5:29 AM There were two times when purple filled the sky. In evening it was known as twilight and in morning it was known as daybreak. A few people were gathered on the Minato Ward beach on the coast of Osaka Bay. Thanks to modern development, Osaka had few beaches left. A few men in black coats seemed to surround that beach. They were corporate combat personnel from the Houzenji Group. The Izumo Company LMGs they wore suggested their Combat Style was Strike Gunner. They probably normally worked as guards. They all wore combat helmets and spoke quietly using the communicators embedded in them. They surrounded four people on the beach. Two of them were at the top of the beach slope descending from the embankment to the ocean. They were Yuuki Senga and Iwai Sanzou. They sat directly on the sand and looked to the water’s edge. They looked to the edge of the dark ocean that was not yet lit by the sunlight. Two other people were there. They were Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji and Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. Saki remained seated and spoke to Souichirou who swung a large sword around. Based on the expression visible through his sunglasses, he was chatting with the other boy to calm the pre battle tension. Some words escaped Iwai Sanzou as he watched the two. “They are a good pair.” “Are you going to hire them?” “Of course not. They need to make even more of a name for the Modified Purple Electricity Style.” “That’s unusually impartial for you.” “In the coming age, an outward-facing charisma will be as necessary as our sort of strength.” “Is that what Kusanagi is for?” Iwai nodded. “Any corporate group connected to the emperor will gather below that Rhythm. And if the Houzenji Group has absolute control of Kusanagi, I hope to begin a full business partnership with Izumo and their Wind High.” “I see. Sounds like you have big plans.” “I could say the same about you, couldn’t I?” Iwai looked to Senga. “It is your doing that Tokyo’s Student Council has remained silent about this entire affair, isn’t it?” “I wouldn’t know anything about that.” “Oh, I heard that the Emergency Teachers and the Mountain were working together to use this incident to reunite the east and west schools.” Senga said nothing, so Iwai continued. “The adults failed to combine the east and west, so you are trying to use the children’s war as a trigger. Only you would come up with an idea like that.” “But I intend to give all the credit to the adults. By keeping this riot entirely secret, it will all be credited to groundwork laid by the politicians and corporations.” “Why would you manipulate the information like that?” “In exchange for the credit for such a historic accomplishment, the crimes of all those involved will be wiped clean,” declared Senga. Her eyes were fixated on Souichirou as he swung his sword on the beach below. “At this point, all of this is in violation of the academy rules. This riot should be banished into the darkness.” “And to do that, something must be done about the Flame High.” “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you corporations think.” She smiled bitterly. “If the Flame High wins, the east and west will still be unified, but if Tokyo wins…it will greatly shift the east-west power balance even if all this is kept secret.” “Indeed. Souichirou-sama must emerge victorious.” “Don’t be stupid. It’s Osaka that’ll win, right? If Osaka wins, Tokyo will have to support the unification to preserve their pride and we’ll have peace as long as Osaka doesn’t invade Tokyo for retribution.” “To be honest, there is no guarantee Osaka can win if they do invade.” “If we have peace, then we’re better off without a king.” At that moment, the morning sun rose from behind the eastern mountains. Light raced across the ground and everyone’s shadows grew more pronounced. Souichirou’s sword dully reflected the sunlight. Iwai looked to that light. “That sword…is it true it is a Device pulled from the treasures at Nandaimon?” “We had it made by Hong Kong’s top Buster. He visited Nandaimon 5 years ago to study Death Techno.” “I see. That would explain why it is shaped differently from the Japanese-made holy items. I must thank you for that. …This will allow Souichirou-sama to draw out his full strength.” “His full strength?” “Do you know why he always makes a diagonal swing starting from the bottom?” Senga thought about that for a moment. And she reached a certain conclusion. “It’s to make sure he doesn’t go too far and hit the ground while swinging downwards, isn’t it?” “Normal swords and holy items cannot bear that much force, so the hilt or blade will break. …But that Device will turn even the ground to dust when it strikes.” “That isn’t good news for Shoui as his opponent.” Iwai said nothing to that. And Senga finally turned his way. “What’s the silence for?” “Oh, I’m just surprised you actually offered him up for this. …He was a prized student worth letting live with you, wasn’t he?” “Yeah, but this battle is sure to be necessary for him too.” “…Necessary?” “He might be able to work through something he failed to resolve over the past 2 years. Think of it like swapping out all your cards to turn your boar into a blue ribbon.” “Unfortunately, I am not one for gambling.” As soon as Iwai said that, they heard a slight sound from the direction of the city. At the same time, a voice came from the communicator in Iwai’s pocket. “Iba and Hizaka have arrived. They have both passed the ID scan. Should we double check up to Level 55?” “No, that will not be necessary. Let them through.” “Understood.” Iwai and Senga exchanged a glance. The morning sun was rising. It was the perfect time for a sparring match. ### 302. Part 3 6:08 AM “So this is the truth of the matter!?” shouted Iba Masaaki as he watched Shoui. He stood up to better see Shoui and Souichirou moving on the beach below. Senga also watched Shoui as she sat with Iwai next to him. Taeko and Saki watched the two down below while standing next to the others. The five of them saw a clash between Kusanagi and the Flame High. Souichirou picked up his dropped Device and moved around while Shoui swung his Flame High fist. They were fast. The audience had difficulty keeping up. Souichirou mostly stuck to thrusting attacks. And Shoui’s movements were far from normal. Taeko commented on what she saw. “It’s the same as when he snapped against me in the Mountain…” “It was the same in middle school when he was hit by Ichiyama Yuusei in a karate match.” “Shouldn’t we be stopping him, granny?” asked Saki. “Can you stop him?” asked Senga with a quiet look in her eyes. “Yamashita Taeko, you only lost your left arm to the Break High, but that was because you were lucky.” Taeko nodded in response. “I know that,” she said. “The dragon told me.” “I see. Then I suppose I can tell you now. The person who killed your brother was…” Taeko cut in and answered for Senga. “Hizaka Shoui…!” She shouted the name. She had the bitter expression of someone with sand in their mouth. She had understood it intellectually, but it was still painful to hear it from someone else. Everyone remained silent. The only noise was from the battle on the beach below. The Flame High’s fire flew and Kusanagi stabbed through and cut it apart. When she heard that roar, Taeko asked a question. “But…how? How can Shoui use the Flame High?” Only Senga could answer that. “A Rhythm’s power can be used without the music as long as you can reproduce the Message that transforms the ether’s Lives. But that was only understood after I had spread the Heavy Rhythms to everyone.” “So that’s why the Kinki Riot happened…” “It would have been too late by the time everyone was trapped by a power like the Flame High, right?” asked Iwai Senzou. “But.” Senga sighed. “Sometimes an idiot like that shows up. An idiot who refuses to follow the same path as everyone else.” She saw Shoui emit more flames using the Flame High. “When faced with death, his desire to protect transformed into a desire to win and he killed Yamashita Gihei.” “Then…?” “He does not remember it. The shock of his own action and the cut from Yamashita Gihei left him with no memory of it.” She took a breath. “Yamashita Taeko, Shoui stopped moving after destroying your left arm because…he subconsciously remembered killing your brother in the same way. He tore off his arm with the Break High and then attacked with the Flame High. …And when nothing but ashes remained, the wind swept it all away.” “Then your granddaughter…?” asked Iba. “Why does the Koto Chancellor claim to be the Killing Holder!?” shouted Taeko. “Because she wanted to! You got a problem with that!?” Three of them fell silent after that and the fourth spoke. It was Iba. “So there never was a Killing Holder…!?” “All there was was a foolish granddaughter. …A truly foolish one.” Senga smiled bitterly. “For two years, Shoui trained and came to loathe the concept of death that was subconsciously carved into him. I really thought he never would use the Flame High again…” “And the Koto Chancellor…” “She played the part of the Killing Holder. She really did want Shoui to return, but she said nothing.” The two combatants continued to move on the beach below. Shoui attacked and Souichirou received. It tended in that direction. Saki took a step forward as he watched them fight. But he stopped, kicked the sand, and clicked his tongue. “H-hey, granny! Can’t you do something!?” “There is something.” “What is it?” “It’s all up to Shoui, though. If he is truly thinking about Yuuki, he will find a good way to resolve this.” “The Koto Chancellor!?” asked Saki. “Where is she!?” “She hurt her leg, so it’ll take time for her to climb up onto this beach!” Taeko pointed behind her. “I thought I would lend her my shoulder to help, but she insisted she was fine on her own…” “Wait a moment.” Senga crossed her arms and looked to Shoui. “Iba! You know the Rhythm that Kuki Udai once used, don’t you?” “Yes, I do. But…” “Kuki was a Dis-Worder just like Shoui. …Iba, can you tell me why your student Nakamura became a Harmonist and was able to use the Flame High?” Iba did not hesitate to answer. “Someone who has no experience with Rhythms and Techs can best use a high-speed Rhythm like the Flame High.” “Yes, Nakamura Midori was the same.” When Senga said that, Iwai Sanzou frowned. He scratched his head. “Then…he is the same?” Senga did not nod. “I don’t know if Shoui is. But the opposite of a Harmonist is someone who can use all Rhythms and is skilled in Techs. They can use the Rhythm that opposes the Flame High without actually using a Rhythm.” She took a breath.” “They are the Loudist that lives in the realm of Black Noise.” ### 303. Part 3 7:01 PM The moon was out. That pale yellow and somewhat waning light was directly above the city of Osaka. The moonlight was endlessly wavering. The heated air at the surface was producing a shimmering effect. The year-end city was trying to warm itself even if the sky was cold. The strongest shimmering was located above Osaka Castle in the center of the city and it produced turbulent air. Osaka Castle had been the site of countless battles in the past and it had been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. The only lights illuminating it were the reddish-brown streetlights shining on the cherry trees lining the inner moat. That unfocused light lit up the castle from below, giving it a different look from the day. It was a frightening look. Three people were approaching that frightening form from straight ahead. Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. At the plaza in front of Otemon Gate, they left Saki Seiji and Iwai Sanzou who had come to see them off and then they ran toward main castle tower. Since starting a minute before, they were sticking together and none of them were out of breath. They were surrounded by darkness. There were tall stone walls, trees, and lawns. Taeko spoke to no one in particular while second in line. “The wind sure is picking up.” “That is because the city lights have begun to come on,” replied Souichirou in the lead. He wore an armored shell built for mobility. It looked like armor missing most of its parts and it supported and strengthened the wearer’s movements. Both his prosthetic and the mobile shell produced quiet mechanical sounds as he moved. “Listen. As I said before, this battle will-…” “Act as a trigger to bring the east and west together whether we win or lose, right? …But do the two from Tokyo know that?” According to those on guard duty, their enemy was only the Tokyo Chancellor and Vice Chancellor. The two of them had been on the way to the main castle tower. Of course, those two would know nothing of what was occurring at the center of Osaka. So Souichirou narrowed his eyes a little and did not answer Taeko. He sped up. “Whatever the case, I want to win this.” “Well, we did leave everyone waitin’ in the parkin’ lot. …I’d love to win and then go listen to the outdoor concert of Beethoven’s 9th.” A powerful gust of wind seemed to blow Taeko’s carefree voice away. “Is it gonna rain?” she asked while looking up into the night sky. Yuuki also looked into the night sky while following behind the other two. She stared at a certain point in the sky. And at the same time… – Yuuki – Savate Tech – Take – Sprint – Hit! She moved out ahead. “Ah! Hey! What’re ya in such a hurry for!?” Yuuki ignored Taeko and kept going. A small form followed behind her. “!?” It was a Dog God. It hurried its small body to pursue her. It was about a meter away from her. But Yuuki did not even glance toward the Dog God. – Yuuki – Spear/Throw Tech – Multi-Take – Throw – Hit! She opened Housei in her hand. She used centrifugal force to spin the giant staff and then threw it into the air. – Yuuki – Steel/Military Tech – Multi-Take – Suzaku Ver. 40 Link – Hit! Her right false eye, Phoenix, connected with the heavens. A moment later, lightning struck Housei as it flew through the sky. It was a white light. The sound arrived afterwards. Housei fell while wrapped in light. Yuuki ran. The giant staff fell with enough force to stab into the ground, but she snatched it from midair. To negate the falling centrifugal force, she powerfully spun Housei in one hand. The afterimage of the ether light surrounding it drew arcs just like neon lights. With each arc of light, her vermilion uniform shined in the darkness and her black hair flew. She appeared to be dancing. Taeko sighed while following after her. “Yer too much for me.” “In what way?” “In that ya can do anything even if yer not aware of it.” “Awareness can be harmful in some things,” said Souichirou without even looking their way. Taeko smiled bitterly. “That’s true enough…” Meanwhile, they reached a fork in the road. Heading north would take them to the inner moat and east would take them to the main castle tower. Yuuki chose the tower route. Souichirou and Taeko turned in that direction a moment later, but… – Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! “There’s an enemy here!” “But the report said those two were at the tower!” “It’s another one! There were 3 of them to start with!!” With that shout, Taeko jumped to the side. She faced north, toward the inner moat. She had sensed the enemy’s presence there. That girl with a giant false arm attached to her left shoulder disappeared behind the stone wall in an instant. But neither Souichirou nor Yuuki pursued her. They did not even turn in her direction. But Souichirou did call out to her. “Give it your all and do not worry about us!!” His shout lasted an instant. The two figures ran toward the central circle in front of the tower. They entered a garden with a pond. And… – Souichirou – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! He said nothing. But he did look to Yuuki and the Dog God as they ran away. – Souichirou – Gym Tech – Take – Stop – Hit! His prosthetic legs and the heels of his mobile shell creaked as he slid to a stop on the gravel. He too had noticed the enemy he needed to fight. “Koto Chancellor, I leave the last one to you!!” Yuuki did not respond. She continued running. She passed through the central circle and ran up the zigzagging stone steps. She was not out of breath. Her pace remained steady. She simply ran and looked up while sticking in her headphones. She looked to the roof of Osaka Castle’s main tower. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit. She found the enemy. And at the same time… – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She jumped. She used the railing running down the center of the stairs as a stepping stone and she jumped up to the entranceway’s roof. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! And without a running start, she jumped up to the left and onto the second floor’s roof. She continued from there. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She grimaced at the pain from her ankle. But she ignored even her own body’s pain. She took a breath and continued up. Her feet could be heard kicking off the roof tiles. With each jump, her vision grew higher and the wind stronger. The city of Osaka gradually spread out below her. She was high up. But she continued jumping regardless. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She saw the roof of the main tower. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She arrived there. Yuuki stood on the waves of roof tiles and looked ahead. The night sky was spread out before her. After climbing so high, the sky was at eye level. It was the dark sky of a winter night. The moon seemed to ripple in the wind and the shimmering heat. There were dark clouds low in the sky. They were likely due to the ether supply from Suzaku Ver. 40. The vibration of the air had produced the clouds. “…” She looked down at her feet. The Dog God was swaying with its front paws caught on the edge of the roof. It had somehow managed to climb this high. She looked away without helping it the rest of the way up. She confirmed where it was she stood. She was on the southwest edge of the roof. It was a poor place for a battle without railings. She looked up and walked forward. She walked up the sloped roof. And… – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. She saw someone standing on the very top of the roof. She knew who it was: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. He was staring down at the city. But he already had headphones in his ears. What should he do? What did he want? His music eloquently answered every question. He moved his eyes to look across the city of Osaka. “So you’re here.” He spoke into the wind. But instead of speaking again, he took a single action. He smiled. It was not an audible laugh. Nor did his body shake. He simply glared down at Osaka’s nightscape, put a powerful smile on his lips, and raised both arms. Flames burst grandly from his hands. This was the fire of the Flame High. It roared and lit up the heavens from below, but he did not stop smiling. His eyes were now looking at Yuuki instead of Osaka. Killer intent filled those eyes. And his mouth produced more words. “Now, it’s time to become king!” With that, Nakamura won the initiative. ### 304. Part 3 7:11 PM A great roar rumbled in from the distance. But two people were creating noises even louder than that continuous background music. It was Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou and Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. They used similar yet different techniques as they alternated between attack and defense. Souichirou primarily attacked with Kusanagi and his defense was based on dodging. Hijiri also primarily attacked with Kusanagi, but her defense was based on the Shinkage Style. They exchanged sword strikes again and again in the shimmering moonlight. Souichirou’s Kusanagi sword pressure attack was deflected by Hijiri. There was a solid sound. Hijiri’s body was blown a bit away, but she took little damage. The deflected Kusanagi strike smashed the central circle’s ground and tore into the wall. When another Kusanagi strike came his way, Souichirou canceled it out with his own Kusanagi. “This will never end,” he muttered while looking to Hijiri. “I suppose only a direct hit will do.” They were about 15 meters apart. They faced each other while ready to attack. The mechanical sounds of Souichirou’s mobile shell sounded loudly as he raised the Device given to him by Senga. Hijiri held her hexagonal rod low. They were ready to attack. They both breathed out at the same moment. But Hijiri’s white breath came with words. “I’ve waited a long time for this battle.” “I would imagine so, heir to the branch family.” Souichirou nodded. “Is this the showdown between separate evolutions of the same Dance Combat style?” “I’d say it’s a way to find an answer.” “An answer to what?” “Well.” Hijiri smiled a little. “To whether or not I should have been born.” “…” “I’m betting you aren’t aware who my mother was to that man. Or who I was.” She sighed. “I’m settling everything here in this city. I’ll prove my mother and I weren’t useless by defeating you and finding the cherry blossoms… That’s the ending I’m after!” “…” Souichirou said nothing. But he did adjust the position of his Device. And the two of them took another deep breath. Then a second and a third. Below the shimmering sky, their breathing synchronized. They were using nearly identical Dance Combat styles and the same Rhythm. Their breathing continued. More rumbling arrived from the distance. The smell of scorched air was mixed into the faint north wind. Someone was fighting an intense battle somewhere. But Souichirou and Hijiri remained motionless. And their breathing continued as if to prove their stillness. They continued in silence. The blowing wind was the only movement. It was a warm wind. It was not a winter wind. It was created by the fighting here at Osaka Castle. And it was the heated wind that Osaka emitted into the chilly night. It rose toward heaven. “…” Souichirou suddenly looked up. There were dark clouds there. But these were not the small clouds seen there before. Clouds dark enough to begin raining at any time covered most of Osaka’s sky and ruled over the night. They were dark and heavy clouds. And they were about to swallow up the moon rather than the sky. The shimmering moon was being swallowed by darkness. The moonlight was slowly and silently lost. The moon’s dark blue light fell into the darkness. Before they could take another breath, the light was fully defeated by the darkness. Similarly, the two facing each other below the darkness stopped breathing at the same moment. They gathered their fighting spirit. The first to move was Hijiri. – Hijiri – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Strike – Hit! “Ah,” said a feminine voice. Pushed forward by that voice, a shimmering flew out as a prelude. And that wavering heat was pursued by Kusanagi and its destructive noise. But that was not all. Hijiri too pursued it. She ran out after Kusanagi. Following the shockwave, she let the split air reform around her while she kicked off the gravel ground. She ran with her hexagonal rod held down low again. She intended to make an attack on the spot Souichirou dodged to. But Souichirou did not dodge. He lowered his hips and moved all at once. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Steel/Sword/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Kusanagi Interception – Hit! “Ah,” said a masculine voice. A shimmering raced out and collided with the approaching power. With a solid sound, the air burst. Instead of dodging the Kusanagi attack to the left or right, he crushed it with an attack of his own. – Souichirou – Steel/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Control Position – Hit. He had built up too much power and started to pitch forward, so he supported himself with his lowered center of gravity. The two Kusanagi attacks ruptured. A vacuum exploded and created a scratch on Souichirou’s face. Cracks ran through the chest of his mobile shell. But that was all. His opponent was right in front of him, so he did not hesitate to move. A direct hit from Kusanagi was his only way to win. He did not attack from above. Nor from below. Not even from the left or right. He attacked from straight ahead. It was a jab. This attack would end the battle. He jumped straight toward Hijiri as she charged in with her weapon held low. He stomped his foot forcefully onto the ground. – Souichirou – Steel/Kusanagi/Savate/Gym/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Jab – Hit! He made the jab with the Device containing Kusanagi’s power. “Ah.” He shouted the single syllable with incredible power. He aimed for the center of Hijiri’s chest, leaving her with nowhere to dodge. Even if she deflected it by hand, the blade would stab into her chest or shoulder. But… “That’s not gonna work!” yelled Hijiri. There was no surprise on her face. She used her fingers to toss up the hexagonal rod in her right hand. And she clapped her hands toward the approaching blade. It happened in an instant. “…!” The two palms wielding the power of the Shinkage Style clasped Souichirou’s Device from either side. She used the Shirahadori. The technique was known as the Mutodori in the Kage Style. It was very typical of the Shinkage Style that focused on defense. While crushed between the two palms, Kusanagi roared and created a vacuum around itself. Hijiri’s hands and clothing tore and blood flowed out. But she received no serious wounds. Souichirou’s blade stopped about 2 cm into her chest, but not even that would be a decisive blow. “…Mh,” groaned Souichirou as he pulled the Device back and jumped backwards. Hijiri moved forward to pursue. Her right hand already held the hexagonal rod she had tossed into the air before. The boy retreated and the girl moved forward. She attacked right away. “Ah,” she said while making an attack from below. Souichirou raised his Device. It was too late. – Souichirou – Steel/Kusanagi/Sword/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Intercept – Miss! A shimmering raced forward. Hijiri’s Kusanagi struck Souichirou and his Device. With a roar, the boy said to be Osaka’s strongest was blown away. ### 305. Part 3 Same Time The Word Particle Cannon wind and the movements of Takahiro’s dragon had entirely synchronized. His scarf became a dragon in the downpour of lightning. The light wrapped around the wave of wool and became a beast. The transformation was instantaneous. The long bundle of light flew forward. It spiraled around, took in the air’s ether, and rapidly grew. Without a moment’s delay, it opened its maw to reveal rows of fangs and roared. Instead of a tiger or lion’s, this was a dragon’s roar. It reverberated. The flying dragon’s body was surrounded in thorn-like scales of light as it slipped through the air. The two-horned dragon raced between the pillars of electricity. It knew exactly where it was going. It would devour its target. Its eyes were fixed on a tall girl who was struggling against her raging false arm. It was Taeko. She saw the approaching dragon. It was fast. The horns and fangs were given physical form by the kotodama , so a direct hit would likely crush the Dragon Emperor in its jaws. She would have to use the Dragon Emperor to strike back, but how could she regain control? “Ya moron! I’m yer master!!” shouted Taeko. She used her broken right fist to punch the Dragon Emperor’s armor. The dragon’s eye was there. – Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Strike – Hit! The striking sound did not awaken the dragon. But the pain from her fist did stabilize her mind. There was one way to control the dragon. She immediately thought of it. So she raised her voice. “Dragon Emperor!” Takahiro’s dragon was right in front of her. But Taeko smiled. “Ya saved me once already, didn’t ya? Back up on that observation deck!” She used a Tech amid the great din. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – False Arm “Dragon Emperor” Final Activation – Hit! A powerful tremor ran through her body. It was a pulse. It came from her left shoulder. And… “Obey yer master!” With that, the Dragon Emperor regained its own will. Instead of going mad as a prosthetic arm, it was half-forcibly awoken as a dragon. The dragon’s will overcame the kotodama . The madness ceased, the downpour of lightning ended, and the final activation began. The armor panels on her shoulder instantly opened and revealed the biological component inside. It was a yellow dragon’s eye that looked like a plate. As soon as that eye focused itself, the horn at the top of the shoulder lowered and a cannon stuck out. The Dragon Emperor moved on its own. The fist opened and the claws stabbed into the ground. The eye and the cannon looked to the approaching dragon. Just before the collision, the Dragon Emperor roared. The great beast’s cry was fired from the cannon as a bundle of light. This was the lightning dragon’s cannon blast. The approaching dragon was instantly obliterated by a direct hit. The light raced on. It blew away Takahiro who raised his coat as a shield. With an intense noise, the ground was torn up and the air was scorched. A powerful impact raced out and the recoil sent the Dragon Emperor’s claws several dozen meters back as they dug through the ground. Taeko had crouched down and obeyed the dragon’s will as she kept it from sliding back. “Goooo!” The dragon did as its master wished. Its roar continued. The light grew to about 20 meters wide and easily more than 800 meters long. The bundle of lightning brought down the inner moat’s stone wall, destroyed the Kyobashi bridge on the other side, and burned away the outer moat and even the Neya River across the road. That light and the noise reverberated across Osaka’s night, but then suddenly vanished. Nothing remained afterwards. The destruction lasted approximately 12 seconds. And after that length of time, the Dragon Emperor’s wailing ended. ### 306. Part 3 7:41 PM The snow was slowly accumulating without melting. Shoui and Yuuki slowly descended the stone steps of Osaka Castle. Neither said anything. They walked without speaking a word. The snow on the steps crunched below their feet. They walked horribly slowly. They took their time as they walked. A Dog God followed them while wagging its light brown tail. The two people and one animal silently descended the stone stairs. But they finally reached the bottom. They walked a while longer and found the cherry trees alongside the moat. Cherry blossoms. Shoui came to a stop below the trees with snow accumulating on their branches. Yuuki also stopped. As did the Dog God. Shoui spoke without looking anyone in the eye. “Yuuki, will you remain a Killing Holder as long as I’m by your side?” Yuuki did not answer. But her silence was enough of an answer. So he said more. “If I leave…will you have no more need to call yourself a Killing Holder and will you go back to being your old self?” “…Why did you remember the past?” He was answered with a question that led to everything. He looked at his right hand. That arm was made from the flesh of the ogre and Yamashita Gihei. He clenched the fist. “Because there is a debt I must repay.” “…” “I might end up going far away.” “Is that so? Then I will quit being a Killing Holder.” Yuuki’s voice held no emotion. “If I’m no longer a Killing Holder, I won’t have to hurt myself any longer.” “…” “Isn’t that a good thing?” She said that, but another voice overlapped it: “…No.” It was her own voice. But it meant the opposite of what she had said before. “!?” Shoui looked over in surprise. And she looked toward him. The Dog God stood between the two of them. It stood on the puffy shoulder of Yuuki’s blouse and it opened its mouth. “No…” With its head lowered, it once again spoke with Yuuki’s voice. When she heard that, surprise and then panic filled her face. “Wh-what are you saying!?” / “It’s true!” She took a breath. “You’d be nothing but trouble if you stayed with me!” / “I’ve been waiting all this time…” Her will and her words did not match at all. But Shoui understood which one was right. So he did not hesitate. He embraced her. She struggled in his arms. “…S-stop that!” / “Hold me.” And… “Let go!” / “Don’t let go.” He did as her will said. She hit his chest over and over. But the blows were incredibly weak. That was when he realized something. Her head was hitting his shoulder. … I’m taller than her. That was different from 2 years before. So he brought his left hand to her cheek and lifted her face. Yuuki looked directly into his eyes. She watched him with tears welling in those eyes. She opened her mouth a little. The words escaping her lips and her will coincided. “Please…” / “Please…” A breath. “Will you protect me now…?” / “Will you protect me now…?” The tears fell from her eyes midsentence. And they would not stop. Her vermilion false eye was wet with tears. He noticed her cheeks had grown a little red. And a single white line ran down from her right eye to her cheek. It was the scar from Yamashita Gihei’s slash 2 years ago. “…” He said nothing about the scar. Instead, he pulled a folded paper bag from the hidden pocket in his pants. “Did you leave this for me, Yuuki?” She nodded and reached out from within his arms. Her slender white hand took the bag and opened it. She pulled out a red bandanna. After a tearful sniffle, she showed it to Shoui. He gave a small nod and lowered his head. She reached out and wrapped the bandanna around his forehead as if to hide the scar there. She stood on her toes to reach around and tie the back of the bandanna. He once more embraced her slender body. Her face was close. He removed her glasses with his right hand. She closed her eyes. And he kissed the white scar on her right eyelid. He licked away the tears remaining in the corner of the eye. “It tastes like blood…” Hearing that, she nodded and lowered her head once more. She smiled a little and tearfully called the name of the boy she had waited for. “Shoui-kun…” / “Shoui-kun…” Her tearful voice rang out quietly. And the Dog God on her shoulder began reciting Words. They were her Words. The winter cries out frigidly Someone cries in loneliness They speak words yet nothing is said They speak Words yet nothing is said They simply wait for the ice to melt They draw near and never give up Shoui firmly nodded at those Words and looked up into the snowy night sky. White flowers blossomed and fell through that dark sky. He strongly and deeply embraced her below his prophesied flowers. “I…” He hesitated over what to say. But he took a breath. He gathered strength in his arms and spoke to only her. He spoke his own Words that were the answer to everything. “I won’t give up either.” ## Final Chapter: The Inheritor of It All (Aftercare) – (4/7/1997) ### 307. Part 4 Same Time Everyone in Osaka Prefectural #2’s schoolyard came to a halt when around a dozen students in lab coats ran out from Ixolde’s emergency passageway at one corner of the schoolyard. These were the students who had been controlling Ixolde. If they had fled, then Ixolde was done for. Everyone in the schoolyard came to a stop and looked at the lab coat group. A moment later, destruction arrived at the center of the schoolyard. “!” The first sound was an intensely solid one similar to splitting stone. As if in response, Ixolde’s equipment delivery hatch in the center of the schoolyard erupted up toward the heavens. The deafening noise was a simple yet gigantic physical blow. With the same force as the noise, the two panels of the fifty meter hatch flew through the night sky like sheets of plastic thrown into the wind for fun. After reaching about three hundred meters up, the two steel panels began to fall. The fifty meter panels fell from a height of three hundred meters. It was like a giant’s guillotine. No one could react to the massive cutting. Two sounds of breaking minerals followed. The first was one of the steel panels slicing Prefectural #2’s western school building in two and stabbing into the ground. The second was the other steel panel crushing the tall concrete wall surrounding the schoolyard. No one said a word. But not even one of them was looking where the steel panels had fallen. They were all focused on the large hole opened in the schoolyard. Fire burned in the depths of that hole and a warm light flickered like a wave as it left the hole. It was a gentle dance of light. And that night-illuminating dance revealed two silhouettes facing each other on the edge of the hole. One wore a student combat coat and held a sword downwards. The other was unarmed. A deep sound of destruction continued playing in the background as the unarmed one laughed. “Nice. I love things like this.” The one with the sword, Nanba Souichirou, asked a question that rang through the darkness. “What is it you want?” “To defeat you.” “Do you like fighting?” “No, that’s not it. I like to win. I like to stand at the top.” Nakamura sounded cheerful as he pulled something from his pocket. It was a headphone. He placed it in his ear. “So Saki’s information was correct,” said Souichirou. “You’re going to use the Flame High.” “Yeah, that’s right. My sister did too. The thing about Harmonists is we can’t use normal Rhythms or Wind Rhythms. We just can’t seem to get the hang of it. …But that inexperience with sound can come in handy.” “It allows you to grow accustomed to the Flame High’s ridiculous speed and Octave?” “Correct! Without any unnecessary knowledge, we can accept even the most powerful weapons!” He began a cheerful recitation. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength Human memories dance within nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run down another’s path without looking Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future It took a beat before his full power could activate. But it did so in short order. Fire. Flames. A conflagration. The red blaze resembled all of those things yet was none of them. The flickering flames resided at the ends of his arms. This was the Flame High’s fire. The fire gave a scorching roar. It cried out as it bent its body atop his hands like living creatures. He held it up in front of his eyes. “Thanks for making my sister’s Rhythm. I had no other memento of her.” He took a fighting pose. He gently held his burning fists at his waist and pulled one leg back a little. It was an upright stance focused on kicks. He carved a speedy Tempo into the knee of his forward leg. “Now, it’s time I showed you what I can do with the Flame High.” He spoke the words that would begin this decisive battle. “Welcome to the White Noise!” ### 308. Part 4 7:36 PM Rectangular New Osaka Station was longer to the east and west. When Yuuki stepped inside the eastern entrance of its bullet train platform, the first thing she did was raise Housei and use a spell. On the way, she had called Senga on her cellphone and had the station evacuated. She poured all power into the spell. –Yuuki – Cold High/Shot Tech – Take – Icicle Drop – Hit. She aimed Housei above the front car rather than the third car in front of her. Three icicles around ten meters tall appeared below the atrium platform’s roof and gravity pulled them down into the bullet train’s front car. After the great roar of destruction, the bullet train could no longer move. She then held Housei at an angle to aim it toward the bullet train itself. She swept it across the entire car for a broad-range spell that could sweep through the enemy as well as the car. She did not bother searching out the enemy’s exact location and challenging them to a duel. If her enemy was cornered, she just had to crush their hideout and them inside it. That was the Killing Holder’s decision. She frowned a little while wielding Housei. Before she hit the firing switch, some words escaped her lips. “Even after this is over, I doubt he will have changed…” The words faded and vanished. In their place, she emitted a tense or solid presence. All expression left her face. The area was filled with a strict atmosphere that did not allow the slightest tremor or movement. And just as she was going to use her power through Housei, the train produced a metallic sound and shook violently. “!?” This was not a slight tremor. It was the sudden lurch of a train about to move forward. Yuuki did not move in the slightest as she held Housei at the ready, but she did stop firing. She narrowed her eyes and looked ahead with her natural left eye. The next movement began with a sound. It was the metallic sound of the train cars’ connectors bumping together. Another vibration ran through the platform. Then something changed. The front car suddenly started forward as if it had been kicked. “What!?” Yuuki’s shock was ignored as the three icicles piercing the train’s roof were broken. With the sound of shattering glass, one fell on the platform, one on the opposite track, and the last one straight forward where it crushed the front of the car where the driver’s compartment was. But… “It’s moving!?” The front car continued its attempt to move forward. Something was not right. It was definitely not the train’s internal engine providing this driving force. The bottom of the icicles was still connecting the front car to the track, but the car moved as if writhing and the icicles broke there as well. The bullet train trembled as it moved forward. It very, very slowly picked up speed as it left for Nagoya. The open doors closed far more slowly than normal. Yuuki started to run. The train was still moving slowly, so she ran faster than it and jumped to the front door of the second car. And as she did… –Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit!! It was just an instant, but she saw someone arriving through the platform’s central entrance. It was a boy with a bandanna over his forehead and a girl in a white stole. But Yuuki did not bother to watch them as she landed on the narrow deck over the connector. The door closed behind her, cutting off all noise from the outside world. She looked out the window and found they had already left the station. She saw a residential district over the elevated track’s wall. The bullet train would travel above that residential district for a few minutes after leaving New Osaka Station. The lights of the houses moved by faster and faster as the train accelerated above the sea of lights that meant people lived there. Yuuki remained silent as she watched them move by. Without saying a word, she looked away from the window and faced forward. A passageway led to the front car. She aimed Housei down it and set the output adjustment switch on the grip to the lowest setting. She used one hand to remove the Cold High Rhythm disk from the MD in her pocket. She pulled the Aqua High Rhythm disk from her pocket and stuck it inside the MD instead. She switched it on. She held Housei below her right arm and thus between her blouse and the collar of her unique blazer. Then she moved forward. The door between cars stood in her way like a wall. –Yuuki – Aqua High/Shot Tech – Take – Water Spell Shot – Hit. With a bubbling sound, the door’s lock was blown away by high pressure water. The door opened when the train shook slightly. She took a step forward to enter the connection between the second and front car and fired at the lock of the next door in her way. She continued onto the rear deck of the front car. As she walked, she glanced to the window installed in the wall. The view outside was moving backwards quite quickly, but they had yet to leave the residential district. “…” With no change of expression, she fired Housei into the door leading to the front car’s passenger area. After a solid sound, this door too slowly opened. She could see the smaller passenger area up ahead. She saw two people standing in front of the wall that divided the driver’s compartment from the passenger area. One was Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. The other was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Once she confirmed who they were, Yuuki looked to the wall behind them. There was a single red charm in the center of the wall. The wall had transformed around it and vein-like lines bulged out. The deeply-rooted veins were all pulsating equally. –Yuuki – Unknown Spell/Sight Tech – Multi-Take – Determine Spell – Hit! “So you used the charm to recite speed.” Hisahide nodded in confirmation. “That means this thing ain’t stopping until it reaches Nagoya.” With that, he took a step toward her. And… –Yuuki – Aqua High/Shot Tech – Take – Water Spell Shot – Hit. As she held Housei under her arm, light filled its Live Accelerator and it fired water. ### 309. Part 4 7:48 PM A small figure with a stole over her shoulders stood from the seat to Shoui’s right. It was Takada Seigi. She moved to the aisle and stood between Shoui and Nakamura. She looked to the darkness out the window rather than either of the boys. “This is a crossroads. With the current possibilities, you can become king if you survive here.” “Takada.” Hisahide’s somewhat irritated voice responded to Takada’s gentle one. “Are you trying to stop this showdown?” “What if I am?” “The thing about guys is, we want to be the strongest. Can you really stop that?” A short silence followed. Hisahide remained motionless, Takada did the same, and Shoui followed suit as he watched them. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. Shoui heard a quiet whirring noise from behind him. It was Yuuki’s MD stopping. Beyond Takada, Hisahide’s MD had also stopped playing its Rhythm. The Rhythms they used to fight had stopped. That brought a certain thought to Shoui’s mind. … Is the battle over? But then he realized something. The Dog God had not voiced that thought. … ? Puzzled, he looked back over his shoulder. The Dog God was still hiding from Hisahide as if dangling from his shoulder. The small light brown animal was suspiciously looking behind him. That was of course where Yuuki stood. The Dog God was frozen in place watching her. … What does that mean? The thought remained trapped inside Shoui and did not come out. Instead, he heard Takada’s voice from her Dog God. “Shoui-san.” He quickly looked forward when she spoke his name. She looked up at him with her dark eyes. She reached for Taromaru on her shoulder and held his small body in her hand. As she rubbed the Dog God’s throat, she opened her mouth. “Please. Convince the Koto Chancellor to leave and then leave with her.” She smiled a little, but when Shoui gulped, it had more to do with hearing her voice directly for the first time. He thought about her voice, what her words meant, and what it meant to do as she said. He recalled a portion of the prophecy she had recited. A king resents him A queen smiles at him A sage resigns himself … Is that referring to now? As soon as he asked himself that, Hisahide opened his mouth again. “Wait, Takada. …Do we really have to rely on him?” “That is the best way of hurting the fewest people.” Takada turned her back on Shoui to face Hisahide. Hisahide glanced over her shoulder to Shoui and sighed in exhaustion. “I see you didn’t use your physical voice for me…” With a dull expression, Hisahide sent his direct killer intent Shoui’s way. “To be honest, I don’t like how you’ve taken a liking to someone weaker than me.” “Are you still saying that kind of thing? Nobody likes a jealous boy.” “That may be, but I want you by my side.” Those words rang in Shoui’s ears. He reflexively looked into Hisahide’s eyes. Rather than clashing, their gazes seemed to melt together. … He’s the same. Shoui did not even need to think about what about Hisahide was the same. He suddenly found his body relaxing. He lost the will to fight and felt oddly fulfilled. So he fearlessly accepted Hisahide’s gaze and prepared to turn his back. “…Yuuki.” Just as he said that… – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! A gale-like presence slammed into him from beyond Takada and Hisahide. ### 310. Part 4 6:23 PM The sun had set and night had been around for some time. There was no moon in the sky and the stars alone were beginning to twinkle. There was one sort of place far more suited to seeing that starlight than the city. Those were large, unlit places. The fields of Takatsuki on the northern end of Osaka Plain were perfect for stargazing. That vast unlit land had a slight slope and the starry sky was reflected in the distant Yodo River. The only thing to obstruct the view of the sky was the long elevated railway that passed by overhead. That railway was used by bullet trains. It was the same railway from which a bullet train had derailed the night before. Two people were currently below that railway. One was a boy and the other a girl. The boy was somewhat short. The girl was tall and had a giant prosthetic in the place of a left arm. They were Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Taeko leaned against one of the railway’s supports while Nakamura crouched down on one knee. They were surrounded by darkness. They could see the city lights far in the distance at the bottom of the vast slope. Other than the somewhat bright sky there, they only had the starlight for illumination. Taeko suddenly spoke. “If ya can’t find it, maybe a Buster destroyed it along with the train.” She received no response. Only a gentle wind blew through. None of the train cars remained from the night before. The Houzenji Group’s special forces had likely Busted them that night. Only shards of glass and small metal components were scattered around. Taeko sniffed quietly. “So ya can only find glass and screws lyin’ around, huh?” “Shut up.” Nakamura finally spoke. It was a deep and exhausted voice. It was also full of menace. But Taeko was not afraid. “If ya can’t find that girl’s ring, are ya actually gonna beat up everyone from Osaka like ya said ya would?” His answer came after a short pause. “What other choice do I have?” “?” “She was the one that knew how I could become king…but there’s nothing left of her now. Not even a memento.” “Ya can’t make yer triumphant return to Nagoya without the girl who was supposed to be yer queen?” Nakamura did not answer. He said nothing as he crouched in the darkness. Taeko sighed. “I can’t believe this.” She smiled bitterly. “Yer prophecy belonged to both of ya, didn’t it?” She stood up from the bridge support and stood next to Nakamura. “Ya wanted to us her prophecy to become king so ya could make her queen, didn’t ya?” “…I wanted to show her the truth about herself.” “And what was that?” “That she could be more than just a Fast Reader.” She answered him after a short pause and with some sadness in her voice. “So ya would’ve become her possibility?” It was too dark to tell whether or not he nodded. But he did stand up. And he turned to look toward Osaka. “It’s time I became king,” he said. “Is there any reason for that?” asked Taeko. “It’d be a lot easier to return to Nagoya.” “When the result is a foregone conclusion, a battle’s possibilities are meaningless.” “So ya want to choose the more difficult one?” He did not answer and silently started walking. Taeko followed him. After a few steps, Nakamura asked her something. “Why are you following me?” “I’m not followin’ ya. But if yer goin’ to Osaka, then that’s where the action’s gonna be. And…” She took a breath. “There’s somethin’ I wanna try in the center of that action.” She smiled bitterly. And at that moment, Nakamura came to a sudden stop in front of her. “…?” Taeko also stopped. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Night Vision – Hit. She saw why Nakamura had stopped. A man stood about ten meters in front of them. The silhouette in the pale starlight was that of a short man in a monk’s outfit. It was Iba. He stood alone on the ground and looked to the other two. “Where do you think you are going?” Nakamura answered him in an awfully calm voice. “To Osaka. To become king.” But that proposal was instantly rejected. “Go to Nagoya. We must avoid unnecessary conflict.” “…” Nakamura answered Iba with silence. After a while, Iba spoke once more. “What is this? Do you intend to defy the prophecy? That is the prophecy that will make you king.” “If I had my queen, you mean.” “What?” Nakamura decisively answered Iba’s question. “The prophecy was wrong and my queen is dead. …I refuse to rely on it any longer.” “…Do you intend to become king using only your own power?” “I have my sister’s Flame High. …You wanted me to use that power to become king, didn’t you?” “I said nothing about killing for no-…” Iba stopped midsentence and shook his head. He lowered his hips and slowly raised his arms. He was prepared to attack. “Have you lost your way?” “There is only one way forward: becoming king.” “Then why are you fighting to achieve that?” “To show them my possibility. To show them I can become king without relying on the prophecy.” “Show them? Show who?” Nakamura did not answer. He placed one foot forward and the other back as he prepared to fight. Taeko quickly stood behind Nakamura. “Wh-what are ya doin’ all of a sudden?” “Get lost. Unless you want to die.” “Once I defeat this boy, you are next.” Taeko was conflicted. What was she supposed to do? Nakamura gave her the answer. “Go and do whatever it is you want to do!” She nodded at that. And then she lowered her hips and raised the Dragon Emperor. Nakamura frowned. “What are you thinking?” “I’m doin’ what it is I wanna do.” Taeko said that with a slight smile and then shouted to Iba. “My brother was more or less killed for the convenience of the adults too!!” “Fear not. I will not kill him.” With that, Iba took action. Nakamura followed suit after a click of the tongue. As did Taeko. ### 311. Part 4 4:11 PM After stepping out of Osaka Station, Yuuki did not head for the Nanba house. There was something she had to do first. She started walking west from Osaka Station and crossed the track to the north. She was a very conspicuous presence in her Nandaimon Academy uniform and with the giant staff Housei in her right hand. She could feel the people’s eyes on her, but she did not look back and continued walking. She heard some quiet voices behind her. The women and children were making excited comments about the Dog God that continued to follow her. But she realized that those were not the only voices. There were a few voices with a duller and heavier tone. “If this is how it’s going to be, I might not be able to get to the Nanba house today.” After that quiet comment, she made a call at a nearby phone booth. She called the Osaka Prefectural Office. As soon as they picked up, she rattled off a few keywords to prove her identity. She pressed her thumb against the phone’s camera. The phone’s small display immediately reacted. “Match confirmed.” She swiftly explained what she needed and hung up. As soon as she left the phone booth, the city’s Fourth Alarm began sounding. She nodded in satisfaction. “They react quickly.” It did not take long for the current of people to change in response to the alarm. The Fourth Alarm was used to evacuate people from regions where damage was likely to occur. A citywide broadcast loudly announced where that was. As Yuuki walked about a block, the flow of cars and people gradually changed direction. The people passing her by were expressing their doubts about the alarm and what was about to happen. It was an undeniable commotion. The people were guided slowly but surely away from the location of disaster. The academy rules had established separate legal enforcement measures for students and normal citizens, but everyone would be hurt in a disaster. Adults and children both intended to evacuate. They could watch on after arriving somewhere safe. The people passing by were arriving from in front of Yuuki. The alarm continued to sound. Yuuki fought the current of people. She was on her way to the location of upcoming damage. She had called the Osaka Prefectural Office and predicted that damage. That location would soon be a battlefield. She could see it now: the Umeda Sky Building. It was a 170 meter observation tower. A bridge-shaped floating garden was supported by two identical tower buildings. She walked toward that building. There was a hotel out front and the Umeda Sky Building itself had several tenants inside. People were slowly flowing out of them. It was like a wave. Yuuki bumped into the wave of people as she walked. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Presence – Hit. She sensed a powerful presence behind her. It was not the Dog God. It was further back than the Dog God five meters behind her and it was more powerful. She did not look back to see who it was. She simply walked. The tall tower was already right in front of her. The wave of people was gradually thinning and the commotion was dying down. The Fourth Alarm sounded all the louder. The citywide broadcast urged people to evacuate, but it was meaningless to Yuuki. There were no longer any people in front of her. The two tall towers stood in her way like a giant glass wall. Instead of passing between the towers, she walked east to circle around the Sky Building. Passing between them would have meant walking through a nature park. She chose the spot with a clearer view. The presence behind her gradually grew. The owner of the presence was waiting for her to arrive at the battlefield. Yuuki knew what would trigger the battle: looking at her opponent. But she did not look back yet. She climbed some stairs and walked across the plaza in front of the Sky Building. She passed by the Sky Building’s east tower. She was headed for the entrance to the west tower. She continued walking. Then she stopped in front of the glass doors of the large entranceway. Two presences stopped behind her. One was the Dog God. And the other… “A grudge from the past,” said Yuuki. Her quiet breath contained a hint of exhaustion. At the same time, she prepared Housei in her right hand and turned around. And she called a name. “Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko!” Her enemy was already on the move. By the time she fully turned around, Yuuki saw a giant metal fist. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Dragon Emperor Strike – Hit! – Yuuki – Spear/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Block – Hit. The Dragon Emperor’s fist collided with Housei’s frame, producing a heavy metal crash. Yuuki had blocked the attack, but the fist and shield had different masses. Yuuki was thrown backwards. The impact and inertia slammed her inside the Sky Building. She did indeed see Taeko with the Dragon Emperor raised. “It’s time to settle this!” shouted Taeko. At the same time the Dragon Emperor gave a draconic roar. The roar mixed with the Fourth Alarm, creating a horribly low and long noise. The battle had begun. ### 312. Part 4 9:02 PM Healing people was difficult. Timewise, it took about six hours before Souichirou could speak. It was already night aboveground. But in the underground space with the lantern put out, it was impossible to judge the passage of those six hours. After an amount of time that felt both short and long, Souichirou uttered his first words in the pitch dark. “…I feel like I experienced the Kinki Riot.” “What does that mean?” asked Saki’s voice. “I am referring to the usage of the Flame High,” said Souichirou’s voice. “Would they have been unable to cause that riot if they had not held such an aggressive will?” “Don’t talk about the Flame High too much,” said Takahiro’s voice. “The fire will move in response to the words.” Souichirou sighed. “Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro was it? You have my thanks. …You have been dragging my Lives up to the surface this entire time, haven’t you?” “You need not thank me.” “This guy can be blunt,” said Saki. “So don’t take it personally.” “I am aware. I saw it in a feeling that was not quite a dream while he healed me.” “Don’t talk too much. …But anyway. How is Souichirou? Can he move?” “Probably,” confirmed Takahiro’s voice. “The prosthetics in this house are sure to protect him. But…” “But?” “There is a risk of the Flame High starting to move again. …To prevent that, he needs to retrieve Kusanagi as soon as possible.” “How does he do that?” “By using Kusanagi.” Souichirou answered that with an exhausted and bitter laugh. “So I retrieve Kusanagi after it was swallowed up by the Flame High, do I?” “Souichirou, do you think you can use Kusanagi?” “To be honest, I’m scared. …I have my own will at the moment, but what about the elation needed to use a Rhythm?” “…” “When I try to use a Rhythm, my thoughts might choose the Flame High over Kusanagi.” Takahiro asked him a serious question when he heard that. “Is the Flame High really that powerful?” “It is pure aggression,” answered Souichirou. “The Kusanagi Rhythm creates a physical manifestation of ‘cutting’, but the Flame High is simply the burning and destruction of your opponent. …In other words, it is victory.” “You were caught by that kind of Live?” asked Saki. “The clincher was being saved by someone else.” “You were saved by the wills of those in this cell and by your own sense of self. My healing has somewhat saved you, but if you do not replay Kusanagi soon, the Flame High will return.” “I know that.” Souichirou sighed quietly. “But how am I supposed to reclaim my Words?” “You fight,” declared Takahiro. “In the end, that is all there is in your Lives.” Saki sighed when he heard it. “Yeah, I guess it would be that.” With the sound of a match striking, a small light briefly flashed and then light returned to the lantern. Light surrounded the three boys and illuminated their faces. Souichirou’s face looked somewhat calm, but Takahiro’s was deeply colored by exhaustion. “Hey, are you okay, man?” “Do not worry. I have done this before.” “Before?” “Long ago, I created a Dog God and erased someone’s possibilities.” Takahiro’s resolute expression remained and both Souichirou and Saki fell silent in the darkness. It took some time before Takahiro said anything more. “Whether we are talking about me or that girl, everyone is killing someone.” “…Eh?” Takahiro ignored Saki’s question and fixed his suit’s collar as he stood up. Souichirou looked up as he did so. “Didn’t you want to ask me something?” “I read your Lives while healing you.” “I see. …Then you know the location of the winter cherry blossoms that Aoi Hijiri’s parents saw when they met.” “Yes, they are at Osaka Castle.” With that, Takahiro stroked the scarf around his neck. And… “Osaka Chancellor, I do have one question for you.” “What is it?” “That girl’s mother was abducted and taken to Tokyo. …Was that misfortune?” “You’ve heard, haven’t you? The winter cherry blossoms they saw bring misfortune.” “Not quite.” “What?” “Misfortune is not brought. It happens.” “…” “I ask you again: what do you think?” “Unfortunately, I have to take the side of the people in this house. …Why not ask Aoi Hijiri?” “I see.” Takahiro nodded and smiled bitterly. “I can probably ask her that after I settle this indecision.” He turned his back on the other two in the flickering light. Even after six hours of work, there was not a single wrinkle on the back of his suit. “Are you leaving?” asked Saki. “No, I am going.” No one asked where. “If you climb the stairs, the old woman will be waiting for you,” said Saki. “Just silently follow her.” “This is a wonderful house.” Takahiro said that in a less-than-complimentary tone and gave a quick bow. He said nothing more as he left the cell. The two boys who supported Osaka watched him go. The sound of chains filled their silence. Souichirou was moving. This was the sound of the boy who had slayed an ogre and sought battle. It rang out ever so slowly. ### 313. Part 4 5:43 AM The morning sun gently shined on the city of Osaka. It first fell on the tall corporate buildings and the vast historical locations. Due to the size of its grounds and its own height, Osaka Castle was the very first place touched by the morning sun. Its white walls reflected the sunlight and the waves of its green roof tiles glowed brightly. The contrast of its structure was visible from a great distance. The Otemon Gate was the largest entrance to the grounds and it provided a direct view of the castle’s impressive form. But few were there to see it on this early winter morning. The only person there had been there since the night before. He was there all alone. That person was Nakamura Hisahide. He sat leaning against the traffic light in front of the Otemon Gate. He had apparently been there for a long time, at least since the night before. The headphones in his ears were playing the Flame High’s music. He was silent and motionless with his face buried in his mountain hoodie’s collar. His eyes were weakly narrowed as he stared at Osaka Castle in the morning sun. “…” He did not move. But… “Hey, you idiot. What do you think you’re doing?” A sudden kick from the side hit him on the side of the head. “!?” With a dull sound, he toppled over and then sprang back up. He stood and turned toward the person who had kicked him. And he saw… “Why are you wallowing in melancholy?” It was Aoi Hijiri. As a change from the norm, she did not have a shirt tied around her waist and she breathed a white breath. “You didn’t go to Nagoya?” “…Takada is dead.” That was Nakamura’s sudden response to her question. When she heard it, Hijiri looked up toward heaven a little. After some thought, she put her hands on her hips and sighed. A large white breath left her mouth. And two simple words accompanied it. “I see.” A grim look entered Nakamura’s eyebrows when he heard that, but Hijiri continued before he could say anything. “Make no mistake. It isn’t that I don’t have any thoughts about that. We knew her longer than you did.” “…” “And? What did she say to you before she died?” “Nothing.” Nakamura said very little. Even so, Hijiri nodded. “Understood. Then she was must have thought the possibility she mentioned would lead to you becoming king.” “And if you’re wrong about that?” “There’s no way to check what the dead were thinking.” Hijiri sat on a nearby guardrail. She released a white breath into the sky. “Look, look. It’s like a flamethrower.” Nakamura ignored her and leaned against a utility pole while still standing. He crossed his arms. “Where is Takahiro?” “I don’t know.” “…?” “We got separated.” She took a breath. “We had our reasons.” “Did you break up?” “It isn’t that.” She smiled bitterly and glanced toward Nakamura. “I said we had our reasons, didn’t I?” “Then get lost.” “Why?” “You two have no more obligation to follow me.” “That’s too bad. I promised Iba.” “…?” “I promised I would stay by your side no matter what happened.” He immediately responded to that. “I defeated Old Man Iba.” He was clearly cutting her off, but Hijiri did not stop smiling bitterly and was not shaken. “That old man said ‘no matter what’.” “…” “…You’re a dumb girl.” “I’m not a girl for anyone but Takahiro.” She stood up and did some light stretches. She stretched her legs which had a noticeably nice shape even in jeans. “At any rate, you shouldn’t stay here. Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers are going to start moving again this morning.” “And you?” “I’m going to take a morning run around the castle.” “No, not that. Are they not going to find you?” “I’m making sure they don’t.” Nakamura sighed at that simple answer. And then Hijiri asked him a question. “I’ve found a place to stay, so do you want me to take you there?” “No, thanks.” He waved his hand in casual rejection. “Hm.” Hijiri nodded. “I’m staying here until I find the cherry blossoms and I’ll be running every morning, so if you’re planning to do something, come tell me. You look oddly dangerous right now.” With that, she took a step. Nakamura said nothing, so she lightly raised a hand. “Bye.” And she started to run. At that exact moment, she heard someone singing. “…?” She stopped and exchanged a glance with Nakamura. A choir was singing in the distance. “…That’s Beethoven’s 9th.” Hijiri nodded in understanding. “Well, it is the end of the year. Come to think of it, they have an outdoor concert around here on Christmas Eve. …Did you know that?” “Why would I know that?” Hijiri pointed at the utility pole he had been leaning against. The concrete pole had a few advertisements attached. The very top one was for the outdoor concert to be held in the plaza in front of Osaka Castle’s Otemon Gate. They could hear the tenor part from the fourth movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Hijiri looked curiously toward the parking lot beyond the Otemon Gate where the voices were coming from. “Beethoven’s 9th, huh? …Are they singing it in German? I only know the Japanese version.” “You sure know a lot.” “Takahiro taught me last year.” Nakamura sighed at that. But as he quietly stood there, Hijiri tilted her head and placed a hand on his chest. “Listen. Don’t keep it to yourself. If something happens, call me.” With that last comment, she lightly struck his chest. Then she turned around. This time, she did run off. Nakamura did not stop her. He simply looked up into the sky. The sky grew to a bluish-white as the morning sun filled it. It was a still morning filled with singing voices. ### 314. Part 4 6:09 AM Shoui moved. He continued moving. His mind had grown shallow and his heart had faded. His mind was blocked out by the drop in oxygen due to the exercise and by his powerful attack instinct. He only just barely maintained his thoughts thanks to his fear of death. He did not want to kill or be killed. But the pain intermittently stabbing into his forehead tried to cut off his mind. Each time, a memory replayed in the back of his mind. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Release Memory – Hit. He had forgotten this memory. It had entirely vanished from his mind. But it was forcibly replayed. His memory of Yamashita Gihei appeared before his eyes. It all happened in an instant. It was two years ago on a winter night. After taking the hit to his forehead, he had hopped back up in the north wind. His body had moved on its own. Despite the blood flowing from his forehead, he had kicked off the asphalt and charged toward his opponent. Yamashita had raised his sword to counterattack. He had swung it. Shoui had dodged to the side. Yamashita had tried to turn around. Shoui had fled further. He had circled behind Yamashita. Yamashita had continued turning to pursue Shoui. But Shoui had delivered a powerful punch to his right arm with a Break High fist. Yamashita’s right arm had torn off and flown through the air and the impact had spun Yamashita in the opposite direction. His back had been fully exposed to Shoui. The blood had yet to flow from Yamashita’s right shoulder. In the instant before that could happen, fire had wrapped around Shoui’s fist. Victory. With that power sealed in his attack, he had thrown his fist into the center of Yamashita’s spine. The enemy had turned to ashes in an instant and Shoui had passed right through him. He had staggered forward. His outstretched fist’s momentum had remained. His body and his mind had been at odds. Upon defeating his enemy, the Flame High’s power had vanished and a great emptiness had remained in his heart. The pain had quickly rushed into his forehead. His legs had tangled up, he had tripped, and his shoulder had slammed into the solid ground. Only pain and exhaustion had filled him and he had passed out. As his vision grew dark, Yuuki had gotten up off the ground and looked to him. He had heard her voice. “Shoui-kun…” It had been a feeble voice. But it sounded nostalgic to him now. … I can’t believe it. His faint thoughts smiled bitterly. … She hasn’t called me that since I arrived in Osaka. His mind looked to reality. “!” His senses were freed from that memory. He was on an Osaka Bay beach. The situation had not changed. He was still fighting. As before, his body was moving to achieve victory. Souichirou released a powerful attack with the morning sun in the background. Shoui’s body moved further and dodged it. It was an excellent movement. But Shoui’s mind felt uneasy about the flow of the battle. Souichirou’s movements were a lot like those of Yamashita Gihei. A vertical slash arrived. After dodging that, he had circled behind Yamashita Gihei and torn off his arm with a Break High strike. Souichirou swung his sword in the same way. Shoui had a chance at victory. If he followed the same route, he could win. He could circle to the right, tear off Souichirou’s right arm with the Break High when he tried to turn around, and use that impact to stop him from moving. Then he could finish it with a Flame High strike. He could win. But that would mean Souichirou’s death. … I can’t. That was what he thought, but his body moved. So that he could win. ### 315. Part 4 7:12 PM Nakamura moved in the wind of that elevated location. He had flames in his hands and fire in his kicking feet. His movements were calm and gentle, but their power could only be described as ferocious. Those flames consumed even the air as they continued to burn. He moved. He could see his opponent. The Killing Holder in the red blazer stood below the black sky. He wordlessly ran toward her. His running feet pounded on the waves of roof tiles. The flames surrounding his hands burned through the surrounding air and produced wind. He was about 5 meters from Yuuki. She wordlessly raised her staff. Light raced from the end of the staff. Nakamura felt pressure overhead and looked up. There was a mass of ice there. The mass was around 5 meters across, so being crushed by it would be fatal. “!” But even if he was surprised, he did not panic. Still standing, he swung up his right leg. Without leaning over, he brought his knee up and extended his foot overhead. His toes flew with the sharpness of a blade and fire resided in them. His toes stabbed into the falling ice. A clear sound immediately followed. And the ice instantly turned to ashes. This was the power of the Flame High. But its power was far greater than before. The fire did not spread; it immediately turned the target to ashes. The ether forming the ice turned to ashes and scattered in the wind. Nothing at all remained. This was powerful. Nakamura used that power and gently spun his body while lowering his leg. A spinning backhand blow turned three water spears to ashes as they flew toward him. “It’s no use.” He turned toward Yuuki who held her staff. And with those words, he smiled thinly and moved further forward. Yuuki moved back. Nakamura ran. Yuuki jumped back. “You aren’t getting away!” As soon as he shouted that, there were two Yuukis in front of him. “!?” He was surprised. But even so, he launched two kicks. One to the right and one to the left. The rapid kicks were wrapped in fire, split the air, and turned the two Yuukis to ashes. But they both felt the same. “…Water!?” They were not people. As soon as the kicks touched them, they crumbled as easily as mud. The ashes scattered. Two Yuuki-shaped clumps of ashes danced in the wind. And then he turned behind him. He saw someone who should not have been there: Takada. The girl stood there with a small smile on her face. “!” Nakamura realized it was a fake just like the two Yuukis. But… “————!” His face twisted when he saw her. His eyebrows rose and he tightly clenched his teeth. Sweat poured from him in an instant. His teeth creaked. His voice escaped his mouth…no, the depths of his throat. “Don’t you…!” The yell was accompanied by a kick. With a scorching sound, Takada instantly produced a spray of water, fell apart, and turned to ashes. The white ashes flew into Osaka’s night air. But Nakamura would not allow that. He kicked again at the ashes in the wind. He burned even the ashes to fully eliminate them. “Don’t you screw with me!” he shouted. He looked up. Yuuki stood at the very top of the roof. Nakamura pointed and roared at her. “Don’t you dare!!” Yuuki tilted her head a little. “Why…did you kick that Water Mirror?” “Because it was a fake! Why else would I!?” “…” Yuuki fell silent and looked down for a moment. A Dog God stood about a meter away. She looked at the Dog God and spoke quietly. “You aren’t like Shoui-kun.” Was she referring to Hizaka Shoui? Nakamura knew that name. He knew everything about the relationship between Takada and the boy named Hizaka Shoui. And so he snapped. “———!” He raised a wordless cry. His flames burned brighter. And he ran as if pushed on by that heat. Yuuki responded by moving incredibly calmly. She made an attack. An icicle suddenly appeared from below in front of Nakamura. The sharpened tip made it a transparent spear. But it was no match for his flames. He used his hips to make a forward kick that shattered the ice and turned it into ashes. Shattering and scorching sounds joined together. Nakamura looked up. Yuuki was there. She was on the peak of the roof. He could continue forward. He could reach her. If he threw a kick, he could reach Yuuki from this distance. But… “A dummy!?” There was no emotion at all on the Yuuki standing there. Nakamura immediately moved his body. He leaped toward the opposite end of the roof where they had been fighting before. He aimed for the edge of the roof. His enemy was there. “I know what you’re thinking!” An Energy Gunner who primarily used long-range attacks needed distance between herself and her opponent. So the nearby Yuuki was a decoy and the distant one was the real one. His feet sounded twice on the roof tiles and he ran in front of Yuuki. The enemy faced him with the Dog God on her shoulder and a slight look of surprise on her face. “…!” He did not hold back. His kick raced out. Toes that could break through a sheet of steel slammed into Yuuki’s gut. Her body immediately splashed outward and turned to ashes. It was water. Not a person. ### 316. Part 4 Same Time Inside the powerful turbulent air, Souichirou was slammed against the central circle’s wall and saw Aoi Hijiri standing in the distance. She was almost entirely unharmed. Meanwhile, his mobile shell had shattered and fallen in pieces to the ground and his coat was in tatters. His false arms and legs had tears through them and the white internal fluid was spilling out. “…” – Souichirou – Steel/Medical Tech – Multi-Take – Diagnose Wounds – Hit. He could somehow move his body, but his prosthetics were in bad shape. Whether or not he could move with all his strength was a real question. “…That really isn’t a technique to let hit you.” With that comment, he pulled his back from the wall. The remains of the mobile shell still clinging to him finally fell to the ground. His right knee gave out and white fluid erupted from the back of the knee. “The lubricant is leaking,” calmly noted Hijiri. “You won’t be able to move the leg in another minute.” Souichirou said nothing and stood in the chilly wind. With a quiet noise from the back of his head, his eyepatch’s thread snapped. His crushed right eye was exposed to the air. That eye had been scratched by the ogre’s claws. “…” He touched the wound with his trembling hand. There was a stiff scar there. His lips moved unexpectedly. “None of them would forgive me, would they?” He clenched his fist and lightly tapped at his leg. “Stick with me to the end, everyone.” He began to walk. His legs trembled, but his pace was steady. Step by step, he quietly approached Hijiri. The internal fluid spilled from the false leg and fell to the ground like bloodstains. Hijiri responded with a sigh. “You still haven’t given up? You can’t even dodge right now.” “Dodging will not be necessary.” He came to a stop. He was about ten paces away from her. That was the perfect distance for Kusanagi. He lowered his hips, spread his legs diagonally, and stood firmly. He was prepared for a one-hit win that rejected dodging. “My Dance Combat style has evolved through attack,” he said. “…Then you’re prepared to do this?” “My obligations…allow nothing else.” Souichirou held his Device low. And he looked to Hijiri’s face. He nodded. “Allow me to show you what the ‘modified’ in Modified Purple Electricity Style means.” “Enough bravado. You really will die.” Instead of low, Hijiri held her hexagonal rod in front of her eyes with both hands. She intended to block the attack with the Shinkage Style. They were both using their specialty. They began their preparatory breaths. One. Two. “…” On three, their breathing synchronized. Then they stopped breathing simultaneously. Silence fell. They could only hear the wind and the distant impacts of another battle. They were nearly noiseless noises. They could not even feel the chill of winter with their surroundings so brimming with the sense of battle. Souichirou started by speaking without disturbing his focus. “I am Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. My Dance Combat is the Modified Purple Electricity Style.” Hijiri responded. “I am Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. My Dance Combat is the Shinkage Style.” Hearing that, Souichirou nodded. Hijiri also nodded and squeezed the hexagonal rod in her grip. “…Now!” Souichirou shouted back. “Begin!” Their movements were like a flash. An attack raced up from below. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Steel/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Blast – Hit! Wind was the first thing to race out. The air wavered. A shimmering rose between the two of them. A voice followed. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” It was a simple, monosyllabic Word. And that Word brought an explosion of air. It flew in a straight line. The slicing power tore up the dirt as it shot forward. The tearing sound was like an ensemble of echoes. The slicing wind and impact stabbed at the ground and sent it flying. Sand flew with a roar. But Hijiri thrust her hexagonal rod forward to block it. If she succeeded, she would win. Kusanagi left a large opening right after it was fired. Even if she took some damage, crushing Kusanagi and gaining the right to attack next would be worth it. She smiled as the impact flew toward her. “I’ll settle this!” But it did not end there. For some reason, she heard another yell. “Daaaahhh!” It was Souichirou’s voice. He raised his Device and forcibly… – Souichirou – Steel/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strength – Hit! He adjusted how he held the Device and swung it up overhead. “!” His next movement only took an instant. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Steel/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Blast – Hit! And a second voice burst out. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” It was a simple, monosyllabic Word. This was not just a double attack. The second attack caught up with and sliced through the first Kusanagi shockwave. It was a straight line of spatial destruction. By further cutting the vacuum, he created a truly empty slash that should have only existed in theory. He had cut the cutting power of Kusanagi with Kusanagi. The ground was stirred up as the cutting wave of destruction raced forward. It no longer produced a sound as it flew toward Hijiri. “!?” The one attack hit. The hexagonal rod broke and the power of the Shinkage Style could not fully deflect Souichirou’s attack. A technique of intense and pure power struck her. “————!!” She flew through the air. At the same time, heated internal fluid burst from all four of Souichirou’s limbs. The Device flew from his hand and stabbed into the ground. He fell to his knees and Hijiri collided with the ground at almost the exact same moment. Neither of them could stand. Their battle ended there. ### 317. Part 5 7:11 PM A single movement acted as a starting point for all the motion to follow. But it did not come from either of them. It came from the crater to their side. Down in that burning abyss, Ixolde took an important action. It created a giant explosion. “…!” Scorching sounds rang long and heavy with the force of a surging waterfall. A red flare surrounding a yellow core rose from the crater and toward the night sky. A rumbling much like a tremor or shockwave ran through the earth and air. It sounded like cracks were running through space itself. But that was not all. Actual cracks were running through the earth. The double helix Babel Gun rooted three hundred meters belowground was attempting to die. And everyone moving above it was caught in the middle. The earth roared once more. The end of a machine that had taken a decade to build was signaled by a great shockwave and rumbling. The schoolyard instantly collapsed. The ground became a giant rock jigsaw puzzle as it sank down into the subterranean flames to join Ixolde. The screams of those in the schoolyard joined the tones of destruction. Voices, destruction, and heat. Those three sounds complexly intertwined as two boys moved. The first to move was Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. He ran smoothly forward in his red mountain hoodie. He charged toward his opponent on the tilting and crumbling ground. Meanwhile, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou lightly swung his sword. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Impact Sword – Hit! His sword had been made into a divine item and it easily amplified the Kusanagi Rhythm he used. “Ah.” That monotone Live became a blade and raced through the air. Hisahide was a mere three meters away as he charged forward. Dodging the slicing shockwave would be impossible at that range. But Hisahide did not even try to dodge. He made a kick. He turned his back a little for a high-speed roundhouse kick that launched fire. The flames raced through the sky along the path of his toes and collided with Kusanagi’s shockwave. After a beat, a large flower of flame blossomed in the air. Kusanagi’s shockwave was burning. The monotone “ah” had lost to the Flame High’s high-speed Tempo and ignited. The shockwave that had split sound and crushed an ogre became a flower in the dark night. “Now it’s my turn to attack.” With those words, Hisahide took the initiative. He was less than three meters away now. At that distance, a Critical Forcer could arrive in range just by shifting their center of gravity. Hisahide first stuck his left leg forward and turned it into a rightward kick with a snap of his knee. Souichirou was right-handed, so a kick from his left side was hard to avoid. The kick was surrounded by flames that would burn through anything. But Souichirou did not dodge his enemy’s attack. – Souichirou – Sword/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Switch to Left Hand – Hit! – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Interception – Hit! Without taking a step back, Souichirou held the sword in his left hand rather than both hands. He did not hesitate to swing it to the left and send a shockwave toward the Flame High’s kick. “Ahhhhhh!” The sword wind released with his voice collided with the Flame High and instantly burned. The slicing wind was eliminated. And similarly, the flames guided by Hisahide’s kick were canceled out and vanished. The Flame High’s fire was gone. That created a brief opening. “!” Hisahide quickly tried to pull back his raised leg. But Souichirou did not overlook this opportunity. – Souichirou – Sword/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Switch to Both Hands – Hit! – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Savate/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Diagonal Slash – Hit! He took a deep step forward and swung a powerful blow from the hip. The silver arc became a slicing wave. Hisahide was surrounded by a shimmering as if from heat. The air immediately exploded along the path of that shimmering. Solid sounds overlapped, but this did not end it. Hisahide stood outside the path of slicing air. This was the power of a Harmonist. He could place himself outside of the flow of Lives created by Rhythms or Techs. “Damn! That was a…” He never managed to say “close one”. Souichirou was already taking his next action. “Another one!?” After swinging his sword diagonally upwards, Souichirou stood tall. And he took another step forward. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Thrust – Hit! The Kusanagi-wielding Strike Forcer used every Tech available to him to make a high speed thrust. The sword became a silver line wrapped in shimmering. Its target was Hisahide’s throat. That was where one uttered their Words. Or that should have been the target. Suddenly, a great tremor ran through the ground. “!” The earth shook. The section of ground Hisahide and Souichirou stood on tilted to the right thanks to the underground explosion. The speed of the thrust was somewhat dulled. But the attack did not stop. Everything apart in surprise and the thrust veered off course. The sword reached Hisahide’s right hand. It easily pierced straight through that right palm which was wrapped in some flames. The Flame High in Hisahide’s hand and the Kusanagi in Souichirou’s sword fully counteracted each other. The flames seemed to envelope the blade before bursting and vanishing. Kusanagi’s power was annihilated. Momentum simply carried the blade through Hisahide’s hand and shallowly into his right chest. But that was all. Souichirou’s attack was over. The two exchanged a glance while connected by three points: the swords, the palm, and the chest. Flames burned around them on the tilting ground and the crumbling earth provided background noise as Hisahide spoke. “It’s too bad. If that had been a slash, you would’ve sliced me in two. I didn’t expect you to go for thrusts and attacks from below. You were just unlucky there.” With that said, the Flame High boy clenched his pierced right hand to grab the blade. “Burn.” As soon as he spoke that one word, flames burst from Hisahide’s hand. The sword piercing his hand instantly set on fire and exploded. The Lives creating the sword had lost to the Flame High’s Lives. The Tempo of the flames burned through all other Lives. That intense burning attack was not satisfied with just the metal of the sword. – Souichirou – Mind/Dodge Tech – Multi-Auto-Take – Emergency Dodge – Miss! Souichirou removed both hands from the burning sword’s hilt. But he was too slow. The flames had already reached his right arm. “…!” Souichirou’s right false arm immediately burst into flames like it was kindling straw. – Souichirou – Savate/Steel Tech – Multi-Take – Cut Away – Hit! The electronic word circuits reacted faster than his reflexes and released the right arm at the shoulder. After the bolt locks were blown away and the arm came free, it turned to a blowing flame and Ashed before it reached the ground. As soon as the right arm burned away, the ground they stood on sunk down. As it did, flames burst from the cracks in the ground as scarlet jets of gas. The secondary destruction had begun belowground. “The center of Osaka is going to collapse from the backdraft,” said Hisahide as he licked up the blood coming from his right palm. “Let’s settle this before the Flame High ends.” Souichirou had lost his right arm and his sword had been burned, so he had no more weapons. Meanwhile, Hisahide walked forward. He walked toward Souichirou. “Aren’t you going to run away?” “Attack is the only word in the Modified Purple Electricity Style’s vocabulary.” “That’s the opposite of Aoi’s Shinkage Style.” Hisahide lightly swung his hand as he spoke. Flames trailed behind his hand. And then… – Souichirou – Sight Tech – Take – Spot – Hit! “Tokyo Chancellor, this battle will be a long one.” When he heard Souichirou’s voice, Hisahide stopped moving. The one-eyed warrior who had lost his right arm continued to speak. “Now that the Flame High has awoken, both the resentful voices of those devoured by the ogre two years ago and a great power are at work to keep this battle from ending too easily.” “…What are you talking about?” “I am not the only one that protests Osaka!” With those words, Souichirou jumped. – Souichirou – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit. He used the power of his false legs to jump too high for Hisahide to reach. When he looked down, he saw the crumbling schoolyard of Prefectural #2 and a sea of flames. None of his fellow students were there any longer. Saki had likely ordered them to evacuate. Only three people remained at the scene of destruction: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, and… “Killing Holder!” As soon as Souichirou shouted that Urban Name, Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki looked up into the night sky from one end of the schoolyard. ### 318. Part 5 7:57 PM “!?” Before Shoui could ask what was going on, the owner of the presence gave a powerful roar. “Yuuki Yuuki!! Answer me! Why does the Dragon Emperor see ya as good!?” It was Taeko. The Dragon Emperor produced a shallow sound of activation. “Boss!?” Shoui was conflicted. Beyond Takada and Hisahide, he could see Taeko with the Dragon Emperor at the ready. This was dangerous. He knew that. An atmosphere so intense it brought pain shot across the train car and ruled their surroundings. But Shoui was conflicted. Should he stop Taeko? Should he wait for Takada and Hisahide to do something since they stood between him and Taeko? Should he protect Yuuki? This should not have been a hard decision to make, but the doubt in his heart filled him with indecision. He doubted whether he really needed to protect a girl who knew she was the Killing Holder. Just as Yuuki had forgotten his three-year-old promise, Shoui only knew Yuuki from before she had killed. And so he hesitated. He came to a stop and someone else took action instead: Hisahide. He shoved Takada to the ground in front of him and slapped his MD’s switch in. Shoui remained motionless as the Flame High user began to move. He began a slow turn to face Taeko. “You moron! I thought you weren’t gonna fight!” – Shoui – Mind/Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Decode Expression – Hit. A look of both surprise and confusion came to Hisahide’s face. Hisahide’s eyes turned to Yuuki behind Shoui. … What did Yuuki do!? Shoui’s silent question was answered in an unexpected way. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Miss. An intense weight slammed down on top of his right shoulder. “!?” – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Control Stance – Miss. The blow knocked him to his knees and he saw something like a giant metal rod on top of his shoulder. It was Housei. Yuuki was aiming the weapon with Shoui’s shoulder acting as a prop. But that was not all. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit! The intro of some horribly clear music reached his ears. It was the Cold High Rhythm. Yuuki was preparing to fire a blast of ice rather than water at Taeko. It was one of the Cold High Rhythm’s frozen shots that had once killed Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei. “Yuuki!?” As if in response to the Dog God’s yell, flames enveloped Hisahide’s leg as Takada lay on the floor next to him. A series of motions began with those flames. Housei prepared to fire its ether light. Hisahide swung up the leg covered in the Flame High while keeping an eye on Taeko’s movements behind him. Shoui remained motionless as it all approached the conclusion. Or it should have. However, someone rebuked Shoui. It was Takada. “You can’t let this happen! Stop them, Shoui-san!” She did more than just shout. She stood up. And with that simple action, it all fell apart. The Harmonist could not react to the sudden movement. And in accordance with the rules, Hisahide’s sideways sweeping foot pierced through Takada’s unexpectedly raised torso. “…!” All Shoui saw was the fact that Hisahide had kicked Takada. As planned, the boy’s kick cut through Yuuki’s icy blast as it swept through Takada’s torso, rotated in a compact arc behind him, and kicked away Taeko’s lightning blast. The powers of ice and lightning were turned to ashes. The same fate awaited Takada. As she doubled over and collapsed, her body was covered in fire. The first to burn away was her clothing. Next came her hands and Taromaru on her shoulder. “Takada-san…!” Shoui stepped forward to support her as she collapsed. But… – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Restraint – Miss! His actions were stopped by an odd impulse inside his heart. ### 319. Part 5 11:31 PM Below a large hill surrounded by paddy fields was the entrance to the path up to the Nandaimon Shrine. There was a large torii there. A red light flashed in front of that torii. It was an ambulance’s light. The ambulance suddenly drove off. The red light slowly left the Nandaimon Shrine. The area was surrounded by paddies that were dry for the winter. The moonlight was the only illumination. Its bluish-white light shined on two people. One was short and the other tall. They were Yuuki Senga and Iwai Sanzou. They were both watching the siren light of the departing ambulance. Then they spoke without moving. “You insist on home treatment? Do you not like our group’s hospitals?” “I’m not letting your quacks see my granddaughter naked.” “Then why did you take in the Nagoya Chancellor as well? You even placed them both in the same room.” “It’s called woman’s intuition. I can tell there’s no grudge between them anymore.” “Your intuition is a frightening thing. It was amazingly accurate 13 years ago.” Iwai Sanzou scratched his head and breathed a white sigh. “Back then, I had no idea those two were in the kind of relationship you say they were.” “All the blame lies with the winter cherry blossoms.” “Yes, that is where it all went wrong. Including the trust between you and your student.” “That was the only way to get past your group and inform them of our arrival.” “I was certainly surprised when the spear flew over our heads and fell into the waterfall basin. No one should have been able to arrive within 500 meters of the place.” Senga sighed. “If it had been 50 more, I wouldn’t have been able to make the throw.” “Well, that may have been a form of salvation for those two.” “Really?” “When they saw the spear flying their way, they smiled.” Iwai Sanzou scratched his head even more. He seemed to be having trouble saying this. “They probably thought everything would come to an end if it skewered and killed-…” “Don’t be stupid.” Senga looked up at Iwai. She had an aggressive look in her eyes. “When I did it, Iba asked if I had turned on them too. That had to have been what all three of them thought.” “Is that what you think?” “For a corporate dog, you have too many delusions about combat.” “I fight because I love that sort of thing.” “You moron,” said Senga while jabbing his waist with her elbow. The man pretended to be knocked back by the jab. “You are so cruel.” “Not as much as you. …What are you thinking?” “About what?” “You called someone in the hospital when I was taking those two away, didn’t you? What are you planning?” “Hm.” Iwai Sanzou nodded and crossed his arms in the moonlight. After some thought, he raised his head. “We will be holding a festival.” “A festival?” “Osaka, Nagoya, and Koto’s Chancellor’s Officers will rent out Osaka Castle and hold a festival.” “Wait, don’t make plans for my granddaughter.” “It will be in three days’ time, on Christmas Eve.” Senga was left speechless as he held out his right hand with two fingers sticking out. Seeing that, the elderly man smiled. “And how about we invite Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers as special guests?” “You know…” “This wasn’t easy. This festival required keeping a band from renting out the place. With that and the newspapers before, we have spent far too much money this year.” He smiled bitterly. “Although those expenses are an investment for the future.” “But do you really think Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers will show up?” “Can I just say that my intuition tells me they will?” Senga thought for a moment. “Your intuition is a frightening thing. It was amazingly accurate 13 years ago.” “Then that’s settled. Anyone able to use the Flame High can never live without battle.” “But how will you stop the Flame High?” “By ensuring Master Souichirou recovers,” nonchalantly answered Iwai. He crossed his arms again. “He is currently trapped by the Flame High’s power and cannot use Kusanagi. But if a certain individual can heal him enough to live a normal life, it should be possible.” “And how will you do it?” “By reminding him of his Words through battle.” “Who will he be fighting?” “Someone in a very similar situation.” “A similar situation…?” Senga spoke the words and realized who the man meant. Iwai responded to her look of surprise with a true smile. “His opponent might die, but that is fine. It will be an excellent experience for Master Souichirou.” Senga tried to say something about that, but Iwai held out a hand to stop her. “What I am more interested in is why the Nagoya Chancellor and Koto Chancellor were both nearly unharmed. I apologize for changing the topic, but could you answer me that?” “A miracle probably happened.” “I see.” Iwai nodded with his smile intact. “In that case, it might be worth investing in the Nagoya Chancellor.” “Iwai.” “Yes, what is it?” “Do you think your plan will bring this all to an end?” “It will also give you what you want. Although I think I know why you sent him to the Mountain for two years.” A breath. “He is not a failure, is he?” Senga did not answer him, but her silence was an answer in and of itself. After a deep nod, Iwai turned his back on Senga. “I will bring out Master Souichirou. The duel will take place on the beach of Osaka Bay in the Minato Ward. As for the time…how about early tomorrow morning?” “How selfish of you.” “Oh, I’m not letting anyone else have something so fun.” “You do like to show off, don’t you?” Iwai began walking away as Senga spoke. He slowly walked toward Osaka along the moonlit road. Senga called out to him from behind. “Did you call a car?” “I feel like walking alone in the moonlight…is what I would love to say, but someone will be here to pick me up in less than five minutes. I am a VIP after all.” “Yes, someone like you is considered ‘very important’. And that’s why you need to hurry up and die already.” “And you need to try to live long enough to become a Youkai or something. …Goodbye.” He lightly waved back at her. It was only about six hours until the early morning. Senga had a lot to do. ### 320. Part 5 7:16 PM Nakamura panicked. “What!?” Yuuki and the Dog God on her shoulder both turned to clear water droplets before becoming ashes. He stopped his foot and turned around. The Yuuki he had thought was a decoy stood on the peak of the roof. She had moved. This was not a counterfeit made from water Lives. “But the look on her face…!?” It had been a Killing Holder’s lack of expression. Before he could figure that out, Yuuki looked up into the sky. The next Tech she used was one Nakamura knew quite well. – Yuuki – Steel Tech – Take – Suzaku Ver. 40 Link – Hit! A moment later, light race toward them both from a point in the sky. “A Word Particle Cannon!?” he shouted. But he had the power of a Harmonist. If he could react, he could ignore any Tech. He jumped as white light swallowed up his vision. He jumped toward a corner of the roof. He leaped to a position that would just barely avoid a direct hit from the Word Particle Cannon. And as he did, he kept his eyes on Yuuki. He watched her to make sure he did not fall for a decoy like before. But he noticed something odd. There was no ether light wrapped around her giant staff. “?” His quickly found his answer. A giant mass of ice was floating in the white-dyed sky. At around 50 meters, it was far larger than the previous ones. It was horribly cubic and had perfectly flat sides. It floated in the darkness of the night and slowly descended between Nakamura and the light of the Word Particle Cannon. What did that mean? He instantly realized what. “Oh, no!” he shouted. But it was too late. The light of the Word Particle Cannon directly collided with the giant mass of ice. The ice shattered. The light dispersed and weakened. Even so, the Word Particle light continued downwards under its own power. And the ice had bent it like a prism. The Word Particle Cannon’s light was forcibly redirected. And it was headed straight toward Nakamura. He could not dodge it. His body was still in the air and it was too much of a surprise attack to use his power as a Harmonist. “———!” The light scored a spectacular direct hit. ### 321. Part 5 7:20 PM The clash between Hizaka Shoui and Nakamura Hisahide began wordlessly. Shoui blocked Nakamura’s fiery kick with a Tech. – Shoui – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Block – Hit! The Harmonist’s power kicked in. Taking that into consideration, Shoui moved further. – Shoui – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Block – Hit! He used the Tech a second time. He normally would have been satisfied with just once, but not here. This was only possible with abnormal reaction speed and a Tech he was intimately familiar with through intensive training. His red right arm blocked the flames and the kick behind them. There was an impact and a noise. The flames scattered. But his right arm did not burn. Nakamura clicked his tongue. And Shoui moved. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! Nakamura dodged with his Harmonist power. But Shoui did not give up. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! Nakamura dodged with his Harmonist power. But Shoui did not give up. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! Nakamura dodged with his Harmonist power. But Shoui did not give up. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! And then he won. After redoing it several times over the course of a single instant, Shoui’s speed caught Nakamura. His fist hit the boy’s shoulder. The impact of the blow ran through Nakamura. His body wavered. But despite that waver, he used the blow to spin his body around. A kick flew. – Shoui – Dodge Tech – Counter-Take – Dodge – Hit! Shoui fully dodged it. He put some distance between them. He exhaled while sensing Yuuki’s presence behind him. … This is scary. Nakamura must have sensed that mental state because he snorted in laughter. “Not bad.” “Well, I’ll do the best I can.” “But…” Nakamura gave Shoui an upturned glance. “You’re pretty exhausted, aren’t you?” Shoui responded with silence. Nakamura was exactly right. Repeatedly using Techs so continuously wore down his strength. The drain on his stamina was far greater than normal. He already felt fear in facing the Flame High. … But. He nodded while speaking in his heart. He began to use his left hand to pull the bandanna down over his eyes. “…” But he stopped. He had to keep his eyes on his opponent. He focused himself. He poured all of his focus into sensing his opponent’s movements and into the entirety of his body. He felt his heart pound in his chest. He could feel his own body. He could tell it had nerves running all the way to the fingertips and toe tips. His body would move as he wanted. He had a will of his own. He had his missing memories. He had an opponent. And he had something to protect. “…” Shoui silently looked up. Shoui and Nakamura’s gazes seemed to audibly crash together. Shoui fearlessly maintained his fighting stance. Nakamura also maintained his fighting stance. They did not move. The one to ask a question via words was Nakamura. “What is it…that you want?” This was the same question he had asked Souichirou during his attack on Ixolde. It was a simple question based on curiosity. And Shoui answered quietly. “To protect.” The answer was as simple as the question. Nakamura asked another question without nodding. “Do you like fighting?” “…” No response. As they faced each other in silence, Nakamura asked again. “Do you like fighting?” He received a short response. “I’ve never thought about it.” “Why not?” Shoui did not answer. He simply moved. Nakamura’s fire roared and flew in response. Shoui slammed his own fist toward that fire. He used his left fist instead of the ogre’s right arm. … I can do this! He sensed the Storm High’s presence. His heart remembered. He remembered the girl who had given him a prophecy and the girl who waited for him. He moved simply to protect. “!” The fist and the kick collided. An explosion rumbled out. ### 322. Part 6 7:58 PM It was the fire. The flames filling Takada stopped him from moving. Someone was burning. He had to save her. But his feet would not move forward. He realized his face and body were stiff with tension. An emotion that controlled his body more than his mind had frozen him and it refused to go away. His legs, his body, and his arms did something other than move forward. They trembled. His body was ruled by a bone-rattling exhaustion and chill and a sharp pain stabbed into his forehead. The sword wound he had received two years before filled his head with a powerful phantom pain. This chilly emotion brought back his memories of the past and sent a tremor through his body. That emotion was known as fear. But… … How strange. The fear permeating his body now was not of the unknown. It was a pure fear that did not even include any curiosity. … I’ve never seen the Flame High’s fire before, so why!? That rational part of his mind was shattered by a cry of instinct. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Restraint – Miss! “Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!” He heard a scream escape his own mouth. It was an unpleasant voice. It was a loud, ear-splitting voice that seemed to squeeze all the air from his lungs. He tried to stop it but could not. He wailed. A voice answered his cry. “Takada!” It was Hisahide. As Shoui motionlessly screamed, Hisahide called Takada’s name and supported her body. When he held her upper body from behind, her waist and below fell to the floor. The Flame High strike had bisected her torso. Both her clothing and her entire body were enveloped in flames and burning. Shoui saw her detached lower body turn to ashes on the floor. Her stole gradually turned to ashes and scattered into the air, starting from the bottom. On her shoulder, Taromaru grew entirely white and vanished into a wisp of ash. The Dog God on Shoui’s shoulder gave a small cry. It was a long, drawn-out, and metallic animal cry. Taeko ran over from behind Hisahide. “A-are ya all right!?” But Hisahide ignored her and tried to turn Takada to face him in his arms. It was too late. In that instant, Takada turned to ashes inside his weak grasp. She Ashed. “…” Everyone remained motionless as white sand-like ashes spilled to the floor. Hisahide clawed at the air as if to prevent the ashes from reaching the floor. It was a pointless action. What had been Takada spread out across the floor. Hisahide fell to his knees amid the white ashes. He spread out his arms and scraped the ashes together in front of him. His hands moved a second and third time before stopping. He hung his head, so Shoui could not see his face. Hisahide simply clenched his fists to squeeze together the ashes he had gathered in his hands. “Oh.” A quiet voice escaped his mouth. “Ohh…” It continued. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” He roared. He sprang to his feet. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Tech – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! Hisahide ran through the train and struck Shoui with a presence that had nearly physical intensity. He roared. He looked up to the ceiling and raised his voice. The monotone voice seemed unlike a cry of sorrow, a roar of motivation, or a howl of anger, and yet like all of them at once. The simple voice grew louder and louder. As it did, shimmering heat and a white light surrounded him. “————!” The voice stopped. Nakamura Hisahide looked to Shoui. Nakamura was not crying. He was not smiling and there was no anger in his eyes. He looked to Shoui with an expressionless face. It was the look of a Killing Holder. He then continued forward. He took one step. Shoui was still on the ground and he took a step back while facing the other boy. His back ran into Yuuki’s legs. She did not retreat. Ether light filled Housei as it rested on Shoui’s shoulder. At the same time, Nakamura continued wordlessly forward. Every action was controlled by the name Killing Holder. Before Nakamura could launch his fiery kick, Yuuki’s spell activated. A giant icicle appeared above his head. “!” The icicle stabbed straight through the train in between Shoui and Yuuki’s position and Taeko and Hisahide’s position. The metal screamed as the train was torn in two. ### 323. Part 6 6:10 AM When Souichirou’s right arm was punched by the Break High, it flew into the clear air. But Shoui had not torn it off. Souichirou had removed it himself. None of the impact reached his body. “!” Shoui saw him turn around. He swung his Device with his left arm alone. He held it high for an overhead swing. This was also identical to Shoui’s memory. It was identical to the attack Yamashita Gihei had used to knock Shoui out. The phantom pain returned to his forehead. At the same time, he felt a lethargic weight fill his body. … It’s the same. It was the same sort of exhaustion as when he had killed Yamashita Gihei. He knew why he was feeling it. Because he knew he could not defeat his opponent. To one who sought victory, defeat meant death. The Flame High vanished from his hand. But his enemy did not stop. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Slash – Hit!! A thought came to Shoui. … I want to win. But it was different from before. He would not kill. He would not be killed. … Then what do I want to do? He suddenly remembered the ring held in his left fist. What had its owner left with him? He remembered. The answer reached him through his vision. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. He saw the answer. ### 324. Part 6 7:21 PM Flames exploded. The Storm High strike had negated the Flame High strike. A solid sound rang out and the undying flames surged into the air as a flare. Two powers clashed. Flames. And emptiness. Those contrasting powers collided and maintained equilibrium. “Seaaaaahhh!” Even greater flames flew. In response, the emptiness intercepted them with an unarmed hand. They clashed. A solid sound rang out and the flames danced. With a roar much like a wave, a cascade of flames struck the roof of the main castle tower. The roof burned in an instant. It was a great conflagration. The fire burned down Osaka Castle like flowing water. “!” More than a third of the giant structure was turned to ashes and annihilated in an instant. It was a great power, but it had no effect on Shoui. The flames flew once more. The emptiness caught it. A rumbling shook the air. It did so again and again. Each time, fire blossomed in the darkness of the night. And that was not all. Something white began to fall from the dark clouds in the sky. It was snow. As the continuous rumbling shook them, the dark clouds produced snow. Countless red flowers blossomed within the falling snow. Red flowers bloomed in the darkness. And white flowers bloomed in the darkness. An empty party began in the fire and in the strength. Two prophecies coincided. Emptiness was born from Shoui’s heart with no Rhythm and it swept away the memory of death. Within the rumbling and the falling snow, Shoui and Nakamura’s attacks and Words coincided. Nakamura was slightly faster. “A woman becomes the queen.” / “A queen smiles at him.” “A sage reminisces.” / “A sage resigns himself.” “Run without looking to another’s path.” / “Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path.” “Choose your own path and sprint.” / “Choose your own path and hesitate.” “The true path lies in the future.” / “The true path lies in the past.” More red flowers bloomed in the darkness. But one thing had changed. Nakamura’s Words had vanished while Shoui’s Words continued. He recited them. To search for his own Words, he reached for everything he had gained. He pulled in his own current and raised his voice. “————!!” With that roar, the Storm High pierced the nothingness. Within the chilly and still air, a field of destruction appeared inside all of that grand power. In that field of destruction and annihilation, nobody took the middle road. Nothing would live and nothing would die. It all existed to protect. “Everyone…!” And with those Words, Shoui brought his fist to Nakamura. It was a quick barrage. A series of offensive and defensive blows shook the night air. There was no hesitation in their actions and more snow fell as if to guide them. White flowers scattered as if to answer the desire of the dark sky. Shoui simply recited his Words as the white snow fell through the heavy darkness. And his voice caused the fire to scatter and brighten the darkness. His punches cried out. His emptiness collided with Nakamura’s flames. They were both fast. Blow after blow rang out so quickly it sounded like one continuous noise. And he sped up his Words to accelerate that further. I have no companions. She vanishes. A hand that can hold onto no one remains A hand that fosters destruction remains That hand pleads for no one to leave He clenched his pleading right hand. The ogre’s fist collided with Nakamura’s kick. And as he sensed the impact and the noise simultaneously, Shoui remembered everything up to this point. He had lost his Words. He had lost his promise. But he had made it this far. … Why is that? He sought the answer in everything. In the darkness and the flames. In the sky and the snow. In the wind and the noise. And in himself… The impact reverberating from his fist to his head cleared his thoughts. He remembered some important Words. They were an important person’s Words. !! As the winter wind cried out frigidly, he definitely heard a crying voice inside himself. That crying voice spoke words yet said nothing. And as it did, it simply waited, drew near, and never gave up. Those were the Words of the most important person in the world. … Yeah, that’s right. Shoui nodded in his heart. And with that mental understanding, his body freely moved before he even told it to. He felt like he was moving with no distinction between thoughts and actions. He felt himself inside a tension and speed he normally could not feel. It was supported by a barrage of impacts and noises. His thoughts linked to everything he had. His sight. His hearing. His touch. His arms. His legs. His body. His head. His conscious and subconscious. They all supported his punches, impacts, and defenses. And he thought. He sensed more than ever before and looked to the dance partner in front of him. That boy was moving in the same way. His speed sensed everything. His thoughts felt everything. And he thought. … I’m protecting her…aren’t I? He was aware of the girl behind him with something other than his 5 senses. He could not allow her to stand before him. So he moved to protect her and thought. … Can they hear this? He made a combination blow. … Are they listening to this? And he defended. He thought his Words while moving as he wished. Who did he want to hear what? Shoui knew the answer to that. He moved. He saw the answer in his movements. In that high-speed current, he saw what was behind his enemy. A sea of light and an abyss of darkness. They were Osaka’s nightscape and the night sky. He made another combination blow, continued to defend, and found himself oddly focused on that scenery. White flowers scattered and red flowers blossomed to decorate it. “!” Shoui moved even more. ### 325. Part 7 8:01 PM Below the night sky, an icicle broke through the roof of an Osaka bullet train and stabbed into the track below. It was a giant stake. Of the bullet train’s twelve cars, the stake pierced the second one, which accomplished two things. First, it brought all the cars behind that to a stop. Second, the second car was split from the front. The front car possessed a will driving it forward. The sound of ripping metal only lasted an instant. The back of the front two cars was torn and they jerked forward as they took off again. A moment later, the ice stake was overwhelmed by the momentum of the other cars and shattered. Of course, it did not end there. Amid a tremendous metallic din, the rearmost ten cars lost control. The heavy flow of metal was dammed up by the ice stake, so they danced about as the stopping motion mixed with the forward motion. The first to dance was the sixth car in the center. In just a split second, the car bent and hopped upwards. The seventh car onward followed the movements. Instead of racing forward in a straight line, the row of cars gained an upward movement. The sixth car took the lead in falling from the elevated railway. The seventh and eighth cars were pushed by those behind them and followed the sixth. The fifth had its back end lifted up and was dragged after them. From there, it was a chain reaction. They hopped, were pulled on, or spiraled. Before long, all of the rear ten cars had tumbled from the elevated railway. The kinetic energy of their 200+ kph velocity caused all of the cars to slip from the elevated railway and tore at or destroyed the power poles, railway, gravel, and walls like a woodworking plane. A complex cacophony of destruction continued without end. The noise rang far into the distance as the bullet train fell onto the Osaka Plain. The rural land could not stop the cars. The power of speed caused the long metal cars to hop along the dirt. The links between cars were destroyed and each of the ten cars rolled as a separate metal tube. From beginning to end, it only lasted five seconds. The scene of destruction with no audience ended quickly. ### 326. Part 7 7:22 PM The movement began with Nakamura. He made a sharp forward kick toward Shoui who suddenly nodded and crouched low. This was the same kick he had hit Shoui with back at the student dorm. His toes flew in a sharp curve from below. – Shoui – Dodge Tech – Counter-Take – Dodge – Hit! Shoui dodged it. But Nakamura had expected that. “You’ve gotta be out of Words now!!” With that shout, he dropped down his raised heel. He made a second attack. After the rapid series of dodges, Shoui could not move without stabilizing himself first. And the Harmonist’s power would hit him before he could do that. He could not dodge this. But he moved. Even as his stance almost collapsed, he thrust his Ogre God arm straight up. The heel strike fell from the sky. The kick was like a sword strike. It was a lot like the attack from Yamashita Gihei 2 years before. And it was a lot like the attack from Souichirou 2 days before. Both of them had done grave damage to him. Shoui felt powerful déjà vu. But… – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Suppress – Hit!! He felt no phantom pain. The nightmare did not repeat itself. “————!” Without hesitation, he blocked the kick with his raised arm. He caught the impact. Even so, the kick tried to beat him down with its heavy momentum and the Flame High’s power. It was powerful. And Shoui responded to that strength with an action the Harmonist’s power could not keep up with. – Shoui – Steel Tech – Take – Remove Arm – Hit!! He removed the Ogre God and let it fly. “!?” Nakamura’s kick changed course. His heel grazed Shoui’s forehead and fell to his side. The bandanna was cut and flew from Shoui’s head and his forehead was exposed to the air. The scar there felt hot. But Nakamura’s attack ended there. Shoui saw an entirely defenseless body in front of him. He knew he could win. And he answered with a shout. He shouted the Word inside himself. “Yuuuuuuki!” – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! A 4-blow combination jabbed into Nakamura’s body like a machinegun. The boy in the red hoodie was blown away. But… “…Kh!” At only 5 meters away, Nakamura regained his footing and stopped himself. “Don’t screw with me!!” Nakamura roared back and started forward. Shoui was hit by killer intent not much different from a wild animal’s. But Shoui still moved forward. As he ran, he reached his left hand into his pocket and pulled something out: a golden ring. He flicked it forward with his fingers. The ring flew through the snow-filled darkness at eye level. Nakamura saw the light of the ring. “!” The two boys ran straight ahead with the ring between them. They ran. They raced. With a silver ring on his hand, Nakamura reached out to grab that golden one. But at that very moment, Shoui’s left hand grabbed the small airborne ring before Nakamura could. And he clenched the hand into a fist. From here, he only had to make the best possible movement. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! He made a full rotation, stopped while turned to the side, and threw his fist directly into the left side of Nakamura’s chest. It was a perfect punch. And that brought them both to a stop. ### 327. Part 8 8:08 PM After it was all over, it took several minutes before Shoui regained clarity of mind. “…” The color of the scene returned to his eyes. He saw the winter night sky. He had seen that vast sky a few times already today. If that night sky lay before his eyes, he had to be on his back. The ground below him was made of dirt. With the thin frost of the winter earth, the ground was cold. It was not an appropriate place to sleep. He tried to get up, but his body would not move. – Shoui – Medical Tech – Take – Determine Wounds – Hit. He had hit his back hard on something when the train car had overturned. He felt numb and his head felt heavy. He gathered air in his gut and held his breath. – Shoui – Mind/Gym Tech – Take – Focus – Hit. He shot to his feet. When he lifted his hips, a dull pain ran through the core of his body. – Shoui – Mind/Medical Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Control Stance – Hit. He almost collapsed, so he put his left leg back to support himself. He felt a blow to the back of his head. “Ow!” He quickly turned around to see what unexpected obstacle he had struck. He saw the train car that had been split by the icicle and rolled upside down. He could see inside through the slice. Several of the seats had come undone and fallen from the floor which was now on top, so it looked like a bizarre work of art. The walls had grown distorted and all of the glass was gone from the windows. It had clearly hit something hard. “…” Shoui silently rested his elbow on the ceiling which was now the floor. When he did, the Dog God climbed down his arm and onto the ceiling. The small foxlike spirit beast had apparently not followed Takada into death. … Is that because it followed me of its own free will? It had been born of her Live, but it was now just an animal. Her will was nowhere to be found. He sighed at that thought. … I can’t believe this. He tried to speak the words, but only a scratchy breath escaped. His throat was still refusing to produce words. He had once more faced the opponent who had injured his throat, but it had resolved nothing. It had only deepened his feeling of defeat. He smiled bitterly. The Dog God glanced up at him and ran further inside the train car. He watched its back and swaying tail and then looked up to the floor that was now the ceiling. There was nothing there expect for the occasional seat. The part of the car containing Takada’s ashes had continued on to Nagoya. Shoui had nothing. Once he became aware of that, a thought came to him. … So my indecision expanded our possibilities in a negative direction. When he should have protected Yuuki and stopped them, he had given into his doubts and done nothing. So… … You might be able to say I killed Takada-san. “…” He looked back behind him. He saw the night sky and the ground there. A few long line-like objects had fallen onto the dark expanse of Osaka Plain. They were the other cars. Shoui looked around. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Search – Hit. The Sight Tech told him the person he was searching for was not there. … There is nobody, hm? Yuuki was nowhere to be found. He was certain she was not dead. He knew very well she was not the type to make a suicide attack. She had likely been the one to remove him from the car and place him on the ground. But she was gone. He did not know if she had gone after the enemy or to inform someone of the crash. The one thing he knew for sure was her absence by his side. That girl had said she did not need him, had forgotten the promise from three years before, and had controlled the battle. She had been the first to react when Taeko had charged in. … The Killing Holder, hm? As he thought that, he heard a quiet sound by his right side. … ? He looked down and saw the Dog God looking up at him from the edge of the ceiling. Something glittered at the Dog God’s feet. It was a gold ring. It was the one Takada had worn. … Is this…? As he picked it up, the Dog God stared at him and suddenly hopped to the ground. “!?” He reached out on reflex, but it ran a few meters away. It then stopped and looked up at Shoui. Shoui remained silent. But the Dog God gave a small metallic cry. It was saying goodbye. The Dog God turned its back and ran off into the dry grass. Its tail swished above the waves of grass a few times before vanishing. The rustling as the small animal parted the grass quickly moved off into the distance. Instead of pursuing, Shoui squeezed Takada’s ring in his left hand. “…” He said nothing, said nothing, got up from the train wreckage, and began to walk. His body ached, but he walked regardless. The field was deserted. The sky was vast, dark, and empty except for the stars. Shoui was alone. ### 328. Part 8 Same Time Shoui saw her. That was enough for him to understand it all. His mind fully awoke. His body rebooted. He gathered strength in both fists. He remembered what he needed to do. He had made a promise with her three years before. … I promised to protect her from herself. She must have seen that as promising him the same thing. And so she had taken on the Killing Holder title. “!” His eyes looked to Yuuki rather than the much closer slash. He would protect her just as he had promised. So he would not use the Flame High. He would not win to protect her. … Would you say I’ll be protecting her to protect her? He realized there was something more powerful than Words inside him. It was a great power. He recalled when he had first met Yuuki. When she had rescued him from below the collapsed house, she had first told him her name. … Yuuki. It had been crudely pronounced and that had been everything. He only thought for a split second. His movements were also instantaneous. As the slash moved toward him, he spread his legs on the beach, raised his right arm, and opened his mouth. And he gave a yell. “———!” He tried to force her name from his throat. But he failed at that. A different voice escaped him. It was a lot like the very first voice anyone made in their life. It was like a baby’s cry. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Immediately, Souichirou’s sword swung down with Kusanagi’s power wrapped around it. But… “!?” Shoui raised his right hand with no Rhythm around it and without using a single Tech. And the instant his hand touched the slash, Kusanagi vanished. It changed. The Device became nothing more than a blade. But its momentum was not lost. The blade split Shoui’s right palm. The silver line sliced off his thumb and its base. But that diverted it away from his head. As soon as the blade dug into his flesh, Shoui had swung his arm outwards. The slight shift to the sword’s path led it into his right shoulder, down into his collar bone, and even lower. Souichirou’s attack fell straight down and split Shoui’s shoulder and right chest. With a great noise, the sword pressure whipped up the sand and Shoui’s right arm flew through the air. Needless to say, this did not stop Shoui. He swung up his left fist. He squeezed the golden ring hidden inside. He turned it toward Souichirou who had just swung the sword down. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! – Souichirou – Dodge Tech – Counter-Take – Dodge – Miss!! Shoui’s fist dug into Souichirou’s side. The sound if impact was followed by three light sounds much like a branch breaking underfoot. At the same time, Souichirou’s body floated up a little. His head drooped down and he fell to his knees. Meanwhile, Shoui took a step back and sighed. An approaching wave washed at his feet while he looked to his right shoulder. There was no arm attached. He could see his shoulder’s skin and the bone jutted out past the flesh. “…” He sighed again. It was a breath of relief. With that relaxing breath, the flesh swelled out, hiding the protruding bone. And allowing the blood to gush out. “!” He was hit by the recoil of the blood spurting out with the force of his pulse. He felt great exhaustion and the shock of blood loss. He realized his vision was tilting and the ocean was gradually growing vertical. … Oh, I’m falling over. Once he realized that, the sand filled the left side of his vision. He felt exhausted and the right half of his body was soaked with something warm. Even as he succumbed to the desire for sleep, he tried to hold his right shoulder with his left hand but then stopped. His left fist held Takada’s ring. He could not get it dirty. “I can’t believe this.” Shoui spoke for the first time in several days and shut his eyes. His mind quickly fell into the darkness. ### 329. Prologue: Hidden Special Moves (Command List) – (12/19/1996) Who has succeeded in the great attempt, To be a friend's friend, Whoever has won a lovely woman, Add his to the jubilation! Indeed, who calls at least one soul Theirs upon this world! And whoever never managed, shall steal himself Weeping away from this union. (From Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”) ### Part 1 6:58 PM A pure white light filled the large room. Those inside the room wore white. They all wore pristine lab coats. All of the computers and desks filling the room were just as white. It was a sterile space. But the large window in the wall opposite the entrance was dark. It gave a view of the subterranean darkness beyond. Through there, the Ixolde Babel Gun could be seen extending further underground. Ixolde’s control room functioned within that clear divide between white and black. The only sounds were quiet footsteps and typing at keyboards. Time passed calmly. Suddenly, a long, pleasant beep sounded. The large digital clock on the wall by the entrance had struck seven. On that signal, everyone stopped moving. Those carrying documents, those typing, and everyone else looked to the clock. Then one man in a lab coat started to move. He wore an armband indicating he was the room’s manager. It said, “Osaka Science and Chemistry Research Alliance Head”. He wordlessly walked down the room’s center aisle and toward everyone’s gazes. His feet took him below the clock gathering so much attention and he stopped at a terminal there. As soon as he arrived, the clock’s display changed to 7:01. “…” He maintained his silence as he looked up at the clock. He bent over to peer at the screen instead of sitting at the terminal’s chair. The screen displayed a small blue window on a white background. The window was a password prompt. He stared at the question there and opened his mouth. “To settle the east-west split begun by the Kinki Riot, Osaka will create the ultimate Rhythm and use its power to subjugate Japan. …That’s what you call peace by deterrence.” No one said anything in response, but he was not done speaking. “Including our upperclassmen, we’ve all worked hard for the past ten years.” And… “We will now record the ultimate Rhythm: Yamata, aka the Flame High.” The prompt asked a question. “1st Lock: What is your wish?” “>Peace” “2nd Lock: Who is your wish?” “>A King” “3rd Lock: What is your need?” “>A Rhythm” “4th Lock: Really?” “>No, not really.” “5th Lock: Really?” “>Yes, not really.” “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” “>Original Words” “Complete…!” The conversation with the machine ended there. The screen briefly displayed a graph. The white bar instantly filled up to 100% and then closed. The Flame High had been recorded. That announced the end of a decade’s worth of research. But no one moved. That meant there was no noise. However, the armband-wearing Alliance Head looked away from the screen and straightened up. Without turning around, he spoke on behalf of everyone behind him. “…That was kind of anti-climactic.” He laughed a little. “Now, let’s get the data in the underground pocket, send it to the storage room, and seal it in the MD.” As he spoke, a single clapping sound rang through the room. … ? He turned around in confusion. Then another clap came from somewhere. Before he could ask anything, more and more clapping filled the air. The overlapping sounds were applause. Chairs could be heard scraping on the floor as the previously unmoving people stood up. As the applause sounded, papers spilled to the floor with a sound much like a crashing wave. The girl carrying the documents had dropped them in her attempt to applaud. That sound elicited laughter from the others. Rather than hurrying to transfer the recorded data to the storage room, the Alliance Head looked at them all and nodded. A moment later, a shrill beep came from the terminal below the clock. ### Part 2 7:02 PM “!?” They all stopped applauding. Their gazes pierced through the Alliance Head as they looked to the terminal. He looked back as if thrown around by those gazes. He found a new black space in front of him. The terminal’s screen had blacked out. “…?” He grabbed the edge of the screen and peered at it. A white cursor appeared at the upper left of the black screen and the same question as before appeared again. “Is this an error?” Focusing on action over words, he reached for the keyboard. The keys he pressed were immediately written out by the cursor. “So it’s responding… Everyone, back to your posts!” With that, he pulled out the chair and sat down. He pulled the keyboard close and resumed his conversation with the machine. “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” The repeated password prompt was asking for the final answer. He answered by trying to quit. “>exit” But… “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” He only got the same question again. He thought for a bit and tried again. “>Original Words” And… “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” The question would not stop appearing. “…!?” It was no longer responding to the keyboard. Something was wrong, so he shouted on reflex. “This is an emergency! Status report!” At that moment, fire burst from the terminal’s screen. “!” It was not an explosion. It was a directional flame, much like from a flamethrower. For just an instant, the terminal spewed a bonfire-like flame as if it had become a burning altar. The machine burned. The Alliance Head rolled from the chair to escape the heat and intensity of this abnormality. But his eyes remained glued to the terminal as it burned to ash. He viewed the machine that Ashed into nothingness without leaving a single scorch mark on the wall or floor. He watched that audible fire and shouted a name. “The Flame High!?” At the same time, an alarm sounded from the speaker on the ceiling. The room’s white lights vanished at the same time. Deep red warning lights switched on in place of those fluorescent ones. Tension rapidly filled the control room and someone’s voice raced through the room. “Someone has hacked into Ixolde’s control computer!” “Into the completely isolated control system!?” “It’s a direct connection from within! The target firewall’s spoofing supplement was broken through two minutes ago!” “You moron! Even if they’re inside, could they really break through the defenses!?” Something answered that shouted question. The Ixolde Babel Gun gave a roar outside the large window. It was a great roar. “Wha-…!?” The sound acted as a physical blow as it mixed with the alarm and shook their bodies and the room. Then that machine, which looked like it was made from linked-together containers, began a rapid transformation. While shaking and producing a mechanical cry, it erased its seams and strengthened its connections. The mass of metal wriggled like a giant snake. “A Live transformation!? Is it a Tuner?” “No! There’s no interference at its Octave! This is…a Word Master!” “You mean there’s a Word Master capable of transforming Ixolde at will?” “There’s no other way to explain this! They didn’t hack into Ixolde! They tamed its kotodama !” The Babel Gun raised a metallic cry as needle-like objects jutted out from it. Those needles split and spread out thinly to become leaves. The metal leaves grew out from the seams between containers like heat sinks. Several of them stuck out long and sharp on either side and straight line veins were visible on them. Ixolde was rearranging its Live to become a flower. But that was not all. That vast underground space was covered by a ceiling. The Babel Gun’s base was attached to that, but it was torn away by a great force pulling downward. The giant metal stalk rose like a cobra head and the head instantly became a flower bud. The growth and transformation produced great noise. Several cracks ran through that bud and an intense noise rang out. It was blooming. What had been a machine was blooming as a flower with the alarm, the metallic noises, and the sounds of impact acting as its cries of birth. It was red. Even in the red lights of the alarm, it was noticeably deep red as it spread out. The red flower blossomed in the darkness. Scarlet ivy wrapped around its stalk, its leaves, and its flower. That ivy was fire. The flames raced up from below and wrapped tightly around the surface of the flower petals. The flower burned. Just like the terminal, the giant red flower of metal was instantly wrapped in scarlet flames. It crumbled. With a roar much like that of a waterfall, the metal blossom crumbled in the darkness. The roar of impacts created by the bright flames assaulted everyone watching. “————!!” Then tension and screams filled their surroundings. The crumbling flower was falling toward the control room. Before they could even gasp, the burning red flower petals filled the entire window. The Alliance Head tried to say something to them all, but… “Take cover!” With a roaring voice behind them, the wind raced in. ### Part 3 7:04 PM A shimmering of heat raced through the center of the room. The shimmering was heading for the large window and the flower beyond. Someone’s Words rang out. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” The shimmering responded by producing Kusanagi. A spatial cutting power that could slice through anything raced in a straight line and broke the large window. With the repeated sounds of shattering glass and dull impacts, the power collided with the flower. A few screams filled the air and everything was drowned out by the wind and heat. But the flower and its petals were sliced through, the flames were blown away, and they all fell into the darkness. Every student in Osaka knew who could pull off something like this: Nanba Souichirou, the Ogre Buster who wielded Kusanagi. He stood in the control room’s entrance and did not lower his raised sword. “We have an attacker! And once the space underneath here burns, the entire area will collapse!” A few of them nodded at Souichirou’s words, a few moved, and one spoke. “Something activated the mid-level freight elevator and it’s headed to this floor!” The enemy was ascending from underground. This enemy had tamed Ixolde and controlled the Flame High to burn the giant flower. As if to confirm that fact, all of the computer screens blacked out below the red lights. Everyone saw white text on the black screens before their eyes. “6th Lock: …Then what is your need?” The machine asked the question none of them could answer. The battle was beginning. ### 330. Chapter 1: Team Battle (Team Battle Rules) ### Part 1 7:04 PM The attack occurred suddenly. The schoolyard was large enough for two baseball fields and the defensive formation of the Student Council’s guard unit was knocked to the ground by an instantaneous lightning strike. The Chancellor’s Officers field work unit rushed out of the guard station and immediately joined the battle. Luckily, the alarm from the sewer had reached the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers guard station. Before the attack began, the VIPs in Ixolde’s hall for the celebration of Ixolde’s activation were moved to the spare party site prepared outside. But that was the only piece of luck. By the time Saki Seiji, 1st Special Duty Officer of the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers, ran out of Ixolde and onto the surface, he saw only a few members of the field work unit still moving and… “Yamashita Taeko! This was you!?” A girl with a false left arm turned back toward him in the center of the schoolyard. She shook her ponytail and calmly smiled his way. “Oh? Ya’ve come out?” As she walked toward Saki, several collapsed members of the field work unit were visible at her feet. Saki lowered his sunglasses to look directly at Taeko. “…Did you betray us!?” “Betray ya? Nagoya always chooses whichever side’s winnin’.” “…!” – Saki – Spear/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Left and Right Spear Throw – Hit! He threw two spears. But… “Like that’ll work, moron!” – Taeko – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit! With two light metallic sounds, the Dragon Emperor grabbed and crushed the flying spears. She swept the metal fragments aside and looked to Saki. By then, he had already stuck his headphone in his ear. – Saki – Pressure High/Gym/Draw Tech – Multi-Take – Singularity Shot – Hit! Saki made four throwing actions. The four spears stabbed into the ground surrounding Taeko. Each one was wrapped in ether, making it look like a glowing serpent. He kept his eyes on that ether light and recited his Words. Heaven, please answer the longing found in the sky of my final moments Simply let the white snow fall on the heavy darkness as you raise your cry “Cry into the darkness!” – Saki – Pressure High/Intimidation Tech – Multi-Take – Crush Explosion – Hit! The spears exploded with a black light. It was a mass of gravity with an Octave exceeding 600,000. The solidified gravity roared on all four sides of Taeko, instantly absorbed the fragments of the spears, and rapidly expanded. Gusts of wind blew in toward the masses of gravity and the light grew distorted as the space around the explosive quartet glowed. Taeko was swallowed up by the black explosions surrounding her on four sides. The four gravity explosions each attempted to obliterate the person in between them. But… “Dragon Emperor, take this up to Sixth Activation!” A voice sounded louder than the overwhelmingly massive gravity and a single sound exploded this time. It was a dragon’s roar. It started as a “gi” or a “ga” and rose into a deep cry. The dragon’s powerful roar easily shook the surrounding Lives. The four masses of gravity were blown away. The breaking of the gravity sounded a lot like the shattering of glass. In no time, the light and wind carried the four solid sounds across the schoolyard. The light and air that the masses of gravity had been absorbing were freed all at once. “A dragon’s voice can surpass mass!?” shouted Saki. Unscathed, Taeko stood up after using the Dragon Emperor as a shield. “Yeah, and it works as an attack too. It’s been a while since I’ve brought it up to the Sixth, though.” “I can see why you’re known as the Drachen Königin. Although I thought you’d have to take it up to the Ninth.” “Ya want to see the Dragon Emperor’s Final Activation? There’d be nothin’ but ashes left around here.” Taeko did not smile as she said that. When she did smile, Saki began to move on reflex. But… – Saki – Sense Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! He looked up when he noticed a powerful and heavy presence in the sky above. It all happened in an instant. Light fell from the heavens. The clear night sky was split apart and a single beam of light dropped toward where they stood. “…!?” Saki, Taeko, and the other people around them all looked up. Their faces were all illuminated by the light from heaven. The sound of the splitting atmosphere sounded like paper tearing. Just as someone raised their voice in what sounded like a scream, the light was stopped above their heads. It had been stopped by a staff shaped like a tuning fork that was thrown into the air. The device’s long striking end and bottom end were made from triangular parts and it was known as Housei It was the giant staff of the Koto Guardian. It rotated in midair and fell with the light from heaven contained within itself. As the light extending from heaven grew thinner and ultimately vanished, the light within the staff wriggled fiercely along the surface like a snake. It was ether light. Housei rotated toward the ground now that it was full of power from one of Suzaku Ver. 40’s ether rounds. Someone standing at the main gate to Osaka Prefectural #2 caught the large staff that fell from the sky. “Koto Chancellor…Yuuki Yuuki!” Taeko raised her voice when she saw the red individual standing there. Yuuki wore a red blazer modeled after the Suzaku and she held Housei at her waist without saying a word. – Saki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Yuuki already had a headphone in her ear. “So the Killing Holder is here!” Before Taeko could finish her shout, Yuuki suddenly fired a scythe of ultra-high pressure water from Housei. The blade made from a thin film of water instantly grew to about five meters and it easily sliced across the schoolyard and toward Taeko who was surrounded by other people. A few screams rose in harmony and the battle resumed. The city’s siren only now went off. ### Part 2 7:06 PM The city’s siren could be heard in the distance through the Osaka Hilton’s window. Shoui looked around the room as he listened to it. He was inside a bedroom with three other people. Takada sat on the bed in front of him, Aoi stood by the wall, and Ikemaru stood in front of the door. A few minutes had passed since Iba had left the room to begin a diversion in the city and the others had gathered in this one room. Shoui stood by the window and listened to the siren. “I can’t believe this.” When the Dog God spoke for him, Ikemaru glanced his way and then close his eyes again. He was definitely keeping an eye on Shoui to make sure he did not leave the room. Because she knew that, Aoi looked no one in the eye and smiled a little. “Well, we just have to stay put a while longer. Everything will be settled before long.” “Are you sure?” asked Shoui through the Dog God. “An ether round dropped from the sky earlier…” “Don’t worry. It’s fine. Prefectural #2 is being attacked from underground and above ground simultaneously. Nakamura is underground and…he can tame Ixolde with the charm Takahiro made. That should more or less end it.” “Can he really steal the strongest Rhythm like that?” “Takahiro’s kotodama will transform Ixolde itself and bring it to our side. You saw those bikes flying like birds, didn’t you? …This is more than that. It will be a complete transformation.” “It’s a lot like Tuning. Right, Takahiro?” Ikemaru looked unsure how to answer Takada’s question. But after a while, he corrected his expression and silently nodded. Aoi gave an exasperated sigh at his behavior. “More importantly…Hizaka-kun, was it? There’s a more personal matter I would like to ask you about.” “What is it?” “I know this is sudden, but do you know of any cherry trees that bloom in winter?” “That bloom in winter?” “I can’t tell you why, but I’m searching for those. Supposedly whoever sees those cherry trees will invite in bad luck as a jinx. For example…causing the Kinki Riot or leading to my birth.” “Why are you looking for them? If the jinx is true, won’t it only bring bad luck?” It was Ikemaru and not Aoi who answered Shoui’s question. “She has her reasons.” “I see.” Shoui crossed his arms and wrinkled his brow. “I think Saki-san said something about that, but it didn’t sound like he knew much about it.” “Do you have any idea where I might find information on it?” “Old Lady Senga might know something, but…sorry. I don’t know anything.” He gave a quick bow and looked back again. He found a view from twenty stories up. And a shadow suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. It was a window washing robot. Its boxy one meter body had a cleaning brush installed and it moved down past Shoui’s eyes as it cleaned the window. Shoui relaxed and sighed as it slowly passed by. With the increased transparency of the fresh cleaning, he could see the area in front of Osaka Station below. People were moving around like normal despite the sound of the siren. “I can’t believe this,” said his Dog God once more. “What can’t you believe?” asked Takada behind him. He answered without looking back. “You can already tell thanks to the Dog God, can’t you?” “There are some things I can’t accept unless you actually say them.” Yuuki’s face appeared in Shoui’s mind. He pictured her as she was now: known as the Killing Holder and acting accordingly. But he also knew who she had been in the past. “I really can’t believe this. What does it all mean?” “You can’t believe she has two sides to her? The past and the present. The seen and the unseen. And can you not believe that the Killing Holder can be the Killing Holder now that she has lost her doubt?” “I’m not worrying about anything as cool as that.” When he turned around while scratching his head, he found Takada standing right there. … !? Surprise showed on his face as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Before he could resist, she placed her lips on his with her eyes closed. “Ah,” said Aoi, but Shoui’s vision was blocked by Takada’s face. Ikemaru sighed on the far end of the room and the girl finally moved away. Shoui was unsure what to say as Takada took several steps back and sat on the bed with her eyes still closed. The bedsprings creaked quietly and softly and the sound gently overlapped with the background noise of the siren for a few seconds. Then she opened her eyes and looked up at Shoui. She lowered her eyebrows and gave a small smile. “You’re a liar.” “…” “Are you scared? Scared you might reject that girl?” Shoui could not answer. But Takada said more. Taromaru recited some words with her voice. A white flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in the fire A memory of death floats in nothingness A king resents him A queen smiles at him A sage resigns himself Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path Choose your own path and hesitate The true path lies in the past The prophecy had changed somewhat from those he had heard before. Taromaru explained why. “Possibility is on the move around you, Shoui-san.” “Possibility?” “Unlike with Hisahide-san, I doubt my prophecy will become your Words, Shoui-san. I believe you lost your Words somewhere.” Shoui repeated that under his breath. Without actually speaking, the Dog God on his shoulder moved its mouth to match the muttering in his heart. Takada raised her lowered eyebrows and smiled a little as she watched the boy and the animal. “But please do not forget my prophecy. Without your own feelings, it would likely have become your Words.” Aoi and Ikemaru looked Shoui’s way when they heard that. Aoi pulled the parts to her hexagonal rod from behind her waist and instantly connected them. Shoui frowned at her action. “Why pull out your weapon?” “To keep you from leaving here. Based on what Seigi just said, it sounds like your destiny is closely related to what we’re doing here. And…” “In that case, we cannot allow you to do anything that would lead the king to resent you.” Ikemaru pulled out a few coins and squeezed them in his hand. “At 7:10, Nakamura will defeat Osaka’s Chancellor and board a bullet train for Nagoya at New Osaka Station. We will begin a diversion at the same time. We must hurry and synchronize our timing to make sure that we do not get in his way and that inspection points are set up around the city.” Aoi nodded in agreement. “If anyone is going to do anything unnecessary, we might have to silence them.” When Shoui heard her mischievous tone of voice, he scratched his head and turned toward the city once more. And he surreptitiously placed a hand on his forehead. The scar below the bandanna ached. “I can’t believe this.” He spoke those words by proxy yet again and looked down at the city. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. Then he noticed something odd about the city. The flow of people on the road in front of the Osaka Hilton had been disturbed. The people would normally walk by the hotel, but most of the people visible below were slowly making their way inside the hotel. And all of them had one thing in common. They were all boys Shoui’s age wearing casual clothing. “It can’t be…” Ikemaru replied to the Dog God’s words behind Shoui. “So they’re here. …The special forces of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers are here to suppress us.” Shoui looked back over his shoulder at the other three. Takada looked up at him somewhat worriedly. Aoi’s eyebrows gave her a belligerent look that was the polar opposite of Takada’s expression. Ikemaru kept his eyes closed and toyed with the coins in his hand. Shoui asked them all a question. “Do you think Tokyo’s Chancellor will face Koto’s Chancellor?” “Osaka’s Chancellor comes first. After that, it depends how long he has until the bullet train leaves. It’s possible he’ll have to head for New Osaka Station without tying up all the loose ends.” Aoi took a breath. “But if she pursues him, I think he’ll kill her.” A serious look filled her face. She lightly placed her hexagonal rod against the floor. “The only things Nakamura lacks are the decisive attack power of a Rhythm and the experience of having killed someone. So if he has the Flame High and the Koto Guardian pursues him…” “The odds are good he will eliminate this country’s only Killing Holder.” “…” Shoui said nothing, crossed his arms, and leaned toward the window. He glanced outside and saw Takada reflected on the image of the city’s night. She looked worriedly up at him from the bed and the clock on the room’s wall was visible above her head. The white clock on the warm colored wall said it was 7:09. In another minute, the special forces of the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers would make their move below and the diversion Ikemaru had mentioned would begin. Shoui had only a minute left to make the one decision he was allowed. And when he looked out the window again, he heard a roar and saw light fall to earth from the western sky. It was one of Suzaku Ver. 40’s ether rounds. A single charge from one of those contained enough energy to destroy Private Showa’s schoolyard and this was a second charge. As he watched that light, Shoui repeated what Takada had said. “A liar, huh?” As soon as he did, he gave a large nod. “Time to go!!” With that shout, he forcefully turned toward Ikemaru and the others. – Shoui – Savate Tech – Take – Run – Hit. He reached full speed on the very first step. And as he ran forward, Aoi swung her hexagonal rod like a baseball bat. “I like that sort of thing…but it’s not enough!” However… – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Carry – Hit! – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Shield Dodge – Hit! Shoui snatched up Takada as she sat on the bed. “Kyah!” Her Dog God cried out for her and a look of shock appeared on Aoi’s face. “Y-you idiot!” With that, Aoi frantically diverted her swing upwards so as not to hit Takada. Shoui ducked below Aoi’s attack and the hexagonal rod grazed his hair. The door outside was right in front of him now. “Takahiro!” Ikemaru Takahiro moved in response to Aoi’s cry. He stood next to the door, so he removed his right glove and squeezed the coins in his hand. By that time, Shoui had already raised a leg to kick down the door as he ran. But Ikemaru calmly moved in front of Shoui and threw the coins forward. “Become shooting stars.” As soon as he said that, flares burst from behind the coins and they rocketed toward Shoui. The coins ignored Takada’s presence as they become meteors meant to strike their opponent. The speed and force they were given by brief words was equal to that of a clump of ore burning up in the atmosphere. Shoui charged straight toward the group of flaming bullets. “!” An explosion followed. ### Part 3 7:10 PM Shoui was blown away with Takada still in his arms. He had kicked one of Ikemaru’s shooting stars with the bottom of the foot raised to kick down the door. He used that to jump backwards. The shootings stars were even more powerful than he had expected. The others moved out ahead of him, broke through the bedroom window, and flew outside. Several spider web cracks ran through the window. “Seigi!?” Aoi raised her voice in concern just as Shoui crashed back-first into the cracked window. The window bent outwards with a sound like spilling sand. But that did not last long. The window was not strong enough to stop him. It broke. The shattering of the glass sounded like water thrown to the floor. Shoui and Takada were thrown outside along with the spray of solid water. This was the twentieth floor, so they were approximately eighty meters up and the winds between the buildings were strong. Shoui realized he was in the air. “I’m gonna fall!?” He could see the night above him. The city was below his downturned back. “I can’t believe this!” He gave a shout and Takada’s slender arms held onto him. How weak those tensed arms felt brought him back to his senses. He made up his mind with no more surprise or hesitation. As proof, he powerfully swung his legs as he floated in midair. – Shoui – Savate/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Attitude Control – Hit! He kicked off the window frame with his toe tips and used that to change his position in midair. He turned his face downwards so he was facing the ground and perpendicular to the building wall. He started to fall. Even so, he kicked at the building wall. He kicked himself downward. He chose to fall. He turned his back on the night sky and kicked powerfully off the wall. He had to escape from here. He kicked off the wall again and again to forcibly run down the wall. “————!” After only the third step, he had run down two stories. He was moving quickly. He was roused from the overflowing tension by the chilly sensation from one of Takada’s fingers as she wrapped her arms around his neck. It was the ring she wore. He did not know the meaning of that ring. But something else mattered more. “What can I use as footing…? That!?” A cleaning robot was slowly descending the windows. He landed straight on top of its boxy white body. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Land – Hit!! With an intense noise, parts of the cleaning machine burst off and the roof broke. The wire it dangled from loudly snapped. But Shoui had jumped again before the machine could completely break. His eyes were searching for a means of survival. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! He found it. It was a window frame. – Shoui – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Jump Control – Hit! He kicked sideways off of the slight protrusion of the window frame. “…!” He nearly lost control. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Attitude Control – Hit! But he maintained control. He ran. He continued to race. He seemed to fly downwards. The way he ran side to side from window to window was a lot like a skier in a speed race. But the speed of his fall was gradually converted into horizontal movement speed. He was moving quickly. After the current window frame, he looked to the next target object he needed to stay alive. A flag stuck out toward the road at the fifth floor. He used that as a stepping stone to further reduce the momentum of his fall. “Here we go!” He spoke to Takada who he held to his side. She responded by gathering strength in the arms around his neck. He made the jump. ### Part 4 Same Time Everyone in Osaka Prefectural #2’s schoolyard came to a halt when around a dozen students in lab coats ran out from Ixolde’s emergency passageway at one corner of the schoolyard. These were the students who had been controlling Ixolde. If they had fled, then Ixolde was done for. Everyone in the schoolyard came to a stop and looked at the lab coat group. A moment later, destruction arrived at the center of the schoolyard. “!” The first sound was an intensely solid one similar to splitting stone. As if in response, Ixolde’s equipment delivery hatch in the center of the schoolyard erupted up toward the heavens. The deafening noise was a simple yet gigantic physical blow. With the same force as the noise, the two panels of the fifty meter hatch flew through the night sky like sheets of plastic thrown into the wind for fun. After reaching about three hundred meters up, the two steel panels began to fall. The fifty meter panels fell from a height of three hundred meters. It was like a giant’s guillotine. No one could react to the massive cutting. Two sounds of breaking minerals followed. The first was one of the steel panels slicing Prefectural #2’s western school building in two and stabbing into the ground. The second was the other steel panel crushing the tall concrete wall surrounding the schoolyard. No one said a word. But not even one of them was looking where the steel panels had fallen. They were all focused on the large hole opened in the schoolyard. Fire burned in the depths of that hole and a warm light flickered like a wave as it left the hole. It was a gentle dance of light. And that night-illuminating dance revealed two silhouettes facing each other on the edge of the hole. One wore a student combat coat and held a sword downwards. The other was unarmed. A deep sound of destruction continued playing in the background as the unarmed one laughed. “Nice. I love things like this.” The one with the sword, Nanba Souichirou, asked a question that rang through the darkness. “What is it you want?” “To defeat you.” “Do you like fighting?” “No, that’s not it. I like to win. I like to stand at the top.” Nakamura sounded cheerful as he pulled something from his pocket. It was a headphone. He placed it in his ear. “So Saki’s information was correct,” said Souichirou. “You’re going to use the Flame High.” “Yeah, that’s right. My sister did too. The thing about Harmonists is we can’t use normal Rhythms or Wind Rhythms. We just can’t seem to get the hang of it. …But that inexperience with sound can come in handy.” “It allows you to grow accustomed to the Flame High’s ridiculous speed and Octave?” “Correct! Without any unnecessary knowledge, we can accept even the most powerful weapons!” He began a cheerful recitation. A red flower blooms in the darkness An empty party begins in strength Human memories dance within nothingness A soldier saves the king A woman becomes the queen A sage reminisces Run down another’s path without looking Choose your own path and sprint The true path lies in the future It took a beat before his full power could activate. But it did so in short order. Fire. Flames. A conflagration. The red blaze resembled all of those things yet was none of them. The flickering flames resided at the ends of his arms. This was the Flame High’s fire. The fire gave a scorching roar. It cried out as it bent its body atop his hands like living creatures. He held it up in front of his eyes. “Thanks for making my sister’s Rhythm. I had no other memento of her.” He took a fighting pose. He gently held his burning fists at his waist and pulled one leg back a little. It was an upright stance focused on kicks. He carved a speedy Tempo into the knee of his forward leg. “Now, it’s time I showed you what I can do with the Flame High.” He spoke the words that would begin this decisive battle. “Welcome to the White Noise!” ### Part 5 7:11 PM A single movement acted as a starting point for all the motion to follow. But it did not come from either of them. It came from the crater to their side. Down in that burning abyss, Ixolde took an important action. It created a giant explosion. “…!” Scorching sounds rang long and heavy with the force of a surging waterfall. A red flare surrounding a yellow core rose from the crater and toward the night sky. A rumbling much like a tremor or shockwave ran through the earth and air. It sounded like cracks were running through space itself. But that was not all. Actual cracks were running through the earth. The double helix Babel Gun rooted three hundred meters belowground was attempting to die. And everyone moving above it was caught in the middle. The earth roared once more. The end of a machine that had taken a decade to build was signaled by a great shockwave and rumbling. The schoolyard instantly collapsed. The ground became a giant rock jigsaw puzzle as it sank down into the subterranean flames to join Ixolde. The screams of those in the schoolyard joined the tones of destruction. Voices, destruction, and heat. Those three sounds complexly intertwined as two boys moved. The first to move was Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. He ran smoothly forward in his red mountain hoodie. He charged toward his opponent on the tilting and crumbling ground. Meanwhile, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou lightly swung his sword. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Impact Sword – Hit! His sword had been made into a divine item and it easily amplified the Kusanagi Rhythm he used. “Ah.” That monotone Live became a blade and raced through the air. Hisahide was a mere three meters away as he charged forward. Dodging the slicing shockwave would be impossible at that range. But Hisahide did not even try to dodge. He made a kick. He turned his back a little for a high-speed roundhouse kick that launched fire. The flames raced through the sky along the path of his toes and collided with Kusanagi’s shockwave. After a beat, a large flower of flame blossomed in the air. Kusanagi’s shockwave was burning. The monotone “ah” had lost to the Flame High’s high-speed Tempo and ignited. The shockwave that had split sound and crushed an ogre became a flower in the dark night. “Now it’s my turn to attack.” With those words, Hisahide took the initiative. He was less than three meters away now. At that distance, a Critical Forcer could arrive in range just by shifting their center of gravity. Hisahide first stuck his left leg forward and turned it into a rightward kick with a snap of his knee. Souichirou was right-handed, so a kick from his left side was hard to avoid. The kick was surrounded by flames that would burn through anything. But Souichirou did not dodge his enemy’s attack. – Souichirou – Sword/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Switch to Left Hand – Hit! – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Interception – Hit! Without taking a step back, Souichirou held the sword in his left hand rather than both hands. He did not hesitate to swing it to the left and send a shockwave toward the Flame High’s kick. “Ahhhhhh!” The sword wind released with his voice collided with the Flame High and instantly burned. The slicing wind was eliminated. And similarly, the flames guided by Hisahide’s kick were canceled out and vanished. The Flame High’s fire was gone. That created a brief opening. “!” Hisahide quickly tried to pull back his raised leg. But Souichirou did not overlook this opportunity. – Souichirou – Sword/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Switch to Both Hands – Hit! – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Savate/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Diagonal Slash – Hit! He took a deep step forward and swung a powerful blow from the hip. The silver arc became a slicing wave. Hisahide was surrounded by a shimmering as if from heat. The air immediately exploded along the path of that shimmering. Solid sounds overlapped, but this did not end it. Hisahide stood outside the path of slicing air. This was the power of a Harmonist. He could place himself outside of the flow of Lives created by Rhythms or Techs. “Damn! That was a…” He never managed to say “close one”. Souichirou was already taking his next action. “Another one!?” After swinging his sword diagonally upwards, Souichirou stood tall. And he took another step forward. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Thrust – Hit! The Kusanagi-wielding Strike Forcer used every Tech available to him to make a high speed thrust. The sword became a silver line wrapped in shimmering. Its target was Hisahide’s throat. That was where one uttered their Words. Or that should have been the target. Suddenly, a great tremor ran through the ground. “!” The earth shook. The section of ground Hisahide and Souichirou stood on tilted to the right thanks to the underground explosion. The speed of the thrust was somewhat dulled. But the attack did not stop. Everything apart in surprise and the thrust veered off course. The sword reached Hisahide’s right hand. It easily pierced straight through that right palm which was wrapped in some flames. The Flame High in Hisahide’s hand and the Kusanagi in Souichirou’s sword fully counteracted each other. The flames seemed to envelope the blade before bursting and vanishing. Kusanagi’s power was annihilated. Momentum simply carried the blade through Hisahide’s hand and shallowly into his right chest. But that was all. Souichirou’s attack was over. The two exchanged a glance while connected by three points: the swords, the palm, and the chest. Flames burned around them on the tilting ground and the crumbling earth provided background noise as Hisahide spoke. “It’s too bad. If that had been a slash, you would’ve sliced me in two. I didn’t expect you to go for thrusts and attacks from below. You were just unlucky there.” With that said, the Flame High boy clenched his pierced right hand to grab the blade. “Burn.” As soon as he spoke that one word, flames burst from Hisahide’s hand. The sword piercing his hand instantly set on fire and exploded. The Lives creating the sword had lost to the Flame High’s Lives. The Tempo of the flames burned through all other Lives. That intense burning attack was not satisfied with just the metal of the sword. – Souichirou – Mind/Dodge Tech – Multi-Auto-Take – Emergency Dodge – Miss! Souichirou removed both hands from the burning sword’s hilt. But he was too slow. The flames had already reached his right arm. “…!” Souichirou’s right false arm immediately burst into flames like it was kindling straw. – Souichirou – Savate/Steel Tech – Multi-Take – Cut Away – Hit! The electronic word circuits reacted faster than his reflexes and released the right arm at the shoulder. After the bolt locks were blown away and the arm came free, it turned to a blowing flame and Ashed before it reached the ground. As soon as the right arm burned away, the ground they stood on sunk down. As it did, flames burst from the cracks in the ground as scarlet jets of gas. The secondary destruction had begun belowground. “The center of Osaka is going to collapse from the backdraft,” said Hisahide as he licked up the blood coming from his right palm. “Let’s settle this before the Flame High ends.” Souichirou had lost his right arm and his sword had been burned, so he had no more weapons. Meanwhile, Hisahide walked forward. He walked toward Souichirou. “Aren’t you going to run away?” “Attack is the only word in the Modified Purple Electricity Style’s vocabulary.” “That’s the opposite of Aoi’s Shinkage Style.” Hisahide lightly swung his hand as he spoke. Flames trailed behind his hand. And then… – Souichirou – Sight Tech – Take – Spot – Hit! “Tokyo Chancellor, this battle will be a long one.” When he heard Souichirou’s voice, Hisahide stopped moving. The one-eyed warrior who had lost his right arm continued to speak. “Now that the Flame High has awoken, both the resentful voices of those devoured by the ogre two years ago and a great power are at work to keep this battle from ending too easily.” “…What are you talking about?” “I am not the only one that protests Osaka!” With those words, Souichirou jumped. – Souichirou – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit. He used the power of his false legs to jump too high for Hisahide to reach. When he looked down, he saw the crumbling schoolyard of Prefectural #2 and a sea of flames. None of his fellow students were there any longer. Saki had likely ordered them to evacuate. Only three people remained at the scene of destruction: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, and… “Killing Holder!” As soon as Souichirou shouted that Urban Name, Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki looked up into the night sky from one end of the schoolyard. ### Part 6 7:13 PM For the first time in thirteen years, Suzaku Ver. 40’s Word Particle Cannon was fired toward Osaka. Its light was visible as far away as Divine Punishment City – Yokohama. That was the coup de grâce against Ixolde and the signal that the next stage of the battle was beginning. ### 331. Chapter 2: The Battle Changes (Stage Selection Guide) ### Part 1 7:17 PM The night sky and the scattered winter stars were visible straight ahead. Only that great expanse could be seen and the ground was nowhere to be found. This was a view only available to someone lying parallel to the night sky. Shoui was the one enjoying that view. He felt déjà vu as his thoughts drifted in an almost sleepy sort of way. “I’ve seen an expanse of stars like this before.” For some reason, the thought was vocalized even though he did not open his mouth. Before he could wonder why, he realized where the déjà vu came from. It was from two years before. After he had been defeated by Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei’s sword strike, the night sky had filled his vision when he had come to. But back then, he had seen snow rather than stars. That scene was indelibly burned into his memory. –Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Release Memory – Hit. The memory was replayed as a video. It was a video of the past. It was snowing and he was indeed collapsed and staring up toward heaven. … I have to fight. If I don’t, I can’t protect Yuuki, he thought even though he had trouble moving. That was likely paralysis from the Lightning High Rhythm’s additional attack. But he could not accomplish anything if he did not move. –Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Strengthen Mind – Hit. “I have to fight!” He muttered those words as he got up. When he lowered his vision from the heavens to human height, he saw Yuuki. The girl he had needed to fight and protect had her back to him. Almost as if she were protecting him. He could sense no strength in her. “Yuuki…?” He did not even need to use a Sight Tech to notice a certain fact. A male right arm lay on the ground in front of her after being severed at the shoulder. “Yuuki…!” When he shouted, Yuuki looked back. She had lost her glasses and the right half of her face was dyed red with blood. A sword had stabbed her in the right eye. The blood had yet to stop. But her left eye looked to Shoui. As he stood up, his gaze audibly clashed with hers. She was tall, so her gaze was situated higher than his. As if to accept their age difference, she narrowed her one eye in a slight smile. Then she opened her mouth and spoke one simple word. “Sorry.” That was all. She closed her eye and collapsed backwards. He ran over and supported her. As he did, great pain ran through his forehead. As soon as that phantom pain struck his head like a hammer, the replayed memory was cut off by his own scream from two years ago and an external voice from the present. “Yuuki!?” / “Shoui-san!” He awoke in an instant. His eyes came into focus on the starry sky before them. A girl looked down at him with that winter sky in the background. It was Takada Seigi, the girl with the Urban Name of Fast Reader. “Please pull yourself together! You need to wake up!” Shoui obediently sat up while placing a hand on his forehead. He could see Osaka’s cityscape, but the neon and streetlights were flying backwards with surprising speed. –Shoui – Mind/Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. As he felt a vibration reaching him through his butt, he realized he was sitting in the back of a dump truck. The scene around him was moving because he was being carried down the road. The city continued to move around him and he could hear the city’s siren. Takada kneeled next to him with the Dog God. His mind was still muddy, so he asked for some confirmation. “We survived jumping down from that building?” “You don’t remember? You kicked off a pole, kicked off a traffic light, and then rolled on top of here.” Once she mentioned it, he did remember planning to do that. “I see.” He nodded. “How long was I out?” “Quite a while. While you were, some weird lightning struck over there. It was a completely straight line.” She pointed to some clouds in the southern sky. That was the only point in the night sky with any clouds and they were too small and oddly shaped to be natural. They were rainclouds created by loud noise, ionization, or extreme atmospheric convection. “A Word Particle Cannon, huh?” He clenched his teeth, but stopped almost immediately and slowly stood up instead. “They said Tokyo’s Chancellor and his group are escaping to Nagoya, didn’t they?” The Fourth Alarm’s siren continued to sound even after Suzaku Ver. 40’s Word Particle Cannon had fired. The battle was not over yet. “Takada-san, this dump truck will probably stop at that light up ahead, so you need to climb off and get to safety. I’ll keep going to New Osaka Station.” “Eh? Why New Osaka-…?” “The rest of Takada’s question was cut off by Shoui’s answer. “Because Yuuki will be pursuing Tokyo’s Chancellor.” “Why do you seek her?” Shoui could not answer that question. He had far too many reasons to pursue her. He felt like he could sum it all up, found he could not, and ultimately said nothing. The Dog God was unable to articulate his self-questioning, so Takada asked another question. “Do you not know?” He was unable to answer that and neither could the Dog God on his shoulder. Takada and her Dog God smiled bitterly. “Then I’m going to New Osaka Station with you. I’m supposed to go to Nagoya too.” She pulled a ticket from within her stole. Shoui noticed that it was a ticket for a designated seat on a bullet train. He sighed. “We can’t have a teenage boy and girl going on a trip without their parents’ permission.” “What are you talking about? Despite how Hisahide-san acts, he won’t do anything to me. Unlike you, Shoui-san.” “Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you’re a pretty rude girl, you know that!?” “Why are you getting so flustered? Honestly…” She went on to smile mischievously and held the ring on her right hand to her mouth. “But that’s not the only reason I’m going with you.” “Eh?” “I also want to see you, Shoui-san.” He thought on that for a bit and scratched his head. “You ‘also’ want to see me, hm? I can’t believe this.” “Hisahide-san is the main reason I am going there. …It’s the same for you, isn’t it?” Unable to answer that, Shoui asked a question of his own. “Why do you want to see me?” “As I said before, there is possibility in indecisive people.” “Possibility…” “They have a great number of options. …I ended my indecision and closed off those other paths, but it is possible I could have escaped the fear I had of my own power. It is possible could have become a Tuner or Buster instead of a Fast Reader.” She spoke with the city of Osaka moving by in the background. “I gave up on indecision.” “But you can’t just never make a decision.” “Yes, that’s true. The time will come when a decision must be made.” Takada looked up at Shoui. “But the stronger one’s indecision, the stronger their resolve when that time comes. And the greater one’s resolve, the more they will wander in indecision.” “In that case…” “Your prophecy fits into Hisahide-san’s Words, so your indecision and the decision it leads to will certainly bring great possibility to us…no, to the people around you and me.” She took a breath. “And that possibility can bring everyone happiness…or bring them unhappiness.” “I’m shocked.” Shoui smiled bitterly. “That’s why you’re staying with me? In order to point my possibility in as good a direction as possible?” “Yes. And as I said, you have what I gave up on.” “This is the first time anyone has been this deluded about what I’m capable of.” “Liar. Someone else has cared for you since long before this.” “I hope you don’t mean Old Lady Senga. I’ve already decided anything over 28 is too old.” Shoui felt a slight shaking below him as he gave that serious comment. The dump truck was coming to a stop. The city of Osaka slowed down around them and Takada asked him a question as he looked out toward New Osaka Station. “Please tell me one thing. When did you start thinking about her?” “When was it for you?” He returned the question as if bargaining with her. She looked a bit hesitant, but after two breaths, her usual expression returned. “At the summer festival two years ago. He said he needed my power and everything else about me. …Now, what about you?” When she returned the question to him again, he sighed. “Do I have to tell you?” “I told you.” “Girls are willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want, aren’t they?” “There is no point in letting shame hold you back on vacation… Now, will you answer me?” “It’s the continuation of the image you saw from my thoughts before. During the Kinki Riot, my house collapsed and I was…” His thoughts must have been reaching her because a cloud fell over Takada’s expression. At the same time, the dump truck stopped. The lurch caught Takada by surprise. “Ah.” The Dog God cried out for her and she started to topple over. –Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Pick Up – Hit. He supported her and picked her up. “I’m going to get off here. It would be dangerous to cause a scene on here.” “I’m sorry…” “Eh?” “I thought it was a happier story. I’m sorry.” As she apologized, he smiled a little and responded. “You sound just like Yuuki from two years ago.” “…Two years ago?” “When we first met wasn’t like that. After Yuuki worked with Old Lady Senga to pull me out into the light, she rejoiced that I was alive.” “Do you not want to apologize to her?” –Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Control Emotions – Hit. “I promised…to protect her.” With that, he turned his back on Takada. He could see the city of Osaka. He jumped down in that direction and spoke too quietly for Takada to hear. “I promised to fight…and protect her.” His voice jumped down to the road and his body followed. ### Part 2 7:25 PM The hustle and bustle of Osaka’s night grew duller and duller the farther one got from the city center. Northern Osaka’s border between noise and silence was the Yodo River, Osaka’s greatest river. It was about a kilometer wide and it was spanned by a few bridges. One of those was the New Yodo River Bridge which contained a wide road and had one primary geographic feature. The bridge was the shortest route between Osaka’s city center and New Osaka Station. There were no cars on the bridge. That was due to the Fourth Alarm. The ear-splitting siren rang from Osaka’s center. The sound seemed even louder as it was carried by the river’s winds. Two people ran across the New Yodo River Bridge as if pursued by that wind and noise. One was a youth in a T-shirt and jeans. The other was a girl with a large false left arm. The youth asked a question as he ran. “Are you okay? That Word Particle Cannon didn’t hurt you, did it?” “It might’ve if it had hit me directly, but the Dragon Emperor’s roar is enough to handle anythin’ else.” The false arm girl, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, lightly tapped the Dragon Emperor’s armor. As if answering the vibration of the tap, steam burst from the gaps between armor panels. “I can’t believe I had to take it up to the Seventh Activation, though.” “Is bringing it to too high an activation a problem?” “It eats up a ton of power. It’s a bit of a problem when I can only fire cannon blasts,” she explained as she ran. “And if I take it up to the final Ninth Activation, I’ll lose the Dragon Emperor’s arm itself.” “Rumor has it that would wake up the lightning dragon contained inside the thing.” “Don’t ya get too interested. When the Third Dragon Emperor was taken to its Final Activation durin’ World War Two, the wearer and everythin’ within a kilometer was turned to scorched earth.” “Wasn’t that because someone other than the original wearer tried to use it by force?” “The Dragon Emperor is a false arm with a dragon’s will, so it’ll try to kill any master it doesn’t take a likin’ to.” “That’s pretty scary. So it’s a false arm that’s on the verge of being Death Techno, huh?” “I guess. But it does seem that I’ve got some kinda connection with it. It’s probably watchin’ me while it sleeps inside this armor.” Taeko smiled bitterly. “I just hope it accepts me as its master when I go for the Final Activation.” “Instead, how about you pray you never come across a danger warranting that?” After that comment, Hisahide sneezed. “Damn, it’s cold.” They were in the middle of the bridge, where the wind on the river’s surface was strongest. Taeko glanced over at him as he bent forward and held his arms around his sides for warmth. “Maybe if ya hadn’t burned yer hoodie…” “I had to. I needed some kindling to spread the Flame High to the Word Particle Cannon’s light.” He sighed. “And after Takada chose it for me and everything…” “Oh, ya mean that girl who was hangin’ out with Shoui?” “Don’t put it like that.” “Why not?” He looked up at Taeko. “Because she’s my prophet.” “Well, she sees it that way too. What’s got ya so mad?” “…” “Jealous?” “Of course not.” Hisahide briefly fell silent. “I’m Tokyo’s Chancellor, I’m the strongest, I’m definitely the star of this incident, and I’m going to be king. I have no reason to feel jealous of or indebted to that Hizaka guy.” “Then what does that girl see in Shoui?” “I can never tell what girls are thinking.” “Ya can’t tell, huh? …Well, it sounds like ya trust her, so that’s fine.” Taeko gave a pleasantly bitter smile. “So all the resentment is directed at Shoui,” she said. –Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! But then she gave a sudden shout. “Jump!” For just an instant, they heard a roar from overhead. A moment later, both of them saw several giant icicles fall from above. “The Koto Chancellor!?” The thirty meter transparent masses dropped down after they had leaped out of the way. Several deafening noises and powerful impacts followed. One, two, and then three ice spears with sharp points stabbed into the New Yodo River Bridge. The destruction continued without stopping. –Taeko – Dodge/Gym/Savate Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Running Dodge – Hit! “That’s a helluva lot of power!” “This is no time to be praising her! She’s figured out my weakness as a Harmonist!” “Yer weakness?” “An attack with greater speed than my paradox. In other words, a surprise attack.” The giant icicles formed within the ether light that suddenly appeared overhead, so they were impossible to predict. Seven of them stabbed into the ground ahead of Taeko and Hisahide. They were well over ten meters in diameter, so they blocked the way as a wall. The two stopped and briefly saw ether light twinkling overhead. More were coming. And come they did. Eight icicles appeared overhead and giant hunks of rock came into view directly below. The Lives of the ether that formed the space around them was altered to change everything into ice weapons. This was the technique of the Cold High Rhythm user. It was the technique of Koto’s Chancellor. But Taeko fearlessly took action. She had already activated the Dragon Emperor, so she recited her Words as the dragon gave a cry. She shouted the song that summoned lightning. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The Dragon Emperor released bluish-white electricity from her shoulder, fist, and claws. Taeko took action in a big way. –Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Step Forward – Hit. –Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Leap – Hit. –Taeko – Lightning High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Ether Strike – Hit! She jumped and made a simultaneous smash uppercut with the Dragon Emperor to destroy one icicle. But the overwhelming difference in mass pulled the icicle down and tried to slam Taeko to the ground. Her jump was forced to a stop and her feet reached the bridge. But she managed to fully support the icicle with her one fist. “I can’t let myself die here!” With that cry, she finished swinging the Dragon Emperor. She was supported by the Dragon Emperor, her Techs, her Rhythm, her own physical strength, and the anti-shock inner suit she wore. The Dragon Emperor gave a roar. Then the icicle flew back up into the air, lightning surrounded it, and it broke. It shattered. With the sound of a broken waterfall, a transparent spray scattered through the sky. Taeko sighed as she looked up at it. “That was a close one… This is no laughin’ matter!” As soon as she said that, the ninth icicle arrived without warning. It dropped in no time. Taeko had already lost her chance to dodge and she was not prepared to attack. She could not move, but… “Get down!” Hisahide leaped over. He had his MD’s headphone in his ear. He spun in midair and swung up a foot that produced fire. The fire immediately grew into a flame that illuminated the ice while drawing a trail behind his foot. The clash of ice and heat was over before it began. The icicle burned. It became a giant torch thirty meters tall and ten meters wide, it lost its qualities as ice, and it was blown away by the pure flame. The mass of heat and flame fell over onto the New Yodo River Bridge and rolled loudly. The other icicles that had stabbed into the bridge were caught in the flames and ignited. The Flame High’s fire was spreading. And these icicles had been created by altering the ether’s Lives, so they burned especially well. Several giant pillars of fire were created. The ice burned. The seven giant icicles piercing the bridge became fiery towers. Their light called in a scorching wind. As the flames grew stronger, so did the wind. The bridge itself ignited and was enveloped by hellfire. Taeko and Hisahide maintained fighting poses as they looked across the burning field that had been a bridge. And… –Taeko – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Hear – Hit. “…!? The bridge is burnin’ down!” The flames reacted to her shout. With a blast of scorching wind, the flames rose up like a wall and the bridge was crushed. The collapse began at the locations weakened by the icicles piercing it. The center of the bridge crumbled over a length of three hundred meters. The road, the sidewalk, the railings, and the bridge girders all burned and sank into the flowing river. “Man, the Flame High kicks ass!” Hisahide acted like this had nothing to do with him even as the sounds of destruction surrounded him. Taeko asked a question next to him. “If Tokyo’s Chancellor had this much power, how’d she die during the Kinki Riot?” “Well, according to Iba, she was killed by his master, Yuuki Senga.” “Eh?” “A corporation was involved in the Kinki Riot and they wanted to end it via single combat between a representative of Tokyo and a representative of Osaka. …The corporation’s troops surrounded the two of them, so they had no choice but to go through with it.” The din of destruction drowned out Hisahide’s voice. But he did not stop speaking. “Then Yuuki Senga arrived and the two of them died. That’s all Iba is willing to tell me. I don’t know what Yuuki Senga did, but her arrival must have triggered the end. In other words, their death.” He added that he did not hold a grudge against anyone over that. His words vanished within the roaring of the flames. The only sounds were that roaring and the splashing of water. Pieces of the bridge were turning to fire in midair and vanishing into the Yodo River. The scene of destruction continued. And as it did… –Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. “Hey, ya’ve noticed this, haven’t ya?” “Yeah, I have. You mean this killer intent, right?” Taeko and Hisahide let the intense noise wash over them as they stared straight ahead. Three hundred meters away, the other end of the break in the bridge looked like a distant cliff. A girl stood there. She wore a red blazer modeled after the Suzaku and held a staff that resembled a giant tuning fork. She was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. Across the crumbling bridge and through the gaps in the red forest of burning pillars, they could see a blazer colored an even brighter red. “So the Killing Holder really is here!” There was excitement in Hisahide’s voice, but he turned around. “Ya aren’t gonna fight here?” “I’d be at a disadvantage in a wide open space like this. She’d just attack from above like before.” There was a smile on his face. A smile also appeared on Taeko’s lips and she nodded. “Yeah, I suppose so…” “And our real goal is getting to Nagoya. Takada will be on her way to the station too.” With that, he started running. Taeko followed while keeping her focus on Yuuki. Just as the two started running toward New Osaka Station, the destruction reached its climax. One of the bridge girders burned away and sank into the river. Flames scattered like snow and spread across the river’s surface as the air shimmered. The destruction of immense heat signaled its end. ### Part 3 7:29 PM Aoi and Ikemaru stood on the twentieth floor hallway of the Osaka Hilton. They stood before their room and they were repelling the enemies who had entered the hotel. The battle had a light start when Ikemaru turned the floor into an ocean while the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers members approached. As soon as the carpet-patterned ocean appeared everywhere except where Ikemaru and Aoi stood, Aoi used her Shinkage Style to copy Taeko’s lightning attack and used that on the ocean. That instantly defeated all of those who had sunk into or were sinking into the ocean. It was a nice combination. The two of them stood on the isolated island of floor located in front of their room. Beyond the end of the hall, they could hear quite a few people talking and moving around. It was most likely a second wave from the Osaka Chancellor’s Officers. Aoi spoke as she looked that way. “It’s ironic. Some of our enemy probably use the Modified Purple Electricity Style.” “Please do not let your guard down. The next group will soon-…” “Don’t be so strict. …I’m trying to gather my thoughts.” Aoi closed her eyes before saying more. “Takahiro…did you know this?” “Know what?” “The Dance Combat style born from the Kage Style split between an Osaka and an Edo Style that fought for supremacy.” “…” “But the eastern style fell into decline after the war. Then…was it twenty years ago? The elder of the Aoi family unscientifically claimed the reason behind the decline was in our blood and snatched a girl away from the main western family.” And… “Now, the sole survivor of the eastern style…is kicking their asses like this. It’s kind of ironic, really.” When she said that, Aoi felt someone gently embrace her from behind and heard a whisper in her ear. “…Aoi-san.” “Hm? What?” “You did not come here to fight.” Hearing that, she opened her eyes and smiled a little. “Yes,” she began. “That’s right. Once this battle is over, let’s go look for those cherry blossoms. If we can find those, then a Shinkage Style created to fight may not be so worthless after all.” “Can you make that decision in the place your parents first met?” “Yes. And if we do find that place…I have a request, Takahiro.” “What is it?” “Hold me tight…and don’t let go.” She giggled and gently elbowed confused Ikemaru in the chest. “The battle isn’t over yet, but don’t push yourself too hard. I don’t want you collapsing like you did when you created Seigi’s Dog God.” “I believe I have grown since then.” “It’s only been five years, right? Your height’s the only thing that’s grown.” “Aren’t you judging me rather harshly?” “But you have the exact same look on your face as back then.” “The same look on my face?” “Whatever you might say, you always get this hint of a smile when you know you can use your power to its fullest.” She sighed and added, “That’s the opposite of me.” She then looked to Takahiro’s hands as he hugged her. When he noticed her gaze, he spoke. “Do not worry. I cannot speak to the Lives while holding you in my arms.” “And you don’t need to worry about me. …Why do you think I was training in the Shinkage Style?” “Wasn’t it because your mother asked you to?” “Do you really think a girl of five would train under that man for nothing more than that?” Aoi smiled bitterly. Then the cellphone in Ikemaru’s pocket rang. “Excuse me.” With that, he let go of her. Aoi leaned back against the door as he pulled out the phone and held it to his ear. “It’s from Nakamura. It’s about my cousin.” “In other words, it’s for me, huh?” She gave a troubled look as she took the phone. “It’s Aoi.” “Hey. Just won. On my way to New Osaka. Any word on Takada?” “Could you maybe speak in complete sentences?” “I’m in a hurry. I was having some fun and got hit by a Word Particle Cannon, so I burned my hoodie and now I’m freezing.” “Burned it? So I take it you stole the Flame High?” “I put a lot of work into it.” “That was all thanks to Takahiro’s charm, wasn’t it? You didn’t lose the other one, did you?” “No. I’m about to use the charm to steal a bullet train with Nagoya’s Chancellor. …So where’s Takada?” “Seigi, well… Y’know that boy we picked up earlier? She left with him.” “I see… Oh, crap! She’s catching up, so I’ve gotta run.” “She?” “Koto’s Chancellor! I haven’t re-listened to the Flame High yet, so this is bad timing. …Later!” Just before he hung up, Aoi heard Nagoya’s Chancellor shouting. The shout apparently accompanied some kind of attack. Probably aimed at their pursuer. “I see.” Aoi nodded and returned the phone to Ikemaru. “Sounds like everything’s more or less going as planned. Iba must be doing well outside.” As soon as she said that, a change came over the ocean. Starting from the far end of the hallway, the slightly wavy carpet turned white. It was ice. The ocean was being frozen. “It would seem they called in a holy spell user. …They are cleverer than I gave them credit for.” “What should I do?” asked Aoi. “Fire Kusanagi?” Ikemaru suddenly embraced her again. “…Eh?” Before she could ask anything, he opened their room’s door with one hand, placed her inside, and closed the door. He shut only her inside the room. She blankly stood there for a few seconds, but then she realized what had happened and turned back toward the door. “H-hey! Takahiro! What do you think you’re doing!?” She received an answer from beyond the door. “I shall crush Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers here. But there is a danger of you being caught in the middle…so please stay in the room.” “What are you planning to do?” “To use my power. I shall use my kotodama power to its fullest.” His answer was punctuated by gunfire. Aoi heard the almost pleasant bursting sounds through the door. “T-Takahiro!” “Is something the matter?” “You idiot! Why are you getting yourself shot!?” “Calm down. I have not been hit ye-…” He paused for a second. “I have been grazed once. My apologies.” “How can you be so calm!? Open this door. I’ll support you!” “Become a wall.” The door became a wall. “Stop that! Takahiro!” “Please. I am trying to focus.” “Focus…? What are you trying to do!?” “One of the hotel’s main supports runs through the side wall here and I can only speak to it from the hallway.” Before he could finish speaking, Aoi kicked at the wall that had been a door. “What are you planning to do with the entire building’s kotodama !? If you just want to defeat them, there are better battlefields!” “But those would not function as a diversion… And those would not allow me to understand them.” “…Eh?” “Don’t you find them to be baffling? Why can they not do what we do? And why can we not do what they do?” Aoi could hear a slight smile in Takahiro’s question, so she asked a question of her own. “They? Do you mean Seigi and that boy?” “ ‘Everyone but us’ may be the better answer. I have never before seen anyone who can act while filled with such great indecision.” “Well, Seigi would say we’re the ones who’ve cut off our own indecision. …And open up already. I can hear all that gunfire!” “You said you were jealous of Takada, didn’t you?” She stopped moving when she heard his question. And he said more. “I had already met you when I created the Dog God from Takada. That is why I could not allow her indecision to contin-…” “Takahiro!!” “…Yes?” “She was the one who decided to close off her path to being a Tuner or Buster! That wasn’t because you gave her the Dog God. Don’t be so conceited.” His silence was filled by gunfire. Aoi ignored the sounds of bullets as she spoke. “The fact that you aren’t honest, that you’re strict on Hisahide, and that you’re blunt with Seigi are two sides of the same coin, aren’t they? Just like with the Shinkage Style’s raison d’etre, the one side is strong because the other side is also strong.” “…” “Well? Am I wrong?” “Making assumptions about others’ thoughts is a bad habit of the O blood type.” “The blood type horoscope doesn’t matter, so just open this already.” “Unfortunately, that would not fulfill the prophecy.” “The prophecy?” “The prophecy of the king’s birth. The red flower should bloom toward the sky, not underground.” A moment later, a giant glowing blade stabbed through the door before Aoi’s eyes. It was an anti-demon round. That special sort of bullet had been developed in Europe. The blade was created by solidifying the ether’s Lives as light and it rolled across the room. She could see Ikemaru’s face in the narrow gap created in the door. He had lost his glasses and his face and clothes were both stained with blood. That was the result of the gunfire. Aoi honestly gasped. “…” But after a moment’s hesitation, she finally smiled toward him. “I see… So Seigi wasn’t the only one you were jealous of.” “…” “You’re really cool, Takahiro.” “I was waiting for you to say that.” He smiled a little. “Whether or not you find the cherry blossoms, whether or not he becomes the king, and whether or not the east and west reunite are all an issue of possibility.” “And so we too need to step inside that ring of possibility?” “At the very least, that boy increased his possibility by jumping out that window. That should have left him with zero possibility, but he transformed it into an uncertain future.” “Then do you know why he jumped out that window?” “Yes.” “In that case,” she said. “You’ve found someone to pursue, just like that boy and Hisahide have.” “My apologies. This does not mean I have any complaints about the current state of affairs.” “It’s fine, if it’ll help everyone out.” “Everyone?” “You’re a businessman, aren’t you? Then you need to make everyone happy.” When he heard that, Takahiro’s smile grew bitter. At the same time… “Please leave this building. I will now turn it into a flower.” Hijiri obediently began to run. She turned her back on Takahiro and did not hesitate to run for the window. As she did, leaf veins appeared on the walls and floor. Just before she jumped out the window, she looked back. “Takahiro! I’ll see you again below those cherry trees! Don’t give up and continue searching!” A bitter smile came to her lips as she spoke. “Honestly. You deny it, but you really are a competitive boy!!” Her voice was soon a part of the night sky. ### Part 4 7:36 PM Rectangular New Osaka Station was longer to the east and west. When Yuuki stepped inside the eastern entrance of its bullet train platform, the first thing she did was raise Housei and use a spell. On the way, she had called Senga on her cellphone and had the station evacuated. She poured all power into the spell. –Yuuki – Cold High/Shot Tech – Take – Icicle Drop – Hit. She aimed Housei above the front car rather than the third car in front of her. Three icicles around ten meters tall appeared below the atrium platform’s roof and gravity pulled them down into the bullet train’s front car. After the great roar of destruction, the bullet train could no longer move. She then held Housei at an angle to aim it toward the bullet train itself. She swept it across the entire car for a broad-range spell that could sweep through the enemy as well as the car. She did not bother searching out the enemy’s exact location and challenging them to a duel. If her enemy was cornered, she just had to crush their hideout and them inside it. That was the Killing Holder’s decision. She frowned a little while wielding Housei. Before she hit the firing switch, some words escaped her lips. “Even after this is over, I doubt he will have changed…” The words faded and vanished. In their place, she emitted a tense or solid presence. All expression left her face. The area was filled with a strict atmosphere that did not allow the slightest tremor or movement. And just as she was going to use her power through Housei, the train produced a metallic sound and shook violently. “!?” This was not a slight tremor. It was the sudden lurch of a train about to move forward. Yuuki did not move in the slightest as she held Housei at the ready, but she did stop firing. She narrowed her eyes and looked ahead with her natural left eye. The next movement began with a sound. It was the metallic sound of the train cars’ connectors bumping together. Another vibration ran through the platform. Then something changed. The front car suddenly started forward as if it had been kicked. “What!?” Yuuki’s shock was ignored as the three icicles piercing the train’s roof were broken. With the sound of shattering glass, one fell on the platform, one on the opposite track, and the last one straight forward where it crushed the front of the car where the driver’s compartment was. But… “It’s moving!?” The front car continued its attempt to move forward. Something was not right. It was definitely not the train’s internal engine providing this driving force. The bottom of the icicles was still connecting the front car to the track, but the car moved as if writhing and the icicles broke there as well. The bullet train trembled as it moved forward. It very, very slowly picked up speed as it left for Nagoya. The open doors closed far more slowly than normal. Yuuki started to run. The train was still moving slowly, so she ran faster than it and jumped to the front door of the second car. And as she did… –Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit!! It was just an instant, but she saw someone arriving through the platform’s central entrance. It was a boy with a bandanna over his forehead and a girl in a white stole. But Yuuki did not bother to watch them as she landed on the narrow deck over the connector. The door closed behind her, cutting off all noise from the outside world. She looked out the window and found they had already left the station. She saw a residential district over the elevated track’s wall. The bullet train would travel above that residential district for a few minutes after leaving New Osaka Station. The lights of the houses moved by faster and faster as the train accelerated above the sea of lights that meant people lived there. Yuuki remained silent as she watched them move by. Without saying a word, she looked away from the window and faced forward. A passageway led to the front car. She aimed Housei down it and set the output adjustment switch on the grip to the lowest setting. She used one hand to remove the Cold High Rhythm disk from the MD in her pocket. She pulled the Aqua High Rhythm disk from her pocket and stuck it inside the MD instead. She switched it on. She held Housei below her right arm and thus between her blouse and the collar of her unique blazer. Then she moved forward. The door between cars stood in her way like a wall. –Yuuki – Aqua High/Shot Tech – Take – Water Spell Shot – Hit. With a bubbling sound, the door’s lock was blown away by high pressure water. The door opened when the train shook slightly. She took a step forward to enter the connection between the second and front car and fired at the lock of the next door in her way. She continued onto the rear deck of the front car. As she walked, she glanced to the window installed in the wall. The view outside was moving backwards quite quickly, but they had yet to leave the residential district. “…” With no change of expression, she fired Housei into the door leading to the front car’s passenger area. After a solid sound, this door too slowly opened. She could see the smaller passenger area up ahead. She saw two people standing in front of the wall that divided the driver’s compartment from the passenger area. One was Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. The other was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Once she confirmed who they were, Yuuki looked to the wall behind them. There was a single red charm in the center of the wall. The wall had transformed around it and vein-like lines bulged out. The deeply-rooted veins were all pulsating equally. –Yuuki – Unknown Spell/Sight Tech – Multi-Take – Determine Spell – Hit! “So you used the charm to recite speed.” Hisahide nodded in confirmation. “That means this thing ain’t stopping until it reaches Nagoya.” With that, he took a step toward her. And… –Yuuki – Aqua High/Shot Tech – Take – Water Spell Shot – Hit. As she held Housei under her arm, light filled its Live Accelerator and it fired water. ### 332. Chapter 3: An Ending (Game Over Conditions) ### Part 1 7:40 PM Yuuki fired water from the end of Housei. The straight-line shot was like a stake containing incredible pressure. A transparent drill several millimeters thick flew forward. She fired between the two enemies. A red charm was attached to the wall there. That charm was moving the train. The supersonic pressurized water was right on target in order pierce through the crimson paper. But… “How naïve.” With those words, red flames consumed the water from the front. This was the Flame High. The all-piercing, colorless stake burned like oil in the flame blazing in Hisahide’s hand. The Ether Lives forming the water burned and turned to ash. And the flames did not stop there. The Flame High Rhythm user ran straight toward Yuuki. Yuuki reacted by firing again. – Yuuki – Gym Tech – Take – Prepare For Rapid Fire – Hit. – Yuuki – Aqua High/Shot Tech – Multi-Take – Water Spell Rapid Fire – Hit. Just as all of the spells activated and the water flew, Hisahide vanished from her vision. This was his power as a Harmonist. As long as he could react to something, he could move with even greater speed than it. It was a White Noise technique that only Hisahide could use due to his ignorance of Techs. The many lines of water passed through the spot he had just been in. He was outside of that. She could not even take a breath before his attack was on its way. But she took action without panicking. She held up a hand and swung it. “Water!” With that word, the air around her feet whipped up into a wind. – Yuuki – Water High/Mind Tech – Take – Water Spell Barrier – Hit! The Ether Lives forming the air came into contact with her Rhythm and became something else. Water spears thrust up from the ground. The colorless blades drew a circle around Yuuki as they thrust up toward heaven. And… “Gh!” With a short groan, someone was thrown atop the seat to her right. It was Hisahide. He knocked over two seats with broken backs and fell between more of the seats. He was not moving. Without even glancing that way, Yuuki looked to Taeko on the far end of the car. “So you’re next.” Taeko took a defensive pose with the Dragon Emperor and looked to Yuuki. She glared at Yuuki. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when yer the Killin’ Holder…” “What will you do? This is your last chance to surrender.” “Did my brother surrender to ya?” Yuuki fell silent as the girl asked her question from beyond the Dragon Emperor. The silence lasted a few moments, but then she slowly answered. “He was dead before he had the chance.” Taeko reacted with immediate movement. However, that movement came to a sudden end thanks to a certain noise. The Dragon Emperor gave a cry. ### Part 2 7:42 PM It was a cry of lamentation. The Dragon Emperor released a long and loud cry from its shoulder armor as if wringing out its lungs. It was an almost tearful and plaintive howl. Surprise colored Taeko’s face when she heard it. “Dragon Emperor…!?” Before she could ask anything of it, the Dragon Emperor’s engine noise began to lower. The pulse-like engine noise of that false arm’s Eighth Activation slowly vanished. It grew quieter and quieter. Taeko looked to Yuuki for a moment and then gave a panicked shout. “D-Dragon Emperor! What’re ya doin’!? Hurry up and activate!!” – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Activate Dragon Emperor – Hit! Her Tech succeeded, but the dragon ignored its master and cried. The long, lonely cry reverberated through the train car. “Dragon Emperor! She killed my brother!” Taeko’s voice did not reach it. It ignored her, lost all strength, and let its giant fist fall to the floor. Taeko fell to her knees at the Dragon Emperor’s unexpected deactivation. The dragon’s will vanished, so the Dragon’s Emperor became nothing more than a hunk of metal to reject her attempt to fight. That meant it had not accepted her as its master. “Dragon Emperor!” – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Reactivate Dragon Emperor – Hit! Even though the Tech succeeded, the metal disobeyed and gave no response. “Why…?” “Bringing the Dragon Emperor to such a high activation was a mistake. Once the dragon’s will awoke, the prosthetic disobeyed you.” “…But why?” “What do you mean why?” “Why would the dragon’s will refuse to fight ya!? The dragon’s will can see people’s wills and supply them with heaven’s will, so why won’t it attack ya!?” Yuuki ignored Taeko’s question. She did not respond and simply held Housei at the ready as she spoke. “Will you surrender?” “Why would we surrender!?” With a shout full of rejection, someone charged in from Yuuki’s right. It was Hisahide. In a single bound, he rose nearly to the ceiling and landed in the center of the aisle. He stood at the midpoint between Yuuki and Taeko. He stood tall, but he was covered in blood. The blood was coming from his right collarbone, his right chest, and his left side. He held his side as he spoke. “So you get us used to attacks from straight ahead and finish it off with something from directly below? You play pretty dirty.” Yuuki attacked without warning. – Yuuki – Aqua High/Sight/Shot Tech – Take – Create Water Barrier – Hit. Her vision filled with a giant wall of water formed from the whirling wind. The water created a high-pressure current in the wall. It smashed the seats and pressed on the air as it raced forward like a bulldozer. It was an instant away from a direct hit, but then the wall came to a sudden stop. “…!?” A few meters in front of Yuuki, Hisahide threw a kick beyond that transparent wall. He dropped his heel down. As usual, flames surrounded that foot. The one difference was the amount of fire. This was an explosion. Unlike before, the flames reached an Octave of more than 1,000,000. “Don’t you underestimate me!!” The flying water wall was burned to ashes by the Flame High. As he swung his foot down with the force of an axe, the explosive flames flew out toward Yuki. Yuuki reacted by staring at her opponent’s fire using her natural left eye. The power of incineration descended with a diameter of about two meters. –Yuuki – Aqua High/Sight/Shot Tech – Take – Create Water Barrier – Hit. The water she created was kicked into oblivion while it was still small. As she tried to move back, her back reached the door leading to the connection between cars. “…!?” She had destroyed the door’s lock, so she could easily open it if she reached for it. But she did not have time for that. “…Kh!” With a hint of panic, she knew the attack would reach her. But in that instant, the door behind her burst open and someone behind her grabbed her in their arms. ### Part 3 7:44 PM It all happened in an instant. As soon as the door with the broken lock was opened, Shoui noticed Yuuki’s back in front of him. – Shoui – Sight/Tactical Tech – Multi-Auto-Take – Confirm Situation – Hit! – Shoui – Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi- Take – Grab – Hit. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Multi-Counter-Take – Great Dodge – Hit! – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Prepare for Landing – Hit! He quickly fell back with Yuuki in his arms. He moved back to the front car’s rear deck, the second car’s front deck, and back halfway through the passenger space after opening the door to the second car. Yuuki looked back in his arms. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Identify Individual – Hit. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Intimidate – Hit! – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Counter-Take – Ignore – Hit. – Yuuki – Gym/Dodge Tech – Take – Release – Hit! – Shoui – Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Counter-Take – Grab – Miss. Yuuki forced his arms off of her and stood up. At the same time, the door to the front deck was knocked down with embers flying everywhere. Shoui stood with his back to the embers to protect Yuuki. And he looked directly at Yuuki. The Dog God on his shoulder expressed his thoughts for him. “Please hurry away from here. Not even you can win this, Yuuki.” “Hizaka Shoui…” “Y-yes?” When she called his name and he answered, the look on her face changed slightly. An expression briefly entered her natural left eye. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Hit – Decode Expression – Hit. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Counter-Hit – Psychological Resistance – Hit! Her thoughts immediately vanished from her face. Instead, she spoke. “Hizaka…Shoui.” “What is it you want? We need to hurry.” Before he could say the enemy was approaching, she seemed to spit some words out onto the floor. “Why are you here?” “I promised on that night three years ago I’d protect you, didn’t I?” “I do not remember making any such promise with you.” “…Eh?” He frowned and she gave a simple reaction. She ignored him. Instead of at him, the Killing Holder was now looking to the front car where their enemy was. The Dog God frantically spoke up as the power of her cold eyes pierced Shoui’s heart. “Wh-what does that mean!?” He had nothing further to say and she did not answer his question. She rejected him. The answer could be found in her behavior. And a voice spoke from behind him as if to mock his thoughts. “What’s this? I thought you were supposed to help me become king.” – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Hit – Detect Killer Intent – Hit. Shoui turned around in surprise and saw Hisahide stepping in from the front deck. His clothes were dyed with blood and he stood proudly tall as he looked back Shoui’s way. The horribly heated look in his sharp eyes contrasted Yuuki’s cold gaze. Shoui’s Dog God hid behind his back in apparent fear of the boy’s gaze. Hisahide laughed a little at the small animal’s reaction. “Outta the way, kid. Takada might like you, but get in the way and I’ll turn you to ashes.” His warning was filled with a number of emotions, including jealousy and intimidation. But Shoui was not the one to respond. Nor was Yuuki. A girl’s voice responded. “That’s going a little too far, Hisahide-san.” It was Takada’s voice. ### Part 4 7:48 PM A small figure with a stole over her shoulders stood from the seat to Shoui’s right. It was Takada Seigi. She moved to the aisle and stood between Shoui and Nakamura. She looked to the darkness out the window rather than either of the boys. “This is a crossroads. With the current possibilities, you can become king if you survive here.” “Takada.” Hisahide’s somewhat irritated voice responded to Takada’s gentle one. “Are you trying to stop this showdown?” “What if I am?” “The thing about guys is, we want to be the strongest. Can you really stop that?” A short silence followed. Hisahide remained motionless, Takada did the same, and Shoui followed suit as he watched them. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. Shoui heard a quiet whirring noise from behind him. It was Yuuki’s MD stopping. Beyond Takada, Hisahide’s MD had also stopped playing its Rhythm. The Rhythms they used to fight had stopped. That brought a certain thought to Shoui’s mind. … Is the battle over? But then he realized something. The Dog God had not voiced that thought. … ? Puzzled, he looked back over his shoulder. The Dog God was still hiding from Hisahide as if dangling from his shoulder. The small light brown animal was suspiciously looking behind him. That was of course where Yuuki stood. The Dog God was frozen in place watching her. … What does that mean? The thought remained trapped inside Shoui and did not come out. Instead, he heard Takada’s voice from her Dog God. “Shoui-san.” He quickly looked forward when she spoke his name. She looked up at him with her dark eyes. She reached for Taromaru on her shoulder and held his small body in her hand. As she rubbed the Dog God’s throat, she opened her mouth. “Please. Convince the Koto Chancellor to leave and then leave with her.” She smiled a little, but when Shoui gulped, it had more to do with hearing her voice directly for the first time. He thought about her voice, what her words meant, and what it meant to do as she said. He recalled a portion of the prophecy she had recited. A king resents him A queen smiles at him A sage resigns himself … Is that referring to now? As soon as he asked himself that, Hisahide opened his mouth again. “Wait, Takada. …Do we really have to rely on him?” “That is the best way of hurting the fewest people.” Takada turned her back on Shoui to face Hisahide. Hisahide glanced over her shoulder to Shoui and sighed in exhaustion. “I see you didn’t use your physical voice for me…” With a dull expression, Hisahide sent his direct killer intent Shoui’s way. “To be honest, I don’t like how you’ve taken a liking to someone weaker than me.” “Are you still saying that kind of thing? Nobody likes a jealous boy.” “That may be, but I want you by my side.” Those words rang in Shoui’s ears. He reflexively looked into Hisahide’s eyes. Rather than clashing, their gazes seemed to melt together. … He’s the same. Shoui did not even need to think about what about Hisahide was the same. He suddenly found his body relaxing. He lost the will to fight and felt oddly fulfilled. So he fearlessly accepted Hisahide’s gaze and prepared to turn his back. “…Yuuki.” Just as he said that… – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! A gale-like presence slammed into him from beyond Takada and Hisahide. ### Part 5 7:57 PM “!?” Before Shoui could ask what was going on, the owner of the presence gave a powerful roar. “Yuuki Yuuki!! Answer me! Why does the Dragon Emperor see ya as good!?” It was Taeko. The Dragon Emperor produced a shallow sound of activation. “Boss!?” Shoui was conflicted. Beyond Takada and Hisahide, he could see Taeko with the Dragon Emperor at the ready. This was dangerous. He knew that. An atmosphere so intense it brought pain shot across the train car and ruled their surroundings. But Shoui was conflicted. Should he stop Taeko? Should he wait for Takada and Hisahide to do something since they stood between him and Taeko? Should he protect Yuuki? This should not have been a hard decision to make, but the doubt in his heart filled him with indecision. He doubted whether he really needed to protect a girl who knew she was the Killing Holder. Just as Yuuki had forgotten his three-year-old promise, Shoui only knew Yuuki from before she had killed. And so he hesitated. He came to a stop and someone else took action instead: Hisahide. He shoved Takada to the ground in front of him and slapped his MD’s switch in. Shoui remained motionless as the Flame High user began to move. He began a slow turn to face Taeko. “You moron! I thought you weren’t gonna fight!” – Shoui – Mind/Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Decode Expression – Hit. A look of both surprise and confusion came to Hisahide’s face. Hisahide’s eyes turned to Yuuki behind Shoui. … What did Yuuki do!? Shoui’s silent question was answered in an unexpected way. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Miss. An intense weight slammed down on top of his right shoulder. “!?” – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Control Stance – Miss. The blow knocked him to his knees and he saw something like a giant metal rod on top of his shoulder. It was Housei. Yuuki was aiming the weapon with Shoui’s shoulder acting as a prop. But that was not all. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit! The intro of some horribly clear music reached his ears. It was the Cold High Rhythm. Yuuki was preparing to fire a blast of ice rather than water at Taeko. It was one of the Cold High Rhythm’s frozen shots that had once killed Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei. “Yuuki!?” As if in response to the Dog God’s yell, flames enveloped Hisahide’s leg as Takada lay on the floor next to him. A series of motions began with those flames. Housei prepared to fire its ether light. Hisahide swung up the leg covered in the Flame High while keeping an eye on Taeko’s movements behind him. Shoui remained motionless as it all approached the conclusion. Or it should have. However, someone rebuked Shoui. It was Takada. “You can’t let this happen! Stop them, Shoui-san!” She did more than just shout. She stood up. And with that simple action, it all fell apart. The Harmonist could not react to the sudden movement. And in accordance with the rules, Hisahide’s sideways sweeping foot pierced through Takada’s unexpectedly raised torso. “…!” All Shoui saw was the fact that Hisahide had kicked Takada. As planned, the boy’s kick cut through Yuuki’s icy blast as it swept through Takada’s torso, rotated in a compact arc behind him, and kicked away Taeko’s lightning blast. The powers of ice and lightning were turned to ashes. The same fate awaited Takada. As she doubled over and collapsed, her body was covered in fire. The first to burn away was her clothing. Next came her hands and Taromaru on her shoulder. “Takada-san…!” Shoui stepped forward to support her as she collapsed. But… – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Restraint – Miss! His actions were stopped by an odd impulse inside his heart. ### Part 6 7:58 PM It was the fire. The flames filling Takada stopped him from moving. Someone was burning. He had to save her. But his feet would not move forward. He realized his face and body were stiff with tension. An emotion that controlled his body more than his mind had frozen him and it refused to go away. His legs, his body, and his arms did something other than move forward. They trembled. His body was ruled by a bone-rattling exhaustion and chill and a sharp pain stabbed into his forehead. The sword wound he had received two years before filled his head with a powerful phantom pain. This chilly emotion brought back his memories of the past and sent a tremor through his body. That emotion was known as fear. But… … How strange. The fear permeating his body now was not of the unknown. It was a pure fear that did not even include any curiosity. … I’ve never seen the Flame High’s fire before, so why!? That rational part of his mind was shattered by a cry of instinct. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Restraint – Miss! “Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!” He heard a scream escape his own mouth. It was an unpleasant voice. It was a loud, ear-splitting voice that seemed to squeeze all the air from his lungs. He tried to stop it but could not. He wailed. A voice answered his cry. “Takada!” It was Hisahide. As Shoui motionlessly screamed, Hisahide called Takada’s name and supported her body. When he held her upper body from behind, her waist and below fell to the floor. The Flame High strike had bisected her torso. Both her clothing and her entire body were enveloped in flames and burning. Shoui saw her detached lower body turn to ashes on the floor. Her stole gradually turned to ashes and scattered into the air, starting from the bottom. On her shoulder, Taromaru grew entirely white and vanished into a wisp of ash. The Dog God on Shoui’s shoulder gave a small cry. It was a long, drawn-out, and metallic animal cry. Taeko ran over from behind Hisahide. “A-are ya all right!?” But Hisahide ignored her and tried to turn Takada to face him in his arms. It was too late. In that instant, Takada turned to ashes inside his weak grasp. She Ashed. “…” Everyone remained motionless as white sand-like ashes spilled to the floor. Hisahide clawed at the air as if to prevent the ashes from reaching the floor. It was a pointless action. What had been Takada spread out across the floor. Hisahide fell to his knees amid the white ashes. He spread out his arms and scraped the ashes together in front of him. His hands moved a second and third time before stopping. He hung his head, so Shoui could not see his face. Hisahide simply clenched his fists to squeeze together the ashes he had gathered in his hands. “Oh.” A quiet voice escaped his mouth. “Ohh…” It continued. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” He roared. He sprang to his feet. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Tech – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! Hisahide ran through the train and struck Shoui with a presence that had nearly physical intensity. He roared. He looked up to the ceiling and raised his voice. The monotone voice seemed unlike a cry of sorrow, a roar of motivation, or a howl of anger, and yet like all of them at once. The simple voice grew louder and louder. As it did, shimmering heat and a white light surrounded him. “————!” The voice stopped. Nakamura Hisahide looked to Shoui. Nakamura was not crying. He was not smiling and there was no anger in his eyes. He looked to Shoui with an expressionless face. It was the look of a Killing Holder. He then continued forward. He took one step. Shoui was still on the ground and he took a step back while facing the other boy. His back ran into Yuuki’s legs. She did not retreat. Ether light filled Housei as it rested on Shoui’s shoulder. At the same time, Nakamura continued wordlessly forward. Every action was controlled by the name Killing Holder. Before Nakamura could launch his fiery kick, Yuuki’s spell activated. A giant icicle appeared above his head. “!” The icicle stabbed straight through the train in between Shoui and Yuuki’s position and Taeko and Hisahide’s position. The metal screamed as the train was torn in two. ### Part 7 8:01 PM Below the night sky, an icicle broke through the roof of an Osaka bullet train and stabbed into the track below. It was a giant stake. Of the bullet train’s twelve cars, the stake pierced the second one, which accomplished two things. First, it brought all the cars behind that to a stop. Second, the second car was split from the front. The front car possessed a will driving it forward. The sound of ripping metal only lasted an instant. The back of the front two cars was torn and they jerked forward as they took off again. A moment later, the ice stake was overwhelmed by the momentum of the other cars and shattered. Of course, it did not end there. Amid a tremendous metallic din, the rearmost ten cars lost control. The heavy flow of metal was dammed up by the ice stake, so they danced about as the stopping motion mixed with the forward motion. The first to dance was the sixth car in the center. In just a split second, the car bent and hopped upwards. The seventh car onward followed the movements. Instead of racing forward in a straight line, the row of cars gained an upward movement. The sixth car took the lead in falling from the elevated railway. The seventh and eighth cars were pushed by those behind them and followed the sixth. The fifth had its back end lifted up and was dragged after them. From there, it was a chain reaction. They hopped, were pulled on, or spiraled. Before long, all of the rear ten cars had tumbled from the elevated railway. The kinetic energy of their 200+ kph velocity caused all of the cars to slip from the elevated railway and tore at or destroyed the power poles, railway, gravel, and walls like a woodworking plane. A complex cacophony of destruction continued without end. The noise rang far into the distance as the bullet train fell onto the Osaka Plain. The rural land could not stop the cars. The power of speed caused the long metal cars to hop along the dirt. The links between cars were destroyed and each of the ten cars rolled as a separate metal tube. From beginning to end, it only lasted five seconds. The scene of destruction with no audience ended quickly. ### Part 8 8:08 PM After it was all over, it took several minutes before Shoui regained clarity of mind. “…” The color of the scene returned to his eyes. He saw the winter night sky. He had seen that vast sky a few times already today. If that night sky lay before his eyes, he had to be on his back. The ground below him was made of dirt. With the thin frost of the winter earth, the ground was cold. It was not an appropriate place to sleep. He tried to get up, but his body would not move. – Shoui – Medical Tech – Take – Determine Wounds – Hit. He had hit his back hard on something when the train car had overturned. He felt numb and his head felt heavy. He gathered air in his gut and held his breath. – Shoui – Mind/Gym Tech – Take – Focus – Hit. He shot to his feet. When he lifted his hips, a dull pain ran through the core of his body. – Shoui – Mind/Medical Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Control Stance – Hit. He almost collapsed, so he put his left leg back to support himself. He felt a blow to the back of his head. “Ow!” He quickly turned around to see what unexpected obstacle he had struck. He saw the train car that had been split by the icicle and rolled upside down. He could see inside through the slice. Several of the seats had come undone and fallen from the floor which was now on top, so it looked like a bizarre work of art. The walls had grown distorted and all of the glass was gone from the windows. It had clearly hit something hard. “…” Shoui silently rested his elbow on the ceiling which was now the floor. When he did, the Dog God climbed down his arm and onto the ceiling. The small foxlike spirit beast had apparently not followed Takada into death. … Is that because it followed me of its own free will? It had been born of her Live, but it was now just an animal. Her will was nowhere to be found. He sighed at that thought. … I can’t believe this. He tried to speak the words, but only a scratchy breath escaped. His throat was still refusing to produce words. He had once more faced the opponent who had injured his throat, but it had resolved nothing. It had only deepened his feeling of defeat. He smiled bitterly. The Dog God glanced up at him and ran further inside the train car. He watched its back and swaying tail and then looked up to the floor that was now the ceiling. There was nothing there expect for the occasional seat. The part of the car containing Takada’s ashes had continued on to Nagoya. Shoui had nothing. Once he became aware of that, a thought came to him. … So my indecision expanded our possibilities in a negative direction. When he should have protected Yuuki and stopped them, he had given into his doubts and done nothing. So… … You might be able to say I killed Takada-san. “…” He looked back behind him. He saw the night sky and the ground there. A few long line-like objects had fallen onto the dark expanse of Osaka Plain. They were the other cars. Shoui looked around. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Search – Hit. The Sight Tech told him the person he was searching for was not there. … There is nobody, hm? Yuuki was nowhere to be found. He was certain she was not dead. He knew very well she was not the type to make a suicide attack. She had likely been the one to remove him from the car and place him on the ground. But she was gone. He did not know if she had gone after the enemy or to inform someone of the crash. The one thing he knew for sure was her absence by his side. That girl had said she did not need him, had forgotten the promise from three years before, and had controlled the battle. She had been the first to react when Taeko had charged in. … The Killing Holder, hm? As he thought that, he heard a quiet sound by his right side. … ? He looked down and saw the Dog God looking up at him from the edge of the ceiling. Something glittered at the Dog God’s feet. It was a gold ring. It was the one Takada had worn. … Is this…? As he picked it up, the Dog God stared at him and suddenly hopped to the ground. “!?” He reached out on reflex, but it ran a few meters away. It then stopped and looked up at Shoui. Shoui remained silent. But the Dog God gave a small metallic cry. It was saying goodbye. The Dog God turned its back and ran off into the dry grass. Its tail swished above the waves of grass a few times before vanishing. The rustling as the small animal parted the grass quickly moved off into the distance. Instead of pursuing, Shoui squeezed Takada’s ring in his left hand. “…” He said nothing, said nothing, got up from the train wreckage, and began to walk. His body ached, but he walked regardless. The field was deserted. The sky was vast, dark, and empty except for the stars. Shoui was alone. ### 333. Chapter 4: Rest (After Playing for an Extended Period of Time) – (12/20/1996) ### Part 1 11:57 AM The sun was at its peak in the sky. There were no clouds. There was no wind either. Unusual for winter, warm sunlight shined down. But that sunlight did not provide heat to all parts of Osaka evenly. Most of the narrow land known as Osaka was occupied by cold buildings. There was little land in the city that could be warmed by the sunlight. The Tennoji Park in the Tennoji Ward was one of those few places. The large park contained large flower beds, many trees, and brick pavement. Occasional bird calls and beast cries could be heard from the Tennoji Zoo inside the park. It was the carefree time of midday on a weekday. The flow of time seemed slower than usual. Few people walked through the park and none of them were in a hurry. Some of those were casually-dressed boys and girls. The schools were on winter break. Freed from the bonds of time, they were able to walk slowly. The occasional bird calls from the zoo were the only sound supporting that pace. They all slowly but surely made their way to their destinations. But there was one person who had come to a stop inside the large park. She sat on the edge of a large round flower bed in the center of the park. She was Aoi Hijiri. She had a shirt wrapped around the waist of her jeans and she wore a white blouson. The outfit combined with her short hair gave her an androgynous look. She sat on the brick flower bed and ate a somewhat late lunch while facing the sun. She was eating some takoyaki she had bought at a stand at the park entrance. She slowly but precisely took the nine takoyaki from their paper box and tossed them into her mouth while her gaze was fixated on the ground at her feet. A newspaper sold on the roadside was opened there. It was a sports newspaper that sold itself on the entertaining gossip articles. “The rumors were right. This newspaper really did change its name from the Tokyo version…” Hijiri moved her foot to skillfully turn the page with the toe of her sneaker. She kicked past the TV section as she read it in reverse. She was looking for an article on the previous night. Hijiri had no idea what had happened since she had escaped the Osaka Hilton and spent the night in a business hotel. If things had gone as planned, the newspaper would probably mention that Nakamura had escaped to Nagoya. “…” She skipped the entertainment section and the horse racing information, but she stopped on the financial section. While eating two takoyaki, she read the fashion information, glanced at the actions of an Osaka corporate group, and turned the page again. Then her expression stiffened somewhat. Not a single article mentioned the previous night’s incident. Not a word about the Osaka Hilton turning into a flower, about Osaka Prefectural #2 collapsing, or about Nakamura. Her hand stopped with the toothpick stabbed inside a takoyaki and she kicked at the newspaper again. She reached page three. She passed by it after only glancing across the page. There was nothing there. She looked at page two across from it. She glanced across it and prepared to turn to the final page. “…Oh?” But her foot stopped. On the edge of page two was a notice about the temporary suspension of a bullet train. The bullet train route from Osaka to Nagoya would be stopped from the first train early in the morning to the third train in the afternoon. The only reason given was a train car malfunction. There were no related articles, but… “Come to think of it, there was a weird story earlier…” She used her toes to flip back a few pages at once. In the financial section, one piece of information about a corporation had caught her attention. “The Houzenji Group’s special forces had a live-fire exercise late at night, hm?” The Houzenji Group was a corporate group that had been under the protection of Nanba Souichirou’s Modified Purple Electricity Style. An article mentioned that the group’s corporate combat special forces had held a live-fire exercise in Osaka Plain the night before. No matter the age, corporations would always secretly fight over their patents and technology. These exercises were daily events and normal people and students like Hijiri would likely end up dragged into those conflicts if not for the academy rules. “But why did a simple exercise make the news?” Hijiri looked down at the article that expressed some questions about this exercise. Most of the exercise had occurred on national land without receiving permission from the appropriate government departments, so the article simply gossiped about a possible true meaning behind the actions. The author ultimately concluded that they did not know the truth but that it might have been a way of disguising a search for Hideyoshi’s buried treasure or making contact with aliens. Hijiri, however, sighed. She stuffed all four remaining takoyaki into her mouth. And she swallowed them. Five seconds passed. After another sigh, she picked up the newspaper and looked at page one, which she had been unable to see while it was lying on the ground. The headline article was about a professional baseball winter camp. There was no record of their rampage from the night before. But Hijiri was no longer frowning. She quickly flipped through the newspaper while moving her lips. “One, two, three,” she counted as she flipped through. When she reached the end, her count had stopped at 32. She closed the newspaper and looked up into the sky. “Including the five text ones and the seven 1/8 size ones, that’s how many ads the Houzenji Group has in here…” To have their ads printed, they had to be paying the newspaper. Newspapers of course made money by publishing articles to bring in readers, but they more directly made money through advertisements. Most of this newspaper’s direct income was paid by the Houzenji Group. “They bought up the page, did they? If the other newspapers are the same, it must have cost quite a lot.” “Does that frighten you?” A man’s voice suddenly reached her. Hijiri turned around to see a man dressed like a monk standing in front of the flower bed on her left. He was Iba Masaaki. He too was holding a rolled-up newspaper in his hand. “I overlooked the fact that the Osaka Chancellor’s patron is from the Houzenji family. I never thought the wealthiest merchant in Sakai would be so fixated on a child who merely slayed an ogre.” “Looks like they’ve made a really big move here. Is that newspaper the same?” Iba frowned slightly and nodded. “It mentions the collapse of Ixolde and the damage from the destroyed hotel, but it blames those on a localized Clockquake, ridiculously enough. The victims will apparently receive disaster relief from the anti-Godquake fund set up after last year’s Godquake – that battle between gods – in Kobe.” “That was fast…” “That’s what happens with the Houzenji family, Osaka’s wealthiest merchant group. They intend to conceal Osaka’s defeat.” “There’s no helping that. The Kusanagi Rhythm works on the emperor, so the Kinki-Kansai corporate group that includes Kyoto probably also wants to hide that it lost.” “Yes, they cannot afford a loss. …Most likely, this was the doing of Houzenji’s Iwai Sanzou.” “Do you know him?” “Yes, although I doubt he remembers me .” Hijiri did not comment on the emphasis Iba put on the word “me”. She asked about something else instead. “Do you know where that idiot Nakamura is, Iba?” “He did not arrive in Nagoya.” “…What?” Hijiri rolled up her newspaper. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me the Koto Chancellor-…” “The Koto Chancellor was out on patrol in the city today, but Nakamura did not lose to her.” “Then…” “The bullet train they were riding derailed in Osaka Plain and the remaining front car stopped at Kyoto Station instead of continuing on to Nagoya. But…” He took a breath. “Nothing remained inside the cars besides a handful of ashes.” Hijiri remained seated and silent. She slowly set the newspaper down on the edge of the flower bed and rested her chin on her hand with a serious look on her face. A few seconds passed. Then she looked over at Iba. He looked her in the eye and spoke with no apparent expression. “Takada is dead.” “Are you certain? Those ashes could have belonged to the Osaka boy or Nagoya’s Chancell-…” “Nakamura is not in Nagoya.” Iba’s short and powerful statement seemed to be all the reason he needed. Hijiri looked away from him and down at her own feet. Iba’s voice reached her from above. “What do you think Nakamura will do?” “…Wouldn’t you know that better than me?” “Why?” “What did you do when someone important to you died?” Iba fell silent and Hijiri did not look in his direction. She kept her head lowered as she quietly asked herself a question. She kept a carefree tone throughout. “Now, what will I do?” She smiled bitterly. “So this is what it’s like, Seigi, Takahiro.” “What what is like?” “Being alone.” With that, Hijiri stood up. And she faced Iba. “I don’t like the possibility of Seigi having died, but Nakamura is a problem.” “What will you do?” “For now, do what I was doing before: search for the winter cherry blossoms.” “Those cherry blossoms are the beginning of misfortune. Will you still search for them?” “What greater misfortune could I find? I never thought the destruction of an entire hotel would be played off as no big deal.” “The Osaka Hilton, Prefectural #2, and the New Yodo River Bridge are already being repaired. …By repair companies belonging to the Houzenji Group.” “So a red flower did not bloom in the darkness.” Hijiri’s bitter smile deepened and a manly smile appeared on her lips. “Iba, if you have any hints about the cherry blossoms, please tell me. If they bring misfortune, then I intend to start with them as I find a number of things.” “Are you serious?” “Yes,” she confirmed. Iba fell silent for a few seconds. Then he crossed his arms and gave Hijiri an upturned glance. But that too only lasted a moment. He then practically spat out his next words. “Those cherry blossoms are born from battle.” “Battle?” “Yes, that’s right.” He nodded. “Nakamura Midori and Kuki Udai had interacted in the past, but then they became enemies. When they fought in a certain location, cherry blossoms were seen at the end of the battle.” “…” “Your parents must have been the same.” “My parents never told me much about that kind of thing.” “But those cherry blossoms are born from battle. …Your father, mother, or both of them must have seen them at the end of a battle.” Hijiri suppressed a bitter smile at that. A possibility came to mind. Her father had abducted her mother from Osaka and returned to Tokyo with her. It would not be surprising if a battle had occurred then. What effect had those cherry blossoms had on the two of them? “…” Iba would not tell Hijiri that. And Hijiri chose not to ask. But she did ask something else. “What do you intend to do now?” “Bear all responsibility by fulfilling the prophecy.” “For who?” “For those who have died.” With that brief answer, he looked Hijiri straight in the eyes. There was no intimidation or questioning in his eyes. It was a powerless gaze. And he spoke with no hesitation in his voice. “Aoi, promise me one thing about what is to come.” “?” “No matter what might happen, please stay on Nakamura’s side.” “Eh?” Hijiri lowered her head. “S-sure, that’s fine. But why?” Iba turned around without answering. He began to walk away. Just as Hijiri prepared to call out to him, his voice stopped her. He uttered some Words. Companions vanish Even he vanishes She too vanishes A hand that can hold onto no one remains A hand that fosters destruction remains That hand pleads for no one to leave They were Iba’s own Words. Hijiri simply listened to the low rhythm of the quiet Words. The back of the monk’s outfit slowly, slowly vanished into the few people walking through the park. “Iba…” She could not ask where he was going. The wind blew through. It was a quick gust of the north wind that instantly swept away the midday warmth. “!” Hijiri covered her face against the dry dust carried by the wind. She faced forward while surrounded by quiet cries of surprise about the wind. Iba was already gone. She could no longer see his back, as if he had been swept away by that wind. ### Part 2 2:00 PM The repairs to Osaka Prefectural #2 would take about two weeks. Even with workers sent out from the prefectural health department, a repair company from the Houzenji Group, and the Kansai General Student Onmyouji Unit, restoring a three kilometer square of collapsed earth was no small task. The work was officially said to be the measurement and repairs for a localized Clockquake experiment, but everyone in Osaka knew the truth. The people avoided that truth because it would not benefit them in any way. As long as they received large Godquake insurance payouts, rumors would spread, but no one would demand a public announcement of the truth. And even if some smaller voices demanded it, they would fade in time. Various parts of Osaka were repaired within that almost dependent mood of utilitarianism. It was lucky that winter break had begun for the schools. With no classes, it did not matter if the school did not function. The supplementary and extra lessons for the second term were held at Osaka Prefectural #1 and most of the dorm students temporarily moved to the dorms of other schools or the residences of local wealthy families. And the wealthy family that took in the greatest number of Prefectural #2 dorm students was the Nanba family. A large green space was located behind the Naniwa Ward Office. That was the Nanba family residence. Two buildings were hidden in the woods surrounded by 200 meter walls. One was a single-story wooden house and the other was a five-story reinforced concrete dojo for the Modified Purple Electricity Style. The dojo cut through the wall to border the road and sporadic sounds of bamboo swords could be heard from within. The first afternoon general lesson was underway. The retired, housewives with too much time on their hands, college students without a class that afternoon, and workers sent by their company as a form of training were all sparring. Outside the dojo, the colliding bamboo swords blended together with the rustling of the leaves in the wind. It was a horribly pure and relaxed sound. And that sound was audible to the single person in the open-air training ground behind the dojo building. It was Shoui. He had removed his coat as he moved his body in the open-air training ground. He was repeating the simple action known as a push-up. But his technique was different from normal. It came down to how he positioned his hands. The palms were normally pressed against the ground, but he pressed his clenched fists against the ground. This technique was known as knuckle push-ups. It required grip strength, wrist strength, and the balance to extend one’s arms perfectly straight. A normal person would be unable to do 30 of them, but Shoui’s breaths carried a count that had passed 300. His voice was not yet leaving his throat, but the sound of his breaths provided the count. As his body moved up and down, his breaths passed 400 and quickly reached 500. Then he maintained the same position but brought his right hand behind his back. He used just his left arm to continue the knuckle push-ups. His pace did not drop. The muscles on his back and shoulders slowly moved without end below his inner suit. By the time he passed 300, white steam rose into the winter air from his shoulders. He was beginning to sweat. That meant his body had only now begun to activate. He reached 500. Without taking a break, he placed his right fist on the ground and placed his left hand behind his back. He began knuckle push-ups with just his right arm. His pace still did not drop. In fact, his slow movements were beginning to grow faster. He passed 200. As his movements evolved, the steam rose from his back as well as his shoulders. His body was activating. The back and shoulder muscles pushed up at the inner suit and moved like a separate creature. Shoui’s body stored a power that looked ready to begin moving and explode out at any moment. It was a great strength. The monotonous exercise restrained that power. He passed 300. The strength and speed building up inside him had already grown to nearly twice their original size. But Shoui gradually stored that power inside himself. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. His ears listened to the sporadic sounds of bamboo swords coming from within the dojo building. The rustling of the trees blended together with them. He let the sounds wash over his body as he continued his exercise in silence. He passed 400. More and more strength built up inside him. It was a nostalgic feeling. At Nandaimon, he had done this exercise in front of the detached room he had used. Yuuki had often stood by his side and counted his knuckle push-ups and sit-ups. … Two years ago, 200 was plenty. He reached 500. He stopped moving and stopped breathing too. He brought his left hand forward and placed both fists on the ground. He spread his fingers. He dug his fingers into the ground like an animal’s claws to raise the palms from the ground. In that position, he used his toes to kick lightly at the ground. His legs lifted into the air. He did not stop there. He bent his arms to control his balance with his legs pointed toward heaven. He performed a handstand. His fingers supported his entire body. But that alone was insufficient. Once 30 seconds passed, he bent both middle fingers. His body was supported by a total of eight fingers now. After another 30 seconds, he bent both index fingers. After 30 seconds, he bent the ring fingers. He was down to a total of four fingers. But his body remained motionless in its handstand. His grip strength and overall balance supported everything. This was a trick one could not pull off with the unnecessary muscles gained through bodybuilding. He slowly removed his pinkies. He supported his body with only the thumbs sticking out from his clenched fists. 30 seconds passed. “…” Shoui deeply bent his arms for just a moment, extended them again, and used that force to jump in the direction his back was facing. He made a perfect half-flip and landed on his feet. He then faced the wooden training post on the east side of the open-air training ground. Some faint exhaustion colored his face as he stared at it. He had only just taken a short break after finishing some questioning from Saki which had lasted until the afternoon. The slight scars from his injuries the night before had not had a chance to heal and his skin was worn out. But he stood up. He said nothing. He did not move. He was simply alone. He continued to stare at the training posts with no apparent expression on his face. His hair blew in the afternoon wind. The branches and leaves shook and rustled in the woods. Several bamboo swords audibly collided. Shoui moved his hand as if drawn by that sound. He opened his right fist and raised it for just a moment. The object in his fist flew straight up. It was a small gold light. It was a ring. The Dog God had given it to him the night before. It was the one Takada had worn. The light rose to Shoui’s eye level and then dropped back down. And the wind blew. The tree branches shook and the sounds of bamboo swords seemed to combine into a single spray. On that signal, Shoui’s hand caught the falling gold light and closed into a fist. From there, he carried it straight forward. His gauntleted fist struck the training post. It was a quick movement. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. The sound of the strike rang out. It was a loud sound. A water bird flew from the large lake located between the open-air training ground and the house. Needless to say, Shoui paid it no heed. And he did not stop moving there. He pulled his arm back and threw a somewhat exaggerated punch. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. It was a highly telegraphed strike that he would never use in an actual battle. Due to his lack of warming up, it was a somewhat stiff motion. But it worked just fine against a training post. It was a strike that allowed him to feel his own strength. He threw a right. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. He threw a left. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. The sounds of strikes never ended. The wind blew. The woods rustled. The bamboo swords crashed together. And pushed on by those sounds, the audible blows continued and accelerated. He did not cry out as he threw his punches. He could not speak with the bandages around his throat. He did not have a Dog God. He did not even have a Rhythm. The Dis-Worder boy silently punched the unspeaking training post. He moved quickly. The continuous sounds rang loud through his steel gauntlets. It was fast, but it had not been enough. “…!” – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. He added in some footwork for a barrage of blows. He used his entire body to strike the training post from the left and right. He stepped in close, spun on his heel, shifted his center of gravity, rotated his hips, put his shoulders into the blows, and timed the extension of his arms. By combining all of those things, he kept up the blows as a series of motions. The actions could be called the ultimate in anaerobic exercise. But this was not enough either. Shoui thought as he moved. He thought about how to overcome his opponents. His opponents were Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. Both of them were Killing Holders. He tried and failed to imagine himself surpassing them. Something was missing. Something very, very important. Until the night before, he had had it in some form. … The desire to grow stronger so I can fight and protect her. That desire was missing. That driving force of his will had disappeared after Yuuki had rejected it the night before. She had rejected him by telling him he did not need to fight. “…” – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. The sounds of the blows and the impacts returning through his arms briefly blew away his indecision. He kept up the barrage. He threw the punches to determine his direction. With each audible hit, thought filled his mind, his indecision vanished, and only pure imagination remained. But even in that faint remnant of imagination, Shoui could not defeat his opponents. He had felt undeniable fear on that bullet train. He had feared the Flame High’s fire. Flames could be seen as a manifestation of death and destruction. But he had overreacted to the fire burning Takada. If he had not feared the Flame High’s fire, he might have been able to save her. Shoui had no Words and was familiar with all sorts of Techs and Over Rhythms, so he could of course use healing Rhythms. But his instinctual fear had overpowered the desire to use one to save her. … Why is that? He did not know. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. … What did Yamashita Gihei think when he faced Yuuki and me back then? In his sorrow over Nagoya’s future and his desire to escape the bonds of his family, that boy had fought Yuuki and been killed. When he had faced Yuuki, had he not feared the power of death and destruction? Had his mind only contained images of himself defeating Yuuki? “…Kh.” A breath escaped. Shoui had been continuing the barrage without breathing so far. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. He released a single punch from a short distance and breathed lightly enough to maintain the tension in his body. He drew the oxygen into his gut and moved. He made no preparation whatsoever, but he simply punched to further his thoughts. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit. Thoughts floated up in his mind: The promise on that night three years ago. A certain incident two years ago. His ultimately wasted training over the two years since. His defeat by and fear of Nakamura. The truth of his training according to Iba. Takada’s death. Yuuki’s rejection. All of those grew into one large doubt which was answered by his fists. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. His question grew clear. … How can I protect her? If he could not fight and win, he could not protect her. But he could not imagine himself defeating them. And yet if he could not defeat those Killing Holders, he could not protect her. Yuuki Yuuki had killed Yamashita Gihei who had opposed her and Nakamura Hisahide had killed Takada Seigi who should have become his queen. Shoui recalled Nakamura’s cry when Takada had burned away and vanished. It had been a powerful cry. It was a cry only made by someone who had experienced someone’s death. Shoui could not do that. He was missing something. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. He had to regain what he had lost. – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. He suddenly realized something. … I’m still thinking about this even after she rejected me… If he had given up on it all after the rejection, he would not be out here agonizing over it all while punching the training post. But he was moving now with no relation to his promise or his past. He remembered Takada’s words. “The more indecisive someone is, the stronger their ultimate answer will be. And the people who make powerful decisions are quite indecisive.” In that case… … Am I still trapped in indecision? The rejection, his fear, and the death of a girl had not led him to a decision. And his body desired to move. At the very least, the will of his body had not come to a stop. “…” He smiled bitterly. He stopped his punching. He stopped his feet. He took a breath. He looked up. He saw the sky. It was a vast winter sky. The sun grew pale as it started to sink and the wind whipped through the sky. The wind was blowing. The woods were rustling. He could hear the bamboo swords. And then he heard something like a dog howling in the distance. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Listen – Hit. It was not a dog. It was some other animal. It had come from the house. … What is that? The animal did not howl again, leaving him with no answer. “…” He felt there was more to that, but even greater indecision stopped him from pursuing it. He nodded. He remained silent, but his body resumed moving. He stretched his hand behind him to strike the training post and took a deep breath. Then he truly began moving once more. And he tried to figure out a way to catch up to those two. ### Part 3 4:12 PM By the time the afternoon north wind began to wash across the Koto region’s fields, Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki had just finished climbing the stairs to the Nandaimon Shrine. She looked around with Housei in her right hand and a small paper bag in her left. “…” In the setting sun, the leaves of the shrine’s pine trees rustled coolly in the wind and some of the weak brown leaves fell to the ground. With the green breath of life gone, the dried leaves were only trash. Cleaning the shrine of such filth was Senga’s job. But Senga was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Instead, someone else stood in the shrine. It was an elderly man in a suit. He slowly walked toward Yuuki from the house behind the sanctuary. He approached with the sound of gravel underfoot. – Yuuki – Person Tech – Take – Identify Person – Hit. “Houzenji Head Butler Iwai Sanzou…” The man stopped when Yuuki spoke that name. They were ten meters apart. They faced each other with too much room between them to attack in a single beat. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Her Tech succeeded, but she still could not read his expression. Iwai’s gentle smile was so tense that not even Yuuki’s Tech could read through it. With his many years of experience, he did not even need to focus to guard against that sort of search. It was an expressionless-looking smile and it moved only slightly as he spoke. “Oh, if it isn’t the Koto Guardian. It has been far too long. Three years, is it?” “Not since the ceremony giving me the title of guardian. …Why are you here today?” “To discuss old times.” His casual answer put a derisive smile on Yuuki’s face. “Are you sure you didn’t come with some treats as you gave a report on last night’s incident?” “Well, I did bring some treats. But…” Iwai Sanzou made a show of tilting his head. “What is this incident you speak of?” “…I see. So that’s how it’s going to be.” “Is something the matter?” “You’re the head butler now, but it seems you have just as much influence as 13 years ago.” Yuuki aimed Housei toward Iwai. “You aren’t planning to use your corporate power to intervene and take control of everything like you did during the Kinki Riot, are you?” “You seem quite mistaken. I am no more than a loyal servant of the Houzenji family.” “Did it slip your mind that you used to be the commander of the Houzenji Group’s special forces?” “…” “You and my grandmother are probably the only adults who were involved in the Kinki Riot to the end and know everything that happened.” “Are you all that different, Koto Guardian? You too know the secret of the Rhythms and Techs.” He took a breath. “I heard from Senga-sama why you are a Killing Holder. …And if you know why Rhythms and Techs exist in this world, then I suppose that works.” “You talk too much.” Just as Yuuki said that, Senga’s voice cut in. “Stop it, Yuuki.” Senga stood in front of the house’s sliding door in her usual white shirt. She grabbed the broom leaning against the wall and walked toward the other two. The gravel crunched under her feet as she did so. “That man and his corporation are no fools. They will not do the same thing they did during the Kinki Riot.” “…Really?” “Besides, Yuuki, think about it. It is because Houzenji covered up last night’s incident that you can remain the only Killing Holder.” If word of Takada’s death got out, Nakamura would also be given that name. It was a side effect of the press restrictions that that had not happened. “For the time being, their corporate group is not your enemy. Please make no mistake here.” Iwai slowly walked forward, as if encouraged by Senga’s worried-sounding words. He made a wide circle around Yuuki to keep his distance while also lining up next to her. Senga stopped in the same position he had been in. “You should leave, Iwai. You have a lot of preparations to make, don’t you?” “Yes, I must prepare to protect Osaka.” The elderly man bent his straight back in a bow. “I will be going then,” he said as he turned his back. And he began to walk. Yuuki stared at his back. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Emit Killer Intent – Hit. Pure tension came from Yuuki’s biological left eye. The wind blew and the pine leaves rustled or fell. But Iwai Sanzou did not look back. His pace did not falter as he descended the stairs and disappeared from view. Her killer intent had to have reached him, but he had ignored it. “…” Yuuki frowned and looked away before looking to Senga who was smiling bitterly a short distance away. “What’s so funny?” “It’s no use, Yuuki. Honestly… He and I are very different from the people we were in the old stories I tell.” “Isn’t he the one who cornered Kuki Udai and Nakamura Midori when you tried to protect them? Have you forgotten your grudge over that interference?” “What good is causing more deaths?” muttered Senga as she approached Yuuki. “You know why I set aside the spear, don’t you? He is the same.” Yuuki said nothing. She held her tongue and hid her expression, so Senga sighed. “You really are serious when it comes to yourself.” Then Senga’s eyebrows moved. Her eyes turned toward Yuuki’s left side. Yuuki held a small paper bag there. “What is that?” asked Senga. “Ingredients for dinner?” “No.” “Stationery.” “No.” “Medicine?” “No.” “Then what is it?” “Something I will need once I leave my past.” “Eh?” Yuuki responded to that confused syllable. “It’s something I will need to ensure I don’t give up.” She held the paper bag in her arms, and… – Yuuki – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit. She heard a quiet, barely-audible sound behind her. She turned around in surprise at the small presence she had failed to notice until now. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Spot – Hit. Something strange grew up from the tall grass that separated the hill’s slope from the shrine grounds. It looked like a light brown calligraphy brush with a white tip. It was an animal tail. “…?” When Yuuki took a step back and readied Housei, it half-frantically ran out from the grass. The 15 cm creature looked something like a fox and something like a mouse. It stood on its hind legs and shook its long tail as it looked up at Yuuki. “Oh…” Senga opened her narrow eyes. “How unusual. That’s a Dog God.” “A Dog God?” “They are a relatively docile type of spiritual beast. …I wonder why it’s here.” “Maybe it was drawn here by something in the sanctuary.” “No, I wouldn’t think so. Dog Gods are known for holding an interest in people.” “Hm.” Yuuki nodded and took a step forward to approach the Dog God. The Dog God jumped back the exact distance of her step forward. With a rustling from the grass, she saw just its tail sticking up again. Yuuki looked to Senga. Senga looked to Yuuki. They both looked back to the tail in the grass once more. The tail did not flee. “…?” Yuuki took a step back. Again, the Dog God ran forward to fill exactly the distance of her step. The small animal looked up at Yuuki from a distance of approximately five meters. Yuuki looked at the Dog God. The human and animal motionlessly waited for the other to do something. Senga smiled bitterly as she watched. “Reminds me a lot of Shoui and you right now.” “Hizaka Shoui…” Emotion briefly filled her eyes as she muttered that name. She looked at the Dog God with slight surprise in her eyes. “Come to think of it, Hizaka Shoui had an animal like this with him yesterday…” “Oh? Perhaps it came to visit you.” “I seriously doubt it.” Yuuki looked away from the Dog God, but she sounded more intrigued by the idea than the words themselves let on. She began walking toward the house. Senga quickly called out to her. “Yuuki, what about the animal?” “You said they’re docile, right? Then it doesn’t matter.” She listened to the quiet footsteps following her. It stepped much more lightly on the gravel than a human. These were the footsteps of a Dog God that may have been accompanying Hizaka Shoui. “…” Yuuki embraced the paper bag as she walked. The wind blew and her hair fluttered. That wind gave a chill to the growing colors of evening. ### Part 4 6:23 PM The sun had set and night had been around for some time. There was no moon in the sky and the stars alone were beginning to twinkle. There was one sort of place far more suited to seeing that starlight than the city. Those were large, unlit places. The fields of Takatsuki on the northern end of Osaka Plain were perfect for stargazing. That vast unlit land had a slight slope and the starry sky was reflected in the distant Yodo River. The only thing to obstruct the view of the sky was the long elevated railway that passed by overhead. That railway was used by bullet trains. It was the same railway from which a bullet train had derailed the night before. Two people were currently below that railway. One was a boy and the other a girl. The boy was somewhat short. The girl was tall and had a giant prosthetic in the place of a left arm. They were Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Taeko leaned against one of the railway’s supports while Nakamura crouched down on one knee. They were surrounded by darkness. They could see the city lights far in the distance at the bottom of the vast slope. Other than the somewhat bright sky there, they only had the starlight for illumination. Taeko suddenly spoke. “If ya can’t find it, maybe a Buster destroyed it along with the train.” She received no response. Only a gentle wind blew through. None of the train cars remained from the night before. The Houzenji Group’s special forces had likely Busted them that night. Only shards of glass and small metal components were scattered around. Taeko sniffed quietly. “So ya can only find glass and screws lyin’ around, huh?” “Shut up.” Nakamura finally spoke. It was a deep and exhausted voice. It was also full of menace. But Taeko was not afraid. “If ya can’t find that girl’s ring, are ya actually gonna beat up everyone from Osaka like ya said ya would?” His answer came after a short pause. “What other choice do I have?” “?” “She was the one that knew how I could become king…but there’s nothing left of her now. Not even a memento.” “Ya can’t make yer triumphant return to Nagoya without the girl who was supposed to be yer queen?” Nakamura did not answer. He said nothing as he crouched in the darkness. Taeko sighed. “I can’t believe this.” She smiled bitterly. “Yer prophecy belonged to both of ya, didn’t it?” She stood up from the bridge support and stood next to Nakamura. “Ya wanted to us her prophecy to become king so ya could make her queen, didn’t ya?” “…I wanted to show her the truth about herself.” “And what was that?” “That she could be more than just a Fast Reader.” She answered him after a short pause and with some sadness in her voice. “So ya would’ve become her possibility?” It was too dark to tell whether or not he nodded. But he did stand up. And he turned to look toward Osaka. “It’s time I became king,” he said. “Is there any reason for that?” asked Taeko. “It’d be a lot easier to return to Nagoya.” “When the result is a foregone conclusion, a battle’s possibilities are meaningless.” “So ya want to choose the more difficult one?” He did not answer and silently started walking. Taeko followed him. After a few steps, Nakamura asked her something. “Why are you following me?” “I’m not followin’ ya. But if yer goin’ to Osaka, then that’s where the action’s gonna be. And…” She took a breath. “There’s somethin’ I wanna try in the center of that action.” She smiled bitterly. And at that moment, Nakamura came to a sudden stop in front of her. “…?” Taeko also stopped. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Night Vision – Hit. She saw why Nakamura had stopped. A man stood about ten meters in front of them. The silhouette in the pale starlight was that of a short man in a monk’s outfit. It was Iba. He stood alone on the ground and looked to the other two. “Where do you think you are going?” Nakamura answered him in an awfully calm voice. “To Osaka. To become king.” But that proposal was instantly rejected. “Go to Nagoya. We must avoid unnecessary conflict.” “…” Nakamura answered Iba with silence. After a while, Iba spoke once more. “What is this? Do you intend to defy the prophecy? That is the prophecy that will make you king.” “If I had my queen, you mean.” “What?” Nakamura decisively answered Iba’s question. “The prophecy was wrong and my queen is dead. …I refuse to rely on it any longer.” “…Do you intend to become king using only your own power?” “I have my sister’s Flame High. …You wanted me to use that power to become king, didn’t you?” “I said nothing about killing for no-…” Iba stopped midsentence and shook his head. He lowered his hips and slowly raised his arms. He was prepared to attack. “Have you lost your way?” “There is only one way forward: becoming king.” “Then why are you fighting to achieve that?” “To show them my possibility. To show them I can become king without relying on the prophecy.” “Show them? Show who?” Nakamura did not answer. He placed one foot forward and the other back as he prepared to fight. Taeko quickly stood behind Nakamura. “Wh-what are ya doin’ all of a sudden?” “Get lost. Unless you want to die.” “Once I defeat this boy, you are next.” Taeko was conflicted. What was she supposed to do? Nakamura gave her the answer. “Go and do whatever it is you want to do!” She nodded at that. And then she lowered her hips and raised the Dragon Emperor. Nakamura frowned. “What are you thinking?” “I’m doin’ what it is I wanna do.” Taeko said that with a slight smile and then shouted to Iba. “My brother was more or less killed for the convenience of the adults too!!” “Fear not. I will not kill him.” With that, Iba took action. Nakamura followed suit after a click of the tongue. As did Taeko. ### Part 5 6:52 PM The two-against-one battle ended after two deafening sounds. ### 334. Chapter 5: The Replay Begins (Free Trade-In for the Sequel) – (12/21/1996) ### Part 1 11:05 AM It was less than ten days until New Year’s Eve. It was winter. The morning was nearing its end, but the cloudy day was terribly cold. Shoui continued to move below the clouds. He stood in front of the training post he had attacked so thoroughly the day before. He sighed deeply in front of that single piece of wood sticking up from the ground. The sigh carried a Tempo similar to relief and it refused to blend into the winter air even as it floated whitely in it. He gently held out his left fist as if to sweep his sigh away. He hit the training post. He could see the marks from the previous day’s attacks. He had thrown those punches to confirm in which direction he was headed. And after making those marks, a thought had occurred to him. … What is it I lack? It was not strength. He had that. Similarly, it was not willpower. He had that too. In that case… … Is it Words? – Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit. The sudden series of blows somewhat expressed the Dis-Worder boy’s thoughts. A constant rhythm of harsh and intense sounds accompanied it. Shoui recalled the prophecy Takada had sung for him. The prophecy had changed form as time had passed. A changing prophecy and a boy without Words. When he combined those two ideas, he suddenly realized something. … Maybe it isn’t that I don’t have Words. Maybe they’re just in constant flux so I can’t grasp them. He tested that theory. He turned a bit to the side and used a Rhythm toward empty air instead of the training post. – Shoui – Cold High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Freeze Strike – Hit. He threw a punch that carried frost even whiter than the winter air. People normally had to listen to a Rhythm to use that technique, but Shoui could use it if he found it necessary. … What does that mean? He remembered what Saki Seiji had said about the Osaka Chancellor during the Kinki Riot. … He used Rhythms without using a Rhythm. That had likely been similar to Shoui’s Rhythm mechanism. But if he was to oppose the Flame High… … What kind of power should I seek? He did not know. So he tried out what he did know. He first considered using the Flame High, but abandoned the idea. That was due to the memory of that unknown fear lingering in his mind. He tried something else. – Shoui – Kusanagi/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Sever Strike – Miss. He could not produce Kusanagi. “…?” He did not know why. The Words needed to produce Kusanagi was a single tone. There was no detailed Message and it had no MD. But Shoui could not produce it. The method he used for Over Rhythms did not work for Wind Rhythms and Heavy Rhythms. … If my Words were in constant flux, I should be able to use those. He lacked something. If he was missing something, he would not be able to use those Rhythms. And if he was missing something, he could not protect her. … It isn’t Words. It was something stronger than Words that could control his power. Something that surpassed his Words that were in constant flux. Something to make full use of his power as a Harmonist and those ultra-fast Rhythms. Something to release Kusanagi with a single voiced tone. “…” Shoui sighed. At the same time, he heard an animal cry. It came from the house. “…?” It was the same voice as the previous day. It sounded a lot like a distant dog howling. It contained a melancholy tone and carried into the distance. Next, the sounds of bamboo swords came to a sudden stop in the dojo building to his left. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit! “!” A sharp will oozed out of the dojo’s first floor. It was a powerful killer intent. Instead of a mere threat, it was pure intent to kill. Shoui frowned and faced that direction. He was also curious about the animal cry from the house, but he was more interested in the oddity closer to him. He walked toward the source of the killer intent. Most of the dojo’s first floor was a wood-floored practice area and it had small windows to let sunlight in. He peeked inside through one of the window’s facing the open-air training ground. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. He saw the large Kendo dojo. Wooden swords and real swords hung on the walls and Shoui had a view of two Kendo courts positioned longwise to him. The locker rooms were on the right while the entrance, reception area, and stairs to the second floor were straight ahead. There were around a dozen people in the dojo at the moment. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm People – Hit. They were all students wearing Kendo outfits. They all held wooden swords instead of bamboo swords and were facing the main entrance. Their gazes were sharply focused on the entrance. Shoui also looked in that direction. He saw a surprising person in the wide entranceway. It was Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro. He wore a three-piece suit with a white scarf over his shoulders. He was entirely relaxed without a hint of timidity. That was the polar opposite of the dojo students who were brimming with killer intent. … What’s going on here? Before he could even finish that thought, he heard Takahiro’s voice. “Send out Osaka’s Chancellor. I visited his home, but they said he was not there.” It was an arrogant demand and one of the dojo students answered him. “Souichirou-san isn’t here! Come back later.” “I am well aware of that.” Takahiro’s expression did not change in the slightest. “I have already confirmed that Osaka’s Chancellor has not left his home since he was carried there after the battle at Prefectural #2.” “Then why are you here?” Takahiro answered without a moment’s hesitation. “It would be impolite to suddenly destroy his home in search of what I am after.” He took a breath. “You have two options.” He removed the black leather glove hiding his right hand. He raised his index and middle fingers to indicate the number two. “One, ask the Nanba family to let me meet Osaka’s Chancellor.” He lowered his middle finger and left the index finger up. “Two, your brutal defeat at my hands will show the Nanba family just how dangerous it is to ignore me.” “…!” The killer intent grew. But Takahiro did not mind. “I have no interest in crushing the Nanba family just because they are too stingy to let me meet their next leader, so this kind of threat would be the best way to show how serious I am.” As soon as he said that, all of the dojo students moved at once. Around a dozen sets of killer intent and footsteps focused in on Takahiro. The raised wooden swords looked a lot like a bamboo thicket. But Shoui saw Takahiro slowly sigh behind the thicket of wooden swords. Tokyo’s 1st Special Duty Officer extended his right hand to the side with some slight inertia in the action. The wooden wall next to the reception desk was there. As soon as his white and fairly slender hand touched it, he spoke to the wall while ignoring the killer intent directed his way. “Lay down.” That settled it all. ### Part 2 2:13 PM The temperature below the clouds remained relatively unchanged even in the early afternoon. The gray sky in the background made the scene look all the more wintery. Especially in an area with a good view. Nandaimon Shrine on its hill in the southern Koto region had an excellent view of that dimly-lit sky. If one looked up from the center of the gravel shrine grounds, the surrounding woods were out of view and only the sun filled their vision. Koto Chancellor and Koto Guardian Yuuki Yuuki was viewing the sky just like that. She wore her Nandaimon shrine maiden outfit and held a broom. Phoenix, her false right eye, viewed a certain point in the sky. Suzaku Ver. 40 was there. It was the world’s only combat satellite and it was situated at a gravitational and centrifugal Lagrange point, so it moved in an oval above the Koto and Osaka regions. The time it took to complete a circuit changed depending on the phase of the moon and the season, so it was not always in the same place. “It will enter the Osaka region in two hours.” After that muttered comment, she looked back down. She saw the woods surrounding the shrine in all directions. The withered trees looked horribly cold below the cloudy sky. She swept their fallen leaves into a pile. – Yuuki – Spear/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Sweep – Hit. There was a trick to sweeping up just the leaves while leaving the gravel in place. She quietly, slowly, and accurately swept up the leaves. And… – Yuuki – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Hear – Hit. She heard the gravel moving behind her. “…?” She looked back and saw a small animal standing in the spot she had been in a moment before. It was a Dog God. It was five meters away. That animal had kept that distance behind her since the day before. When she walked, so did it. When she stopped, so did it. When she sat down, it lay down. When she had gone to sleep that night, it had curled up in its tail while just barely keeping a distance of five meters in the corner of her austere room. When she had woken up, it had already been up and wagging its tail. It did not do anything. It simply stayed with her and watched her. That was all. “…” Yuuki looked around. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. There was no one here except for herself and the Dog God. Once she confirmed that, she faced the Dog God. Five seconds. After that, she suddenly took a forceful step forward on the gravel. The Dog God took a frantic step back. She took two steps forward. It ran back two steps. It watched her the entire time to accurately keep its distance. Yuuki stopped. The Dog God stopped. She looked up into the sky a little. It was a cloudy sky. The Dog God did so as well. In that instant, she stepped forward with a loud step on the gravel. Shocked, the Dog God hopped up for just a moment and then ran back. But Yuuki had not taken a step. She had placed her foot forward and stopped. It was a feint. The Dog God looked confused as it ran back while looking back toward her. A moment later, it ran head-first into one of the shrine’s lanterns. With a quiet sound, its light brown body rolled a few times with its long tail wrapping around it. It got up and quickly shook its head in a sitting position. Yuuki narrowed her eyes and laughed quietly as she watched. Her laughter was followed by an unexpected voice behind her. “You can have fun with that thing if you want, but have you finished sweeping yet, Yuuki?” It was Senga’s voice. Yuuki stopped laughing and looked back. Senga stood surprisingly close behind her. She looked up at Yuuki with a bitter smile. “That part of you hasn’t changed, Yuuki.” “…” Yuuki said nothing. She simply faced Senga with all emotion erased from her face. Senga maintained her bitter smile as she spoke to Yuuki. “I know you were scheduled to patrol the shrine border this afternoon, but could you head over to Osaka instead?’ “Why?” “I’ve received word that the Nanba family’s Modified Purple Electricity Style dojo was half-destroyed, but none of the details made it here. Could you go check that out?” “Why not ask that…Iwai Sanzou from yesterday?” Senga tilted her head at that question. “I did, but he only said it was a training accident. …But something like that would never destroy the Kusanagi-user’s dojo, would it?” “What, so is the Nanba family hiding something?” “I called the Osaka Guardian, but they apparently don’t know anything either.” “So I have to actually pay them a visit, do I?” Yuuki nodded and handed the broom to Senga. “Here, grandmother. You take care of the rest.” “Yes, yes. I always do get stuck with the cleaning for some reason or another.” Senga slapped Yuuki’s butt, and… – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! – Senga – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! Grandmother and granddaughter simultaneously raised their right hands. They faced the stairs up to the shrine. Someone lay at the top of the stairs. He wore a monk’s outfit. “Did he collapse…?” speculated Yuuki. But Senga ran over before she could finish. “Iba!” she shouted. She called his name, but the monk-dressed man did not get up. Yuuki jogged after Senga. “Grandmother, should I call an ambulance?” “Wait! There must be more to this! We can’t make it public.” Senga stopped her and Yuuki obeyed. They reached Iba’s side in the span of a breath. This was Yuuki’s first time seeing the man. Senga would sometimes call his name in her sleep. During the Kinki Riot, he had stood between Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori and Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai. And he was closely involved to everything going on this time. He was now collapsed in front of her. Senga crouched down next to Yuuki and asked the most crucial question. “What happened!?” Iba lay face down, so she lifted him up. That was when she received an answer of sorts. His mouth and below were so bloody it looked like he had eaten raw meat. He had bleeding in his lungs. The blood was fresh and had yet to dry. The impact of collapsing and the relaxation of passing out had likely induced the coughing. Senga flipped her former student onto his back in her arms. “…” The wind blew through. It was a chilly north wind. When its chill washed across his face, Iba’s eyes opened ever so slightly. His empty eyes focused and looked up at Senga. His bloody lips moved. “I can no longer see the future and the Kinki Riot begins anew…” “The Kinki Riot?” asked Yuuki. But when Iba nodded, he kept his eyes on Senga. His lips moved. He raised the corners of his mouth to force a smile, but… “I never thought he would be even greater than Midori…” His expression changed to one on the verge of tears. Then he began coughing up blood. The blood splattered on Senga’s clothing and face and on Yuuki’s shrine maiden outfit. But the two of them were unfazed. Without panicking or rushing, Senga lay Iba’s head back down now that his eyes had closed once more. The cold wind washed away the stench of blood. And Senga spoke in a voice so cold it cut off that wind. “I will heal him. Yuuki, you hurry to the Nanba family.” “Will you be okay on your own?” “I took care of him a lot in the past.” Senga did not look back toward Yuuki, so Yuuki said nothing more and walked toward the house. The Dog God ran after her. The wind very, very quietly and coldly brushed across the person and animal. ### Part 3 3:35 PM The Nanba family home was extremely large. Four footsteps could be heard in a winding hallway in the single-story house. An old woman servant holding a lantern took the lead. Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji followed her. Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro followed him. The old woman walked silently and the two boys’ footsteps reflected off the low ceiling and narrow walls of the hallway. The first to speak was Takahiro. “How far are you taking me?” “You’re our enemy, but you showed up to meet Souichirou without an appointment. Pipe down and follow her.” The hallway turned to the right. The old woman carried the light on ahead as her feet almost slid along the floor. Saki glanced up at her and then looked back at Takahiro. “What the hell are you even doing here?” “I want information. Information on cherry trees that blossom in winter and on this family’s connection to the Aoi family.” “I can’t tell you anything about the Shinkage style, but was what I told you before about the cherry blossoms not enough?” “What am I supposed to do with the vague information that cherry blossoms bloom during battle? And more importantly,” continued Takahiro. “Where is Osaka’s Chancellor?” “You are here for information, aren’t you? Follow her.” The two of them followed the leading light. Saki asked Takahiro a question while watching he light sway like a firefly’s light. “Are Nakamura Hisahide’s actions what will determine whether or not you’ll be our enemy?” “No, I serve someone else,” explained Takahiro. “And unless that person once more makes an enemy of Osaka, I will remain a mere tourist.” Saki’s bitter smile deepened at that expressionless comment. “A mere tourist? You destroyed Inuyama Station in Nagoya as well as a hotel and the Modified Purple Electricity Style dojo here in Osaka.” “Then are you going to arrest me?” “I would if I had anyone who could restrain you.” Takahiro smiled bitterly at Saki’s way of thinking. The two of them slowed their pace as they caught up with the old woman. “How very accommodating of you.” “That’s just how desperate we are.” The hallway continued upwards. They saw a narrow stairway before them. Takahiro frowned. “I thought this was a single-story house.” The old woman in the lead answered him. “It is an old house.” “It’s an old samurai mansion,” added Saki, almost cutting off the old woman. He glanced back at Takahiro and continued in a whisper. “Sorry, but…” “What?” “If you have any questions about this house, ask me rather than her.” “Why?” “The Nanba family has a long history you aren’t familiar with.” “Are you saying the Kusanagi family that protects the emperor wishes to keep its distance from others?” “If you can accept that line of thinking, then let’s go with that.” Saki walked on ahead as he spoke. The steps were short and steep. It was 17 steps. At the top, they found a hallway with sand walls. They walked down it and soon came to a turn. The long vertical slits in the wall were entrances to hidden rooms. Takahiro commented on them. “Is Osaka’s Chancellor up ahead?” “Do you doubt it?” He touched the wall as he walked. “Terribly heavy emotion has built up in here. It is a powerful emotion, much like fear.” “Well, of course,” answered Saki without looking back. “Some of the possessions and bodies of those killed in the disaster two years ago are stored here.” “Why here? Possessions of the dead should be-…” “Some people wish to continue fighting even after death. When it’s against that ogre, anyway.” “Even after death…?” He soon received his answer. It came from the old woman. “The young master’s prosthetics were created from them.” “You mean…?” Takahiro started to ask more, but Saki tapped his chest. It was a sign not to ask. Takahiro fell silent and Saki sighed. “That’s just how it is.” “Can you really allow that?’ “They wanted it themselves. …And that’s why Souichirou has to seek battle.” “But…” Takahiro’s voice deepened in doubt, but Saki tapped his chest again. “We’re almost there. This will clear up all your confusion.” The old woman followed the hallway to a dead end. The gap between the wall and the column suggested the dead end was another door to a hidden room. “I see.” Takahiro watched the old woman walk up to the dead end wall. That was when something strange happened. She was absorbed by the wall and vanished. “…?” The two boys approached the wall in question. Takahiro stepped past Saki and gently touched the wall. It was a normal solid sand wall. “You get it, don’t you?” asked Saki. The old woman’s lantern was fallen at Takahiro’s feet and he asked a question as it illuminated him from below. “Was she a ghost so dense that not even a Word Master like me noticed?” “That old lady always served Souichirou, but she was attacked by the ogre when she was out picking edible plants in the mountains. She’s lived here ever since.” “Is that why you insisted I not ask her anything?” “Someone mysteriously vanished for three days after speaking with her. They probably got dragged away by her,” explained Saki. “The problem is that she didn’t seem to be trying to hurt anyone.” Takahiro looked at the lantern at his feet. “Why?” “Why what?” “Why do they rely on this place?” “I don’t know. …All I can say is that Souichirou will never betray them.” Another sound immediately followed that. “!” It was a cry. It was a bestial roar. A lament containing a large portion of sorrow burst out through the wall. Saki did not hesitate to push open the wall. There was a dim darkness inside. Saki picked up the lantern to illuminate the stairs leading down. The roar rang heavy and loud as it echoed down the hallway beyond that. “Let’s go.” Takahiro nodded. Saki began descending the stairs. The animal cry weakened and vanished. The stairway had exactly 49 steps. Subtracting that from the previous stairs told Takahiro they were now underneath the Nanba house. The air gradually had grown chillier as they made the descent and their breath was white by the time they stood on the hallway’s wooden floor. They were underground. They were surrounded by darkness and Saki’s lantern was the only light source. The candlelight from the lantern did not actively light the area, so its faint light only brought their surroundings vaguely into view. The walls were made from rows of iron bars. “Cells…” Saki nodded to confirm Takahiro’s short statement. His shadow also nodded, and… “Come.” He resumed walking. There were several cells. They lined the hallway on either side and were each about 10 square meters. They were empty save for a futon in the corner. “…” The two boys continued walking. They passed by four pairs of cells, all vacant. But as Saki and Takahiro walked past the cells, they heard quiet voices from the darkness within. They were too faint to make out, but many people were speaking together. Saki commented on them. “The residents here are reacting to you. You are a new face, after all.” “The sad part is I can’t tell if they are welcoming me or not.” “I know what you mean,” said Saki as he came to a stop. He had arrived at the end of the hallway. A set of metal double doors was there. Several new charms were attached to the door. “Based on those emblems, those must be locking charms. What is beyond this door?” “A secret path that comes out through an old well.” “…? Did you recently seal off that path?” “Yes. Because we didn’t know what would happen.” With that. Saki held the lantern out to his right. The cell to his right contained a great mass of darkness. It was a person. He wore tatters of clothes and had lost both arms and his right leg. His body was held in place by several thick chains attached to the stone wall. He seemed to be sitting with his back to the wall. His long unkempt hair fell down over his face, hiding his identity. Saki stared at him and Takahiro asked a question. “Who is that?” As soon the words left his mouth, the sitting boy opened his mouth. Despite the lantern as the only light source, his ferocious teeth and horribly red mouth could be seen. He released his voice with a harsh breath. “Ah!!” That single tone ran strong and loud. The cell’s metal bars shook. The chains bent and a metallic noise spread through the links to color the single voice. That was not all. The sound set power in motion. It was a great power. The strongest power in the darkness was the light of a flame. Flames burst out from his right shoulder. But this was not the fire of a lantern or torch. Nor was it the flames of a campfire. It was a burning cascade. The voice rang out. The flames burst out. The flames whirled around and rose up to fill the cell. As the voice gradually lost its color and grew more plaintive, the flames rapidly burned forward. A great flaming serpent raced toward the metal bars. The Word Master beyond the bars held out his hand. But… “Stop!” Saki shouted over the roar of the flames and held back Takahiro’s hand. A moment later, the voice ended and the flames collided with the metal bars. The fire burst and brightly lit the subterranean darkness. A barely audible noise came from within the cell. Then the fire vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. The voice had also vanished. The lantern was once more the only light in the darkness. The pale light illuminated the cell and that revealed the fire-emitting demon who sat by the wall. A horribly emaciated face could be seen beyond the unkempt hair. Takahiro spoke a name when he saw the unconscious face with its closed eyes. “…Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou.” “That’s right,” confirmed Saki. “The Flame High is known as Yamata for a reason. It did a pretty good job of swallowing up Souichirou’s Kusanagi. He can’t control his own Words anymore, so restraining the Flame High is the most he can manage.” “Is he enduring the spread of the flames?” “He removed his false arms, but it wasn’t fast enough.” Saki sighed. “We quickly got the finest quality divine steel from Hong Kong and remade this cell. …We closed off that door to make sure his fire couldn’t get out if something goes wrong.” “I see.” Takahiro looked to Saki. “Are you saying I need to use my kotodama power to heal Osaka’s Chancellor if I want information from him?” “Your average Tuner can’t heal him and we’d rather word of this didn’t get out. This was the perfect time to run across a Word Master who can destroy an entire building.” Saki smiled bitterly and pulled a key from his pocket. It was the key to the cell. He stuck it in the lock and said one last thing. “So take care of this, will you?” ### Part 4 4:11 PM After stepping out of Osaka Station, Yuuki did not head for the Nanba house. There was something she had to do first. She started walking west from Osaka Station and crossed the track to the north. She was a very conspicuous presence in her Nandaimon Academy uniform and with the giant staff Housei in her right hand. She could feel the people’s eyes on her, but she did not look back and continued walking. She heard some quiet voices behind her. The women and children were making excited comments about the Dog God that continued to follow her. But she realized that those were not the only voices. There were a few voices with a duller and heavier tone. “If this is how it’s going to be, I might not be able to get to the Nanba house today.” After that quiet comment, she made a call at a nearby phone booth. She called the Osaka Prefectural Office. As soon as they picked up, she rattled off a few keywords to prove her identity. She pressed her thumb against the phone’s camera. The phone’s small display immediately reacted. “Match confirmed.” She swiftly explained what she needed and hung up. As soon as she left the phone booth, the city’s Fourth Alarm began sounding. She nodded in satisfaction. “They react quickly.” It did not take long for the current of people to change in response to the alarm. The Fourth Alarm was used to evacuate people from regions where damage was likely to occur. A citywide broadcast loudly announced where that was. As Yuuki walked about a block, the flow of cars and people gradually changed direction. The people passing her by were expressing their doubts about the alarm and what was about to happen. It was an undeniable commotion. The people were guided slowly but surely away from the location of disaster. The academy rules had established separate legal enforcement measures for students and normal citizens, but everyone would be hurt in a disaster. Adults and children both intended to evacuate. They could watch on after arriving somewhere safe. The people passing by were arriving from in front of Yuuki. The alarm continued to sound. Yuuki fought the current of people. She was on her way to the location of upcoming damage. She had called the Osaka Prefectural Office and predicted that damage. That location would soon be a battlefield. She could see it now: the Umeda Sky Building. It was a 170 meter observation tower. A bridge-shaped floating garden was supported by two identical tower buildings. She walked toward that building. There was a hotel out front and the Umeda Sky Building itself had several tenants inside. People were slowly flowing out of them. It was like a wave. Yuuki bumped into the wave of people as she walked. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Detect Presence – Hit. She sensed a powerful presence behind her. It was not the Dog God. It was further back than the Dog God five meters behind her and it was more powerful. She did not look back to see who it was. She simply walked. The tall tower was already right in front of her. The wave of people was gradually thinning and the commotion was dying down. The Fourth Alarm sounded all the louder. The citywide broadcast urged people to evacuate, but it was meaningless to Yuuki. There were no longer any people in front of her. The two tall towers stood in her way like a giant glass wall. Instead of passing between the towers, she walked east to circle around the Sky Building. Passing between them would have meant walking through a nature park. She chose the spot with a clearer view. The presence behind her gradually grew. The owner of the presence was waiting for her to arrive at the battlefield. Yuuki knew what would trigger the battle: looking at her opponent. But she did not look back yet. She climbed some stairs and walked across the plaza in front of the Sky Building. She passed by the Sky Building’s east tower. She was headed for the entrance to the west tower. She continued walking. Then she stopped in front of the glass doors of the large entranceway. Two presences stopped behind her. One was the Dog God. And the other… “A grudge from the past,” said Yuuki. Her quiet breath contained a hint of exhaustion. At the same time, she prepared Housei in her right hand and turned around. And she called a name. “Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko!” Her enemy was already on the move. By the time she fully turned around, Yuuki saw a giant metal fist. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Dragon Emperor Strike – Hit! – Yuuki – Spear/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Block – Hit. The Dragon Emperor’s fist collided with Housei’s frame, producing a heavy metal crash. Yuuki had blocked the attack, but the fist and shield had different masses. Yuuki was thrown backwards. The impact and inertia slammed her inside the Sky Building. She did indeed see Taeko with the Dragon Emperor raised. “It’s time to settle this!” shouted Taeko. At the same time the Dragon Emperor gave a draconic roar. The roar mixed with the Fourth Alarm, creating a horribly low and long noise. The battle had begun. ### 335. Chapter 6: One Conclusion (New System Introduction) ### Part 1 4:33 PM The Umeda Sky Building normally used a see-through elevator to ascend the first 33 floors to the floating garden 170 meters off the ground. After climbing to the observation deck on the 40th floor positioned between the two towers, one only had to exit onto the floating garden on the rooftop. But the Sky Building was currently running on emergency power and the elevators were not running. The only option was the emergency staircase facing the building’s windows. Those stairs were the key to the battle. Yuuki was an Energy Gunner. Taeko was a Steel Master. Both their Combat Styles focused on long-range attacks. And at the moment, the stairway acted as a narrow, straight pathway, so they had to prepare themselves for their enemy’s sniper shots. If they moved out ahead of their enemy, they would be fired on from below. If they fell behind their enemy, they would be fired on from above. Standard combat theory said higher was better. And right now, Taeko was below. There were two reasons for this. One of those being… “How can that girl keep firin’ such powerful attacks so fast!?” Her complaint was answered by two water spears flying down from the stairway landing and skewering her body. They were narrow blasts of water, but they accurately pierced her right shoulder and right chest. After a breath, blood spirted from the holes in her inner suit. – Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Control Pain – Hit. The sight of blood did not frighten her. She simply searched for her enemy. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit. Her enemy was no longer on the next landing up. She had already continued upwards. Taeko took a breath and started running. Her right arm was not moving properly. – Taeko – Medical Tech – Take – Check Injury – Hit. Her right shoulder was broken. “So I’ve only got my Dragon Emperor left arm to work with.” She muttered to herself as she ran and she looked over at the Dragon Emperor. The Dragon Emperor was not roaring. Its activation had stopped at the Third. On the bullet train before, it had stopped working when she tried to use it against Yuuki. It seemed to not reach the higher activation levels where the dragon’s will awoke. That was the second reason that Yuuki had the higher position. “Why are ya refusin’ to fight her? She killed my brother and she’s ignorin’ Shoui.” The metal fist did not explain its actions. Taeko ran up the stairs. She had run like this once before: on her way to where her brother had died. She had shaken free of the Koto Chancellor’s Officers when they tried to stop her, but there had been nothing there to see. Nothing had remained. Only a white chalk oval drawn on the road next to the Sarusawa Pond. That was where her brother’s right arm had fallen. There had been no bloodstains. According to the boy in charge of the scene, her brother had likely been flash frozen by the Koto Chancellor. After that, Taeko had trained and entered the Mountain to support her family. And now she was running up the stairs. Her brother’s killer was up above. She reached a landing. She ran up the next flight. The next thing she knew, the floor number label said 33. An emergency exit opened onto a passageway into the building. She ran through it and reached a large space. There was a long escalator straight ahead. Unlike the previous escalators, this one had a roof. It continued past the windows. It led to the observation deck suspended between the two towers. A red figure was running up it. “!” Taeko’s body moved on reflex. – Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Dash – Hit. She ran. Blood dripped down her right arm and onto the floor. Even so, her body moved forward. The soles of her shoes split the floor tiles below her feet. She produced a series of solid sounds. For just a moment, Yuuki looked back toward that noise while climbing the escalator. She ran. “Ya ain’t gettin’ away!” Taeko ran up the escalator. She was fast. Her speed allowed her to start catching up. She could see the sky through the glass overhead. The floating garden on the roof was near. She released her Words. She used her poorly-moving right arm to stick just the right side of her headphones in her ear. She surrounded herself in the light of her own Lightning High instead of the Dragon Emperor’s. She did not rely on the dragon. Someone stood in front of her with the setting sun washing over her. It was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. “!” Taeko no longer said anything. She ran up the escalator. Ice flew her way. – Taeko – Savate/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Dash Dodge – Hit! She ducked down as she continued forward. The string holding her ponytail in place was torn by the ice spear and her black hair spread into the air. But she did not stop. They were a mere three meters apart. Yuuki held Housei and light filled its ether firing section. She was going to fire. But Taeko moved before that happened. – Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Grab – Hit. – Taeko – Boxing/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Brute Force – Hit! Taeko used the Dragon Emperor’s fist to punch the escalator stairs with all her might. Even with the power out, the stairs would move if enough pressure was applied. The aluminum stairs lost to the Dragon Emperor’s strength and broke. The escalator only shook slightly. But that was enough. The vibration propagated through the stairs and Housei’s tip hopped up slightly in Yuuki’s hands. “…!?” It produced ice, but that ice shot past above Taeko’s head. Yuuki had an opening, so Taeko aimed for it. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit! The Dragon Emperor’s fist powerfully punched Housei from below. The intense sound was that of a great weight and metal colliding. The confrontation between the Suzaku and the dragon was easily won by the dragon. The tuning fork shaped staff was knocked from Yuuki’s hands and flew toward the heavens. It broke through the escalator’s ceiling and spun as it continued upwards. Housei stabbed into the base of the floating garden that they could see from below. “!” Now Yuuki had no weapon. Wind blew icy air into the escalator. Taeko looked up at Yuuki in that chill. Yuuki looked back down at Taeko. Yuuki jumped back. Taeko pursued. “I said ya ain’t gettin’ away!” – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit! She launched the imperial fist toward Yuuki. Or she tried to. The Dragon Emperor suddenly stopped. “Wha-…!?” Again with this. The dragon was refusing to fight the Suzaku user. The dragon’s will was interfering at the low level of the Third Activation. Taeko’s body tilted to the left thanks to the Dragon Emperor’s weight. The raised metal fist was pulled down by gravity and slammed against the escalator railing. Yuuki escaped upwards. Taeko clenched her teeth. Her right arm was injured, so she could not fight properly without the Dragon Emperor. If Yuuki had time to prepare, she could use spells even without her staff. Taeko looked at the Dragon Emperor that was no more than a weight now. “Ya…piece of shit!!” She roared at it and reached her right hand toward her left shoulder. The bloody right hand manually released the Dragon Emperor’s removal bolts. There were three. The Dragon Emperor was removed somewhat and her left shoulder felt lighter. A moment later, she reattached the Dragon Emperor as if tackling it with her shoulder. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – False Arm “Dragon Emperor” Initial Activation – Hit. When restarting the Dragon Emperor while it was attached, the dragon’s will would interfere and slow the process down. It was faster to unplug it and plug it back in to restart from the very beginning. The floating emblems carved on the inside activated and the weight vanished. Taeko stood up and ran forward while dragging along the sleeping Dragon Emperor. She ran toward the rooftop where her enemy waited. ### Part 2 4:47 PM After reaching the rooftop, Taeko first looked around the battlefield. The floating garden had a large circular hole in the middle and the narrow walkway drew a circle around it. It was only wide enough for three adults to walk abreast. That was enough room for walking, but not much for fighting. The landings provided more space, so they would be the key to this battle. “…” Taeko silently stepped out onto the rooftop. The first thing to greet her was the wind. The winter north wind blew in strong and cold to cool her heated body. But Taeko defied the wind’s will as her long hair whipped behind her. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! The enemy was extremely close by. She saw Yuuki standing not even five meters ahead. Taeko spoke to the silhouette she saw in the setting sun. “It’s been too long.” She smiled bitterly and Yuuki’s voiced asked a quiet question. “What is the Tokyo Chancellor doing?” “Oh, he gave me a single day to take care of my own plans.” Yuuki did not respond, but Taeko could not help but say more. “He really plans on crushin’ Kansai. What are ya gonna do about that?” Yuuki did not respond. Nor did she move. “Hmph,” snorted Taeko as she raised the Dragon Emperor which was wrapped in the Lightning High’s light. The Dragon Emperor’s First Activation could only pull off simple actions. The dragon’s will could not interfere now. So she ran forward. “Yuukiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” She shouted her enemy’s name. That name had long been on her mind. She had once tried but failed to forget it. For her, coming to Osaka with the Tokyo Chancellor had been a ceremony announcing Kansai as the enemy. But that had only been an excuse to fight Yuuki. Her enemy was right in front of her. She would reach her in the next moment. – Taeko – Lightning High/Steel/ Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Lightning High Strike – Hit! Her fist slammed into Yuuki’s body. There was no impact. There was no sound. There was only… “…Eh!?” Taeko voiced her confusion as Yuuki’s body crumbled away. It was a liquid. It splashed down like water. What had taken Yuuki’s shape and color regained the transparency and strength of water as it crumbled. It was not Yuuki. As proof, neither of the eyes in the sinking face were prosthetic. “A dummy!?” Tuners would sometimes rearrange the Lives of the wind or dirt to create a copy of themselves to act as a decoy. As if to prove that, Yuuki’s voice arrived clearly from behind Taeko. “That is the Suzaku Reflection passed down by Nandaimon.” Without turning around, Taeko jumped left on reflex. She jumped toward the large space of the landing instead of the walkway. Rather than icy pressure, a pure chill pursued her and dropped down from above. This attack was different from before. – Taeko – Savate/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Great Dodge – Hit! She leaped. She leaped for the sole purpose of escaping. She leaped with her back to her enemy and without a single thought of her brother or Shoui in her mind. That was the right thing to do. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. A five meter spherical mass of air had frozen white and it crashed down onto the rooftop. The attack had no weight or anything else, but when it burst, it created great destruction. The temperature difference whipped up the wind. Even the winter air was further cooled by the barrier of air, so a mist of frost formed. The barrier ate into the floor and railings. With a sound like breaking glass, the floor and railings shattered. This world of frigid temperatures left even metal so brittle it would break from the slightest impact. Everything was turned to sand. Yuuki had once used this technique to destroy the schoolyard of Private Showa. And it had also been the one to kill Taeko’s brother. “————!” After dodging the attack, Taeko saw the broken floor and railings falling along with the building. Taeko cried out. She made her presence known with a cry of both fear and anger as the sound of freezing faded away. And a thought flashed through her mind. No, that will told her. Her will uttered Words when she saw Yuuki’s technique. Something isn’t right. She did not know what was not right or how it was not right, but definite doubt rose within her when she saw Yuuki’s technique. Something did not match her memories or predictions. But that doubt did not arrive in time. “!” Her shout erased her hesitation. She searched for the enemy. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! A figure in a red blazer was circling to her right, between her and the landing’s wall. That was a good decision. Taeko could not use her injured right arm very much, so she would have trouble with the enemy on that side. But she did not care. “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” – Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Strike – Hit! With no Rhythm or anything else, she slammed her right fist toward Yuuki. She hit. She felt her fist sink into her opponent’s gut. Yuuki doubled over. At the same time, Taeko lost all sensation from her right arm past the shoulder. The broken shoulder had completely shattered. “!” She clenched her teeth and spun around. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Grab – Hit! – Taeko – Steel/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Throw – Hit! She grabbed her opponent’s collar with the Dragon Emperor and threw her with an overhand swing. “Gahh!” She slammed the girl head-first into the tile floor as cold air continued to rise from it. Yuuki’s glasses slid across the floor and the sound of impact was accompanied by a quieter metallic sound. Yuuki bounced and landed face down. She was right next to the hole she herself had created earlier. If she fell, she would not escape unharmed. Taeko would not let her escape. She stepped forward. She crouched down just as Yuuki tried to lift herself up with her arms. Taeko swung the Dragon Emperor’s first upwards. – Taeko – Steel/Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Great Strike – Hit! Just before that attack hit, Yuuki rolled on her side to turn toward Taeko while still on the floor. She launched a spell. It was water. It had the form and meaning of a wall. It was a powerful and unavoidable impact. The transparent wall of ultra-pressurized water slammed into Taeko at almost the same time as the Dragon Emperor broke through the water wall and hit Yuuki. They collided. Both their bodies were blown away. Taeko was knocked back a few meters and thrown toward the walkway. She hit the wall of the circular walkway. – Taeko – Gym Tech – Take – Control Balance – Miss. She continued rolling backwards. “Ow, ow, ow, ow…” She muttered to herself and stood up. The water soaking her body returned to ether and vanished. She searched for her enemy while feeling cold due to the body heat it had taken from her. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! Her Tech worked, but she could not see Yuuki. She only saw the large hole torn in the landing floor. It was five meters across and had been formed by the flash freezing. There was nothing and nobody there. It was obvious what had happened. Yuuki had fallen. “…” Taeko sighed as her long hair fluttered in the wind. “Is it…over?” Just as she said that… – Taeko – Hear Tech – Take – Hear – Hit. She heard the sound of bending metal. “…?” – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit! Taeko saw a hand holding onto the edge of the hole. In the blink of an eye, the right arm puled Yuuki’s upper body through the hole. Taeko realized her face was colored by surprise. “Ya survived!?” Yuuki did not answer. She silently pulled the rest of herself back up onto the floating garden. But that was not all. She held a giant object in her left arm. It was Housei. It was the giant staff that Taeko had punched away from her earlier. “…It can’t be!?” Taeko realized the flash freezing spell had been both a means of attack and a means of retrieving Housei. Housei had stabbed into the ceiling from the perspective of the escalator below, so from the roof, she had only needed to peel back the floor. “…” Yuuki silently raised Housei. Ether light already filled Housei’s ether firing section. It was a powerful light. That light would end this. “Kh…!” Taeko clicked her tongue and prepared to defend. Her left shoulder was suddenly pulled down. “Dragon Emperor!?” The Dragon Emperor would not move. It was only at the First Activation, but it stopped moving on its own. The dragon’s will fully controlled the false arm now. “Dragon Emperor…!” Taeko shouted at it and Yuuki launched her spell toward her. It was the flash freezing. The white bullet was nearly ten meters across and it filled the space overhead as it dropped down like a fist. There was no dodging it. The Dragon Emperor was heavy and would not move. The air audibly exploded with the icy temperature. Hearing that, Taeko knew she would be turned to sand. “…!” In that instant, a question reached her mind. Something was odd. And she realized what it was: the result. Her brother had died, leaving behind only his arm. Not a single drop of blood had remained at the scene. But she would be scattered as sand. Why was there a difference? In fact, how much power did this flash freezing spell have against a human? The schoolyard and school building had been shattered at Private Showa, but no one had died. Something was odd. This was the doubt she had subconsciously noticed when she saw the previous destruction. Before she could wonder what it meant, a certain fact occurred to her: The Dragon Emperor refused to fight Yuuki. The results were different and the dragon that could read people’s wills had made a baffling decision. Those two facts led to a single truth. Taeko was surprisingly willing to accept it. “…Ya moron.” The icy blast collided with her and she shut her eyes. In that instant, the Dragon Emperor instantly activated itself. ### Part 3 4:51 PM After an instant of light, the floating garden of Umeda’s famous Sky Tower fell from its central location. The structure was positioned between the two 170 meter buildings and it brought down both towers with it. First the west tower and then the east tower collapsed. Shards of glass were thrown as far as a kilometer away, the pieces of the Sky Tower did slight damage to the surrounding homes and buildings, and the evacuation by the Fourth Alarm was proven justified. The Fourth Alarm stopped only five minutes after the collapse had ended. ### Part 4 9:02 PM Healing people was difficult. Timewise, it took about six hours before Souichirou could speak. It was already night aboveground. But in the underground space with the lantern put out, it was impossible to judge the passage of those six hours. After an amount of time that felt both short and long, Souichirou uttered his first words in the pitch dark. “…I feel like I experienced the Kinki Riot.” “What does that mean?” asked Saki’s voice. “I am referring to the usage of the Flame High,” said Souichirou’s voice. “Would they have been unable to cause that riot if they had not held such an aggressive will?” “Don’t talk about the Flame High too much,” said Takahiro’s voice. “The fire will move in response to the words.” Souichirou sighed. “Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro was it? You have my thanks. …You have been dragging my Lives up to the surface this entire time, haven’t you?” “You need not thank me.” “This guy can be blunt,” said Saki. “So don’t take it personally.” “I am aware. I saw it in a feeling that was not quite a dream while he healed me.” “Don’t talk too much. …But anyway. How is Souichirou? Can he move?” “Probably,” confirmed Takahiro’s voice. “The prosthetics in this house are sure to protect him. But…” “But?” “There is a risk of the Flame High starting to move again. …To prevent that, he needs to retrieve Kusanagi as soon as possible.” “How does he do that?” “By using Kusanagi.” Souichirou answered that with an exhausted and bitter laugh. “So I retrieve Kusanagi after it was swallowed up by the Flame High, do I?” “Souichirou, do you think you can use Kusanagi?” “To be honest, I’m scared. …I have my own will at the moment, but what about the elation needed to use a Rhythm?” “…” “When I try to use a Rhythm, my thoughts might choose the Flame High over Kusanagi.” Takahiro asked him a serious question when he heard that. “Is the Flame High really that powerful?” “It is pure aggression,” answered Souichirou. “The Kusanagi Rhythm creates a physical manifestation of ‘cutting’, but the Flame High is simply the burning and destruction of your opponent. …In other words, it is victory.” “You were caught by that kind of Live?” asked Saki. “The clincher was being saved by someone else.” “You were saved by the wills of those in this cell and by your own sense of self. My healing has somewhat saved you, but if you do not replay Kusanagi soon, the Flame High will return.” “I know that.” Souichirou sighed quietly. “But how am I supposed to reclaim my Words?” “You fight,” declared Takahiro. “In the end, that is all there is in your Lives.” Saki sighed when he heard it. “Yeah, I guess it would be that.” With the sound of a match striking, a small light briefly flashed and then light returned to the lantern. Light surrounded the three boys and illuminated their faces. Souichirou’s face looked somewhat calm, but Takahiro’s was deeply colored by exhaustion. “Hey, are you okay, man?” “Do not worry. I have done this before.” “Before?” “Long ago, I created a Dog God and erased someone’s possibilities.” Takahiro’s resolute expression remained and both Souichirou and Saki fell silent in the darkness. It took some time before Takahiro said anything more. “Whether we are talking about me or that girl, everyone is killing someone.” “…Eh?” Takahiro ignored Saki’s question and fixed his suit’s collar as he stood up. Souichirou looked up as he did so. “Didn’t you want to ask me something?” “I read your Lives while healing you.” “I see. …Then you know the location of the winter cherry blossoms that Aoi Hijiri’s parents saw when they met.” “Yes, they are at Osaka Castle.” With that, Takahiro stroked the scarf around his neck. And… “Osaka Chancellor, I do have one question for you.” “What is it?” “That girl’s mother was abducted and taken to Tokyo. …Was that misfortune?” “You’ve heard, haven’t you? The winter cherry blossoms they saw bring misfortune.” “Not quite.” “What?” “Misfortune is not brought. It happens.” “…” “I ask you again: what do you think?” “Unfortunately, I have to take the side of the people in this house. …Why not ask Aoi Hijiri?” “I see.” Takahiro nodded and smiled bitterly. “I can probably ask her that after I settle this indecision.” He turned his back on the other two in the flickering light. Even after six hours of work, there was not a single wrinkle on the back of his suit. “Are you leaving?” asked Saki. “No, I am going.” No one asked where. “If you climb the stairs, the old woman will be waiting for you,” said Saki. “Just silently follow her.” “This is a wonderful house.” Takahiro said that in a less-than-complimentary tone and gave a quick bow. He said nothing more as he left the cell. The two boys who supported Osaka watched him go. The sound of chains filled their silence. Souichirou was moving. This was the sound of the boy who had slayed an ogre and sought battle. It rang out ever so slowly. ### Part 5 11:31 PM Below a large hill surrounded by paddy fields was the entrance to the path up to the Nandaimon Shrine. There was a large torii there. A red light flashed in front of that torii. It was an ambulance’s light. The ambulance suddenly drove off. The red light slowly left the Nandaimon Shrine. The area was surrounded by paddies that were dry for the winter. The moonlight was the only illumination. Its bluish-white light shined on two people. One was short and the other tall. They were Yuuki Senga and Iwai Sanzou. They were both watching the siren light of the departing ambulance. Then they spoke without moving. “You insist on home treatment? Do you not like our group’s hospitals?” “I’m not letting your quacks see my granddaughter naked.” “Then why did you take in the Nagoya Chancellor as well? You even placed them both in the same room.” “It’s called woman’s intuition. I can tell there’s no grudge between them anymore.” “Your intuition is a frightening thing. It was amazingly accurate 13 years ago.” Iwai Sanzou scratched his head and breathed a white sigh. “Back then, I had no idea those two were in the kind of relationship you say they were.” “All the blame lies with the winter cherry blossoms.” “Yes, that is where it all went wrong. Including the trust between you and your student.” “That was the only way to get past your group and inform them of our arrival.” “I was certainly surprised when the spear flew over our heads and fell into the waterfall basin. No one should have been able to arrive within 500 meters of the place.” Senga sighed. “If it had been 50 more, I wouldn’t have been able to make the throw.” “Well, that may have been a form of salvation for those two.” “Really?” “When they saw the spear flying their way, they smiled.” Iwai Sanzou scratched his head even more. He seemed to be having trouble saying this. “They probably thought everything would come to an end if it skewered and killed-…” “Don’t be stupid.” Senga looked up at Iwai. She had an aggressive look in her eyes. “When I did it, Iba asked if I had turned on them too. That had to have been what all three of them thought.” “Is that what you think?” “For a corporate dog, you have too many delusions about combat.” “I fight because I love that sort of thing.” “You moron,” said Senga while jabbing his waist with her elbow. The man pretended to be knocked back by the jab. “You are so cruel.” “Not as much as you. …What are you thinking?” “About what?” “You called someone in the hospital when I was taking those two away, didn’t you? What are you planning?” “Hm.” Iwai Sanzou nodded and crossed his arms in the moonlight. After some thought, he raised his head. “We will be holding a festival.” “A festival?” “Osaka, Nagoya, and Koto’s Chancellor’s Officers will rent out Osaka Castle and hold a festival.” “Wait, don’t make plans for my granddaughter.” “It will be in three days’ time, on Christmas Eve.” Senga was left speechless as he held out his right hand with two fingers sticking out. Seeing that, the elderly man smiled. “And how about we invite Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers as special guests?” “You know…” “This wasn’t easy. This festival required keeping a band from renting out the place. With that and the newspapers before, we have spent far too much money this year.” He smiled bitterly. “Although those expenses are an investment for the future.” “But do you really think Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers will show up?” “Can I just say that my intuition tells me they will?” Senga thought for a moment. “Your intuition is a frightening thing. It was amazingly accurate 13 years ago.” “Then that’s settled. Anyone able to use the Flame High can never live without battle.” “But how will you stop the Flame High?” “By ensuring Master Souichirou recovers,” nonchalantly answered Iwai. He crossed his arms again. “He is currently trapped by the Flame High’s power and cannot use Kusanagi. But if a certain individual can heal him enough to live a normal life, it should be possible.” “And how will you do it?” “By reminding him of his Words through battle.” “Who will he be fighting?” “Someone in a very similar situation.” “A similar situation…?” Senga spoke the words and realized who the man meant. Iwai responded to her look of surprise with a true smile. “His opponent might die, but that is fine. It will be an excellent experience for Master Souichirou.” Senga tried to say something about that, but Iwai held out a hand to stop her. “What I am more interested in is why the Nagoya Chancellor and Koto Chancellor were both nearly unharmed. I apologize for changing the topic, but could you answer me that?” “A miracle probably happened.” “I see.” Iwai nodded with his smile intact. “In that case, it might be worth investing in the Nagoya Chancellor.” “Iwai.” “Yes, what is it?” “Do you think your plan will bring this all to an end?” “It will also give you what you want. Although I think I know why you sent him to the Mountain for two years.” A breath. “He is not a failure, is he?” Senga did not answer him, but her silence was an answer in and of itself. After a deep nod, Iwai turned his back on Senga. “I will bring out Master Souichirou. The duel will take place on the beach of Osaka Bay in the Minato Ward. As for the time…how about early tomorrow morning?” “How selfish of you.” “Oh, I’m not letting anyone else have something so fun.” “You do like to show off, don’t you?” Iwai began walking away as Senga spoke. He slowly walked toward Osaka along the moonlit road. Senga called out to him from behind. “Did you call a car?” “I feel like walking alone in the moonlight…is what I would love to say, but someone will be here to pick me up in less than five minutes. I am a VIP after all.” “Yes, someone like you is considered ‘very important’. And that’s why you need to hurry up and die already.” “And you need to try to live long enough to become a Youkai or something. …Goodbye.” He lightly waved back at her. It was only about six hours until the early morning. Senga had a lot to do. ### 336. Chapter 7: Resuming Action (Continue) – (12/22/1996) ### Part 1 4:58 AM It was still too early for sunrise. Shoui stood alone in a dark blue world that was beginning the change from night to morning. He stood in the Nanba family’s open-air training ground. He had spent the past few days doing nothing more than sleep in the house and visit this training ground. He felt restless when he was not moving his body. He only visited this place to punch the training post until that feeling left him. He had chosen this early morning hour because the destruction of the nearby dojo and the Fourth Alarm the day before had distracted him and kept him from moving much. Tuners had reconstructed the foundation of the destroyed dojo the day before and the wood construction would likely begin this morning. Once that started, he would be too distracted to train. So he was here now. The winter morning was cold. He wore a jacket to keep himself warm and he began his warmup exercises in full combat equipment. After a total of 1500 knuckle pushups and 800 squats, he could finally release a long white breath into the darkness. “…” He tried to blow that white breath as far as he could and then smiled bitterly. … How about I get started? He pulled a golden ring from his pocket and held it in his left fist. He raised his fists and made a few slow straight punches into the air. After confirming his ideal form like that, he began for real. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit! The solid sound of fist against wood rang clearly through the darkness. Immediately afterwards, the woods around the house shook and the branches rustled like a wave. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Listen – Hit. There were birds. The sound spooked the birds living in the trees and they took flight. The birds could not see well in the darkness, but they chirped to confirm each other’s positions. “…” Shoui started up again. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit! A solid sound rang out. It was a nice sound and his body moved just as he wanted it to. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Straight Fist – Hit! This was working. His fists were picking up momentum. – Shoui – Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! The straight punch was the same, but he twisted his hips and spun his body to increase the speed, destructive power, and reach. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! He also took a step to strengthen those things further. But stepping too far increased the odds of receiving a counterattack from his opponent. When stepping in for an attack, he moved in a straight line instead of the curve he used for dodging. So… – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! He normally used a combination attack that linked all of the actions together. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Control Stance – Hit. He would occasionally move too close, so he adjusted his body’s position with quick movements of his feet. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! He made his combination attack. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! The critical blow was used as a finisher after the combination. If his opponent did not leave him with an opening, he would control his stance and judge what distance and timing to use. The key to that decision between offense and defense was how to shift from the combination to the single attack. It did not matter how many moves he had if he could not defeat his opponent. Unlike a competition match, there was no such thing as winning by decision in actual battle. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! Shoui specialized in a combination of straight blows similar to close-range short uppercuts. And on occasion… – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Elbow Strike – Hit! He would move right up to his opponent and use his elbow. He was fast and there was no hesitation in his actions. All of the moving he had done over the past few days had built up, so he could draw out his body’s full power. And his movements grew even more varied. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Tackle – Hit! He used a technique that resembled a shoulder tackle. He generally made blows with his upper body. And he made use of every kind of technique that used his upper body. There were sounds of blows and impacts. There were sounds of punches and strikes. They created a quick rhythm and would not stop. Even the rest notes when he adjusted his stance were only pauses that assisted his acceleration. He moved. He moved quickly. But he realized his movements were lacking something. “!” – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! An especially loud noise was accompanied by what sounded like tearing cloth. The training post had broken. “…” The top 3 cm of the post had succumbed to the impact and broken off. Small wood fibers were visible along the break. The fallen portion continued to roll along the training ground. This was not a normal break. If it was just the accumulation of blows, it would have broken at the center or where it met the ground. The post had been cut by a sharp strike much like a blade. Shoui was surprised at this unexpected power, but he also sighed. … Come to think of it, something similar happened at the Nandaimon training ground. That training ground was located in front of the detached room he had once called home and he had once punched off the top of a training post there. He smiled a little. And bitterness slowly filled it. … So I’m finally feeling like I did back then. At the time, Yuuki had watched from the side as he learned the techniques of the Nandaimon Unarmed Style. “…” He clenched his fist. He held Takada’s ring inside it. He did not say or think anything about that ring. He simply placed his fist on the break in the post. He seemed to be showing his fist what it had done. A few seconds passed. – Shoui – Hear Tech – Take – Listen – Hit. He looked behind him. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit. As the darkness gradually thinned, he saw a man standing in the center of the training ground. The man was dressed like a monk. He was Iba Masaaki. He briefly looked Shoui in the eye and then spoke. “I have come for you on Yuuki Senga’s instructions.” “…?” “You will now spar with Nanba Souichirou on a Minato Ward beach.” Shoui had a single reaction to that. … Huh? Speechless, he tilted his head. And Iba nodded. “I do not like it either, but I came to summon you as repayment for healing my wounds. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. For some reason, he could now read Iba’s previously inscrutable expression. As he crossed his arms, his expression lacked its previous harshness and also lacked the displeasure he claimed to feel. And upon seeing that… … Why me? Shoui asked his question through his own expression. He did not immediately receive an answer. Iba nodded, scratched his head, and nodded again. “Most likely, Nanba Souichirou lost his Words after Kusanagi was consumed by the Flame High. If he is to retrieve them through combat, he must view himself in the mirror and objectively observe what his Words are.” “…” “But playing the opponent in this battle will be dangerous.” “?” “Nanba Souichirou uses a real sword while you fight unarmed. And if he retrieves Kusanagi, you will be faced with death as you lack the Shinkage Style or anything else.” Shoui listened to those words. … It sounds like things have really made progress. He almost felt like he was entirely uninvolved in it all. Everyone else had been in motion while he simply punched the training post. So… … This might be my last chance to get involved. It was true he was powerless against Kusanagi. When he had tried to block Kusanagi when Aoi Hijiri had launched it, tension and fear had filled his body. He had not forgotten that. And that Kusanagi had been a copy created by the Shinkage Style of Dance Combat, so it had not come from Aoi Hijiri’s own Words. The original would likely be even more powerful. “What will you do? It goes against my principles to bring an unwilling person with me. It seems Yuuki Senga has already left with someone from Houzenji.” Shoui was no longer listening. He simply clenched his fist and faced the training post. He moved. He pictured a cutting motion and thrust out his fist. – Shoui – Kusanagi/Boxing Tech – Take – Kusanagi Strike – Miss. Sure enough, he could not produce Kusanagi. There was some trick to using it that was different from an Over Rhythm. Only Nanba Souichirou could use that Rhythm with such short Words and no MD. It was a special Rhythm. … If I fight that, will I gain what it is I’m missing? Instead of just watching it, he could experience the process with which someone who had lost their Words regained Kusanagi. “…” Shoui looked down at his fist. He held Takada’s ring there. So he gave a deep nod. He turned back toward Iba and began walking. “Are you going?” Instead of answering Iba’s question, he walked past the man. He was currently a Dis-Worder who could speak no words. His pace was slow, but he walked toward the exit from the house. ### Part 2 5:02 AM Yuuki awoke in her own bed. The room’s lights were on. She was facing the wall and lying on her side in an unnatural pose. She quickly realized why. Below the blanket, her right ankle was wrapped in bandages. If she was lying on her back, the weight of the blanket on her toes would hurt her ankle. It was likely a light sprain. She could feel bandages and charms placed on her joints. – Yuuki – Medical Tech – Take – Check Injuries – Hit. Her right ankle, ribs, and right knee must have been broken. That would normally be some serious injuries, but she seemed to have received Tune healing while she was passed out. “I suppose those injuries are surprisingly light for a building collapse at that height.” She sighed. She looked to the wall and then narrowed her eyes. She had dropped her glasses during the battle and had not seen them since. She silently started to close her eyes, but then she raised her head a little. She looked to the edge of the bed. Some paperback and hard cover novels were sitting where she had left them in a pile. But there was something other than a book on the very top. It was a paper bag. It contained what she had bought the day before. She reached from the blanket and grabbed it. After placing both hands on it, she slowly pulled it below the blanket and held it to her chest. “…” She curled up around the paper bag while sinking back into the blanket. She closed her eyes and sighed. Strength filled the hands holding the bag, producing a crinkling sound. She opened her mouth while listening to that. And she prepared to speak the precious words she could only say while alone. Except… “What’s that paper bag? Somethin’ important?” The blanket sprang up in response to that sudden voice. She got up. She had never suspected there was anyone else in the room, so her face was filled with panic. It was a rare response for her. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit! The enemy who was not really an enemy was right in front of her. It was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. She was sitting down while wearing a yukata over a Nandaimon shrine maiden outfit. She had the Dragon Emperor on her left arm, so the shrine maiden outfit’s sleeve was loosened to allow the metal fist out. A guest futon was laid out below her and that fist. “…?” Yuuki used her eyes to ask what was going on, so Taeko answered while combing her undone hair with her hand. “Yer gramma apparently put us in the same room.” “She did…?” “She asked to get a look at me, said I wasn’t an enemy, and then told me to get along with ya.” Taeko sat cross-legged, rested her cheek in her hand, and breathed a masculine sigh. “I can’t stand it.” “?” “Ya understand, don’t ya? There’s so much about this I can’t stand.” Yuuki remained silent, so Taeko tilted her head. “Yer not good with people, are ya?” “…” Taeko took Yuuki’s silence as a yes and gave an agreeable smile. “There’s so much I don’t understand, though. …Do ya know why I managed to escape yer technique?” Yuuki shook her head. “Just when I thought I had hit you with my barrier, the building was blown away.” “That might’ve been the Dragon Emperor.” “The Dragon Emperor?” “I solved a question of mine, so it might’ve helped me out.” Taeko looked to her prosthetic arm. She sounded more like she was talking to herself than asking a question. “Why did the Dragon Emperor avoid fightin’ with ya? I think I get it now. …But that guess leads to a pretty serious conclusion.” She took a breath. “But I can’t think of any other reason the Dragon Emperor would stop in front of ya. …That’d only happen if yer on the side of justice and my actions are evil.” Taeko held the Dragon Emperor’s fist in front of her eyes. She clenched the steel fist, producing the sound of creaking metal. “Do ya understand?” She did not receive an answer, but she did not care. Her bitter smile deepened and she lowered the fist to her side. She looked to Yuuki from the floor. “Hey.” “…” “I can tell ya wouldn’t answer me if I asked about the truth.” “…” “So I’ll ask in a different way.” Taeko closed her eyes. “How did ya kill my brother?” It was a quiet question. But unlike the previous questions, Yuuki answered this one immediately. “With Suzaku’s flash freezing.” “Really?” “Yes.” Taeko asked another question without opening her eyes. “Then why weren’t there any pieces of him left?” That question did not receive an answer. But Taeko asked more. “And at Private Showa, yer flash freezin’ technique didn’t kill anyone. …The reason why is simple: unlike mere objects, people will subconsciously negate the Rhythm attack with their own Rhythm.” An exhausted sigh left Taeko’s mouth. It was a heavy sigh. And that breath seemed to draw out more words. “Ya might lie, but the Dragon Emperor won’t.” “What lie are you talking about?” “The one about how ya became the Killing Holder!” shouted Taeko. She raised her head and opened her eyelids to look at Yuuki. Her expression was entirely serious. “I’ve made my decision.” “About what?” “Koto Chancellor, ya are the only one I’ll follow.” Yuuki frowned at that. Taeko smiled bitterly. And she said more with that tearful smile. “A moron who can never catch a break like ya needs someone by her side.” “…” “Shoui would really be the best choice, though…” “I do not need Hizaka Shoui.” “Probably not.” Taeko narrowed her eyes and looked to the corner of the room. “And I guess ya do have that thing…” She was referencing the small creature with light brown fur sitting in the corner. It was a Dog God. “It’s been there this whole time. Is it Shoui’s?” “I don’t know.” The Dog God was about 3 meters from Yuuki. “…It’s closer.” “Eh?” “Nothing.” Taeko tilted her head and nodded at that. And she glanced over at the Dog God. “I kinda hope it is Shoui’s.” She sighed. And before that breath could fall to the futon, Yuuki began to move. She pulled her blanket in close and curled up to hide the paper bag in her arms. “Why are you so fixated on him?” It was the Dragon Emperor that first responded to her question. It raised its low rumbling voice. The armor panels opened somewhat as it rose to the combat mode known as the 3rd Activation. Taeko looked to the false arm that had started up on its own. “When earnin’ the position of Chancellor at the Mountain, ya end it with some battles, right?” “I was given the position on a recommendation based on my testing, so I wouldn’t know.” “Is that so?” asked Taeko with a bitter smile. “Well, whatever.” The bitterness left her smile. “I fought Shoui during the semi-finals and I punched him out once.” Some tenseness came to her face. “And I know that he fought my brother to protect ya. …We had trained at the same trainin’ ground, so when I learned that, I felt some hesitation and resentment. And when I hit him…” She sighed. “That moron completely snapped.” “…And?” “Would ya call it combat instincts? Well, when he passed out…he started movin’ at frightenin’ speed. He circled behind me in the blink of an eye…” Yuuki said nothing. Taeko placed her hand on the Dragon Emperor. “The Rhythm he used was the Break High. My left arm was torn off and sent airborne in no time at all. But…” “…” “Right afterwards, he seemed to come back to his senses. Would ya call it a look of regret? He had that dumb look on his face and didn’t move at all…” She said nothing more. The answer was already known. Taeko had been the one to become a Chancellor. That meant she had defeated Shoui. Someone who could not defeat their opponent when they needed to could not become a Chancellor. That unwritten rule was absolute. So she said something else instead. “It’s thanks to his instincts that he doesn’t die when he should’ve been killed.” “Is that so?” “There are two sides to everythin’. Someone who’s strong with one power is strong with the opposite power.” With that, she stood up. Her head reached the fluorescent light illuminating the room. And she looked down at Yuuki from that height. “I have a number of things to check on. Your gramma said to go to the coast of Osaka Bay before sunrise.” With that, she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. The location was written there. And Taeko spoke to supplement it. “The match held here will save Japan from a second Kinki Riot.” The Dog God seemed to answer her by quietly barking in the corner of the room. ### Part 3 5:29 AM There were two times when purple filled the sky. In evening it was known as twilight and in morning it was known as daybreak. A few people were gathered on the Minato Ward beach on the coast of Osaka Bay. Thanks to modern development, Osaka had few beaches left. A few men in black coats seemed to surround that beach. They were corporate combat personnel from the Houzenji Group. The Izumo Company LMGs they wore suggested their Combat Style was Strike Gunner. They probably normally worked as guards. They all wore combat helmets and spoke quietly using the communicators embedded in them. They surrounded four people on the beach. Two of them were at the top of the beach slope descending from the embankment to the ocean. They were Yuuki Senga and Iwai Sanzou. They sat directly on the sand and looked to the water’s edge. They looked to the edge of the dark ocean that was not yet lit by the sunlight. Two other people were there. They were Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji and Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. Saki remained seated and spoke to Souichirou who swung a large sword around. Based on the expression visible through his sunglasses, he was chatting with the other boy to calm the pre battle tension. Some words escaped Iwai Sanzou as he watched the two. “They are a good pair.” “Are you going to hire them?” “Of course not. They need to make even more of a name for the Modified Purple Electricity Style.” “That’s unusually impartial for you.” “In the coming age, an outward-facing charisma will be as necessary as our sort of strength.” “Is that what Kusanagi is for?” Iwai nodded. “Any corporate group connected to the emperor will gather below that Rhythm. And if the Houzenji Group has absolute control of Kusanagi, I hope to begin a full business partnership with Izumo and their Wind High.” “I see. Sounds like you have big plans.” “I could say the same about you, couldn’t I?” Iwai looked to Senga. “It is your doing that Tokyo’s Student Council has remained silent about this entire affair, isn’t it?” “I wouldn’t know anything about that.” “Oh, I heard that the Emergency Teachers and the Mountain were working together to use this incident to reunite the east and west schools.” Senga said nothing, so Iwai continued. “The adults failed to combine the east and west, so you are trying to use the children’s war as a trigger. Only you would come up with an idea like that.” “But I intend to give all the credit to the adults. By keeping this riot entirely secret, it will all be credited to groundwork laid by the politicians and corporations.” “Why would you manipulate the information like that?” “In exchange for the credit for such a historic accomplishment, the crimes of all those involved will be wiped clean,” declared Senga. Her eyes were fixated on Souichirou as he swung his sword on the beach below. “At this point, all of this is in violation of the academy rules. This riot should be banished into the darkness.” “And to do that, something must be done about the Flame High.” “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you corporations think.” She smiled bitterly. “If the Flame High wins, the east and west will still be unified, but if Tokyo wins…it will greatly shift the east-west power balance even if all this is kept secret.” “Indeed. Souichirou-sama must emerge victorious.” “Don’t be stupid. It’s Osaka that’ll win, right? If Osaka wins, Tokyo will have to support the unification to preserve their pride and we’ll have peace as long as Osaka doesn’t invade Tokyo for retribution.” “To be honest, there is no guarantee Osaka can win if they do invade.” “If we have peace, then we’re better off without a king.” At that moment, the morning sun rose from behind the eastern mountains. Light raced across the ground and everyone’s shadows grew more pronounced. Souichirou’s sword dully reflected the sunlight. Iwai looked to that light. “That sword…is it true it is a Device pulled from the treasures at Nandaimon?” “We had it made by Hong Kong’s top Buster. He visited Nandaimon 5 years ago to study Death Techno.” “I see. That would explain why it is shaped differently from the Japanese-made holy items. I must thank you for that. …This will allow Souichirou-sama to draw out his full strength.” “His full strength?” “Do you know why he always makes a diagonal swing starting from the bottom?” Senga thought about that for a moment. And she reached a certain conclusion. “It’s to make sure he doesn’t go too far and hit the ground while swinging downwards, isn’t it?” “Normal swords and holy items cannot bear that much force, so the hilt or blade will break. …But that Device will turn even the ground to dust when it strikes.” “That isn’t good news for Shoui as his opponent.” Iwai said nothing to that. And Senga finally turned his way. “What’s the silence for?” “Oh, I’m just surprised you actually offered him up for this. …He was a prized student worth letting live with you, wasn’t he?” “Yeah, but this battle is sure to be necessary for him too.” “…Necessary?” “He might be able to work through something he failed to resolve over the past 2 years. Think of it like swapping out all your cards to turn your boar into a blue ribbon.” “Unfortunately, I am not one for gambling.” As soon as Iwai said that, they heard a slight sound from the direction of the city. At the same time, a voice came from the communicator in Iwai’s pocket. “Iba and Hizaka have arrived. They have both passed the ID scan. Should we double check up to Level 55?” “No, that will not be necessary. Let them through.” “Understood.” Iwai and Senga exchanged a glance. The morning sun was rising. It was the perfect time for a sparring match. ### Part 4 5:43 AM The morning sun gently shined on the city of Osaka. It first fell on the tall corporate buildings and the vast historical locations. Due to the size of its grounds and its own height, Osaka Castle was the very first place touched by the morning sun. Its white walls reflected the sunlight and the waves of its green roof tiles glowed brightly. The contrast of its structure was visible from a great distance. The Otemon Gate was the largest entrance to the grounds and it provided a direct view of the castle’s impressive form. But few were there to see it on this early winter morning. The only person there had been there since the night before. He was there all alone. That person was Nakamura Hisahide. He sat leaning against the traffic light in front of the Otemon Gate. He had apparently been there for a long time, at least since the night before. The headphones in his ears were playing the Flame High’s music. He was silent and motionless with his face buried in his mountain hoodie’s collar. His eyes were weakly narrowed as he stared at Osaka Castle in the morning sun. “…” He did not move. But… “Hey, you idiot. What do you think you’re doing?” A sudden kick from the side hit him on the side of the head. “!?” With a dull sound, he toppled over and then sprang back up. He stood and turned toward the person who had kicked him. And he saw… “Why are you wallowing in melancholy?” It was Aoi Hijiri. As a change from the norm, she did not have a shirt tied around her waist and she breathed a white breath. “You didn’t go to Nagoya?” “…Takada is dead.” That was Nakamura’s sudden response to her question. When she heard it, Hijiri looked up toward heaven a little. After some thought, she put her hands on her hips and sighed. A large white breath left her mouth. And two simple words accompanied it. “I see.” A grim look entered Nakamura’s eyebrows when he heard that, but Hijiri continued before he could say anything. “Make no mistake. It isn’t that I don’t have any thoughts about that. We knew her longer than you did.” “…” “And? What did she say to you before she died?” “Nothing.” Nakamura said very little. Even so, Hijiri nodded. “Understood. Then she was must have thought the possibility she mentioned would lead to you becoming king.” “And if you’re wrong about that?” “There’s no way to check what the dead were thinking.” Hijiri sat on a nearby guardrail. She released a white breath into the sky. “Look, look. It’s like a flamethrower.” Nakamura ignored her and leaned against a utility pole while still standing. He crossed his arms. “Where is Takahiro?” “I don’t know.” “…?” “We got separated.” She took a breath. “We had our reasons.” “Did you break up?” “It isn’t that.” She smiled bitterly and glanced toward Nakamura. “I said we had our reasons, didn’t I?” “Then get lost.” “Why?” “You two have no more obligation to follow me.” “That’s too bad. I promised Iba.” “…?” “I promised I would stay by your side no matter what happened.” He immediately responded to that. “I defeated Old Man Iba.” He was clearly cutting her off, but Hijiri did not stop smiling bitterly and was not shaken. “That old man said ‘no matter what’.” “…” “…You’re a dumb girl.” “I’m not a girl for anyone but Takahiro.” She stood up and did some light stretches. She stretched her legs which had a noticeably nice shape even in jeans. “At any rate, you shouldn’t stay here. Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers are going to start moving again this morning.” “And you?” “I’m going to take a morning run around the castle.” “No, not that. Are they not going to find you?” “I’m making sure they don’t.” Nakamura sighed at that simple answer. And then Hijiri asked him a question. “I’ve found a place to stay, so do you want me to take you there?” “No, thanks.” He waved his hand in casual rejection. “Hm.” Hijiri nodded. “I’m staying here until I find the cherry blossoms and I’ll be running every morning, so if you’re planning to do something, come tell me. You look oddly dangerous right now.” With that, she took a step. Nakamura said nothing, so she lightly raised a hand. “Bye.” And she started to run. At that exact moment, she heard someone singing. “…?” She stopped and exchanged a glance with Nakamura. A choir was singing in the distance. “…That’s Beethoven’s 9th.” Hijiri nodded in understanding. “Well, it is the end of the year. Come to think of it, they have an outdoor concert around here on Christmas Eve. …Did you know that?” “Why would I know that?” Hijiri pointed at the utility pole he had been leaning against. The concrete pole had a few advertisements attached. The very top one was for the outdoor concert to be held in the plaza in front of Osaka Castle’s Otemon Gate. They could hear the tenor part from the fourth movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Hijiri looked curiously toward the parking lot beyond the Otemon Gate where the voices were coming from. “Beethoven’s 9th, huh? …Are they singing it in German? I only know the Japanese version.” “You sure know a lot.” “Takahiro taught me last year.” Nakamura sighed at that. But as he quietly stood there, Hijiri tilted her head and placed a hand on his chest. “Listen. Don’t keep it to yourself. If something happens, call me.” With that last comment, she lightly struck his chest. Then she turned around. This time, she did run off. Nakamura did not stop her. He simply looked up into the sky. The sky grew to a bluish-white as the morning sun filled it. It was a still morning filled with singing voices. ### 337. Chapter 8: The True Past (Hidden Special Move Information) ### Part 1 6:00 AM Shoui and Souichirou’s match began as they faced each other. They were on a flat beach. The sun was just beginning to show its bright circle over the mountains. The two of them stood and faced each other without exchanging a greeting. And with a hint of exhaustion on his face, Souichirou spoke a single word to Shoui. “…Sorry.” He said nothing more. He did not need to. He knew who his opponent was and he knew their background. He also knew their skill. And he knew what he should do and what was necessary. The two of them stood there with no need for words. Shoui pulled a golden ring from his pocket and clenched it in his left fist. And he looked to his feet. Their shadows stretched long across the beach and toward the ocean. The ocean was to Shoui’s left and to Souichirou’s right. They heard the splashing of the waves as those waves washed across the heads of their shadows. And after several waves crashed, the shadows silently took their combat stances. Two two-dimensional afterimages slowly moved on the sand. One shadow raised a sword. The other raised its guard to protect its face. The former was Souichirou’s shadow and the latter was Shoui’s. Both their stances were unique. Souichirou held his drawn sword down and below his side like an iai pose. Shoui leaned forward much like the peek-a-boo style of boxing. Neither stance allowed them to escape. They were both on the verge of moving. But that did not happen and neither of them took action. Time passed as they held their poses. They looked each other in the eye as the waves continued to crash. It looked like it had all ended after they took their stances. The crashing of the waves grew louder. But they still did not move. They could not move. There was a reason for this: their stances and tactics fit together too well. Souichirou held his sword in a go no sen stance that was meant to counterattack once the opponent approached. Shoui held his fists in a sen no sen stance that was meant to charge up to his opponent to attack. Go no sen meant to take action after seeing your opponent move and to get your attack in before theirs. Sen no sen meant to move before your opponent could and to get your attack in first. Both stances did not take a second attack into consideration. Whoever hit fastest would win. They could not move carelessly. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. – Souichirou – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. They searched each other’s expressions, but that changed nothing. They were too focused to hide their expressions. And Shoui moved slowly enough to not show an opening. He changed his stance. Slowly and silently, he pulled his left fist back and turned his body at an angle while making sure he did not leave an opening for attack. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Change Stance – Hit. Souichirou similarly altered his stance. – Souichirou – Gym Tech – Take – Change Stance – Hit. “…” The sun moved one spot higher into the sky before they finished. Shoui was turned to the side. He held his left fist by his waist and his right hand a bit out in front. This stance allowed him to make a powerful step forward and swing his entire body to throw his left fist. It was the same stance he had used to destroy the dorm door with Nakamura on the other side. Since he could throw his fist while stepping forward, he could attack in a single action instead of needing the two beats of movement with the sen no sen . He had used the heel of his palm on the dorm door, but now he clenched his fist for the slight bit of extra reach. The speed of a single finger’s length could decide this battle. He lightly clenched the fist and gathered strength in the shoulder and elbow. His fist would fly with great speed once he moved. Meanwhile, Souichirou had a similar idea. He prepared a thrusting stance just like when he had faced Nakamura. He normally held his sword low to cut with the front of the blade, but now he held it at a mid-level height to stab with the tip. That was the fastest strike possible with a sword. And the small point of the sword tip was hard to see and thus hard to dodge. It was still a go no sen technique, but the great difference in reach and speed would make up for acting second. However, there was another small factor that could decide this match. – Shoui – Break High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Break High Charge – Hit. That was the Rhythms. Shoui could use a Rhythm, but Souichirou could not. The white light of breaking burst from Shoui’s fist, but the blade of Souichirou’s Device remained silent. That difference in meaning was crucial. A single touch from Shoui’s fist could carve the meaning of an impact into his opponent’s body, but Souichirou’s Device could only do damage once its blade tip stabbed into his opponent’s flesh. Kusanagi could scatter everything if even the sword’s pressure hit someone. Souichirou had always relied on that power, so this was a first for him. He had a handicap both practically and mentally. If that led to hesitation, the superior reach of his sword would mean nothing. “…” – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. – Souichirou – Mind Tech – Take – Decode Expression – Hit. Their expressions were the same as before. They did not move. They sped up, gathered strength, and made every preparation for victory, but they did not move. Time passed and the waves washed across the shoulders of their shadows. A sudden female voice reached them from the distance. “Shoui!?” It was Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. While turned to the side, Shoui reacted to that voice by lowering his gaze somewhat. Souichirou immediately responded to that movement. – Souichirou – Boxing/Savate/Gym/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Full Speed Strike – Hit! He did not move. It was a pure thrust. A straight line reflected the morning sun as it made a swift and accurate movement. Shoui reacted by dodging. He had to move up to his opponent. Would he circle to the left or the right? There were only two options. And his vision answered that question. – Shoui – Sight/Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Dodge – He had seen his and Souichirou’s shadows on the beach. Souichirou’s shadow silently showed his blade as well. The three-dimensional thrust became a two-dimensional action when viewed through the shadow. His options of dodging left or right were replaced with two other options: above or below. – Hit!! He chose below. His shadow ducked below the straight line shadow racing across the beach. He was fast. His feet tossed sand into the air. His fist flew. He made a counterattack against Souichirou’s step forward. He was moving even further ahead of Souichirou’s go no sen attack. He ignored the blade racing by overhead and took aim while ducked low. His target was Souichirou’s solar plexus. Even if that Osaka Chancellor had replaced so much of his body with prosthetics, a heavy blow to the center of his body would do some damage. This would be the end for a normal Strike Forcer. And it should have been so here. But Souichirou was not normal. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. The movement Shoui saw was proof enough of that. “!?” It was an instantaneous movement. Souichirou’s left hand let go of the hilt, formed a fist, and punched the back of the blade from above. The straight forward line of the thrust had its vector shifted downward. The Device was essentially swinging down from above. – Souichirou – Boxing/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Extra Attack – Hit! – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Hit!! The attacker was far from normal, but the dodger was just as abnormal. Shoui leaped toward the water. His hands and feet landed on the wet sand and he formed a proper stance once more. By that time, Souichirou was already moving. He let go of and abandoned the Device as it swung down in his right hand. He could not move swiftly with the heavy Device in hand. He turned toward Shoui and charged toward him while reaching his left hand for the short sword at his waist. That automatically meant he held it low. It was a lot like his usual attack. – Souichirou – Boxing/Savate/Gym/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Upwards Diagonal Strike – Hit! Shoui tried to dodge. But… – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Miss!! “…!?” Nothing about the timing kept him from dodging. He failed for another reason. A wave had washed up at his feet. His feet sank into the sand. In no time at all, Souichirou swung his short sword in sweeping motion. It audibly sliced through the air. And before that sound ended, a vertical cut raced up Shoui’s chest. The anti-shock reflective material of his inner suit provided no protection against a slicing power like this. He was cut. He did not bleed yet. So soon after being cut, the muscles had contracted and the blood vessels were squeezed shut. But the blood would come a breath later. And it did. The bone had not been cut, so it was only a light spray of blood. But it was not over yet. Before the wave could recede, Souichirou raised his blade for another attack. He moved fast. His actions and resolve showed no mercy. The next attack would definitely slice Shoui through from head to crotch. And… “Ah.” Souichirou weakly released his voice. And that voice grew stronger as the silver arc began down its path. “Ah…!” His voice became his Words. In his case, that was only a single sound. “!” Great pressure filled the short sword. It was Kusanagi. A powerful shimmering surrounded the attack as it moved to take down Shoui. Kusanagi was swung to defeat the one who had dodged its attack and tried to make an attack of his own. A direct hit would mean death. And for Shoui, this was the repeat of a nightmare. ### Part 2 6:07 AM When Shoui saw the power approaching before his eyes, a phantom pain ran through his forehead. He felt déjà vu. … What is this!? His battle with Yamashita Gihei had ended like this as well. He had been knocked unconscious and woken up to find Yuuki had killed the enemy. And now this was happening, so… … I have to win. If he did not, he could not protect her. He had thought the same thing when he had been hit by Yamashita Gihei’s attack. … I have to win or I can’t protect her! His will desired battle. It desired victory. It desired the defeat of his enemy. It was an extremely powerful desire. “…!” And then something changed. As Shoui tried to raise his fist to guard, ether light wrapped around it. But this was not the light of the Break High. This light had a highly sticky power that seemed to consume the Break High’s power. It was a desire to attack. It instantly surrounded his fist and took form. It was fire. The blaze of the Flame High. “!?” Before he could express surprise, an incredible pain raced through his forehead. The phantom pain felt like having a nail driven into his brain and it instantly erased his fear of the Flame High. He snapped. His body suddenly moved on its own. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Counterattack Dodge – Hit! His fiery fist instantly burned the descending short sword. At the same time, his body leaped across the beach while staying low to the ground. He did not stop. With the flames still residing in his fist, he left sand in the air behind him while circling behind Souichirou. He was a heated gust of wind. His body moved. It moved to attack and purely to defeat his opponent. But he asked a question. … What is going on!? The question was directed at himself. His body split the early morning wind as it moved, but this was more the power of the Rhythm than his own will. And… … Why can I use this Rhythm so well!? ### Part 3 6:08 AM “So this is the truth of the matter!?” shouted Iba Masaaki as he watched Shoui. He stood up to better see Shoui and Souichirou moving on the beach below. Senga also watched Shoui as she sat with Iwai next to him. Taeko and Saki watched the two down below while standing next to the others. The five of them saw a clash between Kusanagi and the Flame High. Souichirou picked up his dropped Device and moved around while Shoui swung his Flame High fist. They were fast. The audience had difficulty keeping up. Souichirou mostly stuck to thrusting attacks. And Shoui’s movements were far from normal. Taeko commented on what she saw. “It’s the same as when he snapped against me in the Mountain…” “It was the same in middle school when he was hit by Ichiyama Yuusei in a karate match.” “Shouldn’t we be stopping him, granny?” asked Saki. “Can you stop him?” asked Senga with a quiet look in her eyes. “Yamashita Taeko, you only lost your left arm to the Break High, but that was because you were lucky.” Taeko nodded in response. “I know that,” she said. “The dragon told me.” “I see. Then I suppose I can tell you now. The person who killed your brother was…” Taeko cut in and answered for Senga. “Hizaka Shoui…!” She shouted the name. She had the bitter expression of someone with sand in their mouth. She had understood it intellectually, but it was still painful to hear it from someone else. Everyone remained silent. The only noise was from the battle on the beach below. The Flame High’s fire flew and Kusanagi stabbed through and cut it apart. When she heard that roar, Taeko asked a question. “But…how? How can Shoui use the Flame High?” Only Senga could answer that. “A Rhythm’s power can be used without the music as long as you can reproduce the Message that transforms the ether’s Lives. But that was only understood after I had spread the Heavy Rhythms to everyone.” “So that’s why the Kinki Riot happened…” “It would have been too late by the time everyone was trapped by a power like the Flame High, right?” asked Iwai Senzou. “But.” Senga sighed. “Sometimes an idiot like that shows up. An idiot who refuses to follow the same path as everyone else.” She saw Shoui emit more flames using the Flame High. “When faced with death, his desire to protect transformed into a desire to win and he killed Yamashita Gihei.” “Then…?” “He does not remember it. The shock of his own action and the cut from Yamashita Gihei left him with no memory of it.” She took a breath. “Yamashita Taeko, Shoui stopped moving after destroying your left arm because…he subconsciously remembered killing your brother in the same way. He tore off his arm with the Break High and then attacked with the Flame High. …And when nothing but ashes remained, the wind swept it all away.” “Then your granddaughter…?” asked Iba. “Why does the Koto Chancellor claim to be the Killing Holder!?” shouted Taeko. “Because she wanted to! You got a problem with that!?” Three of them fell silent after that and the fourth spoke. It was Iba. “So there never was a Killing Holder…!?” “All there was was a foolish granddaughter. …A truly foolish one.” Senga smiled bitterly. “For two years, Shoui trained and came to loathe the concept of death that was subconsciously carved into him. I really thought he never would use the Flame High again…” “And the Koto Chancellor…” “She played the part of the Killing Holder. She really did want Shoui to return, but she said nothing.” The two combatants continued to move on the beach below. Shoui attacked and Souichirou received. It tended in that direction. Saki took a step forward as he watched them fight. But he stopped, kicked the sand, and clicked his tongue. “H-hey, granny! Can’t you do something!?” “There is something.” “What is it?” “It’s all up to Shoui, though. If he is truly thinking about Yuuki, he will find a good way to resolve this.” “The Koto Chancellor!?” asked Saki. “Where is she!?” “She hurt her leg, so it’ll take time for her to climb up onto this beach!” Taeko pointed behind her. “I thought I would lend her my shoulder to help, but she insisted she was fine on her own…” “Wait a moment.” Senga crossed her arms and looked to Shoui. “Iba! You know the Rhythm that Kuki Udai once used, don’t you?” “Yes, I do. But…” “Kuki was a Dis-Worder just like Shoui. …Iba, can you tell me why your student Nakamura became a Harmonist and was able to use the Flame High?” Iba did not hesitate to answer. “Someone who has no experience with Rhythms and Techs can best use a high-speed Rhythm like the Flame High.” “Yes, Nakamura Midori was the same.” When Senga said that, Iwai Sanzou frowned. He scratched his head. “Then…he is the same?” Senga did not nod. “I don’t know if Shoui is. But the opposite of a Harmonist is someone who can use all Rhythms and is skilled in Techs. They can use the Rhythm that opposes the Flame High without actually using a Rhythm.” She took a breath.” “They are the Loudist that lives in the realm of Black Noise.” ### Part 4 6:09 AM Shoui moved. He continued moving. His mind had grown shallow and his heart had faded. His mind was blocked out by the drop in oxygen due to the exercise and by his powerful attack instinct. He only just barely maintained his thoughts thanks to his fear of death. He did not want to kill or be killed. But the pain intermittently stabbing into his forehead tried to cut off his mind. Each time, a memory replayed in the back of his mind. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Release Memory – Hit. He had forgotten this memory. It had entirely vanished from his mind. But it was forcibly replayed. His memory of Yamashita Gihei appeared before his eyes. It all happened in an instant. It was two years ago on a winter night. After taking the hit to his forehead, he had hopped back up in the north wind. His body had moved on its own. Despite the blood flowing from his forehead, he had kicked off the asphalt and charged toward his opponent. Yamashita had raised his sword to counterattack. He had swung it. Shoui had dodged to the side. Yamashita had tried to turn around. Shoui had fled further. He had circled behind Yamashita. Yamashita had continued turning to pursue Shoui. But Shoui had delivered a powerful punch to his right arm with a Break High fist. Yamashita’s right arm had torn off and flown through the air and the impact had spun Yamashita in the opposite direction. His back had been fully exposed to Shoui. The blood had yet to flow from Yamashita’s right shoulder. In the instant before that could happen, fire had wrapped around Shoui’s fist. Victory. With that power sealed in his attack, he had thrown his fist into the center of Yamashita’s spine. The enemy had turned to ashes in an instant and Shoui had passed right through him. He had staggered forward. His outstretched fist’s momentum had remained. His body and his mind had been at odds. Upon defeating his enemy, the Flame High’s power had vanished and a great emptiness had remained in his heart. The pain had quickly rushed into his forehead. His legs had tangled up, he had tripped, and his shoulder had slammed into the solid ground. Only pain and exhaustion had filled him and he had passed out. As his vision grew dark, Yuuki had gotten up off the ground and looked to him. He had heard her voice. “Shoui-kun…” It had been a feeble voice. But it sounded nostalgic to him now. … I can’t believe it. His faint thoughts smiled bitterly. … She hasn’t called me that since I arrived in Osaka. His mind looked to reality. “!” His senses were freed from that memory. He was on an Osaka Bay beach. The situation had not changed. He was still fighting. As before, his body was moving to achieve victory. Souichirou released a powerful attack with the morning sun in the background. Shoui’s body moved further and dodged it. It was an excellent movement. But Shoui’s mind felt uneasy about the flow of the battle. Souichirou’s movements were a lot like those of Yamashita Gihei. A vertical slash arrived. After dodging that, he had circled behind Yamashita Gihei and torn off his arm with a Break High strike. Souichirou swung his sword in the same way. Shoui had a chance at victory. If he followed the same route, he could win. He could circle to the right, tear off Souichirou’s right arm with the Break High when he tried to turn around, and use that impact to stop him from moving. Then he could finish it with a Flame High strike. He could win. But that would mean Souichirou’s death. … I can’t. That was what he thought, but his body moved. So that he could win. ### Part 5 In an Instant – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Right Diagonal Strike – Hit. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Hit. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Prepare – Hit. – Souichirou – Gym Tech – Take – Turn Around – Hit. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Jumping Dodge – Hit. – Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Prepare – Hit. – Shoui – Break High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Break High Charge – Hit. – Shoui – Break High/Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Break High Strike – Hit! – Souichirou – Steel Tech – Take – Remove Right Arm – Hit!! ### Part 6 6:10 AM When Souichirou’s right arm was punched by the Break High, it flew into the clear air. But Shoui had not torn it off. Souichirou had removed it himself. None of the impact reached his body. “!” Shoui saw him turn around. He swung his Device with his left arm alone. He held it high for an overhead swing. This was also identical to Shoui’s memory. It was identical to the attack Yamashita Gihei had used to knock Shoui out. The phantom pain returned to his forehead. At the same time, he felt a lethargic weight fill his body. … It’s the same. It was the same sort of exhaustion as when he had killed Yamashita Gihei. He knew why he was feeling it. Because he knew he could not defeat his opponent. To one who sought victory, defeat meant death. The Flame High vanished from his hand. But his enemy did not stop. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Slash – Hit!! A thought came to Shoui. … I want to win. But it was different from before. He would not kill. He would not be killed. … Then what do I want to do? He suddenly remembered the ring held in his left fist. What had its owner left with him? He remembered. The answer reached him through his vision. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. He saw the answer. ### Part 7 Same Time The embankment divided the beach from the city. A lone girl stood atop it. She wore a red blazer and her long black hair fluttered in the breeze. It was Yuuki Yuuki who claimed to be the Killing Holder. She simply looked to Shoui with no emotion visible in her face. ### Part 8 Same Time Shoui saw her. That was enough for him to understand it all. His mind fully awoke. His body rebooted. He gathered strength in both fists. He remembered what he needed to do. He had made a promise with her three years before. … I promised to protect her from herself. She must have seen that as promising him the same thing. And so she had taken on the Killing Holder title. “!” His eyes looked to Yuuki rather than the much closer slash. He would protect her just as he had promised. So he would not use the Flame High. He would not win to protect her. … Would you say I’ll be protecting her to protect her? He realized there was something more powerful than Words inside him. It was a great power. He recalled when he had first met Yuuki. When she had rescued him from below the collapsed house, she had first told him her name. … Yuuki. It had been crudely pronounced and that had been everything. He only thought for a split second. His movements were also instantaneous. As the slash moved toward him, he spread his legs on the beach, raised his right arm, and opened his mouth. And he gave a yell. “———!” He tried to force her name from his throat. But he failed at that. A different voice escaped him. It was a lot like the very first voice anyone made in their life. It was like a baby’s cry. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Immediately, Souichirou’s sword swung down with Kusanagi’s power wrapped around it. But… “!?” Shoui raised his right hand with no Rhythm around it and without using a single Tech. And the instant his hand touched the slash, Kusanagi vanished. It changed. The Device became nothing more than a blade. But its momentum was not lost. The blade split Shoui’s right palm. The silver line sliced off his thumb and its base. But that diverted it away from his head. As soon as the blade dug into his flesh, Shoui had swung his arm outwards. The slight shift to the sword’s path led it into his right shoulder, down into his collar bone, and even lower. Souichirou’s attack fell straight down and split Shoui’s shoulder and right chest. With a great noise, the sword pressure whipped up the sand and Shoui’s right arm flew through the air. Needless to say, this did not stop Shoui. He swung up his left fist. He squeezed the golden ring hidden inside. He turned it toward Souichirou who had just swung the sword down. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! – Souichirou – Dodge Tech – Counter-Take – Dodge – Miss!! Shoui’s fist dug into Souichirou’s side. The sound if impact was followed by three light sounds much like a branch breaking underfoot. At the same time, Souichirou’s body floated up a little. His head drooped down and he fell to his knees. Meanwhile, Shoui took a step back and sighed. An approaching wave washed at his feet while he looked to his right shoulder. There was no arm attached. He could see his shoulder’s skin and the bone jutted out past the flesh. “…” He sighed again. It was a breath of relief. With that relaxing breath, the flesh swelled out, hiding the protruding bone. And allowing the blood to gush out. “!” He was hit by the recoil of the blood spurting out with the force of his pulse. He felt great exhaustion and the shock of blood loss. He realized his vision was tilting and the ocean was gradually growing vertical. … Oh, I’m falling over. Once he realized that, the sand filled the left side of his vision. He felt exhausted and the right half of his body was soaked with something warm. Even as he succumbed to the desire for sleep, he tried to hold his right shoulder with his left hand but then stopped. His left fist held Takada’s ring. He could not get it dirty. “I can’t believe this.” Shoui spoke for the first time in several days and shut his eyes. His mind quickly fell into the darkness. ### 338. Chapter 9: Prologue to the Final Battle (New Stage Introduction) – (12/24/1996) ### Part 1 4:40 PM The setting winter sun was a deep red. It was not the warm color of autumn twilight or the piercing color of a summer afternoon. It was only a moment of color changing into the darkness of the heavy sunset. That red washed over the city of Osaka every day. The red and the shadows created a powerful contrast on the white walls of Osaka Castle in the center of the city and the waves of roof tiles dully reflected the light. It was a strong color. The Kyobashi bridge to the northwest gave a diagonal view of Osaka Castle where one could look up at the colors of that light and shadow. Someone was viewing Osaka Castle from atop the Kyobashi bridge. There were two of them: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide and Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. Nakamura stood in the center of the bridge with his MD’s headphones still in his ears. Hijiri stood next to him with her arms crossed and looking in the same direction as him. A few people were walking by or leaving behind them, but those two ignored the flow of people and kept their eyes on the castle. They did not move. Instead, one of them spoke. It was Hijiri. “So the battle’s coming up soon, is it?” She pulled a flyer from her pocket that she had torn from a wall somewhere. The flyer said that Kansai’s Chancellor’s Officers were holding a Christmas party at Osaka Castle that day. All current and former members of the Chancellor’s Officers were invited. But even as late as it was, Osaka Castle was not prepared for a party and no preparations were underway. Hijiri looked to the castle. “The party is probably camouflage to give us a battlefield. They want to keep the damage contained, unlike during the Kinki Riot.” She sighed, tore up the flyer, and dropped it into the moat. “What do you think? We could always ignore their invitation and make them look like fools.” She asked her question, but Nakamura did not answer. He kept his eyes on the castle without looking back and Hijiri turned in his direction for just a moment. He was staring straight ahead. There was strength in his gaze. He was focused. And that powerful focus was quite serious. He used his gaze to direct that internal strength straight ahead. But his facial expression was horribly lacking in heat. Even with the setting sun shining on the side of his face, he stared forward with a cooled expression. He would seem expressionless if not for his eyes. It was the look of a Killing Holder. “…” Hijiri looked away from him. She breathed a bitter laugh mixed with a sigh of relief as if she had resigned herself to something. “Are you gonna go for it before they gather there? …Or are you gonna wait?” Nakamura did not answer, but she did not mind. She glanced toward the city. “There are more and more from the Chancellor’s Officers and Houzenji Group hanging around. I bet the tourists will be driven out of the castle before long.” Nakamura still did not acknowledge her words. Hijiri smiled bitterly at him. She uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on the bridge’s railing. Since she did not look Nakamura’s way, she seemed to be speaking to herself. “If you say something, will what’s hidden inside come spilling out?” she asked. There was no response. Nakamura said nothing. But he did move. Still looking to Osaka Castle, he turned to face the castle’s entrance. “…” He began walking. One beat later, Hijiri followed through the blowing north wind. She remained behind him instead of lining up beside him. They walked toward the castle grounds. Toward the site of the scheduled party. In the setting sun, the uninvited guests entered the battlefield before anyone else. Hijiri said one thing on the bridge dividing the city from the battlefield. “…I wonder if Takahiro will show up.” ### Part 2 6:30 PM The chill of the night was beginning to descend from the sky. Shoui was lying down, but he had already woken up. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. His upward-facing vision saw the ceiling of Nandaimon’s detached room. This had been his room 2 years before. The room was bright. The ceiling’s fluorescent light was on. “…” His eyes could see the scene around him, but his head was far from clear. It felt like waking from a long sleep. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Awaken Mind – Hit. After a single powerful heartbeat, the blood slowly rose through his neck and to his head. He trembled. He felt the cold. He sat up. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit. He found himself in a nostalgic place. He removed the blanket covering him and revealed his body. The chilly air hit his skin and he realized he was not wearing his inner suit. He crossed his arms to keep out the cold, but his skin still felt the cold quite sensitively. The cold brought back his body’s senses. Similarly, all of his memories returned. And he realized why he was here. In his battle with Souichirou… … My right arm. He had lost a part of his body. However, he was currently crossing his arms. That meant he had the right arm that Souichirou had chopped off. He looked to that arm. From the shoulder to the fingertips, it was entirely contained in bandages. He had his arm. It was wrapped in bandages, but when he tried to open the hand, he had no trouble moving it. He had feeling in the fingers as well. … Was I healed? Just as he wondered that… “Shoui! Shoui! Have you woken up!?” He heard a voice from outside and the large window was shoved open. He saw the darkness of the night. He felt the chill of the night. That chilly expanse opened up before his eyes. And Senga stood in the center of it. Their eyes immediately met. Shoui was unsure what to say. “Umm, long time no see?” “What are you talking about, moron? We saw each other just two days ago.” “I’m pretty sure we only passed by each other on the beach…” After saying that, Shoui was relieved to find he actually could speak. And then he realized what she had actually said. “…Two days ago? I was out for that long?” “You weren’t just out. I’ll explain everything, so come on out of there.” “Oh, right, right, right.” He nodded, got out of the bed, and tried to stand up. “?” He felt something at his feet. There was a small paper bag by the pillow. “What is this…?” he muttered while picking it up. There was something light and soft inside. … Who left this? No one answered his question. He heard something else instead. “Hurry it up, Shoui! Get a move on!” Senga yelled at him from outside. He sighed, lightly folded the bag, and stuck it in the hidden pocket of his pants. And he walked. He was a little unsteady on his feet, but he regained his balance after a few steps. He closed the large window Senga had opened and circled around to the front door. He put on his shoes which were lying there and opened the door. “Shoui! Hurry up and put this on.” He found Senga’s rushed voice as well as an inner suit and coat dumped over his head. The clothes were obscuring his vision, so he set them on the ground and looked to Senga. “Old Lady Senga.” “What is it?” “Before I put on the inner suit.” He pointed to his right shoulder. “Can I remove the bandages on my right arm?” “What do you mean?” “I’m skeptical that it was completely healed in only 2 days after being so cleanly lopped off.” The anti-shock reflective material inner suit both reduced any impacts and strengthened his body’s movements. If he was still injured, any vigorous activity could instantly reopen the wound. So he asked. “Was it fully healed?” “Of course it was. That’s why you were asleep for so long.” Senga smiled bitterly. “On the Emperor’s own orders, you were given the best Tune healing Japan has to offer and a group from Detroit was called in for some Live modifications. Two days was enough, so remove the bandages.” He did as he was told. – Shoui – Surgical Tech – Take – Remove Bandage – Miss. “Huhh?” “What are you even doing…?” – Senga – Surgical Tech – Take – Remove Bandage – Hit. Senga slowly removed the bandages and they fell to the hard ground in front of the detached room. Shoui watched the bandages fall away and scratched his head with his left hand. “I always had Yuuki do this, so I’m no good at it.” His voice faded away toward the end. He had seen his right arm exposed in the air. – Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Miss. His right arm was now a red biological prosthetic. – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Accept – Hit. “Is this…?” He looked to his right arm with no shock or confusion. It looked like a human arm, but it was not. When he held it up toward the moon, he could tell exactly what it was. It was vermilion. The arm was made from a glossy vermilion that looked a lot like blood and stood out even in the dark night. And black stripes of lightning patterns were visible on the developed muscles. – Shoui – Military Tech – Take – Identify Weapon – Hit. – Shoui – Commercial Tech – Take – Identify Product – Hit. He used two different Techs, but he could find no knowledge on this false arm. He had never seen anything like it. Senga identified it for him. “That’s the ogre’s arm.” He looked back in surprise and she nodded. “It was made using the Lives of the ogre arm severed by Nanba Souichirou. But the base of the actual biological matter came from your severed arm and…” She hesitated a moment. “The arm of Yamashita Gihei who you killed.” “…” Shoui said nothing about the origin of his new arm. With a serious expression, he simply raised his right arm, thrust it forward, and clenched the fist. “It’s a great false arm.” “It’s an honor, isn’t it?” “What’s it called?” “There is no literature about a false arm made from an ogre, so you could even call it the Ogre God if you wanted.” “I see. Would this make me a Steel Forcer instead of a Critical Forcer?” “No, I think you could call yourself whichever you wanted. It was made to be no different from a normal arm, so ability-wise, you’re still a Critical Forcer.” Shoui smiled bitterly at that. “For being made from an ogre’s arm, it’s a pretty boring prosthetic.” “Yes, save for one power.” “Power?” “It can ignore the Flame High. Thanks to the ogre’s Lives,” explained Senga. “Since you still can’t use your power as a Loudist very well, that should help you out.” “…Huh?” “What do you mean ‘huh’?” “Well, uh…you said ignoring the Flame High should help me out.” He tilted his head. “But why would that help me?” “You moron. Kantou and Kansai are about to clash at Osaka Castle!” “Ho ho. Well, isn’t that something?” “And you’re going too.” “Eh?” He froze just as he was staring to put on the inner suit. “Why am I going?” Senga sighed and brought an exasperated hand to her forehead. “Do you not remember the Rhythm you used to defeat Nanba Souichirou?” “…” “Do you not remember the power that negated his Kusanagi?” He did remember. His right arm had negated Kusanagi’s sword pressure the instant he touched it. But even after Kusanagi vanished, the blade itself remained and chopped off his right arm. “What was-…?” Before he could finish his question, Senga slapped his right arm. “It was your will. It’s a Rhythm meant to protect instead of fight. It’s the Heavy Rhythm that stands opposite of the Flame High and is easiest to use for a Loudist.” “And I used it?” “Yes, only a Loudist familiar with all Rhythms and Techs can understand that soundless Rhythm. That blocking Rhythm negates any other Rhythm it touches.” She sighed. “It was once used by Kuki Udai alongside Nakamura Midori who used the Flame High. …And because it is soundless, it is a Rhythm that can be used without using a Rhythm.” Shoui looked to his left hand. … Can I really use something like that? He had used it. He did not know how. While fighting Souichirou, he had seen Yuuki standing on the beach embankment. It had happened the instant he had wanted to protect her instead of escape the Flame High or win. He remembered a certain will within him. So he spoke. “That power is needed, isn’t it?” “Hurry to Osaka Castle.” “Are the Flame High…and Yuuki there?” “Yes, they are. …But your power is probably still unstable, so use that Ogre God well as you fight. Your enemy has the Harmonist’s power. Don’t let your guard down and screw up like you always do.” “It’s not that I let my guard down. I screw up all the time because I’m weak.” He smiled bitterly and put on his inner suit. He fastened it to the suit on his lower body to cover his entire body in a single suit. And then he put on the coat. “Does my Rhythm have a name?” “The Storm High.” “The Storm High?” “And as a Heavy Rhythm, it’s also known as Totsuka.” She took a breath. “It’s the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi from when Susanoo chopped off Yamata-no-Orochi’s heads.” “I see,” said Shoui with a nod. The coat had the right sleeve removed to accommodate the false arm. He lightly swung the ogre’s right arm to double-check how it felt. “Okay, I’ll be going.” “You forgot this.” Senga held out his bandanna. He smiled a little and took it. He wrapped it around his forehead. When his hand touched it, he felt the chill of the split forehead protector. It had been split by Yamashita Gihei’s attack 2 years before. … It all started here. With that thought, he bowed toward Senga. And he started walking. The walk quickly grew to a jog and then a run. The gravel crunched below his feet as he raced through the winter darkness. He ran. – Shoui – Savate Tech – Take – Sprint – Hit! He ran down the path leading to the shrine. The wind was blowing. It was a powerful north wind. ### Part 3 7:01 PM The moon was out. That pale yellow and somewhat waning light was directly above the city of Osaka. The moonlight was endlessly wavering. The heated air at the surface was producing a shimmering effect. The year-end city was trying to warm itself even if the sky was cold. The strongest shimmering was located above Osaka Castle in the center of the city and it produced turbulent air. Osaka Castle had been the site of countless battles in the past and it had been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. The only lights illuminating it were the reddish-brown streetlights shining on the cherry trees lining the inner moat. That unfocused light lit up the castle from below, giving it a different look from the day. It was a frightening look. Three people were approaching that frightening form from straight ahead. Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko. Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. At the plaza in front of Otemon Gate, they left Saki Seiji and Iwai Sanzou who had come to see them off and then they ran toward main castle tower. Since starting a minute before, they were sticking together and none of them were out of breath. They were surrounded by darkness. There were tall stone walls, trees, and lawns. Taeko spoke to no one in particular while second in line. “The wind sure is picking up.” “That is because the city lights have begun to come on,” replied Souichirou in the lead. He wore an armored shell built for mobility. It looked like armor missing most of its parts and it supported and strengthened the wearer’s movements. Both his prosthetic and the mobile shell produced quiet mechanical sounds as he moved. “Listen. As I said before, this battle will-…” “Act as a trigger to bring the east and west together whether we win or lose, right? …But do the two from Tokyo know that?” According to those on guard duty, their enemy was only the Tokyo Chancellor and Vice Chancellor. The two of them had been on the way to the main castle tower. Of course, those two would know nothing of what was occurring at the center of Osaka. So Souichirou narrowed his eyes a little and did not answer Taeko. He sped up. “Whatever the case, I want to win this.” “Well, we did leave everyone waitin’ in the parkin’ lot. …I’d love to win and then go listen to the outdoor concert of Beethoven’s 9th.” A powerful gust of wind seemed to blow Taeko’s carefree voice away. “Is it gonna rain?” she asked while looking up into the night sky. Yuuki also looked into the night sky while following behind the other two. She stared at a certain point in the sky. And at the same time… – Yuuki – Savate Tech – Take – Sprint – Hit! She moved out ahead. “Ah! Hey! What’re ya in such a hurry for!?” Yuuki ignored Taeko and kept going. A small form followed behind her. “!?” It was a Dog God. It hurried its small body to pursue her. It was about a meter away from her. But Yuuki did not even glance toward the Dog God. – Yuuki – Spear/Throw Tech – Multi-Take – Throw – Hit! She opened Housei in her hand. She used centrifugal force to spin the giant staff and then threw it into the air. – Yuuki – Steel/Military Tech – Multi-Take – Suzaku Ver. 40 Link – Hit! Her right false eye, Phoenix, connected with the heavens. A moment later, lightning struck Housei as it flew through the sky. It was a white light. The sound arrived afterwards. Housei fell while wrapped in light. Yuuki ran. The giant staff fell with enough force to stab into the ground, but she snatched it from midair. To negate the falling centrifugal force, she powerfully spun Housei in one hand. The afterimage of the ether light surrounding it drew arcs just like neon lights. With each arc of light, her vermilion uniform shined in the darkness and her black hair flew. She appeared to be dancing. Taeko sighed while following after her. “Yer too much for me.” “In what way?” “In that ya can do anything even if yer not aware of it.” “Awareness can be harmful in some things,” said Souichirou without even looking their way. Taeko smiled bitterly. “That’s true enough…” Meanwhile, they reached a fork in the road. Heading north would take them to the inner moat and east would take them to the main castle tower. Yuuki chose the tower route. Souichirou and Taeko turned in that direction a moment later, but… – Taeko – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! “There’s an enemy here!” “But the report said those two were at the tower!” “It’s another one! There were 3 of them to start with!!” With that shout, Taeko jumped to the side. She faced north, toward the inner moat. She had sensed the enemy’s presence there. That girl with a giant false arm attached to her left shoulder disappeared behind the stone wall in an instant. But neither Souichirou nor Yuuki pursued her. They did not even turn in her direction. But Souichirou did call out to her. “Give it your all and do not worry about us!!” His shout lasted an instant. The two figures ran toward the central circle in front of the tower. They entered a garden with a pond. And… – Souichirou – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! He said nothing. But he did look to Yuuki and the Dog God as they ran away. – Souichirou – Gym Tech – Take – Stop – Hit! His prosthetic legs and the heels of his mobile shell creaked as he slid to a stop on the gravel. He too had noticed the enemy he needed to fight. “Koto Chancellor, I leave the last one to you!!” Yuuki did not respond. She continued running. She passed through the central circle and ran up the zigzagging stone steps. She was not out of breath. Her pace remained steady. She simply ran and looked up while sticking in her headphones. She looked to the roof of Osaka Castle’s main tower. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit. She found the enemy. And at the same time… – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She jumped. She used the railing running down the center of the stairs as a stepping stone and she jumped up to the entranceway’s roof. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! And without a running start, she jumped up to the left and onto the second floor’s roof. She continued from there. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She grimaced at the pain from her ankle. But she ignored even her own body’s pain. She took a breath and continued up. Her feet could be heard kicking off the roof tiles. With each jump, her vision grew higher and the wind stronger. The city of Osaka gradually spread out below her. She was high up. But she continued jumping regardless. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She saw the roof of the main tower. – Yuuki – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit! She arrived there. Yuuki stood on the waves of roof tiles and looked ahead. The night sky was spread out before her. After climbing so high, the sky was at eye level. It was the dark sky of a winter night. The moon seemed to ripple in the wind and the shimmering heat. There were dark clouds low in the sky. They were likely due to the ether supply from Suzaku Ver. 40. The vibration of the air had produced the clouds. “…” She looked down at her feet. The Dog God was swaying with its front paws caught on the edge of the roof. It had somehow managed to climb this high. She looked away without helping it the rest of the way up. She confirmed where it was she stood. She was on the southwest edge of the roof. It was a poor place for a battle without railings. She looked up and walked forward. She walked up the sloped roof. And… – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit. She saw someone standing on the very top of the roof. She knew who it was: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. He was staring down at the city. But he already had headphones in his ears. What should he do? What did he want? His music eloquently answered every question. He moved his eyes to look across the city of Osaka. “So you’re here.” He spoke into the wind. But instead of speaking again, he took a single action. He smiled. It was not an audible laugh. Nor did his body shake. He simply glared down at Osaka’s nightscape, put a powerful smile on his lips, and raised both arms. Flames burst grandly from his hands. This was the fire of the Flame High. It roared and lit up the heavens from below, but he did not stop smiling. His eyes were now looking at Yuuki instead of Osaka. Killer intent filled those eyes. And his mouth produced more words. “Now, it’s time to become king!” With that, Nakamura won the initiative. ### 339. Chapter 10: Reconciliation Riot (Changing to a Round System) ### Part 1 7:07 PM Taeko faced a boy below the cherry trees alongside the inner moat. He wore a three-piece suit with a white scarf dangling from his shoulders. He was Ikemaru Takahiro. He removed the black gloves on his hands. “I saw a strange advertisement and came to take a peek at a Chancellor’s Officers party, but this commotion is what I find?” “Yeah… Apparently, the superiority of the east and west is on the line.” “I am not interested.” He threw the gloves away. “There are a few things I would like to discuss with Aoi-san, so could you let me through?” “That ain’t happenin’. She’s fightin’ right now.” Taeko smiled a little. Takahiro did not bat an eye. “I am not interested in a fight.” “But if ya go over there, you’ll help that girl out, won’t ya?” “Of course. That is my duty.” “Then it’s my duty to stop ya here.” “Even when we have nothing against each other?” “Do ya need somethin’ against someone to fight them? I don’t.” She laughed quietly. “There are those I’ve gotta save, though. There’s a lotta those around me.” With that, she lightly swung the Dragon Emperor’s fist. “6th Activation.” The Dragon Emperor roared. With that bestial cry, the shoulder armor panels opened to release steam. And lightning surrounded the metal fist. A deep thrum reverberated pleasantly across the wide space lined with cherry trees. “You must have nerves of steel,” responded Takahiro. “What makes ya say that?” “That you actually want to fight me.” He lightly brushed up his hair. “My kotodama is most effective against objects without a will of their own. I am the greatest enemy of anyone with prosthetics.” “And that’s why I can’t afford to run away.” “This isn’t your usual method. Don’t you tend to join the stronger side?” Taeko raised her fist and smiled a little before answering. “I feel like doin’ some volunteer work.” With that, she moved. “!” Taeko won the initiative. She race toward Takahiro who seemed to simply stand there. – Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Sprint – Hit. Her long-legged stride kicked up the dirt as she filled the gap between them in only a few steps. She approached the enemy. Takahiro’s hand moved just before she arrived. His white left hand reached out and touched one of the cherry trees. “Fly.” That one word surpassed all logic. The tree flew. This was nothing as simple as being knocked from the ground. The thick tree with no leaves or flowers flew, roots and all. The dirt was audibly torn up and the tree whistled through the wind. It flew horizontally in from the right with even more force than gravitational acceleration. It did not tilt at all and flew almost comically straight. She could not avoid it. Taeko’s Dragon Emperor was attached to her left shoulder, so it could not block an attack from the right. She made a split second decision. “Daaahhhh!” – Taeko – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit. She slammed her right fist into the flying tree near the roots. A dull sound mixed with the sound of breaking bone. Her fist was smashed in a single blow. Of course it was. The difference in mass was overwhelming. But the impact ran through the tree. And the hit near the roots caused it to rotate in midair as if pitching forward. Taeko did not overlook that movement. She briefly glanced at the tree falling toward her head. – Taeko – Steel/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Grab – Hit. – Taeko – Steel/Spear Tech – Multi-Take – Swing – Hit! She held the Dragon Emperor’s palm overhead, grabbed the tree trunk, and then swung it like a club. She easily swung the 7 meter cherry tree like it was a bat. But Takahiro had already jumped backwards. Taeko let go of the swinging tree. The centrifugal force sent it flying into the inner moat. The sound of splashing water rang coldly through the winter air. She began running again. She ran so fast her footsteps seemed to follow after her. Her white breaths were scattered by her speed and they vanished into the reddish-brown light of the streetlights. She ran below the cherry trees which had no leaves or flowers. Meanwhile, Ikemaru kept his distance from her while pulling a few 10 yen coins from his suit pocket. He lightly threw them. “Byakko.” They instantly transformed. The white light of the coins’ paths flew toward Taeko in several curves. They were targeting a point on the back of her neck. It was the same motion as a beast rushing in to bite her. She responded by thrusting the Dragon Emperor forward. “Dragon Emperor!” – Taeko – Shot Tech – Take – Prepare Sniping – Hit! – Taeko – Steel/Shot/Lightning High Tech – Multi-Take – Snipe – Hit! The light produced an explosive roar. The sound produced glowing flares. The tiger’s white lines struck the dragon’s bluish-white beams. The explosion formed a wall between Taeko and Takahiro and below the trees. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit! In the span of time known as an instant, Takahiro stepped back slightly. Taeko did not overlook it. But the explosion was in the way. So… “I won’t die!!” She chose to charge right through it. The explosion had yet to fully expand, but she charged into the bright light. And she sang. Nobody takes the middle road Nothing lives or dies It all either falls into ruin or survives Everyone, everyone, everyone The azure light surrounding her body was the same as the Dragon Emperor’s Lightning High light. It could cancel out the explosion. So she did not hesitate to run through the clash between dragon and tiger. Light. Noise. Heat. They all burst out and something shot through her right leg. – Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit! Pain could be ignored, so she ran forward. As her ponytail danced behind her, the end was scorched by the heat. She rushed. A mere 3 steps seemed to last forever. But she immediately broke out the other side. “!” She suddenly left the pure white space and found a more colorful scene. She saw the cherry trees. And she saw her enemy. Ikemaru Takahiro stood before her while preparing to take a step back. “!?” She did not let him escape. What she did was simple. – Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Dragon Emperor Strike – Hit! Takahiro could not use Techs or a special Dance Combat style, so he had no way of avoiding it. The metal fist flew in an overhand swing and its entire mass slammed into Takahiro’s chest. It was a solid hit. She heard the pleasant sounds of impact and breaking bones. She fully extended the Dragon Emperor arm to push out with the maximum mass. She heard even more breaking bones in Takahiro’s chest. “Gh…” The sound escaping his mouth might have been an inhalation or an exhalation. His glasses fell from his face. The black-framed glasses audibly bounced off of the Dragon Emperor fist’s armor panel. And just as they fell to the ground, his head hung down. Taeko took a breath with the Dragon Emperor fist still extended. As the white breath left her, all strength left Takahiro’s body. “…” The tall boy in a suit silently fell to his knees and collapsed forward. Except his hand was extended as if to embrace the Dragon Emperor. “Go mad.” His words rang quietly. ### Part 2 7:10 PM Taeko pulled back in surprise. But it was too late. The change was instantaneous and the effects were everlasting. Her left arm suddenly moved. “…!? Dragon Emperor!?” – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Control Dragon Emperor – Miss! Her voice of doubt did not get through. The steel fist thrust up toward the heavens and roared. It was a high, high pitched sound much like a pheasant cry. It was a beautiful voice. It was the voice of a dragon seeking heaven. And it summoned lightning. The Dragon Emperor faced heaven and emitted a lightning attack. The sound of exploding electricity shook the air. It was thunder. The metal arm waved wildly back and forth like a snake and scorched the surrounding air with its lightening. “Dragon Emperor!” The Dragon Emperor was deaf to Taeko’s shout. It roared. It roared fiercely and showed off its power. – Dragon Emperor – Steel Tech – Auto-Take – 7th Activation – Hit! “!?” It ascended a stage from the 6th Activation. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Control Dragon Emperor – Miss! If the Dragon Emperor let loose, it could easily blow away an entire city. And it was trying to do just that now. “…Dragon Emperor! Stoooop!” Taeko yelled within the dancing light and noise. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – Control Dragon Emperor – Miss! It would not stop. – Taeko – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Taeko saw something in the center of the destruction. Ikemaru Takahiro slowly stood up after falling to his knees from the previous hit. Meanwhile, Taeko had lost control of her weapon. He smiled a little while holding his side. A slight trail of blood fell from the corner of his mouth, but he ignored it. His right hand slowly removed the scarf from his shoulders. The rustling of the scarf sounded oddly loud within the deafening noise and light. And he gently wrapped it around his right hand as he raised his voice. “Hear me, oh dragon!” ### Part 3 7:11 PM A great roar rumbled in from the distance. But two people were creating noises even louder than that continuous background music. It was Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou and Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. They used similar yet different techniques as they alternated between attack and defense. Souichirou primarily attacked with Kusanagi and his defense was based on dodging. Hijiri also primarily attacked with Kusanagi, but her defense was based on the Shinkage Style. They exchanged sword strikes again and again in the shimmering moonlight. Souichirou’s Kusanagi sword pressure attack was deflected by Hijiri. There was a solid sound. Hijiri’s body was blown a bit away, but she took little damage. The deflected Kusanagi strike smashed the central circle’s ground and tore into the wall. When another Kusanagi strike came his way, Souichirou canceled it out with his own Kusanagi. “This will never end,” he muttered while looking to Hijiri. “I suppose only a direct hit will do.” They were about 15 meters apart. They faced each other while ready to attack. The mechanical sounds of Souichirou’s mobile shell sounded loudly as he raised the Device given to him by Senga. Hijiri held her hexagonal rod low. They were ready to attack. They both breathed out at the same moment. But Hijiri’s white breath came with words. “I’ve waited a long time for this battle.” “I would imagine so, heir to the branch family.” Souichirou nodded. “Is this the showdown between separate evolutions of the same Dance Combat style?” “I’d say it’s a way to find an answer.” “An answer to what?” “Well.” Hijiri smiled a little. “To whether or not I should have been born.” “…” “I’m betting you aren’t aware who my mother was to that man. Or who I was.” She sighed. “I’m settling everything here in this city. I’ll prove my mother and I weren’t useless by defeating you and finding the cherry blossoms… That’s the ending I’m after!” “…” Souichirou said nothing. But he did adjust the position of his Device. And the two of them took another deep breath. Then a second and a third. Below the shimmering sky, their breathing synchronized. They were using nearly identical Dance Combat styles and the same Rhythm. Their breathing continued. More rumbling arrived from the distance. The smell of scorched air was mixed into the faint north wind. Someone was fighting an intense battle somewhere. But Souichirou and Hijiri remained motionless. And their breathing continued as if to prove their stillness. They continued in silence. The blowing wind was the only movement. It was a warm wind. It was not a winter wind. It was created by the fighting here at Osaka Castle. And it was the heated wind that Osaka emitted into the chilly night. It rose toward heaven. “…” Souichirou suddenly looked up. There were dark clouds there. But these were not the small clouds seen there before. Clouds dark enough to begin raining at any time covered most of Osaka’s sky and ruled over the night. They were dark and heavy clouds. And they were about to swallow up the moon rather than the sky. The shimmering moon was being swallowed by darkness. The moonlight was slowly and silently lost. The moon’s dark blue light fell into the darkness. Before they could take another breath, the light was fully defeated by the darkness. Similarly, the two facing each other below the darkness stopped breathing at the same moment. They gathered their fighting spirit. The first to move was Hijiri. – Hijiri – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Strike – Hit! “Ah,” said a feminine voice. Pushed forward by that voice, a shimmering flew out as a prelude. And that wavering heat was pursued by Kusanagi and its destructive noise. But that was not all. Hijiri too pursued it. She ran out after Kusanagi. Following the shockwave, she let the split air reform around her while she kicked off the gravel ground. She ran with her hexagonal rod held down low again. She intended to make an attack on the spot Souichirou dodged to. But Souichirou did not dodge. He lowered his hips and moved all at once. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Steel/Sword/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Kusanagi Interception – Hit! “Ah,” said a masculine voice. A shimmering raced out and collided with the approaching power. With a solid sound, the air burst. Instead of dodging the Kusanagi attack to the left or right, he crushed it with an attack of his own. – Souichirou – Steel/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Control Position – Hit. He had built up too much power and started to pitch forward, so he supported himself with his lowered center of gravity. The two Kusanagi attacks ruptured. A vacuum exploded and created a scratch on Souichirou’s face. Cracks ran through the chest of his mobile shell. But that was all. His opponent was right in front of him, so he did not hesitate to move. A direct hit from Kusanagi was his only way to win. He did not attack from above. Nor from below. Not even from the left or right. He attacked from straight ahead. It was a jab. This attack would end the battle. He jumped straight toward Hijiri as she charged in with her weapon held low. He stomped his foot forcefully onto the ground. – Souichirou – Steel/Kusanagi/Savate/Gym/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Jab – Hit! He made the jab with the Device containing Kusanagi’s power. “Ah.” He shouted the single syllable with incredible power. He aimed for the center of Hijiri’s chest, leaving her with nowhere to dodge. Even if she deflected it by hand, the blade would stab into her chest or shoulder. But… “That’s not gonna work!” yelled Hijiri. There was no surprise on her face. She used her fingers to toss up the hexagonal rod in her right hand. And she clapped her hands toward the approaching blade. It happened in an instant. “…!” The two palms wielding the power of the Shinkage Style clasped Souichirou’s Device from either side. She used the Shirahadori. The technique was known as the Mutodori in the Kage Style. It was very typical of the Shinkage Style that focused on defense. While crushed between the two palms, Kusanagi roared and created a vacuum around itself. Hijiri’s hands and clothing tore and blood flowed out. But she received no serious wounds. Souichirou’s blade stopped about 2 cm into her chest, but not even that would be a decisive blow. “…Mh,” groaned Souichirou as he pulled the Device back and jumped backwards. Hijiri moved forward to pursue. Her right hand already held the hexagonal rod she had tossed into the air before. The boy retreated and the girl moved forward. She attacked right away. “Ah,” she said while making an attack from below. Souichirou raised his Device. It was too late. – Souichirou – Steel/Kusanagi/Sword/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Intercept – Miss! A shimmering raced forward. Hijiri’s Kusanagi struck Souichirou and his Device. With a roar, the boy said to be Osaka’s strongest was blown away. ### Part 4 7:12 PM Nakamura moved in the wind of that elevated location. He had flames in his hands and fire in his kicking feet. His movements were calm and gentle, but their power could only be described as ferocious. Those flames consumed even the air as they continued to burn. He moved. He could see his opponent. The Killing Holder in the red blazer stood below the black sky. He wordlessly ran toward her. His running feet pounded on the waves of roof tiles. The flames surrounding his hands burned through the surrounding air and produced wind. He was about 5 meters from Yuuki. She wordlessly raised her staff. Light raced from the end of the staff. Nakamura felt pressure overhead and looked up. There was a mass of ice there. The mass was around 5 meters across, so being crushed by it would be fatal. “!” But even if he was surprised, he did not panic. Still standing, he swung up his right leg. Without leaning over, he brought his knee up and extended his foot overhead. His toes flew with the sharpness of a blade and fire resided in them. His toes stabbed into the falling ice. A clear sound immediately followed. And the ice instantly turned to ashes. This was the power of the Flame High. But its power was far greater than before. The fire did not spread; it immediately turned the target to ashes. The ether forming the ice turned to ashes and scattered in the wind. Nothing at all remained. This was powerful. Nakamura used that power and gently spun his body while lowering his leg. A spinning backhand blow turned three water spears to ashes as they flew toward him. “It’s no use.” He turned toward Yuuki who held her staff. And with those words, he smiled thinly and moved further forward. Yuuki moved back. Nakamura ran. Yuuki jumped back. “You aren’t getting away!” As soon as he shouted that, there were two Yuukis in front of him. “!?” He was surprised. But even so, he launched two kicks. One to the right and one to the left. The rapid kicks were wrapped in fire, split the air, and turned the two Yuukis to ashes. But they both felt the same. “…Water!?” They were not people. As soon as the kicks touched them, they crumbled as easily as mud. The ashes scattered. Two Yuuki-shaped clumps of ashes danced in the wind. And then he turned behind him. He saw someone who should not have been there: Takada. The girl stood there with a small smile on her face. “!” Nakamura realized it was a fake just like the two Yuukis. But… “————!” His face twisted when he saw her. His eyebrows rose and he tightly clenched his teeth. Sweat poured from him in an instant. His teeth creaked. His voice escaped his mouth…no, the depths of his throat. “Don’t you…!” The yell was accompanied by a kick. With a scorching sound, Takada instantly produced a spray of water, fell apart, and turned to ashes. The white ashes flew into Osaka’s night air. But Nakamura would not allow that. He kicked again at the ashes in the wind. He burned even the ashes to fully eliminate them. “Don’t you screw with me!” he shouted. He looked up. Yuuki stood at the very top of the roof. Nakamura pointed and roared at her. “Don’t you dare!!” Yuuki tilted her head a little. “Why…did you kick that Water Mirror?” “Because it was a fake! Why else would I!?” “…” Yuuki fell silent and looked down for a moment. A Dog God stood about a meter away. She looked at the Dog God and spoke quietly. “You aren’t like Shoui-kun.” Was she referring to Hizaka Shoui? Nakamura knew that name. He knew everything about the relationship between Takada and the boy named Hizaka Shoui. And so he snapped. “———!” He raised a wordless cry. His flames burned brighter. And he ran as if pushed on by that heat. Yuuki responded by moving incredibly calmly. She made an attack. An icicle suddenly appeared from below in front of Nakamura. The sharpened tip made it a transparent spear. But it was no match for his flames. He used his hips to make a forward kick that shattered the ice and turned it into ashes. Shattering and scorching sounds joined together. Nakamura looked up. Yuuki was there. She was on the peak of the roof. He could continue forward. He could reach her. If he threw a kick, he could reach Yuuki from this distance. But… “A dummy!?” There was no emotion at all on the Yuuki standing there. Nakamura immediately moved his body. He leaped toward the opposite end of the roof where they had been fighting before. He aimed for the edge of the roof. His enemy was there. “I know what you’re thinking!” An Energy Gunner who primarily used long-range attacks needed distance between herself and her opponent. So the nearby Yuuki was a decoy and the distant one was the real one. His feet sounded twice on the roof tiles and he ran in front of Yuuki. The enemy faced him with the Dog God on her shoulder and a slight look of surprise on her face. “…!” He did not hold back. His kick raced out. Toes that could break through a sheet of steel slammed into Yuuki’s gut. Her body immediately splashed outward and turned to ashes. It was water. Not a person. ### Part 5 7:16 PM Nakamura panicked. “What!?” Yuuki and the Dog God on her shoulder both turned to clear water droplets before becoming ashes. He stopped his foot and turned around. The Yuuki he had thought was a decoy stood on the peak of the roof. She had moved. This was not a counterfeit made from water Lives. “But the look on her face…!?” It had been a Killing Holder’s lack of expression. Before he could figure that out, Yuuki looked up into the sky. The next Tech she used was one Nakamura knew quite well. – Yuuki – Steel Tech – Take – Suzaku Ver. 40 Link – Hit! A moment later, light race toward them both from a point in the sky. “A Word Particle Cannon!?” he shouted. But he had the power of a Harmonist. If he could react, he could ignore any Tech. He jumped as white light swallowed up his vision. He jumped toward a corner of the roof. He leaped to a position that would just barely avoid a direct hit from the Word Particle Cannon. And as he did, he kept his eyes on Yuuki. He watched her to make sure he did not fall for a decoy like before. But he noticed something odd. There was no ether light wrapped around her giant staff. “?” His quickly found his answer. A giant mass of ice was floating in the white-dyed sky. At around 50 meters, it was far larger than the previous ones. It was horribly cubic and had perfectly flat sides. It floated in the darkness of the night and slowly descended between Nakamura and the light of the Word Particle Cannon. What did that mean? He instantly realized what. “Oh, no!” he shouted. But it was too late. The light of the Word Particle Cannon directly collided with the giant mass of ice. The ice shattered. The light dispersed and weakened. Even so, the Word Particle light continued downwards under its own power. And the ice had bent it like a prism. The Word Particle Cannon’s light was forcibly redirected. And it was headed straight toward Nakamura. He could not dodge it. His body was still in the air and it was too much of a surprise attack to use his power as a Harmonist. “———!” The light scored a spectacular direct hit. ### 340. Chapter 11: Conclusion (View of the Win/Loss Score Display) ### Part 1 7:17 PM The heat of the Word Particle Cannon grazed Osaka Castle with its massive wind pressure. A full third of the castle’s main tower was torn away. Needless to say, the shot of light did not end there. After shattering the mass of ice, the light collided with the ground. The glowing spear stabbed into the ruins of Yamazato Maru to the north of the castle. It was a beam of light and great heat. The impact was too soft to call an explosion, but it still hit the ground, scattered in every direction, and reflected back toward the sky. The trees, the lawn, and even the dirt burst and burned instantly. It left a crater 100 meters across in the ground and an inaudible noise and heat burst into the sky. The turbulent noise formed an instantaneous tornado and rose toward heaven. The wind wailed. The dark clouds shook with a clear hole through them after the Word Particle Cannon fired through them. The noise of the explosion reverberated through the sky and finally became an audible sound. The sky heavily roared. The deep rumbling shook the city of Osaka. The clouds, air, buildings, trees, streets, and water all shook. The deep roar was almost frustratingly slow. Afterwards, only the scars of disaster remained. No one could survive a hit from an attack like that. ### Part 2 Same Time As the heat rose into the sky, something was visible on the peak of the castle tower. It was a person. It was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki. She stood perfectly still as the turbulence vanished from the sky and the night quieted down. The loud sounds of impact in the distance were the proof that someone else continued to fight. They were the sounds of a fight she could not take part in. “…” She pushed her glasses up her nose and stared down below. The first thing to enter her field of vision was the exposed wood and insulation where the roof tiles had been stripped away. Then she looked further down below the broken edge of the roof. “Nothing there.” Sure enough, there was only darkness on the ground below. Even in the night, she could see the pitch black hole 100 meters across. That was the scar of the Word Particle Cannon hit. It was the same attack that had destroyed the schoolyard of Prefectural #2 where Ixolde was. Ixolde’s underground space had been there to receive it before, but that was not the case here. The ruins of Yamazato Maru had been a park with trees, but the 1 hectare space had been entirely blown away. The hole of destruction had devoured the stone steps and height differences that should have been there and it extended as far as the inner moat on the other side. “…” Yuuki said nothing and looked up into the sky. Smoke, rather than clouds, was spreading through Osaka’s sky. That smoke had been created when everything that had made this land had been blown away and annihilated. That smoke could be called “priceless”. An airplane’s identifier lights pierced through the smoke. The corporate airplane was likely checking on the status of the battle. She brushed up her hair as she watched it. Small pieces of dirt spilled from her hair as she did so. A gentle wind began to blow and it carried the scent of shimmering heat. And… – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! Yuuki looked at a certain point in the sky. – Yuuki – Army Tech – Take – Identify – Hit! It was not an airplane’s identifier lights. It was a more primitive light. It was the light of fire and it was descending from the sky. The Dog God barked quietly at her feet. But she kept her eyes on the sky. She confirmed the identity of the fire. – Yuuki – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm – Hit! It was clothing. A mountain hoodie fell as it burned. She recognized the hoodie. “It can’t be…” “Oh, but it can.” She heard a voice behind her. It was a boy’s voice. It was Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide’s voice. “!” She looked back surprise, but it was too late. She tried to quickly turn around, but a presence much like a heated wind reached her right hand. Immediately afterwards, an artillery-like kick jabbed into her side. The impact rang loud. “———!” She could not scream. She just barely kept herself from falling and grabbed at the roof with her left hand which did not hold Housei. She performed a side flip. – Yuuki – Gym Tech – Take – Control Position – Miss. When her right foot landed back on the tile-less roof, the ankle went limp. She had twisted the ankle that had been injured in the battle with Taeko. – Yuuki – Mind Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit. She could ignore the pain and her body could obey its own functions. “…” She slowly stood up by extending her right leg. A boy stood in front of her: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide. He raised his right hand into the sky with a terribly serious look on his face. The mountain hoodie fell into that hand. “I escaped trouble like this in Prefectural #2’s schoolyard too.” He forcefully swung the burning hoodie around. The fire was extinguished. Some faint ashes flew into the night air. Yuuki spoke quietly when she saw those ashes. “You burned the hoodie…to use it as a shield?” “I had the fire on the hoodie spread to the Word Particle light.” He put on the hoodie. He pulled headphones from the pocket of the red hoodie with one sleeve burned off. He hummed the Fire High Rhythm as he put the headphones in his ears. And he smiled bitterly. He looked to Yuuki. “That attack seems to have shaken me.” “You mean it disturbed your Lives?” “My pulse is too disturbed to use the Flame High.” He removed the headphones and his smile grew even bitterer. His lips formed a smile that was barely even a smile. He immediately rushed in at full speed. The bottom of his red hoodie instantly spread out in the darkness. He moved fast. – Yuuki – Dodge Tech – Take – Dodge – Hit! It was no use. It happened before she could dodge. It happened too soon for her to react. Nakamura’s Rhythm-less kick hit her right arm from the side. The blow had the weight of a log. “!” The impact knocked Housei from her hand and the staff rolled along the roof. She lost her balance and nearly rolled off of the roof. – Yuuki – Gym Tech – Take – Control Position – Hit! But before even that could happen, Nakamura kicked again from the left. Not even a Dodge Tech would have been fast enough. Before the damage could even reach her, she was sent flying in the opposite direction. She stumbled and returned to the peak of the roof. She somehow managed to stand. “————!” She belatedly gasped at the weight of the blows to her body. But she did not scream. No, she could not. “That’s a Killing Holder for you.” She heard Nakamura’s voice. By the time she realized he was right in front of her, it was too late. He made an attack from the White Noise that prevented her Sight or Hear Techs from sensing his presence. The Harmonist’s attack arrived instantly. She caught a brief glimpse of a forward kick that could break through a sheet of steel. “!?” It was a direct hit. Her right ankle collapse and she was unable to reduce the damage by dodging or falling back, so she was blown away. Her body doubled over and flew through the air. A moment later, her back struck one of the shachihoko on the ends of the roof. “…!” She gasped. The breath was knocked out of her. The vibration that hit her body had numbed her lungs. She could not produce her Words. All strength left her legs and her butt fell onto the roof. Her sides were numb after the two kicks and her arms hung limply down. She could not move. Only her eyes moved behind the glasses that had miraculously stayed on her face. The Dog God was to her right. The spirit beast was within arm’s reach and it only looked silently up at her. Her eyes met the small animal’s and she mouthed something to it. “…” But the Dog God did not understand. She narrowed her eyes when it tilted its head a little. And she looked forward. Nakamura Hisahide stood there. He was 3 meters away. From there, he could make a kick after a single step approach. He rolled up the surviving sleeve of his hoodie. “You’re not making this easy.” His breath appeared white in the air. “I think I’ll settle this and things down below all at once.” He spread his hand and held it forward. A silver ring glittered on his right hand’s ring finger. He clenched the hand into a fist. He tightly clenched it. His lips moved and formed a statement. “I am king.” Yuuki said nothing. She looked at Nakamura without even nodding. Her gaze alone held strength. It was far from a resigned strength. Nakamura snorted a little when she looked him in the eye. “It’s no use.” He breathed in deeply and put in his headphones. He breathed out. That white breath was followed by fire bursting from his hands. The crimson light of the flames danced in the darkness with Osaka’s nightscape in the background. The fire raced out while crackling in the air. Nakamura moved. He took a step forward. His straight line kick was directed toward Yuuki’s face as she sat on the roof. A yell of focus escaped his lips. “Sheahhh!!” The kick flew. And at that exact moment, a vermilion pillar rose between the two of them. “!?” It was a staff. It was Yuuki’s staff known as Housei. It stabbed into the roof with a solid sound. The unexpected intruder threw off Nakamura’s movement. His kick changed course and hit Housei instead of Yuuki. With a metallic clang, the giant tuning fork of a staff turned to ashes in an instant. The kick rotated around and toward Yuuki’s back. “Kh…!” But he made a jump without leaving any kind of opening. He moved away from Yuuki and landed. He put up his guard and shouted. “Who is it!?” Yuuki looked in the direction he had yelled. A boy stood on the edge of the roof with Osaka’s nightscape behind him. The boy had a bandanna around his forehead and a red prosthetic in place of his right arm. Yuuki recognized him. His presence and the look in his eyes were the same as 3 years ago. So she called his name. She called the name of the boy she had been waiting for. She squeezed at her lungs and forced the voice from her throat. “…Shoui-kun!!” ### Part 3 Same Time The Word Particle Cannon wind and the movements of Takahiro’s dragon had entirely synchronized. His scarf became a dragon in the downpour of lightning. The light wrapped around the wave of wool and became a beast. The transformation was instantaneous. The long bundle of light flew forward. It spiraled around, took in the air’s ether, and rapidly grew. Without a moment’s delay, it opened its maw to reveal rows of fangs and roared. Instead of a tiger or lion’s, this was a dragon’s roar. It reverberated. The flying dragon’s body was surrounded in thorn-like scales of light as it slipped through the air. The two-horned dragon raced between the pillars of electricity. It knew exactly where it was going. It would devour its target. Its eyes were fixed on a tall girl who was struggling against her raging false arm. It was Taeko. She saw the approaching dragon. It was fast. The horns and fangs were given physical form by the kotodama , so a direct hit would likely crush the Dragon Emperor in its jaws. She would have to use the Dragon Emperor to strike back, but how could she regain control? “Ya moron! I’m yer master!!” shouted Taeko. She used her broken right fist to punch the Dragon Emperor’s armor. The dragon’s eye was there. – Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Strike – Hit! The striking sound did not awaken the dragon. But the pain from her fist did stabilize her mind. There was one way to control the dragon. She immediately thought of it. So she raised her voice. “Dragon Emperor!” Takahiro’s dragon was right in front of her. But Taeko smiled. “Ya saved me once already, didn’t ya? Back up on that observation deck!” She used a Tech amid the great din. – Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – False Arm “Dragon Emperor” Final Activation – Hit! A powerful tremor ran through her body. It was a pulse. It came from her left shoulder. And… “Obey yer master!” With that, the Dragon Emperor regained its own will. Instead of going mad as a prosthetic arm, it was half-forcibly awoken as a dragon. The dragon’s will overcame the kotodama . The madness ceased, the downpour of lightning ended, and the final activation began. The armor panels on her shoulder instantly opened and revealed the biological component inside. It was a yellow dragon’s eye that looked like a plate. As soon as that eye focused itself, the horn at the top of the shoulder lowered and a cannon stuck out. The Dragon Emperor moved on its own. The fist opened and the claws stabbed into the ground. The eye and the cannon looked to the approaching dragon. Just before the collision, the Dragon Emperor roared. The great beast’s cry was fired from the cannon as a bundle of light. This was the lightning dragon’s cannon blast. The approaching dragon was instantly obliterated by a direct hit. The light raced on. It blew away Takahiro who raised his coat as a shield. With an intense noise, the ground was torn up and the air was scorched. A powerful impact raced out and the recoil sent the Dragon Emperor’s claws several dozen meters back as they dug through the ground. Taeko had crouched down and obeyed the dragon’s will as she kept it from sliding back. “Goooo!” The dragon did as its master wished. Its roar continued. The light grew to about 20 meters wide and easily more than 800 meters long. The bundle of lightning brought down the inner moat’s stone wall, destroyed the Kyobashi bridge on the other side, and burned away the outer moat and even the Neya River across the road. That light and the noise reverberated across Osaka’s night, but then suddenly vanished. Nothing remained afterwards. The destruction lasted approximately 12 seconds. And after that length of time, the Dragon Emperor’s wailing ended. ### Part 4 Same Time Inside the powerful turbulent air, Souichirou was slammed against the central circle’s wall and saw Aoi Hijiri standing in the distance. She was almost entirely unharmed. Meanwhile, his mobile shell had shattered and fallen in pieces to the ground and his coat was in tatters. His false arms and legs had tears through them and the white internal fluid was spilling out. “…” – Souichirou – Steel/Medical Tech – Multi-Take – Diagnose Wounds – Hit. He could somehow move his body, but his prosthetics were in bad shape. Whether or not he could move with all his strength was a real question. “…That really isn’t a technique to let hit you.” With that comment, he pulled his back from the wall. The remains of the mobile shell still clinging to him finally fell to the ground. His right knee gave out and white fluid erupted from the back of the knee. “The lubricant is leaking,” calmly noted Hijiri. “You won’t be able to move the leg in another minute.” Souichirou said nothing and stood in the chilly wind. With a quiet noise from the back of his head, his eyepatch’s thread snapped. His crushed right eye was exposed to the air. That eye had been scratched by the ogre’s claws. “…” He touched the wound with his trembling hand. There was a stiff scar there. His lips moved unexpectedly. “None of them would forgive me, would they?” He clenched his fist and lightly tapped at his leg. “Stick with me to the end, everyone.” He began to walk. His legs trembled, but his pace was steady. Step by step, he quietly approached Hijiri. The internal fluid spilled from the false leg and fell to the ground like bloodstains. Hijiri responded with a sigh. “You still haven’t given up? You can’t even dodge right now.” “Dodging will not be necessary.” He came to a stop. He was about ten paces away from her. That was the perfect distance for Kusanagi. He lowered his hips, spread his legs diagonally, and stood firmly. He was prepared for a one-hit win that rejected dodging. “My Dance Combat style has evolved through attack,” he said. “…Then you’re prepared to do this?” “My obligations…allow nothing else.” Souichirou held his Device low. And he looked to Hijiri’s face. He nodded. “Allow me to show you what the ‘modified’ in Modified Purple Electricity Style means.” “Enough bravado. You really will die.” Instead of low, Hijiri held her hexagonal rod in front of her eyes with both hands. She intended to block the attack with the Shinkage Style. They were both using their specialty. They began their preparatory breaths. One. Two. “…” On three, their breathing synchronized. Then they stopped breathing simultaneously. Silence fell. They could only hear the wind and the distant impacts of another battle. They were nearly noiseless noises. They could not even feel the chill of winter with their surroundings so brimming with the sense of battle. Souichirou started by speaking without disturbing his focus. “I am Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou. My Dance Combat is the Modified Purple Electricity Style.” Hijiri responded. “I am Tokyo Vice Chancellor Aoi Hijiri. My Dance Combat is the Shinkage Style.” Hearing that, Souichirou nodded. Hijiri also nodded and squeezed the hexagonal rod in her grip. “…Now!” Souichirou shouted back. “Begin!” Their movements were like a flash. An attack raced up from below. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Steel/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Blast – Hit! Wind was the first thing to race out. The air wavered. A shimmering rose between the two of them. A voice followed. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” It was a simple, monosyllabic Word. And that Word brought an explosion of air. It flew in a straight line. The slicing power tore up the dirt as it shot forward. The tearing sound was like an ensemble of echoes. The slicing wind and impact stabbed at the ground and sent it flying. Sand flew with a roar. But Hijiri thrust her hexagonal rod forward to block it. If she succeeded, she would win. Kusanagi left a large opening right after it was fired. Even if she took some damage, crushing Kusanagi and gaining the right to attack next would be worth it. She smiled as the impact flew toward her. “I’ll settle this!” But it did not end there. For some reason, she heard another yell. “Daaaahhh!” It was Souichirou’s voice. He raised his Device and forcibly… – Souichirou – Steel/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strength – Hit! He adjusted how he held the Device and swung it up overhead. “!” His next movement only took an instant. – Souichirou – Kusanagi/Steel/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Blast – Hit! And a second voice burst out. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” It was a simple, monosyllabic Word. This was not just a double attack. The second attack caught up with and sliced through the first Kusanagi shockwave. It was a straight line of spatial destruction. By further cutting the vacuum, he created a truly empty slash that should have only existed in theory. He had cut the cutting power of Kusanagi with Kusanagi. The ground was stirred up as the cutting wave of destruction raced forward. It no longer produced a sound as it flew toward Hijiri. “!?” The one attack hit. The hexagonal rod broke and the power of the Shinkage Style could not fully deflect Souichirou’s attack. A technique of intense and pure power struck her. “————!!” She flew through the air. At the same time, heated internal fluid burst from all four of Souichirou’s limbs. The Device flew from his hand and stabbed into the ground. He fell to his knees and Hijiri collided with the ground at almost the exact same moment. Neither of them could stand. Their battle ended there. ### Part 5 7:20 PM The clash between Hizaka Shoui and Nakamura Hisahide began wordlessly. Shoui blocked Nakamura’s fiery kick with a Tech. – Shoui – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Block – Hit! The Harmonist’s power kicked in. Taking that into consideration, Shoui moved further. – Shoui – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Block – Hit! He used the Tech a second time. He normally would have been satisfied with just once, but not here. This was only possible with abnormal reaction speed and a Tech he was intimately familiar with through intensive training. His red right arm blocked the flames and the kick behind them. There was an impact and a noise. The flames scattered. But his right arm did not burn. Nakamura clicked his tongue. And Shoui moved. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! Nakamura dodged with his Harmonist power. But Shoui did not give up. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! Nakamura dodged with his Harmonist power. But Shoui did not give up. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! Nakamura dodged with his Harmonist power. But Shoui did not give up. – Shoui – Boxing Tech – Take – Punch – Hit! And then he won. After redoing it several times over the course of a single instant, Shoui’s speed caught Nakamura. His fist hit the boy’s shoulder. The impact of the blow ran through Nakamura. His body wavered. But despite that waver, he used the blow to spin his body around. A kick flew. – Shoui – Dodge Tech – Counter-Take – Dodge – Hit! Shoui fully dodged it. He put some distance between them. He exhaled while sensing Yuuki’s presence behind him. … This is scary. Nakamura must have sensed that mental state because he snorted in laughter. “Not bad.” “Well, I’ll do the best I can.” “But…” Nakamura gave Shoui an upturned glance. “You’re pretty exhausted, aren’t you?” Shoui responded with silence. Nakamura was exactly right. Repeatedly using Techs so continuously wore down his strength. The drain on his stamina was far greater than normal. He already felt fear in facing the Flame High. … But. He nodded while speaking in his heart. He began to use his left hand to pull the bandanna down over his eyes. “…” But he stopped. He had to keep his eyes on his opponent. He focused himself. He poured all of his focus into sensing his opponent’s movements and into the entirety of his body. He felt his heart pound in his chest. He could feel his own body. He could tell it had nerves running all the way to the fingertips and toe tips. His body would move as he wanted. He had a will of his own. He had his missing memories. He had an opponent. And he had something to protect. “…” Shoui silently looked up. Shoui and Nakamura’s gazes seemed to audibly crash together. Shoui fearlessly maintained his fighting stance. Nakamura also maintained his fighting stance. They did not move. The one to ask a question via words was Nakamura. “What is it…that you want?” This was the same question he had asked Souichirou during his attack on Ixolde. It was a simple question based on curiosity. And Shoui answered quietly. “To protect.” The answer was as simple as the question. Nakamura asked another question without nodding. “Do you like fighting?” “…” No response. As they faced each other in silence, Nakamura asked again. “Do you like fighting?” He received a short response. “I’ve never thought about it.” “Why not?” Shoui did not answer. He simply moved. Nakamura’s fire roared and flew in response. Shoui slammed his own fist toward that fire. He used his left fist instead of the ogre’s right arm. … I can do this! He sensed the Storm High’s presence. His heart remembered. He remembered the girl who had given him a prophecy and the girl who waited for him. He moved simply to protect. “!” The fist and the kick collided. An explosion rumbled out. ### Part 6 7:21 PM Flames exploded. The Storm High strike had negated the Flame High strike. A solid sound rang out and the undying flames surged into the air as a flare. Two powers clashed. Flames. And emptiness. Those contrasting powers collided and maintained equilibrium. “Seaaaaahhh!” Even greater flames flew. In response, the emptiness intercepted them with an unarmed hand. They clashed. A solid sound rang out and the flames danced. With a roar much like a wave, a cascade of flames struck the roof of the main castle tower. The roof burned in an instant. It was a great conflagration. The fire burned down Osaka Castle like flowing water. “!” More than a third of the giant structure was turned to ashes and annihilated in an instant. It was a great power, but it had no effect on Shoui. The flames flew once more. The emptiness caught it. A rumbling shook the air. It did so again and again. Each time, fire blossomed in the darkness of the night. And that was not all. Something white began to fall from the dark clouds in the sky. It was snow. As the continuous rumbling shook them, the dark clouds produced snow. Countless red flowers blossomed within the falling snow. Red flowers bloomed in the darkness. And white flowers bloomed in the darkness. An empty party began in the fire and in the strength. Two prophecies coincided. Emptiness was born from Shoui’s heart with no Rhythm and it swept away the memory of death. Within the rumbling and the falling snow, Shoui and Nakamura’s attacks and Words coincided. Nakamura was slightly faster. “A woman becomes the queen.” / “A queen smiles at him.” “A sage reminisces.” / “A sage resigns himself.” “Run without looking to another’s path.” / “Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another’s path.” “Choose your own path and sprint.” / “Choose your own path and hesitate.” “The true path lies in the future.” / “The true path lies in the past.” More red flowers bloomed in the darkness. But one thing had changed. Nakamura’s Words had vanished while Shoui’s Words continued. He recited them. To search for his own Words, he reached for everything he had gained. He pulled in his own current and raised his voice. “————!!” With that roar, the Storm High pierced the nothingness. Within the chilly and still air, a field of destruction appeared inside all of that grand power. In that field of destruction and annihilation, nobody took the middle road. Nothing would live and nothing would die. It all existed to protect. “Everyone…!” And with those Words, Shoui brought his fist to Nakamura. It was a quick barrage. A series of offensive and defensive blows shook the night air. There was no hesitation in their actions and more snow fell as if to guide them. White flowers scattered as if to answer the desire of the dark sky. Shoui simply recited his Words as the white snow fell through the heavy darkness. And his voice caused the fire to scatter and brighten the darkness. His punches cried out. His emptiness collided with Nakamura’s flames. They were both fast. Blow after blow rang out so quickly it sounded like one continuous noise. And he sped up his Words to accelerate that further. I have no companions. She vanishes. A hand that can hold onto no one remains A hand that fosters destruction remains That hand pleads for no one to leave He clenched his pleading right hand. The ogre’s fist collided with Nakamura’s kick. And as he sensed the impact and the noise simultaneously, Shoui remembered everything up to this point. He had lost his Words. He had lost his promise. But he had made it this far. … Why is that? He sought the answer in everything. In the darkness and the flames. In the sky and the snow. In the wind and the noise. And in himself… The impact reverberating from his fist to his head cleared his thoughts. He remembered some important Words. They were an important person’s Words. !! As the winter wind cried out frigidly, he definitely heard a crying voice inside himself. That crying voice spoke words yet said nothing. And as it did, it simply waited, drew near, and never gave up. Those were the Words of the most important person in the world. … Yeah, that’s right. Shoui nodded in his heart. And with that mental understanding, his body freely moved before he even told it to. He felt like he was moving with no distinction between thoughts and actions. He felt himself inside a tension and speed he normally could not feel. It was supported by a barrage of impacts and noises. His thoughts linked to everything he had. His sight. His hearing. His touch. His arms. His legs. His body. His head. His conscious and subconscious. They all supported his punches, impacts, and defenses. And he thought. He sensed more than ever before and looked to the dance partner in front of him. That boy was moving in the same way. His speed sensed everything. His thoughts felt everything. And he thought. … I’m protecting her…aren’t I? He was aware of the girl behind him with something other than his 5 senses. He could not allow her to stand before him. So he moved to protect her and thought. … Can they hear this? He made a combination blow. … Are they listening to this? And he defended. He thought his Words while moving as he wished. Who did he want to hear what? Shoui knew the answer to that. He moved. He saw the answer in his movements. In that high-speed current, he saw what was behind his enemy. A sea of light and an abyss of darkness. They were Osaka’s nightscape and the night sky. He made another combination blow, continued to defend, and found himself oddly focused on that scenery. White flowers scattered and red flowers blossomed to decorate it. “!” Shoui moved even more. ### Part 7 7:22 PM The movement began with Nakamura. He made a sharp forward kick toward Shoui who suddenly nodded and crouched low. This was the same kick he had hit Shoui with back at the student dorm. His toes flew in a sharp curve from below. – Shoui – Dodge Tech – Counter-Take – Dodge – Hit! Shoui dodged it. But Nakamura had expected that. “You’ve gotta be out of Words now!!” With that shout, he dropped down his raised heel. He made a second attack. After the rapid series of dodges, Shoui could not move without stabilizing himself first. And the Harmonist’s power would hit him before he could do that. He could not dodge this. But he moved. Even as his stance almost collapsed, he thrust his Ogre God arm straight up. The heel strike fell from the sky. The kick was like a sword strike. It was a lot like the attack from Yamashita Gihei 2 years before. And it was a lot like the attack from Souichirou 2 days before. Both of them had done grave damage to him. Shoui felt powerful déjà vu. But… – Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Suppress – Hit!! He felt no phantom pain. The nightmare did not repeat itself. “————!” Without hesitation, he blocked the kick with his raised arm. He caught the impact. Even so, the kick tried to beat him down with its heavy momentum and the Flame High’s power. It was powerful. And Shoui responded to that strength with an action the Harmonist’s power could not keep up with. – Shoui – Steel Tech – Take – Remove Arm – Hit!! He removed the Ogre God and let it fly. “!?” Nakamura’s kick changed course. His heel grazed Shoui’s forehead and fell to his side. The bandanna was cut and flew from Shoui’s head and his forehead was exposed to the air. The scar there felt hot. But Nakamura’s attack ended there. Shoui saw an entirely defenseless body in front of him. He knew he could win. And he answered with a shout. He shouted the Word inside himself. “Yuuuuuuki!” – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit! A 4-blow combination jabbed into Nakamura’s body like a machinegun. The boy in the red hoodie was blown away. But… “…Kh!” At only 5 meters away, Nakamura regained his footing and stopped himself. “Don’t screw with me!!” Nakamura roared back and started forward. Shoui was hit by killer intent not much different from a wild animal’s. But Shoui still moved forward. As he ran, he reached his left hand into his pocket and pulled something out: a golden ring. He flicked it forward with his fingers. The ring flew through the snow-filled darkness at eye level. Nakamura saw the light of the ring. “!” The two boys ran straight ahead with the ring between them. They ran. They raced. With a silver ring on his hand, Nakamura reached out to grab that golden one. But at that very moment, Shoui’s left hand grabbed the small airborne ring before Nakamura could. And he clenched the hand into a fist. From here, he only had to make the best possible movement. – Shoui – Gym/Savate/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Straight Fist – Hit! He made a full rotation, stopped while turned to the side, and threw his fist directly into the left side of Nakamura’s chest. It was a perfect punch. And that brought them both to a stop. ### 341. Chapter 12: The End (Ending Details) ### Part 1 7:23 PM Nakamura remained motionless after taking Shoui’s punch. He stood almost entirely upright and looked to Shoui. He said nothing. He looked Shoui in the eye and then lowered his gaze with no readable expression. Shoui’s left fist had hit the left side of his chest. “…” Nakamura was wordless. But there was a sound. A small but solid sound came from his chest below Shoui’s fist. It was the sound of metal falling away. It sounded like flowing sand and it quietly fell from his chest and to the castle tower’s roof. The sound came from the pieces of his MD. The Flame High’s MD and its drive had shattered. When he saw that, Nakamura remained silent and looked over to his hand. He clenched his right hand, but no fire appeared. “…” He was silent. He clenched his right fist a second time, but still no fire. The Flame High would not ignite. After confirming that, he looked Shoui in the eye again. And he suddenly smiled. “Was that not…what I really wanted?” With those words, he took a step back. Shoui kept his left fist extended and he slowly opened the hand, starting with the little finger. Nakamura held out his right hand as if he knew what Shoui was doing. A small light dropped from Shoui’s fist and into Nakamura’s hand. It was a ring. Nakamura held it in his hand and shut his eyes. And he collapsed backwards. He lost his balance and tilted back as if to fall asleep, so Shoui reached out toward him. “———!?” But he saw someone support Nakamura from behind. So he stopped moving. He saw Iba standing behind Nakamura. The man dressed as a monk supported Nakamura’s unconscious form with his shoulder and looked to Shoui. And… “You have my thanks.” With that short comment, Iba turned around. And then he slowly walked to the edge of the roof and jumped down. He left. Shoui breathed a white sigh after watching him go. He looked down to his feet and picked up the Ogre God that had fallen a short distance away. – Shoui – Steel Tech – Take – Attach Arm – Hit. He reattached the ogre’s right arm and gently clenched and unclenched the hand. He said nothing. After confirming he could move the arm satisfactorily, he finally turned around. He looked to the peak of the roof. He saw Yuuki sitting in front of the shachihoko . She quietly looked up at him and also said nothing. Without warning, the Dog God sitting next to her became two. One stayed by Yuuki’s side. But the other ran over. It passed by Shoui’s side and ran toward the edge of the roof where Iba had disappeared with Nakamura. Its footsteps sounded quietly on the roof, but after reaching the edge, it briefly glanced back toward Shoui. He nodded. “Go on.” Pushed on by those words, the Dog God faced forward. And it jumped. Its long, light brown tail fell into the darkness and vanished. It was a goodbye with no regrets. “…” Shoui sighed and faced forward. Yuuki was there. That was all. But that was enough. The snow fell in silence. ### Part 2 7:30 PM Below the snow, Ikemaru Takahiro and Aoi Hijiri were reunited at the edge of Osaka Castle’s inner moat. Hijiri sat below a cherry tree to keep out of the snow and she healed Takahiro. She removed his jacket that was soaked after falling into the moat and she opened the chest of his shirt. He sometimes grimaced, but he let Hijiri do as she wished. “How did you know I was here?” “That much noise was hard to miss.” She attached a healing charm and briskly wrapped bandages around him, but she too was covered in wounds. “Sorry. I lost the scarf.” “We’re both still alive, so I’m not about to complain.” “Did you lose?” He sounded surprisingly carefree and she silently tightened the bandages around him. He grimaced. “Was it a draw then?” “I suppose. I feel like…nothing changed. Not the Shinkage Style, not the Modified Purple Electricity Style, and not me…” She looked to her quickly moving hands. “But I feel so refreshed after saying everything I wanted to say and hitting him as much as I wanted.” “What happened to the Osaka Chancellor after he had to listen to everything you wanted to say and was hit as much as you wanted?” “When I came to, he was rescued by a friend and left. He didn’t even look my way.” She lightly tapped Takahiro’s chest and he frowned. “Does that hurt?” “Not enough for me to cry out in pain.” “Then you’ll be fine. Let’s get back to the hotel before I heal you for real.” Hijiri sat on a root that was not yet covered in snow. “But I really am tired.” “Hijiri-san, what about your injuries?” “It’s only a cracked rib and my wrist. I have a lot of bruises, though.” She smiled a little and looked to Takahiro. “Once we’re back at the hotel, will you heal me?” “Hijiri-san.” “What?” “You keep mentioning a hotel…” “Oh, we have a room. One we’ll be sharing.” Hearing that, Takahiro’s expression stiffened somewhat. And Hijiri spoke to him. “Don’t worry. I made sure to change my family name to Ikemaru.” “…” “Is that a problem?” “Hijiri-san.” “What?” He looked at her puzzled face. “…You are quite the delinquent.” “So are you for playing around here at night.” Then they both sighed. And Takahiro’s sigh led to a voice. “Sorry.” He apologized. Hijiri looked up. “For what? I can think of far too many things you need to apologize for.” “…For Seigi.” “It’s too late to say that now that it’s over. And I promise you she didn’t think badly of you.” She tapped Takahiro’s shoulder on the final “you”. Her relieved white breath vanished within the falling snow. She held one knee in her arms. “Aren’t you cold? You are soaking wet.” “Yes, I am cold.” He buttoned his shirt back up and she got up. She sat next to him and held one knee in her arms again. He nodded. “…I wonder what happened to Nakamura.” “Who knows. But I doubt it was anything bad.” “True…” He looked up slightly. And… “!?” He gasped and Hijiri responded. “What?” She saw his eyes were looking into the sky. The snow was falling from the heavens. And several cherry tree branches extended toward heaven. “Is this…?” The snow fell with the dark heavens in the background. It gathered on the branches. And it scattered. In the reddish-brown light of the streetlights, the snow looked somewhat reddish as it fell. And with the white covering all of the cherry trees in this courtyard, the snow’s new color and its shape looked like… “Cherry blossoms!?” shouted Hijiri. She looked around. The snow was falling. The withered cherry trees looked like they were in full bloom. “Cherry blossoms in winter…” It was the snow and the lights. The way they came together at night created the winter cherry blossoms. White flower petals scattered through the darkness. It was a snowstorm of cherry blossoms. The cold flowers continued to fall, scatter, and dye the surrounding space. Hijiri stared blankly at the scene before her eyes. “Dad and mom must have-…” She tried to stand up, but Takahiro grabbed her hand. He pulled her back and hugged her. She panicked when a slight creaking sound came from his ribs. “Takahiro!? Is your chest okay!?” “I do not mind.” With that, he looked up at the heavens. This was what the two of them had wanted. It was the same scene the Osaka Chancellor and Tokyo Chancellor had once seen. They had found what Hijiri’s mother had told her to find. Takahiro held Hijiri even tighter. “How is this supposed to bring misfortune…?” Just as Hijiri nodded a little, she heard singing voices from the lights of the city. Takahiro glanced in that direction. “Oh.” Hijiri nodded. “It’s the outdoor concert. They were having one in the Otemon Gate plaza.” They could hear the orchestra even as the snow fell. It was playing… “Beethoven’s 9th. Perfect for the end of the year.” Hijiri closed her eyes. Then she opened them again and began singing. She sang the lyrics of Beethoven’s 9th that Takahiro had once taught her. “Joy. “Beautiful spark of divinity, daughter from Elysium. “Your magic brings together what custom has sternly divided. “All men shall become brothers, wherever your gentle wings hover.” Takahiro responded by throwing his words into the sky. He sang the end of Beethoven’s 9th, which was a line from a certain poet. “Our father must dwell beyond the stars.” Hijiri nodded at that line. “Mom, dad…” She nodded again and again and suddenly lowered her head. Takahiro held her in his arms and stared up into the sky. Into the sky of falling snow that became cherry blossoms. ### Part 3 7:41 PM The snow was slowly accumulating without melting. Shoui and Yuuki slowly descended the stone steps of Osaka Castle. Neither said anything. They walked without speaking a word. The snow on the steps crunched below their feet. They walked horribly slowly. They took their time as they walked. A Dog God followed them while wagging its light brown tail. The two people and one animal silently descended the stone stairs. But they finally reached the bottom. They walked a while longer and found the cherry trees alongside the moat. Cherry blossoms. Shoui came to a stop below the trees with snow accumulating on their branches. Yuuki also stopped. As did the Dog God. Shoui spoke without looking anyone in the eye. “Yuuki, will you remain a Killing Holder as long as I’m by your side?” Yuuki did not answer. But her silence was enough of an answer. So he said more. “If I leave…will you have no more need to call yourself a Killing Holder and will you go back to being your old self?” “…Why did you remember the past?” He was answered with a question that led to everything. He looked at his right hand. That arm was made from the flesh of the ogre and Yamashita Gihei. He clenched the fist. “Because there is a debt I must repay.” “…” “I might end up going far away.” “Is that so? Then I will quit being a Killing Holder.” Yuuki’s voice held no emotion. “If I’m no longer a Killing Holder, I won’t have to hurt myself any longer.” “…” “Isn’t that a good thing?” She said that, but another voice overlapped it: “…No.” It was her own voice. But it meant the opposite of what she had said before. “!?” Shoui looked over in surprise. And she looked toward him. The Dog God stood between the two of them. It stood on the puffy shoulder of Yuuki’s blouse and it opened its mouth. “No…” With its head lowered, it once again spoke with Yuuki’s voice. When she heard that, surprise and then panic filled her face. “Wh-what are you saying!?” / “It’s true!” She took a breath. “You’d be nothing but trouble if you stayed with me!” / “I’ve been waiting all this time…” Her will and her words did not match at all. But Shoui understood which one was right. So he did not hesitate. He embraced her. She struggled in his arms. “…S-stop that!” / “Hold me.” And… “Let go!” / “Don’t let go.” He did as her will said. She hit his chest over and over. But the blows were incredibly weak. That was when he realized something. Her head was hitting his shoulder. … I’m taller than her. That was different from 2 years before. So he brought his left hand to her cheek and lifted her face. Yuuki looked directly into his eyes. She watched him with tears welling in those eyes. She opened her mouth a little. The words escaping her lips and her will coincided. “Please…” / “Please…” A breath. “Will you protect me now…?” / “Will you protect me now…?” The tears fell from her eyes midsentence. And they would not stop. Her vermilion false eye was wet with tears. He noticed her cheeks had grown a little red. And a single white line ran down from her right eye to her cheek. It was the scar from Yamashita Gihei’s slash 2 years ago. “…” He said nothing about the scar. Instead, he pulled a folded paper bag from the hidden pocket in his pants. “Did you leave this for me, Yuuki?” She nodded and reached out from within his arms. Her slender white hand took the bag and opened it. She pulled out a red bandanna. After a tearful sniffle, she showed it to Shoui. He gave a small nod and lowered his head. She reached out and wrapped the bandanna around his forehead as if to hide the scar there. She stood on her toes to reach around and tie the back of the bandanna. He once more embraced her slender body. Her face was close. He removed her glasses with his right hand. She closed her eyes. And he kissed the white scar on her right eyelid. He licked away the tears remaining in the corner of the eye. “It tastes like blood…” Hearing that, she nodded and lowered her head once more. She smiled a little and tearfully called the name of the boy she had waited for. “Shoui-kun…” / “Shoui-kun…” Her tearful voice rang out quietly. And the Dog God on her shoulder began reciting Words. They were her Words. The winter cries out frigidly Someone cries in loneliness They speak words yet nothing is said They speak Words yet nothing is said They simply wait for the ice to melt They draw near and never give up Shoui firmly nodded at those Words and looked up into the snowy night sky. White flowers blossomed and fell through that dark sky. He strongly and deeply embraced her below his prophesied flowers. “I…” He hesitated over what to say. But he took a breath. He gathered strength in his arms and spoke to only her. He spoke his own Words that were the answer to everything. “I won’t give up either.” ### 342. Final Chapter: The Inheritor of It All (Aftercare) – (4/7/1997) ### Part 1 4:49 AM It was already spring, but the weather was terrible that morning. It was much too early for the sun to be out. Only the stars and moon filled the dark sky. Below that heavy sky, a loud and low rumbling never ceased in one place. It was the Kegon Falls in Nikko, Tochigi. The air was heavy on that spring morning, so there was no fog and the falls were fully visible. It was a large waterfall. It had a long history. Its majestic form and noise could be seen from close up on the observation platform built out from the cliff wall. It was much too early for sightseers, so only locals would be on that observation platform now. There was one such person below the observation platform’s sunlamp. The girl had her long black hair tied back behind her neck and she wore a black tracksuit. She held the railing and stared at the waterfall. There was some silent exhaustion on her face. “So it’s finally my turn to leave this place.” She held her hands to her chest where the family name Fujiwara was written. “I can’t believe this. …I’ll be standing in Osaka in only 6 hours.” … So what am I doing here? She looked to the school tracksuit she wore in place of pajamas. In about 2 hours, she would have to change into her new uniform. It was the uniform of Osaka Prefectural #1. A girl from Kantou was attending an Osaka school. She would never have imagined this back when she had nearly drowned the year before. The east and west had been reunited. From what she had heard, there had been a largescale terrorist attack in Osaka just a few days after she dove into the waterfall basin. That may have acted as a trigger because by January the politicians got to work and the east and west were reunited in the blink of an eye. Once they had gotten started, it had been apparently been simple. The Emergency Teachers and the Mountain had acted quickly, talk shows had discussed it almost every night, and foreign politicians had either celebrated or worked to stop it, but there had been no changing it once it had started. As a result, the east and west were accepting exchange students as a test case. She had been hesitant, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She had taken the entrance exam for an Osaka school and passed. She had always had good grades. But… “I didn’t think I would have to give a greeting at the entrance ceremony today.” The greeting itself was simple. They would tell her what to do once she arrived, so she only had to get up on stage when they said to and read the text they gave her. To help students coming from afar like her, the ceremony was being held in the afternoon. There was nothing to worry about. But even so… … Something’s still eating at me. She still had too many questions. Now that she was actually taking the plunge, she was nervous about this new world. … How will this turn out? She found herself quietly speaking her Words. Time flows like water She who flows through time People do not stop Time does not stop Simply flow like water And inherit all of the questions She realized those Words described her situation perfectly. None of her questions had been answered. She did not know what any of it meant, but she was climbing to the next stage. She sighed. She simply thought about that boy. He had not appeared for half a year now, but what did he think about the unification of the east and west? … It isn’t like me to think about all this complicated stuff. “I should really be thinking about the entrance ceremony today.” She looked into the sky. Dark clouds spread out there. According to the TV news, they were experiencing out-of-season snowfall in Kansai. April snow was not unusual where she lived, but it was apparently newsworthy in the cities. “…Snow, huh? I need to wear some proper shoes.” And as she said that… – Fujiwara – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Presence – Hit! She sensed someone standing to her left and quickly straightened up. She turned around and found him there. ### Part 2 4:55 AM Straight hair, a red mountain hoodie, and somehow sobered eyes. It was him. The boy who had once thrown white flowers in the waterfall basin was next to her. He was close enough to reach out and touch. But… “…” The atmosphere around him forced her to silence. She looked to him, but she said nothing. There was so much she wanted to say. There was so much she wanted to ask. But the boy stared at the waterfall basin and not her. He was silent. There was no hesitation or hurry on his face. He simply moved. First, he held his right hand out in the chilly morning air. He had a silver ring on his ring finger. Then he grabbed the glittering ring with his left hand and pulled it from the finger. The rest was the same action as always. Instead of throwing it, he tossed the ring into the waterfall basin. The light of the sunlamp caused the silver ring to shine a little as if saying goodbye. The ring fell toward the basin. Its small light quickly vanished from view. It was hard to tell whether or not it fell into the water. But the girl knew. His ring had definitely reached the two sleeping at the bottom of the basin. “…” She looked to the boy. He continued staring at the basin and this time pulled a new ring from his pocket. It was a golden ring. He slowly placed it on his right hand’s ring finger. He took his time but finally put it on. He raised his right hand and stared at the ring’s light. A wavering strength filled his eyes. It was a faint and unstable strength that seemed on the verge of tears. That strength led to him clenching his fist. How much time had it taken? The boy kept his eyes on the basin as he took a single slow step backwards. And then he quickly turned around. “!” The girl reflexively reached out toward his back. The bottom of his mountain hoodie fluttered up and briefly touched her hand. “…” That was all. He walked away without looking back. As she watched him go, the girl opened her lips and tried to say something again and again. … What do I do? She covered her mouth with both hands and lowered her head. And she heard a voice. “…I won’t forget you.” It was the boy’s voice. She looked up in surprise. She saw the boy leaving. She doubted he had said anything. … Then what was that voice? No one could answer her question. But… – Fujiwara – Sight Tech – Auto-Take – Spot – Hit! A light brown mouse-like animal sat on his shoulder. Its tail swayed and floated as he walked. She looked to him and the animal. “…” She said nothing and did not move. She remained motionless as he walked toward the emergency staircase and disappeared behind the wall. She watched him leave. But even afterwards, she still did not move. Countless thoughts spiraled in her mind. Why had he stopped coming until now? Who was he? What were those rings? What was that animal on his shoulder? And how was he connected to the two at the bottom of the basin? She did not know any of the answers. But she was confident of one thing. “He’ll never come here again, will he?” She spoke her thought aloud and realized something. The fear-like emotion inside her was gone. “…Eh?” She searched her heart, but the pressure on her stomach was completely gone. She was no longer hesitant about entering a new world. Something had changed. Something was different after that brief and one-sided reunion and parting. She did not know what it was. She did not know anything. But… … I’m okay with that? She nodded at her own question. Again and again, she nodded firmly and deeply. For some reason, tears spilled from her eyes. And as they fell… “!” She suddenly started running. She ran toward the emergency staircase as if pursuing the boy who was no longer here. When she wiped away the tears, she felt strength in her gaze. It was a great strength different from cheer or ambition. She ran. She turned her back on the familiar waterfall and did not look back. She raced. Her footsteps produced a nice tempo. She dashed. She jumped over the fence blocking off the metal staircase and ran up two steps at a time. She heard a car driving on the road above. He was in that car. It was probably a taxi. But she ran up the stairs without pursuing it. Once at the top, she was right on the road. She saw the taxi’s tail lights ascending the mountain road in the distance. She looked that way and smiled. That was her one-sided goodbye. She looked to the sky. There were clouds there, but it was undoubtedly vast. That same sky continued to Kansai and beyond. “…” Without saying a word, she looked down and hopped onto her bicycle leaning against the guardrail. She impatiently switched all the cycling gears to the inner setting and began pedaling. She was gathering her thoughts. And those thoughts led her body to start moving. She rode the bicycle down the mountain, so she picked up speed. She moved fast. She raced to the bottom of the mountain. She picked up more and more speed in the clear morning air and had a sudden thought. … Oh, I know. “I’ll buy a flower.” She would buy a flower to take to Osaka. The old lady who ran the flower shop at the bottom of the mountain woke early, so she would already be up at this time. She knew what flower to buy. “…A red one would be nice.” It was snowing in Osaka. The snow falling from the dark sky would probably look like the white flower petals that had floated down into the waterfall basin. So if it was to bloom among those, a red flower would be nice. … That’s what I’ll do. “That’s what I’ll do!” She shouted that thought, cut through the wind on her bicycle, and spoke her Words. Time flows- She started with the same tempo as always but stopped. She was just not into it. … That isn’t it. That just isn’t it. She did not hesitate to voice the Words that came to mind. As her new Words, she spoke the feeling inside herself now. She sang them. Time flows like water She who flows through time A human heart that does not flow into emptiness. People do not stop Time does not stop A single flower resides in the dancing time Choose your own path and hesitate Choose your own path and sprint Do not give up on any of the questions Her singing voice flowed through the spring morning air. She repeated the refrain again and again as she rode her bicycle. She was on her way to buy a red flower. She was on her way to Osaka. Someday. It did not matter when. But she felt certain she would answer all of her questions someday. ### 343. Afterword God, is it cold. I forgot to write the afterword, so I’m writing it at the office now. But it really is cold. It’ll be March by the time this book comes out and it’ll probably be warm then, but then I’ll have to deal with allergies. I’m not looking forward to that. But this is no time to be complaining. Still, I’m always running into trouble like this. First, the machine I was writing the manuscript on died. Then when I tried to rely on the backup I had secretly sent to the office, that machine died too. I really thought I was going to die as well when that happened. Now, a phone call. (I’m not using the office phone without permission, am I?) “Hey, Osaka’s done.” “Oh, you finished that thing? Then…” “What?” “How many is this for the City Series?” “8.” “Stop making tricky lies like that. I know it’s only 4.” “If you know the answer, then don’t ask.” “Hmm. So did you sneak in some lewd scenes again?” “Oddly enough, yes.” “I see. Then is there a blond girl this time too?” “No.” “Does someone get slapped?” “No.” “What about a maid?” “There haven’t been any of those!” “Then…then how is this a proper entry in the City Series!?” “Oh, shut up!!” Dammit, what does he think this series is? Don’t any of you grow up to be like that, okay? Anyway, I wrote everything I wanted to this time. I’m satisfied. As a writer, I am truly blessed to be able to write as much as I want like this. It’s thanks to all of you. Thank you. Hmm. Now to change the subject. I’ve heard a variety of opinions and there seem to be three different ways to read my novels: 1. For the action. 2. For a theory on victory and defeat and on the journey leading to them. 3. For the relationships. Which one did this one work as? I threw in everything I wanted to say. And with that, I’m reading back through Part B while listening to Reimy’s Two of Us. (I can’t think of a better image song for Yuuki…even if it is a pretty minor song.) But… “Who was the strongest of all?” I really don’t change, do I? Now, then. Next up is Paris. Late December 1998. A morning stuck at the office. -Kawakami Minoru Okay. Now, then. This is Satoyasu who helped with this book. I was able to just do whatever it was I wanted. At first, Yuuki was really hard to draw, but now I’m the second best in Japan at it. Kawakami is the best at it. Thank you. ### 344. Chronology ## Noise City Osaka 1944: Even as they lose World War Two, Germany bombs cities around the world with Wort Bombe. The city concepts collapse even further than before and each of the cities evolves in its own way. The word collapse creates an invisible field known as the Great Canopy around the earth and also creates similar canopies over each of the cities. This prevents the people from reaching outer space. While unable to send signals down from the sky, the worldwide network is effectively cut off. 1945: At the Yalta Conference, most of the weapons used during the war are made illegal. The dp Series of Aerial Ships. The Glossolalian Word Plates. The Three Tune Bust Techniques. The Attesor Project Automatons. Those, among others, are banned. 1950: The Korean War begins. The resultant security issues lead to an increase in student movements and a lower age of those involved in violence. This becomes a problem for the Universal Student Councilor Committee (later known as the USCC). 1962: A position is created to end military activity and to properly guide the students. (According to the International Student Special Senior Faculty Academy Rules.) The Leader of the Numbers system is introduced. It is a ranking system. 1963: The 1st and 2nd Emergency Teachers Committees are added. Techs are introduced to the schools. 1965: Testing for the Leader of the Numbers begins. Ten training grounds are opened numbered from 0 to 9. 1967: The 3-man system using the Leader of the Numbers, the Chancellor, and the Vice Chancellor is changed to an 8-man system that includes 2 Vice Chancellor aides, 2 Special Duty Officers, and a PR leader. 1969: After some security protests, college students are entirely removed from the ranking system. After 3 years repeating the same year, a student is automatically expelled under the shared academy rules. (Returning to school and transferring schools is not permitted.) 1970: The Nara region and Kyoto region combine into the Koto region. 1972: Babel, a broadcast tower that can cover the entire world, begins construction in Osaka. Once it is complete, the worldwide network can recover with Babel at the center. 1973: The 3rd and 4th Emergency Teachers Committees are added. The Leader of the Numbers is allowed to also hold a position on the Student Council. 1974: The Olympic boom leads to sporting goods companies developing Devices. Competition begins over selling Devices as cheaply as possible. 1978: The MD Walkman is developed and goes on sale. Cheap Rhythms become widely available. The Universal Student Councilor Committee changes its name to the USCC. 1980: Osaka and Tokyo work together to hunt down delinquents. More than 2000 are injured. 1982: Another Olympic boom. Athletic shoes and clothing begin to grow fashionable. 1983: The Kinki Riot begins. 1984: A Nuclear Syllable Bomb goes off near Nagoya. Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Midori and Osaka Chancellor Kuki Udai go missing in the mountains of Ibaraki. Their ultimate Rhythms (the Storm High and Flame High) go missing. The Kinki Riot ends. The Nuclear Syllable Bomb detonated near Nagoya creates the Altered Line between the east and west. The construction of Babel is temporarily halted. 1985: The USCC divides Japan’s student representatives just like in America and China. This effectively cuts off all interactions between the students of the east and west. To deal with this, the Emergency Teachers Committees create the East-West Passage Permit. 1986: Imperial Capital #1 High School is constructed in Tokyo. Osaka Prefectural #1 High School is constructed in Osaka. Azuchi National High School is constructed in Nagoya. The Emergency Teachers Committees that bind the east and west use those schools for exchange students and gifted students. The aerial network connecting Kantou and Kansai recovers. 1988: Recovery of the Altered Line begins. The Kinki-Kansai Chancellors Committee is created. 1991: The Chip Walkman goes on sale. 1992: Osaka Prefectural #2 High School begins extraction of the fastest Rhythm. 1993: As the Altered Line recovers, the bullet trains resume service. 1996: A largescale terrorist attack occurs in Osaka. The Reconciliation Riot. 1997: Construction of Babel begins in earnest. Applications for the Net War over Babel are taken. Selection begins. Students from Kantou are also selected as a sign of friendship. The summer high school baseball tournament is held at Koshien once more. 1998: Selection for participants in the Net War over Babel ends. The Net War over Babel begins. ### 345. Afterword When I think of the French language, the first thing that comes to my mind is “Bonjour~, how are you doing? (really roll those r’s)”, so I knew I was going to have to spend some long nights on this one. Now, (“now” what?), the City Series seems to be where the idea of a consistent setting goes to die, but this one is even more unique than most. After all, when I pitched the series to my editor Watchman Satou-san, I told him this: “Double blondes! A maid automaton! There will be robots! It’ll be fast-paced with lots of action!” He said that sounded incredible, but then I came back with this. Once I wrote it, those selling points just seemed vanish. I instead had a story of a wild girl and a gentle girl getting to know each other and worrying about things. It’s a slower pace than City usually is, but I’m going to use all that buildup to really get things moving in the second half. The City Series’ France is following real history pretty closely, but please understand that a lot of things are different. Unlike a piece of historical fiction, this is a fictional world with its own fictional history for double the fiction. Looking into this period of history can be dangerously fascinating, but if you’re interested, look into the events in Europe during World War Two. The Normandy landing operation at the end of this volume has been used in a lot of movies and such, so you can tell that this period is what war is for Western Europe. Now for the customary phone call. This one is from a riverside payphone. (I still only have internet at home, so the phone and fax machine aren’t hooked up yet.) “Hey, it’s me. It’s pretty early, but are you up?” “Oh, Kawakami? Sorry, but I’m about to head for the office.” “What? The office? Don’t be ridiculous. You work at a company.” “If you don’t think about what words mean before you speak, it’s going to lead to misunderstandings. Like that you run too much.” “Oh, shut up. I’m about to get to sleep. Now, tell me what you thought of Paris.” “Oh, Paris? You dirty old man. Bye.” “Huh? Wait, don’t hang up! Hey!!” Now this is a problem. Did I really write anything that dirty this time? Anyway, time for some personal information. I’m still running my website. I’m posting information on the different cities and an original story whenever I feel like it, so check it out if you have time. The URL is . It seems the Osaka game is sold out, so consider yourself lucky if you managed to get a copy. I am writing up a walkthrough on my site. The URL for Tenky, the company I work at, (the Osaka game and this book’s illustrations were both made there) is , so check it out. You can find the most information on Osaka there. Now, then. My background music this time went straight to video games with Zuntata’s Burning Road. Personally, I see that as the background music when the Heavy Barrels are running. I think I’ll go with video games again next time. (How deep.) This will continue with Part B, but while editing and rereading Part A, I was thinking about the following question: “Who is the most selfish?” Bye bye. May 1999. A morning with a meeting scheduled later. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu's Page Top: And with that… Mallette: Kyahh Middle: I was given a page again. I plan to keep at it like this next time too. I might not be the best, but I hope you will support me. -Satoyasu Mallette: Puff Bottom: This part didn’t happen. ### 346. Chapter 10: Umbrella 05/13/1944 It all comes down To your decision. ### May 13, 1944 ### Letter Left by Phillip: To Beretta I’m writing this immediately after leaving your room. You probably think you’ve sent me away by placing that door between us. Maybe I shouldn’t have worried about your injury and not insisted on seeing you any further than the bottom of your appartement . Yes. This isn’t good. I can’t seem to do this right. I keep bringing up irrelevant things. I really want to write about something else. I’m so bad at this. I bet someone like Mallette is good at this. I’m going to stop writing as soon as I can. But I will leave this letter as proof that I did write something. I’ll stick it in your room’s boîte aux lettres , so read it if you catch it with your Ajouter. After that, you can laugh if you want. My grandfather is making a fuss after you kicked him when he touched your butt at the mansion, but that’s just how my family is. If you like, come visit again later. Bye. –From a poor noble who lost big ### Letter Left by Rosetta: To Master I will go to the school festival again today. I have prepared breakfast. But I did not wake you because you have been busy with work lately – the work in the storeroom and the meetings outside. Today is only something called the closing ceremony and cleaning up so I do not think I will be late coming home. I only fixed a lunch for you. The plates are lined up in the oven so please pull them out with the oven mitts I will leave next to this letter. I will be leaving soon. I would normally wait for Lady Beretta before leaving. But she does not seem to be coming today. It is already past 10 and I still do not hear her bicyclette . Maybe because it is raining. Or… I will stop thinking about this. I thought about borrowing your umbrella. But you might need to leave the house as well so I will go without it. I should be fine in the rain since I am a Belle de Marionnette. I have never gotten a fever like you have. Bye. ### Letter Left by Mallette: To My Beloved and Foolish Beretta Are you stupid? Why did you have Phillip see you to your room last night but didn’t make any progress? I had gathered all our friends and we had our ears against the wall because I thought something would happen, but then nothing. I honestly didn’t think you would actually just share some tea and then have him leave. During the Lourd de Marionnette battle, he announced publicly that he wants you as his wife – okay, I don’t actually remember if he went quite that far – so since he’s already made the reservation, what’s wrong with letting him take a test drive before the actual marriage? I don’t know about Phillip specifically, but most guys are pain to deal with until you get the reins on them. It all comes down to your decision. Also, it seems you had Rosetta go home on her own last night, but you should really have sent someone with her. The Paris nights are a dangerous place for any ladies who aren’t you. You have to take care of her. So go call for her as soon as you wake up. It’s raining today. But even though it’s raining, hurry to her place on your bicyclette . And to do that, make sure you’re up in time for the midday closing ceremony. I’m not a benevolent enough person to wake you up and have to dodge that drowsy kick of yours. Oh, right. I’ve heard a rumor about the closing ceremony. You know how they revealed my essay and grade during the opening ceremony? The Festival Committee has apparently gotten your essay for the closing ceremony. Yesterday really has made you popular. And now I’m off to school along with everyone who’s still disappointed in you for last night. ### Quick Message from the Sorbonne University Student Council: To the School Festival Committee It is raining, but hold the closing ceremony as scheduled. We also have a test essay to read. The administrative office would probably notice if we Signe-d the contents, so I will only open it just before reading it. Personally, I hope it is Miss Mallette’s. Anyway, we would like to hold the closing ceremony as soon as possible. Looking from the student council room right now, I can see a girl standing in a corner of the courtyard. That is the girl who was with Miss Beretta for yesterday’s Lourd de Marionnette battles, I believe. She is just standing out there in the rain, so what is with her? She spoke with Miss Mallette and received an umbrella earlier, but she hasn’t opened it. She just keeps staring toward the main gate. She isn’t one of our students and is probably only here to enjoy the festival, but why is she alone? And who is she waiting for without opening the umbrella? ### Sorbonne University PR Club Extra Edition: Post School Festival Report 1 The closing ceremony began in a surprising fashion. Right at the start, the Student Council President unfolded a document and then said this: “Topic 3: A Nearby Industrial Product: Beretta McWild.” And as soon as it was out of his mouth, he got this bitter look on his face. Revealing a student’s essay made the opening ceremony as much of a hit as the previous year, but that was only because the taboo topic and the surprising side of the author made it truly hilarious. But this time, the President was given something different. Miss Beretta McWild is an interesting enough person, but the topic was perfectly normal and with no room for humor. I imagine this happened because he could not check the contents in advance due to his Signe and Ajouter battle with the administrators. The administrative office apparently questioned the Festival Committee about the missing essay issue this morning and that probably caused some issues. Then there was a second failure. You probably know if you were at the closing ceremony, but Miss Beretta was not present. That meant she could not make a response and the President simply read off the serious essay. He looked hesitant, but then he started reading it in a stubborn sort of way. We can only guess as to why he did that. Was he desperate, did he feel a real man had a duty to complete what he had started, or was it based on some other emotion? And the action was rewarded in an unexpected way. One reward was that everyone was caught off guard by the strangely humorless beginning, so they all fell silent. His voice, distorted by the loudspeaker, rang through the courtyard with only the sound of the rain as company. The following is a recording of it: ### Beretta’s Essay: Industrial Markets Essay Topic 3: A Nearby Industrial Product: Beretta McWild. This might seem odd given the topic, but I am going to write about Belle de Marionnettes. My family works as Belle de Marionnette technicians. I know that Belle de Marionnettes have a will of their own. They can desire death or desire life. We can think of them as living beings just like us. That raises a question. How am I supposed to treat them (since I know about this)? They can become human. But they start out as dolls. A craftsman makes them and sells them for money. But they can still become the same as us. Can we really leave them in the market? Even if it is a single market, we are buying and selling people. What brings happiness to those Belle de Marionnettes who are being bought and sold? I am approaching an answer to that. All because I met a certain girl. She is a Belle de Marionnette. A terribly sheltered Belle de Marionnette. When I first saw her, I felt despair that she was a doll – just like the American Belle de Marionnettes – and I thought she was of few words and unassertive. But I was wrong. She had simply forgotten. No, all Belle de Marionnettes are that way. They will one day become more than a machine, but they have forgotten that fact within their functionality. That is all it is. I intended to remind her of that and to give her so very much. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point while I was trying to teach her, I realized that I was the one learning from her. In Europe, it is said that a Belle de Marionnette is a mirror that reflects the emotions of their master. But what I saw in her was more than just a reflection of myself. She taught me the answer to a certain question: “What do you want to be?” That is a question for me. It is also a question for everyone else and even you, professor. At the very least, anyone who has at least once looked up to the lord in heaven has that question hidden inside their heart. She has the answer to that question. She is becoming something that is not a machine, not a human, and not me. But I do not know where that will lead. “What will she use to create herself?” She will soon experience that question I struggle to answer about myself. She will soon reach the same point as us, where I no longer have any answers for her. I think that is a good thing. I want to help her with that. This is no longer about my question. I want to help for her sake. Being with her makes me happy. It is a different sort of happiness than what you feel with a friend or a lover. It’s just unbearably enjoyable. I think the happiness comes from seeing her become the person she wants to be and not just what she needs for her Belle de Marionnette job. We learn a great many things in university, but she has no school and she is learning to become herself from everything around her. I feel happy just writing this and thinking about her. I know this is a one-sided feeling, but our feelings for people – be they machine or human – are always one-sided. Getting those feelings to interact is what we call understanding each other. I want to understand her. In a way, that is an impossible wish. She is not just a machine, she is not human either, and I personally think she will eventually find an answer to what she is. That is an important thing. I care a lot about the people around me. And I care a lot about her. I care so very, very much that I am sure this happiness will outlast even the end of this world. Yes, this happiness will endure. Those are my thoughts on the industrial product I know best and my feelings about her. I have nothing more to say. ### Rosetta’s Journal Today I will start by writing what I want to write. I only just arrived back home after everyone escorted me here. But I have something I must write. The closing ceremony was a gathering. I was in the rain as I heard a reading of a letter Lady Beretta wrote. It was about me. It was almost certainly about me. My consciousness – something like the core of my being inside my chest – felt like it was going to collapse. I tried to think about what that feeling was. Then I heard the people around me speaking. Everyone looked to the courtyard entrance behind us. I turned around as well. There were a lot of people and I could not move forward. But for just a moment I saw it clearly. Lady Beretta had ridden into the courtyard on her bicyclette . I heard her voice. The noise of the crowd was too great for me to entirely make out what she said. But I recognized what she was shouting. Lady Beretta was shouting my name. Or so it sounded to me. I tried to part the crowd to reach her. But then everything fell silent without warning. Everyone stopped speaking. Both around me and across the entire courtyard. I knew what had happened. The person who had read Lady Beretta’s letter spoke loudly: “Clear a path!” The people in front of me did as he said and moved to either side. My field of vision opened up and Lady Beretta ran into the center of my view. There were a few seconds of pause. She stopped in front of me and lowered her shoulders as she gasped for breath. She was soaking wet. So I opened the umbrella I held and held it over her head. Then she spoke to me. “I went to the mansion and you weren’t there. The old man gave me an umbrella.” She looked up and opened that umbrella. Only then did she notice mine. “Where’d you get that one?” “It is Lady Mallette’s.” “I see.” She nodded, opened her umbrella, and held it over my head. For some reason my heart shook without warning. It was a different shaking from happiness. It was much stronger. It was a lot like the feeling I felt after eating dinner with Lady Beretta for the first time. The same feeling I felt when I remembered what the master’s thanks meant. That welled up in me here. I found some raindrops had dripped from my cheeks to my throat. I looked up when I felt them tickling from my throat to my chest. But Lady Beretta was holding an umbrella above my head. I was not wet with rain. I looked back down and saw Lady Beretta staring at my face. “Is something the matter?” I asked her. But the question oddly did not come out as words. My throat shook just like my heart. I could not draw out my voice properly. But I did manage to speak one word that came to mind. “Why?” “Why what?” “Why am I crying when I do not want to die?” Right here, I am Signe-ing that I was crying. I raised my voice and wept. She soothed me by using her empty hand to wipe the tears from my cheek. And she spoke. “That’s just how it is. Rosetta.” I do not know what that means. But I felt like I did not want to hear any other answer. I dropped my umbrella. I looked up into the sky and cried. I shed tears. Applause rose from somewhere and continued on and on. There is nothing more I must write here. There is nothing greater than that within me today. ### 347. Chapter 11: Leg 05/20/1944 – 06/01/1944 I had lost a connection to my master. ### May 20, 1944 ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 07:25, I regrouped with the 352nd Infantry Division. The division is supposed to be guarding the Normandy coast, but we are waiting in a hilly region further inland. At 07:45, I visited division command where I received a report on the current situation and a few orders. At 08:20, I regrouped with my 1st Grösse Panzer Platoon. I recognized every member based on my memories and I confirmed I had their names correct. My repaired left eye was working fine. I received a report on the current situation and learned some things I had not been told at command. I learned that the army leaders and the general headquarters are not working together well and I learned that the 352nd Infantry Division was ordered to wait in the hills of Normandy instead of guarding the coast. General Rommel wants to guard the coast, but the general headquarters sees that as unnecessary and refused. At 10:40, I began equipping Rot Löwe with coastal equipment to protect the motors and such. I took a break and, at 15:00, I began testing Rot Löwe. The arm protections were stiff and threatened to interfere with my movement. I made further modifications. At 19:05, I completed the modifications. I returned to the barracks. When I put my luggage in order and removed my jacket, I found a bookmark in my pocket. I had no memory of it, but my records say I have seen it a few times before. It has a pressed flower on it. I tried to remember the name of the flower, but that information is not necessary for my life, so I changed my mind and stopped searching my memories for the name. At 20:35, I was searching through my military records from the previous war I had acquired in Paris. In them, I discovered that the very last records were from the Morvan Mountains of the Bourgogne Region. That matches the newspaper clipping I discovered before. What does this mean? Was I not pursuing the Attesor Project because I see it as a threat? I now had a military and civilian source saying I had visited the land where the Attesor Project originated. There is no doubting it now: I was in that land while the Attesor Project was underway. This leads to 3 questions. 1: Is it possible I saw the Attesor Project myself while in Bourgogne? 2: Why was that memory not deemed combat-related? 3: The war ended after that, so why did I volunteer for the Panzer Ritter Project? But I can find no answers. This battlefield does not require answers to these questions. I must focus on my battle preparations. Starting tomorrow, I will speak with command and examine the possibilities of an Allied landing operation. ### May 23, 1944 ### Sorbonne University Student Message Board: Notification to All Students The final exam and summer break schedule is as follows: June 1-14: Exam Period June 15 – September 20: Summer Break June 20: Exam Results Announced July 5: Supplementary Exam Schedule Announced August 7-14: Supplementary Exam Period August 20: Supplementary Exam Results Announced September 1: Diplomas Issued September 5: Graduation Ceremony September 10: Freshmen Entrance Ceremony September 21: New Term Begins Please check the above schedule carefully and act accordingly. –Sorbonne University Student Affairs Office ### Beretta’s Journal Today, I am writing this in the school library. The break begins tomorrow and we only have to come in for exams, so this will be my last time here. But, man, this week since the festival has been crazy, what with Phillip being reassessed in a positive way and Rosetta’s hidden popularity going way up. Since Phillip doesn’t like all the attention, he hasn’t come to see me since, but I feel like that’s only drawing more attention to him. Not that I mind either way. Anyway, I’ve had to think about all sorts of things. Like what I’m supposed to do about all this. Writing it down gives me a clearer view, but everyone else has such a solid grip on things. Mallette says she plans on helping with the family business once she graduates. That’s why she’s in the economics department. As a Jew, her family is only allowed to exist because they pay a hefty tax. Rosetta has begun doing a lot of studying in an attempt to become human. Phillip is working to protect people as a Lourd de Écrivain. I’m jealous. I’m the only one that feels so lost. I fought in those Heavy Barrels to find out what I am as a Knight Striker, but I feel like I only learned that I’m lagging behind everyone else. To be honest, I really don’t want to Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel for the rest of my two and a half months in France. In that Heavy Barrel battle, I learned Phillip is on another level entirely and is facing a completely different direction from me. Phillip moved to protect me without even thinking about the consequences. And I’m sure he would have done the same even if it wasn’t me. He’s true to himself when it comes to that. While I can’t bring myself to move because I’m agonizing over issues of responsibility, he immediately acts because that’s what he wants to do. He’s the kind of person the term Knight Striker points to. And Heinz Berge really was powerful. The duty of a Knight Striker is to protect others. But if you view a Heavy Barrel as a weapon, it becomes a tool of killing. If you aren’t powerful, you can’t protect anyone. But that power can hurt people. Heinz Berge does not fear that paradox. Instead of protecting and winning, he prefers to attack and achieve victory despite some damage. It looks like his stance is to protect the most people in the long run. But I want to protect the people right in front of me. That desire was defeated by Heinz Berge’s overwhelming strength. If that had been a true battlefield, I would have failed to protect anyone. In France, everything is established by what is written. And writing requires a will. I kind of thought that I could win if my willpower was great enough. And since he has had a Psyche Outer surgery, Heinz Berge can’t use his Over Emblem. But I couldn’t beat him. Everything about me is weak and everything about him is strong. My will to protect was inferior to Phillip’s and my attack power as a Knight Striker was inferior to Heinz Berge’s. At the very least, I see no reason for me to Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel here in France. There are two opponents I could not beat in a fight. That’s twice the loss. And based on the records, Phillip will be killed by Heinz Berge on August 1. Even his will to protect cannot defeat that attack power. Which of us is the correct form of a Knight Striker? I think Phillip has it right on the ideological level, but Heinz Berge can produce the results. I doubt any Knight Striker can defeat Heinz Berge. He really is the strongest one. And if so, I have my answer. Not every Knight Striker can protect people. If a power is great enough, you can lose to it. That must be how it always was. I thought I could protect someone, but I don’t have the power or will to crush someone to achieve that. I wonder what my grandma thought about this. What did she think while Write Bringing into Heavy Barrels in Paris before the First Format? And what does Heinz Berge think about being a Knight Striker? And if the Psyche Outer surgery has left him without emotions, then what was it that led him to participate in the Panzer Ritter Project? And why did Jack McWild decide to start the Attesor Project? Why did he try to make the strongest Barrel and why did he abandon that project? What does it mean to be strong? What does it mean to protect? I can’t talk to anyone else about this since they all see me as a Knight Striker from America. This is difficult to deal with, but…but what is it I want to do? At the moment, it seems I want to go home, but what am I supposed to do about all this? ### Letter from M. Schrier: To Lady Beretta McWild via the High Priestess It was a pleasure to hear from you. This is M. Schrier who you wrote to with some questions concerning my Death Techno Compilation. I happened to receive your letter and documents when I returned to the US. Your situation seems pressing and, when I read your letter, I could tell it is all very much related to me. I will sum up the main points and send you a response along with what documents I have. Now, you seem to already now that the Attesor Project did in fact exist. Please carefully read the following, reach your own conclusions, and act accordingly: - The German Army has begun to investigate the Attesor Project. Their investigation method is unknown, but I believe they are approaching quite close to the heart of the matter. So if you reveal to others that you are researching the Attesor Project or perform any open acts of investigation, you would be in grave danger. So please cease any such actions. I will send you documents that I believe will serve your purposes instead. I think you should research these documents and stick primarily to deskwork. - I know some of the truth regarding the Attesor Project. In my Compilation, I intentionally referenced a portion of that truth in a “superstitious” fashion. Why did I feel the need to do that? Because I did not have the full picture of the Attesor Project and because the surviving documents led me to believe this project hid a power that necessitated a cover-up. Thus, the Attesor Project was not abandoned because it was incomplete. It was abandoned because its success was far too dangerous. I am saying that a success of the Attesor Project is still hidden somewhere in France. - The German Army wishes for that dangerous success and the investigation records. And I believe it should never fall into their hands. Now, with all that said, I have an unreasonable request. I am currently working to pursue a different Death Techno. And I am on the run from Germany. The only people who know the truth of the Attesor Project are me, you, and the German Army. If the war drags on, the Allies may gain an interest as well. If possible, I would like for you to find and erase the Attesor Project before that happens. I have a single reason for making such a ridiculous request. Five years ago in Paris, a certain man gave me all surviving documents concerning the Attesor Project. His name was Jack McWild. He gave me the documents and said this before leaving: “Can you disguise this as ‘some silly story’ to give everyone peace of mind and protect them?” A few days later, he was dead. I did as he said and presented the Attesor Project as a curious rumor, but the German Army had begun to act before that. I will send you all of the documents he gave me. Along with the predictions I have made from them. The details of the Attesor Project are unclear from these surviving documents, but I believe you will find many answers if you visit the site and take a look for yourself. If possible, I must ask that you carry out my request. Do what I could not: give everyone peace of mind and protect them. ### May 25, 1944 ### Beretta’s Journal I’ve learned something incredible. Jack McWild and M. Schrier met in Paris during ’39 and the Attesor Project section of the Death Techno Compilation that led me to become a Knight Striker was based on information from Jack McWild. This has really, um, hit me hard. This means enough happened here before the looping year starting on August 6, 1943 for France to write that response. France remembers it and it knew what kind of response M. Schrier would have written if he had seen my letter. This world is built amazingly well. I tricked France into giving me the documents and information (which France must remember from when Jack McWild brought them here), but I feel like I was the one tricked. I can’t believe it. Anyway, even if the M. Schrier who responded was a fake created by France, I’m kind of happy that he’s exactly the kind of person I thought he was. I need to thank France and then start searching for everything. ### May 26, 1944 ### The Prophetess’s Letter: To Monsieur Guilliaum, the Former Royal Guard Chevalier It has been a while, hasn’t it? It seems to me that a number of currents have been hesitantly set in motion. I predict that everything will be determined by whether or not that hesitation finds a definite direction to take. I would be glad if they swear to work toward France’s true liberation, but that will require much sacrifice. Monsieur Guilliaum, it may be necessary for you to give an order despite knowing it will lead to someone’s death. So I will first give you some information that is not necessary for any life-or-death decisions. - The Allies will begin a landing operation on June 6. The operation will be called Overlord. An Allied landing force will attack the coast of Normandy at midnight on the morning of the 6th. It will be a historically large operation that leads to more than 4000 deaths. After losing there, the Germans will retreat through southern France while exchanging artillery fire with the pursuing Allies. That is but a portion of the information I know from my prophecies and the collection of history. The outside world plans to allow France to close in on itself. Because as I said before, when France is liberated from the Primitif, it will return to 1944, not the outside world where 55 years have passed. To destroy the Primitif’s Rondeau means to treat our timeline as the true one and we will be returned to our proper era. The outside world has spent 54 years as “a world without France”. But if France is liberated, it will return to 1944 and those 54 years of history will be redone. That would create “a world with France”. The outside world fears its own destruction, so they are apparently extracting as much data as possible from France and then never touching it again. The outside world must be shy as well. Monsieur Guilliaum, what do you think of all this? There is a future we have never seen, but our liberation will destroy it and create a new world. If we do not seek freedom, the outside world will not be destroyed. What is the right thing to do here? I think the top priority for achieving that liberation is to stop the detonation of the Wort Bombe, but I doubt it is possible with that alone. According to the adventurer I met 25 years ago, the detonation of the Wort Bombe was no more than a trigger and two things are needed to liberate France: a proof and a will. In the early morning of August 6, the Wort Bombe must be stopped, all hesitation over the war and oneself must be ended, and we must all desire the liberation of France. Then we must send a certain Ajouter into France: A proof that Paris’s Rondeau was created through a paradox. You could say that the closed Rondeau covering France is a Signe of France itself. We are inside it while France refuses to Ajouter the outside world and continues to Signe its own year. So someone inside must prove that the Rondeau does not work. There are bound to be several paradoxes compared to the outside world. If someone can clearly and definitely prove that to France while also carrying a will of liberation and if they can stop the Wort Bombe’s detonation, France will have nowhere else to flee, it will wake up, and Closed City – Paris will be liberated in the truest sense of the word. I know what power is needed for that. I know one paradox that has entered this world. There should be two girls with you, Monsieur Guilliaum. One bears the name of my daughter and the other is gradually becoming human. Please treat them with care. They are currently full of doubt and unsure of what direction to take. They are horribly vague in my prophecies and are only a collection of possibilities. Whether they wish for that power or not is the one thing we cannot force. But I am certain this is our final chance. Will they give everyone a will of liberation and will they find a paradox somewhere in this world? Will they be able to stop the Wort Bombe’s detonation? And will they be able to say that we must leave this world and that it is a lie that we are trapped here? I will not force that upon them, but I have high hopes. ### May 27, 1944 ### Letter Left by Mallette: To My Beloved Beretta Before heading out to buy a late-night snack, I have to be blunt: You haven’t seen Phillip since the festival dance party, have you? You haven’t even returned that dress, have you? He got injured pretty badly saving you and I think he should be with you. And after the dance party, he bought you a ring at the art department’s store, didn’t he? Think about just what that implies. Summer break will begin once the exams are over, so how about you make some plans with him? Bye. ### Letter Left by Beretta: To My Sister-in-Law Mallette Hey, stop just having your say like that. Especially after you were asleep when I wanted to discuss this with you. I’m having a hard time facing Phillip, so it’s kind of a problem. What am I supposed to do? And I was thinking of doing some things with Rosetta during summer break. Phillip, hm? I do need to return that dress… Yeah. But you don’t need to worry about whether someone was bought a ring. I was pretty excited at the time, but when I put it on, it was way too loose. I’m afraid it’ll fall down the drain when I’m washing dishes. Hmm, what to do, what to do? ### June 1, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Journal Lady Beretta taught me another writing tool today. I’m using it right now. It is called indentation. And according to her… “Move the first letter over a bit every time you start on a new idea.” “You can also do it when starting a quote.” The former makes it easier to pick up on the text’s meaning and the latter makes the text easier to read. But I am kind of worried about this new technique. Starting my writing by including a blank space is a difficult thing to do. When every line starts right at the edge it is easy to know where to start. And I have difficulty knowing when I am starting on a new idea. While writing this I feel like I am talking and can go for line after line. I can think of it as similar to the part of a conversation where the other person would speak or I would take a breath. I think this is a difficult writing technique. I now have to check the text purely as a written work because indentation does not exist in conversation. It is difficult, but I kind of understand. Conversation has techniques not found in writing. You can gesture or use facial expressions. I will think of this as something similar. I hope I will be able to use indentation as naturally as I do gestures in conversation. I still find many strange things while reading the letters and picture books Lady Beretta gives me. But I am gradually solving those mysteries and I plan to start using those things. Now I will begin on today’s journal entry. A lot happened today as well. I tripped on the stairs while cleaning this morning. I lost my balance while polishing the railing. I fell down about 7 steps – I was lucky I was not higher up – and ended up lying on the floor at the bottom. When I got up my right leg and left arm were damaged. But they were damaged in different ways. The right leg had come off at the crotch and shattered. But the left arm had not come of and simply hurt. What does that mean? Before I could answer that question I was picked up by the master who had heard the noise and rushed down the stairs. He took me to the storeroom and started to attach a replacement leg. When he tried to remove my clothing I refused and insisted on doing the work myself. He seemed confused by this. “Are you embarrassed? Then I’ll leave this to you.” Only then did I realize what I had done. When I was not in a hurry or when he carried me to the storeroom like this I had always let him replace my parts. This would have been the same. So why did I refuse it? Was I embarrassed? I did not really understand, but he turned his back and sat on a wooden box in the storeroom. “Tell me if you need any help.” What did this mean? I realized I would never again receive his kindness like that. I had likely crossed a line in the moment I had refused. I had refused to let everything remain the same from now on. I had lost a connection to my master. So he might bring me there in the future. But he will not replace the part himself. I found there was nothing I could say. I searched the storeroom for a replacement right leg and asked him a question. “What is this emotion I am feeling? Do you know, master?” “Do you not know the word for it?” “I think it is most like sorrow. But it does not appear on the surface. It simply permeates me from within.” “I see.” “Will you tell me what it is?” “No I won’t. Silly girl.” “Why not?” His answer to my question was simple. “If I told you you would Signe that emotion.” Hearing that caused me to cry. I do not know why. It was the first time I cried in front of him. It was embarrassing. While I held the spare leg and hid my tears with a hand my master walked over. He rubbed my head. “You’re becoming more and more your own person.” I tearfully held out the spare leg and he took it. “This is the last time. Okay?” Then he got to work replacing my leg. I let him take care of everything while I cried. He removed my skirt and blouse and he looked at my hurting left shoulder. Then he noticed that I was gaining a human arm. The shoulder was no longer as hard and cold as porcelain. It was a bit springy but it had the softness and warmth of human skin. At some point the joint had turned into lines and bulges. And the joint’s black intermediary parts now looked like a band of moles. The hurting part had become a blue bruise. That meant my arm was becoming human thanks to the Coppelia Effect. He checked my right shoulder and it was the same. When getting dressed this morning I had thought the support cloth that hides the joint was attached oddly well. I guessed that those machine parts had already changed into what they would look like if I were human. My fingernails felt like they were actually attached instead of embedded in my fingers. The joints seemed to move with almost no resistance. The Coppelia Effect had to be working inside me. The outside had changed in the short time between last night and today. The fingertips are still not complete. But I am sure they too will become human eventually. How long has it been since I replaced my arms with ones modeled after a human’s? I am growing more human just like Lady Beretta said I would. I must have needed better arms to write and to cook for Lady Beretta and the others. “The bulges from the joint parts and the black marks from the intermediary parts will eventually go away.” My master said that and then began replacing my leg. And I asked him for something. “Please carry me out of the storeroom. Walking with a new leg is not easy.” “That’s the first time you’ve asked to be spoiled.” Is that what it means to be spoiled? He carried me out into the hallway and to the bottom of the stairs I had fallen down. He did not have to carry me that far but I let him spoil me. Because I knew this would be the last time. Then I spent time making lunch – recently the Fantasmé Renard children will come in through the back entrance and play when I am in the kitchen. After a while, I heard the parent’s cry and they left. I realized one other strange thing today. I noticed it while making sure the second story windows were locked. There is apparently a half-room space between the study and the library. I asked my master about it. “Yes. There apparently used to be a torture room there where people were forced to talk. That was my grandfather’s horrific hobby so I had it filled in with cement.” I see. The torture room was directly above the first floor study. That means I have been writing my journal below a torture room all this time. I managed to solve that mystery almost immediately. A lot happened today. But it was fun. Writing my journal is my job. Fun things are not a job. But I am beginning to think that the job of writing my journal may be fun. ### 348. Chapter 12: War 06/02/1944 – 06/06/1944 Failure in this mission is simply not an option. ### June 2, 1944 ### Beretta’s Letter: To the Old Man who Calls Himself a Former Noble What’s up? (Wait, is that the right way to give a casual greeting in French?) I’ve skipped the formalities, but whatever. Anyway, I’m going to get right to the point: I have something to ask of you. Once my exams are over and summer break begins, I want to take Rosetta on a trip. We’ll be going to the Bourgogne Region for about a month. To expand Rosetta’s experiences, I want her to see what France’s rural areas are like. So how about it? Is that OK? (Oh, do non-English-speaking regions know what OK means?) Anyway, that’s my request. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 07:28, I attended a meeting with the division leadership. I confirmed with one of General Rommel’s direct subordinates that the general headquarters ordered us to focus defense on the Calais region and to remain on normal alert on the coast of Normandy. At 11:20, I gathered my unit and reviewed our plans. “Regardless of what HQ says, we can remain on heightened alert.” We all agreed to that point. After a break, we ended the meeting at 15:04. At 20:35, I made some final adjustments to Rot Löwe’s coastal equipment. I worked out the result of the anti-moonlight equipment and recorded that formula and format. I will use that as the basis when changing equipment to match the weather. At 23:20, I sorted my luggage in the temporary barracks and discovered a photograph. It pictured two female individuals, but I had no memory of either. My Psyche Outer system is functioning properly. I will now go to sleep. ### June 4, 1944 ### Guilliaum’s Letter: To the Rude Delinquent Girl I read your letter. So you want to take Rosetta on a trip? Then how about I only give you permission if you pass every single one of your finals? That sounds like a good idea to me. I can’t let you turn her into an idiot. Oh, and make sure you plan to return Rosetta before I starve. Also, I will repair that Lourd de Marionnette soon. Because things are looking ominous. I need to hurry. The parts will arrive on the 5th and I will spend all night fixing it. It might come in handy somewhere. I intend to keep it hidden until then. ### Secret Message from the Allied General Headquarters: To All Commanders Stationed in the UK At 6/6 00:00, Overlord is scheduled to begin. The weather should be bad, but tell all of your men to remain on standby in a Closed state to avoid any information leaking out. Wait for word from command. Everything in that land is established by writing, so all soldiers are to prepare the writing tools needed to write a will. Tell them the dead are to record their own deaths. Failure in this mission is simply not an option. The landing operation will continue until it succeeds. ### Mallette’s Answer Sheet: Industry Theory – Final Exam 43-A0169: Mallette Harculia Chosen Topic (2): The History of an Industrial Product I Know Well One of my friends is an industrial product. I am referring to Rosetta Balleroy, the Belle de Marionnette friend of Beretta McWild who you might remember from the festival’s closing ceremony – I believe you were there, professor. I have been her friend ever since that incident. Some of my relatives have Belle de Marionnettes at their homes. I will be writing about what led to that, the questions that have occurred to me, and how that relates to the topic. The history of Belle de Marionnettes is said to have started along with that of Appareils. They are said to have come about during the Edge era, the third age and world of destruction that existed even before the Obstacle and Genesis eras that themselves are older than the times spoken of in the Bible and such books. People were destroyed along with the world countless times and they evolved along with the world, but Belle de Marionnettes and Appareils were one element of that evolution. Those without a will of their own remained in the world as Appareils where they continued to evolve. Those with a will of their own remained in the world as Belle de Marionnettes where they continued to evolve. Unlike humans who were destroyed, continued to reincarnate, and gathered in heaven, they were more like stones, air, or water. They were machines and thus they continued to exist in the world for the sake of humans. These facts from ancient times and from the eras of repeated destruction are known due to the evidence discovered around the world, in space, or from careless statements of the gods. All of the facts we understand at the moment suggest the ancient humans had some reason for making a division between Belle de Marionnettes and Appareils and that continued division has allowed our City era to inherit two types of machines as a part of our world. Belle de Marionnettes and Appareils were reset when the world was remade, but they were reborn into the world during the City era due to the power of their Concept Existence Formules. According to a certain Concept Existence Formule researcher, more than 98% of what exists in the current world was not initially created in this world but came about during the previous 5 eras where they became built into the world’s Concept Existence Formules. Whenever the world was destroyed and remade, the things with powerful Formules were inherited by the next world – in other words, the concept of their existence was reincarnated. According to that researcher, the concepts of wheels, writing, lights, and even spirit fuel are all from a previous era, but the things with weaker Concept Existence Formules, or that take time to develop, take longer to appear after the world is remade. When Belle de Marionnettes were created in this era depends on your interpretation of the Bible (as some theorize that the Adam created by god was a Belle de Marionnette), but they are confirmed to date back to 5th or 6th century BC in western Asia. Moving mud dolls known as golems existed there. The name of god was divided into 72 names and carved into those dolls. That basic technique was confirmed and strengthened by Alexander the Great during his campaigns and by Aristotle, so the mud dolls became soldiers made from metal. Those thousands of undying troops known as Marduk’s Army can be seen in mosaics of Persian cathedrals. But with Alexander the Great’s death, Marduk’s Army was destroyed along with the Macedonian Empire and the technique for carving the Shem ha-Mephorash was lost. Thus, Belle de Marionnettes became people instead of powerful warriors. Of the 72 names of god carved into the golem, the word “emeth” (meaning truth) was always written on the forehead. We write it as “emeth”, but it only had three letters in Hebrew: e/me/th. If the golem was no longer needed, the initial Hebrew letter would be erased, leaving only “meth” (meaning death). That would destroy the golem. That means that Belle de Marionnettes are easily destroyed – Marduk’s Army were made of metal and thus the “e” was hard to erase. For that reason, it became a tradition for Belle de Marionnette creators to hide their Belle de Marionnette’s true name or official designation. The Airam and Aileppoc type of Belle de Marionnettes are common these days, but those names come from Maria and Coppelia spelled backwards. That tradition came about in BC times and is still going strong today. The method of creating golems was lost with the Macedonian empire, but people continued to create Belle de Marionnettes. Many varieties beyond just mud dolls have been created. The Homunculus and Armed Flesh varieties still exist today. But in 11th Century, the Persian Belle de Marionnette engineers hired by brothels began a conceptual revolution: Human creations must be even more beautiful than humans. They would resemble humans but be greater than humans. The Dazarhahs-type Belle de Marionnette (named after the princess who acts as storyteller in One Thousand and One Nights) was very unlike the Homunculi being researched in Europe. They used woodworking and porcelain techniques imported from China and elsewhere to create a “pure doll”. This technology was brought back to Europe during the Crusades and a new era of Belle de Marionnettes began. The European and Middle Eastern doll technologies were combined during the middle of the 14th Century while the Habsburgs were taking control of Europe and the Hundred Years’ War against England was intensifying. Once Belle de Marionnettes had both form and function, they were gifted as toys to the sons of influential individuals. Appareils had gone through a similar development, so their evolution was completed in that era and they spread across Europe. The most popular Belle de Marionnettes at the time were the Ereveniug-type (named after a well-known wicked woman in England) and – while this one only came about a while later – the Ennaej-type (named after a girl known as a messenger of god). These Belle de Marionnettes were known for completing any job given to them and for a complete inability to adapt. They still had their origins as industrial products. The next revolution took some time. It was predicated on the existence of Aerial City. Worn down by the Hundred Years’ War, England sought a new realm for sea trade, eventually discovered the New World, migrated there, brought in other species to make up for that, and became the fictional world of Aerial City – London due to the intervention of the gods and demons. All fictional things can exist in that world and it was an unnamed school of Belle de Marionnette makers who gave Belle de Marionnettes their next evolution. They adored the story of Coppelia and every last one of them worked nonstop until they had created Belle de Marionnettes who could evolve into humans. That theory was born in that land during the 17th Century, but it was not completed until the early 18th Century. And the foundation of the self-evolving Belle de Marionnette was finally created in 1912. The three on which it was based were named the Aileppoc-type, revealed to the world, and became the foundation of the current mainstream style. The old man who is the sole survivor of that school of Belle de Marionnette makers has created a total of 49 Aileppoc-types, including the 3 initial ones, and they are still functional today. Most of them work at England’s Oxford University or at Scotland Yard. The foundational theory of the Aileppoc-type Belle de Marionnettes was brought to Europe and America during World War One and used in the weapons and prosthetics of the time. The most well-known examples would be the stateless self-evolving Kaiserburg airship, the 7 ships based on it, and Riryoku, the Card Device possessed by 6th Sword Master Souwa Kanou. What does the future hold for these Belle de Marionnettes who can evolve on their own thanks to their history? I am sure my two friends will find the answer. That which was created as a machine, modeled after humans, and can become something greater than human is approaching her true self. That is all it is. My friend is nameless. I do not know if the creator she calls her father was unlicensed or if her current master has simply forgotten, but she has no designation beyond the name Rosetta. And I think that is just fine. Her and her descendants (there was news of a Belle de Marionnette giving birth in England about 5 years ago. The idea weirded me out at the time, but it seems perfectly natural now) will evolve to the point that no designation is necessary. That is the history of Belle de Marionnettes as I know it and my predictions for the future. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 07:00, I remained at level 3 alert on the Normandy coast. Nothing to report. At 23:06, a report arrived of Allied ships seen in the Calais region. The general headquarters ordered all divisions between Calais and Normandy to move to Calais. Our 352nd Infantry Division did not move. At 23:45, the platoon commanders gathered for an emergency meeting. We all see the movement near Calais as a diversion. The infantry and assault artillery units are to remain on standby in 6-hour shifts. The Panzer units are to remain on standby in 12-hour shifts. I will not sleep tonight. I await the enemy. ### June 5, 1944 ### Landlord’s Letter: To the Girl Who Once Lived in My Appartement I have found your mother’s forwarding address. I was unable to Ajouter the letter from her within my paperwork box and had no idea why, but the other day, I was redecorating the house and Ajouter-ed her postcard stuck to the wall. The postcard was old and dirty from the kitchen, but I was able to read the address and name: Rose Francisca at Herlde 1-3, Morvan, Bourgogne. The village of Herlde in the Morvan Mountains is the closest to the Black Dragon of Morvan. Based on the postcard, the scenery must be nice. I hope you have a wonderful reunion and vacances . ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s 1st Entry I have finished dinner. This morning some things must have been taken into the storeroom while I was asleep. I awoke to the sound of carriage wheels. I rushed out into the hallway in time to see my master leaving the courtyard storeroom. He said a friend had brought some parts to repair that machine. Lady Beretta visited at lunchtime. She helped me cook and broke a lot of plates. The biggest problem was when the coffee cup my master has long used – I would use it to make café au lait – broke cleanly in two. Lately Lady Beretta can neglect her work because she is so worried about the ring on her right hand. I cautioned her about that. I will need to go into town to buy more plates soon. But the city’s atmosphere has changed lately. Some stores have empty shelves and have closed up. That may explain what happened at the night market in front of Boulogne that my master and I visited the night before last. I had seen a knife I wanted at a store in the shopping district and there it was for sale in the night market. That store had empty shelves 3 days before. So its products must have been moved to the night market. They are very kind to sell it for so much less. Then we set up a table and chairs in the garden so Lady Beretta could use some books to teach me how to write. She was still acting weird sometimes. She would occasionally rest her head in her hand and stare into the city. Or she would stare at me. I think she was thinking about something. But I did not ask about what. She did say this: “Rosetta. Even if the old man leaves tonight you must not go outside. Just stay put.” I do not know what she meant. But that is what she said. The Fantasmé Renard children approached while we spoke. They played with us. They had avoided Lady Beretta before. But they must be able to relax around her now because they touched her hand. The one female – the one with brown fur – especially seemed to like her. It climbed up onto her lap while she sat in her chair. She picked it up and held it in front of her face. It did not know what was happening and struggled. “Let’s name this one Mallette. It has brown fur and it’s a girl.” Since the other two were males we named them Jack and Jean. Jack is Lady Beretta’s father’s name and Jean is Sir Phillip’s grandfather’s name. The parents were a male and a female so I named them Beretta and Phillip. Lady Beretta was clearly displeased but I do not mind. I think this is for the best. After a while Lady Beretta lowered the Fantasmé Renard we had named Mallette – calling out that name felt weird. But Mallette immediately climbed back onto her lap and rested its chin on the table. It seemed to like her. Lady Beretta held Mallette and looked up into the sky. Then she sang a song: That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. “Did I already teach you that? It’s a Lourd de Écrivain’s ode to the wide vision of a Lourd de Marionnette. It talks about the heavens and the earth as everything…but words can be so vague.” Did she mean that words could mean more than one thing? She opened her notebook and looked to Mallette in her lap as he spoke. “This Mallette and the ‘Lady Mallette’ you refer to are different things. We can call them both “Mallette”. But they are different. If you only Signe-d ‘Mallette’ it might be unclear which you meant. But this isn’t the other Mallette. Right? Do you know what I mean?” She smiled and rubbed Mallette’s throat. And she said more. “I think it’s because our wills decide it. Our will to distinguish between things.” I had trouble understanding her. But I will write it all here. I kind of understood. I wonder if my will to become human is the same thing. Lady Beretta is currently taking a bath. My master called for her before she left and asked her to help repair the big machine in the storeroom and to help pack some boxes. I am a bit worried about what she said. Is something going to happen tonight? I will continue to think about that while heading to the kitchen to cook some food for the two of them. ### Secret Message from the Allied General Headquarters: To All Commanders Stationed in the UK The weather is bad, but today’s Operation Overlord will continue as planned. Everyone is to make a final check of the timetable. All units are to obey the following with anti-moonlight equipment. Naval Units: Today at 21:30, leave the naval construction unit. To prepare, the ocean port structure used for landing will be pulled up from the ocean and construction will begin. At 21:00, the cruisers will take the lead to protect the supply ships and fueling equipment unit and to follow after the landing ships. Tomorrow at 04:00, the ships will begin bombarding the Normandy coast. Air Units: At 20:30, the division leaves. After securing air superiority above the ocean, begin dropping paratroops tomorrow at 01:00. At 04:00, begin aerial bombing of the Normandy coast. Ground Units: At 02:00, the landing units will meet up at the ocean port structure. Confirm the four landing positions and perform a final roll call. Tomorrow at 05:00, begin the landing operation. ### Beretta’s Journal Today, I am writing this in the Balleroy house’s study. The second floor has a good view, but it’s kind of dusty and there was apparently a torture room next to this one, so what’s with that? Europe is going to be thrown into chaos tonight thanks to the Normandy landing operation, but everything is peaceful within France. The Germans are in control, but the Resistance uprising isn’t for a while. So while things are tense, they’re the same as usual. All the problems are with me. First, it’s great that the landlord’s letter told me where Rose Francisca lives, but it’s in Herlde. It’s true that mountain village is in Bourgogne where the Attesor Project was held, but what is my great-grandmother doing living in a village that’s going to be destroyed by a black dragon on August 1? I checked on a map and it’s really deep in the mountains. The exam results will be announced on June 20. I’ve decided to reserve tickets before then and leave on the 21st. It’s too far to take the roads and mountain passes, but it’s doable by train even if it will take a whole day. If not for the Germans, I could buy a ticket that moves between regions without having to submit paperwork for some weird inspection. Still, I want to take Rosetta with me and take a look at a lot of things. I invited Mallette too, but she’s taking a vacation at her parent’s house on the city outskirts. I thought of inviting Phillip, but he wasn’t at his home. According to this grandfather, he’s working hard at his German job. I’m probably the only one that knows that’s directly related to his work as a spy. I plan to return from Herlde on July 28. If I can drag my great-grandmother away, I’ll bring her with me on the pretext of visiting Paris so she won’t be around for the dragon attack. Phillip fights his final battle on the 1st. I doubt I can be by his side, but I want to see it. After all, I still haven’t thanked him for the ring he gave me. I want to see him before June 21st, but I want to give his circumstances priority. (Wow, I’m being timid.) Anyway, I’m going to be really busy. But that might be for the best. That way I won’t worry about myself. For now, I need to think about the Attesor Project and Rose Francisca. My great-grandfather was involved in that top secret project throughout World War One. The project increased the mobilization of Heavy Barrels to outdo tanks and fighters and to make them the strongest ground weapon. At the time, the Allies had few mass-produced forces compared to the Germans’ armored divisions, so Heavy Barrels were their trump card. But compared to the enemy’s numbers and mobility, Barrels were slow and made for large targets. They needed the mobility to react to airplanes and avoid tank guns. If they could reach the values given in the project paperwork, a single Heavy Barrel could destroy an entire army division on its own. But after all that theoretical planning, the war ended and all of the paperwork was destroyed and the participants erased their own memories. Yet my grandmother’s research suggests the project was nearly completed and the researchers abandoned it because their consciences demanded it. It was my great-grandfather, Jack McWild, who led the destruction of the paperwork, but he could not entirely put it behind him after the war. The reason he did not tell my grandmother or Rose Francisca about the Attesor Project is directly linked to the reason he was killed. That’s just how dangerous it is. So what is it? I suppose I’ll find out if I go to the Bourgogne Region. If I can discover what definition of “strongest” Jack McWild was pursuing and I can meet Rose Francisca and fulfill my grandmother’s request, maybe I can solve some of my own problems too. I’m sure Rosetta will grow a lot by accompanying me. Now, it’s about time I got back to work. We need to work late into the night repairing Protected Empress, dismantling her, and hiding her in the storeroom. She’ll probably be Formatted without anyone using her again. In a few hours, bombers will fly through the air. Europe is about to move. Is there no way France can be truly liberated in response? If Rosetta grew, Phillip didn’t die, and Rose Francisca didn’t die either, that’s probably what I would want. Setting aside that the outside world would be destroyed, I would want to liberate France. ### June 6, 1944 ### Telegram from Allied General Headquarters: To All Troops It is currently 00:00. Begin Overlord. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s 2nd Entry It is late at night but something happened that I must write about. I am currently in my bed. Lady Beretta is sleeping next to me. I plan to write what I must write in just a few minutes. Then I will turn off the light and go to sleep. It is noisy outside. I can hear the loud sound of distant cars driving. I can also hear airplanes flying. When I look out the window I can see red lights and several white lights extending up toward heaven. This night my master and Lady Beretta began assembling that machine’s lower body in the courtyard – they pulled a small crane and other work machines from the storeroom. They assembled it unbelievably quickly. I rushed to the kitchen to make them some food and then carried it out to them. Then I helped carry tools. But they did not touch their food until they were done working. They made incredible progress. This must be their specialty. I think it was 1 in the morning before most of the work was complete. That means they finished in about 5 hours. My master went to take a bath and Lady Beretta looked up into the night sky from the courtyard. I entered the courtyard to speak to her. That was when it happened. I first Signe’d the wind. I was hoping there would be wind and that was why I Signe-d. Then I Ajouter-ed to see what was actually happening. It was a very very very loud noise. I had never heard anything so loud. I looked up into the black sky and Ajouter-ed the noise and wind descending from it. It was a silhouette. So very many of them flew through the sky. My master shouted at us while running out of the kitchen. “Are those the Allies’ B-17 aerial bomber ships!?” “Don’t come running out in front of girls when you’re naked!!” “Quiet, little girl. And don’t look!!” I did not look. I soon Signe-d that the city suddenly came to life. I figured that the people would be shocked into action like we were. I Ajouter-ed and that was exactly the case. “The Germans are trying to shoot them down.” “They’ll never reach them. Those can easily fly through the higher altitudes where the moonlight is strong.” This was war. It had begun. No, it had already begun. I simply had not Signe-d it before. Because I lacked the information necessary to know what it was. Lady Beretta spoke as if the noise and wind were enveloping her. “I’m glad we got those repairs done today. They’ll have patrol planes in the skies from now on so we wouldn’t be able to use the courtyard as a workshop since it has no roof or cover.” I Ajouter-ed the sky while listening to her. Something other than wind was falling from the sky: They are apparently known as handguns. According to my master… “These are simple pressed handguns. It has the word Liberator carved into it. I suppose the people of Paris are supposed to kill the German soldiers with them.” Papers the size of postcards also fell from the sky. They had a short text written in French. I think it had something to do with the war but I still do not understand what it meant. I left it on the bedside table along with one of the handguns. It is noisy outside. I heard the dining hall clock ring five times in the distance. Lady Beretta will be going to school early in the morning. I would like to stay awake and begin fixing breakfast at 6:30. But… <“What do I do…?”> Lady Beretta muttered that while seemingly having a bad dream. She grabbed me and held me in her arms. I cannot leave her now. Her expression softens so much when she holds me like this. I think it is the same expression as when someone rubs my head. I might wait for morning while looking at Lady Beretta’s expression. It is noisy outside. But the noise is no longer coming from the sky. What has begun? ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 04:05, the guard team sent word of an enemy attack. We shut off all the lights and relied on our sight devices’ infrared detection while preparing for an emergency battle. At the same time, the enemy aerial force began bombing. Anti-air fire only revealed our position, so we stopped. As soon as each soldier was ready, they left in order to escape the bombing. We heard enemy ships firing out at sea. Meanwhile, a messenger from the Geheimnis Agency arrived and gave me the following message: “Destiny is moving such that you are certain to survive. Have an excellent battle.” As I have no emotions, that holds little meaning for me. Rot Löwe requires another 2 minutes to power up. While preparing for Schreiben, a bookmark fell out of my uniform pocket. For some reason, I remembered the name of the flower on the back: four o'clock flower. I have confirmed that it means timidity, so I will now begin the Schreiben. I will get no sleep tonight. ### 349. Chapter 1: Rain 02/21/1944 We aren’t like the people in this world. ### 2/21/1944 ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Protected Empress’s Memory Bank I performed a Write Bring. That is, I completely broke down the Lives of my body and combined them with the Lives of the 8-yard-tall Heavy Barrel. It was to grow stronger. Everyone knew that a Knight Striker’s duty was to use that strength to protect people. Doing so required stripping naked, entering the conversion device known as the Study, and to hold a powerful desire to combine with this thing. You couldn’t find this sense of actual battle in Heavy Barrel class at college and I hadn’t felt it since arriving as an “exchange student”. Just a few seconds before, my body was broken down into nothingness inside the Study and it was now passing through the intricate conductive panels and tubes to spread through the machine’s cylinders, frames, and sense devices for sight and hearing. I felt like I had mechanical flesh and blood. Borrowing the machine body brought an incredible high of objectivity. I “Signed” what my will was doing by writing it to the Heavy Barrel’s memory bank. I had to use powerful thoughts to write down everything that happened. Yes, this city was a textual world where things would disappear if not written down, making it a contrast to Aerial City – London. To use London’s terminology, things only existed once they were Opened. Sound, taste, and everything else only existed once they were written down. That was why I focused on the fact that I had performed a Write Bring. I used that awareness to Sign that fact, which allowed me to continue to exist. I wrote that my feet could feel the cold floor. And once I wrote it, my feet really did feel the cold. At the same time, the Heavy Barrel’s armored will directly sent a system message to my will. “Write Bring complete.” I had interfered in my own Lives to combine with the 8-yard Heavy Barrel that had a will of its own. The memory bank was currently in Continuous Complete Sign Mode. That was normally only used during military action, but in this city, nothing I did would happen unless I wrote it down. In this textual world, you had to constantly express yourself or you would disappear. For the time being, I wanted to remain in the high of having my thoughts leaking out. “Sight Devices: Sign.” I opened my eyes. In this textual world that existed on paper, the Heavy Barrel’s visual receptors viewed things using printed drawings or text. But I wasn’t skilled enough to express myself using drawings, so I had to write down what I saw in text to see this world. I could create my own reality in this city by Signing a “1st person narration”. Even if I didn’t find a certain document, I could Sign that I did find it and that would mean I had found it. But there was also an “actual reality” separate from my own opinion of whether or not I found the document. To “Point” was to insert that objective “actual reality” into my own narration. In battle, what I and my opponent wanted to do were the competing Signs and the actual result was the Point. If all I did was Sign my own actions, my and my opponent’s actions would fall out of sync. And what happened then? The one with more accurate information would win. That was why you would think you had won and all of a sudden find yourself defeated. On the other hand, while you were Pointing the surrounding information in this world, where being written was to exist, you couldn’t do anything yourself. If you spent a line Pointing, that was a line in which you couldn’t Sign. So you couldn’t just sit around Pointing the reality around you. You had to Sign if you were to do anything yourself. So I made a quick Point of the current situation. I see. Then this time I’ll Sign that I’m inside there. Umm, I’m on my knees, but my gaze is really high up. The bottom of the warehouse’s sheet iron roof is just barely above my head…I think. Before I did the Write Bring, the pile of wooden containers had looked like a wall, but from this viewpoint it looked surprising small. The warehouse was large enough for a small ship to fit inside, but it was no more than a backyard shed for an 8-yard giant. But this wasn’t the time for that. I was so focused on the Write Bring that I had forgotten what I needed to do: escape the warehouse with the Heavy Barrel. The current situation was, um… Oh, right. Wasn’t there a searchlight shining on me from outside? The light lit up my metal skin…oh, no. I’m naked. This girl isn’t wearing an armor dress. But there was no point in acting tough and telling people not to stare, so I just looked away. I looked down. I knew the 5 corpses of the Resistance members I had been working with were down there. There was a lot of blood. Wait…oops. They might have still been alive, but after what happened, I carelessly Signed them as corpses… I might have been wrong, so I tried Pointing. Ugh. Oh, no. The Heavy Barrel itself is probably reacting and working with the Write Bring to give me an emotional high. Both the Lives of my body and my will had completely synched, so if my emotions got worked up… ### Heavy Barrel Protected Empress’s System Message Emphasis of Write Bring user’s thoughts confirmed. Beginning mind sympathy preparations for the body. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Protected Empress’s Memory Bank ——Dammit!! I just remembered. Three days before in the library, the Resistance man known as Bluebeard had scouted me out and asked if I could test out the Heavy Barrel they had snuck in from outside. I can’t believe it. And I was told so many times during the exchange student testing that I wasn’t to get involved in anything deadly. We aren’t like the people in this world. I was too naïve. And this was the result. Just as we finished the initial preparations for this girl, the German Army had surrounded us like they were waiting for that moment. A firefight had broken out all at once. The Resistance crew I had known for only a few hours had shoved me into the Study to keep this girl alive. Since they were all spies and Resistance members, none of them had given their real names. There was the man known as Bluebeard, Spirit who treated me like a kid, the unwomanly Calamity, Napoleon who had seemed like a little brother, and Emperor who always seemed to be looking for a fight, but they were all collapsed on the floor now. Bluebeard’s team had probably been wiped out. The only survivor was the anachronistic Knight Striker girl who was not even an official part of the Resistance. I can’t believe it. Why did I survive? They were the ones working so hard to liberate France, so they should have been the ones to survive. …So why? I wanted to Sign something more convenient, but I decided against it. I had to move. “Hearing Devices: Sign.” Oh, gunfire. They must think we still have some soldiers left. Did that mean they weren’t going to enter the warehouse quite yet? This was my chance to get moving. They had briefly shined their light on it, but they wouldn’t think the Heavy Barrel could move right away. Sorry, everyone. Farewell. I’ll bring some flowers and come see you some time. But first I had to help them out by hiding this girl where the German Army couldn’t reach her and then make sure I survived myself. And then I would never again Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel for no good reason. I had to remember why I had come to this city as an exchange student and get serious about that. I had to focus on reading the letters my grandma had given me and pursue the identity of the Attesor Project that my great-grandfather Jack McWild had left behind. I can’t believe it. Luck simply had not been on my side recently. Mallette had grown more distant after getting a guy and that idiot Phillip had been made an honorary officer in the German Army despite being from the Chevalier de Paris family line. Why did the people living in this era insist on doing the exact same thing as in the records we had made? Sorry, everyone. I’m going to fully activate my body. HLF087 13-LL Protected Empress, can you hear me? “Spirit Engine – Direct Link Complete.” Good, good. Now my heart is active and not just my mind and senses. I’ll run out and hide you in a handy spot. Then I’ll leave the Study. Let’s go with that. I stood up. The sheet iron roof could not contain the power of the curved cylinders that moved me. My head and the backpack I wore pushed on the roof to crash right through it. Crash. …Maybe I Signed too light a sound there. But the roof had to have been blown away. The ceiling only had its framework left and my upper body stuck out into the night air. Umm, how were things outside? Was it raining? Yeah, it was. Then I’ll write that. It was raining. When I stood up, my view widened considerably. To the left was an art museum’s large warehouse, identical to the one that had been hiding me. To the right was the Seine, wet with the night rain. This was a sandbank of the Seine. It was near the city hall. How was I supposed to escape? While I asked myself that, I shuddered from the rain dripping down my metal skin. Why did I have such poor focus anyway? I really only needed to Sign what was absolutely necessary, but I was getting more and more carried away with it. I was waking up. I looked forward. I Signed. I thought the searchlight would be shining directly on me through the rain, so I half-closed my ground-directed sight devices to bear with the brightness. And I Pointed. Despite it being night and raining, they were bustling around and looking up at me. Can I hear their voices? “It’s a Grösse Panzer!” Let’s just say they were shouting something like that. You can tell it’s a Heavy Barrel just by looking at it, can’t you? If you’ve got a problem with the Heavy Barrel, then I’m heading out there to show you what’s what, you bastard. The 1st step. This was my first time Write Bringing into a curved cylinder style of Heavy Barrel. You could say this girl was the first one I’d used for real, so I couldn’t get the pace quite right. The legs weren’t anywhere near as heavy as I’d expected and I was surprised at how well they moved. The 2nd step. I’m guessing this Heavy Barrel was meant for my grandma to use. She was in Paris 55 years ago. She had been young, but after demonstrating her skill as a Knight Striker, she had become an American spy and infiltrated the city as an exchange student. The 3rd step. But she became one of the First Erased, so Paris continued its Format without her information included and I was thus able to Write Bring into this girl now. The 4th step. I checked my footing a little. I moved forward while making sure not to step on the others. I had already reached the warehouse’s entrance, so I destroyed the roof’s frame with my left fist. Ow, ow. The hand structure is surprisingly delicate. And… That ain’t good. My current skin was a Pearl Coat with detailed emblems. It was strong against wide-range weapons, but it was weak against actual bullets. I think the armor dress was still inside its container. Hmm. I didn’t have time to put it on, so I had to keep on going. The 5th step. My legs’ curved cylinders sank low as I continued forward. I used that to shift into a run for the 6th step. I leaned forward and dashed. There were about 17 yards between the warehouse and the enemy formation. Since I was 8 yards tall at the moment, that was only 3 steps. But I didn’t get careless and Pointed for just a moment. Whoops. Now that was good timing. I held up my right hand. The lower arm was a large shield with a Valkyrie Strike pile bunker contained inside. The giant metal shield was hit by a Lanze that could probably destroy a light tank, but it was deflected. I’ll write here that the sound reminded me of the glass instrument I had heard at the modern art museum. It was actually an awfully unpleasant noise, though. Wait, there’s no point in lying if I also write that here. Well, whatever. The armored trucks fired more, but it was no use. No use at all. I had a shield. It would just be a repeat of last time. …And while they were doing that, I arrived!! It was only the size of a puppy from my point of view. And if a puppy tried to bite you, it needed to be punished. I decided to send it flying with a kick I’d learned from my former Knight Striker of a grandma. Let’s do this like I’m playing soccer. I got it good using the curved cylinders of the ankle. It felt nice. This girl was pretty sturdy. Wondering how it had turned out, I Pointed. OK, OK. Let’s say it caused a nice splash when it fell right into the Seine. And that there are screams all around. Oh, shut up. Men aren’t supposed to shriek like that. I don’t think my comrades screamed. Then I Pointed to the side. Don’t run, you fool. I stuck my toes below it and cheaply flipped it over. It wasn’t even worth checking with a Point. I knew it had flipped over. But the heavy armored truck had felt awfully light. This girl had a lot of power. She was the best and the strongest of any I’d piloted before. Damn, she’s sturdy. I see. I guess I should’ve expected that from a special order F-number. I could see why she had been worth bringing even just one of them into the city. Just as Bluebeard had said, she might have been a great asset toward liberating Paris. Heavy Barrels had always been more about being a symbol and raising morale than about their pure strength. I was sure her Over Emblem was powerful too. To put it another way, things would be bad indeed if she was taken away. Germany and Europe as a whole had yet to develop curved cylinder tech and I didn’t want history to take that turn, even if it was just for this one loop. Now, then. Time to run away. Some guys were probably shooting submachineguns my way down below, but they couldn’t even scratch me at that caliber. If you wanna fight me, get some real equipment first. But for now, toodeloo. The bridges weren’t blockaded and the moon wasn’t out, so it was time to escape Paris real quick!! ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 It is very noisy outside the mansion But despite that I am writing my journal entry for the day just as the master told me to It is eight in the evening which is when I always write my journal entry The master ate dinner and went to the second floor While eating he said something about the German Army occupying Paris but I did not understand since I seldom leave the mansion He sometimes talks about this city and he said something odd today It had to do with August 6 He said he learned a lot from a Correcteur friend of his but I did not understand any of it After talking about that or about the German Army or about his own past the master always goes up to the second floor He has ordered me not to go up there I am only allowed on the first floor rooms and hallways and kitchen and the mansion cellar and the mansion yard and the storehouse and the backyard and the yard cellar and the water well I always use an Ajouter to watch him climb the stairs with only one leg He lost a leg doing something or other long before I was made Everything was normal today so I am writing my journal entry like normal I am writing all the normal things The master left in the morning like normal and returned in the evening like normal Just like yesterday I predict this entry will end at 35 lines I will write about the weather I watched with Ajouters throughout the day It was raining since the morning today I will write what I see with an Ajouter now That is not fire because the red is more like the color of my tie The master uses the word dangerous a lot but I do not know what it means It apparently refers to a situation that requires closing the shutters but I have never seen a dangerous situation since I seldom leave the mansion Some food delivery men brought some corn over three days ago and this sounds a lot like when that was cooked over the fire The master smiled for once when he saw the white result of the corn swelling out even larger than it already was He said a dead friend of his had liked that food I remember that because he normally looks frightening me when he talks about that person but three days ago was an exception I will close the shutters before writing the rest but I do wonder what is happening outside ### German Army Paris Branch Telegram: To the German Army Military Police Urgent. 1 unidentified American-made Grösse Panzer of model HFF Unknown is fleeing west at 30 mph from a warehouse near the Théâtre du Châtelet. Use the above information to Verbesserung its form onto the document as soon as possible. Send the Special Police 8th Platoon to the scene and send the 6th Platoon to western Paris. The combat number is 431021-18P. The 6th Platoon must confirm its equipment and has permission to fire. We look forward to your results. There was some firing at the scene. Enemy casualties: 5 killed (all of them). Own casualties: 2 killed, 18 wounded. Provide aid and confirm the status of the scene. Pursue the fleeing enemy. Over. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Protected Empress’s Memory Bank I felt so cold with the rain directly hitting my body. Running around naked doesn’t feel so great, so I shut down my senses. “Sense resonance system: lowest setting.” Good, good. Now it’s just the sexy feeling of water droplets dripping down my skin. Anyway, I needed to run as far away as I could get through the streets of Paris. I was pretty tall, but the appartements around here were tall enough to hide me if they were a street away. But after shining their light on me before, they might have Pointed my detailed appearance. If so, this girl would be wanted for the rest of her life. Written descriptions were everything in this city, so you could fix something’s existence in place by accurately describing it. Even if they didn’t know this girl’s model number, it would be bad if they completely Pointed its form. This is no fun at all~ But anyway, um, what’s this? It couldn’t be fun for them either. When I Pointed earlier, there were sirens blaring all over, so good luck, I guess. I wanted to say something too, but I couldn’t. “Voice device: Sign impossible.” She didn’t seem to have a voice component installed. Well, we were attacked in the middle of putting her together. But that didn’t affect my performance, so it was all good. My thoughts were written to the memory bank plenty fast and there was no echoing. If I had to point to a fault, it was a good body, but it was a little too honest. If I started up the Full Drive, I suspected it would respond too much and my mind wouldn’t be able to keep up with the body’s movements. But really, I’m sorry, everyone. I was right to Write Bring. If I hadn’t combined my Lives with this body…no, with this girl, I would’ve died and then we really would’ve been wiped out. So I had to escape. As long as I wasn’t caught, this girl’s origin would remain a mystery to the Germans. I was a little worried about the fact that the knowledge of Paris I had memorized before arriving as an exchange student had included nothing about an incident on this night. That meant this was a change to history. It was a temporary change that would be erased by the Format on August 6, 1944. I had made a few changes already. I took part in a Heavy Barrel battle at the year-end festival. I was the neighbor of Mallette Harculia, the prodigal daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant. And I had a bit of a personal relationship with Phillip Missel, who infiltrates the German Army as a part of the Resistance and meets an untimely death. I even kissed him. But this was the biggest change. After all, people had died. And I was on the run. I couldn’t forget that I absolutely had to survive this. The problem was that I only had two pieces of equipment: the Valkyrie Strike on my right arm and the Over Emblem activated with the emblem on the body’s surface. The gun barrel from which the Heavy Barrel got its name was still in its box back in the warehouse. But oddly enough, I wasn’t afraid. My grandma had trained me, so I had experience with battle from a young age. Back in ’98, I had enjoyed messing with our vigilante Heavy Barrel just as much as maintaining Sein Fraus for the family business. Oh, where’s the enemy? I had a bad feeling. I only had the lower sight devices open, so I opened the compound eyes as well. “Primary sight devices: Sign.” My vision widened and I shuddered. I loved this view. And I saw it. Sorry, but you’re too close, so I’ve gotta charge right in. I’ll kick you out of the way without killing you, so don’t move!! I raced forward. I crashed into them and passed right on through. I said “crash” myself, but my hearing picked up a much worse sound. Yeah, I really am sorry. I just can’t seem to hold back. Why is that? Well, when I Write Bring into a Barrel, the conversion device breaks down the Lives of my original body and combines them with those of the Barrel’s body, so, um, how should I put it? I’m not wearing an armor dress or anything else right now. I feel like I’m naked and I’d love to cover my chest, but my right arm has the Valkyrie Strike and I can’t allow you to capture me. Ha ha ha. Laughing seemed to help calm me down a little. And I needed to escape somewhere. I was headed west, so I decided to turn left and head toward the Boulogne Park. If I could cross the river there, I was pretty sure I could lose them. Not that I wanted to swim through that dirty river naked. Meanwhile, the Arc de Triomphe came into view in the distance. This was a rainy night, but they had it lit up. It was pretty. It was strange how the German Army understood its charm. It was about time for the enemy to be showing up, so I made a Point. Hey, wait!! I was way too late on that dangerous Point! This isn’t good! If they’re ready to attack-…!! ### Heavy Barrel Protected Empress’s System Message Due to an impact, the Write Bring user’s thought connection has been shut down for 0.00000002 seconds. Restarting. ### Special Police 6th Platoon Telegram: To German Military Police HQ Urgent. Report on 431021-18P. We have intercepted the unidentified American-made Grösse Panzer of model HFF Unknown. By our Lernen, 15 T-Gew anti-tank rifles fired three Lanze which did medium damage to its right femur. The target has changed course and has entered the Boulogne Forest to the southwest. Its speed is mid-level. The area has cultural value, so we await instructions on whether or not to send the armored trucks in. The road at the interception point received minor damage, so we have called in a Stimmer Unit. Over. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Protected Empress’s Memory Bank I somehow managed to get into the forest of Boulogne Park. The pursuing sirens were really annoying, so I really wished I had the gun barrel on the shoulder to fire back at them, but I just didn’t have the proper equipment this time and I had no backup. I could never destroy the stationed German troops with one incomplete Heavy Barrel. What a pain. But my right thigh really hurt where they had shot me. Write Bringing into a Heavy Barrel meant to fully combine with it, so any damage to it would remain with me when I released the Write Bring. When I left the Study, I’d have a full-on bullet wound in my right thigh, goddammit. Those guys really don’t know how to treat a girl’s skin. Inside a forest taller than I was, I ran down a stone path only meant for carriages. The rain was cold and my wound hurt. I had stopped shutting down my senses, so the cold, the exhaustion, and the pain all violated my Lives. If I cut off my senses, I wouldn’t be able to tell how bad the wound was. There was currently a bullet hole in the right thigh made of an American curved cylinder frame. I could feel the lubricant oil gradually leaking out, so it felt like I was bleeding. The leg would stop moving after a while. I belonged to a family of Sein Frau technicians and my Knight Striker grandma had taught me everything she knows, so I could tell. If I shut down the senses here, I was done for. I wouldn’t be able to tell how far the damage would grow. I had to use my pain to consider how far I could run. I Pointed to see if the enemy was around. Oh, ow, ow. Was that stone there for decoration? Don’t leave those things in the middle of the walkway. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be art or what, but I’m gonna destroy it if it’s in my way. Or rather, it was right in front of me, so I destroyed it. It only took an instant. Man, that’s a really dangerous ideology I’ve got going there. But it isn’t quite as cool when I’m on the run. I ran. My injury, the chill of the air, the sound of the rain, the rustling of the forest. They all came together into a single sensation... Am I a poet or what? But really my thoughts just happened to flow together pretty well there. Anyway, time to Point the upcoming intersection!! That was close, but I caught it in time. A Middle Barrel showed up, but it was a cheap one. If you’re gonna send it to Paris, get yourself a higher quality Barrel. Do you really think that mass produced P-number stands a chance against my special-ordered F-number? Well, I will admit a Middle Male (MM) model has a bigger frame than a Heavy Lady (HL) model like mine. And as I wrote that, I reached the enemy. Your mistake was not knowing the movable range of your own head. The Jagdhund have a heavy frame to support their own weight, so the neck vertebrae can barely turn to the side at all. So at an intersection like this, you needed to face your enemy and walk out sideways, but you didn’t, did you!? I Signed that you didn’t! If you think otherwise, then prove it by dodging this!! I stepped forward. I charged toward my opponent’s left side. I used the ram at the end of my right arm’s Valkyrie Strike to hit their side. And right as I made the attack, I Pointed their movements!! The Rare Material ram easily pierced the cheap armor and the metal body wobbled. I fired the right side of the two installed Valkyrie Strike spears. It was a solid hit. It pierced right through with the pile bunker motion. But that wasn’t gonna cut it at all. With a slight time lag, I pushed my right arm out further, retracted the right side spear, and fired the left side one. I decided to make extra sure. I gathered strength in my outstretched right arm and focused on its details. The emblem engraved in the skin reacted to its own Message and the strength of the Write Bring user’s will, so ether was concentrated there. This was the original version of a Panzer Emblem. An Over Emblem caused an ether weapon to appear on a portion of the armor. That portion became an ether weapon by converting its Lives into something other than a Heavy Barrel. My heart cried out. I needed my will and my emotions. I controlled all of the pleasure I felt at being able to perfectly control myself through the Write Bring. And the emblem realized that power. In other words, it was a pile bunker. I fired the large spear toward the Middle Barrel in front of me. A spear of light raced along fixed rails of the same substance and it struck the Middle Barrel while emitting a spray of light. The Middle Barrel was blown away more by the impact than it was pierced. Okay, I checked everything with a Point, so it’s time to get out of here. I felt a slight tingling in my right arm. My will may have weakened a little. Historically, very few Knight Strikers could activate a full body Over Emblem and I could only manage it on a single part of my body. My emotions were too weak. But I could look for ways to improve myself later. An injured girl on the run was a beautiful thing, but it became nothing more than a farce when she started beating up everyone after her. I ran and ran. It might be a little late to be saying it now, but I kind of hoped the soldier Write Bringed into that Middle Barrel hadn’t died. He should’ve been fine if he had immediately canceled the Write Bring, but…well, it wasn’t worth worrying about. I had to focus on escaping. I couldn’t use the river with my injured leg. If possible, I wanted to leave this girl somewhere in the forest, get dressed in a hurry, and erase the thoughts that were being automatically recorded like this. I just needed to find somewhere that would give me even 10 minutes of peace. I kept running. But the pain in my leg was definitely getting worse. It was due to that battle. If my grandma back in 1998 San Francisco had seen that pathetic battle, she’d probably kill me. Dammit. Meanwhile, I saw a wall beyond a road cutting through the forest. A wall? No, think carefully. There’s no wall here. Signing lies isn’t going to help you. Umm, oh, right. The map I studied before arriving in Paris said there was a hill here. It was a dirt hill with a bit of grass on it and a bunch of white flowers at the bottom. …Eh? Huh? That’s not right. I didn’t learn anything about this mansion… Wait, this isn’t the time to worry about that! What should I do? Circle around the hill and escape!? Or…? ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 Tonight we had a strange guest named Beretta Correction She is Lady Beretta I have determined I should refer to people politely even in writing I cannot determine how to explain why she visited us tonight At times like that I will do as the master once told me and simply write out what happened in order I walked out into the hallway with a light in hand to close the shutters My Ajouter told me it was noisy outside and that something like loud footsteps were approaching Those footsteps stopped and then it was like the sky had fallen into the mansion courtyard The courtyard is surrounded by the mansion so it can only be accessed through the mansion But something fell from the sky just as I made an Ajouter It was a large machine It was a machine just like my own body but it was far larger Its arms were much like the largest false arm I have Its legs were much like the largest false legs I have I used to have a similar waist back before my growth through the Coppelia effect My body can no longer function to my satisfaction without being closer to that of a human This clearly had a much larger body since my body is not large enough to crush the courtyard pond I decided to call for the master because he decides what happens in the mansion and what I do But a person left the back of the machine before I could call for him It was Lady Beretta Her white and red clothing seemed to glow in the rain She headed for the north entrance so I went that way as well Lady Beretta opened the door and entered the mansion just as I stepped the northern hallway She held a large bag in her hand and she collapsed on the spot I did not know what to do so I stopped making Ajouters and propped her up Unlike the usual food delivery men she did not name herself and she asked me to shelter her I did not know what that meant I picked her up and carried her to the bottom of the stairs to call for the master When the master descended the stairs he said the wooden box he held contained tools for repairing humans On his instructions I carried Lady Beretta to the living room and laid her down on the sofa I made an Ajouter and found my false arms had the red soup of a juice that comes out of meat while preparing it so I felt the need to wash up The master pulled up her skirt and began repairing her I will now write down all of his questions and her responses while he repaired her Are you not you going to ask who I am or if I am with the Resistance Why would I bother asking that of a Lourd de Écrivain who was piloting an Allied Lourd de Marionnette But I am not part of the Resistance Are you saying a civilian was piloting that Well it is kind of a long story From there Lady Beretta told the long story While she was being repaired she explained how she ended up using that machine and the master nodded after hearing her out I will now write down what they said Why would you tell me all that As selfish as it is I was hoping you could make a decision for me A decision about what Whether you are with the Resistance or not I want you to decide what you are going to do about that girl in the courtyard and me Why must I make that decision Her leg is damaged and she cannot move any more but leaving her here could drag you and your maid into this whole mess What would you do if I decided the only way to stay out of this is to hand you over to the Germans I would fight it like hell and if I was still caught I would apologize to the others who died I see If you are going to hand me over to them then just open the window and shout down to them They are wandering around at the bottom of the hill so hurry up and decide if you are going to hand me over or not Pipe down while I try to think little girl If you are going to hand me over to them then stop healing me because I am not going to have you staring at my leg like this if you are only going to turn me in If you do not quiet down I really will throw you to the Germans Oh so you are not planning to do it for the time being Hmm I do not like something about this The master spent a long time thinking and eventually decided to shelter Lady Beretta He repaired her relatively quickly and he said she would not even have a scar afterwards She seemed to still have trouble using her leg so I attached my large false arm meant for carrying things and carried her to the bath On the way she saw the large machine collapsed in the courtyard and asked me my name I told her my name She told me to put her down in front of the bath and I complied She reached out her hand and grabbed my hand She said thank you but I did not understand why she was thanking me since I had only done what my master instructed me to But that question was immediately erased from my mind when I made an Ajouter and saw Lady Beretta smiling for the first time It was unlike how the master smiles and it told me why she had thanked me Even if I was only following my orders Lady Beretta was glad that I had worked for her sake I think that is what her smile was expressing This might trigger the Coppelia effect so that I can smile when someone does something for me I do not know if that is a good thing but gaining more functions is a good thing It is about time for Lady Beretta to leave the bath It has been 40 minutes which is 4 times as long as the master takes She may have a lot of places to wash The master covered the machine in the courtyard using a sheet from the storehouse I tried to help but he ordered me to write this journal entry and to look after Lady Beretta Lady Beretta will apparently sleep here tonight and go home early tomorrow morning I will now bring Lady Beretta a change of my clothes Then I have to get to the kitchen I only have to reheat something so I can finish before she dresses That ends this journal entry I wrote a lot today I doubt as much will happen tomorrow so fewer lines should suffice I will write another entry tomorrow because that is one of my jobs ### Beretta’s Journal Today I’m writing with the view from a 1st floor guest room instead of the usual elevated view from my appartement . I’m feeling pretty good after getting a bath and some dinner, but my mood is not exactly great. What am I supposed to do tomorrow? The old man who healed me will apparently repair the Heavy Barrel. (He claims to be a Knight Striker himself.) He hasn’t asked all that much about my identity either, so who even knows. I was only involved in the Resistance for 3 days, but it looks like I’m back to my usual life. Maybe I should think of it as a valuable experience as an exchange student. At least the changes to history will end here. Maybe I just haven’t calmed down yet. I took part in combat back in America when I helped out the city’s vigilante group a few times and I’ve fought a triple digit number of mock battles. I think it’s really hitting me hard that people died because of me. I shouldn’t have agreed to that just because I was itching to Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel again. After assembling it and doing a test run, I was supposed to officially join the Resistance, but I don’t feel like doing that anymore. My motive there wasn’t exactly pure, was it? They all took it seriously enough to face death. I bet this is all from the stress of fighting with that idiot Phillip a week ago. That idiot said he’s quitting college and joining the German Army just because they’ve prepared an “honorary officer” position for him. History proves he can’t afford to go there. Phillip Missel uses his position as an honorary officer to act as a Resistance spy. And during the Resistance uprising on August 1, he takes part as a Knight Striker and dies. With that, the Missel family, a former Chevalier de Paris family, is destroyed. Everyone in Paris recognizes that family’s Signe de Épée, but it will die out once that happens. But there was no way he would believe me if I told him that and he was sure to ask how exactly I knew. And so we’ve ended up fighting every time we see each other recently. I can’t believe it. As if today wasn’t bad enough, the more people I get to know, the more stressed out I get. I almost wish I hadn’t done any research into this era. Instead, I made sure to learn about the people who died as part of the Resistance, the activity of famous people, and the conflicts that crop up here and there. The railroad in Champagne is bombed tomorrow afternoon and the Normandy landings begin on June 6. Plus, Mallette gets caught in the Format and Phillip dies on August 1. On August 3, the German Army invades Bourgogne, angers a black dragon, and gets trampled along with an entire village. From outside the closed-off city, France was swallowed by the Rondeau in August of ’44, so the European battlefront had to avoid France. The Allies were forced to invade Germany from the south and north to finally drive Germany to surrender. That was all in the past. As long as my involvement today wasn’t found out and everything around me is fine, I can return to my normal life tomorrow. I need to seriously focus on why I came to France. I have two reasons for being here. The first is pretty much the same reason I became a Knight Striker: The Attesor Project. That mysterious French Heavy Barrel development project was written of in a Death Techno compilation book sold before the war. I wanted to see if it actually existed. After all, some documents concerning it turned up in my great-grandfather’s things back home. My great-grandfather, Jack McWild, was originally an American technical officer and he had visited France as an adviser. That was when the Attesor Project began. My grandma had always been proud of him and I think it must have spread to me. The next thing I knew, I was a weird girl who was interested almost exclusively in Sein Fraus and Heavy Barrels. As my curiosity grew, I found myself dying to investigate the Attesor Project and to find out what my ancestor had done. The other reason was my grandma. Her parents, Jack McWild and Rose Francisca, had broken up for a few reasons. Jack McWild had taken my grandma with him when he moved to San Francisco where he built the Sein Frau maintenance factory where the family still lives, but in ’39, his corpse was found floating in the Seine here in Paris. And in ’43, the Allies recruited my grandma for her skill as a Knight Striker and she infiltrated Paris as an exchange student. But while she was sent in to support the Resistance as a Knight Striker, I think she really went to investigate my great-grandfather’s death. In the end, she escaped to America just a few days before the Wort Bombe detonated. I’m sure a lot happened, but from what I’ve heard, the failure of the Paris Resistance’s uprising on August 1 hit her pretty hard. Some people consider her a traitor and a deserter, but I don’t mind. I mean, it’s thanks to that that she happened to miss the Format and became one of the First Erased. If not for that, my father and I would never have been born. But my grandma did have one regret. She knew that Jack McWild and Rose Francisca broke up due to a misunderstanding between them and he apparently went back to Paris to make up with her. After Jack McWild went to Paris, my grandma found a letter in the study of our home. It was addressed to Rose Francisca, but only with a name; there was no actual address given. He had likely thought she would understand once they found each other, decided not to mail it, and forgot about it without ever writing in the address. I came to Paris with that letter. The exchange students like me are supposed to investigate France and help create a backup before France fully closes itself off. In other words, the world is going to abandon France without liberating it. However, it can’t be liberated. The world has reached the year 1998, but France is still connected to the years of 1943 and 1944. If France is liberated, it will be restored within 1944. My world of ’98 has been a world without France ever since ’44, so that restoration would create a 54 year paradox that would destroy the world of ’98. I don’t have the guts to remake my “world without France” into a new “world with France”. I want to investigate the Heavy Barrel development project known as the Attesor Project and I want to get Jack McWild’s letter to Rose Francisca to accomplish what my grandma failed to do. My grandma has thought about this for a long time and that’s why she named me Beretta. Beretta is her name too and according to her: “That way your great-grandmother will recognize you right away.” There’s a lot I want to say about that, but she hasn’t used her real name since leaving Paris and instead goes by Sword Lady, her Urban Name as a Knight Striker. She must have her reasons. I need to give all of this more thought. I’ve Signed what I need to do, so I guess I’ll read my grandma’s letter when I get back to my room. There’s so much I have to do. But I am little worried about that Heavy Barrel and…yes, about those two in this mansion. They live in a mansion here, but there is no information at all about them in ’98. I wonder why. Well, I’ll leave all the thinking for tomorrow. ### Guilliaum’s Journal Today’s Incidents: 1: Old Blue Eyes’s Negotiations Old Blue Eyes had his son and daughter-in-law taken to Germany as hostages and his grandson has been taken into the German Army as an honorary officer. To clear up any fears that he was colluding with the Germans, he escaped Paris on his own, negotiated with the national assembly members outside, and returned today. He was negotiating for the sovereignty of the Free France faction of the Paris Resistance group I lead, to rid us of our obligation to work with the communist faction, and to give us the discretionary power to act freely. It was a major negotiation, but he somehow managed it. We can now act at our own discretion when necessary while also awaiting instructions from the national assembly. That old man did well. It certainly helps to have the former Chevalier de Paris family as your second-in-command. I think I will give him some time off starting tomorrow, but I’m worried that stubborn old man won’t accept it. 2: Slaughter of Bluebeard’s Team Blue seems to be a popular color today. Bluebeard’s material acquisition and management team was slaughtered. The Allies must have messed something up because they certainly bungled smuggling in the female Lourd de Marionnette being sent in for support. According to Bluebeard: “I found a Lourd de Écrivain girl with a nice anti-German spirit, so I’ll have her check over the Lourd de Marionnette and try to bring her on as a Lourd de Écrivain when I see a chance.” But ironically, it was that Lourd de Écrivain girl who reported Bluebeard’s death to me. That said, the Lourd de Écrivain that Bluebeard found is definitely a good one. But I will not recruit her. She’s just that type of girl. She doesn’t have the most important aspect of being a Lourd de Écrivain. She clearly enjoys performing the Recréa with a Lourd de Marionnette. Yes, she’s just like I was 25 years ago. And we can’t have that. Plus, that Lourd de Écrivain girl has far too many strange symbols to her. 3: The Prophecy Everything that happened today was written of in a letter that Rose Francisca sent yesterday under a pseudonym for some reason. I thought it was all nonsense at first, but I was gradually forced to believe it. I ended up explaining my thoughts to Rosetta at dinner, but she did not seem to understand. That would be the normal response, though. Who would believe that Paris is actually stuck in a loop? Tomorrow, I will write letters for the families of Bluebeard and his team members. Only I can do this since Resistance members rarely if ever meet each other. I really shouldn’t have let them make me their leader. All I end up doing is manage addresses, approve strategies, give orders, and look after the dead. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 10:00, my 72nd mechanization surgery was completed at Berlin’s general hospital. Now the German Army’s Panzer Ritter Project has advanced to the next stage. At 12:44, I began healing from the surgery. I was freed from my restraints and allowed to wake up. At 17:07, my body’s senses recovered. At 19:21, my Grösse Panzer unit, the 1st Grösse Panzer Platoon of the 352nd Infantry Division, sent their 1st aide to inquire about the progress of my surgeries. After some quick questioning, he left. At 20:00, I went for a quick walk inside the hospital. With the strengthened optical nerves provided by this surgery, I can now see through the darkness out the window. My body is now nearly 70% mechanical, so it is predicted I will have a reaction speed approximately 117 times faster than a normal person when combined with a Grösse Panzer. The mechanization of my body that began shortly after the previous Great War has successfully increased my reaction speed. I should probably celebrate that this surgery has allowed an old soldier of 58 to continue fighting, but the surgeries have erased my emotions and memories, so I have no memories of anyone to celebrate with. Currently, something the 1st aide mentioned is sticking with me. While our German Army has spent many long years experimenting on my body to create a true Panzer Ritter, France has long had its own project to create the strongest Panzer. Theirs is named the Attesor Project. The Attesor Project’s existence has long been rumored and, if I recall correctly, the German-born traitor and current adventurer named M. Schrier wrote about it in the 7th volume of his children’s book series known as the Ober Geheimnis Compilation. There are no known witnesses and very little material evidence, so it was thought to be no more than childish rumors and guesses born in Bourgogne. But it seems that they have discovered there is more to it. Our army is investigating the existence of that strongest Panzer development project. I feel no surprise our doubt about this. As a Panzer Kavalier, I simply leave it in the back of my mind as I go to sleep. ### 350. Chapter 2: Information 02/22/1944 – 03/07/1944 Rosetta polishes the Lourd de Marionnette every day. ### 2/22/1944 ### Journal de Paris: Morning Edition Front Page A mystery Lourd de Marionnette appeared in the streets of Pairs last night!! Last night at around 8, a Lourd de Marionnette of unknown affiliation burst from a warehouse near the Théâtre du Châtelet and escaped the stationed German troops surrounding it. That Lourd de Marionnette has been missing ever since it vanished into the Boulogne Park. The investigative authorities are working with the stationed German troops to search the Seine on the western end of the park’s forest and the lake inside the park. There are some rumors claiming the Lourd de Marionnette crossed the river and escaped into the city to the north. ### Letter from Sword Lady #7: To Beretta who Inherited my Name Are you reading this, Beretta who inherited my name? These letters developed by the US military are expensive, but I hope that means you really can take them with you into France. Well, they were made by people I’ve relied on a lot in the past and the 7th letter is hardly the time to start worrying. Now, I told you to open one of these a month and this is the 7th one. That means it’s February, Beretta. By that time, you might just be finding yourself caught in – or causing – incidents I know nothing about. When I infiltrated the city as a special spy, I had a new Heavy Barrel sent in with me, but the Germans discovered it and blew it up, so I had to run for it. Disguising myself after that wasn’t easy. Now, the big incident in February would be the small Wort Bombe arriving in Paris. At 2:03 AM on the 14th, the Neue Bladlikburg IV lands at Paris’s international airport (which I believe was half militarized at the time) and the bomb is transferred to a storage space below the airport. During the Allies and Resistance’s movement to the liberate Paris on August 6, 1944, the frightened military commanders decided to drop the small Wort Bombe on central France using a transport plane. That destroyed France and started the endless repeating of history. I’m guessing the lesson Germany learned in Russia wasn’t when to give up; it was to use scorched earth tactics. In that case, they achieved the best results they could have hoped for. Think about it, Beretta. As long as France cannot escape the repeating age of the Rondeau, World War Two will never truly end. That was a fortunate result for Germany. After all, the world has already given up on France. The world will be destroyed if the 54-year paradox hits it. If that happened, you would live on in there, but those of us out here would be wiped out. It’s a tricky thing. But can you see the world on the move outside that country? Outside that closed space, it’s 1999, but from in there, everything outside France is still in 1944, isn’t it? You’re receiving information on the Allied and German activities outside the country, aren’t you? To perfect its own closure, France is attempting to recreate that year based on what information it has. Everything you see outside France is only the “bare necessities”. France absorbed the memories of the people caught in the Format, so it knows who will contact someone outside the country and what response they’ll get. So the information needed to respond is created based on their memory Lives. It’s pre-established harmony. For example, think about the soldiers who landed at Normandy and were later caught in the Format. Until June of ’44, they are placed in a world created based on their own memories and they live out their exact same life there in the Rondeau. Anything they didn’t see isn’t created. It’s a world entirely based on their memories. But what about someone like you who arrived from the outside world? If you try to contact someone outside the country, France will use all of the information it has to try and fool you. So if you were to send a letter to that M. Schrier you look up to (He was in the US at the time, wasn’t he?), since he briefly visited France in ’39, France will use the memories of that time to build up his character and provide a response. (Of course, he was only in France for 3 days, so the answer will only be as accurate as those 3 days’ of information allow.) The problem is the Format concept. You know I was there in ’43 and ’44, right? My personal reason was to search out why your great-grandfather died and my official reason was to support the Resistance as a Knight Striker sent in by the US. I was publicly known as an exchange student, so my circumstances were a lot like yours now. I was born in France, so I found it all so nostalgic when I arrived in ’43. But I escaped France just before August 6 and was not caught in the Format. France is repeating that year based on the worldview built up before August 6, 1943, but it does not contain my Lives or those of any of the other Erased. France has its own memories of everything before August 6, 1943 and that includes us. But France does not remember the people who were not caught in that first Format. Listen carefully, Beretta. The Paris I know is only the Paris I experienced. The Paris you learned about at school and read about in various documents is a second Paris that exists without me. And the Paris you are in now is your Paris. You are borrowing my identity while there, but you are not my replacement. Keep that in mind. Each year, Paris is a little different and then is Formatted again. All of those are mistaken and false while also correct and true. So don’t worry about whether you’ve screwed everything up. I think I’ve given you everything I have other than my hair color, but I’m not going to take away your freedom. Everyone only gets one shot at reality. Once you’re expelled by the Format on August 6, you can never enter France again. The immune system of France’s own Lives will never again allow in anything “extra” once it’s gotten in once. So focus on this one shot at being an exchange student. If there is a right answer, it would be a way to liberate Paris from the Rondeau so it is never Formatted again. Of course, we don’t even know if that’s possible. You were taught all about this, weren’t you? The immune system is gradually eliminating outsiders as it tries to immerse itself in that year of history undisturbed. And the scientists predict that, by 2005, France will fully reject the intrusion of anything from outside and become a truly closed city. It really is a shy city, isn’t it? ### Beretta’s Journal I can’t go on. Thanks to today’s incident, I was subjected to a surprise inspection as a Knight Striker and my friends covered for me, but I can’t go on. I’m so tired. The exhaustion hit me once I started reading my grandma’s letter. It really hurts to know how much trouble I’ve caused: 1. I altered history in a bad way. 2. I was protected by others when a Knight Striker is supposed to be the one doing the protecting. 3. I don’t have anyone I can discuss this with. That’s really all I need to know. I’m going to sleep. ### Guilliaum’s Letter: Letter to a Far Distant Friend My friend, I had just been thinking that I had nothing to tell you and had lost any opportunity to speak with you. That would be because the Germans have occupied this city for 4 years now. Nothing new is happening and we were merely suppressed and monitored. Doesn’t it all seem so silly? But I am still writing you a letter because of something that has happened more in my private affairs than anything. And I am certain you will find it fascinating. A Lourd de Marionnette showed up at my home. Since it is a long story, I won’t explain how that came to be, but it was exactly what Rose Francisca said would happen. And it reminded me of what she had said: “Paris is repeating its history over and over.” And only Rose Francisca knowns the truth due to her skill as a Correcteur. According to her, France has been repeating this year for 54 years now and something will change this year. Is this the beginning of that? If so, what will it lead to? You don’t know either, do you? If all this is true, how will the 54-year Rondeau come to an end? Even if the change this time is special, won’t it all return to the way it was once we reach August 6? To be honest, I don’t really know the answer. And even if I did, there would be nothing I could do. But still, what is this? Do young girls pilot Lourd de Marionnettes in this day and age? And with as much skill as I had in my heyday? The most frightening part is how she not only climbed the slope behind my house in the rain, but she also jumped right over the roof of my house. The Lourd de Marionnette is collapsed in my courtyard. My house might only be 2 stories, but it’s an old building that stands 12 yards tall. She jumped over that. When I checked over her Lourd de Marionnette more carefully, I found the right leg’s cylinders were completely shot. That girl brought herself this far with just one leg. And when I checked the slope out back, there wasn’t a single footprint. Even if the rain would have washed them out to an extent, she had to have been walking the right way. Not on her heels like the Germans do, but in the French style meant to move a Lourd de Marionnette around swiftly. Ha ha. How about that? Do I have your interest now? It’s been 25 years since I got this false right leg (or 79 years if Rose Francisca is to be believed. Viva long life), and I certainly never thought I would be directly involved with a Lourd de Marionnette again now. The Resistance inside Paris has 13 Lourd de Marionnettes, but none of them belong to the team I directly command and I did make that vow. You know, the vow we made to never actively involve ourselves with Lourd de Marionnettes again. But even after trying to distance myself from them, here I am. How do I explain this? Maybe after reaching my mid-forties, my anger and resentment has calmed and my mind has grown as simple as a child’s. A child who immediately reacts to everything in front of his eyes. That girl might be the cause of that. But…to be blunt, I can’t help but notice how much she resembles Rose Francisca. To prove her theory, Rose Francisca predicted that a Lourd de Marionnette would arrive and then the girl who showed up looked somewhat like her. Also, the girl said her name is Beretta. Do you understand what that means? Rose Francisca’s daughter is also named Beretta. Is she that daughter? No, that daughter is supposed to be in San Francisco. And that daughter would probably remember me. Does she just so happen to look like her? It just bothers me to no end. I do intend to look into her identity. Nothing is making sense anymore. When Rose Francisca sent me a letter for the first time in 20 years, it was under a false name. What happened? Rosetta also seems interested in that girl. Whenever she has some spare time lately, she polishes the milk-white Appareil in the basement storeroom. I don’t know if she feels some kind of affinity as a Belle de Marionnette or if it’s because of you-know-what. I’d probably have to ask you directly on that one. Why is Rosetta so interested in the Lourd de Marionnette? And ever since last night, Rosetta has oddly begun to smile. I was shocked to see the smile on her face when she greeted me in the morning. I had never given her a life which made that necessary. The Lourd de Marionnette was sent to the Resistance by the Allies, so it of course belongs to me. But the girl is a different story. I cannot bring her into the Resistance. After I finished preparing the Lourd de Marionnette to be dismantled, I walked from the storeroom to the bath and happened to hear her crying in the guest room. She was apologizing to those who died that night. I have no intention of making a girl like that one of us. Well, maybe I’ve grown too soft. I will still look into her identity, though. Until next time. I expect something interesting will happen soon, so I will send you another letter then. ### 3/1/1944 ### Sorbonne University Principal Mallory Bent’s Letter: To Mr. Guilliaum Balleroy Greetings, our beloved protector god. The other day, you asked about the details of one of our students, so I have retrieved that information from our student affairs office and provided it below. I hope that it will be useful in guiding your future actions. Name: Beretta McWild Species: Human Age: 21 (Born in 1923) Nationality: French (Lived in America for 15 years) Family: Father (Jack McWild – Deceased) Mother (Rose McWild – 48) Appearance: Brown Hair, Blue Eyes Health: Excellent Qualifications: Unrestricted Lourd de Marionnette License, Class 1 Official French Language Certification, Class 1 General Automobile License Academic History: École Primaire de Paris – Graduated San Francisco 3rd High School – Graduated San Francisco State University – Accepted After completing her first year, she transferred here (on a special invitation). The year after France was made German territory, she reentered our school as a first year. She is currently a first year in our deuxième division. Special Notes: She transferred from America, but she was originally French. She was born in Paris. Her father was an American technical officer and her mother was the daughter of a doctor in the Bourgogne region. The details are unknown, but they were wed shortly after the war ended (1920) and she was born two years later (1923). 15 years ago (1929) she moved with her father to America due to a falling out between her parents. 5 years ago (1939), her father visited France for a business negotiation and died. The San Francisco State University student affairs office is acting as her guardian. She worked on Belle de Marionnette maintenance at her home and her industrial knowledge is impressive. She also has great promise as a Chevalier and won the Lourd de Marionnette battle at the previous year-end festival. If you wish to know any further details, please visit our student affairs office. ### Berretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 Today I’m writing this in the library like always. My mood has improved enough that I actually feel like writing something for once. I definitely didn’t feel like wandering around outside for about 3 days after returning home from that commotion. The police showed up for a surprise inspection. They were apparently searching out all of the women in Paris with a Knight Striker license. I was out that night, but my friends at the appartements got their story straight and saved me with a (false) alibi. But Mallette was really mad at me afterwards: “Why did you have to get back in the morning on that night of all nights?” And yet she’s always bringing guys home to her room. Still, she heard about the surprise inspections in the market that morning, so she’s the one that saved me. I should buy her a tart on the way home today. But I’ve learned that I really can use my grandma’s identity here. She infiltrated France on July 25, 1943, and her falsified documents were sent to Sorbonne University. According to those documents, she arrived in Paris just before the war and then studied as a student there for 3 years. She did a lot for the year after that, but she’s disappeared for that year here. Because she wasn’t caught in the Format. So here I am living that life for her. The normal “exchange students” have to falsify a lot more and pretend to either be German or French, so I have it a little easier. (Although the exchange student management office had to run around preparing a period-appropriate spy dismissal document to make sure none of my grandma’s missions were sent to me.) The Format, hm? During the First Format, France decided that everything inside it was its own property and now everything (life and death included) is reset every year. But the people who weren’t in France during the First Format don’t appear in the world after the Format. So there are some people who always “go missing” each year just after the Format. According to the statistics from ’93, a total of 200,000 people escaped France between August of ’43 and the First Format. The only reason so many people going missing only causes a small commotion is due to the German occupation. People apparently get “purged” from time to time, so it isn’t strange for a neighbor to just disappear. The most unfair part is what happens to the people who died between August ’43 and August ’44. Their deaths became a part of the Format and they’ve died 54 times at this point. Phillip Missel is one of those. He’s from the former Chevalier de Paris family which bears the Signe de Épée and he lives a double life as both a part of the Resistance and an honorary officer in the German army. But during the Resistance uprising on August 1, he is killed by Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge’s Barrel. After spending some time with him I’ve realized that it’s always the good people who end up dying like that. Everyone looks at him with scorn because they see him joining the German army as a betrayal, but I’m sure he’s gathering intelligence for France right now. However, I can’t tell anyone that and we ended up getting into a fight over that misunderstanding. We found out we had more than just school in common, like foods we like, and I even let him kiss me, but he has his reasons for this and I can’t stop him. But to be honest, I expect that’s for the best. I dated him out of curiosity, but it’s not anything more serious. Plus, he’s going to die on August 1 this year. And even if he wasn’t, I’ll be sent back to my original age during the 54th Format on the 6th and then I’ll never be able to get back inside France. I think it may be for the best to keep our relationship as it is. Oh, but everyone’s having a get-together today, so he might come to that. Hmm, what should I do? Let’s change the subject. This is a journal meant to gather my thoughts, not a Sign document. Now, then. I made the request before, so I’m allowed down to the 3rd level of the library basement. But I’m apparently terrible at Pointing. Just when I thought I’d found the book case I was looking for, I found out I tricked myself with my own Sign. I ended up asking the librarian lady for help. There’s something I have to look into. But first, I think I’ll do my usual ritual before studying: Pointing the preface to M. Schrier’s bestselling children’s book Death Techno Compilation Volume 7. This book was published in ’41 and is the reason I came to France, so I always found myself reading through it. I wouldn’t be who I am now if I hadn’t happened across an old copy of this on the bookshelf at home when I was little. The book doesn’t prove the existence of the Attesor Project. It provides the details of the German troops that went missing while invading Morvan, it tells how the people of Bourgogne found large footprints and signs of sword fighting in the mountains, forest, and rivers, and it ends with a Marshal of France denying the existence of the Attesor Project. But I know that the Attesor Project existed. I don’t know what it was or if it succeeded or failed. All I know is that almost everyone involved had their memories erased, that the research was done in Bourgogne, and that my great-grandfather Jack McWild led it as a technical officer sent in from America. I came to France to investigate this. After all, the village of Herlde in the Bourgogne region was said to be located closest to the Attesor Project, but it was destroyed by a black dragon woken by the Germans stationed there on August 3, 1944. It is said that there were no survivors. Where was the research facility hidden in that land? There are a lot of contradictions and mysteries here. Speaking of mysteries, there’s one related to my grandma. She gave me Jack McWild’s letter. All it has is the name Rose Francisca, so I have no idea where to send it. I can’t seem to get permission to check through the records at the city hall, so it isn’t easy. But I’m sure my grandma had waited 53 years, until the brown hair she got from my great-grandfather grew gray, to give this letter to someone like me. I’m sure she has her reasons. I wonder how everyone back home is doing. I wonder if the Sein Frau maintenance is going well without me around to help. I wonder if those sad, suicidal American Sein Fraus are doing well. Come to think of it, there was that Rosetta girl in that mansion. Am I a little curious about her because I’m feeling homesick? Or am I legitimately worried about her? Even in this era, Sein Fraus in America are targets of discrimination and sadly end up killing themselves. I’d hate it if her circumstances were similar. Once the heat has died down, maybe I should go meet her and that Heavy Barrel. Oh, Point. This isn’t sounding much like a journal entry anymore, so I should probably get going. I can stick these materials in my bag and stay up reading them in my room. I think I’ll stop by the florist and buy some flowers. I can throw them into the Seine near that warehouse in memory of everyone who died. There’s no point in writing even more to gather my thoughts. I need to get going. ### Letter Left by Mallette: To Beretta, My Neighbor who Got Home so Late To my sworn friend Beretta. You certainly got home late today. There might not be a blackout in effect, but past 8 at night is a time for the drunks and the Allemande . Then again, it is you, so if another drunk German officer approaches you on the street, you’ll probably just kick him in the balls like last time. (That incident was how we ended up becoming friends, wasn’t it?) But when it comes down to it, guys are stronger, so be careful. I know this from experience. Yes, I had everyone gather for some drinking at the bistro down below, but Monsieur Phillip was very worried about you. Do you know why he still comes to the bistro even after quitting college and putting on a German uniform? Do you know why he continues to show up even though all of his old friends see him as a German soldier and keep their distance? It’s all for you. I can’t know what someone else is thinking, but I bet his patience comes from his nature as a Lourd de Écrivain. Especially since he comes from the Chevalier de Paris family. You two need to hurry up and make up and then make out. Or did you actually choose to eat out today because you knew he would be coming? You need to put an end to that kind of stubbornness. I’m sure he has his reasons. (And I’m his only ally at the moment, so I’d like to have someone else as soon as possible.) I’ll answer roll for you in class tomorrow morning, so you can sleep in. I know there’s no waking you up the following morning when you were up past 10. Unlike the French Lourd de Écrivain, are all American Knight Strikers so carefree? And as always, my fee for answering roll for you is doing my laundry. So see you tomorrow. Your sworn friend Mallette. ### Letter Left by Phillip: To Beretta Today I bought what you had asked for back before I joined the German army and I was waiting in front of the university and the bistro all day. Since I was off duty. So what do you want to do about that? Do you not need the detailed map of France’s central Bourgogne region I bought for you? If not, I’ll cook it and eat it. And listen carefully. No, read carefully, Beretta. Do you intend to take part in the Lourd de Marionnette battle at this year’s school festival? The German army’s Paris branch apparently intends to send in a Lourd de Écrivain as a special participant, but they’re kind of pissed after you put them to shame at last year’s year-end festival. I would recommend not taking part. That is all. From a poor noble who is a former Écrivain in name only ### Berretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 Dammit, they just say whatever they want, don’t they? I’m worried about so much in secret, but being an exchange student is stressful enough on its own. Oh, but if Phillip was here, I should have gotten back earlier. According to history, he’ll start his serious spying in the German Army soon and he’ll start diverting materiel to the Resistance. Once that happens, he’ll be too busy to even think about me. Yes, but that should be for the best. Surely. He’ll be busy with that, he’ll work toward the liberation of France, and he’ll die in the Resistance uprising on August 1. And 5 days later on the 6th, the Allies and the local Resistance will join together, flood into Paris, and lead the frightened Germans to detonate the Wort Bombe above France. That will trigger the Format. He was unlucky, so he died before the Format. And since history is repeating itself, he’s already died 54 times. This will be his 55th time. This is a pretty well-known tragedy in the outside world. I never thought I would briefly get to date someone so famous. It started when I borrowed his notes from class, then we started discussing Heavy Barrels and other things, and it was only after we were walking side by side that I learned who he was. From then, I started keeping my distance, he joined the German army just as history said he would, and 2 months have passed. We never actually broke up, but if he’ll stop worrying about me and will return to the normal course of history, that has to be for the best. Not that it makes me happy. Ahh, now I’m feeling down. It’s always like this with Phillip recently. And I’m pretty sure there’s something else I should be writing about. Hmm, I guess I’ll get to sleep. ### 3/6/1944 ### German Army Paris Branch Telegram: To the German Army Military Police At 11 AM today, the search for the unidentified Grösse Panzer that caused Battle #431021-18P will be ended. But we will continue searching for information, so have your inspectors do their best to focus on any actions taken by the Anti-German Resistance working secretly in Paris and the surrounding region recently. Over. ### Secret Document from the Resistance National Assembly within the Allied Forces: To the Paris Region Resistance Leader As approved by a majority vote in the national assembly, you have been given emergency discretionary power. As such, we ask that you respond quickly and responsibly to any issues that might arise. This decision will be introduced in the national assembly military law white paper to be published on March 10 of this year. Based on the French Government-In-Exile Military Law Book to be published on the same day, this will go in effect on April 1. We have high hopes for your future actions. From the Prime Minister of the French Government-In-Exile ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 09:02 I was discharged from Berlin’s general hospital. I submitted my request for post-surgery return to service at the army general headquarters. They said I should receive approval and orders in a week’s time. The higher ups believe the Panzer Ritter Project is advancing well. I also stopped by the intelligence division and asked about rumors of the Attesor Project, but the personnel there said they did not know. I believe it is either disinformation or information only available to the higher ups. At 16:20, I entered the barracks. At 18:11, the 1st aide visited and asked a few questions. My platoon is stationed near Normandy and it seems the Allies have been making diversions near Calais. He left at 18:57. At 20:05, I organized my luggage in the barracks. I found a photograph among them. The photograph depicted a woman and a girl smiling in front of some flowers. I believe they must be dependents of mine, but I have no memories of them due to losing my emotions and memories in the surgeries. I returned the photograph to the bottom of my luggage. I cannot determine what the photograph means. And as I think back on my actions today, I am unsure as to why I visited the intelligence division to inquire about the Attesor Project. Perhaps as a reaction to the emotion-erasing surgery, something that has remained in the back of my mind may be leading to actions taken out of simple curiosity. This could reduce my decision-making ability, so I plan to ask the researchers about it soon. I will now go to sleep. ### Guilliaum’s Journal Today’s Incidents: 1: Conclusion of the Incident on the 21st The German army has ended their public search for the female Lourd de Écrivain. The Resistance has no female Lourd de Écrivains, so that search will turn up nothing. Apparently only 6 female Lourd de Écrivains live in Paris. And one of those apparently has political connections, so the emergency search was called off. 2: The German Army’s Panzer Ritter Project has Advanced a Step That Heinz Berge apparently has thoughts and reflexes 117 times faster than a normal Lourd de Écrivain. He’s no longer human. Only that might be able to defeat him. 3: Rosetta’s Changes Rosetta polishes the dismantled Lourd de Marionnette in the basement storeroom every day. She sometimes brings that girl up in conversation. Did she sense something in that contact with a stranger? 4: The Discretionary Power Decision I finally have what I was hoping for. This means we can act as soon as something happens. Before, we always had to keep an eye on how the communist Resistance was reacting, but now we can make immediate decisions. 5: The Girl’s Identity I don’t understand this. Based on her history and name, she is Beretta McWild. She is Rose Francisca and Jack McWild’s daughter. To think I would have another chance to see the name of that man who showed up 30 years ago, messed with all of our destinies, and made a lone woman cry. I see. It is true that girl looks a lot like Rose Francisca back when we were still normal. But it’s strange. When I met that girl 15 years ago, I’m fairly certain she had brown hair. And the document and ID photo I received from Mallory also show brown hair. But the girl calling herself Beretta that night was blonde. So she must be someone else. As further proof, she should remember me and my mansion, but when I spoke with her, she was not very familiar with Paris’s land. Based on her demeanor and softness, she doesn’t seem to be substitute spy sent in by the Allies. Is there more to her or not? I am waiting for a response to my letter to Rose Francisca who prophesied that girl’s arrival. But it is all so strange. A girl who looks so much like Rose Francisca pilots one of those Lourd de Marionnettes that Jack McWild loved so much and she is influencing a Belle de Marionnette’s heart. It must be a sign. That is all for today. I am gradually solidifying my position here. And now I have more weighing on my mind. I should be busy from now on. ### 3/7/1944 ### The Prophetess’s Letter: To Monsieur Guilliaum, the Former Royal Guard Chevalier It is good to speak with you again. I apologize for using a fake name once again. This is Rose Francisca. I am pleased to hear you understood the prophecy I sent to you the other day. I have a lot of free time while running a clinic in a mountain village, so I have nothing to kill the time but to increase my power as a Correcteur according to the Eastern tradition. To be precise, I noticed the change to France 25 years ago. (Or should I say 24 loops ago?) I was introduced to the concept of the Primitif by an adventurer who visited this region (he apparently arrived from the outside world), and I discovered a way to preserve my memory Formules before I died that year. I took my own life before the Primitif and permeated the Formules of my own death with my memories. When the Primitif transferred me from death to life, the memories permeating the Formules were not expelled as extraneous and were returned as a part of Rose Francisca. By continuing to investigate this world on my own like that, I have learned a number of things. I know that this world has repeated this year 54 times, I know what will happen, and I know everything. But during this investigation, two thoughts occurred to me. First, I began to wonder if these prophecies were meaningless. Few people will believe me and, even if I do change the future, it will all be reset when August 6 rolls around. I have recently started to wonder if it would be best to leave everything to its natural course. Second, I began to wonder if these prophecies have meaning even so. After training for 25 years, I am beginning to gain a slight grasp of manipulating the Formules of time itself. In addition to the events that occur every year, I can now somewhat prophecy events that are unique to this year. France is closed off by the Primitif Rondeau. This is a frightening thing because it means France cannot evolve in this world. To liberate closed France, two powers are needed in addition to my prophecies. Since you know France better than anyone, I think I will share them with you. But I want you to keep in mind that these two powers will need your assistance. One of those powers is already in motion. A girl with the same name as my daughter should have visited you. Please ask her nothing of me, tell her nothing of me, and simply go along with whatever she wants. She has arrived from outside and I think she is a relative of mine. She is also standing at a major crossroads. People like us should not throw a new problem at her now. If she heard my name, she might grow dependent on it. Even if my prophecies are necessary, I will not use them just to make things more convenient. I have a hunch that she and I will eventually meet. That is the proper course of things. Please say nothing of me. Yes, just like you and he never told me a word about the Attesor Project. Until you told me about it in ’40 when he died, you spent more than 20 years without telling me. Why do men grow so stubborn when they decide to be villains? If possible, I wish his death could have been delayed by 4 years. Then his death would have been rewound and repeated by the Primitif and I might have been able to meet him again in life. But I’m just complaining now. Pay it no mind. I hope that you will be interested in my prophecies, that you will truly understand what it means to liberate this world, and that you will continue to feign ignorance around that girl who has most likely arrived from outside. There is much I must inform you of: why France has grown so shy that it repeats the same year over and over, why I am refusing to meet you or anyone else from my past, why I used a false name on the envelope when writing you a letter for the first time in 20 years, and so much more. If you have any questions concerning my prophecies or that girl, please write me a letter addressed to the Prophetess. ### 351. Chapter 3: City 03/11/1944 – 03/16/1944 The master used that red to write on the parchment. ### March 11, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 I have a lot to write today so I decided to go ahead and write about what just happened while Lady Beretta has gone to her university When I made an Ajouter to check on the number of plates while cleaning up after breakfast I heard the bell ring at the front door I made another Ajouter assuming it was the food delivery but I found Lady Beretta standing there She had a two wheeled machine known as a bicyclette next to her and she greeted me cheerfully so I have determined she is not a bad person I asked her why she was there She said she had wondered how we had been doing and so stopped by on the way to university She held a large bag in her hand and I immediately let her inside and called for the master He responded after I pulled on the string for the bell at the bottom of the stairs three times He had probably been asleep because he had been up late the previous night writing those letters he never sends Until I could write my journal entries in the first floor study he had written letters there which he only put in the cabinet But once I became fully conscious I think he moved to the second floor to write them Lately he has also been writing letters he does send out because he will sometimes leave the house with a sealed envelope I do not know which he was writing last night because I am not allowed on the second floor I got sidetracked The master looked like he wanted to say something when he met Lady Beretta but then he cleared his throat He was acting weird but the weirdness ended there After the two of them exchanged a few words they went to the basement storeroom to see the large machine with limbs much like mine I finished washing all the plates and was making the occasional Ajouter when Lady Beretta called for me I expect this will be hard to describe so I will simply write out what was said Rosetta this mansion is too large and I am lost so if you can hear me can you tell me where I am Our extended vowel sounds as we yelled to each other would probably be better represented by misspelling the words with repeated vowels so I will do that from now on Please Signe your surroundiiiings There is a weird deer head growing from the wall and it looks like a hallwaaaay It sounds like you are in front of the first floor study so I will be there right awaaaay No waaaait If you are coming bring a sharp knife with yoooou I selected the easiest to use knife in the kitchen and went to rescue Lady Beretta My Signe had her standing in front of the first floor study but my Ajouter showed her sitting as she waited for me As soon as I arrived she grabbed my hand and took me to the basement storeroom while saying they were going to make a contract in blood The master was waiting for us in the basement storeroom below the courtyard and he had a piece of parchment spread out on a work bench He took the knife from me and quickly cut his own index finger The red substance I had seen on that February night flowed from his finger and the master used that red to write on the parchment After writing some sloppy circles and letters he passed the knife to Lady Beretta who also cut her finger and wrote on the parchment They exchanged some words in a language I do not know and then the master ordered me to place the parchment on my right hand I did so After about five seconds Lady Beretta mentioned that nothing was happening The master told me to change to another false arm I was wearing the waterproof brass one but he told me to use the more human one made of ceramic I did not know what purpose that held because the brass one seemed to work best with my body and the ceramic one seemed to work the worst Nevertheless I did not question his order so I pulled it out of the first floor storeroom Lady Beretta seemed to have followed me and she walked into the storeroom I had just removed my top and was undoing the bolting for my shoulder so we had the following exchange I am changing but do you need something Sorry That old man did not explain properly but we need a third party for that contract ceremony and it will only work if your false arm is modeled after a human one Sorry again Why are you apologizing I disliked not telling you what this was about and treating you like a machine But I am a machine Yes yes All Belle de Marionnettes say that at first How old are you It has been 35 years since I was made and 15 years since I become conscious That means you have lived that long and yet have only become this human Rosetta After she said that Lady Beretta touched my body My head and most of my torso had become identical to a human through the Coppelia Effect and I felt her fingers stroking my belly as she said the following You are just like the Belle de Marionnettes I knew in America When you are made to serve as maids your sight hearing and speech are the first things you gain through the Coppelia Effect The sense of taste comes next and that means you have the same internal organ system as a human which give you a metabolism What does that mean No matter what you might think you are alive Rosetta You are not a machine Lady Beretta smiled after that but I had no idea what she was talking about and wondered why someone I barely knew would be determining my characteristics as a Belle de Marionnette I also wondered why she was giving me that smile that was far from unpleasant I am a machine Even if I can become closer to human through the Coppelia Effect I cannot become fully human Some part of my body will probably wear out before then and I will break I can become closer to human through the Coppelia Effect but I do not understand why I must become human All I need to do to live with the master is to cook food and to clean and write my journal entries and to sleep I do not need any functions beyond those four Lady Beretta waited for me to finish attaching my arm and then we returned to the storeroom together In the storeroom I placed the parchment on my hand and said what the master told me to say I swore not to let anyone else know this secret When I said that the dried dark red substance burned a mark into the parchment I had never seen anything like it before Then Lady Beretta took the parchment and had the following exchange with the master Now we can both deal with this Lourd de Marionnette without any reservations If you break your promise I will take all of your luck Got that So that means I can research this Lourd de Marionnette until you have sucked all my luck away You accepted this pretty easily old man Who are you I must keep that a secret due to a promise I made with a woman who once rejected me Well there is no helping that then Do not act so understanding Oh and you can put your other arm back on now Rosetta No do not Old man you cannot have her do that You need to work harder to have her evolve into a human Or are you a metalphile Do not be silly And I am free to do what I want with my own Belle de Marionnette Is that so Then take a look at Rosetta Lady Beretta and the master looked at me but I had no idea why she had said that As I stood there she continued the conversation Rosetta is no longer your doll old man You told her to put her other arm back on but she has not The master grumbled and I realized I had obeyed Lady Beretta when she told me to stop instead of obeying the master I still do not know why that is But Lady Beretta slapped my shoulder and spoke with a smile That is how it should be Rosetta Your father would have wanted it this way but you have just forgotten that How can you be so sure Maybe it is the blood flowing in my veins The blood of a Lourd de Écrivain and a Belle de Marionnette technician Her smile changed when she said that It was an odd smile that had all the elements of a smile but did not feel like one She then completely ignored the master to speak to me some more Quit sitting around here and head out with me Rosetta This metalphile old man is obsessed with the Lourd de Marionnette so you can leave him be for a while Why did you even come to my mansion What does it matter I have made sure the Lourd de Marionnette is safe and fulfilled my responsibility to the others so now I just have to socialize with the person I met here Personally I cannot believe you will not let such a cute girl out into the city of Paris Some of what had happened caught in my heart Namely the father that Lady Beretta had mentioned and the fact that I had obeyed her instruction to stop over the command from the master I have heard my father died before I gained consciousness A warm sensation remains in my memories but I do not know if my father wanted me to become human No one has ever told me to become human and I have never wished to become human I am a machine So why am I sitting here waiting for Lady Beretta to return from her university This is not the feeling of waiting for a guest I must serve as part of my ménage duties It feels more like waiting to see what kind of ingredients the food delivery person brings by I do not understand The only things I do understand are that Lady Beretta knows a lot that I do not and that I understand her even less than I understand myself That is likely because she exists outside of what I understand but I have not been told to reject things just because I do not understand them so I will not reject her even if I do not understand her So I am now waiting for her to return from her university Continually making Ajouter while I wait is one of my jobs ### Sorbonne University Student Message Board: Canceled Class Announcement for 3rd Years Professor Hermes Becarre who has been teaching Class 3-D1, Modern History, will be resigning on March 10 for personal reasons. A replacement instructor is planned to arrive on March 25. Class 3-D1 will be canceled until then, so the students are to use that time for self study. ### Letter Left by Beretta: To Mallette, My Neighbor Who Doesn’t Know About Our Canceled Class Hi there, Mallette. You seem to still be asleep, so I’ll shove this into your room’s boîte aux lettres . I just rode on over to school on my bike and found class was canceled. Modern History won’t be back until March 25. The reason why is pretty cool: the professor is retiring due to personal reasons. But we all knew how readily Old Man Becarre would complain about the German army during his lectures. I’m gonna change the subject. Oh, yeah. Since I didn’t have to answer roll for you, I’ll make sure to Signe that I returned the payment of lunch money along with this letter. But, Mallette, you really shouldn’t bring so many guys back with you. I’m your direct neighbor and that’s fine, but the landlord is on the other side of me. You need to keep your voice down. And the girl across from you is single, so she probably doesn’t like it much either. You need to get along with your neighbors. Oh, and I don’t need lunch or dinner today, so say hi to everyone for me. (If that idiot Phillip shows up and tries to say something, stomp on his foot for me.) I have some business to take care of. Tell everyone that and tell them I’m helping people and not with a guy like you would be. I’ll be at the library like normal. Okay, we can chat tonight (assuming you don’t have a guy in your room). ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 Now, then. I’ve come to the library like always, but things are a little different this time. Professor Hermes was purged a week earlier than he was the other years. This world really is solidly made, so it all flows. Knowing too much about how things go can be a problem in its own way. I Pointed two men who were fighting on the road on the way here, but what they were fighting over scared me. One of them was an old baker and the other was an elderly man even older than the baker. But that elderly man was telling the baker to stay away from his bakery tomorrow. Here’s what he said as to why: “I know you’ll be killed by a robber tomorrow!!” According to someone who lives in the area, that baker’s only son was taken in by an relative’s family who lives out of the country in June of last year. That son must have spent 53 years outside of France looking into what happened to his parents. And now he was here as an exchange student and trying to stop his parents from being killed. At the time, entering Paris had been impossible, so as a child, he must not have been able to do anything even when he had heard about his parents’ deaths. To him, this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance. There are people like this. But I doubt he’ll get through to his father. That baker would never believe him if this man older than him claims to be his son who should be in another country. Plus, that baker will be brought back to life and killed every year. It’s all meaningless. But there is something weighing on my mind. The Resistance members who died because I piloted that Heavy Barrel and Phillip who will die before long are both weighing on my mind. Just as my grandma said, this is real to me even if it will be redone. So I want to treat this all with care. I was reminded of that fact when I saw Rosetta today. The people around me will be lost, but I can give some things to Rosetta. Because I was born into a Sein Frau technician family. Is that only an excuse for what will be lost? Am I a hypocrite? I don’t really care. I know I’m worried about Rosetta and that’s what matters. Does she want to become human? Even in this age, the discrimination against Sein Fraus is really bad in America. It isn’t much different from the age I lived in. My grandma must have known that. The American Sein Fraus simply shed tears, cannot become human, and commit suicide. The European Sein Fraus aren’t that bad. But Rosetta’s treatment is awful in a different way. If possible, I want her to think more about a great many things and to become someone I can discuss my ideas with. But if she doesn’t want to become human, then it’s meaningless. Especially because becoming human means a lot of worry and pain. I think that is what a Sein Frau should be, but I can’t force it onto her. Because Rosetta doesn’t belong to me. I need to keep that in mind so I don’t get carried away. Now for a Point. I see. Then I’ll stop by the old man’s mansion at 2. It’s the Balleroy Mansion, right? I promised Rosetta I would discuss some things with her this afternoon, so I have to stop by. But when I start reading, I can get lost in my own world and forget to Point the time, so I need to be careful. I’ll jot down a note. - Make sure to check the time frequently. Now, time to greet the usual librarian. My guess is it’s a Resistance route. I have some questions for M. Schrier who wrote the Death Techno Compilation, so it might be worth sending them to the publisher. M. Schrier was in America at this time, but my grandma’s letter had said this: If I sent him a letter about the Attesor Project, France would send me back as accurate a letter as it could. If that works, I might get quite a bit of information that way. France doesn’t know how important the information is. It only wants to prove that there are no holes in the world it created so that it can truly close itself up. Could I take advantage of that and trick France into giving me the information? But I guess I’ll do everything I can on my own before doing that. When I compared the previous data with the results of my previous investigations, a lot clicked into place. The Attesor Project was something that really did exist during the previous World War and it was meant to develop the strongest Barrel. The project was said to have been carried out in the Morvan Mountains. The German army went missing when they invaded there and there are records of the local people hearing sounds of sword fighting in the mountains late at night. But after the war, the military denied all of the rumors and no evidence remained. And most of the German army’s damage reports were discarded in the Treaty of Versailles, so they can’t be used to prove anything. And on August 1, 1944, a black dragon attack destroys the nearby village of Herlde and a portion of that mountainous region, so entering the Morvan area was deemed dangerous and a detailed investigation became impossible. Now is the only time to investigate the Attesor Project. Ironically enough, the Attesor Project is considered no more than a silly rumor due to the influence of M. Schrier’s book. People view it just like Atlantis and the Lost World, so it’s only used in some fun children’s books. That’s the usual pattern, isn’t it? People go missing, civilians find traces of something going on but never see the actual thing, and then the military denies it all. The Attesor Project follows that pattern, but it isn’t a lie. Today I learned that the French army has a few hidden units. The most famous is the 0th Heavy Barrel Brigade that moves from battlefield to battlefield as a commando unit, but that isn’t all. I learned there was also a private unit led by an officer who was former nobility. I have the details in my notes, but the odds are good that something weird like the Attesor Project would be led by an eccentric officer. If so, I need to visit the city hall and ask if I can view the tax ledgers from that time. I doubt I’ll get permission with the German army in control, though. Then again, I’m probably the only one investigating this old military project right now. Even if it existed and had had successful experiments, that project was from 25 years ago even counting from Paris’s current time period. Plus, it was a project that was discarded and abandoned by the military. In this age, the Germans are working on what they called the Panzer Ritter Project. Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge, a hero from the First World War, had his entire body swapped out for prosthetics adapted for a Heavy Barrel to give him reactions speeds 117 times greater than the average Knight Striker. To be honest, not even an optimistic like me thinks some old tech is going to outdo that German tech. They probably had some decent tech with some decent results, but their research has probably been blown way out of proportion by the rumors and the project was probably never all that credible to begin with. But if that’s all true, why was Jack McWild so intent on keeping anyone else from getting involved that he said nothing when his wife left him, said nothing to my grandma, and went to France where he was killed? The story is that he got drunk and fell into the Seine, but everyone in our family is a pretty heavy drinker. My grandma’s research found there was apparently a knife wound in the tibia of his remains. 1939 was when the war began and France was terrified, so it wouldn’t surprise me if what actually happened was covered up. I think I’ll look into some things and visit Bourgogne eventually. Before August 1. At the moment, I have to wonder: Why was Jack McWild trying to build the strongest Heavy Barrel? It has long been said that Knight Strikers exist to protect people, but I lost my companions as a Knight Striker. Was that what I got for being a Knight Striker just for fun, or was it because I’m not strong enough as a Knight Striker? That’s a bit of a question for me. I have a lot of questions. I don’t know where Rose Francisca is right now. She isn’t in Paris. I know she and Jack McWild had their wedding in Paris, but where did they meet? I bet she’s returned to her hometown, but where is that? I want to check through the city hall’s records. And there is another mystery: Why does my knowledge from the 90s include nothing about the Balleroy family? I looked it up here and found they were the former Royal Guard Chevalier family that led the regional Chevaliers and their mansion is in a noticeable spot, but that information was entirely missing from what I was taught before arriving. Was someone trying to hide the mansion’s existence? Or was there nothing there in this age? I just don’t know. But that’s fine. That at least means I wasn’t taught that Rosetta or the old man die, so I don’t have to worry about them. Oh, Point. I guess I’ll get going. None of this has been very journal-like and I need to talk with Rosetta this afternoon. Maybe I’ve been worrying about too much recently. I’ll put my notes in my bag and leave. ### Guilliaum’s Letter: To a Far Distant Friend My friend, There has been little to report recently, so I had thought I would not have a chance to speak with you. But, well, now two or three things connected to you have happened in a row, so I felt the need to make a report. That girl showed up today. At the moment, she has taken Rosetta out into the yard where they are eating snacks. I put so many restrictions on her concerning Rose Francisca: do not ask about our identities, do not speak about us, and do not write any letters using our real names. And yet she readily asked about my Royal Guard Chevalier family and about Rosetta. I managed to avoid answering, but I’m really not sure what to do. I especially panicked when she asked about the Attesor Project. I hesitated a moment before laughing it off. I just hope she didn’t suspect anything. But this makes it even harder to invite her to the Resistance. If what Rose Francisca has said is accurate, it does not seem there is anything I can do about this girl for the time being. And when I look at it like that, well, she seems like nothing more than a troublemaker girl with too much energy, which is kind of funny. I’m probably just projecting our past onto her, but I really don’t think we were ever that much of a nuisance. She bluntly told me it was my fault that Rosetta isn’t evolving. That kid really needs to learn some manners. Still, I do understand why she is so fixated on Rosetta’s evolution. Belle de Marionnettes are discriminated against in America, so they’re treated as the lowest class. The mass-produced Belle de Marionnettes in America are mostly treated like toys or slaves, so it is a miracle when they manage to evolve into a human even a little bit. That might have something to do with it, but this is what she said to me: “If Rosetta wants to remain a machine, that’s fine, but you can’t just let her stay like this without telling her she can become human. You have to let her know that is a possibility.” It shows how young she is. But when I look out there, I see Rosetta following that girl around without knowing what any of it means. What that girl is trying to do to Rosetta is certainly different from me. Taking her outside will expand her possibilities in many more directions than staying inside the mansion. If I didn’t have this prosthetic right leg…if my leg wound’s Formule had not settled in place while I was in the POW camp, I might have made Rosetta my secretary while I commanded the Resistance. But the past is the past. I’m really not sure what to do. I’m being tossed around by that girl a fair bit too. Does she really intend to have Rosetta evolve? If so, what do I do? Personally, I kind of feel like leaving this up to destiny. I have lived for so long with a policy of not letting Rosetta evolve, but she started smiling just from meeting that girl. Rosetta might like that girl more than us. If so, that girl might be able to correct the many mistakes behind Rosetta’s birth. I’m really, really not sure what to do. Maybe I’m too old for all this. Maybe this is due to the fear I felt when I saw the changes in tech in this cutting-edge Lourd de Marionnette. I was especially shocked by the high-quality ultra-high-speed conversion Cabinet that is entered through the secondary seat. That would probably let you Recréa in less than 2 minutes after boarding it. The world really is changing. In our day, you would follow all the proper etiquette in battle unless it was an unexpected engagement, but now that tanks and airplanes are becoming the main fighting force, Lourd de Marionnettes are apparently being used more as high-speed strike forces. If this age has been repeating itself as Rose Francisca claims, then the real outside world is filled with tech 55 years more advanced than this. It makes me want to cry. Rumor has it that Old Man Heinz who took my right leg is now a lieutenant colonel in the German army, but he’s apparently taking part in the Panzer Ritter Project. I met him during an unexpected engagement, but his family was known as the Kaiser’s right arm and he preferred proper one-on-one battles to an unexpected engagement. I still sometimes dream about fighting him in accordance with all the etiquette. It always ends with me winning, though. Although in reality I lost and was taken prisoner until the end of the war. I thought I would retire after that, but then I ended up as the Resistance leader just as this war was beginning. I shoved a little too much of the work off onto Old “Blue-Eyes” Jan, though. Maybe that’s because the Balleroy family led the Missel family as the Royal Guard Chevalier. But that position went away in the people’s revolution and the remaining Chevalier de Paris lost its role during the previous war. The old traditions are lost, but the people who were around back then don’t want to forget how we used to fight. Then again, Old Man Heinz is seeing how close man can come to machine in the Panzer Ritter Project. He has apparently increased his reaction speed inside a Lourd de Marionnette more than 100-fold, but he might not be human any longer. I’m betting he’s Germany’s strongest weapon at this point. I mean, he was already quite the chevalier de chevalier . Once again, I’m really not sure what to do. This basically means the German army is doing the same thing as a certain project I could mention. A toast to human folly and to Heinz’s health. And I’ll end this on a more depressing topic. Becarre, who I used to go drinking with to discuss this country, was arrested. I bet it had something to do with being Calamity’s brother, but Old Blue-Eyes said he turned himself in. There were apparently some dangerous rumors and his entire family was being investigated, so he turned himself in. Old Blue-Eyes’s grandson apparently wrote up the records and directly reported it to his higher ups. I’d really like to meet that grandson at some point. I’m betting he didn’t become an honorary officer in the German army for self-preservation. I’m betting his grandfather set it up so they could handle things like this. I think I’ll ask his grandfather about it at tomorrow’s gathering. That old man is quite the actor, after all. Until we speak again. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 09:30, I had a meeting with the Panzer Ritter Project Research Team at Berlin’s general hospital. I pointed out that I was growing interested in information about the Attesor Project and that it could distract me and disturb my decision-making. But the research team said my memory activity had bene reduced to the bare minimum required for everyday life plus memories of my military duty and past battles. They said all of my actions are based in that. That means I will not do anything beyond my everyday activities that is not related to combat. All knowledge and memories I desire are based on combat. That was what I desired when I joined the Panzer Ritter Project. In that case, my pursuit of the Attesor Project is not based in emotion; it is necessary to strengthen myself. According to one researcher, “Your memories might include a battle that is making you think of the Attesor Project.” I have decided to focus my research on discovering which of my few remaining memories that is. So I will use all time not spent in battle investigating the Attesor Project. I have decided I must rid myself of this curiosity before I return to the battlefield. At 17:04, I left Berlin’s general hospital. I searched for M. Schrier’s Ober Geheimnis Compilation at a bookstore, but it has been banned within Germany and is thus impossible to acquire. At 18:21, I returned to the barracks. Nothing more to report. ### Letter Left by Mallette: To Beretta, My Neighbor who is Staying Out so Late To my sworn friend Beretta, Let me make one thing very clear up front: I have not been bringing any guys home lately. Please refrain from making such flagrant false accusations in the future. The noise at night has nothing to do with guys; I am practicing the violon I need for my major!! How could you possibly mistake that beautiful music for something like that? I’ll admit I’m pretty inexperienced, but…oh, curse him. That guy said I played “such wonderfully emotional music”, but when I played the exact same way in class this afternoon the professor called it “horrific” and gave me a G. But let me get to the point of this letter, Beretta. Last night, Mr. Phillip asked me for some advice. Advice about you. That’s all I’m saying. I won’t tell you anything more. Think for yourself about how important that is. And he gave me a map, so come pick it up. Bye. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 A lot of important things happened today but I cannot write about most of them in this journal Lady Beretta ordered me to write them in a letter and send them to her So I will only write about what I saw out in the yard this afternoon What happened at dinner I will write about in a letter At around four Lady Beretta and I were sitting on a sheet and looking down at the city of Paris from the hill I always mow the grass between spring and summer in that yard but I had never just looked down at the city before As I did there was always some small change occurring in the city Whenever I noticed one and asked about it Lady Beretta would politely tell me what it was The small lights I occasionally saw were the light reflected off of the windows being opened or closed The smoke coming from low areas were a sign of someone cooking at a bistro or restaurant The smoke coming from high areas was a sign of someone cooking in an appartement What looked like white flags along the streets were laundry hanging out to dry The quiet sounds I heard from the city were the horns of cars The birds flying above the city were pigeons being kept as pets I recorded those things with Signe for the first time because I could not tell why they were shining or smoking just with an Ajouter I have been to the city a few times but that was only at night to visit the night market next to the Boulogne Park with the master I always waited outside the market and then helped the master carry things back once he returned I have seen people A lot of people pass by in front of me when I am waiting for the master at the night market A few of them would have a few other expressions but most of the people are in a hurry to buy food just like the master and me Most of the people who pass by are just like me They can walk and they can carry things and they can speak That means that is enough I looked at Lady Beretta while recalling my memories of what I saw in the city She said that the people I saw at the market were not just like me She said they have functions that I do not understand I asked her if I needed to be that high functioning for my life She did not seem to understand my question She had explained what becoming human meant and it meant become higher functioning and I do not need those extra functions for my life When I explained myself again while following along with my memories Lady Beretta immediately gave the following explanation Becoming human is not about function It is about your will or well you know No I do not know Umm you have a sense of taste right That was because you wanted to cook delicious food right Yes I sensed it was necessary after everything I cooked nearly killed the master for a month straight Hm so that old man has put more effort into this than I thought But that is not the point Think about it Rosetta Your sense of taste is your own function but you use it to cook delicious food So what happens once you have the food with the flavor you want I serve it to the master Not what you do with it Umm I am asking you how it makes you feel How it makes me feel Do you feel like cheering or get really excited or think you must be some kind of genius after it all works out the way you wanted it to No it is only natural that it turns out that way Only natural huh And yet I have never had it turn out that way Not even once Oh but I am getting sidetracked So what does that old man say after he eats it He always says it was delicious And what if he did not say that He always does Think about it When you serve him dinner tonight he might get up from the table without saying a word He would not If I mixed something disgusting into the food while you and the old man were not looking I am one hundred percent certain he would do just that Please do not do that I said that to Lady Beretta even though it was not necessary After all she does not seem like the person who would do something like that But I still said it I stopped her and I stopped my own imagination I do not know why but I reflexively wished to stop Lady Beretta when I imagined the master getting up from the table without saying a word When I could not say anything more Lady Beretta held my shoulders She apologized but I do not know why I think she was apologizing because I fell silent but that silence was due to my inability to control my thoughts which makes it my responsibility She does not need to apologize for something that is my responsibility And yet I listened to her apology in silence She said the following I am sorry Rosetta There has been so much on my mind lately that I might have been too mean there I am sorry but I thought I had to say that to get you to think about it Rosetta you have gone numb to what it means to enjoy something For one thing it would be pretty funny if that old man still said it was delicious Would it He has no idea how to adapt and I bet his sense of taste is half dead but I bet you have a decent repertoire of dishes because you thought he would enjoy it and not because you needed something to kill the time Yes it happened when I ran out of ingredients from making the same dish and had to make something else That old man enjoyed it in a different way right How did you know You look like you have a wide repertoire of dishes so you must be able to detect those minute changes in his enjoyment of the food But at the same time you have gone numb to it and you seek it out That is not an improvement in your functionality It is becoming more human And wow I am getting preachy here Lady Beretta smiled bitterly as she grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet We folded up the sheet and walked back to the kitchen where she said the following If you decide you really do want to be human I will help you You probably will not know if you do for a while yet but keep that in mind Rosetta I still do not know what it means to become human but that possibility must exist inside me I think I will start writing letters Lady Beretta said I only had to write them and put them in the blue boîte aux lettres outside the mansion early the next morning I will use that letter to Signe what it is I enjoy This will be the first time I have shown someone else my Signe As I was thinking about what to write a question occurred to me Lady Beretta told me to write about what I enjoy but are there things she enjoys I want to ask her that and I also cannot help but think about when she seems to be lost in thought If there is something she wants to say I wish she would say it I will write my letter now but it seems that will be my last job for the day ### March 12, 1944 ### Beretta’s Journal I didn’t have class today, so I went to the library again. I nearly passed by that bakery again, but I made a point of avoiding it. I don’t want to Sign or Point in front of that bakery for a while. Now, the librarian lady let me look through the city hall’s archives. I’d like to say that makes me lucky, but most of the information is useless. And I also secretly asked her to send a letter out of the country without being inspected. I think I’ll send some questions about the Attesor Project to the publisher of M. Schrier’s Death Techno Compilation and…yes, it might be good to send them some of the information I’ve found. I really don’t want to make a big deal out of this personal stuff, but I want to gather as much information as possible. Also, a letter from Rosetta arrived this evening. It was about what happened yesterday. Namely, about our discussion of what she enjoys from dinnertime. The writing was awkward, but I could tell she grasped what happened pretty well. She must be the type who mostly just Points, unlike me. If you’re being kind, that makes her modest. If you’re being unkind, it makes her easily influenced by her surroundings. But it was interesting seeing that dinner through someone else’s eyes. All I did was feed the old man the (unintentionally) disgusting hors d'oeuvre I had made, let him suffer for a bit, and then fed him the plat de résistance that Rosetta made. Eating Rosetta’s cooking after that bad cooking was sure to get him to voice his thoughts on it. But the letter made it clear she was actually pretty worried about it. I’ll quote her with a Point: I have to wonder if she isn’t used to being rejected. But there’s no helping that. No one would want to reject her cooking. But the old man did praise her cooking, so I was satisfied. Rosetta was relieved and then she crouched down. She made sure to write about that. Another Point: That’s what it means to enjoy something, but I wonder if she remembers it properly. Well, I’m sure it’s fine. Since she felt worried and then relieved, she’s clearly got pretty good basic functions. It’s learning those feelings that makes you human. I kind of understand why I’ve been so fixated on her. I must want to find some kind of answer in this world. My life in France is that of an outsider and also under the German army’s rule. Even when I’m viewing the archives, I don’t have free access to the deepest levels. Any letters sent out are normally inspected and censored. The city markets are gradually shrinking. And then everything will be Formatted come August. But I kind of feel like that mansion is cut off from all that. Perhaps because Rosetta doesn’t know about the outside world, I almost forget about the war while I’m with her and she’s probably the only person in the city I can really relax around. I need to give this some thought. I think I can make her human, but I don’t want to force her. I want it to happen because she wants it. So I first have to teach her what it means to become human. And once she is properly informed about the possibility, I will leave the decision with her. Now, then. Come to think of it, I need to pick up that map from Mallette today. If I’m going to investigate the Attesor Project, I need a map of Bourgogne where the lab was. I want to say something to Phillip who acquired that old map for me, but I think I’ll find another excuse and have everyone get together. Yes. After that, I’ll write letters to Rosetta and the old man and then go to sleep. I especially want to tell that old man to let Rosetta out of the mansion and to let her do a lot of things. ### Beretta’s Letter: To Rosetta To my beloved friend…or whatever, Yahoo. Your letter arrived and there was nothing wrong with it. It was quite good. Now, listen. Letters are used to convey and confirm the things that you and the recipient need to know. Your letter fulfilled that role just fine. It was far better than the unbelievably crude ones from my friend whose promiscuity might as well be a national treasure…actually that isn’t giving you enough credit. Yours was legitimately good and not just good compared to hers, so don’t worry. I will not throw out your letter and I will not forget about it. I was worried you might find me to be something of an annoyance. I can be pretty cowardly. Are you looking out at the city? Are you going out in the yard and walking around? Foxes and wild rabbits live in Boulogne Forest, so you might see some on the mansion hill. I spotted a fox hole on the slope when I was there. So if you do see something that isn’t human in the yard, use an Ajouter to look at it. It is probably the same as you, so if you don’t do anything to displease it, it should happily leave. Don’t forget that there are always a lot of beings other than you around you. Um, I keep getting really preachy with you, don’t I? I think I’m turning into an old lady now that I’m past 20. Ugh. But now that I have the old man’s permission, I’ll stop by to play with you from time to time. There’s a lot you need to know. There really is a lot I want to tell you, so I think I’ll be by before long. We live in dangerous times and I could get arrested any day, but let’s try to enjoy this. P.S. I do have some advice about letter writing. Or about writing in general, really. There are rules you need to follow when writing. Your letter doesn’t follow them and…um…simply put, it’s a pretty major flaw. I don’t want to dump a bunch of complicated stuff on you at once, so I’ll teach you bit by bit. When I write, there’s always a “.” at the end. ←This First of all, I want you think about what that means. Have you thought about it? Now for an example. In your letter, you quoted me like this: “You do not seem to cry at times like this but I will remind you of this You have the right and duty to remember it Old man you know what I mean right” Try reading that out loud. Could you read it all in one breath? You couldn’t, could you? Do you know why not? Because when I said it, I didn’t say it all in one breath. So the way you have written it makes it hard to tell where you are supposed to pause for a breath. To make it easier to read, you would have to use a Signe to copy down exactly what I said, including the breaths. But writing down “breath” each time would be lame, right? So we use a symbol to indicate a breath. I’ll write it out using that rule. “You do not seem to cry at times like this but I will remind you of that. You have the right and duty to remember it. Old man you know what I mean right.” That “.” tells you when to take a breath. Now read it out loud while putting in the breaths. Do you get it now? Even when we read silently, we still take breaths in our head. When you speak with the old man, you aren’t just speaking continuously, right? You make sure to pause to breathe and to think, don’t you? Think about it. If you do, I think you should know where to put the “.”. The general rule is to put a “.” where you need to take a breath. ←Like this Wow, this P.S. has gotten long. Bye for now. I want to speak with you soon and there might be things you can teach me. Oh, and you also wrote this in your letter: Thanks. Yeah, that’s all. ### Heinz Berger’s Journal Today at 10:02, a messenger arrived at the barracks. I will leave here on the 16th and I will arrive in Paris on the 20th. I will spend 2 months teaching basic training there using a weakened Grösse Panzer in order to improve morale. During that time I will also receive the 73rd and 74th Panzer Ritter Project surgeries. The messenger gave me some information from the Western Front. According to General Rommel who commands the 352nd Infantry Division which includes my platoon, the Allies will make their next major move in mid-June. He suspects they intend to make a landing at the beaches of Normandy. “But the Führer believes the Allies will cross the Strait of Dover to land at Calais instead, so there is apparently some conflict of opinion.” At 15:22, I called the 1st Aide and told him about this mission and that my return to the battlefield had been delayed by another 2 months. At 16:34, an intelligence officer visited. He questioned me about whether or not I believed in the existence of the Attesor Project and what I would do if I did believe in it. As I had previously decided, I told him I intended to investigate the Attesor Project. He saluted and left. I predict they will take some sort of action eventually. At 20:09, I arranged my things. I once more found the photograph among them. In it, an adult and child are smiling in front of some flowers. I am unsure if my curiosity has been triggered by those two. But I did not throw out the box containing the photograph and I returned it to my things. Nothing more to report. ### March 16, 1944 ### Guilliaum’s Journal Today’s Incidents: 1: Heinz Berge is Coming to Paris Some information came in from the Resistance in the east. Someone very unpleasant is coming to Paris. I just hope he isn’t staying long and that he doesn’t visit me. Well, I haven’t seen him since I was taken prisoner in the Morvan Mountains. And I heard he has almost no memories after the Psyche Outer surgery to go along with his mechanical body, so he might not remember me. 2: Small Scale Preparations by the Paris Resistance The Western Front has come to a standstill. We should assume that means the Allies are preparing for a major attack. And it must be such a major attack that they can’t tell us about it. My guess is it will happen in June once the season has settled down. This would probably be easier if Rose Francisca would prophesy it for me. I need to have the Resistance make some simple publicity work to inform the people of Paris about the presence of the Allies. 3: That Girl is Visiting Perhaps because she knows nothing of my past, she has been sending me letters and visiting a lot lately. She seems to think of herself as Rosetta’s tutor, but it looks to me like she is able to relax when she talks with Rosetta. Since Rosetta knows nothing of the outside world, speaking with her might help relieve the tensions of daily life. ### German Army General Headquarters Telegram: To the Paris Branch Urgent. We have revealed the general outline of the Attesor Project that the Geheimnis Agency has been investigating for some time. During the previous war, the French army performed research and development on what they called the strongest Panzer. This was known as the Attesor Project, but they scrapped it for unknown reasons after completing it. The belongings of those involved have revealed that the results of the research remain somewhere in France. We request that the Paris Branch in central France investigates this matter. We will soon send over the related documents. The current objective is to search out someone who was involved in the project, but most of those in the French army had their memories completely erased. You will instead need to search out information from those not in the army. We will search for related information in the German army records from the time. And as previously reported, Army Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge will take charge of your Panzer training when he arrives. Review the related documents and prepare accordingly. This training will also be a show of force against France. By revealing our Panzer Ritter Project in progress, we can increase our own morale. Over. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 09:00, we left Berlin in a private car. We traveled west on the Autobahn. At 15:32, we arrived at the 18th Army Barracks in Belgium to stop for the night. At 16:41, I found Volumes 1-8 of M. Schrier’s Ober Geheimnis Compilation on the bookshelf at the restaurant next to the barracks. After some negotiation with the manager, I purchased them with German currency. I will begin investigating once I arrive in Paris. At 18:35, the 1st Aide and I accompanied the Western Front and discussed the Allies’ next attack. At 20:02, we ended our discussion. As scheduled, I will arrive in Paris on the 20th. ### 352. Chapter 4: Knight 03/19/1944 – 03/20/1944 The records say Grazie is a pretty powerful Barrel, don’t they? ### March 19, 1944 ### German Army Paris Branch Telegram: To General Headquarters Received documents concerning the Attesor Project to develop the strongest Panzer. Currently investigating using the French military’s internal data network. Over. ### Resistance Poster: To the People of Paris The German army is retreating from the western front!! The time to liberate Paris draws near. Do not trust the German army’s information restrictions and do not give up hope even if this poster is torn down!! ### Beretta’s Letter: To Mallette, My Neighbor who is Probably Asleep Even Now at Midday Hi, Mallette. I’m currently taking the Lourd de Marionnette lecture for my second morning class, but I’m so damn bored. The art class before this was interesting, though. And what’s this? Ever since Professor Becarre was arrested, there’s always an Allemande soldier sitting in a corner of the classroom. Is that to keep an eye on things? I don’t like that at all. Especially today’s strict-looking old man whose insignia suggests is an Écrivain. The practice today will apparently be a quick mock battle against that old man. I guess this means the Germans are gradually tightening their grip. And we only just learned in political science class that control of the media and education is a step toward dictatorship. Anyway, I’m writing this letter during class, so I’ll drop it in your room’s boîte aux lettres . I’m sure you’ll be asleep until the afternoon anyway. You might miss out on a lot if you sleep in today. It was pretty noisy outside this morning. While you were sleeping, the Paris Resistance covered the streets with posters to inform everyone that the German military is retreating. That means the people of Paris will have Ajouter-ed that information. I wonder what everyone else will do. But, well, the patrols from tonight on are probably going to be a real pain. You’ll get arrested too if you’re out wandering at night. I know I don’t have to remind you, but you’re half Jewish. And you don’t want them using that as an excuse to harass you, right? That was why the soldiers were hassling you when we first met. Not that complaining in a letter is going to change anything. So I’m stuck here in this Lourd de Marionnette lecture and then I have to go through with the practice afterwards, but why are we even doing this? If only the Germans would accuse this class of training the resistance and cancel the rest of the classes just for me. Oh, well. Besides, the Germans have put power restrictions on every Appareil in France, so there aren’t any in Paris that can fight properly. Without proper power and weapons, an Appareil is the same as a car. I wonder what they’ll do about the Lourd de Marionnette battle during the school festival. Only a beginner would enjoy Recréa-ing into an underpowered Lourd de Marionnette. A veteran wouldn’t be able to stand it. Even if you can only use it for a short time, I just want to use a Full Drive Start and-…well, you wouldn’t know what any of this means. Ever since the Germans were stationed here, the Lourd de Marionnette battle at the year-end festival and school festival has had a German Lourd de Écrivain take part as a special guest. A student doesn’t stand a chance against a soldier, but they make it even more unfair because their Appareil isn’t power restricted. The librarian lady at the library I often visit says it’s meant as a show of force. But at last year’s year-end festival, I kicked the German Lourd de Marionnette’s ass and won, so some people are apparently hoping I’ll do it again this year. A representative of the economics department said I’m their #1 recommendation. I Ajouter-ed a bulletin board earlier and that’s what it said. I’ll probably never hear the end of it from Phillip if I accept. Anyway, summer break is coming up soon, so classes and life are both getting pretty busy. While everyone at the appartement is heading back home like you are, I think I’ll enjoy a carefree vacance in Paris. Oh, the practice is about to begin. Like usual, of the three Lourd de Marionnettes in the storage rooms, the instructor gets one and we do some quick mock battles with the male and female one left over. The guys always get so excited. They’re so childish. Wait, what? The professor is saying I’m supposed to Recréa, too. His line was pretty amazing: “Beretta already has a no-limits Lourd de Marionnette license and was given the honor of being selected as the economics representative for the school festival’s Lourd de Marionnette battle, but she is still diligently attending the lesson today. The rest of you could learn a thing or two from… (Bleh, the old man’s talking too fast to write down the rest.)” But I’m sorry, professor, I wasn’t being remotely diligent. I’ve been sitting here writing this letter. By the way, the guys’ excitement cooled in a hurry when they heard I would be Recréa-ing. And not because they were moved by my “diligent example” or because of the qualifications the professor listed off. No, I’m sure it’s because I’m the one that won at last year’s year-end festival. Oh, and most of the girls in the class are fad-followers who only came over to see me after they heard the rumors. I can’t believe this. If only transfer students weren’t required to take this class. “We have a special class just for transfer students. Simply attending university will earn you a Lourd de Marionnette license.” I get that it’s one of their selling points for transfer students, but it’s pretty pointless for me since I already have a no-limits license. Also, I haven’t been too crazy about piloting Lourd de Marionnettes lately. It probably seems weird to see a Lourd de Marionnette lover like me writing that, but, well, it’s like your period. Women just have those moods sometimes. Why is it, Mallette? It’s like my personality changes a little when I’m piloting one. And my opponent this time is the German Lourd de Écrivain sitting so arrogantly in the corner there. I’m a little worried. Okay, I’ll seal this up before Recréa-ing. Bye. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank And with that, I’ve finished the Write Bring and stepped out into the school’s mock battlefield. I’ll start off with a Point. Has this place been around for a long time, I wonder? I know I’ve heard that Sorbonne University has existed since the middle ages. Hm. But, well, the girls are there in the stands, but there’s no one else there, not even the professor. Are all the guys still holed up in the eastern storage room? Well, they’re doing a forced Write Bring on someone who isn’t used to it, so I guess it’ll take some time. I suppose I’ll move around a bit now. HLP018 77-LL Grazie is the Barrel I used during last year’s year-end festival. It’s a female Heavy Barrel from World War One, so it’s kind of impressive it’s held together so well. In a Heavy Barrel museum, it would rank at a preservation level of B. The emblems on the shoulders are angel wings. Grazie’s Over Emblem is a mobility-increasing ability called Ange, but I’ve never activated it. In San Francisco of ’98, Grazie was completely outdated and its modern version, Joie, has an attack Over Emblem called Tout Ange. But the records say Grazie is a pretty powerful Barrel, don’t they? It inherited the poor wire cylinder output adjustment of the previous model, Sourire, but its instantaneous power can give a modern Barrel a run for its money. As always, this girl is very well maintained. Despite being such an old model, the arms move just fine and they don’t catch at all. She writes to the memory bank with decent speed, too. What I didn’t like was when I Pointed in the storage room and saw the armored dress to hide my nudity was the same 20-year-old design from last year and that the Barrel barely had any armor on it. This is a female model, but it’s more like shiny skin than jewel-like skin. And the legs are a little worrying. They’re a bit skinny, but the lubrication oil used in them is old. I pointed it out before, but it’s still using the same oil as the arms. The legs bear more weight than the arms, so I’d prefer more viscous oil than in the arms. It’s about endurance over mobility. But I guess there’s nothing I can do about the power restriction. It can probably run, but I doubt it can hold its ground. A few of the wire cylinders would probably be taken out. But they’ve left it with enough power to move around, so is that what they call “German generosity” or are they just stupid? If I gathered spare parts from across France, I could probably build a full Barrel on this level. But, well, I guess it is true that Barrels are outdated. The armor is thinner than a tank’s, they make a big target, and they aren’t as maneuverable as an airplane. They’re intimidating as hell, though. That’s why they’re used in cities and infantry divisions. I bet the Germans are doing a lot of research to find some tech that will let them rival modern weaponry. After all, that country is gathering Death Techno. Not that I’m much different there…well, I should stop thinking about that. The others might Sign these memories later on. But I can’t believe this. The joints feel all hollow, which is kind of sad. Oh, and I can’t stand that my weapon is a wooden sword. The Germans have done a real thorough job of confiscating everything. It was a wooden spear back at the year-end festival, wasn’t it? I’m a Phalanx. A spear-user. That’s the real difference between me and my grandma, who taught all about Heavy Barrels. She never once performed a Write Bring in front of me, but she’s known as the Sword Lady, so she must have used a sword. I wonder how she’s doing. I’ve been feeling a bit down lately. And I know why. I want to ask someone for advice and I have so much to think about, but there’s no one I can talk with. I’m an outsider in this world and everything I’m thinking is either out of character for me or is something I’m not allowed to say. I can’t be like that old man I saw at the bakery. I might be worrying Rosetta with all this. She said this in an earlier letter: If she wants to become human and trusts me, maybe I could tell her. Tell her about this world and the incident I’m involved in. And that I’m a Knight Striker, but I couldn’t protect some people. Wow, this is getting dark. I need to distract myself. “Activate Wide-Range Vision: Success” I had only been using the anti-ground vision, but now my vision spread out to include the sky and the horizon. My vision was never this wide as a human. This mode uses the two anti-ground sight devices, the one superior eye sight device on the forehead, and the compound eye sight devices on the left and right of the head. There just aren’t words to describe how amazing it is to see from all of those eyes at once. My view covers approximately 120 degrees in front, up, down, left, and right, for a total of 240 degrees in all. That lets me hold both the heavens and the earth in my hand at once. I gain that humanly-impossible vision by combining my Lives with the machine. Right now, I can see the blue sky, the city of Paris beyond the mock battlefield’s walls, and the earthen ground. This is one of the reasons I like piloting Heavy Barrels. A Knight Striker has power and is duty-bound to protect, but this vision is the greatest freedom. That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. I really understand what that Knight Striker song is trying to say. I mean, the winter sky is so very tall. Well, I’m not sure what I’m Signing here now, but while the skies in America were always unbelievably vast and unimaginably blue, the sky of Paris is something else entirely. I might just not be used to the rules of Signing since I’m not a resident of Paris, but I feel like you can’t see Paris’s sky unless you’re searching for it. I can probably see it by Pointing an azure sky, but it takes Signing to see the blue sky I really want to see. So seeing Paris’s sky brings me joy when I look up and see it. And looking to the sky with a Heavy Barrel’s vision only strengthens that feeling. If I confirm my own presence here below the sky, I feel like I’ll suddenly find the sky is gone. I raised my head and looked into the sky. It felt like I could see the wind. Yeah. But the other side really was slow. What were they doing? I’ll Point real quick. Whelp. Meanwhile, I came out almost immediately and everyone’s waiting. The girls are probably shouting from the colosseum stands by now. I don’t feel like Pointing that, though. Ugh. I should’ve claimed I was on my period and skipped out on this. But I really do like Write Bringing into Heavy Barrels. I’d better get an S instead of just an A for this class. Oh, I should Point. That’s the average male Heavy Barrel from World War One. It looks a little shakier than when I saw it last year, but I guess you can’t expect much when there’s a boy piloting it. Both of these are probably used military models. After all, there were signs of some insignia being scraped off next to the ladder up to the Study on mine. The other one is probably the same. And…huh? The instructor’s came out too, but… Huh? A Middle Barrel? Even if we have this power restriction, are they mocking us? And that body. It can’t be… Oh, crap. Was that damage from me? If so, this could be bad. It’s going to be really awkward. I hope he doesn’t have any regrets. Well, no one’ll find out as long as they don’t read this memory bank. I’ll just erase it a bit as I cancel the Write Bring. I wrote some oddly mellow stuff toward the start. He’s aiming it toward me? …Hmm. Does that mean he chose me as an opponent before the boy? I’m going to remain suspicious and Sign. Have you heard about last year’s festival from someone? Perhaps that a female Knight Striker from this school humiliated a German Panzer Kavalier? Well, it doesn’t matter either way. I’ll just say what I have to say. “I’m looking forward to the lesson you have for me.” So let’s get this started!! ### Lourd de Marionnette Professor Voith Malraux’s Scoresheet: Beretta’s Score First, I will write down the result of the first battle. Her skill at making her opponent look good while ultimately winning is completely abnormal. The way she moved around to cover for the weak legs, which are the one defect of the HLP018 line, reminded me of a musical dance and I completely understand why she was recommended as a Lourd de Écrivain for the school festival. The first mock battle was a complete victory. She was using a power-restricted model against an MMP055, which is a quite powerful despite being a Forma de Marionnette, but she still managed to remain in complete control of the battle and knock the wooden sword out of her opponent’s grasp. From beginning to end, I have to give her an S rating. And now we are about to begin a second battle at the instructor’s request. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank Ugh. He wants to fight a second battle? Since when did we start using “first to two” rules? Besides, I think the boy in the Guerre has got to be bored over there in the corner. A soldier needs to be a little more prepared to accept defeat. I should probably Point just to be on the safe side. Looks like my suspicions from before were correct. Well, fine. Let’s do this. And while I’m thinking that… Oh? You’ve got some skill at surprise attacks. I dodged. I thought Germany was supposed to be the country of Kavaliers!? A male Middle Barrel is making a surprise attack on a female opponent right as the battle begins!? Okay, you’ve got guts. That grazed my head, you bastard. But if you’re gonna make a horizontal swing of the sword, aim for my body, not my head. And if you’re gonna make a vertical swing, aim for my head, not my shoulder. Can you hear me? Of course you can’t. He made one attack. He made two attacks. He made three attacks. I could predict them all, so I didn’t bother Pointing. They’ll all just be over-the-top swishes through empty air. He might’ve cut off the reflexes from his pain sensors. Your Barrel was just repaired, so move around too much and you’ll spew oil. See? What’d I tell you? I can hear a stir in the crowd…or so I’ll say. But a single bind cylinder doesn’t count as an injury for a male Middle Barrel, right? If that was enough to cause a malfunction, it would never be used in actual combat. That was nicely done. But you left an opening. I’ll take out the shoulder of your armored dress and the armor panel below. Ready, set… And got it. See? It was the opposite shoulder. This is pretty easy. Or rather, the enemy is too naïve. Come to think of it, Phillip said he hasn’t Write Bringed into a Heavy Barrel for about a decade, but I wonder how he did it back then? Did he go the manly route and jam himself in there all at once? ...Ah. That phrasing was kind of lewd. Like something Mallette would say. But it’s not like I’m hoping for anything like that. We did kiss, but I don’t really want to go against what my parents would want. Plus, he’s with the Germans right now. …And he dies. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait, wait, wait. You damn enemy, don’t come charging in while I’m thinking. And you don’t have to do that “oryaaaaaaaaaaaah” yell. Are you a city thug or something? I dodged. Hmm. In thaaat case… <“Noryaaaaaaaaaaaah!”> No, you idiot. And that “doryaaaaaaaaaaaah” isn’t any better. Dodge, dodge. Hmm. Ah, hey, “soryaaaaaaaaaaaah” doesn’t work either. I’ve only been Signing and saying whatever I wanted without Pointing at all, but since I’m unharmed, that must mean that my Signing has been almost the same as reality. That means the enemy is moving like I predicted. I can’t believe this. I just can’t get into it. Part of that is the pathetic opponent, but I’ve also had too much on my mind. You move a Heavy Barrel with your mind instead of your muscles, so letting your mind wander is a really bad idea. Fine, then. I’ll just finish this up all at once. I’ll put some distance between us. Female Heavy Barrels are generally lacking in power. And that’s made all the worse by the power restriction. The trick to winning is either to make a charge or to use your opponent’s movements for a counterattack. In boxing terms, it’s like being an out-boxer. I raised my weapon. I had to measure the exact distance from the enemy, so I Pointed. I think I’ll charge forward too and show him a bit of a combat performance. I held the wooden sword’s pommel inside my fist. My shoulder could not move my hand around well with the decorations in the way, but I only needed a straight-line movement from here. The enemy arrived within my attack range of 15 yards. I thrust the wooden sword toward where his face should be. In fact, I threw it. It was a nice throw. My aim should’ve been perfect, so let’s Point. I charged in as well. I dodged right before he hit. At the same time, I swung my leg like I was dancing and knocked his legs out from under him. He tripped forward. Once he landed on his face, the sword would pierce straight through and out the back of his head. Ugh, actually let’s not do that. I grabbed the tripping opponent’s armored dress for just an instant and kicked him to the side. It’s kind of scary how much my predictions match what happens. He probably fell to the ground with a loud crash. That’s something you can’t let happen with a machine like a Heavy Barrel. Some parts will break from its own weight and you can’t get out since the Study is located on its back. But if you’re a Knight Striker, then get up on your own. Surely that didn’t knock you out. Right? Don’t you think, audience? Okay, okay. That’s what I’m talking about. Is it because I defeated an Allemande soldier that everyone’s so excited? Yeah. I’ll write that I took a breath and found that the surrounding scene put me in a good mood. Both heaven and earth filled my vision at once. This is the real purpose for Write Bringing into a Heavy Barrel. Now, time to end the Write Bring. ### March 20, 1944 ### Heinz Berger’s Journal Today at 19:02, I arrived in Paris. At 20:15, I visited the German army’s Paris branch. I received the paperwork for my Panzer unit training duty that was prepared along with the notification of my arrival. At 21:23, I visited the Panzer unit training ground in the Chantelle region on the outskirts of Paris. It was very quiet as there was no night training being held, but I did see a Mittel Panzer undergoing repairs in the hangar. The workers told me a soldier had joined in some Kavalier training at Sorbonne University and lost after having his Panzer tripped. I have decided this is worth considering for the training beginning tomorrow. I also saw an officer assisting the workers in the hangar. Upon inquiry, he informed me his name is Phillip Missel. He wore an earring bearing a sword emblem. I left after confirming that he is related to Jean Missel, the former Chevalier de Paris who earned much fame during the previous Great War. At 22:05, I returned to the barracks. Starting tomorrow, I will take part in training three times a week and spend the rest of my time investigating the Attesor Project. ### 353. Chapter 5: Books 03/21/1944 - 03/25/1944 I plan to visit the library to investigate the Attesor Project ### March 21, 1944 ### Letter from Sword Lady #8: To Beretta who Inherited my Name Are you reading this, Beretta who inherited my name? I can’t believe this. I’ve already used up half of the letter set and ink from US Army Development. But we can’t help how limited the quantity is. These are special products created by gathering up antique paper and ink that existed in the forties and doing some emblem processing. Without this, you wouldn’t be able to bring these into that world, so that’s just the way it is. The former Allied soldier in charge of you “transfer students” mentioned that he wished they had created a lot more stuff back then. Because anything made outside of France before August 6, 1943 can be brought into the city without the immune system catching it. Putting together a full set of supplies from back then isn’t exactly easy here in ’98. Just processing your own genetic structure to match the space-time Lives of that time is hard enough, but we also have to worry about your clothes and accessories. Even if Virtual City DT is skilled with Live processing, it still can’t be easy. From what I’ve heard, they might have to start using kimonos from Japan starting next year. I hope your clothes weren’t blown off of you when you arrived in Paris. It’s a little late now, but that can happen because only clothes form the time period can get inside. The Live immune system that supports France is a weird thing. First Erasers like me and anyone else who has been in there once before is kicked out, but anything that was anywhere except France at the time is allowed in the first time. Then when the Format hits, it notices something isn’t right and never lets that in again. That is why there are no time paradoxes inside Paris. Those of us familiar with the First Format time period aren’t allowed in and any changes to history are reset with each Format. Thanks to that and the immune system, any changes with an external cause can only be tried once. And the immune system grows stronger each year, so there are fewer and fewer changes inside. France wants to take good care of itself from that time. Do you understand, Beretta? France is gradually solidifying itself and closing itself off more completely. I hope France is freed from that Rondeau, though. Then again, that would send the entire world back to ’44. So France must be allowed to fully close itself off and it will one day disappear from the world. It’s a complicated thing. …Now, then. Since this is the 8th letter, it must be March there. But not much of note should happen that month. Still, are there a number of things you can’t come to terms with? When it was me, I couldn’t stand being unable to tell everyone I was an Allied special agent, so are you feeling something similar? Well, I’m sure you have your issues, whatever they might be. You may have made some temporary friends and maybe a boyfriend. Just like me, you’re a pretty attractive woman when you bother to behave. And just like me, you may have met someone you wish you could promise your future to. But, stay strong, Beretta who inherited my name. If you come across a problem you can’t solve and it has to do with history, politics, or the course of the war, I could give you an accurate answer by looking back in my memories. But your personal problems are something only you can solve. Do you remember that important lesson I’m always telling you? Worrying about things is not a bad thing. What is bad is keeping those worries in your head and never acting on them. A Knight Striker moves the Barrel with the power of their will while Write Bringing, right? This is the same. Your will leads to action. France is destined to Format, but it also carries a number of possibilities and continues to move. It can still move. It has yet to fully solidify. And one of those possibilities must be a method of freeing it from the Rondeau. Well, that’s all I can say on that. If I waste any more ink, I’ll run out. I am praying that you are not in too much trouble. While I write all 13 letters in a single night. ### Beretta’s Journal School is off for the week as is the custom during Easter. That’s why I am writing this entry at the city hall. I brought the introduction letter the librarian lady gave me and they let me check the documents room in the basement. But it wasn’t easy getting to this point. I mean, I’m just some kid with an American accent, so the old guy at the reception desk just kept Signing and refusing to look at the letter. It took a lot of work getting him to Point. The basement documents room seemed larger than the library’s lower level. Below France there is a network of underground passages between catacombs and they said the documents room was originally a part of that. Come to think of it, that weird German adventurer discovered the grave of the Mother of a Thousand Kings underground here. Even though we have the week off for Easter, the boys taking the Heavy Barrel class are holding mock battles for anyone who wants more practice. Since I beat up the instructor before, the boys’ Heavy Barrel couldn’t do anything. Since it’s voluntary, I don’t think I’ll join them. Just watching would be boring and Write Bringing again probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Both because of that previous mock battle and because I’m just not feeling real into it right now. I know I shouldn’t just sit around worrying like this, but I can’t help but wonder. What does it mean to Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel? I couldn’t protect the others and I regret what happened, but I did fight a minor battle with the Germans that night. Some of them probably died. When I place my dead comrades and the dead enemies on the scale, how am I supposed to read the result? A Knight Striker is supposed to protect people. When a lot happened as a kid and I started wanting that power, I found a certain book in our study and realized that power was a lot closer to home than I thought. That is the power to protect what matters most to you. That’s when I grew to love Heavy Barrels in addition to Sein Fraus and I started asking my grandma about Knight Strikers and about my great-grandfather Jack McWild. I thought I understood all this. I even helped a vigilante group at Image City – SF and defeated Live monsters with a Heavy Barrel. I was satisfied with that, but it isn’t that easy. Can a Knight Striker really protect people? And even if they can, can I do it? It’s such a weird thing to worry about. It’s a lot like my thoughts about Rosetta. I kind of hope she wants to become human and this is similar. I do want to find the answer. In this reality which is doomed to disappear, I want to make Rosetta human and I want to find out what a Knight Striker is. One of those will be Formatted and the other won’t, but neither one will disappear as far as I am concerned. That’s how it works. It’s about time to head back. Today, I’ll read over the documents at home and check for a change of address notification or something like that. If it goes well, I might figure out where my great-grandmother moved tonight. I’ll also select any documents related to the Attesor Project and make copies. The old guy at the reception desk wasn’t happy about it, but I gathered all of the information I might need. And I’ve made up my mind on one thing. Tonight, I’m going to write a letter to M. Schrier. I decided I can’t just put it off and I have to try everything I can. So I’ll write a letter to M. Schrier tonight and try to force an answer out of France’s Lives. I’ll push things outside the pre-established harmony and wait to see what kind of response France will give me to hide it. I’ll visit the library tomorrow and give the letter to the librarian. But I’ll have to write that letter while pretending to be someone from this time period. Using my grandma would probably be best. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal At 09:30, I greeted the Panzer unit at the army’s Paris branch office. Every member of the day shift gathered at the Panzer training ground. At 11:00, we began the drills. As an example, I sliced through three Panther tank shells fired at me from head on. With a break in the middle, I fought 28 mock battles against both the day shift and the night shift that swapped out at 19:00. None of them could last three battles in a row, but I have determined this gave them all an opportunity to obey me. At 20:30, I returned to the barracks. My 1st Aide informed me that my 2nd Aide would also be arriving from my platoon stationed at Normandy. “Please do not push yourself too hard, Lieutenant Colonel.” He gave me that advice, but I held back on responding as I still do not have a reference point for defining “too hard”. At 22:00, I read the Ober Geheimnis Compilation. In the 7th volume, 30 pages were spent on the Attesor Project. Most of it felt like it was merely written by a curious third party, but I believe fragments of the truth can be found there. The Attesor Project was meant to develop the strongest Panzer and I have found I feel hostility toward it. I joined the Panzer Ritter Project to become the strongest. Am I trying to learn about the Attesor Project to determine its strength? I am off duty tomorrow, so I plan to visit the library to investigate the Attesor Project. ### Beretta’s Letter: House Thanksure Publishing – To M. Schrier As the early spring wind blows in, I hope you are doing well. This is my first time writing you. I am Beretta McWild, a student living in Paris. A few years ago, I grew interested in the Attesor Project to develop the strongest Barrel that is mentioned in Volume 7 of your Death Techno Compilation and I am currently investigating it as an exchange student in Paris. (The German army occupied France soon after I arrived four years ago and I am unable to escape, so assume this letter reached you along a special route.) This may be presumptuous of me, but I would like to ask something of you. If you have any documents, copies of documents, or other reference materials from the research into the Attesor Project for your Death Techno Compilation, could you possibly just give me a list of what they are? I know this is an unreasonable request for someone who must be as busy as you during this war, but please help me out if at all possible. My father was apparently a leader of the Attesor Project and he was killed by someone in Paris five years ago. I do not know why, but it may have been related to that project. (Although I do not see what value a plan that had been abandoned and erased from people’s memories could have.) My father never told me or my mother anything about the Attesor Project. I would like to uncover the full picture of that project. With this letter, I will include copies of the reports I believe to be connected to the Attesor Project that I found here in Paris as well as the records my father left behind. Hopefully they will be of some use to you. I should probably be sending a fan letter, but I am sending you this instead. Sorry about that. If you are willing to reply, then send it to someone known as the High Priestess using the South Sea Cruise Post. Then it should reach me along a special route. Sorry for interrupting your busy schedule. I am praying you will remain successful in the future. ### March 22, 1944 ### Beretta’s Journal I’m in the library today. I secretly handed the librarian the letter and package, but she chuckled when she saw who it was addressed to. M. Schrier is apparently well known for going around with his assistant and doing crazy things against the Germans. It was a good reminder that this is back when he was doing that in real time. It felt like finding myself inside a book. (Well, you could kind of say this city is inside the book of the Format Rondeau.) This was the first time the librarian asked me what I’ve been investigating all this time. Well, I actually Pointed and realized she’s been asking me that this entire time. We always had such a simple conversation during the checkout process that I never even thought she might be asking that. When I said I was investigating the Attesor Project, it was the library director next to her who reacted first. That chicken-like old man smiled bitterly and mentioned a commotion in the Bourgogne region 25 years ago where a giant appeared and devoured some German troops, but then he said this: “But if that project had succeeded, France wouldn’t be like this now.” While looking through all the documents, I’ve realized two things: some powerful military commander definitely carried out the project in extreme secrecy (so that they would not lose any status if it failed) and the results of the experiments were only seen in the Bourgogne region. The majority of the witnesses were in the Bourgogne region’s Herlde village in the Morvan mountains. 25 years ago, the German army apparently passed through that mountain corridor in an attempt to take the shortest route west. Because that corridor is the only way to pass through those central French mountains without taking any damage from the black dragon there. The journey takes six days through there, but more than two weeks if you go around. But the records say the people of Herlde didn’t know there was an Attesor Project lab deep in the mountains there. Then what cover story did Jack McWild and the others use when they visited the village? I solved that mystery today. One of the documents was a newspaper article based on independent research of the French army at the time and it contained what appears to be the answer. (I actually found this article last year, but I didn’t realize it was so important until now. I’m so pathetic.) There was more to the article saying that a survey team would be sent in first to perform a few geological surveys, so that team would be entering the Morvan mountains a few different times. A deeper inspection of the military records revealed that survey team to be the Weapons Development Office’s 781st Unit, but their budget was not listed and the people on the unit were never specified. Nor did it ever mention a length of their survey or that they had ever completed it. It sounded a lot like personal troops or a ghost unit. The timing matched perfectly with when Jack McWild and his group had been holed up in the Morvan mountains and occasionally descending to Herlde for either a break or to resupply. So I Signed that the unit was in fact the cover story they used in the Bourgogne region. When the villagers asked them what soldiers were doing there, they would have responded that they were performing a geological survey. They had probably known what the “giant that ate the German troops” was, but they may have feigned fear and tried to build up the commotion further. The outlines of Jack McWild’s character were coming into view. He must have loved excitement, just like a real American. I’m understanding more and more. But even if this tells me that the Attesor Project really did exist, I still don’t know what kind of project it was. What was it for? Oh, I should probably get going. The documents I searched last night told me what room my grandma used to live in, so I think I’ll visit there. I haven’t found any change of address info yet, but I have a starting point. Then I’ll write a letter for Rosetta. When I’ve been focused on the Attesor Project all day, I end up zoning out and growing curious how he’s doing. But I am starting to wonder one thing. I want her to evolve, but is that what she wants? I might find the answer to that soon and this may be a crossroads. Is she willing to become human, worry about so many things, and evolve in exchange for the joy of gaining emotions? It isn’t wrong to worry about things as my grandma always said, but I haven’t figured things out quite that far. So I kind of want to see for myself. Does she or does she not truly want to become human? That must be connected to what I’m worrying about. If she wants to become human as her Sein Frau destiny, then I think I’ll take a serious step forward too. I will face the unavoidable fact that I am a Knight Striker and I must protect people. Oh, I need to hurry out of here. Come to think of it, the anniversary of Jack McWild’s death is coming up. I need to think of something to do for that. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal At 09:30, I was asked to make an appearance at the army’s Paris branch office and I arrived there at 10:05. The branch commander said there was a problem with yesterday’s drills. It was unclear how, so I asked. He said one of the soldiers who received the training was the son of an influential general. That had no connection to the drills themselves, so I rejected the branch commander’s suggestion. I am here on orders from the general headquarters, so I must make it clear a mere branch commander cannot influence my actions. At 12:07, I left the branch office. At 13:00, I checked a road map of Paris at the barracks reception desk and ran across Phillip Missel who I had conversed with the day before last. During our short conversation, I asked him where the library was located. When he asked if I was investigating something, I mentioned the Attesor Project. It was brief, but a look of surprise appeared on his face. We parted ways without asking any further questions. At 15:07, I arrived at Paris’s central library. When I asked for the locations of the materials I wished for, I was informed most of them were currently checked out. I acquired the ones that were not and returned to the barracks at 18:10. At 19:30, I read through the materials. My memories from World War One really are gradually returning. At the time, I had become the third generation of the Berge family to reach the rank of lieutenant and I led a platoon near the border of France and Belgium. At the time, the French army supposedly had a project to develop the most powerful Panzer. I must find out whether that project actually existed and what results it had. At 22:05, I finished reading the materials. Only fragments of my old memories had returned and I realized something upon confirming that none of them had any connection to the Attesor Project. “Why are my memories returning?” This independent research was a way to determine what exactly the Attesor Project had been, but today’s activities almost felt like I was trying to restore my memories using that investigation. I predict that I had some kind of contact with the Attesor Project in the past. I have no way of knowing if those memories have simply yet to return or if they have and I have not recognized them as such. Once I complete tomorrow’s drills, I plan to visit the military document room and check for any records from the time. ### Sorbonne University Student Message Board: To Students of the Practical Lourd de Marionnettes Class On 3/26, Class 3-CG “Practical Lourd de Marionnettes” will hold a review for any who wish to attend. Please gather at the school’s mock battleground at 3 PM if you wish to participate. ### March 23, 1944 ### Letter Left by Phillip: To Beretta I’m writing this before heading to the branch office this morning. I gave you a map via Mallette before, but I seriously regret that. I know you are investigating the Attesor Project (which we laughed off as a superstition at one point), but I met a German who is seriously searching for that. You’ve probably heard his name before: Army Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge. He is the Lourd de Écrivain who remade his own body for using a Lourd de Marionnette in the Panzer Ritter Project. I don’t know why he’s searching for that, but he is in the German army and he is a Lieutenant Colonel in name only. His actual authority is on the level of a general. (It had something to do with a Lieutenant Colonel being the absolute maximum rank that would allow him to appear here as a platoon leader.) You’ll be in serious trouble if he sets his sights on you. I know you’re upset with me, but don’t do anything that would draw the Germans’ attention. At the very least, forget all about the Attesor Project until the end of the war…no, until Heinz Berge leaves Paris at the end of May. And like I said before, distance yourself from Lourd de Marionnettes. Heinz Berge is retraining the troops in Paris. Rumor has it he sliced through three tank shells fired at him from almost point blank range. So the Lourd de Marionnette battle at the school festival will involve a Lourd de Écrivain trained by him. You beat up a military opponent during class after I told you to stop, didn’t you? After last year and that, the branch office’s Lourd de Marionnette troops are fighting over who gets to visit Sorbonne University and take part in the Lourd de Marionnette battle. The university is holding a review for their Practical Lourd de Marionnettes class on the 26th, but don’t you dare show up to that. Just lie low for a while. That’s all I’m asking. ### Beretta’s Journal Today I’m writing my journal at home during the night. I’ll start by continuing where I left off yesterday. I found my grandma’s house. It was surprisingly close by. It’s an appartement in the residential area north of Tuileries Garden. The landlord said she remembers me (well, my grandma) and rubbed my head before showing me the room which is now vacant. It was a two bedroom appartement with a low ceiling. The wooden walls were painted a cream color, perhaps because my grandma begged for it as a kid. They had apparently actually been renting two rooms, but one of them has a resident now. And the one I had seen had miraculously been vacant since they had moved out. It had apparently been used as a Sein Frau maintenance storeroom. Those two rooms had contained my grandma’s entire life and everything I had inherited had been born there. According to the landlord, my great-grandmother, Rose Francisca, had sent a few letters since moving. Assuming she had not thrown out the letters, she promised to give me the contact information. Now, I spent all day gathering materials, hanging my blanket on the balcony to dry, and then taking it back down. When I checked the mail in the morning, I found letters from Rosetta and Phillip. Rosetta had apparently been maintaining the garden properly and she was spending more time out in the garden. She also asked how to use … and —, so I wrote a reply to answer her. I told her they were called an ellipsis and an em dash. And that the ellipsis had exactly three dots. I was really just passing on information I had learned at school in San Francisco, but I was able to write the letter and she would remember it. I also wrote a quick letter for that old man: “I want to teach Rosetta how to cook, so let her out of the house.” I wasn’t sure if that would get through to him, but I figured it was worth asking. It was about time for her to head out beyond the garden and the food of hers I had eaten before just seemed to suit my tastes really well. Mallette and the others are all terrible cooks, so I wanted to invite Rosetta to a cooking get-together with them all. I wasn’t sure if that old man would allow it, but I could always complain incessantly. And I think I’m going to make a decision here. If she is simply a Sein Frau who likes cooking, then I won’t try to make her evolve as a human any further. If she only wants to increase her functional ability and not as a human, then I’ll go along with that. But if that isn’t the case, then I’ll even more eagerly go along with what she wants. Now, the problem is Phillip. It’s like he can’t stop lecturing me. What did he think telling me that would accomplish? But I’m also kind of thankful. It feels like none of his business, but it also means he wanted to warn someone as unpleasant as me. But this is an important time. I had sent my letter to M. Schrier (well, to France really) and a lot of information was coming together. Plus, the war was at something of a standstill. The next big move would be the Normandy landing on June 6. France will get a lot busier then and I probably won’t be able to gather materials any longer. By then, I want to have found most all the materials I need and to visit the Bourgogne region. Although I can probably manage with the materials I already have. But telling Phillip all this would probably be wasted effort. I honestly don’t know if I’ll be taking part in the Heavy Barrel battle. I was nominated, but it’s really just up to my mood. After all, that battle is like a game, but I really don’t feel like doing it at this point. I only want to Write Bring when I have some serious thinking to do. I’ll probably come up with a conclusive answer eventually like I will with Rosetta. Today, I went over all the materials and created a chart of appointments and retirements of French generals during World War One. That way I can see who had remained in a position to control the Attesor Project from 1914 to 1919. I intend to examine that along with the other materials tomorrow. Now, the anniversary of my great-grandfather Jack McWild’s death is coming up soon. It was on the 25th that he was found below the bridge at the Place de la Concorde. I have to make sure I don’t forget that. Maybe it’s because I visited his home yesterday, but I feel like reading his writing. I plan to pull out his letter from the bottom of my travel bag and reread it before going to sleep. That of course is not the letter he intended to send to Rose Francisca. It’s a letter for a French friend that was found along with some materials explaining a few things about the Attesor Project. He never finished writing it, but it must be the final record that my great-grandfather left behind. My grandma gave me something that precious. I’m going to read that before going to sleep. I might cry, though. ### Jack McWild’s Letter: To My Friend in a Distant Land My friend. I haven’t had anything worth writing to you about, so I thought I had lost any chance to speak with you. But thank you for the letter each year for the past few years. Twenty years have passed since that cursed time and ten years have passed since everything got started anew, so perhaps our crimes are vanishing. The two of us are the only ones who remember that project. The survivors of that great war are gradually joining the dead and Beretta who I let you meet just that once (although she slept through most of it because she had worn herself out having fun) is now 16 and assisting a vigilante group by Write Bringing into a Heavy Barrel. When I see her fighting those Live Break monsters, I am sometimes reminded of you in the old days. Now, I think it is about time I truly made up for my crimes. I think I will make up for that failure of a project that required us to erase so many people’s memories and perhaps created great sorrow for so many people who are not even human. I plan to meet a certain person in Paris and entirely erase the Attesor Project. I will make that project no more than a superstition. Then I think I will visit you. And her as well. Thank you for telling me she has taken over her parents’ clinic. Ten years ago, I was unable to tell her about that project and I was working so hard to clean up afterwards, but she mistakenly thought it was she who had done something wrong and we broke up. At this point, I am glad that happened. That is why I must first truly make up for the Attesor Project. I will truly wipe the slate clean and attempt to redo everything. I will visit you eventually. And when I do, I want to forget everything and free the last trace of the Attesor Project. And I will of course need your cooperation for that. Then I will tell my daughter and the others- ### March 24, 1944 ### Beretta’s Journal I am writing my entry in the library today. I’ve been eating lunch in the entrance a lot lately. After eating an early lunch, I Pointed just for the hell of it and saw a German soldier walking past me. That was Heinz Berge. No doubt about it. He came here to investigate the Attesor Project. To be honest, I’m writing this in the study room, but I’m a little worried he’s going to show up behind me and arrest me. And when I was acting all defiant in yesterday’s entry. After seeing him for myself, Phillip’s warning felt a lot more convincing. Ugh. I didn’t Point at him for too long since I didn’t want him to get suspicious, but I think his eyes were also prosthetic and he definitely had auditory devices near his ears. I can see why he’s known as a Panzer Ritter. I can’t believe this. I never thought he would come here. I mean, the Attesor Project honestly doesn’t seem all that important. That Heinz guy didn’t bring any men with him, so is he only looking into it as an individual? What am I supposed to do about this? I think I’ll write out my possibilities here: 1: Stop gathering materials and gradually put together an overall picture of the Attesor Project. 2: Gather even more materials and quickly put together the overall picture before summer. Option 2 feels more like my style. But as Phillip said, the unexpected could happen. Option 1 would definitely be less nerve-racking. I think I’ll consider both options while making sure I can steer in either direction once I make up my mind. On that note, I had a small success in my compilation of historical documents today. I chose some candidates from the list of generals in the previous war I made last night and I narrowed it way down. The final answer is still only speculation, but I have to keep in mind what my great-grandfather’s letter said: This general would have to have maintained their high status from 1914 to 1919 but died within 20 years of the war’s end. And they needed to be powerful enough to build a lab in the mountains and have an entire unit perform research there for a 5 year period. That left only one option. That famous general was praised for his courage by the entire French army and he continued commanding he troops until near the end of the war while hiding the fact that he was afflicted with Words Warn. People called him Your Excellency. That’s a pretty big name, but it has to have been him. I’m not quite sure whether I should go ahead and Sign that it was him, but I’ll just have to use this as a clue for now. I’ve got to keep at it. It’s time I got home. Then I can mail Rosetta’s letter…no, I can just carry it to the mansion. ### Rosetta’s Journal I will write a journal entry today as well. A lot of unusual things happened today. I first noticed that the smell of the wind was different from normal. So I tried to look back into my old memories. I tried to remember the wind. I wanted to remember when I had first been touched by the wind. But I could not remember. I am incomplete. And the master once said that an incomplete machine is not a good thing. Recently there has been a large female machine known as a Lourd de Marionnette in the underground storeroom. Its arms and legs have been removed though. The master seems to want to see it move. I go look at the machine a lot. It was not created as a Belle de Marionnette and thus does not have a will of its own. But it is a machine just like me. However. If you asked me which one of us was the better machine I would tell you I am. For some reason I feel a sense of relief when I look at it. It does not grow and evolve and it does not have a will of its own. However. It is complete like that. I am incomplete. I will rewrite these thoughts as a letter to Lady Berretta. This evening Lady Beretta arrived by bicyclette and left after giving me a letter from her big bag. There was also a letter for the master. She used her letter to invite me out. She said she wants to teach me how to cook. She ended her letter by saying I should go outside soon. Me. Outside. I can view the outside from the mansion’s hill but that is only viewing it. Lady Beretta is trying to do something different. She is trying to invite me out into that. I have of course been in the city before. Like for the night market. And when I send a letter I go to the boîte aux lettres in front of Boulogne Forest. But I feel like this invitation is different. I do not know what to say. And I have realized something else as well. I want to go out. If I had to say why I would say because I can predict that something fun is sure to happen if I do as Lady Beretta says. There is so much more out there than in the garden. The garden was once a place I only went to trim the grass. Now the garden is a place that makes me feel so many different things. Similarly the outside is currently a place that I only look at. But what will it be in the future? I do not know what will happen out there. But I want to go and find out. The master went to the second floor so I rang the bell on the stairs to call for him. When I appeared on the landing I looked up and told him I wanted to go outside with Lady Beretta. For some reason his expression briefly changed. It was something other than a smile. But he immediately gave me permission. Then he told me to come up to the second floor. The second floor. I had never been there in my entire life. I thought my hearing was malfunctioning and asked him to repeat himself. But he had indeed told me to come up to the second floor. I climbed the stairs for the very first time. I knew it was a series of small steps but it felt like having a wall in front of me once I actually set foot on it. There are three steps down from the kitchen’s back exit. But the stairs up to the mansion’s second floor are three times my height. I climbed one step at a time. The stairs are small and I could not move my feet back or forth on them. Once I had set my foot down, I had to step with the other foot without moving the first one. I stumbled twice. Once I had climbed them all the master praised me. And he told me I would be working up there as well starting tomorrow. I did not know what he meant by that but he is apparently having me clean the second floor hallway and some of the rooms. He has apparently been spending the last few days tidying up the second floor. We walked down the second floor hallway and the master showed me the rooms I am to clean. The study. The library. The antiques room. The storeroom. And the hall. They are all larger than the rooms on the first floor. They were also quiet dusty. Only the library was clean and I think that is because the master uses it a lot. I will be cleaning those rooms starting tomorrow. The master made sure to watch from the landing until I had made it all the way down the stairs. I made sure to hold onto the railing next to the stairs on the way down. That is because it felt like my feet were descending before my body on the way down. A lot happened today. I have so much to write about and I am quickly using up the pages of my journal. There is so much more to look forward to now. I am now going to wait for Lady Beretta. She first visited the mansion during the night so that could always happen again. I am waiting. This is not part of my job. It is not my job and yet I am waiting. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal At 03:22, I awoke earlier than planned. I believe I was woken by a shocking dream. Ever since my Psyche Outer surgery, I have experienced no dreams. I cannot say whether this is a mistake in the surgery or if I had simply been forgetting them until now. I do not remember what this dream was about either. The only thing that remains in my memory is a scream. I cannot determine what kind of scream or whose scream it is. I cannot predict why I had a dream related to a scream. From there, I waited until dawn. At 08:35, a contact officer from the army visited. The Kavalier damage from the training the day before yesterday was not fully repaired, so I agreed to begin the drills at 13:30. At 10:45, I visited the city’s central library. When I performed a Verbesserung on the way in, my left precise vision prosthetic eye detected the receptionist librarian receiving a hidden package along with a guest’s books. I left through the back entrance and tailed the guest. At 11:18, I ordered the SS troops patrolling the city to tail the aforementioned guest. I then walked to the army intelligence division and ordered them to inspect the librarian’s home. When they asked if I had any circumstantial evidence, I retrieved the data from my prosthetic eye in their 2nd science room. At 12:10, I left the army intelligence division. At 13:25, I began drills with the Panzer troops. I trained them all until they could pass 5 seconds in overdrive. At 19:50, I returned to the barracks. A letter had been left for me saying the librarian and guest’s homes had been located and a warrant would be put out for their arrest within the day. There is a good possibility that librarian was a contact point for the Resistance. At 20:21, I went to the army intelligence division and requested to view my own records from World War One and the combat records of the Army 111th Infantry Division 1st Grösse Panzer Platoon that I led. I was told I could search for documents and that I would receive a response in a week to a month after making a request. At 21:08, I returned to the barracks. I read through the material on the Attesor Project. I suddenly recalled my dream from this morning and thought about it. I guessed that the scream I heard in my dream was related to this project in some way. If so, the awakening of my memories would be the key to solving the Attesor Project. But one thing still eludes me: why am I pursuing the Attesor Project? To confirm I am the strongest? Or to search for my past? Memories related to combat in World War One are gradually resurfacing. I can clearly recall some battles such as the Seventh Fort or the Arstrasse. But I have yet to recover any of the memories of a visit to the Bourgogne region that I believe to be related to the Attesor Project. Is that because I did not visit that region at the time, or is something suppressing the recovery of those memories? I concluded I could answer that question when I later received my combat records. ### March 25, 1944 ### Heinz Berge’s Journal: Entry 1 At 03:21, I awoke earlier than planned. I had that dream again. A scream, flowers, the rainy streets of Berlin. Those memories remain independent of each other. Of course, these fragmentary memories are not deemed combat related and will eventually be erased by the prosthetic parts controlling my memories. But I am not sure why I am recording that here. I should have no emotions, so why am I leaving a written record of these unnecessary fragments of memories? Am I subconsciously predicting them to be a key to finding the Attesor Project? Or have I realized that these memories are important to me? What am I doing? I only know the general concept of the Attesor Project and that it was carried out in the Bourgogne region. But I am gaining evidence of its existence from a few different sources. I am attempting to be the strongest, so why am I looking into the French army’s past? Is it part of that same goal, or am I seeking my lost memories? If I am to continue pursuing the Attesor Project, I must head to Bourgogne. And to do that, I must end this war. I can predict I am recording this so I will know that. It is currently 04:01. I will now go back to sleep. ### Beretta’s Journal Today, I’m writing this on a bench at a corner of the Arc de Triomphe plaza. I don’t really feel like heading home. If I had to sum up today, I would say it was the day I learned of my naiveté. First of all, the librarian is gone. I entered the library while Signing, greeted the librarian at the reception desk like always, and started to return the research materials I had borrowed. But then… That’s the scary thing about this city. I just Signed my assumptions and thought she was there. And when those assumptions didn’t match reality, a Point threw that reality in my face. According to the director, the Germans arrived that morning and stole every last one of her possessions and documents from the library. That meant she really had been part of the Resistance. I stayed in the library for a bit after that, but I couldn’t relax and decided to leave. I had given her a letter to send. What would happen if the Germans got their hands on that? And what was it that led to her arrest? Was it Heinz Berge from yesterday? My delivery may have ended up with the Germans and I’ll find a soldier in front of my room when I go home. No, it might not be today. It could be tomorrow too. I was questioned as a female Knight Striker before, but Mallette and the others saved me by faking an alibi for me. But there would be no escape this time. I mean, they would have actual evidence that I had a connection to the Resistance. I can’t believe this. Since I’m an outsider in this world, I’ll just disappear if I die. Anyone with even the slightest connection to the Resistance is “welcomed” as a prisoner of war at one of the concentration camps in Germany. And they never come back. What am I supposed to do now? Because I had been Signing as I walked to think about all this, I had apparently ended up with a discrepancy from “reality”. When I Pointed to prove how calm I was, I found the shoulder of my shawl was a little torn. It may have caught on something while I walked. So what do I do now? It wasn’t like me to be too afraid to even approach my appartement . But today I was reminded what it meant to be “like me”. I really am a coward and ignorant of the world. My mind had been on the Germans all day. Even when I threw a bouquet of flowers into the river for Jack McWild and when I met with Rosetta to tell her I would be picking her up tomorrow. Phillip was right. Maybe I should lie low for a while. Before, I Write Bringed into a Heavy Barrel and five people died. And today something had happened to someone else. Today couldn’t have been entirely my fault, but it’s still true the people around me are disappearing. Why can’t I protect the people around me? Aren’t I supposed to be a Knight Striker? Oh, no. The Germans begin their night patrols at 9. I’ll be questioned if I’m still out then. I need to get home, but I’m afraid to. Why does Phillip have to be with the Germans at a time like this? I could have gone and asked to say in his stable. But, well, I might not be arrested. If I keep Signing, I’ll just depress myself further. I need to make sure to Point on my way back. I might not be able to sleep tonight. I should probably use this as a chance to write some letters. Those could act as my will. And if I survive to tomorrow, I can pick up Rosetta, have a cooking get-together with everyone, and just have a good time. Once that’s over, I’ll have one less regret even if I am arrested. It’s time to get home. Going there and getting arrested would feel a little better than staying out and being arrested after a random questioning. ### Guilliaum’s Journal Today’s Events. 1: The High Priestess was Arrested A young woman known as the High Priestess worked at the library and acted as our contact with those outside the country, but she was raided and died last night. Late at night, the SS visited her appartement , so she told them to wait until she was presentable, returned to her room, and slit her own throat with a knife. Only the letters and packages for the 24th were found in her room and the arrest of the senders has begun. The deliveries for the 23rd have yet to be found, but it is unknown if that is simply because they have not been found or because they were already sent out on the Resistance’s delivery route. That is under investigation. Old “Blue-Eyes” has said to use another High Priestess as a contact point. Personally, I do not understand why the young ones tend to choose death like that. 2: Paris Liberation Planning Meeting Old “Blue-Eyes” and I discussed what plans could realistically be carried out. We primarily want a definite method of reaching liberation using only the Resistance inside Paris. This was only our first meeting, but we came up with quite a few plans. Of the 1500 Resistance members in Paris, only about 300 are capable of serious combat. And while there are a variety of usable weapons, the primary weapons at our disposal are cars and Appareils. We are putting together plans that use those. Old “Blue-Eyes” is the most excited about it and he even said other cities could follow our example and liberate themselves if we did liberate Paris with only the Resistance here. That would indeed be ideal. 3: Anniversary of Jack McWild’s Death. In the afternoon I brought a bottle of wine to the Place de la Concorde bridge where his body was found floating. I met Old “Blue-Eyes” there. He does not know that Jack McWild and I shared that abominable Attesor Project together. While discussing old times, I made an Ajouter near the bridge and saw that girl there. She threw a bouquet into the river and left. She did not Ajouter at all. She was entirely inwardly focused. Old “Blue-Eyes” tried to call out and ask who the flowers were for, but I stopped him. We poured the wine into the river and then went our own ways. Once I returned home, Rosetta was in a good mood, the girl was there, and she left after hearing Rosetta’s answer. That sums up today. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal: Entry 2 I was off duty today. At 10:02, I was visited by an SS contact officer. He informed me that the librarian from yesterday was arrested, that the Resistance had used her to communicate with those outside the country, that most of the deliveries had already been sent out two days ago, and that we would have had much better results had she been arrested two days earlier. He then thanked me and left. At 12:32, I searched the materials at the central library. I passed by a woman at the entrance. Her shoulder bumped into me, her sleeve tore, and her coat’s shoulder belt snapped, but she continued walking without noticing. I recalled the meaning of Lernen and Verbesserung. At 16:28, I left. I visited the army intelligence division and searched through the past records. I tried to view my combat records from the previous world war, but the search assistant said most of the records from that time had been destroyed due to the Treaty of Versailles and the surviving ones would require approval from the archive back at headquarters. I had the search assistant send a request to the headquarters archive. When the form asked for the purpose of my request, I said it was for my personal investigation of the French Army’s project to develop the strongest Kavalier. At 18:33, I returned to the barracks and read through the day’s materials. In the process, I recalled the names of all the French generals back then. Our army unit would have been fighting battles to strike back against that brave Auriol Severn. It is still unclear what exactly the Attesor Project was, but I am gathering more evidence that it did exist. I began remaking my whole body for the Panzer Ritter Project after the Treaty of Versailles. The closer my body became to being a machine, the more efficiently I could Schreiben with a Grösse Panzer and the higher my reaction speed, the greatest weakness of a Kavalier, grew. That should be obvious because it becomes a machine rather than a person combining with the Kavalier. When a normal person Schreibens, the Kavalier attempts to match their human parts and they cannot draw out the Kavalier’s full ability. I am attempting to be the strongest, so why am I looking into the French army’s past? Is it part of that same goal, or am I seeking my lost memories? As the Psyche Outer surgery took away both my emotions and my memories, I have no emotions to feel about this. At 22:35, I finished reading the research materials. As I tidied up my things, I discovered a photograph. I felt like I had seen it before, but I could not find any memory of it. It was a photograph of a woman and a girl smiling in front of some flowers. I could not remember who they are or the name of the flowers behind them. I also read back over the first entry from this morning, but I could make no sense of it. Looking at the previous records showed that I had dreamed of a scream yesterday too. The rest is unclear. But based on the text, “flowers” and “the rainy streets of Berlin” had also been important. That question was unnecessary for combat. I can predict these thoughts come from a failing of the surgery, but I have none of those excess thoughts now. The Psyche Outer surgery was meant to improve my combat ability. I have no past as a human or any hesitation. I have no surprise or doubts about that, so I will simply Lernen the things in the back of my mind and go to sleep. ### 354. Chapter 6: Happiness 03/26/1944 - 03/27/1944 Every time we turned a corner the bicyclette bounced along the stone pavement ### March 26, 1944 ### German General Headquarters Telegram: To Paris Branch Urgent. Investigation here in Germany has confirmed that the Attesor Project was carried out within France. The rest is counting on the continued investigation at your branch. These detailed documents concerning the Attesor Project are to be given to Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge who is thought to be the closest to the investigation. Authority on the matter will later be given to the Lieutenant Colonel, so follow his instructions. We look forward to seeing the results. ### Beretta's Journal: Today's First Entry Today is probably going to be a long day and I could be arrested at any time, so I’m writing this first entry during the day. I am currently near my appartement . I'm writing this while sitting on the railing of the Place de la Concorde bridge. People tend to only Sign while walking, so no one sees me sitting on the railing. This is best when I want to be alone. Now, Rosetta came to my room today. Right now, she should be preparing the ingredients that Mallette and the others bought. Most of the plates in my room were "unusable", so I left to do some shopping while also gathering my thoughts. I want to think seriously about what to do next if I'm not arrested in the next few days. 1. Search for Rose Francisca's House The thought occurred to me while I was out shopping. Part of the reason I came to Paris was to search for that. Before I'm arrested, I want to give her the letter my grandma left with me. 2. Should I participate in the Heavy Barrel battle at the school festival? If Phillip is right, participating would be very dangerous. The Germans will almost certainly use their special slot to send in someone quite skilled. I would be at risk if I participated and fought back. But someone else will be at risk if I don't participate. Protecting people is a Knight Striker's job, so I have to participate. But to be honest, I'm scared. The events of the last few days have left me a little off balance. I need to give both those issue serious thought. Even without the Attesor Project, I'm pretty busy, aren't I? Come to think of it, that Heavy Barrel practice is this afternoon. It's voluntary and I don't plan to participate, but I am curious about it. It's this late already? We're going to spend the afternoon on our cooking battle, so I need to get focused and get back there. Rosetta is waiting. I wonder what she would do. If I was arrested and couldn't see her anymore, would she still want to be human? ### Rosetta's Journal: Today's First Entry I am writing an entry today as well. I normally write my journal entries at home. But today I am visiting Lady Beretta's home and a lot has happened. So I am using the time until the food is ready to write some of it now. I am writing this on some paper Lady Beretta gave me because she was not going to use it. Lady Beretta is in Lady Mallette's room next door to clean up for everyone to eat together. I am using Lady Beretta's room to write this. It is a strange room. It is smaller than any room I am familiar with and yet it has so many things inside it. A bicyclette tire. A bag. A parasol. A few folding chairs. Books. A toolbox. And a pendulum clock on the floor. I can see no rhyme or reason to where or how things are stored. But I digress. I need to write about the day's events. Lady Beretta arrived in the morning today. I had known I would see her at 10 because we had agreed to it the evening before. She was carrying a larger bag than normal. I was curious and asked what was inside. She said she has too many secrets and thus needs to carry them all around with her. She then suggested we get going. I felt like I was forgetting some things and could ask more questions. But I did as she said. It was my first time to ride a bicyclette . Lady Beretta was driving it. I was further luggage on top of the large bag she had tied to the luggage rack. She said I did not need to worry because she would drive safely. We then rode down the hill in front of the mansion. We moved really fast. The ground at the bottom of the hill approached rapidly and the wind was strong. The only way to support myself was to hold tightly to Lady Beretta's hips. I shut my eyes and cried out without meaning to. I felt myself shaking and realized we had already left the mansion's gate and entered Boulogne Forest. We were moving so fast. I think Lady Beretta said something. But it did not register with me. I was too surprised by the way the scenery rushed by and the wind hit me. We soon left the forest and passed by the boîte aux lettres I use to send out letters. The mechanical beating of the heart created inside me by the Coppelia Effect was racing. Then we were in the city. It was the first time I focused on and saw the bright daytime city. There were young men. There were young women. There were young boys. There were young girls. There were old men. There were old women. There were cars. There were carriages. There were unlit streetlights. There were trees growing in rows alongside the roads. There were houses far smaller than the mansion. There were appartement s as tall as the mansion. There were colorful signs. There were old metal signs. The things I wanted to see passed me by with the wind. We were moving so fast. That speed was probably the speed with which Lady Beretta experiences the city. I called her name. But she did not turn around. She seemed to be thinking about something. She seemed to be rushing through the city like she was trying to run away from something. Every time we turned a corner the bicyclette bounced along the stone pavement. It worried me how the end of my hair occasionally brushed against the road. I eventually realized my pulse had settled down and sensed that I was clinging to Lady Beretta. I looked around again and realized I really was in the city. I was contained inside the city. It had seemed so special when viewing it from afar. But it had accepted me inside so easily. Perhaps that was because Lady Beretta had entered the city so quickly. I think I would have hesitated or been overwhelmed if I had been walking like normal. Lady Beretta stopped the bicyclette after about five minutes. I got off and then tripped. My mechanical legs were trembling. Lady Beretta helped me up. Lady Beretta said I must have been nervous and that it might be better if my legs were modeled after human ones just like my arms. I do not know if that would be better. But Lady Beretta must know what she is talking about since she is from a family of Belle de Marionnette engineers. We had arrived at an appartement . We entered through the side entrance and climbed the stairs. It was a narrow stairway. We climbed four times as many steps as the mansion's stairs and arrived at a hallway that reminded me of a dark and narrow shed. The second door was Lady Beretta's room. Three of her friends were in the neighboring room. They were all women her age who she knew from school. That was my first time facing so many people at once. They all introduced themselves and I gave a greeting back. The one named Mallette was the owner of that neighboring room and seemed to be their leader. They all asked me many things. Where do you live? How old are you? Where were you born? I politely answered as best I could. Then they asked me one final question. Are you really a Belle de Marionnette? Lady Beretta answered before I could. She asked Lady Mallette if she was really Jewish. Lady Mallette seemed to understand something from that. She smiled bitterly and took my hand. I remember my heart beating extra hard from that sudden action. I could feel the warmth of her hand as she spoke to me. She said they wanted me to be part of their group. But she said they could only do that if I swore to use an ability of mine for them. Lady Beretta smiled and commented how hard it is for a group of women to live together. I sort of understand what she meant. I use artificial arms and legs to make up for the ability I lack for my life in the mansion. I doubt I could have maintained the mansion so well if I was human. I then began cooking as I had promised. That led to a commotion. The room was too small to teach everyone to cook. So Lady Mallette had us use her room and the two neighboring rooms for the kitchen. That way we could cook three different dishes in parallel. One was the plat de résistance that I primarily made. One was the hors d'oeuvre that I only gave instructions for and did not spend any time on. And one was the dessert that could be made in advance and allowed to sit. We spent about an hour discussing before coming to a decision. We agreed on escargot cooked in vin rouge and a whole cooked poulet for the plat de résistance . They both only needed to be cooked in the oven. They took some time to prepare but left you free to do other things while they cooked. The rooms were not installed with ovens and we had to use the one Lady Mallette had brought in for herself. We considered but rejected cervelle de veau because one of them found it unappetizing. We wanted something we could all grab and eat for the hors d'oeuvre and we all agreed on oignon frit with saupiquet sauce. We also put out some pâté d'alouette for anyone who wanted it. We already had the oignon frit and so we chose an onion gratin for the soup. We chose cooking pain d'épices with lots of honey in it for dessert. Sprinkling sugar on it and buying some cream would allow us to eat it kouglof -style. We decided on all that and began working at 1 PM. We finished not long ago at 6 PM. It is now in the oven waiting for tonight. I started thinking about a difficult subject. That subject is blood. When preparing a poulet for cooking I remove all the red liquid remaining inside. But I only recently realized this is called blood. After the dinner on March 11 I was rereading a cookbook in the mansion and came across a reference to blood removal. I only realized its meaning once I compared that description to my usual cooking method. The blood that comes out of a poulet' s body is almost identical to what I saw flowing from Lady Beretta's thigh when we first met. If too much of that flows out then you die. You break. My heart has become the same as a human's after evolving through the Coppelia Effect. Would I bleed if my body was cut open with a knife? I felt like trying it to find out. But I decided against it. Lady Beretta had looked in pain when she was bleeding. I decided it probably was not a good thing and I continued cooking. But there is a large difference between cooking on my own and having other people cook. The two biggest incidents were when one of them bought small snails thinking they were escargot and when some oil caught fire in Lady Beretta's room. When I look up now I can see a scorch mark on the ceiling. Signe-ing too much would only cause the damage to expand so I will stop. I will just say it did not burn through the ceiling. I should probably get the plates ready soon. ### Guilliaum's Letter: To a Far Distant Friend Friend, I have not had much to tell you recently and felt like I had lost any opportunity to speak with you. For now, I will tell you what I had for lunch and dinner today: - Pain de campagne - Water When did I become a prisoner in the Bastille!? To be clear, I am the master of this mansion. Three cheers for independence, and all that. Although I was out having a meeting with Old "Blue-Eyes" and the others. I still can't believe it. One of our contacts is dead and we're working to discover where the deliveries we left with her have gone. Were they already on their way out of the country or not? The Resistance does not have many other connections, so it isn't easy to research this kind of thing. Rose Francisca isn't saying anything and I still don't know the identity of that girl, so I'm feeling a little blue. I did recently send another letter to Rose Francisca, addressing it to the Prophetess. There is so much I want to ask her. But I get the feeling Rosetta isn't going to return. In my experience, women never return at times like this. Oh, hell. How am I supposed to scold her if she returns in the morning tomorrow? Come to think of it, this might be the first time I've ever scolded her. Until we speak again. ### Beretta's Journal: Today's Second Entry After we finished eating, an incident occurred. And now I'm writing this entry while everyone reviews for classes next week while being oddly considerate of my feelings. I can't believe this. Three of our classmate boys stopped by earlier. And Phillip was one of them. Probably to put us at ease, he was wearing casual clothes instead of his German uniform, but as soon as he got here and saw Rosetta, he said something rude. I gave him a good kick on reflex and he quieted down a fair bit after that. But the incident was what happened later. To put it simply, one of our friends ran in while we were eating and said someone was injured during the Practical Heavy Barrel lesson. I silently Pointed to listen to what she said. When Phillip heard, he spoke up, probably because he was sitting next to me. "And you want Beretta to take revenge? Don't be ridiculous." That pissed me off, so I snapped back at him. I asked him what he meant by "ridiculous" and told him this was my issue and he could butt out. After some arguing, Phillip left, the friend who had just arrived took his seat in his place, and a horribly quiet dinner followed. Mallette tried to cheer everyone up, but I just didn't have it in me. Sorry. But I did manage to hold back from saying something I knew I shouldn't: "Then why don't you quit the Resistance?" It's because he's in the Resistance that Phillip Missel is killed on August 1 when the Expert de Épée, the Heavy Barrel he was Write Bringing into, is sliced in two. If he's going to criticize what I'm doing, it makes me want to return the favor. Not that I can actually say it. But during the fuss, Rosetta alone watched with great interest as Phillip and I fought. When I realized it must look comical and that this was probably the first time she had seen anything like it, I started feeling silly and managed to calm down. We finished eating and Rosetta is now washing dishes in the next room. I thought I would help, but then I realized I would probably just break them. I was worried about Rosetta getting home too late, so Mallette sent a telegram to the old man's mansion. According to Mallette the bourgeois... "By the Balleroy family, do you mean that famous Paris family!? The Royal Chevalier for the entire country, compared to the Missel family which is only the Chevalier de Paris!?" Rosetta did not know and the documents I had on hand weren't enough to tell me. Mallette said the Royal Chevalier of the Balleroy family had been in charge of all of France's knights until the 19th century. Then the Balleroy family had fallen and disappeared, so Chevaliers for each region had fortified their own lands. And those Chevaliers had lost any purpose after the revolution. Phillip's Missel family was the former Chevalier de Paris family. They still had influence in Paris politics and the neighboring lands, but apparently only the Balleroy family would have the authority to give them orders. I had to wonder why someone so important was not found in any of the records in '98. Then again, that old man didn't seem so important and Rosetta didn't seem to understand any of it. "Is that who my master is? If so, he must be starving today, but what should I do?" Mallette tilted her head at that. Rosetta's carefree attitude had helped clear my mood a little. She may have had a way of reflecting people's emotions. Thanks to that, I was feeling more carefree and managed to make a decision about one of the things I had been worrying about during the day. I will participate in the school festival's Heavy Barrel battle. Not because of my stance on Knight Strikers, but because I have to. It’s my responsibility. The German instructor had definitely used that boy as a message to me. Who knows what will happen if I don't announce my participation. There are a lot of German instructors and observers in the school. I already had a connection with the Germans thanks to the letter I had sent out of the country and the Attesor Project, but this is different. This isn't them pursuing me. I have to fight. So I will fight. Protecting people is Knight Striker's job, but a few people have already been hurt because of me. It isn't fair to Phillip who was worried enough to argue over it, but this is something I can't run away from. But once this is over, I really will stop with all the dangerous stuff. I'll use this battle to determine whether or not I can remain a Knight Striker. I know what I have to do: 1. Search out the house of my great-grandmother, Rose Francisca, and participate in the Heavy Barrel battle. 2. Once the battle is over, use the information I have gathered to come up with a general summary of the Attesor Project. 3. Once I know the basics of the Attesor Project, go see Rose Francisca, give her Jack McWild's letter, and search through the Bourgogne region to see if the Attesor Project was really done there. That should about cover it. Heinz Berge won't be able to ditch his military duties to visit the Bourgogne region. As long as I'm not arrested, that should work. So even Rosetta breaks plates, huh? I should probably go check on her. And I'll ask her if she wants to be human or not. I don't know if I can be a Knight Striker, but I will still Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel. So what about Rosetta? I'm sure this will be the last entry for today. ### Rosetta's Journal: Today's Second Entry I will write the rest now. A lot happened during the meal. But I cannot write what I do not understand. A few gentlemen arrived. Two at first and then another. The third one wore blue. He was tall and wore an earring of a sword emblem. He said his name is Phillip. He seemed close to Lady Beretta. As soon as Sir Phillip arrived he looked to me while I worked. That surprised me a little. He must use his Ajouter quite well to notice someone he has never met as soon as he enters the room. He seems to have been doing it while he walked. He seemed to look down on me and asked what a Belle de Marionnette was doing here. Lady Beretta immediately hit him with a powerful kick. Lady Beretta walked past me and grabbed Sir Phillip by the collar. She asked him if there was anything wrong with me being here. They argued for a bit. But Sir Phillip picked up the door and apologized to me. I remembered what Lady Beretta had said to me in the mansion storeroom before. She had said I am not human but it would be rude to not treat me like one. I remembered that right of mine that I was not aware of. The emotion I felt during the dinner on March 11 must have been proof of that right. I also think it is the driving force that led me to want to leave and come here. I said I am aware of what I am and told Sir Phillip not to worry about it. I smiled a little as I said it. I do not know why. There must have been a reason. I did not smile because I tried to. It was like water pouring out of a tilted pitcher. The small smile simply came out on its own. I do not understand. But I thought that was for the best. The dinner soon began and Sir Phillip and Lady Beretta sat next to each other. Lady Beretta was smiling and seemed to be in a good mood. But things changed when a girl entered partway through the meal. I did not really understand. But it seems an organization that Sir Phillip belongs to hurt one of Lady Beretta's friends. And for some reason discussion turned to whether or not Lady Beretta would take responsibility for this. Sir Phillip and Lady Beretta got into another argument. I could only interpret it as Sir Phillip protecting Lady Beretta by saying she did not need to take responsibility and Lady Beretta asking Sir Phillip not to worry about her. They were both thinking about each other. So why did Sir Phillip get up and leave? I do not understand. Lady Beretta in particular kept looking like she wanted to say something but falling silent. That is not like her. Everyone began preparing to leave once the dinner was complete and we had cleaned up some. I was wondering what to do and Lady Mallette said she had sent a telegram to the master asking for permission for me to spend the night. I had not expected to spend the night outside the mansion for the first time. I began a more serious cleanup after that. My hand slipped for some reason and I broke two plates. I have never made a mistake like that before. Lady Beretta returned from the neighboring room while I was cleaning it up. I reported only to Lady Beretta that I had broken the plates. She sees me as a human and I was afraid this would make her think of me as an awkward Belle de Marionnette. But she had the opposite reaction. She shrugged and looked at me before sighing and laughing a little. She said I had a way of calming people's moods and she said there was an extremely simple reason for my mistake. She asked if I was happy that I would be spending the night and told me to think carefully about it. So I thought about whether or not I was happy. I realized I could not describe to Lady Beretta what the emotion of happiness is. I do not know what to tell her. Is this happiness or not? If I say yes I will have to define happiness as the emotion inside me now. Can I define it that way or not? This emotion might be stronger or weaker than what Lady Beretta calls happiness. I thought about it. If what I am feeling is stronger than what Lady Beretta is thinking of then I would be unable to use happiness to describe what she calls happiness. If what I am feeling is weaker than what Lady Beretta is thinking of then Lady Beretta will think I am acting happy over trivial things. I thought about whether or not the feeling inside me was at just the right level. I looked away from Lady Beretta as she looked at me. I do not know why. But I felt like I would be able to quickly gather my thoughts if I did so. I faced the other way. There was a window there. I could see the city night. It was very dark. But I also saw many lights there. Those lights took the form of boxy windows and round lamps. They were lined up and scattered horizontally and vertically both in the distance and close by. It created a different city from the one I had seen during the day. That reminded me that I was outside. I was not inside the mansion. It reminded me I was in an unfamiliar place. I lost responsibility and control of my mouth and it moved on its own. I replied that I was happy. I do not remember what I said after that. I think I said lots of things to Lady Beretta. I probably made her listen until I was satisfied. I came back to my sense to find she was smiling. She said that was good. She said I could break as many plates as I wanted if it that was what made me break them. She said that the Belle de Marionnette race does not make any mistakes at first. We do not grow and learn to not make mistakes. We grow and find more things to worry or think about. And that causes us to make more mistakes. Only after that do we grow and learn to not make those mistakes. Afterwards Lady Beretta looked me in the eye and asked a question. She asked if I was afraid to make mistakes. I said that I did not like making mistakes but that I was not afraid to. She nodded and smiled at my answer. She finally smiled again. She kept saying that was good and then Lady Mallette walked in. "You're in a better mood now. The water is about ready." This appartement apparently uses a shower instead of a bathtub. They said they will generally activate the hot water heater and then each take a shower in turn. The bath area is apparently very small and that makes it hard to get one person out and another in. Lady Beretta then looked to my feet and asked if my artificial legs are waterproofed. I told her my legs are waterproofed to everyday standards and that my arms are too as they are human-style. She immediately told Lady Mallette to prepare a change of clothes for me. It seems I too need to wash my body. This will actually be the first time for me to use a real shower. I only use the shower at the mansion for cold water. And I only ever heat the water for washing my hair. I wash my body by soaking a cloth in hot water and wiping it down. The master seems to soak in the tub. But I have never done it. Because I once tried to copy him and my right leg hit the heater and knocked it off. I wonder what it feels like to wash your body in a warm water shower. The resident of the other room neighboring Lady Mallete’s has just entered the shower. That means I am next. A lot has happened today. And this kind of day makes me happy. It seems being able to write about a lot is related to the emotion of happiness. I think the days that have given me a lot to write about have had a lot of happy things happen in them. This emotion is not part of my job. It seems there is a lot I can do outside of my work. P.S. Before taking a shower I plan to ask Lady Beretta how to use quotation marks. I hope to have a few things to quote once I am confident how they work. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal I was off duty today. Nothing of much note happened. At 10:00, the headquarters requested I come in. Once I arrived, a commander from the General Headquarters Geheimnis Agency asked a few questions about the Attesor Project I am currently investigating on an individual level. According to that young officer, they plan to place me as the head of an Attesor Project Investigation Team. But he also handed me the documents that had been sealed inside the general headquarters archive. At 16:21, I read through those documents. I am currently thinking about them. Earlier, a bookmark fell out of the papers I was searching through. I have concluded it belonged to whoever was viewing these before me. The bookmark had a pressed flower pasted to it. It is a four o’clock flower. Why is the name of that flower in my memories? Along with that faded appearance? It was the same as the flowers growing behind the woman and girl in that photo I found in my things the other day. The four o’clock flower is known as the belle-de-nuit in French. Similarly, they refer to a Sein Frau as a Belle de Marionnette and a Grösse Panzer as a Lourd de Marionnette. Even after multiple surgeries so I might devote my life to Grösse Panzers, some fragments of my memories seem to linger and occasionally float to the surface. I feel no surprise or doubt about this. I will simply Lernen these thoughts in the back of my mind and go to sleep. I placed the bookmark in my jacket’s pocket. If that memory remains, I plan to return it to the intelligence division. ### March 27, 1944 ### Letter Left by Mallette: To My Hungover Friend Beretta I imagine it will be midday by the time you read this, you sleepyhead. It seems our roles are reversed today. We kept the party going a bit after showering last night, but, Beretta, it’s been a while since you drank, so you need to restrain yourself more. You passed out and Miss Rosetta had to put you to bed. And I just peeked in at you two and you’re sleeping in the same bed like sisters. I see your habit of holding onto things in your sleep hasn’t gone away. You had your arms around her tight, so I’ll have to ask who woke up first and how you explained that one. I took a photo, so let’s get that developed later and show it off. Oh, right. Speaking of photos, I also took one of Miss Rosetta when she was showering last night. Y’know, since that’s a ritual for anyone who joins our merry band, officially or unofficially. Anyway, it turns out her skin is really pretty. I’m honestly jealous. You know how much I love beautiful things, so I couldn’t help but sneak up behind her and touch it. Yes, two nice handfuls. That’s gotta be why she was acting so cautious around me when we were drinking afterwards. Explain this to her later on for me, okay? Tell her I love pretty things, but I’m not interested in women. But why does a Belle de Marionnette have bigger boobs than me? Could a Belle de Marionnette professor like you explain that one to me? I’m jealous of that too. She’s even more “ideal” than us, but she hasn’t noticed. A beautiful woman with no pride in her appearance should be illegal. I kind of understand what you were talking about before. In America, Belle de Marionnettes are treated worse than slaves as a kind of distraction from racial discrimination. And since your family makes them, you want to treat them like humans. I think I understand how you feel now. At least a little bit. That smile when she replied to Phillip’s apology last night and that surprise when I groped her from behind in the shower were both emotions I can’t imagine from a mere machine. Oh, I’ve written a lot that really isn’t like me. Make sure you don’t let her see this letter, okay? I don’t want her thinking I’m always going around praising people. But do tell her I’m glad we could accept someone like her as a part of our group. Well, I need to get to class. I’ll be borrowing your bicyclette , by the way. You take your time seeing her home by foot. ### Sorbonne University Student Message Board: Notification for All Students This year’s End-of-Term School Festival will be held on May 11, 12, and 13. All clubs and seminars that wish to hold an exhibit or run a stand must submit a request to the Festival Committee by April 15. The programs will be announced on April 24, but any program participants will be informed beforehand. Please respond by April 15. -Sorbonne University General Festival Committee ### Sorbonne University Student Message Board: Notification for Those Enrolled in “Theory of Industrial Markets” Lecture 3-IS, Industrial Markets, is canceled for the day because Professor Raven Ferris has been hospitalized with back pain. The following homework has been assigned, so enrolled students must submit the assignment by the end of class on April 9. Assignment: Based on p72-218 of the text, write up your thoughts on the relationship between the Lourd de Marionnette and Belle de Marionnette markets. -Sorbonne University Student Division ### Theory of Industrial Markets Textbook: Chapter 2 Section 3 3 The most defining trait of the Lourd de Marionnette (LdM) industrial market is that it requires only the smallest possible market while simultaneously requiring the greatest possible technology. They are humanoid machines. And in addition to LdMs, there are Forma de Marionnettes (FdM) and Léger de Marionnettes (LédM). And each classification has a market for the military, security agencies, and similar organizations. But most of the costs for LdM come from maintenance fees, the necessary secrecy, and the secret deals that have long been the tradition. We must consider the technology markets for all humanoid machines such as LdM. Humanoid machines generally require 7 technologies: 1: A Formule conversion device that makes the Recréa possible. 2: The sensory devices that supply the LdM’s abilities. 3: The internal combustion engine that powers the LdM. 4: The joint systems that control that power. 5: The armor and armored clothing that creates the LdM’s outer shell. 6: The resistance emblem technology that prevents moonlight from sending them out of control. 7: The Excède Emblème that acts as the symbol of the LdM. These technologies are first tested out on LdM and not FdM or LédM. That is because LdM are the most recognizable symbol of ground battles and the latest and greatest technology must be used to prevent those symbols from being defeated. This is supported by the efforts of the LdM craftsmen and the cooperation of the military. So even in this age of mass production, there are never 10 of the exact same model and the constructing it all from parts handmade by craftsmen keeps costs high. Of course, this makes their precision and movement vastly superior to the mass-produced FdMs and LédMs, so even the relatively-small older-style LdMs can overwhelm a cutting-edge and heavily-equipped FdM. You could even say that the mass-production of FdMs and LédMs is meant to make up for that gap in ability. An inferior reproduction of LdM technology is inherited by them, but that allows for the discovery of new problems, leading to further evolution. The existence of LdMs has been confirmed before even the prehistorical Obstacle Era. The FdMs and LédMs we are familiar with now also existed since that time and they have evolved in many ways leading to the present. The recent examples of progress would be the Formule conversation device installed in the back being reduced in size, the backpack doubling as a copilot seat, and that copilot seat being developed into a gun platform. And as the current age will bring a demand for even greater ability, the various joints and motors will likely evolve as well. But it cannot be denied that male LdMs have become more common due to the excess weight of the bind cylinder and composite cylinder joints. I have heard America is developing curved cylinder joint technology to overcome that, but they have yet to announce anything as they only have a theory with no complete successes. But even though LdMs continue to evolve like that, their numbers were drastically reduced by World War One. That is obviously due to the rise of tanks and airplanes. Becoming a Lourd de Écrivain is hard, but tanks and airplanes are much easier to control and can be mass-produced. Germany had superb design and technology for tanks and airplanes during that war, so in addition to developing those same weapons, the Allies are said to have proposed various plans to increase the mobility and attack power of FdMs. Those plans include the Amblin Project and the Premier Project which determined the style of later FdMs, but there are also some that have only left behind a name and may not have even existed, such as the Attesor Project. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 10:30, I began Panzer training at the training grounds. With a break in the middle, we finished at 16:00. For discipline purposes, I then spoke with the soldier who had badly injured a student at Sorbonne University yesterday. When asked why, he mentioned a female Panzer Kavalier at the university, but I warned him that such trivial matters are nothing that a Panzer Kavalier should harm a civilian over. At 20:27, I visited the training ground hangar to inspect my Grösse Panzer, Rot Löwe. A single Grösse Panzer was active in the simple maintenance area behind the hangar. I had never seen the Panzer before, but the sword emblem on the shoulders told me it was Expert de Épée of the Missel family. The workers watching on told me that Phillip Missel had been here since last night. He had brought out his Panzer, released the power limiter, and began repairing it. “But he had told us he had decided to never again Recréa into a Lourd de Marionnette again after what happened ten years ago. He apparently smashed up his grandfather’s leg during training and the man could never walk properly again.” That was what a Paris-born worker told me. If he had indeed not Schreiben-ed into that Grösse Panzer in ten years and it had also just been repaired, then he must have significant skill as a Panzer Kavalier. A few times, the tip of his sword produced a supersonic wave. I doubt any of the troops stationed here would stand a chance against him. I also decided he would continue practicing within the Expert de Épée for quite some time. So at 21:32, I returned to the barracks. At almost the same time, a contact officer from HQ visited. I was handed a sealed envelope from Sorbonne University. It contained a request to choose two Panzer Kavaliers to participate in the school festival’s Grösse Panzer battle. I gave an immediate reply. Sending myself and Phillip Missel would solve everything. At the very least, we would not bring shame on the name of the Panzer Kavalier by injuring a civilian and we would also win an easy victory. I will now continue reading through the Attesor Project documents and then go to sleep. ### 355. Chapter 7: Outside 04/20/1944 I watched them until they vanished into their den on the slope. ### April 20, 1944 ### The Prophetess's Letter: To the Former Royal Chevalier Guilliaum Excuse me for using a pseudonym once more. This is Rose Francisca. I received your question-laden letter the other day, but I believe it would be meaningless to answer the majority of them. You are fighting this war to liberate France from Germany and I assume you want answers to these questions in order to accomplish that. But what France needs now is the true liberation found in escaping the Primitif of the Rondeau. With France as it is, even someone who leaves the country remains bound by France's Formules and cannot escape this cage of time. Everything that has occurred outside the country during this year is a false world created from the memories within France's Formules. You had Jean Missel negotiate with people outside the country back in February, didn't you? But those negotiations are held every year and Sir Jean is negotiating with France's memories of that group outside the country. France is a meticulous creature. It so fears the outside world that it refuses to Ajouter, uses its immune system to fully establish its own Signe, and even includes the actions taken outside the country during that year. You could say the world we Ajouter is a world created by France's Signe. The outside world has decided to let France close in on itself. Because if France were liberated, the world would be forced back 55 years. The outside world is currently 1999 while our France is connected to 1944. If we liberate France into the world of 1944, the outside world of 1999 will be annihilated by a 55-year paradox. So in just a few years more, all external intervention will be cut off and France will fully close up. Once that happens, France will come to a stop with no chance of moving forward. It will repeat this year forever, with us closed inside. You asked in your previous latter why France wishes to close up. I think that is because the explosive known as the Wort Bombe had the power to transform the word structure of the spatial Formules. When the Wort Bombe detonated above France and caused the first Primitif, an all-encompassing change occurred to the Formules that form France. Formules are easily affected by the Messages that carry people's wills. Plus, this is a city formed entirely by journal entries. My view as a Correcteur is that the gathered wills of the majority acted as a Message which changed France. That would mean the people in France at the time were filled with regret and doubt. "Why is this happening?" "Can't we redo the past?" "Why do I feel nothing but anxiety about the future?" Those thoughts are a given during times of war and they are likely what changed France. They remade it into a world where France could redo itself over and over again while preventing anyone from harming it. Knowing that, what do you think of France? I have nothing but contempt for it. And I know how to liberate it. There must be someone in the outside world who knows that as well. Someone on the outside has sent a key here so that this loop can determine everything. And I have a good guess who that person is. So I believe everything will be decided this time. If it does not work this time, then any further attempts would be meaningless. That is how perfectly everything has been set up. But this liberation is not something that can be forced onto France. This world was closed by the will of the people, so it can only be opened by the will of the people. All of the people must break free of the Rondeau or it will be meaningless. Now, I have a request for you. Could you think about truly liberating France? If you agree, then I will send you prophecies at regular intervals from now on. Those prophecies will combine the victory and sacrifice needed to liberate France. Please think about it. ### Rosetta's Journal: Today's 1st Entry A lot of happy things happened this morning. I have so much to write that I will be writing this first entry now. I think I will try to use the ! and ? that Lady Beretta taught me. The nuance for those two is tricky but you can apparently decide whether or not to use them at the end of a sentence by reading the sentence aloud. I will now write another thing that Lady Beretta taught me. "You need to include a decent space after using ! or ? unless they are followed by a closing quotation mark. That's apparently meant to make your writing easier to read. A really old teacher taught me that when I was little so it must be a pretty old rule." Isn't that a strange rule? Okay. I hope I did that right. Those symbols do signify a pause for a breath just like the period so the space is probably for the best. And the text is definitely easier to read with a decent gap breaking up the sentences. Now I will write about myself. For three days now I have seen strange images whenever I go to sleep. But I know what they are now. I think they are dreams. I cannot prove it and I do not know why I am having dreams now. Yesterday's dream was very strange. I was surrounded by trees much like in Boulogne Forest. I was very tall and I was viewing the trees from the same height as the flying birds. It was a strange dream. The land from which the trees grew was sloped like a hill and the trees grew as thick as a wall. And the sky was unbelievably blue. I could see the heavens and the earth at the same time. I could see the blue sky, the green earth below the trees, and the drifting wind. I woke up immediately after seeing all that. Was that a memory of Boulogne Forest? Or was it a memory of looking up at the sky from the mansion's garden? I am not sure. But it was not a bad feeling. I felt an emotion different from happiness. I am not sure what it is called. Even a machine like me has only vague memories of her dream. I think I will have a dream today as well. That makes me happy. I will now move on to the next topic. It is something that just now happened. I took the bucket of morning kitchen garbage out the back entrance and placed it on the wheelbarrow. I crouched down to remove the stopper on the wheelbarrow wheel and something tugged at my hair. I turned around to see what it was and saw a three-tailed fox. That is a variety of Monstrum called a Fantasmé Renard. It lives in the den that Lady Beretta found. There was an entry for it in the Monstrum encyclopedia that Lady Beretta has. They are docile Monstrums and their only notable feature is the ability to transform into a person just once in their life. I sometimes see them in the mansion's garden. But the one tugging at my hair was clearly smaller than the ones I had seen before. I have determined it was a child. I removed my hair from its small paws and told it not to be so mischievous. The strange meeting made me happy as I pushed the wheelbarrow to the garbage area next to the mansion's gate. I looked back while descending the hill to the gate and saw the Fantasmé Renard following me. And there was another one behind it. I wondered what this was about as I walked through the gate. But neither of them followed me out. They instead hid behind the plants growing from the mansion's hill. Colorful flowers naturally bloom from those plants each year. But the master told me to look after them this year. Those flowers that bloom in summer seemed to be a hiding place for the Fantasmé Renards. The mansion's garden may be their home. I lowered the bucket and returned to find the two had become three. The three creatures followed me as I pushed the wheelbarrow up the hill. They would sometimes struggle with each other and cry out as if fighting over who got to go first. I intervened and stopped them whenever that happened. I arrived back at the top of the hill and found the two parent Fantasmé Renards there. They did not run away when I approached and they were focused on the three behind me. Then the three were reunited with the two. Only then did the two look at me and make a sound like a small door creaking. The larger two turned around and ran off. The smaller three followed after them. I realized what had happened while I watched them go. The larger two had three beautiful tails each. Those tails swayed when they walked and the smaller three were reaching out toward them and trying to play with them. It was just like how the one tried to play with my hair. The three had probably thought my hair was the same as the parents' tails. I watched them until they vanished into their den on the slope. They were good neighbors. Oh. I have to end this here. I will continue it tonight. ### Beretta's Journal Today, I'm writing this at the Arc de Triomphe. Now, about a month has passed since that incident, but I still haven't been arrested. Looking back at my journal entries from back then, you can tell I felt cornered and it barely sounds like me. But that's probably the real me, so I'm going to use this entry to sum up my thoughts on recent events. 1: Rose Francisca's house The landlord of my grandma's old appartement has not contacted me and all the change of address paperwork is under the German army's control. I assume that is because they want to know and keep secret what species and race people are for their race management policies. 2: Phillip will be participating in the Heavy Barrel battle There was an announcement on the school message board yesterday. I asked the student affairs office and it seems to be legit. And yet that idiot still hasn't come to see me since that party a month ago. I thought he was back home riding horses around or something, but what is he thinking? And what am I supposed to do about it? Is he doing this because I chose to participate after he told me not to? 3: Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge will be participating in the Heavy Barrel battle This was also announced yesterday. He's said to be the strongest Knight Striker of this age and yet he has not been made one of the 16 Sword Masters. Heinz Berge will be fighting the winner of the Heavy Barrel battle. For a normal Knight Striker, that would be an honor, I suppose. They must really not want this to end with a French victory. 4: I am being much more cautious I can no longer carelessly ask people about the Attesor Project, so I'm doing my best to research it on my own using the information I have access to. I haven't gone completely taciturn, but... "You can be scary sometimes." I get that a lot now. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I may be like this for the next 4 months. 5: Rosetta is secretly famous After she made a lunch for Mallette and Mallette brought it to school, there have been a ton of requests to meet her. I went to meet her today and asked if she would be willing to help out at the school festival beginning on the 10th of next month. She said yes. Rosetta has grown really sharp about a lot of things. That can be a problem but it also makes me happy. This may be how an older sister feels. She asked me about my family the other day, so I took on my grandma's identity and told her about the Sein Frau factory in San Francisco, but it was difficult to talk about Jack McWild like he was my dad. And it was hard to explain what kind of work is done there. In America, Sein Fraus are targets of discrimination and treated as no more than tools. Rosetta has such a peaceful life here in Europe, so telling her about their tears and suicides would only worry her. I just know she wants to be human. I still remember what she said on that first night she slept over: "I feel even happier." She must be remaking herself for that purpose. That's a relief, but I'm also a bit jealous because I wish I could do the same with myself. It's only about 4 months until the Format, but I want to stick with her to the end. 6: About Knight Strikers I'm still thinking about this one. My great-grandfather, Jack McWild, tried to create the strongest Barrel, but what is the connection between seeking power like that and working to protect people? I know I'm getting argumentative here, but it scares me to think he only wanted that power to win the war. "What kind of power is it I hope to wield?" I don't know what that power is or if I would be able to wield it. I hope to find some answers during the school festival's Heavy Barrel battle. Heinz Berge is known as the strongest, so if I see him fight, I might be able to see what a Heavy Barrel's true power is. But how will that festival turn out? To be honest, there's a lot of pressure on me. I never imagined Phillip would take part. Rumor has it he went to ask Lieutenant Colonel Berge to nominate him just as the Lieutenant Colonel was preparing to do so. What a strange coincidence. This must be a change to history. And it's not overestimating my own importance to say I caused it. That idiot is almost certainly doing this to send a message to me. If I started Signing about him, I have a feeling I would gradually start writing worse and worse things. I just hope he loses somewhere along the line. Well, assuming I'm not arrested beforehand. I think it's about time I got back home. What time is it now anyway? Surely it isn't nine already. Oh, crap!! ### Guilliaum's Journal Today's Events 1: Paris Liberation Strategy Meeting #7 I call it a meeting, but it was only Old "Blue-Eyes" and me. Still, he seemed in a really good mood today. He boasted that he could remove the power limiters on all the Lourd de Marionnettes in Paris by the end of July. All of the ones in Paris have a few of their cylinders removed, but his grandson is in the German army and can apparently get his hands on some of the spare parts. His grandson will apparently be using the family Lourd de Marionnette at the Sorbonne Lourd de Marionnette battle, but they're probably plotting something there as well. According to Rosetta, that girl and Heinz Berge will be participating too. Who knows how that will turn out. 2: Cleanup after the High Priestess The things the High Priestess had been preparing to send out were discovered in the neighboring room. The neighbors are a 4-person family with no connection to the Resistance, but when Old "Blue-Eyes" was nonchalantly passing by the High Priestess's room (which is now empty), they called out to him. He is quite well known in Paris after all. "We didn't want this to fall into German hands, so we hid it away." The old man's grandson is in the German army, but it seems everyone in Paris assumes it's some kind of plan. They are correct in that assumption, but I hope it doesn't put that grandson in danger. That family handed him the letters and packages given to the High Priestess between March 20 and 23 for delivery out of the country. We are taking responsibility by sending them out ourselves. 3: The Germans have begun pursuing the Attesor Project. And the head of their research team is Heinz Berge. If he still had his memories, he would remember a certain incident almost immediately. He would remember our sole point of contact. And if he did remember, I couldn't stay here in Pairs. I would have to go to Bourgogne. But it also seems his memories were not fully removed by the Psyche Outer surgery. He was promised the position of the strongest with the Panzer Ritter Project and yet he is pursuing that abominable project from the past. The past is not yet dead. 4: Proof of Rose Francisca's prophecies On the way to the meeting with Old "Blue-Eyes" today, I saw an old man sitting drunk in front of a bakery. That bakery was hit by a robbery about a month ago and the entire family was killed. I was curious, so I asked the old man what he was doing there. He spoke on and on in what I would normally have written off as the ravings of a drunk. He said the baker's son had fled the country in June of last year. He also claimed to be that son. He said he had lived outside of France until he returned last year. He said everything about our France is a lie. He said he had tried to stop his family from being killed but they had not believed him. He said he had tried to stop the robbery and gotten shot. He said it had all been over by the time he woke in the hospital. And he said he wanted to liberate this France that he called a lie. "Please don't let my family to be killed again." The way he said that told me he was not lying. That is all that happened today. ### Rosetta's Journal: Today's 2nd Entry I will now continue where I left off. Lady Beretta visited before lunch today. She leaned her bicyclette against the mansion's door with her bag on the luggage rack. She took my hand and said the following. "Can I ask you one thing? I want you to run a stand at the school festival. There are going to be several different stands set up in the university yard and we'll all be eating and singing and dancing there. Just think of it as doing a bunch of unproductive things at the end of the month." "I see. So it is like the Witch's Sabbath. That was in one of the picture books you gave me." "Not quite. But I guess it's close enough." "What do I need to do at this Sabbath? Chop up a sacrifice?" "Unfortunately there won't be any sacrifices or sacramental bread there. Our department is managing a stand and this one girl who knows how to cook...how should I put this? There were some issues related to filial piety and she's had to drop out." I do not know what filial piety means. But I asked if I would really be a sufficient replacement for that person. "Of course. Mallette has been bragging about you. She keeps telling people that a girl who really knows how to cook has been visiting our appartement ." Is knowing how to cook really something worth bragging about? The two of us then entered the kitchen and made lunch. Lady Beretta said she would be visiting the library that afternoon. I have learned a lot about her after speaking with her over the past month. In America, she piloted Lourd de Marionnettes and helped a vigilante group in Image City – San Francisco. Her family runs a Belle de Marionnette maintenance factory. She came to France in order to give someone a letter. But there are some things she will not tell me when I ask about them. Like why she cannot get along with Sir Phillip. Or why she looks after me so much. There is a lot I do not know about her. But there is also a lot I do not know about myself. Who is my father? Why was I made? I simply do not know. I think there are just some things that will never be known. But I asked about Sir Phillip during our conversation today. "Do you fight with Sir Phillip because he is important to you?" She smiled a little without saying anything. It was not what I would normally describe as a small smile. I am not quite sure how to describe it. Seeing that smile made me feel like something was caught in my chest. It was a strange feeling. It was like I had stopped breathing. It was like something could not pass through my chest properly. I thought about the logical reason behind it and asked a question. "Do you not fight with me or my master because we are not important to you?" My thoughts here were much like a profit-and-loss calculation. I am not sure how to explain it. But it was like when I choose the best of the vegetables brought by the deliveryman and cook them first. It felt like she had made a decision like that. It was a strange feeling. It was the feeling of being not chosen. I felt it when I thought Lady Beretta had chosen Sir Phillip over me. Happiness made my chest feel like it was opening up and this was the opposite. It felt like my chest was tightening up. I realized that the opposite of happiness was not a good thing. Lady Beretta stopped smiling when she saw my face. And she placed her hand on my head with a look of relief that was different from a smile. "Unfortunately I can't exactly say I've acted like you or that old man are important to me. And it's all because I jumped into this mansion that one night. Rosetta. I have already gotten you and that old man caught up in all this and I have to take responsibility for that." "Responsibility?" "By not getting you involved in any more danger. By protecting you." She smiled again there. "That's the duty of a Lourd de Écrivain. But I can't protect everything." "There are things not even you can protect?" "It was because I was injured that I got you two involved. I can barely even protect myself in this war." The word "war" stuck in my mind. Yes. The master had mentioned that France was about 70% occupied by a country called Germany. We are apparently being given some limited prosperity at their mercy. I do not know what that means. But Lady Beretta is involved in it. She even bled. I doubt she wants to bleed for people like us who do not know what is happening. Realizing that removed what was caught in my chest. I apologized to Lady Beretta. She said nothing and simply rubbed my head. It was a familiar feeling. Perhaps the father buried somewhere in my memories did the same thing to me before I became self-aware. We then prepared a light meal in the kitchen. I decided to chop up and fry the pommes de terre . I noticed how they were all shaped differently. And I realized something strange. I am a machine. I can grow and evolve to become more human. But I am not completely human. I am inferior to a human. So why did I feel that emotion when I thought Lady Beretta was comparing me to Sir Phillip? I questioned the result of that comparison despite knowing that I am inferior. Why was that? I do not know. Do the differently-shaped pommes de terre think things along those lines? I felt like I would not be able to chop them up if I kept thinking about that. So I peeled them all and steamed them and crushed them. I then rolled them all into the same shape before adding bread crumbs and making them into small croquettes. I finished frying them and sprinkled salt on them. That made them all the same shape. I lined them up on a plate while telling Lady Beretta what had happened in the garden. She was very interested in the Fantasmé Renard story. She said that such things appear a lot in France. She told me a strange story about the Beast of Gévaudan. Then I heard three sounds from Boulogne Forest. They sounded like stone being struck. Lady Beretta did not even turn around and said they were gunshots. She said some of the Germans mistook the forest park for a hunting ground and hunted the animals there. "That must seem horribly savage to the French." She sounded exasperated. But there was also disapproval in the way she stated it. She is a participant in the war. I do not really understand what that means. But will I also be involved in the war if I begin to feel some kind of emotion in response to those gunshots? Lady Beretta had a gunshot wound to her leg when she first visited the mansion. I had no emotional reaction to it then. But would I now? I do not know. That is what happened today. ### Guilliaum's Letter: To a Far Distant Friend My friend. I am glad to have so many opportunities to write you of late. A lot has happened recently. It seems things are becoming more difficult. Here is what Old "Blue-Eyes" told me today: "The Germans are apparently investigating that weird Attesor Project." Can you believe it!? And I doubt that old man has realized I was involved in that project! As far as he knows, I was a "nameless" Lourd de Écrivain who ran around France. And the Attesor Project has been effectively erased from existence. Almost no one involved still lives. And most of the documents and research reports were burned, so it shouldn't be possible to Signe them here in Paris either. My military records are missing for that time period, so when the Germans took me prisoner, they assumed an unofficial unit like mine would not leave any records. But they were mistaken about that. I was actually involved in the Attesor Project which was even more unofficial than the unofficial unit. Come to think of it, that bastard Heinz was the one and only German who came in contact with the Attesor Project. Because I met him and was defeated by him during a test. But I never thought he would pursue that project after all this time. Are the Germans feeling the pressure and want to gather all the Perdus Artifice? Are those Gard-class aerial warships not enough for them? Today, we finally established a new route to get things in and out of the country. We will be using that to make deals with the Allies. I need some specialized parts to fully repair the Lourd de Marionnette that has ended up at my home. Also, Old "Blue-Eyes" seems to have settled on gathering parts to repair the Lourd de Marionnettes within France. He was very excited about it. My task there is to create a list of the Lourd de Marionnettes in Paris. Since we have no tanks or airplanes, we must use those as our weapon. With my old connections and Old "Blue-Eyes"' connections, we should find a fair number of them. If we are to hold an operation to liberate Paris, it will probably happen in August. I predict the Allies' western front will go on the offensive sometime around June. We must keep careful watch so we can take action of our own once they arrive near Paris. I am going to be busy. That about sums it up for me. Rosetta is, well, cheerful. She didn't used to be this way, but now I can tell the difference between her cheerful days and her non-cheerful day. I guess that's a good thing? But she has been making an awful lot of vegetarian dishes lately. She may have come to dislike blood after everything she has learned. I hope that's something I can change. Also, I'm starting to feel like I should fully believe what Rose Francisca is saying. I've just been Ajouter-ing so many disconcerting things of late. I'm starting to wonder if I really am a lie. Goodbye for now. Until next time. ### Heinz Berge's Journal Today at 10:00, I led the training at the training grounds. At 12:30, Phillip Missel joined us in Expert de Épée. He fought five mock battles with the others and swiftly won each one. According to him, the new cylinder system was causing issues and he could only fight short battles. At 18:20, training ended. I predicted Phillip Missel would have earned the others' approval through the mock battles. I did indeed see him at the center of their group as they left. At 20:31, a direct telegram arrived from HQ. "You will be assigned leader of the Attesor Project Research Team on June 1. Your wellbeing is very important for another project, so you must make appropriate adjustments before that date arrives." At 22:18, I discovered a part of my own past while researching the documents related to the Attesor Project. I will Lernen the newspaper clipping here: "The funeral for the family of Captain Heinz Berge, who has returned from Bourgogne, will be held at Grunewald Park Graveyard today at 2 PM. The forecast is for rain, so be careful." The date was from just after the end of the previous great war. Thanks to my Psyche Outer surgery, I had no memory of or emotion about the revelation that I had a family, that they were dead, and that I had likely attended their funeral. I was only interested in the fact that the newspaper article mentioned that I had been in Bourgogne. I cannot recall any battle-related memories of that time. Why is that? All my memories of the previous great war exist in the back of my mind, so why are the ones from the Bourgogne Region the only ones missing? Was the article merely mistaken? I have no way of knowing. ### 356. Chapter 8: Heart 05/10/1944 - 05/12/1944 When I held her in my right hand Lady Beretta calmed down. ### May 10, 1944 ### Letter Left by Beretta: To Mallette, My Good Friend who is Still Asleep After my first morning class today, I have somewhere to visit and then I'll bring Rosetta over to start preparing for the school festival. Make sure you come help build the stand, okay? Now, I'm guessing we'll have a written test during that first class today. It's an industrial markets class, so it will probably be about Lourd de Marionnettes or something. But Professor Helier is nice, so we'll probably just have to write an essay about our thoughts on the subject like usual. And we can wait to turn it in until the end of the festival. Of course, it was that excessive kindness that led his wife to leave him. But anyway. I'll be going then. We'll be sleeping over at the school tonight, so I hope you're ready. ### Blackboard in the Industrial Markets Class: Today's Class Choose one of the following topics and use the provided paper to write up your thoughts on the topic. 1: The Structure of the Lourd de Marionnettes Market 2: How the Car Industry Which Opened Up America's Economy is Currently Spinning Its Wheels 3: A Nearby Industrial Product If you are unable to complete your essay in time, treat it as homework due by the end of the school festival. ### Sorbonne University PR Club Extra Edition: Pre-Festival Report Today (5/10) the school festival preparations have begun, but supplies have been limited for the past few years due to the war. That can be disappointing, but it only affects our supplies. We have filled ourselves with the spirit of this city of revolution, so we live a far more fulfilled life on the mental front. This year, all 8 departments and 72 clubs are setting up so many stands, posters, signs, and other decorations that you would think we had occupied not just the university itself, but the courtyard and road out front as well. Most likely, the school will once more turn a blind eye as students spend the night working, so we predict the area around the university will be bustling with activity throughout the night. The bistros and general stores near the school will remain open 24 hours a day while preparing to support the students working through the night and to drive out the drunk students. Meanwhile, the German military police, the French police who work for them, and the public morals committee intend to tighten up security with patrols around the clock. Of course, when we approached a member of each group for comment, we received the following responses: "I want to see what a French festival looks like." "We did the same thing back in the day, so go nuts with it." "Yeah, sorry about this, everyone. Ha ha ha ha." The patrols will almost certainly be in name only, just like always. Some volunteers are already planning to get the patrols involved in a road party (the usual affair where the security officials help block off the road so they can turn it into a giant bar), so there isn't going to be anyone left to tell us to get to sleep. The leader of those volunteers is Mallette Harculia, Drunken Queen of the Economics Department. Everyone, you can rest easy and drink. Now, a lot of preparations were made today, but that famous exchange student Miss Beretta McWild made a stand so big they couldn't get it out of the courtyard where they built it. This thoughtlessness was resolved by her Belle de Marionnette friend Miss Rosetta Balleroy (When asked if the Belle de Marionnette was her femme de ménage , she kicked our reporter to the side and demanded it be corrected to friend) who used large prosthetic arms to safely carry the stand out front. Note: This incident sent one of our reporters to the hospital, so the PR Committee is in urgent need of a new field reporter. Now, one of the reasons that stand grew so large is due to the portable oven installed inside it. They will apparently be using that to cook. And the cooking will be done by Miss Rosetta who carried the stand. At this point, she is more human than Belle de Marionnette and visiting the stand by the eastern entrance would be well worth it to gaze upon her beauty. Next, let us talk about the Student Council which causes a commotion each year by having the Festival Committee read a vulgar statement for the festival's opening ceremony. ### Quick Message from the Sorbonne University Student Council: To the School Festival Committee Just like last year, the statements for the opening and closing ceremonies will be changed last-minute to a random student essay swiped from the administrative office. We kind of have to after how much everyone loved last year's closing ceremony where you read Miss Mallette Harculia's "Thoughts on Sex Education". We're hoping for something as good as that this year too. Send in a ninja or something so the old administrators don't catch you swiping the essays. (Oh, will writing this down increase the odds of you being Signe-d?) Also, can you hurry up and release the program and tournament chart for the Lourd de Marionnette battles? The winner fights a match against that Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge, so who we bet on depends on who's likely to be the winner. Then again, no one can beat that Lieutenant Colonel who's supposedly on the level of a Sword Master, so I guess this isn't very conducive to gambling. Personally, I bet 10 francs on Beretta from Economics. Her rival will definitely be Phillip who was given a special spot by the Germans. I'm from the same department as him and we would probably still be drinking together if he hadn't joined the German army. None of this is easy. Phillip is from the Chevalier de Paris family. Even if that position no longer exists, there are tons of Lourd de Écrivains in France who were influenced by Missel. And in a sparring match when he was 11, Phillip himself smashed up his grandfather's knee so bad that elderly hero could never fight again. I've heard he's been avoiding Lourd de Marionnettes ever since, so why did he decide to Recréa again now? One of those two is bound to win this. There's no doubting that. –Student Council President ### Sorbonne University Student Message Board: Notification from the Festival Committee The biggest event of the 2nd day is the Lourd de Marionnette battles and the preparations are now complete. It will take a tournament format, so during the 2nd round, the winners of the 1st and 2nd battles and of the 3rd and 4th battles will face each other. And so on. 1st Battle - Special Participant: Phillip Missel - Art Department Representative: Aerios Bent 2nd Battle - Math Department Representative: Joseph Acor - Pharmaceutical Department Representative: Saint-Pierre Lant 3rd Battle - Engineering Department Representative: Clure Raspail - Athletic Department Representative: Lorent Andalusia 4th Battle - Literature Department Representative: Cress Alsace - Economics Department Representative: Beretta McWild As a prize for victory, the school will give an "A" to everyone in one class of the winner's choosing. We hope everyone involved will give it their best. May the goddess of war and freedom rule the heavens and the earth along with us. –Festival Committee ### Rosetta's Journal A lot of interesting things happened today. One of them is the fact that I am writing this below the night sky. Because today Lady Beretta came and took me to a place known as college. We are still working even now. It is already two in the morning. But everyone is doing various kinds of work or playing musical instruments and singing along or running around the streets naked until a local resident sends them flying. It is quite a commotion. I helped make something using the tools I normally use to repair the windows. It is like a small cabin. It resembles the mansion's chicken coop that I used the tools to destroy about eight years ago. Inside the cabin Lady Mallette installed the portable stove and oven she had brought from the appartement . I will use those to cook tomorrow. The oven is large so I intend to cook côtelette de viande broche . I would like to bake a pie. But that would take too much time and I have selected simpler dishes instead. I was surprised to find everyone was unfamiliar with how to cook fried foods in the oven. First heat up the oven to 250 degrees Celsius and line up the unfried items inside. Then lightly sprinkle them with oil heated up to the same temperature and wait a few minutes. By using a stepped layout in the oven the cooking will finish much faster than frying them in oil like normal. It also uses very little oil which makes it easier for women to eat. The skewers are to make it easier to eat while walking. I am writing this on Lady Beretta's report papers. She does not have much left. Tomorrow I think I will go to the store in the school – the building known as a school strangely has another building with a different function contained inside it – to buy some more. That reminds me that Lady Beretta taught me about parentheses and how to use them. - ( ) are used to insert your own thoughts or impression. The distinction between that and the "–" seems tricky but I will probably understand if I read back over everything. I will try to use them well. Lady Mallette and the others are carefully removing the coal from the oven. I will tell them we should be able to use the coal without a fire tomorrow if we store it together properly. I have told them. Lady Beretta is already falling asleep next to me. She said she wrote a long essay in class and had a lot of other odd jobs to complete. When moving the stand the two of us rode her bicyclette back to the mansion – the master was out at the time – to retrieve my large prosthetic arms from the first floor storeroom. We pushed them along like a cart on the way back. Those giant arms are acting as Lady Beretta's pillow right now. Her large bag is also resting atop the arms. I removed those large arms as soon as I had finished carrying the stand – some nearby gentlemen ran over to watch me swap out arms and I ended up completing the swap in a small school room with only Lady Beretta with me – and I reattached the human-modeled ones which I am now using to write this journal entry. So right now I am lying down and using the streetlight to write. This streetlight must be one of the lights I could see from the mansion's second floor. That makes me happy. (It really does.) After writing this much I feel like I can do a much better job of writing what I want to say than I used to. Learning various symbols to express myself must have taught me how to write various thoughts in different ways. Cooking is the same. A knife can only cut apart. That is why pots and cutting boards and spatulas exist. Those provide so many more methods of cooking. Before I only had a knife when it came to writing my journal. But now I am using my words more skillfully as I write down my thoughts. That is how it feels to me. It is a strange feeling. Yes. It does not become strange because I write that it is strange. I wrote that because I wanted to convey that the feeling is strange. I think that is the foundation of the Signe in France. You write what you think. You use your written expressions to create yourself. From now on I will not simply write these entries aimlessly. I will write them to convey something. And that leads me to a certain thought. Why do I discover these things while Lady Beretta is with me? I do not at all know whether or not that is a coincidence. But by definitely Signe-ing this, I can convey to myself how I feel about Lady Beretta. It is a strange thing. I think it was different last year. Lady Beretta was not with me last year. But that is not what I mean. I am not sure how to describe it. But something was different. I have to wonder if I was sleeping for decades before I awoke to this higher level of consciousness. It has apparently been 25 years since I was made. So could I have been sleeping for that long period of time? If so I am glad I woke up. Yes. And I am not just glad about myself. I am also glad that Lady Beretta is with me. This also happened when I spent the night in Lady Beretta's room. Holding onto things in her sleep is apparently a special ability of hers. I do not know what it means. But I see a lot in common between the way she acts then and the babies holding onto their mothers I see in the city. I have lost free use of my hand. I am quickly writing this down with my left hand. When I held her in my right hand Lady Beretta calmed down. That is why. She is probably saying something in her sleep. But I will not listen to it as it is probably some kind of secret. She would tell me if I asked her about it. She always tells me about such things even when something is worrying her. I have several questions. But I think that is for the best. I will be able to Signe it eventually. Just as my writing is gradually transforming from a simple series of words into a conversation carrying emotion. I will try to Signe the answers to my own questions. The mothers I see in the city will calm their crying babies by holding them like something precious. So I think I will hold Lady Beretta in my arms. That is the correct answer for her since she is holding onto me as if I am her mother. But there is one other thing I must write. My arms still feel awkward when holding her. Today... Today I have decided I want arms with actual warmth to them. Like a human's. I do not mind if that means I must say goodbye to the prosthetics she is using as a pillow. Can I become human? I do not think everything I did today was part of my job. That is what I believe. ### Heinz Berge's Journal Today, I was off duty. At 10:00, the 2nd Aide visited. He told me that the western front is at a standstill and that the general headquarters are divided when it comes to the Allies' major attack. The 352nd Infantry Division to which my platoon belongs was given emergency orders to gather on the Normandy coast. General Rommel sent the orders to each platoon commander individually. The 2nd Aide had the following to say about the matter: "The general headquarters believes an Allied landing operation would occur near Calais, but General Rommel and other high-ranking army officers seem to believe the enemy is targeting the Normandy coast." I had him confirm the current status of the platoon and then I left for the Paris branch office. At 14:35, I sent a telegram from the branch office to the general headquarters. I requested they postpone appointing me head of the Attesor Project Research Team which was scheduled for June 1. I believe everything will be decided by the action or inaction of the Allies in early June. At 16:21, I returned to the barracks. I removed my coat and checked the pocket. For some reason, I found a bookmark there. I had no memory of the bookmark. My journal entry for April 20 said I had found it then, but all memory of it had been erased. I predict that is due to the Psyche Outer surgery. All that remains is the bookmark in my hand which has a single pressed four o'clock flower on it. I feel no emotion over the loss of my memories. I feel an almost dutiful expectation over becoming more and more like a machine. And about that alone, I feel no surprise or doubt. I will simply Lernen the thoughts in the back of my mind and go to sleep. ### May 11, 1944 ### Sorbonne University PR Club Extra Edition: First Day of the School Festival The school festival began today, but it’s looking like it’s going to develop into a wild, all-night party like it does every year. The faculty lodgings have closed their doors to make sure nothing “unfortunate” happens, but most of the normal buildings are full of festivities in preparation for the second day. After all, the Lourd de Marionnette battles everyone is looking forward to are tomorrow. Even as we edit this in the evening, the cheerleading groups for each representative are clashing and it feels like a riot could start in some areas. The special report for today would have to be about the essay read at the opening ceremony. It was by Miss Mallette Harculia who still wants the title of the Drunken Queen. Some people complained that it was just the same thing as last year, but you should have seen the reaction when the Student Council President got up in front of the entire student body in the courtyard and said “Problems with Rearing Children, by Mallette Harculia”. How well it was received proved better than anything else that you should stick with what works. After the opening ceremony, the miss herself stormed into the Festival Committee HQ and demanded her stand be given the dozen bottles of Dom Pérignon – which could not have been easy to gather the way things are – that were meant for the after-festival party. This year’s festival was a bit lacking in noise and color since German restrictions kept us from getting any fireworks, but that seems to have explosively increased everyone’s sales. According to a customer survey, the bestselling products as of 4:08 PM today are the following two: 1: The Discarded Military Supplies Market There was a bazaar for weapons, uniforms, and the like from both the German and French armies. I might seem surprising that the Germans would allow a market like this, but there are rumors that most of the money goes back to the cash-strapped Germans. Makes you wonder which country is occupying which. 2: The PR Club’s School Festival Photos The PR Club was selling an album of important photos from the school festival. This time, we rush-edited together some photos we took during the preparations and the first half of today. The cover was a photo of the newly-famous pair of Miss Beretta McWild and Miss Rosetta Balleroy sleeping in each other’s arms. I think that was the secret to its success. At the very least, I know the Crossdresser’s Beauty Pageant section at the end didn’t help. Also, the cameraman who took the photo was soon hit by one of Miss Beretta’s kicks and sent to the hospital. Thank you for your sacrifice. It has done wonders for our sales. Hooray! ### Command within the German Army’s Paris Branch Office: To Branch Office Personnel Over the past several weeks, dress uniforms, mock bullets, and weapons-related equipment have been stolen from the branch office’s storage on several occasions. Keep an eye on each other to prevent any more such crimes. Also, every university in Paris begins a festival today. Do not let the French people’s high spirits influence you. You must remain prepared for any sign of the enemy arriving from the west. We look forward to your renewed efforts. ### May 12, 1944 Mock Battle Message Board: Things to Keep in Mind During a Lourd de Marionnette Battle - Bow before and after the battle. - Obey the referee’s decisions. - If you cannot return to battle because you cannot replace a major lost part, you forfeit the match. - Any attack on a fallen opponent and any attack meant to slice or crush an opponent’s head, spine, or torso is a foul. - Taking the spectators or referee hostage is a foul. - Usage of cannons and other projectile weapons is not allowed. - The emergency team from Paris’s general hospital insists they can “fully heal any and all injuries”, so there is no need to worry about harming your opponent. - But if your behavior is unbecoming of a French person, you will be removed. –Festival Committee ### Dopester Message Board behind the Mock Battleground: Speculation for 1st Round 4th Match How should I put it? I’d say it’s about 4:6 in Beretta’s favor. I doubt we’ll see an upset like in the 1st Match where Phillip won despite the 6:4 odds against him. Also, everyone expects Beretta to win the whole thing, but they’re holding back from betting on her because she’s a girl. In fact, it’s been almost entirely the girls betting on her this time. It’s looking like women are going to be the winners in both gambling and suffrage. But her opponent, Cress Alsace, was apparently lent a Lourd de Marionnette by the Germans thanks to some connections through his father. His father owns a newspaper company, so you can imagine why there’s a connection to the Germans there. On one side is a bourgeois Recréa-ing into a cutting-edge German Lourd de Marionnette with no power restrictions. On the other is a female exchange student Recréa-ing into an old female Lourd de Marionnette borrowed from the school with power restrictions in place. Either way, this isn’t something you see every day. I bet it will be over in the blink of an eye. Now, who will you back? –Dopester Alef Marlow ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank Right away: kaboom. There, one wooden spear hit and it’s over~ That was fast. I was wondering what a Knight Striker is, but all I did was Write Bring into the Heavy Barrel and hit someone, so I was hardly fighting with the pride of a Knight Striker. My opponent was just too weak. It doesn’t matter how good the Barrel is if you can’t use it. The battle really was over in the blink of an eye. I didn’t even need to use the Over Emblem. Grazie’s Over Emblem is a mobility-focused transformation, but I’ve never actually tried it. The angel wing emblems on the shoulders aren’t showing any sign of activating. I don’t know if I’ll get to use that this time. The stopgap wooden spear is doing pretty well. C’mon, ref. Snap out of it and give me the win. You can think about it back in the hangar. Hey, Rosetta. Are you watching? I love how you don’t have a care in the world. And I can relax more with you around. Now if only I could prioritize myself as a Knight Striker as much as I prioritize making you feel happy. I’ll be heading back now, so make sure you have my clothes read-…eh? Oh, I forgot. If I return to the hangar without Pointing, I might be disqualified for “unbecoming behavior”. My bad, my bad. Anyway, that’s a win for the first round. With this kind of speed, you’d think it was rigged. Keh keh keh. ### Dopester Message Board behind the Mock Battle Ground: Speculation for 2nd Round 2nd Match Thanks to the 1st round, the odds are 8:2 in Beretta’s favor. Now, the winner of this match will be up against Phillip Missel who has already moved on to the final round. Phillip sure is strong. That’s all I can say. You can see why he has a sword emblem on each shoulder. Even the Germans have to be shocked that Paris has such a powerful Lourd de Écrivain. I mean, the Germans only wanted the name of the former Chevalier de Paris, but now that he’s actually fighting, he’s proven himself to be strong indeed. Then there’s the Expert de Épée he’s Recréa-ed into. It is so powerful and you can’t even be jealous since it hasn’t had its power control restored. The way he fights without relying on strength shows his skill is real. Why would he join the Germans? That is the real mystery here. The final round will start after a break for lunch, so I hope to enjoy that longer wait. I really do. –Dopester Alef Marlow ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank Right away: kapow. There, another wooden spear hit and it’s over, over, over~!! This is turning out to be really easy without even getting into the initial issue of responsibility or what a Knight Striker is. I was hoping to get a lot of thinking done while Write Bringing into this Heavy Barrel, but I just don’t have time. Is no one going to let me fight a real Knight Striker’s battle in these Heavy Barrel battles? Write Bringing into a Heavy Barrel isn’t supposed to be a game. I want to ask why these guys seem so intent on immediately attacking me without a second thought, but I can already hear Mallette making a dirty joke about that. And laughing at a crude joke isn’t going to help with much right now. Hey, ref. Snap out of it and give me the win. Now how’s Rosetta? There really is something about Rosetta that draws in the people around her. But I wonder who that old man next to her is. …Oh? Ohh, he got back up, he got back up. He’s raising his weapon, he’s raising his weapon. Good job, good job. And kablam. Now he’s not about to get back up. Pathetic. Okay, ref. I really did win this time, so hurry up and announce it. Ah, wait. “Rosetta! Don’t wave around the underwear I gave you when you wave at me!!” First I’m impressed with her and now she’s worrying me. It’s always something with her. ### Dopester Message Board behind the Mock Battle Ground: General Speculation for 3rd Round Okay, these matches have been quite exciting, but they have also been unusually quick compared to past years. That has got to be due to the great skill of the two who have reached the final round. They used that to obliterate the competition with overwhelming speed. Special Participant Phillip, who had been gathering focus behind the scenes, ended the first and second rounds in a single attack, demonstrating the depth of this skill. It is a complete mystery why such a skilled Lourd de Écrivain had not made an appearance before this or why he finally did so now. Come to think of it, his Missel family used to use Lourd de Marionnettes to act as Paris’s guardians. Well, men have their reasons for what they do. It makes him seem even cooler if you ask me. On the other hand, Beretta is an exchange student from America. A female Lourd de Écrivain has a very American feel to it, but she is strong too. Makes you wonder if she’s sold her soul to the devil or something. Now, then. Who will win the match between them? The betting is currently at 5:5 and showing no sign of budging. That is not a fun spot for me to be in. Not at all. –Dopester Alef Marlow ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today's 1st Entry I will write today’s events in multiple entries because I feel like a lot is going to happen. Lady Beretta was angry with me just now. She warned me instead of just lashing out at me. But it was still disappointing. My focus was apparently slipping. But Lady Beretta is part of the reason why. There are times when she definitely looks my way while Recréa-ing. I am not entirely sure why I am so certain of that though. Perhaps there is a sort of resonance because we are both machines – she counts as a machine while Recréa-ing into a Lourd de Marionnette. And it makes me very happy when she looks my way. That makes me want to respond in some way. So I waved back and dropped her underwear. That is why she was angry. I will try to restrain myself from now on. I think I will still end up waving though. I seem unable to control myself when I feel happy. Why is that, when I am a machine? Anyway, Lady Beretta is strong. She has already fought two matches today and she won them both in an instant. Everyone in the stands – what I thought were stairs are officially known as stands – was surprised and that made me realize how incredible Lady Beretta is. I asked the old man sitting next to me and he said that Lady Beretta is not normal. That means she is abnormal. But I am worried. She will lose herself in thought while walking or fighting in the Lourd de Marionnette. I do not think anyone else noticed. But I sometimes feel a chill while watching her. There is a calm stillness as she thinks about something. Lady Beretta is still Recréa-ing while sitting in the place known as a hangar. She ate the lunch I brought for her – she was almost entirely naked while she did so – and then she Recréa-ed again. She says she is going to take a nap. But I think that is a lie. She is thinking about something. This has happened before on occasion. But this seems to be a gathering of all those thoughts. I think she will tell me what it is once she has an answer. So I will not ask. That is why I am leaving her alone while I write this in a corner of the dining hall located next to the mock battleground. Earlier I saw Sir Phillip on his own. He made sure Lady Beretta was not with me and then sat in the seat across from me. Everyone in the dining hall kept their distance after that. They moved away. Sir Phillip’s expression was very serious. “I will win.” He told me that and I asked a question in reply. “Why do you want to defeat Lady Beretta?” He thought for a moment and gave a simple answer. “I want to get her to quit being a Lourd de Écrivain. Even when that idiot tries to restrain herself she ends up fighting just like this. Because she has the makings of a true Lourd de Écrivain.” He smiled a little then. “But it’s too dangerous. And a guy doesn’t want to see a girl in danger.” “Lady Beretta feels the same. She does not to see you or the rest of us in danger.” “That’s what makes her such an idiot. She has a habit of rushing in on her own. She doesn’t give a thought to whether she has someone by her side or who will come and save her if she fails.” “She can indeed be somewhat forceful. But.” “But nothing. And even if there is a ‘but’ she has a tendency to rush into danger before anyone else. She’s too naïve. I don’t know if this will make her happy or unhappy. But I do know I’ve never seen someone like that end up happy. Especially with the world the way it is these days.” “Because of the war you mean?” “More or less. France had Joan of Arc. But she too charged in on her own and ended up getting burned at the stake. Act like a hero during a war and you generally get killed for the trouble.” “…She does like to have her way in such things.” “In everything you mean.” I smiled a bit at that. He was right. I understood what he was saying. Lady Beretta tended to take action before anyone could say anything to her. Although that did make her quite reliable. But. She said she does not want to get us involved in the war. Meanwhile, her unilateral actions are bringing her ever closer to that war herself. War means bloodshed. I know from cooking that dead things have very little blood. And Lady Beretta will lose her blood if she joins the war. That means she will die. What am I supposed to do about that? I (or should I say we?) do not want to see Lady Beretta in danger. So should I try to restrict her actions like Sir Phillip? I think this is a difficult question. She said we would be safe if she puts herself in danger. But is that really true? When I felt happy I think she did as well. That is certain. It is the same when she looks my way from the Lourd de Marionnette. Lady Beretta would not be displeased when I am happy. So is there no way to similarly make both of us safe? I do not know. But I feel like there has to be a better solution. I plan to ponder this some more without settling on a definitive conclusion. It is almost 1 PM. That is when the final match begins. I am about to return to the hangar. ### Referee’s Words: Announcement to Begin the Final Match The 167th Lourd de Marionnette Battle Final Match will now begin. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank Hm. It’s been five minutes since this started, but this one’s going to be tricky. My, oh, my. I know next to nothing about that black Barrel called the Expert de Épée. Based on the sword crest on the shoulders, it’s probably special-made for the Missel family, but it has a real intimidating presence to it. It doesn’t just give off the presence of the person inside it. I think the Protected Empress back at that old man’s place is like that too. But, ugh. What am I supposed to do? Hey, Phillip. Get moving. He isn’t falling for my provocations and, when I charge in, he either falls back or stays entirely motionless to take advantage of my action. Yet it all looks so clumsy and dangerous. That is about right for him, though. Anyway, what should I do? Staring each other down only makes this tenser and I’m guessing only the spectators like this kind of cheap act. If they actually thought about it, they’d understand that we’re just staring at each other without doing a thing. That guy never makes the move in anything. That’s why I start thinking about making the move myself. …Wait, what am I saying? Nothing good ever comes of just letting my thoughts out like this. In fact, I’m not really thinking at all. What am I supposed to do? Hey, Phillip. Have you ever thought what it is you’re doing? What you’re doing now is a complete waste of your time. On August 1, you join a Resistance uprising, defeat a few enemy Barrels, and then get killed by Heinz Berge. You only have 3 months left to live. So why are you here? I know it’s pointless to ask since you don’t know you’re going to die, but you have to know you’re part of a fight that could lead to that. If you had time to fix up that Heavy Barrel, do some training, and participate in these battles…then wasn’t there something better you could have been doing? Not that he would understand what I’m talking about. But after all the time we’ve spent together, he probably thinks he knows what I’m thinking. What am I supposed to do? Anyway, I’d hoped to think about some things and Sign a decent conclusion, but all my thoughts are like something from a lover’s spat. Is that just how much trouble I’m having with coming up with an answer this time? I mean, I never thought Phillip would really make it this far. And I don’t know why he’s Write Bringed into that Heavy Barrel. I also don’t know what he hopes to accomplish by beating me here. Ahh, I can’t believe this. I had predicted that black Barrel would make an appearance here, but I hadn’t thought about what that meant. I was too naïve. Maybe I was too focused on myself. I was thinking about what it means for me to be a Knight Striker, but I never even considered what other people thought about it. He’s probably been thinking about it too. I mean, he showed up here after I said I would be participating. As a Knight Striker, I was only looking at my own surroundings while he was looking at his surroundings and me. Which means, um… He understand me, but I don’t understand him. Hm. …Oh, crap! Wow. I take that back! I just Signed something really dangerous, so what do I do!? He understands me, but I don’t understand him? That means I’m aware of some things that put me at a disadvantage. What was I thinking!? Where’s that entry in the memory bank? Delete, delete, delete! ### Heavy Barrel Grazie’s System Message Memory bank entries cannot be altered while the Heavy Barrel is in use. Please edit the contents while in standby mode. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank I can’t delete it while it’s in use!? Gwah! This is really bad. What do I do? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Really, though. What do I do!? This is a world where what you write defines you. So that was a critical mistake. I’ll just have to do something. But, ahh, I can’t believe this. I can’t stop my thoughts. Since when have I not understood him? I was just really, really careless, so I didn’t think he would make it this far and I hadn’t given any serious thought to why he was participating!! Crap. This is clearly more than just a game. I was too self-centered. After coming to Paris as an “exchange student” and getting caught up in so much trouble, I started feeling like a proper Knight Striker. I came here to take revenge or responsibility because a classmate was injured for me, but…what’s this? Why do I feel so confused? I’m having so much trouble facing someone who seriously came here to defeat me. I’m such an idiot. No, I always knew I was an idiot. But it turns out I don’t understand the person in Paris I thought I understood more than anyone. This is so silly. It’s almost laughable. I can’t believe it. Hey, Phillip. Can you hear me? …No, I suppose not. But whatever. Just listen. I’m probably thinking about you like crazy right now. I’m more serious about it than I ever have been before. And I’m also thinking about something else: —What does it mean to be Knight Striker? Since you’re the son of a former Chevalier de Paris family, I imagine you’re very familiar with the common answer. It means to protect people. Then why are you here to defeat me? Will defeating me protect me somehow? I’m giving this all sorts of thought, you know? Were you thinking about me a lot too? When you left letters at my room, when you attended lectures for me, when I kicked you, when we ate side by side, when said you were joining the German army and we parted ways at the university gate? Well, were you? Dammit, you idiot. React to my Signing already. I guess that’s hoping for too much. But anyway, I’m sure this is mostly me being conceited, but you’ve been thinking about me a lot, haven’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made it this far. I can’t believe this. Yeah, I can’t believe it. I can’t at all. I really, really can’t. I can be honest about all this inside this closed Heavy Barrel. Of course, all of these feelings are just on my part. It’s not like you’ve checked on them with a Point and it’s not like I’ve asked anyone. And I’m not about to do that either. At the very least, I’m not doing it with words. But I just can’t believe it. I feel like you’ve completely outdone me here. Oh, no!! I’m getting pretty lax with my side there. This really isn’t like me at all. I’m not a cat-like girl that loves indulging in others and letting others indulge in her like Mallette. And I’m not as honest as Rosetta. What am I supposed to do at times like this? Really, what? What do I do? Just what do I do? How long has it been like this? How long have you been, um, well, above me? This is bad. I’m Signing some pretty bad things. We’re glaring at each other in a standstill and my thoughts keep slipping further and further away from anything related to the battle. But if I don’t think, I can’t brace myself. If I don’t find an answer, I’ll be overwhelmed by anxiety. If I don’t understand him, I just have to figure out why I don’t. So why is it? I’ve been thinking about you, but I guess you’ve been thinking about me even more and that’s come as a shock. To be blunt, it probably makes me happy. I need to be aware of that. Silence, huh? Yes, that’s right. I was so reliant on your silence. I was always only Pointing you, so I never Signed anything behind that silence. I’m so stupid. But I kind of get it now. I liked your silence and I just left everything with that silence. That would be when we branched apart. …It’s been a while then. I’m such a coward. At my first lecture at the university, I was overwhelmed by the rapid-fire French, but it was your notes that saved me. You probably have no idea how much of a relief that was, do you? We were in different departments, but our classes were nearby and we ended up being together a lot. At the start of the new term, I Signed all through the classroom to see if you were in the class with me. And at last year’s year-end party… You don’t know about any of that, do you? I still have all the letters and notes you gave me. You can call me obstinate if you want. I don’t mind… I can’t believe this. I just can’t. I’m hopeless. The more I think, the more I get stuck with these thoughts. I sound casual enough, but there’s a heavy, heavy numbness deep in my mind. I’m at such a disadvantage in this fight. But I understand three things now. First, I’m going to rethink myself once this is over. I doubt I can become as honest as Rosetta, but I think I can do better. Second, I’ve reassessed my opinion of you. And third…yes, I think we would make a good pair. Regardless of whether you’re going to die or not, I won’t forget that you changed history. You came here because you’re a Lourd de Écrivain and that’s also the reason why you’ll die, isn’t it? I know I’m being one-sided on the matter, but there it is. Yes, it really is one-sided. You’re right in front of me, but here I am simply speculating about this. Buuuut it’s not like I have a choice. Pointing you only shows me silence and you don’t let anything show on the surface, so I can only Sign. At the very least, the position you hold for me is made up of everything I’ve Signed before and everything I’ve thought based on that. Laughable, isn’t it? But can I have another one of my cowardly thoughts? What if you haven’t been thinking about me at all? What if you just think of me as an impertinent girl and you’re only here to teach me a lesson by hurting me? I can’t deny that possibility. And look, I just Signed it. That could be what this is about. Even though I really don’t want that to be the case. But this could all be based on what I hope is true and it’ll end up being nothing more than my Signing. So that thought is insurance in case that happens. If it does happen, I don’t want to be some stupid girl that had too high an opinion of herself. Ah ha ha. But, still, I think I’ve found my answer. So let’s fight. We can’t just sit around. Only a minute? You really can get a lot of thinking done while Write Bringing. But that’s fine. It was a valuable minute. I’ll make sure I have a chance to type up the contents of the memory bank later. Yes. So let’s fight, Phillip. It’s time to pay you back and we’ll find out if I have insufficient funds or if I’ll get some change in return. Once this battle is over, I’m sure I’ll give more thought to how I interact with Heavy Barrels. I doubt I’ll ever again Write Bring in order to fight while in France. What am I fighting for? I don’t want to fight without a clear answer to that question. Because it scares me… So I’ll use the remaining three months to do what I wanted to do concerning my grandma and the Attesor Project. Then I’ll return to my own world. Oh. What? Are you going to say something? <“Uhh.”> Uh? Really? What is that supposed to be? <“Well, you see.”> I see what? <“Umm.”> Um isn’t any better. Just say it already, please. Don’t go silent! You can’t come this far and then stop talking!!” “If you have something to say, just say it!!” <“Okay. If you lose this battle, let’s start officially going out!!”> ### Heavy Barrel Grazie’s System Message Due to sensory overload, the Write Bringer’s thought connection was shut down for 0.00000003 seconds. Restarting. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank —What is this monkey saying!? Don’t laugh about it! And what is with you? I was just seriously thinking about our relationship and debating whether to say something like that!! And what was that!? Start “officially” going out? What does that even mean!? “We already are going out, you moron!!” <“Oh, are we?”> Oh, are we!? Who was it that suddenly grabbed me and kissed me last fall!? <“Umm, then forget I said anything. Ha ha ha.”> Don’t say that and then try to laugh off the embarrassment. Gwahh. …All my tension is gone now. What do I do? Really, what do I do? You’d better take responsibility for this. I’m crying here, inside the Heavy Barrel. Why is it? Why are Heavy Barrel sight devices designed so they can’t cry? I wish I could bawl like a little kid right now, so this is just a waste. Damn. Damn. Damn!! Argh, I don’t care! I don’t care anymore!! I thought I understood you. And you thought you understood me, didn’t you? Since we don’t truly understand what the other is thinking, we have to Sign our own assumptions and occasionally check to see if we were right. Aren’t you going to fight, Phillip? It doesn’t matter. The past doesn’t matter either. Let’s just ignore our friends, our classmates, being a Knight Striker, my grandma, and the Attesor Project. Let’s ignore it all. Let’s fulfill our purposes in standing right here right now. Let’s wipe the slate clean here!! After all this, I’ll do everything I can to ensure you lose. I’ll cut the sight device limiter and directly link the wide-range vision with my reflexes. “Wide-Range Vision Strengthening: Sign.” My vision just got a lot clearer. This vision lets me view both the heavens and the earth at the same time. But I’ve found myself in situations requiring this several times before, so I can manage more than three minutes. And this isn’t all. Based on Phillip’s fighting style, he must think he can defeat a counterattack from this female Grazie. I need to cut even more limiters. I have the power restrictions in place, so I’m not sure I can draw out its full power even if I cut limiters like crazy. I need to use my full power in every sense of the phrase. I’ll open the armor panels and loosen the joints for full-power mode. “Armor Swap-Out ‘Normal Mode → Full-Power Attack Mode’: Sign.” Then I’ll shift the engine output to max power. “Preparing full engine system for max output: Sign.” And I’ll release the part of the engine system used for attack. “Readying Full Drive: Sign.” The engine system is roaring and I’m reminded that I’m a machine right now. Of course they are. You don’t see full-power mode often and not many Knight Strikers can do it. Ether light is floating around my entire body above the armor dress. With the Full Drive ready, the Over Emblems across my body have entered standby. The standard Over Emblems for the HLP018 Grazie are the angel wings on the shoulders. That means mobility. Whether that gives you the ability to land a counter attack is up to the pilot’s willpower. Oh, so he’s serious. What was it you said in America when using full-power mode like this? —Beginning Full Drive with all armaments and abilities to respond to the enemy force. Striking back. ### Heavy Barrel Grazie’s System Message To prepare for Full Drive, the Write Bringer’s thought connection was shut down for 0.0002 seconds. Restarting. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank Here he comes! He also charged forward on reflex. The enemy has a wooden sword. He’s holding it in his right hand. So I circle around to the right. That takes guts and it is admittedly the right way to fight. I have a spear, so I can’t let him get too close. Because…oh, no!? He’s charging right in. I make a light thrust to hold him off. !? I lost my weapon already. Fall back, fall back, fall back!! He’s fast. I can’t escape in time. My will accepted that with a Sign. Since the writing of my will establishes everything here, it’s all over if I accept it before Pointing. Am I going to get hit and that’s that? Of course not! This isn’t enough to get my will to give up!! I’ll dodge it. And there’s only one way: jump over it! To do that, I move forward. And I leap. It’s the same thing I did to hide in that mansion’s courtyard. It’s not the kind of action you expect of a Heavy Barrel and only a Knight Striker can pull it off. This thing weighs about 20 tons and I’m going to make it soar. I step forward. I make the jump with my right foot. I jump almost straight up. I bend the steel body and control it as if to fly back-first up into heaven. Of course, Grazie lacks the power of Protected Empress. I’m aware of that. So I maintain my willpower. I fly instead of jump. My heart cries out. What I need here are my emotions. At the moment, I only feel the pleasure of having free control of myself while Write Bringing into a Heavy Barrel. And I use the Over Emblem to make that sweet emotion a reality. Fly!! This isn’t a full activation, but it’s enough. The body knows how to use the wings and I can leave it to that, so let’s do this. The wings are fully formed in just an instant. Then they forcefully flap at the wind. At the same time, I reach out my hand. I send my right fist toward Philip’s shoulder. I reach for the left shoulder – opposite of the right arm that is raising his sword – and I use that to pull my body up. I don’t know if you call that jumping over him or climbing over him, but it’s quite a stunt either way. That leaves landing. Landing a mass of metal weighing more than 20 tons without breaking it requires some delicate movements. I twist my body around to land while facing him. OK. My feet fall first, I work to make sure my heels land last, I bend my ankles, I bend my knees, I bend my hips, I lower my chest, and I have my body sink down. And just as my heels make contact, I close the wings to flap at the air and leap back!! I can’t believe this. You turn around way too fast, Phillip. You should’ve still had your back turned, so I really am impressed. But fine. I have a weapon now. The battle continues. I make a sudden jab. Eh? Idiot, why would you charge for- Oh, no! At this rate… I need to dodge…but I can’t!? Eh? …Don’t tell me… He’s still moving? But he can barely gather any strength now. What does he hope to accomplish? You idiot! I won’t let you collapse!! I wrap Grazie’s arms around his back as if in an embrace and I support him. …I will support him. You can probably still move, but don’t force yourself here, Phillip. I understand now. Or I think I do, anyway. I understand just how desperate you are to stop me. I can think about why later on. But not right now. I support his body and slowly carry his giant form over to the mock battleground’s wall. I sat him by the wall without responding. We could talk this out later. At the moment, I apparently didn’t have time for a break. So he’s already ready to do this. I’m in Full Drive and as ready for a fight as I’ll ever be. Now’s the time to do this. And I’m sure he feels the same way. He probably came out now because he’s in top form at the moment. And he’s history’s strongest Knight Striker. Let’s take a look at his strength. It’s not about whether I stand a chance against him or not. I’ll see what he can tell me about Knight Strikers and Heavy Barrels. I’ve already seen a lot. Rosetta waving at me over there is already becoming human. Phillip showed me one form of a Knight Striker as a French Lourd de Écrivain. So what will the Germans’ greatest Panzer Kavalier be able to show me? And I… ### Referee’s Words: Announcement to Begin the Special Match The special match between Beretta McWild, Champion of the 167th Lourd de Marionnette Battles, and Heinz Berge, Lieutenant Colonel of the German Army, will now begin. ### 357. Chapter 9: Loss 05/12/1944 What did I remember during that attack? ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x78.” At this speed, each second feels like 78 seconds. The sky looks like solid mass of azure. The wind constantly flows gently across the Panzer’s surface. Conversely, the female Grösse Panzer called Grazie is moving slowly. It is attempting to take a step, but when viewed at this speed, I can clearly predict what action it will take next. I can conclude it is pretending to approach me but will actually run to the side. It will feel like 31 more seconds until Grazie’s leg slowly reaches the ground. This takes a very long time. I have decided to loosen my union with the Grösse Panzer. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x62.” It is said the fastest human reaction speed is 0.1 seconds. It takes that long for your body to react and move. Using that as the baseline, I currently have 62 chances to react to anything. I have gained this reaction speed by uniting with a Grösse Panzer. To me, 88 seconds have passed since the battle began. Everything is so very slow. In truth, it has been less than 2 seconds. To a normal human, this female Grösse Panzer would be moving abnormally fast. In the previous battle, there had been a lot of unnecessary movement, but its mobility had been impressive. The Panzer Kavalier clearly understands that a Grösse Panzer is part of her body and not just a weapon. Her ability is even greater than Phillip Missel’s. But hers is a human speed. And humans are slow. Humans can sometimes slice through light, but that is not because they are moving faster than light. It means they have nearly precognitive instincts that allow them to turn their blade in the direction from which the light will arrive. Most of those known as Sword Masters were made immortal by the influence of ether and experience in battle, so they could train their instincts to a point dozens of times beyond the average person. They see the future early and act based on that. I see the present slowly and act based on that. I cannot predict light and slice through it, but if my speed could exceed that of light, I expect I would be able to slice through it. No matter how quickly someone moves as a human, I see them as moving even slower than a walk. There is no need to play along. They are moving with all their might, so I must respond in kind and fight. I take my first step. It feels like moving through water, but my union with the Grösse Panzer thanks to the Panzer Ritter Project frees me from the bonds of human ability and allows me to draw out almost the full power of the Grösse Panzer. When someone Schreibens into a Grösse Panzer, the Grösse Panzer’s max power is relative to the human’s ability. But in the Panzer Ritter Project, my body was almost entirely replaced with specialized prosthetics that do not restrict the Grösse Panzer’s abilities. The cylinders, steel, engine, and power system all demonstrate the Grösse Panzer’s own abilities. Rot Löwe has a cooling system and it can maintain a power output of approximately 7 times that of a normal Panzer while I am Schreiben-ed into it. The max output has been measured up to 21 times normal and it nearly tore the Panzer apart. After passing about 10 times normal, all actions break the sound barrier and Rot Löwe becomes a weapon of indiscriminate destruction. Rot Löwe’s greatest flaw is the inability to activate the Over Emblem, Eisen Löwe, due to my lack of emotions. The Over Emblem is engraved in the armor, but it has no purpose other than to prove that this is indeed a Grösse Panzer. At 10 times power or more, I can slice through supersonic bullets. My current power is at 5 times. Thus, I approach the female Grösse Panzer at 5 times her speed. Grösse Panzers normally move at speeds relative to a human. So an 8-yard Grösse Panzer can move at about 4 times the speed of a human. A human’s maximum running speed is about 16mph on average. A Grösse Panzer’s maximum speed is about 64mph. Rot Löwe is moving at 5 times that. Due to the burden on the Panzer, supersonic mobility is only possible for an instant, but for that instant, it finally feels like the machine can keep up with my reflexes. The machine’s abilities have yet to reach the machine’s essence. I predict that a Panzer will eventually be developed that can keep up with my x100+ reaction speed. That would be the strongest Panzer. I move forward. I take the second step. It feels like moving through water, but I am clearly moving faster than my opponent. Did she see my movement? No, she likely predicted it. She sensed that I would step forward and had her action change. Her predictive power is greater than my reactions. But I am not light or an artillery shell. I am a Grösse Panzer that can think about what I am doing 62 times as often as a human. So I think. The enemy is charging in with her wooden spear. I block it with my shield on the left. This noise is just like the battlefield. Even on the battlefield, this speed changes an instantaneous gunshot into a 20-second roar. This must be the same. She is slow. So I will now defeat her. I circle behind her to perfectly settle this. In that same span of time, I take 5 steps. I arrive behind the enemy, where she cannot reach me. I conclude that Grazie is trying to turn around. Had she predicted she would be unable to turn around? Or had she feared the thought of an enemy behind her? I confirm that my Verbesserung was inadequate. The enemy is moving with all her might and she has great skill. And there is wind and noise all around us. I conclude that this is a battlefield. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x102.” This is my first time using this speed against a Grösse Panzer. The spear is long enough. By grabbing the back end of the spear, the tip can reach me. I move my body back 3 yards. It will not hit, so I think about my next move. I predict the light is reflecting off of a spectator’s jewelry. To eliminate any possible concerns, I take this chance to Verbesserung. Only one old man would be wearing that. Is that Jean Missel!? There is no doubting it. I Lernen a clear resemblance to Phillip Missel in that face. I conclude that is his grandfather, Jean Missel. During World War One, he made a fool of us on the front line and I even crossed swords with him once… ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrift: High Speed Entry to the Memory Bank Oddity detected in Schreiben user’s memory. A rapid return of a past memory has been confirmed. The return of memories in battle could provide a dangerous shock. Accessing the Psyche Outer mechanism to erase the resurrected memory. After a 0.0000001 second separation, the memory connection with the Schreiben User will be reestablished. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank I can predict what just happened. I don’t know who it is. I conclude it is no one of importance. I focus entirely on Grazie. I conclude that I was distracted by the stands for a long time. I predict the enemy will pull back the spear as she lands and then make her next move. I plan to move for- ———Impossible to dodge. I conclude a brief lapse of attention and an inexplicable cutoff of my memories caused me to lose focus. If I move my head at supersonic speeds, I could dodge this, but that could do damage to my cervical vertebrae. Since General Rommel has summoned me to Normandy, if I am to take damage here, I must let the spear hit me in an area that will cause minimum damage. The enemy’s attack hits me. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank I hit!! That won’t be a fatal blow, but it should stop him. I flap my wings once for attitude control as I land. As for the faltering enemy… Hey, wait, stop! Why do guys always…ah!? This is crazy!! Oh, no. It was shallow, but his sword hit me. I was sent flying. Damn, he really is strong. Given the positioning, that must have smashed my right shoulder. He really knows when to push himself in battle. But if you’re going to do it like that, then I can’t let you beat me. I’m fighting to see what a Heavy Barrel’s strength is to me. I have to figure that out. Just like Rosetta has grown honest with her feelings, I have to grow honest with my idea of a Knight Striker!! Dammit. While approaching, I kick my left leg up as a feint. Did he fall for it? It’s not clear, but I just have to do what I can. While falling back, I swung my arm to allow the impact to leave my right shoulder and to keep my balance. Here he comes. He’s definitely falling for my trick now. The arm I swung to keep my balance grabs the spear sticking out of his face. I gather some slight strength in my arm to begin a thrusting motion. Damn he’s perceptive. I guess it’s true he sees things at 100 times human speed. He doesn’t react to my actions. He reacts to the very beginning of my actions. This is no joke. And now a right kick!! You’re off your balance after swinging your head to pull out that spear, aren’t you!? …What kind of power and attitude control was that!? He’s too strong. Intense pain. But what do I care, you idiot? I was prepared for this. I can keep going. Plus, it wasn’t the kick I was expecting something from. Just as the right lower leg broke and dangled down from the knee, I cleanly spun my body around on my left leg. And in my right hand… I’ll give him an attack he can’t dodge no matter how fast he is. I’ll release my max attack power. Just how destructive is a spear when it’s held by a Heavy Barrel and swung all the way around in a circle? Centrifugal force, weight, and speed. A horizontal swing is the hardest of all attacks to dodge. And a spear’s span is far greater than a sword’s. Hit him!! This is my way of fighting and this is my greatest strength. An impact. ———He got me…!? Is he not even using a shield!? I collapsed. …Phillip moved? …I knew it. That idiot. What was he thinking with his Barrel that badly damaged? You really are dumb. Did you do that because protecting people is a Knight Striker’s job? A lot of good that did when we were both taken out. Ha ha ha. You’re an idiot to the very end. I can’t believe this… I’m no match for you. Out of the three Barrels on this mock battlefield, I’m the weakest one. Heinz Berge is far superior when it comes to combat ability and Phillip Missel is superior when it comes to the desire to protect someone. I really can’t believe it. And I’m exhausted. I’m tired. So very tired… ### Sorbonne University PR Club Extra Edition: Lourd de Marionnette Battle Post-Match Report The special battle was over in an instant. That was a match that left us with a lot to think about. Why did Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge move so that Beretta McWild’s spear would hit him? Why did he need to make such an intense attack at the very end there? And why did Phillip Missel, who joined the German army, intervene to protect Miss Beretta, who should be his enemy? There are a lot of questions here. But everyone at the mock battlefield should know that the final question has already been somewhat answered. When Miss Beretta’s Grazie and Mr. Phillip’s Expert de Épée collapsed, no one watching could move due to how incredible and quick a resolution it was. The only person moving was Mr. Phillip who kicked open the door to the Study on Expert de Épée’s back. He only wore the pants of a German uniform with the jacket draped over his shoulders as he ran over to Grazie. The photo taken by our reporter shows how his right arm was broken, the bone was sticking out, and it was coated with blood. He called out Miss Beretta’s name and opened Grazie’s Study. Miss Beretta was just as bloody as Mr. Phillip but she was unconscious as she rolled out in the nude. He wrapped her in his uniform’s jacket and – this is just like something he would do – carried her over his shoulder. He looked up at the black Lourd de Marionnette standing at the center of the mock battlefield. I imagine every French person at the mock battlefield could understand the anger in his eyes and face. This likely came from the second question: Why did the German army’s strongest Lourd de Écrivain have to go that far? According to those in the know, Lieutenant Colonel Berge’s movements arrived just below the speed of sound. Even if he could not dodge Miss Beretta’s attack, couldn’t he have fought some other way? That is, other than performing a tackle that did not make use of his shield or sword. Everyone saw that question in Mr. Phillip’s anger. A few of the people who saw it concluded that the descendant of the Chevalier de Paris had not actually joined the Germans. He attempted to protect our representative, Miss Beretta. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Berge’s Rot Löwe wordlessly turned its back and left for the hangar. According to the records, this was the first time in seven years that Lieutenant Colonel Berge was injured while Recréa-ing. The female Lourd de Écrivain who fearlessly confronted and injured him and the Chevalier de Paris who attempted to protect her are receiving Correcteur healing in the Paris General Hospital. It seems the hospital’s director was personally watching the match at the mock battlefield. He said they would be fully healed in time for the dance tonight and he would make sure they had a dance together. Also, the Missel family says they will fully repair every Lourd de Marionnette that took part in these mock battles free of charge. Jean Missel, that hero of the previous great war, had come to view today’s battles and he must have been satisfied with his grandson’s performance. Now, as I write this, we still have three hours until the dance in the courtyard. What is going to happen there? ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s 2nd Entry I am writing this inside the mansion. The school festival is having its dance. But I walked home. A lot happened. I could not move immediately after the Lourd de Marionnette battle ended. There were many reasons for that. But the biggest was that I could not believe Lady Beretta had lost. I Signe-d that she had won. And then the Ajouter of reality hit me. Lady Beretta had lost. Lady Beretta, who had said she would protect us, had lost. And Sir Phillip saved her and left the mock battlefield while I was still unable to move. The old man sitting next to me nodded and then left as well. I still could not move. The next thing I knew I was sitting alone in the dining hall near the mock battlefield – it was Lady Mallette and that group that found me there – and had been there for four hours. The sun would be setting soon and things were growing noisy outside. A group known as the music club was beginning their night performance. A few of Lady Mallette’s group went outside. There would apparently be a dance party during that night performance. Everyone had gone to search for a partner. Lady Mallette breathed cigarette smoke from her nose and said “well I shouldn’t have any trouble finding someone” despite not looking very confident. She was keeping me company while I could not move. All of them are such good people. They really are. I had to return to the mansion and make dinner for the master. But I did not. That was wrong of me. No one told me it was okay to do that. I had spent 15 years with the master telling me to do my job right. But I waited for Lady Beretta for myself and not for my job. Why did I do that? I do not know. I asked Lady Mallette about that and about something else that was bothering me. Why had I been unable to move immediately after Lady Beretta lost? And why was I waiting? Lady Mallette gave a very simple answer. “Isn’t that because you’re no longer just a machine?” I am a machine. I am not human. But Lady Mallette made it sound so simple. “If you were a machine you would have been able to move even after Beretta lost. But you were so shocked by it that you couldn’t move. And you’re still worried about her. You’re growing less and less perfect. As a machine I mean.” “So am I of poor quality if you view me as a machine?” “I don’t think you were originally. But Beretta said you’re fine this way.” “Why would Lady Beretta say that about me? Do you believe her?” “That girl won’t give many details. But she was born to a family of Belle de Marionnette engineers. Do you know how Belle de Marionnettes are treated in America?” I said I did not and she smiled a little. As if to say there was no helping that. She told me a lot: - America has a serious racial discrimination problem. To avoid dealing with their social problems they treat different races and Belle de Marionnettes as the underclass. - Lady Beretta helped her parents by looking after the Belle de Marionnettes that had been left in a warehouse unable to move. She worked to bring them out into the world once more. She gave them names and had them grow more human. But then they told her what they had been through. They had all been overworked to the point of breaking down or treated like tools to be loved. - Lady Beretta would make periodic repairs to the Belle de Marionnettes she had raised and sent to work in someone’s home. The owners would only ever demand the Belle de Marionnettes be made to do more work. - And just before the next repair visit the Belle de Marionnettes would break themselves without telling her anything. Those given harsh jobs would intentionally place themselves in harm’s way during the course of their work. The ones used as tools to be loved would throw themselves down the stairs. They would destroy themselves. - Lady Beretta would gather up their broken parts afterwards. Every time it was the same. Their joints and hearts would still be those of a doll. But they had always developed the ability to shed tears like a human. Those tears were shed by something inhuman. The only human ability they gained was the one to cry. I have never shed tears. Kings and queens in picture books often shed tears when they lose their princess. Based on that and what Lady Mallette said I can assume that tears are shed when you feel a powerful emotion in response to losing something – and powerfully enough to feel the need to throw yourself down the stairs. I can say that tears are brought by an unpleasant emotion. That must be what is known as sorrow. I have yet to shed tears. That means I have never felt that unpleasant emotion. That must be because I am with Lady Beretta. I kind of understand why Lady Beretta is so concerned with me. She had not told me the answer. But I felt like I understood it all. It was selfish and uninvited. But it was not unpleasant. She has never taught me an unpleasant emotion. She has protected me. This is what Lady Mallette said: “That Phillip guy and Berretta are both Lourd de Écrivains who see protecting people as their primary duty. So it’s only natural for him to move when no one else can.” “Then can we just let them protect us?” “That’s why you need to think about what happened today. You could not move for Beretta today. If you regret that then you may want to protect her. And…” “And?” “If you want to protect her then you first need to become the kind of person who will not worry her.” Lady Mallette added “like me” in a joking voice and laughed. Become a person. Lady Mallette’s words are right there in my memory. I am not like the Belle de Marionnettes in America. I have not experienced anything unpleasant and I do not want to destroy myself. But can I never rid Lady Beretta of her worry as long as I am a Belle de Marionnette? That must be why she gets angry when I treat myself like a doll. The unpleasant feelings inside her start to rise to the surface. I thought through all that in the dining hall. I stopped thinking when Lady Beretta returned. Her injuries were fully healed. She had changed clothes again. The clothes apparently belonged to Sir Phillip’s mother. She said they had stopped by his mansion to borrow them. They were large red clothes with the hem spread wide. They looked like something out of a picture book. Sir Phillip arrived soon thereafter. His injured right arm was wrapped in bandages and hanging from his neck by a sling. He was not fully healed because he did not receive Correcteur healing until after Lady Beretta. Everyone cheered for them. Everyone slapped them on the head or poked at them. They seemed to be enjoying it and they were carried out into the courtyard. I stayed on the outside of the group for a while. But then I went home. For some reason I felt like I could not be there. I cannot dance with my metal legs and that may have been part of it. But there was a bigger reason. - I alone am different. I am not human. I am simply something that is protected. But the other people treat me like I am human. I do not like that kindness. I want to truly be the same as Lady Beretta and Sir Phillip and Lady Mallette. I do not want to simply be taught and protected. If I was not a Belle de Marionnette then Lady Beretta would not have to worry so much. Sir Phillip would have greeted me normally when we first met. And Lady Mallette would invite me when she goes out drinking. And today. I would have been able to move for Lady Beretta and I would have been able to dance…and I would not be writing this now. I do not want to find myself unable to move when someone is hurt. I thought about all this while walking back home alone. I want to become human. But. I am human. I Signe that but the Ajouter always comes back the same: Please. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. I am human. Why can’t I become human by writing this!? Why does this city have the truth of Ajouter and not just what you Signe? It would be so much easier if I could form myself from just my Signe. Am I missing something crucial needed to be human? I do not know. Perhaps I could become more human if I could shed tears? But I cannot shed tears. Is my desire to be human weaker than my American brethren’s desire to destroy themselves? I do not know. I do not know! I do not know!! Can I become human with something so uncertain? What am I supposed to do? I am conscious. I can speak. And yet I could not join in when doing so would have made me happier than anything. I am a machine. I am not human. And that is everything. Is becoming human a job for me? I understand that it is something I have tasked myself with. But is that what it is? I might not find the answer right away. I will take my time thinking about it. Thinking is not my job. But this is necessary to become human. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning up after the festival. It is supposed to start raining tonight so I think I will bring an umbrella with me. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today went well. First, I fought a battle and defeated two enemy Panzers. I was also injured for the first time in seven years. After the battle, the 2nd Aide visited and asked me why I used such a harsh attack in the end. According to my memories, I did indeed perform a tackle at approximately 8 times normal power output at the end of the battle, but to be honest, I do not understand why I made that attack. So I was unable to answer him. I had intended to block the rotating spear with my shield and then knock down the unbalanced enemy. I will return to this subject later. At 20:01, I repaired Rot Löwe in the training ground hangar. While I did, the mechanics arrived and asked whether or not they should bring Rot Löwe to the Missel family. They said all of the Grösse Panzers involved in the incident were being taken to the Missel family’s hangar where mechanics from across Paris were repairing them. I told them I would repair Rot Löwe myself. At 22:35, I completed the sight device replacement. After that, I extracted today’s combat records from the memory bank. I determined the cause of my injury. I had spotted Jean Missel at the mock battlefield and the Psyche Outer device chose to erase the memory so it would not rattle me. I have concluded it was that slight time loss that allowed the attack to hit me. But this is what I found when I Verbesserung-ed the record from the final attack I made on reflex instead of blocking the spear blow: There must have been a second bout of confusion brought on by my memories and it was erased. What did I remember during that attack? There is nothing in my memory now. At 23:07, I returned to the barracks. Four documents had arrived for me. The first was from HQ saying my appointment as head of the Attesor Project Research Team had been delayed to July 1. The second was from the 1st Aide reporting on the details of my platoon on the Normandy coast. The third was from the Panzer Ritter Project Research Team saying they would quickly repair my prosthetic eye after today’s injury. The fourth was from the army HQ saying I am released from my current mission and should hurry back to the main forces. I have concluded my work in Paris as complete. Tomorrow, I will receive the prosthetic eye surgery, complete my training of the Panzer unit, compile some documents related to the Attesor Project, prepare for the journey, and then return to Normandy. ### 358. Prologue France’s World War Two is said to have repeated for 54 years. But due to the odd correction made to the Metaphysikos in that time, only the “liberators” know of…no, believe in those 54 years of Metaphysikos. Did that really happen or not? Why is there almost no trace of it in the modern era? And why did that Metaphysikos fall apart? The documents gathered after much investigation have been released based on the unfortunate records of the two girls who were the trigger to the liberation of Paris. (From the French Royal Historical Society – Modern Division – Committee for the Compilation of Records Concerning Perdus Artifice) Paris, the world’s transmission site. The powerful individuals who are the source of much information have long gathered and competed in that land. The power to hide information and the power to transmit information. Medieval alchemy was used to strengthen those two conflicting powers during a period of technological revolution and the alchemists of the time used England’s Aerial City as a model to create a barrier around the city. That barrier allowed them to safely create, hide, and transmit their own information. And with that, the Formules forming France were changed, creating… “A world where things exist through accurate notes.” In the centuries since, France sends out thousands of letters and countless news articles on a daily basis to continually send information and trends out into the world. The incidents, words, and human memories created within it are incorporated into its own Formules, allowing it to continually grow like a living creature. Instead of hiding itself as England does, that city has a duty to inform the world of itself using notes. And it builds up information to evolve. That city is known as Closed City – Paris. (From “The Lost World”) Note: The following records all concern the 54 years of the Metaphysikos and the correction thereof, so some of the related documents and memories of those involved have been remade. This is a hidden history. ### 359. Prologue: Recording 11/30/1919 – 06/21/1998 A man stood holding a black umbrella. ### 11/30/1919 ### An Anecdote from Mallette Harculia It was midday on the 24th day since the end of World War One. A cold rain had been falling since the night before and Panzerpolis – Berlin remained wet even during the day. The rain fell equally on all parts of the city. On the burned urban region, on the broken factory region, and on the graveyards where people slept. One such graveyard existed in the Tempelhof Park on the west side of Berlin’s urban region. The rain fell coldly even on that lawn lined with dark-colored gravestones. There was a roaring as an airplane took off into the rainy sky. It was leaving the Tempelhof Airport adjacent to the park. As the airport of a losing nation, all the planes taking off and landing were foreign. The plane was hazy in the rain, but it still passed over the graveyard and cast its shadows on it. As the shadow raced across the lawn and trees, it also passed over something living. A skinny middle-aged man was sitting there. He wore a German army uniform, but the right sleeve was empty. His left eye had been lost from a blade wound. But the medal on his chest was intent on being noticed as it gave off a solid metallic light. He was a wounded soldier. He did not react at all to the shadow passing by overhead. He simply remained down on one knee in front of a gravestone. He would occasionally touch the tree next to the gravestone (a white flowered one) in silence. Another airplane passed by overhead. A crow cawed in response from the forest. The man moved, perhaps in response to the bird cry. He removed the medal on his chest with his remaining left hand, squeezed it in his fist, and then started placing it on the branch from which the white flowers grew. At that moment, someone spoke to him. “We can’t have you throwing that away, Lieutenant Heinz Berge.” The man, Heinz, said nothing in response, but he did quickly stand up. Water splashed at his feet and he turned around as if swinging his empty right sleeve around him. His one eye turned toward where a man stood holding a black umbrella. Heinz asked a question when he saw the man’s face. “…Is this a condolence call? I’m fairly certain I have no more family left.” “This is no condolence call, Lieutenant.” “Then what is it?” “I am here to take you with me. You should have received a letter last night… I am with the Geheimnis Agency.” Heinz briefly forgot to put on a facial expression when he heard that. After just a few seconds, the scar over his left eye bent. An inappropriate smile formed on his lips and his right eye looked to his right sleeve. His smiling lips spoke as they drank the rain. “The Geheimnis Agency, huh? …That agency seeks a country which does not rely on the wisdom of god or the technology of the past, so what do you hope to accomplish by giving a Panzer to a crippled Panzer Kavalier? Not to mention that our entire country’s military is going to be shrunk soon. I doubt you can even prepare me a new Panzer.” “Not to worry. The Geheimnis Agency holds a position higher than the occupying army.” “Oh?” Heinz nodded once as if hanging his head and then said more. “I heard 70% of your ranks were consumed by an attack from the British army during the Great War.” “But 100% of the enemy was consigned to the abyss. …Our technology is 50 years ahead of theirs.” “And what do you want me to do with that technology?” “As stated in our letter, you will be given the title of the strongest.” Heinz looked up into the sky when he heard that. A poem escaped his lips. That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. Hearing that poem, the man in black spoke quietly. “That is the Panzer Kavalier’s song, isn’t it? …The song of the Panzer Kavalier whose duty is to protect people.” And he said more. “But the blue sky, the red dirt, the wind, and the sand cannot be found here.” “No, they can’t.” Heinz Berge agreed and lowered his gaze. He tilted his head slightly, looked to the gravestone, and asked a question. “About the letter last night… If I take part in this Panzer Ritter Project of yours, you really will erase my emotions when you give me a fully artificial body, right? To ensure I make accurate decisions.” “Yes, you will lose all memories unrelated to combat.” “Everything, including today?” “Most likely.” “I see.” Heinz looked away from the gravestone and began to walk. The rain picked up as he did so. After a few steps, he passed by the man in black, so that man quickly followed. “Are you accepting our offer?” Heinz did not nod. He simply faced forward in the rain. The rain grew ever stronger. And then his voice entered that rain. “I no longer need the blue sky, the red dirt, the wind, the sand…” He took a breath. “Or grief.” ### 6/21/1998 ### Excerpt from the Paris Region Exchange Student Consent Form – 1998 Edition Everything was closed off by the Rondeau. Paris is best known as a textual world that exists through journal entries, but it has another trait as well. As I am sure you know, the entirety of France is still repeating a year from World War Two. It happened near the end of World War Two. Specifically, 5:32:18 of August 6, 1944 when Allied Forces fought to liberate Paris. The German Wort Bombe taken to Paris was detonated. Even the Formules of space-time were altered by the explosion and France was closed away. So every year, the Primitif takes affect at that time and everything is reverted to their state from one year before. Starting in ’63, Detroit’s Formule analysis technology has made it possible to enter that closed space, but the inside has been fully repeating the time from August of ’43 to August of ’44. Yes, just like finishing a book and re-reading it from the beginning. The people caught in Paris’s Primitif are unaware they are repeating the same year over and over, so they have tried to do the exact same things 54 times now. You, the exchange student, will enter that era as “something extra”. You will be unable to leave until you are “expelled” by the detonation of the Wort Bombe in a year’s time. And as the city itself has an immune system, you can only enter once in your lifetime. If you die inside, your very existence will be wholly annihilated by the Primitif. Each year, France’s immune system grows stronger, so what we can send inside is only growing more limited. If we can no longer send anything inside, Paris will become a truly shy city that no one can enter. But that is an unavoidable fate. France is connected to ’44, so if it is liberated, it will recover back in ’44 rather than here in ’98. If that happens, this world which has evolved as a “France-less world” ever since ’44 will be erased as a 54 year paradox. Thus, we cannot liberate France and we must create a backup. This is a global problem. And no matter how much that era is altered, it is reset a year later by the Primitif. But you will not lose what you gained there. Do not forget that. ### 360. Preface ## Character 1 Beretta McWild Foreigner Image: Exchange Student – Knight Striker Role: The one to destroy this world ## Character 2 Protected Empress Heavy Barrel Image: America’s Latest Female Heavy Barrel Role: Steel doll that protects people ## Character 3 Rosetta Balleroy Belle de Marionnette Image: Automaton of Unknown Type Role: One who wanders between human and steel ## Character 4 Guilliaum Balleroy Resister Image: Resistance Leader Role: One who fights and makes up for the past ## Map ## Movie Ad Top: Recorded Movie “ ’43 School Festival” Notice of an Advance Screening Middle of image: Even our reporter was shocked! Bottom of image: Miss Beretta directly kicked our reporter. (No stuntman used) Bottom: Full of hellish and exciting footage. Today we would like to inform you all that an advance screening of this movie will be held in the 1st Cafeteria at 4 PM on the 21st. Our school’s film studies group has captured the art of sound and light for a full 131 minutes of endless “Drinking and Destruction”. Is this hell or paradise? According to the director, it provides “history’s greatest sense of realism”, but the administrative division is considering canceling the advance screening because “it’s nothing but that”. Oh, such fun, such fun. (5/18 – PR Team) (Translated by: Kawakami Minoru) ### 361. Prologue: Recording ## Prologue France’s World War Two is said to have repeated for 54 years. But due to the odd correction made to the Metaphysikos in that time, only the “liberators” know of…no, believe in those 54 years of Metaphysikos. Did that really happen or not? Why is there almost no trace of it in the modern era? And why did that Metaphysikos fall apart? The documents gathered after much investigation have been released based on the unfortunate records of the two girls who were the trigger to the liberation of Paris. (From the French Royal Historical Society – Modern Division – Committee for the Compilation of Records Concerning Perdus Artifice) Paris, the world’s transmission site. The powerful individuals who are the source of much information have long gathered and competed in that land. The power to hide information and the power to transmit information. Medieval alchemy was used to strengthen those two conflicting powers during a period of technological revolution and the alchemists of the time used England’s Aerial City as a model to create a barrier around the city. That barrier allowed them to safely create, hide, and transmit their own information. And with that, the Formules forming France were changed, creating… “A world where things exist through accurate notes.” In the centuries since, France sends out thousands of letters and countless news articles on a daily basis to continually send information and trends out into the world. The incidents, words, and human memories created within it are incorporated into its own Formules, allowing it to continually grow like a living creature. Instead of hiding itself as England does, that city has a duty to inform the world of itself using notes. And it builds up information to evolve. That city is known as Closed City – Paris. (From “The Lost World”) Note: The following records all concern the 54 years of the Metaphysikos and the correction thereof, so some of the related documents and memories of those involved have been remade. This is a hidden history. ## Prologue: Recording 11/30/1919 – 06/21/1998 A man stood holding a black umbrella. ### 11/30/1919 ### An Anecdote from Mallette Harculia It was midday on the 24th day since the end of World War One. A cold rain had been falling since the night before and Panzerpolis – Berlin remained wet even during the day. The rain fell equally on all parts of the city. On the burned urban region, on the broken factory region, and on the graveyards where people slept. One such graveyard existed in the Tempelhof Park on the west side of Berlin’s urban region. The rain fell coldly even on that lawn lined with dark-colored gravestones. There was a roaring as an airplane took off into the rainy sky. It was leaving the Tempelhof Airport adjacent to the park. As the airport of a losing nation, all the planes taking off and landing were foreign. The plane was hazy in the rain, but it still passed over the graveyard and cast its shadows on it. As the shadow raced across the lawn and trees, it also passed over something living. A skinny middle-aged man was sitting there. He wore a German army uniform, but the right sleeve was empty. His left eye had been lost from a blade wound. But the medal on his chest was intent on being noticed as it gave off a solid metallic light. He was a wounded soldier. He did not react at all to the shadow passing by overhead. He simply remained down on one knee in front of a gravestone. He would occasionally touch the tree next to the gravestone (a white flowered one) in silence. Another airplane passed by overhead. A crow cawed in response from the forest. The man moved, perhaps in response to the bird cry. He removed the medal on his chest with his remaining left hand, squeezed it in his fist, and then started placing it on the branch from which the white flowers grew. At that moment, someone spoke to him. “We can’t have you throwing that away, Lieutenant Heinz Berge.” The man, Heinz, said nothing in response, but he did quickly stand up. Water splashed at his feet and he turned around as if swinging his empty right sleeve around him. His one eye turned toward where a man stood holding a black umbrella. Heinz asked a question when he saw the man’s face. “…Is this a condolence call? I’m fairly certain I have no more family left.” “This is no condolence call, Lieutenant.” “Then what is it?” “I am here to take you with me. You should have received a letter last night… I am with the Geheimnis Agency.” Heinz briefly forgot to put on a facial expression when he heard that. After just a few seconds, the scar over his left eye bent. An inappropriate smile formed on his lips and his right eye looked to his right sleeve. His smiling lips spoke as they drank the rain. “The Geheimnis Agency, huh? …That agency seeks a country which does not rely on the wisdom of god or the technology of the past, so what do you hope to accomplish by giving a Panzer to a crippled Panzer Kavalier? Not to mention that our entire country’s military is going to be shrunk soon. I doubt you can even prepare me a new Panzer.” “Not to worry. The Geheimnis Agency holds a position higher than the occupying army.” “Oh?” Heinz nodded once as if hanging his head and then said more. “I heard 70% of your ranks were consumed by an attack from the British army during the Great War.” “But 100% of the enemy was consigned to the abyss. …Our technology is 50 years ahead of theirs.” “And what do you want me to do with that technology?” “As stated in our letter, you will be given the title of the strongest.” Heinz looked up into the sky when he heard that. A poem escaped his lips. That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. Hearing that poem, the man in black spoke quietly. “That is the Panzer Kavalier’s song, isn’t it? …The song of the Panzer Kavalier whose duty is to protect people.” And he said more. “But the blue sky, the red dirt, the wind, and the sand cannot be found here.” “No, they can’t.” Heinz Berge agreed and lowered his gaze. He tilted his head slightly, looked to the gravestone, and asked a question. “About the letter last night… If I take part in this Panzer Ritter Project of yours, you really will erase my emotions when you give me a fully artificial body, right? To ensure I make accurate decisions.” “Yes, you will lose all memories unrelated to combat.” “Everything, including today?” “Most likely.” “I see.” Heinz looked away from the gravestone and began to walk. The rain picked up as he did so. After a few steps, he passed by the man in black, so that man quickly followed. “Are you accepting our offer?” Heinz did not nod. He simply faced forward in the rain. The rain grew ever stronger. And then his voice entered that rain. “I no longer need the blue sky, the red dirt, the wind, the sand…” He took a breath. “Or grief.” ### 6/21/1998 ### Excerpt from the Paris Region Exchange Student Consent Form – 1998 Edition Everything was closed off by the Rondeau. Paris is best known as a textual world that exists through journal entries, but it has another trait as well. As I am sure you know, the entirety of France is still repeating a year from World War Two. It happened near the end of World War Two. Specifically, 5:32:18 of August 6, 1944 when Allied Forces fought to liberate Paris. The German Wort Bombe taken to Paris was detonated. Even the Formules of space-time were altered by the explosion and France was closed away. So every year, the Primitif takes affect at that time and everything is reverted to their state from one year before. Starting in ’63, Detroit’s Formule analysis technology has made it possible to enter that closed space, but the inside has been fully repeating the time from August of ’43 to August of ’44. Yes, just like finishing a book and re-reading it from the beginning. The people caught in Paris’s Primitif are unaware they are repeating the same year over and over, so they have tried to do the exact same things 54 times now. You, the exchange student, will enter that era as “something extra”. You will be unable to leave until you are “expelled” by the detonation of the Wort Bombe in a year’s time. And as the city itself has an immune system, you can only enter once in your lifetime. If you die inside, your very existence will be wholly annihilated by the Primitif. Each year, France’s immune system grows stronger, so what we can send inside is only growing more limited. If we can no longer send anything inside, Paris will become a truly shy city that no one can enter. But that is an unavoidable fate. France is connected to ’44, so if it is liberated, it will recover back in ’44 rather than here in ’98. If that happens, this world which has evolved as a “France-less world” ever since ’44 will be erased as a 54 year paradox. Thus, we cannot liberate France and we must create a backup. This is a global problem. And no matter how much that era is altered, it is reset a year later by the Primitif. But you will not lose what you gained there. Do not forget that. ### 362. Afterword ### Kawakami Minoru’s Afterword: To the Readers Yeah, I’ve gotta follow the format, don’t I? Anyway, we ran a survey after Osaka, and the readers basically said, “Kawakami-san has been really lewd lately. Is he okay? Did he have a bad experience or something? Really, what’s going on?” I want to know what’s going on too, honestly. Anyway, let’s switch things up by starting on a more serious topic. With Paris, I feel like you’ve gotten a pretty good look at what the City Series is as a whole. With those 5 titles, I’ve managed to show off the basic structure of the world (not fully, though). From here on, I plan to expand on the world a lot, so I’ll be looking at the future books as a sort of “second season”. So with Paris and the other previous books (the first season?), I was getting into the shared elements of the world and the individual elements of each city, but with the second season, I will use all that as a foundation to focus more on the individual elements of each city, the characters, the items, and my usual craziness. Think of it like having the groundwork laid out to start making a leap ahead in whatever direction I want. So I guess you could say I have finally drawn out a visible starting line, thin though it may be. As an author, I would describe this feeling like soaking in a really nice warm bath. (I don’t expect anyone at all to get what I mean from that.) A big thank you to everyone who has supported me this far. I’m going to keep things exciting as I continue onward. Hm. Let’s follow up that serious talk with, um, a phone call! Yes, a phone call! And to make things more interesting, I’ll call directly from the office. (I’m in a weird mood today.) “Hey, K-kun. What are your thoughts on Paris?” “Oh, Senpai. You really like the sexy stuff, don’t you?” “That’s a sudden accusation.” “A whole bunch of people say so.” “Every member of the human race other than me is a liar, so you can’t trust a thing they say.” “Eh? So I’m a liar too?”” “Of course. Everything you say is the opposite of true, so think carefully before you speak.” “Umm, then yes homo, but I really hate you, man.” “That is an unnecessarily complicated gag!!” Damn, is everyone I know weird? So with that (with what?), the City Series is about to really get started. How exciting. Anyway, my background music this time was, as announced last time, from a video game. I think Say Papa by Zuntata would be good for the final chapter. While rereading Part B, I was wondering “Who was the most selfish?” And this definitely had the usual City Series feel to it, didn’t it? Anyway, the second season(?) begins next time with Berlin. I’m serious. July 1999. An extremely sunny morning. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu’s Page Top: And with that… Middle: Thank you for seeing it through to the end. I got permission from the author for this page. -Satoyasu Right sword: That Thing from Hong Kong Left sword: This One Too Bottom: Sorry ### 363. Chapter 13: Change 6/6/1944 For some reason, the scream continues to ring in my ears. ### June 6, 1944 ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x92.” Time slowed down. The rain from the cloudy sky fell slowly onto the Normandy beach. I stood alone on the coast. I was the only person in the world capable of moving on this beach without being hit by our own machinegun fire or the enemy warships’ shells. While moving at 92 times the speed of a normal person, I could even see the bullets fired by the infantrymen’s small guns. The gunfire and explosions were stretched out 92 times to form a single great roar that never ceased pounding on my auditory devices. My vision clearly saw the bullets from the machineguns and small guns tearing through the air. Occasionally, an enemy soldier’s body was blasted into the air by an explosion where it would float for a while before falling. Time moved so slowly. And in that time, a single color showed up brighter than all others. The red of blood. That color sprayed from the infantrymen and stained the sea. Approximately 5000 ships floated off the coast and an incalculable number of infantrymen attempted to reach land from them. They easily surpassed 10,000 in number. And they were transformed into corpses on the beach. There was no cover on the 25-mile-wide coast, their tanks sank in the water, our machineguns fired down from a rock wall, and I intercepted any who still managed to reach land. I was tasked with protecting 1/6 of the beach, the 2-mile radius around Pillbox #18 which had been taken out by a shell from an enemy ship. I was armed with a newly developed divine weapon called a heavy cleaver. That was a Werkzeug equipped with a Phlogiston Tank that used its own power to envelop itself in a cleaving black blade. It could cleave and slice through anything and everything. I walked between the obstacles meant to prevent the ships from landing. Each step felt so slow, like I was walking through water. I heard human voices along with the roar of gunfire and shellfire. They were screams. Some were the gasps of people hit by a powerful impact, some were the cries of those who had just noticed their injuries, and some were the laughs of those who had accepted their fate, but they all mixed together to color the air. I stepped on them. Two bodies’ worth of flesh and bone were broken and crushed between my metal foot and the sand of the beach. With my sense of time sped up 92 times, I could accurately hear each of their bones snapping and muscle fibers tearing. I felt nothing from the observation. My Psyche Outer system was functioning properly. A small bullet hit the left shoulder of my armored clothing. It was incapable of penetrating the armor. I reacted while it was still digging into the clothing material. I looked back. I could see the ocean. Several thousand enemy soldiers were standing and floating in the dark morning ocean. The ratio of dead to alive appeared to be about half and half. Several of the landing craft were headed my way, but the ones spewing flames and the ones sinking from a hit were also full of soldiers. Nevertheless, the enemy did not give up. They had no real plan. It was an invasion reliant on pure numbers. The corpses were piling up, but they relentlessly continued onward. An MG42 bullet flew in from behind me and right past my ear. When I saw the light of the tracer round, I lowered my heavy cleaver. The result was the sound of striking bullets while blood spray and chunks of human beings flew from behind the front wall of the landing craft. That 1-inch-thick metal panel might as well have been paper to the machinegun. The humans behind it were just as ineffectual a barrier. After penetrating the front wall of the landing craft, the bullets entered the bodies of the soldiers within, tore through their internal organs, hit their bones, and ricocheted into other soldiers. That landing craft might as well have been a coffin. In order to create a mass-produced product, they no longer protected the crucial soldiers within. The shells fired from the warships out at sea were 7-inch models. They were targeted at me. To intercept them, I pressurized my power output by a factor of 11 and raised the heavy cleaver. I heard no screams. Their internal organs had been crushed when the initial shockwave threw them into the sky. Many of them spewed their organs from their mouth. They flew up and then fell in the slow motion of x92 speed. The explosions, gunfire, and human voices sounded like a storm, but all of that noise was only coming from the distance now. I concluded a distant pillbox had been destroyed. The landing had succeeded. When the defensive line collapsed at one point, the rest would fall apart from there. I could not seek confirmation because Rot Löwe was not equipped with a communication device. Development was underway on a communication device capable of accounting for the time difference caused by my accelerated reaction speed, but no real progress had been made. Thus, I checked with my sight devices while standing on the deserted beach. “Primary Sight Devices: Lernen” The enemy soldiers were making a successful landing at a different point on the beach. The ones who had died here had died in vain. It took some focus to hear his voice. <“Lieutenant Colonel! The enemy has landed on the left wing! I will send two of our unit’s Grösse Panzer s there!”> I concluded that was a good decision. I raised a hand to show I understood that those two would deal with the landed enemy soldiers. I confirmed their presence with my vision alone. Six horizontal shots were flying my way from the ships out at sea. But instead of simple steel shells, these were explosive shells known as Bogen. This was a total of 18 explosive shells. They had fired on this deserted area of beach after noticing none of their own soldiers were there. I compressed my power output by a factor of 20. That was nearly enough power for the Panzer to cry out in protest. I raised my heavy cleaver and shield. The black blade carried a slicing power and it released a gust of wind as I swung it up with my right arm. Wet with blood and rain, the sandy beach exploded from the shockwave and briefly hid me from the enemy. I could not see either, but I accurately remembered the locations of the enemy shells. This was not a problem. The shockwave tore apart the ocean and was intended to neutralize four of the explosive shells. My arm groaned in protest after I swung up the sword. I normally used 10 times the standard power output to release a shockwave, but this time I had used twice that. The purpose behind this was revealed with the second attack. I forcibly swung down the heavy cleaver. When moving faster than sound, actions were silent. The blade struck the beach and my hand felt it slicing through each individual grain of sand. This produced a second shockwave. The two shockwaves collided and burst with a light as bright as fierce lightning. I straightened up and moved out of the way to avoid the shockwaves. The remaining five were not on a collision course. I took five steps back and raised my shield. The sand, pieces of corpses, and shell shrapnel pounded on the shield as the multiple explosions propelled them. I used more power output to hold my position here than for any of my previous actions. “Heat Radiation System - Full Power: Lernen” Just as the cooling system activated, the worst of the shockwaves passed. The shield suddenly felt much lighter. I moved forward. Before, I had been avoiding the shockwaves from the Bogen exploding in front of me, but now I had to endure the shockwaves from the remaining 5 as they exploded on the stone wall behind me. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x113.” One step. So very slow. Two steps. I made a turn here to view the stone wall behind me. At the third step, I spread my legs in a stance meant to defend against explosions. I held my shield at the ready. I only had to confirm the trajectory of the five enemy shells and then adjust the shield’s position. The 1st aide had been near there. His expression suggested that he had no clue what was about to happen. The sound of stone wall collapsing was no more than an indistinct rumble with time slowed by a factor of more than one hundred. But I did hear something within that. No, I could assume it was there. The 1st aide’s scream was drowned out in an instant. The deafening roar became stone shrapnel that pounded on my shield. However… I concluded that I was only able to recognize it as a scream because it had been drowned out in an instant. However… Why? Why would the scream not go away? And why was I questioning something like this? My Psyche Outer system was functioning properly. I would only have questions and memories related to combat. Then why was I questioning the screa- ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrift Oddity detected in Schreiben user’s memory. The rapid return of a past memory has been confirmed. To avoid any risk, the surrounding memories will be released and the Schreiben user’s thought connection will be severed for 0.0000001 seconds before reconnecting. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank The following once happened: What is this scream? And why was I conflating the scream from that remembered dream with the 1st aide’s scream? I do not understand any of it. I have determined it is dangerous to lose myself in these thoughts mid-battle. But the memories remain undeleted. I am not sure if this means the Psyche Outer system has ceased to function or if these memories are in fact necessary for me. Humans are fragile. I can assume that corpse also screamed as it died. Is the scream in my memories the same as the ones made by these many corpses? Were they created by fear, resignation, and the other emotions I no longer possess? I am currently a machine. Is there a scream like that within me? Why can I not clearly recall that? That is true of several other things as well: the photograph of a woman and girl, the four o’clock flower, and… The Attesor Project. What do those things mean to a machine like me? I cannot find an answer. But I do know that these are all things I have forgotten due to the Psyche Outer surgery. So when I joined the Panzer Ritter Project… …why… …did I… …try to erase my memories!? I cannot find the answer. ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrift Stabilizing the Schreiben user’s mind is no longer possible. Restoring a portion of his memories to eliminate the psychological pressure causing the instability. Altering fixed memories. The Schreiben user’s thought connection will be severed for 0.0000001 seconds before reconnecting. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank A memory was replayed in my head. What…what did I see in Bourgogne!? And when I returned, why did I decide I wanted to be the strongest!? I do not know. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x1. Power output is dropping.” ### Report from Operation Overlord Allied HQ: Summary of Landing Results The landing operation begun today at 05:30 is still underway now at 18:30, but the valiant efforts of all our troops have successfully broken through in Region D and Region B. 80% of the enemy pillboxes have been successfully neutralized. A mop up operation will begin early tomorrow morning and we will begin to liberate the surrounding regions. Spread the following message to all of our troops: - Operation Overlord was a success. We lost one cruiser and an unknown number of tanks and special vehicles. We estimate we lost at least 4000 of our troops. I wish to express my greatest condolences as I honor their noble sacrifices. ### 364. Chapter 14: Mirror 06/07/1944 – 06/22/1944 Are there any clothes Like the ones Lady Beretta is wearing? ### June 7, 1944 ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Yesterday, Rot Löwe was damaged by an impact. I confirmed it was still functional and escaped the ocean without canceling the Schreiben. After destroying three Mittel Panzers that had reached land, the cooling system malfunctioned and I had to withdraw. Yesterday at 16:32, I joined my platoon at Hill Region B-53. There I learned of HQ’s orders for the entire army to withdraw from Normandy. Today at 13:30, I completed the simple repairs of Rot Löwe and I have resumed movement. At 20:00, I joined three withdrawing infantry platoons at a point three miles south of Falaise. We took a break there. They were from the 40th Infantry Division. They did not know what became of the 352nd Infantry Division. At 21:45, I resumed checking my memories at camp. I recalled what I could of when the Attesor Project existed. I still do not know what I saw at Bourgogne back then or why I joined the Panzer Ritter Project, but I can now recall fragmentary images of that time using the memories released during yesterday’s battle. I can see a mountainous region full of cedar trees and I can remember a mountain pass with rock walls on either side. The words Bourgogne and Morvan Mountains come to mind along with those things. That is the name of the area written of in that Ober Geheimnis Compilation. Since I can remember the scenery to go along with those names, I must have visited there. I am currently working toward being the strongest and I can guess that it was something that occurred in Bourgogne that led me to do that. I can guess I gained something there, I went to my family’s funeral in Berlin, and I joined the Panzer Ritter Project to become the strongest. My memories are returning and I can tell I am searching out the Attesor Project to confirm I am the strongest, but none of this inspires any emotion within me. I will now go to sleep. ### June 21, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Journal A lot happened today unexpectedly. I was playing with the Fantasmé Renard children in the yard during the morning when Lady Beretta arrived. She started by opening a bag in front of me. She pulled out a document with lots of As and Bs on it. “No problem with my grades. That means we can go on a trip tomorrow so let’s go. I’m taking you with me.” This was news to me. She had apparently made a secret pact – an agreement – with the master. Yes. This was a surprise but I will be joining her on a trip to Bourgogne in southern France to visit the home of someone she knows. <“A lot has happened. Rosetta. There is a lot I need to tell you on the way. And I will teach you even more once we’re there. So for today…” “For today? Do you have some other dangerous news for me?” “No I don’t. Um. For today let’s go buy you some clothes.”> I apparently needed clothes to go on a trip. This was my first time going out to buy clothes. I could order underwear and such to be delivered. Same for the usual clothes and apron I wore. I used the same tailor the mansion had always used. But I went into town to buy clothes today. I picked them out myself and I bought them myself. We used Lady Beretta’s bicyclette to ride into town. I removed my apron and we rode it together. We rode down a street with the Arc de Triomphe visible in the distance and we arrived at Saint-Lazare Station. The station was being run by the Germans so we stopped the bicyclette in front of the station and Lady Beretta refueled herself. Then we began shopping. I entered a shop known as a boutique for the first time ever. It was a surprise. It was nothing like my bedroom closet. There were clothes in all sorts of styles and colors. The shop was about half the size of the mansion and it was almost entirely filled with clothing. The elderly woman in the store – her name was Mannequin – apparently knew Lady Beretta and she came out with a long and narrow white wooden box. The box contained the red dress Lady Beretta had borrowed from Sir Phillip. She said it had been somewhat damaged so she said had left it here for mending and washing. We discussed a lot of things while choosing my clothes. I ended up choosing clothes the same design and color as the ones I already had. Unlike me Lady Beretta chose her clothes on her own. She chose clothes in different designs and colors than the ones she already had. I had never before seen myself wearing anything but my normal clothes and pajamas. But worrying over what to choose was pointless. I tried on a lot of different things. I looked into the mirror in the boutique’s changing room and I saw a version of me I had never seen. I did not understand. Why did clothes change the person wearing them? I tried on a standalone skirt unlike my usual apron skirt. The chest area felt lacking. The whiteness of my blouse looked terribly conspicuous in the reflection. I tried on a tight skirt that showed off the lines of my hips. It was harder to move my legs and I was much more aware of my body. It was strange how my reflection looked somehow taller than normal. I tried on a blouse without puffy shoulders. It felt lacking and chilly but it was easier to move around in. I thought it looked like men’s clothing. I tried on a lot of other things too. I became many other versions of myself. The old woman tied my hair back or chose an appropriate coat depending on the clothing I chose. That helped time pass in the blink of an eye. While I continued choosing clothing I made a request I thought was asking too much. “Are there any clothes like the ones Lady Beretta is wearing?” Lady Beretta looked a little surprised. But the old woman took a look at Lady Beretta’s outfit and quickly prepared something for me. She even chose a similar hat. I took those behind the dressing room curtain and put them on. Then I looked in the mirror. I do not know how to describe the emotion I felt then. I lack the vocabulary. That could not be Lady Beretta in the mirror. It was only a Belle de Marionnette wearing similar clothing. Clothing could turn you into a different version of yourself. But it could not turn you into a different person. But. Why did I think being different was a good thing? And why did I still want the same hat as Lady Beretta? I removed that outfit without opening the dressing room’s curtain. I could tell I would never wear them again so I neatly folded them up on the hangars and handed them back. I was led to a small room next to the dressing room. It was a white-walled room with a single gray partition. There was a pure white robe in the center of the room. A mannequin was wearing it. The old woman and Lady Beretta smiled. “Fancy clothing has been banned during the occupation of Paris. But the couturier s have still been giving shape to their thoughts. This dress is of course contraband. No one can buy it.” They had me wear it. Putting on a dress was difficult. While doing so I realized that my legs were becoming human due to the Coppelia Effect. The cushioning at the base of my thighs remained as something like a dark birthmark. “I can introduce you to a good healer to get that healed up once the war is over. It would be a shame to leave it.” I smiled when the old woman said that. The similar marks on my shoulders had already disappeared. The ones on my thighs would likely be gone in less than a month. So I simply told her not to worry about it. I think it took around 20 minutes to get the dress on. Then it was Lady Beretta’s turn to wear a dress. Putting it on her was harder than with me. The corset was too tight for some reason. Yes. Her stomach…no. I will not Signe that. After more time passed we were dressed in contrasting red and white dresses. The old woman had a camera so she took a photograph of Lady Beretta and me. The photograph would apparently be delivered to the mansion. I expect it will arrive after our trip. Surely. After that I removed the dress and chose the clothing I wanted. We loaded the boxes on the front of the bicyclette . We stopped by another shop to buy me a travel bag – one I could wear on my back. Once our preparations were complete we pushed the bicyclette back to the mansion. A lot happened on the way back as well. But I doubt I have time to write about that. I need to prepare for tomorrow. And I need to make sure I do not stay up too late. I am looking forward to tomorrow. This excitement is not a part of my job. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 I’m writing this in my room today. This was a fairly forceful day. After all, I surprised Rosetta with an invitation to visit Bourgogne with me. I’m like a step away from kidnapping her here. But the old man gave the okay when he saw my grades and Rosetta seemed happy buying clothes for her first trip. She might be too excited to sleep right now. But when we visited that café during the day, I realized just how much the city’s atmosphere had changed during the exam period. Before, the city had been colored by the red of brick, the white of quartz, and the dark blue of the asphalt, but now the most prominent colors were the dark green and black of the German uniforms. The café’s menu had less tea and more beer. The city was being locked down as the Germans prepared for battle. The library was closed and you had to be patted down before entering the city hall. It was all pretty awful. That environment had affected my diet and given me a bit of a belly, so I had to buy some new clothes. I still can’t believe it. A lot of other things happened today too. It was all normal enough as I saw Rosetta back home and discussed the trip with the old man, but I screwed up when I decided to help her with the cleaning she started all of a sudden. I lost the too-big ring that Phillip had bought me. I realized that during the evening while taking a break in the second-story study. It was just as she told me about the mansion’s torture room. I was pretty sure I had lost it while wiping things down with a cloth. It was a pretty big shock. What was I supposed to tell Phillip next time I saw him? I wanted to ask Mallette for some advice, but she said she was heading back to visit her parents. If history continued as normal, she would be Formatted without anything happening to her. And Phillip would die before that. I hadn’t met him since the school festival. Not that it mattered. Once the Format happened, I and the things I had arrived with would be booted out into the world of 1999. Only the knowledge and memories I had gained would remain. Holding onto the ring would accomplish nothing. Unless I liberated this world, that is. If the Format could be done away with, this world would reconnect to 1944. I wouldn’t be able to return to 1999, but I would keep everything I had here. But I couldn’t do that. I had a family and returning this to the proper 1944 would rewrite the entire 55-year period between this world and the present time. It was that fear that kept the world from trying to liberate France. We had instead created the transfer student system to back up France. Because the world had advanced 55 years beyond France. Besides, there were three conditions necessary to liberate France and accomplishing them would not be easy. 1: Stop the detonation of the Wort Bombe. 2: Spread a spirit of liberation through the majority of France’s people. 3: Prove that fully closing oneself off is not possible. The most difficult of those was the third one: - Prove that fully closing oneself off is not possible. I was told the way to do that would be to create a paradox by sending in something that had already been Formatted to show that it had not in fact been Formatted. But no one had found a way to break through the city’s immune system. According to the scientists: “We just have to send in something that has not been Formatted and convert it into something that was Formatted.” But that was just an unproven theory. And writing about this is pointless. What matters is tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we would arrive in the Bourgogne village of Herlde and meet Rose Francisca, but how would that go? I was not her daughter, Beretta McWild. That Beretta was in San Francisco back in ’99. Besides, my hair color was different. Could I really fool her? It would probably be best to give her the letter, warn her about the dragon attack on August 3, and get out of there. Herlde was supposed to have an inn, so we could get a room there to investigate the Attesor Project. And Rosetta was sure to ask me all sorts of things about the outside world and myself during the trip. She had trusted me this whole time while I kept the most important things from her. I didn’t care if she ended up laughing, I wanted to tell her everything: the things I doubt she’ll believe and how much she’s saved me. Wow, this doesn’t sound like me at all. I must be really worried like I was in March. I’m headed to a new place where I’ll prepare for the end here. I might find something and I hope I do. Because what I find will probably help me figure out what I’ve been thinking about ever since the Heavy Barrel battle at the school festival. Can I protect people? Knight Strikers are supposed to protect people and I Write Bring into Heavy Barrels because I want to protect the people I care for. But that requires strength. My strength is a little above a normal person’s, but I still can’t defeat anyone with a lot of strength and I end up having someone else protect me. Then what does it mean to be strong? Jack McWild had started the Attesor Project in his pursuit of that question. Would I find some of the answer if I went to Morvan and viewed the same scenery they had? I never expected to be thinking about all this while in France. I’m worried. There’s too much I can’t tell anyone about. Not just the things I was worried about, but the very fact that I had come from the outside world. And that everyone would be Formatted. On August 1, the Paris Resistance would start a fight for liberation and Phillip would die. Will I make it back to Paris before then? Paris is sure to be even more locked down by then, so I might not even be able to get in. I have some regrets. Why didn’t I tell everyone about so many different things? Yes, I’m saying goodbye to a lot of people right now. In just a month and a half, the situation will change and everyone will leave Paris. I said goodbye to Mallette at the bistro last night and I guess I said goodbye to Phillip on that night of the school festival. I still have that dress he lent me. I thought he would come to get it, but he hasn’t. He’s probably busy. When was the last time we were all together? At the festival? No, Rosetta wasn’t there. Then it had to be that party on March 26. That was the night when I beat him up and argued with him. Why can’t I do anything right? With myself or with others? There’s so much more I wish I’d told them, asked them about, thanked them for, and apologized for. I wish I could have spent more time with them, but it just didn’t work out. My pride and vanity get in the way and I end up alone. Maybe France is the same. In its insistence that it’s all alone, it has shut out the rest of the world for 55 years. ### Letter Left by Mallette: To Beretta, My Beloved Neighbor You’re taking your time getting back today, but I’m going to miss my train back home if I don’t leave soon. Sorry I’m leaving without saying goodbye, but I have a vacation waiting. A lot happened this year, but I look forward to seeing you again next year. I just hope the war is over by then. If anything happens, come on over to my parent’s house to visit. It’s on the outskirts of Paris, so about an hour by train. Here, I’ll sketch you a map. Bye. P.S. Since you refuse to do anything about it, I took matters into my own hands. Mr. Phillip should be on his way to visit you. I hope you’re thankful. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 I feel like tearing up and throwing away that last entry, so here’s a second entry for today. Things are still underway and I should really write about them for more reasons than one. There is a good chance that my life is about to veer off track thanks to that mischievous woman. I’m definitely paying her a visit to complain on the way back from Bourgogne. Nothing can stop me. But this is bad. I need to stay calm. And I’m supposed to be leaving on a train tomorrow morning. Phillip is here. I had packed up almost all of my clothes and other things and I had just taken a shower before bed, but then that idiot showed up. And who knows what Mallette had told him. <“Sorry about the wait.”> Yeah, when I was freshly showered and dressed like this, it probably did look like I’d been waiting. That woman had definitely set up one hell of a situation here. This was like something out of a porn novel. And that idiot went full idiot and went to take a shower without even asking. Why won’t he listen? What is he, an old man? Anyway, I could explain the situation once he returned. This was not at all what I wanted. Couldn’t I at least have some more time to prepare myself mentally and physically beforehand? And I was just indulging in some sentimental musings all alone in the Paris night. Hmm. But I think I will Sign one thing: I’m a little happy about this turn of events. Oh, he just left the shower room. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 07:00, while I was searching for enemies 10 miles north of Vendôme, I met up with a messenger. At 08:23, I received special orders from general HQ. My platoon is being reassigned as the 1st Special Grösse Panzer Platoon in charge of guarding the Paris region and I was commanded to begin serious investigation of the Attesor Project. The reassignment will go into effect on July 1. At 09:10, I met with my men. I informed them we would be going to Paris for the reassignment and that we would be visiting Morvan in Bourgogne beforehand to investigate the Attesor Project. We worked out our marching schedule. At 22:00, we all got some rest and I searched my newly released memories. During the Attesor Project era, I had indeed fought in various locations as a Panzer Kavalier. And after an injury in one battle, I had returned to Germany until the end of the war. I still do not know what happened in that battle, but I have some fragmentary textual data in the back of my mind: Bourgogne, the Morvan Mountains. I can guess that battle was part of the reason I have become what I am now. At 23:01, I reread the materials related to the Attesor Project and my military records from the previous war that HQ had given me. I used the records and my memories to follow my course through the previous war. I am certain I will understand everything if I go to Bourgogne. But I am bothered by my memories of the photograph and bookmark I have stored in my luggage. What connection do that woman, girl, and flower have to my past? I do not know. I will now go to sleep. ### June 22, 1944 ### Letter Left by Mallette: To Beretta, My Beloved Neighbor Sounds like you had quite the time last night. My night was full of surprises too. I thought I was headed home, but when I checked my ticket, it was for the train leaving at 6 AM on the 22nd, not 9 PM on the 21st, so I ended up going back to my room. Quite the misunderstanding, huh? And thanks to that, I got to enjoy what I could hear through these thin walls last night. There were a lot of tear-jerking lines that really resonated with my world-weary heart. Nothing quite like a pair of young lovebirds. But I will not Signe any of that, so don’t worry. You need to carry the important things in your own heart. I’m glad things are going well. I really do have to get to the station now and I would hate to wake you two, so this letter will have to do. Make sure you cook breakfast for your future husband. I’m praying for your happiness. ### The Prophetess’s Letter: To Monsieur Guilliaum, the Former Royal Guard Chevalier Hello again. This year is approaching its end. I imagine this will be the last letter I send you, Monsieur Guilliaum. So I will use this chance to tell you everything you must know. The girl in France with the same name as my daughter is not technically my daughter. She is my great-granddaughter – that is, a descendant of mine from the outside world. I met an adventurer 25 Rondeaus ago who gave me detailed information on Paris before the Primitif and on the outside world afterwards. That adventurer’s name was M. Schrier. He had also visited Herlde in ’39 to research the Attesor Project. In ’39, he was only 27, but when I met him again, he was an old gentleman in his 50s. I used my abilities as a Correcteur to view his memories and confirm it was really him before listening to what he had to say. He had met my daughter in the outside world and received a lot of information from her. I also heard he had met Jack before the previous war. Oh, yes. And my daughter was apparently friends with you at the time of the First Primitif. However, all information on you was apparently erased from the modern records because it was thought best to hide that you were a Resistance leader. He also told me that my daughter was putting together a method of liberating France. A number of conditions were necessary, but one was considered the most difficult: - Prove that fully closing oneself off is not possible. When I asked how you could prove it was not possible, M. Schrier told me this: “The First Erased were removed from France by the Primitif, but what if an identical person appeared in France and history repeated itself as it had the first time around?” France’s repeated history has been fixed in place by its immune system, but that would allow you to intervene in the pre-Primitif events. Then something would exist here that France had supposedly eliminated. Hence, shutting oneself off was not possible. Do you understand what this means? My daughter has sent someone to France who will act as her double. She was supposedly eliminated, but this double is meant to fool France. If France is trying to fully close itself off, then we must declare that it cannot do that. And that declaration must be made with a voice loud enough to reach every part of France. But doing this is guaranteed to sacrifice my daughter’s life. The First Erased do not exist in our version of France. They left France between August of ’43 and August of ’44, so they escaped the Primitif. If France is resurrected to the outside world’s ’44, no one will notice anything is amiss. But the First Erased will likely notice that all evidence of their time in France is missing. After all, France has been repeating this year without them as a part of it. But there is one exception: Beretta. If France is liberated, there will be a Beretta in France that France accepts to be the original Beretta, but my actual daughter will be outside of France. I have heard of someone stuck in the past waiting long enough to meet their younger self, but there is only one option when the exact same person exists twice in the same timeline. When they both appear, the one with less ability to prove their existence will disappear. Two identical words are not needed. I do not know why my daughter is trying to sacrifice herself, but that is what she wants and I wish to assist her. My daughter once discovered where I was but lacked the courage to come meet me. But this other Beretta will come. We need to play the part to help her take on the role of my real daughter. Do you see now why I have been sending you letters under a pseudonym and suggesting that you tell them nothing? I knew they would come to visit me, so I could not have Rosetta seeing my name on the envelopes. I must be no more than a mother who knows nothing and cannot prophesy. My daughter once abandoned so much and fled. Is that why she is working to liberate France even though it means erasing herself? I will continue to wonder about that as I wait for the other Beretta, greet her, and tell her nothing. She must liberate France of her own free will. That is the only she can be the “real” Beretta. Monsieur Guilliaum, do you wish to be the real version of yourself? If so, continue ever forward no matter what sacrifices it requires. I believe you will soon be planning an uprising of the Paris Resistance. No matter how that ends, always be calling for the liberation of Paris. History will attempt to correct itself before long. All of this is following the same course that led to the first Primitif, but that changes when she visits me. I want to bet everything on that. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 I am writing this on the train to Bourgogne. There were a lot of Allemande in the station and the train departed about 10 minutes behind schedule. It is currently just before 12. We were supposed to arrive at the station in Dijon at 12 but we seem to be running late. We will switch trains at Dijon and head to the Morvan Mountains of central Bourgogne. Lady Beretta says the train track zigzags to climb the mountains. My ticket says we will arrive in the Morvan Mountains’ Autun Station at 6 PM. From there it is a two hour journey on foot to reach the village of Herlde where Lady Beretta’s mother lives. Now about Lady Beretta. She is acting weird today. She has been staring out the window a lot and she sometimes starts laughing or writing something on her notepad before tearing it out and throwing it away. She also crosses her arms in thought a lot. She even tripped twice before boarding the train today. She is acting very strangely. Is she not feeling well? But that strange behavior somehow seems a lot like her and it is kind of enjoyable. I never know how she will react when I talk to her so I am trying not to bother her too much. She had seemed more worried than usual yesterday. That had completely changed today but that has me a little worried in a different way. When she is acting more normal she talks about this trip more as an expedition than a trip. That is why I pulled my coat out of my bag earlier. I also retied the bag’s strap so I could carry it over my back. We crossed the Seine while I was writing the text three lines up. This is upstream of where the Seine flows through Paris. The map shows the train keeping the Seine to its left for a while after this. The view out the window is no longer the view of the city from the yard back home. I only see the wide-open sky and grassy fields. I can see emerald mountains and low-hanging clouds in the distance. There are none of the boxy appartement s or the smoke of people cooking. That strange view flows backwards alongside the train. Why does it look so familiar when I have never seen it before? I have no memory of it yet I feel like some part of me has not forgotten it. I want to remember but I have not forgotten. Why is that? My memories were supplied for my basic functions. Was this image stored there along with things like how to cook? I do not know. ### 365. Chapter 15: Surprise 07/05/1944 – 07/17/1944 The Barrel that had fought off The black dragon Remained here ### July 5, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Letter: To Master Two weeks have passed since we arrived in Bourgogne. Master. Are you eating well on your own? Are you managing to hang the blanket out to dry and wash your underwear and clean the rooms and maintain the boiler? I am worried about much more but I want to believe in you. We are doing well in Mother Rose’s house – a two story house with a small clinic in it. Mother Rose said we could stay here during our trip and Lady Beretta reluctantly agreed – because the inns in Autun are expensive – so the two of us are staying in the same room. It is evening now but it is a quiet time since there are no patients. I am writing this letter in our room – the one clinic room on the second floor – while I watch the sunset. The sky is pretty. Now. I know you said I did not need to write you letters but there is a lot I want to tell you about. I have a lot saved up for what I am sure will be a long letter. The most interesting thing here is Mother Rose. She is almost as influential as the mayor here – that might not be quite the right way of putting it but I do not know what is – so everyone here calls her Mother Rose – or Mama Rose – instead of Doctor Rose. I have decided to do the same. She is a small person. She is one inch shorter than me. She seems to be skinnier than us width-wise as well but the biggest difference is the thickness of her arms. Instead of skinny fingers like mine she has distinctive strong-looking fingers with noticeable joints. Her face is wrinkled and she always looks like she is smiling. She is a Correcteur but she primarily heals and treats people with medicine so she is a normal doctor. She is an incredible person. Her hair is almost entirely gray but it is very long. She has it tied back and it reaches all the way down to her knees. I imagine it would be longer if she undid it. She has a lot of traits I have never seen before. She is somehow similar to Lady Beretta but more in the way she talks and thinks than in her appearance. She is quick to make any kind of decision. She always treats Lady Beretta like a child and teases her. Whenever Lady Beretta tries to do something Mother Rose lectures her either as the landlady lending her a room or as her mother. Lady Beretta does not seem to like that – although she actually listened to the lectures for the first few days – so she storms out without saying a word. When I try to follow her Mother Rose calls out to me and has me help at the clinic. She is a Correcteur but she primarily uses bandages and medicine so I was glad to find I could copy her techniques. A large sword leans against the clinic wall and it is apparently her Instrument. She does sometimes use that Instrument to treat a patient with Correcteur healing. She stabs the Instrument into their body to neutralize an emotional disturbance such as fear or impatience and draws that emotion out. Once the Formules have been driven out, they become mice or birds and run or fly around. They apparently return to the patient’s body once the patient has calmed down. I find it to be a very strange technique. Lady Beretta gave Mother Rose a letter on the first day but she does not seem to have opened it yet. When I asked why not she answered me while telling me to keep the answer a secret from Lady Beretta. “I know what I read there will make me cry so I will read it once you two have left.” Does she not want us to see that? For the past few days Lady Beretta has loaded a fishing pole and some buckets into a truck she has borrowed from the mayor. She goes upstream and catches a lot of fish. Mother Rose uses that to teach me a lot more about cooking. She apparently gives some of those fish to the villagers. That is how we live our lives here but those two do not exactly get along. They end up fighting whenever they see each other but they also seem to feel like they have no other choice. Do you ever feel that way? Yes. It is almost like they are intentionally upsetting the other so they will not get too close. When the two of them are apart it is very quiet and I can think in peace. In between examinations at the clinic Mother Rose will sit at her desk and rest her head in her hand. After taking her bath Lady Beretta will spread various documents out on the side table and rest her head in her hand too. They both look outside while doing so. The mannerism and atmosphere is so very similar. Was my father a lot like me? Please tell me someday. What could that be? It is not yet time to prepare for dinner. This might be bad. No. Wait. I should not Signe anything dangerous down there. I will be going. ### Beretta’s Journal I am writing this in our second-story room before dinner. I’ve been exhausted all day. And I made Rosetta cry earlier, so it’s been a real disaster. But I was most worried about how to go about things with Rose Francisca, so I’m glad I’ve successfully learned to play the part of the delinquent daughter who gets in fights with her violent mother. I thought I would ask her about the Attesor Project, but she only talked about the legend of the Bourgogne Giant and laughed at me for being so superstitious. She seems to believe that Jack McWild came here to do some mining. She also won’t tell me anything about him. That’s why I gave up on getting anything out of that tightlipped woman. Starting last week, I’ve been chopping firewood around the village and asking for information or permission to borrow things as payment, but man, my whole body has gotten a real workout-…no, I mean there is a lot to learn from this village. To search for the Attesor Project lab like usual, I took a truck out into the mountains this morning and checked a number of things on the map. The map Phillip gave me is pretty useless so deep in the mountains. It shows the roads and rivers, but it doesn’t tell you anything about the height differences. So recently I’ve been looking into the things people have told me about the mountain climbing trails around here or the shrine on the closest mountain peak. If you ascend the mountain using the road going through the center of the village, it splits into a road descending toward the river below and one climbing up the mountain. Going up takes you to the peak with the shrine. Going down connects to the mountain pass that leads up from Autun. That mountain pass is a crucial route connecting Autun in the east with Nevers in the west. The right side of the pass is a rock wall standing about 20 yards tall and the left side is a majestic view of a tall conifer forest. Climbing the pass while looking at the rock wall on the right and entering one of the branching paths into the forest on the left has been part of my daily schedule lately. Today, I finally managed to drive 20 miles away from Herlde. If I go any further than that, I won’t be able to make it back in the same day. The mountain with the shrine near Herlde has a table of rock sticking out partway up the slope. It’s shaped something like a cake cut in half. Going by eye, I estimate the table is about 50 yards tall. According to the villagers, the only way to reach that table is to climb down from the shrine at the peak. The table is hidden from the mountain pass by the conifer forest on the left, so you can’t see it from there. A natural wall hides that natural wonder made from the flowing river and the rock. On the way back, I brought some fish to the bald, bearded, and buff mayor to thank him for letting me borrow the truck, but I saw something interesting there. He took me to an underground storeroom he has up on the mountain. Bourgogne always had a lot of ruins and I’m pretty sure they had even found some holes connecting to the Tomb of the Mother of a Thousand Pharaohs. That storeroom had been created from one such hole and it mostly contained a bunch of barrels and wooden boxes roughly lined up, but there was a Heavy Barrel in the back. It was a female model and I knew its exact model number. HLT-001X XX-HL. In other words, it was the heavy land combat version of the prototype female Heavy Barrel called Sourire. Grazie had been based off of it and only five had been built before World War One. It had a beautiful cream-colored body. It apparently had such high power output that none of the pathetic female Knight Strikers at the time could handle it. According to the mayor, a black dragon descended almost all the way to the village during World War One around a quarter of a century before. Its territory had apparently been disturbed by the war. That Heavy Barrel had apparently appeared out of nowhere and drove it back. The Barrel that had fought off the black dragon remained here in the land that had developed the strongest Barrel. A man and a girl had been Write Bringing into the Barrel. The mayor had seen them get out because he alone had remained in the village. They had used the Over Emblem so much they used up all of their Phlogiston, so they left it behind. “Until we return, only show this Heavy Barrel to people you can trust.” That was all they said before walking toward the mountain and never returning. This apparently all happened close to the end of the war. “Have you not shown this to my mother? Don’t you trust her?” “I feel like I would only be bothering her.” Rose Francisca must have been popular for a very long time. But we’re talking about my ancestor here, so no surprise, right? The mayor said he had only ever shown Sourire to his parents, his son, and to Jack McWild. Jack McWild stayed in this village for about three months just as the war ended and then he left for Paris, bringing Rose Francisca with him. The mayor showed him Sourire the night before he left. “I will eventually find the girl who was Write Bringing into this Barrel. No matter how long it takes, I will find her in her proper form.” That was all he had said on the matter. But the mayor told me he wants me to take the Barrel to the foot of the mountain. He says France needs any weapon it can get these days. There are apparently several villages at the foot of the Morvan Mountains where the Resistance gathers. He wants me to take Sourire there. Jack McWild did not keep his promise from 25 years before, but his daughter had shown up. The mayor felt that was some kind of sign. It makes me sort of sad. Both that the mayor is thinking of abandoning that old promise and that the Heavy Barrel that had protected people from the black dragon would be used to fight and kill people. That isn’t right, is it? I told him to let me think about it and then I asked him about Jack McWild (who he thinks is my father). But before he answered, he asked me this: “Are you pursuing the legend of the Morvan Giant too?” A few years ago, an adventurer had shown up and asked a lot of question, but the mayor had not trusted him and had not told him anything. But instead of complaining, that adventurer had listened to the obvious falsehoods the ignorant villagers had told him and left satisfied. That adventurer must have been M. Schrier. If he had seen that Barrel that fought off the black dragon, he would surely have linked it to the strongest Barrel of the Attesor Project. But I doubt he would have written that in his Death Techno Compilation. Jack McWild had told him how dangerous the Attesor Project was, so he had needed to write about it as no more than some amusing rumor. He may really have wanted to investigate the project, but he had prioritized his promise with Jack McWild. Maybe this was destiny. Those two promises had allowed this all to remain a secret for so long. The mayor had promised to keep Sourire a secret and M. Schrier had sealed off his data and stopped searching for more to keep his promise with Jack McWild. Then he had left that with me – well, a fictional representation of him had – and I had arrived here due to being Rose Francisca’s family. But if that Sourire was used in the Attesor Project, then surely some other identical models would have come to Bourgogne as well, right? R&D would never be done with just the one Barrel. You would have at least one more for spare parts and parallel studies. Where had that gone? After discussing all that with the mayor, I returned home. That’s when I got in an argument with Rose Francisca. That was only a problem because it escalated to the point of throwing things and then Rosetta came in. A plate one of us had thrown – probably me, if I’m being honest – hit her right smack in the forehead and broke. She just looked surprised at first, but then the tears welled up and she started bawling. You better believe I panicked. But I was also pleasantly surprised to find she could cry over things like that. I checked over my map and everything before dinner. I also need to read through the Attesor Project lab location investigation documents that France sent me in M. Schrier’s name and then I need to guess at the lab’s location for myself. But since France sent me all this, M. Schrier must really have figured all this out when he visited here in ’39. ### Document: Attesor Project Research Document 12-07 This document is a detailed map of the Bourgogne region where the Attesor Project’s lab was supposedly located, some predictions of what might remain of that lab (no surviving documents confirm that it exists at all), and a method of predicting its location if it does exist. If you do visit the region, check on the following data and search for the remains of the Attesor Project. Although it would likely be better to search out a local resident who worked on the project. Based on extant documents, we can guess that the Attesor Project was meant to develop a new Heavy Barrel. This project was not developing the joints and weapons like the current projects do. It is said to have modified everything down to the fundamental Write Bring system. (See included Document 11-14.) This research would require an environment allowing for precision work on the delicate devices as opposed to developing the general structure. The exact location of the lab is unknown, but there are records of French soldiers visiting the village of Herlde located north of Autun during the 1910s. Based on the maps, Herlde is a collection of homes along a branching mountain road. We can guess that the lab may have been built at the end of one of those branches. Now, military supply transport records tell us that materials for the lab were not transported through Herlde, but the French military did have aerial warships during the ’10s. They had a total of 7 Ravenne-class aerial warships meant to resist the German military’s Zeppeli-class aerial warships. They were all sunk by the war’s end, but there are records of the 3rd ship taking a trip to Morvan for an “aerial combat exercise”. That 3rd ship was sunk on the way back due to the moonlight’s effects and some surprise anti-aircraft fire, but it apparently had no cargo and was barely equipped with any weaponry at all. It was likely transporting something to the Morvan Mountains that took up the space normally used for ammunition and equipment. It is also likely that the 3rd ship’s actions gave the German military some kind of hint concerning the Attesor Project. Also, the rapid construction of a building requires the power of Busters, but based on some neutral information from the Maldrick family (the current leading European Buster family), there are records left behind by the Borderson family (the leading European Buster family at the time) sending a few Busters to perform some localized crust destruction in the Morvan Mountains (the exact location cannot be determined), so the Attesor Project lab must be somewhere in those mountains. ### Rosetta’s Journal It is almost 8 PM. Today was a busy day. I wrote a letter to my master. It was a fulfilling day. I am taking a break after finishing washing the dishes. Lady Beretta is preparing the bath outside. She seems to be chopping some new firewood. I can hear it. She has apparently become an expert at chopping firewood lately and the villagers will come by asking for her help. She started off pinching her belly flesh every night but for the past few days she has been checking the width of her arms and sighing instead. “My abs are pretty impressive now. Wanna see them?” I was not sure why I would want to do that and it seemed meaningless so I declined. Before dinner today Lady Beretta and Mother Rose were arguing again. I heard some destruction from downstairs while writing a letter to my master so I went down to the combined kitchen and living room to stop them. As soon as I opened the door a small ceramic plate flew through the air and broke on my forehead. I think it was while the pieces were falling to my feet that I saw the surprised looks on their faces. I started crying. It hurt but that is not why I cried. Nor was I crying because it saddened me to see them fight. If only that was the reason. I cried simply because the plate surprised me. It makes me blush when I think back to it. That is the first time I cried for no real reason like that. I have cried before because of some kind of emotion I was feeling but this was different. I remember Lady Beretta placing her hands on my shoulders and saying some things to comfort me while I cried out loud. I also remember Mother Rose taking me to the clinic to examine my forehead. I had a bruise but she said it would be gone without a trace in three days’ time. Yet she still cut off a small piece of a healing charm and pasted it to my forehead while I sobbed. Then she gave me a deep hug. She did not say a word but the way she rubbed my back calmed me down. “Are you okay?” I could not answer that question out loud. I was sobbing too much to speak. I did not Signe which one of them threw the plate that hit me. After that we had to fix dinner so I forgot all about my tears. Come to think of it Mother Rose said this at dinnertime. “Rosetta. Your cooking repertoire seems to be based on this region’s cooking. …Do you have any specialty dishes?” “ Volaille and pôchouse . I often make them with saupiquet sauce. And since my master does not like sweet things I will make pain d'épice for dessert.” “Did someone teach you to make that?” Only after saying no did I realize that it was true. No one had taught me that. I had simply made what I thought would be good and my master had told me what it was called. All of the dishes I made had already been developed among the countless recipes of French cuisine. I always had my master determine what it was I had made. But I had definitely come up with the idea for making those things on my own. Lady Beretta looked across the table at me with a look of surprise and Mother Rose nodded next to her. “Your specialty dishes are from Bourgogne. Both the whole chicken dish and the freshwater fish dish. You can find the ingredients and the cooking methods in nature here. In France’s royal palace style of cooking they chop up the chicken and rarely ever cook it whole.” “Really?” “It was the same for me. When I moved to Paris I realized no one had actually taught me how to cook and yet I ended up cooking the same way my mother had. This means there must be more to your roots than just Paris.” That made sense. And it reminded me that Lady Beretta had first brought me to her room to cook. I wonder if she had sensed something of Mother Rose’s cooking in my cooking. That would make me kind of happy but also kind of sad. I would prefer it if she had been drawn to the flavor of my cooking. I would prefer not to consider the possibility that she only liked it because it was similar to Mother Rose’s. But it surprised me to learn I had some foundational memories like that. I had been told my foundational memories were only my language skills and my decision-making abilities and the control functions for my various sensory devices and evolution. But Lady Beretta said a lot of things were installed in Belle de Marionnettes during the manufacturing process. She said the more varied their foundational memories the more things they would be able to do on their own. Was I the same? It has only shown itself in cooking so far but there might be many more abilities hidden inside me. Lady Beretta is calling for me. We had a lot of work to do today and we will probably have even more tomorrow. I think that is a good thing. ### July 10, 1944 ### Rose Francisca’s Journal In less than a month, I can stop writing my journal in this hidden room for my Correcteur ceremony. Rosetta said there was something wrong with her thighs since coming here, but my examination showed it was nothing more than muscle pain. She has apparently never experienced that before. She had also asked me about her secondary sex characteristics earlier, so after asking if it was okay, I examined her body. Her digestive system is complete. He once told me that a Belle de Marionnette’s stomach becomes fully covered by skin once their organs evolve to a certain point, so only human operating techniques will work on them. Once their evolution reaches that point, they must be handled just like a human. She has yet to evolve genitals and she only has the lines leading toward her stomach that become the foundation for stretch marks. Since she does have the pathways for mammary glands, she probably thinks childrearing is a mother’s only role. After the examination, we discussed a number of things while she got dressed. I asked her what kind of life Beretta is living in Paris and I told her what Beretta used to be like. Maybe I was simply using Rosetta to get information on that girl. I felt a little guilty seeing how delighted she was to hear about Beretta’s past. Beretta returned late at night and we got into an argument. I have yet to open the letter she gave me. That letter contains his final words, so once I read it, I can never again receive any new words from him. My daughter in the outside world must have given it to this Beretta so we could meet. So this Beretta could overcome the weakness that prevented my daughter from meeting me. She is trying to overcome her past mistake by living vicariously through this girl. I need to give her what she wants. If she had visited me at the time, I doubt I would have understood what she was saying, so I have to behave that way here. I can see past this with my prophecies. Beretta and Rosetta will return to Paris on July 28 and see the Resistance uprising defeated on August 1. They must learn the truth and make their decisions then. It is still too soon. This pause is needed to build up the strength to oppose the Primitif. And once they can draw out their full power, they must make their decisions. Once they learn everything and are forced to accept it all, can they really choose to liberate this world and make it real? If they can, then their Signe will surely be powerful enough to break through France’s Signe. Because it will mean they fear nothing. There have been recent reports of the black dragon roaring deep in the mountains. Everything is continuing as normal. I want to double check my prophesies before going to bed. ### Heinz Berge’s Letter: To German Army General Headquarters This is my report as the Attesor Project Research Team. Today at 11:15, I arrived in Nevers of western Morvan. The weather is fine. There is nothing to report at this time. Over the next 24 hours, I will reassemble my unit, perform emergency repairs on my Panzer, have selected members of the unit switch to mountain equipment, enter the Morvan Mountains, and begin our three-week investigation. I intend to return to Nevers on July 30. Upon our return, we will regroup with the rest of the unit. We will travel from Nevers to Bruges and I hope to take a transport train from there to Paris. ### July 15, 1944 ### Beretta’s Journal I am writing while I lie in bed after stripping down and applying compresses to my body. After seeing and hearing so much, the exhaustion hit me all at once. Or maybe those herbs the villagers brought us shouldn’t have been put in the bath. (Rosetta said her butt itched after leaving the bath, so she went to ask Rose Francisca about it, didn’t she?) On my way back through the mountain pass today, a large silhouette flew by in the sky. I thought it might be a German fighter, but it was a black dragon. I’d never seen one before and it had to have been about 200 yards long. It was huge. They say it never descends to the mountain pass or the surrounding area. The wind blowing through the rock walls on either side of the pass apparently makes a sound that people can’t hear, but the black dragon can’t stand it. The mayor told me the shrine at the peak above the table of rock is made to create the same sound as the wind blows through it, so it divides the black dragon’s mountains from Herlde. Back before the shrine was built, the black dragon apparently waited in the pass where the wind was weaker and ate the people who came through. You can see the occasional giant claw marks in the pass’s rock walls. There’s even the remains of a carriage slammed into the rock wall partway up that’s just rotting away while embedded in the rock. It’s pretty scary. Now, the mayor showed me that Heavy Barrel again today. Viewing that Barrel that predates my time by 90 years really made me feel like I’ve become someone from this era. When I first arrived in France, I would try to pull my phone from my bag and panic when it wasn’t there, but I don’t do that anymore. The secondary seat on Sourire’s back was not originally there; it was added later on. Its gun is a turretless sextuple divine spell cannon. It’s attached to the secondary seat, but the Write Bringer is the one who controls it and it can fire six homing Kugels at once. That may be meant to function as anti-air fire. The secondary seat is apparently meant for a commander. It has a display panel and radar linked with the Barrel’s sight devices, but it also has a smoke grenade launcher and a Live speaking tube that carries one’s voice to the Write Bringer. It looks like something was connected to the foot space, but whatever it was has been removed. My guess is it was a memory device to temporarily store what the Write Bringer wrote. The secondary seat has an inertial control chair installed to keep the occupant stable while the Barrel moves, but that chair is quite large. It’s a female Heavy Barrel, so that means there was a skilled female Knight Striker in the French military back then. I wonder who it was. An ace capable of fighting off a dragon should be famous, yet I’ve never heard anything about her. And as I observed that Barrel, I realized it has two extra Phlogiston Tanks at the hips and it has very powerful moonlight countermeasure emblems engraved into it. Spirit engines were extremely vulnerable to moonlight back then, but that Sourire had several metal panels thinly engraved with countermeasure emblems plastered all over its systems to prevent it from losing control. That means it was probably meant to be used primarily at night. As for the extra tanks, didn’t the mayor say it had run out of fuel after using its Over Emblem too much? An Over Emblem does not use much fuel if it is activated for each part individually, but when all the parts are activated at once for a full activation, the different parts’ functions support each other and strengthen the overall image, increasing the power output more than tenfold. However, it also increases the fuel consumption more than tenfold. A Heavy Barrel can normally run for 300 hours off of the Phlogiston ether fluid made from a fingertip-sized spirit stone. How powerful an Over Emblem had they activated and for how long to need two extra tanks and to drain those tanks? When the Over Emblem is activated, the Barrel is programmed to require great willpower and focus from the Write Bringer so their thoughts won’t be disturbed and the Over Emblem won’t fail. If their will is disturbed, their writing will grow vague and that can alter the Over Emblem supported by that. In the worst case, it can transform into something else entirely. You occasionally hear about the Barrel’s own Lives being disturbed to the point that it becomes a monster known as a Live Break. And when the Barrel has transformed into a god using its Over Emblem, Live Breaking will turn it into a demon. That’s why the Over Emblem will not activate unless the Barrel can detect strong enough willpower and emotions to trigger it. Knight Strikers like me find pride in that necessity of emotion and in our refusal to use resentment or sorrow as that emotion. But regardless, I don’t know who this incredibly-powerful female Knight Striker is. So is that Heavy Barrel the strongest one from the Attesor Project? But even if it is a little weird in some ways, it’s still a normal Barrel. Like I wrote before, I want to see the other research Barrels that must have been prepared in Bourgogne in addition to Sourire. It would be neat to compare them. So what is with that Barrel? Would M. Schrier have had some flash of insight if he had seen it? It’s too bad he wasn’t shown it, but that just means figuring it out is my job. Still, I’ve seen a major connection here. It’s almost certain that it fought off the black dragon using its Over Emblem. That’s why it was almost entirely unscathed. Sourire’s Over Emblem is less like Grazie’s Ange and more like the later Joie’s Tout Ange. It’s a high-speed mobility and attack-focused Over Emblem called Haute Ange. It comes from the Aerial Age where they tried to get Heavy Barrels to fly. This village contains so many mysteries. Before I left the mayor’s place, he told me about the French troops that had visited during the previous war. He said he did not know where they went, but it was somewhere deep in the mountains and they had driven there in trucks. I’ve kind of figured out where they were working: that giant table of rock. There must be a road leading there from somewhere. It’s cut off from the outside world, but you can just barely reach it by truck if you start in this village. Checking that will be simple. I only have to climb up to the shrine on a sunny morning and look down from there. There’s a tall forest on that table, but if they built space for a road and building, there should be some artificiality in the arrangement of the trees. Before long, I’m going to have to go mountain climbing instead of fishing. I’m really making the most of this vacation, huh? I will soon reach the end of this journey by figuring out what it means to be the strongest. Speaking of strongest, I don’t actually know what that Heinz Berge is up to during this time period. He moves around between battlefields after Normandy, but he just seems to disappear after arriving in Nevers in early July. He doesn’t reappear until July 30. He hurries from Nevers to Paris by rail and accidently arrives just in time for the Resistance uprising in Paris on August 1. Even the German military records for that month only say he was “on standby in Nevers”. No one’s going to ask any further questions when they have that answer there, but it still bothers me. If you climb the mountain pass from Nevers, it takes about four days to reach Herlde. Could he be pursuing the Attesor Project too? I don’t really know. It feels a little awkward in the nude, but I’m going to read through some documents and then get to sleep. ### July 16, 1944 ### Heinz Berge’s Journal At 01:32, there was an earthquake. There was no damage to our vehicles. At 01:50, we resumed travel. At 03:21, we discovered the mountain pass was blocked by a rockslide from both sides. We began investigating. At 03:45, we discovered our expected path is impassable for a span of approximately two miles. We began investigating the mountain and discovered a likely alternate route. We resumed travel. At 04:23, we lost contact with Klein Panzer #01 and its accompanying communication vehicle while it was investigating a branch in the route. There was no response to our calls and we heard gunfire in the distance. At 04:47, a black dragon flew into the sky from a position about a mile away and it roared twice. It then flew toward west Morvan without paying us any heed. At 05:19, we discovered the wreckage of Klein Panzer #01 and its accompanying vehicle. A piece of the wreckage was caught in the branches of a large tree. My 2nd Aide speculated that the rockslide had expanded the black dragon’s territory and it had already begun making shows of strength. The mountain pass and the mountain peak shrine had acted as a borderline before, but now the dragon could cross that line. Our investigation discovered that the Klein Panzer had been torn limb from limb and crushed, but the vehicle had only been rolled over. Doe the dragon dislike Panzers? We used a printer to print out what the Schreibener had written in the Panzer’s memory bank. We must remain near the mountain pass or shrine to prevent the dragon from attacking again, but we must accept that risk to get past the rockslide. At 05:50, we left that location and took a break. Once the sun had risen, we resumed travel. I read the final combat record of the lost Wild Hund Klein Panzer, but the damage to the machine and confusion in the Schreibener’s thoughts have damaged the second half of the text. I only learned one thing: no one can fight while screaming. The second half of the crucial records was nothing but a scream represented by several lines of the letter “a”. I will now take a nap. ### Rose Francisca’s Journal It is currently 4:02 AM. It is peaceful in my hidden room. At 1:32 AM, there was an earthquake that caused birds to fly up and cry from the mountain while my house shook vertically. It was right on schedule. This is my 25th time experiencing this earthquake. The earthquake causes a portion of the mountain pass to collapse, blocking it off and giving the black dragon another path through. They will say the only damage to the village is the collapse of a lumber storage yard in the mountains that blocks up a mountain path with wood. But I know better. The earthquake was caused by the gas building up below Herlde and threatening to explode someday. That explosion occurs on August 3. It is triggered by the black dragon’s Word Particle Cannon. And then the dragon attacks the village, destroying it. I was told this by M. Schrier who visited 25 loops ago. He had visited Herlde before in ’39 and done some research. That reunion came after 4 years for me, but it had been 29 years for him. Once he found himself approaching the end of his life, he said he wanted to deal with the things he had left unfinished in the past. He had two reasons for visiting me. The first was to tell me about his meeting with Jack in ’39. He had kept it from me at the time, but he had decided I should know. But he said nothing about the Attesor Project or how he knew Jack. He only said he had met Jack, spoken with him, and that Jack had died a few days later. But I know from Monsieur Guilliaum’s letters that Jack continued to hide his involvement in the Attesor Project. He must have made M. Schrier promise not to tell anyone about that involvement. That is why M. Schrier said nothing in ’39. And during our reunion, he still kept his promise to Jack and did not tell me anything about the Attesor Project. His visit to me was definitely more for his own satisfaction than mine. Telling me about Jack’s death means nothing when those memories would be erased by the Primitif. But I pretended it was the first I had heard of Jack’s death. And the other reason he visited me was to tell me that this world was succumbing to the closing up of the Rondeau. He told me there were a lot of people out there trying to liberate France. And that my daughter was one of them. That is why I have used my Correcteur knowledge to preserve my memories for the past 25 years. Everyone is trying to help others in very awkward and roundabout ways. M. Schrier also mentioned Heinz Berge. He said that man is definitely “pursuing something” and speculated that he had entered Morvan. “He may play a role in the black dragon attacking the village.” In the earthquake that always occurs on the 20th, there is a rockslide at the mountain pass and toward Autun, so the path from Autun to Herlde is entirely cut off. M. Schrier said that Heinz Berge’s unit finds some way to leave to the west and arrives back in Paris for the Resistance uprising on August 1. They reappear in Nevers on July 30. The German army prepares a transport train for them and they spend a full day returning to Paris. But why does it take them 10 days to make their way west from the mountain pass? Are they simply unfamiliar with the Morvan area, or was it all camouflage for some kind of important mission? It is his arrival in Paris that leads to the failure of the Resistance uprising. I have not informed Monsieur Guilliaum of this. Nothing he does can prevent Heinz Berge from arriving in Paris on August 1 and telling him about it might cause him to cancel the uprising altogether. This really is awful. I know I might be able to save him, but I force him to relive that defeat every single time. All for the liberation of France. Today’s earthquake is one key to it all. This earthquake on the 20th is one of the preparatory steps and, no matter how hard people try to change history from here on out, there is no changing nature’s timing. The rockslide was actually worse toward Nevers than toward Autun. If Heinz Berge had obediently turned around and made his way to Autun without worrying about being seen, history may have changed at least a little. I went to wake the two girls earlier, but Rosetta was already awake and staring into space (in a low blood pressure kind of way), but she did not understand what the earthquake meant or the danger it presented. When I pulled the blanket from that Beretta, she was inexplicably naked and trembling while holding a journal in her arms. So either she is afraid of earthquakes or she has some abnormal proclivities. At any rate, I did not Ajouter that and kicked her awake. After bouncing off the wall and rolling along the floor, she said something to try to act tough, but I left the rest to Rosetta. Those two will return to Paris once the railroad recovers from the earthquake on the 28th. Once they witness the Resistance uprising, they should find some answers to their doubts and take action to liberate France, but how will that turn out? It will be 4:47 AM soon. Like always, I should soon hear the black dragon’s cries in the distance. ### Guilliaum’s Letter: To a Far Distant Friend My friend, I feel like I have not had much opportunity to speak with you of late because there has not been much to tell you. But things are different this time. Things always seem to be different, but whatever. First of all, the Allies once again sent us some Lourd de Marionnette parts out of the blue. Quite a lot of excitement for the middle of the night. The extra tanks and everything else made for a full set of additions instead of the basic components and devices. The equipment is nice and all, but we kind of need a female Lourd de Écrivain who can pilot it. I did repair that thing’s legs, but I honestly don’t feel like doing any more than that. What am I supposed to do? A few days ago, a Lourd de Marionnette platoon led by a black Lourd de Marionnette was seen entering Nevers in southern France and then leaving for some unknown destination. The black one apparently had a red lion emblem on its right shoulder. There’s no doubting it. That was Heinz Berge’s Rot Löwe. What is he doing separated from the 352nd Infantry Division? Rumor has it he was again named Lourd de Marionnette training chief for Paris, but he wouldn’t visit Nevers if he was only trying to reach Paris. That means he must be using Nevers to reach the Morvan Mountains. The German army is using him to pursue the Attesor Project. And he’s probably starting to remember things related to it. This is not good. That Lourd de Marionnette that was bisected along with my leg is probably still up there in the mountains of Bourgogne. It will only be some rusted wreckage after 20 years, but her body might still be there inside that Lourd de Marionnette’s Cabinet. In a way, her body would tell you everything you need to know about the Attesor Project. You will have taken care of the lab, but you wouldn’t have known where we ran into and fought Heinz. So that wreckage should still be there. It’s a little late now, but that was careless of me. Of the two Lourd de Marionnettes running around Bourgogne, that was the spare one with the less complete Excède Emblème and evolution of its parts (and that was probably part of the reason it went berserk), so investigating it should not reveal the crucial secret of the evolution system. Come to think of it, is the Sourire that fought off the black dragon still in Herlde? If it is, I doubt it’s had any maintenance done. This is really taking me back. You pretended to not care in the least about the dragon’s appearance, but the instant you knew it was going to attack Herlde, you ordered me to fight back. Once that was done, the Lourd de Marionnette was out of Phlogiston, so I left it there and made my way back. That was when I found Heinz near the lab, so I attacked using the spare Lourd de Marionnette. That was when I lost my leg and her, when I discovered the greatest problem with the Attesor Project we had created, and when it all came to an end. All that remained was the guilt of driving hundreds of lives to suicide. But I never imagined the Germans would pull that old man from the front line to have him pursue the Attesor Project. I can’t believe it. On the other hand, this might be a good opportunity. It has to take five days to arrive here from Nevers using a Lourd de Marionnette. He is probably in the Morvan Mountains right now, but if he is investigating things there, he will be away for at least three weeks. That means the strategy the younger ones are so excited about may just work. If it does, we might be able to liberate Paris before that old man gets back. But Rose Francisca’s letters bother me. She is making prophecies, yet she has said nothing about the result of that uprising, not even a date or time. But she has said to hope for the liberation of Paris even if it requires sacrifice. Is she telling me not to get down if the uprising fails? Or is she telling me to continue working toward liberating France even if the uprising succeeds and Paris is liberated? She said her previous letter would be her last, so I cannot ask her to clarify. In a way, she may have been trying not to interfere with my actions too much, just like she had me do with that girl. So instead of using a prophecy to force my hand concerning the uprising, she wants me to start it and end it with my own actions. In that case, I do not care what kind of result it has. I am prepared to accept any number of sacrifices. Yes. I can keep going. I can still look to the future. Until next time. ### July 17, 1944 ### Beretta’s Journal Today, I am writing this in a truck parked next to a river. I was told to go see what had happened to the mountain pass after last night’s earthquake. The pass is about 10 yards wide, but it’s completely blocked off up ahead of where I am. A rockslide and landslide completely took out nearly 2 miles of it. There’s no way to move east and west through Morvan. That’s a pretty big problem during a war like this. The mountain rail line can get you around Morvan if you’re willing to wait three days. But tanks and Barrels can’t ride the mountain line’s train. They could send a military transport train if it was a normal line, but the mountain line is wider and thicker than normal. The military needs to use that mountain pass to get through Morvan. I imagine some German construction vehicles will be here to deal with it before too long. While pondering this issue and viewing the aftermath, I noticed something interesting in the landslide on the mountainside. There was a mass of concrete containing rusted rebar within the dirt. Only the black dragon lived in the Morvan Mountains, so why would something like that be there? I quickly checked my map and realized I was right near the bottom of the table of rock. The table rises up like a cliff from here and forms a canyon with the land Herlde is built on, but what was this concrete mass in the landslide within that canyon? It looked like a piece of some kind of structure. Since this was in a canyon, would it be a bridge? Well, it could be a gate or whatever else as far as I was concerned. It only mattered that there had been an artificial structure in this supposedly unpopulated area. I think I’m going to climb the mountain. If I look down from the path up to the shrine at the peak, I should be able to see the top of the table. But that incredible rockslide and landslide is a problem. It’s only around two miles from that table to this mountain pass, but mud had flowed all the way down here to fill the pass along with the rockslide. That was no joke. You would die if you were caught in something like that. I was glad no one had been caught in it, but I had no idea when it might happen where I was. It scared me. I quickly grabbed at the steering wheel, but it was still terrifying to feel an unavoidable death so close by. This was part of the mountain pass, so there could easily be another landslide or rockslide, not to mention a flash flood from upstream. I wanted to hurry back, but… My fingers are trembling as I write this. The earlier earthquake was bad enough, but this one is worse. I hate things like earthquakes because there’s just no way to fight them. I can’t believe this. The whole time things were shaking, I kept wondering what happens if I die here and wishing I could return to the others. It was the same on the night I first met Rosetta in February and when the librarian disappeared in March. I was scared. My usual cheerful self completely disappeared. I must have been screaming in fear. I really don’t want to Point that I was cry- Let’s just say it took me a while to stop crying. But why? I didn’t cry when I was scared back in Paris, but when I really was alone, there were the tears. There may have been something more fundamental than strength and weakness that I didn’t understand. That had to be the difference I felt between myself and Phillip or Heinz Berge. The difference that made me feel inferior. And the reason they seemed so strong. What was it? There sure is a lot going on today. Well, I wrote down everything that caught my attention, so I need to reread all this to make sure I don’t forget any of it. Time to get back to the vill- Is that the Germans? Fighting the black dragon? Surely they aren’t that reckless. I should go see-…no, I shouldn’t. And sitting here listening is meaningless too. I don’t need to Point it any more. The dragon attacks Herlde on August 3 to crush the German army. We will be back in Paris by then. So I should get back to the village. My hands aren’t trembling anymore. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x100.” The enemy is large and powerful. I have determined this is a special variety of the dragons known as Terrestrial Dragons. Its color is black. It is more than 200 yards long. It has wings. It is extremely aggressive. It also appears to be extremely hungry. I am currently engaging it in combat. It is slow. It may be large and powerful, but it still experiences time at the standard rate. Its movements remain just as slow as its front leg drops down toward my head with a roar of wind. The shattering sound of the hit is stretched out so far it is reduced to no more than high-pitched background noise. The bullets of the divine spell weapon induce direct change in the enemy’s Ton structure. Those ice bullets can instantly turn even metal into ice, so they flash freeze most of the dragon’s front leg. It is obvious what will happen once the steel ones hit the part that is now iced. I leap back to avoid the shards of ice raining down from above. I make an instant landing to shorten the time in the air. The jump carried me approximately 30 yards. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x137.” Time seems to slow even further for me as I feel the ground being destroyed as the metal panels on the bottom of my feet slide along it. Dirt is launched skyward and my body is shaken by the fibrous sounds of the small plants being crushed and torn. I can quickly grow accustomed to this, but I feel like obstructing the feeling would be a problem. I have grown accustomed to it. I face forward. This dragon does not have parents. It is a threat created from nature in the Morvan Mountains. The mountain range wished to improve its harmful environment, so it transformed the harmful aspects into the black dragon and expelled them. The dragon’s Word Particle Cannon is coming. I understand. That dragon was created by expelling the negative parts of the local environment, so it knows it is a product of purification. The Message forming its body is not harmful; it is purification. The horizontally sweeping light is a lot like the wind pressure from a sword. I move forward. I pressurize my power output to x10. I move full speed ahead with my full mobility. My emotionless will orders me to move even further forward, so I do so while trailing a cloud of water vapor. My feet smash the earthen ground. Instead of a standard walking style, I spread my feet apart and run up the flat land like I am mountain climbing. I build up speed in a mere three seconds and transform Rot Löwe and its mountain equipment into a bullet weighing approximately 30 tons. Then I make a leap. I jump up on top of the 200 yard dragon as if to push it down. I plan to destroy its torso with the sword pressure of a slash from directly above. The noise is quite loud. I conclude that it is extremely aggressive. I conclude this could cause a problem with my landing, so I change my plans. I want to make another jump. I will kick off the enemy’s rising back and jump even higher. That requires grasping the air current and the use of all my arms and legs. I throw my shield aside. I store my heavy cleaver at my hip and then spread my limbs wide in midair. The dragon’s back is below my feet. I instantly kick my feet off of its back and shatter its scales. I had to jump up. That much I knew. I had to jump into the azure expanse overhead. I activate my omnidirectional vision. I check the situation around me and search for the enemy nearby. I send the footage to the secondary memory bank. I see the forest, the mountains, and the rocky pass. I also see the sky. I see the reddish-brown ground and the azure sky. I note my complete lack of emotion upon seeing that scenery. It is too slow. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x158. Warning: exceeding expected value.” I draw my blade. I set the heavy cleaver’s power to max and ready it in both hands. I also pressurize my power output to x20. I use all the power I acquired through the loss of that scream. This impact, speed, and destructive power are too great for sound to keep up. I score a direct hit. I slice right through the dragon’s body. Its head is smashed in an instant and I begin bisecting its neck after that. The sound escaping its trachea, the spray of its bodily fluid, the tearing of its muscles, and the deep cracking of its bones echo within my x150 speed. Is this the dragon’s scream? No one can fight while screaming. The Klein Panzer pilot killed by this very dragon had left behind a memory bank recording that ended with nothing but a scream. This dragon was the same, but did the great beast realize that? Either way, I had to destroy it. And all at once… I prepare to land. I shift my weight to my lower body. What happened to the dragon? I raise my heavy cleaver again. Will it leave? The dragon is leaving. The battle has ended. But this is odd. That dragon immediately targeted my Rot Löwe instead of the unit with infantry troops. Dragons eat people, but it persistently attacked that Klein Panzer before as well. Does it have some reason to attack Panzers? ### 366. Chapter 16: Mountain 07/19/1944 – 07/28/1944 I want to be A resident of This world ### July 19, 1944 ### Rose Francisca’s Journal Beretta has stayed at home staring at a map in her room for two days now. She wants to climb the mountain before long. She did not get mad when I commented that idiots always do like to climb to high places. That was strange. I taught Rosetta how to treat wounds this evening. She is a good learner. She worries me sometimes when she zones out, presumably in thought, but she has what matters most when it comes to being a nurse: she does not feel fear when she sees someone hurt. But will she still feel no fear if she ever needs to hurt someone herself? There are only about two weeks left until August 3 when this village is destroyed. The earthquake in question happens tomorrow night. The mountain route between Dijon and Autun will be blocked and the mountain pass will entirely collapse. If things continue as usual, the mountain route to Autun will recover by the 28th. My prophecies say Beretta and Rosetta will use that route to return to Paris and thus avoid the dragon attack. Then they will participate in the uprising begun by Monsieur Guilliaum in Paris. It would normally take Heinz Berge 5 days to return to Paris by Lourd de Marionnette, but he will instead take an emergency transport train from Nevers to enter Paris during the day on August 1. And then many people will die. A general resistance force led by the Allies will attack the blockade line in the early morning of August 6. Beretta and Rosetta will participate using the Lourd de Marionnette that led to their meeting. Of course, this will happen after my own death. Most of it is meaningless to a dead person. Jack’s letter that Beretta gave me is similarly meaningless. I will not read it. I wrote many letters with no addressee in the few years before the Primitif. I wrote them to him and to my daughter. The two of them can never read those letters, so why should I get to read this one? If I could somehow find myself outside of this repeating loop of time, then I would want to read his letter and hold it to my chest along with the letters I wrote. I conclude this is meant to stop my Grösse Panzer. I keep my legs moving while using my omnidirectional vision to confirm the enemy’s presence to the right. Too slow. Even with the fastest human reaction speed, it will take him nearly 0.1 seconds to aim, but I can react at 102 times that speed. It appears frozen in midair to me. That Panzerfaust was developed by the German army. Since it has reached the Resistance, we must have a traitor among us. Knowing that is enough. I draw the heavy cleaver from my hip. I draw it and fire. There is no need to view the result. That metal implement can slice through any and all objects with the heavy wind pressure it emits. The warhead is hit by the shockwave in midair. It is crushed by the noise and shockwave and the explosion of air destroys everything there. Too easy. I Lernen that I briefly heard their screams through a gap in the cacophony of air. I do not slow my pace. Just before arriving, I compress my power output to 10 times. To avoid the enemy ambush at the end of the bridge, I leap across the bridge in a single bound. ### Phillip Missel’s Telegraph: To All Troops This is Unit 13. We are currently supporting the attack on the city hall. Unit 8 took severe casualties and has been absorbed by Unit 7. The city hall has now been 80% taken, so I will leave the rest with them. I have received word that Heinz Berge has returned to Paris. All free Lourd de Marionnettes shall head to the Arc de Triomphe plaza and follow Unit 13’s commands. I will deal with him. Over. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x105.” The passage of time continues to be slow. But it is not boring. I lack the emotions to feel that way, but I have determined I could not describe it that way regardless as I have plenty of effective uses for this time. I have not encountered any more enemies, but I can hear the distant din of voices and Grösse Panzer movement. The enemy is up ahead. “The current time is 13:57:11.” I am currently running through the center of Paris. My power output is stable at 6 times. I again see a bridge in front of me. The Place de la Concorde is beyond it. Just one? Is it waiting for me? I stop moving. I begin predicting what this could be. Phillip Missel is working for the German army. But here he is in this situation, alone and motionless, looking my way. He is waiting for me. I see the slowly-rising foot preparing a heavy strike. But it seems odd for a member of the Chevalier de Paris family to use a kick rather than a sword. I suddenly recall that female Panzer Kavalier I defeated on May 12. She was also there in the Morvan Mountains and she too prepared to throw a kick my way. Except that had been a feint. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x124.” I pressurize my power output to 8 times. I determine that kick is a feint. It is a tackle starting with the knee. I must dodge it. I pressurize my power output to 11 times. I make a large leap toward the center of the Arc de Triomphe plaza behind me. But Expert de Épée could not have escaped that shockwave unscathed. The battle will soon be over. I land while observing my surroundings. With my current reaction speed, I can see the shockwave tearing through the air, shaking the atmosphere, and producing water vapor. The Expert de Épée? It survived that shockwave? Did it use the Ober Emblem to defend against my shockwave? The full activation of an Ober Emblem is a Grösse Panzer’s greatest attack. Expert de Épée’s Ober Emblem is Flamme Bal. Armor made of solidified fire burns through and vaporizes any and all attacks and its limbs desire constant movement. I deem it a formidable opponent. What is this? ### Phillip Missel’s Telegraph: To All Troops With the Phlogiston that we gathered and that we stole from the Germans, a total of 120 tons transformed the Arc de Triomphe plaza into a swimming pool of spirit fuel. That fuel was ignited by the previous cannon fire, engulfing the plaza in flames. But that is not all. An attack from my Excède Emblème will remake the ether Formules of the stone and wind, transforming those things into fire as well. The multitude of fire attacks will make this place into a fiery festival. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x127.” I understand the enemy’s strategy. I block it with my heavy cleaver. If the enemy is attempting what I think he is, supersonic movement would work against me. I depressurize my power output to 5 times. I move back to reduce the force of the impact. It comes. The rapidly-produced flames rob the plaza of its oxygen, so more oxygen rushes in from outside and a powerful gust imbued with the fiery heat rises into the sky. That Ober Emblem is unaffected by the fire. That creates a single difference. If Rot Löwe moved at supersonic speeds right now, it would be incapacitated in an instant. The enemy had drawn the battle out this long and hid their Ober Emblem trump card in order to hit me with a fiery atmospheric explosion and to use Rot Löwe’s cooling device to incapacitate me. I lack the emotions to be impressed, but this is likely the situation for such an assessment. I must avoid a direct hit. So I continue moving back and end up below the Arc de Triomphe. “The current time is 14:02:26.” My legs are moving slow, but I use my rear vision to take the shortest path. I take a step back as if swimming through the hip-deep flickering fire. And a second step. ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrift To buffer against impact, the thought connection with the Schreiben user will be cut off for 0.0000001 seconds and reconnected. The severity of the impact has done damage to numerous parts. Sensory Devices: Hearing is out of order, right half of compound vision is unusable. Skeletal Structure: Severe damage to hips, severe damage to left arm, severe damage to left ankle, all parts in need of repairs. Power System: Light damage. Fuel System: Risk of ignition of Extra Tank #2, purging. Cooling System: Left side damaged, cooling effect reduced by 65%. Ober Emblem: No damage other than structural damage, not primed for activation as Schreiben user has no emotions. Summary: Combat mobility is possible but limited to subsonic speeds. Due to the dangerous situation, Schreiben user’s combat-related memories are being scanned and any comparable situations will be forcibly revived within user’s mind. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x126.” I have lost the right half of my vision. My hearing has been entirely lost. I estimate my left arm’s joint has been damaged. I cannot move it. “The current time is 14:02:30.” Four seconds have passed since the atmospheric explosion. The battle continues. I am below the Arc de Triomphe. I can still see fire around me. But the previous explosion extinguished most of it. The intense flames ignited by Flamme Bal’s Ober Emblem are gone, so the only fire remaining is that licking across the surface of the fuel flooding the plaza. The heat is subsiding. A slight shimmering covers the surviving left side of my vision. I conclude they took some sort of action to perform the final strike. The fire is gone and I can still move. And my right arm is functional. As long as I do not step too strongly with my legs, I can run too. I guess that Rot Löwe was able to resist the impact of that atmospheric explosion because it was designed to endure supersonic impacts. Paris’s Panzer Kavaliers are skilled. That female one used the power of the Ober Emblem to change the flow of battle. Now Phillip Missel has done the same. I conclude they did very well. Something similar once happened to me. There it is in my memories. This is a memory I was never able to recall before. Is this the result of the forced revival mentioned in the previous Geschäftlich Schrift? I lack the emotions to find this strange. This memory was revived because it is necessary. 25 years ago, I fought an Ober Emblem user I encountered in the Morvan Mountains of Bourgogne. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x139.” I compress my reaction speed so I can think while battling the enemy. I recall that memory. When I encountered Sourire in Bourgogne 25 years ago, it spread the wings of its Ober Emblem, wielded a spear, and slayed my men. The attack that destroyed my right arm was made with the spear that obliterated the Klein Panzer under my command. It was made while turning around and…yes, it was a powerful horizontal sweep of the spear, just like that female Panzer Kavalier tried to use against me at the end of that battle. I understand. I must have recalled this past attack back then. That is why I managed to dodge it and forcibly end that battle. When that heavy spear strike hit me and sent me flying back 25 years ago, I let out a scream as the enemy rushed toward me. I screamed. For a Panzer Kavalier, that is a cry of critical failure because it means abandoning the Schreiben records. I will not do that now. But at the time, I was possessed by fear and abandoned the fight as quickly as I could manage. I only survived because Sourire went berserk. I have never fully activated an Ober Emblem, so the details of this are unknown to me. Back then, Sourire raised its spear and prepared to pierce my Panzer, but that never happened. Even more ether enveloped Sourire’s Ober Emblem. The ether armor and skeletal structure surrounding Sourire’s body tried to transform into something other than Haute Ange. That should have been impossible. An Ober Emblem is carved into the Panzer’s armor, so it is immutable. Once activated, the different parts join together to create a specific shape and amplify the power output, but they cannot take a different form. Yet Sourire definitely tried to change its Ober Emblem in that moment. The wings rose toward heaven even more magnificently and the Panzer created by the Ober Emblem crumbled away. An Ober Emblem rearranges the Tons of the metal and oil creating the Panzer and transforms its structure into something else. The change begins from the surface and the ether gives the Panzer the very form of the Ober Emblem’s Message. It fell apart before that transformation could be reversed. While Sourire opened the mouth that had originally been its speech device and raised a bestial roar into the heavens, the wings on its back bent and retook the shape of the broken extra tanks in midair. Next, the right arm extended to nearly twice its original length before shattering and transforming back into the original components. After that, I heard mechanical screams from the right arm, right chest, and neck. A moment afterwards, I stood up and charged forward in something like a tackle. I sliced the enemy in two. Which resulted in- The Verbesserung cuts off my thoughts and drags my mind back to reality. The Grösse Panzers surrounding the plaza have fired on me. I take that as a sign of the battle resuming. “The current time is 14:02:33.” In real time, 7 seconds have passed since the atmospheric explosion. The enemy is trying to end this with their attacks. The enemy has some kind of plan. I start by confirming the incoming attacks. Based on the angle of fire, 4 of the 6 will hit the Arc de Triomphe’s exterior wall and one will pass below the arc. Only the last one will hit me, so I need only intercept that one. I cannot raise my right arm in time. And I cannot use a sonic boom. Thus, I jab my heavy cleaver in that direction, piercing the bullet. I shatter it. Ice cannot defeat the void. My heavy cleaver even slices through the very phenomenon of freezing brought on by the freezing Ton. It all happens in silence since my hearing devices are broken. “The current time is 14:02:35.” My metal skin feels the chill. The enemy’s strategy makes no sense. They were using fire to attack until now, so why the sudden change to ice? This attack actually helps me by letting my cooling system work again. Thus, I conclude this is part of the enemy strategy. I will be in danger if I cannot figure out why they would turn the Arc de Triomphe into ice. I must search for the important points around me. The enemy is not here. The arc has been frozen. And the enemy likely still has their Ober Emblem fully activated. The 30-yard flame sword created by the fusion of Third Flame Emperor and the Ober Emblem is not exactly sharp, but it provides a powerful blow. I think. “The current time is 14:02:36.” The Panzer Kavalier known as the strongest must not lose. I will not scream. My enemy, Phillip Missel, has fought this far while keeping his scream contained within. He must not even be considering the possibility of screaming. I think. Will he scream when I achieve my victory here? It will all come after the battle has been decided. This enemy is top rate, so I cannot let my guard down. I can predict the general strategy. The enemy is using the Arc de Triomphe as a wall to remain hidden from me. He has not left this plaza. He is not the kind of Panzer Kavalier who allows himself to run away. Then what is he hoping to accomplish here? “The current time is 14:02:38.” It all comes down to the Ober Emblem’s attack power. That 30-yard attack can easily smash the arc now that it is ice. I guess the enemy plans to slice through me and the arc while it hides him. Gunfire is useless against me and close-range swordplay is meaningless, so he will use a wide-range attack from outside my field of vision. But a question remains. Will the enemy come from the right or left side of the arc? There is only one answer. It is all the same as when I fought that black dragon. ### Phillip Missel’s Telegraph: To All Troops Has he figured it out? Then I need to see this through to the end! The Excède Emblème boosts the power output as far as my imagination can take it. I am currently in the sky above the Arc de Triomphe. Let’s see you dodge an attack made on the way down from a leap of about 50 yards! ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x143.” It all happened in an instant. The moment I predicted the enemy’s action, I made a subsonic swing of my heavy cleaver to slice through the left side of the Arc de Triomphe. The stone structure had been frozen via ether transformation, so despite its weight, it easily crumbled from the impact. The ground is covered in ice, making evasion impossible. But I have already done what must be done. I can only wait for the result. It misses. I had attacked and tilted the Arc de Triomphe before the enemy could strike. The diagonal tilt of the icy mass redirected the enemy’s attack slightly to the left. Yes, by trusting in the accuracy of the enemy’s attack, I could shift that aim just enough to avoid Rot Löwe’s head and instead chop off the unneeded left arm at the collarbone. I confirm the enemy has lost his weapon. I guess he is also experiencing a malfunction in the legs. It is true that a jab from the side could knock my Rot Löwe aside but that could not destroy it. So he had been correct to try a surprise attack from above. His only mistake was taking a similar action to the one I used against the black dragon. Without that, I doubt I would have considered the possibility here. Meaningless. The damage to your legs prevents you from moving properly and that arm cannot hold anything. I will now settle this with destruction and move on to the elimination of the 6 Panzers surrounding us. The smallest disturbance determined the result for everything. The concept of luck does not exist here. This is a battle ruled by our respective strategies, thoughts, and memories. In that sense, I could not have let my guard down during the battle. And now I would end it. It is moving slowly. It must have taken damage to the lower back in addition to the legs. Does that show just how much this enemy had poured into that attack? That had indeed been an attack meant to truly defeat an opponent. It had not been a simple gamble. And it just might have worked had I not fought that black dragon and that memory had not returned to me. Even if his impending defeat was akin to self-destruction, I can guess that no one will mock it. I am known as the strongest and he is the first to push me this far. At the same time, I can conclude that no other attack in this battle poses any real threat to me. Nevertheless, he knows escape is impossible and chooses to continue the fight. He truly is a formidable opponent. I split its torso diagonally from shoulder to hip with my heavy cleaver. A Panzer Kavalier’s body receives any damage done to their Grösse Panzer. This is a fatal blow. Phillip Missel will die here. ### Phillip Missel’s Telegraph: To All Troops Fiiiiire!! ### July 29, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Journal I think this will be a busy day so I will write what I can during the morning. Especially since I was too busy yesterday to write much of what happened last night. Now. Lady Beretta was released last night. The mountain railroad was apparently repaired and her identification arrived from Paris yesterday. The mayor called for us at around 8 at night. Mother Rose was incredible then. She told me to hurriedly pack my things while she stuffed all of Lady Beretta’s things in her bag. It only took her five minutes. Then she stole the truck from the mayor – that is the only way I can think to describe it – and drove me to the police station in Autun. I did not understand why we had to be in such a hurry. It looked to me like she wanted us out of Herlde as quickly as possible. Our tickets were for a morning train so it was already too late to use them. We could get home easily enough after picking up reserved tickets to Paris at Autun Station. But for whatever reason she insisted she see us off to Dijon right away. I had questions but I kept them to myself. Because of the serious look on Mother Rose’s face. When we arrived at the police station Lady Beretta was waiting for us out front. She was surprised to learn I and our things were loaded in the back of the truck. She too must not have thought we would be heading back so soon. But she quickly climbed into the back and we drove to the train station not far from the police station. The train arrived almost as soon as we had arrived. We let Mother Rose go buy our tickets while we checked over our luggage in the station waiting room. That was when the platform grew very noisy. Noisy with voices speaking German. Several people in military uniforms passed through the ticket gate and quickly left while discussing something that sounded serious. Lady Beretta saw the look of shock from the bespectacled station chief who was standing by the ticket gate so she asked what the soldiers had said. To be very clear about what they said I will write it out as bullet points here. - The Resistance staged an uprising in Paris. Some of the city was destroyed. The Resistance was crushed. - The German army took heavy losses too. There was a traitor within their ranks. The uprising was led by Phillip Missel. - Phillip Missel was killed during the uprising. To be honest I still do not understand it very well. But I do know that Sir Phillip fought back in Paris in some kind of leadership role within the Resistance. And I know he was defeated. That was all we learned there. But it was enough. Lady Beretta sat down next to me with a pale face. Then she fell from the seat and collapsed like the strings supporting her had been cut. That is not all. When Mother Rose ran over and asked what happened I relayed what the station chief had told us. She too had to take a seat afterwards. Lady Beretta has not come to. Mother Rose managed to calm down last night and looked after Lady Beretta but Lady Beretta is still asleep in the bed in our room. Her breathing is calm and she occasionally groans. Mother Rose says she has had a breakdown. The exhaustion has caught up with her so her body demands rest and she will continue sleeping until she has it. Mother Rose had this to say while viewing sleeping Lady Beretta. “There is nothing more I can do. We can only trust in her now.” What am I supposed to trust in? But not even the earthquake is enough to wake Lady Beretta. I put in her IV. For some reason her arm was a lot skinnier than I imagined. Even though I see it all the time. How strange. Today’s newspaper said Paris is now under martial law and you must pass an inspection before entering the city. The Resistance uprising and the German counterattack destroyed Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. The city hall and the broadcast station and the postal agency were also partially destroyed. There were a lot of deaths but Sir Phillip Missel’s name is the only one being given from the Resistance side. Yet there is detailed information on the casualties from the German side. It seems unfair to me. But it is true Paris had been caught in the war. Blood has been shed. I only ever spoke with Sir Phillip twice. But now I know there will never be a third time. That seems like a shame to me. I wonder if there was more I could have spoken with him about. I only ever spoke with him about Lady Beretta. But there is so much more we could have discussed. Yes. Like how he is doing with Lady Beretta. If I seem human to him. If he enjoys the time he spends with Lady Mallette and the others. And so much more about the past and the future. Now that chance is forever lost. Lady Beretta must be feeling that even more than I am. I want her to wake up soon. There is so much I want to tell her and ask her. For example she has yet to teach me how to use a comma. It seems to be similar to a period but also different somehow. There are other things worrying me too. How is master doing? I tried to write him a letter last night but could not bring myself to actually do it. I have a feeling the same will happen today. ### Telegram from the German Combat Engineers Unit in Nevers: To All Units Urgent: At 02:31, Unit 17 was attacked and obliterated by the black dragon while clearing the mountain pass. Defense Units 3, 11, and 13 are currently engaging. The situation is worsening. All defense units to the mountains. ### Rose Francisca’s Journal The black dragon has arrived. And I am alone in my secret room. This will be my last journal entry. I can hear the dragon’s roars and the booming of artillery in the distance. I don’t even need to check. My Ajouter would be filled by the dragon and artillery, so I think I will write everything I can with my Signe. I loaded Beretta and Rosetta onto the mayor’s truck earlier, but since the back of the truck was full as always, I had them climb onto the cabin’s roof. I told them I would wait here since another truck would be along before long and I sent them off. In truth, several trucks from people who live on the mountain have passed by in front of my house, but I entered this room to write this instead of waiting for them. Everything is leaving the pre-established harmony. The prophecy calendar on the wall here has been entirely useless since the 20th. And I know exactly what that means. It means France is changing. In the past, our lives were thrown off track by a military project created here in Bourgogne. And now this very land is being thrown off track. But this could become the truth. If Beretta becomes my daughter and she chooses liberation, this will become the truth of the world. This will become the new track and the world will become even more complex than it currently is outside of here. I no longer have my prophecies, so I can only trust in her. I have done everything I must to do that. I acted as her mother, I removed her fear, and I healed her. That way she will not run away in the face of battle. That way she can travel the path she wants without doubting herself. But does she want to liberate France? If she does, she will surely realize how. According to M. Schrier, the outside world fears that liberation, so they have a list of forbidden actions taught to everyone entering France. That list is the three conditions needed to liberate France: 1: Stop the Wort Bombe’s detonation. 2: Spread a spirit of liberation to a majority of the people within France. 3: Prove that completely closing oneself off is not possible. The question is whether or not she will accept the third condition. If she plays the role of the other Beretta to prove that, the rule against duplicate beings will cause the Beretta in the outside world to disappear as a fake. And the people in the outside world are not like the ones who have repeated the same year for 55 years in here. They really will disappear. Only Monsieur Guilliaum and I know of this. But depending on your point of view, that is a small price to pay. By overwriting just the one life, the entire world can be corrected. No revision of history could ever come so cheaply. There is nothing to mourn. The current world has much more to grieve. The outside world is carrying the guilt of having abandoned us. Removing that weight would more than outweigh the sorrow of a single person. This is much like war. You can only choose the option that brings less damage. And unlike war, the person who realizes that fact can take responsibility for it. That is enough. I have nothing more to write here. I will Ajouter now. Not long now. This time, I received his letter from Beretta. I know more or less what it must say. I am satisfied with that. As usual, I will perform my Correcteur ceremony and die. If France is liberated, my daughter will cease to exist. And my own death will be fixed in place and I will not live through another loop. That is for the best. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Second Entry I am currently in the plaza in front of Autun Station. It is all very noisy. I am writing this to help order my thoughts. Earlier Lady Beretta returned to Herlde with the mayor. When a German soldier tried to stop them she argued with him and threw a kick until she was allowed to go. There are still a lot of people in Herlde – based on who has gathered in this plaza there are still around 30 people in the village – and the evacuation is not complete even after sending out the village’s five trucks. The biggest problem for us is that Mother Rose was not on any of the trucks. The German soldier said that the black dragon would be in Herlde within 20 minutes and that it would likely destroy the village. He tried to stop the mayor and Lady Beretta because he knew that. He said anyone who went to the village was unlikely to survive. Everyone here seems to know that. Those with the trucks have been arguing for a while. They want to know if they should follow after the mayor or not but no one will give them an answer. They do not want to die. I understand that. But Lady Beretta and the mayor went. And I am here. Lady Beretta explained why I should stay. “We need to pick up as many people as possible so we need to head back with as few people as possible.” That makes sense. She seems tired but she spoke very clearly when she said that. That is why I told her about Mother Rose’s secret room I discovered in the examination room before. I thought it might be a shelter for times like this. She looked surprised but nodded and left. They do not seem able to reach an answer. If they go they might die. But if they do not go we are sure to survive. When pressured to choose one or the other they end up arguing. And the German soldier who tried to stop Lady Beretta is standing in a corner of the plaza lost in thought. Earlier after he saw those two leave he said something to me. “That black dragon is enraged because our unit badly injured it. It uses its rage to overcome its grudge and its duty is to eat people.” He sounded like he had given up all hope but even he is thinking about something now. Everyone else continues their argument. They cannot find an answer. But I feel like I have found the answer. And to be sure of that I need Lady Beretta’s help and the others’ help. But I am not sure if I should say it out loud. Maybe I should ask that German soldier how long until he thinks the dragon will arrive in Herlde. If we can arrive in time, there is something I need to tell Lady Beretta. There is one thing she is wrong about. ### Beretta’s Journal She tricked me! Damn, the earthquakes haven’t stopped and the clinic has mostly collapsed. I found Rose Francisca in the hidden room just like Rosetta said I would. She is lying in the mayor’s truck in front of the clinic while we wait for the others to load in so we can head back. But they might not make it in time. I saw light from the black dragon’s Word Particle Cannon only 3 miles away from the village. The occasional artillery fire I hear must mean the Germans are still fighting back nearby. But that will only last a few more minutes. Will we make it in time? I have a lot of reasons to worry. Especially because Rose Francisca got me good at the very end there. She was trying to take her own life in that hidden room. She lay collapsed on the bloody floor of the half-collapsed room, so I dragged her out and bound her wrist to stop the bleeding. But it wasn’t good enough. I didn’t really know what I was doing and I couldn’t fully stop the bleeding. Tying my scarf around her wrist only got the scarf soaked with blood. I should have brought Rosetta with me. I can’t believe this. What in the world am I doing? Phillip is dead and I’m feeling down, so how did I get caught up in all this? There’s something wrong with this. I mean, wasn’t the dragon attack supposed to happen on August 3? What is going on? The only thing I managed to get out of the clinic was Jack McWild’s letter I gave her. It was unopened. What does that mean? Why did she want to die? Did she think we wouldn’t come back to save her? If so – if that really is why – it might mean she doesn’t trust me as her daughter. A Knight Striker is supposed to protect people. I want to believe it was because they fought or because they had been apart for more than a decade. I want to believe it wasn’t anything I did. I touch her forehead. I can’t let her die. If I placed my coat over her and held her, would it help keep her warm? No, this is due to the blood loss, so that wouldn’t help. I don’t know what to do at times like this. The German army was just defeated. Damn. This is just like that earthquake, isn’t it? There’s nothing we can do. We can only wait and see if our luck holds out or if we die. Does that mean we’ll die here, myself included? How lame. Really, why did I come running here? What is going on? It is Rosetta. I know it is. Who else could it be? But why? What kind of magic am I witnessing here? Well, for now, I need to leave Rose Francisca with Rosetta. ### 369. Chapter 19: Dragon 07/30/1944 I’m an idiot I can never make up my mind ### July 30, 1944 ### Autun Police Station Telegram: To the German Army South France Branch Urgent. On our authority, we have taken in 291 of Herlde’s 323 residents. We are working to rescue the rest. Once they are all together, we will begin evacuating them along the mountain pass. One severe injury. They were bleeding badly and are receiving intensive care in the hospital. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank Crap!! I’ve gotta dodge this. I jump into the mountain. Sourire stands 9 yards tall, so the trees are on obstacle for me as well. But since the trees also slow down the dragon, the pressure is far less than if I were running along the road. I’m running while down below the canopy of threes. And I jump from time to time. I twist my body partway around in midair and fire homing shots from the six divine cannons on my back. I don’t check if they hit. With an opponent this big, there’s no way I can miss. My accuracy has got to be 100%. Instead of watching that in satisfaction, I need to make sure I hit the ground running. Hell, yeah. Time to run. I have pretty nice legs, if I say so myself. Both ability-wise and appearance-wise. Did the black dragon’s foreleg drop down there? Looks like he’s trying to divert me to the left. But I continue going straight. This way takes me to Herlde’s mountain road and the small shrine at the top of the mountain. That shrine produces a sound outside of the audible range for humans, but the dragon hates it. This should be a little easier if I can get within range of that. Come to think of it, we could have just evacuated the villagers there. Why did the mayor send them to Autun instead? It’s in the way, so I prepare the spear in my right hand while I run and thrust it out to the front with a twisting motion. I get a powerful blow in on the trunk while it’s still falling. Damn. And I might have been able to do something if I could use the Over Emblem. This Write Bring is incomplete. It might be due to the child in my- no, blaming this on someone else won’t help anything. The biggest problem is that…yes, I’ve grown indecisive when it comes to Heavy Barrels…no, when it comes to fighting. I am lacking something and that something is needed to make the final decision here. Would self-confidence be the best word for it? Without that, I want to do something but I don’t know if I should. I want to scream. Are you enjoying this!? Is pursuing your prey fun? Oh, that’s right. You can fly, but you’re making a point of chasing me on foot. But why don’t you slaughter me with a single attack? I kind of get it. You lost to Sourire once before. That’s it, isn’t it!? Geh. Just like my six divine cannons, huh? Damn, I can’t escape this while inside the forest. I run. I sprint. But my legs are heavier than I imagined. My emotions and willpower are not enough. The Heavy Barrel draws out its power in response to my emotions and it is the strength of my willpower that determines if I can control that. Simply yelling isn’t enough, but simply remaining calm isn’t enough either. Those were the two tricks to piloting a Heavy Barrel, but I wasn’t handling either one well right now. Dammit, no one told me he could fire so many at once. This thing is way more powerful than the rumors said. I was going to have to jump for it, even though that was a gamble. I crouched down for a split-second and then performed a huge leap to accelerate myself outside the range of destruction. I jumped. I had a feeling! I’m not letting this happen. I fire only the right ones of the six divine cannons on my back. Then I twist around. Ow, ow. That feels just like stubbing my little toe, but I’ll manage. I can adjust my attitude to land on my feet. Just like I did when jumping into the old man’s courtyard and when I jumped over Phillip’s shoulder. I twist around to bring my legs below me and place my center of gravity below my hips. Oh, no! Is my willpower really not enough!? I was tricked! Wait, but by who? No, this isn’t the time for that. I need to get up and start running or that dragon- I’m screwed. He knew this road was out and he chased me here. Oh, no. This is bad in more ways than one. Like, really bad. And the worst part is that I might die, which would mean- I raise my shield and brace for impact!! ### Heavy Barrel Sourire’s System Message Medium impact. Damage confirmed. Sensors: Undamaged. Will be restored after format. Skeletal system: Medium damage to left arm, light damage to right leg, both in need of repairs. Power system: Minor damage. Fuel system: Extra Tank 2 damaged. Cooling system: Undamaged. Support equipment: Starboard divine cannons damaged, only the 3 to port are usable. Over Emblem: No damage beyond injured areas, not ready for activation due to Write Bringer’s emotional instability. Summary: Combat mobility is possible, approving continuation of combat. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank Continuation of combat? Don’t be dumb. I can see a bit of the night sky and forest, but I still can’t move. Where am I? Based on the moon’s location, I’m guessing near Herlde’s entrance. Damn, I can’t move. Does that mean I’m a poor match for this girl? Yes, it feels like I’m some fool who keeps saying I’ll do stuff but can’t actually bring myself to do it. Ha ha ha. But maybe I should have expected this. I’m an idiot and I can never make up my mind. It’s the black dragon. I can’t believe this. That thing sure is persistent. Guess that means I can’t just stay here on the ground. He has enough of a grudge against this girl to come back and pick a fight with her while she’s weakened, so this is going to be bad. At that distance, the truck must be over toward Autun. If that’s the last one, they’ll reach Autun and begin the evacuation in three minutes or so. I need to keep fighting that long. But unfortunately, I can’t move. Damn, is this what it’s like to die? How was it for Phillip? Did the fear overpower his willpower like when I screamed during the earthquake? None of this feels remotely real. Is this what people mean when they say death happens far too suddenly? Was this what it felt like to die for the 4000 Allied soldiers who lost their lives at Normandy? The damn thing is rejoicing in his triumph. Meanwhile, I’m half buried in the dirt at a horizontal angle, so- <“Lady Beretta!? Can you hear me!?”> What!? <“Lady Beretta! This is Rosetta. I am inside the small room on your back, but can you hear me? If you can hear this, then stand up. Please!”> Hold on, wait, what are you doing? And I can’t get up when my body won’t mo- <“Oh, no. Lady Beretta isn’t answering. Does that mean she has gone crazy again?”> “What do you mean again!? Don’t just make stuff up!” Oh, my vocal device is working. I should limit this to just the secondary cockpit. “What are you doing, Rosetta? Didn’t you evacuate?” <“I was certain you would defeat the dragon, so I was waiting at the village’s entrance for you to return. Then I saw you flying through the sky toward me. Thinking you were finally returning, I brought our luggage with me.”> I wasn’t flying; I was sent flying! Huh, this is weirdly relax- wait, now is not the time!! “You need to get out of there, Rosetta! This girl takes more than three minutes to cancel the Write Bring! If you wait for that, you’ll be killed along with me!” Agh, she’s not listening. Do I need to get after her over this? “You idiot! Sometimes there are things I just can’t do!! So forget about me and run away!!” <“Is sacrificing yourself to save me really the most satisfying answer?” The giant pupil at the center of the yellow eye narrows down to focus on me. He is determining what exactly his prey is. After a breath, a clear nictitating membrane blinks to help observe me. “Don’t you think it is wrong that someone must become sad for someone else to be happy?”> “…” <“This is…something that you taught me.” The dragon takes a single deeper breath. He has apparently finished observing his prey. The muscles around the eye move and the scaly skin bends to narrow the eye and place an expression on the great beast’s face. Then he slowly raises his head. He prepares to deliver the finishing blow.> “Hey, Rosetta. Can I ask one thing?” <“What is it?”> “What if…what if seeing this dragon right in front of me makes me scream and give up fighting?” <“That will not happen.”> “How can you be so sure?” <“Because you have always been a true Lourd de Écrivain.” The dragon quietly opens his jaws and slaver drips from his mouth and fangs like rain and lands all around me. This must have stimulated his hunger. He rapidly lowers his head. He’s fast. His fangs move in close, but I hear a voice just beforehand. “No matter what you might think, that is what I will Ajouter.”> ### Heavy Barrel Sourire’s System Message The Write Bringer’s willpower has grown stronger. Preparing the Barrel’s willpower response. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank Yes!! Strength fills my fingertips. I can even feel the slight armor attached to the ends of the nails. I can do this. I clench my fist and find my spear there. I grab it and move. The enemy is right in front of me. I can’t miss!! Whew, that was exciting. And you got my combat dress all dirty, you moron. I need to stand up. Where’s my shield? Okay, let’s do this. Rosetta was right. I am a Knight Striker. I might be weak, but I still want to protect someone. That willpower is what I need, so it allows me to move. I’ll never accomplish anything sitting there worrying over whether I win or lose without actually doing anything about it. Knight Strikers protect people; they don’t worry over whether or not they can protect people. So I need to move. I need to find my answers. What does it mean to protect people? What is the strongest power for me? I need to figure that out. Okay, okay. We’re not getting any recovery time. Time to start fighting again. At the very least, I’m not about to lose to you and die. First, I’ve gotta stop you and protect the people of Bourgogne. “Rosetta, keep a solid grip on the luggage and sit in the cushion-like thing at the center of the secondary cockpit. That’s actually the nicest component of this Barrel.” <“Sorry. All this movement made your stripped-off skirt-”> “Just sit down. I’ll also apply some inertial damping, so just sit still.” I started running without waiting for a response. The Heavy Barrel was moving differently from before. But of course it was. I felt a world of difference in myself compared to about 10 seconds ago. Running down that road will bring me to that mountaintop shrine. That’s fine. I want to buy some time and the forest isn’t the best place for some intense fighting. I can’t think of any reason to stop running now. Really!? Those are gonna be in the way! I’ll fire the three surviving divine cannons on the left side! I need to hit those falling trees! I splinter them with a shield bash and keep going while raising my speed. In my mind, I can run even faster than this. I trained my body a lot living in Herlde. No matter how stingy and harsh reality could be, it was bound to throw me at least a small bone. I move forward and think. I wonder how much power I have right now. I can do this! I can!! What was wrong with me before? Just look how well I can use a Heavy Barrel. That reminds me of how I could feel the rain while piloting Protected Empress. No, it had always been that way. I’m just aware of it now. Now I know exactly what it means to Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel. It’s no longer just some vague idea. I run. I can feel that action alone directly linking my body, my willpower, and my emotions to the machine. My emotions explode, my willpower sharpens it, and I can’t stop. The Heavy Barrel uses that strength and sharpness to decide how much of its power it can give me. That won’t cut it. Flying is the only way you can catch up to me. Are you going to do the same thing as before!? Fine. You don’t own the sky. My willpower and emotions are strong. Let’s do this, HLT-001X XX-HL Mk. II – Sourire. I don’t know if you can repeat what you did when you fought off this black dragon before, but I’ll show you my full power. So you do the same for me, okay? If you were built to protect people and if you were given the strongest power to do that… “Armor Transformation: Normal Mode → Full Power Attack Mode – Sign.” I shift the power output mode to max. “Power system entering full power mode – Sign.” I further open up the part of the power system used for attacks. “Full Drive ready – Sign.” Ether light emerges from my entire body, even over the combat dress. I am ready to enter Full Drive mode. Sourire’s Over Emblem is Haute Ange. That was created during the Age of Flight and it allows the Heavy Barrel to fly. So I imagine it. I strongly and sharply imagine impressive wings blossoming from my back and me soaring up into the sky. I imagine myself holding the greatest power I can think of. If there is anything more to say, it has to be this. Begin Full Drive of all armaments and all abilities to respond to this enemy attack. Begin counterattack. “Beginning Full Drive activation – Sign.” ### Heavy Barrel Sourire’s System Message The thought connection with the Write Bringer was severed for 0.0002 seconds to enter Full Drive. Reconnecting. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank The transformation only took an instant. My emotions and willpower burned for that brief moment. Ha ha ha. Trying to fight back!? This is the form that beat you before, isn’t it? With the Over Emblem fully active, my power output increased a dozen-fold and the machine took control. As I sharpened my runaway imagination, the machine would take that imagination in as its own mind and use it to power its own movements. The human imagination and the machine’s full power have fused together. We can actually fight the dragon like this. Time to fly. Once I’m up there, I can decide what it is I want to do with this power to protect. What should I do if I’m going to protect as many people as possible? <“L-Lady Beretta, I can’t see anything outside.>” “Sorry, but the secondary cockpit is going to stay like that. We’re about to fly.” <“Eh?”> I heard something like a sob, but I ignored it. Sorry. She would be fine no matter what I did as long as she was in that seat. I spread my wings in the wind. <“L-Lady Beretta, did we just…?”> Ha ha ha. You’ll have to stick to your imagination. The moonlight is beautiful. The Over Emblem ether reacts to the bluish-white light by shining even brighter. My entire body is tense. I can feel the wind flowing between each and every feather on my wings. I know now what I want to use his power to do. I had found so many reasons to deny it before, but this was my one desire. “I want to liberate France.” I had gained so much here. I don’t want to make Phillip a lie and I want my child to live in this era – in this France. There are sure to be problems, but I can think about those later. I’ve decided now that I will liberate this place. I will make it all real so no one must feel any regrets. And the first thing I must do is fulfill one of my duties as a Knight Striker. I ready my spear in my right hand and my shield in my left. “Device – Heavenly King Mk. III – Third Evolved Form – Syncing for Full Activation – Sign.” Again, what is this about evolving? Meh, it doesn’t matter. I swing its shaft around in one hand, stop it, and check how it feels. This will work. This is pretty much ideal. The shield feels nice too, so I can put up a real fight. All right, then. I’ll show you how a spear user like me attacks. With a flap of my wings, I flip upside down in midair. Then I raise my spear in front of my face and stick the spear strongly out from the side of that. This is the perfect assault form of a spear user. Now I only have to move forward. Gooooooooooo!! I perform some attitude control just before colliding with the ground. I flap hard and flip around in midair like I was repelled by something. That avoids a crash into the ground. My vision spins around. I see the sky, the moon, the sky again, and then the forest below. I spread my legs and land. That’s not enough. You’re still up for more, aren’t you? I take flight. I soar gallantly into the sky behind me. Is he using that dispersed Dragon Particle Cannon? I have one way of responding to that. I trust in Heavenly King Mk. III’s attack and flap forward. Let’s settle this, black dragon. Which is stronger, your light built from resentment or my light meant to protect people? I charge in. I move in the direction of my gaze. The result is found in an instant. That is the finale. All of the people have probably been evacuated by now. Are you still going to fight? But it’s already over. All that writhing is causing the village to collapse from your weight, revealing the crust below. You must not know what has caused all these recent earthquakes. There is a large amount of pressurized flammable gas below Herlde and it is about to burst out to the surface. The village has been gathering that up to use it as fuel, but when some people entered the village on trucks earlier, I asked them to reverse the process. In other words, they’ll be sending air into the gas below the village. I really am thankful. I might have never figured this all out without you. Too late. Prepare to fire divine cannons! I imagine fire. Give me the red flames needed to burn it all away!! Goodbye. ### 370. Chapter 20: Separation 07/31/1944 – 08/05/1944 I think I will Once more Prepare to fight ### July 31, 1944 ### German Army HQ Telegram: To the French Branches Urgent. Based on the reports received from you all, we have determined that armed uprisings and a great quantity of materiel transportation are rapidly occurring across France. A covert Allied unit may be working behind the scenes, so a military blockade must be immediately set up around France’s major cities, particular Paris, and defenses must be fortified. Our troops stationed in France must gather at those major cities and prepare to fight back. Some are attempting to exploit and requisition the local population, perhaps out of unease, but to preserve the order of our troops, that should be avoided unless specifically ordered to do so. Also, a document on a classified military project was stolen during the upheaval in Paris. Redouble your efforts to search out any Allied spies at every checkpoint. ### Guilliaum’s Letter: To a Far Distant Friend My friend, I feel like I have been using you as an outlet for my frustrations of late. Sorry. The German Army is panicking and has placed Paris under martial law. That would explain all the transportation vehicles. They must want to do a very thorough job of locking down Paris. A lot is happening in France right now. The Allies had been moving south from Normandy, but they suddenly decided to turn toward Germany and are moving toward Paris further to the north. Similarly, the Resistance cells in other regions are joining with the Allies and causing uprisings all over the country. Our failure the other day seems to have actually ignited their spirits. I somehow managed to contact Old Blue Eyes with the communicator. His grandson Phillip was discovered to be a central figure in the uprising, so his mansion is apparently being closely watched by the Germans. He is effectively under house arrest until the Germans can regroup and perform a proper raid. He tried to sound cheerful about it all, but I could tell it was an act. I mean, once they raid his mansion, all his possessions will be confiscated and that’s the end for him. The Germans are only sticking with house arrest for now because we blew up the police station, destroying the holding cells in the process, and because he has the influence that comes with being the former Chevalier de Paris. You know what that old man told me while looking down on the Germans from the second floor of his mansion – yes, from the very same dance hall we demonstrated our pathetic dance skills in so long ago? “The Chevalier de Paris hasn’t given up yet. We may have lost the Expert de Épée, but I managed to obtain the Third Flame Emperor in the midst of it all. I will use that to have revenge.” He said he had contacted the former Chevaliers of the other cities before the uprising began. He told them to gather their forces under the Royal Chevalier and begin fighting for France’s liberation if the liberation of Paris were to fail. Also, one of his men managed to obtain a certain document during the uprising. It described a weapon secretly developed by Germany’s Geheimnis Agency. Yes, the very same Wort Bombe that Rose Francisca had mentioned. From what he sent me, it seems to still be in the prototype phase, but it could perhaps destroy all of France. According to Rose Francisca, that is what destroys France’s Formule structure, allowing France to be enveloped by the Rondeau. The old man said he would send me more information once he had the details in order. He apparently has a lot he wants to discuss, such as its timed fuse and how to defuse it. Basically, he seems to want to send me all the important information because he thinks I am bound to survive. Just like Phillip, he always thinks about what happens if he loses too. That must be what Rose Francisca mentioned about sacrifice. The Allies are currently approaching Paris. And just as Rose Francisca hoped, I have lost and experienced so many sacrifices, yet I still seek France’s liberation. So I think I will once more prepare to fight. I have a way to do so. Yes, you worked so hard to erase the fact that we converted so many heroic minds into weapons, but I plan to admit to all our sins. I am prepared to say that old project should not be abandoned. But all of this requires one horrible condition and it is not up to me. You must know what I mean. You must after sending her to fight that black dragon before she was ready 25 years ago only to have her lose control. You must know all of the conditions must be fully met if we are to create the strongest Appareil through the Attesor Project. If only she still lived, we could- no, forget that. I have Rosetta who might as well be her daughter and I must remain Rosetta’s guardian. But that introduces a new problem. Rosetta and that girl have yet to return. Will they even be able to make it back with martial law in effect? Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do unless they return. I will now equip the Protected Empress with all of the exterior parts the Allies provided me. The only weapons I have at home are that Lourd de Marionnette and the cheap Liberator handgun the Allies airdropped over the city. But that is enough. I will settle everything once those two return. If I do not, I doubt anything will change and France will once again be rolled back in the Primitif. But is it even possible to break free of that pattern? Goodbye. ### August 1, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Journal We are on the train to Paris. I believe it is around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. This our first time to really relax in two days so I will use this time to write my journal entry. First I will write about the day before yesterday. Early in the morning of July 30 Lady Beretta spent around an hour flying around after defeating the black dragon until finally crash landing in a vineyard in the mountains of Auxerre. She ended her Recréa and appeared from a closet-like box on the floor of the secondary cockpit. However she had passed out from exhaustion. I managed to carry her about a mile away from the Lourd de Marionnette before the sunrise. It took her a full day to recover. I was glad I had brought her luggage – including a change of clothing. She woke up late last night. She returned to the Lourd de Marionnette to try and Recréa into it again – I did not accompany her – but she returned after giving up because the spare fuel tank was almost entirely used up. She said the Excède Emblème – the transformation that let her fly and run really fast – burned through the fuel like crazy. We discussed a great many things in the darkness last night. What had happened to the people of Herlde. How far this vineyard was from the closest town. That I felt bad we could not return the Lourd de Marionnette to the Germans. Whether Mother Rose was okay or not. How we would get back into Paris. And more. She thanked me once during it all. She remembered everything I had told her during the battle with the black dragon. And she told me something else. When we were in Herlde she had said there was something she had to tell me. She began that discussion by asking me a question. “Rosetta. What if you had to kill someone? What would you do if you knew the only way to have what you wanted was to erase someone from this world?” My answer was simple. A method requiring that must be wrong so you would need to come up with a method that allowed you to remain with that person. She looked troubled when I said that but she also nodded in a satisfied way. And she said something else. “You see Rosetta. I think I want to liberate France…and to fight toward that end. But doing that might mean losing someone.” “Can’t you think of some way to not lose them?” “I can try. I didn’t make it in time for Phillip though. But I think I still can for her. I won’t give up and I’ll fight. Because I want to save her too.” That seemed like the Lady Beretta I knew. I had no idea what she was talking about but I will try to remember it. I asked her who that person was and she said they were a relative of hers back in America. When I asked if they were close to death due to some kind of disease she smiled a little and rubbed my head. I was apparently reading too much into it. We then ate some of the vineyard’s grapes for a late-night meal and walked throughout the night. We used the position of the moon to leave the mountains to the east and arrive in the city of Auxerre. Lady Beretta sold some grapes she had gathered in her coat without me noticing and used that money to buy train tickets. A lot happened. She seems to be worrying over something. But I am sure she will find an answer eventually. She always does. She opened up to me. But. But there is one thing I have not told her. It is true I told her so much while inside that Lourd de Marionnette. I truly believed everything I said. But I was also afraid. I was fine at first but I realized something upon hearing the dragon’s scream. –I was inside a machine designed to bring harm. From that moment until we crash landed I clutched Lady Beretta’s stripped-off clothing to my chest and trembled there in the secondary cockpit. Whenever she moved and beat down that dragon I would either hear it screaming or begging her to stop and I had to bite down on her sleeve to bear with it. She did not like the screams either but she thought they were necessary to protect us. I do not know why it scared me so much. I have felt like this in the past. Like when I thought about the blood while cooking and wondered what would happen if I cut my own hand with the knife. The difficulty breathing I felt then was very similar. When Lady Beretta finally ended the Recréa I wept and held her unconscious body to me. I was so happy that she was no longer fighting and no longer part of that weapon. It was such a relief. And when I carried her outside I screamed at the state of the Lourd de Marionnette I had been riding inside. I slumped to the ground with Lady Beretta in my arms. The Lourd de Marionnette that had been wielding that spear and soaring through the sky had its clothing torn and its cream color stained with dark blood. Something about it made no sense to me. Lady Beretta had managed to protect us by doing all that but she could not have known that would be the case until it was over. What was she thinking when she began to fight? Why was she so confident that fighting would have such a positive result? It makes no sense to me how you can know an unseen result will be a positive thing. If that is what it takes to protect people then I must not be able to protect anyone. Lady Beretta said some cool things and thanked me but I could not even say that and felt a mixture of guilt and satisfaction from her praise. I was briefly glad that I am a Belle de Marionnette. I might be a machine but I can continue to evolve in accordance with my will and feelings. I am different from those weapons – such as the handgun that fell from the sky on the night of the Normandy landing operation – that have no will of their own and simply exist to kill people. I cannot tell Lady Beretta how much of a relief that is. She is so much better than me. She has the confidence to properly use such great power and I simply do not. Sir Phillip had that same ability. They are both so strong in a way I am not. During the school festival I wrote in my journal how much I hated simply being protected by her but now I am not so sure what to think. Maybe I only exist to be protected. Maybe I am only a Belle de Marionnette which makes me less than them. ### August 2, 1944 ### Message from the German Army Paris Branch: To the Other Branches The uprising within Paris on July 29 is confirmed to be the work of a single Resistance cell hoping to liberate Paris. It was led by the Missel family, a former Chevalier de Paris family, and we fear their actions may influence the other Resistance cells or other former Chevaliers. We will maintain martial law in Paris. We are unlikely to receive more combat engineers, so all units will work to clear the rubble and wreckage from the streets so the city can recover swiftly. HQ is taking this seriously, so set up military blockades around all crucial points around France and work to shut down any Resistance forces. We will hurry to lock down Paris while preparing for the approaching Allied forces. Starting today, we must be prepared for battle at any time. ### Beretta’s Journal It is 11 PM and I’m writing this in a vast field on the outskirts of Paris. We’re only a mile from Paris right now. This late at night, the moon provides the only light to see with. We’ve been living a pretty wild lifestyle lately. The plan is to get about 4 hours of sleep and then enter Paris at 3 AM. Even the German patrols should be laxer at that early hour. I’ll take Rosetta to the mansion, but I need to figure out what to do after that. Sorry, Rosetta. I should really be taking better care of you, but I feel like I keep giving you a lot of work to do. On that note, Rosetta has been awfully gloomy ever since we the train ride last night. I know why: because she rode along in that Heavy Barrel. Seeing it soaked in blood afterwards must have been a shock. Also…yeah, we lost Mallette. Last night, the train stopped in Fontainebleau. There was no train route taking us any closer to Paris than there. While trying to find a place to spend the night, I remembered that Mallette’s family home is there. She had told me how to get there before, so we followed the maple-lined central street on and on into the mountains. After about two miles, we indeed found a large mansion in the woods. We were concerned when we did not see any lights on and what must have happened became clear once we approached the entrance. I still remember the Point I made back then. Rosetta clung to me in fear of the wind blowing all around us, so I held her shoulders and explained what this meant. I explained that Mallette was Jewish and the Germans tended to take out their frustrations on the Jews when things were not going their way. But this never happened to Mallette in the history I had been taught. History really was changing. It wasn’t just Heinz Berge. If things were changing for Mallette too, then the Germans must have been feeling greater fear than they usually did at this time. I checked inside the mansion – Rosetta was too afraid to follow me in – and found a tear-off desk calendar that told me when Mallette had been taken away. It had happened on the 30th. The Germans must have done it as a way of striking back against the uprising in Paris. Too much time had passed to chase after her. There is only one way left to save her. We have to end this war. I can’t believe this. Mallette will return to her usual self once the Format happens, so why am I taking this so seriously? But while speaking with Rosetta during the battle with the dragon, I realized I do want to liberate this world. I won’t hesitate any longer. I have a pretty good idea how to liberate it. My presence is what is changing history, but that also means I can make this history real. 1. Stop the detonation of the Wort Bombe. 2. Spread a spirit of liberation to the majority of the people in France. 3. Prove that fully closing up the city is not possible. #3 will be the most difficult one. It’s true, if I become my grandma, that will mean someone from before the Format is here in France, thus proving that fully closing the city down isn’t possible. But that will make me a resident of this world and it will erase my grandma from history. Starting last night, I wrote out my family tree and made some calculations based on when my grandma probably left France, but it didn’t work out. If France is liberated, six billion people will have to redo the last 55 years of history, but that is hitting the rewind button, not the delete button. They should be able to redo things well enough. But my grandma and her son, my dad, will be erased. I am performing a tricky tightrope walk here. Deciding whether or not I want liberation is the same as whether or not I can state with confidence who I am. Yet if I tilt the scales in that direction, my grandma and dad will be erased and I feel like I will cease to be myself. It’s a contradiction. What am I supposed to do? I want to liberate this world, but I also want to save my grandma. I keep worrying over this. Is that because I’m a mother now? Still, I have to give it serious thought. I need the help of the Allies to liberate France. Both to stop the transport plane carrying the Wort Bombe and to provide the broadcast station needed for my words to reach all of France so I can inspire a spirit of liberation in the people and so I can claim to be my grandma. That will be tricky, but I want to do it so badly. I am carrying Phillip’s child inside of me and I want to raise that child in this era. As selfish as that is. Sorry. We slept outside last night too since we were too afraid to stay in Mallette’s mansion. We borrowed this blanket from the mansion, but it still isn’t exactly comfortable. Hey, stop that, Rosetta. Since when did you become a sleep hugger? Not that it matters. Maybe the child I’m carrying has got me thinking about these things more, but I know what to do here. If I hold her tight, she’s sure to feel better. She’ll be fine. So it’s time to do just that and let my body rest. I doubt we’ll be getting much in the way of rest once we enter Paris. ### August 3, 1944 ### Message from the German Army Paris Branch: To All Personnel Urgent. Starting today at 21:00, all special vehicle units will coordinate with the transport vehicle units to quickly complete the blockade of Paris according to the provided map. The Allies are approaching Paris and gathering the Resistance cells in each region they pass through. This is a dire situation. Any units that are free or off duty must gather and provide assistance. Any unidentified vehicles or individuals that approach while the blockade is being set up may be eliminated without providing a warning. We have been warned that it appears someone managed to enter Paris without passing through a checkpoint earlier today. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s First Entry We somehow managed to get back to the mansion. The sun has yet to rise. We arrived in the Châteaufort commune south of Paris only an hour ago and ran through the vineyards to reach the city. Once in the city we immediately made our way to the park in Mouton but the German soldiers heard our footsteps and chased after us. The Seine was not far past the park and crossing the Seine would take us to the Boulogne forest so Lady Beretta told me to run. I adjusted the bag on my back and began running as fast as I could. We jumped into the Seine just as we heard a dog barking behind us. Our travel bags worked as floats as we crossed the 100-yard width of the river that smelled strongly of mud. Once on the other side we looked back to see lights moving around and hear a dog loudly barking where we had jumped in. “We might’ve been caught if we were any slower.” Lady Beretta’s comment told me just how much danger we had been in. Once back at the mansion I opened the back door with the key hidden in the eaves and was greeted by the muzzle of a gun. We had woken up my master and he thought it was a burglar. I thought he was going to scold me but he laughed as soon as he shined his light on the two of us. We were both covered in mud from head to toe. I started up the boiler and drew a bath and then took a bath with Lady Beretta. We rapidly grew sleepy afterwards and we ended up sleeping in the same bed. She apparently wanted to ask my master what was happening in Paris but he told her to wait until the morning for that. She is currently asleep next to me. I was tired too but I decided to stay up and write this first. I slept while holding onto her last night and she slept while holding me back. Does that mean I caught her habit of holding people in my sleep? I know that habit is common in people who are worried about something and I do not want her to realize I am worried. So I think I can keep her from having to hold me back if I let her go to sleep first. That gun dropped from the sky during the Normandy landing operation. Unlike me that machine has no will of its own and solely exists to harm people. It must have been sitting there on the table for nearly two months now. Come to think of it I am also curious about the Lourd de Marionnette in the storeroom here. There is a lot I want to check on tomorrow. And to clean. I also want to search for the ring Lady Beretta lost so I should probably get to sleep soon. My head kind of hurts. Only a little bit though. ### Message from the German Army Paris Branch: To the Attesor Project Investigation Team Report. At 16:00 two days from now, an Attesor Project investigation report meeting will be held in Conference Room 2 on Floor 3 of the branch office. It will take the form of a question and answer session, so come prepared. ### Beretta’s Journal It’s still morning, but a lot has already happened. Rosetta can’t move right now, so I need to write this for her sake. She just had her first period. It sounds so simple when I write it like that and, in a way, it’s a happy thing, but the way she’s staying in bed doesn’t seem quite so happy. We discovered it at around 9 this morning. I was sleeping quite comfortably when I was woken by a tap on my shoulder. I found Rosetta crying and looking to me. “What am I supposed to do?” she said. “I think I might be dying.” I pulled back the covers to see what this was about and found her curled up as if to hide something. I figured out why soon enough and I kind of regretted removing the covers. Well, I know she has the emotion of embarrassment at least. I told her not to worry, gave her a hug, and then boiled some water in the kitchen. I made a few steamed towels and returned. I stuck the pillow under her back and wiped the blood from her legs while telling her what a period was and what it meant. Come to think of it, I had told her how to write and stuff like that, but never anything like this. This evolution was probably the result of hearing all the talk about my pregnancy in Bourgogne. She had not even evolved genitals before, so this was a big change. Does this mean she wants to be a mother too, even if only on a subconscious level? These evolutions are the result of a powerful thoughts after all. All the blood seemed to have scared her a lot, so she remained very pale and dazed as I helped her change – I know now isn’t the time, but man does she have the ideal body – and asked where the spare bedding was so I could change that. When I went to report this to the old man, he wasn’t in his room and I found him performing maintenance on Protected Empress’s parts in the storeroom. Unsurprisingly, an old man like him didn’t have any medicine for menstrual pain on hand, so I had to grab some headache medicine instead. I whipped up a light soup in the kitchen before returning to her. “Was it like this for you too, Lady Beretta?” “Unfortunately, I don’t really remember.” This was probably how it usually worked, but no one had ever taught her about it and she so hated hurting people that finding herself bleeding must have been terrifying. She had a desire to help people, but she wasn’t used to hurting others or being hurt by others. The thought of her freaking out like this at the start of every month was kind of amusing or even adorable…but I guess it won’t happen again if she’s Formatted. I can’t hope for anything yet. She’s sleeping in front of me right now. The old man popped by real quick but he left it all in my care and went back to the maintenance work. I wonder what he’s planning to do with Protected Empress. Is he going to give it to the Resistance? Regardless, I’m going to ask him what happened in Paris later today. I hate how carefree he seems living his reclusive life holed up in this mansion. Rosetta started off groaning in her sleep and grabbing at the edge of the blanket, but she calmed down once I held her hand. Once she calmed down enough, I could let go without issue. I feel like this is a reversal of our previous roles since I had her do that for me in the past. That might mean she’s going to end up like me. Or maybe that’s the wishful thinking of a conceited young woman. I’m honestly pretty satisfied just seeing her sleeping so peacefully in that soft blanket pillow. It makes me want to do the same thing. Does this mansion even have a radio? ### Jean Missel’s Telegram: To Guilliaum Urgent. It is nearly time. They are parking several trucks in front of my home. They must intend to arrest me and raid my home in the name of “questioning” me and “requisitioning” my possessions. It is all in your hands now. I cannot allow myself to be captured, so it is time I fled. I will transmit the details of the Wort Bombe immediately after this telegram. Memorize it all so you know everything there is to know about it. And if the girl who was essentially my grandson’s wife visits you, tell her to visit my home. I have something to give her. ### Jean Missel’s Wort Bombe Telegram: To Guilliaum The Wort Bombe is the ultimate bomb which triggers a chain reaction of Formule collapse over a wide area by compressing and detonating the Yin Formules that cause Formules to change. But it is incomplete and the one currently in Paris is structured identically to an existing timed trigger bomb. Also, the Formule change cannot be controlled by whoever detonates the bomb. It instead responds to the willpower of the people and other forms of life in the area covered by the chain reaction. In other words, if it is detonated while the people of France are overcome by despair, all of France will be transformed by despair – although I have no idea what that would mean. But that leaves another possibility too. If the people of France instead hope for happiness, France will be transformed by happi- oh, I have to cut this short. The Germans are coming. Goodbye. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal At 09:25, I arrived at Paris’s general hospital. At 14:32, the replacement of my left leg was complete. I left the hospital and arrived at the German Army Paris Branch at 15:21. The building’s repairs were underway, so there was no more rubble or wreckage on the outside. The intelligence division informed me I was summoned to a meeting the day after tomorrow. They also asked for my view on locking down all information in Paris, so I urged them to fortify the blockade along the rivers and forested areas as strategic openings can develop there more easily. I also told them it was most realistic to maintain the blockade at a radius of 6 miles out from the center of Paris. At 16:27, I began searching through the documents on the previous war. I searched for the name of the prisoner I took after battling that Attesor Project Grösse Panzer. At 19:35, that name leaped out at me from the page and the memories flooded back. Guilliaum Balleroy. That Panzer Kavalier served as commander of France’s 0th Grösse Panzer Brigade for the first two years of the war and was treated as a hero by France, yet he suddenly vanished without a trace. He was the one in that Grösse Panzer’s secondary cockpit. At 20:15, I once more left for the German Army Paris Branch. I gathered information on the Balleroy family in the intelligence division. The citizen data told me he had lost a leg and had hired a Sein Frau. I asked to personally visit the Balleroy residence for an inspection as soon as I had permission. At 22:52, I arrived at the barracks. I discovered some flowers on my desk. They were four o’clock flowers. My aide happened to be passing by and I asked him what they were doing there. Apparently, the family of that Klein Panzer Kavalier had stopped by before returning to Germany and they had left those for me. I had also seen those flowers in the photograph of my family and they meant “shyness” in the language of flowers. I once more began to consider my origins. I must have chosen the Panzer Ritter Project to rid myself of my scream. My memories of that time – including those of my family’s funeral – will never return to me. But I have encountered some who fight without screaming. Like Phillip Missel. That means it is possible to conquer the scream. Had I not realized that back then? It is hard to say. It is possible for people to suppress their emotions. I do not understand it now that I have lost my emotions, but I can guess that I understood that back then. So did I throw everything away and join the Panzer Ritter Project because I had screamed just the one time and lost a subordinate? I do not know the details, but in the photo I found with my things, the woman and girl I can guess are my family are smiling at me. Without emotions, I cannot understand what those smiles mean. I will now complete the rest of my duties and prepare for the meeting the day after tomorrow. ### August 4, 1944 ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s First Entry It’s still 1 AM and the moon is the only light source, but I have to write about what just happened. I am currently sitting in the Missel mansion’s dance hall with my back against the wall. Jean Missel is sitting next to me with a rucksack in his arms. As soon as I read the two telegrams coming from the communicator I heard in the Balleroy mansion, I grabbed my bag and ran out. On the way here, I walked through some catacombs, snuck through a forest, and kicked a German soldier in the nards when he spotted me – what I’m saying is, it was an eventful journey. The combat engineers blockading Paris were taking a break in the woods, so I was stuck there until the sun set. I arrived here at 11 PM. I heard a few gunshots along the way and ducked down in fear, but that was Jean Missel taking out his pursuers and the guards on his way back to the mansion. I cautiously approached the mansion that was in a similar state to Mallette’s family home and I spotted a trail of blood leading inside. On the way, I found two dead German soldiers and a communicator that looked intentionally broken. The trail of blood led to the second floor where I found Jean Missel. He had been shot in the gut and had applied first aid, but he seemed well aware that he wasn’t making it. He had apparently called the Chevaliers across France to gather here tonight and he could not back out of that, so he had returned despite his injury. Also… “Someone left this with me, so I planned to give it to you.” He pulled a letter from his rucksack and handed it to me. Phillip had written it before that fateful battle and it was addressed to me. I accepted it and we discussed a lot of different topics: Phillip, Paris, the previous war, the old man, and even Jack McWild. “Yes, Beretta McWild, I knew your father well. But I also know things didn’t go well between Rose and Jack. Phillip told me how you act awfully distant when it comes to them.” He also mentioned that he wasn’t sure if he should bring any of this up the last time we met. That made him sound like a coward but also surprisingly kind. And my distant attitude when it came to Rose Francisca and Jack McWild wasn’t some complex of mine. It was- well, maybe it was kind of that. But this was the first I’d heard of the old man, Jack, and Francisca being friends. Why had he kept that from me all this time? It’s not like you run across as American a last name as McWild in France every day. Had it just not occurred to him we might be related? No, that’s not possible. He must have his reasons. Like an important promise he made or something. I’m sitting just as still next to him. I’m holding the Wort Bombe document he had acquired. One of the telegrams I had read before coming here mentioned the bomb. In modern times, that weapon was banned as Death Techno. That gave me an idea. I might be able to use the Wort Bombe to save my grandma. Specifically, its ability to change Lives. I just had to recall what Jean Missel’s telegram had said: And: That seemed doable to me. The Rondo of France’s Format began because the bomb detonated while the people had given up all hope, so what if it detonated while the people were brimming with hope? Why had it never occurred to me before? If all the people of France wished for no one to die, it could change the very laws of the world and allow my grandma to not be erased. This was a gamble. I have no idea what the people of France will actually hope for. This can save my grandma if it goes well, but it could mess France up really badly if it goes poorly. On the other hand, she will be erased if I don’t do anything. Nothing is guaranteed in this gamble. It’s all about possibilities. I need to read that document more carefully later. This is important. Oh, and I have something else important to mention. When I told Jean Missel about the baby I’m carrying, he rejoiced but then grimaced from the pain in his gut. He then removed his sword emblem earring and gave it to me. “This means the Missel family can continue. Can you wear this as you fight and eventually give it to your child? And make sure to tell the child all about Phillip and me.” I’m wearing that sword emblem earring now to show I want to belong to this era and- Something important is beginning, so I think I’m going to read Phillip’s letter before then. Unlike Rose Francisca, I won’t hesitate to read it. Knowing his letters, it’s probably short but important, so I’ll read it. That should help me make a number of decisions. ### Phillip Missel’s Letter: To Beretta If you are reading this, then I suppose I will never again see you. Sorry about that. There is so much I want to say to you, but as usual, I can’t figure how to put it to words. But I have a question for you since you have seen how it all turned out. Did I manage to fight for someone else’s sake? If you think so and you want to be with me, then you should understand what you must do. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but since when has that ever stopped you? If reincarnation is a thing, I hope we can be together again in our next life. If I hadn’t infiltrated the German Army, I was planning to invite you to the beach for this year’s vacances , but that clearly isn’t happening. As long as we remain Lourd de Écrivains, we can only be together in those memory banks filled with Signes and Ajouters. We only need be together in those thoughts that no one else can see. Because in there, no one can tell when you are crying. I will leave you something that will help you fight for someone else’s sake. Simply release the horse in the back garden and follow it. Since you were always so full of energy and flying off somewhere, I prepared the perfect thing for you. This should allow you to grasp the heaven and the earth mentioned in the Lourd de Écrivain song. Goodbye. ### Telegram from the German Army Combat Engineer Unit: To the Paris Branch Report: Today at 12:08, the physical blockade set at a 6 mile radius around Paris was completed. 8 checkpoints have been set up and the rest has been fortified with vehicles and barbed wire. We expect the line troops to do the rest of the work. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Second Entry I’m in the mountains about 20 miles out from the Missel mansion. It is 2 PM. I mounted the horse at the mansion and it started running all on its own, taking me here. It didn’t take long to reach a mutual understanding with the Resistance representatives in the mansion by using Jean Missel as an intermediary. They all see me as the last member of the Missel family and a former Allied spy. I came to France using my grandma’s identity. The faked documentation for that included making me a spy, but that should come in handy if I do meet up with the Allies. And using that identity means I am taking my grandma’s place. I know exactly what that means. It might erase her from history, but I still believe I can change that using the Wort Bombe. Jean Missel must not have wanted us to see him die because he returned to the dance hall alone after explaining the Paris Liberation plan to us all. He said that was where he first met his wife. After seeing him walk down the hallway without looking back, I too left to come here. The horse brought me to a spot in the middle of a mountain vineyard and I found the entrance to a wine cellar cleverly hidden there. The entrance was large enough to drive two trucks through at once. But once I opened it, it wasn’t wine barrels I found. It was a female Heavy Barrel. HLP018 77-LL Grazie. That’s the very same Heavy Barrel I used at the school festival. Yes, it was sent to the Missel family for repairs and it wasn’t used during the uprising. Because the Resistance didn’t have anyone who could pilot a female one. I towed it out with a truck and viewed it in the light of the sun. The emblem painted on its right shoulder was the Missel family’s sword crest – the same as the earring I now wear. The left shoulder was painted with a depiction of Marianne. On closer inspection, I noticed that the legs, which had been Grazie’s weak points, were now reinforced. I could only imagine that customization was designed for throwing kicks. It also had an extra tank attached to the back, as well as small wings that were clearly meant for the Over Emblem. They were all German parts, but they had been modified to perfectly match the base Barrel. A Device spear and a shield were stored with it. As well as the Third Flame Emperor, the Device passed down by the Missel family. That idiot. He already knew I was going to be using this when he was repairing it, didn’t he? There was no way of asking him now, so I’ll just assume that’s true. There were also plenty of anti-personnel and anti-Barrel weapons, so it was painfully obvious the Missel family had planned for every eventuality. Anyway, Phillip had left Grazie with me. I’ll be riding with them to their rendezvous point. They say the Paris blockade I saw last night has been completed, so I can’t get back inside Paris now. I’m worried about Rosetta. I ended up leaving her behind, so I hope she isn’t feeling too down with her period and everything else going on. But for now, I can only accompany these people since they intend to break through into Paris. We’re headed to a point about 10 miles south of Paris. The Allied forces are there. I will be Write Bringing into Grazie to join the fight. It’s time to finally make up my mind. I want to read my grandma’s letter, but she said I can only read it once I understand where her Urban Name of Sword Lady came from. I’m sure I’ll figure it out somewhere, so it’s time to head out. I think I’ll read through the Wort Bombe document in the truck. ### Rosetta’s Journal It is currently 11 at night. I am in bed. I am feeling better and a few important things have happened so I think I will write about them. I woke up at about 9 at night and got my heavy body moving so I could get dressed. I was hungry so I went to the kitchen. My master descended from the second floor and told me I had slept all day long and that Lady Beretta went to the Missel mansion on the outskirts of the city. He also told me Paris had been completely blocked off and no one – even Lady Beretta – could get in. He apparently had work to do in the storeroom so he left after telling me to call for him if I needed anything. I sat in the kitchen chair for a long while. I did not do much other than drink a few glasses of water. It must have been around 10 when someone arrived at the back door. I opened the door thinking it might be Lady Beretta but it was a stranger in white clothes. His long blonde hair was pretty. He was middle-aged and looked somewhat tired. He had distinctive almond eyes. “Do you need something?” I asked him. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard that. “Please save my child.” Hearing that I Ajoutered the child in his arms. It was a blonde girl wearing white. She had been shot in the stomach and her clothing was stained with blood. I took the child and placed her on the kitchen countertop to heal her. Then I turned back toward him. Except he was no longer there. I Ajoutered that spot to figure out what happened and I saw a single male Fantasmé Renard collapsed at the back door. He was dead. I recalled the legend that those foxes could transform into a person just once in their life. I looked back to the kitchen countertop and saw the Fantasmé Renard child that Lady Beretta had named Mallette. The brown fur of her stomach was stained with blood and she was barely breathing. I could see the same color on the stomach of the father collapsed at my feet. I don’t remember much of what happened after that. I do know I cried. I went to my master and received some healing tools and a sewing kit. I removed the bullet from Mallette’s stomach and sewed up the wound so she would not die. I wrapped a towel around her stomach and placed her in an empty cardboard box to sleep. Then I vomited a little bit. I had so many reasons for that. Lady Beretta’s absence. My exhaustion. The nausea from my period. All the blood I had just seen. And the death of Mallette’s father – Phillip. Lady Beretta had once told me the Germans would go hunting in the Boulogne forest for fun so was that what happened here? Does that mean all the Fantasmé Renards other than Mallette had been killed? There had been two other children named Jean and Jack. And there had been a mother named Beretta. Were they all dead? Mallette is currently sleeping in the cardboard box under my bed. She is alive. After vomiting and drinking more water I buried Phillip in the garden. Is this what it means to lose someone? For them to die? What will Mallette think when she wakes up? She is the same as me right now. She no longer has her family with her. What will she do when she wakes up? I do not know. I do not know what I will do either. Everyone else knows what to do. My master is working on the Lourd de Marionnette so it is ready to run – probably for Lady Beretta’s sake – and Lady Beretta went to Sir Phillip’s home. But I have nothing to do. I am starting to feel jealous of the gun sitting on the bedside table. That gun has no will of its own. It is a simple device. But that is enough to give it purpose. Even if that purpose is to harm people. Now I am feeling sad. Why isn’t Lady Beretta with me? I know I am being selfish but there is still so much I want to ask her. I still haven’t learned how to use a comma. We were so busy during our trip I never managed to ask her about that. I understand it indicates a pause for breath much like a period but I don’t ever see anyone put a comma at the end of a sentence. But why not? Is a period meant to indicate the end of one idea? But the paragraph break already exists for that purpose. There is no need to further confuse things by creating a punctuation mark with the same function. Why do two punctuation marks exist that both indicate a pause for a breath? They have a saying in Aerial City – London: “No one needs two of the same word.” So shouldn’t the comma and the period be combined into a single punctuation mark? Ellipses. Em dashes. Questions marks. Exclamation marks. Parentheses. Tildes. They all have different meanings. Only the comma and the period mean the same thing. So why have both of them? I do not know. But answering this question is not my job. And it is not very fun either. Come to think of it I have not had anything to eat. I must be hungry so that is enough of this. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 10:05, I began putting together the report to be submitted tomorrow. At 12:37, I received a telegram granting me permission to inspect the Balleroy residence. I was given a 2-hour block of time for it beginning at 06:30 on August 6. At 21:33, I completed the report. At 22:40, some sort of mental shock woke me while I napped. My prosthetic arm’s fist was lightly clenched and mildly damaged. I called a maintenance worker for some quick repairs. My heartrate remained high throughout the repairs, which was unusual. Viewing the flowers on my desk calmed me and my body and mind returned to their ordinary state. After the maintenance worker left, I recalled the movement of my lips when I woke up. I had mouthed what I assume to be two names: Belia and Susanna. I have no memory of anyone with those names, so I assume they were my family. I will leave a Lernen record of this in case it will be of some use. After checking over my report, I will go to sleep. ### August 5, 1944 ### Guilliaum’s Letter: To a Far Distant Friend My friend, it is well past the point of lamenting how long since I last wrote to you or of complaining about anything else. Old Blue Eyes almost certainly died yesterday. When the girl saw his final message, she grabbed her bag and ran from the house. It was all so sudden I just watched her go. Maybe I should have hidden the communicator. I am currently making preparations to activate the greatest weapon in my home. Yes, to complete the Attesor Project. I am preparing that female Lourd de Marionnette for combat. I even added the extra tank and other things the Allies smuggled to me. The only flaw holding it back from perfection is the lack of proper device linkage. But another problem has arisen. Starting this morning, two German military vehicles have been parked right outside my front gate. And the insignia says this is Heinz Berge’s Rot Löwe Unit. Has that old man regained his memory? However, it seems he still intends on demonstrating honor in battle as a Kavalier. They must not plan to make their move until some scheduled time. But once that time comes, I may have to finally say goodbye to this mansion. I had Rosetta cook some food without telling her about any of this. She seems pretty down after getting her period and having that girl disappear on her, but I’d like to know when she managed to evolve so much. I was trying to keep this from happening, but that girl made it happen and abnormally quickly at that. I can’t believe this. She could have remained that blissfully ignorant Belle de Marionnette forever, but she’s so much like that one that died in Bourgogne that I couldn’t help but let her do what she wanted. But now I must tell her the truth about her destiny, as hard as that may be for her to hear. I must also tell her about the secret hidden in this mansion. But what will happen once she knows? I don’t know. It might just save us, but it also might lead a poor Belle de Marionnette to wish for death. Still, telling her this is a duty that only I can bear. The one who once fought alongside me is dead, that girl knows nothing, and Rosetta chose to grow without knowing what any of it meant, so I alone know the whole truth at this point. This is our sin. Yes, it is the sinful memory of when we drove hundreds of Belle de Marionnettes to suicide 25 years ago. But now that Rosetta might die, she must learn of her roots from me, the sole survivor. She must know where she comes from. She must know everything that had us so obsessed and that we eventually rejected. I can’t believe this. I truly cannot believe it, my friend! Oh, my friend! You were my greatest friend and the bearer of all our resentment, Jack McWild!! I will clean up the rest of our mess in your place! I must tell Rosetta the truth. I think of her like a daughter, so she must know the truth. Goodbye. I doubt I will ever write to you again. Thank you for leaving Rosetta with me. She really is so much like that nameless Belle de Marionnette who was killed by Heinz after repelling that black dragon in Bourgogne. Farewell. I hope this will be the last night that makes my drink taste so foul. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s First Entry It is still daytime and I am in the middle of cleaning but I am writing this already. I am feeling much better today. Mallette has also recovered so she finally barked at me at around 9 this morning. She seemed to be hungry so I soaked some bread in milk and fed her that. Once she had a full stomach she went back to sleep. She is still asleep in the cardboard box I left in my room. That alone would not have been reason to interrupt my cleaning to write this. I discovered something while cleaning. Thanks to the trip it had been about a month and a half since I last cleaned the mansion. I even had to open the windows to air things out. I was still not feeling well and Lady Beretta is gone – and my master says she will be unable to return because Paris has been locked down – so I may have been anxious about her. I began cleaning after bringing an early lunch to my master who is assembling the Lourd de Marionnette below a tent in the courtyard. While I was cleaning the windows and table in the second-story study I saw something shining in the gap between the wall and bookcase. It was a ring. A ring I recognized – the one Sir Phillip had given Lady Beretta. It had rolled too far into the gap for me to reach. It must have slipped from Lady Beretta’s finger and rolled back there while she was cleaning. Once I noticed that I ended up focusing on retrieving the ring instead of cleaning. Because I knew she would be delighted if I gave her the ring when she returned. But I could not reach it and the window frame and bookcase prevented me from reaching it with the broom handle. I ended up having to remove all the books from the bookcase so it was light enough to move. I think that took me about half an hour. Once I moved the bookcase I could finally reach the ring. But that was not all I found. There was a door on the wall behind the bookcase. I had been told there is a torture room next to the study but it had been filled in with concrete. I cracked the door and found there was indeed a room there. It was a dark and cramped room filled with books. I am currently in the study trying to decide if I should ask my master about this or not. He claimed the room had been filled in with concrete. But that was a lie. Why would he need to lie to me? I think he did not want me interested in that room. I only peeked inside the windowless room for a moment but it only had a desk and bookcases covering the walls. I do not know why but my heart is racing. I am also scared. Yes. The room beyond that door looked somehow familiar to me. Why? Is this a memory from before I grew self-aware? I do not know. But I am unsure what to do. Should I ask my master about it or not? Should I see what is in that room or not? My master has told me not to enter a few of the rooms on the second floor. But that is the only room he lied about. I have so many questions and so few answers. I am curious about that door. After I hear what he has to say I think I will try asking him about it. Today is a day for strange occurrences. I will probably write a second entry about what happens. ### Heinz Berge’s Report: Attesor Project Investigation Report - The first thing you must know is that everything we thought we knew about the Attesor Project is inaccurate. We thought it was a project to increase reaction speed during Schreiben by using a new technology for the sensory devices. If my memories are accurate, the Grösse Panzer I encountered in the Morvan Mountains 25 years ago had abnormally high reflexes, which is why I lost a few of my men. I also lost an arm in the process, but I destroyed it with a slash to the hip. That Panzer and the wreckage my unit secured recently are undoubtedly an experimental Panzer for the Attesor Project. - The prisoner taken 25 years ago was Guilliaum Balleroy, who currently lives in western Paris. He belongs to the former Royal Chevalier family and he was a Panzer Kavalier ace during the previous war. I am currently preparing to inspect his home, but I will explain why later. - The wreckage recovered on July 20 was mostly too rusty to be much use, but our inspection revealed the remains of a mechanical doll within the Studio. It was unusually finely crafted, but it was a Sein Frau shaped like a girl. - I will use the Panzer Ritter Project as a baseline to make this easier to understand. I had my entire body replaced with prosthetics to turn me into a machine. That was done to increase my reaction speed during Schreiben so I could draw out the Grösse Panzer’s full abilities. That has indeed proven that turning man into machine – or as close an approximation as we can manage – provides greater mechanical power during Schreiben even without the imagination and willpower usually needed to control that power. Thus, it can be predicted that the mechanical power can be drawn on in an even purer form if a machine is made human instead. - To get straight to the point, the Attesor Project was not meant to develop the strongest Panzer. It was meant to develop a Sein Frau who would become the greatest Panzer Kavalier. They built and raised Sein Fraus with the primary goal of increasing their compatibility with a Grösse Panzer. Instead of creating sex toys or servants, they created Panzer Kavaliers born with all the necessary combat-related knowledge in their foundational memories. As they evolve into humans, they gain emotions and willpower, yet they maintain highly mechanical Tons. No matter what Panzer they Schreiben into, they can draw on its full power. - I am unsure what righteousness can be found in leaving war in the hands of machines. Regardless, the Attesor Project remains unfinished. I can conclude it was never completed even after sacrificing hundreds of Sein Fraus. That must be why the Sein Frau went berserk while battling my unit 25 years ago. She did activate the Ober Emblem using human-style willpower during that battle, but that began a mistaken evolution and she lost control. Any Sein Frau that combines with a Panzer is fated to trigger an evolution in the Ober Emblem, which throws everything off balance. Sein Fraus are destined to evolve into humans, but the Attesor Project abused that destiny to make weapons out of them. When they wish to evolve into humans yet are only ever treated as weapons, it messes with their minds. And that ultimately leads those machines to commit suicide. Suicide of machines has in fact been seen in our enemy of America. - However, the project does still exist. The aforementioned Guilliaum Balleroy has a single Sein Frau who works at his home as a servant. Her manufacturer is unknown, but her name is Rosetta. There is an old practice of using reversed names for Sein Fraus because a mere imitation of a human cannot be given a proper name. Rosetta = Attesor. I do not know if she is one final failure that was never destroyed or if she is the sole success. That is why my unit will pay the Balleroy residence a visit with our Grösse Panzers tomorrow to end this once and for all. ### Beretta’s Journal I’ve come to understand so much. And I’ve prepared myself for what’s to come. It’s currently 9 PM, so 6 hours until our attack begins. I’m writing this in the field camp’s break area. It’s a pretty big collection of troops, so the break area is made up of several tents lined up in a wide space. For now, the fighting force is primarily composed of Allied special forces and an aerial assault unit. They are equipped with aerial tanks, highly-mobile armored trucks, transport vehicles, and more. I can see the top of my Grazie in the distance. Including the Resistance forces, there are 1500 people here in all, so it’s quite a lot. I can see some with prosthetic arms, I can see some nonhumans, and I can see some people who seem to be Tuners and Busters. They’re a lively bunch. Earlier, they held a strategy meeting with the leaders of each group. I was given a spot as the Missel heir and I was given a key position in the liberation operation. It helped that I – well, my grandma – was originally sent here as an Ally spy. That means I really have become my grandma in this army. This operation will let me kick out the Germans and liberate Paris while using her identity. Part of it is the plan originally developed by Jean Missel – I wish I could have called him grandfather just once. There are still a lot of details to iron out, but if it goes well, nearly a third of Paris will be destroyed, but the enemy’s main force will be entirely neutralized. To accomplish that, I need to at least arrive at the Eiffel Tower’s Champ de Mars before 5 AM with Phillip’s Third Flame Emperor in hand. The others will lure the enemy’s main force there, where we’ll make short work of them. We’re calling that Operation Flame Glide. I also proposed some other operations and they were approved too. I can’t let anyone else know, but I incorporated the three conditions for liberating France into those operations. The key is securing Paris’s central broadcasting station and preventing the Wort Bombe’s transport plane from taking off. “If we take the broadcast station and transmit the fight to liberate Paris to the rest of France in real time, won’t the entire country yearn for liberation when we win?” Everyone agreed with me there, but that had a double purpose for me. Not only would the broadcast spread a spirit of liberation throughout the people of France, but it would also let me proclaim to the country of France that I am Beretta McWild – in other words, my grandma. A spy apparently provided intel that the transport plane taking off from Paris’s international airport at 5 tomorrow morning – the very one that will drop the Wort Bombe – will be carrying some members of the Geheimnis Agency, who are known as especially dangerous even for Germany. The others said that agency is secretly in command of the entire German military and it would be very dangerous to let them bring information on Paris back to Germany. They like to gather Death Techno, so if they are leaving from Paris, they must have found something here. So we have to take it back. I spread out the Wort Bombe document Jean Missel had given me, told them it was in an underground storeroom at Paris’s international airport, and said we needed to both stop that plane and secure the bomb. Based on my examination of the document, the Wort Bombe does exactly what Jean Missel claimed. “If we secure the bomb before it’s timed trigger is activated and then we detonate it when France has been liberated and everyone wants to be happy, it might change France for the better.” The weapon sounds like something from a fairy tale, but everyone seemed both cautious of and curious about it. Unlike a normal bomb, this one emits the power to “distort concepts”. “Wouldn’t it be safer to detonate it after using the broadcast to inform all of France about Paris’s liberation?” That suggestion didn’t even come from me. Most of them are still opposed to the idea of detonating it, but since it responds to people’s wills, a lot of them were willing to consider it depending on how things go. But we can discuss that further once we have secured it. Based on my suggestion and the intel from the spy, they split off a unit to secure the airport. We never decided what to do with the bomb once we had it, but there was still a chance I could save my grandma. All the preparations are in place now, so it all comes down to my own will. France’s liberation is up to me. If my actions are broadcast across France, it will give the French people a spirit of liberation. At the same time, we can stop the transport plane carrying the bomb from taking off. That just leaves using the broadcast or something else to prove that France has not truly closed itself off. I only have to announce that I have come from outside and my presence means France is not closed down. It’s a lot like how my grandma came here from America and fought the German occupation because it was wrong. She too was trying to liberate France back then. I will be doing that in two different ways at once. And if it is possible, I also want to detonate the Wort Bombe in a good way so she will not be erased from history as a duplicate existence. To do that, I must first win this fight and bring the will of France in a positive direction. I really hope I can manage that. I’m sure I can convince everyone to do it. Maybe I’m being naïve, but I won’t let them give up and do nothing. I mean, even if the bomb is detonated in a good way, that might not actually distort the world in a way that saves my grandma. It might become even worse or it might not change anything at all. In the end, it’s a gamble. But taking that gamble is far better than doing nothing at all. And to make that gamble, I need to take action. Yes. I realized something important: the origin of my grandma’s Urban Name. It was simple really. The Sword Lady name came from the Missel family’s sword crest on my Grazie’s shoulder armor. Sword Lady was not an occupation; it was a simple codename based on that crest. That means she and Phillip were – oh, there’s no use beating around the bush. He was the lover she’s mentioned before. But after seeing him die and hearing his dying words, she fled. I wonder why that was. I’m going to read her letter. I want to know so much more about her. So much more about that other version of myself. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Second Entry War is coming to this city. Things are so noisy outside even at this late hour and the sirens never seem to stop. I am hiding in the mansion’s best hiding spot. I am in the room that I was told was a torture room. But instead of that it is actually a small study. All of the books in here are about Belle de Marionnettes and Lourd de Marionnettes. The diagrams stacked up and lined up along with the books all have the same name on them: Jack McWild. That is the same name as Lady Beretta’s father and Mother Rose’s husband. It was my master who opened up this room. Not me. When he called for me I told him I had found the room. He immediately brought me to the room and opened it. Then he told me everything. First he told me I am not a human. That much I already knew. But he next told me that I am not a Belle de Marionnette either. He says I am a weapon. I did not understand most of what he said about the Attesor Project but I did understand that I am a Belle de Marionnette designed to Recréa into an Appareil. He told me my body and foundational memories are based on my many predecessors in the project. That is why I have dreams of walking in the forest of Bourgogne and why I fear harming people. Those are not simple instincts. They are images imprinted on my memories through the process that created me. The Attesor Project ultimately failed. It is a Belle de Marionnette’s destiny to become human. But the Belle de Marionnettes of the Attesor Project were asked to become a weapon instead so they chose to take their own lives. The solution to that problem was incredibly simple. You raise the Belle de Marionnette until she is human and then have her Recréa into the Appareil. Their failure was in having the Belle de Marionnettes Recréa into the Appareils before that growth was complete so it was thought the process would be safer if she was closer to being human first. My master apparently figured that out when he lost his leg and one of my predecessors chose to evolve mid-battle and lost control. That happened at the end of the great war. To make up for all their mistakes they used the results of their research to create a single completed Belle de Marionnette. That Belle de Marionnette was left at the Balleroy residence where she spent 10 years without ever moving and only received maintenance from Jack McWild. But on his final visit before leaving Paris to return to America she awoke and began to move. That Belle de Marionnette is me. I was born in that lab that is now a pile of rubble and I am here now. My master said his role in the Attesor Project was to teach the Belle de Marionnettes how to fight with a Lourd de Marionnette. He also said that knowledge remains in my foundational memories. I am a weapon. That means I have been lying to everyone all this time. I cannot even cry. Because weapons cannot shed tears. The only things weapons are allowed to shed is blood. What am I supposed to do now? Weapons are supposed to kill their opponent. I was born to kill people. But. But. I want to deny it. Yet when I see everything in this room. It. It all proves what I am. It proves everything I never wanted to know about myself. The one ray of hope is about Lady Beretta. My master did promise me one thing. “That girl is searching for the truth of the Attesor Project but she cannot have found it yet.” I agree. The way she tried not to involve me during our time in Bourgogne and elsewhere tells me she does not know I am a weapon. For that alone I am glad. Otherwise I would have had to suspect she was only trying to make me human to complete the Attesor Project. I am so thankful my master told me that. I have a book and a gun in front of me right now. The book is the old journal that was inside the room. Jack McWild’s name is on the cover. That is the name of the person who made me. The gun is the Liberator handgun that fell from the sky. I dismantled it earlier to see what exactly a weapon is. It is a very simple device. Does that mean I too am simple? I do not know what to do. I am a weapon. A weapon’s job is to kill people. I also wish to be a person myself so does that mean I should kill myself? If I reassembled the gun in front of me and pulled the trigger I could do just that. What should I do? …I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know! I keep writing but no answer presents itself! I was born to kill people. But I lived my life to become a person. Which one was the right life for me? It reminds me of the difference between a comma and a period. If Lady Beretta is a period with a clearly defined use case then I am the comma. The difference between us is slight but only I am so poorly defined. Only I do not know what to do with myself. Lady Beretta is not with me so I have to find the answer on my own. I plan to read Jack McWild’s journal soon. I hope that will help me understand why I was born. ### Letter from Sword Lady #13: To Beretta who Inherited my Name Are you reading this, Beretta who inherited my name? Now, this is the 13th of the monthly letters. At long last, you have reached the very end, Beretta. Since you have opened this one, I must assume you have finally discovered my past. Make sure you remember what I am about to say. You must have met all sorts of people and experience all sorts of things on your way to this point. But I never told you what was to come for any of it. I never told you what happened to me in the past or what I thought about anyone. So all of your decisions were your own. Do not forget that. Now, I am about to get to the main topic at hand, so listen up. Are you interested in liberating France, Beretta? You should already know how. Can you raise your voice, Beretta? Do not worry about the rest of us. If you can raise your voice, then do so. To assuage the guilt of the 6 billion who abandoned France, to soothe the sorrows of the people who have been forced to repeat their deaths 55 times now, and to save me from the shame of running away from it all. Can you save us all from the past? I hope from the bottom of my heart that you can. ### 371. Chapter 21: Heaven 08/06/1944 Start by Saving Rosetta ### August 6, 1944 ### Message from the German Army Paris Branch: To All Personnel Today at 03:00, four enemy companies approached from the outskirts of Paris. Some have engaged our troops. Everyone must hurry to your post and intercept them. The alert level has been increased to 4. Keep your communications open at all times. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank I’m running! Grazie runs down a hill. When I look down from this 8-yard height, I can see Paris burning in the night. The Germans tried to fortify their defenses and lock down the city, but they could’ve done a better job. France has tons of catacombs you can use as underground passageways. The Resistance used those to transport Heavy Barrels during the uprising and they are far more complex and numerous than the Germans know. While the diversion unit was attacking the wall directly, another unit entered Paris through the catacombs. Once inside, they would perform some sabotage and attack the wall from within. My Heavy Barrels unit’s job is to charge in from the outside after that. Hence why I’m running. They’re all so slow, but maybe I’m just overexcited. I have no hint of doubt anymore. Yes, I’m fighting to liberate this world and prevent my grandma from being erased. I can’t let anything happen to that old woman who tried to act tough but was really just too kind to tell me. I’m feeling so optimistic. Even though I have no idea if I really can keep her from being erased if we use the Wort Bombe. I’m just going for it while assuming it’ll work out. But I can’t not do it. Because that would mean giving up. Way too slow. We’ve already brought the fight to the city itself. Which means I just have to keep running. My Heavy Barrel’s legs give me a speed of nearly 100mph. I might be shattering windows and tearing roofs from the houses I pass by. Sorry, but I need to keep going. I speak through the communicator the Allies equipped me with. “Assault Heavy Barrel Unit, we’re about to break through the blockade. Eastern Attack Unit, please fall back immediately.” That’s fine. I charge in with my spear raised on the right and my shield raised on the left. The hits must be delivering a powerful shock, but that’s not enough to stop a charging mass of metal that weighs 24 tons all told. Besides, my steel shield has been engraved with a traditional defense emblem, so you’d need at least a Tiger’s tank gun to punch through it. Oh? Three armored trucks and two Heavy Barrels? You don’t stand a chance against me. “Sight Devices: Omnidirectional Sight: Sign.” My field of vision widens. I can see the night sky reflecting Paris’s flames and I can see the wall. That wall is in the way. I want to see Paris. I crouch low and charge in. And I move fast. I need to run fast! They’re both righthanded, so going for the one on my right would be the standard tactic. I run to close the space between us. I hold my spear below my right arm and move to tackle one of them. Before that one can swing down their sword, I swing my spear up, using my underarm as the pivot point. I aim for their left side – the side without a sword. You could’ve not done that!! To rid myself of my charging momentum, I throw a kick straight into the one-armed Barrel in front of me. If they collapse, they’ll crash right into the armored truck behind them. Okay, that last part was pure luck. But that isn’t all. The left Barrel will probably try to swing down their sword in a hurry. But that won’t work. I use the force of the kick against the other Barrel to spin myself to the left. I take circular evasive action to the left, making a full spin with my shield extended. Do they think they cut me down? They clearly don’t know when to Point. Pointing to check just as you make an attack is standard practice. Like this. Sorry, but I need your help to clear the way ahead. And I kick. Hell yeah. There’s still another armored truck, but I’ll let the unit I had fall back take care of it. Have the other three in my unit still not caught up? I send them a transmission. “Sword Lady here. I’ve cleared a path into Paris. I’m about to enter the city to continue the mission. Over.” Okay, time to run. We’re taking the road alongside the Seine until it runs into the Louvre. Then to the Eiffel Tower. If we can settle things there, we should manage somehow. The broadcast station should be telling all of France about the fight for liberation by then and that transport plane will have been stopped from taking off. Then I just have to borrow that broadcast channel. I just have to say I’m Beretta McWild and that I want to liberate France and make it real. I have to do this. Time to get running again. ### Message from Resistance Branch 2 Infantry Company 3: To the Commander Urgent. At 04:13, one of Branch 2’s units entered Paris. The two sides are in equilibrium at the moment, but our morale is high we are about to send more troops into the fight. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 04:28, I arrived in the Boulogne forest. I have already Verbesserunged the cause of the commotion and chaos in eastern Paris, but I have used the independent authority of the Attesor Project Investigation Team to not join the fight. I do not know the cause of my urge to continue with this mission. HQ has instructed me to pursue the Attesor Project and protecting Paris does not fall under the scope of that mission. The Paris Branch has not summoned me, presumably due to the confused situation, so I am simply listening to the distant sounds of chaos while in the forest. The sky is growing brighter and the moonlight is still bright as I view the Balleroy residence’s garden. For some reason, four-o’clock flowers are growing there. I briefly think about how bright the flowers must look in the sunlight. My inspection of the residence is scheduled to begin at 06:30. I will now Schreiben. ### Message from Resistance Branch 1 Assault Unit 1: To the Commander Report: At 04:43, we broke into Paris’s international airport. We have taken the control tower, but the enemy’s defensive line is too strong to enter the runway. The transport plane carrying the Geheimnis Agency has left the hangar. Requesting reinforcements. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank I’m running. I’m using my Heavy Barrel to run through the streets of Paris now that it’s been plunged into the devastation of war. First, I had my two damaged companions evacuate while I, the other remaining Barrel, and two light tanks we rendezvoused with act as bait to guide the enemy away. We’ve broken through the defensive line – the enemy’s main force on the northern end of Paris – and they’re chasing after us now. I need to keep running so I can guide them to the Eiffel Tower’s Champ de Mars. The light tanks are keeping up pretty well. Their metal caterpillar tracks slide on the stone paving when they take a corner, but they aren’t falling behind. They’re like puppies. But this will be over soon enough. The gigantic Eiffel Tower is dead ahead. The enemy’s main southern force is fighting with another of our units. I have 4 minutes until the scheduled time at 5. I’ll make it. The enemy chasing us – or being lured in by us, I guess? – probably thinks they can pin us between themselves and their friends at Champ de Mars. We’re 500 yards from there. I ready my spear and leap. I slam a kick down while almost directly above them and I also jab my spear down toward their shoulder. Outta the way, buddy. I draw the Third Flame Emperor from my hip and swing it. Damn, I so want to retrieve my spear…but no. Not enough time. I need to drop the shield too. It’s too heavy. All I need from here on is the Third Flame Emperor in my right hand. I resume running. The Champ de Mars awaits. Our victory awaits. The sky keeps growing brighter and it even looks a little blue now. Dawn is fast approaching. So they’re done. I bet this didn’t happen during my grandma’s time. There really was something they could only pull off with me here. I keep running. I can see it. I’m less than 300 yards from the Champ de Mars. Sorry. I feel bad for everyone with me, but I need to focus. I hold Third Flame Emperor in both hands and raise it as if resting it on my shoulder. From here on, I’ll need the powerful flames of its attack. I can feel the hilt in my hands. The cannon on my secondary cockpit aims straight up and fires. Does that mean they’re ready? Then let’s do this. I duck down as if crawling on the ground, and… Yes, yes, yes! Everything’s in place!! I do not hesitate to burst out in between those two armies. Not a problem. I know how to dodge those. I just have to liberate my excited emotions a bit while I run. Grazie’s Over Emblem, Ange, is all about mobility, but I also have the Third Flame Emperor. Flame Emperor, the weapon he left me, lend me your power here! “Whoever’s in the broadcast station! I’m about to deliver a decisive blow toward Paris’s liberation, so make sure everyone in France knows!! Let them know that France can be liberated!!” I swing the sword as if to slice through the oncoming hail of shellfire. A simple swing like that is all it takes to transform the flying shells into steam. No attack in this world can surpass the all-consuming flames of this sword. I have a single goal: leap full strength toward the fountain in the center. I take aim at the central fountain. A major branch of the catacombs running below Paris is located directly below that fountain. It’s almost like an underground version of the park that gathers nearly all of the city’s underground passageways. A combat engineer unit set up explosives and Phlogiston in there. I just have to detonate it with this fiery attack. It’s the same principle as the crust destruction that finished off the black dragon. I forcefully swing down the Third Flame Emperor. This will end it. ### Guilliaum’s Letter: To a Far Distant Friend My friend. I will soon- What in the devil is this!? Okay, this has got to be that girl’s doing. But this is taking things too far. Only a foreigner would be able to do this without batting an eye. But, girl, hurry on back here. Heinz Berge is standing in front of my mansion while ignoring everything else going on. And Rosetta is still feeling down. If you truly are a Lourd de Écrivain, then protect me and Rosetta from that man. I will give you the guidance you need. So come here and start by saving Rosetta. I will do the one thing I can do to help you there. Do you remember the promise I made about that Lourd de Marionnette? I promised not to let anyone know about that secret. And do you remember what you said you would do if I broke that promise? You said you would take every last bit of happiness I possessed. Well, it’s a deal. You can have all of my happiness. I will throw open the window and tell Heinz Berge who you are and why you have come here! I will tell him you are the true Beretta McWild and that you are here to liberate France! So come here, girl! ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Damn, how far was I thrown? I see. That was a bit much even for me. “Auditory and Communication Devices: Malfunction Defected: Restarting” Something is playing in my ear, but there’s too much static to make it out. I hope this is being broadcast to the rest of France. I need to stand up and get a better look of things. Now that’s what I call cataclysmic. The ground below the Eiffel Tower must have given way, so it fell over and slid into this crater. The enemy is motionless and silent. That may have been overkill, but I dealt with the enemy’s main force. It’s hilarious that the person at the very center of the blast wasn’t harmed by it. I want to hear everything soon. Then I’ll be able to hear the broadcasted call for France’s libera- !? “Auditory and Communication Devices: Retuning Complete” ### Paris Central Broadcast Station: To All of France I repeat, Allied Special Forces Unit 10 has a message for all the French people. Operation Flame Glide is complete. The main German force in Paris has been lost and Paris has been liberated. We are currently on our way to the German Army’s Paris Branch where we will ask they surrender for a peaceful resolution. If you wish to continue what we have begun, then resist. If you would prefer to fall into resignation, then please think about what it is to come. Even Paris, the center of France, has been freed, so France can be liberated. As long as you do not give up. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank It’s like music to my ears. Anyway, that’s one problem down. The people of Paris are sure to break free of their fear and seek liberation now, so- <“Resistance Branch 1 Assault Unit 1 to the Commander “Urgent: At 05:06, we took the international airport, but we were too slow to breach the enemy’s defensive line on the runway. The transport plane carrying the Geheimnis Agency is preparing to takeoff and all of our units with AA equipment have been destroyed. Over.” When one of our tanks plays that message over a loudspeaker, we all freeze in place.> What!? The plane is taking off!? ### German Army Paris Branch Emergency Broadcast: To Our Allies and Enemies Across France This is the German Army Paris Branch. We are using our emergency communication network to send a message to all our allies and enemies within France. Half an hour from now, the Wort Bombe, the ultimate weapon developed by our Geheimnis Agency, will be dropped on France. That weapon will ensure that the sun never again rises on France. There is no avoiding it. Death may claim us, but defeat shall not. We will never accept an enemy nation’s mercy by surrendering. We thank all our allies for their hard work. All glory to the Third Reich. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank Now they’ve done it!! Crap, announcing their intent to bring the entire country down with them is the worst card they could have played against us. Did that shake France’s resolve!? You idiots, the Wort Bombe is onboard that. If we can’t stop that, we’ve given France a reason to do the Format! We have no aerial troops here, but if that isn’t shot down, the Wort Bombe will be detonated. Damn. France will be Formatted if we don’t do something. I want to stop it. I refuse to let the Format happen. I will stop it. I know that now. I really do want to stop it no matter what. I want to stop the Wort Bombe. Yes, that’s right. I hold the final card needed to liberate France. I need to do this. I need to bring that down. I don’t know if I can, but there’s no use in wondering if I can if I’m not even trying. Success is the only option here. If I tried, I could probably think of plenty of reasons why I would fail, but thinking about failure would only waste time. So I just have to go for it. I ready the Third Flame Emperor and approach the Eiffel Tower. I approach it and slice off the tip of the giant spike with the Third Flame Emperor. I make a slight jump while no one else is moving and that roar continues in the sky. I attach the Third Flame Emperor at my hip, ready the metal spear, and stand on the fallen Eiffel Tower. “You can’t tell? I’m bringing down that transport plane.” I don’t have time to explain how, so I focus my willpower and carry my emotions. Let’s do this, HLP018 77-LL – Grazie. I shift the engine output to max power. “Engine System Max Power: Sign.” I then trigger a focused release from the engine system. “Full Drive Ready: Sign.” The preparations for the full drive are complete. It’s time to use every last bit of our strength. ### Heavy Barrel Grazie’s System Message To begin full drive, the Write Bringer’s thought connection was shut down for 0.0001 seconds. Reconnecting. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank He gave this Barrel wings when he repaired it, so it’s time to make use of them. I imagine wings sprouting from my back while I fly high into the morning sky. I sharpen and strengthen my imagination. “Roger that. I do have one request, though.” <“What is that?”> “Connect my transmission to the broadcast station so my words reach all of France.” <“Will do.”> I can feel the air gathering at my back. But it’s too soon. If I take flight now, I’ll stall out before reaching the enemy. I have to build up the internal pressure, so I glare up at the sky while gathering my willpower and emotions. I shrink down and lower my hips to stop myself from taking off running while I imagine catching up to the enemy. Then it’s time to speak to France and the people living there! I need to tell them where I came from and that completely closing yourself off is not possible. “This is Beretta McWild of US Intelligence. I will now bring down the German transport plane that recently took off and retrieve their suicide weapon. Watch the sky, everyone. A visitor from the outside world will stop France from closing itself off.” Speaking distracted me just enough that I can’t hold back any longer. Time to do this!! My senses are directly linked to my body. My vision rapidly rises. I can see the city of Paris, the collapsed residential area, the rising smoke, and the hilly region in the distance. All of it happens in a split second, of course. My sharpened senses had simply Signed the image as a little self-indulgence. I flap my wings to make it a reality. I race up the toppled Eiffel Tower. Once I take flight, I just have to strike the enemy. “Can you all hear me? I’m from the outside world, yet here I am fighting within Paris. That means France has yet to close itself off. You only think it’s been fully closed off. So…so…” I think about everything while running through all that speed. There is only one way to save my grandma, even if it is a gamble. I want to try it. I already said what I have to say, so all that remains is to act on it. Can I, someone who shouldn’t even exist in this world, really bring down that transport plane? And can I show everyone that I can? I cover that distance in less than the blink of an eye. All I need is the willpower to go further than anyone else and the actions to do it. With that final step, I speak the crucial words. “Onward!!” ### Rosetta’s Journal Earlier my master came to me while I was crying in that small room and took me outside. I followed him while carrying my journal and Jack McWild’s journal which I had partially read. Jack McWild’s journal was full of technical things. I could tell it contained information on his research on me – actually on my Belle de Marionnette predecessors – and on Lourd de Marionnettes. They – the hundreds of Belle de Marionnettes – were talked about like a single product in his journal. I am thinking about that and sitting on the garden ground while writing this. My master is seated next to me but I do not know why he wants me here. The cloud forms a perfect line. It looks like a white blade bisecting the sky as it grows bluer. That angel looks so familiar to me. It is Lady Beretta. It has to be her. ? ### Jack McWild’s Journal June 18, 1929 This will be my last entry in this journal. This girl – the previously nameless Sein Frau – has woken up. This was my first time bringing Beretta here, but I never imagined she would smile just because Beretta spoke to her. I really wanted to bring her with me to America, but I do not want to raise an Attesor Sein Frau during the naval journey by ship or in the uncertain lifestyle that will follow. So I plan to leave her with Guilliaum, the master of this mansion, and let him take care of her and manage her growth. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I hope she can become his daughter by the time he finally feels he has atoned for his sins. Maybe it’s wrong to say this, but once she grows up, I think she is bound to be so much like that nameless Sein Frau who was always by his side during the 5 years of the Attesor Project. But I need to make sure he knows that this girl already has a name. Earlier, Beretta gave her a name: Rosetta. That’s the same as the true name we gave to our research – that we took from Rose, who we all viewed as our heroine. I asked Beretta if she would consider choosing another name, but she’s such a stubborn girl. “You made her, didn’t you? Then she’s your daughter and my little sister. So I took mom’s name, Rose, and added the end of my own name to get Rosetta. Clever, right?” I wonder what he will think about this. Although given when they were actually born, Rosetta would actually be the older sister. And while Rosetta is my daughter, she is also his daughter and that nameless Sein Frau’s daughter. The name Rosetta might have a horrific ring to it since it brings the reversed version – Attesor – to mind, but I feel like I can finally view the name free of all that baggage. When her mind was finally born into this world, it was through a smile. She was not born to fight. That is what I choose to believe. Now I must finally bid farewell to a life I could not even reveal to my wife during my years here in Paris. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x83.” Earlier, I saw the transport plane loaded with that silly suicide weapon brought down from the sky. The attacker still had their full-body Ober Emblem active as they held something and fell into a lake within the Boulogne forest near the Balleroy residence, but I did not react. I simply sent a single Mittel Panzer to investigate. “The current time is 05:14:32.” Paris has fallen and I expect the German army will lose, but I still have not settled things with my past. There is still some time until my assault begins, but there is no need to rush. I have not been ordered to withdraw, I have no intention of doing so, and neither do my men. I will strike down all enemies who try to stop me. I feel a memory reviving within me as I view those flowers. I recall flowers, a young woman, and a small child. I recall the scene from that photograph. I think that memory is inspiring some kind of emotion within me, but I cannot say for sure. ### Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank I step out onto the road and I steal the spear dropped by the Middle Barrel I defeated with a kick. But I can’t believe this. I managed to get down safely with the Wort Bombe, but its timed fuse was activated. It’s set to go off in about 20 minutes from now. Just like the documents I was given before “transferring” here said, the Wort Bombe is going to explode at 5:32:18 AM, so I have to make a decision in the next 20 minutes. Will France carry a spirit of liberation? I really think it will. Let’s see, where’s the communication device to contact the others? “Communication Device was damaged upon impact with the lake surface. Device is not repairable.” Damn, not again. I hope the exciting scene of me bringing down the plane was broadcasted. If it was, it should have rekindled France’s spirit of resistance. I look forward. Oh, I’m super close to the Balleroy home. But what are you doing here? You’re not raiding the place, are you? This is getting interesting. Damn, what am I supposed to do? I don’t want Rosetta and the old man to be raided, but the impact of landing took out both my extra fuel tanks. I only have my reserve fuel. I also twisted my left arm while forcefully landing with the Wort Bombe and its stand in that arm. Plus, I need to contact the others to get the Wort Bombe defused. …Actually, wait. Can’t I just head to the old man’s mansion and use that telegram-style communicator? If so, I just need to defeat Rot Löwe. Whelp, it’s all or nothing. If I can just defeat Rot Löwe, I’ll have a communicator I can use to check on the situation and I’ll have protected Rosetta and the old man. Let’s do this. I dash forward, breaking the asphalt below my feet. I go full speed from the very first step. I can see the enemy. That pitch black Heavy Barrel is standing there alongside the armored trucks. Kicking his ass is my only option. Wait, that’s being too harsh. I need to calm down some. Hm, the four-o’clock flowers in the garden are at full bloom – wait, no, that’s too calm and carefree. Getting careless here at the very end would not end well. So I pour all my strength into running straight ahead. I charge in without any hesitation. Won’t work. I use my metal legs to jump over the armored trucks and thrust out my spear as if tackling the enemy. Oh, no!! I shudder because I’m still in the air. I’m defenseless. I kick off the roof of the armored truck I’m still passing over and leap even higher but also to the side. I was lucky. The leg wasn’t severed and there was no shockwave. Does that mean Phillip just saved me? I’m going to say it does. Anyway, the next attack is mine. This time, I’m definitely going to hit him. I grab the butt end of the spear and forcibly spin myself around. I don’t even think about landing as I build up centrifugal force in the spear and swing it horizontally towards my opponent. Did it hit!? How in the world is his reaction speed so high? Plus, I didn’t even defeat him and have no more weapons. My left leg is close to breaking. Once I realize that, I Sign the pain. Ow, ow, ow, ow. But I’m a good girl, so I won’t cry. I won’t. Anyway, I jump forward. Crap, is he coming for me? What should I do? The Resistance and the Allies won’t have noticed any of this is even happen- ### 372. Chapter 22: Earth 08/06/1944 Always And forevermore ### August 6, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x120.” I… Recréaed. Jumping over the mansion’s roof was a lot easier than I expected. My memories know how to use this body. Most likely, those are my foundational memories as an Attesor Belle de Marionnette. She seems to know that it is me inside the Protected Empress. Just like I could always tell it was her inside a Lourd de Marionnette. I’m so happy. I may have been a terrible older sister so far, but now it’s my turn to protect my younger sister. This will be my first time doing that. This will probably turn me into a different person. From someone who was always protected to someone who can protect. The two are different. They seem entirely different, but they are both me. I’ve thought about something similar before. It’s like the difference between a comma and a period. I kind of get the difference now. A period is always placed at the very end of a sentence, but with a comma, the writer is free to place it wherever they think it should go to add in a breath and make things easier for the reader. A comma is not a period because you are free to place it where you want instead of following mechanical rules. That means I was mistaken about something. I used to think Lady Beretta was like a period, but she is not. And neither am I. That is the same thing I always felt about her. I do not think that will happen. Because I have been given the greatest power for protecting people. I believe I can protect her and myself. He tosses aside his broken shield and looks up at me with his sword in his right hand.> I can sense his gaze on me. I know this battle will make me into a new person. The only other thing I have to write about is my master. I can tell now that he avoided making me human because he thought it would only bring me sadness. Thank you for that. Jack McWild was my father, but I will Signe here that my true parents were Guilliaum Balleroy and the nameless Belle de Marionnette who was by his side. Now, to get started. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x120.” I have encountered a new enemy. I have never before seen this female Grösse Panzer, but the shape of the armor suggests it is of American design. “The current time is 05:16:28.” I rush toward it. The time it takes to make a single step is horribly long with my accelerated thoughts. The nerves of my prosthetic body have already been accelerated thanks to the previous scuffle. I take a step forward, bringing me through the gate. My first step within crushes the four o’clock flowers growing in the garden there. The sensation of the flowers, leaves, and stems being crushed reaches me 120 times more slowly than for a normal person. I sense how soft each individual flower is, how damp with dew the leaves are, and how the stems audibly snap. The mixture of sensations reaches my sensory devices through my metal foot. Why? Why do I sense it all so vividly? The name “four o’clock flower” brings something to mind. A memory? Did something happen in a memory I can no longer recall? Crushing the flower may have only lasted a second in real time, but with time sped up 120 times, it lasts around 2 minutes for me. The memory returns to me while I essentially relive the sensation 120 times in a row. I recall the faces of a woman and a girl. I recall what I have become. I recall the flower. I recall a scream. Why do these things bother me so much? And what started this? Was it that earlier spear attack? That attack was identical to the one I took in Bourgogne 25 years ago, but unlike then, it failed to reach me. But in that case, why are all these feelings coming back to me? Could it be that attack- ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrif The Psyche Outer device installed in the cervical vertebrae was damaged in the previous fall. It is now malfunctioning. 13% probability of safe memories resurfacing. Reconnecting in 0.00000013 seconds. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x130.” The memories are rushing back to me through the Grösse Panzer. I remember now. All of my senses are filled with emotion and willpower. At the same time, the pain I had been rejecting from the Panzer is hitting me directly. The Psyche Outer device was cutting off all this feedback from the Panzer. But that is fine. I have my emotions, my willpower, and the memories to support them. My memories tell me everything. Belia. Susanna. Those are the names of my wife and daughter. I lost them and then chose to join the Panzer Ritter Project. Because of the scream I wanted to- No, a Panzer Kavalier should not write that. This Panzer in front of me must be piloted by a completed product of the Attesor Project. She can draw out the Panzer’s full power using her willpower and emotions. And the girl who left the previous Panzer is one I have encountered a few times before. Did you know the truth this whole time? No point in asking. But…my past, please let me redo things just once more. Let me reach a new conclusion to that loathsome battle that was settled when my opponent lost control. I have everything I lacked back then. I have the power to use the Panzer to its fullest, the experience to make rational decisions, the willpower to no longer fear my scream, and the emotions to push me to fight. So for the very first time, I can truly use all of my strength. “Wide-Range Vision Enhancement: Lernen” I have the vision needed to view both heaven and earth. “Armor Configuration ‘Normal Drive → Full Power Attack’: Lernen” Memory and function – willpower and machine – struggle for control of it all. “Preparing max power from all systems: Lernen” I will use max power to show the ultimate respect for the ultimate opponent. “Full Drive Ready: Lernen” ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x137.” My opponent has activated his Excède Emblème. I do not know what an Excède Emblème is, but my foundational memories tell me and activate my willpower. My foundational memories have decided that is dangerous and that I need to prepare to fight back, so all sorts of information reaches me after a short delay: how to keep the optimal distance, how to intercept attacks, how to use my weapon, and that I too can use an Excède Emblème. I immediately make up my mind. I choose to fight. I choose to protect Lady Beretta at my feet, my master in the mansion, Mallette, everyone else I know, everyone else I do not know, and everyone I will ever meet. I need strength and mobility for that. For some reason, the words needed to achieve that come from my foundational memories in English. In the language of America, home of Jack McWild. “Activate Full Drive for all weapons and functions.” I will end this!! ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x137.” The enemy activates her Ober Emblem. She is a female warrior – or perhaps the goddess Marianne – with a massive spear launcher on her right arm. Beautifully curved armor can be seen below her armored combat dress. It is a splendid Ober Emblem and it reminds me of the one I once saw in the past. Not its shape – its nature. It is a body born of the machine and of the empty air’s ether and fueled by her willpower and emotions. I pressurize my output to 21 times to fight back. All of my actions will now exist in the supersonic realm. Can she keep up with this? Can she handle this? I had eliminated all my emotions and willpower to make my power the strongest, but now I move forward. I stand on the battlefield that is the hill in front of the Balleroy residence. I approach and the enemy’s eyes respond to my movement. But she does not move. Yes, her reaction speed may be high enough, but her movement speed is a different story. A Grösse Panzer’s speed is influenced by the Schreibener’s ability and imagination. Sein Frau, you may have combined with a Grösse Panzer far more powerful than my own, but do you have the experience needed to activate that power? If not, you are no match for me. I shall cut you down in a single blow. The grip of my heavy cleaver rests in my right hand. I do not raise it or ready it – I simply attack. It must have hit. Did you outdo my Lernen? Then do you carry as much power output as me? I see. I can guess she has no experience using this power, but she has memories of it. I pursue her. I use that chance to move several steps closer. I make a powerful attack from below. Are you tackling me? It is too late for that. I will slice through you first. Well played. That was a splendid attack. She seems to understand the value of forward movement. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x138.” My body moves however I want. My willpower is moving my body. My surroundings move so slowly, I can see the wind, the dust and dirt appear to me as individual grains, and it takes 30 seconds or more for the glass shards to drop to the ground. I am moving within all that. The metallic vibration is a pleasant thing. This may be how I was always meant to sense things. Speed. Impacts. Steel. Reflexes. Willpower and emotion. I am a Belle de Marionnette developed to need those things. I was born to fight, but I was not raised to fight. I am a fortunate machine. So I see so many unrelated things while I fight. I can see it so clearly. I can see the outside world. I can see. I either dodge those or deflect them with my shield. Our reactions and movements have reached perfection, so there are no openings to take advantage of. We have created a series of actions that only the two of us could follow. Is this something like a dance? I never did get to participate in the dance at the school festival. I hope it is. The noises roaring in my ears act as the music. Our dodging and leaping act as the dance steps. We make forceful turns, we do not take each other’s hand, and there are no rules. We simply move in the hopes that our hand can reach our opponent. So much cannot be heard as sounds. So much cannot be seen with the eyes. I entrust my body to all of those things to move in a way I never have before. My entire body rejoices. I feel tension but also fulfillment as I accelerate myself further and further. “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x145.” Faster, sharper, stronger. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x145.” She is fast. My output is already fixed at a rate of 21 times, but she is matching that. Who is she? Who in the world is she? I thought the Attesor Project ended in failure and was abandoned. Yet here she is fighting like this. There is no hesitation, joy, fear, or anger in her actions. She only seems to be testing herself as she matches my every move. I can tell her power is growing with each and every attack. Can she go further? Can she carry this even further? She fights like a baby bird testing out its wings. That is a good Panzer. More than that, she must have powerful willpower and emotions. I wish I could meet her. If she is an Attesor Project Sein Frau, then she must be 25 this year. That is about the age my daughter would be if she were still alive. I had forgotten all about that until just now. Did you say your name was Rosetta, combat Sein Frau? Until now, I had forgotten all about my daughter and about you. But no more. Answer me. Answer me on this battlefield surrounded by flowers and in this territory only we can reach. Answer me through our memory banks of Lernens and Verbesserungs. Answer me, Belia and Susanna – my wife and daughter who exist only in my memories now. Can I protect you two? Can I continue on without forgetting you? Answer me. Answer me, product of the Attesor Project. What does it mean to truly be the strongest? Is it what I have been doing all this time? Or is it something you have yet to show me!? ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x142.” Oh, no. My foundational memories were unable to prepare me for that. The ground crumbled below my feet and I lost my balance. The dance stops and this opponent will not overlook that. I need to dodge it. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x148.” I launch an attack. And I step forward as if to break through the barrier of air. I break through the barrier of raging air. I complete the horizontal swing of my heavy cleaver. What is she doing!? Well played again. But now you have no weapon. Your left arm is broken at the shoulder and your right arm has lost its spear and broken too. Time to finish this. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x128.” I need to steady myself. I can tell he is watching me. Enough silence has passed to count it using ordinary units. One second, then two. He is not moving. Today will probably be a sunny day. In true August fashion, it should also be a hot day. I want to hear it. <“Attesor Sein Frau Rosetta, can you hear me?”> I can only nod because my body has no voice device. Is he readying an attack? If so, there is something I wish to say to you too. I cannot do so vocally as I lack a mouth, but I will write it here in this memory bank. You can make this final attempt, but I will not give up. I will demonstrate for you why the Attesor Project was said to be the strongest. I will demonstrate a level my predecessors never could reach. I will show you why only Belle de Marionnettes could be used for the project. I will show you why I am the final product and what my master belatedly told me about the Attesor Project. Here he comes. There is but one thing I must do in response. I swing my left arm to pick up what I had noticed earlier. Yes, the sword that Lady Beretta’s Lourd de Marionnette had dropped. And!! ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x145.” My will is ordering me to continue forward, so I take a step with a cloud of water vapor trailing behind me. Instead of walking normally, I spread my legs to the side and run down the slope like I am mountain climbing. I pick up speed in a mere three steps, transforming Rot Löwe into a 30-ton projectile. Then I jump. The sonic boom created by my Panzer destroys everything around me. I aim to jump approximately 100 yards. My path will take me right through the enemy and I will use the road outside the gate as my landing runway. I make the jump. If she thinks she can stop this, then she can try. Let’s see if the Attesor Project has any more tricks up its- Does she plan to counterattack with the Third Flame Emperor? That is not possible. My speed is so much greater. This is not my first time seeing more ether surrounding an Ober Emblem. This should not be possible. Ober Emblems are fixed. Once they activate, no further ether can be emitted. Yet she is doing it. I have seen this before. When the Sourire lost control in Bourgogne, light surrounded it in much the same way! Is that- I remember now. When a Sein Frau evolves, she gains whatever functions she desires. It scores a direct hit. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x100.” It all happens in an instant. Fortunately, I dismantled a simple gun and inspected how it worked earlier today. The Liberator was crudely made, but it came in handy. When the flame spear hit him, he lost the entirety of his right arm, but he still refused to fall. He had lost some momentum, but at the instant he crashed into the ground, he kicked off with his right leg. He adjusted his positioning without giving any thought to the recoil that would hit his limbs and frame. The wind whipped up and he somehow managed to avoid falling. Two minutes have passed like that. But I have not removed my Excède Emblème. I am waiting. Waiting for him to stand up. What does that matter? We still have not found an answer. We still have not discovered what it means to be the strongest. Is this it? He just fell again. The wind is blowing through. The pleasant morning air arrives through the brick city. Can he stand? Our eyes meet. Yes, I know exactly what to do when that happens. I catch him in my arms. It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I believe he is speaking German, but I recognize the rhythm. It is the final section of the song Lady Beretta taught me: So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. Yes, yes. Your grief and everything else are over now. I heard what you had to say, so rest now. So that you may stand back up someday. It is now over. ### Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Phrase Canceling full-body Excède Emblème. Shifting back to standard mode. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x3.” My Excède Emblème is gone now. I am so, so very tired. The dawn still has not arrived as I stand in the garden as a Lourd de Marionnette, which is what I was always meant to be. Is Lady Beretta okay? I climb the hill to find out. And… She looks up at me. She does not know that I am an Attesor Project Belle de Marionnette. And she has thought a lot about what it means to be a Lourd de Écrivain. And I have- I can only nod since I have no voice device. I consider canceling my Recréa, but I do not know what I am supposed to say to her when I do. <“Also, I’m not really sure how this happened, but you’ve Recréaed into that thing and…” She briefly looks over at my master and then back at me. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”> My strength leaves me and I fall to my knees. I recall that it was always like this. Even at the school festival’s closing ceremony. Whenever I would ask her something important, she would answer in the same way. <“That’s just how it is, Rosetta.”> I do not know if that was just my memory replaying or if she actually said it again. But it makes me cry all the same. I look up to the sky and cry. I have no voice and there are no actual tears, but I am crying. I do not have to consciously try to cry. I simply know the tears are flowing. What do I think? <“Can you trust everyone? We only have about 5 minutes until it goes off, so it has to be a quick decision. So if you can’t trust everyone, then hurry into that forest to stop the Wort Bombe. But if you can trust them, let it go off while we leave from these gates to go meet everyone. So what do you think?”> I know exactly how I should respond to her serious look, but am I really allowed to say this? When I carry the power of a weapon? They almost seem to be waiting for me. Or inviting me outside. I think about Lady Beretta who is right there next to me. And I sense just how calm my thoughts are. I think about my own body. I pushed myself really hard, so can I really still move like normal? I can hear all their voices. Yes. Yes, I understand. I know what they are thinking. And I know how to respond to Lady Beretta as well. I cannot speak right now, but I can provide a much clearer answer. I stand up and my willpower moves my body. I will go too. There is nothing to fear now. The two Fantasmé Renards lead the way and Lady Beretta accompanies me. I am sure the man I fought just now will join us eventually. Always forevermore, we will fight to protect someone. ## Final Chapter: Open 08/06/1944 I believe ### August 1, 1944 ### Rose Francisca’s Journal The current time is 8:27 AM. I am still alive in a room at Autun’s general hospital. When I woke up yesterday and checked my calendar, I was shocked to see the time of the Primitif had already passed. It had not reset to September of ’43. The Rondeau has been broken. And without anyone noticing. Everything outside of France has been reverted and linked to August 6, 1944 – which I guess counts as a Primitif for the outside world. France had no Primitif, it has been returned to its original time period, and it has reconnected to the rest of the world. Only a few people besides me are aware of this. The sun is shining outside. I wonder what those two girls are doing in that light. They haven’t contacted me, but I hope they are doing well. I learned yesterday that the Germans fully surrendered in Paris on the 24th and the people view those two as heroes, but they still returned to the front line to rescue a friend from being transported to a German concentration camp. The newspapers say Paris was liberated and the rest of France followed suit, but no one has noticed the other liberation that occurred behind the scenes. But I know. France was truly liberated. From here on, World War Two will pass through France and pour into Germany. An uncharted future now awaits us. There is nothing more for me to do. I had the nerve to act like a prophet, but once I woke up yesterday, the mayor was there by my side and he immediately yelled at me for what I did. And the rest of the village see me as a perfect target of gossip. Maybe that’s just how it is. But one thing does sadden me: My true daughter must no longer exist. France’s liberation required her erasure as payment. I think I will read his letter now. The one my daughter left with her other self. So- ### Jack McWild’s Letter: To Rose I don’t think I need any of the introductory formalities here. I also expect this letter isn’t really necessary. If it does come in handy, that must mean I failed to complete my fight. Then this letter will be the only thing to bring back together the liveliest women I have ever known by clearing up all the misunderstandings. Rose, I plan to go visit you soon. There is something I must tell you: we have two daughters. One is Beretta who has currently gone to the beach to have some fun. The other is a girl who has yet to fully become our daughter. She is currently staying with a good friend of ours. If I complete my fight, then I plan to raise her along with that friend. You do not know her, but you should understand once you meet her. She has inherited your name and your will, so she might as well be Beretta’s big sister. I am certain you will know what I mean once you meet her. I must tell you about that and that Beretta is growing up big and strong. If the world ever finds true peace or if my fight here proves to be no more than a misunderstanding, then I will go see you and eventually bring our two daughters to you. I am sure they will both choose to call you their mother. So first, I want to see you. What are you doing now? I heard from a friend that you returned to your hometown in Bourgogne after leaving Paris. I know you are there, so I don’t have to worry about your past or where you have gone. I hope that you can remain true to yourself there. Are you staying true to yourself by being the Rose Francisca who always works to help others? I hope you are. And I hope our two daughters can as well. I hope they can fight for someone else’s sake always and forevermore. And that they will never feel the need to suppress who they are. I believe they can grow up to be someone who only thinks about bringing happiness to all and never has to think about hurting anyone. Rose, can you believe in them and support them? I want to meet you and discuss our future. So I will gather my luggage and pay you a visit. I swear I will. ### Closing Statements The rest, as they say, is history, so reference your history books for what happens next. This is not the place to explain what destiny awaited them after that. But I will say that the Missel family did not die out and a certain Belle de Marionnette factory in San Francisco remains in business. They rescued me from a train headed for Auschwitz, so I was able to see the end of the war. The Protected Empress and Grazie vanished somewhere in history afterwards, but none of us ever forgot what they did for us. Let us look at one section of the Lourd de Écrivain song: “So that no one would grieve again. “That which is endless and cannot be grasped. “That which is vast and cannot be held. “I am with thee.” One of the documents I have gathered is a photograph of those two girls wearing the dresses they tried on at a boutique. This proves they did indeed exist. It might not be a bad idea to Signe here that the alternate history described here was indeed real and the world was indeed remade. - Mallette Harculia, Representative of the Perdus Artifice Compilation Editing Committee from the Modern Division of the French Royal Historical Society ### 373. Part of me wonders if it was too soon for me to leave Paris. There is still so much I do not know about Paris yet here I am in an even more unfamiliar place. The train is climbing higher and the fields grow lower out the window. The Seine has come into view once more. I want to open the window. I opened it. The wind is carrying in the scent of the river and the grass. I can also detect the calcium-like scent of Phlogiston. Lady Beretta is staring outside while the wind blows across her bangs – and she just laughed weirdly again. Is she okay? I think it is about time for lunch. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 I’m writing this on the train to Bourgogne. Rosetta is with me. I felt a little too overjoyed in the morning, so I have to work to stay calm. I’m taking this trip to deal with a number of issues, not to remember what happened and laugh. Last night, I did a lot of important things and a lot of things I shouldn’t have done. I may have altered history in the most incredible way. This is a change to history that only a woman can make. And it’s a change that won’t go away. It’s undoubtedly scandalous and it’ll definitely cause some problems later. Back in ’88, a female transfer student came back bearing the child of a diligent Nazi officer, but Nazi hunters later shot her and the kid to death. I don’t know if I’m pregnant yet, but I committed a forbidden act regardless. Especially because the Missel family died out with Phillip Missel’s death. What if I gave birth to a descendant of his now? That would be a serious problem. Even though I’d been taught plenty of ways to refuse and make excuses. But… <“I want to talk about a number of things.”> When he said that with such a serious look on his face, there was nothing I could say. We sat on the bed together and he told me how he was in the Resistance and what his plans were. I had learned in the future what would become of everything he was talking about. But the entire time I listened to him, I stared at the right arm he was resting his cheek on. He had gotten that injury protecting me during the Heavy Barrel battle at the school festival. I’m so weak-willed. I shouldn’t have let that bother me and I should have ignored what would happen to him and just kicked him out of my room. I had plenty of reason to do that. But there was only one reason why he had been there. For the first time in a while, I realized how little independence I had. When I thought about it, I realized that my grandma had used my curiosity to push me into going to Paris. I needed to stand up for myself more. And if I could stand up for myself, maybe I could have asked for what I wanted instead of just letting him take the lead last night. “You can do whatever you want as long as you’re gentle.” That’s not asking for what I want. I bet he thought I was cute as could be when that little shriek escaped my lips after he touched my butt. Although he was pretty cute too. I couldn’t believe how dumb that was, but I let him do it because I knew he was just trying to be nice. He never talked much and he isn’t the type to compliment people, but maybe that was what made this all so hard. I’m not sure. I hope my waist and whatnot looked okay. If only I had a perfect body like Rosetta. But what was I thinking when he rolled me onto my stomach so he could see everything? And what was I thinking when he held me to lift up my hips and I held him back? I’m not sure. I may have only been thinking about making sure I didn’t scream. He may have been thinking the same thing. I bet we were both hurting each other without thinking we were doing anything wrong. But at the same time, we were begging each other to gradually close the distance that had developed between us. I wish I had asked him why he protected me during the Heavy Barrel battle. That may have resolved some of my doubts. But it’s too late now and it wasn’t really the time for questions like that. I feel no guilt about what I did. Is that a bad thing for someone who came here to help the world? But when he held me close, when he placed the dirty dress back in the box, when we fell asleep together, and when I ineptly made him some breakfast, I knew what mattered most: that I would never forget this world and that it would always be important to me even after I said goodbye to them all. When I confessed I had lost the ring, he just rubbed my head without saying a word. Maybe physical things like rings aren’t what matter. And I realized something while writing all this. I want to be a part of this era. I didn’t sleep with Phillip out of pity because I know he’s going to die. I never would have let him go all the way if that was why. These things are important to me too. And there are some things you have to do because they’re important. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 It is now 4 PM. We are riding the mountain train to Autun. A lot happened. Before lunch Lady Beretta suddenly started crying while writing. I asked what the matter was but she only lowered her head to the side table and shook her head without responding. Lunchtime was delayed by an hour. She had stopped crying by the time we ate a late lunch. She instead seemed lost in thought while staring out the window. We arrived at Dijon at 2:10 PM. The train to Autun left half an hour late. The Seine had vanished from view and the distant mountain range was growing closer. Seeing the many trees reminded me of a dream I had once had. The land formed a slope and the trees grew as thick as a wall. I could also see the extremely blue expanse of the sky overhead. I could see the entirety of heaven and earth at once. The blue sky. The green earth below the trees. The blowing wind. I suddenly recalled a certain song. That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. I recited the lyrics and Lady Beretta looked up in surprise. Lourd de Écrivains of every country apparently sang that song in their own tongue. She told me they showed mutual respect by singing it together when they were no longer enemy and ally. It felt like a shame if only Lourd de Écrivains could sing it. Lady Beretta apparently intends to stay at an inn at Herlde. We will be staying there for nearly a month but she says she can afford it. She must not want to stay in her mother’s house. I wonder why. When I want to see someone I want to see them right away. I want to be right there with them. Is that a difference between us? Or does it mean I still have a long way to go before I am human? I do not know. I will close my journal without finding an answer. The sun is setting. The color of the heaven and earth is changing. I should be able to see the sunset in another half hour. I want to see it. I can continue watching the forest and mountains from this train for two and a half more hours. ### Letter from Sword Lady #11: To Beretta who Inherited my Name Are you reading this, Beretta who inherited my name? The dawn of August 1, 1998, will soon arrive for me. That is precisely 54 years after the Resistance uprising in Paris. If you are reading this 11th letter, it must be June there. I am writing all of these letters in a single night, but you will read them over the course of a year. After I write two more, I will wake you up and have you prepare for your journey to Paris. But June, huh? So is the Normandy Landing over? I imagine you will have found my mother’s home by then and you will probably have done one thing you shouldn’t have. And you know what that one thing is, don’t you? Women keep a lot of secrets and most of those are things they should not have done. Now, will you listen to an old lady’s old story about something she shouldn’t have done? You might not believe it, but I was quite popular when I was in Paris. I turned a lot of heads at school. (Trust me.) There was someone I cared for then, but I was worried about my mission and the importance of the information I was acquiring at the time, so I was never able to be with them. There were a few misunderstandings, but I eventually fled to the US and that person was Formatted. It’s all a nostalgic old memory now. They must still be living in Paris to this day, but they will be so much younger than my 54 years and they will not remember me. You may not remember my husband who died of Words Warn. He was a kind soldier who looked after the spies like us when we returned to the US and he worked harder than anyone to liberate France after it closed itself up. Soon after France closed up, I told him I wanted to meet that person who was still inside France. But that wish was never granted and, as our age diverged further and further from France’s, attempting liberate it was forbidden as it would destroy our world. When it was discovered how to send things inside of France, I learned my presence had been erased as I was not caught in the Format. That meant I no longer had any real reason to enter France. I feel so bad for grumbling about that just a month before my husband died of Words Warn. I wanted to meet that man as he was in ’44, but that can never be. He no longer remembers me and I have grown old. This story is not especially sad. Thousands or tens of thousands of similar stories can be found all around the world. And not just among the French. The soldiers deployed to Normandy for Operation Overlord and the soldiers who entered France from the south for Operation Dragoon did not return either. Our present era exists by rejecting them all instead of protecting them. It’s hard to accept sometimes. Am I really a Knight Striker, Beretta? This has gotten gloomy, hasn’t it? But this paper and ink are valuable, so I’m not going to rewrite it all. Have you met my mother? Like we discussed before, she and I had not seen each other for more than 14 years at the time. If you pretend to have forgotten what she looks like and play the delinquent daughter – with a focus on asking why she abandoned my father Jack McWild and me – you should manage. Make sure to give her my letter. Also, Beretta, are you going to Bourgogne like you always wanted? That land gave birth to a “strongest” that should be quite familiar to you. You like to pretend to act recklessly despite how cowardly you really are, so I suggest taking a look at that area and thinking about some things. I hope you find the beginning of your journey in the French outdoors I never visited. I hope you find what it is you can do in France. At this point, you can start acting based on what you want to do. Once you finish the task I set for you, you only have your own wishes left to guide you. So try to take it easy. ### Sign in Front of Autun Station in the Bourgogne Region Distance to Herlde: 8 Miles. Inn and clinic available. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 This really got to me. I didn’t expect to be writing such a hopeless second entry after such an emotional first entry. I am standing in front of the burnt-down remains of Herlde’s inn. The inn was built on an elevated area of ground with a nice view, so I am writing this by the beautiful moonlight. The dreary village of Herlde is visible down below. Based on the location of the lights, I can tell the houses were all built at least 200 yards apart. The inn apparently burnt down after some gas from underground ignited last year. Only the inn’s foundation and columns remained, so it’s kind of creepy looking. I pulled her away. Reading the “keep out” sign more carefully, I found out gas tended to build up belowground here and the village had started using that as a boiler. It was rare to use gas as a fuel instead of Phlogiston. But this was no time to be admiring that. It was about 8 miles from Autun to here. It was 9 at night, but I wasn’t sure if we should head back or not. I hadn’t been taught about areas as remote as this back in ’98, so this really ruins my plans. I’m a little worried, but maybe we should just go to Rose Francisca’s house. Should I head there and greet her as coldly as a daughter might after staying away for 14 years? Well, I have Rosetta with me, so it should work out. Rosetta is… Come to think of it, Sein Fraus use spirit stones as components for their bodies. Until 1935 when it was discovered the moon was made of spirit stone, no one knew why spirit engines resonated so wildly with moonlight. Spirit stones are made when ether (the substance that forms space) hardens without carrying a Live Message. I’ve heard that so many monsters and gods have some connection to the moon because they were created from the combination of people’s imagination and ether. That is why they grow more powerful the more their form is feared or imagined and why they can manifest their own willpower as a physical force. Humans can do the same, but our power is apparently extremely weak. But on the other hand, humans can use our own power on our own no matter the situation. Does Rosetta exist in the realm of imagination as well? Humans are energized by the moonlight too, but she seems to be experiencing a bit of a high. She does not seem remotely tired from the journey. This trait will remain even after she becomes fully human. As she evolves, the spirit stones will be absorbed into her body and their power will not be erased. They are a crucial part of ensuring her evolution does not fall apart. So she thinks that’s best too, huh? But, Rosetta, if you respond to the moon and thus exist in the realm of imagination, it might be a truly incredible thing that you can evolve into a realistic human. You get the best of both worlds that way. The mountains are cold and dangerous at night. We need to get moving soon. ### Entrance Placard at Herlde’s Francisca Clinic: To Visitors The clinic is currently closed due to an emergency patient. ### Letter Left by Beretta: To Lady Rose Francisca We arrived in Herlde on business and had nowhere to stay. The night is growing late, so I apologize, but I think we will be using your shed to shelter ourselves for the night. Tomorrow, after we have finished our business, we will search for somewhere else to stay, so please forgive us. ### Rose Francisca’s Journal The two of them arrived just now, so I am writing this in the hidden room I fixed up in a hurry. The room contains my Correcteur supplies, my personal prophecy calendar I began making on August 6, 1943, this journal, and the Correcteur emblem necessary for the ceremony that will allow me to leave behind my memories when I die. I cannot let them see any of that if I am to play the ignorant mother. I found they had arrived when I returned from one of my usual house calls. They are sleeping in the shed. Based on how filthy their shoes are, they must have walked the unfamiliar mountain road to reach the village. I could immediately tell which one was Beretta. She looks a lot like I used to. My daughter has brown hair like him, but this Beretta has blonde hair like I used to. And she has a habit of holding onto things in her sleep like my daughter and I both have. The other girl has evolved surprisingly far. Dealing with them is not looking easy. When I first speak with them, should I play it nonchalant or should I scold her as my delinquent daughter? Thinking about all this is reminding me of my college days. I learned medicine in Paris and acted in the school festival play. Come to think of it, I met him and Monsieur Guilliaum in the library there. I was a new intern and they were soldiers facing a coming war. How many years ago was that? With 25 extra years of memories added on, I am actually 22 years older than Monsieur Guilliaum who was 3 years older than me at the time. Will I perform that ceremony again this year? Will I use that Correcteur technique to die before the Primitif, stop the movement of my Formules, and pass my memories on to my next iteration? If I do that, it means I do not believe in those girls sleeping in my shed. But I also feel like death is a form of atonement for me. This is a serious transgression. My daughter outside this world will be erased by that girl. I am also worried about Monsieur Guilliaum. I know what will happen when the Resistance has its uprising in Paris. I know it will happen on August 1 and that the Resistance will lose. I did not tell him that because the Resistance’s defeat is necessary for the Beretta sleeping in my shed. She learns what it means to protect people during that doomed uprising, not here in Bourgogne. And through that, she will want to liberate France. But I have not told Monsieur Guilliaum any of this. Everything is following my prophecies. But there are people who will push back if I force those prophecies onto them. Monsieur Guilliaum is that sort of person. I must guide things so my prophecies do not fall apart. I know they face certain defeat, but I must not tell them so. I will pass on the prophecies that will aid the liberation of France, but I will not pass on the ones that will not. Even when I know staying silent will lead to a great many victims. Does it make me a weak person to feel guilt over this? The coming days are sure to be taxing. I need to think of that pain as atonement and remain cheerful. Tonight, I will double check my prophecies and then go to sleep. Even if these prophecies are really just a collection of fragments gathered from the glimpses of the future I read from the Formules of time, the former history I learned from M. Schrier, and the memories I received from my previous iteration. ### Prophecies: A Series of Fragments July 10: An earthquake renders a portion of the mountain pass and mountain railroad impassable. It becomes impossible to leave Morvan. July 28: The mountain railroad is repaired by the residents of Autun. Beretta and Rosetta depart for Paris. July 30: Heinz Berge appears in Nevers of Western Morvan and hurries back to Paris. The Resistance’s Paris Branch responds by setting the date of their uprising for August 1. July 31: After receiving word of the mountain pass’s collapse from Heinz Berge on the 30th, the German military works on repairing the mountain pass. August 1: The Paris uprising fails. The Resistance scatters and hides inside Paris and on the outskirts. Same Day: While participating in the uprising, Beretta witnesses Phillip Missel’s death. Afterwards, she remains hidden in the Balleroy Mansion. August 2: The mountain pass to Autun is repaired. Recovery around Herlde begins. Same Day: The German military unit working on the recovery in the Nevers Region is attacked and obliterated by a black dragon. August 3: After devouring the German troops stationed in the mountain pass, the black dragon destroys Herlde. August 4: An advance Allied unit and the French Resistance meet near Paris. August 5: The Paris Branch of the German military places a blockade around Paris and focuses on defending Paris. Same Day: While Beretta remains in the Balleroy Mansion, Rosetta finds Phillip Missel’s ring for her. After some discussion between the two of them, they decide to fight once more and seek liberation. “So we never let anyone’s death repeat again.” Beretta becomes aware she is my daughter. August 6: A combined Resistance force led by the Allies attacks the blockade early in the morning. Same Day: Beretta leaves the Balleroy Mansion in a Lourd de Marionnette with Rosetta in the copilot seat. They battle Heinz Berge on the way, but it is ended by a bullet from the handgun carried by Rosetta. They continue to the airport and destroy the transport plane carrying the Wort Bombe. Same Day: The survivors of the Resistance’s Paris Branch respond to what they have seen. They all begin to fight with a spirit of liberation, their strong desire for liberation breaks France’s own Signe of wanting to close itself off, and France is liberated. ### 374. Preface ## Character 1 Beretta McWild I will hesitate no longer! A will wishing to protect it all ## Character 2 Rosetta Balleroy I think it will be okay. Feelings possessing infinite possibility ## Character 3 Heinz Berge What does it mean to be the strongest? Instincts attempting to discover true strength ## Character 4 Rot Löwe I am with thee. The strongest machine ## Map ## Newspaper Top: Daily Herlde – Issue 68000 Bottom: A Somewhat Sexy Story We have long heard rumors that it is possible peep on the bathing area behind the Francisca Clinic, but that has now been wonderfully proven thanks to the efforts of our reporters’ infiltration team. Rose Francisca, owner of the clinic, uses her Correcteur ability to purify the water there, so the village girls will bathe there for their skin and other, shall we say, health benefits. When Rose herself learned of this, she said “Peeping is wrong. I will crush you – especially at your weak point.” and she plans to quickly build a fence around it. Above: Photographic Evidence. ### 375. Chapter 13: Change And the hidden history continues. ## Chapter 13: Change 6/6/1944 For some reason, the scream continues to ring in my ears. ### June 6, 1944 ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x92.” Time slowed down. The rain from the cloudy sky fell slowly onto the Normandy beach. I stood alone on the coast. I was the only person in the world capable of moving on this beach without being hit by our own machinegun fire or the enemy warships’ shells. While moving at 92 times the speed of a normal person, I could even see the bullets fired by the infantrymen’s small guns. The gunfire and explosions were stretched out 92 times to form a single great roar that never ceased pounding on my auditory devices. My vision clearly saw the bullets from the machineguns and small guns tearing through the air. Occasionally, an enemy soldier’s body was blasted into the air by an explosion where it would float for a while before falling. Time moved so slowly. And in that time, a single color showed up brighter than all others. The red of blood. That color sprayed from the infantrymen and stained the sea. Approximately 5000 ships floated off the coast and an incalculable number of infantrymen attempted to reach land from them. They easily surpassed 10,000 in number. And they were transformed into corpses on the beach. There was no cover on the 25-mile-wide coast, their tanks sank in the water, our machineguns fired down from a rock wall, and I intercepted any who still managed to reach land. I was tasked with protecting 1/6 of the beach, the 2-mile radius around Pillbox #18 which had been taken out by a shell from an enemy ship. I was armed with a newly developed divine weapon called a heavy cleaver. That was a Werkzeug equipped with a Phlogiston Tank that used its own power to envelop itself in a cleaving black blade. It could cleave and slice through anything and everything. I walked between the obstacles meant to prevent the ships from landing. Each step felt so slow, like I was walking through water. I heard human voices along with the roar of gunfire and shellfire. They were screams. Some were the gasps of people hit by a powerful impact, some were the cries of those who had just noticed their injuries, and some were the laughs of those who had accepted their fate, but they all mixed together to color the air. I stepped on them. Two bodies’ worth of flesh and bone were broken and crushed between my metal foot and the sand of the beach. With my sense of time sped up 92 times, I could accurately hear each of their bones snapping and muscle fibers tearing. I felt nothing from the observation. My Psyche Outer system was functioning properly. A small bullet hit the left shoulder of my armored clothing. It was incapable of penetrating the armor. I reacted while it was still digging into the clothing material. I looked back. I could see the ocean. Several thousand enemy soldiers were standing and floating in the dark morning ocean. The ratio of dead to alive appeared to be about half and half. Several of the landing craft were headed my way, but the ones spewing flames and the ones sinking from a hit were also full of soldiers. Nevertheless, the enemy did not give up. They had no real plan. It was an invasion reliant on pure numbers. The corpses were piling up, but they relentlessly continued onward. An MG42 bullet flew in from behind me and right past my ear. When I saw the light of the tracer round, I lowered my heavy cleaver. The result was the sound of striking bullets while blood spray and chunks of human beings flew from behind the front wall of the landing craft. That 1-inch-thick metal panel might as well have been paper to the machinegun. The humans behind it were just as ineffectual a barrier. After penetrating the front wall of the landing craft, the bullets entered the bodies of the soldiers within, tore through their internal organs, hit their bones, and ricocheted into other soldiers. That landing craft might as well have been a coffin. In order to create a mass-produced product, they no longer protected the crucial soldiers within. The shells fired from the warships out at sea were 7-inch models. They were targeted at me. To intercept them, I pressurized my power output by a factor of 11 and raised the heavy cleaver. I heard no screams. Their internal organs had been crushed when the initial shockwave threw them into the sky. Many of them spewed their organs from their mouth. They flew up and then fell in the slow motion of x92 speed. The explosions, gunfire, and human voices sounded like a storm, but all of that noise was only coming from the distance now. I concluded a distant pillbox had been destroyed. The landing had succeeded. When the defensive line collapsed at one point, the rest would fall apart from there. I could not seek confirmation because Rot Löwe was not equipped with a communication device. Development was underway on a communication device capable of accounting for the time difference caused by my accelerated reaction speed, but no real progress had been made. Thus, I checked with my sight devices while standing on the deserted beach. “Primary Sight Devices: Lernen” The enemy soldiers were making a successful landing at a different point on the beach. The ones who had died here had died in vain. It took some focus to hear his voice. <“Lieutenant Colonel! The enemy has landed on the left wing! I will send two of our unit’s Grösse Panzer s there!”> I concluded that was a good decision. I raised a hand to show I understood that those two would deal with the landed enemy soldiers. I confirmed their presence with my vision alone. Six horizontal shots were flying my way from the ships out at sea. But instead of simple steel shells, these were explosive shells known as Bogen. This was a total of 18 explosive shells. They had fired on this deserted area of beach after noticing none of their own soldiers were there. I compressed my power output by a factor of 20. That was nearly enough power for the Panzer to cry out in protest. I raised my heavy cleaver and shield. The black blade carried a slicing power and it released a gust of wind as I swung it up with my right arm. Wet with blood and rain, the sandy beach exploded from the shockwave and briefly hid me from the enemy. I could not see either, but I accurately remembered the locations of the enemy shells. This was not a problem. The shockwave tore apart the ocean and was intended to neutralize four of the explosive shells. My arm groaned in protest after I swung up the sword. I normally used 10 times the standard power output to release a shockwave, but this time I had used twice that. The purpose behind this was revealed with the second attack. I forcibly swung down the heavy cleaver. When moving faster than sound, actions were silent. The blade struck the beach and my hand felt it slicing through each individual grain of sand. This produced a second shockwave. The two shockwaves collided and burst with a light as bright as fierce lightning. I straightened up and moved out of the way to avoid the shockwaves. The remaining five were not on a collision course. I took five steps back and raised my shield. The sand, pieces of corpses, and shell shrapnel pounded on the shield as the multiple explosions propelled them. I used more power output to hold my position here than for any of my previous actions. “Heat Radiation System - Full Power: Lernen” Just as the cooling system activated, the worst of the shockwaves passed. The shield suddenly felt much lighter. I moved forward. Before, I had been avoiding the shockwaves from the Bogen exploding in front of me, but now I had to endure the shockwaves from the remaining 5 as they exploded on the stone wall behind me. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x113.” One step. So very slow. Two steps. I made a turn here to view the stone wall behind me. At the third step, I spread my legs in a stance meant to defend against explosions. I held my shield at the ready. I only had to confirm the trajectory of the five enemy shells and then adjust the shield’s position. The 1st aide had been near there. His expression suggested that he had no clue what was about to happen. The sound of stone wall collapsing was no more than an indistinct rumble with time slowed by a factor of more than one hundred. But I did hear something within that. No, I could assume it was there. The 1st aide’s scream was drowned out in an instant. The deafening roar became stone shrapnel that pounded on my shield. However… I concluded that I was only able to recognize it as a scream because it had been drowned out in an instant. However… Why? Why would the scream not go away? And why was I questioning something like this? My Psyche Outer system was functioning properly. I would only have questions and memories related to combat. Then why was I questioning the screa- ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrift Oddity detected in Schreiben user’s memory. The rapid return of a past memory has been confirmed. To avoid any risk, the surrounding memories will be released and the Schreiben user’s thought connection will be severed for 0.0000001 seconds before reconnecting. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank The following once happened: What is this scream? And why was I conflating the scream from that remembered dream with the 1st aide’s scream? I do not understand any of it. I have determined it is dangerous to lose myself in these thoughts mid-battle. But the memories remain undeleted. I am not sure if this means the Psyche Outer system has ceased to function or if these memories are in fact necessary for me. Humans are fragile. I can assume that corpse also screamed as it died. Is the scream in my memories the same as the ones made by these many corpses? Were they created by fear, resignation, and the other emotions I no longer possess? I am currently a machine. Is there a scream like that within me? Why can I not clearly recall that? That is true of several other things as well: the photograph of a woman and girl, the four o’clock flower, and… The Attesor Project. What do those things mean to a machine like me? I cannot find an answer. But I do know that these are all things I have forgotten due to the Psyche Outer surgery. So when I joined the Panzer Ritter Project… …why… …did I… …try to erase my memories!? I cannot find the answer. ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrift Stabilizing the Schreiben user’s mind is no longer possible. Restoring a portion of his memories to eliminate the psychological pressure causing the instability. Altering fixed memories. The Schreiben user’s thought connection will be severed for 0.0000001 seconds before reconnecting. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank A memory was replayed in my head. What…what did I see in Bourgogne!? And when I returned, why did I decide I wanted to be the strongest!? I do not know. “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x1. Power output is dropping.” ### Report from Operation Overlord Allied HQ: Summary of Landing Results The landing operation begun today at 05:30 is still underway now at 18:30, but the valiant efforts of all our troops have successfully broken through in Region D and Region B. 80% of the enemy pillboxes have been successfully neutralized. A mop up operation will begin early tomorrow morning and we will begin to liberate the surrounding regions. Spread the following message to all of our troops: - Operation Overlord was a success. We lost one cruiser and an unknown number of tanks and special vehicles. We estimate we lost at least 4000 of our troops. I wish to express my greatest condolences as I honor their noble sacrifices. ### 376. Chapter 14: Mirror 06/07/1944 – 06/22/1944 Are there any clothes Like the ones Lady Beretta is wearing? ### June 7, 1944 ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Yesterday, Rot Löwe was damaged by an impact. I confirmed it was still functional and escaped the ocean without canceling the Schreiben. After destroying three Mittel Panzers that had reached land, the cooling system malfunctioned and I had to withdraw. Yesterday at 16:32, I joined my platoon at Hill Region B-53. There I learned of HQ’s orders for the entire army to withdraw from Normandy. Today at 13:30, I completed the simple repairs of Rot Löwe and I have resumed movement. At 20:00, I joined three withdrawing infantry platoons at a point three miles south of Falaise. We took a break there. They were from the 40th Infantry Division. They did not know what became of the 352nd Infantry Division. At 21:45, I resumed checking my memories at camp. I recalled what I could of when the Attesor Project existed. I still do not know what I saw at Bourgogne back then or why I joined the Panzer Ritter Project, but I can now recall fragmentary images of that time using the memories released during yesterday’s battle. I can see a mountainous region full of cedar trees and I can remember a mountain pass with rock walls on either side. The words Bourgogne and Morvan Mountains come to mind along with those things. That is the name of the area written of in that Ober Geheimnis Compilation. Since I can remember the scenery to go along with those names, I must have visited there. I am currently working toward being the strongest and I can guess that it was something that occurred in Bourgogne that led me to do that. I can guess I gained something there, I went to my family’s funeral in Berlin, and I joined the Panzer Ritter Project to become the strongest. My memories are returning and I can tell I am searching out the Attesor Project to confirm I am the strongest, but none of this inspires any emotion within me. I will now go to sleep. ### June 21, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Journal A lot happened today unexpectedly. I was playing with the Fantasmé Renard children in the yard during the morning when Lady Beretta arrived. She started by opening a bag in front of me. She pulled out a document with lots of As and Bs on it. “No problem with my grades. That means we can go on a trip tomorrow so let’s go. I’m taking you with me.” This was news to me. She had apparently made a secret pact – an agreement – with the master. Yes. This was a surprise but I will be joining her on a trip to Bourgogne in southern France to visit the home of someone she knows. <“A lot has happened. Rosetta. There is a lot I need to tell you on the way. And I will teach you even more once we’re there. So for today…” “For today? Do you have some other dangerous news for me?” “No I don’t. Um. For today let’s go buy you some clothes.”> I apparently needed clothes to go on a trip. This was my first time going out to buy clothes. I could order underwear and such to be delivered. Same for the usual clothes and apron I wore. I used the same tailor the mansion had always used. But I went into town to buy clothes today. I picked them out myself and I bought them myself. We used Lady Beretta’s bicyclette to ride into town. I removed my apron and we rode it together. We rode down a street with the Arc de Triomphe visible in the distance and we arrived at Saint-Lazare Station. The station was being run by the Germans so we stopped the bicyclette in front of the station and Lady Beretta refueled herself. Then we began shopping. I entered a shop known as a boutique for the first time ever. It was a surprise. It was nothing like my bedroom closet. There were clothes in all sorts of styles and colors. The shop was about half the size of the mansion and it was almost entirely filled with clothing. The elderly woman in the store – her name was Mannequin – apparently knew Lady Beretta and she came out with a long and narrow white wooden box. The box contained the red dress Lady Beretta had borrowed from Sir Phillip. She said it had been somewhat damaged so she said had left it here for mending and washing. We discussed a lot of things while choosing my clothes. I ended up choosing clothes the same design and color as the ones I already had. Unlike me Lady Beretta chose her clothes on her own. She chose clothes in different designs and colors than the ones she already had. I had never before seen myself wearing anything but my normal clothes and pajamas. But worrying over what to choose was pointless. I tried on a lot of different things. I looked into the mirror in the boutique’s changing room and I saw a version of me I had never seen. I did not understand. Why did clothes change the person wearing them? I tried on a standalone skirt unlike my usual apron skirt. The chest area felt lacking. The whiteness of my blouse looked terribly conspicuous in the reflection. I tried on a tight skirt that showed off the lines of my hips. It was harder to move my legs and I was much more aware of my body. It was strange how my reflection looked somehow taller than normal. I tried on a blouse without puffy shoulders. It felt lacking and chilly but it was easier to move around in. I thought it looked like men’s clothing. I tried on a lot of other things too. I became many other versions of myself. The old woman tied my hair back or chose an appropriate coat depending on the clothing I chose. That helped time pass in the blink of an eye. While I continued choosing clothing I made a request I thought was asking too much. “Are there any clothes like the ones Lady Beretta is wearing?” Lady Beretta looked a little surprised. But the old woman took a look at Lady Beretta’s outfit and quickly prepared something for me. She even chose a similar hat. I took those behind the dressing room curtain and put them on. Then I looked in the mirror. I do not know how to describe the emotion I felt then. I lack the vocabulary. That could not be Lady Beretta in the mirror. It was only a Belle de Marionnette wearing similar clothing. Clothing could turn you into a different version of yourself. But it could not turn you into a different person. But. Why did I think being different was a good thing? And why did I still want the same hat as Lady Beretta? I removed that outfit without opening the dressing room’s curtain. I could tell I would never wear them again so I neatly folded them up on the hangars and handed them back. I was led to a small room next to the dressing room. It was a white-walled room with a single gray partition. There was a pure white robe in the center of the room. A mannequin was wearing it. The old woman and Lady Beretta smiled. “Fancy clothing has been banned during the occupation of Paris. But the couturier s have still been giving shape to their thoughts. This dress is of course contraband. No one can buy it.” They had me wear it. Putting on a dress was difficult. While doing so I realized that my legs were becoming human due to the Coppelia Effect. The cushioning at the base of my thighs remained as something like a dark birthmark. “I can introduce you to a good healer to get that healed up once the war is over. It would be a shame to leave it.” I smiled when the old woman said that. The similar marks on my shoulders had already disappeared. The ones on my thighs would likely be gone in less than a month. So I simply told her not to worry about it. I think it took around 20 minutes to get the dress on. Then it was Lady Beretta’s turn to wear a dress. Putting it on her was harder than with me. The corset was too tight for some reason. Yes. Her stomach…no. I will not Signe that. After more time passed we were dressed in contrasting red and white dresses. The old woman had a camera so she took a photograph of Lady Beretta and me. The photograph would apparently be delivered to the mansion. I expect it will arrive after our trip. Surely. After that I removed the dress and chose the clothing I wanted. We loaded the boxes on the front of the bicyclette . We stopped by another shop to buy me a travel bag – one I could wear on my back. Once our preparations were complete we pushed the bicyclette back to the mansion. A lot happened on the way back as well. But I doubt I have time to write about that. I need to prepare for tomorrow. And I need to make sure I do not stay up too late. I am looking forward to tomorrow. This excitement is not a part of my job. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 I’m writing this in my room today. This was a fairly forceful day. After all, I surprised Rosetta with an invitation to visit Bourgogne with me. I’m like a step away from kidnapping her here. But the old man gave the okay when he saw my grades and Rosetta seemed happy buying clothes for her first trip. She might be too excited to sleep right now. But when we visited that café during the day, I realized just how much the city’s atmosphere had changed during the exam period. Before, the city had been colored by the red of brick, the white of quartz, and the dark blue of the asphalt, but now the most prominent colors were the dark green and black of the German uniforms. The café’s menu had less tea and more beer. The city was being locked down as the Germans prepared for battle. The library was closed and you had to be patted down before entering the city hall. It was all pretty awful. That environment had affected my diet and given me a bit of a belly, so I had to buy some new clothes. I still can’t believe it. A lot of other things happened today too. It was all normal enough as I saw Rosetta back home and discussed the trip with the old man, but I screwed up when I decided to help her with the cleaning she started all of a sudden. I lost the too-big ring that Phillip had bought me. I realized that during the evening while taking a break in the second-story study. It was just as she told me about the mansion’s torture room. I was pretty sure I had lost it while wiping things down with a cloth. It was a pretty big shock. What was I supposed to tell Phillip next time I saw him? I wanted to ask Mallette for some advice, but she said she was heading back to visit her parents. If history continued as normal, she would be Formatted without anything happening to her. And Phillip would die before that. I hadn’t met him since the school festival. Not that it mattered. Once the Format happened, I and the things I had arrived with would be booted out into the world of 1999. Only the knowledge and memories I had gained would remain. Holding onto the ring would accomplish nothing. Unless I liberated this world, that is. If the Format could be done away with, this world would reconnect to 1944. I wouldn’t be able to return to 1999, but I would keep everything I had here. But I couldn’t do that. I had a family and returning this to the proper 1944 would rewrite the entire 55-year period between this world and the present time. It was that fear that kept the world from trying to liberate France. We had instead created the transfer student system to back up France. Because the world had advanced 55 years beyond France. Besides, there were three conditions necessary to liberate France and accomplishing them would not be easy. 1: Stop the detonation of the Wort Bombe. 2: Spread a spirit of liberation through the majority of France’s people. 3: Prove that fully closing oneself off is not possible. The most difficult of those was the third one: - Prove that fully closing oneself off is not possible. I was told the way to do that would be to create a paradox by sending in something that had already been Formatted to show that it had not in fact been Formatted. But no one had found a way to break through the city’s immune system. According to the scientists: “We just have to send in something that has not been Formatted and convert it into something that was Formatted.” But that was just an unproven theory. And writing about this is pointless. What matters is tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we would arrive in the Bourgogne village of Herlde and meet Rose Francisca, but how would that go? I was not her daughter, Beretta McWild. That Beretta was in San Francisco back in ’99. Besides, my hair color was different. Could I really fool her? It would probably be best to give her the letter, warn her about the dragon attack on August 3, and get out of there. Herlde was supposed to have an inn, so we could get a room there to investigate the Attesor Project. And Rosetta was sure to ask me all sorts of things about the outside world and myself during the trip. She had trusted me this whole time while I kept the most important things from her. I didn’t care if she ended up laughing, I wanted to tell her everything: the things I doubt she’ll believe and how much she’s saved me. Wow, this doesn’t sound like me at all. I must be really worried like I was in March. I’m headed to a new place where I’ll prepare for the end here. I might find something and I hope I do. Because what I find will probably help me figure out what I’ve been thinking about ever since the Heavy Barrel battle at the school festival. Can I protect people? Knight Strikers are supposed to protect people and I Write Bring into Heavy Barrels because I want to protect the people I care for. But that requires strength. My strength is a little above a normal person’s, but I still can’t defeat anyone with a lot of strength and I end up having someone else protect me. Then what does it mean to be strong? Jack McWild had started the Attesor Project in his pursuit of that question. Would I find some of the answer if I went to Morvan and viewed the same scenery they had? I never expected to be thinking about all this while in France. I’m worried. There’s too much I can’t tell anyone about. Not just the things I was worried about, but the very fact that I had come from the outside world. And that everyone would be Formatted. On August 1, the Paris Resistance would start a fight for liberation and Phillip would die. Will I make it back to Paris before then? Paris is sure to be even more locked down by then, so I might not even be able to get in. I have some regrets. Why didn’t I tell everyone about so many different things? Yes, I’m saying goodbye to a lot of people right now. In just a month and a half, the situation will change and everyone will leave Paris. I said goodbye to Mallette at the bistro last night and I guess I said goodbye to Phillip on that night of the school festival. I still have that dress he lent me. I thought he would come to get it, but he hasn’t. He’s probably busy. When was the last time we were all together? At the festival? No, Rosetta wasn’t there. Then it had to be that party on March 26. That was the night when I beat him up and argued with him. Why can’t I do anything right? With myself or with others? There’s so much more I wish I’d told them, asked them about, thanked them for, and apologized for. I wish I could have spent more time with them, but it just didn’t work out. My pride and vanity get in the way and I end up alone. Maybe France is the same. In its insistence that it’s all alone, it has shut out the rest of the world for 55 years. ### Letter Left by Mallette: To Beretta, My Beloved Neighbor You’re taking your time getting back today, but I’m going to miss my train back home if I don’t leave soon. Sorry I’m leaving without saying goodbye, but I have a vacation waiting. A lot happened this year, but I look forward to seeing you again next year. I just hope the war is over by then. If anything happens, come on over to my parent’s house to visit. It’s on the outskirts of Paris, so about an hour by train. Here, I’ll sketch you a map. Bye. P.S. Since you refuse to do anything about it, I took matters into my own hands. Mr. Phillip should be on his way to visit you. I hope you’re thankful. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 I feel like tearing up and throwing away that last entry, so here’s a second entry for today. Things are still underway and I should really write about them for more reasons than one. There is a good chance that my life is about to veer off track thanks to that mischievous woman. I’m definitely paying her a visit to complain on the way back from Bourgogne. Nothing can stop me. But this is bad. I need to stay calm. And I’m supposed to be leaving on a train tomorrow morning. Phillip is here. I had packed up almost all of my clothes and other things and I had just taken a shower before bed, but then that idiot showed up. And who knows what Mallette had told him. <“Sorry about the wait.”> Yeah, when I was freshly showered and dressed like this, it probably did look like I’d been waiting. That woman had definitely set up one hell of a situation here. This was like something out of a porn novel. And that idiot went full idiot and went to take a shower without even asking. Why won’t he listen? What is he, an old man? Anyway, I could explain the situation once he returned. This was not at all what I wanted. Couldn’t I at least have some more time to prepare myself mentally and physically beforehand? And I was just indulging in some sentimental musings all alone in the Paris night. Hmm. But I think I will Sign one thing: I’m a little happy about this turn of events. Oh, he just left the shower room. ### Heinz Berge’s Journal Today at 07:00, while I was searching for enemies 10 miles north of Vendôme, I met up with a messenger. At 08:23, I received special orders from general HQ. My platoon is being reassigned as the 1st Special Grösse Panzer Platoon in charge of guarding the Paris region and I was commanded to begin serious investigation of the Attesor Project. The reassignment will go into effect on July 1. At 09:10, I met with my men. I informed them we would be going to Paris for the reassignment and that we would be visiting Morvan in Bourgogne beforehand to investigate the Attesor Project. We worked out our marching schedule. At 22:00, we all got some rest and I searched my newly released memories. During the Attesor Project era, I had indeed fought in various locations as a Panzer Kavalier. And after an injury in one battle, I had returned to Germany until the end of the war. I still do not know what happened in that battle, but I have some fragmentary textual data in the back of my mind: Bourgogne, the Morvan Mountains. I can guess that battle was part of the reason I have become what I am now. At 23:01, I reread the materials related to the Attesor Project and my military records from the previous war that HQ had given me. I used the records and my memories to follow my course through the previous war. I am certain I will understand everything if I go to Bourgogne. But I am bothered by my memories of the photograph and bookmark I have stored in my luggage. What connection do that woman, girl, and flower have to my past? I do not know. I will now go to sleep. ### June 22, 1944 ### Letter Left by Mallette: To Beretta, My Beloved Neighbor Sounds like you had quite the time last night. My night was full of surprises too. I thought I was headed home, but when I checked my ticket, it was for the train leaving at 6 AM on the 22nd, not 9 PM on the 21st, so I ended up going back to my room. Quite the misunderstanding, huh? And thanks to that, I got to enjoy what I could hear through these thin walls last night. There were a lot of tear-jerking lines that really resonated with my world-weary heart. Nothing quite like a pair of young lovebirds. But I will not Signe any of that, so don’t worry. You need to carry the important things in your own heart. I’m glad things are going well. I really do have to get to the station now and I would hate to wake you two, so this letter will have to do. Make sure you cook breakfast for your future husband. I’m praying for your happiness. ### The Prophetess’s Letter: To Monsieur Guilliaum, the Former Royal Guard Chevalier Hello again. This year is approaching its end. I imagine this will be the last letter I send you, Monsieur Guilliaum. So I will use this chance to tell you everything you must know. The girl in France with the same name as my daughter is not technically my daughter. She is my great-granddaughter – that is, a descendant of mine from the outside world. I met an adventurer 25 Rondeaus ago who gave me detailed information on Paris before the Primitif and on the outside world afterwards. That adventurer’s name was M. Schrier. He had also visited Herlde in ’39 to research the Attesor Project. In ’39, he was only 27, but when I met him again, he was an old gentleman in his 50s. I used my abilities as a Correcteur to view his memories and confirm it was really him before listening to what he had to say. He had met my daughter in the outside world and received a lot of information from her. I also heard he had met Jack before the previous war. Oh, yes. And my daughter was apparently friends with you at the time of the First Primitif. However, all information on you was apparently erased from the modern records because it was thought best to hide that you were a Resistance leader. He also told me that my daughter was putting together a method of liberating France. A number of conditions were necessary, but one was considered the most difficult: - Prove that fully closing oneself off is not possible. When I asked how you could prove it was not possible, M. Schrier told me this: “The First Erased were removed from France by the Primitif, but what if an identical person appeared in France and history repeated itself as it had the first time around?” France’s repeated history has been fixed in place by its immune system, but that would allow you to intervene in the pre-Primitif events. Then something would exist here that France had supposedly eliminated. Hence, shutting oneself off was not possible. Do you understand what this means? My daughter has sent someone to France who will act as her double. She was supposedly eliminated, but this double is meant to fool France. If France is trying to fully close itself off, then we must declare that it cannot do that. And that declaration must be made with a voice loud enough to reach every part of France. But doing this is guaranteed to sacrifice my daughter’s life. The First Erased do not exist in our version of France. They left France between August of ’43 and August of ’44, so they escaped the Primitif. If France is resurrected to the outside world’s ’44, no one will notice anything is amiss. But the First Erased will likely notice that all evidence of their time in France is missing. After all, France has been repeating this year without them as a part of it. But there is one exception: Beretta. If France is liberated, there will be a Beretta in France that France accepts to be the original Beretta, but my actual daughter will be outside of France. I have heard of someone stuck in the past waiting long enough to meet their younger self, but there is only one option when the exact same person exists twice in the same timeline. When they both appear, the one with less ability to prove their existence will disappear. Two identical words are not needed. I do not know why my daughter is trying to sacrifice herself, but that is what she wants and I wish to assist her. My daughter once discovered where I was but lacked the courage to come meet me. But this other Beretta will come. We need to play the part to help her take on the role of my real daughter. Do you see now why I have been sending you letters under a pseudonym and suggesting that you tell them nothing? I knew they would come to visit me, so I could not have Rosetta seeing my name on the envelopes. I must be no more than a mother who knows nothing and cannot prophesy. My daughter once abandoned so much and fled. Is that why she is working to liberate France even though it means erasing herself? I will continue to wonder about that as I wait for the other Beretta, greet her, and tell her nothing. She must liberate France of her own free will. That is the only she can be the “real” Beretta. Monsieur Guilliaum, do you wish to be the real version of yourself? If so, continue ever forward no matter what sacrifices it requires. I believe you will soon be planning an uprising of the Paris Resistance. No matter how that ends, always be calling for the liberation of Paris. History will attempt to correct itself before long. All of this is following the same course that led to the first Primitif, but that changes when she visits me. I want to bet everything on that. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 I am writing this on the train to Bourgogne. There were a lot of Allemande in the station and the train departed about 10 minutes behind schedule. It is currently just before 12. We were supposed to arrive at the station in Dijon at 12 but we seem to be running late. We will switch trains at Dijon and head to the Morvan Mountains of central Bourgogne. Lady Beretta says the train track zigzags to climb the mountains. My ticket says we will arrive in the Morvan Mountains’ Autun Station at 6 PM. From there it is a two hour journey on foot to reach the village of Herlde where Lady Beretta’s mother lives. Now about Lady Beretta. She is acting weird today. She has been staring out the window a lot and she sometimes starts laughing or writing something on her notepad before tearing it out and throwing it away. She also crosses her arms in thought a lot. She even tripped twice before boarding the train today. She is acting very strangely. Is she not feeling well? But that strange behavior somehow seems a lot like her and it is kind of enjoyable. I never know how she will react when I talk to her so I am trying not to bother her too much. She had seemed more worried than usual yesterday. That had completely changed today but that has me a little worried in a different way. When she is acting more normal she talks about this trip more as an expedition than a trip. That is why I pulled my coat out of my bag earlier. I also retied the bag’s strap so I could carry it over my back. We crossed the Seine while I was writing the text three lines up. This is upstream of where the Seine flows through Paris. The map shows the train keeping the Seine to its left for a while after this. The view out the window is no longer the view of the city from the yard back home. I only see the wide-open sky and grassy fields. I can see emerald mountains and low-hanging clouds in the distance. There are none of the boxy appartement s or the smoke of people cooking. That strange view flows backwards alongside the train. Why does it look so familiar when I have never seen it before? I have no memory of it yet I feel like some part of me has not forgotten it. I want to remember but I have not forgotten. Why is that? My memories were supplied for my basic functions. Was this image stored there along with things like how to cook? I do not know. Part of me wonders if it was too soon for me to leave Paris. There is still so much I do not know about Paris yet here I am in an even more unfamiliar place. The train is climbing higher and the fields grow lower out the window. The Seine has come into view once more. I want to open the window. I opened it. The wind is carrying in the scent of the river and the grass. I can also detect the calcium-like scent of Phlogiston. Lady Beretta is staring outside while the wind blows across her bangs – and she just laughed weirdly again. Is she okay? I think it is about time for lunch. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1 I’m writing this on the train to Bourgogne. Rosetta is with me. I felt a little too overjoyed in the morning, so I have to work to stay calm. I’m taking this trip to deal with a number of issues, not to remember what happened and laugh. Last night, I did a lot of important things and a lot of things I shouldn’t have done. I may have altered history in the most incredible way. This is a change to history that only a woman can make. And it’s a change that won’t go away. It’s undoubtedly scandalous and it’ll definitely cause some problems later. Back in ’88, a female transfer student came back bearing the child of a diligent Nazi officer, but Nazi hunters later shot her and the kid to death. I don’t know if I’m pregnant yet, but I committed a forbidden act regardless. Especially because the Missel family died out with Phillip Missel’s death. What if I gave birth to a descendant of his now? That would be a serious problem. Even though I’d been taught plenty of ways to refuse and make excuses. But… <“I want to talk about a number of things.”> When he said that with such a serious look on his face, there was nothing I could say. We sat on the bed together and he told me how he was in the Resistance and what his plans were. I had learned in the future what would become of everything he was talking about. But the entire time I listened to him, I stared at the right arm he was resting his cheek on. He had gotten that injury protecting me during the Heavy Barrel battle at the school festival. I’m so weak-willed. I shouldn’t have let that bother me and I should have ignored what would happen to him and just kicked him out of my room. I had plenty of reason to do that. But there was only one reason why he had been there. For the first time in a while, I realized how little independence I had. When I thought about it, I realized that my grandma had used my curiosity to push me into going to Paris. I needed to stand up for myself more. And if I could stand up for myself, maybe I could have asked for what I wanted instead of just letting him take the lead last night. “You can do whatever you want as long as you’re gentle.” That’s not asking for what I want. I bet he thought I was cute as could be when that little shriek escaped my lips after he touched my butt. Although he was pretty cute too. I couldn’t believe how dumb that was, but I let him do it because I knew he was just trying to be nice. He never talked much and he isn’t the type to compliment people, but maybe that was what made this all so hard. I’m not sure. I hope my waist and whatnot looked okay. If only I had a perfect body like Rosetta. But what was I thinking when he rolled me onto my stomach so he could see everything? And what was I thinking when he held me to lift up my hips and I held him back? I’m not sure. I may have only been thinking about making sure I didn’t scream. He may have been thinking the same thing. I bet we were both hurting each other without thinking we were doing anything wrong. But at the same time, we were begging each other to gradually close the distance that had developed between us. I wish I had asked him why he protected me during the Heavy Barrel battle. That may have resolved some of my doubts. But it’s too late now and it wasn’t really the time for questions like that. I feel no guilt about what I did. Is that a bad thing for someone who came here to help the world? But when he held me close, when he placed the dirty dress back in the box, when we fell asleep together, and when I ineptly made him some breakfast, I knew what mattered most: that I would never forget this world and that it would always be important to me even after I said goodbye to them all. When I confessed I had lost the ring, he just rubbed my head without saying a word. Maybe physical things like rings aren’t what matter. And I realized something while writing all this. I want to be a part of this era. I didn’t sleep with Phillip out of pity because I know he’s going to die. I never would have let him go all the way if that was why. These things are important to me too. And there are some things you have to do because they’re important. ### Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 It is now 4 PM. We are riding the mountain train to Autun. A lot happened. Before lunch Lady Beretta suddenly started crying while writing. I asked what the matter was but she only lowered her head to the side table and shook her head without responding. Lunchtime was delayed by an hour. She had stopped crying by the time we ate a late lunch. She instead seemed lost in thought while staring out the window. We arrived at Dijon at 2:10 PM. The train to Autun left half an hour late. The Seine had vanished from view and the distant mountain range was growing closer. Seeing the many trees reminded me of a dream I had once had. The land formed a slope and the trees grew as thick as a wall. I could also see the extremely blue expanse of the sky overhead. I could see the entirety of heaven and earth at once. The blue sky. The green earth below the trees. The blowing wind. I suddenly recalled a certain song. That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. I recited the lyrics and Lady Beretta looked up in surprise. Lourd de Écrivains of every country apparently sang that song in their own tongue. She told me they showed mutual respect by singing it together when they were no longer enemy and ally. It felt like a shame if only Lourd de Écrivains could sing it. Lady Beretta apparently intends to stay at an inn at Herlde. We will be staying there for nearly a month but she says she can afford it. She must not want to stay in her mother’s house. I wonder why. When I want to see someone I want to see them right away. I want to be right there with them. Is that a difference between us? Or does it mean I still have a long way to go before I am human? I do not know. I will close my journal without finding an answer. The sun is setting. The color of the heaven and earth is changing. I should be able to see the sunset in another half hour. I want to see it. I can continue watching the forest and mountains from this train for two and a half more hours. ### Letter from Sword Lady #11: To Beretta who Inherited my Name Are you reading this, Beretta who inherited my name? The dawn of August 1, 1998, will soon arrive for me. That is precisely 54 years after the Resistance uprising in Paris. If you are reading this 11th letter, it must be June there. I am writing all of these letters in a single night, but you will read them over the course of a year. After I write two more, I will wake you up and have you prepare for your journey to Paris. But June, huh? So is the Normandy Landing over? I imagine you will have found my mother’s home by then and you will probably have done one thing you shouldn’t have. And you know what that one thing is, don’t you? Women keep a lot of secrets and most of those are things they should not have done. Now, will you listen to an old lady’s old story about something she shouldn’t have done? You might not believe it, but I was quite popular when I was in Paris. I turned a lot of heads at school. (Trust me.) There was someone I cared for then, but I was worried about my mission and the importance of the information I was acquiring at the time, so I was never able to be with them. There were a few misunderstandings, but I eventually fled to the US and that person was Formatted. It’s all a nostalgic old memory now. They must still be living in Paris to this day, but they will be so much younger than my 54 years and they will not remember me. You may not remember my husband who died of Words Warn. He was a kind soldier who looked after the spies like us when we returned to the US and he worked harder than anyone to liberate France after it closed itself up. Soon after France closed up, I told him I wanted to meet that person who was still inside France. But that wish was never granted and, as our age diverged further and further from France’s, attempting liberate it was forbidden as it would destroy our world. When it was discovered how to send things inside of France, I learned my presence had been erased as I was not caught in the Format. That meant I no longer had any real reason to enter France. I feel so bad for grumbling about that just a month before my husband died of Words Warn. I wanted to meet that man as he was in ’44, but that can never be. He no longer remembers me and I have grown old. This story is not especially sad. Thousands or tens of thousands of similar stories can be found all around the world. And not just among the French. The soldiers deployed to Normandy for Operation Overlord and the soldiers who entered France from the south for Operation Dragoon did not return either. Our present era exists by rejecting them all instead of protecting them. It’s hard to accept sometimes. Am I really a Knight Striker, Beretta? This has gotten gloomy, hasn’t it? But this paper and ink are valuable, so I’m not going to rewrite it all. Have you met my mother? Like we discussed before, she and I had not seen each other for more than 14 years at the time. If you pretend to have forgotten what she looks like and play the delinquent daughter – with a focus on asking why she abandoned my father Jack McWild and me – you should manage. Make sure to give her my letter. Also, Beretta, are you going to Bourgogne like you always wanted? That land gave birth to a “strongest” that should be quite familiar to you. You like to pretend to act recklessly despite how cowardly you really are, so I suggest taking a look at that area and thinking about some things. I hope you find the beginning of your journey in the French outdoors I never visited. I hope you find what it is you can do in France. At this point, you can start acting based on what you want to do. Once you finish the task I set for you, you only have your own wishes left to guide you. So try to take it easy. ### Sign in Front of Autun Station in the Bourgogne Region Distance to Herlde: 8 Miles. Inn and clinic available. ### Beretta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #2 This really got to me. I didn’t expect to be writing such a hopeless second entry after such an emotional first entry. I am standing in front of the burnt-down remains of Herlde’s inn. The inn was built on an elevated area of ground with a nice view, so I am writing this by the beautiful moonlight. The dreary village of Herlde is visible down below. Based on the location of the lights, I can tell the houses were all built at least 200 yards apart. The inn apparently burnt down after some gas from underground ignited last year. Only the inn’s foundation and columns remained, so it’s kind of creepy looking. I pulled her away. Reading the “keep out” sign more carefully, I found out gas tended to build up belowground here and the village had started using that as a boiler. It was rare to use gas as a fuel instead of Phlogiston. But this was no time to be admiring that. It was about 8 miles from Autun to here. It was 9 at night, but I wasn’t sure if we should head back or not. I hadn’t been taught about areas as remote as this back in ’98, so this really ruins my plans. I’m a little worried, but maybe we should just go to Rose Francisca’s house. Should I head there and greet her as coldly as a daughter might after staying away for 14 years? Well, I have Rosetta with me, so it should work out. Rosetta is… Come to think of it, Sein Fraus use spirit stones as components for their bodies. Until 1935 when it was discovered the moon was made of spirit stone, no one knew why spirit engines resonated so wildly with moonlight. Spirit stones are made when ether (the substance that forms space) hardens without carrying a Live Message. I’ve heard that so many monsters and gods have some connection to the moon because they were created from the combination of people’s imagination and ether. That is why they grow more powerful the more their form is feared or imagined and why they can manifest their own willpower as a physical force. Humans can do the same, but our power is apparently extremely weak. But on the other hand, humans can use our own power on our own no matter the situation. Does Rosetta exist in the realm of imagination as well? Humans are energized by the moonlight too, but she seems to be experiencing a bit of a high. She does not seem remotely tired from the journey. This trait will remain even after she becomes fully human. As she evolves, the spirit stones will be absorbed into her body and their power will not be erased. They are a crucial part of ensuring her evolution does not fall apart. So she thinks that’s best too, huh? But, Rosetta, if you respond to the moon and thus exist in the realm of imagination, it might be a truly incredible thing that you can evolve into a realistic human. You get the best of both worlds that way. The mountains are cold and dangerous at night. We need to get moving soon. ### Entrance Placard at Herlde’s Francisca Clinic: To Visitors The clinic is currently closed due to an emergency patient. ### Letter Left by Beretta: To Lady Rose Francisca We arrived in Herlde on business and had nowhere to stay. The night is growing late, so I apologize, but I think we will be using your shed to shelter ourselves for the night. Tomorrow, after we have finished our business, we will search for somewhere else to stay, so please forgive us. ### Rose Francisca’s Journal The two of them arrived just now, so I am writing this in the hidden room I fixed up in a hurry. The room contains my Correcteur supplies, my personal prophecy calendar I began making on August 6, 1943, this journal, and the Correcteur emblem necessary for the ceremony that will allow me to leave behind my memories when I die. I cannot let them see any of that if I am to play the ignorant mother. I found they had arrived when I returned from one of my usual house calls. They are sleeping in the shed. Based on how filthy their shoes are, they must have walked the unfamiliar mountain road to reach the village. I could immediately tell which one was Beretta. She looks a lot like I used to. My daughter has brown hair like him, but this Beretta has blonde hair like I used to. And she has a habit of holding onto things in her sleep like my daughter and I both have. The other girl has evolved surprisingly far. Dealing with them is not looking easy. When I first speak with them, should I play it nonchalant or should I scold her as my delinquent daughter? Thinking about all this is reminding me of my college days. I learned medicine in Paris and acted in the school festival play. Come to think of it, I met him and Monsieur Guilliaum in the library there. I was a new intern and they were soldiers facing a coming war. How many years ago was that? With 25 extra years of memories added on, I am actually 22 years older than Monsieur Guilliaum who was 3 years older than me at the time. Will I perform that ceremony again this year? Will I use that Correcteur technique to die before the Primitif, stop the movement of my Formules, and pass my memories on to my next iteration? If I do that, it means I do not believe in those girls sleeping in my shed. But I also feel like death is a form of atonement for me. This is a serious transgression. My daughter outside this world will be erased by that girl. I am also worried about Monsieur Guilliaum. I know what will happen when the Resistance has its uprising in Paris. I know it will happen on August 1 and that the Resistance will lose. I did not tell him that because the Resistance’s defeat is necessary for the Beretta sleeping in my shed. She learns what it means to protect people during that doomed uprising, not here in Bourgogne. And through that, she will want to liberate France. But I have not told Monsieur Guilliaum any of this. Everything is following my prophecies. But there are people who will push back if I force those prophecies onto them. Monsieur Guilliaum is that sort of person. I must guide things so my prophecies do not fall apart. I know they face certain defeat, but I must not tell them so. I will pass on the prophecies that will aid the liberation of France, but I will not pass on the ones that will not. Even when I know staying silent will lead to a great many victims. Does it make me a weak person to feel guilt over this? The coming days are sure to be taxing. I need to think of that pain as atonement and remain cheerful. Tonight, I will double check my prophecies and then go to sleep. Even if these prophecies are really just a collection of fragments gathered from the glimpses of the future I read from the Formules of time, the former history I learned from M. Schrier, and the memories I received from my previous iteration. ### Prophecies: A Series of Fragments July 10: An earthquake renders a portion of the mountain pass and mountain railroad impassable. It becomes impossible to leave Morvan. July 28: The mountain railroad is repaired by the residents of Autun. Beretta and Rosetta depart for Paris. July 30: Heinz Berge appears in Nevers of Western Morvan and hurries back to Paris. The Resistance’s Paris Branch responds by setting the date of their uprising for August 1. July 31: After receiving word of the mountain pass’s collapse from Heinz Berge on the 30th, the German military works on repairing the mountain pass. August 1: The Paris uprising fails. The Resistance scatters and hides inside Paris and on the outskirts. Same Day: While participating in the uprising, Beretta witnesses Phillip Missel’s death. Afterwards, she remains hidden in the Balleroy Mansion. August 2: The mountain pass to Autun is repaired. Recovery around Herlde begins. Same Day: The German military unit working on the recovery in the Nevers Region is attacked and obliterated by a black dragon. August 3: After devouring the German troops stationed in the mountain pass, the black dragon destroys Herlde. August 4: An advance Allied unit and the French Resistance meet near Paris. August 5: The Paris Branch of the German military places a blockade around Paris and focuses on defending Paris. Same Day: While Beretta remains in the Balleroy Mansion, Rosetta finds Phillip Missel’s ring for her. After some discussion between the two of them, they decide to fight once more and seek liberation. “So we never let anyone’s death repeat again.” Beretta becomes aware she is my daughter. August 6: A combined Resistance force led by the Allies attacks the blockade early in the morning. Same Day: Beretta leaves the Balleroy Mansion in a Lourd de Marionnette with Rosetta in the copilot seat. They battle Heinz Berge on the way, but it is ended by a bullet from the handgun carried by Rosetta. They continue to the airport and destroy the transport plane carrying the Wort Bombe. Same Day: The survivors of the Resistance’s Paris Branch respond to what they have seen. They all begin to fight with a spirit of liberation, their strong desire for liberation breaks France’s own Signe of wanting to close itself off, and France is liberated. ### 377. Chapter 22: Earth 08/06/1944 Always And forevermore ### August 6, 1944 ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x120.” I… Recréaed. Jumping over the mansion’s roof was a lot easier than I expected. My memories know how to use this body. Most likely, those are my foundational memories as an Attesor Belle de Marionnette. She seems to know that it is me inside the Protected Empress. Just like I could always tell it was her inside a Lourd de Marionnette. I’m so happy. I may have been a terrible older sister so far, but now it’s my turn to protect my younger sister. This will be my first time doing that. This will probably turn me into a different person. From someone who was always protected to someone who can protect. The two are different. They seem entirely different, but they are both me. I’ve thought about something similar before. It’s like the difference between a comma and a period. I kind of get the difference now. A period is always placed at the very end of a sentence, but with a comma, the writer is free to place it wherever they think it should go to add in a breath and make things easier for the reader. A comma is not a period because you are free to place it where you want instead of following mechanical rules. That means I was mistaken about something. I used to think Lady Beretta was like a period, but she is not. And neither am I. That is the same thing I always felt about her. I do not think that will happen. Because I have been given the greatest power for protecting people. I believe I can protect her and myself. He tosses aside his broken shield and looks up at me with his sword in his right hand.> I can sense his gaze on me. I know this battle will make me into a new person. The only other thing I have to write about is my master. I can tell now that he avoided making me human because he thought it would only bring me sadness. Thank you for that. Jack McWild was my father, but I will Signe here that my true parents were Guilliaum Balleroy and the nameless Belle de Marionnette who was by his side. Now, to get started. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x120.” I have encountered a new enemy. I have never before seen this female Grösse Panzer, but the shape of the armor suggests it is of American design. “The current time is 05:16:28.” I rush toward it. The time it takes to make a single step is horribly long with my accelerated thoughts. The nerves of my prosthetic body have already been accelerated thanks to the previous scuffle. I take a step forward, bringing me through the gate. My first step within crushes the four o’clock flowers growing in the garden there. The sensation of the flowers, leaves, and stems being crushed reaches me 120 times more slowly than for a normal person. I sense how soft each individual flower is, how damp with dew the leaves are, and how the stems audibly snap. The mixture of sensations reaches my sensory devices through my metal foot. Why? Why do I sense it all so vividly? The name “four o’clock flower” brings something to mind. A memory? Did something happen in a memory I can no longer recall? Crushing the flower may have only lasted a second in real time, but with time sped up 120 times, it lasts around 2 minutes for me. The memory returns to me while I essentially relive the sensation 120 times in a row. I recall the faces of a woman and a girl. I recall what I have become. I recall the flower. I recall a scream. Why do these things bother me so much? And what started this? Was it that earlier spear attack? That attack was identical to the one I took in Bourgogne 25 years ago, but unlike then, it failed to reach me. But in that case, why are all these feelings coming back to me? Could it be that attack- ### Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Geschäftlich Schrif The Psyche Outer device installed in the cervical vertebrae was damaged in the previous fall. It is now malfunctioning. 13% probability of safe memories resurfacing. Reconnecting in 0.00000013 seconds. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x130.” The memories are rushing back to me through the Grösse Panzer. I remember now. All of my senses are filled with emotion and willpower. At the same time, the pain I had been rejecting from the Panzer is hitting me directly. The Psyche Outer device was cutting off all this feedback from the Panzer. But that is fine. I have my emotions, my willpower, and the memories to support them. My memories tell me everything. Belia. Susanna. Those are the names of my wife and daughter. I lost them and then chose to join the Panzer Ritter Project. Because of the scream I wanted to- No, a Panzer Kavalier should not write that. This Panzer in front of me must be piloted by a completed product of the Attesor Project. She can draw out the Panzer’s full power using her willpower and emotions. And the girl who left the previous Panzer is one I have encountered a few times before. Did you know the truth this whole time? No point in asking. But…my past, please let me redo things just once more. Let me reach a new conclusion to that loathsome battle that was settled when my opponent lost control. I have everything I lacked back then. I have the power to use the Panzer to its fullest, the experience to make rational decisions, the willpower to no longer fear my scream, and the emotions to push me to fight. So for the very first time, I can truly use all of my strength. “Wide-Range Vision Enhancement: Lernen” I have the vision needed to view both heaven and earth. “Armor Configuration ‘Normal Drive → Full Power Attack’: Lernen” Memory and function – willpower and machine – struggle for control of it all. “Preparing max power from all systems: Lernen” I will use max power to show the ultimate respect for the ultimate opponent. “Full Drive Ready: Lernen” ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x137.” My opponent has activated his Excède Emblème. I do not know what an Excède Emblème is, but my foundational memories tell me and activate my willpower. My foundational memories have decided that is dangerous and that I need to prepare to fight back, so all sorts of information reaches me after a short delay: how to keep the optimal distance, how to intercept attacks, how to use my weapon, and that I too can use an Excède Emblème. I immediately make up my mind. I choose to fight. I choose to protect Lady Beretta at my feet, my master in the mansion, Mallette, everyone else I know, everyone else I do not know, and everyone I will ever meet. I need strength and mobility for that. For some reason, the words needed to achieve that come from my foundational memories in English. In the language of America, home of Jack McWild. “Activate Full Drive for all weapons and functions.” I will end this!! ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x137.” The enemy activates her Ober Emblem. She is a female warrior – or perhaps the goddess Marianne – with a massive spear launcher on her right arm. Beautifully curved armor can be seen below her armored combat dress. It is a splendid Ober Emblem and it reminds me of the one I once saw in the past. Not its shape – its nature. It is a body born of the machine and of the empty air’s ether and fueled by her willpower and emotions. I pressurize my output to 21 times to fight back. All of my actions will now exist in the supersonic realm. Can she keep up with this? Can she handle this? I had eliminated all my emotions and willpower to make my power the strongest, but now I move forward. I stand on the battlefield that is the hill in front of the Balleroy residence. I approach and the enemy’s eyes respond to my movement. But she does not move. Yes, her reaction speed may be high enough, but her movement speed is a different story. A Grösse Panzer’s speed is influenced by the Schreibener’s ability and imagination. Sein Frau, you may have combined with a Grösse Panzer far more powerful than my own, but do you have the experience needed to activate that power? If not, you are no match for me. I shall cut you down in a single blow. The grip of my heavy cleaver rests in my right hand. I do not raise it or ready it – I simply attack. It must have hit. Did you outdo my Lernen? Then do you carry as much power output as me? I see. I can guess she has no experience using this power, but she has memories of it. I pursue her. I use that chance to move several steps closer. I make a powerful attack from below. Are you tackling me? It is too late for that. I will slice through you first. Well played. That was a splendid attack. She seems to understand the value of forward movement. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x138.” My body moves however I want. My willpower is moving my body. My surroundings move so slowly, I can see the wind, the dust and dirt appear to me as individual grains, and it takes 30 seconds or more for the glass shards to drop to the ground. I am moving within all that. The metallic vibration is a pleasant thing. This may be how I was always meant to sense things. Speed. Impacts. Steel. Reflexes. Willpower and emotion. I am a Belle de Marionnette developed to need those things. I was born to fight, but I was not raised to fight. I am a fortunate machine. So I see so many unrelated things while I fight. I can see it so clearly. I can see the outside world. I can see. I either dodge those or deflect them with my shield. Our reactions and movements have reached perfection, so there are no openings to take advantage of. We have created a series of actions that only the two of us could follow. Is this something like a dance? I never did get to participate in the dance at the school festival. I hope it is. The noises roaring in my ears act as the music. Our dodging and leaping act as the dance steps. We make forceful turns, we do not take each other’s hand, and there are no rules. We simply move in the hopes that our hand can reach our opponent. So much cannot be heard as sounds. So much cannot be seen with the eyes. I entrust my body to all of those things to move in a way I never have before. My entire body rejoices. I feel tension but also fulfillment as I accelerate myself further and further. “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x145.” Faster, sharper, stronger. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x145.” She is fast. My output is already fixed at a rate of 21 times, but she is matching that. Who is she? Who in the world is she? I thought the Attesor Project ended in failure and was abandoned. Yet here she is fighting like this. There is no hesitation, joy, fear, or anger in her actions. She only seems to be testing herself as she matches my every move. I can tell her power is growing with each and every attack. Can she go further? Can she carry this even further? She fights like a baby bird testing out its wings. That is a good Panzer. More than that, she must have powerful willpower and emotions. I wish I could meet her. If she is an Attesor Project Sein Frau, then she must be 25 this year. That is about the age my daughter would be if she were still alive. I had forgotten all about that until just now. Did you say your name was Rosetta, combat Sein Frau? Until now, I had forgotten all about my daughter and about you. But no more. Answer me. Answer me on this battlefield surrounded by flowers and in this territory only we can reach. Answer me through our memory banks of Lernens and Verbesserungs. Answer me, Belia and Susanna – my wife and daughter who exist only in my memories now. Can I protect you two? Can I continue on without forgetting you? Answer me. Answer me, product of the Attesor Project. What does it mean to truly be the strongest? Is it what I have been doing all this time? Or is it something you have yet to show me!? ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x142.” Oh, no. My foundational memories were unable to prepare me for that. The ground crumbled below my feet and I lost my balance. The dance stops and this opponent will not overlook that. I need to dodge it. ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x148.” I launch an attack. And I step forward as if to break through the barrier of air. I break through the barrier of raging air. I complete the horizontal swing of my heavy cleaver. What is she doing!? Well played again. But now you have no weapon. Your left arm is broken at the shoulder and your right arm has lost its spear and broken too. Time to finish this. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x128.” I need to steady myself. I can tell he is watching me. Enough silence has passed to count it using ordinary units. One second, then two. He is not moving. Today will probably be a sunny day. In true August fashion, it should also be a hot day. I want to hear it. <“Attesor Sein Frau Rosetta, can you hear me?”> I can only nod because my body has no voice device. Is he readying an attack? If so, there is something I wish to say to you too. I cannot do so vocally as I lack a mouth, but I will write it here in this memory bank. You can make this final attempt, but I will not give up. I will demonstrate for you why the Attesor Project was said to be the strongest. I will demonstrate a level my predecessors never could reach. I will show you why only Belle de Marionnettes could be used for the project. I will show you why I am the final product and what my master belatedly told me about the Attesor Project. Here he comes. There is but one thing I must do in response. I swing my left arm to pick up what I had noticed earlier. Yes, the sword that Lady Beretta’s Lourd de Marionnette had dropped. And!! ### Heinz Berge’s Schreiben: Entry in Grösse Panzer Rot Löwe’s Memory Bank “The current Schreiben reaction speed is approximately x145.” My will is ordering me to continue forward, so I take a step with a cloud of water vapor trailing behind me. Instead of walking normally, I spread my legs to the side and run down the slope like I am mountain climbing. I pick up speed in a mere three steps, transforming Rot Löwe into a 30-ton projectile. Then I jump. The sonic boom created by my Panzer destroys everything around me. I aim to jump approximately 100 yards. My path will take me right through the enemy and I will use the road outside the gate as my landing runway. I make the jump. If she thinks she can stop this, then she can try. Let’s see if the Attesor Project has any more tricks up its- Does she plan to counterattack with the Third Flame Emperor? That is not possible. My speed is so much greater. This is not my first time seeing more ether surrounding an Ober Emblem. This should not be possible. Ober Emblems are fixed. Once they activate, no further ether can be emitted. Yet she is doing it. I have seen this before. When the Sourire lost control in Bourgogne, light surrounded it in much the same way! Is that- I remember now. When a Sein Frau evolves, she gains whatever functions she desires. It scores a direct hit. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x100.” It all happens in an instant. Fortunately, I dismantled a simple gun and inspected how it worked earlier today. The Liberator was crudely made, but it came in handy. When the flame spear hit him, he lost the entirety of his right arm, but he still refused to fall. He had lost some momentum, but at the instant he crashed into the ground, he kicked off with his right leg. He adjusted his positioning without giving any thought to the recoil that would hit his limbs and frame. The wind whipped up and he somehow managed to avoid falling. Two minutes have passed like that. But I have not removed my Excède Emblème. I am waiting. Waiting for him to stand up. What does that matter? We still have not found an answer. We still have not discovered what it means to be the strongest. Is this it? He just fell again. The wind is blowing through. The pleasant morning air arrives through the brick city. Can he stand? Our eyes meet. Yes, I know exactly what to do when that happens. I catch him in my arms. It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I believe he is speaking German, but I recognize the rhythm. It is the final section of the song Lady Beretta taught me: So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. Yes, yes. Your grief and everything else are over now. I heard what you had to say, so rest now. So that you may stand back up someday. It is now over. ### Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Phrase Canceling full-body Excède Emblème. Shifting back to standard mode. ### Rosetta’s Recréa: Entry in Lourd de Marionnette Protected Empress’s Memory Bank “The current Recréa reaction speed has been set to approximately x3.” My Excède Emblème is gone now. I am so, so very tired. The dawn still has not arrived as I stand in the garden as a Lourd de Marionnette, which is what I was always meant to be. Is Lady Beretta okay? I climb the hill to find out. And… She looks up at me. She does not know that I am an Attesor Project Belle de Marionnette. And she has thought a lot about what it means to be a Lourd de Écrivain. And I have- I can only nod since I have no voice device. I consider canceling my Recréa, but I do not know what I am supposed to say to her when I do. <“Also, I’m not really sure how this happened, but you’ve Recréaed into that thing and…” She briefly looks over at my master and then back at me. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”> My strength leaves me and I fall to my knees. I recall that it was always like this. Even at the school festival’s closing ceremony. Whenever I would ask her something important, she would answer in the same way. <“That’s just how it is, Rosetta.”> I do not know if that was just my memory replaying or if she actually said it again. But it makes me cry all the same. I look up to the sky and cry. I have no voice and there are no actual tears, but I am crying. I do not have to consciously try to cry. I simply know the tears are flowing. What do I think? <“Can you trust everyone? We only have about 5 minutes until it goes off, so it has to be a quick decision. So if you can’t trust everyone, then hurry into that forest to stop the Wort Bombe. But if you can trust them, let it go off while we leave from these gates to go meet everyone. So what do you think?”> I know exactly how I should respond to her serious look, but am I really allowed to say this? When I carry the power of a weapon? They almost seem to be waiting for me. Or inviting me outside. I think about Lady Beretta who is right there next to me. And I sense just how calm my thoughts are. I think about my own body. I pushed myself really hard, so can I really still move like normal? I can hear all their voices. Yes. Yes, I understand. I know what they are thinking. And I know how to respond to Lady Beretta as well. I cannot speak right now, but I can provide a much clearer answer. I stand up and my willpower moves my body. I will go too. There is nothing to fear now. The two Fantasmé Renards lead the way and Lady Beretta accompanies me. I am sure the man I fought just now will join us eventually. Always forevermore, we will fight to protect someone. ### 378. Final Chapter: Open 08/06/1944 I believe ### August 1, 1944 ### Rose Francisca’s Journal The current time is 8:27 AM. I am still alive in a room at Autun’s general hospital. When I woke up yesterday and checked my calendar, I was shocked to see the time of the Primitif had already passed. It had not reset to September of ’43. The Rondeau has been broken. And without anyone noticing. Everything outside of France has been reverted and linked to August 6, 1944 – which I guess counts as a Primitif for the outside world. France had no Primitif, it has been returned to its original time period, and it has reconnected to the rest of the world. Only a few people besides me are aware of this. The sun is shining outside. I wonder what those two girls are doing in that light. They haven’t contacted me, but I hope they are doing well. I learned yesterday that the Germans fully surrendered in Paris on the 24th and the people view those two as heroes, but they still returned to the front line to rescue a friend from being transported to a German concentration camp. The newspapers say Paris was liberated and the rest of France followed suit, but no one has noticed the other liberation that occurred behind the scenes. But I know. France was truly liberated. From here on, World War Two will pass through France and pour into Germany. An uncharted future now awaits us. There is nothing more for me to do. I had the nerve to act like a prophet, but once I woke up yesterday, the mayor was there by my side and he immediately yelled at me for what I did. And the rest of the village see me as a perfect target of gossip. Maybe that’s just how it is. But one thing does sadden me: My true daughter must no longer exist. France’s liberation required her erasure as payment. I think I will read his letter now. The one my daughter left with her other self. So- ### Jack McWild’s Letter: To Rose I don’t think I need any of the introductory formalities here. I also expect this letter isn’t really necessary. If it does come in handy, that must mean I failed to complete my fight. Then this letter will be the only thing to bring back together the liveliest women I have ever known by clearing up all the misunderstandings. Rose, I plan to go visit you soon. There is something I must tell you: we have two daughters. One is Beretta who has currently gone to the beach to have some fun. The other is a girl who has yet to fully become our daughter. She is currently staying with a good friend of ours. If I complete my fight, then I plan to raise her along with that friend. You do not know her, but you should understand once you meet her. She has inherited your name and your will, so she might as well be Beretta’s big sister. I am certain you will know what I mean once you meet her. I must tell you about that and that Beretta is growing up big and strong. If the world ever finds true peace or if my fight here proves to be no more than a misunderstanding, then I will go see you and eventually bring our two daughters to you. I am sure they will both choose to call you their mother. So first, I want to see you. What are you doing now? I heard from a friend that you returned to your hometown in Bourgogne after leaving Paris. I know you are there, so I don’t have to worry about your past or where you have gone. I hope that you can remain true to yourself there. Are you staying true to yourself by being the Rose Francisca who always works to help others? I hope you are. And I hope our two daughters can as well. I hope they can fight for someone else’s sake always and forevermore. And that they will never feel the need to suppress who they are. I believe they can grow up to be someone who only thinks about bringing happiness to all and never has to think about hurting anyone. Rose, can you believe in them and support them? I want to meet you and discuss our future. So I will gather my luggage and pay you a visit. I swear I will. ### Closing Statements The rest, as they say, is history, so reference your history books for what happens next. This is not the place to explain what destiny awaited them after that. But I will say that the Missel family did not die out and a certain Belle de Marionnette factory in San Francisco remains in business. They rescued me from a train headed for Auschwitz, so I was able to see the end of the war. The Protected Empress and Grazie vanished somewhere in history afterwards, but none of us ever forgot what they did for us. Let us look at one section of the Lourd de Écrivain song: “So that no one would grieve again. “That which is endless and cannot be grasped. “That which is vast and cannot be held. “I am with thee.” One of the documents I have gathered is a photograph of those two girls wearing the dresses they tried on at a boutique. This proves they did indeed exist. It might not be a bad idea to Signe here that the alternate history described here was indeed real and the world was indeed remade. - Mallette Harculia, Representative of the Perdus Artifice Compilation Editing Committee from the Modern Division of the French Royal Historical Society ### 379. Afterword Someone once gave me a suggestion. “I think it’s about time you wrote a City novel for beginners. In fact, just do it.” I responded like I was a high school girl. (Well, a bad and outdated imitation of one.) “Yeah, so, like, Berlin or whatever? That sounds hella rad.” “Never do that again. So will you consider writing one? By which I mean, go write one.” “Fine, I’ll make a Berlin one.” And so now we have Berlin as the start of the series’ second season. Since this is the 1st City, I wanted to make sure you could start reading here, so I included explainers for the important terminology and went with brand new characters. In general, I guess I wanted this to be a version of the City Series you could just pick up and read. (I got less and less confident about that as I was writing it.) Also, the world of the City Series is based on the idea that “anything goes”, so it has some unique aspects that differ from the real world and its history. Please keep that in mind. This story follows the hidden side of a Berlin that exists in something like a fairy tale world. So anyway, this is the beginning of the second season. It feels like it took me forever to reach this point, but it’s thanks to all of your support. Thank you so much. Now to call a friend like usual. “It’s finally your turn, H-kun. If there’s anything you want to say, then say it.” “Okay, then what’s with the 8-year age gap? Doing lewd things with a 15-year-old girl is a bit much even for me.” “Nothing like that is going to happen. I’m not writing this in my usual way…I think.” “Yeah, a likely story. I don’t trust you.” “Can we just move away from that topic please?” “Hmph, fine. T filled this section with jokes, so got any good ones?” “Okay, see you next week. Thanks for your time.” “Wow, that was a really forced way to end this. I’m impressed.” Oh, shut up. Let’s forget all about that by providing a few URLs to the cutting-edge internet. (Well, maybe it’s not so cutting edge anymore.) - Tenky (Where I work and the company that made the Osaka game) Homepage: - My Homepage (updated rarely): - Illustrator Satoyasu’s Homepage: My site is generally where I’ll put any information about City or post random thoughts or ideas, so stop by if you feel like it. Now, then. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (the fourth movement is really exhilarating, isn’t it?) might make for good background music this time. Performed by the Berlin Phil if I I’m being greedy. And with that, I’ll think on this question: “Whose answer was found?” Okay, the next one will be Berlin again. February 2000. A morning exploding in allergies. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu Page This might be sudden, but I like Schweitzer. I like his character and I just like how his name sounds. Is that really how you pronounce Hazel? Weird. -Satoyasu ### 380. Chapter 1: The Wind Hesitates 12/20/1937 09:00-09:38 Those who let them get away and those who chase after them are the same. But Why is it Only those who run away are seen as different? ### Berlin Map: Berlin A large city in northern Germany. Cold and cloudy weather continues year-round, but it has a stable climate thanks to the ocean currents. It was established in the 12th century, but it did not develop into a major city until the 17th century. In 1871, Germany was unified under Bismarck’s Prussia and Berlin was made Germany’s capital, but since it had little history of forging and no distinctive traits, Bismarck crowned Wilhelm I in 1871, declared Germany to be the Second Reich (with the First Reich being from the time of Charlemagne), and planned to modernize the city of Berlin. But before that transformation could be completed, German suffered defeat in World War One which was fought concurrently with England’s God-Demon War. Wilhelm II was subsequently forced into exile by a revolution. And a portion of the World War One reparations determined by the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to demilitarize, so Berlin lost its way. ### 381. Chapter 2: The Wind Activates 12/20/1937 22:22-23:13 I apparently need to escape I want to know why But no one will give me an answer I don’t like that one bit ### Ether and Lives The elemental theory proposed by the ancient scientist Thales created many misunderstandings in later years and it was believed until the Middle Ages that all things were formed from the four elements. But in the 12th century, the elemental breakdown discovered through alchemy suggested the Mono-Elemental Theory that said all things were created by a single variable element. A race to discover that single element began and, based on a 15th century phlogiston experiment gone wrong, it was theorized that an element existed that allowed space to transform in response to a set musical rhythm. The form that an area of space took was determined by a double helix array that could take hundreds of billions of forms and changing the array would change that space to something else. This could be used to create light, darkness, fire, water, and even gravity. Since this was discovered through the changes produced by sound and thus you were “telling” the space what to be, the singular element became known as “A Tell”. The pronunciation shifted over time and it is now spelled “ether”. Ether is the element that undergoes the change and Lives (or Tons in German) are the double helix array that determines what form it takes. ### 382. Chapter 3: The Wind Begins 12/20/1937 23:21-23:51 The battle begins And I am merely protected. He asks me What I meant when I said I don’t want to run away. ### Eingeweide Ausbildung A steel enhancement technique developed during the middle ages. A portion of the user’s body has its Lives broken down and combined with the created machine’s Lives to create a link between their willpower and the machine. The idea is said to have come from a Panzer’s Schreiben device. When the user focuses their willpower, the machine will react and emit ether into the surrounding space while also emitting an Erklärung text which triggers a Live transformation that rewrites the surrounding space. Their willpower and the machine textually rewrite reality. That process is known as Erklärung. There are two types of Erklärung: the Beweisen that is modifiable based on the machine and the Ober Beweisen that uses the user’s own Lives. The former is easy to use and can create a wide variety of effects, but it is weak. The latter can only have the one effect but is powerful enough to call a miracle. Also, the device must be the tool best suited to represent the user’s will. ### 383. Chapter 4: The Wind Runs 12/21/1937 04:00 – 10:01 When this question was asked in the past No answer was found due to a mistake But what about now? Do I know the answer? ### Berlin Conflict The military fought an internal conflict in 1935. It has since become known as the Armored Hammer of God Incident. For a mere week, the military fought over an emblem engine built at the Wagner Laboratory which was performing aircraft R&D for the military. An emblem engine was built using a spirit stone excavated from the Alfheim Meteor Crater in the Black Forest, where the lab was also located, that engine functioned as a semi-perpetual motion machine by refining and taking in ether from the surrounding space, and while the military hoped to use that technology to rise above the Geheimnis Agency, the developers P. Wagner and W. Talstrasse (with the assistance of E. Breuer) launched the aerial warship dp-XXX into space using that emblem engine. As a deterrent against the nations of the world, the dp-XXX announced itself an independent craft not affiliated with any nation. By ’37, it had chosen to wander mostly around America. ### 384. Chapter 5: The Wind Accelerates 12/21/1937 10:21 – 11:37 I will move To redo everything And this movement Will be a new thing For me ### Nonhumans A general term for all nonhuman beings with intelligence equal to or greater than humans. In addition to the standard monsters and fantastical beasts, it includes gods, demons, automatons, and intelligent dragons. Also known as Heidengeists in Germany. Their origin is as shrouded in mystery as the origin of humans and it is said many new species were created not just from the world’s World Concept Lives – the Lives that created the foundation of each new world as the world was repeatedly destroyed and remade – but also from people’s wills and from the dregs left by nature’s renewal process. They are found all over the world, but in Europe, most of them moved to England when so many people left it for the New World. England was enveloped in a special field making it a “fictional world” then and it became a country of nonhumans. The structure of their Lives tends to be more complex and sturdier than with humans, so their willpower can manifest itself more powerfully, they can reproduce with other species, and they have powerful regenerative abilities. ### 385. Chapter 6: The Wind Races 12/21/1937 13:02 – 15:13 I am caught in the current I understand just one thing Everyone but me here has some kind of power That is all I know ### Geheimnis Agency Diagram: Top: Knight Commander (Sofort Leser) Middle: Lieutenant Commander (Commander-in-Chief) Bottom: Fünf Leithammel (Army, Navy, Air Force, Development, Intelligence) Officially known as the Greater Germanic Reich Guardian Dragoons. They are said to be descendants of the volunteer knights who were led by the Messiah in the 10th century. After the Messiah incident, they left the Black Forest in southern Germany and participated in a crusade to allow the polytheistic Sagas and Edda to coexist with monotheistic Christianity. After that, they moved to the northeastern German land of Prussia as the Germania Dragoons where they fought external enemies from the north and east. When the Second Reich was established, they scattered across Germany and used their powers for national defense instead of invasion. However, they were kept separate from the military due to their unique fighting style and need for independent mobility and their very existence was kept secret to avoid provoking other countries any more than necessary. Their role as unseen guardians continued after the World War and, having abandoned their position as nobles, they urged Wilhelm II to go into exile and they returned Germany to a Hanseatic-style popular sovereignty. Once they managed to regather in 1920, they became a top secret national defense agency. ### 386. Chapter 7: The Wind Leaps 12/21/1937 15:29 – 15:54 Will I fight because I don’t want to run away? But before I can ask that The battle begins I am unsure who I am Am I the fighting craft? Or am I the person not doing anything? ### Panzerpolis Project Berlin is a young metropolis when compared to other nearby cities, so if attacked by another country, it is thought the city would be unable to achieve a form of defense unique to the country. The Panzerpolis Project led by the Geheimnis Agency was begun in the early 30s as a solution to that problem. The idea was to provide all people living on German land the power of Erklärung, but that power is limited to pure Germans. This led to the government and military oppressing other ethnicities and advocating a pure-blooded society starting in the 30s. Other preparations for activating the Panzerpolis Project were also made during this time. The project can be summed up with the following points: - Create a sense of impending doom and a need for a Messiah by bringing back the Unreif Germane. - Lead the people by using the Messiah as a symbol of national salvation. - Deter the other nations by bringing the Geheimnis Agency to the forefront. The details of the plan were meant to be announced along with the Greater Germanic Reich in ’38. ### 387. Chapter 8: The Wind Soars 12/21/1937 16:01 – 16:21 Prophecies? Species? Country? Myths? I still don’t understand any of that But I have realized what it is I want Of course All I’ve done is realize it But still ### Grösse Panzer A humanoid machine a level above both the Klein Panzer and the Mittel Panzer. Its every body part is built from machines providing functionality modeled after the human body and their designs are divided between male and female models. They are effectively mechanical humans without a will of their own. Their creation is often spoken of alongside the creation of Sein Fraus, so they likely originate from the same place. The pilot enters a cramped coffin-like room known as a Studio where all their body’s Tons are broken down, sent through the Grösse Panzer’s conduits, and combined with the Grösse Panzer’s own Tons. So instead of operating the Grösse Panzer, they become one with it. This is known as the Schreiben process. A weapon unique to Grösse Panzers is the Ober Emblem that uses emblems carved into the surface of the armor and other components to transform the machine. The Grösse Panzer’s Ton structure is altered to give it different functions and the process is later adopted for armor emblems and emblem bullets. ### 388. Chapter 9: The Wind Rises 12/21/1937 16:59 – 17:41 I think I will give an answer An answer to the question “Do you or do you not have the strength needed to give an answer?” ### Moon One useful fact was discovered during the Berlin Conflict of 1935. The moon’s identity was revealed through observations made by P. Wagner’s group. “The moon has a core made of spirit stone.” It has long been known that moonlight increases the power of Heidengeists and also abnormally increases the transformation efficiency of spirit fuel, which is created from spirit stones, sometimes to the point of losing all control. Spirit stones are a crystallized form of ether and their Ton structure is almost entirely unified and static, but when they resonate with something, their Tons will rapidly change, causing them to transform in some way. Thus, when exposed to moonlight, spirit stones and other ether products will resonate with the moon’s Tons since the moon is itself a giant spirit stone. ### 389. Part 1 The cold and powerful wind of the night never ceased blowing so far up in the sky. Nothing was immune to that wind’s force, so the thick clouds were held down from above, blocking off the light of the sky. It was a moonless night that left everything dark and indistinct. With the dark sky above and the pitch black ground below, only the sound of the blowing wind filled the space between those two shadowy expanses. The wind did not make just one sort of noise. The blowing, sweeping, and crashing winds all produced different noises that joined together in a deep harmony. The sky had air currents much like the currents of the ocean, giving mass to the air that caused it to rumble deeper the heavier that part of the air was. Without warning, a new sound joined the orchestra of roaring and soaring winds. It was the high-pitched and monotone blare of a siren. That note of warning brought tension as a single beam of light shot out from a point in the sky to illuminate the clouds. That was a searchlight. The highly directional beam came from what looked like a long, flat surface located just below the clouds. The light reflected back off the clouds just barely illuminated the crude boxy design of a metal aerial ship. There was nothing to judge its size by in the empty night sky, but the noise it made was enough to tell just how large it was. The crash of the wind against its metal hull was a deafening roar and it never was shaken as it soared through wave after wave of windy air. Its bow remained perfectly on course while it scattered the sound of the wind all around itself. The enormous ship was more than 200 yards long. Instead of one of the carrier ships developed after World War One, this was an old-style aerial warship loaded with main cannons. It was from the previous war, except the identification markers had been removed from its old-fashioned flat armored hull and – with the exception of the main cannons and secondary cannons on its deck – all weaponry had been removed and the holes sealed up with steel panels. The armor of the main cannons and secondary cannons did not quite match the color of the rest, so it must have been reequipped after the ship was disarmed thanks to the Treaty of Versailles. The steel warship was fulfilling its original purpose – it was fighting. But instead of the 3 mains cannons on its deck, it was firing into the clouds behind it using the three sets of triple 2-inch secondary cannons lined up next to the bridge. The firing angle was low and the bullets launched into the clouds drew the light of tracer rounds behind them. Something was in the clouds behind the aerial warship and that something was pursuing it. But that was not all. The number of searchlights increased. Dozens of them now shined up from the ship to illuminate a few points in the clouds. Similarly, the alarm blaring from the ship grew clearer and louder. Faint light gathered in the outdated (and thus very large) main engine at the rear of the ship. The same happened to the 5 sub-engines on either side of it. That ceremony would provide the ship with more speed, so the engines brightened their lights all together. The bottom of the clouds was illuminated by the light of the engines, creating a dark red ceiling above. The dark of the night had been broken as the ship accelerated while also making a turn. It veered left with a roar. The front starboard engines and the rear port engines revved up to make the turn. It was trying to escape while also securing a good angle of fire. It sped up below the heavy canopy of clouds, leaving the roar of the trembling wind behind. Speed was prioritized above all else as it continued through the night where the passage of time was hard to track. But the pursuer did not wait for the warship to reach max speed. The light shining on the clouds revealed the truth. The searchlights suddenly moved as the round disk of their lights drew a large arc along the surface of the clouds and circled in front of the aerial warship. Whatever was in the clouds had outdone the warship’s acceleration to move out ahead of it. A moment later, the pursuer burst from the clouds. ### 390. Part 1 Berlin’s mornings were chilly. A German cathedral at the center of the city rang its bell to indicate 9 o’clock, but the sun was still low in the sky and fog still hung over much of the city. Kantstrasse got a fair amount of sun as it cut through the center of the city from east to west, but it was still plenty cold. A fire truck’s siren sounded somewhere in the distance and the few people walking along the street had their collars pulled tight and held their shoulders to stay warm. The lights were on in the shops lining the street, but none of them kept their door open. However, there was one unusual place. An old two-story building stood on a corner lot that might as well have been the very end of the road and the diagonally hanging sign out front read “Used Books”. A motorcycle was parked out front and someone sat on the stone steps up to the frosted glass door. The young man was dressed all in black. His large coat and even his hair were black. The only other colors were the white of his skin, the blue of his eyes past his sunglasses, the red of the woman’s pendant hanging at his chest, and the white of the breaths leaving his mouth as he spoke. “I can’t believe I lost my key. Did I drop it in the Grösse Panzer I abandoned on the way here?” He sounded less troubled than you might expect. If anything, he sounded relaxed. “And the landlord never gets up until past noon. I swear I’m the second most unlucky person in the world.” Another siren began to sound in the distance. He looked around curiously, clearly wondering what had happened. His unspoken question did earn him response, though. It just came in the form of a cat’s meow. “…” The sweet voice’s owner walked over from his right along the used bookstore’s outer wall. It was a kitten with yellowish fur. It walked across the withered grass below the eaves, hopped up the stone steps one at a time, and came to a stop next to him. The cat sat down and raised its head to look up at the silent young man who carried such a dark atmosphere with him. When his eyes met those of the cat’s, he noticed its right eye was brown and feline, but its left eye was blue and had a round pupil. “Heterochromia? Do you come with pedigree document?” The cat responded by yawning, stretching, and shutting its eyes. It lay down and lazily curled up in a relieved sort of way. It must have been happy to find a spot in the sun. The man sighed at this unexpected visitor. “I don’t have any food for you. But if you want to make yourself useful, you could open this front door for me.” Just as he made that ridiculous request, he heard the quiet screech of brakes in front of the used bookstore. A black post office bicycle had stopped on the wide sidewalk. After a pause, he heard some footsteps and a young postal worker in ordinary clothes and a postal hat arrived in front of him. He bowed and then pulled two envelopes from his bag. “Um, are you Dog Berger? I, um, have two deliveries for you.” “You sound awfully hesitant to tell me this. Which can only mean trouble in my experience.” His comment was accompanied by a bitter smile and the postal worker smiled a little in response. “One of the two is two months late due to a delivery error. The thing is, Mr. Berger, it is addressed to this building but not to you.” “I’m the only one who lives here, though. But whatever. Just let me see it.” “I do apologize for the delay. But even that’s better than a Verlsten Brief from the Central Post Office’s archive, right?” “Yeah, it definitely beats one of those unopened letters from a thousand years ago.” The young man in black, Dog Berger, accepted the proffered letters without getting up. When he flipped the envelopes over to check the senders, his eyes narrowed. After a pause, he nodded. “This is for some friends of mine. I’ll make sure they get it.” The postal worker sighed with visible relief, said goodbye, and started to turn around, but… “Why are you sitting there?” “It’s the latest health fad. You see, I want to be the second healthiest person in the world.” “Not the actual healthiest?” “Me? The best in something? I don’t have that kind of confidence in myself.” “I see. Well, take care.” The postal worker looked puzzled, but he got back on his bicycle and rode off. After confirming the sidewalk up ahead was deserted once more, Berger looked down at the two envelopes in his hands. He frowned in a displeased way as he opened one of them. “My old upperclassman, huh?” He smiled bitterly before holding the letter overhead and quietly reading it aloud. “ ‘Hazel Mirildorf, age 15, female, broken out of Berlin’s general hospital, transport her to the Swiss border via Singen at 12/25 04:30. M. Schrier.’ …Hm, sounds easy enough.” Then he opened the letter that had its delivery delayed. “Dammit, Marsch. Her and the director’s house is gone, you know? …But this is from two months ago, huh?” His movements stopped along with the crinkling of the unfolding paper. With that sound gone, he was met with almost complete silence. Only the distant sirens ruled this place as the air seemed to rapidly freeze. The cat curled up on the step looked up at him. At the same time, he held up the letter to the sunlight. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home After reading those words, he smiled a little. “The 9th Section of the Ruling King from the Unreif Germane, huh? The Heidengeist Messiah, the dragon she commands, and someone with a divine name descend to the earth together. What in the world are you thinking, Marsch?” He soon heard a new sound. It was a vehicle, and a large one at that. It shook loudly from all the weight loaded onboard and its brakes sounded for an awfully long time before it came to a stop. “?” He looked up to see 6 men in green military uniforms leave the back of the military truck parked on the road. He blatantly frowned at this. “Hey, hey, hey, hey. What’s the meaning of this, huh?” They surrounded him while he protested. The six soldiers were middle-aged and muscular and the man in the center spoke with a deep voice. “We are from the army’s immigration department. You are Dog Berger, correct?” “Sorry, but you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m just your standard mystery Asian from the far-off land of Japan, so-” “You are under arrest as a possessor of inferior Tons – in other words, for being a nonhuman Heidengeist.” “Hey, don’t just ignore my masterful bullshitting!” “Silence. Again, you are under arrest.” “Do I really have to say it? Okay, fine. Do you honestly think you can do that? What proof do you have I’m a Heidengeist, anyway?” Despite the tense situation, Berger’s tone was extremely calm and he remained seated on the steps. The soldiers suddenly crouched down in preparation to fight. The surrounding air grew even tenser and the man in the center continued. “You failed to participate in the Berlin-wide blood test performed this April, but this October in Munich-” “Yeah, I had to get some blood drawn at the hospital. It’s a long story.” “You tested positive as a Heidengeist and any Heidengeist in the country is our business.” “So you’re gonna throw me in one of those Heidenheim concentration camps, brand me with a number, and place a seal on me, right? Then I would be made into a Phlogiston Platte since those are more efficient than direct Phlogiston, of course. And all to build up the foundation of your holy German Reich.” He laughed bitterly. “German land used to be surrounded by the Black Forest and protected by gods and Heidengeist, but ever since Bismarck established the Second Reich, it’s been nothing but human supremacy.” “Silence. Do not speak ill of our nation, ‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger.” Berger whistled at the mention of his Urban Name – or Titel as they were known in Germany. “Your reactions here had me suspicious, but that Titel clinches it. You know more about me than you’re letting on.” “You have made yourself something of an infamous figure. The plan was to arrest you under the peace preservation laws to be established when the Greater Germanic Reich is declared next April, but it seems the law has caught up to you today instead.” “Hey, hey, hey. Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch on the whole ‘me being arrested today’ thing.” With that, Berger stood up. It was a slow movement, but no one could stop him. He simply stood up and took a step forward. He looked the soldier in the eye and lightly poked at his chest. “Y’know, if my finger was a knife, you’d be dead right now. Dead and gone. Are you sure you’re serious about arresting me? And are you sure the methods that worked on other Heidengeists will work on me?” “S-silence!” All of a sudden, a giant form appeared from behind the used bookstore as if it had simply grown up from the ground on the right. “…!?” Everyone turned that way. A giant man in a black combat coat stood more than 7 feet tall and was equipped with an enormous prosthetic right arm. Below his short-cropped blond hair, his lips were clamped shut in a horizontal line until they moved to speak in a deep voice. “I apologize, but can this arrest wait? I must speak with this man. Immediately.” The six soldiers took a step back, overwhelmed either by his voice or his imposing height. The man in the center shrank down considerably as he asked a question. “Who are- wait, that uniform. It can’t be.” Berger provided the answer. “ ‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer of the Geheimnis Luftwaffe? It’s been two years since I last saw you. You worked your way up to Second Lieutenant yet?” The response to that contained a hint of pride. “I am a First Lieutenant.” “Well, I can see why they say you’ll be one of the next members of the Five Great Peaks or Fünf Leithammel or whatever they’re calling it. But anyway…” Berger pressed his back against the glass and slowly sat down. “Can you open this door for me?” ### 391. Part 1 In a small, dimly-lit room, the divine spell glow panel attached to the concrete wall provided a faint bluish-white light reminiscent of fireflies. That light revealed everything in the room as shadows. It had walls, a door, a bed, a bookcase, some luggage, and many wooden boxes scattered across the floor. A single person sat on the bed. The black-haired young man in a black shirt and pants was Berger. He still looked sleepy as he reached for the alarm clock sitting on the bed. He turned its display toward the wall’s glow panel to see where the hour and minute hands were. “11:22. I guess I really do have to head back out into the Berlin night to find Hazel Mirildorf, huh?” He yawned and worked his neck until it popped. He then nodded and stood up while scratching his head. He opened a largish wooden box on the floor nearby to reveal multiple changes of clothes contained inside. They included cold weather and mountain climbing gear, so they were not exactly everyday items. He easily pulled out what he wanted in the dark and then changed. First, he put on a kind of bulletproof armor called ASRA (Anti-Shock Reactive Armor). Over that, he wore a thick black shirt with latches on the shoulders and elsewhere. For pants, he wore mountain climbing ones with deep pockets. For a coat, he pulled out a researcher’s lab coat. Except that lab coat had a unique trait: it was black. The collar’s insignia of the Berlin university’s department for emblem research, the basic structure, the heat-resistance, and everything else were the same as a lab coat, so the color alone was different. Its dyed color was even darker than the shadows formed by the glow panel. “I guess this will be the last time I use this underground room. They’ll probably sniff it out,” he muttered while shutting the box. He took a breath and reached for an oblong wooden box next to the bed…but changed his mind. He sat back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling was a plain concrete square with a single bare lightbulb installed. He suddenly looked behind him. There was a lump in the bed’s blanket because there was still something below it. “I guess I should feed that cat. I was the one that brought it with me, after all.” He pulled back the blanket, expecting to find the cat curled up there. But for some reason, he instead found a naked girl sleeping there. ### 392. Part 1 Hard metallic sounds rang through the Berlin night. The loud clangs of steel sounded once, twice, thrice, and on and on without end. They grew into a complex cacophony but never did cease. The noises were also traveling quickly through the city. They currently rushed into the university at the center of Berlin. Solid metallic sounds continued from within the school with 13 tall and modern-designed buildings on its large campus. They showed no sign of stopping. Two new sounds came from the center of the courtyard surrounded by a circle of black cedar trees. One was a gunshot and one was an Erklärung. Bullet after bullet was fired from Bermark’s handgun as he ran through the center of the courtyard. All the bullets became glowing arrows that drew curving arcs to pursue his enemy. Those glowing arrows were directing their obvious hostility toward the young man in black carrying a girl under his arm. He spun around without a sound to dodge the auto-seeking arrows and knocked a few from the air with the hilt of Gelegenheit. But he was stuck on the defensive. The pursuer fired rapidly and reloaded in the blink of an eye. Bermark’s voice rang through the courtyard. “Is run all you can do, ‘Wild Hund’!? If you hope to defy me, then use those canine fangs of yours!” He dropped an emptied magazine and swung his right arm to produce a new one from within his sleeve. He grabbed it with his gloved hand and immediately loaded it. “Now, beat once more, Freischütz! Produce the beat of destructive gunfire for our great nation!” He rapidly emptied the new magazine. The gunfire scattering from the barrel took the form of bullets with unbelievable force. The curves of light bent to the left, right, top, and bottom to pursue the enemy as a heavy barrage. All of that attack power flew toward Berger, the young man in black standing in front of the large glass entrance of a school building with a girl under one arm. He did not even glance back at the incoming bullets as he adjusted his grip on the girl and spun around. He twisted his body as if in preparation to tackle, stuck his leg out, and kicked through the glass door behind him like his foot was a battle axe. The glass shattered and the chilly winter wind washed across him as he ran through the hole he had created. The girl in his arms cried out in surprise. The bullets immediately crashed into the spot he had vacated, creating explosions and rubble. ### 393. Part 1 Two things filled a large, dark, and cold enclosed space: many tall bookcases positioned in orderly rows and the tones of a wall clock announcing it was 4 o’clock. This was the first floor of the central library at Berlin’s university late at night. Only the moonlight shining in through the tall windows created pale shadows. That light seemed to carry a set rhythm that endlessly but gently illuminated the library. Then that light falling on the floor was disturbed. Footsteps sounded and a figure walked through the library. The shadows cast by the moonlight made them look even darker than usual. It was Berger. He walked briskly between the bookcases and suddenly reached out to brush his hand along one shelf. “History Shelf 3: Investigations of how the Obstacle Era led to the City Era.” He touched another. “Political Sociology Shelf 21: From the collapse of the First Reich to Bismarck’s Blood and Iron speech.” And… “Miscellaneous Shelf 13: Information on this library.” The dark figure sat in front of one bookcase. The hem of his coat spread out below him as he reached out to touch the floor composed of black and white tiles. His expression was blank. He did not speak a word as he pressed against various parts of the floor in a seemingly casual way. “Here it is.” He suddenly lifted his hand from the floor and stood up. His right hand touched the end of a bookcase in front of him and he swung his hand outwards as if trying to brush it aside. The bookcase slid to the right with no resistance whatsoever. It moved about 2 yards. And a hole appeared in the floor where it had been. “…” He set foot in that hole without hesitation. There was a stairway within and the floor swallowed up one step’s worth of his body. As he continued walking, the library floor soon rose above his head and the stairway’s ceiling was overhead instead. There was no wind or anything else in that space. It was a dark and still pit. His clothing and hair blended into the darkness and the rustling of his clothing grew louder than his footsteps as he took the last few steps down. After a total of 21 steps, even that sound vanished. But there was a voice. “Feels weird to be back.” He knocked lightly on a wooden panel and an oblong strip of bluish-white light appeared in the darkness. The light spread to the side and illuminated him. A door sat open in front of him and it led to a small room. He set foot in that room full of bluish-white light and some dust rose from the high pile carpet below his feet. “…” He looked up without a word. The small room’s walls were only 5 yards long. Other than a sofa in the center, it only had bookcases covering all four walls. The bookcases were stacked about 20 yards tall, continuing all the way up to the conical ceiling. The small skylight in the ceiling distributed light throughout the small space using the mirrors installed on the conical interior of the ceiling. The light filling the room was moonlight. “I might be the last person left who knows about this secret archive since it was traditionally only revealed to each successive library director.” He removed his black coat and swept it over toward the sofa. It beat audibly at the air and dust spread out from the sofa before scattering into the stagnant air. Nevertheless, he placed the coat over the sofa and sat on top of it. He sank down and looked up above the entrance he had used. A picture frame was hung above the doorframe and the bluish-white light illuminated the photo of a middle-aged man with his arms around two children: a girl on his left and a boy on his right. The man had the distinctive cat eyes of a feline Heidengeist, as did the smiling girl to his left. They both had bright brown hair, so they were clearly father and daughter. But the boy on the right had black hair and different eyes. Berger’s eyes met those of the boy and his lips twisted into a bitter smile. He removed his sunglasses, put them in his vest’s breast pocket, and brushed a hand through his hair. He did that a few more times before stopping and covering his face with that hand instead. “Director, Marsch is probably dead. That inventor loved flying around in aircraft so much…but now he must have joined you in the afterlife.” A bitter laugh escaped his mouth. “That means one of us has failed to keep our promise. The promises that I, Marsch, Schweitzer…and Alfred made with Eryngium.” He looked up and reached for the pendant on his necklace as he spoke. It was a woman’s pendant set with a red jewel that shined in the moonlight. It was also a cheap one like the ones you could buy from most any street vendor. A slight metallic sound came from the pendant as it split in two and opened. A small piece of paper was pasted within. It was part of a photo. That image of the past had lost its left and right sides, but it clearly showed a man and a woman. The woman was bending her cat eyes with a smile and the black-haired young man was standing behind her. They stood at an airport with an airplane on a runway behind them. “That’s one less person who knew me back then.” He had trouble saying any more and shut the pendant. A few seconds passed. Once he managed to compose his expression, he looked up at the white ceiling that reflected the moonlight. “Eryngium, I just know Marsch died to keep his promise. And now I know what I must do. I’ve met someone who…who is saying the same thing you did before you vanished from our lives.” Definite strength filled his words now. “I…” He hesitated, clenched his fists until they grew white, and continued. “I want to see where those words lead, even if you failed to see it yourself.” He stood up, picked up his coat behind himself, swung it around to get the dust off, and put it on. The air swirled around and the sound echoed through the small room. His lips mouthed the words of the 9th Section of the Ruling King. He spread his hands in the center of that sound and motion and took in a deep breath. He glanced up at the picture frame above the entrance immediately after reopening his eyes. “––––––” Without a word more, he began to walk. He walked out of there. ### 394. Part 1 The airport grounds covered a large space. The winter wind blew unobstructed down the western apron where Berger began running after hopping down from the truck that had lost its tires and come to a stop. Bullets flew after him and tore into the ground. He repeatedly hopped to the side while facing forward. The final enemy formation was about 50 yards ahead. The blockade in front of the 5-story officer barracks and general barracks extended far to the left and right to half surround him. The collection of armored trucks and uniformed soldiers were colored in deep greens and blacks while they gave off a wordless air of intimidation and fired their weapons. But Berger did not seem to care. He spoke to no one while running toward them. “Someone who abducts a girl is pretty obviously a villain, right?” With a flash of motion, he pulled something from his black coat’s pocket. He raised his left hand to reveal a total of four “potato masher” grenades held between the fingers. He swung his left arm. A moment later, the four explosives were airborne. They flew high over everyone’s heads. “So let’s go villain hunting!!” The four grenades detonated in midair. The vibration that raced through the air was more shockwave than noise. Smoke spread out and Berger ran for the center of it. He had plenty of speed and his black coat flapped behind him instead of dragging on the ground. He arrived in front of the enemy in less than an instant. This close to the barricade, the enemy could not use their heavy firearms if they wanted to avoid friendly fire. Berger, of course, did not care about their concerns. A single soldier stood directly in front of him. The man wore a bulletproof jacket and held a shotgun, but he had been blinded by the grenade smoke. He held his empty hand to his face and shouted something, but he could not move. Berger showed no mercy whatsoever. He threw a horizontal kick from low to the ground within the smoke. He leaned his body forward to throw the kick, so it looked more like a gymnastics maneuver than an attack. His boot swept the soldier’s feet out from under him. The soldier was now airborne, but Berger had already moved on and calmly stood back up. He moved his legs in two different ways: he moved his right leg forward while standing back up and he threw another kick with his left leg. His eyes were directed dead ahead. Past the airborne soldier, another similarly-equipped soldier was trying to aim a submachinegun at him. Berger did not hesitate to kick the airborne soldier. “!” With a powerful impact, the kicked soldier crashed into the one trying to ready the submachinegun behind him. The soldiers tangle together and staggered back, but the submachinegun one managed to throw the collapsed one aside and raise his weapon. However… “Too slow. Is that insignia on your shoulder just for show?” Berger slipped his left shoulder underneath the right arm holding out the submachinegun. He only had to raise his shoulder a bit to bend the soldier’s right arm in an odd direction from the center. It sounded like a dry branch breaking and the soldier’s face twisted in front of Berger. Berger yanked the arm up with his left hand while looking completely disinterested. Bending the arm further produced a scream from the man and the submachinegun slipped from his hand. The shiny black gun flew through the air. Berger ignored that while he grabbed the screaming soldier’s face with his left hand. He casually tossed the man to the left. The man tripped and fell over the soldier Berger had kicked away earlier. He grabbed at and crashed into another soldier who was trying to attack Berger with a shotgun from the left. That stopped the shotgun blast from happening. Berger glanced to the right where a knife-wielding soldier was raising a battle cry and charging at him. He ignored the knife and moved just his eyes to look left again. The soldier he had thrown was collapsing down while still holding onto the shotgun soldier. The shotgun soldier was trying and failing to support his collapsing comrade. The man’s eyes were wide and mouth hanging agape. He was apparently trying to shout something and his trembling right hand was aiming his shotgun at Berger’s face. Berger instantly grabbed the short barrel with his left hand and pointed it elsewhere. The gun fired, but it was now aimed outside of the half-circle blockade and did not harm anyone at all. “I don’t know why I bother helping you guys out,” spat Berger as he pushed forward with the hand holding the gun barrel. The shotgun soldier was forced back by the gunstock pushing at his chest. Then Berger yanked the gun back. It slipped from the soldier’s hands while the back-and-forth motion also loaded the next round. Then he twisted his body to the left, swinging the shotgun around wide, as if enjoying the tug of centrifugal force. “Gah!!” The knife soldier roaring and rushing in from the right was knocked away by a shotgun stock to the face. Berger paid him no further heed as he walked forward with his black cloak continuing to flip around behind him. An armored truck sat in front of him and a middle-aged soldier with a combat knife stood in front of it. The black military coat he wore suggested he was a Geheimnis Agency soldier, so he was probably an officer. The officer silently stepped forward and began to draw his knife. He did so with practiced hand. That was a movement informed by battlefield experience, not mere training, and it was the movement of someone who knew exactly what weapon he was best with. “Sorry, but you claim to have the world’s best bulletproof tech, right?” Berger pressed the shotgun’s muzzle against the man’s chest. He had flipped the gun around and taken aim even faster than that veteran soldier had drawn his knife. The officer looked Berger in the eye, paused for a brief moment, and gave a smile that did not reach his eyes. “Don’t die,” was all Berger said before pulling the trigger. With a dull boom, the officer was blasted backwards and slammed into the armored truck. The metallic crash was soon replaced by the sound of a flesh body falling to the ground. The officer was not seated in front of the armored truck and he had stopped moving. Berger looked up into the sky in an exasperated way. He heard repeated metallic sounds from his left. Five soldiers had lined up and aimed their submachineguns from beyond his reach. He kept his eyes in the sky instead of looking their way as he asked a question. “Are you all confident in your bulletproof tech too? You still haven’t decided to run away?” “Si-!” The soldier never got the “lence” out. Berger cast aside the shotgun with such a natural movement that no one thought to stop him. No, he did not actually cast it aside. He simply let go of it, as if placing it in midair. With that weight gone, he raised his left hand toward the sky where his eyes were pointed. He spread out his fingers and stretched his hand up as if trying to reach something. And reach something he did. A submachinegun fell from the sky. It was the one that had flown up into the air after he knocked it from a soldier’s hand earlier. That mass of metal designed to launch bullets fell precisely and silently into his hand as if to say he was its rightful wielder. He swung his hand down while pulling the trigger. The spray of bullets blew away three of the five to his left. He swung his arm down diagonally and ducked as if letting his hand pull the rest of him down. The bullets fired by the two surviving soldiers whizzed by over his head. The deadly force flew along straight lines that all pierced his shadow. Once he was down on the ground, he reached for the shotgun he had abandoned in the air earlier. His left hand snagged it just before it hit the ground and he swung it around. That action cocked it for him. And he fired. One of the soldiers spraying machinegun fire was blasted back while leaning backwards like he had taken an uppercut. But Berger did not even bother seeing what happened to the man as he rolled to the right along the ground. The final remaining soldier’s bullets slammed into the spot he had just vacated. The din of gunfire seemed to pursue him as he stood up and ran. He poured in his full strength from the very first step. He tossed the shotgun behind him in that speed. The tumbling shotgun knocked aside the last soldier like a strike from a club while Berger ran toward the armored truck and readied Gelegenheit in his right hand. “So what about you, armored truck? Are you gonna fight or not?” The machinegun attached to the top of the truck aimed at him before he was even done asking. He simply smiled in response. He ran in with Gelegenheit in hand. ### 395. Part 1 The clouds spread out in the sky. That white sea was illuminated by the sun. Unlike the windswept bottom of the clouds, the top was formed from a series of round bumps and dips reminiscent of bubbles. Those bubbles made from solidified water vapor were the only thing visible as far as the eye could see. Just one thing stood out from that idle white ocean. Something like a blue blade skimmed rapidly above the clouds. It was the Sylphide. The blue craft flew quickly without emitting flames or anything else. The atmospheric vibrations it produced tore away at the vast ocean below it, splitting the clouds apart like an opening book. The only sound it produced was the loud impact of the craft tearing through the wind. Pieces of clouds rose up and scattered behind it, much like the dust thrown into the air by a runner. The Sylphide performed a roll while continuing straight ahead, as if to soak itself in that spray. Then it made a sudden ascent. Instead of flying straight up, it angled upwards just a bit to shift itself somewhat higher. It distanced itself from the cloudy sea, so that sunny white ocean seemed to expand below it. The ocean was blasted backwards below the Sylphide. There was something within the clouds and it was accelerating at the same speed as the Sylphide. A silhouette was briefly displayed on the clouds. It was a 200-yard ship with a rectangular twin-fuselage structure. That shadow picture game ended in the blink of an eye as the clouds were further split apart and the ship itself emerged from below. It was a German aerial attack ship. The twin-fuselage ship was painted a pitch black and fire burst from its spirit rockets which used an accelerant. Unlike the Sylphide, it produced a loud rumbling from its rockets. The rectangular extra tanks attached atop the twin fuselages were cut away with explosives. The Sylphide attacked the incoming tanks with flame rounds from its Kunst Eyes instead of using Schwerts. In just a few shots, tanks as large as the Sylphide itself had been reduced to flames. The Sylphide broke through that fire to continue forward. But the twin-fuselage ship had predicted that action. Even brighter light was shining from its rockets. Color was no longer enough to judge the intensity of the eruption – only the light and the shaking of the air could do that. It accelerated. The clouds began to trail from the decorative wings attached to its sides like white threads. It shot forward. The Sylphide responded by performing a roll and accelerating forward like it had been kicked. Both ships roared loudly. The clouds were blasted backwards while they competed in the field of acceleration. Nothing out here could stop them. They raced ever onward without narrowing or widening the gap between them. The Kunst Eyes on the front of the twin-fuselage ship launched ether light into the air ahead of it. A hemispherical barrier made of light-red light formed in front of it. The panel was phasically fixed out ahead of the ship as a shield to part the wind. That Luftram formed a Mach cone out ahead of the ship’s bow. It continued to accelerate after creating a space shielded from its own speed. It had three Kunst Eyes on the rear of each fuselage for a total of six in all. All of those emitted glowing swords behind it like it was spreading wings. At the same time, the four diffusion Kunst Eyes on the top of the fuselages and its single-shot Drache Kanones took aim at the Sylphide. The Sylphide pursued it all the same. It evolved through combat, so it did not fear its foe. They were less than 200 yards apart as it continued forward. The twin-fuselage ship responded by firing its diffusion Kunst Eyes. Each individual shot was small, but each Eye instantly launched 8 shots fanned out over a span of 30 degrees. With four Kunst Eyes total, it fired a total of 32 shots rapidly enough to fry the Eyes themselves. The destructive fans worked together to fully cover a three-dimensional space, creating an unavoidable barrage. And in this world of speed, those shots brought death in an instant. In the realm the Sylphide flew through, the span of a second had to be divided into even smaller units to have any meaning. Just as Schwerts emerged from its two forward-facing Kunst Eyes, it performed a roll. The surface created by the thin panels known as blades covered a wider area thanks to the rotational movement. The Sylphide tore a hole in the barrage and slipped on through. It shook a bit since its inertial control was insufficient to fully negate the impact of the shots against its glowing swords. That slowed it some and the other ship pulled ahead. Just as the distance between them widened a bit, the barrage came to an end. The twin-fuselage ship’s diffusion Kunst Eyes had burned out. The base of those hemispherical Eyes opened up and the burned-out panels within were ejected. A few seconds later, automated mechanisms closed back up the base of the Eyes and new emission orbs pushed out from within. But the Sylphide did not overlook that opening. It put away the power-draining Schwerts and accelerated so hard it seemed to pitch forward. It was closing in. At the same time, ether light gathered in the two single-shot Drache Kanones on top of the twin-fuselage ship. The light released a glowing spray for a split second before being released. The Drache Kanones were fired. With a sound a lot like a roar, two beams of light shot toward the Sylphide. The Sylphide immediately submerged itself partially within the clouds to escape. The clouds were scattered as it continued forward. But the Drache Kanones were not done exhaling quite yet. The two beams swung down toward the cloudy sea to pursue the Sylphide like giant glowing pillars. The illuminated clouds were scattered by the glowing heat. The attacks swung down from the upper left and right, but the Sylphide ascended before they could converge. Remnants of the clouds trailed from it as it entered within the triangle formed by the intersecting Drache Kanones and continued its upwards movement. It fired at the same time: three flame rounds fired from its rear Eyes. Those fiery bullets arced in from the left and right to hit the twin-fuselage ship on the sides, but they were easily avoided. Six Schwerts sprouted from the rear of the ship and sliced through the flame rounds. Red flames blossomed in the sky and vanished behind the two speeding ships. All that remained was sound. The Drache Kanones had finished firing. The twin-fuselage ship’s diffusion Kunst Eyes once more took aim at the Sylphide. And the twin-fuselage ship mercilessly resumed its powerful acceleration. The giant warship parted the clouds below it and the Sylphide pursued. That blue blade of a craft accelerated toward the new barrage flying its way. The Sylphide never considered any option but continuing ever onward. ### 396. Part 1 The König Pseudo-Drach moved out ahead of the accelerating Sylphide. The sun was no longer in the sky to shine on the two crafts. The Arctic winter sky was dark. In the König Pseudo-Drach’s rear seat, Berger looked up into that sky and bit a divine charm known as a Götter Note. It produced oxygen in his mouth. He saw the bullets shot from behind passing them by at visible speed. “Holy hell, this is fast!! This a first for an old country boy like me!!” “Unfortunately, I am disinclined to deal with your jokes right now!” Inertia pressed him against his seat and the roar of the engine was loud enough that he had to shout. Schweitzer’s response from the front seat was also sharp. Schweitzer also produced a slight sound of steam from his Eingeweide arm Der Held as he used it to operate the control column specially modified for him. Berger stretched up and held his head while looking back. The Sylphide was flying toward them. The blue, blade-like craft was leisurely trying to come alongside them. That aerial warship was twice the size of the König Pseudo-Drach. Its curved armor had evolved to reduce air resistance as much as possible and the cockpit could be seen somewhat protruding above that armor. The bridge-style cockpit had windows on three sides. Berger could see someone inside that glass box. It was a blonde girl in white clothing. “Yes! The abandoned catgirl really is in there!!” Just then, the König Pseudo-Drach moved right and away from the Sylphide. But at such high speed, the wind created a barrier that tried to keep it in place. The craft forcibly pushed against that air resistance until it suddenly broke through. It tilted all at once and managed to fly away from the other craft. The Sylphide’s Schwert sliced through the space it had just vacated. Berger pressed himself against the canopy of the tilted craft. “It’s gone completely wild. Why’s it trying to bring us down!?” “We’re trying to do the same to it,” calmly replied Schweitzer. Berger looked over to see the other man had removed his oxygen mask. He took one of the same charms Berger was biting and tossed it into his mouth. “Now, let’s do this!” The Sylphide accelerated as if in response to Schweitzer’s words. “Why’s it moving out ahead? That’s suicide in a dogfight between fighters on this level.” “Is it hoping to use its acceleration to escape us?” suggested Schweitzer. Then the Sylphide did something truly absurd. It turned its nose toward the König Pseudo-Drach midflight. To Berger, it looked like the Sylphide was sliding to the right. Thanks to its inertial control, the shape of the Sylphide was the only meaningful distinction between its front and back. It could turn at right angles and it could instantly reverse directions in midair. But dealing with the air resistance would consume power and creating that inertial field had to use as much power as a heavy warship. “Are you kidding me? It can do that at this speed? Three cheers for the craft of our dreams, I guess.” Berger muttered to himself while removing his four-point belt and standing up. He stuck a few defensive charms in his vest’s pockets and in his shoes before tapping on the back of the seat in front of him. “You tune the Luftram like we discussed.” “Do you have a wind resistance charm? The ram alone will not eliminate the rear shockwave!!” “I’ve already activated it. Man, you’re overprotective.” They both smiled bitterly at that comment. “Once I’ve cut through the Sylphide, you need to collect her before the wreckage falls,” said Berger. “My Der Held will cut away that area of space to rescue her along with the cockpit.” “I see. So even an awkward bastard like you has a positive side.” “And what might that be?” “Your ability to sound confident about everything you say.” Berger smiled while watching the Sylphide continue its sideways slide with its two bow Schwerts drawn. The drawn swords sliced through the air, producing white clouds. At the same time, Schweitzer operated the König Pseudo-Drach’s only Kunst Eye. A glowing shield appeared out in front of the craft to split the wind and protect the craft from the shockwave of the atmospheric pressure. “Go, Berger!!” shouted Schweitzer. After the pop of small explosives, smoke burst out and the König Pseudo-Drach’s canopy was blown away. The cockpit was directly exposed to the high-altitude wind. Berger jumped out while the craft trembled in the wildly dancing wall of wind. The charm he held instantly became a small Luftram that shielded him against the wind. The wind was no more than a pleasant breeze for him as he casually stood atop the König Pseudo-Drach. He spread his legs to stand firm on the armor covering the engine behind the cockpit. The cold wind whipping at his black coat smelled faintly of the sea. The Arctic Ocean lay below them, so he would die instantly if he fell from here. His breaths became frost as soon as they left his mouth. He brushed up his hair and looked out ahead to see the Sylphide. He viewed its sharp bow and its cockpit as he drew Gelegenheit from within his coat. The Sylphide moved forward as if to protest his battle preparations. He slowly pulled a Type C Phlogiston Tank from his pocket and inserted it in the rear of Gelegenheit’s hilt. He repeated the action 7 times to create a dark blade about 30 yards long. He started to say something as he readied Gelegenheit. “…” But he stopped. He had recited a portion of a Text with a set rhythm, but a moment later, he smiled and said something else. “I won’t let this be a repeat of 2 years ago!!” And he activated Gelegenheit. ### 397. Part 1 The wind had died down in the cockpit, but Hazel was still curled up and holding her knees in the seat. Her vision had not been taken from her. There was still a white line down the center of the window in front of her and she could see the blue sky through that. Things were rushing by outside even more quickly than before. “Were you born to take the Messiah anywhere she might need to go?” she asked while watching the sky outside. She already knew the answer to that. After a short pause, she lowered her gaze to look away from the sky and think. … You actually want to return home, don’t you? To the planet or asteroid belt of the meteor used to make the spirit stone you use for fuel. She smiled bitterly. “Do what you want to do, Sylphide. Because I’m not the Messiah.” The Sylphide’s engine roared as if to say it did not care. It was still accelerating. She squeezed her knees between her arms to curl up in an even smaller ball. She realized her gaze had strayed a bit to the left. Her seat’s position had slipped. The rotating stand below the seat had turned a bit to the left before fixing itself in place. She knew why. Sylphide had angled the seat to protect her from the previous bisection and blowing wind. She laughed quietly in a resigned sort of way. “Are you sure you want me of all people to be the reason you’ve never been able to run away?” She let go of her legs, undid her four-point belt, and left the seat. The communicator in front of her remained silent with the needles still on the right frequency. She started to switch it on, but then she noticed the photo of a young Marsch was still stuck in the gap between the control panel and the window, but the bracelet hanging on the switch was gone. … Did it fall? Feeling like she would be to blame if it was lost, Hazel frantically looked around for it. She spotted it on the floor, right on top of the seam created during the evolution and repairs. She rushed over and picked it up. It was lighter than expected. She started to put it on her wrist but stopped. She held it in her hand and turned toward the control panel to put it back where it had been, but that was when she noticed something unpleasant. “!?” It was an arm. Someone’s entire left arm, from shoulder to fingertips, had fallen below the navigator’s seat she had been in. The seat itself had blocked it from view before, but now it was hard to miss. “Is that Dog’s left arm?” A black cloth was wrapped around it as if to tie off the shoulder. It was soaked with blood, but it was undeniably a piece of his black coat. … Did he throw it in here? She found her own question sounded oddly carefree given the circumstances, but then she noticed something. The severed arm was lifeless now, but it held a piece of paper tightly in its hand. “Now I know it didn’t fall in here on its own.” The edge of the paper was sticking out and it said “For Hazel Mirildorf”. That was puzzling enough, but then she heard a metallic sound. It was a painful sound of metal being torn away. She frowned and looked around. “What is this sound?” ### 398. Part 1 The two aboard the König Pseudo-Drach did not see the giant explosion behind them. They simply heard the extended rumbling and noted a slight ripple in the clouds surrounding them. They were more focused on the two crafts up ahead. The one in the lead was the Sylphide which continued to fly even with its armor stripped away. The one in pursuit was the Silber. The König Pseudo-Drach ascended and gave a scream of acceleration after arriving behind the Silber. It used the Silber’s shockwave buffering field to assist its movement. The air shook and the sky gradually grew darker. The three crafts soared through the night. There was nothing but ocean to see below. They were in the northern sea near the North Pole. Just as that ocean grew fully dark, the Silber began to change course. It tilted its nose somewhat upwards to ascend. The two in the König Pseudo-Drach adjusted their course in the same way, turning to look up into the thick clouds overhead. A transmission reached them. “There is snow falling near the pole. That will hinder our engines, so we will move above the clouds. After that, it will take almost 3 minutes to reach the pole area. The Silber will take the lead until then.” “Excellent work, Bermark.” “No, it is just that the Silber was not designed to make a vertical ascent. Plus, the task of killing Sir Marsch is too much of a burden for me.” Bermark fell silent there and Schweitzer eventually spoke in a vanishingly quiet voice. “Berger.” “Yeah?” “If Marsch did set all this up to singlehandedly fulfill the conditions needed to create the Messiah, does it mean he had not given up on us and he was in fact working to help Germany?” “Most likely. He was badly injured and knew he couldn’t fully control the Sylphide’s mind, but he took the gamble anyway. His pride as a creator told him the activated Sylphide would search out the Messiah implant, take it into itself in order to evolve, and thus create the true Messiah.” Berger took a breath. “But the Sylphide doesn’t need a pilot and is guided by its mechanical instincts and mission, so it’s trying to fly into space. That’s why Marsch sent me the 9th Section of the Ruling King needed to create the Messiah.” “Even though the prophecy’s fulfilment might have originally been meant to take a different form?” “Marsch probably thought the same thing, but he chose this destiny instead. He chose this destiny where the Sylphide is forced to sacrifice itself and either I or that girl has to see it through to the end.” “Berger.” “?” “Was Marsch’s will already inside the Sylphide when it was hit by the military’s Nein Ton rounds? Did he intentionally let that happen so it would fall apart like this?” Berger narrowed his eyes and wordlessly tapped on the seat in front of him. Schweitzer accelerated as if in response. The König Pseudo-Drach ascended and Bermark’s voice arrived over the communicator again. “We have the Sylphide on our radar. Hard to say if it will fall apart first or reach outer space first.” The clouds approached from above like fog. They flew right into them. Their vision was dyed white. The air was more frozen than simply cold, so small particles flew into them. The white fog was too thick to breathe, but they plowed through it anyway. Then their view grew pitch black. They had burst through the top of the clouds. They could once more see the Silber’s stern up ahead. The König Pseudo-Drach rolled to the right and shimmering heat burst from its rear as it moved up alongside the Silber. “Continue on ahead,” said Bermark. “Please hurry, Lieutenant.” Berger gave acknowledgment and Schweitzer expressed his appreciation. Then Berger sank deep in his seat and looked up into the sky. The stars twinkled coldly in the vast empty sky. He wrapped his remaining right arm around himself and muttered a name. “Hazel.” The wind blew and there was no response, but he continued anyway. “I’m on my way to see your answer, Hazel Mirildorf.” “Why?” This time he received an unexpected response. “Why do you want to know my answer that badly!?” “That’s an easy one. Because the rest of us have too much blood on our hands to give an answer. So…” He was cut off by Bermark’s voice over the communicator. “The Sylphide is incoming! From directly below us!!” ### 399. Part 10 Schweitzer ordered the soldiers to withdraw while he looked up into the sky. The Sylphide floated calmly in the air while even the sheet iron roof of the storage building was stripped away and made airborne. It was an angular 30-yard craft. It had five emblem engines on the rear. Its fixed weapons were the two Kunst Eyes on the front and the three on the rear. It was shaped subtly different from the night before. The angled portions had extended further out and the rear curve was smoother. “A craft that launches into space with its final evolution, hm? So much like a Sein Frau.” He started to raise Der Held toward the Sylphide, but that was when it started to ascend. “!?” Its shape grew miniscule in no time and he heard a voice as he watched it go. “I heard that. You say it’s gonna launch into space with its final evolution?” It was Berger’s voice. Schweitzer started to turn around until he felt something hard jabbed into his back. It was the tip of Gelegenheit’s hilt. Berger stood behind him and spoke within the remaining wind. “Schweitzer, I want your help to save her.” He took a breath. “Don’t you move, old man! I hear you back there!” Schweitzer heard a loud rustling of cloth from even further back than Berger. He turned just his head to see Bermark frozen with his hand in his coat to pull out Freischütz. Berger gave a snort of laughter. “Calm down, soldier. If that craft really is the same as the Kaiserburg, then its engines are made from spirit stones that fell from space, so it’ll instinctually want to return to space.” “You mean the Sylphide will fly to space with the girl onboard?” “Yes, and never come back. I can tell.” “How?” “That craft was activated by incorporating Marsch’s Tons into its own using the Schreiben system we developed in university, but it lost control, right? The machine is already running on pure instinct! So it’ll continue fighting and evolving while it yearns for space. And just now, it took in the final component it lacked when it was activated: that eye.” Berger adjusted Gelegenheit’s aim and a quiet metallic sound came from its hilt. “We have to do it all over again! Including your prophecy. We need to secure her again. And this time, the girl carrying the Messiah is riding a flying dragon by the name of Sylphide, one-armed man!!” “Are you suggesting she could still become the true Messiah?” “Yeah, I am. But for that to happen, we have to save her and return her home! So help me out there, Schweitzer! To confirm the prophecy! To confirm her will!” “So it is the same as the Unreif Germane.” Schweitzer nodded. “A thousand years ago, the Messiah, accompanied by a soaring dragon, was unsure if she should use her power to save the people or not.” “Then don’t you want to find out the answer? And don’t you want to see which of us can guide her back home? A thousand years ago, the Messiah and a man with a divine name descended to the surface where she protected the land of the dragoons – the land that became the foundation for the Geheimnis Agency.” Berger took a breath and uttered a decisive statement. “The Messiah still doesn’t know what her purpose is in this world, so Destiny and the Hero can’t exactly abandon her now, can they?” ### 400. Part 2 The pursuer illuminated by the lights was as blue as the midday sky and as sharp as a Werkzeug’s blade. The 30-yard hunk of metal could have easily been mistaken for an enormous bladed weapon, but it was actually a small tactical aerial warship. Two staff-like things were stabbed into the top of the ship. Those were bullet cylinders. It was leaking white smoke where it had been hit by those two physical projectiles instead of the Kugels fired by divine spell weapons. It was damaged. And with the desperation of an injured beast, the blue craft charged toward the turning aerial warship. A contrail wrapped around it and trailed behind it as a band of white. But there was no light from a spirit jet or rocket on the rear of the craft, nor did it have any ejection points or intake vents. Nevertheless, the blue craft flew in to attack. The aerial warship had turned its right side toward the blue craft flying along a straight line, so it opened fire with the secondary cannons on the right side of its bridge. The shots were fired to the outside of their turn. The barrage of destruction crashed into the charging blue craft with tremendous force thanks to their relative speeds. Or it should have. But the blue craft had vanished from that airspace. All that remained was smoke spreading like a ring of water vapor from the blue craft’s last seen position, a loud roar, and the two bullet cylinders that had been piercing its back. It had stopped its advance and suddenly shot backwards at a supersonic speed. A normal fighter could never move like that. The two claws digging into its back were torn out by its momentum and left behind in the empty air. Several flame bullets burst and exploded in the space the blue craft had just vacated and a chain reaction of explosions spread out across all the bullets. The explosive flames were accompanied by a great cacophony of noise. But explosions that failed to hit their mark were no more than fireworks. The way the blue craft flew back in from the distance made that abundantly clear. It had backed away to dodge and then reversed its movement yet again. The holes in its back glowed faintly as they filled back in. The light racing along its surface flowed through the emblems forged into its armor panels, activating their recovery power. The blue craft was headed toward the side of the aerial warship that had only completed half its turn. It charged in. But that was when the aerial warship revved up its front engines to suddenly decelerate. Its inertia could not escape to the front, so its massive rear end swung around to the outside to dodge. It was a slow movement, but the massive hull did begin sliding sideways through the air. It performed a midair version of an inertial drift. Its bridge tried to roll outside of the inertial force. At the same time, the three sets of double 8-inch main cannons aimed starboard, to the outside of its drift. They aimed for the blue craft. The three sets were arranged vertically and they spewed light starting from the bottommost set. Instead of firing Kugels or Bogens, these were Pseudo-Drach Kanones. Those weapons mechanically reproduced the dragon breath attacks known as a Drachen Kanone. The beams they fired scorched the night sky with far more light than the searchlights. They fired again and again, sending tremors through the warship’s hull and threatening to send it rolling to the right. Using that recoil and the swinging of its stern, the ship made a rapid 180-degree turn. That just left the outcome of the attack. The light flew toward the blue craft. The first shot missed. As did the second. The third was on course for a direct hit. The light flew toward the blue craft. That was precisely when the blue craft showed its first sign of engaging the warship in combat. It drew Schwerts from the two Kunst Eyes on its front end. The two raised swords of light sliced through the incoming Pseudo-Drach Kanone light. Light created to be launched clashed with light created to cut. The latter was far more powerful. The Pseudo-Drach Kanone light turned to spray and scattered across the night sky. The dust of dragon power soared through the air like flower petals in the late spring night, but the blue craft ignored them. It advanced and ascended to circle above the aerial warship in an instant. It was fast. It suddenly made a 180-degree turnaround to point straight down. After beginning to descend, it changed direction to direct its prow straight down and it accelerated toward the warship bridge directly below it. That put it in a blind spot for the warship in the sky. Without slowing, the blue craft drew long swords of light from the two Kunst Eyes on its front end and the three on its back end. The giant aerial warship below was the sole destination of its descent. It aimed for the bridge Just once, it performed a roll to adjust its course, but otherwise focused entirely on its descent. Just then, a figure appeared on the roof of the rectangular bridge. It was a human figure. ### 401. Part 2 The used bookstore’s second floor acted as a cramped living room and a bedroom Two men sat in that room with stacks of books everywhere. Berger kept the cat on his lap as he sat by the window on a long sofa with bedding lazily draped over it. Schweitzer sat on a different sofa across a small table and with his back to the door. The only sound was the faint footsteps of the MPs in the hallway past that flimsy door. Berger shrugged and spoke up as if to drown out that noise. “Why the sudden visit, Schweitzer? If it’s about Eryngium, I’ll remind you we agreed to never speak of that again. None of us have gone anywhere near the hidden Borderson village up north. Not me, not you, not Alfred, and not Marsch. Or am I wrong?” “This is not about that.” Schweitzer, the man from the Geheimnis Agency, shook his head and looked straight at the young man in black. “She is our shared secret…and I assume you know my situation as well as I know yours, Berger. We continue to work toward the protection of Germany, just as you continue to work toward undermining Germany.” He sighed. “The Geheimnis Agency is well aware you used a Grösse Panzer to destroy a dam in Denmark the week before last in order to escape capture.” “I didn’t destroy it. It just happened to break in close proximity to me. Besides, I sent a written apology. I swear I did.” “Unfortunately for you, that apology is precisely what led the Danish police to place you at the top of their wanted list. You really don’t change, do you?” Schweitzer sighed and Berger sighed as well. “So what are you saying? That you’ll stop doing what you’re doing if I let myself be arrested?” “I cannot do that. Because of our promise.” Schweitzer reached his left hand to his left ear and touched the earring set with a red jewel. He watched as Berger similarly toyed with the pendant hanging at his chest. “Yeah, I guess there’s no talking you out of it. …So. What question do you have for me?” “You should have received a certain job from ‘Verräter’ M. Schrier. One of your primary jobs.” “And if I say I received no such thing?” Berger gave him a curious look, but Schweitzer was having none of it. “I do not have time for your nonsense, Dog Berger. The AIF led by M. Schrier helped a girl escape Berlin’s general hospital last night.” “Is that what all those sirens are about? So does this mean you’re after Hazel Mirildorf?” “Has she still not arrived?” “To be honest, I wasn’t told what she looks like, so I wouldn’t know even if she had. If she’s a square-faced blonde with a prosthetic arm, then she’s right here talking to me.” Schweitzer realized Berger was looking at his prosthetic arm. Berger resumed speaking with a scornful smile on his lips. “You’ve tried to make it look normal enough, but that thing’s an Eingeweide, isn’t it? Did Marsch make it?” “His ability has brought German technology 20 years ahead of the rest of the world.” “It takes a special kind of person to go along with that. I mean, an Eingeweide’s Erklärung power is cool and all, but the part about being made from one of the user’s body parts is gonna turn a lot of people off. …You shoved your right arm into the reactor for yours, right? What’s it called?” “Der Held.” “Yeah, that’s a Marsch name all right. So did he really name them all after Eryngium’s records? If so, there must be 11 in all between the ones I’ve heard rumor of and my own.” “Stop making assumptions. …And stop changing the subject from that girl.” Schweitzer frowned because this young man had always been good at avoiding topics of conversation he did not like. “Our information is far from perfect since this happened so suddenly. Not to mention there was a fire at the hospital and all the records there were destroyed. What information we have was gotten by questioning an AIF member we managed to capture in a hurry. …Hm?” He noticed something odd in Berger’s lap. The kitten with the pretty fur got up and yawned. It hopped down from his lap and glanced over at the window behind him. It viewed the blue sky visible through there. “…” It walked over to the window, treading on the books stacked up on the floor. “Looks like she wants out. Mind if I open the window?” “Don’t you move, Berger. You pride yourself in being the second fastest person in the world, so I am not giving you any chance to escape.” Schweitzer lifted his prosthetic arm and stood up. Looking irritated, he walked past Berger to approach the window. “Have you heard anything from Marsch?” asked Berger from behind him. “He stopped contacting me two months ago for whatever reason.” The kitten sat on the books stacked in front of the window, turned its back on the two men, and scratched at the glass. It looked up at Schweitzer’s left hand when he touched the window and meowed in a hopeful way. But he stopped moving and responded to Berger’s question. “You really haven’t heard anything, have you?” “From that, I take it you have heard something.” Berger let out a bitter laugh, but Schweitzer silently worked at opening the window. But Berger said more, as if to stop him again. “Marsch entered the Geheimnis Agency straight out of university, but instead of telling me all about his research into Ober Geheimnis, Schreiben systems, and engines, he sends this horribly confused piece of text. And instead of addressing it to me, it’s addressed to her and to the director.” “He always did like his old folklore. He especially loved talking about it while Eryngium Ilfheim and Joseph Ilfheim were with you.” “The house we used to live in is gone now. Thanks to you and Alfred.” Schweitzer once more stopped after touching the window’s latch. The cat meowed when he lifted his hand away, but he ignored it. “What did Marsch say?” “He sent me part of the Unreif Germane’s 9th Section of the Ruling King. Y’know, the one that starts with ‘the one-armed youth’.” “He sent you that?” Schweitzer heard Berger stand up behind him. He turned around, but Berger was already on his feet. “What’s happened to Marsch, Schweitzer? He joined the Geheimnis Agency with you and started developing weapons, right? So why would he send a letter to the director and to her when they’re both gone?” And… “I heard from my old upperclassman that the top level of the Geheimnis Agency has been forcefully promoting something called the Panzerpolis Project of late, pushing aside all other civil and military policy. I also hear you’re declaring a Greater Germanic Reich next April, so what is all this about?” “I am under no obligation to answer that.” “Even if Marsch is involved in it? I don’t know if it has anything to do with your Geheimnis Agency’s actions, but the military has been rushing things lately. They attacked Spain and a week ago they built this autopiloted ramming ship – a self-destruct weapon basically – called the V-0 that I hear reduced the target ship and everything within a 5-mile radius to ashes.” “The newspapers are exaggerating things. It is nothing more than a cruiser-style ramming ship that is loaded with divine spell bombs and rams an aerial object on autopilot. And the radius of destruction was less than a full mile.” “Be that as it may, what is this Panzerpolis Project that has the military freaking out so much? And why did an inventor who is surely a part of it send such a weird letter to her and to the director!?” “I am under no obligation to answer that.” The instant, Schweitzer stuck his hand in his pocket, Berger shoved the books off the table behind him and grabbed a metal box small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He immediately pushed the red button on its surface. A moment later, the used bookstore exploded. ### 402. Part 2 Berger stared at the girl’s face. She had long, soft-looking blonde hair, her eyes were closed, and her face was fully relaxed. She was asleep. “…” He had pulled the blanket down far enough to see her white-skinned shoulders which shined bright in the bluish-white light. He frowned, sighed, and casually placed the blanket over her again. “I must be hallucinating. When I pull this blanket up again, it’ll just be that cat.” He counted aloud to three and pulled back the blanket, but he still saw that girl who had rolled over in her sleep to turn her back toward him. He could see her face in profile, her plentiful hair, and her entirely bare back. Even the glow panel must have been too bright for her because she held a hand over her forehead as she rolled over, causing her body to emerge from the blanket, revealing more of her bare skin. He stared at her in the faint light for a bit, but finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, with a chest like that, she’s clearly still just a kid. There goes any temptation toward wrongdoing, I guess.” He quipped to himself and started to place the blanket over her again, but she grabbed his hand. “!?” The relief on his face quickly turned to tension. But her eyes were still closed and she was still asleep. Her grip was weak as well. His eyes turned toward her sleeping face where he saw something different from before. There was tension in her brow and her lips moved weakly in order to say something. He lowered his head to read her lips. “Vati?” He sighed and, a few seconds later, smiled. “It’s okay.” He removed her hand from his but then squeezed her hand back. Her expression softened and she turned her face away from the glow panel. He used his other hand to pull the blanket back up to her neck, but as he did, he noticed a series of black letters and numbers written on her right shoulder. “A brand? HGB-000402.” That was one of the indelible management numbers people were given in a concentration camp for Heidengeists. He clicked his tongue once and said nothing more. It took a few seconds for her breathing to calm. He slowly brought her hand below the blanket and let go. Then he silently stood from the bed. He tiptoed through the darkness to reach the bookcase by the wall. The book he pulled out was titled ’36 Southern Berlin Citizenship Records. “Oscar Mirildorf. My old upperclassman’s superior officer who retired after the ’35 Armored Hammer of God Incident in Berlin. This says he ran a private school out of his home on the city outskirts afterwards.” He flipped through the pages. He flipped through a lot of them and then flipped back. The hard paper made intermittent flipping sounds as he did so. After a while, he stopped. “The Mirildorf family. The wife’s name is Diana Mirildorf, a Werecat from London, city of monsters and gods. I guess that means it’s pronounced Dye-ana and not Dee-ana.” He returned the book to the shelf and smiled bitterly. Then he pulled another book from the shelf. This one was the Unreif Germane. “Where’s the passage Marsch quoted?” He recited it to himself as he flipped through the pages and then stopped. The top of the page contained an illustration of a woman leading a dragon and a one-armed man with a sword walking through the Black Forest. The bottom of the page was titled 9th Section of the Ruling King. “This is the section about the Heidengeist Messiah and the youth with a divine name descending to this land when it was still nameless and only included the Black Forest. The Messiah was unsure if she should use her power to save this land, but he convinced her to descend to the earth with him.” He shut the book and returned it to the shelf. He walked over and sat back down on the bed. Just once, he glanced at the girl sleeping below the blanket behind him, but he faced forward again, crossed his arms, shut his eyes, and sighed. “Let’ see,” he said. “There’s so much to think about, but the most pressing problem is her. …Seems safe to assume that girl is Hazel Mirildorf. She escaped as a cat, but once I brought her here and she fell asleep, her tension faded and she came out of her Flektieren transformation.” He heard the blanket rustling behind him. “…” He turned silently around to see her sitting up. Her long and plentiful blonde hair fell across her body as she sat sleepily in the bed. The bed creaked beneath her and the blanket fell from her shoulders to gather around her hips, but she did not seem to notice any of it. She only stared blankly at her surroundings. Her left eye was a brown feline one and her right one was a blue human one. She must have injured the one eye because it was a prosthetic. “Nh.” She let out a faint sigh as wakefulness slowly gathered on her face. She turned her head to view Berger with her differently-colored eyes drooping sleepily. Their eyes met and he spoke with a sincere smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not interested in kids.” That inspired her to looked down at herself. She was naked. She immediately threw a slap his way. ### 403. Part 2 When Hazel reopened her eyes, she saw a white linoleum ceiling overhead. That ceiling was rushing by with a rising and falling speed reminiscent of a heartbeat. Berger was carrying her while he ran. She noticed his face was shockingly close by. … We’re running through a school building, aren’t we? That strangely calm thought was followed by the ceiling collapsing behind them where something had slammed into it. A line of destruction ran through the ceiling and it instantly caught up to and surpassed them. The ceiling collapse along that line, causing pillars of rubble to crash down. Berger clicked his tongue. “Does that gun get more destructive the more worked up he is? Damn that excitable old man.” They were surrounded by rumbling and Berger weaved through the falling rubble as he ran. Hazel noticed something like oil drip onto her cheek while he carried her. … Blood? “D-Dog! Put me down!!” “Yeah, I don’t think so.” She ignored his casual tone and tried to break free of his arm around her hips. It was no use. She gulped at how unexpectedly strong his grip was and pressed herself up against him instead. Instead of breaking his grip, she worked to wriggle free of it. “Wait, you moron.” “You’re the moron!” Once her feet were on the cold hallway floor, she began to run. She ran alongside him with the sounds of destruction behind her, but her feet got tangled up below her. She looked down to see she was wearing sandals. Those things were slowing her down. “I’ve had about enough of you!” She voiced her protest against the sandals before kicking her running feet to launch the sandals from them. She resumed running with her bare feet and snatched the sandals from the air in front of her. “That’s a neat trick for a girl with such a well-to-do family,” commented Berger. She ran up alongside him on the left and noticed a trail of blood from his forehead to his cheek. “Um, a-are you okay?” “This is nothing as long as you aren’t hurt. I’m doing the best job I can given the circumstances. I take my work seriously, after all.” The collapse of the ceiling picked up speed. It spread to the sides as well. They frantically sped up, but then a pillar of wreckage fell right in front of Hazel. Ceiling panels, soundproofing material, insulation, metal, and concrete were stacked up like the layers of a cake in the falling pillar. “Eh!?” she shouted just before an arm in black reached over from the side. The horizontal strike shattered the pillar that should have crashed into her head from above. “I won’t let anything hurt you. Don’t forget that.” “You really do take your work seriously, huh?” “You too will eventually understand why, Hazel. Assuming you aren’t all talk, that is.” “All talk?” He did not clarify what he meant and instead asked her a question. “But, Hazel Mirildorf, why do they want you so badly?” “Can’t you figure it out? Isn’t your perception the second best in the world or something?” “Perception? I’m the second worst in the world when it comes to that. …Also, um, yeah.” “Eh?” “Can you swing your left arm like this?” Still running and looking utterly confused, she mimicked his motion by swinging her left hand and the wooden sandal she held in it. At that very moment, they came across an intersection in the hallway. One of Bermark’s men ran out from the left. “Eh?” Her swinging sandal slammed into his face. He spun around a full rotation from the impact and vanished from view as she continued to run. The solid impact had felt unexpectedly fulfilling from her end. But… “W-wait, are you having me help you with your violence?” “Think of it as a way of showing that overexcited old man you won’t do what he says.” “Um…what happens if that guy does catch me?” “The simplest guess would be…well, you know. They send you back to the Heidenheim. But…” … But? “Why is the Geheimnis Agency here? Those Dragoon descendants have always worked behind the scenes in this country, but now they’re keeping the police and the MPs away in order to pursue you. The city must be under martial law at the moment. But why?” “Don’t ask me. I guess they could use me as a hostage to threaten my dad.” “Only the military would want to do that, but that old man’s from the Geheimnis Agency. Or is the agency hoping to recruit your dad? Even after he failed to stop what happened 2 years ago?” Hazel frowned at how those words seemed to stab into her heart. But Berger kept talking. “Nothing to say to that, huh? I know what you must be thinking: your dad isn’t the type to budge even if they take you hostage.” He took a breath and raised his right index finger before continuing. “I agree that Oscar Mirildorf isn’t the kind of soldier who would act on a private matter like that.” Hazel had started hanging her head without even noticing, so Berger slapped her on the shoulder. She looked up to find he was looking at her as he continued to run. The look on his face was sincere. “So can you think of any other reason they’d be after you, Hazel? Has anything happened recently? For example…” “For example?” The look on his face grew even more serious. “Well, I’m not sure how to put this tactfully, but…” “What?” she asked with a hint of concern. “Have you been a naughty girl?” “No!” she shouted back. He gave her a bitter but toothy grin and she looked away from him. … He’s teasing me! But she said something else. “The only thing that’s happened recently is this eye.” “What eye?” “I was blinded in one eye when they hit me during my arrest. Then I got a fever in the Heidenheim, and-” “Hold on. Are you saying they gave you that blue eye in the hospital?” “I didn’t want them to, but the doctors seemed in a real hurry to get it done.” She noticed a change in him as she explained this. He grew a lot more tense. She slowed her pace as they approached the end of the hallway. “What’s wrong?” She found him staring straight at her eye. She met that gaze for a few seconds and his expression gradually grew into one matching a sigh and his eyebrows lowered. “I don’t know what it means, but that must be it!” She did not understand any of this. … What must be it? Before she could ask that, a voice reached them from behind. Hazel looked back to see a line of gathered light flying down the hallway toward them. She frantically looked forward to see them running toward a large glass door. Breaking through that to escape outside would not allow them to avoid the pursuing shot. And the enemy unleashed a second shot as well. Bermark’s Text rang loud. His deep voice pierced through the hallway. She looked back to see a third arrow beyond the first and second ones accelerating their way. She gulped and slowed her pace while Bermark’s ordinary voice reached her ears. “Are you still willing to mock my Freischütz, ‘Wild Hund’!?” “Shut it, hound. Your ferocity doesn’t change that you’re just someone’s pet!!” Hazel heard Berger raise his voice. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything hurt you.” He slammed his feet against the floor to stop and circled behind her. He placed himself between her and the incoming magic bullets. “…” She too came to a frantic stop. She staggered forward, but looked back to see that dark back standing within arm’s reach. He was thin, but his back gave off the pressure of a solid wall. He thrust his right hand out into the darkness with Gelegenheit in his grasp. That was when she noticed a change in Gelegenheit’s shape. A commercial Size D Phlogiston Tank had been inserted into the connector on the bottom of the hilt. “Hazel.” It took her a moment to realize he had spoken her name. She lost her chance to react, so he spoke again. “Hazel Mirildorf!” “Y-yes!?” The magic bullets were approaching. They exchanged words in what felt like a mere instant. “What are your thoughts on leaving this country?” “I-I don’t like it. Because I didn’t do anything wrong. I…” She hesitated. “I still don’t want to run away! That’s my one and only answer!!” “Hah, that kinda nonsense shows you’re still just a kid. You should be embarrassed.” With those words, a dark blade jutted out from Gelegenheit. It was the polar opposite of the glowing Schwerts and Lanzes used by dogfighting fighter craft. This blade was clearer and more transparent and it seemed to be made from pure willpower given a cutting edge. It was a darkness that had abandoned even beauty. The pitch black blade extended to a length of about 2 yards and stopped. Berger did not even glance toward the approaching arrows as he spoke to her. He held Gelegenheit overhead. “But, Hazel – Hazel Mirildorf! Do not forget that feeling!” Then he took action. ### 404. Part 2 The morning sun shined into a room where Hazel sat across a table from Schweitzer. The table had a tablecloth over it and a simple but nutritionally-balanced breakfast was laid out on top. It included brot, gemüsesuppe, wurst, fried eggs, a variety of fruits, and kaffee with cream floating in it. Hazel slowly ate that while viewing the man in front of her. Schweitzer ate with just his left arm and he did not look at her at all, but the way he moved his arm seemed awkward. … He’s going out of his way to eat with me. With that on her mind, she moved her gaze to view the room. It was a large room with 6 yard walls. The ceiling had beautiful wood paneling, the wallpaper had an arrowhead pattern, and the high pile carpet felt nice even with bare feet. The bed affixed to the wall was large too. Overall, the room was brown and warm. She suddenly glanced to the bed. The end of the blanket was a mess because she had dressed while sitting on top of it. She had been laid in the bed in her cat form, so she had woken up naked. “…” She looked back to Schweitzer, but his interest was not in the bed. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the room again. The air conditioning had formed condensation on the window that overlooked the interior of Tempelhof Air Base. When Bermark had arrived earlier to ask if she needed any daily items, he had explained that this was the 5th floor of the officer barracks and that she had been given a vacant room. … This certainly is a warm welcome. That thought entered her mind while she saw a transport plane finish taxiing and begin taking off outside the condensation-covered window. It shook the atmosphere, creating a roar of air. The plane looked like a small toy at this distance as it accelerated along the other side of the brown winter grass. It moved from the right side of the window and vanished off the left side. And then… “Do you like aircraft?” She turned toward the voice to see Schweitzer was indeed still eating. His gaze was lowered toward the wurst he was slicing in two with his fork, so he was not looking at her. “Do you like aircraft?” “Not particularly.” She answered promptly, but he did not look up. She realized her expression had grown stiff as she continued her answer. “If not for aircraft, my dad probably wouldn’t have had to ‘regretfully retire’. Um, do you know what happened after that Armored Hammer of God Incident? The German military used that chaos as an excuse to oppress the Heidengeists in the country. They declared without evidence that the Heidengeists had been behind the incident.” “That was in fact a witch hunt meant to extract all the foreign wealth held by the Heidengeists.” “Yes, it was. You knew?” “The Geheimnis Agency was tasked with that job at the time. That was my third year in the Agency.” Schweitzer still did not look her way. She tilted her head while he resumed eating in silence. “Then why aren’t you hunting me down? Um, I am a Heidengeist.” “That was made clear yesterday. And like I said before breakfast, your eye is crucial for the protection of Germany and that Messiah implant began to adapt to your body last night.” A breath. “It is no longer possible to simply remove the prosthetic eye. Normally, we would be searching for someone who can accept that eye now that it has made itself a part of your body.” “Um,” she said while rolling that idea around in her mind. “And if you do find a compatible person?” … Will they gouge out my eye and send me to be made into a Phlogiston Platte like the other Heidengeists? She could not ask that part out loud, but she did hold a hand to her shoulder. The shoulder which bore a branded number. He must have known what she was thinking because he responded in a deep voice. “I said ‘normally’, remember?” He was speaking with his eyes still lowered toward his food. “Germany refuses to accept anyone with Heidengeist Tons as a citizen. We reject Heidengeist to ensure our racial superiority. Thus…we will not find anyone compatible with an eye that has been tainted with Heidengeist Tons.” She looked up at the ceiling when she heard that. She thought about it and scratched at her hair for a mere three seconds before finding an answer and looking back at him. “Thank you.” “I have done nothing deserving your thanks.” He continued as if restating that. “Listen, we must research that eye of yours and that requires preserving your physical and mental health. We cannot allow you to come to harm.” She listened to him, but then she removed her hand from her shoulder. “What power does this eye – the Messiah – hold that makes it so important?” “From what I have been told, its Beweisen can apparently resonate with and control any Eingeweide device. That makes it the foundation of all Eingeweide devices.” “Then…what did you mean last night about me becoming or not becoming the Messiah?” He seemed to choose his words more carefully when answering this question. “We believe that a Messiah will appear to become our leader and save us when Germany faces a crisis in the near future. …Our Geheimnis Agency is currently leading the country, but a Neue Kavalier is meant to serve a leader who guides them.” “And that’s the Messiah?” “However, certain conditions must be met to become the Messiah. You were a likely candidate, but destiny did not fulfill those conditions when we secured you last night. …You carry the Messiah implant, but you failed to become the true Messiah.” A breath. “However, that does not make your Messiah implant any less important.” “If I had fulfilled the conditions to become the Messiah, would I have received an even warmer welcome?” She smiled a little and ate a spoonful of soup now that steam had stopped rising from it. And she asked something else purely out of curiosity. “But why are you working so hard to make all this happen?” He finally looked up upon hearing that. He started to say something, sighed, and spoke more quietly. “I once promised I would live a life that protected this country.” He looked down again before answering and Hazel looked to him after hearing it. Her eyes landed on the woman’s earring he wore on his left ear. She kept her eyes on that as she asked something else. “Was that promise with…Eryngium?” Schweitzer stopped moving altogether. ### 405. Part 2 Hazel and Bermark walked down a hallway in the airbase’s officer barracks. The König Pseudo-Drach aircraft was ready to take her from the airbase, so they had to hurry through the adjacent general barracks to reach the hangar beyond. The only thing visible outside the 1st floor hallway windows was the group of storage buildings to the north. Transport trucks were coming and going in a hurry to carry materiel from them. Hazel tensed her shoulders at the explosions and gunfire she heard coming from the airport in the distance. Meanwhile, they passed by two heavily-equipped soldiers with bandoliers over their shoulders. They exchanged information on their posts and unit names in an abbreviated and jargony way that she could not make heads or tails of. She suddenly looked to the right, but Bermark remained silent with a somewhat indignant look as he walked alongside her. She started to say something and then paused to choose her words. “Um…uh.” She wanted to find something to fill the silence while an explosion sounded in the distance. “That sounds…exciting.” “They are not up against your average opponent.” Bermark responded calmly while some soldiers wielding spears that were probably Werkzeugs approached from up ahead. The armbands on their right arms bore red crosses, marking them as medics that instantly healed people with Tuning. Hazel watched them as they rushed past. Their six pairs of military boots produced heavy footsteps. They were all wordlessly focused on the path ahead of them. Another explosion sounded from the distance and one of the six clicked their tongue. The man in the lead turned back toward the other five and confirmed that each of them knew their respective destinations. After coming to a stop and watching them leave, Hazel frowned and asked Bermark a question. “For what and for who does your Geheimnis Agency exist?” “We were created to save this country.” With that, Bermark removed the glove covering his right hand to reveal a ceramic hand that used wire cylinders to move. “!?” He moved fingers that appeared to be made from no more than a framework and asked a question with a smile. “Fräulein, what if I told you my entire body was made like this?” She was unsure how to respond. But she hesitantly reached out and touched his body. It was hard. She felt nothing like flesh, only solid curves reminiscent of armor. “Is that what the Titel that Berger mentioned meant?” “My name is Bermark Vier. The Vier means I am the fourth in my model line.” He put his glove back on. “I am a male Airam-style Sein Frau created in the Flanders region as a model and example for all Germans. That makes me the one and only type of Heidengeist allowed to exist in Germany at the moment.” Hazel removed her hand from the old man and waited for him to say more. He soon gave her what she wanted. “It is said all Sein Fraus are destined to seek out a heart, but right now Germany needs the power to survive in this City World more than it needs a heart. We need the power to have our voice heard by the world. …You failed to become our Messiah, but the knowledge of our colleague that resides in your prosthetic eye is sure to aid our cause.” Hazel said nothing, so Bermark pushed on her back to get them walking again. But just then… “?” She felt a pain in her right eye. It was faint, like something small was pricking at the surface of the eye. … This is a lot like last night, but…weaker? Feeling uneasy, she placed a hand on her right cheek, which caused Bermark to look back. “Is something wrong?” “I think it’s just an ingrown eyelash. It’s kind of…” Weird, she finished in her mind, but she forced a smile for him to see. Her cheek remained a bit stiff due to the eye pain. And… “Oh?” Something was wrong with her vision. For some reason, she saw something blue instead of Bermark. It was like she had a thin layer of blue cellophane over her eyes because she could see Bermark through it. “What is this?” The blue in her vision was growing stronger. At the same time, she could see something white floating within the blue. The flocculant whiteness spread out flatly into the distance. … I swear I’ve seen this somewhere before. But her memory of it was unclear. The blue space and the whiteness spreading through it felt off, like she was remembering something wrong, so she could not find a clear answer. She held a hand out in front of her face, but even that was obscured by the blue shape. The two colors extending infinitely in front of her gained a more distinct color and shape and she seemed to be accelerating forward within it. She seemed to be moving so quickly she could not keep any specific point in view, even though it only existed in her vision. She saw a blue expanse spread out overhead and a fluffy white land beneath her. Her vision seemed to move as if sliding forward above that. “Fräulein?” She could hear Bermark’s questioning voice, but it did not register in her mind. She was hearing something else instead. … The wind? The sound was of course only in her imagination. Her ears were creating this imagined sound based on the visual information she was receiving and that phantom noise made the visual seem more real. But the flowing white and endless blue expanse fit that imagined wind perfectly. … I’m pretty sure my dad said the clouds look different when viewed from above than when viewed from the ground. Is that what I’m seeing below me now? Her vision rotated as if to show her what that whiteness was. Her vision made a roll to the right. “!?” While her vision flipped around in that roll, it changed angle somewhat. In response to her rightward roll, the white waves below her rose up from the bottom right and filled her vision. Then it was the blueness that rose up from the bottom right. The sound of the wind was joined by the loud roar of impacting air. Her vision suddenly filled with the blue. But the blue was not absolute. There was a single white circle at its center. That was the sun. Hazel muttered to herself after seeing that light. “I’m above the clouds…but why?” She received an answer immediately thereafter. Her vision showed her everything. The roar of the wind enveloped her. Or it seemed to. Just as the sun appeared in the center of her vision, it dropped down. The sun at the peak of the heavens seemed to flow further and further down because her vision was flying… “A loop-the-loop.” She stretched up without thinking. The upside-down cloudy horizon entered her vision from the top. The white horizon gradually moved down her vision and she could only see clouds a few seconds later. She was oriented straight down as if doing a handstand. She could see the cloudy sea with a hint of blue where the sunlight shined on it. Above that, she saw a series of small antlike dots. … Are those aerial warships? Judging distances was hard with nothing to compare them to. She dug up all the air force knowledge she had picked up from her father. The shapes below that looked less than an inch long had to be the newly commissioned warships that made up the main force of the 7th Aerial Division. Her vision suddenly moved straight ahead, in other words down and toward the ships below. There was no hesitation in that movement. “!?” She was charging toward them to attack, but attacking an entire air force division with a single craft was insanity. With no answers and not even time to ask the questions, Hazel could only raise her voice. “S-stop!!” However, her shout was tinged with hesitation. At the same time, she felt a horizontal impact disconnected from what she was seeing. She felt it on her cheek, which did not exist in that world of pure vision. Then the white clouds and the warships all vanished from view. ### 406. Part 2 Berlin’s sky sat above Tempelhof Airbase which was burning in the flames of the crashed warship. The uniquely long and flat shape of a pitch-black König Pseudo-Drach strategic reconnaissance craft kept its short-distance takeoff thrusters active as it flew in a large circle. Two people sat in the two-seat cockpit. Schweitzer sat in the front seat while wearing a flight suit for high-altitude mobility and Berger sat in the rear seat while still wearing his black coat. Berger viewed Berlin below from the tilted craft’s cockpit. He noticed the city was tinged faintly blue as he spoke to Schweitzer who held the stick in the front seat. “You and Alfred went south two years ago, right? I heard you were promoted for hunting down a dragon. So was that part of the Heidengeist hunt?” “I have no obligation to answer that.” “Good grief. Is that dragon what required Alfred to wield that sword given to the Maldrick family by the emperor? …The emperor protected the Messiah, you know? Meaning he chose to protect a Heidengeist.” “Times have changed. In the modern age, humanity can rule all through the power of steel.” Just as Schweitzer finished speaking, the centrifugal force of their rotation increased. They were speeding up. “Tighten your belts, Berger. This craft has some inertial control, but it is far from perfect.” A short silence followed, but then the communicator switched on and they heard Bermark’s voice coming from Tempelhof Airbase below. “König Pseudo-Drach 000210, this is the District 1 Airbase. Signal received with a strength of 55. The reading is good.” “This is König Pseudo-Drach. Same on this end. Encrypt the transmission and provide us with a report and a route.” After a short pause, Bermark’s voice returned with some static mixed in. “Continue in your circle until you reach 85 degrees from due north and then fly straight. The Sylphide is intermittently heading north while engaging with the cutting-edge Hs201 Doppelschneide sent in by the 2nd Aerial Fleet to assist the scout ships. The Doppelschneide is attempting to pull the Sylphide west toward Hamburg so it will not cross the border with Denmark.” “That ship has excellent rear defenses, so it is well-suited for that role.” “It is a battle between two cutting-edge ships. And the military has ordered the Sylphide destroyed, so the Doppelschneide cannot withdraw. The end result will likely be an unpleasant one. …I have used the name of our leader to gain permission for your König Pseudo-Drach to pass through the 1st and 2nd Aerial Fleets’ districts. Please hurry.” “Have we received no further orders from our leader?” “Only to secure the Sylphide…and to double-check the prophecy. It would seem the Fräulein is thinking the same thing we are: that the true Messiah might just be born here.” “That possibility seems to please you, Bermark. Have you taken a liking to that girl?” “Of course I have. …And, Lieutenant, the Fräulein’s orders say we may…shoot down the Sylphide if it is necessary to fulfill the prophecy.” Bermark took a breath. “Also, representatives of the military and the Geheimnis Agency have gathered at the general headquarters to make a decision. They hope to decide whether or not the Sylphide prototype truly is necessary for Germany.” “Keep me updated on their decision. What is the military saying?” “The air force intends to launch the V-0 ramming weapon they have developed jointly with the army. In order to destroy the Sylphide.” “…” “I will gather some troops and head there in Silber as quickly as I can.” “Make sure you only use Geheimnis Agency members. The military’s people…might be involved with the V-0.” With that, Schweitzer ended the König Pseudo-Drach’s circle and flew straight forward. The craft was no longer tilting and they slowly left the city below behind. The sound of the wind and the shaking of the craft could be heard now. “Schweitzer, why did Marsch die?” asked Berger with his arms crossed. “Was it a military plot? Were they that upset the Geheimnis Agency had created a new version of the Kaiserburg that defeated them 2 years ago?” When Schweitzer responded, it sounded like he had finally given up on ignoring the other man. “Two months ago, the military rushed in and stole the Sylphide prototype from the 18th Airbase up north. They claimed other nations would see us as a threat due to the ship’s presence. They captured Marsch as well, saying they wanted him to dismantle the Sylphide and indefinitely lock away all of its components.” His voice was flat and monotone. “The military…imprisoned him in Berlin’s general hospital and tried to get at his knowledge about the Sylphide. So what they truly wanted was the Sylphide’s power.” “So the thing about other nations was just an excuse, huh? Cause if the Geheimnis Agency built their own Kaiserburg, the military would never have any power over you again.” Berger sighed. “Was this because of the Panzerpolis Project?” he asked. “I think I get the connection. The Geheimnis Agency has started work on the Panzerpolis Project recently and it’s supposed to be made public with the announcement of the Greater Germanic Reich next April, but once that happens, the Geheimnis Agency will have power over both the government and the military, right? That’s why the military rushed to build their V-0…and stole the Sylphide.” He smiled bitterly. “Ideals aren’t enough for a largescale project to succeed. You need a symbol of power. And is that where the Messiah and the Sylphide come into play? If so, the Sylphide must be built as an Eingeweide too.” “Yes, it is.” “I see. Eingeweide devices are made to join people with machines. And unlike our weapons, it should work with a traditional Schreiben device as well. Is that what Marsch created in the Geheimnis Agency?” Another bitter smile. “If Eingeweide devices are the key to the Panzerpolis Project, then I think I have a pretty good idea what that project is.” “Oh, and what is that?” asked Schweitzer. Berger’s bitter smile grew. He uncrossed his arms and recrossed them behind his head to look up into the sky as he answered. “You plan to modify the entire country of Germany into a giant Eingeweide device, don’t you?” ### 407. Part 2 The darkness emitted by Gelegenheit was formed from pure destiny-severing Tons, so its weight was insignificant. He simply sliced at the sky as if testing the weight of the hilt. The dark blade cut through everything, including the wind and the shockwave. The Sylphide rushed in beyond that darkness. Its three rear Kunst Eyes began to fire metal bullets. Berger’s dark blade sliced through those bullets as it Erklärunged. Berger made a graceful sweeping movement for each shot that was heard in the sky. His black coat danced in the wind and the dark blade sliced through the metallic destruction. His feet sounded on the armor as he moved back, pounding out a rhythm for the sword’s movements. He cut up, cut forward, cut down, spun to the right, and jabbed up without missing a beat. After jabbing out and pulling back, he swung to the left and pulled his body toward his arm to hold the sword down at his hip. He had a distinct smile on his face within the high-speed noise and destruction. His black coat fluttered up from his movements more than the wind. The Sylphide was approaching fast, causing the downpour of bullets to grow even more intense. Those bullets were metal and, as the Sylphide grew closer… “The swords!?” Sylphide swung its 2 Schwerts every which way as it passed by above the König Pseudo-Drach. There was no hesitation in the action. The right sword swung in from above and the left one from below for a pincer attack. Since the Sylphide was about 10 yards higher than the König Pseudo-Drach, the lower attack came almost head-on toward Berger. But the higher attack was swinging down toward him from directly above. The two attacks would hit with a slight time lag between them. He did not hesitate to jab Gelegenheit forward into the attack coming from below. With almost no time lag at all, darkness stabbed through and broke the Sylphide’s lower attack about halfway up the blade. But by then, the higher attack was already swinging down toward him. It tore through the wind with an icy roar. Berger still had Gelegenheit jabbed forward without enough time to pull it back and raise it to defend himself. But he did take action. He pulled Gelegenheit’s hilt toward his stomach just a bit and then let go of it. He twisted his body and ducked below the hilt floating in the air. The hilt started to move past him overhead thanks to the momentum he had given it, but he spun his body around as if sweeping aside the bottom of his black coat. Gelegenheit was floating above him with the bottom of its hilt pointed forward. He had chosen to turn himself around instead of the heavy hilt. It all happened in an instant, so he grabbed the hilt again before it could drop down. And he did so with both hands. He then stood up with the weapon held overhead. He swung it toward the giant Schwert being swung down toward him. He stepped forward and unleashed a roaring attack. The Sylphide’s sword was broken, but he did not even watch the scattering spray of light. He instead looked up at the Sylphide about to fly by overhead. He moved his sword back again in an attempt to slice through its belly. Just then, the Sylphide stopped launching bullets from its rear Kunst Eyes and produced three Schwerts instead. “Stubborn little thing!!” shouted Berger as he briefly hesitated. After what could only be called an instant, his Gelegenheit severed the three swinging swords. But the Sylphide used that brief time to take evasive action, change its course along a right angle, and move out ahead of the König Pseudo-Drach. Then it powerfully accelerated. It began to run away. ### 408. Part 2 Silber had been designed primarily for carrying cargo, so 70% of its internal space was taken up by the 1st Cargo Bay. That large space was 15 yards wide and tall and 60 yards deep. Their rapid flight caused the cargo bay’s contents to shake somewhat, including a blue male Grösse Panzer in a landing pose that was going through its final pre-Schreiben inspection. They had no time. The work was being swiftly completed by a few of Bermark’s men and they all wore various military uniforms instead of work jumpsuits. Someone was watching them while leaning against a shield-reinforced pillar to the side of the cargo bay. It was Berger who had lost his entire left arm and now had bandages wrapped around the wound. He was not wearing his black coat. He had also removed his shirt, so the bandages were the only thing covering his upper body. He toyed with Gelegenheit in his right hand while he watched the Grösse Panzer’s final inspection. Until he heard some solid footsteps approaching from his left. He turned his head toward the noise to see Schweitzer there. He was not looking at Berger. He was looking up at the Grösse Panzer. “Bermark does love his gambles.” “He just wants you to return alive. He’s a good aide.” Berger smiled and stared more intently at the Grösse Panzer. “HMF309 Blau Löwe.” “It is a ship-defense Grösse Panzer developed by the Geheimnis Agency. Its weight has been reduced as much as possible while maintaining sufficient power output and its Ober Emblem called Luft Fang allows it to deploy its wings and fly. …Assuming you can activate the Ober Emblem, that is.” “You’re looking at the second best Grösse Panzer in the world here. Give me 3 minutes and it’s done.” “I never imagined I would need this much of your help.” Berger clicked his tongue at Schweitzer’s attitude. “We just so happen to want the same thing here. Once we save her…well, we’ll have to see what happens then, right?” Berger’s snide tone got Schweitzer to turn toward him. “Why won’t you use your power as a Heidengeist? With that, you could solve this like you did 2 years ago.” “Because I keep my promises, Schweitzer.” Berger’s tone said he was not accepting any more questions on the matter and he reached up to touch the pendant he wore at his neck with the same hand holding Gelegenheit. The chain he wore it with jangled quietly before he said something more. “Marsch promised to develop the country, so I think I get why he activated that craft and why he decided to implant the Messiah eye in a Heidengeist.” “?” Berger answered Scwheitzer’s confusion by raising his right index finger. “There is a single word that links Marsch to that prophecy you people are obsessed with.” The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home “It’s the Messiah,” said Berger. “Hazel isn’t the Messiah yet. If that really is a prophecy, then she becomes the Messiah only once the prophecy has been fulfilled. Which means…” “Which means what?” “To return to the earth, you must first rise above it. To return home, you must first leave it. Do you get what I’m saying?” “That Marsch created and activated the Sylphide in order to create the Messiah?” Berger spread his right hand with three fingers raised. “You said everyone in the Geheimnis Agency was given a prophecy based off of the Unreif Germane three months ago, right? And you were told to search for the Messiah based on it. Marsch was probably building the Sylphide when it occurred to him that the Sylphide might be necessary to fulfill the conditions needed to create the Messiah.” “So he gave the Messiah implant to a Heidengeist to match the Unreif Germane?” Schweitzer’s question was followed by the ship’s lighting turning red. “!” A shipwide announcement played. “Enemy craft located! The V-0 is approaching from seven o’clock. We will arrive within the V-0’s firing range in 1 minute and 18 seconds. Matching altitude and preparing for counterattack. Cargo Team and Docking Team, complete your inspections ASAP!” And… “Also, something odd is happening with the Sylphide out ahead. We thought the craft was done evolving, but now it…appears to be falling apart!” The surprised voice spoke quickly but did not rush. “These soldiers are well trained,” said Schweitzer before turning to Berger. “Why would it fall apart?” Berger smiled bitterly. “The Nein Ton rounds the military hit it with are only now taking effect. Now that it’s done evolving, the Sylphide’s Tons are no longer in flux and that near-forgotten poison it swallowed can do its damage.” “…” “Do you still not get why Marsch sent me the 9th Section of the Ruling King? His will no longer exists in the Sylphide. The machine’s own instincts and duty are driving it to carry the Messiah into outer space. Marsch may have wanted to prevent that and make the song come true.” Berger’s smile grew even more bitter. “The trouble we go through for that man.” Schweitzer sighed, removed his coat, and handed it to Berger. “Here’s a spare coat. Put it on.” “I’d rather not receive clothes from another guy.” “It was weirding me out to see you without any black on.” With that, Schweitzer turned around and did not look back again. ### 409. Part 2 The clouds burst apart and the blue blade of a craft flew out. It was basically right on top of them. “Schweitzer!!” shouted Berger. “It is already in ascent position!!” The König Pseudo-Drach let its rear slide with downwards inertia while the nose turned up. It also forcibly slid to the side and made a wide turn to rid itself of its forward momentum. Then it ascended. The Sylphide was there only about 200 yards ahead of them. It felt close enough to reach out and touch it. “Its acceleration is incredible!” Schweitzer was correct. The König Pseudo-Drach boasted the greatest speed in the German military, but the Sylphide was ascending just as quickly. The ocean was behind them, an expanse of clouds stretched endlessly on either side of them, and the dark heavens full of nothing but stars awaited out ahead. The Sylphide soared upwards as if attempting to tear a hole in the dark heavens above. “That thing is desperate to get up there.” Before Berger was even done speaking, a shining substance scattered behind the Sylphide. By the time he realized it was armor, it had already fallen past them. He maintained his calm tone even in the pressure of their acceleration. “It’s falling apart. This is its final flight.” “Dog!” shouted Hazel over the communicator. “Are you chasing after it!?” “Yeah, I’ll be in arm’s reach soon. Shall I grab your butt to prove it?” “Please stop! It’s no use chasing after it, so stop!” He shook his head, but her shouting continued since she could not see that. “It’s no use. No matter where I go, no one can…” Her voice faded away and he cut her off with a shout. “Is giving up and dying your answer? I’ve head enough of your childish complaints, Hazel!” He laughed. “Did you ever bring these objections to your dad – to Oscar Mirildorf? Outside your dreams, that is!?” He distinctly heard her gasp over the communicator and he touched the pendant hanging from his neck as he continued. “Let’s leave this place, Hazel. I’m sure your dad will welcome you. He hasn’t abandoned you! …Or do you want to die with the Sylphide here!?” “I don’t. But…” “But?” “But how are you going to stop this craft!? He protects me because he needs my eye! And he’s only ever been used by people, just like me!” “That isn’t an issue. Even if the Sylphide needs you…” He tried to say more, but his lips came to a stop. He erased it all with a bitter smile. She soon protested. “Dog!! Why!? Why are you so insistent on this? I…” “The thing is, there’s one thing I’m the very best in the world at: doing everything I can to avoid having to take responsibility for something later on.” “Have you been that way since that day 2 years ago when Eryngium died!?” The König Pseudo-Drach slowed its acceleration when she asked that. Berger immediately kicked at the seat in front of him, but the acceleration did not return. Just then, a power conduit fell from above and grazed the König Pseudo-Drach. They pursued the Sylphide without accelerating. A voice reached Berger from that somewhat distant craft. “Dog! Please tell me why you’re the only one trying to get me out of here. Why do you keep rebuking me and telling me to leave instead of closing me up somewhere like everyone else is trying to do?” “Because I made a promise.” “Your promise to Eryngium? Can’t you tell me what that was?” “I can’t. Because it was a personal thing.” He spat out the words while kicking on the front seat again. But Schweitzer still did not accelerate. Instead, he spoke. “Long ago, when the Heidengeist Messiah was unsure if she should use her power for the people, she was visited by a human youth with a divine name who persuaded her with a single statement.” This made Berger quickly sit up and try to stop the man’s words. “And 3 years ago, a certain woman made a special promise with Berger that she did not make with the rest of us.” But he could not stop it in time. Schweitzer’s voice rang in the slight silence of their slowed acceleration. “Let us fulfill the prophecy here. …She had Berger promise one simple thing.” He took a breath. “To remain true to himself.” ### 410. Part 3 The man’s large frame was covered by a combat coat. However, his right arm was left bare up to the shoulder. That was because his metal prosthetic arm was far too large to fit below the coat. His biological hand removed his German Military Geheimnis Agency cap that bore the rank insignia of a lieutenant and he tossed it into the wind which was too powerful for the ship’s wind resistance field to fully block. That wind washed over a young face with close-cropped blond hair. His face was as square as his build and it was already directed straight upwards. The red jewel in the women’s earring on his left ear shined in a searchlight rising from the bridge below. The wind and the noise hit him as he watched the incoming blue craft. For a split second, he glared up at that blue craft. His gaze accurately found the glass of the cockpit situated at the top. He narrowed his eyes and slowly moved his lips. “Is this the final freedom you found, Marsch?” Then he raised his prosthetic right arm. It was made from heavy metals, but he could easily move it thanks to the light surrounding its weight reduction emblem panel. It looked like a cannon or launcher attached to a large, boxy upper arm, but a metal staff was visible sticking out of the muzzle. He saw the blue craft raise its 5 long swords to attack the bridge – no, to attack him. But he aimed his right arm’s launcher all the same. “Would it be a mercy to put you out of your misery myself!?” The launcher seemed to respond to his voice when the powder within produced a deafening bang. Ether light burst from the muzzle and a large divine spell powder cartridge was ejected from the port halfway up the prosthetic arm. With a metallic sound, the metal staff awash with emblem light was launched from the muzzle and struck the space out ahead. Before the ether-engulfed staff could be pulled back into the launcher, a transformation came over the space it had struck. Bluish-white lines of ether were drawn out in front of the blue craft, marking out a 50-yard cube of space. The blue craft immediately evaded to the right and the man spoke as he watched it. “Der Held – Erklärung – Beweisen.” After speaking the words to activate his weapon, he began to recite his Text. The ether light emitted from his prosthetic arm drew that Text onto the world itself. To the port of the blue craft’s evasive actions, the space filled with bluish-white ether light was split apart. The blue craft had failed to fully escape that space, so two Schwerts on its port side were cut away at the base. The space between the man’s prosthetic arm and the blue craft had been sliced through for just an instant. In a process known as Erklärung, the words he and his arm had spoken were made real through the power of ether. With two of its swords lost, the blue craft rolled again, adjusted its position, and turned away from the warship’s bridge. With a roar and the blowing of wind, it dropped below the warship. It did not return. The battle was over with that one brief encounter. One of the severed swords of light dropped down and stabbed into the bridge’s roof behind the man. ### 411. Part 3 “Why is he like this!?” Schweitzer blew away the rubble of the used bookstore with his prosthetic arm, stood up, and ran out to the road. Berger was nowhere to be seen and his motorcycle was no longer parked on the curb. He had gotten away. Ignoring the sounds of the MPs crawling out of the rubble behind him and the curious eyes of the passersby, Schweitzer calmly brushed the dust off of his prosthetic arm and raised his left hand. Less than the span of a breath later, a black military personnel transport vehicle drove up and began to stop in front of him. Before its brakes could finish squealing, he opened the door and climbed in. The passenger seat was positioned low and given a lot of extra space, but it was still cramped for such a large man with such a large prosthetic arm. The vehicle immediately drove off, so it was already in second gear by the time he got the door shut. He adjusted his position as if holding his prosthetic arm close. “Why is this seat always so hard?” “You complained that it had too much cushioning last time.” He was answered by Bermark, the old soldier in the driver’s seat whose white gloved hands seemed oddly conspicuous. “That is my personal problem, so do not let it bother you.” Schweitzer remained expressionless. “Where is Berger headed?” “I arranged a network of hidden observers rather than directly pursue him. Convincing the Abwehr to act was not easy, though. He is currently travelling west along Kantstrasse with a cat on his shoulder.” The questioner and answerer kept their eyes on the road ahead instead of looking to each other. A city of stone and metal flowed past them as they drove. Eventually, Schweitzer sank deeper down into his seat. “Very well. Berger can wait. …For now, head to the general hospital.” “We are already on our way. I had a feeling you would ask for it.” “Then take a right at the next intersection for a shortcut, Bermark. Never mind. We just passed it.” “That is a one-way road. Aren’t the Fräulein and his Excellency always insisting that we do not trouble the citizenry even in an emergency?” “Fair enough. I am not one to argue with the leaders of our Geheimnis Agency.” Schweitzer looked up in defeat and let out a weary sigh. “Last night, I was certain we had finally tracked down the Messiah implant that Marsch made, but one day later and it’s escaped. The Panzerpolis Project certainly is off to a rocky start.” “And the foreign rats have already learned the name of the project.” “It won’t help them. Even we have only been told the name and…what will happen. But I do know one thing more: the Panzerpolis Project is guaranteed to rescue Germany from a future crisis.” “Although we need the Messiah to pull that off. It was two weeks ago that Hazel Mirildorf was taken from that Heidenheim, transported to the general hospital, and implanted with the Messiah. And the doctors had hidden the Messiah implant for two months prior to that. We were fortunate to catch wind of this at all.” “Well, let’s hope that fortune lasts. But do you think this will really lead to the birth of the true Messiah?” “According to the Fräulein, if the prophecy is fulfilled, then the Messiah will come to lead us and ultimately save Germany. So I am sure the Messiah implant created by Sir Marsch will live up to its name.” “And what if it doesn’t? If we fail to secure her in accordance with the prophecy, Marsch’s Messiah implant will be nothing but a name and we will once more be forced to continue to search out the true Messiah. We will remain a masterless order of knights.” “If that happens, then that is what destiny has ordained. Also…Sir Marsch’s Messiah implant is important to us for a different reason. We must acquire it.” Bermark turned to the right at an intersection without slowing. “Let’s change the subject.” “Please do.” The view outside the glass rotated and then they could see out ahead once more. Bermark returned the steering wheel to its neutral position, shifted up a gear, and accelerated while asking a question. “Who exactly is Berger…or should I call him Sir Berger?” “He deserves no honorific. As I am sure you can imagine, he is an enemy.” “Then who is he?” “An immigrant. His full name is Dog Berger. He was born in Aerial City – London, his mother was a human prostitute, and his father is unknown. He told me he arrived in Berlin around the end of the great war along with the various enemy forces.” “What is his connection to you, Sir Marsch, and Sir Alfred?” “We all went to high school together. He even went to university with Marsch, but he dropped out after three years. That was two years ago.” “Why did he drop out?” Schweitzer did not answer that question. Silence fell over the vehicle as Bermark stepped on the gas even more to travel north over the bridge crossing the Spree River that split the city in two. Once on the other side, he entered the passing lane and asked a further question. “Then has this Berger made contact with Hazel Mirildorf yet?” “It didn’t seem like it. She is the daughter of former Major General Oscar, head of the Eisen Vogel, isn’t she?” “Yes, the Eisen Vogel was meant to be the foundation of the 1st Aerial Fleet led by Lieutenant General Heiliger, but then Oscar Mirildorf suddenly retired last year.” “Provide me with more details on the girl when you have some time. It is hard to keep track of my own memories and all the information I have learned in such a short time. I honestly feel like I am overlooking something.” “Such as?” “For one, the girl was taken to the hospital from a Heidenheim. Only those with Heidengeist blood are sent there. …Now, former Major General Oscar was human, but what kind of blood did the girl receive from her mother?” Schweitzer took a breath. “We have been so busy pursuing the Messiah implant that we have failed to consider the person who carries it. We know the AIF helped her escape last night, but could her power as a Heidengeist have also played a role?” “Let us pray she cannot turn invisible. I will gather further information ASAP. …Oh.” They approached a three-road junction and turned right, to the east. The dark cedar woods to their left were part of the Tiergarten park. Beyond those woods was the white general hospital. A few trails of white smoke rose above the canopy formed by the trees. Bermark kept his eyes on the road as he said one last thing. “How ironic that the appearance of the Messiah meant to save Germany would bring such disaster upon us.” ### 412. Part 3 The moonlit streets of Berlin were horribly chilly because the city was mostly made of stone and metal. That solid city could not soften the winter wind’s blast. If anything, it chilled it further. The moon hung in the cloudless sky which kept heat from gathering. The wind blew across every last part of the city, transforming the streets into icy currents much like a midwinter river. The people avoided the cold by staying indoors and never heading out, so light shined from the homes along the major roads. Most of it was the thin beams of light escaping through gaps in the shutters. A mottled pattern of artificial light shined on one dark street. A vehicle drove along the road as if to plow through that light. It was a black military vehicle. Its lights were off and it was driving a bit above the speed limit. That speed left its plastic tires barely able to dig into the stone-paved road. It was fast. It had reinforcement panels installed in places and they audibly sliced through the wind. Even the roar of the engine was left behind by its speed and the passenger-side window on the right was open. A black uniformed left arm and a head stuck out from that window. They belonged to Schweitzer. He had twisted his body around to stick out his hand and grab and extend the communication antenna on the side of the vehicle’s pillar. Then he rolled up the window. The cold wind was blowing mercilessly inside the vehicle. He and Bermark in the driver’s seat were the only ones inside. But neither of them batted an eye at the icy wind. Schweitzer simply used a hand to fix the scarf that identified him as a member of the Geheimnis Luftwaffe. Once the window was fully shut, Bermark spoke with an expressionless face. “The guard we sent to keep an eye on him reported some noise and a shout from within the underground room.” “A shout? From Berger? That man does do the weirdest things.” “No, it was a girl. And more of a scream than a shout.” Schweitzer said nothing, but after a pause, Bermark made a powerful brushing motion with his gloved right hand. “If he has harmed the poor girl in any way, he is even more despicable than I had thought. …From what I heard, Hazel Mirildorf would have made an excellent Neue Kavalier were she not a Heidengeist. When the inspection team performed the surprise Heidengeist test at her school, she stood up to an MP who attempted to get violent with a friend of hers, if you recall.” “Yes, she stood up for her friend and took a rifle stock to the face, blinding her in the right eye. That very injury is what gave her a fever in the Heidenheim, leading her to be implanted with the prosthetic eye at the general hospital. …This may have been a lot easier on her if none of that had happened.” “Indeed. But it does show she has the personality to be the Messiah.” “The question is whether or not we can secure her and fulfill the prophecy. Her personality is irrelevant.” “But…” Bermark let out a deep groan and then sighed. “I apologize. A man of my age should have better control of his emotions.” “No worries. It was exhilarating.” Schweitzer remained expressionless as he grabbed the communicator mic attached to the front of the seat. He set the frequency and spoke a few words to confirm his subordinates were on their way to the rendezvous point. Once done, he set down the mic and rubbed his chin with his biological left hand. “But…it seems running away runs in the Mirildorf family.” “Are you referring to the Armored Hammer of God Incident from two years ago?” “Yes, the failed struggle to catch the Kaizerburg, which led to the Sylphide’s development. Oscar Mirildorf commanded a full division of the air force he was given by Lieutenant General Heiliger, yet he ultimately cleared the way for the enemy to escape.” “Many people have criticized that hesitation as unthinkable for a soldier.” “The daughter of the soldier who fled from the enemy is now attempting to escape from the country. Do you know how that must have felt for the daughter? Flight, death, and loss always weigh heavier on those left behind than on the person themselves.” Tension gathered in Schweitzer’s brow. “Due to an error in the previous war, the Geheimnis Agency was forced to let our emperor flee the country. You have not forgotten that sense of defeat and the disgrace of losing our master, have you?” “No. And I understand why His Excellency said Germany is now a country ruled by the people rather than an emperor.” “That girl is in the same position as us, so how does she feel?” “Ironic that she would be the one perhaps destined to be the Messiah.” That comment further hardened Schweitzer’s expression. “Is she, though? The power of the Messiah implant she was given is fascinating, but do you really think the prophecy will play out once we secure her? Will dragons gather and will everything return home? If she does not carry that destiny with her, then she cannot become the true Messiah who will eventually save Germany.” “All we can do is see it through to the end…until the prophecy has been fulfilled. If it turns out she cannot do so, then we must continue our search for one worthy of the title.” “What was Marsch thinking when he named the implant that? He must have heard the prophecy three months ago…so what in the world was he thinking?” Schweitzer honestly had no idea. They had held this discussion countless times already, so Bermark provided the correct answer as an aide. “Let us stop focusing on the prophecy. All will become clear once we secure her and, as you said earlier, it is the Messiah implant that matters for the Geheimnis Agency.” The conversation paused for a brief moment because they were both unsure what to say next. As if to break that awkward silence, light shined in from behind the vehicle. “There they are,” said Bermark with relief in his voice and Schweitzer looked out through the back window. The light came from the headlights of multiple armored military vehicles. “I told them not to use their lights in the city.” “We have fewer than a dozen fellow Geheimnis Agency members with us, so the rest are rank and file soldiers with some brief night mission training. Do not expect too much from them.” “Fair point.” Schweitzer reached for the doorknob. “You take 20 of them with you, Bermark. Pursue those two in order to secure the Messiah.” “I am counting on you to cut off their escape.” Before Bermark was even done speaking, Schweitzer had opened the door and jumped out. That giant form in a black coat accelerated by kicking once off the stone pavement rushing by like a river. He built up speed to run alongside Bermark’s vehicle. And he reached for the half-open door. “We are counting on you to help fulfill the prophecy and protect this country.” With those parting words, he shut the door. The vehicle sped up and he could no longer keep up on foot. He slowed his pace a bit and looked back at the approaching lights. The subordinates he had called here were driving several black armored vehicles. They covered both sides of the road and slowly approached while whipping up the wind. He stopped his feet and jumped backwards. He used his heavy prosthetic arm as a pivot point midleap to perform a nimble flip. The city spun around in his vision and the moon came into view. “…” He landed upright on the hood of one of the approaching armored vehicles. The weight of his large body and prosthetic arm caused the vehicle to sink down a bit with a metallic creaking. He was facing forward, where the vehicle’s headlights were shining. It continued to drive straight ahead, as if it knew exactly what he wanted it to do. The wind grew stronger. He fixed his black military coat’s collar and crossed his arms. He looked up into the night sky to see the full moon directly overhead. “A perfect night for a Heidengeist.” He took a breath. “And for the Sylphide as well.” ### 413. Part 3 After a casual swing of Gelegenheit’s blade, Hazel saw the entire hallway – from ceiling to floor, sliced through in a clockwise circle. Only a severing line remained along the hallway’s wall and ceiling. The single Text she heard came from empty space, not from Berger’s mouth or from Gelegenheit. That was all. That was all it took for the three magic bullets to pass behind Berger and Hazel. “Eh?” Hazel tried to question what had just happened, but Berger pulled on her hand. A moment later, the magic bullets hit the glass door behind them. She turned toward the loud noise to see light and explosions blowing away the door. … They didn’t hit us!? She looked and saw the black blade had vanished from Gelegenheit in Berger’s hand. He flipped the hilt around in his hand and flicked the Phlogiston Tank with his thumb. The screw holding it in loosened and he removed it from the weapon. “You used it up already? But those things will run a radio for a full year.” “I cut through our destiny of death. That’s worth at least a year of radio, don’t you think?” He pulled on her hand and crossed over the heated wreckage of the door to run outside. The full moon shined in the sky overhead. They had crossed the courtyard and passed through that building, so they were now by the trees lining the road out front. It was a wide road with black cedars on either side. They were only 200 yards away from the main gate onto campus. Climb the metal fence there and they were out in the city. Hazel’s breath was visible in the chilly air as she worked to run faster. Her right eye felt that chill more strongly. … Is that because I’m still not used to the prosthetic? She rubbed her eye, assuming the faint piercing pain was due to the cold air. Then she looked to Berger running alongside her and asked the question on her mind. “Dog, what did you mean earlier?” “About you being a naughty girl?” “No! Why are you so fixated on the idea of people not wanting to run away? And…” She hesitated but decided to ask. “Who is the person who vanished from your life? Who is Eryngium?” She fell silent after that. … I probably shouldn’t have asked that. She said “sorry” and looked away from him. She focused on running. Then she heard a bitter laugh from him. A moment later, she heard a sound like shattering glass. … What was that? By then, it was too late. The scene in front of her changed. She should have been looking at the main gate dead ahead, but then the black cedar trees and the sidewalk on the left suddenly rushed in toward her. “Eh!?” “Hazel!” Berger’s voice sounded so far away on her right. Her sensitive inner ear as a cat told her something was wrong. At some point, she had turned 90 degrees to the left. … What!? But it was too late to do anything about it. Her running legs hesitated for a moment and she stumbled on the curb before the sidewalk. “–––––!” Her skinny body grew airborne and she flew head-first toward the trees. Dry cedar leaves were falling from those winter trees. … This is going to hurt. Her thoughts remained oddly calm as she tried to curl up. But then something caught her in midair. ### 414. Part 3 When Hazel saw that, she stood up and turned her back on him. “Dog Berger mentioned the name Eryngium and nothing else. Who is she and what does she do? He said she thought the same thing I do and he mentioned a promise made to her.” She walked the four steps needed to reach the window, placed her hand on the condensation-wet sill, and opened the window. The wind blew in. The chilly air flowed into the room, eliminating the warmth from the air conditioning. But she opened her eyes and stared into the distance. Tempelhof Airport had been converted into an airbase, so several transport planes were stopped on the wide airfield to quickly bring in and send out materiel. She could only hear the blowing of the wind and the rumble of engines. She narrowed her eyes. … Why? “Um…why is everyone so fixated on the fact that I don’t want to run away?” The wind blew in, causing her hair to dance and flutter in the room behind her. She turned around as if pulled back by her hair. There she saw Schweitzer had stood from his seat and was starting to leave the room. She started to say something, but he turned just his head toward her and looked her in the eye. The strength in his gaze was enough to silence her. Her shoulders drooped in the wind as he spoke. “The woman named Eryngium is no more.” He paused slightly but did not look away from her. “Because I hunted her down as part of the Heidengeist suppression following the Armored Hammer of God Incident in ’35.” “…!” “We each made a promise to her 3 years ago over drinks. I promised to protect the country, Marsch promised to develop the country, Alfred promised to strengthen the country, and…” “Dog Berger?” Schweitzer responded to her question by ignoring it. He opened the door without saying a word more. The wooden door creaked and the wind whirling through the room escaped into the hallway. As did the man whose prosthetic right arm bore the name Der Held. “Um.” She started to run over, but before she could ask him to wait, the door slammed shut in her face. “…” She fell silent with a weight in her heart and she placed her hands on the table and looked outside with a frown. As if in response to her gaze, a sudden change occurred in the cedar forest surrounding the airport. Black smoke rose into the sky with fire in the center. “––––!?” At the same time, screams rose from the airport. All the loudspeakers on the Tempelhof Airport buildings began playing deep, long, and carrying alarms. “The second alarm? They’re going on alert.” Hazel suddenly held her body when she saw the black smoke vanishing into the sky. She seemed to be covering up her shoulder. She smiled bitterly, but that smile gradually faded away. All that remained was a complete lack of expression. Her eyes calmly turned toward a point on the table. A knife used for breakfast remained there. She reached for and grabbed that silver-gleaming knife. “I don’t want to run away…but what does that mean? What does it mean to run away?” She looked around. The large room was very neat and tidy. People had brought her food here and said they would protect her while she was here. … Am I running away if I stay here? She looked around again and then pressed her left index finger against the tip of the knife. The tip was not all that sharp, but when she stabbed it into her fingertip with a bit of a twisting motion, a drop of blood welled up. She felt pain. That was not something to be done out of curiosity, so she frowned. “Do I have to be hurt if I don’t want to run away?” She licked her finger. It tasted of iron. Then she approached the window and sat with her back against the wall. She held her own body and curled up as if holding the small blade to herself. The blaring alarms pierced and permeated her body. ### 415. Part 3 The vanished clouds were replaced by Schweitzer’s face. He was crouched down and peering into her face and he breathed a sigh of relief when Hazel met his gaze. “I apologize for the rough treatment.” With that, he pulled back the left hand held up in front of her face and let it fall at his side. That gentle motion told her that his slap had fixed her vision. She took a rough breath. “I thought I was going to Flektieren. But what was-?” She started to say something, but she gasped when she looked the man in the eye. She saw her own face reflected upside-down in his blue eyes. Her right prosthetic eye had lost its blue color and was instead emitting a bright red light. Schweitzer said nothing. He shut his eyes and straightened up before silently picking her up in his right prosthetic arm. She followed her instincts and struggled when that cold metal arm lifted her. “H-hey, let go!!” “Your legs look too weak to walk,” he said while removing her sandals and tossing them back to Bermark. “Hold onto those. We need to hurry. The Sylphide has appeared above here.” “You don’t just get to decide I can’t walk!!” Her shout put a bitter smile on Bermark’s face and Schweitzer picked up his walking pace. The explosion she heard now was much less distant than the previous ones. ### 416. Part 3 “All German people carry Germany’s Tons. This land is a part of them, so if we modify Germany as a whole, all German people will be able to use Erklärung while in this land.” “…” “Our country has no powerful distinction of its own, so we must modify it if we are to stand up to the other cities. The Sylphide is the most powerful warship and it was created using Schreiben-style Eingeweide Ausbildung, so it acts as a symbol of what we must do. And we also require the true Messiah as someone to lead the people.” “That’s just a pipe dream, was all Berger said. Schweitzer said nothing in response and that silence might as well have been agreement. So Berger raised his right leg and kicked the back of the seat in front of him while still looking up in the sky. “Answer me. That Schreiben-style Eingeweide would mean everyone can use Erklärung just by Schreibening into a fighter or Panzer, no losing a body part required. …Does Germany want to go to war?” “Ask me again once this is all over. After you have seen what happens in ’43, when the prophesied disaster strikes.” “That’s a long wait.” The König Pseudo-Drach began a slight ascent and accelerated further. The city of Berlin vanished below them. “We will climb to the altitude with the atmospheric density this craft prefers. It will be cold. Do you have a heating charm with you?” “I do,” replied Berger. “So what happened to Marsch’s body?” “The Sylphide’s Schreiben device used an external Studio. Do you get what I mean?” Schweitzer’s voice sounded a little downcast. “After creating the Messiah implant and leaving it with the doctors, he escaped but was badly injured in the process. Despite his injury, he managed to break into the 18th Airbase.” “And he started up the Sylphide by Schreibening into its external Studio?” “The Sylphide took off, but Marsch’s body remained in the external Studio it left behind.” “He was lucky he wasn’t stuck inside the connection cable.” Berger’s comment did not earn a response. The König Pseudo-Drach shook. It had ignited its accelerant, so its speed rose and the pressure bearing down on it increased. The blue sky gradually flowed back behind them. ### 417. Part 3 The atmospheric barrier created by the Sylphide crashed into the König Pseudo-Drach’s Luftram. The König Pseudo-Drach seemed to pass through a tunnel torn through the shockwave led by a curtain of white water vapor. Berger ran forward along its back within the wind. Only after placing his hand on the edge of the cockpit did he realize his left sleeve had been torn and shredded by the shockwave. Fresh blood quickly flowed down his arm to his fist. He ignored his own bleeding. He clicked his tongue, reached his bloody hand out toward the Sylphide, and clenched his fist. “Schweitzer! Move out ahead of it! You should be able to pull that off using your Eingeweide arm’s Ober Beweisen!!” “So it starts there, does it!?” Schweitzer stood up in the wind, tearing his four-point belt apart in the process. He readied his Eingeweide arm Der Held. “Der Held – Erklärung – Ober Beweisen.” Then he recited the words of the Text used to activate Der Held’s Ober Beweisen. The rhythm broke through the wind and raced out in every direction. Over the span of an instant, smoke and an empty cartridge burst from his prosthetic arm’s ejector before the staff stabbed out at empty space. With a sound more pleasant than a roar, light surrounded a cube of space about 200 yards in each direction in front of him. The ether floating in that area of space instantly vanished. The sound of the Tons bursting on their own was similar to a cry of joy. Even the wind instantly lost its shape as the movement of all ether came to a stop. Berger smiled with only his lips. “You stop all ether movement within a space for just an instant. Does that mean everyone must put down their weapon before Der Held?” He watched as Schweitzer calmly sat back down in the cockpit. Once his large back was gone, Berger could again see the Sylphide in the sky. Its Kunst Eyes were not functioning and its speed had dropped. But it was not gliding. The engine had been briefly stopped, but it had started back up immediately afterwards. However, that was not enough. The König Pseudo-Drach did not overlook that brief loss of power, so it worked to overtake the Sylphide. The Sylphide shifted its path to avoid being overtaken. It moved directly in the way of the other craft’s path. But by then, Berger was already standing atop the König Pseudo-Drach. He held Gelegenheit in his right hand. With 5 Type C Phlogiston Tanks attached, the darkness extended about 20 yards into the winter air. The Sylphide had its back turned, so it chose to attack as its inferior speed allowed the enemy to approach. Swords of light emerged from its 5 Kunst Eyes. Berger noted the swords were longer than before. “Oh? Are you actually trying this time!?” he shouted while opening up his black coat with his left hand. The pale light of the Sylphide’s Schwerts illuminated the inside of that coat. There were several dozen bags tied to the inside of the coat and each one had a Phlogiston Tank attached. He pulled Type C Phlogiston Tanks from them and rapidly attached them to Gelegenheit like a fast reload. He ended up with a total of 20. The sword-like hilt was now so long the weapon looked more like a spear. He grabbed the center of the shaft with both hands and swung it around. The dark sword extended more than 80 yards from the end and was still growing. Even the blade’s width was more than 2 yards. It was an enormous sword. “Have a taste of Gelegenheit!” he yelled while holding the shaft below one arm. A moment later, the König Pseudo-Drach overtook the Sylphide. As they passed by, the sky was decorated by spraying light and a sound like shattering glass. The blue craft and black craft passed each other by in the dark sky. Five small swords of light and one large sword of darkness moved at the center of that exchange of colors. With its swords broken, the Sylphide used its full power to hop to the side and flee from the large sword’s path. ### 418. Part 3 An alarm sounded in the large cargo bay to indicate something was activating. With his work complete, a soldier hopped down from the shoulder of the Grösse Panzer named Blau Löwe wearing an armored blue Panzer Kleid and sitting on a cargo platform in the center of the cargo bay. He and the other workers ran over to the cargo platform’s controller and began operating the buttons. A large tremor ran through the Grösse Panzer’s cargo platform. An eyepatch-like device extended from the back of the platform to protect the sight devices, but that was removed, revealing Blau Löwe’s face. The compound eye devices already contained a light carrying a powerful will. Berger had Schreibened into it. The voice device in Blau Löwe’s mouth produced Berger’s somewhat muffled voice. “All systems go. Preparing to depart. Standing up.” The workers repeated that all back as the cargo platform rose up. The back of the platform was oddly shaped to surround the secondary cockpit and the Götter Kanone on the Panzer’s back and it attached to the bottom of the secondary cockpit to push up on the Panzer. Blau Löwe stood up and planted its feet on the floor. It no longer required the support of the platform to remain standing. “Standing up. Everything looks good. Removing restraints.” The workers repeated that back again. With the sound of crackling electricity, the restraints were removed from the Panzer’s parts: the shoulders, the thighs, the wrists, the feet, and the stomach. With the restraints gone, the giant steel doll was free. “Restraints removed. Beginning to move.” It took a step forward. Its body tilted a bit to the left. After correcting for that, it took another step forward and reached out its right hand. A Grösse Panzer sword was hanging on the wall. It grabbed that and attached it to the weapon latch on the Panzer Kleid’s hip. “Equipment retrieved. Preparing for free-fall transportation.” “Opening virtual barrier. Cargo bay crew, withdraw immediately.” That announcement was followed by a solid panel of light covering everything from ceiling to floor behind Blau Löwe. Two more of them appeared equidistant from each other in front of Blau Löwe. The men who had been in front of the cargo platform’s controls were now waving from behind Blau Löwe. Blau Löwe must have seen it with its omnidirectional vision because it gave a thumbs up back at them. The men cheered while falling back toward the barrier within the ship. As soon as they were done, the cargo bay door opened vertically. A 15-yard opening appeared, the dark sky came into view, and the entire ship shook. But no wind blew inside the cargo bay. The three panels of light surrounding the Grösse Panzer kept it out. Those Ton barriers redirected the energy that passed through them, creating air barriers. Blau Löwe’s Panzer Kleid fluttered from what little wind got through and the Panzer ducked down. “Fully activating Ober Emblem Luft Fang. What’s the Sylphide doing?” “The Sylphide is currently having some armor stripped away. Based on its rate of collapse, it will not last another hour. Once it loses inertial control, it will break apart in midair.” “I see.” Just then, a shipwide broadcast blasted into the cargo bay. “We are receiving a radio transmission from the Sylphide!! The pilot wishes to speak with Dog Berger!” “Dog Berger! What is the meaning of this!?” Bermark’s voice entered the broadcast to ask that question and Blau Löwe explained. “I ‘handed’ her the frequency and encryption code we’re using. And I added a simple message: say what you want to say.” Ether light formed orbs below Blau Löwe’s Panzer Kleid and those orbs scattered into the air. The ether burst and turned to a glowing mist that covered the armor and caused it to undergo a change. The intricate emblem engraved into the Panzer’s armor glowed as it reacted to the ether. The Ton rhythm contained in that emblem transformed the Panzer into something other than a machine. A girl’s voice arrived via the shipwide broadcast while the transformation occurred. “Dog…can you hear me?” It was Hazel. “I can, Hazel. …Let me be blunt – that craft is dying. Can you tell?” The Ton conversion caused by the emblem moved past the armor and altered the power system as well. “Yes. It’s making some weird noises, so I had a feeling.” The changes began at the limbs. Light sprayed from the joints for just an instant and that light dissipated to reveal an entirely different shape. The connections made with cylinders were now an actual metal body held together by giant white tendons. This created a fusion that was not quite biological and not quite mechanical. The Götter Kanone and secondary cockpit on the back began to transform with ether light, as did the extra armor for the wing expansion located between those other two components. “Then I have one question, Hazel. Do you want to be the Messiah? We’re looking at a pretty literal fulfillment of the prophecy here, so if you choose to abandon the Sylphide and return home, the prophecy will be fulfilled.” “…!?” Ether light swelled out from the back of the shoulders and branched off into a top, middle, and bottom sections on either side. The six lights jutted out as giant fang-like wings. These were the six wings of a Seraph, a powerful type of Nein Engel. “Also, it’s looking like the Sylphide was made for this purpose. To create the Messiah, I mean. So how about it, Hazel. It might feel nice to be a Messiah.” “That would mean abandoning the Sylphide though, wouldn’t it? And it would mean this prosthetic eye is being used by the state for that prophecy, right? Also…” She took a breath. “What do you mean the Sylphide was made to create the Messiah!? This thing has worked so hard to search out the Messiah and take her to outer space. Are you saying it was actually made to do something else entirely?” “It looks that way, yes. The Sylphide might want to go to space and protect the Messiah, but it was made and activated to fulfill the prophecy.” “Are you serious!?” The light intricately weaved the metal together to create the impressive wings. The base of the wings was blue and the wings themselves were yellow. They looked like enormous fangs standing up toward the sky. “Then are you willing to die along with the Sylphide when it breaks apart? Since it was built to be used by the state, you sympathize with it so much you want to die with it?” “Well…” Berger smiled bitterly at that. “You’re still a child, Hazel. I said I only have one question, so you don’t have to answer or even think about that one.” Blau Löwe’s facial devices were bathed in light as a mask-like face was created. The conduits extending from the back of the head became tendons and the radiator tubes became long hair that danced in the wind. “Dog.” Her sigh reached him as static. “Why are you doing this? Who even are you?” Blau Löwe…no, Luft Fang raised its head to look outside. “I’m…well, a god.” “A god!? I’d heard you from Aerial City.” “That’s right. My mom was a human prostitute and pure humans are pretty rare in London, a city of Heidengeists and gods.” Its left arm had finished transforming, but it did not move. Instead, Luft Fang clenched its right hand once, twice, thrice. “Then your father was a god?” “Yeah. Which may explain why my mom was fond of saying her customers were all-knowing.” Berger sighed, paused for a moment, and then continued. “Wait, no. She said ‘the customer is always right’. That’s not quite the same thing, is it?” His joke earned only silence until that was broken by Bermark. “Someone throw that man off my ship.” Berger ignored him and took another step forward. The 8-yard metal giant was truly walking now. One step. “Hazel, keep in mind that the Sylphide will die eventually.” Two steps. “And it is unsure if it should obey its machine instincts and fly into space with you or if it should obey the duty given by its creator and protect the Messiah. None of that has to do with what the state wants.” Three steps. “Hazel Mirildorf, what will you do? You are not the Messiah yet, so will you continue deceiving the Sylphide?” On the fourth step, it fully passed through the virtual barrier. Luft Fang stood on the edge of the opened cargo bay door and it spread its wings while its Panzer Kleid flapped in the blowing wind. The 6 wings spread out wide and air gathered in the gaps between their metal feathers. It prepared to take flight. The wings’ air intake produced a whistling loud enough to be heard over the general roar surrounding everything. Luft Fang’s body began to shake, but it did not take flight yet. More air pushed in behind it to create a vortex. The shipwide broadcast could barely be heard over the wind in the cargo bay. “The V-0 is approaching! We have visual confirmation!!” The open cargo bay door gave a view of a boxy black shape positioned at the center point between the dark sky and the sea. Luft Fang’s eyes stared straight at its opponent. A black craft rose from below as if to fly right into the center of the Luft Fang’s vision. It was a König Pseudo-Drach. Its Luftram was active and its canopy was missing, giving a view of Schweitzer piloting it. They were ready to go and the girl’s voice spoke on the communicator. “Dog!! I don’t know. I don’t know what I should do! That’s the only answer I have right now! This craft is trying to protect me, but it’s also trying to fly into outer space with me onboard.” “Remember, Hazel. You said you didn’t want to run away.” “But you said any country I went to would only try to use me. And the Sylphide is the same, so I…” “Shut up.” Berger cut off the girl’s doubts. “Be destroyed or be the Messiah? There must be an answer beyond those boring paths of death or subjugation. You need to seek that out, Hazel!!” He said nothing more. Luft Fang remained silent as well. The giant fusion of metal and man silently jumped out into empty air. The six wings on its back closed as if beating at the air and Luft Fang began to fly. ### 419. Part 3 Hazel looked up from the navigator’s seat. She could see the night sky out the window in front of her. But that window slowly vanished from view. Her vision was being taken from her. It happened quickly and that eloquently stated that the Sylphide had begun accelerating in earnest. But she managed to undo her four-point belt by touch alone. She could hear a voice from the communicator. Berger’s voice. “Now that you’ve heard that, you’ll have to do this without my help, Hazel. Can you hear me?” “I can!” “Then never again whine like an abandoned cat!!” She sprang to her feet. Her vision only showed her the night sky, but her vision was not the whole of her existence. Her real senses told her that her feet were standing on the cockpit’s floor. What she could not see was the true reality. “I’m sorry.” She spoke quietly while reaching into her shirt’s breast pocket. The knife she had used at breakfast was there. “Please go on alone.” With that, she held the knife in a backhand grip. And after a single breath, she plunged the blade into her own right eye. “I’m sorry!” ### 420. Part 4 The man lowered his prosthetic arm and shut his eyes in the wind atop the bridge. He could hear the roar of that wind, the rumble of the aerial warship’s engines, and… “Lieutenant! Lieutenant Schweitzer!!” Hearing his name, Schweitzer opened his eyes and turned toward the voice. An old soldier in the same black uniform as him had climbed to top of the bridge. This old man was tall and pencil thin, but he stood firm in the powerful wind and bowed with his white gloved hands clasped behind his back. “The enemy craft – the Sylphide prototype – has disappeared to the east-northeast.” “My failure to destroy it shows just how much room for improvement I have.” He loosened the scarf holding his collar shut. “But this must have been an unpleasant surprise for the military. This ship was only dragged out here to act as a target for the V-0 ramming weapon, yet it was forced to join the hunt. I know the Sylphide evolves through combat, but why do this?” “Yes, I have to question the military leadership’s decision to order it destroyed. If we had not been onboard, this ship would have been sunk.” “Indeed. Not only did it slip past the cannon fire, but the Nein Ton rounds specifically developed for use against the Sylphide failed to work for some reason. …Not to mention that our higher ups in the Geheimnis Agency ordered us to capture the Sylphide, not destroy it.” Schweitzer lightly tapped his prosthetic right arm with his left hand. “We got by thanks to my Eingeweide arm Der Held, but we must immediately determine why the Nein Ton rounds failed to work. Also, has HQ still not tracked down the Messiah, Bermark? Our orders were not to mess with the Sylphide; they were to secure the Messiah so we might fulfill the prophecy before the Greater Germanic Reich declaration next April.” Bermark bowed in response. “It is true this encounter with the Sylphide was not part of our initial objective. As for the Messiah…the girl’s whereabouts are still unknown. We have narrowed down which doctors were involved, but that is all.” “I see.” Schweitzer nodded and looked up at the clouds that looked close enough to reach out and touch. “An unbreakable aerial ship which can live above the clouds despite the moonlight that sends spirit stones berserk, can control inertia and gravity to fly, and can heal itself and evolve using its alchemy and repair emblems, is that it?” “The military says they have begun development of a more powerful detection system to deal with this.” “It won’t work. Every encounter only lasts an instant and then it flies far above the clouds where no detection system can reach it. Sylphide is honestly a good name for it.” Schweitzer lowered his gaze from the sky to find Bermark looking straight at him. The old soldier paused for a moment before asking his next question. “Did you check inside the Sylphide’s cockpit?” “It was empty…but I guarantee you Marsch is with that craft. Along with a certain promise.” He turned toward the blowing wind – toward the direction the aerial ship was flying. That meant east-northeast, but there was no sign of the blue craft any longer. His gaze instead fell on the horizon where the dark sky above and the pitch black ground below met. Specks of light from a distant city shined in that gap. He suddenly pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. It was a piece torn from a photograph. The right half was missing, but it depicted him standing at an airport with a civilian airplane behind him. He was smiling and he had a right arm. Suddenly, Bermark began reciting a Text behind him. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home Schweitzer sighed. “Yes, that would be the prophecy every single member of the Geheimnis Agency received three months ago. The one taken from the Unreif Germane’s 9th Section of the Ruling King. From what I heard, if we can secure the Messiah in accordance with the prophecy…” “Then the Messiah will lead us in our time of need and save Germany, right?” “I really wish I could meet with the prophet girl and his Excellency who run the Gehemnis Agency to ask for further details. I want to know if the Messiah we seek really can fulfill the prophecy and become our savior.” He returned the partial photo to his pocket and once more faced the city lights in the far distance. He spoke the name of that city. “Berlin!!” ### 421. Part 4 A light was on in Berger’s hideout. A single candle stood atop a large wooden box in the center of the room. Brot , sauerkraut, wursts, and other food were piled high on a few different plates around the candle. The steam rising from it all showed it had been cooked through. Two figures sat at that makeshift table. The unmoving shadow cast long on the wall was Berger’s. The rapidly-moving shadow belonged to Hazel Mirildorf. She was wearing a shirt and shorts borrowed from Berger, her long hair was tied back in a ponytail using a bandanna, and she was entirely focused on eating. Her differently-colored eyes moved rapidly between the different foods on the table and her hands soon followed, but the fork and spoon slicing through the steam did not clink against the plates. The food vanished into her mouth with only the bare minimum of noise. Her gaze wandered hesitantly for a moment, and then… “Could I have some water?” Berger silently poured the pitcher’s water into a glass and handed her that, but she snatched the pitcher from his hand and drank down its contents. She gulped it down silently, but it still vanished from the pitcher almost instantly. She removed the pitcher from her mouth, wrapped her hands around it, and took a breath. Then she faced forward. The man in black was there sipping at the glass of water he was left with. “So. You done eating yet?” “I am. …Um, thank you for the food. I was really hungry and they haven’t been giving me anything with real flavor recently.” The ponytail behind her head swayed as she spoke. It felt a little heavy to her, so she shook it a few more times and then retied the bandanna. Berger said nothing at all as he stacked up the plates, picked them up, and chucked them back over his shoulder. They shattered on the wall and only the candle remained on the wooden box they were using as a table. Hazel glanced behind him. “Um, did you have to break those plates? That seems wasteful.” “I’m abandoning this place tonight anyway.” “I see,” she said while looking around again. It was a cold and dreary space with only a bed, a bookcase, and a disorderly collection of wooden boxes. It felt cluttered to her. … I really want to tidy things up in here. She left that part unsaid as she spoke to him. “You are ‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger, right? My teacher told me you do intelligence work and help people escape the country despite being a Panzer Kavalier. He also said you’re the best in the world.” “Your teacher?” “M. Schrier. He says he was your upperclassman in university and he served under my dad in the military, but he quit along with my dad and now he tutors me. And then…and then there was a gunfight at the hospital early this morning and some of his people told me to go to you. And then…and then…” “You Flektierened on the way but nevertheless managed to reach my used bookstore?” She nodded, recomposed her expression, and looked straight at the man. “Do you work as my teacher’s assistant?” “I guess you could say that. While he causes trouble outside Germany, I deal with the problems inside the country. We’ve been doing that for more than 2 years now.” “And the MPs still haven’t caught you? You really are the best in the world.” “I was nearly caught today, so think again. I’m only the second best in the world.” Hazel saw some strength vanish from the blue eyes behind his sunglasses. She wondered why, but the change vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Strength returned to his gaze as he looked back at her. He rested his elbow on the box to lean toward her. “Anyway, I’d like to leave ASAP. The Geheimnis Agency is on the move and that’s never good news. They’re the ones trying to change Germany’s military might by bringing back and modifying Ober Geheimnis. If you don’t know, Ober Geheimnis is stuff inherited from the previous world that was ultimately erased from history due to the threat it posed. Anyway, that’s who’s after you.” “The Geheimnis Agency?” “There are two military forces in Germany: the ordinary one which includes the SS and the Geheimnis Agency.” Berger continued with a sigh. “They’re a highly classified organization made up of only a few hundred and they’re actually the descendants of a group of German dragon knights known as the Germania Dragoons. They have the authority to intervene in civil and military affairs, so they’re essentially Germany’s final army that acts as a hidden trump card.” “…” “Two years ago, your dad, Oscar Mirildorf, fought against a certain aerial warship above Berlin and ultimately lost, right? That warship was full of Ober Geheimnis, but the Geheimnis Agency now possesses even greater power. You saw that old guy in the black coat with the prosthetic arm, right?” “Um…old? Aren’t you two the same age?” “It’s all about appearances, so I can call him old if I want to.” “You two were discussing a lot of stuff I didn’t understand, but what’s so special about that arm?” “It’s a weapon created with Eingeweide Ausbildung. Basically, it converts your willpower into real power much like a Grösse Panzer.” She was not sure what that meant, so she tilted her head and he smiled a little. “With a Grösse Panzer, the Schreibener uses a device known as a Studio to break down their Tons and send them into the Grösse Panzer’s Ton conduits to move the mechanical body with their willpower. A person combines with the bipedal machine known as a Panzer and the strength of their willpower allows them to run, swing a sword, and activate the Ober Emblem. But what if the device that combines the person with the machine could be applied to a smaller weapon?” He wrinkled his brow as he explained and he opened a wooden box next to him to pull out a coat. He stood up and took a step, which was enough to reach her side. He held out the coat and she expressionlessly accepted it while still seated. “Wear this,” he said from above. “We need to get going. You can wear those sandals over there.” She was unsure what to do, but she finally looked up at him with the ends of her eyebrows lowered. “Um…Dog? What would you do if I said I don’t want to leave Germany?” “I would ask you why that is, Fräulein.” He did not hesitate to answer and crouched down to put himself at her eye level. “So why is that?” he asked. “That’s what I want to know. Why? Why do I have to run away?” “Because you will be killed if you remain in this country. No Heidengeist can survive here. You’ll be made into a Phlogiston Platte and used as fuel. Like it or not – and I imagine not – that’s the current national policy.” Hearing that, she looked away from him and down at her bare feet. She crossed her toes as she tried to find the words, and… “When I was arrested at school, they apparently raided my home as well, but I heard my dad took my mom and fled.” “That would mean you no longer have a home here in Germany.” “B-but this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” She raised her head to look him straight in the eye. “My friends, my school, the city, the seasons, and everything else are going to continue on like they always have, aren’t they? They’re just throwing me out. Only me.” Berger’s expression went blank when she asked that. He said nothing and she felt a hint of panic as she scratched at her hair and tried to choose her words. “Something here isn’t right, but is there no way to fix it?” “Then what do you want to do?” Those words did not carry any irritation or anything like that. His tone said he simply wanted to hear her answer. She gave him a puzzled look and saw his blue eyes staring back at her from beyond his sunglasses with no smile or anger in them. “Um,” she began hesitantly while seemingly speaking to those eyes. “I had a lot of time to think in the hospital bed.” “…” “And I don’t want to run away. That’s the one thing I never want to do.” Sensing the powerful hope behind her quiet voice, Berger stood up, lowered his shoulders with a sigh, and turned away from her. “Eryngium said the same thing.” “Eryngium?” He did not answer her quiet question. He turned around with his eyes cast downward, he took a single step, and he crouched down to pick up the sandals. He walked back over to Hazel, sat down, took her feet in his hands, and put the sandals on her. They were surrounded by silence, but he finally spoke to break that. “No. No, Hazel. That is the one answer I refuse to accept.” He stood up without looking at her and stared up at the ceiling. “I will get you out of this country.” “Why? Um, did I say something wrong?” He suddenly spread out his right hand in response. “You…” He grasped at the empty air. “You think the same way as someone who vanished from my life. That’s all the reason I need.” “Vanished?” Instead of answering, he sank down. The look visible on his face when his coat fluttered around was enough for Hazel to fall silent, sit straight in her chair, and place her hands on her lap. He held out his left hand to tell her to stay put and then he grabbed an oblong box by the bed with his other hand. It was about 3 inches tall and wide, but nearly a yard long. He silently lifted it up and held it below his arm. At the same time, a single solid sound like stone being struck came from the ceiling. He smiled and nodded at the sound, stuck his right hand in his pocket, and pulled out a small device. Hazel recognized it. “Again?” She barely had the word out before he pressed the red button on the device. A moment later, his hideout exploded. ### 422. Part 4 “!?” Before she could even question it, she realized a thick manly arm had grabbed her and lifted her high. She opened her eyes to find herself around 3 yards high. She could see everything from there. Dog Berger stood on the main road with his black coat flapping in the wind. Bermark Vier stood to the right with his handgun at the ready. And on the ground directly in front of her, she could now see what had caused the previous oddity. Across a 10-yard square, the ground had been rotated at a right angle. Needless to say, it had not been like that to begin with. … Did some kind of field spell rotate the entire space including the ground and me? It must have rotated inertia along with everything else. She gulped at how wide a range had been affected and she looked down. A man was carrying her over his shoulder. His enormous body was covered by a black military coat and his right arm was a giant prosthetic with a launcher attached. She had seen him just that morning at Berger’s used bookstore. Berger called his name. “ ‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer!!” “Indeed,” replied Schweitzer while tapping the sidewalk with the metal staff sticking out from his prosthetic arm’s launcher. A solid, clear sound rang out and a light appeared before its reverberation faded. Several silver searchlight beams shined in from beyond the woods alongside this road. More lights appeared on the roof of the school building to the right and atop the wall separating the campus from the city. Hazel squinted at the brightness. … What is going on? She was answered not by light but by sound. She heard the low thrum of engines and the squeak of metal wheels following a rail. She reflexively turned that way and saw the main gate opening. The black metal fence of a door opened with the painfully shrill cry of its wheels and 8 armored vehicles entered through it. That was not all. She heard giant metal feet crashing against the pavement with a heartbeat rhythm. Two large forms appeared beyond the armored vehicles. “Grösse Panzers!?” Her question was answered by the presence of humanoid masses of metal standing 8 yards tall. They were male Grösse Panzers. They stood alongside the armored vehicles in Panzer Kleids and with their hands on the swords at their hips. … What? It’s like they’re ready for a war. She panicked, but did not know what to actually do. Schweitzer seemed to ignore her entirely as he struck the ground with the metal staff once more. This clang caused all the light to waver. Soldiers had begun to gather in front of it. She heard the rustle of clothing and the hard footsteps of military boots. The metallic clattering of countless firearms overlapped into an indistinct roar of noise. Feeling inundated by the many sounds, Hazel held her own body and looked around. Figures in military uniforms emerged endlessly from the woods as if brushing up against her gaze. Their numbers rapidly grew into the dozens as they wordlessly used the trees and underbrush as cover while surrounding Berger from a distance and aiming their weapons at him. After a few seconds, Schweitzer let out a shout. “Halt!” They all obeyed. Even the light and wind seemed to stop along with them. The tension of the stillness and the cold now ruled the scene. The air felt bound by a silence appropriate for a winter night and Hazel asked a silent question. … What’s going to happen? She absentmindedly rubbed her right prosthetic eye and looked to him. … My right eye kind of hurts. The pain had been coming and going for a bit now. Wondering if she was imagining it, she looked to Berger. “Quite the party you’re throwing us, Schweitzer.” “What is your point?” “Why does the Geheimnis Agency need Hazel?” “We need that girl to protect Germany.” Hazel saw Berger’s expression change. He sneered. “That girl? She has a name, Schweitzer, so why aren’t you using it? Yeah, you know the answer, don’t you? It isn’t Hazel you need; it’s that prosthetic eye!” A breath. “I’m betting that eye is an Eingeweide and it’s made from-” “Yes, it was made from Marsch Gant’s eye. From one of his blue eyes.” Schweitzer turned to face Berger while spitting out the words. Since Hazel was carried over his shoulder, this turned her so her butt was pointed toward Berger. She twisted around so she could see where their gazes were colliding, but she also brought her right hand to her right eye. The prosthetic human eye she was given at the hospital had been aching for a while now. … What…is this? Berger provided an answer to that. “I don’t know what it does or what its power is, but if Marsch did make it, then I already know what it must be called. Based on that song Eryngium loved…that must be the Eingeweide eye Messiah.” “Indeed it is. But unfortunately, that appears to be no more than a name.” Schweitzer sighed but kept all emotion from his face. “We have secured the Messiah, but we do not find ourselves in the destiny we had hoped for. This girl cannot become the Messiah. …Nevertheless, this Messiah implant is still crucial.” “Wh-what does that mean!?” asked Hazel. “What does it even mean to become the Messiah?” She shouted and tried to escape his grasp, but his arm had her waist fully pinned. She heard his voice right in her ear. “Stop struggling. I would prefer not to kill you.” There was no hint of emotion in his voice or on his face, but she stopped all the same. She heard a quiet laugh followed by Berger’s voice. “I think I get what this is about now. And why Marsch sent me the 9th Section of the Ruling King. It’s slowly coming together for me.” He opened his mouth and a calm song echoed out into the night air. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home “That song was written in a time when German land was under attack by an outside enemy. The Heidengeist Messiah was unsure if she should save that land or not, so the man with a divine name convinced her to do so and they descended to the earth.” He sighed. “I get it, Schweitzer. An implant called the Messiah and the song about the Messiah’s descent to the earth? Marsch created that implant because he wanted to create the Messiah, didn’t he?” “…” “But remember this, Schweitzer. Hazel has no intention of letting me take her out of the country to be with her parents. She says she wants to stay in Germany. Do you know why that is?” “Why?” “She says she doesn’t want to run away.” Hazel noticed extra strength suddenly gather in Schweitzer’s arm. … Does that mean something to him? She looked to the large man while wondering about that. She had a good view of the face below his close-cropped blond hair and Berger’s voice rang in her ears. “You get what that means, right!? We already heard that sentiment two years ago. But the feeling ruling Hazel now is contrary to Eryngium’s will! Because Hazel still doesn’t know what those words mean!” And… “Hazel!” “!?” When he called her name, she realized he was pointing at her. “Use this chance to think carefully, Hazel. You said you have no obligation to run away and you said you want to use your right to stay here. …You said you don’t want to run away!” “…” “So figure out what that means! What does it mean to not want to run away!!” ### 423. Part 4 Berger was running along Prinzenstrasse on the east end of Berlin. The wound on his cheek was a mere scratch from a bullet that grazed him. He licked away the flowing blood and his nimble feet pounded loudly on the pavement as he moved south along that large road. The torn hem of his black coat fluttered behind him as he made a beeline for Tempelhof Airbase. No one else was on large Prinzenstrasse. Everyone else was hiding in the buildings. He sped up his running legs as if riding on the second alarm sounding all around. “They declared martial law and then they opened fire the instant they saw me? Looks like someone’s made a name for himself.” The stone-paved road was covered by the blaring alarms, the chilly winter wind, and people’s abandoned vehicles. The shops had all shut their doors, but countless gazes peered out from the many windows to see what was happening. Berger faced forward with all those eyes on him. “Just when I think I’ve taken out their sniper, they bring out the real big guns.” A large shadow was cast on the intersection about 100 yards ahead of him. Heavy metal footsteps had sounded on the pavement as the owner of the shadow appeared from behind a building on the right. It was a single Grösse Panzer. It was black, just like the ones he had seen in front of the university’s main gate. “HMP109, Br’s 18th child, the Panzer Fuchs designed for urban warfare. Why would they send this into their own city? Do they think they can blow up their problems along with the city itself?” The Grösse Panzer had arrived within about 20 yards of him. He was within its range, so the Panzer Fuchs drew the short sword at its hip and took a step back. For use in cities, the gun turret had been removed, its Panzer Kleid and limbs had been lightened, and it had plastic claws on its feet, allowing it to make shockingly nimble movements. Its metal engine and joints roared nicely while carrying its weight. The giant mass’s movements whipped up the wind as if sucking in the air. But Berger did not stop running toward it. He simply muttered to himself. “I really should have gotten my own Grösse Panzer for this.” He took a step to the right just before a silver wall rushed in on his left along with the roaring wind. That was the Grösse Panzer’s short sword. It was 1.5 yards wide and at least 5 yards long. The white blade jabbed in while perfectly parallel to the ground and it simply shined there without touching him. “Decent skill.” The blade pulled back before Berger was done speaking. On its way back, it angled itself diagonally to try to slice through him. He spread his limbs below him like a crawling lizard to drop to the ground and avoid the path of that silver line. The blade pulled back in an instant and then launched an attack from the side. The silver line was now so low it could easily hit him even while crawling, so he got back up, pulled out Gelegenheit, and blocked the attack. The Grösse Panzer’s white blade probably could slice right through a building, but it failed to do the same to gold-glowing Gelegenheit. However, the weight difference was overwhelming. “…!!” Before he was launched backwards, he pressed Gelegenheit toward the white blade and angled it upwards. He used the force of the white blade to shift his own body weight upwards as if rolling. He used that momentum to twist his body around and over the blade. After passing below him, the horizontal slash sliced through three trees lining the road. The blade sounded like it was tearing through flesh three times in a row. And after a slight delay, Berger crashed into one of the remaining stumps. The felled trees crashed down onto the road, cutting off his escape. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” He kicked a branch away, stood up, and quickly slipped between the trees just before another jab of the sword. And this time… “Its Ober Emblem!?” Berger saw armor made of ether light wrap around the Grösse Panzer’s right arm while the sword held in that hand grew to more than 20 yards long while emitting an icy chill. “Hm, so the emblems on the armor are activated by the Schreibener’s willpower and that modifies the Tons of the ether to transform a portion of the Panzer into something else, huh?” He moved away from the trees, righted himself, and stood up with a slight smile on his lips. The blade swung horizontally while giving off frigid air that seemed to pierce through him. He twisted around and dropped onto his back instead of onto his stomach. The sword surrounded by all-freezing “frost” ether passed by just in front of his nose. Even the wind was frozen and scattered as frost as the bluish-white blade passed by. The white attack shook the air and was pulled back with even more speed. At the same time, Berger pulled a “potato masher” grenade from his hip and used his finger to switch the timed fuse to the shortest setting. He tossed it between the sword and the ground. “This was fun, but I’ve really gotta run!!” His words were punctuated by the grenade exploding. The shockwave rushed out more powerfully than the fire, smoke, or wind. A loud boom echoed out and the bluish-white sword was launched upwards by the blast. The Ober Emblem shattered, the ether turned to dust, and the blade appeared from within. The metal right hand on its giant hilt was pushed upwards by the explosion. The ultra-heavy weapon would not stop shaking thanks to its mass. The Panzer Fuchs tried to regain control of the sword by grabbing its hilt in both hands and Berger chose that moment to jump up on top of the blade. “The German military’s policy is to send Panzers against powerful Heidengeists, Tuners, and Busters, but that seems naïve to me.” He ran along the blade and set foot on the heavy metal hands. He immediately used the Grösse Panzer’s fingers as a launch pad to jump forward. The black cloaked figure soared up to its shoulder. The Grösse Panzer frantically let go of the short sword with one hand and pursued the black cloak fluttering in the wind, but it was too late. Berger slipped below that hand and landed on the narrow right shoulder for just a moment. He was within arm’s reach of the metal face. “Have a gift. And I’m feeling generous today.” He pulled out four grenades and slipped them into the gaps between the different facial devices. Then he leaped behind the Grösse Panzer. While he dropped down behind it, he heard the heavy sound of the Grösse Panzer scratching at its face in a panic. He did not look back. The explosion sounded overhead and behind him just as his feet reached the ground. A large shadow fell on him and extended out ahead of him. The shadow had a humanoid form with limp limbs. He whistled as he took off running. “Now, I really do need to hurry.” As soon as he escaped from below that shadow, he heard the loud crash of a great mass falling directly behind him. He heard a harmony of metal shattering and breaking against the stone pavement. He still did not look back. “That was a little too acrobatic,” he commented as he picked up speed. Up ahead in the distance, he saw several armored trucks racing down the road toward him. He saw a Panzer Fuchs standing up in the back cargo area past each of those armored roofs. “Hm, they get persistent when you piss them off.” He looked up to see an area of woods beyond the armored trucks and Grösse Panzers. Those were the woods surrounding Tempelhof Airport. The enemy was approaching with those woods as a backdrop. “Berlin is a fairly nondescript city, but it does have a childish love of big weapons.” His tone remained light as he pulled a Phlogiston Tank from his pocket and attached it to the bottom of Gelegenheit. Then he attached another. And another. He poured their power into Gelegenheit while speeding up his feet. He ran ever onward with the alarms blaring in the distance. ### 424. Part 4 Berger ran alone, leaving the wreckage of the armored trucks behind him. He could see two buildings about 300 yards away. The one on the right was the officer barracks and the one on the left was the general barracks. The airport control tower and the various storage facilities would be diagonally back and to the left of those, but he could not see them from here. Two soldiers on motorcycles with airport security plates approached from the right while spraying bullets his way, but he ignored them. He looked to the two barracks buildings instead. “There!!” he shouted while narrowing his eyes on his target. Two figures were walking down the walkway connecting the two barracks buildings. One was Bermark, the elderly soldier in a Geheimnis Agency black coat. And the other was… “Schweitzer!!” Schweitzer heard the shout and turned his way. As did Hazel who was held by the man’s right arm. Berger sped up. The wind blew through his hair and turned his breaths visible. He was about 200 yards away as Schweitzer shouted at him from the walkway. “You made it this far!? I should have known, Dog Berger!!” “Thanks to her! By which I mean Gelegenheit here!!” “Are you still not ready to use your Text!? Your own Text that will activate Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen!?” “You haven’t used Der Held’s Ober Beweisen either!!” That retort put a smile on Schweitzer’s lips. Schweitzer adjusted his grip on Hazel and began to run. Berger ran too. He ran forward with a click of his tongue. “This ain’t good. Are they gonna get away with her? I can’t let that happen.” Just then a bullet whizzed past his nose. It came from the two motorcycles approaching from the right. They were only about 10 yards away and approaching fast. “That should come in handy,” he said before leaping to the right. Thanks to their relative speeds, he instantly arrived above one motorcycle soldier’s head. His foot swished through the air and then audibly collided with flesh, followed by a scream. That left a driverless motorcycle continuing unsteadily forward without falling thanks to inertia. He landed, spun around, ran, and hopped onto the motorcycle. He casually raised his hand toward the other soldier who made a rapid braking turn after losing his companion. “I’ll return it later!!” He squeezed the clutch and lowered the gear. He threw on full acceleration and the clutch suddenly engaged. The front wheel hopped up and the motorcycle moved forward. The tire screeched and he placed his upper body on the handlebars to force the front wheel down. Then he shifted up. That added enough speed for the only wind to be coming from head on. He twisted the accelerator further and the air ahead of him briefly felt like a solid wall, but that was shattered by his speed. He tilted the motorcycle for a leftward lean to direct it toward the barracks entrance. He made sure his forward movement never slowed as he charged into the barracks on the motorcycle. The black-cloaked figure burst into the dim lighting past the large entrance. ### 425. Part 4 Hazel was shaken awake. Her shoulders ached, her back ached, and her hips ached. She worked her woozy mind to figure out why. … I hit them all while rolling along the roof. That made sense to her. She could still feel her body with her eyes closed, so she could tell she was lying on some kind of hard surface. She also felt some artificially-heated air across her entire body, which meant… … I’m naked. She was wrapped in some fairly hard cloth, but… … Those are my removed clothes. Her thoughts helped her mind come back into focus. And a single question arose as that happened. “Where am I!?” Driven by a desire to see, she opened her eyes and sat up. The blue sky surrounded her. It was such a beautiful blue. But she was not seeing it through a window. She was seeing it directly from a point high in the sky. Nothing obstructed her view of that azure expanse and the white clouds floating in it. “…?” Confused, she held a hand in front of her face. She could not see her hand. She quickly moved her head to look at her sitting body, but she could not see that either. She only saw the white clouds rushing by below. Her vision was moving forward at a rapid clip. The speed was incredible. … This is what I saw on the base earlier. Just as she thought that, her vision grew fixed in place. She could only see straight ahead no matter how she moved her eyes. She shut her eyes out of instinctual fear of the speed. But she could still see the sky. Her vision had entirely left her control. “Am I seeing what someone else is seeing?” Then she heard a noise. It was the wind. It rang awfully loud and incessantly in her ears. It produced a deep and deafening rumble behind her. That was the sound of something tearing through the wind. She was knocked over by the speed and noise surrounding her. Her back touched the floor. She was lying down now, but her vision remained the same. She felt around the floor to gather up her clothing and crossed her arms over her stomach to hide her body from the sky. As a Werecat, lying on her back was a symbol of defenselessness and submission. But even in that pose, she held her own body, hid her shoulders, and raised her defenses. She opened her mouth and muttered something that not even she understood. Her trembling voice was just about to end its meaningless words when something else arrived. A giant twin-fuselage warship erupted with white spray as it appeared from the white sea below. “!?” Before she could even scream, lights flashed at a few points along the ship’s surface. A barrage of light filled her vision in an instant. Then she felt intense pain in her right eye. It felt like someone had grabbed her eyeball and twisted it. “Nooooooo!!” She screamed more from disgust than pain and she squeezed her eyes shut while writhing on the floor, but her vision remained unchanged. She could see the sky and the approaching barrage of destruction. She rubbed at her eye, which must have been sufficient because the pain suddenly left her. That was when it all began. The floor shook. It was a subtle thing, but it was reminiscent of a rapid heartbeat and it helped wake Hazel up. Her mind heard a certain rhythm. Space itself was shaken by that world-altering rhythm known as an Erklärung. … Eh? The response to her frozen thoughts was clear. The owner of her current vision was speaking. It was speaking the Erklärung that would change the world for its purposes. The movement of her vision changed in an odd way. It all slowed down. The incoming barrage, the shredding of the clouds, and the sky’s movement all slowed to a crawl. “What does that mean?” she tried to say. But she could not. Her mouth moved too slow. She had already started to wonder about her slowed mouth by the time it finally opened to form the very first syllable. … Time is slowing down? Everything she could see had slowed and she could even count the number of shots in the barrage. There were 64 glowing bullets. It all moved slow as could be. The shaking of the floor now felt like the gentle rocking of a boat. And she sensed something like an emotion in those waves. … Joy? She no longer bothered asking why. Because the slowed flow of time gave her plenty of time to gather all her memories together. Whose eyes was she seeing through? Why had that blue craft saved her when she fell from the roof earlier? Why was her vision not obeying her instructions? She had a lot of questions, but she knew one thing for sure. … Is… She gulped, but only mentally. Her body was too slow to keep up. Even her physical senses felt like they belonged to someone else now. But she still formed words in her mind to figure out what was happening. … Is my eye a part of this blue craft? She was probably inside the cockpit right now. This craft had reproduced the Kaiserburg’s ability to transform, so it had taken her inside while evolving. “…” She was past the barrage now. Her vision was now filled by the twin-fuselage ship with six Schwerts jutting out of its stern. That ship felt like an obstacle to her. Her vision was staring straight ahead, just like it had for a while now. But the controller of her vision was not looking at the twin-fuselage ship there. It was looking past the ship to view the azure sky. … Do you want to keep going? Just as she silently asked that, the controller of her vision ended the slowing of time. The clouds, the wind, the noise, the impacts, and even the sky combined within their speed to form a single phenomenon – the phenomenon known as flight. Glowing swords stabbed in from either side up ahead. The owner of her vision unleashed a roar. The engine loaded in the back cried out as it was pushed even further. Her vision shot forward and accelerated in the wind. That was when Hazel recalled the name Bermark had mentioned before and she instinctually sensed what it meant. She understood the meaning of the name Sylphide. ### 426. Part 4 Berger rested Gelegenheit on his left shoulder with its large blade intact and he shouted down to Schweitzer. “Schweitzer! Climb!” The other man did not respond, nor did the craft being to climb. Berger saw the Sylphide place itself behind the König Pseudo-Drach after its hop to the side to escape. Unlike the Sylphide or a larger ship, the König Pseudo-Drach had no way of attacking behind itself. If they were fired on now, this would all be over nice and quick. “Schweitzer!!” Berger hopped down into the cockpit’s rear seat and kicked at the back of the front seat. The large black-coated figure in the front seat shook and then spoke. “Sorry. The reaction to using Der Held got to me.” “Just climb!!” He kept kicking at the seat like a child. The König Pseudo-Drach began a rapid and rushed climb. The pressure of their speed bore down on Berger while he watched the Sylphide’s bullets fly in from behind and pass by below them. “Pull yourself together,” he said to Schweitzer. “A hero who gets worn out from every little thing is pretty lame.” Schweitzer said nothing and further accelerated the König Pseudo-Drach. The black steel craft soared nearly vertically into the sky. Berger was pushed back into his seat by the inertia directed straight down from above and he held up Gelegenheit to observe it. He breathed a sigh of relief to confirm the large dark blade remained. He pulled a pen and pad of paper from his pocket with his right hand, prompting a question from Schweitzer. “What are you writing?” “Some precautions, just in case. This is a craft that can negate Nein Ton rounds, after all.” Berger smiled with just his lips. It did not reach his eyes. “This will fulfill that prophecy of yours! The one meant to save Germany!” ### 427. Part 4 The battle grew intense from the word go. The V-0 was more than 100 yards long and it spewed bullets from the diffusion Kunst Eyes on its upper surface to attack the Grösse Panzer approaching from head on. The V-0 had been originally built as the same model of ship as Silber. It was a strategic transport ship capable of ultra-high-speed movement. It was loaded with divine spell explosives, its autopilot would take it to the target, and its weapons would automatically intercept any unexpected attacks it encountered on the way. It was an unmanned auto-ramming ship. A total of 48 freezing rounds loudly burst from the six Eyes on its upper surface. Luft Fang responded by drawing its sword. Ether flowed through the drawn sword and the Ober Emblem affected it just like the Panzer itself. Light raced along the steel of the blade and it transformed into solidified light. Electricity erupted from the blade like a mini-waterfall. The fang jutting out into the sky was truly a bolt of lightning. A horizontal swing of that lightning instantly vaporized the freezing rounds. The electrification sent smoke into the salty air and the Luft Fang flew forward through that. Their relative speeds instantly brought the giant ship right in front of it. The V-0 was flying just off the ocean surface to avoid detection. It was less than 50 yards up. At that altitude, no enemy could fly below it to attack from there. That was because the slightest maneuvering mistake would mean crashing. But the Luft Fang did not hesitate to accelerate even more with its wings. It flew forward. The V-0 responded by firing again. The unmanned auto-ramming ship fired a much denser barrage toward the approaching Luft Fang. The Luft Fang flapped the blue and yellow wings on its back. With a roar, the forward-moving Luft Fang flew upwards. A moment later, a white cloud burst in an explosion of air. The barrage of bullets passed by below the Luft Fang. The steel ship was now dead ahead, so the Luft Fang twisted its body to stand upright in midair. It swung down the lightning sword with its right arm while slightly applying its brakes. The wind whipped up and the V-0 passed by the Luft Fang. The Luft Fang used that movement to let its line of light slice into the V-0’s top surface from front to back. Sparks flew and the wind roared. The Luft Fang immediately circled behind the V-0 and resumed accelerating so it would not be left behind. Two of the Kunst Eyes on top of the V-0 had burst into flames. But this did no damage to the ship itself. A line had been burnt into its upper armor, but the attack had not reached the internal structure. The way the armor panels burnt away suggested the armor was designed to automatically detach from within when it self-destructed. It was tough on the outside but fragile on the inside. Its transport ship design worked well as a bomb. The Luft Fang repeatedly accelerated to make up for its reduced speed and the distance between them. The V-0’s side Kunst Eyes began to fire backwards. A barrage of freezing rounds flew behind it, but a few of them flew straight down toward the ocean. Once those freezing rounds hit the water, the pillars of water were transformed into hunks of ice that were then shattered by the V-0’s shockwave. Chunks of ice as large as several feet long flew through the air. Crashing into one of those would be devastating, so they effectively sealed off that area of the sky. The Luft Fang spread its main wings toward the cold and starry sky. It was preparing to accelerate. The atmosphere warped and the air behind it grew distorted. Then the Luft Fang flew along a course that avoided both the barrage of bullets and the ice pillars. It flew down to skim just above the ocean. It was oriented face down with its chest just barely avoiding the tops of the waves. The wings on its back caused it to fall down chest first. Its main wings flapped, its side wings spread to improve stability, and its small wings made minute adjustments to correct its angle. The Luft Fang prevented itself from falling while flying ever forward. Back behind its feet, the waves burst up into the air. This was the pitch-black airspace of the Arctic Ocean. The Luft Fang caught the darkness on its wings to race through the sky. It slipped below the ice pillars launched upwards by the V-0. It made a slight course correction to the left so it would pass below the V-0. It flew right on in. The great pressure of the atmosphere and the wall of air pressure from the V-0 were right in front of it. It opened its mouth and roared. The cry of man and machine sounded like a lion’s roar. The lion never ceased accelerating while it roared. The shockwave produced by a strike of its sword shattered and negated the wall of air in front of it. The Luft Fang flew forward. It moved to the starless darkness of the shadow cast by the V-0. It flew right below the V-0. The giant ship produced a rumbling of air that slammed into the Luft Fang and threatened to shatter its wings. But the ether light coming from the wings solidly preserved the wings and allowed it to continue fighting. It looked straight ahead. Even after accumulating so much speed, it worked to fly even faster. A black craft was visible ahead in the gap between the V-0 and the ocean. That was the König Pseudo-Drach. Bullets flew toward the black craft from the top of the V-0. The König Pseudo-Drach was a diversion meant to protect the Luft Fang. For a brief moment, the Luft Fang reduced its acceleration. But a moment later, it fearlessly spread its wings. Even with that ceiling so low overhead, it spread its 6 yellow wings toward the sky. It soared. The wings produced a metallic sound. It built up pressure. The spread wings gathered air. And it moved forward with a roar. That one sound continued on and on and on. It shot forward like it had kicked off the ocean surface. The explosion of air it produced caused even the massive V-0 to shake. But the Luft Fang’s flight did not end there. It shot out from below the ship and ascended while slicing through the ship’s boxy nose with its lightning sword. The ocean was split by the shaking of the air as it ascended and waves burst up into the sky. Before the spray could reach it, the Luft Fang moved up above the V-0. It twisted around to change direction and face the V-0. The ship focused its bullets on it. An unmanned barrage was fired on the giant that had ears of its own and could race freely through the sky. The Luft Fang was currently rotating around with its large wings, so it could not fully avoid the high-speed barrage of noise and light. The flame bullets hit, producing deafening explosions. The noise reverberated off into the distance while components flew from the Luft Fang. Threads of fire seemed to grow out from the black explosion and metal parts flew along after them. The V-0 did not stop firing. It tried to fly right through the explosive flames spread out before it. But then a few of the components, which had become little more than flying fireballs, did something somewhat different. Most of them were falling down to the ocean and would be blown away once hit by the wall of air created by the V-0’s movement, but some of the fire flew perpendicularly out to the right of the V-0. About 30 yards to the V-0’s starboard, the Luft Fang hung in the sky. Its left arm had been destroyed and was spewing smoke, but its Ober Emblem was still active. Bluish-white ether light drew out a large 3D object in the space between the explosive flames and the Luft Fang. The orientation of that space had been instantaneously reversed. The V-0 reflexively fired all its Kunst Eyes toward the Luft Fang, but then the König Pseudo-Drach flew forward from behind the Luft Fang. Schweitzer was standing up in the canopy-less cockpit. Schweitzer returned his right arm to the controls. The Luft Fang flapped its wings in response. It flew in a beautiful arc up above the incoming barrage. It held its lightning sword at its hip and flew straight toward the V-0. ### 428. Part 4 Just as Hazel shouted those words, the Sylphide’s speed dropped up ahead of the König Pseudo-Drach. The two men inside chose that moment to accelerate. “Well done, Hazel Mirildorf!!” shouted Schweitzer with his hand on the control column. He called her name and Berger nodded while leaning out from the cockpit and raising his own voice. “Destiny is something you reach out and grab for yourself!” He smiled. “Come, Hazel Mirildorf! The destiny before you is one of neither death nor subjugation!” “This was different from two years ago,” commented Schweitzer. “Damn right it was. Hazel didn’t choose death and she didn’t rely on us either!” “That last point is frankly a disappointment.” With that, Schweitzer continued accelerating. ### 429. Part 5 Berger tackled Hazel out of the way of an explosion that was really more just a shockwave and noise and she crashed into the wall next to the bed. “Ow!” A portion of the wall opened like a narrow door to swallow her up just before the underground room truly exploded and collapsed. The noise seemed to push her on through the darkness and she reached out her hands in a panic. They found a cold mossy wall on either side of her. … A passageway? Then she began running as if pushed on by the blast behind her. “!” An oddly warm wind caught up to her and she had trouble breathing from the dust and smoke. She shut her eyes and kept running forward and up until she crashed into a solid board. “––––!?” The impact made an impressive noise and she felt excruciating pain, but she also felt the wind and heard a powdery sound similar to crumbling stone. She rubbed her aching forehead and opened her eyes to see light. The darkness ahead of her was cut away by an opening as wide as the passageway and nearly as tall as her. There was a slight space and then a wall beyond that. This led outside. She stepped out to find a small stream of water running along the wall at her feet. “This leads into the side of a ditch. Watch out or you’ll hit your head.” “A little late for that warning. And you should have told me in advance if there was a secret exit.” She had her say when she heard Berger’s voice behind her, but she squared her shoulders and did not turn around to face him. She stepped out into the ditch. It was also used as a waterway, so it was a yard across and about two yards tall. The water level was low, so it did not even make it up past the bottom of her sandals. She looked up to see the night sky between the two sides of the ditch. She sighed and looked back down. … This has not been my day. “He even saw me naked…” “Hey, don’t just bring that up out of the blue. It’s not like being seen harmed you in any way, so don’t cry.” “I-I’m not crying.” “Good, good. If you can snap back at me, then you’re doing just fine. Now, take a closer look at the sky.” Berger stepped out of the hole behind her and she looked up again. She could see the narrow strip of the night sky restricted by the sides of the ditch. When she did take a closer look, she noticed the sky was tinged faintly blue. The moon was out and it was nearly full. She bristled when she realized that. “The moonlight is said to be the source of a Heidengeist’s power. Gods and demons are equal in its shine.” His voice rang horribly cold in the air and she reflexively felt a chill. She held her shoulders and looked his way to see him standing in the moonlight with that long box under his arm. The moonlight cast some bluish shadows across his face, but there was nothing there to make her feel chilled. … What a strange person. He pointed up with a carefree expression that did not seem aware of her thoughts. “This isn’t a great place for a chat, so let’s head out to the road. We have much to discuss, and…” With the box under one arm, he placed the other hand on the road above and pulled himself up. Hazel was left speechless by the nimble action, but then she came back to her senses. She rolled up her large wide sleeves and placed both hands on the unseen road above the side of the ditch. “Um, you could lend me a hand, you know?” She lifted herself up much like doing a pull-up and sat down on the ground. The chilly winter wind could reach her now that she was in a wide open space. She recognized where she was. This was where Bergstrasse ran in front of a cemetery in southern Berlin. She could see fire and smoke beyond the row of homes here. … Is that from the explosion? Her thoughts were cut off by a deep voice she did not recognize. “You seem to enjoy creating unnecessary excitement, Dog Berger.” She looked up in honest surprise and saw Berger’s back in front of her. Beyond him, she saw a group of people illuminated from behind by the fire. ### 430. Part 5 Hazel gasped at what he said. … Doesn’t it just mean that I don’t want to run away? Just as she thought that, pain reverberated through the front of her head. “!?” It came from her right eye. Instead of the previous prickle of pain, this was more distinct and excruciating. When receiving a prosthetic, there was a chance your body would reject it. … Is that what’s happening here? She did not know because it had started so suddenly. It felt like her right eye was being forcibly pulled from the eye socket, so she squeezed her eye shut. She frantically held her hand over it, but the eyelid was shut and nothing was wrong. Except for the continuing pain. She tried to suppress the impatience, panic, and consternation filling her thoughts. “Ah.” Her sudden doubt was cut short by a second wave of pain. “–––! ––! ––––!! Ow!!” The second wave of pain was longer and more powerful than the first. It spread from the eye and pounded on the inside of her skull. She tried to bear with the pain when a third wave hit. It felt like a hooked finger was digging around in her eye socket. She could no longer bear it. She reflexively arched her back like her body was being squeezed too tight and she screamed up toward the sky and the moon. The cry of pain and sorrow sounded like an animal howling. ### 431. Part 5 Hazel remained entirely still while the alarms soaked into her body. She only moved once a slight change came over the alarms. They had been a single long and shrill wail, but now they gained an intermittent, almost footstep-like rhythm while also growing louder. “The third alarm.” She had some knowledge of what the different alarms meant thanks to her father. Hearing that indication of an emergency, she looked up, stood up while dropping the knife into her breast pocket, and looked out the window. The lines of black smoke rising past the woods around the airbase had grown in number. … Someone’s fighting and I just know it’s Dog. A knock came at the door behind her as if responding to her thoughts. The door opened before she could turn around and an old man entered with a paper bag held in his gloved hand. “Excuse me. It is Bermark Vier. …I am here to drop off the daily items your requested, but there seems to be some trouble at the moment.” Hazel lightly slapped her own cheek when she heard that. She drove out her timid thoughts, composed her expression, and asked a question. “You mean what’s happening out there, don’t you? Um…is this destiny too?” “Too?” “That lieutenant mentioned that it was destiny that prevented me from becoming the Messiah.” Bermark smiled a little and nodded. “He is a stickler for the rules, so I imagine he did not explain to you the details of the prophecy concerning the Messiah’s birth.” He looked out the window and sang a short song while holding the tune perfectly. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home The gently flowing Text carried enough pressure to drown out the alarm. Bermark placed the paper bag on the table, cleared his throat, and asked a question of his own. “To what do you think that Text refers?” “It’s a passage from the Unreif Germane, isn’t it? It’s referring to the Heidengeist Messiah who commands a dragon and the youth with a divine name.” “You would think so, but no. That Text was recited three months ago as a prophecy for the appearance of the Messiah. It is strange, but…” He gave a deep nod as if to encourage himself. “For about a year now, our prophet’s prophecies have often been identical to parts of the Unreif Germane. Most likely, a portion of Germany’s Tons are growing identical to their state a thousand years ago.” His calmly-stated explanation briefly left Hazel speechless. And finally… … Germany’s Tons? She tilted her head, but Bermark continued to look out the window. “The ether forming all of space contains Tons and those Tons are inherited. Over time, Germany’s Tons have permeated this land so thoroughly that the humans born here all contain Germany’s Tons.” “Do Heidengeists like me also contain them?” Bermark’s smile sank and he cast his gaze downward. “No. Unfortunately, most Heidengeists do not have…” He trailed off and all strength left his voice, so Hazel panicked. “U-um, sorry, I didn’t mean to trouble you. But…but is that what the German government means when they say Heidengeists and foreigners are being hunted down because we possess inferior Tons?” He confirmed that with a silent nod. Then he composed his expression and cleared his throat. “Pardon me. That conversation took an unpleasant turn. Anyway, do you understand now? Reading Germany’s Tons is the same as reading the destiny of all pure-blooded Germans.” “And that acts as a prophecy?” He nodded and flicked the insignia on his shoulder with a white-gloved hand. “Our Geheimnis Agency’s leader commands a total of 207 people including the Fünf Leithammel who head the Five Offices of the army, navy, air force, military development, and military intelligence. She is a Sofort Leser who can read the destiny of this land. Three months ago, she presented the previous Text to the entire Geheimnis Agency.” He placed his right hand on his chest and bowed. “She said the Messiah will one day become our leader and save this land if this Text is fulfilled by next April when the Greater Germanic Reich is announced. So she said we must contact the Messiah in accordance with the prophecy.” “Um, then is that what you two are doing?” “We are but a portion of the untapped talent that was deployed to fulfill the prophecy. The entire Geheimnis Agency has been seeking the one worthy of the Messiah title for the past three months.” “And I was a candidate because of this eye?” “Yes. Sir Marsch, a colleague who knew of the prophecy, created that eye and named it Messiah two months ago, but it was lost and we were searching for it.” A breath. “We did not know if it would truly become the Messiah, but we had to trust that our colleague had created it for a good reason. We wanted to see whether or not the prophecy Text would come to pass when we secured you.” “And I didn’t live up to that prophecy at all, right? Sorry, but I guess I’m not your chosen one.” “Do not let it bother you at all. We were only hoping for a greater purpose here, but your eye remains important to us.” She smiled bitterly at that. “But there are others who are getting worked up over this for different reasons, aren’t there?” More dark smoke rose beyond the woods visible outside the window. An explosion rumbled out after a short delay and the windows rattled. Hazel asked a sudden question. “Like Dog or that blue craft I briefly saw while I Flektierened last night?” Bermark turned toward her in apparent surprise, but he said nothing and nodded. Then he gave a shallow bow and shut his eyes. “I cannot tell you anything about that craft other than it is named Sylphide. Our only job now is to deliver you and the Messiah implant to Geheimnis Agency HQ and then search for a new Messiah.” He raised his head. “Army reinforcements have arrived here at Tempelhof Airbase, so its defenses have never been stronger. Also, the 1st Aerial Fleet’s 7th Division has been on patrol in the sky above since this morning, so once we are ready to depart, you will be taken to the Geheimnis Agency HQ in southern Germany.” “Depart?” “We will fly there using one of the Geheimnis Agency’s König Pseudo-Drach strategic reconnaissance crafts. We would have preferred to give you a more comfortable flight aboard one of the new Silber strategic transport crafts, but we are in a hurry.” Once done speaking, he swung his arm in a way that pulled his sleeve tight and made a solid snapping sound. At the same time, military boots could be heard beyond the door behind him and a young man spoke through it. “The König Pseudo-Drach is ready for takeoff! Everything is progressing smoothly!!” “Very good.” Bermark swung his arm back to its original position. Hazel gulped as she heard the footsteps departing beyond the door. But Bermark gave her a relaxed smile like this was a perfectly ordinary situation. “Do not worry. I am a born servant, so I will treat the daughter of the Mirildorf family with the utmost care.” “Did you know my father?” “Our Geheimnis Agency often finds it necessary to work alongside the military and we have learned to appraise those we see there. Major General Oscar had the highest mission success rate at the time.” “Yet he allowed the Kaizerburg to escape in the very, very end.” That weak comment was all Hazel said about that bitter memory. She then asked Bermark a question. “Um, what does it mean if you don’t want to run away? No, I guess what I mean is…what does it mean to run away?” “To run away is to survive.” His immediate answer made her gasp, but then she smiled a little. “Then if you don’t want to run away, does that mean you want to die?” He said nothing and her pulse raced a little as she simply looked out the window. Armored trucks, motorcycles, and Panzers were moving along the airbase’s roads. From above, she could see them blockading the roads and creating defensive formations at strategic points. The only thing she could hear over their movement was the endless wail of the alarms. They were all pointed toward the back entrance on the northeast side of the airport. … They’ve mobilized so many people. They were taking this intrusion seriously and that showed just how well-known Berger was, but she could also tell it showed just how much they wanted to protect her prosthetic eye. Past the large open space that doubled as a parking lot, she saw a giant empty truck trying to enter the airport through the back entrance. There was of course a barricade of smaller armored trucks in front of that entrance, so it could not get in. Bermark seemed to notice something while watching the truck’s movements. “Is the battle outside over?” Just then, a figure in black stood up atop the accelerating truck’s roof. Hazel and Bermark instantly knew who it was and they both spoke his name – one with excitement and one in a deep groan. “Dog Berger!?” Just then, the truck crashed into the entrance’s gate. It was meant to carry a Grösse Panzer weighing more than 30 tons, so the metal gate was bent, torn from its base, and thrown into the air. The roar reached them where they were, but the truck only trembled without slowing and crashed into the first blockade. The armored trucks forming the barricade toppled over, flipped, and flew through the air with a metallic cacophony. Hazel heard Bermark speak with great force within that festival of noisy destruction. “So the halfbreed has arrived.” “Halfbreed?” “You hadn’t heard? Dog Berger’s mother was human, but his father was a resident of England. The military discovered this the other day, so he too is one of the Heidengeist who must be expelled from Germany.” She watched the distant young man in black with eyes wide. “Wait, so shouldn’t you be the one running away right now!?” He was not running away, so she thought about what that meant. … Does he want to die? She asked that while she watched the truck crash into the second blockade set up within the airport. It slammed into the wall of armored trucks while soldiers fled. The sound of crushed metal rang loud and the armored trucks spun outward to clear a path for the larger truck. At the same time, several gunshots rang out and the battle within the airport began in earnest. ### 432. Part 5 The barracks seemed dark after being outside. The wind was gone and the air-conditioner heat surrounded Berger and the motorcycle. A long hallway stretched out in front of him. The outside windows were on his right and 150 yards of barracks room doors were on his left. He could see two men at around the midpoint of the hallway. One was Schweitzer and the other was Schweitzer’s aide Bermark. Berger pursued them. He shifted into 3rd gear and slammed on the accelerator. The rear tire slipped a bit on the hallway’s wooden flooring, but a moment later, the rubber fully dug into that wood. The speedometer needle shot up as he prioritized forward movement above all else. He moved fast. The 350cc BMW engine provided him with 50 mph in an instant. That was around 24 yards per second, so he would catch up to those two in 4 seconds. A wind whipped up around Berger. That wind rattled the windows to the right as if that noise was chasing the fleeing figures as well. The wave-like noise continued without end. Berger wordlessly pushed his sunglasses back up and then grabbed the handlebars with both hands. In that instant, he heard a sound from behind him. It was the refreshing sound of shattering glass. It sounded a lot like a clear spray and it was joined by many more identical sounds. All the windows he passed by were noisily destroyed one after another. The continual destruction sounded like shattering ice. More than just the winter air came in where those transparent panels had been Bullets did as well. Machinegun caliber bullets were fired toward Berger from outside. The bullets shattered what glass was remaining and continued on to punch into the wall on the other side or destroy the barracks room doors. All that noise pursued the roar of the speeding motorcycle’s engine. Berger did not even look back. He only needed to see the 5 armored trucks aiming their guns his way from the road alongside the large storage buildings to his right. “What kinda childish game is this!?” he shouted as he looked out ahead. He was now only about 20 yards away from Schweitzer and Bermark, but those two were approaching the building’s western exit. The rectangle of sunlight shined bright at the end of the dimly-lit hallway. If they made it to that light, they were outside. And they were almost there. “Is this all the Geheimnis Agency can do!? Turn tail and run!?” As soon as the words were out of Berger’s mouth, a giant armored truck slid into the sunlight at the western exit to seal up that opening. And its gun was already aimed at Berger. “!?” He saw Bermark press his back against the wall while Schweitzer jumped to the right onto the stairway up to the second floor. The armored truck’s machinegun opened fire at the same moment. Berger frantically tilted the handlebars to the right and locked the rear wheel’s brake. He diagonally lowered the motorcycle’s height and began a powerful inertial drift. The floor tore at the tires and the leaning motorcycle’s exhaust pipe let out a scream by the floor, but the machinegun fire passed by overhead. In no time at all, he slipped past Bermark and onto the stairway landing. He looked to the stairs and did not see Schweitzer. The man must have continued on up. The armored truck was blocking the barracks entrance and its machinegun aimed down to compensate for Berger’s lower position. “Outta the way.” He tossed a grenade underneath it. Without seeing it through to the end, he released the rear wheel lock and twisted the accelerator. The tires slipped a bit, but then they caught at the floor and he was jerked forward. He accelerated ever forward, which meant up the stairs now. He lifted the front wheel while approaching the stairs. He shifted down two gears but kept the accelerator on full. He lifted his hips and prepared for impact as the front and back wheels caught the edges of the stairs. The motorcycle more hopped up the stairs than climbed them. Without a break, he arrived at the midway landing between the 1st and 2nd floors where the stairs turned 180 degrees. He twisted the accelerator further as if pushing the tire into the joint between wall and floor and then used the inertia of climbing the stairs to push the motorcycle forward, like it was crawling along the bottom of the wall. He let the back wheel slip while he tilted the motorcycle to the right. He moved the front wheel toward the next flight of stairs and kicked his right foot against the floor as soon as it was oriented right. The motorcycle tried to straighten itself out, but Berger did not wait for it to finish. “Go!” The motorcycle was still tilted diagonally as he climbed the stairs in a lean out pose. He did all this in a short period of time that could not even be measured in seconds. The motorcycle bounced up onto the 2nd story landing. The hallway cut by perpendicularly in front of him. It led to an emergency exit on the right, but that did not appear to have been opened. The hallway continued for a ways to the left, but the corner wall got in the way and he could not see its full length from the landing. But he did glimpse something gold out of the corner of his eye. It was Hazel’s hair. It vanished into the part of the hallway he could not see from the landing. His only response was to smile. He squeezed the accelerator to move forward. The motorcycle took off, the roar of its engine rumbled through the stairway behind him, and he entered the long hallway. Now the windows were to his left and the barracks room doors to his right. He was now moving east, the opposite of when he had first entered the building. He looked out ahead and saw Schweitzer about 50 yards dead ahead. The man was running. Quickly. “But I’m faster!!” With that, the motorcycle shot forward with a roar of its engine. ### 433. Part 5 The König Pseudo-Drach continued to accelerate. It rapidly soared below the clouds where the atmospheric density remained constant as it was stirred up by the wind. One of Germany’s distinctive black forests and the occasional village could be seen below. All of that was tinged faintly blue by the atmosphere and it flowed by below them at an agonizingly slow rate. The height difference affected your sense of speed more than the actual relative speed when this high up. Berger looked down through the König Pseudo-Drach’s canopy. He saw a large river down there. Even from this altitude, he could tell it had frozen in the winter chill. Then Bermark’s staticky voice arrived over the cockpit radio. “Lieutenant, I may know where the Sylphide is headed. Its current course will take it to…the north pole.” “The north pole? Is it planning to fly into space along the earth’s axis?” “Most likely. And in its battle with the Doppelschneide, it has easily slipped past the wide-range barrage that is the Doppelschneide’s main selling point.” A brief silence followed before Schweitzer shouted a question. “You mean it’s using its Erklärung to function as a Panzer Ritter device!?” Berger smiled bitterly at that. And he acted like this was all common knowledge. “A Panzer Ritter device? You mean the result of the Geheimnis Agency’s Eisen Ritter Project to develop strongest Panzer? Heinz Berge’s reaction speed was measured at 59 times a normal human’s, right?” He sighed. “The Sylphide never used its Erklärung this way before that idiot Marsch activated it with that eye, did it? I bet that self-evolving ship was searching out Hazel because it knew it couldn’t fully use its own abilities without that eye.” “And I imagine the two of them are resonating through that eye, causing them to struggle for control.” “Not much we can do about that,” said Berger with a click of his tongue and a kick of the seat in front of him. Then he spoke to Schweitzer. “At any rate, I get what’s going on now. We need to drag her out of there. If we work together, we should be able to pull it off.” “Our powers are the only ones that can fight against this. You get that, right? This craft is only equipped with Kunst Eyes on the front since they were meant to produce a Luftram. Because it was a reconnaissance craft and acceleration was key.” Berger smiled bitterly at what the man in the front seat said. He also pulled Gelegenheit from his coat. “Sorry, but I’m not going to use my Ober Beweisen.” “You mean aren’t going to unleash your Heidengeist power with Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen?” “Remember what I decided 2 years ago? I’m never using my Heidengeist blood again.” “Then focus on slicing through destiny. That is why I allowed you to accompany me.” “That’s gonna require some pretty close-quarters combat. I’m really gonna be shot down trying this.” “We cannot do this otherwise. …The military fought the Sylphide two weeks ago and they hit it with a Nein Ton that cause the target’s Tons to collapse.” “But it didn’t work?” “There can be only one explanation. The Sylphide is in an unstable mid-evolution state and its Tons are in constant flux. Because it knows it is incomplete.” Berger sighed at that. And a radio transmission arrived as if it had been waiting for their conversation to end. “The military and the Geheimnis Agency have concluded their meeting.” “What did they decide, Bermark?” There was a moment of hesitation before Bermark responded to Schweitzer. “In an unusual turn of events, they could not reach a decision. Which means the military has chosen to act on their own decision.” “Imbeciles! Do they want a repeat of the Armored Hammer of God Incident!? So what is going to happen?” “The general headquarters has decided to immediately launch their V-0 if the Doppelschneide fails to bring down the Sylphide.” “!?” “The V-0 is already being prepared for launch in the 16th Airbase to the north. I imagine the ghosts of Peenemünde are celebrating its first use in combat.” Bermark’s voice faded along with the static and silence fell in the cockpit. “…” But the shaking aircraft did not slow down. After a while, Schweitzer spoke into the communicator with his voice calm. “You said they failed to reach an agreement, yes? Bermark, what does our Geheimnis Agency intend to do?” Bermark responded with a complete lack of emotion in his voice. “Our leader and his Excellency said they intend to fulfill the prophecy regardless of what it means for the people on the scene.” Berger whistled and Schweitzer nodded. “Then it is all up to us, Bermark. Tell our leaders that the Hero and Destiny shall fulfill it all.” “As you wish.” “Now, tell me what the V-0 is armed with. It is a ramming weapon that flies unmanned to enemy territory while shooting down any approaching enemies to defend itself, so it must be heavily armed.” “Its basic framework is modeled off of a strategic transport ship just like Silber. It is loaded with explosives, an autopilot system, and a propulsion device, making it a large automatic bomb. As it is unmanned, it is only designed to ram its target, so its weaponry is simple and direct. It would take the firepower of a Grösse Panzer to attack that 100-yard self-destructing ship, so are you sure you want to do this?” “Of course I am,” declared Schweitzer while accelerating the König Pseudo-Drach. His voice rang within the pressure of acceleration. “As Berger said earlier, we have Der Held and Gelegenheit with us. I am certain we can rescue the Messiah from the Sylphide with that kind of firepower.” “I see. Then I shall head in to support you once Silber is ready.” “So Freischütz will be arriving to fulfill the prophecy too?” “Yes. As the Freeshooter and as a doll, I abhor that automatic projectile created for such a silly purpose.” ### 434. Part 5 Hazel had her vision taken from her again as she sat in the seat the Sylphide had shaped for her. But she no longer felt any fear of the speed. She could see everything. Two men she knew were launching attacks her way. They were really giving it their all. Something Bermark had said echoed in her mind. … They aren’t your average opponent, huh? She felt like she was fighting against that opponent now. And that she was on equal footing with them. Of course, that was only an illusion. “Sylphide, this is your power, isn’t it? Instead of running away to survive, you say you don’t want to run away, but you still use all this power to make sure you don’t die.” And… Hazel’s lips twisted a bit when she heard the Sylphide’s Erklärung. “I’m not the Messiah, though. …Or do you want to be with me just because I have this Messiah eye?” There was no response. Her vision simply continued flying through the sky. Her vision pursued the black craft with the sun visible straight ahead. “If all I am is your eye, maybe I have no choice but to do what you want.” The Sylphide did not respond. It only ascended. Her chair transformed a little and the back tilted to match the angle of their ascent. She smiled bitterly and then something occurred to her. … That explains why this craft isn’t wary of me. “Am I the only one feeling so scared and getting so worked up over what I’m doing?” Her smile grew even more bitter. The Sylphide would not know what she was thinking. It only pursued the enemy craft flying up ahead of it. Hazel’s eye saw the rear of the leading black craft. The giant sword Berger had swung earlier was trailing behind it like a tail and it was spewing powerful red heat from its back end. The jets back there were almost all she could see. The Sylphide’s Kunst Eyes took aim at them. It was ready to fire and close enough to guarantee a hit. Just then, Hazel saw the large sword trailing behind the other craft slowly rise up. “–––––!?” She knew who must have lifted it like that. The man with the Titel of Wild Hund stood perpendicular to the enemy craft’s back. Hazel shouted his name. “Dog Berger!?” ### 435. Part 5 The Luft Fang crashed shoulder-first into the V-0. Metal was smashed and the Ober Emblem burst with a spray of light. The giant weighing more than 20 tons used its inertial force to break through the V-0’s armor. Even the toughest armor was meaningless once an opening was torn in it. The Grösse Panzer’s weight and momentum opened a massive hole. The Kunst Eyes on top of the V-0 lost sight of the enemy and began to turn uncertainly as if tilting their heads. After a few seconds, all of the Kunst Eyes exploded as if something had thrust up at them from below. With a deafening roar of destruction, a 20-yard blade of darkness burst up through the V-0’s upper armor and sliced through the wind. That was Gelegenheit. The V-0 was sliced through every which way before rapidly falling silent. It suddenly lost speed and smoke erupted from the damaged portions. The most smoke came from the hole the Luft Fang had entered through. A small figure jumped out from that hole. The one-armed youth in a black coat was Dog Berger. He ran to the left atop the V-0 and leaped out into the open air with Gelegenheit in his right hand. The König Pseudo-Drach flew up from below to catch him on its back as if scooping him out of the air. The black craft accelerated out ahead of the V-0. The giant self-destruction weapon slowly descended behind it. It would soon crash into the ocean below. ### 436. Part 5 She cut out her eye. The sound of fibers being cut rang directly in her ears and she initially felt like something was sticking into her brain. There was pain. Pain filled her right eye before tearing through her entire head. But she did not scream and she pulled the knife out before throwing it away. She ignored the metallic clunk behind her and looked forward with her left eye while holding her right eye. She saw the control panel in front of her. Her vision had returned. She took a breath. Blood spurted from her right eye and dripped down in time with her pulse, but she ignored that as she removed her bloody hand from the eye and placed both hands on the control panel. “I’m sorry! One day…once I can use this power – our power – as it’s meant to be used, I will come to you as a Messiah who isn’t being used by anyone and I won’t run away.” She coughed. “So…so please go on alone for now. Please.” Blood dripped from her right eye onto the control panel and splattered there. The pain was excruciating but intermittent. However, she saw something odd through the window when she looked up with her left eye. The night sky had come to a stop. The Sylphide was no longer moving. “…” Speechless, she heard a sound like splitting wood behind her. She looked back to find the cockpit’s rear wall had opened and the wind was blowing in. Fog instantly filled the cockpit and her one-eyed vision grew white. “You’re letting me leave?” The air conditioning turned on full blast to blow away the cold wind. It was warmly sending her outside. She lowered her eyebrows somewhat but forced a smile. She looked to the photo and bracelet on the control panel. After some brief hesitation, she undid the bandanna tying her hair back and grabbed the photo and bracelet in her other hand. She wrapped them in the bandanna while making sure not to stain them with her bloody hand. With the bandanna containing them like an envelope, she placed them back on the control panel. “I will be back someday.” With that, she turned around. That was the end of it. She did not look back. She ran toward the back wall. She ran outside. The sounds of splitting metal came from all over the craft as if pursuing her footsteps. The Sylphide was breaking apart. ### 437. Part 6 Hazel quickly turned her head to check their surroundings. No one was out on the moonlit and windy streets tonight, but around 20 men carrying firearms surrounded her and Berger in a half circle. “Um,” she began with a troubled tone. “Does this mean we’re surrounded?” She was shocked when no one reacted to her question. She frantically stood up and spoke to Berger’s back in front of her. “What is going on? Is this the Geheimnis Agency you were talking about?” “Indeed it is,” said the previous deep voice loudly enough to be heard over the blowing winter wind. The group ahead of them parted and a man stepped forward. The older man had gray hair and a tall, thin figure illuminated in the moonlight. He suddenly pulled out a handgun. The automatic weapon had several fang-like designs on the side and his gloved hand slowly aimed it toward Berger as he spoke. “Do you know who I am, ‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger?” “I do, ‘Schütze Puppe’ Bermark Vier.” The gun remained perfectly aimed at Berger’s forehead. “Will you hand over the girl or not? Choose.” “The girl? Don’t call her that, old man. She may be too innocent to have a Titel, but she does have a name. Have the decency to call her Hazel Mirildorf.” Berger’s bitter smile helped Hazel start breathing again. Hearing her name spoken brought a sense of relief. She was unsure if that came from her feline instincts, but it was still there. “Don’t assume you can justify using people as no more than a means to an end, you outdated old man,” continued Berger. “Those who refuse to abide by the new national policy are the outdated ones, youth.” Bermark gathered strength in his voice and spoke in a different way next. He shut his mouth and the Text was released from this gun. But that was not all. A faint light left the barrel and shined on Berger’s forehead. … What kind of spell is this? Berger and Bermark said nothing to answer Hazel’s question. That meant neither of them found this to be odd in the slightest. “Is that the Freischütz I’ve heard so much about ever since last year? Marsch is a hell of a designer.” “This was designed based on a gun under development by Walther, making this the latest fashion in our nation.” The light emitted from the barrel narrowed down to perfectly aim at Berger’s forehead. But Berger maintained his bitter smile. “You’re being mighty cautious with your Eingeweide’s Erklärung. Is your hand too shaky from age, old man? First, you use the Ton text that binds you and the machine in order to rewrite the surrounding space as text.” He took a breath. “And then you use the temporary Beweisen attack to focus in on the machine’s Tons so you can Erklärung the effect you want, huh?” “Thanks for the lesson, but I already know how it works.” Bermark used his next Erklärung to rewrite his act of taking the shot and the flight of the bullet. He aimed between the eyes, the shot would land in an instant, and a single dry blast rang out. “…!” Hazel reflexively crouched down and squeezed her eyes shut in fear. Her vision vanished into darkness, trapping her in a world of only sound. First, she heard the sound of wood splintering and of metal hitting metal. Those two noises overlapped and several seconds of silence followed. “…” She did not hear Berger scream or flesh being torn through. If she did not hear any of that, none of it must have happened. … Eh? That question grew into curiosity, so she opened her eyes. She saw darkness in front of her. But the darkness before her opened eyes fluttered along with the wind brushing at her cheek. It was the hem of Berger’s black coat. “…!?” She looked up to see him standing with his back to her. The wind blew and something fell from sky to her cheek. The small splinter of wood was from the box he had been carrying. She could see him holding the splintered box overhead and his voice rang out. “Is that all your Beweisen can do? Then I’m not too impressed with the Eingeweide handgun Freischütz?” The wind blew even stronger, causing his coat to flutter up enough for her to see Bermark beyond him. The old soldier with the handgun was directing a suspicious look toward the box Berger held. “What is that?” The tension in Bermark’s words was answered by a small sound from the box. The wood was bursting apart and scattering. Hazel saw Berger now holding something other than the box in his hands. It was a long hilt. The hilt of a sword shined a dull gold in the moonlight. The guard was decorated with something like woven hair and the hilt had somehow feminine lines. She heard him speak in a horribly cold voice. “Allow me to introduce you to the Eingeweide sword I was left with.” He smiled bitterly. “It’s called Gelegenheit.” ### 438. Part 6 Hearing a scream by his ear, Schweitzer looked up into the sky. Hazel had been positioned on his shoulder like a priestess praying toward heaven, but all of a sudden, she held her right eye, curled up, and took the fetal position while releasing a quiet breath. He viewed the limp girl’s face. Her right eye had undergone a change. That eye remained open like it had a mind of its own and its blue color had changed to a deep crimson. “Is this the Eingeweide eye Messiah?” Without responding to his voice, Hazel shut her eyes. She had passed out. A moment later, the air erupted and scattered above his shoulder. A chilly smoke of water vapor spread out from the wind and was scattered by the wind. Only one thing remained. “So that cat this morning was her.” Some half-human Heidengeists would undergo a defensive transformation when they were in danger. As a half-Werecat, this girl had that ability. A kitten with white and gold fur was sleeping but breathing heavily on his shoulder while practically buried in clothing. He gathered the transformed girl in the clothing and raised his voice. “Withdraw immediately! The Sylphide is coming!!” His warning came too late. A shadow appeared over the moon as something descended from the sky. The first thing to reach them was a powerful gust of wind dropping straight down on them with incredible pressure. Then came the giant shadow of blocked moonlight. The rumbling of the air arrived third. It all happened seemingly without warning. “–––––!!” It was all so powerful and heavy. The wind, shadow, and noise were all mere preparations for what flew down from the sky. It whipped up the wind as it dropped toward them. Schweitzer kept his eyes open in the blowing wind and saw a blade-like shape descend within the moonlight. The ship was bluer than the moonlight. It flew along a sharp arc that nearly tore into the ground as it charged toward them. “!” With a roar, it instantly passed over their heads. Then it vanished into the sky above the city while whipping up further wind there. The soldiers let out relieved sighs. But that was when the blue craft returned along the exact same path like watching a cinema film played in reverse. At less than 20 yards off the ground, it whipped up the wind and slid overhead in reverse. It was large. The sharply angular blue craft was around 30 yards long. Its mere size overhead seemed to create waves of pressure. It slid slowly above that pressure as if searching for something and it passed above the campus’s main gate. On occasion, it would tilt as if checking below it and then continue on in reverse. That giant mass of metal was floating in midair and moving. It did not produce the flames of the spirit rockets and jets used for airplanes, not did it have any nozzles those flames could come from. It was no more than aerodynamically-shaped metal, yet it floated and moved. “…” No one – not even the Grösse Panzers on the road – dared move, but not just because of its oppressive presence. The two devices on its front and three on its rear were Kunst Eyes which could weaponize ether. Some light had already gathered on the surface of those orbs, so they could attack at any time. They all knew it would attack the instant any of them did. And one person identified the craft. Berger did. “During the Armored Hammer of God Incident two years ago, a single aerial warship obliterated the German Air Force’s 5th Division. It used inertial flight and transformed each time it fought.” A breath. “It’s said the Kaizerburg was modeled after the Messiah’s dragon in the Unreif Germane and its presence as history’s strongest warship pushed the world toward militarism. …But this is shaped differently. It looks more refined than the Kaizerburg.” Schweitzer realized Berger was looking to him, so he explained. “This is the Sylphide prototype built by Marsch Gant.” He started to say more but was cut off when the blue Sylphide suddenly dropped down as if it were feeling blue after giving up on finding whatever it was searching for. It almost seemed to be sinking down on a spring, so he barked a command again. “Withdraw immediately! Shockwave incoming!!” The blue craft immediately hopped skyward as if it were making a side flip. The air burst around it with a sound like tearing paper. The atmosphere was shredded and a chilly white ring spread out and burst, producing a shockwave. Their surroundings were pummeled by a heavy roar reminiscent of a waterfall. The soldiers on the road were blown away and their weapons skittered across the pavement or flew through the air. Their screams joined together as one, but Schweitzer remained motionless as he stood their holding Cat Hazel. The figure in a black coat was no longer on the road in front of him. Schweitzer simply held the sleeping cat there on his shoulder. “All that remains is a girl with a will much like hers and the Messiah implant!?” His words were drowned out by the wind. The wind of that winter night grew stronger and stronger as it crashed into him. The wind never stopped blowing. ### 439. Part 6 Berger quickly closed in Schweitzer. The roar of the engine had risen to the high whine of a wind instrument. The acoustics of the hallway allowed it to sound loud, long, and powerfully. The distance between them shrank as the engine’s music sounded. Schweitzer took a sudden action while running. He raised his prosthetic right arm and threw Hazel forward. Berger could see her face over Schweitzer’s shoulder. Her eyes and mouth were opened wide as she tried to shout something. At the same time, Schweitzer calmly adjusted his running position. He crouched down and swung his arms while running forward. His boots thundered unusually loud over the engine’s roar. He seemed to be pounding footprints into the floor and those steps increased his forward momentum. He pulled a bit away from Berger. “Damn you dragoon descendants!!” shouted Berger as Schweitzer slipped below airborne Hazel and actually overtook her. Then he jumped a bit and twisted his body to the right. His black coat flapped as it followed his rightward rotation and he ended up facing Berger. At the same time, he ducked down and landed facing back while holding his prosthetic right arm out toward Berger. The staff launcher was aimed at the ceiling above Berger’s head. Once it was aimed, the staff was launched. With a loud noise, ether light shot from the staff and the striking portion at the end of the staff slammed into the air. A square pattern of bluish-white light appeared on the ceiling over Berger’s head. That portion of the ceiling was cut free and it dropped down. He fired the launcher again and again. Over and over and over again, empty cartridges were expelled from his prosthetic arm and it stopped at 11 times in quick succession. He finished just before Hazel’s parabolic arc dropped her right on top of his outstretched right arm. Just as he pulled her in to carry her again, the 11 empty cartridges clattered against the floor and the ceiling collapsed. The final Text of his Erklärung was stated. Space was torn apart with the slight time lag of his rapid-fire attack, so the ceiling fell down with a wave-like movement. More and more of the ceiling fell near Berger. The 3rd floor hallway was visible through the first bit of ceiling that fell. But Berger ignored the great pressure of the falling ceiling. He kept his eyes dead ahead. Schweitzer had landed while facing toward Berger. His inertia remained, so he was sliding forcefully backwards while crouched low. Frictional smoke rose from the soles of his boots, but his stance remained intact. He was still facing backwards – in other words, facing Berger in defiance. The only change to his expression was a slight wrinkling of his brow. He did not have a drop of sweat on him. “Nice try, Schweitzer!!” shouted Berger. He let go of the handlebars with both hands, grabbed Gelegenheit, and raised it vertically. He pulled Phlogiston Tanks from his black coat and attached them to the back of the weapon. The first caused a 2-yard dark blade to burst out. The second extended the dark blade to 4 yards where it severed the ceiling’s “destiny to fall”. The shadowy blade sliced right through the ether fields decorating the falling ceiling, returning the ceiling to its original form. He was about 20 yards from Schweitzer now. He raised Gelegenheit and swung it down. A lightning-like slash tore through the ceiling in a straight line, repairing it. The mesh of bluish-white squares covering the ceiling were sliced through by the darkness and the falling ceiling instantly returned to its original position. It had severed the thread of “destiny” created by Der Held to tell that area of space to collapse. The attack ran along a straight line. That all-severing blade never changed course as it repaired the ceiling. The black line ended at Schweitzer’s biological left arm. Schweitzer took new action within the roar of the engine and the slicing of the dark blade. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling, shifted Hazel to his left arm, and thrust his prosthetic right arm forward. A moment later, he opened his mouth to speak. “Der Held, Erklärung, Ober Beweisen.” “What!? You’re using your Ober Beweisen here!?” Berger’s voice was drowned out by Der Held emitting far more ether than before. An intonated cry and the shining light rewrote the meaning of that space. Instead of the changeable and adaptable Beweisen, this Text was the fixed but powerful Ober Beweisen. That was the true and unchangeable Text of Schweitzer’s Tons. That limited and honed Text was launched along with the staff, striking the space around Berger. The darkness emerging from Berger’s Gelegenheit was immediately returned to light before it scattered and vanished. The roar of the motorcycle’s engine also vanished. “!?” The Phlogiston – a fuel made from ether – suddenly cut out. With all the machines stopped, Schweitzer threw Hazel forward and up with his left arm. The thrown girl let out an incomprehensible scream as she soared above the falling ceiling. She passed through the hole in the ceiling and onto the 3rd floor. “Dammit!!” cursed Berger, but it was too late. He squeezed the clutch to keep the motorcycle from toppling, but he had passed below the hole by then. Hazel was on the 3rd floor. Schweitzer took off running a moment later. The young man in black asked a question as the motorcycle and soldier passed each other by. “Do you really want Hazel this badly!?” “Her Messiah implant’s power must not be allowed to fall into another country’s hands.” “That’s not what this is about and you know it! You just don’t want to lose the same will we lost 2 years ago!!” Berger held the handlebars tight, stepped on the rear wheel brake, and locked that wheel. The motorcycle’s rear end swung around wildly and it slid about 40 yards before stopping. He kick-started the motorcycle, changed gear, and performed an accelerating turn. The engine roared as it turned around 180 degrees. He could see Schweitzer running toward the stairway landing at the end of the hallway. He also heard the man’s voice. “Are you going to pursue me to the top, Dog Berger!?” Berger was already moving before the question was complete. He removed the Phlogiston Tanks from the back of Gelegenheit now that it had lost its darkness and he inserted some new ones. These ones were twice as long as the ones he had used before. “AA size? No, I’ll go straight to C!!” He instantly attached 10 of them with perfect precision. He raised Gelegenheit overhead with his right hand and simply placed his left hand on the hilt. He let out a breath and followed that slowly-falling breath with the activation of the dark blade that seemed to burst from Gelegenheit. Its darkness did not even try to stop the extension of its destructive power. The blade grew to more than 30 yards long. It pierced through the ceiling diagonally back from him and continued to grow. Through his sunglasses, he saw the base of the darkness grow a bit thicker. “Pursue you to the top? Is that any way to treat a guest?” His expression was hard and his eyes were focused on the darkness extending overhead. But that did not last long. First, his mouth moved. He swung Gelegenheit around while still straddling the idling motorcycle. He had raised the weapon as if to swing it diagonally down, but he reversed his wrist to swing it around behind him instead. “Come to me, Hazel!!” The darkness left an afterimage as it wrapped around and produced the sound of blowing wind. Gelegenheit accurately rotated all the way around and stopped on the ceiling diagonally behind him. He had severed the barracks’ destiny along a straight diagonal line. The darkness vanished. A moment later, a diagonal crack appeared from the hallway’s ceiling to its floor. The crack connected back to itself in a circle and it did not stop there. With a low, dull rumbling, the scene before him bent. No, it shifted. The part of the hallway beyond the crack fell forward and down. The collapse picked up speed. The 2nd story’s ceiling fell away in front of him and the 3rd story’s floor dropped down. The windows of the fallen 2nd story hallway were shattered by the pressure from above. The sound of dozens of windows shattering at once sounded a lot like the roar of a waterfall. The 3rd story hallway dropped down toward the same height as Berger’s 2nd story hallway. Berger saw Hazel at the center of the dropping 3rd story hallway. Nothing looked out of the ordinary except for the red glow of her right eye. She was fine. He sighed and narrowed his eyes. She was about 50 yards away. Beyond her, Schweitzer had just arrived on the 3rd floor, putting him at about the same distance from her. With the loud sound of shattering stone from below, the falling 3rd story hallway shook and then came to a stop at only about 2 inches off from the height of Berger’s hallway. Theirs was the higher one and his the lower. Hazel stood in place and looked to him with her hands lightly clasped in front of her chest. He accepted her gaze and spoke to her. “Come to me, Hazel.” ### 440. Part 6 The Sylphide slipped past the twin-fuselage ship’s Drache Kanones with a combination of sword strikes and an ascent. The twin-fuselage ship targeted its belly as it flew up, but the twin-fuselage ship only fired 16 shots from its diffusion Kunst Eyes. One of its two Eyes on each side had been destroyed and there were faint marks from hits on its armor. The barrage was thinner than before, but it was fast. Nevertheless, the Sylphide charged in while Erklärunging. The 30-yard craft easily slipped through the gaps and attacked the twin-fuselage ship from above. The twin-fuselage ship responded by accelerating. It blew the white clouds away as it ascended somewhat. It matched the Sylphide’s altitude and showed off its six Schwerts and its rear rockets. The shimmering heat of its rockets grew all the larger. It slowly moved forward as if showing off its abilities. It sped up, more and more lines of white water vapor trailed back from the Luftram projected out ahead of it, and it left those lines in its dust. The Sylphide ducked below those after making it through the thinner barrage. The shots stabbed into the clouds and the clouds erupted like pillars of fire before vanishing behind the ships. The two ships only ever moved straight ahead. When the Sylphide closed in, the twin-fuselage ship pulled away. When the twin-fuselage ship pulled away, the Sylphide would close in. And when a barrage was launched, the Sylphide would slip through the shots and move forward. The two ships obeyed the wind to continue soaring. Black smoke suddenly erupted from the holes on the top of the twin-fuselage ship. Those holes were from the hits it had taken and from the missing Kunst Eyes. The smoke formed long lines billowing back behind the ship. The six Schwerts vanished from the rear of the ship and the barrage ended. But the twin-fuselage ship’s speed did not fall. It had chosen to prioritize speed even if that meant losing all rear defense and offense. It could no longer support combat and speed simultaneously. The Sylphide was not going to overlook even a momentary opening. It fired metal bullets from its forward Kunst Eyes. The metal bullets were made by providing the simplest Rätsel to their Ton, so they did not even have a homing ability. They flew in a straight line and struck the rear of the twin-fuselage ship. The Sylphide continued firing. Two of the other ship’s six rear Kunst Eyes erupted into flames. Then the twin-fuselage ship performed a forceful roll. The wind blew, the clouds were scattered, and a few pieces of the ship’s armor peeled away. The Sylphide’s next bullets missed. As soon as it moved to pursue the fleeing twin-fuselage ship, that other ship used hits four remaining rear Kunst Eyes to fire the same sort of metal bullets at the Sylphide instead of more Schwerts. The surviving diffusion Kunst Eyes on the top of the ship began to repeatedly fire as well. There was no hesitation in the rapid-fire attack. All the gunfire produced a monotone rumbling in the wind. The metal bullets and glowing bullets crossed paths as they attempted to destroy everything. The power consumed for this destructive act very clearly reduced the twin-fuselage ship’s speed. It rapidly slipped between the bullets and dove within the shockwave produced by the twin-fuselage ship’s Luftram. It flew just a few yards above the right fuselage’s upper armor and raced forward. It drew a single glowing sword to slice through the armor and cut away the Drache Kanone there. The sounds of destruction were swept away by the wind. The severed cannon flew through the air and was torn to pieces by the shockwave produced by the Luftram. The Sylphide pierced the shockwave with its forward-thrust Schwert and continued onward. The glowing sword burst through the umbrella-shaped shockwave, producing a new shockwave of its own and instantly negating the original destructive wave The crashing of the waves produced a white vapor cloud the Sylphide flew into. A moment later, the Sylphide was already flying through the windy sky. It threw on a burst of acceleration, leaving behind the twin-fuselage ship with its starboard side destroyed. The left side fired its Drache Kanone, but the Sylphide avoided it as if flying around the light. It slowly put away its Schwert and slipped behind the twin-fuselage ship. It approached the four rear Kunst Eyes that continued firing and it destroyed them one by one. Fire burst from all four of them. That fire rapidly spread across the holes and wounds opened across the ship, creating a great conflagration. The twin-fuselage ship burst into flames. Its great speed sent the black smoke and red flames flying backwards. It remained flying, but it was slowly losing altitude. The Sylphide ignored its falling opponent. The blue blade of a craft mercilessly resumed accelerating. It left the slowed ship behind as it shot forward. It surrounded itself with several different water vapor explosions while skimming just above the clouds. A few seconds after the Sylphide passed by, the clouds would rupture and burst. The sun was starting to descend in the sky and that warm light washed over the Sylphide while it tilted a bit to the right. Its curved wings jutted out to the sides and the starboard tip touched and gouged into the clouds. The fluffy white clouds flew wildly into the air. After two seconds, the Sylphide straightened out as if satisfied. Then a giant shape approached from behind it. It was the twin-fuselage ship. The giant ship looked like it was flying through a great cloud of black smoke at this point, but it managed to catch up to the accelerating Sylphide even as it shuddered violently. Its roar and the atmospheric pressure it produced were enough to shake the clouds. It could not even produce a Luftram since it was pouring all power into acceleration. The two ships skimmed just off of the cloudy sea. They were moving fast. The twin-fuselage ship tried to move out ahead with its injured acceleration and the sole remaining Drache Kanone on its top side slowly, slowly aimed toward the Sylphide to its side. The cannon was shaking too much to take aim normally, so it had been fixed aiming straight back, parallel to the ship’s direction of movement, since that was its most stable position. That was why the ship had to move out ahead of the Sylphide to fire at it. Shimmering heat burst from the rockets on its back. The twin-fuselage ship moved out ahead. The Sylphide accelerated too. It raced through the sky with all its strength, but it could not catch up. The enemy moved out ahead and its stern was fully in Sylphide’s view. It spewed flames and smoke while accelerating further. The Sylphide had been fully passed, just like when this enemy had first appeared. The Drache Kanone filled with light while aimed straight back. And that was as far as it got. While silhouetted by the sun, the ship’s central bridge broke apart and then the entire thing fell to pieces. The twin-fuselage ship split into something like two swords that bounced up into the air and were swept away behind the Sylphide. The long ship was torn to pieces after a blow from the fist of air resistance. The metal flying object was reduced to scraps in no time, creating a blossom in the air behind the Sylphide. The Sylphide shook off the flames and smoke and dove through the cloud of scraps. An explosion erupted behind it. Large pieces flew past the Sylphide, plunged into the cloudy ocean, and sank into its depths. Several white pillars rose from the clouds, but even they were left behind as the Sylphide flew onward. All the remained were the sky, the clouds, the wind, and the roar. And the Sylphide angled upwards. It began a vertical ascent. To test itself, it set its goal at a position higher even than the heavens. ### 441. Part 6 Hazel saw Berger jump down from the vertically-rising craft’s back with the giant sword in hand. His black coat did not flutter in the wind because he had buttoned it up on the front. His body was positioned horizontally, his limbs were spread, and he dropped straight down. The Sylphide accelerated in response. It only used its right front Kunst Eye. By pouring all its power into that one emitter, the glowing sword grew to more than 50 yards long. With its own giant sword at the ready, the Sylphide tilted its nose just a bit diagonally. That trajectory allowed it to flee at a moment’s notice. And if it managed to avoid Berger’s attack and strike back, it could immediately bring down the enemy craft above it. Hazel gulped. She watched Berger dropping down. The Sylphide prepared to strike back. It only had the one sword on the right, so if it failed to properly predict the path of Berger’s sword, it would be destroyed. Hazel’s vision focused in on Berger. And… “?” She noticed something odd. Berger was aiming his giant sword directly at her. It was 80-yards long, but when the tip was directed straight at her, she could only see the width of the blade. He suddenly pulled Gelegenheit’s hilt back under his arm and then threw it into the air behind him. Gelegenheit soared back behind him without tilting at all. “What?” He tore open his coat’s buttons to spread out his black coat. The flapping coat blocked her view of Gelegenheit. Hazel realized the point of this. … He hid Gelegenheit!? The coat prevented her from seeing where the 80-yard sword was. It had to be falling straight toward her behind him. The Sylphide must have assumed the same because it shook the tip of its own sword side to side. Would Berger’s sword be coming in on the right or the left? Once it dropped in on one side or the other, he was sure to grab it and swing it down. The Sylphide used its Erklärung to increase its reaction speed. But Berger held his left hand out to the side as he fell. That increased his air resistance and his speed noticeably dropped. He likely intended to grab Gelegenheit as it dropped in from behind him. He looked straight at Hazel. And he shouted something with a smile on his face. She could not hear what it was. All she heard was the snapping of his fingers with that outstretched left hand. Although even that was only her mind filling in the silence with the sound she knew had to be there. But it was enough. A moment later, she saw the answer to it all. She saw Gelegenheit’s large blade catching up to him from behind. The giant tip formed from darkness came into view. But it was not on the left or the right. It came straight down the center. The giant tip tore through near the center of Berger’s black coat. It was so close it could have easily stabbed through Berger himself. “!?” He had twisted his body out of the way, but his left arm was still severed at the shoulder by Gelegenheit’s darkness. But Gelegenheit continued to drop regardless. Berger wrapped his remaining right arm around Berger’s hilt to hold it in place. And he stabbed it straight down. The Sylphide attempted to evade the unexpected movement. “Shut up,” mouthed Berger. With Berger’s Erklärung, the 80-yard dark blade crashed into the Sylphide. In no time at all, Hazel’s vision was attacked right down the center. She felt no pain, but she did scream. ### 442. Part 6 The König Pseudo-Drach slowly circled around the Sylphide which had come to a stop in midair with its nose pointed upwards, so it easily caught the girl who left the Sylphide. The one-armed Heidengeist youth in a black coat caught the Heidengeist girl who jumped down from midair. He gently held the one-eyed girl while standing on the back of the gliding König Pseudo-Drach. Hazel looked up while Berger wrapped her in his coat. She saw that blue blade of a craft in the night sky. It began accelerating even as it scattered parts. It instantly brushed aside a film of water vapor as it broke the sound barrier. It unleashed a roar and left behind a white dragon-like trail as it grew smaller and smaller in her vision. The light spraying in the sky had to be the Sylphide’s parts. “Go for it.” That was all she could say while narrowing her eyes. Then she saw a small explosion in the direction of the north star at the peak of the northern sky. The Sylphide had been destroyed. That light briefly lit up the sky and those looking up at it. “Ah.” Hazel’s voice caught in her throat, but Berger spoke to her. “Keep watching to the end.” Before he was even done speaking, she heard the roar of the explosion descending from the sky and… Orbs of light burst from the site of the explosion. There were five in all. They were brighter than the stars but far smaller and they flew forcefully in different directions before vanishing. “It cast off its shell of wind to return home,” said Berger. Hazel nodded. The wind blew and she belatedly shivered from the cold. Her eye turned toward the König Pseudo-Drach’s cockpit. It was meant for two. “Um, Dog.” She looked up to ask him if three would really fit and found his face right there. Before she could even question it, he stole her lips. “–––––!?” She panicked and her heart raced even in the cold. A moment later, there was a small explosion of air and water vapor scattered in every direction to reveal her Flektieren. Her cat form and her clothes fell onto the König Pseudo-Drach’s back and Berger picked them both up in one hand. Schweitzer looked back from the cockpit as if to tell them to settle down. “You see, she turns into a cat when she’s tired or whatever,” explained Berger. “But this thing’s only made for two, so that works out.” Hazel immediately bit his hand hard and a yelp left his mouth. Schweitzer frowned at the commotion but also tilted the control column forward. The end of the cloudy ocean came into view where the moon was visible low in the sky. “The prophecy, hm?” Schweitzer looked back to Berger and cat Hazel. “Two half-humans makes one full one, I suppose.” He sang the Text to himself. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home “The Messiah implant was destroyed by this girl, but was the prophecy fulfilled? What does that mean, Schweitzer? Is this good enough for Hazel to become the Messiah who will save Germany?” “I do not know. But the prophecy was fulfilled.” “No, not yet, Schweitzer,” corrected Berger. “Hazel still has to return home, but where is that home? It’s not in Germany. You need to follow your leader’s orders and fulfill the prophecy.” “That is an awful excuse, one-armed one.” With that, Schweitzer faced forward and leaned the control column over even more. They began to descend and the Silber caught up with them and flew alongside them. The colors of the night were all that remained in the sky. ## Final Chapter: The Wind Arrives 01/05/1938 03:10 – 03:17 The true beginning is yet to come. The beginning of the words Of the illusions And of the reality Starlight fell on a chilly night. Hazel stood alone in front of Zurich Station in northern Switzerland. Her hair was groomed, she wore a shirt, skirt, and coat, and she held a travel bag. “…” She silently viewed her surroundings. The large roundabout was cold and deserted and the shopping district across the road was entirely dark. The clock on the roof of the 2-story station building told her it was currently 3:10 in the morning. No trains were running at this hour. She stood alone, waiting for someone. She suddenly pulled a letter from her pocket. “So it’s been about 2 hours since I was dumped across the border with some money and this guide.” Her right eye still had a scar on the eyelid, but there was a blue human eye within. The blue eye did not dilate as she focused on things. She could not actually see with it. But she turned both eyes toward the station’s clock and silently watched it. The long hand had just moved. She hesitated for a moment. Just then, a car drove up the road in front of the station. She did not recognize it, but her expression changed when she saw the driver through the windshield. “…!” Joy filled her face, but she lowered her head long enough to erase that and then looked up again. After another pause, she no longer hesitated to smile. She began walking instead of just waiting for the car to approach. She walked forward. The wind suddenly blew as if to accompany her. It was a powerful gust that rattled the station’s windows. The wind brushed across her cheek as it roared by. She knew the name of that powerful wind surrounding her. “Goodbye.” She spoke that word and stopped walking. Her skirt fluttered and she turned around to look up into the night sky. She saw the north star shining at the peak of the northern sky. “…” The car came to a stop behind her. She heard the door open and close, but she did not look back. She continued staring up into the northern sky. A deep and familiar male voice reached her from behind. “Sorry I’m late, Hazel.” He spoke to her and slowly – almost cautiously – hugged her from behind, but still she did not turn around. She only looked up into the night sky. She stared and stared. The voice behind her guessed the reason why. “Are you crying?” She did not answer that question, but there were tears running down her face. But only from her right blue eye. “The Wind.” She dropped her bag and tearfully raised her voice while still looking into the sky. “The Wind is blowing!” Her tears would not stop. She cried on and on in the blowing wind while staring at the north star. Tears fell from her right eye as she told herself she would eventually travel there again. ### Closing Statements April, 1938 The German government declared itself to be the Greater Germanic Reich and swore it would develop the nation without allowing any foreign interference. The Panzerpolis Project was also revealed then and a fixation of pure blood spread quickly throughout the German people. However, that project was no mere symbol and its details were widely spread by the schools and other public institutions. Meanwhile, the Geheimnis Agency remained hidden and it was all carried out as a national project led by the government. Thus began the answer that binds humanity, steel, and even time. 1/10/2000. On the night a certain girl once wept. -Michael Schrier ### 443. Part 7 Hazel started to say something when she heard him call her name. Her eyebrows lowered and her mouth opened. “…” But she shut her eyes instead. She could tell her breathing was heavy. Unlike the night before, she was not just being asked to run away. She was caught in the middle of a real battle. A force trying to keep her in this country and a force trying to take her from this country were clashing. … But I still… Berger spoke, as if to say he understood what she was thinking. “Hazel, you still don’t know what you should do, right?” She reflexively tried to say something in response, but the words would not come. He was right. She could not find the thoughts necessary to make a decision. So she hung her head, lowered her gaze, and expressed herself with a simple action. She nodded. … I don’t know. That she did know. She moved just her eyes to look up at Berger and found him looking back at her. “Last night, you said you wanted to stay in Germany,” he said. “That is certainly an option thanks to that eye of yours. It looks like the Geheimnis Agency will make you quite comfortable here. …But is that really what you want, Hazel Mirildorf? You know what that means, don’t you? Do you want to stay here so badly that you’re willing to let them shelter you?” She responded to that quietly and almost on reflex. “Then…what are you suggesting?” “That we leave here, Hazel. Leave the country. Once we’ve done that, you can take all the time you need to figure out what it means to not run away.” Schweitzer immediately shouted over from behind her. “Quite the silver tongue, Berger.” She turned back toward him. The large man from the Geheimnis Agency was calmly walking over to her. The thump thump of his boots matched the pulse of her heartbeat. And Berger’s voice from behind her drowned out those footsteps. “Give it up, Schweitzer. You understand what’s going on here, don’t you?” “What might that be?” “The Eingeweide eye named Messiah was created from Marsch’s eye, but why was it implanted in her and not one of you? That wasn’t your decision, was it? You wouldn’t be making such a fuss over it if it was.” He smiled bitterly. “The Messiah was implanted into her in Berlin’s general hospital, right? I bet it was done in secret by some doctors who received it from Marsch.” “So what if it was?” “Don’t play dumb, Schweitzer. You know full well why Marsch would have felt the need to keep that hidden.” Schweitzer continued forward in silence and Berger’s quiet laughter echoed down the hallway. … Is he laughing at himself? For some reason, Hazel heard an emotion other than anger or joy in that laughter. And Berger spoke to the approaching man in the exact same tone of voice. “Schweitzer, Marsch gave up on your Geheimnis Agency. He knew his knowledge would be used for war. With Germany the way it is, he knew it wouldn’t be used to develop the country. So,” he continued. “Ironically enough, he told the doctors to implant the Messiah in a Heidengeist. A Heidengeist can never join the German army or the Geheimnis Agency and they’re more compatible with prosthetics to boot. …Quite the ironic betrayal. Marsch wanted the Messiah to leave the country.” Schweitzer responded with a very simple thought. “Do not view everything from a single point of view, simpleton,” he spat out while coming to a stop. He was only 5 steps away from Hazel and he continued speaking from there. “Most of what you say is admittedly true, but you have said nothing of justice.” “Then enlighten me. What is your idea of justice here?” Schweitzer responded to Berger’s question by looking to Hazel for the first time. She read the question in his eyes: do you want to know that as well? … I… She hesitated for a moment between the two of them, but she finally looked Schweitzer in the eye. “Please tell me.” “Very well.” He pointed his biological left hand toward her. “Two weeks ago, M. Schrier contacted one of the doctors left with the Messiah and thought up a way to acquire it: implant it in a patient and have them leave the country.” “So he could later contact that patient and swap it out for another prosthetic eye?” “Correct, Berger. And chance would have it, a former officer’s daughter – and a half-Heidengeist at that – had taken a turn for the worse after being blinded at a Heidenheim. M. Schrier made arrangements behind the scenes, so-” Before he could finish, Hazel shouted her speculation from between the two men. “The girl was given a prosthetic eye even though Heidenheim residents would normally never receive that kind of treatment!?” “Yes, that is the truth of the matter.” Schweitzer took a breath. “Do you see now? Whether or not you are the Messiah, everyone inside and outside this country are after your Messiah eye so they can use it for their own ends. You have no escape. This is your destiny.” The meaning carried by that final word briefly blanked her mind, but… … ! She punched her hand against the wall behind her and used the light sound and pain to help her look back. Toward Berger. He was seated on the motorcycle and looking at her with no readable expression. She spoke to the blue eyes visible past his sunglasses. “That means it’s all the same whether I run away or not, doesn’t it? I can’t become the Messiah and all I have is this prosthetic eye bearing that name.” Her eyebrows drooped, but Berger tilted his head and questioned what she had just said. “Hey, don’t you two leave me out of this. …You can’t become the Messiah? Says who?” “Says the 9th Section of the Ruling King, Berger.” The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home Schweitzer recited the verse in question. “The letter sent to you was in fact a prophecy spread throughout the Geheimnis Agency three months ago.” “What? The 9th Section of the Ruling King is a prophecy?” “That is correct,” said Schweitzer. “Our leader told us the Messiah is sure to arrive and save Germany when that prophecy is fulfilled.” “But I’m not that. I’m just an eye socket to carry the prosthetic eye around,” muttered Hazel while letting her head droop. But then she heard Berger speak with a sigh. “Cut the childish narcissism, Hazel. It’s boring.” “!?” She froze and looked up while he placed his hand on the accelerator. “The Messiah? Just an eye socket? Who cares? Only one thing matters here, Hazel. You said it yourself: you don’t want to run away.” “But…but that doesn’t matter anymore! If it’s the same no matter where I run, what does it matter what choice I make now!?” “Find an answer for yourself, Hazel. That answer will be your true destiny.” With that, he engaged the clutch. The motorcycle shot toward her while the engine roared. By then, she had also noticed Schweitzer running toward her from behind. ### 444. Part 7 Hazel suddenly found herself lying on the floor. She no longer saw the sky in front of her. Only a ceiling with metal pipes running every which way. … Where am I? She could see it when she blinked now, so this vision actually belonged to her. But she could not move her eyes. Her body was tense and frozen up. She had been shown that high-speed battle as a participant, but she had failed to do anything at all. As the crushing speed and attacks had pressed her back against the floor, she had only been able to pull her clothes in around her and curl up. Her one form of resistance was to not look away from what was happening. Her breathing was heavy, she could feel beads of sweat dripping down her skin, and her wide eyes stared only at the ceiling. … It’s like I’m about to cry. That thought strengthened the emotion, so she closed her eyes once more. She actually found darkness there. No one was stealing away the actual image seen by her eyes. “…” She focused on her right hand. She used her sense of touch to determine what her hand was touching and how it was moving. She grabbed her fallen clothes from the floor, pulled them up to cover her shoulders, and clutched them tight. She could feel her left hand as well. She used the clothing in that hand to cover her stomach. Her left thigh lifted her knee to cover her body and her right leg bent as if to tangle with that. It was similar to the pose of someone bracing themselves against an opponent’s approach and pressing their back against the wall to prevent anything from attacking them from behind. Sweat dripped from her cheek and she breathed a deep sigh of relief at that sensation. She knew her face was still stiff, but she let a self-deprecating smile reach her lips. … This is what that prosthetic eye does, isn’t it? A tear fell from her left eye and dripped to her ear while she lay on the floor. Her right eye, the Messiah, shed no tears. She accepted that fact and then slowly sat up. She found herself in a small cockpit with 4-yard sides. She was surrounded by windows on three sides and the final side was a wall covered in an instrument panel and metal pipes. A pilot’s seat was located in front of the front window on the right and a navigator’s seat was located on the left. It was somewhat reminiscent of a ship’s pilothouse. “I really am inside the Sylphide,” she said after seeing nothing but blue outside the window. The Sylphide had flown upwards after destroying the twin-fuselage ship. The end of the battle had freed her vision, so time was flowing normally for her now. She wiped away the tears on her left cheek. She stood up with her shirt held to her chest and placed a hand on the back of the pilot’s seat in front of her. Then doubt hit her. … Who’s flying this thing? Her question was immediately answered. She looked and saw both the pilot’s seat and navigator’s seat were empty. The yoke and the Kunst Eye control sphere were not moving. Even the counterforce had been deactivated. She gulped after realizing the craft was unmanned. “That ridiculous V-0 weapon they were talking about in the newspaper flies automatically, doesn’t it?” … Does the Sylphide work the same? There was no one here to answer her questions. Because she was alone. She sighed at that realization. Then she wiped away her tears again and looked out ahead. A deep blue filled the sky and she could see a vast expanse of land down below. “––––––!?” That land looked like a massive blue-tinged arc and, even from this low an altitude, she could make out the shape of Europe depicted in the maps of her textbooks. She could see the darkness of the night far off to the west, but she could also see the specks of lights indicating cities in that shadowy region. She clutched her clothing all the tighter. She could not stop the tears. “Ah…” The vast land below her was home to both humans and Heidengeists. She slowly moved while viewing that. She silently put on her shirt and brushed back her hair. After that bare minimum of grooming, she sat in the navigator’s seat with her legs together. She checked the control panel in front of her and understood some of what it was telling her. The altitude gauge’s needle had already reached the maximum reading, but the gravity gauge told her she was still within the earth’s gravitational field. The power gauge’s needle was also at the maximum. She could not feel any weight bearing down on her from the acceleration, so the craft had to be using some kind of high-level inertial control. “What does it hope to accomplish with all this acceleration? It isn’t hoping to reach space like the Kaizerburg did, is it?” She suddenly realized there were two things sitting on top of the control panel. The first was a woman’s bracelet placed around the base of a broken stick switch. The stick portion of the switch had broken off somehow and the bracelet was barely hanging onto the base. It looked like it could fall off at any time. The second was some kind of paper stuck in the gap between the window and the control panel. … That’s a photo. She pulled it out and it was indeed a piece of a larger photo. It had likely shown a few different people, but the left side had been torn away and it only showed a single young man in the center. She did not recognize him. He wore glasses, he had brown hair, and his build was best described as scrawny. She did recognize the black cedar woods behind him. “Tempelhof Airbase?” The scene in the black-and-white photo did not show the barrier walls and siren towers that had been built when the airport was converted for military use. The young man stood in front of an airplane that seemed to be his. … If this is before Tempelhof was fully converted into an airbase, this has to be at least 4 years ago. She nodded at her own thought and looked down. She saw a certain color on the otherwise gray metal floor. A dark red liquid had dripped onto the floor and dried there. Those were bloodstains. She noticed more near the stick switch with the bracelet. “?” She looked back to the floor and followed the bloodstains with her eyes. They created something like a dotted-line trail that weaved unsteadily across the floor until it reached the bulkhead on the port wall. She looked back over to read the label for the switch with the bracelet. “Control Mode – Schreiben Device.” She gasped at that. She brought her face to the glass in front of her and viewed the reflection of her right eye which was stained a deep red. Then she flipped over the photo in her hand. A man’s name was written there. “!?” After a few seconds, she flipped the photo back over. “Sylphide, Marsch Gant’s will is flying you, isn’t it?” She placed her hand on the control panel. She recalled what she knew about the Kaiserburg on which the Sylphide was based. “Two years ago, the Kaiserburg fought a number of battles and evolved itself so it could reach outer space. The warship’s engine used a spirit stone that fell from space, so it carried a will telling it to return to space.” She took a breath and nodded. “Is that was this is, Sylphide? You were woken by Marsch Gant, but you can’t fight your destiny. You wish to fly to space, so you sought the missing component you needed to evolve and…” She trailed off and sank deeper into the navigator’s seat. She breathed out through her nose and shut her eyes. Suddenly, her seat began to move. “!?” The width of the seat automatically adjusted to fit the body type of the person sitting in it. That feature was used in the air force’s latest models, but something about this movement seemed odd to her. The width adjustment went back and forth several times like it was unsure if it really wanted to support her and was afraid of being touched. It reminded her of how a cat would pull back its paw when it was touched. She found the hesitation kind of irritating, so… “You don’t have to do that if you don’t-” But she stopped when she remembered adjusting the seat of a fighter was used to increase safety and stability for the person seated there. And Sylphide had decided to do so based on its own will. It could not have been more obvious who that was for. She opened her mouth and started to say something, but she thought better of it. Her raised eyebrows hesitated for a moment before lowering as she sighed. She roughly pressed her body against the seat, grabbed the moving armrests, and let the seat support her. “Look, this is the most comfortable position for me.” The sound of air being released from below the seat almost seemed like a response. Then the seat settled on a shape. But that was not all. To the right of the emergency cryopreservation controls on the control panel, the communicator needle began to move. Instead of a military frequency, it stopped on a civilian one. She could listen to the radio at the flip of a switch. … Is that supposed to be a favor? “Sylphide, this Marsch man who woke you up is pretty bad at putting people in a good mood, isn’t he?” She stood up. She was wearing a shirt now, but still no underwear. … Since I’m not cold, the air in here must be heated. She recalled it had been that way since she woke up and then slapped her cheeks. “I don’t know what this all means. Am I a part of you, or are you a part of me?” She smiled bitterly and put on the clothing that had fallen to the floor. She had been so scared just a few minutes ago, but now she had calmed down some. When she realized that, her bitter smile was replaced by her usual expression. There was no longer any tension on her face. She could see the scene outside moving by at a dizzying speed. The massive blue-tinged arc was gradually expanding. They had begun to descend. She could see their speed growing even though she felt none of it inside here. The Sylphide was accelerating as fast as it could during its descent as well. “Are you disappointed you can’t get to space?” she asked while sitting back in the navigator’s seat. That would mean the Sylphide had not evolved enough yet. A thought occurred to her and she spoke it aloud while tightening the seat’s four-point belt. “Sylphide, why don’t you run away? What were you created to do?” Her vision accelerated as if to swallow up her questions. ### 445. Part 7 Hazel felt an impact on her back. Her seat shook and nearly flung her forward, but the four-point belt held her in place. She held her breath and looked forward to see an expanse of mist and wind before her eyes. Yet her vision had returned to her. “What in the world!?” Her shout was drowned out by the wind. The cockpit’s heated air vanished in an instant as the chilly wind blew in. It blew in from the center of the cockpit where a line had been sliced through the ceiling and floor from front to back. The cockpit had been bisected down the center. The entire craft probably had been. The severing line ran between her navigator’s seat and the pilot’s seat and it covered the entire length of the floor, the control panel, and the window. There was about a foot of width between the two sides and wind was blowing in from there. It had all been cut through by Gelegenheit’s attack. She shrank down. After bisection by that 80-yard sword, the craft would soon split apart and explode. She waited for it to happen. “…” She silently cowered down and held her shoulder in the chill of the roaring wind. She waited a few seconds. But the destruction never arrived. … Eh? Her question was answered by a slight change. The chilly wind was weakening. At the same time, she heard several deep sounds like metal doors shutting. It was the sound of a heavy mass of metal fitting together like teeth clacking together. She looked up and saw a light within the mist still hanging in the cockpit. A bluish-white light had long been known to signify ether. The light flashed like a pulse as it ran through the center of the cockpit from the floor to the walls and the window. “It’s self-repairing?” Hazel heard the engine roaring. She had heard that sound only once before. That was the Sylphide’s cry when it evolved. But that was not all. The machine’s cry was joined by the roar of the Sylphide’s Erklärung. That Erklärung set the healing and evolution in motion. Hazel’s mouth hung open as the machine’s will was so clearly Erklärunged. “Why do you want to keep flying so badly?” she asked. The cockpit was shaken by a far louder voice than before. She looked up when she heard that answer within the shouted words that sought evolution. “Why must you do that?” she asked. This was all for that. … Is that why you won’t run away!? Her thoughts did not receive an answer, but she did reach up and touch her right eye. She touched the red glowing Messiah implant. “Sylphide, were you created for the Messiah!?” Her spoken question did receive an answer. The machine’s calm Erklärung raised its voice to fulfill its evolution. ### 446. Part 8 The two men raced toward the girl between them. The distance shrank over time based on units of speed and their paths were trailed by sound and wind. Berger squeezed the accelerator with his left hand and went full throttle. He kept his acceleration going and spread out his empty right arm to snatch up Hazel. He approached the scared-looking girl. Schweitzer was approaching beyond her, but Berger still continued forward. His right arm wrapped around Hazel. “!” He pulled her in with a motion that could only be described as forceful and he grabbed the handlebar again. Schweitzer was out ahead of him, so he pulled on the handlebars to lift the front wheel. “Are cheap arguments all you soldiers have!?” he shouted while the front wheel slammed into Schweitzer. The audible impact caused Schweitzer to slide backwards. But he did not fall. He slid, but he lowered his hips to stay standing. “Not good enough, Berger.” “Same to you,” said Berger while pulling on the handlebars again. The motorcycle stood up almost vertically and the belly of the frame crashed into Schweitzer. Berger shifted down a gear at the same time. That increased the torque, so the motorcycle pushed forward. Schweitzer was lifted from the ground and they really did shoot forward. “Wait, no, let go of me!!” Berger ignored Hazel’s protests and shifted up again. The raised motorcycle sped forward while still caught on Schweitzer’s body. Berger shifted up another gear. The gear fit nicely into place and their speed jumped up. A wind was born around them. “Kh!!” The exhaust pipe on the bottom of the frame was pressed against Schweitzer and smoke rose from where the pipe contacted his coat. The engine’s heat was passing through the pipe to burn his coat. Berger twisted the accelerator. But Schweitzer ignored the heated smoke and readied his right arm. He raised that powerful metal arm. “Still not good enough, Berger.” “And still the same to you. Take a look out front, dumbass.” Schweitzer looked over his shoulder in the direction they were traveling. Berger ducked low and supported Hazel while looking out ahead. The emergency exit was right there. A moment later, the motorcycle and the three of them crashed into the emergency door. ### 447. Part 8 Berger saw the Sylphide’s evolution while he fell with blood scattering from his now-armless left shoulder. He was falling upside-down, so he had to look “down” above him to see the blue craft’s bisection emitting light while its armor rapidly rearranged, the various power conduits reconnected, and it essentially sewed itself back together. And it also used the opportunity to adjust the position of its engine. “That’s doubly bad,” he said while looking over at Gelegenheit in his right hand. Its large blade was gone now, so it only looked like a staff as he held it. He clicked his tongue. “It’s bad once because delivering a critical blow only got it to evolve.” He looked back toward the heavens to see the Sylphide slowly moving out ahead again. It gradually built up speed while continuing its evolution. The König Pseudo-Drach had descended from above to pursue its supposedly fallen foe, but now it panicked and was forced to move far out of the way without even a chance to attack. After that, the black craft ignored the Sylphide and started flying straight toward Berger instead. “And it’s bad twice because he might not reach me in time.” He looked down to see the ocean surface rushing up toward him. If he hit the water while falling this quickly, the impact would kill him. And even if he was lucky enough to somehow survive the impact, this was the Arctic Ocean in winter. He would still die. He smiled bitterly at that very simple fact. But the bitter smile soon vanished because he felt some powerful air pressure descending on him from above. “!?” He heard a roar and he saw the bow of a giant aerial transport ship. He also saw Bermark standing on that bow. The man and bow changed course to move past Berger. They circled below him and approached. “Still a reckless youth I see, Wild Hunt!!” said Bermark with a frown while he reached out his gloved right hand. Berger held Gelegenheit in his mouth and grabbed the outstretched hand. It was the hard mechanical hand of a Sein Frau. Grabbing that was all he needed to do. The aerial transport ship rapidly braked its descent which had surpassed freefall. Bermark swung Berger around so he could land gracefully on the deck. After landing on his knees, Berger looked out ahead to see Bermark looking overhead while the wind blew in from the front. “…” He was watching the Sylphide accelerating away into the black sky. It could only have one destination: the sky above the north pole. As the transport ship redirected its falling speed to accelerate forward, the König Pseudo-Drach flew up alongside it. Schweitzer poked his head up from the canopy-less cockpit and shouted a question. “Is the lower docking port open!?” “All the arrangements are in order,” ensured Bermark. “But there is one problem!” “Eh? What’s that?” asked Berger while holding his left shoulder. “The V-0 was launched,” said Bermark with a hint of annoyance. “Hey, do you always have to sound so irritated about talking to me?” Bermark ignored him, straightened up, and saluted the König Pseudo-Drach flying alongside them. “It will hit in another 12 minutes. We must hurry!!” ### 448. Part 9 Just as Hazel saw the sky, she was hit by an impact. Something hard as a wall slammed into her shoulders, back, and hips. It hurt. It hurt worse than anything she had experienced in her everyday life. Unlike when she had been hit, this pain crashed into her with no warning whatsoever. The impact seemed to circle around her body to hit every last part of her. … Am I rolling along something? Once she realized what this was, she could react appropriately. She used her feline balance to twist her body faster than she was rolling and to swing her hips around. She moved her spread legs to horizontally distribute her sideways kinetic vector. She tensed her arms and legs to finally stop her roll. She saw a gray sheet iron roof in front of her. She suppressed the nausea brought on by the rolling and worked to remember what had happened. … We drove through the emergency exit, right? A certain object in her vision answered that question for her. She looked up to see something falling right in front of her. A giant slab of metal crashed down like a guillotine blade. It was the emergency exit door and it easily stabbed down into the roof mere inches away from her. Her pulse quickened at the deafening sound and the shaking of the metal door filling her vision. She was a Werecat, so she would Flektieren into a cat when her pulse raced and her body sensed danger. … I need to avoid a Flektieren here. With that rational thought, she tried to calm herself. To do so, she opened her mouth and gathered her thoughts. “Th-this is the roof of the hangar next to the barracks, isn’t it? The one surrounded by soldiers.” She caught her breath and stood up. After stepping out from behind the door, she found herself only a few steps away from the edge of the roof. She looked up. The barracks they had just left were about 40 yards away. About half of the building had been sliced through diagonally and the upper half had slid and crumbled toward this side of things. That was the result of Berger’s attack. And just as she sighed… “Hi, you doing okay, Hazel?” That question came from behind and a bit below her. She looked back on reflex and saw about 30 yards until the other end of the roof. Down below, she could see a road wide enough for something as large as an aircraft to navigate. A storage building about the same size as this one existed across that road. Berger was looking up at her from in front of its wall. He was about 8 yards lower than her. He looked unharmed except for the blood that was still flowing from his right hand. The motorcycle was partially embedded in the wall behind him about 5 yards above his head. “I’m glad no one was hurt in the crash. I wouldn’t want to get my license revoked.” “Um…so I take it you’re doing fine then.” Relieved, she walked forward while keeping her eyes on him. The sheet iron roof felt surprisingly pleasant below her bare feet. More of the wide road below came into view with each step. Soldiers were gathered on it. “…!” The soldiers were so numerous they hid the pavement and they were surrounding Berger from a distance. He literally had his back to the wall. The windows on that wall showed heavily-armed soldiers waiting inside the storage building as well. They were not going to let him escape no matter what. All of the soldiers had their weapons drawn and aimed at him. None of them said a word, so the rustling of her clothing and her own footsteps rang loud in Hazel’s ears. Even her hair tangling together as it fluttered in the wind behind her sounded like waves to her. It was quiet. She was the only one moving here. Even Berger remained motionless as he simply looked up at her. But one person spoke in a deep voice instead of moving. “This ends here.” The words came from Schweitzer who had taken a step forward from the surrounding soldiers to stand in front of Berger. His black coat and giant prosthetic arm were impossible to miss once he moved to the front of the crowd. Hazel gulped while viewing the enormous man from above and behind. He held a handgun in his left hand and it was aimed at Berger. “Um, p-please wait!” He was not going to wait. He asked a question with the gun still aimed at Berger. “So we finally have some closure after two years.” “You’re wrong there, Schweitzer. You didn’t do anything two years ago. No, you couldn’t do anything. You couldn’t stop me and Alfred, you couldn’t stop her, and…” And… “You couldn’t stop Marsch now. So are you going to imprison Hazel just because you never want to lose anything again? Hazel, who carries the same will as Eryngium.” “…” Hazel realized Berger was looking her way. She looked to him and he asked a question to no one in particular. “The Marsch we knew is dead, isn’t he?” He was answered with silence. After a few seconds that felt both too long and too short, Schweitzer answered. “That is correct.” Berger did not nod as he continued speaking. “Marsch and I did a lot of research with that upperclassman in university, but once that upperclassman joined the military, our research hit a dead end and then the Armored Hammer of God Incident happened two years ago. But Marsch completed it since then, didn’t he? He completed the new kind of engine that runs on the same principle as the Kaiserburg,” said Berger. “Marsch made plenty of other inventions too. Such as the Eingeweide Ausbildung and how to use a Panzer’s Schreiben system in other machines.” Schweitzer adjusted his handgun’s aim in response. The gun made a metallic sound, but Berger shouted at him all the same. “It’s coming, Schweitzer! When Marsch’s eye turned red last night, that blue craft showed up. And the same is happening now. The eye and the craft call to each other!” His shout was followed by a certain sound. It was a loud, low, and muffled sound. The long and vast rumble came from the sky above. “…?” Hazel looked up while placing a hand on her red right eye in response to what Berger said. She saw clouds there. At some point, the clouds had spread out to thickly cover up around half the blue sky. The sharp rifts in the clouds signified valleys of atmospheric pressure. When the rumbling came from the sky again, she realized what it was: an explosion. “It can’t be!” Her question was first answered by the wind gusting down on her like a physical blow. She could hear the metallic clattering of guns and the uncertain muttering of soldiers from the road below. But all that was drowned out by another rumble from the sky. The loudspeakers installed around the airbase began to play an alarm as if to fight back against that sound. It was the fourth alarm. “Evacuate the premises immediately!?” The sound of the alarm was distorted by the blowing wind that slammed into her back as she stood there. Her footing felt unsteady, so she leaned against the metal door stabbed into the roof nearby. Then she saw Berger still staring up at her amid the chaos of wind and noise. He had a smile on his lips and he raised both hands and waved like a symphony conductor. Then the sky gave a roar. The clouds bent and swelled out. “–––––!?” They spread wide like a blossoming flower too large to reach her arms around. The blue sky and the sun were visible through that giant hole in the clouds. And at the center of the hole, a giant boxy shape was silhouetted by the sun behind it. “An aerial warship.” When she had hallucinated the blue sky in the barracks earlier, she had seen just such a warship looking antlike as it flew above the clouds. The warship built for high-altitude maneuvering dropped down with its distinctive protruding sides that allowed for the air intake needed for the fuel. It was spewing flames. The warship could only really be called a 300-yard hunk of metal as it dropped upside-down from the sky. Multiple explosions erupted from its side, it shuddered, and fires erupted from the top and bottom halfway along its length. While pulled down by gravity, that impressive mass pushed down the air, creating a complex series of deep sounds. The only thing capable of rivalling those rumbling noises were the high-pitched emotional wails of the alarms. Hazel could only sense the wind and the sounds crashing into her. The warship was dropping straight down from above. “!” Its shadow fell on the airport, robbing everything of light. Hazel cowered down in its shadow, but she did not shut her eyes. Which is why she saw what happened next. With an especially loud roar, the long aerial warship was split down the middle. “You’re kidding!” Flames and smoke erupted from the break, staining the sky black and red. But that attack altered the trajectory of its fall. The two pieces of the warship continued to explode while falling to the north end of the airport where Berger had arrived. It all happened in an instant. The noise of metal and explosions reached its peak and you could hardly even call it noise anymore. It could only be described as destruction. First, the front half of the warship crashed as if stabbing itself into the ground. Before the giant wreckage could break and fall apart, the other half crashed into it. Two 150-yard hunks of metal shattered like a squashed cake and scattered shrapnel everywhere. At the same time, both halves ruptured together, like they could no longer stand up to even the small explosions. The fire looked small, with only something like an orb of flame appearing, but a white shockwave spread out horizontally from there. The whirlwind of destruction spread out like a ripple, destroying the pavement, pushing the wind out of the way, and tearing away even the concrete of the buildings as it went. … !? The dancing shockwave drowned out all sound while the wind and heat it carried produced a frenzy of destruction. Hazel hid behind the metal door stabbed into the roof and curled up. But it was not enough. A piece of the warship wreckage was thrown her way by the explosion. The yard-long piece of lightweight composite armor had a float emblem engraved into its surface and it penetrated both barracks like they were made of paper before it grazed the metal door. “No!?” She started to scream, but stopped. The wreckage was moving at the speed of sound as it slammed into the metal door like a blast of wind. The door was torn from the roof and Hazel was blown away with it. She was launched into the air. There was nothing below her feet and she could only see the clouds. She felt terribly uneasy. She could not see the blue sky. Or she shouldn’t have been able to. But as her heart raced and her mind grew abnormally focused, she saw a faint color in the center of the white clouds. She saw blue and that color grew larger and larger. … Were the clouds split apart again? No, her mind told her. She recognized this. She had seen this same craft in front of the moon just before she Flektierened the night before. Bermark had told her the name of that blade-like blue craft. “The Sylphide!?” It rushed straight toward her like the wind. It soared, dropped, and accelerated all at once to circle below her in mere moments. Something like a wall reached her back before she could even feel surprised. … A floor!? She could see a blue surface below her. It was as hard as metal and painted blue. It was the Sylphide’s back. The Sylphide tilted against the wind as if to protect her from the shockwave. “Um, wh-what is happening here?” She looked around to see hangar walls on either side of her. The Sylphide had definitely circled below her and caught her as she fell. She was surprised to realize it had acted with clear intent like that. She realized her heart was racing. … O-oh, no. It’s happening. The Flektieren had already begun. She ducked down just as a wind whipped up around her and steam burst from her. The sound of her transformation was drowned out by the rumbling around her and by the alarms. All that remained was a gold-furred kitten and her clothing which was nearly blown away by the wind. The Sylphide slowly moved forward with that tiny passenger onboard. A change came over it. A portion of the craft had begun to transform. Bluish-white ether light ran through the blue armor forming the roof of the cockpit. The light created lines and planes that pulsated while forming the emblem drawn on the armor. The Tons determining the armor’s shape were rewritten by the power of the emblem. The craft would discover its weaknesses through combat and seek evolution when it understood what was necessary to achieve strength. The inorganic machine’s transformation evolution took only a moment. The armor rose up around cat Hazel like growing plants and partially came apart to form a mesh. The pieces of the mesh tangled together to form a thin dome over her head. That dome spread out to cover the entire roof. Before she could even react, the flat and angular roof armor had become curved and sloped. She had been taken in below the armor. ### 449. Prologue: The Wind Prepares 12/10/1937 23:38-23:53 By this time Everyone else will have begun their fight Their fight to prove themselves ### Origin of Germany and the Unreif Germane Germany’s foundation is said to have been the Germanic land covered by the Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, in the eastern half of the Western Roman Empire in the 8th century. That land originally passed down the polytheistic stories of the Edda and nonhumans lived alongside humans there, but it transformed into a humancentric country through the spread of Christianity with the support of Charlemagne. But after the emperor’s death, the empire split between east and west and it was rumored the apocalypse was fast approaching. But in the middle 10th century, a nonhuman girl known only as the Messiah emerged from the Black Forest, accompanied by a dragon and a young man with a divine name, and she brought the nonhumans and humans together. She met with the Duke of Saxony who had showed the greatest resistance to the emperor’s army and Germany was remade into a collection of decentralized regional governments. The acts of the nonhuman Messiah girl are still told by bards in Sections 6-26 of the creation story known as the Unreif Germane. ### 450. Preface ### Title Page Right: City Series Panzerpolis Berlin 1937 Left: Welcome to Berlin, the first city. Bottom: By Kawakami Minoru ## Characters 1 Name: Berger Berger’s bottom text: Destiny Destiny is the power to separate. Name: Hazel Hazel’s bottom text: Messiah What is the Messiah? Central text: Berlin – A city destined to be armored. A city of metal and stone. Everything gathers in this city and everything begins here. ## Characters 2 Name: Schweitzer Schweitzer’s bottom text: Hero: A hero is too strong to back down. Name: Bermark Bermark’s bottom text: Magic Bullet Magic Bullet: A Magic Bullet is a shot guaranteed to hit. Central text: Nordpolarmeer (Arctic Ocean) – A frozen ocean of midnight sun and fog. A polar airspace of sea and air. A battlefield that guides all to an ending and a new beginning. ## Maschine Right bottom text: Sylphide: The Sylphide is an unstoppable wind. Left bottom text: It all belongs to people and machines. Box: Explanations 1. Eingeweide-type Aerial Warship Sylphide – The ultimate aerial warship designed by Marsch Gant of the Geheimnis Agency’s Development Division. Currently running wild. 2. Size D Phlogiston Tank – A small battery containing spirit fuel Tune-Bust tension. Also comes in C and AA sizes. 3. Male Grösse Panzer Blau Löwe – Ship-top combat Grösse Panzer belonging to the German Air Force. Aerial combat possible when using the Ober Emblem Luft Fang on its back. ## Folktale Top left (in blue): Recommended by the Greater Germanic Reich Geheimnis Agency Top right (in red): German Folktale Comics Chapter 31 Title: 9th Section of the Ruling King Right of title: Dageki Bunko Box: German Folklore Comics!! Text: And so the one-armed youth with a divine name somehow managed to bring the Messiah girl from the Black Forest. At the time, our Reich was plagued with earthquakes, lightning, fires, and delinquent fathers, but the Messiah girl paid no attention to any of that because she had so much trouble looking after her pet dragon. “Listen, we’re going to head down to the world below, so make sure you don’t munch on any of the villagers for a snack, okay? No eating that guy walking in front of us either.” The one-armed youth pretended not to hear it, but a shudder ran down his spine. That dragon did not really understand the concept of jokes. ### 451. Prologue: The Wind Prepares ### Story Are people or machines better at preventing mistakes? Germany’s 1935 Armored Hammer of God Incident was like a small stone that sent ripples through the spring of the world. The defense industries around the globe poured their hearts into analyzing the new power source seen in that incident, which heated up defense development all around the world whether people liked it or not. The incident led Germany itself down the path of a military nation, so after declaring themselves the Greater Germanic Reich in 1938, they began work on a militarized city project called the Panzerpolis Project. However, that would come to an end in 1943. What was this project that required casting aside the history of the Black Forest as a home to nonhumans and gods? What did that project include and what mistakes did it make that led to its eventual downfall? Or. Could it be that it failed specifically because no mistakes were made? The answers to these questions begin in Berlin during 1937, the year before Germany declares itself the Greater Germanic Reich. Now, the answer begins with the story of a certain girl’s decision. ### Opening Quote “My friend, I find myself facing a far richer future than I ever dared imagine. My power is immeasurable and so much is rising up within me and playing music!” (Musician Richard Wagner, excerpt from a letter written while writing The Ring of the Nibelung.) ## Prologue: The Wind Prepares 12/10/1937 23:38-23:53 By this time Everyone else will have begun their fight Their fight to prove themselves ### Origin of Germany and the Unreif Germane Germany’s foundation is said to have been the Germanic land covered by the Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, in the eastern half of the Western Roman Empire in the 8th century. That land originally passed down the polytheistic stories of the Edda and nonhumans lived alongside humans there, but it transformed into a humancentric country through the spread of Christianity with the support of Charlemagne. But after the emperor’s death, the empire split between east and west and it was rumored the apocalypse was fast approaching. But in the middle 10th century, a nonhuman girl known only as the Messiah emerged from the Black Forest, accompanied by a dragon and a young man with a divine name, and she brought the nonhumans and humans together. She met with the Duke of Saxony who had showed the greatest resistance to the emperor’s army and Germany was remade into a collection of decentralized regional governments. The acts of the nonhuman Messiah girl are still told by bards in Sections 6-26 of the creation story known as the Unreif Germane. ### Part 1 The cold and powerful wind of the night never ceased blowing so far up in the sky. Nothing was immune to that wind’s force, so the thick clouds were held down from above, blocking off the light of the sky. It was a moonless night that left everything dark and indistinct. With the dark sky above and the pitch black ground below, only the sound of the blowing wind filled the space between those two shadowy expanses. The wind did not make just one sort of noise. The blowing, sweeping, and crashing winds all produced different noises that joined together in a deep harmony. The sky had air currents much like the currents of the ocean, giving mass to the air that caused it to rumble deeper the heavier that part of the air was. Without warning, a new sound joined the orchestra of roaring and soaring winds. It was the high-pitched and monotone blare of a siren. That note of warning brought tension as a single beam of light shot out from a point in the sky to illuminate the clouds. That was a searchlight. The highly directional beam came from what looked like a long, flat surface located just below the clouds. The light reflected back off the clouds just barely illuminated the crude boxy design of a metal aerial ship. There was nothing to judge its size by in the empty night sky, but the noise it made was enough to tell just how large it was. The crash of the wind against its metal hull was a deafening roar and it never was shaken as it soared through wave after wave of windy air. Its bow remained perfectly on course while it scattered the sound of the wind all around itself. The enormous ship was more than 200 yards long. Instead of one of the carrier ships developed after World War One, this was an old-style aerial warship loaded with main cannons. It was from the previous war, except the identification markers had been removed from its old-fashioned flat armored hull and – with the exception of the main cannons and secondary cannons on its deck – all weaponry had been removed and the holes sealed up with steel panels. The armor of the main cannons and secondary cannons did not quite match the color of the rest, so it must have been reequipped after the ship was disarmed thanks to the Treaty of Versailles. The steel warship was fulfilling its original purpose – it was fighting. But instead of the 3 mains cannons on its deck, it was firing into the clouds behind it using the three sets of triple 2-inch secondary cannons lined up next to the bridge. The firing angle was low and the bullets launched into the clouds drew the light of tracer rounds behind them. Something was in the clouds behind the aerial warship and that something was pursuing it. But that was not all. The number of searchlights increased. Dozens of them now shined up from the ship to illuminate a few points in the clouds. Similarly, the alarm blaring from the ship grew clearer and louder. Faint light gathered in the outdated (and thus very large) main engine at the rear of the ship. The same happened to the 5 sub-engines on either side of it. That ceremony would provide the ship with more speed, so the engines brightened their lights all together. The bottom of the clouds was illuminated by the light of the engines, creating a dark red ceiling above. The dark of the night had been broken as the ship accelerated while also making a turn. It veered left with a roar. The front starboard engines and the rear port engines revved up to make the turn. It was trying to escape while also securing a good angle of fire. It sped up below the heavy canopy of clouds, leaving the roar of the trembling wind behind. Speed was prioritized above all else as it continued through the night where the passage of time was hard to track. But the pursuer did not wait for the warship to reach max speed. The light shining on the clouds revealed the truth. The searchlights suddenly moved as the round disk of their lights drew a large arc along the surface of the clouds and circled in front of the aerial warship. Whatever was in the clouds had outdone the warship’s acceleration to move out ahead of it. A moment later, the pursuer burst from the clouds. ### Part 2 The pursuer illuminated by the lights was as blue as the midday sky and as sharp as a Werkzeug’s blade. The 30-yard hunk of metal could have easily been mistaken for an enormous bladed weapon, but it was actually a small tactical aerial warship. Two staff-like things were stabbed into the top of the ship. Those were bullet cylinders. It was leaking white smoke where it had been hit by those two physical projectiles instead of the Kugels fired by divine spell weapons. It was damaged. And with the desperation of an injured beast, the blue craft charged toward the turning aerial warship. A contrail wrapped around it and trailed behind it as a band of white. But there was no light from a spirit jet or rocket on the rear of the craft, nor did it have any ejection points or intake vents. Nevertheless, the blue craft flew in to attack. The aerial warship had turned its right side toward the blue craft flying along a straight line, so it opened fire with the secondary cannons on the right side of its bridge. The shots were fired to the outside of their turn. The barrage of destruction crashed into the charging blue craft with tremendous force thanks to their relative speeds. Or it should have. But the blue craft had vanished from that airspace. All that remained was smoke spreading like a ring of water vapor from the blue craft’s last seen position, a loud roar, and the two bullet cylinders that had been piercing its back. It had stopped its advance and suddenly shot backwards at a supersonic speed. A normal fighter could never move like that. The two claws digging into its back were torn out by its momentum and left behind in the empty air. Several flame bullets burst and exploded in the space the blue craft had just vacated and a chain reaction of explosions spread out across all the bullets. The explosive flames were accompanied by a great cacophony of noise. But explosions that failed to hit their mark were no more than fireworks. The way the blue craft flew back in from the distance made that abundantly clear. It had backed away to dodge and then reversed its movement yet again. The holes in its back glowed faintly as they filled back in. The light racing along its surface flowed through the emblems forged into its armor panels, activating their recovery power. The blue craft was headed toward the side of the aerial warship that had only completed half its turn. It charged in. But that was when the aerial warship revved up its front engines to suddenly decelerate. Its inertia could not escape to the front, so its massive rear end swung around to the outside to dodge. It was a slow movement, but the massive hull did begin sliding sideways through the air. It performed a midair version of an inertial drift. Its bridge tried to roll outside of the inertial force. At the same time, the three sets of double 8-inch main cannons aimed starboard, to the outside of its drift. They aimed for the blue craft. The three sets were arranged vertically and they spewed light starting from the bottommost set. Instead of firing Kugels or Bogens, these were Pseudo-Drach Kanones. Those weapons mechanically reproduced the dragon breath attacks known as a Drachen Kanone. The beams they fired scorched the night sky with far more light than the searchlights. They fired again and again, sending tremors through the warship’s hull and threatening to send it rolling to the right. Using that recoil and the swinging of its stern, the ship made a rapid 180-degree turn. That just left the outcome of the attack. The light flew toward the blue craft. The first shot missed. As did the second. The third was on course for a direct hit. The light flew toward the blue craft. That was precisely when the blue craft showed its first sign of engaging the warship in combat. It drew Schwerts from the two Kunst Eyes on its front end. The two raised swords of light sliced through the incoming Pseudo-Drach Kanone light. Light created to be launched clashed with light created to cut. The latter was far more powerful. The Pseudo-Drach Kanone light turned to spray and scattered across the night sky. The dust of dragon power soared through the air like flower petals in the late spring night, but the blue craft ignored them. It advanced and ascended to circle above the aerial warship in an instant. It was fast. It suddenly made a 180-degree turnaround to point straight down. After beginning to descend, it changed direction to direct its prow straight down and it accelerated toward the warship bridge directly below it. That put it in a blind spot for the warship in the sky. Without slowing, the blue craft drew long swords of light from the two Kunst Eyes on its front end and the three on its back end. The giant aerial warship below was the sole destination of its descent. It aimed for the bridge Just once, it performed a roll to adjust its course, but otherwise focused entirely on its descent. Just then, a figure appeared on the roof of the rectangular bridge. It was a human figure. ### Part 3 The man’s large frame was covered by a combat coat. However, his right arm was left bare up to the shoulder. That was because his metal prosthetic arm was far too large to fit below the coat. His biological hand removed his German Military Geheimnis Agency cap that bore the rank insignia of a lieutenant and he tossed it into the wind which was too powerful for the ship’s wind resistance field to fully block. That wind washed over a young face with close-cropped blond hair. His face was as square as his build and it was already directed straight upwards. The red jewel in the women’s earring on his left ear shined in a searchlight rising from the bridge below. The wind and the noise hit him as he watched the incoming blue craft. For a split second, he glared up at that blue craft. His gaze accurately found the glass of the cockpit situated at the top. He narrowed his eyes and slowly moved his lips. “Is this the final freedom you found, Marsch?” Then he raised his prosthetic right arm. It was made from heavy metals, but he could easily move it thanks to the light surrounding its weight reduction emblem panel. It looked like a cannon or launcher attached to a large, boxy upper arm, but a metal staff was visible sticking out of the muzzle. He saw the blue craft raise its 5 long swords to attack the bridge – no, to attack him. But he aimed his right arm’s launcher all the same. “Would it be a mercy to put you out of your misery myself!?” The launcher seemed to respond to his voice when the powder within produced a deafening bang. Ether light burst from the muzzle and a large divine spell powder cartridge was ejected from the port halfway up the prosthetic arm. With a metallic sound, the metal staff awash with emblem light was launched from the muzzle and struck the space out ahead. Before the ether-engulfed staff could be pulled back into the launcher, a transformation came over the space it had struck. Bluish-white lines of ether were drawn out in front of the blue craft, marking out a 50-yard cube of space. The blue craft immediately evaded to the right and the man spoke as he watched it. “Der Held – Erklärung – Beweisen.” After speaking the words to activate his weapon, he began to recite his Text. The ether light emitted from his prosthetic arm drew that Text onto the world itself. To the port of the blue craft’s evasive actions, the space filled with bluish-white ether light was split apart. The blue craft had failed to fully escape that space, so two Schwerts on its port side were cut away at the base. The space between the man’s prosthetic arm and the blue craft had been sliced through for just an instant. In a process known as Erklärung, the words he and his arm had spoken were made real through the power of ether. With two of its swords lost, the blue craft rolled again, adjusted its position, and turned away from the warship’s bridge. With a roar and the blowing of wind, it dropped below the warship. It did not return. The battle was over with that one brief encounter. One of the severed swords of light dropped down and stabbed into the bridge’s roof behind the man. ### Part 4 The man lowered his prosthetic arm and shut his eyes in the wind atop the bridge. He could hear the roar of that wind, the rumble of the aerial warship’s engines, and… “Lieutenant! Lieutenant Schweitzer!!” Hearing his name, Schweitzer opened his eyes and turned toward the voice. An old soldier in the same black uniform as him had climbed to top of the bridge. This old man was tall and pencil thin, but he stood firm in the powerful wind and bowed with his white gloved hands clasped behind his back. “The enemy craft – the Sylphide prototype – has disappeared to the east-northeast.” “My failure to destroy it shows just how much room for improvement I have.” He loosened the scarf holding his collar shut. “But this must have been an unpleasant surprise for the military. This ship was only dragged out here to act as a target for the V-0 ramming weapon, yet it was forced to join the hunt. I know the Sylphide evolves through combat, but why do this?” “Yes, I have to question the military leadership’s decision to order it destroyed. If we had not been onboard, this ship would have been sunk.” “Indeed. Not only did it slip past the cannon fire, but the Nein Ton rounds specifically developed for use against the Sylphide failed to work for some reason. …Not to mention that our higher ups in the Geheimnis Agency ordered us to capture the Sylphide, not destroy it.” Schweitzer lightly tapped his prosthetic right arm with his left hand. “We got by thanks to my Eingeweide arm Der Held, but we must immediately determine why the Nein Ton rounds failed to work. Also, has HQ still not tracked down the Messiah, Bermark? Our orders were not to mess with the Sylphide; they were to secure the Messiah so we might fulfill the prophecy before the Greater Germanic Reich declaration next April.” Bermark bowed in response. “It is true this encounter with the Sylphide was not part of our initial objective. As for the Messiah…the girl’s whereabouts are still unknown. We have narrowed down which doctors were involved, but that is all.” “I see.” Schweitzer nodded and looked up at the clouds that looked close enough to reach out and touch. “An unbreakable aerial ship which can live above the clouds despite the moonlight that sends spirit stones berserk, can control inertia and gravity to fly, and can heal itself and evolve using its alchemy and repair emblems, is that it?” “The military says they have begun development of a more powerful detection system to deal with this.” “It won’t work. Every encounter only lasts an instant and then it flies far above the clouds where no detection system can reach it. Sylphide is honestly a good name for it.” Schweitzer lowered his gaze from the sky to find Bermark looking straight at him. The old soldier paused for a moment before asking his next question. “Did you check inside the Sylphide’s cockpit?” “It was empty…but I guarantee you Marsch is with that craft. Along with a certain promise.” He turned toward the blowing wind – toward the direction the aerial ship was flying. That meant east-northeast, but there was no sign of the blue craft any longer. His gaze instead fell on the horizon where the dark sky above and the pitch black ground below met. Specks of light from a distant city shined in that gap. He suddenly pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. It was a piece torn from a photograph. The right half was missing, but it depicted him standing at an airport with a civilian airplane behind him. He was smiling and he had a right arm. Suddenly, Bermark began reciting a Text behind him. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home Schweitzer sighed. “Yes, that would be the prophecy every single member of the Geheimnis Agency received three months ago. The one taken from the Unreif Germane’s 9th Section of the Ruling King. From what I heard, if we can secure the Messiah in accordance with the prophecy…” “Then the Messiah will lead us in our time of need and save Germany, right?” “I really wish I could meet with the prophet girl and his Excellency who run the Gehemnis Agency to ask for further details. I want to know if the Messiah we seek really can fulfill the prophecy and become our savior.” He returned the partial photo to his pocket and once more faced the city lights in the far distance. He spoke the name of that city. “Berlin!!” ### 452. Chapter 1: The Wind Hesitates 12/20/1937 09:00-09:38 Those who let them get away and those who chase after them are the same. But Why is it Only those who run away are seen as different? ### Berlin Map: Berlin A large city in northern Germany. Cold and cloudy weather continues year-round, but it has a stable climate thanks to the ocean currents. It was established in the 12th century, but it did not develop into a major city until the 17th century. In 1871, Germany was unified under Bismarck’s Prussia and Berlin was made Germany’s capital, but since it had little history of forging and no distinctive traits, Bismarck crowned Wilhelm I in 1871, declared Germany to be the Second Reich (with the First Reich being from the time of Charlemagne), and planned to modernize the city of Berlin. But before that transformation could be completed, German suffered defeat in World War One which was fought concurrently with England’s God-Demon War. Wilhelm II was subsequently forced into exile by a revolution. And a portion of the World War One reparations determined by the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to demilitarize, so Berlin lost its way. ### Part 1 Berlin’s mornings were chilly. A German cathedral at the center of the city rang its bell to indicate 9 o’clock, but the sun was still low in the sky and fog still hung over much of the city. Kantstrasse got a fair amount of sun as it cut through the center of the city from east to west, but it was still plenty cold. A fire truck’s siren sounded somewhere in the distance and the few people walking along the street had their collars pulled tight and held their shoulders to stay warm. The lights were on in the shops lining the street, but none of them kept their door open. However, there was one unusual place. An old two-story building stood on a corner lot that might as well have been the very end of the road and the diagonally hanging sign out front read “Used Books”. A motorcycle was parked out front and someone sat on the stone steps up to the frosted glass door. The young man was dressed all in black. His large coat and even his hair were black. The only other colors were the white of his skin, the blue of his eyes past his sunglasses, the red of the woman’s pendant hanging at his chest, and the white of the breaths leaving his mouth as he spoke. “I can’t believe I lost my key. Did I drop it in the Grösse Panzer I abandoned on the way here?” He sounded less troubled than you might expect. If anything, he sounded relaxed. “And the landlord never gets up until past noon. I swear I’m the second most unlucky person in the world.” Another siren began to sound in the distance. He looked around curiously, clearly wondering what had happened. His unspoken question did earn him response, though. It just came in the form of a cat’s meow. “…” The sweet voice’s owner walked over from his right along the used bookstore’s outer wall. It was a kitten with yellowish fur. It walked across the withered grass below the eaves, hopped up the stone steps one at a time, and came to a stop next to him. The cat sat down and raised its head to look up at the silent young man who carried such a dark atmosphere with him. When his eyes met those of the cat’s, he noticed its right eye was brown and feline, but its left eye was blue and had a round pupil. “Heterochromia? Do you come with pedigree document?” The cat responded by yawning, stretching, and shutting its eyes. It lay down and lazily curled up in a relieved sort of way. It must have been happy to find a spot in the sun. The man sighed at this unexpected visitor. “I don’t have any food for you. But if you want to make yourself useful, you could open this front door for me.” Just as he made that ridiculous request, he heard the quiet screech of brakes in front of the used bookstore. A black post office bicycle had stopped on the wide sidewalk. After a pause, he heard some footsteps and a young postal worker in ordinary clothes and a postal hat arrived in front of him. He bowed and then pulled two envelopes from his bag. “Um, are you Dog Berger? I, um, have two deliveries for you.” “You sound awfully hesitant to tell me this. Which can only mean trouble in my experience.” His comment was accompanied by a bitter smile and the postal worker smiled a little in response. “One of the two is two months late due to a delivery error. The thing is, Mr. Berger, it is addressed to this building but not to you.” “I’m the only one who lives here, though. But whatever. Just let me see it.” “I do apologize for the delay. But even that’s better than a Verlsten Brief from the Central Post Office’s archive, right?” “Yeah, it definitely beats one of those unopened letters from a thousand years ago.” The young man in black, Dog Berger, accepted the proffered letters without getting up. When he flipped the envelopes over to check the senders, his eyes narrowed. After a pause, he nodded. “This is for some friends of mine. I’ll make sure they get it.” The postal worker sighed with visible relief, said goodbye, and started to turn around, but… “Why are you sitting there?” “It’s the latest health fad. You see, I want to be the second healthiest person in the world.” “Not the actual healthiest?” “Me? The best in something? I don’t have that kind of confidence in myself.” “I see. Well, take care.” The postal worker looked puzzled, but he got back on his bicycle and rode off. After confirming the sidewalk up ahead was deserted once more, Berger looked down at the two envelopes in his hands. He frowned in a displeased way as he opened one of them. “My old upperclassman, huh?” He smiled bitterly before holding the letter overhead and quietly reading it aloud. “ ‘Hazel Mirildorf, age 15, female, broken out of Berlin’s general hospital, transport her to the Swiss border via Singen at 12/25 04:30. M. Schrier.’ …Hm, sounds easy enough.” Then he opened the letter that had its delivery delayed. “Dammit, Marsch. Her and the director’s house is gone, you know? …But this is from two months ago, huh?” His movements stopped along with the crinkling of the unfolding paper. With that sound gone, he was met with almost complete silence. Only the distant sirens ruled this place as the air seemed to rapidly freeze. The cat curled up on the step looked up at him. At the same time, he held up the letter to the sunlight. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home After reading those words, he smiled a little. “The 9th Section of the Ruling King from the Unreif Germane, huh? The Heidengeist Messiah, the dragon she commands, and someone with a divine name descend to the earth together. What in the world are you thinking, Marsch?” He soon heard a new sound. It was a vehicle, and a large one at that. It shook loudly from all the weight loaded onboard and its brakes sounded for an awfully long time before it came to a stop. “?” He looked up to see 6 men in green military uniforms leave the back of the military truck parked on the road. He blatantly frowned at this. “Hey, hey, hey, hey. What’s the meaning of this, huh?” They surrounded him while he protested. The six soldiers were middle-aged and muscular and the man in the center spoke with a deep voice. “We are from the army’s immigration department. You are Dog Berger, correct?” “Sorry, but you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m just your standard mystery Asian from the far-off land of Japan, so-” “You are under arrest as a possessor of inferior Tons – in other words, for being a nonhuman Heidengeist.” “Hey, don’t just ignore my masterful bullshitting!” “Silence. Again, you are under arrest.” “Do I really have to say it? Okay, fine. Do you honestly think you can do that? What proof do you have I’m a Heidengeist, anyway?” Despite the tense situation, Berger’s tone was extremely calm and he remained seated on the steps. The soldiers suddenly crouched down in preparation to fight. The surrounding air grew even tenser and the man in the center continued. “You failed to participate in the Berlin-wide blood test performed this April, but this October in Munich-” “Yeah, I had to get some blood drawn at the hospital. It’s a long story.” “You tested positive as a Heidengeist and any Heidengeist in the country is our business.” “So you’re gonna throw me in one of those Heidenheim concentration camps, brand me with a number, and place a seal on me, right? Then I would be made into a Phlogiston Platte since those are more efficient than direct Phlogiston, of course. And all to build up the foundation of your holy German Reich.” He laughed bitterly. “German land used to be surrounded by the Black Forest and protected by gods and Heidengeist, but ever since Bismarck established the Second Reich, it’s been nothing but human supremacy.” “Silence. Do not speak ill of our nation, ‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger.” Berger whistled at the mention of his Urban Name – or Titel as they were known in Germany. “Your reactions here had me suspicious, but that Titel clinches it. You know more about me than you’re letting on.” “You have made yourself something of an infamous figure. The plan was to arrest you under the peace preservation laws to be established when the Greater Germanic Reich is declared next April, but it seems the law has caught up to you today instead.” “Hey, hey, hey. Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch on the whole ‘me being arrested today’ thing.” With that, Berger stood up. It was a slow movement, but no one could stop him. He simply stood up and took a step forward. He looked the soldier in the eye and lightly poked at his chest. “Y’know, if my finger was a knife, you’d be dead right now. Dead and gone. Are you sure you’re serious about arresting me? And are you sure the methods that worked on other Heidengeists will work on me?” “S-silence!” All of a sudden, a giant form appeared from behind the used bookstore as if it had simply grown up from the ground on the right. “…!?” Everyone turned that way. A giant man in a black combat coat stood more than 7 feet tall and was equipped with an enormous prosthetic right arm. Below his short-cropped blond hair, his lips were clamped shut in a horizontal line until they moved to speak in a deep voice. “I apologize, but can this arrest wait? I must speak with this man. Immediately.” The six soldiers took a step back, overwhelmed either by his voice or his imposing height. The man in the center shrank down considerably as he asked a question. “Who are- wait, that uniform. It can’t be.” Berger provided the answer. “ ‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer of the Geheimnis Luftwaffe? It’s been two years since I last saw you. You worked your way up to Second Lieutenant yet?” The response to that contained a hint of pride. “I am a First Lieutenant.” “Well, I can see why they say you’ll be one of the next members of the Five Great Peaks or Fünf Leithammel or whatever they’re calling it. But anyway…” Berger pressed his back against the glass and slowly sat down. “Can you open this door for me?” ### Part 2 The used bookstore’s second floor acted as a cramped living room and a bedroom Two men sat in that room with stacks of books everywhere. Berger kept the cat on his lap as he sat by the window on a long sofa with bedding lazily draped over it. Schweitzer sat on a different sofa across a small table and with his back to the door. The only sound was the faint footsteps of the MPs in the hallway past that flimsy door. Berger shrugged and spoke up as if to drown out that noise. “Why the sudden visit, Schweitzer? If it’s about Eryngium, I’ll remind you we agreed to never speak of that again. None of us have gone anywhere near the hidden Borderson village up north. Not me, not you, not Alfred, and not Marsch. Or am I wrong?” “This is not about that.” Schweitzer, the man from the Geheimnis Agency, shook his head and looked straight at the young man in black. “She is our shared secret…and I assume you know my situation as well as I know yours, Berger. We continue to work toward the protection of Germany, just as you continue to work toward undermining Germany.” He sighed. “The Geheimnis Agency is well aware you used a Grösse Panzer to destroy a dam in Denmark the week before last in order to escape capture.” “I didn’t destroy it. It just happened to break in close proximity to me. Besides, I sent a written apology. I swear I did.” “Unfortunately for you, that apology is precisely what led the Danish police to place you at the top of their wanted list. You really don’t change, do you?” Schweitzer sighed and Berger sighed as well. “So what are you saying? That you’ll stop doing what you’re doing if I let myself be arrested?” “I cannot do that. Because of our promise.” Schweitzer reached his left hand to his left ear and touched the earring set with a red jewel. He watched as Berger similarly toyed with the pendant hanging at his chest. “Yeah, I guess there’s no talking you out of it. …So. What question do you have for me?” “You should have received a certain job from ‘Verräter’ M. Schrier. One of your primary jobs.” “And if I say I received no such thing?” Berger gave him a curious look, but Schweitzer was having none of it. “I do not have time for your nonsense, Dog Berger. The AIF led by M. Schrier helped a girl escape Berlin’s general hospital last night.” “Is that what all those sirens are about? So does this mean you’re after Hazel Mirildorf?” “Has she still not arrived?” “To be honest, I wasn’t told what she looks like, so I wouldn’t know even if she had. If she’s a square-faced blonde with a prosthetic arm, then she’s right here talking to me.” Schweitzer realized Berger was looking at his prosthetic arm. Berger resumed speaking with a scornful smile on his lips. “You’ve tried to make it look normal enough, but that thing’s an Eingeweide, isn’t it? Did Marsch make it?” “His ability has brought German technology 20 years ahead of the rest of the world.” “It takes a special kind of person to go along with that. I mean, an Eingeweide’s Erklärung power is cool and all, but the part about being made from one of the user’s body parts is gonna turn a lot of people off. …You shoved your right arm into the reactor for yours, right? What’s it called?” “Der Held.” “Yeah, that’s a Marsch name all right. So did he really name them all after Eryngium’s records? If so, there must be 11 in all between the ones I’ve heard rumor of and my own.” “Stop making assumptions. …And stop changing the subject from that girl.” Schweitzer frowned because this young man had always been good at avoiding topics of conversation he did not like. “Our information is far from perfect since this happened so suddenly. Not to mention there was a fire at the hospital and all the records there were destroyed. What information we have was gotten by questioning an AIF member we managed to capture in a hurry. …Hm?” He noticed something odd in Berger’s lap. The kitten with the pretty fur got up and yawned. It hopped down from his lap and glanced over at the window behind him. It viewed the blue sky visible through there. “…” It walked over to the window, treading on the books stacked up on the floor. “Looks like she wants out. Mind if I open the window?” “Don’t you move, Berger. You pride yourself in being the second fastest person in the world, so I am not giving you any chance to escape.” Schweitzer lifted his prosthetic arm and stood up. Looking irritated, he walked past Berger to approach the window. “Have you heard anything from Marsch?” asked Berger from behind him. “He stopped contacting me two months ago for whatever reason.” The kitten sat on the books stacked in front of the window, turned its back on the two men, and scratched at the glass. It looked up at Schweitzer’s left hand when he touched the window and meowed in a hopeful way. But he stopped moving and responded to Berger’s question. “You really haven’t heard anything, have you?” “From that, I take it you have heard something.” Berger let out a bitter laugh, but Schweitzer silently worked at opening the window. But Berger said more, as if to stop him again. “Marsch entered the Geheimnis Agency straight out of university, but instead of telling me all about his research into Ober Geheimnis, Schreiben systems, and engines, he sends this horribly confused piece of text. And instead of addressing it to me, it’s addressed to her and to the director.” “He always did like his old folklore. He especially loved talking about it while Eryngium Ilfheim and Joseph Ilfheim were with you.” “The house we used to live in is gone now. Thanks to you and Alfred.” Schweitzer once more stopped after touching the window’s latch. The cat meowed when he lifted his hand away, but he ignored it. “What did Marsch say?” “He sent me part of the Unreif Germane’s 9th Section of the Ruling King. Y’know, the one that starts with ‘the one-armed youth’.” “He sent you that?” Schweitzer heard Berger stand up behind him. He turned around, but Berger was already on his feet. “What’s happened to Marsch, Schweitzer? He joined the Geheimnis Agency with you and started developing weapons, right? So why would he send a letter to the director and to her when they’re both gone?” And… “I heard from my old upperclassman that the top level of the Geheimnis Agency has been forcefully promoting something called the Panzerpolis Project of late, pushing aside all other civil and military policy. I also hear you’re declaring a Greater Germanic Reich next April, so what is all this about?” “I am under no obligation to answer that.” “Even if Marsch is involved in it? I don’t know if it has anything to do with your Geheimnis Agency’s actions, but the military has been rushing things lately. They attacked Spain and a week ago they built this autopiloted ramming ship – a self-destruct weapon basically – called the V-0 that I hear reduced the target ship and everything within a 5-mile radius to ashes.” “The newspapers are exaggerating things. It is nothing more than a cruiser-style ramming ship that is loaded with divine spell bombs and rams an aerial object on autopilot. And the radius of destruction was less than a full mile.” “Be that as it may, what is this Panzerpolis Project that has the military freaking out so much? And why did an inventor who is surely a part of it send such a weird letter to her and to the director!?” “I am under no obligation to answer that.” The instant, Schweitzer stuck his hand in his pocket, Berger shoved the books off the table behind him and grabbed a metal box small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He immediately pushed the red button on its surface. A moment later, the used bookstore exploded. ### Part 3 “Why is he like this!?” Schweitzer blew away the rubble of the used bookstore with his prosthetic arm, stood up, and ran out to the road. Berger was nowhere to be seen and his motorcycle was no longer parked on the curb. He had gotten away. Ignoring the sounds of the MPs crawling out of the rubble behind him and the curious eyes of the passersby, Schweitzer calmly brushed the dust off of his prosthetic arm and raised his left hand. Less than the span of a breath later, a black military personnel transport vehicle drove up and began to stop in front of him. Before its brakes could finish squealing, he opened the door and climbed in. The passenger seat was positioned low and given a lot of extra space, but it was still cramped for such a large man with such a large prosthetic arm. The vehicle immediately drove off, so it was already in second gear by the time he got the door shut. He adjusted his position as if holding his prosthetic arm close. “Why is this seat always so hard?” “You complained that it had too much cushioning last time.” He was answered by Bermark, the old soldier in the driver’s seat whose white gloved hands seemed oddly conspicuous. “That is my personal problem, so do not let it bother you.” Schweitzer remained expressionless. “Where is Berger headed?” “I arranged a network of hidden observers rather than directly pursue him. Convincing the Abwehr to act was not easy, though. He is currently travelling west along Kantstrasse with a cat on his shoulder.” The questioner and answerer kept their eyes on the road ahead instead of looking to each other. A city of stone and metal flowed past them as they drove. Eventually, Schweitzer sank deeper down into his seat. “Very well. Berger can wait. …For now, head to the general hospital.” “We are already on our way. I had a feeling you would ask for it.” “Then take a right at the next intersection for a shortcut, Bermark. Never mind. We just passed it.” “That is a one-way road. Aren’t the Fräulein and his Excellency always insisting that we do not trouble the citizenry even in an emergency?” “Fair enough. I am not one to argue with the leaders of our Geheimnis Agency.” Schweitzer looked up in defeat and let out a weary sigh. “Last night, I was certain we had finally tracked down the Messiah implant that Marsch made, but one day later and it’s escaped. The Panzerpolis Project certainly is off to a rocky start.” “And the foreign rats have already learned the name of the project.” “It won’t help them. Even we have only been told the name and…what will happen. But I do know one thing more: the Panzerpolis Project is guaranteed to rescue Germany from a future crisis.” “Although we need the Messiah to pull that off. It was two weeks ago that Hazel Mirildorf was taken from that Heidenheim, transported to the general hospital, and implanted with the Messiah. And the doctors had hidden the Messiah implant for two months prior to that. We were fortunate to catch wind of this at all.” “Well, let’s hope that fortune lasts. But do you think this will really lead to the birth of the true Messiah?” “According to the Fräulein, if the prophecy is fulfilled, then the Messiah will come to lead us and ultimately save Germany. So I am sure the Messiah implant created by Sir Marsch will live up to its name.” “And what if it doesn’t? If we fail to secure her in accordance with the prophecy, Marsch’s Messiah implant will be nothing but a name and we will once more be forced to continue to search out the true Messiah. We will remain a masterless order of knights.” “If that happens, then that is what destiny has ordained. Also…Sir Marsch’s Messiah implant is important to us for a different reason. We must acquire it.” Bermark turned to the right at an intersection without slowing. “Let’s change the subject.” “Please do.” The view outside the glass rotated and then they could see out ahead once more. Bermark returned the steering wheel to its neutral position, shifted up a gear, and accelerated while asking a question. “Who exactly is Berger…or should I call him Sir Berger?” “He deserves no honorific. As I am sure you can imagine, he is an enemy.” “Then who is he?” “An immigrant. His full name is Dog Berger. He was born in Aerial City – London, his mother was a human prostitute, and his father is unknown. He told me he arrived in Berlin around the end of the great war along with the various enemy forces.” “What is his connection to you, Sir Marsch, and Sir Alfred?” “We all went to high school together. He even went to university with Marsch, but he dropped out after three years. That was two years ago.” “Why did he drop out?” Schweitzer did not answer that question. Silence fell over the vehicle as Bermark stepped on the gas even more to travel north over the bridge crossing the Spree River that split the city in two. Once on the other side, he entered the passing lane and asked a further question. “Then has this Berger made contact with Hazel Mirildorf yet?” “It didn’t seem like it. She is the daughter of former Major General Oscar, head of the Eisen Vogel, isn’t she?” “Yes, the Eisen Vogel was meant to be the foundation of the 1st Aerial Fleet led by Lieutenant General Heiliger, but then Oscar Mirildorf suddenly retired last year.” “Provide me with more details on the girl when you have some time. It is hard to keep track of my own memories and all the information I have learned in such a short time. I honestly feel like I am overlooking something.” “Such as?” “For one, the girl was taken to the hospital from a Heidenheim. Only those with Heidengeist blood are sent there. …Now, former Major General Oscar was human, but what kind of blood did the girl receive from her mother?” Schweitzer took a breath. “We have been so busy pursuing the Messiah implant that we have failed to consider the person who carries it. We know the AIF helped her escape last night, but could her power as a Heidengeist have also played a role?” “Let us pray she cannot turn invisible. I will gather further information ASAP. …Oh.” They approached a three-road junction and turned right, to the east. The dark cedar woods to their left were part of the Tiergarten park. Beyond those woods was the white general hospital. A few trails of white smoke rose above the canopy formed by the trees. Bermark kept his eyes on the road as he said one last thing. “How ironic that the appearance of the Messiah meant to save Germany would bring such disaster upon us.” ### 453. Chapter 2: The Wind Activates 12/20/1937 22:22-23:13 I apparently need to escape I want to know why But no one will give me an answer I don’t like that one bit ### Ether and Lives The elemental theory proposed by the ancient scientist Thales created many misunderstandings in later years and it was believed until the Middle Ages that all things were formed from the four elements. But in the 12th century, the elemental breakdown discovered through alchemy suggested the Mono-Elemental Theory that said all things were created by a single variable element. A race to discover that single element began and, based on a 15th century phlogiston experiment gone wrong, it was theorized that an element existed that allowed space to transform in response to a set musical rhythm. The form that an area of space took was determined by a double helix array that could take hundreds of billions of forms and changing the array would change that space to something else. This could be used to create light, darkness, fire, water, and even gravity. Since this was discovered through the changes produced by sound and thus you were “telling” the space what to be, the singular element became known as “A Tell”. The pronunciation shifted over time and it is now spelled “ether”. Ether is the element that undergoes the change and Lives (or Tons in German) are the double helix array that determines what form it takes. ### Part 1 In a small, dimly-lit room, the divine spell glow panel attached to the concrete wall provided a faint bluish-white light reminiscent of fireflies. That light revealed everything in the room as shadows. It had walls, a door, a bed, a bookcase, some luggage, and many wooden boxes scattered across the floor. A single person sat on the bed. The black-haired young man in a black shirt and pants was Berger. He still looked sleepy as he reached for the alarm clock sitting on the bed. He turned its display toward the wall’s glow panel to see where the hour and minute hands were. “11:22. I guess I really do have to head back out into the Berlin night to find Hazel Mirildorf, huh?” He yawned and worked his neck until it popped. He then nodded and stood up while scratching his head. He opened a largish wooden box on the floor nearby to reveal multiple changes of clothes contained inside. They included cold weather and mountain climbing gear, so they were not exactly everyday items. He easily pulled out what he wanted in the dark and then changed. First, he put on a kind of bulletproof armor called ASRA (Anti-Shock Reactive Armor). Over that, he wore a thick black shirt with latches on the shoulders and elsewhere. For pants, he wore mountain climbing ones with deep pockets. For a coat, he pulled out a researcher’s lab coat. Except that lab coat had a unique trait: it was black. The collar’s insignia of the Berlin university’s department for emblem research, the basic structure, the heat-resistance, and everything else were the same as a lab coat, so the color alone was different. Its dyed color was even darker than the shadows formed by the glow panel. “I guess this will be the last time I use this underground room. They’ll probably sniff it out,” he muttered while shutting the box. He took a breath and reached for an oblong wooden box next to the bed…but changed his mind. He sat back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling was a plain concrete square with a single bare lightbulb installed. He suddenly looked behind him. There was a lump in the bed’s blanket because there was still something below it. “I guess I should feed that cat. I was the one that brought it with me, after all.” He pulled back the blanket, expecting to find the cat curled up there. But for some reason, he instead found a naked girl sleeping there. ### Part 2 Berger stared at the girl’s face. She had long, soft-looking blonde hair, her eyes were closed, and her face was fully relaxed. She was asleep. “…” He had pulled the blanket down far enough to see her white-skinned shoulders which shined bright in the bluish-white light. He frowned, sighed, and casually placed the blanket over her again. “I must be hallucinating. When I pull this blanket up again, it’ll just be that cat.” He counted aloud to three and pulled back the blanket, but he still saw that girl who had rolled over in her sleep to turn her back toward him. He could see her face in profile, her plentiful hair, and her entirely bare back. Even the glow panel must have been too bright for her because she held a hand over her forehead as she rolled over, causing her body to emerge from the blanket, revealing more of her bare skin. He stared at her in the faint light for a bit, but finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, with a chest like that, she’s clearly still just a kid. There goes any temptation toward wrongdoing, I guess.” He quipped to himself and started to place the blanket over her again, but she grabbed his hand. “!?” The relief on his face quickly turned to tension. But her eyes were still closed and she was still asleep. Her grip was weak as well. His eyes turned toward her sleeping face where he saw something different from before. There was tension in her brow and her lips moved weakly in order to say something. He lowered his head to read her lips. “Vati?” He sighed and, a few seconds later, smiled. “It’s okay.” He removed her hand from his but then squeezed her hand back. Her expression softened and she turned her face away from the glow panel. He used his other hand to pull the blanket back up to her neck, but as he did, he noticed a series of black letters and numbers written on her right shoulder. “A brand? HGB-000402.” That was one of the indelible management numbers people were given in a concentration camp for Heidengeists. He clicked his tongue once and said nothing more. It took a few seconds for her breathing to calm. He slowly brought her hand below the blanket and let go. Then he silently stood from the bed. He tiptoed through the darkness to reach the bookcase by the wall. The book he pulled out was titled ’36 Southern Berlin Citizenship Records. “Oscar Mirildorf. My old upperclassman’s superior officer who retired after the ’35 Armored Hammer of God Incident in Berlin. This says he ran a private school out of his home on the city outskirts afterwards.” He flipped through the pages. He flipped through a lot of them and then flipped back. The hard paper made intermittent flipping sounds as he did so. After a while, he stopped. “The Mirildorf family. The wife’s name is Diana Mirildorf, a Werecat from London, city of monsters and gods. I guess that means it’s pronounced Dye-ana and not Dee-ana.” He returned the book to the shelf and smiled bitterly. Then he pulled another book from the shelf. This one was the Unreif Germane. “Where’s the passage Marsch quoted?” He recited it to himself as he flipped through the pages and then stopped. The top of the page contained an illustration of a woman leading a dragon and a one-armed man with a sword walking through the Black Forest. The bottom of the page was titled 9th Section of the Ruling King. “This is the section about the Heidengeist Messiah and the youth with a divine name descending to this land when it was still nameless and only included the Black Forest. The Messiah was unsure if she should use her power to save this land, but he convinced her to descend to the earth with him.” He shut the book and returned it to the shelf. He walked over and sat back down on the bed. Just once, he glanced at the girl sleeping below the blanket behind him, but he faced forward again, crossed his arms, shut his eyes, and sighed. “Let’ see,” he said. “There’s so much to think about, but the most pressing problem is her. …Seems safe to assume that girl is Hazel Mirildorf. She escaped as a cat, but once I brought her here and she fell asleep, her tension faded and she came out of her Flektieren transformation.” He heard the blanket rustling behind him. “…” He turned silently around to see her sitting up. Her long and plentiful blonde hair fell across her body as she sat sleepily in the bed. The bed creaked beneath her and the blanket fell from her shoulders to gather around her hips, but she did not seem to notice any of it. She only stared blankly at her surroundings. Her left eye was a brown feline one and her right one was a blue human one. She must have injured the one eye because it was a prosthetic. “Nh.” She let out a faint sigh as wakefulness slowly gathered on her face. She turned her head to view Berger with her differently-colored eyes drooping sleepily. Their eyes met and he spoke with a sincere smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not interested in kids.” That inspired her to looked down at herself. She was naked. She immediately threw a slap his way. ### Part 3 The moonlit streets of Berlin were horribly chilly because the city was mostly made of stone and metal. That solid city could not soften the winter wind’s blast. If anything, it chilled it further. The moon hung in the cloudless sky which kept heat from gathering. The wind blew across every last part of the city, transforming the streets into icy currents much like a midwinter river. The people avoided the cold by staying indoors and never heading out, so light shined from the homes along the major roads. Most of it was the thin beams of light escaping through gaps in the shutters. A mottled pattern of artificial light shined on one dark street. A vehicle drove along the road as if to plow through that light. It was a black military vehicle. Its lights were off and it was driving a bit above the speed limit. That speed left its plastic tires barely able to dig into the stone-paved road. It was fast. It had reinforcement panels installed in places and they audibly sliced through the wind. Even the roar of the engine was left behind by its speed and the passenger-side window on the right was open. A black uniformed left arm and a head stuck out from that window. They belonged to Schweitzer. He had twisted his body around to stick out his hand and grab and extend the communication antenna on the side of the vehicle’s pillar. Then he rolled up the window. The cold wind was blowing mercilessly inside the vehicle. He and Bermark in the driver’s seat were the only ones inside. But neither of them batted an eye at the icy wind. Schweitzer simply used a hand to fix the scarf that identified him as a member of the Geheimnis Luftwaffe. Once the window was fully shut, Bermark spoke with an expressionless face. “The guard we sent to keep an eye on him reported some noise and a shout from within the underground room.” “A shout? From Berger? That man does do the weirdest things.” “No, it was a girl. And more of a scream than a shout.” Schweitzer said nothing, but after a pause, Bermark made a powerful brushing motion with his gloved right hand. “If he has harmed the poor girl in any way, he is even more despicable than I had thought. …From what I heard, Hazel Mirildorf would have made an excellent Neue Kavalier were she not a Heidengeist. When the inspection team performed the surprise Heidengeist test at her school, she stood up to an MP who attempted to get violent with a friend of hers, if you recall.” “Yes, she stood up for her friend and took a rifle stock to the face, blinding her in the right eye. That very injury is what gave her a fever in the Heidenheim, leading her to be implanted with the prosthetic eye at the general hospital. …This may have been a lot easier on her if none of that had happened.” “Indeed. But it does show she has the personality to be the Messiah.” “The question is whether or not we can secure her and fulfill the prophecy. Her personality is irrelevant.” “But…” Bermark let out a deep groan and then sighed. “I apologize. A man of my age should have better control of his emotions.” “No worries. It was exhilarating.” Schweitzer remained expressionless as he grabbed the communicator mic attached to the front of the seat. He set the frequency and spoke a few words to confirm his subordinates were on their way to the rendezvous point. Once done, he set down the mic and rubbed his chin with his biological left hand. “But…it seems running away runs in the Mirildorf family.” “Are you referring to the Armored Hammer of God Incident from two years ago?” “Yes, the failed struggle to catch the Kaizerburg, which led to the Sylphide’s development. Oscar Mirildorf commanded a full division of the air force he was given by Lieutenant General Heiliger, yet he ultimately cleared the way for the enemy to escape.” “Many people have criticized that hesitation as unthinkable for a soldier.” “The daughter of the soldier who fled from the enemy is now attempting to escape from the country. Do you know how that must have felt for the daughter? Flight, death, and loss always weigh heavier on those left behind than on the person themselves.” Tension gathered in Schweitzer’s brow. “Due to an error in the previous war, the Geheimnis Agency was forced to let our emperor flee the country. You have not forgotten that sense of defeat and the disgrace of losing our master, have you?” “No. And I understand why His Excellency said Germany is now a country ruled by the people rather than an emperor.” “That girl is in the same position as us, so how does she feel?” “Ironic that she would be the one perhaps destined to be the Messiah.” That comment further hardened Schweitzer’s expression. “Is she, though? The power of the Messiah implant she was given is fascinating, but do you really think the prophecy will play out once we secure her? Will dragons gather and will everything return home? If she does not carry that destiny with her, then she cannot become the true Messiah who will eventually save Germany.” “All we can do is see it through to the end…until the prophecy has been fulfilled. If it turns out she cannot do so, then we must continue our search for one worthy of the title.” “What was Marsch thinking when he named the implant that? He must have heard the prophecy three months ago…so what in the world was he thinking?” Schweitzer honestly had no idea. They had held this discussion countless times already, so Bermark provided the correct answer as an aide. “Let us stop focusing on the prophecy. All will become clear once we secure her and, as you said earlier, it is the Messiah implant that matters for the Geheimnis Agency.” The conversation paused for a brief moment because they were both unsure what to say next. As if to break that awkward silence, light shined in from behind the vehicle. “There they are,” said Bermark with relief in his voice and Schweitzer looked out through the back window. The light came from the headlights of multiple armored military vehicles. “I told them not to use their lights in the city.” “We have fewer than a dozen fellow Geheimnis Agency members with us, so the rest are rank and file soldiers with some brief night mission training. Do not expect too much from them.” “Fair point.” Schweitzer reached for the doorknob. “You take 20 of them with you, Bermark. Pursue those two in order to secure the Messiah.” “I am counting on you to cut off their escape.” Before Bermark was even done speaking, Schweitzer had opened the door and jumped out. That giant form in a black coat accelerated by kicking once off the stone pavement rushing by like a river. He built up speed to run alongside Bermark’s vehicle. And he reached for the half-open door. “We are counting on you to help fulfill the prophecy and protect this country.” With those parting words, he shut the door. The vehicle sped up and he could no longer keep up on foot. He slowed his pace a bit and looked back at the approaching lights. The subordinates he had called here were driving several black armored vehicles. They covered both sides of the road and slowly approached while whipping up the wind. He stopped his feet and jumped backwards. He used his heavy prosthetic arm as a pivot point midleap to perform a nimble flip. The city spun around in his vision and the moon came into view. “…” He landed upright on the hood of one of the approaching armored vehicles. The weight of his large body and prosthetic arm caused the vehicle to sink down a bit with a metallic creaking. He was facing forward, where the vehicle’s headlights were shining. It continued to drive straight ahead, as if it knew exactly what he wanted it to do. The wind grew stronger. He fixed his black military coat’s collar and crossed his arms. He looked up into the night sky to see the full moon directly overhead. “A perfect night for a Heidengeist.” He took a breath. “And for the Sylphide as well.” ### Part 4 A light was on in Berger’s hideout. A single candle stood atop a large wooden box in the center of the room. Brot , sauerkraut, wursts, and other food were piled high on a few different plates around the candle. The steam rising from it all showed it had been cooked through. Two figures sat at that makeshift table. The unmoving shadow cast long on the wall was Berger’s. The rapidly-moving shadow belonged to Hazel Mirildorf. She was wearing a shirt and shorts borrowed from Berger, her long hair was tied back in a ponytail using a bandanna, and she was entirely focused on eating. Her differently-colored eyes moved rapidly between the different foods on the table and her hands soon followed, but the fork and spoon slicing through the steam did not clink against the plates. The food vanished into her mouth with only the bare minimum of noise. Her gaze wandered hesitantly for a moment, and then… “Could I have some water?” Berger silently poured the pitcher’s water into a glass and handed her that, but she snatched the pitcher from his hand and drank down its contents. She gulped it down silently, but it still vanished from the pitcher almost instantly. She removed the pitcher from her mouth, wrapped her hands around it, and took a breath. Then she faced forward. The man in black was there sipping at the glass of water he was left with. “So. You done eating yet?” “I am. …Um, thank you for the food. I was really hungry and they haven’t been giving me anything with real flavor recently.” The ponytail behind her head swayed as she spoke. It felt a little heavy to her, so she shook it a few more times and then retied the bandanna. Berger said nothing at all as he stacked up the plates, picked them up, and chucked them back over his shoulder. They shattered on the wall and only the candle remained on the wooden box they were using as a table. Hazel glanced behind him. “Um, did you have to break those plates? That seems wasteful.” “I’m abandoning this place tonight anyway.” “I see,” she said while looking around again. It was a cold and dreary space with only a bed, a bookcase, and a disorderly collection of wooden boxes. It felt cluttered to her. … I really want to tidy things up in here. She left that part unsaid as she spoke to him. “You are ‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger, right? My teacher told me you do intelligence work and help people escape the country despite being a Panzer Kavalier. He also said you’re the best in the world.” “Your teacher?” “M. Schrier. He says he was your upperclassman in university and he served under my dad in the military, but he quit along with my dad and now he tutors me. And then…and then there was a gunfight at the hospital early this morning and some of his people told me to go to you. And then…and then…” “You Flektierened on the way but nevertheless managed to reach my used bookstore?” She nodded, recomposed her expression, and looked straight at the man. “Do you work as my teacher’s assistant?” “I guess you could say that. While he causes trouble outside Germany, I deal with the problems inside the country. We’ve been doing that for more than 2 years now.” “And the MPs still haven’t caught you? You really are the best in the world.” “I was nearly caught today, so think again. I’m only the second best in the world.” Hazel saw some strength vanish from the blue eyes behind his sunglasses. She wondered why, but the change vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Strength returned to his gaze as he looked back at her. He rested his elbow on the box to lean toward her. “Anyway, I’d like to leave ASAP. The Geheimnis Agency is on the move and that’s never good news. They’re the ones trying to change Germany’s military might by bringing back and modifying Ober Geheimnis. If you don’t know, Ober Geheimnis is stuff inherited from the previous world that was ultimately erased from history due to the threat it posed. Anyway, that’s who’s after you.” “The Geheimnis Agency?” “There are two military forces in Germany: the ordinary one which includes the SS and the Geheimnis Agency.” Berger continued with a sigh. “They’re a highly classified organization made up of only a few hundred and they’re actually the descendants of a group of German dragon knights known as the Germania Dragoons. They have the authority to intervene in civil and military affairs, so they’re essentially Germany’s final army that acts as a hidden trump card.” “…” “Two years ago, your dad, Oscar Mirildorf, fought against a certain aerial warship above Berlin and ultimately lost, right? That warship was full of Ober Geheimnis, but the Geheimnis Agency now possesses even greater power. You saw that old guy in the black coat with the prosthetic arm, right?” “Um…old? Aren’t you two the same age?” “It’s all about appearances, so I can call him old if I want to.” “You two were discussing a lot of stuff I didn’t understand, but what’s so special about that arm?” “It’s a weapon created with Eingeweide Ausbildung. Basically, it converts your willpower into real power much like a Grösse Panzer.” She was not sure what that meant, so she tilted her head and he smiled a little. “With a Grösse Panzer, the Schreibener uses a device known as a Studio to break down their Tons and send them into the Grösse Panzer’s Ton conduits to move the mechanical body with their willpower. A person combines with the bipedal machine known as a Panzer and the strength of their willpower allows them to run, swing a sword, and activate the Ober Emblem. But what if the device that combines the person with the machine could be applied to a smaller weapon?” He wrinkled his brow as he explained and he opened a wooden box next to him to pull out a coat. He stood up and took a step, which was enough to reach her side. He held out the coat and she expressionlessly accepted it while still seated. “Wear this,” he said from above. “We need to get going. You can wear those sandals over there.” She was unsure what to do, but she finally looked up at him with the ends of her eyebrows lowered. “Um…Dog? What would you do if I said I don’t want to leave Germany?” “I would ask you why that is, Fräulein.” He did not hesitate to answer and crouched down to put himself at her eye level. “So why is that?” he asked. “That’s what I want to know. Why? Why do I have to run away?” “Because you will be killed if you remain in this country. No Heidengeist can survive here. You’ll be made into a Phlogiston Platte and used as fuel. Like it or not – and I imagine not – that’s the current national policy.” Hearing that, she looked away from him and down at her bare feet. She crossed her toes as she tried to find the words, and… “When I was arrested at school, they apparently raided my home as well, but I heard my dad took my mom and fled.” “That would mean you no longer have a home here in Germany.” “B-but this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” She raised her head to look him straight in the eye. “My friends, my school, the city, the seasons, and everything else are going to continue on like they always have, aren’t they? They’re just throwing me out. Only me.” Berger’s expression went blank when she asked that. He said nothing and she felt a hint of panic as she scratched at her hair and tried to choose her words. “Something here isn’t right, but is there no way to fix it?” “Then what do you want to do?” Those words did not carry any irritation or anything like that. His tone said he simply wanted to hear her answer. She gave him a puzzled look and saw his blue eyes staring back at her from beyond his sunglasses with no smile or anger in them. “Um,” she began hesitantly while seemingly speaking to those eyes. “I had a lot of time to think in the hospital bed.” “…” “And I don’t want to run away. That’s the one thing I never want to do.” Sensing the powerful hope behind her quiet voice, Berger stood up, lowered his shoulders with a sigh, and turned away from her. “Eryngium said the same thing.” “Eryngium?” He did not answer her quiet question. He turned around with his eyes cast downward, he took a single step, and he crouched down to pick up the sandals. He walked back over to Hazel, sat down, took her feet in his hands, and put the sandals on her. They were surrounded by silence, but he finally spoke to break that. “No. No, Hazel. That is the one answer I refuse to accept.” He stood up without looking at her and stared up at the ceiling. “I will get you out of this country.” “Why? Um, did I say something wrong?” He suddenly spread out his right hand in response. “You…” He grasped at the empty air. “You think the same way as someone who vanished from my life. That’s all the reason I need.” “Vanished?” Instead of answering, he sank down. The look visible on his face when his coat fluttered around was enough for Hazel to fall silent, sit straight in her chair, and place her hands on her lap. He held out his left hand to tell her to stay put and then he grabbed an oblong box by the bed with his other hand. It was about 3 inches tall and wide, but nearly a yard long. He silently lifted it up and held it below his arm. At the same time, a single solid sound like stone being struck came from the ceiling. He smiled and nodded at the sound, stuck his right hand in his pocket, and pulled out a small device. Hazel recognized it. “Again?” She barely had the word out before he pressed the red button on the device. A moment later, his hideout exploded. ### Part 5 Berger tackled Hazel out of the way of an explosion that was really more just a shockwave and noise and she crashed into the wall next to the bed. “Ow!” A portion of the wall opened like a narrow door to swallow her up just before the underground room truly exploded and collapsed. The noise seemed to push her on through the darkness and she reached out her hands in a panic. They found a cold mossy wall on either side of her. … A passageway? Then she began running as if pushed on by the blast behind her. “!” An oddly warm wind caught up to her and she had trouble breathing from the dust and smoke. She shut her eyes and kept running forward and up until she crashed into a solid board. “––––!?” The impact made an impressive noise and she felt excruciating pain, but she also felt the wind and heard a powdery sound similar to crumbling stone. She rubbed her aching forehead and opened her eyes to see light. The darkness ahead of her was cut away by an opening as wide as the passageway and nearly as tall as her. There was a slight space and then a wall beyond that. This led outside. She stepped out to find a small stream of water running along the wall at her feet. “This leads into the side of a ditch. Watch out or you’ll hit your head.” “A little late for that warning. And you should have told me in advance if there was a secret exit.” She had her say when she heard Berger’s voice behind her, but she squared her shoulders and did not turn around to face him. She stepped out into the ditch. It was also used as a waterway, so it was a yard across and about two yards tall. The water level was low, so it did not even make it up past the bottom of her sandals. She looked up to see the night sky between the two sides of the ditch. She sighed and looked back down. … This has not been my day. “He even saw me naked…” “Hey, don’t just bring that up out of the blue. It’s not like being seen harmed you in any way, so don’t cry.” “I-I’m not crying.” “Good, good. If you can snap back at me, then you’re doing just fine. Now, take a closer look at the sky.” Berger stepped out of the hole behind her and she looked up again. She could see the narrow strip of the night sky restricted by the sides of the ditch. When she did take a closer look, she noticed the sky was tinged faintly blue. The moon was out and it was nearly full. She bristled when she realized that. “The moonlight is said to be the source of a Heidengeist’s power. Gods and demons are equal in its shine.” His voice rang horribly cold in the air and she reflexively felt a chill. She held her shoulders and looked his way to see him standing in the moonlight with that long box under his arm. The moonlight cast some bluish shadows across his face, but there was nothing there to make her feel chilled. … What a strange person. He pointed up with a carefree expression that did not seem aware of her thoughts. “This isn’t a great place for a chat, so let’s head out to the road. We have much to discuss, and…” With the box under one arm, he placed the other hand on the road above and pulled himself up. Hazel was left speechless by the nimble action, but then she came back to her senses. She rolled up her large wide sleeves and placed both hands on the unseen road above the side of the ditch. “Um, you could lend me a hand, you know?” She lifted herself up much like doing a pull-up and sat down on the ground. The chilly winter wind could reach her now that she was in a wide open space. She recognized where she was. This was where Bergstrasse ran in front of a cemetery in southern Berlin. She could see fire and smoke beyond the row of homes here. … Is that from the explosion? Her thoughts were cut off by a deep voice she did not recognize. “You seem to enjoy creating unnecessary excitement, Dog Berger.” She looked up in honest surprise and saw Berger’s back in front of her. Beyond him, she saw a group of people illuminated from behind by the fire. ### Part 6 Hazel quickly turned her head to check their surroundings. No one was out on the moonlit and windy streets tonight, but around 20 men carrying firearms surrounded her and Berger in a half circle. “Um,” she began with a troubled tone. “Does this mean we’re surrounded?” She was shocked when no one reacted to her question. She frantically stood up and spoke to Berger’s back in front of her. “What is going on? Is this the Geheimnis Agency you were talking about?” “Indeed it is,” said the previous deep voice loudly enough to be heard over the blowing winter wind. The group ahead of them parted and a man stepped forward. The older man had gray hair and a tall, thin figure illuminated in the moonlight. He suddenly pulled out a handgun. The automatic weapon had several fang-like designs on the side and his gloved hand slowly aimed it toward Berger as he spoke. “Do you know who I am, ‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger?” “I do, ‘Schütze Puppe’ Bermark Vier.” The gun remained perfectly aimed at Berger’s forehead. “Will you hand over the girl or not? Choose.” “The girl? Don’t call her that, old man. She may be too innocent to have a Titel, but she does have a name. Have the decency to call her Hazel Mirildorf.” Berger’s bitter smile helped Hazel start breathing again. Hearing her name spoken brought a sense of relief. She was unsure if that came from her feline instincts, but it was still there. “Don’t assume you can justify using people as no more than a means to an end, you outdated old man,” continued Berger. “Those who refuse to abide by the new national policy are the outdated ones, youth.” Bermark gathered strength in his voice and spoke in a different way next. He shut his mouth and the Text was released from this gun. But that was not all. A faint light left the barrel and shined on Berger’s forehead. … What kind of spell is this? Berger and Bermark said nothing to answer Hazel’s question. That meant neither of them found this to be odd in the slightest. “Is that the Freischütz I’ve heard so much about ever since last year? Marsch is a hell of a designer.” “This was designed based on a gun under development by Walther, making this the latest fashion in our nation.” The light emitted from the barrel narrowed down to perfectly aim at Berger’s forehead. But Berger maintained his bitter smile. “You’re being mighty cautious with your Eingeweide’s Erklärung. Is your hand too shaky from age, old man? First, you use the Ton text that binds you and the machine in order to rewrite the surrounding space as text.” He took a breath. “And then you use the temporary Beweisen attack to focus in on the machine’s Tons so you can Erklärung the effect you want, huh?” “Thanks for the lesson, but I already know how it works.” Bermark used his next Erklärung to rewrite his act of taking the shot and the flight of the bullet. He aimed between the eyes, the shot would land in an instant, and a single dry blast rang out. “…!” Hazel reflexively crouched down and squeezed her eyes shut in fear. Her vision vanished into darkness, trapping her in a world of only sound. First, she heard the sound of wood splintering and of metal hitting metal. Those two noises overlapped and several seconds of silence followed. “…” She did not hear Berger scream or flesh being torn through. If she did not hear any of that, none of it must have happened. … Eh? That question grew into curiosity, so she opened her eyes. She saw darkness in front of her. But the darkness before her opened eyes fluttered along with the wind brushing at her cheek. It was the hem of Berger’s black coat. “…!?” She looked up to see him standing with his back to her. The wind blew and something fell from sky to her cheek. The small splinter of wood was from the box he had been carrying. She could see him holding the splintered box overhead and his voice rang out. “Is that all your Beweisen can do? Then I’m not too impressed with the Eingeweide handgun Freischütz?” The wind blew even stronger, causing his coat to flutter up enough for her to see Bermark beyond him. The old soldier with the handgun was directing a suspicious look toward the box Berger held. “What is that?” The tension in Bermark’s words was answered by a small sound from the box. The wood was bursting apart and scattering. Hazel saw Berger now holding something other than the box in his hands. It was a long hilt. The hilt of a sword shined a dull gold in the moonlight. The guard was decorated with something like woven hair and the hilt had somehow feminine lines. She heard him speak in a horribly cold voice. “Allow me to introduce you to the Eingeweide sword I was left with.” He smiled bitterly. “It’s called Gelegenheit.” ### 454. Chapter 3: The Wind Begins 12/20/1937 23:21-23:51 The battle begins And I am merely protected. He asks me What I meant when I said I don’t want to run away. ### Eingeweide Ausbildung A steel enhancement technique developed during the middle ages. A portion of the user’s body has its Lives broken down and combined with the created machine’s Lives to create a link between their willpower and the machine. The idea is said to have come from a Panzer’s Schreiben device. When the user focuses their willpower, the machine will react and emit ether into the surrounding space while also emitting an Erklärung text which triggers a Live transformation that rewrites the surrounding space. Their willpower and the machine textually rewrite reality. That process is known as Erklärung. There are two types of Erklärung: the Beweisen that is modifiable based on the machine and the Ober Beweisen that uses the user’s own Lives. The former is easy to use and can create a wide variety of effects, but it is weak. The latter can only have the one effect but is powerful enough to call a miracle. Also, the device must be the tool best suited to represent the user’s will. ### Part 1 Hard metallic sounds rang through the Berlin night. The loud clangs of steel sounded once, twice, thrice, and on and on without end. They grew into a complex cacophony but never did cease. The noises were also traveling quickly through the city. They currently rushed into the university at the center of Berlin. Solid metallic sounds continued from within the school with 13 tall and modern-designed buildings on its large campus. They showed no sign of stopping. Two new sounds came from the center of the courtyard surrounded by a circle of black cedar trees. One was a gunshot and one was an Erklärung. Bullet after bullet was fired from Bermark’s handgun as he ran through the center of the courtyard. All the bullets became glowing arrows that drew curving arcs to pursue his enemy. Those glowing arrows were directing their obvious hostility toward the young man in black carrying a girl under his arm. He spun around without a sound to dodge the auto-seeking arrows and knocked a few from the air with the hilt of Gelegenheit. But he was stuck on the defensive. The pursuer fired rapidly and reloaded in the blink of an eye. Bermark’s voice rang through the courtyard. “Is run all you can do, ‘Wild Hund’!? If you hope to defy me, then use those canine fangs of yours!” He dropped an emptied magazine and swung his right arm to produce a new one from within his sleeve. He grabbed it with his gloved hand and immediately loaded it. “Now, beat once more, Freischütz! Produce the beat of destructive gunfire for our great nation!” He rapidly emptied the new magazine. The gunfire scattering from the barrel took the form of bullets with unbelievable force. The curves of light bent to the left, right, top, and bottom to pursue the enemy as a heavy barrage. All of that attack power flew toward Berger, the young man in black standing in front of the large glass entrance of a school building with a girl under one arm. He did not even glance back at the incoming bullets as he adjusted his grip on the girl and spun around. He twisted his body as if in preparation to tackle, stuck his leg out, and kicked through the glass door behind him like his foot was a battle axe. The glass shattered and the chilly winter wind washed across him as he ran through the hole he had created. The girl in his arms cried out in surprise. The bullets immediately crashed into the spot he had vacated, creating explosions and rubble. ### Part 2 When Hazel reopened her eyes, she saw a white linoleum ceiling overhead. That ceiling was rushing by with a rising and falling speed reminiscent of a heartbeat. Berger was carrying her while he ran. She noticed his face was shockingly close by. … We’re running through a school building, aren’t we? That strangely calm thought was followed by the ceiling collapsing behind them where something had slammed into it. A line of destruction ran through the ceiling and it instantly caught up to and surpassed them. The ceiling collapse along that line, causing pillars of rubble to crash down. Berger clicked his tongue. “Does that gun get more destructive the more worked up he is? Damn that excitable old man.” They were surrounded by rumbling and Berger weaved through the falling rubble as he ran. Hazel noticed something like oil drip onto her cheek while he carried her. … Blood? “D-Dog! Put me down!!” “Yeah, I don’t think so.” She ignored his casual tone and tried to break free of his arm around her hips. It was no use. She gulped at how unexpectedly strong his grip was and pressed herself up against him instead. Instead of breaking his grip, she worked to wriggle free of it. “Wait, you moron.” “You’re the moron!” Once her feet were on the cold hallway floor, she began to run. She ran alongside him with the sounds of destruction behind her, but her feet got tangled up below her. She looked down to see she was wearing sandals. Those things were slowing her down. “I’ve had about enough of you!” She voiced her protest against the sandals before kicking her running feet to launch the sandals from them. She resumed running with her bare feet and snatched the sandals from the air in front of her. “That’s a neat trick for a girl with such a well-to-do family,” commented Berger. She ran up alongside him on the left and noticed a trail of blood from his forehead to his cheek. “Um, a-are you okay?” “This is nothing as long as you aren’t hurt. I’m doing the best job I can given the circumstances. I take my work seriously, after all.” The collapse of the ceiling picked up speed. It spread to the sides as well. They frantically sped up, but then a pillar of wreckage fell right in front of Hazel. Ceiling panels, soundproofing material, insulation, metal, and concrete were stacked up like the layers of a cake in the falling pillar. “Eh!?” she shouted just before an arm in black reached over from the side. The horizontal strike shattered the pillar that should have crashed into her head from above. “I won’t let anything hurt you. Don’t forget that.” “You really do take your work seriously, huh?” “You too will eventually understand why, Hazel. Assuming you aren’t all talk, that is.” “All talk?” He did not clarify what he meant and instead asked her a question. “But, Hazel Mirildorf, why do they want you so badly?” “Can’t you figure it out? Isn’t your perception the second best in the world or something?” “Perception? I’m the second worst in the world when it comes to that. …Also, um, yeah.” “Eh?” “Can you swing your left arm like this?” Still running and looking utterly confused, she mimicked his motion by swinging her left hand and the wooden sandal she held in it. At that very moment, they came across an intersection in the hallway. One of Bermark’s men ran out from the left. “Eh?” Her swinging sandal slammed into his face. He spun around a full rotation from the impact and vanished from view as she continued to run. The solid impact had felt unexpectedly fulfilling from her end. But… “W-wait, are you having me help you with your violence?” “Think of it as a way of showing that overexcited old man you won’t do what he says.” “Um…what happens if that guy does catch me?” “The simplest guess would be…well, you know. They send you back to the Heidenheim. But…” … But? “Why is the Geheimnis Agency here? Those Dragoon descendants have always worked behind the scenes in this country, but now they’re keeping the police and the MPs away in order to pursue you. The city must be under martial law at the moment. But why?” “Don’t ask me. I guess they could use me as a hostage to threaten my dad.” “Only the military would want to do that, but that old man’s from the Geheimnis Agency. Or is the agency hoping to recruit your dad? Even after he failed to stop what happened 2 years ago?” Hazel frowned at how those words seemed to stab into her heart. But Berger kept talking. “Nothing to say to that, huh? I know what you must be thinking: your dad isn’t the type to budge even if they take you hostage.” He took a breath and raised his right index finger before continuing. “I agree that Oscar Mirildorf isn’t the kind of soldier who would act on a private matter like that.” Hazel had started hanging her head without even noticing, so Berger slapped her on the shoulder. She looked up to find he was looking at her as he continued to run. The look on his face was sincere. “So can you think of any other reason they’d be after you, Hazel? Has anything happened recently? For example…” “For example?” The look on his face grew even more serious. “Well, I’m not sure how to put this tactfully, but…” “What?” she asked with a hint of concern. “Have you been a naughty girl?” “No!” she shouted back. He gave her a bitter but toothy grin and she looked away from him. … He’s teasing me! But she said something else. “The only thing that’s happened recently is this eye.” “What eye?” “I was blinded in one eye when they hit me during my arrest. Then I got a fever in the Heidenheim, and-” “Hold on. Are you saying they gave you that blue eye in the hospital?” “I didn’t want them to, but the doctors seemed in a real hurry to get it done.” She noticed a change in him as she explained this. He grew a lot more tense. She slowed her pace as they approached the end of the hallway. “What’s wrong?” She found him staring straight at her eye. She met that gaze for a few seconds and his expression gradually grew into one matching a sigh and his eyebrows lowered. “I don’t know what it means, but that must be it!” She did not understand any of this. … What must be it? Before she could ask that, a voice reached them from behind. Hazel looked back to see a line of gathered light flying down the hallway toward them. She frantically looked forward to see them running toward a large glass door. Breaking through that to escape outside would not allow them to avoid the pursuing shot. And the enemy unleashed a second shot as well. Bermark’s Text rang loud. His deep voice pierced through the hallway. She looked back to see a third arrow beyond the first and second ones accelerating their way. She gulped and slowed her pace while Bermark’s ordinary voice reached her ears. “Are you still willing to mock my Freischütz, ‘Wild Hund’!?” “Shut it, hound. Your ferocity doesn’t change that you’re just someone’s pet!!” Hazel heard Berger raise his voice. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything hurt you.” He slammed his feet against the floor to stop and circled behind her. He placed himself between her and the incoming magic bullets. “…” She too came to a frantic stop. She staggered forward, but looked back to see that dark back standing within arm’s reach. He was thin, but his back gave off the pressure of a solid wall. He thrust his right hand out into the darkness with Gelegenheit in his grasp. That was when she noticed a change in Gelegenheit’s shape. A commercial Size D Phlogiston Tank had been inserted into the connector on the bottom of the hilt. “Hazel.” It took her a moment to realize he had spoken her name. She lost her chance to react, so he spoke again. “Hazel Mirildorf!” “Y-yes!?” The magic bullets were approaching. They exchanged words in what felt like a mere instant. “What are your thoughts on leaving this country?” “I-I don’t like it. Because I didn’t do anything wrong. I…” She hesitated. “I still don’t want to run away! That’s my one and only answer!!” “Hah, that kinda nonsense shows you’re still just a kid. You should be embarrassed.” With those words, a dark blade jutted out from Gelegenheit. It was the polar opposite of the glowing Schwerts and Lanzes used by dogfighting fighter craft. This blade was clearer and more transparent and it seemed to be made from pure willpower given a cutting edge. It was a darkness that had abandoned even beauty. The pitch black blade extended to a length of about 2 yards and stopped. Berger did not even glance toward the approaching arrows as he spoke to her. He held Gelegenheit overhead. “But, Hazel – Hazel Mirildorf! Do not forget that feeling!” Then he took action. ### Part 3 After a casual swing of Gelegenheit’s blade, Hazel saw the entire hallway – from ceiling to floor, sliced through in a clockwise circle. Only a severing line remained along the hallway’s wall and ceiling. The single Text she heard came from empty space, not from Berger’s mouth or from Gelegenheit. That was all. That was all it took for the three magic bullets to pass behind Berger and Hazel. “Eh?” Hazel tried to question what had just happened, but Berger pulled on her hand. A moment later, the magic bullets hit the glass door behind them. She turned toward the loud noise to see light and explosions blowing away the door. … They didn’t hit us!? She looked and saw the black blade had vanished from Gelegenheit in Berger’s hand. He flipped the hilt around in his hand and flicked the Phlogiston Tank with his thumb. The screw holding it in loosened and he removed it from the weapon. “You used it up already? But those things will run a radio for a full year.” “I cut through our destiny of death. That’s worth at least a year of radio, don’t you think?” He pulled on her hand and crossed over the heated wreckage of the door to run outside. The full moon shined in the sky overhead. They had crossed the courtyard and passed through that building, so they were now by the trees lining the road out front. It was a wide road with black cedars on either side. They were only 200 yards away from the main gate onto campus. Climb the metal fence there and they were out in the city. Hazel’s breath was visible in the chilly air as she worked to run faster. Her right eye felt that chill more strongly. … Is that because I’m still not used to the prosthetic? She rubbed her eye, assuming the faint piercing pain was due to the cold air. Then she looked to Berger running alongside her and asked the question on her mind. “Dog, what did you mean earlier?” “About you being a naughty girl?” “No! Why are you so fixated on the idea of people not wanting to run away? And…” She hesitated but decided to ask. “Who is the person who vanished from your life? Who is Eryngium?” She fell silent after that. … I probably shouldn’t have asked that. She said “sorry” and looked away from him. She focused on running. Then she heard a bitter laugh from him. A moment later, she heard a sound like shattering glass. … What was that? By then, it was too late. The scene in front of her changed. She should have been looking at the main gate dead ahead, but then the black cedar trees and the sidewalk on the left suddenly rushed in toward her. “Eh!?” “Hazel!” Berger’s voice sounded so far away on her right. Her sensitive inner ear as a cat told her something was wrong. At some point, she had turned 90 degrees to the left. … What!? But it was too late to do anything about it. Her running legs hesitated for a moment and she stumbled on the curb before the sidewalk. “–––––!” Her skinny body grew airborne and she flew head-first toward the trees. Dry cedar leaves were falling from those winter trees. … This is going to hurt. Her thoughts remained oddly calm as she tried to curl up. But then something caught her in midair. ### Part 4 “!?” Before she could even question it, she realized a thick manly arm had grabbed her and lifted her high. She opened her eyes to find herself around 3 yards high. She could see everything from there. Dog Berger stood on the main road with his black coat flapping in the wind. Bermark Vier stood to the right with his handgun at the ready. And on the ground directly in front of her, she could now see what had caused the previous oddity. Across a 10-yard square, the ground had been rotated at a right angle. Needless to say, it had not been like that to begin with. … Did some kind of field spell rotate the entire space including the ground and me? It must have rotated inertia along with everything else. She gulped at how wide a range had been affected and she looked down. A man was carrying her over his shoulder. His enormous body was covered by a black military coat and his right arm was a giant prosthetic with a launcher attached. She had seen him just that morning at Berger’s used bookstore. Berger called his name. “ ‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer!!” “Indeed,” replied Schweitzer while tapping the sidewalk with the metal staff sticking out from his prosthetic arm’s launcher. A solid, clear sound rang out and a light appeared before its reverberation faded. Several silver searchlight beams shined in from beyond the woods alongside this road. More lights appeared on the roof of the school building to the right and atop the wall separating the campus from the city. Hazel squinted at the brightness. … What is going on? She was answered not by light but by sound. She heard the low thrum of engines and the squeak of metal wheels following a rail. She reflexively turned that way and saw the main gate opening. The black metal fence of a door opened with the painfully shrill cry of its wheels and 8 armored vehicles entered through it. That was not all. She heard giant metal feet crashing against the pavement with a heartbeat rhythm. Two large forms appeared beyond the armored vehicles. “Grösse Panzers!?” Her question was answered by the presence of humanoid masses of metal standing 8 yards tall. They were male Grösse Panzers. They stood alongside the armored vehicles in Panzer Kleids and with their hands on the swords at their hips. … What? It’s like they’re ready for a war. She panicked, but did not know what to actually do. Schweitzer seemed to ignore her entirely as he struck the ground with the metal staff once more. This clang caused all the light to waver. Soldiers had begun to gather in front of it. She heard the rustle of clothing and the hard footsteps of military boots. The metallic clattering of countless firearms overlapped into an indistinct roar of noise. Feeling inundated by the many sounds, Hazel held her own body and looked around. Figures in military uniforms emerged endlessly from the woods as if brushing up against her gaze. Their numbers rapidly grew into the dozens as they wordlessly used the trees and underbrush as cover while surrounding Berger from a distance and aiming their weapons at him. After a few seconds, Schweitzer let out a shout. “Halt!” They all obeyed. Even the light and wind seemed to stop along with them. The tension of the stillness and the cold now ruled the scene. The air felt bound by a silence appropriate for a winter night and Hazel asked a silent question. … What’s going to happen? She absentmindedly rubbed her right prosthetic eye and looked to him. … My right eye kind of hurts. The pain had been coming and going for a bit now. Wondering if she was imagining it, she looked to Berger. “Quite the party you’re throwing us, Schweitzer.” “What is your point?” “Why does the Geheimnis Agency need Hazel?” “We need that girl to protect Germany.” Hazel saw Berger’s expression change. He sneered. “That girl? She has a name, Schweitzer, so why aren’t you using it? Yeah, you know the answer, don’t you? It isn’t Hazel you need; it’s that prosthetic eye!” A breath. “I’m betting that eye is an Eingeweide and it’s made from-” “Yes, it was made from Marsch Gant’s eye. From one of his blue eyes.” Schweitzer turned to face Berger while spitting out the words. Since Hazel was carried over his shoulder, this turned her so her butt was pointed toward Berger. She twisted around so she could see where their gazes were colliding, but she also brought her right hand to her right eye. The prosthetic human eye she was given at the hospital had been aching for a while now. … What…is this? Berger provided an answer to that. “I don’t know what it does or what its power is, but if Marsch did make it, then I already know what it must be called. Based on that song Eryngium loved…that must be the Eingeweide eye Messiah.” “Indeed it is. But unfortunately, that appears to be no more than a name.” Schweitzer sighed but kept all emotion from his face. “We have secured the Messiah, but we do not find ourselves in the destiny we had hoped for. This girl cannot become the Messiah. …Nevertheless, this Messiah implant is still crucial.” “Wh-what does that mean!?” asked Hazel. “What does it even mean to become the Messiah?” She shouted and tried to escape his grasp, but his arm had her waist fully pinned. She heard his voice right in her ear. “Stop struggling. I would prefer not to kill you.” There was no hint of emotion in his voice or on his face, but she stopped all the same. She heard a quiet laugh followed by Berger’s voice. “I think I get what this is about now. And why Marsch sent me the 9th Section of the Ruling King. It’s slowly coming together for me.” He opened his mouth and a calm song echoed out into the night air. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home “That song was written in a time when German land was under attack by an outside enemy. The Heidengeist Messiah was unsure if she should save that land or not, so the man with a divine name convinced her to do so and they descended to the earth.” He sighed. “I get it, Schweitzer. An implant called the Messiah and the song about the Messiah’s descent to the earth? Marsch created that implant because he wanted to create the Messiah, didn’t he?” “…” “But remember this, Schweitzer. Hazel has no intention of letting me take her out of the country to be with her parents. She says she wants to stay in Germany. Do you know why that is?” “Why?” “She says she doesn’t want to run away.” Hazel noticed extra strength suddenly gather in Schweitzer’s arm. … Does that mean something to him? She looked to the large man while wondering about that. She had a good view of the face below his close-cropped blond hair and Berger’s voice rang in her ears. “You get what that means, right!? We already heard that sentiment two years ago. But the feeling ruling Hazel now is contrary to Eryngium’s will! Because Hazel still doesn’t know what those words mean!” And… “Hazel!” “!?” When he called her name, she realized he was pointing at her. “Use this chance to think carefully, Hazel. You said you have no obligation to run away and you said you want to use your right to stay here. …You said you don’t want to run away!” “…” “So figure out what that means! What does it mean to not want to run away!!” ### Part 5 Hazel gasped at what he said. … Doesn’t it just mean that I don’t want to run away? Just as she thought that, pain reverberated through the front of her head. “!?” It came from her right eye. Instead of the previous prickle of pain, this was more distinct and excruciating. When receiving a prosthetic, there was a chance your body would reject it. … Is that what’s happening here? She did not know because it had started so suddenly. It felt like her right eye was being forcibly pulled from the eye socket, so she squeezed her eye shut. She frantically held her hand over it, but the eyelid was shut and nothing was wrong. Except for the continuing pain. She tried to suppress the impatience, panic, and consternation filling her thoughts. “Ah.” Her sudden doubt was cut short by a second wave of pain. “–––! ––! ––––!! Ow!!” The second wave of pain was longer and more powerful than the first. It spread from the eye and pounded on the inside of her skull. She tried to bear with the pain when a third wave hit. It felt like a hooked finger was digging around in her eye socket. She could no longer bear it. She reflexively arched her back like her body was being squeezed too tight and she screamed up toward the sky and the moon. The cry of pain and sorrow sounded like an animal howling. ### Part 6 Hearing a scream by his ear, Schweitzer looked up into the sky. Hazel had been positioned on his shoulder like a priestess praying toward heaven, but all of a sudden, she held her right eye, curled up, and took the fetal position while releasing a quiet breath. He viewed the limp girl’s face. Her right eye had undergone a change. That eye remained open like it had a mind of its own and its blue color had changed to a deep crimson. “Is this the Eingeweide eye Messiah?” Without responding to his voice, Hazel shut her eyes. She had passed out. A moment later, the air erupted and scattered above his shoulder. A chilly smoke of water vapor spread out from the wind and was scattered by the wind. Only one thing remained. “So that cat this morning was her.” Some half-human Heidengeists would undergo a defensive transformation when they were in danger. As a half-Werecat, this girl had that ability. A kitten with white and gold fur was sleeping but breathing heavily on his shoulder while practically buried in clothing. He gathered the transformed girl in the clothing and raised his voice. “Withdraw immediately! The Sylphide is coming!!” His warning came too late. A shadow appeared over the moon as something descended from the sky. The first thing to reach them was a powerful gust of wind dropping straight down on them with incredible pressure. Then came the giant shadow of blocked moonlight. The rumbling of the air arrived third. It all happened seemingly without warning. “–––––!!” It was all so powerful and heavy. The wind, shadow, and noise were all mere preparations for what flew down from the sky. It whipped up the wind as it dropped toward them. Schweitzer kept his eyes open in the blowing wind and saw a blade-like shape descend within the moonlight. The ship was bluer than the moonlight. It flew along a sharp arc that nearly tore into the ground as it charged toward them. “!” With a roar, it instantly passed over their heads. Then it vanished into the sky above the city while whipping up further wind there. The soldiers let out relieved sighs. But that was when the blue craft returned along the exact same path like watching a cinema film played in reverse. At less than 20 yards off the ground, it whipped up the wind and slid overhead in reverse. It was large. The sharply angular blue craft was around 30 yards long. Its mere size overhead seemed to create waves of pressure. It slid slowly above that pressure as if searching for something and it passed above the campus’s main gate. On occasion, it would tilt as if checking below it and then continue on in reverse. That giant mass of metal was floating in midair and moving. It did not produce the flames of the spirit rockets and jets used for airplanes, not did it have any nozzles those flames could come from. It was no more than aerodynamically-shaped metal, yet it floated and moved. “…” No one – not even the Grösse Panzers on the road – dared move, but not just because of its oppressive presence. The two devices on its front and three on its rear were Kunst Eyes which could weaponize ether. Some light had already gathered on the surface of those orbs, so they could attack at any time. They all knew it would attack the instant any of them did. And one person identified the craft. Berger did. “During the Armored Hammer of God Incident two years ago, a single aerial warship obliterated the German Air Force’s 5th Division. It used inertial flight and transformed each time it fought.” A breath. “It’s said the Kaizerburg was modeled after the Messiah’s dragon in the Unreif Germane and its presence as history’s strongest warship pushed the world toward militarism. …But this is shaped differently. It looks more refined than the Kaizerburg.” Schweitzer realized Berger was looking to him, so he explained. “This is the Sylphide prototype built by Marsch Gant.” He started to say more but was cut off when the blue Sylphide suddenly dropped down as if it were feeling blue after giving up on finding whatever it was searching for. It almost seemed to be sinking down on a spring, so he barked a command again. “Withdraw immediately! Shockwave incoming!!” The blue craft immediately hopped skyward as if it were making a side flip. The air burst around it with a sound like tearing paper. The atmosphere was shredded and a chilly white ring spread out and burst, producing a shockwave. Their surroundings were pummeled by a heavy roar reminiscent of a waterfall. The soldiers on the road were blown away and their weapons skittered across the pavement or flew through the air. Their screams joined together as one, but Schweitzer remained motionless as he stood their holding Cat Hazel. The figure in a black coat was no longer on the road in front of him. Schweitzer simply held the sleeping cat there on his shoulder. “All that remains is a girl with a will much like hers and the Messiah implant!?” His words were drowned out by the wind. The wind of that winter night grew stronger and stronger as it crashed into him. The wind never stopped blowing. ### 455. Chapter 4: The Wind Runs 12/21/1937 04:00 – 10:01 When this question was asked in the past No answer was found due to a mistake But what about now? Do I know the answer? ### Berlin Conflict The military fought an internal conflict in 1935. It has since become known as the Armored Hammer of God Incident. For a mere week, the military fought over an emblem engine built at the Wagner Laboratory which was performing aircraft R&D for the military. An emblem engine was built using a spirit stone excavated from the Alfheim Meteor Crater in the Black Forest, where the lab was also located, that engine functioned as a semi-perpetual motion machine by refining and taking in ether from the surrounding space, and while the military hoped to use that technology to rise above the Geheimnis Agency, the developers P. Wagner and W. Talstrasse (with the assistance of E. Breuer) launched the aerial warship dp-XXX into space using that emblem engine. As a deterrent against the nations of the world, the dp-XXX announced itself an independent craft not affiliated with any nation. By ’37, it had chosen to wander mostly around America. ### Part 1 Two things filled a large, dark, and cold enclosed space: many tall bookcases positioned in orderly rows and the tones of a wall clock announcing it was 4 o’clock. This was the first floor of the central library at Berlin’s university late at night. Only the moonlight shining in through the tall windows created pale shadows. That light seemed to carry a set rhythm that endlessly but gently illuminated the library. Then that light falling on the floor was disturbed. Footsteps sounded and a figure walked through the library. The shadows cast by the moonlight made them look even darker than usual. It was Berger. He walked briskly between the bookcases and suddenly reached out to brush his hand along one shelf. “History Shelf 3: Investigations of how the Obstacle Era led to the City Era.” He touched another. “Political Sociology Shelf 21: From the collapse of the First Reich to Bismarck’s Blood and Iron speech.” And… “Miscellaneous Shelf 13: Information on this library.” The dark figure sat in front of one bookcase. The hem of his coat spread out below him as he reached out to touch the floor composed of black and white tiles. His expression was blank. He did not speak a word as he pressed against various parts of the floor in a seemingly casual way. “Here it is.” He suddenly lifted his hand from the floor and stood up. His right hand touched the end of a bookcase in front of him and he swung his hand outwards as if trying to brush it aside. The bookcase slid to the right with no resistance whatsoever. It moved about 2 yards. And a hole appeared in the floor where it had been. “…” He set foot in that hole without hesitation. There was a stairway within and the floor swallowed up one step’s worth of his body. As he continued walking, the library floor soon rose above his head and the stairway’s ceiling was overhead instead. There was no wind or anything else in that space. It was a dark and still pit. His clothing and hair blended into the darkness and the rustling of his clothing grew louder than his footsteps as he took the last few steps down. After a total of 21 steps, even that sound vanished. But there was a voice. “Feels weird to be back.” He knocked lightly on a wooden panel and an oblong strip of bluish-white light appeared in the darkness. The light spread to the side and illuminated him. A door sat open in front of him and it led to a small room. He set foot in that room full of bluish-white light and some dust rose from the high pile carpet below his feet. “…” He looked up without a word. The small room’s walls were only 5 yards long. Other than a sofa in the center, it only had bookcases covering all four walls. The bookcases were stacked about 20 yards tall, continuing all the way up to the conical ceiling. The small skylight in the ceiling distributed light throughout the small space using the mirrors installed on the conical interior of the ceiling. The light filling the room was moonlight. “I might be the last person left who knows about this secret archive since it was traditionally only revealed to each successive library director.” He removed his black coat and swept it over toward the sofa. It beat audibly at the air and dust spread out from the sofa before scattering into the stagnant air. Nevertheless, he placed the coat over the sofa and sat on top of it. He sank down and looked up above the entrance he had used. A picture frame was hung above the doorframe and the bluish-white light illuminated the photo of a middle-aged man with his arms around two children: a girl on his left and a boy on his right. The man had the distinctive cat eyes of a feline Heidengeist, as did the smiling girl to his left. They both had bright brown hair, so they were clearly father and daughter. But the boy on the right had black hair and different eyes. Berger’s eyes met those of the boy and his lips twisted into a bitter smile. He removed his sunglasses, put them in his vest’s breast pocket, and brushed a hand through his hair. He did that a few more times before stopping and covering his face with that hand instead. “Director, Marsch is probably dead. That inventor loved flying around in aircraft so much…but now he must have joined you in the afterlife.” A bitter laugh escaped his mouth. “That means one of us has failed to keep our promise. The promises that I, Marsch, Schweitzer…and Alfred made with Eryngium.” He looked up and reached for the pendant on his necklace as he spoke. It was a woman’s pendant set with a red jewel that shined in the moonlight. It was also a cheap one like the ones you could buy from most any street vendor. A slight metallic sound came from the pendant as it split in two and opened. A small piece of paper was pasted within. It was part of a photo. That image of the past had lost its left and right sides, but it clearly showed a man and a woman. The woman was bending her cat eyes with a smile and the black-haired young man was standing behind her. They stood at an airport with an airplane on a runway behind them. “That’s one less person who knew me back then.” He had trouble saying any more and shut the pendant. A few seconds passed. Once he managed to compose his expression, he looked up at the white ceiling that reflected the moonlight. “Eryngium, I just know Marsch died to keep his promise. And now I know what I must do. I’ve met someone who…who is saying the same thing you did before you vanished from our lives.” Definite strength filled his words now. “I…” He hesitated, clenched his fists until they grew white, and continued. “I want to see where those words lead, even if you failed to see it yourself.” He stood up, picked up his coat behind himself, swung it around to get the dust off, and put it on. The air swirled around and the sound echoed through the small room. His lips mouthed the words of the 9th Section of the Ruling King. He spread his hands in the center of that sound and motion and took in a deep breath. He glanced up at the picture frame above the entrance immediately after reopening his eyes. “––––––” Without a word more, he began to walk. He walked out of there. ### Part 2 The morning sun shined into a room where Hazel sat across a table from Schweitzer. The table had a tablecloth over it and a simple but nutritionally-balanced breakfast was laid out on top. It included brot, gemüsesuppe, wurst, fried eggs, a variety of fruits, and kaffee with cream floating in it. Hazel slowly ate that while viewing the man in front of her. Schweitzer ate with just his left arm and he did not look at her at all, but the way he moved his arm seemed awkward. … He’s going out of his way to eat with me. With that on her mind, she moved her gaze to view the room. It was a large room with 6 yard walls. The ceiling had beautiful wood paneling, the wallpaper had an arrowhead pattern, and the high pile carpet felt nice even with bare feet. The bed affixed to the wall was large too. Overall, the room was brown and warm. She suddenly glanced to the bed. The end of the blanket was a mess because she had dressed while sitting on top of it. She had been laid in the bed in her cat form, so she had woken up naked. “…” She looked back to Schweitzer, but his interest was not in the bed. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the room again. The air conditioning had formed condensation on the window that overlooked the interior of Tempelhof Air Base. When Bermark had arrived earlier to ask if she needed any daily items, he had explained that this was the 5th floor of the officer barracks and that she had been given a vacant room. … This certainly is a warm welcome. That thought entered her mind while she saw a transport plane finish taxiing and begin taking off outside the condensation-covered window. It shook the atmosphere, creating a roar of air. The plane looked like a small toy at this distance as it accelerated along the other side of the brown winter grass. It moved from the right side of the window and vanished off the left side. And then… “Do you like aircraft?” She turned toward the voice to see Schweitzer was indeed still eating. His gaze was lowered toward the wurst he was slicing in two with his fork, so he was not looking at her. “Do you like aircraft?” “Not particularly.” She answered promptly, but he did not look up. She realized her expression had grown stiff as she continued her answer. “If not for aircraft, my dad probably wouldn’t have had to ‘regretfully retire’. Um, do you know what happened after that Armored Hammer of God Incident? The German military used that chaos as an excuse to oppress the Heidengeists in the country. They declared without evidence that the Heidengeists had been behind the incident.” “That was in fact a witch hunt meant to extract all the foreign wealth held by the Heidengeists.” “Yes, it was. You knew?” “The Geheimnis Agency was tasked with that job at the time. That was my third year in the Agency.” Schweitzer still did not look her way. She tilted her head while he resumed eating in silence. “Then why aren’t you hunting me down? Um, I am a Heidengeist.” “That was made clear yesterday. And like I said before breakfast, your eye is crucial for the protection of Germany and that Messiah implant began to adapt to your body last night.” A breath. “It is no longer possible to simply remove the prosthetic eye. Normally, we would be searching for someone who can accept that eye now that it has made itself a part of your body.” “Um,” she said while rolling that idea around in her mind. “And if you do find a compatible person?” … Will they gouge out my eye and send me to be made into a Phlogiston Platte like the other Heidengeists? She could not ask that part out loud, but she did hold a hand to her shoulder. The shoulder which bore a branded number. He must have known what she was thinking because he responded in a deep voice. “I said ‘normally’, remember?” He was speaking with his eyes still lowered toward his food. “Germany refuses to accept anyone with Heidengeist Tons as a citizen. We reject Heidengeist to ensure our racial superiority. Thus…we will not find anyone compatible with an eye that has been tainted with Heidengeist Tons.” She looked up at the ceiling when she heard that. She thought about it and scratched at her hair for a mere three seconds before finding an answer and looking back at him. “Thank you.” “I have done nothing deserving your thanks.” He continued as if restating that. “Listen, we must research that eye of yours and that requires preserving your physical and mental health. We cannot allow you to come to harm.” She listened to him, but then she removed her hand from her shoulder. “What power does this eye – the Messiah – hold that makes it so important?” “From what I have been told, its Beweisen can apparently resonate with and control any Eingeweide device. That makes it the foundation of all Eingeweide devices.” “Then…what did you mean last night about me becoming or not becoming the Messiah?” He seemed to choose his words more carefully when answering this question. “We believe that a Messiah will appear to become our leader and save us when Germany faces a crisis in the near future. …Our Geheimnis Agency is currently leading the country, but a Neue Kavalier is meant to serve a leader who guides them.” “And that’s the Messiah?” “However, certain conditions must be met to become the Messiah. You were a likely candidate, but destiny did not fulfill those conditions when we secured you last night. …You carry the Messiah implant, but you failed to become the true Messiah.” A breath. “However, that does not make your Messiah implant any less important.” “If I had fulfilled the conditions to become the Messiah, would I have received an even warmer welcome?” She smiled a little and ate a spoonful of soup now that steam had stopped rising from it. And she asked something else purely out of curiosity. “But why are you working so hard to make all this happen?” He finally looked up upon hearing that. He started to say something, sighed, and spoke more quietly. “I once promised I would live a life that protected this country.” He looked down again before answering and Hazel looked to him after hearing it. Her eyes landed on the woman’s earring he wore on his left ear. She kept her eyes on that as she asked something else. “Was that promise with…Eryngium?” Schweitzer stopped moving altogether. ### Part 3 When Hazel saw that, she stood up and turned her back on him. “Dog Berger mentioned the name Eryngium and nothing else. Who is she and what does she do? He said she thought the same thing I do and he mentioned a promise made to her.” She walked the four steps needed to reach the window, placed her hand on the condensation-wet sill, and opened the window. The wind blew in. The chilly air flowed into the room, eliminating the warmth from the air conditioning. But she opened her eyes and stared into the distance. Tempelhof Airport had been converted into an airbase, so several transport planes were stopped on the wide airfield to quickly bring in and send out materiel. She could only hear the blowing of the wind and the rumble of engines. She narrowed her eyes. … Why? “Um…why is everyone so fixated on the fact that I don’t want to run away?” The wind blew in, causing her hair to dance and flutter in the room behind her. She turned around as if pulled back by her hair. There she saw Schweitzer had stood from his seat and was starting to leave the room. She started to say something, but he turned just his head toward her and looked her in the eye. The strength in his gaze was enough to silence her. Her shoulders drooped in the wind as he spoke. “The woman named Eryngium is no more.” He paused slightly but did not look away from her. “Because I hunted her down as part of the Heidengeist suppression following the Armored Hammer of God Incident in ’35.” “…!” “We each made a promise to her 3 years ago over drinks. I promised to protect the country, Marsch promised to develop the country, Alfred promised to strengthen the country, and…” “Dog Berger?” Schweitzer responded to her question by ignoring it. He opened the door without saying a word more. The wooden door creaked and the wind whirling through the room escaped into the hallway. As did the man whose prosthetic right arm bore the name Der Held. “Um.” She started to run over, but before she could ask him to wait, the door slammed shut in her face. “…” She fell silent with a weight in her heart and she placed her hands on the table and looked outside with a frown. As if in response to her gaze, a sudden change occurred in the cedar forest surrounding the airport. Black smoke rose into the sky with fire in the center. “––––!?” At the same time, screams rose from the airport. All the loudspeakers on the Tempelhof Airport buildings began playing deep, long, and carrying alarms. “The second alarm? They’re going on alert.” Hazel suddenly held her body when she saw the black smoke vanishing into the sky. She seemed to be covering up her shoulder. She smiled bitterly, but that smile gradually faded away. All that remained was a complete lack of expression. Her eyes calmly turned toward a point on the table. A knife used for breakfast remained there. She reached for and grabbed that silver-gleaming knife. “I don’t want to run away…but what does that mean? What does it mean to run away?” She looked around. The large room was very neat and tidy. People had brought her food here and said they would protect her while she was here. … Am I running away if I stay here? She looked around again and then pressed her left index finger against the tip of the knife. The tip was not all that sharp, but when she stabbed it into her fingertip with a bit of a twisting motion, a drop of blood welled up. She felt pain. That was not something to be done out of curiosity, so she frowned. “Do I have to be hurt if I don’t want to run away?” She licked her finger. It tasted of iron. Then she approached the window and sat with her back against the wall. She held her own body and curled up as if holding the small blade to herself. The blaring alarms pierced and permeated her body. ### Part 4 Berger was running along Prinzenstrasse on the east end of Berlin. The wound on his cheek was a mere scratch from a bullet that grazed him. He licked away the flowing blood and his nimble feet pounded loudly on the pavement as he moved south along that large road. The torn hem of his black coat fluttered behind him as he made a beeline for Tempelhof Airbase. No one else was on large Prinzenstrasse. Everyone else was hiding in the buildings. He sped up his running legs as if riding on the second alarm sounding all around. “They declared martial law and then they opened fire the instant they saw me? Looks like someone’s made a name for himself.” The stone-paved road was covered by the blaring alarms, the chilly winter wind, and people’s abandoned vehicles. The shops had all shut their doors, but countless gazes peered out from the many windows to see what was happening. Berger faced forward with all those eyes on him. “Just when I think I’ve taken out their sniper, they bring out the real big guns.” A large shadow was cast on the intersection about 100 yards ahead of him. Heavy metal footsteps had sounded on the pavement as the owner of the shadow appeared from behind a building on the right. It was a single Grösse Panzer. It was black, just like the ones he had seen in front of the university’s main gate. “HMP109, Br’s 18th child, the Panzer Fuchs designed for urban warfare. Why would they send this into their own city? Do they think they can blow up their problems along with the city itself?” The Grösse Panzer had arrived within about 20 yards of him. He was within its range, so the Panzer Fuchs drew the short sword at its hip and took a step back. For use in cities, the gun turret had been removed, its Panzer Kleid and limbs had been lightened, and it had plastic claws on its feet, allowing it to make shockingly nimble movements. Its metal engine and joints roared nicely while carrying its weight. The giant mass’s movements whipped up the wind as if sucking in the air. But Berger did not stop running toward it. He simply muttered to himself. “I really should have gotten my own Grösse Panzer for this.” He took a step to the right just before a silver wall rushed in on his left along with the roaring wind. That was the Grösse Panzer’s short sword. It was 1.5 yards wide and at least 5 yards long. The white blade jabbed in while perfectly parallel to the ground and it simply shined there without touching him. “Decent skill.” The blade pulled back before Berger was done speaking. On its way back, it angled itself diagonally to try to slice through him. He spread his limbs below him like a crawling lizard to drop to the ground and avoid the path of that silver line. The blade pulled back in an instant and then launched an attack from the side. The silver line was now so low it could easily hit him even while crawling, so he got back up, pulled out Gelegenheit, and blocked the attack. The Grösse Panzer’s white blade probably could slice right through a building, but it failed to do the same to gold-glowing Gelegenheit. However, the weight difference was overwhelming. “…!!” Before he was launched backwards, he pressed Gelegenheit toward the white blade and angled it upwards. He used the force of the white blade to shift his own body weight upwards as if rolling. He used that momentum to twist his body around and over the blade. After passing below him, the horizontal slash sliced through three trees lining the road. The blade sounded like it was tearing through flesh three times in a row. And after a slight delay, Berger crashed into one of the remaining stumps. The felled trees crashed down onto the road, cutting off his escape. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” He kicked a branch away, stood up, and quickly slipped between the trees just before another jab of the sword. And this time… “Its Ober Emblem!?” Berger saw armor made of ether light wrap around the Grösse Panzer’s right arm while the sword held in that hand grew to more than 20 yards long while emitting an icy chill. “Hm, so the emblems on the armor are activated by the Schreibener’s willpower and that modifies the Tons of the ether to transform a portion of the Panzer into something else, huh?” He moved away from the trees, righted himself, and stood up with a slight smile on his lips. The blade swung horizontally while giving off frigid air that seemed to pierce through him. He twisted around and dropped onto his back instead of onto his stomach. The sword surrounded by all-freezing “frost” ether passed by just in front of his nose. Even the wind was frozen and scattered as frost as the bluish-white blade passed by. The white attack shook the air and was pulled back with even more speed. At the same time, Berger pulled a “potato masher” grenade from his hip and used his finger to switch the timed fuse to the shortest setting. He tossed it between the sword and the ground. “This was fun, but I’ve really gotta run!!” His words were punctuated by the grenade exploding. The shockwave rushed out more powerfully than the fire, smoke, or wind. A loud boom echoed out and the bluish-white sword was launched upwards by the blast. The Ober Emblem shattered, the ether turned to dust, and the blade appeared from within. The metal right hand on its giant hilt was pushed upwards by the explosion. The ultra-heavy weapon would not stop shaking thanks to its mass. The Panzer Fuchs tried to regain control of the sword by grabbing its hilt in both hands and Berger chose that moment to jump up on top of the blade. “The German military’s policy is to send Panzers against powerful Heidengeists, Tuners, and Busters, but that seems naïve to me.” He ran along the blade and set foot on the heavy metal hands. He immediately used the Grösse Panzer’s fingers as a launch pad to jump forward. The black cloaked figure soared up to its shoulder. The Grösse Panzer frantically let go of the short sword with one hand and pursued the black cloak fluttering in the wind, but it was too late. Berger slipped below that hand and landed on the narrow right shoulder for just a moment. He was within arm’s reach of the metal face. “Have a gift. And I’m feeling generous today.” He pulled out four grenades and slipped them into the gaps between the different facial devices. Then he leaped behind the Grösse Panzer. While he dropped down behind it, he heard the heavy sound of the Grösse Panzer scratching at its face in a panic. He did not look back. The explosion sounded overhead and behind him just as his feet reached the ground. A large shadow fell on him and extended out ahead of him. The shadow had a humanoid form with limp limbs. He whistled as he took off running. “Now, I really do need to hurry.” As soon as he escaped from below that shadow, he heard the loud crash of a great mass falling directly behind him. He heard a harmony of metal shattering and breaking against the stone pavement. He still did not look back. “That was a little too acrobatic,” he commented as he picked up speed. Up ahead in the distance, he saw several armored trucks racing down the road toward him. He saw a Panzer Fuchs standing up in the back cargo area past each of those armored roofs. “Hm, they get persistent when you piss them off.” He looked up to see an area of woods beyond the armored trucks and Grösse Panzers. Those were the woods surrounding Tempelhof Airport. The enemy was approaching with those woods as a backdrop. “Berlin is a fairly nondescript city, but it does have a childish love of big weapons.” His tone remained light as he pulled a Phlogiston Tank from his pocket and attached it to the bottom of Gelegenheit. Then he attached another. And another. He poured their power into Gelegenheit while speeding up his feet. He ran ever onward with the alarms blaring in the distance. ### Part 5 Hazel remained entirely still while the alarms soaked into her body. She only moved once a slight change came over the alarms. They had been a single long and shrill wail, but now they gained an intermittent, almost footstep-like rhythm while also growing louder. “The third alarm.” She had some knowledge of what the different alarms meant thanks to her father. Hearing that indication of an emergency, she looked up, stood up while dropping the knife into her breast pocket, and looked out the window. The lines of black smoke rising past the woods around the airbase had grown in number. … Someone’s fighting and I just know it’s Dog. A knock came at the door behind her as if responding to her thoughts. The door opened before she could turn around and an old man entered with a paper bag held in his gloved hand. “Excuse me. It is Bermark Vier. …I am here to drop off the daily items your requested, but there seems to be some trouble at the moment.” Hazel lightly slapped her own cheek when she heard that. She drove out her timid thoughts, composed her expression, and asked a question. “You mean what’s happening out there, don’t you? Um…is this destiny too?” “Too?” “That lieutenant mentioned that it was destiny that prevented me from becoming the Messiah.” Bermark smiled a little and nodded. “He is a stickler for the rules, so I imagine he did not explain to you the details of the prophecy concerning the Messiah’s birth.” He looked out the window and sang a short song while holding the tune perfectly. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home The gently flowing Text carried enough pressure to drown out the alarm. Bermark placed the paper bag on the table, cleared his throat, and asked a question of his own. “To what do you think that Text refers?” “It’s a passage from the Unreif Germane, isn’t it? It’s referring to the Heidengeist Messiah who commands a dragon and the youth with a divine name.” “You would think so, but no. That Text was recited three months ago as a prophecy for the appearance of the Messiah. It is strange, but…” He gave a deep nod as if to encourage himself. “For about a year now, our prophet’s prophecies have often been identical to parts of the Unreif Germane. Most likely, a portion of Germany’s Tons are growing identical to their state a thousand years ago.” His calmly-stated explanation briefly left Hazel speechless. And finally… … Germany’s Tons? She tilted her head, but Bermark continued to look out the window. “The ether forming all of space contains Tons and those Tons are inherited. Over time, Germany’s Tons have permeated this land so thoroughly that the humans born here all contain Germany’s Tons.” “Do Heidengeists like me also contain them?” Bermark’s smile sank and he cast his gaze downward. “No. Unfortunately, most Heidengeists do not have…” He trailed off and all strength left his voice, so Hazel panicked. “U-um, sorry, I didn’t mean to trouble you. But…but is that what the German government means when they say Heidengeists and foreigners are being hunted down because we possess inferior Tons?” He confirmed that with a silent nod. Then he composed his expression and cleared his throat. “Pardon me. That conversation took an unpleasant turn. Anyway, do you understand now? Reading Germany’s Tons is the same as reading the destiny of all pure-blooded Germans.” “And that acts as a prophecy?” He nodded and flicked the insignia on his shoulder with a white-gloved hand. “Our Geheimnis Agency’s leader commands a total of 207 people including the Fünf Leithammel who head the Five Offices of the army, navy, air force, military development, and military intelligence. She is a Sofort Leser who can read the destiny of this land. Three months ago, she presented the previous Text to the entire Geheimnis Agency.” He placed his right hand on his chest and bowed. “She said the Messiah will one day become our leader and save this land if this Text is fulfilled by next April when the Greater Germanic Reich is announced. So she said we must contact the Messiah in accordance with the prophecy.” “Um, then is that what you two are doing?” “We are but a portion of the untapped talent that was deployed to fulfill the prophecy. The entire Geheimnis Agency has been seeking the one worthy of the Messiah title for the past three months.” “And I was a candidate because of this eye?” “Yes. Sir Marsch, a colleague who knew of the prophecy, created that eye and named it Messiah two months ago, but it was lost and we were searching for it.” A breath. “We did not know if it would truly become the Messiah, but we had to trust that our colleague had created it for a good reason. We wanted to see whether or not the prophecy Text would come to pass when we secured you.” “And I didn’t live up to that prophecy at all, right? Sorry, but I guess I’m not your chosen one.” “Do not let it bother you at all. We were only hoping for a greater purpose here, but your eye remains important to us.” She smiled bitterly at that. “But there are others who are getting worked up over this for different reasons, aren’t there?” More dark smoke rose beyond the woods visible outside the window. An explosion rumbled out after a short delay and the windows rattled. Hazel asked a sudden question. “Like Dog or that blue craft I briefly saw while I Flektierened last night?” Bermark turned toward her in apparent surprise, but he said nothing and nodded. Then he gave a shallow bow and shut his eyes. “I cannot tell you anything about that craft other than it is named Sylphide. Our only job now is to deliver you and the Messiah implant to Geheimnis Agency HQ and then search for a new Messiah.” He raised his head. “Army reinforcements have arrived here at Tempelhof Airbase, so its defenses have never been stronger. Also, the 1st Aerial Fleet’s 7th Division has been on patrol in the sky above since this morning, so once we are ready to depart, you will be taken to the Geheimnis Agency HQ in southern Germany.” “Depart?” “We will fly there using one of the Geheimnis Agency’s König Pseudo-Drach strategic reconnaissance crafts. We would have preferred to give you a more comfortable flight aboard one of the new Silber strategic transport crafts, but we are in a hurry.” Once done speaking, he swung his arm in a way that pulled his sleeve tight and made a solid snapping sound. At the same time, military boots could be heard beyond the door behind him and a young man spoke through it. “The König Pseudo-Drach is ready for takeoff! Everything is progressing smoothly!!” “Very good.” Bermark swung his arm back to its original position. Hazel gulped as she heard the footsteps departing beyond the door. But Bermark gave her a relaxed smile like this was a perfectly ordinary situation. “Do not worry. I am a born servant, so I will treat the daughter of the Mirildorf family with the utmost care.” “Did you know my father?” “Our Geheimnis Agency often finds it necessary to work alongside the military and we have learned to appraise those we see there. Major General Oscar had the highest mission success rate at the time.” “Yet he allowed the Kaizerburg to escape in the very, very end.” That weak comment was all Hazel said about that bitter memory. She then asked Bermark a question. “Um, what does it mean if you don’t want to run away? No, I guess what I mean is…what does it mean to run away?” “To run away is to survive.” His immediate answer made her gasp, but then she smiled a little. “Then if you don’t want to run away, does that mean you want to die?” He said nothing and her pulse raced a little as she simply looked out the window. Armored trucks, motorcycles, and Panzers were moving along the airbase’s roads. From above, she could see them blockading the roads and creating defensive formations at strategic points. The only thing she could hear over their movement was the endless wail of the alarms. They were all pointed toward the back entrance on the northeast side of the airport. … They’ve mobilized so many people. They were taking this intrusion seriously and that showed just how well-known Berger was, but she could also tell it showed just how much they wanted to protect her prosthetic eye. Past the large open space that doubled as a parking lot, she saw a giant empty truck trying to enter the airport through the back entrance. There was of course a barricade of smaller armored trucks in front of that entrance, so it could not get in. Bermark seemed to notice something while watching the truck’s movements. “Is the battle outside over?” Just then, a figure in black stood up atop the accelerating truck’s roof. Hazel and Bermark instantly knew who it was and they both spoke his name – one with excitement and one in a deep groan. “Dog Berger!?” Just then, the truck crashed into the entrance’s gate. It was meant to carry a Grösse Panzer weighing more than 30 tons, so the metal gate was bent, torn from its base, and thrown into the air. The roar reached them where they were, but the truck only trembled without slowing and crashed into the first blockade. The armored trucks forming the barricade toppled over, flipped, and flew through the air with a metallic cacophony. Hazel heard Bermark speak with great force within that festival of noisy destruction. “So the halfbreed has arrived.” “Halfbreed?” “You hadn’t heard? Dog Berger’s mother was human, but his father was a resident of England. The military discovered this the other day, so he too is one of the Heidengeist who must be expelled from Germany.” She watched the distant young man in black with eyes wide. “Wait, so shouldn’t you be the one running away right now!?” He was not running away, so she thought about what that meant. … Does he want to die? She asked that while she watched the truck crash into the second blockade set up within the airport. It slammed into the wall of armored trucks while soldiers fled. The sound of crushed metal rang loud and the armored trucks spun outward to clear a path for the larger truck. At the same time, several gunshots rang out and the battle within the airport began in earnest. ### 456. Chapter 5: The Wind Accelerates 12/21/1937 10:21 – 11:37 I will move To redo everything And this movement Will be a new thing For me ### Nonhumans A general term for all nonhuman beings with intelligence equal to or greater than humans. In addition to the standard monsters and fantastical beasts, it includes gods, demons, automatons, and intelligent dragons. Also known as Heidengeists in Germany. Their origin is as shrouded in mystery as the origin of humans and it is said many new species were created not just from the world’s World Concept Lives – the Lives that created the foundation of each new world as the world was repeatedly destroyed and remade – but also from people’s wills and from the dregs left by nature’s renewal process. They are found all over the world, but in Europe, most of them moved to England when so many people left it for the New World. England was enveloped in a special field making it a “fictional world” then and it became a country of nonhumans. The structure of their Lives tends to be more complex and sturdier than with humans, so their willpower can manifest itself more powerfully, they can reproduce with other species, and they have powerful regenerative abilities. ### Part 1 The airport grounds covered a large space. The winter wind blew unobstructed down the western apron where Berger began running after hopping down from the truck that had lost its tires and come to a stop. Bullets flew after him and tore into the ground. He repeatedly hopped to the side while facing forward. The final enemy formation was about 50 yards ahead. The blockade in front of the 5-story officer barracks and general barracks extended far to the left and right to half surround him. The collection of armored trucks and uniformed soldiers were colored in deep greens and blacks while they gave off a wordless air of intimidation and fired their weapons. But Berger did not seem to care. He spoke to no one while running toward them. “Someone who abducts a girl is pretty obviously a villain, right?” With a flash of motion, he pulled something from his black coat’s pocket. He raised his left hand to reveal a total of four “potato masher” grenades held between the fingers. He swung his left arm. A moment later, the four explosives were airborne. They flew high over everyone’s heads. “So let’s go villain hunting!!” The four grenades detonated in midair. The vibration that raced through the air was more shockwave than noise. Smoke spread out and Berger ran for the center of it. He had plenty of speed and his black coat flapped behind him instead of dragging on the ground. He arrived in front of the enemy in less than an instant. This close to the barricade, the enemy could not use their heavy firearms if they wanted to avoid friendly fire. Berger, of course, did not care about their concerns. A single soldier stood directly in front of him. The man wore a bulletproof jacket and held a shotgun, but he had been blinded by the grenade smoke. He held his empty hand to his face and shouted something, but he could not move. Berger showed no mercy whatsoever. He threw a horizontal kick from low to the ground within the smoke. He leaned his body forward to throw the kick, so it looked more like a gymnastics maneuver than an attack. His boot swept the soldier’s feet out from under him. The soldier was now airborne, but Berger had already moved on and calmly stood back up. He moved his legs in two different ways: he moved his right leg forward while standing back up and he threw another kick with his left leg. His eyes were directed dead ahead. Past the airborne soldier, another similarly-equipped soldier was trying to aim a submachinegun at him. Berger did not hesitate to kick the airborne soldier. “!” With a powerful impact, the kicked soldier crashed into the one trying to ready the submachinegun behind him. The soldiers tangle together and staggered back, but the submachinegun one managed to throw the collapsed one aside and raise his weapon. However… “Too slow. Is that insignia on your shoulder just for show?” Berger slipped his left shoulder underneath the right arm holding out the submachinegun. He only had to raise his shoulder a bit to bend the soldier’s right arm in an odd direction from the center. It sounded like a dry branch breaking and the soldier’s face twisted in front of Berger. Berger yanked the arm up with his left hand while looking completely disinterested. Bending the arm further produced a scream from the man and the submachinegun slipped from his hand. The shiny black gun flew through the air. Berger ignored that while he grabbed the screaming soldier’s face with his left hand. He casually tossed the man to the left. The man tripped and fell over the soldier Berger had kicked away earlier. He grabbed at and crashed into another soldier who was trying to attack Berger with a shotgun from the left. That stopped the shotgun blast from happening. Berger glanced to the right where a knife-wielding soldier was raising a battle cry and charging at him. He ignored the knife and moved just his eyes to look left again. The soldier he had thrown was collapsing down while still holding onto the shotgun soldier. The shotgun soldier was trying and failing to support his collapsing comrade. The man’s eyes were wide and mouth hanging agape. He was apparently trying to shout something and his trembling right hand was aiming his shotgun at Berger’s face. Berger instantly grabbed the short barrel with his left hand and pointed it elsewhere. The gun fired, but it was now aimed outside of the half-circle blockade and did not harm anyone at all. “I don’t know why I bother helping you guys out,” spat Berger as he pushed forward with the hand holding the gun barrel. The shotgun soldier was forced back by the gunstock pushing at his chest. Then Berger yanked the gun back. It slipped from the soldier’s hands while the back-and-forth motion also loaded the next round. Then he twisted his body to the left, swinging the shotgun around wide, as if enjoying the tug of centrifugal force. “Gah!!” The knife soldier roaring and rushing in from the right was knocked away by a shotgun stock to the face. Berger paid him no further heed as he walked forward with his black cloak continuing to flip around behind him. An armored truck sat in front of him and a middle-aged soldier with a combat knife stood in front of it. The black military coat he wore suggested he was a Geheimnis Agency soldier, so he was probably an officer. The officer silently stepped forward and began to draw his knife. He did so with practiced hand. That was a movement informed by battlefield experience, not mere training, and it was the movement of someone who knew exactly what weapon he was best with. “Sorry, but you claim to have the world’s best bulletproof tech, right?” Berger pressed the shotgun’s muzzle against the man’s chest. He had flipped the gun around and taken aim even faster than that veteran soldier had drawn his knife. The officer looked Berger in the eye, paused for a brief moment, and gave a smile that did not reach his eyes. “Don’t die,” was all Berger said before pulling the trigger. With a dull boom, the officer was blasted backwards and slammed into the armored truck. The metallic crash was soon replaced by the sound of a flesh body falling to the ground. The officer was not seated in front of the armored truck and he had stopped moving. Berger looked up into the sky in an exasperated way. He heard repeated metallic sounds from his left. Five soldiers had lined up and aimed their submachineguns from beyond his reach. He kept his eyes in the sky instead of looking their way as he asked a question. “Are you all confident in your bulletproof tech too? You still haven’t decided to run away?” “Si-!” The soldier never got the “lence” out. Berger cast aside the shotgun with such a natural movement that no one thought to stop him. No, he did not actually cast it aside. He simply let go of it, as if placing it in midair. With that weight gone, he raised his left hand toward the sky where his eyes were pointed. He spread out his fingers and stretched his hand up as if trying to reach something. And reach something he did. A submachinegun fell from the sky. It was the one that had flown up into the air after he knocked it from a soldier’s hand earlier. That mass of metal designed to launch bullets fell precisely and silently into his hand as if to say he was its rightful wielder. He swung his hand down while pulling the trigger. The spray of bullets blew away three of the five to his left. He swung his arm down diagonally and ducked as if letting his hand pull the rest of him down. The bullets fired by the two surviving soldiers whizzed by over his head. The deadly force flew along straight lines that all pierced his shadow. Once he was down on the ground, he reached for the shotgun he had abandoned in the air earlier. His left hand snagged it just before it hit the ground and he swung it around. That action cocked it for him. And he fired. One of the soldiers spraying machinegun fire was blasted back while leaning backwards like he had taken an uppercut. But Berger did not even bother seeing what happened to the man as he rolled to the right along the ground. The final remaining soldier’s bullets slammed into the spot he had just vacated. The din of gunfire seemed to pursue him as he stood up and ran. He poured in his full strength from the very first step. He tossed the shotgun behind him in that speed. The tumbling shotgun knocked aside the last soldier like a strike from a club while Berger ran toward the armored truck and readied Gelegenheit in his right hand. “So what about you, armored truck? Are you gonna fight or not?” The machinegun attached to the top of the truck aimed at him before he was even done asking. He simply smiled in response. He ran in with Gelegenheit in hand. ### Part 2 Hazel and Bermark walked down a hallway in the airbase’s officer barracks. The König Pseudo-Drach aircraft was ready to take her from the airbase, so they had to hurry through the adjacent general barracks to reach the hangar beyond. The only thing visible outside the 1st floor hallway windows was the group of storage buildings to the north. Transport trucks were coming and going in a hurry to carry materiel from them. Hazel tensed her shoulders at the explosions and gunfire she heard coming from the airport in the distance. Meanwhile, they passed by two heavily-equipped soldiers with bandoliers over their shoulders. They exchanged information on their posts and unit names in an abbreviated and jargony way that she could not make heads or tails of. She suddenly looked to the right, but Bermark remained silent with a somewhat indignant look as he walked alongside her. She started to say something and then paused to choose her words. “Um…uh.” She wanted to find something to fill the silence while an explosion sounded in the distance. “That sounds…exciting.” “They are not up against your average opponent.” Bermark responded calmly while some soldiers wielding spears that were probably Werkzeugs approached from up ahead. The armbands on their right arms bore red crosses, marking them as medics that instantly healed people with Tuning. Hazel watched them as they rushed past. Their six pairs of military boots produced heavy footsteps. They were all wordlessly focused on the path ahead of them. Another explosion sounded from the distance and one of the six clicked their tongue. The man in the lead turned back toward the other five and confirmed that each of them knew their respective destinations. After coming to a stop and watching them leave, Hazel frowned and asked Bermark a question. “For what and for who does your Geheimnis Agency exist?” “We were created to save this country.” With that, Bermark removed the glove covering his right hand to reveal a ceramic hand that used wire cylinders to move. “!?” He moved fingers that appeared to be made from no more than a framework and asked a question with a smile. “Fräulein, what if I told you my entire body was made like this?” She was unsure how to respond. But she hesitantly reached out and touched his body. It was hard. She felt nothing like flesh, only solid curves reminiscent of armor. “Is that what the Titel that Berger mentioned meant?” “My name is Bermark Vier. The Vier means I am the fourth in my model line.” He put his glove back on. “I am a male Airam-style Sein Frau created in the Flanders region as a model and example for all Germans. That makes me the one and only type of Heidengeist allowed to exist in Germany at the moment.” Hazel removed her hand from the old man and waited for him to say more. He soon gave her what she wanted. “It is said all Sein Fraus are destined to seek out a heart, but right now Germany needs the power to survive in this City World more than it needs a heart. We need the power to have our voice heard by the world. …You failed to become our Messiah, but the knowledge of our colleague that resides in your prosthetic eye is sure to aid our cause.” Hazel said nothing, so Bermark pushed on her back to get them walking again. But just then… “?” She felt a pain in her right eye. It was faint, like something small was pricking at the surface of the eye. … This is a lot like last night, but…weaker? Feeling uneasy, she placed a hand on her right cheek, which caused Bermark to look back. “Is something wrong?” “I think it’s just an ingrown eyelash. It’s kind of…” Weird, she finished in her mind, but she forced a smile for him to see. Her cheek remained a bit stiff due to the eye pain. And… “Oh?” Something was wrong with her vision. For some reason, she saw something blue instead of Bermark. It was like she had a thin layer of blue cellophane over her eyes because she could see Bermark through it. “What is this?” The blue in her vision was growing stronger. At the same time, she could see something white floating within the blue. The flocculant whiteness spread out flatly into the distance. … I swear I’ve seen this somewhere before. But her memory of it was unclear. The blue space and the whiteness spreading through it felt off, like she was remembering something wrong, so she could not find a clear answer. She held a hand out in front of her face, but even that was obscured by the blue shape. The two colors extending infinitely in front of her gained a more distinct color and shape and she seemed to be accelerating forward within it. She seemed to be moving so quickly she could not keep any specific point in view, even though it only existed in her vision. She saw a blue expanse spread out overhead and a fluffy white land beneath her. Her vision seemed to move as if sliding forward above that. “Fräulein?” She could hear Bermark’s questioning voice, but it did not register in her mind. She was hearing something else instead. … The wind? The sound was of course only in her imagination. Her ears were creating this imagined sound based on the visual information she was receiving and that phantom noise made the visual seem more real. But the flowing white and endless blue expanse fit that imagined wind perfectly. … I’m pretty sure my dad said the clouds look different when viewed from above than when viewed from the ground. Is that what I’m seeing below me now? Her vision rotated as if to show her what that whiteness was. Her vision made a roll to the right. “!?” While her vision flipped around in that roll, it changed angle somewhat. In response to her rightward roll, the white waves below her rose up from the bottom right and filled her vision. Then it was the blueness that rose up from the bottom right. The sound of the wind was joined by the loud roar of impacting air. Her vision suddenly filled with the blue. But the blue was not absolute. There was a single white circle at its center. That was the sun. Hazel muttered to herself after seeing that light. “I’m above the clouds…but why?” She received an answer immediately thereafter. Her vision showed her everything. The roar of the wind enveloped her. Or it seemed to. Just as the sun appeared in the center of her vision, it dropped down. The sun at the peak of the heavens seemed to flow further and further down because her vision was flying… “A loop-the-loop.” She stretched up without thinking. The upside-down cloudy horizon entered her vision from the top. The white horizon gradually moved down her vision and she could only see clouds a few seconds later. She was oriented straight down as if doing a handstand. She could see the cloudy sea with a hint of blue where the sunlight shined on it. Above that, she saw a series of small antlike dots. … Are those aerial warships? Judging distances was hard with nothing to compare them to. She dug up all the air force knowledge she had picked up from her father. The shapes below that looked less than an inch long had to be the newly commissioned warships that made up the main force of the 7th Aerial Division. Her vision suddenly moved straight ahead, in other words down and toward the ships below. There was no hesitation in that movement. “!?” She was charging toward them to attack, but attacking an entire air force division with a single craft was insanity. With no answers and not even time to ask the questions, Hazel could only raise her voice. “S-stop!!” However, her shout was tinged with hesitation. At the same time, she felt a horizontal impact disconnected from what she was seeing. She felt it on her cheek, which did not exist in that world of pure vision. Then the white clouds and the warships all vanished from view. ### Part 3 The vanished clouds were replaced by Schweitzer’s face. He was crouched down and peering into her face and he breathed a sigh of relief when Hazel met his gaze. “I apologize for the rough treatment.” With that, he pulled back the left hand held up in front of her face and let it fall at his side. That gentle motion told her that his slap had fixed her vision. She took a rough breath. “I thought I was going to Flektieren. But what was-?” She started to say something, but she gasped when she looked the man in the eye. She saw her own face reflected upside-down in his blue eyes. Her right prosthetic eye had lost its blue color and was instead emitting a bright red light. Schweitzer said nothing. He shut his eyes and straightened up before silently picking her up in his right prosthetic arm. She followed her instincts and struggled when that cold metal arm lifted her. “H-hey, let go!!” “Your legs look too weak to walk,” he said while removing her sandals and tossing them back to Bermark. “Hold onto those. We need to hurry. The Sylphide has appeared above here.” “You don’t just get to decide I can’t walk!!” Her shout put a bitter smile on Bermark’s face and Schweitzer picked up his walking pace. The explosion she heard now was much less distant than the previous ones. ### Part 4 Berger ran alone, leaving the wreckage of the armored trucks behind him. He could see two buildings about 300 yards away. The one on the right was the officer barracks and the one on the left was the general barracks. The airport control tower and the various storage facilities would be diagonally back and to the left of those, but he could not see them from here. Two soldiers on motorcycles with airport security plates approached from the right while spraying bullets his way, but he ignored them. He looked to the two barracks buildings instead. “There!!” he shouted while narrowing his eyes on his target. Two figures were walking down the walkway connecting the two barracks buildings. One was Bermark, the elderly soldier in a Geheimnis Agency black coat. And the other was… “Schweitzer!!” Schweitzer heard the shout and turned his way. As did Hazel who was held by the man’s right arm. Berger sped up. The wind blew through his hair and turned his breaths visible. He was about 200 yards away as Schweitzer shouted at him from the walkway. “You made it this far!? I should have known, Dog Berger!!” “Thanks to her! By which I mean Gelegenheit here!!” “Are you still not ready to use your Text!? Your own Text that will activate Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen!?” “You haven’t used Der Held’s Ober Beweisen either!!” That retort put a smile on Schweitzer’s lips. Schweitzer adjusted his grip on Hazel and began to run. Berger ran too. He ran forward with a click of his tongue. “This ain’t good. Are they gonna get away with her? I can’t let that happen.” Just then a bullet whizzed past his nose. It came from the two motorcycles approaching from the right. They were only about 10 yards away and approaching fast. “That should come in handy,” he said before leaping to the right. Thanks to their relative speeds, he instantly arrived above one motorcycle soldier’s head. His foot swished through the air and then audibly collided with flesh, followed by a scream. That left a driverless motorcycle continuing unsteadily forward without falling thanks to inertia. He landed, spun around, ran, and hopped onto the motorcycle. He casually raised his hand toward the other soldier who made a rapid braking turn after losing his companion. “I’ll return it later!!” He squeezed the clutch and lowered the gear. He threw on full acceleration and the clutch suddenly engaged. The front wheel hopped up and the motorcycle moved forward. The tire screeched and he placed his upper body on the handlebars to force the front wheel down. Then he shifted up. That added enough speed for the only wind to be coming from head on. He twisted the accelerator further and the air ahead of him briefly felt like a solid wall, but that was shattered by his speed. He tilted the motorcycle for a leftward lean to direct it toward the barracks entrance. He made sure his forward movement never slowed as he charged into the barracks on the motorcycle. The black-cloaked figure burst into the dim lighting past the large entrance. ### Part 5 The barracks seemed dark after being outside. The wind was gone and the air-conditioner heat surrounded Berger and the motorcycle. A long hallway stretched out in front of him. The outside windows were on his right and 150 yards of barracks room doors were on his left. He could see two men at around the midpoint of the hallway. One was Schweitzer and the other was Schweitzer’s aide Bermark. Berger pursued them. He shifted into 3rd gear and slammed on the accelerator. The rear tire slipped a bit on the hallway’s wooden flooring, but a moment later, the rubber fully dug into that wood. The speedometer needle shot up as he prioritized forward movement above all else. He moved fast. The 350cc BMW engine provided him with 50 mph in an instant. That was around 24 yards per second, so he would catch up to those two in 4 seconds. A wind whipped up around Berger. That wind rattled the windows to the right as if that noise was chasing the fleeing figures as well. The wave-like noise continued without end. Berger wordlessly pushed his sunglasses back up and then grabbed the handlebars with both hands. In that instant, he heard a sound from behind him. It was the refreshing sound of shattering glass. It sounded a lot like a clear spray and it was joined by many more identical sounds. All the windows he passed by were noisily destroyed one after another. The continual destruction sounded like shattering ice. More than just the winter air came in where those transparent panels had been Bullets did as well. Machinegun caliber bullets were fired toward Berger from outside. The bullets shattered what glass was remaining and continued on to punch into the wall on the other side or destroy the barracks room doors. All that noise pursued the roar of the speeding motorcycle’s engine. Berger did not even look back. He only needed to see the 5 armored trucks aiming their guns his way from the road alongside the large storage buildings to his right. “What kinda childish game is this!?” he shouted as he looked out ahead. He was now only about 20 yards away from Schweitzer and Bermark, but those two were approaching the building’s western exit. The rectangle of sunlight shined bright at the end of the dimly-lit hallway. If they made it to that light, they were outside. And they were almost there. “Is this all the Geheimnis Agency can do!? Turn tail and run!?” As soon as the words were out of Berger’s mouth, a giant armored truck slid into the sunlight at the western exit to seal up that opening. And its gun was already aimed at Berger. “!?” He saw Bermark press his back against the wall while Schweitzer jumped to the right onto the stairway up to the second floor. The armored truck’s machinegun opened fire at the same moment. Berger frantically tilted the handlebars to the right and locked the rear wheel’s brake. He diagonally lowered the motorcycle’s height and began a powerful inertial drift. The floor tore at the tires and the leaning motorcycle’s exhaust pipe let out a scream by the floor, but the machinegun fire passed by overhead. In no time at all, he slipped past Bermark and onto the stairway landing. He looked to the stairs and did not see Schweitzer. The man must have continued on up. The armored truck was blocking the barracks entrance and its machinegun aimed down to compensate for Berger’s lower position. “Outta the way.” He tossed a grenade underneath it. Without seeing it through to the end, he released the rear wheel lock and twisted the accelerator. The tires slipped a bit, but then they caught at the floor and he was jerked forward. He accelerated ever forward, which meant up the stairs now. He lifted the front wheel while approaching the stairs. He shifted down two gears but kept the accelerator on full. He lifted his hips and prepared for impact as the front and back wheels caught the edges of the stairs. The motorcycle more hopped up the stairs than climbed them. Without a break, he arrived at the midway landing between the 1st and 2nd floors where the stairs turned 180 degrees. He twisted the accelerator further as if pushing the tire into the joint between wall and floor and then used the inertia of climbing the stairs to push the motorcycle forward, like it was crawling along the bottom of the wall. He let the back wheel slip while he tilted the motorcycle to the right. He moved the front wheel toward the next flight of stairs and kicked his right foot against the floor as soon as it was oriented right. The motorcycle tried to straighten itself out, but Berger did not wait for it to finish. “Go!” The motorcycle was still tilted diagonally as he climbed the stairs in a lean out pose. He did all this in a short period of time that could not even be measured in seconds. The motorcycle bounced up onto the 2nd story landing. The hallway cut by perpendicularly in front of him. It led to an emergency exit on the right, but that did not appear to have been opened. The hallway continued for a ways to the left, but the corner wall got in the way and he could not see its full length from the landing. But he did glimpse something gold out of the corner of his eye. It was Hazel’s hair. It vanished into the part of the hallway he could not see from the landing. His only response was to smile. He squeezed the accelerator to move forward. The motorcycle took off, the roar of its engine rumbled through the stairway behind him, and he entered the long hallway. Now the windows were to his left and the barracks room doors to his right. He was now moving east, the opposite of when he had first entered the building. He looked out ahead and saw Schweitzer about 50 yards dead ahead. The man was running. Quickly. “But I’m faster!!” With that, the motorcycle shot forward with a roar of its engine. ### Part 6 Berger quickly closed in Schweitzer. The roar of the engine had risen to the high whine of a wind instrument. The acoustics of the hallway allowed it to sound loud, long, and powerfully. The distance between them shrank as the engine’s music sounded. Schweitzer took a sudden action while running. He raised his prosthetic right arm and threw Hazel forward. Berger could see her face over Schweitzer’s shoulder. Her eyes and mouth were opened wide as she tried to shout something. At the same time, Schweitzer calmly adjusted his running position. He crouched down and swung his arms while running forward. His boots thundered unusually loud over the engine’s roar. He seemed to be pounding footprints into the floor and those steps increased his forward momentum. He pulled a bit away from Berger. “Damn you dragoon descendants!!” shouted Berger as Schweitzer slipped below airborne Hazel and actually overtook her. Then he jumped a bit and twisted his body to the right. His black coat flapped as it followed his rightward rotation and he ended up facing Berger. At the same time, he ducked down and landed facing back while holding his prosthetic right arm out toward Berger. The staff launcher was aimed at the ceiling above Berger’s head. Once it was aimed, the staff was launched. With a loud noise, ether light shot from the staff and the striking portion at the end of the staff slammed into the air. A square pattern of bluish-white light appeared on the ceiling over Berger’s head. That portion of the ceiling was cut free and it dropped down. He fired the launcher again and again. Over and over and over again, empty cartridges were expelled from his prosthetic arm and it stopped at 11 times in quick succession. He finished just before Hazel’s parabolic arc dropped her right on top of his outstretched right arm. Just as he pulled her in to carry her again, the 11 empty cartridges clattered against the floor and the ceiling collapsed. The final Text of his Erklärung was stated. Space was torn apart with the slight time lag of his rapid-fire attack, so the ceiling fell down with a wave-like movement. More and more of the ceiling fell near Berger. The 3rd floor hallway was visible through the first bit of ceiling that fell. But Berger ignored the great pressure of the falling ceiling. He kept his eyes dead ahead. Schweitzer had landed while facing toward Berger. His inertia remained, so he was sliding forcefully backwards while crouched low. Frictional smoke rose from the soles of his boots, but his stance remained intact. He was still facing backwards – in other words, facing Berger in defiance. The only change to his expression was a slight wrinkling of his brow. He did not have a drop of sweat on him. “Nice try, Schweitzer!!” shouted Berger. He let go of the handlebars with both hands, grabbed Gelegenheit, and raised it vertically. He pulled Phlogiston Tanks from his black coat and attached them to the back of the weapon. The first caused a 2-yard dark blade to burst out. The second extended the dark blade to 4 yards where it severed the ceiling’s “destiny to fall”. The shadowy blade sliced right through the ether fields decorating the falling ceiling, returning the ceiling to its original form. He was about 20 yards from Schweitzer now. He raised Gelegenheit and swung it down. A lightning-like slash tore through the ceiling in a straight line, repairing it. The mesh of bluish-white squares covering the ceiling were sliced through by the darkness and the falling ceiling instantly returned to its original position. It had severed the thread of “destiny” created by Der Held to tell that area of space to collapse. The attack ran along a straight line. That all-severing blade never changed course as it repaired the ceiling. The black line ended at Schweitzer’s biological left arm. Schweitzer took new action within the roar of the engine and the slicing of the dark blade. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling, shifted Hazel to his left arm, and thrust his prosthetic right arm forward. A moment later, he opened his mouth to speak. “Der Held, Erklärung, Ober Beweisen.” “What!? You’re using your Ober Beweisen here!?” Berger’s voice was drowned out by Der Held emitting far more ether than before. An intonated cry and the shining light rewrote the meaning of that space. Instead of the changeable and adaptable Beweisen, this Text was the fixed but powerful Ober Beweisen. That was the true and unchangeable Text of Schweitzer’s Tons. That limited and honed Text was launched along with the staff, striking the space around Berger. The darkness emerging from Berger’s Gelegenheit was immediately returned to light before it scattered and vanished. The roar of the motorcycle’s engine also vanished. “!?” The Phlogiston – a fuel made from ether – suddenly cut out. With all the machines stopped, Schweitzer threw Hazel forward and up with his left arm. The thrown girl let out an incomprehensible scream as she soared above the falling ceiling. She passed through the hole in the ceiling and onto the 3rd floor. “Dammit!!” cursed Berger, but it was too late. He squeezed the clutch to keep the motorcycle from toppling, but he had passed below the hole by then. Hazel was on the 3rd floor. Schweitzer took off running a moment later. The young man in black asked a question as the motorcycle and soldier passed each other by. “Do you really want Hazel this badly!?” “Her Messiah implant’s power must not be allowed to fall into another country’s hands.” “That’s not what this is about and you know it! You just don’t want to lose the same will we lost 2 years ago!!” Berger held the handlebars tight, stepped on the rear wheel brake, and locked that wheel. The motorcycle’s rear end swung around wildly and it slid about 40 yards before stopping. He kick-started the motorcycle, changed gear, and performed an accelerating turn. The engine roared as it turned around 180 degrees. He could see Schweitzer running toward the stairway landing at the end of the hallway. He also heard the man’s voice. “Are you going to pursue me to the top, Dog Berger!?” Berger was already moving before the question was complete. He removed the Phlogiston Tanks from the back of Gelegenheit now that it had lost its darkness and he inserted some new ones. These ones were twice as long as the ones he had used before. “AA size? No, I’ll go straight to C!!” He instantly attached 10 of them with perfect precision. He raised Gelegenheit overhead with his right hand and simply placed his left hand on the hilt. He let out a breath and followed that slowly-falling breath with the activation of the dark blade that seemed to burst from Gelegenheit. Its darkness did not even try to stop the extension of its destructive power. The blade grew to more than 30 yards long. It pierced through the ceiling diagonally back from him and continued to grow. Through his sunglasses, he saw the base of the darkness grow a bit thicker. “Pursue you to the top? Is that any way to treat a guest?” His expression was hard and his eyes were focused on the darkness extending overhead. But that did not last long. First, his mouth moved. He swung Gelegenheit around while still straddling the idling motorcycle. He had raised the weapon as if to swing it diagonally down, but he reversed his wrist to swing it around behind him instead. “Come to me, Hazel!!” The darkness left an afterimage as it wrapped around and produced the sound of blowing wind. Gelegenheit accurately rotated all the way around and stopped on the ceiling diagonally behind him. He had severed the barracks’ destiny along a straight diagonal line. The darkness vanished. A moment later, a diagonal crack appeared from the hallway’s ceiling to its floor. The crack connected back to itself in a circle and it did not stop there. With a low, dull rumbling, the scene before him bent. No, it shifted. The part of the hallway beyond the crack fell forward and down. The collapse picked up speed. The 2nd story’s ceiling fell away in front of him and the 3rd story’s floor dropped down. The windows of the fallen 2nd story hallway were shattered by the pressure from above. The sound of dozens of windows shattering at once sounded a lot like the roar of a waterfall. The 3rd story hallway dropped down toward the same height as Berger’s 2nd story hallway. Berger saw Hazel at the center of the dropping 3rd story hallway. Nothing looked out of the ordinary except for the red glow of her right eye. She was fine. He sighed and narrowed his eyes. She was about 50 yards away. Beyond her, Schweitzer had just arrived on the 3rd floor, putting him at about the same distance from her. With the loud sound of shattering stone from below, the falling 3rd story hallway shook and then came to a stop at only about 2 inches off from the height of Berger’s hallway. Theirs was the higher one and his the lower. Hazel stood in place and looked to him with her hands lightly clasped in front of her chest. He accepted her gaze and spoke to her. “Come to me, Hazel.” ### Part 7 Hazel started to say something when she heard him call her name. Her eyebrows lowered and her mouth opened. “…” But she shut her eyes instead. She could tell her breathing was heavy. Unlike the night before, she was not just being asked to run away. She was caught in the middle of a real battle. A force trying to keep her in this country and a force trying to take her from this country were clashing. … But I still… Berger spoke, as if to say he understood what she was thinking. “Hazel, you still don’t know what you should do, right?” She reflexively tried to say something in response, but the words would not come. He was right. She could not find the thoughts necessary to make a decision. So she hung her head, lowered her gaze, and expressed herself with a simple action. She nodded. … I don’t know. That she did know. She moved just her eyes to look up at Berger and found him looking back at her. “Last night, you said you wanted to stay in Germany,” he said. “That is certainly an option thanks to that eye of yours. It looks like the Geheimnis Agency will make you quite comfortable here. …But is that really what you want, Hazel Mirildorf? You know what that means, don’t you? Do you want to stay here so badly that you’re willing to let them shelter you?” She responded to that quietly and almost on reflex. “Then…what are you suggesting?” “That we leave here, Hazel. Leave the country. Once we’ve done that, you can take all the time you need to figure out what it means to not run away.” Schweitzer immediately shouted over from behind her. “Quite the silver tongue, Berger.” She turned back toward him. The large man from the Geheimnis Agency was calmly walking over to her. The thump thump of his boots matched the pulse of her heartbeat. And Berger’s voice from behind her drowned out those footsteps. “Give it up, Schweitzer. You understand what’s going on here, don’t you?” “What might that be?” “The Eingeweide eye named Messiah was created from Marsch’s eye, but why was it implanted in her and not one of you? That wasn’t your decision, was it? You wouldn’t be making such a fuss over it if it was.” He smiled bitterly. “The Messiah was implanted into her in Berlin’s general hospital, right? I bet it was done in secret by some doctors who received it from Marsch.” “So what if it was?” “Don’t play dumb, Schweitzer. You know full well why Marsch would have felt the need to keep that hidden.” Schweitzer continued forward in silence and Berger’s quiet laughter echoed down the hallway. … Is he laughing at himself? For some reason, Hazel heard an emotion other than anger or joy in that laughter. And Berger spoke to the approaching man in the exact same tone of voice. “Schweitzer, Marsch gave up on your Geheimnis Agency. He knew his knowledge would be used for war. With Germany the way it is, he knew it wouldn’t be used to develop the country. So,” he continued. “Ironically enough, he told the doctors to implant the Messiah in a Heidengeist. A Heidengeist can never join the German army or the Geheimnis Agency and they’re more compatible with prosthetics to boot. …Quite the ironic betrayal. Marsch wanted the Messiah to leave the country.” Schweitzer responded with a very simple thought. “Do not view everything from a single point of view, simpleton,” he spat out while coming to a stop. He was only 5 steps away from Hazel and he continued speaking from there. “Most of what you say is admittedly true, but you have said nothing of justice.” “Then enlighten me. What is your idea of justice here?” Schweitzer responded to Berger’s question by looking to Hazel for the first time. She read the question in his eyes: do you want to know that as well? … I… She hesitated for a moment between the two of them, but she finally looked Schweitzer in the eye. “Please tell me.” “Very well.” He pointed his biological left hand toward her. “Two weeks ago, M. Schrier contacted one of the doctors left with the Messiah and thought up a way to acquire it: implant it in a patient and have them leave the country.” “So he could later contact that patient and swap it out for another prosthetic eye?” “Correct, Berger. And chance would have it, a former officer’s daughter – and a half-Heidengeist at that – had taken a turn for the worse after being blinded at a Heidenheim. M. Schrier made arrangements behind the scenes, so-” Before he could finish, Hazel shouted her speculation from between the two men. “The girl was given a prosthetic eye even though Heidenheim residents would normally never receive that kind of treatment!?” “Yes, that is the truth of the matter.” Schweitzer took a breath. “Do you see now? Whether or not you are the Messiah, everyone inside and outside this country are after your Messiah eye so they can use it for their own ends. You have no escape. This is your destiny.” The meaning carried by that final word briefly blanked her mind, but… … ! She punched her hand against the wall behind her and used the light sound and pain to help her look back. Toward Berger. He was seated on the motorcycle and looking at her with no readable expression. She spoke to the blue eyes visible past his sunglasses. “That means it’s all the same whether I run away or not, doesn’t it? I can’t become the Messiah and all I have is this prosthetic eye bearing that name.” Her eyebrows drooped, but Berger tilted his head and questioned what she had just said. “Hey, don’t you two leave me out of this. …You can’t become the Messiah? Says who?” “Says the 9th Section of the Ruling King, Berger.” The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home Schweitzer recited the verse in question. “The letter sent to you was in fact a prophecy spread throughout the Geheimnis Agency three months ago.” “What? The 9th Section of the Ruling King is a prophecy?” “That is correct,” said Schweitzer. “Our leader told us the Messiah is sure to arrive and save Germany when that prophecy is fulfilled.” “But I’m not that. I’m just an eye socket to carry the prosthetic eye around,” muttered Hazel while letting her head droop. But then she heard Berger speak with a sigh. “Cut the childish narcissism, Hazel. It’s boring.” “!?” She froze and looked up while he placed his hand on the accelerator. “The Messiah? Just an eye socket? Who cares? Only one thing matters here, Hazel. You said it yourself: you don’t want to run away.” “But…but that doesn’t matter anymore! If it’s the same no matter where I run, what does it matter what choice I make now!?” “Find an answer for yourself, Hazel. That answer will be your true destiny.” With that, he engaged the clutch. The motorcycle shot toward her while the engine roared. By then, she had also noticed Schweitzer running toward her from behind. ### Part 8 The two men raced toward the girl between them. The distance shrank over time based on units of speed and their paths were trailed by sound and wind. Berger squeezed the accelerator with his left hand and went full throttle. He kept his acceleration going and spread out his empty right arm to snatch up Hazel. He approached the scared-looking girl. Schweitzer was approaching beyond her, but Berger still continued forward. His right arm wrapped around Hazel. “!” He pulled her in with a motion that could only be described as forceful and he grabbed the handlebar again. Schweitzer was out ahead of him, so he pulled on the handlebars to lift the front wheel. “Are cheap arguments all you soldiers have!?” he shouted while the front wheel slammed into Schweitzer. The audible impact caused Schweitzer to slide backwards. But he did not fall. He slid, but he lowered his hips to stay standing. “Not good enough, Berger.” “Same to you,” said Berger while pulling on the handlebars again. The motorcycle stood up almost vertically and the belly of the frame crashed into Schweitzer. Berger shifted down a gear at the same time. That increased the torque, so the motorcycle pushed forward. Schweitzer was lifted from the ground and they really did shoot forward. “Wait, no, let go of me!!” Berger ignored Hazel’s protests and shifted up again. The raised motorcycle sped forward while still caught on Schweitzer’s body. Berger shifted up another gear. The gear fit nicely into place and their speed jumped up. A wind was born around them. “Kh!!” The exhaust pipe on the bottom of the frame was pressed against Schweitzer and smoke rose from where the pipe contacted his coat. The engine’s heat was passing through the pipe to burn his coat. Berger twisted the accelerator. But Schweitzer ignored the heated smoke and readied his right arm. He raised that powerful metal arm. “Still not good enough, Berger.” “And still the same to you. Take a look out front, dumbass.” Schweitzer looked over his shoulder in the direction they were traveling. Berger ducked low and supported Hazel while looking out ahead. The emergency exit was right there. A moment later, the motorcycle and the three of them crashed into the emergency door. ### Part 9 Just as Hazel saw the sky, she was hit by an impact. Something hard as a wall slammed into her shoulders, back, and hips. It hurt. It hurt worse than anything she had experienced in her everyday life. Unlike when she had been hit, this pain crashed into her with no warning whatsoever. The impact seemed to circle around her body to hit every last part of her. … Am I rolling along something? Once she realized what this was, she could react appropriately. She used her feline balance to twist her body faster than she was rolling and to swing her hips around. She moved her spread legs to horizontally distribute her sideways kinetic vector. She tensed her arms and legs to finally stop her roll. She saw a gray sheet iron roof in front of her. She suppressed the nausea brought on by the rolling and worked to remember what had happened. … We drove through the emergency exit, right? A certain object in her vision answered that question for her. She looked up to see something falling right in front of her. A giant slab of metal crashed down like a guillotine blade. It was the emergency exit door and it easily stabbed down into the roof mere inches away from her. Her pulse quickened at the deafening sound and the shaking of the metal door filling her vision. She was a Werecat, so she would Flektieren into a cat when her pulse raced and her body sensed danger. … I need to avoid a Flektieren here. With that rational thought, she tried to calm herself. To do so, she opened her mouth and gathered her thoughts. “Th-this is the roof of the hangar next to the barracks, isn’t it? The one surrounded by soldiers.” She caught her breath and stood up. After stepping out from behind the door, she found herself only a few steps away from the edge of the roof. She looked up. The barracks they had just left were about 40 yards away. About half of the building had been sliced through diagonally and the upper half had slid and crumbled toward this side of things. That was the result of Berger’s attack. And just as she sighed… “Hi, you doing okay, Hazel?” That question came from behind and a bit below her. She looked back on reflex and saw about 30 yards until the other end of the roof. Down below, she could see a road wide enough for something as large as an aircraft to navigate. A storage building about the same size as this one existed across that road. Berger was looking up at her from in front of its wall. He was about 8 yards lower than her. He looked unharmed except for the blood that was still flowing from his right hand. The motorcycle was partially embedded in the wall behind him about 5 yards above his head. “I’m glad no one was hurt in the crash. I wouldn’t want to get my license revoked.” “Um…so I take it you’re doing fine then.” Relieved, she walked forward while keeping her eyes on him. The sheet iron roof felt surprisingly pleasant below her bare feet. More of the wide road below came into view with each step. Soldiers were gathered on it. “…!” The soldiers were so numerous they hid the pavement and they were surrounding Berger from a distance. He literally had his back to the wall. The windows on that wall showed heavily-armed soldiers waiting inside the storage building as well. They were not going to let him escape no matter what. All of the soldiers had their weapons drawn and aimed at him. None of them said a word, so the rustling of her clothing and her own footsteps rang loud in Hazel’s ears. Even her hair tangling together as it fluttered in the wind behind her sounded like waves to her. It was quiet. She was the only one moving here. Even Berger remained motionless as he simply looked up at her. But one person spoke in a deep voice instead of moving. “This ends here.” The words came from Schweitzer who had taken a step forward from the surrounding soldiers to stand in front of Berger. His black coat and giant prosthetic arm were impossible to miss once he moved to the front of the crowd. Hazel gulped while viewing the enormous man from above and behind. He held a handgun in his left hand and it was aimed at Berger. “Um, p-please wait!” He was not going to wait. He asked a question with the gun still aimed at Berger. “So we finally have some closure after two years.” “You’re wrong there, Schweitzer. You didn’t do anything two years ago. No, you couldn’t do anything. You couldn’t stop me and Alfred, you couldn’t stop her, and…” And… “You couldn’t stop Marsch now. So are you going to imprison Hazel just because you never want to lose anything again? Hazel, who carries the same will as Eryngium.” “…” Hazel realized Berger was looking her way. She looked to him and he asked a question to no one in particular. “The Marsch we knew is dead, isn’t he?” He was answered with silence. After a few seconds that felt both too long and too short, Schweitzer answered. “That is correct.” Berger did not nod as he continued speaking. “Marsch and I did a lot of research with that upperclassman in university, but once that upperclassman joined the military, our research hit a dead end and then the Armored Hammer of God Incident happened two years ago. But Marsch completed it since then, didn’t he? He completed the new kind of engine that runs on the same principle as the Kaiserburg,” said Berger. “Marsch made plenty of other inventions too. Such as the Eingeweide Ausbildung and how to use a Panzer’s Schreiben system in other machines.” Schweitzer adjusted his handgun’s aim in response. The gun made a metallic sound, but Berger shouted at him all the same. “It’s coming, Schweitzer! When Marsch’s eye turned red last night, that blue craft showed up. And the same is happening now. The eye and the craft call to each other!” His shout was followed by a certain sound. It was a loud, low, and muffled sound. The long and vast rumble came from the sky above. “…?” Hazel looked up while placing a hand on her red right eye in response to what Berger said. She saw clouds there. At some point, the clouds had spread out to thickly cover up around half the blue sky. The sharp rifts in the clouds signified valleys of atmospheric pressure. When the rumbling came from the sky again, she realized what it was: an explosion. “It can’t be!” Her question was first answered by the wind gusting down on her like a physical blow. She could hear the metallic clattering of guns and the uncertain muttering of soldiers from the road below. But all that was drowned out by another rumble from the sky. The loudspeakers installed around the airbase began to play an alarm as if to fight back against that sound. It was the fourth alarm. “Evacuate the premises immediately!?” The sound of the alarm was distorted by the blowing wind that slammed into her back as she stood there. Her footing felt unsteady, so she leaned against the metal door stabbed into the roof nearby. Then she saw Berger still staring up at her amid the chaos of wind and noise. He had a smile on his lips and he raised both hands and waved like a symphony conductor. Then the sky gave a roar. The clouds bent and swelled out. “–––––!?” They spread wide like a blossoming flower too large to reach her arms around. The blue sky and the sun were visible through that giant hole in the clouds. And at the center of the hole, a giant boxy shape was silhouetted by the sun behind it. “An aerial warship.” When she had hallucinated the blue sky in the barracks earlier, she had seen just such a warship looking antlike as it flew above the clouds. The warship built for high-altitude maneuvering dropped down with its distinctive protruding sides that allowed for the air intake needed for the fuel. It was spewing flames. The warship could only really be called a 300-yard hunk of metal as it dropped upside-down from the sky. Multiple explosions erupted from its side, it shuddered, and fires erupted from the top and bottom halfway along its length. While pulled down by gravity, that impressive mass pushed down the air, creating a complex series of deep sounds. The only thing capable of rivalling those rumbling noises were the high-pitched emotional wails of the alarms. Hazel could only sense the wind and the sounds crashing into her. The warship was dropping straight down from above. “!” Its shadow fell on the airport, robbing everything of light. Hazel cowered down in its shadow, but she did not shut her eyes. Which is why she saw what happened next. With an especially loud roar, the long aerial warship was split down the middle. “You’re kidding!” Flames and smoke erupted from the break, staining the sky black and red. But that attack altered the trajectory of its fall. The two pieces of the warship continued to explode while falling to the north end of the airport where Berger had arrived. It all happened in an instant. The noise of metal and explosions reached its peak and you could hardly even call it noise anymore. It could only be described as destruction. First, the front half of the warship crashed as if stabbing itself into the ground. Before the giant wreckage could break and fall apart, the other half crashed into it. Two 150-yard hunks of metal shattered like a squashed cake and scattered shrapnel everywhere. At the same time, both halves ruptured together, like they could no longer stand up to even the small explosions. The fire looked small, with only something like an orb of flame appearing, but a white shockwave spread out horizontally from there. The whirlwind of destruction spread out like a ripple, destroying the pavement, pushing the wind out of the way, and tearing away even the concrete of the buildings as it went. … !? The dancing shockwave drowned out all sound while the wind and heat it carried produced a frenzy of destruction. Hazel hid behind the metal door stabbed into the roof and curled up. But it was not enough. A piece of the warship wreckage was thrown her way by the explosion. The yard-long piece of lightweight composite armor had a float emblem engraved into its surface and it penetrated both barracks like they were made of paper before it grazed the metal door. “No!?” She started to scream, but stopped. The wreckage was moving at the speed of sound as it slammed into the metal door like a blast of wind. The door was torn from the roof and Hazel was blown away with it. She was launched into the air. There was nothing below her feet and she could only see the clouds. She felt terribly uneasy. She could not see the blue sky. Or she shouldn’t have been able to. But as her heart raced and her mind grew abnormally focused, she saw a faint color in the center of the white clouds. She saw blue and that color grew larger and larger. … Were the clouds split apart again? No, her mind told her. She recognized this. She had seen this same craft in front of the moon just before she Flektierened the night before. Bermark had told her the name of that blade-like blue craft. “The Sylphide!?” It rushed straight toward her like the wind. It soared, dropped, and accelerated all at once to circle below her in mere moments. Something like a wall reached her back before she could even feel surprised. … A floor!? She could see a blue surface below her. It was as hard as metal and painted blue. It was the Sylphide’s back. The Sylphide tilted against the wind as if to protect her from the shockwave. “Um, wh-what is happening here?” She looked around to see hangar walls on either side of her. The Sylphide had definitely circled below her and caught her as she fell. She was surprised to realize it had acted with clear intent like that. She realized her heart was racing. … O-oh, no. It’s happening. The Flektieren had already begun. She ducked down just as a wind whipped up around her and steam burst from her. The sound of her transformation was drowned out by the rumbling around her and by the alarms. All that remained was a gold-furred kitten and her clothing which was nearly blown away by the wind. The Sylphide slowly moved forward with that tiny passenger onboard. A change came over it. A portion of the craft had begun to transform. Bluish-white ether light ran through the blue armor forming the roof of the cockpit. The light created lines and planes that pulsated while forming the emblem drawn on the armor. The Tons determining the armor’s shape were rewritten by the power of the emblem. The craft would discover its weaknesses through combat and seek evolution when it understood what was necessary to achieve strength. The inorganic machine’s transformation evolution took only a moment. The armor rose up around cat Hazel like growing plants and partially came apart to form a mesh. The pieces of the mesh tangled together to form a thin dome over her head. That dome spread out to cover the entire roof. Before she could even react, the flat and angular roof armor had become curved and sloped. She had been taken in below the armor. ### Part 10 Schweitzer ordered the soldiers to withdraw while he looked up into the sky. The Sylphide floated calmly in the air while even the sheet iron roof of the storage building was stripped away and made airborne. It was an angular 30-yard craft. It had five emblem engines on the rear. Its fixed weapons were the two Kunst Eyes on the front and the three on the rear. It was shaped subtly different from the night before. The angled portions had extended further out and the rear curve was smoother. “A craft that launches into space with its final evolution, hm? So much like a Sein Frau.” He started to raise Der Held toward the Sylphide, but that was when it started to ascend. “!?” Its shape grew miniscule in no time and he heard a voice as he watched it go. “I heard that. You say it’s gonna launch into space with its final evolution?” It was Berger’s voice. Schweitzer started to turn around until he felt something hard jabbed into his back. It was the tip of Gelegenheit’s hilt. Berger stood behind him and spoke within the remaining wind. “Schweitzer, I want your help to save her.” He took a breath. “Don’t you move, old man! I hear you back there!” Schweitzer heard a loud rustling of cloth from even further back than Berger. He turned just his head to see Bermark frozen with his hand in his coat to pull out Freischütz. Berger gave a snort of laughter. “Calm down, soldier. If that craft really is the same as the Kaiserburg, then its engines are made from spirit stones that fell from space, so it’ll instinctually want to return to space.” “You mean the Sylphide will fly to space with the girl onboard?” “Yes, and never come back. I can tell.” “How?” “That craft was activated by incorporating Marsch’s Tons into its own using the Schreiben system we developed in university, but it lost control, right? The machine is already running on pure instinct! So it’ll continue fighting and evolving while it yearns for space. And just now, it took in the final component it lacked when it was activated: that eye.” Berger adjusted Gelegenheit’s aim and a quiet metallic sound came from its hilt. “We have to do it all over again! Including your prophecy. We need to secure her again. And this time, the girl carrying the Messiah is riding a flying dragon by the name of Sylphide, one-armed man!!” “Are you suggesting she could still become the true Messiah?” “Yeah, I am. But for that to happen, we have to save her and return her home! So help me out there, Schweitzer! To confirm the prophecy! To confirm her will!” “So it is the same as the Unreif Germane.” Schweitzer nodded. “A thousand years ago, the Messiah, accompanied by a soaring dragon, was unsure if she should use her power to save the people or not.” “Then don’t you want to find out the answer? And don’t you want to see which of us can guide her back home? A thousand years ago, the Messiah and a man with a divine name descended to the surface where she protected the land of the dragoons – the land that became the foundation for the Geheimnis Agency.” Berger took a breath and uttered a decisive statement. “The Messiah still doesn’t know what her purpose is in this world, so Destiny and the Hero can’t exactly abandon her now, can they?” ### 457. Chapter 6: The Wind Races 12/21/1937 13:02 – 15:13 I am caught in the current I understand just one thing Everyone but me here has some kind of power That is all I know ### Geheimnis Agency Diagram: Top: Knight Commander (Sofort Leser) Middle: Lieutenant Commander (Commander-in-Chief) Bottom: Fünf Leithammel (Army, Navy, Air Force, Development, Intelligence) Officially known as the Greater Germanic Reich Guardian Dragoons. They are said to be descendants of the volunteer knights who were led by the Messiah in the 10th century. After the Messiah incident, they left the Black Forest in southern Germany and participated in a crusade to allow the polytheistic Sagas and Edda to coexist with monotheistic Christianity. After that, they moved to the northeastern German land of Prussia as the Germania Dragoons where they fought external enemies from the north and east. When the Second Reich was established, they scattered across Germany and used their powers for national defense instead of invasion. However, they were kept separate from the military due to their unique fighting style and need for independent mobility and their very existence was kept secret to avoid provoking other countries any more than necessary. Their role as unseen guardians continued after the World War and, having abandoned their position as nobles, they urged Wilhelm II to go into exile and they returned Germany to a Hanseatic-style popular sovereignty. Once they managed to regather in 1920, they became a top secret national defense agency. ### Part 1 The clouds spread out in the sky. That white sea was illuminated by the sun. Unlike the windswept bottom of the clouds, the top was formed from a series of round bumps and dips reminiscent of bubbles. Those bubbles made from solidified water vapor were the only thing visible as far as the eye could see. Just one thing stood out from that idle white ocean. Something like a blue blade skimmed rapidly above the clouds. It was the Sylphide. The blue craft flew quickly without emitting flames or anything else. The atmospheric vibrations it produced tore away at the vast ocean below it, splitting the clouds apart like an opening book. The only sound it produced was the loud impact of the craft tearing through the wind. Pieces of clouds rose up and scattered behind it, much like the dust thrown into the air by a runner. The Sylphide performed a roll while continuing straight ahead, as if to soak itself in that spray. Then it made a sudden ascent. Instead of flying straight up, it angled upwards just a bit to shift itself somewhat higher. It distanced itself from the cloudy sea, so that sunny white ocean seemed to expand below it. The ocean was blasted backwards below the Sylphide. There was something within the clouds and it was accelerating at the same speed as the Sylphide. A silhouette was briefly displayed on the clouds. It was a 200-yard ship with a rectangular twin-fuselage structure. That shadow picture game ended in the blink of an eye as the clouds were further split apart and the ship itself emerged from below. It was a German aerial attack ship. The twin-fuselage ship was painted a pitch black and fire burst from its spirit rockets which used an accelerant. Unlike the Sylphide, it produced a loud rumbling from its rockets. The rectangular extra tanks attached atop the twin fuselages were cut away with explosives. The Sylphide attacked the incoming tanks with flame rounds from its Kunst Eyes instead of using Schwerts. In just a few shots, tanks as large as the Sylphide itself had been reduced to flames. The Sylphide broke through that fire to continue forward. But the twin-fuselage ship had predicted that action. Even brighter light was shining from its rockets. Color was no longer enough to judge the intensity of the eruption – only the light and the shaking of the air could do that. It accelerated. The clouds began to trail from the decorative wings attached to its sides like white threads. It shot forward. The Sylphide responded by performing a roll and accelerating forward like it had been kicked. Both ships roared loudly. The clouds were blasted backwards while they competed in the field of acceleration. Nothing out here could stop them. They raced ever onward without narrowing or widening the gap between them. The Kunst Eyes on the front of the twin-fuselage ship launched ether light into the air ahead of it. A hemispherical barrier made of light-red light formed in front of it. The panel was phasically fixed out ahead of the ship as a shield to part the wind. That Luftram formed a Mach cone out ahead of the ship’s bow. It continued to accelerate after creating a space shielded from its own speed. It had three Kunst Eyes on the rear of each fuselage for a total of six in all. All of those emitted glowing swords behind it like it was spreading wings. At the same time, the four diffusion Kunst Eyes on the top of the fuselages and its single-shot Drache Kanones took aim at the Sylphide. The Sylphide pursued it all the same. It evolved through combat, so it did not fear its foe. They were less than 200 yards apart as it continued forward. The twin-fuselage ship responded by firing its diffusion Kunst Eyes. Each individual shot was small, but each Eye instantly launched 8 shots fanned out over a span of 30 degrees. With four Kunst Eyes total, it fired a total of 32 shots rapidly enough to fry the Eyes themselves. The destructive fans worked together to fully cover a three-dimensional space, creating an unavoidable barrage. And in this world of speed, those shots brought death in an instant. In the realm the Sylphide flew through, the span of a second had to be divided into even smaller units to have any meaning. Just as Schwerts emerged from its two forward-facing Kunst Eyes, it performed a roll. The surface created by the thin panels known as blades covered a wider area thanks to the rotational movement. The Sylphide tore a hole in the barrage and slipped on through. It shook a bit since its inertial control was insufficient to fully negate the impact of the shots against its glowing swords. That slowed it some and the other ship pulled ahead. Just as the distance between them widened a bit, the barrage came to an end. The twin-fuselage ship’s diffusion Kunst Eyes had burned out. The base of those hemispherical Eyes opened up and the burned-out panels within were ejected. A few seconds later, automated mechanisms closed back up the base of the Eyes and new emission orbs pushed out from within. But the Sylphide did not overlook that opening. It put away the power-draining Schwerts and accelerated so hard it seemed to pitch forward. It was closing in. At the same time, ether light gathered in the two single-shot Drache Kanones on top of the twin-fuselage ship. The light released a glowing spray for a split second before being released. The Drache Kanones were fired. With a sound a lot like a roar, two beams of light shot toward the Sylphide. The Sylphide immediately submerged itself partially within the clouds to escape. The clouds were scattered as it continued forward. But the Drache Kanones were not done exhaling quite yet. The two beams swung down toward the cloudy sea to pursue the Sylphide like giant glowing pillars. The illuminated clouds were scattered by the glowing heat. The attacks swung down from the upper left and right, but the Sylphide ascended before they could converge. Remnants of the clouds trailed from it as it entered within the triangle formed by the intersecting Drache Kanones and continued its upwards movement. It fired at the same time: three flame rounds fired from its rear Eyes. Those fiery bullets arced in from the left and right to hit the twin-fuselage ship on the sides, but they were easily avoided. Six Schwerts sprouted from the rear of the ship and sliced through the flame rounds. Red flames blossomed in the sky and vanished behind the two speeding ships. All that remained was sound. The Drache Kanones had finished firing. The twin-fuselage ship’s diffusion Kunst Eyes once more took aim at the Sylphide. And the twin-fuselage ship mercilessly resumed its powerful acceleration. The giant warship parted the clouds below it and the Sylphide pursued. That blue blade of a craft accelerated toward the new barrage flying its way. The Sylphide never considered any option but continuing ever onward. ### Part 2 Berlin’s sky sat above Tempelhof Airbase which was burning in the flames of the crashed warship. The uniquely long and flat shape of a pitch-black König Pseudo-Drach strategic reconnaissance craft kept its short-distance takeoff thrusters active as it flew in a large circle. Two people sat in the two-seat cockpit. Schweitzer sat in the front seat while wearing a flight suit for high-altitude mobility and Berger sat in the rear seat while still wearing his black coat. Berger viewed Berlin below from the tilted craft’s cockpit. He noticed the city was tinged faintly blue as he spoke to Schweitzer who held the stick in the front seat. “You and Alfred went south two years ago, right? I heard you were promoted for hunting down a dragon. So was that part of the Heidengeist hunt?” “I have no obligation to answer that.” “Good grief. Is that dragon what required Alfred to wield that sword given to the Maldrick family by the emperor? …The emperor protected the Messiah, you know? Meaning he chose to protect a Heidengeist.” “Times have changed. In the modern age, humanity can rule all through the power of steel.” Just as Schweitzer finished speaking, the centrifugal force of their rotation increased. They were speeding up. “Tighten your belts, Berger. This craft has some inertial control, but it is far from perfect.” A short silence followed, but then the communicator switched on and they heard Bermark’s voice coming from Tempelhof Airbase below. “König Pseudo-Drach 000210, this is the District 1 Airbase. Signal received with a strength of 55. The reading is good.” “This is König Pseudo-Drach. Same on this end. Encrypt the transmission and provide us with a report and a route.” After a short pause, Bermark’s voice returned with some static mixed in. “Continue in your circle until you reach 85 degrees from due north and then fly straight. The Sylphide is intermittently heading north while engaging with the cutting-edge Hs201 Doppelschneide sent in by the 2nd Aerial Fleet to assist the scout ships. The Doppelschneide is attempting to pull the Sylphide west toward Hamburg so it will not cross the border with Denmark.” “That ship has excellent rear defenses, so it is well-suited for that role.” “It is a battle between two cutting-edge ships. And the military has ordered the Sylphide destroyed, so the Doppelschneide cannot withdraw. The end result will likely be an unpleasant one. …I have used the name of our leader to gain permission for your König Pseudo-Drach to pass through the 1st and 2nd Aerial Fleets’ districts. Please hurry.” “Have we received no further orders from our leader?” “Only to secure the Sylphide…and to double-check the prophecy. It would seem the Fräulein is thinking the same thing we are: that the true Messiah might just be born here.” “That possibility seems to please you, Bermark. Have you taken a liking to that girl?” “Of course I have. …And, Lieutenant, the Fräulein’s orders say we may…shoot down the Sylphide if it is necessary to fulfill the prophecy.” Bermark took a breath. “Also, representatives of the military and the Geheimnis Agency have gathered at the general headquarters to make a decision. They hope to decide whether or not the Sylphide prototype truly is necessary for Germany.” “Keep me updated on their decision. What is the military saying?” “The air force intends to launch the V-0 ramming weapon they have developed jointly with the army. In order to destroy the Sylphide.” “…” “I will gather some troops and head there in Silber as quickly as I can.” “Make sure you only use Geheimnis Agency members. The military’s people…might be involved with the V-0.” With that, Schweitzer ended the König Pseudo-Drach’s circle and flew straight forward. The craft was no longer tilting and they slowly left the city below behind. The sound of the wind and the shaking of the craft could be heard now. “Schweitzer, why did Marsch die?” asked Berger with his arms crossed. “Was it a military plot? Were they that upset the Geheimnis Agency had created a new version of the Kaiserburg that defeated them 2 years ago?” When Schweitzer responded, it sounded like he had finally given up on ignoring the other man. “Two months ago, the military rushed in and stole the Sylphide prototype from the 18th Airbase up north. They claimed other nations would see us as a threat due to the ship’s presence. They captured Marsch as well, saying they wanted him to dismantle the Sylphide and indefinitely lock away all of its components.” His voice was flat and monotone. “The military…imprisoned him in Berlin’s general hospital and tried to get at his knowledge about the Sylphide. So what they truly wanted was the Sylphide’s power.” “So the thing about other nations was just an excuse, huh? Cause if the Geheimnis Agency built their own Kaiserburg, the military would never have any power over you again.” Berger sighed. “Was this because of the Panzerpolis Project?” he asked. “I think I get the connection. The Geheimnis Agency has started work on the Panzerpolis Project recently and it’s supposed to be made public with the announcement of the Greater Germanic Reich next April, but once that happens, the Geheimnis Agency will have power over both the government and the military, right? That’s why the military rushed to build their V-0…and stole the Sylphide.” He smiled bitterly. “Ideals aren’t enough for a largescale project to succeed. You need a symbol of power. And is that where the Messiah and the Sylphide come into play? If so, the Sylphide must be built as an Eingeweide too.” “Yes, it is.” “I see. Eingeweide devices are made to join people with machines. And unlike our weapons, it should work with a traditional Schreiben device as well. Is that what Marsch created in the Geheimnis Agency?” Another bitter smile. “If Eingeweide devices are the key to the Panzerpolis Project, then I think I have a pretty good idea what that project is.” “Oh, and what is that?” asked Schweitzer. Berger’s bitter smile grew. He uncrossed his arms and recrossed them behind his head to look up into the sky as he answered. “You plan to modify the entire country of Germany into a giant Eingeweide device, don’t you?” ### Part 3 “All German people carry Germany’s Tons. This land is a part of them, so if we modify Germany as a whole, all German people will be able to use Erklärung while in this land.” “…” “Our country has no powerful distinction of its own, so we must modify it if we are to stand up to the other cities. The Sylphide is the most powerful warship and it was created using Schreiben-style Eingeweide Ausbildung, so it acts as a symbol of what we must do. And we also require the true Messiah as someone to lead the people.” “That’s just a pipe dream, was all Berger said. Schweitzer said nothing in response and that silence might as well have been agreement. So Berger raised his right leg and kicked the back of the seat in front of him while still looking up in the sky. “Answer me. That Schreiben-style Eingeweide would mean everyone can use Erklärung just by Schreibening into a fighter or Panzer, no losing a body part required. …Does Germany want to go to war?” “Ask me again once this is all over. After you have seen what happens in ’43, when the prophesied disaster strikes.” “That’s a long wait.” The König Pseudo-Drach began a slight ascent and accelerated further. The city of Berlin vanished below them. “We will climb to the altitude with the atmospheric density this craft prefers. It will be cold. Do you have a heating charm with you?” “I do,” replied Berger. “So what happened to Marsch’s body?” “The Sylphide’s Schreiben device used an external Studio. Do you get what I mean?” Schweitzer’s voice sounded a little downcast. “After creating the Messiah implant and leaving it with the doctors, he escaped but was badly injured in the process. Despite his injury, he managed to break into the 18th Airbase.” “And he started up the Sylphide by Schreibening into its external Studio?” “The Sylphide took off, but Marsch’s body remained in the external Studio it left behind.” “He was lucky he wasn’t stuck inside the connection cable.” Berger’s comment did not earn a response. The König Pseudo-Drach shook. It had ignited its accelerant, so its speed rose and the pressure bearing down on it increased. The blue sky gradually flowed back behind them. ### Part 4 Hazel was shaken awake. Her shoulders ached, her back ached, and her hips ached. She worked her woozy mind to figure out why. … I hit them all while rolling along the roof. That made sense to her. She could still feel her body with her eyes closed, so she could tell she was lying on some kind of hard surface. She also felt some artificially-heated air across her entire body, which meant… … I’m naked. She was wrapped in some fairly hard cloth, but… … Those are my removed clothes. Her thoughts helped her mind come back into focus. And a single question arose as that happened. “Where am I!?” Driven by a desire to see, she opened her eyes and sat up. The blue sky surrounded her. It was such a beautiful blue. But she was not seeing it through a window. She was seeing it directly from a point high in the sky. Nothing obstructed her view of that azure expanse and the white clouds floating in it. “…?” Confused, she held a hand in front of her face. She could not see her hand. She quickly moved her head to look at her sitting body, but she could not see that either. She only saw the white clouds rushing by below. Her vision was moving forward at a rapid clip. The speed was incredible. … This is what I saw on the base earlier. Just as she thought that, her vision grew fixed in place. She could only see straight ahead no matter how she moved her eyes. She shut her eyes out of instinctual fear of the speed. But she could still see the sky. Her vision had entirely left her control. “Am I seeing what someone else is seeing?” Then she heard a noise. It was the wind. It rang awfully loud and incessantly in her ears. It produced a deep and deafening rumble behind her. That was the sound of something tearing through the wind. She was knocked over by the speed and noise surrounding her. Her back touched the floor. She was lying down now, but her vision remained the same. She felt around the floor to gather up her clothing and crossed her arms over her stomach to hide her body from the sky. As a Werecat, lying on her back was a symbol of defenselessness and submission. But even in that pose, she held her own body, hid her shoulders, and raised her defenses. She opened her mouth and muttered something that not even she understood. Her trembling voice was just about to end its meaningless words when something else arrived. A giant twin-fuselage warship erupted with white spray as it appeared from the white sea below. “!?” Before she could even scream, lights flashed at a few points along the ship’s surface. A barrage of light filled her vision in an instant. Then she felt intense pain in her right eye. It felt like someone had grabbed her eyeball and twisted it. “Nooooooo!!” She screamed more from disgust than pain and she squeezed her eyes shut while writhing on the floor, but her vision remained unchanged. She could see the sky and the approaching barrage of destruction. She rubbed at her eye, which must have been sufficient because the pain suddenly left her. That was when it all began. The floor shook. It was a subtle thing, but it was reminiscent of a rapid heartbeat and it helped wake Hazel up. Her mind heard a certain rhythm. Space itself was shaken by that world-altering rhythm known as an Erklärung. … Eh? The response to her frozen thoughts was clear. The owner of her current vision was speaking. It was speaking the Erklärung that would change the world for its purposes. The movement of her vision changed in an odd way. It all slowed down. The incoming barrage, the shredding of the clouds, and the sky’s movement all slowed to a crawl. “What does that mean?” she tried to say. But she could not. Her mouth moved too slow. She had already started to wonder about her slowed mouth by the time it finally opened to form the very first syllable. … Time is slowing down? Everything she could see had slowed and she could even count the number of shots in the barrage. There were 64 glowing bullets. It all moved slow as could be. The shaking of the floor now felt like the gentle rocking of a boat. And she sensed something like an emotion in those waves. … Joy? She no longer bothered asking why. Because the slowed flow of time gave her plenty of time to gather all her memories together. Whose eyes was she seeing through? Why had that blue craft saved her when she fell from the roof earlier? Why was her vision not obeying her instructions? She had a lot of questions, but she knew one thing for sure. … Is… She gulped, but only mentally. Her body was too slow to keep up. Even her physical senses felt like they belonged to someone else now. But she still formed words in her mind to figure out what was happening. … Is my eye a part of this blue craft? She was probably inside the cockpit right now. This craft had reproduced the Kaiserburg’s ability to transform, so it had taken her inside while evolving. “…” She was past the barrage now. Her vision was now filled by the twin-fuselage ship with six Schwerts jutting out of its stern. That ship felt like an obstacle to her. Her vision was staring straight ahead, just like it had for a while now. But the controller of her vision was not looking at the twin-fuselage ship there. It was looking past the ship to view the azure sky. … Do you want to keep going? Just as she silently asked that, the controller of her vision ended the slowing of time. The clouds, the wind, the noise, the impacts, and even the sky combined within their speed to form a single phenomenon – the phenomenon known as flight. Glowing swords stabbed in from either side up ahead. The owner of her vision unleashed a roar. The engine loaded in the back cried out as it was pushed even further. Her vision shot forward and accelerated in the wind. That was when Hazel recalled the name Bermark had mentioned before and she instinctually sensed what it meant. She understood the meaning of the name Sylphide. ### Part 5 The König Pseudo-Drach continued to accelerate. It rapidly soared below the clouds where the atmospheric density remained constant as it was stirred up by the wind. One of Germany’s distinctive black forests and the occasional village could be seen below. All of that was tinged faintly blue by the atmosphere and it flowed by below them at an agonizingly slow rate. The height difference affected your sense of speed more than the actual relative speed when this high up. Berger looked down through the König Pseudo-Drach’s canopy. He saw a large river down there. Even from this altitude, he could tell it had frozen in the winter chill. Then Bermark’s staticky voice arrived over the cockpit radio. “Lieutenant, I may know where the Sylphide is headed. Its current course will take it to…the north pole.” “The north pole? Is it planning to fly into space along the earth’s axis?” “Most likely. And in its battle with the Doppelschneide, it has easily slipped past the wide-range barrage that is the Doppelschneide’s main selling point.” A brief silence followed before Schweitzer shouted a question. “You mean it’s using its Erklärung to function as a Panzer Ritter device!?” Berger smiled bitterly at that. And he acted like this was all common knowledge. “A Panzer Ritter device? You mean the result of the Geheimnis Agency’s Eisen Ritter Project to develop strongest Panzer? Heinz Berge’s reaction speed was measured at 59 times a normal human’s, right?” He sighed. “The Sylphide never used its Erklärung this way before that idiot Marsch activated it with that eye, did it? I bet that self-evolving ship was searching out Hazel because it knew it couldn’t fully use its own abilities without that eye.” “And I imagine the two of them are resonating through that eye, causing them to struggle for control.” “Not much we can do about that,” said Berger with a click of his tongue and a kick of the seat in front of him. Then he spoke to Schweitzer. “At any rate, I get what’s going on now. We need to drag her out of there. If we work together, we should be able to pull it off.” “Our powers are the only ones that can fight against this. You get that, right? This craft is only equipped with Kunst Eyes on the front since they were meant to produce a Luftram. Because it was a reconnaissance craft and acceleration was key.” Berger smiled bitterly at what the man in the front seat said. He also pulled Gelegenheit from his coat. “Sorry, but I’m not going to use my Ober Beweisen.” “You mean aren’t going to unleash your Heidengeist power with Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen?” “Remember what I decided 2 years ago? I’m never using my Heidengeist blood again.” “Then focus on slicing through destiny. That is why I allowed you to accompany me.” “That’s gonna require some pretty close-quarters combat. I’m really gonna be shot down trying this.” “We cannot do this otherwise. …The military fought the Sylphide two weeks ago and they hit it with a Nein Ton that cause the target’s Tons to collapse.” “But it didn’t work?” “There can be only one explanation. The Sylphide is in an unstable mid-evolution state and its Tons are in constant flux. Because it knows it is incomplete.” Berger sighed at that. And a radio transmission arrived as if it had been waiting for their conversation to end. “The military and the Geheimnis Agency have concluded their meeting.” “What did they decide, Bermark?” There was a moment of hesitation before Bermark responded to Schweitzer. “In an unusual turn of events, they could not reach a decision. Which means the military has chosen to act on their own decision.” “Imbeciles! Do they want a repeat of the Armored Hammer of God Incident!? So what is going to happen?” “The general headquarters has decided to immediately launch their V-0 if the Doppelschneide fails to bring down the Sylphide.” “!?” “The V-0 is already being prepared for launch in the 16th Airbase to the north. I imagine the ghosts of Peenemünde are celebrating its first use in combat.” Bermark’s voice faded along with the static and silence fell in the cockpit. “…” But the shaking aircraft did not slow down. After a while, Schweitzer spoke into the communicator with his voice calm. “You said they failed to reach an agreement, yes? Bermark, what does our Geheimnis Agency intend to do?” Bermark responded with a complete lack of emotion in his voice. “Our leader and his Excellency said they intend to fulfill the prophecy regardless of what it means for the people on the scene.” Berger whistled and Schweitzer nodded. “Then it is all up to us, Bermark. Tell our leaders that the Hero and Destiny shall fulfill it all.” “As you wish.” “Now, tell me what the V-0 is armed with. It is a ramming weapon that flies unmanned to enemy territory while shooting down any approaching enemies to defend itself, so it must be heavily armed.” “Its basic framework is modeled off of a strategic transport ship just like Silber. It is loaded with explosives, an autopilot system, and a propulsion device, making it a large automatic bomb. As it is unmanned, it is only designed to ram its target, so its weaponry is simple and direct. It would take the firepower of a Grösse Panzer to attack that 100-yard self-destructing ship, so are you sure you want to do this?” “Of course I am,” declared Schweitzer while accelerating the König Pseudo-Drach. His voice rang within the pressure of acceleration. “As Berger said earlier, we have Der Held and Gelegenheit with us. I am certain we can rescue the Messiah from the Sylphide with that kind of firepower.” “I see. Then I shall head in to support you once Silber is ready.” “So Freischütz will be arriving to fulfill the prophecy too?” “Yes. As the Freeshooter and as a doll, I abhor that automatic projectile created for such a silly purpose.” ### Part 6 The Sylphide slipped past the twin-fuselage ship’s Drache Kanones with a combination of sword strikes and an ascent. The twin-fuselage ship targeted its belly as it flew up, but the twin-fuselage ship only fired 16 shots from its diffusion Kunst Eyes. One of its two Eyes on each side had been destroyed and there were faint marks from hits on its armor. The barrage was thinner than before, but it was fast. Nevertheless, the Sylphide charged in while Erklärunging. The 30-yard craft easily slipped through the gaps and attacked the twin-fuselage ship from above. The twin-fuselage ship responded by accelerating. It blew the white clouds away as it ascended somewhat. It matched the Sylphide’s altitude and showed off its six Schwerts and its rear rockets. The shimmering heat of its rockets grew all the larger. It slowly moved forward as if showing off its abilities. It sped up, more and more lines of white water vapor trailed back from the Luftram projected out ahead of it, and it left those lines in its dust. The Sylphide ducked below those after making it through the thinner barrage. The shots stabbed into the clouds and the clouds erupted like pillars of fire before vanishing behind the ships. The two ships only ever moved straight ahead. When the Sylphide closed in, the twin-fuselage ship pulled away. When the twin-fuselage ship pulled away, the Sylphide would close in. And when a barrage was launched, the Sylphide would slip through the shots and move forward. The two ships obeyed the wind to continue soaring. Black smoke suddenly erupted from the holes on the top of the twin-fuselage ship. Those holes were from the hits it had taken and from the missing Kunst Eyes. The smoke formed long lines billowing back behind the ship. The six Schwerts vanished from the rear of the ship and the barrage ended. But the twin-fuselage ship’s speed did not fall. It had chosen to prioritize speed even if that meant losing all rear defense and offense. It could no longer support combat and speed simultaneously. The Sylphide was not going to overlook even a momentary opening. It fired metal bullets from its forward Kunst Eyes. The metal bullets were made by providing the simplest Rätsel to their Ton, so they did not even have a homing ability. They flew in a straight line and struck the rear of the twin-fuselage ship. The Sylphide continued firing. Two of the other ship’s six rear Kunst Eyes erupted into flames. Then the twin-fuselage ship performed a forceful roll. The wind blew, the clouds were scattered, and a few pieces of the ship’s armor peeled away. The Sylphide’s next bullets missed. As soon as it moved to pursue the fleeing twin-fuselage ship, that other ship used hits four remaining rear Kunst Eyes to fire the same sort of metal bullets at the Sylphide instead of more Schwerts. The surviving diffusion Kunst Eyes on the top of the ship began to repeatedly fire as well. There was no hesitation in the rapid-fire attack. All the gunfire produced a monotone rumbling in the wind. The metal bullets and glowing bullets crossed paths as they attempted to destroy everything. The power consumed for this destructive act very clearly reduced the twin-fuselage ship’s speed. It rapidly slipped between the bullets and dove within the shockwave produced by the twin-fuselage ship’s Luftram. It flew just a few yards above the right fuselage’s upper armor and raced forward. It drew a single glowing sword to slice through the armor and cut away the Drache Kanone there. The sounds of destruction were swept away by the wind. The severed cannon flew through the air and was torn to pieces by the shockwave produced by the Luftram. The Sylphide pierced the shockwave with its forward-thrust Schwert and continued onward. The glowing sword burst through the umbrella-shaped shockwave, producing a new shockwave of its own and instantly negating the original destructive wave The crashing of the waves produced a white vapor cloud the Sylphide flew into. A moment later, the Sylphide was already flying through the windy sky. It threw on a burst of acceleration, leaving behind the twin-fuselage ship with its starboard side destroyed. The left side fired its Drache Kanone, but the Sylphide avoided it as if flying around the light. It slowly put away its Schwert and slipped behind the twin-fuselage ship. It approached the four rear Kunst Eyes that continued firing and it destroyed them one by one. Fire burst from all four of them. That fire rapidly spread across the holes and wounds opened across the ship, creating a great conflagration. The twin-fuselage ship burst into flames. Its great speed sent the black smoke and red flames flying backwards. It remained flying, but it was slowly losing altitude. The Sylphide ignored its falling opponent. The blue blade of a craft mercilessly resumed accelerating. It left the slowed ship behind as it shot forward. It surrounded itself with several different water vapor explosions while skimming just above the clouds. A few seconds after the Sylphide passed by, the clouds would rupture and burst. The sun was starting to descend in the sky and that warm light washed over the Sylphide while it tilted a bit to the right. Its curved wings jutted out to the sides and the starboard tip touched and gouged into the clouds. The fluffy white clouds flew wildly into the air. After two seconds, the Sylphide straightened out as if satisfied. Then a giant shape approached from behind it. It was the twin-fuselage ship. The giant ship looked like it was flying through a great cloud of black smoke at this point, but it managed to catch up to the accelerating Sylphide even as it shuddered violently. Its roar and the atmospheric pressure it produced were enough to shake the clouds. It could not even produce a Luftram since it was pouring all power into acceleration. The two ships skimmed just off of the cloudy sea. They were moving fast. The twin-fuselage ship tried to move out ahead with its injured acceleration and the sole remaining Drache Kanone on its top side slowly, slowly aimed toward the Sylphide to its side. The cannon was shaking too much to take aim normally, so it had been fixed aiming straight back, parallel to the ship’s direction of movement, since that was its most stable position. That was why the ship had to move out ahead of the Sylphide to fire at it. Shimmering heat burst from the rockets on its back. The twin-fuselage ship moved out ahead. The Sylphide accelerated too. It raced through the sky with all its strength, but it could not catch up. The enemy moved out ahead and its stern was fully in Sylphide’s view. It spewed flames and smoke while accelerating further. The Sylphide had been fully passed, just like when this enemy had first appeared. The Drache Kanone filled with light while aimed straight back. And that was as far as it got. While silhouetted by the sun, the ship’s central bridge broke apart and then the entire thing fell to pieces. The twin-fuselage ship split into something like two swords that bounced up into the air and were swept away behind the Sylphide. The long ship was torn to pieces after a blow from the fist of air resistance. The metal flying object was reduced to scraps in no time, creating a blossom in the air behind the Sylphide. The Sylphide shook off the flames and smoke and dove through the cloud of scraps. An explosion erupted behind it. Large pieces flew past the Sylphide, plunged into the cloudy ocean, and sank into its depths. Several white pillars rose from the clouds, but even they were left behind as the Sylphide flew onward. All the remained were the sky, the clouds, the wind, and the roar. And the Sylphide angled upwards. It began a vertical ascent. To test itself, it set its goal at a position higher even than the heavens. ### Part 7 Hazel suddenly found herself lying on the floor. She no longer saw the sky in front of her. Only a ceiling with metal pipes running every which way. … Where am I? She could see it when she blinked now, so this vision actually belonged to her. But she could not move her eyes. Her body was tense and frozen up. She had been shown that high-speed battle as a participant, but she had failed to do anything at all. As the crushing speed and attacks had pressed her back against the floor, she had only been able to pull her clothes in around her and curl up. Her one form of resistance was to not look away from what was happening. Her breathing was heavy, she could feel beads of sweat dripping down her skin, and her wide eyes stared only at the ceiling. … It’s like I’m about to cry. That thought strengthened the emotion, so she closed her eyes once more. She actually found darkness there. No one was stealing away the actual image seen by her eyes. “…” She focused on her right hand. She used her sense of touch to determine what her hand was touching and how it was moving. She grabbed her fallen clothes from the floor, pulled them up to cover her shoulders, and clutched them tight. She could feel her left hand as well. She used the clothing in that hand to cover her stomach. Her left thigh lifted her knee to cover her body and her right leg bent as if to tangle with that. It was similar to the pose of someone bracing themselves against an opponent’s approach and pressing their back against the wall to prevent anything from attacking them from behind. Sweat dripped from her cheek and she breathed a deep sigh of relief at that sensation. She knew her face was still stiff, but she let a self-deprecating smile reach her lips. … This is what that prosthetic eye does, isn’t it? A tear fell from her left eye and dripped to her ear while she lay on the floor. Her right eye, the Messiah, shed no tears. She accepted that fact and then slowly sat up. She found herself in a small cockpit with 4-yard sides. She was surrounded by windows on three sides and the final side was a wall covered in an instrument panel and metal pipes. A pilot’s seat was located in front of the front window on the right and a navigator’s seat was located on the left. It was somewhat reminiscent of a ship’s pilothouse. “I really am inside the Sylphide,” she said after seeing nothing but blue outside the window. The Sylphide had flown upwards after destroying the twin-fuselage ship. The end of the battle had freed her vision, so time was flowing normally for her now. She wiped away the tears on her left cheek. She stood up with her shirt held to her chest and placed a hand on the back of the pilot’s seat in front of her. Then doubt hit her. … Who’s flying this thing? Her question was immediately answered. She looked and saw both the pilot’s seat and navigator’s seat were empty. The yoke and the Kunst Eye control sphere were not moving. Even the counterforce had been deactivated. She gulped after realizing the craft was unmanned. “That ridiculous V-0 weapon they were talking about in the newspaper flies automatically, doesn’t it?” … Does the Sylphide work the same? There was no one here to answer her questions. Because she was alone. She sighed at that realization. Then she wiped away her tears again and looked out ahead. A deep blue filled the sky and she could see a vast expanse of land down below. “––––––!?” That land looked like a massive blue-tinged arc and, even from this low an altitude, she could make out the shape of Europe depicted in the maps of her textbooks. She could see the darkness of the night far off to the west, but she could also see the specks of lights indicating cities in that shadowy region. She clutched her clothing all the tighter. She could not stop the tears. “Ah…” The vast land below her was home to both humans and Heidengeists. She slowly moved while viewing that. She silently put on her shirt and brushed back her hair. After that bare minimum of grooming, she sat in the navigator’s seat with her legs together. She checked the control panel in front of her and understood some of what it was telling her. The altitude gauge’s needle had already reached the maximum reading, but the gravity gauge told her she was still within the earth’s gravitational field. The power gauge’s needle was also at the maximum. She could not feel any weight bearing down on her from the acceleration, so the craft had to be using some kind of high-level inertial control. “What does it hope to accomplish with all this acceleration? It isn’t hoping to reach space like the Kaizerburg did, is it?” She suddenly realized there were two things sitting on top of the control panel. The first was a woman’s bracelet placed around the base of a broken stick switch. The stick portion of the switch had broken off somehow and the bracelet was barely hanging onto the base. It looked like it could fall off at any time. The second was some kind of paper stuck in the gap between the window and the control panel. … That’s a photo. She pulled it out and it was indeed a piece of a larger photo. It had likely shown a few different people, but the left side had been torn away and it only showed a single young man in the center. She did not recognize him. He wore glasses, he had brown hair, and his build was best described as scrawny. She did recognize the black cedar woods behind him. “Tempelhof Airbase?” The scene in the black-and-white photo did not show the barrier walls and siren towers that had been built when the airport was converted for military use. The young man stood in front of an airplane that seemed to be his. … If this is before Tempelhof was fully converted into an airbase, this has to be at least 4 years ago. She nodded at her own thought and looked down. She saw a certain color on the otherwise gray metal floor. A dark red liquid had dripped onto the floor and dried there. Those were bloodstains. She noticed more near the stick switch with the bracelet. “?” She looked back to the floor and followed the bloodstains with her eyes. They created something like a dotted-line trail that weaved unsteadily across the floor until it reached the bulkhead on the port wall. She looked back over to read the label for the switch with the bracelet. “Control Mode – Schreiben Device.” She gasped at that. She brought her face to the glass in front of her and viewed the reflection of her right eye which was stained a deep red. Then she flipped over the photo in her hand. A man’s name was written there. “!?” After a few seconds, she flipped the photo back over. “Sylphide, Marsch Gant’s will is flying you, isn’t it?” She placed her hand on the control panel. She recalled what she knew about the Kaiserburg on which the Sylphide was based. “Two years ago, the Kaiserburg fought a number of battles and evolved itself so it could reach outer space. The warship’s engine used a spirit stone that fell from space, so it carried a will telling it to return to space.” She took a breath and nodded. “Is that was this is, Sylphide? You were woken by Marsch Gant, but you can’t fight your destiny. You wish to fly to space, so you sought the missing component you needed to evolve and…” She trailed off and sank deeper into the navigator’s seat. She breathed out through her nose and shut her eyes. Suddenly, her seat began to move. “!?” The width of the seat automatically adjusted to fit the body type of the person sitting in it. That feature was used in the air force’s latest models, but something about this movement seemed odd to her. The width adjustment went back and forth several times like it was unsure if it really wanted to support her and was afraid of being touched. It reminded her of how a cat would pull back its paw when it was touched. She found the hesitation kind of irritating, so… “You don’t have to do that if you don’t-” But she stopped when she remembered adjusting the seat of a fighter was used to increase safety and stability for the person seated there. And Sylphide had decided to do so based on its own will. It could not have been more obvious who that was for. She opened her mouth and started to say something, but she thought better of it. Her raised eyebrows hesitated for a moment before lowering as she sighed. She roughly pressed her body against the seat, grabbed the moving armrests, and let the seat support her. “Look, this is the most comfortable position for me.” The sound of air being released from below the seat almost seemed like a response. Then the seat settled on a shape. But that was not all. To the right of the emergency cryopreservation controls on the control panel, the communicator needle began to move. Instead of a military frequency, it stopped on a civilian one. She could listen to the radio at the flip of a switch. … Is that supposed to be a favor? “Sylphide, this Marsch man who woke you up is pretty bad at putting people in a good mood, isn’t he?” She stood up. She was wearing a shirt now, but still no underwear. … Since I’m not cold, the air in here must be heated. She recalled it had been that way since she woke up and then slapped her cheeks. “I don’t know what this all means. Am I a part of you, or are you a part of me?” She smiled bitterly and put on the clothing that had fallen to the floor. She had been so scared just a few minutes ago, but now she had calmed down some. When she realized that, her bitter smile was replaced by her usual expression. There was no longer any tension on her face. She could see the scene outside moving by at a dizzying speed. The massive blue-tinged arc was gradually expanding. They had begun to descend. She could see their speed growing even though she felt none of it inside here. The Sylphide was accelerating as fast as it could during its descent as well. “Are you disappointed you can’t get to space?” she asked while sitting back in the navigator’s seat. That would mean the Sylphide had not evolved enough yet. A thought occurred to her and she spoke it aloud while tightening the seat’s four-point belt. “Sylphide, why don’t you run away? What were you created to do?” Her vision accelerated as if to swallow up her questions. ### Part 8 At 2:13 PM, the Sylphide left the European mainland and descended long a direct path toward the Arctic Ocean. The König Pseudo-Drach crossed paths with it and a battle broke out. ### 458. Chapter 7: The Wind Leaps 12/21/1937 15:29 – 15:54 Will I fight because I don’t want to run away? But before I can ask that The battle begins I am unsure who I am Am I the fighting craft? Or am I the person not doing anything? ### Panzerpolis Project Berlin is a young metropolis when compared to other nearby cities, so if attacked by another country, it is thought the city would be unable to achieve a form of defense unique to the country. The Panzerpolis Project led by the Geheimnis Agency was begun in the early 30s as a solution to that problem. The idea was to provide all people living on German land the power of Erklärung, but that power is limited to pure Germans. This led to the government and military oppressing other ethnicities and advocating a pure-blooded society starting in the 30s. Other preparations for activating the Panzerpolis Project were also made during this time. The project can be summed up with the following points: - Create a sense of impending doom and a need for a Messiah by bringing back the Unreif Germane. - Lead the people by using the Messiah as a symbol of national salvation. - Deter the other nations by bringing the Geheimnis Agency to the forefront. The details of the plan were meant to be announced along with the Greater Germanic Reich in ’38. ### Part 1 The König Pseudo-Drach moved out ahead of the accelerating Sylphide. The sun was no longer in the sky to shine on the two crafts. The Arctic winter sky was dark. In the König Pseudo-Drach’s rear seat, Berger looked up into that sky and bit a divine charm known as a Götter Note. It produced oxygen in his mouth. He saw the bullets shot from behind passing them by at visible speed. “Holy hell, this is fast!! This a first for an old country boy like me!!” “Unfortunately, I am disinclined to deal with your jokes right now!” Inertia pressed him against his seat and the roar of the engine was loud enough that he had to shout. Schweitzer’s response from the front seat was also sharp. Schweitzer also produced a slight sound of steam from his Eingeweide arm Der Held as he used it to operate the control column specially modified for him. Berger stretched up and held his head while looking back. The Sylphide was flying toward them. The blue, blade-like craft was leisurely trying to come alongside them. That aerial warship was twice the size of the König Pseudo-Drach. Its curved armor had evolved to reduce air resistance as much as possible and the cockpit could be seen somewhat protruding above that armor. The bridge-style cockpit had windows on three sides. Berger could see someone inside that glass box. It was a blonde girl in white clothing. “Yes! The abandoned catgirl really is in there!!” Just then, the König Pseudo-Drach moved right and away from the Sylphide. But at such high speed, the wind created a barrier that tried to keep it in place. The craft forcibly pushed against that air resistance until it suddenly broke through. It tilted all at once and managed to fly away from the other craft. The Sylphide’s Schwert sliced through the space it had just vacated. Berger pressed himself against the canopy of the tilted craft. “It’s gone completely wild. Why’s it trying to bring us down!?” “We’re trying to do the same to it,” calmly replied Schweitzer. Berger looked over to see the other man had removed his oxygen mask. He took one of the same charms Berger was biting and tossed it into his mouth. “Now, let’s do this!” The Sylphide accelerated as if in response to Schweitzer’s words. “Why’s it moving out ahead? That’s suicide in a dogfight between fighters on this level.” “Is it hoping to use its acceleration to escape us?” suggested Schweitzer. Then the Sylphide did something truly absurd. It turned its nose toward the König Pseudo-Drach midflight. To Berger, it looked like the Sylphide was sliding to the right. Thanks to its inertial control, the shape of the Sylphide was the only meaningful distinction between its front and back. It could turn at right angles and it could instantly reverse directions in midair. But dealing with the air resistance would consume power and creating that inertial field had to use as much power as a heavy warship. “Are you kidding me? It can do that at this speed? Three cheers for the craft of our dreams, I guess.” Berger muttered to himself while removing his four-point belt and standing up. He stuck a few defensive charms in his vest’s pockets and in his shoes before tapping on the back of the seat in front of him. “You tune the Luftram like we discussed.” “Do you have a wind resistance charm? The ram alone will not eliminate the rear shockwave!!” “I’ve already activated it. Man, you’re overprotective.” They both smiled bitterly at that comment. “Once I’ve cut through the Sylphide, you need to collect her before the wreckage falls,” said Berger. “My Der Held will cut away that area of space to rescue her along with the cockpit.” “I see. So even an awkward bastard like you has a positive side.” “And what might that be?” “Your ability to sound confident about everything you say.” Berger smiled while watching the Sylphide continue its sideways slide with its two bow Schwerts drawn. The drawn swords sliced through the air, producing white clouds. At the same time, Schweitzer operated the König Pseudo-Drach’s only Kunst Eye. A glowing shield appeared out in front of the craft to split the wind and protect the craft from the shockwave of the atmospheric pressure. “Go, Berger!!” shouted Schweitzer. After the pop of small explosives, smoke burst out and the König Pseudo-Drach’s canopy was blown away. The cockpit was directly exposed to the high-altitude wind. Berger jumped out while the craft trembled in the wildly dancing wall of wind. The charm he held instantly became a small Luftram that shielded him against the wind. The wind was no more than a pleasant breeze for him as he casually stood atop the König Pseudo-Drach. He spread his legs to stand firm on the armor covering the engine behind the cockpit. The cold wind whipping at his black coat smelled faintly of the sea. The Arctic Ocean lay below them, so he would die instantly if he fell from here. His breaths became frost as soon as they left his mouth. He brushed up his hair and looked out ahead to see the Sylphide. He viewed its sharp bow and its cockpit as he drew Gelegenheit from within his coat. The Sylphide moved forward as if to protest his battle preparations. He slowly pulled a Type C Phlogiston Tank from his pocket and inserted it in the rear of Gelegenheit’s hilt. He repeated the action 7 times to create a dark blade about 30 yards long. He started to say something as he readied Gelegenheit. “…” But he stopped. He had recited a portion of a Text with a set rhythm, but a moment later, he smiled and said something else. “I won’t let this be a repeat of 2 years ago!!” And he activated Gelegenheit. ### Part 2 The darkness emitted by Gelegenheit was formed from pure destiny-severing Tons, so its weight was insignificant. He simply sliced at the sky as if testing the weight of the hilt. The dark blade cut through everything, including the wind and the shockwave. The Sylphide rushed in beyond that darkness. Its three rear Kunst Eyes began to fire metal bullets. Berger’s dark blade sliced through those bullets as it Erklärunged. Berger made a graceful sweeping movement for each shot that was heard in the sky. His black coat danced in the wind and the dark blade sliced through the metallic destruction. His feet sounded on the armor as he moved back, pounding out a rhythm for the sword’s movements. He cut up, cut forward, cut down, spun to the right, and jabbed up without missing a beat. After jabbing out and pulling back, he swung to the left and pulled his body toward his arm to hold the sword down at his hip. He had a distinct smile on his face within the high-speed noise and destruction. His black coat fluttered up from his movements more than the wind. The Sylphide was approaching fast, causing the downpour of bullets to grow even more intense. Those bullets were metal and, as the Sylphide grew closer… “The swords!?” Sylphide swung its 2 Schwerts every which way as it passed by above the König Pseudo-Drach. There was no hesitation in the action. The right sword swung in from above and the left one from below for a pincer attack. Since the Sylphide was about 10 yards higher than the König Pseudo-Drach, the lower attack came almost head-on toward Berger. But the higher attack was swinging down toward him from directly above. The two attacks would hit with a slight time lag between them. He did not hesitate to jab Gelegenheit forward into the attack coming from below. With almost no time lag at all, darkness stabbed through and broke the Sylphide’s lower attack about halfway up the blade. But by then, the higher attack was already swinging down toward him. It tore through the wind with an icy roar. Berger still had Gelegenheit jabbed forward without enough time to pull it back and raise it to defend himself. But he did take action. He pulled Gelegenheit’s hilt toward his stomach just a bit and then let go of it. He twisted his body and ducked below the hilt floating in the air. The hilt started to move past him overhead thanks to the momentum he had given it, but he spun his body around as if sweeping aside the bottom of his black coat. Gelegenheit was floating above him with the bottom of its hilt pointed forward. He had chosen to turn himself around instead of the heavy hilt. It all happened in an instant, so he grabbed the hilt again before it could drop down. And he did so with both hands. He then stood up with the weapon held overhead. He swung it toward the giant Schwert being swung down toward him. He stepped forward and unleashed a roaring attack. The Sylphide’s sword was broken, but he did not even watch the scattering spray of light. He instead looked up at the Sylphide about to fly by overhead. He moved his sword back again in an attempt to slice through its belly. Just then, the Sylphide stopped launching bullets from its rear Kunst Eyes and produced three Schwerts instead. “Stubborn little thing!!” shouted Berger as he briefly hesitated. After what could only be called an instant, his Gelegenheit severed the three swinging swords. But the Sylphide used that brief time to take evasive action, change its course along a right angle, and move out ahead of the König Pseudo-Drach. Then it powerfully accelerated. It began to run away. ### Part 3 The atmospheric barrier created by the Sylphide crashed into the König Pseudo-Drach’s Luftram. The König Pseudo-Drach seemed to pass through a tunnel torn through the shockwave led by a curtain of white water vapor. Berger ran forward along its back within the wind. Only after placing his hand on the edge of the cockpit did he realize his left sleeve had been torn and shredded by the shockwave. Fresh blood quickly flowed down his arm to his fist. He ignored his own bleeding. He clicked his tongue, reached his bloody hand out toward the Sylphide, and clenched his fist. “Schweitzer! Move out ahead of it! You should be able to pull that off using your Eingeweide arm’s Ober Beweisen!!” “So it starts there, does it!?” Schweitzer stood up in the wind, tearing his four-point belt apart in the process. He readied his Eingeweide arm Der Held. “Der Held – Erklärung – Ober Beweisen.” Then he recited the words of the Text used to activate Der Held’s Ober Beweisen. The rhythm broke through the wind and raced out in every direction. Over the span of an instant, smoke and an empty cartridge burst from his prosthetic arm’s ejector before the staff stabbed out at empty space. With a sound more pleasant than a roar, light surrounded a cube of space about 200 yards in each direction in front of him. The ether floating in that area of space instantly vanished. The sound of the Tons bursting on their own was similar to a cry of joy. Even the wind instantly lost its shape as the movement of all ether came to a stop. Berger smiled with only his lips. “You stop all ether movement within a space for just an instant. Does that mean everyone must put down their weapon before Der Held?” He watched as Schweitzer calmly sat back down in the cockpit. Once his large back was gone, Berger could again see the Sylphide in the sky. Its Kunst Eyes were not functioning and its speed had dropped. But it was not gliding. The engine had been briefly stopped, but it had started back up immediately afterwards. However, that was not enough. The König Pseudo-Drach did not overlook that brief loss of power, so it worked to overtake the Sylphide. The Sylphide shifted its path to avoid being overtaken. It moved directly in the way of the other craft’s path. But by then, Berger was already standing atop the König Pseudo-Drach. He held Gelegenheit in his right hand. With 5 Type C Phlogiston Tanks attached, the darkness extended about 20 yards into the winter air. The Sylphide had its back turned, so it chose to attack as its inferior speed allowed the enemy to approach. Swords of light emerged from its 5 Kunst Eyes. Berger noted the swords were longer than before. “Oh? Are you actually trying this time!?” he shouted while opening up his black coat with his left hand. The pale light of the Sylphide’s Schwerts illuminated the inside of that coat. There were several dozen bags tied to the inside of the coat and each one had a Phlogiston Tank attached. He pulled Type C Phlogiston Tanks from them and rapidly attached them to Gelegenheit like a fast reload. He ended up with a total of 20. The sword-like hilt was now so long the weapon looked more like a spear. He grabbed the center of the shaft with both hands and swung it around. The dark sword extended more than 80 yards from the end and was still growing. Even the blade’s width was more than 2 yards. It was an enormous sword. “Have a taste of Gelegenheit!” he yelled while holding the shaft below one arm. A moment later, the König Pseudo-Drach overtook the Sylphide. As they passed by, the sky was decorated by spraying light and a sound like shattering glass. The blue craft and black craft passed each other by in the dark sky. Five small swords of light and one large sword of darkness moved at the center of that exchange of colors. With its swords broken, the Sylphide used its full power to hop to the side and flee from the large sword’s path. ### Part 4 Berger rested Gelegenheit on his left shoulder with its large blade intact and he shouted down to Schweitzer. “Schweitzer! Climb!” The other man did not respond, nor did the craft being to climb. Berger saw the Sylphide place itself behind the König Pseudo-Drach after its hop to the side to escape. Unlike the Sylphide or a larger ship, the König Pseudo-Drach had no way of attacking behind itself. If they were fired on now, this would all be over nice and quick. “Schweitzer!!” Berger hopped down into the cockpit’s rear seat and kicked at the back of the front seat. The large black-coated figure in the front seat shook and then spoke. “Sorry. The reaction to using Der Held got to me.” “Just climb!!” He kept kicking at the seat like a child. The König Pseudo-Drach began a rapid and rushed climb. The pressure of their speed bore down on Berger while he watched the Sylphide’s bullets fly in from behind and pass by below them. “Pull yourself together,” he said to Schweitzer. “A hero who gets worn out from every little thing is pretty lame.” Schweitzer said nothing and further accelerated the König Pseudo-Drach. The black steel craft soared nearly vertically into the sky. Berger was pushed back into his seat by the inertia directed straight down from above and he held up Gelegenheit to observe it. He breathed a sigh of relief to confirm the large dark blade remained. He pulled a pen and pad of paper from his pocket with his right hand, prompting a question from Schweitzer. “What are you writing?” “Some precautions, just in case. This is a craft that can negate Nein Ton rounds, after all.” Berger smiled with just his lips. It did not reach his eyes. “This will fulfill that prophecy of yours! The one meant to save Germany!” ### Part 5 Hazel had her vision taken from her again as she sat in the seat the Sylphide had shaped for her. But she no longer felt any fear of the speed. She could see everything. Two men she knew were launching attacks her way. They were really giving it their all. Something Bermark had said echoed in her mind. … They aren’t your average opponent, huh? She felt like she was fighting against that opponent now. And that she was on equal footing with them. Of course, that was only an illusion. “Sylphide, this is your power, isn’t it? Instead of running away to survive, you say you don’t want to run away, but you still use all this power to make sure you don’t die.” And… Hazel’s lips twisted a bit when she heard the Sylphide’s Erklärung. “I’m not the Messiah, though. …Or do you want to be with me just because I have this Messiah eye?” There was no response. Her vision simply continued flying through the sky. Her vision pursued the black craft with the sun visible straight ahead. “If all I am is your eye, maybe I have no choice but to do what you want.” The Sylphide did not respond. It only ascended. Her chair transformed a little and the back tilted to match the angle of their ascent. She smiled bitterly and then something occurred to her. … That explains why this craft isn’t wary of me. “Am I the only one feeling so scared and getting so worked up over what I’m doing?” Her smile grew even more bitter. The Sylphide would not know what she was thinking. It only pursued the enemy craft flying up ahead of it. Hazel’s eye saw the rear of the leading black craft. The giant sword Berger had swung earlier was trailing behind it like a tail and it was spewing powerful red heat from its back end. The jets back there were almost all she could see. The Sylphide’s Kunst Eyes took aim at them. It was ready to fire and close enough to guarantee a hit. Just then, Hazel saw the large sword trailing behind the other craft slowly rise up. “–––––!?” She knew who must have lifted it like that. The man with the Titel of Wild Hund stood perpendicular to the enemy craft’s back. Hazel shouted his name. “Dog Berger!?” ### Part 6 Hazel saw Berger jump down from the vertically-rising craft’s back with the giant sword in hand. His black coat did not flutter in the wind because he had buttoned it up on the front. His body was positioned horizontally, his limbs were spread, and he dropped straight down. The Sylphide accelerated in response. It only used its right front Kunst Eye. By pouring all its power into that one emitter, the glowing sword grew to more than 50 yards long. With its own giant sword at the ready, the Sylphide tilted its nose just a bit diagonally. That trajectory allowed it to flee at a moment’s notice. And if it managed to avoid Berger’s attack and strike back, it could immediately bring down the enemy craft above it. Hazel gulped. She watched Berger dropping down. The Sylphide prepared to strike back. It only had the one sword on the right, so if it failed to properly predict the path of Berger’s sword, it would be destroyed. Hazel’s vision focused in on Berger. And… “?” She noticed something odd. Berger was aiming his giant sword directly at her. It was 80-yards long, but when the tip was directed straight at her, she could only see the width of the blade. He suddenly pulled Gelegenheit’s hilt back under his arm and then threw it into the air behind him. Gelegenheit soared back behind him without tilting at all. “What?” He tore open his coat’s buttons to spread out his black coat. The flapping coat blocked her view of Gelegenheit. Hazel realized the point of this. … He hid Gelegenheit!? The coat prevented her from seeing where the 80-yard sword was. It had to be falling straight toward her behind him. The Sylphide must have assumed the same because it shook the tip of its own sword side to side. Would Berger’s sword be coming in on the right or the left? Once it dropped in on one side or the other, he was sure to grab it and swing it down. The Sylphide used its Erklärung to increase its reaction speed. But Berger held his left hand out to the side as he fell. That increased his air resistance and his speed noticeably dropped. He likely intended to grab Gelegenheit as it dropped in from behind him. He looked straight at Hazel. And he shouted something with a smile on his face. She could not hear what it was. All she heard was the snapping of his fingers with that outstretched left hand. Although even that was only her mind filling in the silence with the sound she knew had to be there. But it was enough. A moment later, she saw the answer to it all. She saw Gelegenheit’s large blade catching up to him from behind. The giant tip formed from darkness came into view. But it was not on the left or the right. It came straight down the center. The giant tip tore through near the center of Berger’s black coat. It was so close it could have easily stabbed through Berger himself. “!?” He had twisted his body out of the way, but his left arm was still severed at the shoulder by Gelegenheit’s darkness. But Gelegenheit continued to drop regardless. Berger wrapped his remaining right arm around Berger’s hilt to hold it in place. And he stabbed it straight down. The Sylphide attempted to evade the unexpected movement. “Shut up,” mouthed Berger. With Berger’s Erklärung, the 80-yard dark blade crashed into the Sylphide. In no time at all, Hazel’s vision was attacked right down the center. She felt no pain, but she did scream. ### Part 7 Hazel felt an impact on her back. Her seat shook and nearly flung her forward, but the four-point belt held her in place. She held her breath and looked forward to see an expanse of mist and wind before her eyes. Yet her vision had returned to her. “What in the world!?” Her shout was drowned out by the wind. The cockpit’s heated air vanished in an instant as the chilly wind blew in. It blew in from the center of the cockpit where a line had been sliced through the ceiling and floor from front to back. The cockpit had been bisected down the center. The entire craft probably had been. The severing line ran between her navigator’s seat and the pilot’s seat and it covered the entire length of the floor, the control panel, and the window. There was about a foot of width between the two sides and wind was blowing in from there. It had all been cut through by Gelegenheit’s attack. She shrank down. After bisection by that 80-yard sword, the craft would soon split apart and explode. She waited for it to happen. “…” She silently cowered down and held her shoulder in the chill of the roaring wind. She waited a few seconds. But the destruction never arrived. … Eh? Her question was answered by a slight change. The chilly wind was weakening. At the same time, she heard several deep sounds like metal doors shutting. It was the sound of a heavy mass of metal fitting together like teeth clacking together. She looked up and saw a light within the mist still hanging in the cockpit. A bluish-white light had long been known to signify ether. The light flashed like a pulse as it ran through the center of the cockpit from the floor to the walls and the window. “It’s self-repairing?” Hazel heard the engine roaring. She had heard that sound only once before. That was the Sylphide’s cry when it evolved. But that was not all. The machine’s cry was joined by the roar of the Sylphide’s Erklärung. That Erklärung set the healing and evolution in motion. Hazel’s mouth hung open as the machine’s will was so clearly Erklärunged. “Why do you want to keep flying so badly?” she asked. The cockpit was shaken by a far louder voice than before. She looked up when she heard that answer within the shouted words that sought evolution. “Why must you do that?” she asked. This was all for that. … Is that why you won’t run away!? Her thoughts did not receive an answer, but she did reach up and touch her right eye. She touched the red glowing Messiah implant. “Sylphide, were you created for the Messiah!?” Her spoken question did receive an answer. The machine’s calm Erklärung raised its voice to fulfill its evolution. ### Part 8 Berger saw the Sylphide’s evolution while he fell with blood scattering from his now-armless left shoulder. He was falling upside-down, so he had to look “down” above him to see the blue craft’s bisection emitting light while its armor rapidly rearranged, the various power conduits reconnected, and it essentially sewed itself back together. And it also used the opportunity to adjust the position of its engine. “That’s doubly bad,” he said while looking over at Gelegenheit in his right hand. Its large blade was gone now, so it only looked like a staff as he held it. He clicked his tongue. “It’s bad once because delivering a critical blow only got it to evolve.” He looked back toward the heavens to see the Sylphide slowly moving out ahead again. It gradually built up speed while continuing its evolution. The König Pseudo-Drach had descended from above to pursue its supposedly fallen foe, but now it panicked and was forced to move far out of the way without even a chance to attack. After that, the black craft ignored the Sylphide and started flying straight toward Berger instead. “And it’s bad twice because he might not reach me in time.” He looked down to see the ocean surface rushing up toward him. If he hit the water while falling this quickly, the impact would kill him. And even if he was lucky enough to somehow survive the impact, this was the Arctic Ocean in winter. He would still die. He smiled bitterly at that very simple fact. But the bitter smile soon vanished because he felt some powerful air pressure descending on him from above. “!?” He heard a roar and he saw the bow of a giant aerial transport ship. He also saw Bermark standing on that bow. The man and bow changed course to move past Berger. They circled below him and approached. “Still a reckless youth I see, Wild Hunt!!” said Bermark with a frown while he reached out his gloved right hand. Berger held Gelegenheit in his mouth and grabbed the outstretched hand. It was the hard mechanical hand of a Sein Frau. Grabbing that was all he needed to do. The aerial transport ship rapidly braked its descent which had surpassed freefall. Bermark swung Berger around so he could land gracefully on the deck. After landing on his knees, Berger looked out ahead to see Bermark looking overhead while the wind blew in from the front. “…” He was watching the Sylphide accelerating away into the black sky. It could only have one destination: the sky above the north pole. As the transport ship redirected its falling speed to accelerate forward, the König Pseudo-Drach flew up alongside it. Schweitzer poked his head up from the canopy-less cockpit and shouted a question. “Is the lower docking port open!?” “All the arrangements are in order,” ensured Bermark. “But there is one problem!” “Eh? What’s that?” asked Berger while holding his left shoulder. “The V-0 was launched,” said Bermark with a hint of annoyance. “Hey, do you always have to sound so irritated about talking to me?” Bermark ignored him, straightened up, and saluted the König Pseudo-Drach flying alongside them. “It will hit in another 12 minutes. We must hurry!!” ### 459. Chapter 8: The Wind Soars 12/21/1937 16:01 – 16:21 Prophecies? Species? Country? Myths? I still don’t understand any of that But I have realized what it is I want Of course All I’ve done is realize it But still ### Grösse Panzer A humanoid machine a level above both the Klein Panzer and the Mittel Panzer. Its every body part is built from machines providing functionality modeled after the human body and their designs are divided between male and female models. They are effectively mechanical humans without a will of their own. Their creation is often spoken of alongside the creation of Sein Fraus, so they likely originate from the same place. The pilot enters a cramped coffin-like room known as a Studio where all their body’s Tons are broken down, sent through the Grösse Panzer’s conduits, and combined with the Grösse Panzer’s own Tons. So instead of operating the Grösse Panzer, they become one with it. This is known as the Schreiben process. A weapon unique to Grösse Panzers is the Ober Emblem that uses emblems carved into the surface of the armor and other components to transform the machine. The Grösse Panzer’s Ton structure is altered to give it different functions and the process is later adopted for armor emblems and emblem bullets. ### Part 1 The wind had died down in the cockpit, but Hazel was still curled up and holding her knees in the seat. Her vision had not been taken from her. There was still a white line down the center of the window in front of her and she could see the blue sky through that. Things were rushing by outside even more quickly than before. “Were you born to take the Messiah anywhere she might need to go?” she asked while watching the sky outside. She already knew the answer to that. After a short pause, she lowered her gaze to look away from the sky and think. … You actually want to return home, don’t you? To the planet or asteroid belt of the meteor used to make the spirit stone you use for fuel. She smiled bitterly. “Do what you want to do, Sylphide. Because I’m not the Messiah.” The Sylphide’s engine roared as if to say it did not care. It was still accelerating. She squeezed her knees between her arms to curl up in an even smaller ball. She realized her gaze had strayed a bit to the left. Her seat’s position had slipped. The rotating stand below the seat had turned a bit to the left before fixing itself in place. She knew why. Sylphide had angled the seat to protect her from the previous bisection and blowing wind. She laughed quietly in a resigned sort of way. “Are you sure you want me of all people to be the reason you’ve never been able to run away?” She let go of her legs, undid her four-point belt, and left the seat. The communicator in front of her remained silent with the needles still on the right frequency. She started to switch it on, but then she noticed the photo of a young Marsch was still stuck in the gap between the control panel and the window, but the bracelet hanging on the switch was gone. … Did it fall? Feeling like she would be to blame if it was lost, Hazel frantically looked around for it. She spotted it on the floor, right on top of the seam created during the evolution and repairs. She rushed over and picked it up. It was lighter than expected. She started to put it on her wrist but stopped. She held it in her hand and turned toward the control panel to put it back where it had been, but that was when she noticed something unpleasant. “!?” It was an arm. Someone’s entire left arm, from shoulder to fingertips, had fallen below the navigator’s seat she had been in. The seat itself had blocked it from view before, but now it was hard to miss. “Is that Dog’s left arm?” A black cloth was wrapped around it as if to tie off the shoulder. It was soaked with blood, but it was undeniably a piece of his black coat. … Did he throw it in here? She found her own question sounded oddly carefree given the circumstances, but then she noticed something. The severed arm was lifeless now, but it held a piece of paper tightly in its hand. “Now I know it didn’t fall in here on its own.” The edge of the paper was sticking out and it said “For Hazel Mirildorf”. That was puzzling enough, but then she heard a metallic sound. It was a painful sound of metal being torn away. She frowned and looked around. “What is this sound?” ### Part 2 Silber had been designed primarily for carrying cargo, so 70% of its internal space was taken up by the 1st Cargo Bay. That large space was 15 yards wide and tall and 60 yards deep. Their rapid flight caused the cargo bay’s contents to shake somewhat, including a blue male Grösse Panzer in a landing pose that was going through its final pre-Schreiben inspection. They had no time. The work was being swiftly completed by a few of Bermark’s men and they all wore various military uniforms instead of work jumpsuits. Someone was watching them while leaning against a shield-reinforced pillar to the side of the cargo bay. It was Berger who had lost his entire left arm and now had bandages wrapped around the wound. He was not wearing his black coat. He had also removed his shirt, so the bandages were the only thing covering his upper body. He toyed with Gelegenheit in his right hand while he watched the Grösse Panzer’s final inspection. Until he heard some solid footsteps approaching from his left. He turned his head toward the noise to see Schweitzer there. He was not looking at Berger. He was looking up at the Grösse Panzer. “Bermark does love his gambles.” “He just wants you to return alive. He’s a good aide.” Berger smiled and stared more intently at the Grösse Panzer. “HMF309 Blau Löwe.” “It is a ship-defense Grösse Panzer developed by the Geheimnis Agency. Its weight has been reduced as much as possible while maintaining sufficient power output and its Ober Emblem called Luft Fang allows it to deploy its wings and fly. …Assuming you can activate the Ober Emblem, that is.” “You’re looking at the second best Grösse Panzer in the world here. Give me 3 minutes and it’s done.” “I never imagined I would need this much of your help.” Berger clicked his tongue at Schweitzer’s attitude. “We just so happen to want the same thing here. Once we save her…well, we’ll have to see what happens then, right?” Berger’s snide tone got Schweitzer to turn toward him. “Why won’t you use your power as a Heidengeist? With that, you could solve this like you did 2 years ago.” “Because I keep my promises, Schweitzer.” Berger’s tone said he was not accepting any more questions on the matter and he reached up to touch the pendant he wore at his neck with the same hand holding Gelegenheit. The chain he wore it with jangled quietly before he said something more. “Marsch promised to develop the country, so I think I get why he activated that craft and why he decided to implant the Messiah eye in a Heidengeist.” “?” Berger answered Scwheitzer’s confusion by raising his right index finger. “There is a single word that links Marsch to that prophecy you people are obsessed with.” The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home “It’s the Messiah,” said Berger. “Hazel isn’t the Messiah yet. If that really is a prophecy, then she becomes the Messiah only once the prophecy has been fulfilled. Which means…” “Which means what?” “To return to the earth, you must first rise above it. To return home, you must first leave it. Do you get what I’m saying?” “That Marsch created and activated the Sylphide in order to create the Messiah?” Berger spread his right hand with three fingers raised. “You said everyone in the Geheimnis Agency was given a prophecy based off of the Unreif Germane three months ago, right? And you were told to search for the Messiah based on it. Marsch was probably building the Sylphide when it occurred to him that the Sylphide might be necessary to fulfill the conditions needed to create the Messiah.” “So he gave the Messiah implant to a Heidengeist to match the Unreif Germane?” Schweitzer’s question was followed by the ship’s lighting turning red. “!” A shipwide announcement played. “Enemy craft located! The V-0 is approaching from seven o’clock. We will arrive within the V-0’s firing range in 1 minute and 18 seconds. Matching altitude and preparing for counterattack. Cargo Team and Docking Team, complete your inspections ASAP!” And… “Also, something odd is happening with the Sylphide out ahead. We thought the craft was done evolving, but now it…appears to be falling apart!” The surprised voice spoke quickly but did not rush. “These soldiers are well trained,” said Schweitzer before turning to Berger. “Why would it fall apart?” Berger smiled bitterly. “The Nein Ton rounds the military hit it with are only now taking effect. Now that it’s done evolving, the Sylphide’s Tons are no longer in flux and that near-forgotten poison it swallowed can do its damage.” “…” “Do you still not get why Marsch sent me the 9th Section of the Ruling King? His will no longer exists in the Sylphide. The machine’s own instincts and duty are driving it to carry the Messiah into outer space. Marsch may have wanted to prevent that and make the song come true.” Berger’s smile grew even more bitter. “The trouble we go through for that man.” Schweitzer sighed, removed his coat, and handed it to Berger. “Here’s a spare coat. Put it on.” “I’d rather not receive clothes from another guy.” “It was weirding me out to see you without any black on.” With that, Schweitzer turned around and did not look back again. ### Part 3 An alarm sounded in the large cargo bay to indicate something was activating. With his work complete, a soldier hopped down from the shoulder of the Grösse Panzer named Blau Löwe wearing an armored blue Panzer Kleid and sitting on a cargo platform in the center of the cargo bay. He and the other workers ran over to the cargo platform’s controller and began operating the buttons. A large tremor ran through the Grösse Panzer’s cargo platform. An eyepatch-like device extended from the back of the platform to protect the sight devices, but that was removed, revealing Blau Löwe’s face. The compound eye devices already contained a light carrying a powerful will. Berger had Schreibened into it. The voice device in Blau Löwe’s mouth produced Berger’s somewhat muffled voice. “All systems go. Preparing to depart. Standing up.” The workers repeated that all back as the cargo platform rose up. The back of the platform was oddly shaped to surround the secondary cockpit and the Götter Kanone on the Panzer’s back and it attached to the bottom of the secondary cockpit to push up on the Panzer. Blau Löwe stood up and planted its feet on the floor. It no longer required the support of the platform to remain standing. “Standing up. Everything looks good. Removing restraints.” The workers repeated that back again. With the sound of crackling electricity, the restraints were removed from the Panzer’s parts: the shoulders, the thighs, the wrists, the feet, and the stomach. With the restraints gone, the giant steel doll was free. “Restraints removed. Beginning to move.” It took a step forward. Its body tilted a bit to the left. After correcting for that, it took another step forward and reached out its right hand. A Grösse Panzer sword was hanging on the wall. It grabbed that and attached it to the weapon latch on the Panzer Kleid’s hip. “Equipment retrieved. Preparing for free-fall transportation.” “Opening virtual barrier. Cargo bay crew, withdraw immediately.” That announcement was followed by a solid panel of light covering everything from ceiling to floor behind Blau Löwe. Two more of them appeared equidistant from each other in front of Blau Löwe. The men who had been in front of the cargo platform’s controls were now waving from behind Blau Löwe. Blau Löwe must have seen it with its omnidirectional vision because it gave a thumbs up back at them. The men cheered while falling back toward the barrier within the ship. As soon as they were done, the cargo bay door opened vertically. A 15-yard opening appeared, the dark sky came into view, and the entire ship shook. But no wind blew inside the cargo bay. The three panels of light surrounding the Grösse Panzer kept it out. Those Ton barriers redirected the energy that passed through them, creating air barriers. Blau Löwe’s Panzer Kleid fluttered from what little wind got through and the Panzer ducked down. “Fully activating Ober Emblem Luft Fang. What’s the Sylphide doing?” “The Sylphide is currently having some armor stripped away. Based on its rate of collapse, it will not last another hour. Once it loses inertial control, it will break apart in midair.” “I see.” Just then, a shipwide broadcast blasted into the cargo bay. “We are receiving a radio transmission from the Sylphide!! The pilot wishes to speak with Dog Berger!” “Dog Berger! What is the meaning of this!?” Bermark’s voice entered the broadcast to ask that question and Blau Löwe explained. “I ‘handed’ her the frequency and encryption code we’re using. And I added a simple message: say what you want to say.” Ether light formed orbs below Blau Löwe’s Panzer Kleid and those orbs scattered into the air. The ether burst and turned to a glowing mist that covered the armor and caused it to undergo a change. The intricate emblem engraved into the Panzer’s armor glowed as it reacted to the ether. The Ton rhythm contained in that emblem transformed the Panzer into something other than a machine. A girl’s voice arrived via the shipwide broadcast while the transformation occurred. “Dog…can you hear me?” It was Hazel. “I can, Hazel. …Let me be blunt – that craft is dying. Can you tell?” The Ton conversion caused by the emblem moved past the armor and altered the power system as well. “Yes. It’s making some weird noises, so I had a feeling.” The changes began at the limbs. Light sprayed from the joints for just an instant and that light dissipated to reveal an entirely different shape. The connections made with cylinders were now an actual metal body held together by giant white tendons. This created a fusion that was not quite biological and not quite mechanical. The Götter Kanone and secondary cockpit on the back began to transform with ether light, as did the extra armor for the wing expansion located between those other two components. “Then I have one question, Hazel. Do you want to be the Messiah? We’re looking at a pretty literal fulfillment of the prophecy here, so if you choose to abandon the Sylphide and return home, the prophecy will be fulfilled.” “…!?” Ether light swelled out from the back of the shoulders and branched off into a top, middle, and bottom sections on either side. The six lights jutted out as giant fang-like wings. These were the six wings of a Seraph, a powerful type of Nein Engel. “Also, it’s looking like the Sylphide was made for this purpose. To create the Messiah, I mean. So how about it, Hazel. It might feel nice to be a Messiah.” “That would mean abandoning the Sylphide though, wouldn’t it? And it would mean this prosthetic eye is being used by the state for that prophecy, right? Also…” She took a breath. “What do you mean the Sylphide was made to create the Messiah!? This thing has worked so hard to search out the Messiah and take her to outer space. Are you saying it was actually made to do something else entirely?” “It looks that way, yes. The Sylphide might want to go to space and protect the Messiah, but it was made and activated to fulfill the prophecy.” “Are you serious!?” The light intricately weaved the metal together to create the impressive wings. The base of the wings was blue and the wings themselves were yellow. They looked like enormous fangs standing up toward the sky. “Then are you willing to die along with the Sylphide when it breaks apart? Since it was built to be used by the state, you sympathize with it so much you want to die with it?” “Well…” Berger smiled bitterly at that. “You’re still a child, Hazel. I said I only have one question, so you don’t have to answer or even think about that one.” Blau Löwe’s facial devices were bathed in light as a mask-like face was created. The conduits extending from the back of the head became tendons and the radiator tubes became long hair that danced in the wind. “Dog.” Her sigh reached him as static. “Why are you doing this? Who even are you?” Blau Löwe…no, Luft Fang raised its head to look outside. “I’m…well, a god.” “A god!? I’d heard you from Aerial City.” “That’s right. My mom was a human prostitute and pure humans are pretty rare in London, a city of Heidengeists and gods.” Its left arm had finished transforming, but it did not move. Instead, Luft Fang clenched its right hand once, twice, thrice. “Then your father was a god?” “Yeah. Which may explain why my mom was fond of saying her customers were all-knowing.” Berger sighed, paused for a moment, and then continued. “Wait, no. She said ‘the customer is always right’. That’s not quite the same thing, is it?” His joke earned only silence until that was broken by Bermark. “Someone throw that man off my ship.” Berger ignored him and took another step forward. The 8-yard metal giant was truly walking now. One step. “Hazel, keep in mind that the Sylphide will die eventually.” Two steps. “And it is unsure if it should obey its machine instincts and fly into space with you or if it should obey the duty given by its creator and protect the Messiah. None of that has to do with what the state wants.” Three steps. “Hazel Mirildorf, what will you do? You are not the Messiah yet, so will you continue deceiving the Sylphide?” On the fourth step, it fully passed through the virtual barrier. Luft Fang stood on the edge of the opened cargo bay door and it spread its wings while its Panzer Kleid flapped in the blowing wind. The 6 wings spread out wide and air gathered in the gaps between their metal feathers. It prepared to take flight. The wings’ air intake produced a whistling loud enough to be heard over the general roar surrounding everything. Luft Fang’s body began to shake, but it did not take flight yet. More air pushed in behind it to create a vortex. The shipwide broadcast could barely be heard over the wind in the cargo bay. “The V-0 is approaching! We have visual confirmation!!” The open cargo bay door gave a view of a boxy black shape positioned at the center point between the dark sky and the sea. Luft Fang’s eyes stared straight at its opponent. A black craft rose from below as if to fly right into the center of the Luft Fang’s vision. It was a König Pseudo-Drach. Its Luftram was active and its canopy was missing, giving a view of Schweitzer piloting it. They were ready to go and the girl’s voice spoke on the communicator. “Dog!! I don’t know. I don’t know what I should do! That’s the only answer I have right now! This craft is trying to protect me, but it’s also trying to fly into outer space with me onboard.” “Remember, Hazel. You said you didn’t want to run away.” “But you said any country I went to would only try to use me. And the Sylphide is the same, so I…” “Shut up.” Berger cut off the girl’s doubts. “Be destroyed or be the Messiah? There must be an answer beyond those boring paths of death or subjugation. You need to seek that out, Hazel!!” He said nothing more. Luft Fang remained silent as well. The giant fusion of metal and man silently jumped out into empty air. The six wings on its back closed as if beating at the air and Luft Fang began to fly. ### Part 4 The battle grew intense from the word go. The V-0 was more than 100 yards long and it spewed bullets from the diffusion Kunst Eyes on its upper surface to attack the Grösse Panzer approaching from head on. The V-0 had been originally built as the same model of ship as Silber. It was a strategic transport ship capable of ultra-high-speed movement. It was loaded with divine spell explosives, its autopilot would take it to the target, and its weapons would automatically intercept any unexpected attacks it encountered on the way. It was an unmanned auto-ramming ship. A total of 48 freezing rounds loudly burst from the six Eyes on its upper surface. Luft Fang responded by drawing its sword. Ether flowed through the drawn sword and the Ober Emblem affected it just like the Panzer itself. Light raced along the steel of the blade and it transformed into solidified light. Electricity erupted from the blade like a mini-waterfall. The fang jutting out into the sky was truly a bolt of lightning. A horizontal swing of that lightning instantly vaporized the freezing rounds. The electrification sent smoke into the salty air and the Luft Fang flew forward through that. Their relative speeds instantly brought the giant ship right in front of it. The V-0 was flying just off the ocean surface to avoid detection. It was less than 50 yards up. At that altitude, no enemy could fly below it to attack from there. That was because the slightest maneuvering mistake would mean crashing. But the Luft Fang did not hesitate to accelerate even more with its wings. It flew forward. The V-0 responded by firing again. The unmanned auto-ramming ship fired a much denser barrage toward the approaching Luft Fang. The Luft Fang flapped the blue and yellow wings on its back. With a roar, the forward-moving Luft Fang flew upwards. A moment later, a white cloud burst in an explosion of air. The barrage of bullets passed by below the Luft Fang. The steel ship was now dead ahead, so the Luft Fang twisted its body to stand upright in midair. It swung down the lightning sword with its right arm while slightly applying its brakes. The wind whipped up and the V-0 passed by the Luft Fang. The Luft Fang used that movement to let its line of light slice into the V-0’s top surface from front to back. Sparks flew and the wind roared. The Luft Fang immediately circled behind the V-0 and resumed accelerating so it would not be left behind. Two of the Kunst Eyes on top of the V-0 had burst into flames. But this did no damage to the ship itself. A line had been burnt into its upper armor, but the attack had not reached the internal structure. The way the armor panels burnt away suggested the armor was designed to automatically detach from within when it self-destructed. It was tough on the outside but fragile on the inside. Its transport ship design worked well as a bomb. The Luft Fang repeatedly accelerated to make up for its reduced speed and the distance between them. The V-0’s side Kunst Eyes began to fire backwards. A barrage of freezing rounds flew behind it, but a few of them flew straight down toward the ocean. Once those freezing rounds hit the water, the pillars of water were transformed into hunks of ice that were then shattered by the V-0’s shockwave. Chunks of ice as large as several feet long flew through the air. Crashing into one of those would be devastating, so they effectively sealed off that area of the sky. The Luft Fang spread its main wings toward the cold and starry sky. It was preparing to accelerate. The atmosphere warped and the air behind it grew distorted. Then the Luft Fang flew along a course that avoided both the barrage of bullets and the ice pillars. It flew down to skim just above the ocean. It was oriented face down with its chest just barely avoiding the tops of the waves. The wings on its back caused it to fall down chest first. Its main wings flapped, its side wings spread to improve stability, and its small wings made minute adjustments to correct its angle. The Luft Fang prevented itself from falling while flying ever forward. Back behind its feet, the waves burst up into the air. This was the pitch-black airspace of the Arctic Ocean. The Luft Fang caught the darkness on its wings to race through the sky. It slipped below the ice pillars launched upwards by the V-0. It made a slight course correction to the left so it would pass below the V-0. It flew right on in. The great pressure of the atmosphere and the wall of air pressure from the V-0 were right in front of it. It opened its mouth and roared. The cry of man and machine sounded like a lion’s roar. The lion never ceased accelerating while it roared. The shockwave produced by a strike of its sword shattered and negated the wall of air in front of it. The Luft Fang flew forward. It moved to the starless darkness of the shadow cast by the V-0. It flew right below the V-0. The giant ship produced a rumbling of air that slammed into the Luft Fang and threatened to shatter its wings. But the ether light coming from the wings solidly preserved the wings and allowed it to continue fighting. It looked straight ahead. Even after accumulating so much speed, it worked to fly even faster. A black craft was visible ahead in the gap between the V-0 and the ocean. That was the König Pseudo-Drach. Bullets flew toward the black craft from the top of the V-0. The König Pseudo-Drach was a diversion meant to protect the Luft Fang. For a brief moment, the Luft Fang reduced its acceleration. But a moment later, it fearlessly spread its wings. Even with that ceiling so low overhead, it spread its 6 yellow wings toward the sky. It soared. The wings produced a metallic sound. It built up pressure. The spread wings gathered air. And it moved forward with a roar. That one sound continued on and on and on. It shot forward like it had kicked off the ocean surface. The explosion of air it produced caused even the massive V-0 to shake. But the Luft Fang’s flight did not end there. It shot out from below the ship and ascended while slicing through the ship’s boxy nose with its lightning sword. The ocean was split by the shaking of the air as it ascended and waves burst up into the sky. Before the spray could reach it, the Luft Fang moved up above the V-0. It twisted around to change direction and face the V-0. The ship focused its bullets on it. An unmanned barrage was fired on the giant that had ears of its own and could race freely through the sky. The Luft Fang was currently rotating around with its large wings, so it could not fully avoid the high-speed barrage of noise and light. The flame bullets hit, producing deafening explosions. The noise reverberated off into the distance while components flew from the Luft Fang. Threads of fire seemed to grow out from the black explosion and metal parts flew along after them. The V-0 did not stop firing. It tried to fly right through the explosive flames spread out before it. But then a few of the components, which had become little more than flying fireballs, did something somewhat different. Most of them were falling down to the ocean and would be blown away once hit by the wall of air created by the V-0’s movement, but some of the fire flew perpendicularly out to the right of the V-0. About 30 yards to the V-0’s starboard, the Luft Fang hung in the sky. Its left arm had been destroyed and was spewing smoke, but its Ober Emblem was still active. Bluish-white ether light drew out a large 3D object in the space between the explosive flames and the Luft Fang. The orientation of that space had been instantaneously reversed. The V-0 reflexively fired all its Kunst Eyes toward the Luft Fang, but then the König Pseudo-Drach flew forward from behind the Luft Fang. Schweitzer was standing up in the canopy-less cockpit. Schweitzer returned his right arm to the controls. The Luft Fang flapped its wings in response. It flew in a beautiful arc up above the incoming barrage. It held its lightning sword at its hip and flew straight toward the V-0. ### Part 5 The Luft Fang crashed shoulder-first into the V-0. Metal was smashed and the Ober Emblem burst with a spray of light. The giant weighing more than 20 tons used its inertial force to break through the V-0’s armor. Even the toughest armor was meaningless once an opening was torn in it. The Grösse Panzer’s weight and momentum opened a massive hole. The Kunst Eyes on top of the V-0 lost sight of the enemy and began to turn uncertainly as if tilting their heads. After a few seconds, all of the Kunst Eyes exploded as if something had thrust up at them from below. With a deafening roar of destruction, a 20-yard blade of darkness burst up through the V-0’s upper armor and sliced through the wind. That was Gelegenheit. The V-0 was sliced through every which way before rapidly falling silent. It suddenly lost speed and smoke erupted from the damaged portions. The most smoke came from the hole the Luft Fang had entered through. A small figure jumped out from that hole. The one-armed youth in a black coat was Dog Berger. He ran to the left atop the V-0 and leaped out into the open air with Gelegenheit in his right hand. The König Pseudo-Drach flew up from below to catch him on its back as if scooping him out of the air. The black craft accelerated out ahead of the V-0. The giant self-destruction weapon slowly descended behind it. It would soon crash into the ocean below. ### 460. Chapter 9: The Wind Rises 12/21/1937 16:59 – 17:41 I think I will give an answer An answer to the question “Do you or do you not have the strength needed to give an answer?” ### Moon One useful fact was discovered during the Berlin Conflict of 1935. The moon’s identity was revealed through observations made by P. Wagner’s group. “The moon has a core made of spirit stone.” It has long been known that moonlight increases the power of Heidengeists and also abnormally increases the transformation efficiency of spirit fuel, which is created from spirit stones, sometimes to the point of losing all control. Spirit stones are a crystallized form of ether and their Ton structure is almost entirely unified and static, but when they resonate with something, their Tons will rapidly change, causing them to transform in some way. Thus, when exposed to moonlight, spirit stones and other ether products will resonate with the moon’s Tons since the moon is itself a giant spirit stone. ### Part 1 The two aboard the König Pseudo-Drach did not see the giant explosion behind them. They simply heard the extended rumbling and noted a slight ripple in the clouds surrounding them. They were more focused on the two crafts up ahead. The one in the lead was the Sylphide which continued to fly even with its armor stripped away. The one in pursuit was the Silber. The König Pseudo-Drach ascended and gave a scream of acceleration after arriving behind the Silber. It used the Silber’s shockwave buffering field to assist its movement. The air shook and the sky gradually grew darker. The three crafts soared through the night. There was nothing but ocean to see below. They were in the northern sea near the North Pole. Just as that ocean grew fully dark, the Silber began to change course. It tilted its nose somewhat upwards to ascend. The two in the König Pseudo-Drach adjusted their course in the same way, turning to look up into the thick clouds overhead. A transmission reached them. “There is snow falling near the pole. That will hinder our engines, so we will move above the clouds. After that, it will take almost 3 minutes to reach the pole area. The Silber will take the lead until then.” “Excellent work, Bermark.” “No, it is just that the Silber was not designed to make a vertical ascent. Plus, the task of killing Sir Marsch is too much of a burden for me.” Bermark fell silent there and Schweitzer eventually spoke in a vanishingly quiet voice. “Berger.” “Yeah?” “If Marsch did set all this up to singlehandedly fulfill the conditions needed to create the Messiah, does it mean he had not given up on us and he was in fact working to help Germany?” “Most likely. He was badly injured and knew he couldn’t fully control the Sylphide’s mind, but he took the gamble anyway. His pride as a creator told him the activated Sylphide would search out the Messiah implant, take it into itself in order to evolve, and thus create the true Messiah.” Berger took a breath. “But the Sylphide doesn’t need a pilot and is guided by its mechanical instincts and mission, so it’s trying to fly into space. That’s why Marsch sent me the 9th Section of the Ruling King needed to create the Messiah.” “Even though the prophecy’s fulfilment might have originally been meant to take a different form?” “Marsch probably thought the same thing, but he chose this destiny instead. He chose this destiny where the Sylphide is forced to sacrifice itself and either I or that girl has to see it through to the end.” “Berger.” “?” “Was Marsch’s will already inside the Sylphide when it was hit by the military’s Nein Ton rounds? Did he intentionally let that happen so it would fall apart like this?” Berger narrowed his eyes and wordlessly tapped on the seat in front of him. Schweitzer accelerated as if in response. The König Pseudo-Drach ascended and Bermark’s voice arrived over the communicator again. “We have the Sylphide on our radar. Hard to say if it will fall apart first or reach outer space first.” The clouds approached from above like fog. They flew right into them. Their vision was dyed white. The air was more frozen than simply cold, so small particles flew into them. The white fog was too thick to breathe, but they plowed through it anyway. Then their view grew pitch black. They had burst through the top of the clouds. They could once more see the Silber’s stern up ahead. The König Pseudo-Drach rolled to the right and shimmering heat burst from its rear as it moved up alongside the Silber. “Continue on ahead,” said Bermark. “Please hurry, Lieutenant.” Berger gave acknowledgment and Schweitzer expressed his appreciation. Then Berger sank deep in his seat and looked up into the sky. The stars twinkled coldly in the vast empty sky. He wrapped his remaining right arm around himself and muttered a name. “Hazel.” The wind blew and there was no response, but he continued anyway. “I’m on my way to see your answer, Hazel Mirildorf.” “Why?” This time he received an unexpected response. “Why do you want to know my answer that badly!?” “That’s an easy one. Because the rest of us have too much blood on our hands to give an answer. So…” He was cut off by Bermark’s voice over the communicator. “The Sylphide is incoming! From directly below us!!” ### Part 2 The clouds burst apart and the blue blade of a craft flew out. It was basically right on top of them. “Schweitzer!!” shouted Berger. “It is already in ascent position!!” The König Pseudo-Drach let its rear slide with downwards inertia while the nose turned up. It also forcibly slid to the side and made a wide turn to rid itself of its forward momentum. Then it ascended. The Sylphide was there only about 200 yards ahead of them. It felt close enough to reach out and touch it. “Its acceleration is incredible!” Schweitzer was correct. The König Pseudo-Drach boasted the greatest speed in the German military, but the Sylphide was ascending just as quickly. The ocean was behind them, an expanse of clouds stretched endlessly on either side of them, and the dark heavens full of nothing but stars awaited out ahead. The Sylphide soared upwards as if attempting to tear a hole in the dark heavens above. “That thing is desperate to get up there.” Before Berger was even done speaking, a shining substance scattered behind the Sylphide. By the time he realized it was armor, it had already fallen past them. He maintained his calm tone even in the pressure of their acceleration. “It’s falling apart. This is its final flight.” “Dog!” shouted Hazel over the communicator. “Are you chasing after it!?” “Yeah, I’ll be in arm’s reach soon. Shall I grab your butt to prove it?” “Please stop! It’s no use chasing after it, so stop!” He shook his head, but her shouting continued since she could not see that. “It’s no use. No matter where I go, no one can…” Her voice faded away and he cut her off with a shout. “Is giving up and dying your answer? I’ve head enough of your childish complaints, Hazel!” He laughed. “Did you ever bring these objections to your dad – to Oscar Mirildorf? Outside your dreams, that is!?” He distinctly heard her gasp over the communicator and he touched the pendant hanging from his neck as he continued. “Let’s leave this place, Hazel. I’m sure your dad will welcome you. He hasn’t abandoned you! …Or do you want to die with the Sylphide here!?” “I don’t. But…” “But?” “But how are you going to stop this craft!? He protects me because he needs my eye! And he’s only ever been used by people, just like me!” “That isn’t an issue. Even if the Sylphide needs you…” He tried to say more, but his lips came to a stop. He erased it all with a bitter smile. She soon protested. “Dog!! Why!? Why are you so insistent on this? I…” “The thing is, there’s one thing I’m the very best in the world at: doing everything I can to avoid having to take responsibility for something later on.” “Have you been that way since that day 2 years ago when Eryngium died!?” The König Pseudo-Drach slowed its acceleration when she asked that. Berger immediately kicked at the seat in front of him, but the acceleration did not return. Just then, a power conduit fell from above and grazed the König Pseudo-Drach. They pursued the Sylphide without accelerating. A voice reached Berger from that somewhat distant craft. “Dog! Please tell me why you’re the only one trying to get me out of here. Why do you keep rebuking me and telling me to leave instead of closing me up somewhere like everyone else is trying to do?” “Because I made a promise.” “Your promise to Eryngium? Can’t you tell me what that was?” “I can’t. Because it was a personal thing.” He spat out the words while kicking on the front seat again. But Schweitzer still did not accelerate. Instead, he spoke. “Long ago, when the Heidengeist Messiah was unsure if she should use her power for the people, she was visited by a human youth with a divine name who persuaded her with a single statement.” This made Berger quickly sit up and try to stop the man’s words. “And 3 years ago, a certain woman made a special promise with Berger that she did not make with the rest of us.” But he could not stop it in time. Schweitzer’s voice rang in the slight silence of their slowed acceleration. “Let us fulfill the prophecy here. …She had Berger promise one simple thing.” He took a breath. “To remain true to himself.” ### Part 3 Hazel looked up from the navigator’s seat. She could see the night sky out the window in front of her. But that window slowly vanished from view. Her vision was being taken from her. It happened quickly and that eloquently stated that the Sylphide had begun accelerating in earnest. But she managed to undo her four-point belt by touch alone. She could hear a voice from the communicator. Berger’s voice. “Now that you’ve heard that, you’ll have to do this without my help, Hazel. Can you hear me?” “I can!” “Then never again whine like an abandoned cat!!” She sprang to her feet. Her vision only showed her the night sky, but her vision was not the whole of her existence. Her real senses told her that her feet were standing on the cockpit’s floor. What she could not see was the true reality. “I’m sorry.” She spoke quietly while reaching into her shirt’s breast pocket. The knife she had used at breakfast was there. “Please go on alone.” With that, she held the knife in a backhand grip. And after a single breath, she plunged the blade into her own right eye. “I’m sorry!” ### Part 4 Just as Hazel shouted those words, the Sylphide’s speed dropped up ahead of the König Pseudo-Drach. The two men inside chose that moment to accelerate. “Well done, Hazel Mirildorf!!” shouted Schweitzer with his hand on the control column. He called her name and Berger nodded while leaning out from the cockpit and raising his own voice. “Destiny is something you reach out and grab for yourself!” He smiled. “Come, Hazel Mirildorf! The destiny before you is one of neither death nor subjugation!” “This was different from two years ago,” commented Schweitzer. “Damn right it was. Hazel didn’t choose death and she didn’t rely on us either!” “That last point is frankly a disappointment.” With that, Schweitzer continued accelerating. ### Part 5 She cut out her eye. The sound of fibers being cut rang directly in her ears and she initially felt like something was sticking into her brain. There was pain. Pain filled her right eye before tearing through her entire head. But she did not scream and she pulled the knife out before throwing it away. She ignored the metallic clunk behind her and looked forward with her left eye while holding her right eye. She saw the control panel in front of her. Her vision had returned. She took a breath. Blood spurted from her right eye and dripped down in time with her pulse, but she ignored that as she removed her bloody hand from the eye and placed both hands on the control panel. “I’m sorry! One day…once I can use this power – our power – as it’s meant to be used, I will come to you as a Messiah who isn’t being used by anyone and I won’t run away.” She coughed. “So…so please go on alone for now. Please.” Blood dripped from her right eye onto the control panel and splattered there. The pain was excruciating but intermittent. However, she saw something odd through the window when she looked up with her left eye. The night sky had come to a stop. The Sylphide was no longer moving. “…” Speechless, she heard a sound like splitting wood behind her. She looked back to find the cockpit’s rear wall had opened and the wind was blowing in. Fog instantly filled the cockpit and her one-eyed vision grew white. “You’re letting me leave?” The air conditioning turned on full blast to blow away the cold wind. It was warmly sending her outside. She lowered her eyebrows somewhat but forced a smile. She looked to the photo and bracelet on the control panel. After some brief hesitation, she undid the bandanna tying her hair back and grabbed the photo and bracelet in her other hand. She wrapped them in the bandanna while making sure not to stain them with her bloody hand. With the bandanna containing them like an envelope, she placed them back on the control panel. “I will be back someday.” With that, she turned around. That was the end of it. She did not look back. She ran toward the back wall. She ran outside. The sounds of splitting metal came from all over the craft as if pursuing her footsteps. The Sylphide was breaking apart. ### Part 6 The König Pseudo-Drach slowly circled around the Sylphide which had come to a stop in midair with its nose pointed upwards, so it easily caught the girl who left the Sylphide. The one-armed Heidengeist youth in a black coat caught the Heidengeist girl who jumped down from midair. He gently held the one-eyed girl while standing on the back of the gliding König Pseudo-Drach. Hazel looked up while Berger wrapped her in his coat. She saw that blue blade of a craft in the night sky. It began accelerating even as it scattered parts. It instantly brushed aside a film of water vapor as it broke the sound barrier. It unleashed a roar and left behind a white dragon-like trail as it grew smaller and smaller in her vision. The light spraying in the sky had to be the Sylphide’s parts. “Go for it.” That was all she could say while narrowing her eyes. Then she saw a small explosion in the direction of the north star at the peak of the northern sky. The Sylphide had been destroyed. That light briefly lit up the sky and those looking up at it. “Ah.” Hazel’s voice caught in her throat, but Berger spoke to her. “Keep watching to the end.” Before he was even done speaking, she heard the roar of the explosion descending from the sky and… Orbs of light burst from the site of the explosion. There were five in all. They were brighter than the stars but far smaller and they flew forcefully in different directions before vanishing. “It cast off its shell of wind to return home,” said Berger. Hazel nodded. The wind blew and she belatedly shivered from the cold. Her eye turned toward the König Pseudo-Drach’s cockpit. It was meant for two. “Um, Dog.” She looked up to ask him if three would really fit and found his face right there. Before she could even question it, he stole her lips. “–––––!?” She panicked and her heart raced even in the cold. A moment later, there was a small explosion of air and water vapor scattered in every direction to reveal her Flektieren. Her cat form and her clothes fell onto the König Pseudo-Drach’s back and Berger picked them both up in one hand. Schweitzer looked back from the cockpit as if to tell them to settle down. “You see, she turns into a cat when she’s tired or whatever,” explained Berger. “But this thing’s only made for two, so that works out.” Hazel immediately bit his hand hard and a yelp left his mouth. Schweitzer frowned at the commotion but also tilted the control column forward. The end of the cloudy ocean came into view where the moon was visible low in the sky. “The prophecy, hm?” Schweitzer looked back to Berger and cat Hazel. “Two half-humans makes one full one, I suppose.” He sang the Text to himself. The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home “The Messiah implant was destroyed by this girl, but was the prophecy fulfilled? What does that mean, Schweitzer? Is this good enough for Hazel to become the Messiah who will save Germany?” “I do not know. But the prophecy was fulfilled.” “No, not yet, Schweitzer,” corrected Berger. “Hazel still has to return home, but where is that home? It’s not in Germany. You need to follow your leader’s orders and fulfill the prophecy.” “That is an awful excuse, one-armed one.” With that, Schweitzer faced forward and leaned the control column over even more. They began to descend and the Silber caught up with them and flew alongside them. The colors of the night were all that remained in the sky. ### 461. Final Chapter: The Wind Arrives 01/05/1938 03:10 – 03:17 The true beginning is yet to come. The beginning of the words Of the illusions And of the reality Starlight fell on a chilly night. Hazel stood alone in front of Zurich Station in northern Switzerland. Her hair was groomed, she wore a shirt, skirt, and coat, and she held a travel bag. “…” She silently viewed her surroundings. The large roundabout was cold and deserted and the shopping district across the road was entirely dark. The clock on the roof of the 2-story station building told her it was currently 3:10 in the morning. No trains were running at this hour. She stood alone, waiting for someone. She suddenly pulled a letter from her pocket. “So it’s been about 2 hours since I was dumped across the border with some money and this guide.” Her right eye still had a scar on the eyelid, but there was a blue human eye within. The blue eye did not dilate as she focused on things. She could not actually see with it. But she turned both eyes toward the station’s clock and silently watched it. The long hand had just moved. She hesitated for a moment. Just then, a car drove up the road in front of the station. She did not recognize it, but her expression changed when she saw the driver through the windshield. “…!” Joy filled her face, but she lowered her head long enough to erase that and then looked up again. After another pause, she no longer hesitated to smile. She began walking instead of just waiting for the car to approach. She walked forward. The wind suddenly blew as if to accompany her. It was a powerful gust that rattled the station’s windows. The wind brushed across her cheek as it roared by. She knew the name of that powerful wind surrounding her. “Goodbye.” She spoke that word and stopped walking. Her skirt fluttered and she turned around to look up into the night sky. She saw the north star shining at the peak of the northern sky. “…” The car came to a stop behind her. She heard the door open and close, but she did not look back. She continued staring up into the northern sky. A deep and familiar male voice reached her from behind. “Sorry I’m late, Hazel.” He spoke to her and slowly – almost cautiously – hugged her from behind, but still she did not turn around. She only looked up into the night sky. She stared and stared. The voice behind her guessed the reason why. “Are you crying?” She did not answer that question, but there were tears running down her face. But only from her right blue eye. “The Wind.” She dropped her bag and tearfully raised her voice while still looking into the sky. “The Wind is blowing!” Her tears would not stop. She cried on and on in the blowing wind while staring at the north star. Tears fell from her right eye as she told herself she would eventually travel there again. ### Closing Statements April, 1938 The German government declared itself to be the Greater Germanic Reich and swore it would develop the nation without allowing any foreign interference. The Panzerpolis Project was also revealed then and a fixation of pure blood spread quickly throughout the German people. However, that project was no mere symbol and its details were widely spread by the schools and other public institutions. Meanwhile, the Geheimnis Agency remained hidden and it was all carried out as a national project led by the government. Thus began the answer that binds humanity, steel, and even time. 1/10/2000. On the night a certain girl once wept. -Michael Schrier ### 462. Afterword Someone once said this to me: “Gwahh, a second volume!? Nwoh, hiyahhh! God, I wish I had a maid!” Okay, sorry. That’s a lie. No one said that. I’m in a bit of a mood due to lack of sleep, but I also feel like that’s always the case, so let’s just go with it. (Am I making any sense?) Anyway, I somehow got Berlin 2 written. This is my 10th book. But they say you should have 10 titles under your belt if you want to call yourself an author, so I think I’m going to keep working at it. This one was set in Germany just before the war begins and it follows Hazel and Berger learning more after the past volume’s 1937 and teasing, cajoling, sleeping next to, and slapping the other while they pursue an incident related to the Panzerpolis Project. I will write more about those two in the future. They are the City Series’ first multi-work protagonists. I’m considering writing their story all the way through the incident in ’43, so I hope you will continue reading if I do. I’ve gotten pretty selfish when it comes to the illustrations and such, but that’s thanks to all of your support. Thank you so much. Now for the usual phone call with a friend. “Okay, it’s your turn again, H-kun. If you missed out on saying something last time, now’s your chance. Although we’re doing this over email, so it’s not really a conversation.” “What, you’re chickening out of doing the 8-year age gap? You’re just gonna tease us and then yank it away from us? I read the text, but if you’re going 18+, you need to really go all in, y’know?” “This is not 18+!! Besides, if I was doing that, I’d really push the envelope and make it 48+.” “Sure, sure, sure. Enough talk. Anyway, here’s a sneak peek at the next episode of Berlin-san: “1. Hazel in a panic. “2. Berger on summer vacation. “3. Lowenzahn and the two balls.” “Stop making stuff up. And stop eating up precious page space with a list. Wait until the next time so the readers can catch up.” “Damn, there’s so much I want to say, but fine. I’ll leave it at this.” You’d better. Now, the latest information. Currently (October 2000), the illustration novel Image City SF, depicting the City world’s San Francisco, is being serialized in Dengeki hp, a novel magazine published seasonally by MediaWorks. You can regularly see City-related visuals there, so if you’re interested and have the time, please check Dengeki hp at the bookstore. (Wait, I didn’t actually tell you to buy it, did I?) That’s what I’ve been working on lately. My background music this time was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, the Emperor Concerto. It fits because of the emperor name, right? Now, Hazel was teased a lot by the older guys this time, but I was wondering… “Who wanted to become what?” Okay, the next one will be Berlin again. July 2000. A morning of too little sleep. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu Page Okay, I sent in so, so many illustrations this time. What did you think of them? Hazel-san was always crying in the illustrations, so I hope she gets to be happy. Until next time. -Satoyasu ### 463. Chapter 1: The Wheel Activates 7/26/1939 20:31 – 21:07 People have begun to gather At the place Where it all began For everyone, for me ### Panzerpolis Project A plan to place 412 Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors across Germany to modify the ley lines and alter the Tons of Germany as a whole. Including secondary factors, the following three stages will be completed: Stage 1: The climate and the people’s Tons will be tuned for ley line stabilization. Stage 2: The stabilized ley lines will be extracted from the acceleration reactors and processed into high-purity Phlogiston. Stage 3: That Phlogiston will be used to build city defense weapons and to construct Germania. According to the German military’s announcement, the Panzerpolis Project’s name is in reference to Germania from the Stage 3. ### 464. Chapter 2: The Wheel Begins 7/27/1939 16:52-20:28 I met someone I hadn’t seen in a while But instead of redoing things We are slowly starting something new Even if I’m not entirely happy about it ### Geheimnis Agency HQ The Geheimnis Agency was formed from the guardian knights of various regions around Germany and its HQ is located on the east side of the Black Forest. The white-walled fortress is made from three enormous buildings. A test site built and abandoned by a past politician was used as the foundation and the buildings themselves are a collection of Ober Geheimnis. This leads to the occasional appearance of never-before-seen passageways and rooms inside and the method of controlling that is currently only known to the upper levels of the Agency. The HQ was originally built for use by their army division and was thus built around a Grösse Panzer hangar, but the air force division was also given focus starting in the 30s and a large runway was constructed. The Neylor family’s Sofort Leser, who commands the Agency, and Graham Karlsruhe, the second in command, are always present at the HQ, so it acts as a home base for the entire Agency as well as a command post. Only descendants of a knight’s bloodline are allowed inside and the influential citizens who live nearby keep silent about its presence because they know what the Agency’s role is. ### 465. Chapter 3: The Wheel Runs 7/27/1939 – 7/28/1939 22:08 – 03:41 Suddenly, I remember my role I remember my purpose in this world But That realization comes with fear How can everyone else accept it so easily? ### Dragons and the Geheimnis Agency 1000 years ago, the Messiah used a soaring dragon to conquer Germany with a one-armed youth by her side, so dragons receive special treatment within the Geheimnis Agency when compared to other Heidengeists. The order of knights from 1000 years ago bore a lion emblem as they raced across the ground while the dragon named Sylphide conquered the sky. Due to that, the Geheimnis Agency’s Grösse Panzers generally take the name of lions and their aircrafts take the name of dragons. Also, their emblem is a wedge shape with a dragon on the top and a lion on the bottom. The Geheimnis Agency’s approval only falls on the great and wise dragons, not the wild and animalistic ones. Thus, they eradicate the lesser dragons for being a stain on the reputation of dragons as a whole. During the construction of the Geheimnis Agency’s North Base #9 in 1936, a green dragon was born from the ley line disturbance caused by the construction. The dragon emerged into the city from an old abandoned test site below Neuschwanstein Castle but was defeated by two Geheimnis Agents who rushed in. ### 466. Chapter 4: The Wheel Accelerates 07/28/1939 09:11 – 20:18 We have a future because we have a past But some people hide their past Do I do that? Or can I coexist with my past? ### World War One A European war that began in 1912 with the assassination of an Austrian Archduke and ended in 1919. The most notable features of the war were the conscription of ordinary citizens for international war, the largescale battles, and the many new weapons introduced to the battlefield. A soldier no longer needed to be a great warrior to slaughter great numbers in war. Germany’s forces were focused on Panzers, but they were pushed back by the organized destructive power of tanks, fighter craft, machineguns, and field guns. They were forced to reconsider what armaments they used and the Panzer Kavaliers lost their prestige. Influenced by the Russian Revolution that occurred during the war, a coup d’état broke out among the soldiers and the rise of the ordinary citizens led to division and the ultimate end of the war. As the commander in chief and a symbol of the old order, Kaiser Wilhelm II feared a reprisal from the ordinary citizens after the war, so he fled the country in what is known as the Emperor’s Exile. ### 467. Chapter 5: The Wheel Races 07/28/1939 21:42 – 23:21 There are people I have never met There are worlds I have never seen And now They appear before me Suddenly and forcefully ### AIF The Antiwar Independent Force. Established in 1934. Originated as a civilian intelligence agency funded to keep tabs on Europe by some capitalists who moved to the US to escape the tension in Europe and learned that Sofort Lesers around the world had prophesied the imminent destruction of the world. The situations they found often required taking direct action and they received corporate sponsors seeking to receive intelligence from European governments and militaries, so they secretly established a combat force meant to correct the world’s power balance. Their role is to seal away Ober Geheimnis – relics and technologies from a previous world – and to deter any excessive military actions or rampant war profiteering. This force was established in ’37, but the process of putting together an actual force and working out the internal command structure meant they could not reveal the force’s presence to the governments, militaries, and corporations they worked with until ’39. Their main force was primarily made up of Heidengeists and, in ’39, they held a training ground in the US state of Arizona with enough ground and aerial troops for four divisions. ### 468. Chapter 6: The Wheel Leaps 07/29/1939 00:05 – 00:25 Someone once told me To find the answer But when was I given The formula to find it? ### Fünf Leithammel Army Division Chief: “Eisen Panzer” Karl Schmitt Air Force Division Chief: “Standhaft” Herbert Müller Naval Division Chief: “Wasser Meister” Lillie Telmetz Intelligence Division Chief: “Hellsehen” Galue Witzmann Development Division Chief: “Dachs” Konrad Elrich The chiefs of the Geheimnis Agency’s five primary divisions – Army, Air Force, Navy, Intelligence, and Development – are known as the Fünf Leithammel or Five Great Peaks. The intelligence and development divisions do not participate in combat, but all of the chiefs possess some kind of skill equal to the agency’s commander and lieutenant, which they use to operate their division in their own unique way. Their role is primarily to lead and operate their division, but when commanding on-site, their duty as a Neue Kavalier is to fight on the front line and never let their power flag except when confronting an enemy on their own level. They are the great warriors of the modern battlefield. But even their power only allows tactical-level victories, a lesson learned the hard way during the Great War, so starting in ’39, they were restricted to localized combat missions meant to intercept any and all troops attempting to enter Germany. ### 469. Chapter 7: The Wheel Soars 07/29/1939 00:31 – 00:59 Everyone begins to run I join them But not to follow them To reach what it is I desire ### European Tuning and Busting European Tuning and Busting is a fusion of European emblemology with the Wuxing philosophy brought over from the East, so its character differs somewhat from Eastern Tuning and Busting. It is systemized, it has a clear goal, and most of its uses fall into one of two categories: casting or combat. Borderson remained the leading family for nearly 1000 years, but most of them were killed by Heidengeists in ’21 and they lost their base near the Black Forest in the south. The head of the family, Reichle Borderson, was effectively lost in ’33, bringing an end to the direct bloodline. The Borderson territory was lost and all that remains of them are the hidden villages that shelter the very same Heidengeists the family once hunted. Those villages located across Germany are the only place in the country where Heidengeists are allowed to live and they act as sanctuaries where all conflict is forbidden. The Maldrick family took the title of leading Buster family due to their bloodline and abilities, but Alfred Maldrick, the second son, showed greater ability in hunting dragons and other Buster activities than the actual heir, so they still have not properly established their position even now in ’39. ### 470. Chapter 8: The Wheel Rises 07/29/1939 01:02 – 02:17 Can you hear it? Strange how asking that question leads to the answer So reach out Out ahead With destiny by your side ### The Millennium The thousand years of peace promised from the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire created by Charlemagne and established by Empire Otto I. A concept born from the story where the Messiah, after subjugating the chaotic German lands, promised a millennium of peace to the emperor and then went to sleep in the Black Forest with the one-armed young man. The thousand years is said to begin in the year 962, when the Holy Roman Empire was established. In the late 30s, when the Millennium was coming to an end, the tension between nations was growing and a possible manifestation of the Twilight of the Gods spoken of in the Edda and sagas of Norse mythology was feared, so Germany strayed from Christianity and worked to bring back the mythologies of their past. The idea of the Millennium spread across the globe and government officials eventually stopped referring to themselves as the Third Reich and instead presented themselves as the Greater Germanic Reich “so that this peace will last forever and no Fourth Reich will be necessary a thousand years from now.” ### 471. Part 1 An animal cry rang through the rainy July darkness. The roar resembled the rumbling of thunder in the chilled summer air as it descended from the cloudy night sky. Only one animal of sufficient size to produce such a deep roar could also fly: a dragon. The dragon roared again, its voice reverberating through the sky, the air, the rain, and the ground below. There was a city on that ground. The rainswept city had a collection of scarlet lights in each of the four cardinal directions. Each of those was a Vaterland tower and the lights illuminated a construction site that worked through the night. The city surrounded by four giant towers was Berlin. Either because it was late summer or because of the rain, the city lights looked awfully calm and meek this night. Tension filled the entire city. One place other than the Vaterland towers shined lights into the night sky: Tempelhof Air Base on the southwestern side of Berlin. A few beams of light stretched from the base into the sky. They were searching for the source of the roaring. The wandering of the lights showed they could not find their target. Another roar sounded, as if mocking the lights. The bestial voice rumbled down from the sky. The airport’s buildings shook and windows rattled. Not even the transport ships waiting for their next assignment could escape that tremor. Both the ship’s capable of vertical takeoff and the larger ships. There was a dragon overhead. The aircraft could not carelessly take flight, but carelessly fighting back could lead to an international incident. The air base prepared to fight back if need be while trying to work out the dragon’s intentions, hoping it would simply fly away. Would their patience run out before the control tower gave up trying to communicate with whatever was up there? The same went for Neue Silber, a large transport ship awaiting takeoff on the apron. The vertical-takeoff strategic transport ship was a giant rectangle more than 100 yards long colored black. The silver reinforcing armor that gave it its name was slick with rain as it shook from the rumbling. Neue Silber trembled as it waited for the takeoff order to arrive. As did the people onboard. ### 472. Part 1 During late summer in Berlin, evening began early – at around 4 PM. The city was located at a high latitude, so night always came early, even during summer. The amount of people on the streets gradually reduced as time passed. They left those public areas and returned home as if pursued by the shadows of evening. This was most evident at the Tiergarten park in the center of the city. Dark shadows fell over the woods and the entire park was dyed in dark colors. The streetlights came on to hold back that encroaching darkness, lighting up different parts of the park, but they only managed to illuminate the area directly below them. The park became a place of pure darkness carrying a light summer heat. The cars on the streets and the hustle and bustle of people heading home could be heard in the distance. It was time to begin preparing dinner. Looking up past the wall of darkness formed by the woods gave a view of steam and smoke rising from all over the city to decorate the reddish-black color of the evening sky. A single person walked through the shadows of the park below those colors. He was a young man of a medium height and build. Everything he wore was black, his long black hair was roughly parted to the sides, and he wore black sunglasses. A black-dyed lab coat fluttered as he walked and the clothes below that were black as well. He also wore a black glove on his left hand. The only other colors were the red gem in the pendant worn around his neck and the blue of his eyes. He was walking quickly, but he suddenly came to a stop and viewed his surroundings. He had been stopping below the streetlights and he turning to view the number plate attached to the streetlight’s pole. “If this is 15, then A-17 would be…two more down.” He kept walking. It was a large park, so it took several minutes to cover the distance between two more streetlights. The darkness grew deeper as he walked, so the streetlights were more or less the only light sources anymore. He looked up while walking. The sky visible above the cedar trees was still faintly red even at night. That was thanks to the lights shining up at the sky from the ground. He took a breath, quickened his pace, and looked across the sky with an exaggerated movement. He could tell Berlin’s sky was lit up red from four directions. The city’s sky was much less busy now that they were so close to war and it was glowing faintly red. “Hm.” The trees opened up just enough for him to see more of the northern sky. Humboldt University’s buildings in northern Berlin could be seen against the night sky there, but something else was visible past them. A single cylindrical structure towered up above that wave of buildings. The stratovolcano-shaped building had a faint slope to it and resembled a thermal power turbine. It had to be about 120 yards tall. Its white walls were lit up from below to show off its grandeur to the sky. It also looked like a chess piece protecting Berlin. “A Vaterland ley line acceleration reactor. One piece of the Panzerpolis Project.” Why did Marsch have to design this? he wondered while coming to a sudden stop. He glanced toward the streetlight he was beneath to read the plate there. “A-17. This is the place. What an odd place for my old upperclassman to send me. He had to know Berlin is the second to last place in the world I want to be.” He took a breath, slowly reached his right hand into his pocket, and pulled out a letter. “Just when I was really getting settled into my work in the Soviet Union, he calls me back here with a new mission. And why is Berlin the rendezvous point when it’s already being modified into a multilevel city? The AIF shouldn’t be working their hired soldiers so hard when they’re supposed to have their own forces fully gathered by now.” He opened the letter to check the time, a map of Tiergarten, and the text A-17. He nodded, closed the letter, and put it back in his pocket. Just then… “Um, are you Mr. Dog Berger?” A young male voice spoke to him from behind. He turned around while slowly sticking his hand in his pocket. All the colors were faded and hard to make out in the darkness behind him, but he could see a young man wearing a blue uniform. He was a postal worker, so Berger asked about that. “A postman?” “Yes, that is correct. My last delivery for the day happens to be…something rather unusual.” The postman stepped into the light of the streetlight. The bag worn over one shoulder was already open, but there were no more letters inside. However, he reached into the seemingly empty bag and opened the false bottom installed within. That was where he would store any valuables. “Much of this world has yet to be developed, so it is our duty as postal workers to delivery anything to anyone. Yes, no matter the person, the location, or the era.” With that, he held out a small paper envelope. It was old. The paper had grown brown and the wax seal had crumbled away, leaving only a round white mark where it had been. The edges of the envelope were a little torn and some oil paper and dried parchment could be glimpsed within. “A Verlsten Brief?” asked Berger while accepting it with his black-gloved left hand. “Yes, every post office in the world has some of these undelivered documents from the past and this one comes from the German Post Office’s storage. This one is addressed to Dog Berger in Berlin’s Tiergarten A-17 at 5PM on July 27, 1939.” The postman smiled a bit. “So I’m right on time.” “Indeed you are. …But why is this addressed to me? I sure hope it doesn’t have a razor blade inside.” “I can’t deny the possibility. Based on where it was stored, this one is from around a thousand years ago, but our storage and management were not perfected until the 12th Century. To avoid the mistakes made in the Obstacle Era, we make sure to hire technicians from the Postal City that developed the Verlsten Brief system in the first place.” The postman closed his bag. “But a Verlsten Brief carries the thoughts that someone in the past wanted to convey to someone in the future. Since they are being delivered to Germany as we prepare for war and modify this city, I can only imagine-” “Hold on.” Berger held up the old letter. “Since they are being delivered? There’s more than just this one?” “I can’t give you the details, but the German Post Office is currently in a state of chaos. According to the 1939 Verlsten Brief Management Register that was unsealed this year, we have been instructed to deliver more this year than the past hundred years combined.” “Does that mean someone in the past had a lot to tell us here in the present?” “Yes, to you, to others, and outside the country as well.” The postal worker tapped his closed bag. “I will be going then.” He saluted and turned around. “I notice you aren’t sitting down this time.” He laughed and then vanished into the darkness. He did not turn around as Berger watched him go with a bitter smile. Berger finally waved his hand goodbye. He viewed the letter held in that hand. The black ink on the back of the envelope had grown blurry. “D – O…B – E – R…R.” He read the letters he could actually make out and then sighed. He could not read anything written after the name. “Is this really addressed to me? This world never ceases to surprise me.” After a moment of hesitation, he opened the envelope. He pulled out the parchment. It was held between oil paper for protection and it had grown dry and stiff, but the writing had not blurred. It was written in clear handwriting. His facial expression changed as he read it. The composure vanished from his face. His mouth seemed to move automatically to read it aloud. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates “That’s from the Unreif Germane – the 3rd Section of Daily Life where the Messiah is born into this world.” He stared at the parchment. But that was all it said and it did not tell him anything more. He scratched his head, clicked his tongue, and stuffed the parchment back in the envelope. “––––?” He heard a quiet footstep from the dark woods to his right. Just as he looked that way, he heard the underbrush parting and saw a small form run out into the light. It was a kitten. A golden-furred kitten wearing a black choker around its neck. After entering the light, it tripped, fell, rolled two or three times, and finally stopped after hitting his foot. It shook its head and got up. “?” He crouched down to see what this was about and his eyes met those of the kitten. The kitten had a curious trait. While its left eye was an ordinary brown cat’s eye, its right eye was a blue human eye. Before his surprise at that observation could show on his face, the cat gained an obvious look of relief and mewed once. “–––––!?” Then white steam rose up from the cat and exploded in midair. After the explosion, a girl appeared in front of Berger. The leftover movement of the air caused her shoulder-length blonde hair to flutter. She had a friendly face with eyes identical to the cat’s. The left one was a brown cat’s eye and the right one was a blue human one. She was not wearing any clothing. Unless you counted the choker around her neck, that is. The wind whipped around her and her eyes focused in on Berger. “I’d say you’ve grown, but your chest sure hasn’t, Hazel Mirildorf.” ### 473. Part 1 There were no restful nights in the Geheimnis Agency headquarters. Only nights of preparation. The night shift had just taken over and the HQ was entering the quietest part of the night. The mess hall was just as quiet. The only active lights were the fluorescent ones in the kitchen and the large sunlamp at the center of the ceiling. The place had a cold and dim atmosphere, but there was activity there. The kitchen was empty, but someone was wiping down the tables. Lowenzahn had rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, revealing awfully white and thin arms. They could even be called delicate as she used one to wipe down the tables with a rag. “Phew.” Without wiping the sweat from her brow, she peered down at the table to see her face reflected in it. She nodded in satisfaction and observed her reflected face. She wrinkled her brow and smiled to see the same in the diagonally-reflected face. She glanced over at the reflection from the side, altered the angle of her face, and gave it another glance. And just as she found an angle she liked, a large figure appeared in the table mirror. “What are you doing?” “…!?” She gasped and stepped back from the table. She ended up bumping into the person behind her, but… “Be careful,” he warned as he caught her in a giant metal arm. She looked back to find the familiar face of Hellard Schweitzer. “Lieutenant? What brings you here at this hour?” she asked while stepping away from his arm and turning to face him. She smiled and tilted her head. “To visit me perhaps?” She had to laugh at that. “That isn’t like you at all, is it?” she said before another quiet laugh. He only tilted his head in confusion. “I was thinking about some things and I thought some alcohol might help me gather my thoughts.” “Oh? So even you drink.” “I doubt there is a German alive who doesn’t drink.” She pointed back at her left chest with her thumb. When he realized what she meant, his face clouded over a little. “Don’t let it bother you.” She smiled bitterly. “I’m doing a lot better than when you saved me 3 years ago.” “Your father, Air Force Division Chief Muller, said you should rely on him more.” “Did he? But an adopted daughter can’t rely on him too much. You saving me from the Neuschwanstein Dragon Attack 3 years ago was enough for me.” “You did well at the hospital.” “Only because you pushed me way too hard. Who tells a girl to run immediately after heart surgery?” She glared at him but with a smile. “I did manage to run, though.” He gave her an earnest nod. “We control Neuschwanstein Castle, so unlike Munich’s central hospital, Neuschwanstein’s hospital receives support from the Geheimnis Agency. We healed you, so we can ask you to run for us.” “Yeah, until you learned about my illness,” she said while giving him some side-eye. His calm expression gave no indication as to whether or not he understood what she meant. She sighed with the look of disgust intact. “But that was when the real ‘fun’ began. You got your arm blown off and Lieutenant Alfred nearly destroyed the city with a single shout.” “And for some reason, I found you treating my wound after we defeated the dragon.” “You should really thank me because you were a bloody mess. …But since I didn’t have any family left afterwards, here I am now. I live with General Muller and I’ve become a bottom-level noble.” “Destiny…hm?” Schweitzer smiled as he uttered that word. And… “I will have a dark beer.” “Coming right up.” She walked quickly over to the kitchen counter, placed her hand on it, and hopped on over. Once behind the counter decorated with flowers, she was in a battlefield known as a kitchen. It was a large space. Stovetops and ovens were placed along the 20-yard walls and the central 4-yard countertop was large enough to butcher an entire cow’s head. A total of four smaller countertops were place around the large one and the aisles between them contained orderly shelves covered in cooking supplies and spices. She carefully avoided the hoses and trays strewn haphazardly through the aisles to reach the back wall where several large taps stuck out. “Do you run this place alone at night?” asked Schweitzer from behind her. “Tonight is special. The chef is out getting supplies for the big party tomorrow.” “Party?” “The top brass are coming, right? I heard earlier that Lieutenant General Heiliger has arrived, so they’re definitely going to have a secret party just like last year and the year before that. Since he’s here, I assume all the Geheimnis Agency founders will be gathering for the usual.” She smiled and noted Schweitzer’s silence. “Do you know something I don’t?” she asked. “On the way here, Lieutenant General Heiliger hinted that there is some further purpose to this year’s gathering. There are so many mysteries of late. Including that prophecy sent out to everyone 2 weeks ago.” “The prophecy? What don’t you understand about it?” “Everyone worked so hard to fulfill the one from two years ago, but while we were told this one would resurrect the Messiah if fulfilled, no one was ordered to work toward that end. Because we do not understand what it means. And with nothing to do, people start to lose trust in the higher ups.” “God, you athletic types. You found who would become the Messiah two years ago, didn’t you? Then it’ll be fine. She will fulfill the prophecy and eventually become the Messiah. Everything is on track.” “Is it?” “The fuse was lit two years ago, wasn’t it? So why add more fire now? You don’t have to do anything until the prophecy tells you to. I’m sure that’s what the higher ups have decided. …But based on the rumors in the mess hall, it sounds like the army is on the move.” “Yes,” he said. “Sorry.” She waved a hand without looking back. “All you ever do is apologize to me. Isn’t that what I said to you when you lifted your head from my lap three years ago? You overthink everything. You never even lie, do you?” “I have never heard of any virtue or truth found in lies.” “And if you haven’t heard of it, it can’t exist? Have you ever tried to create those things among the lies? You’re hopeless.” She came to a stop with the wall right in front of her. Two rows of ten large taps were lined up along the wall. They all produced different kinds of beer. There was a simple trough below to catch any that might spill. “Men take everything so seriously but always ignore the details,” she said too quietly for him to overhear. She grabbed an empty wooden mug from the nearby sink where it had been washed and checked the color of the cooling emblems embedded on the sides of the taps. “Um, do you prefer it chilled? That is the latest trend.” “I don’t care as long as I can drink it.” “Yup, always ignore the details,” she said with mock cheer as she twisted the tap. She filled the mug with a bit of foam at the top. After turning off the tap, she sighed, wiped the sweat from her brow, and looked back. “Oh?” She saw someone new in the mess hall. Past the enormous man with a prosthetic arm was an even more enormous man. They had just been discussing a man larger than Schweitzer. “Lieutenant General Heiliger…” But she trailed off when Schweitzer looked back and called the man’s name. “Sir Graham!?” ### 474. Part 1 Mornings began early in a hospital. That was especially true for Munich’s central hospital. By 9AM, the inpatients had all finished their breakfast and the outpatients became the main focus. The hospital was made from five 4-story buildings measuring 100 yards long, so the interior was much like a labyrinth. The hallways were built wide to allow rolling beds to pass each other and the windows were large to let in plenty of natural light, so this massive multilayer labyrinth was designed with healing in mind. Three sets of footsteps rang loud through the hallway filled with older patients and doctors. The one walking in the lead was Bermark Vier, a pencil of a man with a relaxed expression and the black coat of the Geheimnis Agency. Two enormous men walked behind him. The bald one with a fully prosthetic body below the black coat was Graham Karlsruhe. Walking behind Graham’s clanking metal feet was Schweitzer. He held his removed coat and his eyes took in his surroundings as he walked. The large window to their right showed a courtyard surrounded by hospital buildings on all sides. The courtyard contained a grassy lawn and black cedars chosen for the amount of sunlight the area received. A few patients were walking through it, chatting pleasantly. Schweitzer heard Graham’s voice while he viewed the courtyard. “Lieutenant, how do you like the hospital your father protected?” “He did not protect this hospital,” plainly stated Schweitzer. “From what I heard, he allowed most of the patients to escape but failed to hold back the rioters and was killed.” “Keep your head up, Lieutenant. I can hear your voice sinking.” Graham did not look back. “Your job today is to protect me. Do not forget that.” “Yes, sir.” After the briefest of pauses, Schweitzer picked up his pace. An old woman among the patients saluted the three of them and he nodded back before moving on ahead. Graham met his increased pace with words. “My memories tell me your father destroyed the empty hospital to create a barrier and even smashed the earth below it to protect the people. He fought the rioters, but he refused to use any weapons and killed none of them.” “…” “Among the patients he protected were a woman of the Naylor family that would go on to lead the Geheimnis Agency, and my own sister Rose.” Schweitzer kept his legs moving as he listened. “I no longer possess emotions, but I still sense the necessity of that act. You have my thanks, heir of Schweitzer.” “You honor me.” He bowed and raised his head again to see Bermark taking a left turn at the intersection of halls up ahead. That took them away from the sunny courtyard. “It appears Lieutenant General Heiliger has already arrived,” said Bermark. Graham nodded and followed, his prosthetic feet clanking on the tiled floor. “Bermark, I heard Heiliger accompanied you as far as the HQ. Did my brother-” “You will meet him shortly. It is a shame that your positions prevent you from meeting anywhere other than this.” “The relationship between the Geheimnis Agency, the government, and the military is exceedingly complex.” “Only because the current age demanded it. After the war, the Geheimnis Agency was created with a Naylor family Sofort Leser in the lead and with you as one of its Fünf Leithammel. …Lieutenant General Heiliger accepted his position as an intermediary between the Geheimnis Agency and both the government and military, so he relinquished his position as a Neue Kavalier, married a Heidengeist, and enlisted in the military.” Graham said nothing, so only Bermark’s emotionless voice filled the hallway. “Someone like him is necessary to bridge the gap between the Neue Kavaliers of the Geheimnis Agency and the common citizens of the government and military. If not for him, someone else would have taken the position.” “Bermark, I detect no emotion in your explanation.” “How can you understand emotion with that Psyche Outer device installed?” “If your explanation contained emotion, I would find it incomprehensible.” Graham explained. “Now, Bermark, the Lieutenant told me on the ride here that you had an emotional response to the Messiah girl, Hazel Mirildorf. Was that because she is your future master?” “She was polite with me and I merely returned the favor.” The hallway came to an end up ahead. The great metal door there covered the full width of the hallway. Schweitzer watched as Bermark turned around. Then Bermark took a step aside, toward the wall. A pair of metallic feet clanked forward to take his place. It was Graham. He faced the massive metal door with his back to Schweitzer. “This land is near the Black Forest, where Germany had its true beginning a thousand years ago. The Unreif Germane tells us the Messiah and the divinely-named one-armed young man were served by four Neue Kavaliers: Naylor, Karlsruhe, Borderson, and Maldrick.” Schweitzer nodded. You could find that information in children’s picture books. But Graham was not done. “My ancestor, Karlsruhe, made a demand in return for his service: a way to save this land from the Word Plague that ran rampant at the time. This and the Neuschwanstein hospital you saved are remnants of that.” “…” “At Neuschwanstein, they built a lab for creating prosthetic parts like my brother’s Tragisch. Here at Munich, they built a cold storage facility to preserve terminal Word Plague patients.” Schweitzer frowned at that. The words pushed out from his mouth. “How did they have such advanced technology back then?” “I do not know. Perhaps it was a remnant of the Obstacle Era and perhaps it was Ober Geheimnis. But now that we know how to cure the Word Plague, the facility has been given a different use.” Graham coughed. It was a quiet cough, but it came from deep in the lungs. He forced it down with a breath and reached his right hand to the door. “Many of my Karlsruhe bloodline come down with this disease. Not even taking a prosthetic body is enough to fully suppress Words Warn, so the patients are preserved here.” Then the door moved. Upwards. “Behold that which your father protected, Lieutenant.” The rising door revealed a stairway leading down into a black abyss void of light. ### 475. Part 1 Schweitzer and Alfred walked down a wide, dark stone hallway. Their clothing was torn and their skin was marred by a few scratches and bloodstains. Their footsteps sounded wet. The ground was flooded up to their ankles. Around 6 hours had passed since they started down the hallway indicated by Bermark. It had sloped down, sloped up, and curved every which way, but they still had not reached the end. Alfred walked out in front and he did not slow his pace as he asked a question. “Hellard, what do you make of this? That juvenile dragon we ran across at the start seemed awfully real, but the great serpent after that seemed fake to me. I’d say the three creatures after that were real, but what about that one just now?” “I think it does not matter.” “Agreed. …Although in children’s stories, the illusions fade away and you reach your destination once you identify them as such.” Schweitzer sighed. “I doff my cap to your refusal to show mercy even to illusions, Alfred.” “Don’t flatter me.” Alfred’s tone was serious, but he swung his right hand the very next moment. An instant after the slash, a white light was released from Rein König’s path, like the blade’s afterimage had taken flight. The destructive light shot toward the supposedly shallow water. A pillar of water roared into the air to their right before parting to reveal a massive sea serpent. “–––––!” It screeched beyond their audible range and raised its head. The left half of its face had been sliced away. The remaining eye was glaring at Alfred. But Alfred ignored it and casually waved his left hand toward Schweitzer. “You can have this one. It’s too tedious for me. …Honestly, nothing here has any real fight in it.” The serpent may have understood his hoarse words because it opened its mouth and charged. Schweitzer took an exasperated step forward. The wet footing was irrelevant as long as he controlled his weight and center of gravity appropriately. He moved his right foot forward and rotated it by pushing his toes, ankle, knee, thigh, and hip to the right in that order. The movement of his lower body pushed his upper body forward. Der Held’s metal fist flew forward like a shell, crashing into the side of the serpent’s face as it tried to attack Alfred. Its face audibly burst open and its body was propelled backwards. Alfred used a swing of Rein König to keep the spraying blood off of him as he walked on ahead. Schweitzer held up Der Held to do the same. “This may not be an illusion, Alfred. What if these are being created by rearranging the Tons of the ether?” “Giving them an artificial life? This seems too largescale and constant to be Tuning. And if it’s been mechanically automated…well, I’ve never heard of that kind of technology.” “Bermark called this a ‘castle’. What if the Geheimnis Agency base was built atop the ruins of an old castle full of Ober Geheimnis, similar to the area below Munich’s central hospital?” Alfred stopped out ahead of him and looked back, so Schweitzer asked a further question. “Why must we pass through here to meet our commander? This hallway seems to stretch on to infinity, but I think it is actually being created as we walk using the same technique used for the serpents and dragons we have encountered.” “But based on how this is going, it doesn’t look like the way forward opens when we prove our strength.” “Our commander must be testing us. To see if we will notice something here.” “An interesting idea, but what are we supposed to notice?” Schweitzer saw Alfred raise Rein König in his right hand. He launched an attack of light upwards, earning a scream from the ceiling. A bestial scream. Something like a thick rope made of nothing but dark shadow dropped down. Three such things did. Screaming, they fell behind Alfred. Schweitzer noticed several sharp horns on their heads as they splashed into the water. They screamed and struggled, thrashing in the water, but then… “They disappeared?” Yes, they vanished. More like they turned invisible than dissolved into the air. Alfred looked around. “None of these serpents or dragons can put up a fight. Why would someone create the technology to mass produce them? I know during the Obstacle Era there was a war fought using inhuman mass-produced soldiers known as Divine Warriors, so is this the same tech here?” “We honestly do not even know this is a form of technology.” Schweitzer sighed. “Whoever made this place must have known what they were doing, but what were they trying to make?” “Probably a real dragon that could put up a fight, Hellard.” He immediately answered that with another question. “Then think about it, Alfred. The true dragon would have been with the Messiah…so why were they trying to create one here? And why hide it?” He was not done yet. “Our leader must be able to control a dragon. Not to forcefully bend it to her will like we did 3 years ago, but to have it obey. And after the Messiah vanished a millennium ago…” “Yes?” “What if someone tried to obtain a dragon in order to lead us? What if they used the technology passed down to them in order to obtain an Erde Drache or Luft Drache so they could lead the leaderless Neue Kavaliers?” Alfred cut in to answer those questions. “That would have to be the emperor who the Messiah left Germany with.” Alfred spread his legs a bit and looked up. “The four Neue Kavalier families of Naylor, Karlsruhe, Maldrick, and Borderson served the Messiah and received certain benefits in return. After the subjugation of Germany, my Maldrick family even demanded this Rein König that the one-armed youth left with the emperor.” “…” “So once the Messiah was gone, maybe the emperor wanted a dragon – even an artificial one – in order to lead someone and to become greater even than the Messiah.” He continued with a note of self-derision. “And history shows just how well that one went. The German imperial line died out a mere 200 years later with the death of Henry VI in 1197. You learned all this in school, didn’t you? Or did you forget it all? When did the Germania Dragoons declare their independence from the throne after returning from the Crusades?” “In 1198, a year after the imperial line died out.” “Correct. And by around 1200, the Ring of the Nibelung was being recited across Germany as an epic poem. That poem used a ring as a symbol of karmic retribution and eternity and we still use Nibelung to refer to the Wheel of Ruin.” He scoffed. “But the center of a ring is empty. Was that a reference to our lack of a leader and how we traded a thousand-year vacancy for peace? The emperor from a thousand years ago created this place to become our leader and ultimately failed, but is that destiny going to repeat itself now, Hellard?” “The Wheel of Ruin, hm? Lady Rose mentioned that.” Schweitzer thought while he spoke. “Alfred, didn’t our commander say ruin would come to this world in ’43? And the prophecies are meant to avoid that? All so the Messiah will return and become our true leader.” He stopped there, his face briefly stiffening in realization. “I see.” Then he smiled and moved with enough force to blast away the air around him. He turned to the right and raised Der Held. “Eingeweide arm Der Held, prepare Ober Beweisen.” The surface of the prosthetic arm briefly glowed dully in the darkness. “Alfred, I know why we must pass through here.” “In that case, my own guess must be right.” Alfred stepped up alongside Schweitzer. He gently raised Rein König and kept the movement going, drawing out a silver arc and preparing for an overhead slash. He grinned and slowly crouched down. The water before them opened wide as if in response. What had been a hallway transformed into a vast space filled with darkness. A faint mist rose from the water at the bottom of that space and it continued to change. The space’s Tons were remade before their eyes. “I hear a voice. The lament of a historical relic – of a poor machine that has gone unused for so very long.” A quiet Text entered the space, perhaps as a response to Schweitzer’s statement. The dark water spread further, growing too large to see the end. Alfred stopped moving. “This appears to be an Eingeweide system build in the middle ages. Its master must be long dead, so does it run off of a powerful posthumous will, similar to the Sylphide? What do you think?” “The persistence of those who wished to rule Germany lives on in this place. This was abandoned after it failed to create a dragon, so our base was used to seal this secret history away.” About 100 yards ahead of them, the water’s surface slowly rose as something pushed up from below. There was so much water, the swelling of the surface looked more like a sand dune than water. Something massive had to be lurking below. At some point, the swelling accelerated all at once. A few moments later, the tip of the swelling ruptured and the water cascaded down. The water bud split open and a great water dragon blossomed from within. The crashing water was like the roar of an avalanche but much more pleasant. The smooth water dragon’s exposed head and neck measured more than 20 yards long. “I bet Naval Division Commander Lillie Telmetz could use her Tuning to create a dragon like this,” said Schweitzer, his expression serious. “This failure from the past is no match for a dragon made by one of the Fünf Leithammel.” Alfred had a smile in his voice. “And the Fünf Leithammel who can make that dragon isn’t even our leader, so the past emperors who could only create these failures were never cut out for the job. …The Messiah led a far stronger dragon.” “Our purpose is to protect this country and its people and that is why we desire the Messiah as our leader.” They both smiled at that. Maybe it was meant as a response, but the water dragon bent its body into an arc and then rushed toward them. It had to be more than 200 yards long in all, so its body alone was a weapon. A collision from that would do serious damage. But the two men were unfazed as that great pressure and water-scented wind approached. “This place is meant to teach us that the Messiah is the only leader for us,” said Alfred. “By showing us the alternative.” “Then let us go meet out commander. The one and only commander who can lead us to the Messiah.” “That is why we pass through here and why we must go meet our commander.” The dragon approached. In a flash, Alfred straightened up, stretched up, and bent back. The wind shook. He used the bend of his body to swing the Rein König forward with all his might. A voice accompanied the powerful slash. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Light flew. Light massive enough to fill the vast space. The white light lacked heat, but it had strength. Rein König amplified his Ton until it could tear right through the approaching destruction. It exploded. The dragon, the water, and the entire space before them were struck by the whiteness. Everything they could see was subtly distorted. The scenery unraveled like a loose thread, the shadows wavered, the water tremored, and the air rippled. The dragon and everything else were equally struck by the destructive power. “Schweitzer!” “Eingeweide arm Der Held – Ober Beweisen.” His calm voice signaled the beginning of it all. With a bang of gunfire, an empty cartridge was ejected from his prosthetic arm. A metal-reinforced staff was pushed out from the ejector in the upper arm, so it struck the air. It produced a solid sound of impact, despite nothing existing there to be hit. A barrier line of bluish-white ether raced out, as if to slice apart the wavering and distorting scenery, and then an Erklärung shook the air. The ether forming the space around them came to an immediate stop. The wavering shattered, the distortion split, and it all revealed its true form. The form of the hallway they were to walk through. ### 476. Part 1 The party in the Geheimnis Agency HQ mess hall was coming to a close. But Schweitzer was not attending that party. He was not below the mess hall lights or a part of the chatting agency bigshots. He was drinking alone on the open-air terrace jutting out east from the mess hall. He leaned against the railing and looked up into the sky. The stars were out and the breeze blew in from the forest. He could hear the laughter from the open door a few yards away from him, but he ignored the voices and the light stretching out to engulf his feet. He was only interested in the sky. On occasion, he would take a sip from the wooden mug in his biological left hand, like he had only just remembered it existed. He had been like this the entire time. He had greeted so many people once the party started and been freed from the torture after half an hour, at which point he had withdrawn to the terrace. Through the door, Lowenzahn was surrounded by people and receiving their blessing, dancing with Alfred at Rose’s insistence, and exchanging serious information with people so important a salute would be insufficient. What did it mean that he could not bear to be in there? “I must be such a boring person,” he concluded. He heard a woman’s laughter, but it was a little too deep and mellow to be Lowenzahn. He looked down to see a woman in black. She was in her mid-thirties and had unkempt short blonde hair. “Army Division Lieutenant.” “No need to salute. Tonight, you have become one of us.” “Lady Jeanne, I fail to see how being introduced to you all improves my standing quite that much.” “Think about it. You saved our commander’s life three years ago and you fulfilled the Messiah’s prophecy two years ago. You have great value. Maldrick is here for his family and for being a quick learner, but you are different.” Jeanne Schmitt laughed quietly and parted her lips to let her voice spill out. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates Once done, she said more. “Our commander told Karl and me we needed more patience. She said the current prophecy tells us the Messiah is still not ready to be our leader.” She sighed. “Our Army Division took matters into our own hands to secure the Messiah, but all we get for it was an ‘It’s too soon. Cut it out, okay?’ ” “If you ask me, her greatest talent is in putting things lightly.” Jeanne placed her hands on the railing next to Schweitzer and looked up. She gave him a solemn look for a moment, but he did not let it bother him. Then that look bordering on anger was replaced with almost the opposite. She laughed in a childish way. “I can’t believe it. Now Karl and I look like the bad guys.” “I am sure she knows you ordered the Messiah’s capture because you care so much for the Geheimnis Agency.” “I know, which is why I can’t be mad at her. I used to be famous for butting heads with my superiors, you know? …That girl suddenly mastered true leadership last year,” Jeanne said pleasantly. “Harsh rebukes earn a leader defiance and anger, but…the previous generation of the Naylor family, Lady Frobel, and her husband Sir Lebenheit were just like her.” “Those two build the foundation of the Geheimnis Agency, didn’t they?” “Sir Lebenheit died in a British attack in ’18 and Lady Frobel died of heart disease…when Lady Lowenzahn was only 8.” “Hey, hey. No discussing my life story with a beginner.” They were interrupted by a clear voice. They looked up to see a slender figure standing in the terrace’s entrance. It was Lowenzahn. She still wore her plain waitress uniform and walked briskly over to stand between Jeanne and Schweitzer, where she leaned her entire body on the railing. She went limp and stretched out like a cat. “I’m exhausted.” Jeanne and Schweitzer exchanged a glance over her head. Schweitzer looked down to see the girl slipping from the railing to the floor. After a moment of thought, he reached out and caught her. Using his metal right hand. She thanked him as he pulled her up, but she kept her eyes straight ahead with a slight smile on her face. She was viewing the mess hall, where the agency’s leaders were holding a serious discussion on a variety of topics. The center of the discussion was a skinny old man who looked awkward in his military uniform and a short and fat elderly man who looked like he had never worn anything but his uniform. “Not often you see Development Division Chief ‘Dachs’ Konrad Elrich and my adoptive father Air Force Division Chief ‘Standhaft’ Herbert Müller speaking together like this.” The three of them watched as a lady in a blue dress walked by the group and stopped when Müller called out to her. She tilted her head and looked over with a face that’s youth was fading and leaving only a powerful sorrow behind. Müller was two heads shorter than her and he kept his pleasant smile as he explained something to her with ample gesticulation. After a bit, she nodded and the two of them turned toward Elrich. The elderly chief of the Development Division loosened his collar and nodded in greeting, never smiling. The blue beauty smiled and joined the discussion centered on those two men. “And now Naval Division Chief ‘Wasser Meister’ Lillie Telmetz joins in. That’s the Big 3 accounted for.” Lowenzahn kept her tone light and Jeanne crossed her arms. “Lillie shouldn’t have let them drag her into their conversation. I’m betting she was searching for Graham.” “He went to meet Karl.” That revelation seemed to catch Jeanne by surprise. “Once this is over, I’ll be visiting him too, Jeanne. I need to tell your husband to stop sending his wife to get chewed out while he naps in the hangar.” Jeanne smiled at that. “Was that meant as a kindness to me?” “We ladies need to stick together.” Hearing that, Jeanne turned toward Schweitzer. “Did you hear that, Schallmauer Zerstörer? That’s her excuse for protecting her own position above all else.” “Now that I know she pulled the wool over my eyes for past three years, I think I finally see how she does things.” “Now, let’s not be mean, Captain…oh?” Lowenzahn’s note of surprise guided Schweitzer’s gaze back toward the mess hall where someone else had joined the Big 3’s discussion. It was another skinny elderly man who looked uncomfortable in his uniform. He rubbed his bald head and appeared to be providing comments and additional information on what the others were saying. “Intelligence Division Chief ‘Hellsehen’ Witzmann.” Lowenzahn identified him and looked meekly up into the sky. “Hmm,” she groaned. “Drop one well-placed bomb here and you could alter the course of history.” “Let’s not tempt fate, shall we?” laughed Jeanne, stepping away from the railing. “I need to pay my husband a visit. And I need to bring Lillie along.” She returned quickly to the light without even looking back. She soon entered the mess hall and joined the people within. Several distinct groups had formed and she easily extracted the woman in a blue dress from one of those serious discussions. They all watched Lillie leave with some grumbling comments. But just as Jeanne was leaving with Lillie, she gave one short comment to the others. The men’s faces stiffened and they all scratched their heads and reformed their group. Their discussion began anew and Lillie shrugged somewhat guiltily as Jeanne dragged her out of the mess hall. Lowenzahn had only one thing to say after seeing it all play out. “They’re like schoolchildren.” “Yes, ma’am.” “Captain.” “Yes?” “No need to be so formal. And I apologize for lying to you all this time.” “Understood, ma-” Schweitzer sighed and leaned back against the railing. It creaked under his weight, but he rested his elbows on it all the same. “I am so tired.” “So am I. Oh, but I do appreciate the chance to speak with you like this. War is coming and the ruin in ’43 isn’t long after that. I need to make sure all the powerful people near me know the stakes.” “Does that…include the lower-ranking people?” “It isn’t time for that yet. Did you know the Development Division is analyzing Germany’s Tons that the Vaterlands have extracted? They’re breaking down and analyzing so much to refine fuel for the Babel Kanone and Himmelsschild.” “Have they discovered anything?” “I stopped Jeanne and Karl’s capture of the Messiah because Elrich says the Ton analysis is close to allowing us to extract the Concept Existence Ton that allows this land to exist.” She hung her head a little. “If we can extract that Ton, process it with ether, and reinject it, she won’t be able to leave Germany anymore. Because she will be a part of the very concept of Germany.” “Are you serious?” “Yes, that is a more effective method of keeping the Messiah here than physically capturing her. If the prophecy says we are to capture her, I imagine it will be done through that Concept Existence Ton, not anything physical.” She sighed. “Because that means she can never leave Germany.” “And will you move to the forefront once that happens?” “Yes,” confirmed Lowenzahn, still hanging her head. “The Geheimnis Agency still isn’t complete. We do have the most well-known noble families gathered as our main force, but we are still lacking so much when compared to the Germania Dragoons. So many gave up their noble position after the war and so many others left because they didn’t like our methods. …A Sofort Leser girl isn’t enough to bring them all together again.” “…” “Before she died, my mother said to keep Graham as the public face of the agency until we had the Messiah. She said…” She fell silent there. Her lips formed a few unsaid words before she finally spoke again. “She said I had nothing to worry about until the world’s ruin in ’43 as long as I kept prophesying.” ### 477. Part 1 The shipyard to the west of the base was covered by the Globe Protect ether shield created by the AIF. The shipyard’s ceiling barrier was closed beneath that 300-yard glowing hemisphere. It was shut to protect the ships within, but that meant the AIF had complete control of the area above it. The AIF’s main force of Glossolalians stood on the edge of the ceiling barrier, firing on the base guards attempting to surround them. Others spread out to important points along the road to secure an escape route. They were all focused on the top of the ceiling barrier. Several large emblem charms were attached to the seam in the metal barrier. They were known as Lock Charms and commonly used in construction and for mooring ships. They only worked with gravity in a single direction, but they would activate on a surface to hold two objects together. That barrier could not be opened from the inside or outside. The top of the barrier was essentially a giant plaza now and a 3-yard Tune Emblem was being drawn there. The circular emblem accelerated and processed the Lives in the air. It was being drawn by four young men in AIF uniforms. An old man in the same uniform stood in the center with a sword Device at the ready. Once the emblem was complete, he would strike it with the sword to activate it. High-purity Phlogiston stolen from the Vaterland was being emitted into the shipyard below the barrier. It was pure enough that the moonlight alone was enough for it to go berserk. As is, it would react to the surrounding space and detonate, but by igniting it with the Tune Emblem above, the barrier would become a giant oven. That was why they worked so hard to protect that barrier. Then a sound erupted in the western sky. They all briefly looked up beyond the thin defensive light surrounding them, where something was happening on the western side of that ether shield. They saw a continual eruption of sparks and smoke. Something like large artillery shells were flying in from the west. The Emblem Master on the west spread his arms and reinforced the shield there. The shellfire continued. The western side of the shield glowed white with heat as the hits continued. Conservation of energy sent the force of the blows back to the caster. Shields like this did not eliminate the damage – they distributed it. If an impact could not be distributed, either the shield would shatter or the damage would reach the caster. The nails were stripped from the westmost young man’s spread fingers, blood spraying. “––––!” But he held his position. The shellfire stopped, the overheating settled down, and the shield’s glow returned to its original color. The four young men working in the center of the barrier jumped out from the center. They had finished drawing out the Tune Emblem. Only the sword-wielding old man still stood in the center. He raised the sword straight overhead. A beam of light extended skyward. But then something went wrong. A sound much like shattering glass, came from directly above. The puzzling sound was high-pitched yet quiet as it spilled down. “…?” Everyone looked up within the sounds of gunfire and blowing wind. They all saw what had caused the sound. A hole had appeared in the sky. A 5-yard circle had opened at the very top of the shield, like someone had scooped out a chunk with a spoon. The shield had been destroyed. “!?” The Emblem Masters’ confusion was interrupted by a single sound and a single Text bursting through that hole. The sound was the reverberation of a great mass soaring through the sky. The Text was as follows: Something shaped like a black dragon passed above that hole revealing the scarlet night sky. But that was not all. They all saw a light drop down from the object. The light was a line of silver. It descended along a line so straight it could be called meticulous. It was a person – a young man in military pants and a combat vest, his long brown hair fluttering in the wind of his descent and a silver sword held aloft. His descent was accompanied by a greeting. “The Kaiser Schwert has arrived!” ### 478. Part 1 The black and the white clashed a second time just as the AIF’s final soldier began to escape into the Black Forest. The Kaiser ran to the main gate to prevent their escape, but the Schwarz Löwe blocked its way, forcing the Kaiser to make a sword pressure attack. But the Schwarz Löwe leaned its body to dodge the sword pressure. The remnants of the main gate took the blast instead, reducing them to rubble. “Why are you trashing your own territory, moron?” The Schwarz Löwe prepared to fight. Its left hand grabbed the conduit extending from below its clenched right fist and attached it to the external power port on its side. That port was usually used to connect lights, but here… A black sword extended for more than 8m. A light swing sliced through the air, creating a low frequency noise similar to a vibration. The Kaiser responded by gripping its Werkzeug in both hands. And… “I should’ve known an intruder wouldn’t be above thievery, but did it have to be my old machine?” “By fighting you here, the base’s guards can’t get outside. Sounds like the world’s second best way of letting the others escape, don’t you think?” “Do you ever take anything seriously?” The Kaiser moved, using its full power right away. It used its leg propulsion devices to strengthen the twisting of its body as it attacked. White and black lights crashed together. With a sound similar to shattering glass, the white light scattered and the black light was broken away. Before the black blade could even unravel in the empty air, the two lights returned to normal. ### 479. Part 10 The bridge suddenly felt even more cramped. Corelle moved to the captain’s seat and Pale sat in the seat next to Hazel, but that was enough to feel like a new wall had been erected in the bridge. Hazel glanced over while waiting for the ship to take flight. Pale returned the look from far above her. “Hm? You need something?” “No, um, uh.” She hesitated. “You’re really big.” “This is average height for a Hard Wolf. It’s not really worth mentioning.” “Don’t believe his lies,” called Corelle from the up front. “Rumor has it he was so big he was always the prime target for the machineguns during the Spanish Civil War.” “Don’t come out and tell her I’m lying, Corelle. I was trying to be adorably modest.” “I think modesty and lying are two different things,” said Hazel. “Don’t sweat the small stuff, miss. …Hey, Corelle! Hurry it up. I was hoping to get home sometime this century.” “I’m not your chauffeur, you know?” sighed Corelle. “Besides, the commander isn’t supposed to be the first one back home.” “I came up with a strategy and saw them all off. The rest is up to them. …M. Schrier said he wanted to see how well everyone could carry out this mission, but I never promised to fight on the front line myself.” “Do you have any idea how much work went into preparing for this mission? We acquired some German Grösse Panzers and a wyvern even sacrificed itself to get this transport ship in.” “Are more sacrifices a good thing? Hm? Pretty sure it’s the opposite, Corelle. If it was, my side in Ethiopia was the best damn army in the world.” Pale clicked his tongue. “Real soldiers can carry out their mission once they’re given orders. This will all work according to plan as long as the battle has no last-minute surprise guests.” After having his say, Pale smugly leaned back in his seat. Hazel thought of something as she watched him. “Um…” “Yeah? What is it, miss?” “You mentioned what it means to be a real soldier.” She thought back to what Berger had said the previous day and asked about it here. “Is wanting to do something not enough to fight? Is wanting to save someone…not enough? Do you need something more?” “…” “Two years ago, someone from the Geheimnis Agency told me that to run away is to survive. So if you don’t want to run away and you want to fight…does that mean you want to die?” “You saying you want to fight, miss?” “Stop, Pale,” said Corelle. “She’s Berger’s favorite.” “Eh?” Hazel’s eyes widened. Corelle’s voice was the only thing she could hear over the shaking and rumbling bridge. “Everyone in the AIF wants to bring her in. Get her and you’ve got a much better chance of snagging Oscar Mirildorf, after all. But no one tries. Partially because she doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for a female AIF member…but more because Dog Berger is against it and he’s close to M. Schrier.” Hazel stood up a little to ask a question. “Wh-why? Why would Mr. Berger do that?” “He says you would definitely agree if we recruited you, but he wonders if that’s what you really want. He wonders if you really want to be a soldier.” “…” “He thinks there might be another option for you. …It’s a lot like my cards. When the time comes and you make your choice, you’ll have your answer. It isn’t a question you can answer in advance.” “I see.” Pale nodded sagely. “That’s far too complicated for me.” “Quit teasing, you idiot. This is a serious issue for her.” Hazel did not nod, but she did hold her new card close and then slowly stuck it in her breast pocket. She placed both hands over the pocket and slowly sighed. “What do I want to be?” she whispered to herself with a smile. “Two years ago,” she said loud enough to be heard. “At school, we were told to think about our plans for the future. We all had to fill out a simple form with our name, species, and a few other fields. We were all discussing it in the middle of class.” She looked over at Pale and found his one eye was looking down at her. There was no excess force in his gaze – he was simply watching. “Did you do that in class way back when, Mr. Pale?” “Huh? W-well, yes, I suppose I did.” He smiled in a resigned sort of way and scratched his head as she watched him. “But forget about me. What did you write for yours?” “I never filled it out.” She smiled. “But there was something I wanted to write down.” The thing is… “I wanted to write it down, but I didn’t know what would happen if I did. The Glossolalian girl sitting next to me said she wanted to study in America to be a fashion designer. When I saw that…” “…” “I thought it was ridiculous and she was dreaming if she thought that would ever happen. But…but…” She realized the hands on her chest had stiffened and she could not relax them. Her right hand was still clutching the Wheel of Destiny in her hand and refused to let go. “But then the soldiers barged into the classroom and approached us. When one of them picked up that girl’s form, laughed at her, and tore it up, I couldn’t just let him do it, so I-” “Time to go!!” cut in Corelle. The sharp voice felt like a slap to the face, so Hazel’s head snapped up, a single tear dripping down her cheek. She saw the sky was red out the front of the bridge. Another color was shooting up into that red sky. It was a bluish-white flare. “It’s an emergency. Pale, the battle might have had one of those surprise guests you mentioned. …Time to fly, Hazel! I see now you’ve given this all a lot of thought. But you know what?” “What?” “No one’s dumb enough to turn the wheel backwards. The past ends tonight.” “Okay!” She wiped away the tear. The floor felt like it was pushing up from below and the view out the window dropped away around them. The craft had begun to ascend. The engine’s roar grew higher pitched and the bridge shook and swayed. The shaking and the noise joined together as her viewpoint grew ever higher and she had to look down to see the river they had left. The scarlet color of the sky shined into the bridge, illuminating all their faces, and Corelle turned around to shout to her. “It’s about time to choose, Hazel! To choose how the Wheel of Destiny will turn!” ### 480. Part 2 Neue Silber’s cockpit was located in the flat nose. Six men were in the surprisingly large room covered in instruments and controls. The three illuminated by the instruments glowing in the dim light were the pilot, copilot, and navigator. The other three were not part of the pilot crew. They remained in the shadows away from the glowing instruments and they carried an atmosphere very different from the pilot crew who were impatiently awaiting the takeoff order. Theirs was a calm and unshakeable atmosphere. One of them was a large elderly man sitting in a special seat giving him a commanding view of the cockpit. He turned back toward the two standing behind him. As he turned his powerful gaze toward them, his green German Air Force coat rustled and his two prosthetic arms rubbed against his seat. His long gray hair and long beard swayed as he spoke to one of the men. “The rain is really coming down. Isn’t it, Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer?” The enormous man named Schweitzer nodded. He wore the black coat of the Geheimnis Agency and a large prosthetic arm emerged from its right shoulder. He held the hand of that arm against his chest. “We believe that is a dragon scout sent all the way from the UK, Lieutenant General Heiliger. There have been more of them since late last year, but we believe they are either monitoring the progress of the Panzerpolis Project or smuggling in some kind of materiel.” When he nodded again, the women’s earring on his left ear gave a flash of its red stone. Schweitzer ignored that and Heiliger did not mention it. “I see,” said the gray-haired and gray-bearded general. “Your Geheimnis Agency’s Panzerpolis Project is not something they could monitor from high in the rainy sky. I believe the official announcement said it was a national modification project that will use the Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors to modify the ley lines and extract Phlogiston over the course of three stages. And during the third stage…” “The Geheimnis Agency has already begun Erklärung adaptation training at various bases centered on Berlin and our HQ.” “How valiant of you. But…as a member of the military, my primary interest is in the construction of that new Berlin you call Germania. The military has already begun construction of the underground city surrounding the four Vaterlands around Berlin. I hear the Phlogiston extracted from those Vaterlands will be used to create a fortress city capable of running indefinitely.” He remained entirely expressionless. “If the Panzerpolis Project based on the Vaterlands is completed and Belin can be used by the military…perhaps it will become known as the Eingeweide City.” Heiliger’s somewhat irritated comment received a response. It came from the dragon roaring up in the sky. Heliger looked up at the cockpit’s ceiling as if viewing the unseen sky beyond. “Have they still not decided to fight back? Would your Geheimnis Agency immediately fight back against any who intrudes on our airspace?” Just as Schweitzer prepared to respond, the aide by his side, a tall and gaunt elderly man in a black coat, spoke for the first time. “I believe that question would be better suited for General Graham than for the Lieutenant, Air Force Lieutenant General Heiliger. We are no more than Neue Kavaliers, so we have no command authority.” “You’re a strict one, Bermark, but that is not why I asked.” “Then pardon me.” Bermark nodded and Schweitzer sighed at his aide’s usual way of speaking. Then Heiliger turned his gaze toward Schweitzer. The power of his gaze had changed somewhat. It was now a searching look. Schweitzer asked a question in response. “Lieutenant General Heiliger, may I ask something?” “Ask.” “This military ship will soon be on its way to the Geheimnis Agency HQ in southern Germany, but why? We were only given approval to accompany you since we were headed there anyway, but I would still like to know the purpose of this ship.” Heiliger responded with no expression on his face. “There is a reason I must visit there once a year. …Do you find it that unusual for a military man to visit your HQ? I do visit every year at this time, even if they are not official visits.” Schweitzer looked to his aide. Bermark was one of the oldest members of the Geheimnis Agency and he spoke without turning toward Schweitzer or providing any kind of emotional response. “Lieutenant General Heiliger is the only member of the military allowed to enter the Geheimnis Agency HQ.” “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier, Bermark?” “You did not ask.” Heiliger smiled at that response. A small but genuine smile. “Lieutenant, this discussion is not yet over. It is my turn to ask you a question. Why were you summoned to your HQ?” “Our orders were to provide a report on the recovery of components from the Sylphide from that incident two years ago, to attend the commissioning of the first ship for the Gard-class Eingeweide aerial warship at Base #8, and…” He paused to choose his words. “To inspect the excavation at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit located near Base #8.” “The Alfheim Meteorite Pit?” asked Heiliger. Bermark nodded and explained. “Excavation of what remained of P. Wagner’s lab began two years ago, but the other day, some Geheimnis Agents were suddenly instructed to visit the excavation site.” “The agents given that order,” added Schweitzer, “were the ones involved in the Sylphide Incident two years ago.” He crossed his arms. “According to the Unreif Germane, the Heidengeist Messiah who once saved Germany was born by falling to Alfheim along with a meteor and she returned there once her work was done.” “I am aware. A one-armed youth is said to have protected where she slept and died. But I thought historians were still divided on whether or not the meteor impact site really was in the depths of Alfheim.” Heiliger smiled. “Lieutenant, I heard you met the girl with the Messiah implant two years ago. What was she like?” “She insisted she did not want to run away.” “I see. Your tone suggests you do not oppose the idea of taking her as your leader.” Heiliger’s seat creaked as he stood up. He was tall. His eye level was even higher than Schweitzer’s. His chest was not as thick as Schweitzer’s, but his shoulders were broader thanks to the two prosthetic arms. The cockpit immediately felt more cramped. He looked down at Schweitzer. “Your father was my right-hand man during the Great War. I still remember Bertecht Schweitzer, the Barrier Master who protected his territory with barrier spells instead of piloting a Panzer as a Neue Kavalier.” “My family name is all I inherited from my father, but-” “You also inherited his spells, his will, and his Titel. You are Der Held and the Schallmauer Zerstörer who fulfilled the Messiah’s prophecy. A messenger informed me that the Sofort Leser who leads the Geheimnis Agency made another prophecy two weeks ago.” Schweitzer nodded. “Her prophecy was identical to the Unreif Germane’s 3rd Section of Daily Life.” “Yes, one of the six sections that has been passed down as a poem. I hear the Messiah will be revived if this poem is fulfilled. …It is a strange prophecy, but it must be true. So, Lieutenant, I have something important to tell you, who have received some small glimpse of the future.” A breath. “We are a military of the ordinary people who cannot see into the future, but we believe the Panzerpolis Project will produce Germania and become a key to our national defense. And it is your generation that must face the tragedy that the Sofort Lesers have prophesied will occur in ’43.” “––––?” “That is the true meaning behind your summons this time. I guarantee it.” Then a voice came from the navigation seat in the center of the cockpit. It sounded panicked. “The dragon is descending! They’re…beginning forced recon!!” Following that report, a noise rushed by outside. It was a siren. The long, wailing sound indicating danger was the second alarm. Schweitzer saw Heiliger turn to look back. “One of those pathetic dragons that can’t even fly without the Union Jack? When is the Air Force attacking?” “They are coordinating with the surrounding bases to prepare a counterattack,” answered the navigator. “The attack will begin in 2 more minutes.” “Not soon enough,” replied Bermark. His words were answered by the roar aircraft engines as they left the hangars. The sounds of an attack being prepared passed through the rain, the shadows, and Neue Silber’s armor to reach their ears. But Bermark ignored it and pulled his white gloves on tighter. “How many people can that thing kill with two unimpeded minutes? And how much can it see? Our land must not be allowed to be defiled by that dragon’s retinas and our skies should only be home to the true dragon that obeys the Messiah.” “Do you intend to head out and fight, Bermark? After stopping me from doing so earlier?” asked Schweitzer. Bermark turned toward him to respond. “It would be foolish to use a mere hypothetical victory as evidence of our Geheimnis Agency’s standing. Once it drops below 1000, my magic bullet can slay it even in this storm.” “That does sound like what the Geheimnis Agency would do,” said Heiliger. He still had his back to the other two men. “Before erasing his emotions, my brother Graham said your duty is not to national defense but to destiny.” “Then, Lieutenant General, even a Sein Frau such as myself must ask. What is the purpose of your Tragisch Eingeweide arms which came from below the Karlsruhe home and were later modified by Marsch Gant?” Bermark pulled out an automatic handgun. It had a fang decoration on the side. “My Freischütz’s purpose is to defeat my enemy.” Just as he said that, a roar rumbled down from the sky. It was incomparably louder than the previous ones. The ship shook as Schweitzer nodded to his aide and prepared to leave the cockpit. Just then, a new shout came from the navigation seat. “Hm? Something…something is flying in from the north behind the dragon! Three crafts moving at high speed!” “Can you identify them?” asked Heiliger. The navigator was hesitant to respond. “I cannot! I have never seen readings like this before. One of them is flying out ahead of the others.” He took a breath. “It is approaching the dragon at supersonic speed!!” The question on everyone’s mind was answered a moment later. A new voice spoke over the cockpit’s radio. It was a young male voice that sounded a bit hoarse. “This is the Geheimnis Agency Army Division 1st Division 1st Independent Mobile Grösse Panzer Unit. Beginning counterattack.” ### 481. Part 2 Berger’s comment brought Hazel back to her senses. She looked down at herself. She was not wearing anything. She cried out and quickly used her hands to cover the important bits and the brand left on her at the Heidenheim 2 years before. “U-um, um, uh!” “I thought you were living the good life over in America, Hazel. I did get a few letters from you, but nothing about this.” His eyes moved as he spoke. They moved toward Hazel as she panicked on her feet. She could feel her face growing red. … I need clothes or something! “U-um! Clothes, I need clothes!” “Say it in English.” “Eh? Um, uh…” She looked to his face and noticed he was staring at her. … What is he looking at? She could not bring herself to actually ask that and she held her left shoulder more strongly with her hand while considering crouching down. She finally spoke to break the awkward silence. “U-um, B-Berger? D-do you have anything to w-w-w-wear!?” “Calm down, Hazel. People are born in the nude. Nudists have the right idea, really. Yeah, I’d love to hire a maid and live the nudist life.” “I-I need…um, uh, I’ll c-cry!!” “Quiet down. Did you learn nothing at all over the past two years? Listen.” He scratched his head. “I’ve always thought the modern world is in too much of a hurry. It’s always hurry up and do this, hurry up and do that, hurry up and pay your bills. Especially in France. In what world is a single article of clothing as expensive as a house? Right? Oh, and your new home of America is the same.” He sighed and gave an exaggerated shrug. “Now, I get that America has spent the past 10 years facing the same global terror as the rest of us and I get that they’ve started on a new beginning with their new cabinet, but it’s pretty sad they can’t even teach a Heidengeist girl to speak their language after two years living there. If my old upperclassman really wants to play tutor while commanding the AIF…” After listening to all that, Hazel realized he was looking at her face. And he smiled a little. “You know what, Hazel?” “What?” “How about you stop listening and actually ask for some clothes? You look pretty ridiculous right now.” She immediately slapped him. ### 482. Part 2 Graham was not your stereotypical elderly man. First, there was his size. His entire bald head stood above Schweitzer. Then there was the back supporting his enormous frame and his broad shoulders. He emanated strength just standing there. But the reason for this size was obvious at a glance. Four mechanical limbs extended from the sleeves and hem of his black Geheimnis Agency coat bearing the rank insignia of commander-in-chief. The quiet sounds of motors came from him whenever he moved. He had a fully prosthetic body. Schweitzer brought a hand to his chest in salute and Graham nodded in response. He had no notable expression and he spoke in a deep voice with a sharp look in his eyes. “I hear retrieving the Sylphide prototype’s parts was no easy task, Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer.” “I still do not think it makes up for my failure 2 years ago.” “You mean allowing the Messiah to escape?” Schweitzer hung his head and said nothing. Graham started to say something but fell into a coughing fit instead. It was the deep coughing of illness. But he soon got over it. “Your report said you ‘failed to continue monitoring’ the girl who is to become the Messiah, but we understand that was necessary to fulfill the prophecy. I have a Psyche Outer device installed to ensure I do not err and my thoughts tell me you did nothing wrong.” He pointed near his neck with a metal finger His coat swelled out on the back of his neck up to his brainstem. That modification had stopped his emotions so he could make accurate decisions. The machine made small whirring noises as it moved along with his head. “The time has come. The Panzerpolis Project will affect the government and military as construction of Germania begins and we set down the path toward war. It is time to grant you more power. On the 1st of next month, Air Force Division Chief Muller will grant you the rank of Captain.” A breath. “Well done enduring the past two years.” “Thank you, sir.” “My emotionless memories tell me that excessive honesty is the greatest virtue and fault of the Schweitzer family. Your father was the same when he worked as Heiliger’s aide.” “…” Schweitzer silently bowed and a cheerful voice spoke from behind him. “Congrats on the promotion.” When he looked back, he saw Lowenzahn standing beyond the kitchen counter with a wooden mug in hand. She turned to Graham and spoke without fear. “Care for a beer?” “Unfortunately, I have no sense of taste.” “Aren’t you ever just in the mood to drink? And wouldn’t accompanying the Lieutenant help show your appreciation?” She had a mischievous smile, but her words were sincere. Graham nodded. “I understand your reasoning, but his promotion has yet to be officially announced. It is too soon to celebrate.” “You really need to lighten up.” Schweitzer quickly spoke up to drown out Lowenzahn’s comment. “Excuse me, but what is the Geheimnis Agency’s commander-in-chief doing here at this hour? Were you meeting someone?” “I heard you were here. I might be commander-in-chief, but I am still a Neue Kavalier. I can move on my own two legs when need be.” And… “I am here to order you to don your dress uniform tomorrow morning and arrive at the east gate barracks at 0900 hours.” “Are we on our way to meet someone?” “We will travel two hours east by car to reach Munich. I will provide further details en route.” Graham turned around with a mechanical noise. “The other nations have been making secret preparations whenever we make a move recently. Unlike when we were ceded the Sudetenland, England and France have grown cautious. As for America…” After the clank of a metallic footstep, Schweitzer spoke to the larger man’s back. “Instead of entering the war themselves, they have elevated M. Schrier’s AIF from a volunteer army to an official organization. And…according to Lieutenant Alfred Maldrick’s intel, the Messiah girl has returned to Germany.” “I have heard that a portion of the army division is pursuing her. I just hope they are not acting prematurely.” “Prematurely?” asked Schweitzer. Graham responded without the slightest movement. “The prophecy has not yet been set in motion. Capturing the Messiah now will likely alter destiny. Or it will if the development division’s decoding of Germany’s Tons is not complete.” “I see.” “Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt will arrive tomorrow, so we can discuss this further with him.” Graham resumed moving without so much as a nod. He walked forward to leave the mess hall. Schweitzer brought a hand to his chest and pulled his chin back to watch the man leave. Graham did not look back. His enormous mechanical body took a dozen or so seconds to leave. Afterwards, Schweitzer thought he could hear some distinctive coughing in the distance. He kept himself in that pose until Graham’s formidable presence entirely vanished into the darkness outside. “It’s gonna get warm.” A mug moved in from behind him at eye level. He looked back to see Lowenzahn sitting on the counter. He took the mug, sighed, and drained the contents. She watched with amusement as he drank it down. “How does it taste?” “I am in no mood to focus on flavor.” “Don’t you lose your emotions too. I beg of you.” She smiled bitterly and he earnestly nodded. He set the mug down on the counter without looking her in the eye. And rested his elbow on the counter to the right of where she sat on it. “A direct summons from His Excellency? I honestly don’t know what to make of this.” “Stop confusing yourself so much. You’re overthinking this like you always do.” “But…” “Just hear me out. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but what’s wrong with that? How’s that any different from getting a birthday present? Or…” She paused to think for a moment. “Do you think he would do something awful to you? You don’t, do you? He stopped by to inform you of your promotion, so don’t overthink it. You only think so much because you’re anxious, but what do you have to be so anxious about? Someone who would never harm you invited you to go on a trip tomorrow. That’s all.” He noticed her place a hand on his left shoulder and then she lifted herself up with only that left hand for support. Her weight was added to his back as he leaned down to rest on his shoulder. She was facing away from the counter, so she was sort of back-to-back with him. “I know Bertecht Schweitzer, previous head of the Schweitzer family, served as Heiliger Karlsruhe’s aide during the Imperial Exile Incident that led to the Geheimnis Agency’s creation and I know he died because he could not suppress the rioters. He protected Munich’s central hospital during the rioting there and made sure never to attack the people, but was taken out by one of their bullets.” Her fingers tapped on his biological shoulder. “Germany’s Neue Kavaliers split into two factions after that: the Geheimnis Agency that exists solely to protect the country and its people, and those who choose to live a privileged life among the people.” “You know an awful lot about what is far from a riveting subject matter.” “Everyone told me about it when I asked about you.” She tapped his shoulder again. “Did you protect me at the hospital during the dragon attack because you wanted to be more like your father?” A breath. “Whenever I see your arm, it makes me think the exact opposite of an apology. It makes me think about how we were all saved by the loss of that arm. …Isn’t that the same?” “The same as what?” She smiled bitterly and unexpectedly whispered in his ear. “You’re so slow on the uptake. Were you anxious when you came to save us? See what I mean now? You only feel anxious now – and will in the future too, I’m sure – because you have the time to sit and think, so try to relax instead.” He nodded while feeling her weight on his back. “You took some time getting to your point…but someone once said something similar to me.” “Is it that Eryngium girl again?” When he said yes, he heard a bitter laugh from his shoulder. Instead of trying to figure out why, he said something else. “The Messiah girl might tell me the same thing someday.” He stood up. “Kyah!” She nearly slid off his back, so he scooped her up with his Der Held prosthetic arm. His metal hand supported her in an unsteady sitting position. She gasped and clung to his arm while adjusting her position. Der Held gently lowered her onto her feet. Once she was standing again, they faced each other. She seemed hesitant to speak and sighed with a hand on her right hip. “It felt like your hand was rubbing my butt just now. Was that on purpose?” “It lacks that function.” She responded to his blank expression with her shoulders drooping. “It lacks what function?” ### 483. Part 2 They descended the long, dark stairway. Schweitzer could not see, but he did hear a door opening ahead of him and closing behind him a few times along the way. They said nothing and time seemed to lose all meaning. Until… “?” The feel of the air suddenly changed. He looked up to find the ceiling was much further overhead. Even in the darkness, he could tell they had entered a large hall. “Where are we?” he asked, noting the border between the hallway and hall ceiling. The hall had a diameter of around 20 yards and the edge of the ceiling was installed with a box containing giant metal shutters. Someone had opened the door while keeping the hall dark. And then… “Good to see you again, my dear bigger brother,” said a soprano voice. “A year is much too long.” And… “––––!?” The hall filled with light. White marble walls reflected the ceiling lights to illuminate everything. The floor contained an orderly arrangement of 2-yard holes filled with water and two people stood in the very center of the hall. One was Heiliger Karlsruhe, an enormous man in a German Air Force uniform with prosthetic arms. The other was a fair-skinned girl. Her skin, the gentle waves of her long hair, and her dress were all a bright white. The only other color was the blue of her smiling eyes. Schweitzer gasped when he saw her. His lips moved to form a name, but his voice never came. Whether or not she noticed how he felt, she made a sound of her own. She ran forward, albeit slowly. With the delicate gait and pace of a girl in her early teens, her feet lightly slapped the floor to rush past Bermark and reach Graham. She did not stop. He did not even crouch or bend over to catch her. “I’ve been waiting for two hours, so I was just telling my big brother that I thought you weren’t coming!” “Did you think we had reversed the usual arrangement, where I visit you and Heiliger remains at the HQ?” “Yes, yes. I did. But…” She glanced back toward Heiliger before looking up at Graham once more. “I thought you might have gotten into another fight. I’m glad to see I was wrong. If only Alfred hadn’t said that last year.” Schweitzer reacted to that with raised eyebrows and a question. “Alfred?” “Yes, he has visited me for the past three years. He is so skilled and my bigger brother favors him. Once I met him, I took a liking to him as well.” She poked her head out around Graham to view Schweitzer as she spoke. She made no attempt to hide the unease on her face. “Who are you?” Heiliger’s response boomed through the hall. “He is Hellard Schweitzer, son of the Schweitzer who protected you here 20 years ago. He has inherited the Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer.” Her face lit up when she heard that. “Oh,” she smiled. “You’re that child who never even cried at his funeral!” “Hm?” She stepped out from behind Graham and ran over to Schweitzer. She crouched, grabbed the frilly hem of her dress, and curtsied. “I am Rose Karlsruhe, eldest daughter of the Karlsruhe family.” She straightened up, widened her somewhat narrow eyes, and looked up at him with a smile. “Incredible! I doubt you remember since it was 20 years ago for you, but it was only a month ago for me. Hard to believe such a small child grew up to be so big!” She took his biological hand in her left hand. “Thank you so much! Your father saved us all!” She swept her right hand to the side and pointed at the white glowing wall before twirling. “Can you see it? You can, can’t you, Schallmauer Zerstörer? When your father protected this place, Lady Naylor and I were in here, but…but that’s not all!” The wall she pointed to reflected the light in a complex way. Something was carved there. “Those are the names and the legacies of those who went to sleep here a thousand years ago and eventually awoke.” Rose took her eyes off of Schweitzer to view the wall just like he was. “Do you understand? These carvings are not just art; they are blueprints. The knowledge of those who slept here for centuries will occasionally become the Ober Geheimnis of the age in which they awaken. They leave their past knowledge here and then depart to live in that age.” A breath. “It is said England’s god created a fount of knowledge in heaven, but this is the same! All of the knowledge that has supported Germany can be found here!” “Unfortunately, most of it either cannot be understood or cannot be reproduced with our current level of technology,” said Graham. Schweitzer sighed. “Are you saying my father protected Germany from the leakage and destruction of all this knowledge?” His head rose in sudden realization. “Wait, did Marsch know about this?” “He visited here once at the request of Development Division Chief Elrich. It is impossible to know what he learned here, but his results afterwards were impressive.” Schweitzer nodded and looked down at Der Held. A slight frown twisted his face. Just then, he felt a tug on his left hand. By Rose. She was tugging on it with both her delicate hands. Urging him toward the hallway – to leave this place. “Let’s go, my brothers. You too, Lieutenant. Today is such an important day. It is the one day a year I am awake and can spend time with everyone. And the one day I can see how Nibelung, the Wheel of Ruin is turning.” “The Wheel of…Ruin?” Rose did not answer his question, but she did continue with a smile. “Today is the day I learn whether I will gain a new body or if this one will be destroyed. But through that, I also learn if Nibelung has begun to turn! And…” She looked up at him. “I just know it will be an important day for the Schallmauer Zerstörer and the Kaiser Schwert!” She tugged on his hand and began walking, but he looked back behind him. Graham had begun to walk and Bermark followed. Past those two, Heiliger alone remained where he was. “…” Schweitzer looked away from him to view the hall instead. The engravings on the wall shined in the bright lights from the ceiling. He viewed the reflection of all that precious knowledge that still kept so many secrets from them. ### 484. Part 2 Hazel awoke to a voice. “Hey.” It was deep but not too deep. A depth with a hint of something higher. It was a woman’s voice. … Do I know any women who sound like that? She did not. Wondering if she was imagining things in her sleep, her sleepy mind began to drift off once more. Her cracked eyes told her it was still dark out. She could sense a nice warmth on her skin. Her mind was wrapped in the veil of a light doze. If she shut her eyes again, sleep would take her once more. But… “Hey.” She heard the voice again. And she sensed light too. The light reaching her retinas through her eyelids was not the sunrise. It was unpleasantly bright. She opened her eyes just enough to tell the circle of light was pointing down at her from above. “?” She tilted her drowsy head. “Spending the night with a naked girl, Dog Berger?” “––––!?” She opened her eyes in a hurry to see the chest of a black shirt in the perfect nuzzling position. And she saw Berger’s face. And since her Flektieren had worn off in her sleep… … I’m naked. The burst of air had not woken either of them, so he must have been tired and she must have been… … Um… The thought made her want to hide, so she stopped thinking about it. She also tried to move away from Berger, but… “Eh?” Her arms were folded up and pressed against his chest and she could not extend them. The sleeping bag was taut against her back, leaving only a limited space to move around in. “It’s so tight.” She struggled a bit but then looked up. “Ugh…” Berger was waking up. She looked up at him to see his blue eyes slowly open and focus. “Huh?” He looked her in the eye for a few seconds. “Wait, what the hell are you doing, Hazel!?” “What am I doing!? You’re the one that pulled me into your arms!” “Don’t lie. Anyway, get out, Hazel! You’re twisting my arm all weird.” “D-d-don’t touch me- ah…no, e-especially not there…” While they struggled inside the packed sleeping bag, the female voice from before reached them. “Shut up the both of you.” A small shape moved into the range of the light shining on them. It was an army boot. It swiftly moved to the center of the light and grazed Hazel’s ear. “Huh?” That was all Berger got out before it slammed into his jaw. After the clack of teeth against teeth, someone grabbed the sleeping bag from behind, lifted it up, and pulled it back. The zipper was undone behind Hazel. The chilly air reached her back and someone lifted her up from behind. She was roughly tossed to the ground like someone peeling a fruit. After noticing her skin glowing with a pale light in the darkness, she crouched down and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked up to see someone in a flight jacket. Their back was turned. They were far from tall – 5 feet at the most – but even from behind, they radiated a strange intensity. A flashlight shined out from their face, so they must have been holding it in their mouth. They were crouched down and holding the end of the sleeping bag. “Ah, hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Berger’s protests were silenced as the sleeping bag was zipped up. The flashlight light moved, a muffled voice said something, and the person pointed at the squirming sleeping bag. They skillfully tied up the open end of the sleeping bag with a strap and sent a solid kick into the center of the shouting bag. “What do I think I’m doing? Demonstrating the principles of democracy with some nice, democratic vigilante justice.” The flashlight shut off and Hazel panicked at the darkness that suddenly surrounded her. “Um,” she called, but the only response was the sound of another kick. The powerful blow was of a type she had never heard before. By the time she questioned it, it was already too late. She heard humming. It was a jazz song with a nice tempo. It was a chart topper she had often heard on the radio while in the US. The kicking started back up in time with the song. The light humming took the place of the trumpet, the sax, and the drums, while a kick sounded with each and every note. It was a nice tune and Hazel could not help but nod her head to the beat. … Isn’t there someone inside the sleeping bag being kicked? The kicks came so quickly it was hard to believe. “Um.” “What is it? Use English.” “Um…what are you doing?” Kicking like this tenderizes the meat by breaking the fibers.” The kicking continued. So did the humming. Then they asked Hazel something. “More importantly, are you okay? I would recommend against selling your body when you’re still so young.” “Eh? No, um, that isn’t what this was.” “Yeah, I was young once. You’re drawn to these men who live in the moment and decide to put out. But I’d recommend against that too.” Hazel was unsure how to respond. She could still hear the kicking and the humming, but then she panicked. … N-now is not the time to be enjoying the music! She could tell this person had misunderstood the situation. And given the circumstances, she knew where that misunderstanding had come from, so she spoke up. “U-um, I’m fine. Please don’t worry. He didn’t do anything to me!” The kicking stopped and the somewhat airborne sleeping bag plopped down onto the ground and rolled once to the side. Once all was silent, Hazel sighed in relief and continued. “I-I’m fine. So please stop that. Because…because…” She hung her head a little. “Mr. Berger is used to seeing me naked.” After a pause, the kicking resumed with double the intensity and the sleeping bag burst open. “What the hell have you been doing, you scumbag!?” A voice called from further off in the forest. “Captain Sevan! It’s almost time for the meeting!” “Got it! Hey, you all stay away from here! It ain’t a pretty sight!!” “Understood! Thanks!” The other voice faded into the distance. After a few seconds, the humming made one final and extra-hard hit before stopping. “Hmph.” The figure stopped moving, wiped the sweat from their brow, and turned around. “You okay, girl? Staying far away from men like this is the real secret to happiness, if you ask me.” “I see,” was all Hazel could think to say. The person removed their flight jacket and tossed it her way. She caught the still-warm leather garment and draped it over her shoulders like a stole. She noticed an unfamiliar perfume on the collar. The figure stood before her and she could see the Ton light emanating from their body. A mighty red light was pulsating from them. The person standing within that light was a woman. She looked to be in her mid-thirties and her wavy brown hair was cut to shoulder length. She looked Hazel in the eye and smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m Corelle Sevan. I have some business here, so I’m sorry, but I can’t immediately send you back to the village.” “U-um, I’m Hazel Mirildorf. …Does that mean anything to you?” Corelle’s expression changed when she heard that. Her eyebrows rose and the tone color of her Tons grew orange. “Oh? Are you the daughter of the Oscar Mirildorf the higher ups are trying to bring onboard?” She crossed her arms and frowned. “God, M. Schrier and those other bastards are using Berger to win him over through his daughter, aren’t they? Listen, girl.” She crouched down to Hazel’s eye level. “I’m sure a lot has happened, but I hate it when people do it for such calculated reasons.” “Um, I think you’re misunderstanding this.” “It’s all right. You often don’t realize what they did to you until later. I understand the urge to defend your first, but we can discuss this all more on the way back to America.” She smiled and rubbed Hazel’s head. … What do I do now? She’s not listening to me at all. “You know what? Forget it,” said Hazel. “Just go on believing whatever you think happened here.” “Absolutely not, you moron!” shouted the sleeping bag. It loudly tore open behind Corelle. The stuffing scattered through the air and a figure in a black coat stood up. He held Gelegenheit with a black blade thrusting from it. “Corelle! Do you have any idea how hard it was getting her here from Berlin!?” “Captain Sevan, General Pale is demanding you get to the meeting right this instant! He says he’ll punch me if you don’t!” The distant voice wholly ignored Berger’s protests. Corelle placed a hand on Hazel’s shoulder before standing up and shouting into the distance. “Got it! I’m sure I already missed my part, so tell him to wait another three minutes!!” “Understood!” called back the voice, followed by footsteps fading into the distance. Afterwards, Berger adjusted his grip on Gelegenheit. “What, you think three minutes is enough for my anger to fade?” The answer was extremely simple. “Don’t be dumb. The three minutes are to get this girl dressed.” Corelle sighed down toward the ground and inhaled. “I’m not gonna spare even a second of my time listening to a sex criminal’s excuses. Now turn around, idiot.” ### 485. Part 2 “I see.” Schweitzer nodded without asking what she meant. Then he spoke his mind. “It’s been 5 years now, I suppose, but a woman once had me promise to defend this country. We were out drinking at the time. …What will you have me promise at this party?” “I have no qualms about lying, so are you sure you want to promise me anything?” “The promise is for me to keep and any lies will come from you. The two are not in conflict.” “Trying to be nice? I don’t want your pity. Did you actually believe what I said about ’43?” “Then do you not want a promise? Your loss. I doubt another chance like this will come along.” Lowenzahn frowned, but her expression eventually relaxed and she wrapped her left arm around Der Held. She made sure her slender arm could not be removed from his metal right arm. “Promise me…” She kept her voice low.” Promise me you will believe me no matter what lies I tell you.” “An easy promise to keep for someone as bad at detecting lies as me.” “Way to ruin the mood. But I do have one thing to tell you now. Assume it’s a lie if you want.” “Understood.” “What would you think if my prophecies stopped being so accurate?” He had no answer for her, which she must have expected since she continued without missing a beat. “Are you listening, Captain Hellard? A Sofort Leser can read the Tons of destiny and of time in this country’s Tons and that tells us what will happen to it in the future. But do you know why the future is recorded in this world’s Tons?” “Hm…” Schweitzer still had no answer. He looked at Lowenzahn, but she did not return his gaze. She kept her eyes dead ahead, on the important people discussing important things in the mess hall. She watched her subordinates. “Listen carefully, Captain Hellard. We know the answer. During the Obstacle Era, the world was destroyed time and again, so someone worked desperately to create a world that would not be destroyed.” “Berger once mentioned something similar. While this world was remade, the current one was built from an arrangement of Concept Existence Tons that would not be destroyed.” “Yes, so in a way, all of those destroyed worlds were the price we paid to gain the world we have now. It might be destroyed, but its destruction is not guaranteed either. And those Concept Existence Tons all contain information from those previous worlds, not from this one.” She took a breath. “This world was created through trial and error. We did not want to be destroyed, so we created a world that could avoid the Nibelung’s cycle of destruction. That created a world where anything goes: reincarnation, gods, demons, and so on.” “…” Lowenzahn looked up at him. “A Sofolt Leser reads the Concept Existence Tons that record the events of the past worlds. But I’ve run into a bit of a problem. All I’m reading are the records of those past worlds, so they are ultimately not about this world. The world has been reset countless times and the same things happen each time, but they’re still different.” “Different?” “Yes, my prophecies are nothing more than reading ahead to see what happened in the previous worlds that were destroyed. But lately, things have been changing. For some reason, things in this world are happening differently.” She pulled his right arm close and faced forward once more. “What if I told you the Berlin Conflict in ’35 was actually supposed to happen in ’37? And what if I told you the Sylphide incident was supposed to happen this year?” “––––?” “Ever since ’35, my prophesies have required some corrections. Since I failed to predict that incident, the Geheimnis Agency failed to respond in time and I fell ill, unable to even leave my bed…but my prophecy in ’37 was correct.” “So things have sped up by 2 years?” “Yes. That means the Kaiserburg’s development was shortened by 2 years, doesn’t it? Marsch Gant developed the Sylphide based on the Kaiserburg, so that explains why it too was completed 2 years early. …P. Wagner, developer of the Kaiserburg, must have done something different from any of the past worlds at some point.” She frowned a little. “That means the Messiah girl was put through her trial 2 years early. She should have met the Sylphide when she had a couple of years’ more wisdom, but reality and its words hit her before she was ready.” “She still managed to overcome it, though.” Schweitzer repeated the term “2 years” to himself as he looked to the people in the cafeteria. “Is that why we are excavating the Alfheim Meteorite Pit?” “We have two reasons for that. The first is because the original prophecy said P. Wagner should have built the Kaiserburg at Berlin University and caused the Armored Hammer of God Incident in ’37.” She stood up. “And the other is a list of special letters sent out by the Post Office. A special letter was delivered to P. Wagner in 1920.” “A Verlsten Brief?” He never received an answer. She gave him a mischievous smile and prepared to speak, but she was cut off by a young man’s panicked voice coming from the mess hall’s entrance. “Emergency! It’s an emergency!” A soldier stood in the entranceway with a message in hand. “The #8 Base…is under attack! We’re under attack! We need to respond!” ### 486. Part 2 Alfred used the force of his landing to attack the old man standing in the center of the ceiling barrier. Rein König’s blade cleaved him in two, from head to groin. It met no resistance and even the sound of the cut was drowned out by the wind created by his landing. Everyone’s eyes were on him as he leisurely stood up at the barrier’s center. “…” The corpse thudded onto the barrier and the blood sprayed out. The liquid sounded more solid than liquid as it hit the barrier, burst, and spread out into a puddle. The new color blotted out the Tune Emblem below it. The Glossolalian elites did not move an inch in response. The only movement came from the one human. Alfred finished standing up and rested Rein König on his shoulder. He brushed his hair up with his left hand and spoke without even giving the corpse a glance. “Let’s have some fun, shall we?” He took a look around him just as the ether shield vanished. The Emblem Masters fell back while the soldiers they had been protecting advanced. They were large, but they were more than just hulking muscle – they were well-trained soldiers. The six of them faced Alfred, each with a submachinegun in their left arm. He could see their killer intent. “Ooh, I like the color of your killer intent. That’s what I’m looking for in a Heidengeist.” He smiled. “Did your Emblem Masters fall back to begin on Plan B? Securing an escape route, perhaps? …You thought this through. But I have just one thing to say to that.” He lowered Rein König from his shoulder and relaxed his right arm, letting it fall limply at his side. “Die.” He turned his body to the left and suddenly swung his right hand. The result was more a groan of agony than a scream. Something strange was sticking into the mouth of the soldier he was now facing: a sword’s hilt. And something strange had grown from the back of the soldier’s head: a sword’s blade. “A little prick from Rein König isn’t enough to slay a big, strong Heidengeist like you, so don’t act so surprised.” Alfred shifted his gaze further left and took off running. He sprinted not toward the soldier stabbed with Rein König, but toward the one standing to that soldier’s left. He was fast and his feet pounded loud on the metal barrier as they carried him forward. He bent like a bow, and… “!” He accelerated to reach his opponent in the blink of an eye. The soldier had been briefly distracted by the sword thrown to his left. That proved fatal. He noticed Alfred’s approach and attempted to aim the submachinegun in his left hand, but Alfred grabbed the barrel before he could. Realizing the gun was now aimed at a distant ally well behind Alfred, the soldier chose not to pull the trigger, let go of the gun altogether, and leaped backwards. Alfred tossed the submachinegun into the air and pursued his enemy. He tapped the bottom of his vest and a dagger wrapped in a sticky light dropped blade first. He snatched it from the air and ran forward. While the soldier leaped back, he formed a symbol with his right hand’s fingers, pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket with his left hand, and opened his mouth. Alfred swung his dagger first. It sliced through the air, but the soldier holding the parchment was uninjured. The momentum of swinging the dagger spun Alfred around, showing his back, so the soldier pointed his right hand’s symbol toward him and shouted the text on the parchment. “–––––!” Except his voice would not come. Noticing something was wrong, he held his throat. Alfred completed a full rotation and extended his left hand toward his foe. “Here, you can have your throat’s Horn back.” He tossed over a small bone resembling a spiral shell. While it was in the air, he threw a left roundhouse kick into the soldier’s right knee. The soldier’s knee bent the wrong way with a sickening crunch. The thrown Horn hit the collapsed soldier in the chest and bounced off. “What, you don’t want it?” Alfred sounded a bit surprised as he put the dagger back below his vest and pulled out something else. It was a metal tube measuring about a foot long. “This is a new invention of ours. It launches a piece of sacred wood. We call it a Panzer Reinigung.” He pressed it against his collapsing opponent’s chest and pressed the button on the side. A sound of bursting gunpowder and a puff of smoke burst from the back end and the soldier’s body convulsed. His body was even larger than Alfred’s, but it arched back and shook. There was no scream. He simply broke. His entire body trembled and turned to layers of bluish-white ether light, leaving his clothing behind. It was like a humanoid pile of papers. Before he could take another breath, he burned away, starting from the feet. This process of Ashing was unique to Heidengeists. But Alfred did not bother watching his opponent’s annihilation. He simply moved to the right. He made a quick side jump to approach the soldier with Rein König’s hilt growing from his mouth. He ducked below the weak punch thrown by the soldier’s right arm and looked up to see his opponent’s face with his weapon’s hilt extending from the mouth. He sent his right leg up while he stood up. He struck with his heel, but not straight at his opponent’s face. His heel swung down and to the right like a battle axe to kick the hilt sticking out. The soldier was spun to the right by his face. Alfred used that motion to circle behind his opponent, grabbed the bandolier at his opponent’s waist with his left hand, and raised his right hand. The submachinegun he had stolen and thrown skyward earlier landed in his right hand. And… “Here’s a lesson for you.” He looked forward to see a third enemy aiming a submachinegun his way. The enemy fired. “Heidengeists are greatly superior to humans when it comes to reflexes, endurance, cunning, and attachment to life.” He used the soldier in front of him as a shield against the incoming bullets. “Gah!” The soldier cried in agony as his body repeatedly shook. Alfred stuck his submachinegun out from behind him and fired. He also advanced. He lifted his meat shield ever so slightly and charged at the third enemy. “–––––!” “Hey, shields aren’t supposed to scream. You should rejoice that I’ve found a use for you.” The soldier’s body shook. Alfred fired while rushing the third enemy. His uniform was shredded and blood and flesh flew through the heated air, but the man’s body would not break. Alfred’s gun ran out of ammo. So did the enemy’s. Bloody, the enemy loaded a new magazine and resumed firing. Alfred did not hesitate to abandon his gun and use his freed-up hand to spin his shield around the other way. Instead of the bandolier, he grabbed Rein König’s hilt sticking out of the man’s mouth and pushed forward. His shield shook as it took more gunfire, but he did not care. He held Rein König with both hands now and lifted up the shield as he ran. He was now right up on his third opponent. The submachinegun had stopped firing. It was out of ammo. Alfred smiled and then shouted. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” He made a Bust attack. Rein König emitted a white light and his shield was blown away. The third enemy was eliminated a moment later. Alfred ran through the explosion of light he had created, seeing the lower half of his shield falling away. “I needed some cushioning to keep that from destroying the barrier. Great work.” With that, he picked up speed. He ran, took a step, and flipped to the side. Instead of planting his hands on the barrier, he used the inertia of his legs for a full midair side flip. A clawed attack slammed into the spot he had just vacated. A fourth enemy had Flektierened into a humanoid wolf with silver fur. “Oh? That English Frühmond stuff?” After landing, Alfred glanced around to see a fifth and sixth enemies injecting their arms with a drug also known as moon opium. “!” Two empty aluminum containers clanked against the barrier. The fifth and sixth made their next move before the sound had even faded. They jumped back to avoid Alfred, but their jumps easily cleared 10 yards. As soon as they landed, they were engulfed by explosions of white steam. The steam spread out from the center and was blown away as their bodies Flektierened. They were Hard Wolves – bipedal wolves who retained a lot of their human forms. They prepared for a fight and howled into the sky. A trio of war cries echoed into the heavens, surrounding Alfred. Hearing that, he lowered Rein König and pressed the tip against the barrier. “I never finished my lesson, did I? It’s true you Heidengeists are superior to us humans…but there’s one thing we have on you.” He moved the tip to draw a semicircle in front of him. “None of you is named Maldrick.” His line acted as a cue for the triangle formation of enemies to rush toward him in the center. They sprinted in, but he did not stay still. He leaped backwards. One of the Hard Wolves was charging in toward there. With his back to that enemy, Alfred shrunk down a little in the air. “!” And he spun around in an instant. He also threw the dagger he had used before. The white blade flew toward the Hard Wolf’s forehead. His Heidengeist reflexes easily saw the throw coming. At his speed, dodging it would throw off his balance, so he reached out a clawed hand to grab the flying dagger. He caught it and his thick fur kept the blade from cutting his hand. But… “Those reflexes will be your undoing.” Alfred ran in. “!?” He flew through the air before the Hard Wolf could show his surprise. He extended his leg straight out to kick the haft of the dagger forward like a hammer. The impact pushed the blade into the Hard Wolf’s forehead. All the way in. A moment later, Alfred kicked the dagger’s haft again and stretched out his body. He leaped backwards. His long brown hair fluttered in the heated night air as he flew more than 5 yards back. He passed above the heads of the two Hard Wolves running in toward him. He landed behind them and immediately placed his hands on the ground in front of him and flipped to the side. The Hard Wolves attacked behind themselves without even looking back. After two side flips, he straightened up again. The one enemy was flat on the ground while holding his forehead. The dagger had reached his brain. Not even a Heidengeist could keep fighting after that. Two remained. Those two were nowhere to be seen, so he moved forward, throwing on his full speed from step one. The wind he felt behind him told him the enemy had been charging him from the left and right. And that they were now pursuing from behind him. He immediately ducked and rapidly braked by practically lying down on the ground. A beat later, two sets of claws swept by overhead and the two enemies moved out ahead. “That uncontrollable speed will be your undoing too.” Alfred stood up and swept the feet out from under the staggering figure on the right. He successfully tripped that Hard Wolf. At the same time, the left one finished braking, spun around, and raised his claws. He jabbed the five sparkling claws straight forward. That was a move learned through martial arts training, not an animal’s attack. “–––––!” Hearing an animal roar, Alfred struck the tripping Hard Wolf in the head with Rein König. With the sound of a juicy fruit splitting open, the head burst, the body tilted, and the claws coming from the left stabbed into the right one’s chest. The right Hard Wolf instantly turned to ashes. The final one frantically pulled back his ashy left arm, but Alfred’s Rein König stabbed through his gut before he could, breaking his spine. “!?” His body bent forward from the impact and Alfred pulled out a Panzer Reinigung and pressed it against the Hard Wolf’s jaw. “Poor thing.” With that, he skewered the Hard Wolf’s face bottom to top with the sacred wood stake. The sound of gunpowder echoed out and Alfred pulled Rein König from the enemy’s gut, further breaking his body before it Ashed. The sound of falling ash was just like that of spilling sand. Alfred emotionlessly glanced down. Five paces past the blowing ash, another Hard Wolf was convulsing on the ground with a dagger still stabbed into his forehead. “…” Alfred wordlessly approached and then heard a shout. A human shout. “Alfred!!” Alfred recognized the voice. But he did not look back. He instead used his sword to split the head of the agonized Hard Wolf at his feet. Precisely two seconds later, he heard footsteps from behind him. First two steps and then a third, more solid step. “Did he jump?” Alfred looked back, twisting his body around and raising Rein König overhead. He raised his voice for a full-power Bust despite being atop the barrier. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Rein König amplified his Ton and let it burst out as a white light. But the incoming attack split the white light. The attack was composed of darkness and it was swung down by a figure in a black coat: Dog Berger. ### 487. Part 2 Hazel heard Berger’s voice from the speaking tube in the small, inertia-reduced secondary cockpit. “Sorry, Hazel, but can you do me a favor?” “Wh-what kind of favor?” “Let’s have a nice chat to distract me. I’d forgotten how badly injured I am. This Barrel feels weirdly heavy in the gut and I accidentally wrote the pain from that attack into its memory.” “Um, you don’t sound in pain.” She heard a loud crash from outside. The wind could move through the ventilation pipe and reach her dimly-lit secondary cockpit. As could the Erklärungs. The wind moved thrice in quick succession. A great gale blew into the secondary cockpit, but not a natural one. This was an artificial destructive wind created by movement and tremors. The tone color was a piercingly sharp light blue. The tempo was large and deep but only lasted a moment. … That’s nothing like Sylphide. “Mr. Berger.” “What is it, Hazel? I’m a bit busy dodging right now. Stay quiet.” “You just told me to talk with you.” The wind blew through and the secondary cockpit shook and swung around unpredictably. “––––!?” Her confusion was answered by the enemy’s voice. “See, that’s what happens when our Erklärungs collide. In the Geheimnis Agency, we have trained for this and learned the advantages and disadvantages. You cannot catch up to us.” “Don’t brag about having an unfair advantage!” “Says the loser who can never win!” A slight vibration through her seat told her the Schwarz Löwe was backing up. Wind blew through the ventilation pipe at the same time, so she could see the wind’s tone color. … This is coming from the right, not up ahead? “Escape to the left!!” She shouted on reflex and the secondary cockpit briefly came to a stop. She felt like she was floating, and then… … To the left. A great pressure tugged the entire secondary cockpit to the right. Even in the inertial negation of the cockpit, her hair was tugged over and she nearly fell over. The clothing Berger had stripped off when Write Bringing was pulled from the floor at her feet and splatted against the right wall with the blood soaking it. However… “You dodged that!?” The enemy’s voice arrived from the right, along with the sandy explosion of rubble. She looked out through the viewport on the side and saw the fire-illuminated crimson smoke created by the enemy’s attack. “Hazel.” Berger’s voice reached her through the speaking tube, along with somewhat elevated breathing. “Hazel, how did you predict that attack?” “Eh?” The next one came before she could ask what he meant. She again saw the wind blowing in through the ventilation pipe. She calmly reached a hand out to touch the wind Tons floating in her cockpit. “From the left this time.” The Schwarz Löwe took rapid evasive action. It moved back and spun just a bit to the right. The light blue Tons in her hand burst and vanished. A beat later, she heard an impact from the left. They had dodged it. … I know what this must be. “M-Mr. Berger.” “Can you see it, Hazel?” “Y-yes, I can see the wind dancing!” “Then I might just be able to dodge these attacks even with a Barrel so heavy. …Keep reading the wind for me.” “O-okay!” Her heart pounded as she answered him. The wind danced again, oblivious to how she felt. She reached a hand toward what she saw. “Move right.” He dodged. “Move left.” He spun. “Move back.” He evaded. “Move forward!” A solid sound rang out as one of his attacks finally landed. Their opponent took his first hit. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what this meant. And… “Mr. Berger! I want to get out so I can see the wind better!” It took two full seconds for him to reply, but reply he did. “Then get out, Hazel. I asked you to read the wind, didn’t I!?” “Of course!” She opened the hatch and emerged. While the Schwarz Löwe fell back to buy time and with the inertia nearly flinging her away, she placed herself in the gap between the secondary cockpit and the head. She held the frame between her legs to steady herself. The wind blew all around her. It was so much more vivid and plentiful than inside her cockpit. “If you blackout, I’ll begin our escape. If you don’t, then read the wind for me! Even 10 seconds will give me a chance to attack.” Schwarz Löwe raised Gelegenheit before he was even done speaking. Kaiser took a defensive stance in return. “Is that the Messiah girl?” Hazel leaned against Schwarz Löwe’s head and placed her hands on it as she nodded. Their opponent shook his head once to reject this idea. “Get down. You can’t win. …Predicting some of my movements is not enough. That Grösse Panzer belongs to me and it was meant as a prototype for the Kaiser, so it contains several functions Berger can’t use.” “Is that why it feels so heavy in the gut? I’m betting it has a prototype for the Kaiser’s Eingeweide component. Did I guess right, Alfred?” “Yes. Which is why that Panzer will never do what you want it to.” “Sounds like a fair handicap to me, Kaiser. Meanwhile, I’ve got the Messiah who can predict your movements. Let’s see who comes out on top.” “Prepare yourself. Our commander made a prophecy 2 weeks ago that she said would trigger the return of the Messiah once fulfilled. But, Berger, that prophecy makes no reference to the one armed man with the divine name.” In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates “This is the end for you, Berger – man with the divine name.” “Divine name?” repeated Hazel. She looked to Schwarz Löwe’s face, but Berger said nothing. The Kaiser, however, did. “You hadn’t noticed, Messiah girl? His name is Dog Berger. Reverse the first name and you get the name for England’s god.” “!?” She gasped when she realized what that meant. “Th-then when Mr. Berger fulfilled the prophecy two years ago…” Berger’s voice left Schwarz Löwe with a tone of resignation. “The symbolism lined up by coincidence. But…” He took a breath. “I will reject this destiny. Wild Hund is enough for me. More than enough.” “So you rely on Gelegenheit and the Messiah!?” The Kaiser suddenly raced forward. “What kind of man needs a woman’s help to fight!?” The wind moved and its tone color reached Hazel’s eyes. The wind danced. The powerful inertia nearly threw her from the Heavy Barrel’s shoulder as she viewed the wind. The white Kaiser created a powerful gale rushing in toward her. The black Schwarz Löwe created a pleasant wind that surrounded her. Both winds were dancing. The gale produced by the Kaiser was primarily caused by its propulsion devices. It whipped up the wind along a straight line as it charged in, breaking through the wall of air standing in its way. The wind blew out for just an instant and broke, sending out the straight-line gale. It was the pleasant wind’s job to redirect that wind away. The pleasant wind was weak. It was caught in the gale and nearly broken, but Hazel guided it. She spoke the words needed to send it on its proper course as the two winds were entangled. “Move forward.” Schwarz Löwe skillfully took the shortest path possible. Anything else would mean defeat against this opponent. The Schwarz Löwe contained a device that only Alfred could use. Berger had identified it as a High Organ prototype and Hazel thought on that now. … It does seem to be holding him back. She was here to negate that handicap, so she read the wind. That was the only thing she could do. “Move forward.” She had him step forward and chose the wind current that gave them the fastest possible movement. The faster they moved, the more chance they had to fight back against the powerful gale. The pleasant wind was mostly swept aside by that wind, so they needed to take control of a wind more capable of fighting it. She viewed her surroundings while tossed about by the inertia. The sky was crimson, the wind was loud, and the rumble of Heavy Barrel operation was incessant. The scenery spun around her as the Heavy Barrel made a turn. Flames rose from the destroyed base and the collapsed Vaterland tower was visible further back. The wind was growing stronger. For a brief moment, the wind grew red. … A scorching wind? As soon as the thought reached her, the barrier at the center of the base was blown away from below. A great roar burst out, followed by a shockwave. The 50-yard metal door was blasted into the night sky in four pieces. The gray rectangles looked so small as they hovered in the distant sky, but… “!” They began their descent in the very center of her vision. The wind buffeted them, altering their descent, but they fell all the same. One piece fell like a leaf fluttering into the Black Forest, felling several trees. One piece fell straight down, bisecting the command tower. One piece spun down into the airfield, its corners gouging holes like a sewing machine as it rolled. One piece gained a gentle twist as it fell toward the two Heavy Barrels below. Schwarz Löwe used everything it had to leap backwards. The Kaiser used its leg propulsion devices to slide right and behind the metal panel. The giant metal panel stabbed into the ground like a wall between the two Barrels. The asphalt meant nothing against that 50-yard blade. Schwarz Löwe took repeated evasive actions to avoid the resultant wind and rubble pieces, but its movements were wild. It was a disjointed series of reflexive evasions, not a flowing series of movements. “That idiot! How tightly did he set this thing!?” Schwarz Löwe’s movements fell apart and its wind scattered. Hazel panicked. “Mr. Berger!? The wind is-!” The enemy took action before she could complete her warning. The powerful gale blew in from above. The white Heavy Barrel had jumped over the metal panel and now dropped down from 50 yards overhead. Wind blew from the wings on its back as it charged straight toward Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe took evasive action, but it was too slow. Hazel realized the attack was aimed for Schwarz Löwe’s head. The scattered wind was partially to blame for their delay. … That and he still hasn’t gotten the hang of using this Barrel. She was reminded of a similar situation from two years ago. … The Sylphide tried to protect me over the North Sea, but it was still incomplete. “I was only a guest – a component…but I couldn’t do anything.” She looked up. A thought broke her mind out of the past and she spoke in the present. “I…” The enemy’s white blade was approaching. In that instant, she shouted the words she had used to say goodbye to Sylphide. “I will use this power as it’s meant to be used!!” At the same time, an Erklärung rewrote that space. But this Erklärung did not belong to Gelegenheit or the Kaiser. It was a simple statement. ### 488. Part 3 The airport control room said what everyone in the cockpit was thinking. “Attention, Geheimnis Agent who just made radio contact, the Air Force is preparing to counterattack, so leave this airspace immediately!” “Shut it. It’s you and your military who let our skies and lands be defiled like this. And the few aircraft you can scramble on such short notice won’t be enough firepower to bring down that dragon, so I will bring it down.” Only one of the six people in the cockpit managed to respond to that: Schweitzer. He walked forward, passed Heiliger, and grabbed the radio microphone from the wall. “Is that you, Alfred!? Have you completed your mission in the North Sea!?” “That voice…Hellard? How did you let this base grow so negligent on your watch? You too, Bermark. Your brother Nein must be weeping.” The dragon roared. “Oh? Loud thing, isn’t it? …Beginning counterattack. We can have our Marsch-less reunion later.” The transmission was cut off on the other end. Schweitzer returned the microphone and turned toward Heiliger. Heiliger crossed his arms and looked back at Schweitzer. He had a fairly sharp look to his eyes, but Schweitzer remained calm and saluted before responding. “The army is working with the Geheimnis Agency’s development division to improve upon the Eisen Ritter Project with the Panzer Ritter Project meant to develop the strongest Neue Kavalier, but the Geheimnis Agency also has its own strongest Panzer Kavalier.” “And who is that?” “Alfred Maldrick, second son of the Maldrick family, the foremost European Buster family, and the man allowed to wield that imperial blade known as the Rein König. He is a Buster capable of destroying an Octave of 10 million.” Then they heard a voice from the sky. But instead of another roar, this one was a scream. And it suddenly dropped down toward the airport. ### 489. Part 3 If the German evening drove people back to their homes, then the night that followed was the busiest time in those homes. That remained true in the Black Forest located in the southwest of the country. A home of sorts was located in that land of trees and valleys where no city could be built. The Geheimnis Agency HQ was home to the Germania Dragoons. It was located at a long, narrow strip of land with valley slopes rising on either side. A 2-mile runway stretched out ahead of three 5-story buildings with several black Grösse Panzers deployed for security. The many pillars even larger than the Grösse Panzers made the place look like it was a natural construction of massive stones, as if to insist the facility was part of the forest. It was a fortress. The fortress was currently lit up as people gathered there for the night. That many people naturally led to a lot of noise. The peace and quiet of the Black Forest was broken by shattering glass. A Grösse Panzer patrolling midway down the runway turned back toward the sound. A first-floor window on the right side of the central building – the officer barracks – had broken. A single young Geheimnis Officer lay collapsed below the window. The Grösse Panzer viewed that and then shook its head in an exasperated way. A small light flashed at the far end of the runway. The Grösse Panzer patrolling there was signaling to ask what happened. The first Grösse Panzer twisted its head to aim its left shoulder that way and then flashed the glow panel installed on its secondary cockpit. Just the usual. The usual is happening again. A second person was defenestrated as well. The Grösse Panzer lowered its shoulder and looked that way again. People were gathered around the inside of the first-floor window. They wanted to see what had happened to those people. They were mostly young and a few of them were holding plates of food. The commotion was coming from the mess hall. ### 490. Part 3 Hazel suddenly opened her eyes. “Ah.” She must have dozed off, so she sleepily checked on her current situation. This was the room Berger had taken her to. He was still not back, so she was alone sitting in the seat in front of the central table. … A lot happened today. Flektierening into a cat and running around was exhausting. Meeting Berger had also helped her relax. “I’m so sleepy. Where is Berger, anyway?” She straightened up, tilted her head, and checked the clock on the wall to see it was already past 11 at night. The thick curtain over the window fluttered as the night breeze blew in. She could see the color of the wind. She had gained that power once her right eye’s sight returned after the incident two years ago. It was a pale blue. The somewhat blurred Tons wavered, swirled, and danced around the room. It was cold. She was only wearing Berger’s black shirt and Berlin’s nights were chilly even in late summer. She got up to shut the window, but she remembered what he had told her. … I’m not supposed to approach the window. She thought over that and then turned toward the kitchen. The food below the frying pan’s lid had to be cold by now. She sighed and let her shoulders droop before remembering how she was dressed. “I actually dozed off like this.” She thought for a bit and looked around the room, noting the absence of a closet or wardrobe. … I wish there were some clothes I could borrow. The cabinet below the sink seemed like the most likely spot. It was right next to the space with food in it. She approached the sink, crouched down, and sat with the hem of the shirt held in the back of her knees like a skirt. “Sorry, but I need to check inside.” After apologizing, she tensed up a bit and opened it. She detected a scent reminiscent of old wood and metal. She saw two wooden boxes inside, just like in Berger’s hideout two years before. She smiled a little. “He gave me a shirt and shorts back then, didn’t he? Sandals too.” Her shoulders fell in exasperation. “But I didn’t get any underwear until the German barracks. I was running around without any until then.” Her shoulders fell further in frustration. “And he saw everything before that anyway.” She hung her head. But… “But I’ve forgotten all that unpleasantness and grown a lot over the past two years. Well, except in the chest!” She clenched her fists and stood up with resolve, crashing her head right into the top of the cabinet. A horribly dull thud filled the room. “!?” She held the back of her head and doubled over. Just then, she heard what sounded like something heavy falling over past the floor – on the ground floor below. It was dull wooden impact. … Berger? She wiped away the tears that were more due to surprise than pain and got up while being much more careful this time. She stood up, looked around the room just once, and walked barefoot over to the door. She pulled the thick door with both hands to open it. She found the landing that opened out onto the front desk below. This room was in the very back, putting it furthest from the stairs. She could see anyone climbing the stairs from here. Presently, someone other than Berger was doing so. It was a man and woman in black. … Are they staying in another room? She wondered that, but at the same time… … I can’t let anyone other than Berger see me dressed like this. She shut the door and waited a few seconds, but then something occurred to her. … Could they be from the Geheimnis Agency? She had seen those agents in black from time to time since entering Germany, not to mention the two men who had tried to take custody of her two years ago as the possessor of the Messiah Eingeweide eye. The pair climbing the stairs now reminded her a lot of those two. They had the same heavy tension and strained atmosphere surrounding them. She quickly reached back to lock the door. Just then, a knock came at the door. … !? Followed by another. The knocking caused her pulse to race. She froze in place and tried to mask her presence. She had to make it seem like there was no one here. She held her breath, pressed her back against the wall next to the door, stood up on her toes, and remained entirely motionless. A few seconds passed. All of a sudden, she saw blueish white Tons flowing in. It was the wind. A powerful gust was approaching the window. … Please don’t make any noise. The wind blew in against her wishes, blowing the curtain and rattling its rail. The rattle of metal and rustle of thick cloth sounded so very loud. “…!” She placed a hand over her mouth. She suppressed it. She did not want to make any noise, but she felt like the tremor in her throat would cause something to escape. The wind died down. But then another knock came. A third one. The speed and strength of the knock was the same as before, which told her something. … They aren’t checking to see if someone is here? They knew she was here and were waiting for her to respond. Like gentlemen. They did not have hostile intentions. That realization made her cower down. … I’m scared. This all creeped her out. Then she heard a voice. It was a somewhat deep and emotionless female voice. “We have come to pick you up. We are from the Geheimnis Agency’s army division.” The voice carried no doubt about her presence and was not taking no for an answer, so Hazel held her body tight. She calmed her breathing. … I can do this if they’re willing to talk. “Um…” She took a breath. “What is this about? I only came to Germany on a trip.” “But to us, this is the return of our Messiah.” “I’m not your-” “Destiny – the prophecy – has spoken. Whoever you are now, you will eventually lead us, so it is only natural that we protect you now.” She thought about those uncompromising words. After three seconds, she spoke. “Wh-what happens if I…have no intention of leading you?” The answer came immediately and without hesitation. “Nevertheless, you are destined to lead us. It is that destined future that matters to us, not the present.” The doorknob turned with an “excuse me” from the voice. It was locked, so it did not open. The knob stopped. … They can’t get in. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief and provided her conclusion. “I’m sorry, but at least for now, I don’t want that. …So please leave.” “Nonsense. Do you think help is coming for you if you stay here? I am sorry to say that Dog Berger has abandoned you and departed on a mission for the AIF.” … Eh? She gasped and the woman beyond the door must have heard it. “He will not return no matter how long you wait, so I would recommend abandoning that hope.” “But he…but Berger…” “We have heard everything from the gentleman downstairs. Dog Berger said he wanted nothing more to do with you.” … That isn’t true. “Think it through. If he is currently on an AIF mission, how is he supposed to get you out of the country?” She fell silent. She stared down to her right where the cold frying pan sat on the stove. “…” She stared at the pan, took a few breaths, and shut her eyes. Then she straightened up and spoke. In English. “I do not believe you.” Her pronunciation was stiff as she was still unused to the language. It would not come as smoothly as German did. But she kept going all the same. “You claim that Mr. Berger left like that in order to hurt my feelings. No one would do something so cruel.” She had no idea if the woman beyond the door understood English, but that allowed her to speak more freely. “If he did leave me here, then he had a reason for it. He would have told the innkeeper downstairs the reason. But…” She frowned. “Unfortunately, I know the innkeeper would not have let you through. Yet here you are.” … I hope he’s okay. She recalled the friendly-looking elderly man’s face. Then she heard a Text. … An Erklärung!? She reflexively held the doorknob with her hand. It could not be turned from the outside and it was locked, so there was no way it could open. Nevertheless, open it did. The knob did not turn and the lock remained in place, yet the door opened. “––––!?” She realized her hand had released the knob and the door was open. Two people stood before her, both in black. One was a middle-aged woman in a black dress and a combat jacket. The other was a young, broad-shouldered man in a black military uniform. Hazel tensed as she faced the two of them. “What are you going to do?” … Take me away? “Are you going to take me against my will, just like you did during the Heidengeist test at school two years ago?” Back then, she had tried to protect a friend they had gotten violent with and been blinded in one eye by the resulting blow. … And then I was given the Messiah implant. Those thoughts set her body in motion. Strength filled her. Just then, both of them got down on one knee. The woman’s short blonde hair swayed as she bowed her head and spoke. “I am Geheimnis Agency Army Division Deputy Head Jeanne Schmitt. I must ask that you accompany us.” ### 491. Part 3 The sky above was a bright blue. The ground below was covered by a dark cedar forest. A deserted road ran through the center of the forest. Roads around the country had been reinforced while the autobahn was constructed. The road signs depicted tanks or military trucks and they all provided the maximum weight for the bridges over the rivers. Follow this north-south road to the mountainous region to the south and you would arrive in Munich. On the way south, the slope became more apparent, the rivers narrower, and the road signs fewer and farther between. The scenery also changed. Once at Nuremburg, less than 60 miles from Munich, the area was entirely taken over by forest. The road crossed an endless series of gentle hills surrounded by dark cedars. The air was fresh, the road was wide, and route was straight. The dark asphalt stretched endlessly through the black and green of the forest. A single motorcycle drove along that strip of pavement. The 750cc BMW had a sidecar attached and Berger sat in the driver’s seat wearing a black coat. He wore no helmet and he no longer had a glove on his left hand. The new prosthetic arm had a noticeable metallic glint. Hazel rubbed her eyes sleepily inside the sidecar attached on the right. Their speed created considerable wind. She tightened her collar and held her left shoulder. The blanket slipped down to the seat, so she had to hold it in place. She looked over and up at Berger while the moving motorcycle shook. “Good morning. Um, what time is it?” “There’s a clock under your seat,” he replied without taking his eyes off the road. Her shoulders drooped at his answer, but she still reached her right hand below the seat. “There’s an awful lot of trash under here.” “Of course there is. That’s my trashcan. After I eat or have some other trash, I chuck it in there. I might not look it, but I like to take good care of nature.” “Th-then, um, uh, what is this stickiness I feel down here?” Her face stiffened and she pulled her hand out with something dark on her fingers. “Eek!” “Don’t scream, idiot. That’s just oil. For the seat’s springs.” He laughed and she looked up to see him remove his left hand from the handlebar and pull out a pocket watch. “Hm.” He nodded and returned it to his pocket. “A watch,” she muttered after watching the process play out. “Um, but you said…” “I never said I didn’t have one too.” “You’re mean.” “So you’ve told me. Kids don’t have a wide vocabulary. If you want to sound grown up, find something else to call me.” She pulled a paper handkerchief from her breast pocket, wiped her hand with it, and draped the blanket over the seat and floor. Then she glanced over at Berger again. “You really aren’t very nice, you know?” “Oh? That’s different at least. Keep it up.” “Then I will. You don’t look away when I’m naked and you didn’t try to help me. You really are awful. How can you stay so calm when someone needs help?” “You think I want to see some flat-chested kid? Listen, Hazel. A boring body is like meat that won’t sell at the butcher. There’s no point in covering it up and it’s not worth buying. Remember that.” “Th-then what? I just need a bigger chest?” “Don’t simplify, Hazel Mirildorf. The issue is more complex than that. Are you willing to say that a large and hairy chest is best?” She gave that some serious thought before responding. “Oh, I have my fur when I’m a cat, so I actually have that.” “Um…why do you sound so delighted?” He sounded annoyed and she could see yellowish Tons surrounding him. … Is he enjoying this? The Tons soon disappeared, leaving her no way of determining what they meant. She sighed. “I swear I’m not letting you see me naked next time we meet. And you had better not complain about it.” “Sure thing, fräulein. I hope we do get to see each other again.” His casual tone was a relief. … Fräulein. That was what they called her at her school in America. She just about lost herself in thought about that, but she shook her head. “Um.” “Yeah?” … You saw me naked and didn’t try to help me, so… “Why did you come back last night?” “When I checked your luggage, I found something odd mixed in with the tragically small underwear: three test tubes. I wanted to ask you what you were doing with those here in Germany.” “R-really? That’s really the only reason you came back?” “Do you think I’d tell you if it wasn’t, Hazel?” He kept a straight face and she had no rebuttal. Instead, she thought for a bit and filled the silence with a different question. “Have you been driving this entire time? We’re almost to Munich, aren’t we?” “We’re making a one-night trip from Berlin to Munich and then west to Donaueschingen at the entrance of the Black Forest. That’s around 400 miles and we have 210 miles to go. It’s a pretty insane distance to try to drive so quickly.” Realizing her alternate question had not been much better, her shoulders drooped. “Sorry.” “Don’t sweat it, Hazel. I’m the only one that old upperclassman of mine gives these absurd tasks to. The official AIF force led by ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse is preparing for its first mission, yet that guy calls in a hired hand like me without giving me any training. …Because he knows I can handle it.” “But…” “But nothing, Hazel. If your apologies can make the motorcycle move faster, then keep it up.” He laughed bitterly. “Then again, the coins I was gonna give you are paying for this trip, so in a way, you really saved my ass here.” “What coins?” “The innkeeper gave me some imperial coins when we parted ways at Leipzig, remember? He was actually supposed to give them to you when you reached France. They were to fund your vacation in the Closed City.” “Why…to me?” He smiled. “So you can dress up some. Why did cut you that pretty hair of yours? And why do you always look so tense? Were the American kids at your new school bullying you?” He kept smiling. “Unlike two years ago, I think it’s my turn to ask. Hazel, what do you want to be?” “You already know that. I want to learn Tuning or Busting.” “No, you don’t. That wasn’t what you wanted before you met Sylphide and before you got that brand on your shoulder, was it?” She hesitated to respond, but she finally shook her head with her shoulders tensed. “No…it wasn’t.” “Listen, Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. You’re a normal girl living in America. The Messiah still isn’t working because you don’t need that power anymore. Think of that as a lucky break.” He sighed. “You can go back to who you used to be. Abandon all that Tune-Bust stuff. …Or do you want to fight in a war?” “But I…I didn’t want to run away two years ago. And like I said last night, I want to do something. My father is against it, but you, my teacher, and everyone else are working so hard.” “You need more than words, Hazel. You failed to deliver a single letter and you’re a target. You can’t just fall back on ‘wanting to do something’.” “But, but…not running away means to fight and to fight means for someone to die, doesn’t it? Then I want to do something…something else.” “Childish idealism.” The words silenced her. “Remember this, Hazel. You can’t just want to do something. You’re free to want to save someone or to kill someone, but you need more than that.” “What is it I lack?” “See, you don’t even know what you need. If you did, last night wouldn’t have happened. They kneeled before you and you had no idea what to do. …You just didn’t want to run away, but you didn’t fight either. Did you accomplish anything else from that?” … Oh. A new thought came to her, carrying regret, but it was cut off by his quiet laughter. “Still, you did better than 2 years ago where you just let them take you away. …The Geheimnis Agency is pretty scary, aren’t they? Most of those Neue Kavaliers are mindless drones who let their master do all the thinking. That you found that frightening means-” He stopped there. “Forget it. Wouldn’t want to give you an ego.” He twisted the accelerator as the road crossed a hill and began a short descent. She pressed her butt into the seat against the sensation of falling forward. “Wh-what were you going to say that would give me an ego?” The road sloped back upwards. The motorcycle was stable, so she placed her hands on the edge of the seat and looked up at him in the wind. But he did not look back her way as he replied. “Hazel. Knowing you, you’ll figure it out on your own eventually. You can get back to America, forget all about war, and take your time thinking through it. …Don’t try to rush it.” She ducked down when she saw him twist the accelerator further. Instead of wind, the acceleration felt more like a wall of air growing thicker and more powerful. Spotting a bluish-white shimmer in the distant sky, some words pushed out from her mouth. “The wind is coming.” Then a gust blew in from the front, shaking the motorcycle. Berger leaned forward to push down on the handlebars. Her sidecar floated up a bit, and… “It’s ending.” The wind vanished and the sidecar’s wheel contacted the road again. They continued onward. He let out a sigh and looked her way for the first time since she woke up. Her eyes met his and her heart pounded when she realized there was no smile or anything else in his eyes. “Wh-what?” “Does your eye let you do that? The broken Messiah, I mean.” “I think so. I must have learned the trick to reading wind Tons while I was with the Sylphide.” “How strange. The Panzerpolis Project is nearing completion and last night suggests the Geheimnis Agents and some of the military can already use the Erklärung.” He sighed. “But you, the prophesied Messiah, can’t use it. All you can do is give a weather forecast.” “A weather forecast? Um…” “Head back to America, find yourself a husband, have 4 or 5 kids, and go hiking with your family. Or become a schoolteacher. That ability is best used on fieldtrips. Mountain weather is fickle, after all. Yes, you can be the PTA’s Field Trip Messiah.” His casual suggestions made her stare for a bit, but then she sighed. “Never mind. I’m going back to sleep. Wake me when we arrive, my canine driver.” She shut her eyes and definitely heard him laugh. She did not open her eyes again, but hear ears picked up the tempo of the Ton. It was light, almost like the jingle of a small bell. It was quiet, but that meant he was trying to hide the Ton. … He never lets anything show. She then spoke in English with her eyes still shut. “Um, Mr. Berger? Are you listening?” “What is it?” “When I was taken from school 2 years ago, we were in the middle of writing down our plans for the future to turn in to our teacher.” “Do you remember what you wrote?” “I was taken away before I wrote mine. Because I had never really thought about my future and did not know what to write. She tried to keep her tone cheerful, but he was not smiling when he responded. “You’re pretty strait-laced. Something like a teacher might suit you pretty well.” “You really think so?” “It’s not my decision, Hazel. The entire point is for you to choose. If you manage that, there might be some hope for you after all.” Then she heard him sing. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates That was the 3rd Section of Daily Life from the Unreif Germane. He sang it smoothly, matching the tempo of the wind and the joy. Hazel smiled when she applied the lyrics and title to herself. This time, she really did decide to go to sleep. There was so much she still did not know, but… … Unlike 2 years ago, the Tons tell me so much now. She sank down into the seat with a sigh of relief and fell asleep once more. The wind was blowing gently. ### 492. Part 3 The hallway ended almost immediately after Schweitzer and Alfred began walking again. It ended in double doors surrounded by the white walls and ceiling of the hallway. The metal doors had minimal decorations carved into its surface. The floor was brown tile and a little wet. No sign remained of the battles they had fought with the artificial creatures. Except, that is, for their torn clothing and injuries. “This looks familiar,” commented Alfred, hooking Rein König’s pommel on the door’s handle. He pulled. Schweitzer rushed through the door, keeping his stance low. Alfred followed and looked around with Rein König ready at his hip. They found… “Kitchen counters?” The large room’s 20-yard walls had stovetops and ovens installed and a 4-yard square counter sat in the center. Smaller counters were on all four sides of that larger one and the pathways between them contained shelves full of cooking tools and spices. Alfred kicked at the hoses and tools cluttering up those pathways. On the far side was a counter opening up on the adjacent room. The scene looked odd, but… “Only because I don’t usually see it from the kitchen,” concluded Schweitzer. Alfred nodded in agreement. “Oh?” said a voice from their left. Lowenzahn turned toward them after opening the charcoal oven on the wall there. She placed cloths over her hands in preparation to pull a large metal sheet from the oven. “Weird but perfect timing. Can you help me out?” “Huh?” Alfred’s shoulders fell and he tilted his head. Then he turned to Schweitzer. “You’re in charge of her, right? So go help her.” “Since when?” Schweitzer took a look around and confirmed that the two men and Lowenzahn were the only ones in the kitchen. Past the counter, the mess hall was too dark to make any judgments there. “Did space revert to the wrong location?” he muttered, scratching his head and stepping forward. He navigated a pathway too narrow for him, a few trays catching on his legs, to approach Lowenzahn. She bowed and gestured toward the oven with exaggerated politeness. Inside, he saw a yard-long leg of venison sitting on a dark metal sheet so it could roast along with some vegetables. Some carved onions had burst atop the brown-cooked venison, giving it an oily sheen. “Did you cook this?” he asked, grabbing the metal sheet with Der Held. “I did, but…isn’t that hot?” “I can cut off the feeling at will. Unlike artificial organs, combat prosthetics generally do not need to feel pain.” “What about when you touched my butt?” “It is in both our best interests that I do not answer that.” He pulled the metal sheet out. She was impressed with how easily he lifted the metal sheet and he judged the food on it to be well made. He placed the entire sheet atop the serving cart she had prepared. Then he glanced behind him. Alfred stood there with Rein König in hand. Alfred met Schweitzer’s gaze and nodded. Schweitzer returned the nod before facing forward again. Lowenzahn stood before him, so he crouched down a bit. “May I ask something, Lowenzahn? We have run into a slight problem and I will try to ask this as indirectly as I can.” “What is it?” He thought about how to answer her direct response. “Where is our commander’s office?” “In what world is that indirect?” She breathed an exasperated sigh and looked up. “And to answer your question, you’re already there. Whatever room I’m in is your commander’s office.” “Hm.” He nodded as she turned around and started pushing the serving cart. The two men only realized what she had said after the wheels started squeaking. “Huh?” Their voices echoed through the kitchen. Lowenzahn let inertia take the cart and placed her feet on the bottom level. She looked back as it coasted out of the kitchen. She was smiling. “Welcome to the Sofort Leser’s feast, Captain Hellard Schweitzer and Lieutenant Alfred Maldrick. I am Lowenzahn Naylor, the Sofort Leser who commands the Geheimnis Agency.” And… “Today is my 20th birthday. …Did you bring me a present?” ### 493. Part 3 The battle started slow, but it was picking up speed. Berger walked alone along the #8 Base’s southern runway. His pace was slow but steady. The communicator at his hip gave off the static of decryption as it provided him the current state of the mission. But instead of using voices, it used rapid morse code. The flames of battle were not yet rising from the base before him, but the battle had already begun below the surface. “Two minutes ago, 20% of the Vaterland’s control system was taken. The fuel storage control system was also secretly taken.” That was thanks to the spies who had infiltrated the base ahead of time. “Great job,” he muttered to himself just before something like loud drumbeats sounded from the forest. There were 5 in all. After a pause, pillars of fire erupted from the center of the base. The pillars roared into the night sky. “Igniting the uncontrolled 10% as a diversion.” He was answered by more pillars of fire that burst into the night sky, dying the base scarlet. He kept walking and drew a golden hilt from below his coat. That was Gelegenheit. He gave it a light swing in his right hand and an even larger pillar of fire rose from the center of the base. Lights raced along the runway, illuminating him and him alone. At the same time, a great noise raced out. The somewhat intermittent and entirely earsplitting noise was the second alarm. The light and noise were not enough to stop Berger. “Let’s see, how did the plan go again?” He tilted his head. “They bring the Vaterland acceleration reactor to critical and dump some high-purity Phlogiston inside the barrier. Then it destroys itself just like engines running wild in the moonlight.” He struck his own hand in understanding. “I see, I see.” From there, he pulled a Size C Phlogiston Tank from his black coat and attached it to Gelegenheit’s hilt. Then he attached a second, third, fourth, and fifth. A black blade extended from Gelegenheit. It measured about 20 yards. At the same time, two shapes appeared on the road leading to the runway. They were about half a mile away, but he could tell at a glance they were military trucks carrying guards. The canopyless trucks each had several soldiers armed with submachineguns loaded in the back. “I appreciate the work ethic to get up so late, but a single platoon isn’t gonna cut it.” He lightly swung down his right arm, embedding the 20-yard black blade in the runway out ahead of him. “Ready…go!” He held the hilt sideways and pushed it forward as he began to run. Gelegenheit’s blade tore a 20-yard-wide gash in the runway. The asphalt pavement was torn apart and sent airborne with a sound just like ripping paper. He could see the two trucks approaching up ahead. He did not even hesitate to rush them head on. “I was told to leave after stirring up some trouble, but is that really such a good idea?” ### 494. Part 3 Fire was visible out the front of the bridge. The two-hull ship flew along a straight line while slightly tilted. “Flying above them for a moment can scare the enemy into falling back! If you see any Heavy Barrels or whatever, give them a quick flyby!” Corelle was shouting instructions. Hazel undid her seat’s four-point belt and placed her hands on the back of the seat in front of her to get a better view. The base was burning. “The ether shield is down. If they can’t ignite the Phlogiston from above, we just have to wait for it to go berserk on its own…but that takes time. The enemy might stop it.” Hazel did not know what Pale was talking about, but she had a bad feeling about it. She wordlessly held her left shoulder for just a moment before clutching the chest of her clothing instead. That one card was the only thing supporting her now. She looked back toward Corelle in the captain’s chair. “Pale! You want down!? This might be one of those losing battles you love so much!” “Yeah, no. The plan this time is to see it through to the end. Besides…” Pale looked to Hazel. “Girl.” It took her a few seconds to realize he was addressing her. She looked over in a hurry, but she had missed her chance to respond. He scratched his head and spoke again. “Girl.” “Y-yes!?” “That’s the battlefield you wanted. We’re getting closer by the second. You can see it, can’t you?” “Y-yes…I can.” “Then listen carefully. A lot of people there will die, be destroyed, kick the bucket, and bid this world farewell. You get what I mean, don’t you? But you can also tell you’ll be safe in here, right? You can remain an observer.” She nodded and looked to the scarlet-glowing base. They were close enough to make out its general layout. She could tell what was happening and why it was happening. It was all right there in front of her. “You asked before if wanting to fight meant you wanted to die, right? And that you wanted to do something else on the battlefield, right? …Is that because you pity the people dying down there? Or did you want to thank them for doing this while you stay safe and sound up here?” “Pale!” Corelle threw a rebuke at the man, but he ignored it. “Girl, I’ve only got one thing to say to that: go to hell.” He smiled a little. “Not wanting to run away means you don’t want to lose. Do you get what that means?” “…” “That’s what you don’t understand. People get what they deserve. Winning doesn’t mean killing. If losing means death, then winning is the opposite.” Hazel faced his words head on. She pressed her arm against her chest and held herself. “Now, what do you think about that? What does it mean if not wanting to run away means not wanting to lose? Again, the battlefield you wanted is right there.” “I…” Only after speaking did she notice the strength in her hand. … Why am I so tense? I’m thinking too hard. She smiled bitterly at herself and the smile parted to let a sigh out. “Two years ago…” “Yeah?” Pale had a smile on his face. He was waiting for her to speak. So she did so. “I actually thought I wanted to be a history teacher.” “I get the feeling you’d’ve been a real strict teacher.” She narrowed her eyes at that. “Probably so,” she said. “But now I think I get why I couldn’t bring myself to write it down.” She relaxed her hand. Her destiny was right there at her chest and there was no need to hold it there. She placed her hand on her lap. The arm was trembling a bit, but she ignored that. She faced forward and saw Corelle turned back toward her. … Don’t look so worried. That thought naturally took the bitterness from her smile. “I know I can fight.” She spoke the words that would determine everything for her. “I want to do everything I can to make sure everyone can go on living.” ### 495. Part 3 The change was dramatic. In a moment of supposed impossibility, Schwarz Löwe’s Over Emblem fully activated. Ether light raced across its body, creating black skin, and two sharp wings appeared on its back. It roared. Then it moved its wings to leap backwards. The wind moved. But this was not a pleasant wind. Nor was it a powerful gale. It was even more intense and unceasing. It reminded Hazel of a certain ship as she stood on Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder. “I can read this wind! So now-” “I get it already!” Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices glowed with the light of their wide-range mode. Hazel leaned against its face structure to fight the inertia and shaking. Her right eye felt hot. Tears were flowing from it. She could see the footage from Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices in the back of her mind. She knew that had to be the Messiah’s power. Just like two years ago. … My right eye must be crimson right now. The footage in her mind aligned with the wind Tons she could see with her own eye. Two years ago, the Geheimnis Agent named Schweitzer had told her the Messiah implant could sync with and operate Eingeweide devices. And that power was a cornerstone of the Panzerpolis Project. “Mr. Berger.” … Can you see the winds I see with the Heavy Barrel’s eyes? “Understood, Hazel. I can hear your voice…and see the wind.” She smiled and faced forward with the Messiah eye synced with Schwarz Löwe. The Kaiser was there. Her racing vision accurately rode the wind. It twisted somewhat to charge at the Kaiser from the left. They were about 100 yards away. Their run grew to a sprint and then joined the wind itself. Hazel reached her right hand out into the wind. She could see more than she could 2 years ago. She could see the wind. This was more than just a movement of the air. It danced playfully and surrounded them teasingly. “Yes…” Tears flowed from her right eye and she sang a song as if to answer the wind. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates She clenched the hand held out into the wind, grabbing it. “If that is a prophecy the Messiah must fulfill, then let’s fulfill it.” In the shaking of the Barrel’s speed, she pulled her right hand back and grabbed the card stored in her breast pocket: the Wheel of Destiny. “I will not hesitate to seek power.” “Then…then what will you do, Hazel? Hazel Mirildorf!?” She answered Berger’s question by gathering strength in her gaze. She saw an explosion of wind out past their wind. It was the gale. The explosion could not destroy their wind, but it broke a hole and moved in. Their relative speeds closed the gap in mere moments. To her right, the base’s ground belched flames and exploded. The Gard-class warship had detonated. A shockwave blasted out along with a scorching wind. But the two combatting winds blew it away. White light wrapped around the approaching Kaiser’s sword. Gelegenheit’s darkness emerged to form an 8-yard blade. On Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder, Hazel shut her eyes with her wind-grasping hand to her chest. She left everything in Berger’s care as she leaned heavily against Schwarz Löwe’s facial structure. Berger responded. The two winds crashed together, creating a shockwave and an almost metallic groan as they bent and raced outwards. The black and white paths intersected, bringing the battle to an end. “!” Hazel opened her eyes and saw a red dragon before her. That was Schwarz Löwe’s left arm. It had thrust that arm out as a shield. But their wind was still blowing. “–––––!?” She looked back to see the Kaiser about 100 yards behind them. A sword devoid of light hung in its right hand and it slowly – ever so slowly – turned around. It faced them, revealing a destroyed right shoulder. And… “Berger!!” It roared and threw away its sword, which was missing half its blade. Before Hazel could realize it had been sliced through, a voice spoke from Schwarz Löwe’s vocal device. “Our job is complete. Time to fly.” Before she could respond, Inertia pushed her down onto the great metal shoulder. The flapping of the two wings beat at the Schwarz Löwe’s severed left arm fallen on the ground behind them. And they flew. The scenery spread out below them: the burning base, the broken tower, the white Heavy Barrel looking up, and the red and blue Heavy Barrels. The Alfheim Meteorite Pit was glowing to the west of the base. “And the Black Forest covers everything else.” Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings again and the winds of their great altitude came to greet Hazel. With a roar, a giant object passed by below: an aerial transport ship. It looked a lot like the Silber she had seen 2 years ago. When it noticed Hazel and Schwarz Löwe, it wobbled in greeting and then flew straight toward the base. “…” Hazel looked silently up into the night sky. That dark sky was not illuminated by the crimson. The stars were the only light there. She found the North Star and smiled in the wind. She realized her right eye was no longer shedding tears. The Messiah implant had lost its heat and ceased functioning. ### 496. Part 4 A great mass fell from the sky faster than the rain and with more force than the wind. It was a mass of flesh measuring 20 yards long. Its green scales shined even in the darkness. It was a flying dragon, but it had lost the most crucial feature for that designation. It had no wings. Its two massive wings were missing and the shoulders that should have supported them were also no more. It could only fall. The airport lawn lay below. Colliding with that would cause the air Tons gathered to form its body to break apart and scatter. But someone prevented it from simply falling. A black form pursued the falling dragon. The figure looked dark even compared to the shadows of the night and it resembled a winged human. But this figure stood around 8 yards tall and had black armor resembling a mixture of metal and flesh all over its body. The shoulder of the Panzer Kleid it wore bore a red dragon emblem and the name Schwarz Löwe. It was a Grösse Panzer with a full-body Ober Emblem active. Schwarz Löwe was flying. It accelerated though the rain, the wind, and the shadows. It used the wings on its back to fly forward, seemingly deflecting the air and all else. The shockwave turned the rain to a mist that sprayed outwards. It caught up to the falling dragon in no time. It wordlessly faced the dragon and reached out its right hand while just barely above the ground. The dragon twisted around in an attempt to avoid that hand, but the attempt was futile. The metal hand grabbed the dragon’s giant throat and dug in its metal claws to maintain a grip. Then it tilted forward as if preparing for a flip and gave a powerful flap of its wings. The dragon was dragged through the air as Schwarz Löwe accelerated. The dragon’s caught neck was slammed into the ground, the momentum caused its body to rise up above its head, and its face smashed the grassy ground rushing by below. The airport lawn was torn up and blown away in a long line. The trail of destruction ran across half the length of the airport in a mere three seconds and showed no sign of stopping. The dragon’s body danced in midair as if convulsing, but not even that prevented its face from tearing apart the ground. The great beast and Schwarz Löwe’s inertia did not allow it to stop. But then Schwarz Löwe made a sudden move. The pitch black Grösse Panzer flapped its wings once more and released the dragon as if throwing it. The reactionary force to being pressed against the ground caused the dragon to hop upwards along with clumps of dirt. Half its body was torn apart and the bluish-white light of the ether forming its body sprayed out like blood. Schwarz Löwe swung up its right fist to strike the airborne dragon. It did not even need to hit. The Grösse Panzer’s arm was more than four times the length of a human arm, so a skilled pilot could use that extra length to break the sound barrier and produce a sonic boom. Its fist flew and instantly launched some white water vapor. The shockwave struck the dragon and produced a great rumbling. The impact exploded at one end of the airport with a sound that could only be described as powerful. The dragon’s body broke, the rain shook, and the air roared. The rain turned to a mist that sprayed out over a radius of 200 yards. Schwarz Löwe was not within that mist. It had already flown up into the sky where it dodged the scattering clumps of dirt that seemed to follow after it. It knew exactly where to land: in front of the Neue Silber strategic transport ship awaiting takeoff. While in midair, it began to slowly scatter ether light as the Ober Emblem forming its current body was deactivated. The horn on its head became the original radiator, the black wings shattered and became the rear support wings, and the various muscles and tendons revealed themselves to be cylinders and wire cylinders. It was now a giant humanoid machine made only of metal. It landed, sinking down a bit to negate the impact, and a loud metallic noise joined the sound of spraying water. But those were the only sounds. The ground hidden by the mist was a paved road, but its metal feet made no sound as they contacted the asphalt. Schwarz Löwe came to a stop while standing directly in front of Neue Silber. And with its face turned toward the cockpit window. After a pause, the door to the secondary cockpit on its back opened. Someone emerged from within. ### 497. Part 4 The Geheimnis Agency HQ’s mess hall was located on Building 2 Floor 1. Most Geheimnis Agents were the former nobility known as Neue Kavalier, so the mess hall that served them quality food was a large place with nice furniture. All of the tables were round and meant for only four people. But all of those tables had been shoved over toward the walls and the people were also backed toward the walls, forming a large circle. The large clock on the wall rang seven times. As it did, everyone’s eyes slowly moved up and down. Their rising and falling gazes were directed toward a girl. The skinny girl was dressed like a male waiter plus an apron. She worked as a waitress in the mess hall. Her face showed she was approaching adulthood, her brown hair was worn in a long braid that swayed down at the back of her knees, and that swaying came from the movement of her body as she set a tempo. That tempo displayed the elation and spirit of combat. Everyone’s eyes were glued to her movements. Her sweaty face was somewhat pale but stared straight forward. A young man stood there. The young Geheimnis Agent had removed his jacket to reveal a muscular body with no excess fat. He remained motionless as he brushed a hand through his short black hair and returned her gaze. “You might make our food, but that doesn’t mean you can get away with just anything, Lowenzahn.” “You don’t have to worry about that. It’s the cooks who make it. I only carry it out. For my tuition.” The girl named Lowenzahn smiled. The powerful smile looked out of place on her pale face. “Now, how about you apologize for that rather colorful commentary on my body when you don’t even have any first-hand experience with it? Or do Neue Kavaliers make a habit of demeaning women these days?” She took a breath. “Your two friends seem to have learned their lesson, but what about you?” “Not a chance.” “Then bring it on. I have plenty more food to bring out, so if I spend too much time with you…” She smiled bitterly. “It’ll get cold.” After that quip, she gestured him toward her and he complied. They were approximately 6 yards apart. That space was filled with the sound of a single footstep. The man did not hold back. Lowenzahn swung her body to jump backwards. That dodged his attack but kept her within striking distance, so her white apron fluttered in front of her as she moved about 2 yards back. She landed with just the toes of her left foot on the carpet. Then her opponent took his second step. In that moment, she twisted her toes forcefully to the left and similarly rotated her hips to create a spiraling movement from her toes to her hips. That doubled her speed, moving her body like a whip and swinging her right leg around. A strike as sharp as a blade struck her opponent’s jaw just as he moved forward with his second step. The direct hit made a sound of something breaking instead of just an impact. The man’s body floated up and to the left for a brief moment. But it did not end there. she leaned her body over while spinning to the left. It took her less than a second to lay her body face down with just her left leg supporting her to form a large T with her body. She slightly pulled in her swinging right leg and unleashed a straight kick behind her. As she did, a voice rang through the air. It was an Erklärung. An Erklärung textually rewrote reality to fulfill the will behind it. As a result, Lowenzahn’s kick missed. The Erklärung had come from the man, not from her. His body was now just to the left of her kick. He let out a roar while bleeding from the mouth. “This land is being used to test out the Panzerpolis Project’s Ton alterations, remember?” “You’ll activate Vaterland to win a fight against a girl? Sounds pretty sad to me!” He ignored her protests. She clicked her tongue, straightened up, and lowered her kicking leg just as the man rushed in. He was moving much faster than before and his tackle caught her slender hips. She was lifted from the floor. Once she was slammed against the floor and pinned down, her defeat was guaranteed. A mixture of anticipation and disappointment ran through the Neue Kavaliers and cooks watching the fight. Smiling at their voices, Lowenzahn took a breath. Once strength returned to her gaze, she reached for her back and untied her apron. She removed herself from it like she was peeling a fruit and letting the fruit flesh burst from within. “!” One beat later, the man held only the apron in his arms. She raised a hand in front of his face to flip up the end of the apron. As soon as the white cloth covered his face, she slammed her right knee into his jaw at close range. The impact rang loud and the man was knocked back, where he collapsed. Lowenzahn lowered her leg, took a few steps away, and let her shoulders droop. Her face was pale and she was out of breath. The swaying of her body was gone now. But her opponent did not let it end there. Supported by his Erklärung-modified Ton, he stood back up. His knees were shaking, but there was strength in his eyes and expression. In response… “You sure are persist- oh.” A sudden shadow fell over her face just as she was preparing herself. Her voice caught in her throat, she stopped breathing, and she sat down on the spot. She wrapped her left hand around herself and held the left side of her chest with her right hand. Just as the blood fully drained from her face, she collapsed forward. “Oh, no.” She somehow got those words out and lifted her face just enough to see her opponent standing in front of her. He no longer said a word. She frantically tried and failed to get up and she saw his right foot moving in fast. That sharp kick from below was aimed for her gut – an attack one should never make against a woman. A crash of impact rang through the mess hall, but not of a boot against flesh. It was a loud sound of breaking bone. Some metal had stopped the kick and broken the foot. A massive prosthetic arm made of steel was pressed down against the floor. Everyone there muttered the name of the arm and its owner. “Der Held…‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer.” Those names held great meaning, so Lowenzahn looked up. A bright expression appeared on her pale and sweaty face when she saw the large figure positioned between her and her opponent. She called his name in a scratchy voice. “Lieutenant Hellard!” Her call was answered by a different voice than the one she had hoped for. This one was a scratchy voice produced by artificial vocal cords. “I thought to stop by on the way to Base #8 for adjustments to my new Panzer and this is what I find? Never a dull moment in our HQ.” A man entered through an outward-facing window. He was a long-haired man who wore his coat over his shoulders and carried a long sword at his hip. Everyone spoke his name as well. “ ‘Kaiser Schwert’ Alfred Maldrick.” Lowenzahn accepted Schweitzer’s outstretched left hand. She firmly grasped it while crouched down. He somewhat forcefully pulled her up to her feet. Once upright, she could see her opponent down on one knee and holding his broken foot past the prosthetic arm. “…” She breathed a sigh of relief and clutched the hem of Schweitzer’s coat. Alfred smiled bitterly when he noticed and he glanced around the mess hall. “Since when does the Geheimnis Agency cause so much trouble for a girl!? From what I heard on the way here, the radicals of Lady Jeanne’s army division are actually arguing they should kidnap the Messiah girl now that she’s in Berlin.” Schweitzer nodded at the other man’s comment. “Yes, this is not proper conduct for a Neue Kavalier.” He slowly frowned and looked around while lowering his voice. “So as soon as General Graham is out due to his illness, the Neue Kavaliers of the Geheimnis Agency begin standing idly by and watching a one-sided attack on a girl?” Lowenzahn immediately looked up and responded to that. “Sorry, but I actually picked this fight with them.” ### 498. Part 4 Hazel found a quiet voice escaping her lips as the woman and man kneeled before her. “W-wait.” She took a step back to escape those two despite their defenseless pose. She looked frantically side to side, but saw nothing that would save her. She had no idea what to do. She took another step back. Her back found the wall, but even at this distance, those two remained kneeling and motionless. Their heads were defenselessly lowered, saying they were leaving this entirely in her hands. She felt a chill because it was just like having a stray dog follow you around no matter how much you tried to shoo it away. … H-how am I supposed to respond to this? She had no intention of going with them. But they would not listen to her refusal and she lacked the strength to force the issue. And they had no hostile intentions. If she could not refuse or force the issue, what choice did she have but to go with them? And even if she waited here… … Berger isn’t coming back. But… … No. She did not want to be taken away like this. “Why won’t you let me choose?” She was speaking in her mother tongue once more. “Wh-why are you doing this? Please don’t. It’s wrong.” The pair did not raise their heads, but they did slowly stand. Hazel heard Jeanne speak with her head still lowered. “We-” “Stop!” shouted Hazel. “If you’re going to take me away, then raise your heads and just do it!” But Jeanne was unfazed. She took a silent step forward. She took another silent step, closing the gap between them. Hazel pressed herself against the wall and she could tell her legs were shaking for some reason. “I-I’m not the Messiah. The Messiah implant hasn’t even healed.” Jeanne said nothing in response. She did not force anything and she did not attack – she simply took another step closer. The action was done gently, to avoid being intimidating. She was trying to be kind. … Wh-why? Why are they doing this all of a sudden? By then, Jeanne stood right in front of her. Jeanne crouched down, pushed down the hem of her skirt, and kneeled again. She slowly reached out a hand with her gaze lower than Hazel’s. “I-I will wait here. Because…because Berger told me to.” He was not coming. She knew that, but… “I-I don’t want to go. S-so I made some food and waited…” She started to pull her hand back, but it would not move. She looked down to see it trembling. The fingers were shaking from tension. With only the word “no” inside her, she saw that her arm was trembling too. When she dropped her gaze to her chest, she could tell her entire body was trembling. Jeanne’s hand reached out as if trying to ignore or suppress that shaking. “No, s-stop-” Before Hazel could get the word “that” out, Jeanne’s fingertips had touched her trembling hand. Her fingers were hard and bony for a woman and they squeezed to suppress the shaking. Disgust filled Hazel and she shouted on reflex. She raised her head and wailed like a child. In English. “Noooo!! Mr. Berger!!” The instant her gaze reached the ceiling, she saw a bluish-white band floating down from there. That was the wind’s Tons – the chilly melody of the icy wind. “–––––!?” She heard the sound of struck flesh as the young man behind Jeanne was blasted to the side. With the sound of splintering wood, the man broke through the table and slammed into the windowsill. He flipped over and his upside-down legs shattered the window, making a sound similar to splashing water. The shortest instant later, Hazel saw a different young man in black. “Mister? Why the weird politeness when speaking English?” This one was Dog Berger. ### 499. Part 4 The front lobby of the Geheimnis Agency HQ’s central building was wrapped in the stillness of evening. The setting sun shined in through the skylight and large windows. With no one around, the white floor tiles were all colored scarlet. The lobby was a 40-yard room with four stone pillars to hold up the tall ceiling. Sofas were placed around the base of the pillars and along the walls, but… “Are you kidding me? I finish my Grösse Panzer’s test run and head back to get some sleep, but they put out an emergency summons?” The voice came from the base of the southeast pillar. Two people sat in the circular sofa there, awash with scarlet light: Alfred and Schweitzer. Alfred leaned forward with his head in his hands. “I use a plane to rush here from Base #8 in only 15 minutes, but now I have to wait?” “I am waiting too, Alfred.” Schweitzer leaned back in the sofa, his head against the pillar. “I already met Lady Rose today, so what else could one day hold?” “The first Gard-class being constructed at Base #8 goes into service a week from now, so maybe it’s a rehearsal celebration for that.” “You do not rehearse celebrations. Besides, the celebration is not until the other seven being constructed elsewhere are complete.” Schweitzer looked up at the ceiling. “War is coming. Once the Panzerpolis Project is in effect, do you really think those Gard-class warships will become the foundation of our air defense?” “The experimental Babel Kanone at Base #16 up north is ready for use and the Development Division in Berlin has proven the theory behind the city-defense Himmelsschild. With those two things, that impressive ship will prevent any country’s aerial warships and bombers from defiling Germany’s skies.” “I heard it is an Eingeweide. Do you know who will be piloting it?” “I know it isn’t you or me. To be honest, I can’t even guess. …Marsch developed the thing, right? Then I imagine it will be named after that disk Eryngium had.” Schweitzer heard Alfred continue with a “but”. “That would mean we were called here about something else.” “So many questions. And I still haven’t even visited that dig site.” “Do you know what they’ve been digging through the night to get at, Hellard?” “The remains of P. Wagner’s lab. The military essentially built that lab to spite us and then the Kaizerburg was developed there.” “What do they hope to accomplish digging that up? There might be some design documents, but we already developed the Sylphide. Granted, Marsch was not much for documentation, so we still can’t reproduce a lot of the parts. Still, we’ve recovered all the Sylphide’s components and we’ve started constructing a new and improved Eingeweide warship.” Hearing that, Schweitzer crossed his arms. Der Held’s cylinders audibly worked to skillfully cross itself with his biological left arm in front of his chest. “There are too many unknowns.” He kept his eyes on the ceiling. “Apparently those two would gather like this every year and I hear you were visiting Lady Rose with them. Did you not pick up on anything this could be about?” “His Excellency gave me an independent unit, but that’s all he let me do. Did he or his aide tell you anything during your visit today?” They exchanged a glance, but Alfred reached an answer in only a few seconds. “I guess two incompetent fools who only know how to attack or defend can’t find the answer here.” “Indeed…hm?” Schweitzer stood up after noticing Lowenzahn entering the lobby from the north hallway. Her long, braided hair swayed as she pushed a silver cart of food. “Lowenzahn!” He stood up and called her name. She looked over, but she kept pushing the cart and only turned her head his way. She hopped up onto the bottom of the cart to ride its inertia. Only then did she give him a businesslike wave. “Sorry, Captain! I’m a little busy, so maybe later!” She and the cart slid right on into the eastern hallway. “Oops!” Her voice and a metallic crash echoed out from the hallway. “She’s just as bland as she was three years ago,” said Alfred with his eyes on the hallway entrance. “Describe her like food and she’s liable to kick you to the floor.” She was on the way to the mess hall and Schweitzer could see Alfred still looking that way. “I get that the mess is busy this time of day, Schweitzer, but is she always like that?” “No, I’ve never seen her bring that thing out of the storeroom before.” “I see,” said Alfred, standing up. He lifted Rein König from the sofa and pointed it toward the hallway Lowenzahn had used. “We should go check on her. And if she’s fine…” He thought for a moment. “We can grab a bite to eat.” He started in that direction without even looking back. Schweitzer shrugged in an exasperated way and followed after him. He was a head taller and had a longer stride, so he caught up quickly. “Speaking of His Excellency’s sister, Lady Rose-” “Reminds you of Eryngium, doesn’t she? Even if she has a different hair color and personality.” Alfred cut Schweitzer off. “That Messiah girl you met two years ago is a closer match for Eryngium’s personality. They both said they didn’t want to run away, right?” Alfred’s tone was light, but Schweitzer noticed the man’s right hand was not moving as he walked. He was gripping Rein König so tight the hand had gone white. Schweitzer lowered his head a little to hide a small smile. But a moment later, it was gone. Once he raised his head, there was only strength on his face. The enormous bearer of Der Held quickened his pace. The two of them walked side by side as they entered the hallway. The hallway was a little darker than the scarlet lobby. The lobby’s somewhat warm air was replaced by a still and stagnant air. And… “Sorry about the wait, you two.” An almost fussily emotionless voice reached them from the center of the hallway. They came to a stop and saw a pencil of a man standing 10 yards away in the hallway leading to the mess hall. Bermark Vier stood aloofly in the hallway, the black of his coat apparent even in the dim light. Finally, he gave a deep bow. “Are you ready?” “Yes,” said Schweitzer, but Alfred stepped forward before they could say more. “Could you hurry it up?” “This hallway to the left, please.” “The left? But this hallway only leads straight to the mess. Right, Hellard?” “Is that so?” Bermark turned to his right and their left. There was indeed a hallway there. One the other two had never before seen. Bermark’s voice seemed to ignore all of their thoughts. “A castle always has its secrets.” Alfred answered that with a quiet laugh. He walked up to Bermark and Schweitzer followed a moment later. “What will we find down there?” asked both men at once. “Our leader’s office,” replied Bermark with no discernable expression. “The Naylor family Sofort Leser who runs our Geheimnis Agency has granted you an audience. She says the time has come to meet the two of you.” ### 500. Part 4 A strategy meeting had begun in the Black Forest. Two large plastic tents had been set up in a hollow. No light could escape them and the voices did not fare much better. Since they were in a hollow, they would have to be seen from directly above to notice. The two tents sat there like two boulders. The starlight shined on several smaller figures around them. They were a mixture of human and Heidengeist. Around a dozen men and a handful of women were either standing or sitting there. There were also some guards positioned further out. Hazel sat between the two tents with a green blanket over her shoulders. Corelle sat next to her with an identical blanket. She had told Hazel a lot as they whispered to each other. “Hmm. So you are about to attack a base at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit to destroy an aerial warship under construction there? And not only is it a High Organ ship, but it’s equipped with a Babel Cannon.” Hazel was still not used to the English term High Organ instead of the German term Eingeweide. “It’s just one of the ships meant to make up the Gard-class. The High Organ system will be used to link 8 ships together, creating a high-altitude fortress. They hope to accomplish what wasn’t technologically possible for the Bladlikburg.” “And it carries a Babel Cannon too?” “Yes. One large enough to make intercontinental attacks if hooked up to a sufficient power source. And since they’ll be using the Phlogiston extracted and accelerated by the Vaterlands, they’ll be able to reload whenever they want while it remains in Germany. If they get that thing up and running, the slow British and French aerial ships will be sitting ducks. But if we can destroy it now, it’ll take them a full year before they can build another. Also,” continued Corelle. “We were given an additional and quite unusual mission this time. Most of us are tasked with sinking the Gard-class, but a few of us were given a different mission. This mission came from P. Wagner – the very same P. Wagner who had a lab in the center of the Alfheim Meteorite Pit and designed the Kaiserburg.” “Eh?” Corelle answered Hazel’s confusion by tilting her head and continuing her explanation. “A British recon team noticed the Geheimnis Agency had started digging up the Alfheim Meteorite Pit two years ago. I don’t know how word of it reached him, but P. Wagner apparently paid M. Schrier a visit with a single demand.” She sighed. “ ‘You must take back what the Geheimnis Agency digs up.’ ” “T-take back?” “Yes. So now that the excavation is nearing completion, our local cooperators have been clamoring for us to make our move.” She looked to the tent on her left. “And after P. Wagner provided detailed information to M. Schrier, he decided to make it top secret even within the AIF. Not even Berger knows. A small team was put together separate from this one and they’ve all been sent in to infiltrate the dig site already. Our attack will be their cue to make their move.” That explained why Corelle was keeping her voice so low. Hazel kept her head low for no real reason. “This is top secret?” “I think the only ones here who know are Pale and me. I transported the other team here on M. Schrier’s orders, but not even I was given any details on their mission. And the team itself wasn’t told what exactly is being excavated.” Hazel frowned. “Why is it such a big secret?” “They don’t want anyone outside the AIF finding out. We’re an international force of sorts, so anything known to all our members will reach every country around the world. But this mission was presented to M. Schrier by P. Wagner. The secrecy suggests it isn’t even an AIF mission. It’s more of a personal matter.” “…” “There’s something real bad buried there. You know how the Kaiserburg nearly destroyed the global balance of power? It was made in that lab and something there has caught the Geheimnis Agency’s interest. Then M. Schrier received the details from P. Wagner and concluded the world can’t learn what’s being excavated there. Not until the moment it’s been dug up.” Hazel thought about that and soon voiced those thoughts. “Is the Geheimnis Agency searching for clues to build another ship like the Sylphide from two years ago?” “Reports from our agents at the dig site say the local Geheimnis Agency staff don’t even know what it is. They’re just following orders.” Hazel observed Corelle’s face as she said that. Then she sighed and voiced the idea that had just occurred to her. “Then what about this attack on the Gard-class warship?” “Yes, it might be no more than a diversion for the secret mission. For the moment, M. Schrier understands whatever-it-is’s value even more than the Geheimnis Agency does since he has P. Wagner’s opinion go to off of. If the Geheimnis Agency prioritizes defense of the Gard-class, the secret mission will probably succeed.” Corelle laughed bitterly and Hazel took a step forward on her knees and asked a question. “Um, shouldn’t you be participating in the meeting inside the tent?” “The transport unit’s part is already over. I already demonstrated my power as a Highlandest using my 47 Telling Cards, so the rest of my job is to wait until it’s time to head home. …I’ll introduce you to ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse later. He’ll dance a jig when he learns you’re Oscar’s daughter.” “Dance a jig? Is he a funny person?” “Pale led a unit of England’s special forces during the Great War and made it all the way to the headquarters of the Geheimnis Agency – known as the Germania Dragoons back then – located at the center of Naylor family territory. His forces were almost entirely wiped out, but the fortress was utterly destroyed. 70% of the dragoons were defeated and he fought to a draw with ‘Kommandeur’ Heiliger Karlsruhe.” “Heiliger Karlsruhe?” … That was the name of my dad’s former superior. And… She hesitated before opening her mouth. “…” And she shut it again. Seeing that, Corelle gave an exasperated shrug. “I call it a draw, but Pale only had his right eye taken out while he used his Third Lunar Emperor prosthetic arms to blow off both Heiliger’s arms. …The man loves to fight, so recently he’s left England to fight in the Ethiopian conflict and the Spanish Civil War. And he always joins the losing side.” “That’s who leads the AIF?” “M. Schrier thought long and hard on whether to give that position to him or to your old man.” That made her gasp. … I had no idea. There was so much she was unaware of. “Having former Major General Oscar with us would mean a lot when fighting Germany. He has a lot of supporters in the military here, so it would send ripples through the country. But the AIF hopes to be an international organization, so the command position was given to Pale who has fought all across Europe.” “I see,” said Hazel with a tilt of the head. She gave Corelle a look of renewed admiration and sighed with a hint of disappointment in herself. “The AIF sounds amazing. And it looks like they even accept women.” “Some Strikers are women, right? This is the same. In the US, some states are letting female civilian pilots assist their aerial units, so this will be the standard eventually.” “But…you’re a captain. That’s incredible.” “US military regulations require that if you’re going to lead a flight team. …Although the rank is mostly thanks to my Urban Name of Highlandest, which I earned from my use of Telling Cards.” Corelle was being modest, but she was also smiling in a bashful way. She smiled until her eyes disappeared. Hazel stared at that smile until it suddenly ended. “Is something wrong?” “No,” said Hazel. Corelle placed a hand on her head and used her thick hand to muss up the girl’s hair. “Don’t lie to me, Hazel Mirildorf. Berger hasn’t convinced you to hide your feelings like he does, has he? A woman’s gotta let her true self shine through.” “No, um, uh, I was just a little jealous is all.” “Of what?” “I still don’t know what I should do or what I should be. And then I look to you or Mr. Berger and you already have Urban Names and everything.” “Everyone gets one of those once they do something of note.” “But people call me the Messiah when I haven’t done anything. And the implant still isn’t working.” Corelle’s hand stopped on Hazel’s head. Hazel lowered the ends of her eyebrows and looked Corelle in the eyes. “Mr. Berger said I should stay away from all this. He said there was something I have to figure out before I can get involved.” “…” “What don’t I have? And why…why is it so wrong?” She took a breath. “Why is it so wrong that I don’t want to run away and that I want to do something?” A change came over Corelle’s face. For a brief moment, her jaw dropped like she had noticed something strange, but then she lowered her head and placed thoughtful hand on her jaw. Hazel watched in confusion as Corelle shut her eyes and spoke. “Here’s the thing, Hazel. Berger has Gelegenheit and I have my Telling Cards. And maybe you didn’t want it, but you have the Messiah implant and it’s broken right now, right?” Hazel nodded. “M. Schrier told me not to tell anyone until the time came, but take a look at this.” Corelle pulled a letter from her pocket. It was old and discolored. “M. Schrier gave me this Lost Memory. He says these letters from the past started arriving for him and those around him about two years ago…and some even before that. This year in particular, several of them have crossed the ocean to reach him.” She held the letter up in front of Hazel, but her fingers were gripping it tight. She was only letting Hazel see it, not handing it to her. “When he gave me this mission, he told me I was sure to meet a girl once I arrived.” “Eh?” “And he told me to give that girl this letter and have her deliver it if she said a certain phrase at a certain time.” “What phrase and what time? Deliver it to who?” “I can’t tell you that yet.” Corelle shoved the Lost Memory back in her pocket. “But Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. Listen carefully. This is like a test. A while after this mission begins, my transport unit will pick up Pale and then fly out across the Mediterranean. Carrying you. But…” “But?” “If you figure something out before then and I kick you out – just like M. Schrier hopes – you will probably find yourself on the battlefield.” Laughter erupted from the tent on their right and Corelle glanced over there. “Prepare yourself, Hazel. Unfortunately, there is a lot I don’t know about this mission. Destiny here is filled with too many uncertainties for my cards to read. …That includes the Lost Memory, the Geheimnis Agency excavation, P. Wagner’s actions, the mystery object being excavated, and the tense international situation,” she said. “You are much the same, Hazel Mirildorf. Everyone is searching for an answer. Unfortunately, that answer might just be war and ruin.” ### 501. Part 4 A river flowed through the Black Forest. The current blended into the blackness of the forest, but its waves and ripples could be seen in the starlight reflected in the water. All of the light wavered, but the shape of the sky never changed. A shape sat in the center of the river like a sandbank. The two-hull shape was at least 50 yards long and was hidden below vegetation. It was floating on the river dyed black by the night. A sudden wind blew through, rustling the leaves of the trees. The shaking of the leaves and branches announced the path of the wind. A bird cried out. Unable to determine its own location, the lost bird cried out in distress. Another sound seemed to answer it. It came from the two-hull shape sitting as unmoving as a rock on the river. It was a high-pitched noise that set one’s teeth on edge. The river surface shook and ripples appeared around the two-hull shape. The sound grew louder and the ripples grew stronger and more intense instead of dying down. As the sound grew even louder, the ripples grew too large and burst. With a refreshing noise, the river’s water turned to spray and mist. The mist stripped away the vegetation and cloths that had been placed over the two-hull shape. It was laid bare in the starlight. It was an aerial transport ship. Its two-hull design allowed greater surface area for the float emblems, giving it the speed and stability needed for vertical takeoffs and forward thrust. It had no actual cargo bay and instead carried a detachable container between the two hulls. That container was currently missing, making it sleeker and lighter. The nose art illuminated by the starlight on the top of the starboard side was known as the Gypsy Queen. It depicted an Arabian woman smiling in front of the sunset. The mist grew thicker. At the same time, light emerged from the two-hull ship. Small lights appeared all across its 50-yard length. The most powerful was at the center, where several small lights shined from the barge that supported the two hulls. That was the bridge. ### 502. Part 4 An Erklärung raised its voice and Alfred roared from his throat: “Ah.” He used that single tone. The two Texts clashed and the Tons ruptured between the two weapons. The black and white lights briefly bent before popping like a balloon, moving the surrounding air. “…!?” Alfred’s feet slid about two yards back and Berger was blasted a few yards through the air before landing down on his knees. Their weapons’ lights were gone now. They had vanished. Alfred was the first to straighten back up. He readied Rein König in both hands without speaking a word. Berger faced him and stood up while replacing his weapon’s Phlogiston Tanks. “It’s been 4 years, hasn’t it?” “Why are you here?” Alfred’s tone made it clear that was not a real question. But… “Why is the divinely named dog crawling back now?” “I know you know why. Because I’m the only one who can match you. After all, I’m-” “What is the point of being second best?” Alfred leaped. He attacked with a voiced “ah” and Berger caught it on Gelegenheit. “What power have you gained in the past 4 years? Even Gelegenheit is her power.” Their weapons clashed and the white and black lights burst. They both pulled their weapons back and moved before the lights had fully vanished. Berger went right and Alfred went left. “We have spent those 4 years protecting this land, yet you have been obsessed with helping people escape.” “That destiny is no match for my voice.” White and black crashed together. Rein König and Gelegenheit pressed together, their lights enduring. Berger’s blue eyes and Alfred’s brown eyes glared at each other with only the former’s sunglasses in the way. Berger did not even smile. “You’re the same tiresome bastard you always were!” accused Berger. “You just don’t understand what it means to take life seriously!” shot back Alfred. “You really haven’t changed at all! You know what I did to-” “I was the one who killed her. Because she was a Heidengeist. And when that killed her…when that actually killed her, it was already over.” They separated. Alfred opened his mouth to release his voice and Berger attached two more Phlogiston Tanks. White and black light erupted from their weapons. Alfred raised Rein König overhead so it would not destroy the barrier and Berger held Gelegenheit low. They were about 5 yards apart. With their weapons, they could arrive within striking range in a split second. They looked each other in the eye, their shoulders rising and falling somewhat. “I can’t believe Rein König can’t cut that.” “This is the first time Gelegenheit’s failed to cut something.” “Why not change weapons like four years ago?” “No,” said Berger. “I will never use my Heidengeist blood again. I decided 4 years ago I would become human.” “Then you cannot defeat me, divinely named dog. You cannot defeat me without that power that altered a human’s destiny – altered her destiny.” “…” Berger wordlessly lowered his body. Alfred stretched his body up, raising Rein König even higher. “!” And he swung it down. The black attack deflected the white attack to the right. The deflected white afterimage drew a circle to rise back up and then swung back down for another attack. It was fast, but Berger deflected Alfred’s attack to the left this time. His vision was briefly filled by light, but he felt no fear. He ignored the intensity of light and slammed Gelegenheit up and to the left. The white and black clashed. “It only took four years to create such a great difference?” Berger heard Alfred’s comment. A moment later, the white was knocked away by the black. Knocked upwards. The light emitted by Rein König vanished. No, it was eliminated. Because Alfred had stopped producing his voice. With the repulsion between the two weapons gone, Berger’s Gelegenheit wandered through the air. “––––!?” He could see Rein König flying through the air. It had left its wielder’s hand and now rotated through the crimson-dyed night sky, high above Berger’s head. “It can’t be!?” Berger readied himself and lowered his gaze to see Alfred running toward him. Predicting Berger’s defense, Alfred had used Rein König as a diversion. He had thrown it away and sent himself forward, using the light as a shield. Alfred closed in on him, so Berger used Gelegenheit’s hilt to guard his face. Something metal hit the hilt: a dagger aimed for his forehead. The dagger was deflected into the air with a metallic clang and a flash of light. But it was not over yet. Alfred’s hands raced out. He held ten Panzer Reinigungs between his fingers, sending them toward Berger. Two were stopped by Gelegenheit – the two aimed for his head. The remaining six reached him. They hit his right shoulder, right forearm, left upper arm, left chest, right chest, and left side. Then the Panzer Reinigungs all ignited. Smoke burst out the back of the aluminum tubes and the sacred wood stakes stabbed into Berger’s body. “!” The impact knocked his feet off the ground and he flew backwards like he had been hit by a log. But Alfred moved forward even faster. He pursued airborne Berger and swung up his right leg. Faster than the wind, he kicked up at Gelegenheit, which Berger had readied defensively in both arms. Once his foot was high enough, he converted it into a powerful attack. He dropped the heel straight down. The direct blow to the chest caused Berger to collapse backwards in midair. “It’s not your bedtime yet.” Alfred kicked off the ground once his foot reached it, sending himself even further forward. He reached out his left hand to reach Berger’s collar. But instead of grabbing it, he pushed. He pushed Berger further through the air. Meanwhile, his right hand was held aloft. Something fell into that hand: Rein König. “Even more boring than I expected!” He suppressed his scratchy voice, placed his right hand alongside his left, and swung the sword horizontally. With a sound like the sword tip tearing through paper, a white trail of water vapor formed behind it. The invisible attack known as sword pressure was not just a wind. An explosion of sound slammed into Berger midair. Water vapor audibly exploded and Berger crashed into the edge of the barrier. The concrete of the edge broke, scattering rubble and forming a cloud of dust. Alfred came to a stop, spun around to use up his inertia, and swung Rein König. The wind produced by the blade scattered the dust before it could reach him. He took a breath and looked to the pile of rubble, noting blood seeping from the gaps. Red blood. The blood still had the heat of a living body, so white steam rose as it spread. “One of the Panzer Reinigungs reached your heart. Just lie there and die.” Alfred let his shoulders slump a little. Just then, a giant shape cast a shadow on him. “Is that Nein!?” Two Grösse Panzers entered the base. They had just left the Black Forest and were about 30 yards away. The wind must have carried his artificial vocal cords’ voice to them. The blue and red Panzers turned to face him. “I am glad to see you here, Sir Alfred.” “Because I knew I couldn’t rely on you! What’s the enemy doing? You can tell from up there, can’t you!?” “The enemy’s main force is scattering and they appear to have failed to take the command building. The Vaterland, however, is a different matter.” Alfred took a look around. He could hear gunfire and shouting voices. The sky was shimmering from the heat of the fires below and it was colored by an endless supply of embers and smoke. The scene could only be described as a battlefield. His face clouded slightly when he took a glance toward the pile of rubble in front of him. But only for a moment. He soon formed a satisfied grin and crossed his arms. Then he noticed that Berger’s blood was starting to solidify atop the barrier. “It’s already drying?” This was not a blood’s natural coagulation. The blood was bubbling. It was solidifying from heat. He crouched down and touched the barrier. An instantaneous change came over his face. “Nein! You’ve overlooked something. Something major.” He turned to the right of the blue and red Grösse Panzers entering the base and looked to the Vaterland on the westernmost edge of the base. “The enemy wasn’t after the command building!” As soon as the words left his mouth, crimson flames erupted from the tip of the Vaterland. The flames seemed to explode as they rose even higher into the night sky. The wind blew though, carrying the heat. Alfred stood tall and fearless in that heated wind. “Nein! Destroy the Vaterland! They’ve set it to go berserk!” A breath. “They’ve sent its Phlogiston below this barrier! The really pure stuff! This will disturb the Tons of the Gard-class down there, possibly turning it into something else! Hurry!” “Understood.” The blue Grösse Panzer ran toward the Vaterland tower that stood twenty times taller than it. With a rifle in one hand. The red Grösse Panzer unexpectedly turned south and shouted. “Sir Alfred!” Sparks repeatedly burst from the large shield it held, producing a sound like a ringing bell. That was gunfire. From something large. Following that artillery-level gunfire, another new sound entered the battlefield. Heavy metallic noises pounded out a deep tempo. Metal feet were felling trees as they approached. Two Grösse Panzers were approaching. They had the crude armor shape of German models with green painting and they wielded shields and specialized submachineguns. As soon as they passed through the main gate and entered the base, they entered a run. They apparently intended to use the remains of the Grösse Panzer hangar as a shield. Their fire was entirely focused on Neue Zinnober and Neue Blau. Their plan was to pin those two in place, giving the surviving troops time to escape and preventing the Vaterland from being shut down. Alfred ignored the non-tracer gunfire flying overhead. He made his way toward the enemy Grösse Panzers while the gunfire sounded a lot like someone pounding on a metal wall. “Nein! Get to the Vaterland. Once it’s destroyed, break through the barrier! My Busting would ignite the Phlogiston with its destruction Tons, so keep your priorities straight! I’ll deal with them in the meantime!” “But, Sir Alfred! Your Panzer!” “You think a destroyed hangar is enough to crush it!? That thing’s the finest piece of tech the Geheimnis Agency has put together since the Rot Löwe! And it’s the only Eingeweide Panzer without a lion name!” He looked back toward the bleeding rubble on a whim. Nothing had changed. The ends of his eyebrows dipped a bit and he dropped his gaze to his left hand. He wore a red ring there. But he soon faced forward and began to walk. Toward the enemy Grösse Panzers and the destroyed Grösse Panzer hangar. He saw the enemy Grösse Panzers pull giant metal tubes from their backs. Those were incendiary bombs. They intended to throw them into the hangar to detonate the fuel within and destroy all the equipment. “You fools.” Alfred walked across the barrier that gave off a shimmering heat thanks to the Phlogiston running wild in the shipyard below. He shifted Rein König to his left hand and raised his voice. “Our first battle shall be fought in the very forest from which the Messiah was born! Meet the strongest Eingeweide Panzer, built by my friend and born from my very own voice and flesh!” He raised his right hand as he walked and shouted toward the destroyed hangar. “Awaken, Kaiser!!” With that, a Text raced through the air. Space itself was rewritten by the deep voice. ### 503. Part 4 As the Neue Silber flew toward the #8 Base, Heiliger sat silently on the bridge and Schweitzer asked a quiet question from the adjacent seat. “We just received word that the black Grösse Panzer was stolen. Shouldn’t we pursue it?” Heiliger did not answer him. He only sighed and gave an order to the people in the seats up front. “Tell Air Force Division Chief Müller’s unit that the air is turbulent and they should land on the roads rather than the runway.” Words of acknowledgement were followed by a hurried transmission. Schweitzer sighed. This time, Heiliger asked him a question. “Did you board the Neue Silber to provide a situation report and because there was little you could do thanks to the turbulence?” “…” “It seems Lieutenant Maldrick ignored me, his commander, and got ahead of himself.” “But he-” Heiliger cut off Schweitzer’s response with a glance. There was a hint of a smile on his face. “I have heard that Development Division 2nd Project Team Leader Marsch Gant did something similar. He let someone use his new equipment without permission and then went to apologize to their commander himself.” “…” “Acting rashly is a problem, but it can work out in some circumstances. …Let me guess what you are thinking. If what my brother and Sir Karl say are true, Lieutenant Maldrick will be a crucial member of the Geheimnis Agency’s Army Division. A trivial matter like this will not change that.” Schweitzer bowed. “It is nothing.” Heiliger sighed. “The Messiah girl is the same. We will not give up on anyone.” “You know about her?” “I do. Two years ago, my…” He trailed off and fell silent there. Instead, he simply faced forward. Schweitzer followed his gaze to look out through the bridge’s viewport and see the base burning in the night. “War is beginning.” Everyone else on the bridge agreed with Schweitzer’s assessment. ### 504. Part 5 Schweitzer looked out from the cockpit window to see a young man appear from within Schwarz Löwe’s back. “…” He had long brown hair tied back, but it looked red in the airport lights. He wore the black pants of a Geheimnis Agent and even wore the boots, but he only wore a sleeveless black shirt on his upper body. But the most notable trait was the long drawn sword he held in his right hand. It was a pure white double-edged sword that allowed no shadows to fall on it. He climbed on top of Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder with that weapon that resembled a straight line of silver. His thick eyebrows bent in a smile. “Alfred Maldrick plus two others here. We decided to stop by for supplies on our way to the HQ.” His hoarse statement was followed by two roars from the sky. Two other Grösse Panzers landed behind him with speeds just short of freefall. They stood back up as pieces of the pavement flew into the air. The one on the right was blue and the one on the left was red. They had both deactivated their Ober Emblems and no longer had wings on their back. The blue one carried a giant autocannon modeled after an MG 34 in its right hand. The red one carried a massive shield in its left hand. Both had shimmering heat rising from the radiators on their back. Alfred smiled bitterly when he saw it. “These two are still inexperienced, but they work for me all the same. Allow me to introduce you to ‘Doppel Panzer’ Bermark Nein, the final form of the Eisen Ritter Project. He was left with me by Karl Schmitt, one of the Fünf Leithammel.” Schweitzer grabbed the microphone from the wall to respond. He instructed the pilot crew to have his voice played from the loudspeaker on the outside of the aircraft and then took a breath. “You are in an awfully good mood, Alfred. The hoarseness of those artificial vocal cords suits you.” Alfred must have heard that because he smiled a little. “Hellard, huh? Ha ha. Of course I’m in a good mood. After four long years, my Eingeweide Grösse Panzer is finally complete. The new model that uses my voice as a component.” Alfred placed his hand on Schwarz Löwe’s face. “After all, this Panzer was built for the Geheimnis Agency’s internal anti-air tests, but it’s already outdated. The other countries still haven’t reached this level, it isn’t enough to satisfy my skill.” “So you are visiting HQ for a new toy?” “No, I have business at HQ other than that Panzer in Base #8. General Graham summoned me to attend the Gard-class’s commissioning…and I can’t exactly refuse His Excellency’s request when he is suffering from Words Warn.” Alfred looked away from Schweitzer in the cockpit. The look in his eyes changed from joy to ridicule as he looked to Heiliger instead. “Oh, if it isn’t Lieutenant General Heiliger. Making your yearly visit to our HQ?” “Oh? I am honored that a Panzer Kavalier of your caliber knows of me.” “I’ve heard all about you from your sister, Lady Rose…not to mention the dark rumors spoken of you within our Agency. The rumors that you are a Neue Kavalier who fled to the military and sold out his family.” He smiled bitterly. “Not that I know what it is you do every year when you meet up with His Excellency and Lady Rose.” “Stop it, Alfred. Have you forgotten that mouth of yours is what led to the incident four years ago?” “That’s the distant past. And destiny would have worked itself out if not for that man. The one who thinks so highly of himself just cause he’s got a divine name.” “A divine name, hm?” “Isn’t that why you let him take care of the Messiah two years ago? Because he qualified as a one-armed man with a divine name?” Once he got that out, Alfred’s expression changed. “––––!” He looked up and suddenly swung his sword up from atop Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder. “!?” Alfred opened his mouth before Schweitzer could even express his surprise. The shout he produced was a single pure note. It was the Ton note that he used when destroying things as a Buster. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” His sword could amplify Tons as a Werkzeug. It was instantly wrapped in white light, which it then released, becoming a pillar of light. The relationship between Buster and Werkzeug was the relationship between the will to attack and the manifestation of that will. If the Buster moved to attack, the Werkzeug would amplify the attacking Ton of his will and allow it to manifest. He made a single attack with the sword he had raised overhead. He also turned his body around, so the destructive beam of light swept horizontally across the airport. The mist evaporated as the destructive light grew to 200 yards long and 40 yards wide. The target of the sweeping attack was the dragon regenerating its body within the mist and preparing to leap at the man. When the light struck the dragon, it scattered with a sound like shattering glass. It was annihilated. The light returned to its original Tons and burst, sending threads of light dancing through the air. The rain shined. But Alfred did not even bother viewing the dancing and collapsing light. He rested the sword on his shoulder and turned back toward the cockpit. “I’m not the man I was four years ago. No one’s a match for me now that I can wield Rein König.” “Then I have some news you might be interested in: We have received a report of Dog Berger entering Germany. He may be working with the full force of the AIF led by ‘Verräter’ M. Schrier.” “Is that so? I had received a similar report,” said Alfred. “The Messiah girl apparently entered Germany as a tourist just before entry into the country was locked down. A team from the Army Division is searching for her, but she was apparently on her way to Berlin.” Alfred smiled a little as he looked up into the sky. “Things are in motion as war draws ever closer. And I will be joining the chase this time.” He called out to the two behind him in the rain. The two Panzers stood up and prepared to leave. “We’ll be right after you once we’ve resupplied. Whatever the man with the divine name, the Messiah, and the AIF are planning, it’s bound to happen where we end up.” “How can you be so certain, Alfred?” “Because we’re their opponent, Hellard. How could I be less than certain?” With that, Alfred turned his back on them. He started to climb back into the secondary cockpit on Schwarz Löwe’s back, but then he stopped. He rested his elbow on the armor and looked off into the distance. He took a long look at Berlin on this rainy night. He even reached a hand out toward it. He wore a ring with a red jewel on his left hand’s middle finger. He used that hand to clutch at the empty air as if grasping the city before his eyes. “Farewell, Berlin.” ### 505. Part 5 The cramped wooden room was a perfect match for the concept of a “cheap inn”. There was only one small curtained window facing south. The only furniture was a simple bed, a table, and two chairs. There was no bath or toilet, but there was a bidet and a kitchen. The electric light hanging from the ceiling cast two shadows on the floor. Hazel stood in the kitchen preparing some food in only a black shirt and Berger sat by the window at one of the table’s chairs. Hazel worked swiftly to get the charcoal fire going before opening the cabinet below the sink. “Just because it’s a hideout doesn’t mean you can stock up on nothing but wursts and pasta. That’s not a balanced diet.” “Don’t worry. I drink beer too, so I’m the second healthiest guy in the world. More importantly…” She knew what he was going to say next, so she placed her hands on the sink and waited for him to speak. “What are you doing in Berlin, Hazel?” … Exactly what I expected. She took a breath and answered. “My teacher gave me a letter for you.” “Your teacher? You mean my old upperclassman? He sent you back to Germany with the Messiah implant, even if it is broken? You said on the way here we had to hurry because you were being pursued by some weird people, didn’t you? And that you had hid your things? Why would he send you here when that’s obviously what would end up happening?” “It’s true! I know it may be hard to believe, but he really gave me permission.” She turned toward him while holding a frying pan. She saw him sitting sideways in the chair by the window with his elbow on the chair back and his eyes on her. His expression was not a casual one. He sighed through his nose. “He gave you permission, did he? What in the world is he thinking?” “So you believe me? That was easier than I expected.” “Look, our last little adventure together told me that you’re kind to a fault and nowhere near smart enough to use someone else’s name to sell a lie. …I am surprised a Heidengeist like you would come back here, though.” “My prosthetic eye is listed as the other one on my passport. My teacher had business in Paris, so he had that counterfeited for me while he was there. Um, the Messiah eye on the right is my real eye and this cat one on the left is a night vision prosthetic…according to my passport.” “So that means you’re human, huh? You can be weirdly clever when you need to be.” His tone said that compliment was genuine. She breathed a sigh of relief and held the frying pan to her chest while looking to his left arm. “I’m sorry. Losing your left arm must have hurt so much.” He held up his left hand to show her. He clenched the fist inside the black leather glove. “Don’t worry about it. Can’t have hurt as much as jamming a knife into your eye. Speaking of which how’s your right eye? The letter you sent me before said your sight was gradually returning.” “Yes, the sight has returned, but the Messiah functions have not. The doctor said those won’t return until I decide I need its power. Because my will and my body will not be aligned until then.” She chose her words carefully and kept one thought to herself. … That may never recover. “But instead, I’ve been studying Tuning and Busting ever since that incident two years ago.” “Huh? Tuning and Busting? Why?” “I’ve been able to see Tons ever since the Sylphide Incident – or maybe ‘perceive’ is the better word. I can sometimes just ‘see’ the currents of the wind or the water.” “Tuning and Busting, huh?” He scratched his head in a troubled way and his mechanical left hand toyed with the woman’s pendant hanging from his neck. “Personally, I think you should stop that. You’re still a trainee Greenhorner, aren’t you? So why not start studying Ton Medicine instead? Or you could become a vet.” “But…” “Hazel, you do know that Tuning and Busting are mostly used as tools of killing in Europe, don’t you? And as the daughter of Oscar Mirildorf and the student of my old underclassman, you should be well aware that we’re on the verge of a war.” “…” “The war will begin here in Germany and spread to the rest of Europe. Every country’s Sofort Lesers have made that prophecy. There’s a lot of construction underway here in Berlin, but do you know what that’s for?” “I’ve heard, yes. They will be creating a new multilevel Berlin called Germania based on the Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors. They plan to develop the city underground and install defense field generators to protect against aerial bombings.” “And you know Stimmers and Busters are being used for some of that construction, don’t you? The massive Tune Emblems drawn out below cities around Germany and the more than 400 Vaterlands that suck the country’s Tons out of the ley lines will be used to give all pureblooded Germans an Erklärung power. That plus Germania are how they hope the Panzerpolis Project will allow Germany to survive the coming war.” “And as a part of that, the Geheimnis Agency is building an improved version of the Babel Kanone that failed to fire in England and constructing a massive Gard-class aerial warship.” “That isn’t just an aerial warship. From what I’ve heard, it’s an Eingeweide. And there’s a lot of Busters working on its construction too. Norse mythology and the Unreif Germane are rising to prominence above even the Bible right now. Yesterday, I saw a book burning in one of the villages I passed through on the way to Berlin.” Hazel trembled more at the thought of burning the writing than the books themselves. Berger’s eyes suddenly moved. He glanced over at her and turned his entire chair to face forward. “Let’s get back on topic, Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. Why are you in this city?” She knew why he was asking this and why he was so puzzled by it, but that was why she was uncertain how to respond. “Um.” She lowered her head for a moment, but then she raised it again while holding the frying pan lightly against her chest. “Berger…you never did respond to my letters. It was only when I actually wrote your name out for those letters that I realized it really does mean Wild Hund, doesn’t it?” “My mother cared a little too much for her kid. She said she wanted to raise me to be as tough as a stray dog.” He was not smiling. “But don’t change the subject. My name doesn’t matter. Why you’re here does.” “Well,” she said before trailing off again. … There’s so, so much I could say. “Once the war starts, I felt like I would never again be able to see this city or my friends here. And and there were things I wanted to discuss with you and ask you if I could meet you again.” “Like what?” His blunt question made her hesitate again. She clutched the frying pan harder against her chest. “A lot of people visit my home in LA. They’re all working so hard for this upcoming war. But whenever I ask my dad if there’s anything I can do, he says no.” She thought for a moment. “How can he be so sure there’s nothing I can do?” Berger sighed at that. “Y’know…you should really be asking my old upperclassman that. He knows a lot more than me and is just an all-around better person.” “I-I know that!” “Um…you didn’t have to agree with that quite so enthusiastically.” “Eh? Huh? Um, uh…s-sorry. But I’ve been thinking. Two years ago, you told me that to run away was to survive. But then…if you don’t want to run away and you want to stay and fight, does that mean you want to die? And if so…” “Enough pointless arguments.” He cut her off. “Right now, you need to start cooking, Hazel. I’m the second hungriest guy in the world right now. We can discuss this…well, we’ll be heading out right away tonight, so we can discuss it on the way. My motorcycle has a sidecar.” He stood up, pushed his chair against the windowsill, and turned toward the door out into the hall. “Where are you going while I’m cooking?” “Where are the instructions my old upperclassman left with you? And your clothes? Think about it. You got here and that’s great, but you said you were being chased by someone, right?” He walked toward her and pressed his right index finger against her chest. “I have a job to do, Hazel. They locked down the borders a few days ago, but I still have to get you outside the country. Do you get that? Do you, Hazel Mirildorf? The Swiss border is chilly even in the summer, so where are your things? You need some clothes, don’t you? I’ll go get them, so you wait here.” “Um…” “?” “Please get back soon.” He smiled at that. “Don’t worry. Do you know where we are? This place is owned by an AIF member. We’ve been using the place whenever we visit Berlin lately. As long as you stay away from the curtains, this place is plenty safe for a kitten to play in, Hazel.” She started to say something in response, but stopped and smiled bitterly instead. She looked down at his finger against her chest and suppressed a sigh. “Are you…are you always like this, Berger?” “Always like what?” “You can’t tell? So…so…” “Unfortunately, I’m the second dumbest guy in the world. But your chest really hasn’t grown at all, has it? Have you been eating right?” He pressed against the chest of her shirt and reached the limit of the softness very quick. The frying pan met his face even quicker. ### 506. Part 5 A battle began in front of Hazel. Berger sent a leftward roundhouse kick sweeping up toward Jeanne as she tried to turn around and stand up. Jeanne stood behind Berger. “An Erklärung!?” Before his question was done, Hazel saw Jeanne pull out a handgun. The powerful red light emerging from the muzzle was the Ton of killer of intent and it extended toward Berger’s back. “You actually showed up, Wild Hund? I honestly expected the dog to abandon the cat.” “I ran into some Geheimnis Agents while picking up the package. After punching out the three of them, I came back here.” He smiled bitterly. “Based on that black dress, I take it you’re ‘Eisen Blume’ Jeanne Schmitt. …Middle-aged, just like the rumors said.” After a gunshot, Berger was blasted to the side and slammed into the wall as if from a blow to the side. A beat later, his black-cloaked form crumbled to the bottom of the wall. Hazel’s heart skipped a beat. “B-Berger!?” Her question was cut off by a series of gunshots. Each shot caused his body to jerk as if kicked. Darkness burst out. His black coat flew toward Jeanne as she fired her handgun. The metal hand emerging from the left sleeve thrust toward her neck. It was prepared to rip her throat out. “!” The bullets pierced the black coat, but they passed right on out the other side. The coat had nothing inside it other than the left arm. “I said it can’t be pierced, didn’t I?” He burst from behind the flying coat as if tearing himself away from it. He had removed his prosthetic left arm and he held the Eingeweide sword Gelegenheit with its shadowy blade active. The blade emerging from the golden hilt was more than 8 yards long. Eight objects similar to black flowers were attached midway up the hilt. They were crushed bullets. The black blossoms scattered when he swung Gelegenheit, slicing from ceiling to floor as if drawing out a diagonal circle. He shouted that Erklärung and the room was split in two. No, the entire inn was bisected. One half included Jeanne and her subordinate by the window and the other half contained Berger and Hazel by the hallway. The diagonal cut caused Jeanne’s half to sink down for a moment. And it did not stop there. That half of the inn fully collapsed. “–––––!” Jeanne growled in anger and Berger held Gelegenheit in his mouth to pull a small boxy device from his pocket. He pushed two of the red buttons on it. Immediately, the collapsing half of the inn neatly exploded, scattering dust and splinters more than fire. He grabbed a chair that had just barely avoided being caught in the bisection and threw it into the rising smoke as if to be extra sure he got them. “That’s three times now I’ve had to do that bit for you.” The collapsing half of the inn could not support its own weight, so it broke apart and scattered along the ground. Even if it was only half, that was a three-story building standing nearly 12 yards tall that had collapsed, so it caused an impressive amount of noise and smoke. It was not quite a roar, but a dusty sound surrounded them. Hazel listened to that for a few seconds before peeling herself away from the wall. “…” She silently approached him and then the words spilled out of her. “Why?” She hung her head. “Why did you come? Like they said, didn’t you have a reason to…” She could not bring herself to say the rest, so she said something else instead. “You aren’t the type to come back, but I still waited. And yet…” “Say that in English, just like when you called my name.” “Eh?” She looked up at that and saw him using his right hand to wipe away the blood dripping down his brow. His face was not smiling, angry, or tense. “Things have changed. The Geheimnis Agency is serious about this, so I’ll be taking you myself.” “T-taking me where?” “I read the letter in your bag on the way back here. I have to reach the German Army’s Base #8 in the Black Forest by tomorrow midday to destroy the warship about to be commissioned from there. That’s my AIF mission.” And… “A skilled courier will be arriving there to take you back to America.” She nodded at that, but then she recalled something she could not afford to forget. “U-um, is the innkeeper okay? Don’t tell me they-” “He’s alive. He can’t stay here anymore, though.” Berger smiled bitterly for the first time since arriving. The expression looked somewhat troubled. She tilted her head at that and he explained. “Worry about yourself before others, silly girl. You have a lot to learn.” “You have a point.” She tried to force a smile and failed. “Yes, you have…” The rest of the words broke apart as her lips went loose and refused to take the proper shape. A scratchy voice escaped her throat and the tears soon followed. She could not speak, her breaths seemed to crash into the bottom of her lungs, and she started to sob. “Don’t cry.” She shook her head over and over to ignore those words. “Wh-why…why,” she choked. “Why did you come back?” She let the tears flow and clung to his right arm as she wept. The night breeze swept across them. ### 507. Part 5 The land known as the Black Forest was of course black during the night. Not just dark, but black. The sky above looked brighter. Heidengeists and gods had once lived in that land and humans had needed to coexist with them to survive. Paved roads now ran through that place and humans could come and go with some freedom. Hazel was currently in the mountains a short distance from a mountain road that wound through that vast land. Black was all she could see. The starlight from above was the only source of light. That bluish-white starlight had to filter through the leaves overhead before it reached her, so she could only make out the faintest outlines of her surroundings. She was lying at the base of a cedar tree. She was in a sleeping bag, but she was not asleep. The hard ground below her back was not helping there, but she had also napped during the day and it was too early for sleep. “It was only 8 earlier, wasn’t it?” “She stuck a hand out from the sleeping bag. It held the pocket watch she had borrowed from Berger. She used her nails to open the cover and she gasped at the unexpectedly loud noise. After a few seconds she glanced around (even though she could barely see) and sighed. Then she viewed the glow-in-the-dark clockface. “8:10.” … I could have sworn I’d been here for around two hours. The forest’s night was entirely silent. Her sense of time was entirely thrown off. She shut the pocket watch and rolled over onto her stomach. She propped herself up on her shoulders to look around. The new pose let her see something she had not seen while on her back. “…” Berger was sleeping there. He was sleeping with his back against the trunk of the tree and his arms around a raised knee. He too had a sleeping bag, but it was half unzipped and only his lower legs were inside it. That way he could take action at a moment’s notice. He did have his black coat over his shoulders to keep him warm. The chest of the coat looked oddly bulky because he was holding Gelegenheit. He had removed his sunglasses and the exhaustion on his face was plain to see. She only noticed how tired he looked now that the bluish-white starlight was shining down on him. … He was driving all night. No, for an entire day. He had a mission: attack a Geheimnis Agency base and sink the aerial warship under construction there. “The AIF…the world’s first independent military force funded only by corporate sponsors.” She knew the AIF was the Antiwar Independent Force, a group with divisions around the world who swiftly and covertly dealt with any problems that might lead to international conflict. They were still short on money and personnel. People she assumed were with the AIF often came to meet her father. Most of them were former German citizens and some had been women. She had caught bits and pieces of conversation when serving them their tea. The things she heard there never turned up in the newspapers or on the radio. “…” She thought back to the Sylphide Incident from two years ago. That had never been revealed to the public either. … It took flight to fulfill the Messiah’s prophecy and it accomplished that. And yet… She suddenly held a hand to her right eye. “The Messiah implant was destroyed afterwards and it hasn’t recovered.” She raised her head to look at Berger’s left arm, which was hard to make out in the blackness of the forest. Then she heard a rustling from the foliage around her. “…?” Doubt filled her and then a howl erupted behind her. “––––!!” An animal’s extended “uh” or “oh” rang on and on toward the heavens. It was a wolf. A pack of them. “Eek.” She cried out, grabbed her left shoulder, and cowered down. She was glad she had rolled onto her stomach. As a Werecat, lying on her back before an enemy was a sign of submission and helplessness. The next howl sounded closer. Her feline instincts feared the canine cry. Barely a moment later, she heard another animal cry, but from a different location. They howled. They roared. They growled. The many bestial noises broke the Black Forest’s silence. The howls took on a set rhythm and crashed down on her like waves. She felt like something was about to pounce on her. … Wh-what is this? She could tell her pulse was racing. A moment later, her body obeyed its instincts and began the Flektieren transformation. “––––!?” She knew she shouldn’t let it happen, but it was too late. As her body’s Tons rearranged, air blew out and exploded inside her sleeping bag. The blast of air sent her tumbling out of the sleeping bag as a kitten. Her legs dragged her somewhat torn clothes and underwear with her. “Why?” she tried to say, but it came out as a meow. Her choker now dangled down as a collar and she skillfully extricated herself from her own clothing before walking and tumbling some more. She was still surrounded by the waves of howling. As a cat, her night vision had improved and she could make out a few forms moving through the surrounding forest. “U-um, uh.” Everything she said came out as quiet mews. The howling harmony drowned it all out. Her fear won out over her hesitation. She practically leaped forward as she ran toward Berger. She scrambled up his leg to his hip. She moved to the hem of the black coat draped over him and desperately rubbed her chin against his hip. … Wake up, wake up, wake up! She was desperate enough to beg, but the response arrived far too leisurely for her liking. He finally opened his eyes. Part of the way. “!” She called his name half in tears of joy. That too became a meow, but he looked around with sleepy eyes. The howls were surrounded by the forest and the mountains. His eyes stopped on a single point. Confused, she tilted her head and looked in that direction. An unusually large form was in the black of the forest there. Standing 2.5 yards tall, it was as large as bear. It stood in the bushes not 5 yards away. She could tell it was not just a tree or a hill because of the single point of light where its face would be. … Is that the glint of an eye? The only one-eyed creatures she knew of were a type of giant that had a small population in the Aerial City. One of them would have been even bigger, so this was something else. She gasped when she saw the way the silver light gathered around the figure’s outline. … What is that? Fur? She had no idea what it was, but she knew it was looking at her while the wolves howled. “…” Silent with fear, she nestled against Berger. He pulled a hand out from below the black coat and held her close. … Oh. As a cat, she was even softer than normal and she was pressed against his body. She was relieved to feel his warmth through the clothing. She calmed her breathing and looked up at him with her heterochromatic eyes. He turned his sleepy eyes toward the figure standing in the forest. His lips slowly moved. “Quiet those things down, idiot.” It sounded like a casual comment, but his voice rang clear through all the howling. “…” The figure in front of them smiled. Or so it seemed. No, she had seen the Ton tempo of a small smile spill out from the figure. “!?” By the time she wondered what that was about, it was too late. The figure was gone. It had leaped away. And… “…?” The wolf howling also vanished. All she could hear was a rustling of the underbrush, branches snapping underfoot, and dozens of padding feet, all growing more distant by the moment. She looked around as it faded away until it was gone. … What was that? No one could answer her question, but she heard Berger speaking while half asleep. “C’mon…how many times do I have to tell you not to wake me up?” She tilted her head in his arm. “He’s never told me that.” Her voice only came out as a small mew, so he did not respond. Instead, he pinched her behind the neck and lifted her up. She considered struggling, but his grip was weak and she could tell he was still half asleep. If she struggled, she would slip from his grasp and fall. She silently let him take over. He roughly pulled aside the black coat and held her to his chest with his right hand. Then he pulled the sleeping bag up over him with his mechanical left hand. He zipped it up to his chest and lay on his back. Only her head stuck out from the sleeping bag. She looked up to see his face there. “…” He was already falling asleep, so she sighed while viewing his stubbly face. She adjusted her position in his hand, getting herself to lie on her stomach while pressed against his chest. Then her front right paw caught on something with a metallic clink. “?” She saw a woman’s pendant next to her face with the locket portion sitting open. … That’s the red jewel pendant he always wears. “I shouldn’t look inside.” She reached out her front right paw to close the pendant, but she could not get her claws on it well enough with just one paw and the pendant rolled. The stars illuminated the inside of the pendant, giving her the view she had been trying to avoid. She saw the single photograph contained within. It was an old scrap from a larger photo. … That’s a lot like Marsch Gant’s photo I saw in the Sylphide. There were clear differences, however. The background was Tempelhof Air Base, just like the one in the Sylphide, but the people in the photo were different. One was a black-haired young man and the other was a brown-haired woman. They were both smiling. She stopped breathing for a moment. And… “Sorry.” She felt guilty for having seen it, so she apologized, despite how meaningless it was. Then she more calmly reached out her front paw and shut the pendant. The process allowed more light in, giving her a better look at the photo. The woman’s narrow eyes were bent in a smile, but they were clearly cat eyes. She was a Werecat. Hazel slowly shut the pendant while her eyes met with another member of her species. “Oh.” She sighed. … Is that why it never gets to him? He’s done this before. “Dealt with a girl like me, I mean.” She shut her eyes while deciding to never tell anyone what she had seen. ### 508. Part 5 “All information regarding this excavation will now be considered top secret.” At the Alfheim Meteorite Pit, the Geheimnis Agency site supervisor had gathered approximately 60 workers atop the large extraction platform surrounding the 50-yard dig site. Behind them, several truck-mounted sunlamps shined on the dig site where large automatic winches were at work. Two winches were suspended on either side of the pit. The sound of the winding winches joined with the wind blowing through the forest to reverberate through the pit. The irritatingly loud roar sounded like someone breathing through a wind instrument. “The Alfheim Meteorite Pit is where the Messiah once descended from heaven. She walked from here to the shrine at the foot of the mountain, where she met the one-armed youth and was convinced to descend to the world below.” The site supervisor looked to the rising wires. “This is also where she entered her slumber upon finishing her work. The one-armed youth and her dragon guarded her bedroom until death claimed them.” He nodded. “Well done working in such a sacred place.” He bowed and the workers bowed back. The four winches completed their work at the same time. Something was lifted from the pit. A pallet for transporting Grösse Panzers was hoisted up by the winches. A black tarp covered a massive shape measuring 30 yards long and 10 yards wide. White steam was slowly but regularly blowing from the gaps in the tarp. Almost like breaths. They all looked up to watch it. The shape below the tarp did not even stir as it released its white breaths. No one said a word and tension filled their faces as they watched. The wires were fully wound and the winches stopped. The sudden stop caused the entire winch structure to sway. The total weight made it a slow but powerful movement, but the winches were designed for lifting Grösse Panzers, so they could withstand it. “…” It took a few minutes for the swaying to stop. Then the winches’ sliding mechanism activated. The two winches on either side slid along the rails suspending them, making sure to move too slowly to produce a pendulum effect. They slid toward the extraction platform the men stood on. A worker standing on the edge of the platform shouted over to the edge of the pit. “Send it in!” After a short delay, an explosive roar sounded from the other edge of the pit. It was the deep rumble of machinery. A massive shape moved out from the edge. A Grösse Panzer transport truck slowly backed up along a simple paved road too narrow for its size. The extraction platform was made to provide as much flat space as possible above the bowl-shaped pit, so the truck did not need to descend far. It soon reached the end of the road and drove up onto the platform. Its reinforced tires dug into the platform’s surface, keeping it from slipping. The massive truck’s vibrations directly reverberated through the platform, but everyone feeling those vibrations through their feet heard a different rumbling. It was a breath from the great dark shape sliding toward them from above. A powerful sound like papers blowing in the wind escaped the black tarp. “––––!?” They all tensed, but the rumbling quieted and finally vanished altogether. However… “Worry not.” Someone on the edge of the pit called over through a megaphone. They all turned that way to see two large figures standing in the starlight. They were both Grösse Panzers, one blue and one red. Their silhouettes were enough to note differences from the standard models, suggesting these were custom models. The blue one held a long gun in its right hand and the red one carried a large shield in its left hand. “I am Bermark Nein of the Geheimnis Agency Army Division’s Independent Unit. I have been tasked with guarding you for the short distance to the #8 Flight Base. I shall accompany you.” Most of the workers on the extraction platform saluted to express their thanks. But some felt differently. A small number did not salute. They instead paled, but caught themselves before anyone noticed. They had the pale faces of people realizing a plan had gone horribly awry. ### 509. Part 5 The bridge contained several people. They were all seated and working at the instruments in that cramped and dimly-lit space. All except for one person, that is. Hazel sat in the rearmost seat. She looked up at the ceiling, which was lower than her standing height, and viewed the many switches covering it. She sighed and someone walked over to her. The large female figure was Corelle. Her smile was hard to miss even in the dim lighting. “Cramped, isn’t it? Ever been on a ship like this?” “I rode the Sylphide two years ago.” “Oh…I see. The Sylphide, huh? I remember the thrill of hearing that some incredible new ship had picked a fight with the Germans.” Corelle sat in an empty seat next to Hazel. The person in the seat in front looked back. “Sync confirmed! We’re ready to go.” “Hold off on that for now. We need a diversion before we can take off. Wait till we see some movement.” After receiving a quick “yes, ma’am”, Corelle nodded and stuck her hand in her pocket. … Cigarettes? Hazel’s guess was proven wrong when Corelle pulled out a deck of cards. The cards looked small in her large hand and their crimson coloration stood out even in the dim light. Corelle gave Hazel a probing look. “Now, we have some time to spare, so do you mind humoring me with this? I’m actually something of a coward, so I like to know everything I can about my surroundings. That includes the destinies of the people around me, even the ones just passing by.” She smiled a little. “I mean, you wouldn’t want to share an aerial ship with someone destined to crash, right?” “I guess not.” “So let me ask you some questions, Hazel Mirildorf – the girl without an Urban Name. This is a pack of cards I bought in Tarot City – Izumo a few years back. First, there’s these 22 cards.” “So it’s tarot?” “It is. But I’d like to ask something before I start the fortunetelling. I do this for myself, so I won’t force anyone else to play along. They might come face to face with an unpleasant destiny, after all. Some people don’t want to know about that kind of thing, right? So…” She spread out the cards in her hand with skillful movements of her large fingers. “These 22 are the yang cards – they’re the tarot of white harmony. They have no more power than the ordinary commercial tarot. They have different meanings when reversed, but that doesn’t make them malicious. So even if you have a bad destiny ahead of you-” “Could you stop?” hesitantly asked Hazel. “There is no such thing as a bad destiny. It all comes down to how I choose to interpret it. …So, um, please satisfy your curiosity with whatever method you’re so hesitant to explain.” Corelle was quick to respond. She laughed. Loudly. “Ha ha ha! I like the way you think! You’re great, Hazel Mirildorf! Did you hear that, Max!? Coolers!? This girl’s got more guts than either of you!!” “Whatever you say, boss.” An exasperated but amused voice reached them from the front of the bridge. Hazel smiled. Corelle pulled a new deck of cards from her left side to show the smiling girl. “Now look at this. In the approximately 2000 years of evolution since their origins in Arabia, these Telling Cards have gained both yin and yang cards. The 22 yang ones speak in a harmonic voice that accurately conveys your destiny and the 22 yin ones speak in a noisy voice that leaves you unsure what it’s saying about your destiny. Then there are the 3 unspoken word cards that combine the two types. That makes a total of 47 cards.” She spread the cards out in both hands to show them off. They were all blank. “!?” Hazel frowned, so Corelle explained. “The cards made in the Tarot City do not have the cards to tell your destiny; destiny speaks to you through the cards. If you don’t have your fortune told, the card will never meet its intended partner and will remain blank.” “You mean…my destiny will be drawn here?” “That’s right. Your harmonic, noisy, and unspoken destinies are hidden here. Whatever you end up choosing will be your destiny.” Corelle reformed the deck and started shuffling them. “Fortunetelling is all about choosing your destiny. There’s no real method to it. C’mon…just tell me when to stop.” “Eh?” “Hazel, when you think I’ve shuffled enough and the destiny-revealing hand of the Highlandest comes to a stop, you will be led to the destiny you have chosen. So just tell me whenever. I’ll keep shuffling until…how about when we enter the Mediterranean?” “Then please stop.” “You’ve gotta be more forceful than that. Destiny doesn’t stop for polite requests.” Hazel smiled bitterly at that. She felt like the man who welded Gelegenheit, the blade of destiny, had said something like that two years ago. So she regulated her breathing and placed her hands on her lap, but kept the smile on her face. “Stop.” “Sure thing.” With that, a single card popped out of the deck, still face down. Hazel took it and looked to Corelle, who put the remaining cards back in her pocket. “That’s yours now. I just need to replace it with another blank one. So take good care of it, Hazel Mirildorf.” “I will.” Hazel nodded and flipped the card over. It now displayed an image she did not recognize. A single wheel was drawn at the center of the card. The wheel was made of metal, but its edge stuck out almost like a gear and it had splotches of blood in places. A naked woman was drawn on the left side and a naked man was drawn on the right. It was an unpleasant image, but the green and brown background gave it an oddly calming coloration. “What is this?” “That is the Wheel of Destiny, #10 of the Noisy Cards. It depicts a man and woman holding and supporting an inescapable ruin. It’s the reverse of the Wheel of Fortune, #10 of the Harmony Cards.” Hazel listened to Corelle’s explanation without taking her eyes off of the card. “To be honest, I’ve never seen this one before. It’s a rare destiny. But, Hazel?” Hazel looked up from the card and found Corelle looking straight at her with a slight smile. “Don’t forget that I have a letter for you. Whether or not I give it to you comes down to your decision. The Wheel of Destiny is the same.” “The same how?” “Wheels turn, but they can be stopped and their destination can be altered. …If you choose to, that is. Do that and the card’s image might change.” “…” “So search out a good answer – an answer that can change that destiny of ruin.” “…I will.” Once she said that, the bridge’s door opened. Everyone on the bridge turned toward it and saw a giant figure standing there. “Hey, Corelle. I hate being a bother, but I’ll be hitching a ride as planned.” The man who entered the bridge looked to be approaching the end of middle age. He was huge. He had to be 2.5 yards tall, both his arms were bulky prosthetics and his gray hair was unkempt, but something else was even more conspicuous. “Only one eye.” Hazel looked up at the glint in the man’s only eye, the right one. “Are you the one leading the wolves?” “That I am. I take it you’re the girl who was sleeping with Berger? The rumored Hazel Mirildorf?” He slipped between Hazel and Corelle and crouched down with surprising grace. He only wore tattered military pants and a combat vest and a smile entered his one eye as he looked directly at Hazel. “I’m the AIF general commander…or I’m in training for the job, anyway. I’m ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse.” ### 510. Part 5 The green Grösse Panzer stopped just before throwing its incendiary bomb. The rubble at its feet had blasted away and a giant hand had reached out and stopped it. The powerful white right arm was joined by a right shoulder, right chest, face, stomach, left arm, hips, thighs, and legs. They all stood up as the hangar rubble collapsed around it. A massive white Grösse Panzer emerged. It stood more than 11 yards tall. The curved armor on top of its head resembled a crown and its narrow face resembled that of a female Grösse Panzer. Its Panzer Kleid was mostly white with some black decorations, but it did have a red dragon emblem on its right shoulder. The Panzer visible below that clothing was slender, but it had broad shoulders and powerful thighs. The armor attached in places was bumpy, giving it an even more powerful appearance. The six wings extending from its back gave it a strange silhouette resembling a Nein Engel. It was armed only with the sword at its hip. The white Grösse Panzer looked to the right arm of the green Grösse Panzer it had grabbed. It turned toward that one and casually pulled its arm back, creating a wind from that alone. With a sound like tearing metal and kneaded clay, the green Grösse Panzer’s right arm was torn off at the elbow. “––––!?” A voiceless scream left the green one’s voice device. The white one moved as if to prove that no one who screamed belonged on the battlefield. It adjusted its grip on the enemy right hand in its left hand and slammed it into the enemy’s face. The metal hand stabbed wrist-deep into its owner’s facial structure. With a sound like shattering stone, the green one collapsed backwards with its hand returned to its face. The sound of the great metal mass falling to the paved road was a lot like that of a building collapsing. The individual sounds were too loud and numerous to distinguish, so it all blended together into a single deep roar. The incendiary bomb in the hand detonated inside its collapsed owner’s face. The other Panzer began a panicked run after seeing the resultant flames. The white one followed the runner with its gaze. The green one ran to the side, raising its shield and firing its submachinegun. It used anti-Panzer bullets, so no armor could escape unscathed. If not for the white one’s abnormal action, that is. It leaped. No, it flew. It moved left without moving its legs, seeming to slide along the ground. It slowly turned itself around while rapidly evading the bullets. And it flew. A heated wind blew from the bumpy armor at its legs and hips and it moved several hundred yards all at once. It had just one destination in mind: its owner. The white Panzer slid to the side of the barrier on the west side of the base. Its legs roared and sparks flew as it braked. It looked down to where a man stood, holding the sword named Rein König in his left hand. That man was Alfred Maldrick. He looked up at the white Panzer and grinned when his gaze met its sight device. “Let’s go, Kaiser.” ### 511. Part 5 Hazel had returned to the secondary cockpit as Schwarz Löwe continued flying. It flew north above the Black Forest. “Hazel?” The voice from the vocal devices received no response. “Did she fall asleep? I guess this was her first real battle.” Berger kept the wings moving. He did not know their destination, but he knew which direction to fly. “A Verlsten Brief, huh?” When he had Schreibened, he had taken a quick look at the letter from a thousand years ago that Hazel had given him. It had contained a map showing a road heading north from the Black Forest. The map had shown several roads, but that one was the most complex and ran deepest into the forest. The Verlsten Brief had said to follow that road. Even though the road would not have existed back when it was written. Schwarz Löwe tilted its head in midair, which allowed it to notice some light far below. Some kind of large vehicle was driving along the road. Schwarz Löwe ascended further to avoid being noticed. It closed its wings to reduce the noise as it looked down. A Grösse Panzer transport truck was driving through the forest below. He recognized the large form on its way to northern Germany. “That’s the truck I saw before. The one Bermark Nein protected.” Its only focus was on traveling north. He realized he could see a small white color illuminated by the pale starlight. White steam was emerging from below the black sheet placed over the rear of the truck. Something was operating below that sheet. “…?” Berger watched in puzzlement as a branch from the forest caught on the sheet. The sheet was pulled back, revealing to the starlight half of what it covered. Berger recognized it. “!?” He cried out and ascended. He veered away from the road and flapped his wings to stop in midair. The truck drove away below, even more white smoke rising from it. A high-altitude wind blew across Berger as he spoke the name of what he had seen and why the Verlsten Brief had sent him here. “The Sylphide!” ### 512. Part 6 “Ow, ow, ow, ow.” Berger held his cheek while descending the wooden stairs. The first floor was a cramped front desk and the hallway was too narrow for two people to pass each other. The window in the entrance next to the front desk provided a view of a main road lit up by streetlights. There was a black cedar forest on the other side of the road. The forest was so close to the road that there was no room for homes or shops alongside it. The view out the window showed only the stillness of the summer night. “Potsdamer Strasse there runs through the Grunewald forest park,” said a voice from the counter. “Will your job tonight be taking you south along that road?” Berger looked up to see a short old man behind the counter. “That girl looks like she’s going to be yet more trouble for you,” asked the old man. “Does she have a story?” “You could say that, yes. I was hoping you could look after her for a bit.” The old man gave him a puzzled look, so Berger leaned back against the wall and pointed up at the ceiling. “I think the Geheimnis Agency is after her. I’m on my way to pick up her things hidden in a locker at Unter den Linden Station. That includes my next instructions, so I will head out on that mission once I have them. My mission is to destroy the Gard-class warship that we’ve heard is being constructed at the Geheimnis Agency’s Base #8.” “Hold on. This is an inn, not a home for runaways.” “But you have connections, don’t you? I’ll write her an introduction, so call her a ride you can trust and send her to the Borderson hidden village in the morning. I have to complete this mission. Rumor has it that Gard-class is an Eingeweide, so we’re in trouble if I can’t sink it before they get it up and running.” The innkeeper frowned and then gave Berger an exasperated look. “So what’s her name?” “Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. She’s Oscar Mirildorf’s daughter.” Surprise flashed across the innkeeper’s face, but then he shut his eyes. “So she’s the one person who ever managed to injure you on a job, huh?” “Yes, and it’s been two years since then. She sent me a few letters through my old upperclassman, but she only ever talked about cheerful things in those letters. Never anything gloomy and never asking about me. I know none of that was what she really wanted to write.” “Knowing you, you didn’t respond.” “Of course not. I’m not an official AIF member – I’m just their hired Wild Hund. I’m the second least romantic guy in the world.” He sighed. “Besides, she belongs on the other side of the wall…of that wall I could never break through. I have no business being anywhere near her.” He smiled and held up his black-gloved left hand. “Have her leave this land as soon as possible. Europe will be engulfed in war in another month, but barely any of that will reach her new home in America. Her father seems to understand that.” “That’s pretty cold of you. Is that what destiny has in store for the two of you?” asked the innkeeper while looking up at the ceiling. Berger’s smile did not reach his eyes. He stuck a hand in his pocket and tossed three small shining things onto the counter. “I picked up these imperial coins in the Soviet Union. Give them to her and tell her to visit Paris on her way home. Tell her she won’t want to wander around the streets in the nude after that.” “What did I do wrong to deserve this job?” “This is just what destiny has in store for you,” spat out Berger as he opened the door. The wind blew in. That summer wind was racing through the black cedar forest. “Hazel can see this wind now, can she?” His lips silently mouthed a poem. It was a section of the Unreif Germane. He recited it as he stepped outside into the dark forest. All alone. ### 513. Part 6 The wind blew across the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in the Black Forest of South Germany. It also swept across the Geheimnis Agency Base #8 located to the east of that 400-yard-wide hole. The large development base had a mile-long runway and an underground shipyard and it did not sleep at night. There were five clusters of lights in the base. The first was the runway lights to the east. The second was the large hangars covering the central eastern side of the base to the west of the runway. The third was the central command building west of the hangars. The fourth was the underground shipyard located on the central western side of the base to the left of the command building. The top of the 4.5-mile shipyard had been opened up to reveal a giant warship within. The enormous aerial warship had the streamlined exterior of a glide bomb. Several giant fuel pipes connected the sides of the ship with the walls to fill it with fuel, but a few were not connected to the ship and not yet in use. The final cluster of lights was the Vaterland located on the far west end of the base. It gave off a deep, quiet rumble as it supplied the shipyard’s warship with fuel. A new sound joined that rumble. The powerful roar of wind emerged from a large hangar on the east end of the base. The hangar was about 100 yards in each direction and it stood 15 yards tall. The large trailer stopped at the main entrance said it was a Panzer hangar. A single figure stood at the hangar’s exterior. The figure emerged from the hangar wearing only the black shirt, vest, and pants of the Geheimnis Agency. He held a plain white-bladed Werkzeug sword. He was Alfred Maldrick. He walked to the center of the hangar light cast on the base’s road and raised both hands skyward. He yawned – loudly – with the somewhat scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords. “Yawwwwn!!” He swung his hands back down and cracked his neck just before a loud voice spoke behind him. “Enjoying yourself, I see, Sir Alfred.” “You seem cheerful too, Nein.” Alfred did not look back, but he did hear a loud metallic sound from behind him. The steel footsteps continued with a set tempo. Those were the footsteps of two Grösse Panzers. The air shook as the two long shadows extended to either side of Alfred. The steel footsteps and rustling of Panzer Kleids approached him, but their shadows did not fall on him. They came to a stop at his sides. The blue one on the right and the red one on the left produced the distinctive motor noises of Grösse Panzers. “Can you feel the wind, Nein? You, a product of the Eisen Ritter Project that joined just your brain and spine with the Panzer?” “I can. Because the machine is my body now,” replied the blue one. Alfred smiled at the scratchy voice coming from its speakers and he brushed back his hair. “I only had a three hour test run after arriving, but that taught me something crucial.” “What might that be?” “That Eingeweide Grösse Panzer is special made for me. It was based on my Schwarz Löwe, but neither that nor Sir Graham’s Silber Löwe can hope to match it. Marsch said the combination of inertial control and rocket thrusters were crucial to giving it its high mobility.” He sighed. “I feel like I can only pilot this one because Schwarz Löwe’s Ober Emblem was entirely aerial based and because I had an Eingeweide training system installed in Schwarz Löwe. This Grösse Panzer can enter autopilot and boost its power with the Beweisen and it can handle anti-air combat without its Ober Emblem.” “That is not due to the training system. That is because it uses a part of your body – your voice. In a way, it really is special made for you.” This time, it was the red and not the blue that spoke. “But are you sure you should ignore that previous summons?” “You mean from Sir Graham? He asked me if I was free tomorrow and I said I was busy fine-tuning my new Grösse Panzer, that’s all. I would have gladly obeyed if he had made it an order.” Alfred did not even look back and he skillfully crossed his arms while still holding the sword. “But I do feel bad doing this to Lady Rose since she only wakes up this one day a year.” He heard the blue one produce a metallic noise he knew was a nod. He shut his eyes. “But this gathering isn’t about testing the new Panzers, meeting Lady Rose, or the commissioning of the Gard-class Eingeweide aerial warship. This has to be about something else. Nein, have you heard anything?” “I have not,” replied the blue one. “I was given the surname Nein because of the structural faults discovered in early development, so I have no interaction with our leader’s Naylor family or the second-in-command’s Karlsruhe family.” “Do you think your younger brothers like Vier would know?” “Unfortunately, my brothers have such inflexible personalities that I doubt they would tell us if they did.” “If you’re calling them inflexible, then I know it’s bad. I’m sure Schweitzer is wondering what all this is about too.” He opened his eyes and saw the stars of the night sky. The bottom part of the eastern sky was starting to turn purple, so dawn was approaching. The red one spoke from behind him. “Are you absolutely certain you will not be visiting Lady Rose with Sir Graham? You went with him the past three years.” “I would love to, but this gathering appears to have a different purpose and Lieutenant General Heiliger arrived a lot earlier than past years. If I accompanied them, my personality would cause problems.” The red one fell silent. Only then did Alfred look back. He looked fearlessly up at the crimson Grösse Panzer that stood more than 9 yards tall. “How about a kind word when your master gets self-deprecating?” “That did not occur to me.” “Unlike when I was using Schwarz Löwe, you didn’t bring it to a draw in the sparring match earlier. Getting old?” “I have not counted my age past 100,” said the blue one. “That aside, why do you so dislike Lieutenant General Heiliger? He is the sole link between the military and the Geheimnis Agency and he is the brother of your teacher Sir Graham and of Lady Rose.” “This has nothing to do with his job or family. I just don’t like him.” Alfred faced forward again and tapped his heel on the road. “Schweitzer’s dad defended Munich’s central hospital during the Imperial Exile Incident in ’19, but what do you think that man, his superior officer, was doing? The entire country was shaken by the emperor’s exile, but he was out buttering up those pompous politicians. And once the Geheimnis Agency was established, he was so scared of the rumors that he hid in the military and used his family name to gain social status.” “…” “Why do that? For himself. Those aren’t the actions of a Neue Kavalier.” He smiled bitterly. “Maybe what happened 2 years ago was his punishment for that. Having to hand over his own family to the military’s 2nd Heidengeist Crackdown, I mean. As an example to the people serving this country, he threw out his own wife and daughter.” Alfred took a step forward and raised Rein König before his eyes. “Four years ago, I fought a guy much like that and lost someone. I promised her I would…” He hesitated a few moments before saying it in a self-deprecating way. “…become the strongest.” He opened his left hand. He wore a woman’s ring on the middle finger. A red gem sparkled there. “I must defeat everyone I come across. That is why I reached for this Rein König and why I had Marsch turn my voice into an Eingeweide component.” “It is a shame what Sir Marsch did.” “It sure is. Do you get it, Nein? I’ve waited two years – two years – after losing Marsch.” He took a breath and clenched his left hand. “All so I can defeat destiny.” ### 514. Part 6 Berger knocked out the final soldier with a rapid collision from his right foot. He was once more the only thing moving on the runway. His black coat flapped in a gust of wind carrying the scent of fire. He could see an elevated platform at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit located past the black cedar forest north of the base. The platform was needed because the edges of the meteorite pit swelled upwards. A new road had been created from there to the base. Three large forms were visible on that road. One was a blue Grösse Panzer. “A modified version of Blau Löwe, huh?” To its right was a large Grösse Panzer transport truck. The truck was loaded with some kind of cargo covered by a black cloth and it remained stopped on the road. On the other side of the truck was a red Grösse Panzer, mirroring Blau Löwe’s position. “That combination must be Bermark Nein. Does that mean Alfred’s Schwarz Löwe is here too!?” He observed his surroundings but saw no enemy approaching. Instead, he heard a noise. It reminded him of grinding teeth, it was louder than the wind, and it came from the center of the base. Something big was moving there. “They started closing the shipyard’s barrier, didn’t they? That aerial warship is meant to fly, but they’re hiding it underground.” He whistled and resumed walking. His eyes were on the two Grösse Panzers and the truck. He moved forward without even hiding his “what’s going on here?” look. He had a skip in his step as he left the airfield and entered the base itself along with a heated wind. Just then, two Mittel Panzers exited a large hangar. Their heads were made short, but the overall size of their warrior’s silhouette rivaled the Grösse Panzers. They were colored almost entirely black and wielded a thick short sword in their right hand. The left hand held a Panzer shotgun. “Jagdhunds? Alfred would never pilot something so cheap.” Berger even smiled as he increased his pace to a run and stuck his hand below his coat to prepare for battle. He saw the Jagdhunds react. They both aimed their shotgun toward the walls and corners of the hangar and fired. “–––––!? Are they on my side?” He was answered by four shotgun blasts and the splintering of wood. The hangar was 100 yards across and the entire thing shook. It tilted. Four more blasts sounded. The tilt gained an eye-drawing appeal as it teetered on the verge of collapse. The metal supports broke and the holes blown in the wall were squashed flat by the weight from above. An ensemble of bursting metal followed. The Grösse Panzer hangar partially collapsed, looking more like it had melted than anything. It all happened in an instant. “Oh? Restricting it to infantry?” commented Berger as he changed direction. He turned toward the center of the base and picked up his pace. On the way, he noticed the two Jagdhunds turn their short heads made of composite armor, which required turning their full bodies along with it. With a whirring of mechanical parts, their sight devices focused on him. They both gave quick bows and the one in front raised its metal thumb. It first pointed toward the runway and then at themselves. Realizing what that meant, Berger pointed at the other Grösse Panzer hangar out ahead of him and then pointed at his own face. The Panzer formed a circle with its thumb to ask “okay?” He raised Gelegenheit to say “okay”. The Panzer nodded and the sight device’s glowing light wavered in a way that suggested a smile. Berger saluted with just his hand. “That’s Bermark Nein over there! The second things go south, you get the hell out of here, okay!?” The Jagdhunds nodded in response and moved out ahead. Their feet thundered across the pavement and their metal bodies were not burned or slowed by the heated wind blowing in. They passed by Berger, so he put his sunglasses back on and ran past the half-destroyed hangar. The adjacent Panzer hangar had its door fully open. Something blocked out the light escaping from within. He could hear metal footsteps as something emerged. He sped up. He shoved Size C Phlogiston Tanks into Gelegenheit. His left hand demonstrated his fast reload skill by attaching 10 of them in a row. Gelegenheit was shaped much like a spear. His right hand’s fingers wrapped around the middle of the hilt and he spun it around using just his fingertips. “I shouldn’t be doing this when they barely gave me any money for this mission. But lucky for you, I’m the second most accommodating guy in the world!” As he spoke, a shadowy blade grew from the spinning Gelegenheit. It extended with blinding speed. The shadow field was only satisfied after reaching a length of 40 yards. He wrapped his right arm around the hilt and held it to his side before extending the arm out to the side, parallel with the ground. His arm’s movement sent the black blade out horizontally like a wing. He also held his left hand out to the side while he ran. “Ready for takeoff!” The hangar was bisected all at once. The slash sounded like a symphony of metal being severed hundreds of times in a single instant. Berger only needed a little over 8 seconds to clear the 100-yard road in front of the hangar. The Grösse Panzer preparing to exit the hangar collapsed after one of its legs was severed. Metal groaned and the wind blew. Neither was stopping anytime soon. Both sounds continued nonstop as the top half of the hangar shifted toward the road and fell. It made no attempt to stop itself. The structure collapsed. The destroyed building was decorated by the roar of dirt flung into the air and the smell of oil. But Berger lowered his hips, turned toward the hangar, and stopped in place. He viewed the collapsed Grösse Panzer through his sunglasses. “That wasn’t Schwarz Löwe!? Where is that moron!?” The arm sticking straight up from the wreckage of the hangar was from a mass-produced P-model. Berger quickly stood up. Just then, the wind fluctuated behind him. ### 515. Part 6 While the Grösse Panzers loudly fought, the pile of rubble on one end of the shipyard barrier began to stir. The large concrete chunks were pushed up from below and rolled onto their sides until a black form appeared below. It was Berger. He was in bad shape. His hair was wet and matted with blood, his black coat was torn, and his blood-slick boots made a wet sound when he stood up. He managed to get up on unsteady feet, but there was no strength in the eyes behind his sunglasses and his complexion was poor. He silently took a step forward while taking a look at himself. He was bleeding from where the sacred wood had been driven into him. The five stakes had pierced out his back thanks to the sword pressure attack, so he would recover quickly as long as he stopped the bleeding. He held a hand near his heart – where one of the Panzer Reinigungs should have pierced him. “Did this protect me?” He pulled out a pendant. A woman’s pendant adorned with a red jewel. “The old lady at that night shop said it was originally the Messiah’s. Now, that’s a blatant lie, but its protection was real.” He opened the locket and found the photo inside was stained with blood. The weight of the blood pulled the photo away from the locket and it fell toward the barrier. “––––––” It slipped past his outstretched fingers and landed on the barrier. It shrank a bit and then scorched on the heated metal. Before he could stop it, it set on fire and burned away. His face clouded over, but only for a moment. “Saving me twice is more than enough, Eryngium.” He smiled bitterly and resumed walking across the metal that gave off a shimmering thanks to the great heat below it. He walked toward the Grösse Panzer hangar. He could hear combat at the distant airfield. “Firing as they escape? …The AIF’s Panzer Kavaliers aren’t half bad. When retreating anyway.” He cut across the barrier. The edge was a yard higher above him, so he placed his hands on that and climbed up like he was doing a pull up. Once out on the road, the ground shook beneath him. The tremor came from underground. He fell, making a sound like a wet rag slapping against the ground. Gelegenheit tumbled out from his torn black coat. The Eingeweide sword had a golden decoration resembling a woman’s hair and he reached out his right hand to stop it from rolling further. He grasped Gelegenheit in his hand and used it as a crutch to stand up. His gentle movements gradually gained more strength and he accelerated his standing by pushing down hard with Gelegenheit. He took a breath, seeing the road from the main entrance to the command building in front of him. Strength filled his gaze and he looked around to see a change coming over the battlefield. The AIF was fighting to escape instead of to get in. They used the buildings and wrecked armored trucks for cover as they moved to and fro. Their mission was complete. Berger caught his breath below the roadside trees swaying in the wind. Another tremor came from belowground. “Is that the Vaterland?” The Vaterland was burning. Fire erupted from the white tower and its walls were being scorched by smoke as they crumbled. The outer layer of the 120-yard structure was falling away, revealing the internal structure. Especially large flames erupted skyward. At the same time, explosive flames burst out in every direction from about halfway up the Vaterland. The ground shook from the blast and Berger leaned against the tree behind him for support. The top of the Vaterland was imploding. The outer walls were falling toward the internal acceleration reactor. “Was that Bermark Nein’s gunfire? He shot right through the internal walls.” The 120-yard tower was collapsing and falling. It barely felt real from this distance. Berger looked to the shipyard barrier and found it was still heating up. However… “If the Vaterland is destroyed, the Ton reaction within will weaken. If the barrier is destroyed after that, the Tons will be released and the Gard-class might not be fully destroyed.” He heard more gunfire in the distance, but it was soon followed by an explosion. He pulled himself from the tree and walked forward. “Damn, I’ve lost too much blood. If only I could lose just the Heidengeist blood.” Strength filled his legs and he started to run forward, toward the Grösse Panzer hangar. The up-down movement of running caused more blood to spurt out and fall to the ground. That blood gave off steam before vaporizing. Even the ground was overheated. “Just a little more and the Gard-class will be sunk and the others can escape before the base is blown away from below. …The only way to hold off that colorful trio is to dig out one of the hangar’s Grösse Panzers, isn’t it?” Berger looked across the base as he ran and he noticed something. “The truck on the mountain over there is gone?” But he did not have time to worry about it now. He already knew where he needed to go: the Grösse Panzer hangar. The ground shook below his feet again. It shook vertically, making it noticeably different from an earthquake. The space between the tremors was shrinking, like the pulse of some new life being born. Berger listened to the sounds and shaking and kept Gelegenheit in his right hand. Suddenly, strength faded from his legs and he collapsed. But he was spared falling when someone reached below his arms to catch him. “––––?” He looked back to see a girl with blonde hair cut short. It was Hazel. She supported him and smiled with some stiffness left on her face. “I finally found you. Are you okay, Mr. Berger? Um, you see, uh…” She tried to find the right thing to say while holding out an old envelope. Berger spoke the German word for it. “A Verlsten Brief!? Hazel, where did you get that?” “The addressee has faded a lot, but it definitely says ‘Wild Hunt’ Dog Berger. My teacher asked that I deliver it to you.” She smiled bitterly. “It’s apparently some kind of prophecy.” ### 516. Part 6 When leaving the Geheimnis Agency HQ building and walking south, if you turned east instead of toward the western runway, you would find the army hangar. The large building was primarily used for repairs. The internal space could contain around 10 Grösse Panzers and it was currently wrapped in an unusual stillness. There were noises, however. From outside, there was the blowing wind and the forest noises. On the inside, there were the distinctive noises of Grösse Panzers in standby mode and of people talking. The lights were kept off, so some people were speaking in the darkness. The slender figure standing near the entrance was Lowenzahn. “Almost everyone has left the #8 Base now. …Can I assume everyone here already knows the truth?” She turned toward the shadows to her right. The enormous, broad-shouldered figure there was Graham. Rose was clinging to him with her hands on his shoulder. A woman in a blue dress stood next to them: Naval Division Chief Lillie. She gave a quick bow without opening her eyes. “I learned it all from the previous Sofort Leser, Lady Frobel. At the time I assumed she was joking because it seemed crazy to think you could be so important or that history would progress like this.” “And my mom did love making jokes with a straight face.” Lowenzahn gave a pure smile and then moved her eyes to someone else. The skinny figure standing to Lillie’s left was Bermark Vier. “Please look after Captain Hellard while I am away,” she said to him. “Understood.” “No matter what might happen to me and even if the Panzerpolis Project causes another disaster in ’43, he still saved me…saved me twice.” Bermark nodded and Lillie tilted her head. “Twice? I thought it was just the once three years ago.” She turned toward Graham after asking. Graham did not nod and simply returned her gaze for a few seconds. Then he turned his eyes toward something like a wall next to Lillie. But it was not actually a wall. What looked like a steel cube at least 3 yards tall was actually a foot. Everyone turned to view the thing the enormous foot belonged to. It was a Panzer, but it could not be called a Grösse Panzer. It was so large it made the massive hangar look cramped. Even while crouched down with its hips to the floor, its head nearly touched the ceiling. The green of its Panzer Kleid and the metallic gray and nearly ocher brass color of the Panzer itself glowed dully in the darkness. It would tower over 25 yards tall when standing up. The colossal Grösse Panzer had large, thick limbs and two Drache Kanone on its back. The plentiful armor placed over its Panzer Kleid was honeycombed with warship buoyancy emblem panels. Two lights appeared in the darkness far above. The colossal Grösse Panzer’s sight devices had lit up. They were cold red lights. Its gaze was directed toward the group gathered below. A voice spoke from the external speaker on the Panzer’s chest. A male voice. “Yes…it was twice, wasn’t it? Commander, I am glad you remembered what I told you.” “Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt is well known for his strictly accurate stories,” said Lowenzahn. “Is that because you can extract just the facts from your memory? That may be one advantage to the Eisen Ritter Project.” Lillie looked back in surprise. “Are you saying something else happened with that air force captain?” The response came from Rose. “All sorts of stuff! I doubt he remembers, but it was so important for Lowenzahn and for me as well. It’s a sad story, so I can’t get into the details…but let’s just say Lowenzahn and I can never thank the Schweitzer family enough. Especially Der Held.” “Der Held…hm?” Lillie nodded. “That’s an Eingeweide device that rewrites a portion of this world, just like my Mondnacht and Lady Rose’s Requiem.” “With Heiliger’s Tragisch, the Kaiser, the Vaterlands, and so much more, we really are gathering them together, aren’t we?” Lowenzahn gave a fearless smile. “But, Rose, I’m sorry to say I think the Gard-class Eingeweide aerial warship – the Requiem – was destroyed, so you’ll have to go back to sleep for a while longer. We can reconstruct that one piece of the composite ship in another year.” “Yes, but I can’t stand to wait much longer! I don’t think I could bear seeing my bigger brother get any balder!” Rose’s reply caused Lowenzahn’s smile to grow. Lowenzahn took a step back and placed a hand on her left chest. “Only those of us here are aware that all of the prophecies end in ’43. …I apologize for leaving Jeanne out of it, Karl.” “It was best to let her rush out to the #8 Base like she wanted.” “Some things are better not known and some people are more able to stand being lied to,” said Lillie, looking away from Graham. Lowenzahn nodded. “I should really be telling them about my Eingeweide too.” “Do you think Captain Schweitzer realized what was happening three years ago?” asked Bermark. “That I was at Neuschwanstein’s hospital to be implanted with an Eingeweide organ? No, there is no way he realized that.” “…” “Anyone who learns the Sofort Leser Naylor girl has an Eingeweide organ is bound to assume its Ober Beweisen is used to make her prophecies…even though that isn’t accurate in the slightest,” she said. “It is an unfortunate thing, commander, but it is understandable since the Karlsruhe bloodline has a shortened lifespan due to their inherited Words Warn disease. You too have inherited a disease. That is all this means.” “But mine won’t kill me.” Lowenzahn took a step back. “The lie I live is what will kill me. And it is Heiliger who will do it.” She leaned back against the edge of the container for the hangar’s opened sliding door and looked outside. “In ’43…I will let Heiliger know about the lie – about the true form of this world, the true meaning of Germany, and the true reason for the Panzerpolis Project.” “And he will still do it?” asked Lillie. “He once fought over my mother with my father, with Bertecht, and – sorry, Lillie – with Graham there.” Lowenzahn’s shoulders shook a little as she looked outside. “So even if he forgives me for it, he cannot let me live. Once he learns the truth of my lie, why Graham chose to abandon his emotions and memories, and whose prophecies these are, I know for certain he will…choose my death.” “And the Messiah, Destiny, and the Hero cannot save you?” “I have my hands full simply bringing this world back into order…and they are the gears of the Nibelung needed to do that.” Lowenzahn turned back toward them with a smile. “Sorry for dragging you into this complicated destiny business. But this is an age of darkness and chaos for the world. New cultures are rising, the old ones are falling apart, and the Tons are disturbed on a global scale.” She took a breath. “The Sofort Lesers around the world should start panicking next year. And that will explode into complete ruin come ’43…but we and the Panzerpolis Project are both the cause and solution to that.” “The Millennium is ending, isn’t it?” said Bermark. “The former Messiah subjugated Germany in the year 962. It would be wrong to assume the world revolves around Germany, but this must be the end of the promised millennium of peace. Germany is the only part of this world containing that Existence Ton, so we are destined to be envied and destroyed by the hostile Tons of the those without it.” “You’re saying the Great War was part of that peace?” asked Graham. “I am.” Bermark bowed. “I believe the next war will lead to unprecedented levels of inhumanity.” “That’s where the Panzerpolis Project comes in. We must work with the machines to make up for all of that. …And that will require my death. That is the only way to activate the Ober Beweisen of what I carry in my chest.” Lowenzahn hesitated but shut her eyes. “Of the Eingeweide heart Neue Erde.” ## Final Chapter: The Wheel Arrives 07/30/1939 11:51 – 12:03 I believe That destiny can change In these words In these illusions In this reality …I believe The sky was clear. The chilly wind of late summer blew through a mountain forest of green conifers instead of the black ones. A motorcycle was parked on the side of a road running through that forest. The driver’s seat and the attached sidecar were both vacant. Two people were inside the small bus stop shelter located a short distance away. The one in a black coat was Berger and the one in a reddish shirt and skirt was Hazel. Hazel was hanging her head in slight anger and Berger had his arms crossed. They made no attempt to look each other in the eye, but Berger did speak. “The bus will be by before long. It’s already running late.” “…” “Are you still mad?” “Yes, I am.” “I’m the one who should be mad.” Berger kept a straight face. “Everyone removes their clothes before Write Bringing into a Heavy Barrel – that’s just how it’s done. Yet there you were in the secondary cockpit waiting for me to emerge. You’re a naughty girl, Hazel. Didn’t know you had it in you.” “I was worried about your injury! Besides, this just makes us even. You’ve already seen me like that.” “Yeah, but I wasn’t trying to see you naked. You see, I’m not interested in kids.” “Then, um, what type of girl are you interested in?” “The type with short blonde hair, a flat chest, and no end to her complaining.” She thought on that for a few seconds and then pinched his arm hard. “Ow, ow! That arm’s brand new, you know!?” “I’m sure it’s a cheap biological prosthetic, so who cares? You’ll have a better one next time I see you anyway.” “Huh?” She looked him in the eye and continued in English. “Do you want to know why I came to see you this time? It has to do with the test tubes you found in my luggage.” Her expression softened and he said nothing, so she continued. “Making a prosthetic that won’t be rejected requires the person’s blood. …I wanted to make you a decent arm as thanks for saving me two years ago. And I helped myself to some of the blood on your coat in the secondary cockpit last night.” “Give it back. It’s mine. You don’t just take blood from a guy with a divine name.” “I already mailed it to the US. At that mountain store on the border.” He held his head in his hands when he heard that. “Why does this girl never ask first?” “I’ve been saving up money helping out at a neighborhood library for the past two years. This was supposed to be a surprise gift.” “Fine, whatever. It’s not like we’re ever going to see each other again.” Berger leaned back in his seat. “I’m a hired gun, but the AIF is going to be using mostly permanent members in Germany. Once war breaks out, I won’t be seeing you.” “And if I join the AIF?” “Do you know the requirements for female members?” “No.” She shook her head, so he beckoned her over to lend him her ear. “?” She silently scooted over and he whispered his answer. Her face immediately grew red. “Wh-wh-what!?” “See why I never tried to get you to join? Otherwise it would be too psychological taxing if you’re captured and tortured. But…that’s a lot like being asked to get a sex change.” Hazel’s shoulders slumped and Berger smiled bitterly. Then he wiped away the smile and brought a hand to his chin. “Either way, it’s best if we don’t see each other. …When you appeared to me last night, it created a barrier between us.” “Eh?” “You still don’t get it, Hazel? You’re one of the people who seek after power and I’m…not. That much I can tell. You can no longer stay with me ‘just because’. And that’s fine. It’s for the best.” Hazel gasped at what she heard. … We can’t be together? Meanwhile, the bus arrived. He started to say something, stopped, and then patted her on the back. Feeling pushed, she weakly stood and then waited for him to do the same. With an exasperated sigh, he slowly stood and faced her. “This is goodbye, Hazel.” She gasped. “W-wait. This is so sudden.” He looked down at her with a wordless smile, which kept her from saying anything either. Her gaze dropped and she briefly saw her luggage in her hand. The bus was sliding up to the stop. “D-does everything have to arrive and happen without warning?” “That’s how destiny works sometimes.” “But…but it’s too sudden. Don’t just assume we’ll never see each other again.” She looked up with the ends of her eyebrows drooping an she asked a hurried question. “U-um, can you tell me one thing?” “Close your eyes.” “Eh?” she said, but she still obeyed without hesitation. She was surrounded by silence and darkness. Suddenly, she felt his fingers on her jaw. His touch brought no fear or revulsion. She felt an almost relaxing anticipation as he somewhat lifted her face. She opened her lips ever so slightly as if granting an unstated request. “You idiot.” He suddenly pinched both her cheeks and tugged them outwards. They stretched further than she would have thought possible and her eyes shot open. “~!!” “Listen, Hazel. I’m only going to say this once, Hazel Mirildorf.” She dropped her luggage and vigorously nodded. “You really saved my rear this time. Thanks.” “Eh!?” “I’m not saying it again, so don’t forget it.” With that, he let go of her cheeks and then picked her up. He immediately carried her to the bus and up the stairs before tossing her into a nearby seat. The next thing she knew, he had rushed off and the bus’s door was closing. “Leave now!” As soon as he gave the command, smoke blew from the bus’s exhaust and it left. Hazel ran over to the window inside. “M-Mr. Berger! Mr. Berger!!” She opened the window to see the travel bag she had dropped earlier. She heard his voice from beyond the thrown bag. “You forgot this! And say hi to Corelle and Pale for me if you see them!” She caught the bag, lost her balance, tumbled from the seat, and fell onto the bus’s floor. “Wh-why!?” She struggled to get back up, but soon gave up. The sky was moving outside the window, so the bus had to be moving already. Her lips trembled as they formed the question she had asked herself so many times over the past few days. “Why…why didn’t you abandon me that night?” And in her mind… … When we really are saying goodbye, he thanks me. She held her bag to her chest and hung her head on the wooden floor. She also felt something tickling her cheeks. She was crying. So she looked up, to make sure no further tears fell. She saw the wind Lives flowing in from the open window. She reached her hand out. She held the wind and spoke the same thing she had on Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder that night. “The Messiah travels with Destiny…” But then she rephrased it, remembering Berger’s Erklärung. “Destiny will never…” But when she tried to continue with “abandon the Messiah”, her voice faded away and the words would not come. She could not stop the tears now. More and more of them spilled from her eyes. She wept, but she looked up. For some reason, something inside her told her she could endure this. So she looked up. She looked into the wind, all alone. And she told herself this destiny was only temporary. ### Closing Statements September 1, 1939 The German military finally invaded Poland. World War Two was beginning. The AIF’s efforts had somewhat shaken the core of the military, but they could not stop the coming era and the Panzerpolis Project was rapidly completed. The destruction of the Geheimnis Agency’s #8 Base was passed off as an accident during an experiment at a reserve base and the general population never heard the names of the AIF and the Geheimnis Agency. The Geheimnis Agency’s Gard-class composite warship’s reconstruction was completed in late ’40. Germany had been briefly delayed, but with the Vaterlands up and running, the Geheimnis Agency had solidified their national defense and their attempt to conquer Europe was underway. Using blitzkrieg warfare that coordinated man and machine. It was in that age that man and machine were joined on the battlefield. 7/30/2000. On the afternoon a certain girl kept certain words to herself. -Michael Schrier ### 517. Part 7 A task was completed at the bottom of the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. The light down there cast shadows that gave the bottom of the pit depth. The sky sat overhead, the work was carefully organized, water was drained, and a large slab was uncovered at the bottom. A misshapen concrete slab covered the bottom of the hole. It was about 40 yards in each direction and looked like a giant lid. Two men stood atop it now: the site supervisor and the site commander. The commander looked down to the concrete at his feet and kicked lightly at the bumps. “I never imagined P Wagner’s lab was hiding something like this beneath it. This looks like a floor, but it’s actually a portion of a ceiling. This is an underground room.” “It is hollow inside. Our acoustic survey says it is not filled with water.” The site supervisor pointed east. The slab grew narrower as it extended in that direction, but still maintained a width of around 20 yards when it vanished into the hole’s wall. The room narrowed into a corridor as it extended in that direction. “Where does that lead?” “That direction leads to the shrine that predates the discovery of the pit.” “You mean it goes all the way there? So is this an escape route from the lab to the shrine?” “That is one interpretation, but look at this.” The site supervisor crouched down and rubbed at the concrete slab to clear away the dust. A white color was mixed into the concrete like whitecaps. “This has rocks in it, including some very large ones. This isn’t like the other concrete rooms that used rebar.” “What does that mean?” “This room might be part of the original hole reinforced from within using concrete. You do that when excavating ruins. With a home or cave made of stone, you cover the inner walls with concrete to reinforce them.” “Then this isn’t part of P Wagner’s lab? It was already here?” The commander looked to the ceiling of the passageway extending east and chose his words carefully. “So the passageway to the shrine at the base of the mountain and this space are much older and P Wagner happened across it by chance when building his lab on top?” “Yes, he must have wanted to preserve this place, so he reinforced it and then left it intact when he destroyed his lab.” The commander thought about that for a moment and smiled. “What’s inside? Could we use that eastward passageway to get in through the shrine? With a 20-yard width, the entrance has to be pretty noticeable.” “Remember how there’s a giant stone at that shrine in front of the rock face?” “So that stone I poured drinks on is sealing something inside?” “If the legends are to be believed, it’s sealing a dragon.” The site supervisor laughed and stood up. “Or to put it another way, whatever’s inside might just blow that stone away.” He looked up toward the round slice of the night sky visible far overhead. “But either that all happened centuries ago or we managed to get this far down without breaking the seal. Either way, it is our duty to dig further.” “I see. Then we have no choice but to open this room.” He lowered his gaze again to the floor – to that ancient space more recently reinforced. ### 518. Part 7 “!?” When he looked back toward the front gate, he saw several people entering the base from the Black Forest. They were moving so quickly it was difficult to detect their scattered movement through the shimmering heat. “So the second wave has arrived.” Berger sighed, got up, and heard something. First, he noticed the alarm encompassing the base. “They’ve switched to the third alarm.” He whistled lightly and took off running, his eyes forward. Once past the tree-lined road, the front gate was to his left. The gate and its metal guard tower had been destroyed and two armored trucks were rolled on their sides in front of it. The trucks had countless scars that could only have been the result of claws. Right from the gate was an east-west road dividing the base in two. Following that would take you to the base’s command building and control tower. Short warehouses were lined up on either side of the road and the shipyard and Vaterland were past that. Some new intruders were entering the base through the destroyed front gate. They were AIF Glossolalian Special Forces. Most of them were humanoid. Their uniforms had not been modified to accommodate Altered transformations and they wielded whatever weapons and shields they specialized in. They took cover behind the toppled armored trucks and prepared to fight. One of them noticed Berger. The young man held a Device – a sword that resembled a musical instrument. He looked back in the blowing wind and said something to someone. A middle-aged man emerged from behind the armored truck in response. He wore one of the AIF’s insignialess caps and he caught Berger’s eye before sending hand signals. He pointed toward the command building and raised first one and then two fingers. Berger nodded, raised three fingers, and pointed at the man. The man nodded. Berger returned the nod and glanced over at the command building. Two armored trucks were still stopped in front of its entrance and they showed no sign of moving. He could see a few soldiers using the trucks for cover, but they did not seem to be doing much of anything. “Do that and a single area-of-effect spell takes you all out.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he heard what sounded like shattering glass. He looked up into the sky to see the air moving near the shipyard across the road. Embers were launched into the air, scattered by something blowing up from below. A transparent glowing hemispherical field was emitted from the ground there. “They’ve occupied the top of the shipyard’s barrier with an omnidirectional field, have they? How many witches did they send on this mission?” He gave a nod of acceptance and beckoned toward the soldiers hiding behind the trucks at the front gate. The same middle-aged man nodded back, raised his submachinegun from the edge of the truck, kept an eye on their surroundings, and shouted something to his comrades. A few others raised their weapons and fired along with him, but the rest ran toward Berger. A few ran toward him on the road. The one in the lead was the young man who had initially spotted Berger. He held his Device below his right arm and held his submachinegun in his left hand. Once he reached the center of the road, he gave a bashful smile and spoke. “It looks like the Vaterland is operating at critical, so our 3rd Platoon can handle the-” The man only got that far before Berger heard an odd sound. It was distinct even with the swirling of the thick and hot wind. He heard the movement of a Grösse Panzer. As a Panzer Kavalier, he would recognize that sound anywhere. “!?” He turned toward it – to the west. His gaze raced past the base, through the Black Forest, and to the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. That was about a mile away, but he definitely saw the blue Grösse Panzer using the red Grösse Panzer’s shoulder to steady a rifle longer than it was tall. It had already taken aim. Berger tried to shout a warning. ### 519. Part 7 The Geheimnis Agency #8 Base’s Grösse Panzer hangar had been reduced to rubble. Hazel stood alone next to that rubble and spoke into it. “I can’t believe anything survived in there.” “They make these things blast resistant, you know? Now stand back. I’ve got a direct link.” She heard a voice from the rubble and then the pile of concrete collapsed as a black arm stuck out. The palm alone was a yard across. It belonged to the Schwarz Löwe. “Did you hook the communication cable I gave you to the back of Gelegenheit like I asked?” “Yes, but should we really be using the repair parts in here?” Hazel picked Gelegenheit up off the ground. It was now wrapped in Berger’s black coat, making it look thicker. The black coat had transformed the nearly-yard-long hilt into a black staff. The slot usually used for Phlogiston Tanks was now hooked up to an extension cable with the same type of plug. “It’s fine. This is Schwarz Löwe, used by Alfred Maldrick. It’s designed for army use, but it’s a generic model capable of both anti-air and long-term ground battles. It was the test bed for designing the Kaiser over there. If I’m using it, so why wouldn’t I use the equipment here too?” “Is that how it works?” Hazel tilted her head and handed over the coat-wrapped Gelegenheit. His blood stained the metal fingers, giving them an oily sheen. Strangely, she was not repulsed by the sight. The Grösse Panzers black right hand gripped Gelegenheit tight. “Gelegenheit is so hard. It doesn’t bend no matter how hard you squeeze.” “It must take all this more seriously than you.” Hazel kept a smile in her voice and looked up toward the heavens. The wind was blowing there. A heated wind. Long bands of orange Tons formed rising vortexes in the sky. … That explains why Corelle said she couldn’t descend near the base. Those updrafts spiraled around, creating collisions of air above the base. The sounds of roaring flames, gunfire, and explosions took on the tone colors of red killer intent or metallic black aggression as they rose into the air. But Hazel noticed the tempo of a powerful, calm will within it all. “They aren’t all fighting for their killer intent and aggression.” “Did you say something?” Hearing that, she looked down. The giant black hand was pressed against the ground, with Gelegenheit still in its grasp. He was standing up. “Outta the way. Once I’m out, you join the others withdrawing. I’ll buy you all enough time to run away and for the base to collapse.” “…Okay.” But she did not take a single step. Schwarz Löwe failed to notice as it lifted its face-down body from the ground. The rubble and dust were blown away and the Panzer broke through the hangar’s roof. Still on its knees, Schwarz Löwe looked up. Hazel was standing in front of it. “Hazel, I told you to go.” “Are you planning to die here by staying on the battlefield alone?” Schwarz Löwe was momentarily unsure what to say, but then he spat out an answer. “Anyone who plans to die on the battlefield is an idiot.” “Then that settles it. The safest place here is in Schwarz Löwe’s copilot cockpit. I can watch the battle from an untouchable seat.” “Hey, Hazel, calm down, okay? Leave now and we can write this off as a kid’s silly game.” “Have you already forgotten what I said two years ago?” She spoke to kneeling Schwarz Löwe on reflex. “I don’t want to run away…so I won’t. I never will again. Maybe I am still a kid, but this isn’t a game and there are some things I refuse to do.” She held out her right hand. “Two years ago, I only left the Sylphide all alone and allowed my friend to get hit because…” She held her tongue, refusing to say the rest. Bringing up the past was meaningless here. Instead, she simply held her hand out toward Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe’s shoulders clearly slumped. “This isn’t a smart move and you’re rushing this way too much, Hazel Mirildorf. Is this what the Messiah would do?” “Yes, yes, it is. Because it’s my choice and the idea is for me to become the Messiah, not that I already am. It was only effective that one time and I’m still not confident, but I’ve been thinking a lot how to use that power, so, um, uh…” She took a breath and looked up at Schwarz Löwe. “I don’t think anyone could want to do this more than me.” “I really wish Marsch had asked them to interview the patient before giving them the Messiah implant…” He sounded exasperated, but Schwarz Löwe reached its right hand toward hers. He placed the tip of Gelegenheit on her hand. “You will cry over this later. Don’t forget that.” “Please teach me everything I need to know.” She smiled up at him and walked forward, rubbing gently at his outstretched hand. She noticed a red dragon emblem on the shoulder of Schwarz Löwe’s combat dress. “Why does it have a dragon emblem when it’s named after a lion?” “That’s the Maldrick emblem. They took it because Alfred slaid a dragon and now his older brother is out in the Soviet Union looking for an even bigger dragon.” “Th-that’s quite the sibling rivalry.” She placed a foot up on his hip armor and then sniffed her nose with a puzzled look. “What now?” he asked. “Nasal inflammation?” “Well, last night I rubbed against you around here while you were asleep and I thought I could still detect my scent even in this Heavy Barrel.” “I really wish you would stop imagining things like that.” He sounded exasperated and tilted his head while she climbed up Schwarz Löwe. She awkwardly circled around to its back. She saw the hatch on the starboard side of the copilot’s cockpit, so he grabbed the latch and then took a quick look around. She saw the pile of rubble, the Black Forest, the empty sky, and the wind dancing there. About a mile away, at the center of the base’s runway, a white Heavy Barrel was turning their way with a green Heavy Barrel lying at its feet. The Kaiser walked toward them. Hazel silently opened the hatch and threw herself inside the copilot’s cockpit. She threw herself into what had to be the most reassuring place in the entire world. ### 520. Part 8 A pitch black aircraft began its ascent from the Geheimnis Agency HQ runway. It was a König Pseudo-Drach, a high-speed recon plane used by the Geheimnis Agency. It left the runaway and immediately rolled to the right. Then it accelerated. It produced an umbrella of water vapor and shot forward, tearing through the starlit air like a dark knife. The cockpit was occupied by Schweitzer in aerial gear. The copilot’s seat behind him was occupied by Alfred. Their aircraft continued to accelerate. Schweitzer kept the stick in the exact center to keep the craft in low-altitude flight. It tore through the wind to reach an area of the sky that burned red. Schweitzer viewed that reddened sky and frowned. “It is burning bright, Alfred.” “That’s the entire point. You want your diversion to look as impressive as possible. If that was as effective as it looks, it would harm the people who set it up too.” “What do you think their target is?” “There’s so many good ones it’s hard to say. Could be the Gard-class warship, could be the excavated item, could be my personal Grösse Panzer, could be the Vaterland, and could be all of the above.” “The excavated item, hm?” “Did you hear what it is? I was so busy keeping Lady Rose company I was left out of the discussion.” “I was busy keeping someone company myself.” “Don’t act like you didn’t like it. I saw you smiling out there surrounded by those two lovely ladies.” Schweitzer ignored that and quiet laughter reached him from behind. Alfred suppressed the rest of his laughter and sighed in satisfaction. “Either way, those are Heidengeist out there. It’s not official yet, but Maldrick took the title of foremost European Buster family from Borderson, so I can’t let those Heidengeist get away with this. I can’t as a Hound either.” Schweitzer heard the scraping of metal on metal behind him. “You came well equipped, Alfred.” “I’d be more so if I were hunting a bunch of small targets. But with a big target, all I need is this Rein König.” Alfred’s response was accompanied by more metallic scraping. “But,” he sighed. “Lowen- our commander is a real pain. I can’t believe she put Lieutenant General Heiliger in charge of this one. He’s from the army. He’s not one of us.” “His Neue Silber is an excellent transport ship and it can perform a vertical takeoff if the runway has been destroyed. Also, military and Agency ranks are mutually compatible, so regulations say a major general or higher in the military can act as a substitute during an emergency. Just like we can deploy the military.” “You sound so sure of yourself during your lectures and it’s downright stifling to listen to.” “Berger said that was one of my virtues.” “Because he has no confidence of his own. Why else would he keep calling himself second best ever since that incident?” “Do you think he is here now?” “That is a largescale and…direct attack by the AIF. The AIF has to succeed here to prove their worth, so there’s no way they wouldn’t send him in.” A breath. “Speed us up, Hellard. Before someone shows up and tries to steal the command away from us. …Bermark Nein was in charge of protecting the excavated item, but will he really stick to that? That Sein Frau carries the power of the Eisen Ritter Project, but if he’s anything like us, he won’t be able to sit idly by while his comrades are killed.” “You never change, Alfred. No one tries harder to avoid giving up something they care about.” “I learned that lesson the hard way four years ago.” Schweitzer could not immediately respond, so he simply pulled back on the throttle. The craft shot forward and he spoke as the inertial pressure pressed against him. “You still haven’t forgotten how we lost the director back then?” “You haven’t either. Remember before, when you told me Lady Rose reminds you of Eryngium?” Schweitzer nodded and continued for Alfred. “The director died trying to clear an escape route, but then she moved to protect Berger and-” “Stop. It only happened because Berger altered her destiny. He used his Heidengeist power to help us escape and, when she was on the verge of death…” Alfred clicked his tongue. “A divine name? A divine power? All that power does is twist destiny to his liking. …If not for that prophecy, I think you should have killed him 2 years ago, Hellard.” Schweitzer did not respond. Irritated, Alfred’s breathing was heavy and he crossed his arms. Silence hung over the cockpit. The only sound was the vibration of the heated wind roaring around them. Neither man spoke and that low rumbling took over. Until… “Hm?” A new wind arrived before Schweitzer could say anything. The powerful gust caused the König Pseudo-Drach to rattle like it was scraping along a gravel ground. Schweitzer angled it somewhat upwards to allow the vibration to escape the craft. They moved up and then another gust reached them. Faint clouds trailed the wind. At speeds like this, the wind functioned much like a tsunami or solid wall. The upwards-tilting craft received lift from it and ascended further. “This is dangerous,” said Schweitzer at the controls. “There is too much turbulence. Partially due to the widespread fire, but the winds blowing down from the mountain just so happen to be hitting us.” The craft would not stop shaking. “At this rate-” “Hellard, less crying, more flying.” Schweitzer heard a rhythmic tapping behind him. Almost like someone was striking a metal wind instrument with their palm. Alfred was enjoying the sensation of his finger tapping on Rein König. His amused voice joined the tapping. “Hellard, pass by above the #8 Base at low altitude. I don’t mind if you can’t keep it entirely steady.” That was all he asked for. The rest was what he would do himself. “I’ll jump down and join the battle.” ### 521. Part 9 “––––!” Berger opened his mouth, but the destruction arrived before he could get his voice out. The soldiers running over to him on the road shook for a brief moment. Then they blurred, like a sudden pan during a film. Finally, three of them became a dark spray. But that was not all. A white mist raced across the road Berger was using. That mist was created in the heated air when the shockwave of something’s rapid passage made the moisture in the air gather together. The shockwave was coming. “!” The wind exploded and a gunshot-like roar arrived a moment later. It did not end there. Berger saw a gun readied at a distance of a mile. Sparks repeatedly erupted from the anti-fortress autocannon’s muzzle. It fired at a rate of 15 shots per second. The Grösse Panzer autocannon was based on the MG 34 and it used armor-piercing rounds to break through even a fortress’s armor. It was an unstoppable weapon in anti-Grösse Panzer combat. Assuming you had free control of a Grösse Panzer that could ignore its formidable recoil, that is. But the blue Grösse Panzer was doing just that. A clear tone reminiscent of a wind instrument ran from the far distance and the empty cartridges rang beautifully against the pavement below. Cartridges the size of drink cans dully reflected the base’s crimson lights as they scattered. Each one of those represented a fired bullet. The wreckage of the two armored trucks at the front gate took direct hits. Both of them were blasted straight up, like a kicked soccer ball. They took further bullets in midair, blowing them away and rupturing them. Their scattering parts were further smashed, bent, and obliterated by the shockwave. The people who were sent airborne along with the trucks met the same fate. They were made of flesh and bone, not metal, so they were reduced to a fine spray instead of being bent. A few managed to escape and quickly prepared to fight back. Some only managed to scream, but no one could do anything for them. Luckily, their one spell user threw out her submachinegun and readied her rapid-fire device for the cards she kept at her wrist. She set up a defense field and shouted something with her long hair whipping in the wind. The wind was blown away as the field opened in the shape of a hemispherical virtual ram directed toward the enemy threat. A few of the survivors were under her protection. It was meaningless. She and the four others were popped like balloons. The steel bullet instantly penetrated the defense field, tore up the road, and ricocheted. It whipped up the wind as it flew off into the night sky. The roar of rapid fire tore ceaselessly through the heated air. The noise and shockwaves kept coming. An embodiment of destruction tore holes in the road while rushing toward the runway. “––––!?” Berger watched it all from behind a tree nearly felled by the shockwaves. One of the Jagdhunds on the runway had its right shoulder blown away. It had the thickest shoulder armor of any Mittel Panzer in current use, but that was torn away and shattered just in time for the next bullet to rip the entire arm off. Next was the chest. Deep holes formed in its glossy black chest and stomach armor. A moment later, an explosion erupted from its other side, like spraying blood. The impact sent inside the armor shell passed all the way through and destroyed its back. Everything in between was cracked open and blasted out from its back. There was a gaping hole in it now, but since it had all left through the back, it almost looked like its torso had been sucked in toward the center of its stomach. Then the face was blown away. The other Jagdhund had no idea what was happening but still took evasive action. Its head and shoulders were one single piece, so its movements were sluggish and required the use of its entire body. It tried to turn left to move behind the destroyed hangar for cover. That was a mistake. Just as it started to turn, a bullet blew a hole in the shoulder moving out front. The armor-piercing round pierced the part of the shoulder armor that stuck up, pierced through the side of the head, and then stopped at the opposite shoulder. The impact was powerful enough to lift the Jagdhund from the ground like it had been hit with an uppercut. But the destructive impacts were not done with it yet. More unseen power tore into the airborne Mittel Panzer. Almost like it was being chewed apart by a swarm of invisible jaws. Terrible sounds crashed together in midair, creating a discordant chorus. The Jagdhund was literally tossed side to side in what looked like a midair dance. The bullet impacts filled it with inertia, sending it back toward the runway. On the way, it was gradually dismembered. First, its fingers and ankles disappeared and then its right leg and both arms were obliterated. Once the wreckage was too small for the bullets to hit properly, it rolled along the ground a few times. The gunfire stopped once both Jagdhunds had entirely disappeared. The wind washed over the aftermath before soaring up into the sky. “You’re a real piece of work,” grumbled Berger, his eyes on Neue Blau. Neue Blau lifted the gun from Neue Zinnober’s shoulder and moved it back and forth. The barrel fell away while smoking from the great heat filling it. Neue Blau calmly pulled a new barrel from its back and attached it. It was not out of ammunition. The battle was not over. “…” Berger looked to the road in front of him. It was covered in rubble, sand, and scraps of metal too badly damaged to identify. No evidence remained that any life had been there. Berger clenched his teeth. Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar walked forward. They left the truck behind. The base was now a battlefield, not the scene of a fire. ### 522. Prologue There was not a cloud in the blue sky. The chilly mountain winds unique to southern Germany swept across the black cedar forest below. The wind rustled through the leaves that had reached a midsummer green so dark they were nearly black. But as that wind parted the forest, it suddenly blew up into the sky. The forest had come to an end. There were two large clearings in the forest. The first contained an artificial facility stretching about 2 miles from east to west. There was a single runway and a few large hangars on the eastern end, an underground airship shipyard in the center, and a white, volcano-shaped tower reaching a height of 120 yards on the western end. This was a military development base. Shimmering heat left the top of the western tower, distorting the azure sky. The other large clearing was about a mile to the west of the base. It was a massive crater with a diameter of more than 400 yards. Despite the diameter, it was not all that deep. Supply scaffolding had been built out to the center of the crater, starting from the edge closest to the base and that scaffolding functioned as a stage. The metal scaffolding covered a wide area and it formed a ring around a pile of rubble at the center of the hole. There was an even deeper hole at the center of the rubble. Unlike the surrounding crater, that hole was wholly artificial. It was too deep for the light to reach the bottom, but the dark pit had a radius of about 20 yards. Four winches were suspended overhead and they were constantly pulling dirt and rubble from below. Two figures stood next to the winch control room built up on the stage. One was the site commander with his black Geheimnis Agency uniform half removed below the hot summer sun. The other was the site supervisor wearing a German Army combat engineer uniform. Both were fairly old and they were discussing the large-print diagram showing the progress of the excavation they had spread out before them. “For some reason, we can’t get any water,” said the site supervisor while holding the diagram in his dirty gloves. “We have been working at this for two years now, but this is a first. I can only imagine something happened below to shift the flow of water.” “The acoustic survey discovered a hollow below, didn’t it? Are we sure that isn’t just a coincidental gap in the accumulated rubble like that one from three days ago?” The site supervisor twisted his square face to the side. “It’s too soon to say. I mean, the lab that was here was highly unusual. They dug down 200m belowground to expand the place.” “Because they could excavate high-purity spirit stones from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. We’re talking so pure that contact with moonlight could trigger an explosion.” The commander suddenly looked up toward the large tower standing above the base beyond the forest. “Which is why our Base #8’s Vaterland can extract the purest Phlogiston in the country. Building that base three years ago was well worth it.” “I’ve noticed the base works through the night. That shipyard never sleeps. …We were the ones that dug out the land for that and the other 7 shipyards like it, but are you finally building those 70,000ton aerial warships? And eight of them at once at that?” “I know we have worked together for 3 years now, but that is none of the military’s concern,” said the commander. “Although to be honest, not even I am privy to the details. None of us knows what we will find in here. We only know this is what remains of P. Wagner’s lab.” “The lab of the guy who started the Berlin Conflict 4 years ago, huh? He sure did a good job of blowing the whole thing up all the way to the very bottom when he escaped. It’s made this dig so tricky we’re already on year two.” “A site well worth working at, don’t you think?” “Maybe if we actually find something useful at the bottom” The supervisor sighed. “But we really don’t get what’s going on here. And you’re saying you don’t understand either because the Geheimnis Agency has its own hierarchy?” “It does. …We’re so close to the HQ here, but paying them a visit would not accomplish anything. You saw his Excellency, General Graham, that one time, didn’t you? His entire body has been replaced with prosthetics and he has lost all his emotions…although that makes him a trustworthy man who never makes mistakes.” The commander sighed too. “Then there’s our leader who gives out prophecies but is always mysteriously absent. Not to mention our missing Messiah.” He looked down at the diagram again. “I leave you in charge here. Keep me informed of your progress and let me know if you require further supplies or if anyone is injured. Today’s morning report is-” The commander came to a sudden stop and looked to the supervisor. “What is it?” he asked. “Nothing really,” said the supervisor. “It’s just that…lately a problem we saw three years ago has reoccurred within our crew and it has me a little worried.” “The same as when we constructed Base #8? You mean the fear that we’re violating the Messiah’s land?” The commander brushed up his hair and looked to the sky with a frown. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “It is true we can’t just write it off as simple superstition.” “This land, and the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in particular, is home of the Messiah who saved Germany a thousand years ago and promised us a millennium of peace. You can hardly blame them for fearing that old saying.” The supervisor sighed. “You know, the one that says only the Messiah can awaken her dragon that slumbers in this land.” “Yes, I remember when this was a problem three years ago. We even began leaving drinks at the Messiah’s shrine next to the crater as offerings. Leaving the drinks on that large stone leaning against that cliff wall was my job.” “You slipped on your way down and broke your leg, didn’t you?” “But I still showed up on site, earning me the praise of General Graham.” The commander then opened his mouth and recited a poem. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates “That’s the 3rd Section of Daily Life from the Unreif Germane, isn’t it?” asked the supervisor while folding up the diagram. “One of the six sections passed down as poetry and song.” “The entire Geheimnis Agency was given that text two weeks ago and told by the higher ups it is a prophecy.” “Huh?” “Again, we can’t write it off as simple superstition. Germany currently has no Messiah, but the lost Messiah will be reborn once this poem is fulfilled.” The commander seemed to be trying to convince himself of that more than anything. “If the Messiah leads us, we would be promised another millennium of peace.” The supervisor stopped folding the paper and looked up into the sky with a look of exasperation. “A millennium, huh? Based on what I heard my son was taught in school, Germany was subjugated in the year 962, so we only have another 20 years before that original millennium ends.” “The time is already upon us. The Great War that began with the God-Demon War 20 years ago was a sign of the storm to come. Your army has even started to advance west, so…” The commander stopped speaking when the loudspeaker attached atop the winch control room picked up a voice from below. This was one of those working at the bottom of the hole. “Report: we have arrived at the Excavation Point 17 as scheduled, but…but this is different from before. We have been working to prepare an area with a radius of 3 yards, but either the explosions did not reach this deep or this level was built separately from the rest.” The worker took a breath. “There is an entire intact and sealed room down here. What should we do, supervisor!?” Hearing that nearly panicking voice, the site supervisor stuffed the folded diagram into his pocket. “Hm.” He breathed from his nose before turning to the commander. “Shall we head down? We might discover just what P. Wagner was trying to hide in this lab of his.” The winches began to reel in. Just as the dirt was pulled up from below, they heard a gentle siren very different from the ones sounded in an emergency. That siren signaled noon. After noting the time, the commander fixed his uniform’s collar and replied. “We can do that and then grab some lunch. Although we might not have time for lunch depending on what we find.” ### 523. Prologue: The Wheel Prepares 7/14/1939 11:51-12:03 For example, the flow of time Tells us that the past is being inherited by the future. Then where is that flow taking me here in the present? ### Black Forest A vast forest of primarily black cedar found in the mountains of southwestern Germany. Was once known as a nonhuman forest home to Heidengeist and gods and became the source of Europe’s stories and fears, but humans can now enter the forest thanks to long-term development and the mass migration of Heidengeist during the 15th century. It was affected by the construction of the autobahn meant to fight the German depression in the 30s, so by ’39, it has roads and mountain paths and even a trade route connecting Switzerland to different parts of Germany. A giant crater known as the Alfheim Meteorite Pit exists in the center of the Black Forest. That is said to be where the Messiah descended along with her dragon and the Unreif Germane states that the Messiah was visited by the one-armed youth at the shrine that still remains nearby. This land ruled by nonhuman life must always be mentioned when speaking of Germany or even Europe as a whole. ### 524. Preface ### Title Page Right: City Series Panzerpolis Berlin 2 1939 Left: Welcome to the holy land – the Black Forest. Bottom: By Kawakami Minoru ## Characters Name: Alfred Alfred’s bottom text: Emperor The Emperor commands conquest. Name: Lowenzahn Lowenzahn’s bottom text: The World spins like a wheel. Central text: Schwarzwald: the Black Forest – The Nonhuman Forest Filled with darkness and shadows, the nonhuman forest rejects humans. Most European fairy tales are set in this forest. It is commonly referred to as “Europe’s trauma”. The Messiah descended to this forest 1000 years ago and the Geheimnis Agency has built their headquarters there to await her return. ## Maschine Right bottom text: Ruin: Ruin is a cycle of resignation. Box: Explanations 1: Male Grösse Panzer Schwarz Löwe – Aerial combat male Grösse Panzer belonging to the Geheimnis Agency Army Division. The villain type that does not let defeat get to him. 2: Wheel of Destiny - #10 of the 47 Noise Divination Cards. AKA, the Wheel of Ruin. Predicts a series of bad luck. 3: Werkzeug Rein König – A very tough Werkzeug with a connection to the Messiah. ## Landkarte Box: Explanations - Berlin: Capital of Germany. Is remade into Germania by the Panzerpolis Project, but causes a global ley line crisis in ’43. - Hamburg: A large northern city and a military base. Destroyed by an aerial bombing before the aerial bombing of Berlin in August of ’43. - Borderson: City governed by Borderson, one of the Messiah’s Four Knights. Currently has no leader and only functions as a hidden city for Heidengeists. - Cologne: A war plant city. Becomes the target of the first largescale aerial bombing of the German homeland in ’42 and is destroyed along with a Gard-class warship. - Alfheim: The Black Forest land where the Messiah arrived on earth. Right character: Berger Left character: Hazel Top right city: Berlin Bottom right city: Munich Left cities (top to bottom): Hamburg Bremen Borderson Cologne Alfheim Stuttgart Zurich Box: Germany 1:5300000 Super Half-Assed Scale. Coloring it made the scale even worse. ## My First Shameful Story Bottom left of image: Sponsored By Dageki Bunko Shougeki Bunko Text: Now, let’s do this with an unnecessary level of cheer. “For today’s My First Shameful Story, we will be talking about the Messiah girl who once saved Germany,” our hardworking Miss Hazel said to Bergy. “Do you know that story, Bergy?” “I wouldn’t tell you if I did. How dumb are you, Hazel?” said Bergy. “This is why you need to eat more to send precious nutrients to your brain and chest. Especially milk. Got that? You’re living in America now, so your chest should be more, um, I guess the word would be Holstein! Like a cow, got that!? I want to be able to describe them with words like ‘kaboom!’ or ‘boing!’ …Hey, Hazel, are you listening? Listen up, Hazel. Boing! Boiiiiiiiiiiiiing!” Miss Hazel was so shocked she punched Bergy across the room. My, my. Such violence. ### 525. Prologue: The Wheel Prepares ### Story The Millennium turns like a wheel In the name of Either ruin or happiness 1938. The countries of Europe remain in a state of tension as the German army declares Germany to be the Greater Germanic Reich. In this declaration, they state their desire to complete the Panzerpolis Project and continue the millennium of peace begun by the Messiah 1000 years before. The Panzerpolis Project involves the construction of giant Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors all across Germany, receiving the benefits of those reactors over the course of three stages of activation, and transforming Berlin into a fortress city known as Germania. But who can say how much of that is true. Panzerpolis Berlin 2 1939 I could not accomplish anything two years ago, but I want to do something now that everyone is plagued with such unease. However… ### Opening Quote “You would be better off remaining on your own path.” -Words of the musician Ravel when refusing to teach Gershwin ## Prologue: The Wheel Prepares 7/14/1939 11:51-12:03 For example, the flow of time Tells us that the past is being inherited by the future. Then where is that flow taking me here in the present? ### Black Forest A vast forest of primarily black cedar found in the mountains of southwestern Germany. Was once known as a nonhuman forest home to Heidengeist and gods and became the source of Europe’s stories and fears, but humans can now enter the forest thanks to long-term development and the mass migration of Heidengeist during the 15th century. It was affected by the construction of the autobahn meant to fight the German depression in the 30s, so by ’39, it has roads and mountain paths and even a trade route connecting Switzerland to different parts of Germany. A giant crater known as the Alfheim Meteorite Pit exists in the center of the Black Forest. That is said to be where the Messiah descended along with her dragon and the Unreif Germane states that the Messiah was visited by the one-armed youth at the shrine that still remains nearby. This land ruled by nonhuman life must always be mentioned when speaking of Germany or even Europe as a whole. ### Prologue There was not a cloud in the blue sky. The chilly mountain winds unique to southern Germany swept across the black cedar forest below. The wind rustled through the leaves that had reached a midsummer green so dark they were nearly black. But as that wind parted the forest, it suddenly blew up into the sky. The forest had come to an end. There were two large clearings in the forest. The first contained an artificial facility stretching about 2 miles from east to west. There was a single runway and a few large hangars on the eastern end, an underground airship shipyard in the center, and a white, volcano-shaped tower reaching a height of 120 yards on the western end. This was a military development base. Shimmering heat left the top of the western tower, distorting the azure sky. The other large clearing was about a mile to the west of the base. It was a massive crater with a diameter of more than 400 yards. Despite the diameter, it was not all that deep. Supply scaffolding had been built out to the center of the crater, starting from the edge closest to the base and that scaffolding functioned as a stage. The metal scaffolding covered a wide area and it formed a ring around a pile of rubble at the center of the hole. There was an even deeper hole at the center of the rubble. Unlike the surrounding crater, that hole was wholly artificial. It was too deep for the light to reach the bottom, but the dark pit had a radius of about 20 yards. Four winches were suspended overhead and they were constantly pulling dirt and rubble from below. Two figures stood next to the winch control room built up on the stage. One was the site commander with his black Geheimnis Agency uniform half removed below the hot summer sun. The other was the site supervisor wearing a German Army combat engineer uniform. Both were fairly old and they were discussing the large-print diagram showing the progress of the excavation they had spread out before them. “For some reason, we can’t get any water,” said the site supervisor while holding the diagram in his dirty gloves. “We have been working at this for two years now, but this is a first. I can only imagine something happened below to shift the flow of water.” “The acoustic survey discovered a hollow below, didn’t it? Are we sure that isn’t just a coincidental gap in the accumulated rubble like that one from three days ago?” The site supervisor twisted his square face to the side. “It’s too soon to say. I mean, the lab that was here was highly unusual. They dug down 200m belowground to expand the place.” “Because they could excavate high-purity spirit stones from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. We’re talking so pure that contact with moonlight could trigger an explosion.” The commander suddenly looked up toward the large tower standing above the base beyond the forest. “Which is why our Base #8’s Vaterland can extract the purest Phlogiston in the country. Building that base three years ago was well worth it.” “I’ve noticed the base works through the night. That shipyard never sleeps. …We were the ones that dug out the land for that and the other 7 shipyards like it, but are you finally building those 70,000ton aerial warships? And eight of them at once at that?” “I know we have worked together for 3 years now, but that is none of the military’s concern,” said the commander. “Although to be honest, not even I am privy to the details. None of us knows what we will find in here. We only know this is what remains of P. Wagner’s lab.” “The lab of the guy who started the Berlin Conflict 4 years ago, huh? He sure did a good job of blowing the whole thing up all the way to the very bottom when he escaped. It’s made this dig so tricky we’re already on year two.” “A site well worth working at, don’t you think?” “Maybe if we actually find something useful at the bottom” The supervisor sighed. “But we really don’t get what’s going on here. And you’re saying you don’t understand either because the Geheimnis Agency has its own hierarchy?” “It does. …We’re so close to the HQ here, but paying them a visit would not accomplish anything. You saw his Excellency, General Graham, that one time, didn’t you? His entire body has been replaced with prosthetics and he has lost all his emotions…although that makes him a trustworthy man who never makes mistakes.” The commander sighed too. “Then there’s our leader who gives out prophecies but is always mysteriously absent. Not to mention our missing Messiah.” He looked down at the diagram again. “I leave you in charge here. Keep me informed of your progress and let me know if you require further supplies or if anyone is injured. Today’s morning report is-” The commander came to a sudden stop and looked to the supervisor. “What is it?” he asked. “Nothing really,” said the supervisor. “It’s just that…lately a problem we saw three years ago has reoccurred within our crew and it has me a little worried.” “The same as when we constructed Base #8? You mean the fear that we’re violating the Messiah’s land?” The commander brushed up his hair and looked to the sky with a frown. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “It is true we can’t just write it off as simple superstition.” “This land, and the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in particular, is home of the Messiah who saved Germany a thousand years ago and promised us a millennium of peace. You can hardly blame them for fearing that old saying.” The supervisor sighed. “You know, the one that says only the Messiah can awaken her dragon that slumbers in this land.” “Yes, I remember when this was a problem three years ago. We even began leaving drinks at the Messiah’s shrine next to the crater as offerings. Leaving the drinks on that large stone leaning against that cliff wall was my job.” “You slipped on your way down and broke your leg, didn’t you?” “But I still showed up on site, earning me the praise of General Graham.” The commander then opened his mouth and recited a poem. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates “That’s the 3rd Section of Daily Life from the Unreif Germane, isn’t it?” asked the supervisor while folding up the diagram. “One of the six sections passed down as poetry and song.” “The entire Geheimnis Agency was given that text two weeks ago and told by the higher ups it is a prophecy.” “Huh?” “Again, we can’t write it off as simple superstition. Germany currently has no Messiah, but the lost Messiah will be reborn once this poem is fulfilled.” The commander seemed to be trying to convince himself of that more than anything. “If the Messiah leads us, we would be promised another millennium of peace.” The supervisor stopped folding the paper and looked up into the sky with a look of exasperation. “A millennium, huh? Based on what I heard my son was taught in school, Germany was subjugated in the year 962, so we only have another 20 years before that original millennium ends.” “The time is already upon us. The Great War that began with the God-Demon War 20 years ago was a sign of the storm to come. Your army has even started to advance west, so…” The commander stopped speaking when the loudspeaker attached atop the winch control room picked up a voice from below. This was one of those working at the bottom of the hole. “Report: we have arrived at the Excavation Point 17 as scheduled, but…but this is different from before. We have been working to prepare an area with a radius of 3 yards, but either the explosions did not reach this deep or this level was built separately from the rest.” The worker took a breath. “There is an entire intact and sealed room down here. What should we do, supervisor!?” Hearing that nearly panicking voice, the site supervisor stuffed the folded diagram into his pocket. “Hm.” He breathed from his nose before turning to the commander. “Shall we head down? We might discover just what P. Wagner was trying to hide in this lab of his.” The winches began to reel in. Just as the dirt was pulled up from below, they heard a gentle siren very different from the ones sounded in an emergency. That siren signaled noon. After noting the time, the commander fixed his uniform’s collar and replied. “We can do that and then grab some lunch. Although we might not have time for lunch depending on what we find.” ### 526. Chapter 1: The Wheel Activates 7/26/1939 20:31 – 21:07 People have begun to gather At the place Where it all began For everyone, for me ### Panzerpolis Project A plan to place 412 Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors across Germany to modify the ley lines and alter the Tons of Germany as a whole. Including secondary factors, the following three stages will be completed: Stage 1: The climate and the people’s Tons will be tuned for ley line stabilization. Stage 2: The stabilized ley lines will be extracted from the acceleration reactors and processed into high-purity Phlogiston. Stage 3: That Phlogiston will be used to build city defense weapons and to construct Germania. According to the German military’s announcement, the Panzerpolis Project’s name is in reference to Germania from the Stage 3. ### Part 1 An animal cry rang through the rainy July darkness. The roar resembled the rumbling of thunder in the chilled summer air as it descended from the cloudy night sky. Only one animal of sufficient size to produce such a deep roar could also fly: a dragon. The dragon roared again, its voice reverberating through the sky, the air, the rain, and the ground below. There was a city on that ground. The rainswept city had a collection of scarlet lights in each of the four cardinal directions. Each of those was a Vaterland tower and the lights illuminated a construction site that worked through the night. The city surrounded by four giant towers was Berlin. Either because it was late summer or because of the rain, the city lights looked awfully calm and meek this night. Tension filled the entire city. One place other than the Vaterland towers shined lights into the night sky: Tempelhof Air Base on the southwestern side of Berlin. A few beams of light stretched from the base into the sky. They were searching for the source of the roaring. The wandering of the lights showed they could not find their target. Another roar sounded, as if mocking the lights. The bestial voice rumbled down from the sky. The airport’s buildings shook and windows rattled. Not even the transport ships waiting for their next assignment could escape that tremor. Both the ship’s capable of vertical takeoff and the larger ships. There was a dragon overhead. The aircraft could not carelessly take flight, but carelessly fighting back could lead to an international incident. The air base prepared to fight back if need be while trying to work out the dragon’s intentions, hoping it would simply fly away. Would their patience run out before the control tower gave up trying to communicate with whatever was up there? The same went for Neue Silber, a large transport ship awaiting takeoff on the apron. The vertical-takeoff strategic transport ship was a giant rectangle more than 100 yards long colored black. The silver reinforcing armor that gave it its name was slick with rain as it shook from the rumbling. Neue Silber trembled as it waited for the takeoff order to arrive. As did the people onboard. ### Part 2 Neue Silber’s cockpit was located in the flat nose. Six men were in the surprisingly large room covered in instruments and controls. The three illuminated by the instruments glowing in the dim light were the pilot, copilot, and navigator. The other three were not part of the pilot crew. They remained in the shadows away from the glowing instruments and they carried an atmosphere very different from the pilot crew who were impatiently awaiting the takeoff order. Theirs was a calm and unshakeable atmosphere. One of them was a large elderly man sitting in a special seat giving him a commanding view of the cockpit. He turned back toward the two standing behind him. As he turned his powerful gaze toward them, his green German Air Force coat rustled and his two prosthetic arms rubbed against his seat. His long gray hair and long beard swayed as he spoke to one of the men. “The rain is really coming down. Isn’t it, Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer?” The enormous man named Schweitzer nodded. He wore the black coat of the Geheimnis Agency and a large prosthetic arm emerged from its right shoulder. He held the hand of that arm against his chest. “We believe that is a dragon scout sent all the way from the UK, Lieutenant General Heiliger. There have been more of them since late last year, but we believe they are either monitoring the progress of the Panzerpolis Project or smuggling in some kind of materiel.” When he nodded again, the women’s earring on his left ear gave a flash of its red stone. Schweitzer ignored that and Heiliger did not mention it. “I see,” said the gray-haired and gray-bearded general. “Your Geheimnis Agency’s Panzerpolis Project is not something they could monitor from high in the rainy sky. I believe the official announcement said it was a national modification project that will use the Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors to modify the ley lines and extract Phlogiston over the course of three stages. And during the third stage…” “The Geheimnis Agency has already begun Erklärung adaptation training at various bases centered on Berlin and our HQ.” “How valiant of you. But…as a member of the military, my primary interest is in the construction of that new Berlin you call Germania. The military has already begun construction of the underground city surrounding the four Vaterlands around Berlin. I hear the Phlogiston extracted from those Vaterlands will be used to create a fortress city capable of running indefinitely.” He remained entirely expressionless. “If the Panzerpolis Project based on the Vaterlands is completed and Belin can be used by the military…perhaps it will become known as the Eingeweide City.” Heiliger’s somewhat irritated comment received a response. It came from the dragon roaring up in the sky. Heliger looked up at the cockpit’s ceiling as if viewing the unseen sky beyond. “Have they still not decided to fight back? Would your Geheimnis Agency immediately fight back against any who intrudes on our airspace?” Just as Schweitzer prepared to respond, the aide by his side, a tall and gaunt elderly man in a black coat, spoke for the first time. “I believe that question would be better suited for General Graham than for the Lieutenant, Air Force Lieutenant General Heiliger. We are no more than Neue Kavaliers, so we have no command authority.” “You’re a strict one, Bermark, but that is not why I asked.” “Then pardon me.” Bermark nodded and Schweitzer sighed at his aide’s usual way of speaking. Then Heiliger turned his gaze toward Schweitzer. The power of his gaze had changed somewhat. It was now a searching look. Schweitzer asked a question in response. “Lieutenant General Heiliger, may I ask something?” “Ask.” “This military ship will soon be on its way to the Geheimnis Agency HQ in southern Germany, but why? We were only given approval to accompany you since we were headed there anyway, but I would still like to know the purpose of this ship.” Heiliger responded with no expression on his face. “There is a reason I must visit there once a year. …Do you find it that unusual for a military man to visit your HQ? I do visit every year at this time, even if they are not official visits.” Schweitzer looked to his aide. Bermark was one of the oldest members of the Geheimnis Agency and he spoke without turning toward Schweitzer or providing any kind of emotional response. “Lieutenant General Heiliger is the only member of the military allowed to enter the Geheimnis Agency HQ.” “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier, Bermark?” “You did not ask.” Heiliger smiled at that response. A small but genuine smile. “Lieutenant, this discussion is not yet over. It is my turn to ask you a question. Why were you summoned to your HQ?” “Our orders were to provide a report on the recovery of components from the Sylphide from that incident two years ago, to attend the commissioning of the first ship for the Gard-class Eingeweide aerial warship at Base #8, and…” He paused to choose his words. “To inspect the excavation at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit located near Base #8.” “The Alfheim Meteorite Pit?” asked Heiliger. Bermark nodded and explained. “Excavation of what remained of P. Wagner’s lab began two years ago, but the other day, some Geheimnis Agents were suddenly instructed to visit the excavation site.” “The agents given that order,” added Schweitzer, “were the ones involved in the Sylphide Incident two years ago.” He crossed his arms. “According to the Unreif Germane, the Heidengeist Messiah who once saved Germany was born by falling to Alfheim along with a meteor and she returned there once her work was done.” “I am aware. A one-armed youth is said to have protected where she slept and died. But I thought historians were still divided on whether or not the meteor impact site really was in the depths of Alfheim.” Heiliger smiled. “Lieutenant, I heard you met the girl with the Messiah implant two years ago. What was she like?” “She insisted she did not want to run away.” “I see. Your tone suggests you do not oppose the idea of taking her as your leader.” Heiliger’s seat creaked as he stood up. He was tall. His eye level was even higher than Schweitzer’s. His chest was not as thick as Schweitzer’s, but his shoulders were broader thanks to the two prosthetic arms. The cockpit immediately felt more cramped. He looked down at Schweitzer. “Your father was my right-hand man during the Great War. I still remember Bertecht Schweitzer, the Barrier Master who protected his territory with barrier spells instead of piloting a Panzer as a Neue Kavalier.” “My family name is all I inherited from my father, but-” “You also inherited his spells, his will, and his Titel. You are Der Held and the Schallmauer Zerstörer who fulfilled the Messiah’s prophecy. A messenger informed me that the Sofort Leser who leads the Geheimnis Agency made another prophecy two weeks ago.” Schweitzer nodded. “Her prophecy was identical to the Unreif Germane’s 3rd Section of Daily Life.” “Yes, one of the six sections that has been passed down as a poem. I hear the Messiah will be revived if this poem is fulfilled. …It is a strange prophecy, but it must be true. So, Lieutenant, I have something important to tell you, who have received some small glimpse of the future.” A breath. “We are a military of the ordinary people who cannot see into the future, but we believe the Panzerpolis Project will produce Germania and become a key to our national defense. And it is your generation that must face the tragedy that the Sofort Lesers have prophesied will occur in ’43.” “––––?” “That is the true meaning behind your summons this time. I guarantee it.” Then a voice came from the navigation seat in the center of the cockpit. It sounded panicked. “The dragon is descending! They’re…beginning forced recon!!” Following that report, a noise rushed by outside. It was a siren. The long, wailing sound indicating danger was the second alarm. Schweitzer saw Heiliger turn to look back. “One of those pathetic dragons that can’t even fly without the Union Jack? When is the Air Force attacking?” “They are coordinating with the surrounding bases to prepare a counterattack,” answered the navigator. “The attack will begin in 2 more minutes.” “Not soon enough,” replied Bermark. His words were answered by the roar aircraft engines as they left the hangars. The sounds of an attack being prepared passed through the rain, the shadows, and Neue Silber’s armor to reach their ears. But Bermark ignored it and pulled his white gloves on tighter. “How many people can that thing kill with two unimpeded minutes? And how much can it see? Our land must not be allowed to be defiled by that dragon’s retinas and our skies should only be home to the true dragon that obeys the Messiah.” “Do you intend to head out and fight, Bermark? After stopping me from doing so earlier?” asked Schweitzer. Bermark turned toward him to respond. “It would be foolish to use a mere hypothetical victory as evidence of our Geheimnis Agency’s standing. Once it drops below 1000, my magic bullet can slay it even in this storm.” “That does sound like what the Geheimnis Agency would do,” said Heiliger. He still had his back to the other two men. “Before erasing his emotions, my brother Graham said your duty is not to national defense but to destiny.” “Then, Lieutenant General, even a Sein Frau such as myself must ask. What is the purpose of your Tragisch Eingeweide arms which came from below the Karlsruhe home and were later modified by Marsch Gant?” Bermark pulled out an automatic handgun. It had a fang decoration on the side. “My Freischütz’s purpose is to defeat my enemy.” Just as he said that, a roar rumbled down from the sky. It was incomparably louder than the previous ones. The ship shook as Schweitzer nodded to his aide and prepared to leave the cockpit. Just then, a new shout came from the navigation seat. “Hm? Something…something is flying in from the north behind the dragon! Three crafts moving at high speed!” “Can you identify them?” asked Heiliger. The navigator was hesitant to respond. “I cannot! I have never seen readings like this before. One of them is flying out ahead of the others.” He took a breath. “It is approaching the dragon at supersonic speed!!” The question on everyone’s mind was answered a moment later. A new voice spoke over the cockpit’s radio. It was a young male voice that sounded a bit hoarse. “This is the Geheimnis Agency Army Division 1st Division 1st Independent Mobile Grösse Panzer Unit. Beginning counterattack.” ### Part 3 The airport control room said what everyone in the cockpit was thinking. “Attention, Geheimnis Agent who just made radio contact, the Air Force is preparing to counterattack, so leave this airspace immediately!” “Shut it. It’s you and your military who let our skies and lands be defiled like this. And the few aircraft you can scramble on such short notice won’t be enough firepower to bring down that dragon, so I will bring it down.” Only one of the six people in the cockpit managed to respond to that: Schweitzer. He walked forward, passed Heiliger, and grabbed the radio microphone from the wall. “Is that you, Alfred!? Have you completed your mission in the North Sea!?” “That voice…Hellard? How did you let this base grow so negligent on your watch? You too, Bermark. Your brother Nein must be weeping.” The dragon roared. “Oh? Loud thing, isn’t it? …Beginning counterattack. We can have our Marsch-less reunion later.” The transmission was cut off on the other end. Schweitzer returned the microphone and turned toward Heiliger. Heiliger crossed his arms and looked back at Schweitzer. He had a fairly sharp look to his eyes, but Schweitzer remained calm and saluted before responding. “The army is working with the Geheimnis Agency’s development division to improve upon the Eisen Ritter Project with the Panzer Ritter Project meant to develop the strongest Neue Kavalier, but the Geheimnis Agency also has its own strongest Panzer Kavalier.” “And who is that?” “Alfred Maldrick, second son of the Maldrick family, the foremost European Buster family, and the man allowed to wield that imperial blade known as the Rein König. He is a Buster capable of destroying an Octave of 10 million.” Then they heard a voice from the sky. But instead of another roar, this one was a scream. And it suddenly dropped down toward the airport. ### Part 4 A great mass fell from the sky faster than the rain and with more force than the wind. It was a mass of flesh measuring 20 yards long. Its green scales shined even in the darkness. It was a flying dragon, but it had lost the most crucial feature for that designation. It had no wings. Its two massive wings were missing and the shoulders that should have supported them were also no more. It could only fall. The airport lawn lay below. Colliding with that would cause the air Tons gathered to form its body to break apart and scatter. But someone prevented it from simply falling. A black form pursued the falling dragon. The figure looked dark even compared to the shadows of the night and it resembled a winged human. But this figure stood around 8 yards tall and had black armor resembling a mixture of metal and flesh all over its body. The shoulder of the Panzer Kleid it wore bore a red dragon emblem and the name Schwarz Löwe. It was a Grösse Panzer with a full-body Ober Emblem active. Schwarz Löwe was flying. It accelerated though the rain, the wind, and the shadows. It used the wings on its back to fly forward, seemingly deflecting the air and all else. The shockwave turned the rain to a mist that sprayed outwards. It caught up to the falling dragon in no time. It wordlessly faced the dragon and reached out its right hand while just barely above the ground. The dragon twisted around in an attempt to avoid that hand, but the attempt was futile. The metal hand grabbed the dragon’s giant throat and dug in its metal claws to maintain a grip. Then it tilted forward as if preparing for a flip and gave a powerful flap of its wings. The dragon was dragged through the air as Schwarz Löwe accelerated. The dragon’s caught neck was slammed into the ground, the momentum caused its body to rise up above its head, and its face smashed the grassy ground rushing by below. The airport lawn was torn up and blown away in a long line. The trail of destruction ran across half the length of the airport in a mere three seconds and showed no sign of stopping. The dragon’s body danced in midair as if convulsing, but not even that prevented its face from tearing apart the ground. The great beast and Schwarz Löwe’s inertia did not allow it to stop. But then Schwarz Löwe made a sudden move. The pitch black Grösse Panzer flapped its wings once more and released the dragon as if throwing it. The reactionary force to being pressed against the ground caused the dragon to hop upwards along with clumps of dirt. Half its body was torn apart and the bluish-white light of the ether forming its body sprayed out like blood. Schwarz Löwe swung up its right fist to strike the airborne dragon. It did not even need to hit. The Grösse Panzer’s arm was more than four times the length of a human arm, so a skilled pilot could use that extra length to break the sound barrier and produce a sonic boom. Its fist flew and instantly launched some white water vapor. The shockwave struck the dragon and produced a great rumbling. The impact exploded at one end of the airport with a sound that could only be described as powerful. The dragon’s body broke, the rain shook, and the air roared. The rain turned to a mist that sprayed out over a radius of 200 yards. Schwarz Löwe was not within that mist. It had already flown up into the sky where it dodged the scattering clumps of dirt that seemed to follow after it. It knew exactly where to land: in front of the Neue Silber strategic transport ship awaiting takeoff. While in midair, it began to slowly scatter ether light as the Ober Emblem forming its current body was deactivated. The horn on its head became the original radiator, the black wings shattered and became the rear support wings, and the various muscles and tendons revealed themselves to be cylinders and wire cylinders. It was now a giant humanoid machine made only of metal. It landed, sinking down a bit to negate the impact, and a loud metallic noise joined the sound of spraying water. But those were the only sounds. The ground hidden by the mist was a paved road, but its metal feet made no sound as they contacted the asphalt. Schwarz Löwe came to a stop while standing directly in front of Neue Silber. And with its face turned toward the cockpit window. After a pause, the door to the secondary cockpit on its back opened. Someone emerged from within. ### Part 5 Schweitzer looked out from the cockpit window to see a young man appear from within Schwarz Löwe’s back. “…” He had long brown hair tied back, but it looked red in the airport lights. He wore the black pants of a Geheimnis Agent and even wore the boots, but he only wore a sleeveless black shirt on his upper body. But the most notable trait was the long drawn sword he held in his right hand. It was a pure white double-edged sword that allowed no shadows to fall on it. He climbed on top of Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder with that weapon that resembled a straight line of silver. His thick eyebrows bent in a smile. “Alfred Maldrick plus two others here. We decided to stop by for supplies on our way to the HQ.” His hoarse statement was followed by two roars from the sky. Two other Grösse Panzers landed behind him with speeds just short of freefall. They stood back up as pieces of the pavement flew into the air. The one on the right was blue and the one on the left was red. They had both deactivated their Ober Emblems and no longer had wings on their back. The blue one carried a giant autocannon modeled after an MG 34 in its right hand. The red one carried a massive shield in its left hand. Both had shimmering heat rising from the radiators on their back. Alfred smiled bitterly when he saw it. “These two are still inexperienced, but they work for me all the same. Allow me to introduce you to ‘Doppel Panzer’ Bermark Nein, the final form of the Eisen Ritter Project. He was left with me by Karl Schmitt, one of the Fünf Leithammel.” Schweitzer grabbed the microphone from the wall to respond. He instructed the pilot crew to have his voice played from the loudspeaker on the outside of the aircraft and then took a breath. “You are in an awfully good mood, Alfred. The hoarseness of those artificial vocal cords suits you.” Alfred must have heard that because he smiled a little. “Hellard, huh? Ha ha. Of course I’m in a good mood. After four long years, my Eingeweide Grösse Panzer is finally complete. The new model that uses my voice as a component.” Alfred placed his hand on Schwarz Löwe’s face. “After all, this Panzer was built for the Geheimnis Agency’s internal anti-air tests, but it’s already outdated. The other countries still haven’t reached this level, it isn’t enough to satisfy my skill.” “So you are visiting HQ for a new toy?” “No, I have business at HQ other than that Panzer in Base #8. General Graham summoned me to attend the Gard-class’s commissioning…and I can’t exactly refuse His Excellency’s request when he is suffering from Words Warn.” Alfred looked away from Schweitzer in the cockpit. The look in his eyes changed from joy to ridicule as he looked to Heiliger instead. “Oh, if it isn’t Lieutenant General Heiliger. Making your yearly visit to our HQ?” “Oh? I am honored that a Panzer Kavalier of your caliber knows of me.” “I’ve heard all about you from your sister, Lady Rose…not to mention the dark rumors spoken of you within our Agency. The rumors that you are a Neue Kavalier who fled to the military and sold out his family.” He smiled bitterly. “Not that I know what it is you do every year when you meet up with His Excellency and Lady Rose.” “Stop it, Alfred. Have you forgotten that mouth of yours is what led to the incident four years ago?” “That’s the distant past. And destiny would have worked itself out if not for that man. The one who thinks so highly of himself just cause he’s got a divine name.” “A divine name, hm?” “Isn’t that why you let him take care of the Messiah two years ago? Because he qualified as a one-armed man with a divine name?” Once he got that out, Alfred’s expression changed. “––––!” He looked up and suddenly swung his sword up from atop Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder. “!?” Alfred opened his mouth before Schweitzer could even express his surprise. The shout he produced was a single pure note. It was the Ton note that he used when destroying things as a Buster. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” His sword could amplify Tons as a Werkzeug. It was instantly wrapped in white light, which it then released, becoming a pillar of light. The relationship between Buster and Werkzeug was the relationship between the will to attack and the manifestation of that will. If the Buster moved to attack, the Werkzeug would amplify the attacking Ton of his will and allow it to manifest. He made a single attack with the sword he had raised overhead. He also turned his body around, so the destructive beam of light swept horizontally across the airport. The mist evaporated as the destructive light grew to 200 yards long and 40 yards wide. The target of the sweeping attack was the dragon regenerating its body within the mist and preparing to leap at the man. When the light struck the dragon, it scattered with a sound like shattering glass. It was annihilated. The light returned to its original Tons and burst, sending threads of light dancing through the air. The rain shined. But Alfred did not even bother viewing the dancing and collapsing light. He rested the sword on his shoulder and turned back toward the cockpit. “I’m not the man I was four years ago. No one’s a match for me now that I can wield Rein König.” “Then I have some news you might be interested in: We have received a report of Dog Berger entering Germany. He may be working with the full force of the AIF led by ‘Verräter’ M. Schrier.” “Is that so? I had received a similar report,” said Alfred. “The Messiah girl apparently entered Germany as a tourist just before entry into the country was locked down. A team from the Army Division is searching for her, but she was apparently on her way to Berlin.” Alfred smiled a little as he looked up into the sky. “Things are in motion as war draws ever closer. And I will be joining the chase this time.” He called out to the two behind him in the rain. The two Panzers stood up and prepared to leave. “We’ll be right after you once we’ve resupplied. Whatever the man with the divine name, the Messiah, and the AIF are planning, it’s bound to happen where we end up.” “How can you be so certain, Alfred?” “Because we’re their opponent, Hellard. How could I be less than certain?” With that, Alfred turned his back on them. He started to climb back into the secondary cockpit on Schwarz Löwe’s back, but then he stopped. He rested his elbow on the armor and looked off into the distance. He took a long look at Berlin on this rainy night. He even reached a hand out toward it. He wore a ring with a red jewel on his left hand’s middle finger. He used that hand to clutch at the empty air as if grasping the city before his eyes. “Farewell, Berlin.” ### 527. Chapter 2: The Wheel Begins 7/27/1939 16:52-20:28 I met someone I hadn’t seen in a while But instead of redoing things We are slowly starting something new Even if I’m not entirely happy about it ### Geheimnis Agency HQ The Geheimnis Agency was formed from the guardian knights of various regions around Germany and its HQ is located on the east side of the Black Forest. The white-walled fortress is made from three enormous buildings. A test site built and abandoned by a past politician was used as the foundation and the buildings themselves are a collection of Ober Geheimnis. This leads to the occasional appearance of never-before-seen passageways and rooms inside and the method of controlling that is currently only known to the upper levels of the Agency. The HQ was originally built for use by their army division and was thus built around a Grösse Panzer hangar, but the air force division was also given focus starting in the 30s and a large runway was constructed. The Neylor family’s Sofort Leser, who commands the Agency, and Graham Karlsruhe, the second in command, are always present at the HQ, so it acts as a home base for the entire Agency as well as a command post. Only descendants of a knight’s bloodline are allowed inside and the influential citizens who live nearby keep silent about its presence because they know what the Agency’s role is. ### Part 1 During late summer in Berlin, evening began early – at around 4 PM. The city was located at a high latitude, so night always came early, even during summer. The amount of people on the streets gradually reduced as time passed. They left those public areas and returned home as if pursued by the shadows of evening. This was most evident at the Tiergarten park in the center of the city. Dark shadows fell over the woods and the entire park was dyed in dark colors. The streetlights came on to hold back that encroaching darkness, lighting up different parts of the park, but they only managed to illuminate the area directly below them. The park became a place of pure darkness carrying a light summer heat. The cars on the streets and the hustle and bustle of people heading home could be heard in the distance. It was time to begin preparing dinner. Looking up past the wall of darkness formed by the woods gave a view of steam and smoke rising from all over the city to decorate the reddish-black color of the evening sky. A single person walked through the shadows of the park below those colors. He was a young man of a medium height and build. Everything he wore was black, his long black hair was roughly parted to the sides, and he wore black sunglasses. A black-dyed lab coat fluttered as he walked and the clothes below that were black as well. He also wore a black glove on his left hand. The only other colors were the red gem in the pendant worn around his neck and the blue of his eyes. He was walking quickly, but he suddenly came to a stop and viewed his surroundings. He had been stopping below the streetlights and he turning to view the number plate attached to the streetlight’s pole. “If this is 15, then A-17 would be…two more down.” He kept walking. It was a large park, so it took several minutes to cover the distance between two more streetlights. The darkness grew deeper as he walked, so the streetlights were more or less the only light sources anymore. He looked up while walking. The sky visible above the cedar trees was still faintly red even at night. That was thanks to the lights shining up at the sky from the ground. He took a breath, quickened his pace, and looked across the sky with an exaggerated movement. He could tell Berlin’s sky was lit up red from four directions. The city’s sky was much less busy now that they were so close to war and it was glowing faintly red. “Hm.” The trees opened up just enough for him to see more of the northern sky. Humboldt University’s buildings in northern Berlin could be seen against the night sky there, but something else was visible past them. A single cylindrical structure towered up above that wave of buildings. The stratovolcano-shaped building had a faint slope to it and resembled a thermal power turbine. It had to be about 120 yards tall. Its white walls were lit up from below to show off its grandeur to the sky. It also looked like a chess piece protecting Berlin. “A Vaterland ley line acceleration reactor. One piece of the Panzerpolis Project.” Why did Marsch have to design this? he wondered while coming to a sudden stop. He glanced toward the streetlight he was beneath to read the plate there. “A-17. This is the place. What an odd place for my old upperclassman to send me. He had to know Berlin is the second to last place in the world I want to be.” He took a breath, slowly reached his right hand into his pocket, and pulled out a letter. “Just when I was really getting settled into my work in the Soviet Union, he calls me back here with a new mission. And why is Berlin the rendezvous point when it’s already being modified into a multilevel city? The AIF shouldn’t be working their hired soldiers so hard when they’re supposed to have their own forces fully gathered by now.” He opened the letter to check the time, a map of Tiergarten, and the text A-17. He nodded, closed the letter, and put it back in his pocket. Just then… “Um, are you Mr. Dog Berger?” A young male voice spoke to him from behind. He turned around while slowly sticking his hand in his pocket. All the colors were faded and hard to make out in the darkness behind him, but he could see a young man wearing a blue uniform. He was a postal worker, so Berger asked about that. “A postman?” “Yes, that is correct. My last delivery for the day happens to be…something rather unusual.” The postman stepped into the light of the streetlight. The bag worn over one shoulder was already open, but there were no more letters inside. However, he reached into the seemingly empty bag and opened the false bottom installed within. That was where he would store any valuables. “Much of this world has yet to be developed, so it is our duty as postal workers to delivery anything to anyone. Yes, no matter the person, the location, or the era.” With that, he held out a small paper envelope. It was old. The paper had grown brown and the wax seal had crumbled away, leaving only a round white mark where it had been. The edges of the envelope were a little torn and some oil paper and dried parchment could be glimpsed within. “A Verlsten Brief?” asked Berger while accepting it with his black-gloved left hand. “Yes, every post office in the world has some of these undelivered documents from the past and this one comes from the German Post Office’s storage. This one is addressed to Dog Berger in Berlin’s Tiergarten A-17 at 5PM on July 27, 1939.” The postman smiled a bit. “So I’m right on time.” “Indeed you are. …But why is this addressed to me? I sure hope it doesn’t have a razor blade inside.” “I can’t deny the possibility. Based on where it was stored, this one is from around a thousand years ago, but our storage and management were not perfected until the 12th Century. To avoid the mistakes made in the Obstacle Era, we make sure to hire technicians from the Postal City that developed the Verlsten Brief system in the first place.” The postman closed his bag. “But a Verlsten Brief carries the thoughts that someone in the past wanted to convey to someone in the future. Since they are being delivered to Germany as we prepare for war and modify this city, I can only imagine-” “Hold on.” Berger held up the old letter. “Since they are being delivered? There’s more than just this one?” “I can’t give you the details, but the German Post Office is currently in a state of chaos. According to the 1939 Verlsten Brief Management Register that was unsealed this year, we have been instructed to deliver more this year than the past hundred years combined.” “Does that mean someone in the past had a lot to tell us here in the present?” “Yes, to you, to others, and outside the country as well.” The postal worker tapped his closed bag. “I will be going then.” He saluted and turned around. “I notice you aren’t sitting down this time.” He laughed and then vanished into the darkness. He did not turn around as Berger watched him go with a bitter smile. Berger finally waved his hand goodbye. He viewed the letter held in that hand. The black ink on the back of the envelope had grown blurry. “D – O…B – E – R…R.” He read the letters he could actually make out and then sighed. He could not read anything written after the name. “Is this really addressed to me? This world never ceases to surprise me.” After a moment of hesitation, he opened the envelope. He pulled out the parchment. It was held between oil paper for protection and it had grown dry and stiff, but the writing had not blurred. It was written in clear handwriting. His facial expression changed as he read it. The composure vanished from his face. His mouth seemed to move automatically to read it aloud. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates “That’s from the Unreif Germane – the 3rd Section of Daily Life where the Messiah is born into this world.” He stared at the parchment. But that was all it said and it did not tell him anything more. He scratched his head, clicked his tongue, and stuffed the parchment back in the envelope. “––––?” He heard a quiet footstep from the dark woods to his right. Just as he looked that way, he heard the underbrush parting and saw a small form run out into the light. It was a kitten. A golden-furred kitten wearing a black choker around its neck. After entering the light, it tripped, fell, rolled two or three times, and finally stopped after hitting his foot. It shook its head and got up. “?” He crouched down to see what this was about and his eyes met those of the kitten. The kitten had a curious trait. While its left eye was an ordinary brown cat’s eye, its right eye was a blue human eye. Before his surprise at that observation could show on his face, the cat gained an obvious look of relief and mewed once. “–––––!?” Then white steam rose up from the cat and exploded in midair. After the explosion, a girl appeared in front of Berger. The leftover movement of the air caused her shoulder-length blonde hair to flutter. She had a friendly face with eyes identical to the cat’s. The left one was a brown cat’s eye and the right one was a blue human one. She was not wearing any clothing. Unless you counted the choker around her neck, that is. The wind whipped around her and her eyes focused in on Berger. “I’d say you’ve grown, but your chest sure hasn’t, Hazel Mirildorf.” ### Part 2 Berger’s comment brought Hazel back to her senses. She looked down at herself. She was not wearing anything. She cried out and quickly used her hands to cover the important bits and the brand left on her at the Heidenheim 2 years before. “U-um, um, uh!” “I thought you were living the good life over in America, Hazel. I did get a few letters from you, but nothing about this.” His eyes moved as he spoke. They moved toward Hazel as she panicked on her feet. She could feel her face growing red. … I need clothes or something! “U-um! Clothes, I need clothes!” “Say it in English.” “Eh? Um, uh…” She looked to his face and noticed he was staring at her. … What is he looking at? She could not bring herself to actually ask that and she held her left shoulder more strongly with her hand while considering crouching down. She finally spoke to break the awkward silence. “U-um, B-Berger? D-do you have anything to w-w-w-wear!?” “Calm down, Hazel. People are born in the nude. Nudists have the right idea, really. Yeah, I’d love to hire a maid and live the nudist life.” “I-I need…um, uh, I’ll c-cry!!” “Quiet down. Did you learn nothing at all over the past two years? Listen.” He scratched his head. “I’ve always thought the modern world is in too much of a hurry. It’s always hurry up and do this, hurry up and do that, hurry up and pay your bills. Especially in France. In what world is a single article of clothing as expensive as a house? Right? Oh, and your new home of America is the same.” He sighed and gave an exaggerated shrug. “Now, I get that America has spent the past 10 years facing the same global terror as the rest of us and I get that they’ve started on a new beginning with their new cabinet, but it’s pretty sad they can’t even teach a Heidengeist girl to speak their language after two years living there. If my old upperclassman really wants to play tutor while commanding the AIF…” After listening to all that, Hazel realized he was looking at her face. And he smiled a little. “You know what, Hazel?” “What?” “How about you stop listening and actually ask for some clothes? You look pretty ridiculous right now.” She immediately slapped him. ### Part 3 If the German evening drove people back to their homes, then the night that followed was the busiest time in those homes. That remained true in the Black Forest located in the southwest of the country. A home of sorts was located in that land of trees and valleys where no city could be built. The Geheimnis Agency HQ was home to the Germania Dragoons. It was located at a long, narrow strip of land with valley slopes rising on either side. A 2-mile runway stretched out ahead of three 5-story buildings with several black Grösse Panzers deployed for security. The many pillars even larger than the Grösse Panzers made the place look like it was a natural construction of massive stones, as if to insist the facility was part of the forest. It was a fortress. The fortress was currently lit up as people gathered there for the night. That many people naturally led to a lot of noise. The peace and quiet of the Black Forest was broken by shattering glass. A Grösse Panzer patrolling midway down the runway turned back toward the sound. A first-floor window on the right side of the central building – the officer barracks – had broken. A single young Geheimnis Officer lay collapsed below the window. The Grösse Panzer viewed that and then shook its head in an exasperated way. A small light flashed at the far end of the runway. The Grösse Panzer patrolling there was signaling to ask what happened. The first Grösse Panzer twisted its head to aim its left shoulder that way and then flashed the glow panel installed on its secondary cockpit. Just the usual. The usual is happening again. A second person was defenestrated as well. The Grösse Panzer lowered its shoulder and looked that way again. People were gathered around the inside of the first-floor window. They wanted to see what had happened to those people. They were mostly young and a few of them were holding plates of food. The commotion was coming from the mess hall. ### Part 4 The Geheimnis Agency HQ’s mess hall was located on Building 2 Floor 1. Most Geheimnis Agents were the former nobility known as Neue Kavalier, so the mess hall that served them quality food was a large place with nice furniture. All of the tables were round and meant for only four people. But all of those tables had been shoved over toward the walls and the people were also backed toward the walls, forming a large circle. The large clock on the wall rang seven times. As it did, everyone’s eyes slowly moved up and down. Their rising and falling gazes were directed toward a girl. The skinny girl was dressed like a male waiter plus an apron. She worked as a waitress in the mess hall. Her face showed she was approaching adulthood, her brown hair was worn in a long braid that swayed down at the back of her knees, and that swaying came from the movement of her body as she set a tempo. That tempo displayed the elation and spirit of combat. Everyone’s eyes were glued to her movements. Her sweaty face was somewhat pale but stared straight forward. A young man stood there. The young Geheimnis Agent had removed his jacket to reveal a muscular body with no excess fat. He remained motionless as he brushed a hand through his short black hair and returned her gaze. “You might make our food, but that doesn’t mean you can get away with just anything, Lowenzahn.” “You don’t have to worry about that. It’s the cooks who make it. I only carry it out. For my tuition.” The girl named Lowenzahn smiled. The powerful smile looked out of place on her pale face. “Now, how about you apologize for that rather colorful commentary on my body when you don’t even have any first-hand experience with it? Or do Neue Kavaliers make a habit of demeaning women these days?” She took a breath. “Your two friends seem to have learned their lesson, but what about you?” “Not a chance.” “Then bring it on. I have plenty more food to bring out, so if I spend too much time with you…” She smiled bitterly. “It’ll get cold.” After that quip, she gestured him toward her and he complied. They were approximately 6 yards apart. That space was filled with the sound of a single footstep. The man did not hold back. Lowenzahn swung her body to jump backwards. That dodged his attack but kept her within striking distance, so her white apron fluttered in front of her as she moved about 2 yards back. She landed with just the toes of her left foot on the carpet. Then her opponent took his second step. In that moment, she twisted her toes forcefully to the left and similarly rotated her hips to create a spiraling movement from her toes to her hips. That doubled her speed, moving her body like a whip and swinging her right leg around. A strike as sharp as a blade struck her opponent’s jaw just as he moved forward with his second step. The direct hit made a sound of something breaking instead of just an impact. The man’s body floated up and to the left for a brief moment. But it did not end there. she leaned her body over while spinning to the left. It took her less than a second to lay her body face down with just her left leg supporting her to form a large T with her body. She slightly pulled in her swinging right leg and unleashed a straight kick behind her. As she did, a voice rang through the air. It was an Erklärung. An Erklärung textually rewrote reality to fulfill the will behind it. As a result, Lowenzahn’s kick missed. The Erklärung had come from the man, not from her. His body was now just to the left of her kick. He let out a roar while bleeding from the mouth. “This land is being used to test out the Panzerpolis Project’s Ton alterations, remember?” “You’ll activate Vaterland to win a fight against a girl? Sounds pretty sad to me!” He ignored her protests. She clicked her tongue, straightened up, and lowered her kicking leg just as the man rushed in. He was moving much faster than before and his tackle caught her slender hips. She was lifted from the floor. Once she was slammed against the floor and pinned down, her defeat was guaranteed. A mixture of anticipation and disappointment ran through the Neue Kavaliers and cooks watching the fight. Smiling at their voices, Lowenzahn took a breath. Once strength returned to her gaze, she reached for her back and untied her apron. She removed herself from it like she was peeling a fruit and letting the fruit flesh burst from within. “!” One beat later, the man held only the apron in his arms. She raised a hand in front of his face to flip up the end of the apron. As soon as the white cloth covered his face, she slammed her right knee into his jaw at close range. The impact rang loud and the man was knocked back, where he collapsed. Lowenzahn lowered her leg, took a few steps away, and let her shoulders droop. Her face was pale and she was out of breath. The swaying of her body was gone now. But her opponent did not let it end there. Supported by his Erklärung-modified Ton, he stood back up. His knees were shaking, but there was strength in his eyes and expression. In response… “You sure are persist- oh.” A sudden shadow fell over her face just as she was preparing herself. Her voice caught in her throat, she stopped breathing, and she sat down on the spot. She wrapped her left hand around herself and held the left side of her chest with her right hand. Just as the blood fully drained from her face, she collapsed forward. “Oh, no.” She somehow got those words out and lifted her face just enough to see her opponent standing in front of her. He no longer said a word. She frantically tried and failed to get up and she saw his right foot moving in fast. That sharp kick from below was aimed for her gut – an attack one should never make against a woman. A crash of impact rang through the mess hall, but not of a boot against flesh. It was a loud sound of breaking bone. Some metal had stopped the kick and broken the foot. A massive prosthetic arm made of steel was pressed down against the floor. Everyone there muttered the name of the arm and its owner. “Der Held…‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer.” Those names held great meaning, so Lowenzahn looked up. A bright expression appeared on her pale and sweaty face when she saw the large figure positioned between her and her opponent. She called his name in a scratchy voice. “Lieutenant Hellard!” Her call was answered by a different voice than the one she had hoped for. This one was a scratchy voice produced by artificial vocal cords. “I thought to stop by on the way to Base #8 for adjustments to my new Panzer and this is what I find? Never a dull moment in our HQ.” A man entered through an outward-facing window. He was a long-haired man who wore his coat over his shoulders and carried a long sword at his hip. Everyone spoke his name as well. “ ‘Kaiser Schwert’ Alfred Maldrick.” Lowenzahn accepted Schweitzer’s outstretched left hand. She firmly grasped it while crouched down. He somewhat forcefully pulled her up to her feet. Once upright, she could see her opponent down on one knee and holding his broken foot past the prosthetic arm. “…” She breathed a sigh of relief and clutched the hem of Schweitzer’s coat. Alfred smiled bitterly when he noticed and he glanced around the mess hall. “Since when does the Geheimnis Agency cause so much trouble for a girl!? From what I heard on the way here, the radicals of Lady Jeanne’s army division are actually arguing they should kidnap the Messiah girl now that she’s in Berlin.” Schweitzer nodded at the other man’s comment. “Yes, this is not proper conduct for a Neue Kavalier.” He slowly frowned and looked around while lowering his voice. “So as soon as General Graham is out due to his illness, the Neue Kavaliers of the Geheimnis Agency begin standing idly by and watching a one-sided attack on a girl?” Lowenzahn immediately looked up and responded to that. “Sorry, but I actually picked this fight with them.” ### Part 5 The cramped wooden room was a perfect match for the concept of a “cheap inn”. There was only one small curtained window facing south. The only furniture was a simple bed, a table, and two chairs. There was no bath or toilet, but there was a bidet and a kitchen. The electric light hanging from the ceiling cast two shadows on the floor. Hazel stood in the kitchen preparing some food in only a black shirt and Berger sat by the window at one of the table’s chairs. Hazel worked swiftly to get the charcoal fire going before opening the cabinet below the sink. “Just because it’s a hideout doesn’t mean you can stock up on nothing but wursts and pasta. That’s not a balanced diet.” “Don’t worry. I drink beer too, so I’m the second healthiest guy in the world. More importantly…” She knew what he was going to say next, so she placed her hands on the sink and waited for him to speak. “What are you doing in Berlin, Hazel?” … Exactly what I expected. She took a breath and answered. “My teacher gave me a letter for you.” “Your teacher? You mean my old upperclassman? He sent you back to Germany with the Messiah implant, even if it is broken? You said on the way here we had to hurry because you were being pursued by some weird people, didn’t you? And that you had hid your things? Why would he send you here when that’s obviously what would end up happening?” “It’s true! I know it may be hard to believe, but he really gave me permission.” She turned toward him while holding a frying pan. She saw him sitting sideways in the chair by the window with his elbow on the chair back and his eyes on her. His expression was not a casual one. He sighed through his nose. “He gave you permission, did he? What in the world is he thinking?” “So you believe me? That was easier than I expected.” “Look, our last little adventure together told me that you’re kind to a fault and nowhere near smart enough to use someone else’s name to sell a lie. …I am surprised a Heidengeist like you would come back here, though.” “My prosthetic eye is listed as the other one on my passport. My teacher had business in Paris, so he had that counterfeited for me while he was there. Um, the Messiah eye on the right is my real eye and this cat one on the left is a night vision prosthetic…according to my passport.” “So that means you’re human, huh? You can be weirdly clever when you need to be.” His tone said that compliment was genuine. She breathed a sigh of relief and held the frying pan to her chest while looking to his left arm. “I’m sorry. Losing your left arm must have hurt so much.” He held up his left hand to show her. He clenched the fist inside the black leather glove. “Don’t worry about it. Can’t have hurt as much as jamming a knife into your eye. Speaking of which how’s your right eye? The letter you sent me before said your sight was gradually returning.” “Yes, the sight has returned, but the Messiah functions have not. The doctor said those won’t return until I decide I need its power. Because my will and my body will not be aligned until then.” She chose her words carefully and kept one thought to herself. … That may never recover. “But instead, I’ve been studying Tuning and Busting ever since that incident two years ago.” “Huh? Tuning and Busting? Why?” “I’ve been able to see Tons ever since the Sylphide Incident – or maybe ‘perceive’ is the better word. I can sometimes just ‘see’ the currents of the wind or the water.” “Tuning and Busting, huh?” He scratched his head in a troubled way and his mechanical left hand toyed with the woman’s pendant hanging from his neck. “Personally, I think you should stop that. You’re still a trainee Greenhorner, aren’t you? So why not start studying Ton Medicine instead? Or you could become a vet.” “But…” “Hazel, you do know that Tuning and Busting are mostly used as tools of killing in Europe, don’t you? And as the daughter of Oscar Mirildorf and the student of my old underclassman, you should be well aware that we’re on the verge of a war.” “…” “The war will begin here in Germany and spread to the rest of Europe. Every country’s Sofort Lesers have made that prophecy. There’s a lot of construction underway here in Berlin, but do you know what that’s for?” “I’ve heard, yes. They will be creating a new multilevel Berlin called Germania based on the Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors. They plan to develop the city underground and install defense field generators to protect against aerial bombings.” “And you know Stimmers and Busters are being used for some of that construction, don’t you? The massive Tune Emblems drawn out below cities around Germany and the more than 400 Vaterlands that suck the country’s Tons out of the ley lines will be used to give all pureblooded Germans an Erklärung power. That plus Germania are how they hope the Panzerpolis Project will allow Germany to survive the coming war.” “And as a part of that, the Geheimnis Agency is building an improved version of the Babel Kanone that failed to fire in England and constructing a massive Gard-class aerial warship.” “That isn’t just an aerial warship. From what I’ve heard, it’s an Eingeweide. And there’s a lot of Busters working on its construction too. Norse mythology and the Unreif Germane are rising to prominence above even the Bible right now. Yesterday, I saw a book burning in one of the villages I passed through on the way to Berlin.” Hazel trembled more at the thought of burning the writing than the books themselves. Berger’s eyes suddenly moved. He glanced over at her and turned his entire chair to face forward. “Let’s get back on topic, Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. Why are you in this city?” She knew why he was asking this and why he was so puzzled by it, but that was why she was uncertain how to respond. “Um.” She lowered her head for a moment, but then she raised it again while holding the frying pan lightly against her chest. “Berger…you never did respond to my letters. It was only when I actually wrote your name out for those letters that I realized it really does mean Wild Hund, doesn’t it?” “My mother cared a little too much for her kid. She said she wanted to raise me to be as tough as a stray dog.” He was not smiling. “But don’t change the subject. My name doesn’t matter. Why you’re here does.” “Well,” she said before trailing off again. … There’s so, so much I could say. “Once the war starts, I felt like I would never again be able to see this city or my friends here. And and there were things I wanted to discuss with you and ask you if I could meet you again.” “Like what?” His blunt question made her hesitate again. She clutched the frying pan harder against her chest. “A lot of people visit my home in LA. They’re all working so hard for this upcoming war. But whenever I ask my dad if there’s anything I can do, he says no.” She thought for a moment. “How can he be so sure there’s nothing I can do?” Berger sighed at that. “Y’know…you should really be asking my old upperclassman that. He knows a lot more than me and is just an all-around better person.” “I-I know that!” “Um…you didn’t have to agree with that quite so enthusiastically.” “Eh? Huh? Um, uh…s-sorry. But I’ve been thinking. Two years ago, you told me that to run away was to survive. But then…if you don’t want to run away and you want to stay and fight, does that mean you want to die? And if so…” “Enough pointless arguments.” He cut her off. “Right now, you need to start cooking, Hazel. I’m the second hungriest guy in the world right now. We can discuss this…well, we’ll be heading out right away tonight, so we can discuss it on the way. My motorcycle has a sidecar.” He stood up, pushed his chair against the windowsill, and turned toward the door out into the hall. “Where are you going while I’m cooking?” “Where are the instructions my old upperclassman left with you? And your clothes? Think about it. You got here and that’s great, but you said you were being chased by someone, right?” He walked toward her and pressed his right index finger against her chest. “I have a job to do, Hazel. They locked down the borders a few days ago, but I still have to get you outside the country. Do you get that? Do you, Hazel Mirildorf? The Swiss border is chilly even in the summer, so where are your things? You need some clothes, don’t you? I’ll go get them, so you wait here.” “Um…” “?” “Please get back soon.” He smiled at that. “Don’t worry. Do you know where we are? This place is owned by an AIF member. We’ve been using the place whenever we visit Berlin lately. As long as you stay away from the curtains, this place is plenty safe for a kitten to play in, Hazel.” She started to say something in response, but stopped and smiled bitterly instead. She looked down at his finger against her chest and suppressed a sigh. “Are you…are you always like this, Berger?” “Always like what?” “You can’t tell? So…so…” “Unfortunately, I’m the second dumbest guy in the world. But your chest really hasn’t grown at all, has it? Have you been eating right?” He pressed against the chest of her shirt and reached the limit of the softness very quick. The frying pan met his face even quicker. ### Part 6 “Ow, ow, ow, ow.” Berger held his cheek while descending the wooden stairs. The first floor was a cramped front desk and the hallway was too narrow for two people to pass each other. The window in the entrance next to the front desk provided a view of a main road lit up by streetlights. There was a black cedar forest on the other side of the road. The forest was so close to the road that there was no room for homes or shops alongside it. The view out the window showed only the stillness of the summer night. “Potsdamer Strasse there runs through the Grunewald forest park,” said a voice from the counter. “Will your job tonight be taking you south along that road?” Berger looked up to see a short old man behind the counter. “That girl looks like she’s going to be yet more trouble for you,” asked the old man. “Does she have a story?” “You could say that, yes. I was hoping you could look after her for a bit.” The old man gave him a puzzled look, so Berger leaned back against the wall and pointed up at the ceiling. “I think the Geheimnis Agency is after her. I’m on my way to pick up her things hidden in a locker at Unter den Linden Station. That includes my next instructions, so I will head out on that mission once I have them. My mission is to destroy the Gard-class warship that we’ve heard is being constructed at the Geheimnis Agency’s Base #8.” “Hold on. This is an inn, not a home for runaways.” “But you have connections, don’t you? I’ll write her an introduction, so call her a ride you can trust and send her to the Borderson hidden village in the morning. I have to complete this mission. Rumor has it that Gard-class is an Eingeweide, so we’re in trouble if I can’t sink it before they get it up and running.” The innkeeper frowned and then gave Berger an exasperated look. “So what’s her name?” “Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. She’s Oscar Mirildorf’s daughter.” Surprise flashed across the innkeeper’s face, but then he shut his eyes. “So she’s the one person who ever managed to injure you on a job, huh?” “Yes, and it’s been two years since then. She sent me a few letters through my old upperclassman, but she only ever talked about cheerful things in those letters. Never anything gloomy and never asking about me. I know none of that was what she really wanted to write.” “Knowing you, you didn’t respond.” “Of course not. I’m not an official AIF member – I’m just their hired Wild Hund. I’m the second least romantic guy in the world.” He sighed. “Besides, she belongs on the other side of the wall…of that wall I could never break through. I have no business being anywhere near her.” He smiled and held up his black-gloved left hand. “Have her leave this land as soon as possible. Europe will be engulfed in war in another month, but barely any of that will reach her new home in America. Her father seems to understand that.” “That’s pretty cold of you. Is that what destiny has in store for the two of you?” asked the innkeeper while looking up at the ceiling. Berger’s smile did not reach his eyes. He stuck a hand in his pocket and tossed three small shining things onto the counter. “I picked up these imperial coins in the Soviet Union. Give them to her and tell her to visit Paris on her way home. Tell her she won’t want to wander around the streets in the nude after that.” “What did I do wrong to deserve this job?” “This is just what destiny has in store for you,” spat out Berger as he opened the door. The wind blew in. That summer wind was racing through the black cedar forest. “Hazel can see this wind now, can she?” His lips silently mouthed a poem. It was a section of the Unreif Germane. He recited it as he stepped outside into the dark forest. All alone. ### 528. Chapter 3: The Wheel Runs 7/27/1939 – 7/28/1939 22:08 – 03:41 Suddenly, I remember my role I remember my purpose in this world But That realization comes with fear How can everyone else accept it so easily? ### Dragons and the Geheimnis Agency 1000 years ago, the Messiah used a soaring dragon to conquer Germany with a one-armed youth by her side, so dragons receive special treatment within the Geheimnis Agency when compared to other Heidengeists. The order of knights from 1000 years ago bore a lion emblem as they raced across the ground while the dragon named Sylphide conquered the sky. Due to that, the Geheimnis Agency’s Grösse Panzers generally take the name of lions and their aircrafts take the name of dragons. Also, their emblem is a wedge shape with a dragon on the top and a lion on the bottom. The Geheimnis Agency’s approval only falls on the great and wise dragons, not the wild and animalistic ones. Thus, they eradicate the lesser dragons for being a stain on the reputation of dragons as a whole. During the construction of the Geheimnis Agency’s North Base #9 in 1936, a green dragon was born from the ley line disturbance caused by the construction. The dragon emerged into the city from an old abandoned test site below Neuschwanstein Castle but was defeated by two Geheimnis Agents who rushed in. ### Part 1 There were no restful nights in the Geheimnis Agency headquarters. Only nights of preparation. The night shift had just taken over and the HQ was entering the quietest part of the night. The mess hall was just as quiet. The only active lights were the fluorescent ones in the kitchen and the large sunlamp at the center of the ceiling. The place had a cold and dim atmosphere, but there was activity there. The kitchen was empty, but someone was wiping down the tables. Lowenzahn had rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, revealing awfully white and thin arms. They could even be called delicate as she used one to wipe down the tables with a rag. “Phew.” Without wiping the sweat from her brow, she peered down at the table to see her face reflected in it. She nodded in satisfaction and observed her reflected face. She wrinkled her brow and smiled to see the same in the diagonally-reflected face. She glanced over at the reflection from the side, altered the angle of her face, and gave it another glance. And just as she found an angle she liked, a large figure appeared in the table mirror. “What are you doing?” “…!?” She gasped and stepped back from the table. She ended up bumping into the person behind her, but… “Be careful,” he warned as he caught her in a giant metal arm. She looked back to find the familiar face of Hellard Schweitzer. “Lieutenant? What brings you here at this hour?” she asked while stepping away from his arm and turning to face him. She smiled and tilted her head. “To visit me perhaps?” She had to laugh at that. “That isn’t like you at all, is it?” she said before another quiet laugh. He only tilted his head in confusion. “I was thinking about some things and I thought some alcohol might help me gather my thoughts.” “Oh? So even you drink.” “I doubt there is a German alive who doesn’t drink.” She pointed back at her left chest with her thumb. When he realized what she meant, his face clouded over a little. “Don’t let it bother you.” She smiled bitterly. “I’m doing a lot better than when you saved me 3 years ago.” “Your father, Air Force Division Chief Muller, said you should rely on him more.” “Did he? But an adopted daughter can’t rely on him too much. You saving me from the Neuschwanstein Dragon Attack 3 years ago was enough for me.” “You did well at the hospital.” “Only because you pushed me way too hard. Who tells a girl to run immediately after heart surgery?” She glared at him but with a smile. “I did manage to run, though.” He gave her an earnest nod. “We control Neuschwanstein Castle, so unlike Munich’s central hospital, Neuschwanstein’s hospital receives support from the Geheimnis Agency. We healed you, so we can ask you to run for us.” “Yeah, until you learned about my illness,” she said while giving him some side-eye. His calm expression gave no indication as to whether or not he understood what she meant. She sighed with the look of disgust intact. “But that was when the real ‘fun’ began. You got your arm blown off and Lieutenant Alfred nearly destroyed the city with a single shout.” “And for some reason, I found you treating my wound after we defeated the dragon.” “You should really thank me because you were a bloody mess. …But since I didn’t have any family left afterwards, here I am now. I live with General Muller and I’ve become a bottom-level noble.” “Destiny…hm?” Schweitzer smiled as he uttered that word. And… “I will have a dark beer.” “Coming right up.” She walked quickly over to the kitchen counter, placed her hand on it, and hopped on over. Once behind the counter decorated with flowers, she was in a battlefield known as a kitchen. It was a large space. Stovetops and ovens were placed along the 20-yard walls and the central 4-yard countertop was large enough to butcher an entire cow’s head. A total of four smaller countertops were place around the large one and the aisles between them contained orderly shelves covered in cooking supplies and spices. She carefully avoided the hoses and trays strewn haphazardly through the aisles to reach the back wall where several large taps stuck out. “Do you run this place alone at night?” asked Schweitzer from behind her. “Tonight is special. The chef is out getting supplies for the big party tomorrow.” “Party?” “The top brass are coming, right? I heard earlier that Lieutenant General Heiliger has arrived, so they’re definitely going to have a secret party just like last year and the year before that. Since he’s here, I assume all the Geheimnis Agency founders will be gathering for the usual.” She smiled and noted Schweitzer’s silence. “Do you know something I don’t?” she asked. “On the way here, Lieutenant General Heiliger hinted that there is some further purpose to this year’s gathering. There are so many mysteries of late. Including that prophecy sent out to everyone 2 weeks ago.” “The prophecy? What don’t you understand about it?” “Everyone worked so hard to fulfill the one from two years ago, but while we were told this one would resurrect the Messiah if fulfilled, no one was ordered to work toward that end. Because we do not understand what it means. And with nothing to do, people start to lose trust in the higher ups.” “God, you athletic types. You found who would become the Messiah two years ago, didn’t you? Then it’ll be fine. She will fulfill the prophecy and eventually become the Messiah. Everything is on track.” “Is it?” “The fuse was lit two years ago, wasn’t it? So why add more fire now? You don’t have to do anything until the prophecy tells you to. I’m sure that’s what the higher ups have decided. …But based on the rumors in the mess hall, it sounds like the army is on the move.” “Yes,” he said. “Sorry.” She waved a hand without looking back. “All you ever do is apologize to me. Isn’t that what I said to you when you lifted your head from my lap three years ago? You overthink everything. You never even lie, do you?” “I have never heard of any virtue or truth found in lies.” “And if you haven’t heard of it, it can’t exist? Have you ever tried to create those things among the lies? You’re hopeless.” She came to a stop with the wall right in front of her. Two rows of ten large taps were lined up along the wall. They all produced different kinds of beer. There was a simple trough below to catch any that might spill. “Men take everything so seriously but always ignore the details,” she said too quietly for him to overhear. She grabbed an empty wooden mug from the nearby sink where it had been washed and checked the color of the cooling emblems embedded on the sides of the taps. “Um, do you prefer it chilled? That is the latest trend.” “I don’t care as long as I can drink it.” “Yup, always ignore the details,” she said with mock cheer as she twisted the tap. She filled the mug with a bit of foam at the top. After turning off the tap, she sighed, wiped the sweat from her brow, and looked back. “Oh?” She saw someone new in the mess hall. Past the enormous man with a prosthetic arm was an even more enormous man. They had just been discussing a man larger than Schweitzer. “Lieutenant General Heiliger…” But she trailed off when Schweitzer looked back and called the man’s name. “Sir Graham!?” ### Part 2 Graham was not your stereotypical elderly man. First, there was his size. His entire bald head stood above Schweitzer. Then there was the back supporting his enormous frame and his broad shoulders. He emanated strength just standing there. But the reason for this size was obvious at a glance. Four mechanical limbs extended from the sleeves and hem of his black Geheimnis Agency coat bearing the rank insignia of commander-in-chief. The quiet sounds of motors came from him whenever he moved. He had a fully prosthetic body. Schweitzer brought a hand to his chest in salute and Graham nodded in response. He had no notable expression and he spoke in a deep voice with a sharp look in his eyes. “I hear retrieving the Sylphide prototype’s parts was no easy task, Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer.” “I still do not think it makes up for my failure 2 years ago.” “You mean allowing the Messiah to escape?” Schweitzer hung his head and said nothing. Graham started to say something but fell into a coughing fit instead. It was the deep coughing of illness. But he soon got over it. “Your report said you ‘failed to continue monitoring’ the girl who is to become the Messiah, but we understand that was necessary to fulfill the prophecy. I have a Psyche Outer device installed to ensure I do not err and my thoughts tell me you did nothing wrong.” He pointed near his neck with a metal finger His coat swelled out on the back of his neck up to his brainstem. That modification had stopped his emotions so he could make accurate decisions. The machine made small whirring noises as it moved along with his head. “The time has come. The Panzerpolis Project will affect the government and military as construction of Germania begins and we set down the path toward war. It is time to grant you more power. On the 1st of next month, Air Force Division Chief Muller will grant you the rank of Captain.” A breath. “Well done enduring the past two years.” “Thank you, sir.” “My emotionless memories tell me that excessive honesty is the greatest virtue and fault of the Schweitzer family. Your father was the same when he worked as Heiliger’s aide.” “…” Schweitzer silently bowed and a cheerful voice spoke from behind him. “Congrats on the promotion.” When he looked back, he saw Lowenzahn standing beyond the kitchen counter with a wooden mug in hand. She turned to Graham and spoke without fear. “Care for a beer?” “Unfortunately, I have no sense of taste.” “Aren’t you ever just in the mood to drink? And wouldn’t accompanying the Lieutenant help show your appreciation?” She had a mischievous smile, but her words were sincere. Graham nodded. “I understand your reasoning, but his promotion has yet to be officially announced. It is too soon to celebrate.” “You really need to lighten up.” Schweitzer quickly spoke up to drown out Lowenzahn’s comment. “Excuse me, but what is the Geheimnis Agency’s commander-in-chief doing here at this hour? Were you meeting someone?” “I heard you were here. I might be commander-in-chief, but I am still a Neue Kavalier. I can move on my own two legs when need be.” And… “I am here to order you to don your dress uniform tomorrow morning and arrive at the east gate barracks at 0900 hours.” “Are we on our way to meet someone?” “We will travel two hours east by car to reach Munich. I will provide further details en route.” Graham turned around with a mechanical noise. “The other nations have been making secret preparations whenever we make a move recently. Unlike when we were ceded the Sudetenland, England and France have grown cautious. As for America…” After the clank of a metallic footstep, Schweitzer spoke to the larger man’s back. “Instead of entering the war themselves, they have elevated M. Schrier’s AIF from a volunteer army to an official organization. And…according to Lieutenant Alfred Maldrick’s intel, the Messiah girl has returned to Germany.” “I have heard that a portion of the army division is pursuing her. I just hope they are not acting prematurely.” “Prematurely?” asked Schweitzer. Graham responded without the slightest movement. “The prophecy has not yet been set in motion. Capturing the Messiah now will likely alter destiny. Or it will if the development division’s decoding of Germany’s Tons is not complete.” “I see.” “Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt will arrive tomorrow, so we can discuss this further with him.” Graham resumed moving without so much as a nod. He walked forward to leave the mess hall. Schweitzer brought a hand to his chest and pulled his chin back to watch the man leave. Graham did not look back. His enormous mechanical body took a dozen or so seconds to leave. Afterwards, Schweitzer thought he could hear some distinctive coughing in the distance. He kept himself in that pose until Graham’s formidable presence entirely vanished into the darkness outside. “It’s gonna get warm.” A mug moved in from behind him at eye level. He looked back to see Lowenzahn sitting on the counter. He took the mug, sighed, and drained the contents. She watched with amusement as he drank it down. “How does it taste?” “I am in no mood to focus on flavor.” “Don’t you lose your emotions too. I beg of you.” She smiled bitterly and he earnestly nodded. He set the mug down on the counter without looking her in the eye. And rested his elbow on the counter to the right of where she sat on it. “A direct summons from His Excellency? I honestly don’t know what to make of this.” “Stop confusing yourself so much. You’re overthinking this like you always do.” “But…” “Just hear me out. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but what’s wrong with that? How’s that any different from getting a birthday present? Or…” She paused to think for a moment. “Do you think he would do something awful to you? You don’t, do you? He stopped by to inform you of your promotion, so don’t overthink it. You only think so much because you’re anxious, but what do you have to be so anxious about? Someone who would never harm you invited you to go on a trip tomorrow. That’s all.” He noticed her place a hand on his left shoulder and then she lifted herself up with only that left hand for support. Her weight was added to his back as he leaned down to rest on his shoulder. She was facing away from the counter, so she was sort of back-to-back with him. “I know Bertecht Schweitzer, previous head of the Schweitzer family, served as Heiliger Karlsruhe’s aide during the Imperial Exile Incident that led to the Geheimnis Agency’s creation and I know he died because he could not suppress the rioters. He protected Munich’s central hospital during the rioting there and made sure never to attack the people, but was taken out by one of their bullets.” Her fingers tapped on his biological shoulder. “Germany’s Neue Kavaliers split into two factions after that: the Geheimnis Agency that exists solely to protect the country and its people, and those who choose to live a privileged life among the people.” “You know an awful lot about what is far from a riveting subject matter.” “Everyone told me about it when I asked about you.” She tapped his shoulder again. “Did you protect me at the hospital during the dragon attack because you wanted to be more like your father?” A breath. “Whenever I see your arm, it makes me think the exact opposite of an apology. It makes me think about how we were all saved by the loss of that arm. …Isn’t that the same?” “The same as what?” She smiled bitterly and unexpectedly whispered in his ear. “You’re so slow on the uptake. Were you anxious when you came to save us? See what I mean now? You only feel anxious now – and will in the future too, I’m sure – because you have the time to sit and think, so try to relax instead.” He nodded while feeling her weight on his back. “You took some time getting to your point…but someone once said something similar to me.” “Is it that Eryngium girl again?” When he said yes, he heard a bitter laugh from his shoulder. Instead of trying to figure out why, he said something else. “The Messiah girl might tell me the same thing someday.” He stood up. “Kyah!” She nearly slid off his back, so he scooped her up with his Der Held prosthetic arm. His metal hand supported her in an unsteady sitting position. She gasped and clung to his arm while adjusting her position. Der Held gently lowered her onto her feet. Once she was standing again, they faced each other. She seemed hesitant to speak and sighed with a hand on her right hip. “It felt like your hand was rubbing my butt just now. Was that on purpose?” “It lacks that function.” She responded to his blank expression with her shoulders drooping. “It lacks what function?” ### Part 3 Hazel suddenly opened her eyes. “Ah.” She must have dozed off, so she sleepily checked on her current situation. This was the room Berger had taken her to. He was still not back, so she was alone sitting in the seat in front of the central table. … A lot happened today. Flektierening into a cat and running around was exhausting. Meeting Berger had also helped her relax. “I’m so sleepy. Where is Berger, anyway?” She straightened up, tilted her head, and checked the clock on the wall to see it was already past 11 at night. The thick curtain over the window fluttered as the night breeze blew in. She could see the color of the wind. She had gained that power once her right eye’s sight returned after the incident two years ago. It was a pale blue. The somewhat blurred Tons wavered, swirled, and danced around the room. It was cold. She was only wearing Berger’s black shirt and Berlin’s nights were chilly even in late summer. She got up to shut the window, but she remembered what he had told her. … I’m not supposed to approach the window. She thought over that and then turned toward the kitchen. The food below the frying pan’s lid had to be cold by now. She sighed and let her shoulders droop before remembering how she was dressed. “I actually dozed off like this.” She thought for a bit and looked around the room, noting the absence of a closet or wardrobe. … I wish there were some clothes I could borrow. The cabinet below the sink seemed like the most likely spot. It was right next to the space with food in it. She approached the sink, crouched down, and sat with the hem of the shirt held in the back of her knees like a skirt. “Sorry, but I need to check inside.” After apologizing, she tensed up a bit and opened it. She detected a scent reminiscent of old wood and metal. She saw two wooden boxes inside, just like in Berger’s hideout two years before. She smiled a little. “He gave me a shirt and shorts back then, didn’t he? Sandals too.” Her shoulders fell in exasperation. “But I didn’t get any underwear until the German barracks. I was running around without any until then.” Her shoulders fell further in frustration. “And he saw everything before that anyway.” She hung her head. But… “But I’ve forgotten all that unpleasantness and grown a lot over the past two years. Well, except in the chest!” She clenched her fists and stood up with resolve, crashing her head right into the top of the cabinet. A horribly dull thud filled the room. “!?” She held the back of her head and doubled over. Just then, she heard what sounded like something heavy falling over past the floor – on the ground floor below. It was dull wooden impact. … Berger? She wiped away the tears that were more due to surprise than pain and got up while being much more careful this time. She stood up, looked around the room just once, and walked barefoot over to the door. She pulled the thick door with both hands to open it. She found the landing that opened out onto the front desk below. This room was in the very back, putting it furthest from the stairs. She could see anyone climbing the stairs from here. Presently, someone other than Berger was doing so. It was a man and woman in black. … Are they staying in another room? She wondered that, but at the same time… … I can’t let anyone other than Berger see me dressed like this. She shut the door and waited a few seconds, but then something occurred to her. … Could they be from the Geheimnis Agency? She had seen those agents in black from time to time since entering Germany, not to mention the two men who had tried to take custody of her two years ago as the possessor of the Messiah Eingeweide eye. The pair climbing the stairs now reminded her a lot of those two. They had the same heavy tension and strained atmosphere surrounding them. She quickly reached back to lock the door. Just then, a knock came at the door. … !? Followed by another. The knocking caused her pulse to race. She froze in place and tried to mask her presence. She had to make it seem like there was no one here. She held her breath, pressed her back against the wall next to the door, stood up on her toes, and remained entirely motionless. A few seconds passed. All of a sudden, she saw blueish white Tons flowing in. It was the wind. A powerful gust was approaching the window. … Please don’t make any noise. The wind blew in against her wishes, blowing the curtain and rattling its rail. The rattle of metal and rustle of thick cloth sounded so very loud. “…!” She placed a hand over her mouth. She suppressed it. She did not want to make any noise, but she felt like the tremor in her throat would cause something to escape. The wind died down. But then another knock came. A third one. The speed and strength of the knock was the same as before, which told her something. … They aren’t checking to see if someone is here? They knew she was here and were waiting for her to respond. Like gentlemen. They did not have hostile intentions. That realization made her cower down. … I’m scared. This all creeped her out. Then she heard a voice. It was a somewhat deep and emotionless female voice. “We have come to pick you up. We are from the Geheimnis Agency’s army division.” The voice carried no doubt about her presence and was not taking no for an answer, so Hazel held her body tight. She calmed her breathing. … I can do this if they’re willing to talk. “Um…” She took a breath. “What is this about? I only came to Germany on a trip.” “But to us, this is the return of our Messiah.” “I’m not your-” “Destiny – the prophecy – has spoken. Whoever you are now, you will eventually lead us, so it is only natural that we protect you now.” She thought about those uncompromising words. After three seconds, she spoke. “Wh-what happens if I…have no intention of leading you?” The answer came immediately and without hesitation. “Nevertheless, you are destined to lead us. It is that destined future that matters to us, not the present.” The doorknob turned with an “excuse me” from the voice. It was locked, so it did not open. The knob stopped. … They can’t get in. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief and provided her conclusion. “I’m sorry, but at least for now, I don’t want that. …So please leave.” “Nonsense. Do you think help is coming for you if you stay here? I am sorry to say that Dog Berger has abandoned you and departed on a mission for the AIF.” … Eh? She gasped and the woman beyond the door must have heard it. “He will not return no matter how long you wait, so I would recommend abandoning that hope.” “But he…but Berger…” “We have heard everything from the gentleman downstairs. Dog Berger said he wanted nothing more to do with you.” … That isn’t true. “Think it through. If he is currently on an AIF mission, how is he supposed to get you out of the country?” She fell silent. She stared down to her right where the cold frying pan sat on the stove. “…” She stared at the pan, took a few breaths, and shut her eyes. Then she straightened up and spoke. In English. “I do not believe you.” Her pronunciation was stiff as she was still unused to the language. It would not come as smoothly as German did. But she kept going all the same. “You claim that Mr. Berger left like that in order to hurt my feelings. No one would do something so cruel.” She had no idea if the woman beyond the door understood English, but that allowed her to speak more freely. “If he did leave me here, then he had a reason for it. He would have told the innkeeper downstairs the reason. But…” She frowned. “Unfortunately, I know the innkeeper would not have let you through. Yet here you are.” … I hope he’s okay. She recalled the friendly-looking elderly man’s face. Then she heard a Text. … An Erklärung!? She reflexively held the doorknob with her hand. It could not be turned from the outside and it was locked, so there was no way it could open. Nevertheless, open it did. The knob did not turn and the lock remained in place, yet the door opened. “––––!?” She realized her hand had released the knob and the door was open. Two people stood before her, both in black. One was a middle-aged woman in a black dress and a combat jacket. The other was a young, broad-shouldered man in a black military uniform. Hazel tensed as she faced the two of them. “What are you going to do?” … Take me away? “Are you going to take me against my will, just like you did during the Heidengeist test at school two years ago?” Back then, she had tried to protect a friend they had gotten violent with and been blinded in one eye by the resulting blow. … And then I was given the Messiah implant. Those thoughts set her body in motion. Strength filled her. Just then, both of them got down on one knee. The woman’s short blonde hair swayed as she bowed her head and spoke. “I am Geheimnis Agency Army Division Deputy Head Jeanne Schmitt. I must ask that you accompany us.” ### Part 4 Hazel found a quiet voice escaping her lips as the woman and man kneeled before her. “W-wait.” She took a step back to escape those two despite their defenseless pose. She looked frantically side to side, but saw nothing that would save her. She had no idea what to do. She took another step back. Her back found the wall, but even at this distance, those two remained kneeling and motionless. Their heads were defenselessly lowered, saying they were leaving this entirely in her hands. She felt a chill because it was just like having a stray dog follow you around no matter how much you tried to shoo it away. … H-how am I supposed to respond to this? She had no intention of going with them. But they would not listen to her refusal and she lacked the strength to force the issue. And they had no hostile intentions. If she could not refuse or force the issue, what choice did she have but to go with them? And even if she waited here… … Berger isn’t coming back. But… … No. She did not want to be taken away like this. “Why won’t you let me choose?” She was speaking in her mother tongue once more. “Wh-why are you doing this? Please don’t. It’s wrong.” The pair did not raise their heads, but they did slowly stand. Hazel heard Jeanne speak with her head still lowered. “We-” “Stop!” shouted Hazel. “If you’re going to take me away, then raise your heads and just do it!” But Jeanne was unfazed. She took a silent step forward. She took another silent step, closing the gap between them. Hazel pressed herself against the wall and she could tell her legs were shaking for some reason. “I-I’m not the Messiah. The Messiah implant hasn’t even healed.” Jeanne said nothing in response. She did not force anything and she did not attack – she simply took another step closer. The action was done gently, to avoid being intimidating. She was trying to be kind. … Wh-why? Why are they doing this all of a sudden? By then, Jeanne stood right in front of her. Jeanne crouched down, pushed down the hem of her skirt, and kneeled again. She slowly reached out a hand with her gaze lower than Hazel’s. “I-I will wait here. Because…because Berger told me to.” He was not coming. She knew that, but… “I-I don’t want to go. S-so I made some food and waited…” She started to pull her hand back, but it would not move. She looked down to see it trembling. The fingers were shaking from tension. With only the word “no” inside her, she saw that her arm was trembling too. When she dropped her gaze to her chest, she could tell her entire body was trembling. Jeanne’s hand reached out as if trying to ignore or suppress that shaking. “No, s-stop-” Before Hazel could get the word “that” out, Jeanne’s fingertips had touched her trembling hand. Her fingers were hard and bony for a woman and they squeezed to suppress the shaking. Disgust filled Hazel and she shouted on reflex. She raised her head and wailed like a child. In English. “Noooo!! Mr. Berger!!” The instant her gaze reached the ceiling, she saw a bluish-white band floating down from there. That was the wind’s Tons – the chilly melody of the icy wind. “–––––!?” She heard the sound of struck flesh as the young man behind Jeanne was blasted to the side. With the sound of splintering wood, the man broke through the table and slammed into the windowsill. He flipped over and his upside-down legs shattered the window, making a sound similar to splashing water. The shortest instant later, Hazel saw a different young man in black. “Mister? Why the weird politeness when speaking English?” This one was Dog Berger. ### Part 5 A battle began in front of Hazel. Berger sent a leftward roundhouse kick sweeping up toward Jeanne as she tried to turn around and stand up. Jeanne stood behind Berger. “An Erklärung!?” Before his question was done, Hazel saw Jeanne pull out a handgun. The powerful red light emerging from the muzzle was the Ton of killer of intent and it extended toward Berger’s back. “You actually showed up, Wild Hund? I honestly expected the dog to abandon the cat.” “I ran into some Geheimnis Agents while picking up the package. After punching out the three of them, I came back here.” He smiled bitterly. “Based on that black dress, I take it you’re ‘Eisen Blume’ Jeanne Schmitt. …Middle-aged, just like the rumors said.” After a gunshot, Berger was blasted to the side and slammed into the wall as if from a blow to the side. A beat later, his black-cloaked form crumbled to the bottom of the wall. Hazel’s heart skipped a beat. “B-Berger!?” Her question was cut off by a series of gunshots. Each shot caused his body to jerk as if kicked. Darkness burst out. His black coat flew toward Jeanne as she fired her handgun. The metal hand emerging from the left sleeve thrust toward her neck. It was prepared to rip her throat out. “!” The bullets pierced the black coat, but they passed right on out the other side. The coat had nothing inside it other than the left arm. “I said it can’t be pierced, didn’t I?” He burst from behind the flying coat as if tearing himself away from it. He had removed his prosthetic left arm and he held the Eingeweide sword Gelegenheit with its shadowy blade active. The blade emerging from the golden hilt was more than 8 yards long. Eight objects similar to black flowers were attached midway up the hilt. They were crushed bullets. The black blossoms scattered when he swung Gelegenheit, slicing from ceiling to floor as if drawing out a diagonal circle. He shouted that Erklärung and the room was split in two. No, the entire inn was bisected. One half included Jeanne and her subordinate by the window and the other half contained Berger and Hazel by the hallway. The diagonal cut caused Jeanne’s half to sink down for a moment. And it did not stop there. That half of the inn fully collapsed. “–––––!” Jeanne growled in anger and Berger held Gelegenheit in his mouth to pull a small boxy device from his pocket. He pushed two of the red buttons on it. Immediately, the collapsing half of the inn neatly exploded, scattering dust and splinters more than fire. He grabbed a chair that had just barely avoided being caught in the bisection and threw it into the rising smoke as if to be extra sure he got them. “That’s three times now I’ve had to do that bit for you.” The collapsing half of the inn could not support its own weight, so it broke apart and scattered along the ground. Even if it was only half, that was a three-story building standing nearly 12 yards tall that had collapsed, so it caused an impressive amount of noise and smoke. It was not quite a roar, but a dusty sound surrounded them. Hazel listened to that for a few seconds before peeling herself away from the wall. “…” She silently approached him and then the words spilled out of her. “Why?” She hung her head. “Why did you come? Like they said, didn’t you have a reason to…” She could not bring herself to say the rest, so she said something else instead. “You aren’t the type to come back, but I still waited. And yet…” “Say that in English, just like when you called my name.” “Eh?” She looked up at that and saw him using his right hand to wipe away the blood dripping down his brow. His face was not smiling, angry, or tense. “Things have changed. The Geheimnis Agency is serious about this, so I’ll be taking you myself.” “T-taking me where?” “I read the letter in your bag on the way back here. I have to reach the German Army’s Base #8 in the Black Forest by tomorrow midday to destroy the warship about to be commissioned from there. That’s my AIF mission.” And… “A skilled courier will be arriving there to take you back to America.” She nodded at that, but then she recalled something she could not afford to forget. “U-um, is the innkeeper okay? Don’t tell me they-” “He’s alive. He can’t stay here anymore, though.” Berger smiled bitterly for the first time since arriving. The expression looked somewhat troubled. She tilted her head at that and he explained. “Worry about yourself before others, silly girl. You have a lot to learn.” “You have a point.” She tried to force a smile and failed. “Yes, you have…” The rest of the words broke apart as her lips went loose and refused to take the proper shape. A scratchy voice escaped her throat and the tears soon followed. She could not speak, her breaths seemed to crash into the bottom of her lungs, and she started to sob. “Don’t cry.” She shook her head over and over to ignore those words. “Wh-why…why,” she choked. “Why did you come back?” She let the tears flow and clung to his right arm as she wept. The night breeze swept across them. ### Part 6 The wind blew across the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in the Black Forest of South Germany. It also swept across the Geheimnis Agency Base #8 located to the east of that 400-yard-wide hole. The large development base had a mile-long runway and an underground shipyard and it did not sleep at night. There were five clusters of lights in the base. The first was the runway lights to the east. The second was the large hangars covering the central eastern side of the base to the west of the runway. The third was the central command building west of the hangars. The fourth was the underground shipyard located on the central western side of the base to the left of the command building. The top of the 4.5-mile shipyard had been opened up to reveal a giant warship within. The enormous aerial warship had the streamlined exterior of a glide bomb. Several giant fuel pipes connected the sides of the ship with the walls to fill it with fuel, but a few were not connected to the ship and not yet in use. The final cluster of lights was the Vaterland located on the far west end of the base. It gave off a deep, quiet rumble as it supplied the shipyard’s warship with fuel. A new sound joined that rumble. The powerful roar of wind emerged from a large hangar on the east end of the base. The hangar was about 100 yards in each direction and it stood 15 yards tall. The large trailer stopped at the main entrance said it was a Panzer hangar. A single figure stood at the hangar’s exterior. The figure emerged from the hangar wearing only the black shirt, vest, and pants of the Geheimnis Agency. He held a plain white-bladed Werkzeug sword. He was Alfred Maldrick. He walked to the center of the hangar light cast on the base’s road and raised both hands skyward. He yawned – loudly – with the somewhat scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords. “Yawwwwn!!” He swung his hands back down and cracked his neck just before a loud voice spoke behind him. “Enjoying yourself, I see, Sir Alfred.” “You seem cheerful too, Nein.” Alfred did not look back, but he did hear a loud metallic sound from behind him. The steel footsteps continued with a set tempo. Those were the footsteps of two Grösse Panzers. The air shook as the two long shadows extended to either side of Alfred. The steel footsteps and rustling of Panzer Kleids approached him, but their shadows did not fall on him. They came to a stop at his sides. The blue one on the right and the red one on the left produced the distinctive motor noises of Grösse Panzers. “Can you feel the wind, Nein? You, a product of the Eisen Ritter Project that joined just your brain and spine with the Panzer?” “I can. Because the machine is my body now,” replied the blue one. Alfred smiled at the scratchy voice coming from its speakers and he brushed back his hair. “I only had a three hour test run after arriving, but that taught me something crucial.” “What might that be?” “That Eingeweide Grösse Panzer is special made for me. It was based on my Schwarz Löwe, but neither that nor Sir Graham’s Silber Löwe can hope to match it. Marsch said the combination of inertial control and rocket thrusters were crucial to giving it its high mobility.” He sighed. “I feel like I can only pilot this one because Schwarz Löwe’s Ober Emblem was entirely aerial based and because I had an Eingeweide training system installed in Schwarz Löwe. This Grösse Panzer can enter autopilot and boost its power with the Beweisen and it can handle anti-air combat without its Ober Emblem.” “That is not due to the training system. That is because it uses a part of your body – your voice. In a way, it really is special made for you.” This time, it was the red and not the blue that spoke. “But are you sure you should ignore that previous summons?” “You mean from Sir Graham? He asked me if I was free tomorrow and I said I was busy fine-tuning my new Grösse Panzer, that’s all. I would have gladly obeyed if he had made it an order.” Alfred did not even look back and he skillfully crossed his arms while still holding the sword. “But I do feel bad doing this to Lady Rose since she only wakes up this one day a year.” He heard the blue one produce a metallic noise he knew was a nod. He shut his eyes. “But this gathering isn’t about testing the new Panzers, meeting Lady Rose, or the commissioning of the Gard-class Eingeweide aerial warship. This has to be about something else. Nein, have you heard anything?” “I have not,” replied the blue one. “I was given the surname Nein because of the structural faults discovered in early development, so I have no interaction with our leader’s Naylor family or the second-in-command’s Karlsruhe family.” “Do you think your younger brothers like Vier would know?” “Unfortunately, my brothers have such inflexible personalities that I doubt they would tell us if they did.” “If you’re calling them inflexible, then I know it’s bad. I’m sure Schweitzer is wondering what all this is about too.” He opened his eyes and saw the stars of the night sky. The bottom part of the eastern sky was starting to turn purple, so dawn was approaching. The red one spoke from behind him. “Are you absolutely certain you will not be visiting Lady Rose with Sir Graham? You went with him the past three years.” “I would love to, but this gathering appears to have a different purpose and Lieutenant General Heiliger arrived a lot earlier than past years. If I accompanied them, my personality would cause problems.” The red one fell silent. Only then did Alfred look back. He looked fearlessly up at the crimson Grösse Panzer that stood more than 9 yards tall. “How about a kind word when your master gets self-deprecating?” “That did not occur to me.” “Unlike when I was using Schwarz Löwe, you didn’t bring it to a draw in the sparring match earlier. Getting old?” “I have not counted my age past 100,” said the blue one. “That aside, why do you so dislike Lieutenant General Heiliger? He is the sole link between the military and the Geheimnis Agency and he is the brother of your teacher Sir Graham and of Lady Rose.” “This has nothing to do with his job or family. I just don’t like him.” Alfred faced forward again and tapped his heel on the road. “Schweitzer’s dad defended Munich’s central hospital during the Imperial Exile Incident in ’19, but what do you think that man, his superior officer, was doing? The entire country was shaken by the emperor’s exile, but he was out buttering up those pompous politicians. And once the Geheimnis Agency was established, he was so scared of the rumors that he hid in the military and used his family name to gain social status.” “…” “Why do that? For himself. Those aren’t the actions of a Neue Kavalier.” He smiled bitterly. “Maybe what happened 2 years ago was his punishment for that. Having to hand over his own family to the military’s 2nd Heidengeist Crackdown, I mean. As an example to the people serving this country, he threw out his own wife and daughter.” Alfred took a step forward and raised Rein König before his eyes. “Four years ago, I fought a guy much like that and lost someone. I promised her I would…” He hesitated a few moments before saying it in a self-deprecating way. “…become the strongest.” He opened his left hand. He wore a woman’s ring on the middle finger. A red gem sparkled there. “I must defeat everyone I come across. That is why I reached for this Rein König and why I had Marsch turn my voice into an Eingeweide component.” “It is a shame what Sir Marsch did.” “It sure is. Do you get it, Nein? I’ve waited two years – two years – after losing Marsch.” He took a breath and clenched his left hand. “All so I can defeat destiny.” ### Part 7 A task was completed at the bottom of the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. The light down there cast shadows that gave the bottom of the pit depth. The sky sat overhead, the work was carefully organized, water was drained, and a large slab was uncovered at the bottom. A misshapen concrete slab covered the bottom of the hole. It was about 40 yards in each direction and looked like a giant lid. Two men stood atop it now: the site supervisor and the site commander. The commander looked down to the concrete at his feet and kicked lightly at the bumps. “I never imagined P Wagner’s lab was hiding something like this beneath it. This looks like a floor, but it’s actually a portion of a ceiling. This is an underground room.” “It is hollow inside. Our acoustic survey says it is not filled with water.” The site supervisor pointed east. The slab grew narrower as it extended in that direction, but still maintained a width of around 20 yards when it vanished into the hole’s wall. The room narrowed into a corridor as it extended in that direction. “Where does that lead?” “That direction leads to the shrine that predates the discovery of the pit.” “You mean it goes all the way there? So is this an escape route from the lab to the shrine?” “That is one interpretation, but look at this.” The site supervisor crouched down and rubbed at the concrete slab to clear away the dust. A white color was mixed into the concrete like whitecaps. “This has rocks in it, including some very large ones. This isn’t like the other concrete rooms that used rebar.” “What does that mean?” “This room might be part of the original hole reinforced from within using concrete. You do that when excavating ruins. With a home or cave made of stone, you cover the inner walls with concrete to reinforce them.” “Then this isn’t part of P Wagner’s lab? It was already here?” The commander looked to the ceiling of the passageway extending east and chose his words carefully. “So the passageway to the shrine at the base of the mountain and this space are much older and P Wagner happened across it by chance when building his lab on top?” “Yes, he must have wanted to preserve this place, so he reinforced it and then left it intact when he destroyed his lab.” The commander thought about that for a moment and smiled. “What’s inside? Could we use that eastward passageway to get in through the shrine? With a 20-yard width, the entrance has to be pretty noticeable.” “Remember how there’s a giant stone at that shrine in front of the rock face?” “So that stone I poured drinks on is sealing something inside?” “If the legends are to be believed, it’s sealing a dragon.” The site supervisor laughed and stood up. “Or to put it another way, whatever’s inside might just blow that stone away.” He looked up toward the round slice of the night sky visible far overhead. “But either that all happened centuries ago or we managed to get this far down without breaking the seal. Either way, it is our duty to dig further.” “I see. Then we have no choice but to open this room.” He lowered his gaze again to the floor – to that ancient space more recently reinforced. ### 529. Chapter 4: The Wheel Accelerates 07/28/1939 09:11 – 20:18 We have a future because we have a past But some people hide their past Do I do that? Or can I coexist with my past? ### World War One A European war that began in 1912 with the assassination of an Austrian Archduke and ended in 1919. The most notable features of the war were the conscription of ordinary citizens for international war, the largescale battles, and the many new weapons introduced to the battlefield. A soldier no longer needed to be a great warrior to slaughter great numbers in war. Germany’s forces were focused on Panzers, but they were pushed back by the organized destructive power of tanks, fighter craft, machineguns, and field guns. They were forced to reconsider what armaments they used and the Panzer Kavaliers lost their prestige. Influenced by the Russian Revolution that occurred during the war, a coup d’état broke out among the soldiers and the rise of the ordinary citizens led to division and the ultimate end of the war. As the commander in chief and a symbol of the old order, Kaiser Wilhelm II feared a reprisal from the ordinary citizens after the war, so he fled the country in what is known as the Emperor’s Exile. ### Part 1 Mornings began early in a hospital. That was especially true for Munich’s central hospital. By 9AM, the inpatients had all finished their breakfast and the outpatients became the main focus. The hospital was made from five 4-story buildings measuring 100 yards long, so the interior was much like a labyrinth. The hallways were built wide to allow rolling beds to pass each other and the windows were large to let in plenty of natural light, so this massive multilayer labyrinth was designed with healing in mind. Three sets of footsteps rang loud through the hallway filled with older patients and doctors. The one walking in the lead was Bermark Vier, a pencil of a man with a relaxed expression and the black coat of the Geheimnis Agency. Two enormous men walked behind him. The bald one with a fully prosthetic body below the black coat was Graham Karlsruhe. Walking behind Graham’s clanking metal feet was Schweitzer. He held his removed coat and his eyes took in his surroundings as he walked. The large window to their right showed a courtyard surrounded by hospital buildings on all sides. The courtyard contained a grassy lawn and black cedars chosen for the amount of sunlight the area received. A few patients were walking through it, chatting pleasantly. Schweitzer heard Graham’s voice while he viewed the courtyard. “Lieutenant, how do you like the hospital your father protected?” “He did not protect this hospital,” plainly stated Schweitzer. “From what I heard, he allowed most of the patients to escape but failed to hold back the rioters and was killed.” “Keep your head up, Lieutenant. I can hear your voice sinking.” Graham did not look back. “Your job today is to protect me. Do not forget that.” “Yes, sir.” After the briefest of pauses, Schweitzer picked up his pace. An old woman among the patients saluted the three of them and he nodded back before moving on ahead. Graham met his increased pace with words. “My memories tell me your father destroyed the empty hospital to create a barrier and even smashed the earth below it to protect the people. He fought the rioters, but he refused to use any weapons and killed none of them.” “…” “Among the patients he protected were a woman of the Naylor family that would go on to lead the Geheimnis Agency, and my own sister Rose.” Schweitzer kept his legs moving as he listened. “I no longer possess emotions, but I still sense the necessity of that act. You have my thanks, heir of Schweitzer.” “You honor me.” He bowed and raised his head again to see Bermark taking a left turn at the intersection of halls up ahead. That took them away from the sunny courtyard. “It appears Lieutenant General Heiliger has already arrived,” said Bermark. Graham nodded and followed, his prosthetic feet clanking on the tiled floor. “Bermark, I heard Heiliger accompanied you as far as the HQ. Did my brother-” “You will meet him shortly. It is a shame that your positions prevent you from meeting anywhere other than this.” “The relationship between the Geheimnis Agency, the government, and the military is exceedingly complex.” “Only because the current age demanded it. After the war, the Geheimnis Agency was created with a Naylor family Sofort Leser in the lead and with you as one of its Fünf Leithammel. …Lieutenant General Heiliger accepted his position as an intermediary between the Geheimnis Agency and both the government and military, so he relinquished his position as a Neue Kavalier, married a Heidengeist, and enlisted in the military.” Graham said nothing, so only Bermark’s emotionless voice filled the hallway. “Someone like him is necessary to bridge the gap between the Neue Kavaliers of the Geheimnis Agency and the common citizens of the government and military. If not for him, someone else would have taken the position.” “Bermark, I detect no emotion in your explanation.” “How can you understand emotion with that Psyche Outer device installed?” “If your explanation contained emotion, I would find it incomprehensible.” Graham explained. “Now, Bermark, the Lieutenant told me on the ride here that you had an emotional response to the Messiah girl, Hazel Mirildorf. Was that because she is your future master?” “She was polite with me and I merely returned the favor.” The hallway came to an end up ahead. The great metal door there covered the full width of the hallway. Schweitzer watched as Bermark turned around. Then Bermark took a step aside, toward the wall. A pair of metallic feet clanked forward to take his place. It was Graham. He faced the massive metal door with his back to Schweitzer. “This land is near the Black Forest, where Germany had its true beginning a thousand years ago. The Unreif Germane tells us the Messiah and the divinely-named one-armed young man were served by four Neue Kavaliers: Naylor, Karlsruhe, Borderson, and Maldrick.” Schweitzer nodded. You could find that information in children’s picture books. But Graham was not done. “My ancestor, Karlsruhe, made a demand in return for his service: a way to save this land from the Word Plague that ran rampant at the time. This and the Neuschwanstein hospital you saved are remnants of that.” “…” “At Neuschwanstein, they built a lab for creating prosthetic parts like my brother’s Tragisch. Here at Munich, they built a cold storage facility to preserve terminal Word Plague patients.” Schweitzer frowned at that. The words pushed out from his mouth. “How did they have such advanced technology back then?” “I do not know. Perhaps it was a remnant of the Obstacle Era and perhaps it was Ober Geheimnis. But now that we know how to cure the Word Plague, the facility has been given a different use.” Graham coughed. It was a quiet cough, but it came from deep in the lungs. He forced it down with a breath and reached his right hand to the door. “Many of my Karlsruhe bloodline come down with this disease. Not even taking a prosthetic body is enough to fully suppress Words Warn, so the patients are preserved here.” Then the door moved. Upwards. “Behold that which your father protected, Lieutenant.” The rising door revealed a stairway leading down into a black abyss void of light. ### Part 2 They descended the long, dark stairway. Schweitzer could not see, but he did hear a door opening ahead of him and closing behind him a few times along the way. They said nothing and time seemed to lose all meaning. Until… “?” The feel of the air suddenly changed. He looked up to find the ceiling was much further overhead. Even in the darkness, he could tell they had entered a large hall. “Where are we?” he asked, noting the border between the hallway and hall ceiling. The hall had a diameter of around 20 yards and the edge of the ceiling was installed with a box containing giant metal shutters. Someone had opened the door while keeping the hall dark. And then… “Good to see you again, my dear bigger brother,” said a soprano voice. “A year is much too long.” And… “––––!?” The hall filled with light. White marble walls reflected the ceiling lights to illuminate everything. The floor contained an orderly arrangement of 2-yard holes filled with water and two people stood in the very center of the hall. One was Heiliger Karlsruhe, an enormous man in a German Air Force uniform with prosthetic arms. The other was a fair-skinned girl. Her skin, the gentle waves of her long hair, and her dress were all a bright white. The only other color was the blue of her smiling eyes. Schweitzer gasped when he saw her. His lips moved to form a name, but his voice never came. Whether or not she noticed how he felt, she made a sound of her own. She ran forward, albeit slowly. With the delicate gait and pace of a girl in her early teens, her feet lightly slapped the floor to rush past Bermark and reach Graham. She did not stop. He did not even crouch or bend over to catch her. “I’ve been waiting for two hours, so I was just telling my big brother that I thought you weren’t coming!” “Did you think we had reversed the usual arrangement, where I visit you and Heiliger remains at the HQ?” “Yes, yes. I did. But…” She glanced back toward Heiliger before looking up at Graham once more. “I thought you might have gotten into another fight. I’m glad to see I was wrong. If only Alfred hadn’t said that last year.” Schweitzer reacted to that with raised eyebrows and a question. “Alfred?” “Yes, he has visited me for the past three years. He is so skilled and my bigger brother favors him. Once I met him, I took a liking to him as well.” She poked her head out around Graham to view Schweitzer as she spoke. She made no attempt to hide the unease on her face. “Who are you?” Heiliger’s response boomed through the hall. “He is Hellard Schweitzer, son of the Schweitzer who protected you here 20 years ago. He has inherited the Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer.” Her face lit up when she heard that. “Oh,” she smiled. “You’re that child who never even cried at his funeral!” “Hm?” She stepped out from behind Graham and ran over to Schweitzer. She crouched, grabbed the frilly hem of her dress, and curtsied. “I am Rose Karlsruhe, eldest daughter of the Karlsruhe family.” She straightened up, widened her somewhat narrow eyes, and looked up at him with a smile. “Incredible! I doubt you remember since it was 20 years ago for you, but it was only a month ago for me. Hard to believe such a small child grew up to be so big!” She took his biological hand in her left hand. “Thank you so much! Your father saved us all!” She swept her right hand to the side and pointed at the white glowing wall before twirling. “Can you see it? You can, can’t you, Schallmauer Zerstörer? When your father protected this place, Lady Naylor and I were in here, but…but that’s not all!” The wall she pointed to reflected the light in a complex way. Something was carved there. “Those are the names and the legacies of those who went to sleep here a thousand years ago and eventually awoke.” Rose took her eyes off of Schweitzer to view the wall just like he was. “Do you understand? These carvings are not just art; they are blueprints. The knowledge of those who slept here for centuries will occasionally become the Ober Geheimnis of the age in which they awaken. They leave their past knowledge here and then depart to live in that age.” A breath. “It is said England’s god created a fount of knowledge in heaven, but this is the same! All of the knowledge that has supported Germany can be found here!” “Unfortunately, most of it either cannot be understood or cannot be reproduced with our current level of technology,” said Graham. Schweitzer sighed. “Are you saying my father protected Germany from the leakage and destruction of all this knowledge?” His head rose in sudden realization. “Wait, did Marsch know about this?” “He visited here once at the request of Development Division Chief Elrich. It is impossible to know what he learned here, but his results afterwards were impressive.” Schweitzer nodded and looked down at Der Held. A slight frown twisted his face. Just then, he felt a tug on his left hand. By Rose. She was tugging on it with both her delicate hands. Urging him toward the hallway – to leave this place. “Let’s go, my brothers. You too, Lieutenant. Today is such an important day. It is the one day a year I am awake and can spend time with everyone. And the one day I can see how Nibelung, the Wheel of Ruin is turning.” “The Wheel of…Ruin?” Rose did not answer his question, but she did continue with a smile. “Today is the day I learn whether I will gain a new body or if this one will be destroyed. But through that, I also learn if Nibelung has begun to turn! And…” She looked up at him. “I just know it will be an important day for the Schallmauer Zerstörer and the Kaiser Schwert!” She tugged on his hand and began walking, but he looked back behind him. Graham had begun to walk and Bermark followed. Past those two, Heiliger alone remained where he was. “…” Schweitzer looked away from him to view the hall instead. The engravings on the wall shined in the bright lights from the ceiling. He viewed the reflection of all that precious knowledge that still kept so many secrets from them. ### Part 3 The sky above was a bright blue. The ground below was covered by a dark cedar forest. A deserted road ran through the center of the forest. Roads around the country had been reinforced while the autobahn was constructed. The road signs depicted tanks or military trucks and they all provided the maximum weight for the bridges over the rivers. Follow this north-south road to the mountainous region to the south and you would arrive in Munich. On the way south, the slope became more apparent, the rivers narrower, and the road signs fewer and farther between. The scenery also changed. Once at Nuremburg, less than 60 miles from Munich, the area was entirely taken over by forest. The road crossed an endless series of gentle hills surrounded by dark cedars. The air was fresh, the road was wide, and route was straight. The dark asphalt stretched endlessly through the black and green of the forest. A single motorcycle drove along that strip of pavement. The 750cc BMW had a sidecar attached and Berger sat in the driver’s seat wearing a black coat. He wore no helmet and he no longer had a glove on his left hand. The new prosthetic arm had a noticeable metallic glint. Hazel rubbed her eyes sleepily inside the sidecar attached on the right. Their speed created considerable wind. She tightened her collar and held her left shoulder. The blanket slipped down to the seat, so she had to hold it in place. She looked over and up at Berger while the moving motorcycle shook. “Good morning. Um, what time is it?” “There’s a clock under your seat,” he replied without taking his eyes off the road. Her shoulders drooped at his answer, but she still reached her right hand below the seat. “There’s an awful lot of trash under here.” “Of course there is. That’s my trashcan. After I eat or have some other trash, I chuck it in there. I might not look it, but I like to take good care of nature.” “Th-then, um, uh, what is this stickiness I feel down here?” Her face stiffened and she pulled her hand out with something dark on her fingers. “Eek!” “Don’t scream, idiot. That’s just oil. For the seat’s springs.” He laughed and she looked up to see him remove his left hand from the handlebar and pull out a pocket watch. “Hm.” He nodded and returned it to his pocket. “A watch,” she muttered after watching the process play out. “Um, but you said…” “I never said I didn’t have one too.” “You’re mean.” “So you’ve told me. Kids don’t have a wide vocabulary. If you want to sound grown up, find something else to call me.” She pulled a paper handkerchief from her breast pocket, wiped her hand with it, and draped the blanket over the seat and floor. Then she glanced over at Berger again. “You really aren’t very nice, you know?” “Oh? That’s different at least. Keep it up.” “Then I will. You don’t look away when I’m naked and you didn’t try to help me. You really are awful. How can you stay so calm when someone needs help?” “You think I want to see some flat-chested kid? Listen, Hazel. A boring body is like meat that won’t sell at the butcher. There’s no point in covering it up and it’s not worth buying. Remember that.” “Th-then what? I just need a bigger chest?” “Don’t simplify, Hazel Mirildorf. The issue is more complex than that. Are you willing to say that a large and hairy chest is best?” She gave that some serious thought before responding. “Oh, I have my fur when I’m a cat, so I actually have that.” “Um…why do you sound so delighted?” He sounded annoyed and she could see yellowish Tons surrounding him. … Is he enjoying this? The Tons soon disappeared, leaving her no way of determining what they meant. She sighed. “I swear I’m not letting you see me naked next time we meet. And you had better not complain about it.” “Sure thing, fräulein. I hope we do get to see each other again.” His casual tone was a relief. … Fräulein. That was what they called her at her school in America. She just about lost herself in thought about that, but she shook her head. “Um.” “Yeah?” … You saw me naked and didn’t try to help me, so… “Why did you come back last night?” “When I checked your luggage, I found something odd mixed in with the tragically small underwear: three test tubes. I wanted to ask you what you were doing with those here in Germany.” “R-really? That’s really the only reason you came back?” “Do you think I’d tell you if it wasn’t, Hazel?” He kept a straight face and she had no rebuttal. Instead, she thought for a bit and filled the silence with a different question. “Have you been driving this entire time? We’re almost to Munich, aren’t we?” “We’re making a one-night trip from Berlin to Munich and then west to Donaueschingen at the entrance of the Black Forest. That’s around 400 miles and we have 210 miles to go. It’s a pretty insane distance to try to drive so quickly.” Realizing her alternate question had not been much better, her shoulders drooped. “Sorry.” “Don’t sweat it, Hazel. I’m the only one that old upperclassman of mine gives these absurd tasks to. The official AIF force led by ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse is preparing for its first mission, yet that guy calls in a hired hand like me without giving me any training. …Because he knows I can handle it.” “But…” “But nothing, Hazel. If your apologies can make the motorcycle move faster, then keep it up.” He laughed bitterly. “Then again, the coins I was gonna give you are paying for this trip, so in a way, you really saved my ass here.” “What coins?” “The innkeeper gave me some imperial coins when we parted ways at Leipzig, remember? He was actually supposed to give them to you when you reached France. They were to fund your vacation in the Closed City.” “Why…to me?” He smiled. “So you can dress up some. Why did cut you that pretty hair of yours? And why do you always look so tense? Were the American kids at your new school bullying you?” He kept smiling. “Unlike two years ago, I think it’s my turn to ask. Hazel, what do you want to be?” “You already know that. I want to learn Tuning or Busting.” “No, you don’t. That wasn’t what you wanted before you met Sylphide and before you got that brand on your shoulder, was it?” She hesitated to respond, but she finally shook her head with her shoulders tensed. “No…it wasn’t.” “Listen, Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. You’re a normal girl living in America. The Messiah still isn’t working because you don’t need that power anymore. Think of that as a lucky break.” He sighed. “You can go back to who you used to be. Abandon all that Tune-Bust stuff. …Or do you want to fight in a war?” “But I…I didn’t want to run away two years ago. And like I said last night, I want to do something. My father is against it, but you, my teacher, and everyone else are working so hard.” “You need more than words, Hazel. You failed to deliver a single letter and you’re a target. You can’t just fall back on ‘wanting to do something’.” “But, but…not running away means to fight and to fight means for someone to die, doesn’t it? Then I want to do something…something else.” “Childish idealism.” The words silenced her. “Remember this, Hazel. You can’t just want to do something. You’re free to want to save someone or to kill someone, but you need more than that.” “What is it I lack?” “See, you don’t even know what you need. If you did, last night wouldn’t have happened. They kneeled before you and you had no idea what to do. …You just didn’t want to run away, but you didn’t fight either. Did you accomplish anything else from that?” … Oh. A new thought came to her, carrying regret, but it was cut off by his quiet laughter. “Still, you did better than 2 years ago where you just let them take you away. …The Geheimnis Agency is pretty scary, aren’t they? Most of those Neue Kavaliers are mindless drones who let their master do all the thinking. That you found that frightening means-” He stopped there. “Forget it. Wouldn’t want to give you an ego.” He twisted the accelerator as the road crossed a hill and began a short descent. She pressed her butt into the seat against the sensation of falling forward. “Wh-what were you going to say that would give me an ego?” The road sloped back upwards. The motorcycle was stable, so she placed her hands on the edge of the seat and looked up at him in the wind. But he did not look back her way as he replied. “Hazel. Knowing you, you’ll figure it out on your own eventually. You can get back to America, forget all about war, and take your time thinking through it. …Don’t try to rush it.” She ducked down when she saw him twist the accelerator further. Instead of wind, the acceleration felt more like a wall of air growing thicker and more powerful. Spotting a bluish-white shimmer in the distant sky, some words pushed out from her mouth. “The wind is coming.” Then a gust blew in from the front, shaking the motorcycle. Berger leaned forward to push down on the handlebars. Her sidecar floated up a bit, and… “It’s ending.” The wind vanished and the sidecar’s wheel contacted the road again. They continued onward. He let out a sigh and looked her way for the first time since she woke up. Her eyes met his and her heart pounded when she realized there was no smile or anything else in his eyes. “Wh-what?” “Does your eye let you do that? The broken Messiah, I mean.” “I think so. I must have learned the trick to reading wind Tons while I was with the Sylphide.” “How strange. The Panzerpolis Project is nearing completion and last night suggests the Geheimnis Agents and some of the military can already use the Erklärung.” He sighed. “But you, the prophesied Messiah, can’t use it. All you can do is give a weather forecast.” “A weather forecast? Um…” “Head back to America, find yourself a husband, have 4 or 5 kids, and go hiking with your family. Or become a schoolteacher. That ability is best used on fieldtrips. Mountain weather is fickle, after all. Yes, you can be the PTA’s Field Trip Messiah.” His casual suggestions made her stare for a bit, but then she sighed. “Never mind. I’m going back to sleep. Wake me when we arrive, my canine driver.” She shut her eyes and definitely heard him laugh. She did not open her eyes again, but hear ears picked up the tempo of the Ton. It was light, almost like the jingle of a small bell. It was quiet, but that meant he was trying to hide the Ton. … He never lets anything show. She then spoke in English with her eyes still shut. “Um, Mr. Berger? Are you listening?” “What is it?” “When I was taken from school 2 years ago, we were in the middle of writing down our plans for the future to turn in to our teacher.” “Do you remember what you wrote?” “I was taken away before I wrote mine. Because I had never really thought about my future and did not know what to write. She tried to keep her tone cheerful, but he was not smiling when he responded. “You’re pretty strait-laced. Something like a teacher might suit you pretty well.” “You really think so?” “It’s not my decision, Hazel. The entire point is for you to choose. If you manage that, there might be some hope for you after all.” Then she heard him sing. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates That was the 3rd Section of Daily Life from the Unreif Germane. He sang it smoothly, matching the tempo of the wind and the joy. Hazel smiled when she applied the lyrics and title to herself. This time, she really did decide to go to sleep. There was so much she still did not know, but… … Unlike 2 years ago, the Tons tell me so much now. She sank down into the seat with a sigh of relief and fell asleep once more. The wind was blowing gently. ### Part 4 The front lobby of the Geheimnis Agency HQ’s central building was wrapped in the stillness of evening. The setting sun shined in through the skylight and large windows. With no one around, the white floor tiles were all colored scarlet. The lobby was a 40-yard room with four stone pillars to hold up the tall ceiling. Sofas were placed around the base of the pillars and along the walls, but… “Are you kidding me? I finish my Grösse Panzer’s test run and head back to get some sleep, but they put out an emergency summons?” The voice came from the base of the southeast pillar. Two people sat in the circular sofa there, awash with scarlet light: Alfred and Schweitzer. Alfred leaned forward with his head in his hands. “I use a plane to rush here from Base #8 in only 15 minutes, but now I have to wait?” “I am waiting too, Alfred.” Schweitzer leaned back in the sofa, his head against the pillar. “I already met Lady Rose today, so what else could one day hold?” “The first Gard-class being constructed at Base #8 goes into service a week from now, so maybe it’s a rehearsal celebration for that.” “You do not rehearse celebrations. Besides, the celebration is not until the other seven being constructed elsewhere are complete.” Schweitzer looked up at the ceiling. “War is coming. Once the Panzerpolis Project is in effect, do you really think those Gard-class warships will become the foundation of our air defense?” “The experimental Babel Kanone at Base #16 up north is ready for use and the Development Division in Berlin has proven the theory behind the city-defense Himmelsschild. With those two things, that impressive ship will prevent any country’s aerial warships and bombers from defiling Germany’s skies.” “I heard it is an Eingeweide. Do you know who will be piloting it?” “I know it isn’t you or me. To be honest, I can’t even guess. …Marsch developed the thing, right? Then I imagine it will be named after that disk Eryngium had.” Schweitzer heard Alfred continue with a “but”. “That would mean we were called here about something else.” “So many questions. And I still haven’t even visited that dig site.” “Do you know what they’ve been digging through the night to get at, Hellard?” “The remains of P. Wagner’s lab. The military essentially built that lab to spite us and then the Kaizerburg was developed there.” “What do they hope to accomplish digging that up? There might be some design documents, but we already developed the Sylphide. Granted, Marsch was not much for documentation, so we still can’t reproduce a lot of the parts. Still, we’ve recovered all the Sylphide’s components and we’ve started constructing a new and improved Eingeweide warship.” Hearing that, Schweitzer crossed his arms. Der Held’s cylinders audibly worked to skillfully cross itself with his biological left arm in front of his chest. “There are too many unknowns.” He kept his eyes on the ceiling. “Apparently those two would gather like this every year and I hear you were visiting Lady Rose with them. Did you not pick up on anything this could be about?” “His Excellency gave me an independent unit, but that’s all he let me do. Did he or his aide tell you anything during your visit today?” They exchanged a glance, but Alfred reached an answer in only a few seconds. “I guess two incompetent fools who only know how to attack or defend can’t find the answer here.” “Indeed…hm?” Schweitzer stood up after noticing Lowenzahn entering the lobby from the north hallway. Her long, braided hair swayed as she pushed a silver cart of food. “Lowenzahn!” He stood up and called her name. She looked over, but she kept pushing the cart and only turned her head his way. She hopped up onto the bottom of the cart to ride its inertia. Only then did she give him a businesslike wave. “Sorry, Captain! I’m a little busy, so maybe later!” She and the cart slid right on into the eastern hallway. “Oops!” Her voice and a metallic crash echoed out from the hallway. “She’s just as bland as she was three years ago,” said Alfred with his eyes on the hallway entrance. “Describe her like food and she’s liable to kick you to the floor.” She was on the way to the mess hall and Schweitzer could see Alfred still looking that way. “I get that the mess is busy this time of day, Schweitzer, but is she always like that?” “No, I’ve never seen her bring that thing out of the storeroom before.” “I see,” said Alfred, standing up. He lifted Rein König from the sofa and pointed it toward the hallway Lowenzahn had used. “We should go check on her. And if she’s fine…” He thought for a moment. “We can grab a bite to eat.” He started in that direction without even looking back. Schweitzer shrugged in an exasperated way and followed after him. He was a head taller and had a longer stride, so he caught up quickly. “Speaking of His Excellency’s sister, Lady Rose-” “Reminds you of Eryngium, doesn’t she? Even if she has a different hair color and personality.” Alfred cut Schweitzer off. “That Messiah girl you met two years ago is a closer match for Eryngium’s personality. They both said they didn’t want to run away, right?” Alfred’s tone was light, but Schweitzer noticed the man’s right hand was not moving as he walked. He was gripping Rein König so tight the hand had gone white. Schweitzer lowered his head a little to hide a small smile. But a moment later, it was gone. Once he raised his head, there was only strength on his face. The enormous bearer of Der Held quickened his pace. The two of them walked side by side as they entered the hallway. The hallway was a little darker than the scarlet lobby. The lobby’s somewhat warm air was replaced by a still and stagnant air. And… “Sorry about the wait, you two.” An almost fussily emotionless voice reached them from the center of the hallway. They came to a stop and saw a pencil of a man standing 10 yards away in the hallway leading to the mess hall. Bermark Vier stood aloofly in the hallway, the black of his coat apparent even in the dim light. Finally, he gave a deep bow. “Are you ready?” “Yes,” said Schweitzer, but Alfred stepped forward before they could say more. “Could you hurry it up?” “This hallway to the left, please.” “The left? But this hallway only leads straight to the mess. Right, Hellard?” “Is that so?” Bermark turned to his right and their left. There was indeed a hallway there. One the other two had never before seen. Bermark’s voice seemed to ignore all of their thoughts. “A castle always has its secrets.” Alfred answered that with a quiet laugh. He walked up to Bermark and Schweitzer followed a moment later. “What will we find down there?” asked both men at once. “Our leader’s office,” replied Bermark with no discernable expression. “The Naylor family Sofort Leser who runs our Geheimnis Agency has granted you an audience. She says the time has come to meet the two of you.” ### Part 5 The land known as the Black Forest was of course black during the night. Not just dark, but black. The sky above looked brighter. Heidengeists and gods had once lived in that land and humans had needed to coexist with them to survive. Paved roads now ran through that place and humans could come and go with some freedom. Hazel was currently in the mountains a short distance from a mountain road that wound through that vast land. Black was all she could see. The starlight from above was the only source of light. That bluish-white starlight had to filter through the leaves overhead before it reached her, so she could only make out the faintest outlines of her surroundings. She was lying at the base of a cedar tree. She was in a sleeping bag, but she was not asleep. The hard ground below her back was not helping there, but she had also napped during the day and it was too early for sleep. “It was only 8 earlier, wasn’t it?” “She stuck a hand out from the sleeping bag. It held the pocket watch she had borrowed from Berger. She used her nails to open the cover and she gasped at the unexpectedly loud noise. After a few seconds she glanced around (even though she could barely see) and sighed. Then she viewed the glow-in-the-dark clockface. “8:10.” … I could have sworn I’d been here for around two hours. The forest’s night was entirely silent. Her sense of time was entirely thrown off. She shut the pocket watch and rolled over onto her stomach. She propped herself up on her shoulders to look around. The new pose let her see something she had not seen while on her back. “…” Berger was sleeping there. He was sleeping with his back against the trunk of the tree and his arms around a raised knee. He too had a sleeping bag, but it was half unzipped and only his lower legs were inside it. That way he could take action at a moment’s notice. He did have his black coat over his shoulders to keep him warm. The chest of the coat looked oddly bulky because he was holding Gelegenheit. He had removed his sunglasses and the exhaustion on his face was plain to see. She only noticed how tired he looked now that the bluish-white starlight was shining down on him. … He was driving all night. No, for an entire day. He had a mission: attack a Geheimnis Agency base and sink the aerial warship under construction there. “The AIF…the world’s first independent military force funded only by corporate sponsors.” She knew the AIF was the Antiwar Independent Force, a group with divisions around the world who swiftly and covertly dealt with any problems that might lead to international conflict. They were still short on money and personnel. People she assumed were with the AIF often came to meet her father. Most of them were former German citizens and some had been women. She had caught bits and pieces of conversation when serving them their tea. The things she heard there never turned up in the newspapers or on the radio. “…” She thought back to the Sylphide Incident from two years ago. That had never been revealed to the public either. … It took flight to fulfill the Messiah’s prophecy and it accomplished that. And yet… She suddenly held a hand to her right eye. “The Messiah implant was destroyed afterwards and it hasn’t recovered.” She raised her head to look at Berger’s left arm, which was hard to make out in the blackness of the forest. Then she heard a rustling from the foliage around her. “…?” Doubt filled her and then a howl erupted behind her. “––––!!” An animal’s extended “uh” or “oh” rang on and on toward the heavens. It was a wolf. A pack of them. “Eek.” She cried out, grabbed her left shoulder, and cowered down. She was glad she had rolled onto her stomach. As a Werecat, lying on her back before an enemy was a sign of submission and helplessness. The next howl sounded closer. Her feline instincts feared the canine cry. Barely a moment later, she heard another animal cry, but from a different location. They howled. They roared. They growled. The many bestial noises broke the Black Forest’s silence. The howls took on a set rhythm and crashed down on her like waves. She felt like something was about to pounce on her. … Wh-what is this? She could tell her pulse was racing. A moment later, her body obeyed its instincts and began the Flektieren transformation. “––––!?” She knew she shouldn’t let it happen, but it was too late. As her body’s Tons rearranged, air blew out and exploded inside her sleeping bag. The blast of air sent her tumbling out of the sleeping bag as a kitten. Her legs dragged her somewhat torn clothes and underwear with her. “Why?” she tried to say, but it came out as a meow. Her choker now dangled down as a collar and she skillfully extricated herself from her own clothing before walking and tumbling some more. She was still surrounded by the waves of howling. As a cat, her night vision had improved and she could make out a few forms moving through the surrounding forest. “U-um, uh.” Everything she said came out as quiet mews. The howling harmony drowned it all out. Her fear won out over her hesitation. She practically leaped forward as she ran toward Berger. She scrambled up his leg to his hip. She moved to the hem of the black coat draped over him and desperately rubbed her chin against his hip. … Wake up, wake up, wake up! She was desperate enough to beg, but the response arrived far too leisurely for her liking. He finally opened his eyes. Part of the way. “!” She called his name half in tears of joy. That too became a meow, but he looked around with sleepy eyes. The howls were surrounded by the forest and the mountains. His eyes stopped on a single point. Confused, she tilted her head and looked in that direction. An unusually large form was in the black of the forest there. Standing 2.5 yards tall, it was as large as bear. It stood in the bushes not 5 yards away. She could tell it was not just a tree or a hill because of the single point of light where its face would be. … Is that the glint of an eye? The only one-eyed creatures she knew of were a type of giant that had a small population in the Aerial City. One of them would have been even bigger, so this was something else. She gasped when she saw the way the silver light gathered around the figure’s outline. … What is that? Fur? She had no idea what it was, but she knew it was looking at her while the wolves howled. “…” Silent with fear, she nestled against Berger. He pulled a hand out from below the black coat and held her close. … Oh. As a cat, she was even softer than normal and she was pressed against his body. She was relieved to feel his warmth through the clothing. She calmed her breathing and looked up at him with her heterochromatic eyes. He turned his sleepy eyes toward the figure standing in the forest. His lips slowly moved. “Quiet those things down, idiot.” It sounded like a casual comment, but his voice rang clear through all the howling. “…” The figure in front of them smiled. Or so it seemed. No, she had seen the Ton tempo of a small smile spill out from the figure. “!?” By the time she wondered what that was about, it was too late. The figure was gone. It had leaped away. And… “…?” The wolf howling also vanished. All she could hear was a rustling of the underbrush, branches snapping underfoot, and dozens of padding feet, all growing more distant by the moment. She looked around as it faded away until it was gone. … What was that? No one could answer her question, but she heard Berger speaking while half asleep. “C’mon…how many times do I have to tell you not to wake me up?” She tilted her head in his arm. “He’s never told me that.” Her voice only came out as a small mew, so he did not respond. Instead, he pinched her behind the neck and lifted her up. She considered struggling, but his grip was weak and she could tell he was still half asleep. If she struggled, she would slip from his grasp and fall. She silently let him take over. He roughly pulled aside the black coat and held her to his chest with his right hand. Then he pulled the sleeping bag up over him with his mechanical left hand. He zipped it up to his chest and lay on his back. Only her head stuck out from the sleeping bag. She looked up to see his face there. “…” He was already falling asleep, so she sighed while viewing his stubbly face. She adjusted her position in his hand, getting herself to lie on her stomach while pressed against his chest. Then her front right paw caught on something with a metallic clink. “?” She saw a woman’s pendant next to her face with the locket portion sitting open. … That’s the red jewel pendant he always wears. “I shouldn’t look inside.” She reached out her front right paw to close the pendant, but she could not get her claws on it well enough with just one paw and the pendant rolled. The stars illuminated the inside of the pendant, giving her the view she had been trying to avoid. She saw the single photograph contained within. It was an old scrap from a larger photo. … That’s a lot like Marsch Gant’s photo I saw in the Sylphide. There were clear differences, however. The background was Tempelhof Air Base, just like the one in the Sylphide, but the people in the photo were different. One was a black-haired young man and the other was a brown-haired woman. They were both smiling. She stopped breathing for a moment. And… “Sorry.” She felt guilty for having seen it, so she apologized, despite how meaningless it was. Then she more calmly reached out her front paw and shut the pendant. The process allowed more light in, giving her a better look at the photo. The woman’s narrow eyes were bent in a smile, but they were clearly cat eyes. She was a Werecat. Hazel slowly shut the pendant while her eyes met with another member of her species. “Oh.” She sighed. … Is that why it never gets to him? He’s done this before. “Dealt with a girl like me, I mean.” She shut her eyes while deciding to never tell anyone what she had seen. ### 530. Chapter 5: The Wheel Races 07/28/1939 21:42 – 23:21 There are people I have never met There are worlds I have never seen And now They appear before me Suddenly and forcefully ### AIF The Antiwar Independent Force. Established in 1934. Originated as a civilian intelligence agency funded to keep tabs on Europe by some capitalists who moved to the US to escape the tension in Europe and learned that Sofort Lesers around the world had prophesied the imminent destruction of the world. The situations they found often required taking direct action and they received corporate sponsors seeking to receive intelligence from European governments and militaries, so they secretly established a combat force meant to correct the world’s power balance. Their role is to seal away Ober Geheimnis – relics and technologies from a previous world – and to deter any excessive military actions or rampant war profiteering. This force was established in ’37, but the process of putting together an actual force and working out the internal command structure meant they could not reveal the force’s presence to the governments, militaries, and corporations they worked with until ’39. Their main force was primarily made up of Heidengeists and, in ’39, they held a training ground in the US state of Arizona with enough ground and aerial troops for four divisions. ### Part 1 Schweitzer and Alfred walked down a wide, dark stone hallway. Their clothing was torn and their skin was marred by a few scratches and bloodstains. Their footsteps sounded wet. The ground was flooded up to their ankles. Around 6 hours had passed since they started down the hallway indicated by Bermark. It had sloped down, sloped up, and curved every which way, but they still had not reached the end. Alfred walked out in front and he did not slow his pace as he asked a question. “Hellard, what do you make of this? That juvenile dragon we ran across at the start seemed awfully real, but the great serpent after that seemed fake to me. I’d say the three creatures after that were real, but what about that one just now?” “I think it does not matter.” “Agreed. …Although in children’s stories, the illusions fade away and you reach your destination once you identify them as such.” Schweitzer sighed. “I doff my cap to your refusal to show mercy even to illusions, Alfred.” “Don’t flatter me.” Alfred’s tone was serious, but he swung his right hand the very next moment. An instant after the slash, a white light was released from Rein König’s path, like the blade’s afterimage had taken flight. The destructive light shot toward the supposedly shallow water. A pillar of water roared into the air to their right before parting to reveal a massive sea serpent. “–––––!” It screeched beyond their audible range and raised its head. The left half of its face had been sliced away. The remaining eye was glaring at Alfred. But Alfred ignored it and casually waved his left hand toward Schweitzer. “You can have this one. It’s too tedious for me. …Honestly, nothing here has any real fight in it.” The serpent may have understood his hoarse words because it opened its mouth and charged. Schweitzer took an exasperated step forward. The wet footing was irrelevant as long as he controlled his weight and center of gravity appropriately. He moved his right foot forward and rotated it by pushing his toes, ankle, knee, thigh, and hip to the right in that order. The movement of his lower body pushed his upper body forward. Der Held’s metal fist flew forward like a shell, crashing into the side of the serpent’s face as it tried to attack Alfred. Its face audibly burst open and its body was propelled backwards. Alfred used a swing of Rein König to keep the spraying blood off of him as he walked on ahead. Schweitzer held up Der Held to do the same. “This may not be an illusion, Alfred. What if these are being created by rearranging the Tons of the ether?” “Giving them an artificial life? This seems too largescale and constant to be Tuning. And if it’s been mechanically automated…well, I’ve never heard of that kind of technology.” “Bermark called this a ‘castle’. What if the Geheimnis Agency base was built atop the ruins of an old castle full of Ober Geheimnis, similar to the area below Munich’s central hospital?” Alfred stopped out ahead of him and looked back, so Schweitzer asked a further question. “Why must we pass through here to meet our commander? This hallway seems to stretch on to infinity, but I think it is actually being created as we walk using the same technique used for the serpents and dragons we have encountered.” “But based on how this is going, it doesn’t look like the way forward opens when we prove our strength.” “Our commander must be testing us. To see if we will notice something here.” “An interesting idea, but what are we supposed to notice?” Schweitzer saw Alfred raise Rein König in his right hand. He launched an attack of light upwards, earning a scream from the ceiling. A bestial scream. Something like a thick rope made of nothing but dark shadow dropped down. Three such things did. Screaming, they fell behind Alfred. Schweitzer noticed several sharp horns on their heads as they splashed into the water. They screamed and struggled, thrashing in the water, but then… “They disappeared?” Yes, they vanished. More like they turned invisible than dissolved into the air. Alfred looked around. “None of these serpents or dragons can put up a fight. Why would someone create the technology to mass produce them? I know during the Obstacle Era there was a war fought using inhuman mass-produced soldiers known as Divine Warriors, so is this the same tech here?” “We honestly do not even know this is a form of technology.” Schweitzer sighed. “Whoever made this place must have known what they were doing, but what were they trying to make?” “Probably a real dragon that could put up a fight, Hellard.” He immediately answered that with another question. “Then think about it, Alfred. The true dragon would have been with the Messiah…so why were they trying to create one here? And why hide it?” He was not done yet. “Our leader must be able to control a dragon. Not to forcefully bend it to her will like we did 3 years ago, but to have it obey. And after the Messiah vanished a millennium ago…” “Yes?” “What if someone tried to obtain a dragon in order to lead us? What if they used the technology passed down to them in order to obtain an Erde Drache or Luft Drache so they could lead the leaderless Neue Kavaliers?” Alfred cut in to answer those questions. “That would have to be the emperor who the Messiah left Germany with.” Alfred spread his legs a bit and looked up. “The four Neue Kavalier families of Naylor, Karlsruhe, Maldrick, and Borderson served the Messiah and received certain benefits in return. After the subjugation of Germany, my Maldrick family even demanded this Rein König that the one-armed youth left with the emperor.” “…” “So once the Messiah was gone, maybe the emperor wanted a dragon – even an artificial one – in order to lead someone and to become greater even than the Messiah.” He continued with a note of self-derision. “And history shows just how well that one went. The German imperial line died out a mere 200 years later with the death of Henry VI in 1197. You learned all this in school, didn’t you? Or did you forget it all? When did the Germania Dragoons declare their independence from the throne after returning from the Crusades?” “In 1198, a year after the imperial line died out.” “Correct. And by around 1200, the Ring of the Nibelung was being recited across Germany as an epic poem. That poem used a ring as a symbol of karmic retribution and eternity and we still use Nibelung to refer to the Wheel of Ruin.” He scoffed. “But the center of a ring is empty. Was that a reference to our lack of a leader and how we traded a thousand-year vacancy for peace? The emperor from a thousand years ago created this place to become our leader and ultimately failed, but is that destiny going to repeat itself now, Hellard?” “The Wheel of Ruin, hm? Lady Rose mentioned that.” Schweitzer thought while he spoke. “Alfred, didn’t our commander say ruin would come to this world in ’43? And the prophecies are meant to avoid that? All so the Messiah will return and become our true leader.” He stopped there, his face briefly stiffening in realization. “I see.” Then he smiled and moved with enough force to blast away the air around him. He turned to the right and raised Der Held. “Eingeweide arm Der Held, prepare Ober Beweisen.” The surface of the prosthetic arm briefly glowed dully in the darkness. “Alfred, I know why we must pass through here.” “In that case, my own guess must be right.” Alfred stepped up alongside Schweitzer. He gently raised Rein König and kept the movement going, drawing out a silver arc and preparing for an overhead slash. He grinned and slowly crouched down. The water before them opened wide as if in response. What had been a hallway transformed into a vast space filled with darkness. A faint mist rose from the water at the bottom of that space and it continued to change. The space’s Tons were remade before their eyes. “I hear a voice. The lament of a historical relic – of a poor machine that has gone unused for so very long.” A quiet Text entered the space, perhaps as a response to Schweitzer’s statement. The dark water spread further, growing too large to see the end. Alfred stopped moving. “This appears to be an Eingeweide system build in the middle ages. Its master must be long dead, so does it run off of a powerful posthumous will, similar to the Sylphide? What do you think?” “The persistence of those who wished to rule Germany lives on in this place. This was abandoned after it failed to create a dragon, so our base was used to seal this secret history away.” About 100 yards ahead of them, the water’s surface slowly rose as something pushed up from below. There was so much water, the swelling of the surface looked more like a sand dune than water. Something massive had to be lurking below. At some point, the swelling accelerated all at once. A few moments later, the tip of the swelling ruptured and the water cascaded down. The water bud split open and a great water dragon blossomed from within. The crashing water was like the roar of an avalanche but much more pleasant. The smooth water dragon’s exposed head and neck measured more than 20 yards long. “I bet Naval Division Commander Lillie Telmetz could use her Tuning to create a dragon like this,” said Schweitzer, his expression serious. “This failure from the past is no match for a dragon made by one of the Fünf Leithammel.” Alfred had a smile in his voice. “And the Fünf Leithammel who can make that dragon isn’t even our leader, so the past emperors who could only create these failures were never cut out for the job. …The Messiah led a far stronger dragon.” “Our purpose is to protect this country and its people and that is why we desire the Messiah as our leader.” They both smiled at that. Maybe it was meant as a response, but the water dragon bent its body into an arc and then rushed toward them. It had to be more than 200 yards long in all, so its body alone was a weapon. A collision from that would do serious damage. But the two men were unfazed as that great pressure and water-scented wind approached. “This place is meant to teach us that the Messiah is the only leader for us,” said Alfred. “By showing us the alternative.” “Then let us go meet out commander. The one and only commander who can lead us to the Messiah.” “That is why we pass through here and why we must go meet our commander.” The dragon approached. In a flash, Alfred straightened up, stretched up, and bent back. The wind shook. He used the bend of his body to swing the Rein König forward with all his might. A voice accompanied the powerful slash. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Light flew. Light massive enough to fill the vast space. The white light lacked heat, but it had strength. Rein König amplified his Ton until it could tear right through the approaching destruction. It exploded. The dragon, the water, and the entire space before them were struck by the whiteness. Everything they could see was subtly distorted. The scenery unraveled like a loose thread, the shadows wavered, the water tremored, and the air rippled. The dragon and everything else were equally struck by the destructive power. “Schweitzer!” “Eingeweide arm Der Held – Ober Beweisen.” His calm voice signaled the beginning of it all. With a bang of gunfire, an empty cartridge was ejected from his prosthetic arm. A metal-reinforced staff was pushed out from the ejector in the upper arm, so it struck the air. It produced a solid sound of impact, despite nothing existing there to be hit. A barrier line of bluish-white ether raced out, as if to slice apart the wavering and distorting scenery, and then an Erklärung shook the air. The ether forming the space around them came to an immediate stop. The wavering shattered, the distortion split, and it all revealed its true form. The form of the hallway they were to walk through. ### Part 2 Hazel awoke to a voice. “Hey.” It was deep but not too deep. A depth with a hint of something higher. It was a woman’s voice. … Do I know any women who sound like that? She did not. Wondering if she was imagining things in her sleep, her sleepy mind began to drift off once more. Her cracked eyes told her it was still dark out. She could sense a nice warmth on her skin. Her mind was wrapped in the veil of a light doze. If she shut her eyes again, sleep would take her once more. But… “Hey.” She heard the voice again. And she sensed light too. The light reaching her retinas through her eyelids was not the sunrise. It was unpleasantly bright. She opened her eyes just enough to tell the circle of light was pointing down at her from above. “?” She tilted her drowsy head. “Spending the night with a naked girl, Dog Berger?” “––––!?” She opened her eyes in a hurry to see the chest of a black shirt in the perfect nuzzling position. And she saw Berger’s face. And since her Flektieren had worn off in her sleep… … I’m naked. The burst of air had not woken either of them, so he must have been tired and she must have been… … Um… The thought made her want to hide, so she stopped thinking about it. She also tried to move away from Berger, but… “Eh?” Her arms were folded up and pressed against his chest and she could not extend them. The sleeping bag was taut against her back, leaving only a limited space to move around in. “It’s so tight.” She struggled a bit but then looked up. “Ugh…” Berger was waking up. She looked up at him to see his blue eyes slowly open and focus. “Huh?” He looked her in the eye for a few seconds. “Wait, what the hell are you doing, Hazel!?” “What am I doing!? You’re the one that pulled me into your arms!” “Don’t lie. Anyway, get out, Hazel! You’re twisting my arm all weird.” “D-d-don’t touch me- ah…no, e-especially not there…” While they struggled inside the packed sleeping bag, the female voice from before reached them. “Shut up the both of you.” A small shape moved into the range of the light shining on them. It was an army boot. It swiftly moved to the center of the light and grazed Hazel’s ear. “Huh?” That was all Berger got out before it slammed into his jaw. After the clack of teeth against teeth, someone grabbed the sleeping bag from behind, lifted it up, and pulled it back. The zipper was undone behind Hazel. The chilly air reached her back and someone lifted her up from behind. She was roughly tossed to the ground like someone peeling a fruit. After noticing her skin glowing with a pale light in the darkness, she crouched down and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked up to see someone in a flight jacket. Their back was turned. They were far from tall – 5 feet at the most – but even from behind, they radiated a strange intensity. A flashlight shined out from their face, so they must have been holding it in their mouth. They were crouched down and holding the end of the sleeping bag. “Ah, hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Berger’s protests were silenced as the sleeping bag was zipped up. The flashlight light moved, a muffled voice said something, and the person pointed at the squirming sleeping bag. They skillfully tied up the open end of the sleeping bag with a strap and sent a solid kick into the center of the shouting bag. “What do I think I’m doing? Demonstrating the principles of democracy with some nice, democratic vigilante justice.” The flashlight shut off and Hazel panicked at the darkness that suddenly surrounded her. “Um,” she called, but the only response was the sound of another kick. The powerful blow was of a type she had never heard before. By the time she questioned it, it was already too late. She heard humming. It was a jazz song with a nice tempo. It was a chart topper she had often heard on the radio while in the US. The kicking started back up in time with the song. The light humming took the place of the trumpet, the sax, and the drums, while a kick sounded with each and every note. It was a nice tune and Hazel could not help but nod her head to the beat. … Isn’t there someone inside the sleeping bag being kicked? The kicks came so quickly it was hard to believe. “Um.” “What is it? Use English.” “Um…what are you doing?” Kicking like this tenderizes the meat by breaking the fibers.” The kicking continued. So did the humming. Then they asked Hazel something. “More importantly, are you okay? I would recommend against selling your body when you’re still so young.” “Eh? No, um, that isn’t what this was.” “Yeah, I was young once. You’re drawn to these men who live in the moment and decide to put out. But I’d recommend against that too.” Hazel was unsure how to respond. She could still hear the kicking and the humming, but then she panicked. … N-now is not the time to be enjoying the music! She could tell this person had misunderstood the situation. And given the circumstances, she knew where that misunderstanding had come from, so she spoke up. “U-um, I’m fine. Please don’t worry. He didn’t do anything to me!” The kicking stopped and the somewhat airborne sleeping bag plopped down onto the ground and rolled once to the side. Once all was silent, Hazel sighed in relief and continued. “I-I’m fine. So please stop that. Because…because…” She hung her head a little. “Mr. Berger is used to seeing me naked.” After a pause, the kicking resumed with double the intensity and the sleeping bag burst open. “What the hell have you been doing, you scumbag!?” A voice called from further off in the forest. “Captain Sevan! It’s almost time for the meeting!” “Got it! Hey, you all stay away from here! It ain’t a pretty sight!!” “Understood! Thanks!” The other voice faded into the distance. After a few seconds, the humming made one final and extra-hard hit before stopping. “Hmph.” The figure stopped moving, wiped the sweat from their brow, and turned around. “You okay, girl? Staying far away from men like this is the real secret to happiness, if you ask me.” “I see,” was all Hazel could think to say. The person removed their flight jacket and tossed it her way. She caught the still-warm leather garment and draped it over her shoulders like a stole. She noticed an unfamiliar perfume on the collar. The figure stood before her and she could see the Ton light emanating from their body. A mighty red light was pulsating from them. The person standing within that light was a woman. She looked to be in her mid-thirties and her wavy brown hair was cut to shoulder length. She looked Hazel in the eye and smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m Corelle Sevan. I have some business here, so I’m sorry, but I can’t immediately send you back to the village.” “U-um, I’m Hazel Mirildorf. …Does that mean anything to you?” Corelle’s expression changed when she heard that. Her eyebrows rose and the tone color of her Tons grew orange. “Oh? Are you the daughter of the Oscar Mirildorf the higher ups are trying to bring onboard?” She crossed her arms and frowned. “God, M. Schrier and those other bastards are using Berger to win him over through his daughter, aren’t they? Listen, girl.” She crouched down to Hazel’s eye level. “I’m sure a lot has happened, but I hate it when people do it for such calculated reasons.” “Um, I think you’re misunderstanding this.” “It’s all right. You often don’t realize what they did to you until later. I understand the urge to defend your first, but we can discuss this all more on the way back to America.” She smiled and rubbed Hazel’s head. … What do I do now? She’s not listening to me at all. “You know what? Forget it,” said Hazel. “Just go on believing whatever you think happened here.” “Absolutely not, you moron!” shouted the sleeping bag. It loudly tore open behind Corelle. The stuffing scattered through the air and a figure in a black coat stood up. He held Gelegenheit with a black blade thrusting from it. “Corelle! Do you have any idea how hard it was getting her here from Berlin!?” “Captain Sevan, General Pale is demanding you get to the meeting right this instant! He says he’ll punch me if you don’t!” The distant voice wholly ignored Berger’s protests. Corelle placed a hand on Hazel’s shoulder before standing up and shouting into the distance. “Got it! I’m sure I already missed my part, so tell him to wait another three minutes!!” “Understood!” called back the voice, followed by footsteps fading into the distance. Afterwards, Berger adjusted his grip on Gelegenheit. “What, you think three minutes is enough for my anger to fade?” The answer was extremely simple. “Don’t be dumb. The three minutes are to get this girl dressed.” Corelle sighed down toward the ground and inhaled. “I’m not gonna spare even a second of my time listening to a sex criminal’s excuses. Now turn around, idiot.” ### Part 3 The hallway ended almost immediately after Schweitzer and Alfred began walking again. It ended in double doors surrounded by the white walls and ceiling of the hallway. The metal doors had minimal decorations carved into its surface. The floor was brown tile and a little wet. No sign remained of the battles they had fought with the artificial creatures. Except, that is, for their torn clothing and injuries. “This looks familiar,” commented Alfred, hooking Rein König’s pommel on the door’s handle. He pulled. Schweitzer rushed through the door, keeping his stance low. Alfred followed and looked around with Rein König ready at his hip. They found… “Kitchen counters?” The large room’s 20-yard walls had stovetops and ovens installed and a 4-yard square counter sat in the center. Smaller counters were on all four sides of that larger one and the pathways between them contained shelves full of cooking tools and spices. Alfred kicked at the hoses and tools cluttering up those pathways. On the far side was a counter opening up on the adjacent room. The scene looked odd, but… “Only because I don’t usually see it from the kitchen,” concluded Schweitzer. Alfred nodded in agreement. “Oh?” said a voice from their left. Lowenzahn turned toward them after opening the charcoal oven on the wall there. She placed cloths over her hands in preparation to pull a large metal sheet from the oven. “Weird but perfect timing. Can you help me out?” “Huh?” Alfred’s shoulders fell and he tilted his head. Then he turned to Schweitzer. “You’re in charge of her, right? So go help her.” “Since when?” Schweitzer took a look around and confirmed that the two men and Lowenzahn were the only ones in the kitchen. Past the counter, the mess hall was too dark to make any judgments there. “Did space revert to the wrong location?” he muttered, scratching his head and stepping forward. He navigated a pathway too narrow for him, a few trays catching on his legs, to approach Lowenzahn. She bowed and gestured toward the oven with exaggerated politeness. Inside, he saw a yard-long leg of venison sitting on a dark metal sheet so it could roast along with some vegetables. Some carved onions had burst atop the brown-cooked venison, giving it an oily sheen. “Did you cook this?” he asked, grabbing the metal sheet with Der Held. “I did, but…isn’t that hot?” “I can cut off the feeling at will. Unlike artificial organs, combat prosthetics generally do not need to feel pain.” “What about when you touched my butt?” “It is in both our best interests that I do not answer that.” He pulled the metal sheet out. She was impressed with how easily he lifted the metal sheet and he judged the food on it to be well made. He placed the entire sheet atop the serving cart she had prepared. Then he glanced behind him. Alfred stood there with Rein König in hand. Alfred met Schweitzer’s gaze and nodded. Schweitzer returned the nod before facing forward again. Lowenzahn stood before him, so he crouched down a bit. “May I ask something, Lowenzahn? We have run into a slight problem and I will try to ask this as indirectly as I can.” “What is it?” He thought about how to answer her direct response. “Where is our commander’s office?” “In what world is that indirect?” She breathed an exasperated sigh and looked up. “And to answer your question, you’re already there. Whatever room I’m in is your commander’s office.” “Hm.” He nodded as she turned around and started pushing the serving cart. The two men only realized what she had said after the wheels started squeaking. “Huh?” Their voices echoed through the kitchen. Lowenzahn let inertia take the cart and placed her feet on the bottom level. She looked back as it coasted out of the kitchen. She was smiling. “Welcome to the Sofort Leser’s feast, Captain Hellard Schweitzer and Lieutenant Alfred Maldrick. I am Lowenzahn Naylor, the Sofort Leser who commands the Geheimnis Agency.” And… “Today is my 20th birthday. …Did you bring me a present?” ### Part 4 A strategy meeting had begun in the Black Forest. Two large plastic tents had been set up in a hollow. No light could escape them and the voices did not fare much better. Since they were in a hollow, they would have to be seen from directly above to notice. The two tents sat there like two boulders. The starlight shined on several smaller figures around them. They were a mixture of human and Heidengeist. Around a dozen men and a handful of women were either standing or sitting there. There were also some guards positioned further out. Hazel sat between the two tents with a green blanket over her shoulders. Corelle sat next to her with an identical blanket. She had told Hazel a lot as they whispered to each other. “Hmm. So you are about to attack a base at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit to destroy an aerial warship under construction there? And not only is it a High Organ ship, but it’s equipped with a Babel Cannon.” Hazel was still not used to the English term High Organ instead of the German term Eingeweide. “It’s just one of the ships meant to make up the Gard-class. The High Organ system will be used to link 8 ships together, creating a high-altitude fortress. They hope to accomplish what wasn’t technologically possible for the Bladlikburg.” “And it carries a Babel Cannon too?” “Yes. One large enough to make intercontinental attacks if hooked up to a sufficient power source. And since they’ll be using the Phlogiston extracted and accelerated by the Vaterlands, they’ll be able to reload whenever they want while it remains in Germany. If they get that thing up and running, the slow British and French aerial ships will be sitting ducks. But if we can destroy it now, it’ll take them a full year before they can build another. Also,” continued Corelle. “We were given an additional and quite unusual mission this time. Most of us are tasked with sinking the Gard-class, but a few of us were given a different mission. This mission came from P. Wagner – the very same P. Wagner who had a lab in the center of the Alfheim Meteorite Pit and designed the Kaiserburg.” “Eh?” Corelle answered Hazel’s confusion by tilting her head and continuing her explanation. “A British recon team noticed the Geheimnis Agency had started digging up the Alfheim Meteorite Pit two years ago. I don’t know how word of it reached him, but P. Wagner apparently paid M. Schrier a visit with a single demand.” She sighed. “ ‘You must take back what the Geheimnis Agency digs up.’ ” “T-take back?” “Yes. So now that the excavation is nearing completion, our local cooperators have been clamoring for us to make our move.” She looked to the tent on her left. “And after P. Wagner provided detailed information to M. Schrier, he decided to make it top secret even within the AIF. Not even Berger knows. A small team was put together separate from this one and they’ve all been sent in to infiltrate the dig site already. Our attack will be their cue to make their move.” That explained why Corelle was keeping her voice so low. Hazel kept her head low for no real reason. “This is top secret?” “I think the only ones here who know are Pale and me. I transported the other team here on M. Schrier’s orders, but not even I was given any details on their mission. And the team itself wasn’t told what exactly is being excavated.” Hazel frowned. “Why is it such a big secret?” “They don’t want anyone outside the AIF finding out. We’re an international force of sorts, so anything known to all our members will reach every country around the world. But this mission was presented to M. Schrier by P. Wagner. The secrecy suggests it isn’t even an AIF mission. It’s more of a personal matter.” “…” “There’s something real bad buried there. You know how the Kaiserburg nearly destroyed the global balance of power? It was made in that lab and something there has caught the Geheimnis Agency’s interest. Then M. Schrier received the details from P. Wagner and concluded the world can’t learn what’s being excavated there. Not until the moment it’s been dug up.” Hazel thought about that and soon voiced those thoughts. “Is the Geheimnis Agency searching for clues to build another ship like the Sylphide from two years ago?” “Reports from our agents at the dig site say the local Geheimnis Agency staff don’t even know what it is. They’re just following orders.” Hazel observed Corelle’s face as she said that. Then she sighed and voiced the idea that had just occurred to her. “Then what about this attack on the Gard-class warship?” “Yes, it might be no more than a diversion for the secret mission. For the moment, M. Schrier understands whatever-it-is’s value even more than the Geheimnis Agency does since he has P. Wagner’s opinion go to off of. If the Geheimnis Agency prioritizes defense of the Gard-class, the secret mission will probably succeed.” Corelle laughed bitterly and Hazel took a step forward on her knees and asked a question. “Um, shouldn’t you be participating in the meeting inside the tent?” “The transport unit’s part is already over. I already demonstrated my power as a Highlandest using my 47 Telling Cards, so the rest of my job is to wait until it’s time to head home. …I’ll introduce you to ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse later. He’ll dance a jig when he learns you’re Oscar’s daughter.” “Dance a jig? Is he a funny person?” “Pale led a unit of England’s special forces during the Great War and made it all the way to the headquarters of the Geheimnis Agency – known as the Germania Dragoons back then – located at the center of Naylor family territory. His forces were almost entirely wiped out, but the fortress was utterly destroyed. 70% of the dragoons were defeated and he fought to a draw with ‘Kommandeur’ Heiliger Karlsruhe.” “Heiliger Karlsruhe?” … That was the name of my dad’s former superior. And… She hesitated before opening her mouth. “…” And she shut it again. Seeing that, Corelle gave an exasperated shrug. “I call it a draw, but Pale only had his right eye taken out while he used his Third Lunar Emperor prosthetic arms to blow off both Heiliger’s arms. …The man loves to fight, so recently he’s left England to fight in the Ethiopian conflict and the Spanish Civil War. And he always joins the losing side.” “That’s who leads the AIF?” “M. Schrier thought long and hard on whether to give that position to him or to your old man.” That made her gasp. … I had no idea. There was so much she was unaware of. “Having former Major General Oscar with us would mean a lot when fighting Germany. He has a lot of supporters in the military here, so it would send ripples through the country. But the AIF hopes to be an international organization, so the command position was given to Pale who has fought all across Europe.” “I see,” said Hazel with a tilt of the head. She gave Corelle a look of renewed admiration and sighed with a hint of disappointment in herself. “The AIF sounds amazing. And it looks like they even accept women.” “Some Strikers are women, right? This is the same. In the US, some states are letting female civilian pilots assist their aerial units, so this will be the standard eventually.” “But…you’re a captain. That’s incredible.” “US military regulations require that if you’re going to lead a flight team. …Although the rank is mostly thanks to my Urban Name of Highlandest, which I earned from my use of Telling Cards.” Corelle was being modest, but she was also smiling in a bashful way. She smiled until her eyes disappeared. Hazel stared at that smile until it suddenly ended. “Is something wrong?” “No,” said Hazel. Corelle placed a hand on her head and used her thick hand to muss up the girl’s hair. “Don’t lie to me, Hazel Mirildorf. Berger hasn’t convinced you to hide your feelings like he does, has he? A woman’s gotta let her true self shine through.” “No, um, uh, I was just a little jealous is all.” “Of what?” “I still don’t know what I should do or what I should be. And then I look to you or Mr. Berger and you already have Urban Names and everything.” “Everyone gets one of those once they do something of note.” “But people call me the Messiah when I haven’t done anything. And the implant still isn’t working.” Corelle’s hand stopped on Hazel’s head. Hazel lowered the ends of her eyebrows and looked Corelle in the eyes. “Mr. Berger said I should stay away from all this. He said there was something I have to figure out before I can get involved.” “…” “What don’t I have? And why…why is it so wrong?” She took a breath. “Why is it so wrong that I don’t want to run away and that I want to do something?” A change came over Corelle’s face. For a brief moment, her jaw dropped like she had noticed something strange, but then she lowered her head and placed thoughtful hand on her jaw. Hazel watched in confusion as Corelle shut her eyes and spoke. “Here’s the thing, Hazel. Berger has Gelegenheit and I have my Telling Cards. And maybe you didn’t want it, but you have the Messiah implant and it’s broken right now, right?” Hazel nodded. “M. Schrier told me not to tell anyone until the time came, but take a look at this.” Corelle pulled a letter from her pocket. It was old and discolored. “M. Schrier gave me this Lost Memory. He says these letters from the past started arriving for him and those around him about two years ago…and some even before that. This year in particular, several of them have crossed the ocean to reach him.” She held the letter up in front of Hazel, but her fingers were gripping it tight. She was only letting Hazel see it, not handing it to her. “When he gave me this mission, he told me I was sure to meet a girl once I arrived.” “Eh?” “And he told me to give that girl this letter and have her deliver it if she said a certain phrase at a certain time.” “What phrase and what time? Deliver it to who?” “I can’t tell you that yet.” Corelle shoved the Lost Memory back in her pocket. “But Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. Listen carefully. This is like a test. A while after this mission begins, my transport unit will pick up Pale and then fly out across the Mediterranean. Carrying you. But…” “But?” “If you figure something out before then and I kick you out – just like M. Schrier hopes – you will probably find yourself on the battlefield.” Laughter erupted from the tent on their right and Corelle glanced over there. “Prepare yourself, Hazel. Unfortunately, there is a lot I don’t know about this mission. Destiny here is filled with too many uncertainties for my cards to read. …That includes the Lost Memory, the Geheimnis Agency excavation, P. Wagner’s actions, the mystery object being excavated, and the tense international situation,” she said. “You are much the same, Hazel Mirildorf. Everyone is searching for an answer. Unfortunately, that answer might just be war and ruin.” ### Part 5 “All information regarding this excavation will now be considered top secret.” At the Alfheim Meteorite Pit, the Geheimnis Agency site supervisor had gathered approximately 60 workers atop the large extraction platform surrounding the 50-yard dig site. Behind them, several truck-mounted sunlamps shined on the dig site where large automatic winches were at work. Two winches were suspended on either side of the pit. The sound of the winding winches joined with the wind blowing through the forest to reverberate through the pit. The irritatingly loud roar sounded like someone breathing through a wind instrument. “The Alfheim Meteorite Pit is where the Messiah once descended from heaven. She walked from here to the shrine at the foot of the mountain, where she met the one-armed youth and was convinced to descend to the world below.” The site supervisor looked to the rising wires. “This is also where she entered her slumber upon finishing her work. The one-armed youth and her dragon guarded her bedroom until death claimed them.” He nodded. “Well done working in such a sacred place.” He bowed and the workers bowed back. The four winches completed their work at the same time. Something was lifted from the pit. A pallet for transporting Grösse Panzers was hoisted up by the winches. A black tarp covered a massive shape measuring 30 yards long and 10 yards wide. White steam was slowly but regularly blowing from the gaps in the tarp. Almost like breaths. They all looked up to watch it. The shape below the tarp did not even stir as it released its white breaths. No one said a word and tension filled their faces as they watched. The wires were fully wound and the winches stopped. The sudden stop caused the entire winch structure to sway. The total weight made it a slow but powerful movement, but the winches were designed for lifting Grösse Panzers, so they could withstand it. “…” It took a few minutes for the swaying to stop. Then the winches’ sliding mechanism activated. The two winches on either side slid along the rails suspending them, making sure to move too slowly to produce a pendulum effect. They slid toward the extraction platform the men stood on. A worker standing on the edge of the platform shouted over to the edge of the pit. “Send it in!” After a short delay, an explosive roar sounded from the other edge of the pit. It was the deep rumble of machinery. A massive shape moved out from the edge. A Grösse Panzer transport truck slowly backed up along a simple paved road too narrow for its size. The extraction platform was made to provide as much flat space as possible above the bowl-shaped pit, so the truck did not need to descend far. It soon reached the end of the road and drove up onto the platform. Its reinforced tires dug into the platform’s surface, keeping it from slipping. The massive truck’s vibrations directly reverberated through the platform, but everyone feeling those vibrations through their feet heard a different rumbling. It was a breath from the great dark shape sliding toward them from above. A powerful sound like papers blowing in the wind escaped the black tarp. “––––!?” They all tensed, but the rumbling quieted and finally vanished altogether. However… “Worry not.” Someone on the edge of the pit called over through a megaphone. They all turned that way to see two large figures standing in the starlight. They were both Grösse Panzers, one blue and one red. Their silhouettes were enough to note differences from the standard models, suggesting these were custom models. The blue one held a long gun in its right hand and the red one carried a large shield in its left hand. “I am Bermark Nein of the Geheimnis Agency Army Division’s Independent Unit. I have been tasked with guarding you for the short distance to the #8 Flight Base. I shall accompany you.” Most of the workers on the extraction platform saluted to express their thanks. But some felt differently. A small number did not salute. They instead paled, but caught themselves before anyone noticed. They had the pale faces of people realizing a plan had gone horribly awry. ### 531. Chapter 6: The Wheel Leaps 07/29/1939 00:05 – 00:25 Someone once told me To find the answer But when was I given The formula to find it? ### Fünf Leithammel Army Division Chief: “Eisen Panzer” Karl Schmitt Air Force Division Chief: “Standhaft” Herbert Müller Naval Division Chief: “Wasser Meister” Lillie Telmetz Intelligence Division Chief: “Hellsehen” Galue Witzmann Development Division Chief: “Dachs” Konrad Elrich The chiefs of the Geheimnis Agency’s five primary divisions – Army, Air Force, Navy, Intelligence, and Development – are known as the Fünf Leithammel or Five Great Peaks. The intelligence and development divisions do not participate in combat, but all of the chiefs possess some kind of skill equal to the agency’s commander and lieutenant, which they use to operate their division in their own unique way. Their role is primarily to lead and operate their division, but when commanding on-site, their duty as a Neue Kavalier is to fight on the front line and never let their power flag except when confronting an enemy on their own level. They are the great warriors of the modern battlefield. But even their power only allows tactical-level victories, a lesson learned the hard way during the Great War, so starting in ’39, they were restricted to localized combat missions meant to intercept any and all troops attempting to enter Germany. ### Part 1 The party in the Geheimnis Agency HQ mess hall was coming to a close. But Schweitzer was not attending that party. He was not below the mess hall lights or a part of the chatting agency bigshots. He was drinking alone on the open-air terrace jutting out east from the mess hall. He leaned against the railing and looked up into the sky. The stars were out and the breeze blew in from the forest. He could hear the laughter from the open door a few yards away from him, but he ignored the voices and the light stretching out to engulf his feet. He was only interested in the sky. On occasion, he would take a sip from the wooden mug in his biological left hand, like he had only just remembered it existed. He had been like this the entire time. He had greeted so many people once the party started and been freed from the torture after half an hour, at which point he had withdrawn to the terrace. Through the door, Lowenzahn was surrounded by people and receiving their blessing, dancing with Alfred at Rose’s insistence, and exchanging serious information with people so important a salute would be insufficient. What did it mean that he could not bear to be in there? “I must be such a boring person,” he concluded. He heard a woman’s laughter, but it was a little too deep and mellow to be Lowenzahn. He looked down to see a woman in black. She was in her mid-thirties and had unkempt short blonde hair. “Army Division Lieutenant.” “No need to salute. Tonight, you have become one of us.” “Lady Jeanne, I fail to see how being introduced to you all improves my standing quite that much.” “Think about it. You saved our commander’s life three years ago and you fulfilled the Messiah’s prophecy two years ago. You have great value. Maldrick is here for his family and for being a quick learner, but you are different.” Jeanne Schmitt laughed quietly and parted her lips to let her voice spill out. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates Once done, she said more. “Our commander told Karl and me we needed more patience. She said the current prophecy tells us the Messiah is still not ready to be our leader.” She sighed. “Our Army Division took matters into our own hands to secure the Messiah, but all we get for it was an ‘It’s too soon. Cut it out, okay?’ ” “If you ask me, her greatest talent is in putting things lightly.” Jeanne placed her hands on the railing next to Schweitzer and looked up. She gave him a solemn look for a moment, but he did not let it bother him. Then that look bordering on anger was replaced with almost the opposite. She laughed in a childish way. “I can’t believe it. Now Karl and I look like the bad guys.” “I am sure she knows you ordered the Messiah’s capture because you care so much for the Geheimnis Agency.” “I know, which is why I can’t be mad at her. I used to be famous for butting heads with my superiors, you know? …That girl suddenly mastered true leadership last year,” Jeanne said pleasantly. “Harsh rebukes earn a leader defiance and anger, but…the previous generation of the Naylor family, Lady Frobel, and her husband Sir Lebenheit were just like her.” “Those two build the foundation of the Geheimnis Agency, didn’t they?” “Sir Lebenheit died in a British attack in ’18 and Lady Frobel died of heart disease…when Lady Lowenzahn was only 8.” “Hey, hey. No discussing my life story with a beginner.” They were interrupted by a clear voice. They looked up to see a slender figure standing in the terrace’s entrance. It was Lowenzahn. She still wore her plain waitress uniform and walked briskly over to stand between Jeanne and Schweitzer, where she leaned her entire body on the railing. She went limp and stretched out like a cat. “I’m exhausted.” Jeanne and Schweitzer exchanged a glance over her head. Schweitzer looked down to see the girl slipping from the railing to the floor. After a moment of thought, he reached out and caught her. Using his metal right hand. She thanked him as he pulled her up, but she kept her eyes straight ahead with a slight smile on her face. She was viewing the mess hall, where the agency’s leaders were holding a serious discussion on a variety of topics. The center of the discussion was a skinny old man who looked awkward in his military uniform and a short and fat elderly man who looked like he had never worn anything but his uniform. “Not often you see Development Division Chief ‘Dachs’ Konrad Elrich and my adoptive father Air Force Division Chief ‘Standhaft’ Herbert Müller speaking together like this.” The three of them watched as a lady in a blue dress walked by the group and stopped when Müller called out to her. She tilted her head and looked over with a face that’s youth was fading and leaving only a powerful sorrow behind. Müller was two heads shorter than her and he kept his pleasant smile as he explained something to her with ample gesticulation. After a bit, she nodded and the two of them turned toward Elrich. The elderly chief of the Development Division loosened his collar and nodded in greeting, never smiling. The blue beauty smiled and joined the discussion centered on those two men. “And now Naval Division Chief ‘Wasser Meister’ Lillie Telmetz joins in. That’s the Big 3 accounted for.” Lowenzahn kept her tone light and Jeanne crossed her arms. “Lillie shouldn’t have let them drag her into their conversation. I’m betting she was searching for Graham.” “He went to meet Karl.” That revelation seemed to catch Jeanne by surprise. “Once this is over, I’ll be visiting him too, Jeanne. I need to tell your husband to stop sending his wife to get chewed out while he naps in the hangar.” Jeanne smiled at that. “Was that meant as a kindness to me?” “We ladies need to stick together.” Hearing that, Jeanne turned toward Schweitzer. “Did you hear that, Schallmauer Zerstörer? That’s her excuse for protecting her own position above all else.” “Now that I know she pulled the wool over my eyes for past three years, I think I finally see how she does things.” “Now, let’s not be mean, Captain…oh?” Lowenzahn’s note of surprise guided Schweitzer’s gaze back toward the mess hall where someone else had joined the Big 3’s discussion. It was another skinny elderly man who looked uncomfortable in his uniform. He rubbed his bald head and appeared to be providing comments and additional information on what the others were saying. “Intelligence Division Chief ‘Hellsehen’ Witzmann.” Lowenzahn identified him and looked meekly up into the sky. “Hmm,” she groaned. “Drop one well-placed bomb here and you could alter the course of history.” “Let’s not tempt fate, shall we?” laughed Jeanne, stepping away from the railing. “I need to pay my husband a visit. And I need to bring Lillie along.” She returned quickly to the light without even looking back. She soon entered the mess hall and joined the people within. Several distinct groups had formed and she easily extracted the woman in a blue dress from one of those serious discussions. They all watched Lillie leave with some grumbling comments. But just as Jeanne was leaving with Lillie, she gave one short comment to the others. The men’s faces stiffened and they all scratched their heads and reformed their group. Their discussion began anew and Lillie shrugged somewhat guiltily as Jeanne dragged her out of the mess hall. Lowenzahn had only one thing to say after seeing it all play out. “They’re like schoolchildren.” “Yes, ma’am.” “Captain.” “Yes?” “No need to be so formal. And I apologize for lying to you all this time.” “Understood, ma-” Schweitzer sighed and leaned back against the railing. It creaked under his weight, but he rested his elbows on it all the same. “I am so tired.” “So am I. Oh, but I do appreciate the chance to speak with you like this. War is coming and the ruin in ’43 isn’t long after that. I need to make sure all the powerful people near me know the stakes.” “Does that…include the lower-ranking people?” “It isn’t time for that yet. Did you know the Development Division is analyzing Germany’s Tons that the Vaterlands have extracted? They’re breaking down and analyzing so much to refine fuel for the Babel Kanone and Himmelsschild.” “Have they discovered anything?” “I stopped Jeanne and Karl’s capture of the Messiah because Elrich says the Ton analysis is close to allowing us to extract the Concept Existence Ton that allows this land to exist.” She hung her head a little. “If we can extract that Ton, process it with ether, and reinject it, she won’t be able to leave Germany anymore. Because she will be a part of the very concept of Germany.” “Are you serious?” “Yes, that is a more effective method of keeping the Messiah here than physically capturing her. If the prophecy says we are to capture her, I imagine it will be done through that Concept Existence Ton, not anything physical.” She sighed. “Because that means she can never leave Germany.” “And will you move to the forefront once that happens?” “Yes,” confirmed Lowenzahn, still hanging her head. “The Geheimnis Agency still isn’t complete. We do have the most well-known noble families gathered as our main force, but we are still lacking so much when compared to the Germania Dragoons. So many gave up their noble position after the war and so many others left because they didn’t like our methods. …A Sofort Leser girl isn’t enough to bring them all together again.” “…” “Before she died, my mother said to keep Graham as the public face of the agency until we had the Messiah. She said…” She fell silent there. Her lips formed a few unsaid words before she finally spoke again. “She said I had nothing to worry about until the world’s ruin in ’43 as long as I kept prophesying.” ### Part 2 “I see.” Schweitzer nodded without asking what she meant. Then he spoke his mind. “It’s been 5 years now, I suppose, but a woman once had me promise to defend this country. We were out drinking at the time. …What will you have me promise at this party?” “I have no qualms about lying, so are you sure you want to promise me anything?” “The promise is for me to keep and any lies will come from you. The two are not in conflict.” “Trying to be nice? I don’t want your pity. Did you actually believe what I said about ’43?” “Then do you not want a promise? Your loss. I doubt another chance like this will come along.” Lowenzahn frowned, but her expression eventually relaxed and she wrapped her left arm around Der Held. She made sure her slender arm could not be removed from his metal right arm. “Promise me…” She kept her voice low.” Promise me you will believe me no matter what lies I tell you.” “An easy promise to keep for someone as bad at detecting lies as me.” “Way to ruin the mood. But I do have one thing to tell you now. Assume it’s a lie if you want.” “Understood.” “What would you think if my prophecies stopped being so accurate?” He had no answer for her, which she must have expected since she continued without missing a beat. “Are you listening, Captain Hellard? A Sofort Leser can read the Tons of destiny and of time in this country’s Tons and that tells us what will happen to it in the future. But do you know why the future is recorded in this world’s Tons?” “Hm…” Schweitzer still had no answer. He looked at Lowenzahn, but she did not return his gaze. She kept her eyes dead ahead, on the important people discussing important things in the mess hall. She watched her subordinates. “Listen carefully, Captain Hellard. We know the answer. During the Obstacle Era, the world was destroyed time and again, so someone worked desperately to create a world that would not be destroyed.” “Berger once mentioned something similar. While this world was remade, the current one was built from an arrangement of Concept Existence Tons that would not be destroyed.” “Yes, so in a way, all of those destroyed worlds were the price we paid to gain the world we have now. It might be destroyed, but its destruction is not guaranteed either. And those Concept Existence Tons all contain information from those previous worlds, not from this one.” She took a breath. “This world was created through trial and error. We did not want to be destroyed, so we created a world that could avoid the Nibelung’s cycle of destruction. That created a world where anything goes: reincarnation, gods, demons, and so on.” “…” Lowenzahn looked up at him. “A Sofolt Leser reads the Concept Existence Tons that record the events of the past worlds. But I’ve run into a bit of a problem. All I’m reading are the records of those past worlds, so they are ultimately not about this world. The world has been reset countless times and the same things happen each time, but they’re still different.” “Different?” “Yes, my prophecies are nothing more than reading ahead to see what happened in the previous worlds that were destroyed. But lately, things have been changing. For some reason, things in this world are happening differently.” She pulled his right arm close and faced forward once more. “What if I told you the Berlin Conflict in ’35 was actually supposed to happen in ’37? And what if I told you the Sylphide incident was supposed to happen this year?” “––––?” “Ever since ’35, my prophesies have required some corrections. Since I failed to predict that incident, the Geheimnis Agency failed to respond in time and I fell ill, unable to even leave my bed…but my prophecy in ’37 was correct.” “So things have sped up by 2 years?” “Yes. That means the Kaiserburg’s development was shortened by 2 years, doesn’t it? Marsch Gant developed the Sylphide based on the Kaiserburg, so that explains why it too was completed 2 years early. …P. Wagner, developer of the Kaiserburg, must have done something different from any of the past worlds at some point.” She frowned a little. “That means the Messiah girl was put through her trial 2 years early. She should have met the Sylphide when she had a couple of years’ more wisdom, but reality and its words hit her before she was ready.” “She still managed to overcome it, though.” Schweitzer repeated the term “2 years” to himself as he looked to the people in the cafeteria. “Is that why we are excavating the Alfheim Meteorite Pit?” “We have two reasons for that. The first is because the original prophecy said P. Wagner should have built the Kaiserburg at Berlin University and caused the Armored Hammer of God Incident in ’37.” She stood up. “And the other is a list of special letters sent out by the Post Office. A special letter was delivered to P. Wagner in 1920.” “A Verlsten Brief?” He never received an answer. She gave him a mischievous smile and prepared to speak, but she was cut off by a young man’s panicked voice coming from the mess hall’s entrance. “Emergency! It’s an emergency!” A soldier stood in the entranceway with a message in hand. “The #8 Base…is under attack! We’re under attack! We need to respond!” ### Part 3 The battle started slow, but it was picking up speed. Berger walked alone along the #8 Base’s southern runway. His pace was slow but steady. The communicator at his hip gave off the static of decryption as it provided him the current state of the mission. But instead of using voices, it used rapid morse code. The flames of battle were not yet rising from the base before him, but the battle had already begun below the surface. “Two minutes ago, 20% of the Vaterland’s control system was taken. The fuel storage control system was also secretly taken.” That was thanks to the spies who had infiltrated the base ahead of time. “Great job,” he muttered to himself just before something like loud drumbeats sounded from the forest. There were 5 in all. After a pause, pillars of fire erupted from the center of the base. The pillars roared into the night sky. “Igniting the uncontrolled 10% as a diversion.” He was answered by more pillars of fire that burst into the night sky, dying the base scarlet. He kept walking and drew a golden hilt from below his coat. That was Gelegenheit. He gave it a light swing in his right hand and an even larger pillar of fire rose from the center of the base. Lights raced along the runway, illuminating him and him alone. At the same time, a great noise raced out. The somewhat intermittent and entirely earsplitting noise was the second alarm. The light and noise were not enough to stop Berger. “Let’s see, how did the plan go again?” He tilted his head. “They bring the Vaterland acceleration reactor to critical and dump some high-purity Phlogiston inside the barrier. Then it destroys itself just like engines running wild in the moonlight.” He struck his own hand in understanding. “I see, I see.” From there, he pulled a Size C Phlogiston Tank from his black coat and attached it to Gelegenheit’s hilt. Then he attached a second, third, fourth, and fifth. A black blade extended from Gelegenheit. It measured about 20 yards. At the same time, two shapes appeared on the road leading to the runway. They were about half a mile away, but he could tell at a glance they were military trucks carrying guards. The canopyless trucks each had several soldiers armed with submachineguns loaded in the back. “I appreciate the work ethic to get up so late, but a single platoon isn’t gonna cut it.” He lightly swung down his right arm, embedding the 20-yard black blade in the runway out ahead of him. “Ready…go!” He held the hilt sideways and pushed it forward as he began to run. Gelegenheit’s blade tore a 20-yard-wide gash in the runway. The asphalt pavement was torn apart and sent airborne with a sound just like ripping paper. He could see the two trucks approaching up ahead. He did not even hesitate to rush them head on. “I was told to leave after stirring up some trouble, but is that really such a good idea?” ### Part 4 A river flowed through the Black Forest. The current blended into the blackness of the forest, but its waves and ripples could be seen in the starlight reflected in the water. All of the light wavered, but the shape of the sky never changed. A shape sat in the center of the river like a sandbank. The two-hull shape was at least 50 yards long and was hidden below vegetation. It was floating on the river dyed black by the night. A sudden wind blew through, rustling the leaves of the trees. The shaking of the leaves and branches announced the path of the wind. A bird cried out. Unable to determine its own location, the lost bird cried out in distress. Another sound seemed to answer it. It came from the two-hull shape sitting as unmoving as a rock on the river. It was a high-pitched noise that set one’s teeth on edge. The river surface shook and ripples appeared around the two-hull shape. The sound grew louder and the ripples grew stronger and more intense instead of dying down. As the sound grew even louder, the ripples grew too large and burst. With a refreshing noise, the river’s water turned to spray and mist. The mist stripped away the vegetation and cloths that had been placed over the two-hull shape. It was laid bare in the starlight. It was an aerial transport ship. Its two-hull design allowed greater surface area for the float emblems, giving it the speed and stability needed for vertical takeoffs and forward thrust. It had no actual cargo bay and instead carried a detachable container between the two hulls. That container was currently missing, making it sleeker and lighter. The nose art illuminated by the starlight on the top of the starboard side was known as the Gypsy Queen. It depicted an Arabian woman smiling in front of the sunset. The mist grew thicker. At the same time, light emerged from the two-hull ship. Small lights appeared all across its 50-yard length. The most powerful was at the center, where several small lights shined from the barge that supported the two hulls. That was the bridge. ### Part 5 The bridge contained several people. They were all seated and working at the instruments in that cramped and dimly-lit space. All except for one person, that is. Hazel sat in the rearmost seat. She looked up at the ceiling, which was lower than her standing height, and viewed the many switches covering it. She sighed and someone walked over to her. The large female figure was Corelle. Her smile was hard to miss even in the dim lighting. “Cramped, isn’t it? Ever been on a ship like this?” “I rode the Sylphide two years ago.” “Oh…I see. The Sylphide, huh? I remember the thrill of hearing that some incredible new ship had picked a fight with the Germans.” Corelle sat in an empty seat next to Hazel. The person in the seat in front looked back. “Sync confirmed! We’re ready to go.” “Hold off on that for now. We need a diversion before we can take off. Wait till we see some movement.” After receiving a quick “yes, ma’am”, Corelle nodded and stuck her hand in her pocket. … Cigarettes? Hazel’s guess was proven wrong when Corelle pulled out a deck of cards. The cards looked small in her large hand and their crimson coloration stood out even in the dim light. Corelle gave Hazel a probing look. “Now, we have some time to spare, so do you mind humoring me with this? I’m actually something of a coward, so I like to know everything I can about my surroundings. That includes the destinies of the people around me, even the ones just passing by.” She smiled a little. “I mean, you wouldn’t want to share an aerial ship with someone destined to crash, right?” “I guess not.” “So let me ask you some questions, Hazel Mirildorf – the girl without an Urban Name. This is a pack of cards I bought in Tarot City – Izumo a few years back. First, there’s these 22 cards.” “So it’s tarot?” “It is. But I’d like to ask something before I start the fortunetelling. I do this for myself, so I won’t force anyone else to play along. They might come face to face with an unpleasant destiny, after all. Some people don’t want to know about that kind of thing, right? So…” She spread out the cards in her hand with skillful movements of her large fingers. “These 22 are the yang cards – they’re the tarot of white harmony. They have no more power than the ordinary commercial tarot. They have different meanings when reversed, but that doesn’t make them malicious. So even if you have a bad destiny ahead of you-” “Could you stop?” hesitantly asked Hazel. “There is no such thing as a bad destiny. It all comes down to how I choose to interpret it. …So, um, please satisfy your curiosity with whatever method you’re so hesitant to explain.” Corelle was quick to respond. She laughed. Loudly. “Ha ha ha! I like the way you think! You’re great, Hazel Mirildorf! Did you hear that, Max!? Coolers!? This girl’s got more guts than either of you!!” “Whatever you say, boss.” An exasperated but amused voice reached them from the front of the bridge. Hazel smiled. Corelle pulled a new deck of cards from her left side to show the smiling girl. “Now look at this. In the approximately 2000 years of evolution since their origins in Arabia, these Telling Cards have gained both yin and yang cards. The 22 yang ones speak in a harmonic voice that accurately conveys your destiny and the 22 yin ones speak in a noisy voice that leaves you unsure what it’s saying about your destiny. Then there are the 3 unspoken word cards that combine the two types. That makes a total of 47 cards.” She spread the cards out in both hands to show them off. They were all blank. “!?” Hazel frowned, so Corelle explained. “The cards made in the Tarot City do not have the cards to tell your destiny; destiny speaks to you through the cards. If you don’t have your fortune told, the card will never meet its intended partner and will remain blank.” “You mean…my destiny will be drawn here?” “That’s right. Your harmonic, noisy, and unspoken destinies are hidden here. Whatever you end up choosing will be your destiny.” Corelle reformed the deck and started shuffling them. “Fortunetelling is all about choosing your destiny. There’s no real method to it. C’mon…just tell me when to stop.” “Eh?” “Hazel, when you think I’ve shuffled enough and the destiny-revealing hand of the Highlandest comes to a stop, you will be led to the destiny you have chosen. So just tell me whenever. I’ll keep shuffling until…how about when we enter the Mediterranean?” “Then please stop.” “You’ve gotta be more forceful than that. Destiny doesn’t stop for polite requests.” Hazel smiled bitterly at that. She felt like the man who welded Gelegenheit, the blade of destiny, had said something like that two years ago. So she regulated her breathing and placed her hands on her lap, but kept the smile on her face. “Stop.” “Sure thing.” With that, a single card popped out of the deck, still face down. Hazel took it and looked to Corelle, who put the remaining cards back in her pocket. “That’s yours now. I just need to replace it with another blank one. So take good care of it, Hazel Mirildorf.” “I will.” Hazel nodded and flipped the card over. It now displayed an image she did not recognize. A single wheel was drawn at the center of the card. The wheel was made of metal, but its edge stuck out almost like a gear and it had splotches of blood in places. A naked woman was drawn on the left side and a naked man was drawn on the right. It was an unpleasant image, but the green and brown background gave it an oddly calming coloration. “What is this?” “That is the Wheel of Destiny, #10 of the Noisy Cards. It depicts a man and woman holding and supporting an inescapable ruin. It’s the reverse of the Wheel of Fortune, #10 of the Harmony Cards.” Hazel listened to Corelle’s explanation without taking her eyes off of the card. “To be honest, I’ve never seen this one before. It’s a rare destiny. But, Hazel?” Hazel looked up from the card and found Corelle looking straight at her with a slight smile. “Don’t forget that I have a letter for you. Whether or not I give it to you comes down to your decision. The Wheel of Destiny is the same.” “The same how?” “Wheels turn, but they can be stopped and their destination can be altered. …If you choose to, that is. Do that and the card’s image might change.” “…” “So search out a good answer – an answer that can change that destiny of ruin.” “…I will.” Once she said that, the bridge’s door opened. Everyone on the bridge turned toward it and saw a giant figure standing there. “Hey, Corelle. I hate being a bother, but I’ll be hitching a ride as planned.” The man who entered the bridge looked to be approaching the end of middle age. He was huge. He had to be 2.5 yards tall, both his arms were bulky prosthetics and his gray hair was unkempt, but something else was even more conspicuous. “Only one eye.” Hazel looked up at the glint in the man’s only eye, the right one. “Are you the one leading the wolves?” “That I am. I take it you’re the girl who was sleeping with Berger? The rumored Hazel Mirildorf?” He slipped between Hazel and Corelle and crouched down with surprising grace. He only wore tattered military pants and a combat vest and a smile entered his one eye as he looked directly at Hazel. “I’m the AIF general commander…or I’m in training for the job, anyway. I’m ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse.” ### Part 6 Berger knocked out the final soldier with a rapid collision from his right foot. He was once more the only thing moving on the runway. His black coat flapped in a gust of wind carrying the scent of fire. He could see an elevated platform at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit located past the black cedar forest north of the base. The platform was needed because the edges of the meteorite pit swelled upwards. A new road had been created from there to the base. Three large forms were visible on that road. One was a blue Grösse Panzer. “A modified version of Blau Löwe, huh?” To its right was a large Grösse Panzer transport truck. The truck was loaded with some kind of cargo covered by a black cloth and it remained stopped on the road. On the other side of the truck was a red Grösse Panzer, mirroring Blau Löwe’s position. “That combination must be Bermark Nein. Does that mean Alfred’s Schwarz Löwe is here too!?” He observed his surroundings but saw no enemy approaching. Instead, he heard a noise. It reminded him of grinding teeth, it was louder than the wind, and it came from the center of the base. Something big was moving there. “They started closing the shipyard’s barrier, didn’t they? That aerial warship is meant to fly, but they’re hiding it underground.” He whistled and resumed walking. His eyes were on the two Grösse Panzers and the truck. He moved forward without even hiding his “what’s going on here?” look. He had a skip in his step as he left the airfield and entered the base itself along with a heated wind. Just then, two Mittel Panzers exited a large hangar. Their heads were made short, but the overall size of their warrior’s silhouette rivaled the Grösse Panzers. They were colored almost entirely black and wielded a thick short sword in their right hand. The left hand held a Panzer shotgun. “Jagdhunds? Alfred would never pilot something so cheap.” Berger even smiled as he increased his pace to a run and stuck his hand below his coat to prepare for battle. He saw the Jagdhunds react. They both aimed their shotgun toward the walls and corners of the hangar and fired. “–––––!? Are they on my side?” He was answered by four shotgun blasts and the splintering of wood. The hangar was 100 yards across and the entire thing shook. It tilted. Four more blasts sounded. The tilt gained an eye-drawing appeal as it teetered on the verge of collapse. The metal supports broke and the holes blown in the wall were squashed flat by the weight from above. An ensemble of bursting metal followed. The Grösse Panzer hangar partially collapsed, looking more like it had melted than anything. It all happened in an instant. “Oh? Restricting it to infantry?” commented Berger as he changed direction. He turned toward the center of the base and picked up his pace. On the way, he noticed the two Jagdhunds turn their short heads made of composite armor, which required turning their full bodies along with it. With a whirring of mechanical parts, their sight devices focused on him. They both gave quick bows and the one in front raised its metal thumb. It first pointed toward the runway and then at themselves. Realizing what that meant, Berger pointed at the other Grösse Panzer hangar out ahead of him and then pointed at his own face. The Panzer formed a circle with its thumb to ask “okay?” He raised Gelegenheit to say “okay”. The Panzer nodded and the sight device’s glowing light wavered in a way that suggested a smile. Berger saluted with just his hand. “That’s Bermark Nein over there! The second things go south, you get the hell out of here, okay!?” The Jagdhunds nodded in response and moved out ahead. Their feet thundered across the pavement and their metal bodies were not burned or slowed by the heated wind blowing in. They passed by Berger, so he put his sunglasses back on and ran past the half-destroyed hangar. The adjacent Panzer hangar had its door fully open. Something blocked out the light escaping from within. He could hear metal footsteps as something emerged. He sped up. He shoved Size C Phlogiston Tanks into Gelegenheit. His left hand demonstrated his fast reload skill by attaching 10 of them in a row. Gelegenheit was shaped much like a spear. His right hand’s fingers wrapped around the middle of the hilt and he spun it around using just his fingertips. “I shouldn’t be doing this when they barely gave me any money for this mission. But lucky for you, I’m the second most accommodating guy in the world!” As he spoke, a shadowy blade grew from the spinning Gelegenheit. It extended with blinding speed. The shadow field was only satisfied after reaching a length of 40 yards. He wrapped his right arm around the hilt and held it to his side before extending the arm out to the side, parallel with the ground. His arm’s movement sent the black blade out horizontally like a wing. He also held his left hand out to the side while he ran. “Ready for takeoff!” The hangar was bisected all at once. The slash sounded like a symphony of metal being severed hundreds of times in a single instant. Berger only needed a little over 8 seconds to clear the 100-yard road in front of the hangar. The Grösse Panzer preparing to exit the hangar collapsed after one of its legs was severed. Metal groaned and the wind blew. Neither was stopping anytime soon. Both sounds continued nonstop as the top half of the hangar shifted toward the road and fell. It made no attempt to stop itself. The structure collapsed. The destroyed building was decorated by the roar of dirt flung into the air and the smell of oil. But Berger lowered his hips, turned toward the hangar, and stopped in place. He viewed the collapsed Grösse Panzer through his sunglasses. “That wasn’t Schwarz Löwe!? Where is that moron!?” The arm sticking straight up from the wreckage of the hangar was from a mass-produced P-model. Berger quickly stood up. Just then, the wind fluctuated behind him. ### Part 7 “!?” When he looked back toward the front gate, he saw several people entering the base from the Black Forest. They were moving so quickly it was difficult to detect their scattered movement through the shimmering heat. “So the second wave has arrived.” Berger sighed, got up, and heard something. First, he noticed the alarm encompassing the base. “They’ve switched to the third alarm.” He whistled lightly and took off running, his eyes forward. Once past the tree-lined road, the front gate was to his left. The gate and its metal guard tower had been destroyed and two armored trucks were rolled on their sides in front of it. The trucks had countless scars that could only have been the result of claws. Right from the gate was an east-west road dividing the base in two. Following that would take you to the base’s command building and control tower. Short warehouses were lined up on either side of the road and the shipyard and Vaterland were past that. Some new intruders were entering the base through the destroyed front gate. They were AIF Glossolalian Special Forces. Most of them were humanoid. Their uniforms had not been modified to accommodate Altered transformations and they wielded whatever weapons and shields they specialized in. They took cover behind the toppled armored trucks and prepared to fight. One of them noticed Berger. The young man held a Device – a sword that resembled a musical instrument. He looked back in the blowing wind and said something to someone. A middle-aged man emerged from behind the armored truck in response. He wore one of the AIF’s insignialess caps and he caught Berger’s eye before sending hand signals. He pointed toward the command building and raised first one and then two fingers. Berger nodded, raised three fingers, and pointed at the man. The man nodded. Berger returned the nod and glanced over at the command building. Two armored trucks were still stopped in front of its entrance and they showed no sign of moving. He could see a few soldiers using the trucks for cover, but they did not seem to be doing much of anything. “Do that and a single area-of-effect spell takes you all out.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he heard what sounded like shattering glass. He looked up into the sky to see the air moving near the shipyard across the road. Embers were launched into the air, scattered by something blowing up from below. A transparent glowing hemispherical field was emitted from the ground there. “They’ve occupied the top of the shipyard’s barrier with an omnidirectional field, have they? How many witches did they send on this mission?” He gave a nod of acceptance and beckoned toward the soldiers hiding behind the trucks at the front gate. The same middle-aged man nodded back, raised his submachinegun from the edge of the truck, kept an eye on their surroundings, and shouted something to his comrades. A few others raised their weapons and fired along with him, but the rest ran toward Berger. A few ran toward him on the road. The one in the lead was the young man who had initially spotted Berger. He held his Device below his right arm and held his submachinegun in his left hand. Once he reached the center of the road, he gave a bashful smile and spoke. “It looks like the Vaterland is operating at critical, so our 3rd Platoon can handle the-” The man only got that far before Berger heard an odd sound. It was distinct even with the swirling of the thick and hot wind. He heard the movement of a Grösse Panzer. As a Panzer Kavalier, he would recognize that sound anywhere. “!?” He turned toward it – to the west. His gaze raced past the base, through the Black Forest, and to the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. That was about a mile away, but he definitely saw the blue Grösse Panzer using the red Grösse Panzer’s shoulder to steady a rifle longer than it was tall. It had already taken aim. Berger tried to shout a warning. ### Part 8 A pitch black aircraft began its ascent from the Geheimnis Agency HQ runway. It was a König Pseudo-Drach, a high-speed recon plane used by the Geheimnis Agency. It left the runaway and immediately rolled to the right. Then it accelerated. It produced an umbrella of water vapor and shot forward, tearing through the starlit air like a dark knife. The cockpit was occupied by Schweitzer in aerial gear. The copilot’s seat behind him was occupied by Alfred. Their aircraft continued to accelerate. Schweitzer kept the stick in the exact center to keep the craft in low-altitude flight. It tore through the wind to reach an area of the sky that burned red. Schweitzer viewed that reddened sky and frowned. “It is burning bright, Alfred.” “That’s the entire point. You want your diversion to look as impressive as possible. If that was as effective as it looks, it would harm the people who set it up too.” “What do you think their target is?” “There’s so many good ones it’s hard to say. Could be the Gard-class warship, could be the excavated item, could be my personal Grösse Panzer, could be the Vaterland, and could be all of the above.” “The excavated item, hm?” “Did you hear what it is? I was so busy keeping Lady Rose company I was left out of the discussion.” “I was busy keeping someone company myself.” “Don’t act like you didn’t like it. I saw you smiling out there surrounded by those two lovely ladies.” Schweitzer ignored that and quiet laughter reached him from behind. Alfred suppressed the rest of his laughter and sighed in satisfaction. “Either way, those are Heidengeist out there. It’s not official yet, but Maldrick took the title of foremost European Buster family from Borderson, so I can’t let those Heidengeist get away with this. I can’t as a Hound either.” Schweitzer heard the scraping of metal on metal behind him. “You came well equipped, Alfred.” “I’d be more so if I were hunting a bunch of small targets. But with a big target, all I need is this Rein König.” Alfred’s response was accompanied by more metallic scraping. “But,” he sighed. “Lowen- our commander is a real pain. I can’t believe she put Lieutenant General Heiliger in charge of this one. He’s from the army. He’s not one of us.” “His Neue Silber is an excellent transport ship and it can perform a vertical takeoff if the runway has been destroyed. Also, military and Agency ranks are mutually compatible, so regulations say a major general or higher in the military can act as a substitute during an emergency. Just like we can deploy the military.” “You sound so sure of yourself during your lectures and it’s downright stifling to listen to.” “Berger said that was one of my virtues.” “Because he has no confidence of his own. Why else would he keep calling himself second best ever since that incident?” “Do you think he is here now?” “That is a largescale and…direct attack by the AIF. The AIF has to succeed here to prove their worth, so there’s no way they wouldn’t send him in.” A breath. “Speed us up, Hellard. Before someone shows up and tries to steal the command away from us. …Bermark Nein was in charge of protecting the excavated item, but will he really stick to that? That Sein Frau carries the power of the Eisen Ritter Project, but if he’s anything like us, he won’t be able to sit idly by while his comrades are killed.” “You never change, Alfred. No one tries harder to avoid giving up something they care about.” “I learned that lesson the hard way four years ago.” Schweitzer could not immediately respond, so he simply pulled back on the throttle. The craft shot forward and he spoke as the inertial pressure pressed against him. “You still haven’t forgotten how we lost the director back then?” “You haven’t either. Remember before, when you told me Lady Rose reminds you of Eryngium?” Schweitzer nodded and continued for Alfred. “The director died trying to clear an escape route, but then she moved to protect Berger and-” “Stop. It only happened because Berger altered her destiny. He used his Heidengeist power to help us escape and, when she was on the verge of death…” Alfred clicked his tongue. “A divine name? A divine power? All that power does is twist destiny to his liking. …If not for that prophecy, I think you should have killed him 2 years ago, Hellard.” Schweitzer did not respond. Irritated, Alfred’s breathing was heavy and he crossed his arms. Silence hung over the cockpit. The only sound was the vibration of the heated wind roaring around them. Neither man spoke and that low rumbling took over. Until… “Hm?” A new wind arrived before Schweitzer could say anything. The powerful gust caused the König Pseudo-Drach to rattle like it was scraping along a gravel ground. Schweitzer angled it somewhat upwards to allow the vibration to escape the craft. They moved up and then another gust reached them. Faint clouds trailed the wind. At speeds like this, the wind functioned much like a tsunami or solid wall. The upwards-tilting craft received lift from it and ascended further. “This is dangerous,” said Schweitzer at the controls. “There is too much turbulence. Partially due to the widespread fire, but the winds blowing down from the mountain just so happen to be hitting us.” The craft would not stop shaking. “At this rate-” “Hellard, less crying, more flying.” Schweitzer heard a rhythmic tapping behind him. Almost like someone was striking a metal wind instrument with their palm. Alfred was enjoying the sensation of his finger tapping on Rein König. His amused voice joined the tapping. “Hellard, pass by above the #8 Base at low altitude. I don’t mind if you can’t keep it entirely steady.” That was all he asked for. The rest was what he would do himself. “I’ll jump down and join the battle.” ### Part 9 “––––!” Berger opened his mouth, but the destruction arrived before he could get his voice out. The soldiers running over to him on the road shook for a brief moment. Then they blurred, like a sudden pan during a film. Finally, three of them became a dark spray. But that was not all. A white mist raced across the road Berger was using. That mist was created in the heated air when the shockwave of something’s rapid passage made the moisture in the air gather together. The shockwave was coming. “!” The wind exploded and a gunshot-like roar arrived a moment later. It did not end there. Berger saw a gun readied at a distance of a mile. Sparks repeatedly erupted from the anti-fortress autocannon’s muzzle. It fired at a rate of 15 shots per second. The Grösse Panzer autocannon was based on the MG 34 and it used armor-piercing rounds to break through even a fortress’s armor. It was an unstoppable weapon in anti-Grösse Panzer combat. Assuming you had free control of a Grösse Panzer that could ignore its formidable recoil, that is. But the blue Grösse Panzer was doing just that. A clear tone reminiscent of a wind instrument ran from the far distance and the empty cartridges rang beautifully against the pavement below. Cartridges the size of drink cans dully reflected the base’s crimson lights as they scattered. Each one of those represented a fired bullet. The wreckage of the two armored trucks at the front gate took direct hits. Both of them were blasted straight up, like a kicked soccer ball. They took further bullets in midair, blowing them away and rupturing them. Their scattering parts were further smashed, bent, and obliterated by the shockwave. The people who were sent airborne along with the trucks met the same fate. They were made of flesh and bone, not metal, so they were reduced to a fine spray instead of being bent. A few managed to escape and quickly prepared to fight back. Some only managed to scream, but no one could do anything for them. Luckily, their one spell user threw out her submachinegun and readied her rapid-fire device for the cards she kept at her wrist. She set up a defense field and shouted something with her long hair whipping in the wind. The wind was blown away as the field opened in the shape of a hemispherical virtual ram directed toward the enemy threat. A few of the survivors were under her protection. It was meaningless. She and the four others were popped like balloons. The steel bullet instantly penetrated the defense field, tore up the road, and ricocheted. It whipped up the wind as it flew off into the night sky. The roar of rapid fire tore ceaselessly through the heated air. The noise and shockwaves kept coming. An embodiment of destruction tore holes in the road while rushing toward the runway. “––––!?” Berger watched it all from behind a tree nearly felled by the shockwaves. One of the Jagdhunds on the runway had its right shoulder blown away. It had the thickest shoulder armor of any Mittel Panzer in current use, but that was torn away and shattered just in time for the next bullet to rip the entire arm off. Next was the chest. Deep holes formed in its glossy black chest and stomach armor. A moment later, an explosion erupted from its other side, like spraying blood. The impact sent inside the armor shell passed all the way through and destroyed its back. Everything in between was cracked open and blasted out from its back. There was a gaping hole in it now, but since it had all left through the back, it almost looked like its torso had been sucked in toward the center of its stomach. Then the face was blown away. The other Jagdhund had no idea what was happening but still took evasive action. Its head and shoulders were one single piece, so its movements were sluggish and required the use of its entire body. It tried to turn left to move behind the destroyed hangar for cover. That was a mistake. Just as it started to turn, a bullet blew a hole in the shoulder moving out front. The armor-piercing round pierced the part of the shoulder armor that stuck up, pierced through the side of the head, and then stopped at the opposite shoulder. The impact was powerful enough to lift the Jagdhund from the ground like it had been hit with an uppercut. But the destructive impacts were not done with it yet. More unseen power tore into the airborne Mittel Panzer. Almost like it was being chewed apart by a swarm of invisible jaws. Terrible sounds crashed together in midair, creating a discordant chorus. The Jagdhund was literally tossed side to side in what looked like a midair dance. The bullet impacts filled it with inertia, sending it back toward the runway. On the way, it was gradually dismembered. First, its fingers and ankles disappeared and then its right leg and both arms were obliterated. Once the wreckage was too small for the bullets to hit properly, it rolled along the ground a few times. The gunfire stopped once both Jagdhunds had entirely disappeared. The wind washed over the aftermath before soaring up into the sky. “You’re a real piece of work,” grumbled Berger, his eyes on Neue Blau. Neue Blau lifted the gun from Neue Zinnober’s shoulder and moved it back and forth. The barrel fell away while smoking from the great heat filling it. Neue Blau calmly pulled a new barrel from its back and attached it. It was not out of ammunition. The battle was not over. “…” Berger looked to the road in front of him. It was covered in rubble, sand, and scraps of metal too badly damaged to identify. No evidence remained that any life had been there. Berger clenched his teeth. Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar walked forward. They left the truck behind. The base was now a battlefield, not the scene of a fire. ### Part 10 The bridge suddenly felt even more cramped. Corelle moved to the captain’s seat and Pale sat in the seat next to Hazel, but that was enough to feel like a new wall had been erected in the bridge. Hazel glanced over while waiting for the ship to take flight. Pale returned the look from far above her. “Hm? You need something?” “No, um, uh.” She hesitated. “You’re really big.” “This is average height for a Hard Wolf. It’s not really worth mentioning.” “Don’t believe his lies,” called Corelle from the up front. “Rumor has it he was so big he was always the prime target for the machineguns during the Spanish Civil War.” “Don’t come out and tell her I’m lying, Corelle. I was trying to be adorably modest.” “I think modesty and lying are two different things,” said Hazel. “Don’t sweat the small stuff, miss. …Hey, Corelle! Hurry it up. I was hoping to get home sometime this century.” “I’m not your chauffeur, you know?” sighed Corelle. “Besides, the commander isn’t supposed to be the first one back home.” “I came up with a strategy and saw them all off. The rest is up to them. …M. Schrier said he wanted to see how well everyone could carry out this mission, but I never promised to fight on the front line myself.” “Do you have any idea how much work went into preparing for this mission? We acquired some German Grösse Panzers and a wyvern even sacrificed itself to get this transport ship in.” “Are more sacrifices a good thing? Hm? Pretty sure it’s the opposite, Corelle. If it was, my side in Ethiopia was the best damn army in the world.” Pale clicked his tongue. “Real soldiers can carry out their mission once they’re given orders. This will all work according to plan as long as the battle has no last-minute surprise guests.” After having his say, Pale smugly leaned back in his seat. Hazel thought of something as she watched him. “Um…” “Yeah? What is it, miss?” “You mentioned what it means to be a real soldier.” She thought back to what Berger had said the previous day and asked about it here. “Is wanting to do something not enough to fight? Is wanting to save someone…not enough? Do you need something more?” “…” “Two years ago, someone from the Geheimnis Agency told me that to run away is to survive. So if you don’t want to run away and you want to fight…does that mean you want to die?” “You saying you want to fight, miss?” “Stop, Pale,” said Corelle. “She’s Berger’s favorite.” “Eh?” Hazel’s eyes widened. Corelle’s voice was the only thing she could hear over the shaking and rumbling bridge. “Everyone in the AIF wants to bring her in. Get her and you’ve got a much better chance of snagging Oscar Mirildorf, after all. But no one tries. Partially because she doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for a female AIF member…but more because Dog Berger is against it and he’s close to M. Schrier.” Hazel stood up a little to ask a question. “Wh-why? Why would Mr. Berger do that?” “He says you would definitely agree if we recruited you, but he wonders if that’s what you really want. He wonders if you really want to be a soldier.” “…” “He thinks there might be another option for you. …It’s a lot like my cards. When the time comes and you make your choice, you’ll have your answer. It isn’t a question you can answer in advance.” “I see.” Pale nodded sagely. “That’s far too complicated for me.” “Quit teasing, you idiot. This is a serious issue for her.” Hazel did not nod, but she did hold her new card close and then slowly stuck it in her breast pocket. She placed both hands over the pocket and slowly sighed. “What do I want to be?” she whispered to herself with a smile. “Two years ago,” she said loud enough to be heard. “At school, we were told to think about our plans for the future. We all had to fill out a simple form with our name, species, and a few other fields. We were all discussing it in the middle of class.” She looked over at Pale and found his one eye was looking down at her. There was no excess force in his gaze – he was simply watching. “Did you do that in class way back when, Mr. Pale?” “Huh? W-well, yes, I suppose I did.” He smiled in a resigned sort of way and scratched his head as she watched him. “But forget about me. What did you write for yours?” “I never filled it out.” She smiled. “But there was something I wanted to write down.” The thing is… “I wanted to write it down, but I didn’t know what would happen if I did. The Glossolalian girl sitting next to me said she wanted to study in America to be a fashion designer. When I saw that…” “…” “I thought it was ridiculous and she was dreaming if she thought that would ever happen. But…but…” She realized the hands on her chest had stiffened and she could not relax them. Her right hand was still clutching the Wheel of Destiny in her hand and refused to let go. “But then the soldiers barged into the classroom and approached us. When one of them picked up that girl’s form, laughed at her, and tore it up, I couldn’t just let him do it, so I-” “Time to go!!” cut in Corelle. The sharp voice felt like a slap to the face, so Hazel’s head snapped up, a single tear dripping down her cheek. She saw the sky was red out the front of the bridge. Another color was shooting up into that red sky. It was a bluish-white flare. “It’s an emergency. Pale, the battle might have had one of those surprise guests you mentioned. …Time to fly, Hazel! I see now you’ve given this all a lot of thought. But you know what?” “What?” “No one’s dumb enough to turn the wheel backwards. The past ends tonight.” “Okay!” She wiped away the tear. The floor felt like it was pushing up from below and the view out the window dropped away around them. The craft had begun to ascend. The engine’s roar grew higher pitched and the bridge shook and swayed. The shaking and the noise joined together as her viewpoint grew ever higher and she had to look down to see the river they had left. The scarlet color of the sky shined into the bridge, illuminating all their faces, and Corelle turned around to shout to her. “It’s about time to choose, Hazel! To choose how the Wheel of Destiny will turn!” ### 532. Chapter 7: The Wheel Soars 07/29/1939 00:31 – 00:59 Everyone begins to run I join them But not to follow them To reach what it is I desire ### European Tuning and Busting European Tuning and Busting is a fusion of European emblemology with the Wuxing philosophy brought over from the East, so its character differs somewhat from Eastern Tuning and Busting. It is systemized, it has a clear goal, and most of its uses fall into one of two categories: casting or combat. Borderson remained the leading family for nearly 1000 years, but most of them were killed by Heidengeists in ’21 and they lost their base near the Black Forest in the south. The head of the family, Reichle Borderson, was effectively lost in ’33, bringing an end to the direct bloodline. The Borderson territory was lost and all that remains of them are the hidden villages that shelter the very same Heidengeists the family once hunted. Those villages located across Germany are the only place in the country where Heidengeists are allowed to live and they act as sanctuaries where all conflict is forbidden. The Maldrick family took the title of leading Buster family due to their bloodline and abilities, but Alfred Maldrick, the second son, showed greater ability in hunting dragons and other Buster activities than the actual heir, so they still have not properly established their position even now in ’39. ### Part 1 The shipyard to the west of the base was covered by the Globe Protect ether shield created by the AIF. The shipyard’s ceiling barrier was closed beneath that 300-yard glowing hemisphere. It was shut to protect the ships within, but that meant the AIF had complete control of the area above it. The AIF’s main force of Glossolalians stood on the edge of the ceiling barrier, firing on the base guards attempting to surround them. Others spread out to important points along the road to secure an escape route. They were all focused on the top of the ceiling barrier. Several large emblem charms were attached to the seam in the metal barrier. They were known as Lock Charms and commonly used in construction and for mooring ships. They only worked with gravity in a single direction, but they would activate on a surface to hold two objects together. That barrier could not be opened from the inside or outside. The top of the barrier was essentially a giant plaza now and a 3-yard Tune Emblem was being drawn there. The circular emblem accelerated and processed the Lives in the air. It was being drawn by four young men in AIF uniforms. An old man in the same uniform stood in the center with a sword Device at the ready. Once the emblem was complete, he would strike it with the sword to activate it. High-purity Phlogiston stolen from the Vaterland was being emitted into the shipyard below the barrier. It was pure enough that the moonlight alone was enough for it to go berserk. As is, it would react to the surrounding space and detonate, but by igniting it with the Tune Emblem above, the barrier would become a giant oven. That was why they worked so hard to protect that barrier. Then a sound erupted in the western sky. They all briefly looked up beyond the thin defensive light surrounding them, where something was happening on the western side of that ether shield. They saw a continual eruption of sparks and smoke. Something like large artillery shells were flying in from the west. The Emblem Master on the west spread his arms and reinforced the shield there. The shellfire continued. The western side of the shield glowed white with heat as the hits continued. Conservation of energy sent the force of the blows back to the caster. Shields like this did not eliminate the damage – they distributed it. If an impact could not be distributed, either the shield would shatter or the damage would reach the caster. The nails were stripped from the westmost young man’s spread fingers, blood spraying. “––––!” But he held his position. The shellfire stopped, the overheating settled down, and the shield’s glow returned to its original color. The four young men working in the center of the barrier jumped out from the center. They had finished drawing out the Tune Emblem. Only the sword-wielding old man still stood in the center. He raised the sword straight overhead. A beam of light extended skyward. But then something went wrong. A sound much like shattering glass, came from directly above. The puzzling sound was high-pitched yet quiet as it spilled down. “…?” Everyone looked up within the sounds of gunfire and blowing wind. They all saw what had caused the sound. A hole had appeared in the sky. A 5-yard circle had opened at the very top of the shield, like someone had scooped out a chunk with a spoon. The shield had been destroyed. “!?” The Emblem Masters’ confusion was interrupted by a single sound and a single Text bursting through that hole. The sound was the reverberation of a great mass soaring through the sky. The Text was as follows: Something shaped like a black dragon passed above that hole revealing the scarlet night sky. But that was not all. They all saw a light drop down from the object. The light was a line of silver. It descended along a line so straight it could be called meticulous. It was a person – a young man in military pants and a combat vest, his long brown hair fluttering in the wind of his descent and a silver sword held aloft. His descent was accompanied by a greeting. “The Kaiser Schwert has arrived!” ### Part 2 Alfred used the force of his landing to attack the old man standing in the center of the ceiling barrier. Rein König’s blade cleaved him in two, from head to groin. It met no resistance and even the sound of the cut was drowned out by the wind created by his landing. Everyone’s eyes were on him as he leisurely stood up at the barrier’s center. “…” The corpse thudded onto the barrier and the blood sprayed out. The liquid sounded more solid than liquid as it hit the barrier, burst, and spread out into a puddle. The new color blotted out the Tune Emblem below it. The Glossolalian elites did not move an inch in response. The only movement came from the one human. Alfred finished standing up and rested Rein König on his shoulder. He brushed his hair up with his left hand and spoke without even giving the corpse a glance. “Let’s have some fun, shall we?” He took a look around him just as the ether shield vanished. The Emblem Masters fell back while the soldiers they had been protecting advanced. They were large, but they were more than just hulking muscle – they were well-trained soldiers. The six of them faced Alfred, each with a submachinegun in their left arm. He could see their killer intent. “Ooh, I like the color of your killer intent. That’s what I’m looking for in a Heidengeist.” He smiled. “Did your Emblem Masters fall back to begin on Plan B? Securing an escape route, perhaps? …You thought this through. But I have just one thing to say to that.” He lowered Rein König from his shoulder and relaxed his right arm, letting it fall limply at his side. “Die.” He turned his body to the left and suddenly swung his right hand. The result was more a groan of agony than a scream. Something strange was sticking into the mouth of the soldier he was now facing: a sword’s hilt. And something strange had grown from the back of the soldier’s head: a sword’s blade. “A little prick from Rein König isn’t enough to slay a big, strong Heidengeist like you, so don’t act so surprised.” Alfred shifted his gaze further left and took off running. He sprinted not toward the soldier stabbed with Rein König, but toward the one standing to that soldier’s left. He was fast and his feet pounded loud on the metal barrier as they carried him forward. He bent like a bow, and… “!” He accelerated to reach his opponent in the blink of an eye. The soldier had been briefly distracted by the sword thrown to his left. That proved fatal. He noticed Alfred’s approach and attempted to aim the submachinegun in his left hand, but Alfred grabbed the barrel before he could. Realizing the gun was now aimed at a distant ally well behind Alfred, the soldier chose not to pull the trigger, let go of the gun altogether, and leaped backwards. Alfred tossed the submachinegun into the air and pursued his enemy. He tapped the bottom of his vest and a dagger wrapped in a sticky light dropped blade first. He snatched it from the air and ran forward. While the soldier leaped back, he formed a symbol with his right hand’s fingers, pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket with his left hand, and opened his mouth. Alfred swung his dagger first. It sliced through the air, but the soldier holding the parchment was uninjured. The momentum of swinging the dagger spun Alfred around, showing his back, so the soldier pointed his right hand’s symbol toward him and shouted the text on the parchment. “–––––!” Except his voice would not come. Noticing something was wrong, he held his throat. Alfred completed a full rotation and extended his left hand toward his foe. “Here, you can have your throat’s Horn back.” He tossed over a small bone resembling a spiral shell. While it was in the air, he threw a left roundhouse kick into the soldier’s right knee. The soldier’s knee bent the wrong way with a sickening crunch. The thrown Horn hit the collapsed soldier in the chest and bounced off. “What, you don’t want it?” Alfred sounded a bit surprised as he put the dagger back below his vest and pulled out something else. It was a metal tube measuring about a foot long. “This is a new invention of ours. It launches a piece of sacred wood. We call it a Panzer Reinigung.” He pressed it against his collapsing opponent’s chest and pressed the button on the side. A sound of bursting gunpowder and a puff of smoke burst from the back end and the soldier’s body convulsed. His body was even larger than Alfred’s, but it arched back and shook. There was no scream. He simply broke. His entire body trembled and turned to layers of bluish-white ether light, leaving his clothing behind. It was like a humanoid pile of papers. Before he could take another breath, he burned away, starting from the feet. This process of Ashing was unique to Heidengeists. But Alfred did not bother watching his opponent’s annihilation. He simply moved to the right. He made a quick side jump to approach the soldier with Rein König’s hilt growing from his mouth. He ducked below the weak punch thrown by the soldier’s right arm and looked up to see his opponent’s face with his weapon’s hilt extending from the mouth. He sent his right leg up while he stood up. He struck with his heel, but not straight at his opponent’s face. His heel swung down and to the right like a battle axe to kick the hilt sticking out. The soldier was spun to the right by his face. Alfred used that motion to circle behind his opponent, grabbed the bandolier at his opponent’s waist with his left hand, and raised his right hand. The submachinegun he had stolen and thrown skyward earlier landed in his right hand. And… “Here’s a lesson for you.” He looked forward to see a third enemy aiming a submachinegun his way. The enemy fired. “Heidengeists are greatly superior to humans when it comes to reflexes, endurance, cunning, and attachment to life.” He used the soldier in front of him as a shield against the incoming bullets. “Gah!” The soldier cried in agony as his body repeatedly shook. Alfred stuck his submachinegun out from behind him and fired. He also advanced. He lifted his meat shield ever so slightly and charged at the third enemy. “–––––!” “Hey, shields aren’t supposed to scream. You should rejoice that I’ve found a use for you.” The soldier’s body shook. Alfred fired while rushing the third enemy. His uniform was shredded and blood and flesh flew through the heated air, but the man’s body would not break. Alfred’s gun ran out of ammo. So did the enemy’s. Bloody, the enemy loaded a new magazine and resumed firing. Alfred did not hesitate to abandon his gun and use his freed-up hand to spin his shield around the other way. Instead of the bandolier, he grabbed Rein König’s hilt sticking out of the man’s mouth and pushed forward. His shield shook as it took more gunfire, but he did not care. He held Rein König with both hands now and lifted up the shield as he ran. He was now right up on his third opponent. The submachinegun had stopped firing. It was out of ammo. Alfred smiled and then shouted. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” He made a Bust attack. Rein König emitted a white light and his shield was blown away. The third enemy was eliminated a moment later. Alfred ran through the explosion of light he had created, seeing the lower half of his shield falling away. “I needed some cushioning to keep that from destroying the barrier. Great work.” With that, he picked up speed. He ran, took a step, and flipped to the side. Instead of planting his hands on the barrier, he used the inertia of his legs for a full midair side flip. A clawed attack slammed into the spot he had just vacated. A fourth enemy had Flektierened into a humanoid wolf with silver fur. “Oh? That English Frühmond stuff?” After landing, Alfred glanced around to see a fifth and sixth enemies injecting their arms with a drug also known as moon opium. “!” Two empty aluminum containers clanked against the barrier. The fifth and sixth made their next move before the sound had even faded. They jumped back to avoid Alfred, but their jumps easily cleared 10 yards. As soon as they landed, they were engulfed by explosions of white steam. The steam spread out from the center and was blown away as their bodies Flektierened. They were Hard Wolves – bipedal wolves who retained a lot of their human forms. They prepared for a fight and howled into the sky. A trio of war cries echoed into the heavens, surrounding Alfred. Hearing that, he lowered Rein König and pressed the tip against the barrier. “I never finished my lesson, did I? It’s true you Heidengeists are superior to us humans…but there’s one thing we have on you.” He moved the tip to draw a semicircle in front of him. “None of you is named Maldrick.” His line acted as a cue for the triangle formation of enemies to rush toward him in the center. They sprinted in, but he did not stay still. He leaped backwards. One of the Hard Wolves was charging in toward there. With his back to that enemy, Alfred shrunk down a little in the air. “!” And he spun around in an instant. He also threw the dagger he had used before. The white blade flew toward the Hard Wolf’s forehead. His Heidengeist reflexes easily saw the throw coming. At his speed, dodging it would throw off his balance, so he reached out a clawed hand to grab the flying dagger. He caught it and his thick fur kept the blade from cutting his hand. But… “Those reflexes will be your undoing.” Alfred ran in. “!?” He flew through the air before the Hard Wolf could show his surprise. He extended his leg straight out to kick the haft of the dagger forward like a hammer. The impact pushed the blade into the Hard Wolf’s forehead. All the way in. A moment later, Alfred kicked the dagger’s haft again and stretched out his body. He leaped backwards. His long brown hair fluttered in the heated night air as he flew more than 5 yards back. He passed above the heads of the two Hard Wolves running in toward him. He landed behind them and immediately placed his hands on the ground in front of him and flipped to the side. The Hard Wolves attacked behind themselves without even looking back. After two side flips, he straightened up again. The one enemy was flat on the ground while holding his forehead. The dagger had reached his brain. Not even a Heidengeist could keep fighting after that. Two remained. Those two were nowhere to be seen, so he moved forward, throwing on his full speed from step one. The wind he felt behind him told him the enemy had been charging him from the left and right. And that they were now pursuing from behind him. He immediately ducked and rapidly braked by practically lying down on the ground. A beat later, two sets of claws swept by overhead and the two enemies moved out ahead. “That uncontrollable speed will be your undoing too.” Alfred stood up and swept the feet out from under the staggering figure on the right. He successfully tripped that Hard Wolf. At the same time, the left one finished braking, spun around, and raised his claws. He jabbed the five sparkling claws straight forward. That was a move learned through martial arts training, not an animal’s attack. “–––––!” Hearing an animal roar, Alfred struck the tripping Hard Wolf in the head with Rein König. With the sound of a juicy fruit splitting open, the head burst, the body tilted, and the claws coming from the left stabbed into the right one’s chest. The right Hard Wolf instantly turned to ashes. The final one frantically pulled back his ashy left arm, but Alfred’s Rein König stabbed through his gut before he could, breaking his spine. “!?” His body bent forward from the impact and Alfred pulled out a Panzer Reinigung and pressed it against the Hard Wolf’s jaw. “Poor thing.” With that, he skewered the Hard Wolf’s face bottom to top with the sacred wood stake. The sound of gunpowder echoed out and Alfred pulled Rein König from the enemy’s gut, further breaking his body before it Ashed. The sound of falling ash was just like that of spilling sand. Alfred emotionlessly glanced down. Five paces past the blowing ash, another Hard Wolf was convulsing on the ground with a dagger still stabbed into his forehead. “…” Alfred wordlessly approached and then heard a shout. A human shout. “Alfred!!” Alfred recognized the voice. But he did not look back. He instead used his sword to split the head of the agonized Hard Wolf at his feet. Precisely two seconds later, he heard footsteps from behind him. First two steps and then a third, more solid step. “Did he jump?” Alfred looked back, twisting his body around and raising Rein König overhead. He raised his voice for a full-power Bust despite being atop the barrier. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Rein König amplified his Ton and let it burst out as a white light. But the incoming attack split the white light. The attack was composed of darkness and it was swung down by a figure in a black coat: Dog Berger. ### Part 3 Fire was visible out the front of the bridge. The two-hull ship flew along a straight line while slightly tilted. “Flying above them for a moment can scare the enemy into falling back! If you see any Heavy Barrels or whatever, give them a quick flyby!” Corelle was shouting instructions. Hazel undid her seat’s four-point belt and placed her hands on the back of the seat in front of her to get a better view. The base was burning. “The ether shield is down. If they can’t ignite the Phlogiston from above, we just have to wait for it to go berserk on its own…but that takes time. The enemy might stop it.” Hazel did not know what Pale was talking about, but she had a bad feeling about it. She wordlessly held her left shoulder for just a moment before clutching the chest of her clothing instead. That one card was the only thing supporting her now. She looked back toward Corelle in the captain’s chair. “Pale! You want down!? This might be one of those losing battles you love so much!” “Yeah, no. The plan this time is to see it through to the end. Besides…” Pale looked to Hazel. “Girl.” It took her a few seconds to realize he was addressing her. She looked over in a hurry, but she had missed her chance to respond. He scratched his head and spoke again. “Girl.” “Y-yes!?” “That’s the battlefield you wanted. We’re getting closer by the second. You can see it, can’t you?” “Y-yes…I can.” “Then listen carefully. A lot of people there will die, be destroyed, kick the bucket, and bid this world farewell. You get what I mean, don’t you? But you can also tell you’ll be safe in here, right? You can remain an observer.” She nodded and looked to the scarlet-glowing base. They were close enough to make out its general layout. She could tell what was happening and why it was happening. It was all right there in front of her. “You asked before if wanting to fight meant you wanted to die, right? And that you wanted to do something else on the battlefield, right? …Is that because you pity the people dying down there? Or did you want to thank them for doing this while you stay safe and sound up here?” “Pale!” Corelle threw a rebuke at the man, but he ignored it. “Girl, I’ve only got one thing to say to that: go to hell.” He smiled a little. “Not wanting to run away means you don’t want to lose. Do you get what that means?” “…” “That’s what you don’t understand. People get what they deserve. Winning doesn’t mean killing. If losing means death, then winning is the opposite.” Hazel faced his words head on. She pressed her arm against her chest and held herself. “Now, what do you think about that? What does it mean if not wanting to run away means not wanting to lose? Again, the battlefield you wanted is right there.” “I…” Only after speaking did she notice the strength in her hand. … Why am I so tense? I’m thinking too hard. She smiled bitterly at herself and the smile parted to let a sigh out. “Two years ago…” “Yeah?” Pale had a smile on his face. He was waiting for her to speak. So she did so. “I actually thought I wanted to be a history teacher.” “I get the feeling you’d’ve been a real strict teacher.” She narrowed her eyes at that. “Probably so,” she said. “But now I think I get why I couldn’t bring myself to write it down.” She relaxed her hand. Her destiny was right there at her chest and there was no need to hold it there. She placed her hand on her lap. The arm was trembling a bit, but she ignored that. She faced forward and saw Corelle turned back toward her. … Don’t look so worried. That thought naturally took the bitterness from her smile. “I know I can fight.” She spoke the words that would determine everything for her. “I want to do everything I can to make sure everyone can go on living.” ### Part 4 An Erklärung raised its voice and Alfred roared from his throat: “Ah.” He used that single tone. The two Texts clashed and the Tons ruptured between the two weapons. The black and white lights briefly bent before popping like a balloon, moving the surrounding air. “…!?” Alfred’s feet slid about two yards back and Berger was blasted a few yards through the air before landing down on his knees. Their weapons’ lights were gone now. They had vanished. Alfred was the first to straighten back up. He readied Rein König in both hands without speaking a word. Berger faced him and stood up while replacing his weapon’s Phlogiston Tanks. “It’s been 4 years, hasn’t it?” “Why are you here?” Alfred’s tone made it clear that was not a real question. But… “Why is the divinely named dog crawling back now?” “I know you know why. Because I’m the only one who can match you. After all, I’m-” “What is the point of being second best?” Alfred leaped. He attacked with a voiced “ah” and Berger caught it on Gelegenheit. “What power have you gained in the past 4 years? Even Gelegenheit is her power.” Their weapons clashed and the white and black lights burst. They both pulled their weapons back and moved before the lights had fully vanished. Berger went right and Alfred went left. “We have spent those 4 years protecting this land, yet you have been obsessed with helping people escape.” “That destiny is no match for my voice.” White and black crashed together. Rein König and Gelegenheit pressed together, their lights enduring. Berger’s blue eyes and Alfred’s brown eyes glared at each other with only the former’s sunglasses in the way. Berger did not even smile. “You’re the same tiresome bastard you always were!” accused Berger. “You just don’t understand what it means to take life seriously!” shot back Alfred. “You really haven’t changed at all! You know what I did to-” “I was the one who killed her. Because she was a Heidengeist. And when that killed her…when that actually killed her, it was already over.” They separated. Alfred opened his mouth to release his voice and Berger attached two more Phlogiston Tanks. White and black light erupted from their weapons. Alfred raised Rein König overhead so it would not destroy the barrier and Berger held Gelegenheit low. They were about 5 yards apart. With their weapons, they could arrive within striking range in a split second. They looked each other in the eye, their shoulders rising and falling somewhat. “I can’t believe Rein König can’t cut that.” “This is the first time Gelegenheit’s failed to cut something.” “Why not change weapons like four years ago?” “No,” said Berger. “I will never use my Heidengeist blood again. I decided 4 years ago I would become human.” “Then you cannot defeat me, divinely named dog. You cannot defeat me without that power that altered a human’s destiny – altered her destiny.” “…” Berger wordlessly lowered his body. Alfred stretched his body up, raising Rein König even higher. “!” And he swung it down. The black attack deflected the white attack to the right. The deflected white afterimage drew a circle to rise back up and then swung back down for another attack. It was fast, but Berger deflected Alfred’s attack to the left this time. His vision was briefly filled by light, but he felt no fear. He ignored the intensity of light and slammed Gelegenheit up and to the left. The white and black clashed. “It only took four years to create such a great difference?” Berger heard Alfred’s comment. A moment later, the white was knocked away by the black. Knocked upwards. The light emitted by Rein König vanished. No, it was eliminated. Because Alfred had stopped producing his voice. With the repulsion between the two weapons gone, Berger’s Gelegenheit wandered through the air. “––––!?” He could see Rein König flying through the air. It had left its wielder’s hand and now rotated through the crimson-dyed night sky, high above Berger’s head. “It can’t be!?” Berger readied himself and lowered his gaze to see Alfred running toward him. Predicting Berger’s defense, Alfred had used Rein König as a diversion. He had thrown it away and sent himself forward, using the light as a shield. Alfred closed in on him, so Berger used Gelegenheit’s hilt to guard his face. Something metal hit the hilt: a dagger aimed for his forehead. The dagger was deflected into the air with a metallic clang and a flash of light. But it was not over yet. Alfred’s hands raced out. He held ten Panzer Reinigungs between his fingers, sending them toward Berger. Two were stopped by Gelegenheit – the two aimed for his head. The remaining six reached him. They hit his right shoulder, right forearm, left upper arm, left chest, right chest, and left side. Then the Panzer Reinigungs all ignited. Smoke burst out the back of the aluminum tubes and the sacred wood stakes stabbed into Berger’s body. “!” The impact knocked his feet off the ground and he flew backwards like he had been hit by a log. But Alfred moved forward even faster. He pursued airborne Berger and swung up his right leg. Faster than the wind, he kicked up at Gelegenheit, which Berger had readied defensively in both arms. Once his foot was high enough, he converted it into a powerful attack. He dropped the heel straight down. The direct blow to the chest caused Berger to collapse backwards in midair. “It’s not your bedtime yet.” Alfred kicked off the ground once his foot reached it, sending himself even further forward. He reached out his left hand to reach Berger’s collar. But instead of grabbing it, he pushed. He pushed Berger further through the air. Meanwhile, his right hand was held aloft. Something fell into that hand: Rein König. “Even more boring than I expected!” He suppressed his scratchy voice, placed his right hand alongside his left, and swung the sword horizontally. With a sound like the sword tip tearing through paper, a white trail of water vapor formed behind it. The invisible attack known as sword pressure was not just a wind. An explosion of sound slammed into Berger midair. Water vapor audibly exploded and Berger crashed into the edge of the barrier. The concrete of the edge broke, scattering rubble and forming a cloud of dust. Alfred came to a stop, spun around to use up his inertia, and swung Rein König. The wind produced by the blade scattered the dust before it could reach him. He took a breath and looked to the pile of rubble, noting blood seeping from the gaps. Red blood. The blood still had the heat of a living body, so white steam rose as it spread. “One of the Panzer Reinigungs reached your heart. Just lie there and die.” Alfred let his shoulders slump a little. Just then, a giant shape cast a shadow on him. “Is that Nein!?” Two Grösse Panzers entered the base. They had just left the Black Forest and were about 30 yards away. The wind must have carried his artificial vocal cords’ voice to them. The blue and red Panzers turned to face him. “I am glad to see you here, Sir Alfred.” “Because I knew I couldn’t rely on you! What’s the enemy doing? You can tell from up there, can’t you!?” “The enemy’s main force is scattering and they appear to have failed to take the command building. The Vaterland, however, is a different matter.” Alfred took a look around. He could hear gunfire and shouting voices. The sky was shimmering from the heat of the fires below and it was colored by an endless supply of embers and smoke. The scene could only be described as a battlefield. His face clouded slightly when he took a glance toward the pile of rubble in front of him. But only for a moment. He soon formed a satisfied grin and crossed his arms. Then he noticed that Berger’s blood was starting to solidify atop the barrier. “It’s already drying?” This was not a blood’s natural coagulation. The blood was bubbling. It was solidifying from heat. He crouched down and touched the barrier. An instantaneous change came over his face. “Nein! You’ve overlooked something. Something major.” He turned to the right of the blue and red Grösse Panzers entering the base and looked to the Vaterland on the westernmost edge of the base. “The enemy wasn’t after the command building!” As soon as the words left his mouth, crimson flames erupted from the tip of the Vaterland. The flames seemed to explode as they rose even higher into the night sky. The wind blew though, carrying the heat. Alfred stood tall and fearless in that heated wind. “Nein! Destroy the Vaterland! They’ve set it to go berserk!” A breath. “They’ve sent its Phlogiston below this barrier! The really pure stuff! This will disturb the Tons of the Gard-class down there, possibly turning it into something else! Hurry!” “Understood.” The blue Grösse Panzer ran toward the Vaterland tower that stood twenty times taller than it. With a rifle in one hand. The red Grösse Panzer unexpectedly turned south and shouted. “Sir Alfred!” Sparks repeatedly burst from the large shield it held, producing a sound like a ringing bell. That was gunfire. From something large. Following that artillery-level gunfire, another new sound entered the battlefield. Heavy metallic noises pounded out a deep tempo. Metal feet were felling trees as they approached. Two Grösse Panzers were approaching. They had the crude armor shape of German models with green painting and they wielded shields and specialized submachineguns. As soon as they passed through the main gate and entered the base, they entered a run. They apparently intended to use the remains of the Grösse Panzer hangar as a shield. Their fire was entirely focused on Neue Zinnober and Neue Blau. Their plan was to pin those two in place, giving the surviving troops time to escape and preventing the Vaterland from being shut down. Alfred ignored the non-tracer gunfire flying overhead. He made his way toward the enemy Grösse Panzers while the gunfire sounded a lot like someone pounding on a metal wall. “Nein! Get to the Vaterland. Once it’s destroyed, break through the barrier! My Busting would ignite the Phlogiston with its destruction Tons, so keep your priorities straight! I’ll deal with them in the meantime!” “But, Sir Alfred! Your Panzer!” “You think a destroyed hangar is enough to crush it!? That thing’s the finest piece of tech the Geheimnis Agency has put together since the Rot Löwe! And it’s the only Eingeweide Panzer without a lion name!” He looked back toward the bleeding rubble on a whim. Nothing had changed. The ends of his eyebrows dipped a bit and he dropped his gaze to his left hand. He wore a red ring there. But he soon faced forward and began to walk. Toward the enemy Grösse Panzers and the destroyed Grösse Panzer hangar. He saw the enemy Grösse Panzers pull giant metal tubes from their backs. Those were incendiary bombs. They intended to throw them into the hangar to detonate the fuel within and destroy all the equipment. “You fools.” Alfred walked across the barrier that gave off a shimmering heat thanks to the Phlogiston running wild in the shipyard below. He shifted Rein König to his left hand and raised his voice. “Our first battle shall be fought in the very forest from which the Messiah was born! Meet the strongest Eingeweide Panzer, built by my friend and born from my very own voice and flesh!” He raised his right hand as he walked and shouted toward the destroyed hangar. “Awaken, Kaiser!!” With that, a Text raced through the air. Space itself was rewritten by the deep voice. ### Part 5 The green Grösse Panzer stopped just before throwing its incendiary bomb. The rubble at its feet had blasted away and a giant hand had reached out and stopped it. The powerful white right arm was joined by a right shoulder, right chest, face, stomach, left arm, hips, thighs, and legs. They all stood up as the hangar rubble collapsed around it. A massive white Grösse Panzer emerged. It stood more than 11 yards tall. The curved armor on top of its head resembled a crown and its narrow face resembled that of a female Grösse Panzer. Its Panzer Kleid was mostly white with some black decorations, but it did have a red dragon emblem on its right shoulder. The Panzer visible below that clothing was slender, but it had broad shoulders and powerful thighs. The armor attached in places was bumpy, giving it an even more powerful appearance. The six wings extending from its back gave it a strange silhouette resembling a Nein Engel. It was armed only with the sword at its hip. The white Grösse Panzer looked to the right arm of the green Grösse Panzer it had grabbed. It turned toward that one and casually pulled its arm back, creating a wind from that alone. With a sound like tearing metal and kneaded clay, the green Grösse Panzer’s right arm was torn off at the elbow. “––––!?” A voiceless scream left the green one’s voice device. The white one moved as if to prove that no one who screamed belonged on the battlefield. It adjusted its grip on the enemy right hand in its left hand and slammed it into the enemy’s face. The metal hand stabbed wrist-deep into its owner’s facial structure. With a sound like shattering stone, the green one collapsed backwards with its hand returned to its face. The sound of the great metal mass falling to the paved road was a lot like that of a building collapsing. The individual sounds were too loud and numerous to distinguish, so it all blended together into a single deep roar. The incendiary bomb in the hand detonated inside its collapsed owner’s face. The other Panzer began a panicked run after seeing the resultant flames. The white one followed the runner with its gaze. The green one ran to the side, raising its shield and firing its submachinegun. It used anti-Panzer bullets, so no armor could escape unscathed. If not for the white one’s abnormal action, that is. It leaped. No, it flew. It moved left without moving its legs, seeming to slide along the ground. It slowly turned itself around while rapidly evading the bullets. And it flew. A heated wind blew from the bumpy armor at its legs and hips and it moved several hundred yards all at once. It had just one destination in mind: its owner. The white Panzer slid to the side of the barrier on the west side of the base. Its legs roared and sparks flew as it braked. It looked down to where a man stood, holding the sword named Rein König in his left hand. That man was Alfred Maldrick. He looked up at the white Panzer and grinned when his gaze met its sight device. “Let’s go, Kaiser.” ### Part 6 While the Grösse Panzers loudly fought, the pile of rubble on one end of the shipyard barrier began to stir. The large concrete chunks were pushed up from below and rolled onto their sides until a black form appeared below. It was Berger. He was in bad shape. His hair was wet and matted with blood, his black coat was torn, and his blood-slick boots made a wet sound when he stood up. He managed to get up on unsteady feet, but there was no strength in the eyes behind his sunglasses and his complexion was poor. He silently took a step forward while taking a look at himself. He was bleeding from where the sacred wood had been driven into him. The five stakes had pierced out his back thanks to the sword pressure attack, so he would recover quickly as long as he stopped the bleeding. He held a hand near his heart – where one of the Panzer Reinigungs should have pierced him. “Did this protect me?” He pulled out a pendant. A woman’s pendant adorned with a red jewel. “The old lady at that night shop said it was originally the Messiah’s. Now, that’s a blatant lie, but its protection was real.” He opened the locket and found the photo inside was stained with blood. The weight of the blood pulled the photo away from the locket and it fell toward the barrier. “––––––” It slipped past his outstretched fingers and landed on the barrier. It shrank a bit and then scorched on the heated metal. Before he could stop it, it set on fire and burned away. His face clouded over, but only for a moment. “Saving me twice is more than enough, Eryngium.” He smiled bitterly and resumed walking across the metal that gave off a shimmering thanks to the great heat below it. He walked toward the Grösse Panzer hangar. He could hear combat at the distant airfield. “Firing as they escape? …The AIF’s Panzer Kavaliers aren’t half bad. When retreating anyway.” He cut across the barrier. The edge was a yard higher above him, so he placed his hands on that and climbed up like he was doing a pull up. Once out on the road, the ground shook beneath him. The tremor came from underground. He fell, making a sound like a wet rag slapping against the ground. Gelegenheit tumbled out from his torn black coat. The Eingeweide sword had a golden decoration resembling a woman’s hair and he reached out his right hand to stop it from rolling further. He grasped Gelegenheit in his hand and used it as a crutch to stand up. His gentle movements gradually gained more strength and he accelerated his standing by pushing down hard with Gelegenheit. He took a breath, seeing the road from the main entrance to the command building in front of him. Strength filled his gaze and he looked around to see a change coming over the battlefield. The AIF was fighting to escape instead of to get in. They used the buildings and wrecked armored trucks for cover as they moved to and fro. Their mission was complete. Berger caught his breath below the roadside trees swaying in the wind. Another tremor came from belowground. “Is that the Vaterland?” The Vaterland was burning. Fire erupted from the white tower and its walls were being scorched by smoke as they crumbled. The outer layer of the 120-yard structure was falling away, revealing the internal structure. Especially large flames erupted skyward. At the same time, explosive flames burst out in every direction from about halfway up the Vaterland. The ground shook from the blast and Berger leaned against the tree behind him for support. The top of the Vaterland was imploding. The outer walls were falling toward the internal acceleration reactor. “Was that Bermark Nein’s gunfire? He shot right through the internal walls.” The 120-yard tower was collapsing and falling. It barely felt real from this distance. Berger looked to the shipyard barrier and found it was still heating up. However… “If the Vaterland is destroyed, the Ton reaction within will weaken. If the barrier is destroyed after that, the Tons will be released and the Gard-class might not be fully destroyed.” He heard more gunfire in the distance, but it was soon followed by an explosion. He pulled himself from the tree and walked forward. “Damn, I’ve lost too much blood. If only I could lose just the Heidengeist blood.” Strength filled his legs and he started to run forward, toward the Grösse Panzer hangar. The up-down movement of running caused more blood to spurt out and fall to the ground. That blood gave off steam before vaporizing. Even the ground was overheated. “Just a little more and the Gard-class will be sunk and the others can escape before the base is blown away from below. …The only way to hold off that colorful trio is to dig out one of the hangar’s Grösse Panzers, isn’t it?” Berger looked across the base as he ran and he noticed something. “The truck on the mountain over there is gone?” But he did not have time to worry about it now. He already knew where he needed to go: the Grösse Panzer hangar. The ground shook below his feet again. It shook vertically, making it noticeably different from an earthquake. The space between the tremors was shrinking, like the pulse of some new life being born. Berger listened to the sounds and shaking and kept Gelegenheit in his right hand. Suddenly, strength faded from his legs and he collapsed. But he was spared falling when someone reached below his arms to catch him. “––––?” He looked back to see a girl with blonde hair cut short. It was Hazel. She supported him and smiled with some stiffness left on her face. “I finally found you. Are you okay, Mr. Berger? Um, you see, uh…” She tried to find the right thing to say while holding out an old envelope. Berger spoke the German word for it. “A Verlsten Brief!? Hazel, where did you get that?” “The addressee has faded a lot, but it definitely says ‘Wild Hunt’ Dog Berger. My teacher asked that I deliver it to you.” She smiled bitterly. “It’s apparently some kind of prophecy.” ### Part 7 The Geheimnis Agency #8 Base’s Grösse Panzer hangar had been reduced to rubble. Hazel stood alone next to that rubble and spoke into it. “I can’t believe anything survived in there.” “They make these things blast resistant, you know? Now stand back. I’ve got a direct link.” She heard a voice from the rubble and then the pile of concrete collapsed as a black arm stuck out. The palm alone was a yard across. It belonged to the Schwarz Löwe. “Did you hook the communication cable I gave you to the back of Gelegenheit like I asked?” “Yes, but should we really be using the repair parts in here?” Hazel picked Gelegenheit up off the ground. It was now wrapped in Berger’s black coat, making it look thicker. The black coat had transformed the nearly-yard-long hilt into a black staff. The slot usually used for Phlogiston Tanks was now hooked up to an extension cable with the same type of plug. “It’s fine. This is Schwarz Löwe, used by Alfred Maldrick. It’s designed for army use, but it’s a generic model capable of both anti-air and long-term ground battles. It was the test bed for designing the Kaiser over there. If I’m using it, so why wouldn’t I use the equipment here too?” “Is that how it works?” Hazel tilted her head and handed over the coat-wrapped Gelegenheit. His blood stained the metal fingers, giving them an oily sheen. Strangely, she was not repulsed by the sight. The Grösse Panzers black right hand gripped Gelegenheit tight. “Gelegenheit is so hard. It doesn’t bend no matter how hard you squeeze.” “It must take all this more seriously than you.” Hazel kept a smile in her voice and looked up toward the heavens. The wind was blowing there. A heated wind. Long bands of orange Tons formed rising vortexes in the sky. … That explains why Corelle said she couldn’t descend near the base. Those updrafts spiraled around, creating collisions of air above the base. The sounds of roaring flames, gunfire, and explosions took on the tone colors of red killer intent or metallic black aggression as they rose into the air. But Hazel noticed the tempo of a powerful, calm will within it all. “They aren’t all fighting for their killer intent and aggression.” “Did you say something?” Hearing that, she looked down. The giant black hand was pressed against the ground, with Gelegenheit still in its grasp. He was standing up. “Outta the way. Once I’m out, you join the others withdrawing. I’ll buy you all enough time to run away and for the base to collapse.” “…Okay.” But she did not take a single step. Schwarz Löwe failed to notice as it lifted its face-down body from the ground. The rubble and dust were blown away and the Panzer broke through the hangar’s roof. Still on its knees, Schwarz Löwe looked up. Hazel was standing in front of it. “Hazel, I told you to go.” “Are you planning to die here by staying on the battlefield alone?” Schwarz Löwe was momentarily unsure what to say, but then he spat out an answer. “Anyone who plans to die on the battlefield is an idiot.” “Then that settles it. The safest place here is in Schwarz Löwe’s copilot cockpit. I can watch the battle from an untouchable seat.” “Hey, Hazel, calm down, okay? Leave now and we can write this off as a kid’s silly game.” “Have you already forgotten what I said two years ago?” She spoke to kneeling Schwarz Löwe on reflex. “I don’t want to run away…so I won’t. I never will again. Maybe I am still a kid, but this isn’t a game and there are some things I refuse to do.” She held out her right hand. “Two years ago, I only left the Sylphide all alone and allowed my friend to get hit because…” She held her tongue, refusing to say the rest. Bringing up the past was meaningless here. Instead, she simply held her hand out toward Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe’s shoulders clearly slumped. “This isn’t a smart move and you’re rushing this way too much, Hazel Mirildorf. Is this what the Messiah would do?” “Yes, yes, it is. Because it’s my choice and the idea is for me to become the Messiah, not that I already am. It was only effective that one time and I’m still not confident, but I’ve been thinking a lot how to use that power, so, um, uh…” She took a breath and looked up at Schwarz Löwe. “I don’t think anyone could want to do this more than me.” “I really wish Marsch had asked them to interview the patient before giving them the Messiah implant…” He sounded exasperated, but Schwarz Löwe reached its right hand toward hers. He placed the tip of Gelegenheit on her hand. “You will cry over this later. Don’t forget that.” “Please teach me everything I need to know.” She smiled up at him and walked forward, rubbing gently at his outstretched hand. She noticed a red dragon emblem on the shoulder of Schwarz Löwe’s combat dress. “Why does it have a dragon emblem when it’s named after a lion?” “That’s the Maldrick emblem. They took it because Alfred slaid a dragon and now his older brother is out in the Soviet Union looking for an even bigger dragon.” “Th-that’s quite the sibling rivalry.” She placed a foot up on his hip armor and then sniffed her nose with a puzzled look. “What now?” he asked. “Nasal inflammation?” “Well, last night I rubbed against you around here while you were asleep and I thought I could still detect my scent even in this Heavy Barrel.” “I really wish you would stop imagining things like that.” He sounded exasperated and tilted his head while she climbed up Schwarz Löwe. She awkwardly circled around to its back. She saw the hatch on the starboard side of the copilot’s cockpit, so he grabbed the latch and then took a quick look around. She saw the pile of rubble, the Black Forest, the empty sky, and the wind dancing there. About a mile away, at the center of the base’s runway, a white Heavy Barrel was turning their way with a green Heavy Barrel lying at its feet. The Kaiser walked toward them. Hazel silently opened the hatch and threw herself inside the copilot’s cockpit. She threw herself into what had to be the most reassuring place in the entire world. ### 533. Chapter 8: The Wheel Rises 07/29/1939 01:02 – 02:17 Can you hear it? Strange how asking that question leads to the answer So reach out Out ahead With destiny by your side ### The Millennium The thousand years of peace promised from the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire created by Charlemagne and established by Empire Otto I. A concept born from the story where the Messiah, after subjugating the chaotic German lands, promised a millennium of peace to the emperor and then went to sleep in the Black Forest with the one-armed young man. The thousand years is said to begin in the year 962, when the Holy Roman Empire was established. In the late 30s, when the Millennium was coming to an end, the tension between nations was growing and a possible manifestation of the Twilight of the Gods spoken of in the Edda and sagas of Norse mythology was feared, so Germany strayed from Christianity and worked to bring back the mythologies of their past. The idea of the Millennium spread across the globe and government officials eventually stopped referring to themselves as the Third Reich and instead presented themselves as the Greater Germanic Reich “so that this peace will last forever and no Fourth Reich will be necessary a thousand years from now.” ### Part 1 The black and the white clashed a second time just as the AIF’s final soldier began to escape into the Black Forest. The Kaiser ran to the main gate to prevent their escape, but the Schwarz Löwe blocked its way, forcing the Kaiser to make a sword pressure attack. But the Schwarz Löwe leaned its body to dodge the sword pressure. The remnants of the main gate took the blast instead, reducing them to rubble. “Why are you trashing your own territory, moron?” The Schwarz Löwe prepared to fight. Its left hand grabbed the conduit extending from below its clenched right fist and attached it to the external power port on its side. That port was usually used to connect lights, but here… A black sword extended for more than 8m. A light swing sliced through the air, creating a low frequency noise similar to a vibration. The Kaiser responded by gripping its Werkzeug in both hands. And… “I should’ve known an intruder wouldn’t be above thievery, but did it have to be my old machine?” “By fighting you here, the base’s guards can’t get outside. Sounds like the world’s second best way of letting the others escape, don’t you think?” “Do you ever take anything seriously?” The Kaiser moved, using its full power right away. It used its leg propulsion devices to strengthen the twisting of its body as it attacked. White and black lights crashed together. With a sound similar to shattering glass, the white light scattered and the black light was broken away. Before the black blade could even unravel in the empty air, the two lights returned to normal. ### Part 2 Hazel heard Berger’s voice from the speaking tube in the small, inertia-reduced secondary cockpit. “Sorry, Hazel, but can you do me a favor?” “Wh-what kind of favor?” “Let’s have a nice chat to distract me. I’d forgotten how badly injured I am. This Barrel feels weirdly heavy in the gut and I accidentally wrote the pain from that attack into its memory.” “Um, you don’t sound in pain.” She heard a loud crash from outside. The wind could move through the ventilation pipe and reach her dimly-lit secondary cockpit. As could the Erklärungs. The wind moved thrice in quick succession. A great gale blew into the secondary cockpit, but not a natural one. This was an artificial destructive wind created by movement and tremors. The tone color was a piercingly sharp light blue. The tempo was large and deep but only lasted a moment. … That’s nothing like Sylphide. “Mr. Berger.” “What is it, Hazel? I’m a bit busy dodging right now. Stay quiet.” “You just told me to talk with you.” The wind blew through and the secondary cockpit shook and swung around unpredictably. “––––!?” Her confusion was answered by the enemy’s voice. “See, that’s what happens when our Erklärungs collide. In the Geheimnis Agency, we have trained for this and learned the advantages and disadvantages. You cannot catch up to us.” “Don’t brag about having an unfair advantage!” “Says the loser who can never win!” A slight vibration through her seat told her the Schwarz Löwe was backing up. Wind blew through the ventilation pipe at the same time, so she could see the wind’s tone color. … This is coming from the right, not up ahead? “Escape to the left!!” She shouted on reflex and the secondary cockpit briefly came to a stop. She felt like she was floating, and then… … To the left. A great pressure tugged the entire secondary cockpit to the right. Even in the inertial negation of the cockpit, her hair was tugged over and she nearly fell over. The clothing Berger had stripped off when Write Bringing was pulled from the floor at her feet and splatted against the right wall with the blood soaking it. However… “You dodged that!?” The enemy’s voice arrived from the right, along with the sandy explosion of rubble. She looked out through the viewport on the side and saw the fire-illuminated crimson smoke created by the enemy’s attack. “Hazel.” Berger’s voice reached her through the speaking tube, along with somewhat elevated breathing. “Hazel, how did you predict that attack?” “Eh?” The next one came before she could ask what he meant. She again saw the wind blowing in through the ventilation pipe. She calmly reached a hand out to touch the wind Tons floating in her cockpit. “From the left this time.” The Schwarz Löwe took rapid evasive action. It moved back and spun just a bit to the right. The light blue Tons in her hand burst and vanished. A beat later, she heard an impact from the left. They had dodged it. … I know what this must be. “M-Mr. Berger.” “Can you see it, Hazel?” “Y-yes, I can see the wind dancing!” “Then I might just be able to dodge these attacks even with a Barrel so heavy. …Keep reading the wind for me.” “O-okay!” Her heart pounded as she answered him. The wind danced again, oblivious to how she felt. She reached a hand toward what she saw. “Move right.” He dodged. “Move left.” He spun. “Move back.” He evaded. “Move forward!” A solid sound rang out as one of his attacks finally landed. Their opponent took his first hit. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what this meant. And… “Mr. Berger! I want to get out so I can see the wind better!” It took two full seconds for him to reply, but reply he did. “Then get out, Hazel. I asked you to read the wind, didn’t I!?” “Of course!” She opened the hatch and emerged. While the Schwarz Löwe fell back to buy time and with the inertia nearly flinging her away, she placed herself in the gap between the secondary cockpit and the head. She held the frame between her legs to steady herself. The wind blew all around her. It was so much more vivid and plentiful than inside her cockpit. “If you blackout, I’ll begin our escape. If you don’t, then read the wind for me! Even 10 seconds will give me a chance to attack.” Schwarz Löwe raised Gelegenheit before he was even done speaking. Kaiser took a defensive stance in return. “Is that the Messiah girl?” Hazel leaned against Schwarz Löwe’s head and placed her hands on it as she nodded. Their opponent shook his head once to reject this idea. “Get down. You can’t win. …Predicting some of my movements is not enough. That Grösse Panzer belongs to me and it was meant as a prototype for the Kaiser, so it contains several functions Berger can’t use.” “Is that why it feels so heavy in the gut? I’m betting it has a prototype for the Kaiser’s Eingeweide component. Did I guess right, Alfred?” “Yes. Which is why that Panzer will never do what you want it to.” “Sounds like a fair handicap to me, Kaiser. Meanwhile, I’ve got the Messiah who can predict your movements. Let’s see who comes out on top.” “Prepare yourself. Our commander made a prophecy 2 weeks ago that she said would trigger the return of the Messiah once fulfilled. But, Berger, that prophecy makes no reference to the one armed man with the divine name.” In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates “This is the end for you, Berger – man with the divine name.” “Divine name?” repeated Hazel. She looked to Schwarz Löwe’s face, but Berger said nothing. The Kaiser, however, did. “You hadn’t noticed, Messiah girl? His name is Dog Berger. Reverse the first name and you get the name for England’s god.” “!?” She gasped when she realized what that meant. “Th-then when Mr. Berger fulfilled the prophecy two years ago…” Berger’s voice left Schwarz Löwe with a tone of resignation. “The symbolism lined up by coincidence. But…” He took a breath. “I will reject this destiny. Wild Hund is enough for me. More than enough.” “So you rely on Gelegenheit and the Messiah!?” The Kaiser suddenly raced forward. “What kind of man needs a woman’s help to fight!?” The wind moved and its tone color reached Hazel’s eyes. The wind danced. The powerful inertia nearly threw her from the Heavy Barrel’s shoulder as she viewed the wind. The white Kaiser created a powerful gale rushing in toward her. The black Schwarz Löwe created a pleasant wind that surrounded her. Both winds were dancing. The gale produced by the Kaiser was primarily caused by its propulsion devices. It whipped up the wind along a straight line as it charged in, breaking through the wall of air standing in its way. The wind blew out for just an instant and broke, sending out the straight-line gale. It was the pleasant wind’s job to redirect that wind away. The pleasant wind was weak. It was caught in the gale and nearly broken, but Hazel guided it. She spoke the words needed to send it on its proper course as the two winds were entangled. “Move forward.” Schwarz Löwe skillfully took the shortest path possible. Anything else would mean defeat against this opponent. The Schwarz Löwe contained a device that only Alfred could use. Berger had identified it as a High Organ prototype and Hazel thought on that now. … It does seem to be holding him back. She was here to negate that handicap, so she read the wind. That was the only thing she could do. “Move forward.” She had him step forward and chose the wind current that gave them the fastest possible movement. The faster they moved, the more chance they had to fight back against the powerful gale. The pleasant wind was mostly swept aside by that wind, so they needed to take control of a wind more capable of fighting it. She viewed her surroundings while tossed about by the inertia. The sky was crimson, the wind was loud, and the rumble of Heavy Barrel operation was incessant. The scenery spun around her as the Heavy Barrel made a turn. Flames rose from the destroyed base and the collapsed Vaterland tower was visible further back. The wind was growing stronger. For a brief moment, the wind grew red. … A scorching wind? As soon as the thought reached her, the barrier at the center of the base was blown away from below. A great roar burst out, followed by a shockwave. The 50-yard metal door was blasted into the night sky in four pieces. The gray rectangles looked so small as they hovered in the distant sky, but… “!” They began their descent in the very center of her vision. The wind buffeted them, altering their descent, but they fell all the same. One piece fell like a leaf fluttering into the Black Forest, felling several trees. One piece fell straight down, bisecting the command tower. One piece spun down into the airfield, its corners gouging holes like a sewing machine as it rolled. One piece gained a gentle twist as it fell toward the two Heavy Barrels below. Schwarz Löwe used everything it had to leap backwards. The Kaiser used its leg propulsion devices to slide right and behind the metal panel. The giant metal panel stabbed into the ground like a wall between the two Barrels. The asphalt meant nothing against that 50-yard blade. Schwarz Löwe took repeated evasive actions to avoid the resultant wind and rubble pieces, but its movements were wild. It was a disjointed series of reflexive evasions, not a flowing series of movements. “That idiot! How tightly did he set this thing!?” Schwarz Löwe’s movements fell apart and its wind scattered. Hazel panicked. “Mr. Berger!? The wind is-!” The enemy took action before she could complete her warning. The powerful gale blew in from above. The white Heavy Barrel had jumped over the metal panel and now dropped down from 50 yards overhead. Wind blew from the wings on its back as it charged straight toward Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe took evasive action, but it was too slow. Hazel realized the attack was aimed for Schwarz Löwe’s head. The scattered wind was partially to blame for their delay. … That and he still hasn’t gotten the hang of using this Barrel. She was reminded of a similar situation from two years ago. … The Sylphide tried to protect me over the North Sea, but it was still incomplete. “I was only a guest – a component…but I couldn’t do anything.” She looked up. A thought broke her mind out of the past and she spoke in the present. “I…” The enemy’s white blade was approaching. In that instant, she shouted the words she had used to say goodbye to Sylphide. “I will use this power as it’s meant to be used!!” At the same time, an Erklärung rewrote that space. But this Erklärung did not belong to Gelegenheit or the Kaiser. It was a simple statement. ### Part 3 The change was dramatic. In a moment of supposed impossibility, Schwarz Löwe’s Over Emblem fully activated. Ether light raced across its body, creating black skin, and two sharp wings appeared on its back. It roared. Then it moved its wings to leap backwards. The wind moved. But this was not a pleasant wind. Nor was it a powerful gale. It was even more intense and unceasing. It reminded Hazel of a certain ship as she stood on Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder. “I can read this wind! So now-” “I get it already!” Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices glowed with the light of their wide-range mode. Hazel leaned against its face structure to fight the inertia and shaking. Her right eye felt hot. Tears were flowing from it. She could see the footage from Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices in the back of her mind. She knew that had to be the Messiah’s power. Just like two years ago. … My right eye must be crimson right now. The footage in her mind aligned with the wind Tons she could see with her own eye. Two years ago, the Geheimnis Agent named Schweitzer had told her the Messiah implant could sync with and operate Eingeweide devices. And that power was a cornerstone of the Panzerpolis Project. “Mr. Berger.” … Can you see the winds I see with the Heavy Barrel’s eyes? “Understood, Hazel. I can hear your voice…and see the wind.” She smiled and faced forward with the Messiah eye synced with Schwarz Löwe. The Kaiser was there. Her racing vision accurately rode the wind. It twisted somewhat to charge at the Kaiser from the left. They were about 100 yards away. Their run grew to a sprint and then joined the wind itself. Hazel reached her right hand out into the wind. She could see more than she could 2 years ago. She could see the wind. This was more than just a movement of the air. It danced playfully and surrounded them teasingly. “Yes…” Tears flowed from her right eye and she sang a song as if to answer the wind. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates She clenched the hand held out into the wind, grabbing it. “If that is a prophecy the Messiah must fulfill, then let’s fulfill it.” In the shaking of the Barrel’s speed, she pulled her right hand back and grabbed the card stored in her breast pocket: the Wheel of Destiny. “I will not hesitate to seek power.” “Then…then what will you do, Hazel? Hazel Mirildorf!?” She answered Berger’s question by gathering strength in her gaze. She saw an explosion of wind out past their wind. It was the gale. The explosion could not destroy their wind, but it broke a hole and moved in. Their relative speeds closed the gap in mere moments. To her right, the base’s ground belched flames and exploded. The Gard-class warship had detonated. A shockwave blasted out along with a scorching wind. But the two combatting winds blew it away. White light wrapped around the approaching Kaiser’s sword. Gelegenheit’s darkness emerged to form an 8-yard blade. On Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder, Hazel shut her eyes with her wind-grasping hand to her chest. She left everything in Berger’s care as she leaned heavily against Schwarz Löwe’s facial structure. Berger responded. The two winds crashed together, creating a shockwave and an almost metallic groan as they bent and raced outwards. The black and white paths intersected, bringing the battle to an end. “!” Hazel opened her eyes and saw a red dragon before her. That was Schwarz Löwe’s left arm. It had thrust that arm out as a shield. But their wind was still blowing. “–––––!?” She looked back to see the Kaiser about 100 yards behind them. A sword devoid of light hung in its right hand and it slowly – ever so slowly – turned around. It faced them, revealing a destroyed right shoulder. And… “Berger!!” It roared and threw away its sword, which was missing half its blade. Before Hazel could realize it had been sliced through, a voice spoke from Schwarz Löwe’s vocal device. “Our job is complete. Time to fly.” Before she could respond, Inertia pushed her down onto the great metal shoulder. The flapping of the two wings beat at the Schwarz Löwe’s severed left arm fallen on the ground behind them. And they flew. The scenery spread out below them: the burning base, the broken tower, the white Heavy Barrel looking up, and the red and blue Heavy Barrels. The Alfheim Meteorite Pit was glowing to the west of the base. “And the Black Forest covers everything else.” Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings again and the winds of their great altitude came to greet Hazel. With a roar, a giant object passed by below: an aerial transport ship. It looked a lot like the Silber she had seen 2 years ago. When it noticed Hazel and Schwarz Löwe, it wobbled in greeting and then flew straight toward the base. “…” Hazel looked silently up into the night sky. That dark sky was not illuminated by the crimson. The stars were the only light there. She found the North Star and smiled in the wind. She realized her right eye was no longer shedding tears. The Messiah implant had lost its heat and ceased functioning. ### Part 4 As the Neue Silber flew toward the #8 Base, Heiliger sat silently on the bridge and Schweitzer asked a quiet question from the adjacent seat. “We just received word that the black Grösse Panzer was stolen. Shouldn’t we pursue it?” Heiliger did not answer him. He only sighed and gave an order to the people in the seats up front. “Tell Air Force Division Chief Müller’s unit that the air is turbulent and they should land on the roads rather than the runway.” Words of acknowledgement were followed by a hurried transmission. Schweitzer sighed. This time, Heiliger asked him a question. “Did you board the Neue Silber to provide a situation report and because there was little you could do thanks to the turbulence?” “…” “It seems Lieutenant Maldrick ignored me, his commander, and got ahead of himself.” “But he-” Heiliger cut off Schweitzer’s response with a glance. There was a hint of a smile on his face. “I have heard that Development Division 2nd Project Team Leader Marsch Gant did something similar. He let someone use his new equipment without permission and then went to apologize to their commander himself.” “…” “Acting rashly is a problem, but it can work out in some circumstances. …Let me guess what you are thinking. If what my brother and Sir Karl say are true, Lieutenant Maldrick will be a crucial member of the Geheimnis Agency’s Army Division. A trivial matter like this will not change that.” Schweitzer bowed. “It is nothing.” Heiliger sighed. “The Messiah girl is the same. We will not give up on anyone.” “You know about her?” “I do. Two years ago, my…” He trailed off and fell silent there. Instead, he simply faced forward. Schweitzer followed his gaze to look out through the bridge’s viewport and see the base burning in the night. “War is beginning.” Everyone else on the bridge agreed with Schweitzer’s assessment. ### Part 5 Hazel had returned to the secondary cockpit as Schwarz Löwe continued flying. It flew north above the Black Forest. “Hazel?” The voice from the vocal devices received no response. “Did she fall asleep? I guess this was her first real battle.” Berger kept the wings moving. He did not know their destination, but he knew which direction to fly. “A Verlsten Brief, huh?” When he had Schreibened, he had taken a quick look at the letter from a thousand years ago that Hazel had given him. It had contained a map showing a road heading north from the Black Forest. The map had shown several roads, but that one was the most complex and ran deepest into the forest. The Verlsten Brief had said to follow that road. Even though the road would not have existed back when it was written. Schwarz Löwe tilted its head in midair, which allowed it to notice some light far below. Some kind of large vehicle was driving along the road. Schwarz Löwe ascended further to avoid being noticed. It closed its wings to reduce the noise as it looked down. A Grösse Panzer transport truck was driving through the forest below. He recognized the large form on its way to northern Germany. “That’s the truck I saw before. The one Bermark Nein protected.” Its only focus was on traveling north. He realized he could see a small white color illuminated by the pale starlight. White steam was emerging from below the black sheet placed over the rear of the truck. Something was operating below that sheet. “…?” Berger watched in puzzlement as a branch from the forest caught on the sheet. The sheet was pulled back, revealing to the starlight half of what it covered. Berger recognized it. “!?” He cried out and ascended. He veered away from the road and flapped his wings to stop in midair. The truck drove away below, even more white smoke rising from it. A high-altitude wind blew across Berger as he spoke the name of what he had seen and why the Verlsten Brief had sent him here. “The Sylphide!” ### Part 6 When leaving the Geheimnis Agency HQ building and walking south, if you turned east instead of toward the western runway, you would find the army hangar. The large building was primarily used for repairs. The internal space could contain around 10 Grösse Panzers and it was currently wrapped in an unusual stillness. There were noises, however. From outside, there was the blowing wind and the forest noises. On the inside, there were the distinctive noises of Grösse Panzers in standby mode and of people talking. The lights were kept off, so some people were speaking in the darkness. The slender figure standing near the entrance was Lowenzahn. “Almost everyone has left the #8 Base now. …Can I assume everyone here already knows the truth?” She turned toward the shadows to her right. The enormous, broad-shouldered figure there was Graham. Rose was clinging to him with her hands on his shoulder. A woman in a blue dress stood next to them: Naval Division Chief Lillie. She gave a quick bow without opening her eyes. “I learned it all from the previous Sofort Leser, Lady Frobel. At the time I assumed she was joking because it seemed crazy to think you could be so important or that history would progress like this.” “And my mom did love making jokes with a straight face.” Lowenzahn gave a pure smile and then moved her eyes to someone else. The skinny figure standing to Lillie’s left was Bermark Vier. “Please look after Captain Hellard while I am away,” she said to him. “Understood.” “No matter what might happen to me and even if the Panzerpolis Project causes another disaster in ’43, he still saved me…saved me twice.” Bermark nodded and Lillie tilted her head. “Twice? I thought it was just the once three years ago.” She turned toward Graham after asking. Graham did not nod and simply returned her gaze for a few seconds. Then he turned his eyes toward something like a wall next to Lillie. But it was not actually a wall. What looked like a steel cube at least 3 yards tall was actually a foot. Everyone turned to view the thing the enormous foot belonged to. It was a Panzer, but it could not be called a Grösse Panzer. It was so large it made the massive hangar look cramped. Even while crouched down with its hips to the floor, its head nearly touched the ceiling. The green of its Panzer Kleid and the metallic gray and nearly ocher brass color of the Panzer itself glowed dully in the darkness. It would tower over 25 yards tall when standing up. The colossal Grösse Panzer had large, thick limbs and two Drache Kanone on its back. The plentiful armor placed over its Panzer Kleid was honeycombed with warship buoyancy emblem panels. Two lights appeared in the darkness far above. The colossal Grösse Panzer’s sight devices had lit up. They were cold red lights. Its gaze was directed toward the group gathered below. A voice spoke from the external speaker on the Panzer’s chest. A male voice. “Yes…it was twice, wasn’t it? Commander, I am glad you remembered what I told you.” “Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt is well known for his strictly accurate stories,” said Lowenzahn. “Is that because you can extract just the facts from your memory? That may be one advantage to the Eisen Ritter Project.” Lillie looked back in surprise. “Are you saying something else happened with that air force captain?” The response came from Rose. “All sorts of stuff! I doubt he remembers, but it was so important for Lowenzahn and for me as well. It’s a sad story, so I can’t get into the details…but let’s just say Lowenzahn and I can never thank the Schweitzer family enough. Especially Der Held.” “Der Held…hm?” Lillie nodded. “That’s an Eingeweide device that rewrites a portion of this world, just like my Mondnacht and Lady Rose’s Requiem.” “With Heiliger’s Tragisch, the Kaiser, the Vaterlands, and so much more, we really are gathering them together, aren’t we?” Lowenzahn gave a fearless smile. “But, Rose, I’m sorry to say I think the Gard-class Eingeweide aerial warship – the Requiem – was destroyed, so you’ll have to go back to sleep for a while longer. We can reconstruct that one piece of the composite ship in another year.” “Yes, but I can’t stand to wait much longer! I don’t think I could bear seeing my bigger brother get any balder!” Rose’s reply caused Lowenzahn’s smile to grow. Lowenzahn took a step back and placed a hand on her left chest. “Only those of us here are aware that all of the prophecies end in ’43. …I apologize for leaving Jeanne out of it, Karl.” “It was best to let her rush out to the #8 Base like she wanted.” “Some things are better not known and some people are more able to stand being lied to,” said Lillie, looking away from Graham. Lowenzahn nodded. “I should really be telling them about my Eingeweide too.” “Do you think Captain Schweitzer realized what was happening three years ago?” asked Bermark. “That I was at Neuschwanstein’s hospital to be implanted with an Eingeweide organ? No, there is no way he realized that.” “…” “Anyone who learns the Sofort Leser Naylor girl has an Eingeweide organ is bound to assume its Ober Beweisen is used to make her prophecies…even though that isn’t accurate in the slightest,” she said. “It is an unfortunate thing, commander, but it is understandable since the Karlsruhe bloodline has a shortened lifespan due to their inherited Words Warn disease. You too have inherited a disease. That is all this means.” “But mine won’t kill me.” Lowenzahn took a step back. “The lie I live is what will kill me. And it is Heiliger who will do it.” She leaned back against the edge of the container for the hangar’s opened sliding door and looked outside. “In ’43…I will let Heiliger know about the lie – about the true form of this world, the true meaning of Germany, and the true reason for the Panzerpolis Project.” “And he will still do it?” asked Lillie. “He once fought over my mother with my father, with Bertecht, and – sorry, Lillie – with Graham there.” Lowenzahn’s shoulders shook a little as she looked outside. “So even if he forgives me for it, he cannot let me live. Once he learns the truth of my lie, why Graham chose to abandon his emotions and memories, and whose prophecies these are, I know for certain he will…choose my death.” “And the Messiah, Destiny, and the Hero cannot save you?” “I have my hands full simply bringing this world back into order…and they are the gears of the Nibelung needed to do that.” Lowenzahn turned back toward them with a smile. “Sorry for dragging you into this complicated destiny business. But this is an age of darkness and chaos for the world. New cultures are rising, the old ones are falling apart, and the Tons are disturbed on a global scale.” She took a breath. “The Sofort Lesers around the world should start panicking next year. And that will explode into complete ruin come ’43…but we and the Panzerpolis Project are both the cause and solution to that.” “The Millennium is ending, isn’t it?” said Bermark. “The former Messiah subjugated Germany in the year 962. It would be wrong to assume the world revolves around Germany, but this must be the end of the promised millennium of peace. Germany is the only part of this world containing that Existence Ton, so we are destined to be envied and destroyed by the hostile Tons of the those without it.” “You’re saying the Great War was part of that peace?” asked Graham. “I am.” Bermark bowed. “I believe the next war will lead to unprecedented levels of inhumanity.” “That’s where the Panzerpolis Project comes in. We must work with the machines to make up for all of that. …And that will require my death. That is the only way to activate the Ober Beweisen of what I carry in my chest.” Lowenzahn hesitated but shut her eyes. “Of the Eingeweide heart Neue Erde.” ### 534. Final Chapter: The Wheel Arrives 07/30/1939 11:51 – 12:03 I believe That destiny can change In these words In these illusions In this reality …I believe The sky was clear. The chilly wind of late summer blew through a mountain forest of green conifers instead of the black ones. A motorcycle was parked on the side of a road running through that forest. The driver’s seat and the attached sidecar were both vacant. Two people were inside the small bus stop shelter located a short distance away. The one in a black coat was Berger and the one in a reddish shirt and skirt was Hazel. Hazel was hanging her head in slight anger and Berger had his arms crossed. They made no attempt to look each other in the eye, but Berger did speak. “The bus will be by before long. It’s already running late.” “…” “Are you still mad?” “Yes, I am.” “I’m the one who should be mad.” Berger kept a straight face. “Everyone removes their clothes before Write Bringing into a Heavy Barrel – that’s just how it’s done. Yet there you were in the secondary cockpit waiting for me to emerge. You’re a naughty girl, Hazel. Didn’t know you had it in you.” “I was worried about your injury! Besides, this just makes us even. You’ve already seen me like that.” “Yeah, but I wasn’t trying to see you naked. You see, I’m not interested in kids.” “Then, um, what type of girl are you interested in?” “The type with short blonde hair, a flat chest, and no end to her complaining.” She thought on that for a few seconds and then pinched his arm hard. “Ow, ow! That arm’s brand new, you know!?” “I’m sure it’s a cheap biological prosthetic, so who cares? You’ll have a better one next time I see you anyway.” “Huh?” She looked him in the eye and continued in English. “Do you want to know why I came to see you this time? It has to do with the test tubes you found in my luggage.” Her expression softened and he said nothing, so she continued. “Making a prosthetic that won’t be rejected requires the person’s blood. …I wanted to make you a decent arm as thanks for saving me two years ago. And I helped myself to some of the blood on your coat in the secondary cockpit last night.” “Give it back. It’s mine. You don’t just take blood from a guy with a divine name.” “I already mailed it to the US. At that mountain store on the border.” He held his head in his hands when he heard that. “Why does this girl never ask first?” “I’ve been saving up money helping out at a neighborhood library for the past two years. This was supposed to be a surprise gift.” “Fine, whatever. It’s not like we’re ever going to see each other again.” Berger leaned back in his seat. “I’m a hired gun, but the AIF is going to be using mostly permanent members in Germany. Once war breaks out, I won’t be seeing you.” “And if I join the AIF?” “Do you know the requirements for female members?” “No.” She shook her head, so he beckoned her over to lend him her ear. “?” She silently scooted over and he whispered his answer. Her face immediately grew red. “Wh-wh-what!?” “See why I never tried to get you to join? Otherwise it would be too psychological taxing if you’re captured and tortured. But…that’s a lot like being asked to get a sex change.” Hazel’s shoulders slumped and Berger smiled bitterly. Then he wiped away the smile and brought a hand to his chin. “Either way, it’s best if we don’t see each other. …When you appeared to me last night, it created a barrier between us.” “Eh?” “You still don’t get it, Hazel? You’re one of the people who seek after power and I’m…not. That much I can tell. You can no longer stay with me ‘just because’. And that’s fine. It’s for the best.” Hazel gasped at what she heard. … We can’t be together? Meanwhile, the bus arrived. He started to say something, stopped, and then patted her on the back. Feeling pushed, she weakly stood and then waited for him to do the same. With an exasperated sigh, he slowly stood and faced her. “This is goodbye, Hazel.” She gasped. “W-wait. This is so sudden.” He looked down at her with a wordless smile, which kept her from saying anything either. Her gaze dropped and she briefly saw her luggage in her hand. The bus was sliding up to the stop. “D-does everything have to arrive and happen without warning?” “That’s how destiny works sometimes.” “But…but it’s too sudden. Don’t just assume we’ll never see each other again.” She looked up with the ends of her eyebrows drooping an she asked a hurried question. “U-um, can you tell me one thing?” “Close your eyes.” “Eh?” she said, but she still obeyed without hesitation. She was surrounded by silence and darkness. Suddenly, she felt his fingers on her jaw. His touch brought no fear or revulsion. She felt an almost relaxing anticipation as he somewhat lifted her face. She opened her lips ever so slightly as if granting an unstated request. “You idiot.” He suddenly pinched both her cheeks and tugged them outwards. They stretched further than she would have thought possible and her eyes shot open. “~!!” “Listen, Hazel. I’m only going to say this once, Hazel Mirildorf.” She dropped her luggage and vigorously nodded. “You really saved my rear this time. Thanks.” “Eh!?” “I’m not saying it again, so don’t forget it.” With that, he let go of her cheeks and then picked her up. He immediately carried her to the bus and up the stairs before tossing her into a nearby seat. The next thing she knew, he had rushed off and the bus’s door was closing. “Leave now!” As soon as he gave the command, smoke blew from the bus’s exhaust and it left. Hazel ran over to the window inside. “M-Mr. Berger! Mr. Berger!!” She opened the window to see the travel bag she had dropped earlier. She heard his voice from beyond the thrown bag. “You forgot this! And say hi to Corelle and Pale for me if you see them!” She caught the bag, lost her balance, tumbled from the seat, and fell onto the bus’s floor. “Wh-why!?” She struggled to get back up, but soon gave up. The sky was moving outside the window, so the bus had to be moving already. Her lips trembled as they formed the question she had asked herself so many times over the past few days. “Why…why didn’t you abandon me that night?” And in her mind… … When we really are saying goodbye, he thanks me. She held her bag to her chest and hung her head on the wooden floor. She also felt something tickling her cheeks. She was crying. So she looked up, to make sure no further tears fell. She saw the wind Lives flowing in from the open window. She reached her hand out. She held the wind and spoke the same thing she had on Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder that night. “The Messiah travels with Destiny…” But then she rephrased it, remembering Berger’s Erklärung. “Destiny will never…” But when she tried to continue with “abandon the Messiah”, her voice faded away and the words would not come. She could not stop the tears now. More and more of them spilled from her eyes. She wept, but she looked up. For some reason, something inside her told her she could endure this. So she looked up. She looked into the wind, all alone. And she told herself this destiny was only temporary. ### Closing Statements September 1, 1939 The German military finally invaded Poland. World War Two was beginning. The AIF’s efforts had somewhat shaken the core of the military, but they could not stop the coming era and the Panzerpolis Project was rapidly completed. The destruction of the Geheimnis Agency’s #8 Base was passed off as an accident during an experiment at a reserve base and the general population never heard the names of the AIF and the Geheimnis Agency. The Geheimnis Agency’s Gard-class composite warship’s reconstruction was completed in late ’40. Germany had been briefly delayed, but with the Vaterlands up and running, the Geheimnis Agency had solidified their national defense and their attempt to conquer Europe was underway. Using blitzkrieg warfare that coordinated man and machine. It was in that age that man and machine were joined on the battlefield. 7/30/2000. On the afternoon a certain girl kept certain words to herself. -Michael Schrier ### 535. Afterword Here we are at volume 3. Many readers have asked the same question about the previous two volumes. “Why does Hazel have a flat chest?” …Um, how am I supposed to answer that? 1. For entertainment purposes. 2. Just because. 3. They’d been too big before and I had a change of heart. 4. It’s not a fetish! I just like it! (flustered) 5. Write your own answer here: This is a tricky question. Hmm. But enough with the heavy stuff. We’ve finally done it. With this volume, Panzerpolis Berlin has passed the midpoint. Hazel is feeling more like a protagonist (based on what?), so now it’s a race toward the finish. Going for 3+ books makes this really long for City, but I have you readers to thank for letting me do this. Thank you so much. The story has entered World War Two starting with ’42. The bombing of Cologne actually happened (there wasn’t a Gard-class or beam weapons, though) and reading up on that will show you a lot more happened in that war than you could ever imagine. Can you believe that they actually used more than 1000 bombers? And this marks the first one where Berlin never actually appears (oops). But it will appear in the next one, albeit as Germania, so wait a little longer. (Can you believe that the construction of Germania was actually planned? The real world is crazy.) Anyway, time for the usual email chat with a friend. “Sup. It’s morning, but you’re already working, aren’t you? Now spit out your thoughts, H-kun.” “Dammit, man, you know I’m at the office right now, so stop being so cheerful.” “I’m treating myself to a Dr. P*pper as a personal reward for staying up all night completing my manuscript, so hurry up and give me your thoughts on this one. If you don’t, I’ll jab you in your ‘I’ll tell you anything’ hole like we’re back in middle school.” “What are you even talking about, you moron? And what kind of reward is a soda?” “Well, I have to get to the office soon too. I usually treat myself to some Häagen-D*zs, but I’m not so sure about ice cream first thing in the morning.” “And Dr. P*pper first thing in the morning is fine?” “Shut up. Stop complaining about my diet and get to the point.” “Okay, fine. So what was that? You couldn’t go through with it again? This one deserves the subtitle ‘Berger couldn’t rise to the occasion!’. Or maybe ‘Hazel’s trip to heaven denied!’ ” “Stop misrepresenting what happened.” “You know how I am. Especially in the morning.” I guess so. Anyway, let’s stop talking about that. This is going to be a lot, but here’s a report on my recent activities. Last time, I said MediaWorks’s Dengeki hp novel magazine is published seasonally, but they switched it to bimonthly pretty much immediately afterwards. The City Series is currently (February 2001) being serialized in there. It alternates between Zenon City Tokyo in the February, June, and October issues and Image City SF in the April, August, and December issues. Both of those cities are visual heavy, so do check them out if you’re interested and have the time. That sums up what I’ve been up to. My background music this time was Mozart’s Requiem. I listened to that and reread the book while wondering: “Who was looking furthest ahead?” Now, then. Another Berlin novel is up next. October 2000. An unpleasantly chilly morning. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu Page Okay, now it’s my turn. My pet cat Myako died recently, but I think of Hazel as being my Myako and hope to continue loving her for a while yet. Bye for now. -Satoyasu ### 536. Chapter 1: The Requiem Activates 05/25/1942 13:04 – 21:10 Oh. Ow ow ow ow. ### AIF Personnel Hazel Mirildorf (AIF Soldier) A newcomer to the AIF. Was implanted with the High Organ eye Messiah. A Werecat living in LA. Our protagonist. Dog Berger (Mercenary) M. Schrier’s underclassman and a Knight Striker. Primarily helps people escape and wields the High Organ sword Gelegenheit. Corelle Sevan (AIF Air Force Transport Division) Boss of the AIF Air Force Transport Division. A fortuneteller who uses the 47 Telling Cards. Pale Horse (AIF Combat Division Leader) Hard Wolf general who made a name for himself in the previous war. Has a connection to Heiliger. M. Schrier (AIF General Commander) The young leader. Was deeply involved in the Berlin Conflict and took command of the AIF after leaving Germany. Former subordinate of Oscar’s and upperclassman of Berger’s in their college days. Was also Hazel’s tutor. Lehrer (AIF Spy) A female spy in the German village of Borderson. Oscar Mirildorf (Civilian) M. Schrier’s commander who currently lives in LA. Former German Air Force Major General. Hazel’s father. ### 537. Chapter 2: The Requiem Begins 05/30/1942 00:57 – 03:01 Some things you can see Some things you cannot But I think What really matters Is why you can see those things ### Geheimnis Agency Personnel Lowenzahn Naylor (Geheimnis Agency Commander) Cheerful girl who also works as a mess hall waitress. Mother is Frobel. Father is Lowenheit. Graham Karlsruhe (Geheimnis Agency Lieutenant Commander) Commander-in-chief. Afflicted with Words Warn, has a fully prosthetic body, and had a Psyche Outer device installed. Rose Karlsruhe (Captain of Eingeweide Gard-class Aerial Warship Requiem) Graham and Heiliger’s younger sister. Also a Words Warn patient. Hellard Schweitzer (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Captain) Wielder of Eingeweide arm Der Held. Went to high school with Berger. Father is Bertecht. Bermark Vier (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division) Automaton and wielder of Eingweide handgun Freischütz. Schweitzer’s lieutenant. Alfred Maldrick (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Lieutenant) Pilot of Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Kaiser and wielder of Werkzeug Rein König. Went to high school with Berger. Heiliger Karlsruhe (German Air Force Lieutenant General) Graham’s younger brother. Joined the army as an intermediary between the knights and the ordinary people. Jeanne Schmitt (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Deputy Chief) Middle-aged woman with a short temper. Wife of Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. Bermark Nein (Geheimnis Agency Army Division) Alfred’s subordinate, joined with two Grösse Panzers. Konrad Elrich (Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief) An old scientist with a passion for research. Superior of Marsch Gant who developed Eingeweide devices. Galue Witzmann (Geheimnis Agency Intelligence Division Chief) A kind-looking old gentleman. But will do anything to acquire intelligence. ### 538. Chapter 3: The Requiem Runs 05/30/1942 10:11 – 11:43 So many things are trying to renew themselves But I can’t find anything new in myself Maybe I’m never meant to wake up ### Borderson Region A grassy region of northwestern Germany that has connected Germany to Western Europe since ancient times. A comfortable place to live thanks to its gentle mountains, the Black Forest to the south, and the Rhine running through its center. Once belonged to the Borderson family who governed northwestern Germany and the Bordersons often provided assistance to Western Europe as Europe’s primary Buster family and as Hounds. But the Borderson bloodline died off in ’33, so the Borderson knights, who had lived as free Kavaliers within Germany, lost their leader and lived separate lives as they individually saw fit. The knights who, in a way, had most fought against Heidengeists were left unsupervised in this land. At the same time, this land contains several villages known as “Villages of Pardons” where the Heidengeists who historically submitted to Borderson are allowed to live. ### 539. Chapter 4: The Requiem Accelerates 05/30/1942 12:05 – 12:58 Crossroads can be found anywhere I notice one Come to a stop Wonder what to do And can’t find an answer ### Nonhuman Discrimination The racial oppression fueled by Germany’s obsession with pure blood was first directed at the nonhumans known as Heidengeists. The first wave of Heidengeist oppression came in ’35 when the German Citizenship Law and the German Citizen Safety and Security Law stripped Heidengeists of their citizenship. This was forced upon ordinary people shortly after the Berlin Conflict. The second wave of Heidengeist oppression came in ’37 when well-known and prominent Heidengeists were driven out of the government and military to prepare for the coming war. This reached its peak by the end of ’38. The third wave came on January 20 of ’42 when the Wannsee Conference determined a Heidengeist presence would not be allowed inside or outside of Germany and other races would be expelled from the country. In the initial stages, the oppression was limited to expulsion from the country and confiscation of assets, but in the later stages, they were processed into Phlogiston Plattes. The details of this process are not fully known even in the present day. ### 540. Chapter 5: The Requiem Races 5/30/1942 18:32 – 22:20 Do crossroads connect your current path to a new one? If so, a crossroads is not the same as a fork in the road. I’m not sure how to put it. Does anyone know what I’m trying to say? ### Babel Cannon A Babel Cannon is a system that accelerates words to use them either as bullets or as a beam. The basic structure includes a giant cannon reminiscent of the biblical Tower of Babel and a launching mechanism that accelerates the powerful word particles, so there is little theoretical difference between them and ordinary cannons. They are divided into two general categories based on the type of projectile: either a bullet made by hardening the word particles or a beam that releases the word particles. The former has a simpler structure but can only be fired instantaneously. The latter is more complex and much bigger, but can be fired over an extended period of time. During the Great War, the former was referred to as Babel Guns and the latter as Babel Cannons. They are tremendously destructive. Everything within range of the target space undergoes word collapse, causing it to literally rupture. They are the ultimate weapon of the current age. For example, a resonance Babel Cannon nearly destroyed England’s heaven in ’33. Only Germany’s Geheimnis Agency and the British military have developed Babel Cannon technology, so while England works more closely with the rest of the Allies, they have sealed away all of their R&D documents until the year 2000 to avoid any other country stealing the technology. ### 541. Chapter 6: The Requiem Leaps 5/31/1942 00:49 – 01:26 Now What to do? ### German Night Air Defense Procedures Chart: Top left: Type 1 Bottom left: Air Defense Radar + Night Fighters Top middle: Type 2 Bottom middle: Searchlights + Night Fighters Top right: Type 3 Bottom right: Searchlights + AA Guns During the war, Germany had three types of night air defense installations set up across the North Sea side of Europe. Type 1 used a radar installation known as a Himmelbett. The radar would capture the enemy craft and radar guidance would send interceptors to attack. Type 2 was a line of searchlights known as the Kammhuber Line that covered northern Europe. The interceptors would use the searchlights to attack. Type 3 was only for important cities and facilities in Germany itself. Searchlights would illuminate the sky and antiaircraft guns would intercept the enemy craft. The three types were designed to prevent friendly fire between antiaircraft guns and fighter craft. The key to air defense was how to fight at night like it was day, but the German military was behind the times on researching and mass-producing moonlight resistant equipment and they placed too much emphasis on bombers over fighters, which delayed their development of night fighters. This would lead to heavy losses later on. ### 542. Chapter 7: The Requiem Soars 05/31/1942 01:35 – 03:54 I actually had plenty of options I just hadn’t realized it But once I did… ### Bendaughter The time-reading Sein Fraus installed inside Big Ben, England’s large clocktower. The ultimate form of the trend in the 17-19th centuries of using Sein Fraus to control machines after Sein Frau creation techniques improved. Three sisters were initially installed in Big Ben, but several more were produced after the installation of a fourth in Image City San Francisco’s Hyper Ben in 1898. In 1904, the designs were sent to Japan and used to create the four Amakashi-class Sein Fraus. They are all girls who sing at the top of the hour and half of their body has been split away so they can be connected to a harp Device. The ultraheavy harp they use is at least 6 yards long with a pair of 2 yard acoustic amplification shells resembling spiral shells on the rear. Thanks to that, they resemble a living creature more than a harp. ### 543. Chapter 8: The Requiem Rises 05/31/1942 04:18 – 04:44 An ending is a beginning A beginning is an ending So do they cancel each other out? I said it myself But I’m not really sure ### The Second Gard-class Warship The Gard-class aerial warship was constructed to be an Eingeweide ship, but construction of a second one began in ’42 as a spare and as an aerial fortress with the original’s high mobility removed. But by mid ’42, the construction and purpose of the second ship was thoroughly rethought. The ley line pressurization reactor planned for construction near Germania was supposed to power the city’s word weaponry, but that was deemed insufficient and the plan was changed to use the Gard-class’s Babel Kanone instead. The pressurization conduit used to boost the Eingeweide’s power used ley lines passed through the Vaterlands built across Europe and even in parts of Africa and Japan. That required the conduit to be 800 yards tall, but the top connector was swapped out to permanently attaching the Gard-class there. That created Tristan, the fortress and ley line pressurization conduit that stood more than a mile tall and resembled a giant cross. ### 544. Part 1 The pale clouds spread out like a flat ocean below and the moon was visible dead ahead. The sky was a dark blue and nothing obstructed it above the clouds bathed in the moonlight. Several giant shapes were moving south above that sea of clouds. Each of them was a ship approximately 100 yards long and a river of bombers and spy planes followed along a few miles away. This was one of the Allies’ Experimental Aerial Divisions, commonly known as the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division. The UK had begun experimenting with these ships in 1941 and they now used them nightly to bomb German-controlled regions or the German mainland. They could only do light damage with only around 100 ships and aircraft, but the repeated bombings worked to lower enemy morale. The flagship flying in the lead of the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division was a light aerial cruiser with the markings of the Royal Air Force on the side. The lights on the bridge sent signals to the four other ships and the many bombers following it. “Any sign of hostiles?” That question sounded in an unusually quiet bridge. The 8-yard room was lit only by the moonlight and the instruments. It was enclosed by blast-resistant windows on three sides and the liaison officer, helmsman, communications officer, and the other dozen or so members of the bridge crew had turned from their instruments to view the captain’s chair in the back. The skinny, gray-haired commander in that chair wore a flight suit instead of an RAF uniform. The same was true of the entire bridge crew looking his way. The commander lightly rapped the side table next to his seat. “It’s downright creepy. We entered their homeland and sent down our escort craft, but they still haven’t responded. An aerial division of 5 ships and a bombing unit has passed above their Dutch air defense line and is approaching Cologne in the German mainland.” The elderly first officer seated next to him nodded and replied. “For about a year, not one of the moonlight resistant ships or spy planes we sent to Cologne on recon or bombing missions has returned. That is why our entire division was sent in to forcibly reconnoiter while prepared to tear apart the very terrain with our bombs if need be.” The first officer hesitated a moment before looking around. When his gaze reached them, everyone on the bridge quickly looked back to their instruments. “Do not let your guard down, everyone,” said the commander. “We have no idea what we will encounter out here.” They all nodded and the usual bustle of activity returned to the bridge. The first officer paused to listen to the high altitude wind and then spoke quietly. “Have you heard the stories of the Lorelei, a type of Siren that causes shipwrecks, Captain?” “I thought that was a bunch of bunk. Didn’t some poets just rewrite the legend of the witch Lore Lay?” “The aerial division that went missing a month ago apparently sent back a final communique that only said ‘the dragon’s song’. The dragon and the lion are symbols of the Geheimnis Agency, that top secret organization that we have yet to find solid evidence of.” The first officer faced forward. “But according to information from the IAF who everyone’s been talking about lately, the Geheimnis Agency has constructed a giant aerial warship equipped with a Babel Cannon in the Cologne region. It’s meant to be a solid defense positioned at the entrance to their homeland.” “I saw the photo they sent. And I snorted in laughter, assuming the generals were pulling my leg. I mean, an aerial ship more than half a mile long is absurd. Same with a ship carrying a giant cannon on its back. Do you really think something like that can fly? Just turning – no, just ascending would tear the ship apart with its own inertial weight.” “…” “Besides, a ship that big could never shoot down aircraft as fast as our spy planes. All they have are grounded tanks, outdated fighters they’ve rushed upgrades for, and those Heavy Barrels that are entirely useless in modern warfare.” “Then…?” “Yes, I know. You want to know why no one has returned from the Cologne region, right?” “I do. Cologne is the western entrance to Germany, so I know they will have fortified their defensive line there, but still.” “We are here to solve that very mystery. Because we boast the best speeds of all the experimental divisions.” The commander leaned back in his seat and looked out head. The bridge was beginning to heat up as the previous silence faded away. Everyone was working hard to command the engine room and to coordinate with the other ships and the bombing unit. People were moving and speaking across the dark bridge. But past them and out the window, the sea of clouds was entirely still. Just as the commander stared at the clouds flowing by below, an operator spoke up. “Report! Reading detected down below at a point 20 miles from Cologne!” The commander turned toward the operator, eyebrows raised. “How many ships!?” “No, um…these appear to be smaller crafts…moving fast. There are three…no, four! Moving very fast!” “They must be hostile!” barked the commander. “We wouldn’t encounter friendlies here!” The operator operated the radar and the projector on the floor projected the radar display on the gray ceiling. The circular display covered a 3 yard radius on the ceiling and a single dot of light was approaching from the front of the display. They were both flying toward each other, so it was rapidly closing on the center of the display. “They must be small indeed,” said the first officer. “Their readings are almost entirely overlapped. Are they a new kind of patrol craft?” “Too fast for that. Formations of four is standard practice for them, but what do they hope to accomplish with just four fighter craft?” A few seconds passed and the commander made a decision. “We should assume a threat. All ships, form a single column. Use the radar to track their distance. At a range of 5 miles, ships 1, 2, and 3 will fire secondary cannons and pseudo dragon cannons once they have a lock. At a range of 2 miles, ships 1, 2, and 3 will launch exterior homing rounds. If they break through that, all ships may fire at will until the hostiles have withdrawn or been shot down. Hurry.” He sent the transmission. The dot on the radar display approached. After the span of a heartbeat, a quiet alarm began to sound from the controls in front of the operator. The weapons officer took over the radio and ordered the gunners to fire. The secondary cannons and pseudo dragon cannons installed on the bottom of the ship opened fire. The cannons roared. The lines of fire tore shallowly through the clouds as they traveled diagonally down. After precisely 3 seconds, they used the radar to monitor the enemy’s movements and fired a second volley. The third volley was fired after a manual adjustment to the enemy’s predicted location after the first and second volleys. Once, twice, and thrice, beams of light stretched out, blew away the clouds, and then swung a bit to expand the attack range. Similar whiplike bands of light flew from the port and starboard of the next two ships behind theirs. Light shined on the radar display on the bridge ceiling. Their radar could also detect ether readings, so the paths of the pseudo dragon cannons were displayed as pale flashes. The long bands of destructive light vanished after only a few seconds. “The hostile reading…has been eliminated.” The operator’s report was supported by the lack of light on the ceiling display. Sighs of relief were breathed across the bridge. But that relief was short lived. The commander first sensed a noise. The bridge protected by thick, high-altitude glass groaned like it had been hit by a great mass of metal. An impact caused the entire bridge – no, the entire 30-thousand-ton-displacement flagship – to shake vertically. “!?” The entire bridge crew managed to maintain their posts throughout the shaking, but their expressions had changed. They were worried. And the change in the view outside the window did not help matters. To the right and the left, the clouds had been split all the way to the horizon, almost like that crashing noise had caused it. This formed two valleys kicking up white waves. Something had passed right by the flagship at dizzying speed. The mist formed by the torn clouds blocked the view ahead of the still-shaking bridge. “What was that?” The commander clenched his teeth when he found the answer. “That was supersonic acceleration! We have hostiles nearby. They were waiting for us to fire so they could fly in, hiding behind our pseudo dragon cannons! The hostiles are not after our bomber unit!” “Tell all ships to stay close together and keep up an exterior barrage!” shouted the first officer. “Hurry!” But it was too late. Low metallic sounds reached them through the bridge’s rear wall. Something was firing repeatedly, their shots tearing apart the high-altitude wind loudly enough to be heard inside the bridge. “Is that the hostiles?” The commander looked back to see something in the night sky visible outside of the bridge’s port side window. He saw a blue Heavy Barrel. The six wings on its back meant its Over Emblem was fully activated, allowing it to match the high-speed ship’s velocity. It used both arms to hold and fire an autocannon longer than it was tall. The moonlight glinted off the empty cartridges scattering through the sky. It was likely firing 88mm steel bullets. Those high-speed bullets packed a punch and could even destroy armor panels on impact. The recoil caused the Barrel to shake violently, but it used its wings to fly a helix pattern that allowed the force to safely escape. Once done firing, the blue Heavy Barrel gave the weapon a swing. The barrel detached and fell toward the clouds. It pulled a new barrel from the hips of its combat dress while dull sounds rumbled from behind the bridge. It was the heavy noise of something pushing at the air. The tremor sounded like a crashing waterfall and it would not stop. The commander knew what this was. The ship behind them was sinking after taking all that gunfire. As it tilted, its air resistance increased and the pushing of the air grew louder. The deep rumble was gradually growing more distant behind them. The flagship and the rest began to return fire. They fired homing rounds and pseudo dragon cannons at the blue Heavy Barrel. But something stopped them. While the blue Heavy Barrel leisurely attached the new autocannon barrel, a red Heavy Barrel with a massive shield cut in between using Over Emblem wings. The homing rounds and pseudo dragon cannon blasts crashed into the red one’s shield. “Did we shoot it down?” They had not. The shield glowed bright red with heat, but it remained intact. White smoke erupted from the bottom of the shield and it regained its original metallic coloration. Should they fire a second volley or not? While the commander hesitated, a light appeared outside the starboard window. It was a dark red light flickering with heat. He turned toward it. The second ship that had been positioned diagonally back and to starboard had overtaken them while spewing flames for some reason. The top of the high-altitude destroyer was now perfectly flat, like it had been shaved down with a woodworking plane. Black smoke and flames erupted from the torn and smashed areas as it overtook the flagship. The commander saw a large white figure standing atop its deck. It was a giant male Heavy Barrel with six wings. It carried no projectile weapons and instead carried a single sword. Unlike the red and blue ones flying to port, this one had not even activated its Over Emblem. “–––!?” The wordless scream inside the bridge was questioning the events playing out before their eyes. It wanted to know if this was actually real. The answer was right there. The flagship and the other ships fired from their starboard sides, as if attempting to further destroy the sinking second ship. The repeated roaring of artillery fire was directed at the white Heavy Barrel standing atop the second ship. It could never avoid the incoming barrage. No Heavy Barrel could fly without an Over Emblem, nor could it defend an attack like this without a shield. And yet… The white Heavy Barrel suddenly slid across the deck. It broke through the explosive flames and twirled its body to slip between the incoming bullets. Its legs remained motionless as it soared through the air. It moved slowly but spun quickly to avoid the entire barrage. And… “Ah.” It produced a single note. The commander saw its sword emit bright light. That was followed by the deep sound of splitting air. The white slash had sliced the second ship in two. As the ship sank into the clouds, the white Heavy Barrel flapped its wings to fly up into the sky. “What?” the commander muttered as he watched. “Is this what they meant by the lions gathering below the dragon?” he asked his first officer. He was answered in a different way. He heard some Words. Just like the ones uttered by the white Heavy Barrel, these Words rang in his head whether he wanted them to or not. And these used a girl’s voice. It was a calm voice of suppressed emotion. The commander shouted on reflex, fastening his seatbelt as he did. “Evasive action! Ships 4 and 5, bomber unit, ascend! Ascend until you reach maximum moonlight resistance altitude!” The ship shook as it tried to take an ascending course. But light suddenly filled the bridge. This was not a flare or a dragon cannon. It was a blinding ocean of light that erased all shadows, like light had exploded right in front of them. It was a powerful attack. “!?” Before the commander could question it, something slammed into the bottom of the ship. Those on the bridge who had not fastened their seatbelts were launched from their seats, crashing into the walls, floor, or ceiling. The screams of shattering glass and of people shook the air, but the powerful inertial shaking did not stop. The ultra-massive ship’s rear lifted up and it very nearly flipped forward. The light vanished and the forward-tilted bridge shook as its structural components cried out in protest. All the lights had gone out and the instruments ceased functioning. “Do they really have a Babel Cannon!?” The ship slid forward as it attempted to reorient itself. The captain saw something there as his vision straightened out. The flat expanse of cloud was entirely gone. ### 545. Part 1 The sky was clear. The blue expanse spread wide without a cloud to be found. The sun was bright. Its direct light created countless dark shadows on the red cracked ground to decorate the flat and parched wasteland. The colors blue, red, and black covered everything as far as the eye could see. Those colors were joined by the wind and some sound. The wind was audibly torn through as an aircraft flew by. Below that windy sound were two colors not found anywhere else: gray and white. The gray belonged to three large runways lined up on the red wasteland and the blast-resistant buildings of a largescale base. The white belonged to the white paint coloring the walls of the wooden barracks lined up alongside the base. The aircraft was a fighter belonging to the base. It flew through low over the runway, performed a single roll, and soared back up into the sky. The shimmering heat of its jets slammed into the runway which had words written in more white paint: USIF Arizona Area 001. This was the Arizona headquarters of the USIF, the US branch of the AIF. The rumbling of the aircraft faded and the wind blew across the runways. The wind and the barking of a guard dog were the only sounds left. The large dog kept barking in the space between the barracks and the mess hall. The cries of a dog with newfound prey reverberated through the heated air. The racket was best heard inside the mess hall since its windows were open. The large wooden building was made to hold 2000 and it looked like a bungalow but bigger. It was bright enough outside that the lights inside were left off. Rectangular tables for 8 were lined up in rows and countless cheap folding chairs were scattered haphazardly about. The place was about 1/3 occupied by people in gray uniforms. A lot of them were Heidengeists. The ones with wings or with nonhuman skeletal structures had the appropriate modifications made to their uniforms. Many of the human soldiers eating alongside them had prosthetics or carried large weapons. There was also a scattering of women. And they all wore smiles. That may have been why they were chatting pleasantly and moving casually around. There were two colors that did not match the gray worn by the majority. The first was the green US Army Air Corps flight jacket worn by a middle-aged woman. The other was the black everything worn by a black-haired young man. The woman was lining up small cards on the large table and the young man held an ice pack to his right cheek across the table from her. The young man pushed his sunglasses up his nose with his other hand and asked the woman a question. “Hey, Corelle, what do you make of this? …Ow.” He grimaced as he pressed the ice pack against his cheek, brushed up his long bangs, and fell silent. The woman called Corelle placed a card on the table with her thick fingers. She did not look up at the young man as she pulled out a new card. “M. Schrier summoned you here for a job, but you showed up to find your orders waiting for you but not the man himself. And then you happen across Oscar Mirildorf who just so happened to be here.” “Yeah, it was pretty exciting to learn the Oscar was finally paying the AIF a visit, but then…” Corelle continued for him. “He thanked you for helping his daughter escape Germany, but he also punched you? And hard enough to knock out one of your back teeth at that. But it’s pretty sad you let that knock you out, Berger.” “Hey, he caught me by surprise.” Corelle snorted with laughter, but she also decided to move on. “Well, enough about that. What’s your new job?” “You already know. I’m being placed on your special forces team as an expendable. They’re using me as cannon fodder.” He removed the ice pack from his face, opened it with one hand, pulled out an ice cube, and popped it in his mouth. “Ahhorhing ho hy hold huhherhasshan…” “I can’t understand a word you’re saying, idiot.” A few seconds passed. “According to my old upperclassman’s orders, I’m using your RB-21 transport ship to sneak into Germany on the 30th. First, I travel to the Borderson village and then I help Pale escape after some important meeting with the staff there.” “After that, you travel to Cologne, which the RAF really wants to bomb, and fire a range sensor onto the Gard-class. That’s the entrance to the German mainland and full of military factories, so this mission is crucial if the Allies are going to bomb it. The Gard-class has prevented any of the UK’s bombers from reaching Cologne.” “It was a report from one of your people that confirmed the Gard-class’s existence…but now they’ve started showing it off, even making it an official part of the German Air Force.” Corelle listened to Berger as she finished laying out all the cards and crossed her arms. “When I sent Coolers to the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division, I never imagined he would be the lone survivor. I have nothing but thanks for the captain and the rest who died.” “I hear he abandoned his escape boat and jumped into the ocean before the Kaiser and the others could catch up.” “One of the UK’s water dragons picked him up and he’s with one of their ground units now. Because the infantry can at least die alone.” Berger chewed on another piece of ice before replying. “Well, this would be the time to sink that Gard-class. Take it out here and the Allies have a way in.” “Are you sure?” “Take a look at the world, Corelle. The Allies are trying to see how they can get at the German mainland. That means they’re looking at attacking Germany and winning this war once and for all. The German mainland, the Gard-class, and the Cologne factories – strike those three and everyone will know Germany is within reach and this war is winnable.” “…” “But that’s not all. Just like the US military doesn’t like the AIF for hitching a ride with them, the Geheimnis Agency still isn’t well liked by the civilians and some of the older nobles. When the head of Borderson was lost, most of the Strikers in the Borderson territory left the Agency. Cologne is part of that territory, so I bet the Gard-class is there to help regain their trust. Take out that ship and the Geheimnis Agency crumbles.” Berger frowned and paused before continuing. “Which is why the UK is readying a thousand bombers to bomb Cologne in what they call Operation Millennium.” Corelle flipped over the card closest to her. It was a tower. The image depicted a tower being struck by a lightning bolt from heaven. She sighed. “Babel, #7 of the Harmony Cards. The collapse of control. …In this context, it must mean the Babel Cannon.” “Yeah, the UK has built a Babel Gun they plan to fire from the North Sea to shoot down the Gard-class long distance. That’ll probably be history’s largest bombardment. That pair of uninspired missions is gonna be something to see.” He smiled bitterly. “The spies in Cologne have already gotten data on the ship, but they still need real-time range finding. The spies can provide the surface range, but this thing’s in the air. That’s where I come in. I’ll be using the new and improved Schwarz Löwe. I’ve already done some training in it, so I should manage.” “You need to do more than ‘manage’. And don’t forget about Pale.” “He’s in Borderson, right? I just meet him there and take him with me. From there, you drop the Schwarz Löwe from the sky, I fire the range sensor onto the Gard-class, and you pick me and Pale up. Simple.” He suddenly leaned back in his seat to look up at the ceiling. “But there are a number of problems. First, where has my old upperclassman gotten off to? I’ve barely seen him for the past three years. Where is he? There’s so much I want to ask him.” “You sure it isn’t just that he doesn’t like you? I see him plenty. …He’s still got that rich kid’s faulty idea of how the world works though. ‘I’ve just got to write and sell ten books and we can buy another transport ship?’ Ridiculous.” Berger sighed. “I want to ask him about what I saw three years ago. …I told you about that, didn’t I? The Sylphide being carried out of that dig site. What was up with that?” “I asked him and he said you must have dreamed it, so I doubt he would tell you if you did ask. Besides, we’re about to leave for Germany, so why not look into it there?” “I did everything I could to look into it for the past three years. And with nothing to show for it. It’s like the damn thing vanished into thin air.” Corelle thought about that for a moment and nodded. A dog barked in the distance once more. “Oh, shut up,” grumbled Berger while looking to Corelle’s hand. She had moved the hand to her chin and her mouth was shut and silent. “What kinda fortune are you checking?” he asked, leaning curiously forward. “Whether I’ll deliver my baby safely?” “Shut it. You heard about the History Live Research Team’s report, didn’t you?” She was whispering now. “All the best Fast Readers around the world can’t read the History Lives past August of ’43. And at the same time, that Nightmare Syndrome has started up.” Berger straightened up in his seat, took a quick glance around, and shrugged. “That happened in the past too, but it does seem a lot more common now.” He pulled over a newspaper from the corner of the table and opened to the social page. “See, here’s another one. There was a mass suicide in Norfolk, England, two weeks ago and they’re blaming it on the syndrome.” “The UK is terrified from the German air raids, after all. Anxiety covers the country and the Lives respond. All the anxiety Lives are accelerating this war and making it darker.” “Can you not read past ’43 either?” Corelle flipped over the card furthest from her. It was entirely black, with no image. “Nuclear, #3 of the Unspoken Word Cards. A perfect nothingness. The History Live Research Team says this war will allow anxiety to rule the world, causing the collapse of the Lives forming the very nucleus of our world.” “Bullshit. You expect me to believe some crazy talk about the entire world being destroyed?” “But this world’s Concept Lives do not go past this point and we have no idea what that means. Maybe they’re too weak for us to read and maybe something is preventing us from seeing them, but maybe…maybe the world really was destroyed in ’43 during the era preceding even the Obstacle Era.” “Would that mean the Messiah is the one to travel past that point and create a new world?” muttered Berger. Then he looked up. “The war started in Germany is causing this anxiety…and the Messiah also comes from Germany.” “?” He did not answer Corelle’s unspoken question. He instead tilted his head. “But that doesn’t make sense. If Germany did start this war just to produce the Messiah, the Concept Lives would go past ’43, showing the history of a world saved by the Messiah.” “Think too hard and you’ll overheat your brain. Leave the thinking to the thinkers.” “Oh, shut up,” he said, getting up. “Where are you going?” “To gather my luggage. Weird leaving the same day I was given a room, but whatever.” “Most people at least take a nap first. You probably passed out because you’re so tired after flying in from Europe. …Also, are you sure you don’t want to go see Hazel?” “We’re not anywhere near LA. That’s not a day trip.” Berger grinned and walked toward the mess hall’s exit with ice pack in hand. Just then, someone appeared in the exit. The young man in a blue uniform was a postman. He looked around the mess hall holding a printed map of the base. “Excuse me, is this where I can find Dog Berger?” ### 546. Part 1 Hazel found herself kneeling in a dark clearing. It was nighttime, but the sky was a dark red. The wind was blowing. The ground below her was made of sand. This was a schoolyard giving a view of the crimson sky. … This is that bad dream I keep having recently. The word dream helped her “wake up” in the dream. But she did not actually wake up from the dream. … It’s the same dream I had when I came down with a fever in the Heidenheim they brought me to after arresting me in the middle of class 5 years ago. The dream had returned now that she was 20. When she had asked the college doctor about it, they had said it was probably just the Nightmare Syndrome going around recently. … But this nightmare has plagued me for a while. It isn’t some new condition. Nightmare Syndrome caused other people to be overwhelmed by indescribable anxiety as they slept, but Hazel’s nightmares had clear images, sounds, and other senses. And the events in the dream changed each time. Now that she was partially awake in the dream, the images moved around her, the sounds reached her ears, and her skin sensitively picked up everything it could. She had fallen to her knees after being shot and a large group surrounded her. The stinging pain in her right chest quickly changed to such intense agony that she thought her entire body was breaking apart. The distant sounds of sword fighting told her someone was still fighting out there, but she could not look to see who. She was in too much pain. A woman stepped forward from the group of black-uniformed soldiers surrounding her. Hazel did not recognize her. She wore a green men’s suit and her long brown hair was worn in a braid. Only now did Hazel realize how weirdly calm she was for having just been shot. Her senses were sharp. She could smell the sandy ground and the grassy scent carried by the wind. She could feel the wind and her hair blowing in it. Of course… … I have no memory of this. The dream was showing her this image. The background resembled her former school and the smell of the dirt and wind reminded her so much of her school days in Germany. This was only a dream. It was not real. She kept telling herself that to wake herself up while she tried to bear with the pain coursing through her body. It didn’t work. The woman stood motionless before her. She did not even reach out a hand to help Hazel up. But she did speak in too quiet a voice for anyone but Hazel to hear. “Now, it is time to say goodbye to your free destiny. We have started down the path that leads to my death.” Hazel’s mind was shocked into focus by the phrase “say goodbye”. And the woman said more. “You are just like us, Messiah. You fight only for the present.” Those words reflexively sent Hazel’s thoughts in the usual direction. … Only for the present? She had the will and a reason to fight. … I don’t want to run away, so I choose to fight. “You cannot see where this fight leads either, can you? Or what it is you want to do once it is all over. …But that is fine. For you are only a tool for us. You are the Messiah who keeps the Nibelung turning.” “…!?” Her mind rejected that statement. But it was a reflexive thing with nothing to back it up. … There are things I want to do! She woke up as soon as she shouted her response. ### 547. Part 1 The sky was blue. Looking down showed trees covered in the green of early summer. Further away, the trees grew thick enough to call a thicket. Further than that, there were enough to call a forest. A green mountain rose beyond that. This was one of the forests in the northwestern German region of Borderson. A mountain road ran through the forest. It was an unpaved dirt road with wheel ruts and some undergrowth. A single car drove along that road – a green Volkswagen Beetle convertible. It had originally been a military vehicle, so it had a plain, undecorated exterior. Schweitzer sat in the Beetle’s driver’s seat, wearing a white shirt and navy slacks. Lowenzahn sat next to him, viewing a map and wearing a green men’s suit. Schweitzer barely moved as the car shook. He kept his eyes directed forward as he asked her a question. “Lowenzahn, which way at the fork up ahead?” “Left. I think right would take us to the cliff above a waterfall. We’d fall right into the basin below.” They turned left at the fork, feeling like they were slipping below the branches sticking out from the trees. A straight-line ascent came into view. Small grassy hills rose on either side and the road continued straight through the center. The car bounced a bit as it continued on straight. Schweitzer shifted down a gear to prepare of the climb. The roar of the engine grew louder and the car made its climb in between the grassy hills. “What a view.” Far in either direction, the wind blew waves through the grass in the shade of the hills and those waves continued on down past the bottom of the slope like vast, grassy carpets. The sound of splashing water sounded a bit like radio static as it faintly reached them from beyond the hill on the right. “The waterfall must be close by.” “Indeed,” agreed Schweitzer before turning to face the left hill. Warm music reminiscent of a blowing bellows played from beyond that hill. “That’s an organ. That sound really takes me back. …They’re playing the Unreif Germane.” She slowly looked around, letting the gentle music wash over her. “Six sections of the Unreif Germane are recited as poems: the 3rd Section of Daily Life, the 9th Section of the Ruling King, the 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon, the 1st Section of the Moonlight, the 6th Section of the Ending God, and the Final Section of the Wheel. This combines them all into a single song.” “Your prophecies have included the 3rd Section of Daily Life, the 9th Section of the Ruling King, and now the 6th Section of the Ending God, correct?” “Yes. The one that starts with ‘the party begins’ is the latest prophecy.” Lowenzahn opened her mouth and recited the 6 sections of the Unreif Germane in order. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall Follow the path to a familiar face While walking side by side Your hand and voice might reach them But the moon sees it not The gatherers begin their party A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same words The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new / All hesitation will come to an end up ahead Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new / Throw out all hesitation and look back The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new / All hesitation exists to tear through that wall She held the door under her arm to fight the shaking as the car made its climb. “The party begins and the village dances, huh? Captain, what did you think of the information Bermark sent us over the radio earlier? That the messiah has arrived in Germany with the one armed young man and as a member of the AIF this time.” “This will be her first real battle. The rumors say it took her two years to pass their entrance exam.” Lowenzahn nodded, brushed up her bangs, and spoke with the morning breeze on her face. “Interesting, isn’t it? Remember what I told you three years ago? Our world is moving two years ahead of schedule.” “But those two years have been mostly canceled out by the Messiah spending two years on an entrance exam?” Schweitzer shifted down another gear. The slope was getting steeper, but if they cleared this patch, they would reach the top of the hill. He stepped on the gas to accelerate. Lowenzahn spoke in an emotionless tone while viewing only the sky out ahead. “Someone sent P. Wagner a Verlsten Brief directing him to where the Sylphide slept underground and that sped up our world by two years. The Berlin Conflict was meant to happen in ’37 and the Sylphide Incident in August of ’39. The Sylphide Incident was meant to rouse suspicions of a Polish spy leaking information related to the Sylphide and that would have led to the invasion of Poland.” “But it instead happened in ’37 when the military was not ready for an invasion and that opportunity was lost. In our version of the war, the invasion began in ’39 when classified documents were stolen from a German craft that crashed in Poland.” “Yes, so hostilities still began in ’39 as before. That means events surrounding the Messiah were two years ahead of schedule, but the world as a whole remained unchanged. And by now in ’42, almost all of it has worked itself out on a global scale.” “Has that made correcting the prophecies easier?” “It has. And like you said, the Messiah has been so slow it has mostly canceled out the two years. Things are much easier to understand than they were back in ’37. The prophecies will not fail anymore.” “May I ask one thing?” Lowenzahn gave him a puzzled looked, so he asked his question. “How was the Messiah meant to develop? Our Hazel Mirildorf was caught in the Sylphide Incident at the age of 15, but that was meant to have happened when she was 17.” “Yes, and she was meant to quit school and join the AIF once the war broke out in ’37.” “She joined the AIF immediately after the Sylphide Incident?” “Yes,” stated Lowenzahn. “The original Messiah completed the entrance exam in the standard half a year and took part in the sabotage of the Gard-class’s #1 ship in late ’40. She had her first battle at 18. And she was captured in ’42.” “So the original Messiah and our Messiah both began the entrance exam in ’37 at the age of 17…but the original one completed it in half a year and ours took two years?” Lowenzahn faced forward. “17,” muttered Schweitzer while gripping the steering wheel in both hands. “That’s about how old I was when I made my promise with Eryngium, Berger, and the others.” “I think I had a lot going on at that age too. When I was all alone in that small house Graham gave me.” The car shook, but Schweitzer said nothing and only pushed on the steering wheel. But Lowenzahn continued regardless. “But the defining incident for our Hazel Mirildorf was two years before that, when she was 15. I think she found herself caught in the Sylphide Incident before she was old enough to develop any real wisdom or have a good sense of herself. And even if she did want to join the AIF immediately afterwards, it didn’t exist in that form at that point.” “So she had to wait the two years from 15 to 17. She must have thought about a lot in that time.” “You were there at the Sylphide Incident, so you should know. Did she manage to accomplish anything there?” “No,” said Schweitzer. “And all Berger and I managed was force her to abandon the Sylphide. Yet she still apologized to it.” “She has such a soft heart, doesn’t she? But does the Messiah need one of those?” “––––?” Schweitzer turned toward her. When she noticed his gaze, she looked up and frantically pointed forward. The wheel ruts were straying to the right up ahead. The car shook and he turned the wheel to keep it under control. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Because the Sylphide Incident happened two years early, the Messiah was forced to abandon it before she had developed more mature wisdom…which unintentionally turned her into a soft soul who can’t bring herself to abandon anyone.” “But if the Sylphide Incident had happened when she was 17, she would have been mature enough to abandon that which was unnecessary, so she would have entered the AIF…and ultimately come to lead us as an elite?” “But even our Messiah is having her first battle, even if it’s two years delayed. That is why I prophesied her capture now in ’42.” Just then, their view opened up. They had reached the top of the hill. Beyond the green hill was an even deeper green wheat field. The top of the hill was flat and the rippling green field was visible as far as the eye could see starting with the slope down the hill. The road continued straight on down and arrived at a forest after half a mile. “Past that forest is a Borderson ‘Village of Pardons’.” They could hear the music – the organ playing the Unreif Germane. Lowenzahn murmured while listening to the warm, gentle melody. “The latest prophecy is the verse about the Messiah girl ending up alone. And she will remain in this land. Do you know what that means? The Messiah girl was originally supposed to arrive with Dog Berger as a skilled AIF member, but he sends her to Cologne ahead of him.” She frowned and started to say more. “?” She heard the roar of an engine. ### 548. Part 1 Hazel thought she was decent at the organ. … If only the AIF entrance exam and training included music. She had that thought while playing the antique organ in front of her. The notes reverberated through a small church that could only hold around 40 people. The place was old, but the roof was sturdy and it had pews and a pulpit. But since this was a Heidengeist village, there was no cross or icons. When she saw a chalkboard in one corner of the deserted church, she realized the place was used for Sunday school. And she played. In addition to the Unreif Germane, she played older nursery rhymes like the Harvest Hymn or Moonlit Forest. She had no sheet music set up on the organ. She did not play by reading music. … I can play it from memory after hearing it a few times. She played a song she had learned just a bit ago after hearing it played by a woman with the Titel of Lehrer. … She seems strict, but I also feel like I’ve met her before. She looked about five years older than Hazel. Her most notable traits where the eyes kept shut behind tinted glasses and the soft-looking blonde hair falling to the back of her knees. The shut eyes gave her a somewhat expressionless look and Hazel guessed that was what made her look so familiar and strict. … I shouldn’t judge people by their appearance. She nodded and got a note wrong. She briefly panicked, but then remembered she was alone in the church. To refocus her mind, she stepped on the foot pedal a few times to send air into the organ and began playing at a higher volume. She did not remember how many songs she had played in a row. She simply shut her eyes and played. She mimicked Lehrer. Of course, Lehrer had not only kept her eyes shut while playing. They had been shut when Hazel and Berger met her in the central square, when she had taken them to Pale, when she had shown them to a vacant house near the square they could stay in, and when she had brought Hazel here when Hazel asked if there was anything she could do to help. She could walk, talk, and point at things without opening her eyes because she was a Buster. Her job was to read and destroy Lives. Hazel could read Lives as well. Up to an octave of nearly a million. But she could not do it so constantly. To her, that felt like the barrier between being a Greenhorner and being a full-fledged Tuner or Buster. “I can’t see them like that.” She got another note wrong as she said that, but it no longer bothered her. Instead, she was bothered by what she had been told in that nightmare. “A Messiah who only fights for the present.” That would mean… “They can’t see past this war.” … What will I do once the war is over? She had been asked the same thing five years ago. She had been asked to describe her future plans in class. … What do I want to do in the future? She finished one song and the music came to a stop. A dove sitting on a ceiling beam and shaking in the music suddenly flew down into the church, scattering white feathers inside the somewhat shadowy building. Hazel slowly removed her hands from the keys. She placed her right hand over her left shoulder. The brand she was given at the Heidenheim was still there. It would never go away unless she tore away the skin itself. “I hadn’t considered it.” She silently removed her tensing hand and held her left hand to her chest instead. She had a card in the breast pocket there. She pulled it out to reveal the Wheel of Destiny card. … I know how it began and I know why we’re involved, but… “What do I want out of this?” And… “What kind of power do I need for that?” … I need to know what I want to do after the war to know what kind of power I want. Seeking the result before the method felt contradictory, so she could not speak that part aloud. She didn’t know the answer. After a beat, she shook her head. She resumed playing to distract herself. She played the Unreif Germane. That song told the tale of the Messiah who had appeared to unify Germany. That woman had appeared in this world, led a dragon and some Strikers, and unified an ununified Germany. … How did that fight go? The music sped up. And sped up some more. Her fingers moved across the keys, the music followed, and it all grew denser. And denser. She pressed down her foot to send air into the organ. She stepped down for a louder sound. And she played. She pressed down on the organ’s keys to play. A festival was underway outside. Everyone was dancing and laughing. They were enjoying themselves. This space was cut off from the war. This place should not have existed. But there was still a war being waged inside her. “…” She pressed hard on the keys. She made no mistakes. Just like when practice swinging her sword, she was more accurate when pouring more force into the movements. She played with accurate movements, seeking each new key in turn and pressing it. She continued onward with perfect accuracy and void of mistakes – hoping to reach the answer in the final note. She played. And just as she prepared to play the very end, an image burst into her vision. The large church door sat open to allow the music to reach everyone outside. A chalkboard on legs stood next to the entrance, presumably for Sunday school. “Oh…” A pair of small children, perhaps a brother and a sister, stood in front of the chalkboard. The older brother was writing on and drawing a waterfall and river on the chalkboard while saying something to the younger sister. He spread his arms and mimicked holding some kind of stick. He was teaching her. He was telling his sister about how he went fishing at a nearby river, or maybe that he planned to. This was a small school. The scene linked directly to the question filling Hazel’s mind. What did she want to do after the war? “…” She realized her hands had stopped on the keys. She had stopped playing while watching the siblings enthusiastically discussing something in front of the chalkboard. But she felt no desire to start playing again. Her mind was focused on her vision more than her hands. The brother was using the chalkboard and his gestures to teach his sister something. He had turned this into a small school. “Is that my answer?” She smiled bitterly when she noticed she said that out loud. And she continued in her thoughts. … This has been bothering me since I was arrested in ’37, hasn’t it? When her class had been asked about their futures, her friend had confidently opened up about her dream, but Hazel had been unable to come out and say she wanted to be a teacher before the soldiers had burst into the classroom and taken her away as part of the Heidengeist purge. … I couldn’t find an answer back then. Just like in my nightmare. She was attending her college’s education department now, but a war was on. Dreams did not come true during war. Then she gasped in realization. ### 549. Part 1 At 5:32 PM, while the 3rd Aerial Fleet off the coast of Norway was engaging the German troops, the Big Signal, a British aerial warship equipped with a Babel Gun, finally completed the 11-hour process of connecting and turning the barrel, so it began to ascend. The ship’s large silhouette was visible on the North Sea’s moonlit clouds where the German aerial ships could not reach it. The shell loading zone at the rear of the barrel was temporarily sitting open. While its escort ships arranged themselves in a concentrated defensive formation, the 10-yard container sector at the rear of the Big Signal began to move. Three of the walls opened up, leaving only the front wall that connected to the bullet accelerator. The opened walls revealed a soft weblike steel frame and cords with airtight coverings. The cords were tangled and twisted around the frame, making the place look like a jungle. An enormous musical instrument sat in in the center of the frame. It was a harp. But this harp extended sharply forward and the keel-like piece supporting the strings was nearly 6 yards long. Sounding boards meant to help spread its sound stuck out from the spine of the harp like a stegosaurus’s back plates and two giant amplification shells resembling spiral shells were installed on the harp’s rear. The harp was known as an ultraheavy harp. It was played by a girl. She had a slender body and long brown hair, but the right half of her body had been removed and she was linked to the connectors on the harp and amplification shells. Her arms and legs were ceramic and the joints were covered, but her face, throat, and stomach were the same as a human’s. She was a Sein Frau designed to play this harp and sing. Her name was stitched into her clothing: Bendaughter-East. She was one of the three sisters who performed the music when London’s big clock reached the top of the hour. The ultraheavy harp’s name was written on it: BBH-02 Sunshine. The Sein Frau was not moving. Her head was lowered in sleep. The left arm designed to play the large harp was long enough to reach the floor. The special prosthetic right arm sticking out from the other side of the harp was also motionless. However… “––––––” Time slowly passed, the moon slowly moved, and the moonlight finally reached her face. The chilly wind of the high altitude gently washed through her hair and stroked her cheek. The first thing to move was the cords crawling around the frame like a jungle. A few of the cords went taut, shook, and then emitted steam in the cold air. Next to the two large shells on the rear of the harp, the autonomous clasps rotated and released their brakes. The special prosthetic arm on the starboard side rotated each finger six times and began to clench and unclench. Then the Sunshine’s exterior panels lifted up just a bit and a powerful breath blew from within. The frame shook, the cords swayed, and the wind whipped at Bendaughter’s clothing and hair. As the ultraheavy harp awoke itself with an autocleaning cycle that resembled a yawn, something else began to move as well. Bendaughter’s eyelids slowly opened. Her lowered head faced forward and then up into the sky. Her expression remained blank. She was only designed to play the harp and sing, so she had no thoughts beyond that. But she still opened her eyes wide while viewing the light of the moon hanging high in the sky. She opened her mouth and the pressure gathered in her lungs pushed her voice from deep within her throat and gut. “Ah.” It was a single loud tone. New movements gradually joined in. The idling Babel Gun fully activated. It had reached its completed form atop the Big Signal and the shafts installed inside and outside it began a rapid phase transition. This was meant to eliminate any vibration in the gun’s core. The miniature transition-style word accelerator at the base of the cannon began to operate. The cylindrical accelerator was large enough to stick out from the edge of the ship and a transition space was bound to each end of the cylinder to provide the same effect as a large circular accelerator in as little space as possible. That device took up more power than any other part of the ship. The emblem panels producing the transition space were installed complexly along the outside of the cylinder as well to fight the internal pressure. Everything had activated now. And it was all tied together by a voice. “Ah.” The single tone continued. It had not stopped for a moment. Bendaughter’s body was linked to the ultraheavy harp, but her intake and output of nutrients and an external supply of oxygen were handled by pipes connected to her linking surface. So as long as the vibration of her voice did not numb her brainstem, she could sing indefinitely without needing to take a breath. But that stopped without warning. After viewing the moonlight for only a few seconds, Bendaughter lowered her gaze to face forward again. She kept her eyes there as she moved her left hand around behind her head. That arm was 2 yards long and it produced a mechanical whirring as it moved. Fingers with built-in picks arrived at the base of the frame between the two shells. There was a large square hole at the top of the frame and she pulled a book and a small bag from there. Her left arm returned. First, she placed the book on her lap and skillfully opened the bag with just the one hand. She pulled out what looked like a single thumb-sized red gem. It was a piece of hard candy. She casually tossed it in her mouth, placed the bag at her feet, and picked up the book. Her expressionless gaze viewed the title. “Unreif Germane – Six Sections in Song.” She used the one hand to flip through the pages. Sheet music was written there, but she read through it at a rate of less than a second per 10 pages. “Understood. If anything becomes unclear, I can check again.” She set the book aside. Sunshine’s exterior panels opened a bit and it inhaled this time. The shell loading zone’s outer walls surrounded her as if in response. She spoke aloud while the giant soundproof box closed around her. “Additional Order: New #78. Categories: Song, German, Special. Objective: Perform the high pressure song for approximately nine hours to create a Babel Gun bullet.” She said it all without taking a breath. “Begin.” With that final word, two final sounds escaped the closing loading zone. The strum of a harp’s strings and the singing of a voice carried far through the sky before vanishing inside the soundproof box. ### 550. Part 1 The first attack, arriving before the aerial bombing, was the light of a Babel Kanone flying in from the north. The bombing fleet managed to survive that and sent destruction raining down on the city of Cologne. In response, searchlights illuminated the night sky and antiaircraft guns began firing. Cologne, which stretched north to south with the Rhine to its east, was primarily a riverside industrial city. The bombing was meant to cover everything from north to south, which meant obliterating the entire city. An exchange of attacks from the sky above and the ground below began a test of endurance. Deep booms and roars shook the air, the bombs whistled down, antiaircraft gunfire burst from the ground, and the third alarm blared. Searchlight beams sliced apart the night and crimson flames blossomed on the ground. The crimson covered the city, factories, and homes of Cologne from north to south. Gradually, a heated wind whipped up and blew into the sky. There were no more clouds in the sky. Even the smoke was swept away by the air currents thinning out the clouds. Aircraft could be seen slowly flying beyond those vanishing clouds. Dozens of four-engine bombers traveled south, led by a few aerial warships. The heat and wind drove the people of Cologne from north to south. The people seemed to follow the current of the Rhine while they screamed and shouted instructions. The shelters were meaningless at this point. The only way to escape the north-to-south bombing line was to move east or west, but east was cut off by the Rhine. West was their only option, but Cologne was divided by several broad waterways flowing in from the Rhine. The bridges were quickly clogged with evacuees and congestion packed the center of the city where the city hall was located. The din of the bombing approached from the north. Firebombs cascaded down toward the two tall spires of Cologne Cathedral in central Cologne. The downpour of incendiary bombs stopped. The people rushing to evacuate were puzzled by the slight silence that surrounded them. Their questions were answered by the wind that blew down from the sky. They all saw the giant umbrella floating in Cologne’s sky. “––––!?” The umbrella floating about a mile above the surface was more than half a mile long and was painted a pitch black. It was the massive aerial warship that had remained a mystery for them all. The warship had launched a powerful beam of light to the north before the bombing began, but it had supposedly remained motionless since. The ship’s mere presence shook the atmosphere and it launched fighters from its port and starboard sides. The top of the ship lit up at the same time. The beams of Drache Kanone swept through the sky like several swinging threads. Eight aerial warships’ worth of antiair fire tore into the sky and shot down the enemy. And all the people on the surface saw a girl standing at the end of the largest cannon sticking out from the front of the giant ship. ### 551. Part 1 Lowenzahn heard a voice coming from the car radio while they moved from Cologne to the mountains for shelter. She listened to Jeanne’s voice with a bitter-looking Schweitzer seated next to her. “I must apologize for failing in the mission you revealed yourself for.” “Understood. But we did hit Dog Berger with Ton bullets, didn’t we?” “Yes, we have confirmed three hits by Bermark Vier.” “Then withdraw your unit immediately. We are already in the mountains.” Jeanne acknowledged the command and ended the transmission. The car shook in the following silence. They were descending a dark mountain road. The mountains were visible through the windshield. Only the backs of the mountains could be seen thanks to the red lights coming from distant Cologne. “The sky looks incredible.” There was a river flowing through the sky. A river of bombers lit up by only a few searchlights. A few explosions disturbed that river’s surface and more lights rocked the ground. From there, the constant explosions were low in volume but broad in sound range. Much like an echo. Schweitzer groaned over those overlapping noises while holding the wheel in the driver’s seat. “This is a first.” “For what? Us being beaten so badly?” “No,” he said. “For your prophecy to be wrong.” She fell silent at that. In that silence, their speed increased and they drove around a long right curve. The red lights were a bit more distant than before. “It’s certainly a problem.” Lowenzahn’s shapely eyebrows drooped and her voice was nearly drowned out by the wind. “Having trouble…trusting me anymore?” “We managed to keep Dog Berger here in Germany…so it wasn’t entirely a waste of time.” “True. But…this may be best for the Geheimnis Agency’s future.” “In what way?” he asked. “The Agency must throw me out eventually,” she briefly explained. “This failure gives them an excuse.” ### 552. Part 1 Darkness filled a large corridor. The lights were out. The metal walls were torn in places and pieces of the walls and bundles of cables were strewn across the floor. A transport vehicle lay on its side in the center of the corridor. The vehicle’s front surface was four yards tall and wide, yet there was still plenty of space in the corroder. The corridor was designed for giants. Suddenly, that vehicle was shoved over to the side. A giant made of metal appeared behind it. The giant was the silver Grösse Panzer named Silber Löwe. But it was no longer just silver. Silber Löwe had lost its right arm and left side and oil soaked it like blood. Its Panzer Kleid had torn away, revealing that even its limbs were spewing smoke and trembling. The tip of the sword in its left hand scraped along the floor, making a distorted sound. But it was still walking. It took a step at a time, moving forward. The walking Panzer had a white light glowing atop its left collarbone. That was Rose. The transparent girl sat on the silver lion’s shoulder. “Bigger brother…” She reached out and stroked the silver Panzer’s cheek with her intangible hand. Then she bowed. “I’m sorry. If I wasn’t here, the city wouldn’t have been attacked and you wouldn’t have been hurt.” “It is a double-edged sword. The city was attacked because of our presence, but we did manage to protect some small part of it.” A pipe-like component about 2 feet long dangled from Silber Löwe’s side and then fell away. He didn’t even look down at it. Instead he faced the right wall in a fighting stance. Rose nodded. “I will be waiting.” Before she was even done speaking, Silber Löwe attacked the wall with the force of a tackle. The sword easily sliced through the wall, but it broke just as the full circle was complete. The snapping sound echoed down the corridor. Silber Löwe tossed aside the broken sword and slammed his right side into the wall with the sword’s blade still embedded in it. The wall broke apart with a sound like tearing fibers. The bent metal wall collapsed into the space beyond. Silber Löwe parted the white smoke bursting from the wall and stepped through to a room far too small for a Grösse Panzer. “This is my room.” A flower with mechanical petals blossomed at the center of the small, 6-yard room. This was the central room that controlled the Requiem’s will. This was the ceiling of the deep pit located directly above the observation room at the bottom of the ship. There was a hole in the center and the domed barrier wall that had plugged the hole now sat open. The hole contained plenty of cables and cushioning, but it was all spewing white smoke at the moment. A small red gem was suspended from the cables at the center. “All of the coolant has been removed, so I have a really bad fever and I’m feeling chilled.” Silber Löwe reached toward the center of the smoking flower. He touched his sister’s body. Countless cables extended from the bottom of the red gem which was far smaller than the Panzer’s fingertips, branching out and connecting to everything else. When Silber Löwe touched the gem, the Rose on his collarbone blurred. When Silber Löwe pulled his hand back, Rose smiled. “Don’t worry. Grab that cable you were touching. Yes, that red one. And slowly pull it out along with the root block. I will last a little while as long as that block remains.” Silber Löwe did as instructed. He moved all the non-red cables out of the way with one hand’s fingers. “Once you have it out, connect me to your copilot cockpit. There isn’t much to do after that since I have already completed all the preparations, so…” She took a breath. “I have one last selfish request. Take me outside. I want to see the sunrise.” “Understood.” Once Silber Löwe pulled the 2 yard red cable from the base of the structure along with its connection block, Rose disappeared. Shortly afterwards, the lights gently illuminating the room vanished. “Emergency. Activating Panzer Emblem Sturm Drache based on final instructions. Opening radio on all bands. All surviving units will now be commanded by HMS-083S Silber Löwe.” Silber Löwe stood back up and left the room. Back out in the corridor, he removed the cover at the bottom of the copilot cockpit on his back. The removed cover revealed a few plugs and a fuel port. Silber Löwe took the block at the end of the red cable and attached it to the leftmost plug. “…” He walked forward in silence. His legs were unsteady, but he walked toward the outside. On the way, he tore away the Panzer Kleid remaining over his chest and stabbed his left hand’s claws into his left chest’s armor. “!!” He tore the external armor away, destroying it. He jammed his hand into the hole in his torn left side and tore the hole open wider. More and more armor fell to the floor and bounced as he walked. The exposed interior of his chest contained Grösse Panzer materials and a heart device. There were metal blood vessels resembling a water clock, a cooling device, and a primary engine that sent power across his body. They heated up when exposed to the outside. Silber Löwe placed the red gem inside his chest. “I will take you outside, my sister. I will grant you your final selfish request.” He walked. A white light reappeared above his left collarbone. It was Rose. She had faded so much she was barely visible, but her voice echoed down the ship’s corridor. Her voice seemed to rule over that dark and silent space. “After that, it will be your turn, bigger brother.” “So it would seem.” His voice also came from the corridor’s speakers. He was already indirectly controlling the Requiem as an intermediary for Rose. Rose stroked his cheek and smiled. “What do you think, bigger brother?” “About what?” “Did I do the right thing? Or should I have focused on defeating the enemy over protecting Cologne? Should I have prioritized your idea of a Neue Kavalier’s spirit over protecting the lives of the people like big brother does? If I had, Cologne would only have been bombed.” “Whatever the result, you still tried to protect Cologne.” Rose shut her eyes. “My surviving exterior sight devices tell me I barely managed to protect any of the city. Despite taking so much damage. It tells me a lot more was lost due to my presence.” “Rose.” “Yes?” “Why is it so difficult to protect things even with great power?” asked Silber Löwe, still walking. Rose thought about that one for a bit before answering. “Well…probably because wielding power makes it difficult to leave things as they are.” “Then what is the Messiah’s power? What is the power of the Messiah who chose something as poorly defined as destiny?” He paused. “Is it different from the power held by our older generation? Is it something new held by the younger generation?” The silver Grösse Panzer was finished talking, but he continued to walk. Each step destroyed him further, but he continued to move outside. And finally, he spoke again. “Opening radio on all bands. Silber Löwe to all of Germany.” After a beat, the surviving communication equipment inside the Requiem activated and a burst of static came over the ship’s internal line. But that was all. Everything was connected. Rose nodded with a smile and Silber Löwe nodded back. And he spoke. “I have a message for all Neue Kavaliers still living in Germany.” ### 553. Part 10 Silber Löwe worked to reach its destination even as it shook within the rapidly flying dragon. It planted its trembling legs firmly on the metal floor to walk. Light shined into the corridor far ahead. That was the exit. “If only all three of us could have walked together,” said Silber Löwe after seeing that light. “I know what you mean…” Rose agreed but then raised her head. “Bigger brother?” “What do you need?” “That almost sounded emotional. Has your Psyche Outer device broken?” She looked to the back of Silber Löwe’s head. The base of the cooling hairs was badly damaged. She started to say something. “…” But she only smiled instead. Silber Löwe continued walking. It took another step as the entire ship shook. Rose nestled herself against her brother’s face within that shaking. “We had a lot of fun, didn’t we, bigger brother? With Sir Alfred too.” “He…” “Don’t bother. I’m sure he was seeing someone else in me.” Her smile grew. “I couldn’t keep it together right now if I hadn’t convinced myself of that.” “I see,” said Silber Löwe. Rose mimicked knocking on its cheek several times. “This kindness isn’t like you. But if you are going to do something for me…” She breathed a false sigh. Even the sigh shook as Silber Löwe took a large step. Rose shut her eyes. “Bigger brother.” “Yes?” “Will you sing that prophecy for me?” Silber Löwe did not nod. But it did sing. “The party begins and the village dances.” Rose sang the next line. “The dragon roars and the knights gather.” A short pause followed. Eventually, the Panzer took another step and their voices joined together to eliminate the silence and shadows in the shaking corridor. They sang a prophecy. They sang the song of the Messiah. “The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather “The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives “Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land.” After singing the last line, Silber Löwe noticed something and turned its sight devices toward its shoulder. Rose had vanished. Silber Löwe walked in silence. It still had its left hand inside its left chest to hold something there. It walked. Finally, it arrived at the exit that opened up onto the morning sky. Just five more steps. Then it could jump out into the sky. It would arrive outside. But instead it spoke with a smile in its voice. “I can’t move any longer. I knew I didn’t have much time left.” Slowly, very slowly, Silber Löwe spread its legs to shoulder width and stood firm. The endless morning sky stretched out in front of it. And the ground rapidly flowed by down below. It saw the sky growing bluer by the moment and the dark forest down below. It began to sing once more. This time a song passed down among Panzer Kavaliers. That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. Once the song was over, the man who had once been the Geheimnis Agency’s second in command laughed. He laughed loudly. So loudly. “The last time I laughed the three of us were still together.” After that, Silber Löwe’s sight devices began to go dark. That was when a roar rumbled from the sky behind the dragon. Something was catching up to the soaring dragon by flying at even greater speed. And catch up it did. It raced between the blue sky and dark earth before ascending in a flash. It flew faster than the Requiem dragon and took the form of the wind itself. “The Sylphide.” Those satisfied words marked the exact moment Silber Löwe’s sight devices went fully dark. A moment later, the Requiem finally left its Panzer Emblem form and began to fall. Two minutes later, the giant ship crashed into the mountains linking Berlin to Borderson and exploded, creating a massive crater. ## Final Chapter: The Requiem Arrives 05/31/1942 05:47 – 06:03 The destiny I believe in Told me to go see him again So… So I… Hazel stood on the snow awash with the morning sun. They were on the mountainous Swiss border, so the snow didn’t melt even during the summer. But come spring, the green did grow from below the snow. Corelle’s green RB-21 had landed on a small green patch where it now sat silently. Hazel stood in front of the ship’s side deck. Pale stood on her left and Berger sat in the snow to her right with the bottom of his black coat placed below his butt. Corelle and the soldiers were making a fuss around him. And after a while… … The plan was for Berger and I to leave in Schwarz Löwe and General Pale to leave in the RB-21. “It’s no use,” said Corelle. “Hazel was right. This is a Lives issue.” She stood up, revealing Berger to Hazel’s eyes. His shirt was half removed, so she could see a strange dark area on his right side. “I was getting used to it, but I think it’s changed color because I’m so close to the border.” Pale answered him by slapping his shoulder with the envelope of important documents. “What’s this about?” “Most likely, I’ve been infected with a Lives disease. My guess is, if I leave Germany – or more accurately, the effective range of the Vaterlands – I’ll Ash.” “It’s a good thing you didn’t just fly over the border in Schwarz Löwe.” “That’s for sure,” agreed Berger before ordering Corelle to prepare him some mountain gear and a backpack. Hazel tilted her head. “Can I Tune heal you?” “I doubt it. I was given the ‘native’ Lives we lack as Glossolalians. You could heal me if my Lives were damaged or distorted, but it doesn’t work when they were instead made whole, right?” “Right…” He smiled bitterly. “Hoping for a chance to use your Tuning already? Well, engaging in a Live exchange session with me might help relieve the pain.” “D-don’t be ridiculous.” She realized something after her anger flared up. … This is hard for him too. When she hung her head, Pale reached his large hand over and rubbed her head. “I took two test tubes of blood earlier. If we freeze it put the Lives in stasis, we can transport it overseas and get a serum made in Detroit.” He took a breath. “So don’t worry about it too much, miss.” “That’s my line for her, you stupid general.” She looked over to see Berger putting his shirt back on. “Hazel took some of my blood three years ago. Compare that with what you took now and you should be able to make a serum. I’ll hide out somewhere in Germany until then.” “Th-that blood was for-” “The prosthetic arm isn’t done yet, is it?” “N-no, it isn’t.” She shrank down and shook her head, but then she heard a voice from behind her. It was Pale. “Berger.” “What?” “The AIF will do everything it can to get that serum made. You’ll owe us bigtime, so you’d better join up.” Pale ignored Berger’s “huh?” and how Hazel stared at Berger. “Listen, Berger. It’s about time you gave in and this seems like a good opportunity to me. You specialize in getting things and people out of Germany, so you’re in a tight spot not being able to leave the country yourself. Working yourself to the bone for the AIF if we rescue you seems like a fair trade to me. So how about it?” “…!” Berger frowned and glared at Pale without hesitation. But Pale whistled in response. “Well, good luck. I’ve got some luggage to get ready.” He shoved Hazel forward. Her feet caught on the snow and she tumbled down onto her knees with her hands on the ground in front of her. He sure is rough, she thought, looking back and seeing him walking away. She sighed once and slowly looked forward where Berger was seated within arm’s reach. “…” He was silently watching the sunrise, so she sat down next to him. “Hazel.” “Y-yes?” “I didn’t realize nervous sitting was a thing.” “I’m not nervous.” Her shoulders drooped and she looked to him and his somewhat listless expression. “I don’t get it,” he said. “It’s nothing but mysteries to you too?” “Pretty much. All I know is we were trying to attack the Geheimnis Agency and Germany, but we only ended up forcing them to pull out all the stops.” He let out a long breath with no apparent emotion on his face. … He’s given this a lot of thought. Then she realized something. “Um, Berger?” “Yeah?” “I think I can answer two of the mysteries you mentioned to me.” “Did I mention any to you?” He turned toward her now, so she looked searchingly up at him. “Yes. Last night, when you, um, well, pressured me, you said my dad punched you, remember?” “Yeah, I guess I did. And what’s the other one?” She thought about this. … This is what he told me to do. She bowed her head. “I’m sorry.” She raised her head to see pure confusion written on his face. Amused, she used her finger to gather up the orange morning wind blowing near her cheek. “You don’t know?” “Know what?” “Last night, after mentioning the condition necessary to join the AIF, you said you don’t know who my first was, but I should pass your apologies on to him.” “…” She couldn’t look him in the eye as she continued, so she faced the rising sun and intertwined her fingers. “Three years ago, when I told my dad and teacher I wanted to join the AIF, they were fiercely opposed to it.” “Wait.” “We argued about it for weeks and they finally explained the condition you had told me, thinking that would dissuade me.” “Wait, Hazel.” “So I told them the truth.” She took a breath. “I told them when I was 15, you saw me naked, slept with me in a dark room, and even made sure to kiss me goodbye.” A second breath. “I told them when we destroyed the Gard-class warship, you got a good look at me naked in a deserted park at night and you did naughty things to me while I slept naked in your arms in a dark forest.” A third breath. “I told them I had also seen you naked and that…yes, Corelle could back me up on all of it.” “…” “Not a word of it was untrue.” She turned to look at him again and found his jaw had dropped. “You aren’t going to tell them about last night, are you?” “I know exactly what I’ll tell everyone: I met you again after three years and we discussed our future together before you were very forceful with me.” “You’re kidding, right?” “Not at all. The AIF women are starved for stories like this.” “I’d forgotten…” “Eh?” “I’d forgotten you’re a cat in more ways than one, Hazel Mirildorf.” “I am.” She narrowed her eyes and smiled. “I am still just a kitten that could grow up to do or be anything. I will keep changing in body and mind. And…” And… “My surroundings will change too.” “You’re awfully full of yourself for a brand new Tuner.” He stood up with a smile. She did not stand up. She held her knees between her arms and faced forward. She viewed the German mountains. The border was supposedly only an imaginary line on the map, but the nature of the land changed drastically when looking at the Lives. The border had real consequences. … Both good and bad. She pondered that. … We’re going to change, aren’t we? “We’re both going to change even with this wall between us.” “It might be more than that.” “Eh?” “You heard that radio transmission, didn’t you? The Geheimnis Agency isn’t just defending the German homeland anymore. They’re going to start entering Germany’s occupied territories. And using the Vaterlands to modify the ley lines.” Hazel kept her eyes straight ahead but used her ears to listen to Berger’s voice. “There won’t be just one wall between us,” he said. “We’ll be on the attack and they’ll be defending. We have greater numbers, but they have High Organ Live weapons. The Allies’ High Organ development hasn’t reached practical levels yet, so this is gonna be a tough fight.” “But we opened the door at Cologne.” “Which is why they’re preparing for a real fight. The nature of the war has changed.” “But…but we couldn’t meet each other and talk without opening the door.” Hazel stood up and looked to Berger. He was already looking at her. She started to say something to break the silence, but… “Yeah,” he said in an exasperated kind of way. “You’re not like me. Once the war is over, you’ll make a great teacher. You can do things like that.” He slapped her shoulder and then he started walking across the snow. “Let’s go.” “Where to?” “We’ve got to talk with Pale, don’t we? We’ll be saying a temporary goodbye soon. And…” He stopped and looked back. “I have to tell him I’m joining the AIF.” “!?” She tried to ask why, but he answered before she did. “If you’re going to double down on being an idiot, the AIF needs my brilliance to balance it out. I’ll take the #2 spot where I can watch your back. …That’s what I mean, Hazel Mirildorf. So…” He smiled bitterly. “So make sure you bring me that serum. I won’t get much business otherwise.” With that, Dog Berger continued walking. While laughing. Hazel realized something while listening to the crunching of the snow below his feet and his laughter that carried well for a male voice. … This is the first time I’ve seen him really laugh. She could see it in his Lives as well. This was genuine. “––––!” She smiled and began walking too. She hurried to catch up to him and pass him. Hoping to make him #2. Hoping to one day move past him. Hoping to move ahead of him. ### 1942 – 1943 In June of ’42, Heiliger, the new second in command of the Geheimnis Agency, spent a month shoring up his influence in the government and military and deployed selected Geheimnis Agents inside and outside the country as wartime special forces. He also managed to bring the Borderson knights under the Geheimnis Agency’s control. With the agency a mixture of the old and the new, Lowenzahn stepped to the forefront and took command. She set capturing the Messiah as their top priority while also moving their headquarters to the second Gard-class warship being constructed near Germania. The massive warship no longer had a pilot, so on the wishes of the Geheimnis Agency’s Development Division, they began modifying its Babel Kanone into a colossal ley line pressurization reactor word weapon. However, it was also modified as a part of Tristan, a word pressurization reactor standing over a mile tall. In June of ’43, construction of the massive fortress was complete. It functioned as the Geheimnis Agency’s new headquarters and as an extra source of pressurization to support the Vaterlands built around the world. With that, Germania became the foundation of defense and support for the Germany military and it finally began to function as the Panzerpolis. ## Closing Statements While the nature of the war changed several times, the Allies researched a ley line countercurrent anti-pressurization facility that could be used against Tristan. Research was based on used the Vaterland information acquired by the AIF when destroying the first Gard-class ship in ’39. Experiments began at the start of ’43. The idea was to use a machine to oppose the support provided by a machine. But even as machines began to rule the battlefield, the people were growing irritated with the never-ending war. Their nightmares continued and anxiety’s grip on the world was tightening. The war was reaching a new stage on a global level. Who could prevent this mistake: people or machines? That answer can be seen in everything that began with the Greater Germanic Reich declaration in ’38 and ended with the failure of the Panzerpolis Project in ’43. 5/31/2001. On the morning a certain girl began to walk. -Michael Schrier ### 554. Part 2 The sky had cleared up, but the ship was shaking and the wind was pounding hard on the bridge’s windows. The light from a few moments ago had blasted away the clouds. The commander turned to the side to ask his first officer what the light had been. But the man was missing. The first officer had been thrown from his seat and onto the floor in the middle of the bridge. His neck was bent at an unnatural angle. Only the few who had fastened their seatbelts remained at their posts. The dozen or so others were sprawled out on the floor, by the windows, or on the control panels. Some were groaning in pain and a faint iron scent filled the bridge. One young man, the navigator, turned back, so the commander looked him in the eye. “What about the others? What happened to the other ships?” The commander stood up before receiving a response. The higher viewpoint let him assess how well his bridge was operating. The controls and all other electronics weren’t running. Only the analog gauges still had their needles moving. “6mph? We’re only being swept along by the wind.” He walked across the bridge and undid the seatbelts of the other survivors. Once he had released the 5th and final one, the navigator gave his response. “The others are…gone. There is no sign of Ships 4 and 5 or the bombers.” “I see.” The commander nodded and stood up after undoing the communication officer’s seatbelt. “Are you still alive? You were sent to us by the AIF, weren’t you?” “Y-yes.” “Then I have one final job for you. Return to HQ and tell them the following: My division arrived in the enemy mainland and confirmed the presence of an enemy force in our assigned recon region. Ships 2 and 3 were lost in an attack by three Heavy Barrels. And…” he sighed. “Ships 4 and 5 and our entire bomber unit were lost to a Babel Cannon. …This confirms the existence of an enemy Babel Cannon equipped ship and we can never enter the German mainland from the west without first eliminating it.” The survivors gulped, but he continued nonetheless. “Hurry. If the rear deck is still intact, you can launch an escape boat.” “Understood.” A single set of footsteps started awkward and hesitant, but it gradually picked up speed and left the bridge. The commander remained motionless, eyes shut, until the footsteps had faded away entirely. “Okay,” he said, facing forward once more. Four things floated about a mile away in the now-cloudless sky. They were Heavy Barrels. Three were the white, red, and blue ones from before. The fourth was a new one. It was colored silver and had six wings spread on its back. “I’ve heard of that one. The Geheimnis Agency’s supreme commander is supposed to Write Bring into a gaudy silver Heavy Barrel despite having no emotions.” “Report: the escape boat has left the rear deck.” “I see,” said the commander in relief. But then the Heavy Barrels ascended to fly above the ship and pursue the escape boat behind them. The commander snorted with laughter. “You’re that terrified of being found out? Chief Engineer, manually restart the engines! Move us forward. If that escape boat can’t get away, this was all for nothing. Draw the enemy’s attention!” His voice passed through the communicator to reach the engine room. Before long, the ship restarted just as the four Heavy Barrels were passing by overhead, leaving behind white trails. The ship shook and moved forward. The commander held the wheel himself and faced forward. “All hands, don your life jackets and keep your eyes peeled. We will soon see the true identity of our enemy.” No one responded, but none of them were about to disobey. The ship picked up speed. The inertia erasure emblems were not functioning, so the weight of acceleration bore down on them all. They could really feel the ship’s speed. “Report: the four Barrels…are not stopping!” “Why not!?” The Heavy Barrels ignored the warship as it accelerated toward their mainland. “Are they that terrified of a report getting out? Or…” Did they have something else ready to intercept this ship? Were the Barrels not needed for that? It arrived. They heard the same girl’s voice as before. But it was different this time. Instead of just speaking the Words, the voice had a rhythm to it. There were specks of light on the horizon. City lights. Light raced by above the city. Flashes of lightning. They illuminated a massive shape. The shape began to approach. “Is that a ship!?” No. From moment to moment, the enormous shape accelerated further and altered its form. The thing approaching so rapidly was not a ship made of metal. It was a great beast with a long body glowing a bluish white. It was a dragon. “–––––!?” The girl’s voice continued. The great dragon charged toward them as if sliding through the air. It was big. Not even the aerial cruiser’s size was comparable. The bluish-white glowing dragon’s face already filled the bridge’s front window, so they could see its eyes and its fangs. “A ship that size can use an Armed Emblem!?” shouted the captain as he listened to the song. That was the last thing he ever said. ### 555. Part 2 In Germany’s Black Forest, evening had passed and night was settling in. The forest was growing even blacker. A few lights could be found in the very bottom of a valley, which should have been the darkest part of the forest. The Geheimnis Agency HQ’s fortress base was located there. The well-maintained runway lights and hangars provided enough light to function but not enough to be noticeable from a distance. The most light could be found at the mess hall on the eastern end of the base. The large, white mess hall was filled with round tables for four that were currently full of Geheimnis Agents. Two people at a table by the window stood out from the rest. One was an enormous man in tightly-fitting uniform of the Geheimnis Luftwaffe, the Agency’s air force division. His right arm was a massive metal prosthetic. The person seated across from him was a tall and pencil-thin elderly man. He stroked a hand through his fastidiously combed gray hair and sighed. “May I take care of your plates, Master Schweitzer?” The elderly man began stacking up the plates on the table without waiting for a response. Schweitzer did not even look up. His gaze was on the piece of paper he held. It was a letter. The envelope sat on the table in front of him. It was a plain waterproof manila envelope. The sender was listed as… “Eryngium Ilfheim.” “Was she from the Alfheim region?” “Ilfheim may be a corrupted version of that, yes. Her father was from a line of Werecats with a long history in Germany.” Schweitzer looked up from the letter, saw the stacked plates, and frowned. “I was still eating that.” “I assumed you had not liked the fried shrimp. Were you saving your favorite for last?” “Don’t ask that of a man in his late twenties, Bermark.” “As you wish.” Bermark set down the neatly-stacked plates and looked to Schweitzer, who realized Bermark’s gaze was on the letter he held. “It’s from Borderson. Not the original village that was destroyed 21 years ago – the hidden village located near there. You know, the Village of Pardons.” “That is the one place in Germany where Heidengeists are still allowed to live. Because the Hounds allowed it, as a way of atoning for their killings.” “And that spirit has continued strong even after the fall of Borderson.” “According to the intelligence division, all combat is banned there.” “Yes, it is. Because it is a place of atonement, much like the ancient Greek temples. Attack there and you would earn the ire of every Heidengeist the world over.” “The military is none too happy about it, though, what with their Wannsee Conference and all. That may be why they insist the place is crawling with Allied spies.” “You know an awful lot about this,” noted Schweitzer. Bermark smiled a bit, sighed, and cleared his throat. “We have a report saying ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse, commander of the AIF, is in that village. Some mission apparently requires him to contact the local AIF spy leader who is stationed in that Village of Pardons. He has always been an easygoing general” Bermark searched his pocket for a few seconds, produced paper and pencil, and removed his right glove. He revealed a right hand made of porcelain, wires, and a protective plastic cover. “I believe this was the photo air force intelligence took.” As soon as he held the pencil in that right hand, he drew out a picture with the great speed of a machine. No, he was accurately reproducing the photograph he had seen. He even reproduced the shading, the focus, and the time and date the photo was taken. It took him no more than a minute to complete. A photo was now drawn on the paper. It was so complete it looked like you would be able to peel it from the paper with your nails. Bermark held it out and Schweitzer accepted it and viewed it like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. The right side showed the roof of a small wooden church. The angle was somewhat shallow, not from directly above, so the two people standing in front of the church could be seen in full. One was a large man with two prosthetic arms and the other was a young woman. “Is that Pale Horse on the left?” “And the woman on the right is the local AIF spy leader. It may be a sarcastic reference to her role as leader, but her Titel is Lehrer. An army division company led by Lady Jeanne is currently deployed around the village in order to gather intelligence and capture Pale Horse when he attempts to escape.” Schweitzer nodded and noted that, even in the black-and-white photo, he could tell Pale’s short hair was gray and Lehrer’s long hair was blonde. Her hair appeared to fall nearly to the back of her knees. “She is said to be a Buster…but she is also said to be blind.” She wore glasses in the photo and she appeared to be facing Pale in conversation. Schweitzer plainly stated his thoughts. “Those who work with Tons can read people’s wills. That would be useful in intelligence work.” “Just like with the Fräulein, women have become a part of war in this age,” noted Bermark, his eyes shut. Schweitzer chuckled at his lieutenant’s comment. “The Messiah is a woman too. What do you have to say about that?” “I believe you should ask that again once the prophecy has been fulfilled.” Bermark went on to recite the latest prophecy. The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land “The Fräulein finally managed to prophecy this verse a month and two weeks ago. The time has come to capture the Messiah girl and the development division has already completed a few of their Ton bullets extracted directly from Germany’s Tons.” “A lot of progress all at once, isn’t it? Quite a coincidence that it was just the other day the development division announced their development of an unmanned Sylphide-style aerial warship and research into new Eingeweide devices.” “I believe the new craft is known as Erlkönig. And following the Sylphide’s example, the new Eingeweide devices will all be aircrafts or Grösse Panzers with a Schreiben system. The development division’s researchers are holed up trying to decode Sir Marsch’s research notes and the Ober Geheimnis diagrams found bellow Munich.” “A system much like the Sylphide’s, hm? A prosthetic arm or a weapon required a body part to create, but if they base it on a Schreiben system that takes in the entire person, they might indeed be able to create something new.” But… “It all goes back to the Sylphide, doesn’t it? …It makes me curious about what happened three years ago. Namely, how those involved claim it was the Sylphide they excavated from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. And Lowenzahn said the Kaiserburg’s development was sped up by two years when P. Wagner discovered that beneath his lab. But…” “But?” “Why was the Sylphide found in a place sealed up a thousand years ago? Is it Ober Geheimnis? So many mysteries. Besides, will the Messiah girl even return to this land?” His question was answered by an unexpected source: a female voice from behind him. “She will. Have faith, okay?” He turned just his head to see a waitress standing there. Her long brown hair was tied back and she directed a powerful gaze his way. She crouched down to place her hands on his broad right shoulder and gave him a cold look. “Or do you not trust my prophecies, Captain Schweitzer?” He responded to her whispered admonition with an exasperated whisper of his own. “I do hope they will prove accurate, Lowenzahn.” “Really? Glad to hear it.” “Do you understand why I am whispering?” Schweitzer turned toward her and looked her in the eye. “Remember what I told you? If the Messiah girl agrees to be our leader, then I will step forward and openly act as our commander.” She narrowed her eyes with the ends of her eyebrows somewhat lowered. She looked away from Schweitzer to look across the mess hall. “Working like this is fun, but it does feel wrong at times.” “You do kick the snot out of someone about once a month. Does life without that sound too boring for you?” “Don’t be mean. …But taking it too far wouldn’t be fair to my stepdad. Working here instead of marrying after college is bad enough on its own. But…” “?” “As commander, I could leave his family and live openly as a Naylor.” The two men said nothing to that. After a beat, she breathed a sigh of relief. And she lowered her gaze to the letter Schweitzer held. “What’s that?” “A letter from…an acquaintance who lives in the Borderson Village of Pardons. It is a wedding invitation.” “Sounds like a cause for celebration to me, so why the long face?” “Even if this acquaintance shouldn’t know who I am?” “Eh?” Schweitzer nodded. “She lost her memories. Eryngium Ilfheim lost all her memories of herself, of me, of Alfred, of Marsch, of her own father, and even of Berger. And they can never return, no matter what. It was the permanent sort of memory loss.” “Maybe some kind person told her about you.” “Then why did the letter arrive at our HQ, which should require passing through the Post Office. Yet our address through the Post Office is top secret, so she and the general public shouldn’t know it.” “Hey, don’t take it out on me.” Lowenzahn was still smiling as she took a closer look at the letter. “That’s a woman’s handwriting. Since it reached you, there must be some woman out there who knows about this place. Since it’s at the Borderson village, maybe she asked some ancient Heidengeist about the place.” And… “I see the wedding is midday on the 30th, so…five days from now? Let’s go together.” Schweitzer paused before responding. “What? Why would I go with you?” “Bermark hasn’t told you? Pale Horse is in that village, so I’m going to oversee the capture operation. If he’s driven to Cologne and captured there, I’ll meet with him.” “That is too dangerous.” “Jeanne while have him safely inside a prisoner transport vehicle. There is a lot I want to ask ASAP. …And if Pale is captured, we’ll have to hand him over to the military after he’s been transported.” “We really need to work things out with the military…” “But I don’t want to use the ‘have Heiliger pull some strings’ card too often. Since I’ll be working openly before long, I want to do everything I can on my own.” Bermark nodded in response. “You have grown up so much.” “Yeah, yeah.” She sighed. “Even the great Pale Horse should give in if we shoot him with a Ton bullet. He’ll have no choice but to be captured. …I’ll admit it’s a little violent, but I want to hear for myself what happened with the Messiah girl and the Babel Cannon the UK was constructing.” “Let me go in your place.” “No. We’re going together. Rose, Graham, and Lieutenant Maldrick are working so hard with the Gard-class in Cologne, so I want to pay them a visit. You’re the driver and I’m the VIP. Got it?” “Are you saying this has already been arranged?” “I’ve spoken with my stepdad, Air Force Division Chief Müller. He praised your idea to use the second Gard-class being constructed to provide air defense for Germania.” “He wanted to reward you with three days of field work instead of more dreary deskwork,” added Bermark. Schweitzer looked back down at the photograph Bermark had drawn out earlier. “Bermark, you drew this for me because you knew I would be visiting that village, didn’t you?” “I did. You simply never asked the reason.” Bermark held the stack of plates toward Lowenzahn and she took them. “Oh, you didn’t finish your fried shrimps. You shouldn’t be a picky eater.” “He apparently saves his favorite for last and I rudely cleared the plate away before he was done,” explained Bermark. “Oh, I see,” said Lowenzahn, staring down at Schweitzer. He frowned, but that didn’t slow her down. “Is that why you don’t want to go on this trip with me? You’d prefer to save the best for last?” “What is that supposed to mean?” “Well, if you go with me…” She held the plates in her left hand and pressed a finger of her right hand to her lips. “We’ll effectively be taking the honeymoon before the wedding.” This time, she did not at all whisper. Everyone in the mess hall froze and all eyes gathered on them. The sounds of cooking ceased and the only sound was the water running in a kitchen sink. “Oh, whoops,” said Lowenzahn lowering her head. Schweitzer frowned further and made one simple statement in the silence. “She is only joking.” Everyone immediately exploded ### 556. Part 2 Hazel sat in a small room with a long sword wrapped in cloth next to her. The room’s white plastic walls and floor were 6 yards across. There were no windows. “Oh.” The only openings were the door made of the same material as the wall and an air duct. The only decorations (if you could even call them that) were the clock built into the wall, the mirror, and the training pole sticking up from the floor by the wall. This was a large ship’s martial arts training room. She was inside the flagship of the 5th Moonlight Resistance Squadron which was towing Corelle’s RB-21 two-hull transport ship to the Netherlands. There was no sound in here, only the rocking of the ship. She was seated by the wall with a notebook and pencil. No one else was allowed in the training room when someone was using it, which made it perfect for doing some thinking, but… “I shouldn’t be falling asleep in here.” She smiled bitterly and then thought back on her dream. “After that…they usually take me away. They force me to say goodbye to whoever is fighting in the distance and take me away.” … I’ve had the same dream since I was taken away from school back then. She took a breath. She shook her head to shake the dream from her mind and change her focus. She pulled a letter from her pocket. It was her orders from the AIF. M. Schrier had given this to her directly, so the military stamp, “no inspection needed” mark, and his name on the envelope were only a formality. The letter inside was just her plain orders with no greeting or anything like that. She had two orders. The first was to act as Berger’s assistant while they helped Pale escape from the Borderson village and then support Berger as he used Schwarz Löwe to fire a range sensor onto the Gard-class warship in Cologne. The AIF included a lot of Brits, so they were allowed to play a supporting role in the RAF’s Millennium bombing operation. She had read and reread the order countless times and completed her mock training. But she had another order as well. “Convince Berger…to join the AIF.” She read M. Schrier’s handwriting aloud and then stuffed the letter into her pocket. She had no idea if she could do that. Berger was on this ship, but she never seemed to see him. He may have been avoiding her. Corelle had said she didn’t know where he was and the other men in his cabin had teased her when she showed up asking after him. She had so much she wanted to ask him and talk to him about. She didn’t even know if he had read the letters she had sent him once per season. Even here, all she knew about him were the rumors she heard. “It’s been three years.” She had decided to join the AIF shortly after returning to America after the destruction of the Gard-class’s #1 ship three years ago. She had completed the AIF entrance exams while going to school, so… “It normally takes 6 months, but it took me two years. But I should be fine.” She tried to cheer herself up and gripped the pencil tight, but then the floor tilted beneath her. The ship was rocking in the high altitude winds. The moonlight-resistant ships were flying near the stratosphere, so the winds and atmospheric barriers were thick and heavy even for this light cruiser-class flagship. The shaking was intermittent but it never truly went away. This time, the ship tilted to Hazel’s right. It was making a gentle turn. Seeing the sword start to slide across the floor, she grabbed it and held it to her chest, the hilt resting on her right shoulder. … I wonder where we are now. Shouldn’t be too long until we’re on standby. They had left America in Corelle’s RB-21 transport ship, crossed the Atlantic, and arrived in England the night before last. She had been excited to see what that textual world was like, but other than feeling the atmosphere soaking into her body, it had just seemed dark and gloomy. She sighed, opened her notebook, rested her head on the sword to her right, and readied her pencil. She drew the UK on the left side of the notebook. She accidentally drew an unspeakable silhouette and hurriedly corrected it. Then she checked the clock on the wall to find it was 1:02 AM. They had to be on standby at 2 AM, so she had to prepare to board the RB-21. … I never imagined my first AIF job in Europe would be something so major. She laughed bitterly when she saw the UK in her notebook. “I wish we could have stayed longer, so I could see the sights.” They had only been in the UK for 6 hours, including travel time. They had arrived at Bristol to the southwest and then flown to the Glasgow base far to the north. On the way they had been guarded by a rotation of escort craft from whatever RAF group was in charge of that particular region: first the 10th, then the 12th, and lastly the 13th. The 13th’s 3rd combat squadron had joined with the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division’s 5th combat squadron at Glasgow Air Base, where they had resupplied and exchanged information. “Then we went east.” She drew a line from the left of the notebook, signifying the RB-21’s route. They had entered the UK from the left and traveled north through the UK. The line stopped in the northern UK. She sketched out Europe at the bottom of the page and sighed. Then she resumed drawing the line. It took a 90-degreee turn to the right from northern UK. “From Glasgow, we first traveled to Newcastle on the east coast.” At the RAF’s Newcastle Headquarters Base, they had joined with the Big Signal, a two-hull aerial ship equipped with a Babel Gun which had been waiting at the base’s aerial shipyard. “Then we flew west into the North Seat, but at a slower rate to match the sluggish Big Signal.” She was now drawing two lines. The first cut straight across the North Sea and stopped off the coast of Norway. She labeled that line “Big Signal – 3rd Squadron”. She drew their own line below that one. She labeled it “5th Squadron” and it followed the Big Signal line for a bit, but ultimately entered northwest Germany through the Netherlands. “We parted with the Big Signal earlier, so we’ve picked up speed on our way to Germany.” Shortly after leaving the UK, she had been given all the details in the ship’s strategy meeting being shared with across the squadron. Simply put, they would use Project Millennium as a diversion while… “They fire the Babel Gun from the North Sea to sink the Gard-class waiting above Cologne.” She added national borders and major city names to her map of Europe. She had studied in the education department at college, so she thought back to the kids’ atlases they used. First, she added Cologne in western Germany. Then she drew a large circle in England and labeled it “Cologne Bombing Force - 1000 Ships”. The words felt like a direct representation of the RAF’s pride. “The RAF will be creating a multiday diversion from the west while we enter from the northwest today, the morning of the 30th.” She took a breath. “Once Berger and I are dropped off by the RB-21, we help General Pale leave Borderson, attach the range sensor to the Gard-class in Cologne late at night, and escape. Then the RAF makes their move at 11 PM.” Her pencil drew a line across the North Sea, taking the 1000 ships to Cologne. But that was not all. “For Project Millennium, the 1000 ships are sent in and the Gard-class will move out to intercept them.” She added to the Big Signal line up near Norway, sending it into Germany and then added a “Babel Gun” line continuing on to Cologne. She added 3:00 next to that. She recalled what the mission commander had said. “One who was once pursued by Germany will create a path to Germany and eliminate a part of it.” She thought she might understand what that meant, but then again, maybe not. She tilted her head as she closed the notebook with the pencil held inside it and set it down on the floor. She understood the situation and she knew what she had to do. But then a phrase from her dream came back to her. “I keep repeating this…but what is it I want to do?” She grabbed the sword she was holding to her chest and let the cloth fall away. ### 557. Part 2 It came from behind them, so Lowenzahn turned her head to look. Schweitzer did the same. Shortly thereafter, the color black fluttered as it came up alongside them on the right. It was a green motorcycle with a sidecar. It was driven by… “Berger!?” Only after Schweitzer’s shout did Berger turn toward them. He viewed Schweitzer’s face through his sunglasses and immediately accelerated. “Yikes, there’s some weirdo out here!” The motorcycle used its acceleration to pull out ahead of the car. Schweitzer pursued it without thinking and Lowenzahn grabbed his hand. “After them, after them! The Messiah was onboard! Argh, why don’t I have any Ton bullets with me!?” Long blonde hair fluttered back behind the sidecar. That formed a stark contrast with the black of the coat fluttering behind the motorcycle itself, but it also seemed to blend into the surrounding greenery. Schweitzer started to shift gears but stopped. “Why aren’t you hurrying after him?” asked Lowenzahn when she noticed. “He called you a weirdo.” “Conflict is forbidden in Borderson’s Village of Pardons. You know why Alfred declined to accompany us, don’t you?” “Yes… He said he wasn’t sure he could control himself in a village full of Heidengeists. I thought that was just an excuse to avoid attending that Eryngium woman’s wedding, but was he serious?” Schweitzer nodded. And he viewed the black and gold up ahead. “We might should prepare ourselves for what is to come.” Without even looking, he removed the mic from the radio next to the wheel and handed it to Lowenzahn. “It is true the prophecy might be fulfilled today. If so, we will require more than just Lady Jeanne down there as well as some Ton bullets. Requesting that will mean-” “You’re asking me to go public with my position? You want me to use my name to put together a Messiah capture team and position them around Borderson?” Lowenzahn smiled and lifted her hips from her seat. With the mic in hand, she stood up and placed her elbow on the windshield. Her long braid danced in the wind behind her and she narrowed her eyes while switching on the mic. Just then, there was movement in the BMW sidecar leading them by a distance of about 15 yards. It was Hazel. She had her back to them, but she suddenly raised both arms. “Hm!? But we’re in Borderson!” Schweitzer immediately responded by stopping the car. He used Der Held to grab the hip of Lowenzahn’s suit and lowered her safely into her seat. “Hey, that’s my butt!” “We have bigger problems!” His rebuke led her to notice the situation, so she ducked her head down. But as she watched, Hazel kept her arms raised while Berger pushed her head down and lowered her arms. It looked like the two of them were arguing about something as they drove away. In the parked car’s passenger seat, Lowenzahn finally stretched her arms up to mimic Hazel. “Was she yawning?” Her question led Schweitzer to collapse limply onto the steering wheel. He breathed a sigh of relief and exasperation toward the car’s floor. “Was our Messiah sleeping on this bumpy mountain road?” “Probably so.” Lowenzahn pulled the reclining lever to tilt her seat all the way back and muttered calmly up into the blue sky. “Two years can make a lot of difference.” ### 558. Part 2 “Is my answer really something as personal and selfish as wanting to be a teacher once the war is over?” It was an attractive thought, but she shook it out of her head. She sighed and told herself she needed to seek out something that would help everyone during this war. When her shoulders relaxed, her hands lowered on the keys, playing a silly-sounding chord. The siblings turned toward her in surprise. Just then, something blocked the sunlight shining in through the church’s entrance. Two figures stood there. One was 2.5 yards tall and had two prosthetic arms. The other was slender, but still had feminine curves. “General Pale.” Hazel stood up. At the same time, the siblings leaped toward the slender figure’s hips. The figure turned to catch them, allowing the sunlight in and revealing who she was. The woman wore the dress uniform of a female AIF officer. Below her long, soft, and wavy blonde hair, she wore tinted glasses over closed eyes. The sister called out her Titel. “Lehrer.” She rubbed the children’s heads and then turned toward Hazel. Her expression was hard to read with her eyes shut, but Hazel could see a faint yellow tone color – enjoyment. Lehrer spoke with a small smile on her lips. Her voice carried well. “The bride and groom will be making their entrance soon, so come with us.” ### 559. Part 2 Night had fallen. The stars were spread across the sky. The lack of lights in the German mountains meant the surface was pitch black. The small lights of a city were visible in the distance. That would be Cologne. The mountainlike silhouette next to Cologne had to be the Requiem. A few dark silhouettes walked through the mountains and forest where that was visible. The men in black uniforms made no noise as they moved and walked. They only disturbed the air a bit. A few such people were gathered in one spot. A camouflage tent had been set up in the darkness as a command center. A single mountain-equipped Klein Panzer stood in a small clearing. An outdoor Phlogiston Tank sat next to it with cords extending toward the tent and the machines within. There was a single bright color inside the command center. It took the form of a woman. She had some shallow wrinkles on her face but still maintained a sharp atmosphere. She currently stood in the center of the command center tent. She wore the field uniform of the Geheimnis Agency Army Division and the bottom of the pants were noticeably muddy even in the dark. She stared forward with her arms crossed. Her sharp gaze fell on the man seated in front of her. He wore a worn-out three-piece suit and sat on the ground with his arms around a 1-foot tin can resting atop a mountain frame. He was Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann and he rubbed his bald head while laughing in the darkness. “I know you’re busy, Jeanne, so I do apologize for the intrusion. Ha ha ha.” “This is no laughing matter. Imagine my men’s surprise when they saw one of the Fünf Leithammel walking up without contacting us first. Not to mention when you let yourself be captured so easily.” “Walking? I did take a car all the way to the foot of the mountain.” Jeanne tilted her head at that. “Your choices always baffle me. Why would you choose such an inefficient way to do your duty as Intelligence Division Chief?” She pulled over a nearby chair and sat with her legs crossed. “Why are you here, Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann? I can’t imagine one of the Fünf Leithammel would visit anyone as insignificant as us without a good reason.” “You sure are strict.” “I just don’t like things that make no sense. Like you. I know the Intelligence Division handles supply transportation too, but why would one of the Fünf Leithammel arrive here alone and on foot? Is this some kind of game to you?” “Of course not. I came alone because I wanted to speak with you without anyone else nearby.” Witzmann pushed his frame and can aside. Jeanne looked at them and then spoke to the person walking close by. “Hey, check on this Ton bullet immediately. We will soon meet with our commander at the foot of the mountain and track down the Messiah at Cologne. …Will this be your first time meeting our commander!? You aren’t going to believe who she is, let me tell you!” Witzmann smiled when he heard that. “So our commander has directly ordered the Messiah’s capture, has she? I thought you were only here to capture Pale Horse.” “I’m as surprised as you. She named herself on an open radio channel. But thanks to that, we have the personnel we need and we can catch up to the Messiah and Pale Horse on the Cologne side of the mountains. Even ‘Schütze Puppe’ Bermark will be joining us.” “Hm. But if we do capture the Messiah, then all of Lowenzahn Naylor’s authority as our commander will be given to the Messiah as our leader. Assuming we do get the Messiah girl, of course.” “That is our job. …I am most pleased our commander is relying on us for this.” “Hm.” Witzmann nodded. “I see. Now, Jeanne. I have a suggestion.” He smiled a little and suddenly stood up. He took two steps, arriving directly in front of seated Jeanne. “How about a game? I am currently analyzing something with the reputation of the entire intelligence division riding on it.” He pulled a foot-long piece of metal of from within his coat. It was a flat panel with a slight curve to it. He held it out toward Jeanne. “I extracted my favorite plate from the historical ones placed below Munich in Germany’s past.” “Why would you do that? Karlsruhe is in charge of that place.” “That does not matter,” insisted Witzmann. “Twenty-odd years ago, Frobel Naylor, the head of the Naylor family at the time, created this plate and attempted to place it below Munich. It was engraved with a way to save the world, or something along those lines. She had prophesied that that place would be opened up once a crisis befell Germany.” “…” “So to ensure no one would see it, no one would make a fuss about it, and no one would lose it before it was needed, she hid it among the records of the past that will all one day show their true value. But.” “But?” “Something went wrong at some point. Marsch Gant from the Development Division noticed this and carved the solution off of the surface. It feels like a riddle now. …It wasn’t easy getting Elrich away from this. Go under Munich now and you will find a mere copy of this.” Witzmann’s eyes dropped to the plate and Jeanne’s eyes followed. “I will leave this with you, Army Division Deputy Head Jeanne Schmitt. You take your duty seriously. No matter what you see or learn, you will not doubt the things you have come to trust in. So I know you will continue to trust in our commander. Even as you hide this.” “You think too highly of me,” she said with a bitter smile. Witzmann smiled back. “Which is why I suggested a game, Jeanne. I have compiled the text and the property classification chart I was able to gather from that plate. All that remains is checking the past records to continue the examination. However.” “Do you think that will be dangerous?” “I honestly do not know. …But I do know the previous head of the Naylor family attempted to hide it until the time came. I do not know if she was mistaken to leave it where she did. So if you think the time has come to give that to someone you think should have it, then will you please give it to them? But I may finish my analysis before that time comes.” “So the game is about me coming across such an opportunity versus your analysis abilities?” “No, it is my destiny versus yours. The question is whether we are talking about a destiny of ruin or of happiness.” Jeanne’s shoulders lowered a bit when she heard that. She picked up the plate, and… “I will look after this. I swear to you not even the air will touch it until either you complete your task or destiny favors me.” “You really do take your duty seriously. I hope we can get along.” They shook hands. After two or three shakes, they let go and Witzmann turned around. He walked outside the tent. Jeanne put the plate in her coat and called out to him. “Where are you going? I could have someone drive you down the mountain.” Witzmann didn’t even stop as he replied. “No, I happened across a nice tree on the way up. A large tree next to the road leading away from the Borderson region below. From there, I hope to steal an in-person look at the Messiah girl as she escapes.” “Is that what you were looking for while you wandered through the mountains earlier!?” He answered her with laughter. The good-natured laughter melted away into the night. ### 560. Part 2 Rose smiled. She was joined by wind, heat, and light. A downpour of bombs fell atop the Requiem’s deck around her, bursting and burning. But they did not even scratch the black-scorched armor. “I’m so glad you brought me enough noise and heat to soak into the very core of my body.” She faced forward. More and more black shapes pushed in from the sky like a series of waves. The ground was burning red and the northern searchlights were no longer piercing the sky. The initial divine spell bombs had taken out most of the interception equipment. Rose smiled amid the raining destruction. The final lights flew forward from the bottom of the ship’s port and starboard sides. Those were the fighters kept inside this aircraft carrier. The last one on the left tilted to the left to avoid the incendiary bombs and then waggled its wings side to side. That was its way of saying goodbye. “We are fighting on the front line, not just providing antiair fire,” said Rose, spreading her arms wide. The bombs above the Requiem itself and in the sky around it began to shatter like they had hit an invisible ground. In exchange, the Requiem came to a stop. “I could protect a wider range if the ship’s inertial spells could be spread out along a plane.” “Can you take this much of a beating, Rose?” An enormous figure dropped down onto the cannon behind Rose. She quickly looked back. “Bigger brother!?” She saw a silver Grösse Panzer with six wings on its back. That one could handle aerial combat without an Ober Emblem. That was the Silber Löwe, which had been used along with the Schwarz Löwe as the foundation for developing the Kaiser. Rose clenched her fists and raised her eyebrows. “I thought you evacuated with the other Grösse Panzers back on the ground!?” “Only the prophet girl can command me.” Rose’s head drooped and an incendiary bomb pierced through her body. The large warhead burst open from the impact and scattered its six fuel bombs while inside her body. “Oh, how indecent.” Rose quickly took a few steps back. A moment later, a pillar of fire shot skyward from the spot she had vacated. Brother and sister exchanged a glance with the crimson flames between them. That lasted a few seconds. Rose finally turned her back on her brother, crossed her arms, and faced forward. The fires were starting to spread below. She asked a question over the continuing roar. “Bigger brother? I hear the Messiah has appeared in Germany again, just like Lowenzahn prophesied. And I heard before taking off that Jeanne has joined Lowenzahn and deployed some special forces.” She took a breath. “The prophesies are coming true again, just like Lowenzahn said they would. But…what are we supposed to do if what she said to us comes true?” Silence. The intense explosive downpour was at odds with the girl’s silence. First, a manly voice called her name with enough force to drown out that din. “Rose.” “Yes?” “The Geheimnis Agency does not belong to us. But do you know how all the others feel about this?” “You’re right…” She thought about that and then her face lit up. “You’re right!” She looked back to see Silber Löwe had drawn the sword from its hip and pointed it her way. “!?” She needlessly ducked as the white blade came to a stop about a yard over her head. Then an explosion thundered overhead and the blade rattled. The wreckage of a bomb fell past the blade. Rose looked up at it all with her head ducked down a little. “Thank you, bigger brother.” “Heiliger asked me to look after you.” “Big brother does always treat me like a child… I received a transmission from Lillie in the north. She says the moonlight proofing for big brother’s ship is complete, so he was ordered out to fight. He’s apparently headed here as fast as he can with Sir Alfred in the lead.” “You sure are popular.” Rose sighed, watching the sword slowly pull away from overhead. “They’re all such fools. After all, this bombing looks like it will last another four hours.” “Can you last that long?” “The areas with thinner armor are a concern. And I bet the cannons will be destroyed. But I doubt I will be sunk. My Babel Kanone will be reloaded in three hours, so I just have to hold on until then. I only have one other concern.” Rose looked down to the right. The city there was full of houses, apartments, schools, and parks. “Did I make the wrong choice, bigger brother? As part of a Neue Kavalier family, should I have focused on defeating the enemy to protect our country over protecting the people?” “A Kavalier’s decisions are always based in chivalry. No matter what they might be.” “So anything I decide as a Neue Kavalier is a Kavalier’s decision? That’s silly,” she laughed. “You’ve used a lot more obvious sophistry since you got the Psyche Outer device installed.” She looked up to view the sky instead of her brother. “I will protect this city with my life. The Kavaliers of this Borderson land are watching from among the people down there. To determine what kind of Kavaliers we are.” A shot from behind blew away and scattered the falling incendiary bombs. She closed her eyes in a smile under the protection of Silber Löwe. More explosions were reaching the deck behind her now. And a beam of light pierced the Gard-class from the sky above. “!” That was a Drache Kanone from one of the warships accompanying the bombers. Heat enveloped the deck and white smoke rose from it. The sensations coming from the ship gave Rose a more serious expression without opening her eyes. But… “That is not enough to burn me,” she stated, undaunted. She raised her arms like a conductor. “Let us show those future Kavaliers what it is we are trying to do here, bigger brother.” She slowly lowered her arms before twirling around. And she raised them again. The Requiem’s firepower was unleashed toward the ceiling above in time with the movements of her skinny arms. The visible attacks were the Drache Kanone, the Pseudo-Drach Kanone, the scattershot Drache Kanone on the rear deck, and the heavy Drache Kanone. The invisible attacks were the antiair guns and machineguns fired without tracer rounds. They filled the night with so much noise that all sound seemed to vanish. The sky burst open and flames scattered. Below it all, the girl standing on the end of the long cannon slowly opened her eyes. “–––––!” She smiled. ### 561. Part 2 Hazel tilted her head while viewing the collapsed school building. The enemy Heavy Barrels appeared to have flown away into the sky. They didn’t attack. She heard the blowing wind and the scorching heat enveloping everything. The belly of a giant aerial warship hovered overhead. Berger had just finished removing the bullets and applying first aid, so he began preparing Schwarz Löwe for combat. After Write Bringing into it, he would place her on the shoulder like he had in the past, shove Pale into the copilot cockpit, and get moving. After attaching the transmitter to the Gard-class warship, they would evacuate and meet up with Corelle. That much was all planned out. “Um…” Only after hearing her voice did Hazel realize she was approaching the school building. Part of her was amused, but she couldn’t stop either. There was a fallen tree in her way, so she hopped over it. The collapsed school was now right in front of her. The smell of the trees roasted by the surrounding heat was powerful. It reminded her of when she would mop the wooden floors of her school back when she lived in Germany. The school had a large chunk taken out, like someone had dug it out with a giant shovel. She looked inside using the glow of the burning city and found the second-floor classroom was almost entirely destroyed. The first floor ceiling had collapsed and the second floor’s desks and concrete had poured down to fill the classroom below. There was a window on the hallway side of the classroom too, so she could see the hallway past the rubble. The glass was broken, but the classroom must have had a very open design even when everything was intact. All of the desks were made for two. The top opened up to reach a space to store the students’ bags. … That’s almost identical to my old school. She dropped her eyes to part of a broken desk lying at her feet. The desk had been so old the wood fibers were visible. … You couldn’t have written on any paper sitting directly on the desk. She nodded and then noticed something else. There was some fresh graffiti carved into the desk. It appeared to be some kind of map. There were houses and a river she guessed was the Rhine. The river’s surface was decorated with several faces drawn with circles and dots. And… “Miss.” She heard Pale’s voice behind her, but she did not turn around. “Sorry, but could you leave me be for a bit? I really am sorry.” She looked overhead. A giant black ship hovered there. They were about to help destroy it. However… “That ship is protecting this place, isn’t it?” She lowered her gaze again. All the carved faces on the desk were smiling. Those faces and the carving reminded her of what she had seen during the day. Of the brother using the blackboard to teach his sister something in the Village of Pardons. “…Yes.” She nodded, held her sword in her right hand, and lightly struck the metal frame at the edge of the classroom. It made a metallic sound. She immediately struck it again, making a louder sound. The Device’s blade was amplifying and purifying the sound to spread it around and help it rule the space around her. Tension shook the air and even the heat began to cool. She focused her mind on that sensation and spoke the words that came to mind. “U-um, I…I think…” Sounding awkward and unsure, she struck the frame with her sword again. The sound rang loud and the classroom rubble shook in response. She let that sound reverberate through her while shutting her eyes. She could still see some things with her eyes shut: the Lives. She listened to the word color with her ears and found the Lives around her were still very much alive. Even the rubble had not fully accepted its destruction. … Yes. “I think this school wants to remain a school after the war is over.” Another strike. “I think the school’s students want the same thing.” Another. “I think it would want that no matter how badly it was damaged or destroyed.” She kept striking it, each note ringing loud like a piano. With an extra loud tone, the entire building vibrated, blowing away the heat hanging in the air. A chilly wind carrying the scent of the trees answered her music by blowing out from the school. She heard the loud sound coming from her Device – the sound of the Lives. Her sword continued ringing even without further strikes, so she raised it overhead. “Berger?” “Yeah, Hazel?” The answer came from Schwarz Löwe’s vocal device in the distant container, so she smiled. “I think I’ll be a Tuner.” “To assist the destruction? Tuners are sent to the battlefield to heal the destroyers.” “That is far better than doing the destroying. …I am choosing healing over destruction. And once this war ends…I want to be a teacher and teach people that once you lose something important, you can never get it back.” There was a pause before he responded. “This isn’t a decision to make lightly, kindhearted fräulein.” “I’m not. Because…” Her smile grew. “I have already seen the other side of the wall.” … Ever since I couldn’t write my plans for the future at school five years ago. She finally completed her action. Tuners directly addressed the Lives of their surroundings and transformed them. That address was known as an Up and the simplified Over Up was the most common version in Europe. … But I could never use anything as rushed as a simplified version. She opened her mouth to sing the more authentic Wind Up. “780 thousand Lives dancing before me – the motherly chatting voices awaiting the return of the temporary visitors. Can you hear the voice of my Lives?” Her voice came out smooth and flowing. There was no hesitation in her swinging sword. “Ah.” A single tone left her throat. It gradually changed pitch with a gentle rhythm. This was the sound the school was meant to carry. The sword struck the Lives of the air and emitted a loud sound to support her own tone. “–––––!” Without warning, she spun around. She did not need to check to see what had happened. Her eyes were on Pale standing with the burning city and the floating ship behind him. He scratched his head “Are you okay, miss? You’re acting weird.” “I’m fine,” she insisted with a smile. She hopped back over the fallen tree and walked past Pale. She approached Schwarz Löwe’s container. “Berger,” she called, still walking and raising her empty left hand toward the night sky. “What is it, Hazel?” “Let’s go. I’m not afraid of anything anymore. Not this war and not the future.” She snapped her left hand’s fingers. Immediately, she heard the sounds of something beating at the air. They were the sounds of wings, of flapping, of flying. Hundreds and even thousands of those sounds combined to sound like a crashing wave as they rose into the sky. She knew what had happened. It was exactly what she had wanted. “First, I turned the school into white doves.” She looked up to see a flock of doves soaring like feathers carried by the wind. The small white shapes spread out and flew high to dance in the empty night. The red sky and black shadows could not erase their white color. Schwarz Löwe removed the top of the container and stood up. “Pretty flashy, Hazel.” She responded with a smile in her voice. “You’re just too boring, Berger.” ### 562. Part 2 Hazel watched the badly damaged Requiem from atop Scwharz Löwe’s shoulder. The moon was fading from the sky as morning approached. A powerful wind surrounded her. The colossal aerial warship could no longer fight and shimmering heat rose from where it had been hit. Scwharz Löwe passed by its port side at a distance of more than 300 yards. “It’s so big.” She could appreciate its size from up close now that they were flying at the same altitude. A powerful air current had formed around it. The atmosphere had already been forced out of the way to the point of an explosion, so the air current wasn’t going to settle down for days to come. And once the wind did die down some, it would begin to rain. Hazel looked through the wind to see the aerial warship starting to list. It slowly tilted to port with the city it had protected below. “I-isn’t there something we can do, Berger?” “Oh, I don’t think it’s over yet,” muttered Scwharz Löwe so quietly the wind nearly drowned it out. She looked out ahead in confusion. Then she noticed a girl standing atop the bridge of a broken aircraft carrier. Her body was transparent like a ghost. … Who is that? She didn’t know, but the girl was looking her way. With a blank expression. Feeling uncomfortable, Hazel brushed back her windswept hair and lowered her head a little. The girl smiled at Hazel’s action. She grabbed her skirt and calmly curtsied back. Then she disappeared. Hazel’s eyes darted across the top of the ship to see where the girl had disappeared to, but she soon gave up. She no longer sensed anyone on the ship. But there was a different change. Light began to glow from the gaps in ship’s damaged armor. It appeared especially bright to Hazel’s eyes. “That’s ether!” It covered the entire ship. Pale opened the copilot cockpit and stuck his upper body out to shout what it was. “That’s an Armed Emblem!!” “But why!?” asked Berger. “Does it want to fight!?” “No…it must be to protect the city. To ensure it doesn’t fall on the city it shielded from the bombing and the Babel Gun.” Hazel’s response silenced Berger. She narrowed her eyes a bit before continuing. “Sorry, Berger, but can you keep us up here for a while longer?” “Probably.” He didn’t sound displeased. The light covering the massive ship slowly and gradually grew before their eyes. It was the bluish-white of ether light. The flow of light was supported by the girl’s voice ringing through the sky in a song covering a sound range similar to a brass instrument. She spoke her Aerial Words. A deep male voice spoke over hers. “I have a message for all Neue Kavaliers still living in Germany.” ### 563. Part 3 The faint purple tint to the eastern sky told of the approaching dawn. A dragon-like shape floated above the vast expanse of clouds. The great shape was painted pitch black and it was formed from eight smaller shapes. Each one of those smaller shapes was a massive aerial ship measuring 300 yards long and 50 yards wide. From front to back, there were three ships, two ships, and three ships lined up. They were all linked together by layer after layer of thick metal frames. A long tube was almost sloppily attached atop the ships, running back to front. That was a Babel Kanone. Its barrel had a diameter of at least 10 yards and a length of more than half a mile. The eight ships supporting it in the sky were a lot like a crouching dragon. The eight ships combined to form the Gard-class Babel Kanone equipped Requiem. The #1 front central ship had been destroyed by the AIF in ’39 and another year had been necessary to reconstruct it, but it had not received a scratch ever since it parted ways with the earth. A girl stood on the deck of the #2 front aircraft carrier. She was a pale girl with long, soft hair blowing in the wind. She wore a decorated dress, but there was something odd about her. She was faintly transparent. That unstably transparent girl stared up into the western sky. There was nothing visible there, but she had a somewhat sulky look on her face. After a while, her face lit up with pure joy. “Bigger brother! And Alfred too!” Four points of light were visible far to the west. At that distance, it would take 20 minutes to arrive even by aircraft. But she smiled and released an Erklärung. At the same time, the Requiem began to move. The girl spread her arms on the deck and turned left toward the west. The Requiem followed her action with a turn that was much too fast for such a massive structure. The ship groaned from the inertia and the Babel Kanone strained. The sturdiness of the metal materials was nearly irrelevant when it came to the relationship between great weight and powerful inertia. Too much inertia would cause it to break apart. The straining and groaning of metal reverberated through the sky. But… The girl murmured those words and twisted her body ticklishly. The #7 and #8 ships’ frames began to transform as they strained at the back of the port and starboard sides. The metal transformation emblems activated as ether flowed into them. The frames that supported the ships tightened to distribute the inertial force. Wind blew from the rear and side engines, accelerating the turn. To negate the remaining inertia, frames across the Requiem were bound together or spread apart and the exterior armor for the Babel Kanone bent enough to lift up somewhat. The inertial negation emblems across the ship glowed as they entered overdrive. The girl slowly, slowly swung her arms around. The entire process took only 12 minutes. The girl smiled and looked to her hands. “I’m getting the hang of it now.” “You really are,” said a woman’s voice behind her. The girl smiled and did not bother looking back. “You think so too, Lillie? I’m just so talented, aren’t I?” “Yes, I cannot imagine a more suitable home for Graham and the others.” The voice walked up alongside the girl. It belonged to a woman of later middle age with her frayed black hair tied back. She wore the blue coat of the Geheimnis Agency Navy Division over a blue dress, but she still had to hold her shoulders against the chilly wind. The woman, Lillie, let out a white puff of laughter as she looked up into the western sky. The four Grösse Panzers had approached enough to make out the shape of their limbs. “Germany should be safe with you and Graham protecting us from here.” “Yes. And since you feel so safe, how about you attend that wedding in the Borderson village I mentioned before? They sent you and Alfred invitations, didn’t they? They haven’t held a wedding in three years and it is only an hour by car from Cologne, so why not leave things here to us?” “I haven’t been to Borderson since my sister died.” “Ever since the village lost their leader, they have been hoping for a visit from a Neue Kavalier with a connection to Borderson. With Borderson gone, so many of the northwest’s Neue Kavalier have left our Geheimnis Agency.” “Which is why Graham and you are protecting Cologne to show the local Neue Kavaliers the importance of the Agency, yes?” “Correct you are. Maybe we could have gotten a prophecy if Frobel was still alive.” Rose’s words cast a shadow over Lillie’s face. “Do those prophecies come true, though? What about the one given to you and Graham?” “You mean Lowenzahn’s prophecy, don’t you? The ones not from the Unreif Germane that she gave to individuals.” Rose seemed to be contemplating her own words as she looked straight up. Lillie moved behind her and wrapped her arms around the short girl’s shoulders. Lillie’s arms passed right through Rose’s body and she felt nothing. But Lillie still spoke. “Why must our commander – Lady Frobel…no, all of the Naylors – force that sort of destiny onto all of you?” “They have not forced it onto us. I made a promise with Frobel more than 20 years ago and Lowenzahn asked a few years back, so I responded. This is what my bigger brother and I wanted. It’s the same for you, isn’t it? This is the destiny we must fulfill, without letting Der Held, Kaiser, or the others know.” Rose placed her hands on Lillie’s right hand as the woman pretended to hold her shoulders. Her hands sank into Lillie’s hand, but she shut her eyes. “My body is gone and I have become the circuitry at the core of this ship. This ship is me now, so I can appear anywhere on it. The real me is no more.” “…” “But that also means I can stay with the rest of you. I can spend more time with my bigger brother, my big brother, and Alfred.” “But isn’t that the Requiem our commander prophesied?” “I will not lament. My bigger brother and I are working on the issue. We don’t know what exactly will happen to us, so we think maybe we can find a solution.” Rose opened her eyes. “We think anyone can turn the Nibelung in a positive direction.” She saw the four Grösse Panzers arrive overhead. They whipped up a wind that swept across the deck. Rose removed her hands from Lillie’s hand and raised them to greet the men. “Hey, Lillie, what do you think of my bigger brother?” “Eh?” “When the head of the Telmetz family died, wasn’t he the one who rescued you, left your sister in Borderson, and paid for your schooling? Are you the same person you were back then?” Lillie looked up and Rose continued. “I hope you are. Unlike for the rest of you, the events of 20 years ago feel so recent to me. It’s all so vivid and I barely have to work to remember it. But…” “But?” “I think that’s just how these things work. How I feel about Alfred, how you feel, and my brothers’ quarrels must be such trivial matters to the world as a whole, but…but I’m sure someone will remember it all just like I do.” Rose looked away from Lillie to watch the Grösse Panzers begin to descend. Lillie hummed a song. The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land “The Unreif Germane’s 6th Section of the Ending God. That is the current prophecy,” said Rose. “Lowenzahn said it refers to the capture of the Messiah. She also said the time had finally come for the prophet to remain in this land.” Rose stretched her hand high overhead. The Kaiser had landed nearly within arm’s reach and it nodded toward her. She responded with a smile. “Welcome back.” ### 564. Part 3 Berger stood in a dimly-lit hallway with a letter in hand. The hallway was long and lined on the left with doors to living quarters. The window at one end of the hallway was fully open, giving a view of the blue sky. This was the second floor. He used the light from the window to open and read the letter the postman had delivered him. “On May 30 at 8 AM, the two will be wed as part of the village’s summer festival.” He recognized the woman’s name, but he did not recognize the man’s name. He spoke both aloud and scratched his head. He threw out the ice pack to tear up the letter with both hands. He tore it in two, in four, in eight, and further shredded it before throwing it away. He snorted, but then grimaced and held his cheek. “God, I’m pathetic.” He looked to the living quarters in front of him: Room 217. He turned the knob and entered. Light filled his vision. It was a small room full of bright light thanks to the open window. “–––––” The large window was fully open and the curtain was fluttering in the wind. A black leather bag sat next to the door. It was his. It appeared to have a thin layer of dust. “Leaving the window open was not enough ventilation. I guess that’s Arizona for you.” He removed his heavy vest, draped it over his arm, and loosened his shirt’s buttons. Wondering about the bed, he looked to the old single bed in the right corner, which got less sun. The mattress must have been green at some point, but it had faded to nearly white. The sheets had become a disordered ball of cloth on the bed, presumably due to the wind. “Yeah, it’s not like they have a maid to make the bed.” With a legitimate sigh, he reached for the sheets and lifted them. There was nothing there. There shouldn’t have been, but he still nodded in satisfaction. “She was hiding in there that one time.” Then he ran over to the door, opened it, and checked the hallway. It was empty. He shut the door again. “And she didn’t come tumbling in when I did that.” He finally breathed a sigh of relief, raised his arms, and stretched. The wind blew into his room, carrying the barking of a dog outside. He also heard the sound of something scratching at wood. “Hm?” He took a look outside just in time to see something fly across the windowsill and into the room. The small golden fluffball tried to run across the room as fast as its four legs would take it. It was a cat. Specifically, a cat with a brown feline right eye and a blue human left eye. Berger gasped and called the cat’s name. “Hazel Mirildorf!?” The cat responded by looking back in the middle of her feline sprint of repeatedly scrunching up and stretching out. She turned a head wearing a choker like a collar and looked Berger in the eye. For a cat, she had a very human combination of surprise and relief on her face. But cat anatomy was not made to look to the side while running, so she lost her balance and took a tumble. Her tail was caught in it and she rolled like a ball…right toward the door. Berger wordlessly ran over and opened the door, so Cat Hazel tumbled right on out into the hallway. Then he shut the door, locked it, and leaned his back against it. “…” He sighed when he heard a female voice from beyond the door. “O-open the door! Please open the door! C-clothes! I need clothes!” What the voice said and the voice itself made him hang his head in an “I hate being right” kind of way. “Is that you again, Hazel Mirildorf?” ### 565. Part 3 The sword’s blade came into view, revealing it had been blunted. Piping reminiscent of blood vessels ran from the hilt and through the blade, indicating this was a Device designed for beginners. This was a portable longsword-style Device distributed by the US Army’s Buster forces and its S-41G designation was carved into the blade. Its design had the Phlogiston cartridge built into the hilt. Hazel stared at the cold blade. The blunted blade. She had blunted it herself. With a Live-related combat style, you did not always need a sharp blade when using a Device. And when the Device did have a sharp blade… “It increases the attack power in your Messages.” She stood up and gripped the S-41G’s hilt with armbands around her hands. She planted her feet at shoulder width, one a bit in front of the other, and raised the S-41G high. She swung it without hesitation. The blade sliced through the air, making a nice whooshing sound. The room’s stagnant air was set in motion and the blue Lives of wind appeared in her vision. She stopped the blade at her feet and then remembered the mirror on the wall. She took a step over to view herself in the mirror. She wore a somewhat brownish red uniform. It was the dress uniform for a female AIF soldier. She also had a combat uniform, but… … I’ve almost never worn it. She swung her sword again. Swinging her center of gravity threatened to overbalance her, which she counteracted by lowering her knees and hips to the front. That action also gave the blade a greater forward reach. She pulled the stopped blade back once more. The wind Lives followed the movement. She turned the blade on its side to stir up the azure Lives surrounding it. The wind wrapped around the blade and shook. At this point, a Tuner would recite an Up to call out to the Lives contacting the Device and transform them into something else. A Buster would instead destroy those Lives and trigger a chain reaction within the Lives in the surrounding space. But Hazel… “Hah!” She pointed the Device upwards with a scooping motion. The wind Lives gently fell away from the vertically-oriented blade. They shattered upon touching her hands. She could feel the wind on her hand. “I’m only a Greenhorner – not even a Buster or a Tuner yet – but I can see Lives like a pro.” She swung the sword again. She pulled it back again and brought a hand on her hip. She pulled a card from the holder on her belt. This kind of card would emit light. It would create a glowing orb the size of a thumb for about three minutes, so unless it was being used as a signal in enemy territory, it needed to be placed inside your mess kit or your pocket to regulate its light. She held the sword with that card still in her hand. Then she swung it while sweeping her body forward. She stopped the tip of the blade just before it hit the floor. She pulled it back quickly but not in a rush. M. Schrier had taught her how to practice like this. Doing this 500 times in a row was part of the physical exam for joining the AIF, so he had taught her three years ago. She had failed that exam a few times, but she had eventually gotten the hang of it. … My body is a lot more fit now too. “I just wish it didn’t make my chest look even flatter.” She took a breath and checked the clock. It was 1:31. She had to leave at 3. She made another swing. She upped the speed a little. That helped her transition smoothly from one swing to another. Sometimes it was easier to move faster. That was a lesson this training had taught her. She had started off too scared to swing it very quickly, so she had had a lot of trouble. The movements were a lot more stable when fast and it reduced the amount of energy required on her part to keep it up. It required more strength to move it slowly. If your arm was tensed with excess strength, it would slow the sword. the trick was to start by moving the hilt with a light, rolling movement of the wrists and then push straight forward once the blade was near vertical. When pulling it back, you pulled your entire body back. You wanted to slash with your full body, not with the blade. Anyone hoping to use Lives needed to become one with their Device. … I can already read an Octave of nearly 1.2 million, though. “And they say you only need to see Lives with an Octave of above 160 thousand to become a Buster or a Tuner.” But she could not manage it. She could see the Lives. She could read them. But whenever she tried to alter them either through transformation or destruction, she would hesitate and fail. Thus, she remained a Greenhorner. That was not entirely a bad thing. … But… She removed her right hand from the sword and touched her right eye. That eye was the Messiah prosthetic. She could access a High Organ device using its Aerial Word. In the mirror, it looked like she had her hand on her eye to wipe away tears. She sighed. She lightly shook her head. There was so much she didn’t know, but she could sum up everything – her eye included – with just one phrase. “Five years ago, I decided I didn’t want to run away. Three years ago, I decided I wanted to do something.” She hesitated before continuing. “But what kind of power should I choose once I’m on the battlefield for real?” Would she be a Tuner or a Buster? She knew why she found it so hard to choose. “Once I obtain that great power, I will still have it after I no longer need it.” … And I don’t know what I want to do after the war is over. She recalled something from 5 years ago. Before she was arrested, her class had been discussing their future plans. And when her friend had immediately written down her dream… … I thought she was too naïve, but I also thought I wanted to be a teacher. She looked to the floor, where the notebook sat. The map she had drawn in there was related to a war between nations. … A war causing so much anxiety it’s causing mass suicides and nightmares. She placed her hand back on the hilt and faced forward. She saw herself standing there with the sword in the middle position. She raised it overhead and her reflection did the same. She swung it. It strayed a bit to the left. She pulled back and swung again. A little to the right this time. “That isn’t it.” … Which is it? “A Buster destroys and a Tuner regenerates to assist that destruction.” The information in that notebook was all about destruction. That was a Buster’s power and its nature gave the war its current form. … To fight is to destroy. Regenerative Tuners could join in as medics, but they primarily acted as frontline support. … They restore the destruction done to people. And they assist in the destruction. “Is there no opposite to destruction?” No one was around to answer her question, so she simply swung the sword straight down. She managed it. So she did it again. And again. And again. She set up a rapid repetition before her body could forget how to do it and she settled into that groove. When she pulled back, she threw the card in her hand. She immediately struck the card with the S-41G. With a metallic sound, the white blade sliced through the card. Or so it looked. The card underwent an instantaneous transformation. It became an orb of light. The orb floated for a bit while growing brighter, but then gravity pulled it down. She struck it again from above, causing it to shatter and split. Her eyes did not follow the spray of light. Instead, she focused on the coldly shining back of the blade so she could stop it just before it reached the ground. It stopped and she let out a deep breath. Just as that breath fell to the floor, the split orb of light reached the floor and bounced. The light rotated for just a moment and then suddenly became paper once more. She stood up and wiped the sweat from her brow. She paused for a moment, unsure whether to pick up the left or right piece of paper first, but then realized she was overthinking this and shut her eyes. Just then, a great tremor ran through the ship and an alarm sounded. This was the second alarm, indicating an emergency. She gasped and readied her sword. Her sword practice had trained her sense of balance, so even as the floor shook below her, she spread her legs to shoulder width and loosened her knees. “Oh?” One of her feet ended up stepping on the notebook and the notebook slipped. “Eh?” The back of her head slammed into the floor. ### 566. Part 3 The village was surrounded by an old stone wall in the forest. The village had been created by clearing the forest alongside the road. There were areas of open field running alongside the road, houses had been built there, and areas of forest separated those houses. The entire village could not be viewed at once. Hazel rubbed her sleepy eyes and took a look around. The greenery spread out around her in shadowy colors. She saw the road, some modest wooden homes, and enough cleared land for some fields and gardens. Then there was the forest. Each house was a good distance apart. In some cases, it took 10 seconds by motorcycle before the next one came into view. The road was covered in wheel ruts, making for a bumpy ride. It felt like being kicked from below, so Hazel removed the blanket draped over her and placed it below her butt. She looked to the wooden house moving by on their right. “Should we really enter the village without permission?” “It’s fine. Everyone will be at the central square. For the wedding.” “What wedding?” she looked up to see surprise on his face. “Oh, that’s right,” he said, forcing a monotone voice. He smiled bitterly and continued like he had just remembered. “I’m the only one who knows about that thanks to that weird letter. You’re just my assistant who for some reason fell out of the ship, for some reason passed out, and for some reason didn’t wake up until now.” “P-please stop bullying me like that.” She heard a single peal of a bell in the distance. Recalling what Berger had said, she realized what was happening in this village. She put on a smile to smooth things over. “We showed up on a joyous day, didn’t we?” “Yeah, it’s pretty joyous all right. The bride and groom are both pretty great people.” “Hm, so you know them. I hope it turns out to be a good celebration. We heard an organ playing before, right? So is there a church or school here too?” “I’m sure there is. But I’m impressed you heard it. I didn’t notice it over the motorcycle.” Hazel kept smiling as she nodded. “I’m just used to hearing it is all. I’m studying in the education department, so we have to learn how to teach music class. I’m actually pretty good at playing the organ.” That had also helped with her training in using Lives. “But,” she began. “No one told me you were familiar with this village.” “Because I’m not. I barely know anything about the place.” “Eh?” Her smile vanished. She had sensed a faint chill in his voice. But he continued before she could wonder what it was. “All I know are the way here and…I guess I’d seen the entrance before too.” Hazel looked up at him in something of a rush. “Th-that’s all you know about the village?” “Yeah, that’s right, Hazel Mirildorf.” “Then why did you act like you knew the bridge and groom?” … He said they were pretty great people. She could not see his Lives. … Is he suppressing his emotions? He almost looked angry. There were some things it was wrong to ask about, so she chose her words carefully. “Um, Berger?” “Yeah?” “Did you really want to come here today?” “That’s a silly question, Hazel. I was ordered here.” He suddenly applied the brakes, so the motorcycle slid along the dirt a bit and the sidecar was pushed a little forward before stopping. On that forest road, she could only hear the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves. … Why did he stop? She looked around and then up at him. He took a breath, let go of the handlebars, and reached back toward the luggage rack behind him. “Do you want to get off here and walk the rest of the way yourself, Hazel Mirildorf?” “P-please stop being so mean.” “Then why are you asking these weird questions?” She was unsure how to respond. “B-because you seem angry this time. You won’t tell me what it’s about, you won’t look me in the eye, and you’ve just been sulking this whole time. You’re angry.” “Yeah, I’m angry all right.” “Why?” “Figure it out, Hazel. …What did I tell you when we went our separate ways three years ago? You were supposed to live a happy carefree life in America. Why the hell did you decide to join the AIF while going to college?” “B-because…” “Because your Messiah power came back? Which means you can fight? Don’t be naïve, Hazel. Do you know what it means when it takes you two years to complete your training? Or when you’re still a Greenhorner when you can see Lives with an octave of nearly a million? It means you’re not cut out for this, Hazel Mirildorf.” “…” She fell silent, but she did not take her eyes off of him. He looked her way and tried to say something. “–––––” But the words never came. That was when she realized she had tears in her eyes. “Oh.” She quickly wiped them away with her handkerchief. Then the sidecar shook and another tear fell. The BMW was moving forward. “That idiot is catching up.” Only then did she notice the quiet roar of an engine coming from behind. The motorcycle sped up, causing more shaking and another fallen tear. The wind blew, its azure Lives tickling her cheek and flowing behind her. He said nothing. Neither did she. The forest on either side of the road came to an end far up ahead. The central square was visible past that, as were a few people. Realizing that was their destination, Hazel put the handkerchief back in her pocket. She recalled her mission. … Escape from here with General Pale and arrive in Cologne by 11 PM. There, we fire the tracker onto the Gard-class, rendezvous with Corelle, and escape Germany. She was Berger’s assistant, but she had another mission she could not get his help on. … I have to convince him to join the AIF. While she wondered how she could do that, she heard organ music. It was playing the Unreif Germane with a somewhat quicker and upbeat tempo. She sang this verse to herself. This verse’s lyrics came from the 6th Section of the Ending God, which made her smile bitterly. … That section is about a pretty nasty rejection. The music continued on. As if inviting in any outside guests. ### 567. Part 3 The wedding was being held outside and it began with the couple standing on an oak platform and answering a few questions asked by the mayor. Lehrer and Pale took Hazel into the 50-yard center square where the village’s Heidengeists had already gathered and formed a ring. Short Hazel tried to stretch upwards, but… “I can’t see.” Pale, who wore a casual shirt, smiled with his one eye. “Want to sit up on my shoulders?” She just about agreed before remembering she was wearing a skirt. She politely declined and walked around the square in search of a hole in the circle of people. She saw the backs of so many different species. She saw fur, scales, and wings. She saw nonhumanoid shapes. She even saw the living dead and ghosts. Seeing the great diversity on display, she was reminded of her brief passage through England on the way to Germany. … It’s true what they say about the Heidengeists moving from Europe to England. Then she noticed a back she recognized. It was a Geheimnis Agent. This was the Lieutenant Schweitzer she had met five years ago. “Eh?” She wondered what he was doing here, but she also picked up her pace. Once she was far enough around the circle to get a look at him in profile, she confirmed it really was him. This reminded her of her position here, so she hurried the rest of the way around the square. Once back at her original position, she found Pale had acquired three wooden mugs at some point. “They were passing out celebratory drinks while you were running around. They say it’s made from the fruit they harvested this spring.” Hazel saw him hold two mugs out toward her. “I can’t drink two.” “One’s for the world’s second most pretension dumbass standing over there.” A metal finger pointed outside the square. She looked that way and found her greatest safe zone: Dog Berger. A single tree grew on a small hill in the grassy area north of the center square. He stood there in his black coat, looking down at the square. “…” Pale bowed and Hazel jogged over to Berger. She made sure not to spill the drinks as she ran, but running on the grass felt nice through her shoes. She entered the shade of the tree. “Berger.” He did not respond. She saw him still staring toward the square with no readable expression on his face. “Umm…” She tried to figure out what to do with her hands full of mugs, but he held out a hand without looking her way. He was telling her to give him one. She did so. He took a sip without saying a word. He did not even blink as he stared emotionlessly at the square. Hazel sighed, wiped sweat from her brow with a handkerchief, and sat next to him. She made sure to hold the skirt in the back of her knees as she sat on the grass. She looked to the square as well. From the hilltop, she realized the ring of people was less than 10 yards across and only about four people thick. The tallest figures were the animal Heidengeists, but the most colorful were the winged ones. The only humans in the ring were… … The Geheimnis Agent? No, there was also a human woman standing next to Schweitzer. She had brown hair worn in one long braid. Hazel just about dropped her mug when she saw the woman. “She’s the one from my dreams!!” Realizing Berger was looking at her now, she clapped a hand over her mouth. And she panicked. … It’s the same person and the same outfit as in my dreams? The woman wore her long brown hair in a single braid and she wore a green men’s suit. There was no doubting it. That was definitely the woman who would kneel before her and ask that question in her dreams. “I don’t believe it.” She shook he head, tensed her shoulders, leaned over toward Berger, and looked away from the woman. She looked to the large oak platform in the center of the square. The crops harvested during spring and the drinks, foods, textiles, and other products made from them were piled up on that platform. The gaunt mayor stood in front of it all wearing casual clothing. Hazel worked to steady her breathing while guessing his pale skin meant he was a long-lived ghost. A man and a woman stood in front of him. The young man wore black clothing and his skin was a little dark. He was a demon, which meant he would have a hard time in churches. The woman wore a gorgeous white dress with a hand-woven lace veil hiding her face. “…” Hazel sighed and her gaze wandered back over to the green suit woman. The woman was looking back at her. She gasped, scooting about a foot back on her butt and putting on a stiff smile. She bowed toward the woman to try and smooth things over. The woman noticed, narrowed her eyes, and nodded. They had apparently managed to communicate. Hazel heard her heart hammering in her chest and hid behind Berger. When she looked forward again, the woman was no longer looking her way. That was a small relief. … Is she with the Geheimnis Agency too? Just then, Lehrer entered the ring of people, bowed toward them all, and said something. Color flew from the surrounding ring. People were throwing bouquets of flowers. They cheered and shouted. They all raised their mugs and voices below the fluttering flowers. The ring dissolved as the people mingled together and started dancing. The groom was lifted and then thrown into the air by the men and the bride was surrounded by the woman and given a large bouquet to hold. Then the bride removed the flower-decorated veil from her head and threw it. It flew toward… “That woman.” The woman standing next to the Geheimnis Agent caught the flying white cloth. She had scrambled up onto the man’s shoulder to pull it off. After snatching the lace out of the air, she cheered, but she blushed when she noticed everyone watching her. Her nimble movements had caught the other people by surprise, but they eventually burst into laughter. The Geheimnis Agent man used his prosthetic right hand to snatch her from his shoulder and lower her to the ground. Then the village’s men raised their mugs toward the two and laughed. Cheer filled the place. Hazel smiled a little herself as she watched from afar and then she looked to the bride. She had seen the woman before. “––––!?” She was in Berger’s pendant. She was in that glimpse of the past shown on that photograph. The one that showed him smiling in a way he had never had for Hazel. Now she understood why Berger and that Geheimnis Agent were here. She gulped and recalled the name she had seen on that photograph three years ago. … Eryngium. But… … I stole a look at it, so… Berger did not know she had seen it. So she looked at him while making sure he wouldn’t notice that she knew. She took a sip of the citrusy drink in her mug as she did so. She noticed his stance had somewhat changed from before. He now had his right hand inside his black coat. She wondered if he was touching the pendant, but he was not. He was holding Gelegenheit’s hilt. He was staring forward, probably at Eryngium, but there was no expression on his face. His lips, however, were moving. “…” No voice emerged, but he had definitely said something. Hazel could not see his Lives. He was hiding everything. He had said something without noticing her staring. She did not know if it was words of celebration or what, but she did know he had shut his eyes somewhat. He was no longer looking to the central square. She quickly looked back that way as if to take over for him and saw Eryngium and the groom drinking while surrounded by all the other people. They were smiling. … What does this mean? That Geheimnis Agent, the woman from my nightmares, and Eryngium are all here. “B-Berger.” She started to say something until she saw something in the sky. She noticed three lines of white in the southern end of the clear blue sky above the forest surrounding the village. They were contrails. The three contrails rose from above the forest rooftops, to above the blue sky, and then to the heavens themselves. They ascended and ascended. They suddenly came to an end high, high up in the sky. By then, the villagers had noticed it as well. A few of them sipped at their drinks and pointed up at the white slashes dividing the blue sky overhead. Those three white lines rose into the heavens and vanished. They almost seemed to be joining the festivities. Hazel tried to say as much to Berger. “Berger.” But… “Berger?” He was gone. He had vanished at some point. She tilted her head and checked behind the tree, but he wasn’t there either. He must have gone elsewhere. … Is he okay? She wondered that and lifted the mug in her hands. And… “Oh?” She lost her equilibrium and rolled over onto the ground. Her head felt weirdly heavy. She was drunk. ### 568. Part 3 Hazel didn’t see a cloud in the sky. There was a forest in the distance, but right in front of her were… … People? A large crowd of people. Not just dozens or hundreds, but thousands or tens of thousands. There were men and woman. No children, but some were elderly and others still young. They were all keeping quiet while looking her way. Their gazes were directed somewhat upwards. … They’re below me. And they were surrounding her. She stood on a wooden stage overlooking them. Their silence coiled over their heads as expanding dark-red Lives that looked ready to explode at any moment. She looked down at them without fear. But when she noticed the movement of her gaze was not her own, she realized this was a dream. … Another nightmare? She took half a step back while viewing the dream brought to her by all her senses. An oppressive atmosphere hung over the dream. When she looked closer, she noticed something new. All the people spread out before her were wearing old-fashioned clothing or armor. This was not the mass-produced clothing or armored uniforms designed for the soldiers who fought in modern battles. They were mostly equipped with swords and spears, but none of them looked mass-produced either. When she looked between the distant forests’ trees, she saw a few old-fashioned Barrels. … What is this gathering for? Wondering that, her vision tilted down again. A wooden altar-like platform was built below the stage. Four men stood there. The armor, clothing, and cloaks they wore were nothing like the rest of the crowd. It was much higher quality. One of the four, the one on the far right, was not wearing armor and was only lightly equipped, but he held a thick scroll under his left arm. “…” Just as Hazel wondered who those four were, her vision moved again. She looked to the horizon and then side to side. She looked to all the people below. Her dream self raised her right hand. It held a sword Device. She recognized the sword. It resembled the one wielded by the Heavy Barrel named Kaiser she had fought two years ago. When her dream self held that sword aloft, she was answered by an explosion of voices. The waves of people spread out before her released their voices and their coiling dark red Lives into the sky above. Thousands or tens of thousands of voices joined together to form an indistinct roar that reminded her of a crashing waterfall. The wind was afraid, the forest surprised, and the earth trembled, but it did not stop. Her dream sense felt the vibration. She saw the thundering Lives and rejoiced. But her current self sensed something strange from her position a step removed. … Why? Her vision was looking down at the people thrusting up their weapons and shouting. … Why am I looking down at them? She was definitely looking down at all those people. And… “?” She suddenly looked up into the sky. The clear blue sky. A dragon flew there. When she saw the 30-yard azure dragon, she knew for certain this was a dream. … The Sylphide. The craft that had once broken apart in the sky above the North Sea was hovering in the sky now. It rocked in the wind, seemingly enjoying the waves created by that wind. Hazel felt dizzy and, by the time she took another breath, her vision had lowered and slowly turned to look behind her. Someone else stood on the stage too. Behind her. Her vision looked back and found a color she hadn’t seen yet here. This was not the blue of the sky, the green of the forest, the brown of the dirt, or the silver of the armor. It was the black of shadows. The young man standing there had only one arm. She recognized him. … No!! She denied it. She rejected it. She refused to accept it. This was a nightmare, but the nightmare continued. Her recurring nightmares always ended with a certain image. She would dream of saying goodbye to someone. He would disappear into the shadows of the night and she could not follow after him. The dream of loss had repeated itself so often she started to feel like it was one of her memories. And now it was happening again. … No. She shouted. And not just on the inside. She shouted out loud like a child. “Noooo!” She shouted his name. Instead of telling herself to wake up from the dream, she shouted the leaving person’s name in order to reject the dream. “–––––!!” ### 569. Part 3 Their battle had left the long Borderson mountain road and continued on toward burning and smoking Cologne. The BMW motorcycle raced along with Pale in the sidecar and Hazel on the back. The way ahead opened up as they arrived on major road. Hazel looked back. “We’ve lost them! Is this where we’re supposed to meet Corelle?” “Not yet. We need to reach the T-intersection up ahead. Once there, Corelle’s RB-21 is supposed to drop Schwarz Löwe’s container and then land further on to pick up you and Pale.” “But she still isn’t here,” added Pale and Hazel nodded. … Did something happen to her? I hope she’s just running late. The motorcycle continued driving despite her worries. There was a school to their right. They accelerated alongside its fence. That was when she noticed Berger’s back tremble in surprise. An armored truck was rushing toward them from the other end of the T-intersection up ahead. It was on a collision course and wasn’t slowing down. “They’re still after us!? Hang on!!” Berger shouted that warning immediately before turning the motorcycle right as sharply as he could. The next thing Hazel knew, the school’s gate was right in front of them. It was metal and painted black. They accelerated. And… The gate was instantly sliced through and the motorcycle broke through the scrap metal. “!!” Hot winds blew around the schoolyard. No one was around at night and the turbulence from the bombing formed a whirlwind in this more open space. Berger drove them through there to create an opening back to the road. He shifted the 750cc BMW down a gear and tried to kick off the sandy ground, but that was when a color reached Hazel’s eyes. But this red was not from the Lives of the heat hanging in the air. … A person!? Gunfire flew their way. Past Pale in the sidecar on the right, gunfire meant to confirm the bullet speed shot from behind a tree at the edge of the schoolyard. The bullet holes traveled across the schoolyard’s sandy ground like the footprints of someone running toward them. These were not submachinegun rounds. This was a machinegun. “–––––!” Hazel immediately swung her sword. As a Greenhorner, she did call to the Lives. She only focused her mind on a shout while using a card. … I have trained in the Ups used by Tuners and Busters… But that had never gone well for her. Whether she tried Tuning or Busting, the Lives were never transformed or destroyed the way she wanted. The Lives would waver and that was it. “––––!” She raised her voice in her sword’s inherent tone to sync the sword’s Lives with her voice pattern. That made the sword shake her own Lives and activate. The five cards attached to the sword burst, starting from the bottom one. Five empty cartridges were also ejected. Air pressure similar to wind was launched from the sword’s tip. The sand to the right of the motorcycle was blown away and a large arc was gouged into the ground. That gouge followed the motorcycle’s movement. A protection field was formed from the sword tip. Sparks flew from the surface of that field and Hazel held the sword tight to bear with it. Directly above the gouged ground, a bullet hit the invisible wall just past the tip of the sword, bursting into embers. “!!” She kept the sword steady. Then Berger pulled a submachinegun from between the sidecar and motorcycle and opened fire. He fired the bullets by eye and they tore apart Hazel’s protection field from within. “Hey! Why would you break that! I could have kept it up for another 20 seconds!” “The enemy’s bullets are going to last longer than that!” She saw sparks fly from behind the tree at the corner of the schoolyard and someone was sent sprawling to the ground. “Ooh, you hit them! Now that’s a miracle!” shouted Pale. A few silhouettes jumped down from the roof of the two-story concrete school building. There were four in all. They wore Geheimnis Agency Army Division uniforms, but those uniforms had no sleeves or legs to cover up their prosthetic arms and legs. Instead of jumping down for a free fall, they kicked off the school’s wall to increase their falling speed and change direction. They landed in the windy schoolyard with positions that surrounded the motorcycle and they hit the ground running to maintain those positions. Their Lives looked somewhat faded to Hazel’s eyes. That was a unique trait of prosthetic-using Steel Masters like them. A moment later, Pale stood up from the sidecar and slapped Hazel’s shoulder. She looked back in surprise. “Wh-what was that for?” “Go on, girl. You get to Corelle first!” … Eh!? Pale also slapped Berger’s shoulder. “Pretend to circle toward the back entrance and then make a braking turn to the left. I’ll toss the girl outside then.” “Wh-why me?” asked Hazel in a cracking voice. “Because they’re after Pale and you, Hazel Mirildorf,” answered Berger. “I’m sure of it.” “But their Messiah has got to be more valuable to them than me.” “That’s right. You’re the last one we can let them get their hands on here, Hazel.” But Berger brushed Pale’s hand off his shoulder. Pale frowned and looked at Berger. Berger squeezed the throttle to accelerate and responded without turning toward Hazel in the wind. “But this girl is going to fight alongside us, Pale.” “Don’t-” Pale tried to say “don’t be ridiculous” but was cut off by Berger’s smiling voice. “She’ll make an excellent shield. Since they can’t shoot her.” Hazel elbowed him in the back. She knew he wasn’t serious, but… … Why is he like this? She tossed a card behind her and struck it with her sword. That set up a thin barrier that blew away an approaching enemy. Pale sighed in frustration and blocked some incoming bullets with his metal right hand. 18 shots’ worth of sparks flew. Just as the enemy’s rapid-fire barrage ended, Pale threw a backhand blow with his right hand. “!” The massive prosthetic fist hit the soldier in his hips just as he threw away his empty submachinegun and tried to draw his sword. His face twisted in surprise more than pain and his hip broke with a metallic sound, sending him collapsing to the ground. Only two remained. Berger sank down in the motorcycle and applied the brakes. Their surroundings ground to a halt and the pursuing soldiers staggered as they tried to stop too. “Morons.” Berger fired all his submachinegun’s remaining bullets into the soldier trying to straighten back up to the right. The enemy reacted so quickly Hazel gasped. He made a rotating defense, guarding with his prosthetic arm. He deflected the bullets and moved on ahead. He ran. But Berger hopped down from the motorcycle even faster than that. “Pale, you take the one on the left!!” Pale hopped out of the sidecar and Hazel scrambled down from the back. She crouched low and followed after Berger but shifted a bit to the side. Now that she was out of the motorcycle, she found herself surrounded by heat and wind. She could see Cologne Cathedral in the distance. “…” A large dark shape hovered in the sky and a deep noise descended from it, but she couldn’t focus on that right now. Berger approached the enemy ahead of her. He ducked low to avoid the enemy’s right prosthetic arm and grabbed that arm from below with both his own arms. Berger tugged on the soldier’s arm, pulling him to the right, and spinning him toward Hazel to place the soldier on his own back. He jerked his hips up and pulled forward with the arm passing over his shoulder. He threw the soldier so the man flipped around in an arc and slammed headfirst into the ground. The full weight of the soldier’s mechanical body bore down on his neck, resulting in a dull sound. He bounced and then rolled a few times before coming to a stop. He did not move, but Hazel could see his pale Lives pulsing. He was not dead. Relieved by that, she realized Berger was looking at her. The movement of his eyes told her what he wanted to say. … He wants me to leave this open area and hide behind the school’s wall. Crossing the fence behind the school would get her to the road they needed to reach. “–––––!” A scream from the left was accompanied by the loud cry of breaking metal. What was that? wondered Hazel as someone flew by overhead. They slammed into a tree growing in front of the school. The following dull sound was that of a human body falling to the ground. Pale’s attack had defeated the last soldier. “You fight rough,” said Hazel as the battle ended for now. She sighed and kept low to follow after Berger. She couldn’t relax until she was behind a tree with her back against the school’s wall. But… She sensed a powerful presence from the abandoned motorcycle behind her. ### 570. Part 3 At 3:42 AM, the Big Signal finally received a transmission from Germany while it was waiting above the North Sea after completing its incantation. Now that it had an accurate location for the Babel Cannon-equipped ship, the Big Signal wrote the Reqiuem’s message information into its bullet based on the range data it received. That gave the bullet homing capabilities. After a minor adjustment to its position, it ordered every friendly craft within firing range to temporarily ascend. To provide the final tone needed to complete the bullet, the loading section’s barriers opened. The exterior armor opened with a mechanical hum. The first noise to leave the interior came from the escaping steam. Bendaughter was illuminated by the moonlight. Her empty eyes looked past the white steam and up into the sky. “…” The emotionless Sein Frau’s face was placid and her hair was windswept. She had sweat beading up and dripping down her forehead and chest. There was no strength in her gaze, but her cheeks were a touch red. That was due to singing for nine hours straight. A quiet sound of escaping air came from the pipe connecting her to Sunshine. At the same time, she leaned back like a spring-loaded doll. Her hair was thrown back as she arched her back as if to stare into the sky. That tension was broken by a single large tremor running through her body. “––––––!!” Then she bent forward, steam rising from her sweaty body. With her body bent forward and her head lowered, bloody saliva dripped from her open lips. But when she raised her head again, there was already strength in her gaze. Sweat dripped down skin that had gone cool and even pale and she directed her eyes upwards. Toward the moon. She viewed the moon as she spoke. “Speech…begin.” At 3:47 AM, Big Signal finally launched its first shot. ### 571. Part 3 A voice spoke into the sky. Graham’s voice. “Can you hear me? We are the old-fashioned knights who survived the previous war.” The wind blew and a girl’s voice joined his. “So many of us have been lost since that war. “Our order has faded and many of us have returned to live among the people. “We are no more than the vestiges of a bygone era. “Let me ask again. “Can you hear me? “Yes, you, the new knights. The descendants of the old. The lions hidden among the people. “Do you remember the previous war? Have you heard the stories? “Young lions. Aged lions. “The previous war was the last time we will ever lead the people and fight as knights.” “Do you understand what I mean? A new kind of war is upon us. “And I shall give you our answer here.” ### 572. Part 4 Hazel’s expression changed when she heard that voice through the door. Her face lit up. She had grown out her hair over the past three years and it hung down over her body, but she still pounded on the door. “Y-yes, it’s me! It’s Hazel Mirildorf! So please open the door!” She shouted and looked down the hallway to make sure it was deserted. Then she looked down at herself. She was naked. … I need to get inside that room. Someone could show up at any moment. And if they saw her out in the hallway like this, she would look very… … Lewd. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, placed a hand on the doorknob, and waited for him to do as she asked. However… “What are you doing here?” “W-we can discuss that later!” “Unfortunately, I have to leave on a mission soon, so whether or not you’re a spy is my second biggest question in the world. So explain yourself. In 25 words or less. Stammering counts double.” “B-but that’s not fair. D-don’t be so mean!” “That’s 10 down. You’d better hurry or I’ll blow you up.” “Clothes! Clothes!” “Yeah, most people like to wear them. I know I do.” … Why are you so mean!? She kept that question to herself while thinking back to 3 years ago. Something similar had happened, but what had he asked for then? … Say it in English. “U-um, please give me some clothes,” she said in English this time. She heard three quiet claps through the door followed by an awfully calm response. “I’m fresh out.” “B-but! Can’t you lend me some of what you’re wearing now!? Like three years ago.” “Nah, I’d rather not have my clothes smell like cat. You trying to mark me as yours, cat girl?” “Y-you are awful!” The wind blew through the hallway. The chilly dry air passed below her arms and between her legs, reminding her of her lack of clothing. And that was not all. She heard some chatting male voices coming from the stairs at the end of the hallway. “O-oh, no. S-someone’s coming!” “Yeah, it’s a public hallway. People will do that.” “B-but I’m naked! You aren’t supposed to do that in a public hallway!” “Have them rate you. I doubt you’ll do all that well. Maybe a 40-point average?” “J-just let me inside already! Hurry! I need to get in there!” “You do know how it sounds to beg to visit a guy in his room while you’re naked, right?” She prepared to say something more, but the chatting voices and footsteps on the stairs grew even louder. She tried pressing her back against the door, but the door was already flush with the wall. She could not hide that way. As small as her chest was, it still stuck out. There was no point in trying. “U-um, I-I-I n-need s-s-s-s-somewhere to h-h-hide.” “I don’t think there is anywhere.” “No, it doesn’t look like- y-you are mean!!” The chatting men sounded so much louder now. She could even tell they were complaining that the mess hall didn’t offer anything with fresh blood in it. Their footsteps sounded clearly from this floor’s landing. “–––––!” Hazel gave up. Her legs went limp, her hips dropped into a crouch, and she wrapped her arms around herself to hide her chest and the brand on her left shoulder. “No…” She thought she was going to cry, but then the door opened behind her. “Eh?” She lost her balance and tumbled back into the room. She fell back onto her hips and lay sprawled out between the boards. She briefly felt dizzy. She could see the wooden ceiling and Berger looking down at her. Other than her longer hair that she now wore tied back, she had not changed much over the past three years. She initially felt relieved, but then she came back to her senses. Berger commented on the exact thing on her mind. “Just letting it all hang out, huh?” She was lying on her back with her limbs somewhat sprawled out. “Ah,” she gasped while scrambling to a sitting position. She closed her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. She pressed her back against the side of the bed and only then looked up at Berger again. “Y-you saw, didn’t you!?” “You rolled right into my field of view, so I couldn’t help but see everything. Top and bottom.” “Hyah…” She could not believe how pathetic that sounded. … And I told myself I would be more careful about this kind of thing… Her teary vision saw him pull over a chair, sit down, and brush a hand through his hair. “I’m not interested in 40-point nudity. Now, answer my question, Hazel. Why did you make a surprise appearance through my window?” “Um, well…there was a dog down there. One they let run free.” “Okay, I’ve heard enough. I’ve deduced the whole story using the second-best powers of insight in the world.” His eyes turned toward the left hand she was using to hide her chest. It had a red bite mark on it. “Would you prefer I called you an idiot or a moron?” She tensed her shoulders and hung her head. “I’d prefer you didn’t call me either one.” “Stupid imbecile it is. And just out of curiosity, where are your spare clothes?” “Oh, m-my luggage is still outside. Could you go get it for me?” “Go get it yourself.” She looked up. “Then give me some clothes to do that! Y-you’re mean! This is no way to treat your assistant.” “…Excuse me?” “?” She tilted her head, so he lowered his voice and asked a question. “Who exactly are you saying is my assistant?” … What is he talking about? She pointed at herself and he very obviously frowned. “Are you suggesting you have ever assisted me before?” “I am.” “Then enlighten me. And make it the best example in the world.” With a high-level request like that, Hazel had to think for a bit. She found her answer in five seconds. “Lots of times.” “Sorry. I’m feeling a little dizzy…” “You probably need more iron. How about I cook you something later on?” “No, thanks. Also…are you saying you have orders!?” His raised voice made her shrink down and point out the window. “My orders from my teacher are o-outside with my luggage.” “Then go get your luggage.” “H-how many times do I have to remind you I need clothes first!?” “Don’t get so worked up you wave your arms at me. You’re not covering up.” “Oops.” She quickly covered up with her arms again and pressed her knees more tightly together. Just then, the door opened a little and Corelle’s head poked in. “Hey, Berger. About today’s-” was as far as she got. She looked first to Berger and then to Hazel. Then her eyes moved back and forth a few times. Unsure what else to do, Hazel bowed her head. “Um, it’s good to see you again.” Corelle nodded a few times and responded with a perfectly straight face. “Catching up after three years apart? Have fun.” She shut the door. “Goddammit,” muttered Berger before reaching for the door. Corelle’s heavy running footsteps and yelling voice came from the hallway. Hearing that, Berger groaned and crouched in front of the door. “You don’t have to tell the whole world…” “This is what you get for teasing me so much,” said Hazel. Berger turned a cold glare her way. “You do realize this is about you too, right?” “I’ll be fine. Everyone takes the girl’s side in these things.” She softened her expression and sighed with an arm around her knees and a hand brushing through her hair. … I really have grown up more since last time. She relaxed her shoulders, looked to Berger, and… “There’s an 8-year age gap between us, so everyone will know you’re the in the wrong here.” ### 573. Part 4 When the patrol plane sent out an emergency assistance request, the closest aerial squadron was Heiliger’s squadron on its way to the North Sea. The aerial squadron had flown north from Cologne and was currently above the mountains near Belgium. The patrol plane had lost the enemy reading, so they searched for the enemy and found a small aerial squadron. Most of the air force was unavailable after being sent to the Cologne region, so Heiliger’s task was to track the enemy until an interception fleet could arrive from Cologne. His light cruiser and four accompanying ships flew through the night winds. The light cruiser took the lead and Heiliger held binoculars on the bridge which had windows in all four directions. The enemy picked up by the radar was still not visible with the naked eye. “The enemy force has split up!” shouted the navigator. “What appears to be the main division is changing course. They intend to escape into Belgium.” Heiliger did not even nod. “Tell our forces in Belgium to handle this. We will pursue the ship that has entered our country. Adjust course and accelerate. Maintain full speed and pursue. Capture them before the interception fleet arrives.” “That will delay our original mission of supporting the northern coast.” “I am aware of that. But the ship guarding that squadron has broken away and entered the country on its own. Which of those do you think is truly important to the enemy?” “But, Lieutenant General,” whispered his young first officer. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Our arrival in the north will be delayed.” “We are the only ones who can pursue them here. We received a request for assistance and we are answering it. …The air force staff officers would not be pleased if we continued north and joined the forces there.” “Eh?” “I am sure you heard a great many rumors about me when you were assigned to my unit,” said Heiliger with a hint of a smile. “Yes…and I thought they were true at first. But you always turn out to be correct in the end. I don’t know the details, but I think the higher ups should give you more credit. If they gave you sufficient forces, you could-” “You are still young, so I doubt you know anything about my past. If you did, you would understand why I am treated this way and you would understand what happened the other day.” “You mean with the Gard-class four days ago? I only received the report to be taken north.” “What did you think of that ship? That massive warship that does not belong to any fleet and only I am allowed inside. …You have vaguely come to understand that you and the people of Cologne are protected by something much larger than our military, haven’t you?” He smiled bitterly. “Yet saying so out loud would mean denying the current form of Germany.” Just then, someone gave a shout. “Found them!” The navigator raised his right hand while looking outside with semi-stationary binoculars. He quickly formed some numbers with his fingers. “Distance: approximately 5 miles. Low altitude. A single transport ship has flown into a mountain valley and…it is slowing down.” Heiliger stepped forward with binoculars in one hand and asked a question of the gun commander. “Can we fire on them?” “Hitting a single moving ship at this distance would be difficult.” “Then fire. Let them know we are here. If a transport ship is flying at low velocity and altitude, it is preparing to drop something off. Fire a Pseudo-Drach Kanone along their course and match our altitude to theirs.” “A light cruiser shouldn’t be flying at low altitude in the mountains at night. Especially not at high velocity.” “We are the air force’s outcasts. Besides, we were even more foolhardy during the previous war. Are you going to let the enemy’s plan succeed through our excess caution?” The gun commander smiled as he responded. “The short end of the stick again, huh?” “What makes you say that?” “Our orders were to pursue, not to attack. We are only supposed to drive them out so they can be intercepted by someone else. That means no credit goes to us. Not that that’s new.” “If it isn’t new, then just do it like we always do. You can, can’t you?” Heiliger was not actually asking. After a moment, firm responses came from all across the bridge. Every single one was a simple “yes, sir”. He nodded in satisfaction. Then the light of a Pseudo-Drach Kanone pierced the dark night out ahead of them. ### 574. Part 4 The light of late morning fell on Cologne. The industrial city was lined with factories. Their smokestacks were constantly spewing smoke that could not be fully eliminated with filters. The newer part of the city stretching north and south from the city center was almost entirely made up of factories and concentrated housing. That military city had been built along the western bank of the Rhine. Across from Cologne, on the eastern side of the Rhine, were four white towers and a mountain of black metal. The white towers had to be 150 yards tall and they formed the corners of a square. Their slopes gave them a volcanic shape and the shimmering heat blowing from their peaks proved they were currently running. They were Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors. The vast mountain next to them was colored a pitch black that contrasted with the Vaterlands. It was more than 300 yards tall, 200 yards wide, and more than half a mile long. That was the Requiem, an Eingeweide aerial warship equipped with a Babel Kanone. Its impressive and massive form was contained in a large dock built on the land originally set aside for an airport. It was facing north, which placed Cologne on its left and a mountain range on its right. It received a Phlogiston supply from the four Vaterlands. The large aerial warship was stopped and unmoving, yet it still altered the atmospheric currents around it. All of its windows used polarized glass, so no one could see inside. Some uniformed soldiers would occasionally move around on the deck of the aerial aircraft carriers forming the front of its port and starboard sides and some crafts would take off and land, but other than that, there was no sign of life. Now, however, there were three people standing on the port flight deck overlooking the city. Rose wore a white dress, Graham wore a black coat, and Lillie stood behind Rose with the wind whipping at the hem of her azure dress. They looked down at the city of Cologne. Smoke rose from the factories, cars drove along the roads, and people were everywhere. The white things they could see all over the city were laundry. Because today’s weather… “It’s sunny,” said Rose, viewing the city. “The Messiah has arrived just as prophesied, bigger brother. Bermark Vier sounded ecstatic, but that seems strange to me. Shouldn’t the Messiah girl inspire awe in people?” “We have no way of knowing how the Messiah will lead the Geheimnis Agency.” Graham’s response caused a slight change in Lillie’s expression. She frowned and lowered her head. “The Tons of the North Sea’s currents are telling me of an unknown presence in the North Sea. I think it must be an Allied warship.” “That is none of our concern as long as they remain outside of Germany’s seas. …Our duty is to protect this country. None of the Neue Kavalier are among the fools invading other lands.” “Is that why you sent Sir Alfred to protect the north?” asked Rose, turning around as Lillie watched. She turned her back on the city below and spread her skinny arms. “When the Allies attack this city, they will come from the north. There have been a lot of people giving me lewd looks from the west for the past few days, but none of them are taking it seriously. If something is waiting in the North Sea like Lillie suggests, then I bet their bomber unit will attack from the north along with whatever’s out there.” “How very wise, Rose.” “Big brother said so, so I know it must be true. I doubt there are many people other than him with as thorough a grasp of this country’s military might – including the Kavaliers and civilian fighters – and can so rationally analyze the Allies’ actions.” Rose crossed her arms and held her own body. “Isn’t that why you left Sir Alfred with him, bigger brother? Because this place is in danger?” Her piercing gaze turned to the side – toward Lillie. “Lillie, you will be returning to defend the North Sea soon too, won’t you? The Allies will be here soon – either tonight or tomorrow – so we need to be ready.” “But…” Lillie could not find the words, looked away from Rose, and finally looked to Graham. Her expression was the same as before, but she let her hair blow in the wind as she asked a question. “Why?” “I am not sure what you are asking, Lillie Telmetz. Why what?” “Why rush this?” Graham gave a simple answer to that. He ignored it. With his Psyche Outer device, he could not provide answers based on emotion. So Lillie’s gaze dropped and she sucked in a deep breath. It came out heavy. Rose stepped up next to her and placed her hand on Lillie’s. “Don’t worry. We too hope this will work out for the best.” “…” “Besides, while the Allies are after Cologne too, in a way they’re after me. Because they’re lewd. I don’t know what methods they will use, but – but my bigger brother will join the fight in his Silber Löwe and I have a lot of escape boats installed on me. So…I think it will be fine.” Lillie hung her head further. “I…” She tried to get her lips moving. “I…” She could not get the words out. Her lip movements fell apart midway. Instead… An Erklärung rang out. A hatch used to raise aircraft onto the deck opened and a giant white Grösse Panzer emerged. A tall figure stood at its feet. His long brown hair was tied back and his skinny but fit body was contained in a Geheimnis Agency army uniform. He was a sharp-eyed young man, but he nodded a bit when he spotted Lillie and the others. “Sorry. I got delayed getting a tour of the ship from this guy.” Graham coughed deeply before turning toward the voice. Rose followed her brother’s gaze and smiled. “I saw that, Sir Alfred. The ship’s interior is designed to allow Grösse Panzers to walk through it, but that still surprised everyone. None of them have been in the depths of the ship since the materials were carried in and assembled during construction.” Alfred gave a quick bow and then quickly raised his head. His hair whipped in the wind, he placed a hand on Rein König at his hip, and he turned just his head to the right. Lillie and the others looked that way too. A hatch opened on the Requiem’s starboard flight deck and a large elevator raised two Grösse Panzers from below. One was blue and held a rifle in its right hand. The other was red and held a shield in its left hand. They were Bermark Nein’s Neue Blau and Neue Zinnober. Once the elevator had finished its rise, the crew riding it hurried out onto the deck. Alfred and Bermark Nein belonged to an independent mobile unit. The Kaiser used autonomous flight to take off and Bermark Nein needed to fully activate the Ober Emblem that barely anyone could use anymore. But things worked somewhat differently when taking off from a ship. After the soldiers visually confirmed the deck’s landing equipment was not active, they circled in front of the two Panzers along with signalers carrying red and blue signal lights. The thrust produced by a Grösse Panzer’s Ober Emblem wings was far greater than with aircraft. They created an instantaneous explosion of air, so anyone behind them on the deck could be blown away. The wind blew through and the blue and red Panzers prepared for takeoff. Lillie had fully raised her head again. “Oh?” said Rose. She turned back from starboard to view the city. Lillie did the same. At some point, currents of color had appeared across the Rhine in the city. The people in their homes, factories, schools, hospitals, and shopping districts came to a stop, took a break from their work, and emerged onto the streets to look up this way. Lillie knew what they were looking at: the Kaiser to port and the Neue Blau and Neue Zinnober to starboard. “They must be surprised to see not just Grösse Panzers but one bearing the Maldrick emblem.” Rose took a breath. “The government and military both know that if we make our presence known, it will drag this supposedly civilian-run country back to what it was before the previous war.” “But there are military reports from all over Germany about a mystery unit or fighter saving them in a tight spot or a seemingly unstoppable aerial enemy fleet suddenly vanishing. The Allies are calling it the Foo Team or Foo Fighters.” Lillie’s response led Rose to turn toward the two Grösse Panzers on the starboard side and then to Alfred and the Kaiser further away. “But it is about time we showed them what we can do.” Just then, a gust of wind blew in. The clouds were somewhat stretched and swept away. The wind came from the west and pushed the clouds to the east. The Kaiser began to walk. Instead of walking out ahead of it, Alfred walked alongside it, borrowing its majesty. “Alfred Maldrick and two more from Geheimnis Agency Army Division 1st Division 1st Independent Mobile Grösse Panzer Unit reporting in. We are leaving to defend the northern coast.” “Fight hard.” On Graham’s response, the Panzer and man stopped, straightened, and bowed. “I will do my duty as a Neue Kavalier.” He raised his head and Rose spoke to him. “This is goodbye then, Sir Alfred.” “Yes, for a while anyway.” He gave her a small, innocent smile and Rose smiled back. Lillie alone bit her lower lip. But Alfred looked to Rose and then into the sky. “Such a beautiful sky.” “Sir Alfred, if you have time before traveling to the North Sea, why not visit the Village of Pardons to express your congratulations? On a beautiful day like this, I am sure they will be throwing a wonderful party for their wedding.” Alfred responded with some surprise but then smiled bitterly. “The bride is an old friend of mine, Lady Rose. However…” His smile grew even more bitter. “I have no right to attend her wedding. That is why I sent Schweitzer in my stead.” “You don’t want to see the groom? Shouldn’t you at least see who she is marrying?” “According to the letter, the two of them are already living together and the wedding is more something they tacked onto a festival being held in the village.” “I see,” said Rose and his bitter smile vanished. He also looked up into the sky. “So I know the man must be a good person.” “How can you be so sure?” “She is scarred.” Alfred placed his left hand on Rein König at his hip and his right at the base of his neck. “She has a permanent scar from here on her neck, down the center of her chest, and to her left side. …And she has no memory of her time living in Berlin – not of her family and not of her friends. But someone out there is still willing to share his life with her.” The ring on his left hand caught the sunlight and glinted red. “I think that is a good thing.” When he looked her in the eye and smiled a little, Rose’s expression changed somewhat. Her slight smile changed to a full smile colored by relief. “You truly are an adorable person,” she told Alfred. ### 575. Part 4 Hazel stared up into the sky while collapsed behind the tree. … I can’t stay here. I have to get to that empty house next to the square. She wasn’t sure why, but two women with some kind of a connection to her were here. “What is with this village?” Her alcohol-loosened lips uttered a complaint as she slowly got back up. Standing up too quickly made her dizzy, so she took it slow and then got moving. Once she started down the slope, her legs started moving on their own. Carrying her down. “Oh, no, no, no, no.” She arrived at the square in a jog and it took her five or six steps to regain her balance. She tried staying still. In the square, a large number of Heidengeists were seated on a large picnic sheet and chatting pleasantly. There was laughter and singing. There were no insults or fear. Every species had at least a few different members present. Hazel stood there all alone, but… “Oh.” The balance of her inner ear started to collapse. She moved her head and her somewhat feverish gaze searched for the vacant house she and Berger had been given. She found it at 10 o’clock or northwest. The wooden house was a short walk across the field surrounding the central square. She turned that way and got her unsteady legs moving again. “Oh, whoa.” Just as she started walking and wobbling, she heard a voice from the seated Heidengeists. “Hey, what are you doing there, miss!?” It was Pale’s voice, but she did not have it in her to check where exactly he was. “I’m sorryyyy.” With that, she walked from the square with the mug in one hand. She staggered side to side and turned her head. She still had 15 steps before reaching the vacant house. That felt like a horribly long journey. And then… “?” She heard Berger’s voice. From behind the vacant house. He seemed to be talking with someone. She could not hear what he was saying, but there was a light, cheerful tone to his voice. Her heart skipped a beat. … He only sounds so happy when he feels trapped. It was the same tone of voice he had used when fighting the Kaiser three years ago or facing down the Sylphide five years ago. She resumed walking. Her legs were still unsteady, but she had gotten the hang of it. She arrived at the vacant house, placed her hand on the log wall for support, and started to circle behind the house. Then she heard a female voice join with Berger’s. It was Lehrer’s voice. That brought Hazel some small relief. … Are they hiding back here to trade AIF intel? She peeked behind the house and prepared to call Berger’s name. “––––” But she quickly pulled her head back. She took a few steps back along the wall and then turned the corner toward the front door. “Um, uh, um.” She spoke aloud what she had seen. “They were kissing…” Only by speaking the words did she truly understand them. The image burned into her eyes showed Lehrer as the instigator. She had stretched up, draped her arms around Berger’s neck, and placed her lips on his. … What is going on here? Hazel touched her right hand, the one not holding the mug, to her lips as if that would help her understand. “N-no.” She did not understand the word escaping her lips or the scene she had just witnessed. Nor did she understand the woman from he dreams or Eryngium’s presence here. She had nothing but questions spinning through her mind when organ music from the church reached her ears. Music much like hers from earlier seemed to push her onward, so her legs began to move. She practically leaned against the entranceway as she opened the door. The wind blew into the vacant house, seeming to draw out the smell of the wood and the dim shadows. She stepped inside to cut herself off from what she had seen outside. It was a small house. The 5-yard room had a fireplace on the north side, a simple kitchen with no equipment on the east side, and a bed with only a mattress and sheets on the west side. She looked to the fireplace and sighed. Berger was likely still beyond there. Lehrer would be with him. Hazel shook her heavy head, but that did nothing to help. “What do I do? I don’t understand any of this.” She set the mug down in the kitchen, walked across the room on unsteady legs, and collapsed into the bed without removing her shoes. The texture of the artificial mattress and sheets felt oddly nostalgic. The chill of the sheets felt nice on her heated skin and she remembered another important factor. “How am I supposed to get Berger to join the AIF like this?” She continued the thought in her mind while she gradually relaxed. … I don’t know anything about him. She drifted off before the words were even complete. Her breathing grew softer and softer, but her brow remained somewhat furrowed. ### 576. Part 4 Hazel shot upright. She opened her eyes and faced forward. She was in a small room. “Where am I?” This still didn’t feel real. Her senses still felt the wind and heard all those people’s voices. When she wrapped her arms around herself, she naturally pressed her right hand against her left shoulder and recalled who she was. Her hand held the Wheel of Destiny card that had been in her left breast pocket. “Oh…” She recalled what had led up to that dream. Sweat rapidly soaked her entire body. She was sitting on a bed. She had gotten drunk and fallen asleep. The flowers in the vase on the side table looked awfully red and she found she was fully awake now. She quickly checked her watch and found it was 8 PM. It was dark outside the window. “We need to leave here with General Pale at 10 and get to Cologne.” She recalled something else too. … When am I going to invite Berger to join the AIF? She didn’t know what she should do there. But… “I should at least talk with him.” Just as she managed to calm her breathing, the door burst open. “!?” She looked over to find Berger standing in the doorway. He looked down at her with no readable expression on his face. “We’re leaving in an hour.” With that brief report, he gave a flip of his black coat, walked past her, and sat at the foot of the bed. The bed shook a bit. He had his back to her and did not look back. “…” She sat with her legs folded underneath her, placed her hands on her knees, and stared at his back. “Um.” She hesitated. “Berger?” No response. But she waited a bit. After a breath or two and still nothing, she decided he wasn’t just being slow to respond. This time, she spoke more firmly. “Berger.” “What? Keep it quick.” She could not see any tone color at all coming from him. But… This is fine, she insisted to herself. He wouldn’t let her see his emotions, so she felt like she was walking blindly through the darkness as she opened her mouth. Instead of asking him directly, she took a different tack. “Why won’t you join the AIF?” “Were you asked to get me to join?” He immediately saw through her. “Um, well, uh.” “They keep trying to do this. My answer is no. Remember that.” When he was that blunt about it, she felt more miffed than disappointed. “Why?” “Why did you join? Why are you fighting a war, Hazel Mirildorf?” That was more or less the same thing the woman in the green suit had asked her in her dream. She had found something like an answer while playing the organ at the church today, but she still couldn’t put it to words. Just like in ’37 and just like in her nightmare, she was unsure what to say. “W-well…” She was not entirely sure. She was not confident in her answer. He must have realized that because he said more without turning around. “Sounds like you have a vague understanding, but it still hasn’t coalesced into something solid. That’s the same as not having an answer. I’m the same, Hazel. I have no idea what I want after the fighting is done. I find the means to be a lot more fun than the ends. That’s just who I am. But…” “?” “Three years ago, I said you belong on the other side of the wall. So why did you join the fight without even understanding why?” He stood up. And he slowly stood up on the foot of the bed to look down at her. With emotionless eyes. “A girl who joined the AIF just because can’t convince me of anything. …You’re worthless if you don’t have a solid reason to work with the AIF. Without a reason, what happened 5 years ago, 3 years ago, and now are all meaningless. Including getting the Sylphide killed.” “––––!” The way he phrased that last part made her get up on her knees and throw a slap toward him. But… “How dumb are you? Did you really think you could hit me?” His right hand caught her wrist before she could reach his cheek. His hard fingers dug into her skin. She could not resist his grip at all, so her brow wrinkled in pain. “Hazel. I can’t hear you, Hazel Mirildorf. The reason you began to fight and the reason you continue to fight must be there inside you. But I have that much inside me too.” He pulled her wrist toward him. His face moved toward her. The blue eyes behind his sunglasses were simply there with no emotion or strength in them. The only thing she saw in those eyes was her own reflected face. There was anger on that face. That realization surprised her, but his voice ignored all that. “But is that all you have? You, the one who said she didn’t want to run away? Do you see what I mean, Hazel Mirildorf?” He let go while pushing her wrist down. She lost her balance and landed back on her butt. He bent over to peer into her face. “Face reality, Hazel. At 11 tonight, Project Millennium will bomb Cologne to the ground. Germany’s promised millennium of peace will be destroyed, people will die, and a city will be wiped off the map. Can you tell me what needs to be done after that kind of destruction? Well, can you?” He took a breath. “If you can’t, then stay there on the other side of the wall, Hazel. You can’t fight in the war from there, but you can find your answer. So once this mission is over…” “Please stop,” she said, trying to keep him from finishing his sentence. But he did finish it. “Quit the AIF and stay far away from me.” “…You’re lying.” Hazel regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. But it was too late. She had rejected it all with two simple words. “You’re lying,” she said again. More strongly this time. “You’re lying!” “No, I’m not. I’m speaking from my heart.” “You are not. I don’t believe you,” she snapped back on reflex, shoulders tense with anger. “You’re angry. That’s why you keep saying these awful things.” Tears filled her eyes. “You’re lying! You were so nice to me before…” “Because it was my job to be, Hazel.” He immediately shut that line of reasoning down, so she shook her head. “Please join the AIF, Berger.” “You’re being illogical. Weren’t you listening? I just said I won’t join and that you should leave.” “But you’re lying. You never open up to anyone and you always ask the questions without answering any. So I know you must be lying this time too. Everything you say is the opposite of the truth!” she said. “Three years ago, you said there was a wall between us and we would never see each other again, remember? But we did see each other again. So how can I believe you when you said there was a wall between us?” “You’re too naïve. You think you can trust me when we’ve only met a few times?” He smiled bitterly. He grabbed her collar with his prosthetic hand. She tensed her shoulders a bit and looked up at him as he moved his face even closer. “Then let’s play a game, Hazel. You claim you can trust me, but you were afraid of me once, weren’t you?” “…Eh?” “You Altered when I kissed you above the North Sea. It depends on the specific Werecat, but they generally Alter when their pulse races and they sense danger. That means you didn’t trust me in that moment.” Hazel gasped. “Th-that was…” He silenced her with his lips. It was less a kiss than an alcohol-smelling touch reaching her lips and tongue. … !? The next thing she knew, he had pushed her back on the bed. He propped himself up on his hands placed below her arms and looked down at her. “I don’t know what kind of work the AIF gives its female members, but female spies sometimes use their bodies to gain intel and trust. That’s how this game works.” He removed his sunglasses and tossed them aside. “If you Alter, you’ll be safe. But that means you don’t trust me and can’t satisfy me, so I won’t join the AIF and you’ve failed your mission for the AIF. So give up.” He took a breath and stuck his pendant in his shirt’s breast pocket. Then he reached for the stomach of Hazel’s clothing. As a Werecat, lying on her back with her stomach exposed inspired an instinctual fear. … My stomach. His fingers ran along her clothing until they reached the waistband. He grabbed the knot there. “But if you can accept me like this, I’ll be satisfied and it means you trust me. …Then I’ll join the AIF.” With that, he undid the waistband. ### 577. Part 4 … Killer intent!? Hazel immediately got down when she sensed the chill down her spine. Shortly after she felt the dry sand across her entire body like when napping as a cat, the killer intent piercing her spine was joined by three gunshots. … I was shot!? In that brief moment, her gasping thought was joined by a voice. She heard three clapping sounds. She frantically looked up and then stood up. A dark shadow hung before her. It was the bottom of a black coat. That coat flapped in the heated crimson wind, revealing the man who wore it. Dog Berger had raised Gelegenheit’s hilt in front of his face to catch the bullets. She looked down and past him to see a woman standing in front of the abandoned motorcycle. “Jeanne Schmitt,” said Berger, lowering Gelegenheit. “That was pathetic. Why are you firing on the Messiah you wanted so badly?” His question was answered by a deep voice from the sky. “I don’t expect you to understand!!” “––––!?” Berger suddenly picked Hazel up and swung her around. He took a leap of several meters to avoid the metal fist that dropped directly in front of him. Hazel had seen that same fist in the Village of Pardons during the day. It belonged to the Der Held arm. It dropped from the sky and tore into the ground where Berger had been standing a moment before. A large man in civilian clothing stood up from there. By then, Hazel had already been released from Berger’s arm. Black light raced out before her eyes, flying straight toward Schweitzer. Der Held’s ether field and Gelegenheit’s dark blade repeatedly clashed before Hazel’s eyes. Countless sounds of shattering glass echoed off of the school building. The black light vanished from Gelegenheit and Berger swapped Phlogiston tanks. Hazel noticed hesitation in the Lives she could see in his back. They were directed at her. … He wants to say something. She realized what it was he wanted to say. This was so much like the scene from her nightmares. It was a schoolyard below a crimson-dyed night sky. She was always alone in her nightmares, so she knew what Berger would ask of her now. … Will he ask me to go on ahead? “Hazel,” he said. “Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf!?” “Y-yes.” He immediately answered her reply with another shout. “Give me a hand!!” She didn’t know what he meant at first. After a pause, she heard a gunshot from Jeanne on their left and saw Pale knock the bullet from the air with his prosthetic arm. She looked to Berger wielding Gelegenheit in front of her, smiled, and nodded. “Of course!!” The two Erklärungs crashed together and negated each other. So Hazel sucked in a breath and shouted her own Erklärung. ### 578. Part 4 Rose tensed on the central #6 ship’s bridge when she sensed something hit her on the port side. “I can load the Babel Kanone’s next round in just a few minutes, so if I can hold on a little longer…” Then she heard the wind through the downpour of bombs. It came from port, where she had been hit. A black figure was flying up from below, producing a soaring sound from its rapid ascent. “That Panzer!” She had seen it before. But it vanished high into the sky a moment later. And… “!” With countless sounds of wings, her vision was filled by the color white. It was a flock of doves. Hundreds of flapping wings shook the air as they flew toward the night sky. The white flock hid the black shape from view. Rose could not hide her surprise as she tilted her head and directed her attention below. No more antiair bullets were rising from the center of the city where Cologne Cathedral was located. The Requiem had lost a few of its own cannons as well. But the enemy remained overhead, dropping bombs. The Requiem’s armor, defense emblems, defense through inertial control, and the ship control and damage reduction provided by Rose’s Erklärung all worked to stop those bombs and protect the city below. But the enemy was relentless. She saw the colors blue and red arrive from either side to meet that enemy. Those were Grösse Panzers. The two who served Alfred. “Lady Rose! We are here to support you!!” shouted Neue Blau. Rose smiled back with a troubled expression. “What are you two doing here? Does this mean my big brother is already on his way?” “Indeed it does. Sir Alfred is hurrying here as well!” “I see,” she said, tapping her right foot’s toes against the bridge’s floor. Then her voice spoke from the entirety of the Requiem. “Big brother, can you hear me?” After a short delay, she received a staticky response. “I can…DLP-444LSX.” “You can? I’m glad. Right now…” She looked overhead. A light resembling a silver shooting star approached the bombers and fighters from outside the Requiem’s firing range. A silver Grösse Panzer raced, spun, and leaped through the sky while fighting something. The opponent was colored black. That was the Panzer that had ascended earlier. It was named Schwarz Löwe and it had fallen into enemy hands three years ago. But while she watched the clash between the two Panzers… “How long has it been since my big brother and bigger brother fought the same opponent?” she muttered, eyebrows raised. The exhaustion vanished from her face and she shouted toward the blue and red Panzers. “I will be your general. You two move further forward and meet with your master.” “But we are Sir Alfred’s-” She cut them off with a thin smile. “Since when can a mere Sein Frau talk back to the eldest daughter of Karlsruhe, the bloodline of generals!?” After a pause, the blue and red Panzers nodded. They spread their wings and accelerated. The bursts of wind struck Rose from either side and she assessed them with satisfaction in her voice. “Well done.” The blue and red winds drew twin curves up into the sky. They flew over the river flowing through the sky. Rose watched them leave and then sighed. At the same time, an even louder alarm blared from within the Requiem. “I have a feeling something more is coming. The bombers are slowly ascending.” She raised her head and the Babel Kanone bullet loader at the rear of the Requiem expelled a cascade of white steam from its ejection port. She narrowed her eyes at the sound. “Attention, everyone.” She mouthed the name of a certain man. “In response to the fourth alarm, all ship sectors shall be opened, command authority shall be shifted to me and me alone, and all of you shall evacuate.” She repeated that a second time over the sound of the fourth alarm. “This is a strict order.” Just as she finished, one of the enemy aerial warships succumbed to its damage and fell. The bombers ascended instead. “Something is definitely coming,” she muttered to herself, spreading her arms. Wind was whipped up all around the Requiem. The ship’s defense field was changing shape. That wouldn’t do much against a direct hit from the aerial warship, but it would be an effective wide-range umbrella against the scattering wreckage and the shockwave when it exploded. She spread out that field and continued firing the cannons while looking to the sky. Silber Löwe was still battling Scwharz Löwe. They were both moving quickly. “Are you enjoying this, bigger brother?” Immediately after directing her question into the sky, her Requiem-linked senses picked up something. A great power was rushing in from the distance. It was like a punching fist and it brought her pain just to view it. She spun her body to face that way – to the north. “–––––!?” Her entire body radiated puzzlement and surprise and Heiliger questioned her over the radio. “What is that, DLP-444LSX!?” She could not get the answer out of her throat. “That is…” She knew exactly how powerful it was because she had the same power herself. So she raised her voice. “Flee, bigger brother!! That’s my-!!” ### 579. Part 4 Jeanne and her exhausted subordinates listened to that voice after leaving destroyed Cologne and taking shelter in the mountains. She gasped and looked up at the Requiem above Cologne. “Sir!?” “Can you hear me?” repeated the voice on the radio. “Our country was burdened with massive debt after that war. In the war where we tried to stand above the people and create a country that allowed for that. That attempt was a failure and the ruin it wrought has led to the current war. …Are we fighting this war for the people or for ourselves?” He paused. “Can you hear me? Yes, you, the many knights living in Borderson territory.” The seated soldiers looked up too. “The head of the Karlsruhe family asks that you look to Cologne’s sky if this speech has inspired anything within you. Look to this land. This is the result of the old knights failing to protect your land.” “…Sir.” Jeanne took a step toward the Requiem. “Cologne was bombed because its people chose to fight and it was destroyed because we were here. The old knights were with the people, yet we could only protect a small handful. …The time has come to make a choice. Who is it you should protect and who is it that can protect them?” Someone shouted their approval and then everyone stood up. “I say this as an old knight who has fought for twenty long years.” The morning sun was starting to rise into the eastern sky. “Can you hear me? It is no longer land that we must protect. I have one request for all of the new knights out there and all of the lions slumbering in Borderson. Use your power to resist the Allied forces and their superior numbers.” ### 580. Part 5 A city’s night was spread out below. With a wartime blackout in effect, the city stretching from north to south had barely any lights in it. The city was Cologne. The few lights that were on faintly outlined the streets and main roads. Several billows of smoke rose into the sky as if to obscure the city below. The smoke came from the city’s factories. The smoke, light, and darkness were all visible directly below an airborne observation deck that allowed a view far, far into the distance. That observation deck was located on the bottom of the Requiem’s first central ship as it floated high above Cologne. The 30-yard hall’s lower surface was made of thick blast-resistant glass, so the people standing atop it felt like they were floating in midair. This late at night, there were only two people there. They were both tall men. One was a bald old man with a fully prosthetic body wearing a Geheimnis Agency dress uniform. He looked down into the glass and spoke. “You say preventing an invasion from the north and west will show this land’s Neue Kavaliers what to do.” His tone made it hard to tell if that was a statement or a question, but it earned a response from the tall man with two prosthetic arms standing next to him. The hem of his German Air Force uniform and his gray hair swayed somewhat and he sighed. “Are you saying this warship, you, and Maldrick were sent to defend Cologne in order to bring back those who followed Borderson? The Borderson faction insisted on working as an independent unit as Hounds even when they were with the Geheimnis Agency, so they had a fair number of foreign connections.” He continued from there. “Nothing has changed. Twenty years ago, when you received Lowenheit Naylor’s will and began work on establishing the Geheimnis Agency, I repeatedly argued against the idea.” “Yes, I remember you saying the age of Kavaliers leading the nation was a thing of the past.” “You do not play fair, brother. You are only protecting this country. …Even Lowenheit and Frobel chose to protect this country instead of creating a new one after that great war ended. But…” “Do not accuse me of being unfair. Explain how you yourself are fair, Heiliger.” Heiliger lowered his gaze at that. He replied while viewing the lights on the surface. “That is not something I can do. If it worked like that…would you have taken that Psyche Outer device twenty years ago? Isn’t that when everything came to a stop for Graham Karlsruhe?” The older brother, Graham, said nothing and cleared his throat. “Lowenheit, Frobel, and Bertecht feared where our country was headed,” said the younger brother. “But they did so as leaders of the people. There was some discord between us, but I thought we had arrived at a conclusion after our loss in the previous war.” “That the age of Kavaliers was over? That Bertecht’s death and Lowenheit’s will meant the end of our country’s millennium of rule by Kavaliers?” “It’s a shame, brother. Words spoken by a man with no emotions cannot move anyone to emotion.” He sighed. “I miss when you were as emotional as the second son of Maldrick.” “Alfred Maldrick vastly underestimates you.” The older brother took a step forward, still looking down. “I know you put together this aerial fleet for local air defense because you had information the Allies were targeting the Gard-class. I hear you even visited the Geheimnis Agency HQ to ask for opinions on the matter.” “We held a theoretical battle to determine what route the Allies would use to invade.” “And I hear you won against Müller and the others. First as the Allies and then as us. Even though Müller is known as the Kommandeur, the top-level combat commander.” “Sadly, my Neue Kavalier blood demands victory.” “Will that blood allow you to make good use of Alfred Maldrick?” Heiliger looked up at that question and Graham said more to him. “At 22:00 on the 29th, your aerial fleet will be dismissed and all but your core fleet will be sent west. Also, the Geheimnis Agency Army Division’s 1st Independent Mobile Grösse Panzer Platoon will be removed from my unit and joined with your core fleet to create an aerial fleet for defense of the North Sea. That will place Alfred Maldrick under your command.” Heiliger’s eyes widened slightly and he saw Graham’s unmoving back before him. He frowned and asked a question. “Brother, I am not part of your agency. I am not even a Kavalier – I am a mere soldier. That cannot change. …Look at this ship. It technically belongs to the air force, but everything inside is controlled by your agency and none of the ordinary German soldiers are allowed inside. …The military and your agency are always at odds like that.” “But you are allowed here because you are a Karlsruhe. Use that to command him. Prove that the military can work with the Kavaliers and you are sure to grab the attention of the Borderson Kavaliers who left the Agency in ’33. …The necessary paperwork has already been delivered to your aide.” Heiliger smiled at that. And he shook his head. “You really do only think about this country…and about the Kavaliers, don’t you?” “The Millennium is drawing to a close and the world’s destiny is fading fast. Only we can work to fix this problem so intertwined with our country’s history, Heiliger.” “I know all the world’s Sofort Lesers cannot read destiny past ’43, I know anxiety is running rampant around the world, and…” And… “I know Frobel and Lowenheit’s daughter…has prophesied the Messiah’s capture.” He sighed. Then he heard a quiet sound in the large observation deck. It was a solid sound like metal gears turning. It happened once, twice, thrice. At the same time, he heard something from the ceiling, so he looked up. The large ceiling had split open. The ceiling panels split in four and folded up like paper to fold up the entire ceiling. Without the ceiling, they had a view of another space, but they were not directly exposed to it. There was a thick layer of glass beyond the ceiling. Opening the ceiling panels revealed a glass ceiling above that. “What is the point of the ceiling panels?” muttered Heiliger, looking up. He saw only darkness there. The different depths of darkness were due to the tubes laid out throughout that space. And in the deepest part was a small red light. It almost looked like a star in the sky. “Is that you, Rose?” asked Graham without even looking up. He was answered by a girl’s voice coming from the center of the observation deck. “It is, bigger brother.” Rose stood behind Heiliger, in the center of the glass floor. He turned around and looked alternately between the faintly transparent girl and the red light in the depths of the darkness above. “Once every three days, my true self requires maintenance and ventilation,” said Rose, looking up. Heiliger followed her gaze. Something like white steam was spraying out into the darkness there. It also looked like smoke, but it turned to bubbles, spread out, and ascended. “Is that a liquid beyond the glass?” “The coolant must be fully replaced. That red collection of concentrated circuits is less than an inch long, but it is my true body now. Using my nerves stretched out across the Requiem produces a lot of heat.” Rose kept the smile in her voice. “I can tell. This Eingeweide used a Schreiben device, which gave me that as a new body, but I can sense how it feels far better than I can sense anything from this projection here.” “Really?” “When submerged in coolant, it feels a little like when I was sleeping below Munich. But once every three days I get to do this…which feels kind of like taking a bath, I guess. And when we do this-” Without even turning her way, Graham cleared his throat to finish her sentence for her. “You selfishly ask to see the outside world.” The amount of bubbles overhead suddenly grew, but as they rose through that space, they eventually popped and vanished. A liquid with a different pressure was pumped in and the space solidified somewhat. The distant red light wavered a bit. Rose smiled. “I can’t thank the workers up there enough. Today is my third time to do it midair, but the supply transport corridor large enough for a Grösse Panzer is really busy.” “You can see what’s happening up there?” “This me here isn’t the real me. It’s only an image created by solidifying the Tons of the air.” She pointed up at the red light. “That is my core…my naked self. Only you two get to see me like this, brothers. I haven’t even let Sir Alfred see.” “So my sister is growing up. …Well, he does appear to be an excellent man.” “But he always treats me like a child when I’m older than him.” “But you learned a lot more about him recently, didn’t you?” “Yes. I learned what happened in the past…and that I am a lot like a certain woman.” Rose smiled a little. “That woman’s wedding is in 5 days, but Sir Alfred says he will not be attending. That Captain Schweitzer is apparently taking Lowenzahn with him.” “I see,” said Heiliger, trying to pat Rose’s shoulder with his metal arm. He could not. His hand vanished inside her shoulder and stopped. “You were always such a good girl. You would always stop me and my brother’s arguments with a smile. …I am sure Lieutenant Maldrick will realize the same thing eventually.” “Yes, I think so too. I just know he will remember me forever.” Heiliger’s eyebrows moved when she said that. He opened his lips to ask something, but… “…” He stopped. Rose’s smile grew and she looked up at her brother. “Big brother, you get along with bigger brother, okay? Try to understand him. …Maybe this isn’t the nicest way of putting it, but unlike him and me, you are so ignorant and so soft.” “Yes, you could have put that nicer.” “But it’s true. I’m sure you will understand one day and then you will know exactly what I mean…but you are soft and that is a good thing. And you are ignorant, which is also a good thing.” Meanwhile, another metallic sound came from the ceiling. It was closing. Sealing back up. Heiliger removed his gaze from the girl to look up. He saw the red light in the darkness past the closing ceiling. For a brief moment, he thought the light grew brighter. At the same time, the image of his sister vanished. The ceiling had fully closed. He sighed toward the floor and looked to his brother’s back. “Take care of Rose.” He lowered his gaze a little. “Because she too has chosen you over me.” That was all Heiliger said before turning away from his brother. He walked to the large door leading from the observation deck. He left alone. ### 581. Part 5 Hazel had moved from the flagship to the RB-21 after the second alarm sounded. She was now rubbing her aching head while working inside the container carried by the RB-21 after it left the squadron. The cold and endlessly shaking container was a block of shielded armor panels 5 yards high, 7 yards wide, and more than 20 yards long. She was facing the enormous knee joint of a black male Heavy Barrel. It belonged to the Schwarz Löwe. She was performing maintenance on it. “I haven’t seen him in forever and he puts me right to work.” There were two things inside the container. The first was Schwarz Löwe and the second was a boxy metal frame sitting on drop-off guardrails. The four corners of the frame had parachutes attached and the bottom had a buffering structure welded on, but what mattered was on the inside. It contained a 750cc BMW motorcycle with sidecar the AIF had stolen from the German military. It also contained Hazel and Berger’s luggage. This part of the mission would be complete once that was dropped off on a mountain road and they jumped down with it. “Or that was the plan anyway.” Once she finished her work, Hazel sighed and placed the wrench on a wall hanger. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped off her sweat. She felt unusually hot, so she looked down and found she was still in her dress uniform. The sleeves of the jacket and shirt were stained with oil. But she decided not to worry about it. She wiped the sweat from her neck and loosened the jacket’s collar to help her cool herself down. She felt better doing something than just sitting around waiting to be dropped off. … I can forget about that nightmare and stop worrying. “Okay, I’m finally ready to go.” Berger emerged from Schwarz Löwe’s back, wiping some oil from his cheek. “You’ll see what I mean if you lie down on the floor, but whoever’s pursuing us is having a lot of fun doing it. They started firing below the ship when they realized we were going to drop something off.” “Can we fire back?” “We are, but it’s not much help. The kind of bullets a transport ship’s equipped with can’t even scratch a warship’s armor.” “Th-then does that mean we can’t be dropped off?” Berger smiled a little and turned toward the internal phone on the wall. “These people know how to have some fun for German soldiers, so we’re gonna play along.” He picked up the phone. “Hazel, get inside the sidecar and curl up.” “Is there nothing else I can do?” “Just one thing: obey every instruction you receive from me, the second cleverest guy in the world. Do it immediately and without delay.” She nodded and walked toward the drop-off frame. The ship was shaking so much she couldn’t even hear her own footsteps. … It’s like my legs are tingling. The enemy shots were hitting nearby. She realized now just how leisurely a pace she had taken in completing the maintenance earlier. Corelle’s voice arrived over a shipwide announcement. “Attention container personnel. We have no choice but to leave this airspace and-” “Hold on, Corelle! Their mission is only to pursue us. I don’t know why that is, but how long do you think until he interception unit arrives?” “We’re already picking them up on radar. They will be too close for us to escape in 2 minutes 30 seconds.” “Which means those ships behind us will leave after 2 minutes and 30 seconds. That settles it,” declared Berger. “Make an accelerated ascent with the container door open. Once the enemy is lured in by that, we’ll launch the frame with all we’ve got.” “And how will that help?” “We’ll soar right over their heads.” Hearing that, Hazel came to a stop partway through climbing over one of the frame’s poles. “Um, Berger.” “Why do you look so worried? We can get down to the surface. You should look happier.” “I was kind of hoping not to die yet.” “Then you’re in luck because you get to live for another 2 minutes at least. So you aren’t dying yet. Anyway, once we’re launched, we can land behind them. And aerial ships can’t make a 180 right away. It’s like a game.” “A game?” she asked. “They win if they can keep us from dropping until they pass the baton to that other force. We win if we can drop to the surface. Get it know, Hazel Mirildorf?” Then he spoke into the phone. “Corelle, this is in your hands now. Climb high enough for us to launch far enough. As a mercenary, I don’t want this mission to end in failure. …And we can still pull it off. This is destiny.” He hung up. Hazel noticed something when she saw him approaching the frame. There was no concern of fear in his face or Lives. That meant this would be fine. So a look of relief came to her own face. He placed his hand on the frame and tilted his head. “You’re smiling. Did the tension finally drive you insane? Guess it was bound to do that eventually.” “No!” she shouted back, but he was no longer looking her way. His expression made it clear they didn’t have much time. He silently reached a hand inside the frame, removed the bandolier attached between the sidecar and motorcycle, and pulled out a light machinegun. It was a German heavy weapon known as an MG 34. “What are you doing with that?” He attached the weapon’s barrel with practiced hand while he replied. “Once the container door opens, the enemy ship’ll be right there. I can’t guarantee anything, but this might come in handy.” He sat down on the frame and attached a drum magazine to the MG 34. “Also, we can’t forget our personal parachutes.” There were two white cloth packages similar to pillows hanging on wall latches. He walked over to them while Hazel fastened her seatbelt. And… “Is there really nothing I can do?” “Hm…oh, I know. You see those three buttons on the wall? You can operate them.” “They say ‘virtual and physical ay door controls’ and ‘drop-off lift control’.” “Yeah, and I can’t operate them with my legs stuck below the machinegun. Can you reach?” She reached her hand to the side. The seatbelt dug painfully into her shoulders, but her fingers reached the buttons outside the frame. “I can.” Then the container shook like it had been struck. … Artillery? Her question was answered by Corelle, not Berger who was over at the wall removing the parachutes. “We’ve started our ascent, so it’s time to do this! Berger, if you’re not all talk, you’d better be ready!” “Oh, shut up.” Berger fought the shaking and had a definite smile in his voice. “Now, Hazel, do it in this order: the top green button is the safety. It activates the virtual door. Press that and then the red button below it to open the physical door. Then press the bottom green button to launch us.” “Got it.” She pressed the buttons in the exact order he had asked. And, with his back still turned, Berger said one more thing. “So do that once I say ‘go’, okay?” “Eh?” She heard the wind roaring. She looked back. The container door was open and the sheet of light known as the virtual door had appeared past it. The virtual door prevented any pressure difference, so there was no powerful blast of wind. But when she looked ahead again, she found Berger looking back in obvious surprise. “Hey! Hazel! What did you do!?” “U-um, exactly what you told me to?” “Why would you do it right away?” “You told me to obey all of your instructions ‘immediately and without delay’!” The roar from behind her was so loud it nearly drowned out her voice and light shined into the container. The pursuing ship was shining a searchlight on the ascending RB-21. Berger removed the two parachutes from the wall and ran over to her. “Hazel! Get out of there!” She frantically worked at her seatbelt. “!?” But then she smelled explosives. The next thing she knew, Berger was vanishing into the distance ahead of her. A painful pressure pushed forward at her as she was accelerated backwards. The view around her changed, as did the temperature and so much more. She had left the cramped container and entered the wide open sky. She had been launched into the empty night along with the frame. ### 582. Part 5 Schweitzer and Lowenzahn stood in a small room. In fact, it was a one-room house. There was a fireplace on the north wall and windows on the east and west walls. The smell of wood hung strongly in the air, which helped it feel warm. But there was one thing the room lacked. “There’s no bed even though we’re supposed to be staying the night. Is this some form of harassment?” “Apparently an elderly Schattenbild lived here. A living shadow probably wasn’t in the habit of sleeping.” “Hmm. Well, it wasn’t like we were actually planning to stay the night.” Lowenzahn approached the western window. She chose a position that wouldn’t cast her shadow on the closed curtain, placed her fingers on the edge of the thick curtain, and pulled it back just enough to see out. It was dark outside. The forest village didn’t provide much visibility, but she could see the bonfire that was being kept burning in the center square for today’s special event. She also saw light in a small window near that. “The Messiah still hasn’t made her move. The pursuit team should be in position by now, but at this rate…” Lowenzahn did not receive a response. Curious, she looked to the window visible through the cracked curtain. She could just barely make out the scene behind her reflected in the glass. Schweitzer sat in a chair by the eastern window with his head resting in his hand. He seemed to be lost in thought. “Captain?” No response. “Captain Hellard?” “I’m listening.” “Then how about responding from time to time?” Lowenzahn turned around and sighed. She moved away from the window. She stopped just a few steps away from him. He was tall even when seated. The shoulder of his Der Held prosthetic arm came up to her chest. So she rested her elbow on its flat shoulder armor. “If you could redo your life, would you?” “It isn’t possible. Not unless you altered the space-time Tons at the very center of the world.” And after a pause, “Redo it, huh?” That seemed to remind him of something. “Back in high school, we had this one science assignment. It was a simple orbital calculation. It gave you the answer and you were supposed to derive the formula and then provide a proof for it. …But we found it to be such a difficult problem at the time. We were spinning the globe around and checking through our physics text, desperate for the solution.” “Yeah?” “But the results of our calculations were all different. We had the formula partially derived, but we didn’t know what we needed to complete it. We only had a week before the assignment was due, so we spent six days struggling with it.” “Yeah?” “But we just could not find the solution. We had all given up on the final morning before it was due, but then one of us arrived with the solution. And with it copied into all of our notebooks.” “Yeah?” “Do you know how that person found the answer?” “No, but I’d love to find out.” “They threw out the partial formula we had worked together to make and redid it all from the beginning.” “Was that person Eryngium?” Lowenzahn’s guess made Schweitzer freeze. A few moments of silence followed. But he finally smiled. “I worried you, didn’t I?” He nodded. “The person who brought us the answer was Dog Berger. He’s always been an expert at throwing out old things. Eryngium, Marsch, Alfred, and I were all thankful.” “I see…” “But during our celebration that night, Eryngium said she could have created a new formula using the one we had all made together.” “But didn’t that Berger person throw out the old one because she couldn’t do that?” “It’s hard to say. Maybe she could have. …But when she learned how he had done it, she smiled and said something to him.” He sighed. “She told him to always do things his way.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Lowenzahn draped her arms around his head from behind. “Is simply redoing things wrong? Or is throwing out the old things wrong?” “I don’t know either. But it is what she said. And I will respect that even if she no longer remembers any of it. Besides…all of these questions were not redone – they were inherited.” “Inherited?” “Five years ago, a girl appeared before me saying she didn’t want to run away. She still hasn’t found an answer to her question…but I have some hope that she will be able to find it.” “We are about to capture that girl. …I saw her earlier. She was an ignorant fräulein who worries so much about others and thinks no one will really hurt her.” “The Messiah who accepts everyone and the young man with a divine name who rejects everyone.” “I think both of those options are wrong. You can’t accept everything or get rid of everything. You need to redo things partway through.” “Why?” “Can you feel this?” asked Lowenzahn, pressing her chest against his back. “My chest feels funny, doesn’t it?” “Do not ask me questions with only awkward answers.” “Oh, you are adorable. But listen. …When you saved me at that hospital so long ago, I was undergoing an Eingeweide implantation surgery.” Schweitzer tensed. He tried to turn around, but she stopped him by pressing her face against his head. “I have an Eingeweide heart called Neue Erde. It was partially because the heart disease I inherited from my mother had worsened…but it was also to implant this, which is incorporated into my skeleton too.” “Stop.” “I have no left breast. It was used to create the machine and remade. It was completely redone.” The tension drained from Schweitzer’s body. “Does Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen…let you prophesy?” “You can…think of it that way if you want.” “So you too gained power by redoing something.” “That is one way of doing things,” she replied. She let go of his arm and took a step back. “And remember that some people can only do things that way.” “I will,” he said, standing up. He looked back and she held her arms lightly to her chest and refused to look him in the eye. She cleared her throat and turned to the curtain covering the window she had been looking out earlier. “That Dog Berger person seems to be having a rough time of it too.” “Yes, he has been carrying a certain bond with him all this time as he fights.” “A bond?” asked Lowenzahn, looking back. Schweitzer raised his Der Held for her to see. “His Gelegenheit was created using two things. The first was his own divine power. Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen removes the seal on that power.” “And the other thing?” “Eryngium Ilfheim’s memories. Using its Ober Beweisen will revive her memories. And as long as those remain inside Gelegenheit, he will never use his divine power.” He looked up. “Because that preserves the fact that he abandoned her.” ### 583. Part 5 Her Messiah eye rapidly filled with the color red and emitted heat. But Hazel still faced forward. The man named Schweitzer gasped. “–––––!?” His prosthetic arm’s fist dropped to the ground like it was out of fuel. Her Messiah allowed her to access High Organ devices to pressurize and depressurize their power or even outright control them. … Unfortunately, the Allies’ High Organ devices are in the experimental phase, so I haven’t been able to practice this. It felt similar to the assistance she had provided Berger three years ago. She did the same thing here. “Gah,” growled Schweitzer as he reactivated his arm. He lifted his fist and directed it toward Berger. But by then, Berger was already swinging Gelegenheit’s blade down toward him. In that instant, a new Erklärung rang out. She looked back to see familiar man standing in front of the school building. Berger shouted his name. “ ‘Schütze Puppe’ Bermark Vier!?” The distraction delayed Berger’s actions, so Schweitzer managed to move away and Bermark’s gunshots flew in. Four of them. “I do apologize, but these were my orders.” Hazel held her sword at the ready and prepared to dodge the incoming bullets. She was too slow for that and she knew it. She pulled a card from the holder at her hip and tossed it into the air where she struck it with her sword. It activated and a field of power expanded in less than an instant, whipping up the wind. But the murderous Tons forming the bullets dodged around that field like they had a mind of their own. “!?” Puzzled, Hazel let go of her sword. Her feline instincts told her to leap backwards, but she wasn’t going to make it. Her legs tangled together, she lost her balance, and she started to trip. She nearly called out for help, but stopped herself. Berger was fighting and Pale was battling Jeanne. But she did not panic. She couldn’t prevent herself from falling, but… The bullets lost their glow, becoming ordinary bullets. The four shots grazed her left shoulder and hit the ground behind her. Thank goodness, she thought while falling back onto her butt. There was pain, but something else needed her immediate attention. She collected her sword while seated on the ground and reflected her right eye in its blade. She viewed its red color. “Let’s end this.” She shouted her Aerial Words. Schweitzer’s Der Held stopped and the fist dropped to the ground. Bermark’s Freischütz dropped its magazine to the ground. Jeanne was removed from the Vaterland’s protection and her movement speed dropped. Only Berger’s Gelegenheit still functioned. It only lasted a moment, but that was all they needed. Hazel stood up with feline grace and began running. “Berger! General Pale! Hurr-” She never finished the word. <…does not recognize the Messiah’s power.> Agonizing pain ran through her Messiah eye like someone had jammed a claw into it. ### 584. Part 5 Hazel was tossed around all over the place atop Scwharz Löwe’s shoulder. A container created from one of the RB-21’s fixed seats had been installed there, presumably a rush job by Corelle. She braced her legs against the inside of the container to holder herself in place and faced their opponent with her hair dancing in the wind. Her right eye was already colored red. And she was linked to Scwharz Löwe. The enemy she saw was colored silver. It was surrounded by the waves of bluish-white Lives carried by the wind. The silver Heavy Barrel left the empty sky and the crimson-burning land behind to rush toward them. It emitted a powerful but wavering wind from its wings. “The Messiah’s presence here is beyond anything I predicted.” “I can’t say I predicted getting a chance to fight a bigshot like you while just trying to escape, General Graham Karlsruhe, second in command of the Geheimnis Agency!” Berger spoke through Scwharz Löwe’s vocal device. The wind was on the move. They raced through the sky, Scwharz Löwe’s sword and Heiliger’s sword clashed before Hazel’s eyes, and sparks flew. This time, they didn’t have the equipment necessary to remake Gelegenheit for use by a Heavy Barrel. The battle came down to pure sword skills and a rapid series of strikes had begun. Even when they dodged and escaped, Silber Löwe would circle back in front of them soon enough. He used only the machine’s abilities, never using an Ober Emblem, yet he fought equally with the Messiah-assisted Scwharz Löwe. “I will take the Messiah from you, divinely-named young man.” “She isn’t just some thing to be taken!!” Berger attacked once and Heiliger attacked thrice in return. “!?” They dodged it. She read the wind and conveyed the information to him. But the next attack was already coming. “I will end this here and fulfill our commander’s prophecy.” Berger did not respond. He was too preoccupied. Silber Löwe suddenly accelerated through the sky like it had loosed all the power it had built up. It charged in even faster than before, never letting up on the attacks. “!?” Berger made an attack just before the moment of impact, but it was deflected. Silber Löwe’s shoulder crashed into them. They heard a voice in that moment. “Reflex speed: approximately x180. Power pressurization: x20.” Silber Löwe emitted white steam from its entire body and then broke through the cloud of steam. Its shoulder dug into Schwarz Löwe’s gut, breaking both their armors, and… “––––––!!” Schwarz Löwe was launched backwards. The sound of breaking metal was accompanied by a powerful impact pushing up at them from below. “Kyah!!” Hazel doubled over, feeling like her organs were being pushed up on, but then she realized the force had left her. She shut her eyes for a moment and reopened them to see the night sky. She saw the moon shining in the terribly calm heights. “Eh?” She was flying through the sky. She had been launched from Schwarz Löwe’s container. Only when she felt the wind blowing up at her long hair and skirt did she realize she had begun to descend. She had entered one of the simplest of actions: a fall. A brief cry escaped her lips, but then it felt like her lungs were out of air. She had nothing to support herself and nothing to orient herself. Her hands only clawed at empty space while her head and shoulders felt a wall of air. The only things nearby were the Lives of the night breeze. She was falling. ### 585. Part 5 The Kaiser saw it happening with the blue and red Grösse Panzers behind it. The Requiem was turning into a dragon in the sky above broken Cologne. The Kaiser did not at all hesitate as it flew toward Cologne now. “It can’t be!?” it shouted. It accelerated. The wall of turbulence was thick and tossed the Panzer about. Graham’s voice could be heard over the powerful shaking. “I have cast out my Tragisch to become a bridge between the new knights and the people and to become the gate leading the Messiah to the Neue Erde. I have two commands for you now.” The Requiem dragon was broken and injured in a few places. It didn’t look capable of flight, but it looked upwards all the same. “First, I, Graham Karlsruhe, immediately pass the position of Geheimnis Agency second in command to the next in line.” I walk the path of shared silence.> “Sir!” shouted the Kaiser. “Lady Rose!” It accelerated, rushed, and reached a hand out toward something it could never actually reach. Past that hand, the dragon breathed a calm sigh. “Heiliger Karlsruhe. Take my place and work yourself to the bone as a bridge between the people and the Neue Kavaliers.” ### 586. Part 6 The domed room was filled with the color white. This was the collection of knowledge below Munich’s central hospital where Rose used to sleep. The room had a diameter of 20 yards and the floor had several bedlike holes in it. The only light source was at the very center of the ceiling and that light illuminated the intricate patterns carved into the walls that almost looked like woven art. Various measuring equipment and sensors sat on movable stepladders and cargo carts by the walls and simple drawing boards sat on the floor. It all looked like an art exhibit at first. The clock sitting on one stepladder said it was 2:37. And that was AM, not PM. Only one person was seen among the machinery and drawings of the patterns. He was a balding old man with a lab coat hanging over his skinny frame. The surrounding silence and the early morning hour meant nothing to him as he peered through the lens of a measuring device on a stepladder and viewed a magnified version of one wall pattern in particular. “How very strange.” He had the devices placed on different steps based on their function, so he did not have to look to reach his hand for the side of the one he wanted. He felt across the many switches on its side and pressed the one with a rounded end. The device produced the distinctive click of a camera. “What did you learn here, Marsch Gant? When you developed the Sylphide, you were the first one the Karlsruhe family allowed in here. And after you died and Lady Rose awakened, this forbidden door was opened to the rest of us. But by then, you had finished telling your riddles.” He pulled a white glove from his lab coat’s pocket and put it on. He hesitantly reached out one finger of that hand. He touched a part of the wall pattern. A white plate a foot long and an inch wide had been embedded in the wall there. The color looked a lot newer than the plates with the other patterns engraved into them. “My readings suggest this plate was installed approximately 25 years ago. It must be the most recent one. …It was placed here by Frobel Naylor. That much I know. And I know our commander knows nothing of it.” There was something odd about the plate he had just touched. The other plates reflected the light from the ceiling with their intricate patterns, but this one was flat. “Unlike the other patterns, this one must have originally said something in Old German.” But there was nothing there now. It had been scraped off. He stopped tracing his finger across the plate and held his white-gloved hand in front of his face. He suddenly opened his mouth, bit the glove’s fingertip, and pulled it from his hand. He spat out the glove and reached his bare hand out toward the scars where something had been scraped off. “I’m being silly.” But he stopped just before touching it. With a smile on his otherwise serious face. He looked those scars. “What used to be here? The Sofort Leser involved in the creation of the Geheimnis Agency left a message for the future, but why was it erased? Why has it been hidden from us? What was it? What was here?” He looked down at the measuring equipment. The screen in the center of the device displayed a grayscale image of the marks on the plate. He started messing with the switches next to the screen. A change came over the grayscale image. “It was only sloppily erased,” he said as he stopped operating the device. The grayscale image had undergone one primary change: a few words were now visible alongside the straight lines scraped horizontally across it. “I can make out the words ‘war’, ‘Nibelung’, ‘1943’, ‘sin’, and lastly…” He took a breath. “ ‘Take care of-’ ” He looked down again. The smile from before was gone, but his lips did mouth something. And then he moved. He swung his right hand back behind him. “Stay out.” He was answered by a male voice at the room’s entrance behind him. “Not the welcome I’m used to as one of the Fünf Leithammel, ‘Dachs’ Elrich.” “The young Intelligence Division Chief?” Some brightness entered Development Division Chief Elrich’s voice as he turned around. An old man stood in the darkness of the corridor leading to the room. He wore a gray three piece suit and rubbed his bald head. “After visiting some newspaper offices around the country, I flew here. I didn’t find you at the base and was told you had taken up wall polishing as a new hobby.” “Show some respect to a man two years your elder, Witzmann. Also…” He smiled bitterly. “I will not ask who told you about the ‘sleep’. You always seem to know everything going on around the country. It’s quite a mystery. How do you do it?” “The trick is to never sleep, Elrich. Simple, right?” Witzmann’s slit-like narrow eyes bent in amusement and he pulled a thick envelope from his pocket. “I came all the way out here because there is something I hoped to discuss with you in private, Elrich.” He kept his voice casual. “It is related to the Messiah.” ### 587. Part 6 After Berger undid her waistband, he raised her hands overhead. Hazel lowered her head but still turned her eyes up to look at him. He was looking at her. Lit from behind by the ceiling light, his expressionless face almost looked angry. She was entirely defenseless with her arms up over her head. Her jacket and shirt were both dresses, so… “I can remove it all just by unbuttoning them from the top. Makes things easy.” While she silently wondered what was about to happen, he reached out his metal left hand. … He’s going to unbutton it? Her feline instincts meant anything covering her vision from above inspired fear. So she lowered her head even more. “Don’t struggle.” His hand reached past her head, gathered her raised wrists together, and pinned them down on the bed. “–––––!?” “Sorry, but I don’t trust you, Hazel Mirildorf.” He pushed his knee up and in between her legs from over her skirt. “…Stop.” “You want me to stop? But isn’t this your job? And it’s how the game is played, Hazel. If you’re scared, then let your pulse and instincts take over. Then you can escape.” That pissed her off a little. Her breathing was a little heavy due to nerves, but her pulse wasn’t all that elevated. “I-I’m not afraid, Berg-” He sealed her lips with his. “!” This wasn’t just a kiss. He placed his lips around her lower lip and gently bit it. … His tongue. It parted her lips and entered her mouth. He was licking inside her mouth. She didn’t reject it, so he ran his tongue along her teeth and then captured her tongue with it, making her gasp. It felt like having a soft, wet finger moving around in her mouth. After a long, sticky moment, he released her just as she had shut her eyes and was feeling a need for air. She parted her damp lips to suck in and then release a breath. But instead… “Nh.” He once more bit her lip as she opened them for air. His tongue held hers down and she couldn’t breathe. Panic filled her mind. But after what felt like forever, he released her again…and did the same thing again. She twisted below him, but she could not escape. … Stop. She was breathing much heavier now, but not just from nerves. Of course she was when she needed air. “That’s cheating.” After another brief respite, he did the same thing again. But there was more this time. … My jacket’s buttons. He was using his free hand to unbutton them one at a time, starting from the top. She could tell from how his fingers were moving. “Nh.” By the time he released her lips with one final lick, the front of her jacket was open. Without a moment’s delay, he was undoing the buttons for her shirt’s collar. When he revealed her throat and the choker she wore there, she quickly pulled her chin down against it. She let out a damp, heated breath and tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. “I won’t remove the choker,” he said. “Because I don’t want to deal with the mewing of a frightened cat. And…” He did not smile. “Hazel, you’re my pet cat right now. Why would I remove the collar that proves it?” She shook her head to say that wasn’t true. He reached out his hand and continued unbuttoning her shirt regardless. The skin of her chest came into view along with her white underwear and the air touched her belly as it rose and fell from her heavy breathing. The overhead light shined on her thighs as well. She was too preoccupied to notice the chill of the air on her heated skin. With nothing holding her skirt in place, she could move her legs more freely now. She raised her knees somewhat, but he did not move from between her legs. “Shouldn’t you shut your eyes, Hazel?” He rubbed his hand from her side to her stomach and she let out a quiet shriek, but she also shook her head. “This isn’t happening.” “It is. And your extreme tension is all the proof you need. Your belly is hopping up and down like a frog and beads of sweat are forming on your tense skin.” He rubbed his fingers between her ribs and without warning… “You’re scared, aren’t you?” He pressed his index finger directly into her exposed navel. “!?” He pushed his finger into the hole. She felt a mixture of ticklishness and pain, like he was directly pushing on her organs, so she bent backwards on instinct. … Stop. He used a kiss and his tongue to silence any protests and her pulse shot up. … No. She calmed her pulse. She suppressed it. She kept her eyes open even as tears spilled from them and she bent her body. … He’s testing me! He slid his hand up from her navel and undid the front hook. He opened the front of his own shirt and ended the kiss. “Hazel, what do you think of this situation?” “…It isn’t real. You don’t mean it, do you? Because, um, you…” “Oh, I mean it.” His fingers touched her chest and his lips moved from her neck to her right shoulder and then to her chest. The air on her chest made her bristle and her pulse quicken. … What is he going to do to me? That fear gradually grew inside her. “No, you don’t.” Her voice was scratchy and leapt in volume at what she felt next. “Ah, d-don’t bite me!!” “Dogs bite cats. It’s what they do. Besides, your dad punched me for no good reason, so this is just me giving him a reason after the fact.” He touched the last piece of clothing still covering her. “Wai-” He pulled it down before she could tell him to wait. He pulled her underwear down with enough force to tear it and moved half a step forward to move past it. She tried to close her legs but could not. She only succeeded in pressing her knees against his hips. He lifted his own knees and pulled the underwear down from her thighs and fully away. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw her underwear tossed aside and discarded. “No, d-don’t look.” “What are you talking about, Hazel? I know what it takes for a woman to join the AIF. I’m the one who told you about it 3 years ago, after all. …And since you’re here now…well, I can do the math.” “…Eek.” “I don’t know who your first was, but you can pass my apologies on to him.” “P-please stop this.” “Then run away. Before you’re defiled any further.” … That’s not it. Hazel twisted her body. She shut her eyes and gathered strength in her hands. Her half-removed shirt tangled around her arms as she broke free of his pinning hand. She used her freed right hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Please don’t do this based on an obvious lie.” “What lie would that be?” “It isn’t like you to lie like this.” His face twisted for just a moment when she said that, but he didn’t say anything more. She realized he had placed his hands behind her knees. A moment later, he spread her legs and then leaned over her. She gasped when she saw his bare chest. … No. She tried to shut her eyes. She felt herself becoming a cat. The sensation was a combination of a bristling, a rejection of her surroundings, and an escape from danger. It spread from her butt, up her back, and around to the rest of her. “No!” Just then… “––––––” Berger stopped. He froze. She realized something had left her along with all the sweat soaking her. The oppressive fear wasn’t there. … Eh? She raised her lowered head. Berger’s eyes were looking straight down at her. But that wasn’t all she saw. Something else hung directly between their eyes. “That’s…” She wiped away her tears to see it more clearly. Her scratchy voice named the red gem she saw floating in the air. “Your…pendant.” It had slipped from his breast pocket when he removed his shirt. ### 588. Part 6 The white Grösse Panzer named Kaiser was fighting at an altitude of 20 thousand feet. The area below it was flooded with enemies. They were like the water flowing through a river. The Kaiser didn’t even need to aim to hit one. The Kaiser instructed the blue and red Panzers to move out ahead while it ascended with Panzer Kleid rippling. Looking down, it could see the river of destruction was primarily made of giant bombers. The wide Lancaster Mk2s were 23 yards long and 36 yards wide and they used 6-bomber formations arranged at different altitudes to avoid gathering together in a flat plane that would make them easier to shoot down all at once. They flew with four spirit engine jets, but they flew slowly since the output of the engines was reduced to keep them under control in the moonlight. The smaller crafts flying protectively above and below the bombers were escort fighters. Those were England’s famous Spitfires. 24 of them were gathered in every break between the bomber formations. But that wasn’t all. Aerial cruisers also flew through the gaps between bomber formations. The Spitfires protected the bomber formation either following or leading them and the aerial warships acted as a barrier for any enemy crafts attempting to move from one bomber formation to another. The arrangement took all of their attack ranges into account. Three ships were visible in the distance. An aerial cruiser with a destroyer on either side of it. The white Grösse Panzer approached that aerial cruiser instead of the bomber formations. The aerial warship launched Pseudo-Drach Kanone beams. But the Kaiser dodged that light as easily as racing through an empty field. It raised its six wings, slammed them down, and sometimes spread them to change course while always moving ever forward. The light grazed its sides, elbows, and wingtips, but it never allowed a single direct hit. Carried by the dragon emblems on its shoulders, it raced through the night sky with a roar of wind. Finally, that several-mile midair dash came to an end. The white Grösse Panzer had reached the three large ships. The Kaiser had arrived at its primary target. It rapidly braked and then jerked to the left. It flew to the destroyer’s port side, where its port cannons could take aim. Just as the portside armor opened up and the cannons emerged, the Kaiser stabbed its sword into the destroyer’s belly using a backhand grip. With a loud crash, the sword sank in to the hilt. The following noise sounded like the roar of great quantities of water. The Kaiser spread its six wings and poured on all the acceleration it could muster. The slice had begun. The acceleration sliced the destroyer’s belly open with the sword. The scream of tearing metal was in tune with the Kaiser’s acceleration. It sliced through to the bow in mere moments. And then… “Ah,” rang a voice with the sword still piercing the destroyer. It started with a sound. A burning sound rang out into the night sky. With a tone of surprise, all of the ship’s windows shattered, its metal bulkheads ruptured, and white-hot light erupted from within. The damage did not end there. The force pushing out from the horizontal fissure split it apart vertically. The destroyer was more than 150 yards long, yet it was bisected from its split belly. It was like a colossal creature had scratched the fissure with a massive claw, splitting it all the way open. The ship split apart, its bottom half separating as a flat rectangle. Only the top half above the waterline remained floating in the sky. But that wasn’t going to last. The top half was kept afloat by its float emblems, but the metal continued to cry out in protest as it spewed the contents of its belly into the air below. That included ammo containers, fuel tanks, and the giant engines for its rear thrusters. Those engines were 40 yards long and 7 yards in diameter, so without the lower frame to support them, their own thrust tilted them downwards and accelerated them in that direction. The ship could not survive its own momentum and bent down the center. The destroyer bent like it had been punched from above. The thrust of the giant engines joined that and the ammo and fuel were ignited by the power of the moonlight. The explosion blossomed out from within. All of the armor was blown away and the destroyer was enveloped in flames. It burned. The frame remained, so a flaming hulk shaped like a destroyer started descending from the sky. The giant bonfire fell, leaving behind only the fiery petals of its explosions and the white Grösse Panzer. The Kaiser did not even watch the defeated ship fall. It kicked off the air and took flight with the casualness of someone on a simple evening stroll. It dodged the barrage of bullets and Drache Kanone beams to arrive in a blind spot of the aerial cruiser flying in the center. That is, directly above the bridge. It spun around in the air, readied its sword, and dropped down. It could see the top of the bridge and it landed there with the force of a crash. By then, the sword had already stabbed its full length into the bridge’s roof. A roar of destruction left the Kaiser’s mouth. ### 589. Part 6 Schwarz Löwe and Silber Löwe accelerated simultaneously to pursue Hazel. “You’ve got a hell of a violent way of acquiring your supposed Messiah!” “Says the man who once sliced open the Sylphide.” “No, I’m willing to give you the title of the world’s most violent man.” Berger took a breath. “It’s a race then.” They accelerated, the black Ober Emblem competing against the silver machine’s pressurization. Their goal was the girl falling from an altitude of approximately 6000 yards. Schwarz Löwe used its black wings to fly ever onward and downward. It flew faster and swifter. The air resistance grew, so it closed its spread wings and focused on gravitational acceleration. The tips of the wings formed vacuums as they tore through the night, splitting the air and summoning the wind. The river of bombers lay ahead. It charged through them without hesitation or fear. It passed by and through in an instant, shooting down past the falling bombs. Silber Löwe did the same. They left sound behind in the sky above while dropping toward the burning city below. They both accelerated. White clouds formed along the points of their armor, drawing out lines leading far behind them. Those were vapor trails. The curved aerial armor attached to their Panzer Kleids began to strain. The light metal armor was designed to reduce air resistance as much as possible, but even they were protesting from the powerful wind pressure. They flew. “–––––!” There she was. At first, she was only visible as a golden color. Her hair fluttered above the crimson of Cologne. Silber Löwe broke through the white vapor umbrella to move out ahead. Scwharz Löwe muttered to himself while hearing the low percussion noise of the atmospheric impact. “This fall wasn’t enough for you to Alter, Hazel?” The black Panzer flapped its wings for more speed, breaking through its own vapor umbrella and coming up alongside the silver one. The black one opened the area where its vocal device had been and let out a roar. The indistinct roar continued as it moved out ahead. Hazel was there. And a new color was visible behind her. The many white colors was the flock of doves Hazel had Tuned into existence. They were flying behind her. The two Panzers accelerated and reached their hands out toward the gold visible among the red of flames and white of wings. The black one’s willpower-powered Ober Emblem and the silver one’s high-level machinery provided endless acceleration that let them form two white lines that split apart the night sky. The two shooting stars linked the black sky to the red earth. The wings at the very end of those lines guided their speed. “…!” They both raised bestial cries. They could reach Hazel. She was right there in front of them, her tears scattering into the air rushing around her. But she reached out her hand. She shouted something and smiled while crying. “––––!?” She fell with explosive speed and directed her hand toward the bearer of destiny. The black one roared and answered her. The white color scattered as if clearing a path for the black Panzer. “–––––!!” The black one moved forward and placed its hand protectively below the golden person. Just then, a loud voice pierced the night sky. A girl’s voice. “Flee, bigger brother!! That’s my-!!” The silver Panzer reacted to that clear cry while pursuing the black one. With a sound like an umbrella forcefully opening, Silber Löwe braked in midair. “!?” Without warning, it flew up toward the Gard-class warship floating above. Still falling, Schwarz Löwe changed the direction of its acceleration. Shifting a bit to the side to escape this airspace. “Is that what I think it is!?” asked Hazel from Schwarz Löwe’s hand. It was. The attack had arrived. ### 590. Part 6 Rose’s warning had allowed Heiliger to avoid the earlier Kurz Babel attack, but when he heard Graham’s radio transmission playing in the bridge, he uncrossed his prosthetic arms while a word escaped his mouth. “Brother!?” “This command has already been sent to the military. Starting tomorrow, you and your men will officially be Neue Kavaliers.” “Is that what that document was!?” Heiliger was on the verge of tears as he slammed his clenched fists against the bridge’s front window. Cracks radiated out through the glass, covering it with white, but he didn’t care. “That’s not fair. It’s just not, brother.” Heiliger fell to his knees, his fists still pressed against the glass. “Why do you always force these things onto me?” He voice was vanishingly quiet, but the voice on the radio was the opposite. “Second, I have a request for Lowenzahn Naylor, who has already revealed herself as the Geheimnis Agency commander.” ### 591. Part 7 Once the high-speed transport ship took an ascending trajectory, Heiliger saw something unbelievable. The enemy suddenly opened the container positioned between the ship’s two hulls. They were about 300 yards away with a height difference of about 50 yards, so they were very close. “What are they doing now!?” The helmsman hurriedly turned the wheel to take evasive action. The ship more tilted than turned, but it was too late. They could not escape. Just as they expected some kind of attack, something else flew out. “!?” No one on the bridge understood what they had just seen. A motorcycle surrounded by a boxy frame had flown out. That much would have been a standard cargo drop off. They had done the same on German Air Force jobs a few times. Except its parachutes failed to open. And… “A woman!?” They all saw the long blonde hair dancing within the frame. But that wasn’t all. After throwing out the framed blonde, the transport ship quickly reaccelerated while its container closed back up, but another figure slipped out through the closing door at the last second. The figure was notably dark even in the shadows of the night. A black coat flapped like wings as the person flew out into the empty air. It was a man. “He’s got a machinegun!” shouted the navigator after seeing what the man held in his right hand. At the same time, the young man in black raised his left arm. Like a magic trick, a white cloth spread out from his opened left hand and it spread further out behind him as he fell. A massive white flower blossomed in the darkness. It was a parachute. He was tugged backwards for just a moment as his falling speed was canceled out. Then he let go. He landed on the starboard deck of the aerial cruiser. The falling frame full of blonde hair similarly landed on the port deck. The momentum of the launch and the ship’s rightward turn caused the frame to bounce and spin leftward across the deck, approaching the edge fast. In that moment, Heiliger saw the girl in the frame illuminated by a searchlight. She was screaming but not shutting her eyes. Her right eye was brown and the left was blue. “The Messiah is here!?” gasped Heiliger. ### 592. Part 7 “Dammit,” muttered Berger, his arms giving out below him. Hazel cried out and caught him in her arms as he fell into her chest. The bed creaked and the air moved for just a moment before stopping. “…” He was motionless. So was she. But her sweat poured out in relief. She could tell her breaths were heated but calm. She felt the beating of his heart as she held him in her arms. His heartrate was somewhat elevated. Noticing that helped her relax. And… “This is a first…” … I’ve never held him before. His body was warm, his long black hair was chilly, and his heated skin felt nice. She didn’t know how tightly to hold him, but her tearful eyes bent into a smile. “Berger?” “…What?” His response was quiet. Unable to respond right away, she looked around the room. The red flowers in the vase on the side table were looking down at her. She narrowed her eyes toward them. “Berger…should I be a bit angry with you?” “You should laugh at me, Hazel. I’m the second worst in the world at finishing what I start.” With that, he wrapped his arms around to her back. … Oh. When he held her, she relaxed and smiled. Only then did she realize… … I was so incredibly tense. “Sorry, Hazel.” “You’re so adorable,” she replied. “Says the child.” “Am I? Look at me.” He looked up at her as instructed. She pulled her head down and awkwardly kissed the puzzled look on his face. Only now did she realize how soft his lips were. After a few seconds, she pulled away and licked her own lips. “See, I didn’t turn into a cat, did I?” “…You’re an idiot.” “That doesn’t matter. I’ve given this a lot of thought for an idiot. Including what I want to do after the war. …So everything will be all right. I will find an answer for what you said earlier. And soon.” “Sounds awfully optimistic to me,” he said, looking exasperated. Just then, the door opened. “Hey!” The large form that entered was Pale. He immediately froze. “Oh,” said Hazel. “U-um! It’s not what it looks like!” Her shirt and jacket were still on her arms, so she pulled the front shut to hide her and Berger, but there was no hiding Berger while in his arms, the clothing caught between her back and the bed, and this did nothing to cover her legs. After some hesitation, she gave silent Pale an excuse. “W-we were only, um, discussing our future plans.” “Your future plans?” Pale looked deadly serious. “Family planning is important, but, well, it has been three years since you saw each other. …Good luck.” “Why does everyone respond that way!?” He ignored her and shut the door. “Oh, god…” She pulled Berger’s head toward her as if for support. “Fine then,” he said, suddenly looking up. “Hey, Hazel?” “Wh-what?” There was some gentle relief in his voice while she pressed his face into her chest. “You’ve actually grown some, haven’t you?” She grabbed the vase from the side table and broke it over his head. ### 593. Part 7 … What were those words just now!? Hazel stopped running when pain threatened to shred the nerves deep in her head. Her knees went weak like a strong thread had snapped. “What’s wrong?” asked Berger, but his voice was muffled like she was hearing it underwater. She fell to her knees, the shaking of the impact seeming to rattle her head directly. The next thing she knew, she had collapsed to the ground, her right cheek pressed against the sandy schoolyard ground. She could see her right eye reflected in the blade of the S-41G she had dropped in front of her. … The Messiah has deactivated. Her right eye had lost its red coloration, returning to its usual blue. Its power had been forcibly removed without warning. Just like she would do to others. She saw Bermark collect his magazine and slide it back into his gun and she could hear Berger and Schweitzer’s battle continuing behind her. She heard the firing of Jeanne’s gun and the roar of Pale’s prosthetics from the direction her feet were pointing. “This is so much like my nightmares.” Hazel sat up, still feeling woozy. She found a scene just like her dreams. A woman in a green men’s suit appeared from behind Bermark. She stopped about 3 yards away from Hazel had collapsed and crossed her arms. She didn’t seem concerned about the surrounding sounds of combat or about Bermark standing nearby. She simply looked indifferently down at Hazel. After one, two, and three breaths, she breathed a sigh of resignation and spoke. “I never introduced myself in the Village of Pardons, did I?” “Ah…” Hazel tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. Her head was still ringing. The woman didn’t seem to care. “I am Lowenzahn Naylor, commander of the Geheimnis Agency.” “!?” Lowenzahn smiled a little at Hazel’s surprise. She nodded as if to be reassuring and then looked behind Hazel. Two men were fighting there, but… She spoke some Aerial Words. Or an Erklärung as the Germans called them. Hazel frantically twisted around to look back. Schweitzer’s metal fist swung true and caught Berger in the gut. The light vanished from Berger’s Gelegenheit. The blade disappeared, causing Gelegenheit’s attack to miss and Berger to take the solid blow. The impact rang loud in Hazel’s ears. “!” Berger was launched toward her. The man in a black coat ended up lying face down a few paces away from her. He still held Gelegenheit in his right hand, but both he and it were entirely motionless. Hazel knew what must have happened. Gelegenheit had been forcibly deactivated. “B-Berger!!” She scooted over toward him on her knees and lifted his upper body in her arms. He still wasn’t moving. She could only sense his heavy breathing and the tension filling his entire body. The powerful blow had left him in shock. Behind her, she heard Lowenzahn speaking through some somewhat heavy breathing. “Do you see now, Messiah? Your Beweisen isn’t exclusive to you.” “Eh?” “The Eingeweides belonging to the Geheimnis Agency’s master and commander both have the same Beweisen, but they have different Ober Beweisens. That is where the hierarchy comes into play. …Not that you would know since we left you to your own devices.” Hazel rubbed Berger’s back while listening to Lowenzahn. She might have been able to tune him back to health if she were a Tuner, but… … I… She was still unsure. She wanted to choose, but she couldn’t seem to. A line from her nightmares seemed to strike right at that indecision. “Now, it is time to say goodbye to your free destiny. We have started down the path that leads to my death. You are just like us, Messiah. You fight only for the present.” Her mind leaped at those words she had heard so many times before. Lowenzahn had more to say. “You cannot see where this fight leads either, can you? Or what it is you want to do once it is all over. …But that is fine.” She took a breath. “For you are only a tool for us. You are the Messiah who keeps the Nibelung turning.” Everything she said was the truth. Hazel’s face screwed up and she felt like she would cry. And… “Hey, are you just gonna let her say that, Hazel?” She heard a quiet, trembling voice from right next to her. It was Berger. “Ber…ger?” She looked up in surprise. Immediately, Lowenzahn barked a command with panic in her voice. “Bermark! Shoot him!” “If I must.” Before the response was even complete, Hazel heard three gunshots that were not Aerial Words. … He’s shooting at us. But she shut her eyes and did what she needed to do. She placed herself on top of Berger to hide him from the bullets. However… “Are you stupid?” After an exasperated comment tinged with happiness, she heard some shouted Aerial Words. Gelegenheit drained a new Phlogiston Tank and rewrote reality with its own words. ### 594. Part 7 Rose immediately changed the shape of the Requiem’s defense field she had just altered to protect against the burning enemy warship falling toward the ship. She focused on stopping the power flying her way. She had ordered an evacuation, so the escape boats were trying to leave from the bottom of the ship. The city of Cologne was below it as well. One small but nearly-untouched portion of the city remained below. So Rose did not hesitate. She fully eliminated the defense field on the Requiem’s upper surface and directed all of its power into the umbrella that protected its bottom side. The rest occurred over a series of moments. First, the enemy aerial warship crashed down on the starboard aircraft carrier’s connection point. The heavy impact caused the half-mile warship to shake and list to the side a bit. The enemy aerial warship exploded and shattered the Requiem’s armor with a sound like a splitting bell. A few of the connecting frames broke and the tremor propagated across the rest of the Requiem. The Kurz Babel bullet struck at the same moment. It started just as light. Then as an impact. It hit the Requiem’s starboard side at a diagonal angle, tearing through the #2 aircraft carrier and the #4 landing ship and piercing through to the lower central #5 ship as well. A hole with a diameter of more than 7 yards was torn from the colossal aerial warship’s right collarbone to its gut. The power of the attack was released into the area around the hole. The hole rapidly spread further, producing explosions. The attack collided with the Requiem’s inertial control force and the defense field opened below it. As powerful as the attack was, the Requiem’s solid construction and defense field kept the attack from spreading downwards. All of the force was directed upwards causing the Requiem to rupture skywards. The atmosphere burst over a wide area and the sky glowed bright. The sky itself split and changed color. Even with the air blasted away, a soundless tremor radiated outwards. Ten or so of the bombers and three of the aerial warships in the sky above were torn apart instantly. The Kurz Babel had scored a direct hit. But the Requiem remained afloat within the storm-like winds. Its upper armor had mostly been stripped away and the #1 ship that formed the bridge was crushed in like a giant club had smashed into it from the left. The starboard aircraft carrier was gone and the #2 ship behind that was badly damaged. The central #5 ship had taken a fair amount of damage as well. Conversely, the port aircraft carrier was only bent to the right and the #2 ship behind it was only mildly damaged. As for the crucial cannon… Its armor had been stripped away, but the barrel had miraculously retained its shape. Rose stood at the end of that barrel, but the image of her and her white dress was faint and fading fast. The city below was still safe. She had not fully eliminated the force of that attack, so she could see some damage from that and the winds it had caused. But… “It fared much better than the surrounding areas.” Most of Cologne was gone. Everything outside what the Requiem had protected was little more than city streets with a crater torn into them by the powerful shockwave. The crater had a radius of about a mile and was about 200 yards deep. Cement, rebar, and other remnants of buildings were piled up at the bottom of the crater. The area protected by the Requiem appeared to stand on a raised platform at the center of the crater. Past the crater, all the buildings had collapsed in a strip of destruction extending north to south. The Rhine was outside the range of the explosions, but it was flooding its banks and the trees in the nearby mountains had lost all their leaves. The attack from the Kurz Babel had added to the damage done by the bombing. The city had been destroyed a second time. Everything had been destroyed outside of what she had directly protected. But… “This is the beginning of a war.” With that, she began to dance. She twirled, swung her arms, smiled, and swept her hands forward. A moment later, the Requiem fired its Babel Kanone for the second time that day. She knew where the enemy was located. She only had to follow the ballistic path back to them. Unlike the bullet-based Kurz Babel used by the Allies, the Requiem’s Babel Kanone accelerated and stretched the bullet’s power within the long barrel to form a beam instead. The beam of light stretched across approximately four miles and sent out a powerful shockwave as it was launched. ### 595. Part 7 Lowenzahn frowned as Schweitzer drove her down a winding mountain road. The radio she had previously used to speak with Jeanne’s evacuation point was now playing Graham’s voice. “Make sure you bring the Messiah in as our master. If that proves impossible, then open Neue Erde within yourself. …Reach for that which was already lost. Because if you lose it again, you will not have another chance.” “I know that. I’m not an ignorant child anymore, Graham.” Schweitzer decided to keep his mouth shut when he detected no emotion at all in her voice. But he did turn to look at her. “…” He faced forward again without a word. Lowenzahn was weeping. ### 596. Part 8 Hazel felt her vision blur from the landing and bouncing, but she still saw Berger. Inside the frame, she was strapped to the sidecar by the seatbelt, causing her vision to spin rapidly leftward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Berger land on the deck and run her way. She barely had time to look to her surroundings. The world continued to spin around her and she felt the wind before he came into view again. “B-Berger!!” The frame hopped port across the deck. She saw pieces of the buffering structure scattering from below the frame. She was lucky it had survived the initial 50 yard drop at all. The frame flew low in the air and gently began to drop again. Berger observed its arc and… “Is it going to hit the edge of the deck or fly right off!?” “I-I can’t tell!!” Berger smiled when he heard her response from the flying frame. “!?” He suddenly looked toward the bridge and lowered his head. Hazel tried to look that way too, but everything was still spinning around her. On the second rotation, she saw a gun emplacement next to the bridge turning toward Berger and beginning a horizontal stream of fire. Berger ducked low and slid feet-first along the deck. He slipped below the flying bullets and aimed his MG 34…toward her. … !? Her confusion was soon answered by the wind produced by the flying ship. Her frame was headed toward the edge of the deck, so at this rate, she and the frame would collide with it at considerable speed. She heard the gunfire from behind her as her vision spun rightward. Once the spin brought Berger in front of her again, she saw him giving up on that and throwing the MG 34 away. “Handle the rest yourself!” he shouted. “Okay!” Whatever the case, she had to agree. She undid her seatbelt even as the centrifugal force flung her around. She was nearly thrown from her seat as she grabbed the S-41G Device stored between the sidecar and motorcycle. She spun around until she could again see ahead of the flying frame. The wall that formed the edge of the deck was right there. The MG 34 had broken it down some, but not enough. The flying frame began another rotation. It would crash once it faced forward again, so that was when she would make her move. So she took action. She shut her eyes, gritted her teeth, and pulled some destruction cards from her hip holder while the centrifugal force and night wind whipped at her hair. Her fingers refused to do what she told them, so she only managed to keep three of the cards in her grasp. The ten or so others scattered throughout the sidecar. She felt them on her legs as she pasted the three she had on the S-41G. She pressed her knees against the inside of the sidecar to hold herself in place. She angled her body diagonally and raised the sword overhead. She would use the momentum of the frame’s rotation to send the diagonal strike into the wall. She opened her eyes to see the wall full of bullet holes directly in front of her. And she heard a voice behind her. “Goooo!!” “Okay!!” She shouted to resonate with the Device. She used a single “ah” sound. The sword changed the three cards on its blade into triple explosions of light. Three empty cartridges were ejected from the sword and it accelerated. She slammed it into the wall. With a destructive sound, the light destroyed the wall in a radiating pattern. “…!” The airborne rubble struck the frame and crumbled. The frame’s course was unchanged, so it flew right past the edge of the deck. It fell off the ship altogether. Hazel grabbed the frame, leaned out from the sidecar, and looked up at the aerial warship. It was so big. Even bigger than the two-hull warship she had once seen from the Sylphide. … And so many ships like that are flying around for the war. Once her gently rotating view turned skyward once more, the aerial warship was far above her. She also saw a dark figure flying down toward her. She held the frame’s parachute release cable and waited for him. She just knew she was going to go limp and pass out the instant she handed that cable to him. ### 597. Part 8 At 8:17 PM, somewhat behind schedule, a bombing fleet mostly made up of moonlight-resistant bombers began to take off from all of England’s airfields for Project Millennium. There were 18 squadrons in all for a total of 1046 aircraft. Each squadron took off at 20-minute intervals so the bombers could unload their payload of nearly 1500 tons of divine spell bombs and incendiary bombs over the course of six hours. Previous aerial bombings had strategically destroyed industrial areas, but this largescale bombing was meant to obliterate an entire city. They would wipe the city off the map to end the German people’s conviction and will to fight. The RAF had bet their pride on this mission meant to take revenge for the many aerial bombings England had received. The strategic purpose of the bombing was to blast open the eastern entrance to Germany and prove that they could carry enough firepower to destroy any city and get it to Germany’s doorstep. Word of the largest bombing in history raced through the Allied intelligence network, bringing silence to all. It was a silence heavy with expectation and worry. ### 598. Part 8 At 1:11 AM, the AIF’s RB-21 high-speed transport ship detected an enemy craft at 6 miles out from Cologne while trying to enter the city from the northwest at low altitude. Corelle detected two rapidly-approaching ships behind her. As soon as she recognized them as the Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar from the Geheimnis Agency Army Division, she accelerated her ship even further. Waves of turbulence pushed in from the front and the RB-21’s nose tilted up toward the crimson sky. Toward Cologne’s burning sky. ### 599. Part 8 The Kaiser heard the final Erklärung as the dragon took form. The Kaiser raised its voice as if to reject the girl’s voice. It opened all of its thrusters to push itself forward. As it approached the dragon’s nose, its sight devices detected a girl standing on that nose. “––––––!” It reached out its arm. The girl smiled and did the same. They could reach each other. Except that was an illusion. The dragon took flight with an initial acceleration the Grösse Panzer couldn’t hope to match. It used the wings on its back to instantly break the sound barrier, like it was sliding across the Tons forming the space ahead. The Kaiser tried to pursue. “I…!” It could not catch up. Its outstretched arm found nothing as a voice rang in its ears. “Can you hear me, Neue Kavaliers? Stand up and look to the western sky – the morning sky. There you should see the dragon we seek. The soaring dragon.” And… “Inherit our will and face it just this once.” ### 600. Part 9 After leaving the hospital, Elrich and Witzmann got in Witzmann’s car. It was a soundproof and bulletproof Benz with a partition between the front and back seats. Witzmann sat in the backwards-facing seat in the front of the back and used the phone to tell the driver to leave. The car shook a bit and he turned on the indoor light. “Care for a drink? “No, it would only remind me how tired I am.” “I see,” said Witzmann, pulling a few black-and-white photos from an envelope and handing them to Elrich. “Is this the Messiah girl?” Elrich asked as soon as he saw them. There were three in all. The first showed a girl with long blonde hair righting a toppled bicycle. The second showed her practice swinging a Werkzeug on an urban building’s rooftop. The third showed her showing off an AIF uniform to her parents in their yard. Witzmann nodded and smiled a little. “We captured some pretty cute shots of her, don’t you think? She is here in Germany. I intercepted a radio transmission from Air Force Lieutenant General Heiliger earlier.” “He does like those methods, doesn’t he? Whenever he wants to give us military information, he intentionally uses the radio.” Elrich sighed and leaned forward. “Where is she headed?” “Borderson. There’s no doubting it. An AIF leader is there.” “You mean Pale Horse? If not for him, we wouldn’t have lost the knowledge contained in the Naylor fortress. Do you remember that?” “Unfortunately, I was off observing the revolution in Russia at the time.” Witzmann smiled and loosely crossed his arms. “I have already informed every unit that the time has come to fulfill our commander’s prophecy. …Elrich, it is time to make use of the Ton bullets your development division has created.” “I see.” Elrich viewed the photos, leaned back in his seat, and crossed his skinny legs. “What did you really want to discuss?” Witzmann nodded and pulled a document from the envelope. “Do you remember the 2nd Heidengeist Purge in ’37? You know, the return of the purge caused by the Berlin Conflict in ’35. …It was carried out by the military and we were not involved that time, so it was sorely lacking in courtesy and important people’s families were not spared.” There was a hint of a smile in Witzmann’s voice. His kind face loosened up somewhat. “Ordinarily, a blood test is required to label someone a Heidengeist. Proof of being a pure-blooded German comes from detecting a portion of the German Ton that you yourself discovered at the time, Elrich.” He sighed. “Hazel Mirildorf’s mother is a Heidengeist. …Inject her with the German Ton ether your department has extracted from the Vaterlands and she can never again leave Germany.” “A Ton cage, huh? Because someone who possesses that German Ton too strongly will have all the Tons of their body break down if they try to travel somewhere without that Ton. They will physically ‘tear apart’. And that Ton cannot be removed from their body except with a Ton exchange from a high-level Stimmer or by creating a competing Ton with a serum extract.” “Which wouldn’t be possible. If we rewrite her Tons…then the Messiah is ours.” Witzmann then handed Elrich the document he held. “Now for my main point. When Hazel Mirildorf was captured in ’37, she never had a Heidengeist test done. However…” “She did receive a blood test before the Messiah implant surgery?” “These are the records of that test. …We want to make sure the Live bullet is effective, after all.” “And the result?” Elrich’s eyes searched for the answer on the document until they stopped on a certain point. He gasped and started to stay something but stopped. In lieu of answering, Witzmann opened the box next to his seat and pulled out a bottle of liquid. “Has all this talking made you thirsty too?” He opened the bottle and poured its contents into a wineglass. It was distilled water. Elrich asked a question while the other man audibly gulped down the water. “What does this mean? She is a Heidengeist, so how…” “How can she also have traces of the German Ton? That is exactly what I hope to find out. Along with this.” He finished drinking the water and tossed the glass in a bucket next to his seat. Then he pulled a new document from the same envelope and handed it to Elrich. It was the same type of document as before, but for a different person. Elrich frowned. “Dog Berger? The man who accompanies the Messiah girl?” “He has divine blood. Probably only half, but that still makes him a Heidengeist. But for some reason, he too has traces of the German Ton. Even though he was supposedly born in England. And…” And… “In another mystery, he has lost his divine power. He has the Tons of his divine lineage inside him, yet he lacks the Ton for that power. Without checking his Tons, he would be indistinguishable from an ordinary human.” “A fascinating mystery. The blood was taken in Munich back in ’37, I see. For a species test.” “Do you think he wanted to see if he was no longer a god?” Witzmann held out a hand to ask for a handshake. “Elrich, how about we try to get along? These documents were actually ordered sealed by our commander and commander-in-chief, but I decided to lend them to you anyway. Because I don’t know why those two had them sealed. There must be more to this. Something important. My sixth sense as an intelligence officer says so.” “Agreed.” Elrich straightened up and tightly gripped the proffered hand. Witzmann smiled bitterly. “Don’t you find it cruel of them to hide such a cute girl from us? I was surprised to find the Messiah destined to lead us would be so unreliable.” “Really?” “I imagined the Messiah as someone void of doubts who lived to save the world and coldly manipulated us like mere tools. You remember that photo of her righting a bicycle?” “Yes, what was that about?” “Exactly what it looks like. She was riding her bike when she looked over to greet a neighborhood woman and crashed into a street sign.” Elrich lowered his head to view the laughing old man two years his junior. Witzmann ended the handshake and spread his arms so they nearly touched the ceiling. “Isn’t it amusing!? The Messiah who will save Germany – no, who will save the entire world from the destruction coming in ’43 – is just a girl who can’t even ride a bike without crashing! And she’s our enemy! I must know.” He took a breath. “I must know how a girl like that will lead us! I want to see it happen! If the higher ups insist on hiding her, then we must act on our own. Elrich, I need your research!” ### 601. Part 9 The village’s entrance was veiled in darkness. The wind blew through the tree branches. The rustling of leaves sounded like small ocean waves and the branches rubbed together. The cries of a distant night bird were like the low, intermittent tones of a wind instrument. Small coins rubbed together and a ring of keys jangled. Those two sounds came from a woman with long blonde hair gently rippling in the wind. She was Lehrer. The eyes below her hair remained closed, but she was facing forward. Toward the village’s gate. The large wooden fence sat open. The chain’s latch was unlocked and the fence blew in the wind. “Not long now until the bombers arrive.” She put the ring of keys in her skirt pocket. “How were they doing? Were they getting along?” “Y-you, uh, could say that, yes.” With a gruff voice, someone else appeared behind her. The large elderly man had silver hair. He was Pale Horse and he scratched his head. “Women are a mystery to me. Why would you ask that yourself?” “Men are too simple, if you ask me.” Lehrer turned toward Pale and smiled with her eyes closed. He nodded once after seeing her expression. “Are you sure about this? You didn’t tell them who you are?” “I thought about telling Berger. We’ve known each other for so long, after all.” She brushed her hair back. “But I couldn’t do it. I only gave him some information on the AIF’s current situation and kissed him.” “Like I said, women are a mystery.” “He was pretty surprised by it. …Which is another way men are simple, but adorable too.” Her laughter had no ill will in it. She continued the happy laughter while looking to the sky. Pale pulled a B5-size envelope from his pocket and showed it to her. It was full and waterproofed. “All the information you gave me over the past two weeks is in here.” “The Panzerpolis Project lives up to its name, doesn’t it? It is the city that leads the world to ruin. At around this time, a captain in the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division – a guest in this very village today – should have suggested that the second Gard-class ship being constructed across Germany should be used as an aerial fortress for Germania.” “Without a captain, that second Gard-class cannot Eingeweide, so instead its Babel Canon will be installed in Germania as a massive ley line compression Babel Gun that will pressurize and increase the output of all the Vaterlands around the world, correct?” “Work will begin next year and the Erklärung abilities provided by the boosted Vaterlands will invigorate the German military. Germania will no longer just be an underground fortress city; it will be a weapon of mass destruction powered by all the ley lines in the world. All the pieces needed for the Panzerpolis Project have been gathered.” “That’s some real bad news,” sighed Pale. He slapped his head with the envelope. “Once the Vaterlands begin to affect ley lines around the world, the Allies will work quickly to put together a countermeasure…all without realizing they’re only hastening the Nibelung.” Lehrer smiled bitterly. “I too will be a part of that eventually. America has already put together its 8th Aerial Fleet, haven’t they? They will begin joint bombings with the UK starting next year. Once that happens…” Lehrer lowered her head and nodded. “Yes, I will leave this place. I am sure I will have little choice by then. But before then, I do have a minor errand to run tomorrow morning.” She raised her head again. A light flashed in the forest within the village. A headlight. The light was narrow thanks to the light-restriction cover attached, but it made it through the trees as it followed the winding road toward the village entrance. Hearing the vehicle’s approach, Pale tilted his head. “Oh, damn. It’s got a sidecar, but the girl’s using that. Where am I supposed to sit?” “That’s why I offered to lend you a car.” “The village only has the one and I know I won’t be able to return it.” “That’s unusually dutiful of you. Did your time in Ethiopia teach you how hard the common folk work?” Pale didn’t answer and Lehrer smiled bitterly. “But don’t worry,” she said. “The girl can ride on the back of the motorcycle. Girls are as light as a bouquet of flowers and their butts are well padded.” “You like to put yourself in charge, don’t you?” “Thanks for noticing. But I do care a lot for that girl. I had already decided to become a Buster when I was 17, but she is still having trouble deciding what she should be.” “Why not give her a useful lesson on the subject? You are a Lehrer, aren’t you?” “When I say goodbye, I will hug her and give her just one piece of advice: get along with him.” “That’s all?” Just as he asked that, the light weaving through the forest pointed directly at them. Lehrer stood in its path. “That’s all.” With a smile on her lips, she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a card. “The Hermit, #9 of the Harmonic Cards. A safe and boring option.” “Is that your role now? But hermits can also be all-knowing sages, can’t they?” “Yes, which is why I will leave behind the old things I know without that girl even noticing. And I will give her a fresh start without knowing a thing of what came before. The other option…” A gust of wind blew through. The forest rustled. The roar of a motorcycle joined it. Lehrer’s final words were drowned out by the voices of nature and of a machine. “The other option would break my heart.” ### 602. Part 9 Hazel awoke with a start, finding someone was holding her. Someone was doing to her what she had been doing a moment before. Someone was protecting her and she knew who. “Berger…” She saw his sunglasses in front of her. “Hi.” He nodded and stood up with his arms around her hips. Her vision rose and she saw Lowenzahn standing behind him while Bermark readied Freischütz. With a gust of wind, a large shape landed nearby: “Hardest Wolf” Pale Horse. He took a crouching fighting stance and faced Jeanne who stood in the distance. “Three against four, huh? I didn’t realize a confrontation of the leaders could be so much fun.” Hazel reached around to Berger’s back while listening to Pale Horse. Berger’s coat had three holes in the back. The warm liquid leaking from those holes got on her fingers. “Berger…” “Don’t make a fuss. They were 9mm, so they didn’t make it through the flesh. It’s nothing to worry about.” Berger raised Gelegenheit in his left hand and surveyed his surroundings. That was enough for the three other than Lowenzahn to take a step back. Lowenzahn held her left chest and frowned a little. “So destiny hasn’t abandoned the Messiah?” “Why the panic? You’re sweating, Miss Geheimnis Agency Commander.” Berger laughed. And without warning… “Hazel.” Hazel looked up at him when he unexpectedly called her name. “Hazel Mirildorf, can you hear my voice?” “I-I can.” “Are you still thinking about what you want after this war?” That reminded her of what had happened when she was playing the organ in the Village of Pardons. She had stopped playing while watching that brother and sister. … Can I trust what I felt then? She wasn’t sure, but she could say one thing for sure. “Y-yes, I will try to find an answer. I always will!” “In that case.” Berger pointed Gelegenheit’s pommel toward Lowenzahn. “Listen up. That woman’s as much of a liar as I am. You’re the only one here on the other side of the wall. The Geheimnis Agency and the rest of us aren’t looking past the war. We’re not trying to find an answer – we’re trying to find a way to win. But you…” “?” Hazel gave him a questioning look before he continued. “Hazel, you’ve worried over this enough. So just think on one thing now. What was it you originally wanted to do? Go back to that point and I’m sure you’ll find what the Messiah should do.” Hazel reflexively held her sword against herself and also held the card in her breast pocket. Berger’s arm around her hips gave a squeeze and she nodded. That small nod was enough for him to smile. “Geheimnis Agency Commander Lowenzahn Naylor, the world’s second best liar has a question for you! Does the Geheimnis Agency think their Messiah belongs only to Germany!?” Lowenzahn reacted to that one. Her eyebrows rose. “At this point…” “Shut up! I don’t want conditions and excuses! Hazel is trying to figure out how to use her power. She wants to choose a power she can use toward the things she wants to do after saving the world and use to make the world a better place. …Do you have an answer for her!?” yelled Berger. “Hazel! It’s probably about time you chose. You saw the city, didn’t you? That’s war. This is scorched earth. Can you hear the Lives of destruction, Hazel!? That is what it means to lose something and to sacrifice something, Hazel Mirildorf! But what will you do afterwards?” Hazel gasped. … Why? “Why?” … Why are you always asking me these questions? Nothing answered her thoughts. This was not the Aerial City – it was burning and collapsing Cologne. So her thoughts would not reach him. But she realized that Lowenzahn had come to a stop for some reason. “U-um…” Feeling uneasy, Hazel tried to say something. But she was cut off by a straight line of roaring noise that broke through all of the sounds of bursting bombs and flying bombers. The deafening roar tore apart the sky. Hazel recognized it, so she looked up in the direction it had come from: north. She saw what was tearing through the sky there. “Eh!?” It looked like a large black shadow. A metal box was dropping from overhead. It landed in the courtyard before she managed to realize it was the RB-21’s container. The boom of it landing hit her in the gut, whipped up the heated wind, and sent a tremor through the ground. “That idiot!” When the container skidded toward them, tearing up the schoolyard’s dirt, Berger shouted an insult and Lowenzahn clicked her tongue. Lowenzahn hesitated but only for a moment. “So destiny is even more broken than the prophecies!” she shouted, leaping backwards. “It is time we withdrew.” Not long after, Berger made a leap of his own while carrying Hazel. Pale followed suit. The green metal container skipped through the spot they had just vacated while spinning a bit. It crushed the motorcycle and kept going. It only stopped after noisily breaking through the metal fence at the end of the schoolyard. Berger landed with Hazel in his arm and she viewed their surroundings from the safety of his black coat. The Geheimnis Agency had left. “They sure are good at running away for Neue Kavaliers.” Berger’s complaint drained Hazel’s tension and she took another look around. There were no human Lives around. … Is the nightmare over? “What’s with you, Hazel? You look awfully relieved.” She started to say something in response, but then he shoved her to the side, sending her rolling. She heard the roar of wind, but this wasn’t just any wind. It was a constant thing, like a tornado. “Get down!” Berger stayed low and ran toward the container. The container’s exterior sparked and then bent in as if making a panicked response to his approach. Some great force had crashed into it from the outside. That force continued. The exterior bent further, leaving several indentations as if from giant fists, and sparks flew. “Is that artillery!?” Hazel looked up to find a new enemy was approaching. A blue Heavy Barrel and a red Heavy Barrel both had their Over Emblem fully activated. She had briefly seen these Heavy Barrels that now passed by over the schoolyard. They were flying toward where the RB-21 was making a wide turn. This explained why the RB-21 couldn’t land. The blue Heavy Barrel raced through the sky, targeting the container with the rifle it held at the hip. Then it swung the rifle to send a sweep of gunfire across the schoolyard. Hazel saw the color of destruction fly toward the schoolyard as several distinct lines. Those were the flying bullets of a Heavy Barrel machinegun. “––––!?” She held her sword at the hip. A stray shot was flying toward her on a collision course. A hit would kill her instantly. It wouldn’t leave anything behind. The same was probably true of Pale standing behind her. She had to do something about it. With her own power. Her abilities were quite high for a Greenhorner. She had five defense cards and her sword was the latest model developed by the US army. … Where do I see this going afterwards? She would save herself and Pale, exchange a nod with Pale, and then join Berger. There might be more to do before that. That thought made her smile a little. Her focus allowed her to perceive the incoming destruction in the form of a bullet. “––––!” With a shout, she thrusted her sword forward and produced a defense field. The force of the sword thrust and the timing of the activation transformed the defense field so it had a sharp point. That point crashed straight into the 88mm shell. With a solid noise, the destructive power shattered and the pieces radiated outwards along the umbrella-like shape of the defense field. The shell tore into the schoolyard as tiny fragments. “!?” That scattershot carried a residual shockwave that destroyed the school building behind her. She quickly looked back to find a classroom’s worth of the two-story concrete building’s first and second floors had been crushed and blown away along with plenty of dust. Instead of rejoicing in her own survival, Hazel panicked and thought back to a certain memory. She recalled why it was she had stopped while playing the organ. ### 603. Part 9 Hazel watched the dragon’s flight from atop Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder. The azure dragon tore a horizontal line through a sky growing blue as the sun began to rise. It flew northwest, toward the Borderson Village of Pardons. … That’s a mountainous area, so it can crash safely there. She shut her eyes. “A white Heavy Barrel was pursuing that dragon earlier.” “It can’t catch up. And we need to hitch a ride here.” Berger’s response made Hazel frown. Something wasn’t right. … I don’t sense a Live disturbance? “Berger, are your gunshot wounds alright?” “Hah. I can deal with those later. Right now, we need to get across the border while dangling from that ship.” The Schwarz Löwe operated its wings to turn around. A dark shape was visible in front of the rising sun. It was Corelle’s RB-21. The Schwarz Löwe let it approach. “This is the true beginning right here.” ### 604. Prologue: The Requiem Prepares 04/28/1942 01:13 – 05:24 A great power has been set in motion. With a reason to fight. To achieve something. ### Air Force Structure By 1942 during World War Two, most country’s air forces were divided into two broad categories: aircraft and aerial ships. Aircraft were maneuverable, cheap, and could be dispatched over a wider area, so they were primarily used on battlefields requiring rapid arrival or group deployment or on individual recon missions or light transportation missions. They lacked any decisive firepower and they suffered on the durability front due to their small size and detailed design. Their engines were easily burnt out and destroyed when using overdrive. On other hand, aerial ships had thick armor, excellent stability, and powerful attacks, so they were primarily used for patrolling a set airspace, long-term defense, defending aircraft squadrons, and invasions of enemy airspace. An air corps’ central company would be mostly composed of destroyer-class aerial warships tasked with surviving to the end on the battle. Because aerial ships could remain airborne for so much longer than aircraft, many operations only sent in aerial ships when attacking an enemy force, leading to a troubling increase in lost aerial ships. That problem was resolved through the mid-war development of aerial aircraft carriers and aircraft radiators, so toward the end of the war, aerial ships were used as airborne fortresses with aircraft in formation around them. ### 605. Preface ### Title Page Right: City Series Panzerpolis Berlin 3 1942 Left: Welcome to the turning point battlefield – the river of sorrow. Bottom: By Kawakami Minoru ## Characters Name: Graham Graham’s bottom text: The Knight is a protector. Name: Rose Rose’s bottom text: Requiem The Requiem is never shaken. Central text: Rhein: The river that brings sorrow. A long river splitting western Germany from south to north. A river that must be mentioned when speaking of Germany. Its path through the mountains has led to many a shipwreck, so it is famous for the legend of the Lorelei whose song can capsize boats. ## Maschine Upper left box: Explanation: Eingeweide Aerial Warship – Requiem Bottom text: Words Words contain infinite possibilities Upper right bullets: - Full length: approx. 1200 yards - Full height: approx. 240 yards - Full width: approx. 300 yards - Center front is the command ship, rear is the Babel Kanone control ship - Left and right, from front to back, are aircraft carrier, Grösse Panzer landing ship, and warship. - Displacement: approx. 710 thousand tons (ordinary aerial warships are approx. 60 thousand tons) Upper left scale: Schwarz Löwe Me Cat Martian Left bullet: - Carries a Babel Kanone ## Unreif Germane Explanation: The Unreif Germane includes six sections recited as poetry or songs: - 3rd Section of Daily Life - 9th Section of the Ruling King - 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon - 1st Section of the Moonlight - 6th Section of the Ending God - Final Section of the Wheel There are multiple variations of each, but the following will be treated as the originals in this book. - 3rd Section of Daily Life In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates - 9th Section of the Ruling King The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home - 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon The wind blows The night blows The dragon awakes The people move The dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall - 1st Section of the Moonlight Follow the path to a familiar face While walking side by side Your hand and voice might reach them But the moon sees it not The gatherers begin their party A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same words - 6th Section of the Ending God The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land - Final Section of the Wheel Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new All hesitation will come to an end up ahead Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new Throw out all hesitation and look back The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new All hesitation exists to tear through that wall ## AIF Flier Top left: Published May 30, 1942 by AIF PR Division 666th Combat Editorial Unit Bottom left of image: Sponsored By Dageki Bunko, Shougeki Bunko, Raigeki Bunko Right text: The AIF is recruiting! You too can soar through the blue sky! In fact, you’d better! Below image: Recruitment Notification: Today, tomorrow, the day after that, and the day after (well, you get the picture), the AIF, your favorite champions of justice, are recruiting any rough and wild fighters we can get. - Got any superpowers you don’t know what to do with? - Got more attack power than you can handle? - Got an unbearable urge to hit something? - Got a love of trapping others in your master plan? Then we highly recommend you sign up. Two positions are available: - General - Grunt Generals are put in harm’s way, but they can boss everyone else around. Grunts live an exciting life of full-body tights, bizarre dances, and so much more, but they must obey their superior officer. Benefits include: various forms of insurance, retirement plan, dependent subsidies. Dorms available. Recreation facilities (ping pong table) available. If interested, visit the following location. Above map: AIF Base #1 Below map: Approximately 76 hours by foot from the Arizona airport. Located on prime real estate with abundant wildlife and a breathtaking view. ## The World 1939 – 1942 1940 - The German Army invades Europe. - The AIF begins analysis of the Vaterland Eingeweide ley line acceleration reactors. - March 15: At the AIF’s request, the world’s Sofort Lesers gather in the US for the Arizona Conference. There, the most skilled form the History Live Research Team and begin to research future developments. - The AIF works with UK Special Forces to assist the withdrawal of the UK and French armies. - May 12: The German Army begins invading the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa. - May 26: The German Army drives the UK and French armies to Dunkirk on the English Channel, but the UK is allowed to escape. That prevents the planned peace talks with the UK and France using the many expected POWs, so the war continues. - June 10: Italy joins the war. June 22: France surrenders. - The primary members of the History Live Research Team die mysterious deaths. Investigation of the cause begins. - The UK acquires documents about the Geheimnis Agency’s secret Babel Cannon, begin developing a Pseudo Babel Cannon. - September 5: Construction of Germania is completed as an underground fortress city, leaving the old Berlin on the surface. - November 13: The Geheimnis Agency completes the Requiem, a Gard-class warship equipped with a Babel Cannon. It is temporarily placed under command of the German Air Force. While placed within Germania’s #2 Air Defense Shipyard, the Requiem is also charged with defending the North Sea region. 1941 - The German Air Force receives damaged in air combat above the UK and continues to struggle to achieve air superiority. - U-boats continue attacking merchant ships to cut off the Atlantic Line that forms the Allies’ primary supply line. This leads the US to join the war. - The war spreads beyond Europe, dragging the Pacific Rim into the fight and beginning support of the war on a global scale. - The AIF joins the military as an independent paratroop squad under the US Army Air Corps. They join with the Allies’ European division and begin doing scout, recon, and special operations work for missions. - Mental Live illnesses such as Nightmare Syndrome grow rampant on a global scale. Doctors around the world conclude that anxiety about the war is destabilizing Lives around the world. - The UK begins air raids in German territory, but the results are minimal. - December 8: Germany asks Japan to join the war to keep the US busy and Japan complies. Japan joins the war. 1942 - January 20: At the Wannsee Conference, Germany decides to purge the world of all nonhumans and Jews. - April 6: The History Live Research Team concludes they cannot read the history Lives past August 1943, suggesting the anxiety will rule the world that month, causing the world itself to end. ### 606. Prologue: The Requiem Prepares ### Panzerpolis Berlin 3 1942 For some reason, I am once more seeing the nightmares that plagued me back when I was arrested in ’37. This is different from the “anxiety” nightmares the doctors talk about in the newspapers. I dream of saying goodbye to someone I care deeply about. In ’37, I thought that person might be my father. But…but it seems I was wrong. This is someone else that I care so much about. Almost like they’re another me. No, it’s like there are several other people out there and the nightmares are telling me about them. ### Opening Quote “No matter how much he tried to reject the joys of this life, he knew the joy of creation.” -Paul Bekker, on the Beethoven revival ## Prologue: The Requiem Prepares 04/28/1942 01:13 – 05:24 A great power has been set in motion. With a reason to fight. To achieve something. ### Air Force Structure By 1942 during World War Two, most country’s air forces were divided into two broad categories: aircraft and aerial ships. Aircraft were maneuverable, cheap, and could be dispatched over a wider area, so they were primarily used on battlefields requiring rapid arrival or group deployment or on individual recon missions or light transportation missions. They lacked any decisive firepower and they suffered on the durability front due to their small size and detailed design. Their engines were easily burnt out and destroyed when using overdrive. On other hand, aerial ships had thick armor, excellent stability, and powerful attacks, so they were primarily used for patrolling a set airspace, long-term defense, defending aircraft squadrons, and invasions of enemy airspace. An air corps’ central company would be mostly composed of destroyer-class aerial warships tasked with surviving to the end on the battle. Because aerial ships could remain airborne for so much longer than aircraft, many operations only sent in aerial ships when attacking an enemy force, leading to a troubling increase in lost aerial ships. That problem was resolved through the mid-war development of aerial aircraft carriers and aircraft radiators, so toward the end of the war, aerial ships were used as airborne fortresses with aircraft in formation around them. ### Part 1 The pale clouds spread out like a flat ocean below and the moon was visible dead ahead. The sky was a dark blue and nothing obstructed it above the clouds bathed in the moonlight. Several giant shapes were moving south above that sea of clouds. Each of them was a ship approximately 100 yards long and a river of bombers and spy planes followed along a few miles away. This was one of the Allies’ Experimental Aerial Divisions, commonly known as the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division. The UK had begun experimenting with these ships in 1941 and they now used them nightly to bomb German-controlled regions or the German mainland. They could only do light damage with only around 100 ships and aircraft, but the repeated bombings worked to lower enemy morale. The flagship flying in the lead of the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division was a light aerial cruiser with the markings of the Royal Air Force on the side. The lights on the bridge sent signals to the four other ships and the many bombers following it. “Any sign of hostiles?” That question sounded in an unusually quiet bridge. The 8-yard room was lit only by the moonlight and the instruments. It was enclosed by blast-resistant windows on three sides and the liaison officer, helmsman, communications officer, and the other dozen or so members of the bridge crew had turned from their instruments to view the captain’s chair in the back. The skinny, gray-haired commander in that chair wore a flight suit instead of an RAF uniform. The same was true of the entire bridge crew looking his way. The commander lightly rapped the side table next to his seat. “It’s downright creepy. We entered their homeland and sent down our escort craft, but they still haven’t responded. An aerial division of 5 ships and a bombing unit has passed above their Dutch air defense line and is approaching Cologne in the German mainland.” The elderly first officer seated next to him nodded and replied. “For about a year, not one of the moonlight resistant ships or spy planes we sent to Cologne on recon or bombing missions has returned. That is why our entire division was sent in to forcibly reconnoiter while prepared to tear apart the very terrain with our bombs if need be.” The first officer hesitated a moment before looking around. When his gaze reached them, everyone on the bridge quickly looked back to their instruments. “Do not let your guard down, everyone,” said the commander. “We have no idea what we will encounter out here.” They all nodded and the usual bustle of activity returned to the bridge. The first officer paused to listen to the high altitude wind and then spoke quietly. “Have you heard the stories of the Lorelei, a type of Siren that causes shipwrecks, Captain?” “I thought that was a bunch of bunk. Didn’t some poets just rewrite the legend of the witch Lore Lay?” “The aerial division that went missing a month ago apparently sent back a final communique that only said ‘the dragon’s song’. The dragon and the lion are symbols of the Geheimnis Agency, that top secret organization that we have yet to find solid evidence of.” The first officer faced forward. “But according to information from the IAF who everyone’s been talking about lately, the Geheimnis Agency has constructed a giant aerial warship equipped with a Babel Cannon in the Cologne region. It’s meant to be a solid defense positioned at the entrance to their homeland.” “I saw the photo they sent. And I snorted in laughter, assuming the generals were pulling my leg. I mean, an aerial ship more than half a mile long is absurd. Same with a ship carrying a giant cannon on its back. Do you really think something like that can fly? Just turning – no, just ascending would tear the ship apart with its own inertial weight.” “…” “Besides, a ship that big could never shoot down aircraft as fast as our spy planes. All they have are grounded tanks, outdated fighters they’ve rushed upgrades for, and those Heavy Barrels that are entirely useless in modern warfare.” “Then…?” “Yes, I know. You want to know why no one has returned from the Cologne region, right?” “I do. Cologne is the western entrance to Germany, so I know they will have fortified their defensive line there, but still.” “We are here to solve that very mystery. Because we boast the best speeds of all the experimental divisions.” The commander leaned back in his seat and looked out head. The bridge was beginning to heat up as the previous silence faded away. Everyone was working hard to command the engine room and to coordinate with the other ships and the bombing unit. People were moving and speaking across the dark bridge. But past them and out the window, the sea of clouds was entirely still. Just as the commander stared at the clouds flowing by below, an operator spoke up. “Report! Reading detected down below at a point 20 miles from Cologne!” The commander turned toward the operator, eyebrows raised. “How many ships!?” “No, um…these appear to be smaller crafts…moving fast. There are three…no, four! Moving very fast!” “They must be hostile!” barked the commander. “We wouldn’t encounter friendlies here!” The operator operated the radar and the projector on the floor projected the radar display on the gray ceiling. The circular display covered a 3 yard radius on the ceiling and a single dot of light was approaching from the front of the display. They were both flying toward each other, so it was rapidly closing on the center of the display. “They must be small indeed,” said the first officer. “Their readings are almost entirely overlapped. Are they a new kind of patrol craft?” “Too fast for that. Formations of four is standard practice for them, but what do they hope to accomplish with just four fighter craft?” A few seconds passed and the commander made a decision. “We should assume a threat. All ships, form a single column. Use the radar to track their distance. At a range of 5 miles, ships 1, 2, and 3 will fire secondary cannons and pseudo dragon cannons once they have a lock. At a range of 2 miles, ships 1, 2, and 3 will launch exterior homing rounds. If they break through that, all ships may fire at will until the hostiles have withdrawn or been shot down. Hurry.” He sent the transmission. The dot on the radar display approached. After the span of a heartbeat, a quiet alarm began to sound from the controls in front of the operator. The weapons officer took over the radio and ordered the gunners to fire. The secondary cannons and pseudo dragon cannons installed on the bottom of the ship opened fire. The cannons roared. The lines of fire tore shallowly through the clouds as they traveled diagonally down. After precisely 3 seconds, they used the radar to monitor the enemy’s movements and fired a second volley. The third volley was fired after a manual adjustment to the enemy’s predicted location after the first and second volleys. Once, twice, and thrice, beams of light stretched out, blew away the clouds, and then swung a bit to expand the attack range. Similar whiplike bands of light flew from the port and starboard of the next two ships behind theirs. Light shined on the radar display on the bridge ceiling. Their radar could also detect ether readings, so the paths of the pseudo dragon cannons were displayed as pale flashes. The long bands of destructive light vanished after only a few seconds. “The hostile reading…has been eliminated.” The operator’s report was supported by the lack of light on the ceiling display. Sighs of relief were breathed across the bridge. But that relief was short lived. The commander first sensed a noise. The bridge protected by thick, high-altitude glass groaned like it had been hit by a great mass of metal. An impact caused the entire bridge – no, the entire 30-thousand-ton-displacement flagship – to shake vertically. “!?” The entire bridge crew managed to maintain their posts throughout the shaking, but their expressions had changed. They were worried. And the change in the view outside the window did not help matters. To the right and the left, the clouds had been split all the way to the horizon, almost like that crashing noise had caused it. This formed two valleys kicking up white waves. Something had passed right by the flagship at dizzying speed. The mist formed by the torn clouds blocked the view ahead of the still-shaking bridge. “What was that?” The commander clenched his teeth when he found the answer. “That was supersonic acceleration! We have hostiles nearby. They were waiting for us to fire so they could fly in, hiding behind our pseudo dragon cannons! The hostiles are not after our bomber unit!” “Tell all ships to stay close together and keep up an exterior barrage!” shouted the first officer. “Hurry!” But it was too late. Low metallic sounds reached them through the bridge’s rear wall. Something was firing repeatedly, their shots tearing apart the high-altitude wind loudly enough to be heard inside the bridge. “Is that the hostiles?” The commander looked back to see something in the night sky visible outside of the bridge’s port side window. He saw a blue Heavy Barrel. The six wings on its back meant its Over Emblem was fully activated, allowing it to match the high-speed ship’s velocity. It used both arms to hold and fire an autocannon longer than it was tall. The moonlight glinted off the empty cartridges scattering through the sky. It was likely firing 88mm steel bullets. Those high-speed bullets packed a punch and could even destroy armor panels on impact. The recoil caused the Barrel to shake violently, but it used its wings to fly a helix pattern that allowed the force to safely escape. Once done firing, the blue Heavy Barrel gave the weapon a swing. The barrel detached and fell toward the clouds. It pulled a new barrel from the hips of its combat dress while dull sounds rumbled from behind the bridge. It was the heavy noise of something pushing at the air. The tremor sounded like a crashing waterfall and it would not stop. The commander knew what this was. The ship behind them was sinking after taking all that gunfire. As it tilted, its air resistance increased and the pushing of the air grew louder. The deep rumble was gradually growing more distant behind them. The flagship and the rest began to return fire. They fired homing rounds and pseudo dragon cannons at the blue Heavy Barrel. But something stopped them. While the blue Heavy Barrel leisurely attached the new autocannon barrel, a red Heavy Barrel with a massive shield cut in between using Over Emblem wings. The homing rounds and pseudo dragon cannon blasts crashed into the red one’s shield. “Did we shoot it down?” They had not. The shield glowed bright red with heat, but it remained intact. White smoke erupted from the bottom of the shield and it regained its original metallic coloration. Should they fire a second volley or not? While the commander hesitated, a light appeared outside the starboard window. It was a dark red light flickering with heat. He turned toward it. The second ship that had been positioned diagonally back and to starboard had overtaken them while spewing flames for some reason. The top of the high-altitude destroyer was now perfectly flat, like it had been shaved down with a woodworking plane. Black smoke and flames erupted from the torn and smashed areas as it overtook the flagship. The commander saw a large white figure standing atop its deck. It was a giant male Heavy Barrel with six wings. It carried no projectile weapons and instead carried a single sword. Unlike the red and blue ones flying to port, this one had not even activated its Over Emblem. “–––!?” The wordless scream inside the bridge was questioning the events playing out before their eyes. It wanted to know if this was actually real. The answer was right there. The flagship and the other ships fired from their starboard sides, as if attempting to further destroy the sinking second ship. The repeated roaring of artillery fire was directed at the white Heavy Barrel standing atop the second ship. It could never avoid the incoming barrage. No Heavy Barrel could fly without an Over Emblem, nor could it defend an attack like this without a shield. And yet… The white Heavy Barrel suddenly slid across the deck. It broke through the explosive flames and twirled its body to slip between the incoming bullets. Its legs remained motionless as it soared through the air. It moved slowly but spun quickly to avoid the entire barrage. And… “Ah.” It produced a single note. The commander saw its sword emit bright light. That was followed by the deep sound of splitting air. The white slash had sliced the second ship in two. As the ship sank into the clouds, the white Heavy Barrel flapped its wings to fly up into the sky. “What?” the commander muttered as he watched. “Is this what they meant by the lions gathering below the dragon?” he asked his first officer. He was answered in a different way. He heard some Words. Just like the ones uttered by the white Heavy Barrel, these Words rang in his head whether he wanted them to or not. And these used a girl’s voice. It was a calm voice of suppressed emotion. The commander shouted on reflex, fastening his seatbelt as he did. “Evasive action! Ships 4 and 5, bomber unit, ascend! Ascend until you reach maximum moonlight resistance altitude!” The ship shook as it tried to take an ascending course. But light suddenly filled the bridge. This was not a flare or a dragon cannon. It was a blinding ocean of light that erased all shadows, like light had exploded right in front of them. It was a powerful attack. “!?” Before the commander could question it, something slammed into the bottom of the ship. Those on the bridge who had not fastened their seatbelts were launched from their seats, crashing into the walls, floor, or ceiling. The screams of shattering glass and of people shook the air, but the powerful inertial shaking did not stop. The ultra-massive ship’s rear lifted up and it very nearly flipped forward. The light vanished and the forward-tilted bridge shook as its structural components cried out in protest. All the lights had gone out and the instruments ceased functioning. “Do they really have a Babel Cannon!?” The ship slid forward as it attempted to reorient itself. The captain saw something there as his vision straightened out. The flat expanse of cloud was entirely gone. ### Part 2 The sky had cleared up, but the ship was shaking and the wind was pounding hard on the bridge’s windows. The light from a few moments ago had blasted away the clouds. The commander turned to the side to ask his first officer what the light had been. But the man was missing. The first officer had been thrown from his seat and onto the floor in the middle of the bridge. His neck was bent at an unnatural angle. Only the few who had fastened their seatbelts remained at their posts. The dozen or so others were sprawled out on the floor, by the windows, or on the control panels. Some were groaning in pain and a faint iron scent filled the bridge. One young man, the navigator, turned back, so the commander looked him in the eye. “What about the others? What happened to the other ships?” The commander stood up before receiving a response. The higher viewpoint let him assess how well his bridge was operating. The controls and all other electronics weren’t running. Only the analog gauges still had their needles moving. “6mph? We’re only being swept along by the wind.” He walked across the bridge and undid the seatbelts of the other survivors. Once he had released the 5th and final one, the navigator gave his response. “The others are…gone. There is no sign of Ships 4 and 5 or the bombers.” “I see.” The commander nodded and stood up after undoing the communication officer’s seatbelt. “Are you still alive? You were sent to us by the AIF, weren’t you?” “Y-yes.” “Then I have one final job for you. Return to HQ and tell them the following: My division arrived in the enemy mainland and confirmed the presence of an enemy force in our assigned recon region. Ships 2 and 3 were lost in an attack by three Heavy Barrels. And…” he sighed. “Ships 4 and 5 and our entire bomber unit were lost to a Babel Cannon. …This confirms the existence of an enemy Babel Cannon equipped ship and we can never enter the German mainland from the west without first eliminating it.” The survivors gulped, but he continued nonetheless. “Hurry. If the rear deck is still intact, you can launch an escape boat.” “Understood.” A single set of footsteps started awkward and hesitant, but it gradually picked up speed and left the bridge. The commander remained motionless, eyes shut, until the footsteps had faded away entirely. “Okay,” he said, facing forward once more. Four things floated about a mile away in the now-cloudless sky. They were Heavy Barrels. Three were the white, red, and blue ones from before. The fourth was a new one. It was colored silver and had six wings spread on its back. “I’ve heard of that one. The Geheimnis Agency’s supreme commander is supposed to Write Bring into a gaudy silver Heavy Barrel despite having no emotions.” “Report: the escape boat has left the rear deck.” “I see,” said the commander in relief. But then the Heavy Barrels ascended to fly above the ship and pursue the escape boat behind them. The commander snorted with laughter. “You’re that terrified of being found out? Chief Engineer, manually restart the engines! Move us forward. If that escape boat can’t get away, this was all for nothing. Draw the enemy’s attention!” His voice passed through the communicator to reach the engine room. Before long, the ship restarted just as the four Heavy Barrels were passing by overhead, leaving behind white trails. The ship shook and moved forward. The commander held the wheel himself and faced forward. “All hands, don your life jackets and keep your eyes peeled. We will soon see the true identity of our enemy.” No one responded, but none of them were about to disobey. The ship picked up speed. The inertia erasure emblems were not functioning, so the weight of acceleration bore down on them all. They could really feel the ship’s speed. “Report: the four Barrels…are not stopping!” “Why not!?” The Heavy Barrels ignored the warship as it accelerated toward their mainland. “Are they that terrified of a report getting out? Or…” Did they have something else ready to intercept this ship? Were the Barrels not needed for that? It arrived. They heard the same girl’s voice as before. But it was different this time. Instead of just speaking the Words, the voice had a rhythm to it. There were specks of light on the horizon. City lights. Light raced by above the city. Flashes of lightning. They illuminated a massive shape. The shape began to approach. “Is that a ship!?” No. From moment to moment, the enormous shape accelerated further and altered its form. The thing approaching so rapidly was not a ship made of metal. It was a great beast with a long body glowing a bluish white. It was a dragon. “–––––!?” The girl’s voice continued. The great dragon charged toward them as if sliding through the air. It was big. Not even the aerial cruiser’s size was comparable. The bluish-white glowing dragon’s face already filled the bridge’s front window, so they could see its eyes and its fangs. “A ship that size can use an Armed Emblem!?” shouted the captain as he listened to the song. That was the last thing he ever said. ### Part 3 The faint purple tint to the eastern sky told of the approaching dawn. A dragon-like shape floated above the vast expanse of clouds. The great shape was painted pitch black and it was formed from eight smaller shapes. Each one of those smaller shapes was a massive aerial ship measuring 300 yards long and 50 yards wide. From front to back, there were three ships, two ships, and three ships lined up. They were all linked together by layer after layer of thick metal frames. A long tube was almost sloppily attached atop the ships, running back to front. That was a Babel Kanone. Its barrel had a diameter of at least 10 yards and a length of more than half a mile. The eight ships supporting it in the sky were a lot like a crouching dragon. The eight ships combined to form the Gard-class Babel Kanone equipped Requiem. The #1 front central ship had been destroyed by the AIF in ’39 and another year had been necessary to reconstruct it, but it had not received a scratch ever since it parted ways with the earth. A girl stood on the deck of the #2 front aircraft carrier. She was a pale girl with long, soft hair blowing in the wind. She wore a decorated dress, but there was something odd about her. She was faintly transparent. That unstably transparent girl stared up into the western sky. There was nothing visible there, but she had a somewhat sulky look on her face. After a while, her face lit up with pure joy. “Bigger brother! And Alfred too!” Four points of light were visible far to the west. At that distance, it would take 20 minutes to arrive even by aircraft. But she smiled and released an Erklärung. At the same time, the Requiem began to move. The girl spread her arms on the deck and turned left toward the west. The Requiem followed her action with a turn that was much too fast for such a massive structure. The ship groaned from the inertia and the Babel Kanone strained. The sturdiness of the metal materials was nearly irrelevant when it came to the relationship between great weight and powerful inertia. Too much inertia would cause it to break apart. The straining and groaning of metal reverberated through the sky. But… The girl murmured those words and twisted her body ticklishly. The #7 and #8 ships’ frames began to transform as they strained at the back of the port and starboard sides. The metal transformation emblems activated as ether flowed into them. The frames that supported the ships tightened to distribute the inertial force. Wind blew from the rear and side engines, accelerating the turn. To negate the remaining inertia, frames across the Requiem were bound together or spread apart and the exterior armor for the Babel Kanone bent enough to lift up somewhat. The inertial negation emblems across the ship glowed as they entered overdrive. The girl slowly, slowly swung her arms around. The entire process took only 12 minutes. The girl smiled and looked to her hands. “I’m getting the hang of it now.” “You really are,” said a woman’s voice behind her. The girl smiled and did not bother looking back. “You think so too, Lillie? I’m just so talented, aren’t I?” “Yes, I cannot imagine a more suitable home for Graham and the others.” The voice walked up alongside the girl. It belonged to a woman of later middle age with her frayed black hair tied back. She wore the blue coat of the Geheimnis Agency Navy Division over a blue dress, but she still had to hold her shoulders against the chilly wind. The woman, Lillie, let out a white puff of laughter as she looked up into the western sky. The four Grösse Panzers had approached enough to make out the shape of their limbs. “Germany should be safe with you and Graham protecting us from here.” “Yes. And since you feel so safe, how about you attend that wedding in the Borderson village I mentioned before? They sent you and Alfred invitations, didn’t they? They haven’t held a wedding in three years and it is only an hour by car from Cologne, so why not leave things here to us?” “I haven’t been to Borderson since my sister died.” “Ever since the village lost their leader, they have been hoping for a visit from a Neue Kavalier with a connection to Borderson. With Borderson gone, so many of the northwest’s Neue Kavalier have left our Geheimnis Agency.” “Which is why Graham and you are protecting Cologne to show the local Neue Kavaliers the importance of the Agency, yes?” “Correct you are. Maybe we could have gotten a prophecy if Frobel was still alive.” Rose’s words cast a shadow over Lillie’s face. “Do those prophecies come true, though? What about the one given to you and Graham?” “You mean Lowenzahn’s prophecy, don’t you? The ones not from the Unreif Germane that she gave to individuals.” Rose seemed to be contemplating her own words as she looked straight up. Lillie moved behind her and wrapped her arms around the short girl’s shoulders. Lillie’s arms passed right through Rose’s body and she felt nothing. But Lillie still spoke. “Why must our commander – Lady Frobel…no, all of the Naylors – force that sort of destiny onto all of you?” “They have not forced it onto us. I made a promise with Frobel more than 20 years ago and Lowenzahn asked a few years back, so I responded. This is what my bigger brother and I wanted. It’s the same for you, isn’t it? This is the destiny we must fulfill, without letting Der Held, Kaiser, or the others know.” Rose placed her hands on Lillie’s right hand as the woman pretended to hold her shoulders. Her hands sank into Lillie’s hand, but she shut her eyes. “My body is gone and I have become the circuitry at the core of this ship. This ship is me now, so I can appear anywhere on it. The real me is no more.” “…” “But that also means I can stay with the rest of you. I can spend more time with my bigger brother, my big brother, and Alfred.” “But isn’t that the Requiem our commander prophesied?” “I will not lament. My bigger brother and I are working on the issue. We don’t know what exactly will happen to us, so we think maybe we can find a solution.” Rose opened her eyes. “We think anyone can turn the Nibelung in a positive direction.” She saw the four Grösse Panzers arrive overhead. They whipped up a wind that swept across the deck. Rose removed her hands from Lillie’s hand and raised them to greet the men. “Hey, Lillie, what do you think of my bigger brother?” “Eh?” “When the head of the Telmetz family died, wasn’t he the one who rescued you, left your sister in Borderson, and paid for your schooling? Are you the same person you were back then?” Lillie looked up and Rose continued. “I hope you are. Unlike for the rest of you, the events of 20 years ago feel so recent to me. It’s all so vivid and I barely have to work to remember it. But…” “But?” “I think that’s just how these things work. How I feel about Alfred, how you feel, and my brothers’ quarrels must be such trivial matters to the world as a whole, but…but I’m sure someone will remember it all just like I do.” Rose looked away from Lillie to watch the Grösse Panzers begin to descend. Lillie hummed a song. The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land “The Unreif Germane’s 6th Section of the Ending God. That is the current prophecy,” said Rose. “Lowenzahn said it refers to the capture of the Messiah. She also said the time had finally come for the prophet to remain in this land.” Rose stretched her hand high overhead. The Kaiser had landed nearly within arm’s reach and it nodded toward her. She responded with a smile. “Welcome back.” ### 607. Chapter 1: The Requiem Activates 05/25/1942 13:04 – 21:10 Oh. Ow ow ow ow. ### AIF Personnel Hazel Mirildorf (AIF Soldier) A newcomer to the AIF. Was implanted with the High Organ eye Messiah. A Werecat living in LA. Our protagonist. Dog Berger (Mercenary) M. Schrier’s underclassman and a Knight Striker. Primarily helps people escape and wields the High Organ sword Gelegenheit. Corelle Sevan (AIF Air Force Transport Division) Boss of the AIF Air Force Transport Division. A fortuneteller who uses the 47 Telling Cards. Pale Horse (AIF Combat Division Leader) Hard Wolf general who made a name for himself in the previous war. Has a connection to Heiliger. M. Schrier (AIF General Commander) The young leader. Was deeply involved in the Berlin Conflict and took command of the AIF after leaving Germany. Former subordinate of Oscar’s and upperclassman of Berger’s in their college days. Was also Hazel’s tutor. Lehrer (AIF Spy) A female spy in the German village of Borderson. Oscar Mirildorf (Civilian) M. Schrier’s commander who currently lives in LA. Former German Air Force Major General. Hazel’s father. ### Part 1 The sky was clear. The blue expanse spread wide without a cloud to be found. The sun was bright. Its direct light created countless dark shadows on the red cracked ground to decorate the flat and parched wasteland. The colors blue, red, and black covered everything as far as the eye could see. Those colors were joined by the wind and some sound. The wind was audibly torn through as an aircraft flew by. Below that windy sound were two colors not found anywhere else: gray and white. The gray belonged to three large runways lined up on the red wasteland and the blast-resistant buildings of a largescale base. The white belonged to the white paint coloring the walls of the wooden barracks lined up alongside the base. The aircraft was a fighter belonging to the base. It flew through low over the runway, performed a single roll, and soared back up into the sky. The shimmering heat of its jets slammed into the runway which had words written in more white paint: USIF Arizona Area 001. This was the Arizona headquarters of the USIF, the US branch of the AIF. The rumbling of the aircraft faded and the wind blew across the runways. The wind and the barking of a guard dog were the only sounds left. The large dog kept barking in the space between the barracks and the mess hall. The cries of a dog with newfound prey reverberated through the heated air. The racket was best heard inside the mess hall since its windows were open. The large wooden building was made to hold 2000 and it looked like a bungalow but bigger. It was bright enough outside that the lights inside were left off. Rectangular tables for 8 were lined up in rows and countless cheap folding chairs were scattered haphazardly about. The place was about 1/3 occupied by people in gray uniforms. A lot of them were Heidengeists. The ones with wings or with nonhuman skeletal structures had the appropriate modifications made to their uniforms. Many of the human soldiers eating alongside them had prosthetics or carried large weapons. There was also a scattering of women. And they all wore smiles. That may have been why they were chatting pleasantly and moving casually around. There were two colors that did not match the gray worn by the majority. The first was the green US Army Air Corps flight jacket worn by a middle-aged woman. The other was the black everything worn by a black-haired young man. The woman was lining up small cards on the large table and the young man held an ice pack to his right cheek across the table from her. The young man pushed his sunglasses up his nose with his other hand and asked the woman a question. “Hey, Corelle, what do you make of this? …Ow.” He grimaced as he pressed the ice pack against his cheek, brushed up his long bangs, and fell silent. The woman called Corelle placed a card on the table with her thick fingers. She did not look up at the young man as she pulled out a new card. “M. Schrier summoned you here for a job, but you showed up to find your orders waiting for you but not the man himself. And then you happen across Oscar Mirildorf who just so happened to be here.” “Yeah, it was pretty exciting to learn the Oscar was finally paying the AIF a visit, but then…” Corelle continued for him. “He thanked you for helping his daughter escape Germany, but he also punched you? And hard enough to knock out one of your back teeth at that. But it’s pretty sad you let that knock you out, Berger.” “Hey, he caught me by surprise.” Corelle snorted with laughter, but she also decided to move on. “Well, enough about that. What’s your new job?” “You already know. I’m being placed on your special forces team as an expendable. They’re using me as cannon fodder.” He removed the ice pack from his face, opened it with one hand, pulled out an ice cube, and popped it in his mouth. “Ahhorhing ho hy hold huhherhasshan…” “I can’t understand a word you’re saying, idiot.” A few seconds passed. “According to my old upperclassman’s orders, I’m using your RB-21 transport ship to sneak into Germany on the 30th. First, I travel to the Borderson village and then I help Pale escape after some important meeting with the staff there.” “After that, you travel to Cologne, which the RAF really wants to bomb, and fire a range sensor onto the Gard-class. That’s the entrance to the German mainland and full of military factories, so this mission is crucial if the Allies are going to bomb it. The Gard-class has prevented any of the UK’s bombers from reaching Cologne.” “It was a report from one of your people that confirmed the Gard-class’s existence…but now they’ve started showing it off, even making it an official part of the German Air Force.” Corelle listened to Berger as she finished laying out all the cards and crossed her arms. “When I sent Coolers to the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division, I never imagined he would be the lone survivor. I have nothing but thanks for the captain and the rest who died.” “I hear he abandoned his escape boat and jumped into the ocean before the Kaiser and the others could catch up.” “One of the UK’s water dragons picked him up and he’s with one of their ground units now. Because the infantry can at least die alone.” Berger chewed on another piece of ice before replying. “Well, this would be the time to sink that Gard-class. Take it out here and the Allies have a way in.” “Are you sure?” “Take a look at the world, Corelle. The Allies are trying to see how they can get at the German mainland. That means they’re looking at attacking Germany and winning this war once and for all. The German mainland, the Gard-class, and the Cologne factories – strike those three and everyone will know Germany is within reach and this war is winnable.” “…” “But that’s not all. Just like the US military doesn’t like the AIF for hitching a ride with them, the Geheimnis Agency still isn’t well liked by the civilians and some of the older nobles. When the head of Borderson was lost, most of the Strikers in the Borderson territory left the Agency. Cologne is part of that territory, so I bet the Gard-class is there to help regain their trust. Take out that ship and the Geheimnis Agency crumbles.” Berger frowned and paused before continuing. “Which is why the UK is readying a thousand bombers to bomb Cologne in what they call Operation Millennium.” Corelle flipped over the card closest to her. It was a tower. The image depicted a tower being struck by a lightning bolt from heaven. She sighed. “Babel, #7 of the Harmony Cards. The collapse of control. …In this context, it must mean the Babel Cannon.” “Yeah, the UK has built a Babel Gun they plan to fire from the North Sea to shoot down the Gard-class long distance. That’ll probably be history’s largest bombardment. That pair of uninspired missions is gonna be something to see.” He smiled bitterly. “The spies in Cologne have already gotten data on the ship, but they still need real-time range finding. The spies can provide the surface range, but this thing’s in the air. That’s where I come in. I’ll be using the new and improved Schwarz Löwe. I’ve already done some training in it, so I should manage.” “You need to do more than ‘manage’. And don’t forget about Pale.” “He’s in Borderson, right? I just meet him there and take him with me. From there, you drop the Schwarz Löwe from the sky, I fire the range sensor onto the Gard-class, and you pick me and Pale up. Simple.” He suddenly leaned back in his seat to look up at the ceiling. “But there are a number of problems. First, where has my old upperclassman gotten off to? I’ve barely seen him for the past three years. Where is he? There’s so much I want to ask him.” “You sure it isn’t just that he doesn’t like you? I see him plenty. …He’s still got that rich kid’s faulty idea of how the world works though. ‘I’ve just got to write and sell ten books and we can buy another transport ship?’ Ridiculous.” Berger sighed. “I want to ask him about what I saw three years ago. …I told you about that, didn’t I? The Sylphide being carried out of that dig site. What was up with that?” “I asked him and he said you must have dreamed it, so I doubt he would tell you if you did ask. Besides, we’re about to leave for Germany, so why not look into it there?” “I did everything I could to look into it for the past three years. And with nothing to show for it. It’s like the damn thing vanished into thin air.” Corelle thought about that for a moment and nodded. A dog barked in the distance once more. “Oh, shut up,” grumbled Berger while looking to Corelle’s hand. She had moved the hand to her chin and her mouth was shut and silent. “What kinda fortune are you checking?” he asked, leaning curiously forward. “Whether I’ll deliver my baby safely?” “Shut it. You heard about the History Live Research Team’s report, didn’t you?” She was whispering now. “All the best Fast Readers around the world can’t read the History Lives past August of ’43. And at the same time, that Nightmare Syndrome has started up.” Berger straightened up in his seat, took a quick glance around, and shrugged. “That happened in the past too, but it does seem a lot more common now.” He pulled over a newspaper from the corner of the table and opened to the social page. “See, here’s another one. There was a mass suicide in Norfolk, England, two weeks ago and they’re blaming it on the syndrome.” “The UK is terrified from the German air raids, after all. Anxiety covers the country and the Lives respond. All the anxiety Lives are accelerating this war and making it darker.” “Can you not read past ’43 either?” Corelle flipped over the card furthest from her. It was entirely black, with no image. “Nuclear, #3 of the Unspoken Word Cards. A perfect nothingness. The History Live Research Team says this war will allow anxiety to rule the world, causing the collapse of the Lives forming the very nucleus of our world.” “Bullshit. You expect me to believe some crazy talk about the entire world being destroyed?” “But this world’s Concept Lives do not go past this point and we have no idea what that means. Maybe they’re too weak for us to read and maybe something is preventing us from seeing them, but maybe…maybe the world really was destroyed in ’43 during the era preceding even the Obstacle Era.” “Would that mean the Messiah is the one to travel past that point and create a new world?” muttered Berger. Then he looked up. “The war started in Germany is causing this anxiety…and the Messiah also comes from Germany.” “?” He did not answer Corelle’s unspoken question. He instead tilted his head. “But that doesn’t make sense. If Germany did start this war just to produce the Messiah, the Concept Lives would go past ’43, showing the history of a world saved by the Messiah.” “Think too hard and you’ll overheat your brain. Leave the thinking to the thinkers.” “Oh, shut up,” he said, getting up. “Where are you going?” “To gather my luggage. Weird leaving the same day I was given a room, but whatever.” “Most people at least take a nap first. You probably passed out because you’re so tired after flying in from Europe. …Also, are you sure you don’t want to go see Hazel?” “We’re not anywhere near LA. That’s not a day trip.” Berger grinned and walked toward the mess hall’s exit with ice pack in hand. Just then, someone appeared in the exit. The young man in a blue uniform was a postman. He looked around the mess hall holding a printed map of the base. “Excuse me, is this where I can find Dog Berger?” ### Part 2 In Germany’s Black Forest, evening had passed and night was settling in. The forest was growing even blacker. A few lights could be found in the very bottom of a valley, which should have been the darkest part of the forest. The Geheimnis Agency HQ’s fortress base was located there. The well-maintained runway lights and hangars provided enough light to function but not enough to be noticeable from a distance. The most light could be found at the mess hall on the eastern end of the base. The large, white mess hall was filled with round tables for four that were currently full of Geheimnis Agents. Two people at a table by the window stood out from the rest. One was an enormous man in tightly-fitting uniform of the Geheimnis Luftwaffe, the Agency’s air force division. His right arm was a massive metal prosthetic. The person seated across from him was a tall and pencil-thin elderly man. He stroked a hand through his fastidiously combed gray hair and sighed. “May I take care of your plates, Master Schweitzer?” The elderly man began stacking up the plates on the table without waiting for a response. Schweitzer did not even look up. His gaze was on the piece of paper he held. It was a letter. The envelope sat on the table in front of him. It was a plain waterproof manila envelope. The sender was listed as… “Eryngium Ilfheim.” “Was she from the Alfheim region?” “Ilfheim may be a corrupted version of that, yes. Her father was from a line of Werecats with a long history in Germany.” Schweitzer looked up from the letter, saw the stacked plates, and frowned. “I was still eating that.” “I assumed you had not liked the fried shrimp. Were you saving your favorite for last?” “Don’t ask that of a man in his late twenties, Bermark.” “As you wish.” Bermark set down the neatly-stacked plates and looked to Schweitzer, who realized Bermark’s gaze was on the letter he held. “It’s from Borderson. Not the original village that was destroyed 21 years ago – the hidden village located near there. You know, the Village of Pardons.” “That is the one place in Germany where Heidengeists are still allowed to live. Because the Hounds allowed it, as a way of atoning for their killings.” “And that spirit has continued strong even after the fall of Borderson.” “According to the intelligence division, all combat is banned there.” “Yes, it is. Because it is a place of atonement, much like the ancient Greek temples. Attack there and you would earn the ire of every Heidengeist the world over.” “The military is none too happy about it, though, what with their Wannsee Conference and all. That may be why they insist the place is crawling with Allied spies.” “You know an awful lot about this,” noted Schweitzer. Bermark smiled a bit, sighed, and cleared his throat. “We have a report saying ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse, commander of the AIF, is in that village. Some mission apparently requires him to contact the local AIF spy leader who is stationed in that Village of Pardons. He has always been an easygoing general” Bermark searched his pocket for a few seconds, produced paper and pencil, and removed his right glove. He revealed a right hand made of porcelain, wires, and a protective plastic cover. “I believe this was the photo air force intelligence took.” As soon as he held the pencil in that right hand, he drew out a picture with the great speed of a machine. No, he was accurately reproducing the photograph he had seen. He even reproduced the shading, the focus, and the time and date the photo was taken. It took him no more than a minute to complete. A photo was now drawn on the paper. It was so complete it looked like you would be able to peel it from the paper with your nails. Bermark held it out and Schweitzer accepted it and viewed it like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. The right side showed the roof of a small wooden church. The angle was somewhat shallow, not from directly above, so the two people standing in front of the church could be seen in full. One was a large man with two prosthetic arms and the other was a young woman. “Is that Pale Horse on the left?” “And the woman on the right is the local AIF spy leader. It may be a sarcastic reference to her role as leader, but her Titel is Lehrer. An army division company led by Lady Jeanne is currently deployed around the village in order to gather intelligence and capture Pale Horse when he attempts to escape.” Schweitzer nodded and noted that, even in the black-and-white photo, he could tell Pale’s short hair was gray and Lehrer’s long hair was blonde. Her hair appeared to fall nearly to the back of her knees. “She is said to be a Buster…but she is also said to be blind.” She wore glasses in the photo and she appeared to be facing Pale in conversation. Schweitzer plainly stated his thoughts. “Those who work with Tons can read people’s wills. That would be useful in intelligence work.” “Just like with the Fräulein, women have become a part of war in this age,” noted Bermark, his eyes shut. Schweitzer chuckled at his lieutenant’s comment. “The Messiah is a woman too. What do you have to say about that?” “I believe you should ask that again once the prophecy has been fulfilled.” Bermark went on to recite the latest prophecy. The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land “The Fräulein finally managed to prophecy this verse a month and two weeks ago. The time has come to capture the Messiah girl and the development division has already completed a few of their Ton bullets extracted directly from Germany’s Tons.” “A lot of progress all at once, isn’t it? Quite a coincidence that it was just the other day the development division announced their development of an unmanned Sylphide-style aerial warship and research into new Eingeweide devices.” “I believe the new craft is known as Erlkönig. And following the Sylphide’s example, the new Eingeweide devices will all be aircrafts or Grösse Panzers with a Schreiben system. The development division’s researchers are holed up trying to decode Sir Marsch’s research notes and the Ober Geheimnis diagrams found bellow Munich.” “A system much like the Sylphide’s, hm? A prosthetic arm or a weapon required a body part to create, but if they base it on a Schreiben system that takes in the entire person, they might indeed be able to create something new.” But… “It all goes back to the Sylphide, doesn’t it? …It makes me curious about what happened three years ago. Namely, how those involved claim it was the Sylphide they excavated from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit. And Lowenzahn said the Kaiserburg’s development was sped up by two years when P. Wagner discovered that beneath his lab. But…” “But?” “Why was the Sylphide found in a place sealed up a thousand years ago? Is it Ober Geheimnis? So many mysteries. Besides, will the Messiah girl even return to this land?” His question was answered by an unexpected source: a female voice from behind him. “She will. Have faith, okay?” He turned just his head to see a waitress standing there. Her long brown hair was tied back and she directed a powerful gaze his way. She crouched down to place her hands on his broad right shoulder and gave him a cold look. “Or do you not trust my prophecies, Captain Schweitzer?” He responded to her whispered admonition with an exasperated whisper of his own. “I do hope they will prove accurate, Lowenzahn.” “Really? Glad to hear it.” “Do you understand why I am whispering?” Schweitzer turned toward her and looked her in the eye. “Remember what I told you? If the Messiah girl agrees to be our leader, then I will step forward and openly act as our commander.” She narrowed her eyes with the ends of her eyebrows somewhat lowered. She looked away from Schweitzer to look across the mess hall. “Working like this is fun, but it does feel wrong at times.” “You do kick the snot out of someone about once a month. Does life without that sound too boring for you?” “Don’t be mean. …But taking it too far wouldn’t be fair to my stepdad. Working here instead of marrying after college is bad enough on its own. But…” “?” “As commander, I could leave his family and live openly as a Naylor.” The two men said nothing to that. After a beat, she breathed a sigh of relief. And she lowered her gaze to the letter Schweitzer held. “What’s that?” “A letter from…an acquaintance who lives in the Borderson Village of Pardons. It is a wedding invitation.” “Sounds like a cause for celebration to me, so why the long face?” “Even if this acquaintance shouldn’t know who I am?” “Eh?” Schweitzer nodded. “She lost her memories. Eryngium Ilfheim lost all her memories of herself, of me, of Alfred, of Marsch, of her own father, and even of Berger. And they can never return, no matter what. It was the permanent sort of memory loss.” “Maybe some kind person told her about you.” “Then why did the letter arrive at our HQ, which should require passing through the Post Office. Yet our address through the Post Office is top secret, so she and the general public shouldn’t know it.” “Hey, don’t take it out on me.” Lowenzahn was still smiling as she took a closer look at the letter. “That’s a woman’s handwriting. Since it reached you, there must be some woman out there who knows about this place. Since it’s at the Borderson village, maybe she asked some ancient Heidengeist about the place.” And… “I see the wedding is midday on the 30th, so…five days from now? Let’s go together.” Schweitzer paused before responding. “What? Why would I go with you?” “Bermark hasn’t told you? Pale Horse is in that village, so I’m going to oversee the capture operation. If he’s driven to Cologne and captured there, I’ll meet with him.” “That is too dangerous.” “Jeanne while have him safely inside a prisoner transport vehicle. There is a lot I want to ask ASAP. …And if Pale is captured, we’ll have to hand him over to the military after he’s been transported.” “We really need to work things out with the military…” “But I don’t want to use the ‘have Heiliger pull some strings’ card too often. Since I’ll be working openly before long, I want to do everything I can on my own.” Bermark nodded in response. “You have grown up so much.” “Yeah, yeah.” She sighed. “Even the great Pale Horse should give in if we shoot him with a Ton bullet. He’ll have no choice but to be captured. …I’ll admit it’s a little violent, but I want to hear for myself what happened with the Messiah girl and the Babel Cannon the UK was constructing.” “Let me go in your place.” “No. We’re going together. Rose, Graham, and Lieutenant Maldrick are working so hard with the Gard-class in Cologne, so I want to pay them a visit. You’re the driver and I’m the VIP. Got it?” “Are you saying this has already been arranged?” “I’ve spoken with my stepdad, Air Force Division Chief Müller. He praised your idea to use the second Gard-class being constructed to provide air defense for Germania.” “He wanted to reward you with three days of field work instead of more dreary deskwork,” added Bermark. Schweitzer looked back down at the photograph Bermark had drawn out earlier. “Bermark, you drew this for me because you knew I would be visiting that village, didn’t you?” “I did. You simply never asked the reason.” Bermark held the stack of plates toward Lowenzahn and she took them. “Oh, you didn’t finish your fried shrimps. You shouldn’t be a picky eater.” “He apparently saves his favorite for last and I rudely cleared the plate away before he was done,” explained Bermark. “Oh, I see,” said Lowenzahn, staring down at Schweitzer. He frowned, but that didn’t slow her down. “Is that why you don’t want to go on this trip with me? You’d prefer to save the best for last?” “What is that supposed to mean?” “Well, if you go with me…” She held the plates in her left hand and pressed a finger of her right hand to her lips. “We’ll effectively be taking the honeymoon before the wedding.” This time, she did not at all whisper. Everyone in the mess hall froze and all eyes gathered on them. The sounds of cooking ceased and the only sound was the water running in a kitchen sink. “Oh, whoops,” said Lowenzahn lowering her head. Schweitzer frowned further and made one simple statement in the silence. “She is only joking.” Everyone immediately exploded ### Part 3 Berger stood in a dimly-lit hallway with a letter in hand. The hallway was long and lined on the left with doors to living quarters. The window at one end of the hallway was fully open, giving a view of the blue sky. This was the second floor. He used the light from the window to open and read the letter the postman had delivered him. “On May 30 at 8 AM, the two will be wed as part of the village’s summer festival.” He recognized the woman’s name, but he did not recognize the man’s name. He spoke both aloud and scratched his head. He threw out the ice pack to tear up the letter with both hands. He tore it in two, in four, in eight, and further shredded it before throwing it away. He snorted, but then grimaced and held his cheek. “God, I’m pathetic.” He looked to the living quarters in front of him: Room 217. He turned the knob and entered. Light filled his vision. It was a small room full of bright light thanks to the open window. “–––––” The large window was fully open and the curtain was fluttering in the wind. A black leather bag sat next to the door. It was his. It appeared to have a thin layer of dust. “Leaving the window open was not enough ventilation. I guess that’s Arizona for you.” He removed his heavy vest, draped it over his arm, and loosened his shirt’s buttons. Wondering about the bed, he looked to the old single bed in the right corner, which got less sun. The mattress must have been green at some point, but it had faded to nearly white. The sheets had become a disordered ball of cloth on the bed, presumably due to the wind. “Yeah, it’s not like they have a maid to make the bed.” With a legitimate sigh, he reached for the sheets and lifted them. There was nothing there. There shouldn’t have been, but he still nodded in satisfaction. “She was hiding in there that one time.” Then he ran over to the door, opened it, and checked the hallway. It was empty. He shut the door again. “And she didn’t come tumbling in when I did that.” He finally breathed a sigh of relief, raised his arms, and stretched. The wind blew into his room, carrying the barking of a dog outside. He also heard the sound of something scratching at wood. “Hm?” He took a look outside just in time to see something fly across the windowsill and into the room. The small golden fluffball tried to run across the room as fast as its four legs would take it. It was a cat. Specifically, a cat with a brown feline right eye and a blue human left eye. Berger gasped and called the cat’s name. “Hazel Mirildorf!?” The cat responded by looking back in the middle of her feline sprint of repeatedly scrunching up and stretching out. She turned a head wearing a choker like a collar and looked Berger in the eye. For a cat, she had a very human combination of surprise and relief on her face. But cat anatomy was not made to look to the side while running, so she lost her balance and took a tumble. Her tail was caught in it and she rolled like a ball…right toward the door. Berger wordlessly ran over and opened the door, so Cat Hazel tumbled right on out into the hallway. Then he shut the door, locked it, and leaned his back against it. “…” He sighed when he heard a female voice from beyond the door. “O-open the door! Please open the door! C-clothes! I need clothes!” What the voice said and the voice itself made him hang his head in an “I hate being right” kind of way. “Is that you again, Hazel Mirildorf?” ### Part 4 Hazel’s expression changed when she heard that voice through the door. Her face lit up. She had grown out her hair over the past three years and it hung down over her body, but she still pounded on the door. “Y-yes, it’s me! It’s Hazel Mirildorf! So please open the door!” She shouted and looked down the hallway to make sure it was deserted. Then she looked down at herself. She was naked. … I need to get inside that room. Someone could show up at any moment. And if they saw her out in the hallway like this, she would look very… … Lewd. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, placed a hand on the doorknob, and waited for him to do as she asked. However… “What are you doing here?” “W-we can discuss that later!” “Unfortunately, I have to leave on a mission soon, so whether or not you’re a spy is my second biggest question in the world. So explain yourself. In 25 words or less. Stammering counts double.” “B-but that’s not fair. D-don’t be so mean!” “That’s 10 down. You’d better hurry or I’ll blow you up.” “Clothes! Clothes!” “Yeah, most people like to wear them. I know I do.” … Why are you so mean!? She kept that question to herself while thinking back to 3 years ago. Something similar had happened, but what had he asked for then? … Say it in English. “U-um, please give me some clothes,” she said in English this time. She heard three quiet claps through the door followed by an awfully calm response. “I’m fresh out.” “B-but! Can’t you lend me some of what you’re wearing now!? Like three years ago.” “Nah, I’d rather not have my clothes smell like cat. You trying to mark me as yours, cat girl?” “Y-you are awful!” The wind blew through the hallway. The chilly dry air passed below her arms and between her legs, reminding her of her lack of clothing. And that was not all. She heard some chatting male voices coming from the stairs at the end of the hallway. “O-oh, no. S-someone’s coming!” “Yeah, it’s a public hallway. People will do that.” “B-but I’m naked! You aren’t supposed to do that in a public hallway!” “Have them rate you. I doubt you’ll do all that well. Maybe a 40-point average?” “J-just let me inside already! Hurry! I need to get in there!” “You do know how it sounds to beg to visit a guy in his room while you’re naked, right?” She prepared to say something more, but the chatting voices and footsteps on the stairs grew even louder. She tried pressing her back against the door, but the door was already flush with the wall. She could not hide that way. As small as her chest was, it still stuck out. There was no point in trying. “U-um, I-I-I n-need s-s-s-s-somewhere to h-h-hide.” “I don’t think there is anywhere.” “No, it doesn’t look like- y-you are mean!!” The chatting men sounded so much louder now. She could even tell they were complaining that the mess hall didn’t offer anything with fresh blood in it. Their footsteps sounded clearly from this floor’s landing. “–––––!” Hazel gave up. Her legs went limp, her hips dropped into a crouch, and she wrapped her arms around herself to hide her chest and the brand on her left shoulder. “No…” She thought she was going to cry, but then the door opened behind her. “Eh?” She lost her balance and tumbled back into the room. She fell back onto her hips and lay sprawled out between the boards. She briefly felt dizzy. She could see the wooden ceiling and Berger looking down at her. Other than her longer hair that she now wore tied back, she had not changed much over the past three years. She initially felt relieved, but then she came back to her senses. Berger commented on the exact thing on her mind. “Just letting it all hang out, huh?” She was lying on her back with her limbs somewhat sprawled out. “Ah,” she gasped while scrambling to a sitting position. She closed her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. She pressed her back against the side of the bed and only then looked up at Berger again. “Y-you saw, didn’t you!?” “You rolled right into my field of view, so I couldn’t help but see everything. Top and bottom.” “Hyah…” She could not believe how pathetic that sounded. … And I told myself I would be more careful about this kind of thing… Her teary vision saw him pull over a chair, sit down, and brush a hand through his hair. “I’m not interested in 40-point nudity. Now, answer my question, Hazel. Why did you make a surprise appearance through my window?” “Um, well…there was a dog down there. One they let run free.” “Okay, I’ve heard enough. I’ve deduced the whole story using the second-best powers of insight in the world.” His eyes turned toward the left hand she was using to hide her chest. It had a red bite mark on it. “Would you prefer I called you an idiot or a moron?” She tensed her shoulders and hung her head. “I’d prefer you didn’t call me either one.” “Stupid imbecile it is. And just out of curiosity, where are your spare clothes?” “Oh, m-my luggage is still outside. Could you go get it for me?” “Go get it yourself.” She looked up. “Then give me some clothes to do that! Y-you’re mean! This is no way to treat your assistant.” “…Excuse me?” “?” She tilted her head, so he lowered his voice and asked a question. “Who exactly are you saying is my assistant?” … What is he talking about? She pointed at herself and he very obviously frowned. “Are you suggesting you have ever assisted me before?” “I am.” “Then enlighten me. And make it the best example in the world.” With a high-level request like that, Hazel had to think for a bit. She found her answer in five seconds. “Lots of times.” “Sorry. I’m feeling a little dizzy…” “You probably need more iron. How about I cook you something later on?” “No, thanks. Also…are you saying you have orders!?” His raised voice made her shrink down and point out the window. “My orders from my teacher are o-outside with my luggage.” “Then go get your luggage.” “H-how many times do I have to remind you I need clothes first!?” “Don’t get so worked up you wave your arms at me. You’re not covering up.” “Oops.” She quickly covered up with her arms again and pressed her knees more tightly together. Just then, the door opened a little and Corelle’s head poked in. “Hey, Berger. About today’s-” was as far as she got. She looked first to Berger and then to Hazel. Then her eyes moved back and forth a few times. Unsure what else to do, Hazel bowed her head. “Um, it’s good to see you again.” Corelle nodded a few times and responded with a perfectly straight face. “Catching up after three years apart? Have fun.” She shut the door. “Goddammit,” muttered Berger before reaching for the door. Corelle’s heavy running footsteps and yelling voice came from the hallway. Hearing that, Berger groaned and crouched in front of the door. “You don’t have to tell the whole world…” “This is what you get for teasing me so much,” said Hazel. Berger turned a cold glare her way. “You do realize this is about you too, right?” “I’ll be fine. Everyone takes the girl’s side in these things.” She softened her expression and sighed with an arm around her knees and a hand brushing through her hair. … I really have grown up more since last time. She relaxed her shoulders, looked to Berger, and… “There’s an 8-year age gap between us, so everyone will know you’re the in the wrong here.” ### Part 5 A city’s night was spread out below. With a wartime blackout in effect, the city stretching from north to south had barely any lights in it. The city was Cologne. The few lights that were on faintly outlined the streets and main roads. Several billows of smoke rose into the sky as if to obscure the city below. The smoke came from the city’s factories. The smoke, light, and darkness were all visible directly below an airborne observation deck that allowed a view far, far into the distance. That observation deck was located on the bottom of the Requiem’s first central ship as it floated high above Cologne. The 30-yard hall’s lower surface was made of thick blast-resistant glass, so the people standing atop it felt like they were floating in midair. This late at night, there were only two people there. They were both tall men. One was a bald old man with a fully prosthetic body wearing a Geheimnis Agency dress uniform. He looked down into the glass and spoke. “You say preventing an invasion from the north and west will show this land’s Neue Kavaliers what to do.” His tone made it hard to tell if that was a statement or a question, but it earned a response from the tall man with two prosthetic arms standing next to him. The hem of his German Air Force uniform and his gray hair swayed somewhat and he sighed. “Are you saying this warship, you, and Maldrick were sent to defend Cologne in order to bring back those who followed Borderson? The Borderson faction insisted on working as an independent unit as Hounds even when they were with the Geheimnis Agency, so they had a fair number of foreign connections.” He continued from there. “Nothing has changed. Twenty years ago, when you received Lowenheit Naylor’s will and began work on establishing the Geheimnis Agency, I repeatedly argued against the idea.” “Yes, I remember you saying the age of Kavaliers leading the nation was a thing of the past.” “You do not play fair, brother. You are only protecting this country. …Even Lowenheit and Frobel chose to protect this country instead of creating a new one after that great war ended. But…” “Do not accuse me of being unfair. Explain how you yourself are fair, Heiliger.” Heiliger lowered his gaze at that. He replied while viewing the lights on the surface. “That is not something I can do. If it worked like that…would you have taken that Psyche Outer device twenty years ago? Isn’t that when everything came to a stop for Graham Karlsruhe?” The older brother, Graham, said nothing and cleared his throat. “Lowenheit, Frobel, and Bertecht feared where our country was headed,” said the younger brother. “But they did so as leaders of the people. There was some discord between us, but I thought we had arrived at a conclusion after our loss in the previous war.” “That the age of Kavaliers was over? That Bertecht’s death and Lowenheit’s will meant the end of our country’s millennium of rule by Kavaliers?” “It’s a shame, brother. Words spoken by a man with no emotions cannot move anyone to emotion.” He sighed. “I miss when you were as emotional as the second son of Maldrick.” “Alfred Maldrick vastly underestimates you.” The older brother took a step forward, still looking down. “I know you put together this aerial fleet for local air defense because you had information the Allies were targeting the Gard-class. I hear you even visited the Geheimnis Agency HQ to ask for opinions on the matter.” “We held a theoretical battle to determine what route the Allies would use to invade.” “And I hear you won against Müller and the others. First as the Allies and then as us. Even though Müller is known as the Kommandeur, the top-level combat commander.” “Sadly, my Neue Kavalier blood demands victory.” “Will that blood allow you to make good use of Alfred Maldrick?” Heiliger looked up at that question and Graham said more to him. “At 22:00 on the 29th, your aerial fleet will be dismissed and all but your core fleet will be sent west. Also, the Geheimnis Agency Army Division’s 1st Independent Mobile Grösse Panzer Platoon will be removed from my unit and joined with your core fleet to create an aerial fleet for defense of the North Sea. That will place Alfred Maldrick under your command.” Heiliger’s eyes widened slightly and he saw Graham’s unmoving back before him. He frowned and asked a question. “Brother, I am not part of your agency. I am not even a Kavalier – I am a mere soldier. That cannot change. …Look at this ship. It technically belongs to the air force, but everything inside is controlled by your agency and none of the ordinary German soldiers are allowed inside. …The military and your agency are always at odds like that.” “But you are allowed here because you are a Karlsruhe. Use that to command him. Prove that the military can work with the Kavaliers and you are sure to grab the attention of the Borderson Kavaliers who left the Agency in ’33. …The necessary paperwork has already been delivered to your aide.” Heiliger smiled at that. And he shook his head. “You really do only think about this country…and about the Kavaliers, don’t you?” “The Millennium is drawing to a close and the world’s destiny is fading fast. Only we can work to fix this problem so intertwined with our country’s history, Heiliger.” “I know all the world’s Sofort Lesers cannot read destiny past ’43, I know anxiety is running rampant around the world, and…” And… “I know Frobel and Lowenheit’s daughter…has prophesied the Messiah’s capture.” He sighed. Then he heard a quiet sound in the large observation deck. It was a solid sound like metal gears turning. It happened once, twice, thrice. At the same time, he heard something from the ceiling, so he looked up. The large ceiling had split open. The ceiling panels split in four and folded up like paper to fold up the entire ceiling. Without the ceiling, they had a view of another space, but they were not directly exposed to it. There was a thick layer of glass beyond the ceiling. Opening the ceiling panels revealed a glass ceiling above that. “What is the point of the ceiling panels?” muttered Heiliger, looking up. He saw only darkness there. The different depths of darkness were due to the tubes laid out throughout that space. And in the deepest part was a small red light. It almost looked like a star in the sky. “Is that you, Rose?” asked Graham without even looking up. He was answered by a girl’s voice coming from the center of the observation deck. “It is, bigger brother.” Rose stood behind Heiliger, in the center of the glass floor. He turned around and looked alternately between the faintly transparent girl and the red light in the depths of the darkness above. “Once every three days, my true self requires maintenance and ventilation,” said Rose, looking up. Heiliger followed her gaze. Something like white steam was spraying out into the darkness there. It also looked like smoke, but it turned to bubbles, spread out, and ascended. “Is that a liquid beyond the glass?” “The coolant must be fully replaced. That red collection of concentrated circuits is less than an inch long, but it is my true body now. Using my nerves stretched out across the Requiem produces a lot of heat.” Rose kept the smile in her voice. “I can tell. This Eingeweide used a Schreiben device, which gave me that as a new body, but I can sense how it feels far better than I can sense anything from this projection here.” “Really?” “When submerged in coolant, it feels a little like when I was sleeping below Munich. But once every three days I get to do this…which feels kind of like taking a bath, I guess. And when we do this-” Without even turning her way, Graham cleared his throat to finish her sentence for her. “You selfishly ask to see the outside world.” The amount of bubbles overhead suddenly grew, but as they rose through that space, they eventually popped and vanished. A liquid with a different pressure was pumped in and the space solidified somewhat. The distant red light wavered a bit. Rose smiled. “I can’t thank the workers up there enough. Today is my third time to do it midair, but the supply transport corridor large enough for a Grösse Panzer is really busy.” “You can see what’s happening up there?” “This me here isn’t the real me. It’s only an image created by solidifying the Tons of the air.” She pointed up at the red light. “That is my core…my naked self. Only you two get to see me like this, brothers. I haven’t even let Sir Alfred see.” “So my sister is growing up. …Well, he does appear to be an excellent man.” “But he always treats me like a child when I’m older than him.” “But you learned a lot more about him recently, didn’t you?” “Yes. I learned what happened in the past…and that I am a lot like a certain woman.” Rose smiled a little. “That woman’s wedding is in 5 days, but Sir Alfred says he will not be attending. That Captain Schweitzer is apparently taking Lowenzahn with him.” “I see,” said Heiliger, trying to pat Rose’s shoulder with his metal arm. He could not. His hand vanished inside her shoulder and stopped. “You were always such a good girl. You would always stop me and my brother’s arguments with a smile. …I am sure Lieutenant Maldrick will realize the same thing eventually.” “Yes, I think so too. I just know he will remember me forever.” Heiliger’s eyebrows moved when she said that. He opened his lips to ask something, but… “…” He stopped. Rose’s smile grew and she looked up at her brother. “Big brother, you get along with bigger brother, okay? Try to understand him. …Maybe this isn’t the nicest way of putting it, but unlike him and me, you are so ignorant and so soft.” “Yes, you could have put that nicer.” “But it’s true. I’m sure you will understand one day and then you will know exactly what I mean…but you are soft and that is a good thing. And you are ignorant, which is also a good thing.” Meanwhile, another metallic sound came from the ceiling. It was closing. Sealing back up. Heiliger removed his gaze from the girl to look up. He saw the red light in the darkness past the closing ceiling. For a brief moment, he thought the light grew brighter. At the same time, the image of his sister vanished. The ceiling had fully closed. He sighed toward the floor and looked to his brother’s back. “Take care of Rose.” He lowered his gaze a little. “Because she too has chosen you over me.” That was all Heiliger said before turning away from his brother. He walked to the large door leading from the observation deck. He left alone. ### 608. Chapter 2: The Requiem Begins 05/30/1942 00:57 – 03:01 Some things you can see Some things you cannot But I think What really matters Is why you can see those things ### Geheimnis Agency Personnel Lowenzahn Naylor (Geheimnis Agency Commander) Cheerful girl who also works as a mess hall waitress. Mother is Frobel. Father is Lowenheit. Graham Karlsruhe (Geheimnis Agency Lieutenant Commander) Commander-in-chief. Afflicted with Words Warn, has a fully prosthetic body, and had a Psyche Outer device installed. Rose Karlsruhe (Captain of Eingeweide Gard-class Aerial Warship Requiem) Graham and Heiliger’s younger sister. Also a Words Warn patient. Hellard Schweitzer (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Captain) Wielder of Eingeweide arm Der Held. Went to high school with Berger. Father is Bertecht. Bermark Vier (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division) Automaton and wielder of Eingweide handgun Freischütz. Schweitzer’s lieutenant. Alfred Maldrick (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Lieutenant) Pilot of Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Kaiser and wielder of Werkzeug Rein König. Went to high school with Berger. Heiliger Karlsruhe (German Air Force Lieutenant General) Graham’s younger brother. Joined the army as an intermediary between the knights and the ordinary people. Jeanne Schmitt (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Deputy Chief) Middle-aged woman with a short temper. Wife of Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. Bermark Nein (Geheimnis Agency Army Division) Alfred’s subordinate, joined with two Grösse Panzers. Konrad Elrich (Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief) An old scientist with a passion for research. Superior of Marsch Gant who developed Eingeweide devices. Galue Witzmann (Geheimnis Agency Intelligence Division Chief) A kind-looking old gentleman. But will do anything to acquire intelligence. ### Part 1 Hazel found herself kneeling in a dark clearing. It was nighttime, but the sky was a dark red. The wind was blowing. The ground below her was made of sand. This was a schoolyard giving a view of the crimson sky. … This is that bad dream I keep having recently. The word dream helped her “wake up” in the dream. But she did not actually wake up from the dream. … It’s the same dream I had when I came down with a fever in the Heidenheim they brought me to after arresting me in the middle of class 5 years ago. The dream had returned now that she was 20. When she had asked the college doctor about it, they had said it was probably just the Nightmare Syndrome going around recently. … But this nightmare has plagued me for a while. It isn’t some new condition. Nightmare Syndrome caused other people to be overwhelmed by indescribable anxiety as they slept, but Hazel’s nightmares had clear images, sounds, and other senses. And the events in the dream changed each time. Now that she was partially awake in the dream, the images moved around her, the sounds reached her ears, and her skin sensitively picked up everything it could. She had fallen to her knees after being shot and a large group surrounded her. The stinging pain in her right chest quickly changed to such intense agony that she thought her entire body was breaking apart. The distant sounds of sword fighting told her someone was still fighting out there, but she could not look to see who. She was in too much pain. A woman stepped forward from the group of black-uniformed soldiers surrounding her. Hazel did not recognize her. She wore a green men’s suit and her long brown hair was worn in a braid. Only now did Hazel realize how weirdly calm she was for having just been shot. Her senses were sharp. She could smell the sandy ground and the grassy scent carried by the wind. She could feel the wind and her hair blowing in it. Of course… … I have no memory of this. The dream was showing her this image. The background resembled her former school and the smell of the dirt and wind reminded her so much of her school days in Germany. This was only a dream. It was not real. She kept telling herself that to wake herself up while she tried to bear with the pain coursing through her body. It didn’t work. The woman stood motionless before her. She did not even reach out a hand to help Hazel up. But she did speak in too quiet a voice for anyone but Hazel to hear. “Now, it is time to say goodbye to your free destiny. We have started down the path that leads to my death.” Hazel’s mind was shocked into focus by the phrase “say goodbye”. And the woman said more. “You are just like us, Messiah. You fight only for the present.” Those words reflexively sent Hazel’s thoughts in the usual direction. … Only for the present? She had the will and a reason to fight. … I don’t want to run away, so I choose to fight. “You cannot see where this fight leads either, can you? Or what it is you want to do once it is all over. …But that is fine. For you are only a tool for us. You are the Messiah who keeps the Nibelung turning.” “…!?” Her mind rejected that statement. But it was a reflexive thing with nothing to back it up. … There are things I want to do! She woke up as soon as she shouted her response. ### Part 2 Hazel sat in a small room with a long sword wrapped in cloth next to her. The room’s white plastic walls and floor were 6 yards across. There were no windows. “Oh.” The only openings were the door made of the same material as the wall and an air duct. The only decorations (if you could even call them that) were the clock built into the wall, the mirror, and the training pole sticking up from the floor by the wall. This was a large ship’s martial arts training room. She was inside the flagship of the 5th Moonlight Resistance Squadron which was towing Corelle’s RB-21 two-hull transport ship to the Netherlands. There was no sound in here, only the rocking of the ship. She was seated by the wall with a notebook and pencil. No one else was allowed in the training room when someone was using it, which made it perfect for doing some thinking, but… “I shouldn’t be falling asleep in here.” She smiled bitterly and then thought back on her dream. “After that…they usually take me away. They force me to say goodbye to whoever is fighting in the distance and take me away.” … I’ve had the same dream since I was taken away from school back then. She took a breath. She shook her head to shake the dream from her mind and change her focus. She pulled a letter from her pocket. It was her orders from the AIF. M. Schrier had given this to her directly, so the military stamp, “no inspection needed” mark, and his name on the envelope were only a formality. The letter inside was just her plain orders with no greeting or anything like that. She had two orders. The first was to act as Berger’s assistant while they helped Pale escape from the Borderson village and then support Berger as he used Schwarz Löwe to fire a range sensor onto the Gard-class warship in Cologne. The AIF included a lot of Brits, so they were allowed to play a supporting role in the RAF’s Millennium bombing operation. She had read and reread the order countless times and completed her mock training. But she had another order as well. “Convince Berger…to join the AIF.” She read M. Schrier’s handwriting aloud and then stuffed the letter into her pocket. She had no idea if she could do that. Berger was on this ship, but she never seemed to see him. He may have been avoiding her. Corelle had said she didn’t know where he was and the other men in his cabin had teased her when she showed up asking after him. She had so much she wanted to ask him and talk to him about. She didn’t even know if he had read the letters she had sent him once per season. Even here, all she knew about him were the rumors she heard. “It’s been three years.” She had decided to join the AIF shortly after returning to America after the destruction of the Gard-class’s #1 ship three years ago. She had completed the AIF entrance exams while going to school, so… “It normally takes 6 months, but it took me two years. But I should be fine.” She tried to cheer herself up and gripped the pencil tight, but then the floor tilted beneath her. The ship was rocking in the high altitude winds. The moonlight-resistant ships were flying near the stratosphere, so the winds and atmospheric barriers were thick and heavy even for this light cruiser-class flagship. The shaking was intermittent but it never truly went away. This time, the ship tilted to Hazel’s right. It was making a gentle turn. Seeing the sword start to slide across the floor, she grabbed it and held it to her chest, the hilt resting on her right shoulder. … I wonder where we are now. Shouldn’t be too long until we’re on standby. They had left America in Corelle’s RB-21 transport ship, crossed the Atlantic, and arrived in England the night before last. She had been excited to see what that textual world was like, but other than feeling the atmosphere soaking into her body, it had just seemed dark and gloomy. She sighed, opened her notebook, rested her head on the sword to her right, and readied her pencil. She drew the UK on the left side of the notebook. She accidentally drew an unspeakable silhouette and hurriedly corrected it. Then she checked the clock on the wall to find it was 1:02 AM. They had to be on standby at 2 AM, so she had to prepare to board the RB-21. … I never imagined my first AIF job in Europe would be something so major. She laughed bitterly when she saw the UK in her notebook. “I wish we could have stayed longer, so I could see the sights.” They had only been in the UK for 6 hours, including travel time. They had arrived at Bristol to the southwest and then flown to the Glasgow base far to the north. On the way they had been guarded by a rotation of escort craft from whatever RAF group was in charge of that particular region: first the 10th, then the 12th, and lastly the 13th. The 13th’s 3rd combat squadron had joined with the Moonlight Resistant Aerial Division’s 5th combat squadron at Glasgow Air Base, where they had resupplied and exchanged information. “Then we went east.” She drew a line from the left of the notebook, signifying the RB-21’s route. They had entered the UK from the left and traveled north through the UK. The line stopped in the northern UK. She sketched out Europe at the bottom of the page and sighed. Then she resumed drawing the line. It took a 90-degreee turn to the right from northern UK. “From Glasgow, we first traveled to Newcastle on the east coast.” At the RAF’s Newcastle Headquarters Base, they had joined with the Big Signal, a two-hull aerial ship equipped with a Babel Gun which had been waiting at the base’s aerial shipyard. “Then we flew west into the North Seat, but at a slower rate to match the sluggish Big Signal.” She was now drawing two lines. The first cut straight across the North Sea and stopped off the coast of Norway. She labeled that line “Big Signal – 3rd Squadron”. She drew their own line below that one. She labeled it “5th Squadron” and it followed the Big Signal line for a bit, but ultimately entered northwest Germany through the Netherlands. “We parted with the Big Signal earlier, so we’ve picked up speed on our way to Germany.” Shortly after leaving the UK, she had been given all the details in the ship’s strategy meeting being shared with across the squadron. Simply put, they would use Project Millennium as a diversion while… “They fire the Babel Gun from the North Sea to sink the Gard-class waiting above Cologne.” She added national borders and major city names to her map of Europe. She had studied in the education department at college, so she thought back to the kids’ atlases they used. First, she added Cologne in western Germany. Then she drew a large circle in England and labeled it “Cologne Bombing Force - 1000 Ships”. The words felt like a direct representation of the RAF’s pride. “The RAF will be creating a multiday diversion from the west while we enter from the northwest today, the morning of the 30th.” She took a breath. “Once Berger and I are dropped off by the RB-21, we help General Pale leave Borderson, attach the range sensor to the Gard-class in Cologne late at night, and escape. Then the RAF makes their move at 11 PM.” Her pencil drew a line across the North Sea, taking the 1000 ships to Cologne. But that was not all. “For Project Millennium, the 1000 ships are sent in and the Gard-class will move out to intercept them.” She added to the Big Signal line up near Norway, sending it into Germany and then added a “Babel Gun” line continuing on to Cologne. She added 3:00 next to that. She recalled what the mission commander had said. “One who was once pursued by Germany will create a path to Germany and eliminate a part of it.” She thought she might understand what that meant, but then again, maybe not. She tilted her head as she closed the notebook with the pencil held inside it and set it down on the floor. She understood the situation and she knew what she had to do. But then a phrase from her dream came back to her. “I keep repeating this…but what is it I want to do?” She grabbed the sword she was holding to her chest and let the cloth fall away. ### Part 3 The sword’s blade came into view, revealing it had been blunted. Piping reminiscent of blood vessels ran from the hilt and through the blade, indicating this was a Device designed for beginners. This was a portable longsword-style Device distributed by the US Army’s Buster forces and its S-41G designation was carved into the blade. Its design had the Phlogiston cartridge built into the hilt. Hazel stared at the cold blade. The blunted blade. She had blunted it herself. With a Live-related combat style, you did not always need a sharp blade when using a Device. And when the Device did have a sharp blade… “It increases the attack power in your Messages.” She stood up and gripped the S-41G’s hilt with armbands around her hands. She planted her feet at shoulder width, one a bit in front of the other, and raised the S-41G high. She swung it without hesitation. The blade sliced through the air, making a nice whooshing sound. The room’s stagnant air was set in motion and the blue Lives of wind appeared in her vision. She stopped the blade at her feet and then remembered the mirror on the wall. She took a step over to view herself in the mirror. She wore a somewhat brownish red uniform. It was the dress uniform for a female AIF soldier. She also had a combat uniform, but… … I’ve almost never worn it. She swung her sword again. Swinging her center of gravity threatened to overbalance her, which she counteracted by lowering her knees and hips to the front. That action also gave the blade a greater forward reach. She pulled the stopped blade back once more. The wind Lives followed the movement. She turned the blade on its side to stir up the azure Lives surrounding it. The wind wrapped around the blade and shook. At this point, a Tuner would recite an Up to call out to the Lives contacting the Device and transform them into something else. A Buster would instead destroy those Lives and trigger a chain reaction within the Lives in the surrounding space. But Hazel… “Hah!” She pointed the Device upwards with a scooping motion. The wind Lives gently fell away from the vertically-oriented blade. They shattered upon touching her hands. She could feel the wind on her hand. “I’m only a Greenhorner – not even a Buster or a Tuner yet – but I can see Lives like a pro.” She swung the sword again. She pulled it back again and brought a hand on her hip. She pulled a card from the holder on her belt. This kind of card would emit light. It would create a glowing orb the size of a thumb for about three minutes, so unless it was being used as a signal in enemy territory, it needed to be placed inside your mess kit or your pocket to regulate its light. She held the sword with that card still in her hand. Then she swung it while sweeping her body forward. She stopped the tip of the blade just before it hit the floor. She pulled it back quickly but not in a rush. M. Schrier had taught her how to practice like this. Doing this 500 times in a row was part of the physical exam for joining the AIF, so he had taught her three years ago. She had failed that exam a few times, but she had eventually gotten the hang of it. … My body is a lot more fit now too. “I just wish it didn’t make my chest look even flatter.” She took a breath and checked the clock. It was 1:31. She had to leave at 3. She made another swing. She upped the speed a little. That helped her transition smoothly from one swing to another. Sometimes it was easier to move faster. That was a lesson this training had taught her. She had started off too scared to swing it very quickly, so she had had a lot of trouble. The movements were a lot more stable when fast and it reduced the amount of energy required on her part to keep it up. It required more strength to move it slowly. If your arm was tensed with excess strength, it would slow the sword. the trick was to start by moving the hilt with a light, rolling movement of the wrists and then push straight forward once the blade was near vertical. When pulling it back, you pulled your entire body back. You wanted to slash with your full body, not with the blade. Anyone hoping to use Lives needed to become one with their Device. … I can already read an Octave of nearly 1.2 million, though. “And they say you only need to see Lives with an Octave of above 160 thousand to become a Buster or a Tuner.” But she could not manage it. She could see the Lives. She could read them. But whenever she tried to alter them either through transformation or destruction, she would hesitate and fail. Thus, she remained a Greenhorner. That was not entirely a bad thing. … But… She removed her right hand from the sword and touched her right eye. That eye was the Messiah prosthetic. She could access a High Organ device using its Aerial Word. In the mirror, it looked like she had her hand on her eye to wipe away tears. She sighed. She lightly shook her head. There was so much she didn’t know, but she could sum up everything – her eye included – with just one phrase. “Five years ago, I decided I didn’t want to run away. Three years ago, I decided I wanted to do something.” She hesitated before continuing. “But what kind of power should I choose once I’m on the battlefield for real?” Would she be a Tuner or a Buster? She knew why she found it so hard to choose. “Once I obtain that great power, I will still have it after I no longer need it.” … And I don’t know what I want to do after the war is over. She recalled something from 5 years ago. Before she was arrested, her class had been discussing their future plans. And when her friend had immediately written down her dream… … I thought she was too naïve, but I also thought I wanted to be a teacher. She looked to the floor, where the notebook sat. The map she had drawn in there was related to a war between nations. … A war causing so much anxiety it’s causing mass suicides and nightmares. She placed her hand back on the hilt and faced forward. She saw herself standing there with the sword in the middle position. She raised it overhead and her reflection did the same. She swung it. It strayed a bit to the left. She pulled back and swung again. A little to the right this time. “That isn’t it.” … Which is it? “A Buster destroys and a Tuner regenerates to assist that destruction.” The information in that notebook was all about destruction. That was a Buster’s power and its nature gave the war its current form. … To fight is to destroy. Regenerative Tuners could join in as medics, but they primarily acted as frontline support. … They restore the destruction done to people. And they assist in the destruction. “Is there no opposite to destruction?” No one was around to answer her question, so she simply swung the sword straight down. She managed it. So she did it again. And again. And again. She set up a rapid repetition before her body could forget how to do it and she settled into that groove. When she pulled back, she threw the card in her hand. She immediately struck the card with the S-41G. With a metallic sound, the white blade sliced through the card. Or so it looked. The card underwent an instantaneous transformation. It became an orb of light. The orb floated for a bit while growing brighter, but then gravity pulled it down. She struck it again from above, causing it to shatter and split. Her eyes did not follow the spray of light. Instead, she focused on the coldly shining back of the blade so she could stop it just before it reached the ground. It stopped and she let out a deep breath. Just as that breath fell to the floor, the split orb of light reached the floor and bounced. The light rotated for just a moment and then suddenly became paper once more. She stood up and wiped the sweat from her brow. She paused for a moment, unsure whether to pick up the left or right piece of paper first, but then realized she was overthinking this and shut her eyes. Just then, a great tremor ran through the ship and an alarm sounded. This was the second alarm, indicating an emergency. She gasped and readied her sword. Her sword practice had trained her sense of balance, so even as the floor shook below her, she spread her legs to shoulder width and loosened her knees. “Oh?” One of her feet ended up stepping on the notebook and the notebook slipped. “Eh?” The back of her head slammed into the floor. ### Part 4 When the patrol plane sent out an emergency assistance request, the closest aerial squadron was Heiliger’s squadron on its way to the North Sea. The aerial squadron had flown north from Cologne and was currently above the mountains near Belgium. The patrol plane had lost the enemy reading, so they searched for the enemy and found a small aerial squadron. Most of the air force was unavailable after being sent to the Cologne region, so Heiliger’s task was to track the enemy until an interception fleet could arrive from Cologne. His light cruiser and four accompanying ships flew through the night winds. The light cruiser took the lead and Heiliger held binoculars on the bridge which had windows in all four directions. The enemy picked up by the radar was still not visible with the naked eye. “The enemy force has split up!” shouted the navigator. “What appears to be the main division is changing course. They intend to escape into Belgium.” Heiliger did not even nod. “Tell our forces in Belgium to handle this. We will pursue the ship that has entered our country. Adjust course and accelerate. Maintain full speed and pursue. Capture them before the interception fleet arrives.” “That will delay our original mission of supporting the northern coast.” “I am aware of that. But the ship guarding that squadron has broken away and entered the country on its own. Which of those do you think is truly important to the enemy?” “But, Lieutenant General,” whispered his young first officer. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Our arrival in the north will be delayed.” “We are the only ones who can pursue them here. We received a request for assistance and we are answering it. …The air force staff officers would not be pleased if we continued north and joined the forces there.” “Eh?” “I am sure you heard a great many rumors about me when you were assigned to my unit,” said Heiliger with a hint of a smile. “Yes…and I thought they were true at first. But you always turn out to be correct in the end. I don’t know the details, but I think the higher ups should give you more credit. If they gave you sufficient forces, you could-” “You are still young, so I doubt you know anything about my past. If you did, you would understand why I am treated this way and you would understand what happened the other day.” “You mean with the Gard-class four days ago? I only received the report to be taken north.” “What did you think of that ship? That massive warship that does not belong to any fleet and only I am allowed inside. …You have vaguely come to understand that you and the people of Cologne are protected by something much larger than our military, haven’t you?” He smiled bitterly. “Yet saying so out loud would mean denying the current form of Germany.” Just then, someone gave a shout. “Found them!” The navigator raised his right hand while looking outside with semi-stationary binoculars. He quickly formed some numbers with his fingers. “Distance: approximately 5 miles. Low altitude. A single transport ship has flown into a mountain valley and…it is slowing down.” Heiliger stepped forward with binoculars in one hand and asked a question of the gun commander. “Can we fire on them?” “Hitting a single moving ship at this distance would be difficult.” “Then fire. Let them know we are here. If a transport ship is flying at low velocity and altitude, it is preparing to drop something off. Fire a Pseudo-Drach Kanone along their course and match our altitude to theirs.” “A light cruiser shouldn’t be flying at low altitude in the mountains at night. Especially not at high velocity.” “We are the air force’s outcasts. Besides, we were even more foolhardy during the previous war. Are you going to let the enemy’s plan succeed through our excess caution?” The gun commander smiled as he responded. “The short end of the stick again, huh?” “What makes you say that?” “Our orders were to pursue, not to attack. We are only supposed to drive them out so they can be intercepted by someone else. That means no credit goes to us. Not that that’s new.” “If it isn’t new, then just do it like we always do. You can, can’t you?” Heiliger was not actually asking. After a moment, firm responses came from all across the bridge. Every single one was a simple “yes, sir”. He nodded in satisfaction. Then the light of a Pseudo-Drach Kanone pierced the dark night out ahead of them. ### Part 5 Hazel had moved from the flagship to the RB-21 after the second alarm sounded. She was now rubbing her aching head while working inside the container carried by the RB-21 after it left the squadron. The cold and endlessly shaking container was a block of shielded armor panels 5 yards high, 7 yards wide, and more than 20 yards long. She was facing the enormous knee joint of a black male Heavy Barrel. It belonged to the Schwarz Löwe. She was performing maintenance on it. “I haven’t seen him in forever and he puts me right to work.” There were two things inside the container. The first was Schwarz Löwe and the second was a boxy metal frame sitting on drop-off guardrails. The four corners of the frame had parachutes attached and the bottom had a buffering structure welded on, but what mattered was on the inside. It contained a 750cc BMW motorcycle with sidecar the AIF had stolen from the German military. It also contained Hazel and Berger’s luggage. This part of the mission would be complete once that was dropped off on a mountain road and they jumped down with it. “Or that was the plan anyway.” Once she finished her work, Hazel sighed and placed the wrench on a wall hanger. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped off her sweat. She felt unusually hot, so she looked down and found she was still in her dress uniform. The sleeves of the jacket and shirt were stained with oil. But she decided not to worry about it. She wiped the sweat from her neck and loosened the jacket’s collar to help her cool herself down. She felt better doing something than just sitting around waiting to be dropped off. … I can forget about that nightmare and stop worrying. “Okay, I’m finally ready to go.” Berger emerged from Schwarz Löwe’s back, wiping some oil from his cheek. “You’ll see what I mean if you lie down on the floor, but whoever’s pursuing us is having a lot of fun doing it. They started firing below the ship when they realized we were going to drop something off.” “Can we fire back?” “We are, but it’s not much help. The kind of bullets a transport ship’s equipped with can’t even scratch a warship’s armor.” “Th-then does that mean we can’t be dropped off?” Berger smiled a little and turned toward the internal phone on the wall. “These people know how to have some fun for German soldiers, so we’re gonna play along.” He picked up the phone. “Hazel, get inside the sidecar and curl up.” “Is there nothing else I can do?” “Just one thing: obey every instruction you receive from me, the second cleverest guy in the world. Do it immediately and without delay.” She nodded and walked toward the drop-off frame. The ship was shaking so much she couldn’t even hear her own footsteps. … It’s like my legs are tingling. The enemy shots were hitting nearby. She realized now just how leisurely a pace she had taken in completing the maintenance earlier. Corelle’s voice arrived over a shipwide announcement. “Attention container personnel. We have no choice but to leave this airspace and-” “Hold on, Corelle! Their mission is only to pursue us. I don’t know why that is, but how long do you think until he interception unit arrives?” “We’re already picking them up on radar. They will be too close for us to escape in 2 minutes 30 seconds.” “Which means those ships behind us will leave after 2 minutes and 30 seconds. That settles it,” declared Berger. “Make an accelerated ascent with the container door open. Once the enemy is lured in by that, we’ll launch the frame with all we’ve got.” “And how will that help?” “We’ll soar right over their heads.” Hearing that, Hazel came to a stop partway through climbing over one of the frame’s poles. “Um, Berger.” “Why do you look so worried? We can get down to the surface. You should look happier.” “I was kind of hoping not to die yet.” “Then you’re in luck because you get to live for another 2 minutes at least. So you aren’t dying yet. Anyway, once we’re launched, we can land behind them. And aerial ships can’t make a 180 right away. It’s like a game.” “A game?” she asked. “They win if they can keep us from dropping until they pass the baton to that other force. We win if we can drop to the surface. Get it know, Hazel Mirildorf?” Then he spoke into the phone. “Corelle, this is in your hands now. Climb high enough for us to launch far enough. As a mercenary, I don’t want this mission to end in failure. …And we can still pull it off. This is destiny.” He hung up. Hazel noticed something when she saw him approaching the frame. There was no concern of fear in his face or Lives. That meant this would be fine. So a look of relief came to her own face. He placed his hand on the frame and tilted his head. “You’re smiling. Did the tension finally drive you insane? Guess it was bound to do that eventually.” “No!” she shouted back, but he was no longer looking her way. His expression made it clear they didn’t have much time. He silently reached a hand inside the frame, removed the bandolier attached between the sidecar and motorcycle, and pulled out a light machinegun. It was a German heavy weapon known as an MG 34. “What are you doing with that?” He attached the weapon’s barrel with practiced hand while he replied. “Once the container door opens, the enemy ship’ll be right there. I can’t guarantee anything, but this might come in handy.” He sat down on the frame and attached a drum magazine to the MG 34. “Also, we can’t forget our personal parachutes.” There were two white cloth packages similar to pillows hanging on wall latches. He walked over to them while Hazel fastened her seatbelt. And… “Is there really nothing I can do?” “Hm…oh, I know. You see those three buttons on the wall? You can operate them.” “They say ‘virtual and physical ay door controls’ and ‘drop-off lift control’.” “Yeah, and I can’t operate them with my legs stuck below the machinegun. Can you reach?” She reached her hand to the side. The seatbelt dug painfully into her shoulders, but her fingers reached the buttons outside the frame. “I can.” Then the container shook like it had been struck. … Artillery? Her question was answered by Corelle, not Berger who was over at the wall removing the parachutes. “We’ve started our ascent, so it’s time to do this! Berger, if you’re not all talk, you’d better be ready!” “Oh, shut up.” Berger fought the shaking and had a definite smile in his voice. “Now, Hazel, do it in this order: the top green button is the safety. It activates the virtual door. Press that and then the red button below it to open the physical door. Then press the bottom green button to launch us.” “Got it.” She pressed the buttons in the exact order he had asked. And, with his back still turned, Berger said one more thing. “So do that once I say ‘go’, okay?” “Eh?” She heard the wind roaring. She looked back. The container door was open and the sheet of light known as the virtual door had appeared past it. The virtual door prevented any pressure difference, so there was no powerful blast of wind. But when she looked ahead again, she found Berger looking back in obvious surprise. “Hey! Hazel! What did you do!?” “U-um, exactly what you told me to?” “Why would you do it right away?” “You told me to obey all of your instructions ‘immediately and without delay’!” The roar from behind her was so loud it nearly drowned out her voice and light shined into the container. The pursuing ship was shining a searchlight on the ascending RB-21. Berger removed the two parachutes from the wall and ran over to her. “Hazel! Get out of there!” She frantically worked at her seatbelt. “!?” But then she smelled explosives. The next thing she knew, Berger was vanishing into the distance ahead of her. A painful pressure pushed forward at her as she was accelerated backwards. The view around her changed, as did the temperature and so much more. She had left the cramped container and entered the wide open sky. She had been launched into the empty night along with the frame. ### Part 6 The domed room was filled with the color white. This was the collection of knowledge below Munich’s central hospital where Rose used to sleep. The room had a diameter of 20 yards and the floor had several bedlike holes in it. The only light source was at the very center of the ceiling and that light illuminated the intricate patterns carved into the walls that almost looked like woven art. Various measuring equipment and sensors sat on movable stepladders and cargo carts by the walls and simple drawing boards sat on the floor. It all looked like an art exhibit at first. The clock sitting on one stepladder said it was 2:37. And that was AM, not PM. Only one person was seen among the machinery and drawings of the patterns. He was a balding old man with a lab coat hanging over his skinny frame. The surrounding silence and the early morning hour meant nothing to him as he peered through the lens of a measuring device on a stepladder and viewed a magnified version of one wall pattern in particular. “How very strange.” He had the devices placed on different steps based on their function, so he did not have to look to reach his hand for the side of the one he wanted. He felt across the many switches on its side and pressed the one with a rounded end. The device produced the distinctive click of a camera. “What did you learn here, Marsch Gant? When you developed the Sylphide, you were the first one the Karlsruhe family allowed in here. And after you died and Lady Rose awakened, this forbidden door was opened to the rest of us. But by then, you had finished telling your riddles.” He pulled a white glove from his lab coat’s pocket and put it on. He hesitantly reached out one finger of that hand. He touched a part of the wall pattern. A white plate a foot long and an inch wide had been embedded in the wall there. The color looked a lot newer than the plates with the other patterns engraved into them. “My readings suggest this plate was installed approximately 25 years ago. It must be the most recent one. …It was placed here by Frobel Naylor. That much I know. And I know our commander knows nothing of it.” There was something odd about the plate he had just touched. The other plates reflected the light from the ceiling with their intricate patterns, but this one was flat. “Unlike the other patterns, this one must have originally said something in Old German.” But there was nothing there now. It had been scraped off. He stopped tracing his finger across the plate and held his white-gloved hand in front of his face. He suddenly opened his mouth, bit the glove’s fingertip, and pulled it from his hand. He spat out the glove and reached his bare hand out toward the scars where something had been scraped off. “I’m being silly.” But he stopped just before touching it. With a smile on his otherwise serious face. He looked those scars. “What used to be here? The Sofort Leser involved in the creation of the Geheimnis Agency left a message for the future, but why was it erased? Why has it been hidden from us? What was it? What was here?” He looked down at the measuring equipment. The screen in the center of the device displayed a grayscale image of the marks on the plate. He started messing with the switches next to the screen. A change came over the grayscale image. “It was only sloppily erased,” he said as he stopped operating the device. The grayscale image had undergone one primary change: a few words were now visible alongside the straight lines scraped horizontally across it. “I can make out the words ‘war’, ‘Nibelung’, ‘1943’, ‘sin’, and lastly…” He took a breath. “ ‘Take care of-’ ” He looked down again. The smile from before was gone, but his lips did mouth something. And then he moved. He swung his right hand back behind him. “Stay out.” He was answered by a male voice at the room’s entrance behind him. “Not the welcome I’m used to as one of the Fünf Leithammel, ‘Dachs’ Elrich.” “The young Intelligence Division Chief?” Some brightness entered Development Division Chief Elrich’s voice as he turned around. An old man stood in the darkness of the corridor leading to the room. He wore a gray three piece suit and rubbed his bald head. “After visiting some newspaper offices around the country, I flew here. I didn’t find you at the base and was told you had taken up wall polishing as a new hobby.” “Show some respect to a man two years your elder, Witzmann. Also…” He smiled bitterly. “I will not ask who told you about the ‘sleep’. You always seem to know everything going on around the country. It’s quite a mystery. How do you do it?” “The trick is to never sleep, Elrich. Simple, right?” Witzmann’s slit-like narrow eyes bent in amusement and he pulled a thick envelope from his pocket. “I came all the way out here because there is something I hoped to discuss with you in private, Elrich.” He kept his voice casual. “It is related to the Messiah.” ### Part 7 Once the high-speed transport ship took an ascending trajectory, Heiliger saw something unbelievable. The enemy suddenly opened the container positioned between the ship’s two hulls. They were about 300 yards away with a height difference of about 50 yards, so they were very close. “What are they doing now!?” The helmsman hurriedly turned the wheel to take evasive action. The ship more tilted than turned, but it was too late. They could not escape. Just as they expected some kind of attack, something else flew out. “!?” No one on the bridge understood what they had just seen. A motorcycle surrounded by a boxy frame had flown out. That much would have been a standard cargo drop off. They had done the same on German Air Force jobs a few times. Except its parachutes failed to open. And… “A woman!?” They all saw the long blonde hair dancing within the frame. But that wasn’t all. After throwing out the framed blonde, the transport ship quickly reaccelerated while its container closed back up, but another figure slipped out through the closing door at the last second. The figure was notably dark even in the shadows of the night. A black coat flapped like wings as the person flew out into the empty air. It was a man. “He’s got a machinegun!” shouted the navigator after seeing what the man held in his right hand. At the same time, the young man in black raised his left arm. Like a magic trick, a white cloth spread out from his opened left hand and it spread further out behind him as he fell. A massive white flower blossomed in the darkness. It was a parachute. He was tugged backwards for just a moment as his falling speed was canceled out. Then he let go. He landed on the starboard deck of the aerial cruiser. The falling frame full of blonde hair similarly landed on the port deck. The momentum of the launch and the ship’s rightward turn caused the frame to bounce and spin leftward across the deck, approaching the edge fast. In that moment, Heiliger saw the girl in the frame illuminated by a searchlight. She was screaming but not shutting her eyes. Her right eye was brown and the left was blue. “The Messiah is here!?” gasped Heiliger. ### Part 8 Hazel felt her vision blur from the landing and bouncing, but she still saw Berger. Inside the frame, she was strapped to the sidecar by the seatbelt, causing her vision to spin rapidly leftward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Berger land on the deck and run her way. She barely had time to look to her surroundings. The world continued to spin around her and she felt the wind before he came into view again. “B-Berger!!” The frame hopped port across the deck. She saw pieces of the buffering structure scattering from below the frame. She was lucky it had survived the initial 50 yard drop at all. The frame flew low in the air and gently began to drop again. Berger observed its arc and… “Is it going to hit the edge of the deck or fly right off!?” “I-I can’t tell!!” Berger smiled when he heard her response from the flying frame. “!?” He suddenly looked toward the bridge and lowered his head. Hazel tried to look that way too, but everything was still spinning around her. On the second rotation, she saw a gun emplacement next to the bridge turning toward Berger and beginning a horizontal stream of fire. Berger ducked low and slid feet-first along the deck. He slipped below the flying bullets and aimed his MG 34…toward her. … !? Her confusion was soon answered by the wind produced by the flying ship. Her frame was headed toward the edge of the deck, so at this rate, she and the frame would collide with it at considerable speed. She heard the gunfire from behind her as her vision spun rightward. Once the spin brought Berger in front of her again, she saw him giving up on that and throwing the MG 34 away. “Handle the rest yourself!” he shouted. “Okay!” Whatever the case, she had to agree. She undid her seatbelt even as the centrifugal force flung her around. She was nearly thrown from her seat as she grabbed the S-41G Device stored between the sidecar and motorcycle. She spun around until she could again see ahead of the flying frame. The wall that formed the edge of the deck was right there. The MG 34 had broken it down some, but not enough. The flying frame began another rotation. It would crash once it faced forward again, so that was when she would make her move. So she took action. She shut her eyes, gritted her teeth, and pulled some destruction cards from her hip holder while the centrifugal force and night wind whipped at her hair. Her fingers refused to do what she told them, so she only managed to keep three of the cards in her grasp. The ten or so others scattered throughout the sidecar. She felt them on her legs as she pasted the three she had on the S-41G. She pressed her knees against the inside of the sidecar to hold herself in place. She angled her body diagonally and raised the sword overhead. She would use the momentum of the frame’s rotation to send the diagonal strike into the wall. She opened her eyes to see the wall full of bullet holes directly in front of her. And she heard a voice behind her. “Goooo!!” “Okay!!” She shouted to resonate with the Device. She used a single “ah” sound. The sword changed the three cards on its blade into triple explosions of light. Three empty cartridges were ejected from the sword and it accelerated. She slammed it into the wall. With a destructive sound, the light destroyed the wall in a radiating pattern. “…!” The airborne rubble struck the frame and crumbled. The frame’s course was unchanged, so it flew right past the edge of the deck. It fell off the ship altogether. Hazel grabbed the frame, leaned out from the sidecar, and looked up at the aerial warship. It was so big. Even bigger than the two-hull warship she had once seen from the Sylphide. … And so many ships like that are flying around for the war. Once her gently rotating view turned skyward once more, the aerial warship was far above her. She also saw a dark figure flying down toward her. She held the frame’s parachute release cable and waited for him. She just knew she was going to go limp and pass out the instant she handed that cable to him. ### Part 9 After leaving the hospital, Elrich and Witzmann got in Witzmann’s car. It was a soundproof and bulletproof Benz with a partition between the front and back seats. Witzmann sat in the backwards-facing seat in the front of the back and used the phone to tell the driver to leave. The car shook a bit and he turned on the indoor light. “Care for a drink? “No, it would only remind me how tired I am.” “I see,” said Witzmann, pulling a few black-and-white photos from an envelope and handing them to Elrich. “Is this the Messiah girl?” Elrich asked as soon as he saw them. There were three in all. The first showed a girl with long blonde hair righting a toppled bicycle. The second showed her practice swinging a Werkzeug on an urban building’s rooftop. The third showed her showing off an AIF uniform to her parents in their yard. Witzmann nodded and smiled a little. “We captured some pretty cute shots of her, don’t you think? She is here in Germany. I intercepted a radio transmission from Air Force Lieutenant General Heiliger earlier.” “He does like those methods, doesn’t he? Whenever he wants to give us military information, he intentionally uses the radio.” Elrich sighed and leaned forward. “Where is she headed?” “Borderson. There’s no doubting it. An AIF leader is there.” “You mean Pale Horse? If not for him, we wouldn’t have lost the knowledge contained in the Naylor fortress. Do you remember that?” “Unfortunately, I was off observing the revolution in Russia at the time.” Witzmann smiled and loosely crossed his arms. “I have already informed every unit that the time has come to fulfill our commander’s prophecy. …Elrich, it is time to make use of the Ton bullets your development division has created.” “I see.” Elrich viewed the photos, leaned back in his seat, and crossed his skinny legs. “What did you really want to discuss?” Witzmann nodded and pulled a document from the envelope. “Do you remember the 2nd Heidengeist Purge in ’37? You know, the return of the purge caused by the Berlin Conflict in ’35. …It was carried out by the military and we were not involved that time, so it was sorely lacking in courtesy and important people’s families were not spared.” There was a hint of a smile in Witzmann’s voice. His kind face loosened up somewhat. “Ordinarily, a blood test is required to label someone a Heidengeist. Proof of being a pure-blooded German comes from detecting a portion of the German Ton that you yourself discovered at the time, Elrich.” He sighed. “Hazel Mirildorf’s mother is a Heidengeist. …Inject her with the German Ton ether your department has extracted from the Vaterlands and she can never again leave Germany.” “A Ton cage, huh? Because someone who possesses that German Ton too strongly will have all the Tons of their body break down if they try to travel somewhere without that Ton. They will physically ‘tear apart’. And that Ton cannot be removed from their body except with a Ton exchange from a high-level Stimmer or by creating a competing Ton with a serum extract.” “Which wouldn’t be possible. If we rewrite her Tons…then the Messiah is ours.” Witzmann then handed Elrich the document he held. “Now for my main point. When Hazel Mirildorf was captured in ’37, she never had a Heidengeist test done. However…” “She did receive a blood test before the Messiah implant surgery?” “These are the records of that test. …We want to make sure the Live bullet is effective, after all.” “And the result?” Elrich’s eyes searched for the answer on the document until they stopped on a certain point. He gasped and started to stay something but stopped. In lieu of answering, Witzmann opened the box next to his seat and pulled out a bottle of liquid. “Has all this talking made you thirsty too?” He opened the bottle and poured its contents into a wineglass. It was distilled water. Elrich asked a question while the other man audibly gulped down the water. “What does this mean? She is a Heidengeist, so how…” “How can she also have traces of the German Ton? That is exactly what I hope to find out. Along with this.” He finished drinking the water and tossed the glass in a bucket next to his seat. Then he pulled a new document from the same envelope and handed it to Elrich. It was the same type of document as before, but for a different person. Elrich frowned. “Dog Berger? The man who accompanies the Messiah girl?” “He has divine blood. Probably only half, but that still makes him a Heidengeist. But for some reason, he too has traces of the German Ton. Even though he was supposedly born in England. And…” And… “In another mystery, he has lost his divine power. He has the Tons of his divine lineage inside him, yet he lacks the Ton for that power. Without checking his Tons, he would be indistinguishable from an ordinary human.” “A fascinating mystery. The blood was taken in Munich back in ’37, I see. For a species test.” “Do you think he wanted to see if he was no longer a god?” Witzmann held out a hand to ask for a handshake. “Elrich, how about we try to get along? These documents were actually ordered sealed by our commander and commander-in-chief, but I decided to lend them to you anyway. Because I don’t know why those two had them sealed. There must be more to this. Something important. My sixth sense as an intelligence officer says so.” “Agreed.” Elrich straightened up and tightly gripped the proffered hand. Witzmann smiled bitterly. “Don’t you find it cruel of them to hide such a cute girl from us? I was surprised to find the Messiah destined to lead us would be so unreliable.” “Really?” “I imagined the Messiah as someone void of doubts who lived to save the world and coldly manipulated us like mere tools. You remember that photo of her righting a bicycle?” “Yes, what was that about?” “Exactly what it looks like. She was riding her bike when she looked over to greet a neighborhood woman and crashed into a street sign.” Elrich lowered his head to view the laughing old man two years his junior. Witzmann ended the handshake and spread his arms so they nearly touched the ceiling. “Isn’t it amusing!? The Messiah who will save Germany – no, who will save the entire world from the destruction coming in ’43 – is just a girl who can’t even ride a bike without crashing! And she’s our enemy! I must know.” He took a breath. “I must know how a girl like that will lead us! I want to see it happen! If the higher ups insist on hiding her, then we must act on our own. Elrich, I need your research!” ### 609. Chapter 3: The Requiem Runs 05/30/1942 10:11 – 11:43 So many things are trying to renew themselves But I can’t find anything new in myself Maybe I’m never meant to wake up ### Borderson Region A grassy region of northwestern Germany that has connected Germany to Western Europe since ancient times. A comfortable place to live thanks to its gentle mountains, the Black Forest to the south, and the Rhine running through its center. Once belonged to the Borderson family who governed northwestern Germany and the Bordersons often provided assistance to Western Europe as Europe’s primary Buster family and as Hounds. But the Borderson bloodline died off in ’33, so the Borderson knights, who had lived as free Kavaliers within Germany, lost their leader and lived separate lives as they individually saw fit. The knights who, in a way, had most fought against Heidengeists were left unsupervised in this land. At the same time, this land contains several villages known as “Villages of Pardons” where the Heidengeists who historically submitted to Borderson are allowed to live. ### Part 1 The sky was blue. Looking down showed trees covered in the green of early summer. Further away, the trees grew thick enough to call a thicket. Further than that, there were enough to call a forest. A green mountain rose beyond that. This was one of the forests in the northwestern German region of Borderson. A mountain road ran through the forest. It was an unpaved dirt road with wheel ruts and some undergrowth. A single car drove along that road – a green Volkswagen Beetle convertible. It had originally been a military vehicle, so it had a plain, undecorated exterior. Schweitzer sat in the Beetle’s driver’s seat, wearing a white shirt and navy slacks. Lowenzahn sat next to him, viewing a map and wearing a green men’s suit. Schweitzer barely moved as the car shook. He kept his eyes directed forward as he asked her a question. “Lowenzahn, which way at the fork up ahead?” “Left. I think right would take us to the cliff above a waterfall. We’d fall right into the basin below.” They turned left at the fork, feeling like they were slipping below the branches sticking out from the trees. A straight-line ascent came into view. Small grassy hills rose on either side and the road continued straight through the center. The car bounced a bit as it continued on straight. Schweitzer shifted down a gear to prepare of the climb. The roar of the engine grew louder and the car made its climb in between the grassy hills. “What a view.” Far in either direction, the wind blew waves through the grass in the shade of the hills and those waves continued on down past the bottom of the slope like vast, grassy carpets. The sound of splashing water sounded a bit like radio static as it faintly reached them from beyond the hill on the right. “The waterfall must be close by.” “Indeed,” agreed Schweitzer before turning to face the left hill. Warm music reminiscent of a blowing bellows played from beyond that hill. “That’s an organ. That sound really takes me back. …They’re playing the Unreif Germane.” She slowly looked around, letting the gentle music wash over her. “Six sections of the Unreif Germane are recited as poems: the 3rd Section of Daily Life, the 9th Section of the Ruling King, the 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon, the 1st Section of the Moonlight, the 6th Section of the Ending God, and the Final Section of the Wheel. This combines them all into a single song.” “Your prophecies have included the 3rd Section of Daily Life, the 9th Section of the Ruling King, and now the 6th Section of the Ending God, correct?” “Yes. The one that starts with ‘the party begins’ is the latest prophecy.” Lowenzahn opened her mouth and recited the 6 sections of the Unreif Germane in order. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall Follow the path to a familiar face While walking side by side Your hand and voice might reach them But the moon sees it not The gatherers begin their party A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same words The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new / All hesitation will come to an end up ahead Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new / Throw out all hesitation and look back The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new / All hesitation exists to tear through that wall She held the door under her arm to fight the shaking as the car made its climb. “The party begins and the village dances, huh? Captain, what did you think of the information Bermark sent us over the radio earlier? That the messiah has arrived in Germany with the one armed young man and as a member of the AIF this time.” “This will be her first real battle. The rumors say it took her two years to pass their entrance exam.” Lowenzahn nodded, brushed up her bangs, and spoke with the morning breeze on her face. “Interesting, isn’t it? Remember what I told you three years ago? Our world is moving two years ahead of schedule.” “But those two years have been mostly canceled out by the Messiah spending two years on an entrance exam?” Schweitzer shifted down another gear. The slope was getting steeper, but if they cleared this patch, they would reach the top of the hill. He stepped on the gas to accelerate. Lowenzahn spoke in an emotionless tone while viewing only the sky out ahead. “Someone sent P. Wagner a Verlsten Brief directing him to where the Sylphide slept underground and that sped up our world by two years. The Berlin Conflict was meant to happen in ’37 and the Sylphide Incident in August of ’39. The Sylphide Incident was meant to rouse suspicions of a Polish spy leaking information related to the Sylphide and that would have led to the invasion of Poland.” “But it instead happened in ’37 when the military was not ready for an invasion and that opportunity was lost. In our version of the war, the invasion began in ’39 when classified documents were stolen from a German craft that crashed in Poland.” “Yes, so hostilities still began in ’39 as before. That means events surrounding the Messiah were two years ahead of schedule, but the world as a whole remained unchanged. And by now in ’42, almost all of it has worked itself out on a global scale.” “Has that made correcting the prophecies easier?” “It has. And like you said, the Messiah has been so slow it has mostly canceled out the two years. Things are much easier to understand than they were back in ’37. The prophecies will not fail anymore.” “May I ask one thing?” Lowenzahn gave him a puzzled looked, so he asked his question. “How was the Messiah meant to develop? Our Hazel Mirildorf was caught in the Sylphide Incident at the age of 15, but that was meant to have happened when she was 17.” “Yes, and she was meant to quit school and join the AIF once the war broke out in ’37.” “She joined the AIF immediately after the Sylphide Incident?” “Yes,” stated Lowenzahn. “The original Messiah completed the entrance exam in the standard half a year and took part in the sabotage of the Gard-class’s #1 ship in late ’40. She had her first battle at 18. And she was captured in ’42.” “So the original Messiah and our Messiah both began the entrance exam in ’37 at the age of 17…but the original one completed it in half a year and ours took two years?” Lowenzahn faced forward. “17,” muttered Schweitzer while gripping the steering wheel in both hands. “That’s about how old I was when I made my promise with Eryngium, Berger, and the others.” “I think I had a lot going on at that age too. When I was all alone in that small house Graham gave me.” The car shook, but Schweitzer said nothing and only pushed on the steering wheel. But Lowenzahn continued regardless. “But the defining incident for our Hazel Mirildorf was two years before that, when she was 15. I think she found herself caught in the Sylphide Incident before she was old enough to develop any real wisdom or have a good sense of herself. And even if she did want to join the AIF immediately afterwards, it didn’t exist in that form at that point.” “So she had to wait the two years from 15 to 17. She must have thought about a lot in that time.” “You were there at the Sylphide Incident, so you should know. Did she manage to accomplish anything there?” “No,” said Schweitzer. “And all Berger and I managed was force her to abandon the Sylphide. Yet she still apologized to it.” “She has such a soft heart, doesn’t she? But does the Messiah need one of those?” “––––?” Schweitzer turned toward her. When she noticed his gaze, she looked up and frantically pointed forward. The wheel ruts were straying to the right up ahead. The car shook and he turned the wheel to keep it under control. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Because the Sylphide Incident happened two years early, the Messiah was forced to abandon it before she had developed more mature wisdom…which unintentionally turned her into a soft soul who can’t bring herself to abandon anyone.” “But if the Sylphide Incident had happened when she was 17, she would have been mature enough to abandon that which was unnecessary, so she would have entered the AIF…and ultimately come to lead us as an elite?” “But even our Messiah is having her first battle, even if it’s two years delayed. That is why I prophesied her capture now in ’42.” Just then, their view opened up. They had reached the top of the hill. Beyond the green hill was an even deeper green wheat field. The top of the hill was flat and the rippling green field was visible as far as the eye could see starting with the slope down the hill. The road continued straight on down and arrived at a forest after half a mile. “Past that forest is a Borderson ‘Village of Pardons’.” They could hear the music – the organ playing the Unreif Germane. Lowenzahn murmured while listening to the warm, gentle melody. “The latest prophecy is the verse about the Messiah girl ending up alone. And she will remain in this land. Do you know what that means? The Messiah girl was originally supposed to arrive with Dog Berger as a skilled AIF member, but he sends her to Cologne ahead of him.” She frowned and started to say more. “?” She heard the roar of an engine. ### Part 2 It came from behind them, so Lowenzahn turned her head to look. Schweitzer did the same. Shortly thereafter, the color black fluttered as it came up alongside them on the right. It was a green motorcycle with a sidecar. It was driven by… “Berger!?” Only after Schweitzer’s shout did Berger turn toward them. He viewed Schweitzer’s face through his sunglasses and immediately accelerated. “Yikes, there’s some weirdo out here!” The motorcycle used its acceleration to pull out ahead of the car. Schweitzer pursued it without thinking and Lowenzahn grabbed his hand. “After them, after them! The Messiah was onboard! Argh, why don’t I have any Ton bullets with me!?” Long blonde hair fluttered back behind the sidecar. That formed a stark contrast with the black of the coat fluttering behind the motorcycle itself, but it also seemed to blend into the surrounding greenery. Schweitzer started to shift gears but stopped. “Why aren’t you hurrying after him?” asked Lowenzahn when she noticed. “He called you a weirdo.” “Conflict is forbidden in Borderson’s Village of Pardons. You know why Alfred declined to accompany us, don’t you?” “Yes… He said he wasn’t sure he could control himself in a village full of Heidengeists. I thought that was just an excuse to avoid attending that Eryngium woman’s wedding, but was he serious?” Schweitzer nodded. And he viewed the black and gold up ahead. “We might should prepare ourselves for what is to come.” Without even looking, he removed the mic from the radio next to the wheel and handed it to Lowenzahn. “It is true the prophecy might be fulfilled today. If so, we will require more than just Lady Jeanne down there as well as some Ton bullets. Requesting that will mean-” “You’re asking me to go public with my position? You want me to use my name to put together a Messiah capture team and position them around Borderson?” Lowenzahn smiled and lifted her hips from her seat. With the mic in hand, she stood up and placed her elbow on the windshield. Her long braid danced in the wind behind her and she narrowed her eyes while switching on the mic. Just then, there was movement in the BMW sidecar leading them by a distance of about 15 yards. It was Hazel. She had her back to them, but she suddenly raised both arms. “Hm!? But we’re in Borderson!” Schweitzer immediately responded by stopping the car. He used Der Held to grab the hip of Lowenzahn’s suit and lowered her safely into her seat. “Hey, that’s my butt!” “We have bigger problems!” His rebuke led her to notice the situation, so she ducked her head down. But as she watched, Hazel kept her arms raised while Berger pushed her head down and lowered her arms. It looked like the two of them were arguing about something as they drove away. In the parked car’s passenger seat, Lowenzahn finally stretched her arms up to mimic Hazel. “Was she yawning?” Her question led Schweitzer to collapse limply onto the steering wheel. He breathed a sigh of relief and exasperation toward the car’s floor. “Was our Messiah sleeping on this bumpy mountain road?” “Probably so.” Lowenzahn pulled the reclining lever to tilt her seat all the way back and muttered calmly up into the blue sky. “Two years can make a lot of difference.” ### Part 3 The village was surrounded by an old stone wall in the forest. The village had been created by clearing the forest alongside the road. There were areas of open field running alongside the road, houses had been built there, and areas of forest separated those houses. The entire village could not be viewed at once. Hazel rubbed her sleepy eyes and took a look around. The greenery spread out around her in shadowy colors. She saw the road, some modest wooden homes, and enough cleared land for some fields and gardens. Then there was the forest. Each house was a good distance apart. In some cases, it took 10 seconds by motorcycle before the next one came into view. The road was covered in wheel ruts, making for a bumpy ride. It felt like being kicked from below, so Hazel removed the blanket draped over her and placed it below her butt. She looked to the wooden house moving by on their right. “Should we really enter the village without permission?” “It’s fine. Everyone will be at the central square. For the wedding.” “What wedding?” she looked up to see surprise on his face. “Oh, that’s right,” he said, forcing a monotone voice. He smiled bitterly and continued like he had just remembered. “I’m the only one who knows about that thanks to that weird letter. You’re just my assistant who for some reason fell out of the ship, for some reason passed out, and for some reason didn’t wake up until now.” “P-please stop bullying me like that.” She heard a single peal of a bell in the distance. Recalling what Berger had said, she realized what was happening in this village. She put on a smile to smooth things over. “We showed up on a joyous day, didn’t we?” “Yeah, it’s pretty joyous all right. The bride and groom are both pretty great people.” “Hm, so you know them. I hope it turns out to be a good celebration. We heard an organ playing before, right? So is there a church or school here too?” “I’m sure there is. But I’m impressed you heard it. I didn’t notice it over the motorcycle.” Hazel kept smiling as she nodded. “I’m just used to hearing it is all. I’m studying in the education department, so we have to learn how to teach music class. I’m actually pretty good at playing the organ.” That had also helped with her training in using Lives. “But,” she began. “No one told me you were familiar with this village.” “Because I’m not. I barely know anything about the place.” “Eh?” Her smile vanished. She had sensed a faint chill in his voice. But he continued before she could wonder what it was. “All I know are the way here and…I guess I’d seen the entrance before too.” Hazel looked up at him in something of a rush. “Th-that’s all you know about the village?” “Yeah, that’s right, Hazel Mirildorf.” “Then why did you act like you knew the bridge and groom?” … He said they were pretty great people. She could not see his Lives. … Is he suppressing his emotions? He almost looked angry. There were some things it was wrong to ask about, so she chose her words carefully. “Um, Berger?” “Yeah?” “Did you really want to come here today?” “That’s a silly question, Hazel. I was ordered here.” He suddenly applied the brakes, so the motorcycle slid along the dirt a bit and the sidecar was pushed a little forward before stopping. On that forest road, she could only hear the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves. … Why did he stop? She looked around and then up at him. He took a breath, let go of the handlebars, and reached back toward the luggage rack behind him. “Do you want to get off here and walk the rest of the way yourself, Hazel Mirildorf?” “P-please stop being so mean.” “Then why are you asking these weird questions?” She was unsure how to respond. “B-because you seem angry this time. You won’t tell me what it’s about, you won’t look me in the eye, and you’ve just been sulking this whole time. You’re angry.” “Yeah, I’m angry all right.” “Why?” “Figure it out, Hazel. …What did I tell you when we went our separate ways three years ago? You were supposed to live a happy carefree life in America. Why the hell did you decide to join the AIF while going to college?” “B-because…” “Because your Messiah power came back? Which means you can fight? Don’t be naïve, Hazel. Do you know what it means when it takes you two years to complete your training? Or when you’re still a Greenhorner when you can see Lives with an octave of nearly a million? It means you’re not cut out for this, Hazel Mirildorf.” “…” She fell silent, but she did not take her eyes off of him. He looked her way and tried to say something. “–––––” But the words never came. That was when she realized she had tears in her eyes. “Oh.” She quickly wiped them away with her handkerchief. Then the sidecar shook and another tear fell. The BMW was moving forward. “That idiot is catching up.” Only then did she notice the quiet roar of an engine coming from behind. The motorcycle sped up, causing more shaking and another fallen tear. The wind blew, its azure Lives tickling her cheek and flowing behind her. He said nothing. Neither did she. The forest on either side of the road came to an end far up ahead. The central square was visible past that, as were a few people. Realizing that was their destination, Hazel put the handkerchief back in her pocket. She recalled her mission. … Escape from here with General Pale and arrive in Cologne by 11 PM. There, we fire the tracker onto the Gard-class, rendezvous with Corelle, and escape Germany. She was Berger’s assistant, but she had another mission she could not get his help on. … I have to convince him to join the AIF. While she wondered how she could do that, she heard organ music. It was playing the Unreif Germane with a somewhat quicker and upbeat tempo. She sang this verse to herself. This verse’s lyrics came from the 6th Section of the Ending God, which made her smile bitterly. … That section is about a pretty nasty rejection. The music continued on. As if inviting in any outside guests. ### Part 4 The light of late morning fell on Cologne. The industrial city was lined with factories. Their smokestacks were constantly spewing smoke that could not be fully eliminated with filters. The newer part of the city stretching north and south from the city center was almost entirely made up of factories and concentrated housing. That military city had been built along the western bank of the Rhine. Across from Cologne, on the eastern side of the Rhine, were four white towers and a mountain of black metal. The white towers had to be 150 yards tall and they formed the corners of a square. Their slopes gave them a volcanic shape and the shimmering heat blowing from their peaks proved they were currently running. They were Vaterland ley line acceleration reactors. The vast mountain next to them was colored a pitch black that contrasted with the Vaterlands. It was more than 300 yards tall, 200 yards wide, and more than half a mile long. That was the Requiem, an Eingeweide aerial warship equipped with a Babel Kanone. Its impressive and massive form was contained in a large dock built on the land originally set aside for an airport. It was facing north, which placed Cologne on its left and a mountain range on its right. It received a Phlogiston supply from the four Vaterlands. The large aerial warship was stopped and unmoving, yet it still altered the atmospheric currents around it. All of its windows used polarized glass, so no one could see inside. Some uniformed soldiers would occasionally move around on the deck of the aerial aircraft carriers forming the front of its port and starboard sides and some crafts would take off and land, but other than that, there was no sign of life. Now, however, there were three people standing on the port flight deck overlooking the city. Rose wore a white dress, Graham wore a black coat, and Lillie stood behind Rose with the wind whipping at the hem of her azure dress. They looked down at the city of Cologne. Smoke rose from the factories, cars drove along the roads, and people were everywhere. The white things they could see all over the city were laundry. Because today’s weather… “It’s sunny,” said Rose, viewing the city. “The Messiah has arrived just as prophesied, bigger brother. Bermark Vier sounded ecstatic, but that seems strange to me. Shouldn’t the Messiah girl inspire awe in people?” “We have no way of knowing how the Messiah will lead the Geheimnis Agency.” Graham’s response caused a slight change in Lillie’s expression. She frowned and lowered her head. “The Tons of the North Sea’s currents are telling me of an unknown presence in the North Sea. I think it must be an Allied warship.” “That is none of our concern as long as they remain outside of Germany’s seas. …Our duty is to protect this country. None of the Neue Kavalier are among the fools invading other lands.” “Is that why you sent Sir Alfred to protect the north?” asked Rose, turning around as Lillie watched. She turned her back on the city below and spread her skinny arms. “When the Allies attack this city, they will come from the north. There have been a lot of people giving me lewd looks from the west for the past few days, but none of them are taking it seriously. If something is waiting in the North Sea like Lillie suggests, then I bet their bomber unit will attack from the north along with whatever’s out there.” “How very wise, Rose.” “Big brother said so, so I know it must be true. I doubt there are many people other than him with as thorough a grasp of this country’s military might – including the Kavaliers and civilian fighters – and can so rationally analyze the Allies’ actions.” Rose crossed her arms and held her own body. “Isn’t that why you left Sir Alfred with him, bigger brother? Because this place is in danger?” Her piercing gaze turned to the side – toward Lillie. “Lillie, you will be returning to defend the North Sea soon too, won’t you? The Allies will be here soon – either tonight or tomorrow – so we need to be ready.” “But…” Lillie could not find the words, looked away from Rose, and finally looked to Graham. Her expression was the same as before, but she let her hair blow in the wind as she asked a question. “Why?” “I am not sure what you are asking, Lillie Telmetz. Why what?” “Why rush this?” Graham gave a simple answer to that. He ignored it. With his Psyche Outer device, he could not provide answers based on emotion. So Lillie’s gaze dropped and she sucked in a deep breath. It came out heavy. Rose stepped up next to her and placed her hand on Lillie’s. “Don’t worry. We too hope this will work out for the best.” “…” “Besides, while the Allies are after Cologne too, in a way they’re after me. Because they’re lewd. I don’t know what methods they will use, but – but my bigger brother will join the fight in his Silber Löwe and I have a lot of escape boats installed on me. So…I think it will be fine.” Lillie hung her head further. “I…” She tried to get her lips moving. “I…” She could not get the words out. Her lip movements fell apart midway. Instead… An Erklärung rang out. A hatch used to raise aircraft onto the deck opened and a giant white Grösse Panzer emerged. A tall figure stood at its feet. His long brown hair was tied back and his skinny but fit body was contained in a Geheimnis Agency army uniform. He was a sharp-eyed young man, but he nodded a bit when he spotted Lillie and the others. “Sorry. I got delayed getting a tour of the ship from this guy.” Graham coughed deeply before turning toward the voice. Rose followed her brother’s gaze and smiled. “I saw that, Sir Alfred. The ship’s interior is designed to allow Grösse Panzers to walk through it, but that still surprised everyone. None of them have been in the depths of the ship since the materials were carried in and assembled during construction.” Alfred gave a quick bow and then quickly raised his head. His hair whipped in the wind, he placed a hand on Rein König at his hip, and he turned just his head to the right. Lillie and the others looked that way too. A hatch opened on the Requiem’s starboard flight deck and a large elevator raised two Grösse Panzers from below. One was blue and held a rifle in its right hand. The other was red and held a shield in its left hand. They were Bermark Nein’s Neue Blau and Neue Zinnober. Once the elevator had finished its rise, the crew riding it hurried out onto the deck. Alfred and Bermark Nein belonged to an independent mobile unit. The Kaiser used autonomous flight to take off and Bermark Nein needed to fully activate the Ober Emblem that barely anyone could use anymore. But things worked somewhat differently when taking off from a ship. After the soldiers visually confirmed the deck’s landing equipment was not active, they circled in front of the two Panzers along with signalers carrying red and blue signal lights. The thrust produced by a Grösse Panzer’s Ober Emblem wings was far greater than with aircraft. They created an instantaneous explosion of air, so anyone behind them on the deck could be blown away. The wind blew through and the blue and red Panzers prepared for takeoff. Lillie had fully raised her head again. “Oh?” said Rose. She turned back from starboard to view the city. Lillie did the same. At some point, currents of color had appeared across the Rhine in the city. The people in their homes, factories, schools, hospitals, and shopping districts came to a stop, took a break from their work, and emerged onto the streets to look up this way. Lillie knew what they were looking at: the Kaiser to port and the Neue Blau and Neue Zinnober to starboard. “They must be surprised to see not just Grösse Panzers but one bearing the Maldrick emblem.” Rose took a breath. “The government and military both know that if we make our presence known, it will drag this supposedly civilian-run country back to what it was before the previous war.” “But there are military reports from all over Germany about a mystery unit or fighter saving them in a tight spot or a seemingly unstoppable aerial enemy fleet suddenly vanishing. The Allies are calling it the Foo Team or Foo Fighters.” Lillie’s response led Rose to turn toward the two Grösse Panzers on the starboard side and then to Alfred and the Kaiser further away. “But it is about time we showed them what we can do.” Just then, a gust of wind blew in. The clouds were somewhat stretched and swept away. The wind came from the west and pushed the clouds to the east. The Kaiser began to walk. Instead of walking out ahead of it, Alfred walked alongside it, borrowing its majesty. “Alfred Maldrick and two more from Geheimnis Agency Army Division 1st Division 1st Independent Mobile Grösse Panzer Unit reporting in. We are leaving to defend the northern coast.” “Fight hard.” On Graham’s response, the Panzer and man stopped, straightened, and bowed. “I will do my duty as a Neue Kavalier.” He raised his head and Rose spoke to him. “This is goodbye then, Sir Alfred.” “Yes, for a while anyway.” He gave her a small, innocent smile and Rose smiled back. Lillie alone bit her lower lip. But Alfred looked to Rose and then into the sky. “Such a beautiful sky.” “Sir Alfred, if you have time before traveling to the North Sea, why not visit the Village of Pardons to express your congratulations? On a beautiful day like this, I am sure they will be throwing a wonderful party for their wedding.” Alfred responded with some surprise but then smiled bitterly. “The bride is an old friend of mine, Lady Rose. However…” His smile grew even more bitter. “I have no right to attend her wedding. That is why I sent Schweitzer in my stead.” “You don’t want to see the groom? Shouldn’t you at least see who she is marrying?” “According to the letter, the two of them are already living together and the wedding is more something they tacked onto a festival being held in the village.” “I see,” said Rose and his bitter smile vanished. He also looked up into the sky. “So I know the man must be a good person.” “How can you be so sure?” “She is scarred.” Alfred placed his left hand on Rein König at his hip and his right at the base of his neck. “She has a permanent scar from here on her neck, down the center of her chest, and to her left side. …And she has no memory of her time living in Berlin – not of her family and not of her friends. But someone out there is still willing to share his life with her.” The ring on his left hand caught the sunlight and glinted red. “I think that is a good thing.” When he looked her in the eye and smiled a little, Rose’s expression changed somewhat. Her slight smile changed to a full smile colored by relief. “You truly are an adorable person,” she told Alfred. ### 610. Chapter 4: The Requiem Accelerates 05/30/1942 12:05 – 12:58 Crossroads can be found anywhere I notice one Come to a stop Wonder what to do And can’t find an answer ### Nonhuman Discrimination The racial oppression fueled by Germany’s obsession with pure blood was first directed at the nonhumans known as Heidengeists. The first wave of Heidengeist oppression came in ’35 when the German Citizenship Law and the German Citizen Safety and Security Law stripped Heidengeists of their citizenship. This was forced upon ordinary people shortly after the Berlin Conflict. The second wave of Heidengeist oppression came in ’37 when well-known and prominent Heidengeists were driven out of the government and military to prepare for the coming war. This reached its peak by the end of ’38. The third wave came on January 20 of ’42 when the Wannsee Conference determined a Heidengeist presence would not be allowed inside or outside of Germany and other races would be expelled from the country. In the initial stages, the oppression was limited to expulsion from the country and confiscation of assets, but in the later stages, they were processed into Phlogiston Plattes. The details of this process are not fully known even in the present day. ### Part 1 Hazel thought she was decent at the organ. … If only the AIF entrance exam and training included music. She had that thought while playing the antique organ in front of her. The notes reverberated through a small church that could only hold around 40 people. The place was old, but the roof was sturdy and it had pews and a pulpit. But since this was a Heidengeist village, there was no cross or icons. When she saw a chalkboard in one corner of the deserted church, she realized the place was used for Sunday school. And she played. In addition to the Unreif Germane, she played older nursery rhymes like the Harvest Hymn or Moonlit Forest. She had no sheet music set up on the organ. She did not play by reading music. … I can play it from memory after hearing it a few times. She played a song she had learned just a bit ago after hearing it played by a woman with the Titel of Lehrer. … She seems strict, but I also feel like I’ve met her before. She looked about five years older than Hazel. Her most notable traits where the eyes kept shut behind tinted glasses and the soft-looking blonde hair falling to the back of her knees. The shut eyes gave her a somewhat expressionless look and Hazel guessed that was what made her look so familiar and strict. … I shouldn’t judge people by their appearance. She nodded and got a note wrong. She briefly panicked, but then remembered she was alone in the church. To refocus her mind, she stepped on the foot pedal a few times to send air into the organ and began playing at a higher volume. She did not remember how many songs she had played in a row. She simply shut her eyes and played. She mimicked Lehrer. Of course, Lehrer had not only kept her eyes shut while playing. They had been shut when Hazel and Berger met her in the central square, when she had taken them to Pale, when she had shown them to a vacant house near the square they could stay in, and when she had brought Hazel here when Hazel asked if there was anything she could do to help. She could walk, talk, and point at things without opening her eyes because she was a Buster. Her job was to read and destroy Lives. Hazel could read Lives as well. Up to an octave of nearly a million. But she could not do it so constantly. To her, that felt like the barrier between being a Greenhorner and being a full-fledged Tuner or Buster. “I can’t see them like that.” She got another note wrong as she said that, but it no longer bothered her. Instead, she was bothered by what she had been told in that nightmare. “A Messiah who only fights for the present.” That would mean… “They can’t see past this war.” … What will I do once the war is over? She had been asked the same thing five years ago. She had been asked to describe her future plans in class. … What do I want to do in the future? She finished one song and the music came to a stop. A dove sitting on a ceiling beam and shaking in the music suddenly flew down into the church, scattering white feathers inside the somewhat shadowy building. Hazel slowly removed her hands from the keys. She placed her right hand over her left shoulder. The brand she was given at the Heidenheim was still there. It would never go away unless she tore away the skin itself. “I hadn’t considered it.” She silently removed her tensing hand and held her left hand to her chest instead. She had a card in the breast pocket there. She pulled it out to reveal the Wheel of Destiny card. … I know how it began and I know why we’re involved, but… “What do I want out of this?” And… “What kind of power do I need for that?” … I need to know what I want to do after the war to know what kind of power I want. Seeking the result before the method felt contradictory, so she could not speak that part aloud. She didn’t know the answer. After a beat, she shook her head. She resumed playing to distract herself. She played the Unreif Germane. That song told the tale of the Messiah who had appeared to unify Germany. That woman had appeared in this world, led a dragon and some Strikers, and unified an ununified Germany. … How did that fight go? The music sped up. And sped up some more. Her fingers moved across the keys, the music followed, and it all grew denser. And denser. She pressed down her foot to send air into the organ. She stepped down for a louder sound. And she played. She pressed down on the organ’s keys to play. A festival was underway outside. Everyone was dancing and laughing. They were enjoying themselves. This space was cut off from the war. This place should not have existed. But there was still a war being waged inside her. “…” She pressed hard on the keys. She made no mistakes. Just like when practice swinging her sword, she was more accurate when pouring more force into the movements. She played with accurate movements, seeking each new key in turn and pressing it. She continued onward with perfect accuracy and void of mistakes – hoping to reach the answer in the final note. She played. And just as she prepared to play the very end, an image burst into her vision. The large church door sat open to allow the music to reach everyone outside. A chalkboard on legs stood next to the entrance, presumably for Sunday school. “Oh…” A pair of small children, perhaps a brother and a sister, stood in front of the chalkboard. The older brother was writing on and drawing a waterfall and river on the chalkboard while saying something to the younger sister. He spread his arms and mimicked holding some kind of stick. He was teaching her. He was telling his sister about how he went fishing at a nearby river, or maybe that he planned to. This was a small school. The scene linked directly to the question filling Hazel’s mind. What did she want to do after the war? “…” She realized her hands had stopped on the keys. She had stopped playing while watching the siblings enthusiastically discussing something in front of the chalkboard. But she felt no desire to start playing again. Her mind was focused on her vision more than her hands. The brother was using the chalkboard and his gestures to teach his sister something. He had turned this into a small school. “Is that my answer?” She smiled bitterly when she noticed she said that out loud. And she continued in her thoughts. … This has been bothering me since I was arrested in ’37, hasn’t it? When her class had been asked about their futures, her friend had confidently opened up about her dream, but Hazel had been unable to come out and say she wanted to be a teacher before the soldiers had burst into the classroom and taken her away as part of the Heidengeist purge. … I couldn’t find an answer back then. Just like in my nightmare. She was attending her college’s education department now, but a war was on. Dreams did not come true during war. Then she gasped in realization. ### Part 2 “Is my answer really something as personal and selfish as wanting to be a teacher once the war is over?” It was an attractive thought, but she shook it out of her head. She sighed and told herself she needed to seek out something that would help everyone during this war. When her shoulders relaxed, her hands lowered on the keys, playing a silly-sounding chord. The siblings turned toward her in surprise. Just then, something blocked the sunlight shining in through the church’s entrance. Two figures stood there. One was 2.5 yards tall and had two prosthetic arms. The other was slender, but still had feminine curves. “General Pale.” Hazel stood up. At the same time, the siblings leaped toward the slender figure’s hips. The figure turned to catch them, allowing the sunlight in and revealing who she was. The woman wore the dress uniform of a female AIF officer. Below her long, soft, and wavy blonde hair, she wore tinted glasses over closed eyes. The sister called out her Titel. “Lehrer.” She rubbed the children’s heads and then turned toward Hazel. Her expression was hard to read with her eyes shut, but Hazel could see a faint yellow tone color – enjoyment. Lehrer spoke with a small smile on her lips. Her voice carried well. “The bride and groom will be making their entrance soon, so come with us.” ### Part 3 The wedding was being held outside and it began with the couple standing on an oak platform and answering a few questions asked by the mayor. Lehrer and Pale took Hazel into the 50-yard center square where the village’s Heidengeists had already gathered and formed a ring. Short Hazel tried to stretch upwards, but… “I can’t see.” Pale, who wore a casual shirt, smiled with his one eye. “Want to sit up on my shoulders?” She just about agreed before remembering she was wearing a skirt. She politely declined and walked around the square in search of a hole in the circle of people. She saw the backs of so many different species. She saw fur, scales, and wings. She saw nonhumanoid shapes. She even saw the living dead and ghosts. Seeing the great diversity on display, she was reminded of her brief passage through England on the way to Germany. … It’s true what they say about the Heidengeists moving from Europe to England. Then she noticed a back she recognized. It was a Geheimnis Agent. This was the Lieutenant Schweitzer she had met five years ago. “Eh?” She wondered what he was doing here, but she also picked up her pace. Once she was far enough around the circle to get a look at him in profile, she confirmed it really was him. This reminded her of her position here, so she hurried the rest of the way around the square. Once back at her original position, she found Pale had acquired three wooden mugs at some point. “They were passing out celebratory drinks while you were running around. They say it’s made from the fruit they harvested this spring.” Hazel saw him hold two mugs out toward her. “I can’t drink two.” “One’s for the world’s second most pretension dumbass standing over there.” A metal finger pointed outside the square. She looked that way and found her greatest safe zone: Dog Berger. A single tree grew on a small hill in the grassy area north of the center square. He stood there in his black coat, looking down at the square. “…” Pale bowed and Hazel jogged over to Berger. She made sure not to spill the drinks as she ran, but running on the grass felt nice through her shoes. She entered the shade of the tree. “Berger.” He did not respond. She saw him still staring toward the square with no readable expression on his face. “Umm…” She tried to figure out what to do with her hands full of mugs, but he held out a hand without looking her way. He was telling her to give him one. She did so. He took a sip without saying a word. He did not even blink as he stared emotionlessly at the square. Hazel sighed, wiped sweat from her brow with a handkerchief, and sat next to him. She made sure to hold the skirt in the back of her knees as she sat on the grass. She looked to the square as well. From the hilltop, she realized the ring of people was less than 10 yards across and only about four people thick. The tallest figures were the animal Heidengeists, but the most colorful were the winged ones. The only humans in the ring were… … The Geheimnis Agent? No, there was also a human woman standing next to Schweitzer. She had brown hair worn in one long braid. Hazel just about dropped her mug when she saw the woman. “She’s the one from my dreams!!” Realizing Berger was looking at her now, she clapped a hand over her mouth. And she panicked. … It’s the same person and the same outfit as in my dreams? The woman wore her long brown hair in a single braid and she wore a green men’s suit. There was no doubting it. That was definitely the woman who would kneel before her and ask that question in her dreams. “I don’t believe it.” She shook he head, tensed her shoulders, leaned over toward Berger, and looked away from the woman. She looked to the large oak platform in the center of the square. The crops harvested during spring and the drinks, foods, textiles, and other products made from them were piled up on that platform. The gaunt mayor stood in front of it all wearing casual clothing. Hazel worked to steady her breathing while guessing his pale skin meant he was a long-lived ghost. A man and a woman stood in front of him. The young man wore black clothing and his skin was a little dark. He was a demon, which meant he would have a hard time in churches. The woman wore a gorgeous white dress with a hand-woven lace veil hiding her face. “…” Hazel sighed and her gaze wandered back over to the green suit woman. The woman was looking back at her. She gasped, scooting about a foot back on her butt and putting on a stiff smile. She bowed toward the woman to try and smooth things over. The woman noticed, narrowed her eyes, and nodded. They had apparently managed to communicate. Hazel heard her heart hammering in her chest and hid behind Berger. When she looked forward again, the woman was no longer looking her way. That was a small relief. … Is she with the Geheimnis Agency too? Just then, Lehrer entered the ring of people, bowed toward them all, and said something. Color flew from the surrounding ring. People were throwing bouquets of flowers. They cheered and shouted. They all raised their mugs and voices below the fluttering flowers. The ring dissolved as the people mingled together and started dancing. The groom was lifted and then thrown into the air by the men and the bride was surrounded by the woman and given a large bouquet to hold. Then the bride removed the flower-decorated veil from her head and threw it. It flew toward… “That woman.” The woman standing next to the Geheimnis Agent caught the flying white cloth. She had scrambled up onto the man’s shoulder to pull it off. After snatching the lace out of the air, she cheered, but she blushed when she noticed everyone watching her. Her nimble movements had caught the other people by surprise, but they eventually burst into laughter. The Geheimnis Agent man used his prosthetic right hand to snatch her from his shoulder and lower her to the ground. Then the village’s men raised their mugs toward the two and laughed. Cheer filled the place. Hazel smiled a little herself as she watched from afar and then she looked to the bride. She had seen the woman before. “––––!?” She was in Berger’s pendant. She was in that glimpse of the past shown on that photograph. The one that showed him smiling in a way he had never had for Hazel. Now she understood why Berger and that Geheimnis Agent were here. She gulped and recalled the name she had seen on that photograph three years ago. … Eryngium. But… … I stole a look at it, so… Berger did not know she had seen it. So she looked at him while making sure he wouldn’t notice that she knew. She took a sip of the citrusy drink in her mug as she did so. She noticed his stance had somewhat changed from before. He now had his right hand inside his black coat. She wondered if he was touching the pendant, but he was not. He was holding Gelegenheit’s hilt. He was staring forward, probably at Eryngium, but there was no expression on his face. His lips, however, were moving. “…” No voice emerged, but he had definitely said something. Hazel could not see his Lives. He was hiding everything. He had said something without noticing her staring. She did not know if it was words of celebration or what, but she did know he had shut his eyes somewhat. He was no longer looking to the central square. She quickly looked back that way as if to take over for him and saw Eryngium and the groom drinking while surrounded by all the other people. They were smiling. … What does this mean? That Geheimnis Agent, the woman from my nightmares, and Eryngium are all here. “B-Berger.” She started to say something until she saw something in the sky. She noticed three lines of white in the southern end of the clear blue sky above the forest surrounding the village. They were contrails. The three contrails rose from above the forest rooftops, to above the blue sky, and then to the heavens themselves. They ascended and ascended. They suddenly came to an end high, high up in the sky. By then, the villagers had noticed it as well. A few of them sipped at their drinks and pointed up at the white slashes dividing the blue sky overhead. Those three white lines rose into the heavens and vanished. They almost seemed to be joining the festivities. Hazel tried to say as much to Berger. “Berger.” But… “Berger?” He was gone. He had vanished at some point. She tilted her head and checked behind the tree, but he wasn’t there either. He must have gone elsewhere. … Is he okay? She wondered that and lifted the mug in her hands. And… “Oh?” She lost her equilibrium and rolled over onto the ground. Her head felt weirdly heavy. She was drunk. ### Part 4 Hazel stared up into the sky while collapsed behind the tree. … I can’t stay here. I have to get to that empty house next to the square. She wasn’t sure why, but two women with some kind of a connection to her were here. “What is with this village?” Her alcohol-loosened lips uttered a complaint as she slowly got back up. Standing up too quickly made her dizzy, so she took it slow and then got moving. Once she started down the slope, her legs started moving on their own. Carrying her down. “Oh, no, no, no, no.” She arrived at the square in a jog and it took her five or six steps to regain her balance. She tried staying still. In the square, a large number of Heidengeists were seated on a large picnic sheet and chatting pleasantly. There was laughter and singing. There were no insults or fear. Every species had at least a few different members present. Hazel stood there all alone, but… “Oh.” The balance of her inner ear started to collapse. She moved her head and her somewhat feverish gaze searched for the vacant house she and Berger had been given. She found it at 10 o’clock or northwest. The wooden house was a short walk across the field surrounding the central square. She turned that way and got her unsteady legs moving again. “Oh, whoa.” Just as she started walking and wobbling, she heard a voice from the seated Heidengeists. “Hey, what are you doing there, miss!?” It was Pale’s voice, but she did not have it in her to check where exactly he was. “I’m sorryyyy.” With that, she walked from the square with the mug in one hand. She staggered side to side and turned her head. She still had 15 steps before reaching the vacant house. That felt like a horribly long journey. And then… “?” She heard Berger’s voice. From behind the vacant house. He seemed to be talking with someone. She could not hear what he was saying, but there was a light, cheerful tone to his voice. Her heart skipped a beat. … He only sounds so happy when he feels trapped. It was the same tone of voice he had used when fighting the Kaiser three years ago or facing down the Sylphide five years ago. She resumed walking. Her legs were still unsteady, but she had gotten the hang of it. She arrived at the vacant house, placed her hand on the log wall for support, and started to circle behind the house. Then she heard a female voice join with Berger’s. It was Lehrer’s voice. That brought Hazel some small relief. … Are they hiding back here to trade AIF intel? She peeked behind the house and prepared to call Berger’s name. “––––” But she quickly pulled her head back. She took a few steps back along the wall and then turned the corner toward the front door. “Um, uh, um.” She spoke aloud what she had seen. “They were kissing…” Only by speaking the words did she truly understand them. The image burned into her eyes showed Lehrer as the instigator. She had stretched up, draped her arms around Berger’s neck, and placed her lips on his. … What is going on here? Hazel touched her right hand, the one not holding the mug, to her lips as if that would help her understand. “N-no.” She did not understand the word escaping her lips or the scene she had just witnessed. Nor did she understand the woman from he dreams or Eryngium’s presence here. She had nothing but questions spinning through her mind when organ music from the church reached her ears. Music much like hers from earlier seemed to push her onward, so her legs began to move. She practically leaned against the entranceway as she opened the door. The wind blew into the vacant house, seeming to draw out the smell of the wood and the dim shadows. She stepped inside to cut herself off from what she had seen outside. It was a small house. The 5-yard room had a fireplace on the north side, a simple kitchen with no equipment on the east side, and a bed with only a mattress and sheets on the west side. She looked to the fireplace and sighed. Berger was likely still beyond there. Lehrer would be with him. Hazel shook her heavy head, but that did nothing to help. “What do I do? I don’t understand any of this.” She set the mug down in the kitchen, walked across the room on unsteady legs, and collapsed into the bed without removing her shoes. The texture of the artificial mattress and sheets felt oddly nostalgic. The chill of the sheets felt nice on her heated skin and she remembered another important factor. “How am I supposed to get Berger to join the AIF like this?” She continued the thought in her mind while she gradually relaxed. … I don’t know anything about him. She drifted off before the words were even complete. Her breathing grew softer and softer, but her brow remained somewhat furrowed. ### 611. Chapter 5: The Requiem Races 5/30/1942 18:32 – 22:20 Do crossroads connect your current path to a new one? If so, a crossroads is not the same as a fork in the road. I’m not sure how to put it. Does anyone know what I’m trying to say? ### Babel Cannon A Babel Cannon is a system that accelerates words to use them either as bullets or as a beam. The basic structure includes a giant cannon reminiscent of the biblical Tower of Babel and a launching mechanism that accelerates the powerful word particles, so there is little theoretical difference between them and ordinary cannons. They are divided into two general categories based on the type of projectile: either a bullet made by hardening the word particles or a beam that releases the word particles. The former has a simpler structure but can only be fired instantaneously. The latter is more complex and much bigger, but can be fired over an extended period of time. During the Great War, the former was referred to as Babel Guns and the latter as Babel Cannons. They are tremendously destructive. Everything within range of the target space undergoes word collapse, causing it to literally rupture. They are the ultimate weapon of the current age. For example, a resonance Babel Cannon nearly destroyed England’s heaven in ’33. Only Germany’s Geheimnis Agency and the British military have developed Babel Cannon technology, so while England works more closely with the rest of the Allies, they have sealed away all of their R&D documents until the year 2000 to avoid any other country stealing the technology. ### Part 1 At 5:32 PM, while the 3rd Aerial Fleet off the coast of Norway was engaging the German troops, the Big Signal, a British aerial warship equipped with a Babel Gun, finally completed the 11-hour process of connecting and turning the barrel, so it began to ascend. The ship’s large silhouette was visible on the North Sea’s moonlit clouds where the German aerial ships could not reach it. The shell loading zone at the rear of the barrel was temporarily sitting open. While its escort ships arranged themselves in a concentrated defensive formation, the 10-yard container sector at the rear of the Big Signal began to move. Three of the walls opened up, leaving only the front wall that connected to the bullet accelerator. The opened walls revealed a soft weblike steel frame and cords with airtight coverings. The cords were tangled and twisted around the frame, making the place look like a jungle. An enormous musical instrument sat in in the center of the frame. It was a harp. But this harp extended sharply forward and the keel-like piece supporting the strings was nearly 6 yards long. Sounding boards meant to help spread its sound stuck out from the spine of the harp like a stegosaurus’s back plates and two giant amplification shells resembling spiral shells were installed on the harp’s rear. The harp was known as an ultraheavy harp. It was played by a girl. She had a slender body and long brown hair, but the right half of her body had been removed and she was linked to the connectors on the harp and amplification shells. Her arms and legs were ceramic and the joints were covered, but her face, throat, and stomach were the same as a human’s. She was a Sein Frau designed to play this harp and sing. Her name was stitched into her clothing: Bendaughter-East. She was one of the three sisters who performed the music when London’s big clock reached the top of the hour. The ultraheavy harp’s name was written on it: BBH-02 Sunshine. The Sein Frau was not moving. Her head was lowered in sleep. The left arm designed to play the large harp was long enough to reach the floor. The special prosthetic right arm sticking out from the other side of the harp was also motionless. However… “––––––” Time slowly passed, the moon slowly moved, and the moonlight finally reached her face. The chilly wind of the high altitude gently washed through her hair and stroked her cheek. The first thing to move was the cords crawling around the frame like a jungle. A few of the cords went taut, shook, and then emitted steam in the cold air. Next to the two large shells on the rear of the harp, the autonomous clasps rotated and released their brakes. The special prosthetic arm on the starboard side rotated each finger six times and began to clench and unclench. Then the Sunshine’s exterior panels lifted up just a bit and a powerful breath blew from within. The frame shook, the cords swayed, and the wind whipped at Bendaughter’s clothing and hair. As the ultraheavy harp awoke itself with an autocleaning cycle that resembled a yawn, something else began to move as well. Bendaughter’s eyelids slowly opened. Her lowered head faced forward and then up into the sky. Her expression remained blank. She was only designed to play the harp and sing, so she had no thoughts beyond that. But she still opened her eyes wide while viewing the light of the moon hanging high in the sky. She opened her mouth and the pressure gathered in her lungs pushed her voice from deep within her throat and gut. “Ah.” It was a single loud tone. New movements gradually joined in. The idling Babel Gun fully activated. It had reached its completed form atop the Big Signal and the shafts installed inside and outside it began a rapid phase transition. This was meant to eliminate any vibration in the gun’s core. The miniature transition-style word accelerator at the base of the cannon began to operate. The cylindrical accelerator was large enough to stick out from the edge of the ship and a transition space was bound to each end of the cylinder to provide the same effect as a large circular accelerator in as little space as possible. That device took up more power than any other part of the ship. The emblem panels producing the transition space were installed complexly along the outside of the cylinder as well to fight the internal pressure. Everything had activated now. And it was all tied together by a voice. “Ah.” The single tone continued. It had not stopped for a moment. Bendaughter’s body was linked to the ultraheavy harp, but her intake and output of nutrients and an external supply of oxygen were handled by pipes connected to her linking surface. So as long as the vibration of her voice did not numb her brainstem, she could sing indefinitely without needing to take a breath. But that stopped without warning. After viewing the moonlight for only a few seconds, Bendaughter lowered her gaze to face forward again. She kept her eyes there as she moved her left hand around behind her head. That arm was 2 yards long and it produced a mechanical whirring as it moved. Fingers with built-in picks arrived at the base of the frame between the two shells. There was a large square hole at the top of the frame and she pulled a book and a small bag from there. Her left arm returned. First, she placed the book on her lap and skillfully opened the bag with just the one hand. She pulled out what looked like a single thumb-sized red gem. It was a piece of hard candy. She casually tossed it in her mouth, placed the bag at her feet, and picked up the book. Her expressionless gaze viewed the title. “Unreif Germane – Six Sections in Song.” She used the one hand to flip through the pages. Sheet music was written there, but she read through it at a rate of less than a second per 10 pages. “Understood. If anything becomes unclear, I can check again.” She set the book aside. Sunshine’s exterior panels opened a bit and it inhaled this time. The shell loading zone’s outer walls surrounded her as if in response. She spoke aloud while the giant soundproof box closed around her. “Additional Order: New #78. Categories: Song, German, Special. Objective: Perform the high pressure song for approximately nine hours to create a Babel Gun bullet.” She said it all without taking a breath. “Begin.” With that final word, two final sounds escaped the closing loading zone. The strum of a harp’s strings and the singing of a voice carried far through the sky before vanishing inside the soundproof box. ### Part 2 Night had fallen. The stars were spread across the sky. The lack of lights in the German mountains meant the surface was pitch black. The small lights of a city were visible in the distance. That would be Cologne. The mountainlike silhouette next to Cologne had to be the Requiem. A few dark silhouettes walked through the mountains and forest where that was visible. The men in black uniforms made no noise as they moved and walked. They only disturbed the air a bit. A few such people were gathered in one spot. A camouflage tent had been set up in the darkness as a command center. A single mountain-equipped Klein Panzer stood in a small clearing. An outdoor Phlogiston Tank sat next to it with cords extending toward the tent and the machines within. There was a single bright color inside the command center. It took the form of a woman. She had some shallow wrinkles on her face but still maintained a sharp atmosphere. She currently stood in the center of the command center tent. She wore the field uniform of the Geheimnis Agency Army Division and the bottom of the pants were noticeably muddy even in the dark. She stared forward with her arms crossed. Her sharp gaze fell on the man seated in front of her. He wore a worn-out three-piece suit and sat on the ground with his arms around a 1-foot tin can resting atop a mountain frame. He was Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann and he rubbed his bald head while laughing in the darkness. “I know you’re busy, Jeanne, so I do apologize for the intrusion. Ha ha ha.” “This is no laughing matter. Imagine my men’s surprise when they saw one of the Fünf Leithammel walking up without contacting us first. Not to mention when you let yourself be captured so easily.” “Walking? I did take a car all the way to the foot of the mountain.” Jeanne tilted her head at that. “Your choices always baffle me. Why would you choose such an inefficient way to do your duty as Intelligence Division Chief?” She pulled over a nearby chair and sat with her legs crossed. “Why are you here, Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann? I can’t imagine one of the Fünf Leithammel would visit anyone as insignificant as us without a good reason.” “You sure are strict.” “I just don’t like things that make no sense. Like you. I know the Intelligence Division handles supply transportation too, but why would one of the Fünf Leithammel arrive here alone and on foot? Is this some kind of game to you?” “Of course not. I came alone because I wanted to speak with you without anyone else nearby.” Witzmann pushed his frame and can aside. Jeanne looked at them and then spoke to the person walking close by. “Hey, check on this Ton bullet immediately. We will soon meet with our commander at the foot of the mountain and track down the Messiah at Cologne. …Will this be your first time meeting our commander!? You aren’t going to believe who she is, let me tell you!” Witzmann smiled when he heard that. “So our commander has directly ordered the Messiah’s capture, has she? I thought you were only here to capture Pale Horse.” “I’m as surprised as you. She named herself on an open radio channel. But thanks to that, we have the personnel we need and we can catch up to the Messiah and Pale Horse on the Cologne side of the mountains. Even ‘Schütze Puppe’ Bermark will be joining us.” “Hm. But if we do capture the Messiah, then all of Lowenzahn Naylor’s authority as our commander will be given to the Messiah as our leader. Assuming we do get the Messiah girl, of course.” “That is our job. …I am most pleased our commander is relying on us for this.” “Hm.” Witzmann nodded. “I see. Now, Jeanne. I have a suggestion.” He smiled a little and suddenly stood up. He took two steps, arriving directly in front of seated Jeanne. “How about a game? I am currently analyzing something with the reputation of the entire intelligence division riding on it.” He pulled a foot-long piece of metal of from within his coat. It was a flat panel with a slight curve to it. He held it out toward Jeanne. “I extracted my favorite plate from the historical ones placed below Munich in Germany’s past.” “Why would you do that? Karlsruhe is in charge of that place.” “That does not matter,” insisted Witzmann. “Twenty-odd years ago, Frobel Naylor, the head of the Naylor family at the time, created this plate and attempted to place it below Munich. It was engraved with a way to save the world, or something along those lines. She had prophesied that that place would be opened up once a crisis befell Germany.” “…” “So to ensure no one would see it, no one would make a fuss about it, and no one would lose it before it was needed, she hid it among the records of the past that will all one day show their true value. But.” “But?” “Something went wrong at some point. Marsch Gant from the Development Division noticed this and carved the solution off of the surface. It feels like a riddle now. …It wasn’t easy getting Elrich away from this. Go under Munich now and you will find a mere copy of this.” Witzmann’s eyes dropped to the plate and Jeanne’s eyes followed. “I will leave this with you, Army Division Deputy Head Jeanne Schmitt. You take your duty seriously. No matter what you see or learn, you will not doubt the things you have come to trust in. So I know you will continue to trust in our commander. Even as you hide this.” “You think too highly of me,” she said with a bitter smile. Witzmann smiled back. “Which is why I suggested a game, Jeanne. I have compiled the text and the property classification chart I was able to gather from that plate. All that remains is checking the past records to continue the examination. However.” “Do you think that will be dangerous?” “I honestly do not know. …But I do know the previous head of the Naylor family attempted to hide it until the time came. I do not know if she was mistaken to leave it where she did. So if you think the time has come to give that to someone you think should have it, then will you please give it to them? But I may finish my analysis before that time comes.” “So the game is about me coming across such an opportunity versus your analysis abilities?” “No, it is my destiny versus yours. The question is whether we are talking about a destiny of ruin or of happiness.” Jeanne’s shoulders lowered a bit when she heard that. She picked up the plate, and… “I will look after this. I swear to you not even the air will touch it until either you complete your task or destiny favors me.” “You really do take your duty seriously. I hope we can get along.” They shook hands. After two or three shakes, they let go and Witzmann turned around. He walked outside the tent. Jeanne put the plate in her coat and called out to him. “Where are you going? I could have someone drive you down the mountain.” Witzmann didn’t even stop as he replied. “No, I happened across a nice tree on the way up. A large tree next to the road leading away from the Borderson region below. From there, I hope to steal an in-person look at the Messiah girl as she escapes.” “Is that what you were looking for while you wandered through the mountains earlier!?” He answered her with laughter. The good-natured laughter melted away into the night. ### Part 3 Hazel didn’t see a cloud in the sky. There was a forest in the distance, but right in front of her were… … People? A large crowd of people. Not just dozens or hundreds, but thousands or tens of thousands. There were men and woman. No children, but some were elderly and others still young. They were all keeping quiet while looking her way. Their gazes were directed somewhat upwards. … They’re below me. And they were surrounding her. She stood on a wooden stage overlooking them. Their silence coiled over their heads as expanding dark-red Lives that looked ready to explode at any moment. She looked down at them without fear. But when she noticed the movement of her gaze was not her own, she realized this was a dream. … Another nightmare? She took half a step back while viewing the dream brought to her by all her senses. An oppressive atmosphere hung over the dream. When she looked closer, she noticed something new. All the people spread out before her were wearing old-fashioned clothing or armor. This was not the mass-produced clothing or armored uniforms designed for the soldiers who fought in modern battles. They were mostly equipped with swords and spears, but none of them looked mass-produced either. When she looked between the distant forests’ trees, she saw a few old-fashioned Barrels. … What is this gathering for? Wondering that, her vision tilted down again. A wooden altar-like platform was built below the stage. Four men stood there. The armor, clothing, and cloaks they wore were nothing like the rest of the crowd. It was much higher quality. One of the four, the one on the far right, was not wearing armor and was only lightly equipped, but he held a thick scroll under his left arm. “…” Just as Hazel wondered who those four were, her vision moved again. She looked to the horizon and then side to side. She looked to all the people below. Her dream self raised her right hand. It held a sword Device. She recognized the sword. It resembled the one wielded by the Heavy Barrel named Kaiser she had fought two years ago. When her dream self held that sword aloft, she was answered by an explosion of voices. The waves of people spread out before her released their voices and their coiling dark red Lives into the sky above. Thousands or tens of thousands of voices joined together to form an indistinct roar that reminded her of a crashing waterfall. The wind was afraid, the forest surprised, and the earth trembled, but it did not stop. Her dream sense felt the vibration. She saw the thundering Lives and rejoiced. But her current self sensed something strange from her position a step removed. … Why? Her vision was looking down at the people thrusting up their weapons and shouting. … Why am I looking down at them? She was definitely looking down at all those people. And… “?” She suddenly looked up into the sky. The clear blue sky. A dragon flew there. When she saw the 30-yard azure dragon, she knew for certain this was a dream. … The Sylphide. The craft that had once broken apart in the sky above the North Sea was hovering in the sky now. It rocked in the wind, seemingly enjoying the waves created by that wind. Hazel felt dizzy and, by the time she took another breath, her vision had lowered and slowly turned to look behind her. Someone else stood on the stage too. Behind her. Her vision looked back and found a color she hadn’t seen yet here. This was not the blue of the sky, the green of the forest, the brown of the dirt, or the silver of the armor. It was the black of shadows. The young man standing there had only one arm. She recognized him. … No!! She denied it. She rejected it. She refused to accept it. This was a nightmare, but the nightmare continued. Her recurring nightmares always ended with a certain image. She would dream of saying goodbye to someone. He would disappear into the shadows of the night and she could not follow after him. The dream of loss had repeated itself so often she started to feel like it was one of her memories. And now it was happening again. … No. She shouted. And not just on the inside. She shouted out loud like a child. “Noooo!” She shouted his name. Instead of telling herself to wake up from the dream, she shouted the leaving person’s name in order to reject the dream. “–––––!!” ### Part 4 Hazel shot upright. She opened her eyes and faced forward. She was in a small room. “Where am I?” This still didn’t feel real. Her senses still felt the wind and heard all those people’s voices. When she wrapped her arms around herself, she naturally pressed her right hand against her left shoulder and recalled who she was. Her hand held the Wheel of Destiny card that had been in her left breast pocket. “Oh…” She recalled what had led up to that dream. Sweat rapidly soaked her entire body. She was sitting on a bed. She had gotten drunk and fallen asleep. The flowers in the vase on the side table looked awfully red and she found she was fully awake now. She quickly checked her watch and found it was 8 PM. It was dark outside the window. “We need to leave here with General Pale at 10 and get to Cologne.” She recalled something else too. … When am I going to invite Berger to join the AIF? She didn’t know what she should do there. But… “I should at least talk with him.” Just as she managed to calm her breathing, the door burst open. “!?” She looked over to find Berger standing in the doorway. He looked down at her with no readable expression on his face. “We’re leaving in an hour.” With that brief report, he gave a flip of his black coat, walked past her, and sat at the foot of the bed. The bed shook a bit. He had his back to her and did not look back. “…” She sat with her legs folded underneath her, placed her hands on her knees, and stared at his back. “Um.” She hesitated. “Berger?” No response. But she waited a bit. After a breath or two and still nothing, she decided he wasn’t just being slow to respond. This time, she spoke more firmly. “Berger.” “What? Keep it quick.” She could not see any tone color at all coming from him. But… This is fine, she insisted to herself. He wouldn’t let her see his emotions, so she felt like she was walking blindly through the darkness as she opened her mouth. Instead of asking him directly, she took a different tack. “Why won’t you join the AIF?” “Were you asked to get me to join?” He immediately saw through her. “Um, well, uh.” “They keep trying to do this. My answer is no. Remember that.” When he was that blunt about it, she felt more miffed than disappointed. “Why?” “Why did you join? Why are you fighting a war, Hazel Mirildorf?” That was more or less the same thing the woman in the green suit had asked her in her dream. She had found something like an answer while playing the organ at the church today, but she still couldn’t put it to words. Just like in ’37 and just like in her nightmare, she was unsure what to say. “W-well…” She was not entirely sure. She was not confident in her answer. He must have realized that because he said more without turning around. “Sounds like you have a vague understanding, but it still hasn’t coalesced into something solid. That’s the same as not having an answer. I’m the same, Hazel. I have no idea what I want after the fighting is done. I find the means to be a lot more fun than the ends. That’s just who I am. But…” “?” “Three years ago, I said you belong on the other side of the wall. So why did you join the fight without even understanding why?” He stood up. And he slowly stood up on the foot of the bed to look down at her. With emotionless eyes. “A girl who joined the AIF just because can’t convince me of anything. …You’re worthless if you don’t have a solid reason to work with the AIF. Without a reason, what happened 5 years ago, 3 years ago, and now are all meaningless. Including getting the Sylphide killed.” “––––!” The way he phrased that last part made her get up on her knees and throw a slap toward him. But… “How dumb are you? Did you really think you could hit me?” His right hand caught her wrist before she could reach his cheek. His hard fingers dug into her skin. She could not resist his grip at all, so her brow wrinkled in pain. “Hazel. I can’t hear you, Hazel Mirildorf. The reason you began to fight and the reason you continue to fight must be there inside you. But I have that much inside me too.” He pulled her wrist toward him. His face moved toward her. The blue eyes behind his sunglasses were simply there with no emotion or strength in them. The only thing she saw in those eyes was her own reflected face. There was anger on that face. That realization surprised her, but his voice ignored all that. “But is that all you have? You, the one who said she didn’t want to run away? Do you see what I mean, Hazel Mirildorf?” He let go while pushing her wrist down. She lost her balance and landed back on her butt. He bent over to peer into her face. “Face reality, Hazel. At 11 tonight, Project Millennium will bomb Cologne to the ground. Germany’s promised millennium of peace will be destroyed, people will die, and a city will be wiped off the map. Can you tell me what needs to be done after that kind of destruction? Well, can you?” He took a breath. “If you can’t, then stay there on the other side of the wall, Hazel. You can’t fight in the war from there, but you can find your answer. So once this mission is over…” “Please stop,” she said, trying to keep him from finishing his sentence. But he did finish it. “Quit the AIF and stay far away from me.” “…You’re lying.” Hazel regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. But it was too late. She had rejected it all with two simple words. “You’re lying,” she said again. More strongly this time. “You’re lying!” “No, I’m not. I’m speaking from my heart.” “You are not. I don’t believe you,” she snapped back on reflex, shoulders tense with anger. “You’re angry. That’s why you keep saying these awful things.” Tears filled her eyes. “You’re lying! You were so nice to me before…” “Because it was my job to be, Hazel.” He immediately shut that line of reasoning down, so she shook her head. “Please join the AIF, Berger.” “You’re being illogical. Weren’t you listening? I just said I won’t join and that you should leave.” “But you’re lying. You never open up to anyone and you always ask the questions without answering any. So I know you must be lying this time too. Everything you say is the opposite of the truth!” she said. “Three years ago, you said there was a wall between us and we would never see each other again, remember? But we did see each other again. So how can I believe you when you said there was a wall between us?” “You’re too naïve. You think you can trust me when we’ve only met a few times?” He smiled bitterly. He grabbed her collar with his prosthetic hand. She tensed her shoulders a bit and looked up at him as he moved his face even closer. “Then let’s play a game, Hazel. You claim you can trust me, but you were afraid of me once, weren’t you?” “…Eh?” “You Altered when I kissed you above the North Sea. It depends on the specific Werecat, but they generally Alter when their pulse races and they sense danger. That means you didn’t trust me in that moment.” Hazel gasped. “Th-that was…” He silenced her with his lips. It was less a kiss than an alcohol-smelling touch reaching her lips and tongue. … !? The next thing she knew, he had pushed her back on the bed. He propped himself up on his hands placed below her arms and looked down at her. “I don’t know what kind of work the AIF gives its female members, but female spies sometimes use their bodies to gain intel and trust. That’s how this game works.” He removed his sunglasses and tossed them aside. “If you Alter, you’ll be safe. But that means you don’t trust me and can’t satisfy me, so I won’t join the AIF and you’ve failed your mission for the AIF. So give up.” He took a breath and stuck his pendant in his shirt’s breast pocket. Then he reached for the stomach of Hazel’s clothing. As a Werecat, lying on her back with her stomach exposed inspired an instinctual fear. … My stomach. His fingers ran along her clothing until they reached the waistband. He grabbed the knot there. “But if you can accept me like this, I’ll be satisfied and it means you trust me. …Then I’ll join the AIF.” With that, he undid the waistband. ### Part 5 Schweitzer and Lowenzahn stood in a small room. In fact, it was a one-room house. There was a fireplace on the north wall and windows on the east and west walls. The smell of wood hung strongly in the air, which helped it feel warm. But there was one thing the room lacked. “There’s no bed even though we’re supposed to be staying the night. Is this some form of harassment?” “Apparently an elderly Schattenbild lived here. A living shadow probably wasn’t in the habit of sleeping.” “Hmm. Well, it wasn’t like we were actually planning to stay the night.” Lowenzahn approached the western window. She chose a position that wouldn’t cast her shadow on the closed curtain, placed her fingers on the edge of the thick curtain, and pulled it back just enough to see out. It was dark outside. The forest village didn’t provide much visibility, but she could see the bonfire that was being kept burning in the center square for today’s special event. She also saw light in a small window near that. “The Messiah still hasn’t made her move. The pursuit team should be in position by now, but at this rate…” Lowenzahn did not receive a response. Curious, she looked to the window visible through the cracked curtain. She could just barely make out the scene behind her reflected in the glass. Schweitzer sat in a chair by the eastern window with his head resting in his hand. He seemed to be lost in thought. “Captain?” No response. “Captain Hellard?” “I’m listening.” “Then how about responding from time to time?” Lowenzahn turned around and sighed. She moved away from the window. She stopped just a few steps away from him. He was tall even when seated. The shoulder of his Der Held prosthetic arm came up to her chest. So she rested her elbow on its flat shoulder armor. “If you could redo your life, would you?” “It isn’t possible. Not unless you altered the space-time Tons at the very center of the world.” And after a pause, “Redo it, huh?” That seemed to remind him of something. “Back in high school, we had this one science assignment. It was a simple orbital calculation. It gave you the answer and you were supposed to derive the formula and then provide a proof for it. …But we found it to be such a difficult problem at the time. We were spinning the globe around and checking through our physics text, desperate for the solution.” “Yeah?” “But the results of our calculations were all different. We had the formula partially derived, but we didn’t know what we needed to complete it. We only had a week before the assignment was due, so we spent six days struggling with it.” “Yeah?” “But we just could not find the solution. We had all given up on the final morning before it was due, but then one of us arrived with the solution. And with it copied into all of our notebooks.” “Yeah?” “Do you know how that person found the answer?” “No, but I’d love to find out.” “They threw out the partial formula we had worked together to make and redid it all from the beginning.” “Was that person Eryngium?” Lowenzahn’s guess made Schweitzer freeze. A few moments of silence followed. But he finally smiled. “I worried you, didn’t I?” He nodded. “The person who brought us the answer was Dog Berger. He’s always been an expert at throwing out old things. Eryngium, Marsch, Alfred, and I were all thankful.” “I see…” “But during our celebration that night, Eryngium said she could have created a new formula using the one we had all made together.” “But didn’t that Berger person throw out the old one because she couldn’t do that?” “It’s hard to say. Maybe she could have. …But when she learned how he had done it, she smiled and said something to him.” He sighed. “She told him to always do things his way.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Lowenzahn draped her arms around his head from behind. “Is simply redoing things wrong? Or is throwing out the old things wrong?” “I don’t know either. But it is what she said. And I will respect that even if she no longer remembers any of it. Besides…all of these questions were not redone – they were inherited.” “Inherited?” “Five years ago, a girl appeared before me saying she didn’t want to run away. She still hasn’t found an answer to her question…but I have some hope that she will be able to find it.” “We are about to capture that girl. …I saw her earlier. She was an ignorant fräulein who worries so much about others and thinks no one will really hurt her.” “The Messiah who accepts everyone and the young man with a divine name who rejects everyone.” “I think both of those options are wrong. You can’t accept everything or get rid of everything. You need to redo things partway through.” “Why?” “Can you feel this?” asked Lowenzahn, pressing her chest against his back. “My chest feels funny, doesn’t it?” “Do not ask me questions with only awkward answers.” “Oh, you are adorable. But listen. …When you saved me at that hospital so long ago, I was undergoing an Eingeweide implantation surgery.” Schweitzer tensed. He tried to turn around, but she stopped him by pressing her face against his head. “I have an Eingeweide heart called Neue Erde. It was partially because the heart disease I inherited from my mother had worsened…but it was also to implant this, which is incorporated into my skeleton too.” “Stop.” “I have no left breast. It was used to create the machine and remade. It was completely redone.” The tension drained from Schweitzer’s body. “Does Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen…let you prophesy?” “You can…think of it that way if you want.” “So you too gained power by redoing something.” “That is one way of doing things,” she replied. She let go of his arm and took a step back. “And remember that some people can only do things that way.” “I will,” he said, standing up. He looked back and she held her arms lightly to her chest and refused to look him in the eye. She cleared her throat and turned to the curtain covering the window she had been looking out earlier. “That Dog Berger person seems to be having a rough time of it too.” “Yes, he has been carrying a certain bond with him all this time as he fights.” “A bond?” asked Lowenzahn, looking back. Schweitzer raised his Der Held for her to see. “His Gelegenheit was created using two things. The first was his own divine power. Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen removes the seal on that power.” “And the other thing?” “Eryngium Ilfheim’s memories. Using its Ober Beweisen will revive her memories. And as long as those remain inside Gelegenheit, he will never use his divine power.” He looked up. “Because that preserves the fact that he abandoned her.” ### Part 6 After Berger undid her waistband, he raised her hands overhead. Hazel lowered her head but still turned her eyes up to look at him. He was looking at her. Lit from behind by the ceiling light, his expressionless face almost looked angry. She was entirely defenseless with her arms up over her head. Her jacket and shirt were both dresses, so… “I can remove it all just by unbuttoning them from the top. Makes things easy.” While she silently wondered what was about to happen, he reached out his metal left hand. … He’s going to unbutton it? Her feline instincts meant anything covering her vision from above inspired fear. So she lowered her head even more. “Don’t struggle.” His hand reached past her head, gathered her raised wrists together, and pinned them down on the bed. “–––––!?” “Sorry, but I don’t trust you, Hazel Mirildorf.” He pushed his knee up and in between her legs from over her skirt. “…Stop.” “You want me to stop? But isn’t this your job? And it’s how the game is played, Hazel. If you’re scared, then let your pulse and instincts take over. Then you can escape.” That pissed her off a little. Her breathing was a little heavy due to nerves, but her pulse wasn’t all that elevated. “I-I’m not afraid, Berg-” He sealed her lips with his. “!” This wasn’t just a kiss. He placed his lips around her lower lip and gently bit it. … His tongue. It parted her lips and entered her mouth. He was licking inside her mouth. She didn’t reject it, so he ran his tongue along her teeth and then captured her tongue with it, making her gasp. It felt like having a soft, wet finger moving around in her mouth. After a long, sticky moment, he released her just as she had shut her eyes and was feeling a need for air. She parted her damp lips to suck in and then release a breath. But instead… “Nh.” He once more bit her lip as she opened them for air. His tongue held hers down and she couldn’t breathe. Panic filled her mind. But after what felt like forever, he released her again…and did the same thing again. She twisted below him, but she could not escape. … Stop. She was breathing much heavier now, but not just from nerves. Of course she was when she needed air. “That’s cheating.” After another brief respite, he did the same thing again. But there was more this time. … My jacket’s buttons. He was using his free hand to unbutton them one at a time, starting from the top. She could tell from how his fingers were moving. “Nh.” By the time he released her lips with one final lick, the front of her jacket was open. Without a moment’s delay, he was undoing the buttons for her shirt’s collar. When he revealed her throat and the choker she wore there, she quickly pulled her chin down against it. She let out a damp, heated breath and tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. “I won’t remove the choker,” he said. “Because I don’t want to deal with the mewing of a frightened cat. And…” He did not smile. “Hazel, you’re my pet cat right now. Why would I remove the collar that proves it?” She shook her head to say that wasn’t true. He reached out his hand and continued unbuttoning her shirt regardless. The skin of her chest came into view along with her white underwear and the air touched her belly as it rose and fell from her heavy breathing. The overhead light shined on her thighs as well. She was too preoccupied to notice the chill of the air on her heated skin. With nothing holding her skirt in place, she could move her legs more freely now. She raised her knees somewhat, but he did not move from between her legs. “Shouldn’t you shut your eyes, Hazel?” He rubbed his hand from her side to her stomach and she let out a quiet shriek, but she also shook her head. “This isn’t happening.” “It is. And your extreme tension is all the proof you need. Your belly is hopping up and down like a frog and beads of sweat are forming on your tense skin.” He rubbed his fingers between her ribs and without warning… “You’re scared, aren’t you?” He pressed his index finger directly into her exposed navel. “!?” He pushed his finger into the hole. She felt a mixture of ticklishness and pain, like he was directly pushing on her organs, so she bent backwards on instinct. … Stop. He used a kiss and his tongue to silence any protests and her pulse shot up. … No. She calmed her pulse. She suppressed it. She kept her eyes open even as tears spilled from them and she bent her body. … He’s testing me! He slid his hand up from her navel and undid the front hook. He opened the front of his own shirt and ended the kiss. “Hazel, what do you think of this situation?” “…It isn’t real. You don’t mean it, do you? Because, um, you…” “Oh, I mean it.” His fingers touched her chest and his lips moved from her neck to her right shoulder and then to her chest. The air on her chest made her bristle and her pulse quicken. … What is he going to do to me? That fear gradually grew inside her. “No, you don’t.” Her voice was scratchy and leapt in volume at what she felt next. “Ah, d-don’t bite me!!” “Dogs bite cats. It’s what they do. Besides, your dad punched me for no good reason, so this is just me giving him a reason after the fact.” He touched the last piece of clothing still covering her. “Wai-” He pulled it down before she could tell him to wait. He pulled her underwear down with enough force to tear it and moved half a step forward to move past it. She tried to close her legs but could not. She only succeeded in pressing her knees against his hips. He lifted his own knees and pulled the underwear down from her thighs and fully away. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw her underwear tossed aside and discarded. “No, d-don’t look.” “What are you talking about, Hazel? I know what it takes for a woman to join the AIF. I’m the one who told you about it 3 years ago, after all. …And since you’re here now…well, I can do the math.” “…Eek.” “I don’t know who your first was, but you can pass my apologies on to him.” “P-please stop this.” “Then run away. Before you’re defiled any further.” … That’s not it. Hazel twisted her body. She shut her eyes and gathered strength in her hands. Her half-removed shirt tangled around her arms as she broke free of his pinning hand. She used her freed right hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Please don’t do this based on an obvious lie.” “What lie would that be?” “It isn’t like you to lie like this.” His face twisted for just a moment when she said that, but he didn’t say anything more. She realized he had placed his hands behind her knees. A moment later, he spread her legs and then leaned over her. She gasped when she saw his bare chest. … No. She tried to shut her eyes. She felt herself becoming a cat. The sensation was a combination of a bristling, a rejection of her surroundings, and an escape from danger. It spread from her butt, up her back, and around to the rest of her. “No!” Just then… “––––––” Berger stopped. He froze. She realized something had left her along with all the sweat soaking her. The oppressive fear wasn’t there. … Eh? She raised her lowered head. Berger’s eyes were looking straight down at her. But that wasn’t all she saw. Something else hung directly between their eyes. “That’s…” She wiped away her tears to see it more clearly. Her scratchy voice named the red gem she saw floating in the air. “Your…pendant.” It had slipped from his breast pocket when he removed his shirt. ### Part 7 “Dammit,” muttered Berger, his arms giving out below him. Hazel cried out and caught him in her arms as he fell into her chest. The bed creaked and the air moved for just a moment before stopping. “…” He was motionless. So was she. But her sweat poured out in relief. She could tell her breaths were heated but calm. She felt the beating of his heart as she held him in her arms. His heartrate was somewhat elevated. Noticing that helped her relax. And… “This is a first…” … I’ve never held him before. His body was warm, his long black hair was chilly, and his heated skin felt nice. She didn’t know how tightly to hold him, but her tearful eyes bent into a smile. “Berger?” “…What?” His response was quiet. Unable to respond right away, she looked around the room. The red flowers in the vase on the side table were looking down at her. She narrowed her eyes toward them. “Berger…should I be a bit angry with you?” “You should laugh at me, Hazel. I’m the second worst in the world at finishing what I start.” With that, he wrapped his arms around to her back. … Oh. When he held her, she relaxed and smiled. Only then did she realize… … I was so incredibly tense. “Sorry, Hazel.” “You’re so adorable,” she replied. “Says the child.” “Am I? Look at me.” He looked up at her as instructed. She pulled her head down and awkwardly kissed the puzzled look on his face. Only now did she realize how soft his lips were. After a few seconds, she pulled away and licked her own lips. “See, I didn’t turn into a cat, did I?” “…You’re an idiot.” “That doesn’t matter. I’ve given this a lot of thought for an idiot. Including what I want to do after the war. …So everything will be all right. I will find an answer for what you said earlier. And soon.” “Sounds awfully optimistic to me,” he said, looking exasperated. Just then, the door opened. “Hey!” The large form that entered was Pale. He immediately froze. “Oh,” said Hazel. “U-um! It’s not what it looks like!” Her shirt and jacket were still on her arms, so she pulled the front shut to hide her and Berger, but there was no hiding Berger while in his arms, the clothing caught between her back and the bed, and this did nothing to cover her legs. After some hesitation, she gave silent Pale an excuse. “W-we were only, um, discussing our future plans.” “Your future plans?” Pale looked deadly serious. “Family planning is important, but, well, it has been three years since you saw each other. …Good luck.” “Why does everyone respond that way!?” He ignored her and shut the door. “Oh, god…” She pulled Berger’s head toward her as if for support. “Fine then,” he said, suddenly looking up. “Hey, Hazel?” “Wh-what?” There was some gentle relief in his voice while she pressed his face into her chest. “You’ve actually grown some, haven’t you?” She grabbed the vase from the side table and broke it over his head. ### Part 8 At 8:17 PM, somewhat behind schedule, a bombing fleet mostly made up of moonlight-resistant bombers began to take off from all of England’s airfields for Project Millennium. There were 18 squadrons in all for a total of 1046 aircraft. Each squadron took off at 20-minute intervals so the bombers could unload their payload of nearly 1500 tons of divine spell bombs and incendiary bombs over the course of six hours. Previous aerial bombings had strategically destroyed industrial areas, but this largescale bombing was meant to obliterate an entire city. They would wipe the city off the map to end the German people’s conviction and will to fight. The RAF had bet their pride on this mission meant to take revenge for the many aerial bombings England had received. The strategic purpose of the bombing was to blast open the eastern entrance to Germany and prove that they could carry enough firepower to destroy any city and get it to Germany’s doorstep. Word of the largest bombing in history raced through the Allied intelligence network, bringing silence to all. It was a silence heavy with expectation and worry. ### Part 9 The village’s entrance was veiled in darkness. The wind blew through the tree branches. The rustling of leaves sounded like small ocean waves and the branches rubbed together. The cries of a distant night bird were like the low, intermittent tones of a wind instrument. Small coins rubbed together and a ring of keys jangled. Those two sounds came from a woman with long blonde hair gently rippling in the wind. She was Lehrer. The eyes below her hair remained closed, but she was facing forward. Toward the village’s gate. The large wooden fence sat open. The chain’s latch was unlocked and the fence blew in the wind. “Not long now until the bombers arrive.” She put the ring of keys in her skirt pocket. “How were they doing? Were they getting along?” “Y-you, uh, could say that, yes.” With a gruff voice, someone else appeared behind her. The large elderly man had silver hair. He was Pale Horse and he scratched his head. “Women are a mystery to me. Why would you ask that yourself?” “Men are too simple, if you ask me.” Lehrer turned toward Pale and smiled with her eyes closed. He nodded once after seeing her expression. “Are you sure about this? You didn’t tell them who you are?” “I thought about telling Berger. We’ve known each other for so long, after all.” She brushed her hair back. “But I couldn’t do it. I only gave him some information on the AIF’s current situation and kissed him.” “Like I said, women are a mystery.” “He was pretty surprised by it. …Which is another way men are simple, but adorable too.” Her laughter had no ill will in it. She continued the happy laughter while looking to the sky. Pale pulled a B5-size envelope from his pocket and showed it to her. It was full and waterproofed. “All the information you gave me over the past two weeks is in here.” “The Panzerpolis Project lives up to its name, doesn’t it? It is the city that leads the world to ruin. At around this time, a captain in the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division – a guest in this very village today – should have suggested that the second Gard-class ship being constructed across Germany should be used as an aerial fortress for Germania.” “Without a captain, that second Gard-class cannot Eingeweide, so instead its Babel Canon will be installed in Germania as a massive ley line compression Babel Gun that will pressurize and increase the output of all the Vaterlands around the world, correct?” “Work will begin next year and the Erklärung abilities provided by the boosted Vaterlands will invigorate the German military. Germania will no longer just be an underground fortress city; it will be a weapon of mass destruction powered by all the ley lines in the world. All the pieces needed for the Panzerpolis Project have been gathered.” “That’s some real bad news,” sighed Pale. He slapped his head with the envelope. “Once the Vaterlands begin to affect ley lines around the world, the Allies will work quickly to put together a countermeasure…all without realizing they’re only hastening the Nibelung.” Lehrer smiled bitterly. “I too will be a part of that eventually. America has already put together its 8th Aerial Fleet, haven’t they? They will begin joint bombings with the UK starting next year. Once that happens…” Lehrer lowered her head and nodded. “Yes, I will leave this place. I am sure I will have little choice by then. But before then, I do have a minor errand to run tomorrow morning.” She raised her head again. A light flashed in the forest within the village. A headlight. The light was narrow thanks to the light-restriction cover attached, but it made it through the trees as it followed the winding road toward the village entrance. Hearing the vehicle’s approach, Pale tilted his head. “Oh, damn. It’s got a sidecar, but the girl’s using that. Where am I supposed to sit?” “That’s why I offered to lend you a car.” “The village only has the one and I know I won’t be able to return it.” “That’s unusually dutiful of you. Did your time in Ethiopia teach you how hard the common folk work?” Pale didn’t answer and Lehrer smiled bitterly. “But don’t worry,” she said. “The girl can ride on the back of the motorcycle. Girls are as light as a bouquet of flowers and their butts are well padded.” “You like to put yourself in charge, don’t you?” “Thanks for noticing. But I do care a lot for that girl. I had already decided to become a Buster when I was 17, but she is still having trouble deciding what she should be.” “Why not give her a useful lesson on the subject? You are a Lehrer, aren’t you?” “When I say goodbye, I will hug her and give her just one piece of advice: get along with him.” “That’s all?” Just as he asked that, the light weaving through the forest pointed directly at them. Lehrer stood in its path. “That’s all.” With a smile on her lips, she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a card. “The Hermit, #9 of the Harmonic Cards. A safe and boring option.” “Is that your role now? But hermits can also be all-knowing sages, can’t they?” “Yes, which is why I will leave behind the old things I know without that girl even noticing. And I will give her a fresh start without knowing a thing of what came before. The other option…” A gust of wind blew through. The forest rustled. The roar of a motorcycle joined it. Lehrer’s final words were drowned out by the voices of nature and of a machine. “The other option would break my heart.” ### 612. Chapter 6: The Requiem Leaps 5/31/1942 00:49 – 01:26 Now What to do? ### German Night Air Defense Procedures Chart: Top left: Type 1 Bottom left: Air Defense Radar + Night Fighters Top middle: Type 2 Bottom middle: Searchlights + Night Fighters Top right: Type 3 Bottom right: Searchlights + AA Guns During the war, Germany had three types of night air defense installations set up across the North Sea side of Europe. Type 1 used a radar installation known as a Himmelbett. The radar would capture the enemy craft and radar guidance would send interceptors to attack. Type 2 was a line of searchlights known as the Kammhuber Line that covered northern Europe. The interceptors would use the searchlights to attack. Type 3 was only for important cities and facilities in Germany itself. Searchlights would illuminate the sky and antiaircraft guns would intercept the enemy craft. The three types were designed to prevent friendly fire between antiaircraft guns and fighter craft. The key to air defense was how to fight at night like it was day, but the German military was behind the times on researching and mass-producing moonlight resistant equipment and they placed too much emphasis on bombers over fighters, which delayed their development of night fighters. This would lead to heavy losses later on. ### Part 1 The first attack, arriving before the aerial bombing, was the light of a Babel Kanone flying in from the north. The bombing fleet managed to survive that and sent destruction raining down on the city of Cologne. In response, searchlights illuminated the night sky and antiaircraft guns began firing. Cologne, which stretched north to south with the Rhine to its east, was primarily a riverside industrial city. The bombing was meant to cover everything from north to south, which meant obliterating the entire city. An exchange of attacks from the sky above and the ground below began a test of endurance. Deep booms and roars shook the air, the bombs whistled down, antiaircraft gunfire burst from the ground, and the third alarm blared. Searchlight beams sliced apart the night and crimson flames blossomed on the ground. The crimson covered the city, factories, and homes of Cologne from north to south. Gradually, a heated wind whipped up and blew into the sky. There were no more clouds in the sky. Even the smoke was swept away by the air currents thinning out the clouds. Aircraft could be seen slowly flying beyond those vanishing clouds. Dozens of four-engine bombers traveled south, led by a few aerial warships. The heat and wind drove the people of Cologne from north to south. The people seemed to follow the current of the Rhine while they screamed and shouted instructions. The shelters were meaningless at this point. The only way to escape the north-to-south bombing line was to move east or west, but east was cut off by the Rhine. West was their only option, but Cologne was divided by several broad waterways flowing in from the Rhine. The bridges were quickly clogged with evacuees and congestion packed the center of the city where the city hall was located. The din of the bombing approached from the north. Firebombs cascaded down toward the two tall spires of Cologne Cathedral in central Cologne. The downpour of incendiary bombs stopped. The people rushing to evacuate were puzzled by the slight silence that surrounded them. Their questions were answered by the wind that blew down from the sky. They all saw the giant umbrella floating in Cologne’s sky. “––––!?” The umbrella floating about a mile above the surface was more than half a mile long and was painted a pitch black. It was the massive aerial warship that had remained a mystery for them all. The warship had launched a powerful beam of light to the north before the bombing began, but it had supposedly remained motionless since. The ship’s mere presence shook the atmosphere and it launched fighters from its port and starboard sides. The top of the ship lit up at the same time. The beams of Drache Kanone swept through the sky like several swinging threads. Eight aerial warships’ worth of antiair fire tore into the sky and shot down the enemy. And all the people on the surface saw a girl standing at the end of the largest cannon sticking out from the front of the giant ship. ### Part 2 Rose smiled. She was joined by wind, heat, and light. A downpour of bombs fell atop the Requiem’s deck around her, bursting and burning. But they did not even scratch the black-scorched armor. “I’m so glad you brought me enough noise and heat to soak into the very core of my body.” She faced forward. More and more black shapes pushed in from the sky like a series of waves. The ground was burning red and the northern searchlights were no longer piercing the sky. The initial divine spell bombs had taken out most of the interception equipment. Rose smiled amid the raining destruction. The final lights flew forward from the bottom of the ship’s port and starboard sides. Those were the fighters kept inside this aircraft carrier. The last one on the left tilted to the left to avoid the incendiary bombs and then waggled its wings side to side. That was its way of saying goodbye. “We are fighting on the front line, not just providing antiair fire,” said Rose, spreading her arms wide. The bombs above the Requiem itself and in the sky around it began to shatter like they had hit an invisible ground. In exchange, the Requiem came to a stop. “I could protect a wider range if the ship’s inertial spells could be spread out along a plane.” “Can you take this much of a beating, Rose?” An enormous figure dropped down onto the cannon behind Rose. She quickly looked back. “Bigger brother!?” She saw a silver Grösse Panzer with six wings on its back. That one could handle aerial combat without an Ober Emblem. That was the Silber Löwe, which had been used along with the Schwarz Löwe as the foundation for developing the Kaiser. Rose clenched her fists and raised her eyebrows. “I thought you evacuated with the other Grösse Panzers back on the ground!?” “Only the prophet girl can command me.” Rose’s head drooped and an incendiary bomb pierced through her body. The large warhead burst open from the impact and scattered its six fuel bombs while inside her body. “Oh, how indecent.” Rose quickly took a few steps back. A moment later, a pillar of fire shot skyward from the spot she had vacated. Brother and sister exchanged a glance with the crimson flames between them. That lasted a few seconds. Rose finally turned her back on her brother, crossed her arms, and faced forward. The fires were starting to spread below. She asked a question over the continuing roar. “Bigger brother? I hear the Messiah has appeared in Germany again, just like Lowenzahn prophesied. And I heard before taking off that Jeanne has joined Lowenzahn and deployed some special forces.” She took a breath. “The prophesies are coming true again, just like Lowenzahn said they would. But…what are we supposed to do if what she said to us comes true?” Silence. The intense explosive downpour was at odds with the girl’s silence. First, a manly voice called her name with enough force to drown out that din. “Rose.” “Yes?” “The Geheimnis Agency does not belong to us. But do you know how all the others feel about this?” “You’re right…” She thought about that and then her face lit up. “You’re right!” She looked back to see Silber Löwe had drawn the sword from its hip and pointed it her way. “!?” She needlessly ducked as the white blade came to a stop about a yard over her head. Then an explosion thundered overhead and the blade rattled. The wreckage of a bomb fell past the blade. Rose looked up at it all with her head ducked down a little. “Thank you, bigger brother.” “Heiliger asked me to look after you.” “Big brother does always treat me like a child… I received a transmission from Lillie in the north. She says the moonlight proofing for big brother’s ship is complete, so he was ordered out to fight. He’s apparently headed here as fast as he can with Sir Alfred in the lead.” “You sure are popular.” Rose sighed, watching the sword slowly pull away from overhead. “They’re all such fools. After all, this bombing looks like it will last another four hours.” “Can you last that long?” “The areas with thinner armor are a concern. And I bet the cannons will be destroyed. But I doubt I will be sunk. My Babel Kanone will be reloaded in three hours, so I just have to hold on until then. I only have one other concern.” Rose looked down to the right. The city there was full of houses, apartments, schools, and parks. “Did I make the wrong choice, bigger brother? As part of a Neue Kavalier family, should I have focused on defeating the enemy to protect our country over protecting the people?” “A Kavalier’s decisions are always based in chivalry. No matter what they might be.” “So anything I decide as a Neue Kavalier is a Kavalier’s decision? That’s silly,” she laughed. “You’ve used a lot more obvious sophistry since you got the Psyche Outer device installed.” She looked up to view the sky instead of her brother. “I will protect this city with my life. The Kavaliers of this Borderson land are watching from among the people down there. To determine what kind of Kavaliers we are.” A shot from behind blew away and scattered the falling incendiary bombs. She closed her eyes in a smile under the protection of Silber Löwe. More explosions were reaching the deck behind her now. And a beam of light pierced the Gard-class from the sky above. “!” That was a Drache Kanone from one of the warships accompanying the bombers. Heat enveloped the deck and white smoke rose from it. The sensations coming from the ship gave Rose a more serious expression without opening her eyes. But… “That is not enough to burn me,” she stated, undaunted. She raised her arms like a conductor. “Let us show those future Kavaliers what it is we are trying to do here, bigger brother.” She slowly lowered her arms before twirling around. And she raised them again. The Requiem’s firepower was unleashed toward the ceiling above in time with the movements of her skinny arms. The visible attacks were the Drache Kanone, the Pseudo-Drach Kanone, the scattershot Drache Kanone on the rear deck, and the heavy Drache Kanone. The invisible attacks were the antiair guns and machineguns fired without tracer rounds. They filled the night with so much noise that all sound seemed to vanish. The sky burst open and flames scattered. Below it all, the girl standing on the end of the long cannon slowly opened her eyes. “–––––!” She smiled. ### Part 3 Their battle had left the long Borderson mountain road and continued on toward burning and smoking Cologne. The BMW motorcycle raced along with Pale in the sidecar and Hazel on the back. The way ahead opened up as they arrived on major road. Hazel looked back. “We’ve lost them! Is this where we’re supposed to meet Corelle?” “Not yet. We need to reach the T-intersection up ahead. Once there, Corelle’s RB-21 is supposed to drop Schwarz Löwe’s container and then land further on to pick up you and Pale.” “But she still isn’t here,” added Pale and Hazel nodded. … Did something happen to her? I hope she’s just running late. The motorcycle continued driving despite her worries. There was a school to their right. They accelerated alongside its fence. That was when she noticed Berger’s back tremble in surprise. An armored truck was rushing toward them from the other end of the T-intersection up ahead. It was on a collision course and wasn’t slowing down. “They’re still after us!? Hang on!!” Berger shouted that warning immediately before turning the motorcycle right as sharply as he could. The next thing Hazel knew, the school’s gate was right in front of them. It was metal and painted black. They accelerated. And… The gate was instantly sliced through and the motorcycle broke through the scrap metal. “!!” Hot winds blew around the schoolyard. No one was around at night and the turbulence from the bombing formed a whirlwind in this more open space. Berger drove them through there to create an opening back to the road. He shifted the 750cc BMW down a gear and tried to kick off the sandy ground, but that was when a color reached Hazel’s eyes. But this red was not from the Lives of the heat hanging in the air. … A person!? Gunfire flew their way. Past Pale in the sidecar on the right, gunfire meant to confirm the bullet speed shot from behind a tree at the edge of the schoolyard. The bullet holes traveled across the schoolyard’s sandy ground like the footprints of someone running toward them. These were not submachinegun rounds. This was a machinegun. “–––––!” Hazel immediately swung her sword. As a Greenhorner, she did call to the Lives. She only focused her mind on a shout while using a card. … I have trained in the Ups used by Tuners and Busters… But that had never gone well for her. Whether she tried Tuning or Busting, the Lives were never transformed or destroyed the way she wanted. The Lives would waver and that was it. “––––!” She raised her voice in her sword’s inherent tone to sync the sword’s Lives with her voice pattern. That made the sword shake her own Lives and activate. The five cards attached to the sword burst, starting from the bottom one. Five empty cartridges were also ejected. Air pressure similar to wind was launched from the sword’s tip. The sand to the right of the motorcycle was blown away and a large arc was gouged into the ground. That gouge followed the motorcycle’s movement. A protection field was formed from the sword tip. Sparks flew from the surface of that field and Hazel held the sword tight to bear with it. Directly above the gouged ground, a bullet hit the invisible wall just past the tip of the sword, bursting into embers. “!!” She kept the sword steady. Then Berger pulled a submachinegun from between the sidecar and motorcycle and opened fire. He fired the bullets by eye and they tore apart Hazel’s protection field from within. “Hey! Why would you break that! I could have kept it up for another 20 seconds!” “The enemy’s bullets are going to last longer than that!” She saw sparks fly from behind the tree at the corner of the schoolyard and someone was sent sprawling to the ground. “Ooh, you hit them! Now that’s a miracle!” shouted Pale. A few silhouettes jumped down from the roof of the two-story concrete school building. There were four in all. They wore Geheimnis Agency Army Division uniforms, but those uniforms had no sleeves or legs to cover up their prosthetic arms and legs. Instead of jumping down for a free fall, they kicked off the school’s wall to increase their falling speed and change direction. They landed in the windy schoolyard with positions that surrounded the motorcycle and they hit the ground running to maintain those positions. Their Lives looked somewhat faded to Hazel’s eyes. That was a unique trait of prosthetic-using Steel Masters like them. A moment later, Pale stood up from the sidecar and slapped Hazel’s shoulder. She looked back in surprise. “Wh-what was that for?” “Go on, girl. You get to Corelle first!” … Eh!? Pale also slapped Berger’s shoulder. “Pretend to circle toward the back entrance and then make a braking turn to the left. I’ll toss the girl outside then.” “Wh-why me?” asked Hazel in a cracking voice. “Because they’re after Pale and you, Hazel Mirildorf,” answered Berger. “I’m sure of it.” “But their Messiah has got to be more valuable to them than me.” “That’s right. You’re the last one we can let them get their hands on here, Hazel.” But Berger brushed Pale’s hand off his shoulder. Pale frowned and looked at Berger. Berger squeezed the throttle to accelerate and responded without turning toward Hazel in the wind. “But this girl is going to fight alongside us, Pale.” “Don’t-” Pale tried to say “don’t be ridiculous” but was cut off by Berger’s smiling voice. “She’ll make an excellent shield. Since they can’t shoot her.” Hazel elbowed him in the back. She knew he wasn’t serious, but… … Why is he like this? She tossed a card behind her and struck it with her sword. That set up a thin barrier that blew away an approaching enemy. Pale sighed in frustration and blocked some incoming bullets with his metal right hand. 18 shots’ worth of sparks flew. Just as the enemy’s rapid-fire barrage ended, Pale threw a backhand blow with his right hand. “!” The massive prosthetic fist hit the soldier in his hips just as he threw away his empty submachinegun and tried to draw his sword. His face twisted in surprise more than pain and his hip broke with a metallic sound, sending him collapsing to the ground. Only two remained. Berger sank down in the motorcycle and applied the brakes. Their surroundings ground to a halt and the pursuing soldiers staggered as they tried to stop too. “Morons.” Berger fired all his submachinegun’s remaining bullets into the soldier trying to straighten back up to the right. The enemy reacted so quickly Hazel gasped. He made a rotating defense, guarding with his prosthetic arm. He deflected the bullets and moved on ahead. He ran. But Berger hopped down from the motorcycle even faster than that. “Pale, you take the one on the left!!” Pale hopped out of the sidecar and Hazel scrambled down from the back. She crouched low and followed after Berger but shifted a bit to the side. Now that she was out of the motorcycle, she found herself surrounded by heat and wind. She could see Cologne Cathedral in the distance. “…” A large dark shape hovered in the sky and a deep noise descended from it, but she couldn’t focus on that right now. Berger approached the enemy ahead of her. He ducked low to avoid the enemy’s right prosthetic arm and grabbed that arm from below with both his own arms. Berger tugged on the soldier’s arm, pulling him to the right, and spinning him toward Hazel to place the soldier on his own back. He jerked his hips up and pulled forward with the arm passing over his shoulder. He threw the soldier so the man flipped around in an arc and slammed headfirst into the ground. The full weight of the soldier’s mechanical body bore down on his neck, resulting in a dull sound. He bounced and then rolled a few times before coming to a stop. He did not move, but Hazel could see his pale Lives pulsing. He was not dead. Relieved by that, she realized Berger was looking at her. The movement of his eyes told her what he wanted to say. … He wants me to leave this open area and hide behind the school’s wall. Crossing the fence behind the school would get her to the road they needed to reach. “–––––!” A scream from the left was accompanied by the loud cry of breaking metal. What was that? wondered Hazel as someone flew by overhead. They slammed into a tree growing in front of the school. The following dull sound was that of a human body falling to the ground. Pale’s attack had defeated the last soldier. “You fight rough,” said Hazel as the battle ended for now. She sighed and kept low to follow after Berger. She couldn’t relax until she was behind a tree with her back against the school’s wall. But… She sensed a powerful presence from the abandoned motorcycle behind her. ### Part 4 … Killer intent!? Hazel immediately got down when she sensed the chill down her spine. Shortly after she felt the dry sand across her entire body like when napping as a cat, the killer intent piercing her spine was joined by three gunshots. … I was shot!? In that brief moment, her gasping thought was joined by a voice. She heard three clapping sounds. She frantically looked up and then stood up. A dark shadow hung before her. It was the bottom of a black coat. That coat flapped in the heated crimson wind, revealing the man who wore it. Dog Berger had raised Gelegenheit’s hilt in front of his face to catch the bullets. She looked down and past him to see a woman standing in front of the abandoned motorcycle. “Jeanne Schmitt,” said Berger, lowering Gelegenheit. “That was pathetic. Why are you firing on the Messiah you wanted so badly?” His question was answered by a deep voice from the sky. “I don’t expect you to understand!!” “––––!?” Berger suddenly picked Hazel up and swung her around. He took a leap of several meters to avoid the metal fist that dropped directly in front of him. Hazel had seen that same fist in the Village of Pardons during the day. It belonged to the Der Held arm. It dropped from the sky and tore into the ground where Berger had been standing a moment before. A large man in civilian clothing stood up from there. By then, Hazel had already been released from Berger’s arm. Black light raced out before her eyes, flying straight toward Schweitzer. Der Held’s ether field and Gelegenheit’s dark blade repeatedly clashed before Hazel’s eyes. Countless sounds of shattering glass echoed off of the school building. The black light vanished from Gelegenheit and Berger swapped Phlogiston tanks. Hazel noticed hesitation in the Lives she could see in his back. They were directed at her. … He wants to say something. She realized what it was he wanted to say. This was so much like the scene from her nightmares. It was a schoolyard below a crimson-dyed night sky. She was always alone in her nightmares, so she knew what Berger would ask of her now. … Will he ask me to go on ahead? “Hazel,” he said. “Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf!?” “Y-yes.” He immediately answered her reply with another shout. “Give me a hand!!” She didn’t know what he meant at first. After a pause, she heard a gunshot from Jeanne on their left and saw Pale knock the bullet from the air with his prosthetic arm. She looked to Berger wielding Gelegenheit in front of her, smiled, and nodded. “Of course!!” The two Erklärungs crashed together and negated each other. So Hazel sucked in a breath and shouted her own Erklärung. ### Part 5 Her Messiah eye rapidly filled with the color red and emitted heat. But Hazel still faced forward. The man named Schweitzer gasped. “–––––!?” His prosthetic arm’s fist dropped to the ground like it was out of fuel. Her Messiah allowed her to access High Organ devices to pressurize and depressurize their power or even outright control them. … Unfortunately, the Allies’ High Organ devices are in the experimental phase, so I haven’t been able to practice this. It felt similar to the assistance she had provided Berger three years ago. She did the same thing here. “Gah,” growled Schweitzer as he reactivated his arm. He lifted his fist and directed it toward Berger. But by then, Berger was already swinging Gelegenheit’s blade down toward him. In that instant, a new Erklärung rang out. She looked back to see familiar man standing in front of the school building. Berger shouted his name. “ ‘Schütze Puppe’ Bermark Vier!?” The distraction delayed Berger’s actions, so Schweitzer managed to move away and Bermark’s gunshots flew in. Four of them. “I do apologize, but these were my orders.” Hazel held her sword at the ready and prepared to dodge the incoming bullets. She was too slow for that and she knew it. She pulled a card from the holder at her hip and tossed it into the air where she struck it with her sword. It activated and a field of power expanded in less than an instant, whipping up the wind. But the murderous Tons forming the bullets dodged around that field like they had a mind of their own. “!?” Puzzled, Hazel let go of her sword. Her feline instincts told her to leap backwards, but she wasn’t going to make it. Her legs tangled together, she lost her balance, and she started to trip. She nearly called out for help, but stopped herself. Berger was fighting and Pale was battling Jeanne. But she did not panic. She couldn’t prevent herself from falling, but… The bullets lost their glow, becoming ordinary bullets. The four shots grazed her left shoulder and hit the ground behind her. Thank goodness, she thought while falling back onto her butt. There was pain, but something else needed her immediate attention. She collected her sword while seated on the ground and reflected her right eye in its blade. She viewed its red color. “Let’s end this.” She shouted her Aerial Words. Schweitzer’s Der Held stopped and the fist dropped to the ground. Bermark’s Freischütz dropped its magazine to the ground. Jeanne was removed from the Vaterland’s protection and her movement speed dropped. Only Berger’s Gelegenheit still functioned. It only lasted a moment, but that was all they needed. Hazel stood up with feline grace and began running. “Berger! General Pale! Hurr-” She never finished the word. <…does not recognize the Messiah’s power.> Agonizing pain ran through her Messiah eye like someone had jammed a claw into it. ### Part 6 The white Grösse Panzer named Kaiser was fighting at an altitude of 20 thousand feet. The area below it was flooded with enemies. They were like the water flowing through a river. The Kaiser didn’t even need to aim to hit one. The Kaiser instructed the blue and red Panzers to move out ahead while it ascended with Panzer Kleid rippling. Looking down, it could see the river of destruction was primarily made of giant bombers. The wide Lancaster Mk2s were 23 yards long and 36 yards wide and they used 6-bomber formations arranged at different altitudes to avoid gathering together in a flat plane that would make them easier to shoot down all at once. They flew with four spirit engine jets, but they flew slowly since the output of the engines was reduced to keep them under control in the moonlight. The smaller crafts flying protectively above and below the bombers were escort fighters. Those were England’s famous Spitfires. 24 of them were gathered in every break between the bomber formations. But that wasn’t all. Aerial cruisers also flew through the gaps between bomber formations. The Spitfires protected the bomber formation either following or leading them and the aerial warships acted as a barrier for any enemy crafts attempting to move from one bomber formation to another. The arrangement took all of their attack ranges into account. Three ships were visible in the distance. An aerial cruiser with a destroyer on either side of it. The white Grösse Panzer approached that aerial cruiser instead of the bomber formations. The aerial warship launched Pseudo-Drach Kanone beams. But the Kaiser dodged that light as easily as racing through an empty field. It raised its six wings, slammed them down, and sometimes spread them to change course while always moving ever forward. The light grazed its sides, elbows, and wingtips, but it never allowed a single direct hit. Carried by the dragon emblems on its shoulders, it raced through the night sky with a roar of wind. Finally, that several-mile midair dash came to an end. The white Grösse Panzer had reached the three large ships. The Kaiser had arrived at its primary target. It rapidly braked and then jerked to the left. It flew to the destroyer’s port side, where its port cannons could take aim. Just as the portside armor opened up and the cannons emerged, the Kaiser stabbed its sword into the destroyer’s belly using a backhand grip. With a loud crash, the sword sank in to the hilt. The following noise sounded like the roar of great quantities of water. The Kaiser spread its six wings and poured on all the acceleration it could muster. The slice had begun. The acceleration sliced the destroyer’s belly open with the sword. The scream of tearing metal was in tune with the Kaiser’s acceleration. It sliced through to the bow in mere moments. And then… “Ah,” rang a voice with the sword still piercing the destroyer. It started with a sound. A burning sound rang out into the night sky. With a tone of surprise, all of the ship’s windows shattered, its metal bulkheads ruptured, and white-hot light erupted from within. The damage did not end there. The force pushing out from the horizontal fissure split it apart vertically. The destroyer was more than 150 yards long, yet it was bisected from its split belly. It was like a colossal creature had scratched the fissure with a massive claw, splitting it all the way open. The ship split apart, its bottom half separating as a flat rectangle. Only the top half above the waterline remained floating in the sky. But that wasn’t going to last. The top half was kept afloat by its float emblems, but the metal continued to cry out in protest as it spewed the contents of its belly into the air below. That included ammo containers, fuel tanks, and the giant engines for its rear thrusters. Those engines were 40 yards long and 7 yards in diameter, so without the lower frame to support them, their own thrust tilted them downwards and accelerated them in that direction. The ship could not survive its own momentum and bent down the center. The destroyer bent like it had been punched from above. The thrust of the giant engines joined that and the ammo and fuel were ignited by the power of the moonlight. The explosion blossomed out from within. All of the armor was blown away and the destroyer was enveloped in flames. It burned. The frame remained, so a flaming hulk shaped like a destroyer started descending from the sky. The giant bonfire fell, leaving behind only the fiery petals of its explosions and the white Grösse Panzer. The Kaiser did not even watch the defeated ship fall. It kicked off the air and took flight with the casualness of someone on a simple evening stroll. It dodged the barrage of bullets and Drache Kanone beams to arrive in a blind spot of the aerial cruiser flying in the center. That is, directly above the bridge. It spun around in the air, readied its sword, and dropped down. It could see the top of the bridge and it landed there with the force of a crash. By then, the sword had already stabbed its full length into the bridge’s roof. A roar of destruction left the Kaiser’s mouth. ### Part 7 … What were those words just now!? Hazel stopped running when pain threatened to shred the nerves deep in her head. Her knees went weak like a strong thread had snapped. “What’s wrong?” asked Berger, but his voice was muffled like she was hearing it underwater. She fell to her knees, the shaking of the impact seeming to rattle her head directly. The next thing she knew, she had collapsed to the ground, her right cheek pressed against the sandy schoolyard ground. She could see her right eye reflected in the blade of the S-41G she had dropped in front of her. … The Messiah has deactivated. Her right eye had lost its red coloration, returning to its usual blue. Its power had been forcibly removed without warning. Just like she would do to others. She saw Bermark collect his magazine and slide it back into his gun and she could hear Berger and Schweitzer’s battle continuing behind her. She heard the firing of Jeanne’s gun and the roar of Pale’s prosthetics from the direction her feet were pointing. “This is so much like my nightmares.” Hazel sat up, still feeling woozy. She found a scene just like her dreams. A woman in a green men’s suit appeared from behind Bermark. She stopped about 3 yards away from Hazel had collapsed and crossed her arms. She didn’t seem concerned about the surrounding sounds of combat or about Bermark standing nearby. She simply looked indifferently down at Hazel. After one, two, and three breaths, she breathed a sigh of resignation and spoke. “I never introduced myself in the Village of Pardons, did I?” “Ah…” Hazel tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. Her head was still ringing. The woman didn’t seem to care. “I am Lowenzahn Naylor, commander of the Geheimnis Agency.” “!?” Lowenzahn smiled a little at Hazel’s surprise. She nodded as if to be reassuring and then looked behind Hazel. Two men were fighting there, but… She spoke some Aerial Words. Or an Erklärung as the Germans called them. Hazel frantically twisted around to look back. Schweitzer’s metal fist swung true and caught Berger in the gut. The light vanished from Berger’s Gelegenheit. The blade disappeared, causing Gelegenheit’s attack to miss and Berger to take the solid blow. The impact rang loud in Hazel’s ears. “!” Berger was launched toward her. The man in a black coat ended up lying face down a few paces away from her. He still held Gelegenheit in his right hand, but both he and it were entirely motionless. Hazel knew what must have happened. Gelegenheit had been forcibly deactivated. “B-Berger!!” She scooted over toward him on her knees and lifted his upper body in her arms. He still wasn’t moving. She could only sense his heavy breathing and the tension filling his entire body. The powerful blow had left him in shock. Behind her, she heard Lowenzahn speaking through some somewhat heavy breathing. “Do you see now, Messiah? Your Beweisen isn’t exclusive to you.” “Eh?” “The Eingeweides belonging to the Geheimnis Agency’s master and commander both have the same Beweisen, but they have different Ober Beweisens. That is where the hierarchy comes into play. …Not that you would know since we left you to your own devices.” Hazel rubbed Berger’s back while listening to Lowenzahn. She might have been able to tune him back to health if she were a Tuner, but… … I… She was still unsure. She wanted to choose, but she couldn’t seem to. A line from her nightmares seemed to strike right at that indecision. “Now, it is time to say goodbye to your free destiny. We have started down the path that leads to my death. You are just like us, Messiah. You fight only for the present.” Her mind leaped at those words she had heard so many times before. Lowenzahn had more to say. “You cannot see where this fight leads either, can you? Or what it is you want to do once it is all over. …But that is fine.” She took a breath. “For you are only a tool for us. You are the Messiah who keeps the Nibelung turning.” Everything she said was the truth. Hazel’s face screwed up and she felt like she would cry. And… “Hey, are you just gonna let her say that, Hazel?” She heard a quiet, trembling voice from right next to her. It was Berger. “Ber…ger?” She looked up in surprise. Immediately, Lowenzahn barked a command with panic in her voice. “Bermark! Shoot him!” “If I must.” Before the response was even complete, Hazel heard three gunshots that were not Aerial Words. … He’s shooting at us. But she shut her eyes and did what she needed to do. She placed herself on top of Berger to hide him from the bullets. However… “Are you stupid?” After an exasperated comment tinged with happiness, she heard some shouted Aerial Words. Gelegenheit drained a new Phlogiston Tank and rewrote reality with its own words. ### Part 8 At 1:11 AM, the AIF’s RB-21 high-speed transport ship detected an enemy craft at 6 miles out from Cologne while trying to enter the city from the northwest at low altitude. Corelle detected two rapidly-approaching ships behind her. As soon as she recognized them as the Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar from the Geheimnis Agency Army Division, she accelerated her ship even further. Waves of turbulence pushed in from the front and the RB-21’s nose tilted up toward the crimson sky. Toward Cologne’s burning sky. ### Part 9 Hazel awoke with a start, finding someone was holding her. Someone was doing to her what she had been doing a moment before. Someone was protecting her and she knew who. “Berger…” She saw his sunglasses in front of her. “Hi.” He nodded and stood up with his arms around her hips. Her vision rose and she saw Lowenzahn standing behind him while Bermark readied Freischütz. With a gust of wind, a large shape landed nearby: “Hardest Wolf” Pale Horse. He took a crouching fighting stance and faced Jeanne who stood in the distance. “Three against four, huh? I didn’t realize a confrontation of the leaders could be so much fun.” Hazel reached around to Berger’s back while listening to Pale Horse. Berger’s coat had three holes in the back. The warm liquid leaking from those holes got on her fingers. “Berger…” “Don’t make a fuss. They were 9mm, so they didn’t make it through the flesh. It’s nothing to worry about.” Berger raised Gelegenheit in his left hand and surveyed his surroundings. That was enough for the three other than Lowenzahn to take a step back. Lowenzahn held her left chest and frowned a little. “So destiny hasn’t abandoned the Messiah?” “Why the panic? You’re sweating, Miss Geheimnis Agency Commander.” Berger laughed. And without warning… “Hazel.” Hazel looked up at him when he unexpectedly called her name. “Hazel Mirildorf, can you hear my voice?” “I-I can.” “Are you still thinking about what you want after this war?” That reminded her of what had happened when she was playing the organ in the Village of Pardons. She had stopped playing while watching that brother and sister. … Can I trust what I felt then? She wasn’t sure, but she could say one thing for sure. “Y-yes, I will try to find an answer. I always will!” “In that case.” Berger pointed Gelegenheit’s pommel toward Lowenzahn. “Listen up. That woman’s as much of a liar as I am. You’re the only one here on the other side of the wall. The Geheimnis Agency and the rest of us aren’t looking past the war. We’re not trying to find an answer – we’re trying to find a way to win. But you…” “?” Hazel gave him a questioning look before he continued. “Hazel, you’ve worried over this enough. So just think on one thing now. What was it you originally wanted to do? Go back to that point and I’m sure you’ll find what the Messiah should do.” Hazel reflexively held her sword against herself and also held the card in her breast pocket. Berger’s arm around her hips gave a squeeze and she nodded. That small nod was enough for him to smile. “Geheimnis Agency Commander Lowenzahn Naylor, the world’s second best liar has a question for you! Does the Geheimnis Agency think their Messiah belongs only to Germany!?” Lowenzahn reacted to that one. Her eyebrows rose. “At this point…” “Shut up! I don’t want conditions and excuses! Hazel is trying to figure out how to use her power. She wants to choose a power she can use toward the things she wants to do after saving the world and use to make the world a better place. …Do you have an answer for her!?” yelled Berger. “Hazel! It’s probably about time you chose. You saw the city, didn’t you? That’s war. This is scorched earth. Can you hear the Lives of destruction, Hazel!? That is what it means to lose something and to sacrifice something, Hazel Mirildorf! But what will you do afterwards?” Hazel gasped. … Why? “Why?” … Why are you always asking me these questions? Nothing answered her thoughts. This was not the Aerial City – it was burning and collapsing Cologne. So her thoughts would not reach him. But she realized that Lowenzahn had come to a stop for some reason. “U-um…” Feeling uneasy, Hazel tried to say something. But she was cut off by a straight line of roaring noise that broke through all of the sounds of bursting bombs and flying bombers. The deafening roar tore apart the sky. Hazel recognized it, so she looked up in the direction it had come from: north. She saw what was tearing through the sky there. “Eh!?” It looked like a large black shadow. A metal box was dropping from overhead. It landed in the courtyard before she managed to realize it was the RB-21’s container. The boom of it landing hit her in the gut, whipped up the heated wind, and sent a tremor through the ground. “That idiot!” When the container skidded toward them, tearing up the schoolyard’s dirt, Berger shouted an insult and Lowenzahn clicked her tongue. Lowenzahn hesitated but only for a moment. “So destiny is even more broken than the prophecies!” she shouted, leaping backwards. “It is time we withdrew.” Not long after, Berger made a leap of his own while carrying Hazel. Pale followed suit. The green metal container skipped through the spot they had just vacated while spinning a bit. It crushed the motorcycle and kept going. It only stopped after noisily breaking through the metal fence at the end of the schoolyard. Berger landed with Hazel in his arm and she viewed their surroundings from the safety of his black coat. The Geheimnis Agency had left. “They sure are good at running away for Neue Kavaliers.” Berger’s complaint drained Hazel’s tension and she took another look around. There were no human Lives around. … Is the nightmare over? “What’s with you, Hazel? You look awfully relieved.” She started to say something in response, but then he shoved her to the side, sending her rolling. She heard the roar of wind, but this wasn’t just any wind. It was a constant thing, like a tornado. “Get down!” Berger stayed low and ran toward the container. The container’s exterior sparked and then bent in as if making a panicked response to his approach. Some great force had crashed into it from the outside. That force continued. The exterior bent further, leaving several indentations as if from giant fists, and sparks flew. “Is that artillery!?” Hazel looked up to find a new enemy was approaching. A blue Heavy Barrel and a red Heavy Barrel both had their Over Emblem fully activated. She had briefly seen these Heavy Barrels that now passed by over the schoolyard. They were flying toward where the RB-21 was making a wide turn. This explained why the RB-21 couldn’t land. The blue Heavy Barrel raced through the sky, targeting the container with the rifle it held at the hip. Then it swung the rifle to send a sweep of gunfire across the schoolyard. Hazel saw the color of destruction fly toward the schoolyard as several distinct lines. Those were the flying bullets of a Heavy Barrel machinegun. “––––!?” She held her sword at the hip. A stray shot was flying toward her on a collision course. A hit would kill her instantly. It wouldn’t leave anything behind. The same was probably true of Pale standing behind her. She had to do something about it. With her own power. Her abilities were quite high for a Greenhorner. She had five defense cards and her sword was the latest model developed by the US army. … Where do I see this going afterwards? She would save herself and Pale, exchange a nod with Pale, and then join Berger. There might be more to do before that. That thought made her smile a little. Her focus allowed her to perceive the incoming destruction in the form of a bullet. “––––!” With a shout, she thrusted her sword forward and produced a defense field. The force of the sword thrust and the timing of the activation transformed the defense field so it had a sharp point. That point crashed straight into the 88mm shell. With a solid noise, the destructive power shattered and the pieces radiated outwards along the umbrella-like shape of the defense field. The shell tore into the schoolyard as tiny fragments. “!?” That scattershot carried a residual shockwave that destroyed the school building behind her. She quickly looked back to find a classroom’s worth of the two-story concrete building’s first and second floors had been crushed and blown away along with plenty of dust. Instead of rejoicing in her own survival, Hazel panicked and thought back to a certain memory. She recalled why it was she had stopped while playing the organ. ### 613. Chapter 7: The Requiem Soars 05/31/1942 01:35 – 03:54 I actually had plenty of options I just hadn’t realized it But once I did… ### Bendaughter The time-reading Sein Fraus installed inside Big Ben, England’s large clocktower. The ultimate form of the trend in the 17-19th centuries of using Sein Fraus to control machines after Sein Frau creation techniques improved. Three sisters were initially installed in Big Ben, but several more were produced after the installation of a fourth in Image City San Francisco’s Hyper Ben in 1898. In 1904, the designs were sent to Japan and used to create the four Amakashi-class Sein Fraus. They are all girls who sing at the top of the hour and half of their body has been split away so they can be connected to a harp Device. The ultraheavy harp they use is at least 6 yards long with a pair of 2 yard acoustic amplification shells resembling spiral shells on the rear. Thanks to that, they resemble a living creature more than a harp. ### Part 1 Lowenzahn heard a voice coming from the car radio while they moved from Cologne to the mountains for shelter. She listened to Jeanne’s voice with a bitter-looking Schweitzer seated next to her. “I must apologize for failing in the mission you revealed yourself for.” “Understood. But we did hit Dog Berger with Ton bullets, didn’t we?” “Yes, we have confirmed three hits by Bermark Vier.” “Then withdraw your unit immediately. We are already in the mountains.” Jeanne acknowledged the command and ended the transmission. The car shook in the following silence. They were descending a dark mountain road. The mountains were visible through the windshield. Only the backs of the mountains could be seen thanks to the red lights coming from distant Cologne. “The sky looks incredible.” There was a river flowing through the sky. A river of bombers lit up by only a few searchlights. A few explosions disturbed that river’s surface and more lights rocked the ground. From there, the constant explosions were low in volume but broad in sound range. Much like an echo. Schweitzer groaned over those overlapping noises while holding the wheel in the driver’s seat. “This is a first.” “For what? Us being beaten so badly?” “No,” he said. “For your prophecy to be wrong.” She fell silent at that. In that silence, their speed increased and they drove around a long right curve. The red lights were a bit more distant than before. “It’s certainly a problem.” Lowenzahn’s shapely eyebrows drooped and her voice was nearly drowned out by the wind. “Having trouble…trusting me anymore?” “We managed to keep Dog Berger here in Germany…so it wasn’t entirely a waste of time.” “True. But…this may be best for the Geheimnis Agency’s future.” “In what way?” he asked. “The Agency must throw me out eventually,” she briefly explained. “This failure gives them an excuse.” ### Part 2 Hazel tilted her head while viewing the collapsed school building. The enemy Heavy Barrels appeared to have flown away into the sky. They didn’t attack. She heard the blowing wind and the scorching heat enveloping everything. The belly of a giant aerial warship hovered overhead. Berger had just finished removing the bullets and applying first aid, so he began preparing Schwarz Löwe for combat. After Write Bringing into it, he would place her on the shoulder like he had in the past, shove Pale into the copilot cockpit, and get moving. After attaching the transmitter to the Gard-class warship, they would evacuate and meet up with Corelle. That much was all planned out. “Um…” Only after hearing her voice did Hazel realize she was approaching the school building. Part of her was amused, but she couldn’t stop either. There was a fallen tree in her way, so she hopped over it. The collapsed school was now right in front of her. The smell of the trees roasted by the surrounding heat was powerful. It reminded her of when she would mop the wooden floors of her school back when she lived in Germany. The school had a large chunk taken out, like someone had dug it out with a giant shovel. She looked inside using the glow of the burning city and found the second-floor classroom was almost entirely destroyed. The first floor ceiling had collapsed and the second floor’s desks and concrete had poured down to fill the classroom below. There was a window on the hallway side of the classroom too, so she could see the hallway past the rubble. The glass was broken, but the classroom must have had a very open design even when everything was intact. All of the desks were made for two. The top opened up to reach a space to store the students’ bags. … That’s almost identical to my old school. She dropped her eyes to part of a broken desk lying at her feet. The desk had been so old the wood fibers were visible. … You couldn’t have written on any paper sitting directly on the desk. She nodded and then noticed something else. There was some fresh graffiti carved into the desk. It appeared to be some kind of map. There were houses and a river she guessed was the Rhine. The river’s surface was decorated with several faces drawn with circles and dots. And… “Miss.” She heard Pale’s voice behind her, but she did not turn around. “Sorry, but could you leave me be for a bit? I really am sorry.” She looked overhead. A giant black ship hovered there. They were about to help destroy it. However… “That ship is protecting this place, isn’t it?” She lowered her gaze again. All the carved faces on the desk were smiling. Those faces and the carving reminded her of what she had seen during the day. Of the brother using the blackboard to teach his sister something in the Village of Pardons. “…Yes.” She nodded, held her sword in her right hand, and lightly struck the metal frame at the edge of the classroom. It made a metallic sound. She immediately struck it again, making a louder sound. The Device’s blade was amplifying and purifying the sound to spread it around and help it rule the space around her. Tension shook the air and even the heat began to cool. She focused her mind on that sensation and spoke the words that came to mind. “U-um, I…I think…” Sounding awkward and unsure, she struck the frame with her sword again. The sound rang loud and the classroom rubble shook in response. She let that sound reverberate through her while shutting her eyes. She could still see some things with her eyes shut: the Lives. She listened to the word color with her ears and found the Lives around her were still very much alive. Even the rubble had not fully accepted its destruction. … Yes. “I think this school wants to remain a school after the war is over.” Another strike. “I think the school’s students want the same thing.” Another. “I think it would want that no matter how badly it was damaged or destroyed.” She kept striking it, each note ringing loud like a piano. With an extra loud tone, the entire building vibrated, blowing away the heat hanging in the air. A chilly wind carrying the scent of the trees answered her music by blowing out from the school. She heard the loud sound coming from her Device – the sound of the Lives. Her sword continued ringing even without further strikes, so she raised it overhead. “Berger?” “Yeah, Hazel?” The answer came from Schwarz Löwe’s vocal device in the distant container, so she smiled. “I think I’ll be a Tuner.” “To assist the destruction? Tuners are sent to the battlefield to heal the destroyers.” “That is far better than doing the destroying. …I am choosing healing over destruction. And once this war ends…I want to be a teacher and teach people that once you lose something important, you can never get it back.” There was a pause before he responded. “This isn’t a decision to make lightly, kindhearted fräulein.” “I’m not. Because…” Her smile grew. “I have already seen the other side of the wall.” … Ever since I couldn’t write my plans for the future at school five years ago. She finally completed her action. Tuners directly addressed the Lives of their surroundings and transformed them. That address was known as an Up and the simplified Over Up was the most common version in Europe. … But I could never use anything as rushed as a simplified version. She opened her mouth to sing the more authentic Wind Up. “780 thousand Lives dancing before me – the motherly chatting voices awaiting the return of the temporary visitors. Can you hear the voice of my Lives?” Her voice came out smooth and flowing. There was no hesitation in her swinging sword. “Ah.” A single tone left her throat. It gradually changed pitch with a gentle rhythm. This was the sound the school was meant to carry. The sword struck the Lives of the air and emitted a loud sound to support her own tone. “–––––!” Without warning, she spun around. She did not need to check to see what had happened. Her eyes were on Pale standing with the burning city and the floating ship behind him. He scratched his head “Are you okay, miss? You’re acting weird.” “I’m fine,” she insisted with a smile. She hopped back over the fallen tree and walked past Pale. She approached Schwarz Löwe’s container. “Berger,” she called, still walking and raising her empty left hand toward the night sky. “What is it, Hazel?” “Let’s go. I’m not afraid of anything anymore. Not this war and not the future.” She snapped her left hand’s fingers. Immediately, she heard the sounds of something beating at the air. They were the sounds of wings, of flapping, of flying. Hundreds and even thousands of those sounds combined to sound like a crashing wave as they rose into the sky. She knew what had happened. It was exactly what she had wanted. “First, I turned the school into white doves.” She looked up to see a flock of doves soaring like feathers carried by the wind. The small white shapes spread out and flew high to dance in the empty night. The red sky and black shadows could not erase their white color. Schwarz Löwe removed the top of the container and stood up. “Pretty flashy, Hazel.” She responded with a smile in her voice. “You’re just too boring, Berger.” ### Part 3 At 3:42 AM, the Big Signal finally received a transmission from Germany while it was waiting above the North Sea after completing its incantation. Now that it had an accurate location for the Babel Cannon-equipped ship, the Big Signal wrote the Reqiuem’s message information into its bullet based on the range data it received. That gave the bullet homing capabilities. After a minor adjustment to its position, it ordered every friendly craft within firing range to temporarily ascend. To provide the final tone needed to complete the bullet, the loading section’s barriers opened. The exterior armor opened with a mechanical hum. The first noise to leave the interior came from the escaping steam. Bendaughter was illuminated by the moonlight. Her empty eyes looked past the white steam and up into the sky. “…” The emotionless Sein Frau’s face was placid and her hair was windswept. She had sweat beading up and dripping down her forehead and chest. There was no strength in her gaze, but her cheeks were a touch red. That was due to singing for nine hours straight. A quiet sound of escaping air came from the pipe connecting her to Sunshine. At the same time, she leaned back like a spring-loaded doll. Her hair was thrown back as she arched her back as if to stare into the sky. That tension was broken by a single large tremor running through her body. “––––––!!” Then she bent forward, steam rising from her sweaty body. With her body bent forward and her head lowered, bloody saliva dripped from her open lips. But when she raised her head again, there was already strength in her gaze. Sweat dripped down skin that had gone cool and even pale and she directed her eyes upwards. Toward the moon. She viewed the moon as she spoke. “Speech…begin.” At 3:47 AM, Big Signal finally launched its first shot. ### Part 4 Rose tensed on the central #6 ship’s bridge when she sensed something hit her on the port side. “I can load the Babel Kanone’s next round in just a few minutes, so if I can hold on a little longer…” Then she heard the wind through the downpour of bombs. It came from port, where she had been hit. A black figure was flying up from below, producing a soaring sound from its rapid ascent. “That Panzer!” She had seen it before. But it vanished high into the sky a moment later. And… “!” With countless sounds of wings, her vision was filled by the color white. It was a flock of doves. Hundreds of flapping wings shook the air as they flew toward the night sky. The white flock hid the black shape from view. Rose could not hide her surprise as she tilted her head and directed her attention below. No more antiair bullets were rising from the center of the city where Cologne Cathedral was located. The Requiem had lost a few of its own cannons as well. But the enemy remained overhead, dropping bombs. The Requiem’s armor, defense emblems, defense through inertial control, and the ship control and damage reduction provided by Rose’s Erklärung all worked to stop those bombs and protect the city below. But the enemy was relentless. She saw the colors blue and red arrive from either side to meet that enemy. Those were Grösse Panzers. The two who served Alfred. “Lady Rose! We are here to support you!!” shouted Neue Blau. Rose smiled back with a troubled expression. “What are you two doing here? Does this mean my big brother is already on his way?” “Indeed it does. Sir Alfred is hurrying here as well!” “I see,” she said, tapping her right foot’s toes against the bridge’s floor. Then her voice spoke from the entirety of the Requiem. “Big brother, can you hear me?” After a short delay, she received a staticky response. “I can…DLP-444LSX.” “You can? I’m glad. Right now…” She looked overhead. A light resembling a silver shooting star approached the bombers and fighters from outside the Requiem’s firing range. A silver Grösse Panzer raced, spun, and leaped through the sky while fighting something. The opponent was colored black. That was the Panzer that had ascended earlier. It was named Schwarz Löwe and it had fallen into enemy hands three years ago. But while she watched the clash between the two Panzers… “How long has it been since my big brother and bigger brother fought the same opponent?” she muttered, eyebrows raised. The exhaustion vanished from her face and she shouted toward the blue and red Panzers. “I will be your general. You two move further forward and meet with your master.” “But we are Sir Alfred’s-” She cut them off with a thin smile. “Since when can a mere Sein Frau talk back to the eldest daughter of Karlsruhe, the bloodline of generals!?” After a pause, the blue and red Panzers nodded. They spread their wings and accelerated. The bursts of wind struck Rose from either side and she assessed them with satisfaction in her voice. “Well done.” The blue and red winds drew twin curves up into the sky. They flew over the river flowing through the sky. Rose watched them leave and then sighed. At the same time, an even louder alarm blared from within the Requiem. “I have a feeling something more is coming. The bombers are slowly ascending.” She raised her head and the Babel Kanone bullet loader at the rear of the Requiem expelled a cascade of white steam from its ejection port. She narrowed her eyes at the sound. “Attention, everyone.” She mouthed the name of a certain man. “In response to the fourth alarm, all ship sectors shall be opened, command authority shall be shifted to me and me alone, and all of you shall evacuate.” She repeated that a second time over the sound of the fourth alarm. “This is a strict order.” Just as she finished, one of the enemy aerial warships succumbed to its damage and fell. The bombers ascended instead. “Something is definitely coming,” she muttered to herself, spreading her arms. Wind was whipped up all around the Requiem. The ship’s defense field was changing shape. That wouldn’t do much against a direct hit from the aerial warship, but it would be an effective wide-range umbrella against the scattering wreckage and the shockwave when it exploded. She spread out that field and continued firing the cannons while looking to the sky. Silber Löwe was still battling Scwharz Löwe. They were both moving quickly. “Are you enjoying this, bigger brother?” Immediately after directing her question into the sky, her Requiem-linked senses picked up something. A great power was rushing in from the distance. It was like a punching fist and it brought her pain just to view it. She spun her body to face that way – to the north. “–––––!?” Her entire body radiated puzzlement and surprise and Heiliger questioned her over the radio. “What is that, DLP-444LSX!?” She could not get the answer out of her throat. “That is…” She knew exactly how powerful it was because she had the same power herself. So she raised her voice. “Flee, bigger brother!! That’s my-!!” ### Part 5 Hazel was tossed around all over the place atop Scwharz Löwe’s shoulder. A container created from one of the RB-21’s fixed seats had been installed there, presumably a rush job by Corelle. She braced her legs against the inside of the container to holder herself in place and faced their opponent with her hair dancing in the wind. Her right eye was already colored red. And she was linked to Scwharz Löwe. The enemy she saw was colored silver. It was surrounded by the waves of bluish-white Lives carried by the wind. The silver Heavy Barrel left the empty sky and the crimson-burning land behind to rush toward them. It emitted a powerful but wavering wind from its wings. “The Messiah’s presence here is beyond anything I predicted.” “I can’t say I predicted getting a chance to fight a bigshot like you while just trying to escape, General Graham Karlsruhe, second in command of the Geheimnis Agency!” Berger spoke through Scwharz Löwe’s vocal device. The wind was on the move. They raced through the sky, Scwharz Löwe’s sword and Heiliger’s sword clashed before Hazel’s eyes, and sparks flew. This time, they didn’t have the equipment necessary to remake Gelegenheit for use by a Heavy Barrel. The battle came down to pure sword skills and a rapid series of strikes had begun. Even when they dodged and escaped, Silber Löwe would circle back in front of them soon enough. He used only the machine’s abilities, never using an Ober Emblem, yet he fought equally with the Messiah-assisted Scwharz Löwe. “I will take the Messiah from you, divinely-named young man.” “She isn’t just some thing to be taken!!” Berger attacked once and Heiliger attacked thrice in return. “!?” They dodged it. She read the wind and conveyed the information to him. But the next attack was already coming. “I will end this here and fulfill our commander’s prophecy.” Berger did not respond. He was too preoccupied. Silber Löwe suddenly accelerated through the sky like it had loosed all the power it had built up. It charged in even faster than before, never letting up on the attacks. “!?” Berger made an attack just before the moment of impact, but it was deflected. Silber Löwe’s shoulder crashed into them. They heard a voice in that moment. “Reflex speed: approximately x180. Power pressurization: x20.” Silber Löwe emitted white steam from its entire body and then broke through the cloud of steam. Its shoulder dug into Schwarz Löwe’s gut, breaking both their armors, and… “––––––!!” Schwarz Löwe was launched backwards. The sound of breaking metal was accompanied by a powerful impact pushing up at them from below. “Kyah!!” Hazel doubled over, feeling like her organs were being pushed up on, but then she realized the force had left her. She shut her eyes for a moment and reopened them to see the night sky. She saw the moon shining in the terribly calm heights. “Eh?” She was flying through the sky. She had been launched from Schwarz Löwe’s container. Only when she felt the wind blowing up at her long hair and skirt did she realize she had begun to descend. She had entered one of the simplest of actions: a fall. A brief cry escaped her lips, but then it felt like her lungs were out of air. She had nothing to support herself and nothing to orient herself. Her hands only clawed at empty space while her head and shoulders felt a wall of air. The only things nearby were the Lives of the night breeze. She was falling. ### Part 6 Schwarz Löwe and Silber Löwe accelerated simultaneously to pursue Hazel. “You’ve got a hell of a violent way of acquiring your supposed Messiah!” “Says the man who once sliced open the Sylphide.” “No, I’m willing to give you the title of the world’s most violent man.” Berger took a breath. “It’s a race then.” They accelerated, the black Ober Emblem competing against the silver machine’s pressurization. Their goal was the girl falling from an altitude of approximately 6000 yards. Schwarz Löwe used its black wings to fly ever onward and downward. It flew faster and swifter. The air resistance grew, so it closed its spread wings and focused on gravitational acceleration. The tips of the wings formed vacuums as they tore through the night, splitting the air and summoning the wind. The river of bombers lay ahead. It charged through them without hesitation or fear. It passed by and through in an instant, shooting down past the falling bombs. Silber Löwe did the same. They left sound behind in the sky above while dropping toward the burning city below. They both accelerated. White clouds formed along the points of their armor, drawing out lines leading far behind them. Those were vapor trails. The curved aerial armor attached to their Panzer Kleids began to strain. The light metal armor was designed to reduce air resistance as much as possible, but even they were protesting from the powerful wind pressure. They flew. “–––––!” There she was. At first, she was only visible as a golden color. Her hair fluttered above the crimson of Cologne. Silber Löwe broke through the white vapor umbrella to move out ahead. Scwharz Löwe muttered to himself while hearing the low percussion noise of the atmospheric impact. “This fall wasn’t enough for you to Alter, Hazel?” The black Panzer flapped its wings for more speed, breaking through its own vapor umbrella and coming up alongside the silver one. The black one opened the area where its vocal device had been and let out a roar. The indistinct roar continued as it moved out ahead. Hazel was there. And a new color was visible behind her. The many white colors was the flock of doves Hazel had Tuned into existence. They were flying behind her. The two Panzers accelerated and reached their hands out toward the gold visible among the red of flames and white of wings. The black one’s willpower-powered Ober Emblem and the silver one’s high-level machinery provided endless acceleration that let them form two white lines that split apart the night sky. The two shooting stars linked the black sky to the red earth. The wings at the very end of those lines guided their speed. “…!” They both raised bestial cries. They could reach Hazel. She was right there in front of them, her tears scattering into the air rushing around her. But she reached out her hand. She shouted something and smiled while crying. “––––!?” She fell with explosive speed and directed her hand toward the bearer of destiny. The black one roared and answered her. The white color scattered as if clearing a path for the black Panzer. “–––––!!” The black one moved forward and placed its hand protectively below the golden person. Just then, a loud voice pierced the night sky. A girl’s voice. “Flee, bigger brother!! That’s my-!!” The silver Panzer reacted to that clear cry while pursuing the black one. With a sound like an umbrella forcefully opening, Silber Löwe braked in midair. “!?” Without warning, it flew up toward the Gard-class warship floating above. Still falling, Schwarz Löwe changed the direction of its acceleration. Shifting a bit to the side to escape this airspace. “Is that what I think it is!?” asked Hazel from Schwarz Löwe’s hand. It was. The attack had arrived. ### Part 7 Rose immediately changed the shape of the Requiem’s defense field she had just altered to protect against the burning enemy warship falling toward the ship. She focused on stopping the power flying her way. She had ordered an evacuation, so the escape boats were trying to leave from the bottom of the ship. The city of Cologne was below it as well. One small but nearly-untouched portion of the city remained below. So Rose did not hesitate. She fully eliminated the defense field on the Requiem’s upper surface and directed all of its power into the umbrella that protected its bottom side. The rest occurred over a series of moments. First, the enemy aerial warship crashed down on the starboard aircraft carrier’s connection point. The heavy impact caused the half-mile warship to shake and list to the side a bit. The enemy aerial warship exploded and shattered the Requiem’s armor with a sound like a splitting bell. A few of the connecting frames broke and the tremor propagated across the rest of the Requiem. The Kurz Babel bullet struck at the same moment. It started just as light. Then as an impact. It hit the Requiem’s starboard side at a diagonal angle, tearing through the #2 aircraft carrier and the #4 landing ship and piercing through to the lower central #5 ship as well. A hole with a diameter of more than 7 yards was torn from the colossal aerial warship’s right collarbone to its gut. The power of the attack was released into the area around the hole. The hole rapidly spread further, producing explosions. The attack collided with the Requiem’s inertial control force and the defense field opened below it. As powerful as the attack was, the Requiem’s solid construction and defense field kept the attack from spreading downwards. All of the force was directed upwards causing the Requiem to rupture skywards. The atmosphere burst over a wide area and the sky glowed bright. The sky itself split and changed color. Even with the air blasted away, a soundless tremor radiated outwards. Ten or so of the bombers and three of the aerial warships in the sky above were torn apart instantly. The Kurz Babel had scored a direct hit. But the Requiem remained afloat within the storm-like winds. Its upper armor had mostly been stripped away and the #1 ship that formed the bridge was crushed in like a giant club had smashed into it from the left. The starboard aircraft carrier was gone and the #2 ship behind that was badly damaged. The central #5 ship had taken a fair amount of damage as well. Conversely, the port aircraft carrier was only bent to the right and the #2 ship behind it was only mildly damaged. As for the crucial cannon… Its armor had been stripped away, but the barrel had miraculously retained its shape. Rose stood at the end of that barrel, but the image of her and her white dress was faint and fading fast. The city below was still safe. She had not fully eliminated the force of that attack, so she could see some damage from that and the winds it had caused. But… “It fared much better than the surrounding areas.” Most of Cologne was gone. Everything outside what the Requiem had protected was little more than city streets with a crater torn into them by the powerful shockwave. The crater had a radius of about a mile and was about 200 yards deep. Cement, rebar, and other remnants of buildings were piled up at the bottom of the crater. The area protected by the Requiem appeared to stand on a raised platform at the center of the crater. Past the crater, all the buildings had collapsed in a strip of destruction extending north to south. The Rhine was outside the range of the explosions, but it was flooding its banks and the trees in the nearby mountains had lost all their leaves. The attack from the Kurz Babel had added to the damage done by the bombing. The city had been destroyed a second time. Everything had been destroyed outside of what she had directly protected. But… “This is the beginning of a war.” With that, she began to dance. She twirled, swung her arms, smiled, and swept her hands forward. A moment later, the Requiem fired its Babel Kanone for the second time that day. She knew where the enemy was located. She only had to follow the ballistic path back to them. Unlike the bullet-based Kurz Babel used by the Allies, the Requiem’s Babel Kanone accelerated and stretched the bullet’s power within the long barrel to form a beam instead. The beam of light stretched across approximately four miles and sent out a powerful shockwave as it was launched. ### Part 8 At 3:53 AM, the Big Signal floating above the North Sea and the 3rd Aerial Fleet protecting it were hit by a massive beam of light and instantly obliterated. The Big Signal’s defense field and the various aerial warships’ armor were all vaporized. Even the singing Sein Frau was engulfed by the light, burned away, and vaporized. All that remained was electrified air and a white-hot mist. Everything had been eliminated. ### 614. Chapter 8: The Requiem Rises 05/31/1942 04:18 – 04:44 An ending is a beginning A beginning is an ending So do they cancel each other out? I said it myself But I’m not really sure ### The Second Gard-class Warship The Gard-class aerial warship was constructed to be an Eingeweide ship, but construction of a second one began in ’42 as a spare and as an aerial fortress with the original’s high mobility removed. But by mid ’42, the construction and purpose of the second ship was thoroughly rethought. The ley line pressurization reactor planned for construction near Germania was supposed to power the city’s word weaponry, but that was deemed insufficient and the plan was changed to use the Gard-class’s Babel Kanone instead. The pressurization conduit used to boost the Eingeweide’s power used ley lines passed through the Vaterlands built across Europe and even in parts of Africa and Japan. That required the conduit to be 800 yards tall, but the top connector was swapped out to permanently attaching the Gard-class there. That created Tristan, the fortress and ley line pressurization conduit that stood more than a mile tall and resembled a giant cross. ### Part 1 Darkness filled a large corridor. The lights were out. The metal walls were torn in places and pieces of the walls and bundles of cables were strewn across the floor. A transport vehicle lay on its side in the center of the corridor. The vehicle’s front surface was four yards tall and wide, yet there was still plenty of space in the corroder. The corridor was designed for giants. Suddenly, that vehicle was shoved over to the side. A giant made of metal appeared behind it. The giant was the silver Grösse Panzer named Silber Löwe. But it was no longer just silver. Silber Löwe had lost its right arm and left side and oil soaked it like blood. Its Panzer Kleid had torn away, revealing that even its limbs were spewing smoke and trembling. The tip of the sword in its left hand scraped along the floor, making a distorted sound. But it was still walking. It took a step at a time, moving forward. The walking Panzer had a white light glowing atop its left collarbone. That was Rose. The transparent girl sat on the silver lion’s shoulder. “Bigger brother…” She reached out and stroked the silver Panzer’s cheek with her intangible hand. Then she bowed. “I’m sorry. If I wasn’t here, the city wouldn’t have been attacked and you wouldn’t have been hurt.” “It is a double-edged sword. The city was attacked because of our presence, but we did manage to protect some small part of it.” A pipe-like component about 2 feet long dangled from Silber Löwe’s side and then fell away. He didn’t even look down at it. Instead he faced the right wall in a fighting stance. Rose nodded. “I will be waiting.” Before she was even done speaking, Silber Löwe attacked the wall with the force of a tackle. The sword easily sliced through the wall, but it broke just as the full circle was complete. The snapping sound echoed down the corridor. Silber Löwe tossed aside the broken sword and slammed his right side into the wall with the sword’s blade still embedded in it. The wall broke apart with a sound like tearing fibers. The bent metal wall collapsed into the space beyond. Silber Löwe parted the white smoke bursting from the wall and stepped through to a room far too small for a Grösse Panzer. “This is my room.” A flower with mechanical petals blossomed at the center of the small, 6-yard room. This was the central room that controlled the Requiem’s will. This was the ceiling of the deep pit located directly above the observation room at the bottom of the ship. There was a hole in the center and the domed barrier wall that had plugged the hole now sat open. The hole contained plenty of cables and cushioning, but it was all spewing white smoke at the moment. A small red gem was suspended from the cables at the center. “All of the coolant has been removed, so I have a really bad fever and I’m feeling chilled.” Silber Löwe reached toward the center of the smoking flower. He touched his sister’s body. Countless cables extended from the bottom of the red gem which was far smaller than the Panzer’s fingertips, branching out and connecting to everything else. When Silber Löwe touched the gem, the Rose on his collarbone blurred. When Silber Löwe pulled his hand back, Rose smiled. “Don’t worry. Grab that cable you were touching. Yes, that red one. And slowly pull it out along with the root block. I will last a little while as long as that block remains.” Silber Löwe did as instructed. He moved all the non-red cables out of the way with one hand’s fingers. “Once you have it out, connect me to your copilot cockpit. There isn’t much to do after that since I have already completed all the preparations, so…” She took a breath. “I have one last selfish request. Take me outside. I want to see the sunrise.” “Understood.” Once Silber Löwe pulled the 2 yard red cable from the base of the structure along with its connection block, Rose disappeared. Shortly afterwards, the lights gently illuminating the room vanished. “Emergency. Activating Panzer Emblem Sturm Drache based on final instructions. Opening radio on all bands. All surviving units will now be commanded by HMS-083S Silber Löwe.” Silber Löwe stood back up and left the room. Back out in the corridor, he removed the cover at the bottom of the copilot cockpit on his back. The removed cover revealed a few plugs and a fuel port. Silber Löwe took the block at the end of the red cable and attached it to the leftmost plug. “…” He walked forward in silence. His legs were unsteady, but he walked toward the outside. On the way, he tore away the Panzer Kleid remaining over his chest and stabbed his left hand’s claws into his left chest’s armor. “!!” He tore the external armor away, destroying it. He jammed his hand into the hole in his torn left side and tore the hole open wider. More and more armor fell to the floor and bounced as he walked. The exposed interior of his chest contained Grösse Panzer materials and a heart device. There were metal blood vessels resembling a water clock, a cooling device, and a primary engine that sent power across his body. They heated up when exposed to the outside. Silber Löwe placed the red gem inside his chest. “I will take you outside, my sister. I will grant you your final selfish request.” He walked. A white light reappeared above his left collarbone. It was Rose. She had faded so much she was barely visible, but her voice echoed down the ship’s corridor. Her voice seemed to rule over that dark and silent space. “After that, it will be your turn, bigger brother.” “So it would seem.” His voice also came from the corridor’s speakers. He was already indirectly controlling the Requiem as an intermediary for Rose. Rose stroked his cheek and smiled. “What do you think, bigger brother?” “About what?” “Did I do the right thing? Or should I have focused on defeating the enemy over protecting Cologne? Should I have prioritized your idea of a Neue Kavalier’s spirit over protecting the lives of the people like big brother does? If I had, Cologne would only have been bombed.” “Whatever the result, you still tried to protect Cologne.” Rose shut her eyes. “My surviving exterior sight devices tell me I barely managed to protect any of the city. Despite taking so much damage. It tells me a lot more was lost due to my presence.” “Rose.” “Yes?” “Why is it so difficult to protect things even with great power?” asked Silber Löwe, still walking. Rose thought about that one for a bit before answering. “Well…probably because wielding power makes it difficult to leave things as they are.” “Then what is the Messiah’s power? What is the power of the Messiah who chose something as poorly defined as destiny?” He paused. “Is it different from the power held by our older generation? Is it something new held by the younger generation?” The silver Grösse Panzer was finished talking, but he continued to walk. Each step destroyed him further, but he continued to move outside. And finally, he spoke again. “Opening radio on all bands. Silber Löwe to all of Germany.” After a beat, the surviving communication equipment inside the Requiem activated and a burst of static came over the ship’s internal line. But that was all. Everything was connected. Rose nodded with a smile and Silber Löwe nodded back. And he spoke. “I have a message for all Neue Kavaliers still living in Germany.” ### Part 2 Hazel watched the badly damaged Requiem from atop Scwharz Löwe’s shoulder. The moon was fading from the sky as morning approached. A powerful wind surrounded her. The colossal aerial warship could no longer fight and shimmering heat rose from where it had been hit. Scwharz Löwe passed by its port side at a distance of more than 300 yards. “It’s so big.” She could appreciate its size from up close now that they were flying at the same altitude. A powerful air current had formed around it. The atmosphere had already been forced out of the way to the point of an explosion, so the air current wasn’t going to settle down for days to come. And once the wind did die down some, it would begin to rain. Hazel looked through the wind to see the aerial warship starting to list. It slowly tilted to port with the city it had protected below. “I-isn’t there something we can do, Berger?” “Oh, I don’t think it’s over yet,” muttered Scwharz Löwe so quietly the wind nearly drowned it out. She looked out ahead in confusion. Then she noticed a girl standing atop the bridge of a broken aircraft carrier. Her body was transparent like a ghost. … Who is that? She didn’t know, but the girl was looking her way. With a blank expression. Feeling uncomfortable, Hazel brushed back her windswept hair and lowered her head a little. The girl smiled at Hazel’s action. She grabbed her skirt and calmly curtsied back. Then she disappeared. Hazel’s eyes darted across the top of the ship to see where the girl had disappeared to, but she soon gave up. She no longer sensed anyone on the ship. But there was a different change. Light began to glow from the gaps in ship’s damaged armor. It appeared especially bright to Hazel’s eyes. “That’s ether!” It covered the entire ship. Pale opened the copilot cockpit and stuck his upper body out to shout what it was. “That’s an Armed Emblem!!” “But why!?” asked Berger. “Does it want to fight!?” “No…it must be to protect the city. To ensure it doesn’t fall on the city it shielded from the bombing and the Babel Gun.” Hazel’s response silenced Berger. She narrowed her eyes a bit before continuing. “Sorry, Berger, but can you keep us up here for a while longer?” “Probably.” He didn’t sound displeased. The light covering the massive ship slowly and gradually grew before their eyes. It was the bluish-white of ether light. The flow of light was supported by the girl’s voice ringing through the sky in a song covering a sound range similar to a brass instrument. She spoke her Aerial Words. A deep male voice spoke over hers. “I have a message for all Neue Kavaliers still living in Germany.” ### Part 3 A voice spoke into the sky. Graham’s voice. “Can you hear me? We are the old-fashioned knights who survived the previous war.” The wind blew and a girl’s voice joined his. “So many of us have been lost since that war. “Our order has faded and many of us have returned to live among the people. “We are no more than the vestiges of a bygone era. “Let me ask again. “Can you hear me? “Yes, you, the new knights. The descendants of the old. The lions hidden among the people. “Do you remember the previous war? Have you heard the stories? “Young lions. Aged lions. “The previous war was the last time we will ever lead the people and fight as knights.” “Do you understand what I mean? A new kind of war is upon us. “And I shall give you our answer here.” ### Part 4 Jeanne and her exhausted subordinates listened to that voice after leaving destroyed Cologne and taking shelter in the mountains. She gasped and looked up at the Requiem above Cologne. “Sir!?” “Can you hear me?” repeated the voice on the radio. “Our country was burdened with massive debt after that war. In the war where we tried to stand above the people and create a country that allowed for that. That attempt was a failure and the ruin it wrought has led to the current war. …Are we fighting this war for the people or for ourselves?” He paused. “Can you hear me? Yes, you, the many knights living in Borderson territory.” The seated soldiers looked up too. “The head of the Karlsruhe family asks that you look to Cologne’s sky if this speech has inspired anything within you. Look to this land. This is the result of the old knights failing to protect your land.” “…Sir.” Jeanne took a step toward the Requiem. “Cologne was bombed because its people chose to fight and it was destroyed because we were here. The old knights were with the people, yet we could only protect a small handful. …The time has come to make a choice. Who is it you should protect and who is it that can protect them?” Someone shouted their approval and then everyone stood up. “I say this as an old knight who has fought for twenty long years.” The morning sun was starting to rise into the eastern sky. “Can you hear me? It is no longer land that we must protect. I have one request for all of the new knights out there and all of the lions slumbering in Borderson. Use your power to resist the Allied forces and their superior numbers.” ### Part 5 The Kaiser saw it happening with the blue and red Grösse Panzers behind it. The Requiem was turning into a dragon in the sky above broken Cologne. The Kaiser did not at all hesitate as it flew toward Cologne now. “It can’t be!?” it shouted. It accelerated. The wall of turbulence was thick and tossed the Panzer about. Graham’s voice could be heard over the powerful shaking. “I have cast out my Tragisch to become a bridge between the new knights and the people and to become the gate leading the Messiah to the Neue Erde. I have two commands for you now.” The Requiem dragon was broken and injured in a few places. It didn’t look capable of flight, but it looked upwards all the same. “First, I, Graham Karlsruhe, immediately pass the position of Geheimnis Agency second in command to the next in line.” I walk the path of shared silence.> “Sir!” shouted the Kaiser. “Lady Rose!” It accelerated, rushed, and reached a hand out toward something it could never actually reach. Past that hand, the dragon breathed a calm sigh. “Heiliger Karlsruhe. Take my place and work yourself to the bone as a bridge between the people and the Neue Kavaliers.” ### Part 6 Rose’s warning had allowed Heiliger to avoid the earlier Kurz Babel attack, but when he heard Graham’s radio transmission playing in the bridge, he uncrossed his prosthetic arms while a word escaped his mouth. “Brother!?” “This command has already been sent to the military. Starting tomorrow, you and your men will officially be Neue Kavaliers.” “Is that what that document was!?” Heiliger was on the verge of tears as he slammed his clenched fists against the bridge’s front window. Cracks radiated out through the glass, covering it with white, but he didn’t care. “That’s not fair. It’s just not, brother.” Heiliger fell to his knees, his fists still pressed against the glass. “Why do you always force these things onto me?” He voice was vanishingly quiet, but the voice on the radio was the opposite. “Second, I have a request for Lowenzahn Naylor, who has already revealed herself as the Geheimnis Agency commander.” ### Part 7 Lowenzahn frowned as Schweitzer drove her down a winding mountain road. The radio she had previously used to speak with Jeanne’s evacuation point was now playing Graham’s voice. “Make sure you bring the Messiah in as our master. If that proves impossible, then open Neue Erde within yourself. …Reach for that which was already lost. Because if you lose it again, you will not have another chance.” “I know that. I’m not an ignorant child anymore, Graham.” Schweitzer decided to keep his mouth shut when he detected no emotion at all in her voice. But he did turn to look at her. “…” He faced forward again without a word. Lowenzahn was weeping. ### Part 8 The Kaiser heard the final Erklärung as the dragon took form. The Kaiser raised its voice as if to reject the girl’s voice. It opened all of its thrusters to push itself forward. As it approached the dragon’s nose, its sight devices detected a girl standing on that nose. “––––––!” It reached out its arm. The girl smiled and did the same. They could reach each other. Except that was an illusion. The dragon took flight with an initial acceleration the Grösse Panzer couldn’t hope to match. It used the wings on its back to instantly break the sound barrier, like it was sliding across the Tons forming the space ahead. The Kaiser tried to pursue. “I…!” It could not catch up. Its outstretched arm found nothing as a voice rang in its ears. “Can you hear me, Neue Kavaliers? Stand up and look to the western sky – the morning sky. There you should see the dragon we seek. The soaring dragon.” And… “Inherit our will and face it just this once.” ### Part 9 Hazel watched the dragon’s flight from atop Schwarz Löwe’s shoulder. The azure dragon tore a horizontal line through a sky growing blue as the sun began to rise. It flew northwest, toward the Borderson Village of Pardons. … That’s a mountainous area, so it can crash safely there. She shut her eyes. “A white Heavy Barrel was pursuing that dragon earlier.” “It can’t catch up. And we need to hitch a ride here.” Berger’s response made Hazel frown. Something wasn’t right. … I don’t sense a Live disturbance? “Berger, are your gunshot wounds alright?” “Hah. I can deal with those later. Right now, we need to get across the border while dangling from that ship.” The Schwarz Löwe operated its wings to turn around. A dark shape was visible in front of the rising sun. It was Corelle’s RB-21. The Schwarz Löwe let it approach. “This is the true beginning right here.” ### Part 10 Silber Löwe worked to reach its destination even as it shook within the rapidly flying dragon. It planted its trembling legs firmly on the metal floor to walk. Light shined into the corridor far ahead. That was the exit. “If only all three of us could have walked together,” said Silber Löwe after seeing that light. “I know what you mean…” Rose agreed but then raised her head. “Bigger brother?” “What do you need?” “That almost sounded emotional. Has your Psyche Outer device broken?” She looked to the back of Silber Löwe’s head. The base of the cooling hairs was badly damaged. She started to say something. “…” But she only smiled instead. Silber Löwe continued walking. It took another step as the entire ship shook. Rose nestled herself against her brother’s face within that shaking. “We had a lot of fun, didn’t we, bigger brother? With Sir Alfred too.” “He…” “Don’t bother. I’m sure he was seeing someone else in me.” Her smile grew. “I couldn’t keep it together right now if I hadn’t convinced myself of that.” “I see,” said Silber Löwe. Rose mimicked knocking on its cheek several times. “This kindness isn’t like you. But if you are going to do something for me…” She breathed a false sigh. Even the sigh shook as Silber Löwe took a large step. Rose shut her eyes. “Bigger brother.” “Yes?” “Will you sing that prophecy for me?” Silber Löwe did not nod. But it did sing. “The party begins and the village dances.” Rose sang the next line. “The dragon roars and the knights gather.” A short pause followed. Eventually, the Panzer took another step and their voices joined together to eliminate the silence and shadows in the shaking corridor. They sang a prophecy. They sang the song of the Messiah. “The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather “The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives “Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land.” After singing the last line, Silber Löwe noticed something and turned its sight devices toward its shoulder. Rose had vanished. Silber Löwe walked in silence. It still had its left hand inside its left chest to hold something there. It walked. Finally, it arrived at the exit that opened up onto the morning sky. Just five more steps. Then it could jump out into the sky. It would arrive outside. But instead it spoke with a smile in its voice. “I can’t move any longer. I knew I didn’t have much time left.” Slowly, very slowly, Silber Löwe spread its legs to shoulder width and stood firm. The endless morning sky stretched out in front of it. And the ground rapidly flowed by down below. It saw the sky growing bluer by the moment and the dark forest down below. It began to sing once more. This time a song passed down among Panzer Kavaliers. That which is filled with the blue sky. That which is covered by the red dirt. I name thee heaven and earth. Where the wind howls bravely. Where the sand dances gently. I view thee as heaven and earth. So that no one would grieve again. That which is endless and cannot be grasped. That which is vast and cannot be held. I am with thee. Once the song was over, the man who had once been the Geheimnis Agency’s second in command laughed. He laughed loudly. So loudly. “The last time I laughed the three of us were still together.” After that, Silber Löwe’s sight devices began to go dark. That was when a roar rumbled from the sky behind the dragon. Something was catching up to the soaring dragon by flying at even greater speed. And catch up it did. It raced between the blue sky and dark earth before ascending in a flash. It flew faster than the Requiem dragon and took the form of the wind itself. “The Sylphide.” Those satisfied words marked the exact moment Silber Löwe’s sight devices went fully dark. A moment later, the Requiem finally left its Panzer Emblem form and began to fall. Two minutes later, the giant ship crashed into the mountains linking Berlin to Borderson and exploded, creating a massive crater. ### 615. Final Chapter: The Requiem Arrives 05/31/1942 05:47 – 06:03 The destiny I believe in Told me to go see him again So… So I… Hazel stood on the snow awash with the morning sun. They were on the mountainous Swiss border, so the snow didn’t melt even during the summer. But come spring, the green did grow from below the snow. Corelle’s green RB-21 had landed on a small green patch where it now sat silently. Hazel stood in front of the ship’s side deck. Pale stood on her left and Berger sat in the snow to her right with the bottom of his black coat placed below his butt. Corelle and the soldiers were making a fuss around him. And after a while… … The plan was for Berger and I to leave in Schwarz Löwe and General Pale to leave in the RB-21. “It’s no use,” said Corelle. “Hazel was right. This is a Lives issue.” She stood up, revealing Berger to Hazel’s eyes. His shirt was half removed, so she could see a strange dark area on his right side. “I was getting used to it, but I think it’s changed color because I’m so close to the border.” Pale answered him by slapping his shoulder with the envelope of important documents. “What’s this about?” “Most likely, I’ve been infected with a Lives disease. My guess is, if I leave Germany – or more accurately, the effective range of the Vaterlands – I’ll Ash.” “It’s a good thing you didn’t just fly over the border in Schwarz Löwe.” “That’s for sure,” agreed Berger before ordering Corelle to prepare him some mountain gear and a backpack. Hazel tilted her head. “Can I Tune heal you?” “I doubt it. I was given the ‘native’ Lives we lack as Glossolalians. You could heal me if my Lives were damaged or distorted, but it doesn’t work when they were instead made whole, right?” “Right…” He smiled bitterly. “Hoping for a chance to use your Tuning already? Well, engaging in a Live exchange session with me might help relieve the pain.” “D-don’t be ridiculous.” She realized something after her anger flared up. … This is hard for him too. When she hung her head, Pale reached his large hand over and rubbed her head. “I took two test tubes of blood earlier. If we freeze it put the Lives in stasis, we can transport it overseas and get a serum made in Detroit.” He took a breath. “So don’t worry about it too much, miss.” “That’s my line for her, you stupid general.” She looked over to see Berger putting his shirt back on. “Hazel took some of my blood three years ago. Compare that with what you took now and you should be able to make a serum. I’ll hide out somewhere in Germany until then.” “Th-that blood was for-” “The prosthetic arm isn’t done yet, is it?” “N-no, it isn’t.” She shrank down and shook her head, but then she heard a voice from behind her. It was Pale. “Berger.” “What?” “The AIF will do everything it can to get that serum made. You’ll owe us bigtime, so you’d better join up.” Pale ignored Berger’s “huh?” and how Hazel stared at Berger. “Listen, Berger. It’s about time you gave in and this seems like a good opportunity to me. You specialize in getting things and people out of Germany, so you’re in a tight spot not being able to leave the country yourself. Working yourself to the bone for the AIF if we rescue you seems like a fair trade to me. So how about it?” “…!” Berger frowned and glared at Pale without hesitation. But Pale whistled in response. “Well, good luck. I’ve got some luggage to get ready.” He shoved Hazel forward. Her feet caught on the snow and she tumbled down onto her knees with her hands on the ground in front of her. He sure is rough, she thought, looking back and seeing him walking away. She sighed once and slowly looked forward where Berger was seated within arm’s reach. “…” He was silently watching the sunrise, so she sat down next to him. “Hazel.” “Y-yes?” “I didn’t realize nervous sitting was a thing.” “I’m not nervous.” Her shoulders drooped and she looked to him and his somewhat listless expression. “I don’t get it,” he said. “It’s nothing but mysteries to you too?” “Pretty much. All I know is we were trying to attack the Geheimnis Agency and Germany, but we only ended up forcing them to pull out all the stops.” He let out a long breath with no apparent emotion on his face. … He’s given this a lot of thought. Then she realized something. “Um, Berger?” “Yeah?” “I think I can answer two of the mysteries you mentioned to me.” “Did I mention any to you?” He turned toward her now, so she looked searchingly up at him. “Yes. Last night, when you, um, well, pressured me, you said my dad punched you, remember?” “Yeah, I guess I did. And what’s the other one?” She thought about this. … This is what he told me to do. She bowed her head. “I’m sorry.” She raised her head to see pure confusion written on his face. Amused, she used her finger to gather up the orange morning wind blowing near her cheek. “You don’t know?” “Know what?” “Last night, after mentioning the condition necessary to join the AIF, you said you don’t know who my first was, but I should pass your apologies on to him.” “…” She couldn’t look him in the eye as she continued, so she faced the rising sun and intertwined her fingers. “Three years ago, when I told my dad and teacher I wanted to join the AIF, they were fiercely opposed to it.” “Wait.” “We argued about it for weeks and they finally explained the condition you had told me, thinking that would dissuade me.” “Wait, Hazel.” “So I told them the truth.” She took a breath. “I told them when I was 15, you saw me naked, slept with me in a dark room, and even made sure to kiss me goodbye.” A second breath. “I told them when we destroyed the Gard-class warship, you got a good look at me naked in a deserted park at night and you did naughty things to me while I slept naked in your arms in a dark forest.” A third breath. “I told them I had also seen you naked and that…yes, Corelle could back me up on all of it.” “…” “Not a word of it was untrue.” She turned to look at him again and found his jaw had dropped. “You aren’t going to tell them about last night, are you?” “I know exactly what I’ll tell everyone: I met you again after three years and we discussed our future together before you were very forceful with me.” “You’re kidding, right?” “Not at all. The AIF women are starved for stories like this.” “I’d forgotten…” “Eh?” “I’d forgotten you’re a cat in more ways than one, Hazel Mirildorf.” “I am.” She narrowed her eyes and smiled. “I am still just a kitten that could grow up to do or be anything. I will keep changing in body and mind. And…” And… “My surroundings will change too.” “You’re awfully full of yourself for a brand new Tuner.” He stood up with a smile. She did not stand up. She held her knees between her arms and faced forward. She viewed the German mountains. The border was supposedly only an imaginary line on the map, but the nature of the land changed drastically when looking at the Lives. The border had real consequences. … Both good and bad. She pondered that. … We’re going to change, aren’t we? “We’re both going to change even with this wall between us.” “It might be more than that.” “Eh?” “You heard that radio transmission, didn’t you? The Geheimnis Agency isn’t just defending the German homeland anymore. They’re going to start entering Germany’s occupied territories. And using the Vaterlands to modify the ley lines.” Hazel kept her eyes straight ahead but used her ears to listen to Berger’s voice. “There won’t be just one wall between us,” he said. “We’ll be on the attack and they’ll be defending. We have greater numbers, but they have High Organ Live weapons. The Allies’ High Organ development hasn’t reached practical levels yet, so this is gonna be a tough fight.” “But we opened the door at Cologne.” “Which is why they’re preparing for a real fight. The nature of the war has changed.” “But…but we couldn’t meet each other and talk without opening the door.” Hazel stood up and looked to Berger. He was already looking at her. She started to say something to break the silence, but… “Yeah,” he said in an exasperated kind of way. “You’re not like me. Once the war is over, you’ll make a great teacher. You can do things like that.” He slapped her shoulder and then he started walking across the snow. “Let’s go.” “Where to?” “We’ve got to talk with Pale, don’t we? We’ll be saying a temporary goodbye soon. And…” He stopped and looked back. “I have to tell him I’m joining the AIF.” “!?” She tried to ask why, but he answered before she did. “If you’re going to double down on being an idiot, the AIF needs my brilliance to balance it out. I’ll take the #2 spot where I can watch your back. …That’s what I mean, Hazel Mirildorf. So…” He smiled bitterly. “So make sure you bring me that serum. I won’t get much business otherwise.” With that, Dog Berger continued walking. While laughing. Hazel realized something while listening to the crunching of the snow below his feet and his laughter that carried well for a male voice. … This is the first time I’ve seen him really laugh. She could see it in his Lives as well. This was genuine. “––––!” She smiled and began walking too. She hurried to catch up to him and pass him. Hoping to make him #2. Hoping to one day move past him. Hoping to move ahead of him. ### 1942 – 1943 In June of ’42, Heiliger, the new second in command of the Geheimnis Agency, spent a month shoring up his influence in the government and military and deployed selected Geheimnis Agents inside and outside the country as wartime special forces. He also managed to bring the Borderson knights under the Geheimnis Agency’s control. With the agency a mixture of the old and the new, Lowenzahn stepped to the forefront and took command. She set capturing the Messiah as their top priority while also moving their headquarters to the second Gard-class warship being constructed near Germania. The massive warship no longer had a pilot, so on the wishes of the Geheimnis Agency’s Development Division, they began modifying its Babel Kanone into a colossal ley line pressurization reactor word weapon. However, it was also modified as a part of Tristan, a word pressurization reactor standing over a mile tall. In June of ’43, construction of the massive fortress was complete. It functioned as the Geheimnis Agency’s new headquarters and as an extra source of pressurization to support the Vaterlands built around the world. With that, Germania became the foundation of defense and support for the Germany military and it finally began to function as the Panzerpolis. ## Closing Statements While the nature of the war changed several times, the Allies researched a ley line countercurrent anti-pressurization facility that could be used against Tristan. Research was based on used the Vaterland information acquired by the AIF when destroying the first Gard-class ship in ’39. Experiments began at the start of ’43. The idea was to use a machine to oppose the support provided by a machine. But even as machines began to rule the battlefield, the people were growing irritated with the never-ending war. Their nightmares continued and anxiety’s grip on the world was tightening. The war was reaching a new stage on a global level. Who could prevent this mistake: people or machines? That answer can be seen in everything that began with the Greater Germanic Reich declaration in ’38 and ended with the failure of the Panzerpolis Project in ’43. 5/31/2001. On the morning a certain girl began to walk. -Michael Schrier ### 616. Afterword How am I already on the fourth book? I’ve been feeling really good lately and that has a tendency of making my afterwords vulgar, but I’m a lot calmer today. Perfectly composed. Nothing to worry about. Probably. Surely. Only a little at the most. Hopefully. If we’re lucky. (Last year, I decided I would write normal afterwords after turning 25, but so much for that.) Now that I’ve started a longer series, the feedback from readers has been a lot different and I’ve learned a lot from it. Maybe it’s because you’re seeing the characters for a longer time, but there’s more people telling me what they want to happen instead of just saying how they liked the book. And the most common request, summed up into a single sentence, is “make Hazel an adult already”. Hmm…so are you asking me to give her a coming-of-age ceremony or have her go bungee jumping? …Damn, I’ll have you all know I have a way dirtier mind than any of you. (But how I am I supposed to prove it?) Anyway, Hazel and Berger have come so far. It looks like I’ll actually be able to use the entire plot I initially outlined. It really is thanks to all of your support that I was able to bring this to four books so far. Thank you so much. The story has almost reached the conclusion, but the bombing of Hamburg shown in this one and the bombing of Berlin on August 23 really did happen. Japan joined the war in December of ’41, so that means the Allies had already arrived at Berlin only a year and a half later. A lot of help Japan was, huh? Now it’s time for another friend email. Except I’m short on time, so it’s a chat instead. “Hi, we’re at #4. Rejoice.” “Wait. #4?” “What? If you don’t explain yourself in two lines or less, you will regret it.” “Don’t be dumb. We only just finished the fourth afterword email thing the other day, so why are we doing it again? And why in a chat?” “The last one was censored.” “Why? Too dirty? Did we really say anything that bad?” “No, it wasn’t that. They kindly worded it as ‘this one lacks the usual punch’. I feel like they’ve forgotten this is supposed to be an afterword, but the point is the publisher has given us a blank check to go nuts on this one. Yodelayheehoo!” “What’s this yodelayheehoo stuff, idiot? But fine. If you insist. …So I saw this black-haired girl the other day, okay?” “Black hair? That must mean she was Ultra Mobile Ground Combat Magical Girl Gonzales who was Atlantis Hero #2 in a past life. She can remove her glossy black mohawk and throw it as a boomerang. So what about her? Her transformation sequence has some real oomph to it, if you ask me.” “Why do I even try talking to you?” “Wow, not the reaction I wanted. Are you one of those levelheaded modern men?” “Fine, if you need a topic, here’s a multiple choice quiz on what will happen to Hazel next time: 1. Hazel is already an adult. “Uh, oh! Looks like we’re out of space! That’s the end of this section! Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye! Yay!” “D-dammit, man! What kind of ending is that!?” None of that deserved a real ending. Anyway, here’s what I’ve been working on lately. Zenon City Tokyo is publishing in the February, June, and October issues of the bimonthly MediaWorks novel magazine Dengeki hp and Image City SF is publishing in the April, August, and December issues. These are illustration focused and less serious cities, so check it out if you have some time. That’s about all I’ve been doing lately. My background music this time was Dvorak’s From the New World. I listened to that while wondering: “Who will end up lying the most?” Now, then. Next up is the final Berlin novel. Let’s get this done. February 2001. Another snowy morning. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu Page Now her chest has grown some. That’s why I had her naked on the cover. Hazel has a lot of nude scenes…right!? Right… -Satoyasu ### 617. Chapter 1: The Ruin Activates 7/24/1943 04:01 – 04:15 Reunions are a cause for joy But Not always ### AIF Personnel Hazel Mirildorf (AIF Soldier) An AIF Tuner. Was implanted with the High Organ eye Messiah. A Werecat living in LA. Our protagonist. Dog Berger (AIF Soldier?) M. Schrier’s underclassman and a Knight Striker. Used to help people escape Germany, but joined the AIF in ’42. Wields the High Organ sword Gelegenheit. Corelle Sevan (AIF Air Force Transport Division) Boss of the AIF Air Force Transport Division. A fortuneteller who uses the 47 Telling Cards. Pale Horse (AIF Combat Division Leader) Hard Wolf general who made a name for himself in the previous war. Has a connection to Heiliger. M. Schrier (AIF General Commander) The young leader. Was deeply involved in the Berlin Conflict and took command of the AIF after leaving Germany. Former subordinate of Oscar’s and upperclassman of Berger’s in their college days. Was also Hazel’s tutor. Lehrer (AIF Spy) A female spy in Borderson, Germany. Oscar Mirildorf (Civilian) M. Schrier’s commander who currently lives in LA. Former German Air Force Major General. Hazel’s father. A hard puncher. ### 618. Chapter 2: The Ruin Begins 7/24/1943 05:06 – 15:10 Time knows everything Both what I remember And what I don’t ### Geheimnis Agency Personnel Lowenzahn Naylor (Geheimnis Agency Commander) Sofort Leser and Geheimnis Agency Commander. Mother is Frobel. Father is Lowenheit. Heiliger Karlsruhe (Geheimnis Agency Lieutenant Commander) Transferred from the military in ’42, becoming the commander-in-chief. Lost his brother Graham and Sister Rose at Cologne in ’42. Hellard Schweitzer (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Captain) Wielder of Eingeweide arm Der Held. Went to high school with Berger. Father is Bertecht. Bermark Vier (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division) Automaton and wielder of Eingeweide handgun Freischütz. Schweitzer’s lieutenant. Alfred Maldrick (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Lieutenant) Pilot of Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Neue Kaiser and wielder of Werkzeug Rein König. Went to high school with Berger and cut down Eryngium 8 years ago. Bermark Nein (Geheimnis Agency Army Division) Alfred’s subordinate and a Sein Frau. Vier’s older brother. Joined with two Grösse Panzers. Karl Schmitt (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Chief) Joined with a large Grösse Panzer and uses a double Drache Kanone as his primary weapon. Wife is Army Division Deputy Chief Jeanne. Herbert Müller (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief) A plump elderly man. Adopted Lowenzahn on Graham’s orders. Lillie Telmetz (Geheimnis Agency Navy Division Chief) Uses the Eingweide harp Mondnacht. Friends with Jeanne and helped Graham in the past. Konrad Elrich (Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief) An old scientist with a passion for research. Superior of Marsch Gant who developed Eingeweide devices. Galue Witzmann (Geheimnis Agency Intelligence Division Chief) A kind-looking old gentleman. But will do anything to acquire intelligence. ### 619. Chapter 3: The Ruin Runs 7/24/1943 15:42 – 17:18 The past was presented to me And I was told to obey it But I… No We… ### ACBS An automatic ramming weapon originally designed by the German military. The Germans called it an auto-ramming ship, but the Allies call it an automatic control bombing ship (ACBS). A few variations based on the MO were produced during World War Two, but there are no records of them ever being used. The Allies liked how the auto-ramming ship could automatically fly to its destination and eliminate any enemy crafts with its high speed and auto-interception system, but they decided to load wide-range bombs in their ACBS. That way they could efficiently destroy an entire city in a single attack instead of relying on a thousand bombers. By ’43, the Germans had developed their small V1 auto-ramming ship, but the Allies used the information on the V0 they received through Poland to complete development of their larger ACBS and MO at about the same time. After the war, ACBS development would shift to development of supersonic weapons such as an intercontinental ballistic variety, which changed how wars were fought. ### 620. Chapter 4: The Ruin Accelerates 7/24/1943 18:03 – 18:57 Oh, god. I’m just so flustered! But, but Um I have to do something! ### Vaterland Top label: Connection between the Vaterlands (including Tristan) and the Ley Lines Left label: Ley Lines Middle label: Vaterlands Right label: Tristan Black arrow from Vaterlands to Ley Lines: Activates the Land / Adds German Lives / Provides Aerial Words Ability White arrow from Ley Lines to Vaterlands: Phlogiston Extraction Black arrow from Tristan to Vaterlands: Boosts Output / Pressurization Assistance The Vaterlands are ley line acceleration reactors developed by the Geheimnis Agency. They activate the land around them by extracting and activating the ley lines which act as arteries for Lives. The pure ether extracted from the ley lines is also converted into Phlogiston fuel. They were originally designed to draw out the possibilities of a land and guide the people carrying that land’s Lives, but these nationalistic ones were further designed to activate the land, provide good fortune, and extract Phlogiston. The Vaterlands that Germany constructed in its allied countries and occupied territories during the war initially only provided their standard benefits, but they were later combined into a massive network using the ley lines and that was used to release German Lives from Berlin into the ley lines across the world. That made it possible for the German military to use Aerial Words on any battlefield controlled by a Vaterland. In ’43, that structure was discovered by the Allies and around a dozen Vaterlands fell into Allied hands when German occupied territories were retaken. ### 621. Chapter 6: The Ruin Leaps 7/24/1943 20:18 – 22:46 U-um Sorry Please don’t hurt me too much Just because this used to be your body ### The Messiah and the Knights When the Messiah unified Germany, she gathered skilled fighters and diplomats from across Germany to form a combat unit. Their primary strength came from the regional lords and mercenary warriors. Germany did not have a king at the time, so there was no basis for a system of knights and they became knights of the Messiah instead. The Messiah and the knights first met when she descended to Alfheim with the one-armed young man and the dragon and defeated a lesser dragon along with some warriors who happened to be in the area. At the time, attacks by dragons and other monsters produced by Live disturbances, various types of Live diseases, and rampant anxiety had forced the regional lords to fight back against the symptoms in their territories. The knights felt the need to fight as a group but could not do so until someone arrived who would cross the regional boundaries and lead them all, so they readily named themselves the Messiah’s knights once she arrived. ### 622. Chapter 7: The Ruin Soars 7/24/1943 22:50 – 23:12 The future is supposed to be waiting for us But we know that To be a lie We also know how to break through that lie ### The Allied Bombing Unit The Allied bombing of the German mainland was started on a small scale by the RAF in ’41. They did not see real success until the 1000-bomber night bombing of Cologne in ’42. With the value of quantity proven, America sent their Eighth Air Force to the UK at the end of February of ’42, but they failed to show results due to lack of preparation and an insistence on daytime bombings. This problem continued until they sent in a lot more B-17s, strengthened the B-17s, researched close formations, and included escort craft. The UK and US militaries began joint day-and-night bombings on June 10, 1943, and they bombed Hamburg in July over the course of a week with the US handling the daytime and the UK handling the nights. The bombing of Berlin in August of ’43 was entirely at night, so the US was reduced to backup and the RAF handled the actual bombing. Later, starting in ’44, the US’s Eighth Air Force reorganized and took a more central role. Near the end of the war, they sent in an average of 1400 bombers and dropped more than 3000 tons of bombs on each bombing. ### 623. Chapter 8: The Ruin Rises 7/25/1943 02:03 – 05:51 Whether I can see anything Or not I know there is something That I must do ### Current Movements in Europe Map bottom left box: Map of Europe Top left dot: London Top middle dot: Germania Top right dot: Stalingrad Center dot: Paris Bottom dot: Sicily Arrow from London to Germania: Allied Bombing Route ’43 marked the end of World War Two’s middle phase. In February ’43 on the Eastern European front, the Soviets earned a victory in German-occupied Stalingrad, giving them a foothold for retaking Kiev and Leningrad as well. In May ’43 on the North African front, the Germans surrendered after a long battle in El Alamein. This restricted Germany from the east, letting the Allies shift their focus to Western Europe. Occupied France was the primary issue in Western Europe, but the government in exile and the Resistance worked for two years to assist the Allied landing in ‘44’s Operation Overlord. In July ’43, the Allies landed in Sicily and Mussolini fell from power in the German ally of Italy. They surrendered in September, but the stationed German troops fiercely resisted and progress was slow. At the time, the Allies had pushed back Germany’s outward expansion, but they had trouble with the German resistance on the European mainland. They were in fact fighting while searching for an opportunity to strike back against all of Europe. ### 624. Part 1 The northern stars were scattered through the sky. Below, a shadowy forest covered the ground. Pale scarlet lights sat on the border between heaven and earth. Those were city lights. A massive structure stretched skywards past those lights. It was a cross. A giant cross that seemed to pierce the sky. It stood in the darkness found past the scarlet lights, but the white umbrella of clouds surrounding the top of the cross was visible even in that darkness. Those clouds were suddenly blown away by a whirlwind whipped up by something within. It came with a sound. A high-pitched metallic sound rang from the cross and spread in every direction. That sound reached the forest, where it was answered by the stirring of the birds. That stirring was followed by a change in the sky near the cross. An umbrella of faint scarlet light appeared there. The hemisphere sat at the top of the cross like an upside-down bowl and it grew from there. After only a moment, the umbrella had grown into a dome large enough to cover the sky. The cross and the city lights in front of it were both contained below the umbrella. The noise from the cross stopped, but a noise came from the umbrella instead. The blowing wind crashed into the umbrella, producing a loud noise. The umbrella did not even budge and the low, quiet, muffled noise continued without end. The deep noise resembled a groan of agony as it filled the surrounding forest. The shadowy trees accepted that noise. But there was one part of the forest that ignored the noise and the shadows. Scarlet lights ensured the trees cast no shadows on that part of the forest. It was a long, straight clearing that contained several railroad tracks. The trains traveling those tracks were always producing rhythmic metallic sounds. A train whistle sounded as a train arrived on the leftmost track. The forest shadows were eliminated by the train’s light. Its light and noise were directed toward the lights of the city. The train racing through the forest was a large plain steam engine freight train. The very front was equipped with somewhat sharpened black steel and it was pulling 15 cars loaded with freight containers. The conductor’s compartment was empty and the wreckage of armored trucks was caught around the bottom of the train. That was the result of breaking through an inspection point. The conductorless train’s power continued to increase, adding on more speed. Meanwhile, someone was climbing onto the roof of the very last car. After moving from the metal ladder on the side to the roof itself, the city lights illuminated her. The woman stood up and faced the city. She was skinny and colored red, black, and gold. Her coat and skirt fluttering in the wind were the red and black. Her long hair dancing in the wind was the gold. She added a new color to the mix with the scarlet lights and black sky behind her. That was the gray of the sword Device she had drawn in her right hand. She walked forward with the sword hanging at her side and she viewed the city. She brushed back her golden hair and directed her eyes dead ahead. The left eye was a brown feline one and the right one was a blue human one. She narrowed her eyes to sharpen her gaze and observe the city more carefully. “I managed to steal this Germania-bound train after I was found in Potsdam, but I had to leave my luggage behind in the station locker.” The locker’s small key was attached to the choker she wore around her neck. She stared forward. As the train drew closer, she started to get a better view of the city sitting below the glowing umbrella. The shape of the city came into view at the end of the straight-line railroad. As did the giant cross standing beyond the city. She looked up at that umbrella opened in the sky. “The Panzerpolis Project turned Berlin into Germania to fight the ruin said to be arriving in August.” She lowered her gaze and viewed the cross through the racing wind. “That cross is the new Geheimnis Agency HQ and the generator for that dome. It is called Tristan and it is actually a massive word accelerator that provides remote pressurization for the Vaterlands built in their allied countries.” Her gaze continued to lower until it pierced the city at the cross’s feet. The dark city’s shape could be made out from the position of the slowly approaching scarlet lights, but that shape was unusual. There were areas where the shadows cast by the buildings were nowhere to be found. She shut her eyes when she noticed those empty areas. “My school and our home don’t exist anymore, do they?” Her words were swept away by the wind and answered by a noise behind her. It was a whistle. “Pursuit!?” She turned back and her feline eye spotted a light. A train’s light. A train was racing toward her along the exact same track. It was a military armored train painted black. It was fast. “It’s catching up!” ### 625. Part 1 The sun shined down through a dry easterly wind. With the blue sky above and the red ground below, the wind arrived at some white and gray structures. The gray was a long runway and the white were the several buildings at the end. The wind swept across the white letters spelling out “USIF Arizona – Area 001” on the runway. The wind crashed into a building, making its white wall creak before blowing in through the windows. There were no lights on within the large space inside. The wooden building was the mess hall for the AIF’s US branch. There weren’t many people inside. But the wind passed ticklishly between the few people who were there and then gently settled down. At the same time, the clock on the north counter began to ring on the hour. It rang four times. The loud ringing was joined by the rustling of dry clothing. The ten or so people in the mess hall were all wearing gray military uniforms and they were now headed toward the counter. Toward the table placed below the clock on the counter. Their eyes all gathered on the table for a brief moment. The table was big enough for eight, but only two people sat at it. They sat on opposite sides, facing each other. One was a large elderly man. He had short, gray hair and two prosthetic arms. The other was a well-built middle-aged woman. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore a green flight jacket. Several cards were lined up in front of the woman. She spoke while viewing the face up cards. “Two weeks have passed since Hazel accepted that request from the Allies. Do you think she arrived in Germania today? To give Berger his orders from the Allies.” The man nodded once and then raised his right arm to place it on the table. The table creaked below the large metal prosthetic. But he ignored that as he extended a metal finger to tap one of the lined-up cards. It depicted a group of people in black with another person standing above them holding seven reddish-black stars. “Corelle, what’s this card?” “I know you know that already, Pale. It’s Noisy Card #5, the Disavatar. Those are the people above Hazel.” Pale pulled his arm back, frowned, and crossed his arms. Corelle hit him with more words. “I get that the Allies want Berger’s help as a guide for their bombing of Hamburg on the 24th. After the success of Cologne, why wouldn’t they? But doesn’t it seem odd for the Allied European HQ to personally name Hazel as the one to send that dumbass his orders?” “…” Pale said nothing and Corelle stared at him with puzzlement in her eyes. He kept his frown as he looked back at her with his one eye. She shrugged. “There’s something else I’ve found odd. Pale, ever since you returned from Borderson last year, you’ve been awfully interested in that girl.” “What’s wrong with that?” “When you’re in your fifties, it makes you look like a pedophile.” “Sounds like you want to die.” “I’m only kidding. You’re supposed to laugh at women’s jokes even when they aren’t any good. It’s called being polite.” Corelle gathered up the cards on the table. “But back to Hazel and her current mission. Ever since Borderson last year, I get the feeling you and M. Schrier have been hiding something about her.” “Me? What would I be hiding about the AIF’s best Tuner?” His response was answered by a solid clack as Corelle tapped the deck of cards against the table to straighten them out. The pleasant but neurotic sound repeated itself a few times as she asked a question. “I know the Geheimnis Agency is doing everything they can to get their hands on Hazel. But she isn’t stupid. Even if they do abduct her, she’s already made up her mind about what to fight against and what to follow in this war. She’s not a little kitten who will do whatever someone tells her to do.” “But it would invigorate them if they acquired their Messiah.” “So you want to eliminate that possibility? What a lame excuse.” Corelle’s expression changed from confusion to a smile. She took a quick glance around at the soldiers looking their way. “Everyone here has had their life saved or been rescued from a tight spot by Hazel’s Tuning on more than one mission. She’s done a bang-up job ever since she survived Cologne last year.” The smile left her face. “Why don’t you trust the woman who has done so much for the AIF, Pale? Do you have reason to think Hazel of all people would betray her beliefs and oppose us if the Geheimnis Agency got her?” Pale said nothing, but that didn’t stop Corelle. “I hear you and M. Schrier negotiated with the Allies to keep Hazel away from Germania, but the Allies hinted they would refuse to let us join any future operations if we didn’t send her. Why was the bet raised so high over just one Tuner?” “Don’t believe all the silly rumors you hear.” “Hazel is too easygoing for her own good, so it’s up to the older generation to worry for her. …She was ecstatic that she could bring Berger the serum for those Live bullets. She legitimately thinks she will simply hand that off to Berger and then be rescued by an Allied aircraft on the Swiss border.” “…” “I hear the Allies have already contacted Berger once and they chose a hideout in Germania for their rendezvous point. He’s expecting ‘a contact’ to arrive with his orders the day after he arrives at the hideout.” Corelle paused there. She looked away from Pale and at her left hand holding the cards. “Why were the Allies so insistent on Hazel doing this? Why were you and M. Schrier so insistent on hiding her? Is this about the bombing of Hamburg? Is it to keep her out of the Geheimnis Agency’s clutches? Or-” “I can tell you one thing.” Pale cut her off. “M. Schrier and I are not in league with the Allies here.” “In that case,” said Corelle, pulling a card from the deck. She flipped it upside down and slammed it onto the table in front of her. “M. Schrier told me something this morning. Operation Gomorrah, the upcoming bombing of Hamburg, is an experiment for the bombing of Germania planned for August. The data acquired there will be used for the ACBS being developed by the Allies and for the new bomb being developed at Detroit.” She viewed the card in front of her. “With every tick of the clock, we approach the moment in August when the world’s History Lives end. He said if I have the will to fight the destiny I’ve seen in the cards, I need to join the Allied 8th Aerial Fleet as a support craft during Operation Gomorrah.” “The will to fight?” echoed Pale. Several other sounds filled the mess hall then. The sounds of chairs moving and of people standing, walking, and running. Among it all, Corelle placed the card on her hand. She flipped it over. A ring of people had formed around them and they groaned when they saw it. It depicted a naked man and woman sleeping back to back on a waveless beach. “Noisy Card #13, Laziness. It indicates stagnation and decline.” “Are you saying that’s our fate?” asked Pale. He was answered by some sighs in the surrounding people, but Corelle smiled a little. “Don’t be silly, Pale. I’m the only one who flipped it over just now. This is my destiny – our destiny. But…listen, Pale. If you can turn us into a proper team, then we can change this destiny. Add your own destiny on top of this, and you can change it.” She took a breath. “Pale, tell us about this secret of yours. I want to see our destiny when it includes you.” Pale viewed the card in front of him and Corelle continued speaking. “If you do that, then we can create something else. Are you interested in changing our destiny?” Without answering, Pale suddenly flipped the card upside down again. He gave an uninterested snort, but he did flip it face up again. The image hadn’t changed. The surrounding ring of people gasped. But… “I knew I could count on you,” said Corelle. The card’s image slowly changed before her eyes. The change started at the bottom. First, the ocean vanished and a lion was drawn in its place. A hand was holding down the lion’s head. The hand belonged to a young woman and she was holding a sword in her other hand. “Harmonic Card #5, Strength. The lion and the dragon are both symbols of the Geheimnis Agency.” With that, Corelle stood up. Pale did the same. An uncertain stir ran through the ring of people. Corelle turned toward them and raised her voice. “What are you loafing around for!? It’s time to go meet the bearer of the Wheel of Destiny!” ### 626. Part 1 Light crept into the sky as dawn approached. That sky hung over a forest enshrouded in shadow. The hills and mountains were all covered with green trees. The only areas of ground devoid of trees were near the several rivers running through the lower part of the forest. There was a single point in the forest where those rivers gathered together. The dirt ground was exposed over a wide region there. There was a large hole in the middle of that land. The bowl-shaped hole was filled with the water flowing in from the rivers. With a diameter of a mile and a half, it qualified as a large lake. Something like a tower jutted up from the center of the lake. The morning light revealed the tower to be a giant barrel. The barrel rose from what looked like a metal island. The barrel was jet black, as was the large metal island. Both were terribly cracked and split, revealing a metal frame that resembled ribs. The morning sun appeared over the horizon. Its light illuminated the tower and island from behind. The tower’s shadow stretched westward across the water, climbed the slope that formed the edge of the hole, and reached the land beyond. A slender woman stood at the far end of the shadow. Her long frayed brown hair blew in the wind. She wore a Geheimnis Agency Navy Division coat, but she wore a blue dress below that. Her left shoulder supported a harp that curved forward from there. The harp was a yard long, but it did not overbalance her. She was motionless. The shallow wrinkles of her face were not smiling. The breaths leaving her mouth were made white by the early morning chill. Her breaths formed a beat. She let out a longer white breath to mark a change. After a second, third, and fourth beat, the change revealed itself. Her breathing grew subtly quicker and subtly stronger. The individual breaths joined together to form their beat and her eyes suddenly moved. She looked up into the sky. The colors of night still lingered there. The morning wind blew the thin clouds from east to west, fluffing them up thicker and whiter. A white circle floated up in the center of the morning sky. That was the morning moon. The moon left behind traces of the early morning light as it looked down on the woman. Sound left the harp resting on her left shoulder. It produced sound without her needing to strum it. A single loud, clear tone dyed the morning air. The note raced out and the surface of the lake rippled. Another note rang out. Then another. And another. More and more notes played, but they were all the same note. This did not qualify as music. Altogether… “Ober Text: 6.4 million Tons!” shouted the woman. She looked down at the many ripples running along the surface of the water, crashing into each other, and creating more waves. The size and intensity of the ripples was changed by the notes being played. She watched that motion and opened her mouth to say more. The waves grew. The waves grew even more. The waves swelled up like a tower. Eight waves sucked up the water from the large hole to grow tall. The weight towers of water trapped air within them and curved up into the sky while maintaining a thickness of around a dozen yards. They reached a height of more than 300 yards with water audibly spraying from them. And they roared. The high-pitched cry of a wild animal erupted from the ends of the eight water currents. Animal faces had formed there. They opened mouths like protruding beaks, bared watery fangs, and grew two long horns behind their heads. These were dragons. The eight dragons danced wildly. Just as it looked like the dragons were twisting around, they crashed into the edge of the large hole one after another. They crashed into the mouth of a river flowing into the hole. The dragons destroyed and broke the land there to fill in the river mouth. With the sound of breaking rock, the water pressure attacks tore apart the ground and carried rock. Roars rang out with an eight-beat tempo. They whipped up the wind, sent spray into the air, and shook the forest sky with the sounds of impact, scaring the morning forest birds into flight. The birds’ chirping protests were drowned out by bestial roars. One corner of the forest morning was ruled by those animalistic movements. A great boulder shattered. The large pieces rolled into the hole and fully blocked up the mouth connecting the river to the hole. The dragons stopped there. With those words and a note from the harp, the dragons twisted toward the woman. All eight raised their heads and looked down at her. She looked each of the eight in the eye and without warning… “…” She silently held a hand out toward them. The wind moved in response. So did the dragons. The rightmost of the eight blew out the air bubbles inside it and moved its snout toward the offered hand. The dragon’s breath smelled like cold water. Its beak-like mouth opened and revealed a forked tongue as big around as an arm. The tongue moved like it had a mind of its own and licked the woman’s hand. The tongue passed above her hand, producing some spray, and a small fish landed in her hand. The woman looked surprised. “Oh, dear. You need to take this one with you.” The dragon nodded, stuck out its tongue, scooped up the fish, and brought the fish into its watery body. Then the dragons whipped up the wind while turning toward the river. They flew in arcs that crossed the border of the hole, diving into the river. They produced the roar of eight waterfalls and a mist flew into the air. But that only lasted a moment. By the time the waterfall roar was gone, so were the dragons. All that remained was the mist they had produced. “…” The woman sighed. She heard a flapping sound behind her like someone was rapidly flipping through a book. She gasped and looked back. There was movement in the forest. Some bushes were rustling. ### 627. Part 1 Hamburg Base’s rooftop terrace was already dyed orange by the setting sun. The 15yd terrace was located 7 floors up. Other than the central stairway, it only featured railings on the four sides. Currently, two people stood in the sunlight there: Lowenzahn and Hazel. Lowenzahn was leaning against the eastern railing. But instead of taking in the breathtaking view outside, she was looking back toward Hazel who stood at the stairway entrance. The scarlet sunlight shined directly on Lowenzahn as she beckoned Hazel over. Hazel left the stairway and stepped out onto the terrace. It bothered her how a light westerly breeze caught the hem of her surgical gown. Then her slippers caught on a slight dip in the floor. “?” Her long blonde hair swished through the orange sunlight as she looked down at her feet. The small dip casting a short shadow there was not a brick or a stone. It was a pattern. “…?” Her gaze ran along the rest of the floor. … A yard-long relief? She stood on a scene of a woman battling a water dragon in a cave’s underground lake. Her slipper had caught on a dip in the curve of the dragon’s back. She shifted her gaze to the right. A one-armed young man, a girl, and several knights walked through a wheat field below the cloudy sky. She shifted her gaze up. The Messiah girl, the one-armed young man, and two knights fought a dragon atop an open field just outside of a forest. “The Unreif Germane.” “This isn’t easy to maintain. It was originally in the main entrance, but we had it moved here when the place was remodeled.” “I can imagine,” thought Hazel, approaching Lowenzahn. She watched her step this time and stopped about two yards from Lowenzahn. She could see all of Hamburg Base past the railing Lowenzahn leaned against. Around eight white buildings formed two rows. Running between those rows were a row of storehouses and a road large enough for transport vehicles to drive along side by side. She also saw the occasional entrance to an underground space. The most notable feature was the 20yd-wide waterway flowing through the center of the base. According to Heiliger, the base was primarily used by the development division and most of the buildings lined up on the east and west were research facilities, so all of the usual military facilities and hangars were located underground. The main gate and a small runway were located past the waterway. The runway bordered the forest, which was the one side of the base without a wall. The base opened up onto a dark green expanse instead. She also saw something familiar on the large road in front of the waterway. The two Grösse Panzers there were colored blue and red. They stood in front of something like a giant green mountain located next to a large storehouse and they each held a weapon. The blue one a rifle and the red one a shield. … Those are the ones I always see with the Kaiser. Lowenzahn followed Hazel’s gaze, turning toward them. The blue and red Grösse Panzers were sinking into the ground. An elevator was carrying them to the underground hangar. “Skilled Neue Kavaliers from all over Germany are gathering here,” said Lowenzahn without turning back around. “Those impatient knights want an audience with you even before you arrive in Germania a few days from now.” She finished speaking just as the elevator resurfaced empty. Then Hazel noticed sudden movement from the mountain-like thing located next to the elevator. The green mountain was nearly as tall as a four-story building, making it taller than the large storeroom next to it. “Is that a Grösse Panzer!?” She realized it was in fact a giant armored warrior carrying two towers. It stood more than 20 yards tall and Lowenzahn explained what it was. “That is Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. He lost his body during the previous world war and chose to permanently join with his Grösse Panzer as part of the Eisen Ritter Project.” The enormous Grösse Panzer sank belowground just like the previous two had. Lowenzahn stepped in front of Hazel as if to hide that from view. “Now, I know this is sudden, but where should I even begin with this?” She crossed her arms and peered at Hazel’s face from below. “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to force the job of Messiah onto you. You no longer have the right to refuse. You don’t have the right to choose whether you will save the world or let it be destroyed. Got that?” Hazel nearly nodded, but stopped herself. Something about Lowenzahn’s statement bothered her. … I don’t have the right? That meant she didn’t have the ability. She thought about what ability meant in this case. … When I said goodbye to the Sylphide, I hoped to decide how I would use this Messiah eye. “Um, wh-what do you mean?” Lowenzahn raised both hands and silenced Hazel with an exaggerated gesture. “I will explain that along with the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project. You see…” She took a breath. “You lost the ability to save the world last year – on that night at Cologne.” ### 628. Part 1 The concrete hangar was tall, wide, and windowless. It was located below Hamburg Base. The enclosed space echoed with the rumble of transport vehicles, the sparks of welding, and the scraping of automatic files. The underground Grösse Panzer hangar had columns connecting floor to ceiling and a lot of equipment lifts on the walls. One of the suspended platforms on the north wall was very noisy. Hanging from that raised platform was a white Grösse Panzer – the Neue Kaiser – and ten or so maintenance soldiers were working on it. The wings had been removed from its back for maintenance. The maintenance soldiers were in constant motion around Neue Kaiser, but someone else stood motionless nearby. That person was Alfred. He wore a blue jumpsuit and stood next to the Grösse Panzer Werkzeug hanging from a hanger next to the suspended platform. He viewed the white sword with a blade nearly 4 yards long. “Good,” he muttered before viewing his surroundings. A polisher the size of a thick dictionary was attached to the bottom of the hanger. He picked up the stone and metal device in one hand and pressed the curved polishing surface against the blade. He walked and pushed on the device to polish the blade. Sparks flew. “It was more damaged than I thought.” Then he walked backwards and pulled on the device to continue polishing. Suddenly, he looked to the platform where the workers were holding a meeting on Neue Kaiser’s back. They were discussing how to adjust for a part of the plans they didn’t understand. Alfred did not interrupt and continued polishing the sword. Neue Kaiser’s secondary cockpit was still open. Viewed from below, he could see a white line in the secondary cockpit’s ceiling. That was Rein König. He looked back to the larger sword he was polishing and raised the scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords. “That Rein König is the same one the one-armed young man took from the Messiah and lent to the emperor. And then the emperor gave it to my ancestor…in response to a selfish request.” He looked to the sword he was polishing. “But you are only designed to look like that one.” Sparks flew from the polisher. “But that does not make you second best. Because I reforged you with my Busting four years ago after you were sliced through.” He continued polishing through the sparks. The polisher caught a few times, but he pushed and pulled it through every time. Hearing a voice calling him from the suspended platform, he looked up to see a soldier trying to work inside the secondary cockpit was pointing at Rein König. “Lieutenant! I’m sorry, but could you please remove this? I am trying to work on the ceiling portion.” “Remove it yourself and bring it to me.” “B-but I can’t do that!” “What, you aren’t interested in making light of a millennium of history? Just toss it my way if you want.” Alfred set down the polisher and walked over. He grabbed the thruster sticking out from Neue Kaiser’s leg armor and made a light leap that carried him all the way up to the secondary cockpit entrance. Once inside, he reached over the flustered soldier’s head and removed Rein König. He answered the soldier’s thanks with a nod and then hopped down. After landing, he raised Rein König toward the soldier looking down from the bottom of the secondary cockpit. “Take good care of it.” With that, he walked back toward the larger sword. But he was interrupted by a voice from a speaker. “Is Neue Kaiser doing well, Lieutenant Maldrick?” The voice shook the underground space as a large form approached. The giant green Grösse Panzer was in fact Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. He kept his knee joints bent and used the plastic continuous tracks on his legs to slowly turn and walk. Even ducking down, his head nearly hit the ceiling, so he felt like an entire building moving around. The green giant stopped in front of Alfred. “On your way up top, Chief?” asked Alfred. “An entire underground hangar was cleared out for my personal use, so I am moving there. Where is your partner?” “Our commander showed up earlier and took him away. She wants to set up an audience with the Messiah tonight and said she has a lot to tell her now.” “The audience, huh? It’s at midnight like usual, isn’t it?” “Is the Deputy Chief working on that too?” “Yes, she said she was getting dressed up in preparation for the audience. What about you?” Alfred shook his head. “I’m sitting this one out.” “Because Sir Heiliger is there? I hear you protested after capturing the Messiah last night.” Karl paused for a sigh that his machine body could not perform. “Try not to be so stubborn. We have more personnel and more problems than when Sir Graham was in charge, but most everyone has a high opinion of Sir Heiliger’s work here.” “Only cause he’s kind to his men and has kept mission losses down to record lows.” “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” Alfred took a look around. None of the workers paid him any heed. The hangar was full of motion. He hung his head a little but raised it almost immediately afterwards. “He sees us like a family. I bet we’re filling the hole left by the wife and child he threw out. But we’re soldiers.” Before continuing, Alfred held Rein König aloft. “We still haven’t answered the questions Sir Graham left us with. We don’t need some great Messiah and we don’t need kindness or record low losses.” He lowered his voice. “And we don’t need to do harm while trying to protect something either. We need something else.” He lowered Rein König and let it hang at his side. Instead, he clenched his left hand. The hand with a red ring on the middle finger. “At this rate, we’re just going to see a second Cologne.” “We do have intel of another major bombing in the works. Bombers are gathering at an airfield on the UK’s eastern coast. Their rumored target is either Hamburg or Berlin.” Alfred looked up when he heard that. The green Grösse Panzer was looking down at him. “It is possible you will end up proving the thing you can’t bring yourself to put to words here,” said its vocal device. “Proving it to us, I mean.” ### 629. Part 1 Hazel ran through the night as the sirens blared. She ran westward, using a path behind the row of storehouses on the base. It was a narrow path and the sky glimpsed between the tall storehouses was colored the red of warning lights. The main road ran along the other side of the storehouses on her left and she heard vehicles roaring up and down it. … The search has begun in earnest. She had thrown off her slippers, so she only wore her surgical gown, coat, and choker. Her hair was a mess as she pumped her arms and moved her legs to run. “I never think anything through, do I!?” … But they said a Heavy Barrel is flying here. She needed to get somewhere she would be easily noticed and thus easily rescued. Her plan was to head east near the main gate where a small runway bordered the forest. She would be visible from the sky there and she could always turn into a cat and escape into the forest if necessary. … That’s the one exit from this walled base! She remembered the terrain from her time up on the terrace. After running between three storehouses, she would arrive at a waterway. If she moved from there to the main road, crossed the bridge, and continued another half a mile, she would reach the main gate. She ran and hurried. She wiped the sweat from her brow with her coat’s sleeve and faced forward. The path was narrow. She was done for if they had an ambush set up, but this was far safer than using the main road. The storehouses on either side of her contained maintenance equipment. Even at night, the ground was stained noticeably dark with oil and large tires were stacked up on either side of the path. The tire piles grew and the available width of the path shrank. Her pounding footsteps rang in her ears and her nose only detected the scent of rubber and machine oil. All sorts of vehicle parts and metal materials were bundled together and placed between the tires or leaned against the storehouse walls. She checked to see if there were any Devices among them as she ran, but as expected found nothing. She breathed a disappointed sigh and kept running with the sirens ringing in her bones. Her breathing was heavy but she wasn’t out of breath. … My training has paid off. She smiled bitterly at that. Then she faced forward again. The tires stacked up on either side reached nearly as high as the storeroom roofs now. The piles of black rubber ended about 100 yards ahead, the length of another three storehouses. The backroad ended there. She could see the waterway’s railing past the valley of tires. … I need to turn right toward the main road and cross the bridge. She would need to cross two small intersections between storehouses before that. The first intersection was about 20 yards ahead. She picked up her pace to pass through it in a hurry, but then she felt something like her right foot stepping on a stone. “––––––!?” Oops, she thought, but it was too late. She had stepped on something sharp. She felt no pain, but her second step felt like her right foot had stepped in mud. The realization that she was bleeding nearly sapped her of her strength, but she shook her head and powered through it. Then someone emerged onto the intersection up ahead. It was a Geheimnis Agency soldier. He aimed his flashlight her way and slowly turned his body her way. He hesitated once the flashlight shined directly on her, but… “I-I found her!” he shouted. Hazel held out her hand as if to split the flashlight beam and stopped, her right leg stumbling. And from behind her… “She’s over here!” shouted another voice. She was surrounded. Her reflexes decided which way she needed to escape: up. She would climb the tires to her right – the south. Climbing the ones to the north would only have taken her further from the road. If she could hurry up them and cross the roof to reach the bridge… … The soldiers on the ground will have a harder time tracking my movements. As soon as the thought occurred to her, she sank low, bent her body, and used her limbs like springs to climb up the tires. ### 630. Part 1 Lehrer had led Hazel to the piles of tires Hazel had climbed earlier. They sat atop two lower piles near the wall. The larger piles hid them from the road, so no one could see them. However… “They will know we escaped in this direction, so they will have us surrounded before long,” explained Lehrer, undoing the bandage on Hazel’s foot. “How are we going to escape?” asked Hazel. “We use Sylphide.” Hazel looked up to see Sylphide could not descend thanks to the barrage of antiair gunfire. She watched the blue shape circling in the distance. “It’s adorable how you can see its uncertainty in how it’s flying, but can it get to us?” “We aren’t far from the waterway. It is about 20 yards wide, so we can have Sylphide fly in at supersonic speed and stop above it. Once the shockwave blows away the enemies, we make a run for it.” The waterway was situated lower than the ground, so the Sylphide would end up below them if it stopped there. Hazel nodded. “We don’t have time to get inside, so we just climb onto the roof?” Just as she asked that, she felt a sharp pain like a needle sticking into her right foot. “––––!” “Don’t give me that look. I only removed the rock.” Hazel wiped away the tears and Lehrer rubbed her head with a troubled smile. Lehrer looked between the wound on Hazel’s foot and her spear leaning against the tires. “Hey…could you show me your Tuning?” Hazel said yes, reached out, and grabbed the spear. It was a German military close-range spear Device that Lehrer had stolen from the base. Its balance was completely different from the sword she was used to. She held the somewhat heavy spear vertically with the blade pointed down and held the shaft near the base of the blade. Then she looked to the other woman, whose heterochromatic eyes carried such a calm expression. There was so much she wanted to say and she could even find the words right away, but she wasn’t sure where to start. … Um. While she thought, Lehrer smiled and spoke instead. “Don’t worry. I used to be you, but I’m not anymore. You will become me and overwrite me. So don’t be afraid, my former self.” “Th-then it really was Sylphide buried below Alfheim? And…” Lehrer nodded. “Yes, I slept for a thousand years. I actually wanted to sleep a while longer and P. Wagner was considerate of that…but I was dug up in ’39 all the same.” “Then it’s true what the Geheimnis Agency’s commander told me?” “Yes. I learned the truth when I was captured in Cologne in my version of ’42. And…Berger was supposed to be captured tonight.” Hazel gasped and took a look around. She could hear Schwarz Löwe fighting in the distance, but Lehrer shook her head. “Don’t worry, Hazel. He will not be captured.” “H-how can you know that?” “You don’t know it?” … I… She thought for a bit and clamped her mouth shut. All she had to do was nod. And while she tried to figure out something more to say, Lehrer asked a question. “How are your parents?” Hazel considered who this was she was speaking to, so she looked her in the eye when she answered. “They are doing well. Dad is the same as ever, but he’s secretly supporting the AIF. Mom doesn’t say anything about it, but um, she’s really good at making tea.” She took a breath. “Maybe I’m full of myself, but I feel like they’re mostly just worried about their daughter fighting in the war.” “I see. I think you’re right about that.” The sounds of antiair fire and trucks combined in the distance. Beyond that, they could hear the clanking of a metal machine, the booms of cannon fire, and the clangs of metal shells being deflected. Schwarz Löwe was fighting. Hazel listened to the many sounds of combat and focused on the Device in her hands. She regulated her breathing and collected the Lives within her. She found her tone, which was pure, complex, and difficult to speak. “All you Lives within me – the single scream of the Wild Name that makes me who I am. Can you hear the voice of my Lives?” The Lives used her voice to permeate her body. She transferred them to the Device and she shook the instrument-like weapon to set up a resonance. Then she released her voice exactly as she wanted it. “Ah.” Her voice gently stretched out, slowly curved, and yet seemed to always move forward. She could feel her Lives inside the Device. Then she shut her eyes and stabbed the blade into her own throat. The Lives in the blade resonated with the ones in her body and the correct ones won out. They shook, vibrated, pulsed, and thought. A sense more accurate than touch felt them moving from her throat to the rest of her body. “…!” After goose bumps raced across her skin, she pulled out the blade. She was dripping with sweat, but the thornlike sensation inside her was disappearing. She looked down to her foot to see it was bloody but it no longer hurt. She wiped off the spear tip with her coat’s sleeve. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome. …Are you okay? You didn’t overfocus?” “I think I’m fine. I am tired…but I can manage one more good run.” They both sighed and Lehrer spoke first. “Then how about we get going? Sylphide is getting bored up there.” “How much has it healed?” “The decay was bad. Its self-repair has got it barely flying again, but the two upper Kunst Eyes are beyond repair and the three lower ones are only beginning to repair.” She narrowed her eyes. “But you have something else to ask, don’t you? About my relationship with him and many other things.” “Y-yes. So how about just one for now?” “Ask away.” Hazel hesitated for a moment. “How…old are you?” “Oh? Planning to hold it over my head how much younger you are? I used to be your age too, you know?” “I-it’s not about that. I just…” “I’m only kidding. I am 26. I arrived in the past at 21 and only spent a year there. I woke back up in ’39, so add 4 years to get 26. If only I had slept two more years. Then my age would round down to 20.” She smiled a little at that and Hazel had to smile too. “So don’t worry. Even if you go through a whole loop, you can still be younger than him,” said Lehrer. “And don’t forget, Hazel. You and those around you have so many choices you can make. You always have and you always will. You are not a Panzerpolis component created solely to keep the cycle going.” “…Right.” “But you can only make one decision when the time comes, so consider your options and then make your own choice.” Lehrer stood up from her pile of tires and Hazel got down from hers. Lehrer pulled a metal tube from her pocket. It was an inch thick and about half a foot long. She held it up in her right hand like the Olympic torch and used the inner elbow and her left hand to cover her ears. “Cover your ears. This will call it to us.” Hazel quickly did so and Lehrer hit the switch. With an almost silly sound, a blue ball of light was launched skyward, leaving a trail of white smoke. “Now it should come to us.” There was joy in Lehrer’s voice and she turned away from Hazel. Hazel gasped when she saw her back. There was a diagonal slash there. It started at her right shoulder and traveled down to the center of her back. Her clothing was torn, blood was leaking from it, and she was soaked a dark red down to her hips. “Don’t let it bother you. You would be too exhausted to move if you healed me…and I was prepared to not be fighting my best with something as unfamiliar as a spear.” “Th-there wasn’t a better weapon? I though the Messiah used a sword.” “That’s the thing. Every time I see a sword, it reminds me that he left me a letter telling me to stop fighting and took my Rein König with him.” Hazel lowered her eyebrows at that and chose not to say what she wanted to say. “That’s why I want to avoid using any kind of sword,” said Lehrer as she began walking. “Found them!” shouted some soldiers from behind them. Those voices pushed Lehrer into a run. Hazel watched her footing as she too began to run. Their footsteps fused into a single tempo. Hazel noticed some heat in her Messiah eye. … Lehrer is activating my Messiah. After that Beweisen, Lehrer readied her spear out ahead. She spun it vertically with just her right hand in the narrow road between the piles of tires. The slow but heavy rotation sliced the wind with the blade and produced a sound of shaking air. Another sound dropped from the sky in response: the sound of the wind, of something slicing through the air. … Sylphide. The roar of the wind rushed in from the north, which was to their left. At the same time, some soldiers with their backs to the river railing up ahead raised their guns. Lehrer thrust the spear straight ahead with just one hand. “Ah.” A single tone raced out toward the blue shape flying in from behind the soldiers. ### 631. Part 1 Hamburg was burning. The bombers released chaff to hinder any counterattack and they focused on taking out the antiair guns and interception bases around Hamburg as they bombed a long strip through the city. It was a big city. It was dotted with factories that produced bearings and other parts, so not even a bombing group of 1000 could destroy the entire place in a single night. The first night was meant to clear a route for the later bombing groups to reach the city. The bombers’ payloads were mostly divine spell bombs intended to destroy the buildings on the interception bases, so they had few incendiary bombs too. The bombs whistled down and shattered the city. The downpour of bombs literally blasted holes in the old, stone city. Fires burned across the city, smoke marred the sky, and sirens blared. The entire city screamed into the sky. Some were in a position that let them hear that scream and see the disaster. They were on the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg base in the dark forest on the outskirts of the city. Bombs did fall on that base too, but if Hamburg was considered the star of the show, then the base was being treated like a bit part. The aboveground portions of the base’s buildings were hammered by the bombs, but the underground portions weren’t so easily damaged. The Geheimnis Agents had already removed all the supplies from the main facilities and temporarily placed it in the underground areas before they left to evacuate and assist the people of Hamburg. The Hamburg base only had a small runway for emergencies, so they could not launch their interceptors. An antiair group led by Karl and his Drache Kanonen were firing from the surface and trucks were being sent out after being transported from below by elevators. But two men faced each other at one point of the base, neither one evacuating or attacking. They were Heiliger and Alfred. Several armored transport trucks were lined up behind Heiliger. Only Neue Kaiser and its broken chest armor was behind Alfred. The base’s main gate was behind Neue Kaiser. Heiliger stared at the white Grösse Panzer and its pilot and he spoke without forgetting about the bombs falling from the sky. “Lieutenant, I will only say this once: clear the way. We must evacuate Hamburg’s citizens.” Alfred said nothing. He only spread his legs a bit and stared at Heiliger. Heiliger frowned and a bomb landed to his left. With a sound like a cracking whip, something on the ground ruptured and rubble flew into the sky. Heiliger glanced over at it. “Have you forgotten what we learned at-?” “At Cologne last year?” Alfred stared straight at Heiliger, sighed, and looked behind the other man. A few Geheimnis Agents got out of the armored trucks lined up there. They were clearly worried about the falling bombs, but they walked in unison to gather behind Heiliger. Alfred kept his unreadable expression, but he did glance over toward Hamburg. The city, with its river appearing black in the night, had smoke rising from it as it burned. “This is Cologne all over again. And from what I heard earlier, this bombing will last nearly a week.” Someone else shouted over at Alfred, as if to drown out his voice. “Alfred!” It was Schweitzer. The large man parted the crowd to move out front. His prosthetic arm moved the people in the front row and his enormous body followed. He gave Heiliger a momentary look before stepping out in front of him too. “Where is the Messiah!?” “Our battle isn’t over yet. But it has shifted from the past to the present.” Alfred did not even look at Schweitzer when he answered. Schweitzer took a few more steps to reach Alfred’s right side and grabbed Alfred’s collar with his left hand. He pulled him in close and started to say something with eyebrows raised. “Forgive me,” said Alfred. Alfred seemed to spin quickly to the left and then he swung his right fist with all his might. Schweitzer couldn’t block the blow with his left hand on Alfred’s collar, so it hit him hard. After a pause, Schweitzer fell to his knees. “…!” He let go of Alfred’s collar, but his hand managed to grab the man’s shoulder instead. Alfred brushed off that hand and looked only at Heiliger. “What did Graham say at Cologne? It sounded to me like he said we should protect the people.” “Lieutenant, those very people are dying in Hamburg as we speak.” “If we rush there now, we can only save a handful of them. Is that all you can do? Is this your idea of atonement after failing to lift a finger when your own wife and daughter – two more of Germany’s people – were taken to the Heidenheim?” “Lieutenant!” Alfred brushed off that shout with a laugh. “If you don’t like that idea, then how about this one? You’re treating all of us like fragile dolls as atonement for losing Graham and Rose at Cologne. You refuse to do anything that might risk injury or death in battle.” “Do you have a problem with that!?” That shout coincided with a bomb landing on Neue Kaiser’s left shoulder. Hot shrapnel flew out and poured down on them all like a red firework. Alfred snatched a shard of red-hot metal out of the air as it fell in front of him. He squeezed the smoking fragment in his hand. “A Neue Kavalier is wasted if they cannot take any risks.” And… “A Neue Kavalier should protect the people and slay their enemy no matter the risk.” “But what good are they dead? A dead man protects no one!” Heiliger took a step forward. Alfred spread his arms in response. The scorched and smoking piece of metal rested in his hand. He met Heiliger’s gaze head on and spoke with absolute conviction. “You hope this fight will kill you, don’t you?” Then he looked to the Geheimnis Agents standing behind Heiliger. “You’re all too afraid to fight. Is that because we’ve done nothing but chase after the Messiah? You think it takes a special chosen one to protect the world, don’t you? You think the world will end without that chosen one to protect us, don’t you?” None of them answered. His questions were met by silence and stillness. He ignored that and looked to the sky where the deadly rain continued to fall. “Neue Kavaliers who don’t see death as one possible outcome deserve to be abandoned by the Messiah. We are supposed to become her power, not fear it.” He looked back down, his blue eyes staring straight into Heiliger’s brown eyes. He threw the piece of metal at Heiliger. Heiliger’s Tragisch instantly moved, catching the metal in his right hand. “Lieutenant, what do you hope to accomplish here?” “I will destroy the enemy flagship. That should confuse their chain of command long enough for you to evacuate the people far from the city.” “Is that your way?” Alfred said nothing. Heiliger looked to the metal in his hand and then sighed. “Lieutenant.” “Yes?” “Why do you fight?” “Sir. Last year, it felt to me like your brother and sister were asking if any of us Neue Kavaliers really possess the strength to fight and protect the weak without letting any harm come to them.” Heiliger looked up at the uncharacteristic formality of Alfred calling him “sir”. Alfred smiled. “I’m going to show the Messiah that we don’t need her to protect our country. But…” He looked to the others. “I also want to show her that we still want her with us to help us save the world.” Alfred turned his back on them. He looked up at Neue Kaiser just once and then at the large man kneeling next to him. “Schweitzer.” “…?” “I will be back.” “!” Schweitzer tried to get up but grimaced in pain and doubled over. Alfred began walking away and Schweitzer’s Der Held reached out toward him. “––––––” But it couldn’t reach. Alfred kept walking and a few other footsteps joined him. Hearing that, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. The folded paper contained a golden ear of wheat. “One day.” His smile grew when he saw the wheat and he spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear. “Once day. I swear it.” ### 632. Part 10 The powerful sword slash did not hit Hazel. It stabbed deep into the ground next to her. The tip split the borderline with the past that Schwarz Löwe had drawn in the ground. “So that is the answer to 8 years ago and the purpose of the Messiah who will guide our power.” With that, Neue Kaiser’s motors whirred as it slowly spread its wings. The six white wings spread and fully extended themselves with a smoothness very unlike a machine. They emitted their wind straight down. Hazel saw the movement of the wind. She could see the air around them gradually gathering toward Neue Kaiser’s wings. The blue Lives leisurely flowed past her feet and tangled around Schwarz Löwe’s limbs as they moved toward the white Grösse Panzer. Its wings bent as they accepted and stored the gathering air. With a loud noise, the six wings chose not to restrict the gathering air and instead let it swell out but never escape. The air flowed into the wings where it was compressed. Hazel heard the cold whisper of the night air gathering and being released. The wind blew in from the northern forest, producing rustling ripples through the trees. The night sky was red to the north. The bombing had begun. The wind formed from the explosions and heat was racing across the sky to reach them here. That wind blew at Hazel’s hair and she moved against Schwarz Löwe’s left side. Her bare feet stood on the dirt as she hid behind Schwarz Löwe and viewed Neue Kaiser. The white Grösse Panzer spread its wings and looked straight up into the sky from the center of the wind swirling through the clearing. Hazel also looked up to see the blowing wind altering the air currents to form a spiraling updraft that the birds used to draw out a large circle. The ring of birds left a blank hole in the sky where she saw a single light. That was the moon. The crescent moon floated in the center of the circle of birds. “––––––” Just as her attention turned to the moon, a powerful wind blew in. But this wasn’t an ordinary gust of wind blowing in from the distance. It was the intimidating wind of a powerful presence in the sky. A white shape flew in the sky above, wrapped in wind. The white Grösse Panzer flapped its wings and produced a wind that shimmered with heat while it ascended straight toward the moon. Hazel’s coat flapped in the wind spread out across the field. “Berger!” “I can hear you. I’ve got to be in the second worst shape in the world, though.” Hazel frowned. … It must be bad if he’s saying that. The damage must have gone behind his broken hands. The joints and motors were probably acting up as well. However… “Hop on, Hazel. I need your help if I’m going to keep up with him.” Her shoulders jumped at Schwarz Löwe’s line and she started to say something. But when her eyes met the glowing sight devices, she shut her mouth. She nodded just once. Strength returned to her drooping eyebrows. She could tell she probably had a funny look on her face, but she still opened her mouth and asked a question. “Berger, what are we going to do about him?” Schwarz Löwe’s response was simple. “We pursue him.” ### 633. Part 2 At that speed, it would crash into her in less than thirty seconds. The armored train’s silhouette was sharp and low. It even had what looked like a ram. Someone was visible atop the light on the front of the train. It was a fat elderly man. The black coat of the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division looked about to burst on him and he pulled a handkerchief from the breast pocket to wipe the sweat from his brow. From a distance of only about 100 yards, the smiling eyes behind his round glasses met with hers. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief Herbert Müller.” Müller bowed like he was bending his body at the hips. But when he straightened back up, he lost his balance in the strong wind and nearly toppled backwards. The woman cried out and nearly took a step forward on the instinctual urge to help him. But he regained his balance at the last moment, planted his feet firmly atop the light, and held out both hands to stop her. “Your concern is unwarranted, Hazel Mirildorf, our Messiah.” “Is it? Then goodbye.” She smiled and bowed before turning around and starting to run. She heard a sound behind her after a few steps. The pursuing train had blown its whistle, but she ignored that long, high-pitched tone and pumped her arms to continue running. … They’re planning to ram me! She pushed through the wind to step on the rivets and gain a few more steps. She heard a loud crash behind her and the train shook back and forth below her. A moment later, the train shook up and down. The pursuing train had crashed into hers. But what she heard next was not just that. The sounds of splitting metal, tearing steel, and popping screws and rivets never seemed to end. The symphony of destruction played without rest. Hazel continued running but looked back toward that music to see the armored train breaking through the freight container to pursue her. “They can do that!?” She kept running. It was a race between her legs running atop the containers and the armored train breaking through the containers. The din of breaking metal crashed into her back. She sprinted with her feet clanging loud against the container roofs. She crossed the 14th, 13th, and 12th cars with the night wind fighting her the entire way. One after another, she heard those three cars torn to pieces behind her. She looked around her and saw the forest and ground rushing by. Confirming that she could not jump off of the train, she ran across the 11th, 10th, and 9th cars. The din behind her accelerated. The armored train was getting closer. She pumped her arms harder and accelerated. She jumped from the 8th car to the 7th, whipping up the wind as she soared between them. As soon as she was off the 8th car, its rear was tossed upwards by the armored train’s ram. It broke down the center with the sound of shattering glass. Hazel’s feet landed on the 7th car’s roof and she immediately resumed running. At the same time, the 8th car’s link with the 7th was torn apart and it was thrown from the tracks. It landed in the forest to the left. That was so loud Hazel actually looked back in time to see the armored train’s snout covered in container wreckage. She reached into her coat’s inner pocket to find something while running. Her fingers touched an envelope and a plastic container similar to a pencil case. That and the Wheel of Destiny card. The case was engraved with the words “A.L.A. Case-A”. … That’s the ampule needed to heal Berger’s Lives disease. “He’s supposed to be in a safehouse located in the central library of Germania’s surface section.” She left the case in her pocket. “I left the spare in my luggage at Potsdam Station. I need to get this one to him.” She sped up her pace, leaping to the 6th car. “…!” She jumped high, her skirt fluttering around her legs while she took a look around her and gripped her sword in both hands. She saw blue Lives in the wind blowing at her hair. She pierced them with her sword and listened to the train’s sound reaching her from the containers. She heard the sound of the wheels, of the creaking and straining frame, and of the exterior slicing through the wind. She also saw the containers’ Lives. Their tempo was a quick staccato similar to the wheels on the track. Their tone color was the gray of metal and weight. A Tuner could use their Device to access the message carried by Lives and transform the object itself. And Hazel Mirildorf was a Tuner. So she raised her voice, providing the Up used when tuning. “300,000 Lives racing below my feet and 120,000 Lives traversing the sky – you are the powerful voices that carry so much weight and the charming voices that dance and play. Can you hear the voice of my Lives!?” When she landed on the 6th car, she jabbed her toes down and twirled to the left to face backwards. There she saw the armored train preparing to devour the 7th car. She readied herself juts as 6 empty Phlogiston cartridges were ejected from her sword Device. “Ah,” sang the blade as its tip aimed toward the 7th car’s container. She performed a Tune strike. The transformation only took an instant. She sliced through the freight container with a tense sound and its Lives were given the message provided by her Device. The freight container’s Lives were rewritten, instantly turning it into a giant spear. That mass of piercing force was made of steel and wind and it was at least 8 yards long. As soon as the spear was born, it launched forward with the sound of blowing wind. The angled armor covering the front surface of the armored train could not deflect it. With a single sound of breaking metal, the spear broke through the black metal and used its gale-like thrust to pierced the engine. The spear underwent a further change inside the train. It became birds. The Live transformation given to the wind Lives was released after a time delay. Steel birds carrying the will of the wind took flight in search of the outside. Unable to contain the scattering birds within it, the locomotive swelled out like a balloon. Finally, its armor could no longer handle the inner pressure and it exploded before Hazel’s eyes. The ultra-heavy locomotive sent the force of its explosion in every direction, leaving very little of it left afterwards. Several hundred metal-gray birds took flight among that destruction. The flock of birds flew into the sky, closely followed by the roar of mechanical destruction. Only the lower chassis and the frame that had supported the upper armor remained. Müller had been on the locomotive, but he had jumped back to the roof of the next car. The train exited the forest. ### 634. Part 2 Germanian nights were bright. The lights of the underground levels joined together to shine up on the surface and the dome shined down from the sky. The dome was formed by a giant cross. The cross was located in northwest Germania, just to the side of Tegel Airport. The dome spread from there and it covered more than just Germania itself. It also covered the bases situated around the city and Germania’s own management bases. It was a powerful protective umbrella. A single pair of eyes looked up at it from the center of Germania’s 1st level. That central area had been left intact because it included so many historical structures. The pair of eyes was located in Berlin Central University located in the very center of that central area. A large road passed through the university’s main gate and trees were planted along the sidewalks on either side. The owner of those eyes was crouched at the base of one of those broadleaf trees. The large man wore a black combat coat. He was big in general, but the prosthetic arm sticking out from his right shoulder was especially noticeable. Big and blocky were the best words for him. On the solid-looking face below his close-cropped blond hair, two blue eyes looked up into the sky. His left hand held a thick wooden staff. It was the staff he launched from the cannon attached to his prosthetic arm. Small maintenance tools were scattered around him like toys. But he didn’t do anything with the staff or the tools. He simply viewed the sky. Until a scratchy voice reached him from behind. “Hey, Hellard. You’re wide open out here, buddy.” Hearing his name, Hellard Schweitzer turned toward the voice. The red gem on the earring he wore on the left ear caught the light as he turned. A man stood within arm’s reach. Schweitzer was crouched down, so he first saw legs wearing army pants and boots. Then he saw a combat vest with all the pockets bulging and a hand holding a long sword. His gaze continued up to find a slender face surrounded by long hair. Schweitzer frowned when he saw that face. “Do not sneak up on me, Alfred.” His chiding received no response and Alfred pulled a small battlefield sheet from a vest pocket. He used just the one hand to unfold the green sheet on the ground next to Schweitzer and sat in it. “I received word the Messiah has entered the library in cat form. Not long now until we move in to capture her and transfer her to Hamburg Base and the Ton lab there.” “Yes, we can inject German Tons into her there.” Schweitzer nodded but also frowned a little. “But I never imagined Berger would be hiding out here.” “Agreed. It sounds like it wasn’t you, me, or Marsch that the director-” Alfred stopped himself from finishing that thought. Schweitzer said something else instead. “Stopping Berger is going to be a challenge. I saw the photo taken of him entering the library. He walks subtly differently now. He must have spent the last year training himself.” “Just the last year? So have I. I’ve been training myself nonstop ever since Cologne.” Schweitzer’s eyebrows rose a bit at the mention of Cologne. Seeing that, Alfred smiled thinly in realization. “I’m fine. Lady Lillie is at work searching for any remains at the Requiem’s crash site, but…I feel like the gentle greenery there this time of year may be enough to let her rest in peace.” Alfred ended his statement by pulling something like a bookmark from his pocket. He held it up so Schweitzer could see it was an ear of wheat held between a folded piece of paper. The paper had a few letters written on it and a range of dates: 1942 – 1943. “I heard this was sent as a present to the people invited to last year’s wedding.” Schweitzer silently nodded and pulled an identical item from his pocket. He stroked the ear of wheat with a finger. “I saw green ears growing in the Borderson wheat fields last year. These are likely from there.” “I don’t get Heidengeists. An ear from a field of golden wheat sounds nice, but in Europe, a land of golden wheat is reminiscent of Valhalla. It’s a bad omen,” complained Alfred, sticking the wheat back in his pocket. Schweitzer smiled bitterly when he saw that. “It’s just like you to question it but still carry it with you.” “The owner’s memory Tons reside in things like this. …We need that.” Alfred twisted around and reached his left hand out to touch the earring on Schweitzer’s left ear. “By this point, my ring and your earring are probably soaked more with our memories than hers.” He pulled his hand back and looked to the wheat in Schweitzer’s hand. “It’s ironic, really. If their wheat is growing this well, Borderson must have plenty of food while the war rages on. But once the war ends, Germany will be in need of resources no matter who wins. Food in particular is always necessary after a war.” “It would be ironic if Borderson’s wheat ended up saving the country.” “Right? So are those golden fields a part of Valhalla or are they salvation in the real world?” Alfred sighed. He looked dejected, almost like he had just remembered something unpleasant. “Come to think of it, I noticed another irony recently.” He crossed his arms. “About our savior, the Messiah, who arrived here tonight.” “You mean that the Allies used her to carry their plans? That is ironic, I suppose.” Schweitzer barely seemed to care, so Alfred lowered his voice. “What’s with you? I’m saying the Allies have basically sent the Messiah to us.” He sighed. “And I heard we gave them data on our Wort Bombe in exchange. Is that really a good idea?” Schweitzer did not immediately respond. First, he inserted the staff into his right hand’s cannon. And… “Those political issues are none of our concern.” “But did you know the Allies are using information on our auto-ramming ship leaked from Poland in order to build something they call an ACBS? We are in trouble if they load a Wort Bombe on that, Hellard.” Schweitzer said nothing, letting Alfred’s words wash over him. He slotted the bottom of the staff into place within his prosthetic arm and locked it with a twist. Then he locked the other end in place by tightening the screws on the ejection point sticking out from his elbow. The sound of the metal fitting together was joined by Alfred’s sighing voice. “Schweitzer, the scales of this war are already tilting. And I’m not just talking about the Sofort Lesers around the world finding they can’t read any History Tons past August. We’ve been forced to withdraw from the USSR and the Allies have landed in Sicily. A lot of people have already died, like in Cologne.” “So you’re wondering why they even need to set up some trick using the Messiah?” Alfred just about said something on reflex, but he silently nodded instead. “Try to contain your anger,” said Schweitzer. “Development Division Chief Elrich and the rest of us are working around the clock to stabilize Tristan. The Panzerpolis Project is complete, Germania is well fortified, and the Vaterlands around the world are being boosted, so we and the military will have an easier time fighting and escaping death than previously. Also,” he added. “If we can inject German Tons inside the captured Messiah at Hamburg Base, she cannot escape us again. Then Lowenzahn will work to convince her personally. …We will do everything in our power.” Alfred did not respond. Instead, he sang a song. The wind blows / The night blows / The dragon awakes /The people move /The dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall He sang with a gentle but lingering rhythm. “Lowenzahn’s latest prophecy was identical to the Unreif Germane’s 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon. I was pretty disappointed when I first heard it.” “Why?” “We’re here to capture the Messiah, but that prophecy is clearly about a wind from the north. That probably means another bombing like that last one. So…our mission here isn’t protected by our commander’s prophecy. I doubt this is going to go well.” “You worry too much. The emperor should trust in the new world, if you ask me.” “But the emperor is a symbol of the old world. Creating a new world is the hero’s job.” He laughed quietly, folding up the sheet and standing up. “Ha ha. Oops. When did I start complaining so much?” “Hard to say. Was it when you started working for Heiliger?” “Don’t make fun, Hellard. That was probably part of it, but not all of it. I…” He thought for a moment and then took a much more serious tone. “I don’t think I believe in this Messiah who travels with destiny. When I saw her escape with destiny four years ago…I couldn’t help but be reminded of Eryngium eight years ago.” Schweitzer looked up at that. He viewed Alfred’s face. Alfred was smiling while looking up at the giant cross called Tristan. There was no mockery or irony in that smile. It was a powerful smile with eyebrows raised. Alfred opened his lips a crack while smiling up at the cross. “…” But he stopped. He turned away from Schweitzer with a single footstep. “I’m gonna take a look around the area.” “The library hasn’t changed. You can even see the director’s repairs to the plumbing.” “I’m just taking a look around.” There was a hint of a smile in his voice as he walked away. Still crouched, Schweitzer smiled too. Then he looked up toward what Alfred had been looking at. A black cross towered into the sky there. He had been looking at it before Alfred arrived. He brought it into the center of his vision and touched the earring on his left ear. “To develop, to fight, to protect, and…” He stopped talking there and suddenly stood up. He looked back from below the broadleaf tree and found Alfred was already gone. After one last glance up at Tristan, Schweitzer began walking as well. He could see some armored vehicles gathering on the road beyond the main gate. ### 635. Part 2 “…?” The woman frowned and adjusted the position of the harp on her left shoulder, but she didn’t speak a word. Instead, she heard a voice from the bushes. A woman’s high-pitched voice. “Sorry. Did I surprise you, Lillie?” The bushes parted and a woman in a black military uniform stepped out. She brushed her brown hair back with a hand and stopped in front of the bushes. The two women faced each other. The first to speak was the one holding the harp – Lillie. “Jeanne? What brings you here?” “I saw those dragons on my way to Hamburg, so I decided to have Karl stop and pay you a visit on my own. You can see his Drache Kanones above the forest there, can’t you?” Lillie looked and sure enough. She also nodded at the mention of Hamburg. “On your way for an audience with the Messiah I heard was captured about two hours ago? In exchange for data on our Wort Bombe.” “Affirmative. What about you? Are you headed back to the North Sea once you finish your once-a-month cleaning here?” Lillie thought for a moment and then nodded. Jeanne sighed at the slight head movement. Then she explained the meaning of her sigh. “Lillie. Maybe I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this, but you should really try to forget.” “Could you say that if you had lost your husband?” “Yes, I could.” Jeanne did not hesitate. “I can’t live alone, so if I lost him, I would have no choice but to find a replacement.” “I can hear you with my new hearing devices, you know?” rumbled a mechanical voice from beyond the forest. That was Jeanne’s husband Karl. Jeanne shrugged and stuck out her tongue a little before turning toward the forest. “I’ll never even look at another man as long as you’re still alive.” “I appreciate it.” Lillie shut her eyes and placed a hand on her chin. “I envy you, Jeanne,” she said. “But I didn’t even try to keep him – keep them – alive. I even helped them die, really. Because I knew they would die and did nothing to stop it.” “You make it sound like his and Lady Rose’s deaths were predetermined.” “What if they were?” asked Lillie, opening her eyes. There was no doubt in the eyes she directed straight toward Jeanne. “I’m sorry, Jeanne, but there is one thing I can’t tell you because of a promise I made with them. You know my Mondnacht here was made from my tears, right? When I created it, I lost the ability to ever again cry like my little sister, but…” She took a breath. “I made the decision because of a promise I made with them. I didn’t want to ever worry them by letting them see me cry.” “…” “If I keep that promise, I can’t do what you suggested. So even if this is no more than self-condemnation and even if it’s my punishment for hesitating…” She lowered her head. She could not cry. The ability did not exist inside her. Jeanne asked a question instead. “Do you need something before you can let yourself give up? Have you still not found whatever it is? Even after having your dragons search the wreckage for so long?” “I think Rose’s red gem must be somewhere. I found Silber Löwe, but nothing could be recreated from its Studio. …It was modified to work as Heiliger’s personal Panzer, wasn’t it? That wreckage really was all that remained. Only the wreckage of what had once been a dragon.” Jeanne started to say something in response. She raised her right hand as if to pat Lillie on the shoulder despite being too far away and she opened her mouth. “––––––” She pressed her lips together and then bit the lower one. She shook her head while Lillie’s downcast eyes couldn’t see. Her short hair swayed. Then she faced forward and cleared her throat quietly. She spread her legs a bit and crossed her arms before speaking. “Listen to us wasting the day away discussing our personal affairs. We really are getting old.” Hearing that, Lillie raised her head and lowered her eyebrows a bit. “Is that what it means?” “What kind of reaction is that? You’re supposed to agree and laugh about it.” “I’m sorry. It didn’t sound like that kind of thing.” “Don’t worry about it. It’s the spirit that counts.” Jeanne raised her right hand to face height and pointed at Lillie. “I’ll tell everyone you left for the North Sea.” “Thanks.” “Don’t thank me. Protecting you has been my job since our school days. Well, that and to drag you out from behind your guardian Graham.” “And my job was to clean up after your almost daily battles over ‘honor’ and to smooth things over with the teachers.” “She still does that, by the way,” said the distant mechanical voice. “Eavesdropping is the mark of a cowardly man,” replied Jeanne with a smile. Then she looked to Lillie again. “Did you visit the Village of Pardons? Then why not pay it a visit soon? Your sister visited the village a lot with Borderson’s Melda. The place is beautiful this time of year thanks to all the wheat fields around.” “That might not last long. I hear the military is really cracking down on Heidengeists now. As an outlet for all the country’s anxieties,” said Lillie. “But maybe that’s a reason to go now. Before it’s lost.” Jeanne nodded and turned around. She took a few steps before looking back over her shoulder. Lillie was still standing there, so she spoke to her. “Are you sure you don’t want to meet the Messiah?” “I feel like I would say something nasty if I did.” “Hm? Why’s that?” The answer was so quiet it was nearly drowned out by the nearby river. Lillie wrapped her arm around her harp like she was embracing it. “If what we have now is the result of the Unreif Germane and the prophesies, then the ancient Messiah and the current one are two people I can never, ever-” “Don’t say it.” Cut off by Jeanne’s words, Lillie turned around. Jeanne said nothing to the woman’s back. She only nodded and faced the forest again. Jeanne kept a blank expression as she walked back into the bushes and the forest beyond. ### 636. Part 2 Several large boxy blue shapes floated in the sky as the sun set. Several similar shapes rested on the field below. The shapes were all aerial ships measuring more than 100 yards long. A flagpole bearing the Union Jack was set up alongside the gray runway crossing the center of the field. The field was surrounded by forest. This was Bassingbourn’s secondary airfield located in southeast UK. The setting sun shined on the sky, the ships, the field, the runway, the flag, and the forest. All of the ships were on standby. The crews remained in their assigned barracks and the maintenance crews surrounded the ships performing inspections. But one ship in that vast field was very different from the rest. The small aerial aircraft carrier was located at one corner of the field. It only carried a large two-hull transport ship and six large spare fuel tanks. Between the tanks and the two-hull transport ship, a few dozen crewmembers sat in deep thought while directing their eyes straight head. Their eyes were all on a very large person on the west end of the deck. The gray-haired man with two prosthetic arms was Pale Horse. Corelle sat directly in front of him. “And?” she asked him. “What’s this about Hazel not having the power of the Messiah?” Pale nodded. His downturned face was unusually hard-set for him. He glanced over at the others before answering. “The Allies didn’t believe it, but it’s a major secret that could influence the survival of the world itself. I won’t say it again.” He took a breath. “To put it simply, a Live explosion at Germania on August 23, 1943 will turn back time by a thousand years.” No one knew how to respond to that. A few said “huh?” before falling silent. Pale ignored them all and continued. “Hazel, Berger, and the Sylphide will be closely involved in that explosion, so they alone will be carried back to that point a millennium ago as the keys to reconstructing the world.” Corelle held out a hand to stop Pale there. “W-wait just a second. Then this Lehrer who you went to see last year…?” “Like I said earlier, Lehrer is Hazel after using Sylphide to wake up in modern times again. She is a Buster and she used that power to save the world, but…” “Wait another second. What are you talking about? You’re skipping way too much here.” Pale clicked his tongue. “This is going to get long,” he prefaced. “You know Geheimnis Agency Commander Lowenzahn Naylor, right? The issue here is the Ober Beweisen for her Neue Erde heart and the same for Hazel’s Messiah.” Pale saw everyone frowning as he continued. “You see, Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen has nothing to do with prophecy.” “Huh? But she’s a Sofort Leser. How else does she prophesy?” “I can’t tell you that. I’m sure the Geheimnis Agency has some other method. Lehrer said as much. So forget that for now.” Pale raised one sharp-nailed finger. “Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen is a booster for a specific Live reactor. With a side effect, I might add. Connect Neue Erde to that Live reactor and Neue Erde’s owner’s lifeforce is borrowed to boost its output several times over.” “Which Live reactor are we talking about here?” “You’ve seen the aerial photos of that big-ass cross in Germania, haven’t you?” No one nodded, but no one shook their heads either. More tension filled their faces and they maintained their silence. Pale raised a second finger as if to take advantage of that silence. “Next. On August 23, 1943, the Allies will bomb Germania, but Germania is protected by the barrier created by Tristan. The Vaterlands around the world are a problem too, so the Allies have an idea.” Corelle continued for him. “Gather up all of the anxiety Lives in the world, send them back into Tristan, and have it destroy itself.” “Exactly, Corelle. Do that and Germany as well as most of the nearby Eastern Europe countries will be so ruled by anxiety they can never again recover.” “So Neue Erde’s owner will use its Ober Beweisen to fight back? To try and stop the world’s anxiety the Allies are forcing onto them?” Pale kept his right hand’s two fingers raised and scratched his head with his left hand. “Correct,” he said quietly. “The Geheimnis Agency Commander feels the need to sacrifice herself to the machine in order to save Germany from the anxiety.” “Continue.” “Sure,” said Pale. “But that heroic Ober Beweisen has a side effect.” He raised a third finger. “Neue Erde wasn’t actually made just to boost the reactor like that. That boosted power is in fact only the means necessary to extract certain Lives from the ley lines.” “What Lives are those?” “This world’s Spacetime Lives.” It took everyone a few seconds to grasp what he had said. He sighed after seeing them all nod. “I’m sure you’ve all heard of it as an Ober Geheimnis. The basic timeline of the world exists as Lives, forming one of the basic pillars supporting the entire world. It has only been contacted a few times before. We aren’t talking about anything as insignificant as the Lives behind a land, a country, or the planet. Everything in the world is carried by the Spacetime Lives and they can be extracted through the ley lines, since those are the greatest form of Lives we can control.” His shoulders drooped, but then he looked up to view them all and raised a fourth finger. “But the anxiety will be even more powerful. According to Lehrer, it happens late at night on August 23, 1943, in the middle of the bombing of Germania.” He took a breath. “Neue Erde attempts to fight back by extracting the Spacetime Lives with its Ober Beweisen, but it loses control and the Lives pressurized within Tristan grow too powerful and they explode. Both the anxiety Lives and the Spacetime Lives do.” “Wait.” Corelle held out a hand to stop Pale. “That makes no sense. If the Spacetime Lives explode too…” “Yes, the world’s timeline would be destroyed. The past and the future would both explode and disappear together. That would mean ruin. The world would be destroyed.” “But…but we’re still here. So the timeline couldn’t have been destroyed.” Pale raised a fifth finger in front of Corelle’s eyes with a hint of a smile on his lips. “That’s where the Messiah comes in. I said Lehrer ended up a thousand years in the past, didn’t I? That’s because she saved the world from ruin.” He looked up into the sky. Everyone else followed suit. The setting sun shined on a new giant aerial warship slowly traveling east. It produced a deep roar as it pushed the wind out of the way. Someone muttered “that’s the flagship” while viewing that 300yd ship. After waiting for the flagship to pass, they lowered their gazes. There was no longer any skepticism in their eyes. Pale had lowered his gaze along with theirs. He had also lowered his right hand with the five raised fingers. “Now, then,” he said. “I’ll tell you how Lehrer saved the world. And why Hazel can’t do the same.” He pointed at his right eye with his metal finger. “The Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen grant’s its owner the ability to fully perceive Lives of even the highest level. That includes the anxiety Lives and the Spacetime Lives.” And… “A Buster has the power to destroy Lives. Lehrer used her Ober Beweisen to perceive the anxiety and explosion Lives and destroyed them just before Tristan detonated, but she couldn’t do it quite so cleanly.” “So she was forced to destroy 1000 years’ worth of Spacetime Lives too?” “I think so, yes. She and the other people at the center of the spacetime explosion were sent to the past. The Panzerpolis Project isn’t actually meant to defend Berlin. It’s a project using the Geheimnis Agency Commander and the Messiah to protect history and the world by making sure that same loop plays out every single time.” Pale nodded, straightened his back, and put on a more carefree expression. “But unlike Lehrer, our Hazel is a Tuner. That means she can’t destroy the anxiety Lives. She can’t save the world by destroying it. That was decided that night back in Cologne.” He smiled bitterly and chuckled. “The Geheimnis Agency Commander intends to complete the loop and avoid ruin so the world can try again. M. Schrier and I intend to save the world without relying on the loop. There must be some way of doing it.” He looked to the others and said one last thing. “So what will the rest of you do?” ### 637. Part 2 All the lights were out in a small room and the chill of the night was seeping inside. Two people stood near the window. The enormous one turned aside from the window was Schweitzer with Der Held removed. The one standing next to him was Lowenzahn. They both wore their uniforms and faced each other in the light of the cross far to the east. Lowenzahn’s head was lowered with her forehead against Schweitzer’s chest. She was crying. Her shoulders shook just once and she cleared her throat quietly. “S-sorry for paying you a surprise visit and then crying.” “You let your guard down after capturing the Messiah, didn’t you?” She nodded. “But I said something awful to the Messiah today.” “Hm? Didn’t you leave most of your responsibility as commander with her? You have no more duty or obligation to lead us. Isn’t that what you told her, as our new master?” “You could describe it like that…but it isn’t quite accurate. I said a lot I didn’t need to.” She grabbed his left sleeve with both hands. “I get so sharp-tongued when I say things I don’t really believe.” “You’re also quick to kick people.” That made her laugh. “Ha ha.” Her laughter continued intermittently before transforming into coughing. “Don’t push yourself too hard,” he said. She could only answer with a weak nod. Tears dripped down her lowered cheeks. They caught the faint glow entering through the window and fell to the floor. The frequency of the falling tears was dictated by the trembling of her shoulders and her sobbing breaths, so they were intermittent but never ending. She cried while trying but failing to swallow her voice. “I’m…a terrible person.” She inhaled, pressed her face against his shoulder, and stopped talking. Her shoulders shook and she took a few rough breaths before getting out a trembling voice. “But…” “Lowenzahn.” Schweitzer’s voice was enough to stop her shaking. Her breathing remained heavy and she left her face against his shoulder. “…What?” “I’m sorry, but could you let go of my arm? Without Der Held…I can’t do anything for you while you cry.” She slowly lowered her head and hesitantly let go of his arm. Then she brushed back her disheveled hair and looked at his shoulder. His prosthetic right arm was currently detached. “So you keep it off in your room? Do you consider it separate from yourself, even though you used a part of your body to make it?” He shook his head. “I choose whichever answer to that question I like at the moment.” “Then how do you think of me at the moment?” Her Eingeweide device was an artificial heart. It could not be removed like his arm. He saw her arms held lightly against her chest. “What do you think while reciting your Ober Beweisen?” “Eh?” “An Ober Beweisen is your own Text. Since you use your Ober Beweisen to prophesy, you should already know that an Eingeweide device is a means to draw out your own strength.” “My Ober Beweisen, huh?” She suddenly reached behind her head. She undid her hair. The long braid spun apart, starting from the bottom. The wave of separation stopped once all of her hair was loose. There were tears in her closed eyes. “I rely on you for so much. I say to you what I want to say to others. Even though that only leads to regret. And I cry without telling you why.” “Don’t worry about it. I promised I would trust you without asking for an explanation, no matter what happened.” She looked up at him with damp eyes and a genuine smile. “In that case…it’s about time I stopped lying.” She pulled a small object from her coat’s breast pocket. The faintly reflected light revealed the shape of a key. The decorative gold key was about as long as her pointer finger. “If you ever find you must know the answer, take this key to the old HQ. There you will find the truth about my prophecies, my parents, and so much more.” “I will keep it with me.” “Take good care of it. I don’t need it anymore, so it wouldn’t accomplish anything for me to have it.” He nodded and held out his hand. She placed the key in it. He held the key up to look at it. He nodded again when he noted the dragon emblem decorating the back end of the key. Then he placed it in his shirt’s breast pocket. “Lowen-” He stopped before saying “zahn”. She had removed her scarf and started unbuttoning her coat. She tilted her head when she noticed him staring. “What, you don’t like where this is headed?” She sounded more troubled by the possibility than just teasing him, so he smiled bitterly. She initially responded to that with an angry look, but then laughed quietly. “You can make up your mind after seeing this. I’m feeling blue today, so I’m short on confidence.” She finished unbuttoning her coat. She also walked past him to a bed that looked entirely unused. She sat on the bed and removed her coat. When she placed the black garment on the side table, some solid objects clanked against the wood. “Medals and sidearms are so heavy, aren’t they?” She held her arms around herself as if to hide her chest. She turned to face Schweitzer who sat on the windowsill, but then she looked away and began unbuttoning her shirt with her arms pressed against her sides. Her fingers slipped twice and her expression changed ever so slightly. Her cheeks grew a shade redder each time. But that was all. Once her hands were down at her navel, she pulled the rest of the shirt out from her pants. Its hem spread out around her hips and she finished unbuttoning it. Nothing remained to cover the skin showing through the slight gap between the two sides of the shirt. “I never wear a bra. None of them fit me and I’m always wearing a vest or something,” she explained with the tone and expression of someone making an excuse. She looked him in the eye just once there. After saying something more with the ends of her eyebrows lowered, she grabbed her shirt’s left collar with her left hand. She hesitated for a moment, blushed around the eyes, and nodded a few times as if to convince herself. She removed just the left side. The rustling of cloth filled the room. She slid the collar down from her left shoulder and around to her back. With her shoulder bared, her skin shined palely in the dim light. Her chest was exposed to the air. The right breast was made of human skin. It drew a curve in the pale light. But the left breast was a different story. It had been replaced with a machine. From the top to the center of her left chest, black artificial muscles took the place of her pectoral muscles and white support muscles, metal tubes, and a metal valve were contained within. She looked up at Schweitzer. “Does it look cheap?” He said nothing but got down from the windowsill. He moved around to crouch in front of her. With her seated on the bed and him crouching on the floor, their eyes were at the same level. “Is your pulse elevated?” “Yes.” “Then…I will trust in that.” She looked up when she heard that. She used her right hand to wipe tears from her eyes. Then she reached out and took his left hand. His flesh and blood hand. “I see. If possible,” she said quietly. “I hope you can trust in me forever.” ### 638. Part 2 Hazel climbed the 10yd pile of tires without toppling them and without losing her own balance. She relied on her initial speed. She relaxed her tension, she held her breath, and she did not hesitate. She was just two stacks away from the top level. Then she had to jump up another yard to reach the edge of the storehouse roof. But then her right foot slipped on her blood. The itchy pain of the wound opening shot up her leg to her spine. “Ah.” The tension she had relaxed to climb the tires came back as the tension used to endure the pain. … That’s not good. Just as she decided to relax her tension again, she recalled the year before when a dog had bitten her at AIF HQ, she had Altered, and she had climbed the outer wall of the barracks as a cat. Comparing that to this was silly, but it still nearly made her laugh. She worked to resist the pain, tension, and laughter while moving her arms and legs. “…!” She reached the top. She took a breath, feeling the tire tower swaying beneath her feet, and then grabbed the storehouse roof at chest height and climbed up it. The sheet iron roof provided much more solid footing. She took another breath, stood up, and tried to walk. But the unwashed roof had sand-like filth and dried limescale on it, which got in her right foot’s wound. She fell to her knee. She sat with her back to the main road to the south, took a breath, and looked around. She viewed the base from a lower vantage point than the terrace. She could see two storehouses to the west, three to the east, and four to the north. A few long concrete buildings and the forest were visible past them. Lastly, she saw more concrete buildings across the road behind her. When she sent her gaze east along the road, she saw the waterway and its river about 100 yards away. “I need to reach that point.” She kept low so she wouldn’t be detected and turned the sole of her right foot skyward. In the warning lights, she could see her toeprint highlighted by a dark wetness. The big toe was bleeding from an inch-long crescent moon gash. The blood dripped down the sole of the raised foot. It tangled around her ankle and continued on toward her shin. The sensation sent a shudder down her back. “It’s no use.” She couldn’t escape outside by turning into a cat here. She clenched her blood-wet hands a few times to refocus herself. She grabbed the bottom of her surgical gown and used her nails to tear through it. With a ripping sound different from paper, she created herself a strip of cloth from the bottom two inches of the gown. “If only I had a Device,” she grumbled, placing the center of the cloth on her right Achilles tendon, stretching it out, wrapping it around her big toe, and wrapping it back around her ankle. She wrapped it around her big toe again and then side to side around the center of her foot. She used it to hold her ankle in place, not to stop the bleeding of her toe. That protected the toe and still let her walk with the rest of the foot. With that done, she stood back up. She looked around. The night glowed red. The red warning lights were joined by the red Lives of impatience floating across the entire base. The red sound of the 1st alarm accelerated that impatience. The summer night breeze felt refreshingly chilly and she finally realized how heavy her breathing was. “I need to hurry.” She pressed her right foot’s toes against the wavy sheet of iron and climbed to the flat peak of the roof before crouching low and walking east like a cat. The bandage felt a bit ticklish on her foot, but it kept the roof’s filth out of her wound. Once she arrived at the center of the roof, she heard a loud noise from the road to her right. The roar of metal continued on without end. She gasped and looked over to see a pair of towers there. The green towers resembled smokestacks and rose past the edge of the roof. The towers weren’t the only things rising past the roof. She saw a piece of metal resembling a 3yd-wide bowler hat and then the 15yd-wide metal chest and shoulders supporting the towers came into view. “Is that Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt from before!?” That enormous Heavy Barrel stood more than 20 yards tall, not including the “towers”, and it was being carried to the surface by one of the underground hangar elevators. It was so big. Hazel stood atop a 10yd rooftop, but she only came up to his waist. She froze for a moment when the pair of sight devices glowing on his facial structure turned her way. Immediately afterwards, a pair of large shapes landed on opposite edges of the storehouse roof with her in the center. 8yd metal giants had alighted on the roof without even whipping up the wind. The one to her left was blue and the one to her right was red. “Wha-?” She didn’t even get the full word out before swallowing it in acceptance of what had happened. … Am I surrounded? She calmly thought through her situation. Karl stood motionless in front of her, his arms ready at his hips. The Heavy Barrels to her left and right had their Ober Emblems activated and wings spread, using that lift to stand atop the roof. Even Hazel made a lot of noise walking along the iron roof, but they stood only on their right toes. Behind her, she could hear the soldiers gathering on the backroad she had climbed from. “I am surrounded, aren’t I?” The Heavy Barrels to her left and right asked a question without shaking or even wavering. “Where do you think you are going?” ### 639. Part 2 Lehrer’s Bust attack counteracted Sylphide’s shockwave and cleared a path. With a roar, the powerful wind was split by her spear and flew to either side. The tire stacks on the sides of the road were blown backwards like leaves in the wind. The storehouses’ front walls were broken through and their roofs pulled away. Bolts audibly popped off and walls noisily crumbled. “Hurry!” shouted a voice ahead of Hazel while the wind blew her hair. Her response was drowned out by the wind. The road alongside the waterway was about 5 yards wide. When she emerged from behind the destroyed storehouses, she saw a collapsing bridge to her right and a road to her left. There was no sign of the enemy. She ran. Lehrer beckoned her over from near the railing ahead. “I’ll be right there!” answered Hazel as she saw something in the sky that shouldn’t have been there. A white streak of cloud floated in the night sky to the east. She hadn’t noticed that before. The cloud instantly stretched out toward her. It was closing the distance with unbelievable speed. Some Aerial Words shook the air. The cloud was being drawn out by… “Sylphide!?” The craft resembled a black blade. Unlike Sylphide, it had no upper cockpit and thus a slimmer silhouette. Hazel recalled the name of the craft Lowenzahn had said had launched from Germania. … The Erlkönig. It was still a fair distance away, but it sprayed physical metal bullets toward Lehrer. Its aim was true, so Lehrer was forced to intercept the incoming bullets with her Bust power. The white light launched from her spear shattered the metal projectiles. But inertia carried the fragments toward Hazel behind her. Hazel could avoid them if she kept running and moved behind Lehrer. But that was when Hazel realized her coat’s pocket felt unusually light. … Eh? A weight had vanished from the bottom right side of the coat, so she looked down. She saw a white ampule case falling from the pocket as the coat flapped in the wind. She reflexively caught the case out of the air. “Hazel!” yelled Lehrer. That shout made Hazel stop where she was and she saw the supersonic scattershot of bullet fragments flying her way. Countless powerful red Lives were about to reach her. “!” She couldn’t scream and she didn’t look away. She started to dodge, hoping she could somehow make it. She moved her feet left, hoping to bring herself behind Lehrer. Then a wall shot up to protect her. The blue wall was Sylphide. Her eyes reflexively widened when she understood what this meant. … You belong to Lehrer! “Stay away!!” Her shouted request was not obeyed. The metal scattershot crashed into Sylphide. The metal screamed in protest. Sylphide was pierced by bullet fragments that were more like thin needles than spears. With a light sound like breaking bone, the fragments broke out the other side on either side of Hazel. The bullets flew past her on pure inertia, like fish leaping from the water. “Why?” Hazel’s question was answered by some Aerial Words and then the blue craft suddenly ascended. Erlkönig was trying to fly westward at an altitude of about 100 yards. The blue Sylphide shot up toward the black Erlkönig and crashed into it like it was stabbing into it from below. With a loud crash, the Sylphide’s tip pierced the Erlkönig’s belly. The black craft stalled with its rear tilting downwards and began to fall, but the blue craft could not keep up with its momentum. The pressure on the Sylphide’s tip from the rapid forward thrust and downwards momentum was too much for its frame and it bent in half like a papercraft. The two ships fell, twisted and tangled. They fell westward, toward the waterway past the collapsed bridge. They soon vanished behind that bridge. Sounds reminiscent of breaking stone and shattering glass tubes rumbled off into the distance. “Ah…” Hazel let out a dazed breath and looked forward to Lehrer. Lehrer kept her back turned and raised the spear in her left hand. Her eyes were turned toward where Sylphide had fallen, but… “I should have known. Of course Neue Erde would send Erlkönig.” After that resigned comment, she looked back over her shoulder to Hazel. When their eyes met, Hazel lowered her head and squeezed the ampule case in her right hand. “Sorry…” “Don’t worry about it. Sylphide chose to defeat Erlkönig. And you told it to stay away because you knew you could take care of yourself, right?” Hazel did not nod, but Lehrer said “that’s right” and sat down on the ground. Her butt touched the ground and she folded her legs underneath her with her back still to Hazel. “It looks like I was more naïve than you.” She collapsed. Toward Hazel. Hazel rushed over and placed one arm around Lehrer’s back and the other under her shoulder to prop her up. Then she looked down at the woman’s body. A jagged piece of metal a foot long was stabbed into the left chest of her purple uniform. Lehrer opened her mouth and blood spilled from her lipsticked lips, but she still spoke to Hazel. “Not getting my Bust attack out quickly enough was my mistake. And Sylphide didn’t save me.” “Stop talking!” “Which means Sylphide decided you deserve the Messiah eye more.” ### 640. Part 2 The white dodged the black’s Ober Emblem attack. But the black’s feet rode the wind forward for a second attack. On the first step, its right foot kicked to the right, sending its body to the left. Its wings kept it moving forward all the while. It circled around to the white’s left. Because that made it easier to swing the sword in its right hand. On the second step, it worked to control its leftward-flowing body. Seeing that, the white took evasive action to the right. It slid its feet over out of the black blade’s range. The black took its third step. It used that step to stop all of its forward momentum. It stomped the ground hard. Its momentum tried to push it forward, but it swung its sword from the right, twisting its body around to the left on its heel. It rotated its ankle and stuck its knee out to lean into the turn. The bent knee lowered and thus stabilized its stance. Its ankle motor cried in protest of the inertial weight pushing past the joint’s movable range. But that didn’t matter. With its lower body stabilized, it turned its hips to the left, leaned its upper body over, and completed its turn. This produced a rapid slash of its sword. It raced along a horizontal line, making a shrill sound more like a whistle than just slicing the air. But the white backed away and dodged it. The black blade produced a shockwave. “!” The white responded by throwing its left fist forward quickly enough to break the sound barrier. An explosion of water vapor surrounded the fist and then it extended its fingers to pierce straight through the shockwave launched by the black. The air ruptured. With an atmospheric scream resembling tearing paper, the white’s hand jabbed toward its enemy which was holding its black sword in a follow-through stance. The jab was aimed for the enemy’s unguarded side. The black immediately raised its left foot behind it. Its body still carried the great momentum of its weight, as well as its rotational movement. By standing only on its right foot, the momentum would make it spin. It threw a rear roundhouse kick. A heavy crash and sparks flew. The black left leg had repelled the jabbing white hand. The black continued its rotation and kicked off the ground to put some distance between them. It used its wings for some shallow flight. Then it faced forward. The white was pursuing. They were 5 yards off the ground with less than 10 yards apart. Air exploded from their backs. “!” Their swords clashed. Black and white sparks flew. Their swords were locked and pushed at each other with equal force. They both accelerated more to push back the other. The white flapped its six wings and the black made full use of its dragon-like black wings. They both raised their voices. They roared. Their roars instantly joined together and their power ruptured between them. The black blade shattered and the light surrounding the white sword burst. With a sound much like shattering glass, white and black lights scattered, illuminating or darkening their surroundings before vanishing like fading fog. They both tore deep into the grassy ground as they landed. The instant its feet were on the ground, the white charged toward the black. ### 641. Part 2 An aerial aircraft carrier’s bridge had gone silent. The bridge was illuminated by the moon in the sky. Everyone there wore gray uniforms – the uniforms of the AIF. No one said a word while their gray added another color to the pale blue moonlight and darker blue shadows. The only noises were the blowing wind hitting the bridge and the ship’s own sounds. Everyone’s eyes were turned the same direction: east. They looked through the blast-resistant glass surrounding the bridge to view the eastern night sky. They could no longer see the bombers in the subzero air. Then one person on the bridge moved. The communications officer by the wall raised his head. “The flagship is moving out front! We are changing formation!” His voice was directed toward the captain’s seat located at the raised rear of the bridge, but the captain and aide there were joined by two others. A large man and a short woman sat on the edge of the raised platform for the captain’s chair. They were Pale and Corelle. Corelle sighed and clicked her tongue. “So that flagship plans to spend the next week commanding this bombing while gathering data on air routes to Germania. I bet the Allies hope to use that to launch their ACBS.” Once she was done talking, the flagship moved even further forward. Then someone moved on the bridge again. The same communications officer as before suddenly stood up with his hands against his headphones. He looked to the others and started to say something. “––––––” But then he turned back to his communications equipment. “What is it?” asked the captain. “We’re receiving a transmission using standard encryption on the AIF’s ordinary communications band.” He fell silent for a few seconds more, but then he straightened his back and stood tall. “It’s from the Schwarz Löwe! Hazel Mirildorf is contacting us from the Schwarz Löwe!!” ### 642. Part 3 They entered a field with the scarlet lights of Germania shining in behind it. Hazel kept her back on that pale light, readied her sword, and took a breath. She faced Müller. Müller’s train had nothing to propel it anymore, so the gap between it and Hazel’s freight train started to grow. But Hazel did not take her eyes off of him. There was no concern on his face. As if to answer her gaze, he raised his right hand, twisted the fingers, and snapped them. “Next.” A great roar descended from the sky. The scream-like roar belonged to a propulsion device tearing through the air. … An aircraft this near the dome!? Germania sat behind her. The light of the dome was about a mile tall, starting from an altitude of about 30 yards, and it was a solid enough barrier to withstand an aerial bombing. And after leaving the forest, Hazel’s train was crossing the field between the forest and Germania. She was less than half a mile from the city. An aircraft was approaching the train while so close to the dome. “That’s crazy.” Hazel looked up to see said craziness. Not just one but four fighters were approaching in the night sky behind Müller where the Tuned birds still flew. They were rapidly descending like falcons swooping down at her. The roar reached her for just a moment. The four fighters took a curving touch-and-go course where they immediately scattered and ascended again. But they dropped something from their wings while sending a blast of wind down at her. There were eight in all. They were people. The dropping silhouettes wore the combat uniforms of Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division paratroopers and all four of their limbs were prosthetic. They held long hexagonal rods as weapons. Hazel knew who they had to be. “Hounds!?” “Indeed,” replied Müller. “They are a rapid response team meant to combat the Allied Heidengeist special forces.” The Hounds had descended at the midpoint between the two trains. The eight of them landed near simultaneously and made a gentle leap forward with their very first step. But from there, they began to sprint. They ducked low and kicked off the ground to pick up speed. Their running speed soon matched the velocity of Hazel’s train and then surpassed it. She gulped. Her instinct to get away from them made her look back over her shoulder. She saw a city there. Germania. If she traveled with the wind for just a few more hundred yards, she would pass the 10-yard-wide defensive trench surrounding the city, which doubled as a ventilation band around Germania, and she would enter the city from the southeast. But past the shimmering heat rising from that trench, she saw a hole. The massive hole looked like a vast cliff. The hole was about 3 miles wide. The city dropped off into a precipice there and more city could be faintly seen through the haze on the distant other side of the hole. … Is the southeastern part of old Berlin just gone? That used to be Schöneberg. For Germania’s layered structure, all the movable structures had been moved underground. The primarily residential 3-mile borough of Schöneberg and several other boroughs had been sent underground. … That must be why parts of the city looked empty from a distance. The track next to hers began to slowly descend. That one went to Germania’s 1st underground level. Her own track would cross the hole supported by wires and pillars and reach Germania’s surface level. Once on the elevated portion across the hole, she would have nowhere to run. The tops of the containers would be the only space available to her. She knew she had to hurry, so she muttered a man’s name and turned her body toward the front of the train. Just then, she saw a metal hand circle in from behind her. “What!?” She rolled forward, hopped back to her feet, and looked back to see one of the Hounds had gotten on the train’s roof at some point. He had tried to grab her from behind just now. He advanced without letting the momentum of his arm affect his balance. Hazel moved away and then ran toward the front of the train while still looking behind her. She checked on the enemy. She saw the armored train on the elevated railway and six Hounds chasing after her train. … Six!? She immediately lowered her hips. Something grazed the top of her head. It was a metal right hand that had swooped in from behind. Another one had arrived from behind her. “Quit sneaking up on me!” She hurriedly moved to the right. Then she leaped backwards, flying past the man who had attacked her from behind, and leaped again. The two men were already pursuing her a moment later. They each held their hexagonal rod with the hand opposite their partner. They were ready to jab with those if she tried to jump down. She sprinted while looking back. She kept her center of gravity low so she could attack at a moment’s notice. … I don’t have time for this. She wanted to deliver that envelope and ampule as soon as possible. Her impatience shifted her focus away from her feet, so her right boot caught on a rivet in the top of the container. It shifted the angle of her heel just a bit. The stumble wouldn’t normally have mattered, but here… “Oh.” The one leg crumbled below her. She staggered for a few steps, the hem of her skirt caught on the corner of a hatch on top of the container, and she fell. At the same moment, the train arrived below the dome and entered the city. ### 643. Part 3 Hazel awoke in darkness. She was lying on her side and her right shoulder, back, and thigh felt some leather warmed by her own body heat. She was lying naked on a sofa. The darkness remained when she opened her eyes. A blanket covered her eyes. She sensed the warmth of someone sleeping in their clothes next to her. After shivering from waking up, she pulled the blanket down from her face. She could see who was lying next to her face up with mouth slightly open. “Oh, Berger. You haven’t been shaving, have you?” She sighed and laughed quietly. She relaxed and twisted around to nestle up against him. She felt the warmth of his body through his shirt. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder and caught the scent of cheap soap. After a moment’s hesitation, she rubbed her neck against his shoulder. She rubbed her scent onto him. His shirt’s fabric was rough, so it felt nice against her neck. After enjoying that for a bit, she breathed a satisfied sigh and turned her somewhat sleepy eyes upwards. They were in a small but tall room. It was surrounded by bookcases on all four sides and the only light came through a small hole in the ceiling. The light was the lamplight of Germania she had seen earlier. … I must have dropped through that hole, landed on the sofa, and fallen asleep as a cat. Berger had arrived before her and failed to notice when she dropped onto the sofa. So she had crawled under the blanket next to him. “And then I went to sleep.” She smiled bitterly and lowered her gaze to find the room’s exit down by their feet. There was something odd about the area above the closed wooden door. That part of the wall was discolored. A square about a foot across was paler than the rest, so a frame may have hung there at some point. She didn’t know what that could be, so she only tilted her head and moved her gaze to the side. She found Berger’s sleepy blue eyes looking at her from only a few inches away. His eyes gradually focused in on her in the dim lighting. “…What?” He sprang up from the sofa. Or tried to. His prosthetic hand failed to grab the soft sofa behind him and slipped, causing him to collapsed backwards. She panicked a bit, but… … There’s nothing I can do. She heard a dull thud from below the sofa. She took a look down with the blanket gathered around her hips. “Are you okay?” “That hurt like hell. Which means I’m not dreaming. They sent you , Hazel?” He spoke in the same voice as always in the same irritated tone as always. His legs were still up on the sofa, so he pulled them down and sat up on the floor. Their eyes met with a slight height difference. “You Altered again, didn’t you?” he muttered from the floor. “What time is it? Oh, I guess you can’t wear a watch in that form.” He pulled out his own pocket watch, opened it, stared at it for a bit, and then showed it to Hazel. The watch said it was 4:12 AM. “We still have nearly an hour until the arranged time.” “Now’s fine. You brought my orders, I hope?” “I did.” Hazel searched through the blanket near where she had fallen. She found nothing. She only found the Wheel of Destiny card. “Huh?” “Looking for this?” Berger pointed at a white envelope caught in his shirt’s collar. “Y-yes, that’s it.” She watched as he grabbed the envelope and noticed a small bitemark on the edge. “This reeks of cat. You drooled on it while running around with it in your mouth, didn’t you? Gross.” “Now you’re just being mean. It isn’t gross.” “What makes you so sure?” “Because last year you made me swallow yours and licked all over my body. You wouldn’t have done that if it was gross.” Silence fell. Berger said nothing and let nothing show on his face as he tucked the envelope into his breast pocket. “I know this is sudden, but I think we need to talk,” he said. “About what?” “Early this year, I met this AIF contact who happened to be a woman. She said some nasty things about me and then mentioned some bullshit about how devoted to me you are.” Hazel thought for a moment, directing her eyes upwards. “Um,” she said. “I didn’t tell them anything weird. I told them we discussed our futures at Borderson and that you asked me if I trusted you before you pinned me down in bed.” She reflexively brought her hands to her cheeks as the memory came back to her. Her cheeks felt somewhat warm to the touch. “And I said you kissed me, touched me, licked me, and bit me. …Oh, but I didn’t even tell Corelle that you spread my legs, so don’t worry about that.” She gave a bashful smile and viewed him through the fingers covering her cheeks. For some reason, he looked ill. In fact, he looked deathly pale. And the color didn’t return to his face as he asked a question. “Hazel. You know exactly what you’re doing with that, don’t you?” Something fell from Berger’s shoulder to the floor: a small hard box. That was the ampule case Hazel had brought with the envelope. Unlike the envelope, it must have been caught inside his collar. She lowered her hand to point toward the white box. “Your serum is in there. The one to heal your Lives disease.” “It’s done already?” “Yes, but they said they can’t make any again. Shortly before I came here, the Live research facility in Detroit started working with a lab in Los Alamos to develop some new weapon.” “So the Allies don’t have time to spare for the AIF, huh?” He opened the ampule case while she watched. “Whoa.” A dark liquid flowed out and wet his hand. He dropped the case on reflex and it spewed shards of glass when it hit the floor. Pieces of the syringe were scattered among the spilled liquid. “Hazel.” Hazel held a hand to her mouth and gasped, her heart skipping a beat. “I did end up in a battle on the way here…” She wasn’t sure what more to say, so she started by working to calm herself. … Um. “R-right, there is a spare, so don’t worry. There is another ampule in a locker at Potsdam Station along with my luggage. You can use that.” She showed him the locker key hanging from her choker. He dropped his eyes to the key. “And you expect me to go get it myself? Me, the second busiest guy in the world?” “But we have more than an hour of extra time now, don’t we?” “Yeah, what about it?” “How about we visit Potsdam together? I can turn into a cat, so you can carry me on your shoulder. After all, I need to get my clothes out of my luggage there.” “Why not go on your own? While naked.” “Maybe I should let everyone know that you’re into exhibitionism.” He froze. “Let’s visit Potsdam together,” she said with a smile. He didn’t respond, so she tried something else. “Aren’t you going to answer?” “Shut up.” His eyes were on the syringe shards littering the floor, not on her. When she noticed, her shoulders tensed and she wondered what to do. “Um,” she said. He turned toward her and met her eyes, so she kept her voice low but serious. “I do have one piece of unadulterated good news for you.” “What, you mean that the Allies are developing an auto-ramming ship they call the ACBS?” Hazel beckoned him over instead of answering. He tilted his head, stood up, and took a step toward her. She scooted to the side to create space on the sofa, so he sat there. Before he could say anything, she took his right hand. She wiped away the serum fluid remaining on his hand. “Um, I really am sorry about the ampule.” She softly placed his hand on her left breast. She gained a somewhat troubled look at how his damp hand felt on her chest. “Can you tell? Um, uh…” “…” “They’ve gotten a lot bigger. Twice as big in just the last year.” Berger stared off into the distance. “And what is the unadulterated good news you have for me, teacher?” She put a smile back on her face to answer him. “You like big boobs, don’t you? …Wait, what are you doing!?” He rolled her up in the blanket and threw her out of the room. ### 644. Part 3 Two old men walked through a forest. The one on the right, who was tall, skinny, and bald, spoke with his hands in his suit’s pockets. “This feels just like a real forest, Elrich.” The one on the left, Elrich, responded with his hands in his lab coat’s pockets. “And whose fault is that, Witzmann? As much as it looks like a forest, this is actually that secret passageway in the old HQ. That HQ was built on top of a castle and the ether conversion device built below that castle has gone berserk, recreating tactile History Tons to show them as fake dragons and even the scenes and situations from the historical records.” Elrich watched as Witzmann plucked a leaf from a nearby tree and held it up. It was a bright green broadleaf. He flicked it through the air with his long finger, where it hit Elrich in the nose and spiraled down to the ground. Witzmann wiped the sweat from his brow and touched a nearby tree. “So you’re saying this forest is a recreation of the History Tons known to the old HQ – or the castle below it? If an ether conversion device is remaking the castle’s Tons into this…then in a way, this forest is real.” “Correct. The castle used to extract Germany’s Tons from the ley lines and recreate dragons, but now it has gone berserk and is recreating everything related to the dragons in the Messiah’s time: the ridiculous monsters, the locations, and the time.” “You thoroughly researched how these spaces are made back when the Geheimnis Agency was started, didn’t you?” Elrich nodded and looked up into the sky while walking through the underbrush. He could see the blue sky past the forest’s leaves and branches. “That wasn’t easy. We started out on the beach back when we joined 23 years ago, didn’t we?” “How long did it take us again? Because we don’t have any spatial conversion techniques.” “Three weeks. We fought on the beach, in the dark, in the caves, and in the castle courtyard. …I heard it created a dark underground passageway for those Maldrick and Schweitzer kids when they joined four years ago.” “They set a new fastest time, didn’t they? The castle’s device can only show people images with ether, so it was fairly helpless against Der Held’s ether annihilation and Maldrick’s ether destruction.” “Now is not the time to be praising those kids. We don’t have any techniques like that, so escaping this space is going to take a lot of doing.” With that, Elrich walked out ahead and looked back at Witzmann who wasn’t following. “What now? If you aren’t coming, I’ll leave you behind.” “That isn’t south. Who was it that said we might find a road or homes if we head south?” “That was me.” Elrich clicked his tongue. “And you’re the one with the watch. Fine, which way is south?” Elrich stopped and turned around to see Witzmann checking his pocket watch. He compared the watch to the sun in the sky and then turned his narrowed eyes toward the forest trees to his left. “That way. Let’s hope this takes us out of the forest.” “This really is going to take a lot of doing. The most we can do is survive until the castle stops recreating its records.” “If only it wouldn’t recreate such a wide space for its limited records.” They started walking again. Their feet rustled the thick underbrush. “This is a dense forest. I can already tell it will be sweltering once the sun is higher in the sky.” “This is what the forests were like back when the Messiah was uniting Germany.” “True enough.” Elrich wiped away his sweat with his lab coat’s sleeve. “The beach we saw 23 years ago was a recreation of the records of the Messiah defeating a North Sea dragon. The dragons Maldrick and Schweitzer saw in the darkness 4 years ago were a recreation of when the Duke of Saxony challenged her to clear an underground labyrinth as a test. …All German Neue Kavaliers must go through something the Messiah experienced.” Elrich looked up as he walked. He could see bits and pieces of the sky through the branches and leaves. Witzmann brushed aside a branch in the way and Elrich ducked below it. They still couldn’t see anything but forest ahead of them. Only an ocean of green. “Hey, Elrich. Can I ask you something out of the blue?” “What is it?” “What do you think the ruin coming in August actually is? The war is going back and forth and everyone’s anxiety continues to grow, but what could cause ruin on a global scale?” “All I can think of is the Tristan going haywire. If all the boosted Vaterlands go nuts along with it, the effect will spread to the world’s ley lines and that would cause largescale destruction on the surface.” “But that would only destroy the surface of the earth. That’s trivial when you look at the world as a whole. The world is going to end in some way that doesn’t even leave History Tons behind. What could even do that?” He took a breath. “Our intelligence network has already learned that the Allies have created a ley line reversal Tune Emblem for use against Tristan. They based it on data received from the AIF’s destruction of a Vaterland back in ’39. They plan to occupy all of the Vaterlands around the world and use the Tons they’ve prepared to send the flow of ether back toward Tristan to destroy it.” “What Tons have they prepared?” Witzmann parted the underbrush before answering. “Anxiety.” He took a breath. “There’s plenty of that going around these days. …Oh, there’s a road.” Elrich was about to say something more, but he stopped when Witzmann mentioned a road. Instead, he only repeated the word “anxiety” under his breath and turned to see what Witzmann was looking at. The forest opened up. A road cut by from left to right, leading up a hill slope. The light of the sun managed to pass through the forest trees to reach them. “I would love to find a sign. Then I could estimate when this record takes place,” said Elrich before hearing a distant animal cry. It was an unfamiliar cry and very loud at that. No ordinary animal could make a sound so loud. Elrich sighed. “The old HQ’s recreations are always missing one element, aren’t they?” “They recreate the surrounding environment and the monsters. However…” “They do not recreate the Messiah or the Neue Kavaliers who fought them. Whoever is taken into the record has to play that role themselves.” “That must be a dragon over there. But more than that…” Witzmann trailed off as he crouched down. Elrich frowned and started to ask what that was about. But a sudden change came over his expression. “Sword fighting?” Witzmann nodded as several metallic crashes echoed in from the distance. The dragon roared again in response. “Someone is fighting the dragon.” “I thought that part wasn’t recreated!? This is only supposed to be the dragon, the time, and the place!” Witzmann held out a hand to silence Elrich before he slowly stood up and faced forward. He could see the road at the end of the forest and a grassy hill. Something climbed to the top of the hill from the other side. The giant green shape was a beast measuring at least 50 yards long. It spread its large wings, raised its tail, and ran atop its four legs. “A dragon.” But it wasn’t alone. Someone climbed the hill with the dragon. The woman had long blonde hair and wore a white cloak. She held a sword in one hand and ran alongside the dragon. A young man wearing a contrasting black cloak ran up from behind her with a sword in his hand as well. The young man had only one arm. The white and black people evaded the dragon’s fangs and kept running. Elrich blankly muttered something other than their names. “The Messiah and the one-armed young man!?” ### 645. Part 3 “And so you have strayed from the scenario that has been repeated time and again to preserve the world. You have left the looping scenario set up by the Panzerpolis Project.” Lowenzahn stepped away from the terrace railing and walked past Hazel to the west. Hazel was too preoccupied trying to make sense of what she had just been told. Her Ober Beweisen was not enough to save the world. She needed the power of a Buster as well. … So I chose the wrong kind of power? She had made that decision during the battle at Cologne. She had seen a school and decided she wanted to be a teacher after the war. But… “Unfortunately, you won’t have a chance to see the end of this war. In fact, the world itself won’t. Because…” “The millennium’s worth of damage to the Spacetime Tons sends the world back 1000 years from August 23, 1943 to begin another loop?” “Yes. If you do not wind up in the past, the last 1000 years of Germany’s history will be altered. The Messiah will not appear in the past. Do you get it now? You must return to the past to preserve the world. You cannot escape the Nibelung.” The word Nibelung reminded her of the card in her coat’s breast pocket and she heard a bitter laugh from behind her. “But maybe that’s for the best. If this war continues, Germany will lose. And the anxiety will cover the world. Doesn’t repeating the fun part time and again sound better than seeing the boring ending?” “But…” “There is no other way. My mother explained it all to me when I was little. Including what I must do! She told me I can preserve the world by becoming a part of an Eingeweide concept weapon! So…” Hazel looked back, but Lowenzahn’s face was obscured by the setting sun shining in from behind her. “So I will keep the wheel turning. For my own sake.” Her Lives were the orange of joy. “Messiah, let me help you with your dreams.” “Eh?” Hazel tilted her head. “My dreams?” “I mean this.” Lowenzahn kicked at the relief on the floor. “You have dreams about an ancient army on the move while you wander through a dark forest with him, don’t you? Maybe you think of them as nightmares, but you have dreams that feel like your own memories once you grow accustomed to them, don’t you?” “…!? How do you know about that?” “Those dreams really are your memories. In August of 1943, you destroy Tristan at Germania, making you, the one-armed young man, and Sylphide the keys to reconstructing the world.” Lowenzahn kicked at the relief again. “So when the world was reconstructed a thousand years ago, it included some Tons from you, him, and Sylphide. That is also why your Tons include some German Ton data even though you are Heidengeists and why your Tons include your own memories from the previous loops. You see those memories as dreams.” She took a breath. “So you have those dreams even though you have already given the wrong answer to be the Messiah.” “Th-then…!” “Then what?” Hazel frowned. “Why did you capture me!? I’m not a Buster! All the Geheimnis Agency people here think I’m going to save the world. But you just said I can’t do that!” Lowenzahn relaxed her shoulders and sighed. “Like I said in the beginning, I know full well that you lack the ability. What I need is your Messiah eye.” She smiled bitterly and shrugged. “Getting it all the pieces to fit wasn’t easy, let me tell you. I had to give the Allies information on our Wort Bombe in exchange for you. I leaked that destructive weapon’s data as a replacement for your Busting power. They intend to load it onto an auto-ramming ship to ensure they destroy Tristan in August.” Lowenzahn pointed toward the black cross visible in the eastern sky. “I will borrow your Messiah eye’s power then. Our Beweisens are the same, so I can forcibly activate your Ober Beweisen. Then I use your eye to view the Spacetime Lives and make sure they remain as undamaged as possible while letting the Wort Bombe go boom and trigger Ton collapse.” Lowenzahn stared straight into Hazel’s Messiah eye. “You don’t need to do a thing. I only need to borrow your eye for a bit.” ### 646. Part 3 Hazel was in the base’s document/post room. The 10yd room was crammed full of bookcases. The large door to the hallway sat open and stretchers full of small packages were being transferred between the delivery room and the hallway. The room had four tables and Hazel was using the one directly in front of the counter to write a letter. She only wore a surgical gown, a coat, and slippers, so she stood out like a sore thumb among all the uniformed soldiers. She had walked here after her chat with Lowenzahn on the roof and she had been sitting here ever since. She had a stack of books on either side of her letter to help hide herself. They were all research books concerning the Messiah. … What did the Messiah do after ending up in the past? She had been so curious she had continued researching that without bothering to get any dinner. She had noticed one thing about the contemporary paintings and reliefs depicting the Messiah and the one-armed young man. … That really is me, Berger, and the Sylphide. “But almost all of the books say the Messiah was a Buster.” She stopped writing when she heard an intermittent low noise from the hallway. Those were wheels carrying something heavy. She had been hunched over her letter, but now she straightened up. She looked back to see several people in white coats pushing in a stretcher loaded with a waterproof wooden box. They saluted when they noticed her. She quickly nodded back. Joy filled their faces and Lives and they saluted again before leaving. She blushed a bit and sighed. … They’re so happy just having me here. She looked down and picked up the pen to continue writing. “Umm.” But she stopped. She was suddenly curious about something. … How is the Messiah described in ordinary stories, not just these academic books? “What was her relationship with the Neue Kavaliers and the other people?” … Was it like me and those soldiers just now? She put down the pen and grabbed the thinnest picture book in the pile of books to her right. It told the story of the Unreif Germaine. She opened it to find the six most common sections of the story illustrated in an old-fashioned style. She took a breath and read the opening line. “This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.” She flipped through the few pages and read about the Messiah. “The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.” She gathered and fought alongside the Neue Kavaliers to suppress the rebellions and monsters cropping up all over the land. Hazel stopped reading there for the time being. … This must be what the Geheimnis Agency’s people expect from me. With that in mind, she silently looked down at the picture book she held. The illustration showed the Messiah battling several black dragons. … They expect me to do this kind of thing, so their commander can’t tell them the truth about me. She can’t tell them I can’t save the world. Lowenzahn knew what would happen in August and what ruin awaited them. But only she and I know about that, thought Hazel. … It’s the Geheimnis Agency and the Messiah who actually bring ruin to the world. “And that’s what let the world survive this long.” Hazel had taken a different path this time, but Lowenzahn was trying to correct for that. Why was she trying to fulfill the prophecy herself instead of telling everyone the truth? “No one on this base doubts or suspects me.” … This is why Jeanne Schmitt kneeled before me back in ’39. “I probably should pretend to be what I’m not since they have such faith in me.” Her words fell to the floor and she eventually tilted her head. “But is that really what I should do?” She flipped through the picture book again. A two-page illustration showed a party held below the starry night sky. The people surrounded a bonfire while they sang, dance, and ate. At the top of the page, above the fictional night sky, the title “6th Section of the Ending God” was written large in old-fashioned language children would have a hard time understanding. After unifying Germany, the Messiah and the knights had fulfilled their roles and returned to their homes. But, thought Hazel, turning the page. A dark illustration was drawn on the left page. It depicted a path leading from the party to the forest. The path vanished into the darkness and a one-armed man was walking down it with the Messiah’s sword in hand. “The one-armed young man left a letter telling her to fight no longer and departed.” The opposite page depicted the Messiah looking up into the blue sky and weeping. Large tears drawn in blue crayon fell from her. “The Messiah wept. “She was inconsolable despite the knights’ and the king’s best efforts.” She turned another page and saw the Messiah stand before the gathered people in a wheat field that spread out around them like the ocean. “But one morning, the Messiah stopped weeping and gathered everyone.” The next page showed the Messiah removing a red gem pendant from her neck and placing it around the neck of the youngest Heidengeist girl among the gathered people. She said something to the girl. “Do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.” Hazel turned another page. She was already at the final two-page illustration. The Messiah slept in the darkness with a blue dragon curled around her. And outside that darkness, the one-armed young man sat with his back to her and her sword in his arms. Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new All hesitation will come to an end up ahead Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new Throw out all hesitation and look back The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new All hesitation exists to tear through that wall “The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed young man returned. He spent the rest of his days guarding the shrine…until one evening he breathed his final breath.” After reading the final line, Hazel remembered something. … The Alfheim Meteorite Pit in ’39! Her heart skipped a beat as it came back to her. Corelle had said the AIF had stolen something excavated at Alfheim. The illustration before her showed the Messiah surrounded in darkness and protected by the blue dragon while she slept. And she had said she would awaken again in a thousand years. “What if the darkness here is actually the ground below Alfheim?” … Why did she think she could wake back up in modern times? She thought about it some but shook her head. It was too soon to reach any conclusions. It’s just a picture book, she told herself. “Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new / All hesitation will come to an end up ahead.” She repeated those words and closed the book. Then she hunched over, faced her letter, and picked up the pen. She wrote out the rest of her letter so intensely you would think she was trying to tear a hole in the table. The tapping and scraping of pen on paper surrounded her as her hand moved rapidly left to right across the paper. Finally, she signed her name. Just as she finished, some ink flew out and formed a splotch on the letter. She reflexively wiped it up with her left thumb, staining the finger black. “Oops,” she said and looked around, wondering what to do. She finally gave up and wiped it off with the sleeve of her surgical gown. Then she sighed and folded the letter. She made sure it was folded straight and then grabbed the envelope she had placed nearby. After some hesitation, she wrote the recipient’s name on the envelope. “Dog Berger.” She stood up, slipped the letter in the envelope, and placed it on the table. She had to put away her stacks of books before handing the envelope over at the counter. She had a total of 27, so she got to work putting them back where they belonged on the shelves. The hem of her gown and coat fluttered around her legs as she moved quickly enough to have all but one of the books returned in only 7 minutes and 32 seconds. Moving her body helped clear her mind. There was only one thing on her mind. … I want out of this place. She had a single reason for that. “There must be a way to avoid needing to tell those kind lies!” She held the last, and biggest, book in her hands and let out a determined snort when another stretcher arrived. It carried a large waterproof box and a large plastic wrapper. The writing scrawled on the side of the box said “to Germania”. The men in lab coats placed it on the counter and asked the receptionist behind the counter to seal it and prepare it for shipment before they pushed the stretcher back out. They said they had another box to bring by soon. The elderly receptionist gave the box an annoyed look. He pulled a packing slip and pen from his vest and began writing out the necessary information. Hazel watched it all. … Geheimnis Agency bases are always so busy. The AIF HQ was a lot more relaxed, she thought before turning toward the items on the counter. She recognized the thing wrapped in clear plastic next to the wooden box. “–––––!?” It was her own bag. She gasped. The bag stolen from the train station locker at Potsdam had been brought here and now it was right in front of her. Since men in white coats had brought it here… “They must have removed the serum and examined its contents.” In that case… … Is the serum in that box? The box hadn’t been sealed yet and the top was sitting somewhat open. She clutched the book tight and held the top edge against her forehead so it covered her face. “Um.” … This is a gamble. She nodded. … But if the serum is in that box… “I need to get out of here.” … It’s my duty to deliver that to Berger. She nodded again, deeper this time, which filled her body with strength. She faced forward. She walked over to the elderly receptionist holding some cloth tape behind the counter so he could seal and waterproof the box. She interrupted just as he stretched the tape out and reached his arms around the box. “Excuse me.” Her voice cracked a little and he turned his gaunt face toward her in surprise. “Do you need something?” “Um, well, could you send this letter for me?” She held out the unsealed envelope and he quickly rolled up the tape. He set the tape down, brushed off his vest, and politely accepted the envelope. “To Germania? That will require domestic censorship. Is that acceptable?” “Yes,” she confirmed, slowly reaching out her empty left hand to the lid of the wooden box. He turned his back to place the letter in a stack indicating it needed to be inspected and censored. Her fingers hesitated on the box in that moment. … Should I really look inside? Something made up her mind for her. An alarm rang throughout the base and a voice came over the speakers. “Alert! Night Security Team to active interception posts! An unidentified Grösse Panzer is approaching from the south!” The phrase “unidentified Grösse Panzer” sent a tremor through her body. The alarm continued to sound, seeming to soak into her trembling body. She heard hurried footsteps and shouting voices from the hallway. “Could it be?” She reflexively lifted the lid in front of her. She gasped when the wood creaked far louder than she had expected. But she was through hesitating and continued lifting it. She checked inside. Her hand was already reaching inside and pulling out what lay inside. And… “That’s not it.” The box held four bottles of some kind of chemical. Even an amateur could tell this had nothing to do with her ampule. She sighed, her shoulders drooping while the alarm drowned out all other noises. … I was too optimistic. She tried to force a smile, but then the wind blew in from the hallway. “Eh?” She looked back to see a new stretcher entering the room. This one carried a different 2ft box. That would be the other box the men in white coats had said they would bring by. “Could it be?” she repeated, running over on reflex and yanking open the box in front of everyone. A plastic case wrapped in a plastic bag was packed in with sawdust. She smiled. She reached out with her eyes on the men in white coats, the receptionist, and everyone else in the room. “U-um, please wait for me! I swear to you I will someday – but probably soon! – come back for you as a Messiah no one can twist to their own purposes and then I will fix everything. I swear I won’t run away.” She took a breath. “So tell everyone to please wait for me!” She grabbed the plastic bag, pulled out the case, and opened it with one hand. It contained an ampule with only a small amount of its contents missing. After confirming that, she shut the case. She turned toward the group that was frozen in shock and she bowed. “I’m sorry, but can you please put this back for me?” She tossed one of them the book she held in her left hand. The man in a white coat caught the heavy book and staggered back a few steps, at which point she was already running out into the hallway. She stuck the ampule case in her coat pocket and lightly held the card in the breast pocket. She ran down the hall, slipping past people who turned to see what was happening. She was now convinced that destiny could be changed. ### 647. Part 3 Hazel faced Karl ahead of her and considered that question. She hung her head a bit, but she soon looked up and answered. “To where I think I should be.” She looked to the Barrels to the left and right and brushed up her hair. “Um,” she began. “You wouldn’t believe me if I promised to return once everything is in place, would you?” “No, unfortunately,” said the red one. “Our master, Kaiser Schwert, ordered us to take the Messiah’s life if she were to escape,” continued the blue one. That came as a shock to Hazel. … So not everyone in the Geheimnis Agency agrees about me. She made a note of that while turning her thoughts to Alfred. Then she heard a pair of metal noises. They came from the blue Barrel to her left readying its rifle and the red one to her right pulling out the short sword hidden within itself. “So you are running away?” boomed Karl Schmitt’s voice in front of her. He nodded while looking down at her. She frowned a bit at his nod and pressed her right foot against the roof. The cloth made a wet sound and the cold blood soaking it got on the roof. She faced forward while standing in her own blood. “I am not running away. And I will no longer make excuses either.” She took a breath. “I am simply pointing out which answer is correct.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a bullet and a short sword strike rushed in from the sides. She leaped forward just beforehand. She rolled herself down the sloped roof and toward Karl’s chest. The sound of the bullet hit her along with a shockwave and Karl’s hand moved in from the right. “–––––!” She looked behind herself for just an instant. The red and blue were moving to launch a second attack. But something was missing there. … They’re always with that white Heavy Barrel! Is it here too!? That question led to a flash of insight as she leaped from the roof just before Karl grabbed her. She leaped out into the empty space above the road. She floated in the air as a precursor to falling. But Karl’s giant hand pursued her to scoop her out of the air. She viewed his hand. “I won’t let you catch me!” She read the timing from the wind Lives wrapped around his metal fingers and kicked off his finger. She used the force of his finger to launch herself toward the main gate. She used her feline agility and the Heavy Barrel’s hand to propel herself through the night sky. She was 20 yards up, so falling would mean death. But this was enough. … I know it is! She only needed to do one thing, but she didn’t have much time to do it. She hurried. Still lying face up in the air, she breathed in to calm herself. She lay in the night sky and faced the stars and moon. She opened her mouth with her eyes on the moonlight situated at the highest point of the sky. Her Messiah eye glowed red as she spoke the Text necessary to resolve this. She used her Beweisen. ### 648. Part 3 Her voice was drowned out by two much louder sounds. The first was a group of trucks approaching from the left. The second was a gust of wind descending after crossing the bridge on the right. That wind came from Schwarz Löwe. Hazel turned to see the black Grösse Panzer landing on the other side of the bridge. “Hazel, he is here for you.” Lehrer smiled and pulled the metal out of her own chest. It was a foot long and it returned to bluish-white ether light and vanished after bouncing off of the pavement scarred by the shockwave. Lehrer straightened up in Hazel’s arms and stood up. “Go on ahead, Hazel.” “No!” As soon as Hazel stood up, she heard a loud, dry sound from her right cheek. Lehrer had slapped her. She reflexively held a hand to her cheek, more out of surprise than pain. She could feel the warmth in her cheek. “Hazel,” said Lehrer. “Sylphide is not dumb enough to choose its own death. And I am not inexperienced enough to need your concern. Sylphide will recover and I will escape here alive. Because-” Then Lehrer started coughing. She held a hand to her mouth and turned away from Hazel. That brought her slashed back into view. Hazel decided to ask the question that had occurred to her while reading that picture book in the document room. “Tell me, Lehrer! What were you about to say!?” … Because…what? “Why did you sleep for a thousand years to reach the present day? Was it to see Berger? Or was it to save me?” Lehrer gasped and looked back when she heard that. “…” But then she smiled and shook her head. She did not say anything more. Instead, she gave Hazel a shove toward the bridge. “No! Wait! We can both go!” shouted Hazel just before Lehrer swung her spear between the two of them. Light trailed behind the spear. With a roar, the road was split by a fissure 3 yards wide. “…!” The roar of weapons fire arrived from the sky at the same time. Bermark Nein was pursuing Schwarz Löwe. She heard Schwarz Löwe standing up and she heard Berger’s voice. “Hazel! Jump!” The sounds of Grösse Panzer movement rang loud. She looked back to see Schwarz Löwe dodging the enemy shots flying toward the bridge while flapping its wings and running her way. With arm outstretched. He intended to scoop her up and take flight. Schwarz Löwe’s footsteps approached and its black hand moved ever closer. She could see the shells hitting behind it. At 3 yards away, Hazel’s body was lifted from the ground to land on Schwarz Löwe’s hand. Its right hand snatched her away in midair. “Lehrer!” She felt the pressure of the accelerating metal hand holding her, but she still reached her hand out ahead. Lehrer looked back in slight surprise on the other side of the ditch she had created. “Jump!” shouted Hazel. “Hurry! We can both leave here!” Hazel’s words brought some definite doubt to Lehrer’s face, but then she glanced down at the ditch she had made. “…” She nodded with her eyes close and then took a step toward Schwarz Löwe. Hazel smiled and clung to Schwarz Löwe’s thumb with one arm while reaching her left hand even further out. But… “!?” Lehrer turned back around on reflex. Like she had noticed something. “Lehrer!?” Hazel gave a panicked shout toward the woman’s back and then saw the problem. A row of trucks was driving up from the narrow road Lehrer had turned toward. The truck headlights were far brighter than the outdoor lights and warning lights and a silhouette could be seen highlighted by them. That was Alfred Maldrick with Rein König held high. He was running toward them with the clear intention of attacking Hazel in Schwarz Löwe’s hand. Lehrer spun her spear around to block his attack. A roar rumbled out and bright light filled Hazel’s vision. A moment later, Schwarz Löwe dodged out of the way of the light and began its ascent. Hazel’s hand failed to grasp anything in the light. She shouted something, but her voice was drowned out by the Panzer’s ascent and the Busting shout coming from the surface. ### 649. Part 3 Hazel heard Corelle’s voice from the communicator in Schwarz Löwe’s secondary cockpit. They held a conversation. She was using a throat microphone and headphones, so while the signal was staticky, none of the local noise got in the way. Corelle asked for her current location and time. “I think we’re almost to the North Sea. The time is 3:17 AM. Dawn should come soon.” “Then it will be morning bey the time you reach us, Hazel,” said Corelle through the headphones. “Can you hear me too, Berger? It’s about time for the German interceptors to pick a fight with tonight’s last bombing run. They’ll use the morning wind.” “The wind?” asked Hazel. “When the sun shines on the North Sea, a foggy wind sweeps in from east to west. They should use that fog for cover. Make sure you aren’t caught by them.” Hazel nodded. Of course, Berger was the one piloting, but he hadn’t said a word this entire time. … He must be really tired. She knew he had another reason for his silence too. Schwarz Löwe was traveling back along the route the bombers had taken to travel north over Holland, but she was feeling more and more chilled the further they got from Germany. … Because of the Lives. She was certain now their bodies would not break apart. The serum would prevent that, so they could last at least a few days outside the country. … I need to speak with so many people about so many things in that time. “Berger. We need to reach the others.” “We have something else to do first.” For the first time this entire flight, his voice reached her over Schwarz Löwe’s speaking tube. Her eyes widened in surprise, but then she heard him laugh weakly and raise his voice to a shout. “Here he comes! It’s that supreme idiot!” ### 650. Part 4 The train rushed out from the cliff-like edge of the inner wall and into the empty space beyond. It continued across the great hole with only the elevated track to support it. Hazel’s eyes were turned toward the back of the train. She saw it all play out from that direction. Still fallen on the container roof, she saw Germania’s surrounding wall growing more distant. Germania’s inner wall had been cut away like a cliff face and it was covered in cement and metal. But the approaching enemy did not give her a chance to get a better look. There were two of them. She pulled her knees together to prepare for them. … My skirt. It was still caught in the container’s hatch. The enemy was approaching fast, their solid footsteps sounding loud. … I need to do something! When looking up at them, she saw her savior illuminated by the scarlet lights in Germania’s night sky. The metal birds flew there. Since she had Tuned the flock, they didn’t want to stray far from her and remained overhead. “Come to me!” she shouted, swinging her Device in mere moments. The only way to get her voice to the flying birds was to strike the wind Lives. At the same time, the wind roared in the sky. A shadow fell toward the roof where Hazel sat. It was dark enough to blot out Germania’s scarlet lights. Something had appeared overhead. The approaching men glanced up at the shadow falling toward them. “–––––!?” They stopped to look up at it. An entire freight container hung in the sky above. That was the 7th container Hazel had Tuned earlier. The Tuning had been removed, so the birds had returned to their original form. Gravitational acceleration pulled the heavy object straight down. In less than a second, the train car dropped between Hazel and the two men, erasing them from her view. The great pressure of the impact was enough to break through the train’s roof and the rest of the car too. “Kyah!” The train car below Hazel was broken in two. She heard a chorus of breaking and bending metal as the roof below her was launched high into the air. She clung to the roof to ensure she wasn’t stripped from it. The front half of the car landed again. It bounced a bit, but the wheels found the track again. With a sound like a brass instrument being kicked over, the freight train corrected its position and resumed moving. Moving forward. Hazel saw the 7th car stabbing into the elevated track like a stake. It blocked the way like a gravestone and it grew smaller in her vision as the freight train left it behind. … Now they can’t continue pursuit. She started to work at getting her skirt untangled from the container hatch, but she was interrupted when the 7th car suddenly ruptured down the center. “Eh?” Hazel saw a powerful blow strike the 7th car from the other side, blasting a hole in it and knocking it away. And it didn’t stop there. She heard a series of heavy bursting sounds that felt like they were hitting her in the gut. This was artillery fire. The vertical 7th car was utterly destroyed. The wreckage was swept out of the way to reveal only a voice at first. The voice belonged to “Standhaft” Herbert Müller. “Next.” After pushing away the wreckage of the 7th car, the armored truck traveled slowly but surely forward on nothing but inertia. Müller and the 6 Hounds stood atop it. As did… “A Grösse Panzer!” Behind Müller, the 2nd container’s roof split in half and opened to the sides. A gray Panzer stood up from within. The long shaft it held was a single-shot 75mm Grösse Panzer anti-tank cannon measuring more than 8 yards long. The cannon fired without warning. A crimson bullet encased in shimmering heat flew toward Hazel who was still seated on her train’s roof. She didn’t even have time to scream. Accelerated by the long barrel, the bullet pierced not her but the freight train below her. ### 651. Part 4 Something creaked like a wooden ship periodically. That something was a giant vertical cylinder filled with white light. Specifically, it was the column of black metal running down the center of the cylinder. That was the word weapon barrel of the Gard-class aerial warship that had been remade into a part of Tristan. The Lives needed to pressurize the Vaterlands through the ley lines were launched from the loading area up above the column and then accelerated through it. The central column was the barrel and the cylinder was the exterior armor. The column ran through the cylinder from floor to ceiling, but they were actually 4.5 miles long. It continued well below the floor and well above the ceiling. Several girders extended from the inside of the cylinder to the central column and people wearing lab coats or black uniforms were walking and talking along those. The people were tiny compared to the column. One girder was located almost at the ceiling. It was more than 8 yards wide and two people currently stood on it. Both were old men. One wore a lab coat and the other wore a suit. The one in a suit looked down over the girder’s railing. The hem of his suit flapped in the wind that blew up through the cylinder. The one in a lab coat rested against the opposite railing. “Is the view really so interesting, Witzmann? You keep looking down there.” “No, I just like high places.” “Silly child,” said the lab coat man with a bitter smile. The man in a suit, Witzmann, replied with an exasperated nod. That was when a loud, deep reverberation came from the center of the cylinder. The column had caused it. The two men leaning against opposite girder railings turned their eyes toward the column. Once they were both looking straight down the girder at the column, their gazes separated to view their surroundings. The girder’s floor was about 5 yards from the ceiling. Two things were attached to the surface of the column in that limited space. One was a window. It was a yard wide and two yards tall and it gave a view of some plastic pipes that shook whenever the column gave a roar. The second was a desk-sized control panel made of a copper-colored metal located below the window. The panel should have had a few keys and controls, but it was all shattered. The left half had melted away and there was a fist-sized hole suggesting something had crashed into it. “Heiliger slammed his Tragisch fist into it and used his Beweisen instead of operating it normally, didn’t he?” said Witzmann when he saw the hole. “And that gave it temporary life.” “A life that lasts until the bearer of Tragisch dies. Its Ober Beweisen uses Tragisch as an intermediary to break its owner’s Tons down and fuse them with a machine. A variation on the Schreiben device, really.” “I see,” said Witzmann, looking again to the hole on the left side of the control panel. Another sound came from the column. The roar sounded somehow unstable. “So Elrich. Be honest with me about the Tristan.” “It is unstable. It doesn’t yet have the power needed to fully boost all of the Vaterlands around the world and let us oppose the Allies. The Panzerpolis Project is still missing something.” Elrich sounded sure of that. “The Tristan’s basic design was Marsch Gant’s idea, but he died before he could complete the final phase design. What we have her is the 5th Phase Tristan.” “I had a feeling.” Witzmann slowly nodded his head and took a closer look at the hole in the control panel. “Heiliger seems like the sentimental type to me. Is he?” “Definitely. Tragisch uses two Phlogiston Plattes built into it as fuel. High power ones created from Heidengeists. But those ones in his right shoulder…” “Were made from his Heidengeist wife and daughter who were eliminated in ’37? He really is sentimental.” Witzmann smiled bitterly. “But there are a lot of things I don’t understand of late. For example, I am unsure what the Ober Beweisens of a few Eingeweide devices are. Like our commander’s Neue Erde, or the Messiah.” “I can’t tell you about the latter, but our commander’s must be for prophesying.” “But you haven’t seen it for yourself, have you? She always prophesies deep below the old HQ, so no one can say for sure that’s what her Ober Beweisen does.” “What are you getting at?” “Neue Erde was developed by Marsch Gant. Records from the time say he only told our commander what its Ober Beweisen does and the development division cannot predict what it does based on the designs left over from back then. And with the Messiah, only that girl knows what its Ober Beweisen does. Am I wrong?” “Are you suggesting our commander may be keeping the truth from us? Aggressive as ever, I see.” Elrich snorted. “Let me guess: there’s more you don’t know. Like the meaning of the plate you took from the Karlsruhe knowledge storehouse.” Witzmann’s head drooped forward, but after a pause, he started laughing. “Ha ha ha. You noticed?” “I could tell at a glance the material had changed. Not that I blame you. I wouldn’t have given you permission if you’d asked.” “I still can’t read it, but it has expanded the breadth of my predictions.” Witzmann nodded. “My biggest question is ‘why’. Take the Unreif Germane’s 6th section for example. The previous five sections carry a hint of glory while leading to ruin. Those songs were apparently prophesies about events back then, but the people began to spread them after the Messiah went to sleep at the end.” “And the final line isn’t a record – it’s calling out to someone.” “She could see the ruin coming after the millennium of peace and she cried herself to sleep after encountering a goodbye and a wall, so why did she sing a song of new hope in the middle of all that tragedy?” “The thing is…” began Elrich. He groaned as he tried to figure out if he should give an answer or not. Witzmann smiled bitterly. “Only one person out there can answer that question. And you know who, don’t you?” “The Sylphide. The one excavated from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in ’39.” “Actually, I meant the Messiah from a thousand years ago,” said Witzmann. “You know what it means to find the Sylphide there, where it had been sealed for a thousand years, don’t you? It wasn’t being enshrined there.” “Cryogenic storage.” Elrich nodded. “It has to be in a sealed container with conditions similar to deep sea or a vacuum, but the life of the passenger could be preserved. It would have to be set to thaw on a timer or with external controls. If the Sylphide was set to only power its self-repair function and the cryogenic storage, it could preserve the passenger for a thousand years – or even several thousand years.” “The same conclusion I arrived at. The question is who spent a thousand years inside there.” “A question we can never answer since the AIF stole the Sylphide.” Both Witzmann and Elrich stopped talking there. Instead, an emotionless voice spoke from the opposite direction of the column. “Seeking that answer may be going a step too far.” They both turned toward the voice where the door leading out onto the girder had opened and a man walked out. He was tall and pencil thin and he wore a Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division combat coat. “Bermark Vier,” said Elrich. Bermark stopped walking and saluted. “I have new orders from the fräulein. I know the Messiah will be visiting soon, but she asks that you two head to the old HQ.” “Why there? That place is nearly deserted.” “You are being given a month of leave to help you recuperate from your hard work and prepare for the true battle to come. Unfortunately, the Allies have entered Germany, so you must remain inside the old HQ for your own safety.” “Ha ha!” laughed Elrich. “So we’re under house arrest!” “It would seem so. I was thinking of stopping by there soon anyway. I have a historical interest in the phase space lab built below that building. Our commander may intend to lock us in there, but that simply gives me the time I need to investigate.” Witzmann’s comment stopped Elrich’s laughter. Witzmann nodded when Elrich gave him a puzzled look. “Bermark’s presence is all the answer I need. I do not blindly trust our commander. After all, she more or less gave the Allies our Wort Bombe research document in exchange for having the Messiah sent to Germania.” But… “I may come to trust her depending on the answer I find for my question of ‘why’.” He stepped away from the railing and walked toward Bermark. “What about our men?” “She has already had Sir Heiliger arrange for replacement chiefs to the development and intelligence divisions. We are always training for such eventualities, so you have nothing to worry about.” “I see.” Witzmann stopped next to Bermark and slapped his shoulder. “Sounds like we have a busy vacation ahead of us.” ### 652. Part 4 A low-ceilinged room contained the murmurs of a hundred people. This was the mess hall at the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg Base. Most of the tables were full even though it was well into the afternoon. None of the people in black Geheimnis Agency uniforms were up and walking around. They all remained at the tables, whispering to each other. Empty plates sat in front of them all. They had finished their meals but not gotten up. The reason they hadn’t left could be found at the center of the mess hall. Everyone tried to feign indifference, but they were all stealing curious glances over their shoulders. The mess hall’s center table was rectangular and seated eight. Currently, just two people were seated across from each other there: Heiliger and Hazel. Heiliger wore a black uniform, had gray hair and a gray beard, and crossed his prosthetic arms atop the table. Hazel wore the kind of surgical gown found at hospitals with a black Geheimnis Agency coat draped over her shoulders. The Wheel of Destiny card in the breast pocket was her only personal possession. She had done nothing but talk without touching the meat pasta on her plate. She gesticulated and made sure to direct her entire face upwards so she wouldn’t have to direct her eyes up at the man who was looking down at her. She wiggled her right arm to indicate a flowing river and caught sight of something like a small brown stain on the inside of her elbow. That was a medical charm. She frowned when she saw it. “Does that bother you, Miss Mirildorf?” asked Heiliger. “The injection of German Tons, I mean.” Hazel quickly raised her head again. “No,” she said, but did hang her head a little, her eyes landing on his chest. “Well, it does a little.” “Have you been chattering away to distract yourself from that?” His tone made it clear his question was only rhetorical. She raised her head to find him looking back at her without any shift in posture. His expression remained calm too. … This man effectively commands the Geheimnis Agency right now. “General Karlsruhe?” “Yes? Shall I regale you with tales of your father as a change of pace? Just like you told me all about my daughter who happened to be a classmate of yours.” “No…I doubt my father would want me to intrude on his past.” “That sounds like him. Tell me, does he still raise his right hand like this when he has to think about something and finally gives an answer?” Hazel recognized the way Heiliger twisted and raised his prosthetic right hand. She even laughed a little and held a hand over the Wheel of Destiny card in her breast pocket. “Thank you for your concern. I feel a lot better now that I’ve laughed some.” She kept her smile. “But should the Agency’s second in command really be showing me around the base and sharing a meal with me? You’ve more or less told me where I need to go to escape.” “It’s perfectly fine. You are free to go wherever you like in the base and even send letters to your parents. The letters will be censored by the base’s post room I showed you earlier, of course.” “Why are-” Heiliger cut off her question. “You were injected with German Tons in this base’s medical room while you slept last night.” “So you think I can’t escape? What about the serum I brought with me?” “You expect me to believe you would save yourself with the serum you brought for someone else? And if you did try to share it with him, its effectiveness would drop and the German Tons would be back in just a few weeks. Then you would be forced to return.” “…” “We have already finished examining that serum and it will be transported to the bottom level of our Germania HQ for storage by the end of the day. You have nowhere to run, so we simply expect you to make the intelligent choice.” “And if I still try to run?” “We will do everything we can to stop you. You are our pet cat, not a stray.” When she grasped his meaning, Hazel’s shoulders drooped and some resignation entered her voice. “But I think it’s wrong to give your pet an injection while she’s asleep.” “After capturing you, we slipped a sedative into your food to help you relax. The doctor said you ate well and slept right through having your clothing changed and receiving your injection.” This was the first she had heard of that, so she cleared her throat and straightened the position of her butt on the chair. She wasn’t wearing anything other than her choker below the surgical gown she had worn for her examination that morning, so she felt vulnerable. She pulled the collar of the coat together. Heiliger sighed when he saw that. “After your examination tomorrow, you will be sent back to Germania and I can show you around Tristan. That enormous fortress will be your new home.” That turned Hazel’s focus toward the site of the injection on her right arm. She still felt a stiff pain when she bent the arm, proving that something critical had been done to her. … I didn’t even know it was happening. If she left Germany now, she would automatically Ash. She wasn’t sure what to think about that. … It still doesn’t seem real. But there was one thing she could believe in. … Berger. She couldn’t believe it took her this long to remember. She had gotten so worked up talking, but now her mind rapidly cooled. “Are you not feeling well?” asked Heiliger. “It’s not that. Um…do you know what happened to Berger after all that?” He froze in place for a moment. He clearly wasn’t sure why she would be asking. The Lives she saw coming from him were the yellow of confusion and had a quick staccato tempo. But he managed to respond after taking a breath. “You mean the one-armed young man who is always with you? The Wild Hund?” He had a troubled but somehow relieved look on his face. “What if…what if the Geheimnis Agency were to capture him? He too has been injected with German Tons, so he cannot leave the country. So our commander hopes to convince him to join us. Most likely, she will try that when he comes to rescue you.” “Because you think I’ll join you if Berger is with you?” “We must do whatever we can in the month until the ruin arrives in August.” She did not see the color of falsehood in his words. He was serious. … There is only one month until then. But on the other hand… “Do you really think you can capture him?” “Like I said while showing you around the base, the Allies will not help him. When he comes to rescue you, he will be on his own. But this base is defended by Neue Kaiser, Der Held, our commander’s Neue Erde, and the Fünf Leithammels leading the air force and army divisions. What can a single Wild Hund do?” “What if I work to help him?” “The Kaiser Schwert will try to kill you. He told me as much when he brought you in last night.” Her heart skipped a beat and she straightened her back while looking around. She saw no sign of the young man who had grabbed her arm in the library last night. Heiliger must have realized what her action meant. “He is in the sky right now. He said we need to be prepared to save the world on our own.” He took a breath. “He wouldn’t listen if I told him to stop, so I must ask that you do not try to escape. And…I also hope I can convince you to fight alongside us when destiny comes to rescue you.” “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.” She was surprised at how reflexively the answer came from her. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should say the rest. … But… “If I did that, he would call me spineless.” “This divinely-named man sounds like trouble.” “He is, but so am I. I mean, I can’t seem to figure out how to look at this from your point of view.” She took another look around. The men in black uniforms were all looking her way, but they would briefly look the other way when she turned toward them. She heard a wave of surprised gasps and groans as she cast her gaze around the mess hall. “Why am I the Messiah?” she asked. This was one thing she didn’t understand. The question was more directed at herself than at the others here. …. Are they saying I have the ability to lead all these people? She pulled on the coat and gripped the Wheel of Destiny card through it. “I can’t be your puppet ruler. I’m no more than a Tuner.” “Do you know what your Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen does?” His question kept her from saying more. She saw him resting his prosthetic arms on the table with the fingers intertwined. His eyes were closed and his expression blank. “You should still have a power you aren’t aware of. The power of your Ober Beweisen.” “And I can become the Messiah by using that power? Are you saying the Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen can save the world from the ruin the newspapers keep talking about?” “We trust in the prophecy saying as much.” Heiliger’s deep voice rang through the mess hall. At some point, all the other whispering had stopped. Amid that heavy silence, a single unified movement shook the air. Everyone in the mess hall nodded in response to Heiliger’s claim. Hazel almost failed to regulate her breathing. She held her right hand up to her right eye – the Messiah eye. “In that case, I will be faced with a choice when I learn what that power is. I will have to choose between being the Messiah or being a simple AIF soldier.” “The choice should be obvious. The Messiah will save the world, but what can a simple AIF soldier save?” asked Heiliger. “Will you choose the Allies or Germany? No, the real question is whether you will choose yourself or the world.” They were interrupted by a pair of hands clapping twice. That set the mess hall’s air in motion and led Hazel to turn toward it. A skinny person stood in the mess hall’s entrance behind her. Hazel recognized the woman in a Geheimnis Agency dress uniform. “The Geheimnis Agency Commander.” “Yes, the name is Lowenzahn Naylor. The prophet has come for you, Messiah Hazel Mirildorf.” Lowenzahn’s eyebrows were angled just a smidge in anger, but there was still a smile on her lips as she beckoned Hazel over. “Being here will only cause unnecessary anxiety. Come with me alone. I have something important to tell you. Then I will place my role on your shoulders. …So come.” She beckoned and continued without the smile. “Hurry.” ### 653. Part 4 The sky was colored the purple of late evening. A small field in the mountains sat below the sky as night fell. A pile of wood sat on the field and a motorcycle with a sidecar was parked next to it. A young man in black stood on the pile, removing the wood and tossing it away. A woman in purple sat next to the sidecar. She had built a stove from the discarded wood and a fire was burning inside it. A pot of soup was simmering atop the stove. The fire crackled inside the stove, briefly illuminating their dark surroundings. She spoke quietly while viewing the light through her tinted glasses. “No one knows anymore how it got started. The Panzerpolis Project wouldn’t have existed originally. But as the loops continued, it was eventually created to keep the wheel turning.” “And your memories appear to you as dreams?” “Yes, but the memories from my thousands of past iterations only tell me how desperate they all were. The dreams are a result of their anxious desire to not fail, to not run away, to not be hurt.” She took a breath. “I intend to create something new. I won’t give up just because I created another loop. None of my past selves could do anything about it, but destiny can be changed.” “So unlike your past selves, you chose to sleep for a thousand years inside the Sylphide?” “Yes.” She pulled a card from her pocket – the Hermit. “Back in my world, this was the Wheel of Destiny.” She heard his bitter laugh from atop the pile of wood. “Sounds like you’ve changed destiny after all,” he said. “If you failed to fix destiny in your time, what can you teach Hazel now that she’s a Tuner?” “There is one way to do this and I have already informed M. Schrier via letter. You must stop Tristan before the bombing of Berlin. Not destroy it – stop it.” “That’s a lot easier said than done.” “It is what it is. And Hazel’s Beweisen can stop Neue Erde.” “So you want her to stop the Geheimnis Agency Commander’s heart, killing her? And if the anxiety Lives are building up inside Tristan like you claim, then Germany will end up with some bad Live pollution.” “But it’s better than another loop.” He threw down another piece of wood. He threw down a disgusted comment along with it. “Which is why you slept your way to the modern age, huh? You really want to get history moving again, don’t you? But you know what happens if we don’t start another loop and you get what you want, don’t you?” “If the loops stop and Hazel does not end up in the past, the last millennium of Germany’s history will collapse from the very foundation. Because it will create a history where the Messiah does not save Germany a thousand years ago.” “And the world will correct itself to match. Most likely, we’ll all disappear and become someone else. That’s another kind of ruin for the people in the world now.” He threw another piece of wood. “Are you okay with that?” “That is how the world is meant to be.” Lehrer held her knees. “The chaos in Germany a thousand years ago was due to the anxiety that we failed to fully destroy back in ’43. I hated how everyone thanked me for eliminating that chaos a thousand years ago. Because I was only hunting down the trouble we had sown through time.” Lehrer squeezed her arms tight around her knees. “And you know what? I am destined to disappear no matter what happens.” “…?” “Without another loop, I will disappear along with this world. And if there is another loop…well, there is only one timeline. If everything is redone, I will be overwritten.” “You mean Hazel will erase you by following in your footsteps?” “Yes. In this world’s Lives, the old me will be rewritten with the new me. If Hazel creates another loop, she will overwrite and erase me. So…” So… “I can only exist this one time. As irresponsible as that might be.” She lowered her head and stirred the soup with the large spoon leaning against the edge of the pot. The somewhat brown potato soup swirled inside the pot. “What was I like last time? Let me guess: I was the second most wonderful guy in the world.” “Why would I tell you that?” She gave a snort of laughter. “Telling you wouldn’t accomplish anything.” “Fair enough. Oh, I finally found the secondary cockpit. Don’t move from there while I stand Schwarz Löwe up. How about you prepare your weapon and summon Sylphide? You can control that thing, right?” “I acquired a weapon earlier and Sylphide is already flying overhead. I have it soaring autonomously outside of detection range while its self-repair function heals a thousand years’ worth of decay. But more importantly…” Lehrer stood up. She looked up to see Berger atop the 3yd pile of wood. She looked between him and the pot at her feet. “You can make it quick, but you should really eat something.” “I’m too busy. I’m putting together a connector staff so Schwarz Löwe can wield Gelegenheit, so you just eat your portion.” “Oh? But the old you always loved my cooking.” “H-hold on there.” He hopped down, landed, and brushed off his black coat. “You just said you wouldn’t tell me about him, so how is this fair?” “Women can be selfish when it suits us,” she said bluntly. “But if you insist, I can tell you more. For example, whenever the old you would kiss me, you would reach your arms around to my butt and-” “Okay, okay! I’ll eat it! I’ll eat, so that’s enough!” He looked upset, clicked his tongue as he approached the fire, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Hazel’s a little more modest and has a bigger chest.” “Then you had better take better care of her than me.” Berger silently sat down and Lehrer sat to his left and looked to the fire. “I am Lehrer, but she can stay Hazel Mirildorf.” She picked up the plate sitting next to the stove and reached for the spoon in the pot. “You don’t like carrots, right?” She spooned some soup onto the plate and passed it to Berger. She expressionlessly accepted the steaming plate, checked his pocket watch with his other hand, and started eating. He ate quickly. “Hey, Lehrer,” he said. “Is there no way to keep you from disappearing?” “Feeling sorry for me? I appreciate it, Berger. There is one way, but it is something I couldn’t bring myself to do. Besides…” “Besides what?” “You have no intention of telling Hazel about this. This is something she needs to realize on her own. If she reaches that realization, I am sure she will save me and all the previous versions of me too. After all, all of the previous ones were overwritten by the next one…which is why they can only appear in our dreams.” “C’mon, you can tell me. If only you were still Hazel. Then I could just bully it out of you.” “I have questions of my own. Like how you realized who I really am.” “That was easy. I’d been curious about it since last year. After all, your kiss felt and smelled just like hers. You drink milk with every meal, don’t you?” Lehrer’s face grew a red different from the tint of the firelight. “Berger?” She spooned soup onto her own plate with a displeased look on her face. “I have another question too.” “Yeah?” “Now, I’ve heard some rumors going around the AIF saying you forced yourself on that girl when she was only 15. Is that true? …What is that disgusted look supposed to mean? “Don’t ask. That rumor has done some severe damage to my reputation.” “I see.” Lehrer nodded and blew on her soup before taking a bite. She sighed, satisfied with the flavor. “Can I ask one more thing, Berger?” “?” “It doesn’t happen to me much anymore now that I’m in my mid-20s, but she’s still young.” “What doesn’t happen?” “When Werecat girls are teenagers, they have a mating season from spring to summer.” “They…what?” “But girls have their pride, you see. We’re not animals, so we would only let it show in front of someone we have feelings for. And when we do…well, we’re cats, so we only try to tempt them. Do you get what I mean?” Berger ate his soup without answering. “If that girl hasn’t done anything, it’s because she’s been working very hard to resist the urge. She has no idea what she should do and doesn’t have anyone she can confide in. Do you get it now? So…” She took a breath. “So if something like that does happen, try to be gentle with her.” Berger set his plate down, paused for a few seconds, and then collapsed backwards like his strings had been cut. He twisted onto his side, turning his back to Lehrer, and flopped a few times on the summer grass. “Maybe I shouldn’t go rescue that idiot after all,” he groaned lethargically. Lehrer poured the rest of her soup into his ear. ### 654. Part 4 At half past 7PM, a bombing group centered on the US Air Force’s 8th Air Force began flying east from an airbase on the UK’s east coast. A thousand bombers were set to spend approximately a week obliterating their target with the assistance of the newly developed radar-disruption tactic known as chaff. Operation Gomorrah had been planned using the data collected from the bombing of Cologne. The flagship waited until the very end to take off last. The AIF aircraft carrier was one of the flagship’s supply ships, so it too was one of the last to take off. The carrier remained on the ground while Corelle and Pale looked up at the flagship and its escort fleet hovering in the sky overhead. “That flagship is going to spend a full week over the North Sea commanding the bombing,” said Corelle. “And we’ll be there waiting with it the whole time.” She glanced back at her RB-21 two-hull transport ship. It carried a single container. “I finally get why you dragged that thing all the way here from America, Pale. We’ve only got a month until the ruin and we’ve got to attack Germania as soon as we rescue Hazel and Berger. There’s no time to return to America in between.” “They’re all crazy if you ask me. Not one of them backed out after hearing what I said.” “Of course they didn’t. We’re going to define our own destiny, not just accept the hand we’re dealt. No one’s forcing this on them. We’re all making our own choices and solving this together.” She smiled and viewed the RB-21’s container. The B Number that indicated it carried a Heavy Barrel was written in thick gothic text. She smiled again at the text that looked even darker than the dark night. “What’s that B stand for? Barrel? Black? Or does it mean you, Berger?” ### 655. Part 4 It arrived suddenly. After starting her fall, Hazel turned to view the ground 20 yards below her. That was when a dull sound like breaking rock reverberated through her body. She thought it had to be Karl’s footstep, but while the massive Heavy Barrel was turning her way from 30 yards away, he had not taken a step yet. The blue and red Barrels were flapping their wings and performing attitude control in the air near where Karl’s fist had missed her. … Then what was that sound!? She heard it again and managed to ascertain its location this time. It came from the road she was currently falling toward. A sound like something tearing through rock rumbled from the underground facility. She also heard the sound of heavy metal tearing and snapping as the source revealed itself. One portion of the road broke and lifted. The pavement swelled up like someone tugging upwards on the center of a cloth. “Come to me, Neue Kaiser!” shouted Hazel, twisting her body. The tip of the protruding asphalt broke open and a black metal fist burst out. The yard-wide fist was surrounded by chunks of asphalt and pieces of the underground structure as the hand opened and extended its fingers upwards. The force of the movement sent the scraps of metal and asphalt flying away. The rumble whipped up the wind. The open hand jutted straight up, revealing a shoulder joint covered by a Panzer Kleid. “!” Hazel landed on the metal palm. The metal hand supporting her continued to move upwards in the powerful wind. The wind blew from the shoulders, face, chest, hips, legs, and toes to break through the ground and emerge onto the surface. This was Neue Kaiser. The sight devices in the facial structure shined bright. Its output levels remained at near overdrive. She could tell no one was piloting it. … It’s unmanned, but its owner showed me it can be remote controlled at the library last night. All of its thrusters were currently being used to keep it floating above the road. Its actions came from its nature as a Heavy Barrel, from its Lives and the combat records in its memory, and from the will sent out by Hazel’s Messiah eye and Hazel herself. “Thank you,” she said atop its hand. It answered her thanks by landing back on the ground after bursting up from the underground hangar. With a metal crash loud enough to shake the ground, the white 11yd machine stood on the road and roared. “––––!” Its voice rattled the windows of the nearby buildings and caused the three Heavy Barrels about 50 yards away to back up just a bit. ### 656. Part 4 The light scattered and the pair at the center of it all finished swinging their weapons and moved away from each other, both unharmed. Lehrer viewed the acceleration cloud left behind by Schwarz Löwe in the distant sky. “I never imagined I would end up fighting a descendant of the Maldrick family.” Alfred Maldrick said nothing. He just kept his distance and kept his weapon at the ready. Lehrer took a breath, used her spear as a staff to prop herself up, and viewed Alfred. “You really want me dead, don’t you? And after I slept for a thousand years in Sylphide to see all of you again.” “Whoever you might be, you are currently stalling for time.” Alfred took a step forward and she stayed put. “I have one warning for you,” she said. He took another step toward her. “Next month, on August 23, the Allies will bomb Germania. When they do, they will send anxiety Lives back into Tristan, hoping to destroy it.” Alfred lifted Rein König’s tip just a bit. “Fight hard. And make sure to preserve the wheat fields of prosperity for future generations, you Neue Kavaliers who once fought a great calamity with me and then escaped a further calamity.” With that, she readied her weapon again. Alfred responded by entering a sprint. He closed the gap between them and entered striking range in no time. He amplified his “ah” within Rein König, transforming it into a white Live light. The light accumulated within raised Rein König’s blade, illuminating the two of them. Lehrer took a defensive stance against the white light, but then she wobbled like something had hit her. Something like a quiet sound of destruction followed. She managed to remain on her feet and had some slight surprise on her face. But she calmed her expression in no time and gave a confident nod. Her heterochromatic eyes faced forward and viewed the attack approaching her. As the white attack approached, she did something other than dodge. She slowly turned her gaze to the southern sky where Schwarz Löwe was leaving. She stopped even looking at Alfred. Her eyebrows contained only a gentle strength. “–––––” She removed her hands from the spear, so it lost its balance and started to fall over. Alfred’s attack launched its destructive power a moment later. But it was directed at the ground next to her, not at her herself. The rubble shattered, the road split, and the glowing white slash tore a hole 5 yards across into the pavement. The wind blew, the noise rang out, and Alfred froze just after swinging Rein König down. He wasn’t even looking in Lehrer’s direction. “Who asked the Kaiser Schwert to cut down an unresisting corpse?” His question coincided with Lerher’s falling spear hitting the waterway railing about halfway up its shaft. The weight of the blade on top caused it to spin around and fall toward the water. It produced an audible splash as Alfred looked to Lehrer standing next to the railing. Her expression had lost its strength and she stood there like a doll with the left chest of her purple uniform stained with blood, but the same color of stain had freshly formed on her left side. There was a small hole in the cloth there. That was a bullet hole. “Who interrupted our duel with a bullet?” Alfred turned back toward the trucks shining their headlights on the two of them. “That would be me.” The headlights outlined a female silhouette wielding a Walther. It was Lowenzahn. Schweitzer stood behind her. “Why, Lowenzahn?” asked Alfred. “You were getting a little chummy with your enemy there. This isn’t your personal battlefield, lieutenant.” He started to say something in response but stopped himself. Lehrer slowly and weakly sat down on the railing. She kept her hand on the railing and her eyebrows drooped for a sleepy expression. Alfred gave one more glance Lowenzahn’s way before turning toward Lehrer. Three long strides were all it took to arrive within arm’s reach. He could tell her eyes were already unfocused. He looked expressionlessly down at her and spoke a single world. “Sorry.” She raised her head a bit in response. She looked up at him with the light already fading from her eyes. Instead of looking down at her, he pulled his chin back to view her directly. Their gazes collided head on and something seemed to click together. After a few seconds, Lehrer’s lips formed a voice too quiet to make out. “Hazel?” Alfred silently stood up when the name she spoke wasn’t his. He said nothing at all. But Lehrer smiled while facing him. That smile shook as her body slowly began to collapse. The right arm propping her up on the railing gave way and the rest of her sank down. As her slender body bent, the bleeding from her chest and side increased. But her face was still turned toward Alfred. Her face had gone pale, but she was still smiling. “Unlike me…you asked Berger to join the AIF.” She collapsed atop the railing. She doubled over and blood left her mouth when she exhaled. But those bloody breaths still formed words. “The thought never even occurred to me.” Still smiling, she shut her eyes. And without warning, she fell back into the waterway. Her gentle momentum spread her arms so it looked like she was trying to embrace the sky as she fell backwards toward the water. When her legs were about to slip off of the railing, white smoke wrapped around her falling body. Then she Altered. Her purple uniform swelled out and burst and a cat fell from within. The gold-furred cat was soaked with blood as she fell into the deep waterway. The splash was horribly small. The cat sank below the surface before bobbing back up to the surface. The current caused the cat to slowly rotate so her tail was pointing forward. By the time she spun back around, her blood-and-water-soaked body was already being swept away. She no longer moved as the current took over. Only Alfred was close enough to the railing to watch her go. He watched until the cat disappeared below the collapsed bridge before he faced forward again. The railing there was covered in a lot of blood. He expressionlessly clenched both fists until they turned white. His right hand held Rein König and his left hand’s middle finger wore a red stone ring. No one spoke to him. The sound of the water flowing rang much more clearly in his ears than the blaring alarms. ### 657. Part 4 White and blue wind Lives collided before Hazel’s eyes as she hid behind the stump. The battle between 10yd metal giants was too fast for her to follow with her eyes. She had to hide behind the stump and follow the battle with the wind and the Aerial Words she could hear. The line Berger had drawn in the ground was located in front of the stump. The wind told her of the battle being fought past that borderline. It told her the two were evenly matched. … Berger. This wasn’t like in ’39. He could fight on his own now. “You’re going to settle this without my help, aren’t you?” But she held the ring and pendant in her hands to keep the wind from blowing them away. Her hands were sweaty, but she squeezed them tight, refusing to let go. ### 658. Part 4 The sky purpled with the approaching dawn while Neue Kaiser flew alongside Schwarz Löwe with about 200 yards between them. A blue and red Panzer and five attack craft followed behind. The Neue Kaiser sliced through the wind in that relative position and looked to Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe stayed facing forward, not bothering to look Neue Kaiser’s way. But Schwarz Löwe did ask a question. “What do you hope to accomplish?” “I will bring down the Allied flagship. You will lose if you do not stop me. If we can delay your side long enough, we can set up a defensive bombardment that will scatter your forces.” “So you aren’t going to cut us down?” “The Messiah said she would not run away. That is enough for me. I will leave her with you for now.” Then Neue Kaiser flew out ahead. It seemed to rocket forward through the air. “Hazel Mirildorf! Watch and you will see the power of the knights meant to guide you!” It flapped its wings, producing a roar of wind that struck Schwarz Löwe while it left them behind. An Erklärung rang out. “Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Neue Kaiser – Ober Beweisen – Begin.” The power to conquer, the power to defend, and the power to transform Each is a distinct power But the power to bind them all together Is always found with the Emperor as the fourth agreement Neue Kaiser began to glow. Bluish-white light surrounded its armor while it changed form. This was its Ober Emblem. Light surrounded its six wings and they transformed into a white dragon wings. Schwarz Löwe followed after it in silence. It used its actions in place of words. Its broken right hand held Gelegenheit at the hip. An Erklärung seemed to respond to that. “The Messiah rides the winds of destiny.” Immediately, Schwarz Löwe was carried by a gust of wind. It soared in harmony with the wind while Neue Kaiser used its wings to break through the wind. Schwarz Löwe’s acceleration grew and Neue Kaiser called back to it. “Follow me!” ### 659. Part 4 – After (Sections 59-68) - History after the emperor - The millennium song A collection of stories concerning the events of the past thousand years. The apocalyptic concepts of Norse Mythology are used as a foundation to tell the story of the collapse of the old order and the rise of a new order. The 68 sections are divided into 4 parts (some theorize the 30-odd sections of Part 3 were the original story and others theorize there was once a 5th part) and the parts tell the story of before, the Messiah’s arrival and activities, the emperor’s reign, and after. The longest part is Part 3 related to the emperor, but the Messiah’s Part 2 is the most well known. That is mostly because the story of the Messiah, the knights, and the dragon is told as a children’s story and six of its sections have been adapted into six songs adored by bards, so when people refer to the Unreif Germane, they generally are only referring to the Messiah’s story. But like so many other historical texts, the Unreif Germane has a complicated history and there are many different versions with differing details, so research is still ongoing. ### 660. Part 5 The bullet passed through the center of the train and its shockwave caused the train’s sides to rupture outwards. This wasn’t just the 6th car Hazel sat atop of. She gasped and looked back to see the 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st cars spewing smoke from their ruptured sides doors. “The locomotive too!?” Her question was immediately answered by the locomotive rupturing after its steam engine was pierced through from behind. The explosion blew away the side of the elevated track, sending concrete rubble scattering into the abyss. Steam smoke erupted out, creating a boiling sound and some mist. Metal shards flew through the mist. But Hazel’s ears picked up a strange sound among the many destructive sounds. It sounded like the strumming of a string instrument. “It can’t be.” She looked up while still down on the roof. She could see the pillars supporting the elevated track and the array of metal wires more than a foot thick that extended from those. The thick wire the train had just passed by had snapped along with its support wires. As the train continued along the track, the wires supporting that track snapped from the base one by one. They each produced an unbearable sound in turn. “This can’t be happening.” Sensing danger, Hazel looked to the enemy. The armored train carrying the Grösse Panzer had finally come to a stop and the six soldiers were running toward her along the track. She started to move in response. “Oops.” But her skirt was still stuck and she ended up tripping. “Really?” she complained, tearing the hem of her skirt with her sword Device and freeing herself. Meanwhile, the first of the six enemies caught up and leaped toward her. Seeing him use the power of his prosthetic legs to jump high, she made a hasty retreat. He landed in the spot she had just vacated and immediately continued forward. Hazel threw herself toward him shoulder first. Tearing her skirt let her move her leg out much further than before. It felt indecent to her, but it let her deliver a sword strike to the enemy right as he landed and started forward. He must have expected her to run away because he quickly tried to use an evasion Erklärung. But he stopped himself. … Eh? He ended his rewriting of this space, which confused Hazel. … Why? Did he give up on dodging? But Hazel didn’t let her doubt stop her from attacking with the back of her blade. She frowned after the blow landed and knocked him from the running train. “Why did he stop his Erklärung?” Then she noticed something strange about the entire battle. She realized something had been missing all this time. … None of them have used an Erklärung. The Panzerpolis Project was complete and Germania was the center of its Erklärung power. “But it’s more like they’re trying to test me- !?” All of a sudden, her vision tilted to the left. The support wires were snapping mostly on one side, so the elevated railroad had started tilting. The wires continued to snap as the train advanced and the remaining 5 enemies rushed toward the tilting train. In the short time before they arrived, Hazel looked around. From atop the leftward tilting roof, the hole leading underground was to her left and the dome supported by the giant cross was to her right. Everything was so large here. After a brief look at the cross to her right, she looked down toward the underground levels. Each consecutive level was about 100 yards thick and there was a 300 yard gap between each one. The second level was a factory district covered by gray roofs. That level had holes in it as well, providing glimpses of the residential district on the third level. The wind contained a slight smoky scent. “…” Hazel silently looked to the shaking and snapping wires overhead. Then she heard another artillery blast. It was aimed at the locomotive that was coasting on inertia even after its boiler was destroyed. The shell hit the bottom of the locomotive, toppling it to the right. The link to the next car did not break, so the 1st container car rolled onto its side on the elevated railroad. The rolling propagated back, taking the 2nd and 3rd cars with it. The container below Hazel was affected too, so it tilted below her. In that moment, Hazel saw the swaying wire overhead and made up her mind. … There’s only one way to escape this. She leaped. Leftward. Off of the elevated railroad. ### 661. Part 5 Hazel sat alone in the valley of bookcases with the blanket over her head. She had emerged onto the floor here less than a minute ago. After Berger had thrown her out into a dark space, she had realized he had no intention of opening the door behind her. She had groped around in the darkness, trying to walk until she found some stairs leading up. Soon after climbing those, she had bumped her head against the ceiling. Holding her aching head, she had groped at the ceiling and found it moved. Pushing up had opened an exit for her. The entrance to the stairs sat open by her feet. She sat on the edge of the stairs and peered down into the darkness where she had left Berger. “Maybe I teased him too much.” She pressed her knees together, held the blanket around herself, and sighed with the Wheel of Destiny in hand. She thought back on what had just happened. She recalled Berger’s pale face when she had let him touch her chest. Then her shoulders shook and quiet laughter left her throat. … He’s surprisingly cute. With that in mind, she decided to become a cat. She knew he would emerge from that darkness in a bit. If she was already a cat by then, she could ignore any complaints he made about what she had done. Because cats couldn’t speak. She pulled the blanket over herself and gently rubbed her right eye with her right hand. The High Organ eye’s Beweisen let her take control of other High Organ devices. … I don’t know what its Ober Beweisen does, but I can’t help that. She had left the country shortly after having it implanted, so she didn’t know how to use it or why it had been built. All those answers had died along with its creator – Marsch Gant. “The only other person who might know is that Geheimnis Agency Commander.” … She said I was a tool for them when I met her last year. The phrase “Wheel of Destiny” stuck in her mind. That was the name of the card Corelle had given her and that she held now. The card’s image hadn’t changed. She still carried that destiny of ruin. She used that thought to let her pulse take over. But then… “Eh?” She looked up. She had heard footsteps inside the supposedly deserted and silent library. Two sets of them. One set came from the darkness below. They were rushed and running. The other set came from the aisle behind her. They were calm and walking. Since she had been letting her fear take over, she chose to first turn toward the danger behind her. The dark blue shadow cast by a bookcase contained an even darker silhouette approaching her. The tall, slender man carried a sword in one hand. He spoke without bothering to hide the sharp light in his eyes. “I believe this is our first time meeting when I wasn’t Schreibened.” He stopped about four yards in front of her. When she met his eyes, she realized his gaze carried the red color of killer intent. She couldn’t move. He might just cut her down if she moved in the slightest. She simply squeezed the blanket tighter in her hands. She heard the footsteps from below. Berger was running up the stairs. Only after hearing those footsteps kicking off the hard stairs did she manage to get her voice out. “The Kaiser’s pilot?” she asked, looking at the man’s sword. “Correct. I am ‘Kaiser Schwert’ Alfred Maldrick. I am a descendant of the Maldrick family, one of the four knight families that fought for the Messiah a thousand years ago.” His words were drowned out by a shout from the darkness below. A shout made with Berger’s familiar voice. “Hazel, it’s a trap! Those orders were fake!!” “Now, enough words. Now is the time for strength. You are coming with us whether you want to or not.” Alfred grabbed her right arm through the blanket and tugged her to her feet. Her fight and flight instincts warred with each other, causing her to hesitate and freeze up. That was when Berger burst from the darkness below. He poured on his full strength from the start. Hazel saw him draw Gelegenheit at five steps down from the top of the stairs. The dark blade trying to slice horizontally through the dimly-lit library was 3 yards long. It took a curving path, slicing through the bookcases on its way to Alfred’s hand on her arm. Gelegenheit could sever the threads of fate. If that black blade swung through them, it wouldn’t harm Alfred’s hand or her arm, but it would rewrite reality to say her arm was not restrained. She let it happen. But the man holding her arm did not. He turned his eyes toward Gelegenheit’s blade. First, she heard something like shattering glass. Then she saw a spray of darkness. Gelegenheit’s blade had shattered. “!?” All Hazel had seen was Gelegenheit’s blade suddenly break as it passed through a nearby bookcase on its way to her and Alfred. “Aerial Words?” she muttered, confused. … That makes no sense. “Aerial Words are more formulaic and always include the High Organ name.” Alfred answered her with a bark of laughter. “Ha. Did you forget what city you’re in. Thanks to the Panzerpolis Project, this city contains the world’s most advanced Eingeweide devices. You could call it a city of concept weapons.” He pulled Hazel away and turned toward Berger. “I’ll show you something neat. Just for fun.” ### 662. Part 5 A battle was underway. Elrich muttered to himself while hearing clashing swords and a great beast’s roars. “Why was the Messiah recreated? Has the castle’s device gone even more haywire?” “That I can’t say. But if this was done intentionally, I can only imagine it was Bermark’s doing. Opening the underground passageway is always his job.” “Are you saying we weren’t closed in here just to lock us away? If this was on our commander’s orders, then could this be something she wanted us to see while also preventing us from digging into any further secrets?” “She may be testing us. If we want to learn the secrets related to the Messiah, we must first fight alongside the Messiah.” They heard more sword fighting and Elrich changed the subject. “Do you remember what the Unreif Germane says? When the Messiah descended to Alfheim along with the one-armed young man, she encountered a dragon and slayed it with the help of two Neue Kavaliers who came running to her aid.” “I get what you mean. And take a look at the Messiah’s sword.” Elrich did so. He recognized the sword the Messiah was wielding up on the hill. “Rein König!?” The Messiah gave a shout. The white sword she held amplified the note and converted it into an impact of pure white light. That was Busting. The destructive impact gave a roar as it crashed into the dragon’s right shoulder. The dragon roared as well. “But our Messiah is a Stimmer, isn’t she?” said Elrich. “The past records of the Messiah say she was a Buster. It’s a question of regeneration or destruction, I suppose. Which is a big difference.” Witzmann scratched his head. “I doubt I can slay a dragon with the Messiah at my age, but I might as well give it a try.” Witzmann kept his eyes on the hill where the Messiah and the dragon fought while he pulled a notepad and a fountain pen from his pocket. He suddenly walked forward as if drawn toward the battle. He kept walking while drawing a complex emblem in the notepad. He rapidly drew out several emblems, tearing out and throwing away the page each time he finished one. The discarded pages gathered in midair and linked together when they made contact. Around a dozen pages were attached by their top and bottom edges, creating something like a long, thin sash. But that sash was still as light as paper, so it flew through the forest air. A moment later, he reached his left hand behind him and grabbed the end of the paper strip. He pressed his thumb against the emblem at the very end of the strip and the entire thing stretched straight out into a solid sheet. “Hm. It might curl too much to the upper right.” When he swung the long sheet of paper, it easily sliced through the leaves and branches in its path. It was a sword. It had all happened in an instant. He spun the paper sword around and held it out in front of him. Then he used the pen in his right hand to add more writing to the surface of the paper sword. He had a smile on his lips. Elrich jogged to catch up with him. “I see you aren’t rusty at all. I’m less confident in your stamina, though.” “I’m two years younger than you.” “You should listen to any warnings your elders give you.” Elrich pulled a single earphone out of his lab coat’s inner pocket, inserted it in his ear, and stuck the cord inside his lab coat. After doing something with his hands inside his coat, music began playing from the earphone. “You got that working?” asked Witzmann, still drawing emblems on the paper sword. “Japan beat me to the punch. It’s a personal Erklärung weapon that uses a different process than the Eingeweide. The Japanese call it a Rhythm. It’s apparently an ancient technology over there, but I’ve never liked how it feels. I’ve remade this one a bit, but I’m still not a fan.” Elrich began to sing his Text. Righteousness is worthless / Wickedness is worthless Truth is worthless / Lies are worthless But if you enjoy them You can consume the world four times as quickly He rolled up his lab coat’s sleeves and emitted a vibration from the palms of his spread hands. A 2yd diameter area around his palms shook like shimmering heat, producing sounds like tearing flesh. “I have to admit it’s pretty nice for something thought up by Asians.” “It lacks originality,” said Witzmann, piercing his paper sword with the tip of his pen. Bluish-white flames erupted from the gaps between the pieces of paper forming the sword. The different flames linked together and burned the air without burning the paper. Swinging the sword drew out a scarlet afterimage and all the leafy branches touched by the fiery arc were reduced to ashes. “Pretty well-made, don’t you think?” “Pretty cliché, you mean. I think you’re the one that needs more originality.” Elrich smiled a little and Witzmann looked back to smile as well. The forest ended directly ahead of them and two people were fighting an intense battle against a dragon up on the hill. The one-armed young man used his sword to battle the dragon’s claws. The Messiah girl used her Rein König to battle its fangs. Metal clashed, dragon wings whipped up the wind, the great beast’s feet crashed against the ground, and its maw roared. Sounds and movements intersected while the two old men viewed the Messiah. “Her face.” She had a unique trait. One they recognized from someone else. They were focused on her eye color. “Her eyes are the same color as Hazel Mirildorf’s!” “Nothing can surprise me at this point!” shouted Elrich, running forward with his hands carrying a rhythm of crushing. The short old man in a lab coat burst from the forest with his white coat flapping behind him. Witzmann also raced forward with a fiery afterimage in his hands. He leaned forward and let the sword tip graze the ground as he ran. The sword tip’s radiant heat drew out a scorched trail along the hill’s green grass. He accelerated, whipping up the wind in his pursuit of the lab coat leading the way. They never slowed their pace. They ran toward the dragon they were both staring at. And toward the one-armed young man and the Messiah. The Messiah swung Rein König. She raised her voice and a white light shot out. She appeared oblivious to the old men’s presence as she fought. Elrich held his fists at the ready and Witzmann bent over to swing his sword up from below. That was when the Messiah held her sword aloft and called the name of a certain wind. At the same time, something appeared from beyond the hill and carried the wind into the sky above. It was blue and had a 30yd knife-like silhouette. Elrich and Witzmann noted that silhouette as they approached the dragon. “So everything is the same. Except that this Messiah is a Buster?” “The past Messiah had the power to destroy and the present Messiah has the power to regenerate.” Elrich smiled with just his lips when he said “destroy”. “Why did our commander give another country data on something as destructive as the Wort Bombe? Why doesn’t the current Messiah have the power to destroy? I feel like those two questions are connected.” They ran. They ran in from behind the Messiah, Elrich on the left and Witzmann on the right. “!?” Surprise and a hint of joy appeared on the Messiah’s face as they passed by her and made their first strikes against the dragon as it prepared to slash with its claws. Their heat and crushing were joined by a line of wind flying in from the sky. ### 663. Part 5 Hazel noted the lack of wings on Neue Kaiser’s back. Meanwhile, Neue Kaiser moved its hand toward its right leg and lowered it with her on top. … Riding it out of here would be best. She realized Neue Kaiser had been staring straight ahead this whole time. It was looking west, toward the enemy. “What are you-!?” she shouted but stopped midsentence. An explosion erupted in the direction it was looking. It was a much louder version of the air explosion when a Heavy Barrel took flight. She turned that way to find a wall rushing toward her. That was Karl Schmitt. His Heavy Barrel was like a 20yd-tall fortress and he was using his thrusters to fly above the road toward her. His left shoulder was held out front for a shoulder charge. He was after Neue Kaiser. The explosive clash only took an instant. Hazel watched as Karl passed in front of her, plowing into Neue Kaiser. Their weights made a horrible metallic crash and Neue Kaiser was pushed away. With a sound like shattering glass, the road broke into a spray of asphalt. They were headed toward the bridge and their weights would be enough to destroy it. But Hazel caught Neue Kaiser in her gaze. It was being pushed away by Karl’s great size, but it was still in control of itself and it had not been crushed. It held onto Karl’s left shoulder with both arms. It had not given up, so she raised her voice. “Neue Kaiser!” She raised her right arm. “Show me what you can do!” Her request was answered before it was even complete. A second explosion of air erupted shortly before the bridge. But this one did not come from Karl. It came from Neue Kaiser. The two machines’ movements were evenly matched, so they poured in all of their power but remained motionless. And it did not end there. Wind Lives were gathering behind Neue Kaiser. It could keep going. Seeing that, Hazel nodded with strength in her eyebrows. She swung her raised arm forward. She swung it forcibly down toward the blue and red Barrels standing on the road. “Full power!” Neue Kaiser answered her shout with a roar from its voice device. All of its thrusters produced a third air explosion behind it. Slowly but surely, it gathered acceleration and pushed Karl back. “Mh!?” An unthinkable voice came from Karl’s voice device. Wind blew from his leg armor and back as well. The wind raced down the road, rustled the leaves of the trees lining the road, and shattered the thin windows one after another. Standing within the scattering leaves and glass shards, Hazel snapped her right fingers. “Don’t give up!” Neue Kaiser accelerated again, producing another air explosion to push further forward. Karl could not stop himself from being pushed back by the overwhelming movement of the air. Neue Kaiser accelerated with great force to keep pushing. It never came to a stop and accelerated further. The white Heavy Barrel instantly pushed through a lot more ground. It pushed through Karl’s great size and the air resistance. It raced past Hazel and even past the hole it had created. Sparks scattered rom Karl’s feet. He had given up on pushing back and cut his rear thrusters. He instead planted his feet on the ground to stop Neue Kaiser with this own weight and balance. But Neue Kaiser would not stop. The Messiah eye would not allow it. Neue Kaiser roared and lowered its hips. At max thrust, it held Karl’s left shoulder and bent backwards. It whipped up the wind while attempting to lift Karl. Its roar never ceased, joining the cry of the blowing wind. Just as the massive green Heavy Barrel attempted to lower his hips, the Neue Kaiser lifted him as if placing him on its chest. “–––––!” In less than a second, Neue Kaiser twisted its body and threw Karl. He was thrown 20 yards down the road where the red and blue Heavy Barrels waited. Karl fell back-first onto the pavement, his metal crying out in protest and his limbs bouncing once while his Panzer Kleid and armor panels slid along the road due to his inertial weight. The red and blue Barrels quickly fled into the sky while Karl slid down the road and crashed into a building. The sounds of the crumbling building rang out for a while. All the wind blowing down the road rose skyward in search of an exit. Hazel looked to Neue Kaiser’s back where it stood at the ready about 20 yards away. … It’s time to leave. She brushed back her windswept hair and prepared to speak her Aerial Words. But she instead heard the Aerial Words of someone else’s Beweisen. ### 664. Part 5 A large field existed in the mountain night. It had once been covered by the forest that still surrounded it, but the trees had been cut down and cleared away. It stood atop a flat hill about 100 yards across, a few stumps remained, and an unmaintained mountain road led to it. At one corner of the field, a large silhouette kneeled below a large tree sticking out from the forest. A pair of wings grew from its moonlit black back. It was the Grösse Panzer named Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe was at the very edge of the forest where it wouldn’t be noticeable from the sky at night. Two people could be seen in the grassy area next to Schwarz Löwe. Hazel was seated atop a sundried stump, sobbing and wiping away her tears, and Berger was healing her foot. He had concluded the cotton in the first aid kid wasn’t enough and instead wiped her foot clean with a pile towel and disinfectant. He commented on the cut to her right big toe. “It is healing, but your tension and the freshness of the wound are the only reasons you aren’t feeling any pain. Once it dries, it will hurt every time you move your foot. …Hey, don’t get scared and pull your foot back.” She shrugged and gave in, sticking her right foot out toward him. He once more grabbed the bottom of her foot about halfway up and cleaned off each of her toes. There was an occasional stiff pain, telling her she had several smaller nicks on her foot too. But beyond that, it also felt ticklish to have a cloth rubbing at her nails and toes with more strength than she could have managed. She had been crying a moment before, but now she was afraid she would start laughing. “First you suppress tears and now you suppress laughter? It’s always something with you, isn’t it?” “B-but…but Lehrer…” “Come to think of it, I’ve been in this position before.” She thought about it and quickly realized what he meant, but he gave the answer first. “When we first met, I put some sandals on your feet. Did it tickle then too?” “No, it didn’t back then. …I’m surprised you still remember that.” “You remember it too.” She nodded just once. She did indeed remember it well. … I wonder if Lehrer remembered it? “Um, Berger?” “What?” “Why did the Messiah sleep for a thousand years?” “Why do you think?” Before she could consider it, Berger finished cleaning off her foot. “Your hand,” he said and she held out her right hand. Her coat’s sleeve was rolled up to the elbow and the arm was stained red from when she had bandaged her foot. He rubbed with the towel to clean off the dried blood. It smelled of disinfectant alcohol and she felt the chill of it taking effect. While he cleaned off her right arm in what felt a lot like a massage, she thought about his question and spoke her thoughts aloud. “According to the Geheimnis Agency…the world continues to repeat the last thousand years and hasn’t made any progress.” “And it sounds like keeping that loop going is your job, Hazel. According to Lehrer anyway.” They exchanged a glance at this first exchange of information. They both looked a bit surprised. … Did she tell him everything? “I see.” He nodded. “Sounds like we both know Lehrer’s identity and most everything else too.” “Yes. The only thing I don’t know is why Lehrer chose to sleep for a thousand years.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, his left hand grabbed her jaw. “Don’t move. You have blood on your cheek.” That was from Lehrer’s slap. Him rubbing that dried blood off with the towel reminded her of Lehrer, which nearly made her cry again. But she couldn’t even open her mouth with his firm grip on her jaw. He responded to her with a look of disinterest. “So the thing that baffles you most is yourself? Join the club, Hazel.” She gave him a puzzled look as he finished cleaning off her cheek and tossed aside the towel. Then he grabbed both her cheeks. “~!” He tugged on them and they stretched surprisingly far. He even moved his hands up and down. “So you want to know why she slept for a thousand years to wake up in our time?” He took a breath. “Remember what her Titel is, Hazel Mirildorf.” She gasped. … Oh. “Isn’t that all you need? Besides, we don’t even know if she’s really dead.” He tugged down hard on her pinched cheeks, forcing her to nod. “I see. So my answer was good enough for you. Makes sense since I’m the second best advice-giver in the world.” He let go and her cheeks snapped back to normal. “Hyah!” She held her cheeks and poked at them, feeling how heated and elastic they were. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have been stretched out permanently. She felt a tiny prick of pain on the inside of the right elbow she had bent to touch her cheek. She cocked an eyebrow curiously and straightened out her right arm to see the medical charm on the inside of the elbow had come off. The injection site below was a bit red and swollen from all her running around. She noticed his eyes on that spot. “Did you bring the ampules?” “Yes, but only one.” They both spoke at once after she gave that answer. “Then you take it, Hazel.” “So let’s each take half.” They both felt confident in their answers, but then they noticed what the other had said. After a moment, Berger frowned in the moonlight. “What possessed you to give the world’s stupidest answer?” he asked. “Because we both need to leave this country. I’m not wrong.” “I’m the one who isn’t wrong. Do I need to strip you and make you cry again?” “You’re welcome to try, but I warn you I will win in the end.” She looked him dead in the eye with eyebrows raised. He started to say something, stood up, and said something else instead. “Hey.” “What is it?” “The effect would be greatly weakened if we only took half. Maybe we could leave, but we might end up in a coma or have half our body blown away. Why do you want to leave that badly?” “So I can return again.” She pulled the Wheel of Destiny card from her coat pocket and showed it to him. “I don’t think Sylphide is dead, so I will leave the country and then return to Germania with Pale, Corelle, you, and the rest of the AIF.” She thought of Lehrer and the Geheimnis Agency commander as she continued. “I’ve made up my mind. No matter what happens, I will not let anyone go through such an unpleasant experience again.” She gave a deep nod, more to convince herself than anything. “I won’t let anyone think they have no choice but to endure it.” She stopped there. She could see Berger tilting his head. He sighed, looked away from her, and brushed a hand through his hair. “There’s no convincing an idiot they’re wrong, is there?” But he held out his right hand. “Give me the ampule. I’ll go first and you can have the rest.” “Are you serious?” She was legitimately surprised by this and he gave her a cold look. “Why do women get so suspicious when you do what they want? Would you prefer I refused?” “S-sorry.” She remained seated with her knees up as she pulled the ampule case from her coat pocket. He took it from her outstretched hand, opened it, and let the moonlight shine on the contents. “Not broken this time. Good job.” He pulled the syringe out with his right hand, removed the cover from the tip, and artlessly injected half of the contents into his neck. He quickly pulled it out to ensure no blood flowed back into the cylinder that still contained half the serum. “Here.” He placed it in the ampule case and handed it back to her. “It’s kind of creepy seeing you do what you’re told,” she said. “Do I need to inject it into those needlessly big boobs?” “No, thanks.” She politely refused and then injected the ampule’s contents into her inner right elbow. She suddenly felt a tremor running along her spine. Her body tensed for just a moment and the needle wouldn’t come out. “–––––” But then it came out. She frowned a bit. “Seems like it works.” Berger wiped the sweat from his brow. “We’re both carrying only half of it in us. If we leave Germany, there will be some kind of change to our bodies.” “But we can both leave, right?” “We can. And then…we can give this all a lot of thought and return to Germania with the AIF.” He sat down in the grass, placing his eyes a level below Hazel on the stump. “Hey, Hazel. Can you do one thing for me?” “What’s this all of a sudden?” “Fix your gown.” He tugged on the bottom of the hospital gown she wore. “If you don’t hold it in the back of your knees when sitting with your knees up, people can see-” She knew what he was getting at, so she hit him in the face with the ampule case she was holding. ### 665. Part 5 Neue Kaiser ran. Gelegenheit’s blade was shattered by a Bust attack from behind. In the scattering black light, Schwarz Löwe took evasive action. A new blade grew and sliced through the air. Schwarz Löwe vanished within arm’s reach of Neue Kaiser. But… Neue Kaiser moved right up alongside Schwarz Löwe. “!?” Schwarz Löwe cried out in surprise and Alfred’s voice shouted from Neue Kaiser’s voice device. “You cannot escape me!” Schwarz Löwe launched a swift attack. Neue Kaiser dodged but did not move away. Schwarz Löwe fell back and actually faced Neue Kaiser head on this time. They shouted their Erklärungs. They both paused for a moment. They both rushed toward each other. Schwarz Löwe took a few steps and swung Gelegenheit up from the hip. Neue Kaiser planted one foot in front of the other and swung its sword down from above. Both Grösse Panzer shouted as they made use of their full strength. “Berger! Why not use your Ober Beweisen!? Or how about getting her help!?” “You’re the one that isn’t even using his Ober Emblem!” The rising and descending curves broke the sound barrier and drew out a cloudy trail to reach the other. The twin trails of cloud collided just before that could happen. The clang of metal on metal accompanied two things flying into the sky. The first was Neue Kaiser’s Werkzeug. The other was Schwarz Löwe’s attachment staff for Gelegenheit. The Werkzeug spun several times through the air before stabbing back down into the field with a sound like splitting rock. Gelegenheit clattered solidly down onto the field. The two shifted immediately from their follow-through stances to jumping backwards. They moved about 10 yards apart and spread their wings. They readied their now weaponless arms, opened their mouths, and roared. The white and black wings gathered air. The wind blew in a spiral around them and the black one raised both fists and its voice. “Full drive – max power!” Light began to race across Schwarz Löwe in response. The Ober Emblem’s armor transformation filled in all the gaps. The Ober Emblem hadn’t been fully activated, but now it was. The wind wrapped around it as it roared. “Activate full barrel mode! Begin full drive!” Neue Kaiser did not activate its own Ober Emblem. It only raised one hand. “Come.” The white Grösse Panzer’s wings lifted as far as their movable range allowed as it beckoned. The black one responded by charging forward. ### 666. Part 5 Voices shouted back and forth on the AIF aircraft carrier’s bridge. “Two crafts approaching from 30 miles away!” said the communications officer. “A German one out front and Schwarz Löwe in pursuit!” Pale stood up and checked out the window. The flagship floating in the eastern sky was backing up toward them. Very rapidly. An instruction came from the captain’s seat. “Descend to 6000! The flagship will be passing through this airspace!” Light raced out as if in response to that shout. One of the escort ships positioned at a radius of 20 miles out had fired its long-range antiair cannon. Pale frowned. “That long-range one isn’t gonna hit.” “I’m more worried about Hazel and Berger,” replied Corelle, still seated at his feet. “I need to greet them up on the deck.” She stood up and gave Pale a “what about you?” look. “I’ll stay here. The battle might fall apart, so we’ll send the ship to an intercept position.” “You’re such a workaholic.” Corelle smiled bitterly and walked toward the passageway from the bridge. The communications officer shouted from behind her again. “The enemy craft and the Schwarz Löwe are headed for our fleet’s defensive line!” ### 667. Part 6 “––––––!?” The five pursuing men shouted in confusion when Hazel leaped. But she ignored them. She twisted around, opened her left hand, and stretched it upwards while soaring through empty air. One of the wires supporting the railroad was there. It dangled from one of the massive pillars supporting the side of Germania’s 1st level and it was 400 yards long and an inch thick. Those thinner wires were used to support the main wires that were a few feet thick. At the moment, several of them were swaying rapidly over the 3mile hole that was once Schöneberg. One of them was swaying like a pendulum thanks to the inertial force of its snapping tension and she managed to grab it like it was a solid branch. Then the wire’s inertial force tugged her away. Its pull sent her flying through the wind. The wind shook the locker key attached to her choker, tickling her throat. The wire swung rapidly in a somewhat elliptical path. Extrapolating out the rest of the pendulum-like path, she could tell this arc would bring her right up alongside the interior wall. … I can either leave or go to Kreuzberg. Kreuzberg was located east of the hole that was once Schöneberg and it had been left intact since Tempelhof Airbase was located there. Her best bet was to switch to another wire that took her there. She squeezed the wire in her left hand. There was nothing below her. If she fell from this long swing, she would die. She understood that as she looked to the enemy. Back atop the elevated railroad 200 yards away and growing, the 5 men threw out their hexagonal rods and drew the rifles on their backs. The guns were of unusually large caliber, so they likely fired nets for capturing a target. Her wire had nearly reached a 45 degree angle on its approach toward Germania’s inner wall. Once she reached that wall, she would only be able to move in a straight line to the side, which would make her a nice target for snipers. Sensing an updraft as she approached that wall, Hazel searched for the next wire. She found it. A few dozen yards to the east, a long wire was grazing the inner wall as it swung eastward. If she jumped to that one, she could reach Kreuzberg. But her inertia was in the wrong direction and it was a long way away. If she mistimed her jump, she would fall and die. But before that, she also had to avoid the sniper fire. … What do I do? Her doubts were interrupted by five gunshots from the elevated railroad. When she saw five white nets expanding in the air out of the corner of her eye, she made up her mind. She tensed her left arm a little and gathered the inertial force inside her. She was nearly to the wall and the wire had grown taut. She chose that moment to let go. She felt a floating sensation before her feet forcefully landed on the inner wall. She stood and ran along the wall. Her body was tilted 45 degrees, but she used the inertial force pressing her against the wall to run along the wall. She crouched low and ran like a cat. She extended her ducking body and swung her arms to accelerate. “–––––!” She felt a heavy sensation, like she was peeling herself from the wall to run. She ran forward to reach the wire that was swinging toward Kreuzberg too quickly to easily see. The nets were about to reach her from behind. All five of them were approaching, so she swung her sword outwards with both hands. She sliced through the nets before they could capture her and they hit the wall behind her instead. She kept running. The wire she wanted was approaching fast. But the wire ended its approach toward the wall and began to move away. Meanwhile, she was slowly slipping away from the wall. She was losing her inertial force. She had to hurry or she would miss it and then fall. Her refusal to let that happen pushed her feet even faster. The time had come to use every last ounce of strength. She planted her feet on the slight uneven parts of the wall and raced forward. And she leaped. She reached her hand out and her left hand’s fingers touched the bottom of the wire. She grabbed it and it snatched her away into the empty air. But her grip was weak. She only had it in her thumb, index finger, and middle finger. If she didn’t hold it in her palm, the inertia of the swing would tear it from her hand. Three fingers weren’t enough to support her weight and the wind resistance on her clothing. She didn’t hesitate. She stuck her right hand – which still held her sword – into her coat’s inner pocket, grabbed the ampule case, the envelope, and the Wheel of Destiny card, and placed them in her mouth. Then she inserted the blade tip in through her collar and down the arm hole toward the left hand holding the wire. … Hurry! The inertial weight on her fingers was growing. She felt the panic growing with it, but her right hand moved slowly and calmly to sweep the sword outwards from within her left sleeve. With a tearing of cloth, her coat and blouse’s split left sleeve fell to her side. Her left arm was now bare from hand to armpit. She felt the chill of the wind on it while she looked down. There was nothing there. If she fell, she would die. She openly accepted that thought. A moment later, she began to Alter. She let the convection of steam surround her while gathering all her strength in her left arm to pull herself up. Then the air exploded at the bottom of the wire. Two things burst from the white smoke and steam explosion. One was a collection of falling objects: Hazel’s clothing and her sword Device. The other was the wire continuing to swing like a pendulum. Hazel was no longer there at the bottom. Instead, a cat was clinging to it. The cat’s left eye was a brown feline eye and the right one was a blue human eye. She wore a choker with a key attached and she held an ampule case and an envelope in her mouth. The wire swung to the east, carrying the cat and the cat’s baggage with it. ### 668. Part 6 The darkness and the bookcases vanished before Hazel’s eyes. Instead, she saw the overhead lights illuminating a corner of the library sans bookcases. She was surrounded by a 15 yard tiled space. “What!?” Further Aerial Words ignored her voice altogether. The words came true. She gasped as the surrounding group in black stared at her. The gazes of those Neue Kavaliers, both young and old, carried the red Live color of curiosity and expectation. “The part of the city you destroyed earlier has been repaired with Erklärung. We intentionally avoided using Erklärung during that battle so we could assess your strength.” Hazel could not bring herself to speak while Alfred blandly explained. But… “Go to hell!” Someone else’s words cut through her tension. They were Berger’s Aerial Words. He slammed a Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit and swung the black blade. Alfred frowned and spoke his own Aerial Words in disinterest. Gelegenheit’s blade struck the library’s air and shook. With a loud metallic noise, the blade dug into the air, scattering black sparks. The black line lost to the Aerial Words and bent, quickly approaching the breaking point. Berger continued swinging Gelegenheit while slamming three new Phlogiston Tanks into the back. When his shout reached the air, the bending blade snapped back to normal, grew longer, and sent a stir through the people surrounding them. Hazel heard Alfred click his tongue as Berger’s black blade swung between her and Alfred. The next thing she knew, she was free of Alfred. She spun around on the tile floor and took a single step away from Alfred in the library’s lights. She raised the Wheel of Destiny card in her right hand. … This feels like a scene from a school play. Gelegenheit’s blade swung through again as if to agree with that assessment. Berger ran up the remaining five steps while adding another Phlogiston Tank. That meant a total of four Size Cs. The black blade grew to 16 yards. “Hazel! Get down!” She obeyed him. More than crouch, she threw herself to the side. Her hair didn’t follow quite as fast, so a few strands were cut away by Gelegenheit’s blade as it swung around just above her head. Alfred leaped over the blade as Berger swung the blade around to Hazel’s right like he was trying to slice through the entire library. Below the white lights, his black coat danced behind him and the black blade sliced through the ring of people surrounding them. After a sound of paper being cut, the ring of people vanished. So did the light. The bookcases were back in their original well-ordered positions. ### 669. Part 6 The slowly setting sun’s light fell on the forest and painted a mottled pattern on the unpaved road below the trees. A single set of tire tracks had been dug into a mountain road barely big enough for a car. A wooden sign on the side of the road gave the name of this land: Borderson. Climbing the mountain road led to a wheat field on a hill and then back into the forest. The roar of a motorcycle shook the forest. Berger drove his BMW 750cc with the sidecar attached. He shifted gears with his new prosthetic left arm. The motorcycle remained below the branches for a while, but without warning, it emerged into the open. In that clearing, the mountain road vanished and was replaced by the entrance to a small village. He braked by letting the motorcycle slide to the side. The tires dug into the sand and slid until it stopped, pushing the sidecar out ahead of it. “Here I am. It’s been a full year now, hasn’t it?” He looked ahead to the gate into the village. The gate was formed from a wooden arch with a mossy stone wall on either side of it. The gate was closed. He saw two colors out in front of the gate. The gold and purple were from the same woman. The gold was her long hair rippling gently in the wind. The purple was the uniform of an AIF company officer. The eyes below her blonde hair were shut, but they were directed toward Berger through her tinted glasses. Her eyebrows were flat and her mouth showed no sign of a smile or protest. She stood in front of the old, discolored gate with her arms crossed. Her red lipsticked lips opened to speak. “You called me here from the village’s only telephone, but I don’t recall receiving any orders from the AIF.” “I’m not here for you as an AIF member,” said Berger atop the rumbling motorcycle. “I’m here for you as a Buster.” “And?” “Hazel was captured. I know she was taken to the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg Base. I’m about to go rescue her with Scwharz Löwe, but it’s too much for me to handle on my own. Help me, Lehrer.” Lehrer did not bat an eye in response. She only tilted her head a bit. “Is she really that important?” “Do I really need to answer that?” Their exchange of questions was followed by silence. The only sounds were the leaves rustling in the breeze and the rumbling of the motorcycle. A rooster crowed once from the direction of the village. Then a solid sound joined it. The sound of feet on dirt. Lehrer had pulled herself away from the gate and started walking. She uncrossed her arms and brushed her hair back. The solid soles of her boots stepped on the dirt, crushed the grass, and trod on pebbles for seven steps. At the center of the village square, she looked up into the sky with her eyes still closed. The blue afternoon sky was found there. It could be seen all around from between the forest and the gate. Quickly blowing clouds decorated the blue on their path from east to west. Lehrer viewed the sun setting in the west and spoke into the sky. “The color of the sky remains unchanged by all the wars we fight. Same for the color of the clouds and the wind.” She spread her arms. “Berger, why not live in this village with the rest of us? This village doesn’t change either. It doesn’t care what the people of this world do any more than the sky above does. If it is destroyed, it will be destroyed, but if it will live, it will remain as it is. Isn’t now the best time to cut your losses?” “No, thanks,” said Berger. “That wouldn’t be cutting my losses – it’d be dodging responsibility. And…if my gut instinct is right, you have to go save Hazel. It’s just who you are.” He pointed at her. “In fact, you already intend to. But…you just wanted to mess with me first.” “You sound awfully confident in your assessment. Did you think you had read my mind?” “I know all too well what it feels like to be toyed with by a mischievous cat. It only just happened to me half a day ago.” “I see. Then I have a question for you: what do you think you can say to get me to go with you?” “Well…” “I have just one hint, but it’s a big one: call my name.” Lehrer’s tone was light and Berger nearly responded on reflex. “…” But he crossed his arms instead. His expression had changed. The amusement was gone and his brow was wrinkled. “Yes, think about it,” she said. “That is the correct starting point. You know now isn’t the time to speak without thinking, don’t you?” “You’re right,” he said. “You’re exactly right. If my gut instinct is right, you couldn’t be more right. Doing this without thinking would be an insult to how long you’ve been waiting.” Lehrer smiled a little. “Yes, think about how I am here, how I can be here, and how that connects back to everything you have seen: the Berlin Conflict, the Sylphide Incident, and everything else.” Berger didn’t even nod this time. He leaned forward and rested his elbow on the motorcycle’s tank, as if to say he understood all that. He rested his cheek in his right hand, held his left hand to his head, and glanced over at Lehrer. She had lowered her gaze to view him through closed eyes. She kept her hands clasped in front of her hips. She stood there silently with the sunlight casting her shadow on the ground. She was waiting for him to speak. “…” He straightened up and his lips moved to say something, but he didn’t go through with it. He looked away from her. His lips again tried to speak, but no voice emerged. Those words weren’t what he needed to say. This was the hesitant silence of knowing the right answer but not knowing if he should actually say it out loud. Every time he silently said something, his options narrowed. Finally, his gaze met hers again. When he saw her closed eyes, a flicker of anger flashed across his face. A moment later, his lips began to speak a woman’s name. “Haz-” But he stopped partway through. He looked forward and saw her smiling. That smile got him to speak a certain Urban Name as his answer. “Lehrer.” He breathed a hesitant sigh toward the ground and finished his answer. “That’s your name now.” He stopped there and watched her with no excess intensity in his gaze. She opened her mouth a bit and deepened her smile when she heard that name. She showed off her white teeth and nodded. “Yes.” Her eyes bent in a smile. “That is correct.” She nodded again as something fell from her right eye and down her cheek. The sparkle that caught the sun and fell to the ground was a tear. But that was the only one. She did not bother wiping away the wet trail it left and walked forward. Her footsteps rang loud as she approached Berger. His gaze followed her as she made the dozen or so necessary steps without any hesitation. She stopped next to the motorcycle, removed her shaded glasses, and put them in her breast pocket. Then he saw her open her eyes. Her left eye was a brown feline one, but her right one was a blue human one. Both were bent in a smile. “I will summon the guardian dragon slumbering in the mountains. And in the meantime…” She smiled. “I have something important to tell you: Hazel is no longer qualified to be the Messiah.” “…What?” “Everything has fallen out of sync with the previous cycles. It all began when I chose to go to sleep within the Sylphide. And it truly changed last year when Hazel chose to return to America from Cologne and begin working as a Tuner. Just like I had hoped she would.” Tension filled Berger’s face. “What are you talking about? What does Cologne and being a Tuner have to do with being qualified to be the Messiah?” “I imagine the only people who know the truth are me, Pale and M. Schrier who I explained my predictions to last year, and the Geheimnis Agency’s commander. That commander is working very hard right now to not betray everyone, to not disappoint them, and to make sure the Panzerpolis Project can fulfill its true purpose. Because destiny has gone off the rails.” She took a breath. “All because Hazel chose the path of regeneration over the path of destruction back at Cologne.” ### 670. Part 6 Neue Kaiser suddenly fell to its knees. Like its power had been switched off. The white Heavy Barrel was no longer under the Messiah’s control. Hazel immediately realized why. “Alfred Maldrick.” “Do not defile my true name with your Heidengeist lips.” A scratchy artificial voice arrived from dead ahead. Someone stood in front of the large Heavy Barrel half buried in a building. The slender man wore his long hair tied back and carried a white sword Device. Alfred walked toward her. Slowly and without rushing. Her reflexes told her to run the other way. The 10 yards between them was about the same as her distance from the bridge behind her. … He’ll catch up if I try to run. She cast her eyes in every other direction and saw truck lights gathering on the other side of the bridge behind her. Soldiers wielding submachineguns and capture nets were waiting behind the storehouses and other buildings to the left and right. And Alfred walked toward her from the front. A few trucks drove up from the smaller roads on the left and right and quickly lined up behind him. But he did not even look back. Hazel saw Heiliger, Müller, Schweitzer, and Lowenzahn step out of the trucks. She saw Lowenzahn take a step toward her with the hem of her uniform whipping in the wind. Lowenzahn’s eyes were on Alfred, not on Hazel. “Stop, lieutenant! The Erlkönig has been sent from Germania to deal with the approaching enemy craft! Isn’t preventing the Messiah’s rescue more important than killing her!?” “And how long will it take for the Erlkönig to arrive?” He twisted his head around to look up in the sky. “Destiny is gradually moving beyond your predictions.” He viewed Neue Zinnober and Neue Blau hovering in the air. They silently deactivated their Ober Emblems. Bluish-white ether light scattered from them and then they landed and kneeled behind Alfred. The asphalt audibly broke below them, but Alfred did not rush. He continued his leisurely pace. “This is the perfect timing. Everyone should be realizing the truth right about now – realizing that there is something wrong with a world so weak it can be saved by a single individual.” He opened his mouth and sang in the scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords. The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall “The report from the North Sea says an Allied bombing fleet is crossing the North Sea to arrive here in Hamburg. This country will suffer a severe wound while we are preoccupied with this Messiah.” He took a breath. “What did Sir Graham want from us? Did he want us to be led astray by such…trivialities?” With that final word, he stopped and took a fighting stance. … Here it comes! Hazel jumped, but a certain sound pushed her onward. The sirens were all the proof she needed that someone was approaching the base. She nodded at that fact, regathered her strength, and took off running. With all her might. She trampled the glass shards and chunks of asphalt scattered across the road. She looked back to see Alfred take his first step. He crouched low as if bending his body in two and took a slow but powerful first step. “Do you still claim you don’t wish to run away!? Then prove it, Messiah!” Once his foot touched the ground again, he took his second step. With the third step, he broke into a swift run like he was trying to run up the wall. His footsteps rang loud. … He’s going to catch up!? Hazel swallowed the scream threatening to escape her throat. Then her right foot’s bandage caught hard on the ground. The blood soaking it had increased its friction, making it catch on the asphalt. Before she could even cry out, the bandage attached itself to the ground and her blood-soaked toe slipped within it. She tripped. To protect herself from the glass shards on the ground, she twisted around to land on her right shoulder. “Ow.” The pain hit her and her momentum slid her along the ground some, but she planted her hands on the ground soon enough. She tried to stand when crimson Lives pierced her from behind. A murderous gaze approached, carrying the Lives of killer intent. … I need to get up. She could tell the wound on her toe was tearing wider. As much as her mind told her to stand up, her foot felt numb. Her body couldn’t keep up with her will. That fact scared her and she collapsed back down before she managed to get on her feet. She planted her hands on the ground again and reflexively looked back. Alfred was there. He was still 10 yards away, but that distance was meaningless. “Ah.” A single tone rang from his voice and a Bust attack instantly filled the space between them. White light loudly swung down toward her. But Hazel did not shut her eyes or avert her gaze. She simply stood up and ran, albeit while looking back. … I won’t give up. The sirens rang in her ears, that one thought filled her mind, and the white explosion hit her. The road was engulfed in light. At the same moment, something dropped from the sky. ### 671. Part 6 A single contrail hung in the sky above the Hamburg base. It drew a straight line to the south. Below the cloud, lights were gathered around a waterway bisecting the base. The white lights were different from the warning lights. They revealed the waterway to be badly damaged. The concrete sides were broken and the bottom was torn apart and spewing mud, but the water itself flowed cleanly around the wreckage. The lights from above shined on something like a bridge. That was the border with the outside of the base. The large fenced bank at the end of the waterway was half destroyed and something like a long T-shaped bridge lay there with its bottom end soaking in the water. That was actually the wreckage of a blue and a black aerial warship. Both were 30 yards long and they had similar designs. The black one spanned the waterway like a bridge and was motionless. The blue one was stabbed into the black one’s belly. Combat engineers moved around and shouted to each other in the light. A large silhouette joined them in the light. The enormous green Grösse Panzer was Karl Schmitt. A woman climbed down from his shoulder, spoke with a nearby combat engineer, and gave Karl instructions via hand signal. Large trucks equipped with wires and suspension equipment arrived after him and lined up alongside the waterway. They worked with Karl to first lift the black craft. A Grösse Panzer transportation truck arrived with additional cargo space installed and drove to the center of the light. Everyone was on the move. Except for the one person who remained motionless. The woman in a Geheimnis Agency uniform was Lowenzahn. There was no one in her immediate vicinity as she brushed a hand through her hair and watched the recovery of the two aerial warships. Then someone walked up behind her. “Hellard?” Her eyebrows bent into a smile as she looked back to find… “I apologize for not being who you wanted to see.” The pencil-thin elderly man in a Geheimnis Agency uniform was Bermark Vier. He held a hand to his chest and bowed before taking a look around. There was no one else close by. “I sent Sir Elrich and Sir Witzmann to the old headquarters like you wanted.” “So the usual process.” Lowenzahn breathed a sigh of relief. “They will learn the truth, but they can’t bring it back with them. They can, however, leave if they manage to survive all of the battles the Messiah fought.” “We forced this upon them, but I imagine those eternal students appreciate a further opportunity for learning.” “Probably so,” said Lowenzahn, turning back toward the two aerial warships. “Sending in Erlkönig may have been a mistake. I’m not cut out for this kind of work.” “I cannot say much of anything since I did not see what happened.” “Where is Captain Hellard? Have you seen him?” “I did earlier. He, Sir Heiliger, and Sir Müller are preparing to evacuate Hamburg before the Allied bombers arrive. He fears a repeat of the tragedy at Cologne.” “And the lieutenant who also witnessed Cologne is doing something else entirely.” She pointed into the sky with her eyes still on the aerial warships. There was a contrail there. Bermark’s eyebrows raised slightly when he looked to the sky. “Did he pursue the Messiah on his own?” “Bermark, how much does your brother understand the lieutenant?” She lowered her pointing hand. “The woman named Eryngium Ilfheim said she didn’t want to run away and she was killed to protect Dog Berger, who tried to let her run away. She was 21 at the time, the same as the Messiah now. What do you make of this?” Bermark’s answer was simple. “I am a soulless Sein Frau, so I cannot answer that.” “But your brother did not go with him. Your brother is superior, Bermark.” Her words were interrupted by a loud splashing and mechanical noise. Karl had descended into the waterway. His large silhouette moved in the lights. The combat engineers on his arms attached padded wires to Erlkönig. Lowenzahn saw the wires supporting Erlkönig go taut. “Bermark. Rapidly build a repair line for Erlkönig and Sylphide in Germania’s 3rd level factory district. You should be able to repair Sylphide using the parts recovered from the North Sea and the undamaged parts of this one, so do whatever it takes to have them both repaired by the 23rd.” “Fräulein, I can understand with Erlkönig, but Sylphide might turn against us.” “But when the Nibelung turns and Hazel Mirildorf arrives in the past, she needs more than the one-armed young man with her, doesn’t she? We must have Sylphide ready for her.” She smiled bitterly. “Hazel Mirildorf will come to Germania on the 23rd. Probably to stop the Nibelung. But I will make sure she keeps it turning. Because that is the only way to preserve this world.” “I see. Then I will keep Sylphide deactivated and stored in the shielded isolation room on Germania’s lowest level. In that emergency isolation room that can only be reached by taking a VTOL craft down through 18 barriers.” Karl grabbed Erlkönig’s belly and began lifting it, producing a metallic sound, With the assistance of the wires and his colleagues, his arm slowly lifted Erlkönig. But his arm stopped shortly thereafter. Then the people supporting Sylphide from the bottom of the waterway got to work. The lights turned toward Sylphide. The blue craft wasn’t just bent in half – it had damage and corrosion in places. However… “It still looks clean. Does that show how well it was cared for? This is awful, really. This is the first loop when Sylphide and the Messiah were reborn in the modern world.” “How does it usually work?” “In the past worlds, the Messiah disappeared somewhere along with the one-armed man. Once Sylphide’s reactor died and its self-repair function died along with it, it was buried where it rotted away. There wouldn’t have been anything to dig back up. Only some poorly-made plans left below Karlsruhe land as Ober Geheimnis.” Lowenzahn nodded and turned away from the waterway. “The world is approaching destruction. I must reveal the true meaning of the Panzerpolis Project tonight.” “Protecting Hamburg comes first. That is always how it begins, isn’t it?” “Yes. The bombing of Hamburg is a test for the bombing of Germania on August 23. It will also scare the military into increasing the output of the dome and further boosting the Vaterlands.” “The only real difference from the previous loops is the Allies will be using this bombing to acquire intel on an air route to Germania they can use for their ACBS loaded with the new bomb developed on the data we gave them.” “It will all work out if I can use my Beweisen to capture the Messiah on the 23rd and if that ACBS arrives on schedule.” “Yes, it will all work out,” she repeated to herself before walking off. She looked to the east where a white umbrella of light could be seen near the horizon. “Things have changed, but tonight I will make the necessary corrections and then stop lying to everyone. Bermark, tell everyone tomorrow that the final prophecy is the 1st Section of the Moonlight. I’m sorry,” she said. “But I’m going to use you for my lies. After I enter Tristan, I imagine Captain Hellard will ask how I made my prophecies if my Ober Beweisen is used to boost Tristan.” “What should I tell him?” “That’s simple. Lie and tell him I can make prophecies on my own – no machines necessary.” She couldn’t look Bermark in the eye as she walked past him. “I need one other person to lie for me too. I need someone to convince the others that the destruction of the world refers to the collapse of Germany from the anxiety Tons, not to the Nibelung.” “Would that be Sir Heiliger?” “Yes. It would be too difficult for everyone otherwise. The more the Geheimnis Agency works to protect Germany, the harder I must work to have Tristan extract the Spacetime Tons. Meanwhile, the Allies will be sending so much anxiety our way. If we play our role, the Allies play theirs, and the Messiah plays hers, the Nibelung will continue turning. That is the natural outcome and I will respect that.” She sighed and stopped walking. “We are only trying to protect those close to us, but our presence causes the enemy to wield a great power against us. That is exactly what happened to Graham and Rose.” She pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket. The folded paper held an ear of golden wheat. She stroked the wheat with her finger while repeating a line from the 1st Section of the Moonlight. “A wall separates the pair, hm?” She looked up into the sky where a white contrail cut across the dark night sky. ### 672. Part 6 Schwarz Löwe had grown a small horn and it sent out its fists in straight-line attacks. It didn’t just use its footwork to assist the alternating right and left swings. It flapped its wings to put some real weight behind the attacks while keeping the footwork light. It unleashed a flurry of attacks. Neue Kaiser responded with evasive action and its own metal fists. The ultra-hard fists collided or were swept aside with elbows, scattering metallic noises and sparks into the wind. Neue Kaiser took a single step forward to place its full strength behind its fist. Its upward-swinging elbow sliced through the air, producing a shockwave that tore a line into the ground. Schwarz Löwe dodged the flying shockwave blade by a few feet to the left and used that time to move as far forward as it could. Neue Kaiser swung up both its arms. A pair of shockwave blades shot out, tearing through the ground like it was slicing through the clouds with its wings. The summer grass scattered and the dirt flew as the ground was audibly split. Schwarz Löwe chose to break through the center. The shockwaves broke its shoulder armor, tearing into shoulders that had become partially biological thanks to the Ober Emblem. But it leaped forward nevertheless. It passed through the valley between the shockwaves. It all came down to a series of instants. Neue Kaiser used its leg thrusters to slide backwards, so Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings once to extend its leap and threw a downwards kick like it hoped to stab its leg into the ground. Neue Kaiser slid further to dodge that kick. It aimed for the moment Schwarz Löwe landed, but Schwarz Löwe forced itself to rotate on its downwards-kicking right leg to throw a roundhouse kick with its left leg. Its right leg groaned in protest, but the black semicircle caught Neue Kaiser who had stopped sliding to begin an attack of its own. The kick hit its right shoulder. It didn’t do much damage, but it did bring Neue Kaiser to a full stop. Schwarz Löwe swung down its leg and charged in. It unleashed all the power stored in its back to not give Neue Kaiser a chance to react. An explosion of air launched the nearly 30ton machine forward. Its raised fist and the rest of its body broke the sound barrier and continued to accelerate. Its right first slammed into Neue Kaiser’s chest. It produced a heavy sound of impact. The force of the blow and the impact cracked Schwarz Löwe’s right fist. But it didn’t care. It had seen Neue Kaiser lift off the ground a bit. It used the acceleration from its back to throw its left fist. That fist cracked too, but a crack formed in Neue Kaiser’s chest armor as well. “–––––!!” Schwarz Löwe continued punching, not hesitating to unleash a flurry of attacks. Neue Kaiser drew out a line on the ground behind it as it was pushed back. Schwarz Löwe pushed forward. It increased the force of the right-and-left full-body punching motion, hitting its enemy with the shockwave more than the physical blow. The ground was already tearing away and Neue Kaiser was pushed back along a ground containing nothing but dirt exposed by the shockwaves. The sounds of mechanical movement were answered by the sounds of metallic impacts. More and more heavy attacks were sent out from below. Just as Neue Kaiser lifted from the ground, the thick layer of hair on Schwarz Löwe’s back vanished. They had already reached the ends of the field. Schwarz Löwe was about to send the final attack toward airborne Neue Kaiser’s chest. Only the primary armor remained there and Schwarz Löwe prepared to send its right fist there. “!” The attack sounded like a cannon blast. The fist broke the sound barrier, a white umbrella of vapor spread out around the wrist, and the air exploded around it. The blow landed, making a nice sound. The chest armor worn over Neue Kaiser’s Panzer Kleid was obliterated and the primary armor below was dented in the shape of a fist. With a loud sound like spraying water, Neue Kaiser was launched toward the sky. But it did not end there. Without warning, Neue Kaiser released all of the air gathered in its wings. “You amateur!” It instantly brought its airborne body back to the ground. It circled in front of Schwarz Löwe which was crouched in its follow through to the upwards punch. Neue Kaiser stood up and made a powerful flap of its wings. It rushed forward and clashed with Schwarz Löwe, placing the black Panzer on its white shoulder. It easily lifted it. But that wasn’t all. With Schwarz Löwe on its shoulder, Neue Kaiser leaped up and grabbed Schwarz Löwe’s neck. It soared forward with its feet off the ground, its forward acceleration instead coming from its wings. “Weren’t you supposed to be the best in the world 8 years ago!?” Neue Kaiser used its top acceleration to slam Schwarz Löwe into the ground. With the acceleration provided by Neue Kaiser blocked by that wall of dirt, Schwarz Löwe’s metal screamed and it bounced hard. The black Ober Emblem shattered and scattered as ether light. Schwarz Löwe’s remaining momentum tore a rut into the ground for several yards as the Ober Emblem vanished. The black biological armor it wore was stripped away. All that remained in the wind and moonlight was a black Grösse Panzer with smoke belching from all across its body. ### 673. Part 6 Neue Kaiser suddenly accelerated. It was headed toward the group of interceptors up ahead. The fat gray planes with a black line painted on the top were P-47 Thunderbolts. They were the latest model, just put into service. There were a lot of them, but Neue Kaiser intended to break through the center. It accelerated forward and broke the sound barrier in only a few seconds. Water vapor exploded and a white umbrella ruptured in the purple sky as the white Grösse Panzer flew forward. The wind roared. Behind it, Schwarz Löwe also accelerated. The black and white broke through the air and raced forward with only a moment’s time lag between them. The white continued to transform in front of the black. It was evolving. Its Ober Emblem used the pilot’s willpower to give its body the most suitable form for the battlefield. Its armor grew sharper and its white wings grew larger and longer. It flew. It flapped its six metal wings, blasting the wind behind it. It flew forward. White vapor trailed behind the sharp points of its armor, forming clouds. The white Grösse Panzer drew out its own path with clouds. Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings more quickly to try and catch up. Its armor groaned and the frame below audibly bent. It was approaching its limit. Both of them had long since passed their intended top speed. But the enemy was coming all the same. Up ahead, a formation of four planes approached from the left. Their circling path would allow them to attack and immediately escape. The bullets arrived as soon as the four started showing their bellies. In that instant, Neue Kaiser vanished within a white shadow. Its supersonic maneuvering had changed the momentum and shape of the front shockwave and the air around it had burst. It fully spread its wings and blew away the bursting air while raising its own voice. “Ah.” With that voice, it swung a giant pillar of light to either side. The attack was made before the bullets could even arrive and it was more than 100 yards long. It blew away the enemy bullets and the four enemy crafts that were showing their bellies as they began their turn to escape. The Thunderbolts’ bonds crumbled and a few armor panels stripped away. They were all slapped by supersonic air resistance and inertia. They tumbled backwards and broke apart. Their engines broke from their frames, their wings broke off at the base, and they simply fell apart in the sky. Neue Kaiser swung its sword again to break through the raining components and continue forward. “Sir Alfred!” shouted the red Grösse Panzer behind it. “Stay back, Nein! You be my witness! Witness to the fact that I showed the Messiah the power needed to guide her!” Neue Kaiser did not look back. Nor did Schwarz Löwe. The wind stood in their way like a wall, but they flew through it all the same. Several long-range antiair Drache Kanonen fired at them like pillars of light. The beams audibly scorched the air and passed either in front of or behind them. Nevertheless, Neue Kaiser accelerated. Its wings responded to the speed by evolving. All so it could continue onward and bring down its enemy. A Drache Kanone arrived on a collision course from dead ahead. “Ahhhhhhhhh!!” The white sword sliced through it and the dragon light turned to spray. Neue Kaiser shouted without slowing. “Berger!” Hundreds of white lines were drawn in the sky ahead as the enemy bullets flew in. These weren’t from long-range weapons any longer – they were midrange divine spell bullets. “Watch carefully!!” Neue Kaiser flapped its wings. With the first flap, it suddenly launched upwards. It tilted forward in midair, placed its left hand on empty air, and then spun forward. It performed a flip similar to a cartwheel and fully spread its six wings. Wind erupted from the wings as the white Panzer performed its supersonic flip. Once its feet were below it again, it took a crouching landing stance. In that upright position, it flapped its wings to resume accelerating. “––––!” A great wind rushed out as it more ran than flew toward the incoming bullets. Smoke burst from its overworked leg and hip thrusters. It used his still-evolving wings to glide through the sky and then twisted as if sliding to the side. “Come!” Schwarz Löwe roared. Both Panzer’s flew right into the barrage. Neue Kaiser used its legs to spin, sway, and slip past the countless destructive spears. It bent its upright body to just barely remain untouched despite its large size. It looked like a dance. Behind it, Schwarz Löwe focused only on the bullets arriving from head on and escaped them using its speed. It twisted its body, swung its arms, tilted its body, and twirled. Its armor groaned and the inertia of its spiraling movement damaged its left arm. The arm that corresponded to Berger’s prosthetic arm broke halfway up. It used a single flap of its wings to correct its attitude. The two Panzers used their speed to continue forward. They passed through the barrage of bullets. Behind them, the bullets collided with each other and exploded. The explosions made a lot of noise, but that noise couldn’t keep up with them. They left the wall of light behind them and raced through the sky. They couldn’t even hear the blowing wind. Hazel simply used the radio to shout the name of what she saw in front of them. “The flagship!” They were less than 10 miles from it. Neue Kaiser flapped its wings. Schwarz Löwe’s armor creaked and groaned as it tried to catch up. Neue Kaiser’s Ober Emblem gathered ether around its broken chest and created new armor there. Neue Kaiser flew, accelerated, and evolved while Schwarz Löwe shouted and accelerated. But the two Panzers were beginning to pull apart. Little by little, Neue Kaiser was moving further out ahead. Close-range antiair fire flew in from the flagship. The gunfire’s control mechanism was used to predict the target’s trajectory, but the two Panzers flew too quickly for the mechanical calculations to keep up. The antiair fire covered the stormy sky, but none of it could catch up. The entire flagship came into view. Left behind by Neue Kaiser, Schwarz Löwe narrowed the light in its sight devices. The view of the flagship had suddenly grown much clearer. That was thanks to the sunlight. Dawn had arrived. The sunlight shined bright in the sky above the flagship and shined on the six-winged machine out ahead. Then an easterly wind blew in. That was the morning wind. The sunlight spurred the air into motion, getting the entire sky to move as a powerful wind. First, the wind blew in a white fog. The damp North Sea air was shaken, producing thin clouds. That instantly produced a wavy ocean of clouds below them, blocking their downward view. “Berger!” shouted Hazel. “I haven’t lost it!” The flagship disappeared into the mist, but Neue Kaiser knew where it was. As did Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe blasted the fog backwards and whipped up a powerful wind as it raced forward. Ahead, Neue Kaiser glittered in the sunlight shining up through the clouds. Its white color had changed to a faint gold. That color came from the sunlight shining on it through the fog. It was dyed by the foggy sunlight as it raced above the fog. ### 674. Part 7 After he looked up her skirt, Hazel poured her embarrassed fury into a nearby rock and threw it against Berger’s face. “You naughty dog!” Once. Twice. Thrice. By the fourth rock, Berger actually dodged it. “Y-you stupid girl! You’re really trying to kill me this time, aren’t you!?” The fifth one hit. He teetered back with a line of blood running down his forehead. Hazel ignored that and had her say. “You’re always looking at my crotch! You sexually harassing pervy fetishist!” “Fetishist? You have it all wrong!” “Th-then what is it if not a fetish?” “I just happen to like it!” The sixth one hit him right between the eyes. For some reason, he had a look of bliss as he collapsed to his knees. Then the wind blew in. It was a white Heavy Barrel – the Kaiser. But Hazel threw a seventh rock at Berger for good measure. He collapsed into a bloody heap. “Can you too stop flirting for two seconds!?” complained the Kaiser. “You can’t keep getting away with this!” Hazel chose to hit him where it hurt. “Shut up, you pedo knight!” Top left article: Today’s Birthday #1718: Oscar Mirildorf Oscar turns 57 this year. He is best known in the AIF as Miss Hazel’s father and negotiations are underway to have him join the AIF as one of the new 16 Battle Commanders who will act as on-site commanders after the latest reorganization. Lately, he has been worried about Miss Hazel going on so many missions. She is on a mission to Europe on his birthday today. There are some bad men out there, so he is very worried for her. Her response to him was “it’s none of your business” and we have to agree with her there. Bottom Article Title: Shogeki Game Bunko June Releases Bottom Article Book List: Cruising Divine Spell Girl Rodrigues Volume 3: Success! The Bombing of Hamburg By: AIF PR Team If you’re feeling tired of all this fighting, the AIF PR Team has a heartfelt novel for you all about familial love on the battlefield! Get ready to cry! So popular a second printing has already been greenlit! Volume 1: I Was Reduced to Scorched Earth! Volume 2: Go, Papa! Launch the Homing Round! A Father’s Punch By: M. Schrier After his daughter was taken from him, a father punches the culprit over and over and over again! He doesn’t stop even after knocking out the man’s back tooth! (Nonfiction) Today’s Killer Book: Diary of a Toxic Reader By: AIF Forced Education Committee. A killer book every day. A life that might just count as hell on earth. Professor Dog’s Fearsome Insults By: An Anonymous Girl A story of a man who always starts with the insults but is cut short by a powerful confession! I’m not forgetting what you did! Two New Entries in the Popular “Now You Get It!” Series Now You Get It! Your First Front Line Now You Get It! Your First Fascism By: AIF First Times Club You’ll Never be the Same After Meeting Them By: AIF 6 Men Dice Those 6 are up to some weird stuff! This could be good! ## Unreif Germane 1 “This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.” In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates 2 “One day, a young man visited a woman who was friends with a dragon. The young man referred to the woman as the Messiah and said that her power was needed.” The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home 3 “The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.” The wind blows / The night blows / The dragon awakes / The people move / The dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall 4 “A long battle followed. But after traveling north and defeating a large black dragon, the clouds cleared away.” Follow the path to a familiar face While walking side by side Your hand and voice might reach them But the moon sees it not The gatherers begin their party A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same words 5 “Below the full moon in the sky, the Messiah smiled for the first time. The knights rejoiced, the people danced, and the dragon roared.” The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land 6 “The one-armed young man left a letter telling her to fight no longer and departed the morning after everyone threw a party to celebrate their newfound peace.” 7 “The Messiah wept.” “She was inconsolable despite the knights’ and the king’s best efforts. Not even the country’s top jester could manage it. Nor could the wolves and dragons of the forest, the mountains, the rivers, or the wind.” 8 “But one morning, the Messiah stopped weeping and gathered everyone. Then she promised them that their peace would last for a thousand years thanks to their efforts.” 9 “Do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.” 10 Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new All hesitation will come to an end up ahead Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new Throw out all hesitation and look back The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new All hesitation exists to tear through that wall “The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed young man returned. He spent the rest of his days guarding the shrine…until one evening he breathed his final breath.” ### Panzerpolis Berlin 4 1943 I keep having this dream. It starts with the five poems and tells their story. A different version of me plays the main role each time, but it always ends the same. I know it always has a sad ending, but I see it through to the end each time. Because I no longer think of this as a nightmare. I can tell by the fact that I hear a sixth poem when the dream ends. Unlike the five that tell the story of the dream, this one imagines what comes next. It feels like someone shouting from behind a distant wall, trying to tell us something. It is a poem meant to break free of that tearful night. That poem is what tells me this dream is not a nightmare. ### Opening Quote “Prince, what you are, you are through chance and birth; what I am, I am through my own labor. There are many princes and there will continue to be thousands more, but there is only one Beethoven.” -Beethoven’s words upon leaving the home of his patron, Prince Lichnowsky ### 675. Part 7 Hazel raised her head and looked around to find the library had returned to its dark and quiet state. All the gazes gathered on her were gone. The only other people here were Berger in front of her and Alfred behind her. Then she heard a sound like tearing cloth but repeated over and over. The bookcases had been sliced through and the top halves were sliding down. With a creaking sound, the split wood and books slid along the cut and spilled to the floor. With the top halves scattered across the floor, the bookcases were now a lot shorter. The destruction did not reach the windows beyond the bookcases. The windows still showed the scarlet sky of Germania and the cityscape filled with gaps. … There’s no one here. Like everything I was just seeing was never really there. Hazel placed her hands on the floor and spoke, ignoring the blanket slipping from her shoulders. “The words affect reality…” “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” said Berger, standing next to her. He pulled all the Phlogiston Tanks from Gelegenheit’s hilt, reached into his pocket for the envelope Hazel had given him, and threw it away. “Unfortunately, the authorization seal on the orders was fake. A really well made fake.” “How can that be!?” “Don’t get upset, Hazel. It’s not your fault. Blame the people who gave you a fake.” He took a look around the quiet library. “This city is real pain in the ass. Can you place words on top of words and make it all real?” He turned toward Alfred who stood a few yards behind Hazel. “Yes, our words can overwrite reality. The library’s bookcases really have been removed and it really is full of Geheimnis Agency soldiers.” Hazel realized something from that. She viewed the silence around her. “So this silence was created when I came up here?” “It is a false silence created by my words. I used my earlier Erklärung to pull back the curtain and show you the truth. And his Gelegenheit only managed to cut through that top-level Erklärung.” Berger smiled bitterly at that. “So the question is whether I placed my words on top of yours to create a further fiction or if I cut through your words to reveal the truth, huh?” He took a breath. “Either way, we can break through it all.” Hazel looked up at Berger. … He said we. There were only two people in the AIF – no, in the entire Allied forces – with a High Organ device capable of Aerializing words: Hazel and Berger. The Allies were researching High Organs, but they had only succeeded in creating exact copies. The AIF was working on creating a remote control device based on Hazel’s ability, but they had yet to develop their own High Organ devices. It was with that in mind that Hazel looked up at Berger and nodded. He kept his eyes on Alfred and reached his prosthetic left hand toward her. She reached out her own hand to take that mechanical one. Hazel realized a bluish-white line of light had moved in between her and Berger. … Ether!? The line expanded vertically to surround her on all four sides. The ether line outlined a special field. “I recognize this!” Berger’s left hand was wrist deep in the barrier, so it was promptly severed. Hazel suddenly found herself floating. She was falling. “No!” She was falling backwards along the library’s floor. Gravity had been redirected 90 degrees within the field. The spatial positioning in the field had been altered. She was “falling” toward the window, taking her away from Berger. She reached out her hand, but it wasn’t enough. She only managed to reach his severed left hand, causing it to tumble in the air. Her fall continued. Just before her back hit the field wall behind her, the field shattered. Gravity immediately returned to normal, nauseating her. Her floating body fell toward the floor now. But something caught her in midair before she could hit the floor. … Eh? What was that? She struggled a bit and righted herself, finding she was on top of some kind of flat surface. She and the blanket around her were held by an enormous hand. She knew the arm’s name. “Der Held!?” Her shouted question was answered by movement. The arm produced a mechanical sound and her viewpoint rose. The next thing she knew, she was draped over an enormous metal shoulder. She grabbed at the metal shoulder and stretched out her elbows to prop herself up. Her pulse raced and she saw the prosthetic arm’s owner was looking to Berger, not her. She recognized the square face she saw in profile. “Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer.” “I am a captain now.” She answered his brief correction by lowering her head with her eyebrows drooping. But that was all. She then turned to look at Berger. He stood about 5 yards away. He had lost his left hand and he held Gelegenheit in his right hand. He was looking her way even though it took his eyes off Alfred behind him. He looked expressionless, but there was great strength in his unwavering gaze. That gaze brought her relief, so she relaxed her shoulders. Then Schweitzer spoke. “Berger. I’m sorry, but I will be taking the Messiah with me.” His tone was thoroughly businesslike. “I have one suggestion.” He fell silent there and Berger did not respond. Schweitzer took three breaths before continuing. “Berger, would you consider joining the Geheimnis Agency? This request comes straight from our commander.” The gasp of protest did not come from Hazel, who struggled wide-eyed on Schweitzer’s shoulder, or from Berger, who simply frowned. It came from Alfred behind Berger. “What is the meaning of this, Hellard!?” But Schweitzer ignored it all like he was only conveying a message. “After all, Berger, you and the Messiah have nowhere left to run.” He raised his left hand. The large flesh fist held a broad strap. A large, rectangular brown leather bag dangled from that strap. “Th-that’s the bag I left in Potsdam!” “Yes, we had noticed you well before then. We examined the contents and found something very interesting indeed.” He shut his eyes. “A serum meant to fight the German Tons we injected Berger with.” ### 676. Part 7 Something landed in front of Hazel. It looked like a giant wall to her. It dropped with enough force to break into the road surface but instead came to a sudden stop between her and Alfred. His “ah” attack crashed into the wall and the light exploded. The light shattered on the other side of the wall and the wall shook violently. But the wall remained hovering more than a foot off the ground and did not fall. The wall had blocked Alfred’s Bust attack. Protected by the wall, Hazel took a few steps back. The wind vanished and a few of the light Lives produced by Alfred danced around her in long strings. She took a few more steps back and stopped once she could see the entirety of the wall. Everyone else was equally motionless. The surrounding soldiers and Heavy Barrels had all come to a stop. She looked dazed. But she had not stopped from the relief of surviving the Bust attack. She had identified the wall as the white light faded and the warning lights and other outdoor lights shined on it. It was a 30yd-long aerial warship resembling a blue blade. She knew its name. But her gaping mouth was trembling too much to move. Her eyebrows drooped and she took a breath before finally getting her voice out. “What is happening?” She was answered not by a voice but by the loud flapping of wings in the sky. A line of wind passed by in the dark blue moonlit sky overhead. The wind took the form of a dark shadow. The twin-winged silhouette was a Heavy Barrel. “Schwarz Löwe!” Hazel’s drooping eyebrows shot up in joy and she raised her head. Tears fell from her upturned eyes. The black Heavy Barrel vanished beyond a building at the far end of the road and she heard it land. That was enough for her to nod. She viewed the blue craft in front of her, clenched her fists, and inhaled. … It’s time to leave here. A voice from behind seemed to respond to that thought. A woman’s voice. “Yes, Hazel. Do that.” Hearing a sound like splitting stone from the same direction, she looked back. The blockade at the other end of the bridge had been breached. For some reason, the trucks that had formed the blockade were missing. And someone stood in the center of the gap where three trucks had been before. “Lehrer.” A woman in a purple uniform had just finished swinging a German military spear up from below. Her eyes remained closed, but she was smiling. She swung the spear back down. A moment later, three military trucks dropped from the sky. “!?” Everyone on the road ducked as the three trucks crashed down onto one of the buildings built alongside the road. A corner of the building collapsed from roof to 3rd floor like someone squishing a sponge cake below their finger. The trio of noises sounded like shattering stone. With that as her cue, Lehrer raised her voice. “Sylphide! Take her inside!” Hazel turned around to see Sylphide opening the cockpit hatch on its upper surface. The blue craft tilted toward her, telling her to climb in. However… “Out of the way!” roared Alfred’s voice. A loud impact followed and white light exploded on the other side of Sylphide. And not just once. A second, third, fourth, and fifth shout followed – the last one the most intense. “Ah.” Sylphide was blasted over Hazel’s head. “!” Hazel ducked down and Sylphide twisted itself around and ascended above one of the buildings. Its lower armor was cracked and broken, exposing its internal structure. And with Sylphide moved out of the way… “Are you running away?” Alfred was not out of breath and stood firm in his diagonal stance. Hazel noticed his gaze turn toward her just once before turning toward Lehrer behind her. So she shifted to the left to let him see the woman. She looked back to see Lehrer walking this way. She tilted her head and spoke to Alfred. “Do you think Hazel is running away here?” “If she’s going to go on and on about not wanting to run away, the only other option is to fight.” Instead of responding, Lehrer gathered bluish-white Lives on the blade of her raised spear. She gathered the wind Lives blowing through, called them to her, and hardened them into a blade. Hazel gave an honest assessment of what she saw. … The density and speed at which she gathered them is impressive. Whether Lehrer was aware of those thoughts or not, she spoke to Hazel. “Hazel, once you fight your true battle – not a simple skirmish like this – you will find you too can do this much. Because power is acquired through necessity.” Lehrer threw away her glasses and opened her eyes – one blue and the other dyed red. Hazel froze briefly when she saw those eyes. But that was all. … I knew it. “You were the one who went to sleep at Alfheim in the picture book, weren’t you?” The surrounding soldiers understood the implication. “The Messiah!?” Their confused shout changed the atmosphere hanging over the road. Confusion Lives raced out in every direction. At the same time, Lehrer ran forward. She twisted her body to keep her balance while swinging her spear around and adding on more wind Lives. Hazel also ran, like she was in sync with the woman. Her hurting right foot dragged a little, but she could still run. She had legs and they could move. And she had the willpower to move them. So she ran. A great presence moved behind her. She knew who that was: Alfred. “Ah.” He released his voice just as Hazel and Lehrer passed each other. Lehrer swung down her attack. “Ah.” Her loud tone crashed into Alfred’s Bust attack and tore a large hole in the road. ### 677. Part 7 The first in the forest clearing to react to the approaching threat was Schwarz Löwe. It was kneeling and something like a pulse began to sound from its stomach. The next reaction came before the first mechanical heartbeat was over. A white light appeared in its sight devices. By then, Berger had noticed something was up while Hazel threw small rocks and such at him. “Hey, Haz- gwoh!?” A larger rock hit him in the jaw and he nearly fell over. Then Hazel also noticed something was odd about Schwarz Löwe, so she dropped the rock she held. “Ah! L-look, Berger. Schwarz Löwe is doing something.” He clearly wanted to say something to her, but they didn’t have time. He turned toward Schwarz Löwe and directed his gaze toward the metal stomach the pulse was coming from. “It’s reacting. The experimental Eingeweide device installed in it is reacting to its original owner’s approach.” He was proven right when something dropped from the sky. With a blast of wind, a deafening roar, and the color white, something was now standing on the field. “Neue Kaiser!?” Hazel’s words were answered by the pressurized wind of its landing racing across the field. A white Grösse Panzer now stood on the field. Its metal body produced a wind. That wind carried the scent of the summer grass and night dew, the chill of the night, and the smell of metal and oil. It all raced past Hazel and hit the forest. The trees shook, the leaves rustled, and the sleeping birds and other animals took flight, began running, and made lots of noise. Hazel wasn’t sure how to react, so she turned toward Berger. However… “Berger?” He was gone. She frantically looked left and right, hoping to find him. “Where are you looking? I’m up here.” He was up on Schwarz Löwe’s secondary cockpit. He had just opened the hatch and he was glaring at Neue Kaiser. She followed his gaze to view Neue Kaiser as well. The large Grösse Panzer had six wings on its back and held a sword. It remained entirely motionless with its Panzer Kleid blowing in its own wind. The moonlight palely shined on the movable white armor installed over its armored clothing. Someone stood on the shoulder armor. Berger looked up at the person and asked a question. “Why are you here, Alfred?” “For answers. About 8 years ago and about the Messiah’s purpose.” The wind carried his scratchy artificial voice over the long distance between them. He slowly raised his left hand in front of his chest, placed his right hand over that, and pulled the red-stoned ring off of his left hand’s middle finger. Then he slowly held his right hand out to the side and tossed the ring away with a flick of his wrist. He threw it toward Hazel. The red gleam flew in straight line and hit the edge of the stump she had been sitting on earlier. It bounced up about 2 yards with a light clink. But it landed back down on the stump. The red gleam settled down near the very center of the tree rings. “You too, Berger,” said Alfred. Hazel looked to Berger. He gave Alfred a furious look but then nodded. He removed the red pendant from his neck, the chain making a quiet jangling. With the pendant in his hand now, he did not hesitate to throw it toward Hazel. She frantically held out her hands and caught it. … So… She wasn’t sure what to do, so she tried saying something. “Um.” “Don’t move.” “Just watch.” She was cut off by a pair of responses. After some hesitation, she sat back down on the stump. Then Berger called out to her. “Hazel.” “Y-yes?” “What will you do? 8 years ago, I tried to let Eryngium run away and I lost her.” After the shortest of moments, she shook her head. “You should know my answer. It hasn’t changed.” She took a breath and placed a hand on her chest. “I don’t want to run away.” “That’s what I thought.” He narrowed his eyes and then turned back toward Alfred. “Alfred, do you want to see the answer we reach?” Alfred did not respond. That silence bothered Hazel, so she turned to observe him. She found him looking at her. … Eh? But after her reaction of surprise, he looked away. He narrowed his eyes, turned back toward Berger, and asked a single question. “Have you been training?” After a pause, Berger answered the simple question. “I have.” “I see.” Alfred nodded, shut his eyes, and descended toward the secondary cockpit. He intended to Schreiben into the Panzer. Berger slipped into his own secondary cockpit and his voice reached Hazel from beyond the hatch. “Don’t worry, Hazel Mirildorf. 8 years ago, I thought I was the best in the world at everything.” After the span of a few breaths, Schwarz Löwe raised Gelegenheit and Neue Kaiser spread its wings and raised its sword Werkzeug. The two Panzers stood at opposite ends of the battlefield and drew lines in the ground behind them with their weapons. “Between these lines, the past 8 years never happened,” said Neue Kaiser. They would not fight in a way that would cross those lines. “Let’s get to it then,” said Schwarz Löwe. The two of them took the first step of a full-speed sprint at the exact same moment. ### 678. Part 7 Neue Kaiser left Schwarz Löwe behind as it glided several more yards and then landed. The line Berger had drawn on the ground was a few dozen yards ahead of it. Past that was the stump that was tilted after the wind dug up some of its roots. Beyond the stump, a woman stood alone, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. Neue Kaiser viewed her and then itself. White smoke was leaking from the gap between its chest and stomach. But… “So this is your answer.” That was all it said because the wind blew behind it. “!?” It turned around to find Schwarz Löwe had gotten up and was charging forward without its Ober Emblem. Its broken right fist flew out. Neue Kaiser gathered its strength and intercepted the attack with its own right fist. The fists collided and produced a sound like shattering rock. Both of them were sent flying. They ended up about 20 yards apart, but that was nothing for a Grösse Panzer. They stared at each other, their gazes seeming to audibly clash. A moment later, the Panzers themselves clashed. They threw attack after attack, broken fist colliding with steel fist, elbows flying, and jabs intersecting. Schwarz Löwe roared. The impacts were growing louder. They grew so frequent they melted together into a single loud noise. All of that sound vanished without warning. They had both swung their bodies to dodge the other’s fist. They both raised their right fist to try again. They swung their fists using the momentum of returning from their evasive action. They raised their voices in what could have been a roar or a scream. “–––––” They both stepped forward, lowered their hips, and leaned forward, their fists capturing the other’s face at the point of greatest impact. Their fists landed at the exact same moment. The lighter Schwarz Löwe was blown backwards with a “!”. The heavier Neue Kaiser collapsed backwards with a “!?”. Schwarz Löwe intentionally landed on its left shoulder and rolled to protect the wings on its back. But Neue Kaiser planted a foot behind itself and stopped its fall. With what almost sounded like a sigh, Neue Kaiser placed its cracked right hand over its face. Its shoulders rose and fell like it was out of breath and its eyes dropped to Schwarz Löwe lying face down. Schwarz Löwe could still move. Its almost completely destroyed left arm and right leg were trembling. Neue Kaiser slowly readied its fist, but then it looked down to its feet. He stopped moving. A woman stood down there. ### 679. Part 7 Hazel looked out ahead by linking her Messiah eye to Schwarz Löwe’s vision. Neue Kaiser was pulling further ahead with the sky growing blue overhead. That blue sky sat above thick fog instead of solid ground and that fog was dyed in the color of warm sunlight. Several waves ran through the golden fog spread out below Neue Kaiser. Hazel confirmed it all using Schwarz Löwe’s vision. Neue Kaiser was flying above the flat expanse of gold. “The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north / The knight descends as a knight.” Hazel gasped and Schwarz Löwe roared. Her vision suddenly shot forward. She also saw Gelegenheit’s black blade sticking out in front of her vision. The golden coloration up ahead was erased. The fog disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. And she saw a giant metal ship below. The white Grösse Panzer raised its sword and a white power gathered in the blade. “Messiah and Destiny!” shouted Neue Kaiser. “We will one day be your power!” The last-ditch antiair fire from below missed its mark. That was when Schwarz Löwe caught up. It prepared to fight in midair, but its right leg finally succumbed to its accumulated damage and the air resistance, so it broke off at the knee and scattered parts through the sky. But Schwarz Löwe still managed to swing Gelegenheit. Just then, Neue Kaiser looked back toward Schwarz Löwe. Its face was now covered by armor that looked half dragon and half machine and the light of its sight devices weakened slightly. “–––––” Without a word, it detached its wings and left them behind. “No!” Hazel flinched back when she saw the six wings expanding in the center of her vision. Gelegenheit’s attack slammed straight into the center of the wings. The white Grösse Panzer had sacrificed its wings before flying straight down toward the flagship’s bridge. Directly above the bridge was a blind spot for the flagship’s antiair fire, so none of the frantically fired shots could hit Neue Kaiser. Neue Kaiser forcefully raised its sword Werkzeug. Then a single beam of light shot up from below, piercing Neue Kaiser’s chest. ### 680. Part 8 “!” Hazel swallowed her words and suddenly realized the feeling enveloping her was fear. Schweitzer’s words continued as if to confirm that for her. “We will take this with us to the Hamburg Base’s Ton laboratory where the Messiah is headed. My men were listening in on your conversation and they tell me this is the only surviving serum.” And… “The Messiah will be injected with the same German Tons in Hamburg. A single serum cannot save you both. …Do you get my meaning, Berger?” Hazel looked to Berger. She wanted to say something and her lips started to move. But she couldn’t do it. Her lips were trembling. All of her was trembling. She couldn’t look him in the eye and lowered her gaze, but that brought the bag Schweitzer held into view. The bag she thought she had hidden in that Potsdam locker. … I can’t believe they stole it. All of a sudden, all her focus turned toward the Wheel of Destiny card she still held in her hand. Realizing what it meant for her to carry that destiny of ruin, tears filled her eyes. “I’m…” Her voice escaped her throat. Her lips moved to form the words “I’m sorry”. But someone forestalled her apology. “Hazel.” He started by calling her name. “Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf?” A single tear fell when she raised her head, but she did look at that young man in a black coat. He looked a bit angry, but he was smiling. The Lives radiating from him were orange. He really was happy. “Don’t worry, Hazel. I have just one thing to tell you: you don’t need to become a cat.” She heard the words while viewing his Lives. She repeated them a few times in her head and realized what they meant, so she responded. “Okay!” With that word, her trembling ceased. Berger nodded and held Gelegenheit in a backhand grip. Lowenzahn revealed herself with her words. “Did you really think I was dumb enough to use this with you around?” Berger asked her. He put Gelegenheit away in his coat. And then… That became true and some new Aerial Words followed. With a creaking of metal and a blast of wind, the library’s window was smashed in from the outside. Hazel wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back toward the window past the heads of the surrounding soldiers. She could see a giant white leg through it. It belonged to a Grösse Panzer wearing a Panzer Kleid. That was Alfred’s Grösse Panzer, Neue Kaiser. … Is he using his Aerial Words to remote control his Heavy Barrel? The strongest Buster, Der Held, Neue Erde, and several soldiers were inside the library. Neue Kaiser was outside the library. … This could hardly be worse. But when she looked back, she saw the same orange Lives coming from Berger who had his hand in his pocket. He looked entirely confident. “So this is reality, huh?” he said, taking a look around. “I see.” Everyone there wanted to say something to him. Hazel saw the pressure building as they prepared to speak. Dark red Lives – a mixture of protest, caution, and confusion – swelled out like a great wave. Drawn by those growing Lives, Berger pulled his right hand from his pocket and slowly held it overhead. It held a small device. The device had a red and a blue button. His thumb was on the red one. “Then this must be reality too.” He pressed the button and the library exploded. ### 681. Part 8 The boom of an explosion and a cacophony of destruction tore up and boiled the asphalt. A 20yd-radius hole was created and the destruction spread as it collapsed further on its own. The ground below was hollow thanks to the underground hangars. Burning and breaking sounds combined as the buildings on the edge of the hole failed to support their own weight, collapsed from the foundation, and slid down into the pit. Black smoke marred the sky and the Sylphide flew even higher. The only thing on the edge of the hole was Alfred after avoiding the explosion. His two targets were nowhere to be seen. “Did she hit my attack from above, overpower it, and tear this hole in the ground?” He stood up, clenched his teeth, and looked back. The first thing he saw on the road were two Grösse Panzers. “Nein! Carry Neue Kaiser belowground and have its wings installed. After that, deal with Schwarz Löwe. Can you handle that?” “What will you be doing, Master Alfred?” He looked to the ground. Dark dots drew out two trails along the heated asphalt. “Two trails of blood. One would be the Messiah’s foot wound and the other must have been from my attack on that Buster.” There was a bit of blood on his Rein König as well. He suddenly looked up toward the two Grösse Panzers again. “If those two plan to run away, then I must hunt them down.” ### 682. Part 8 It was the Heidengeist woman. Neue Kaiser’s gaze had dropped to where Hazel Mirildorf stood. But it wasn’t just looking at her. The step back it had taken had crossed the line Berger had drawn. “–––––!” Neue Kaiser gasped as Hazel ran between its legs. She ran toward Schwarz Löwe attempted to get up from the ground. Once she reached it, she turned around to face Neue Kaiser. She spread her legs, planted them firmly on the ground, and spread her arms protectively in front of Schwarz Löwe. She looked up at the white Grösse Panzer with angry eyebrows and tears in her eyes. “That’s enough. You already crossed the line between the past and the present.” Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a breath. “Or do you plan on repeating the past?” ### 683. Part 8 The light came from below the flagship. It came from the one and only sub dragon cannon loaded on the AIF aircraft carrier that had descended there. After being pierced through the chest, Neue Kaiser was briefly frozen in place, so the surrounding escort ships concentrated their antiair weaponry on it. Neue Kaiser raised its voice just before all that firepower could reach it. “Ah,” was all it said. That voice produced a bright light, sent a great power racing out, and instantly obliterated the flagship bridge below it. A deep roar shook the air, the flagship shook, and then a second roar burst into the air. The concentrated antiair fire had hit Neue Kaiser, causing it to explode in the morning sky. The gunfire ceased, the wind calmed, and the Grösse Panzer produced two deafening explosions in the otherwise quiet air. Nothing remained in the sky except for the lingering noise. The sun rising in the east shined on only one Grösse Panzer now. The black Grösse Panzer missing its right leg and left arm was Schwarz Löwe. It lowered its head and stayed entirely still in the chilly wind. It hovered there all alone. ### 684. Part 9 Neue Kaiser froze in place. Schwarz Löwe also froze halfway through getting up. Hazel didn’t move either. The three of them preserved their silence and stillness, but after the span of three breaths, something other than them moved: the forest. The birds in the dark forest squawked and took flight. And not just from their immediate surroundings. “Eh!?” Hazel looked up into the sky where so many specks were flying around in a frenzy it looked like someone had thrown a fistful of sand. Their voices were loud, hoarse, and incessant. Birds were flying from the forest covering all the mountains surrounding them. The flapping of their wings and the rustling of the shaken trees drowned out all other noise. Hazel could see the Lives of fear and panic. The birds were trying to escape something. … But what? She saw the answer in the northern sky beyond the soaring birds. A dark river flowed through the sky. The river was far larger than the one of birds and it stretched for far longer. Hazel had seen this before – last year in Cologne. When a thousand bombers flew together, they would create a single silhouette from a distance. “The bombing of Hamburg.” Her words seemed to push Neue Kaiser to action. The white Grösse Panzer took solid steps past her and Schwarz Löwe. It approached its own sword stabbed into the edge of the field. Schwarz Löwe got up as well. Hazel turned toward it and saw it kneeling with the secondary cockpit hatch opening. Schwarz Löwe said nothing. Neither did Neue Kaiser. Neue Kaiser reached its sword and pulled it from the ground. Then it slowly turned around, pointed the sword toward Hazel, and spoke. “Why do you insist you will not run away and why do you protect destiny?” Hazel kept her protective position in front of Schwarz Löwe as she answered the question coming from beyond the blade. “Because that is my way.” “Even if you lack the strength to back it up? Are you okay with dying as long as you can protect someone else?” “I have no intention of dying. But I don’t want to lose anyone else either.” She worked to calm her breathing, lowered her head, and got the words out the best she could. “I don’t want to lose anyone, so I will not run away and I will not let them die!” As soon as she was finished, Neue Kaiser swung down its sword. ### 685. Part 9 A single low noise filled a deep cylindrical pit. It came from the walkway at the very top of the Babel Cannon base inside Tristan. She sat on the Babel Cannon’s control panel. The same control panel with the hole left by Tragisch on its left side. She was not alone. Heiliger with his two prosthetic arms stood in front of her. “The evacuation of Hamburg is mostly complete…but Neue Kaiser has yet to return.” “Does Captain Hellard intend to wait forever for the lieutenant’s return to Hamburg?” “Are you saying he is dead?” asked Heiliger, his head lowered. “Yes, unfortunately,” replied Lowenzahn. “And he taught you so much.” She smiled and changed the subject. “Anyway, your incompetent commander failed to capture the Messiah last year and allowed her to escape this time. What’s my punishment?” “…” “You need to set an example. And only the second-in-command has the right to punish the commander.” “What are you suggesting I do? I was there when you were born.” “I have my reasons for this.” Lowenzahn got down from the control panel, her feet sounding on the floor. “Listen carefully. Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen boosts Tristan’s power.” “–––––!?” The hem of Heiliger’s coat swished as he turned toward her. She did not look back his way and took a step forward. “Connect me to the machine beyond the glass above this control panel and Neue Erde becomes a piece of Tristan and not just a piece of me. Did you know that?” “Is that what you want as a punishment? To be made into a component for Tristan?” She took another step. And another. “You do know the Allies are planning to send anxiety Tons into Germany, right? What if I told you that would begin a scenario leading to the end of the world?” “A scenario?” She did not answer that question. She only pulled a memo pad from her pocket. “I have something neat to show you: the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project.” She handed that to Heiliger and took another step. He viewed the memo pad that had a pale gray cover. Its edges were filthy and worn. When he opened it… “The prophecies.” “Yes. That contains all of my prophecies…and my corrections to them.” “What does that matter?” “Think about it. What if I wasn’t really the one to prophesy them? What if I just copied them from somewhere else and tried desperately to correct them as things changed?” He frowned and viewed the memo pad again. He noticed the date on the very first page. “1926.” “The year my mother died. The mother who you, Graham, and Bertecht fought over before losing to my father.” She took yet another step, arriving in front of the railing. The wind from below blew at her hair. “My mother apparently made a promise with the four of you long ago. A promise very similar to one in the Unreif Germane.” “…” “She wanted you to remain true to yourselves.” He looked up from the memo pad to view her. She did not look back. She kept her hands on the railing. “If you are still keeping that promise, then the world will correct itself. If you read that through to the end, you will know all too well what is about to happen to the world. And why I must be made a part of Tristan.” “Lowenzahn.” She looked back with confusion on her face. He looked her in the eye. “Are you saying these prophecies were made by…?” “Yes, they were made by my mother.” “By Frobel!?” “Yes. Because I wasn’t a prophet. Because I was just an ordinary girl.” She didn’t hesitate to respond and she leaned back against the railing. He fell silent and she smiled at his unreadable expression. “I told Hellard I was through lying, so I’ll tell you the truth.” She took a breath. “Before my mother died, she left all her future prophecies with me. She told me it was my duty to ensure they came true. She said that would save the world and it would ensure everyone took good care of a weak and sickly girl like me.” “I don’t believe it…” He rubbed his other hand through his gray hair. “You don’t have to believe it, but Graham and Rose both knew about this.” “…!?” “They tried to do something to change it and failed. They fought back against destiny and failed to change anything. They fought to protect people and only ended up hurting people. …But what will you do, Heiliger?” He did not answer her. He remained silent. Seeing that, she relaxed her expression. She sighed and leaned even more against the railing. “Again, you don’t have to believe me. I know you’ll play your role either way.” “How can you be so sure?” “My mother said so. She said Heiliger Karlsruhe is a man who will obey the destiny assigned to him. Check those prophecies. They even predict you losing your wife and daughter.” She smiled bitterly. “She told me not to tell you about it even though I knew it was coming. She said telling you would throw destiny off track and bring ruin to us all.” She looked away from him and faced forward to view the control panel. She looked through the glass window installed on the wall above the control panel. It was 1 yard wide and 2 yards tall. “My mother also prophesied that I would go in there.” “And you want me to do it?” She shook her head. “No. She wasn’t that cruel to you. That’s the one thing she didn’t ask of you. …Read that memo pad, Heiliger. Then you will understand everything.” She swayed her upper body away from the railing behind her. She doubled over and sank down. “Sigh.” Then she stood back up and leaned back again. “I’m so tired.” She kept leaning until she started to tilt backwards. “So tired of guiding everything toward the answers my mother gave me.” She did not stop her tilt. She moved past the railing, her long braided hair trailing after her. Her body slipped fully past the railing and her legs followed her into the abyss. “Lowenzahn!” Heiliger reached out his hand, but she did not grab it. She simply fell. She looked back up just once, meeting Heiliger’s gaze and smiling. Her braid came undone and her hair spread out in the air. The long hair slowly drew out a spiral as it spread and fell. He grabbed the railing and started to call out to her as she fell. But… He raised his sweaty head. “An Erklärung!?” No one answered him, so he took a look around. There was no one here. Only him. He quickly looked down to his hand, but the memo pad Lowenzahn had given him was no longer in Tragisch’s hand. “…” He took a deep breath in and out. He gathered the tension in his body as he took another look around. He let out a gradual sigh, but still he saw no one. “Lowenzahn.” His voice was drowned out by a sudden low noise. The deep, low noise came from the Babel Cannon base in front of him. He reflexively jumped a step back and then saw a memo pad sitting on the control panel. It was the same one Lowenzahn had given him before. “It can’t be…” Sweat dripped from his brow to his chin. He slowly looked up to the glass window above the control panel. Through the glass, he saw thick metal and plastic pipes lined up like internal organs. He did not see Lowenzahn there. But he did see something odd growing from between the forest of pipes: a hand. It was a slender feminine right hand. The full forearm and hand stuck out from the slight gap between two pipes to reach toward the glass surface. The skin was pale and glossy like waxwork. That was Lowenzahn’s hand. When he saw it, his body crumpled below him. “–––––!” He had to place his hands on the control panel to stay standing. The edge of the panel dented in with a dull metallic sound and the memo pad fell to the floor, but he did not look down. His eyes were glued to Lowenzahn’s hand held out toward the glass surface. Something odd sat in its palm: an ear of wheat. She held a single ear of golden wheat. Deep sounds began to fill his surroundings, causing the wheat to vibrate slightly. Tristan was having its power boosted. Heiliger opened his mouth among the deep rumblings. “I see.” He viewed the wheat not with anger or sorrow, but with a smile. But that smile was not just an ordinary smile. His eyebrows drooped and he hung his head while he smiled. He repeated the same words as even more rumblings permeated his surroundings. “I see…” He placed his prosthetic left hand on his right shoulder, looked down, and saw the memo pad on the floor. Tristan gave an even louder cry in front of him, but he ignored that and said one more thing no one else would ever hear. “Must everything I love vanish before my eyes?” ## Final Chapter: The Ruin Arrives 7/25/1943 06:00 – 06:04 For now It appears my personal battle has begun Several commotions were underway in the morning sky. The Allies’ Operation Gomorrah bombing group was in disarray. They were working to rescue the survivors from the now bridgeless and sinking flagship, but they were also working to regroup their formation with their chain of command destroyed. One small area remained still within all that movement. The stillness was on the deck of the AIF aircraft carrier. It was centralized on the black Heavy Barrel kneeling on the deck with the AIF members forming a circle around it in the cold air. That Barrel was Schwarz Löwe. It had lost its left arm and half its right leg, leaving it nearly destroyed. However, the hatch to the secondary cockpit on its back popped open. The air inside formed a mist when it contacted the air at this altitude, but the wind soon swept that away. A blonde woman in a black coat emerged. That was Hazel. She looked back inside the secondary cockpit just once before silently descending to the deck amid the chilly wind. Her leg gave out beneath her when she landed, so Corelle ran over to help her. “Are you okay, Hazel!?” “I-I’m fine. But Berger needs help!” She looked to the entrance of the secondary cockpit above her. … He still hasn’t released his Write Bring! He was taking too long. She suddenly lowered her head and viewed Schwarz Löwe’s damage. It had lost so much. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. She stood up from Corelle’s arms and took a look around. Some of the AIF crew were running over with a blanket and such, but… “Please! Can’t someone get Berger out of there!?” “C-calm down, Hazel!” Corelle held her tight and Hazel tried to fight it. But Corelle held her even tighter, keeping her from moving. She gathered all of her strength and looked to Schwarz Löwe. There was no light in its sight devices. She panicked and the emotion left her as a shout. “Berger!” She was immediately answered by a voice from within the secondary cockpit. “Oh, shut up.” The quiet voice drained all the tension from her shoulders and then a dark figure emerged. It was Berger. He had only quickly thrown on a shirt and black combat pants and he took a look around before dropping down to the deck. He slowly looked around again and then looked to her. Their eyes met and she immediately broke from Corelle’s arms. “A-are you okay!?” She ran over to him. The chilled deck felt so cold blow her bare feet, but she didn’t care. Just before she reached him, he collapsed forward. “–––––!!” She reached out on reflex and caught him. He felt so terribly cold and heavy. She sighed and then felt something warm on her face. It was blood. Now that she was close enough, she could see several red lines running from his head to his chin. He also felt horribly unbalanced in her arms. She tried to hold him tighter, but she couldn’t seem to find his left arm. “It can’t be…” She gasped and felt something below her foot. She didn’t even need to look down because her instincts told her what it was. … Blood from his right leg. The wind whipped at Berger’s pants, showing nothing in the right leg. The bottom of the pant leg was heavy with the blood soaking it and the wind slapped it against her leg. A coughing breath left his mouth. Then his actual voice. “Hazel.” She looked him in the face when he called her name. Only then did she realize she was crying. In her tear-blurred vision, his bloody face displayed a small smile with no tension or concern. He viewed her face with unfocused eyes and then closed his eyes like he was smiling. “Are you crying again, Hazel?” Then he slowly collapsed. First his head went limp, resting on her left shoulder. Then the strength left the rest of him, so his weight bore down on her and she couldn’t support him. She fell back onto her butt. Her legs and hips sank into the pool of blood coming from his right leg. He said nothing, so she shouted instead. “Berger!” Her cry reverberated out into the sky and the answer did not come from a person. She heard a mechanical noise as Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices lit up. Then a low rumbling came from its belly. Its voice device spat out a mechanical system message. “Combat record transfer complete – sent from Neue Kaiser to Schwarz Löwe.” Neue Kaiser had sent its combat data to Schwarz Löwe before exploding in the sky. Almost like it was leaving something for the next generation. … Did Berger wait to leave until that transfer was complete? As if to confirm her thought, Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices glowed brighter and it took a kneeling step forward. But its metal body did not last. Its joints broke and it collapsed with its right arm held out. Even as it noisily collapsed, Schwarz Löwe pointed over to a corner of the deck. Hazel turned her teary eyes that way. Two objects stood from the very edge of the deck like gravestones. They were swords. One was the sword Werkzeug that Neue Kaiser had used and the other was Rein König. They were stabbed straight down into the corner of the deck and seemed to be facing each other in the wind. “Oh…” Hazel nodded blankly. She nodded again with Berger in her arms. She saw the two blades shining bright in the morning sun. They shined with a gentle, warm light. ### Closing Statements In July of 1943, around 70% of Hamburg was destroyed in an Allied bombing, but the loss of chain of command early on prevented them from completing a test of the burning effects of their incendiary bombs. The Allies decided to hold a midsize bombing of Germania on August 23 of the same year to prove they had Germany in checkmate. As part of this operation, they planned to send all the world’s anxiety Lives back through the ley lines and into the Vaterlands. They worked out their plans so the peak effect would occur on August 23. They also planned to launch their newly-developed ACBS to destroy Germania’s dome, but after negotiations with the AIF, who had many German members, they agreed to cancel the ACBS launch if the AIF could bring down the dome before it launched. Meanwhile, the Geheimnis Agency revealed that their commander Lowenzahn Naylor had been installed as a mechanical component for Tristan on Heiliger’s orders. Now, who can prevent the ultimate mistake – people or machines? That answer will be found in Germania, the Panzerpolis version of Berlin. 7/25/2001. On the morning a girl made a fateful decision. -Michael Schrier ### 686. Prologue: The Ruin Prepares 7/23/1943 23:43 – 23:57 With a crash I’m off to Germania! ### Germania Germania is Berlin reborn as a sturdy fortress city with a six-level structure. The surface is the Old City Level. The greenery, historical structures, and surface military facilities remain there. The 1st level down is the Primary Factory Level. It contains civilian production factories to meet the city’s industrial demands. The 2nd level down is the Civilian Residential Level. Most of old Berlin’s citizens were moved here. The 3rd level down is the Warehouse Level. Excess civilian and military products are brought here. The railroad and other transportation facilities are mostly found here, so it also acts as Germania’s connection to the outside world. The 4th level down is the Military Factory Level. The widest and most spacious level. It also contains the central control for the ventilation equipment that sends the stale air up to the surface. The 5th and final level down is the Government and Military Base Level. It only contains the command equipment needed to manage all the government and military bases across Germany, a minimal residential space, and a shelter for VIPs. These underground levels and Tristan on the surface are known as Panzerpolis Germania. ### 687. Preface ### Title Page Right: City Series Panzerpolis Berlin 4 1943 Left: Welcome to the path to the past – to the festival of beginnings. Bottom: By Kawakami Minoru ## Characters Name: Heiliger Heiliger’s bottom text: Tragedy Tragedy is a qualification for strength. Name: Lehrer Lehrer’s bottom text: The past leads to the future. Central text: Nordrich Himmer (North Sea Sky) – The Golden Morning Breeze The North Sea’s morning breeze creates foggy clouds for a short period and those clouds are dyed a warm gold by the morning sun. For less than half a minute, the sky looks like a heavenly field, but the real question is whether you view that sky as a battlefield or as a view of heaven. ## Maschine Bottom right text: Knight A Knight is a bearer of strength. Top left text: Explanation 1. Neue Kaiser – Probably the world’s most immature Heavy Barrel. 2. Neue Blau – Carries a rifle. Kind of skinny. 3. Neue Zinnobar – Carries a shield. A bit plump. ## Landkarte Box: Explanation Brown: Residential Area. Includes ordinary roads and empty lots. Green: Green Area. European cities have a lot of forest parks and Germania has areas of green and water both inside and on the outskirts. Blue: Water Area. Some of the surrounding rivers have been dammed to provide water for Germania. Dark Gray: Main Roads. Most notably the autobahn. Black: Empty Area. Holes drilled into Germania’s surface layer. Used for ventilation and for transport routes in and out. White: Ventilation and Defense Trenches. Largescale trenches used to circulate air between underground and aboveground. Creates updrafts. Light Gray: Airport. Mostly government controlled at this point. Either that or half-government and half-civilian controlled. Red: Vaterland. Used to provide Germania with Phlogiston fuel. Purple: Tristan: The Geheimnis Agency’s HQ and used to boost the Vaterlands around the world. Generates the dome. ## Newspaper Top right article: Globally Serialized Novel My Bitter Smile AIF Literary Team Part 7 After he looked up her skirt, Hazel poured her embarrassed fury into a nearby rock and threw it against Berger’s face. “You naughty dog!” Once. Twice. Thrice. By the fourth rock, Berger actually dodged it. “Y-you stupid girl! You’re really trying to kill me this time, aren’t you!?” The fifth one hit. He teetered back with a line of blood running down his forehead. Hazel ignored that and had her say. “You’re always looking at my crotch! You sexually harassing pervy fetishist!” “Fetishist? You have it all wrong!” “Th-then what is it if not a fetish?” “I just happen to like it!” The sixth one hit him right between the eyes. For some reason, he had a look of bliss as he collapsed to his knees. Then the wind blew in. It was a white Heavy Barrel – the Kaiser. But Hazel threw a seventh rock at Berger for good measure. He collapsed into a bloody heap. “Can you too stop flirting for two seconds!?” complained the Kaiser. “You can’t keep getting away with this!” Hazel chose to hit him where it hurt. “Shut up, you pedo knight!” Top left article: Today’s Birthday #1718: Oscar Mirildorf Oscar turns 57 this year. He is best known in the AIF as Miss Hazel’s father and negotiations are underway to have him join the AIF as one of the new 16 Battle Commanders who will act as on-site commanders after the latest reorganization. Lately, he has been worried about Miss Hazel going on so many missions. She is on a mission to Europe on his birthday today. There are some bad men out there, so he is very worried for her. Her response to him was “it’s none of your business” and we have to agree with her there. Bottom Article Title: Shogeki Game Bunko June Releases Bottom Article Book List: Cruising Divine Spell Girl Rodrigues Volume 3: Success! The Bombing of Hamburg By: AIF PR Team If you’re feeling tired of all this fighting, the AIF PR Team has a heartfelt novel for you all about familial love on the battlefield! Get ready to cry! So popular a second printing has already been greenlit! Volume 1: I Was Reduced to Scorched Earth! Volume 2: Go, Papa! Launch the Homing Round! A Father’s Punch By: M. Schrier After his daughter was taken from him, a father punches the culprit over and over and over again! He doesn’t stop even after knocking out the man’s back tooth! (Nonfiction) Today’s Killer Book: Diary of a Toxic Reader By: AIF Forced Education Committee. A killer book every day. A life that might just count as hell on earth. Professor Dog’s Fearsome Insults By: An Anonymous Girl A story of a man who always starts with the insults but is cut short by a powerful confession! I’m not forgetting what you did! Two New Entries in the Popular “Now You Get It!” Series Now You Get It! Your First Front Line Now You Get It! Your First Fascism By: AIF First Times Club You’ll Never be the Same After Meeting Them By: AIF 6 Men Dice Those 6 are up to some weird stuff! This could be good! ## Unreif Germane 1 “This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.” In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and weeps It carries power in its hand and hesitates 2 “One day, a young man visited a woman who was friends with a dragon. The young man referred to the woman as the Messiah and said that her power was needed.” The one-armed youth holds the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing returns home 3 “The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.” The wind blows / The night blows / The dragon awakes / The people move / The dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall 4 “A long battle followed. But after traveling north and defeating a large black dragon, the clouds cleared away.” Follow the path to a familiar face While walking side by side Your hand and voice might reach them But the moon sees it not The gatherers begin their party A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same words 5 “Below the full moon in the sky, the Messiah smiled for the first time. The knights rejoiced, the people danced, and the dragon roared.” The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land 6 “The one-armed young man left a letter telling her to fight no longer and departed the morning after everyone threw a party to celebrate their newfound peace.” 7 “The Messiah wept.” “She was inconsolable despite the knights’ and the king’s best efforts. Not even the country’s top jester could manage it. Nor could the wolves and dragons of the forest, the mountains, the rivers, or the wind.” 8 “But one morning, the Messiah stopped weeping and gathered everyone. Then she promised them that their peace would last for a thousand years thanks to their efforts.” 9 “Do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.” 10 Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new All hesitation will come to an end up ahead Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new Throw out all hesitation and look back The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new All hesitation exists to tear through that wall “The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed young man returned. He spent the rest of his days guarding the shrine…until one evening he breathed his final breath.” ### 688. Prologue: The Ruin Prepares ### Panzerpolis Berlin 4 1943 I keep having this dream. It starts with the five poems and tells their story. A different version of me plays the main role each time, but it always ends the same. I know it always has a sad ending, but I see it through to the end each time. Because I no longer think of this as a nightmare. I can tell by the fact that I hear a sixth poem when the dream ends. Unlike the five that tell the story of the dream, this one imagines what comes next. It feels like someone shouting from behind a distant wall, trying to tell us something. It is a poem meant to break free of that tearful night. That poem is what tells me this dream is not a nightmare. ### Opening Quote “Prince, what you are, you are through chance and birth; what I am, I am through my own labor. There are many princes and there will continue to be thousands more, but there is only one Beethoven.” -Beethoven’s words upon leaving the home of his patron, Prince Lichnowsky ## Prologue: The Ruin Prepares 7/23/1943 23:43 – 23:57 With a crash I’m off to Germania! ### Germania Germania is Berlin reborn as a sturdy fortress city with a six-level structure. The surface is the Old City Level. The greenery, historical structures, and surface military facilities remain there. The 1st level down is the Primary Factory Level. It contains civilian production factories to meet the city’s industrial demands. The 2nd level down is the Civilian Residential Level. Most of old Berlin’s citizens were moved here. The 3rd level down is the Warehouse Level. Excess civilian and military products are brought here. The railroad and other transportation facilities are mostly found here, so it also acts as Germania’s connection to the outside world. The 4th level down is the Military Factory Level. The widest and most spacious level. It also contains the central control for the ventilation equipment that sends the stale air up to the surface. The 5th and final level down is the Government and Military Base Level. It only contains the command equipment needed to manage all the government and military bases across Germany, a minimal residential space, and a shelter for VIPs. These underground levels and Tristan on the surface are known as Panzerpolis Germania. ### Part 1 The northern stars were scattered through the sky. Below, a shadowy forest covered the ground. Pale scarlet lights sat on the border between heaven and earth. Those were city lights. A massive structure stretched skywards past those lights. It was a cross. A giant cross that seemed to pierce the sky. It stood in the darkness found past the scarlet lights, but the white umbrella of clouds surrounding the top of the cross was visible even in that darkness. Those clouds were suddenly blown away by a whirlwind whipped up by something within. It came with a sound. A high-pitched metallic sound rang from the cross and spread in every direction. That sound reached the forest, where it was answered by the stirring of the birds. That stirring was followed by a change in the sky near the cross. An umbrella of faint scarlet light appeared there. The hemisphere sat at the top of the cross like an upside-down bowl and it grew from there. After only a moment, the umbrella had grown into a dome large enough to cover the sky. The cross and the city lights in front of it were both contained below the umbrella. The noise from the cross stopped, but a noise came from the umbrella instead. The blowing wind crashed into the umbrella, producing a loud noise. The umbrella did not even budge and the low, quiet, muffled noise continued without end. The deep noise resembled a groan of agony as it filled the surrounding forest. The shadowy trees accepted that noise. But there was one part of the forest that ignored the noise and the shadows. Scarlet lights ensured the trees cast no shadows on that part of the forest. It was a long, straight clearing that contained several railroad tracks. The trains traveling those tracks were always producing rhythmic metallic sounds. A train whistle sounded as a train arrived on the leftmost track. The forest shadows were eliminated by the train’s light. Its light and noise were directed toward the lights of the city. The train racing through the forest was a large plain steam engine freight train. The very front was equipped with somewhat sharpened black steel and it was pulling 15 cars loaded with freight containers. The conductor’s compartment was empty and the wreckage of armored trucks was caught around the bottom of the train. That was the result of breaking through an inspection point. The conductorless train’s power continued to increase, adding on more speed. Meanwhile, someone was climbing onto the roof of the very last car. After moving from the metal ladder on the side to the roof itself, the city lights illuminated her. The woman stood up and faced the city. She was skinny and colored red, black, and gold. Her coat and skirt fluttering in the wind were the red and black. Her long hair dancing in the wind was the gold. She added a new color to the mix with the scarlet lights and black sky behind her. That was the gray of the sword Device she had drawn in her right hand. She walked forward with the sword hanging at her side and she viewed the city. She brushed back her golden hair and directed her eyes dead ahead. The left eye was a brown feline one and the right one was a blue human one. She narrowed her eyes to sharpen her gaze and observe the city more carefully. “I managed to steal this Germania-bound train after I was found in Potsdam, but I had to leave my luggage behind in the station locker.” The locker’s small key was attached to the choker she wore around her neck. She stared forward. As the train drew closer, she started to get a better view of the city sitting below the glowing umbrella. The shape of the city came into view at the end of the straight-line railroad. As did the giant cross standing beyond the city. She looked up at that umbrella opened in the sky. “The Panzerpolis Project turned Berlin into Germania to fight the ruin said to be arriving in August.” She lowered her gaze and viewed the cross through the racing wind. “That cross is the new Geheimnis Agency HQ and the generator for that dome. It is called Tristan and it is actually a massive word accelerator that provides remote pressurization for the Vaterlands built in their allied countries.” Her gaze continued to lower until it pierced the city at the cross’s feet. The dark city’s shape could be made out from the position of the slowly approaching scarlet lights, but that shape was unusual. There were areas where the shadows cast by the buildings were nowhere to be found. She shut her eyes when she noticed those empty areas. “My school and our home don’t exist anymore, do they?” Her words were swept away by the wind and answered by a noise behind her. It was a whistle. “Pursuit!?” She turned back and her feline eye spotted a light. A train’s light. A train was racing toward her along the exact same track. It was a military armored train painted black. It was fast. “It’s catching up!” ### Part 2 At that speed, it would crash into her in less than thirty seconds. The armored train’s silhouette was sharp and low. It even had what looked like a ram. Someone was visible atop the light on the front of the train. It was a fat elderly man. The black coat of the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division looked about to burst on him and he pulled a handkerchief from the breast pocket to wipe the sweat from his brow. From a distance of only about 100 yards, the smiling eyes behind his round glasses met with hers. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief Herbert Müller.” Müller bowed like he was bending his body at the hips. But when he straightened back up, he lost his balance in the strong wind and nearly toppled backwards. The woman cried out and nearly took a step forward on the instinctual urge to help him. But he regained his balance at the last moment, planted his feet firmly atop the light, and held out both hands to stop her. “Your concern is unwarranted, Hazel Mirildorf, our Messiah.” “Is it? Then goodbye.” She smiled and bowed before turning around and starting to run. She heard a sound behind her after a few steps. The pursuing train had blown its whistle, but she ignored that long, high-pitched tone and pumped her arms to continue running. … They’re planning to ram me! She pushed through the wind to step on the rivets and gain a few more steps. She heard a loud crash behind her and the train shook back and forth below her. A moment later, the train shook up and down. The pursuing train had crashed into hers. But what she heard next was not just that. The sounds of splitting metal, tearing steel, and popping screws and rivets never seemed to end. The symphony of destruction played without rest. Hazel continued running but looked back toward that music to see the armored train breaking through the freight container to pursue her. “They can do that!?” She kept running. It was a race between her legs running atop the containers and the armored train breaking through the containers. The din of breaking metal crashed into her back. She sprinted with her feet clanging loud against the container roofs. She crossed the 14th, 13th, and 12th cars with the night wind fighting her the entire way. One after another, she heard those three cars torn to pieces behind her. She looked around her and saw the forest and ground rushing by. Confirming that she could not jump off of the train, she ran across the 11th, 10th, and 9th cars. The din behind her accelerated. The armored train was getting closer. She pumped her arms harder and accelerated. She jumped from the 8th car to the 7th, whipping up the wind as she soared between them. As soon as she was off the 8th car, its rear was tossed upwards by the armored train’s ram. It broke down the center with the sound of shattering glass. Hazel’s feet landed on the 7th car’s roof and she immediately resumed running. At the same time, the 8th car’s link with the 7th was torn apart and it was thrown from the tracks. It landed in the forest to the left. That was so loud Hazel actually looked back in time to see the armored train’s snout covered in container wreckage. She reached into her coat’s inner pocket to find something while running. Her fingers touched an envelope and a plastic container similar to a pencil case. That and the Wheel of Destiny card. The case was engraved with the words “A.L.A. Case-A”. … That’s the ampule needed to heal Berger’s Lives disease. “He’s supposed to be in a safehouse located in the central library of Germania’s surface section.” She left the case in her pocket. “I left the spare in my luggage at Potsdam Station. I need to get this one to him.” She sped up her pace, leaping to the 6th car. “…!” She jumped high, her skirt fluttering around her legs while she took a look around her and gripped her sword in both hands. She saw blue Lives in the wind blowing at her hair. She pierced them with her sword and listened to the train’s sound reaching her from the containers. She heard the sound of the wheels, of the creaking and straining frame, and of the exterior slicing through the wind. She also saw the containers’ Lives. Their tempo was a quick staccato similar to the wheels on the track. Their tone color was the gray of metal and weight. A Tuner could use their Device to access the message carried by Lives and transform the object itself. And Hazel Mirildorf was a Tuner. So she raised her voice, providing the Up used when tuning. “300,000 Lives racing below my feet and 120,000 Lives traversing the sky – you are the powerful voices that carry so much weight and the charming voices that dance and play. Can you hear the voice of my Lives!?” When she landed on the 6th car, she jabbed her toes down and twirled to the left to face backwards. There she saw the armored train preparing to devour the 7th car. She readied herself juts as 6 empty Phlogiston cartridges were ejected from her sword Device. “Ah,” sang the blade as its tip aimed toward the 7th car’s container. She performed a Tune strike. The transformation only took an instant. She sliced through the freight container with a tense sound and its Lives were given the message provided by her Device. The freight container’s Lives were rewritten, instantly turning it into a giant spear. That mass of piercing force was made of steel and wind and it was at least 8 yards long. As soon as the spear was born, it launched forward with the sound of blowing wind. The angled armor covering the front surface of the armored train could not deflect it. With a single sound of breaking metal, the spear broke through the black metal and used its gale-like thrust to pierced the engine. The spear underwent a further change inside the train. It became birds. The Live transformation given to the wind Lives was released after a time delay. Steel birds carrying the will of the wind took flight in search of the outside. Unable to contain the scattering birds within it, the locomotive swelled out like a balloon. Finally, its armor could no longer handle the inner pressure and it exploded before Hazel’s eyes. The ultra-heavy locomotive sent the force of its explosion in every direction, leaving very little of it left afterwards. Several hundred metal-gray birds took flight among that destruction. The flock of birds flew into the sky, closely followed by the roar of mechanical destruction. Only the lower chassis and the frame that had supported the upper armor remained. Müller had been on the locomotive, but he had jumped back to the roof of the next car. The train exited the forest. ### Part 3 They entered a field with the scarlet lights of Germania shining in behind it. Hazel kept her back on that pale light, readied her sword, and took a breath. She faced Müller. Müller’s train had nothing to propel it anymore, so the gap between it and Hazel’s freight train started to grow. But Hazel did not take her eyes off of him. There was no concern on his face. As if to answer her gaze, he raised his right hand, twisted the fingers, and snapped them. “Next.” A great roar descended from the sky. The scream-like roar belonged to a propulsion device tearing through the air. … An aircraft this near the dome!? Germania sat behind her. The light of the dome was about a mile tall, starting from an altitude of about 30 yards, and it was a solid enough barrier to withstand an aerial bombing. And after leaving the forest, Hazel’s train was crossing the field between the forest and Germania. She was less than half a mile from the city. An aircraft was approaching the train while so close to the dome. “That’s crazy.” Hazel looked up to see said craziness. Not just one but four fighters were approaching in the night sky behind Müller where the Tuned birds still flew. They were rapidly descending like falcons swooping down at her. The roar reached her for just a moment. The four fighters took a curving touch-and-go course where they immediately scattered and ascended again. But they dropped something from their wings while sending a blast of wind down at her. There were eight in all. They were people. The dropping silhouettes wore the combat uniforms of Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division paratroopers and all four of their limbs were prosthetic. They held long hexagonal rods as weapons. Hazel knew who they had to be. “Hounds!?” “Indeed,” replied Müller. “They are a rapid response team meant to combat the Allied Heidengeist special forces.” The Hounds had descended at the midpoint between the two trains. The eight of them landed near simultaneously and made a gentle leap forward with their very first step. But from there, they began to sprint. They ducked low and kicked off the ground to pick up speed. Their running speed soon matched the velocity of Hazel’s train and then surpassed it. She gulped. Her instinct to get away from them made her look back over her shoulder. She saw a city there. Germania. If she traveled with the wind for just a few more hundred yards, she would pass the 10-yard-wide defensive trench surrounding the city, which doubled as a ventilation band around Germania, and she would enter the city from the southeast. But past the shimmering heat rising from that trench, she saw a hole. The massive hole looked like a vast cliff. The hole was about 3 miles wide. The city dropped off into a precipice there and more city could be faintly seen through the haze on the distant other side of the hole. … Is the southeastern part of old Berlin just gone? That used to be Schöneberg. For Germania’s layered structure, all the movable structures had been moved underground. The primarily residential 3-mile borough of Schöneberg and several other boroughs had been sent underground. … That must be why parts of the city looked empty from a distance. The track next to hers began to slowly descend. That one went to Germania’s 1st underground level. Her own track would cross the hole supported by wires and pillars and reach Germania’s surface level. Once on the elevated portion across the hole, she would have nowhere to run. The tops of the containers would be the only space available to her. She knew she had to hurry, so she muttered a man’s name and turned her body toward the front of the train. Just then, she saw a metal hand circle in from behind her. “What!?” She rolled forward, hopped back to her feet, and looked back to see one of the Hounds had gotten on the train’s roof at some point. He had tried to grab her from behind just now. He advanced without letting the momentum of his arm affect his balance. Hazel moved away and then ran toward the front of the train while still looking behind her. She checked on the enemy. She saw the armored train on the elevated railway and six Hounds chasing after her train. … Six!? She immediately lowered her hips. Something grazed the top of her head. It was a metal right hand that had swooped in from behind. Another one had arrived from behind her. “Quit sneaking up on me!” She hurriedly moved to the right. Then she leaped backwards, flying past the man who had attacked her from behind, and leaped again. The two men were already pursuing her a moment later. They each held their hexagonal rod with the hand opposite their partner. They were ready to jab with those if she tried to jump down. She sprinted while looking back. She kept her center of gravity low so she could attack at a moment’s notice. … I don’t have time for this. She wanted to deliver that envelope and ampule as soon as possible. Her impatience shifted her focus away from her feet, so her right boot caught on a rivet in the top of the container. It shifted the angle of her heel just a bit. The stumble wouldn’t normally have mattered, but here… “Oh.” The one leg crumbled below her. She staggered for a few steps, the hem of her skirt caught on the corner of a hatch on top of the container, and she fell. At the same moment, the train arrived below the dome and entered the city. ### Part 4 The train rushed out from the cliff-like edge of the inner wall and into the empty space beyond. It continued across the great hole with only the elevated track to support it. Hazel’s eyes were turned toward the back of the train. She saw it all play out from that direction. Still fallen on the container roof, she saw Germania’s surrounding wall growing more distant. Germania’s inner wall had been cut away like a cliff face and it was covered in cement and metal. But the approaching enemy did not give her a chance to get a better look. There were two of them. She pulled her knees together to prepare for them. … My skirt. It was still caught in the container’s hatch. The enemy was approaching fast, their solid footsteps sounding loud. … I need to do something! When looking up at them, she saw her savior illuminated by the scarlet lights in Germania’s night sky. The metal birds flew there. Since she had Tuned the flock, they didn’t want to stray far from her and remained overhead. “Come to me!” she shouted, swinging her Device in mere moments. The only way to get her voice to the flying birds was to strike the wind Lives. At the same time, the wind roared in the sky. A shadow fell toward the roof where Hazel sat. It was dark enough to blot out Germania’s scarlet lights. Something had appeared overhead. The approaching men glanced up at the shadow falling toward them. “–––––!?” They stopped to look up at it. An entire freight container hung in the sky above. That was the 7th container Hazel had Tuned earlier. The Tuning had been removed, so the birds had returned to their original form. Gravitational acceleration pulled the heavy object straight down. In less than a second, the train car dropped between Hazel and the two men, erasing them from her view. The great pressure of the impact was enough to break through the train’s roof and the rest of the car too. “Kyah!” The train car below Hazel was broken in two. She heard a chorus of breaking and bending metal as the roof below her was launched high into the air. She clung to the roof to ensure she wasn’t stripped from it. The front half of the car landed again. It bounced a bit, but the wheels found the track again. With a sound like a brass instrument being kicked over, the freight train corrected its position and resumed moving. Moving forward. Hazel saw the 7th car stabbing into the elevated track like a stake. It blocked the way like a gravestone and it grew smaller in her vision as the freight train left it behind. … Now they can’t continue pursuit. She started to work at getting her skirt untangled from the container hatch, but she was interrupted when the 7th car suddenly ruptured down the center. “Eh?” Hazel saw a powerful blow strike the 7th car from the other side, blasting a hole in it and knocking it away. And it didn’t stop there. She heard a series of heavy bursting sounds that felt like they were hitting her in the gut. This was artillery fire. The vertical 7th car was utterly destroyed. The wreckage was swept out of the way to reveal only a voice at first. The voice belonged to “Standhaft” Herbert Müller. “Next.” After pushing away the wreckage of the 7th car, the armored truck traveled slowly but surely forward on nothing but inertia. Müller and the 6 Hounds stood atop it. As did… “A Grösse Panzer!” Behind Müller, the 2nd container’s roof split in half and opened to the sides. A gray Panzer stood up from within. The long shaft it held was a single-shot 75mm Grösse Panzer anti-tank cannon measuring more than 8 yards long. The cannon fired without warning. A crimson bullet encased in shimmering heat flew toward Hazel who was still seated on her train’s roof. She didn’t even have time to scream. Accelerated by the long barrel, the bullet pierced not her but the freight train below her. ### Part 5 The bullet passed through the center of the train and its shockwave caused the train’s sides to rupture outwards. This wasn’t just the 6th car Hazel sat atop of. She gasped and looked back to see the 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st cars spewing smoke from their ruptured sides doors. “The locomotive too!?” Her question was immediately answered by the locomotive rupturing after its steam engine was pierced through from behind. The explosion blew away the side of the elevated track, sending concrete rubble scattering into the abyss. Steam smoke erupted out, creating a boiling sound and some mist. Metal shards flew through the mist. But Hazel’s ears picked up a strange sound among the many destructive sounds. It sounded like the strumming of a string instrument. “It can’t be.” She looked up while still down on the roof. She could see the pillars supporting the elevated track and the array of metal wires more than a foot thick that extended from those. The thick wire the train had just passed by had snapped along with its support wires. As the train continued along the track, the wires supporting that track snapped from the base one by one. They each produced an unbearable sound in turn. “This can’t be happening.” Sensing danger, Hazel looked to the enemy. The armored train carrying the Grösse Panzer had finally come to a stop and the six soldiers were running toward her along the track. She started to move in response. “Oops.” But her skirt was still stuck and she ended up tripping. “Really?” she complained, tearing the hem of her skirt with her sword Device and freeing herself. Meanwhile, the first of the six enemies caught up and leaped toward her. Seeing him use the power of his prosthetic legs to jump high, she made a hasty retreat. He landed in the spot she had just vacated and immediately continued forward. Hazel threw herself toward him shoulder first. Tearing her skirt let her move her leg out much further than before. It felt indecent to her, but it let her deliver a sword strike to the enemy right as he landed and started forward. He must have expected her to run away because he quickly tried to use an evasion Erklärung. But he stopped himself. … Eh? He ended his rewriting of this space, which confused Hazel. … Why? Did he give up on dodging? But Hazel didn’t let her doubt stop her from attacking with the back of her blade. She frowned after the blow landed and knocked him from the running train. “Why did he stop his Erklärung?” Then she noticed something strange about the entire battle. She realized something had been missing all this time. … None of them have used an Erklärung. The Panzerpolis Project was complete and Germania was the center of its Erklärung power. “But it’s more like they’re trying to test me- !?” All of a sudden, her vision tilted to the left. The support wires were snapping mostly on one side, so the elevated railroad had started tilting. The wires continued to snap as the train advanced and the remaining 5 enemies rushed toward the tilting train. In the short time before they arrived, Hazel looked around. From atop the leftward tilting roof, the hole leading underground was to her left and the dome supported by the giant cross was to her right. Everything was so large here. After a brief look at the cross to her right, she looked down toward the underground levels. Each consecutive level was about 100 yards thick and there was a 300 yard gap between each one. The second level was a factory district covered by gray roofs. That level had holes in it as well, providing glimpses of the residential district on the third level. The wind contained a slight smoky scent. “…” Hazel silently looked to the shaking and snapping wires overhead. Then she heard another artillery blast. It was aimed at the locomotive that was coasting on inertia even after its boiler was destroyed. The shell hit the bottom of the locomotive, toppling it to the right. The link to the next car did not break, so the 1st container car rolled onto its side on the elevated railroad. The rolling propagated back, taking the 2nd and 3rd cars with it. The container below Hazel was affected too, so it tilted below her. In that moment, Hazel saw the swaying wire overhead and made up her mind. … There’s only one way to escape this. She leaped. Leftward. Off of the elevated railroad. ### Part 6 “––––––!?” The five pursuing men shouted in confusion when Hazel leaped. But she ignored them. She twisted around, opened her left hand, and stretched it upwards while soaring through empty air. One of the wires supporting the railroad was there. It dangled from one of the massive pillars supporting the side of Germania’s 1st level and it was 400 yards long and an inch thick. Those thinner wires were used to support the main wires that were a few feet thick. At the moment, several of them were swaying rapidly over the 3mile hole that was once Schöneberg. One of them was swaying like a pendulum thanks to the inertial force of its snapping tension and she managed to grab it like it was a solid branch. Then the wire’s inertial force tugged her away. Its pull sent her flying through the wind. The wind shook the locker key attached to her choker, tickling her throat. The wire swung rapidly in a somewhat elliptical path. Extrapolating out the rest of the pendulum-like path, she could tell this arc would bring her right up alongside the interior wall. … I can either leave or go to Kreuzberg. Kreuzberg was located east of the hole that was once Schöneberg and it had been left intact since Tempelhof Airbase was located there. Her best bet was to switch to another wire that took her there. She squeezed the wire in her left hand. There was nothing below her. If she fell from this long swing, she would die. She understood that as she looked to the enemy. Back atop the elevated railroad 200 yards away and growing, the 5 men threw out their hexagonal rods and drew the rifles on their backs. The guns were of unusually large caliber, so they likely fired nets for capturing a target. Her wire had nearly reached a 45 degree angle on its approach toward Germania’s inner wall. Once she reached that wall, she would only be able to move in a straight line to the side, which would make her a nice target for snipers. Sensing an updraft as she approached that wall, Hazel searched for the next wire. She found it. A few dozen yards to the east, a long wire was grazing the inner wall as it swung eastward. If she jumped to that one, she could reach Kreuzberg. But her inertia was in the wrong direction and it was a long way away. If she mistimed her jump, she would fall and die. But before that, she also had to avoid the sniper fire. … What do I do? Her doubts were interrupted by five gunshots from the elevated railroad. When she saw five white nets expanding in the air out of the corner of her eye, she made up her mind. She tensed her left arm a little and gathered the inertial force inside her. She was nearly to the wall and the wire had grown taut. She chose that moment to let go. She felt a floating sensation before her feet forcefully landed on the inner wall. She stood and ran along the wall. Her body was tilted 45 degrees, but she used the inertial force pressing her against the wall to run along the wall. She crouched low and ran like a cat. She extended her ducking body and swung her arms to accelerate. “–––––!” She felt a heavy sensation, like she was peeling herself from the wall to run. She ran forward to reach the wire that was swinging toward Kreuzberg too quickly to easily see. The nets were about to reach her from behind. All five of them were approaching, so she swung her sword outwards with both hands. She sliced through the nets before they could capture her and they hit the wall behind her instead. She kept running. The wire she wanted was approaching fast. But the wire ended its approach toward the wall and began to move away. Meanwhile, she was slowly slipping away from the wall. She was losing her inertial force. She had to hurry or she would miss it and then fall. Her refusal to let that happen pushed her feet even faster. The time had come to use every last ounce of strength. She planted her feet on the slight uneven parts of the wall and raced forward. And she leaped. She reached her hand out and her left hand’s fingers touched the bottom of the wire. She grabbed it and it snatched her away into the empty air. But her grip was weak. She only had it in her thumb, index finger, and middle finger. If she didn’t hold it in her palm, the inertia of the swing would tear it from her hand. Three fingers weren’t enough to support her weight and the wind resistance on her clothing. She didn’t hesitate. She stuck her right hand – which still held her sword – into her coat’s inner pocket, grabbed the ampule case, the envelope, and the Wheel of Destiny card, and placed them in her mouth. Then she inserted the blade tip in through her collar and down the arm hole toward the left hand holding the wire. … Hurry! The inertial weight on her fingers was growing. She felt the panic growing with it, but her right hand moved slowly and calmly to sweep the sword outwards from within her left sleeve. With a tearing of cloth, her coat and blouse’s split left sleeve fell to her side. Her left arm was now bare from hand to armpit. She felt the chill of the wind on it while she looked down. There was nothing there. If she fell, she would die. She openly accepted that thought. A moment later, she began to Alter. She let the convection of steam surround her while gathering all her strength in her left arm to pull herself up. Then the air exploded at the bottom of the wire. Two things burst from the white smoke and steam explosion. One was a collection of falling objects: Hazel’s clothing and her sword Device. The other was the wire continuing to swing like a pendulum. Hazel was no longer there at the bottom. Instead, a cat was clinging to it. The cat’s left eye was a brown feline eye and the right one was a blue human eye. She wore a choker with a key attached and she held an ampule case and an envelope in her mouth. The wire swung to the east, carrying the cat and the cat’s baggage with it. ### 689. Chapter 1: The Ruin Activates 7/24/1943 04:01 – 04:15 Reunions are a cause for joy But Not always ### AIF Personnel Hazel Mirildorf (AIF Soldier) An AIF Tuner. Was implanted with the High Organ eye Messiah. A Werecat living in LA. Our protagonist. Dog Berger (AIF Soldier?) M. Schrier’s underclassman and a Knight Striker. Used to help people escape Germany, but joined the AIF in ’42. Wields the High Organ sword Gelegenheit. Corelle Sevan (AIF Air Force Transport Division) Boss of the AIF Air Force Transport Division. A fortuneteller who uses the 47 Telling Cards. Pale Horse (AIF Combat Division Leader) Hard Wolf general who made a name for himself in the previous war. Has a connection to Heiliger. M. Schrier (AIF General Commander) The young leader. Was deeply involved in the Berlin Conflict and took command of the AIF after leaving Germany. Former subordinate of Oscar’s and upperclassman of Berger’s in their college days. Was also Hazel’s tutor. Lehrer (AIF Spy) A female spy in Borderson, Germany. Oscar Mirildorf (Civilian) M. Schrier’s commander who currently lives in LA. Former German Air Force Major General. Hazel’s father. A hard puncher. ### Part 1 The sun shined down through a dry easterly wind. With the blue sky above and the red ground below, the wind arrived at some white and gray structures. The gray was a long runway and the white were the several buildings at the end. The wind swept across the white letters spelling out “USIF Arizona – Area 001” on the runway. The wind crashed into a building, making its white wall creak before blowing in through the windows. There were no lights on within the large space inside. The wooden building was the mess hall for the AIF’s US branch. There weren’t many people inside. But the wind passed ticklishly between the few people who were there and then gently settled down. At the same time, the clock on the north counter began to ring on the hour. It rang four times. The loud ringing was joined by the rustling of dry clothing. The ten or so people in the mess hall were all wearing gray military uniforms and they were now headed toward the counter. Toward the table placed below the clock on the counter. Their eyes all gathered on the table for a brief moment. The table was big enough for eight, but only two people sat at it. They sat on opposite sides, facing each other. One was a large elderly man. He had short, gray hair and two prosthetic arms. The other was a well-built middle-aged woman. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore a green flight jacket. Several cards were lined up in front of the woman. She spoke while viewing the face up cards. “Two weeks have passed since Hazel accepted that request from the Allies. Do you think she arrived in Germania today? To give Berger his orders from the Allies.” The man nodded once and then raised his right arm to place it on the table. The table creaked below the large metal prosthetic. But he ignored that as he extended a metal finger to tap one of the lined-up cards. It depicted a group of people in black with another person standing above them holding seven reddish-black stars. “Corelle, what’s this card?” “I know you know that already, Pale. It’s Noisy Card #5, the Disavatar. Those are the people above Hazel.” Pale pulled his arm back, frowned, and crossed his arms. Corelle hit him with more words. “I get that the Allies want Berger’s help as a guide for their bombing of Hamburg on the 24th. After the success of Cologne, why wouldn’t they? But doesn’t it seem odd for the Allied European HQ to personally name Hazel as the one to send that dumbass his orders?” “…” Pale said nothing and Corelle stared at him with puzzlement in her eyes. He kept his frown as he looked back at her with his one eye. She shrugged. “There’s something else I’ve found odd. Pale, ever since you returned from Borderson last year, you’ve been awfully interested in that girl.” “What’s wrong with that?” “When you’re in your fifties, it makes you look like a pedophile.” “Sounds like you want to die.” “I’m only kidding. You’re supposed to laugh at women’s jokes even when they aren’t any good. It’s called being polite.” Corelle gathered up the cards on the table. “But back to Hazel and her current mission. Ever since Borderson last year, I get the feeling you and M. Schrier have been hiding something about her.” “Me? What would I be hiding about the AIF’s best Tuner?” His response was answered by a solid clack as Corelle tapped the deck of cards against the table to straighten them out. The pleasant but neurotic sound repeated itself a few times as she asked a question. “I know the Geheimnis Agency is doing everything they can to get their hands on Hazel. But she isn’t stupid. Even if they do abduct her, she’s already made up her mind about what to fight against and what to follow in this war. She’s not a little kitten who will do whatever someone tells her to do.” “But it would invigorate them if they acquired their Messiah.” “So you want to eliminate that possibility? What a lame excuse.” Corelle’s expression changed from confusion to a smile. She took a quick glance around at the soldiers looking their way. “Everyone here has had their life saved or been rescued from a tight spot by Hazel’s Tuning on more than one mission. She’s done a bang-up job ever since she survived Cologne last year.” The smile left her face. “Why don’t you trust the woman who has done so much for the AIF, Pale? Do you have reason to think Hazel of all people would betray her beliefs and oppose us if the Geheimnis Agency got her?” Pale said nothing, but that didn’t stop Corelle. “I hear you and M. Schrier negotiated with the Allies to keep Hazel away from Germania, but the Allies hinted they would refuse to let us join any future operations if we didn’t send her. Why was the bet raised so high over just one Tuner?” “Don’t believe all the silly rumors you hear.” “Hazel is too easygoing for her own good, so it’s up to the older generation to worry for her. …She was ecstatic that she could bring Berger the serum for those Live bullets. She legitimately thinks she will simply hand that off to Berger and then be rescued by an Allied aircraft on the Swiss border.” “…” “I hear the Allies have already contacted Berger once and they chose a hideout in Germania for their rendezvous point. He’s expecting ‘a contact’ to arrive with his orders the day after he arrives at the hideout.” Corelle paused there. She looked away from Pale and at her left hand holding the cards. “Why were the Allies so insistent on Hazel doing this? Why were you and M. Schrier so insistent on hiding her? Is this about the bombing of Hamburg? Is it to keep her out of the Geheimnis Agency’s clutches? Or-” “I can tell you one thing.” Pale cut her off. “M. Schrier and I are not in league with the Allies here.” “In that case,” said Corelle, pulling a card from the deck. She flipped it upside down and slammed it onto the table in front of her. “M. Schrier told me something this morning. Operation Gomorrah, the upcoming bombing of Hamburg, is an experiment for the bombing of Germania planned for August. The data acquired there will be used for the ACBS being developed by the Allies and for the new bomb being developed at Detroit.” She viewed the card in front of her. “With every tick of the clock, we approach the moment in August when the world’s History Lives end. He said if I have the will to fight the destiny I’ve seen in the cards, I need to join the Allied 8th Aerial Fleet as a support craft during Operation Gomorrah.” “The will to fight?” echoed Pale. Several other sounds filled the mess hall then. The sounds of chairs moving and of people standing, walking, and running. Among it all, Corelle placed the card on her hand. She flipped it over. A ring of people had formed around them and they groaned when they saw it. It depicted a naked man and woman sleeping back to back on a waveless beach. “Noisy Card #13, Laziness. It indicates stagnation and decline.” “Are you saying that’s our fate?” asked Pale. He was answered by some sighs in the surrounding people, but Corelle smiled a little. “Don’t be silly, Pale. I’m the only one who flipped it over just now. This is my destiny – our destiny. But…listen, Pale. If you can turn us into a proper team, then we can change this destiny. Add your own destiny on top of this, and you can change it.” She took a breath. “Pale, tell us about this secret of yours. I want to see our destiny when it includes you.” Pale viewed the card in front of him and Corelle continued speaking. “If you do that, then we can create something else. Are you interested in changing our destiny?” Without answering, Pale suddenly flipped the card upside down again. He gave an uninterested snort, but he did flip it face up again. The image hadn’t changed. The surrounding ring of people gasped. But… “I knew I could count on you,” said Corelle. The card’s image slowly changed before her eyes. The change started at the bottom. First, the ocean vanished and a lion was drawn in its place. A hand was holding down the lion’s head. The hand belonged to a young woman and she was holding a sword in her other hand. “Harmonic Card #5, Strength. The lion and the dragon are both symbols of the Geheimnis Agency.” With that, Corelle stood up. Pale did the same. An uncertain stir ran through the ring of people. Corelle turned toward them and raised her voice. “What are you loafing around for!? It’s time to go meet the bearer of the Wheel of Destiny!” ### Part 2 Germanian nights were bright. The lights of the underground levels joined together to shine up on the surface and the dome shined down from the sky. The dome was formed by a giant cross. The cross was located in northwest Germania, just to the side of Tegel Airport. The dome spread from there and it covered more than just Germania itself. It also covered the bases situated around the city and Germania’s own management bases. It was a powerful protective umbrella. A single pair of eyes looked up at it from the center of Germania’s 1st level. That central area had been left intact because it included so many historical structures. The pair of eyes was located in Berlin Central University located in the very center of that central area. A large road passed through the university’s main gate and trees were planted along the sidewalks on either side. The owner of those eyes was crouched at the base of one of those broadleaf trees. The large man wore a black combat coat. He was big in general, but the prosthetic arm sticking out from his right shoulder was especially noticeable. Big and blocky were the best words for him. On the solid-looking face below his close-cropped blond hair, two blue eyes looked up into the sky. His left hand held a thick wooden staff. It was the staff he launched from the cannon attached to his prosthetic arm. Small maintenance tools were scattered around him like toys. But he didn’t do anything with the staff or the tools. He simply viewed the sky. Until a scratchy voice reached him from behind. “Hey, Hellard. You’re wide open out here, buddy.” Hearing his name, Hellard Schweitzer turned toward the voice. The red gem on the earring he wore on the left ear caught the light as he turned. A man stood within arm’s reach. Schweitzer was crouched down, so he first saw legs wearing army pants and boots. Then he saw a combat vest with all the pockets bulging and a hand holding a long sword. His gaze continued up to find a slender face surrounded by long hair. Schweitzer frowned when he saw that face. “Do not sneak up on me, Alfred.” His chiding received no response and Alfred pulled a small battlefield sheet from a vest pocket. He used just the one hand to unfold the green sheet on the ground next to Schweitzer and sat in it. “I received word the Messiah has entered the library in cat form. Not long now until we move in to capture her and transfer her to Hamburg Base and the Ton lab there.” “Yes, we can inject German Tons into her there.” Schweitzer nodded but also frowned a little. “But I never imagined Berger would be hiding out here.” “Agreed. It sounds like it wasn’t you, me, or Marsch that the director-” Alfred stopped himself from finishing that thought. Schweitzer said something else instead. “Stopping Berger is going to be a challenge. I saw the photo taken of him entering the library. He walks subtly differently now. He must have spent the last year training himself.” “Just the last year? So have I. I’ve been training myself nonstop ever since Cologne.” Schweitzer’s eyebrows rose a bit at the mention of Cologne. Seeing that, Alfred smiled thinly in realization. “I’m fine. Lady Lillie is at work searching for any remains at the Requiem’s crash site, but…I feel like the gentle greenery there this time of year may be enough to let her rest in peace.” Alfred ended his statement by pulling something like a bookmark from his pocket. He held it up so Schweitzer could see it was an ear of wheat held between a folded piece of paper. The paper had a few letters written on it and a range of dates: 1942 – 1943. “I heard this was sent as a present to the people invited to last year’s wedding.” Schweitzer silently nodded and pulled an identical item from his pocket. He stroked the ear of wheat with a finger. “I saw green ears growing in the Borderson wheat fields last year. These are likely from there.” “I don’t get Heidengeists. An ear from a field of golden wheat sounds nice, but in Europe, a land of golden wheat is reminiscent of Valhalla. It’s a bad omen,” complained Alfred, sticking the wheat back in his pocket. Schweitzer smiled bitterly when he saw that. “It’s just like you to question it but still carry it with you.” “The owner’s memory Tons reside in things like this. …We need that.” Alfred twisted around and reached his left hand out to touch the earring on Schweitzer’s left ear. “By this point, my ring and your earring are probably soaked more with our memories than hers.” He pulled his hand back and looked to the wheat in Schweitzer’s hand. “It’s ironic, really. If their wheat is growing this well, Borderson must have plenty of food while the war rages on. But once the war ends, Germany will be in need of resources no matter who wins. Food in particular is always necessary after a war.” “It would be ironic if Borderson’s wheat ended up saving the country.” “Right? So are those golden fields a part of Valhalla or are they salvation in the real world?” Alfred sighed. He looked dejected, almost like he had just remembered something unpleasant. “Come to think of it, I noticed another irony recently.” He crossed his arms. “About our savior, the Messiah, who arrived here tonight.” “You mean that the Allies used her to carry their plans? That is ironic, I suppose.” Schweitzer barely seemed to care, so Alfred lowered his voice. “What’s with you? I’m saying the Allies have basically sent the Messiah to us.” He sighed. “And I heard we gave them data on our Wort Bombe in exchange. Is that really a good idea?” Schweitzer did not immediately respond. First, he inserted the staff into his right hand’s cannon. And… “Those political issues are none of our concern.” “But did you know the Allies are using information on our auto-ramming ship leaked from Poland in order to build something they call an ACBS? We are in trouble if they load a Wort Bombe on that, Hellard.” Schweitzer said nothing, letting Alfred’s words wash over him. He slotted the bottom of the staff into place within his prosthetic arm and locked it with a twist. Then he locked the other end in place by tightening the screws on the ejection point sticking out from his elbow. The sound of the metal fitting together was joined by Alfred’s sighing voice. “Schweitzer, the scales of this war are already tilting. And I’m not just talking about the Sofort Lesers around the world finding they can’t read any History Tons past August. We’ve been forced to withdraw from the USSR and the Allies have landed in Sicily. A lot of people have already died, like in Cologne.” “So you’re wondering why they even need to set up some trick using the Messiah?” Alfred just about said something on reflex, but he silently nodded instead. “Try to contain your anger,” said Schweitzer. “Development Division Chief Elrich and the rest of us are working around the clock to stabilize Tristan. The Panzerpolis Project is complete, Germania is well fortified, and the Vaterlands around the world are being boosted, so we and the military will have an easier time fighting and escaping death than previously. Also,” he added. “If we can inject German Tons inside the captured Messiah at Hamburg Base, she cannot escape us again. Then Lowenzahn will work to convince her personally. …We will do everything in our power.” Alfred did not respond. Instead, he sang a song. The wind blows / The night blows / The dragon awakes /The people move /The dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall He sang with a gentle but lingering rhythm. “Lowenzahn’s latest prophecy was identical to the Unreif Germane’s 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon. I was pretty disappointed when I first heard it.” “Why?” “We’re here to capture the Messiah, but that prophecy is clearly about a wind from the north. That probably means another bombing like that last one. So…our mission here isn’t protected by our commander’s prophecy. I doubt this is going to go well.” “You worry too much. The emperor should trust in the new world, if you ask me.” “But the emperor is a symbol of the old world. Creating a new world is the hero’s job.” He laughed quietly, folding up the sheet and standing up. “Ha ha. Oops. When did I start complaining so much?” “Hard to say. Was it when you started working for Heiliger?” “Don’t make fun, Hellard. That was probably part of it, but not all of it. I…” He thought for a moment and then took a much more serious tone. “I don’t think I believe in this Messiah who travels with destiny. When I saw her escape with destiny four years ago…I couldn’t help but be reminded of Eryngium eight years ago.” Schweitzer looked up at that. He viewed Alfred’s face. Alfred was smiling while looking up at the giant cross called Tristan. There was no mockery or irony in that smile. It was a powerful smile with eyebrows raised. Alfred opened his lips a crack while smiling up at the cross. “…” But he stopped. He turned away from Schweitzer with a single footstep. “I’m gonna take a look around the area.” “The library hasn’t changed. You can even see the director’s repairs to the plumbing.” “I’m just taking a look around.” There was a hint of a smile in his voice as he walked away. Still crouched, Schweitzer smiled too. Then he looked up toward what Alfred had been looking at. A black cross towered into the sky there. He had been looking at it before Alfred arrived. He brought it into the center of his vision and touched the earring on his left ear. “To develop, to fight, to protect, and…” He stopped talking there and suddenly stood up. He looked back from below the broadleaf tree and found Alfred was already gone. After one last glance up at Tristan, Schweitzer began walking as well. He could see some armored vehicles gathering on the road beyond the main gate. ### Part 3 Hazel awoke in darkness. She was lying on her side and her right shoulder, back, and thigh felt some leather warmed by her own body heat. She was lying naked on a sofa. The darkness remained when she opened her eyes. A blanket covered her eyes. She sensed the warmth of someone sleeping in their clothes next to her. After shivering from waking up, she pulled the blanket down from her face. She could see who was lying next to her face up with mouth slightly open. “Oh, Berger. You haven’t been shaving, have you?” She sighed and laughed quietly. She relaxed and twisted around to nestle up against him. She felt the warmth of his body through his shirt. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder and caught the scent of cheap soap. After a moment’s hesitation, she rubbed her neck against his shoulder. She rubbed her scent onto him. His shirt’s fabric was rough, so it felt nice against her neck. After enjoying that for a bit, she breathed a satisfied sigh and turned her somewhat sleepy eyes upwards. They were in a small but tall room. It was surrounded by bookcases on all four sides and the only light came through a small hole in the ceiling. The light was the lamplight of Germania she had seen earlier. … I must have dropped through that hole, landed on the sofa, and fallen asleep as a cat. Berger had arrived before her and failed to notice when she dropped onto the sofa. So she had crawled under the blanket next to him. “And then I went to sleep.” She smiled bitterly and lowered her gaze to find the room’s exit down by their feet. There was something odd about the area above the closed wooden door. That part of the wall was discolored. A square about a foot across was paler than the rest, so a frame may have hung there at some point. She didn’t know what that could be, so she only tilted her head and moved her gaze to the side. She found Berger’s sleepy blue eyes looking at her from only a few inches away. His eyes gradually focused in on her in the dim lighting. “…What?” He sprang up from the sofa. Or tried to. His prosthetic hand failed to grab the soft sofa behind him and slipped, causing him to collapsed backwards. She panicked a bit, but… … There’s nothing I can do. She heard a dull thud from below the sofa. She took a look down with the blanket gathered around her hips. “Are you okay?” “That hurt like hell. Which means I’m not dreaming. They sent you , Hazel?” He spoke in the same voice as always in the same irritated tone as always. His legs were still up on the sofa, so he pulled them down and sat up on the floor. Their eyes met with a slight height difference. “You Altered again, didn’t you?” he muttered from the floor. “What time is it? Oh, I guess you can’t wear a watch in that form.” He pulled out his own pocket watch, opened it, stared at it for a bit, and then showed it to Hazel. The watch said it was 4:12 AM. “We still have nearly an hour until the arranged time.” “Now’s fine. You brought my orders, I hope?” “I did.” Hazel searched through the blanket near where she had fallen. She found nothing. She only found the Wheel of Destiny card. “Huh?” “Looking for this?” Berger pointed at a white envelope caught in his shirt’s collar. “Y-yes, that’s it.” She watched as he grabbed the envelope and noticed a small bitemark on the edge. “This reeks of cat. You drooled on it while running around with it in your mouth, didn’t you? Gross.” “Now you’re just being mean. It isn’t gross.” “What makes you so sure?” “Because last year you made me swallow yours and licked all over my body. You wouldn’t have done that if it was gross.” Silence fell. Berger said nothing and let nothing show on his face as he tucked the envelope into his breast pocket. “I know this is sudden, but I think we need to talk,” he said. “About what?” “Early this year, I met this AIF contact who happened to be a woman. She said some nasty things about me and then mentioned some bullshit about how devoted to me you are.” Hazel thought for a moment, directing her eyes upwards. “Um,” she said. “I didn’t tell them anything weird. I told them we discussed our futures at Borderson and that you asked me if I trusted you before you pinned me down in bed.” She reflexively brought her hands to her cheeks as the memory came back to her. Her cheeks felt somewhat warm to the touch. “And I said you kissed me, touched me, licked me, and bit me. …Oh, but I didn’t even tell Corelle that you spread my legs, so don’t worry about that.” She gave a bashful smile and viewed him through the fingers covering her cheeks. For some reason, he looked ill. In fact, he looked deathly pale. And the color didn’t return to his face as he asked a question. “Hazel. You know exactly what you’re doing with that, don’t you?” Something fell from Berger’s shoulder to the floor: a small hard box. That was the ampule case Hazel had brought with the envelope. Unlike the envelope, it must have been caught inside his collar. She lowered her hand to point toward the white box. “Your serum is in there. The one to heal your Lives disease.” “It’s done already?” “Yes, but they said they can’t make any again. Shortly before I came here, the Live research facility in Detroit started working with a lab in Los Alamos to develop some new weapon.” “So the Allies don’t have time to spare for the AIF, huh?” He opened the ampule case while she watched. “Whoa.” A dark liquid flowed out and wet his hand. He dropped the case on reflex and it spewed shards of glass when it hit the floor. Pieces of the syringe were scattered among the spilled liquid. “Hazel.” Hazel held a hand to her mouth and gasped, her heart skipping a beat. “I did end up in a battle on the way here…” She wasn’t sure what more to say, so she started by working to calm herself. … Um. “R-right, there is a spare, so don’t worry. There is another ampule in a locker at Potsdam Station along with my luggage. You can use that.” She showed him the locker key hanging from her choker. He dropped his eyes to the key. “And you expect me to go get it myself? Me, the second busiest guy in the world?” “But we have more than an hour of extra time now, don’t we?” “Yeah, what about it?” “How about we visit Potsdam together? I can turn into a cat, so you can carry me on your shoulder. After all, I need to get my clothes out of my luggage there.” “Why not go on your own? While naked.” “Maybe I should let everyone know that you’re into exhibitionism.” He froze. “Let’s visit Potsdam together,” she said with a smile. He didn’t respond, so she tried something else. “Aren’t you going to answer?” “Shut up.” His eyes were on the syringe shards littering the floor, not on her. When she noticed, her shoulders tensed and she wondered what to do. “Um,” she said. He turned toward her and met her eyes, so she kept her voice low but serious. “I do have one piece of unadulterated good news for you.” “What, you mean that the Allies are developing an auto-ramming ship they call the ACBS?” Hazel beckoned him over instead of answering. He tilted his head, stood up, and took a step toward her. She scooted to the side to create space on the sofa, so he sat there. Before he could say anything, she took his right hand. She wiped away the serum fluid remaining on his hand. “Um, I really am sorry about the ampule.” She softly placed his hand on her left breast. She gained a somewhat troubled look at how his damp hand felt on her chest. “Can you tell? Um, uh…” “…” “They’ve gotten a lot bigger. Twice as big in just the last year.” Berger stared off into the distance. “And what is the unadulterated good news you have for me, teacher?” She put a smile back on her face to answer him. “You like big boobs, don’t you? …Wait, what are you doing!?” He rolled her up in the blanket and threw her out of the room. ### Part 4 Something creaked like a wooden ship periodically. That something was a giant vertical cylinder filled with white light. Specifically, it was the column of black metal running down the center of the cylinder. That was the word weapon barrel of the Gard-class aerial warship that had been remade into a part of Tristan. The Lives needed to pressurize the Vaterlands through the ley lines were launched from the loading area up above the column and then accelerated through it. The central column was the barrel and the cylinder was the exterior armor. The column ran through the cylinder from floor to ceiling, but they were actually 4.5 miles long. It continued well below the floor and well above the ceiling. Several girders extended from the inside of the cylinder to the central column and people wearing lab coats or black uniforms were walking and talking along those. The people were tiny compared to the column. One girder was located almost at the ceiling. It was more than 8 yards wide and two people currently stood on it. Both were old men. One wore a lab coat and the other wore a suit. The one in a suit looked down over the girder’s railing. The hem of his suit flapped in the wind that blew up through the cylinder. The one in a lab coat rested against the opposite railing. “Is the view really so interesting, Witzmann? You keep looking down there.” “No, I just like high places.” “Silly child,” said the lab coat man with a bitter smile. The man in a suit, Witzmann, replied with an exasperated nod. That was when a loud, deep reverberation came from the center of the cylinder. The column had caused it. The two men leaning against opposite girder railings turned their eyes toward the column. Once they were both looking straight down the girder at the column, their gazes separated to view their surroundings. The girder’s floor was about 5 yards from the ceiling. Two things were attached to the surface of the column in that limited space. One was a window. It was a yard wide and two yards tall and it gave a view of some plastic pipes that shook whenever the column gave a roar. The second was a desk-sized control panel made of a copper-colored metal located below the window. The panel should have had a few keys and controls, but it was all shattered. The left half had melted away and there was a fist-sized hole suggesting something had crashed into it. “Heiliger slammed his Tragisch fist into it and used his Beweisen instead of operating it normally, didn’t he?” said Witzmann when he saw the hole. “And that gave it temporary life.” “A life that lasts until the bearer of Tragisch dies. Its Ober Beweisen uses Tragisch as an intermediary to break its owner’s Tons down and fuse them with a machine. A variation on the Schreiben device, really.” “I see,” said Witzmann, looking again to the hole on the left side of the control panel. Another sound came from the column. The roar sounded somehow unstable. “So Elrich. Be honest with me about the Tristan.” “It is unstable. It doesn’t yet have the power needed to fully boost all of the Vaterlands around the world and let us oppose the Allies. The Panzerpolis Project is still missing something.” Elrich sounded sure of that. “The Tristan’s basic design was Marsch Gant’s idea, but he died before he could complete the final phase design. What we have her is the 5th Phase Tristan.” “I had a feeling.” Witzmann slowly nodded his head and took a closer look at the hole in the control panel. “Heiliger seems like the sentimental type to me. Is he?” “Definitely. Tragisch uses two Phlogiston Plattes built into it as fuel. High power ones created from Heidengeists. But those ones in his right shoulder…” “Were made from his Heidengeist wife and daughter who were eliminated in ’37? He really is sentimental.” Witzmann smiled bitterly. “But there are a lot of things I don’t understand of late. For example, I am unsure what the Ober Beweisens of a few Eingeweide devices are. Like our commander’s Neue Erde, or the Messiah.” “I can’t tell you about the latter, but our commander’s must be for prophesying.” “But you haven’t seen it for yourself, have you? She always prophesies deep below the old HQ, so no one can say for sure that’s what her Ober Beweisen does.” “What are you getting at?” “Neue Erde was developed by Marsch Gant. Records from the time say he only told our commander what its Ober Beweisen does and the development division cannot predict what it does based on the designs left over from back then. And with the Messiah, only that girl knows what its Ober Beweisen does. Am I wrong?” “Are you suggesting our commander may be keeping the truth from us? Aggressive as ever, I see.” Elrich snorted. “Let me guess: there’s more you don’t know. Like the meaning of the plate you took from the Karlsruhe knowledge storehouse.” Witzmann’s head drooped forward, but after a pause, he started laughing. “Ha ha ha. You noticed?” “I could tell at a glance the material had changed. Not that I blame you. I wouldn’t have given you permission if you’d asked.” “I still can’t read it, but it has expanded the breadth of my predictions.” Witzmann nodded. “My biggest question is ‘why’. Take the Unreif Germane’s 6th section for example. The previous five sections carry a hint of glory while leading to ruin. Those songs were apparently prophesies about events back then, but the people began to spread them after the Messiah went to sleep at the end.” “And the final line isn’t a record – it’s calling out to someone.” “She could see the ruin coming after the millennium of peace and she cried herself to sleep after encountering a goodbye and a wall, so why did she sing a song of new hope in the middle of all that tragedy?” “The thing is…” began Elrich. He groaned as he tried to figure out if he should give an answer or not. Witzmann smiled bitterly. “Only one person out there can answer that question. And you know who, don’t you?” “The Sylphide. The one excavated from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in ’39.” “Actually, I meant the Messiah from a thousand years ago,” said Witzmann. “You know what it means to find the Sylphide there, where it had been sealed for a thousand years, don’t you? It wasn’t being enshrined there.” “Cryogenic storage.” Elrich nodded. “It has to be in a sealed container with conditions similar to deep sea or a vacuum, but the life of the passenger could be preserved. It would have to be set to thaw on a timer or with external controls. If the Sylphide was set to only power its self-repair function and the cryogenic storage, it could preserve the passenger for a thousand years – or even several thousand years.” “The same conclusion I arrived at. The question is who spent a thousand years inside there.” “A question we can never answer since the AIF stole the Sylphide.” Both Witzmann and Elrich stopped talking there. Instead, an emotionless voice spoke from the opposite direction of the column. “Seeking that answer may be going a step too far.” They both turned toward the voice where the door leading out onto the girder had opened and a man walked out. He was tall and pencil thin and he wore a Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division combat coat. “Bermark Vier,” said Elrich. Bermark stopped walking and saluted. “I have new orders from the fräulein. I know the Messiah will be visiting soon, but she asks that you two head to the old HQ.” “Why there? That place is nearly deserted.” “You are being given a month of leave to help you recuperate from your hard work and prepare for the true battle to come. Unfortunately, the Allies have entered Germany, so you must remain inside the old HQ for your own safety.” “Ha ha!” laughed Elrich. “So we’re under house arrest!” “It would seem so. I was thinking of stopping by there soon anyway. I have a historical interest in the phase space lab built below that building. Our commander may intend to lock us in there, but that simply gives me the time I need to investigate.” Witzmann’s comment stopped Elrich’s laughter. Witzmann nodded when Elrich gave him a puzzled look. “Bermark’s presence is all the answer I need. I do not blindly trust our commander. After all, she more or less gave the Allies our Wort Bombe research document in exchange for having the Messiah sent to Germania.” But… “I may come to trust her depending on the answer I find for my question of ‘why’.” He stepped away from the railing and walked toward Bermark. “What about our men?” “She has already had Sir Heiliger arrange for replacement chiefs to the development and intelligence divisions. We are always training for such eventualities, so you have nothing to worry about.” “I see.” Witzmann stopped next to Bermark and slapped his shoulder. “Sounds like we have a busy vacation ahead of us.” ### Part 5 Hazel sat alone in the valley of bookcases with the blanket over her head. She had emerged onto the floor here less than a minute ago. After Berger had thrown her out into a dark space, she had realized he had no intention of opening the door behind her. She had groped around in the darkness, trying to walk until she found some stairs leading up. Soon after climbing those, she had bumped her head against the ceiling. Holding her aching head, she had groped at the ceiling and found it moved. Pushing up had opened an exit for her. The entrance to the stairs sat open by her feet. She sat on the edge of the stairs and peered down into the darkness where she had left Berger. “Maybe I teased him too much.” She pressed her knees together, held the blanket around herself, and sighed with the Wheel of Destiny in hand. She thought back on what had just happened. She recalled Berger’s pale face when she had let him touch her chest. Then her shoulders shook and quiet laughter left her throat. … He’s surprisingly cute. With that in mind, she decided to become a cat. She knew he would emerge from that darkness in a bit. If she was already a cat by then, she could ignore any complaints he made about what she had done. Because cats couldn’t speak. She pulled the blanket over herself and gently rubbed her right eye with her right hand. The High Organ eye’s Beweisen let her take control of other High Organ devices. … I don’t know what its Ober Beweisen does, but I can’t help that. She had left the country shortly after having it implanted, so she didn’t know how to use it or why it had been built. All those answers had died along with its creator – Marsch Gant. “The only other person who might know is that Geheimnis Agency Commander.” … She said I was a tool for them when I met her last year. The phrase “Wheel of Destiny” stuck in her mind. That was the name of the card Corelle had given her and that she held now. The card’s image hadn’t changed. She still carried that destiny of ruin. She used that thought to let her pulse take over. But then… “Eh?” She looked up. She had heard footsteps inside the supposedly deserted and silent library. Two sets of them. One set came from the darkness below. They were rushed and running. The other set came from the aisle behind her. They were calm and walking. Since she had been letting her fear take over, she chose to first turn toward the danger behind her. The dark blue shadow cast by a bookcase contained an even darker silhouette approaching her. The tall, slender man carried a sword in one hand. He spoke without bothering to hide the sharp light in his eyes. “I believe this is our first time meeting when I wasn’t Schreibened.” He stopped about four yards in front of her. When she met his eyes, she realized his gaze carried the red color of killer intent. She couldn’t move. He might just cut her down if she moved in the slightest. She simply squeezed the blanket tighter in her hands. She heard the footsteps from below. Berger was running up the stairs. Only after hearing those footsteps kicking off the hard stairs did she manage to get her voice out. “The Kaiser’s pilot?” she asked, looking at the man’s sword. “Correct. I am ‘Kaiser Schwert’ Alfred Maldrick. I am a descendant of the Maldrick family, one of the four knight families that fought for the Messiah a thousand years ago.” His words were drowned out by a shout from the darkness below. A shout made with Berger’s familiar voice. “Hazel, it’s a trap! Those orders were fake!!” “Now, enough words. Now is the time for strength. You are coming with us whether you want to or not.” Alfred grabbed her right arm through the blanket and tugged her to her feet. Her fight and flight instincts warred with each other, causing her to hesitate and freeze up. That was when Berger burst from the darkness below. He poured on his full strength from the start. Hazel saw him draw Gelegenheit at five steps down from the top of the stairs. The dark blade trying to slice horizontally through the dimly-lit library was 3 yards long. It took a curving path, slicing through the bookcases on its way to Alfred’s hand on her arm. Gelegenheit could sever the threads of fate. If that black blade swung through them, it wouldn’t harm Alfred’s hand or her arm, but it would rewrite reality to say her arm was not restrained. She let it happen. But the man holding her arm did not. He turned his eyes toward Gelegenheit’s blade. First, she heard something like shattering glass. Then she saw a spray of darkness. Gelegenheit’s blade had shattered. “!?” All Hazel had seen was Gelegenheit’s blade suddenly break as it passed through a nearby bookcase on its way to her and Alfred. “Aerial Words?” she muttered, confused. … That makes no sense. “Aerial Words are more formulaic and always include the High Organ name.” Alfred answered her with a bark of laughter. “Ha. Did you forget what city you’re in. Thanks to the Panzerpolis Project, this city contains the world’s most advanced Eingeweide devices. You could call it a city of concept weapons.” He pulled Hazel away and turned toward Berger. “I’ll show you something neat. Just for fun.” ### Part 6 The darkness and the bookcases vanished before Hazel’s eyes. Instead, she saw the overhead lights illuminating a corner of the library sans bookcases. She was surrounded by a 15 yard tiled space. “What!?” Further Aerial Words ignored her voice altogether. The words came true. She gasped as the surrounding group in black stared at her. The gazes of those Neue Kavaliers, both young and old, carried the red Live color of curiosity and expectation. “The part of the city you destroyed earlier has been repaired with Erklärung. We intentionally avoided using Erklärung during that battle so we could assess your strength.” Hazel could not bring herself to speak while Alfred blandly explained. But… “Go to hell!” Someone else’s words cut through her tension. They were Berger’s Aerial Words. He slammed a Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit and swung the black blade. Alfred frowned and spoke his own Aerial Words in disinterest. Gelegenheit’s blade struck the library’s air and shook. With a loud metallic noise, the blade dug into the air, scattering black sparks. The black line lost to the Aerial Words and bent, quickly approaching the breaking point. Berger continued swinging Gelegenheit while slamming three new Phlogiston Tanks into the back. When his shout reached the air, the bending blade snapped back to normal, grew longer, and sent a stir through the people surrounding them. Hazel heard Alfred click his tongue as Berger’s black blade swung between her and Alfred. The next thing she knew, she was free of Alfred. She spun around on the tile floor and took a single step away from Alfred in the library’s lights. She raised the Wheel of Destiny card in her right hand. … This feels like a scene from a school play. Gelegenheit’s blade swung through again as if to agree with that assessment. Berger ran up the remaining five steps while adding another Phlogiston Tank. That meant a total of four Size Cs. The black blade grew to 16 yards. “Hazel! Get down!” She obeyed him. More than crouch, she threw herself to the side. Her hair didn’t follow quite as fast, so a few strands were cut away by Gelegenheit’s blade as it swung around just above her head. Alfred leaped over the blade as Berger swung the blade around to Hazel’s right like he was trying to slice through the entire library. Below the white lights, his black coat danced behind him and the black blade sliced through the ring of people surrounding them. After a sound of paper being cut, the ring of people vanished. So did the light. The bookcases were back in their original well-ordered positions. ### Part 7 Hazel raised her head and looked around to find the library had returned to its dark and quiet state. All the gazes gathered on her were gone. The only other people here were Berger in front of her and Alfred behind her. Then she heard a sound like tearing cloth but repeated over and over. The bookcases had been sliced through and the top halves were sliding down. With a creaking sound, the split wood and books slid along the cut and spilled to the floor. With the top halves scattered across the floor, the bookcases were now a lot shorter. The destruction did not reach the windows beyond the bookcases. The windows still showed the scarlet sky of Germania and the cityscape filled with gaps. … There’s no one here. Like everything I was just seeing was never really there. Hazel placed her hands on the floor and spoke, ignoring the blanket slipping from her shoulders. “The words affect reality…” “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” said Berger, standing next to her. He pulled all the Phlogiston Tanks from Gelegenheit’s hilt, reached into his pocket for the envelope Hazel had given him, and threw it away. “Unfortunately, the authorization seal on the orders was fake. A really well made fake.” “How can that be!?” “Don’t get upset, Hazel. It’s not your fault. Blame the people who gave you a fake.” He took a look around the quiet library. “This city is real pain in the ass. Can you place words on top of words and make it all real?” He turned toward Alfred who stood a few yards behind Hazel. “Yes, our words can overwrite reality. The library’s bookcases really have been removed and it really is full of Geheimnis Agency soldiers.” Hazel realized something from that. She viewed the silence around her. “So this silence was created when I came up here?” “It is a false silence created by my words. I used my earlier Erklärung to pull back the curtain and show you the truth. And his Gelegenheit only managed to cut through that top-level Erklärung.” Berger smiled bitterly at that. “So the question is whether I placed my words on top of yours to create a further fiction or if I cut through your words to reveal the truth, huh?” He took a breath. “Either way, we can break through it all.” Hazel looked up at Berger. … He said we. There were only two people in the AIF – no, in the entire Allied forces – with a High Organ device capable of Aerializing words: Hazel and Berger. The Allies were researching High Organs, but they had only succeeded in creating exact copies. The AIF was working on creating a remote control device based on Hazel’s ability, but they had yet to develop their own High Organ devices. It was with that in mind that Hazel looked up at Berger and nodded. He kept his eyes on Alfred and reached his prosthetic left hand toward her. She reached out her own hand to take that mechanical one. Hazel realized a bluish-white line of light had moved in between her and Berger. … Ether!? The line expanded vertically to surround her on all four sides. The ether line outlined a special field. “I recognize this!” Berger’s left hand was wrist deep in the barrier, so it was promptly severed. Hazel suddenly found herself floating. She was falling. “No!” She was falling backwards along the library’s floor. Gravity had been redirected 90 degrees within the field. The spatial positioning in the field had been altered. She was “falling” toward the window, taking her away from Berger. She reached out her hand, but it wasn’t enough. She only managed to reach his severed left hand, causing it to tumble in the air. Her fall continued. Just before her back hit the field wall behind her, the field shattered. Gravity immediately returned to normal, nauseating her. Her floating body fell toward the floor now. But something caught her in midair before she could hit the floor. … Eh? What was that? She struggled a bit and righted herself, finding she was on top of some kind of flat surface. She and the blanket around her were held by an enormous hand. She knew the arm’s name. “Der Held!?” Her shouted question was answered by movement. The arm produced a mechanical sound and her viewpoint rose. The next thing she knew, she was draped over an enormous metal shoulder. She grabbed at the metal shoulder and stretched out her elbows to prop herself up. Her pulse raced and she saw the prosthetic arm’s owner was looking to Berger, not her. She recognized the square face she saw in profile. “Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer.” “I am a captain now.” She answered his brief correction by lowering her head with her eyebrows drooping. But that was all. She then turned to look at Berger. He stood about 5 yards away. He had lost his left hand and he held Gelegenheit in his right hand. He was looking her way even though it took his eyes off Alfred behind him. He looked expressionless, but there was great strength in his unwavering gaze. That gaze brought her relief, so she relaxed her shoulders. Then Schweitzer spoke. “Berger. I’m sorry, but I will be taking the Messiah with me.” His tone was thoroughly businesslike. “I have one suggestion.” He fell silent there and Berger did not respond. Schweitzer took three breaths before continuing. “Berger, would you consider joining the Geheimnis Agency? This request comes straight from our commander.” The gasp of protest did not come from Hazel, who struggled wide-eyed on Schweitzer’s shoulder, or from Berger, who simply frowned. It came from Alfred behind Berger. “What is the meaning of this, Hellard!?” But Schweitzer ignored it all like he was only conveying a message. “After all, Berger, you and the Messiah have nowhere left to run.” He raised his left hand. The large flesh fist held a broad strap. A large, rectangular brown leather bag dangled from that strap. “Th-that’s the bag I left in Potsdam!” “Yes, we had noticed you well before then. We examined the contents and found something very interesting indeed.” He shut his eyes. “A serum meant to fight the German Tons we injected Berger with.” ### Part 8 “!” Hazel swallowed her words and suddenly realized the feeling enveloping her was fear. Schweitzer’s words continued as if to confirm that for her. “We will take this with us to the Hamburg Base’s Ton laboratory where the Messiah is headed. My men were listening in on your conversation and they tell me this is the only surviving serum.” And… “The Messiah will be injected with the same German Tons in Hamburg. A single serum cannot save you both. …Do you get my meaning, Berger?” Hazel looked to Berger. She wanted to say something and her lips started to move. But she couldn’t do it. Her lips were trembling. All of her was trembling. She couldn’t look him in the eye and lowered her gaze, but that brought the bag Schweitzer held into view. The bag she thought she had hidden in that Potsdam locker. … I can’t believe they stole it. All of a sudden, all her focus turned toward the Wheel of Destiny card she still held in her hand. Realizing what it meant for her to carry that destiny of ruin, tears filled her eyes. “I’m…” Her voice escaped her throat. Her lips moved to form the words “I’m sorry”. But someone forestalled her apology. “Hazel.” He started by calling her name. “Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf?” A single tear fell when she raised her head, but she did look at that young man in a black coat. He looked a bit angry, but he was smiling. The Lives radiating from him were orange. He really was happy. “Don’t worry, Hazel. I have just one thing to tell you: you don’t need to become a cat.” She heard the words while viewing his Lives. She repeated them a few times in her head and realized what they meant, so she responded. “Okay!” With that word, her trembling ceased. Berger nodded and held Gelegenheit in a backhand grip. Lowenzahn revealed herself with her words. “Did you really think I was dumb enough to use this with you around?” Berger asked her. He put Gelegenheit away in his coat. And then… That became true and some new Aerial Words followed. With a creaking of metal and a blast of wind, the library’s window was smashed in from the outside. Hazel wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back toward the window past the heads of the surrounding soldiers. She could see a giant white leg through it. It belonged to a Grösse Panzer wearing a Panzer Kleid. That was Alfred’s Grösse Panzer, Neue Kaiser. … Is he using his Aerial Words to remote control his Heavy Barrel? The strongest Buster, Der Held, Neue Erde, and several soldiers were inside the library. Neue Kaiser was outside the library. … This could hardly be worse. But when she looked back, she saw the same orange Lives coming from Berger who had his hand in his pocket. He looked entirely confident. “So this is reality, huh?” he said, taking a look around. “I see.” Everyone there wanted to say something to him. Hazel saw the pressure building as they prepared to speak. Dark red Lives – a mixture of protest, caution, and confusion – swelled out like a great wave. Drawn by those growing Lives, Berger pulled his right hand from his pocket and slowly held it overhead. It held a small device. The device had a red and a blue button. His thumb was on the red one. “Then this must be reality too.” He pressed the button and the library exploded. ### 690. Chapter 2: The Ruin Begins 7/24/1943 05:06 – 15:10 Time knows everything Both what I remember And what I don’t ### Geheimnis Agency Personnel Lowenzahn Naylor (Geheimnis Agency Commander) Sofort Leser and Geheimnis Agency Commander. Mother is Frobel. Father is Lowenheit. Heiliger Karlsruhe (Geheimnis Agency Lieutenant Commander) Transferred from the military in ’42, becoming the commander-in-chief. Lost his brother Graham and Sister Rose at Cologne in ’42. Hellard Schweitzer (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Captain) Wielder of Eingeweide arm Der Held. Went to high school with Berger. Father is Bertecht. Bermark Vier (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division) Automaton and wielder of Eingeweide handgun Freischütz. Schweitzer’s lieutenant. Alfred Maldrick (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Lieutenant) Pilot of Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Neue Kaiser and wielder of Werkzeug Rein König. Went to high school with Berger and cut down Eryngium 8 years ago. Bermark Nein (Geheimnis Agency Army Division) Alfred’s subordinate and a Sein Frau. Vier’s older brother. Joined with two Grösse Panzers. Karl Schmitt (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Chief) Joined with a large Grösse Panzer and uses a double Drache Kanone as his primary weapon. Wife is Army Division Deputy Chief Jeanne. Herbert Müller (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief) A plump elderly man. Adopted Lowenzahn on Graham’s orders. Lillie Telmetz (Geheimnis Agency Navy Division Chief) Uses the Eingweide harp Mondnacht. Friends with Jeanne and helped Graham in the past. Konrad Elrich (Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief) An old scientist with a passion for research. Superior of Marsch Gant who developed Eingeweide devices. Galue Witzmann (Geheimnis Agency Intelligence Division Chief) A kind-looking old gentleman. But will do anything to acquire intelligence. ### Part 1 Light crept into the sky as dawn approached. That sky hung over a forest enshrouded in shadow. The hills and mountains were all covered with green trees. The only areas of ground devoid of trees were near the several rivers running through the lower part of the forest. There was a single point in the forest where those rivers gathered together. The dirt ground was exposed over a wide region there. There was a large hole in the middle of that land. The bowl-shaped hole was filled with the water flowing in from the rivers. With a diameter of a mile and a half, it qualified as a large lake. Something like a tower jutted up from the center of the lake. The morning light revealed the tower to be a giant barrel. The barrel rose from what looked like a metal island. The barrel was jet black, as was the large metal island. Both were terribly cracked and split, revealing a metal frame that resembled ribs. The morning sun appeared over the horizon. Its light illuminated the tower and island from behind. The tower’s shadow stretched westward across the water, climbed the slope that formed the edge of the hole, and reached the land beyond. A slender woman stood at the far end of the shadow. Her long frayed brown hair blew in the wind. She wore a Geheimnis Agency Navy Division coat, but she wore a blue dress below that. Her left shoulder supported a harp that curved forward from there. The harp was a yard long, but it did not overbalance her. She was motionless. The shallow wrinkles of her face were not smiling. The breaths leaving her mouth were made white by the early morning chill. Her breaths formed a beat. She let out a longer white breath to mark a change. After a second, third, and fourth beat, the change revealed itself. Her breathing grew subtly quicker and subtly stronger. The individual breaths joined together to form their beat and her eyes suddenly moved. She looked up into the sky. The colors of night still lingered there. The morning wind blew the thin clouds from east to west, fluffing them up thicker and whiter. A white circle floated up in the center of the morning sky. That was the morning moon. The moon left behind traces of the early morning light as it looked down on the woman. Sound left the harp resting on her left shoulder. It produced sound without her needing to strum it. A single loud, clear tone dyed the morning air. The note raced out and the surface of the lake rippled. Another note rang out. Then another. And another. More and more notes played, but they were all the same note. This did not qualify as music. Altogether… “Ober Text: 6.4 million Tons!” shouted the woman. She looked down at the many ripples running along the surface of the water, crashing into each other, and creating more waves. The size and intensity of the ripples was changed by the notes being played. She watched that motion and opened her mouth to say more. The waves grew. The waves grew even more. The waves swelled up like a tower. Eight waves sucked up the water from the large hole to grow tall. The weight towers of water trapped air within them and curved up into the sky while maintaining a thickness of around a dozen yards. They reached a height of more than 300 yards with water audibly spraying from them. And they roared. The high-pitched cry of a wild animal erupted from the ends of the eight water currents. Animal faces had formed there. They opened mouths like protruding beaks, bared watery fangs, and grew two long horns behind their heads. These were dragons. The eight dragons danced wildly. Just as it looked like the dragons were twisting around, they crashed into the edge of the large hole one after another. They crashed into the mouth of a river flowing into the hole. The dragons destroyed and broke the land there to fill in the river mouth. With the sound of breaking rock, the water pressure attacks tore apart the ground and carried rock. Roars rang out with an eight-beat tempo. They whipped up the wind, sent spray into the air, and shook the forest sky with the sounds of impact, scaring the morning forest birds into flight. The birds’ chirping protests were drowned out by bestial roars. One corner of the forest morning was ruled by those animalistic movements. A great boulder shattered. The large pieces rolled into the hole and fully blocked up the mouth connecting the river to the hole. The dragons stopped there. With those words and a note from the harp, the dragons twisted toward the woman. All eight raised their heads and looked down at her. She looked each of the eight in the eye and without warning… “…” She silently held a hand out toward them. The wind moved in response. So did the dragons. The rightmost of the eight blew out the air bubbles inside it and moved its snout toward the offered hand. The dragon’s breath smelled like cold water. Its beak-like mouth opened and revealed a forked tongue as big around as an arm. The tongue moved like it had a mind of its own and licked the woman’s hand. The tongue passed above her hand, producing some spray, and a small fish landed in her hand. The woman looked surprised. “Oh, dear. You need to take this one with you.” The dragon nodded, stuck out its tongue, scooped up the fish, and brought the fish into its watery body. Then the dragons whipped up the wind while turning toward the river. They flew in arcs that crossed the border of the hole, diving into the river. They produced the roar of eight waterfalls and a mist flew into the air. But that only lasted a moment. By the time the waterfall roar was gone, so were the dragons. All that remained was the mist they had produced. “…” The woman sighed. She heard a flapping sound behind her like someone was rapidly flipping through a book. She gasped and looked back. There was movement in the forest. Some bushes were rustling. ### Part 2 “…?” The woman frowned and adjusted the position of the harp on her left shoulder, but she didn’t speak a word. Instead, she heard a voice from the bushes. A woman’s high-pitched voice. “Sorry. Did I surprise you, Lillie?” The bushes parted and a woman in a black military uniform stepped out. She brushed her brown hair back with a hand and stopped in front of the bushes. The two women faced each other. The first to speak was the one holding the harp – Lillie. “Jeanne? What brings you here?” “I saw those dragons on my way to Hamburg, so I decided to have Karl stop and pay you a visit on my own. You can see his Drache Kanones above the forest there, can’t you?” Lillie looked and sure enough. She also nodded at the mention of Hamburg. “On your way for an audience with the Messiah I heard was captured about two hours ago? In exchange for data on our Wort Bombe.” “Affirmative. What about you? Are you headed back to the North Sea once you finish your once-a-month cleaning here?” Lillie thought for a moment and then nodded. Jeanne sighed at the slight head movement. Then she explained the meaning of her sigh. “Lillie. Maybe I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this, but you should really try to forget.” “Could you say that if you had lost your husband?” “Yes, I could.” Jeanne did not hesitate. “I can’t live alone, so if I lost him, I would have no choice but to find a replacement.” “I can hear you with my new hearing devices, you know?” rumbled a mechanical voice from beyond the forest. That was Jeanne’s husband Karl. Jeanne shrugged and stuck out her tongue a little before turning toward the forest. “I’ll never even look at another man as long as you’re still alive.” “I appreciate it.” Lillie shut her eyes and placed a hand on her chin. “I envy you, Jeanne,” she said. “But I didn’t even try to keep him – keep them – alive. I even helped them die, really. Because I knew they would die and did nothing to stop it.” “You make it sound like his and Lady Rose’s deaths were predetermined.” “What if they were?” asked Lillie, opening her eyes. There was no doubt in the eyes she directed straight toward Jeanne. “I’m sorry, Jeanne, but there is one thing I can’t tell you because of a promise I made with them. You know my Mondnacht here was made from my tears, right? When I created it, I lost the ability to ever again cry like my little sister, but…” She took a breath. “I made the decision because of a promise I made with them. I didn’t want to ever worry them by letting them see me cry.” “…” “If I keep that promise, I can’t do what you suggested. So even if this is no more than self-condemnation and even if it’s my punishment for hesitating…” She lowered her head. She could not cry. The ability did not exist inside her. Jeanne asked a question instead. “Do you need something before you can let yourself give up? Have you still not found whatever it is? Even after having your dragons search the wreckage for so long?” “I think Rose’s red gem must be somewhere. I found Silber Löwe, but nothing could be recreated from its Studio. …It was modified to work as Heiliger’s personal Panzer, wasn’t it? That wreckage really was all that remained. Only the wreckage of what had once been a dragon.” Jeanne started to say something in response. She raised her right hand as if to pat Lillie on the shoulder despite being too far away and she opened her mouth. “––––––” She pressed her lips together and then bit the lower one. She shook her head while Lillie’s downcast eyes couldn’t see. Her short hair swayed. Then she faced forward and cleared her throat quietly. She spread her legs a bit and crossed her arms before speaking. “Listen to us wasting the day away discussing our personal affairs. We really are getting old.” Hearing that, Lillie raised her head and lowered her eyebrows a bit. “Is that what it means?” “What kind of reaction is that? You’re supposed to agree and laugh about it.” “I’m sorry. It didn’t sound like that kind of thing.” “Don’t worry about it. It’s the spirit that counts.” Jeanne raised her right hand to face height and pointed at Lillie. “I’ll tell everyone you left for the North Sea.” “Thanks.” “Don’t thank me. Protecting you has been my job since our school days. Well, that and to drag you out from behind your guardian Graham.” “And my job was to clean up after your almost daily battles over ‘honor’ and to smooth things over with the teachers.” “She still does that, by the way,” said the distant mechanical voice. “Eavesdropping is the mark of a cowardly man,” replied Jeanne with a smile. Then she looked to Lillie again. “Did you visit the Village of Pardons? Then why not pay it a visit soon? Your sister visited the village a lot with Borderson’s Melda. The place is beautiful this time of year thanks to all the wheat fields around.” “That might not last long. I hear the military is really cracking down on Heidengeists now. As an outlet for all the country’s anxieties,” said Lillie. “But maybe that’s a reason to go now. Before it’s lost.” Jeanne nodded and turned around. She took a few steps before looking back over her shoulder. Lillie was still standing there, so she spoke to her. “Are you sure you don’t want to meet the Messiah?” “I feel like I would say something nasty if I did.” “Hm? Why’s that?” The answer was so quiet it was nearly drowned out by the nearby river. Lillie wrapped her arm around her harp like she was embracing it. “If what we have now is the result of the Unreif Germane and the prophesies, then the ancient Messiah and the current one are two people I can never, ever-” “Don’t say it.” Cut off by Jeanne’s words, Lillie turned around. Jeanne said nothing to the woman’s back. She only nodded and faced the forest again. Jeanne kept a blank expression as she walked back into the bushes and the forest beyond. ### Part 3 Two old men walked through a forest. The one on the right, who was tall, skinny, and bald, spoke with his hands in his suit’s pockets. “This feels just like a real forest, Elrich.” The one on the left, Elrich, responded with his hands in his lab coat’s pockets. “And whose fault is that, Witzmann? As much as it looks like a forest, this is actually that secret passageway in the old HQ. That HQ was built on top of a castle and the ether conversion device built below that castle has gone berserk, recreating tactile History Tons to show them as fake dragons and even the scenes and situations from the historical records.” Elrich watched as Witzmann plucked a leaf from a nearby tree and held it up. It was a bright green broadleaf. He flicked it through the air with his long finger, where it hit Elrich in the nose and spiraled down to the ground. Witzmann wiped the sweat from his brow and touched a nearby tree. “So you’re saying this forest is a recreation of the History Tons known to the old HQ – or the castle below it? If an ether conversion device is remaking the castle’s Tons into this…then in a way, this forest is real.” “Correct. The castle used to extract Germany’s Tons from the ley lines and recreate dragons, but now it has gone berserk and is recreating everything related to the dragons in the Messiah’s time: the ridiculous monsters, the locations, and the time.” “You thoroughly researched how these spaces are made back when the Geheimnis Agency was started, didn’t you?” Elrich nodded and looked up into the sky while walking through the underbrush. He could see the blue sky past the forest’s leaves and branches. “That wasn’t easy. We started out on the beach back when we joined 23 years ago, didn’t we?” “How long did it take us again? Because we don’t have any spatial conversion techniques.” “Three weeks. We fought on the beach, in the dark, in the caves, and in the castle courtyard. …I heard it created a dark underground passageway for those Maldrick and Schweitzer kids when they joined four years ago.” “They set a new fastest time, didn’t they? The castle’s device can only show people images with ether, so it was fairly helpless against Der Held’s ether annihilation and Maldrick’s ether destruction.” “Now is not the time to be praising those kids. We don’t have any techniques like that, so escaping this space is going to take a lot of doing.” With that, Elrich walked out ahead and looked back at Witzmann who wasn’t following. “What now? If you aren’t coming, I’ll leave you behind.” “That isn’t south. Who was it that said we might find a road or homes if we head south?” “That was me.” Elrich clicked his tongue. “And you’re the one with the watch. Fine, which way is south?” Elrich stopped and turned around to see Witzmann checking his pocket watch. He compared the watch to the sun in the sky and then turned his narrowed eyes toward the forest trees to his left. “That way. Let’s hope this takes us out of the forest.” “This really is going to take a lot of doing. The most we can do is survive until the castle stops recreating its records.” “If only it wouldn’t recreate such a wide space for its limited records.” They started walking again. Their feet rustled the thick underbrush. “This is a dense forest. I can already tell it will be sweltering once the sun is higher in the sky.” “This is what the forests were like back when the Messiah was uniting Germany.” “True enough.” Elrich wiped away his sweat with his lab coat’s sleeve. “The beach we saw 23 years ago was a recreation of the records of the Messiah defeating a North Sea dragon. The dragons Maldrick and Schweitzer saw in the darkness 4 years ago were a recreation of when the Duke of Saxony challenged her to clear an underground labyrinth as a test. …All German Neue Kavaliers must go through something the Messiah experienced.” Elrich looked up as he walked. He could see bits and pieces of the sky through the branches and leaves. Witzmann brushed aside a branch in the way and Elrich ducked below it. They still couldn’t see anything but forest ahead of them. Only an ocean of green. “Hey, Elrich. Can I ask you something out of the blue?” “What is it?” “What do you think the ruin coming in August actually is? The war is going back and forth and everyone’s anxiety continues to grow, but what could cause ruin on a global scale?” “All I can think of is the Tristan going haywire. If all the boosted Vaterlands go nuts along with it, the effect will spread to the world’s ley lines and that would cause largescale destruction on the surface.” “But that would only destroy the surface of the earth. That’s trivial when you look at the world as a whole. The world is going to end in some way that doesn’t even leave History Tons behind. What could even do that?” He took a breath. “Our intelligence network has already learned that the Allies have created a ley line reversal Tune Emblem for use against Tristan. They based it on data received from the AIF’s destruction of a Vaterland back in ’39. They plan to occupy all of the Vaterlands around the world and use the Tons they’ve prepared to send the flow of ether back toward Tristan to destroy it.” “What Tons have they prepared?” Witzmann parted the underbrush before answering. “Anxiety.” He took a breath. “There’s plenty of that going around these days. …Oh, there’s a road.” Elrich was about to say something more, but he stopped when Witzmann mentioned a road. Instead, he only repeated the word “anxiety” under his breath and turned to see what Witzmann was looking at. The forest opened up. A road cut by from left to right, leading up a hill slope. The light of the sun managed to pass through the forest trees to reach them. “I would love to find a sign. Then I could estimate when this record takes place,” said Elrich before hearing a distant animal cry. It was an unfamiliar cry and very loud at that. No ordinary animal could make a sound so loud. Elrich sighed. “The old HQ’s recreations are always missing one element, aren’t they?” “They recreate the surrounding environment and the monsters. However…” “They do not recreate the Messiah or the Neue Kavaliers who fought them. Whoever is taken into the record has to play that role themselves.” “That must be a dragon over there. But more than that…” Witzmann trailed off as he crouched down. Elrich frowned and started to ask what that was about. But a sudden change came over his expression. “Sword fighting?” Witzmann nodded as several metallic crashes echoed in from the distance. The dragon roared again in response. “Someone is fighting the dragon.” “I thought that part wasn’t recreated!? This is only supposed to be the dragon, the time, and the place!” Witzmann held out a hand to silence Elrich before he slowly stood up and faced forward. He could see the road at the end of the forest and a grassy hill. Something climbed to the top of the hill from the other side. The giant green shape was a beast measuring at least 50 yards long. It spread its large wings, raised its tail, and ran atop its four legs. “A dragon.” But it wasn’t alone. Someone climbed the hill with the dragon. The woman had long blonde hair and wore a white cloak. She held a sword in one hand and ran alongside the dragon. A young man wearing a contrasting black cloak ran up from behind her with a sword in his hand as well. The young man had only one arm. The white and black people evaded the dragon’s fangs and kept running. Elrich blankly muttered something other than their names. “The Messiah and the one-armed young man!?” ### Part 4 A low-ceilinged room contained the murmurs of a hundred people. This was the mess hall at the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg Base. Most of the tables were full even though it was well into the afternoon. None of the people in black Geheimnis Agency uniforms were up and walking around. They all remained at the tables, whispering to each other. Empty plates sat in front of them all. They had finished their meals but not gotten up. The reason they hadn’t left could be found at the center of the mess hall. Everyone tried to feign indifference, but they were all stealing curious glances over their shoulders. The mess hall’s center table was rectangular and seated eight. Currently, just two people were seated across from each other there: Heiliger and Hazel. Heiliger wore a black uniform, had gray hair and a gray beard, and crossed his prosthetic arms atop the table. Hazel wore the kind of surgical gown found at hospitals with a black Geheimnis Agency coat draped over her shoulders. The Wheel of Destiny card in the breast pocket was her only personal possession. She had done nothing but talk without touching the meat pasta on her plate. She gesticulated and made sure to direct her entire face upwards so she wouldn’t have to direct her eyes up at the man who was looking down at her. She wiggled her right arm to indicate a flowing river and caught sight of something like a small brown stain on the inside of her elbow. That was a medical charm. She frowned when she saw it. “Does that bother you, Miss Mirildorf?” asked Heiliger. “The injection of German Tons, I mean.” Hazel quickly raised her head again. “No,” she said, but did hang her head a little, her eyes landing on his chest. “Well, it does a little.” “Have you been chattering away to distract yourself from that?” His tone made it clear his question was only rhetorical. She raised her head to find him looking back at her without any shift in posture. His expression remained calm too. … This man effectively commands the Geheimnis Agency right now. “General Karlsruhe?” “Yes? Shall I regale you with tales of your father as a change of pace? Just like you told me all about my daughter who happened to be a classmate of yours.” “No…I doubt my father would want me to intrude on his past.” “That sounds like him. Tell me, does he still raise his right hand like this when he has to think about something and finally gives an answer?” Hazel recognized the way Heiliger twisted and raised his prosthetic right hand. She even laughed a little and held a hand over the Wheel of Destiny card in her breast pocket. “Thank you for your concern. I feel a lot better now that I’ve laughed some.” She kept her smile. “But should the Agency’s second in command really be showing me around the base and sharing a meal with me? You’ve more or less told me where I need to go to escape.” “It’s perfectly fine. You are free to go wherever you like in the base and even send letters to your parents. The letters will be censored by the base’s post room I showed you earlier, of course.” “Why are-” Heiliger cut off her question. “You were injected with German Tons in this base’s medical room while you slept last night.” “So you think I can’t escape? What about the serum I brought with me?” “You expect me to believe you would save yourself with the serum you brought for someone else? And if you did try to share it with him, its effectiveness would drop and the German Tons would be back in just a few weeks. Then you would be forced to return.” “…” “We have already finished examining that serum and it will be transported to the bottom level of our Germania HQ for storage by the end of the day. You have nowhere to run, so we simply expect you to make the intelligent choice.” “And if I still try to run?” “We will do everything we can to stop you. You are our pet cat, not a stray.” When she grasped his meaning, Hazel’s shoulders drooped and some resignation entered her voice. “But I think it’s wrong to give your pet an injection while she’s asleep.” “After capturing you, we slipped a sedative into your food to help you relax. The doctor said you ate well and slept right through having your clothing changed and receiving your injection.” This was the first she had heard of that, so she cleared her throat and straightened the position of her butt on the chair. She wasn’t wearing anything other than her choker below the surgical gown she had worn for her examination that morning, so she felt vulnerable. She pulled the collar of the coat together. Heiliger sighed when he saw that. “After your examination tomorrow, you will be sent back to Germania and I can show you around Tristan. That enormous fortress will be your new home.” That turned Hazel’s focus toward the site of the injection on her right arm. She still felt a stiff pain when she bent the arm, proving that something critical had been done to her. … I didn’t even know it was happening. If she left Germany now, she would automatically Ash. She wasn’t sure what to think about that. … It still doesn’t seem real. But there was one thing she could believe in. … Berger. She couldn’t believe it took her this long to remember. She had gotten so worked up talking, but now her mind rapidly cooled. “Are you not feeling well?” asked Heiliger. “It’s not that. Um…do you know what happened to Berger after all that?” He froze in place for a moment. He clearly wasn’t sure why she would be asking. The Lives she saw coming from him were the yellow of confusion and had a quick staccato tempo. But he managed to respond after taking a breath. “You mean the one-armed young man who is always with you? The Wild Hund?” He had a troubled but somehow relieved look on his face. “What if…what if the Geheimnis Agency were to capture him? He too has been injected with German Tons, so he cannot leave the country. So our commander hopes to convince him to join us. Most likely, she will try that when he comes to rescue you.” “Because you think I’ll join you if Berger is with you?” “We must do whatever we can in the month until the ruin arrives in August.” She did not see the color of falsehood in his words. He was serious. … There is only one month until then. But on the other hand… “Do you really think you can capture him?” “Like I said while showing you around the base, the Allies will not help him. When he comes to rescue you, he will be on his own. But this base is defended by Neue Kaiser, Der Held, our commander’s Neue Erde, and the Fünf Leithammels leading the air force and army divisions. What can a single Wild Hund do?” “What if I work to help him?” “The Kaiser Schwert will try to kill you. He told me as much when he brought you in last night.” Her heart skipped a beat and she straightened her back while looking around. She saw no sign of the young man who had grabbed her arm in the library last night. Heiliger must have realized what her action meant. “He is in the sky right now. He said we need to be prepared to save the world on our own.” He took a breath. “He wouldn’t listen if I told him to stop, so I must ask that you do not try to escape. And…I also hope I can convince you to fight alongside us when destiny comes to rescue you.” “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.” She was surprised at how reflexively the answer came from her. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should say the rest. … But… “If I did that, he would call me spineless.” “This divinely-named man sounds like trouble.” “He is, but so am I. I mean, I can’t seem to figure out how to look at this from your point of view.” She took another look around. The men in black uniforms were all looking her way, but they would briefly look the other way when she turned toward them. She heard a wave of surprised gasps and groans as she cast her gaze around the mess hall. “Why am I the Messiah?” she asked. This was one thing she didn’t understand. The question was more directed at herself than at the others here. …. Are they saying I have the ability to lead all these people? She pulled on the coat and gripped the Wheel of Destiny card through it. “I can’t be your puppet ruler. I’m no more than a Tuner.” “Do you know what your Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen does?” His question kept her from saying more. She saw him resting his prosthetic arms on the table with the fingers intertwined. His eyes were closed and his expression blank. “You should still have a power you aren’t aware of. The power of your Ober Beweisen.” “And I can become the Messiah by using that power? Are you saying the Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen can save the world from the ruin the newspapers keep talking about?” “We trust in the prophecy saying as much.” Heiliger’s deep voice rang through the mess hall. At some point, all the other whispering had stopped. Amid that heavy silence, a single unified movement shook the air. Everyone in the mess hall nodded in response to Heiliger’s claim. Hazel almost failed to regulate her breathing. She held her right hand up to her right eye – the Messiah eye. “In that case, I will be faced with a choice when I learn what that power is. I will have to choose between being the Messiah or being a simple AIF soldier.” “The choice should be obvious. The Messiah will save the world, but what can a simple AIF soldier save?” asked Heiliger. “Will you choose the Allies or Germany? No, the real question is whether you will choose yourself or the world.” They were interrupted by a pair of hands clapping twice. That set the mess hall’s air in motion and led Hazel to turn toward it. A skinny person stood in the mess hall’s entrance behind her. Hazel recognized the woman in a Geheimnis Agency dress uniform. “The Geheimnis Agency Commander.” “Yes, the name is Lowenzahn Naylor. The prophet has come for you, Messiah Hazel Mirildorf.” Lowenzahn’s eyebrows were angled just a smidge in anger, but there was still a smile on her lips as she beckoned Hazel over. “Being here will only cause unnecessary anxiety. Come with me alone. I have something important to tell you. Then I will place my role on your shoulders. …So come.” She beckoned and continued without the smile. “Hurry.” ### Part 5 A battle was underway. Elrich muttered to himself while hearing clashing swords and a great beast’s roars. “Why was the Messiah recreated? Has the castle’s device gone even more haywire?” “That I can’t say. But if this was done intentionally, I can only imagine it was Bermark’s doing. Opening the underground passageway is always his job.” “Are you saying we weren’t closed in here just to lock us away? If this was on our commander’s orders, then could this be something she wanted us to see while also preventing us from digging into any further secrets?” “She may be testing us. If we want to learn the secrets related to the Messiah, we must first fight alongside the Messiah.” They heard more sword fighting and Elrich changed the subject. “Do you remember what the Unreif Germane says? When the Messiah descended to Alfheim along with the one-armed young man, she encountered a dragon and slayed it with the help of two Neue Kavaliers who came running to her aid.” “I get what you mean. And take a look at the Messiah’s sword.” Elrich did so. He recognized the sword the Messiah was wielding up on the hill. “Rein König!?” The Messiah gave a shout. The white sword she held amplified the note and converted it into an impact of pure white light. That was Busting. The destructive impact gave a roar as it crashed into the dragon’s right shoulder. The dragon roared as well. “But our Messiah is a Stimmer, isn’t she?” said Elrich. “The past records of the Messiah say she was a Buster. It’s a question of regeneration or destruction, I suppose. Which is a big difference.” Witzmann scratched his head. “I doubt I can slay a dragon with the Messiah at my age, but I might as well give it a try.” Witzmann kept his eyes on the hill where the Messiah and the dragon fought while he pulled a notepad and a fountain pen from his pocket. He suddenly walked forward as if drawn toward the battle. He kept walking while drawing a complex emblem in the notepad. He rapidly drew out several emblems, tearing out and throwing away the page each time he finished one. The discarded pages gathered in midair and linked together when they made contact. Around a dozen pages were attached by their top and bottom edges, creating something like a long, thin sash. But that sash was still as light as paper, so it flew through the forest air. A moment later, he reached his left hand behind him and grabbed the end of the paper strip. He pressed his thumb against the emblem at the very end of the strip and the entire thing stretched straight out into a solid sheet. “Hm. It might curl too much to the upper right.” When he swung the long sheet of paper, it easily sliced through the leaves and branches in its path. It was a sword. It had all happened in an instant. He spun the paper sword around and held it out in front of him. Then he used the pen in his right hand to add more writing to the surface of the paper sword. He had a smile on his lips. Elrich jogged to catch up with him. “I see you aren’t rusty at all. I’m less confident in your stamina, though.” “I’m two years younger than you.” “You should listen to any warnings your elders give you.” Elrich pulled a single earphone out of his lab coat’s inner pocket, inserted it in his ear, and stuck the cord inside his lab coat. After doing something with his hands inside his coat, music began playing from the earphone. “You got that working?” asked Witzmann, still drawing emblems on the paper sword. “Japan beat me to the punch. It’s a personal Erklärung weapon that uses a different process than the Eingeweide. The Japanese call it a Rhythm. It’s apparently an ancient technology over there, but I’ve never liked how it feels. I’ve remade this one a bit, but I’m still not a fan.” Elrich began to sing his Text. Righteousness is worthless / Wickedness is worthless Truth is worthless / Lies are worthless But if you enjoy them You can consume the world four times as quickly He rolled up his lab coat’s sleeves and emitted a vibration from the palms of his spread hands. A 2yd diameter area around his palms shook like shimmering heat, producing sounds like tearing flesh. “I have to admit it’s pretty nice for something thought up by Asians.” “It lacks originality,” said Witzmann, piercing his paper sword with the tip of his pen. Bluish-white flames erupted from the gaps between the pieces of paper forming the sword. The different flames linked together and burned the air without burning the paper. Swinging the sword drew out a scarlet afterimage and all the leafy branches touched by the fiery arc were reduced to ashes. “Pretty well-made, don’t you think?” “Pretty cliché, you mean. I think you’re the one that needs more originality.” Elrich smiled a little and Witzmann looked back to smile as well. The forest ended directly ahead of them and two people were fighting an intense battle against a dragon up on the hill. The one-armed young man used his sword to battle the dragon’s claws. The Messiah girl used her Rein König to battle its fangs. Metal clashed, dragon wings whipped up the wind, the great beast’s feet crashed against the ground, and its maw roared. Sounds and movements intersected while the two old men viewed the Messiah. “Her face.” She had a unique trait. One they recognized from someone else. They were focused on her eye color. “Her eyes are the same color as Hazel Mirildorf’s!” “Nothing can surprise me at this point!” shouted Elrich, running forward with his hands carrying a rhythm of crushing. The short old man in a lab coat burst from the forest with his white coat flapping behind him. Witzmann also raced forward with a fiery afterimage in his hands. He leaned forward and let the sword tip graze the ground as he ran. The sword tip’s radiant heat drew out a scorched trail along the hill’s green grass. He accelerated, whipping up the wind in his pursuit of the lab coat leading the way. They never slowed their pace. They ran toward the dragon they were both staring at. And toward the one-armed young man and the Messiah. The Messiah swung Rein König. She raised her voice and a white light shot out. She appeared oblivious to the old men’s presence as she fought. Elrich held his fists at the ready and Witzmann bent over to swing his sword up from below. That was when the Messiah held her sword aloft and called the name of a certain wind. At the same time, something appeared from beyond the hill and carried the wind into the sky above. It was blue and had a 30yd knife-like silhouette. Elrich and Witzmann noted that silhouette as they approached the dragon. “So everything is the same. Except that this Messiah is a Buster?” “The past Messiah had the power to destroy and the present Messiah has the power to regenerate.” Elrich smiled with just his lips when he said “destroy”. “Why did our commander give another country data on something as destructive as the Wort Bombe? Why doesn’t the current Messiah have the power to destroy? I feel like those two questions are connected.” They ran. They ran in from behind the Messiah, Elrich on the left and Witzmann on the right. “!?” Surprise and a hint of joy appeared on the Messiah’s face as they passed by her and made their first strikes against the dragon as it prepared to slash with its claws. Their heat and crushing were joined by a line of wind flying in from the sky. ### Part 6 The slowly setting sun’s light fell on the forest and painted a mottled pattern on the unpaved road below the trees. A single set of tire tracks had been dug into a mountain road barely big enough for a car. A wooden sign on the side of the road gave the name of this land: Borderson. Climbing the mountain road led to a wheat field on a hill and then back into the forest. The roar of a motorcycle shook the forest. Berger drove his BMW 750cc with the sidecar attached. He shifted gears with his new prosthetic left arm. The motorcycle remained below the branches for a while, but without warning, it emerged into the open. In that clearing, the mountain road vanished and was replaced by the entrance to a small village. He braked by letting the motorcycle slide to the side. The tires dug into the sand and slid until it stopped, pushing the sidecar out ahead of it. “Here I am. It’s been a full year now, hasn’t it?” He looked ahead to the gate into the village. The gate was formed from a wooden arch with a mossy stone wall on either side of it. The gate was closed. He saw two colors out in front of the gate. The gold and purple were from the same woman. The gold was her long hair rippling gently in the wind. The purple was the uniform of an AIF company officer. The eyes below her blonde hair were shut, but they were directed toward Berger through her tinted glasses. Her eyebrows were flat and her mouth showed no sign of a smile or protest. She stood in front of the old, discolored gate with her arms crossed. Her red lipsticked lips opened to speak. “You called me here from the village’s only telephone, but I don’t recall receiving any orders from the AIF.” “I’m not here for you as an AIF member,” said Berger atop the rumbling motorcycle. “I’m here for you as a Buster.” “And?” “Hazel was captured. I know she was taken to the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg Base. I’m about to go rescue her with Scwharz Löwe, but it’s too much for me to handle on my own. Help me, Lehrer.” Lehrer did not bat an eye in response. She only tilted her head a bit. “Is she really that important?” “Do I really need to answer that?” Their exchange of questions was followed by silence. The only sounds were the leaves rustling in the breeze and the rumbling of the motorcycle. A rooster crowed once from the direction of the village. Then a solid sound joined it. The sound of feet on dirt. Lehrer had pulled herself away from the gate and started walking. She uncrossed her arms and brushed her hair back. The solid soles of her boots stepped on the dirt, crushed the grass, and trod on pebbles for seven steps. At the center of the village square, she looked up into the sky with her eyes still closed. The blue afternoon sky was found there. It could be seen all around from between the forest and the gate. Quickly blowing clouds decorated the blue on their path from east to west. Lehrer viewed the sun setting in the west and spoke into the sky. “The color of the sky remains unchanged by all the wars we fight. Same for the color of the clouds and the wind.” She spread her arms. “Berger, why not live in this village with the rest of us? This village doesn’t change either. It doesn’t care what the people of this world do any more than the sky above does. If it is destroyed, it will be destroyed, but if it will live, it will remain as it is. Isn’t now the best time to cut your losses?” “No, thanks,” said Berger. “That wouldn’t be cutting my losses – it’d be dodging responsibility. And…if my gut instinct is right, you have to go save Hazel. It’s just who you are.” He pointed at her. “In fact, you already intend to. But…you just wanted to mess with me first.” “You sound awfully confident in your assessment. Did you think you had read my mind?” “I know all too well what it feels like to be toyed with by a mischievous cat. It only just happened to me half a day ago.” “I see. Then I have a question for you: what do you think you can say to get me to go with you?” “Well…” “I have just one hint, but it’s a big one: call my name.” Lehrer’s tone was light and Berger nearly responded on reflex. “…” But he crossed his arms instead. His expression had changed. The amusement was gone and his brow was wrinkled. “Yes, think about it,” she said. “That is the correct starting point. You know now isn’t the time to speak without thinking, don’t you?” “You’re right,” he said. “You’re exactly right. If my gut instinct is right, you couldn’t be more right. Doing this without thinking would be an insult to how long you’ve been waiting.” Lehrer smiled a little. “Yes, think about how I am here, how I can be here, and how that connects back to everything you have seen: the Berlin Conflict, the Sylphide Incident, and everything else.” Berger didn’t even nod this time. He leaned forward and rested his elbow on the motorcycle’s tank, as if to say he understood all that. He rested his cheek in his right hand, held his left hand to his head, and glanced over at Lehrer. She had lowered her gaze to view him through closed eyes. She kept her hands clasped in front of her hips. She stood there silently with the sunlight casting her shadow on the ground. She was waiting for him to speak. “…” He straightened up and his lips moved to say something, but he didn’t go through with it. He looked away from her. His lips again tried to speak, but no voice emerged. Those words weren’t what he needed to say. This was the hesitant silence of knowing the right answer but not knowing if he should actually say it out loud. Every time he silently said something, his options narrowed. Finally, his gaze met hers again. When he saw her closed eyes, a flicker of anger flashed across his face. A moment later, his lips began to speak a woman’s name. “Haz-” But he stopped partway through. He looked forward and saw her smiling. That smile got him to speak a certain Urban Name as his answer. “Lehrer.” He breathed a hesitant sigh toward the ground and finished his answer. “That’s your name now.” He stopped there and watched her with no excess intensity in his gaze. She opened her mouth a bit and deepened her smile when she heard that name. She showed off her white teeth and nodded. “Yes.” Her eyes bent in a smile. “That is correct.” She nodded again as something fell from her right eye and down her cheek. The sparkle that caught the sun and fell to the ground was a tear. But that was the only one. She did not bother wiping away the wet trail it left and walked forward. Her footsteps rang loud as she approached Berger. His gaze followed her as she made the dozen or so necessary steps without any hesitation. She stopped next to the motorcycle, removed her shaded glasses, and put them in her breast pocket. Then he saw her open her eyes. Her left eye was a brown feline one, but her right one was a blue human one. Both were bent in a smile. “I will summon the guardian dragon slumbering in the mountains. And in the meantime…” She smiled. “I have something important to tell you: Hazel is no longer qualified to be the Messiah.” “…What?” “Everything has fallen out of sync with the previous cycles. It all began when I chose to go to sleep within the Sylphide. And it truly changed last year when Hazel chose to return to America from Cologne and begin working as a Tuner. Just like I had hoped she would.” Tension filled Berger’s face. “What are you talking about? What does Cologne and being a Tuner have to do with being qualified to be the Messiah?” “I imagine the only people who know the truth are me, Pale and M. Schrier who I explained my predictions to last year, and the Geheimnis Agency’s commander. That commander is working very hard right now to not betray everyone, to not disappoint them, and to make sure the Panzerpolis Project can fulfill its true purpose. Because destiny has gone off the rails.” She took a breath. “All because Hazel chose the path of regeneration over the path of destruction back at Cologne.” ### 691. Chapter 3: The Ruin Runs 7/24/1943 15:42 – 17:18 The past was presented to me And I was told to obey it But I… No We… ### ACBS An automatic ramming weapon originally designed by the German military. The Germans called it an auto-ramming ship, but the Allies call it an automatic control bombing ship (ACBS). A few variations based on the MO were produced during World War Two, but there are no records of them ever being used. The Allies liked how the auto-ramming ship could automatically fly to its destination and eliminate any enemy crafts with its high speed and auto-interception system, but they decided to load wide-range bombs in their ACBS. That way they could efficiently destroy an entire city in a single attack instead of relying on a thousand bombers. By ’43, the Germans had developed their small V1 auto-ramming ship, but the Allies used the information on the V0 they received through Poland to complete development of their larger ACBS and MO at about the same time. After the war, ACBS development would shift to development of supersonic weapons such as an intercontinental ballistic variety, which changed how wars were fought. ### Part 1 Hamburg Base’s rooftop terrace was already dyed orange by the setting sun. The 15yd terrace was located 7 floors up. Other than the central stairway, it only featured railings on the four sides. Currently, two people stood in the sunlight there: Lowenzahn and Hazel. Lowenzahn was leaning against the eastern railing. But instead of taking in the breathtaking view outside, she was looking back toward Hazel who stood at the stairway entrance. The scarlet sunlight shined directly on Lowenzahn as she beckoned Hazel over. Hazel left the stairway and stepped out onto the terrace. It bothered her how a light westerly breeze caught the hem of her surgical gown. Then her slippers caught on a slight dip in the floor. “?” Her long blonde hair swished through the orange sunlight as she looked down at her feet. The small dip casting a short shadow there was not a brick or a stone. It was a pattern. “…?” Her gaze ran along the rest of the floor. … A yard-long relief? She stood on a scene of a woman battling a water dragon in a cave’s underground lake. Her slipper had caught on a dip in the curve of the dragon’s back. She shifted her gaze to the right. A one-armed young man, a girl, and several knights walked through a wheat field below the cloudy sky. She shifted her gaze up. The Messiah girl, the one-armed young man, and two knights fought a dragon atop an open field just outside of a forest. “The Unreif Germane.” “This isn’t easy to maintain. It was originally in the main entrance, but we had it moved here when the place was remodeled.” “I can imagine,” thought Hazel, approaching Lowenzahn. She watched her step this time and stopped about two yards from Lowenzahn. She could see all of Hamburg Base past the railing Lowenzahn leaned against. Around eight white buildings formed two rows. Running between those rows were a row of storehouses and a road large enough for transport vehicles to drive along side by side. She also saw the occasional entrance to an underground space. The most notable feature was the 20yd-wide waterway flowing through the center of the base. According to Heiliger, the base was primarily used by the development division and most of the buildings lined up on the east and west were research facilities, so all of the usual military facilities and hangars were located underground. The main gate and a small runway were located past the waterway. The runway bordered the forest, which was the one side of the base without a wall. The base opened up onto a dark green expanse instead. She also saw something familiar on the large road in front of the waterway. The two Grösse Panzers there were colored blue and red. They stood in front of something like a giant green mountain located next to a large storehouse and they each held a weapon. The blue one a rifle and the red one a shield. … Those are the ones I always see with the Kaiser. Lowenzahn followed Hazel’s gaze, turning toward them. The blue and red Grösse Panzers were sinking into the ground. An elevator was carrying them to the underground hangar. “Skilled Neue Kavaliers from all over Germany are gathering here,” said Lowenzahn without turning back around. “Those impatient knights want an audience with you even before you arrive in Germania a few days from now.” She finished speaking just as the elevator resurfaced empty. Then Hazel noticed sudden movement from the mountain-like thing located next to the elevator. The green mountain was nearly as tall as a four-story building, making it taller than the large storeroom next to it. “Is that a Grösse Panzer!?” She realized it was in fact a giant armored warrior carrying two towers. It stood more than 20 yards tall and Lowenzahn explained what it was. “That is Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. He lost his body during the previous world war and chose to permanently join with his Grösse Panzer as part of the Eisen Ritter Project.” The enormous Grösse Panzer sank belowground just like the previous two had. Lowenzahn stepped in front of Hazel as if to hide that from view. “Now, I know this is sudden, but where should I even begin with this?” She crossed her arms and peered at Hazel’s face from below. “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to force the job of Messiah onto you. You no longer have the right to refuse. You don’t have the right to choose whether you will save the world or let it be destroyed. Got that?” Hazel nearly nodded, but stopped herself. Something about Lowenzahn’s statement bothered her. … I don’t have the right? That meant she didn’t have the ability. She thought about what ability meant in this case. … When I said goodbye to the Sylphide, I hoped to decide how I would use this Messiah eye. “Um, wh-what do you mean?” Lowenzahn raised both hands and silenced Hazel with an exaggerated gesture. “I will explain that along with the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project. You see…” She took a breath. “You lost the ability to save the world last year – on that night at Cologne.” ### Part 2 Several large boxy blue shapes floated in the sky as the sun set. Several similar shapes rested on the field below. The shapes were all aerial ships measuring more than 100 yards long. A flagpole bearing the Union Jack was set up alongside the gray runway crossing the center of the field. The field was surrounded by forest. This was Bassingbourn’s secondary airfield located in southeast UK. The setting sun shined on the sky, the ships, the field, the runway, the flag, and the forest. All of the ships were on standby. The crews remained in their assigned barracks and the maintenance crews surrounded the ships performing inspections. But one ship in that vast field was very different from the rest. The small aerial aircraft carrier was located at one corner of the field. It only carried a large two-hull transport ship and six large spare fuel tanks. Between the tanks and the two-hull transport ship, a few dozen crewmembers sat in deep thought while directing their eyes straight head. Their eyes were all on a very large person on the west end of the deck. The gray-haired man with two prosthetic arms was Pale Horse. Corelle sat directly in front of him. “And?” she asked him. “What’s this about Hazel not having the power of the Messiah?” Pale nodded. His downturned face was unusually hard-set for him. He glanced over at the others before answering. “The Allies didn’t believe it, but it’s a major secret that could influence the survival of the world itself. I won’t say it again.” He took a breath. “To put it simply, a Live explosion at Germania on August 23, 1943 will turn back time by a thousand years.” No one knew how to respond to that. A few said “huh?” before falling silent. Pale ignored them all and continued. “Hazel, Berger, and the Sylphide will be closely involved in that explosion, so they alone will be carried back to that point a millennium ago as the keys to reconstructing the world.” Corelle held out a hand to stop Pale there. “W-wait just a second. Then this Lehrer who you went to see last year…?” “Like I said earlier, Lehrer is Hazel after using Sylphide to wake up in modern times again. She is a Buster and she used that power to save the world, but…” “Wait another second. What are you talking about? You’re skipping way too much here.” Pale clicked his tongue. “This is going to get long,” he prefaced. “You know Geheimnis Agency Commander Lowenzahn Naylor, right? The issue here is the Ober Beweisen for her Neue Erde heart and the same for Hazel’s Messiah.” Pale saw everyone frowning as he continued. “You see, Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen has nothing to do with prophecy.” “Huh? But she’s a Sofort Leser. How else does she prophesy?” “I can’t tell you that. I’m sure the Geheimnis Agency has some other method. Lehrer said as much. So forget that for now.” Pale raised one sharp-nailed finger. “Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen is a booster for a specific Live reactor. With a side effect, I might add. Connect Neue Erde to that Live reactor and Neue Erde’s owner’s lifeforce is borrowed to boost its output several times over.” “Which Live reactor are we talking about here?” “You’ve seen the aerial photos of that big-ass cross in Germania, haven’t you?” No one nodded, but no one shook their heads either. More tension filled their faces and they maintained their silence. Pale raised a second finger as if to take advantage of that silence. “Next. On August 23, 1943, the Allies will bomb Germania, but Germania is protected by the barrier created by Tristan. The Vaterlands around the world are a problem too, so the Allies have an idea.” Corelle continued for him. “Gather up all of the anxiety Lives in the world, send them back into Tristan, and have it destroy itself.” “Exactly, Corelle. Do that and Germany as well as most of the nearby Eastern Europe countries will be so ruled by anxiety they can never again recover.” “So Neue Erde’s owner will use its Ober Beweisen to fight back? To try and stop the world’s anxiety the Allies are forcing onto them?” Pale kept his right hand’s two fingers raised and scratched his head with his left hand. “Correct,” he said quietly. “The Geheimnis Agency Commander feels the need to sacrifice herself to the machine in order to save Germany from the anxiety.” “Continue.” “Sure,” said Pale. “But that heroic Ober Beweisen has a side effect.” He raised a third finger. “Neue Erde wasn’t actually made just to boost the reactor like that. That boosted power is in fact only the means necessary to extract certain Lives from the ley lines.” “What Lives are those?” “This world’s Spacetime Lives.” It took everyone a few seconds to grasp what he had said. He sighed after seeing them all nod. “I’m sure you’ve all heard of it as an Ober Geheimnis. The basic timeline of the world exists as Lives, forming one of the basic pillars supporting the entire world. It has only been contacted a few times before. We aren’t talking about anything as insignificant as the Lives behind a land, a country, or the planet. Everything in the world is carried by the Spacetime Lives and they can be extracted through the ley lines, since those are the greatest form of Lives we can control.” His shoulders drooped, but then he looked up to view them all and raised a fourth finger. “But the anxiety will be even more powerful. According to Lehrer, it happens late at night on August 23, 1943, in the middle of the bombing of Germania.” He took a breath. “Neue Erde attempts to fight back by extracting the Spacetime Lives with its Ober Beweisen, but it loses control and the Lives pressurized within Tristan grow too powerful and they explode. Both the anxiety Lives and the Spacetime Lives do.” “Wait.” Corelle held out a hand to stop Pale. “That makes no sense. If the Spacetime Lives explode too…” “Yes, the world’s timeline would be destroyed. The past and the future would both explode and disappear together. That would mean ruin. The world would be destroyed.” “But…but we’re still here. So the timeline couldn’t have been destroyed.” Pale raised a fifth finger in front of Corelle’s eyes with a hint of a smile on his lips. “That’s where the Messiah comes in. I said Lehrer ended up a thousand years in the past, didn’t I? That’s because she saved the world from ruin.” He looked up into the sky. Everyone else followed suit. The setting sun shined on a new giant aerial warship slowly traveling east. It produced a deep roar as it pushed the wind out of the way. Someone muttered “that’s the flagship” while viewing that 300yd ship. After waiting for the flagship to pass, they lowered their gazes. There was no longer any skepticism in their eyes. Pale had lowered his gaze along with theirs. He had also lowered his right hand with the five raised fingers. “Now, then,” he said. “I’ll tell you how Lehrer saved the world. And why Hazel can’t do the same.” He pointed at his right eye with his metal finger. “The Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen grant’s its owner the ability to fully perceive Lives of even the highest level. That includes the anxiety Lives and the Spacetime Lives.” And… “A Buster has the power to destroy Lives. Lehrer used her Ober Beweisen to perceive the anxiety and explosion Lives and destroyed them just before Tristan detonated, but she couldn’t do it quite so cleanly.” “So she was forced to destroy 1000 years’ worth of Spacetime Lives too?” “I think so, yes. She and the other people at the center of the spacetime explosion were sent to the past. The Panzerpolis Project isn’t actually meant to defend Berlin. It’s a project using the Geheimnis Agency Commander and the Messiah to protect history and the world by making sure that same loop plays out every single time.” Pale nodded, straightened his back, and put on a more carefree expression. “But unlike Lehrer, our Hazel is a Tuner. That means she can’t destroy the anxiety Lives. She can’t save the world by destroying it. That was decided that night back in Cologne.” He smiled bitterly and chuckled. “The Geheimnis Agency Commander intends to complete the loop and avoid ruin so the world can try again. M. Schrier and I intend to save the world without relying on the loop. There must be some way of doing it.” He looked to the others and said one last thing. “So what will the rest of you do?” ### Part 3 “And so you have strayed from the scenario that has been repeated time and again to preserve the world. You have left the looping scenario set up by the Panzerpolis Project.” Lowenzahn stepped away from the terrace railing and walked past Hazel to the west. Hazel was too preoccupied trying to make sense of what she had just been told. Her Ober Beweisen was not enough to save the world. She needed the power of a Buster as well. … So I chose the wrong kind of power? She had made that decision during the battle at Cologne. She had seen a school and decided she wanted to be a teacher after the war. But… “Unfortunately, you won’t have a chance to see the end of this war. In fact, the world itself won’t. Because…” “The millennium’s worth of damage to the Spacetime Tons sends the world back 1000 years from August 23, 1943 to begin another loop?” “Yes. If you do not wind up in the past, the last 1000 years of Germany’s history will be altered. The Messiah will not appear in the past. Do you get it now? You must return to the past to preserve the world. You cannot escape the Nibelung.” The word Nibelung reminded her of the card in her coat’s breast pocket and she heard a bitter laugh from behind her. “But maybe that’s for the best. If this war continues, Germany will lose. And the anxiety will cover the world. Doesn’t repeating the fun part time and again sound better than seeing the boring ending?” “But…” “There is no other way. My mother explained it all to me when I was little. Including what I must do! She told me I can preserve the world by becoming a part of an Eingeweide concept weapon! So…” Hazel looked back, but Lowenzahn’s face was obscured by the setting sun shining in from behind her. “So I will keep the wheel turning. For my own sake.” Her Lives were the orange of joy. “Messiah, let me help you with your dreams.” “Eh?” Hazel tilted her head. “My dreams?” “I mean this.” Lowenzahn kicked at the relief on the floor. “You have dreams about an ancient army on the move while you wander through a dark forest with him, don’t you? Maybe you think of them as nightmares, but you have dreams that feel like your own memories once you grow accustomed to them, don’t you?” “…!? How do you know about that?” “Those dreams really are your memories. In August of 1943, you destroy Tristan at Germania, making you, the one-armed young man, and Sylphide the keys to reconstructing the world.” Lowenzahn kicked at the relief again. “So when the world was reconstructed a thousand years ago, it included some Tons from you, him, and Sylphide. That is also why your Tons include some German Ton data even though you are Heidengeists and why your Tons include your own memories from the previous loops. You see those memories as dreams.” She took a breath. “So you have those dreams even though you have already given the wrong answer to be the Messiah.” “Th-then…!” “Then what?” Hazel frowned. “Why did you capture me!? I’m not a Buster! All the Geheimnis Agency people here think I’m going to save the world. But you just said I can’t do that!” Lowenzahn relaxed her shoulders and sighed. “Like I said in the beginning, I know full well that you lack the ability. What I need is your Messiah eye.” She smiled bitterly and shrugged. “Getting it all the pieces to fit wasn’t easy, let me tell you. I had to give the Allies information on our Wort Bombe in exchange for you. I leaked that destructive weapon’s data as a replacement for your Busting power. They intend to load it onto an auto-ramming ship to ensure they destroy Tristan in August.” Lowenzahn pointed toward the black cross visible in the eastern sky. “I will borrow your Messiah eye’s power then. Our Beweisens are the same, so I can forcibly activate your Ober Beweisen. Then I use your eye to view the Spacetime Lives and make sure they remain as undamaged as possible while letting the Wort Bombe go boom and trigger Ton collapse.” Lowenzahn stared straight into Hazel’s Messiah eye. “You don’t need to do a thing. I only need to borrow your eye for a bit.” ### Part 4 The sky was colored the purple of late evening. A small field in the mountains sat below the sky as night fell. A pile of wood sat on the field and a motorcycle with a sidecar was parked next to it. A young man in black stood on the pile, removing the wood and tossing it away. A woman in purple sat next to the sidecar. She had built a stove from the discarded wood and a fire was burning inside it. A pot of soup was simmering atop the stove. The fire crackled inside the stove, briefly illuminating their dark surroundings. She spoke quietly while viewing the light through her tinted glasses. “No one knows anymore how it got started. The Panzerpolis Project wouldn’t have existed originally. But as the loops continued, it was eventually created to keep the wheel turning.” “And your memories appear to you as dreams?” “Yes, but the memories from my thousands of past iterations only tell me how desperate they all were. The dreams are a result of their anxious desire to not fail, to not run away, to not be hurt.” She took a breath. “I intend to create something new. I won’t give up just because I created another loop. None of my past selves could do anything about it, but destiny can be changed.” “So unlike your past selves, you chose to sleep for a thousand years inside the Sylphide?” “Yes.” She pulled a card from her pocket – the Hermit. “Back in my world, this was the Wheel of Destiny.” She heard his bitter laugh from atop the pile of wood. “Sounds like you’ve changed destiny after all,” he said. “If you failed to fix destiny in your time, what can you teach Hazel now that she’s a Tuner?” “There is one way to do this and I have already informed M. Schrier via letter. You must stop Tristan before the bombing of Berlin. Not destroy it – stop it.” “That’s a lot easier said than done.” “It is what it is. And Hazel’s Beweisen can stop Neue Erde.” “So you want her to stop the Geheimnis Agency Commander’s heart, killing her? And if the anxiety Lives are building up inside Tristan like you claim, then Germany will end up with some bad Live pollution.” “But it’s better than another loop.” He threw down another piece of wood. He threw down a disgusted comment along with it. “Which is why you slept your way to the modern age, huh? You really want to get history moving again, don’t you? But you know what happens if we don’t start another loop and you get what you want, don’t you?” “If the loops stop and Hazel does not end up in the past, the last millennium of Germany’s history will collapse from the very foundation. Because it will create a history where the Messiah does not save Germany a thousand years ago.” “And the world will correct itself to match. Most likely, we’ll all disappear and become someone else. That’s another kind of ruin for the people in the world now.” He threw another piece of wood. “Are you okay with that?” “That is how the world is meant to be.” Lehrer held her knees. “The chaos in Germany a thousand years ago was due to the anxiety that we failed to fully destroy back in ’43. I hated how everyone thanked me for eliminating that chaos a thousand years ago. Because I was only hunting down the trouble we had sown through time.” Lehrer squeezed her arms tight around her knees. “And you know what? I am destined to disappear no matter what happens.” “…?” “Without another loop, I will disappear along with this world. And if there is another loop…well, there is only one timeline. If everything is redone, I will be overwritten.” “You mean Hazel will erase you by following in your footsteps?” “Yes. In this world’s Lives, the old me will be rewritten with the new me. If Hazel creates another loop, she will overwrite and erase me. So…” So… “I can only exist this one time. As irresponsible as that might be.” She lowered her head and stirred the soup with the large spoon leaning against the edge of the pot. The somewhat brown potato soup swirled inside the pot. “What was I like last time? Let me guess: I was the second most wonderful guy in the world.” “Why would I tell you that?” She gave a snort of laughter. “Telling you wouldn’t accomplish anything.” “Fair enough. Oh, I finally found the secondary cockpit. Don’t move from there while I stand Schwarz Löwe up. How about you prepare your weapon and summon Sylphide? You can control that thing, right?” “I acquired a weapon earlier and Sylphide is already flying overhead. I have it soaring autonomously outside of detection range while its self-repair function heals a thousand years’ worth of decay. But more importantly…” Lehrer stood up. She looked up to see Berger atop the 3yd pile of wood. She looked between him and the pot at her feet. “You can make it quick, but you should really eat something.” “I’m too busy. I’m putting together a connector staff so Schwarz Löwe can wield Gelegenheit, so you just eat your portion.” “Oh? But the old you always loved my cooking.” “H-hold on there.” He hopped down, landed, and brushed off his black coat. “You just said you wouldn’t tell me about him, so how is this fair?” “Women can be selfish when it suits us,” she said bluntly. “But if you insist, I can tell you more. For example, whenever the old you would kiss me, you would reach your arms around to my butt and-” “Okay, okay! I’ll eat it! I’ll eat, so that’s enough!” He looked upset, clicked his tongue as he approached the fire, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Hazel’s a little more modest and has a bigger chest.” “Then you had better take better care of her than me.” Berger silently sat down and Lehrer sat to his left and looked to the fire. “I am Lehrer, but she can stay Hazel Mirildorf.” She picked up the plate sitting next to the stove and reached for the spoon in the pot. “You don’t like carrots, right?” She spooned some soup onto the plate and passed it to Berger. She expressionlessly accepted the steaming plate, checked his pocket watch with his other hand, and started eating. He ate quickly. “Hey, Lehrer,” he said. “Is there no way to keep you from disappearing?” “Feeling sorry for me? I appreciate it, Berger. There is one way, but it is something I couldn’t bring myself to do. Besides…” “Besides what?” “You have no intention of telling Hazel about this. This is something she needs to realize on her own. If she reaches that realization, I am sure she will save me and all the previous versions of me too. After all, all of the previous ones were overwritten by the next one…which is why they can only appear in our dreams.” “C’mon, you can tell me. If only you were still Hazel. Then I could just bully it out of you.” “I have questions of my own. Like how you realized who I really am.” “That was easy. I’d been curious about it since last year. After all, your kiss felt and smelled just like hers. You drink milk with every meal, don’t you?” Lehrer’s face grew a red different from the tint of the firelight. “Berger?” She spooned soup onto her own plate with a displeased look on her face. “I have another question too.” “Yeah?” “Now, I’ve heard some rumors going around the AIF saying you forced yourself on that girl when she was only 15. Is that true? …What is that disgusted look supposed to mean? “Don’t ask. That rumor has done some severe damage to my reputation.” “I see.” Lehrer nodded and blew on her soup before taking a bite. She sighed, satisfied with the flavor. “Can I ask one more thing, Berger?” “?” “It doesn’t happen to me much anymore now that I’m in my mid-20s, but she’s still young.” “What doesn’t happen?” “When Werecat girls are teenagers, they have a mating season from spring to summer.” “They…what?” “But girls have their pride, you see. We’re not animals, so we would only let it show in front of someone we have feelings for. And when we do…well, we’re cats, so we only try to tempt them. Do you get what I mean?” Berger ate his soup without answering. “If that girl hasn’t done anything, it’s because she’s been working very hard to resist the urge. She has no idea what she should do and doesn’t have anyone she can confide in. Do you get it now? So…” She took a breath. “So if something like that does happen, try to be gentle with her.” Berger set his plate down, paused for a few seconds, and then collapsed backwards like his strings had been cut. He twisted onto his side, turning his back to Lehrer, and flopped a few times on the summer grass. “Maybe I shouldn’t go rescue that idiot after all,” he groaned lethargically. Lehrer poured the rest of her soup into his ear. ### 692. Chapter 4: The Ruin Accelerates 7/24/1943 18:03 – 18:57 Oh, god. I’m just so flustered! But, but Um I have to do something! ### Vaterland Top label: Connection between the Vaterlands (including Tristan) and the Ley Lines Left label: Ley Lines Middle label: Vaterlands Right label: Tristan Black arrow from Vaterlands to Ley Lines: Activates the Land / Adds German Lives / Provides Aerial Words Ability White arrow from Ley Lines to Vaterlands: Phlogiston Extraction Black arrow from Tristan to Vaterlands: Boosts Output / Pressurization Assistance The Vaterlands are ley line acceleration reactors developed by the Geheimnis Agency. They activate the land around them by extracting and activating the ley lines which act as arteries for Lives. The pure ether extracted from the ley lines is also converted into Phlogiston fuel. They were originally designed to draw out the possibilities of a land and guide the people carrying that land’s Lives, but these nationalistic ones were further designed to activate the land, provide good fortune, and extract Phlogiston. The Vaterlands that Germany constructed in its allied countries and occupied territories during the war initially only provided their standard benefits, but they were later combined into a massive network using the ley lines and that was used to release German Lives from Berlin into the ley lines across the world. That made it possible for the German military to use Aerial Words on any battlefield controlled by a Vaterland. In ’43, that structure was discovered by the Allies and around a dozen Vaterlands fell into Allied hands when German occupied territories were retaken. ### Part 1 The concrete hangar was tall, wide, and windowless. It was located below Hamburg Base. The enclosed space echoed with the rumble of transport vehicles, the sparks of welding, and the scraping of automatic files. The underground Grösse Panzer hangar had columns connecting floor to ceiling and a lot of equipment lifts on the walls. One of the suspended platforms on the north wall was very noisy. Hanging from that raised platform was a white Grösse Panzer – the Neue Kaiser – and ten or so maintenance soldiers were working on it. The wings had been removed from its back for maintenance. The maintenance soldiers were in constant motion around Neue Kaiser, but someone else stood motionless nearby. That person was Alfred. He wore a blue jumpsuit and stood next to the Grösse Panzer Werkzeug hanging from a hanger next to the suspended platform. He viewed the white sword with a blade nearly 4 yards long. “Good,” he muttered before viewing his surroundings. A polisher the size of a thick dictionary was attached to the bottom of the hanger. He picked up the stone and metal device in one hand and pressed the curved polishing surface against the blade. He walked and pushed on the device to polish the blade. Sparks flew. “It was more damaged than I thought.” Then he walked backwards and pulled on the device to continue polishing. Suddenly, he looked to the platform where the workers were holding a meeting on Neue Kaiser’s back. They were discussing how to adjust for a part of the plans they didn’t understand. Alfred did not interrupt and continued polishing the sword. Neue Kaiser’s secondary cockpit was still open. Viewed from below, he could see a white line in the secondary cockpit’s ceiling. That was Rein König. He looked back to the larger sword he was polishing and raised the scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords. “That Rein König is the same one the one-armed young man took from the Messiah and lent to the emperor. And then the emperor gave it to my ancestor…in response to a selfish request.” He looked to the sword he was polishing. “But you are only designed to look like that one.” Sparks flew from the polisher. “But that does not make you second best. Because I reforged you with my Busting four years ago after you were sliced through.” He continued polishing through the sparks. The polisher caught a few times, but he pushed and pulled it through every time. Hearing a voice calling him from the suspended platform, he looked up to see a soldier trying to work inside the secondary cockpit was pointing at Rein König. “Lieutenant! I’m sorry, but could you please remove this? I am trying to work on the ceiling portion.” “Remove it yourself and bring it to me.” “B-but I can’t do that!” “What, you aren’t interested in making light of a millennium of history? Just toss it my way if you want.” Alfred set down the polisher and walked over. He grabbed the thruster sticking out from Neue Kaiser’s leg armor and made a light leap that carried him all the way up to the secondary cockpit entrance. Once inside, he reached over the flustered soldier’s head and removed Rein König. He answered the soldier’s thanks with a nod and then hopped down. After landing, he raised Rein König toward the soldier looking down from the bottom of the secondary cockpit. “Take good care of it.” With that, he walked back toward the larger sword. But he was interrupted by a voice from a speaker. “Is Neue Kaiser doing well, Lieutenant Maldrick?” The voice shook the underground space as a large form approached. The giant green Grösse Panzer was in fact Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. He kept his knee joints bent and used the plastic continuous tracks on his legs to slowly turn and walk. Even ducking down, his head nearly hit the ceiling, so he felt like an entire building moving around. The green giant stopped in front of Alfred. “On your way up top, Chief?” asked Alfred. “An entire underground hangar was cleared out for my personal use, so I am moving there. Where is your partner?” “Our commander showed up earlier and took him away. She wants to set up an audience with the Messiah tonight and said she has a lot to tell her now.” “The audience, huh? It’s at midnight like usual, isn’t it?” “Is the Deputy Chief working on that too?” “Yes, she said she was getting dressed up in preparation for the audience. What about you?” Alfred shook his head. “I’m sitting this one out.” “Because Sir Heiliger is there? I hear you protested after capturing the Messiah last night.” Karl paused for a sigh that his machine body could not perform. “Try not to be so stubborn. We have more personnel and more problems than when Sir Graham was in charge, but most everyone has a high opinion of Sir Heiliger’s work here.” “Only cause he’s kind to his men and has kept mission losses down to record lows.” “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” Alfred took a look around. None of the workers paid him any heed. The hangar was full of motion. He hung his head a little but raised it almost immediately afterwards. “He sees us like a family. I bet we’re filling the hole left by the wife and child he threw out. But we’re soldiers.” Before continuing, Alfred held Rein König aloft. “We still haven’t answered the questions Sir Graham left us with. We don’t need some great Messiah and we don’t need kindness or record low losses.” He lowered his voice. “And we don’t need to do harm while trying to protect something either. We need something else.” He lowered Rein König and let it hang at his side. Instead, he clenched his left hand. The hand with a red ring on the middle finger. “At this rate, we’re just going to see a second Cologne.” “We do have intel of another major bombing in the works. Bombers are gathering at an airfield on the UK’s eastern coast. Their rumored target is either Hamburg or Berlin.” Alfred looked up when he heard that. The green Grösse Panzer was looking down at him. “It is possible you will end up proving the thing you can’t bring yourself to put to words here,” said its vocal device. “Proving it to us, I mean.” ### Part 2 All the lights were out in a small room and the chill of the night was seeping inside. Two people stood near the window. The enormous one turned aside from the window was Schweitzer with Der Held removed. The one standing next to him was Lowenzahn. They both wore their uniforms and faced each other in the light of the cross far to the east. Lowenzahn’s head was lowered with her forehead against Schweitzer’s chest. She was crying. Her shoulders shook just once and she cleared her throat quietly. “S-sorry for paying you a surprise visit and then crying.” “You let your guard down after capturing the Messiah, didn’t you?” She nodded. “But I said something awful to the Messiah today.” “Hm? Didn’t you leave most of your responsibility as commander with her? You have no more duty or obligation to lead us. Isn’t that what you told her, as our new master?” “You could describe it like that…but it isn’t quite accurate. I said a lot I didn’t need to.” She grabbed his left sleeve with both hands. “I get so sharp-tongued when I say things I don’t really believe.” “You’re also quick to kick people.” That made her laugh. “Ha ha.” Her laughter continued intermittently before transforming into coughing. “Don’t push yourself too hard,” he said. She could only answer with a weak nod. Tears dripped down her lowered cheeks. They caught the faint glow entering through the window and fell to the floor. The frequency of the falling tears was dictated by the trembling of her shoulders and her sobbing breaths, so they were intermittent but never ending. She cried while trying but failing to swallow her voice. “I’m…a terrible person.” She inhaled, pressed her face against his shoulder, and stopped talking. Her shoulders shook and she took a few rough breaths before getting out a trembling voice. “But…” “Lowenzahn.” Schweitzer’s voice was enough to stop her shaking. Her breathing remained heavy and she left her face against his shoulder. “…What?” “I’m sorry, but could you let go of my arm? Without Der Held…I can’t do anything for you while you cry.” She slowly lowered her head and hesitantly let go of his arm. Then she brushed back her disheveled hair and looked at his shoulder. His prosthetic right arm was currently detached. “So you keep it off in your room? Do you consider it separate from yourself, even though you used a part of your body to make it?” He shook his head. “I choose whichever answer to that question I like at the moment.” “Then how do you think of me at the moment?” Her Eingeweide device was an artificial heart. It could not be removed like his arm. He saw her arms held lightly against her chest. “What do you think while reciting your Ober Beweisen?” “Eh?” “An Ober Beweisen is your own Text. Since you use your Ober Beweisen to prophesy, you should already know that an Eingeweide device is a means to draw out your own strength.” “My Ober Beweisen, huh?” She suddenly reached behind her head. She undid her hair. The long braid spun apart, starting from the bottom. The wave of separation stopped once all of her hair was loose. There were tears in her closed eyes. “I rely on you for so much. I say to you what I want to say to others. Even though that only leads to regret. And I cry without telling you why.” “Don’t worry about it. I promised I would trust you without asking for an explanation, no matter what happened.” She looked up at him with damp eyes and a genuine smile. “In that case…it’s about time I stopped lying.” She pulled a small object from her coat’s breast pocket. The faintly reflected light revealed the shape of a key. The decorative gold key was about as long as her pointer finger. “If you ever find you must know the answer, take this key to the old HQ. There you will find the truth about my prophecies, my parents, and so much more.” “I will keep it with me.” “Take good care of it. I don’t need it anymore, so it wouldn’t accomplish anything for me to have it.” He nodded and held out his hand. She placed the key in it. He held the key up to look at it. He nodded again when he noted the dragon emblem decorating the back end of the key. Then he placed it in his shirt’s breast pocket. “Lowen-” He stopped before saying “zahn”. She had removed her scarf and started unbuttoning her coat. She tilted her head when she noticed him staring. “What, you don’t like where this is headed?” She sounded more troubled by the possibility than just teasing him, so he smiled bitterly. She initially responded to that with an angry look, but then laughed quietly. “You can make up your mind after seeing this. I’m feeling blue today, so I’m short on confidence.” She finished unbuttoning her coat. She also walked past him to a bed that looked entirely unused. She sat on the bed and removed her coat. When she placed the black garment on the side table, some solid objects clanked against the wood. “Medals and sidearms are so heavy, aren’t they?” She held her arms around herself as if to hide her chest. She turned to face Schweitzer who sat on the windowsill, but then she looked away and began unbuttoning her shirt with her arms pressed against her sides. Her fingers slipped twice and her expression changed ever so slightly. Her cheeks grew a shade redder each time. But that was all. Once her hands were down at her navel, she pulled the rest of the shirt out from her pants. Its hem spread out around her hips and she finished unbuttoning it. Nothing remained to cover the skin showing through the slight gap between the two sides of the shirt. “I never wear a bra. None of them fit me and I’m always wearing a vest or something,” she explained with the tone and expression of someone making an excuse. She looked him in the eye just once there. After saying something more with the ends of her eyebrows lowered, she grabbed her shirt’s left collar with her left hand. She hesitated for a moment, blushed around the eyes, and nodded a few times as if to convince herself. She removed just the left side. The rustling of cloth filled the room. She slid the collar down from her left shoulder and around to her back. With her shoulder bared, her skin shined palely in the dim light. Her chest was exposed to the air. The right breast was made of human skin. It drew a curve in the pale light. But the left breast was a different story. It had been replaced with a machine. From the top to the center of her left chest, black artificial muscles took the place of her pectoral muscles and white support muscles, metal tubes, and a metal valve were contained within. She looked up at Schweitzer. “Does it look cheap?” He said nothing but got down from the windowsill. He moved around to crouch in front of her. With her seated on the bed and him crouching on the floor, their eyes were at the same level. “Is your pulse elevated?” “Yes.” “Then…I will trust in that.” She looked up when she heard that. She used her right hand to wipe tears from her eyes. Then she reached out and took his left hand. His flesh and blood hand. “I see. If possible,” she said quietly. “I hope you can trust in me forever.” ### Part 3 Hazel was in the base’s document/post room. The 10yd room was crammed full of bookcases. The large door to the hallway sat open and stretchers full of small packages were being transferred between the delivery room and the hallway. The room had four tables and Hazel was using the one directly in front of the counter to write a letter. She only wore a surgical gown, a coat, and slippers, so she stood out like a sore thumb among all the uniformed soldiers. She had walked here after her chat with Lowenzahn on the roof and she had been sitting here ever since. She had a stack of books on either side of her letter to help hide herself. They were all research books concerning the Messiah. … What did the Messiah do after ending up in the past? She had been so curious she had continued researching that without bothering to get any dinner. She had noticed one thing about the contemporary paintings and reliefs depicting the Messiah and the one-armed young man. … That really is me, Berger, and the Sylphide. “But almost all of the books say the Messiah was a Buster.” She stopped writing when she heard an intermittent low noise from the hallway. Those were wheels carrying something heavy. She had been hunched over her letter, but now she straightened up. She looked back to see several people in white coats pushing in a stretcher loaded with a waterproof wooden box. They saluted when they noticed her. She quickly nodded back. Joy filled their faces and Lives and they saluted again before leaving. She blushed a bit and sighed. … They’re so happy just having me here. She looked down and picked up the pen to continue writing. “Umm.” But she stopped. She was suddenly curious about something. … How is the Messiah described in ordinary stories, not just these academic books? “What was her relationship with the Neue Kavaliers and the other people?” … Was it like me and those soldiers just now? She put down the pen and grabbed the thinnest picture book in the pile of books to her right. It told the story of the Unreif Germaine. She opened it to find the six most common sections of the story illustrated in an old-fashioned style. She took a breath and read the opening line. “This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.” She flipped through the few pages and read about the Messiah. “The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.” She gathered and fought alongside the Neue Kavaliers to suppress the rebellions and monsters cropping up all over the land. Hazel stopped reading there for the time being. … This must be what the Geheimnis Agency’s people expect from me. With that in mind, she silently looked down at the picture book she held. The illustration showed the Messiah battling several black dragons. … They expect me to do this kind of thing, so their commander can’t tell them the truth about me. She can’t tell them I can’t save the world. Lowenzahn knew what would happen in August and what ruin awaited them. But only she and I know about that, thought Hazel. … It’s the Geheimnis Agency and the Messiah who actually bring ruin to the world. “And that’s what let the world survive this long.” Hazel had taken a different path this time, but Lowenzahn was trying to correct for that. Why was she trying to fulfill the prophecy herself instead of telling everyone the truth? “No one on this base doubts or suspects me.” … This is why Jeanne Schmitt kneeled before me back in ’39. “I probably should pretend to be what I’m not since they have such faith in me.” Her words fell to the floor and she eventually tilted her head. “But is that really what I should do?” She flipped through the picture book again. A two-page illustration showed a party held below the starry night sky. The people surrounded a bonfire while they sang, dance, and ate. At the top of the page, above the fictional night sky, the title “6th Section of the Ending God” was written large in old-fashioned language children would have a hard time understanding. After unifying Germany, the Messiah and the knights had fulfilled their roles and returned to their homes. But, thought Hazel, turning the page. A dark illustration was drawn on the left page. It depicted a path leading from the party to the forest. The path vanished into the darkness and a one-armed man was walking down it with the Messiah’s sword in hand. “The one-armed young man left a letter telling her to fight no longer and departed.” The opposite page depicted the Messiah looking up into the blue sky and weeping. Large tears drawn in blue crayon fell from her. “The Messiah wept. “She was inconsolable despite the knights’ and the king’s best efforts.” She turned another page and saw the Messiah stand before the gathered people in a wheat field that spread out around them like the ocean. “But one morning, the Messiah stopped weeping and gathered everyone.” The next page showed the Messiah removing a red gem pendant from her neck and placing it around the neck of the youngest Heidengeist girl among the gathered people. She said something to the girl. “Do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.” Hazel turned another page. She was already at the final two-page illustration. The Messiah slept in the darkness with a blue dragon curled around her. And outside that darkness, the one-armed young man sat with his back to her and her sword in his arms. Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new All hesitation will come to an end up ahead Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new Throw out all hesitation and look back The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new All hesitation exists to tear through that wall “The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed young man returned. He spent the rest of his days guarding the shrine…until one evening he breathed his final breath.” After reading the final line, Hazel remembered something. … The Alfheim Meteorite Pit in ’39! Her heart skipped a beat as it came back to her. Corelle had said the AIF had stolen something excavated at Alfheim. The illustration before her showed the Messiah surrounded in darkness and protected by the blue dragon while she slept. And she had said she would awaken again in a thousand years. “What if the darkness here is actually the ground below Alfheim?” … Why did she think she could wake back up in modern times? She thought about it some but shook her head. It was too soon to reach any conclusions. It’s just a picture book, she told herself. “Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new / All hesitation will come to an end up ahead.” She repeated those words and closed the book. Then she hunched over, faced her letter, and picked up the pen. She wrote out the rest of her letter so intensely you would think she was trying to tear a hole in the table. The tapping and scraping of pen on paper surrounded her as her hand moved rapidly left to right across the paper. Finally, she signed her name. Just as she finished, some ink flew out and formed a splotch on the letter. She reflexively wiped it up with her left thumb, staining the finger black. “Oops,” she said and looked around, wondering what to do. She finally gave up and wiped it off with the sleeve of her surgical gown. Then she sighed and folded the letter. She made sure it was folded straight and then grabbed the envelope she had placed nearby. After some hesitation, she wrote the recipient’s name on the envelope. “Dog Berger.” She stood up, slipped the letter in the envelope, and placed it on the table. She had to put away her stacks of books before handing the envelope over at the counter. She had a total of 27, so she got to work putting them back where they belonged on the shelves. The hem of her gown and coat fluttered around her legs as she moved quickly enough to have all but one of the books returned in only 7 minutes and 32 seconds. Moving her body helped clear her mind. There was only one thing on her mind. … I want out of this place. She had a single reason for that. “There must be a way to avoid needing to tell those kind lies!” She held the last, and biggest, book in her hands and let out a determined snort when another stretcher arrived. It carried a large waterproof box and a large plastic wrapper. The writing scrawled on the side of the box said “to Germania”. The men in lab coats placed it on the counter and asked the receptionist behind the counter to seal it and prepare it for shipment before they pushed the stretcher back out. They said they had another box to bring by soon. The elderly receptionist gave the box an annoyed look. He pulled a packing slip and pen from his vest and began writing out the necessary information. Hazel watched it all. … Geheimnis Agency bases are always so busy. The AIF HQ was a lot more relaxed, she thought before turning toward the items on the counter. She recognized the thing wrapped in clear plastic next to the wooden box. “–––––!?” It was her own bag. She gasped. The bag stolen from the train station locker at Potsdam had been brought here and now it was right in front of her. Since men in white coats had brought it here… “They must have removed the serum and examined its contents.” In that case… … Is the serum in that box? The box hadn’t been sealed yet and the top was sitting somewhat open. She clutched the book tight and held the top edge against her forehead so it covered her face. “Um.” … This is a gamble. She nodded. … But if the serum is in that box… “I need to get out of here.” … It’s my duty to deliver that to Berger. She nodded again, deeper this time, which filled her body with strength. She faced forward. She walked over to the elderly receptionist holding some cloth tape behind the counter so he could seal and waterproof the box. She interrupted just as he stretched the tape out and reached his arms around the box. “Excuse me.” Her voice cracked a little and he turned his gaunt face toward her in surprise. “Do you need something?” “Um, well, could you send this letter for me?” She held out the unsealed envelope and he quickly rolled up the tape. He set the tape down, brushed off his vest, and politely accepted the envelope. “To Germania? That will require domestic censorship. Is that acceptable?” “Yes,” she confirmed, slowly reaching out her empty left hand to the lid of the wooden box. He turned his back to place the letter in a stack indicating it needed to be inspected and censored. Her fingers hesitated on the box in that moment. … Should I really look inside? Something made up her mind for her. An alarm rang throughout the base and a voice came over the speakers. “Alert! Night Security Team to active interception posts! An unidentified Grösse Panzer is approaching from the south!” The phrase “unidentified Grösse Panzer” sent a tremor through her body. The alarm continued to sound, seeming to soak into her trembling body. She heard hurried footsteps and shouting voices from the hallway. “Could it be?” She reflexively lifted the lid in front of her. She gasped when the wood creaked far louder than she had expected. But she was through hesitating and continued lifting it. She checked inside. Her hand was already reaching inside and pulling out what lay inside. And… “That’s not it.” The box held four bottles of some kind of chemical. Even an amateur could tell this had nothing to do with her ampule. She sighed, her shoulders drooping while the alarm drowned out all other noises. … I was too optimistic. She tried to force a smile, but then the wind blew in from the hallway. “Eh?” She looked back to see a new stretcher entering the room. This one carried a different 2ft box. That would be the other box the men in white coats had said they would bring by. “Could it be?” she repeated, running over on reflex and yanking open the box in front of everyone. A plastic case wrapped in a plastic bag was packed in with sawdust. She smiled. She reached out with her eyes on the men in white coats, the receptionist, and everyone else in the room. “U-um, please wait for me! I swear to you I will someday – but probably soon! – come back for you as a Messiah no one can twist to their own purposes and then I will fix everything. I swear I won’t run away.” She took a breath. “So tell everyone to please wait for me!” She grabbed the plastic bag, pulled out the case, and opened it with one hand. It contained an ampule with only a small amount of its contents missing. After confirming that, she shut the case. She turned toward the group that was frozen in shock and she bowed. “I’m sorry, but can you please put this back for me?” She tossed one of them the book she held in her left hand. The man in a white coat caught the heavy book and staggered back a few steps, at which point she was already running out into the hallway. She stuck the ampule case in her coat pocket and lightly held the card in the breast pocket. She ran down the hall, slipping past people who turned to see what was happening. She was now convinced that destiny could be changed. ### Part 4 At half past 7PM, a bombing group centered on the US Air Force’s 8th Air Force began flying east from an airbase on the UK’s east coast. A thousand bombers were set to spend approximately a week obliterating their target with the assistance of the newly developed radar-disruption tactic known as chaff. Operation Gomorrah had been planned using the data collected from the bombing of Cologne. The flagship waited until the very end to take off last. The AIF aircraft carrier was one of the flagship’s supply ships, so it too was one of the last to take off. The carrier remained on the ground while Corelle and Pale looked up at the flagship and its escort fleet hovering in the sky overhead. “That flagship is going to spend a full week over the North Sea commanding the bombing,” said Corelle. “And we’ll be there waiting with it the whole time.” She glanced back at her RB-21 two-hull transport ship. It carried a single container. “I finally get why you dragged that thing all the way here from America, Pale. We’ve only got a month until the ruin and we’ve got to attack Germania as soon as we rescue Hazel and Berger. There’s no time to return to America in between.” “They’re all crazy if you ask me. Not one of them backed out after hearing what I said.” “Of course they didn’t. We’re going to define our own destiny, not just accept the hand we’re dealt. No one’s forcing this on them. We’re all making our own choices and solving this together.” She smiled and viewed the RB-21’s container. The B Number that indicated it carried a Heavy Barrel was written in thick gothic text. She smiled again at the text that looked even darker than the dark night. “What’s that B stand for? Barrel? Black? Or does it mean you, Berger?” ### 693. Chapter 5: The Ruin Races 7/24/1943 19:20 – 19:51 I don’t want to run away Those words are testing me I don’t think it was running away That caused me to leave the preexisting path ### Unreif Germane Right bubble: Unreif Germane Structure 1st box (right to left): Part 1 – Before (Sections 1-5) - History before the Messiah - The world is in disarray 2nd box: Part 2 – The Messiah (Sections 6-26) - The Messiah appears and goes to sleep - Includes the 6 songs 3rd box: Part 3 – The Emperor (Sections 27-58) - The emperor’s reign and decline - Beginning of the vacancy era 4th box: Part 4 – After (Sections 59-68) - History after the emperor - The millennium song A collection of stories concerning the events of the past thousand years. The apocalyptic concepts of Norse Mythology are used as a foundation to tell the story of the collapse of the old order and the rise of a new order. The 68 sections are divided into 4 parts (some theorize the 30-odd sections of Part 3 were the original story and others theorize there was once a 5th part) and the parts tell the story of before, the Messiah’s arrival and activities, the emperor’s reign, and after. The longest part is Part 3 related to the emperor, but the Messiah’s Part 2 is the most well known. That is mostly because the story of the Messiah, the knights, and the dragon is told as a children’s story and six of its sections have been adapted into six songs adored by bards, so when people refer to the Unreif Germane, they generally are only referring to the Messiah’s story. But like so many other historical texts, the Unreif Germane has a complicated history and there are many different versions with differing details, so research is still ongoing. ### Part 1 Hazel ran through the night as the sirens blared. She ran westward, using a path behind the row of storehouses on the base. It was a narrow path and the sky glimpsed between the tall storehouses was colored the red of warning lights. The main road ran along the other side of the storehouses on her left and she heard vehicles roaring up and down it. … The search has begun in earnest. She had thrown off her slippers, so she only wore her surgical gown, coat, and choker. Her hair was a mess as she pumped her arms and moved her legs to run. “I never think anything through, do I!?” … But they said a Heavy Barrel is flying here. She needed to get somewhere she would be easily noticed and thus easily rescued. Her plan was to head east near the main gate where a small runway bordered the forest. She would be visible from the sky there and she could always turn into a cat and escape into the forest if necessary. … That’s the one exit from this walled base! She remembered the terrain from her time up on the terrace. After running between three storehouses, she would arrive at a waterway. If she moved from there to the main road, crossed the bridge, and continued another half a mile, she would reach the main gate. She ran and hurried. She wiped the sweat from her brow with her coat’s sleeve and faced forward. The path was narrow. She was done for if they had an ambush set up, but this was far safer than using the main road. The storehouses on either side of her contained maintenance equipment. Even at night, the ground was stained noticeably dark with oil and large tires were stacked up on either side of the path. The tire piles grew and the available width of the path shrank. Her pounding footsteps rang in her ears and her nose only detected the scent of rubber and machine oil. All sorts of vehicle parts and metal materials were bundled together and placed between the tires or leaned against the storehouse walls. She checked to see if there were any Devices among them as she ran, but as expected found nothing. She breathed a disappointed sigh and kept running with the sirens ringing in her bones. Her breathing was heavy but she wasn’t out of breath. … My training has paid off. She smiled bitterly at that. Then she faced forward again. The tires stacked up on either side reached nearly as high as the storeroom roofs now. The piles of black rubber ended about 100 yards ahead, the length of another three storehouses. The backroad ended there. She could see the waterway’s railing past the valley of tires. … I need to turn right toward the main road and cross the bridge. She would need to cross two small intersections between storehouses before that. The first intersection was about 20 yards ahead. She picked up her pace to pass through it in a hurry, but then she felt something like her right foot stepping on a stone. “––––––!?” Oops, she thought, but it was too late. She had stepped on something sharp. She felt no pain, but her second step felt like her right foot had stepped in mud. The realization that she was bleeding nearly sapped her of her strength, but she shook her head and powered through it. Then someone emerged onto the intersection up ahead. It was a Geheimnis Agency soldier. He aimed his flashlight her way and slowly turned his body her way. He hesitated once the flashlight shined directly on her, but… “I-I found her!” he shouted. Hazel held out her hand as if to split the flashlight beam and stopped, her right leg stumbling. And from behind her… “She’s over here!” shouted another voice. She was surrounded. Her reflexes decided which way she needed to escape: up. She would climb the tires to her right – the south. Climbing the ones to the north would only have taken her further from the road. If she could hurry up them and cross the roof to reach the bridge… … The soldiers on the ground will have a harder time tracking my movements. As soon as the thought occurred to her, she sank low, bent her body, and used her limbs like springs to climb up the tires. ### Part 2 Hazel climbed the 10yd pile of tires without toppling them and without losing her own balance. She relied on her initial speed. She relaxed her tension, she held her breath, and she did not hesitate. She was just two stacks away from the top level. Then she had to jump up another yard to reach the edge of the storehouse roof. But then her right foot slipped on her blood. The itchy pain of the wound opening shot up her leg to her spine. “Ah.” The tension she had relaxed to climb the tires came back as the tension used to endure the pain. … That’s not good. Just as she decided to relax her tension again, she recalled the year before when a dog had bitten her at AIF HQ, she had Altered, and she had climbed the outer wall of the barracks as a cat. Comparing that to this was silly, but it still nearly made her laugh. She worked to resist the pain, tension, and laughter while moving her arms and legs. “…!” She reached the top. She took a breath, feeling the tire tower swaying beneath her feet, and then grabbed the storehouse roof at chest height and climbed up it. The sheet iron roof provided much more solid footing. She took another breath, stood up, and tried to walk. But the unwashed roof had sand-like filth and dried limescale on it, which got in her right foot’s wound. She fell to her knee. She sat with her back to the main road to the south, took a breath, and looked around. She viewed the base from a lower vantage point than the terrace. She could see two storehouses to the west, three to the east, and four to the north. A few long concrete buildings and the forest were visible past them. Lastly, she saw more concrete buildings across the road behind her. When she sent her gaze east along the road, she saw the waterway and its river about 100 yards away. “I need to reach that point.” She kept low so she wouldn’t be detected and turned the sole of her right foot skyward. In the warning lights, she could see her toeprint highlighted by a dark wetness. The big toe was bleeding from an inch-long crescent moon gash. The blood dripped down the sole of the raised foot. It tangled around her ankle and continued on toward her shin. The sensation sent a shudder down her back. “It’s no use.” She couldn’t escape outside by turning into a cat here. She clenched her blood-wet hands a few times to refocus herself. She grabbed the bottom of her surgical gown and used her nails to tear through it. With a ripping sound different from paper, she created herself a strip of cloth from the bottom two inches of the gown. “If only I had a Device,” she grumbled, placing the center of the cloth on her right Achilles tendon, stretching it out, wrapping it around her big toe, and wrapping it back around her ankle. She wrapped it around her big toe again and then side to side around the center of her foot. She used it to hold her ankle in place, not to stop the bleeding of her toe. That protected the toe and still let her walk with the rest of the foot. With that done, she stood back up. She looked around. The night glowed red. The red warning lights were joined by the red Lives of impatience floating across the entire base. The red sound of the 1st alarm accelerated that impatience. The summer night breeze felt refreshingly chilly and she finally realized how heavy her breathing was. “I need to hurry.” She pressed her right foot’s toes against the wavy sheet of iron and climbed to the flat peak of the roof before crouching low and walking east like a cat. The bandage felt a bit ticklish on her foot, but it kept the roof’s filth out of her wound. Once she arrived at the center of the roof, she heard a loud noise from the road to her right. The roar of metal continued on without end. She gasped and looked over to see a pair of towers there. The green towers resembled smokestacks and rose past the edge of the roof. The towers weren’t the only things rising past the roof. She saw a piece of metal resembling a 3yd-wide bowler hat and then the 15yd-wide metal chest and shoulders supporting the towers came into view. “Is that Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt from before!?” That enormous Heavy Barrel stood more than 20 yards tall, not including the “towers”, and it was being carried to the surface by one of the underground hangar elevators. It was so big. Hazel stood atop a 10yd rooftop, but she only came up to his waist. She froze for a moment when the pair of sight devices glowing on his facial structure turned her way. Immediately afterwards, a pair of large shapes landed on opposite edges of the storehouse roof with her in the center. 8yd metal giants had alighted on the roof without even whipping up the wind. The one to her left was blue and the one to her right was red. “Wha-?” She didn’t even get the full word out before swallowing it in acceptance of what had happened. … Am I surrounded? She calmly thought through her situation. Karl stood motionless in front of her, his arms ready at his hips. The Heavy Barrels to her left and right had their Ober Emblems activated and wings spread, using that lift to stand atop the roof. Even Hazel made a lot of noise walking along the iron roof, but they stood only on their right toes. Behind her, she could hear the soldiers gathering on the backroad she had climbed from. “I am surrounded, aren’t I?” The Heavy Barrels to her left and right asked a question without shaking or even wavering. “Where do you think you are going?” ### Part 3 Hazel faced Karl ahead of her and considered that question. She hung her head a bit, but she soon looked up and answered. “To where I think I should be.” She looked to the Barrels to the left and right and brushed up her hair. “Um,” she began. “You wouldn’t believe me if I promised to return once everything is in place, would you?” “No, unfortunately,” said the red one. “Our master, Kaiser Schwert, ordered us to take the Messiah’s life if she were to escape,” continued the blue one. That came as a shock to Hazel. … So not everyone in the Geheimnis Agency agrees about me. She made a note of that while turning her thoughts to Alfred. Then she heard a pair of metal noises. They came from the blue Barrel to her left readying its rifle and the red one to her right pulling out the short sword hidden within itself. “So you are running away?” boomed Karl Schmitt’s voice in front of her. He nodded while looking down at her. She frowned a bit at his nod and pressed her right foot against the roof. The cloth made a wet sound and the cold blood soaking it got on the roof. She faced forward while standing in her own blood. “I am not running away. And I will no longer make excuses either.” She took a breath. “I am simply pointing out which answer is correct.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a bullet and a short sword strike rushed in from the sides. She leaped forward just beforehand. She rolled herself down the sloped roof and toward Karl’s chest. The sound of the bullet hit her along with a shockwave and Karl’s hand moved in from the right. “–––––!” She looked behind herself for just an instant. The red and blue were moving to launch a second attack. But something was missing there. … They’re always with that white Heavy Barrel! Is it here too!? That question led to a flash of insight as she leaped from the roof just before Karl grabbed her. She leaped out into the empty space above the road. She floated in the air as a precursor to falling. But Karl’s giant hand pursued her to scoop her out of the air. She viewed his hand. “I won’t let you catch me!” She read the timing from the wind Lives wrapped around his metal fingers and kicked off his finger. She used the force of his finger to launch herself toward the main gate. She used her feline agility and the Heavy Barrel’s hand to propel herself through the night sky. She was 20 yards up, so falling would mean death. But this was enough. … I know it is! She only needed to do one thing, but she didn’t have much time to do it. She hurried. Still lying face up in the air, she breathed in to calm herself. She lay in the night sky and faced the stars and moon. She opened her mouth with her eyes on the moonlight situated at the highest point of the sky. Her Messiah eye glowed red as she spoke the Text necessary to resolve this. She used her Beweisen. ### Part 4 It arrived suddenly. After starting her fall, Hazel turned to view the ground 20 yards below her. That was when a dull sound like breaking rock reverberated through her body. She thought it had to be Karl’s footstep, but while the massive Heavy Barrel was turning her way from 30 yards away, he had not taken a step yet. The blue and red Barrels were flapping their wings and performing attitude control in the air near where Karl’s fist had missed her. … Then what was that sound!? She heard it again and managed to ascertain its location this time. It came from the road she was currently falling toward. A sound like something tearing through rock rumbled from the underground facility. She also heard the sound of heavy metal tearing and snapping as the source revealed itself. One portion of the road broke and lifted. The pavement swelled up like someone tugging upwards on the center of a cloth. “Come to me, Neue Kaiser!” shouted Hazel, twisting her body. The tip of the protruding asphalt broke open and a black metal fist burst out. The yard-wide fist was surrounded by chunks of asphalt and pieces of the underground structure as the hand opened and extended its fingers upwards. The force of the movement sent the scraps of metal and asphalt flying away. The rumble whipped up the wind. The open hand jutted straight up, revealing a shoulder joint covered by a Panzer Kleid. “!” Hazel landed on the metal palm. The metal hand supporting her continued to move upwards in the powerful wind. The wind blew from the shoulders, face, chest, hips, legs, and toes to break through the ground and emerge onto the surface. This was Neue Kaiser. The sight devices in the facial structure shined bright. Its output levels remained at near overdrive. She could tell no one was piloting it. … It’s unmanned, but its owner showed me it can be remote controlled at the library last night. All of its thrusters were currently being used to keep it floating above the road. Its actions came from its nature as a Heavy Barrel, from its Lives and the combat records in its memory, and from the will sent out by Hazel’s Messiah eye and Hazel herself. “Thank you,” she said atop its hand. It answered her thanks by landing back on the ground after bursting up from the underground hangar. With a metal crash loud enough to shake the ground, the white 11yd machine stood on the road and roared. “––––!” Its voice rattled the windows of the nearby buildings and caused the three Heavy Barrels about 50 yards away to back up just a bit. ### Part 5 Hazel noted the lack of wings on Neue Kaiser’s back. Meanwhile, Neue Kaiser moved its hand toward its right leg and lowered it with her on top. … Riding it out of here would be best. She realized Neue Kaiser had been staring straight ahead this whole time. It was looking west, toward the enemy. “What are you-!?” she shouted but stopped midsentence. An explosion erupted in the direction it was looking. It was a much louder version of the air explosion when a Heavy Barrel took flight. She turned that way to find a wall rushing toward her. That was Karl Schmitt. His Heavy Barrel was like a 20yd-tall fortress and he was using his thrusters to fly above the road toward her. His left shoulder was held out front for a shoulder charge. He was after Neue Kaiser. The explosive clash only took an instant. Hazel watched as Karl passed in front of her, plowing into Neue Kaiser. Their weights made a horrible metallic crash and Neue Kaiser was pushed away. With a sound like shattering glass, the road broke into a spray of asphalt. They were headed toward the bridge and their weights would be enough to destroy it. But Hazel caught Neue Kaiser in her gaze. It was being pushed away by Karl’s great size, but it was still in control of itself and it had not been crushed. It held onto Karl’s left shoulder with both arms. It had not given up, so she raised her voice. “Neue Kaiser!” She raised her right arm. “Show me what you can do!” Her request was answered before it was even complete. A second explosion of air erupted shortly before the bridge. But this one did not come from Karl. It came from Neue Kaiser. The two machines’ movements were evenly matched, so they poured in all of their power but remained motionless. And it did not end there. Wind Lives were gathering behind Neue Kaiser. It could keep going. Seeing that, Hazel nodded with strength in her eyebrows. She swung her raised arm forward. She swung it forcibly down toward the blue and red Barrels standing on the road. “Full power!” Neue Kaiser answered her shout with a roar from its voice device. All of its thrusters produced a third air explosion behind it. Slowly but surely, it gathered acceleration and pushed Karl back. “Mh!?” An unthinkable voice came from Karl’s voice device. Wind blew from his leg armor and back as well. The wind raced down the road, rustled the leaves of the trees lining the road, and shattered the thin windows one after another. Standing within the scattering leaves and glass shards, Hazel snapped her right fingers. “Don’t give up!” Neue Kaiser accelerated again, producing another air explosion to push further forward. Karl could not stop himself from being pushed back by the overwhelming movement of the air. Neue Kaiser accelerated with great force to keep pushing. It never came to a stop and accelerated further. The white Heavy Barrel instantly pushed through a lot more ground. It pushed through Karl’s great size and the air resistance. It raced past Hazel and even past the hole it had created. Sparks scattered rom Karl’s feet. He had given up on pushing back and cut his rear thrusters. He instead planted his feet on the ground to stop Neue Kaiser with this own weight and balance. But Neue Kaiser would not stop. The Messiah eye would not allow it. Neue Kaiser roared and lowered its hips. At max thrust, it held Karl’s left shoulder and bent backwards. It whipped up the wind while attempting to lift Karl. Its roar never ceased, joining the cry of the blowing wind. Just as the massive green Heavy Barrel attempted to lower his hips, the Neue Kaiser lifted him as if placing him on its chest. “–––––!” In less than a second, Neue Kaiser twisted its body and threw Karl. He was thrown 20 yards down the road where the red and blue Heavy Barrels waited. Karl fell back-first onto the pavement, his metal crying out in protest and his limbs bouncing once while his Panzer Kleid and armor panels slid along the road due to his inertial weight. The red and blue Barrels quickly fled into the sky while Karl slid down the road and crashed into a building. The sounds of the crumbling building rang out for a while. All the wind blowing down the road rose skyward in search of an exit. Hazel looked to Neue Kaiser’s back where it stood at the ready about 20 yards away. … It’s time to leave. She brushed back her windswept hair and prepared to speak her Aerial Words. But she instead heard the Aerial Words of someone else’s Beweisen. ### Part 6 Neue Kaiser suddenly fell to its knees. Like its power had been switched off. The white Heavy Barrel was no longer under the Messiah’s control. Hazel immediately realized why. “Alfred Maldrick.” “Do not defile my true name with your Heidengeist lips.” A scratchy artificial voice arrived from dead ahead. Someone stood in front of the large Heavy Barrel half buried in a building. The slender man wore his long hair tied back and carried a white sword Device. Alfred walked toward her. Slowly and without rushing. Her reflexes told her to run the other way. The 10 yards between them was about the same as her distance from the bridge behind her. … He’ll catch up if I try to run. She cast her eyes in every other direction and saw truck lights gathering on the other side of the bridge behind her. Soldiers wielding submachineguns and capture nets were waiting behind the storehouses and other buildings to the left and right. And Alfred walked toward her from the front. A few trucks drove up from the smaller roads on the left and right and quickly lined up behind him. But he did not even look back. Hazel saw Heiliger, Müller, Schweitzer, and Lowenzahn step out of the trucks. She saw Lowenzahn take a step toward her with the hem of her uniform whipping in the wind. Lowenzahn’s eyes were on Alfred, not on Hazel. “Stop, lieutenant! The Erlkönig has been sent from Germania to deal with the approaching enemy craft! Isn’t preventing the Messiah’s rescue more important than killing her!?” “And how long will it take for the Erlkönig to arrive?” He twisted his head around to look up in the sky. “Destiny is gradually moving beyond your predictions.” He viewed Neue Zinnober and Neue Blau hovering in the air. They silently deactivated their Ober Emblems. Bluish-white ether light scattered from them and then they landed and kneeled behind Alfred. The asphalt audibly broke below them, but Alfred did not rush. He continued his leisurely pace. “This is the perfect timing. Everyone should be realizing the truth right about now – realizing that there is something wrong with a world so weak it can be saved by a single individual.” He opened his mouth and sang in the scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords. The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall “The report from the North Sea says an Allied bombing fleet is crossing the North Sea to arrive here in Hamburg. This country will suffer a severe wound while we are preoccupied with this Messiah.” He took a breath. “What did Sir Graham want from us? Did he want us to be led astray by such…trivialities?” With that final word, he stopped and took a fighting stance. … Here it comes! Hazel jumped, but a certain sound pushed her onward. The sirens were all the proof she needed that someone was approaching the base. She nodded at that fact, regathered her strength, and took off running. With all her might. She trampled the glass shards and chunks of asphalt scattered across the road. She looked back to see Alfred take his first step. He crouched low as if bending his body in two and took a slow but powerful first step. “Do you still claim you don’t wish to run away!? Then prove it, Messiah!” Once his foot touched the ground again, he took his second step. With the third step, he broke into a swift run like he was trying to run up the wall. His footsteps rang loud. … He’s going to catch up!? Hazel swallowed the scream threatening to escape her throat. Then her right foot’s bandage caught hard on the ground. The blood soaking it had increased its friction, making it catch on the asphalt. Before she could even cry out, the bandage attached itself to the ground and her blood-soaked toe slipped within it. She tripped. To protect herself from the glass shards on the ground, she twisted around to land on her right shoulder. “Ow.” The pain hit her and her momentum slid her along the ground some, but she planted her hands on the ground soon enough. She tried to stand when crimson Lives pierced her from behind. A murderous gaze approached, carrying the Lives of killer intent. … I need to get up. She could tell the wound on her toe was tearing wider. As much as her mind told her to stand up, her foot felt numb. Her body couldn’t keep up with her will. That fact scared her and she collapsed back down before she managed to get on her feet. She planted her hands on the ground again and reflexively looked back. Alfred was there. He was still 10 yards away, but that distance was meaningless. “Ah.” A single tone rang from his voice and a Bust attack instantly filled the space between them. White light loudly swung down toward her. But Hazel did not shut her eyes or avert her gaze. She simply stood up and ran, albeit while looking back. … I won’t give up. The sirens rang in her ears, that one thought filled her mind, and the white explosion hit her. The road was engulfed in light. At the same moment, something dropped from the sky. ### Part 7 Something landed in front of Hazel. It looked like a giant wall to her. It dropped with enough force to break into the road surface but instead came to a sudden stop between her and Alfred. His “ah” attack crashed into the wall and the light exploded. The light shattered on the other side of the wall and the wall shook violently. But the wall remained hovering more than a foot off the ground and did not fall. The wall had blocked Alfred’s Bust attack. Protected by the wall, Hazel took a few steps back. The wind vanished and a few of the light Lives produced by Alfred danced around her in long strings. She took a few more steps back and stopped once she could see the entirety of the wall. Everyone else was equally motionless. The surrounding soldiers and Heavy Barrels had all come to a stop. She looked dazed. But she had not stopped from the relief of surviving the Bust attack. She had identified the wall as the white light faded and the warning lights and other outdoor lights shined on it. It was a 30yd-long aerial warship resembling a blue blade. She knew its name. But her gaping mouth was trembling too much to move. Her eyebrows drooped and she took a breath before finally getting her voice out. “What is happening?” She was answered not by a voice but by the loud flapping of wings in the sky. A line of wind passed by in the dark blue moonlit sky overhead. The wind took the form of a dark shadow. The twin-winged silhouette was a Heavy Barrel. “Schwarz Löwe!” Hazel’s drooping eyebrows shot up in joy and she raised her head. Tears fell from her upturned eyes. The black Heavy Barrel vanished beyond a building at the far end of the road and she heard it land. That was enough for her to nod. She viewed the blue craft in front of her, clenched her fists, and inhaled. … It’s time to leave here. A voice from behind seemed to respond to that thought. A woman’s voice. “Yes, Hazel. Do that.” Hearing a sound like splitting stone from the same direction, she looked back. The blockade at the other end of the bridge had been breached. For some reason, the trucks that had formed the blockade were missing. And someone stood in the center of the gap where three trucks had been before. “Lehrer.” A woman in a purple uniform had just finished swinging a German military spear up from below. Her eyes remained closed, but she was smiling. She swung the spear back down. A moment later, three military trucks dropped from the sky. “!?” Everyone on the road ducked as the three trucks crashed down onto one of the buildings built alongside the road. A corner of the building collapsed from roof to 3rd floor like someone squishing a sponge cake below their finger. The trio of noises sounded like shattering stone. With that as her cue, Lehrer raised her voice. “Sylphide! Take her inside!” Hazel turned around to see Sylphide opening the cockpit hatch on its upper surface. The blue craft tilted toward her, telling her to climb in. However… “Out of the way!” roared Alfred’s voice. A loud impact followed and white light exploded on the other side of Sylphide. And not just once. A second, third, fourth, and fifth shout followed – the last one the most intense. “Ah.” Sylphide was blasted over Hazel’s head. “!” Hazel ducked down and Sylphide twisted itself around and ascended above one of the buildings. Its lower armor was cracked and broken, exposing its internal structure. And with Sylphide moved out of the way… “Are you running away?” Alfred was not out of breath and stood firm in his diagonal stance. Hazel noticed his gaze turn toward her just once before turning toward Lehrer behind her. So she shifted to the left to let him see the woman. She looked back to see Lehrer walking this way. She tilted her head and spoke to Alfred. “Do you think Hazel is running away here?” “If she’s going to go on and on about not wanting to run away, the only other option is to fight.” Instead of responding, Lehrer gathered bluish-white Lives on the blade of her raised spear. She gathered the wind Lives blowing through, called them to her, and hardened them into a blade. Hazel gave an honest assessment of what she saw. … The density and speed at which she gathered them is impressive. Whether Lehrer was aware of those thoughts or not, she spoke to Hazel. “Hazel, once you fight your true battle – not a simple skirmish like this – you will find you too can do this much. Because power is acquired through necessity.” Lehrer threw away her glasses and opened her eyes – one blue and the other dyed red. Hazel froze briefly when she saw those eyes. But that was all. … I knew it. “You were the one who went to sleep at Alfheim in the picture book, weren’t you?” The surrounding soldiers understood the implication. “The Messiah!?” Their confused shout changed the atmosphere hanging over the road. Confusion Lives raced out in every direction. At the same time, Lehrer ran forward. She twisted her body to keep her balance while swinging her spear around and adding on more wind Lives. Hazel also ran, like she was in sync with the woman. Her hurting right foot dragged a little, but she could still run. She had legs and they could move. And she had the willpower to move them. So she ran. A great presence moved behind her. She knew who that was: Alfred. “Ah.” He released his voice just as Hazel and Lehrer passed each other. Lehrer swung down her attack. “Ah.” Her loud tone crashed into Alfred’s Bust attack and tore a large hole in the road. ### Part 8 The boom of an explosion and a cacophony of destruction tore up and boiled the asphalt. A 20yd-radius hole was created and the destruction spread as it collapsed further on its own. The ground below was hollow thanks to the underground hangars. Burning and breaking sounds combined as the buildings on the edge of the hole failed to support their own weight, collapsed from the foundation, and slid down into the pit. Black smoke marred the sky and the Sylphide flew even higher. The only thing on the edge of the hole was Alfred after avoiding the explosion. His two targets were nowhere to be seen. “Did she hit my attack from above, overpower it, and tear this hole in the ground?” He stood up, clenched his teeth, and looked back. The first thing he saw on the road were two Grösse Panzers. “Nein! Carry Neue Kaiser belowground and have its wings installed. After that, deal with Schwarz Löwe. Can you handle that?” “What will you be doing, Master Alfred?” He looked to the ground. Dark dots drew out two trails along the heated asphalt. “Two trails of blood. One would be the Messiah’s foot wound and the other must have been from my attack on that Buster.” There was a bit of blood on his Rein König as well. He suddenly looked up toward the two Grösse Panzers again. “If those two plan to run away, then I must hunt them down.” ### 694. Chapter 6: The Ruin Leaps 7/24/1943 20:18 – 22:46 U-um Sorry Please don’t hurt me too much Just because this used to be your body ### The Messiah and the Knights When the Messiah unified Germany, she gathered skilled fighters and diplomats from across Germany to form a combat unit. Their primary strength came from the regional lords and mercenary warriors. Germany did not have a king at the time, so there was no basis for a system of knights and they became knights of the Messiah instead. The Messiah and the knights first met when she descended to Alfheim with the one-armed young man and the dragon and defeated a lesser dragon along with some warriors who happened to be in the area. At the time, attacks by dragons and other monsters produced by Live disturbances, various types of Live diseases, and rampant anxiety had forced the regional lords to fight back against the symptoms in their territories. The knights felt the need to fight as a group but could not do so until someone arrived who would cross the regional boundaries and lead them all, so they readily named themselves the Messiah’s knights once she arrived. ### Part 1 Lehrer had led Hazel to the piles of tires Hazel had climbed earlier. They sat atop two lower piles near the wall. The larger piles hid them from the road, so no one could see them. However… “They will know we escaped in this direction, so they will have us surrounded before long,” explained Lehrer, undoing the bandage on Hazel’s foot. “How are we going to escape?” asked Hazel. “We use Sylphide.” Hazel looked up to see Sylphide could not descend thanks to the barrage of antiair gunfire. She watched the blue shape circling in the distance. “It’s adorable how you can see its uncertainty in how it’s flying, but can it get to us?” “We aren’t far from the waterway. It is about 20 yards wide, so we can have Sylphide fly in at supersonic speed and stop above it. Once the shockwave blows away the enemies, we make a run for it.” The waterway was situated lower than the ground, so the Sylphide would end up below them if it stopped there. Hazel nodded. “We don’t have time to get inside, so we just climb onto the roof?” Just as she asked that, she felt a sharp pain like a needle sticking into her right foot. “––––!” “Don’t give me that look. I only removed the rock.” Hazel wiped away the tears and Lehrer rubbed her head with a troubled smile. Lehrer looked between the wound on Hazel’s foot and her spear leaning against the tires. “Hey…could you show me your Tuning?” Hazel said yes, reached out, and grabbed the spear. It was a German military close-range spear Device that Lehrer had stolen from the base. Its balance was completely different from the sword she was used to. She held the somewhat heavy spear vertically with the blade pointed down and held the shaft near the base of the blade. Then she looked to the other woman, whose heterochromatic eyes carried such a calm expression. There was so much she wanted to say and she could even find the words right away, but she wasn’t sure where to start. … Um. While she thought, Lehrer smiled and spoke instead. “Don’t worry. I used to be you, but I’m not anymore. You will become me and overwrite me. So don’t be afraid, my former self.” “Th-then it really was Sylphide buried below Alfheim? And…” Lehrer nodded. “Yes, I slept for a thousand years. I actually wanted to sleep a while longer and P. Wagner was considerate of that…but I was dug up in ’39 all the same.” “Then it’s true what the Geheimnis Agency’s commander told me?” “Yes. I learned the truth when I was captured in Cologne in my version of ’42. And…Berger was supposed to be captured tonight.” Hazel gasped and took a look around. She could hear Schwarz Löwe fighting in the distance, but Lehrer shook her head. “Don’t worry, Hazel. He will not be captured.” “H-how can you know that?” “You don’t know it?” … I… She thought for a bit and clamped her mouth shut. All she had to do was nod. And while she tried to figure out something more to say, Lehrer asked a question. “How are your parents?” Hazel considered who this was she was speaking to, so she looked her in the eye when she answered. “They are doing well. Dad is the same as ever, but he’s secretly supporting the AIF. Mom doesn’t say anything about it, but um, she’s really good at making tea.” She took a breath. “Maybe I’m full of myself, but I feel like they’re mostly just worried about their daughter fighting in the war.” “I see. I think you’re right about that.” The sounds of antiair fire and trucks combined in the distance. Beyond that, they could hear the clanking of a metal machine, the booms of cannon fire, and the clangs of metal shells being deflected. Schwarz Löwe was fighting. Hazel listened to the many sounds of combat and focused on the Device in her hands. She regulated her breathing and collected the Lives within her. She found her tone, which was pure, complex, and difficult to speak. “All you Lives within me – the single scream of the Wild Name that makes me who I am. Can you hear the voice of my Lives?” The Lives used her voice to permeate her body. She transferred them to the Device and she shook the instrument-like weapon to set up a resonance. Then she released her voice exactly as she wanted it. “Ah.” Her voice gently stretched out, slowly curved, and yet seemed to always move forward. She could feel her Lives inside the Device. Then she shut her eyes and stabbed the blade into her own throat. The Lives in the blade resonated with the ones in her body and the correct ones won out. They shook, vibrated, pulsed, and thought. A sense more accurate than touch felt them moving from her throat to the rest of her body. “…!” After goose bumps raced across her skin, she pulled out the blade. She was dripping with sweat, but the thornlike sensation inside her was disappearing. She looked down to her foot to see it was bloody but it no longer hurt. She wiped off the spear tip with her coat’s sleeve. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome. …Are you okay? You didn’t overfocus?” “I think I’m fine. I am tired…but I can manage one more good run.” They both sighed and Lehrer spoke first. “Then how about we get going? Sylphide is getting bored up there.” “How much has it healed?” “The decay was bad. Its self-repair has got it barely flying again, but the two upper Kunst Eyes are beyond repair and the three lower ones are only beginning to repair.” She narrowed her eyes. “But you have something else to ask, don’t you? About my relationship with him and many other things.” “Y-yes. So how about just one for now?” “Ask away.” Hazel hesitated for a moment. “How…old are you?” “Oh? Planning to hold it over my head how much younger you are? I used to be your age too, you know?” “I-it’s not about that. I just…” “I’m only kidding. I am 26. I arrived in the past at 21 and only spent a year there. I woke back up in ’39, so add 4 years to get 26. If only I had slept two more years. Then my age would round down to 20.” She smiled a little at that and Hazel had to smile too. “So don’t worry. Even if you go through a whole loop, you can still be younger than him,” said Lehrer. “And don’t forget, Hazel. You and those around you have so many choices you can make. You always have and you always will. You are not a Panzerpolis component created solely to keep the cycle going.” “…Right.” “But you can only make one decision when the time comes, so consider your options and then make your own choice.” Lehrer stood up from her pile of tires and Hazel got down from hers. Lehrer pulled a metal tube from her pocket. It was an inch thick and about half a foot long. She held it up in her right hand like the Olympic torch and used the inner elbow and her left hand to cover her ears. “Cover your ears. This will call it to us.” Hazel quickly did so and Lehrer hit the switch. With an almost silly sound, a blue ball of light was launched skyward, leaving a trail of white smoke. “Now it should come to us.” There was joy in Lehrer’s voice and she turned away from Hazel. Hazel gasped when she saw her back. There was a diagonal slash there. It started at her right shoulder and traveled down to the center of her back. Her clothing was torn, blood was leaking from it, and she was soaked a dark red down to her hips. “Don’t let it bother you. You would be too exhausted to move if you healed me…and I was prepared to not be fighting my best with something as unfamiliar as a spear.” “Th-there wasn’t a better weapon? I though the Messiah used a sword.” “That’s the thing. Every time I see a sword, it reminds me that he left me a letter telling me to stop fighting and took my Rein König with him.” Hazel lowered her eyebrows at that and chose not to say what she wanted to say. “That’s why I want to avoid using any kind of sword,” said Lehrer as she began walking. “Found them!” shouted some soldiers from behind them. Those voices pushed Lehrer into a run. Hazel watched her footing as she too began to run. Their footsteps fused into a single tempo. Hazel noticed some heat in her Messiah eye. … Lehrer is activating my Messiah. After that Beweisen, Lehrer readied her spear out ahead. She spun it vertically with just her right hand in the narrow road between the piles of tires. The slow but heavy rotation sliced the wind with the blade and produced a sound of shaking air. Another sound dropped from the sky in response: the sound of the wind, of something slicing through the air. … Sylphide. The roar of the wind rushed in from the north, which was to their left. At the same time, some soldiers with their backs to the river railing up ahead raised their guns. Lehrer thrust the spear straight ahead with just one hand. “Ah.” A single tone raced out toward the blue shape flying in from behind the soldiers. ### Part 2 Lehrer’s Bust attack counteracted Sylphide’s shockwave and cleared a path. With a roar, the powerful wind was split by her spear and flew to either side. The tire stacks on the sides of the road were blown backwards like leaves in the wind. The storehouses’ front walls were broken through and their roofs pulled away. Bolts audibly popped off and walls noisily crumbled. “Hurry!” shouted a voice ahead of Hazel while the wind blew her hair. Her response was drowned out by the wind. The road alongside the waterway was about 5 yards wide. When she emerged from behind the destroyed storehouses, she saw a collapsing bridge to her right and a road to her left. There was no sign of the enemy. She ran. Lehrer beckoned her over from near the railing ahead. “I’ll be right there!” answered Hazel as she saw something in the sky that shouldn’t have been there. A white streak of cloud floated in the night sky to the east. She hadn’t noticed that before. The cloud instantly stretched out toward her. It was closing the distance with unbelievable speed. Some Aerial Words shook the air. The cloud was being drawn out by… “Sylphide!?” The craft resembled a black blade. Unlike Sylphide, it had no upper cockpit and thus a slimmer silhouette. Hazel recalled the name of the craft Lowenzahn had said had launched from Germania. … The Erlkönig. It was still a fair distance away, but it sprayed physical metal bullets toward Lehrer. Its aim was true, so Lehrer was forced to intercept the incoming bullets with her Bust power. The white light launched from her spear shattered the metal projectiles. But inertia carried the fragments toward Hazel behind her. Hazel could avoid them if she kept running and moved behind Lehrer. But that was when Hazel realized her coat’s pocket felt unusually light. … Eh? A weight had vanished from the bottom right side of the coat, so she looked down. She saw a white ampule case falling from the pocket as the coat flapped in the wind. She reflexively caught the case out of the air. “Hazel!” yelled Lehrer. That shout made Hazel stop where she was and she saw the supersonic scattershot of bullet fragments flying her way. Countless powerful red Lives were about to reach her. “!” She couldn’t scream and she didn’t look away. She started to dodge, hoping she could somehow make it. She moved her feet left, hoping to bring herself behind Lehrer. Then a wall shot up to protect her. The blue wall was Sylphide. Her eyes reflexively widened when she understood what this meant. … You belong to Lehrer! “Stay away!!” Her shouted request was not obeyed. The metal scattershot crashed into Sylphide. The metal screamed in protest. Sylphide was pierced by bullet fragments that were more like thin needles than spears. With a light sound like breaking bone, the fragments broke out the other side on either side of Hazel. The bullets flew past her on pure inertia, like fish leaping from the water. “Why?” Hazel’s question was answered by some Aerial Words and then the blue craft suddenly ascended. Erlkönig was trying to fly westward at an altitude of about 100 yards. The blue Sylphide shot up toward the black Erlkönig and crashed into it like it was stabbing into it from below. With a loud crash, the Sylphide’s tip pierced the Erlkönig’s belly. The black craft stalled with its rear tilting downwards and began to fall, but the blue craft could not keep up with its momentum. The pressure on the Sylphide’s tip from the rapid forward thrust and downwards momentum was too much for its frame and it bent in half like a papercraft. The two ships fell, twisted and tangled. They fell westward, toward the waterway past the collapsed bridge. They soon vanished behind that bridge. Sounds reminiscent of breaking stone and shattering glass tubes rumbled off into the distance. “Ah…” Hazel let out a dazed breath and looked forward to Lehrer. Lehrer kept her back turned and raised the spear in her left hand. Her eyes were turned toward where Sylphide had fallen, but… “I should have known. Of course Neue Erde would send Erlkönig.” After that resigned comment, she looked back over her shoulder to Hazel. When their eyes met, Hazel lowered her head and squeezed the ampule case in her right hand. “Sorry…” “Don’t worry about it. Sylphide chose to defeat Erlkönig. And you told it to stay away because you knew you could take care of yourself, right?” Hazel did not nod, but Lehrer said “that’s right” and sat down on the ground. Her butt touched the ground and she folded her legs underneath her with her back still to Hazel. “It looks like I was more naïve than you.” She collapsed. Toward Hazel. Hazel rushed over and placed one arm around Lehrer’s back and the other under her shoulder to prop her up. Then she looked down at the woman’s body. A jagged piece of metal a foot long was stabbed into the left chest of her purple uniform. Lehrer opened her mouth and blood spilled from her lipsticked lips, but she still spoke to Hazel. “Not getting my Bust attack out quickly enough was my mistake. And Sylphide didn’t save me.” “Stop talking!” “Which means Sylphide decided you deserve the Messiah eye more.” ### Part 3 Her voice was drowned out by two much louder sounds. The first was a group of trucks approaching from the left. The second was a gust of wind descending after crossing the bridge on the right. That wind came from Schwarz Löwe. Hazel turned to see the black Grösse Panzer landing on the other side of the bridge. “Hazel, he is here for you.” Lehrer smiled and pulled the metal out of her own chest. It was a foot long and it returned to bluish-white ether light and vanished after bouncing off of the pavement scarred by the shockwave. Lehrer straightened up in Hazel’s arms and stood up. “Go on ahead, Hazel.” “No!” As soon as Hazel stood up, she heard a loud, dry sound from her right cheek. Lehrer had slapped her. She reflexively held a hand to her cheek, more out of surprise than pain. She could feel the warmth in her cheek. “Hazel,” said Lehrer. “Sylphide is not dumb enough to choose its own death. And I am not inexperienced enough to need your concern. Sylphide will recover and I will escape here alive. Because-” Then Lehrer started coughing. She held a hand to her mouth and turned away from Hazel. That brought her slashed back into view. Hazel decided to ask the question that had occurred to her while reading that picture book in the document room. “Tell me, Lehrer! What were you about to say!?” … Because…what? “Why did you sleep for a thousand years to reach the present day? Was it to see Berger? Or was it to save me?” Lehrer gasped and looked back when she heard that. “…” But then she smiled and shook her head. She did not say anything more. Instead, she gave Hazel a shove toward the bridge. “No! Wait! We can both go!” shouted Hazel just before Lehrer swung her spear between the two of them. Light trailed behind the spear. With a roar, the road was split by a fissure 3 yards wide. “…!” The roar of weapons fire arrived from the sky at the same time. Bermark Nein was pursuing Schwarz Löwe. She heard Schwarz Löwe standing up and she heard Berger’s voice. “Hazel! Jump!” The sounds of Grösse Panzer movement rang loud. She looked back to see Schwarz Löwe dodging the enemy shots flying toward the bridge while flapping its wings and running her way. With arm outstretched. He intended to scoop her up and take flight. Schwarz Löwe’s footsteps approached and its black hand moved ever closer. She could see the shells hitting behind it. At 3 yards away, Hazel’s body was lifted from the ground to land on Schwarz Löwe’s hand. Its right hand snatched her away in midair. “Lehrer!” She felt the pressure of the accelerating metal hand holding her, but she still reached her hand out ahead. Lehrer looked back in slight surprise on the other side of the ditch she had created. “Jump!” shouted Hazel. “Hurry! We can both leave here!” Hazel’s words brought some definite doubt to Lehrer’s face, but then she glanced down at the ditch she had made. “…” She nodded with her eyes close and then took a step toward Schwarz Löwe. Hazel smiled and clung to Schwarz Löwe’s thumb with one arm while reaching her left hand even further out. But… “!?” Lehrer turned back around on reflex. Like she had noticed something. “Lehrer!?” Hazel gave a panicked shout toward the woman’s back and then saw the problem. A row of trucks was driving up from the narrow road Lehrer had turned toward. The truck headlights were far brighter than the outdoor lights and warning lights and a silhouette could be seen highlighted by them. That was Alfred Maldrick with Rein König held high. He was running toward them with the clear intention of attacking Hazel in Schwarz Löwe’s hand. Lehrer spun her spear around to block his attack. A roar rumbled out and bright light filled Hazel’s vision. A moment later, Schwarz Löwe dodged out of the way of the light and began its ascent. Hazel’s hand failed to grasp anything in the light. She shouted something, but her voice was drowned out by the Panzer’s ascent and the Busting shout coming from the surface. ### Part 4 The light scattered and the pair at the center of it all finished swinging their weapons and moved away from each other, both unharmed. Lehrer viewed the acceleration cloud left behind by Schwarz Löwe in the distant sky. “I never imagined I would end up fighting a descendant of the Maldrick family.” Alfred Maldrick said nothing. He just kept his distance and kept his weapon at the ready. Lehrer took a breath, used her spear as a staff to prop herself up, and viewed Alfred. “You really want me dead, don’t you? And after I slept for a thousand years in Sylphide to see all of you again.” “Whoever you might be, you are currently stalling for time.” Alfred took a step forward and she stayed put. “I have one warning for you,” she said. He took another step toward her. “Next month, on August 23, the Allies will bomb Germania. When they do, they will send anxiety Lives back into Tristan, hoping to destroy it.” Alfred lifted Rein König’s tip just a bit. “Fight hard. And make sure to preserve the wheat fields of prosperity for future generations, you Neue Kavaliers who once fought a great calamity with me and then escaped a further calamity.” With that, she readied her weapon again. Alfred responded by entering a sprint. He closed the gap between them and entered striking range in no time. He amplified his “ah” within Rein König, transforming it into a white Live light. The light accumulated within raised Rein König’s blade, illuminating the two of them. Lehrer took a defensive stance against the white light, but then she wobbled like something had hit her. Something like a quiet sound of destruction followed. She managed to remain on her feet and had some slight surprise on her face. But she calmed her expression in no time and gave a confident nod. Her heterochromatic eyes faced forward and viewed the attack approaching her. As the white attack approached, she did something other than dodge. She slowly turned her gaze to the southern sky where Schwarz Löwe was leaving. She stopped even looking at Alfred. Her eyebrows contained only a gentle strength. “–––––” She removed her hands from the spear, so it lost its balance and started to fall over. Alfred’s attack launched its destructive power a moment later. But it was directed at the ground next to her, not at her herself. The rubble shattered, the road split, and the glowing white slash tore a hole 5 yards across into the pavement. The wind blew, the noise rang out, and Alfred froze just after swinging Rein König down. He wasn’t even looking in Lehrer’s direction. “Who asked the Kaiser Schwert to cut down an unresisting corpse?” His question coincided with Lerher’s falling spear hitting the waterway railing about halfway up its shaft. The weight of the blade on top caused it to spin around and fall toward the water. It produced an audible splash as Alfred looked to Lehrer standing next to the railing. Her expression had lost its strength and she stood there like a doll with the left chest of her purple uniform stained with blood, but the same color of stain had freshly formed on her left side. There was a small hole in the cloth there. That was a bullet hole. “Who interrupted our duel with a bullet?” Alfred turned back toward the trucks shining their headlights on the two of them. “That would be me.” The headlights outlined a female silhouette wielding a Walther. It was Lowenzahn. Schweitzer stood behind her. “Why, Lowenzahn?” asked Alfred. “You were getting a little chummy with your enemy there. This isn’t your personal battlefield, lieutenant.” He started to say something in response but stopped himself. Lehrer slowly and weakly sat down on the railing. She kept her hand on the railing and her eyebrows drooped for a sleepy expression. Alfred gave one more glance Lowenzahn’s way before turning toward Lehrer. Three long strides were all it took to arrive within arm’s reach. He could tell her eyes were already unfocused. He looked expressionlessly down at her and spoke a single world. “Sorry.” She raised her head a bit in response. She looked up at him with the light already fading from her eyes. Instead of looking down at her, he pulled his chin back to view her directly. Their gazes collided head on and something seemed to click together. After a few seconds, Lehrer’s lips formed a voice too quiet to make out. “Hazel?” Alfred silently stood up when the name she spoke wasn’t his. He said nothing at all. But Lehrer smiled while facing him. That smile shook as her body slowly began to collapse. The right arm propping her up on the railing gave way and the rest of her sank down. As her slender body bent, the bleeding from her chest and side increased. But her face was still turned toward Alfred. Her face had gone pale, but she was still smiling. “Unlike me…you asked Berger to join the AIF.” She collapsed atop the railing. She doubled over and blood left her mouth when she exhaled. But those bloody breaths still formed words. “The thought never even occurred to me.” Still smiling, she shut her eyes. And without warning, she fell back into the waterway. Her gentle momentum spread her arms so it looked like she was trying to embrace the sky as she fell backwards toward the water. When her legs were about to slip off of the railing, white smoke wrapped around her falling body. Then she Altered. Her purple uniform swelled out and burst and a cat fell from within. The gold-furred cat was soaked with blood as she fell into the deep waterway. The splash was horribly small. The cat sank below the surface before bobbing back up to the surface. The current caused the cat to slowly rotate so her tail was pointing forward. By the time she spun back around, her blood-and-water-soaked body was already being swept away. She no longer moved as the current took over. Only Alfred was close enough to the railing to watch her go. He watched until the cat disappeared below the collapsed bridge before he faced forward again. The railing there was covered in a lot of blood. He expressionlessly clenched both fists until they turned white. His right hand held Rein König and his left hand’s middle finger wore a red stone ring. No one spoke to him. The sound of the water flowing rang much more clearly in his ears than the blaring alarms. ### Part 5 A large field existed in the mountain night. It had once been covered by the forest that still surrounded it, but the trees had been cut down and cleared away. It stood atop a flat hill about 100 yards across, a few stumps remained, and an unmaintained mountain road led to it. At one corner of the field, a large silhouette kneeled below a large tree sticking out from the forest. A pair of wings grew from its moonlit black back. It was the Grösse Panzer named Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe was at the very edge of the forest where it wouldn’t be noticeable from the sky at night. Two people could be seen in the grassy area next to Schwarz Löwe. Hazel was seated atop a sundried stump, sobbing and wiping away her tears, and Berger was healing her foot. He had concluded the cotton in the first aid kid wasn’t enough and instead wiped her foot clean with a pile towel and disinfectant. He commented on the cut to her right big toe. “It is healing, but your tension and the freshness of the wound are the only reasons you aren’t feeling any pain. Once it dries, it will hurt every time you move your foot. …Hey, don’t get scared and pull your foot back.” She shrugged and gave in, sticking her right foot out toward him. He once more grabbed the bottom of her foot about halfway up and cleaned off each of her toes. There was an occasional stiff pain, telling her she had several smaller nicks on her foot too. But beyond that, it also felt ticklish to have a cloth rubbing at her nails and toes with more strength than she could have managed. She had been crying a moment before, but now she was afraid she would start laughing. “First you suppress tears and now you suppress laughter? It’s always something with you, isn’t it?” “B-but…but Lehrer…” “Come to think of it, I’ve been in this position before.” She thought about it and quickly realized what he meant, but he gave the answer first. “When we first met, I put some sandals on your feet. Did it tickle then too?” “No, it didn’t back then. …I’m surprised you still remember that.” “You remember it too.” She nodded just once. She did indeed remember it well. … I wonder if Lehrer remembered it? “Um, Berger?” “What?” “Why did the Messiah sleep for a thousand years?” “Why do you think?” Before she could consider it, Berger finished cleaning off her foot. “Your hand,” he said and she held out her right hand. Her coat’s sleeve was rolled up to the elbow and the arm was stained red from when she had bandaged her foot. He rubbed with the towel to clean off the dried blood. It smelled of disinfectant alcohol and she felt the chill of it taking effect. While he cleaned off her right arm in what felt a lot like a massage, she thought about his question and spoke her thoughts aloud. “According to the Geheimnis Agency…the world continues to repeat the last thousand years and hasn’t made any progress.” “And it sounds like keeping that loop going is your job, Hazel. According to Lehrer anyway.” They exchanged a glance at this first exchange of information. They both looked a bit surprised. … Did she tell him everything? “I see.” He nodded. “Sounds like we both know Lehrer’s identity and most everything else too.” “Yes. The only thing I don’t know is why Lehrer chose to sleep for a thousand years.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, his left hand grabbed her jaw. “Don’t move. You have blood on your cheek.” That was from Lehrer’s slap. Him rubbing that dried blood off with the towel reminded her of Lehrer, which nearly made her cry again. But she couldn’t even open her mouth with his firm grip on her jaw. He responded to her with a look of disinterest. “So the thing that baffles you most is yourself? Join the club, Hazel.” She gave him a puzzled look as he finished cleaning off her cheek and tossed aside the towel. Then he grabbed both her cheeks. “~!” He tugged on them and they stretched surprisingly far. He even moved his hands up and down. “So you want to know why she slept for a thousand years to wake up in our time?” He took a breath. “Remember what her Titel is, Hazel Mirildorf.” She gasped. … Oh. “Isn’t that all you need? Besides, we don’t even know if she’s really dead.” He tugged down hard on her pinched cheeks, forcing her to nod. “I see. So my answer was good enough for you. Makes sense since I’m the second best advice-giver in the world.” He let go and her cheeks snapped back to normal. “Hyah!” She held her cheeks and poked at them, feeling how heated and elastic they were. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have been stretched out permanently. She felt a tiny prick of pain on the inside of the right elbow she had bent to touch her cheek. She cocked an eyebrow curiously and straightened out her right arm to see the medical charm on the inside of the elbow had come off. The injection site below was a bit red and swollen from all her running around. She noticed his eyes on that spot. “Did you bring the ampules?” “Yes, but only one.” They both spoke at once after she gave that answer. “Then you take it, Hazel.” “So let’s each take half.” They both felt confident in their answers, but then they noticed what the other had said. After a moment, Berger frowned in the moonlight. “What possessed you to give the world’s stupidest answer?” he asked. “Because we both need to leave this country. I’m not wrong.” “I’m the one who isn’t wrong. Do I need to strip you and make you cry again?” “You’re welcome to try, but I warn you I will win in the end.” She looked him dead in the eye with eyebrows raised. He started to say something, stood up, and said something else instead. “Hey.” “What is it?” “The effect would be greatly weakened if we only took half. Maybe we could leave, but we might end up in a coma or have half our body blown away. Why do you want to leave that badly?” “So I can return again.” She pulled the Wheel of Destiny card from her coat pocket and showed it to him. “I don’t think Sylphide is dead, so I will leave the country and then return to Germania with Pale, Corelle, you, and the rest of the AIF.” She thought of Lehrer and the Geheimnis Agency commander as she continued. “I’ve made up my mind. No matter what happens, I will not let anyone go through such an unpleasant experience again.” She gave a deep nod, more to convince herself than anything. “I won’t let anyone think they have no choice but to endure it.” She stopped there. She could see Berger tilting his head. He sighed, looked away from her, and brushed a hand through his hair. “There’s no convincing an idiot they’re wrong, is there?” But he held out his right hand. “Give me the ampule. I’ll go first and you can have the rest.” “Are you serious?” She was legitimately surprised by this and he gave her a cold look. “Why do women get so suspicious when you do what they want? Would you prefer I refused?” “S-sorry.” She remained seated with her knees up as she pulled the ampule case from her coat pocket. He took it from her outstretched hand, opened it, and let the moonlight shine on the contents. “Not broken this time. Good job.” He pulled the syringe out with his right hand, removed the cover from the tip, and artlessly injected half of the contents into his neck. He quickly pulled it out to ensure no blood flowed back into the cylinder that still contained half the serum. “Here.” He placed it in the ampule case and handed it back to her. “It’s kind of creepy seeing you do what you’re told,” she said. “Do I need to inject it into those needlessly big boobs?” “No, thanks.” She politely refused and then injected the ampule’s contents into her inner right elbow. She suddenly felt a tremor running along her spine. Her body tensed for just a moment and the needle wouldn’t come out. “–––––” But then it came out. She frowned a bit. “Seems like it works.” Berger wiped the sweat from his brow. “We’re both carrying only half of it in us. If we leave Germany, there will be some kind of change to our bodies.” “But we can both leave, right?” “We can. And then…we can give this all a lot of thought and return to Germania with the AIF.” He sat down in the grass, placing his eyes a level below Hazel on the stump. “Hey, Hazel. Can you do one thing for me?” “What’s this all of a sudden?” “Fix your gown.” He tugged on the bottom of the hospital gown she wore. “If you don’t hold it in the back of your knees when sitting with your knees up, people can see-” She knew what he was getting at, so she hit him in the face with the ampule case she was holding. ### Part 6 A single contrail hung in the sky above the Hamburg base. It drew a straight line to the south. Below the cloud, lights were gathered around a waterway bisecting the base. The white lights were different from the warning lights. They revealed the waterway to be badly damaged. The concrete sides were broken and the bottom was torn apart and spewing mud, but the water itself flowed cleanly around the wreckage. The lights from above shined on something like a bridge. That was the border with the outside of the base. The large fenced bank at the end of the waterway was half destroyed and something like a long T-shaped bridge lay there with its bottom end soaking in the water. That was actually the wreckage of a blue and a black aerial warship. Both were 30 yards long and they had similar designs. The black one spanned the waterway like a bridge and was motionless. The blue one was stabbed into the black one’s belly. Combat engineers moved around and shouted to each other in the light. A large silhouette joined them in the light. The enormous green Grösse Panzer was Karl Schmitt. A woman climbed down from his shoulder, spoke with a nearby combat engineer, and gave Karl instructions via hand signal. Large trucks equipped with wires and suspension equipment arrived after him and lined up alongside the waterway. They worked with Karl to first lift the black craft. A Grösse Panzer transportation truck arrived with additional cargo space installed and drove to the center of the light. Everyone was on the move. Except for the one person who remained motionless. The woman in a Geheimnis Agency uniform was Lowenzahn. There was no one in her immediate vicinity as she brushed a hand through her hair and watched the recovery of the two aerial warships. Then someone walked up behind her. “Hellard?” Her eyebrows bent into a smile as she looked back to find… “I apologize for not being who you wanted to see.” The pencil-thin elderly man in a Geheimnis Agency uniform was Bermark Vier. He held a hand to his chest and bowed before taking a look around. There was no one else close by. “I sent Sir Elrich and Sir Witzmann to the old headquarters like you wanted.” “So the usual process.” Lowenzahn breathed a sigh of relief. “They will learn the truth, but they can’t bring it back with them. They can, however, leave if they manage to survive all of the battles the Messiah fought.” “We forced this upon them, but I imagine those eternal students appreciate a further opportunity for learning.” “Probably so,” said Lowenzahn, turning back toward the two aerial warships. “Sending in Erlkönig may have been a mistake. I’m not cut out for this kind of work.” “I cannot say much of anything since I did not see what happened.” “Where is Captain Hellard? Have you seen him?” “I did earlier. He, Sir Heiliger, and Sir Müller are preparing to evacuate Hamburg before the Allied bombers arrive. He fears a repeat of the tragedy at Cologne.” “And the lieutenant who also witnessed Cologne is doing something else entirely.” She pointed into the sky with her eyes still on the aerial warships. There was a contrail there. Bermark’s eyebrows raised slightly when he looked to the sky. “Did he pursue the Messiah on his own?” “Bermark, how much does your brother understand the lieutenant?” She lowered her pointing hand. “The woman named Eryngium Ilfheim said she didn’t want to run away and she was killed to protect Dog Berger, who tried to let her run away. She was 21 at the time, the same as the Messiah now. What do you make of this?” Bermark’s answer was simple. “I am a soulless Sein Frau, so I cannot answer that.” “But your brother did not go with him. Your brother is superior, Bermark.” Her words were interrupted by a loud splashing and mechanical noise. Karl had descended into the waterway. His large silhouette moved in the lights. The combat engineers on his arms attached padded wires to Erlkönig. Lowenzahn saw the wires supporting Erlkönig go taut. “Bermark. Rapidly build a repair line for Erlkönig and Sylphide in Germania’s 3rd level factory district. You should be able to repair Sylphide using the parts recovered from the North Sea and the undamaged parts of this one, so do whatever it takes to have them both repaired by the 23rd.” “Fräulein, I can understand with Erlkönig, but Sylphide might turn against us.” “But when the Nibelung turns and Hazel Mirildorf arrives in the past, she needs more than the one-armed young man with her, doesn’t she? We must have Sylphide ready for her.” She smiled bitterly. “Hazel Mirildorf will come to Germania on the 23rd. Probably to stop the Nibelung. But I will make sure she keeps it turning. Because that is the only way to preserve this world.” “I see. Then I will keep Sylphide deactivated and stored in the shielded isolation room on Germania’s lowest level. In that emergency isolation room that can only be reached by taking a VTOL craft down through 18 barriers.” Karl grabbed Erlkönig’s belly and began lifting it, producing a metallic sound, With the assistance of the wires and his colleagues, his arm slowly lifted Erlkönig. But his arm stopped shortly thereafter. Then the people supporting Sylphide from the bottom of the waterway got to work. The lights turned toward Sylphide. The blue craft wasn’t just bent in half – it had damage and corrosion in places. However… “It still looks clean. Does that show how well it was cared for? This is awful, really. This is the first loop when Sylphide and the Messiah were reborn in the modern world.” “How does it usually work?” “In the past worlds, the Messiah disappeared somewhere along with the one-armed man. Once Sylphide’s reactor died and its self-repair function died along with it, it was buried where it rotted away. There wouldn’t have been anything to dig back up. Only some poorly-made plans left below Karlsruhe land as Ober Geheimnis.” Lowenzahn nodded and turned away from the waterway. “The world is approaching destruction. I must reveal the true meaning of the Panzerpolis Project tonight.” “Protecting Hamburg comes first. That is always how it begins, isn’t it?” “Yes. The bombing of Hamburg is a test for the bombing of Germania on August 23. It will also scare the military into increasing the output of the dome and further boosting the Vaterlands.” “The only real difference from the previous loops is the Allies will be using this bombing to acquire intel on an air route to Germania they can use for their ACBS loaded with the new bomb developed on the data we gave them.” “It will all work out if I can use my Beweisen to capture the Messiah on the 23rd and if that ACBS arrives on schedule.” “Yes, it will all work out,” she repeated to herself before walking off. She looked to the east where a white umbrella of light could be seen near the horizon. “Things have changed, but tonight I will make the necessary corrections and then stop lying to everyone. Bermark, tell everyone tomorrow that the final prophecy is the 1st Section of the Moonlight. I’m sorry,” she said. “But I’m going to use you for my lies. After I enter Tristan, I imagine Captain Hellard will ask how I made my prophecies if my Ober Beweisen is used to boost Tristan.” “What should I tell him?” “That’s simple. Lie and tell him I can make prophecies on my own – no machines necessary.” She couldn’t look Bermark in the eye as she walked past him. “I need one other person to lie for me too. I need someone to convince the others that the destruction of the world refers to the collapse of Germany from the anxiety Tons, not to the Nibelung.” “Would that be Sir Heiliger?” “Yes. It would be too difficult for everyone otherwise. The more the Geheimnis Agency works to protect Germany, the harder I must work to have Tristan extract the Spacetime Tons. Meanwhile, the Allies will be sending so much anxiety our way. If we play our role, the Allies play theirs, and the Messiah plays hers, the Nibelung will continue turning. That is the natural outcome and I will respect that.” She sighed and stopped walking. “We are only trying to protect those close to us, but our presence causes the enemy to wield a great power against us. That is exactly what happened to Graham and Rose.” She pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket. The folded paper held an ear of golden wheat. She stroked the wheat with her finger while repeating a line from the 1st Section of the Moonlight. “A wall separates the pair, hm?” She looked up into the sky where a white contrail cut across the dark night sky. ### Part 7 The first in the forest clearing to react to the approaching threat was Schwarz Löwe. It was kneeling and something like a pulse began to sound from its stomach. The next reaction came before the first mechanical heartbeat was over. A white light appeared in its sight devices. By then, Berger had noticed something was up while Hazel threw small rocks and such at him. “Hey, Haz- gwoh!?” A larger rock hit him in the jaw and he nearly fell over. Then Hazel also noticed something was odd about Schwarz Löwe, so she dropped the rock she held. “Ah! L-look, Berger. Schwarz Löwe is doing something.” He clearly wanted to say something to her, but they didn’t have time. He turned toward Schwarz Löwe and directed his gaze toward the metal stomach the pulse was coming from. “It’s reacting. The experimental Eingeweide device installed in it is reacting to its original owner’s approach.” He was proven right when something dropped from the sky. With a blast of wind, a deafening roar, and the color white, something was now standing on the field. “Neue Kaiser!?” Hazel’s words were answered by the pressurized wind of its landing racing across the field. A white Grösse Panzer now stood on the field. Its metal body produced a wind. That wind carried the scent of the summer grass and night dew, the chill of the night, and the smell of metal and oil. It all raced past Hazel and hit the forest. The trees shook, the leaves rustled, and the sleeping birds and other animals took flight, began running, and made lots of noise. Hazel wasn’t sure how to react, so she turned toward Berger. However… “Berger?” He was gone. She frantically looked left and right, hoping to find him. “Where are you looking? I’m up here.” He was up on Schwarz Löwe’s secondary cockpit. He had just opened the hatch and he was glaring at Neue Kaiser. She followed his gaze to view Neue Kaiser as well. The large Grösse Panzer had six wings on its back and held a sword. It remained entirely motionless with its Panzer Kleid blowing in its own wind. The moonlight palely shined on the movable white armor installed over its armored clothing. Someone stood on the shoulder armor. Berger looked up at the person and asked a question. “Why are you here, Alfred?” “For answers. About 8 years ago and about the Messiah’s purpose.” The wind carried his scratchy artificial voice over the long distance between them. He slowly raised his left hand in front of his chest, placed his right hand over that, and pulled the red-stoned ring off of his left hand’s middle finger. Then he slowly held his right hand out to the side and tossed the ring away with a flick of his wrist. He threw it toward Hazel. The red gleam flew in straight line and hit the edge of the stump she had been sitting on earlier. It bounced up about 2 yards with a light clink. But it landed back down on the stump. The red gleam settled down near the very center of the tree rings. “You too, Berger,” said Alfred. Hazel looked to Berger. He gave Alfred a furious look but then nodded. He removed the red pendant from his neck, the chain making a quiet jangling. With the pendant in his hand now, he did not hesitate to throw it toward Hazel. She frantically held out her hands and caught it. … So… She wasn’t sure what to do, so she tried saying something. “Um.” “Don’t move.” “Just watch.” She was cut off by a pair of responses. After some hesitation, she sat back down on the stump. Then Berger called out to her. “Hazel.” “Y-yes?” “What will you do? 8 years ago, I tried to let Eryngium run away and I lost her.” After the shortest of moments, she shook her head. “You should know my answer. It hasn’t changed.” She took a breath and placed a hand on her chest. “I don’t want to run away.” “That’s what I thought.” He narrowed his eyes and then turned back toward Alfred. “Alfred, do you want to see the answer we reach?” Alfred did not respond. That silence bothered Hazel, so she turned to observe him. She found him looking at her. … Eh? But after her reaction of surprise, he looked away. He narrowed his eyes, turned back toward Berger, and asked a single question. “Have you been training?” After a pause, Berger answered the simple question. “I have.” “I see.” Alfred nodded, shut his eyes, and descended toward the secondary cockpit. He intended to Schreiben into the Panzer. Berger slipped into his own secondary cockpit and his voice reached Hazel from beyond the hatch. “Don’t worry, Hazel Mirildorf. 8 years ago, I thought I was the best in the world at everything.” After the span of a few breaths, Schwarz Löwe raised Gelegenheit and Neue Kaiser spread its wings and raised its sword Werkzeug. The two Panzers stood at opposite ends of the battlefield and drew lines in the ground behind them with their weapons. “Between these lines, the past 8 years never happened,” said Neue Kaiser. They would not fight in a way that would cross those lines. “Let’s get to it then,” said Schwarz Löwe. The two of them took the first step of a full-speed sprint at the exact same moment. ### 695. Chapter 7: The Ruin Soars 7/24/1943 22:50 – 23:12 The future is supposed to be waiting for us But we know that To be a lie We also know how to break through that lie ### The Allied Bombing Unit The Allied bombing of the German mainland was started on a small scale by the RAF in ’41. They did not see real success until the 1000-bomber night bombing of Cologne in ’42. With the value of quantity proven, America sent their Eighth Air Force to the UK at the end of February of ’42, but they failed to show results due to lack of preparation and an insistence on daytime bombings. This problem continued until they sent in a lot more B-17s, strengthened the B-17s, researched close formations, and included escort craft. The UK and US militaries began joint day-and-night bombings on June 10, 1943, and they bombed Hamburg in July over the course of a week with the US handling the daytime and the UK handling the nights. The bombing of Berlin in August of ’43 was entirely at night, so the US was reduced to backup and the RAF handled the actual bombing. Later, starting in ’44, the US’s Eighth Air Force reorganized and took a more central role. Near the end of the war, they sent in an average of 1400 bombers and dropped more than 3000 tons of bombs on each bombing. ### Part 1 Black and white powers clashed in the dark night below the pale moonlight. The black cutting power was dodged with the speed of the racing wind. The white crushing power was dodged with the nimbleness of the flowing wind. A black roar was released. A white shout was released. The sound and the noise made the air tremble. That trembling grew to a rumble that shook the grass, the trees, the ground, and the forest. ### Part 2 The white dodged the black’s Ober Emblem attack. But the black’s feet rode the wind forward for a second attack. On the first step, its right foot kicked to the right, sending its body to the left. Its wings kept it moving forward all the while. It circled around to the white’s left. Because that made it easier to swing the sword in its right hand. On the second step, it worked to control its leftward-flowing body. Seeing that, the white took evasive action to the right. It slid its feet over out of the black blade’s range. The black took its third step. It used that step to stop all of its forward momentum. It stomped the ground hard. Its momentum tried to push it forward, but it swung its sword from the right, twisting its body around to the left on its heel. It rotated its ankle and stuck its knee out to lean into the turn. The bent knee lowered and thus stabilized its stance. Its ankle motor cried in protest of the inertial weight pushing past the joint’s movable range. But that didn’t matter. With its lower body stabilized, it turned its hips to the left, leaned its upper body over, and completed its turn. This produced a rapid slash of its sword. It raced along a horizontal line, making a shrill sound more like a whistle than just slicing the air. But the white backed away and dodged it. The black blade produced a shockwave. “!” The white responded by throwing its left fist forward quickly enough to break the sound barrier. An explosion of water vapor surrounded the fist and then it extended its fingers to pierce straight through the shockwave launched by the black. The air ruptured. With an atmospheric scream resembling tearing paper, the white’s hand jabbed toward its enemy which was holding its black sword in a follow-through stance. The jab was aimed for the enemy’s unguarded side. The black immediately raised its left foot behind it. Its body still carried the great momentum of its weight, as well as its rotational movement. By standing only on its right foot, the momentum would make it spin. It threw a rear roundhouse kick. A heavy crash and sparks flew. The black left leg had repelled the jabbing white hand. The black continued its rotation and kicked off the ground to put some distance between them. It used its wings for some shallow flight. Then it faced forward. The white was pursuing. They were 5 yards off the ground with less than 10 yards apart. Air exploded from their backs. “!” Their swords clashed. Black and white sparks flew. Their swords were locked and pushed at each other with equal force. They both accelerated more to push back the other. The white flapped its six wings and the black made full use of its dragon-like black wings. They both raised their voices. They roared. Their roars instantly joined together and their power ruptured between them. The black blade shattered and the light surrounding the white sword burst. With a sound much like shattering glass, white and black lights scattered, illuminating or darkening their surroundings before vanishing like fading fog. They both tore deep into the grassy ground as they landed. The instant its feet were on the ground, the white charged toward the black. ### Part 3 ### Part 4 White and blue wind Lives collided before Hazel’s eyes as she hid behind the stump. The battle between 10yd metal giants was too fast for her to follow with her eyes. She had to hide behind the stump and follow the battle with the wind and the Aerial Words she could hear. The line Berger had drawn in the ground was located in front of the stump. The wind told her of the battle being fought past that borderline. It told her the two were evenly matched. … Berger. This wasn’t like in ’39. He could fight on his own now. “You’re going to settle this without my help, aren’t you?” But she held the ring and pendant in her hands to keep the wind from blowing them away. Her hands were sweaty, but she squeezed them tight, refusing to let go. ### Part 5 Neue Kaiser ran. Gelegenheit’s blade was shattered by a Bust attack from behind. In the scattering black light, Schwarz Löwe took evasive action. A new blade grew and sliced through the air. Schwarz Löwe vanished within arm’s reach of Neue Kaiser. But… Neue Kaiser moved right up alongside Schwarz Löwe. “!?” Schwarz Löwe cried out in surprise and Alfred’s voice shouted from Neue Kaiser’s voice device. “You cannot escape me!” Schwarz Löwe launched a swift attack. Neue Kaiser dodged but did not move away. Schwarz Löwe fell back and actually faced Neue Kaiser head on this time. They shouted their Erklärungs. They both paused for a moment. They both rushed toward each other. Schwarz Löwe took a few steps and swung Gelegenheit up from the hip. Neue Kaiser planted one foot in front of the other and swung its sword down from above. Both Grösse Panzer shouted as they made use of their full strength. “Berger! Why not use your Ober Beweisen!? Or how about getting her help!?” “You’re the one that isn’t even using his Ober Emblem!” The rising and descending curves broke the sound barrier and drew out a cloudy trail to reach the other. The twin trails of cloud collided just before that could happen. The clang of metal on metal accompanied two things flying into the sky. The first was Neue Kaiser’s Werkzeug. The other was Schwarz Löwe’s attachment staff for Gelegenheit. The Werkzeug spun several times through the air before stabbing back down into the field with a sound like splitting rock. Gelegenheit clattered solidly down onto the field. The two shifted immediately from their follow-through stances to jumping backwards. They moved about 10 yards apart and spread their wings. They readied their now weaponless arms, opened their mouths, and roared. The white and black wings gathered air. The wind blew in a spiral around them and the black one raised both fists and its voice. “Full drive – max power!” Light began to race across Schwarz Löwe in response. The Ober Emblem’s armor transformation filled in all the gaps. The Ober Emblem hadn’t been fully activated, but now it was. The wind wrapped around it as it roared. “Activate full barrel mode! Begin full drive!” Neue Kaiser did not activate its own Ober Emblem. It only raised one hand. “Come.” The white Grösse Panzer’s wings lifted as far as their movable range allowed as it beckoned. The black one responded by charging forward. ### Part 6 Schwarz Löwe had grown a small horn and it sent out its fists in straight-line attacks. It didn’t just use its footwork to assist the alternating right and left swings. It flapped its wings to put some real weight behind the attacks while keeping the footwork light. It unleashed a flurry of attacks. Neue Kaiser responded with evasive action and its own metal fists. The ultra-hard fists collided or were swept aside with elbows, scattering metallic noises and sparks into the wind. Neue Kaiser took a single step forward to place its full strength behind its fist. Its upward-swinging elbow sliced through the air, producing a shockwave that tore a line into the ground. Schwarz Löwe dodged the flying shockwave blade by a few feet to the left and used that time to move as far forward as it could. Neue Kaiser swung up both its arms. A pair of shockwave blades shot out, tearing through the ground like it was slicing through the clouds with its wings. The summer grass scattered and the dirt flew as the ground was audibly split. Schwarz Löwe chose to break through the center. The shockwaves broke its shoulder armor, tearing into shoulders that had become partially biological thanks to the Ober Emblem. But it leaped forward nevertheless. It passed through the valley between the shockwaves. It all came down to a series of instants. Neue Kaiser used its leg thrusters to slide backwards, so Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings once to extend its leap and threw a downwards kick like it hoped to stab its leg into the ground. Neue Kaiser slid further to dodge that kick. It aimed for the moment Schwarz Löwe landed, but Schwarz Löwe forced itself to rotate on its downwards-kicking right leg to throw a roundhouse kick with its left leg. Its right leg groaned in protest, but the black semicircle caught Neue Kaiser who had stopped sliding to begin an attack of its own. The kick hit its right shoulder. It didn’t do much damage, but it did bring Neue Kaiser to a full stop. Schwarz Löwe swung down its leg and charged in. It unleashed all the power stored in its back to not give Neue Kaiser a chance to react. An explosion of air launched the nearly 30ton machine forward. Its raised fist and the rest of its body broke the sound barrier and continued to accelerate. Its right first slammed into Neue Kaiser’s chest. It produced a heavy sound of impact. The force of the blow and the impact cracked Schwarz Löwe’s right fist. But it didn’t care. It had seen Neue Kaiser lift off the ground a bit. It used the acceleration from its back to throw its left fist. That fist cracked too, but a crack formed in Neue Kaiser’s chest armor as well. “–––––!!” Schwarz Löwe continued punching, not hesitating to unleash a flurry of attacks. Neue Kaiser drew out a line on the ground behind it as it was pushed back. Schwarz Löwe pushed forward. It increased the force of the right-and-left full-body punching motion, hitting its enemy with the shockwave more than the physical blow. The ground was already tearing away and Neue Kaiser was pushed back along a ground containing nothing but dirt exposed by the shockwaves. The sounds of mechanical movement were answered by the sounds of metallic impacts. More and more heavy attacks were sent out from below. Just as Neue Kaiser lifted from the ground, the thick layer of hair on Schwarz Löwe’s back vanished. They had already reached the ends of the field. Schwarz Löwe was about to send the final attack toward airborne Neue Kaiser’s chest. Only the primary armor remained there and Schwarz Löwe prepared to send its right fist there. “!” The attack sounded like a cannon blast. The fist broke the sound barrier, a white umbrella of vapor spread out around the wrist, and the air exploded around it. The blow landed, making a nice sound. The chest armor worn over Neue Kaiser’s Panzer Kleid was obliterated and the primary armor below was dented in the shape of a fist. With a loud sound like spraying water, Neue Kaiser was launched toward the sky. But it did not end there. Without warning, Neue Kaiser released all of the air gathered in its wings. “You amateur!” It instantly brought its airborne body back to the ground. It circled in front of Schwarz Löwe which was crouched in its follow through to the upwards punch. Neue Kaiser stood up and made a powerful flap of its wings. It rushed forward and clashed with Schwarz Löwe, placing the black Panzer on its white shoulder. It easily lifted it. But that wasn’t all. With Schwarz Löwe on its shoulder, Neue Kaiser leaped up and grabbed Schwarz Löwe’s neck. It soared forward with its feet off the ground, its forward acceleration instead coming from its wings. “Weren’t you supposed to be the best in the world 8 years ago!?” Neue Kaiser used its top acceleration to slam Schwarz Löwe into the ground. With the acceleration provided by Neue Kaiser blocked by that wall of dirt, Schwarz Löwe’s metal screamed and it bounced hard. The black Ober Emblem shattered and scattered as ether light. Schwarz Löwe’s remaining momentum tore a rut into the ground for several yards as the Ober Emblem vanished. The black biological armor it wore was stripped away. All that remained in the wind and moonlight was a black Grösse Panzer with smoke belching from all across its body. ### Part 7 Neue Kaiser left Schwarz Löwe behind as it glided several more yards and then landed. The line Berger had drawn on the ground was a few dozen yards ahead of it. Past that was the stump that was tilted after the wind dug up some of its roots. Beyond the stump, a woman stood alone, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. Neue Kaiser viewed her and then itself. White smoke was leaking from the gap between its chest and stomach. But… “So this is your answer.” That was all it said because the wind blew behind it. “!?” It turned around to find Schwarz Löwe had gotten up and was charging forward without its Ober Emblem. Its broken right fist flew out. Neue Kaiser gathered its strength and intercepted the attack with its own right fist. The fists collided and produced a sound like shattering rock. Both of them were sent flying. They ended up about 20 yards apart, but that was nothing for a Grösse Panzer. They stared at each other, their gazes seeming to audibly clash. A moment later, the Panzers themselves clashed. They threw attack after attack, broken fist colliding with steel fist, elbows flying, and jabs intersecting. Schwarz Löwe roared. The impacts were growing louder. They grew so frequent they melted together into a single loud noise. All of that sound vanished without warning. They had both swung their bodies to dodge the other’s fist. They both raised their right fist to try again. They swung their fists using the momentum of returning from their evasive action. They raised their voices in what could have been a roar or a scream. “–––––” They both stepped forward, lowered their hips, and leaned forward, their fists capturing the other’s face at the point of greatest impact. Their fists landed at the exact same moment. The lighter Schwarz Löwe was blown backwards with a “!”. The heavier Neue Kaiser collapsed backwards with a “!?”. Schwarz Löwe intentionally landed on its left shoulder and rolled to protect the wings on its back. But Neue Kaiser planted a foot behind itself and stopped its fall. With what almost sounded like a sigh, Neue Kaiser placed its cracked right hand over its face. Its shoulders rose and fell like it was out of breath and its eyes dropped to Schwarz Löwe lying face down. Schwarz Löwe could still move. Its almost completely destroyed left arm and right leg were trembling. Neue Kaiser slowly readied its fist, but then it looked down to its feet. He stopped moving. A woman stood down there. ### Part 8 It was the Heidengeist woman. Neue Kaiser’s gaze had dropped to where Hazel Mirildorf stood. But it wasn’t just looking at her. The step back it had taken had crossed the line Berger had drawn. “–––––!” Neue Kaiser gasped as Hazel ran between its legs. She ran toward Schwarz Löwe attempted to get up from the ground. Once she reached it, she turned around to face Neue Kaiser. She spread her legs, planted them firmly on the ground, and spread her arms protectively in front of Schwarz Löwe. She looked up at the white Grösse Panzer with angry eyebrows and tears in her eyes. “That’s enough. You already crossed the line between the past and the present.” Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a breath. “Or do you plan on repeating the past?” ### Part 9 Neue Kaiser froze in place. Schwarz Löwe also froze halfway through getting up. Hazel didn’t move either. The three of them preserved their silence and stillness, but after the span of three breaths, something other than them moved: the forest. The birds in the dark forest squawked and took flight. And not just from their immediate surroundings. “Eh!?” Hazel looked up into the sky where so many specks were flying around in a frenzy it looked like someone had thrown a fistful of sand. Their voices were loud, hoarse, and incessant. Birds were flying from the forest covering all the mountains surrounding them. The flapping of their wings and the rustling of the shaken trees drowned out all other noise. Hazel could see the Lives of fear and panic. The birds were trying to escape something. … But what? She saw the answer in the northern sky beyond the soaring birds. A dark river flowed through the sky. The river was far larger than the one of birds and it stretched for far longer. Hazel had seen this before – last year in Cologne. When a thousand bombers flew together, they would create a single silhouette from a distance. “The bombing of Hamburg.” Her words seemed to push Neue Kaiser to action. The white Grösse Panzer took solid steps past her and Schwarz Löwe. It approached its own sword stabbed into the edge of the field. Schwarz Löwe got up as well. Hazel turned toward it and saw it kneeling with the secondary cockpit hatch opening. Schwarz Löwe said nothing. Neither did Neue Kaiser. Neue Kaiser reached its sword and pulled it from the ground. Then it slowly turned around, pointed the sword toward Hazel, and spoke. “Why do you insist you will not run away and why do you protect destiny?” Hazel kept her protective position in front of Schwarz Löwe as she answered the question coming from beyond the blade. “Because that is my way.” “Even if you lack the strength to back it up? Are you okay with dying as long as you can protect someone else?” “I have no intention of dying. But I don’t want to lose anyone else either.” She worked to calm her breathing, lowered her head, and got the words out the best she could. “I don’t want to lose anyone, so I will not run away and I will not let them die!” As soon as she was finished, Neue Kaiser swung down its sword. ### Part 10 The powerful sword slash did not hit Hazel. It stabbed deep into the ground next to her. The tip split the borderline with the past that Schwarz Löwe had drawn in the ground. “So that is the answer to 8 years ago and the purpose of the Messiah who will guide our power.” With that, Neue Kaiser’s motors whirred as it slowly spread its wings. The six white wings spread and fully extended themselves with a smoothness very unlike a machine. They emitted their wind straight down. Hazel saw the movement of the wind. She could see the air around them gradually gathering toward Neue Kaiser’s wings. The blue Lives leisurely flowed past her feet and tangled around Schwarz Löwe’s limbs as they moved toward the white Grösse Panzer. Its wings bent as they accepted and stored the gathering air. With a loud noise, the six wings chose not to restrict the gathering air and instead let it swell out but never escape. The air flowed into the wings where it was compressed. Hazel heard the cold whisper of the night air gathering and being released. The wind blew in from the northern forest, producing rustling ripples through the trees. The night sky was red to the north. The bombing had begun. The wind formed from the explosions and heat was racing across the sky to reach them here. That wind blew at Hazel’s hair and she moved against Schwarz Löwe’s left side. Her bare feet stood on the dirt as she hid behind Schwarz Löwe and viewed Neue Kaiser. The white Grösse Panzer spread its wings and looked straight up into the sky from the center of the wind swirling through the clearing. Hazel also looked up to see the blowing wind altering the air currents to form a spiraling updraft that the birds used to draw out a large circle. The ring of birds left a blank hole in the sky where she saw a single light. That was the moon. The crescent moon floated in the center of the circle of birds. “––––––” Just as her attention turned to the moon, a powerful wind blew in. But this wasn’t an ordinary gust of wind blowing in from the distance. It was the intimidating wind of a powerful presence in the sky. A white shape flew in the sky above, wrapped in wind. The white Grösse Panzer flapped its wings and produced a wind that shimmered with heat while it ascended straight toward the moon. Hazel’s coat flapped in the wind spread out across the field. “Berger!” “I can hear you. I’ve got to be in the second worst shape in the world, though.” Hazel frowned. … It must be bad if he’s saying that. The damage must have gone behind his broken hands. The joints and motors were probably acting up as well. However… “Hop on, Hazel. I need your help if I’m going to keep up with him.” Her shoulders jumped at Schwarz Löwe’s line and she started to say something. But when her eyes met the glowing sight devices, she shut her mouth. She nodded just once. Strength returned to her drooping eyebrows. She could tell she probably had a funny look on her face, but she still opened her mouth and asked a question. “Berger, what are we going to do about him?” Schwarz Löwe’s response was simple. “We pursue him.” ### 696. Chapter 8: The Ruin Rises 7/25/1943 02:03 – 05:51 Whether I can see anything Or not I know there is something That I must do ### Current Movements in Europe Map bottom left box: Map of Europe Top left dot: London Top middle dot: Germania Top right dot: Stalingrad Center dot: Paris Bottom dot: Sicily Arrow from London to Germania: Allied Bombing Route ’43 marked the end of World War Two’s middle phase. In February ’43 on the Eastern European front, the Soviets earned a victory in German-occupied Stalingrad, giving them a foothold for retaking Kiev and Leningrad as well. In May ’43 on the North African front, the Germans surrendered after a long battle in El Alamein. This restricted Germany from the east, letting the Allies shift their focus to Western Europe. Occupied France was the primary issue in Western Europe, but the government in exile and the Resistance worked for two years to assist the Allied landing in ‘44’s Operation Overlord. In July ’43, the Allies landed in Sicily and Mussolini fell from power in the German ally of Italy. They surrendered in September, but the stationed German troops fiercely resisted and progress was slow. At the time, the Allies had pushed back Germany’s outward expansion, but they had trouble with the German resistance on the European mainland. They were in fact fighting while searching for an opportunity to strike back against all of Europe. ### Part 1 Hamburg was burning. The bombers released chaff to hinder any counterattack and they focused on taking out the antiair guns and interception bases around Hamburg as they bombed a long strip through the city. It was a big city. It was dotted with factories that produced bearings and other parts, so not even a bombing group of 1000 could destroy the entire place in a single night. The first night was meant to clear a route for the later bombing groups to reach the city. The bombers’ payloads were mostly divine spell bombs intended to destroy the buildings on the interception bases, so they had few incendiary bombs too. The bombs whistled down and shattered the city. The downpour of bombs literally blasted holes in the old, stone city. Fires burned across the city, smoke marred the sky, and sirens blared. The entire city screamed into the sky. Some were in a position that let them hear that scream and see the disaster. They were on the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg base in the dark forest on the outskirts of the city. Bombs did fall on that base too, but if Hamburg was considered the star of the show, then the base was being treated like a bit part. The aboveground portions of the base’s buildings were hammered by the bombs, but the underground portions weren’t so easily damaged. The Geheimnis Agents had already removed all the supplies from the main facilities and temporarily placed it in the underground areas before they left to evacuate and assist the people of Hamburg. The Hamburg base only had a small runway for emergencies, so they could not launch their interceptors. An antiair group led by Karl and his Drache Kanonen were firing from the surface and trucks were being sent out after being transported from below by elevators. But two men faced each other at one point of the base, neither one evacuating or attacking. They were Heiliger and Alfred. Several armored transport trucks were lined up behind Heiliger. Only Neue Kaiser and its broken chest armor was behind Alfred. The base’s main gate was behind Neue Kaiser. Heiliger stared at the white Grösse Panzer and its pilot and he spoke without forgetting about the bombs falling from the sky. “Lieutenant, I will only say this once: clear the way. We must evacuate Hamburg’s citizens.” Alfred said nothing. He only spread his legs a bit and stared at Heiliger. Heiliger frowned and a bomb landed to his left. With a sound like a cracking whip, something on the ground ruptured and rubble flew into the sky. Heiliger glanced over at it. “Have you forgotten what we learned at-?” “At Cologne last year?” Alfred stared straight at Heiliger, sighed, and looked behind the other man. A few Geheimnis Agents got out of the armored trucks lined up there. They were clearly worried about the falling bombs, but they walked in unison to gather behind Heiliger. Alfred kept his unreadable expression, but he did glance over toward Hamburg. The city, with its river appearing black in the night, had smoke rising from it as it burned. “This is Cologne all over again. And from what I heard earlier, this bombing will last nearly a week.” Someone else shouted over at Alfred, as if to drown out his voice. “Alfred!” It was Schweitzer. The large man parted the crowd to move out front. His prosthetic arm moved the people in the front row and his enormous body followed. He gave Heiliger a momentary look before stepping out in front of him too. “Where is the Messiah!?” “Our battle isn’t over yet. But it has shifted from the past to the present.” Alfred did not even look at Schweitzer when he answered. Schweitzer took a few more steps to reach Alfred’s right side and grabbed Alfred’s collar with his left hand. He pulled him in close and started to say something with eyebrows raised. “Forgive me,” said Alfred. Alfred seemed to spin quickly to the left and then he swung his right fist with all his might. Schweitzer couldn’t block the blow with his left hand on Alfred’s collar, so it hit him hard. After a pause, Schweitzer fell to his knees. “…!” He let go of Alfred’s collar, but his hand managed to grab the man’s shoulder instead. Alfred brushed off that hand and looked only at Heiliger. “What did Graham say at Cologne? It sounded to me like he said we should protect the people.” “Lieutenant, those very people are dying in Hamburg as we speak.” “If we rush there now, we can only save a handful of them. Is that all you can do? Is this your idea of atonement after failing to lift a finger when your own wife and daughter – two more of Germany’s people – were taken to the Heidenheim?” “Lieutenant!” Alfred brushed off that shout with a laugh. “If you don’t like that idea, then how about this one? You’re treating all of us like fragile dolls as atonement for losing Graham and Rose at Cologne. You refuse to do anything that might risk injury or death in battle.” “Do you have a problem with that!?” That shout coincided with a bomb landing on Neue Kaiser’s left shoulder. Hot shrapnel flew out and poured down on them all like a red firework. Alfred snatched a shard of red-hot metal out of the air as it fell in front of him. He squeezed the smoking fragment in his hand. “A Neue Kavalier is wasted if they cannot take any risks.” And… “A Neue Kavalier should protect the people and slay their enemy no matter the risk.” “But what good are they dead? A dead man protects no one!” Heiliger took a step forward. Alfred spread his arms in response. The scorched and smoking piece of metal rested in his hand. He met Heiliger’s gaze head on and spoke with absolute conviction. “You hope this fight will kill you, don’t you?” Then he looked to the Geheimnis Agents standing behind Heiliger. “You’re all too afraid to fight. Is that because we’ve done nothing but chase after the Messiah? You think it takes a special chosen one to protect the world, don’t you? You think the world will end without that chosen one to protect us, don’t you?” None of them answered. His questions were met by silence and stillness. He ignored that and looked to the sky where the deadly rain continued to fall. “Neue Kavaliers who don’t see death as one possible outcome deserve to be abandoned by the Messiah. We are supposed to become her power, not fear it.” He looked back down, his blue eyes staring straight into Heiliger’s brown eyes. He threw the piece of metal at Heiliger. Heiliger’s Tragisch instantly moved, catching the metal in his right hand. “Lieutenant, what do you hope to accomplish here?” “I will destroy the enemy flagship. That should confuse their chain of command long enough for you to evacuate the people far from the city.” “Is that your way?” Alfred said nothing. Heiliger looked to the metal in his hand and then sighed. “Lieutenant.” “Yes?” “Why do you fight?” “Sir. Last year, it felt to me like your brother and sister were asking if any of us Neue Kavaliers really possess the strength to fight and protect the weak without letting any harm come to them.” Heiliger looked up at the uncharacteristic formality of Alfred calling him “sir”. Alfred smiled. “I’m going to show the Messiah that we don’t need her to protect our country. But…” He looked to the others. “I also want to show her that we still want her with us to help us save the world.” Alfred turned his back on them. He looked up at Neue Kaiser just once and then at the large man kneeling next to him. “Schweitzer.” “…?” “I will be back.” “!” Schweitzer tried to get up but grimaced in pain and doubled over. Alfred began walking away and Schweitzer’s Der Held reached out toward him. “––––––” But it couldn’t reach. Alfred kept walking and a few other footsteps joined him. Hearing that, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. The folded paper contained a golden ear of wheat. “One day.” His smile grew when he saw the wheat and he spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear. “Once day. I swear it.” ### Part 2 An aerial aircraft carrier’s bridge had gone silent. The bridge was illuminated by the moon in the sky. Everyone there wore gray uniforms – the uniforms of the AIF. No one said a word while their gray added another color to the pale blue moonlight and darker blue shadows. The only noises were the blowing wind hitting the bridge and the ship’s own sounds. Everyone’s eyes were turned the same direction: east. They looked through the blast-resistant glass surrounding the bridge to view the eastern night sky. They could no longer see the bombers in the subzero air. Then one person on the bridge moved. The communications officer by the wall raised his head. “The flagship is moving out front! We are changing formation!” His voice was directed toward the captain’s seat located at the raised rear of the bridge, but the captain and aide there were joined by two others. A large man and a short woman sat on the edge of the raised platform for the captain’s chair. They were Pale and Corelle. Corelle sighed and clicked her tongue. “So that flagship plans to spend the next week commanding this bombing while gathering data on air routes to Germania. I bet the Allies hope to use that to launch their ACBS.” Once she was done talking, the flagship moved even further forward. Then someone moved on the bridge again. The same communications officer as before suddenly stood up with his hands against his headphones. He looked to the others and started to say something. “––––––” But then he turned back to his communications equipment. “What is it?” asked the captain. “We’re receiving a transmission using standard encryption on the AIF’s ordinary communications band.” He fell silent for a few seconds more, but then he straightened his back and stood tall. “It’s from the Schwarz Löwe! Hazel Mirildorf is contacting us from the Schwarz Löwe!!” ### Part 3 Hazel heard Corelle’s voice from the communicator in Schwarz Löwe’s secondary cockpit. They held a conversation. She was using a throat microphone and headphones, so while the signal was staticky, none of the local noise got in the way. Corelle asked for her current location and time. “I think we’re almost to the North Sea. The time is 3:17 AM. Dawn should come soon.” “Then it will be morning bey the time you reach us, Hazel,” said Corelle through the headphones. “Can you hear me too, Berger? It’s about time for the German interceptors to pick a fight with tonight’s last bombing run. They’ll use the morning wind.” “The wind?” asked Hazel. “When the sun shines on the North Sea, a foggy wind sweeps in from east to west. They should use that fog for cover. Make sure you aren’t caught by them.” Hazel nodded. Of course, Berger was the one piloting, but he hadn’t said a word this entire time. … He must be really tired. She knew he had another reason for his silence too. Schwarz Löwe was traveling back along the route the bombers had taken to travel north over Holland, but she was feeling more and more chilled the further they got from Germany. … Because of the Lives. She was certain now their bodies would not break apart. The serum would prevent that, so they could last at least a few days outside the country. … I need to speak with so many people about so many things in that time. “Berger. We need to reach the others.” “We have something else to do first.” For the first time this entire flight, his voice reached her over Schwarz Löwe’s speaking tube. Her eyes widened in surprise, but then she heard him laugh weakly and raise his voice to a shout. “Here he comes! It’s that supreme idiot!” ### Part 4 The sky purpled with the approaching dawn while Neue Kaiser flew alongside Schwarz Löwe with about 200 yards between them. A blue and red Panzer and five attack craft followed behind. The Neue Kaiser sliced through the wind in that relative position and looked to Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe stayed facing forward, not bothering to look Neue Kaiser’s way. But Schwarz Löwe did ask a question. “What do you hope to accomplish?” “I will bring down the Allied flagship. You will lose if you do not stop me. If we can delay your side long enough, we can set up a defensive bombardment that will scatter your forces.” “So you aren’t going to cut us down?” “The Messiah said she would not run away. That is enough for me. I will leave her with you for now.” Then Neue Kaiser flew out ahead. It seemed to rocket forward through the air. “Hazel Mirildorf! Watch and you will see the power of the knights meant to guide you!” It flapped its wings, producing a roar of wind that struck Schwarz Löwe while it left them behind. An Erklärung rang out. “Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Neue Kaiser – Ober Beweisen – Begin.” The power to conquer, the power to defend, and the power to transform Each is a distinct power But the power to bind them all together Is always found with the Emperor as the fourth agreement Neue Kaiser began to glow. Bluish-white light surrounded its armor while it changed form. This was its Ober Emblem. Light surrounded its six wings and they transformed into a white dragon wings. Schwarz Löwe followed after it in silence. It used its actions in place of words. Its broken right hand held Gelegenheit at the hip. An Erklärung seemed to respond to that. “The Messiah rides the winds of destiny.” Immediately, Schwarz Löwe was carried by a gust of wind. It soared in harmony with the wind while Neue Kaiser used its wings to break through the wind. Schwarz Löwe’s acceleration grew and Neue Kaiser called back to it. “Follow me!” ### Part 5 Voices shouted back and forth on the AIF aircraft carrier’s bridge. “Two crafts approaching from 30 miles away!” said the communications officer. “A German one out front and Schwarz Löwe in pursuit!” Pale stood up and checked out the window. The flagship floating in the eastern sky was backing up toward them. Very rapidly. An instruction came from the captain’s seat. “Descend to 6000! The flagship will be passing through this airspace!” Light raced out as if in response to that shout. One of the escort ships positioned at a radius of 20 miles out had fired its long-range antiair cannon. Pale frowned. “That long-range one isn’t gonna hit.” “I’m more worried about Hazel and Berger,” replied Corelle, still seated at his feet. “I need to greet them up on the deck.” She stood up and gave Pale a “what about you?” look. “I’ll stay here. The battle might fall apart, so we’ll send the ship to an intercept position.” “You’re such a workaholic.” Corelle smiled bitterly and walked toward the passageway from the bridge. The communications officer shouted from behind her again. “The enemy craft and the Schwarz Löwe are headed for our fleet’s defensive line!” ### Part 6 Neue Kaiser suddenly accelerated. It was headed toward the group of interceptors up ahead. The fat gray planes with a black line painted on the top were P-47 Thunderbolts. They were the latest model, just put into service. There were a lot of them, but Neue Kaiser intended to break through the center. It accelerated forward and broke the sound barrier in only a few seconds. Water vapor exploded and a white umbrella ruptured in the purple sky as the white Grösse Panzer flew forward. The wind roared. Behind it, Schwarz Löwe also accelerated. The black and white broke through the air and raced forward with only a moment’s time lag between them. The white continued to transform in front of the black. It was evolving. Its Ober Emblem used the pilot’s willpower to give its body the most suitable form for the battlefield. Its armor grew sharper and its white wings grew larger and longer. It flew. It flapped its six metal wings, blasting the wind behind it. It flew forward. White vapor trailed behind the sharp points of its armor, forming clouds. The white Grösse Panzer drew out its own path with clouds. Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings more quickly to try and catch up. Its armor groaned and the frame below audibly bent. It was approaching its limit. Both of them had long since passed their intended top speed. But the enemy was coming all the same. Up ahead, a formation of four planes approached from the left. Their circling path would allow them to attack and immediately escape. The bullets arrived as soon as the four started showing their bellies. In that instant, Neue Kaiser vanished within a white shadow. Its supersonic maneuvering had changed the momentum and shape of the front shockwave and the air around it had burst. It fully spread its wings and blew away the bursting air while raising its own voice. “Ah.” With that voice, it swung a giant pillar of light to either side. The attack was made before the bullets could even arrive and it was more than 100 yards long. It blew away the enemy bullets and the four enemy crafts that were showing their bellies as they began their turn to escape. The Thunderbolts’ bonds crumbled and a few armor panels stripped away. They were all slapped by supersonic air resistance and inertia. They tumbled backwards and broke apart. Their engines broke from their frames, their wings broke off at the base, and they simply fell apart in the sky. Neue Kaiser swung its sword again to break through the raining components and continue forward. “Sir Alfred!” shouted the red Grösse Panzer behind it. “Stay back, Nein! You be my witness! Witness to the fact that I showed the Messiah the power needed to guide her!” Neue Kaiser did not look back. Nor did Schwarz Löwe. The wind stood in their way like a wall, but they flew through it all the same. Several long-range antiair Drache Kanonen fired at them like pillars of light. The beams audibly scorched the air and passed either in front of or behind them. Nevertheless, Neue Kaiser accelerated. Its wings responded to the speed by evolving. All so it could continue onward and bring down its enemy. A Drache Kanone arrived on a collision course from dead ahead. “Ahhhhhhhhh!!” The white sword sliced through it and the dragon light turned to spray. Neue Kaiser shouted without slowing. “Berger!” Hundreds of white lines were drawn in the sky ahead as the enemy bullets flew in. These weren’t from long-range weapons any longer – they were midrange divine spell bullets. “Watch carefully!!” Neue Kaiser flapped its wings. With the first flap, it suddenly launched upwards. It tilted forward in midair, placed its left hand on empty air, and then spun forward. It performed a flip similar to a cartwheel and fully spread its six wings. Wind erupted from the wings as the white Panzer performed its supersonic flip. Once its feet were below it again, it took a crouching landing stance. In that upright position, it flapped its wings to resume accelerating. “––––!” A great wind rushed out as it more ran than flew toward the incoming bullets. Smoke burst from its overworked leg and hip thrusters. It used his still-evolving wings to glide through the sky and then twisted as if sliding to the side. “Come!” Schwarz Löwe roared. Both Panzer’s flew right into the barrage. Neue Kaiser used its legs to spin, sway, and slip past the countless destructive spears. It bent its upright body to just barely remain untouched despite its large size. It looked like a dance. Behind it, Schwarz Löwe focused only on the bullets arriving from head on and escaped them using its speed. It twisted its body, swung its arms, tilted its body, and twirled. Its armor groaned and the inertia of its spiraling movement damaged its left arm. The arm that corresponded to Berger’s prosthetic arm broke halfway up. It used a single flap of its wings to correct its attitude. The two Panzers used their speed to continue forward. They passed through the barrage of bullets. Behind them, the bullets collided with each other and exploded. The explosions made a lot of noise, but that noise couldn’t keep up with them. They left the wall of light behind them and raced through the sky. They couldn’t even hear the blowing wind. Hazel simply used the radio to shout the name of what she saw in front of them. “The flagship!” They were less than 10 miles from it. Neue Kaiser flapped its wings. Schwarz Löwe’s armor creaked and groaned as it tried to catch up. Neue Kaiser’s Ober Emblem gathered ether around its broken chest and created new armor there. Neue Kaiser flew, accelerated, and evolved while Schwarz Löwe shouted and accelerated. But the two Panzers were beginning to pull apart. Little by little, Neue Kaiser was moving further out ahead. Close-range antiair fire flew in from the flagship. The gunfire’s control mechanism was used to predict the target’s trajectory, but the two Panzers flew too quickly for the mechanical calculations to keep up. The antiair fire covered the stormy sky, but none of it could catch up. The entire flagship came into view. Left behind by Neue Kaiser, Schwarz Löwe narrowed the light in its sight devices. The view of the flagship had suddenly grown much clearer. That was thanks to the sunlight. Dawn had arrived. The sunlight shined bright in the sky above the flagship and shined on the six-winged machine out ahead. Then an easterly wind blew in. That was the morning wind. The sunlight spurred the air into motion, getting the entire sky to move as a powerful wind. First, the wind blew in a white fog. The damp North Sea air was shaken, producing thin clouds. That instantly produced a wavy ocean of clouds below them, blocking their downward view. “Berger!” shouted Hazel. “I haven’t lost it!” The flagship disappeared into the mist, but Neue Kaiser knew where it was. As did Schwarz Löwe. Schwarz Löwe blasted the fog backwards and whipped up a powerful wind as it raced forward. Ahead, Neue Kaiser glittered in the sunlight shining up through the clouds. Its white color had changed to a faint gold. That color came from the sunlight shining on it through the fog. It was dyed by the foggy sunlight as it raced above the fog. ### Part 7 Hazel looked out ahead by linking her Messiah eye to Schwarz Löwe’s vision. Neue Kaiser was pulling further ahead with the sky growing blue overhead. That blue sky sat above thick fog instead of solid ground and that fog was dyed in the color of warm sunlight. Several waves ran through the golden fog spread out below Neue Kaiser. Hazel confirmed it all using Schwarz Löwe’s vision. Neue Kaiser was flying above the flat expanse of gold. “The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north / The knight descends as a knight.” Hazel gasped and Schwarz Löwe roared. Her vision suddenly shot forward. She also saw Gelegenheit’s black blade sticking out in front of her vision. The golden coloration up ahead was erased. The fog disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. And she saw a giant metal ship below. The white Grösse Panzer raised its sword and a white power gathered in the blade. “Messiah and Destiny!” shouted Neue Kaiser. “We will one day be your power!” The last-ditch antiair fire from below missed its mark. That was when Schwarz Löwe caught up. It prepared to fight in midair, but its right leg finally succumbed to its accumulated damage and the air resistance, so it broke off at the knee and scattered parts through the sky. But Schwarz Löwe still managed to swing Gelegenheit. Just then, Neue Kaiser looked back toward Schwarz Löwe. Its face was now covered by armor that looked half dragon and half machine and the light of its sight devices weakened slightly. “–––––” Without a word, it detached its wings and left them behind. “No!” Hazel flinched back when she saw the six wings expanding in the center of her vision. Gelegenheit’s attack slammed straight into the center of the wings. The white Grösse Panzer had sacrificed its wings before flying straight down toward the flagship’s bridge. Directly above the bridge was a blind spot for the flagship’s antiair fire, so none of the frantically fired shots could hit Neue Kaiser. Neue Kaiser forcefully raised its sword Werkzeug. Then a single beam of light shot up from below, piercing Neue Kaiser’s chest. ### Part 8 The light came from below the flagship. It came from the one and only sub dragon cannon loaded on the AIF aircraft carrier that had descended there. After being pierced through the chest, Neue Kaiser was briefly frozen in place, so the surrounding escort ships concentrated their antiair weaponry on it. Neue Kaiser raised its voice just before all that firepower could reach it. “Ah,” was all it said. That voice produced a bright light, sent a great power racing out, and instantly obliterated the flagship bridge below it. A deep roar shook the air, the flagship shook, and then a second roar burst into the air. The concentrated antiair fire had hit Neue Kaiser, causing it to explode in the morning sky. The gunfire ceased, the wind calmed, and the Grösse Panzer produced two deafening explosions in the otherwise quiet air. Nothing remained in the sky except for the lingering noise. The sun rising in the east shined on only one Grösse Panzer now. The black Grösse Panzer missing its right leg and left arm was Schwarz Löwe. It lowered its head and stayed entirely still in the chilly wind. It hovered there all alone. ### Part 9 A single low noise filled a deep cylindrical pit. It came from the walkway at the very top of the Babel Cannon base inside Tristan. She sat on the Babel Cannon’s control panel. The same control panel with the hole left by Tragisch on its left side. She was not alone. Heiliger with his two prosthetic arms stood in front of her. “The evacuation of Hamburg is mostly complete…but Neue Kaiser has yet to return.” “Does Captain Hellard intend to wait forever for the lieutenant’s return to Hamburg?” “Are you saying he is dead?” asked Heiliger, his head lowered. “Yes, unfortunately,” replied Lowenzahn. “And he taught you so much.” She smiled and changed the subject. “Anyway, your incompetent commander failed to capture the Messiah last year and allowed her to escape this time. What’s my punishment?” “…” “You need to set an example. And only the second-in-command has the right to punish the commander.” “What are you suggesting I do? I was there when you were born.” “I have my reasons for this.” Lowenzahn got down from the control panel, her feet sounding on the floor. “Listen carefully. Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen boosts Tristan’s power.” “–––––!?” The hem of Heiliger’s coat swished as he turned toward her. She did not look back his way and took a step forward. “Connect me to the machine beyond the glass above this control panel and Neue Erde becomes a piece of Tristan and not just a piece of me. Did you know that?” “Is that what you want as a punishment? To be made into a component for Tristan?” She took another step. And another. “You do know the Allies are planning to send anxiety Tons into Germany, right? What if I told you that would begin a scenario leading to the end of the world?” “A scenario?” She did not answer that question. She only pulled a memo pad from her pocket. “I have something neat to show you: the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project.” She handed that to Heiliger and took another step. He viewed the memo pad that had a pale gray cover. Its edges were filthy and worn. When he opened it… “The prophecies.” “Yes. That contains all of my prophecies…and my corrections to them.” “What does that matter?” “Think about it. What if I wasn’t really the one to prophesy them? What if I just copied them from somewhere else and tried desperately to correct them as things changed?” He frowned and viewed the memo pad again. He noticed the date on the very first page. “1926.” “The year my mother died. The mother who you, Graham, and Bertecht fought over before losing to my father.” She took yet another step, arriving in front of the railing. The wind from below blew at her hair. “My mother apparently made a promise with the four of you long ago. A promise very similar to one in the Unreif Germane.” “…” “She wanted you to remain true to yourselves.” He looked up from the memo pad to view her. She did not look back. She kept her hands on the railing. “If you are still keeping that promise, then the world will correct itself. If you read that through to the end, you will know all too well what is about to happen to the world. And why I must be made a part of Tristan.” “Lowenzahn.” She looked back with confusion on her face. He looked her in the eye. “Are you saying these prophecies were made by…?” “Yes, they were made by my mother.” “By Frobel!?” “Yes. Because I wasn’t a prophet. Because I was just an ordinary girl.” She didn’t hesitate to respond and she leaned back against the railing. He fell silent and she smiled at his unreadable expression. “I told Hellard I was through lying, so I’ll tell you the truth.” She took a breath. “Before my mother died, she left all her future prophecies with me. She told me it was my duty to ensure they came true. She said that would save the world and it would ensure everyone took good care of a weak and sickly girl like me.” “I don’t believe it…” He rubbed his other hand through his gray hair. “You don’t have to believe it, but Graham and Rose both knew about this.” “…!?” “They tried to do something to change it and failed. They fought back against destiny and failed to change anything. They fought to protect people and only ended up hurting people. …But what will you do, Heiliger?” He did not answer her. He remained silent. Seeing that, she relaxed her expression. She sighed and leaned even more against the railing. “Again, you don’t have to believe me. I know you’ll play your role either way.” “How can you be so sure?” “My mother said so. She said Heiliger Karlsruhe is a man who will obey the destiny assigned to him. Check those prophecies. They even predict you losing your wife and daughter.” She smiled bitterly. “She told me not to tell you about it even though I knew it was coming. She said telling you would throw destiny off track and bring ruin to us all.” She looked away from him and faced forward to view the control panel. She looked through the glass window installed on the wall above the control panel. It was 1 yard wide and 2 yards tall. “My mother also prophesied that I would go in there.” “And you want me to do it?” She shook her head. “No. She wasn’t that cruel to you. That’s the one thing she didn’t ask of you. …Read that memo pad, Heiliger. Then you will understand everything.” She swayed her upper body away from the railing behind her. She doubled over and sank down. “Sigh.” Then she stood back up and leaned back again. “I’m so tired.” She kept leaning until she started to tilt backwards. “So tired of guiding everything toward the answers my mother gave me.” She did not stop her tilt. She moved past the railing, her long braided hair trailing after her. Her body slipped fully past the railing and her legs followed her into the abyss. “Lowenzahn!” Heiliger reached out his hand, but she did not grab it. She simply fell. She looked back up just once, meeting Heiliger’s gaze and smiling. Her braid came undone and her hair spread out in the air. The long hair slowly drew out a spiral as it spread and fell. He grabbed the railing and started to call out to her as she fell. But… He raised his sweaty head. “An Erklärung!?” No one answered him, so he took a look around. There was no one here. Only him. He quickly looked down to his hand, but the memo pad Lowenzahn had given him was no longer in Tragisch’s hand. “…” He took a deep breath in and out. He gathered the tension in his body as he took another look around. He let out a gradual sigh, but still he saw no one. “Lowenzahn.” His voice was drowned out by a sudden low noise. The deep, low noise came from the Babel Cannon base in front of him. He reflexively jumped a step back and then saw a memo pad sitting on the control panel. It was the same one Lowenzahn had given him before. “It can’t be…” Sweat dripped from his brow to his chin. He slowly looked up to the glass window above the control panel. Through the glass, he saw thick metal and plastic pipes lined up like internal organs. He did not see Lowenzahn there. But he did see something odd growing from between the forest of pipes: a hand. It was a slender feminine right hand. The full forearm and hand stuck out from the slight gap between two pipes to reach toward the glass surface. The skin was pale and glossy like waxwork. That was Lowenzahn’s hand. When he saw it, his body crumpled below him. “–––––!” He had to place his hands on the control panel to stay standing. The edge of the panel dented in with a dull metallic sound and the memo pad fell to the floor, but he did not look down. His eyes were glued to Lowenzahn’s hand held out toward the glass surface. Something odd sat in its palm: an ear of wheat. She held a single ear of golden wheat. Deep sounds began to fill his surroundings, causing the wheat to vibrate slightly. Tristan was having its power boosted. Heiliger opened his mouth among the deep rumblings. “I see.” He viewed the wheat not with anger or sorrow, but with a smile. But that smile was not just an ordinary smile. His eyebrows drooped and he hung his head while he smiled. He repeated the same words as even more rumblings permeated his surroundings. “I see…” He placed his prosthetic left hand on his right shoulder, looked down, and saw the memo pad on the floor. Tristan gave an even louder cry in front of him, but he ignored that and said one more thing no one else would ever hear. “Must everything I love vanish before my eyes?” ### 697. Final Chapter: The Ruin Arrives 7/25/1943 06:00 – 06:04 For now It appears my personal battle has begun Several commotions were underway in the morning sky. The Allies’ Operation Gomorrah bombing group was in disarray. They were working to rescue the survivors from the now bridgeless and sinking flagship, but they were also working to regroup their formation with their chain of command destroyed. One small area remained still within all that movement. The stillness was on the deck of the AIF aircraft carrier. It was centralized on the black Heavy Barrel kneeling on the deck with the AIF members forming a circle around it in the cold air. That Barrel was Schwarz Löwe. It had lost its left arm and half its right leg, leaving it nearly destroyed. However, the hatch to the secondary cockpit on its back popped open. The air inside formed a mist when it contacted the air at this altitude, but the wind soon swept that away. A blonde woman in a black coat emerged. That was Hazel. She looked back inside the secondary cockpit just once before silently descending to the deck amid the chilly wind. Her leg gave out beneath her when she landed, so Corelle ran over to help her. “Are you okay, Hazel!?” “I-I’m fine. But Berger needs help!” She looked to the entrance of the secondary cockpit above her. … He still hasn’t released his Write Bring! He was taking too long. She suddenly lowered her head and viewed Schwarz Löwe’s damage. It had lost so much. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. She stood up from Corelle’s arms and took a look around. Some of the AIF crew were running over with a blanket and such, but… “Please! Can’t someone get Berger out of there!?” “C-calm down, Hazel!” Corelle held her tight and Hazel tried to fight it. But Corelle held her even tighter, keeping her from moving. She gathered all of her strength and looked to Schwarz Löwe. There was no light in its sight devices. She panicked and the emotion left her as a shout. “Berger!” She was immediately answered by a voice from within the secondary cockpit. “Oh, shut up.” The quiet voice drained all the tension from her shoulders and then a dark figure emerged. It was Berger. He had only quickly thrown on a shirt and black combat pants and he took a look around before dropping down to the deck. He slowly looked around again and then looked to her. Their eyes met and she immediately broke from Corelle’s arms. “A-are you okay!?” She ran over to him. The chilled deck felt so cold blow her bare feet, but she didn’t care. Just before she reached him, he collapsed forward. “–––––!!” She reached out on reflex and caught him. He felt so terribly cold and heavy. She sighed and then felt something warm on her face. It was blood. Now that she was close enough, she could see several red lines running from his head to his chin. He also felt horribly unbalanced in her arms. She tried to hold him tighter, but she couldn’t seem to find his left arm. “It can’t be…” She gasped and felt something below her foot. She didn’t even need to look down because her instincts told her what it was. … Blood from his right leg. The wind whipped at Berger’s pants, showing nothing in the right leg. The bottom of the pant leg was heavy with the blood soaking it and the wind slapped it against her leg. A coughing breath left his mouth. Then his actual voice. “Hazel.” She looked him in the face when he called her name. Only then did she realize she was crying. In her tear-blurred vision, his bloody face displayed a small smile with no tension or concern. He viewed her face with unfocused eyes and then closed his eyes like he was smiling. “Are you crying again, Hazel?” Then he slowly collapsed. First his head went limp, resting on her left shoulder. Then the strength left the rest of him, so his weight bore down on her and she couldn’t support him. She fell back onto her butt. Her legs and hips sank into the pool of blood coming from his right leg. He said nothing, so she shouted instead. “Berger!” Her cry reverberated out into the sky and the answer did not come from a person. She heard a mechanical noise as Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices lit up. Then a low rumbling came from its belly. Its voice device spat out a mechanical system message. “Combat record transfer complete – sent from Neue Kaiser to Schwarz Löwe.” Neue Kaiser had sent its combat data to Schwarz Löwe before exploding in the sky. Almost like it was leaving something for the next generation. … Did Berger wait to leave until that transfer was complete? As if to confirm her thought, Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices glowed brighter and it took a kneeling step forward. But its metal body did not last. Its joints broke and it collapsed with its right arm held out. Even as it noisily collapsed, Schwarz Löwe pointed over to a corner of the deck. Hazel turned her teary eyes that way. Two objects stood from the very edge of the deck like gravestones. They were swords. One was the sword Werkzeug that Neue Kaiser had used and the other was Rein König. They were stabbed straight down into the corner of the deck and seemed to be facing each other in the wind. “Oh…” Hazel nodded blankly. She nodded again with Berger in her arms. She saw the two blades shining bright in the morning sun. They shined with a gentle, warm light. ### Closing Statements In July of 1943, around 70% of Hamburg was destroyed in an Allied bombing, but the loss of chain of command early on prevented them from completing a test of the burning effects of their incendiary bombs. The Allies decided to hold a midsize bombing of Germania on August 23 of the same year to prove they had Germany in checkmate. As part of this operation, they planned to send all the world’s anxiety Lives back through the ley lines and into the Vaterlands. They worked out their plans so the peak effect would occur on August 23. They also planned to launch their newly-developed ACBS to destroy Germania’s dome, but after negotiations with the AIF, who had many German members, they agreed to cancel the ACBS launch if the AIF could bring down the dome before it launched. Meanwhile, the Geheimnis Agency revealed that their commander Lowenzahn Naylor had been installed as a mechanical component for Tristan on Heiliger’s orders. Now, who can prevent the ultimate mistake – people or machines? That answer will be found in Germania, the Panzerpolis version of Berlin. 7/25/2001. On the morning a girl made a fateful decision. -Michael Schrier ### 698. Afterword And with that Panzerpolis – Berlin has ended. This was a fairly indulgent book for me, but I managed to get through to the end. Now that I think about it, this was my first series. I only managed to do this thanks to all of you, so thank you. I’m so glad I got to write this. (Really, that’s the main thing I keep thinking.) Meanwhile, I can’t seem to contact H-kun by email. I wonder why. I can only come up with weird speculation for such a weird friend, so I paid another friend an unexpected visit last night. “So what’s up with H? I can’t get in touch with him.” “Oh, you hadn’t heard? He broke his arm so he’s not on the internet.” “Huh? How’d he manage that? Lose another fight? Pathetic.” “No, that’s the thing. He works in a similar business to you, right?” “Now that you mention it.” “He apparently finished some big job in his room in the middle of the night, so he went out to the convenience store for a late-snack to celebrate.” “Okay.” “It was late and he wanted to get home quickly, so he took a shortcut on the way back. You know that park near his home?” “I do. Did he get into a fight there?” “No. There was one of those things in the middle of the park. You know, a swing machine with an elephant on a giant spring. Gween gween (SFX).” “Is that the sound it makes?” “It’s close enough. Anyway, he must have gone a little crazy because he climbed onto the elephant and started grinding it (not the right term) for about ten seconds. Now, we’re talking about a guy approaching 30 going all out, so the elephant’s angle was going down past horizontal.” “Get to the point.” “So you see, he had a lot of momentum built up, but it turned out the thing didn’t have any brakes.” “They generally don’t.” “He tried to swing back the other way to stop himself, but he only shifted the motion vector diagonally. He still tried to make it work, but he was getting tired, lost his grip, and launched himself into the air.” “Oh?” “He apparently landed headfirst in the nearby sandbox and found his right arm was bent at an odd angle. I didn’t have anything better to do and checked the place out the day before yesterday, but the sandbox is 4 meters away from the elephant.” “I can see how flying that far would break your arm. But now I really can’t ask him to do the afterword.” “Why not use this conversation?” “Oh, that’s a good idea.” Was it really, though? Anyway, thank you for sticking with this for all five volumes. If you read it again starting from ’37, you should see a lot of connections and motives you missed the first time, which could be fun. Now, what I’ve been working on lately. Zeon City – Tokyo and Image City – SF are publishing alternately in the bimonthly MediaWorks novel magazine Dengeki hp. They’re a lot more lighthearted but still have the same Cityness, so check them out if you have time. My background music this time was the Messiah Chorus from Handel’s oratorios. I was listening to that the entire time I wrote the final battle. I was listening to it again today while editing, but I was also wondering: “Who will have the toughest time from here on?” Okay, we’re finally going back to modern times next time. We’re flying all the way to Detroit for that one. June 2001. A humid morning. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu Page With that, we managed to get it finished. That’s good. Is it good? Until next time. -Satoyasu ### 699. Part 1 The light inky sky was damp and colored by a misty rain and heavy air. The inky color gradually darkened as the rain grew heavier and the night arrived. The sky looked so much like blurry dark waves and the vague shapes of dark mountains covered the earth. The weight of the gray sky and white mist pressed down on the many slopes of that vast land. Concepts as vague as the misty rain and dark night were gradually taking over this world as night fell. But one notably unvague thing traveled from the ground and into the sky: a sound. Something in the forest sounded a lot like stone hitting stone. It was a gunshot. The bang of the bursting gunpowder echoed through the mountains and spread through the mist. Its lingering echoes rattled the misty air and mixed with the other sounds in the air. The deep sound rose into the rainy sky where water burst and the rain grew stronger. The rain fell on a narrow mountain path running between the forest’s trees. A single person was running down that rainy path. The woman’s long blonde hair was a mess from the rain and she held a white sword in one hand. Her eyes were different colors. The left one was a brown feline eye and the right one was a blue human eye. Both eyes were facing dead ahead and the mouth below it was busy releasing white breaths into the chill of the misty rain. She stared at her own white breaths for a moment and then smiled bitterly. “But it’s only August.” She kept running. Her footsteps were light on the wet dirt and she ran softly across the ground by kicking off with her toes. A sign was carved into a tree on the side of the path, naming this place. “Borderson. Armed conflict isn’t allowed in this land.” She removed the poncho she wore over her clothing and wrapped her sword in it. She covered the plain white sword in the forest camo green, giving it a long package. The hem of the poncho swayed loosely past the end of the sword. She checked her pockets for something to tie up the hem with. The choker around her neck and a red gem pendant spilled from the collar of her inner clothing. She tugged on the choker’s string, but the rain-wet cloth had gone tight and she couldn’t get the knot undone. “But I can’t use the pendant. It’s too important.” She put the red gem back in her clothing. She hesitated a moment before continuing the search and pulling out dog tags on a thin chain. She quickly wrapped the chain around the package and used the dog tags as a clasp to hold it in place. The wet dog tags caught the light, revealing the name carved into them: Hazel Mirildorf. Hazel held the tightly closed package under her arm and nodded. … Only I came down with the chill of a Live disease three days ago, so I went to Germany first. They would meet up again in two days’ time. At midnight of the 24th in an inn on the outskirts of Germania. They had to stop Tristan before the History Lives could begin another loop. According to continued research by the AIF’s prophets, the pressure sent back through the ley lines would cause Tristan to lose control at 3 AM of the 24th and the loop would happen at 4:42. … If we stop Tristan by 3 AM, this world will remain until 4:42. But if they stopped the Wheel of Destiny, the Spacetime Lives would be freed from the loop and connect to the future Spacetime Lives. 4:42 AM was the moment of truth regarding the loop. … There will be a revolution to create a world without the Messiah, but we will finally have a future again. The Allies didn’t believe any of it and had rejected everything the AIF tried to tell them. But they had accepted the AIF’s plan to stop Tristan and were paying careful attention to it. A one-way transmission from the Allies had said the ACBS being used in conjunction with the ley line pressure would be launched at 3 AM. And it would arrive in Germania at 4:42. But if the AIF managed to destroy the dome before 3, the ACBS launch would be canceled. To meet the conditions laid out by the Allies, the AIF was gathering almost all of its forces in Germany. Hazel had intended to spend a day in Borderson and then head there. “But I’ve been on the run ever since I arrived!” She focused on her ears. A new sound had joined her footsteps and the falling rain. She heard running water. Quite a lot of water was flowing by a bit to the right of the path. Her gaze was drawn rightward by the sound. The forest here was thinner and she could see a river of about 20yd across through the trees. The river was fuller than usual thanks to the rain, but its water hadn’t been stained by mud yet. The dark green water seemed to swell up at the surface as it flowed downstream. “If I follow that river over the hill, I reach the Village of Pardons.” Hazel sighed. She broke through the white breath with her shoulders as she continued forward. She removed her eyes from the river to face forward again as well. She saw a bridge through the forest. It was a simple design – two logs placed end to end to connect the banks with a boulder sticking up from the middle of the river. The bridge was hard to see through the mist rising from the river, but it hadn’t been washed away yet. She could still cross. If she ran down the straight mountain path for another 20 yards or so, she would reach the side path to the bridge. Then she heard the grass parting behind her. It was pretty far away, but the rustling of the grass soon changed to the footsteps of someone in pursuit. She frowned. … Someone’s still after me? “They don’t give up,” she muttered, leaping right before reaching the side path. She ran through the forest, taking a shortcut to the bridge. The pursuing footsteps did not enter the forest. They chose to remain on the path. She did not look back. In the shadowy forest, she held her cloth-wrapped sword to her chest and ran along the knee-deep grass and soft humus. She saw the side path through the trees up ahead. As well as the small clearing at the end of the bridge. She sped up, kicking the humus back behind her. Her speed whipped up the wind, shaking the branches around her. The sound of the rain doubled as more drops fell from the tree leaves, leaving a spray of water in her wake. She arrived at this end of the bridge, but then her face stiffened and she stopped running. Two small silhouettes in raincoats were on the bridge made from two logs. One was a small girl down on her knees, nervously watching the river below as she crawled across. The other was a boy taking careful steps in front of the girl to make sure the log wasn’t too slippery. Hazel saw the two of them and they turned around to look at her. The two pairs of eyes within the raincoats widened with surprise and then looked behind her. When she noticed that, she twirled around, her blonde hair trailing behind her. A slender woman carrying a handgun stood at the entrance to the side path leading to the bridge. She aimed the gun with the pale light of the main mountain path behind her. Hazel just about ran into the forest on reflex, but… … The children. She stopped herself and prepared to raise her poncho wrap as a shield. But before she could, a gunshot rang out and she felt an impact in the center of her chest. Before she even felt the pain, she found her feet had left the ground. Her airborne body was first caught by the empty air rather than the dirt ground. And then the water caught her. All of a sudden, she couldn’t see anything other than the inky gray sky. But when she felt a tugging on her back, water splashed high toward the sky on either side of her vision and she heard rushing water. At the same time, the sky seemed to shake unsteadily in her vision and then it was covered by a thick layer of water. The water felt ticklish as it surrounded her cheeks and neck. Her mind resisted the ticklishness and the chill, but her mind was dragged into darkness by shock. Her senses of sight, hearing, and touch all faded away. ### 700. Part 1 Hazel came to. … Hwuh? That noise came from her mind. Her body sat up just fine, but her mind was still woozy. She could see a bright light, she was wrapped in a light pink blanket, and a gentle milky scent came from the blanket. Clarity gradually returned to her mind. She was sitting atop a bed. This was a small wooden room. It had little furniture and the bright morning light shined in through the window to her left. “You seem to be doing well. You slept through the whole night, so are you feeling better now?” The sudden female voice made Hazel jump. Her mind was fully awake now. She turned to the right, wondering who this was, and saw a woman standing in front of the sink on the wall. She held a baby and Hazel recognized her. “Eryngium?” “I thought I recognized you from our wedding last year. You were with the guest Lehrer invited.” Eryngium narrowed her eyes below her long brown hair and the baby in her arms cooed. “I’m getting this girl some breakfast right now, so give me a second. Sorry if it’s cold in here.” That last comment made Hazel look down at herself. She was naked. She shrieked and pulled up the blanket. Eryngium laughed with her back turned. “Don’t worry. I had my husband spend the night with the neighbors, so it’s just me and the kid here. Okay?” Eryngium scooped a spoonful of steaming oatmeal from a pot sitting next to the sink. She put it in her mouth first, chewed a few times, and then fed it to the baby. Hazel held her knees below the blanket while watching it all even if Eryngium had her back turned. And then… “You’re with the Allies, aren’t you? You call yourselves the AIF, right? Lehrer suddenly disappeared about a month ago…so are you here to clean up after that? Or are you using our village as a shelter?” “The latter. Sorry.” And… “Excuse me, but what day is it? You said I slept all night, right?” “It’s the 23rd. Around 7 in the morning I think.” “Thank you. I really did sleep all night, didn’t I?” Hazel shrank down in the bed and thought to herself. … These villagers don’t know what we’re fighting for. History would come to an end tomorrow, the 24th, at 4:42 AM. Stopping the Wheel of Destiny and allowing history to continue would likely allow the damaged Spacetime Lives to reconnect to the future Spacetime Lives they still couldn’t see. When that happened, the revolution carried out before the connection would be applied to the entire world, greatly rewriting the Spacetime Lives so everything fit together. … Without the Wheel of Destiny, the Messiah never would have appeared in Germany. This would change her and those around her, but it would also change Eryngium and others like her. … But they won’t lose anything. Things will only change. She shook her head at the word “only”. The AIF couldn’t think up a way to avoid that and the Allies had thrown it all out as made-up nonsense. There was nothing she could do. She sighed, lowered her knees, lifted up the blanket, and looked at her body. When she touched between her breasts, she felt a twinge of pain and realized something. “E-excuse me. Was I wearing a pendant?” “Check the side table.” She looked to her right as told. A black string choker, the Wheel of Destiny card, and a pendant on a gold chain sat on the wooden bedside table. The pendant’s locket sat partially open, giving a glimpse of the red stone ring inside. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the pendant. However… “Oh.” The pendant was broken. The locket part opened and closed just fine, but the red stone that decorate the outside had broken. The stone now had a hole in the center and pieces had fallen out, revealing the locket portion below. “Is that a good luck charm? Because it saved your life. You were fortunate, so you won’t even have a scar.” Hazel nodded, assessed the damage she had taken, and shuddered. She felt some tension and reached a hand to the brand on her shoulder. Then she realized something else. She knew something important about this woman. … Eryngium should have a scar. But not like this brand. She didn’t know the details, but it had to be true. So she relaxed her tense body and sighed. … I can’t just sit here trembling. Just then, she heard a quiet voice from Eryngium. But it wasn’t Eryngium’s voice. It was a smaller voice that couldn’t even pronounce anything correctly. She looked over to see a small round hand waving over Eryngium’s shoulder. That was the baby’s hand. The small palm stuck up toward the ceiling and repeatedly closed and opened. “There, there,” said Eryngium, turning toward Hazel and swaying gently side to side. She began to hum a lullaby and Hazel breathed a sigh of relief. … I can’t keep fearing scars. She had another thought while viewing Eryngium. … If possible, I hope this doesn’t change afterwards. She knew that was only self-righteous selfishness, so she reached her right hand to the side table and grabbed the choker. The black string was somewhat damp. But that didn’t prevent her from tying it. She reached for her neck, placed the choker around it, and looked back to the side table. If the Wheel of Destiny card was here… “Excuse me. Do you have the clothes this card was in?” “They’re hanging out to dry. It’s supposed to rain again starting this afternoon, so I wanted to get that done sooner rather than later.” “Thank you. I would have liked some underwear sooner than this, though.” Eryngium smiled bitterly. Hazel looked up and saw the baby had calmed down at Eryngium’s chest. That small face without a full head of hair was drifting off to sleep. “Oh, sorry. I’m hogging the bed, aren’t I? Do you need to let that child sleep?” “Don’t worry about it. Or were you planning to hang around the house in the nude?” “N-no, I thought I could maybe borrow a shirt or something.” “Unfortunately, my figure isn’t as nice as yours. I’ve been getting a little saggy of late.” “Oh,” was all Hazel said, looking out the window and deciding not to press further. It was the sunny period between two rainstorms and there was enough of a wind to occasionally rattle the window. … The laundry should dry quickly like this. She heard the bed creak. Before she realized that meant Eryngium had sat next to her, she felt a small voice and a tickling sensation on her neck. The touch to such a sensitive spot made her jump. She turned around in a hurry to find the baby in Eryngium’s arms reaching for the choker on her neck. She managed to hide her surprise and noticed the baby had two feline eyes. … Eryngium said she’s a girl, didn’t she? Hazel looked her in the eye and shook the end of the choker’s string that stuck out some. The baby reached out, trying to catch it. “My, my. You must have an unusual scent.” Eryngium pulled the baby a bit away from the choker and then commented on its black color. “But plain black is unusual for a girl like you. Does your partner like black?” Hazel held a hand to her throat and looked to Eryngium. She knew the exact look on her face: brow furrowed and lips pressed firmly together. … Does she remember Berger? She did not. She hadn’t realized who he was at the wedding last year and Hazel had been able to make some good guesses from the way Berger acted and the things he said. Hazel looked the other woman in the eye. “He…” She nodded and unfurrowed her brow. “Yes, he dresses all in black and I should see him later today.” … His Tune healing finished the other day, so his right leg has fully recovered. She had ended up entering Germany before he came to, so she hadn’t spoken with him for about a month. She would be reunited with him… “On the outskirts of Germania. He will have black wings and a black sword. And I…I will be wearing this choker, whether I’ve turned into a cat or turned back.” “I see.” Eryngium gave a satisfied smile and casually stopped the baby from grabbing the black string and putting it in her mouth. Hazel watched the exchange before asking a question of her own. “Eryngium, do you not like black?” “I know it is supposed to be bad luck. But at the same time, it can be used to hide so many things. Important things that you don’t want people to find.” Eryngium’s gaze turned toward the bottom of the side table. The bottom of the table was a box with a glass door and several things were line up within. Hazel realized what they were. “Black disks.” ### 701. Part 1 The giant metal sheet floating in the sky had two long rails attached. The metal sheet spanning the rails had the letters USIF written in white. It was an aerial aircraft carrier belonging to the US branch of the AIF. At the base of the runway, a preparation crew of around a dozen was moving around the flight deck and a single catapult platform was about to be launched. A black-winged Heavy Barrel stood atop the metal platform. The sleeves of its pitch black armored clothing bore the AIF’s world map emblem and its shoulder armor bore a drawing of a black lion. That was Neue Schwarz. It had a more angular shape than its predecessor Schwarz Löwe and its two wings were longer and larger. The weapon from which Heavy Barrels got their name had been attached as well. A long barrel and an extra tank had been attached to the exterior of the secondary cockpit. The barrel was around 4 yards long. It was attached at the center of the secondary cockpit and it stuck out past the right side of the head to help balance with the rear magazine. Both the barrel and the magazine had their inertial control emblem panels activated and they were making several small metallic noises. Similarly, shimmering heat was rising from the wings and the thrusters within them. Its entire black form looked ready to take flight at any moment. It was kneeled in preparation for launch and a woman stood to its right. The large middle-aged woman looked up at the glowing sight device she could see from her side. “They explained how that Word Rifle works, I hope? It will take four hours and an extra tank to negate the inertial weight. The bullet takes an entire extra tank per shot. You have four tanks, but the barrel probably won’t survive the second shot.” “It’s an unboosted miniature Babel Cannon, right? Can’t I break through the dome or Tristan with this?” “Didn’t they explain that? That thing applies damage to a single point, but the dome distributes that across the entire surface. And Tristan isn’t just the framework used to support that stupidly tall structure – it has a defense barrier similar to the dome set up along its surface. Your job is to blast all the enemies that might stop the others, Berger.” “So I’m just there to set the stage, huh?” said Neue Schwarz in Berger’s voice. “But, Corelle, everyone keeps secrets these days. That idiot Hazel said she took my blood to have a prosthetic arm made for me…but when was this made?” “The AIF helped dismantle and work on Schwarz Löwe in Germany at the end of ’39. Hazel was only trying to get you an arm made initially, but one day she went to M. Schrier with a different request.” “And he had this made? He spoils her.” “Isn’t it a lovely present? All the steel was made with your blood mixed in and the design was reworked from the ground up. Also, Schwarz Löwe’s memories of the battle against Neue Kaiser were included along with Schwarz Löwe’s High Organ prototype device.” “Wait, what? Why don’t people tell me these things? That explains why the stomach feels kind of heavy. Y’know, mechanic teams aren’t supposed to modify people’s gear without permission.” “If they weren’t that way, they never would have made an experimental Heavy Barrel on some girl’s request. Oh, and she paid for the development fees and everything else with a long-term loan. I believe she only has around 800 monthly payments left now.” “Hah. It’s true what they say about war being an economic activity. I see. So everything about it is top class: power, reaction, and the debt behind it. Why’d she have to give me the best when I’d prefer second best?” Corelle gave a toothy bitter smile and kicked Neue Schwarz’s right knee. “Your heart’s not in your bitching today, Berger. Is it that disease’s fault? I mean, you even volunteered to join the fight.” “I just want off this damn carrier. Before the new captain knocks out my back tooth on the other side this time.” “This mission is being led by Pale and our new captain – Oscar Mirildorf, a man who put together a plan that sends his own daughter to the front lines.” “He’s just a doting dad. A guy like him? Sees the front lines as center stage, right under the spotlight.” ### 702. Part 1 The small room’s floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of wood. A single small light shined above the small table by the wall. It came from the pale flame of a rusty Phlogiston lamp. The circular light of the lamp reflected off the wall to illuminate the opposite wall. A single chair and bed sat next to that opposite wall. As did two people. A woman and a man sat with their backs to the wall. The blonde woman on the left and the black-haired man on the right. The woman wore a shirt with a towel over her shoulders. Her lower body was hidden below a blanket. A small object between the two of them weakly diffused the lamplight. It was a wine bottle. Two glasses of red liquid sat next to it and the plate next to them carried fries, salted meat, and a few leaves of boiled cabbage. To the right of the somewhat disturbed food was a silhouette with somewhat squared shoulders. That was the man. He wore a black shirt and black pants and had his legs stretched out on top of the blanket. The wind whistled in and the thick curtain over the window fluttered. The woman turned to look. “Aren’t you glad the inn you destroyed in ’39 was rebuilt?” She grabbed one of the fries and ate it. Berger did the same. “Under a different owner. This place wasn’t considered a part of Germania. But…it was ordered evacuated last year. Looks like Germany doesn’t have anything but empty shells left for me.” “Do you not like this country?” “I don’t dislike it, but I can’t forget what’s happened here either. What about you?” “That’s a good question.” She held her knees below the blanket. “I’m not sure. I lost friends, I was separated from them, I was branded on my shoulder, I had to give up my home, and so many people see me as their enemy, but…but….” “But what?” She couldn’t immediately answer him, but she finally managed it while hanging her head. “But…am I still allowed to like it?” She tilted her head at her own question, but Berger didn’t respond. He sighed, lowered the wine bottle from the bed, grabbed some of the salted meat from the plate, and ate it. “Let’s change the subject.” He shook his head. “Now that I think about it, you really are uncompromising, aren’t you?” “Wh-what is that supposed to mean?” “You said you got this food at Borderson, but it was from Eryngium, wasn’t it? Losing your memories must not change your sense of taste because I recognized this level of saltiness right away.” Her shoulders trembled in response, but he continued without turning her way. “How is she doing? Does she have a kid yet?” “Yes.” “Do you regret reminding me of the past at such a critical point in time?” “…No.” “Then why do you look ready to cry?” “B-because…” She bit her lip once, clenched her teeth, and sighed. After a moment, she continued in a vanishingly quiet voice. “Because I have to do this.” “Which is what I meant by uncompromising. C’mon, dry those tears and eat. We don’t want to leave any.” He wrapped some salted meat in a cabbage leaf and shoved it into his mouth while holding the plate out to her. She unclenched her fists and grabbed some of the meat. “Eat three at once.” She nodded and rolled them up in two leaves of cabbage. He watched her put it in her mouth before speaking. “There’s one thing you have to watch out for with Eryngium’s cooking.” She nodded her head a little while listening to him. When she moved her jaw, a solid crunch came from her mouth. Her eyes widened and he laughed. “She sometimes forgets to remove the bones.” “Th-that was mean.” “Don’t spit it out. Eat it. And remember this.” He smiled and continued with confidence. “You’re the only woman anymore who will turn around when I call her name, Hazel Mirildorf.” She reflexively turned toward him when she realized what he meant. She saw him rub a hand through his hair. “I won’t say it again, so don’t forget it.” She nodded several times with the edge of a cabbage leaf sticking out of her mouth. The movement of her head caused a single tear to fall from her eye. “Hazel, don’t talk or cry with your mouth full. We’ll find out tonight whether the world will change or loop, so try to hold it together until then.” He sighed. “But if this goes well, the world won’t change all that much even after stopping the Wheel of Destiny.” ### 703. Part 1 The rainclouds began to pull away, revealing a palely-glowing sea. The vast sea was created from the fog and the light. It was colored a pale red and had to be at least 40 miles across. A great cross jutted toward the sky at the center of the light. The cross produced no light, remaining dark as it loomed over the glowing fog sea below. The glow came from the city below the fog. The city of Germania. The layered city had six underground levels and the lights of each level combined in the large holes before they were released into the sky. The lights shined on the fog from below, creating the glowing sea. At one point of the sea, small lights were constantly on the move. That was Tempelhof Airport at the south end of Germania. A few shapes were moving within the fog over the airport. The crafts in the standby zone bore a wyvern emblem on their dark, oblong sides. No one could be seen in their canopies. However, a large man in a black coat and a short man in a white coat stood next to them. A Grösse Panzer standing more than 20 yards tall towered into the fog across from them. The Grösse Panzer’s sight devices glowed red in the fog to view the white coat man. “Once the Himmelschild dome is in place, every Geheimnis Agency military division will take up defensive positions south of Tristan. The military’s main nine armies will be positioned outside the Himmelschild to the north and west of Tristan to form a defensive line fortified with heavy AA guns to prepare against the bombing. The field artillery and armored units will be positioned to the east.” “Do you think the bombers are coming?” “No. The AIF is coming. A small and highly mobile elite force will attempt to pass through Germania and reach Tristan. But I have also set up the military along a wide defensive line just in case. That should take time to break through. See, the AIF isn’t interested in how many of our forces they take out – they need to break in and break in fast.” And… “An abnormal number of aircraft and monsters have been detected entering Germany over the past two weeks. We managed to intercept 80% of them, but not all.” “And the AIF is like us,” said Elrich. “One of them is worth as much as an ordinary army. If the AIF has sent in all their forces, then that 20% will attempt to break into Germania.” Schweitzer nodded. “Chief Elrich, we need to hurry. I don’t even know if there are still any posts left for us.” “True. Okay, Karl, this might be the last time we see each other. Try to get along with that wife of yours.” “I would have done that regardless.” Karl slowly turned to face the east. His vocal device asked one last question as he turned his back. “What happened to Witzmann?” “He went to snap a photo of the Messiah.” Karl’s artificial voice made a “?” noise but then he continued, sounding satisfied. “Hah. So you know everything now. That could be trouble.” Karl completed his turn, facing east to reach his post. He disturbed the fog around him before fading into a shadow. Elrich watched the mountainous shadow rapidly leave through the fog. “Okay, let’s get to Tristan, youngster.” “What do you intend to do there?” asked Schweitzer. “Set everything up so I can see the truth.” “What truth?” “I trust our commander. I trust the Messiah too. But I trust the truth most of all. And at the moment, everything is working for the commander. The truth can only be found when no one has stacked the deck and all options are on the table.” Elrich looked back over his shoulder at Schweitzer and tilted his head. “I do not recommend aging. It makes you talk too much.” Schweitzer laughed bitterly. “That just shows how young you still are.” Elrich laughed bitterly too and slapped Schweitzer’s shoulder. That was when a wind blew through overhead. The giant cross visible in the fog had begun to produce a glowing umbrella. ### 704. Part 1 Tristan’s cross-like shape was partially due to the launch pad sticking out from its side. That enormous space was 100 yards wide and 300 yards long. The top was built into a shallow depression to keep the wind off and the entire structure was constantly shaking from the wind. It had become a battlefield made of pitch black metal. A great bluish-white bird flew above that battlefield. A woman ran below, her shoulders heaving. That was Hazel. Several people were collapsed around her – all Geheimnis Agency soldiers. Her eyes were on the Tristan tower 200 yards ahead. A giant door was shut tight on its massive cylindrical surface. That was used to let Heavy Barrels and transport ships in and out. She was out of breath, but she kept her eyes on that door. … Neue Erde is through there! Witzmann had told her that. If she entered from this launch pad and continued straight, breaking through any doors that got in her way, she would arrive at the base of Tristan’s central Babel Gun. “Neue Erde is waiting there.” She swung Rein König to the right. The prosthetic left fist swinging toward her was sliced through horizontally. With the sound of metal being cut, several fingers flew from the fist. However… She heard Aerial Words. Her opponent reached his prosthetic right arm toward her chest which was wide open after swinging her sword to the right. She remained calm. She confirmed his action and then looked behind him. Another soldier was rushing in with sword raised. The prosthetic arms man was meant to hold her in place so the sword strike could hit. She dodged the incoming prosthetic arm by circling to his right. She stepped right as if pulling her body toward Rein König. She arrived next to his right shoulder, but she did not stop there. She continued to slip behind him. She moved further right and confirmed that his hand had grazed her chest before snatching at the empty air. “Nh!” grunted the one man as his fingerless metal fist thrust out in front of her as she tried to circle behind him. But instead of dodging the fist, she stopped her running feet. The metal fist passed rapidly from left to right in her suddenly-stopped vision. She even felt the wind on her cheek. “Sorry,” she said, sticking out her left hand and lifting his outstretched right elbow from below. She placed the base of his prosthetic arm in the path of the sword coming from behind him. And… Hazel gasped in surprise. The hand holding the prosthetic arm now held empty air. The two enemies were gone. Hazel did not look back. It would be too late by the time she did. So she took off running. She spun herself around while running and kept running backwards after turning. She stabbed Rein König below her arm and behind her. She could not see the enemy. The Aerial Words were rewriting their location. As she avoided them and ran, her foot caught on an obstacle. She stumbled on the leg of a Geheimnis Agency soldier she had defeated previously. Her heel hit the military boot while moving backwards. She cried out and fell back onto her rear. Her momentum caused her to bounce twice and topple onto her back. She saw the enemy in the air. The two men rushed toward her, preparing to leap. One directed his metal arm toward her throat. The other swung his sword tip down toward her hips as if to pin her in place. She felt the instinctual animal fear of being on her back, but she still managed to move. Instead of dodging, she opened her mouth and spoke a single word. “Come!” Before the word was even complete, power raced through the sky. A great bird’s wings released a gust of wind. The falcon wings captured the approaching soldiers and blasted them away instantly. The wind and the impact rang loud and only the night sky through the dome remained in Hazel’s view. She took a breath, stood up, and viewed the great bird flying away again as she got back to running. She took a look around while running backwards with a hopping motion. Men in black uniforms formed a circle around her at a distance of 20 yards. “You still aren’t through?” she asked, jogging away. They did not answer. She smiled just a bit and turned to face the door into Tristan. She was a bit more than 150 yards away. She raised Rein König in front of her and muttered “let’s do this”. Just then, a drum-like beat passed right through her body. It came from… “Inside Tristan?” After another beat, she was certain it came from the other side of that door in the distance. No, it came from even further in than that. Another beat. The Neue Kavaliers around her were also looking up and toward the door. Another beat. She could see the bluish-black Lives of confusion coming from them all. When they realized they had no idea what this sound meant, tension filled their faces. “Is Tristan overloading!?” she shouted, staring at the door. They reacted to her voice by retaking their fighting stances. But she ignored them. She crouched low and took off running while the beats continued. “Please move out of the way! Don’t you understand what this means!?” None of them obeyed. They only directed crimson killer intent her way. She groaned and kicked off the metal ground to accelerate. That ground kicked back without warning. She cried out in confusion and tumbled to the ground. She rolled to the side and noticed the continuing beat was growing louder and more intense. The deep pulse reminded her of an enveloping heartbeat and it was now coming from the floor as well as through the door. It started weak, but by the fifth one, it was like a pounding impact. … Is Neue Erde beginning its Ober Beweisen? Hazel listened to that preparatory pulse as she got back up and viewed the closed door. “Give me a path!” she shouted. She was answered by a power from the sky. The bluish-white wind falcon closed its wings to form its assault form and began to glide. It was aimed nearly identically to Hazel’s eyes – toward the door that would lead her into Tristan. The great bird opened its beak just once and let out a piercing screech as it approached the door. There was no warning at all. “Eh?” Hazel was more astonished than surprised. The door the enemy should have been defending to the bitter end had been thrown open, revealing the dark space beyond. That shadowy space looked entirely empty from here. But just as the falcon was about to fly inside, a giant blade stabbed out from the darkness. It was 20 yards along and made of glowing white light. No, there were two swords stabbing out from the darkness in perfect unison. They struck the approaching wind. The falcon shattered and became an explosion of wind. The air shook and briefly drowned out Tristan’s pulse. Then the blades slowly emerged from the door. Including their wielder. Hazel recognized it from the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg base a month ago. A black aerial warship emerged from the darkness. It was shaped like a 30-yard blade. She knew its name, so she came to a stop and spoke it aloud. “Erlkönig!” Erlkönig had the number 01 on its belly and it hovered above the ground as it advanced. Its full body was soon across the threshold. Hazel knew what the unmanned aerial warship had to be using in place of its own will. … Neue Erde’s request. That was proven by the Aerial Words coming from the sky. Lights began to shine across Erlkönig. The lights ran through the emblem patterns carved into its wings and surface armor and then ran through them again. It was using two Power Points on the front to produce the pair of glowing swords. Hazel faced Erlkönig from head on and exhaled with Rein König at the ready. Her breath was white. The Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers standing between her and Erlkönig cleared a path for Erlkönig. At the same time, she heard some straining metal. She frowned in confusion and noticed the door closing behind Erlkönig. Unlike when the metal door opened, the double doors were closing gently but with increasing speed. She moved forward. Erlkönig launched an attack from the right. It struck Hazel. “!?” The attack had been too fast for her to perceive. But her catlike reflexes had sent Rein König to the right. Her blade stopped the 20-yard sword of solidified light. However, the weight differential was too great. Her feet left the ground and Rein König’s rear blade dug into her right shoulder. It sliced through the shoulder armor hidden below her clothing and stabbed into her right shoulder blade. The bone creaked and she flew 11 yards before losing speed and tumbling along the metal ground. She let out a breath and stood up, but her thoughts couldn’t keep up. She had acted purely on reflex, so she didn’t know where the attack had come from or how she had managed to defend against it. She only knew that she had been hit by an attack, that she had been thrown backwards, and… … That I’m alright. Pain ran through her shoulder and she looked to the right to see blood on Rein König’s blade. She looked forward to see Erlkönig’s glowing sword floating within arm’s reach. “A single attack did all that?” She gasped and looked up to see the black aerial warship gliding her way. Its left sword was pulled back in preparation to swing. She saw the attack this time. The silver arc swung low, aiming for her legs. She gathered strength in her unsteady arms and attempted to get Rein König in place. But… “Kh.” The pain in her right shoulder loosened her grip on Rein König. The giant slash did not care about her pain or anything else. It simply continued along its arcing path. In that instant, something flew into view. It was a giant white wing. ### 705. Part 1 Several powers crashed together simultaneously between Hazel and Lowenzahn. The wind roared and the pulse beat. Hazel’s wristwatch said it was 2:49 AM. … Only 11 minutes until the Allies’ time limit. She was not concerned about that. She pressed Rein König against the floor, held its hilt, and opened her mouth. Berger’s black slash grew thicker and shattered Schweitzer’s spatial barrier. Higher than the rest, Lowenzahn stuck her hands in her pockets and opened her mouth. The shattered spatial barrier regenerated. Gelegenheit’s black blade caught on the barrier and they both shattered. Hazel looked to Lowenzahn. The ether reproduction of the woman stood at the top of the door. “That’s only a speaker for Aerial Words.” But Hazel shook her head. … But there is still a will forming it. She couldn’t tell if the increased morale of those below was just a coincidence or not. But there was one thing she knew for sure. If a will was forming that image… … Neue Erde is still alive after becoming a component for Tristan. She started to say something more, but then Berger looked her way while shoving a new Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit. “Hazel! Keep those Texts coming!” “They aren’t drinks at a beer hall!” She shouted back and looked to the Geheimnis Agency commander atop the door. And she heard that woman open her mouth and speak some crucial words. “Eingeweide heart Neue Erde – Ober Beweisen.” ### 706. Part 1 Tristan’s interior was collapsing. The roar of destruction began at about the exact moment Hazel took Lowenzahn’s hand and pulled her from the window. She heard the damage from overhead where the metal panels forming the ceiling were bending and popping loose. The creaking of metal came afterwards, but there was so very much of it. The cacophony of friction filled the pit and was joined by the sound of metal breaking. Once the ceiling and wall panels could no longer bear the stress they would break and pop out of place. Then it all fell. It scared her how the reverberating destruction shook her body, so she took a breath. … I need to hurry. She pulled on the hand, fully dragging Lowenzahn’s naked body out from behind the glass. Hazel held her slender body. The woman’s eyes were closed and her skin pale and clammy, but she had real weight to her and she was gently breathing. That breathing was steady and constant, so Hazel nodded. The destruction rang in her ears and shook her body, but she spoke the words in her mind aloud this time. “I need to hurry!” She turned back toward the walkway with Lowenzahn in her arms. And… “Eh?” She saw the color black in front of her. It was worn by a large man. She looked up to see Schweitzer standing there with the collapsing ceiling behind him. His prosthetic right arm was still missing and he came to a stop a few paces away with his eyes shut. “Could you leave her with me?” Hazel smiled at the way he waited for her response. She narrowed her eyes and showed her teeth. “I have no reason not to.” She recalled Eryngium’s song – the song that included the names of their devices. … Yes, the Messiah isn’t the one who sets foot in the new world. She spoke softly to Schweitzer over the din of the collapse. “I will leave the new world with you, future hero.” ### 707. Part 1 The eastward acceleration began all at once. Sylphide pursued the RB-21, flying in its airstream pocket. Hazel wielded Rein König and Berger wielded Gelegenheit atop Sylphide’s roof. A half-yard wooden box sat at Hazel’s feet. Its contents were a motley collection. Rings, short swords, torn-off medals, coins, memos, and more were all thrown inside. “I asked for anything carrying memory Lives, but I didn’t expect every single one of them to have something.” “Will you be using that to create the dragon?” “Yes. I figured using this would allow some of their memories to become a part of this land.” And… “I will see them all in my dream. In my dream of standing at the forefront of a thousand years of history.” She looked up to see the northern sky on her left. A light other than the moon shined near the North Sea there. That was the North Star. She recalled when Sylphide had flown up toward that star. Then Corelle spoke over the exterior speaker. “We’re approaching our limit here! It’s going to catch up behind us in another 30 seconds!” Hazel nodded and shouted. “Sylphide!” Sylphide accelerated upwards while keeping itself parallel to the ground. It emerged from the RB-21’s pocket. The air kept around the ship with inertial control roared as it crashed into the exterior air. But Sylphide still accelerated. A water vapor explosion instantly passed from the nose to the rear of the ship. Four shapes lined up alongside Sylphide. They were all Geheimnis Agency fighters that had accelerated along with the RB-21. The pilots raised a hand in greeting within the moonlit canopies. Hazel nodded back as a shadow was cast on them all from overhead. A 100-yard oblong ship flew above them. The steel projectile had no windows and was painted white. “The ACBS!” Hazel looked out ahead while also viewing the skinny contrail trailing behind the ACBS’s armor. It was moving faster, so its tail soon came into view. She could see the ACBS was flying toward the massive collection of dark clouds in the eastern sky. The light of its rear thrusters was a sharp red that stabbed into the dark clouds. The four fighters roared as they approached that red. They scattered, ascended along a diagonal trajectory, and began their attack on the ACBS while leaving a clear path in the center for Sylphide. Hazel was surrounded by the roaring of wind as she kept her eyes dead ahead on the ACBS’s light. Sylphide accelerated in response. The streamlined ACBS was 100 yards along and painted in white aerial camouflage. But its size was nearly meaningless in combat fought at supersonic speed. The power of the wind couldn’t be sensed as sound and it couldn’t sweep anything away. This battle would be determined purely by their combined strength. Four fighters and one ship repeatedly accelerated to catch up to the ACBS. At half a mile away, the ACBS’s antiair fire control device locked onto each of the approaching enemy crafts. It predicted their courses and directed its interception weapons toward them. The homing round launchers on the top of the ship all opened at once and released metal bullets. All 8 launchers fired 8 rounds each for a total of 64. They fired three waves like that for a grand total of 192 rounds flying toward Sylphide and the fighters. The first to respond were the two fighters to Sylphide’s right. “Leave it to us!” They flew out ahead and continued forward while launching homing rounds of their own. A third of the enemy shots focused on those two. Around a dozen were shot down by the fighters’ shots, triggering explosions. The fighters forced their way through a gap in the explosions, drawing the metal bullets toward them. Their wings broke through the white wind and then turned so sharply to the right it looked like the fighters themselves were bending. Most of the ACBS’s homing rounds turned right to pursue them. But the rapid maneuvering slammed the two fighters into a wall of air. They accelerated while hit by the air resistance. They were instantly dragged back behind Sylphide. They disappeared from view and two explosions erupted behind the rest of them. But no one turned to look that way. The barrage of homing rounds had been thinned out. Sylphide thrust its glowing blades forward from its front Power Points. It swung the swords to slice through the barrage and cover for the fighters to its left. The view ahead opened up. The ACBS’s tail was visible there. The ACBS immediately fired again. The armor on the center of its bridgeless deck opened and curving lines of light shot out. That was a multi-dragon cannon. The homing rounds had gathered the enemy together in the center so these more direct attacks could hit them. Sylphide accelerated, its pair of fangs still in the follow through from its previous attack. It didn’t have time to ready them again. It needed to ascend and move away for the time being. But something prevented that. The two black fighters on its left fired their own lights as they flew out ahead. They shot through the barrage, but it wasn’t enough. They were hit. Metal snapped, the buffeting wind bent their frames, and they broke with a sound like shattering glass. At these speeds, destruction was an instantaneous thing. Sylphide further approached the ACBS in the time it took for the two fighters to be fully destroyed. The ACBS’s large white shape was already directly below Sylphide. All the multi-dragon cannons on the ACBS’s upper surface aimed for Sylphide and fired. Sylphide was much too close to dodge. The two fighters were breaking apart from the hits they had taken. Their wings were torn away, their ejection devices launched from their canopies, and their wreckage fell atop the ACBS. Sylphide saw the ACBS preparing to fire its light past the falling wreckage. Ordinary weapons fire wasn’t going to take down that ship. Sylphide’s weaponry wasn’t equipped any better than a fighter, so none of its weapons were particularly powerful. The ACBS was confident in its superiority as it prepared to fire its multi-dragon cannons. But something happened atop the Sylphide a moment before it could. The woman standing on the blue ship had her hair whip in the wind while she swung around a certain color. That color was white and it took the shape of a sword. The tip stabbed into Sylphide’s roof. She let out an “ah” and… “Eingeweide aerial ship Sylphide – Ober Beweisen.” The power that questions the future in the name of the wind is the power that resides within me in the present The same power is seen in the sky above – the power that brings fear and propels us ever onward “Panzer Emblem Wind Dragon – activate.” The transformation power ignited in an instant. Something like glowing water flowed out from Sylphide’s front armor and instantly covered the rest of it. The shape slicing through the wind changed with a sound like groaning metal and like splashing water. A blue dragon appeared in the sky, casting a hostile light on the moonlit ship below it. The blue dragon grew to more than half a mile long and the ACBS fired its multi-dragon cannons at it. The wind dragon ignored the bursting sounds as it flew. It soared through the wind and twisted around to arrive behind the ACBS. The light of the multi-dragon cannons destroyed the falling fighter wreckage. But it was too late. The majority of the shots lost sight of the dragon and fell to the earth on all sides. The light exploded, but the sound could not keep up with their speed. Even the light was left behind. All that remained were the ACBS and the dragon shining a bluish-white. The blue dragon opened its maw and roared. The ACBS fired all of its rear weaponry straight back. The dragon would have to escape to either the left or right. The woman riding the dragon made the decision. She stared directly ahead at the incoming barrage and swung her right hand forward to point at it. “Full speed ahead!” The dragon responded with a roar and a charge. It slipped through the barrage and crashed into the rear of the ACBS. The impact knocked the ACBS’s tail upwards and its rear armor split. But even that only lasted a moment. The dragon accelerated again, roaring as it parted the wind. The dragon’s light ran from the ACBS’s tail to the nose. The light produced a small explosion as it broke through to the ship’s nose and all the glowing multi-dragon cannons erupted with pillars of fire. A moment later, the entire ACBS exploded. The explosion sounded like a crashing waterfall, but even that noise was devoured by the wind dragon. The explosions’ light and noise were swallowed by the wind dragon’s body. The blue dragon accelerated and raced forward. ### 708. Part 1 A man sat in a room surrounded by metal walls. He was a large man in a black combat coat and he sat in the chair next to a small bed. The square face below his short blond hair was silently lowered. His eyes were on the book sitting open on the ordinary prosthetic right arm held in front of his chest. He was reading a picture book called the Neue Unreif Germane. The book had few pages, so he soon finished it, shut it, and reopened the first page. The only sounds were the flipping of pages and the wind blowing through the small round window next to the bed. The night sky full of clouds was visible out the window. The clouds were dark and positioned not far above the window’s position. Occasionally, a round light would shine on the clouds and sweep along them as if searching for something. The trembling sound of the blowing wind was interrupted by three solid knocks on the door. The large man looked back to the narrow metal door. “Bermark?” “Indeed, Captain Schweitzer.” “It’s open.” “Excuse me,” said a tall, skinny man as he opened the door and entered. The elderly Sein Frau was built as sharp as a pencil and he looked to the picture book Schweitzer held. “You have been glued to that thing.” “Yes. I never imagined she would give me this today.” Schweitzer shut his eyes. “I suppose that was half a day ago now.” ### 709. Part 10 Neue Schwarz sprinted forward. It used the force of its wings to race down the road and slip through the 30-yard gap at the edge of the dome. It soon reached the western end of Treptow. Its movement could have been interpreted as low-altitude flight or a gliding across the surface. Its wind crashed into the buildings around it and its destination came into view after only 7 seconds. That destination was a bridge. The bridge over the foggy Spree was covered by a glowing roof. Neue Schwarz spread its wings to brake. A few lights flew in from straight ahead. Before identifying them as red-hot shells, it leaped to the left. High-speed shimmering heat tore through the air and passed by the black Heavy Barrel’s right side. Neue Schwarz raised its right arm, grabbed the Word Rifle sticking out from the right of its back, and swung it down. The forcible action bent the barrel, but it fixed the gun in place with its right arm and faced forward. The muzzle could see the enemy. It aimed along a straight line to the bridge, but it had to see beyond that as well. It had to look to Tiergarten located across the bridge and below the dome. “Tiergarten has a flat structure stretching east to west. An attack from the east will clear a path to the west!” The front and back of the weapon were boosted with anti-inertial weight emblems. A loud bursting sound rang out. The black lion’s wings opened wide and expelled a great heat behind it. Its forward-viewing compound eyes changed color from blue to red. A moment later, the fog split on the other side of the bridge. The two 75mm cannons on that side had opened fire. Neue Scwharz crouched and stayed put. It stared at the battlefield across the bridge, ignoring the metal shells passing by it on either side. Its vocal device spoke through the lingering reverberation. “Operation Glossolalia Phase 2 complete.” Its own weapon audibly split the air. While a Babel Cannon boosted a large quantity of Words and converted them into a great mass, the Word Rifle accelerated a small quantity of Words and increased the size of their mass. There was only one accelerator within the barrel, but the metal Words emitted from the magazine were passed through the barrel repeatedly using the linked transporter spaces situated in the front and rear of the barrel. The bullet made approximately 130 million loops of the 4-yard barrel in just two seconds, passing through the accelerator once each time. Finally, a great penetrative power was launched. ### 710. Part 10 Hazel crouched to Berger’s left, looked at his face in profile, and asked a question. “Um, Berger?” She waited three seconds, but he didn’t respond. “Um,” she repeated. “Aren’t you going to answer, Berger?” Still nothing. She sighed and let her shoulders droop before gabbing his left ear and tugging. “Ber – ger!” “Ow, ow, ow! What is wrong with you? The Wild Hund’s ears don’t stand up, so stop pulling like that.” He brushed off her hand and she smiled. “So you can hear me. Then you need to answer. I have something important to discuss with you.” She kept smiling, but he looked less than pleased. “Something important? You mean your decision, right?” “Oh? If you knew what I wanted, why were you ignoring me?” “Oh, come on.” He jerked his chin toward her face without any change of expression. “Take a look at your face. I can tell you’ve already made up your mind.” “Eh?” She set down Rein König and touched her face. “See what I mean?” said Berger. “That bashful old fart was afraid to make you choose, but you’ve already got the look of someone who’s itching to get started.” He was right. The smile she felt on her face was just like that. … I’m just so happy I can do this the way I most wanted to. When she thought back on everything that had happened – especially what had happened in Borderson – the smile grew. “If I do this, I can stop the Wheel of Destiny…and everyone can stay almost entirely unchanged.” She removed her hand from her face and moved in front of Berger while still crouched. She tilted her head. “But are you worried for me?” “Course I am.” “But I’m not as dumb as you think I am.” “I’d noticed. Your way dumber than I ever could’ve imagined.” Once he said that, Corelle turned around from the ring of people. She looked to Hazel and spoke with some exasperation on her face. “I hate to interrupt your flirting, but have you made your decision? If Hazel is going to the past, then you’re going with her, aren’t you, Berger?” Elrich nodded. “Most likely, the German Tons placed inside them will react when the Spacetime Tons are tuned and returned to the ley lines. The History Tons in there will resonate with the Spacetime Tons and they might tear you apart if you don’t travel through time with them.” “Looks like you get to enjoy a nice trip through time together,” said Corelle. But Berger shook his head and frowned. “That isn’t happening. I don’t think those are inside me anymore.” His tone and his words wiped the smile from Hazel’s face. She took a breath, lowered her head just a bit, and muttered, “So he noticed.” “Yes,” she said out loud. “During our Live Session, I swapped out the German Lives inside him that weren’t affected by the serum with the ones inside me that were affected by the serum.” “Did you think the Wild Hund shouldn’t be bound by anything? Not by this country and not by you?” She nodded, bit her lower lip, and looked away from him. She looked to the Sylphide’s cockpit so far above. That cockpit was built for the Messiah and it only held one. “I think this is the happiest choice. It just requires some patience from me. So…” She lowered her gaze to look Berger in the eye. She smiled and then reached out her hand to take his. “I will do everything I can to make it work. Once I end up in the past, I will write letters to you in the AIF. And when I return to the present, I will go to Borderson and call myself Lehrer. And…” “And then go to Hamburg last month?” “Yes,” she said firmly, squeezing his hand. “But I don’t intend to sacrifice myself. I will go to the past, return to the present, and then do all the things I wanted to do after the war.” She kept his hand in hers and asked a question of him and the others behind him. “Maybe I’m being selfish, but are any of you willing to help me?” ### 711. Part 10 Hazel drew Rein König in her right hand and stuck her left hand in her breast pocket. She slowly pulled out a card. She saw the card had changed. She narrowed her eyes at the wheel pictured in the center of the card. “This wheel doesn’t bring ruin!” Joy ran through her. So she spread her arms and began to sing. She started with an extended “ah” and continued from there. Her song was an important Text. It was his extremely short Text she had seen in his memories. She sang it as the precious thing it was. And… Her voice rose to a shout and the Messiah eye accepted its wielder’s will. Her voice became an endless humming “ah” while her right eye emitted a bright red light and activated its Ober Beweisen power. The Messiah showed her all of the Lives. It was only for this moment, but she could see all the answers. She spread her right arm holding the sword and her left arm holding the card and she twirled as she sang. In the windy night sky, she saw the tone colors and heard the tempos of all the Lives. The Lives of the moonlit sky. The Lives of the cloudy night. The Lives of the flowery ground. The Lives of the people there and the Lives of time and memory. … Not one of them are still or silent. “Yes, that’s right.” … The world is such a busy place. When she saw all the sounds and heard all the colors, she saw one more thing. She saw what lay beyond it all. … Emptiness. There was a vast, unreachable emptiness there. But that scene found past the sound and color was erased in an instant. And she raised her head. Her will and her power already knew what it was she needed to do. … Yes. She faced forward and raised her voice. “And I know I can do it now!” She threw the card forward. Her smile grew as she placed her left hand on Rein König’s hilt alongside the right and gripped it tight. She raised it high and swung it down directly in front of her. She aimed for the black dragon’s forehead where she saw Gelegenheit. The blade drew out an arc and the tip formed a white tail as it tore the air. The white path sliced through the card on its way to Gelegenheit’s hilt. A solid impact rang out, the card turned to glowing dust and vanished, and Gelegenheit also turned to light and shattered. The blade continued down into the Wind Dragon’s back. At the same time, Hazel lowered her head to look the black dragon in the eyes. “Ah,” she sang while tilting her lowered head up toward the sky and extending the note louder and louder from her throat. Her eyes were on the moon and the world shook in response to the greatest voice she could muster. The Wind Dragon transformed further, turning to light and scattering Hazel along with it. The light ruptured and that ended it all. ### 712. Part 11 It took only a moment before the unboosted metal Words were scattered through the air. They traveled a much shorter distance than the projectile fired by a Babel Cannon. Only about 20 miles. But the Lives of the air, trees, mist, wind, ground, and everything else along that 20-mile path were pierced by the ultra-high-speed bullet. The bullet flew into the forest park, piercing the trees and ground, raced down a major road, and passed through the giant Brandenburg Gate in western Tiergarten. From there, it scattered. The bullet began to adapt to the surrounding Lives as it grazed the roads of Charlottenburg, passed below the edge of the dome, and vanished into the sky. All of this happened in less than a ten-thousandth of a second. It hadn’t even produced any kind of noise yet. It moved too quickly for anything else to keep up. It was only observable as a lightning-like flash racing through Germania from east to west. A line of shimmering heat followed after the light a moment later. After a few seconds, the air suddenly distorted and produced an indistinct but loud noise. Then the air exploded. The air explosion and the metallic impact produced by the metal Words covered the 20-mile line at the same time. An attack of that speed did not race out like a wave – it caused everything to burst in an instant. The Lives of the air and land had been converted into a metallic impact, so they seemed to have been struck by a hammer after the shockwave ran through and a 30-yard-wide rip created a 20-mile path. The troops and tanks waiting in front of Tiergarten, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Grösse Panzers battling on the roads of west Charlottenburg were all blown away by the impact. The Geheimnis Agency’s main force had been gathering near the Brandenburg Gate after leaving Tristan, so the collapse of the gate damaged them just as much. The 20-yard-tall stone gate could not withstand the shockwave passing through it, so its inner walls burst into flames while they were blown away by the scattershot hitting it at the center. Rubble sprayed out, instantly forming a shockwave from east to west. The air within the dome was split and the shockwave blasted that air skyward. The pressure of that air on the interior of the dome caused electrification that made the interior glow a bluish-white. A great roar and the crackling of ionization rang loud. The floating moisture within the dome gathered together and formed rain. A short but sudden downpour fell within the dome. A damp wind whipped up and blew across Germania. The wind and rain reached the underground portion of the city too, hitting the cross-sections of the different layers and producing a loud, whistling noise. It took less than 40 seconds for that noise to fade. By then, the destruction had left its mark on the ground, buildings, and weapons swept away over 20 miles. Only a powerful wind remained. The mist was gone and the night sky was visible past the dome. A nearly full moon floated in that sky. ### 713. Part 11 “You only have to do it if you want to. Please make your own decisions.” Hazel smiled a little, let go of Berger’s hand, and stood up. Then she slowly, slowly looked around at the others. But none of them responded right away, so she asked again, still smiling. “What do you say?” “Yes, ma’am,” replied a Heavy Barrel on the rear of the two-hull warship flying alongside them. The speaker named himself before she could turn that way. “Geheimnis Agency Army Division Chief ‘Eisen Panzer’ Karl Schmitt reporting in. I agree with the Messiah.” A short man responded by standing up from the ring of people. That was Müller. “Air Force Division Chief ‘Standhaft’ Herbert Müller reporting in as well. I will provide what little assistance I can.” Someone else nodded next to him. Elrich pulled some plans from his pocket and breathed an exasperated sigh. “Development Division Chief ‘Dachs’ Konrad Elrich. I will help to clean up my own tech’s mess.” Witzmann pursued each of them with the click of a camera each time. “I, Intelligence Division ‘Hellsehen’ Galue Witzmann, shall serve you for my own amusement and for the practical benefit.” “Pipe down. We got to know Hazel before any of you,” said Corelle with a shrug and an exaggerated look of annoyance. “Not a fan of working with the Geheimnis Agency, but AIF Aerial Division Corelle Sevan is with you to the end.” “Same. I don’t like a lot about this, but AIF Army Division Robert E Coolers is in too.” It wasn’t just the ones who spoke aloud. The volunteers stood up and turned to face Hazel. Then a higher-pitched female voice spoke up. “Geheimnis Agency Commander ‘Neue Erde’ Lowenzahn Naylor will be serving the Messiah too.” A hatch on the upper armor opened and Lowenzahn emerged wrapped in a blanket. Schweitzer helped support her and nodded toward Hazel. Lowenzahn smiled with just her lips and viewed the others. Her eyes stopped on the black color standing up in front of Hazel. That was Berger. He sighed and looked her in the eye with a look of defeat on his face, but then he spoke. “You’re being way too selfish here, Hazel.” She didn’t say a word. She only listened to him call her name. “But I will protect you, even if it won’t last long, Hazel Mirildorf.” ### 714. Part 11 At 4:42 AM, when some purple began to color the night, a massive circular emblem was visible in the sky from the village of Borderson 100 miles west of Germania. The people gathered in the village center were viewing the distant dark clouds when the emblem drawn in light burst through the clouds and took shape in the distance. It only lasted two seconds, but the light drew out more and more of the emblem while spreading far in every direction. To the west, it spread as far as France. Then the emblem gathered back in toward the center. It was instantly sucked back inside the dark clouds and then the change occurred. All of the clouds covering the eastern sky were blown away from within. The clouds were erased by a light. At giant glowing orb floated in the center of the sky where the emblem must have converged. It had several rings around it while it rapidly rotated and shrank. The rotating light gave off tiny particles of light that returned to their original form after falling on the ground or sky. The air, the wind, the earth, the rivers, the buildings, and the people lined up on the horizon. Like a book opening its pages, everything was built back out from the light at the center. But that only lasted a short time. While everyone in the village was watching the world’s restoration, the light disappeared. But something bright remained where the light had been. They saw the morning sky dyed white as dawn approached. There was no dragon flying to the east there. But the two children in the village asked a question of the werecat woman standing next to them. “Why do you look so happy?” “Eh? Oh, I just remembered something that happened a long time ago. So I was just thinking…” The woman nodded, raised her head, and smiled at the children. “…that some people I knew had fulfilled their promises.” ### 715. Part 12 Hazel’s group up on the elevated railroad saw the blast racing from east to west. They were in between Tempelhof and Kreuzberg. They were just starting to descend at the next station when everyone caught up to them. The view opened up in front of Hazel and she saw the dark forest stretching east to west in the distant fog. … That’s Tiergarten’s forest park. Then a line through the park exploded. First, the fog covering the forest appeared to be split between the north and south. Then the gray of dust and the white of a water vapor explosion shot high into the sky above the forest. It almost looked like a massive wall. It took a moment longer before the sound and the wind arrived. It was a powerful gust. “––––!” Everyone there on both sides ducked down to keep their footing in the wind. The AIF’s divine spell users and Greenhorners set up a defense field and their charm user used a windshield charm to deflect the wind. Hazel was protected by several layers of defenses, but she still had to hold her hair down and narrow her eyes against the strength of the wind. … I know this was part of the plan, but still! The wind was more powerful than she had expected. It hit her like a blast of sound, drowning out all the surrounding voices and trying to blow away everything here. The Neue Kavaliers near the railroad’s walls were swept away in an instant. Of course, that wouldn’t be enough to kill such well-trained warriors. … Still, I’m worried. Hazel held a hand to her chest just once. She confirmed the Wheel of Destiny card was still in her breast pocket and then looked around. Only a few seconds had passed since the explosion and she could tell the wind had weakened just slightly. So she stepped out from behind the protective layers. Coolers and the other unit commanders turned toward her while crouching low. Coolers gave a firm nod in the wind. She nodded back, said thank you, and let the wind push her as she ran. She made her way to the left wall. She staggered in the wind, but viewed the wind’s tone color and listened to its tempo to keep it from sweeping her away. Her Live-viewing eyes could see the wind swirling within the dome. This wind was blowing outwards from the blast. That included an updraft from the explosion. That updraft was drawing out an arc along the inside of the dome, causing it to spread outwards. All of a sudden, Hazel could hear her own footsteps as she ran. The wind had vanished. The wind traveling outwards and the wind arcing downwards from above were colliding at the edge of the dome, which caused this still air. It was only for a brief moment while the powers of the two winds were in equilibrium and they canceled each other out. Then large raindrops fell from the sky. Hazel ducked away from the rain striking her skin, but she kept running. She looked around to see everyone looking up at the rain falling inside the great growing umbrella. They were all silent and motionless. She was the only one running toward the edge of the elevated railroad. She arrived at the concrete wall. With a single loud footstep, she climbed atop the wall damp with rain. She heard a deep rumbling of thunder that sounded like a metal drum rolling along the ground. … The wind is breaking apart and canceling itself out. She had a clear view in all 360 degrees, so she saw white smoke appearing along the entire edge of the dome. Then she heard a voice from the railroad below. A few of the Geheimnis Agents were looking her way. “Hey!” They were telling the others to get moving because the Messiah was running away. But it was too late. … Now, then. Hazel gave a quick bow behind her and then jumped out from the wall. She briefly floated in the air 25 yards above the ground. She looked back before the floating sensation vanished. A shape passed below the rupturing cascade of wind at the distant edge of the dome and flew toward her. It forcibly slipped through the 30-yard gap between the dome and the surface. “Corelle!” That was the RB-21 two-hull transport ship. The larger ship kept its stability in the wind and accelerated without shaking. It approached in the blink of an eye. It enveloped Hazel in its defense field before passing her by. She felt a wall of wind for just a moment. But once she passed through it, she landed on the roof of the container tween the two hulls. The flaps on the sides of the ship made minute adjustments to keep the ship from stalling while flying at such a low speed. The bow pointed somewhat higher than horizontal to remain stable. Then it flew away from the elevated railroad crawling with Neue Kavaliers. The slightly upwards angle of its propulsion kept the heavy ship from falling before its powerful acceleration could begin. Hazel crouched low and held Rein König under her arm while grabbing ahold of a seam in the container with her empty right hand. The ship’s angle gradually increased until she could only see the back of the container and the moonlit sky. The defense field weakened the wind, but Hazel’s rain-wet hair still blew behind her, quickly drying out. After 5 seconds, the RB-21 suddenly tilted downwards to direct itself forward instead of upward. The remaining Gs of the ascending acceleration pinned Hazel to the floor when she would have flown off. Her wristwatch said it was 2:37 AM. … Another 23 minutes! They pulled out into the open air. They were surrounded by a great emptiness. Her view had been restricted to the moon and the container, but now it opened up. She could see the dome above and… “Tristan!” With that exclamation, an umbrella of white water vapor formed around the RB-21’s nose. With a roar of speed, the RB-21’s flaps caught the wind and its wings harnessed its lift. The two-hull ship took an arcing path as it broke through a wall of air and continued on ahead. Its wings sliced through the wind to reach the top of the giant cross. ### 716. Part 12 At 3:59 AM, the RB-21 and Sylphide, with Hazel and Berger on its roof, accelerated through the western sky toward Borderson. Schweitzer, Bermark, and Lowenzahn rode the Neue Silber transport ship and flew toward Germania’s clouds accompanied by Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar. They had decided the Tuning would have the smallest margin of error if the changed object was removed as far as possible from the location of the scattering, so their job was to pin the dragon in place. Everyone else moved to the German land where the Live breakdown had begun. They equipped themselves as they saw fit and formed a straight-line formation that created a path from Germania to the North Sea. Their plan was simple: intercept the ACBS when it arrived from the North Sea, use Sylphide’s Panzer Emblem to consume its destructive power and the scattered earth and structures, and create their own dragon large enough to compete with the Tragisch dragon. The anxiety Lives would be destroyed using the power taken from the ACBS and the Spacetime Lives would be tuned using Sylphide’s Panzer Emblem. If they pulled that off, the anxiety would be negated and history could continue on into the future. Their acceleration route was a 150-mile line that passed through Borderson on the way to Germania. At 4:20 AM, Sylphide was waiting on the border with Poland when it spotted a small light in the west and its engine gave a roar. The RB-21 noticed the ACBS as well, so it accelerated out ahead. The atmospheric rift created by the RB-21’s passage allowed the blue ship to accelerate without having to worry about a wall of air in front of it. Far in the distance, the great dragon released a short roar that resembled a pulse. ### 717. Part 12 Below the blue sky of morning, two men sat in the forest outside Berlin. They sat with their backs leaning against a 4-yard Word Rifle and their legs out on the dirt. The larger one with gray hair and two prosthetic arms was Pale. The one wearing all black was Berger. He kept his eyes on the sky and spoke with annoyance in his voice. “Why aren’t you dead?” “Well, I hit a wall during the fall and was thrown out, so- hey, are you listening?” “Forget it,” said Berger, lowering his gaze from the sky. He saw a city through the trees. That city was not Germania. It was the old Berlin without the giant cross or the underground structures. “I wonder if the materials used to construct Germania and the Gard-class were returned to the earth. I hear the residents and other people underground were placed in Tiergarten.” “I didn’t expect the city to be restored like this, though. I guess Germany’s Lives considered that other city to be a mistake.” “Not necessarily. I mean, we couldn’t have made it this far without the help of the machines.” After talking with their eyes back on the sky, they heard some footsteps on the dirt. Berger turned just his head to see a blue-uniformed young man approaching while looking around. He wore a black bag over his shoulder and bowed toward Berger. “Good morning. Are you Mr. Dog Berger? I am from the post office.” “What do you need first thing in the morning?” “My first delivery of the day is for you. This letter.” The postman pulled out a white envelope. “Mutual understanding is still hard to find in this world, so it our duty as postal workers to reach the places voices can’t and act as an intermediary for the unseen wills. No matter the time or the place.” He smiled bitterly. “But this one wasn’t easy since your address was only given as ‘just outside Germania’.” “Sorry about that,” said Berger, accepting the white envelope. The postman checked his watch. “Name: Dog Berger. Address: Just outside Germania. Time: the morning of August 24. Another flawless delivery.” “Thanks. And sorry again.” “Think of nothing of it. I expect to be serving you a lot more from now on.” Berger looked up and considered that for a moment before smiling. “Probably so. I’ve got a lot more Verlsten Briefs addressed to me with awful handwriting, don’t I? Probably one a week, all sent from a thousand years ago.” The postman said nothing. He simply smiled and bowed. “I still find you sitting down, I see.” And he left. His footsteps faded into the distance while Berger tore open the envelope. It was postmarked in Hamburg. “This date is when I went to save her last month.” He nodded and read the letter. His eyes ran through a few lines before he chuckled. “That idiot. What is this black stain?” But he kept smiling, shut his eyes, and folded the letter. He sighed and looked up into the sky. “This is how we keep them with us forever and ever, huh?” He stuck the envelope in the chest of his coat. “What’s that?” asked Pale. Berger smiled and gave a simple answer. “It’s the Messiah’s blessing.” ### Hazel Mirildorf’s Letter: To Dog Berger I don’t know what I should write here. I am currently in the Hamburg base and surrounded by kind people. I was told so many different things today. I didn’t know any of it, but maybe you already knew it all. I have thought about so much and I am writing this letter to help organize those thoughts. Will the Nibelung really happen on the morning of the 24th? If you are reading this, then either it didn’t happen or you didn’t go to the past with me. If it didn’t happen, then I will be with you when this letter is delivered and I will snatch it away and rip it to pieces. Because having my past thoughts read in front of me would be much too embarrassing. Especially because I know you would read it aloud to me. But I can only do that if I am with you. I hope the Nibelung does not happen. But if it doesn’t happen, the world will change and I doubt we would ever meet in the first place. I don’t want that. But if the Nibelung does happen, we will both be sent to the past because of the German Lives within us and only I will return to the present. I don’t know what I should do or which option is better. I don’t even know what it is I can do. But I also feel like I will find the answer. For example, I don’t know my Ober Beweisen Text. However, that just means I don’t. But how about you? You are your own person, so would you maybe know the answer? I want to ask you. But that requires a future. The best way to make sure you never lose anything is to freeze everything in place, but I believe the true way to never lose anything requires a future. What do you think? If you are reading this letter, it means you remained in the present and I am not with you. Can you speak your own Ober Beweisen Text now? And… And did I manage to speak mine? I hope I can hear your answer once the war is over. I swear I will return by then. So when that happens, I hope you can take my hand and call my name like you always do. I hope to hear you call “Hazel Mirildorf” again. ## Final Chapter: The Promise Turns 8/23/1944 23:38 – 23:53 This is one answer It is an important promise that began with some small words It is a happy story protected by the wind and destiny And It is our hidden memories That we can continue questioning forever ### 718. Part 13 Neue Schwarz saw the white trail stretching toward the cross. All the grass had been blasted from the riverbank to either side of the bridge. The 30-yard-wide rut torn in Tiergarten was visible on the other side of the bridge. Neue Schwarz spread its wings. “I can leave the ground troops to the others while I get to the sky.” That muttered comment received an unexpected response. “Fly and I will shoot you down.” A large green Heavy Barrel seemed to be straddling the path of destruction through the forest. The two towers attached to its back were dragon breath cannons. The pair of cannons were slowly aiming toward Neue Schwarz. The sounds of metal coils showed the cannons were operating. The green Heavy Barrel also aimed the Power Points installed in its forearms. “I had everyone take shelter after I sensed an extreme ether discharge, but it was not enough.” Tanks and AA guns were strewn about the forest. The green Heavy Barrel was crouched in front of them. The coffin-shaped secondary cockpit on its back had risen up and its lower armor had opened up, revealing a collection of microphone-like holes. The black Heavy Barrel recognized that. “A multi dragon breath cannon? You really are a mobile fortress, ‘Eisen Panzer’ Karl Schmitt.” “I challenge you.” “Do you have to?” sighed the black Heavy Barrel while slowly taking a fighting stance. Karl nodded. “I will fire on you until you reach me. If you make it through that, then I will leave you be. I will resist no further. However.” “You’re asking for an awful lot here. What more do you want?” “I will choose the battlefield. Because I must confirm whether or not you are what you claim to be.” “Aerial Words, huh?” whispered Neue Schwarz after hearing that. Then it nodded. “Fine. If that’s what you want.” Immediately, a pair of winds rushed in from above and behind. It was a red and a blue Heavy Barrel. Their armor had been destroyed, but their Ober Emblem remained intact as they flew over the black one’s head. They landed on either side of the green one. “Allow us to handle-” They were silenced by a single look from Karl. They exchanged a glance and nodded. They cleared the way and kneeled, but the blue one held up its rifle in both hands. “Please take this.” Karl responded by looking to Neue Schwarz. “Is that alright with you?” “With a monster like you, one more gun isn’t going to make any real difference.” The green one laughed at that and took the rifle from the blue one. That MP42 Heavy Barrel autocannon could perform full-auto fire of 88mm armor-piercing rounds, but even that looked like a mere handgun when held by a Heavy Barrel measuring over 20 yards tall. Karl held the grip with the hidden arm below his right forearm and held the barrel with his usual hand. The hand latched on with a metallic clang and the blue and red Heavy Barrels withdrew into the forest. “Good luck.” Karl nodded and lowered his hips. His 20-yard-high vision had been directed straight ahead the entire time. The black Heavy Barrel also lowered its hips a bit. “Didn’t expect a one-on-one battle with a knight here. My second shot was supposed to be for Tristan.” The bolt attaching the Word Rifle to the top of the secondary cockpit was released with a divine spell explosive. The 4-yard gun briefly floated up and the extra tank on the Heavy Barrel’s back fell away. The unneeded weapon fell to the ground behind it with a metallic clatter. The reduction in weight on the right caused Neue Schwarz to list to the left just a bit. But only for a moment. It spread its feet to shoulder width and adjusted its weight. The loss of that excess weight allowed it to stand taller. It lowered its hips and reached for the weapons at its hips. But after a moment’s hesitation, Neue Scwharz chose only Gelegenheit on the right. Karl nodded at the choice. Then the sounds of metal fitting together came from all over his body. It sounded like several clocks operating at once, but it was actually the many bullets being loaded. The sounds ended after two seconds. The last one to be loaded was the 75mm cannon at the chest. Silence followed. The only sound was the wind blowing by overhead. The green Heavy Barrel unintentionally leaned forward in anticipation, but then it looked to the sky. The wind was blowing there, but past that it saw the dome and the moon. It stared at the moon as it spoke. “Geheimnis Agency Army Division Chief ‘Eisen Panzer’ Karl Schmitt.” Neue Scwharz held Gelegenheit to the right with both hands. “AIF…‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger.” With those words, a black blade emerged from Gelegenheit. The black power stopped at a length of 5 yards and sliced through the wind. Neue Schwarz didn’t even look to its blade as its vocal device spoke. “You’re on.” ### 719. Part 14 With those words, the pair of black wings rose sharply toward heaven. Then they swung down and back, sending an explosion of air behind the black Heavy Barrel and propelling it forward. Light flew toward it from dead ahead. All the sounds arrived after the fact. The lights were dragon breaths and a barrage of physical artillery. The physical projectiles flew straight in while the homing rounds drew out arcs to circle in from the outside. Neue Schwarz swung Gelegenheit while running. The barrage passed behind it. But more was already on its way. “That was fast!” With that expression of surprise, it prepared Gelegenheit for another swing. Just as it was going to swing the sword up into the incoming attack, it heard some Aerial Words. Aerial Words spoken in a deep voice made a request of this space. ### 720. Part 15 The Aerial Words continued. Gelegenheit’s blade caught on the empty air, bent, and broke. Neue Schwarz immediately flapped its wings. The ground had disappeared below its feet, replaced by a white sea of clouds. It was surrounded by the morning sky colored a light purple. The thrusters in its wings gave a blast to propel it forward with sufficient initial velocity. Neue Schwarz shouted in recognition of a sky it had once flown in as Schwarz Löwe. “Kaiser’s sky!” The second barrage was incoming. And unlike the first volley, this one had no homing rounds. The lights of a third barrage were visible past this one. Its opponent was not found past that third one. He had disappeared. “Did he already shoot enough!?” That man had said to make it through what he fired. Not to dodge it. So Neue Schwarz roared. It slammed its wings into the air behind it to start forward with a loud boom. It left behind the white smoke of bursting air as it raced forward through the sky. It flew toward the space behind the two incoming barrages – toward where Karl Schmitt had withdrawn. Its wings’ thrusters sucked in more wind and created powerful turbulence behind it. A roar briefly exploded behind it. Then all sound in front of it vanished. Its head, the center of its torso, and its shoulders broke through a barrier of air. It had broken the sound barrier. The barrages were coming. The physical projectiles distorted the air as they flew in. But the racing black Heavy Barrel did not hesitate to charge in shoulder first. It closed its wings and flew with its legs behind it. The leading bullet grazed the right side of its head. It used its neck to absorb and correct for the impact. It had entered the barrage. It opened its wings just enough to soar through the destructive rain. It spun right, up, left, and then left again. And it never forgot to be moving ever forward. Just one shot was on a collision course for its left chest. There was no dodging it. So it swung its left fist out in front and struck the shell’s extrapolated course before the shell actually arrived The punch created a shockwave that collided with the shell. With a roar of air and a crash of metal, the shell was diverted off course. Neue Schwarz made it through. The Heavy Barrel and the barrage intersected over a distance of about 400 yards, but it took less than half a second. However, the next barrage – the third one – was already incoming. There was nothing past it. Distance-wise, passing through this barrage would mean reaching Karl’s previous position. So Neue Schwarz flapped its wings to fly forward. The color black accelerated through the artificial emptiness of the dawning fictional sky. It advanced. Then it caught sight of a shape flying in even closer than the barrage. It was hard to notice with the bright lights of the thick barrage spread out behind it, but that was definitely a single physical bullet. It was an 88mm armor-piercing round. It flew in like a black arrow surrounded by distorted air and it must have been fired by Neue Blau’s rifle. The entire barrage behind it had been camouflage for this one shot. “That was your plan!?” ### 721. Part 16 The bullet was about to hit. Neue Schwarz tried to lower the left fist it had swung upwards to hit the shell earlier, but it was no use. The bullet would hit before the fist was in position. And Gelegenheit in its right hand was still without its light. Nothing it could do would be fast enough. It only had time to determine where the 88mm armor-piercing round would hit: the center of the chest. That was the hardest location to dodge. Neue Schwarz made up its mind. Its answer was to raise its voice. The black Heavy Barrel surrounded itself in wind and roared into the sky. “Fully open all weapons and abilities to respond to the enemy threat. Begin full drive!” A pair of wings spread in the purple sky. But these were not black. They were white. The Ober Emblem seemed directly dyed by bluish-white ether as it instantly covered Neue Schwarz. The armor was a nearly-blue white and the joints were black, creating a dual colored armored warrior in the sky. “Ober Emblem Weiss König – activate!” It pulled its left arm back against its side. The 88mm armor-piercing round struck the fictional armor still being formed from ether light. The Ober Emblem armor shattered. But the original black armor below survived with only a single crack. Its left arm strained under the force of the impact and its white body was covered by new ether armor. At the same time, it counteracted the backwards vector with a flap of its wings. The explosion of wind behind it was far greater than ever before. It shot out like it had been kicked forward. Weiss König’s metal body groaned as it flapped its wings again and reaccelerated. The third barrage was up ahead. The impact on its left side was still affecting it, but it didn’t care. Seeing the sea of clouds below, it tilted its body forward and moved its wings all the more forcefully. The power of its wings and its forward-tilting attitude caused it to tumble forwards. Its left hand stretched downwards and scratched at the clouds. It seemed to bounce from there and flew forwards. It all happened in an instant. It was practically flipping forward as it broke through its inertia and the air resistance. As soon as it was nearly upside down, its wings fully opened in the direction it was flying. Each wing worked independently. Their individual feathers blew out their own winds, accelerating the rotation. The eruption from the wings rotated the Barrel. It completed its flip and its feet were directed downwards again. The white Heavy Barrel landed on the cloudy ground with its hips somewhat lowered. Then it flapped its wings to accelerate again. It raced forward in its standing position. Its speed was so great it erased all sound. The thrusters on its legs and hips maintained its attitude while the power of its wings made it glide along the clouds. It twisted around as if sliding to the side and blew away the clouds behind it. The barrage reached it just as it released the white sword from its left hip. Nearly a hundred destructive projectiles attacked it from the left, right, and above. Each and every one of those winds could destroy the Weiss König. The white Heavy Barrel soared and swung its white sword within those many winds. It twisted its body toward the winds coming from the left, swung its blade toward the winds coming from the right, and ducked below the winds coming from above. It maintained its forward speed the entire time. The winds collided, beginning an explosive chain reaction. The Weiss König left light, smoke, and flames in its wake as it gracefully spun and advanced. It raised an arm, tilted its head, stepped on the clouds, and scattered those clouds while sliding along them. “I will make it through.” It did. After one more flap of its wings, it was past the last of the barrage. A giant explosion erupted behind it. But Weiss König continued gliding across the clouds, leaving the range of the blast in an instant. The pursuing smoke, flames, and even sound could not keep up. It was unscathed. But this was not over yet. Weiss König put away its white sword, readied Gelegenheit in its right hand, and shouted its Aerial Words. It sliced through the sky. The green Heavy Barrel was visible up ahead. ### 722. Part 17 The white Heavy Barrel glided across the ground and accelerated with its Ober Emblem wings. Dirt was blasted behind it and the Tiergarten forest’s ground was thrown into the sky. It roared in, arriving less than 100 yards from Karl Schmitt. But Karl did nothing. His arms were at his sides and his cannons aimed upwards. Only his sight devices were directed right at Weiss König. “Do as you wish.” Weiss König responded with a nod. It approached, readied Gelegenheit in its right arm, and prepared to strike. But at the same time, its sight devices caught a certain truth and a certain movement. The truth was located behind Karl. Only after approaching this far could it see the green colors on the torn ground behind him. They were the military’s soldiers. All the injured soldiers from the overturned armored trucks and tanks were hidden behind Karl. The movement Weiss König saw was on Karl’s shoulder. A woman in a black combat uniform was standing there. She was Army Division Deputy Chief Jeanne Schmitt. She ran from his shoulder to his head and spread her arms out toward Weiss König. Her eyebrows were raised, her eyes were glaring directly at Weiss König, and her mouth was open. She was shouting. Weiss König was moving too quickly to hear her. It only had the visual information to work with. It saw the woman standing in front of Karl to protect him and Karl standing in front of the soldiers to protect them. That was all. So Weiss König ended it all with just one action. It slammed its wings into the air. With a roar and an explosion of wind on the ground, the Heavy Barrel soared high into the sky. It passed between the pair of cannons above Karl and flew toward the pitch black cross jutting up into the sky. ### 723. Part 2 The pit was easily half a mile deep and more than 100 yards across. Light filled it from the inner walls and a thick metal column pierced it down the center. Several walkways connected the inner walls of the cylinder to the column. A large man stood on the highest of those walkways. He wore the black combat boat of the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division and he stood next to the column with his right prosthetic arm entirely motionless. He was staring at a desk-sized control panel installed on the side of the column about 8 yards in front of him. The control panel had a fist-sized hole on the left side and it was not currently functioning. His gaze climbed from there. A glass window was installed on the wall above the control panel. It was 2 yards tall and a yard wide and several plastic pipes could be seen crawling and intersecting on the other side. But something else stuck out from between the pipes twisted in a wild but flat arrangement. It was a skinny arm. The feminine right arm had the frail lines unique to sickly people and it stuck out toward the window. The open palm was pointed upwards and it was so close it touched the inside of the glass. An ear of golden wheat sat on the palm. The man’s eyes narrowed at the wheat. Just then, he heard a voice from behind him. “Captain Schweitzer. You were in here again?” Schweitzer turned toward the voice. He saw the walkway leading to a large door on the pit’s inner wall. That door sat open and a tall, skinny man stood in front of it. He spoke the name of the elderly man who wore the same black coat as him. “Bermark. Do you need something?” “With martial law and a strict security alert in place, I have a lot of spare time. As do you.” That comment put a bitter look on Schweitzer’s face. He sniffed the air blowing in from the door. “Is it raining outside?” “Yes, a large craft will soon be landing on the high-altitude launchpad at the end of the hallway.” The two automatic doors sitting open behind Bermark led to a long hallway. That led to another door which led to the launchpad hangar. Schweitzer walked forward and Bermark nodded. “Are you returning to your quarters?” Schweitzer frowned at the question. “What are you trying to say? Are you suggesting I stay here forever?” “Not at all. I was merely asking if you are heading back…which would mean you are not going anywhere.” Schweitzer sharpened his gaze and looked to Bermark. Bermark gave him a much calmer look in return. After a bit, Schweitzer sighed. “Where are you taking me?” “You misunderstand. I have no intention of taking you anywhere.” “You are the most irritating aide in the world. Where is it I am apparently going?” Bermark nodded and pointed toward the corridor behind him. It continued to the left, right, and straight ahead, but he pointed at that last option: toward the launchpad. “You cannot just choose to leave during this alert.” “I am not ‘just choosing’ to leave. Because I imagine a few different people want this. Also, do you have no intention of confirming what the fräulein wanted?” That shut Schweitzer up. His gaze wandered for a moment, but he finally looked back toward the hand visible through the window. “She once told me to believe her lies no matter what might happen. And if this is what she wanted…” Bermark stopped Schweitzer from continuing. “Perhaps she did want this, but can you accept it?” Schweitzer slowly turned back toward Bermark. He found Bermark was not looking at him. He was looking over Schweitzer’s shoulder toward the window on the column. “Captain. I hear that, when Hazel Mirildorf lost the Sylphide, she grieved, but she did not give up.” “And so I shouldn’t give up either? She did not want that to happen. And if you claim to be her ally, why did you let it happen?” Bermark raised his right hand a bit. He wore a white glove over it. He moved the fingers in the glove, producing a quiet mechanical sound. “I am a non-evolving Sein Frau, so I do not know what it is like to have a ‘heart’. My tooth-fueled Freischütz remains undeveloped, but that is why I do not obey the decisions made for me. I-” “Enough. Tell me where I am going.” “To the old HQ, captain.” Bermark placed his right hand on his chest. Then he sang a song for Schweitzer. Follow the path to a familiar face While walking side by side Your hand and voice might reach them But the moon sees it not The gatherers begin their party A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same words After singing the gentle melody in a low, steady voice, he looked up at Schweitzer. “The fräulein’s final prophecy was the 6th Section of the Ending God, but…” “You mean the prophecy Lowenzahn left us with before entering Tristan, claiming the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project would be fulfilled if we followed it? You want me to obey that?” “No, do not forget how this has always worked. Back in ’37, we were not obeying the prophesies – we were fulfilling them. This is the same, captain. Will you grieve, will you give up, or will you hope for something else? Hazel Mirildorf should have reached the point where she can accept both grief and resignation. If you wish to reach her level, you should consider all of these things with what you will obtain at the old HQ.” “I have just one question regarding this long speech of yours.” “What might that be?” “Whose side are you on?” Bermark narrowed his eyes and finally closed them. He even inclined his head forward. “I am your aide, Captain Schweitzer. I am yours to command. Where will we be going?” ### 724. Part 2 Hazel saw 12 black disks contained in paper cases in the bottom part of the side table. She gulped and silently looked up. She saw Eryngium staring at the 11 disks without smiling. “Those were the only things I had with me when I arrived in this village. Unfortunately, the village doesn’t have a player, so I can’t play them. You can have them if you are interested.” “No, I couldn’t possibly take them from you.” “But they would be better off with someone who can play them.” Eryngium suddenly bent her eyes and eyebrows into a smile and nodded. “The mayor said you are Stimmer. I suppose you wouldn’t need music from a disk if you can access the Texts of reality at any time.” “N-no, it isn’t about that.” … Besides, I still don’t have an Ober Beweisen Text. The Messiah’s Ober Beweisen could read any and all Lives, but that wasn’t necessary yet. … It’s needed only if we can’t stop Neue Erde’s Spacetime Lives extraction and the world must go through another loop. She didn’t see herself ever using her Ober Beweisen, so she changed the subject. She checked the titles written on the thin shoulder of the black disks. “You even have Handel’s oratorios. Which include his Messiah.” The title most closely related to her was the 8th from the left. That made it 4th from last. Eryngium looked to the same thing. “Who knows what would happen if you sang that one in Germany right now.” She smiled bitterly and Hazel smiled bitterly back. Then Hazel noticed the title to Messiah’s right. “Destiny.” “Sometimes I feel like these 11 disks were important to me in some way. You see, I lost all my memories before I arrived in this village. All I have from my life before that are these disks.” She held the baby in just her left arm and used her left hand to open the glass door on the side table. She shifted the disk cases one by one from left to right and she sang along to the rhythm of her nails on the paper cases. Below the wind blowing through our fatherland, the freeshooter feels a tailwind on his back Below the tragedy, the emperor sings a requiem Below the moonlit night, the messiah captures destiny A lone hero marches into a new world Hazel tilted her head at Eryngium’s lyrics. “Do you think it is the hero who will arrive in a new world, not the Messiah?” “The Messiah saves the current world. The new world is the world beyond that. The Messiah can guide us there, but I feel like the first person who sets foot in that new world will be known as a hero.” Then she shut the side table’s glass door, stuck her right hand in her pocket, and pulled out something small and red. She held it out for Hazel to see. “A red gem!?” Hazel’s right hand reflexively reached toward the side table for the pendant with the broken red gem. “Why do you have a gem just like the one that was in this pendant?” “I don’t know. But you were shot because you stopped to protect a pair of children, right? Last year, when a giant aerial warship crashed about 50m east of Borderson, those children said they wanted to go check out the crash site. The adults were against it, of course.” “And they found that there?” “I never saw the wreckage because there were too many soldiers around, but Lehrer accompanied the children and she said the pieces were scattered across a radius of about 10 miles. She said they found this in the valley east of Borderson.” Eryngium stopped there and tilted her hand. The gem slid from her palm. Hazel quickly reached out and caught it. She held it between her fingers and let the sun shine through it, but she still couldn’t see completely through it. It had some highly dense material in it. … It really is the same as the one in the pendant. “Please take that. The children wanted you to have it as thanks for saving them and to make up for the broken pendant…and because they wanted to give a present to someone who reminds them so much of Lehrer.” Hazel kept her eyes on the gem. The presence seated next to her stood up with a sigh of relief. She heard one and then another step on the wooden floor before another question. “That pendant was important, wasn’t it?” “Yes.” Hazel nodded a very deep nod. “Someone very important left it in my care.” ### 725. Part 2 Hazel stood below the darkening sky. She wore a rain poncho over her head and stood motionless on the mountain road running through the forest. She held Rein König wrapped in a white cloth under her arm. She only wore a backpack on her back. She could hear the raindrops hitting the poncho. She shifted just her eyes to view Rein König while listening to the wet pitter-patter. “I knew this would be a challenge, but the backpack is kind of heavy too.” … Maybe Eryngium packed a bit too much in that lunch she gave me. “But I can’t worry about that now. I need to get to the Essen railroad.” She tensed her eyebrows and focused on her ears to listen to the rain. A single stray thought about tonight intruded on her focus. … Will the world end tonight? If they stopped the Wheel of Destiny, the world would change at 4:42 AM. She had been worrying over that ever since leaving Borderson. “I can blame that on the peace I found in the Village of Pardons.” She told herself those things would simply change, not be lost, and she shook her head. She focused again, concentrating on clearing her hearing. She heard something other than the rain mixed in with all the noise. She heard creaking metal from the forest to her left. That was the sound of a railroad shaking below a train. She nearly ran toward the rhythmic sound of steel. “…” But she stopped. She heard a whistle through the trees, but she bit her lower lip and let it go. She had heard something other than the train. Something she couldn’t afford to ignore. … Footsteps carrying killer intent. She heard the whistle fading into the distance as she shut her eyes and moved her mouth. “Why not come out? Isn’t it cold in the forest?” She directed her question toward the entire forest and rain, but someone did respond. A slender woman stepped out from the forest on the left with her hands in her coat pockets. Hazel recognized her silhouette. … She’s the one who shot me at Borderson. The woman spied on that thought and responded to it. “Yes, and I don’t know how you managed to survive that. Not that it matters.” Hazel prepared to fight. “You can read Tons?” “You can tell? I am Geheimnis Agency Naval Division Chief ‘Wasser Meister’ Lillie Telmetz. I am the descendant of second-rate nobility that served under Borderson and Karlsruhe by making wine for the imperial family. …I am also a Stimmer.” Hazel looked to her face. Her faintly wrinkled face was not at all wet from the rain. Hazel looked up to find the rain split above Lillie’s head and flowed to either side. “It’s not an unusual technique. It’s just another form of Tuning.” Lillie pulled her right hand from her coat pocket and Hazel knew what the ring on her right middle finger had to be. “A Werkzeug.” She gulped. … She’s only using a Werkzeug? She isn’t using an Up and she isn’t even transforming the rain into something else. “Yes, unlike the highly formalized Tuning and Busting your Allies use, German Tuning and Busting is all about releasing your own will in its purest form. Using a formalized Up makes it a lot easier and ensures anyone can learn how, but there are other, more powerful, methods.” Lillie raised her right hand. A dove alighted on her hand. A dove made from rainwater. She stroked the dove’s wings just once and then released it back into the sky. “I was ordered to capture you alive…but there are many in our ranks who disagree with that decision.” “Like you?” “Yes, unfortunately. This is our last chance to see whether or not the Messiah will be lost.” Lillie stopped speaking there. She pulled her left hand from her coat pocket and raised it in front of her eyes. She viewed the military wristwatch she wore there. “Look behind you.” Hazel did not comply. She kept her eyes on Lillie. Then she heard a deep sound like a thunderclap behind her. “Eh?” It sounded like the sky was shaking and a massive throat was gulping. Hazel reflexively turned toward the noise. She looked west toward the Borderson Village of Pardons. Past the forest, the village was about two hours away by foot. A single color was rising into the gray sky from there. That color was black. The black of smoke. A single line of smoke rose slowly but thickly into the rainy sky. … There has to be a considerable fire to produce that much smoke. “It can’t be!?” “Yes, it can. You are watching the ultimate fate of the Borderson village.” Panicking, Hazel turned back toward Lillie. “Why? The Village of Pardons was the only place in Germany where Heidengeists could live!” “That was no more than a verbal promise. Just like in ’35, the government and military need a scapegoat for the people’s frustrations. Burning down a city of Heidengeists who support the Allies sounds like a good decision to me.” Hazel heard another thunderclap-like sound behind her. The deep boom reverberated through her and sweat poured from her body. Then she heard new noises joining the falling rain and distant explosion. They came from the road ahead of and behind her. She heard the rumbling of engines through the rain. She soon realized what was causing it: armored trucks. Their large silhouettes came into view down the mountain road behind Lillie. The same had to be coming from behind her. She saw them switch on their headlights. Lillie’s silhouette was outlined in the rain, showing she was faintly smiling. The smile splitting her face asked a question of Hazel. “Now, how about we hurry this up?” ### 726. Part 2 Eh? Hazel looked at him. … If the Wheel of Destiny is stopped, the Messiah won’t exist anymore and the world will undergo a great change. But if it wouldn’t change much… … Could the Borderson people stay the way they are? The impatience inside her colored her tone of voice. “Wh-what do you mean? What would make it ‘go well’?” “Calm down and listen, but think of it as mostly a joke, okay?” He pulled his head back at her reaction but then sighed and explained. “The Wheel of Destiny happened for Lehrer because she destroyed a millennium’s worth of Spacetime Lives along with the anxiety Lives. But what if you managed to tune those millennium’s worth of Spacetime Lives?” She considered it, spreading out her hands and counting on her fingers. “Um, so you want me to use my Tuning on the Spacetime Lives extracted within Tristan?” “You get what that would do, right? Tuning requires the Tuner to stay with the Lives until the tuning is complete. If you tuned a millennium’s worth, then you would travel with the Lives and end up a thousand years in the past. That would tune rather than destroy the Spacetime Lives but still send the Messiah to the past.” That would create a past with the Messiah without making the world play out another loop. However… “B-but that only works if Tristan extracts those Lives.” “Yes, you would have to target precisely a thousand years of the Spacetime Lives and Tristan isn’t going to extract only what you need. Besides, tuning Lives on that scale would require a Device that’s up to the task. One that makes Rein König look like a toy. Which is why I called it a joke.” He smiled and she sighed. “Come to think of it, when the Geheimnis Agency Commander spoke to me at their Hamburg base last month, she said she would target the Spacetime Lives with my Messiah eye and try to avoid as much damage to them as possible when the ACBS hit.” “Yeah, even they have to look at it as an ‘as much as possible’ kind of thing. But…the way things are headed, that will be the only option.” Berger gave her an exasperated smile. “Sorry. Did that get you down?” “No. I’m kind of happy to learn you’ve been thinking about this, actually. I’ve been wishing I could do something like that too ever since leaving Borderson.” She smiled and finished eating her cabbage and meat while being careful about possible bones. … He’s thinking about the same thing. She wiped off her hands with a towel and touched her chest through her shirt to find her pulse was elevated. … I need to calm down. She tried to set aside her fear and speak the words in her heart, but he spoke before she could get her mouth open. “Hey, are you serious about learning about our past, Hazel?” That was exactly what she had been hesitant to ask about. “Even if that means going at it as a continuation of what we started in Borderson?” “C-could you try to find a more tactful way of putting that?” “I am trying. …You get what I mean, right? You have a Lives combat style, so you can read the German Lives injected into me if we sleep together.” “Yes, and that should include the History Lives that have repeated time and time again.” He stopped talking when she said that, but then he slowly nodded and continued. “You’d figured that out? Lehrer told me there was one way to make sure she didn’t disappear.” The German Lives injected into the two of them would include the Memory Lives from the versions of them and of Sylphide that had been destroyed by the loops. … And it’s easier to read the ones in someone else than the ones in yourself. “Will you let me read our many pasts? Including Lehrer’s? I should be able to find some part of my own Text there and it will let me inherit all of my past selves.” “Sure. It should also let you cheat when it comes to your Ober Beweisen. Not that it matters now that you want to stop the cycle.” “True.” She smiled but then her eyebrows drooped. “But are you sure about this? If I’m going to read the injected German Lives, I have to start with-” “With my past and the Text for Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen, yeah.” He stopped there before suddenly pulling her toward him. It was a forceful act, but she didn’t fight it. She practically toppled onto her side in his arms and she reacted by purring. ### 727. Part 2 A rebuilt inn had a parking lot bordering the forest behind it. It was a small parking lot with room for only four cars. It wasn’t even paved. But it was made to be hidden from the front of the inn. Germania and its dome were already visible in the northern sky. A camouflaging sheet hung from the inn’s roof to cover the parking lot. The sheet was made to look like a grassy field when viewed from above and it was even set up to work in this fog. Below the sheet, around 40 people sat holding their weapons. They all wore the gray uniforms of the AIF. One man stood in the center of them. He was a large man with two prosthetic arms. He had gray hair and only one eye and he currently viewed them all with a few documents in hand. “That concludes our review of Operation Glossolalia. The biggest change is Hazel using her Tuning to revive Neue Erde and use that to stop Tristan. Our time limit is 3 AM. At that time, the Allies will begin their ley line reversal in earnest and push Neue Erde to its limits. They will also launch their ACBS. That means our job is to stop Tristan by then. If we do, the Allies will not launch their ACBS and we can stop the Wheel of Destiny.” He took a breath. “If we do stop Tristan, this world’s history will connect to a new history at 4:42 AM. The destiny created by the Wheel of Destiny will be replaced by an unseen true history, which will erase the Messiah’s legend and revolutionize the world. So if this goes well, try to get along with them until the change hits.” They all fell silent, but they did nod with just their eyes. After that one nod, they all looked up at Pale again. Undaunted, he looked back at all of them, accepting their gazes equally. He checked his documents before continuing. “That about covers it. All the company commanders and higher have their new orders, right? We need to split up, so pay careful attention. And use of Moon Ash is forbidden since our enemy will include Hounds. …Corelle?” “What is it?” One of the seated soldiers raised her hand. Corelle did not look pleased. Pale looked to her. “Maybe it’s a little late to be asking this, but can you fly that big old transport ship through the gap in the dome?” “I can get it through a 30-yard gap if you need me to. I’m more worried about the RB arriving from the border in time. Coolers was part of the main unit, but he was apparently late to arrive.” “Well, we’ll destroy the roads with just enough left over to use as a runway, so the rest is up to you.” Corelle crossed her arms, pulled a card from her pocket, and viewed it. “Looks like you can relax. The card is still Strength. This should work.” “It should, huh? We’re a boring bunch, aren’t we?” “You can say that again,” said a male voice. “Only 20% of us managed to get here. And it was questionable if we could get an entire battalion’s worth to begin with.” That was Berger who sat with his back against the inn wall. He calmly accepted all the eyes gathered on him and stared at Gelegenheit held up in front of him. “Just take it easy, everyone. If Hazel dies, we’ll wish we still had the Wheel of Destiny option left. So if that happens, you might as well go on a suicidal rampage of revenge.” “Your damn pessimism is not what we need right now. Do I need to drown you in the spring out back?” asked Pale. Berger laughed. “C’mon, we were all thinking it. In a way, we’re the ones fighting to destroy the current world. Only the Wheel of Destiny is holding our world together and here we are trying to- ow ow ow!” He yelped in pain and everyone’s eyes focused on the person next to him. A much brighter color sat by the inn wall there. The blonde woman in a women’s AIF combat uniform was Hazel. Her left arm wore a military watch and held a white sword and her right arm was pinching Berger’s left ear. “Why. Must. You. Be. So. Cynical. About. Everything?” “Ow ow ow! Hey, hey, hey! Why are you in such a bad mood?” “Hmph.” She turned away from him and let go of his ear. She was comparing his current comments to the “joke” he had told a few hours prior. … He can’t open up around other people and he hides behind a wall of cynicism and sarcasm. She sighed. … Our new orders have us on different routes, but he hasn’t said a thing about it. Berger’s Neue Schwarz was key to their attack on Germania. He would go east and Pale would go west. Once those diversions were in place, Hazel would be using the elevated railroad to enter Germania from the south. She would rendezvous with the RB-21 there and fly up to the top of Tristan. The original plan had been to break in by force, but they had been forced to change that after seeing how many people had actually shown up. … It’s a shame our plans had to change. And… She narrowed her eyes and viewed the AIF members lined up in front of her. “I hate all of you.” Pale alone tilted his head at that and looked to Corelle. “What’s with her?” “Oh, we all spied on her afterwards .” “After what?” “You don’t have to tell him!” shouted Hazel, blushing. Then she noticed Berger had turned the other way and lowered his head. But his shoulders gave him away. “Why are you laughing, Berger?” “Because of you, Hazel. You really are – how should I put it? – the most serious person in the world when it comes to yourself.” “B-but it was my first time and then they did that!” She raised her voice in protest and everyone else asked a straight-faced question. “Your first time?” “Oh.” Her shoulders shrank down and she looked away. Pale, Corelle, and everyone else stared at her without even blinking. “Oops,” she muttered under her breath and turned to Berger, hoping for some help. He still had his back turned and his shoulders shaking. Realizing he wouldn’t be any help, she faced forward again. Everyone was still staring at her. Corelle raised her forearm and asked a question on the group’s behalf. “What is this about, Hazel? Don’t worry. If you anger me, I won’t do anything worse than kill you.” “B-but, um, uh.” Hazel’s voice and body shrank down and she clutched Rein König in both hands just in case. Then she heard a voice speaking from the foggy forest behind all of them. “Yes, I imagine it was your first time. The rest of you have a lot to learn when it comes to observing people.” Everyone turned toward the unfamiliar elderly voice coming from the fog obscuring the forest. They readied their weapons, but they remained seated and showed no killer intent. “Not bad,” said the voice in the fog as it approached them. The white curtain of fog parted and an old man appeared. He had a bald head and wore a three-piece suit. He stopped just outside the forest with his hand in his pockets. “Most of you won’t know who I am. I am Geheimnis Agency Intelligence Division Chief-” “Galue Witzmann!” shouted Berger. A moment later, everyone truly readied to fight. But a voice stopped them. It came from Witzmann himself. He spread his empty hands to show them off. “Calm down, why don’t you? If I was your enemy, you would all be dead by now. Isn’t that right?” Pale tilted his head. “What’s that supposed to mean, Mr. Witzmann? You aren’t making any sense.” “Maybe not.” Witzmann nodded deeply and pulled an album from his pocket. He flipped through it and showed off a few photos of Hazel. “You see, based on the intelligence division’s superb observation records, that would indeed have been the Messiah’s first time.” “Not about that.” “I’m only kidding.” Witzmann put the album away. “Destiny has gone off the rails and taken so many things with it. The Neue Erde has altered many things to oppose the Messiah and swapped out the mechanical gears to fortify her position.” He looked to the others. “You, on the other hand, are at severe disadvantage due to your ignorance. This battle deserves to be fought on equal ground. No one can complain about or resent the result then.” “So the intelligence division chief himself is going to leak intel to us?” asked Pale. Witzmann shook his head. “I never said that.” He turned toward Hazel and she bowed toward his narrow, smiling eyes. He nodded back. “To be cryptic about it, let’s just say I am ensuring this will be a fair fight.” ### 728. Part 2 “Eh?” Hazel clearly saw what had come to her rescue. The wing belonged to a Heavy Barrel in white armor. It was the Neue Schwarz. It sliced through the wind to move in between them and sent a high-speed knee into Erlkönig’s nose. The blow sounded like shattering glass. The speed overcame the mass differential, stopping the 30-yard aerial warship in its tracks. The Erlkönig seemed to float up a bit, but a moment later, it pushed the wind out of the way and shot up into the sky. Neue Schwarz glanced up at the fleeing ship, but that was all it had time for. The knee attack had thrown off its balance, so it entered a shallow vertical spin before crashing into the right door. Its right shoulder hit first, piercing through the door with a boom Hazel felt in her gut. Its white Ober Emblem armor instantly shattered and scattered as light with the sound of breaking ice. Tristan’s pulse was drowned out while the ground below Hazel’s feet bent and shook vertically. The shaking reached an amplitude of about 3 inches and almost seemed synched with the pule. Within that shaking and noise, Hazel looked to Neue Schwarz partially embedded in the door 150 yards away. The impact and the pointy Ober Emblem had torn through the door like paper, so its layered armor was splayed open like a flower blossom to devour the black warrior. … He can’t get out like that. But this prevented the right door from closing. There was a gap of about 5 yards from the closed left door. She could get in without issue as long as she could reach that point. Suddenly, Neue Schwarz’s secondary cockpit opened and five AIF soldiers emerged. Before she could look up and widen her eyes, the surrounding Geheimnis Agency soldiers prepared to fight. At the same time, someone stepped out from the darkness through the door. The enormous man had a prosthetic right arm and wore a black combat coat. He calmly walked out into the open air. Hazel knew his name, but she was not the one to call it. That voice came from the right where Neue Schwarz was embedded in the wall. It was a somewhat raised man’s voice. “I had a feeling you would be the last line of defense, ‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer.” Hazel turned toward the speaker. Atop Neue Schwarz’s shoulder, she saw a black-haired man with his black coat whipping in the wind. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth. She breathed in and called his name in a much calmer voice. “Berger.” He gave her a smile in lieu of a response and nodded without taking his eyes off of Schweitzer. Schweitzer nodded back at him. “This is the final battle, Destiny and Messiah.” He took a breath. “And I have one thing to tell you, Berger.” “What’s that?” “I have abandoned a power just like you abandoned your divine power. I have thrown out my Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer.” “So you’re okay being a no-name soldier?” “Yes, that is who I am here. Keep that in mind.” “I see,” replied Berger, hopping down from Neue Schwarz. His feet sounded hard on the ground. He pulled Gelegenheit’s hilt from the connection staff at Neue Schwarz’s hip on the way. “I will keep it in mind, Hellard Schweitzer.” Hazel saw the corners of Schweitzer’s lips curl at that. But the distorted curl turned them upwards, not downwards. … Is he smiling? Hazel tilted her head at that smile between two men about to fight each other. She could only hear Tristan’s pulse and the blowing wind. The shaking from Neue Schwarz’s crash had weakened but continued below her feet and pain throbbed in her right collarbone, but the quaking and aching were not hindrances. … They prove I really am here. With that thought, she faced forward, toward the bearer of the destiny she needed to trust in. Berger was there. He held Gelegenheit and climbed down from Neue Schwarz’s hip to the floor before saying more. “Schweitzer, I have a question: how much do you know?” “All of it,” he answered quietly. “I came here knowing Tristan had begun to overload itself and knowing everything else as well.” He moved just his eyes to view his surroundings. His eyes landed first on Hazel and then on the Geheimnis Agency soldiers surrounding her. “Perhaps it is too late, but I should probably tell the rest of you about the Nibelung. You must first choose whether or not you wish to be a guardian of Neue Erde. Only then can you truly choose to fight.” Schweitzer looked up into the sky and glared at the top of Tristan. “Attention all knights within earshot!” ### 729. Part 2 When Hazel heard Lowenzahn’s Text, she gasped and raised her voice. “No way! She’s already activating her Ober Beweisen!?” In lieu of a response, the dome grew brighter and the air shook. Something was moving and that rumble was the answer to Hazel’s question. She gulped and saw Berger click his tongue. “Neue Erde is activating her Ober Beweisen early to prepare for the peak of the reversed power!” he said bitterly. “I bet she’s going to increase the power gradually and carefully instead of trying to do it all at once. That way she can prevent the anxiety from scattering Tristan’s Lives.” He took a breath and suppressed a slight tremor in his voice. “She’s planning to drag out her Ober Beweisen until the moment of ruin!” Hazel realized what he meant and learned just how serious Lowenzahn was. “She’s going to keep singing until the last moment?” … Because she’s looking past 3 AM and believes the wheel will keep turning. And… … That means she thinks they can beat us! That thought made her gulp. Everything around her shook, but not because of a shockwave or quake. The shaking was in the very ether that traveled through the ley lines and formed all things. For a moment, everyone felt out of sync with themselves. “…!?” Hazel suddenly looked to the ground below. … Eh? She was supposed to be standing atop Tristan, but now she was in the sky. Her field of view was unusually high and wide. She was looking down on the world from nearly a mile up. She saw a river running through a forest below. Two adjacent cities existed on the river’s sandbank. A few of the houses had their lights on, revealing the shape of the walled cities in the night. She realized something while viewing the cities. “They look so old.” The cities were made of stone and wood, like something in a medieval painting. Her vision remained in the sky as she looked down at them. But her senses told her that this was not just a false vision. Her sense of sight picked up the lights and shadows, her sense of hearing picked up the sound of the wind, and her sense of smell picked up the scent of the river. It was all real. She realized what those two cities had to be. “This is Berlin’s past – when it was still a pair of fortress cities. That was in the 17th century, wasn’t it?” She had seen Berlin like this in the German Lives’ memories found inside Berger. She understood why she was seeing this moment from Berlin’s past. … The overloading has begun and the Spacetime Lives are being extracted in response. The view of the cities vanished. The cities, the walls, and the buildings vanished like she was watching a film in reverse. The forest grew and the cities became villages. History was playing out in reverse. “Has the extraction of the Spacetime Lives begun!? Is it moving even further back than the 17th century!?” Then the entire scene below her disappeared. She gasped and found Tristan and the dome in front of her. She could feel the sweat soaking her body. She looked around to see Berger, Schweitzer, the Neue Kavaliers, and the soldiers were all motionless. Confusion Lives hovered around them all. They were all holding their breaths and unsure if they should move. Hazel realized they had all seen the same thing. She gulped while focusing on something that bothered her. She could no longer hear anything at all from Germania below. Before, she had heard the many deep sounds of the battle being fought to support her, but all of that had vanished. She only heard the blowing of the wind. “Did everyone down there see that too? No, I bet everyone in the world did.” She felt nearly certain of that when another sound reached her: Tristan’s distorted pulse. … That means she really thinks we can’t stop her! “We will stop you!” Hazel raised her eyebrows and reflexively clenched her teeth. She forcefully raised her head to view Lowenzahn above the door. But Lowenzahn held her right hand to her left chest and did not look down at Hazel. She kept her eyes on the sky. And just as Hazel was about to speak to her, her lips moved. The pulse was like a deep drumbeat providing the tempo for her words. ### 730. Part 2 Tristan’s launch pad provided a front-row view of the collapse. The groan of the giant cross sounded like the roar of a waterfall. The weight control and protective field needed to preserve Tristan had been lost, so the armor, the inner walls, and the frame were all bending and breaking. The waterfall-like sound was played by an orchestra of falling parts. Everything was stripped from the mile-tall structure and it all crumbled away like a sand dune. The bottom of the launch pad bent and the exterior panels that couldn’t absorb the distortion started to come away and fall. From the upper armor of the RB-21 flying next to the launch pad, the falling armor looked like autumn leaves. Several people were on top of the RB-21: the AIF and Geheimnis Agency soldiers who had been on the launch pad, as well as the people it had already picked up from the ground. Two people stood on the very edge of the upper armor, waiting for someone to board from the launch pad. Those two were Corelle and Jeanne. Jeanne looked to Corelle on her left. “What’s taking them? Are they still in there?” “They are taking their time. Hey, Berger, you go in after them!” Corelle called back behind them, but received no response. Jeanne frowned and looked back to see the black-clad young man sitting in a chair-like hunk of metal with a look of disinterest on his face. The hunk of metal was in fact a giant prosthetic arm. He pointed forward from there. “They don’t need my help. See, here they come.” Jeanne faced forward again to view the door that still had a black Grösse Panzer stabbing into it. A large man holding a woman wrapped in a black coat and a blonde woman were running out of the darkness beyond the door. The launch pad shook violently at the same time. “It’s collapsing!” shouted a Geheimnis Agent. That was exactly what happened. The giant launch pad tilted down from its joint with the cross. It pushed the wind out of the way while tilting with the weight and force of something sinking into water. It produced the windy sound of pressurized air and the crack of breaking metal. Schweitzer lowered his hips in the center of the launch pad to keep his balance. Then he ran up the slanted floor. The problem was Hazel behind him. She failed to keep her balance and rolled once down the slope. And she rolled forward like she had thrown herself outwards. Everyone on the RB-21 gasped. Hazel rolled a second and third time, but she somehow managed to get back up and held down her skirt. Everyone sighed when they saw her running toward them again. When Jeanne realized how relieved she was, she looked to the others. She smiled bitterly when she noticed similarly relieved looks on their faces. “Why are we so worried?” She was answered by an elderly voice from below. “Because she is our leader, of course.” “Witzmann!?” She looked down to see a military two-hull warship ascending from Tempelhof Airport. The black ship was about half a mile below them and she saw AIF and Geheimnis Agency soldiers and even her husband’s green Grösse Panzer on top of it. Two old men stood on the front of the two hulls: Witzmann and Elrich. Their ship was slowly but surely approaching. Jeanne wasn’t the only one to notice it. Everyone around her was watching the girl running toward them, the man carrying their commander, and the two-hull ship. It was that sight that led a Geheimnis Agent near her to reach a certain conclusion. “So it’s over.” That agent was an old man. He lowered his face a little while viewing the girl and the man carrying their commander. “Deputy Chief, are you seeing this?” The old knight did not wait for her to reply. “The Messiah has saved the new world.” ### 731. Part 2 The battle had already begun in Germania’s sky. Turbulence formed a rapid leftward vortex while Geheimnis Agency fighters and attack craft dodged the lightning and flew along with the Neue Silber transport ship. The dome of dark clouds had formed an 80-mile-radius area of pressurized space within. A black color floated at the center of the swirling air currents and pressure. That massive color was covered in bluish-white flashes of lightning and it continued to grow despite already being more than 35 miles long. The long, twisting body had a vaguely lupine face, but the pair of horns marked it as a dragon’s face instead. The colossal dragon made large but swift movements. It floated just off the surface, its belly scraping along and tearing up the ground to devour it. Its movements caused deafening noises as it tore through the air and left white clouds in its wake. Great cracks ran through the lightning-filled air and dark ground below it. Space itself shattered like glass and was consumed by the dragon’s surface. Dirt, trees, wind, buildings, and other things with so many different meanings and colors all vanished into the dark color. Even the slightest movement of that color broke the sound barrier. Simply raising its head would shatter the wind, cause flashes of light, and produce clouds. The many fighters and attack craft were buffeted by the wind and forced to match the swirling of the dark clouds to make their attacks. Neue Silber pushed aside the wind as it flew. Its container portion opened to reveal its trio of 75mm guns that repeatedly fired. The blue and red Grösse Panzers flying behind it used their rifles to fire. But the size difference was simply too great. The black dragon’s body was nearly two miles thick. Each of its scales was larger than a bigger aerial warship. The wind blew and several beams of light flew from its neck. Those Drache Kanone were anti-personnel ones only about 5 yards thick. The black dragon transformed the weapons it consumed and used them for itself. Six shots flew, one of them toward Neue Silber. Just before a direct hit, bluish-white threads of light flew from the top of Neue Silber. The threads raced through the air to form a cube of barriers. The light entered that cube and was rotated around 180 degrees. The dragon light came back out the way it had come and crashed into the dragon. The dragon trembled just a bit and the sharp yellow eyes on its long face moved. It saw a man and a woman standing atop Neue Silber. The man had only one arm. His left hand held a wooden staff while he glared at the dragon. The woman next to him held the left side of her chest while the blanket she wore whipped in the wind. She looked up as if returning the dragon’s gaze and shouted into the wind. “The Vaterlands remain intact! And I can boost their power some small amount with Neue Erde!” Lowenzahn’s pulse rang loud while she frowned and tensed the hand holding her chest. The fighters and attack craft responded. Their pilots spoke their Erklärungs, reciting the Vaterland Text as they flew. They regrouped into two formations and got to work. They pushed through the wind and soared high to approach the dragon. The sounds of their weapons fire echoed across the sky. Schweitzer listened to the rumble of their divine spell gunpowder while he rotated his staff with his left hand. The staff roared in the wind and light wrapped around its wooden surface. “The boosted Tons makes my barrier spells that much easier.” He struck the space ahead of him with the staff. The black dragon’s face audibly shattered like glass. The noise was carried out by the wind escaping a 50-yard square hole in the dragon’s face. That was small compared to the nearly 2-mile face, but the dragon still narrowed its eyes and shook its head in irritation. The wind blew and the fighter formation left the immediate airspace. Meanwhile, light gathered on the dragon’s face, healing its wound. After its face healed, the dragon began to lift itself upwards. “Eh?” Lowenzahn braced against the coming impact of air, but then she noticed the dragon’s gaze. Its sharp yellow eyes were directed to the west. “That is where Sylphide has activated its Panzer Emblem,” said Bermark in his fussy voice. Schweitzer spun his staff around with a smile on his lips. “So Sir Heiliger knows who his true opponent is!” That shout was answered by sudden movement from the dragon. It looked up toward the dome of dark clouds overhead. It opened its mouth. A sound rumbled out from the throat beyond its long fangs. A series of sounds. The sounds gathered together and formed light. This was not a Drache Kanone. It was… “Tristan’s Babel Gewehr!” An explosion shot skyward. The clouds were instantly vaporized. Their rotation was pushed outwards. They rapidly spread out, their electrification intensified, and they swallowed up everything as far as the Hamburg region. The roar of air and expansion of clouds created a massive dragon’s den. Moonlight shined down among the dark clouds, but even the moonlight was broken down into Tons and absorbed by the dragon. The air, land, water, and buildings covered by the dark clouds began to crack and split. With a metallic scraping sound, everything within a radius of more than 80 miles broke apart and turned to ether light. The land around the dragon shattered like glass. This formed a giant glass flower garden. The moonlit garden of spatial cracking instantly covered the land. The ether soaring up from the shattered land flew in arcs to be absorbed by the dragon. Then Schweitzer saw something from atop Neue Silber. Seven lights flew from the dragon’s belly and into the sky. “Are those the Erlkönigs!? Are they meant to intercept Sylphide!?” Lowenzahn nodded and frowned. “This is a good sign. It means the dragon fears Sylphide.” She returned her eyes to the dragon, her hand still on her chest. “Continue fighting! Our Messiah will reach us!” ### 732. Part 2 That morning, Schweitzer stood within a golden color below the sunny sky. He was atop a large hill. The color gold rippled in the wind across the hill thanks to the wheat nearing harvest time. A dark forest was visible past the gold and the mountains loomed high past that. While listening to the blowing wind and a distant waterfall, he turned around to view a dirt road with deep wheel tracks located a few paces behind him. A green military wagon was stopped about 100 yards down that road and Bermark sat in the driver’s seat. That artificial green stood out like a sore thumb in the natural gold. Schweitzer sighed when he noted Bermark wasn’t even looking his way from within the green. He faced forward again. The wheat swayed before his eyes and someone stood up from the wavy gold. The young girl with her brown hair worn in a braid was Lowenzahn. She stood in front of him in a dirt-covered shirt and skirt and with her hands on her hips. “You look bored. Yet I’m busy as could be tending to the field.” “I’m not bored. Just…surprised.” “By what?” He looked around to the gold, black, and blue colors around them before answering. “By…” He shut his eyes, nodded, and faced forward before opening them again. His eyes were on Lowenzahn, her hands on her hips and her head held high. He kept his eyes on her and only her. “By how well you’re doing.” “It’s been nearly a year now. And Lillie’s letters have taught me so much about the past. …So how is my adoptive dad doing? He sounds really busy from his letters.” “He has been burning the midnight oil ever since you appointed him commander-in-chief. I have been taking on some of the workload by commanding a unit to assist with the military’s retreat from France.” “Didn’t a prototype Wort Bombe stop something a lot like the Nibelung in France? I heard it eliminated some anxiety Tons there.” “Yes, Elrich has confirmed it. He said it turned out well because everyone there wished for happiness.” “Then next time you see Elrich, tell him we need to build a lot more Wort Bombes and launch them all over the world to clean up the rest of the anxiety Tons still out there.” “The countries that do not understand will see Germany as a villain. I doubt every country will see this as a happy ending.” “That doesn’t matter. I’m willing to play the villain if it can eliminate all the anxiety Tons.” “You really don’t change, do you?” Schweitzer smiled bitterly. “I still can’t believe the Fünf Leithammels chose to send you, our commander, to live in Borderson in order to preserve the Geheimnis Agency’s connection to the Neue Kavaliers.” “Is that something we can’t afford to lose?” “Perhaps so. But…how is the village?” “Like I wrote in my letters, the reconstruction is complete. Heidengeists are surprisingly interesting people. Their unique traits show through in their lifestyle, so…how should I put it? Their quirks really stand out when you live with them.” Schweitzer looked across the wheat field. A golden wave swept across the hill. Lowenzahn brushed up her bangs with a dirty hand and viewed the wind. “Germania is gone, but the country has still evolved using the Erklärungs created by several years of ley line modifications. It’s strange, really. A power meant to bring destruction ultimately protected the country and is now giving it its own unique power.” Schweitzer said nothing. And he checked the large military watch on his left wrist. Lowenzahn followed his gaze. “Sorry. I need to get going.” “Hey, wait a second.” She stepped out onto the dirt road. He followed in confusion to find she had a something sitting on the edge of the road. It was a patchwork bag primarily made of red cloth. She pulled a picture book from there and held it out to him. It was titled the Neue Unreif Germane. He accepted it and she looked up so their gazes met. “The people of the next village over gave me this the other day. You can have it. It’s pretty interesting, so make sure to read it.” Then they heard a rumbling engine. They turned around to see a truck driving up from the bottom of the hill. It was green. It drove past them, swaying gently on its way to the village. Schweitzer noted the license plate. “That truck is from Cologne. Is the village interacting with humans now?” “To a limited extent. A lot of people took shelter here during last year’s Battle of Germania.” “I see.” Schweitzer watched the truck driving away. “Heidengeists and humans interacting. I wonder what the Messiah would have thought if she were still alive.” “Oh? You think the Messiah is dead?” “Isn’t she? Even if she returns to the present day, she dies at Hamburg. And Sylphide travels through each new loop. The two of them will always meet the same…” He trailed off there. Because he had heard something. The wind was carrying a series of sounds to him from the Village of Pardons located beyond the forest. The gentle musical notes were played by an organ. The music seemed to grow and shrink as it rode the wind. “The Unreif Germane?” “Yes. The village’s school has its lessons this time of day. They’ve invited in children from the next village over and from the Cologne region where their schools were lost in the war. The one teacher and one assistant are doing the best they can.” Lowenzahn turned toward Schweitzer and gave him a teasing grin. “What’s that look for? I can play this song too. I’ve been practicing so I can help out.” A singing voice reached them as if continuing on from Lowenzahn’s statement. The female voice began with a flowing “la”. Schweitzer raised his head when he heard the voice. “That’s Eryngium.” “Yes, she’s the assistant.” The song was carried by the organ music sweeping across the hill. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and sings It carries power in its hand and hesitates The one-armed man guides the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing looks to the beginning The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of surmounting the wall Follow the path to a familiar you / To confirm who you are Make sure your hand and voice reach them / Stretch your hand out to the moon The gatherers begin their party / A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same song The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The Messiah remains uncrowned / She leaves her words and her power with him Thus she is alone / She dreams in this land Do not fear your own pain / If you wish for the power to fight All is found beyond the screaming pain Do not fear your own trembling / If you wish for the power to protect All is found beyond the embracing sorrow Do not fear your own weariness / If you wish for the power to advance All is found beyond an unending new beginning The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out your own words All hesitation exists to tear through that wall Schweitzer lowered his head after listening to the song. He tried to say something. “…” But no words came. Lowenzahn smiled at that, but silently nodded for him to leave. He turned away from her and began walking. As he went, he raised his prosthetic arm’s forearm to say goodbye. That prosthetic arm was only designed to mimic ordinary human actions. But he did clench his fist. He heard Eryngium singing through the song again as he left. He heard the children’s voices and a new voice join in this time, but he did not turn around. ### 733. Part 3 A small room made entirely of wood functioned as a house. A lamp without its shade sat above the fireplace in the back of the room, shining a brown light on the room. In the fireplace, a few pieces of charcoal burned red with the firewood ashes. The windows in the left and right walls showed only darkness on the other side. Raindrops and their dripping lines decorated the exterior of the glass. The lamp light flickered, affecting the single shadow near the entrance on the other side. Two people sat across from each other at the small table next to the door. One was an old man in casual clothing. He did not cast a shadow on the floor or wall. Not even the shadow of his crooked nose could be found anywhere. The woman sitting across from him did cast a flickering shadow on the floor and wall. The middle-aged woman wore a stole over a blue dress. She looked to the old glass bottle and the glass sitting on the table. The liquid in the glass shined a dark red in the brown lamplight. She turned to look at the bottle’s label. “That wine is from our mansion’s cellar. I completely forgot my sister brought that here.” “You were still children back then, weren’t you? She left one of your family’s wines here so Lady Melda of Borderson or the regional lord could drink it if they visited.” “Ellis really loved acting like an adult. She brought five bottles over in all. A child like her couldn’t know how it actually tasted, but she grabbed whatever looked most expensive and carried as much of it as she could manage.” “It was quite a surprise to learn it was meant to be offered to the imperial family, Lady Lillie.” The mayor sounded amused and Lillie smiled bitterly in remembrance. “We can laugh about it now, but the Telmetz family declined after that, the mansion fell into disrepair, and I lost all of the wine, furniture, and people. It must have been the curse of the stolen imperial wine.” She viewed the bottle. “So how many have you gone through so far?” “This is the third. Take the remaining two with you when you leave. That is all this village can do to thank you for your consideration.” “No. I’m the one who should have done more. This village has done nothing but look after me and my sister. Even if it is a Heidengeist village, the military’s current orders go too far.” “Let us not discuss that right now. I have already informed the heads of the households. We will simply start moving. Calmly, like nothing is amiss.” “I suppose so,” said Lillie, reaching for the glass. She drank some of its contents, giving her a view through to the other side. “I don’t know what to make of it. Everyone except me is moving on. And without doubt or hesitation. I want to follow them, but I can never seem to find an answer for my doubts and I can’t bring myself to do it.” She set the glass back on the table and tilted it a bit. She watched the dark red liquid rippling. “I was supposed to collect Lady Rose’s gem from the wreckage of the Requiem that crashed last year.” “You mean the giant ship that crashed on the border between Borderson and Hamburg?” “Yes. I was to give that gem to the Messiah when Tristan is fully switched on tomorrow. As a good luck charm. Yet I took a job from the military and here I am.” The mayor’s eyebrows reacted ever so slightly to the word “Messiah”. “I was so worried when you left with the Neue Kavaliers waiting outside the village.” “I know. But I failed. Now, I hear a villager took in a cat earlier.” “Yes. When a man from the Eldering family took his kids down to the waterfall basin, they found a sword, some clothing, and a Flektierened Werecat washed up on the bank.” “I assume the sword was left with you. So did you see it?” “It was Rein König. The Messiah’s Werkzeug passed down by the Maldrick family.” The mayor looked to Lillie. “The Messiah is currently in the Eldering home. In the care of a woman with the maiden name of Ilfheim.” “Ilfheim? That was Lady Frobel’s maiden name.” “It is a variation on Alfheim. I do not know Lady Frobel’s family history, but the Messiah once gave the Ilfheim family a protective necklace. She had them promise to watch over the country’s prosperity and to act as its guardians. She also allowed them to mix with other families.” He took a breath. “The main branch apparently compiled history books at a library in Berlin, but they were killed off during the Heidengeist purge in ’35, with the sole exception of the daughter…who lost her memories.” Lillie gulped at the mayor’s explanation. “Where is this necklace now?” “I do not know. It was lost during the previous war. And the Ilfheims born to other families would not know where it is or even be aware of their own duty. Nevertheless, the strong connection between the Neue Kavaliers and the Heidengeists continues to protect the Messiah.” “But the Neue Kavaliers are no longer with her. Heiliger is still only ordering her capture, but we are focused more on the AIF’s attack on Germania. If the Messiah arrives with the AIF, we will have no choice but to fight back and prove which of us is in the right.” “What do you intend to do? You know she is here and you are under orders to capture her.” Lillie kept her smile intact, but closed her eyes. “I am a simple woman, so it all comes down to one thing: I cannot forgive the Messiah.” She tilted her head and sighed. She untangled her hair from her neck with her free left hand. “I think the Messiah must pay for those who have died. She is trying to change the present for a better future, but that will negate all the efforts of everyone who has fought to preserve the present.” Lillie straightened up and touched her index finger to the edge of the glass. She tilted the glass back and then spoke more quietly. “I fight for the past and she fights for the future. Let’s see which of us right.” ### 734. Part 3 Light carved a diagonal line through the darkness. That light came from the floor. A stairway covered in anti-slip strips and green glow panels continued ever downward. However, the faint green light was only enough to indicate the location of the steps, not to illuminate the entire stairway space. Two people descended those series of faint lights. The two sets of footsteps were very different. One was loud and hesitant and the other was light and unwavering. The hesitant set hung back a bit and asked a question in a deep voice. “How far are we descending, Bermark? We have been doing this for nearly an hour now.” “Until the old HQ is satisfied. Yes, I may be more than a century old, but that makes me a newcomer compared to this place’s millennium of history. When anyone other than its leader, emperor, or commander attempts to approach, it will make us go through a lot of trouble.” “Could I shorten the space using my Der Held power?” “I am afraid to say Germany’s millennium has featured several barrier masters with the Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer. Do you really think such a common power could affect the true nature of this place, Captain Schweitzer?” Bermark took a breath. “And do consider what I told you on the way here about Germany’s destiny tonight.” “The Nibelung, you mean? You said it is all connected to that. Which I find hard to believe.” “Believe it or not, the Allies will launch their ACBS at Germania tonight and the fräulein will state her Ober Beweisen from within Tristan. Everything is falling into place.” “Everything you say has to be painfully accurate, doesn’t it?” “That is how it has always been.” Schweitzer’s footsteps and presence changed when he heard that. His footsteps grew louder and his presence grew as solid as a rock. “If so, then all of this must be correct just as it always has been, Bermark.” “Indeed it is.” “But then where did Lowenzahn’s prophecies come from?” “She told me to tell you that she can prophesy without relying on an Eingeweide device.” Bermark’s response was answered by the solid crash of metal slamming into the unseen wall. The footsteps stopped, the metal reverberated, a few beats passed, and Bermark finally asked a question. “Have you calmed down now? Where does this impatience come from? Why not trust the message the fräulein left for you? She is a Sofort Leser, so she followed her own prophecies.” “Just like Stimmers and Busters, Sofort Lesers can read someone’s Tons by touching them. And if they want to, they can pass their own Tons on to the other person.” “What about it?” Schweitzer took one step down the stairs as he answered. “But whenever she had something truly important to convey, she was always extremely talkative.” “That is very flimsy reasoning.” “But it’s that talkative Lowenzahn I believe in. If her prophecies really did come from someone else, then I must determine whether or not she really wanted to go through with them. I must know what is truly accurate there.” “Do you now?” Bermark nodded in the darkness. “It is true none of this world’s mistakes ever really go away. They merely grow more concentrated as the cycle continues. Just like you, my only desire is to add just one new accurate fact to the all the previous ones.” Schweitzer’s footsteps took one more step down and then stopped. His powerful presence stopped moving down the stairs and the skinnier presence ahead of him stopped as well. “Is something wrong, Captain Schweitzer?” “That’s my line, Bermark. Look ahead.” The skinny presence made another footstep and a rustling of cloth. The green lights leading down had ended. The stairs didn’t go down any further. Instead, a pair of green glow panels decorated a double door. Bermark viewed it with the faint green light illuminating him. He looked across the square landing with each side the width of the door. “The castle has already accepted you? That is a surprise.” ‘You don’t sound surprised.” A heavier footstep descended onto the landing. The green light revealed a large man with a large prosthetic arm. It was Schweitzer. “Maybe it decided I wasn’t worth tricking since I’m prepared to check over everything so carefully.” “I have no will of my own, so I can never reach this place on my own. Just like my brother needs the Eisen Ritter Project to use an Ober Emblem, I can only use an incomplete Beweisen and Ober Beweisen.” Schweitzer sighed at that and raised his prosthetic right arm. “You are correct that it is your will that rules this place – not your strength.” He looked to his aide just once before viewing his prosthetic arm. “Thank you for earlier. I was getting impatient and I nearly relied on the Titel I inherited.” “So what will you do now? Your Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer means nothing from here on in. You have been following the same path as before, so I do not see how you can change anything with your strength or will.” “Bermark.” Schweitzer cut off his aide. And he viewed Bermark while smiling with only his eyes. “Why not just come out and say it? You’re asking if I intend to complete in a few hours all the work that Hazel Mirildorf put into changing her own destiny.” He smiled bitterly and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small key. “Lowenzahn left this with me. Did you know that?” “I was the one she left her clothing with when she entered Tristan. I had my guesses when the key was not with her things.” “Good grief.” Schweitzer inserted the key in the keyhole at the seam between the two sides of the double door. “A woman who tells you to believe her lies yet gives you the key to the truth and a Sein Frau who obeys that woman while simultaneously defying her.” He turned the key, heard a click, and saw the door shake a bit. Instead of pulling out the key, he pushed open the left side. The right side opened with it. And quickly at that. Nothing but white light spread out before his eyes. ### 735. Part 3 Schweitzer still stood in the light. The journal resting on his prosthetic arm was opened to the final page. His eyes were still staring down at the journal, but he suddenly lowered his head. A drop of sweat dripped from his forehead to his cheek before reaching his chin and falling to the floor. And once it did… “Bermark.” “Do you need something?” “I will omit any unnecessary questions. Does this journal describe our entire truth?” “Yes, that is everything we are now. The past comes from a thousand years of history, but the present comes from the twenty years of history that began with Lady Frobel’s journal.” “So this journal is the borderline between the past and the present.” Schweitzer flipped through the pages. Old German written in sharp, hurried handwriting had been rewritten in places while describing the events in chronological order. “It even includes me suggesting the Gard-class’s 2nd ship be used to build Tristan.” “Lady Frobel and Sir Lowenheit were both skilled Sofort Lesers.” “And they left this journal with Lowenzahn. So she could fulfill her role as our commander. Did she know her mother’s maiden name was Ilfheim?” “No. Lady Frobel came from a family that managed the Naylor knowledge stockpile, but that was recorded as a Naylor branch family. Sirs Graham, Heiliger, and Bertecht kept her secret and sent the fräulein to a rural home after Lady Frobel’s death so the information would not get out.” Bermark took a breath. “But as fate would have it, she happened to see a distant relative at Borderson last year.” “She was very insistent after learning of the wedding. She may have had her suspicions.” Schweitzer wrinkled his brow even deeper and flipped another page. He kept flipping. The sound of turning pages filled the space and they produced small gusts of wind as they turned. “Bermark, did anyone other than you know of these prophecies?” “Originally, it was only those of us who were close to Lady Frobel before World War One and were involved in the creation of the Geheimnis Agency: Sir Graham, Lady Rose, Sir Karl, and me. Later on, Lady Lillie who was taken in by Sir Graham…and then Sir Heiliger heard it from the fräulein herself a month ago. Also…” “Marsch?” “Because some excerpts from the prophecies were installed as plates in the underground knowledge stockpile.” “I see.” Schweitzer continued flipping pages. “The final page.” There was nothing beyond this page. “This isn’t a prophecy.” A short passage was confidently written across the two pages. There were none of the previous diagrams or explanatory notes. Simply a confident statement meant to convey something. When skimming through it, the words “war”, “Nibelung”, “’43”, and “sin” jumped out at him. When his eyes reached the end of the page, he noticed the final words. Unlike the rest, the last bit was scribbled out in a hurry. A date and a postscript were added below. “January 16, 1919. PS. I will be emblemizing this text and placing it underground.” “Do you recognize that date, Captain Schweitzer?” Schweitzer looked up for just a moment. “One week before my father died.” Then he looked back down at the hurried text. As soon as he read it, he shut the journal with enough force to make Bermark tilt his head. “Why not read it more carefully?” “I want to read that final page after I have calmed down some. Can I take this from here?” “If you wish. I am sure Lady Frobel would be delighted for it to be in the hands of someone the fräulein entrusted with the key.” Schweitzer grabbed the journal in his biological hand and stuck it in his coat pocket. Afterwards, he slowly lowered his prosthetic arm. It produced a mechanical noise as he rotated the elbow halfway around and lowered the shoulder. He kept his eyes on that arm. “Has anyone other than Lowenzahn read this?” “You already know the answer to that, don’t you? A portion of the prophecies and that final page were carved into a plate in 1919 and placed below Munich’s central hospital. The man who decoded it ordered to have it carved away so no one else would know what it had said.” “Did Frobel Naylor – no, Frobel Ilfheim – know that Marsch would be the one to read it?” “Yes. When the plate was embedded there, she knew everything – including that the people would rebel and that your father Bertecht would die protecting the hospital.” “I can’t believe this.” Schweitzer let the words fall to the floor. “To be honest, I feel some anger toward the way this journal views the world. And at what Lowenzahn did. But I also feel like there was nothing I could have done if that was what she wanted.” He took a breath, shut his eyes, and shook his head. “I don’t understand that final sentence.” “You have a heart of your own and you still do not understand it?” “It may be that heart that keeps me from understanding. If she was going to use her own daughter as a component in a machine then how could she also send that daughter to us for-” He stopped there, gasping and spinning around to look to the right. Some Unreif Germane reliefs were embedded in the wall there. One of the brick reliefs was glowing. The one depicting the knights battling a black dragon was emitting a bright light. He lowered himself to a fighting stance as the black dragon relief reacted. It vanished. No, it fell away into the wall. “What?” He watched as all the other reliefs fell into the wall and vanished too. After around 30 of them had fallen, a 3yd diameter hole appeared there. There shouldn’t have been anything but a wall there, but it instead opened out onto a different place altogether. There was a black forest inside. But that wasn’t all. Two things toppled into the room like felled trees. Except these were people not trees. One was short and the other tall. The short one wore a cloak stained brown and the tall one wore a suit of amor straight out of a medieval painting. The brown cloak made a rustling sound as it fell to the floor and the armor made a metallic sound as it clattered to the floor. Both men were old. Schweitzer recognized them both and opened his mouth to speak. But Bermark spoke up before he could. “These are Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann and Development Division Chief Elrich.” And he casually added one more thing. “They appear to enjoy dressing up as medieval knights.” ### 736. Part 3 Her body heated up quickly thanks to the wine. At first, his hands felt ticklish touching her through her shirt. But once they began kissing and breathing more heavily, that changed to something sharper than ticklish. Her other senses were growing sharper too. He held her in his left arm and lay her down on her back. When he leaned over her and touched her, her body moved more than she expected. He reached for the collar of her shirt and undid the top button. “Ah.” One by one, he undid the buttons down to her hips and his face sank into the exposed skin. His lips and damp tongue felt so much softer than his fingers as they touched her collarbones and worked their way down. Her heart pounded extra hard when she suddenly recalled what had happened last year in Borderson. “U-um, Berger. If you’re going to b-bite me, warn me first.” “Really? Then do I need to warn you before every grope and lick too?” “Eh? But…” “Grope, grope, lick, lick, bite, grope, pinch, lick.” “Hey, ah, wait, you’re not a puppy, you pervert!” “What, I’m just doing what you asked? Bite!” The sensation that vanished from below her navel suddenly came back as hard teeth biting at her collarbone. She yelped and twisted her body and he reached down to finish unbuttoning her shirt. Her twisting stripped the shirt from her, revealing her in nothing but her underwear. “Oh.” She looked up at him, but he was only unbuttoning his own shirt and looking down at her. Unsure what to do, she lifted her knees and tried to press her thighs together, but… “Um, Berger? What is your hand doing between my legs?” “Open sesame!” His hand grabbed her left inner thigh and she realized she had a thin layer of sweat on her legs. She reflexively spread her legs a bit to avoid the damp sensation. He shifted to the right to avoid her moving leg. A moment later, he pulled down her underwear. Before she could say a thing, she felt the white cloth catch on her foot and then it was in his hand. It all happened so fast she wasn’t sure what she should say, if she should say anything at all, or what she should do. Meanwhile, he looked at the underwear in his hand. “Fancy.” “I-I don’t need your opinion on that!” “Now, now.” He set the underwear down on the bed, pulled his left hand out from below her half-removed shirt, and stuck it between the shirt and her back instead. His right hand removed her bra, so her chest lost its support and felt the air. She tried twisting her body to see if she was frozen up with tension or not. She could move. So she relaxed and shifted her position to remove her shirt while still lying down. Then she twisted toward Berger on her right. He moved his right hand between her somewhat spread thighs to touch her left inner thigh again. She looked him in the eye and spread her legs some more. “What should we do? We are a cat and a dog, after all.” “Too scared to do it on your back?” “No. From the front, I can hold you when you hold me.” Hazel faced the ceiling and spread her legs while watching Berger move above her again. “This is embarrassing. But it’s a little late for that, I guess.” “You’re the one with a habit of showing up naked in front of me.” “I don’t do it on purpose. But this is different because I’m getting naked so you can see me and lick me.” “That is one hell of a seductive thing to say.” “I-is it?” He sighed and pulled his hand from her back. He shifted himself a bit further up, raised his biological right hand, and touched her hair splayed out on the bed. “But maybe you can’t help it. Lehrer told me that, once you reach your 20s, spring and summer are your mating season and you can’t resist.” She could feel herself blushing and she shouted back without thinking. “That is a lie! It is true I feel a tingling sensation near my butt at the start of summer, though.” “Wait, so it’s past that season now?” He looked legitimately surprised. “D-did you think I was in heat all this time?” “Well…” He lowered his gaze to between her legs and slowly looked back up to her face. “Can you blame me?” “Y-yes, I can!” “Oh, shut up. And whether you are or not…” He lowered his gaze to between her legs again and finally looked back up again. “I don’t think it matters.” “A-again, I-” She started to protest, but she decided to let it slide when he rubbed her head. He moved his hand from her ear down to her neck and touched her choker and the pendant. “Please don’t remove those.” He silently lowered his face to her throat. His breath felt ticklish as he placed the choker and her left side of her throat between his hard teeth. She cried out and jumped. Then he pressed his teeth against the right side. “W-wait. My throat is sensitive. Because I’m a cat.” She wrapped her arms around his back to hold him. He stroked her throat with his right hand and she ticklishly lifted her chin. Then he bit her exposed throat again. Her breathing grew heavy. She let out a heavy breath and sweat poured from her. He sat up and she tried to tighten her grip to keep her arms around him, but… “Oh?” A broken and heated breath left her mouth and her arms fell limply to the blanket. She felt a damp sensation on her chest. After escaping her arms, Berger was traveling down her body with his lips and tongue. His arm relaxed its embrace on her as he moved ever downward. When he kissed her spread legs and held her thighs from below, she raised her head and looked at him. “Um, uh, Berger? Um, what are you doing?” “Only what you told me to do. I shouldn’t have to warn you of that.” “Eh? You mean look at me and lick me? Ah, wait, th-that’s not playing fair!” She protested and twisted her body, but it didn’t last. She let him do it plenty. When she stopped resisting and let her body react how it wanted, her voice, sweat, and movements came out much more naturally. She breathed heavily, shut her eyes, and then opened them again to see Berger with the ceiling behind him. His black eyes stared down at her and he asked a question. “Are you afraid?” His voice, the blanket and shirt behind her back, and the pale light all worked to sharpen her focus. … Now that you mention it… She recalled something. To confirm that memory, she slowly held her left palm out toward him. The hand was still weak, like she had just woken up. Eventually, he grabbed that hand. The strength of his fingers interlocking with hers let her focus on her own presence here. She tried to smile. She wasn’t sure if she managed it, but she did know her view of her hand in his began to blur and he started talking again. “Hazel.” She viewed his face in her blurring vision. He looked completely serious. “What will you do if my joke from before becomes real? What if you could go to the past like that?” “Would you join me in the past?” He hesitated, but he did nod in the end. She giggled at how deadly serious he looked. “We are bound by the German Lives, aren’t we? But I’m glad to hear you say that.” She took a breath. “As thanks, I have something to tell you.” ### 737. Part 3 The top floor of Tristan provided a view of the glowing ocean and umbrella that covered Germania. That space doubled as a viewing platform and a large meeting room. The southern wall was a window of blast-resistant glass. The lights were currently off and the thick glass bent the outside light a bit as it provided a view of the scenery below. Two people stood next to the window. The man on the left was tall and had two prosthetic arms. The man on the right was short and plump. They were both lowering their heads to look down from the window. The fog covered Germania, its nearby forest park, and the river. Germania’s lights made the fog look like a faint white film and it rippled from the wind and the city’s movement. The fog on the surface below was mirrored by the dome above. The shorter of the men spoke in the light from above and below. “Sir Heiliger, the Allies have begun their reversal of the ley lines into Tristan. All of the world’s anxiety Tons are being sent to Germany and the management team has already detected a powerful reaction.” “It will grow even more powerful before long. We must increase Tristan’s output to push back the anxiety.” “According to the control team, the current pace will shift control authority to Neue Erde at 2:30 AM.” “Then our commander must protect it all with her own power.” Heiliger looked to the right, viewing the short man in profile. “I am sorry about this, Müller. I know Lowenzahn was your daughter for a time.” “It couldn’t be helped.” Müller sighed. “I still understand so little of this, but I do know that she wanted this herself.” “Is that why you did not give the Schallmauer Zerstörer his usual company and assigned him to guard Lowenzahn after he failed to show up at the appointed time? Was it out of sympathy for her?” Müller raised his expressionless head at that. But he did not look to Heiliger. He looked into the sky where some rainclouds still lingered. “I really hope the AIF does not show up.” “You never were any good at changing the subject.” “That is my answer to all of this. After all, most of this fog below us was likely created by an AIF divine spell team.” Müller stared at the fog and smiled a little. “But it is a shame,” he said. “Captain Hellard is the son of your former aide Bertecht. That former Schallmauer Zerstörer protected everything he held dear, but he lost his life in the end.” “I wonder if his son is a knight in the same vein,” said Heiliger. “If he is, he will attempt something similar tonight. The question is: can he protect Lowenzahn?” “What do you think?” “I live in the name of a promise I made – in the name of Tragisch.” That response wiped the smile from Müller’s face. His eyebrows rose a little as he looked to Heiliger. Heiliger was already looking at him. They exchanged a look between their very different heights and Heiliger spoke. “Of course, people are not bound by their names and their roles. But some people do fulfill their name or their role like they are fulfilling an inaccurate prophecy.” “Do you…” Müller started to say something, but his eyes flitted over to Heiliger’s shoulder. From his perspective it was the right shoulder. The armor there had to Phlogiston Plattes installed. Müller shut his mouth and swallowed his words. His silence was answered by the wind rattling the blast-resistant glass. It sounded like the strum of a string instrument and shook the floor below their feet as well. Eventually, Müller faced forward. He viewed the sky and then lowered his gaze to Germania. “I want to redo so many things once this war is over.” “Everything will be redone before long. Just not in the way you think. However…” Heiliger let out a bitter laugh and Müller turned to look at him. Müller saw Heiliger’s eyebrows drooping slightly. “There is one thing I would love to do if this war were to end. Even it can no longer happen.” “What is that?” asked Müller, his eyes on the two Phlogiston Plattes, but Heiliger did not answer. Instead he changed the subject with his eyes shut and his expression blank. “It is time to go see the predetermined answer. And to make a decision in the name of Tragisch.” He turned around, the bottom of his black coat fluttering around him, causing the light from the window to waver for just a moment. Müller frantically turned away from Germania’s nightscape. He saw that enormous back continuing to walk away and heard the loud footsteps refusing to stop. Past the large man, chairs were scattered across the meeting room and the north wall had an elevator leading down. It was all dark. The light from the window did not reach that far, so the red emergency lights were the only source of light. But the back walking away from Müller approached those red lights with no hesitation whatsoever. “I will send out Silber Löwe – my brother’s Panzer. It should protect this city well.” He continued walking even as he spoke. ### 738. Part 3 A dark space was filled with heat and had only red warning lights for illumination. The cylindrical space’s floor was about 50 yards across and the walls were about 30 yards tall. The ceiling was a circle just like the floor and there was a seam in the center. B6-18 was written in white gothic text across the seam. This was a storeroom on Germania’s deepest level. It was meant to hold VIP escape craft, so the cylinder was divided by 18 barrier floors that ensured absolute protection and a rapid escape route. But currently, an aerial warship sat in the center of the floor instead of a VTOL escape craft. Its coloration was hard to make out in the red lighting, but it had a blade-like silhouette. It was locked down on an elevated platform sitting on the floor and a veritable spider web of fuel pipes connected it to the surrounding walls. Several people were moving around it, all of them wearing white coats dyed red by the lights. The old man on the outer wall of the cockpit at the top of the aerial warship gave them all instructions. He was Development Division Chief Elrich. He called to the young researcher removing the rear protective cover. “How is Tristan doing?” “Neue Erde took over at 2:30. Its Ober Beweisen should be starting soon.” A pulse sounded and the researcher pointed toward the door leading further in. “But its power has very nearly overloaded already, making for a very dangerous situation. The structural materials cannot withstand this pressure for long, so if this continues for another half an hour, Tristan’s Tons may begin to break down.” Something was unusual on the back wall where a 4-yard door was located. There was a vein there. A blood vessel made from the same material as the wall was throbbing in time with the pulse. “So the overload has begun already,” noted Elrich when he saw it. “Isn’t this a tad quick? I thought it wasn’t supposed to peak until 3.” “Neue Erde appears to be gradually increasing the power on its own. Slowly and carefully.” “I see. The control room must be in a tizzy. Because there is nothing they can do to stop it at this point.” With that, he stopped paying attention to the wall. He instead viewed the cockpit hatch in front of him. “Is it alright that it only has room for one?” “Our commander said to assume the Messiah would be the only passenger since the Sylphide itself runs autonomously.” “Hmph. Let me guess: she also said to make the cryogenic storage device for one, didn’t she?” “You guess correctly.” “I was told in the past that only one person could return to the present.” A researcher turning a large bolt to release the ship from the elevated platform responded to Elrich. “But, chief, is what you said about the Nibelung really true?” “If you don’t believe me, why are you here working?” Elrich’s question contained a hint of a smile. He opened the hatch and took a look inside. “Because you lot got carried away and completed eight Erlkönigs while I was away, the power balance between Neue Erde and the Messiah has tilted heavily in Neue Erde’s favor. But that destiny only exists because Neue Erde was warned in advance…which is what I call cheating.” “Then why are we preparing the Sylphide in secret?” “Because engineers love nothing quite as much as a secret project.” He laughed bitterly, told them to “remember that”, and went inside. The cockpit was cramped. The floor was two yards long and one yard wide and the space was about a yard high. The cockpit existed as a tub-like sunken portion in the front. “I don’t see a cryogenic storage device. Does the entire cockpit itself double as one?” He was answered by the researcher standing outside the hatch. “After a triple-confirmation switch, the shutter lowers and seals the cockpit for freezing. The prototype and the wreckage found at Hamburg used a separate chamber, which obstructed the rear view from the cockpit, so we solved that issue.” “I see. Excellent work.” “The Hamburg wreckage gave us the hint we needed. It had a larger cockpit with a single chair-style seat, but we reassessed the design and lowered it all by about a yard to-” Elrich nodded and held his hand out toward the hatch to stop the man. His eyes were still on the inside of the cockpit. “Hm?” He saw something glitter atop the control panel. But not the metal or glass of the controls or gauges. “A woman’s bracelet? What is this doing here?” “It was within the parts collected from the prototype. A colleague said he had seen Marsch wearing something similar.” “Marsch Gant, huh?” Elrich narrowed his eyes a little and lowered his head, but only for a short moment. He nodded toward the bracelet on the controls and backed out of the hatch. He stuck his hands in his lab coat’s pockets and asked a question of the researcher waiting out there. “Have you completed the two modifications I requested via telegraph from the old HQ?” “Yes, it will all be complete in a few more minutes. First, the engine fuel bypass was switched to a fully external supply…just like with the Kaiserburg. It was 80/20 external/internal before, so as a stopgap measure, we blocked off the bypass from the internal tank and set the input sensitivity of the 8 external intake ports to 130%.” “Good. As long as the initial startup works, the Sylphide will be able to extract ether from its surroundings and fly without ever needing to refuel.” Elrich looked to the researchers working on different parts of Sylphide. “Have you removed the limit on the external supply? So that it can consume external ether at all times, even with its Panzer Emblem active?” “Yes. The Kaiserburg shut off the external intake when using its Panzer Emblem to ensure stability of the Panzer Emblem’s form. That created a momentary reduction of power immediately after ending the Panzer Emblem. Removing that limit will cause the Sylphide to consume its own Panzer Emblem, but…” The researcher paused. “But the real problem is compatibility with the next modification. As instructed, we extended the Panzer Emblem’s activation text to connect with the basic repair emblem text. That should allow it to repair its Panzer Emblem.” “I fail to see the problem. The Hamburg wreckage handled the issue similarly, I believe.” “The Panzer Emblem works by syncing any colliding matter with its ether armor Tons, destroying it. But this Sylphide will then consume the destroyed object’s Tons through its exterior intake.” A breath. “But even after being synced, a small portion of the original Rätsel remains. So instead of just consuming the Tons of whatever it destroys and using them as more material for the Panzer Emblem, the Sylphide must use its repair emblems.” “Yes, to repair the destroyed objects to their original form.” “An aerial warship with the power to Tune is terribly unstable! What if it loses control!?” “The prototype took in the Tons of the Schreibener and this one uses some of the prototype’s components, so it possesses Marsch Gant’s will and that will keep it under control.” Elrich did not sound remotely worried. He gave the gasping researcher a glance before looking around the area. The workers were looking up at him. He shut Sylphide’s hatch while looking down at them. He slapped his hand on its armor a few times, making just as many sounds. “The Messiah no longer wishes to destroy, so the same will be true of her guardian dragon. This aerial warship possesses the power to break through its opponent, but it will retune them afterwards.” He viewed them all. “Perhaps we should call it an autonomous Tuning Werkzeug.” ### 739. Part 3 In a world actively having its past stolen – in a world where no one could speak or even move – one woman’s Aerial Words rang loud. Tristan’s power boost was pushed to new heights. The pulse pounded. Tristan tremored. An indistinct groan left Tristan and synced with the pulse. The pulse and the groan harmonized and sped up. The Text traveled through the ley lines to reach the entire world. The Text pierced the voiceless earth and sky. <…that all forms, colors, sounds, and wills will be lost.> The Lives that resonated with the Text left the ley lines and were rapidly pulled toward Tristan. The Text gathered so many Lives while rising to a shout. ### 740. Part 3 The AIF transport ship and the German two-hull warship approached in the sky. Someone far below the sky was watching that encounter between the two forces. That person was on the bottommost level of Germania. There was a small park there so far down that the moonlight barely reached it. A work of art could be found on the red brick ground at the center of the park. It was a silver giant. The 8-yard giant wore silver armor, except its metal body was smashed and embedded in the red brick floor. It lay on its back with no left arm, a smashed chest, and both legs broken and burst. The moonlight reflected off of several things on the sides of the hole that led all the way up to the surface. Those were the places the silver Panzer had struck on its way down, leaving pieces of its armor behind. Those armor fragments fell like sand on the center of the park where a man lay collapsed on his stomach. He wore a terribly disheveled Geheimnis Agency officer uniform. He was missing his left arm and his prosthetic right arm was stabbed into the floor. Its metal fingers were spread out and fibrous metal wires ran from the hand to the ground. His eyes were on the giant cross visible within the imperfect circle of the moon. And on the AIF transport ship and German two-hull ship floating next to it. Something spread from his body on the moonlit floor. The puddle looked nearly black in the pale moonlight. A change occurred on the floor stained dark by that liquid. A serpentine shadow formed on the red brick surface and that began to bulge out like a vein. That was the result of Tristan’s power surging out into the ley lines. A man’s hand silently moved above the red brick vein. He said nothing, put up no resistance, and didn’t move his broken legs. He simply grabbed the floor with his right hand. His finger armor came away and fibrous metal wires spilled out. They no longer took the shape of a hand, but those tiny metal wires moved thousands or tens of thousands of ways to grab ahold of the vein on the floor. A scratchy voice left a bleeding mouth and spoke up into the sky. “Is this compromise your answer?” His eyes were on the two aerial ships in the sky. He spoke as if savoring the flavor of the blood in his mouth. “Instead of redoing it all, you would stage a revolution and make it so none of it ever happened?” His forearm armor split and the metal wires controlling it were released. “If you refuse to redo it all, then you mustn’t just forget the dead.” The metal wires spread out across their moveable range and went taut, producing a sound like a string instrument. “You must not hide them behind revolution. You must have the courtesy to say out loud that their deaths were meaningless!” His eyes looked to his right shoulder without moving his head. There were two Phlogiston Plattes inside that shoulder armor. “If this world cannot even do that, then it deserves to be destroyed!” The man raised his voice, the words rushing from his opened mouth. He shouted a couple of names. And then… “Eingeweide arm Tragisch – Ober Beweisen.” The two Phlogiston Plattes in his shoulder shattered and the metal wires spreading out across the floor swelled out. Then he and the arm vanished. All that remained was the dark blood puddle and the moonlight. But a pulse pounded. The floor vein began to throb and beat. ### 741. Part 3 Hazel scattered sparkling light from the Sylphide dragon’s back. She took the memory offerings from the box at her feet and threw them into the air one by one. The rings, coins, and such shined in the moonlight as they danced through the wind and sank into the Panzer Emblem’s ether. The dragon gradually grew each time. Hazel pulled some red objects from her pocket: a red ring, a red earring, and the bracelet she had found in Sylphide. She let them all sink into the roaring dragon as fuel. Not one of the offerings was wasted. The last things left in the box were a metal plate and a journal. She picked one up in each hand and offered them to the sky simultaneously. The journal’s pages audibly flipped as it sank into the wind. Lastly, she threw the empty box itself. Sylphide consumed it as well. “Oh, dear,” she said with a hand on her cheek. “It’s not a trashcan,” said Berger. “I didn’t mean it-” She stopped before saying “like that”. She had noticed Berger was facing the ground rushing by behind them. Gelegenheit had already grown a black blade in preparation to fight. She knew why. Something was rushing through the dark forest below to pursue them. She tried to get a better look at it, but Berger stopped her. “Hazel! Do your Ober Beweisen now!” “Eh?” “You can’t do it on a moment’s notice, right? I saw enough of your memories to know that. The Messiah’s Ober Beweisen requires a lot of Aerial Words to see all of the Lives!” “But,” she said before hearing him laugh. “Leave the fighting to me and Sylphide. Don’t hog all the best parts for yourself, Hazel.” She paused but finally nodded at his statement and the raised Gelegenheit. She felt her eyebrows about to droop and stopped them while sucking in a breath. She faced forward and saw the dark clouds in the eastern sky had spread out a lot. She also saw a village in the forest. … Borderson! She took a breath, choosing to trust that Berger and Sylphide would take care of whatever was pursuing them below. She raised her sword atop the Wind Dragon’s back. She gripped the hilt of the Device that linked her and Sylphide’s wills. She opened her mouth to speak. She had seen her Ober Beweisen Text in Berger’s Lives. … But… “There is no set form! There is no single answer for the Aerial Words that provides all the answers!” “Eingeweide eye Messiah – Ober Beweisen.” In the corner of her eye, she saw something like black serpents burst from the forest below and fly up into the air. Those serpent dragons were one type of lesser dragon created from the Lives breaking down. Six of them were attacking now. But she kept her eyes directed forward. She spoke the Text that she felt proved who she was in the present – the Text that had brought her to this point. Berger rapidly swung his black blade every which way behind her. Sylphide accelerated its dragon body. They broke through the wind. Hazel gripped Rein König’s hilt. She shook her head. “I have no hesitation right now!” she shouted as two serpent dragons rose up out ahead. They had been lurking in the forest and were preparing to leap up at her. But she heard a voice from below. “So you’ve finally made it this far, fellow werecat! I will clear your path as an AIF member!” The pair of serpent dragons flew into the sky. Instead of jumping on their own, someone had hit them hard enough to propel them skyward. Hazel saw several people running through the forest below. The man in an AIF uniform in the lead was Coolers. “It’s true there is no set answer and the questions will never end! I’m sure this fight will never end either!” More serpent dragons attempted to attack from the forest, but the soldiers and Neue Kavaliers in the forest swiftly crushed them. “But that’s why you need to make what progress you can when you find no hesitation in yourself! Don’t let your strength fade!” Sylphide raced forward while the serpent dragons were held back. Then Hazel saw a clearing in the forest. That was where a village had once existed. The village’s houses had been burned away and some gray smoke continued to rise here and there. However, several people were gathered in the center of the village. They weren’t just Glossolalians. The gathered people were likely all the people who had been evacuated from the nearby villages. “Oh.” Hazel narrowed her eyes, flipped her skirt around, and bowed toward them as she passed by. Then she checked her watch. It was 4:28 AM. “Another 110 miles!” With those words, they left Borderson and she turned to face Berger. Berger swung his black blade at the pursuing dragons while he viewed the village behind them. Sylphide roared and accelerated toward Germania. ### 742. Part 3 The song still rang in Schweitzer’s ears. In the cramped ship’s cabin, he looked to Bermark and shut the picture book. “It’s strange. I feel like the songs in this book used to be different. It’s like they changed at some point. Don’t you think so?” “You must be imagining things. You tend to overlook a lot of details,” replied Bermark, his expression blank. Schweitzer frowned and started to say something, but a loud noise ran through the entire space around them then: an alarm. “An enemy?” “Yes, that is what I came to tell you.” “Then be quicker about it.” Schweitzer clicked his tongue and stood up. He set the picture book down on the bed and grabbed a staff. He turned off the lights, opened the door, and stepped out. He passed by a lot of soldiers while choosing to climb the stairs to the roof. “Captain, that is not the way to the bridge.” “I know. I’m going to the roof. No Neue Kavalier goes to the bridge to protect people.” He placed his feet on the steps and climbed. And… “Which country is this? Nowadays, it could be France, America, or England.” “The navigator says this one is unidentified. It appears to be moonlight resistant because it is moving rapidly above the clouds.” Schweitzer came to a stop, his eyes on the thick metal door to the roof directly in front of him. “That might be Sylphide.” “Let’s not be ridiculous.” “It is possible. Because the Messiah intended to set everything free.” He placed his hand on the door’s opening ring and turned it. The door shook heavily and then moved. The chilly wind blew in through the gap. Walls of light shined all around him. The high-altitude air blew in from beyond those virtual barriers. Schweitzer ignored that wind and pushed the door all the way open. Past the thick door, he saw the dark and cloudy night sky. He walked all alone into the darkness and wind. He walked outside. When his feet were pushed by the wind and stepped on the darkness, he hesitated for just a moment. But he planted his hesitant foot down firm and looked up into the sky. His lips moved to speak a few names and the names of their devices. Vaterland. Freischütz. Sylphide. Mondnacht. Requiem. Tragisch. Kaiser. Gelegenheit. Messiah. Neue Erde. The last one he didn’t speak out loud. He simply held up his staff and opened his mouth wide in the wind. He listened to the song of the racing wind, narrowed his eyes, and released his voice. “…!” His roar raced straight up into the sky, but it did not stop there. He spoke his Text to fulfill his promise. He shouted a heaven-striking song and refused to stop. The wind roared in response and nothing could stop it now either. It was asking a question. A new question. ### Closing Words Despite the scale of what happened on that night, most of it never became public knowledge thanks to the Allies covering it up and the Geheimnis Agency and the AIF staying silent. But there was no hiding that the prophets around the world could suddenly read the future’s History Lives again after that night. This was given the following explanation: “For some unknown reason, the previously cut off and unreadable History Lives were reconnected to the ordinary flow of time at 4:42 AM on August 24, 1943.” Afterwards, the Allies began attacking Berlin which was no longer protected by the dome. On May 7, 1945, Germany declared an unconditional surrender, ending the war, and Berlin was split between the east and the west. In 1962, the Berlin Wall was constructed, physically dividing the city that had been so changed by the efforts of Heidengeists, machines, and humans. But that wall is no more. It was torn down and crossed in 1988 by a few youths. And it is said most of those youths were accompanied by machines that responded to their Words. You may be tempted to ask whether it was man or machine that put an end to that mistake, but that question has already been answered. 8/24/2001. On the morning a certain girl sang. -Michael Schrier ## Neue Unreif Germane ### 1 “This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.” In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and sings It carries power in its hand and hesitates ### 2 “One day, a man visited a woman who was friends with a dragon. He referred to the woman as the Messiah and said that her power was needed.” The one-armed man guides the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing looks to the beginning ### 3 “The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.” The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of surmounting the wall ### 4 “A long battle followed. But after traveling north and defeating a large black dragon, the clouds cleared away.” Follow the path to a familiar you / To confirm who you are Make sure your hand and voice reach them / Stretch your hand out to the moon The gatherers begin their party / A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same song ### 5 “Below the full moon in the sky, the Messiah smiled with everyone. The knights rejoiced, the people danced, and the dragon roared.” The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The Messiah remains uncrowned / She leaves her words and her power with him Thus she is alone / She dreams in this land ### 6 “The one-armed man accepted a sword from the Messiah and departed the morning after everyone threw a party to celebrate their newfound peace. He went to inform the king that the fighting was over.” ### 7 “The king began an emperor and the knights rejoiced.” “But the one-armed man did not return. He left on a journey. The Messiah said nothing. She simply wrote many letters.” ### 8 “But one morning, the Messiah ended her silence and gathered everyone. Then she promised them that their peace would last for a thousand years thanks to their efforts.” ### 9 “Do not forget to develop ways to fight and to protect and do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.” ### 10 Do not fear your own pain / If you wish for the power to fight All is found beyond the screaming pain Do not fear your own trembling / If you wish for the power to protect All is found beyond the embracing sorrow Do not fear your own weariness / If you wish for the power to advance All is found beyond an unending new beginning The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out your own words All hesitation exists to tear through that wall “The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed man returned. He erected two gravestones next to the shrine and spent the rest of his days guarding them…until one evening he breathed his final breath as peacefully as if he were falling asleep.” “A thousand years has passed since then. Surely the Messiah has already awoken and is living somewhere in this country. All so she can hear someone’s words once more. Yes, I am certain of it!” “Hazel! Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf!?” Panzerpolis 1943 Erste-End ### 743. Part 4 The light came from a large domed stone room. The walls were all covered by meter-long plates and all of those plates were emitting bright light. Schweitzer stepped into that light and narrowed his eyes. “This looks a lot like that room below Munich.” The main difference was the lack of any cold storage tanks on the floor. He walked forward and slowly opened his eyes to view the plates on the walls. The plates below Munich had been plans for Ober Geheimnis, but these were… “The Unreif Germane.” “This was once a lab used to recreate the Messiah’s history and search for the dragon. This is the control center for the surface facility and it can be used to recreate any history related to the Messiah.” Bermark’s footsteps rang loud as he caught up from behind. Schweitzer held a hand to his forehead and took a look around while waiting for his aide to arrive by his side. His eyes stopped on a point near the floor, not the ceiling. A desk made of brass panels sat in the center of the room. He walked toward it. With each step, his eyes adjusted more to the light. By the 17th step, they had adjusted enough for him to clearly see the skinny writing desk, the chair, and the black leather hardcover book sitting on the desk. “Is that a journal?” “Its former owner and its current owner must want you to read it.” “I see.” Schweitzer nodded and grabbed the journal with his biological hand. It was thick and heavy. He could see the black leather was dried and crumbling at the edges of the cover. Something appeared to have been written on the cover in gold leaf, but too much had come away to read it. He held his prosthetic right arm up in front of his chest and placed the journal on that in lieu of a desk. He lifted the hard cover and opened it. He found a titlepage with brown discolored edges. The page contained the year at which the journal began. “1919. The year before my father died, the previous war ended, and the Geheimnis Agency got its start.” He lowered his head somewhat to read the name written below the date. It was a woman’s name. He frowned when he saw the last name. “Frobel Nay- wait, is that her maiden name? It has been erased. Ilf-” “Ilfheim. The same last name as a friend of yours. A lot of half-Heidengeists from the Alfheim region have that name, so Sir Lowenheit chose to keep Frobel’s identity a secret. I imagine only a few other than me knew.” Schweitzer groaned a response to Bermark’s explanation. “There was Heidengeist blood in the very core of the Geheimnis Agency?” “Do not worry. Many in the agency have an Ilfheim somewhere in their family tree, but Heidengeist blood vanishes after a few generations. Our tests told us the Fräulein had human Tons. The only Ilfheim trait remaining would be the hair color she shared with Lady Frobel.” He took a breath. “So to put it another way, the Geheimnis Agency did not contain Heidengeist blood – it contained their will. Their will to watch over the country’s history and bind its protectors with promises.” Schweitzer clenched his teeth and flipped the page. The next two pages were blank save for a single line in the center of the left one. “To ensure the following prophecies are upheld…” He took a breath before finally reading the rest. “I will leave destiny in the hands of my daughter who will one day take command. And I will have her promise to protect that destiny.” ### 744. Part 4 The armored truck dropped Hazel off in the middle of the rainy forest. She was walking down the misty mountain road all on her own now. No one had spoken to her or even looked her way aboard the truck. She had sat in a corner of the passenger area for about two hours, staying perfectly still. They hadn’t even said anything when dropping her off. “It’s understandable, at least.” She spoke out loud to feel some slight release after the silence of the truck. She sighed, pulled up the hood of her poncho, and looked around. She only saw the piercing mist and rain hanging in the darkness of dusk. … Where is she? Lillie had gone ahead in the command vehicle and Hazel couldn’t sense her anywhere. “I just have to deal with it,” she concluded, drawing Rein König as she walked. She untied and unfurled the cloth surrounding it, revealing the white blade. She wrapped the cloth around her right hand, gripped the hilt, and held the blade out in front of her so it reflected her surroundings. The reflection gave her a glimpse of the right side of the forest through a gap in the mist. This was a brighter green forest, with a subtly different distribution of trees compared to Borderson’s black forest. … We traveled two hours toward Germania. That would put her near Hamburg. And since it was a forested area, probably around 20 miles from Hamburg. She was within about 80 miles of Germania. She used her left hand’s fingers to calculate out the time and distance. She didn’t have a watch, so she had to rely on her gut to judge the current time. That was far from exact, but… “Maybe I can catch a train somewhere. I doubt they’ll take me in their truck if I win.” She shook her head and mouthed a man’s name. She thought it was a little sad how that actually helped calm her a little, but then she pulled a certain color from her pocket. She pulled out the pendent that now contained the red gem Eryngium had given her. She intentionally rattled the chain louder than necessary while loosening the neck of her poncho with the hand holding the pendant. She placed the chain around her neck below the hood. The chill and weight of the chain was nice in how it contrasted with her choker. She tugged down on the chain just once to really feel the pendant’s presence. A moment later, she heard a woman’s voice in her left ear. “Hurry up. The battlefield is right over there.” Her heart raced in surprise and she reflexively brushed her left hand through her hair. But she only felt her damp hair and the mist. … Did she make the mist talk? Using her Tuning? She took a few hurried steps forward, which helped calm her. She looked down at herself. The sound of the rain falling on her plastic poncho seemed to reverberate through her entire body. That sound confirmed that her body was there. She calmed her breathing and began walking again. The air around her had changed. At some point, the mist had grown stationary and thinner. … Am I in a wider area? She looked around and saw a world steeped in a dim but white mist. A dark shape to her right contrasted that white world. She recognized the boxy silhouette in the mist. … The armored truck. The Naval Division Chief should be nearby. The battle was imminent. She understood that, so she slowed her pace and then stopped. She took a deep breath that came out white. She faced forward. She focused her eyes. Her sharpened vision and spotted the enemy. A slender silhouette stood beyond the mist in the darkening air. It was about 30 yards away. Once the enemy was in view, her mind sharpened her other senses too. Her ears heard a river – the deep sound of a river flowing through the forest. A great quantity of water was gulping down the air and carrying all sorts of things downstream. Suddenly, another sound joined that deep one. This one was much higher. A note from a string instrument rang loud and clear. It was joined by a voice. Lillie’s voice. “Now, perhaps I should start with something so basic even you would understand.” “Eh?” Hazel looked up just in time to hear a shout pierce the mist. “Ober Text! Tons of the air with an octave of 3.2 million!” Hazel trembled in response. … An Over Up? What is she doing? Her question was soon answered. The mist cleared away to let her see. It only lasted a few seconds, but the mist split apart, creating a straight path 20 yards wide. The split was only on the flat surface. The mist still covered the sky, but that sky already carried the darkness of night. Hazel saw a slender woman standing 30 yards ahead of her. Lillie Telmetz held a yard-long harp on her left shoulder. “Eingeweide Harfe – Mondnacht. This is my first time using it to kill a Heidengeist.” Before she was even done speaking, the mist behind her split as well. There was no ground there. … A cliff? But that broad cliff did not simply lead to an abyss. A great body of water was visible past its edge. Lillie stood in front of a lake. Loud watery sounds shook the air as water dragons broke the misty walls to move this way and that. They were playing in the lake despite the mist. Hazel stared at Lillie. For the first time, she noticed the other woman’s head was lowered. Then the mist around Hazel began to shake. … Is it synced with the controller’s Lives? With her trembling will? Lillie spoke quietly, as if to confirm Hazel’s speculation. “I will teach you there are things that were lost because of you.” With that, the mist fully cleared away behind Lillie. The view opened up. The mist vanished from the lake, revealing a small island in the center. The island was dark and angular in a way no natural land formation would be. Hazel recognized the thick cylinder jutting up from the island. “A Babel Cannon.” Lillie nodded and raised her head. The lake behind her was now clear of mist, four water dragons roared and frolicked on the surface, and a crashed aerial warship acted as the lake’s centerpiece. With all of that behind her, Lillie bowed and spoke to Hazel. “Welcome to the battlefield of vengeance.” ### 745. Part 4 Hazel was faltering but firm. “Once, there was a girl. She thought of herself as fairly smart and was proud of that, but she never could say the things she really wanted to say. As she grew up, she started having nightmares. She dreamed of war, of being trampled by great crowds of people…and of saying goodbye to someone she loved.” “I’ve had similar dreams.” They both laughed bitterly and she nodded. “The girl always thought the person she had to say goodbye to in her dream was her father. So whenever she had that nightmare, she would reach her hand out toward his back as he left. And of course, he never took that hand.” She took a breath. “But then a hand did grab her outstretched hand. But this wasn’t her father – it was someone else she loved. And it wasn’t in a dream – it was very real.” She looked to Berger without letting go of his hand. “Do you remember when we first met? In ’37 in that small room below Berlin, that person stayed by my side while I was having my nightmare and he held my hand.” “I was only-” “I don’t think that happened for any of my past selves. Because no one ever took my hand in the nightmares.” “….” “He took my hand and he told me ‘it’s okay’.” She smiled bitterly. “But he saw me naked, which wasn’t at all ‘okay’ for a precocious teenager.” Her bitter smile grew, but it didn’t last. She couldn’t find anything else to say and closed her eyes. A hot liquid that wasn’t sweat dripped from her closed eyelids and fell back toward her ears. She took a few awkward breaths and then got her trembling voice out. “Do you remember that?” “Hazel.” She opened her eyes when he called her name. She knew her face was far from presentable, but there was no helping that. “The snot running down your face is ruining the moment.” “B-but this is important to me.” “It’s okay,” he said. His expression was a mixture of tension and a smile. Her heart pounded in her chest. Before she could say anything, he sank down and held her in his prosthetic arm. He lifted her hips just a bit and placed them on his lap. She shut her eyes and his lips touched her eyelid. When he licked up her tears, she held him in her right arm and wrapped her legs around him. “You’re right. It is okay.” She breathed in and continued with a smile. “So let me see all of you.” She felt strength enter his arm. ### 746. Part 4 August 24, 1:55 AM. Flames from what was thought to be a civilian riot burned on the eastern outskirts of foggy Germania. It occurred on the border between the Geheimnis Agency division and the military division sent to defend against the coming bombing, so confusion over who was responsible delayed the response and the Geheimnis Agency got things started by making the first move. At 1:57, the military groups defending the north, east, and west of Tristan heard gun and artillery fire from the fog around Germania and saw some people moving rapidly outside the warning line. But the military did not respond. They doubted a small ground force was a real threat and they were the foundation of Germania’s defenses. At 1:59, some of Germania’s defenders made their move a few minutes earlier than usual. The Geheimnis Agency moved through the fog, quickly set up a front line, and began a battle in a region only they could enter. ### 747. Part 4 A battle was underway in the center of Germania. A silver Heavy Barrel fought a man with two prosthetic arms. They were Heiliger and Pale. The two inordinately large people ran southeast across a deserted wasteland. They were just inside the western side of Germania. Another 10 yards south and they would reach the large hole between Charlottenburg and Tiergarten. There was no road. A Word Rifle beam had torn a trench in the ground from east to west. If they ran much further, they would reach the main road and they could take that east to reach Tiergarten. The only movement beyond themselves was the occasional tree, building chunk, or sign falling to the ground after being launched by their battle. Sounds of combat came from far to the east and west, but only the Heavy Barrel and the man could be found here. Pale’s gray hair was matted with blood. Blood dripped down his forehead and the scar on his one eye had reopened. But he bared his bloody teeth and smiled at the silver Heavy Barrel. The pulse coming from Tristan was slowly increasing in speed and volume. “What’s wrong, Heiliger? Distracted by Tristan’s out-of-control pulse? It only took one good blow to throw your main force and your western unit into disarray. So what now?” “You are meant to command your entire army, so why do you seek a personal fight?” Pale didn’t answer that. The silver Heavy Barrel looked to the sky where the moon shined through the dome. “You will die soon. Tonight is not a full moon like it was during the previous war. You cannot draw on your true power as a Heidengeist, so you are struck relying on the Frühmond drug. Your Archetype bloodline cannot save you here.” “Really wish you didn’t know that!” A sword rushed in. The strike was made while running, but it was steady and drew a perfect arc toward Pale’s back. He swung his metal fist back and punched the blade. The metal clang coincided with Tristan’s pulse. With the roar of wind being pushed away, Pale’s fist was knocked forward by the force of the sword. He moved about 10 yards ahead of Neue Silber and landed on the shaking ground. “Too slow.” A powerful slash dropped down from directly above. Pale clenched his teeth and punched the ground. His metal fist went through its triple acceleration to blast away the dirt. With a trio of roars, Pale used the power of his fist to leap forward. As soon as he was away, the asphalt behind him exploded from a sword strike. He summed up his thoughts by whistling. He saw the ground was shaking even more than before. “An earthquake? No, his sword strike and the pulse were in sync.” A great hole had opened up within arm’s reach. When a shock ran through the ground, it could be seen as a vibration, especially on cracked and broken ground. Another pulse arrived from Tristan. On the nauseating pulse, Pale landed and faced forward again. The amplitude of the ground’s shaking was growing sharper and more focused as he viewed his opponent. Neue Silber straightened its forward-leaning body and began putting its sword away at its hip. Pale stood up and asked a question. “Why are you sheathing your sword? In a rush to go somewhere?” “You are only trying to buy time here. Your fists can never reach my Panzer.” The silver Heavy Barrel’s blade vanished into the scabbard at its hip. Pale viewed the black scabbard and frowned. “You think I can’t reach you?” The silver Heavy Barrel did not respond. Neue Silber looked up and away from Pale. It viewed the top of Tristan. That was the tallest point in Germania. An AIF two-hull transport ship was battling Erlkönig in the sky above that. Neue Silber spread the six wings on its back. It had already started gathering air in those wings. Pale clicked his tongue when he saw the shimmering heat rising from the wings. And just before that moving air became a wind… “I just thought of a great way of getting my fist to you.” The silver Heavy Barrel did not even look his way. But Pale still bent his left elbow and directed his left fist toward the ground. The movement came suddenly. His left fist clenched as tight as possible. The heavy metal frame made some noises as it formed an even larger metal fist. The elbow had already pulled back behind him in preparation to throw a punch. He bared his fangs but kept his voice relatively quiet. “So stick around a while longer.” After that, his voice and his fist gave a roar. His arm flew straight down toward the ground and it gained extra acceleration as metallic noises and steam came from the elbow. The fist parted the white steam. And not just once. It happened thrice before the swing was complete. The air was audibly destroyed three times before the fist struck the ground. With the sound of compressing dirt, Pale kicked off the ground. He used the force of the impact and his own strength to produce an incredible acceleration. His crouching body leaped to the left of the silver Heavy Barrel with the force of an artillery shell. “Nh.” In an instant, Neue Silber took a defensive stance and Pale landed to its left, blasting dirt into the air. Neue Silber turned toward him just as Pale punched the ground again. The triple blast of acceleration sounded in an instant and Pale launched himself behind the Heavy Barrel. All that remained was the afterimage of his silver hair, the cloud of dirt rising from the ground, and the powerful shaking of that ground. The silver afterimage moved behind Neue Silber. Neue Silber planted its feet firmly on the ground, drew its sword, and stabbed it backwards. The sound of a sword slicing flesh and the impact of a fist could both be heard from the direction it sent the sword tip. The white smoke of smashed air surrounded it and something leaped to its right. Another triple metallic noise followed. Pale left behind an afterimage showing a slashed cheek as he circled in front of Neue Silber. He bled as he lowered his hips and pulled his left shoulder back to stand at an angle. Sweat dripped down his brow and his left arm’s elbow was glowing red with heat, but there was a smile on his lips. “Let’s finish this!” shouted the beast. With another crash of impact, the ground’s vertical shaking increased and the silver-haired man left an afterimage as he leaped to his right and Neue Silber’s left, which was north. Pale landed with both feet firmly on the ground and faced forward. He was about 12 yards from the silver Heavy Barrel. The ground was shaking below him and the amplitude had surpassed half a yard. The repeated blows had formed waves that increased the shaking. He used that shaking to lightly kick off the ground and jump straight up. Just then, he heard a faint voice from the distant sky. It was a man’s deep but carrying voice. “Attention all knights within earshot!” Pale caught some of what the voice said next while in midair. “So the time has come for the Neue Kavaliers to learn of the Wheel of Destiny,” he muttered, spinning through the air and readying his right fist behind him. The ground below him had reached the lowest point of its amplitude. Meanwhile, Neue Silber grabbed the hilt of its backwards-thrusting sword with both hands. The silver Heavy Barrel twisted its body toward Pale and raised the sword to swing it down in a large arc. The quaking ground started to rise. With the threat of the ground below and the sword above, Pale’s eyes were on the sword. “Do you know how much force it takes to shake the weight of a city by half a yard?” It all happened in an instant. Pale did not dodge the slash. He opted for an offensive defense. He swung his left fist straight up to punch the blade. With a sound like shattering glass, Neue Silber’s blade instantly broke from the hilt and Pale’s left fist broke in return. The impact slammed Pale’s body toward the ground, but just before he hit, he shouted up at his foe. “You’re about to find out!” Pale’s right fist flew diagonally down toward Germania’s rising ground. That fist had applied its triple acceleration to the vector provided by Neue Silber’s sword strike. It struck the ground with all that built-up momentum. The fist smashed into the ground and Germania rumbled. Then the principle behind a ricocheting bullet gave Pale’s body great speed. He twisted his airborne body, giving himself a rapid spin that sent his right arm forward. He saw Neue Silber still in the follow through for swinging down its sword. Beyond that, he also saw a large pit opened in Germania’s ground. His metal right elbow clicked like a key turning in a lock and all of its steam ports opened. White steam blasted behind him for the primary acceleration. The same sound repeated and the secondary acceleration began. Shortly thereafter came the tertiary acceleration. Each time the fist’s speed increased, it tore through the air and created a ring of white vapor. The sound arrived after a short delay. The metal fist struck the Heavy Barrel in the chest. The impact pushed Neue Silber backwards. Its weight provided no real resistance as the chest armor shattered and the force of the blow passed through it and out its back. The six metal wings on its back ruptured like a flower. Pale then tackled Neue Silber’s chest with his shoulder. The Heavy Barrel staggered and tried to regain its footing, but… “Kh!?” It could not get its feet back on the ground. In fact, there was no more ground below its feet. It was already out over the enormous pit. Its wings were broken, so there was only possible outcome: succumb to gravity and fall. “Pale Horse! Why waste your time on a personal vendetta against me!?” “This isn’t personal.” Pale was out of breath with his right fist pressed against Neue Silber’s chest. “Those young fools are fighting up on Tristan right now. What’s so personal about keeping an old man out of their hair, Heiliger Karlsruhe?” Pale didn’t wait for a response. He took one look around as their falling speed picked up. He laughed bitterly as the growing wind of their fall rang in his ears. The surface of Germania was above them now. The wind grew, carrying away the sweat on his brow. “I doubt this fall is enough to kill you, so how bout we get round two started?” He accelerated his right fist with it still pressed against the Heavy Barrel’s chest. A loud crash followed. ### 748. Part 4 Lowenzahn was answered with a roar. All around Hazel, the Geheimnis Agency knights raised their voices and resumed fighting. Schweitzer and Berger also resumed their battle in the center, like the chains binding them had been broken. She heard Berger’s voice. “Hazel!” But she was still staring blankly up at Lowenzahn. Lowenzahn was only a translucent specter, but she performed dance steps in time with the pulse surrounding them all. She had already shut her eyes and her lips were moving to whisper her Ober Beweisen Text. Hazel repeated that Text to herself. “I do not want to lose any of that.” … She’s motivated by the same thing we are. “Hazel!” shouted Berger. His sharp voice snapped her out of her revery and she saw a shape flying in from the right. A black, blade-like ship was approaching from as high in the sky as the dome allowed. That was Erlkönig. The black aerial warship had shaken free of the RB-21 attempting to pursue it. It accelerated along an arc in the sky and turned its nose toward Hazel. The two glowing swords emitted from its nose had already been swung forward. The sword tips sliced through the wind and left a trail of white cloud. As soon as she noticed Erlkönig’s approach, Hazel felt an odd sensation in her right eye. Her vision was acting up. The Messiah eye had already gone red and was rapidly heating up. … Eh? She found her left and right eyes were seeing different things. The right one only saw the color red. She ignored the image coming from her left eye and poured all of her focus into the red light seen through her right eye. She felt like she was stealing someone else’s vision and that sense was growing stronger. Her left eye’s view was swallowed up and colored by the right eye’s red light. She gasped and held her right hand in front of her right eye, but she couldn’t see the hand. She saw a low-ceilinged room. The room had a circular floor and ceiling and it was lit by red lights. Several black pipes ran along the floor before reaching her. She could not see herself. But she realized her expression made no sense. Erlkönig was approaching fast and her eyebrows were crumbling in a way that suggested tears, but she had a smile on her lips. She heard Berger’s voice from beyond the red vision. “Hazel, does that mean what I think it does?” “Yes!” Her body fully recalled this familiar sensation. The resurrected memories spread from her right eye to the rest of her and she felt the wind on her skin. She could tell what she sensed was underground. It was trapped, but it was waiting to move. It was waiting for her. … And I’m waiting for you! So she raised her voice. “Can you hear me, Sylphide!?” ### 749. Part 4 Hazel jumped to the RB-21 in the nick of time before the launch pad fell. She kicked off the pad and leaped through the roar of bending and breaking metal. For just two seconds, she felt like she would be pulled away by a great movement of the air, but then she landed on the RB-21’s metal upper armor. She fell to her knees from exhaustion and the pain from when Rein König stabbed into her shoulder. Everyone atop the ship paused. But then they all shouted out loud and rushed toward her. She tried to catch her breath while looking to the chorus of voices and footsteps. Her allies and what had been her enemies were gathered around her. They gave off red Lives of joy with a hint of confusion and they had smiles on their faces. … They’re all okay. At least for this one moment in time, the distinction between enemy and ally didn’t matter. She heard Tristan collapsing behind her and smiled while still out of breath. But she lowered her head when pain stabbed into her right eye. … Eh? She felt a light itchy pain deep in that eye. The small pain was accompanied by a faint heat. … What is this feeling? She rubbed her eye and heard Corelle’s voice. “Hazel!” The sharp shout got her to look right, where Corelle stood within arm’s reach. “Hazel. Your eye is doing its thing again!” That freaked her out. Cold sweat instantly covered her back and pushed her to action. She quickly pulled Rein König out from under her arm and viewed her reflection in its blade. “My Messiah eye has turned red on its own.” Before she could ask why, the supposedly stopped and crumbling Tristan began to pulse again. ### 750. Part 4 The people taking shelter on a small hill in Borderson watched the dragon flying by in the sky. The blue dragon consumed the air and forest on its way to the colossal collection of clouds at the center of the destruction. The people standing in the village center heard a voice that sounded almost imaginary. A pair of young siblings commented on it as they watched the dragon flying away. “I hear a song.” Next to them, a woman holding a baby nodded and began singing. “The wind arrives from the north / a path arrives from the north.” The wind blew east and the sounds of battle and resistance came from the distance. The woman with the baby sang along with the voice coming from somewhere. And she looked to the northern sky where the dragon had come from. A single star shined in the sky to the north. That cold light was the North Star. Its weak but unmistakable light shined on the dark clouds covering the eastern sky. The woman shook her head while holding her child. She spoke both to the siblings standing nearby and to the baby in her arms. “No one will let that happen.” ### 751. Part 5 A single shadow was cast in a small clearing in the forest at the entrance to the Borderson village. There was only the one shadow, but two people stood there. One was Lillie with a black coat wrapped around her and her shadow cast on the ground. The other was an old man in a white linen shirt and pants. The woman stood with her back to the gate at the village entrance and spoke without turning the old man’s way. “As scheduled, I will deal with this village myself come 4 o’clock. You can do whatever you want after that.” “Thank you for your tolerant decision, Lady Lillie.” “Forget it. More importantly, mayor, what did you think of the Messiah when she came to pick up Rein König?” “When I went to check on her during the day, she was apparently out helping our people in the field. Do you know what happens when an amateur tries to help weed during the rainy season?” “They trip and get all muddy. Ellis did that a lot.” “Precisely. But she didn’t even bother cleaning up before leaving the village with Rein König and some rain gear.” Lillie turned toward the mayor, viewed his face, and softened her expression just a little. “You’re smiling, mayor.” She smiled bitterly and silence fell between them. Stillness spread across the clearing, but it was soon broken. Several decidedly unnatural sounds reached them from the mountain. They recognized the rumbling sounds. “Armored trucks,” said the mayor. That was exactly what appeared on the mountain road. The three Geheimnis Agency Navy Division armored trucks were designed to cross rivers and their rubber tires slid as they came to as top in the clearing. Lillie nodded their way and they flashed their headlights to respond. The front command truck’s door opened and a girl wearing the armband of an aide stepped out. She ran over to Lillie, the puddles splashing below her feet. “Lady Telmetz! The target has escaped toward the eastern Essen region!” “She hopes to take a freight train straight to Germania, doesn’t she? Essen is less than an hour’s drive. Did you tell the army stationed in Essen to bolster railroad security?” “I did!” “Then we should be fine.” Lillie rubbed the girl’s head. The girl narrowed her eyes, but lost the smile when Lillie slapped her on the shoulder. She turned to the mayor, saluted, and returned to the command truck. Lillie listened to the girl’s footsteps as she faced the mayor and opened her mouth to say something. “…” Her mouth stayed open but no words came. Her raised-eyebrow face saw the mayor holding out two bottles. They were the same thing he had given her to drink last night. “These are the last two unopened bottles. They should have been returned ages ago.” After a pause, Lillie nodded and took just one of the bottles. “Give the other one to someone you trust more than me.” And… “Remember this: if destiny plays out as our commander foretold, then the world’s ruin will begin tomorrow morning at 3 and it will end at 4:42.” “Ruin?” “It is this world’s unavoidable destiny. Whatever the Messiah might try to do and whatever we might do to try and stop her, the world will change at 4:42. Because that is when the ruin occurred every other time.” ### 752. Part 5 Two old men sat in front of Schweitzer. The forest beyond them had disappeared. The wall reliefs had moved back into place, covering the hole. The old men were busy removing the armor and whatnot they were wearing. Witzmann held a removed breastplate and looked up at Schweitzer. “Something must have happened if the son of Schweitzer is here at the old HQ.” Bermark opted to answer. “You should know what that is now that you have seen the past. Things are underway to ensure that past happens. All in the name of the Nibelung.” “Oh?” replied Elrich, undoing the strap on Witzmann’s back. The chest of the armor dropped down to Witzmann’s stomach. Witzmann caught the falling breastplate. “The world has started to go wrong, hasn’t it? Then I’m guessing today is August 23.” “I would expect no less of the man with the Titel of Hellsehen.” “Don’t give me that crap, Bermark. You fully intended for us to die in there.” “If you had, it would simply mean you lacked the necessary skill.” Schweitzer’s cheeks tensed at that cold statement. Witzmann smiled bitterly and Elrich stretched his legs. The two old men looked to the large man in the center of the room – toward Schweitzer. He looked down at the two of them. “So I take it you two saw the past in there?” “A much denser version of it than you saw. That Sein Frau there set us up. Still, it was a fascinating experience. But I would like to confirm something with that Sein Frau and with you…Captain Schweitzer is it now?” “What is it?” Witzmann looked to Elrich. Elrich hesitated before hardening his expression, shutting his eyes, and nodding. Witzmann nodded back and looked to Bermark and Schweitzer again. “Are we correct in concluding that the Messiah is Hazel Mirildorf after being sent to the past in a Ton explosion on August 23?” “Yes, that is indeed correct.” “And does your presence here mean something happened to our commander?” “Yes. She entered Tristan to use herself as a component of Neue Erde. Her Ober Beweisen extracts the Spacetime Tons and boosts Tristan. The Messiah’s Ober Beweisen lets her view all Tons, so-” “You don’t need to explain every little detail to the man known as the Hellsehen. Our commander’s actions were linked to all of this, weren’t they? Including giving the Allies plans to our Wort Bombe and the Allies building their ACBS based on that.” Bermark continued from there. “The Messiah will lead an attack on Germania late tonight. She cannot break the Spacetime Tons extracted by the fräulein since she is a Stimmer, so the destructive power of the ACBS is needed to trigger the Nibelung. The fräulein hopes to-” “To control the Messiah with her Beweisen and forcibly draw out the Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen to crash the ACBS into the Spacetime Tons she extracted, right?” “Correct,” confirmed Bermark. Schweitzer nodded between the two of them and then asked Bermark a question really directed at all of them. His coat swished a bit as he turned to face his aide. “What do we do about this?” “The fräulein has always sought to trigger the Nibelung as the Geheimnis Agency Commander and Sir Heiliger is working toward the same thing now. The Nibelung is the one way for the Neue Kavaliers to protect Germany as its knights. If the Messiah chooses to lead us, then we must show her a willpower and strength worthy of being led.” “I see,” said Witzmann with a sigh. “So Heiliger chose to follow the Naylor girl.” Schweitzer turned toward him. His gaze poured down on Witzmann’s bald head as the old man continued. “The two of us saw the Messiah in the past. It was a valuable experience and it allowed us to make a number of decisions. But what about you two? Will you place your trust in Neue Erde or in the Messiah?” ### 753. Part 5 When she raised her head, Hazel found herself seated in a chair. It was the kind of wooden chair she had used at school. It was damaged in places, but someone had tried to disguise that with varnish. She looked down at herself in the chair and found she wasn’t wearing anything. She looked around for something to wear and noticed a white tablecloth on the large square table in front of her. “Umm.” She held a hand to her mouth in thought, but ultimately decided to remove the tablecloth. She wrapped it around herself and tied it above her chest. She made sure the knot was good and tight, nodded in satisfaction, and took another look around. This was a large room filled with the midday sun. Several full bookcases were lined up on the floor. This was Berlin’s central library. She had fought there one night a month before, but… “I used to come here with my friends a lot in middle school. …Oh?” She could no longer see the chair and table from before. They had vanished. She also heard countless sounds of flipping pages. The dry sounds would not stop and they sent a tremor through her. All of a sudden, there was a flood of people around her. She looked behind her in shock and saw children and adults – men and women – standing in front of the bookcases and reading the books. Their sudden appearance made her press her back against the nearest bookcase and hide herself. But they didn’t move from the bookcases or even look her way. They simply stood there reading their books. They would pull a book from a shelf, open it, flip through the pages, close it, and return it to the shelf. Then they would pull out a book again. “It’s always the same book as before.” They repeated the same thing over and over, rereading the same book each time. She commented on the endless sound of their constant rereading. “These are the messages forming Berger’s Lives.” She stared at them and then narrowed her eyes. “None of the people inside him are old.” She smiled with just her mouth at that, but then she found herself somewhere else again. Now she saw the library counter in front of her. A woman stood behind it. Hazel recognized her. She looked a little weird since she was younger than when Hazel had seen her, but she spoke the woman’s name to get past that weirdness. “Eryngium.” Eryngium wore work clothing and she simply narrowed her eyes in a smile behind the counter. A large writing desk sat behind her. A few dictionaries and a pile of letters and other papers covered in writing sat on the desk. The desk’s side table carried a half-eaten sandwich and a cup of coffee with no steam rising from it. Further back, Hazel saw a desk with a large vise-like device attached. A wooden frame sat on that desk and the floor around it was littered with scraps of black and brown leather. It appeared to be a bookbinder’s desk, but no one sat there currently. … Where did they go? She kept that question inside and looked to Eryngium again. The young, slender woman gave her a smiling look and said nothing. Hazel noticed her collar was open. She saw two colors on the exposed skin there. The first was a scar running from her chest to her throat. As a sword-user, Hazel immediately recognized it as a blade scar, so she must have suffered a wound that left an inch-wide scar on her throat. … That could have easily killed her! Her eyes widened and she noticed the other color next to the scar. Text was written on Eryngium’s skin in black ink. A lot of text. Hazel gasped and looked up to find Eryngium meeting her gaze. ### 754. Part 5 The battle started to the east. The Spree river ran east to west through Germania and violent sounds came from along that river in the Treptow borough located outside of Germania. The muffled, repeated sounds came from the fog. They were technically inside Germania, but still outside the dome. Germania’s eastern defensive line could best hear the sounds of combat. That line was set up at the confluence of the Spree on the eastern end of Tiergarten. Above the fog hanging over the river, they could see Tristan’s hazy silhouette in the sky and a giant figure standing on the ground. That figure was Karl Schmitt, a Grösse Panzer with a pair of Drache Kanone on his back. He stood on some elevated ground looking up at the edge of Berlin’s protective umbrella. He was near the end of the bridge on the eastern end of Tiergarten. The dome shined above him, with its edge covering the city beyond the bridge. The Spree flowed north to south in front of him. The river was over 200 yards wide at this point and the bridge spanning it was large enough for a four lane road. At his end of the bridge, they had set up a pair of 75mm field guns and four 20mm machineguns aiming vertically out from Germania. Karl turned his head to view the roads stretching left and right from the bridge. The soldiers manning the machineguns and field guns were generally from the military. They were dressed differently from the Geheimnis Agents, wearing ordinary uniforms. The black of the Geheimnis Agency Army Division was nowhere to be found here. Karl silently faced forward again. Five layers of low fence barricades had been set up along the bridge. They were simple metal fences that would let bullets through but not people. After one or two fence layers, the bridge faded away into the fog. The other end of the bridge could only be seen as a pale brightness with two large silhouettes standing in it. When Karl’s vision focused on those silhouettes, a woman’s voice rang in his ear. “Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar are itching to fight.” Karl used the compound eye device installed on the side of his face to view the slim person standing on his right shoulder. It was Jeanne. She fixed the collar of her combat uniform as she continued. “How far do you think they will get? It’s been 20 minutes since an unusually small group broke through the MPs in east Treptow. Are the AIF’s elites really as powerful as we are?” “Let us pray those soldiers are unharmed. Remember, those men were civilians just a few years ago. They don’t have as strong a motive to fight as we or the AIF do.” “This isn’t looking good. The end of the war is only just beginning, but a ground unit has already made it into our capital. Tactics change with every new war. The previous war primarily came down to group battles that questioned the need for the Panzers building our foundation, but this war is more focused on aerial bombings and blitzkrieg.” “Yes, and if the AIF manages to take Tristan tonight, they will have proven the effectiveness of a new tactic – assault warfare using individuals with outstanding skills and using high-speed Grösse Panzers.” “In a way, that’s how we fight. Those are the tactics of Neue Kavaliers, not of ordinary soldiers.” Meanwhile, sounds like shattering stone reached them from the fog. The enemy was close. So Karl and Jeanne both looked to the other end of the bridge. Several people were rushing in from the foggy roads to the left and right of that end of the bridge. The people fled behind the legs of the two Panzers standing there and then ran along the river bank. “Pretending to flee while actually fortifying the sides of the bridge and directing the enemy along a single route?” “Excited to be fighting again, Jeanne? You are smiling.” “So are you.” Jeanne reached out and slapped Karl’s face armor a few times. “It isn’t just the military out there in the fog. One of our Grösse Panzer units is there too.” “To break through that, the enemy must include a Neue Kavalier of equal or greater skill. And since Treptow is full of rivers, it would also require a weapon well suited for breaking through fortified bridges. They couldn’t have gotten any tanks in here, so my guess is a flight-capable Panzer. Either a French one or…” “Dog Berger in Schwarz Löwe. The world’s second best Panzer Kavalier who survived two run-ins with Kaiser and even fought Silber Löwe.” “If only the military had sent Rot Löwe to the east.” The wind blew and the fog across the river began to shift. The rippling fog showed a change beginning in Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar. They were activating their Ober Emblems. “Incredible that the Eisen Ritter Project allows a Sein Frau to activate an Ober Emblem by linking his mind directly to a Panzer,” said Jeanne. “We need to join the fight soon,” said Karl. Jeanne nodded and turned toward the large secondary cockpit on his back. The cockpit contained weapon controls and two female aides poked their heads out. They looked worried, so she gave them a reassuring nod and looked behind her just once. The two Panzers were no longer visible in the fog across the river. But the metallic noises of combat could be heard through the fog. ### 755. Part 5 All work had ended in the red-lit underground space. Only Elrich and Sylphide remained in the hangar. The open door on the back wall led to a large elevator and all the researchers were onboard. The space was filled with a pulsing and tremoring. Something like distant thunder came from the barrier floor up above. “I don’t know what happens next, so leave ahead of me,” said Elrich before turning to look at Sylphide. Sylphide was still connected to the pipes coming from the walls, but it had been released from the raised platform. Elrich was currently viewing a metal box about as tall as he was. The box had several gauges on its surface and their needles had all reached the red zone, but the hinged lever at the center of the box was pointed up in the off position. He pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. It was 2:45 AM. The researchers in the elevator behind him called his name and some told him to hurry, but he slowly put the watch back in his pocket. He reached for the lever in front of him. “I will activate you now. If the Messiah uses her Beweisen, she should detect your presence.” He yanked down on the switch. “When she does, call for her, Marsch Gant.” He took a breath. “Ask her for the Text needed to leave this place.” ### 756. Part 5 There was movement in the deserted underground hangar. The wind was moving. The blue ship had been resting on a raised platform, but its rear end suddenly lifted. It silently rose from the platform, causing the air to move and creating a wind. The heavy wind slowly swept across the inside of the underground hangar. The ship finished floating from the platform. The tubes plugged into its lower surface popped out and clattered to the floor. A pulsing sound surrounded it. Something like throbbing blood vessels covered the walls around it. But Sylphide ignored it all and paused in the air for a moment. Small lights ran through the emblems decorating it. The lights moved from nose to rear – from wings to body. The lights seemed to confirm the ship’s shape before gathering back at the nose. The sensory devices for a Schreibener were all gathered in a single black line on the nose. The lights all ran through that line before vanishing inside. At the same time, the Kunst Eyes on either side of the nose emitted pale white light behind it. The light was briefly radiated in all direction before narrowing down and forming a pair of Schwerts. They were 20 yards long, stopping just before reaching the room’s wall. Then Sylphide lifted its nose. It slowly tilted vertically like a pillar supporting the ceiling. A moment later, it emitted its Text into the air. The swords pulled back behind it were rapidly swept forwards. With a tearing sound, the metal ceiling was easily sliced through. At the same time, the windy pressure of ascent produced a roar and the Sylphide broke through the already broken metal. Then it rolled and accelerated. It used a quick slash to slice through the next barrier, breaking the seal. The blue power passed through the metal door that had blossomed open like a flower. It produced more destruction as it repeatedly accelerated. The blue ship focused everything on flying straight up. The broken barriers triggered alarms that drowned out Tristan’s pulse, but even those wails were left behind as Sylphide broke through 18 consecutive barrier doors. It ascended rapidly through the pit. The nose was directed toward the surface and the sky beyond. It rolled with delight as it worked to escape this underground space. After freshly awakening from its slumber, Sylphide poured all its strength into the ascent. ### 757. Part 5 It was undoubtedly a deafening heartbeat. The sky, earth, and everyone listening were shaken equally. This was the same vibration as when Tristan was initially boosted. That was why Hazel held her right eye and stood up on the RB-21. “Tristan is starting back up!? But why!?” The giant cross did not answer. It only quickened its pulse and continued shaking even as it fell apart. The atmospheric reverberation resumed and everything shook. That tremor was answered by lights shining from Tristan’s surface. The lights came back on, starting at the bottom and gradually working their way back up, growing brighter all the while. An old man spoke from the two-hull ship floating behind Hazel. “It’s Tragisch! And he hasn’t just restarted Tristan with his Beweisen! He’s Schreibened into it with his Ober Beweisen! Tristan is so unstable right now this is sure to cause it’s Tons to collapse!” That shout was followed by some Aerial Words. They came from Tristan, carried by the tremor and the pulse. I grant power to those who were sacrificed So that those who have already been lost Are not erased by the hypocrisy of the survivors They were simple Aerial Words, but their effect was seen near instantly. Germania exploded. “–––––!” Everything inside the 6-mile-wide pit was obliterated and erupted from the ground. The people, the buildings, the dirt, the vegetation, and everything else was consumed. So much dust and ether flew skyward like a geyser. The gray pillar stretched far taller than even Tristan. Several layers of what looked like white umbrellas spread out around the rising pillar of smoke. A shockwave rushed out through the air. The roar slammed into the two-hull warship and the RB-21 just as they turned their bellies toward Germania. So many things cried out in terror and were blown away in the name of powerlessness. ### 758. Part 5 Hazel saw the wall of cloud growing in front of her eyes. She should have seen the lights of Hamburg up ahead, but they were hidden by the thick clouds. She kept her eyes on the path ahead and sang while flying above the forest and above the river flowing between the trees. “Are you doing alright, Berger?” “I’m fine. More importantly, we’re about to enter its territory.” The enemy made its move without warning. A giant shape burst through the clouds up ahead and flew toward them. The great shadow dragon was more than a mile long and vaguely resembled Sylphide. “Erlkönig!? But we can’t afford to lose any time here!” The dragon with a white streak on its black body accelerated until their relative speeds erased the distance between them. In the instant before they collided, a long shape passed by above their heads. … Eh? Hazel looked up to see a familiar dragon. The great water dragon was transparent with its outlines shining bluish-white in the moonlight. A harp note rang from atop the dragon and a woman’s voice joined it. “I have come to fulfill my promise, Messiah. With my assistance, you can break down the wall and reach your destination.” The giant water dragon charged ahead. It opened its maw wide and bit down at the shadow dragon, instantly crushing it with its water pressure. “Allow me to demonstrate the power of Geheimnis Agency Navy Division Chief ‘Wasser Meister’ Lillie Telmetz.” With the sound of breaking metal, the shadow dragon’s Lives broke down. The water dragon flew on ahead, its body scattering shadow Lives for the wind dragon to consume. “Messiah, hurry past those clouds,” said Lillie, pointing forward. But more shadow dragons burst from the clouds ahead. These were what the remaining 6 Erlkönigs had become. Lillie strummed Mondnacht’s strings and several water dragons flew up from the river below. Suddenly, two beams of light shot from the forest. Those were Drache Kanone. A giant Grösse Panzer was racing down the mountain road through the forest. Karl Schmitt shot a barrage into the sky with Jeanne on his shoulder. The Drache Kanone light pierced the Erlkönig dragons and Jeanne raised her voice. “Finally joined the rest of us, have you, Lillie!?” A new voice came from below. “Then this must be our post. We must ensure the Messiah can reach Heiliger.” A two-hull ship was approaching the cloud wall down and to the left. The voice coming from it was Müller’s. The fighters following the two-hull ship intercepted the dragons and the two-hull ship launched a Drache Kanone while moving on ahead. Two of the Erlkönigs turned toward the two-hull ship. They soared upwards before creating a roaring wind and circling back down. The two of them dodged the weapons fire from below and drew out a fearsome arc to charge toward its deck from either side. But Hazel saw familiar people on the deck. The short old man in a white coat on the right deck was Elrich. The tall, bald old man in a three-piece suit on the left deck was Witzmann. They both held weapons. The one in a white coat had a headphone in his ear and wrapped some kind of cloth around his hand. “The beast doesn’t seem to understand that a Panzer Emblem is a mass of ether,” he said before reciting his Text and racing toward the incoming fang. His raised right hand produced a sound like shattering glass and shined bright. The afterimage of its shining light drew out his fist’s path as the space around him shattered. He approached and then struck. “It doesn’t spread as well as fire!” When his blow caught the fang, the fang of ether shattered. The Erlkönig dragon’s yellow eyes widened at the suddenness of it. A wire attached to the cloth wrapped around Elrich’s fist connected to the music player in his pocket. “A beast that does not fear power deserves destruction.” The second destruction-spreading punch struck the dragon in the cheek. That single attack caused the shadow dragon’s entire body to explode. With a glance over at that, Witzmann readied his pen and notepad on the other side of the deck. He showed no concern about the rapidly approaching dragon, sent his pen racing across notepad, and then nodded. “I’m better at this than Bermark, you know? I just rarely do it because it’s so exhausting.” He tore off the notepad’s top sheet and held it out toward the dragon. The soaring dragon’s eyes saw what was written on the paper. Emblems were drawn on all four corners of the white paper and an intricate pen drawing of a dragon with mouth wide adorned the center. “Lifelike, isn’t it?” Witzmann smiled and tore the paper down the center. The dragon in front of him was torn in two with the sound of tearing paper. Before it could even scream, he folded the paper and tore it a second, third, fourth, and fifth time. After seeing the dragon scatter through the sky in 32 pieces, he put his hands on his hip and laughed. “Messiah! Go deal with Heiliger He can get so sentimental!” “Since when did you care so much for your superior officer?” asked Hazel, sounding amused. She looked up into the sky where Lillie was smiling with the moon at her back. Hazel smiled too. She squeezed Rein König and Sylphide overtook Lillie. She glanced down at her watch to see the minute’s hand was at 32. … Another 80 miles to Germania! When she faced forward again, she saw a tower in front of the cloud wall. An aerial ship with an extra-long cannon barrel had crashed into a crater-like lake in the forest. Suddenly, the surface of the lake rippled and several water dragons formed. The transparent dragons bathed in the moonlight and used their great strength to smash the black aerial warship and throw its pieces into the sky. Sylphide charged in. Its transformation was instantaneous. The wind dragon swallowed the entire Gard-class aerial warship and grew to nearly a mile long while a single long horn grew from its forehead. It let loose a long, high-pitched bestial roar and broke through the cloud wall. ### 759. Part 6 Dragons and people fought on a battlefield created from the split mist. Two minutes had already passed since the battle began. The ground was cracked and the air shaken while some scattered mist hung in it. One person remained entirely motionless: Lillie Telmetz on the edge of the cliff. She had not moved a step and simply played the Mondnacht resting on her left shoulder. She played several high string notes. New dragons appeared from the lake, splashing water as they stretched up into the sky. There were already 6 of them in all. Motionless Lillie and the dancing dragons were opposed by the most active part of the battlefield: Hazel. She sliced the air with Rein König. She had lost her poncho and was soaked with rain as she used a Wind Up to create spears and arrows that shot out in front of her. She was only 30 yards from Lillie, but… “I can’t get any closer!” The water dragons might as well have been a moving wall. She had to focus all of the spears and arrows created from the air in order to break just one of the dragons. Meanwhile Lillie only had to strum Mondnacht once more to produce another dragon. Hazel watched the dragons being produced before her eyes while she moved. Her thoughts were racing as much as her body. The two of them could use the same octave. The difference was their speed and how good they were at expanding and contracting the Lives. … It comes down to our skill as Tuners. She felt something akin to panic as she ran forward. She could not use the wind to break the dragons in quick succession. She needed a large quantity of some denser Lives. She tried to figure out what to do while taking a few steps forward and transferring her sword slash to the air. White curved blades of wind appeared over her head and flew toward the pair of dragons breaking through the mist on either side with fangs bared. She slashed them. The dragons’ faces split and broke apart at just 5 yards over her head. White spray scattered as the dragons ruptured into no more than water. She heard the wet splash and wiped the spray from her cheek with her left hand, noting that this smelled of river water, not of mist or rain. The dragons were made from the lake’s water. With that realization, she nodded once and ran ahead. A new dragon was already approaching from dead ahead. She viewed the murderous look in their eyes and slowly held Rein König low. “320 thousand Lives floating in the wind – the many cries of the racing air. Can you hear my Lives!?” The dragon was still coming. Hazel’s Tuning wasn’t going to make it in time. … But it doesn’t have to! When the dragon twisted its head to the side and opened its jaws to the left and right, she made her move. She ducked low and threw herself to the ground. With a roar of wind, the dragon passed above her. Its jaws snapped shut. Its fangs struck each other with the sound of colliding ice. Hazel’s back trembled as the dragon’s powerful wind pressure felt like it would crush her. But she was not done yet. She had lowered Rein König just before the water dragon’s face passed above her and now she swung it upwards. She lifted herself from the ground a bit to help send it straight up. She raised her voice and activated her Tune attack to create a wind blade. In a single slash, the wind blade extending from below split the water dragon’s body. But it only lasted an instant. A moment later, the blade became wind once more and the dragon was returning to water, but Hazel was already on the move again. She followed Rein König’s upwards swinging curve to stand up and turned the sword around with her wrists to hold it overhead ready to strike. She was surrounded by… … The wind from the blade and the water from the dragon. “4 million Lives floating on the battlefield – the war cries of the soaring wind and the chorus of blessed rain! Can you hear my Lives!?” The message she sent was no longer a physical form. She asked for the power to reach her opponent and the penetrative power to break through any wall of water, land, or wind. She raised her voice and swung Rein König down as hard as she could. The tip of the blade did not stop at the ground and sliced into the dirt on her right side. She used just her right hand to stop it after it had swung around behind her. A brief moment of silence followed. That was broken by a tremor in the air. The water surrounding her shook, rumbled, and bent forward. Then the wind blew in from behind her. It whipped at her red clothing and blonde hair while dancing in the empty sky of the night. She looked up in that wind with Rein König still held behind her on the right. She turned toward Lillie with her left hand held forward. “Break through!” A great power answered her will and shot forward. The mist was rapidly blown away and the air sliced through. A blade made of wind and water briefly appeared, but as it accelerated, it transformed into an invisible field of pure power. The unseen power tore a straight line into the ground and raced forward. It produced the sounds of blowing wind and breaking earth. The three remaining dragons flew in to stop the piercing power. It was no use. One’s face, another’s body, and the last one’s entire self were broken and reverted to water. The penetrative power spread out just a bit as it flew toward Lillie, but she was a Tuner. … She can neutralize this power. Hazel pulled Rein König in from behind her and prepared to launch a second strike. But she saw something strange floating in front of her. It was a thumb-sized drop of water. “Eh?” That brief confusion removed the tension from her vision and let her see her surroundings. For some reason, all the puddles had disappeared from the ground around her. Instead, drops of water were floating in the air. … The water. Before her thoughts could progress any further, she heard a voice coming from the target of her destructive power. The voice ignored the roar of the wind and the breaking of the earth. Aerial Words rang loud in the air. “Eingeweide Harfe Mondnacht – Over Beweisen.” It happened as soon as the words had been spoken. Everything that had been water was blown high into the sky by a new wind. The mist, the water, the moisture, and the power Hazel had launched were all flung skyward. “––––!?” A powerful wind had appeared out of nowhere. Hazel herself was thrown several yards back where she landed on her butt. Her backpack bounced a moment later, causing her to lose her balance and collapse onto her back. She quickly covered her stomach and got up to see the mist had vanished entirely. The floating drops of water were nowhere to be found either. The shadows of the night surrounded her now. Coat-wearing Lillie stood 30 yards away in those faintly bluish shadows. That was all Hazel could see anymore. There was no mist and no rain. She felt a chill on her back and quickly stood up. She also heard the harp playing. Mondnacht played without Lillie’s assistance. Lillie’s Aerial Words sounded without her opening her mouth. Lillie raised her right shoulder, the one Mondnacht was not resting on. Her right hand slowly, slowly rose. The hand stopped with its open palm directed heavenward. Hazel saw the rainclouds had vanished from the sky above this area. The moon shined down from the hole in the sky. It was nearly but not quite full. Lillie lowered her hand and Hazel lowered her gaze. Lillie put her right hand in her pocket and ignored how Hazel took a fighting stance. She leisurely pulled her hand out with a wine bottle in its grasp. She swiftly bit the cork and jerked her head to pull it out. It audibly popped out. She spat the cork to the ground and then threw the bottle behind her, toward the lake. The bottle spun through the moonlight, its contents scattering through the night air. The wine looked dark in the night’s colors, but the moonlight caused all of its drops to shine bright. The bottle dropped over the edge of the cliff, disappearing. Lillie stuck both hands in her coat pockets and turned to face Hazel. She still had her head lowered. “This is goodbye, Messiah.” Hazel sensed a presence when she heard those words. A moment later, a massive wall of water appeared out of nowhere. It roared. “…!?” The overwhelming quantity of water that rose from below the cliff behind Lillie would put a tsunami to shame. The reverse waterfall stretched from one side of Hazel’s vision to the other. … What is this!? Surprise ruled her senses. She intellectually knew it was the great roar rattling her body and the tremor in the ground shaking her legs, but her senses couldn’t keep up. Her eyes were fixed on the wall of water behind Lillie that continued to grow into the sky. She gasped as sweat poured from her and her senses rapidly returned. The ground was shaking below her, but that wasn’t what mattered right now. … The sky. The colossal pillar of water was on its way to the white moon. It seemed to wrap around the moon as it took the form of a great beast. Clear water created a serpent with a pointed face. It was a great water dragon. It glowed bluish-white in the moonlight and it had to be more than 2 miles long. Hazel simply gulped as she looked up at it. “What do I do?” she mouthed before repeating it out loud. The dragon was slowly circling in the sky above. It pushed the air out of the way and produced a deep, muffled noise. That noise grew to a tangling groan that dropped to her from the sky. The dragon was satisfied with just one rotation through the sky. Its face was already directed at her. Its giant bestial eyes gave it a wide range of view, but its gaze was soon directed on her alone. … I sense killer intent. The dragon slowly descended as if to confirm that for her. The wind blew and it opened its maw to show off its fangs. It roared. The sound shook both the air and the ground and it didn’t stop. The roar continued and the great water dragon seemed to wriggle through the sky as it flew toward her. A face 200 yards wide accelerated toward her, but then she realized something. … What about the Naval Division Chief? Does she plan to die with me!? She tried to look down but found her body wouldn’t move. She was too nervous. She forced her chin back to face forward with great effort. Lillie stood in front of the waterless lake looking into the sky, just like before. “My people are waiting outside of this attack’s range. You and I are the only two who will die.” Before Hazel could ask why, the roar from the sky pressed down on her back and shoulders. The approach of that overwhelming power kept her from moving. “Ah…” A noise escaped her throat as that massive sound pressed down on her shoulders. A single inexplicable tear dripped down her cheek. But even that tear floated up into the air before it could reach the bottom of her cheek. In her frozen field of vision, the tear ascended toward the dragon in the sky. Her tear had been stolen. She clenched her teeth at that fact. “Kh.” She forced her caught voice from her throat. The ground quaked below her feet, a great pressure bore down on her shoulders, and the dragon’s killer intent and roar combined to rattle her entire body. But despite all that weight and shaking, she chose to walk forward. She started by sinking down a bit. She threw off the center of gravity of the force bearing down on her, shifting it forward. It was a lot like rolling forward. She took a first step. She used that as a starting point and used her willpower and movements to keep herself from actually falling over. She pushed forward a knee that had lost all feeling, slamming it against her skirt’s lining. … I can move. She told herself that and took a second step. … I can move! She started to run. She opened her mouth and raised her voice to drive the roar from her body. “––––!” She entered a full-speed sprint on the second step. She stomped at the dirt and kicked stones behind her as she propelled herself forward. She ran across the broken ground, twisting her body and swinging Rein König forward from the right shoulder. But she still felt heavy, so she opened her mouth even wider to break free of that weight. “I will stop you!” She gathered strength in her body and shattered the killer intent binding her. She sped up. She aimed for Lillie’s Mondnacht. Break that and the great water dragon would lose its support and possibly stop. … I can’t guarantee it, but I have to try!” This was her only option, so she pushed her body forward and extended it in a dash. Meanwhile, Lillie raised her head to view Hazel. Their eyes met. Hazel ignored the great pressure from the dragon and asked a question. “Why!?” “Because you have sinned. You stood by and let so many die because you placed too much faith in destiny.” The talk of letting people die reminded Hazel of the Glossolalians of Borderson. … If we change the world, then all of us and all of them will be changed too. She shook her head to shake the thought out of her mind. … No. She rejected the idea, but she couldn’t put to words why. She carried that frustration in her heart as she continued forward. The pressure from the sky was moving quickly too. She would only have an instant in which to act. She twisted her upper body and slightly relaxed the hand holding Rein König. She kicked hard off of the ground and untwisted her body. She gripped Rein König’s hilt hard in that moment. The twisting of her body traveled through her shoulder to her arm and swung Rein König like a whip. “Ah!” At the same time, Lillie pulled her right hand from her coat pocket. She held a handgun in it. A handgun Hazel recognized. … That’s the one she shot me with yesterday. The red tone color of killer intent left the muzzle before Hazel could even feel the panic. A moment later, she heard Lillie’s voice. “That gem!” Lillie’s eyes were on Hazel’s chest where she wore… … The pendant with the gem Eryngium gave me. After Hazel confirmed what it was she had, she saw Lillie’s face distort. Then that face dropped below Hazel’s field of view. By the time Hazel realized Lillie had fallen to her knees, Rein König had already swished through empty air. “Oh, no!” She had failed to destroy Mondnacht. She looked to the sky where the dragon looked so close she could reach out and touch it. The great water dragon was falling toward her. “––––!” In that instant, Hazel heard a voice. She recognized the Aerial Words. They were spoken in a calm voice. All of a sudden, all the water above Hazel burst. ### 760. Part 6 Hazel heard falling rain. She couldn’t see. Everything was dark. But her arms’ senses were heightened. Her arms were held out in front of her and a weight bore down on her elbows. She was standing up with someone in her arms. She was experiencing someone else’s senses of hearing and touch. When she realized that, she suddenly felt very cold. She was feeling the rain hit her. She also heard the rain. A male voice suddenly reached her through the falling raindrops ahead of her. “How did it turn out this way?” The tone of voice was neither high nor low – it was perfectly calm. Hazel did not recognize the voice. She heard a radio playing behind the voice. She was out in the rain, but she must have been standing in front of… … A house’s front door? She could not ask her question out loud. But she did feel her mouth moving. And her mouth spoke with Berger’s voice. “We didn’t mean to kill her. Even they were only here to recommend she go to the Village of Pardons.” “But the director rejected their mercy and refused to stop compiling history and you wanted Eryngium to escape but she refused to?” The unfamiliar voice spoke slowly but showed no emotion. “What did she say when she refused to flee?” “Just that she didn’t want to run away.” “I see,” said the voice. “Where is Alfred? He was the one who cut her down, wasn’t he?” “Schweitzer forcibly took him away. Punched him in the gut to calm him down.” Bitter laughter. “I used my power to fight back…but while I did drive them away, I couldn’t protect her.” “That is probably the punishment for your hubris. So what will you do now?” “I want your help. She isn’t actually dead yet. Her pulse is weak, but she is still alive.” “I am not a doctor. I am an engineer.” “That’s why I need your help. You needed a specimen for that Eingeweide device you’re working on, right? I’m going to use my power just once to try and heal her. But there will be a cost. I need something to replace the Tons inside her that I’ll use to heal her wound. That will eliminate her wound, but it will cause another wound somewhere else.” “This is sounding serious. Are you going to use your divine power to alter a dead girl’s destiny?” “And then I’ll say goodbye. I never plan to see her again,” said Berger. “Our hubris killed Eryngium here, so I’m never overestimating myself again. I’ll settle for second best. So…” “You don’t need to state your conviction out loud. There are only two things you need to say here,” said the voice. “What will you use as payment for healing her? And what will you give me to create the Eingeweide? If your answer doesn’t catch my interest, I will not let you inside. …So answer me.” Berger fell silent. His senses told Hazel he had lowered his head. … He must be looking at Eryngium in his arms. Then he moved his head in a nod. “I will use the Tons of her memories. I will use them to overwrite as much of her wound’s Tons as I can and erase it altogether.” “Why that? Wouldn’t a leg or an arm work just as well?” “How is she supposed to live a new life if she remembers what happened today? Is this my hubris talking again?” “Hah. This sounds self-destructive to me, but I accept. And your other answer?” “Some of her memory Tons should be left over after overwriting her wound, so I’ll mix her memories with the divine Tons inside me, convert that into a spirit stone, and give it to you.” “You will abandon your divinity? You could find unmatched power and glory there.” “I’m only half-god, so I’m not immortal or anything. All I have is this power I can’t even use while I lose the person standing by my side.” Berger hung his head. “Help me heal her. And give me a weapon. A weapon that lets me cut away myself so I never have to lose someone else again. A weapon that lets me remain second best.” He did not immediately receive a response. Hazel heard only the rain for a few seconds, but then she heard the dry sound of clapping hands. “I will help you and I will give you a weapon. So that you can remain yourself after this. However…” “What?” “Make no mistake. I am not kind enough to help you resign yourself to your fate. The weapon I give you will let you one day reclaim your divine power and place someone else by your side.” Berger laughed bitterly at that. “Like that’s ever happening,” he spat toward the ground. But the man responded with no smile in his voice. “Just remember that even the dumbest god can find salvation. That is why I will name your weapon Gelegenheit. Destiny is something that suddenly comes knocking at your door, that refuses to let go of your hand, and that trusts you while staying at your side.” He laughed softly. “Enter. Remember what I have said, Dog Berger. I will not-” “Yeah, yeah. I know. You won’t say it again, so don’t forget it, right?” Berger nodded and spoke the man’s name. “Like I could ever forget this, Marsch Gant.” ### 761. Part 6 The western defensive line had pushed the enemy back outside of Germania. The Geheimnis Agency there was led by a Hound unit comprised primarily of Air Force Fallschirmjäger. But in front of that unit was a unit of 12 Grösse Panzers. The military’s tanks were stationed across the urban area facing west. When the enemy moved in, they would fire and fall back. If the enemy withdrew, they would move forward and fire. Their role was to blockade the roads. The only usable road was the wide-open major thoroughfare. The AIF group was a Heidengeist unit led by Pale. They hid behind or on top of the buildings lining the road as they fought. The battle had reached a standstill. In the borough of Charlottenburg, several Grösse Panzers fired machineguns on the surface. The shapes moving quickly down the road were attempting to slip past the Grösse Panzers and below the dome. But they couldn’t manage it thanks to the Hounds and the barricades set up behind the Grösse Panzers. The AIF front line was led by Pale Horse, a man with two prosthetic arms. The silver-haired one-eyed man refused to fall back with a male Grösse Panzer in front of him. The Grösse Panzer was the same color as his hair. It was covered by old-style silver armor. Its name was Neue Silber. Pale moved right to dodge the silver Panzer’s sword as it jabbed just off the ground. The sword shifted to the side to pursue him. “Oh!” he roared while raising his left prosthetic arm. The metal arm had an extra-large hand that slammed into the thick blade, producing sparks. With the sound of scraping metal, Pale was lifted from the ground. His large body was launched back into the sky. But he used his Hard Wolf reflexes to twist around in midair. He punched his right fist against the sidewalk curbstone at the end of the road to spin himself around and land on the ground. His boots slammed hard into the ground. And with a breath, he rolled forward. The massive sword flew over his head before crashing into the first floor of the building behind him. Air-splitting pressure exploded within the building. Dust and wind broke through the windows, pursuing rolling Pale as a wave. He kicked off the ground to stand back up. He ran forward, toward the feet of the silver Panzer. He kept his legs moving and his boots sounding loud on the road as he moved just his eyes to observe his surroundings. Grösse Panzer legs grew from the road like a scattering of great trees, but these trees were on the move. Past them, his subordinates had split into even smaller teams to obstruct the path of the Grösse Panzers. “Didn’t think we’d make it this far this fast! Our balanced division of troops threw you off, didn’t it, Heiliger Karlsruhe? Your brother’s Silber Löwe looks good on you.” About 20 yards in front of him, Neue Silber held a sword at the ready. Pale didn’t slow his run as he pulled both his fists back. His boots pounded on the hard road while his arms made sounds of breaking metal. His fists were transforming. The panels that had formed his upper arm armor had split into three side-by-side panels. The middle panel rotated inward toward his thumb. The other two rotated toward his little and middle fingers with their ends sticking out like a ram. The usual fingers were tightly clenched, sinking into the giant palm. The two three-fingered hands of metal jabbed sharply up into the sky just once. Then the new metal fingers formed their own fists. This created a pair of even bigger fists. He ran, holding his arms down at his hips and building up his strength. Looking forward, he saw a Grösse Panzer move between him and Neue Silber. The black Panzer looked down on Pale’s path forward and raised its giant right leg. It intended to stomp him. Pale looked up at that metal foot and opened his mouth, baring his canine teeth. “Outta the way!” he shouted, swinging his left fist. The arm shot diagonally out from his hip and steam burst from the elbow to accelerate it further. The metal fist split the air. And not just once. It accelerated thrice as it flew. It produced three roars before slamming into the sole of the dropping Panzer foot. The sound and power broke through in an instant. Pale pulled the fist back as soon as it hit and the impact sent the foot flying backwards. The leg swung backwards like the Panzer had thrown a reverse kick and its upper body lost its balance. It toppled over. The 8-yard metal warrior collapsed toward Pale on the road. Pale was already spinning. He had used the force of the impact to pull his left fist back and used the rotational energy to swing his right fist overhead. He twisted his body to the left while accelerating his right fist. His boots cracked and shattered the asphalt below him. But he didn’t care. He stretched his body out like a stick and his right fist shot out at the top of that. The metal fist accelerated thrice in midair, catching the collapsing Panzer on the jaw. The simple impact had a simple result. With the crash of demolished metal, the large figure was lifted from the road. Below the airborne Panzer, Pale Horse lowered his hips with his legs embedded shin deep in the road. The Panzer’s shadow slowly flew back behind him and his own shadow was cast on the road by the dome’s light. His gray hair was a mess, his fists were pulled back behind him, and his upper body was bent over and emitting hot steam. But his eyes were directed dead ahead. He bared his teeth in a smile. “Okay, let’s do this, Heiliger. In the name of our pasts and in the name of what we’ve both lost.” He was answered by the Panzer crashing to the ground behind him. The sound of breaking metal joined the sound of breaking asphalt. However… “I am much too old to fall for your silly provocation,” said Neue Silber’s vocal device. “Coward! You would run away!?” The silver Panzer fell back before answering Pale’s question. Two other Panzers identical to the earlier one stepped between them. That was when a great noise reached them from the mist to the south. Pale briefly glanced in that direction, seeing a small red light rising into the sky through the mist. “What is that?” Pale was answered by Neue Silber while it took another step back. “A flare from our southern vanguard. It means they have located the Messiah.” The silver Panzer turned around. “You sent most of your forces to the east and west to divide our forces while you sent a small assault team down the center to Tristan. Using the railroad, most likely. Anyone could have predicted such a simple plan.” “Then you knew but still came here to lure us in?” “Our primary forces remain within Tristan. We had no way of knowing which railroad you would use, but once inside Germania, there is only one track leading to Tristan. The solution was simple: keep our cool, lure you into that singular route, and send a defense unit there.” A deep roar of straining metal came from the northeast. That was the sound of several transport vehicles loaded down with cargo. Neue Silber walked toward that noise. “We will capture the Messiah. Because that is what Neue Erde desires.” With those parting words, Neue Silber stared to walk into the fog. Pale walked toward the two Panzers left to stop him. He pulled his feet from the ground to take his first step. But his eyes remained on the silver Panzer vanishing into the fog. Toward his true opponent who was attempting to leave with the fog enveloping him. He bared his teeth and let out a deep sigh. “That overconfidence is going to get you in trouble.” He sounded disinterested. “I have one warning for you.” Still showing off his teeth, he pointed a giant metal finger toward the departing silver Panzer. “A Neue Kavalier is supposed to clear the way for the Messiah. Lose sight of that and you are in for a rude awakening, Kommandieren.” ### 762. Part 6 In the wind, Hazel heard everything Schweitzer said in front of the door. … So he knows everything too. She gave a mental nod of understanding and looked around. No one was moving. The Neue Kavaliers surrounding her had lowered their heads a little, but they seemed frozen in place with their weapons in hand. There was one sound, however. The clank of boots came from Schweitzer planting his feet a little wider apart. “The world can undoubtedly be saved with Neue Erde or the Messiah’s method. At the very least, both are attempting to do so.” He viewed the Neue Kavaliers on the launch pad and told them to make their own decisions. He smiled before turning toward Berger on his left. “I will fight to keep my promise with Neue Erde. …Messiah, perhaps it is possible to save Neue Erde with your Tuning, but can you save every last part of her?” Hazel responded with a question. “What does that mean?” “She views it as her duty to be lost, so is there a way of saving her that does not allow even that duty to be lost?” He took a breath. “If you can do that and stop Tristan, then I will admit defeat.” Schweitzer took a fighting stance once he was done speaking. Berger responded by readying Gelegenheit. Only Tristan’s pulse echoed across the high-altitude launch pad. That heartbeat had a rhythm of one beat per second, making it sound like the ticking of a biological clock. That sound acted as a signal for two people to move. The first was Hellard Schweitzer standing in front of the door. The other was Dog Berger. Schweitzer raised his prosthetic fist and Berger shoved a Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit’s hilt while they both walked toward the center of the launch pad. Schweitzer had his back to the door and Berger circled in front of him, placing himself in front of Hazel. Meanwhile, the five AIF soldiers standing next to Neue Schwarz lined up alongside Berger. But the Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers surrounding Hazel stayed put. Berger glanced over at the motionless knights and asked Schweitzer about it. “Not getting any help?” Schweitzer nodded. “You are short on time, aren’t you? And…” He raised his metal fist. “Do not think this will be easy for you.” Hazel nodded at that. “The plan was to get through no matter what it took. And once this is over…” She checked her watch to find it was 2:48 AM. But seeing that time made her smile. “Let’s try to be friends until the world changes.” Then she opened her mouth to speak her will’s Text – her Aerial Words. She activated the Messiah eye’s Beweisen and a thick dark blade emerged from Berger’s Gelegenheit. When the destruction grew past 4 yards, a voice spoke from the sky in response. A woman’s voice. That was Neue Erde’s Beweisen. A single powerful tremor ran through Schweitzer’s prosthetic right arm. Hazel saw Schweitzer lower his head for just a moment. He pressed his lips together and stared at the metal floor, but then his head sprang back up and he turned toward her. She noticed a change then. Wind ether was gathering atop the 3-yard overhang that formed the lip of the door. The bluish-white Lives of the high-altitude wind were forming something. … Just like the person standing atop the Gard-class. But this faintly transparent person was not the one she had seen in Cologne’s sky. This was a woman wearing a Geheimnis Agency combat uniform. “Lowenzahn Naylor.” Schweitzer heard Hazel speak the name, but he did not look back. He only shut his eyes and nodded. Standing above them all, Lowenzahn expressionlessly viewed the Neue Kavalier below and nodded. She opened her mouth and spoke gently. Her voice signaled the beginning of the battle. ### 763. Part 6 Hazel’s vision returned. She was on Tristan’s launch pad and she could see the tower, the dome, and the sky trapped within. A black blade-like ship was flying toward her from the right. She saw another color in the sky to the left. A line of white cloud was ascending into the sky surrounded by the dome’s light. At the tip of the cloud, she saw what looked like a blade splitting the sky. “Sylphide!” Sylphide answered her by turning its nose toward her. The tilting of its nose changed the shape of its shockwave before the shockwave vanished entirely. It had entered fully inertial cruising mode. Its turn transformed into a sharp reflection partway through. After turning its nose her way, it shot toward her along with the air gathered around it with its inertial control. The air pushed out of its way shook and rumbled. It sped up even more. Its blue shape instantly passed by overhead, leaving a wind in its wake. Its rumbling continued on toward Erlkönig approaching from the right. Erlkönig fired homing rounds from its three rear Power Points. The white bullets were freezing rounds. The bullets curved toward Sylphide, so Sylphide drew its pair of swords and took a certain action. It accelerated. It poured on even more speed. The blue dragon used its speed to slip between the homing rounds. The freezing rounds lost their target and exploded behind it, producing a white mist. Sylphide ignored that and continued its charge. It charged straight toward Erlkönig. Erlkönig immediately performed an evasive roll. It rolled right from Sylphide, spun around above Sylphide, and swung its two swords toward Sylphide as they passed each other. In that instant, Sylphide made a compact leftward roll. Erlkönig’s swords were swinging in from the left, so Sylphide’s fangs crashed into them with the force of its rapid spin. They shattered. With a metallic impact, shards of light scattered across the sky. Erlkönig rolled again into an escape route. Sylphide suddenly shifted its inertial cruising into reverse. It redirected its forward momentum to the rear. It reversed to stick with Erlkönig as it tried to roll away. Erlkönig had already veered off course, so now it was about to pass above the launch pad. That was when Hazel spoke some Aerial Words. Berger shoved a Size C Phlogiston Tank into the back of Gelegenheit’s hilt. That brought the total up to 20. Gelegenheit looked more like a spear now and it produced a black blade measuring more than 80 yards long. The Messiah’s Aerial Words made the blade grow denser and longer. The black blade-like silhouette was about to fly over Berger’s head. He sent Gelegenheit’s cutting power toward that supersonic action. One of Erlkönig’s wings was severed and the rest of the ship bounced in the sky. Sylphide caught up and spun its bow to the front. The black and blue ships arrived half a mile away from the launch pad in just two seconds. Their paths crossed. Erlkönig sent glowing swords from its back end and Sylphide swept them aside with its own swords. Sylphide flew in and tore into Erlkönig with the pair of fangs emitted from its front end. Ether light ran through Erlkönig and then light exploded from its back end. A deafening boom rang out just as seven contrails burst from the middle of Tristan. Those were Erlkönig’s mass production models. They initially spread out and then attacked with enough force to deal with the threat. The seven ships charged toward the lone blue ship floating in the sky. Hazel took action while watching that from the launch pad. She raised Rein König and ran forward. Her watch said it was 2:57 AM. … 3 more minutes! Her heavy breathing sucked in the chilly night air while she gathered strength in her legs and shifted her run into a sprint. She arrived alongside Berger while he added another Phlogiston Tank to Gelegenheit and then she moved out ahead of him. Schweitzer was up ahead and Lowenzahn stood at the top of the door. She continued sprinting forward and noticed Lowenzahn looking down at her. Schweitzer was watching her too. They opened their mouths at the same time and spoke Neue Erde and Der Held’s Aerial Words. Schweitzer ran forward, seemingly pushed onward by the Texts, and Berger rushed up by Hazel’s side to meet him. Schweitzer readied his prosthetic arm. He shouted with his metal fist raised. “Why would you try to block her will!?” Berger moved in front of Hazel as if to block Schweitzer’s words from reaching her. He hopped a step forward with Gelegenheit at the ready. He shoved two Size C Phlogiston Tanks into the bottom of the hilt. Schweitzer shouted toward the growing black blade. “Maybe it is all a lie! But!” Hazel realized she and Berger had been surrounded by spatial barriers. Lines of ether resembling bluish-white threads began to form 50-yard walls around them. Nevertheless, she looked to Berger’s back and did not give up on running. She leaned forward and kicked off the metal ground to keep moving. She heard Schweitzer’s words. “But she asked something of me.” Past Berger’s back and outside the barrier, Schweitzer was sticking his biological left arm toward her. His eyes were directly on her. He clenched that hand into a fist. “She asked me to believe her no matter what lie she told.” With those words, the barriers were complete. In that instant, the ether inside the barriers came to a stop. All light faded from her Messiah eye and the black blade vanished from Berger’s Gelegenheit. Then Schweitzer held his prosthetic arm and triggered its striking staff. An empty cartridge was ejected from the arm. A new barrier formed to surround running Berger and Hazel. He pointed his left thumb down to say “be destroyed”. “Can you stop the millennium wheel behind us now that it has begun to turn once more!? Can you stop her lies!?” Hazel listened to his shout. She thought about herself, about someone much like her, and about the person by her side now. So in the instant the interior of the barrier was crushed, she looked at Schweitzer. When their gazes seemed to audibly crash together, she raised her voice. “What are you trying protect!? The lies!? Or…” <…that all forms, colors, sounds, and wills will be lost.> I know it isn’t that, she thought before continuing. “Or the will of the person who told the lies!?” A pair of Aerial Words flashed just as she got the question out. Their devices had been forcefully stopped, but they were restarted with a Beweisen. Gelegenheit resumed functioning. The unstoppable black blade sliced through the barrier. With a sound like shattering ice, the blue ether barrier split and burst. While Berger made his follow through with Gelegenheit, Hazel raced past him. Schweitzer stood in front of her. He was frowning and clenching his teeth. He clenched his metal right fist enough to make a metallic noise and then raised it. “I…!” Hazel chose to ignore what he said. She raced in at full speed, her boots pounding on the metal ground. His fist flew straight toward her. Unshaken, she raised Rein König, crouched down, and slipped below the fist. Just as the attack whizzed over her head like a bullet, she swung Rein König forward with both her hands gripping its hilt tight. It was the exact motion she had done in practice countless times. The white curve sliced through the wind and severed the metal arm at the shoulder. When she heard the slicing of metal, she knew she had done enough. She threw herself forward and kept running. She heard the last line of Lowenzahn’s Aerial Words. Hazel nodded and saw an image of the past for one brief moment. She saw the overhead view of a river flowing through a forest at night, she saw the pair of small villages built alongside it, and then even that disappeared. But she said nothing. Her vision returned as she ran into the door sitting open before her. ### 764. Part 6 The shockwave spread the dust outwards and engulfed Tristan in a mere two seconds. A new air current formed and the dust began to swirl. The electrification caused by the rupturing air created lightning that crackled outwards as bluish-white bolts. Below the dust, several explosive booms sounded from the surface and spread outwards. The gulping roar of the thunder joined another sound to race through the sky and along the earth. That sound was a rhythmic pulse that almost sounded like slapping flesh. It sent a tremor through everything. The giant cross could be seen as a faint shadow within the dust, but it was beginning to sink downwards. The pulse’s rhythm gradually sped up as Tristan sank. The swirling dust began to expand while the tower disappeared. The electrified dust’s rotation sped up as it spread, so it had already become a massive whirlwind. When the dust swept through, the earth and sky would crack open and the ether would destroy and consume everything in its path. It made an icy sound like glass breaking. That sound was incessant as the thunderclouds that appeared around Germania spread out in all directions. That movement and the pulse grew more intense and refused to stop. ### 765. Part 6 The battle above Germania had intensified. The black dragon had already grown more than 40 miles long and was preparing to move outside of its territory centered on Germania. Its entire body shook in its attempt to move out, but two Grösse Panzers and an aerial squadron fired on it from close range to hold it back. But the black dragon moved out regardless. Its dragon eyes narrowed and light gathered at its forehead. Atop Neue Silber, Bermark swapped out Freischütz’s magazine. “A Drache Kanone is coming. If it were a mechanical one, my incomplete Erklärung would be enough to dismantle it.” “That won’t work here. All aircraft, take cover behind Neue Silber!” Schweitzer nodded at Lowenzahn’s command, stood on the edge of the roof, and readied his staff. The wind blew and the dragon pulled its head back for just a moment in preparation to fire its Drache Kanone. The fighters and attack craft rode the wind to circle behind Neue Silber. Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar did the same to take advantage of Schweitzer’s protection. Just then, something changed with the dragon. The light gathering at its forehead suddenly scattered and vanished. “What!?” shouted Schweitzer, but he immediately regained a look of tension and swung his staff out even further with his fingertips. Several times as much light as before gathered on the staff just as the dragon made its move. But this movement would not fire a Drache Kanone. It moved out ahead, opened its mouth, and attempted to eat Neue Silber. “Are you kidding me!?” shouted Lowenzahn. Her protest was answered by the color red growing to fill their vision. The wet crimson of the black dragon’s tongue and the inside of its mouth approached while shining in the moonlight. It was so big they actually had a hard time grasping just how big it was. But Schweitzer spoke to Lowenzahn. “I shall protect you, Lowenzahn.” He leaped forward into the empty air – into the dragon’s maw. He turned around in midair and swung his staff toward Neue Silber. He instantly created a giant barrier cube. It was around half a mile long on each side and it sliced apart the sky before dropping down with Neue Silber inside. It took them just out of range of the dragon’s jaws. But while Neue Silber fell, Lowenzahn saw a staff-wielding man in the sky just in front of the dragon’s open jaws. She saw the man about to be devoured. So she shouted on reflex. “Someone!” she cried. “Someone please help us!” Her thoughts became a pure Text that spread across the black dragon’s entire territory. Her cry received an answer from within the black dragon itself. A Text shook the air as a power burst out of the dragon’s body like a bullet. It was a black Grösse Panzer, but it had white wings on its back. The two giant wings spread out while white armor covered its body. That was Neue Schwarz’s Weiss Kaiser. When Lowenzahn saw it, her Erklärung synced with the Grösse Panzer. “That Panzer inherited Kaiser’s memory and had its Eingeweide built on that base!” The white wings stretched out in the blink of an eye. The sharp wings caught the jaws snapping shut on the man overhead, but they kept moving from there. The white wings spread out across the sky and roared. The roar turned west within the dome of clouds. Then everyone else looked west to see a light. The clouds were shredded in the distance there, revealing the night sky and a bluish-white point of light shaking the air as it flew straight in. Its speed reached them all as power and the black dragon roared. It roared louder and louder. ### 766. Part 7 Ether scattered with a sound like a waterfall exploding, but it vanished after only three seconds. Hazel was still looking up into the briefly mist-covered sky. … I’m alive? She could see. That meant she was still alive. Rainclouds covered the night sky, so she could no longer see the moon. The rainclouds were entirely black now, telling her night had truly fallen now. She looked down to see a dark mist floating and producing waves. A drop of water landed on her nose. It was raining. The sound of the rain drew her gaze toward the ground where she saw someone sitting on the ground with shoulders drooping. It was Lillie. She hung her head and remained entirely motionless. Only Hazel slowly took a breath. Her shoulders rose and fell as she filled her lungs with air and then she turned around. A large black shape stood there. Its hips were lowered and its right foot swept backwards in a fighting stance. Its outthrust arms held a long hilt modeled after hair. “Gelegenheit and…Neue Schwarz.” The rain fell on the armor, adding a sheen to its matte black color. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Heavy Barrel’s rain-wet skin. She could tell her eyebrows were drooping. She tried to take a step forward, but then she heard a voice from behind. It was weak and joined by the rustling of cloth as someone stood up. “Messiah. This isn’t over yet.” She heard a quiet metallic sound from behind her. Realizing what it was, she asked a question. “Is a Neue Kavalier and one of the Fünf Leithammel really willing to shoot someone in the back, even if it is for revenge?” “Are you saying you have no reason to keep fighting? I burned down the Borderson village.” She said nothing more because a somewhat raised male voice interrupted. “Enough. You were never cut out to be a villain, Lillie Telmetz.” Hazel looked up at the voice. A dark figure hopped down from Neue Schwartz’s back. The man was wrapped in a black coat with his eyes half hidden by sunglasses. Hazel wasn’t even surprised to see him. She only shut her eyes with a sigh of relief. Lillie’s voice reached her from behind. “Stay back! I’ll shoot!” “Will you? We both know you’re more interested in complaining than shooting, Lillie Telmetz.” Berger spat the words out in disinterest and Lillie gasped. Hazel tried to get a look at the woman behind her, but Berger arrived in front of her before she could move. She looked up at him. The black coloration in front of her suddenly approached further and hugged her. Her rain-soaked body received the warmth of his dry coat and his body heat. His biological right arm and mechanical left arm briefly but firmly squeezed at her back. “Oh.” She sank into his chest. That chest shook and she heard his voice from overhead. “You got ahead of yourself there, silly Hazel. You too, Lillie Telmetz.” The comment to Lillie made Hazel look up in confusion. “The Borderson village isn’t dead. How do you think I knew to come here, Hazel?” “Well…” Now that he mentioned it, she realized she was in the middle of the woods with nothing but the mountain road around. “When I arrived in Borderson after you, I found the village burned to the ground. But the mayor was still there and he told me everything.” He took a breath. “Lillie Telmetz, you told the mayor you would be burning the Village of Pardons for the sake of your reputation, but you let all the residents escape and told him to return and rebuild if that was what they wanted.” “Lies!” shouted Lillie. Berger’s right arm immediately moved. Hazel realized he had reached into his black coat. And when he pulled his hand back out… “The mayor gave me this wine. He gave it to me along with a certain question, but is it not enough proof for you?” “What question?” asked Lillie, her voice barely a whisper. “One-armed young man, what did the mayor say to you?” “I hadn’t seen him in a few years, but out of nowhere, he asked me if I had ever made a promise with a certain Ilfheim woman. When I said yes, he gave me this. To be honest, I don’t really know what it all means.” Bright lights split the mist behind Berger. They were the headlights of the armored truck waiting back there. They were blocked by Neue Schwarz and Berger, but they still illuminated Lillie. Hazel saw Lillie turn toward the lights, her head lowered in the rain. She still held the gun but did nothing at all with it. After a few breaths, she lowered the gun. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief. … I don’t sense any killer intent. Then she realized Lillie’s mostly closed eyes were directed toward her. “Um…do you need something?” “Yes. I apologize, but, uh.” Lillie held a hand to her mouth in hesitation but finally… “If you don’t mind, could I see that pendant?” Hazel stepped away from Berger. After confirming he had taken a step back in response, she grabbed the chain around her neck. She slowly lifted the red gem locket. Lillie took a step closer and crouched. She viewed the red gem for a few seconds before her shoulders slumped and she let out a long sigh. “So I was wasn’t mistaken.” She nodded and looked back over her shoulder. She looked to the Requiem that was now hidden by the mist. Hazel didn’t understand what any of this meant. But… … This must have been important to her. So she held the pendant out toward Lillie and waited without speaking a word. Lillie groaned just once and then slowly looked up into the sky. Her exposed white throat trembled and then she sobbed once. No actual words left her lips along with her breaths, but they did mouth two names. “You two were already in the Messiah’s care?” Hazel watched as Lillie directed her words and her face toward the sky. The rain fell to the corners of her eyes, wet her cheeks, and dripped down to her chin. After a few breaths of silence, she lowered her head. She quietly cleared her throat, straightened her back, and viewed the pendant again. “I should have been the one to present this to you.” She smiled with a note of resignation in her voice. Hazel saw the tone color of her Lives in that smile. The bluish-white color and weak tempo was not quite that of happiness. But her smile remained, so Hazel didn’t comment. Hazel felt a small push on her back and Berger’s voice whispered in her ear. “Hey, what’s this about? Isn’t that mine?” “Sorry. When I was shot yesterday, it took the bullet for me and broke.” “When you were what ?” She shrugged and didn’t explain further. Lillie laughed quietly. “Something similar would have happened regardless. You heard everything from our commander, didn’t you? When you travel to the past, you are supposed to give that pendant to a girl. And then…” “Hold on. I bought this pendant at a festival shop,” said Berger. “I don’t know if that really is the same pendant passed down through the ages, but that isn’t what matters.” Hazel gripped the pendant and nodded at Lillie’s statement. … Yes, I understand. Lillie smiled and nodded back. Then she glanced toward the lights shining on her. “This is as far as I can go, Messiah. However…” Hazel tilted her head and Lillie narrowed her eyes and continued. “But if you wish for an undivided destiny and attempt to reach it, I promise you the moon shall assist you. And for that…” Lillie placed a hand on her chest. “You must seek out your own Text.” That was the end of it. Lillie glanced over at Berger, bowed, and walked away. She walked toward the obscuring mist to reach the light that had been shining on her for a while now. Left behind, Hazel leaned into Berger’s chest. Then she saw the lights move. They illuminated the mist as they turned around. The armored truck was leaving. The moving light vanished and the rumble of an engine reached them. Only the damp air and dark night remained. ### 767. Part 7 Hazel sensed her vision was back and opened her eyes to find herself outside. She gasped and looked up in the sky to find it was blue. The ground below her was a green field. She felt a light breeze on her skin and the green grass tickling her ankles. She could not see the end of the earth. The blue sky and green field continued as far as the eye could see. “I thought I was outside Berlin’s central library.” She looked behind her, but the library was gone. “Eh?” But something else was there: a small door. A door in a small wooden frame stood in the middle of the field. It sat open and she could see the library from before through it. When she peered through the wooden doorframe standing in the field, she saw Eryngium standing alone at the counter. The busy readers were still at the bookcases too. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief at finding the library was still there. She realized something else as well. … I’ve seen this door before. She saw it when she entered Germania a month before. … This was the door in the library’s underground room where I met up with Berger. The door had been deep below the ground, but now it was below the open sky. She viewed the door and looked up to the sky. Then she looked down to the green ground. She looked all around, spotting a few tall apple trees growing around the door. “Oh?” One patch of the field wasn’t colored the green of grass. It was the white of paper. She walked over to the paper and smiled at how the soft grass tickled her bare feet. She stopped and looked down to see the paper was blank. She hesitantly picked it up. “Eh?” Now there was a large desk in front of her. A man in a black coat sat with his back to her in the desk chair. He was using a pen to write something on the many papers on the desk. He would occasionally pause to check a dictionary before continuing. His hair, shirt, and pants were all black. She only knew one person who looked like that. “Berger?” He did not respond. He kept his back to her and continued working. He showed no sign of turning around. She sighed and waited, keeping her eyes on his back. The wind blew through, rustling the leaves of the apple trees. The whisper of the leaves was louder than the wind itself and it made the wind sound more like a crashing wave. She looked to the sky to see thin strands of cloud stretching out further and further. The wind must be strong, she realized before noticing movement out of the corner of her eye. The man seated in front of her held his metal left arm toward her over his other shoulder. The hand was spread wide and it wasn’t moving. “Do you want this paper?” He didn’t answer her. But she handed him the paper she had picked up. He didn’t thank her before pulling his hand back, laying the paper on the desk, and writing on it with the pen in his right hand. After a few seconds, the work was complete. The moment after that, he held the paper out with his left hand. She took it with her right hand. He immediately pulled his hand back and got back to work. He opened up the dictionary on the desk, pulled out another sheet of paper, and began writing. Hazel looked at him, not the paper he had given her. “Why?” She glanced behind her in the wind. She could see the library through the small door. Eryngium and so many other people were in there. “Why are you out here, away from the others?” She looked back to him. He continued his work. But she noticed something on the desk. A letter opener with its grip modeled after hair sat in the pen holder with its bottom end pointed up. A new color had been added to its gold grip. A black ribbon-like string was tied around it near the end. “Oh,” she gasped and reflexively reached for her throat. But her fingers found nothing there. This was his place, so she gave one deep nod and unfolded the paper in her hand. Only a few words were written there. They were the Text that Berger used for his Ober Beweisen. ### 768. Part 7 Hazel ran along an elevated railroad. She was surrounded by fog. The dome already covered the sky above and she could see wide gap of Tempelhof Airport through the fog past the east wall of the railroad. Her running feet took her toward a German military truck collapsed with its belly toward her. The two trucks used by the vanguard had rolled on their sides, blocking the way ahead. The people hiding behind the truck barricade were firing into the fog. … I thought it was odd things were going so smoothly. She kept running, hearing the elderly unit commander’s voice from behind her. “They lured us in. Everyone, we need to join the vanguard. Are you ready?” She looked back to see the 20 soldiers who had been riding the third truck. Seeing them all spread out across a decent distance, she nodded. She checked side to side and viewed the sides of the elevated railroad. Due to the proximity of the airport, the railroad was built about 15 yards high to allow cargo trucks and Heavy Barrels to pass underneath. … I can see armored trucks and special vehicles gathering below. She saw the metal Lives moving around below them. “Enemy soldiers will be climbing the support pillars soon.” Before that warning from behind her was even done, they arrived at the two trucks blocking the way. A few dozen soldiers were hiding behind them. Those were the four platoons who had ridden those two trucks. A few were injured and being healed by the Tuners assigned to their unit. “Situation report?” asked the elderly commander. The man firing from behind the truck didn’t even look back as he replied. “This is all of us now and they’re gathering over there. What about the rest? Were they taken out?” Hazel looked behind them and realized she couldn’t hear the fourth truck anymore. A woman pulled headphones from her backpack and put them on, but she shook her head after a bit. Gunfire and shattering glass could be heard from the other side of the trucks. Bullets would not stop hitting the trucks. Hazel sighed and then spoke her thoughts aloud. “I need to do something.” Her voice came out louder than intended and everyone turned toward her. The gunfire suddenly stopped at the same time. … Eh? She gasped and focused on her ears. All sound had vanished from direction of Tristan. As had the killer intent. She waited for three breaths. But even then, she didn’t hear a single bullet hit the trucks or even whizz past them overhead. The man who had been firing from behind the trucks tried firing into the mist. Still no response. He crouched down and peered out. “What’s going on?” Then a somewhat higher-pitched male voice spoke from the fog. “Is that you, Messiah?” Hazel recognized the voice. “Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief Herbert Müller?” “Indeed. I would much prefer you did not playfully bring down the railroad this time. We only ask one thing: to take the Messiah into our custody.” The fog vanished from the railroad. As did the trucks Hazel’s unit was using as cover. “An Erklärung!?” “You are within Germania now, so this is a simple task for us.” That voice came from atop the now-fogless elevated railroad. A black wall stood about 50 yards away. It was formed by armored trucks and black-clad Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers. They all carried swords or spears and their bodies were heavily customized with prosthetics. The short, elderly man named Müller stood out in front of them. “I borrowed some of the army division’s best troops for my vanguard unit. Our comrades are already closing in on you from behind and the rest of our forces should have left Tristan by now. And…” He used his right hand to push up the glasses covering his squinty eyes. Then he raised that hand skyward and snapped his fingers. “Once your situation sinks in, I do believe you will accept defeat.” Black figures instantly lined up along the concrete walls on either side of the railroad. They were all Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers. They all held weapons and directed their gazes down toward Hazel’s unit, but there was no emotion there. Hazel gasped. … I thought they were still down below. “I assure you this is no Erklärung,” said Müller. Hazel responded while ignoring the walls of Neue Kavaliers to instead look dead ahead. “If I surrender to you, will you let the rest of my unit leave unharmed?” “If those are your terms.” Hazel gave a satisfied nod and smiled with just her eyes. “Everyone.” She took a deep breath and spoke to the group behind her. “I intend to fight, so that I can accomplish something. Do you have the will to fight as well?” They didn’t respond, but the commanders of the three platoons there did slowly move. The elderly man, the man who had been firing earlier, and a woman holding a Device walked out in front of Hazel. Then the rest of the unit formed up next to and behind her. Tension filled the air. Müller and the Neue Kavaliers in front of them and the Neue Kavalirs on the walls crouched down a bit as they prepared to fight. But the gunner man in front of Hazel ignored that killer intent and spoke quietly while still facing forward. “The knight near the support pillar on the left has a sloppy stance. Focus on him.” The Device woman to Hazel’s right nodded and whispered back. “What’s the plan after we get down to the surface?” The elderly man to Hazel’s left held his empty fists by his hips and answered. “One of my men is from Tempelhof. We let him lead the way. But…no one here is going to say they don’t have the skills to jump down from this height, are they?” Everyone’s bitter laughter was all the answer anyone needed. Hazel could see the yellow Lives of tension in that laughter, but she also saw the warm crimson they all formed. The elderly commander pulled out a pocket watch. “2:28. Another 7 minutes until the artillery and RB-21 arrive.” “Another 32 minutes until the ACBS launches.” “And about another 2 hours until the world changes.” Hazel saw a brightness other than confidence in the three commanders’ voices. There was a calm composure there. … We can manage this, can’t we? Hazel gripped Rein König in both hands and Müller asked her a question from up ahead. “Is this your answer, Messiah?” “No.” She looked him in the eye. “It’s our answer.” “In that case,” said Müller, raising his arm and snapping his fingers. Killer intent formed and grew from the front and both sides. ### 769. Part 7 She ran. She ran through the darkness, broke through another door, and found a lit corridor just like Witzmann had said she would. The place was deserted. She focused all her attention on her vision, ignoring all the sounds around her. There was a door ahead, so she swung Rein König to break through. She didn’t need an Up. Her heightened will and her experience from battling Lillie let her Tune with just her words. She didn’t know what it was she said. But a piercing power emerged from the corridor’s thin air. The power raced out and broke through the door, revealing the space on the other side. It was another corridor with another thick door at the end. A man stood to the side of that door. The tall, skinny elderly man wore a Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division combat coat. It was Schweitzer’s aide. She felt bad that she couldn’t remember his name. He faced her and bowed. The hand he held toward the door held a pistol. She heard his voice with her will, not with her hearing that had faded away thanks to her intense concentration. “Eingeweide gun Freischütz – Ober Beweisen.” The muzzle flashed, but no bullet emerged. Instead, Hazel saw a power. It flew toward the door and destroyed it. But instead of destroying it in an ordinary fashion, all the screws and rails used to construct the door came apart in an instant. The door became no more than a few metal panels and other components and collapsed away from him. Hazel bowed toward the elderly man as she ran by. She passed through the collapsing door in just three steps. The door past it had been dismantled as well, so she ran through the gap that created. She found a large space beyond. The tall cylindrical space was the core of Tristan. She found herself on a walkway crossing a seemingly bottomless pit. … Neue Erde is here! She saw a pillar running through the center of Tristan. There was a control panel where the walkway reached the pillar and a window was installed on the wall above that. “That must be it!” The sound returned to her ears then. She heard Tristan’s pulse and a deep tremor of the air. They both rang loud like a shouting voice. But she did not fear those sounds. She ran forward with Rein König ready in her right hand. The window was right in front of her. The metal and plastic tubes on the other side were pulsating to show the massive device was reaching the height of its activity. Something odd stuck out from the artificial veins that twisted around like serpents. Hazel confirmed it was a woman’s hand. The right hand had its palm up and an ear of golden wheat sat in that palm. She leaped, raised Rein König in her right hand, and slammed it directly into the window. The tip shattered the glass and pierced the metal pipes to stab deeper. She felt it reach something. Then she raised her voice to return the target’s Lives to normal. “Ah.” There was no hesitation in her voice. … Because she’s so much like me! Rein König’s blade shined bright, that light burned the pipes, raced across the control panel, and accelerated along the outer surface of the giant metal pillar. She reached out her left hand and grabbed the outstretched right hand, pressing down on the ear of wheat. “That’s enough. This can end.” She sent her thoughts into Rein König, trusting it would reach the woman. “This nightmare can finally end!” Light exploded inside Tristan. Everything was ending. ### 770. Part 7 Someone came to within the roaring wind and the trembling air. It was Lowenzahn. She groaned and twisted her body. Her blue eyes slowly opened below her wrinkled brow. She narrowed her eyes against the light while her eyes came into focus and an expression of puzzlement formed on her face. She moved her eyes to take a look around. She saw a low ceiling overhead and she was lying on something like a chair. Covering her body was… “A blanket,” she muttered as her eyes focused further. There was an unopenable round window on the wall to her right. Then she saw the massive thunderclouds rotating in the night sky. She couldn’t tell how far away they were. They were a gray so dark it was nearly black, they extended high into the sky, and they stretched out horizontally to fill her entire view. The different layers of cloud were rotating at different speeds, creating a surface pattern similar to braided hair. This space was a long way from the clouds. She could see the moonlit forest below. She had only been using her eyes, but now she slowly turned her head to see further into the distance. She hadn’t moved for a while, so her body cried out in protest. But she didn’t care. Her cheeks bent in pain as she turned her head to look out the window. “What are those dark clouds?” Her question was answered by a woman’s voice directly to her left. “Half an hour has passed since Tristan was restarted by Tragisch. We are on the bridge of an AIF transport ship above the forest near Hamburg, my commander.” It was Jeanne’s voice. Lowenzahn nodded and viewed the massive collection of dark clouds. The occasional bluish-white light would flash through them, illuminating their center. Even the dark clouds looked white in the light and they displayed the shape of the object inside them like they were a screen. She saw a moving silhouette within the clouds. It looked like a great serpent. “That devastating dragon has grown more than 30 miles long. Tristan’s Tons have scattered and formed that ether dragon which is beginning to consume this world.” That was Schweitzer’s voice. Lowenzahn sighed at the familiar voice and held herself inside the blanket. “I see. So I was removed from Tristan and Heiliger took over.” Her voice was scratchy. “So I lost?” No one answered her. But that silence was as good as an answer, so she smiled bitterly. Then she looked out the window again. The giant dragon silhouette was dancing within the dark clouds. “How much longer until the world changes, Jeanne?” “It is currently 3:45 AM. So we have less than an hour.” “That’s not good. You get what this means, right? That is the result of Tristan’s scattered Tons, isn’t it? Then it will contain the Spacetime Tons extracted before Tristan was stopped. And without Neue Erde, those Tons can’t be extracted anymore.” A few seconds of silence followed. Finally, Schweitzer spoke toward the floor. “The vision of the past we all had while fighting was of before Berlin’s twin cities period.” “Yes. Most likely, around a thousand years’ worth of Spacetime Tons are inside that dragon. Once its Tons scatter too much and it can’t maintain that form, it will explode and destroy those Spacetime Tons. Similarly, if we destroy that dragon before that happens…” She took a breath and then stated her guess. “If we destroy it, it will trigger the Nibelung!” She looked back. She grimaced at the pain in her body, but she looked to the two people there. Jeanne kneeled on the floor and… “Captain, you don’t have to force yourself into such a cramped space.” Lowenzahn laughed bitterly because Schweitzer was crouched down with his head bent over to look down at her. He accepted her laugh with a disheartened look. “But I cannot just leave you alone either.” “Thanks.” Her quick response helped soften his expression while he looked at her. She held her knees below the blanket and looked up at him with a smile. That was all it took to communicate what they were each thinking, so they shifted to tenser expressions. “Jeanne, do the others know about this? If Elrich is here, tell him to work out a countermeasure ASAP. We need a way to destroy the dragon but not trigger the Nibelung.” Lowenzahn held the left side of her chest below the blanket and looked directly at Jeanne. She saw Jeanne’s deadly serious face, so she spoke sharply. “Your commander was bested by your leader, so I will follow her will. If Fräulein Kitty wouldn’t let me die when I wanted to, then I’m going to assume she’s safe too. And I know what she must be thinking.” “About what to do now?” “Yes. So as commander, I transfer all authority over the Geheimnis Agency to her.” Lowenzahn shut her eyes. “Of course.” She lowered her eyebrows a bit and forced a smile. “I doubt anyone still trusts me enough to take orders from me anyway.” Jeanne immediately stood up and shook her head. “You needn’t worry about-” she began. Just then, a sound dropped between Jeanne and Lowenzahn. The sound came from a metal plate slipping out of Jeanne’s pocket. The dim reserve lighting caused the plate’s surviving text to shine bright. Lowenzahn’s eyes slowly moved to read the few shining words. “ ‘War’, ‘Nibelung’, ‘1943’, ‘sin’. And lastly…’take care of-’ ” Her expression changed as she read them aloud. Surprise colored her face and she looked to Jeanne. “Is this what my mother placed in the underground knowledge storehouse?” “Yes. Witzmann left it with me. He said to give it to someone who fit those words.” Jeanne picked up the plate, frowned, and viewed its words. She chose her words carefully while asking Lowenzahn a question. “Take care of what, I wonder. Of the Nibelung maybe?” “W-well,” started Lowenzahn, but she was interrupted by a deep, male voice from overhead. It spoke a longer series of words. “The next war will be fought over the Nibelung. In 1943, we will pass all of our sin on to the next generation. If you happen to read this, then please take care of my daughter.” The flowing words came from Schweitzer. ### 771. Part 7 Hazel saw the black dragon in the distance. There was no village, forest, river, or even mountain or valley below Sylphide now. Only a flat land that resembled a glass flower garden. But Sylphide shattered the flowers below with the shockwave of its flight. The wind dragon had already grown more than 10 miles long. The dragon could no longer even see as Hazel spread her hands and sang her will atop it. “Hey, Berger?” “Hm? What is it?” “I think this country will be split by a wall of sorrow and anger once the war ends.” She shook her head. “But do you think that wall will one day go away?” “No, I doubt it. I mean…are you going to wait for that wall to go away?” “No, I won’t. I couldn’t wait.” “That’s what I mean. Walls don’t just go away. Not for people like you anyway.” He smiled. “But I’m sure that fight is a job for the people a few generations after ours.” “Eh? Um, a few generations after ours? You mean, um?” Hazel brought a hand to her cheek and felt it was warm. Noting that heat, she gave a firm nod, and faced forward again. “When we see each other again, I want to live an indulgent life. After the war, I think I’ll continue doing work for the AIF while working as a teacher in Borderson or somewhere. So…so, um, I should make enough to support someone else too.” “Then go find someone. I mean, what would your dad say? We’re 8 years apart.” “Don’t worry. When I return from the past, we will only be 3 years apart. And just so you know, my parents are 12 years apart. You didn’t check that when looking up my information?” “What the hell!? That’s way more messed up!” Hazel did not turn back toward his laughter. She only narrowed her eyes and let her shoulders shake in laughter of her own. “But, Hazel. If you travel to the past, fix the world’s inconsistencies, and leave a riddle for the future you, will the future of this world – and our futures too – be in your hands as you travel to the past, return, and let the loop play out?” She did turn back this time and saw him hanging his head a little. “Your role as history’s manager will end on August 24 at 4:42 AM when the next you takes over and the world changes a little more. Actually, I guess the world is always changing.” “I suppose so. But don’t worry. I’m sure the next me will make a choice much like my own. She will take your hand, call your name, travel to the past as always, be dug up in Sylphide in ’39, and become Lehrer. And if that process repeats itself enough times, surely one of them will find the correct answer. An unstable but unbreakable answer.” “Sounds pretty idealistic to me.” “It is, but nothing will ever get better without some idealism.” She was confident about that, so she faced forward again to find the black dragon was much closer now. Neue Silber and the white-winged Weiss Kaiser waited in the sky in front of the black dragon. Weiss Kaiser emitted Lives that Hazel recognized. They had the white tone color of a controlled gale. “Weiss Kaiser is here too!” The wind dragon arrived alongside accelerating Neue Silber and Weiss Kaiser. Weiss Kaiser was on the right. The wind dragon, Hazel, and Berger with Gelegenheit were in the center. Neue Silber, Schweitzer, Lowenzahn, and Bermark were on the left. “We and Kaiser will draw the dragon toward Germania!” shouted Schweitzer. “Good luck!” shouted back Hazel. A look of surprise appeared on Schweitzer’s face, but it was soon replaced by a slight smile. Hazel responded by singing while looking down on the flower garden sky created by the spatial destruction. Below the wind blowing through our fatherland, the freeshooter feels a tailwind on his back Below the tragedy, the emperor sings a requiem Below the moonlit night, the messiah captures destiny A lone hero marches into a new world Pushed on by her song, they all readied their weapons and raced forward. The various aircrafts passed through the gap in the split space head. The black dragon was there. It shot toward them. It pushed on the air and left countless contrails in its wake. Hazel checked her watch in front of the dragon. It was 4:40 AM. Only two minutes until the world changed. But she remained calm. She shut her eyes, took a breath, and kept her smile as she spread her hand in the air and sang. Weiss Kaiser flew out in front. Its white wings left behind constant explosions of air as it accelerated. It held a large white sword in both hands. Light wrapped around the giant Device. The Grösse Panzer gave a shout and a white attack shot out. The glowing attack was more than 500 yards along, but it was canceled out by the dragon’s dragon breath. The dragon’s triumphant roar thundered out. The Grösse Panzer’s entire body was shattered by the shockwave released by the dragon’s body. Weiss Panzer kept moving even as it came to pieces. Its Device sword flew. The light-wrapped sword stabbed into the dragon’s jaw, shaking the dragon just a bit. But that was all. The Grösse Panzer broke apart in midair and the black dragon smashed it to pieces as it flew toward the others. The excited dragon was met by Neue Silber. Atop the ship, Lowenzahn held the left side of her chest. Her Aerial Words sent several beams of light into the black dragon. Its forward momentum was slightly slowed and then Schweitzer sent in one of his special destruction barrier cubes. Bermark spoke his Text and emptied Freischütz’s magazine. The shots hit, causing the dragon to open its mouth and roar. It was a bestial roar of rage against this resistance. Even as it roared, all of its injuries were rapidly healed. Schweitzer noticed the regeneration while Neue Silber was blasted away by the wind. “So we need a more powerful attack!” The dragon answered his shout with an even greater roar that seemed to be declaring victory. But just as that hostile dragon roar rumbled through the air, a small light pierced the dragon’s throat from front to back. Still singing on the Wind Dragon’s back, Hazel instantly identified what had produced the light stretching up from the ground below. … A Word Rifle. Hazel looked to the ground to see a man standing on the moonlit ground of shattered glass. ### 772. Part 8 Hazel breathed a sigh of relief within the shadows and the rain. Berger also sighed and wrapped his arms around the front of her body. She let him hold her and the contents of her backpack shifted position. She recalled something important. “Um, Berger.” “Hm?” “Do you want to eat somewhere? I was given some food at Borderson.” “Have you forgotten we need to hurry to Germania? We’re supposed to be at the rendezvous point in 5 hours.” “Were you planning to take 5 hours to reach Germania?” She lowered her head further and felt his heat while he held her. “We just have to make the trip faster. I was thinking we could head there right away and then use what time we have leftover to-” She stopped talking when he squeezed her in his arms. Then he forcibly turned her around in his arms. She gasped and then found her face buried in his chest. The tension drained from her right arm, so Rein König and the white cloth wrapped around that hand fell away. Rein König’s hilt landed on the little toe of Berger’s right foot. ### 773. Part 8 Hazel’s mind was on the move. Images, sounds, and emotions from the past rushed into her own memories. Things both big and small flowed in together, making waves and never ceasing. She gasped as she worked to see and hear those things, not just accept them. … These are the memories from the German Lives. They covered a massive span of time. Instead of directly entering her, they had their own senses and carried her through time. First, she was high in the sky. The wind blew through and caressed the mountains. A forest grew at the foot of the mountains and the earth was found below the forest. There were Heidengeists, humans, and dragons there. A village formed on the riverside, it grew into twin cities, to a fortress city, and finally to Berlin. A promise was made and the world was set in motion. New friends were made, new battles were fought, and a goodbye was said. The forest covering the earth was cleared away, the mountains were shattered, and a metal cross split the sky. Night fell. She stood atop the giant cross overlooking all of Germany. She held a white sword in her hand. She looked back to see a man in a black coat and a blue aerial warship resembling a blade. No one was moving. She faced the wall of the cross. All of its metal armor had bent and it was starting to swell out unnaturally. She responded to the change by glancing down at the military watch on her left wrist. It was currently 4:40 AM. “So it really does all end at this time. If this Live disturbance continues for another two minutes, it will create a giant monster carrying the Spacetime Lives and the world will be destroyed.” She moved her hands to raise her sword. “I must believe the correct answer will be reached eventually. Maybe it will be the next me or maybe the one after that, but I must believe that, after countless turns of the wheel, someone will eventually choose a destiny that was not forced onto her.” And… “Eingeweide Eye Messiah – Ober Beweisen!” Her right eye glowed red. The intensity of the light changed, but instead of growing stronger, it grew sharper. “The all-controlling Messiah’s Text is the answer to it all.” The wind blew and the metal wall before her rattled extra hard like something had struck it from the inside. Her lips parted to speak her own Text. ### 774. Part 8 Neue Schwarz moved as quickly as it could through the foggy city. It had not yet activated its Ober Emblem. It raced through the dark city with extra tanks on its back and a Word Rifle on its shoulder. It faced a four-lane road with the city’s buildings on either side. Its right hand held Gelegenheit and its left hand held a white sword. It had just raised the white sword to strike. “You still alive back there!?” shouted Neue Schwarz, receiving responses from a few men inside the secondary cockpit on its back. It had taken in five AIF soldiers to protect them from the high-speed combat. It looked out ahead after hearing their voices. “Then we can leave the rest to the others while we make the second biggest commotion in the world!” Two Heavy Barrels burst through the fog floating about 500 yards ahead. After seeing their blue and red coloration, Neue Schwarz ran forward. The two Barrels also moved closer. A Heavy Barrel’s forward propulsion could easily surpass 50mph on the very first step. They approached each other in a flash, tearing up the asphalt below their feet. The red one moved out front with a shield at the ready and the blue one stayed behind with a rifle at the ready. The black one responded by rushing straight toward them. Once they were less than 100 yards apart, it flapped its wings just once. The thrusters contained on those wings launched air backwards. The explosion of air accelerated it forward. The blue one’s rifle fired along the path of its speed. An 88mm bullet flew out, grazing the red one’s head on the way. The black one swung its black sword as it ran. The bullet passed by with a velocity of more than half a mile per second. At a distance of about 30 yards, the black one had crouched low, placing the red one between it and the blue one’s line of fire. As they got closer, the red one pulled a knife from behind its large shield. Both sides continued forward, speeding up as they did. Without warning, Neue Schwarz swung its white sword up from the bottom left. “Nh!” The red and blue ones both grunted and gently braked. The sword failed to find its mark and swished through empty air. Neue Zinnobar moved in after the sword strike missed. It swung its knife diagonally up from its left in a mirror of the path the white sword had taken. Neue Schwarz chose that moment to let go of the sword. The thick double-edge blade drew an arc as it rotated toward the red Barrel’s neck. The large shield could not be moved into place in time. “Kh,” groaned the blue and red Barrels before the blue one raised its voice. “Is that all you have!?” Its rifle fired. The bullet traveled over Neue Zinnobar’s head and struck the approaching sword. With a clang like a bell breaking, the sword sliced through the foggy air and flew off into the sky. Below the airborne white blade, Neue Blau fired its rifle some more. Gunfire sounded repeatedly, but Neue Schwarz kept the momentum of its rightward sword strike to collapse its upper body to the right. It used its right toes as a pivot point to swing its left leg upwards. Its black toes kicked up at the red shield. The shield lifted upwards and one of the rifle bullets hit it on the inside. The shield survived, but it triggered a shockwave on the back of the shield. The pressure first smashed Neue Zinnobar’s right arm and the primary armor on its torso and then it spread out as a white explosion. A gut-shaking boom raced along the street, shattering the windows of all the buildings. The glass shards sounded like spraying water as they scattered through the fog. But all of that was launched skyward a moment later. Powerful wind swept across the road, but just one thing was unaffected: Neue Schwarz which was crouched low directly below the shield at the center of the blast. The shockwave inside the shield failed to hit the Heavy Barrel directly on the other side. It slowly raised its wings within the rapid wind. Then it flapped them. “Ah,” it shouted while pouring all of its forward thrust into the left shoulder crashing into the red shield. With a crash, Neue Zinnobar was pushed from the ground by its own shield and the knife fell from its left hand. The defense field emitted by the red shield instantly reacted to the extreme mass slamming into it. Steam burst from the bottom of the shield, its surface grew red, and it emitted a launching force. Neue Schwarz’s left shoulder armor groaned for a brief moment and then began to break away. Behind airborne Neue Zinnobar, Neue Blau moved to support its red back. The two-against-one contest was evenly matched while the shield’s red glow grew. The black shoulder armor briefly bent and gave one final resistance before shattering, but Neue Schwarz did not stop. “You’re only the opening act, you third rates!” Neue Scwharz flapped its wings. The wind produced behind it was more like an explosion of heat and all three Barrels briefly came to a stop. The equilibrium broke almost instantly, creating new movement. “!?” With confused shouts, the blue and red Heavy Barrels were blasted backwards. The black one pursued them. The red one held its shield up in a defensive stance. Neue Scwharz did not stop. It had already moved too close to swing Gelegenheit. It raised its fists and threw a flurry of punches. It took aim, swung its body, and started by targeting the head. Then the right shoulder, left shoulder, the thighs, and the center of the shield. The red lion’s armor shattered, its Panzer Kleid shredded, and it pushed the blue one back. The blue lion planted its feet firm while holding onto the red one. Its feet tore through the asphalt as it tried to stop their movement. It wasn’t enough. The black lion kept running and slammed its supersonic fist into the center of the shield. It didn’t end there. The barrage continued, pushing further and further forward. The shield’s glow had passed red, reached yellow, and was approaching white. The steam coming from the bottom of the shield had lost its color, simply emitting a shimmering heat. Neue Schwarz’s right knee tore through that shimmering to slam into the shield. The striking ram extending from the top of the shin practically stabbed into the shield’s center, bending the shield. Wind blew out and the blue and red Barrels were pushed even further back. Their sight devices focused on the black one’s right arm. It had opened the fist and pointed the open hand toward the sky. Something fell into that black hand. It was the sword Neue Blau had launched skyward with its earlier gunshot. The white sword spun on its way down and the black hand swung sideways to snatch its hilt out of the air and then swing the sword in a sweeping horizontal arc. The thick blade sliced through the air and slashed the shield. The destruction only took an instant. With a loud clash of metal on metal, the sword completed its swing. Neue Schwarz let the sword’s weight propel it into a spin. Once the inertial force had weakened enough, it attached the sword to its hip latch. It fully opened its wings and dug its feet into the asphalt in preparation to leap. The red and blue Heavy Barrels landed at the same time. They smashed the pavement as their feet hit the ground and the red one’s shield had lost its light. The shield had been split in two by a horizontal line down the center. Neue Schwarz raised its wings while viewing the top half of the shield slide away along the cut. “Consider it a favor I’m using your master’s sword. I’m not accepting any complaints.” With that, its wings blasted air behind it. It shot forward. The blue and red Barrels turned around, trying to catch up. It ignored them. The road was a straightaway and the bridge it needed to cross was just up ahead, so it only needed to face forward. Neue Schwarz ran. ### 775. Part 8 August 24, 2:58 AM. The protective dome of light covering Germania suddenly disappeared. At the same time, two surges of bluish-white light raced across Tristan’s surface armor. They were answered by one last gentle beat of its pulse followed by silence. The pulse’s reverberation lingered for around 10 seconds before vanishing into the night sky. Then Tristan and the shield facilities built in the four cardinal directions all went dark. The red lights of emergency power switched on instead. The red lights shined for a bit before vanishing as well. The silence from the massive structure was followed by the seven black aerial warships losing control and stalling in midair. They whipped up the wind as they crashed outside the city and stopped moving. Tristan and its defenses had lost all power, as had the control system that provided structural support. The massive structure could not support its own weight without that. It creaked and groaned before it began to collapse. The cross looming tall in the night slowly began to fall. ### 776. Part 8 The two women turned to see the large man with a thick journal open in his hands. He closed it and held it out toward Lowenzahn. “I doubt anyone understands the true will of Frobel Naylor, who helped created the Geheimnis Agency. She hoped to bring about the Nibelung, but contradictorily, she was also concerned for your safety, Lowenzahn.” Lowenzahn’s eyebrows fell and she squeezed her mouth shut. She said nothing, so Schweitzer continued. “But,” he began. “At the moment, we are all safe and we are waiting for a new world. I choose to believe this is the answer she wanted and it is the result of fulfilling her promise.” When he finished, Jeanne held the plate out toward Lowenzahn. Lowenzahn accepted the items. And she held them tight. Her blanket rustled as she held those two physical remnants of her mother’s will and curled up. “It was awfully convenient how all this worked out,” she said, a smile of relief on her face. She took a breath. But then they heard a quiet tongue click from the direction of the pilot’s seat at the front of the bridge. The three of them gasped and turned toward the tongue click. Next to the cramped pilot’s seat was the seat for the navigator who also handled communications. The AIF soldier who stood from there threw his headphones to the floor and ran toward the door leading from the bridge. “What is it!?” asked Schweitzer in English. The answer came in a strong tone. It was a short answer. “The ACBS was launched!” “What!?” The navigator explained with panic in his voice while he ran down the narrow aisle between the seats. “They stopped the reverse pressurization, but as soon as they learned about the dragon, the high-speed bomber fleet flying this way launched the ACBS! They’re targeting the great black dragon. The ETA is 4:42 AM!” Jeanne stood all the way up when she heard that time. “Does destiny want the Nibelung to happen!?” she asked through clenched teeth. “If the ACBS collides with the dragon, it will destroy that millennium’s worth of Spacetime Tons.” Lowenzahn also stood up. “Jeanne! You and him hurry to the others!” She stood on unsteady legs that nearly gave out under her, so Schweitzer supported her. She accepted his assistance while clutching the two items left behind by her mother. “I can apologize or make excuses to the others later. Now it’s my turn to trust them. Trust that they will follow my orders. …So tell them this.” She took a breath. “Every last member of the Geheimnis Agency is to serve the Messiah. Because she is sure to make the choice that gets us out of this bind.” She smiled. “Because she is sure to decide she doesn’t want to lose the present.” ### 777. Part 8 The gray-haired man stood with blood soaking his large body. He was AIF General Pale Horse. His prosthetic arms emitted defensive light and he held the Word Rifle abandoned by Neue Schwarz and a Heavy Barrel’s Phlogiston tank. He had a look of irritation on his face and clicked his tongue when he viewed the glowing afterimage stretching up from the barrel to the sky. “Less than a minute until 4:42. This is my final goodbye, Heiliger Karlsruhe.” He took a breath. “You refused to accept the future for the sake of the dead, but we choose to honor the dead by…” Pale stopped there. And instead… “I’m such a hypocrite.” A moment later, his air-piercing attack connected the ground to the sky and punched through the black dragon’s armor. ### 778. Part 9 Schweitzer watched as Witzmann repeated his question while picking up the breastplate. “Will you place your trust in Neue Erde or in the Messiah?” Schweitzer softly clenched his teeth. Bermark was watching him and he nodded with no expression of his own. “So what will it be? Will you let the Messiah do as she wishes? Will you ask the Messiah what it is she wishes to do? The fräulein is no longer in any condition to answer such questions. But if you value her more…” “You always use your lack of a heart to shield yourself from criticism, but this is pushing it. You’re siding with Lowenzahn, aren’t you? Everything you’ve done today helps her in the end.” “If you say so.” Bermark bowed deep with a hand on his chest and Schweitzer sighed. “So what does my aide say I can do to protect our country?” “You should focus on simply protecting it instead of on your position as the Schallmauer Zerstörer. Just like when you have twice protected the fräulein in the past.” Schweitzer frowned at that. Witzmann questioned Bermark’s comment with a hand on his chin. “Twice? I know about the dragon attack at Neuschwanstein, but what’s the other one?” “I doubt Captain Schweitzer remembers the first time either. When Frobel Naylor once visited that chamber below Munich, Sir Bertecht-” “He protected the hospital from rioters and died,” continued Witzmann. Schweitzer briefly looked up and frowned. “What does that have to do with this, Bermark?” “He initially hesitated to go assist in Munich, but then his young son told him that a Neue Kavalier is supposed to protect the things they care about.” When Bermark finished speaking, silence hung over them all. But then Schweitzer suppressed a groan and clenched his teeth hard. Bermark looked and spoke to him with no readable emotion on his face or in his voice. “Frobel Naylor was pregnant at the time and she apparently spent around 12 hours down there with Lady Rose. They discussed her unborn child to distract themselves from the anxiety.” “Enough,” rumbled Schweitzer. He removed the scarf from his shirt’s collar and loosened the collar. He took a breath and twisted his head once. “I will oppose the Messiah. I will trust in Lowenzahn and protect her. To keep my promise to the Ilfheim bloodline she may not have known she belonged to.” “Protection is not always the correct choice. Sir Graham and Lady Rose learned the hard way that protecting people can lead to greater harm in the end. And If the Messiah is right…” “Then I lose. But as a nameless fighter, not as the Schallmauer Zerstörer.” Schweitzer smiled bitterly. He saluted the two old men and turned his back. He walked away, toward the door up to the surface. “I am leaving, Bermark. Take care of those two.” “Wait, wait. We haven’t made our own choice.” “Then be quick about it. I am in a hurry.” Elrich sighed, got up, removed his brown cloak, and put on a white coat instead. “I am going to Germania. If this comes down to a battle between Neue Erde and the Messiah, Neue Erde has an unfair advantage. She already knows where destiny is headed, after all.” Elrich began to walk, but after a few steps, he looked back at Witzmann who was still seated on the floor. “What about you, youngster?” “Oh, I will be joining the AIF.” Schweitzer frowned at that one. He turned back at the door to see Elrich giving him an exaggerated shrug and Bermark as expressionless as ever. Schweitzer scratched his head and then gave a quick disheartened comment. “You really are young.” ### 779. Part 9 She didn’t hear her Text – she sensed its meaning. The very next moment, she found her mind floating in a void. The past memory had ended. That was the only thing she knew for sure. The last thing she saw was a very familiar memory. It was one of Berger’s memories related to her. She felt her mind falling and then saw herself through Berger’s eyes. First, she saw a memory from last month. She had Schwarz Löwe’s vision after it fell before the emperor. She saw her own back standing in front of it, but the black Heavy Barrel was trying to stand back up to move in front of her. She saw a memory of the Cologne schoolyard from last year. She saw herself about to be shot by a Live bullet. She had been trying to protect Berger, but he instead protected her by getting on top of her. She saw her own face with eyes and mouth squeezed shut and felt Berger breathing a sigh of relief. She saw a memory of returning to the same inn back in ’39. She heard a voice calling his name as her vision burst into the room and saw a girl trembling by the wall before anything else. She saw a memory from the college campus in ’37. A girl was running from pursuing gunfire while holding a pair of sandals. Her gaze looked down to the girl’s running feet, noting how she was liable to trip. The memory suddenly changed again. She was in a dark room with the faint light illuminating a naked girl sleeping in the bed. She was frowning and holding out a hand, so he held that hand in a firm grip and spoke to her. “It’s okay.” Her mind nodded at those words. … He never told me anything. “But he did agree to go to the past with me.” Her mind was being released from the memories. But she wanted to reward him in some way. … Maybe I’m just being a selfish nuisance with this. “You can be yourself. Don’t restrict yourself for anyone else’s sake.” She pondered her own words for a moment and then something burst deep in her mind. She felt a great heat. Then the memories ended. ### 780. Part 9 Just as Hazel’s group prepared to face the killer intent, a deep voice reached them from behind. “Our answer? Well said, fellow werecat!” A stream of motion raced forward, instantly splitting through the killer intent on the left and right. At first, she could only see the flashes of several blades moving quickly. A moment later, a tearing sound passed by either side of Hazel’s group from behind. A moment after that, the Neue Kavaliers on the walls were knocked back into the open air. Seven on the right and five on the left were launched from the wall. They all had holes in the chest of their uniform and the breastplate within was shattered. “––––!?” They shouted in confusion and looked to a point on the elevated railroad before they started to fall. Everyone was looking to a point in front of Hazel’s group. Four AIF soldiers stood between Hazel and Müller and at the center of the remaining Neue Kavaliers. They took combat stances in the center of the whipping wind and the man leading them looked back Hazel’s way. He had short blond hair and a scar on his cheek. He had green feline eyes. “Good to see you again. We met on Commander Corelle’s ship back in ’39.” He smiled with his eyes. “We got delayed trying to enter Germany, but I am AIF Army Anti-Hound Assault Battalion Commander Major Robert E. Coolers. Commander Corelle carried us here, so I hope we were in time to save the day.” Hazel nodded. “We can use all the help we can get right now.” “Perfect.” He faced forward while a light shined in from behind her. She knew what that light was. … The other truck. She heard Coolers’s voice. “I shamelessly survived after our humiliating defeat to the Gard-class in ’42, but after a year of grueling battle, it’s time to settle the score. I’m sure you’ll take issue with being matched up with an opening act kind of guy like me, but you’ll just have to deal.” A gunshot burst from up ahead. Coolers twisted his body to dodge the bullet. Hazel faced forward. Müller was aiming his handgun their way. “Such foolish resistance. Reinforcements are coming from Tristan as we speak. It will be too late to complain once they arrive.” “Once they arrive? You had better hope it isn’t already over by then. We’re already on the move, after all.” Coolers leaned forward with his feet spread somewhat apart. He shrank down and lowered his head to let his next line fall to the cement ground. “Hazel Mirildorf. We still have 5 minutes until the artillery fire from the east and west and my commander’s arrival. We will guide the way until then.” She nodded and watched him and his three men crouch even lower. Then the truck headlights behind her came to a stop. She heard footsteps kicking off the ground and several uniformed people gathered behind Coolers and around Hazel’s group. “Follow me, everyone, and don’t look back,” said Coolers. “The major will clear as long a path as he can manage.” Before he was even done, he took off running like the wind. Hazel’s group ran forward along with him. Killer intent exploded around them and grew into a torrent that attempted to surround the wind. The two sides clashed. ### 781. Part 9 Hazel stood on the RB-21’s windy upper armor, staring east. She saw a massive black storm there. The clouds highlighted the black dragon’s shape whenever the lightning flashed. She clenched her teeth, furrowed her brow, and watched how the clouds moved. And she thought to herself. … Why? “Why would that kind Karlsruhe man do this?” She shook her head to cast the words from her mind. She viewed the clouds around her. The RB-21 had finished escaping, so it was hovering in the sky alongside the German two-hull warship. She saw Sylphide’s shape in the imperfect circle of the moon overhead. She sighed while viewing that shape in the sky and the lights coming from the windows of the two-hull ship. … This isn’t over yet, is it? So she gave a single deep nod before turning around. There were around a dozen people there. The people seated on the RB-21’s upper armor were the main fighters of the AIF and Geheimnis Agency with the exception of Pale and Heiliger. Noting Berger among them, Hazel’s expression softened somewhat. Am I too tense? she wondered, taking a step toward him. Then a shorter person stood up from the sitting group. The old man in a white coat was Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief Elrich. His head was lowered and he kept his hands in his coat pockets. “Are you ready now? Have you calmed down?” “Yes. I banished all those unnecessary thoughts from my mind.” “Then I would like to state my conclusion, starting from what I told you earlier.” His lips bent just a bit as he started to stay something, stopped, and forced it out anyway. “The dragon which has swallowed both the Spacetime Tons and the anxiety Tons will consume the entire world when its Tons collapse. And now that ACBS is on its way. If we are to break free of this…” He paused to choose his words and Hazel saw a certain color in his Tons. It was the yellowish-green of a troubled and uncertain kind of consideration. She viewed that extra-yellowish color while watching his face. He had strong-willed eyebrows, sharp eyes, and thin lips. … He looks like a very reliable person. But he was currently hesitating even as that reliable side led him to choose his words. So she made up her mind. She spoke before he could continue. “You don’t have to make yourself say it. I think this was always how I wanted to do it.” Elrich raised his lowered head. She spoke to the surprise and confusion on his face. “I already know how to break free of this.” She laughed at Elrich’s shocked reaction and then looked behind him. Someone in a black coat sat a short distance from the ring of people. He didn’t look back her way, but she still spoke loud enough that he could hear her. “When I stopped Tristan, it must have already extracted about a thousand years’ worth of Spacetime Lives – bringing it back to just before Berlin came to be.” She took a breath. “So,” she continued, but before she could say more, Berger spat out a comment of his own, his back still turned. “That’s no reason to believe in some stupid joke, Hazel.” His tone rather than his words deepened her smile. She organized her thoughts and resumed speaking. “Um,” she began. “If my Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen can identify the Spacetime Lives and I can tune them, then I will appear in the past as the Messiah. Just as a Tuner this time.” “Well done.” Elrich nodded and took over the explanation. “Of course, you cannot repair such a massive amount of Tons with just Rein König. That is why we must strengthen Rein König and use Sylphide’s Panzer Emblem. It should be possible for the Panzer Emblem’s ether to combine with the Tons emitted by Rein König.” “Really?” Hazel breathed an impressed sigh while looking up at Sylphide floating overhead. “Then is the only problem whether I am a good enough Tuner to pull it off?” “Correct. Since you are a Tuner, you must correct the contradictions in history and control everything from the past to the present. And this control must be carefully done because you need to preserve a present day where the Panzerpolis Project happens and where the next you is given a choice similar to the one where you become a Tuner.” So… “So I think whether or not you go to the past should be a choice made by you alone.” “Thank you for your kindness.” She smiled bitterly and bowed toward Elrich. He wasn’t sure how to respond, but finally nodded and held his head high. The bald-headed elderly man seated next to him jabbed him in the hip. That was Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann. “Since when were you so bashful?” “Shut up, youngster.” The bitterness left Hazel’s smile when she saw those two exchanging jabs. Then she walked toward the others, holding Rein König in both hands behind her and trying to remain cheerful. She viewed all those people seated below the windy night sky. Corelle, Coolers, and the various AIF battalion commanders were there from the AIF. Elrich, Witzmann, Müller, Jeanne, and some other deputy chiefs were there from the Geheimnis Agency. Schweitzer and Lowenzahn were not with them yet. Lowenzahn was still being checked over by the doctor. But Hazel walked up to the one man who had removed himself from that ring of people. The black-clad young man sat with his back to the others. ### 782. Part 9 The air rumbled from the Word Rifle blast and the black dragon bent backwards. Its entire body shook and its tail fell into the Germania’s great pit. Meanwhile, the wind dragon accelerated and Hazel sang on its back. The dragon pulled its head back down in front of them. It had a large hole in the bottom of its jaw and the sky was visible through it. But it forcibly opened its mouth, causing its muscle fibers to scream in protest. Sound gathered deep in its mouth. The loud sound converged and changed to light in the blink of an eye. That was a Babel Gun. The wind dragon fought back. It opened its jaws, stretched itself forward, and bristled its scales. A loud sound other than a roar escaped the from deep within the wind dragon’s throat. The sound grew narrower, louder, and sharper before becoming light. The beam of light that surged from its throat was the Requiem’s Babel Cannon. The two beams collided and the attack carrying the wind won out. The black dragon’s light shattered and the bluish-white Babel Cannon attack pierced through its jaw and out the back of its head. The wind dragon accelerated toward the stopped black dragon. Hazel looked back from the blue dragon’s back. She saw a black-clad man standing there. Berger shoved a Size C Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit and looked her in the eye. “Hazel.” She didn’t know what he had said at first. It took her a moment to realize he had called her name. By then, he was already saying more. “Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf?” “Y-yes! I can!” “You can? Then listen carefully. Once this war is over…I swear I will take your hand and call your name, Hazel Mirildorf.” “…!?” She responded in surprise and then he kissed her just once. “I won’t say it again, so don’t forget it.” With that, he smiled and walked past her. She turned around in a hurry to find him facing the colossal black dragon and throwing his 100-yard black blade. He aimed for the Device that Weiss Kaiser had stabbed into the center of its forehead. The black blade sliced through the wind, stabbed into the white blade’s hilt, and drove itself halfway through it. Then the black-clad man jumped down from the wind dragon. He activated a windshield charm and didn’t even look back while Hazel watched him go. “Thank you,” she said before facing forward with newfound strength in her gaze. She took a breath. And she viewed the black dragon approaching her. ### 783. Part of the crew checked the time and waved to Corelle. She checked her own watch. “Three more minutes. Time for the final route check.” “I fly too high for their radar to see me and then I drop straight down on the target. I land in the rain before they can even notice me. The same technique you’ll be using tonight. …What about you? Can you handle it?” “Except for Coolers, our select team is already over there. That just leaves half of the people here to descend near some other cities as a diversion.” Corelle put her hands on her hips and breathed from the corner of her mouth. The ends of her eyebrows rose slightly. “Make sure you get Hazel from Borderson to Germania. You owe her at least that much after she healed your right leg.” “Yeah, but I’ve gotten the short end of the stick more often than not.” Before Corelle could say anything more, Berger continued in a disinterested voice. “Corelle. Did Hazel read my Lives when she healed my leg?” “I told her to, but she said it would be wrong without your permission. You know how she is.” “That explains it. And it’s moving so well now. How many times do I have to tell her second best is good enough for me?” His right knee shifted a bit on the catapult, making a metallic scraping noise. “Hey. If we do stop the Wheel of Destiny, then the world will be remade to not include the Messiah at 4:42 tomorrow morning. But what do you think she would do if she knew there was a way to avoid that?” “Eh?” said Corelle, her eyebrows rising somewhat. “What do you mean? Pale and the others have accepted that the world will be completely remade.” “There is a way to stop the Wheel but keep the Messiah around. It sounds like a joke, though.” He kept his voice low. “And it’s a dumb joke I doubt would actually work.” The black Heavy Barrel raised its head somewhat to face dead ahead. Corelle started to say something, but took a few steps back instead. A launch crewmember in the center of the runway waved a flag down. That wave was the signal to go. “I’m off.” With that, the wind blew. In an instant, the two-winged black Heavy Barrel raced across the steel runway floating in the sky. Divine spell gunpower burst to provide the initial acceleration, producing smoke and bursting sounds behind it. The dark ocean reflected the afternoon sun below the runway. Thin clouds blew in the wind of the blue sky above. An Allied high-speed aerial bombing fleet was spread out to either side. The Barrel slid forward in a crouching start position and it silently waved back to the crewmembers waving up from the runway, but then it looked to the right where the fleet’s flagship flew somewhat further back from the rest. The long, white, streamlined shape of an ACBS was attached to the belly of the flagship. That unmanned ship had no windows or bridge. It had small wings, rocket nozzles for attitude control and thrust, and noticeable power points across its hull. It was only marked with its numeric designation: ACBS-M0-001. The black Heavy Barrel faced forward after its sight devices caught the letters ACBS. Then it arrived at the launch point and the runaway abruptly ended. Only the sky lay ahead. So it spread its wings with a roar of splitting air and flapped them. Those two simple actions propelled the nearly 40ton mass of metal through the sky. It used another flap to accelerate beyond the initial acceleration that launched it into the sky. Water vapor exploded around it while it rolled to the right and then took a somewhat rightward ascending trajectory. The tips of the wings briefly drew out lines of cloud, but the clouds vanished once it altered the angles. By then, the entire fleet had been left far behind and below it. It used its wings to further accelerate. A black band was visible at the horizon ahead. Those were the rainclouds hanging over Europe. Its destination was below the dark rainclouds of northern Germany. The black Heavy Barrel said nothing. It only began its ascent along a ballistic trajectory to achieve the altitude it needed. It accelerated. It accelerated in order to pierce the sky. ### 784. Preface ## Title Page Right: City Series Panzerpolis Berlin 5 1943 Erste End Left: Welcome to the Panzerpolis – to Berlin. Bottom: By Kawakami Minoru ## Characters Name: Hazel Hazel’s bottom text: The Messiah hesitates and chooses Name: Berger Berger’s bottom text: Destiny is the power to connect Central text: Nordpolarstern (North Star) – An Unforgotten Starting Point This night sky was once a place of regret. But it was in fact the starting line for the final battle which leads to the beginning of the end of everything. ## Kampflage Bottom right box: Explanation [Lines]: Effective Range of the Dome [Arrow]: Attack Routes [X]: Battle Starting Points According to AIF research, the Wheel of Destiny will begin on August 24, 1943, at 4:24 AM. “Afterwards, the History Lives for the past 1000 years will simply be repeated and regenerated from the remnants that escape destruction, so the real flow of history continues outside the loop. If the loop is stopped, our history will reconnect to the real history outside. But that connection will require both sides to adapt to each other, which will cause great change across the world.” In other words, stopping the Wheel of Destiny will change the world at 4:42 AM, creating a world where the Messiah never existed in Germany. The Allies laughed off the idea, but the AIF has decided that change should happen if it would correct history to its proper form. Thus, the AIF intends to independently stop Tristan to stop the Wheel of Destiny. The time limit is 3 AM on the 24th. If Tristan is not stopped and the dome not eliminated by then, the Allies will launch their ACBS toward Germania. The AIF must stop Tristan by then and trigger the worldwide change at 4:42 AM. Left Labels: 1. Berger’s Attack Route 2. Pale’s Attack Route 3. Hazel’s Attack Route ## Berlin Right box: △: Berlin in the 12th Century (Village Era) This land first appears in the records in 1237. Before then, it is thought to have been no more than a small village. The village was split between north and south by the river Spree. The north part was named Berlin and the south part was named Cölln (not to be confused with the German name for Cologne). Strangely enough, Berlin was split in two from the very beginning. ▽: Berlin in the 15th Century (Twin Cities Era) In 1415, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The people resisted the lord’s rule while expanding Berlin and Cölln. Left box: ▷: Berlin in the 17th Century (Fortress City Era) The twin cities were united when walls were built around them. The fortress was no longer necessary by the end of the 18th century, so Berlin expanded in every direction, growing to a very large city. A remnant of the city’s shape at this time can be seen in modern Berlin’s central Tiergarten and the surrounding area. ## Ad Right Text: I’m so excited to be attacking Germania that I think I might just cause massive damage! (whatever that’s supposed to mean) Bottom right circle: Today’s Cover Girl is Hazel Mirildorf, smiling with one of Germania’s Tristan souvenirs. Provided by: Chokugeki Bunko Top blue box: Plane Ticket Text below top blue box: is no longer necessary. Instead, you need: Other blue boxes: Strength Guts War Cry Left: Just call the AIF if you need to attack a foreign country. Our current Crazy Mission Deal only costs $5 for an attack on Germania. And you’ll be doing it ON (good for your health) FOOT 1. Banzai Easy Course Berlin – Germany (European Stroll Course) 2. Good Luck, Dad! Course US – Germany (Solo Atlantic Ocean Trip Course) 3. Sure, They’re the Enemy, But Why Not? Course Japan – Germany (Swimming and Walking Course) “Eh? I Have to Walk?” We imagine that’s you’re first concern, ma’am (or sir). But the AIF’s tours are all perfectly planned out. Some of the courses might seem intentionally roundabout, but life has its ups, its downs, and its utter failures, so we will give you a training period ahead of time so you won’t feel too bad. Combat Training Menu Summer: Guarding Crucial Facilities in Venezuela (3 Month Contract – No Benefits – On the Beach) Winter: Patrolling the Siberian Border (6 Month Contract – Free Sauna Access – Hourly Wage) See, we thought of everything. So sign up! Do it! Now! ### 785. Prologue: The Promise Prepares ### Panzerpolis Berlin 5 1943 Erste-Ende Someone asks me if I can hear that. I want to tell them I can. There are some things I must not do, but I want to use every other power I have – and even borrow an inhuman power of steel – to find my answer. Because that will surely lead to the next question. If I do not find the answer, the questions will end there. Nothing will change if I do not answer the simple question of “can you hear that”. I want to answer that question and ask a question of my own. I want to ask them what their answer was. ### Opening Quote “The piece does not need a name. All you need to know Is that there it depicts a single hero battling their enemies.” -Strauss, about the tone poem “A Hero’s Life” ## Prologue: The Promise Prepares 8/22/1943 17:21 – 20:18 I have landed in Germany I must first find a safe place Or so I thought ### Part 1 The light inky sky was damp and colored by a misty rain and heavy air. The inky color gradually darkened as the rain grew heavier and the night arrived. The sky looked so much like blurry dark waves and the vague shapes of dark mountains covered the earth. The weight of the gray sky and white mist pressed down on the many slopes of that vast land. Concepts as vague as the misty rain and dark night were gradually taking over this world as night fell. But one notably unvague thing traveled from the ground and into the sky: a sound. Something in the forest sounded a lot like stone hitting stone. It was a gunshot. The bang of the bursting gunpowder echoed through the mountains and spread through the mist. Its lingering echoes rattled the misty air and mixed with the other sounds in the air. The deep sound rose into the rainy sky where water burst and the rain grew stronger. The rain fell on a narrow mountain path running between the forest’s trees. A single person was running down that rainy path. The woman’s long blonde hair was a mess from the rain and she held a white sword in one hand. Her eyes were different colors. The left one was a brown feline eye and the right one was a blue human eye. Both eyes were facing dead ahead and the mouth below it was busy releasing white breaths into the chill of the misty rain. She stared at her own white breaths for a moment and then smiled bitterly. “But it’s only August.” She kept running. Her footsteps were light on the wet dirt and she ran softly across the ground by kicking off with her toes. A sign was carved into a tree on the side of the path, naming this place. “Borderson. Armed conflict isn’t allowed in this land.” She removed the poncho she wore over her clothing and wrapped her sword in it. She covered the plain white sword in the forest camo green, giving it a long package. The hem of the poncho swayed loosely past the end of the sword. She checked her pockets for something to tie up the hem with. The choker around her neck and a red gem pendant spilled from the collar of her inner clothing. She tugged on the choker’s string, but the rain-wet cloth had gone tight and she couldn’t get the knot undone. “But I can’t use the pendant. It’s too important.” She put the red gem back in her clothing. She hesitated a moment before continuing the search and pulling out dog tags on a thin chain. She quickly wrapped the chain around the package and used the dog tags as a clasp to hold it in place. The wet dog tags caught the light, revealing the name carved into them: Hazel Mirildorf. Hazel held the tightly closed package under her arm and nodded. … Only I came down with the chill of a Live disease three days ago, so I went to Germany first. They would meet up again in two days’ time. At midnight of the 24th in an inn on the outskirts of Germania. They had to stop Tristan before the History Lives could begin another loop. According to continued research by the AIF’s prophets, the pressure sent back through the ley lines would cause Tristan to lose control at 3 AM of the 24th and the loop would happen at 4:42. … If we stop Tristan by 3 AM, this world will remain until 4:42. But if they stopped the Wheel of Destiny, the Spacetime Lives would be freed from the loop and connect to the future Spacetime Lives. 4:42 AM was the moment of truth regarding the loop. … There will be a revolution to create a world without the Messiah, but we will finally have a future again. The Allies didn’t believe any of it and had rejected everything the AIF tried to tell them. But they had accepted the AIF’s plan to stop Tristan and were paying careful attention to it. A one-way transmission from the Allies had said the ACBS being used in conjunction with the ley line pressure would be launched at 3 AM. And it would arrive in Germania at 4:42. But if the AIF managed to destroy the dome before 3, the ACBS launch would be canceled. To meet the conditions laid out by the Allies, the AIF was gathering almost all of its forces in Germany. Hazel had intended to spend a day in Borderson and then head there. “But I’ve been on the run ever since I arrived!” She focused on her ears. A new sound had joined her footsteps and the falling rain. She heard running water. Quite a lot of water was flowing by a bit to the right of the path. Her gaze was drawn rightward by the sound. The forest here was thinner and she could see a river of about 20yd across through the trees. The river was fuller than usual thanks to the rain, but its water hadn’t been stained by mud yet. The dark green water seemed to swell up at the surface as it flowed downstream. “If I follow that river over the hill, I reach the Village of Pardons.” Hazel sighed. She broke through the white breath with her shoulders as she continued forward. She removed her eyes from the river to face forward again as well. She saw a bridge through the forest. It was a simple design – two logs placed end to end to connect the banks with a boulder sticking up from the middle of the river. The bridge was hard to see through the mist rising from the river, but it hadn’t been washed away yet. She could still cross. If she ran down the straight mountain path for another 20 yards or so, she would reach the side path to the bridge. Then she heard the grass parting behind her. It was pretty far away, but the rustling of the grass soon changed to the footsteps of someone in pursuit. She frowned. … Someone’s still after me? “They don’t give up,” she muttered, leaping right before reaching the side path. She ran through the forest, taking a shortcut to the bridge. The pursuing footsteps did not enter the forest. They chose to remain on the path. She did not look back. In the shadowy forest, she held her cloth-wrapped sword to her chest and ran along the knee-deep grass and soft humus. She saw the side path through the trees up ahead. As well as the small clearing at the end of the bridge. She sped up, kicking the humus back behind her. Her speed whipped up the wind, shaking the branches around her. The sound of the rain doubled as more drops fell from the tree leaves, leaving a spray of water in her wake. She arrived at this end of the bridge, but then her face stiffened and she stopped running. Two small silhouettes in raincoats were on the bridge made from two logs. One was a small girl down on her knees, nervously watching the river below as she crawled across. The other was a boy taking careful steps in front of the girl to make sure the log wasn’t too slippery. Hazel saw the two of them and they turned around to look at her. The two pairs of eyes within the raincoats widened with surprise and then looked behind her. When she noticed that, she twirled around, her blonde hair trailing behind her. A slender woman carrying a handgun stood at the entrance to the side path leading to the bridge. She aimed the gun with the pale light of the main mountain path behind her. Hazel just about ran into the forest on reflex, but… … The children. She stopped herself and prepared to raise her poncho wrap as a shield. But before she could, a gunshot rang out and she felt an impact in the center of her chest. Before she even felt the pain, she found her feet had left the ground. Her airborne body was first caught by the empty air rather than the dirt ground. And then the water caught her. All of a sudden, she couldn’t see anything other than the inky gray sky. But when she felt a tugging on her back, water splashed high toward the sky on either side of her vision and she heard rushing water. At the same time, the sky seemed to shake unsteadily in her vision and then it was covered by a thick layer of water. The water felt ticklish as it surrounded her cheeks and neck. Her mind resisted the ticklishness and the chill, but her mind was dragged into darkness by shock. Her senses of sight, hearing, and touch all faded away. ### Part 2 The pit was easily half a mile deep and more than 100 yards across. Light filled it from the inner walls and a thick metal column pierced it down the center. Several walkways connected the inner walls of the cylinder to the column. A large man stood on the highest of those walkways. He wore the black combat boat of the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division and he stood next to the column with his right prosthetic arm entirely motionless. He was staring at a desk-sized control panel installed on the side of the column about 8 yards in front of him. The control panel had a fist-sized hole on the left side and it was not currently functioning. His gaze climbed from there. A glass window was installed on the wall above the control panel. It was 2 yards tall and a yard wide and several plastic pipes could be seen crawling and intersecting on the other side. But something else stuck out from between the pipes twisted in a wild but flat arrangement. It was a skinny arm. The feminine right arm had the frail lines unique to sickly people and it stuck out toward the window. The open palm was pointed upwards and it was so close it touched the inside of the glass. An ear of golden wheat sat on the palm. The man’s eyes narrowed at the wheat. Just then, he heard a voice from behind him. “Captain Schweitzer. You were in here again?” Schweitzer turned toward the voice. He saw the walkway leading to a large door on the pit’s inner wall. That door sat open and a tall, skinny man stood in front of it. He spoke the name of the elderly man who wore the same black coat as him. “Bermark. Do you need something?” “With martial law and a strict security alert in place, I have a lot of spare time. As do you.” That comment put a bitter look on Schweitzer’s face. He sniffed the air blowing in from the door. “Is it raining outside?” “Yes, a large craft will soon be landing on the high-altitude launchpad at the end of the hallway.” The two automatic doors sitting open behind Bermark led to a long hallway. That led to another door which led to the launchpad hangar. Schweitzer walked forward and Bermark nodded. “Are you returning to your quarters?” Schweitzer frowned at the question. “What are you trying to say? Are you suggesting I stay here forever?” “Not at all. I was merely asking if you are heading back…which would mean you are not going anywhere.” Schweitzer sharpened his gaze and looked to Bermark. Bermark gave him a much calmer look in return. After a bit, Schweitzer sighed. “Where are you taking me?” “You misunderstand. I have no intention of taking you anywhere.” “You are the most irritating aide in the world. Where is it I am apparently going?” Bermark nodded and pointed toward the corridor behind him. It continued to the left, right, and straight ahead, but he pointed at that last option: toward the launchpad. “You cannot just choose to leave during this alert.” “I am not ‘just choosing’ to leave. Because I imagine a few different people want this. Also, do you have no intention of confirming what the fräulein wanted?” That shut Schweitzer up. His gaze wandered for a moment, but he finally looked back toward the hand visible through the window. “She once told me to believe her lies no matter what might happen. And if this is what she wanted…” Bermark stopped Schweitzer from continuing. “Perhaps she did want this, but can you accept it?” Schweitzer slowly turned back toward Bermark. He found Bermark was not looking at him. He was looking over Schweitzer’s shoulder toward the window on the column. “Captain. I hear that, when Hazel Mirildorf lost the Sylphide, she grieved, but she did not give up.” “And so I shouldn’t give up either? She did not want that to happen. And if you claim to be her ally, why did you let it happen?” Bermark raised his right hand a bit. He wore a white glove over it. He moved the fingers in the glove, producing a quiet mechanical sound. “I am a non-evolving Sein Frau, so I do not know what it is like to have a ‘heart’. My tooth-fueled Freischütz remains undeveloped, but that is why I do not obey the decisions made for me. I-” “Enough. Tell me where I am going.” “To the old HQ, captain.” Bermark placed his right hand on his chest. Then he sang a song for Schweitzer. Follow the path to a familiar face While walking side by side Your hand and voice might reach them But the moon sees it not The gatherers begin their party A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same words After singing the gentle melody in a low, steady voice, he looked up at Schweitzer. “The fräulein’s final prophecy was the 6th Section of the Ending God, but…” “You mean the prophecy Lowenzahn left us with before entering Tristan, claiming the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project would be fulfilled if we followed it? You want me to obey that?” “No, do not forget how this has always worked. Back in ’37, we were not obeying the prophesies – we were fulfilling them. This is the same, captain. Will you grieve, will you give up, or will you hope for something else? Hazel Mirildorf should have reached the point where she can accept both grief and resignation. If you wish to reach her level, you should consider all of these things with what you will obtain at the old HQ.” “I have just one question regarding this long speech of yours.” “What might that be?” “Whose side are you on?” Bermark narrowed his eyes and finally closed them. He even inclined his head forward. “I am your aide, Captain Schweitzer. I am yours to command. Where will we be going?” ### Part 3 A small room made entirely of wood functioned as a house. A lamp without its shade sat above the fireplace in the back of the room, shining a brown light on the room. In the fireplace, a few pieces of charcoal burned red with the firewood ashes. The windows in the left and right walls showed only darkness on the other side. Raindrops and their dripping lines decorated the exterior of the glass. The lamp light flickered, affecting the single shadow near the entrance on the other side. Two people sat across from each other at the small table next to the door. One was an old man in casual clothing. He did not cast a shadow on the floor or wall. Not even the shadow of his crooked nose could be found anywhere. The woman sitting across from him did cast a flickering shadow on the floor and wall. The middle-aged woman wore a stole over a blue dress. She looked to the old glass bottle and the glass sitting on the table. The liquid in the glass shined a dark red in the brown lamplight. She turned to look at the bottle’s label. “That wine is from our mansion’s cellar. I completely forgot my sister brought that here.” “You were still children back then, weren’t you? She left one of your family’s wines here so Lady Melda of Borderson or the regional lord could drink it if they visited.” “Ellis really loved acting like an adult. She brought five bottles over in all. A child like her couldn’t know how it actually tasted, but she grabbed whatever looked most expensive and carried as much of it as she could manage.” “It was quite a surprise to learn it was meant to be offered to the imperial family, Lady Lillie.” The mayor sounded amused and Lillie smiled bitterly in remembrance. “We can laugh about it now, but the Telmetz family declined after that, the mansion fell into disrepair, and I lost all of the wine, furniture, and people. It must have been the curse of the stolen imperial wine.” She viewed the bottle. “So how many have you gone through so far?” “This is the third. Take the remaining two with you when you leave. That is all this village can do to thank you for your consideration.” “No. I’m the one who should have done more. This village has done nothing but look after me and my sister. Even if it is a Heidengeist village, the military’s current orders go too far.” “Let us not discuss that right now. I have already informed the heads of the households. We will simply start moving. Calmly, like nothing is amiss.” “I suppose so,” said Lillie, reaching for the glass. She drank some of its contents, giving her a view through to the other side. “I don’t know what to make of it. Everyone except me is moving on. And without doubt or hesitation. I want to follow them, but I can never seem to find an answer for my doubts and I can’t bring myself to do it.” She set the glass back on the table and tilted it a bit. She watched the dark red liquid rippling. “I was supposed to collect Lady Rose’s gem from the wreckage of the Requiem that crashed last year.” “You mean the giant ship that crashed on the border between Borderson and Hamburg?” “Yes. I was to give that gem to the Messiah when Tristan is fully switched on tomorrow. As a good luck charm. Yet I took a job from the military and here I am.” The mayor’s eyebrows reacted ever so slightly to the word “Messiah”. “I was so worried when you left with the Neue Kavaliers waiting outside the village.” “I know. But I failed. Now, I hear a villager took in a cat earlier.” “Yes. When a man from the Eldering family took his kids down to the waterfall basin, they found a sword, some clothing, and a Flektierened Werecat washed up on the bank.” “I assume the sword was left with you. So did you see it?” “It was Rein König. The Messiah’s Werkzeug passed down by the Maldrick family.” The mayor looked to Lillie. “The Messiah is currently in the Eldering home. In the care of a woman with the maiden name of Ilfheim.” “Ilfheim? That was Lady Frobel’s maiden name.” “It is a variation on Alfheim. I do not know Lady Frobel’s family history, but the Messiah once gave the Ilfheim family a protective necklace. She had them promise to watch over the country’s prosperity and to act as its guardians. She also allowed them to mix with other families.” He took a breath. “The main branch apparently compiled history books at a library in Berlin, but they were killed off during the Heidengeist purge in ’35, with the sole exception of the daughter…who lost her memories.” Lillie gulped at the mayor’s explanation. “Where is this necklace now?” “I do not know. It was lost during the previous war. And the Ilfheims born to other families would not know where it is or even be aware of their own duty. Nevertheless, the strong connection between the Neue Kavaliers and the Heidengeists continues to protect the Messiah.” “But the Neue Kavaliers are no longer with her. Heiliger is still only ordering her capture, but we are focused more on the AIF’s attack on Germania. If the Messiah arrives with the AIF, we will have no choice but to fight back and prove which of us is in the right.” “What do you intend to do? You know she is here and you are under orders to capture her.” Lillie kept her smile intact, but closed her eyes. “I am a simple woman, so it all comes down to one thing: I cannot forgive the Messiah.” She tilted her head and sighed. She untangled her hair from her neck with her free left hand. “I think the Messiah must pay for those who have died. She is trying to change the present for a better future, but that will negate all the efforts of everyone who has fought to preserve the present.” Lillie straightened up and touched her index finger to the edge of the glass. She tilted the glass back and then spoke more quietly. “I fight for the past and she fights for the future. Let’s see which of us right.” ### 786. Chapter 1: The Promise Activates 8/23/1943 07:01 – 14:43 I can stop the Wheel of Destiny And start a global revolution That would mean not getting another try at the past But Is that the right thing to do? ### Part 1 Hazel came to. … Hwuh? That noise came from her mind. Her body sat up just fine, but her mind was still woozy. She could see a bright light, she was wrapped in a light pink blanket, and a gentle milky scent came from the blanket. Clarity gradually returned to her mind. She was sitting atop a bed. This was a small wooden room. It had little furniture and the bright morning light shined in through the window to her left. “You seem to be doing well. You slept through the whole night, so are you feeling better now?” The sudden female voice made Hazel jump. Her mind was fully awake now. She turned to the right, wondering who this was, and saw a woman standing in front of the sink on the wall. She held a baby and Hazel recognized her. “Eryngium?” “I thought I recognized you from our wedding last year. You were with the guest Lehrer invited.” Eryngium narrowed her eyes below her long brown hair and the baby in her arms cooed. “I’m getting this girl some breakfast right now, so give me a second. Sorry if it’s cold in here.” That last comment made Hazel look down at herself. She was naked. She shrieked and pulled up the blanket. Eryngium laughed with her back turned. “Don’t worry. I had my husband spend the night with the neighbors, so it’s just me and the kid here. Okay?” Eryngium scooped a spoonful of steaming oatmeal from a pot sitting next to the sink. She put it in her mouth first, chewed a few times, and then fed it to the baby. Hazel held her knees below the blanket while watching it all even if Eryngium had her back turned. And then… “You’re with the Allies, aren’t you? You call yourselves the AIF, right? Lehrer suddenly disappeared about a month ago…so are you here to clean up after that? Or are you using our village as a shelter?” “The latter. Sorry.” And… “Excuse me, but what day is it? You said I slept all night, right?” “It’s the 23rd. Around 7 in the morning I think.” “Thank you. I really did sleep all night, didn’t I?” Hazel shrank down in the bed and thought to herself. … These villagers don’t know what we’re fighting for. History would come to an end tomorrow, the 24th, at 4:42 AM. Stopping the Wheel of Destiny and allowing history to continue would likely allow the damaged Spacetime Lives to reconnect to the future Spacetime Lives they still couldn’t see. When that happened, the revolution carried out before the connection would be applied to the entire world, greatly rewriting the Spacetime Lives so everything fit together. … Without the Wheel of Destiny, the Messiah never would have appeared in Germany. This would change her and those around her, but it would also change Eryngium and others like her. … But they won’t lose anything. Things will only change. She shook her head at the word “only”. The AIF couldn’t think up a way to avoid that and the Allies had thrown it all out as made-up nonsense. There was nothing she could do. She sighed, lowered her knees, lifted up the blanket, and looked at her body. When she touched between her breasts, she felt a twinge of pain and realized something. “E-excuse me. Was I wearing a pendant?” “Check the side table.” She looked to her right as told. A black string choker, the Wheel of Destiny card, and a pendant on a gold chain sat on the wooden bedside table. The pendant’s locket sat partially open, giving a glimpse of the red stone ring inside. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the pendant. However… “Oh.” The pendant was broken. The locket part opened and closed just fine, but the red stone that decorate the outside had broken. The stone now had a hole in the center and pieces had fallen out, revealing the locket portion below. “Is that a good luck charm? Because it saved your life. You were fortunate, so you won’t even have a scar.” Hazel nodded, assessed the damage she had taken, and shuddered. She felt some tension and reached a hand to the brand on her shoulder. Then she realized something else. She knew something important about this woman. … Eryngium should have a scar. But not like this brand. She didn’t know the details, but it had to be true. So she relaxed her tense body and sighed. … I can’t just sit here trembling. Just then, she heard a quiet voice from Eryngium. But it wasn’t Eryngium’s voice. It was a smaller voice that couldn’t even pronounce anything correctly. She looked over to see a small round hand waving over Eryngium’s shoulder. That was the baby’s hand. The small palm stuck up toward the ceiling and repeatedly closed and opened. “There, there,” said Eryngium, turning toward Hazel and swaying gently side to side. She began to hum a lullaby and Hazel breathed a sigh of relief. … I can’t keep fearing scars. She had another thought while viewing Eryngium. … If possible, I hope this doesn’t change afterwards. She knew that was only self-righteous selfishness, so she reached her right hand to the side table and grabbed the choker. The black string was somewhat damp. But that didn’t prevent her from tying it. She reached for her neck, placed the choker around it, and looked back to the side table. If the Wheel of Destiny card was here… “Excuse me. Do you have the clothes this card was in?” “They’re hanging out to dry. It’s supposed to rain again starting this afternoon, so I wanted to get that done sooner rather than later.” “Thank you. I would have liked some underwear sooner than this, though.” Eryngium smiled bitterly. Hazel looked up and saw the baby had calmed down at Eryngium’s chest. That small face without a full head of hair was drifting off to sleep. “Oh, sorry. I’m hogging the bed, aren’t I? Do you need to let that child sleep?” “Don’t worry about it. Or were you planning to hang around the house in the nude?” “N-no, I thought I could maybe borrow a shirt or something.” “Unfortunately, my figure isn’t as nice as yours. I’ve been getting a little saggy of late.” “Oh,” was all Hazel said, looking out the window and deciding not to press further. It was the sunny period between two rainstorms and there was enough of a wind to occasionally rattle the window. … The laundry should dry quickly like this. She heard the bed creak. Before she realized that meant Eryngium had sat next to her, she felt a small voice and a tickling sensation on her neck. The touch to such a sensitive spot made her jump. She turned around in a hurry to find the baby in Eryngium’s arms reaching for the choker on her neck. She managed to hide her surprise and noticed the baby had two feline eyes. … Eryngium said she’s a girl, didn’t she? Hazel looked her in the eye and shook the end of the choker’s string that stuck out some. The baby reached out, trying to catch it. “My, my. You must have an unusual scent.” Eryngium pulled the baby a bit away from the choker and then commented on its black color. “But plain black is unusual for a girl like you. Does your partner like black?” Hazel held a hand to her throat and looked to Eryngium. She knew the exact look on her face: brow furrowed and lips pressed firmly together. … Does she remember Berger? She did not. She hadn’t realized who he was at the wedding last year and Hazel had been able to make some good guesses from the way Berger acted and the things he said. Hazel looked the other woman in the eye. “He…” She nodded and unfurrowed her brow. “Yes, he dresses all in black and I should see him later today.” … His Tune healing finished the other day, so his right leg has fully recovered. She had ended up entering Germany before he came to, so she hadn’t spoken with him for about a month. She would be reunited with him… “On the outskirts of Germania. He will have black wings and a black sword. And I…I will be wearing this choker, whether I’ve turned into a cat or turned back.” “I see.” Eryngium gave a satisfied smile and casually stopped the baby from grabbing the black string and putting it in her mouth. Hazel watched the exchange before asking a question of her own. “Eryngium, do you not like black?” “I know it is supposed to be bad luck. But at the same time, it can be used to hide so many things. Important things that you don’t want people to find.” Eryngium’s gaze turned toward the bottom of the side table. The bottom of the table was a box with a glass door and several things were line up within. Hazel realized what they were. “Black disks.” ### Part 2 Hazel saw 12 black disks contained in paper cases in the bottom part of the side table. She gulped and silently looked up. She saw Eryngium staring at the 11 disks without smiling. “Those were the only things I had with me when I arrived in this village. Unfortunately, the village doesn’t have a player, so I can’t play them. You can have them if you are interested.” “No, I couldn’t possibly take them from you.” “But they would be better off with someone who can play them.” Eryngium suddenly bent her eyes and eyebrows into a smile and nodded. “The mayor said you are Stimmer. I suppose you wouldn’t need music from a disk if you can access the Texts of reality at any time.” “N-no, it isn’t about that.” … Besides, I still don’t have an Ober Beweisen Text. The Messiah’s Ober Beweisen could read any and all Lives, but that wasn’t necessary yet. … It’s needed only if we can’t stop Neue Erde’s Spacetime Lives extraction and the world must go through another loop. She didn’t see herself ever using her Ober Beweisen, so she changed the subject. She checked the titles written on the thin shoulder of the black disks. “You even have Handel’s oratorios. Which include his Messiah.” The title most closely related to her was the 8th from the left. That made it 4th from last. Eryngium looked to the same thing. “Who knows what would happen if you sang that one in Germany right now.” She smiled bitterly and Hazel smiled bitterly back. Then Hazel noticed the title to Messiah’s right. “Destiny.” “Sometimes I feel like these 11 disks were important to me in some way. You see, I lost all my memories before I arrived in this village. All I have from my life before that are these disks.” She held the baby in just her left arm and used her left hand to open the glass door on the side table. She shifted the disk cases one by one from left to right and she sang along to the rhythm of her nails on the paper cases. Below the wind blowing through our fatherland, the freeshooter feels a tailwind on his back Below the tragedy, the emperor sings a requiem Below the moonlit night, the messiah captures destiny A lone hero marches into a new world Hazel tilted her head at Eryngium’s lyrics. “Do you think it is the hero who will arrive in a new world, not the Messiah?” “The Messiah saves the current world. The new world is the world beyond that. The Messiah can guide us there, but I feel like the first person who sets foot in that new world will be known as a hero.” Then she shut the side table’s glass door, stuck her right hand in her pocket, and pulled out something small and red. She held it out for Hazel to see. “A red gem!?” Hazel’s right hand reflexively reached toward the side table for the pendant with the broken red gem. “Why do you have a gem just like the one that was in this pendant?” “I don’t know. But you were shot because you stopped to protect a pair of children, right? Last year, when a giant aerial warship crashed about 50m east of Borderson, those children said they wanted to go check out the crash site. The adults were against it, of course.” “And they found that there?” “I never saw the wreckage because there were too many soldiers around, but Lehrer accompanied the children and she said the pieces were scattered across a radius of about 10 miles. She said they found this in the valley east of Borderson.” Eryngium stopped there and tilted her hand. The gem slid from her palm. Hazel quickly reached out and caught it. She held it between her fingers and let the sun shine through it, but she still couldn’t see completely through it. It had some highly dense material in it. … It really is the same as the one in the pendant. “Please take that. The children wanted you to have it as thanks for saving them and to make up for the broken pendant…and because they wanted to give a present to someone who reminds them so much of Lehrer.” Hazel kept her eyes on the gem. The presence seated next to her stood up with a sigh of relief. She heard one and then another step on the wooden floor before another question. “That pendant was important, wasn’t it?” “Yes.” Hazel nodded a very deep nod. “Someone very important left it in my care.” ### Part 3 Light carved a diagonal line through the darkness. That light came from the floor. A stairway covered in anti-slip strips and green glow panels continued ever downward. However, the faint green light was only enough to indicate the location of the steps, not to illuminate the entire stairway space. Two people descended those series of faint lights. The two sets of footsteps were very different. One was loud and hesitant and the other was light and unwavering. The hesitant set hung back a bit and asked a question in a deep voice. “How far are we descending, Bermark? We have been doing this for nearly an hour now.” “Until the old HQ is satisfied. Yes, I may be more than a century old, but that makes me a newcomer compared to this place’s millennium of history. When anyone other than its leader, emperor, or commander attempts to approach, it will make us go through a lot of trouble.” “Could I shorten the space using my Der Held power?” “I am afraid to say Germany’s millennium has featured several barrier masters with the Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer. Do you really think such a common power could affect the true nature of this place, Captain Schweitzer?” Bermark took a breath. “And do consider what I told you on the way here about Germany’s destiny tonight.” “The Nibelung, you mean? You said it is all connected to that. Which I find hard to believe.” “Believe it or not, the Allies will launch their ACBS at Germania tonight and the fräulein will state her Ober Beweisen from within Tristan. Everything is falling into place.” “Everything you say has to be painfully accurate, doesn’t it?” “That is how it has always been.” Schweitzer’s footsteps and presence changed when he heard that. His footsteps grew louder and his presence grew as solid as a rock. “If so, then all of this must be correct just as it always has been, Bermark.” “Indeed it is.” “But then where did Lowenzahn’s prophecies come from?” “She told me to tell you that she can prophesy without relying on an Eingeweide device.” Bermark’s response was answered by the solid crash of metal slamming into the unseen wall. The footsteps stopped, the metal reverberated, a few beats passed, and Bermark finally asked a question. “Have you calmed down now? Where does this impatience come from? Why not trust the message the fräulein left for you? She is a Sofort Leser, so she followed her own prophecies.” “Just like Stimmers and Busters, Sofort Lesers can read someone’s Tons by touching them. And if they want to, they can pass their own Tons on to the other person.” “What about it?” Schweitzer took one step down the stairs as he answered. “But whenever she had something truly important to convey, she was always extremely talkative.” “That is very flimsy reasoning.” “But it’s that talkative Lowenzahn I believe in. If her prophecies really did come from someone else, then I must determine whether or not she really wanted to go through with them. I must know what is truly accurate there.” “Do you now?” Bermark nodded in the darkness. “It is true none of this world’s mistakes ever really go away. They merely grow more concentrated as the cycle continues. Just like you, my only desire is to add just one new accurate fact to the all the previous ones.” Schweitzer’s footsteps took one more step down and then stopped. His powerful presence stopped moving down the stairs and the skinnier presence ahead of him stopped as well. “Is something wrong, Captain Schweitzer?” “That’s my line, Bermark. Look ahead.” The skinny presence made another footstep and a rustling of cloth. The green lights leading down had ended. The stairs didn’t go down any further. Instead, a pair of green glow panels decorated a double door. Bermark viewed it with the faint green light illuminating him. He looked across the square landing with each side the width of the door. “The castle has already accepted you? That is a surprise.” ‘You don’t sound surprised.” A heavier footstep descended onto the landing. The green light revealed a large man with a large prosthetic arm. It was Schweitzer. “Maybe it decided I wasn’t worth tricking since I’m prepared to check over everything so carefully.” “I have no will of my own, so I can never reach this place on my own. Just like my brother needs the Eisen Ritter Project to use an Ober Emblem, I can only use an incomplete Beweisen and Ober Beweisen.” Schweitzer sighed at that and raised his prosthetic right arm. “You are correct that it is your will that rules this place – not your strength.” He looked to his aide just once before viewing his prosthetic arm. “Thank you for earlier. I was getting impatient and I nearly relied on the Titel I inherited.” “So what will you do now? Your Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer means nothing from here on in. You have been following the same path as before, so I do not see how you can change anything with your strength or will.” “Bermark.” Schweitzer cut off his aide. And he viewed Bermark while smiling with only his eyes. “Why not just come out and say it? You’re asking if I intend to complete in a few hours all the work that Hazel Mirildorf put into changing her own destiny.” He smiled bitterly and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small key. “Lowenzahn left this with me. Did you know that?” “I was the one she left her clothing with when she entered Tristan. I had my guesses when the key was not with her things.” “Good grief.” Schweitzer inserted the key in the keyhole at the seam between the two sides of the double door. “A woman who tells you to believe her lies yet gives you the key to the truth and a Sein Frau who obeys that woman while simultaneously defying her.” He turned the key, heard a click, and saw the door shake a bit. Instead of pulling out the key, he pushed open the left side. The right side opened with it. And quickly at that. Nothing but white light spread out before his eyes. ### Part 4 The light came from a large domed stone room. The walls were all covered by meter-long plates and all of those plates were emitting bright light. Schweitzer stepped into that light and narrowed his eyes. “This looks a lot like that room below Munich.” The main difference was the lack of any cold storage tanks on the floor. He walked forward and slowly opened his eyes to view the plates on the walls. The plates below Munich had been plans for Ober Geheimnis, but these were… “The Unreif Germane.” “This was once a lab used to recreate the Messiah’s history and search for the dragon. This is the control center for the surface facility and it can be used to recreate any history related to the Messiah.” Bermark’s footsteps rang loud as he caught up from behind. Schweitzer held a hand to his forehead and took a look around while waiting for his aide to arrive by his side. His eyes stopped on a point near the floor, not the ceiling. A desk made of brass panels sat in the center of the room. He walked toward it. With each step, his eyes adjusted more to the light. By the 17th step, they had adjusted enough for him to clearly see the skinny writing desk, the chair, and the black leather hardcover book sitting on the desk. “Is that a journal?” “Its former owner and its current owner must want you to read it.” “I see.” Schweitzer nodded and grabbed the journal with his biological hand. It was thick and heavy. He could see the black leather was dried and crumbling at the edges of the cover. Something appeared to have been written on the cover in gold leaf, but too much had come away to read it. He held his prosthetic right arm up in front of his chest and placed the journal on that in lieu of a desk. He lifted the hard cover and opened it. He found a titlepage with brown discolored edges. The page contained the year at which the journal began. “1919. The year before my father died, the previous war ended, and the Geheimnis Agency got its start.” He lowered his head somewhat to read the name written below the date. It was a woman’s name. He frowned when he saw the last name. “Frobel Nay- wait, is that her maiden name? It has been erased. Ilf-” “Ilfheim. The same last name as a friend of yours. A lot of half-Heidengeists from the Alfheim region have that name, so Sir Lowenheit chose to keep Frobel’s identity a secret. I imagine only a few other than me knew.” Schweitzer groaned a response to Bermark’s explanation. “There was Heidengeist blood in the very core of the Geheimnis Agency?” “Do not worry. Many in the agency have an Ilfheim somewhere in their family tree, but Heidengeist blood vanishes after a few generations. Our tests told us the Fräulein had human Tons. The only Ilfheim trait remaining would be the hair color she shared with Lady Frobel.” He took a breath. “So to put it another way, the Geheimnis Agency did not contain Heidengeist blood – it contained their will. Their will to watch over the country’s history and bind its protectors with promises.” Schweitzer clenched his teeth and flipped the page. The next two pages were blank save for a single line in the center of the left one. “To ensure the following prophecies are upheld…” He took a breath before finally reading the rest. “I will leave destiny in the hands of my daughter who will one day take command. And I will have her promise to protect that destiny.” ### Part 5 A single shadow was cast in a small clearing in the forest at the entrance to the Borderson village. There was only the one shadow, but two people stood there. One was Lillie with a black coat wrapped around her and her shadow cast on the ground. The other was an old man in a white linen shirt and pants. The woman stood with her back to the gate at the village entrance and spoke without turning the old man’s way. “As scheduled, I will deal with this village myself come 4 o’clock. You can do whatever you want after that.” “Thank you for your tolerant decision, Lady Lillie.” “Forget it. More importantly, mayor, what did you think of the Messiah when she came to pick up Rein König?” “When I went to check on her during the day, she was apparently out helping our people in the field. Do you know what happens when an amateur tries to help weed during the rainy season?” “They trip and get all muddy. Ellis did that a lot.” “Precisely. But she didn’t even bother cleaning up before leaving the village with Rein König and some rain gear.” Lillie turned toward the mayor, viewed his face, and softened her expression just a little. “You’re smiling, mayor.” She smiled bitterly and silence fell between them. Stillness spread across the clearing, but it was soon broken. Several decidedly unnatural sounds reached them from the mountain. They recognized the rumbling sounds. “Armored trucks,” said the mayor. That was exactly what appeared on the mountain road. The three Geheimnis Agency Navy Division armored trucks were designed to cross rivers and their rubber tires slid as they came to as top in the clearing. Lillie nodded their way and they flashed their headlights to respond. The front command truck’s door opened and a girl wearing the armband of an aide stepped out. She ran over to Lillie, the puddles splashing below her feet. “Lady Telmetz! The target has escaped toward the eastern Essen region!” “She hopes to take a freight train straight to Germania, doesn’t she? Essen is less than an hour’s drive. Did you tell the army stationed in Essen to bolster railroad security?” “I did!” “Then we should be fine.” Lillie rubbed the girl’s head. The girl narrowed her eyes, but lost the smile when Lillie slapped her on the shoulder. She turned to the mayor, saluted, and returned to the command truck. Lillie listened to the girl’s footsteps as she faced the mayor and opened her mouth to say something. “…” Her mouth stayed open but no words came. Her raised-eyebrow face saw the mayor holding out two bottles. They were the same thing he had given her to drink last night. “These are the last two unopened bottles. They should have been returned ages ago.” After a pause, Lillie nodded and took just one of the bottles. “Give the other one to someone you trust more than me.” And… “Remember this: if destiny plays out as our commander foretold, then the world’s ruin will begin tomorrow morning at 3 and it will end at 4:42.” “Ruin?” “It is this world’s unavoidable destiny. Whatever the Messiah might try to do and whatever we might do to try and stop her, the world will change at 4:42. Because that is when the ruin occurred every other time.” ### 787. Chapter 2: The Promise Begins 8/23/1943 14:56 – 18:32 Why do we fight? To make amends for the past? Or… ### Part 1 The giant metal sheet floating in the sky had two long rails attached. The metal sheet spanning the rails had the letters USIF written in white. It was an aerial aircraft carrier belonging to the US branch of the AIF. At the base of the runway, a preparation crew of around a dozen was moving around the flight deck and a single catapult platform was about to be launched. A black-winged Heavy Barrel stood atop the metal platform. The sleeves of its pitch black armored clothing bore the AIF’s world map emblem and its shoulder armor bore a drawing of a black lion. That was Neue Schwarz. It had a more angular shape than its predecessor Schwarz Löwe and its two wings were longer and larger. The weapon from which Heavy Barrels got their name had been attached as well. A long barrel and an extra tank had been attached to the exterior of the secondary cockpit. The barrel was around 4 yards long. It was attached at the center of the secondary cockpit and it stuck out past the right side of the head to help balance with the rear magazine. Both the barrel and the magazine had their inertial control emblem panels activated and they were making several small metallic noises. Similarly, shimmering heat was rising from the wings and the thrusters within them. Its entire black form looked ready to take flight at any moment. It was kneeled in preparation for launch and a woman stood to its right. The large middle-aged woman looked up at the glowing sight device she could see from her side. “They explained how that Word Rifle works, I hope? It will take four hours and an extra tank to negate the inertial weight. The bullet takes an entire extra tank per shot. You have four tanks, but the barrel probably won’t survive the second shot.” “It’s an unboosted miniature Babel Cannon, right? Can’t I break through the dome or Tristan with this?” “Didn’t they explain that? That thing applies damage to a single point, but the dome distributes that across the entire surface. And Tristan isn’t just the framework used to support that stupidly tall structure – it has a defense barrier similar to the dome set up along its surface. Your job is to blast all the enemies that might stop the others, Berger.” “So I’m just there to set the stage, huh?” said Neue Schwarz in Berger’s voice. “But, Corelle, everyone keeps secrets these days. That idiot Hazel said she took my blood to have a prosthetic arm made for me…but when was this made?” “The AIF helped dismantle and work on Schwarz Löwe in Germany at the end of ’39. Hazel was only trying to get you an arm made initially, but one day she went to M. Schrier with a different request.” “And he had this made? He spoils her.” “Isn’t it a lovely present? All the steel was made with your blood mixed in and the design was reworked from the ground up. Also, Schwarz Löwe’s memories of the battle against Neue Kaiser were included along with Schwarz Löwe’s High Organ prototype device.” “Wait, what? Why don’t people tell me these things? That explains why the stomach feels kind of heavy. Y’know, mechanic teams aren’t supposed to modify people’s gear without permission.” “If they weren’t that way, they never would have made an experimental Heavy Barrel on some girl’s request. Oh, and she paid for the development fees and everything else with a long-term loan. I believe she only has around 800 monthly payments left now.” “Hah. It’s true what they say about war being an economic activity. I see. So everything about it is top class: power, reaction, and the debt behind it. Why’d she have to give me the best when I’d prefer second best?” Corelle gave a toothy bitter smile and kicked Neue Schwarz’s right knee. “Your heart’s not in your bitching today, Berger. Is it that disease’s fault? I mean, you even volunteered to join the fight.” “I just want off this damn carrier. Before the new captain knocks out my back tooth on the other side this time.” “This mission is being led by Pale and our new captain – Oscar Mirildorf, a man who put together a plan that sends his own daughter to the front lines.” “He’s just a doting dad. A guy like him? Sees the front lines as center stage, right under the spotlight.” Part of the crew checked the time and waved to Corelle. She checked her own watch. “Three more minutes. Time for the final route check.” “I fly too high for their radar to see me and then I drop straight down on the target. I land in the rain before they can even notice me. The same technique you’ll be using tonight. …What about you? Can you handle it?” “Except for Coolers, our select team is already over there. That just leaves half of the people here to descend near some other cities as a diversion.” Corelle put her hands on her hips and breathed from the corner of her mouth. The ends of her eyebrows rose slightly. “Make sure you get Hazel from Borderson to Germania. You owe her at least that much after she healed your right leg.” “Yeah, but I’ve gotten the short end of the stick more often than not.” Before Corelle could say anything more, Berger continued in a disinterested voice. “Corelle. Did Hazel read my Lives when she healed my leg?” “I told her to, but she said it would be wrong without your permission. You know how she is.” “That explains it. And it’s moving so well now. How many times do I have to tell her second best is good enough for me?” His right knee shifted a bit on the catapult, making a metallic scraping noise. “Hey. If we do stop the Wheel of Destiny, then the world will be remade to not include the Messiah at 4:42 tomorrow morning. But what do you think she would do if she knew there was a way to avoid that?” “Eh?” said Corelle, her eyebrows rising somewhat. “What do you mean? Pale and the others have accepted that the world will be completely remade.” “There is a way to stop the Wheel but keep the Messiah around. It sounds like a joke, though.” He kept his voice low. “And it’s a dumb joke I doubt would actually work.” The black Heavy Barrel raised its head somewhat to face dead ahead. Corelle started to say something, but took a few steps back instead. A launch crewmember in the center of the runway waved a flag down. That wave was the signal to go. “I’m off.” With that, the wind blew. In an instant, the two-winged black Heavy Barrel raced across the steel runway floating in the sky. Divine spell gunpower burst to provide the initial acceleration, producing smoke and bursting sounds behind it. The dark ocean reflected the afternoon sun below the runway. Thin clouds blew in the wind of the blue sky above. An Allied high-speed aerial bombing fleet was spread out to either side. The Barrel slid forward in a crouching start position and it silently waved back to the crewmembers waving up from the runway, but then it looked to the right where the fleet’s flagship flew somewhat further back from the rest. The long, white, streamlined shape of an ACBS was attached to the belly of the flagship. That unmanned ship had no windows or bridge. It had small wings, rocket nozzles for attitude control and thrust, and noticeable power points across its hull. It was only marked with its numeric designation: ACBS-M0-001. The black Heavy Barrel faced forward after its sight devices caught the letters ACBS. Then it arrived at the launch point and the runaway abruptly ended. Only the sky lay ahead. So it spread its wings with a roar of splitting air and flapped them. Those two simple actions propelled the nearly 40ton mass of metal through the sky. It used another flap to accelerate beyond the initial acceleration that launched it into the sky. Water vapor exploded around it while it rolled to the right and then took a somewhat rightward ascending trajectory. The tips of the wings briefly drew out lines of cloud, but the clouds vanished once it altered the angles. By then, the entire fleet had been left far behind and below it. It used its wings to further accelerate. A black band was visible at the horizon ahead. Those were the rainclouds hanging over Europe. Its destination was below the dark rainclouds of northern Germany. The black Heavy Barrel said nothing. It only began its ascent along a ballistic trajectory to achieve the altitude it needed. It accelerated. It accelerated in order to pierce the sky. ### Part 2 Hazel stood below the darkening sky. She wore a rain poncho over her head and stood motionless on the mountain road running through the forest. She held Rein König wrapped in a white cloth under her arm. She only wore a backpack on her back. She could hear the raindrops hitting the poncho. She shifted just her eyes to view Rein König while listening to the wet pitter-patter. “I knew this would be a challenge, but the backpack is kind of heavy too.” … Maybe Eryngium packed a bit too much in that lunch she gave me. “But I can’t worry about that now. I need to get to the Essen railroad.” She tensed her eyebrows and focused on her ears to listen to the rain. A single stray thought about tonight intruded on her focus. … Will the world end tonight? If they stopped the Wheel of Destiny, the world would change at 4:42 AM. She had been worrying over that ever since leaving Borderson. “I can blame that on the peace I found in the Village of Pardons.” She told herself those things would simply change, not be lost, and she shook her head. She focused again, concentrating on clearing her hearing. She heard something other than the rain mixed in with all the noise. She heard creaking metal from the forest to her left. That was the sound of a railroad shaking below a train. She nearly ran toward the rhythmic sound of steel. “…” But she stopped. She heard a whistle through the trees, but she bit her lower lip and let it go. She had heard something other than the train. Something she couldn’t afford to ignore. … Footsteps carrying killer intent. She heard the whistle fading into the distance as she shut her eyes and moved her mouth. “Why not come out? Isn’t it cold in the forest?” She directed her question toward the entire forest and rain, but someone did respond. A slender woman stepped out from the forest on the left with her hands in her coat pockets. Hazel recognized her silhouette. … She’s the one who shot me at Borderson. The woman spied on that thought and responded to it. “Yes, and I don’t know how you managed to survive that. Not that it matters.” Hazel prepared to fight. “You can read Tons?” “You can tell? I am Geheimnis Agency Naval Division Chief ‘Wasser Meister’ Lillie Telmetz. I am the descendant of second-rate nobility that served under Borderson and Karlsruhe by making wine for the imperial family. …I am also a Stimmer.” Hazel looked to her face. Her faintly wrinkled face was not at all wet from the rain. Hazel looked up to find the rain split above Lillie’s head and flowed to either side. “It’s not an unusual technique. It’s just another form of Tuning.” Lillie pulled her right hand from her coat pocket and Hazel knew what the ring on her right middle finger had to be. “A Werkzeug.” She gulped. … She’s only using a Werkzeug? She isn’t using an Up and she isn’t even transforming the rain into something else. “Yes, unlike the highly formalized Tuning and Busting your Allies use, German Tuning and Busting is all about releasing your own will in its purest form. Using a formalized Up makes it a lot easier and ensures anyone can learn how, but there are other, more powerful, methods.” Lillie raised her right hand. A dove alighted on her hand. A dove made from rainwater. She stroked the dove’s wings just once and then released it back into the sky. “I was ordered to capture you alive…but there are many in our ranks who disagree with that decision.” “Like you?” “Yes, unfortunately. This is our last chance to see whether or not the Messiah will be lost.” Lillie stopped speaking there. She pulled her left hand from her coat pocket and raised it in front of her eyes. She viewed the military wristwatch she wore there. “Look behind you.” Hazel did not comply. She kept her eyes on Lillie. Then she heard a deep sound like a thunderclap behind her. “Eh?” It sounded like the sky was shaking and a massive throat was gulping. Hazel reflexively turned toward the noise. She looked west toward the Borderson Village of Pardons. Past the forest, the village was about two hours away by foot. A single color was rising into the gray sky from there. That color was black. The black of smoke. A single line of smoke rose slowly but thickly into the rainy sky. … There has to be a considerable fire to produce that much smoke. “It can’t be!?” “Yes, it can. You are watching the ultimate fate of the Borderson village.” Panicking, Hazel turned back toward Lillie. “Why? The Village of Pardons was the only place in Germany where Heidengeists could live!” “That was no more than a verbal promise. Just like in ’35, the government and military need a scapegoat for the people’s frustrations. Burning down a city of Heidengeists who support the Allies sounds like a good decision to me.” Hazel heard another thunderclap-like sound behind her. The deep boom reverberated through her and sweat poured from her body. Then she heard new noises joining the falling rain and distant explosion. They came from the road ahead of and behind her. She heard the rumbling of engines through the rain. She soon realized what was causing it: armored trucks. Their large silhouettes came into view down the mountain road behind Lillie. The same had to be coming from behind her. She saw them switch on their headlights. Lillie’s silhouette was outlined in the rain, showing she was faintly smiling. The smile splitting her face asked a question of Hazel. “Now, how about we hurry this up?” ### Part 3 Schweitzer still stood in the light. The journal resting on his prosthetic arm was opened to the final page. His eyes were still staring down at the journal, but he suddenly lowered his head. A drop of sweat dripped from his forehead to his cheek before reaching his chin and falling to the floor. And once it did… “Bermark.” “Do you need something?” “I will omit any unnecessary questions. Does this journal describe our entire truth?” “Yes, that is everything we are now. The past comes from a thousand years of history, but the present comes from the twenty years of history that began with Lady Frobel’s journal.” “So this journal is the borderline between the past and the present.” Schweitzer flipped through the pages. Old German written in sharp, hurried handwriting had been rewritten in places while describing the events in chronological order. “It even includes me suggesting the Gard-class’s 2nd ship be used to build Tristan.” “Lady Frobel and Sir Lowenheit were both skilled Sofort Lesers.” “And they left this journal with Lowenzahn. So she could fulfill her role as our commander. Did she know her mother’s maiden name was Ilfheim?” “No. Lady Frobel came from a family that managed the Naylor knowledge stockpile, but that was recorded as a Naylor branch family. Sirs Graham, Heiliger, and Bertecht kept her secret and sent the fräulein to a rural home after Lady Frobel’s death so the information would not get out.” Bermark took a breath. “But as fate would have it, she happened to see a distant relative at Borderson last year.” “She was very insistent after learning of the wedding. She may have had her suspicions.” Schweitzer wrinkled his brow even deeper and flipped another page. He kept flipping. The sound of turning pages filled the space and they produced small gusts of wind as they turned. “Bermark, did anyone other than you know of these prophecies?” “Originally, it was only those of us who were close to Lady Frobel before World War One and were involved in the creation of the Geheimnis Agency: Sir Graham, Lady Rose, Sir Karl, and me. Later on, Lady Lillie who was taken in by Sir Graham…and then Sir Heiliger heard it from the fräulein herself a month ago. Also…” “Marsch?” “Because some excerpts from the prophecies were installed as plates in the underground knowledge stockpile.” “I see.” Schweitzer continued flipping pages. “The final page.” There was nothing beyond this page. “This isn’t a prophecy.” A short passage was confidently written across the two pages. There were none of the previous diagrams or explanatory notes. Simply a confident statement meant to convey something. When skimming through it, the words “war”, “Nibelung”, “’43”, and “sin” jumped out at him. When his eyes reached the end of the page, he noticed the final words. Unlike the rest, the last bit was scribbled out in a hurry. A date and a postscript were added below. “January 16, 1919. PS. I will be emblemizing this text and placing it underground.” “Do you recognize that date, Captain Schweitzer?” Schweitzer looked up for just a moment. “One week before my father died.” Then he looked back down at the hurried text. As soon as he read it, he shut the journal with enough force to make Bermark tilt his head. “Why not read it more carefully?” “I want to read that final page after I have calmed down some. Can I take this from here?” “If you wish. I am sure Lady Frobel would be delighted for it to be in the hands of someone the fräulein entrusted with the key.” Schweitzer grabbed the journal in his biological hand and stuck it in his coat pocket. Afterwards, he slowly lowered his prosthetic arm. It produced a mechanical noise as he rotated the elbow halfway around and lowered the shoulder. He kept his eyes on that arm. “Has anyone other than Lowenzahn read this?” “You already know the answer to that, don’t you? A portion of the prophecies and that final page were carved into a plate in 1919 and placed below Munich’s central hospital. The man who decoded it ordered to have it carved away so no one else would know what it had said.” “Did Frobel Naylor – no, Frobel Ilfheim – know that Marsch would be the one to read it?” “Yes. When the plate was embedded there, she knew everything – including that the people would rebel and that your father Bertecht would die protecting the hospital.” “I can’t believe this.” Schweitzer let the words fall to the floor. “To be honest, I feel some anger toward the way this journal views the world. And at what Lowenzahn did. But I also feel like there was nothing I could have done if that was what she wanted.” He took a breath, shut his eyes, and shook his head. “I don’t understand that final sentence.” “You have a heart of your own and you still do not understand it?” “It may be that heart that keeps me from understanding. If she was going to use her own daughter as a component in a machine then how could she also send that daughter to us for-” He stopped there, gasping and spinning around to look to the right. Some Unreif Germane reliefs were embedded in the wall there. One of the brick reliefs was glowing. The one depicting the knights battling a black dragon was emitting a bright light. He lowered himself to a fighting stance as the black dragon relief reacted. It vanished. No, it fell away into the wall. “What?” He watched as all the other reliefs fell into the wall and vanished too. After around 30 of them had fallen, a 3yd diameter hole appeared there. There shouldn’t have been anything but a wall there, but it instead opened out onto a different place altogether. There was a black forest inside. But that wasn’t all. Two things toppled into the room like felled trees. Except these were people not trees. One was short and the other tall. The short one wore a cloak stained brown and the tall one wore a suit of amor straight out of a medieval painting. The brown cloak made a rustling sound as it fell to the floor and the armor made a metallic sound as it clattered to the floor. Both men were old. Schweitzer recognized them both and opened his mouth to speak. But Bermark spoke up before he could. “These are Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann and Development Division Chief Elrich.” And he casually added one more thing. “They appear to enjoy dressing up as medieval knights.” ### Part 4 The armored truck dropped Hazel off in the middle of the rainy forest. She was walking down the misty mountain road all on her own now. No one had spoken to her or even looked her way aboard the truck. She had sat in a corner of the passenger area for about two hours, staying perfectly still. They hadn’t even said anything when dropping her off. “It’s understandable, at least.” She spoke out loud to feel some slight release after the silence of the truck. She sighed, pulled up the hood of her poncho, and looked around. She only saw the piercing mist and rain hanging in the darkness of dusk. … Where is she? Lillie had gone ahead in the command vehicle and Hazel couldn’t sense her anywhere. “I just have to deal with it,” she concluded, drawing Rein König as she walked. She untied and unfurled the cloth surrounding it, revealing the white blade. She wrapped the cloth around her right hand, gripped the hilt, and held the blade out in front of her so it reflected her surroundings. The reflection gave her a glimpse of the right side of the forest through a gap in the mist. This was a brighter green forest, with a subtly different distribution of trees compared to Borderson’s black forest. … We traveled two hours toward Germania. That would put her near Hamburg. And since it was a forested area, probably around 20 miles from Hamburg. She was within about 80 miles of Germania. She used her left hand’s fingers to calculate out the time and distance. She didn’t have a watch, so she had to rely on her gut to judge the current time. That was far from exact, but… “Maybe I can catch a train somewhere. I doubt they’ll take me in their truck if I win.” She shook her head and mouthed a man’s name. She thought it was a little sad how that actually helped calm her a little, but then she pulled a certain color from her pocket. She pulled out the pendent that now contained the red gem Eryngium had given her. She intentionally rattled the chain louder than necessary while loosening the neck of her poncho with the hand holding the pendant. She placed the chain around her neck below the hood. The chill and weight of the chain was nice in how it contrasted with her choker. She tugged down on the chain just once to really feel the pendant’s presence. A moment later, she heard a woman’s voice in her left ear. “Hurry up. The battlefield is right over there.” Her heart raced in surprise and she reflexively brushed her left hand through her hair. But she only felt her damp hair and the mist. … Did she make the mist talk? Using her Tuning? She took a few hurried steps forward, which helped calm her. She looked down at herself. The sound of the rain falling on her plastic poncho seemed to reverberate through her entire body. That sound confirmed that her body was there. She calmed her breathing and began walking again. The air around her had changed. At some point, the mist had grown stationary and thinner. … Am I in a wider area? She looked around and saw a world steeped in a dim but white mist. A dark shape to her right contrasted that white world. She recognized the boxy silhouette in the mist. … The armored truck. The Naval Division Chief should be nearby. The battle was imminent. She understood that, so she slowed her pace and then stopped. She took a deep breath that came out white. She faced forward. She focused her eyes. Her sharpened vision and spotted the enemy. A slender silhouette stood beyond the mist in the darkening air. It was about 30 yards away. Once the enemy was in view, her mind sharpened her other senses too. Her ears heard a river – the deep sound of a river flowing through the forest. A great quantity of water was gulping down the air and carrying all sorts of things downstream. Suddenly, another sound joined that deep one. This one was much higher. A note from a string instrument rang loud and clear. It was joined by a voice. Lillie’s voice. “Now, perhaps I should start with something so basic even you would understand.” “Eh?” Hazel looked up just in time to hear a shout pierce the mist. “Ober Text! Tons of the air with an octave of 3.2 million!” Hazel trembled in response. … An Over Up? What is she doing? Her question was soon answered. The mist cleared away to let her see. It only lasted a few seconds, but the mist split apart, creating a straight path 20 yards wide. The split was only on the flat surface. The mist still covered the sky, but that sky already carried the darkness of night. Hazel saw a slender woman standing 30 yards ahead of her. Lillie Telmetz held a yard-long harp on her left shoulder. “Eingeweide Harfe – Mondnacht. This is my first time using it to kill a Heidengeist.” Before she was even done speaking, the mist behind her split as well. There was no ground there. … A cliff? But that broad cliff did not simply lead to an abyss. A great body of water was visible past its edge. Lillie stood in front of a lake. Loud watery sounds shook the air as water dragons broke the misty walls to move this way and that. They were playing in the lake despite the mist. Hazel stared at Lillie. For the first time, she noticed the other woman’s head was lowered. Then the mist around Hazel began to shake. … Is it synced with the controller’s Lives? With her trembling will? Lillie spoke quietly, as if to confirm Hazel’s speculation. “I will teach you there are things that were lost because of you.” With that, the mist fully cleared away behind Lillie. The view opened up. The mist vanished from the lake, revealing a small island in the center. The island was dark and angular in a way no natural land formation would be. Hazel recognized the thick cylinder jutting up from the island. “A Babel Cannon.” Lillie nodded and raised her head. The lake behind her was now clear of mist, four water dragons roared and frolicked on the surface, and a crashed aerial warship acted as the lake’s centerpiece. With all of that behind her, Lillie bowed and spoke to Hazel. “Welcome to the battlefield of vengeance.” ### Part 5 Two old men sat in front of Schweitzer. The forest beyond them had disappeared. The wall reliefs had moved back into place, covering the hole. The old men were busy removing the armor and whatnot they were wearing. Witzmann held a removed breastplate and looked up at Schweitzer. “Something must have happened if the son of Schweitzer is here at the old HQ.” Bermark opted to answer. “You should know what that is now that you have seen the past. Things are underway to ensure that past happens. All in the name of the Nibelung.” “Oh?” replied Elrich, undoing the strap on Witzmann’s back. The chest of the armor dropped down to Witzmann’s stomach. Witzmann caught the falling breastplate. “The world has started to go wrong, hasn’t it? Then I’m guessing today is August 23.” “I would expect no less of the man with the Titel of Hellsehen.” “Don’t give me that crap, Bermark. You fully intended for us to die in there.” “If you had, it would simply mean you lacked the necessary skill.” Schweitzer’s cheeks tensed at that cold statement. Witzmann smiled bitterly and Elrich stretched his legs. The two old men looked to the large man in the center of the room – toward Schweitzer. He looked down at the two of them. “So I take it you two saw the past in there?” “A much denser version of it than you saw. That Sein Frau there set us up. Still, it was a fascinating experience. But I would like to confirm something with that Sein Frau and with you…Captain Schweitzer is it now?” “What is it?” Witzmann looked to Elrich. Elrich hesitated before hardening his expression, shutting his eyes, and nodding. Witzmann nodded back and looked to Bermark and Schweitzer again. “Are we correct in concluding that the Messiah is Hazel Mirildorf after being sent to the past in a Ton explosion on August 23?” “Yes, that is indeed correct.” “And does your presence here mean something happened to our commander?” “Yes. She entered Tristan to use herself as a component of Neue Erde. Her Ober Beweisen extracts the Spacetime Tons and boosts Tristan. The Messiah’s Ober Beweisen lets her view all Tons, so-” “You don’t need to explain every little detail to the man known as the Hellsehen. Our commander’s actions were linked to all of this, weren’t they? Including giving the Allies plans to our Wort Bombe and the Allies building their ACBS based on that.” Bermark continued from there. “The Messiah will lead an attack on Germania late tonight. She cannot break the Spacetime Tons extracted by the fräulein since she is a Stimmer, so the destructive power of the ACBS is needed to trigger the Nibelung. The fräulein hopes to-” “To control the Messiah with her Beweisen and forcibly draw out the Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen to crash the ACBS into the Spacetime Tons she extracted, right?” “Correct,” confirmed Bermark. Schweitzer nodded between the two of them and then asked Bermark a question really directed at all of them. His coat swished a bit as he turned to face his aide. “What do we do about this?” “The fräulein has always sought to trigger the Nibelung as the Geheimnis Agency Commander and Sir Heiliger is working toward the same thing now. The Nibelung is the one way for the Neue Kavaliers to protect Germany as its knights. If the Messiah chooses to lead us, then we must show her a willpower and strength worthy of being led.” “I see,” said Witzmann with a sigh. “So Heiliger chose to follow the Naylor girl.” Schweitzer turned toward him. His gaze poured down on Witzmann’s bald head as the old man continued. “The two of us saw the Messiah in the past. It was a valuable experience and it allowed us to make a number of decisions. But what about you two? Will you place your trust in Neue Erde or in the Messiah?” ### Part 6 Dragons and people fought on a battlefield created from the split mist. Two minutes had already passed since the battle began. The ground was cracked and the air shaken while some scattered mist hung in it. One person remained entirely motionless: Lillie Telmetz on the edge of the cliff. She had not moved a step and simply played the Mondnacht resting on her left shoulder. She played several high string notes. New dragons appeared from the lake, splashing water as they stretched up into the sky. There were already 6 of them in all. Motionless Lillie and the dancing dragons were opposed by the most active part of the battlefield: Hazel. She sliced the air with Rein König. She had lost her poncho and was soaked with rain as she used a Wind Up to create spears and arrows that shot out in front of her. She was only 30 yards from Lillie, but… “I can’t get any closer!” The water dragons might as well have been a moving wall. She had to focus all of the spears and arrows created from the air in order to break just one of the dragons. Meanwhile Lillie only had to strum Mondnacht once more to produce another dragon. Hazel watched the dragons being produced before her eyes while she moved. Her thoughts were racing as much as her body. The two of them could use the same octave. The difference was their speed and how good they were at expanding and contracting the Lives. … It comes down to our skill as Tuners. She felt something akin to panic as she ran forward. She could not use the wind to break the dragons in quick succession. She needed a large quantity of some denser Lives. She tried to figure out what to do while taking a few steps forward and transferring her sword slash to the air. White curved blades of wind appeared over her head and flew toward the pair of dragons breaking through the mist on either side with fangs bared. She slashed them. The dragons’ faces split and broke apart at just 5 yards over her head. White spray scattered as the dragons ruptured into no more than water. She heard the wet splash and wiped the spray from her cheek with her left hand, noting that this smelled of river water, not of mist or rain. The dragons were made from the lake’s water. With that realization, she nodded once and ran ahead. A new dragon was already approaching from dead ahead. She viewed the murderous look in their eyes and slowly held Rein König low. “320 thousand Lives floating in the wind – the many cries of the racing air. Can you hear my Lives!?” The dragon was still coming. Hazel’s Tuning wasn’t going to make it in time. … But it doesn’t have to! When the dragon twisted its head to the side and opened its jaws to the left and right, she made her move. She ducked low and threw herself to the ground. With a roar of wind, the dragon passed above her. Its jaws snapped shut. Its fangs struck each other with the sound of colliding ice. Hazel’s back trembled as the dragon’s powerful wind pressure felt like it would crush her. But she was not done yet. She had lowered Rein König just before the water dragon’s face passed above her and now she swung it upwards. She lifted herself from the ground a bit to help send it straight up. She raised her voice and activated her Tune attack to create a wind blade. In a single slash, the wind blade extending from below split the water dragon’s body. But it only lasted an instant. A moment later, the blade became wind once more and the dragon was returning to water, but Hazel was already on the move again. She followed Rein König’s upwards swinging curve to stand up and turned the sword around with her wrists to hold it overhead ready to strike. She was surrounded by… … The wind from the blade and the water from the dragon. “4 million Lives floating on the battlefield – the war cries of the soaring wind and the chorus of blessed rain! Can you hear my Lives!?” The message she sent was no longer a physical form. She asked for the power to reach her opponent and the penetrative power to break through any wall of water, land, or wind. She raised her voice and swung Rein König down as hard as she could. The tip of the blade did not stop at the ground and sliced into the dirt on her right side. She used just her right hand to stop it after it had swung around behind her. A brief moment of silence followed. That was broken by a tremor in the air. The water surrounding her shook, rumbled, and bent forward. Then the wind blew in from behind her. It whipped at her red clothing and blonde hair while dancing in the empty sky of the night. She looked up in that wind with Rein König still held behind her on the right. She turned toward Lillie with her left hand held forward. “Break through!” A great power answered her will and shot forward. The mist was rapidly blown away and the air sliced through. A blade made of wind and water briefly appeared, but as it accelerated, it transformed into an invisible field of pure power. The unseen power tore a straight line into the ground and raced forward. It produced the sounds of blowing wind and breaking earth. The three remaining dragons flew in to stop the piercing power. It was no use. One’s face, another’s body, and the last one’s entire self were broken and reverted to water. The penetrative power spread out just a bit as it flew toward Lillie, but she was a Tuner. … She can neutralize this power. Hazel pulled Rein König in from behind her and prepared to launch a second strike. But she saw something strange floating in front of her. It was a thumb-sized drop of water. “Eh?” That brief confusion removed the tension from her vision and let her see her surroundings. For some reason, all the puddles had disappeared from the ground around her. Instead, drops of water were floating in the air. … The water. Before her thoughts could progress any further, she heard a voice coming from the target of her destructive power. The voice ignored the roar of the wind and the breaking of the earth. Aerial Words rang loud in the air. “Eingeweide Harfe Mondnacht – Over Beweisen.” It happened as soon as the words had been spoken. Everything that had been water was blown high into the sky by a new wind. The mist, the water, the moisture, and the power Hazel had launched were all flung skyward. “––––!?” A powerful wind had appeared out of nowhere. Hazel herself was thrown several yards back where she landed on her butt. Her backpack bounced a moment later, causing her to lose her balance and collapse onto her back. She quickly covered her stomach and got up to see the mist had vanished entirely. The floating drops of water were nowhere to be found either. The shadows of the night surrounded her now. Coat-wearing Lillie stood 30 yards away in those faintly bluish shadows. That was all Hazel could see anymore. There was no mist and no rain. She felt a chill on her back and quickly stood up. She also heard the harp playing. Mondnacht played without Lillie’s assistance. Lillie’s Aerial Words sounded without her opening her mouth. Lillie raised her right shoulder, the one Mondnacht was not resting on. Her right hand slowly, slowly rose. The hand stopped with its open palm directed heavenward. Hazel saw the rainclouds had vanished from the sky above this area. The moon shined down from the hole in the sky. It was nearly but not quite full. Lillie lowered her hand and Hazel lowered her gaze. Lillie put her right hand in her pocket and ignored how Hazel took a fighting stance. She leisurely pulled her hand out with a wine bottle in its grasp. She swiftly bit the cork and jerked her head to pull it out. It audibly popped out. She spat the cork to the ground and then threw the bottle behind her, toward the lake. The bottle spun through the moonlight, its contents scattering through the night air. The wine looked dark in the night’s colors, but the moonlight caused all of its drops to shine bright. The bottle dropped over the edge of the cliff, disappearing. Lillie stuck both hands in her coat pockets and turned to face Hazel. She still had her head lowered. “This is goodbye, Messiah.” Hazel sensed a presence when she heard those words. A moment later, a massive wall of water appeared out of nowhere. It roared. “…!?” The overwhelming quantity of water that rose from below the cliff behind Lillie would put a tsunami to shame. The reverse waterfall stretched from one side of Hazel’s vision to the other. … What is this!? Surprise ruled her senses. She intellectually knew it was the great roar rattling her body and the tremor in the ground shaking her legs, but her senses couldn’t keep up. Her eyes were fixed on the wall of water behind Lillie that continued to grow into the sky. She gasped as sweat poured from her and her senses rapidly returned. The ground was shaking below her, but that wasn’t what mattered right now. … The sky. The colossal pillar of water was on its way to the white moon. It seemed to wrap around the moon as it took the form of a great beast. Clear water created a serpent with a pointed face. It was a great water dragon. It glowed bluish-white in the moonlight and it had to be more than 2 miles long. Hazel simply gulped as she looked up at it. “What do I do?” she mouthed before repeating it out loud. The dragon was slowly circling in the sky above. It pushed the air out of the way and produced a deep, muffled noise. That noise grew to a tangling groan that dropped to her from the sky. The dragon was satisfied with just one rotation through the sky. Its face was already directed at her. Its giant bestial eyes gave it a wide range of view, but its gaze was soon directed on her alone. … I sense killer intent. The dragon slowly descended as if to confirm that for her. The wind blew and it opened its maw to show off its fangs. It roared. The sound shook both the air and the ground and it didn’t stop. The roar continued and the great water dragon seemed to wriggle through the sky as it flew toward her. A face 200 yards wide accelerated toward her, but then she realized something. … What about the Naval Division Chief? Does she plan to die with me!? She tried to look down but found her body wouldn’t move. She was too nervous. She forced her chin back to face forward with great effort. Lillie stood in front of the waterless lake looking into the sky, just like before. “My people are waiting outside of this attack’s range. You and I are the only two who will die.” Before Hazel could ask why, the roar from the sky pressed down on her back and shoulders. The approach of that overwhelming power kept her from moving. “Ah…” A noise escaped her throat as that massive sound pressed down on her shoulders. A single inexplicable tear dripped down her cheek. But even that tear floated up into the air before it could reach the bottom of her cheek. In her frozen field of vision, the tear ascended toward the dragon in the sky. Her tear had been stolen. She clenched her teeth at that fact. “Kh.” She forced her caught voice from her throat. The ground quaked below her feet, a great pressure bore down on her shoulders, and the dragon’s killer intent and roar combined to rattle her entire body. But despite all that weight and shaking, she chose to walk forward. She started by sinking down a bit. She threw off the center of gravity of the force bearing down on her, shifting it forward. It was a lot like rolling forward. She took a first step. She used that as a starting point and used her willpower and movements to keep herself from actually falling over. She pushed forward a knee that had lost all feeling, slamming it against her skirt’s lining. … I can move. She told herself that and took a second step. … I can move! She started to run. She opened her mouth and raised her voice to drive the roar from her body. “––––!” She entered a full-speed sprint on the second step. She stomped at the dirt and kicked stones behind her as she propelled herself forward. She ran across the broken ground, twisting her body and swinging Rein König forward from the right shoulder. But she still felt heavy, so she opened her mouth even wider to break free of that weight. “I will stop you!” She gathered strength in her body and shattered the killer intent binding her. She sped up. She aimed for Lillie’s Mondnacht. Break that and the great water dragon would lose its support and possibly stop. … I can’t guarantee it, but I have to try!” This was her only option, so she pushed her body forward and extended it in a dash. Meanwhile, Lillie raised her head to view Hazel. Their eyes met. Hazel ignored the great pressure from the dragon and asked a question. “Why!?” “Because you have sinned. You stood by and let so many die because you placed too much faith in destiny.” The talk of letting people die reminded Hazel of the Glossolalians of Borderson. … If we change the world, then all of us and all of them will be changed too. She shook her head to shake the thought out of her mind. … No. She rejected the idea, but she couldn’t put to words why. She carried that frustration in her heart as she continued forward. The pressure from the sky was moving quickly too. She would only have an instant in which to act. She twisted her upper body and slightly relaxed the hand holding Rein König. She kicked hard off of the ground and untwisted her body. She gripped Rein König’s hilt hard in that moment. The twisting of her body traveled through her shoulder to her arm and swung Rein König like a whip. “Ah!” At the same time, Lillie pulled her right hand from her coat pocket. She held a handgun in it. A handgun Hazel recognized. … That’s the one she shot me with yesterday. The red tone color of killer intent left the muzzle before Hazel could even feel the panic. A moment later, she heard Lillie’s voice. “That gem!” Lillie’s eyes were on Hazel’s chest where she wore… … The pendant with the gem Eryngium gave me. After Hazel confirmed what it was she had, she saw Lillie’s face distort. Then that face dropped below Hazel’s field of view. By the time Hazel realized Lillie had fallen to her knees, Rein König had already swished through empty air. “Oh, no!” She had failed to destroy Mondnacht. She looked to the sky where the dragon looked so close she could reach out and touch it. The great water dragon was falling toward her. “––––!” In that instant, Hazel heard a voice. She recognized the Aerial Words. They were spoken in a calm voice. All of a sudden, all the water above Hazel burst. ### Part 7 Ether scattered with a sound like a waterfall exploding, but it vanished after only three seconds. Hazel was still looking up into the briefly mist-covered sky. … I’m alive? She could see. That meant she was still alive. Rainclouds covered the night sky, so she could no longer see the moon. The rainclouds were entirely black now, telling her night had truly fallen now. She looked down to see a dark mist floating and producing waves. A drop of water landed on her nose. It was raining. The sound of the rain drew her gaze toward the ground where she saw someone sitting on the ground with shoulders drooping. It was Lillie. She hung her head and remained entirely motionless. Only Hazel slowly took a breath. Her shoulders rose and fell as she filled her lungs with air and then she turned around. A large black shape stood there. Its hips were lowered and its right foot swept backwards in a fighting stance. Its outthrust arms held a long hilt modeled after hair. “Gelegenheit and…Neue Schwarz.” The rain fell on the armor, adding a sheen to its matte black color. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Heavy Barrel’s rain-wet skin. She could tell her eyebrows were drooping. She tried to take a step forward, but then she heard a voice from behind. It was weak and joined by the rustling of cloth as someone stood up. “Messiah. This isn’t over yet.” She heard a quiet metallic sound from behind her. Realizing what it was, she asked a question. “Is a Neue Kavalier and one of the Fünf Leithammel really willing to shoot someone in the back, even if it is for revenge?” “Are you saying you have no reason to keep fighting? I burned down the Borderson village.” She said nothing more because a somewhat raised male voice interrupted. “Enough. You were never cut out to be a villain, Lillie Telmetz.” Hazel looked up at the voice. A dark figure hopped down from Neue Schwartz’s back. The man was wrapped in a black coat with his eyes half hidden by sunglasses. Hazel wasn’t even surprised to see him. She only shut her eyes with a sigh of relief. Lillie’s voice reached her from behind. “Stay back! I’ll shoot!” “Will you? We both know you’re more interested in complaining than shooting, Lillie Telmetz.” Berger spat the words out in disinterest and Lillie gasped. Hazel tried to get a look at the woman behind her, but Berger arrived in front of her before she could move. She looked up at him. The black coloration in front of her suddenly approached further and hugged her. Her rain-soaked body received the warmth of his dry coat and his body heat. His biological right arm and mechanical left arm briefly but firmly squeezed at her back. “Oh.” She sank into his chest. That chest shook and she heard his voice from overhead. “You got ahead of yourself there, silly Hazel. You too, Lillie Telmetz.” The comment to Lillie made Hazel look up in confusion. “The Borderson village isn’t dead. How do you think I knew to come here, Hazel?” “Well…” Now that he mentioned it, she realized she was in the middle of the woods with nothing but the mountain road around. “When I arrived in Borderson after you, I found the village burned to the ground. But the mayor was still there and he told me everything.” He took a breath. “Lillie Telmetz, you told the mayor you would be burning the Village of Pardons for the sake of your reputation, but you let all the residents escape and told him to return and rebuild if that was what they wanted.” “Lies!” shouted Lillie. Berger’s right arm immediately moved. Hazel realized he had reached into his black coat. And when he pulled his hand back out… “The mayor gave me this wine. He gave it to me along with a certain question, but is it not enough proof for you?” “What question?” asked Lillie, her voice barely a whisper. “One-armed young man, what did the mayor say to you?” “I hadn’t seen him in a few years, but out of nowhere, he asked me if I had ever made a promise with a certain Ilfheim woman. When I said yes, he gave me this. To be honest, I don’t really know what it all means.” Bright lights split the mist behind Berger. They were the headlights of the armored truck waiting back there. They were blocked by Neue Schwarz and Berger, but they still illuminated Lillie. Hazel saw Lillie turn toward the lights, her head lowered in the rain. She still held the gun but did nothing at all with it. After a few breaths, she lowered the gun. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief. … I don’t sense any killer intent. Then she realized Lillie’s mostly closed eyes were directed toward her. “Um…do you need something?” “Yes. I apologize, but, uh.” Lillie held a hand to her mouth in hesitation but finally… “If you don’t mind, could I see that pendant?” Hazel stepped away from Berger. After confirming he had taken a step back in response, she grabbed the chain around her neck. She slowly lifted the red gem locket. Lillie took a step closer and crouched. She viewed the red gem for a few seconds before her shoulders slumped and she let out a long sigh. “So I was wasn’t mistaken.” She nodded and looked back over her shoulder. She looked to the Requiem that was now hidden by the mist. Hazel didn’t understand what any of this meant. But… … This must have been important to her. So she held the pendant out toward Lillie and waited without speaking a word. Lillie groaned just once and then slowly looked up into the sky. Her exposed white throat trembled and then she sobbed once. No actual words left her lips along with her breaths, but they did mouth two names. “You two were already in the Messiah’s care?” Hazel watched as Lillie directed her words and her face toward the sky. The rain fell to the corners of her eyes, wet her cheeks, and dripped down to her chin. After a few breaths of silence, she lowered her head. She quietly cleared her throat, straightened her back, and viewed the pendant again. “I should have been the one to present this to you.” She smiled with a note of resignation in her voice. Hazel saw the tone color of her Lives in that smile. The bluish-white color and weak tempo was not quite that of happiness. But her smile remained, so Hazel didn’t comment. Hazel felt a small push on her back and Berger’s voice whispered in her ear. “Hey, what’s this about? Isn’t that mine?” “Sorry. When I was shot yesterday, it took the bullet for me and broke.” “When you were what ?” She shrugged and didn’t explain further. Lillie laughed quietly. “Something similar would have happened regardless. You heard everything from our commander, didn’t you? When you travel to the past, you are supposed to give that pendant to a girl. And then…” “Hold on. I bought this pendant at a festival shop,” said Berger. “I don’t know if that really is the same pendant passed down through the ages, but that isn’t what matters.” Hazel gripped the pendant and nodded at Lillie’s statement. … Yes, I understand. Lillie smiled and nodded back. Then she glanced toward the lights shining on her. “This is as far as I can go, Messiah. However…” Hazel tilted her head and Lillie narrowed her eyes and continued. “But if you wish for an undivided destiny and attempt to reach it, I promise you the moon shall assist you. And for that…” Lillie placed a hand on her chest. “You must seek out your own Text.” That was the end of it. Lillie glanced over at Berger, bowed, and walked away. She walked toward the obscuring mist to reach the light that had been shining on her for a while now. Left behind, Hazel leaned into Berger’s chest. Then she saw the lights move. They illuminated the mist as they turned around. The armored truck was leaving. The moving light vanished and the rumble of an engine reached them. Only the damp air and dark night remained. ### Part 8 Hazel breathed a sigh of relief within the shadows and the rain. Berger also sighed and wrapped his arms around the front of her body. She let him hold her and the contents of her backpack shifted position. She recalled something important. “Um, Berger.” “Hm?” “Do you want to eat somewhere? I was given some food at Borderson.” “Have you forgotten we need to hurry to Germania? We’re supposed to be at the rendezvous point in 5 hours.” “Were you planning to take 5 hours to reach Germania?” She lowered her head further and felt his heat while he held her. “We just have to make the trip faster. I was thinking we could head there right away and then use what time we have leftover to-” She stopped talking when he squeezed her in his arms. Then he forcibly turned her around in his arms. She gasped and then found her face buried in his chest. The tension drained from her right arm, so Rein König and the white cloth wrapped around that hand fell away. Rein König’s hilt landed on the little toe of Berger’s right foot. ### Part 9 Schweitzer watched as Witzmann repeated his question while picking up the breastplate. “Will you place your trust in Neue Erde or in the Messiah?” Schweitzer softly clenched his teeth. Bermark was watching him and he nodded with no expression of his own. “So what will it be? Will you let the Messiah do as she wishes? Will you ask the Messiah what it is she wishes to do? The fräulein is no longer in any condition to answer such questions. But if you value her more…” “You always use your lack of a heart to shield yourself from criticism, but this is pushing it. You’re siding with Lowenzahn, aren’t you? Everything you’ve done today helps her in the end.” “If you say so.” Bermark bowed deep with a hand on his chest and Schweitzer sighed. “So what does my aide say I can do to protect our country?” “You should focus on simply protecting it instead of on your position as the Schallmauer Zerstörer. Just like when you have twice protected the fräulein in the past.” Schweitzer frowned at that. Witzmann questioned Bermark’s comment with a hand on his chin. “Twice? I know about the dragon attack at Neuschwanstein, but what’s the other one?” “I doubt Captain Schweitzer remembers the first time either. When Frobel Naylor once visited that chamber below Munich, Sir Bertecht-” “He protected the hospital from rioters and died,” continued Witzmann. Schweitzer briefly looked up and frowned. “What does that have to do with this, Bermark?” “He initially hesitated to go assist in Munich, but then his young son told him that a Neue Kavalier is supposed to protect the things they care about.” When Bermark finished speaking, silence hung over them all. But then Schweitzer suppressed a groan and clenched his teeth hard. Bermark looked and spoke to him with no readable emotion on his face or in his voice. “Frobel Naylor was pregnant at the time and she apparently spent around 12 hours down there with Lady Rose. They discussed her unborn child to distract themselves from the anxiety.” “Enough,” rumbled Schweitzer. He removed the scarf from his shirt’s collar and loosened the collar. He took a breath and twisted his head once. “I will oppose the Messiah. I will trust in Lowenzahn and protect her. To keep my promise to the Ilfheim bloodline she may not have known she belonged to.” “Protection is not always the correct choice. Sir Graham and Lady Rose learned the hard way that protecting people can lead to greater harm in the end. And If the Messiah is right…” “Then I lose. But as a nameless fighter, not as the Schallmauer Zerstörer.” Schweitzer smiled bitterly. He saluted the two old men and turned his back. He walked away, toward the door up to the surface. “I am leaving, Bermark. Take care of those two.” “Wait, wait. We haven’t made our own choice.” “Then be quick about it. I am in a hurry.” Elrich sighed, got up, removed his brown cloak, and put on a white coat instead. “I am going to Germania. If this comes down to a battle between Neue Erde and the Messiah, Neue Erde has an unfair advantage. She already knows where destiny is headed, after all.” Elrich began to walk, but after a few steps, he looked back at Witzmann who was still seated on the floor. “What about you, youngster?” “Oh, I will be joining the AIF.” Schweitzer frowned at that one. He turned back at the door to see Elrich giving him an exaggerated shrug and Bermark as expressionless as ever. Schweitzer scratched his head and then gave a quick disheartened comment. “You really are young.” ### 788. Chapter 3: The Promise Accelerates 8/23/1943 20:26 – 21:56 I think A promise is A contract with someone And an agreement with yourself ### Part 1 The small room’s floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of wood. A single small light shined above the small table by the wall. It came from the pale flame of a rusty Phlogiston lamp. The circular light of the lamp reflected off the wall to illuminate the opposite wall. A single chair and bed sat next to that opposite wall. As did two people. A woman and a man sat with their backs to the wall. The blonde woman on the left and the black-haired man on the right. The woman wore a shirt with a towel over her shoulders. Her lower body was hidden below a blanket. A small object between the two of them weakly diffused the lamplight. It was a wine bottle. Two glasses of red liquid sat next to it and the plate next to them carried fries, salted meat, and a few leaves of boiled cabbage. To the right of the somewhat disturbed food was a silhouette with somewhat squared shoulders. That was the man. He wore a black shirt and black pants and had his legs stretched out on top of the blanket. The wind whistled in and the thick curtain over the window fluttered. The woman turned to look. “Aren’t you glad the inn you destroyed in ’39 was rebuilt?” She grabbed one of the fries and ate it. Berger did the same. “Under a different owner. This place wasn’t considered a part of Germania. But…it was ordered evacuated last year. Looks like Germany doesn’t have anything but empty shells left for me.” “Do you not like this country?” “I don’t dislike it, but I can’t forget what’s happened here either. What about you?” “That’s a good question.” She held her knees below the blanket. “I’m not sure. I lost friends, I was separated from them, I was branded on my shoulder, I had to give up my home, and so many people see me as their enemy, but…but….” “But what?” She couldn’t immediately answer him, but she finally managed it while hanging her head. “But…am I still allowed to like it?” She tilted her head at her own question, but Berger didn’t respond. He sighed, lowered the wine bottle from the bed, grabbed some of the salted meat from the plate, and ate it. “Let’s change the subject.” He shook his head. “Now that I think about it, you really are uncompromising, aren’t you?” “Wh-what is that supposed to mean?” “You said you got this food at Borderson, but it was from Eryngium, wasn’t it? Losing your memories must not change your sense of taste because I recognized this level of saltiness right away.” Her shoulders trembled in response, but he continued without turning her way. “How is she doing? Does she have a kid yet?” “Yes.” “Do you regret reminding me of the past at such a critical point in time?” “…No.” “Then why do you look ready to cry?” “B-because…” She bit her lip once, clenched her teeth, and sighed. After a moment, she continued in a vanishingly quiet voice. “Because I have to do this.” “Which is what I meant by uncompromising. C’mon, dry those tears and eat. We don’t want to leave any.” He wrapped some salted meat in a cabbage leaf and shoved it into his mouth while holding the plate out to her. She unclenched her fists and grabbed some of the meat. “Eat three at once.” She nodded and rolled them up in two leaves of cabbage. He watched her put it in her mouth before speaking. “There’s one thing you have to watch out for with Eryngium’s cooking.” She nodded her head a little while listening to him. When she moved her jaw, a solid crunch came from her mouth. Her eyes widened and he laughed. “She sometimes forgets to remove the bones.” “Th-that was mean.” “Don’t spit it out. Eat it. And remember this.” He smiled and continued with confidence. “You’re the only woman anymore who will turn around when I call her name, Hazel Mirildorf.” She reflexively turned toward him when she realized what he meant. She saw him rub a hand through his hair. “I won’t say it again, so don’t forget it.” She nodded several times with the edge of a cabbage leaf sticking out of her mouth. The movement of her head caused a single tear to fall from her eye. “Hazel, don’t talk or cry with your mouth full. We’ll find out tonight whether the world will change or loop, so try to hold it together until then.” He sighed. “But if this goes well, the world won’t change all that much even after stopping the Wheel of Destiny.” ### Part 2 Eh? Hazel looked at him. … If the Wheel of Destiny is stopped, the Messiah won’t exist anymore and the world will undergo a great change. But if it wouldn’t change much… … Could the Borderson people stay the way they are? The impatience inside her colored her tone of voice. “Wh-what do you mean? What would make it ‘go well’?” “Calm down and listen, but think of it as mostly a joke, okay?” He pulled his head back at her reaction but then sighed and explained. “The Wheel of Destiny happened for Lehrer because she destroyed a millennium’s worth of Spacetime Lives along with the anxiety Lives. But what if you managed to tune those millennium’s worth of Spacetime Lives?” She considered it, spreading out her hands and counting on her fingers. “Um, so you want me to use my Tuning on the Spacetime Lives extracted within Tristan?” “You get what that would do, right? Tuning requires the Tuner to stay with the Lives until the tuning is complete. If you tuned a millennium’s worth, then you would travel with the Lives and end up a thousand years in the past. That would tune rather than destroy the Spacetime Lives but still send the Messiah to the past.” That would create a past with the Messiah without making the world play out another loop. However… “B-but that only works if Tristan extracts those Lives.” “Yes, you would have to target precisely a thousand years of the Spacetime Lives and Tristan isn’t going to extract only what you need. Besides, tuning Lives on that scale would require a Device that’s up to the task. One that makes Rein König look like a toy. Which is why I called it a joke.” He smiled and she sighed. “Come to think of it, when the Geheimnis Agency Commander spoke to me at their Hamburg base last month, she said she would target the Spacetime Lives with my Messiah eye and try to avoid as much damage to them as possible when the ACBS hit.” “Yeah, even they have to look at it as an ‘as much as possible’ kind of thing. But…the way things are headed, that will be the only option.” Berger gave her an exasperated smile. “Sorry. Did that get you down?” “No. I’m kind of happy to learn you’ve been thinking about this, actually. I’ve been wishing I could do something like that too ever since leaving Borderson.” She smiled and finished eating her cabbage and meat while being careful about possible bones. … He’s thinking about the same thing. She wiped off her hands with a towel and touched her chest through her shirt to find her pulse was elevated. … I need to calm down. She tried to set aside her fear and speak the words in her heart, but he spoke before she could get her mouth open. “Hey, are you serious about learning about our past, Hazel?” That was exactly what she had been hesitant to ask about. “Even if that means going at it as a continuation of what we started in Borderson?” “C-could you try to find a more tactful way of putting that?” “I am trying. …You get what I mean, right? You have a Lives combat style, so you can read the German Lives injected into me if we sleep together.” “Yes, and that should include the History Lives that have repeated time and time again.” He stopped talking when she said that, but then he slowly nodded and continued. “You’d figured that out? Lehrer told me there was one way to make sure she didn’t disappear.” The German Lives injected into the two of them would include the Memory Lives from the versions of them and of Sylphide that had been destroyed by the loops. … And it’s easier to read the ones in someone else than the ones in yourself. “Will you let me read our many pasts? Including Lehrer’s? I should be able to find some part of my own Text there and it will let me inherit all of my past selves.” “Sure. It should also let you cheat when it comes to your Ober Beweisen. Not that it matters now that you want to stop the cycle.” “True.” She smiled but then her eyebrows drooped. “But are you sure about this? If I’m going to read the injected German Lives, I have to start with-” “With my past and the Text for Gelegenheit’s Ober Beweisen, yeah.” He stopped there before suddenly pulling her toward him. It was a forceful act, but she didn’t fight it. She practically toppled onto her side in his arms and she reacted by purring. ### Part 3 Her body heated up quickly thanks to the wine. At first, his hands felt ticklish touching her through her shirt. But once they began kissing and breathing more heavily, that changed to something sharper than ticklish. Her other senses were growing sharper too. He held her in his left arm and lay her down on her back. When he leaned over her and touched her, her body moved more than she expected. He reached for the collar of her shirt and undid the top button. “Ah.” One by one, he undid the buttons down to her hips and his face sank into the exposed skin. His lips and damp tongue felt so much softer than his fingers as they touched her collarbones and worked their way down. Her heart pounded extra hard when she suddenly recalled what had happened last year in Borderson. “U-um, Berger. If you’re going to b-bite me, warn me first.” “Really? Then do I need to warn you before every grope and lick too?” “Eh? But…” “Grope, grope, lick, lick, bite, grope, pinch, lick.” “Hey, ah, wait, you’re not a puppy, you pervert!” “What, I’m just doing what you asked? Bite!” The sensation that vanished from below her navel suddenly came back as hard teeth biting at her collarbone. She yelped and twisted her body and he reached down to finish unbuttoning her shirt. Her twisting stripped the shirt from her, revealing her in nothing but her underwear. “Oh.” She looked up at him, but he was only unbuttoning his own shirt and looking down at her. Unsure what to do, she lifted her knees and tried to press her thighs together, but… “Um, Berger? What is your hand doing between my legs?” “Open sesame!” His hand grabbed her left inner thigh and she realized she had a thin layer of sweat on her legs. She reflexively spread her legs a bit to avoid the damp sensation. He shifted to the right to avoid her moving leg. A moment later, he pulled down her underwear. Before she could say a thing, she felt the white cloth catch on her foot and then it was in his hand. It all happened so fast she wasn’t sure what she should say, if she should say anything at all, or what she should do. Meanwhile, he looked at the underwear in his hand. “Fancy.” “I-I don’t need your opinion on that!” “Now, now.” He set the underwear down on the bed, pulled his left hand out from below her half-removed shirt, and stuck it between the shirt and her back instead. His right hand removed her bra, so her chest lost its support and felt the air. She tried twisting her body to see if she was frozen up with tension or not. She could move. So she relaxed and shifted her position to remove her shirt while still lying down. Then she twisted toward Berger on her right. He moved his right hand between her somewhat spread thighs to touch her left inner thigh again. She looked him in the eye and spread her legs some more. “What should we do? We are a cat and a dog, after all.” “Too scared to do it on your back?” “No. From the front, I can hold you when you hold me.” Hazel faced the ceiling and spread her legs while watching Berger move above her again. “This is embarrassing. But it’s a little late for that, I guess.” “You’re the one with a habit of showing up naked in front of me.” “I don’t do it on purpose. But this is different because I’m getting naked so you can see me and lick me.” “That is one hell of a seductive thing to say.” “I-is it?” He sighed and pulled his hand from her back. He shifted himself a bit further up, raised his biological right hand, and touched her hair splayed out on the bed. “But maybe you can’t help it. Lehrer told me that, once you reach your 20s, spring and summer are your mating season and you can’t resist.” She could feel herself blushing and she shouted back without thinking. “That is a lie! It is true I feel a tingling sensation near my butt at the start of summer, though.” “Wait, so it’s past that season now?” He looked legitimately surprised. “D-did you think I was in heat all this time?” “Well…” He lowered his gaze to between her legs and slowly looked back up to her face. “Can you blame me?” “Y-yes, I can!” “Oh, shut up. And whether you are or not…” He lowered his gaze to between her legs again and finally looked back up again. “I don’t think it matters.” “A-again, I-” She started to protest, but she decided to let it slide when he rubbed her head. He moved his hand from her ear down to her neck and touched her choker and the pendant. “Please don’t remove those.” He silently lowered his face to her throat. His breath felt ticklish as he placed the choker and her left side of her throat between his hard teeth. She cried out and jumped. Then he pressed his teeth against the right side. “W-wait. My throat is sensitive. Because I’m a cat.” She wrapped her arms around his back to hold him. He stroked her throat with his right hand and she ticklishly lifted her chin. Then he bit her exposed throat again. Her breathing grew heavy. She let out a heavy breath and sweat poured from her. He sat up and she tried to tighten her grip to keep her arms around him, but… “Oh?” A broken and heated breath left her mouth and her arms fell limply to the blanket. She felt a damp sensation on her chest. After escaping her arms, Berger was traveling down her body with his lips and tongue. His arm relaxed its embrace on her as he moved ever downward. When he kissed her spread legs and held her thighs from below, she raised her head and looked at him. “Um, uh, Berger? Um, what are you doing?” “Only what you told me to do. I shouldn’t have to warn you of that.” “Eh? You mean look at me and lick me? Ah, wait, th-that’s not playing fair!” She protested and twisted her body, but it didn’t last. She let him do it plenty. When she stopped resisting and let her body react how it wanted, her voice, sweat, and movements came out much more naturally. She breathed heavily, shut her eyes, and then opened them again to see Berger with the ceiling behind him. His black eyes stared down at her and he asked a question. “Are you afraid?” His voice, the blanket and shirt behind her back, and the pale light all worked to sharpen her focus. … Now that you mention it… She recalled something. To confirm that memory, she slowly held her left palm out toward him. The hand was still weak, like she had just woken up. Eventually, he grabbed that hand. The strength of his fingers interlocking with hers let her focus on her own presence here. She tried to smile. She wasn’t sure if she managed it, but she did know her view of her hand in his began to blur and he started talking again. “Hazel.” She viewed his face in her blurring vision. He looked completely serious. “What will you do if my joke from before becomes real? What if you could go to the past like that?” “Would you join me in the past?” He hesitated, but he did nod in the end. She giggled at how deadly serious he looked. “We are bound by the German Lives, aren’t we? But I’m glad to hear you say that.” She took a breath. “As thanks, I have something to tell you.” ### Part 4 Hazel was faltering but firm. “Once, there was a girl. She thought of herself as fairly smart and was proud of that, but she never could say the things she really wanted to say. As she grew up, she started having nightmares. She dreamed of war, of being trampled by great crowds of people…and of saying goodbye to someone she loved.” “I’ve had similar dreams.” They both laughed bitterly and she nodded. “The girl always thought the person she had to say goodbye to in her dream was her father. So whenever she had that nightmare, she would reach her hand out toward his back as he left. And of course, he never took that hand.” She took a breath. “But then a hand did grab her outstretched hand. But this wasn’t her father – it was someone else she loved. And it wasn’t in a dream – it was very real.” She looked to Berger without letting go of his hand. “Do you remember when we first met? In ’37 in that small room below Berlin, that person stayed by my side while I was having my nightmare and he held my hand.” “I was only-” “I don’t think that happened for any of my past selves. Because no one ever took my hand in the nightmares.” “….” “He took my hand and he told me ‘it’s okay’.” She smiled bitterly. “But he saw me naked, which wasn’t at all ‘okay’ for a precocious teenager.” Her bitter smile grew, but it didn’t last. She couldn’t find anything else to say and closed her eyes. A hot liquid that wasn’t sweat dripped from her closed eyelids and fell back toward her ears. She took a few awkward breaths and then got her trembling voice out. “Do you remember that?” “Hazel.” She opened her eyes when he called her name. She knew her face was far from presentable, but there was no helping that. “The snot running down your face is ruining the moment.” “B-but this is important to me.” “It’s okay,” he said. His expression was a mixture of tension and a smile. Her heart pounded in her chest. Before she could say anything, he sank down and held her in his prosthetic arm. He lifted her hips just a bit and placed them on his lap. She shut her eyes and his lips touched her eyelid. When he licked up her tears, she held him in her right arm and wrapped her legs around him. “You’re right. It is okay.” She breathed in and continued with a smile. “So let me see all of you.” She felt strength enter his arm. ### Part 5 When she raised her head, Hazel found herself seated in a chair. It was the kind of wooden chair she had used at school. It was damaged in places, but someone had tried to disguise that with varnish. She looked down at herself in the chair and found she wasn’t wearing anything. She looked around for something to wear and noticed a white tablecloth on the large square table in front of her. “Umm.” She held a hand to her mouth in thought, but ultimately decided to remove the tablecloth. She wrapped it around herself and tied it above her chest. She made sure the knot was good and tight, nodded in satisfaction, and took another look around. This was a large room filled with the midday sun. Several full bookcases were lined up on the floor. This was Berlin’s central library. She had fought there one night a month before, but… “I used to come here with my friends a lot in middle school. …Oh?” She could no longer see the chair and table from before. They had vanished. She also heard countless sounds of flipping pages. The dry sounds would not stop and they sent a tremor through her. All of a sudden, there was a flood of people around her. She looked behind her in shock and saw children and adults – men and women – standing in front of the bookcases and reading the books. Their sudden appearance made her press her back against the nearest bookcase and hide herself. But they didn’t move from the bookcases or even look her way. They simply stood there reading their books. They would pull a book from a shelf, open it, flip through the pages, close it, and return it to the shelf. Then they would pull out a book again. “It’s always the same book as before.” They repeated the same thing over and over, rereading the same book each time. She commented on the endless sound of their constant rereading. “These are the messages forming Berger’s Lives.” She stared at them and then narrowed her eyes. “None of the people inside him are old.” She smiled with just her mouth at that, but then she found herself somewhere else again. Now she saw the library counter in front of her. A woman stood behind it. Hazel recognized her. She looked a little weird since she was younger than when Hazel had seen her, but she spoke the woman’s name to get past that weirdness. “Eryngium.” Eryngium wore work clothing and she simply narrowed her eyes in a smile behind the counter. A large writing desk sat behind her. A few dictionaries and a pile of letters and other papers covered in writing sat on the desk. The desk’s side table carried a half-eaten sandwich and a cup of coffee with no steam rising from it. Further back, Hazel saw a desk with a large vise-like device attached. A wooden frame sat on that desk and the floor around it was littered with scraps of black and brown leather. It appeared to be a bookbinder’s desk, but no one sat there currently. … Where did they go? She kept that question inside and looked to Eryngium again. The young, slender woman gave her a smiling look and said nothing. Hazel noticed her collar was open. She saw two colors on the exposed skin there. The first was a scar running from her chest to her throat. As a sword-user, Hazel immediately recognized it as a blade scar, so she must have suffered a wound that left an inch-wide scar on her throat. … That could have easily killed her! Her eyes widened and she noticed the other color next to the scar. Text was written on Eryngium’s skin in black ink. A lot of text. Hazel gasped and looked up to find Eryngium meeting her gaze. ### Part 6 Hazel heard falling rain. She couldn’t see. Everything was dark. But her arms’ senses were heightened. Her arms were held out in front of her and a weight bore down on her elbows. She was standing up with someone in her arms. She was experiencing someone else’s senses of hearing and touch. When she realized that, she suddenly felt very cold. She was feeling the rain hit her. She also heard the rain. A male voice suddenly reached her through the falling raindrops ahead of her. “How did it turn out this way?” The tone of voice was neither high nor low – it was perfectly calm. Hazel did not recognize the voice. She heard a radio playing behind the voice. She was out in the rain, but she must have been standing in front of… … A house’s front door? She could not ask her question out loud. But she did feel her mouth moving. And her mouth spoke with Berger’s voice. “We didn’t mean to kill her. Even they were only here to recommend she go to the Village of Pardons.” “But the director rejected their mercy and refused to stop compiling history and you wanted Eryngium to escape but she refused to?” The unfamiliar voice spoke slowly but showed no emotion. “What did she say when she refused to flee?” “Just that she didn’t want to run away.” “I see,” said the voice. “Where is Alfred? He was the one who cut her down, wasn’t he?” “Schweitzer forcibly took him away. Punched him in the gut to calm him down.” Bitter laughter. “I used my power to fight back…but while I did drive them away, I couldn’t protect her.” “That is probably the punishment for your hubris. So what will you do now?” “I want your help. She isn’t actually dead yet. Her pulse is weak, but she is still alive.” “I am not a doctor. I am an engineer.” “That’s why I need your help. You needed a specimen for that Eingeweide device you’re working on, right? I’m going to use my power just once to try and heal her. But there will be a cost. I need something to replace the Tons inside her that I’ll use to heal her wound. That will eliminate her wound, but it will cause another wound somewhere else.” “This is sounding serious. Are you going to use your divine power to alter a dead girl’s destiny?” “And then I’ll say goodbye. I never plan to see her again,” said Berger. “Our hubris killed Eryngium here, so I’m never overestimating myself again. I’ll settle for second best. So…” “You don’t need to state your conviction out loud. There are only two things you need to say here,” said the voice. “What will you use as payment for healing her? And what will you give me to create the Eingeweide? If your answer doesn’t catch my interest, I will not let you inside. …So answer me.” Berger fell silent. His senses told Hazel he had lowered his head. … He must be looking at Eryngium in his arms. Then he moved his head in a nod. “I will use the Tons of her memories. I will use them to overwrite as much of her wound’s Tons as I can and erase it altogether.” “Why that? Wouldn’t a leg or an arm work just as well?” “How is she supposed to live a new life if she remembers what happened today? Is this my hubris talking again?” “Hah. This sounds self-destructive to me, but I accept. And your other answer?” “Some of her memory Tons should be left over after overwriting her wound, so I’ll mix her memories with the divine Tons inside me, convert that into a spirit stone, and give it to you.” “You will abandon your divinity? You could find unmatched power and glory there.” “I’m only half-god, so I’m not immortal or anything. All I have is this power I can’t even use while I lose the person standing by my side.” Berger hung his head. “Help me heal her. And give me a weapon. A weapon that lets me cut away myself so I never have to lose someone else again. A weapon that lets me remain second best.” He did not immediately receive a response. Hazel heard only the rain for a few seconds, but then she heard the dry sound of clapping hands. “I will help you and I will give you a weapon. So that you can remain yourself after this. However…” “What?” “Make no mistake. I am not kind enough to help you resign yourself to your fate. The weapon I give you will let you one day reclaim your divine power and place someone else by your side.” Berger laughed bitterly at that. “Like that’s ever happening,” he spat toward the ground. But the man responded with no smile in his voice. “Just remember that even the dumbest god can find salvation. That is why I will name your weapon Gelegenheit. Destiny is something that suddenly comes knocking at your door, that refuses to let go of your hand, and that trusts you while staying at your side.” He laughed softly. “Enter. Remember what I have said, Dog Berger. I will not-” “Yeah, yeah. I know. You won’t say it again, so don’t forget it, right?” Berger nodded and spoke the man’s name. “Like I could ever forget this, Marsch Gant.” ### Part 7 Hazel sensed her vision was back and opened her eyes to find herself outside. She gasped and looked up in the sky to find it was blue. The ground below her was a green field. She felt a light breeze on her skin and the green grass tickling her ankles. She could not see the end of the earth. The blue sky and green field continued as far as the eye could see. “I thought I was outside Berlin’s central library.” She looked behind her, but the library was gone. “Eh?” But something else was there: a small door. A door in a small wooden frame stood in the middle of the field. It sat open and she could see the library from before through it. When she peered through the wooden doorframe standing in the field, she saw Eryngium standing alone at the counter. The busy readers were still at the bookcases too. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief at finding the library was still there. She realized something else as well. … I’ve seen this door before. She saw it when she entered Germania a month before. … This was the door in the library’s underground room where I met up with Berger. The door had been deep below the ground, but now it was below the open sky. She viewed the door and looked up to the sky. Then she looked down to the green ground. She looked all around, spotting a few tall apple trees growing around the door. “Oh?” One patch of the field wasn’t colored the green of grass. It was the white of paper. She walked over to the paper and smiled at how the soft grass tickled her bare feet. She stopped and looked down to see the paper was blank. She hesitantly picked it up. “Eh?” Now there was a large desk in front of her. A man in a black coat sat with his back to her in the desk chair. He was using a pen to write something on the many papers on the desk. He would occasionally pause to check a dictionary before continuing. His hair, shirt, and pants were all black. She only knew one person who looked like that. “Berger?” He did not respond. He kept his back to her and continued working. He showed no sign of turning around. She sighed and waited, keeping her eyes on his back. The wind blew through, rustling the leaves of the apple trees. The whisper of the leaves was louder than the wind itself and it made the wind sound more like a crashing wave. She looked to the sky to see thin strands of cloud stretching out further and further. The wind must be strong, she realized before noticing movement out of the corner of her eye. The man seated in front of her held his metal left arm toward her over his other shoulder. The hand was spread wide and it wasn’t moving. “Do you want this paper?” He didn’t answer her. But she handed him the paper she had picked up. He didn’t thank her before pulling his hand back, laying the paper on the desk, and writing on it with the pen in his right hand. After a few seconds, the work was complete. The moment after that, he held the paper out with his left hand. She took it with her right hand. He immediately pulled his hand back and got back to work. He opened up the dictionary on the desk, pulled out another sheet of paper, and began writing. Hazel looked at him, not the paper he had given her. “Why?” She glanced behind her in the wind. She could see the library through the small door. Eryngium and so many other people were in there. “Why are you out here, away from the others?” She looked back to him. He continued his work. But she noticed something on the desk. A letter opener with its grip modeled after hair sat in the pen holder with its bottom end pointed up. A new color had been added to its gold grip. A black ribbon-like string was tied around it near the end. “Oh,” she gasped and reflexively reached for her throat. But her fingers found nothing there. This was his place, so she gave one deep nod and unfolded the paper in her hand. Only a few words were written there. They were the Text that Berger used for his Ober Beweisen. ### Part 8 Hazel’s mind was on the move. Images, sounds, and emotions from the past rushed into her own memories. Things both big and small flowed in together, making waves and never ceasing. She gasped as she worked to see and hear those things, not just accept them. … These are the memories from the German Lives. They covered a massive span of time. Instead of directly entering her, they had their own senses and carried her through time. First, she was high in the sky. The wind blew through and caressed the mountains. A forest grew at the foot of the mountains and the earth was found below the forest. There were Heidengeists, humans, and dragons there. A village formed on the riverside, it grew into twin cities, to a fortress city, and finally to Berlin. A promise was made and the world was set in motion. New friends were made, new battles were fought, and a goodbye was said. The forest covering the earth was cleared away, the mountains were shattered, and a metal cross split the sky. Night fell. She stood atop the giant cross overlooking all of Germany. She held a white sword in her hand. She looked back to see a man in a black coat and a blue aerial warship resembling a blade. No one was moving. She faced the wall of the cross. All of its metal armor had bent and it was starting to swell out unnaturally. She responded to the change by glancing down at the military watch on her left wrist. It was currently 4:40 AM. “So it really does all end at this time. If this Live disturbance continues for another two minutes, it will create a giant monster carrying the Spacetime Lives and the world will be destroyed.” She moved her hands to raise her sword. “I must believe the correct answer will be reached eventually. Maybe it will be the next me or maybe the one after that, but I must believe that, after countless turns of the wheel, someone will eventually choose a destiny that was not forced onto her.” And… “Eingeweide Eye Messiah – Ober Beweisen!” Her right eye glowed red. The intensity of the light changed, but instead of growing stronger, it grew sharper. “The all-controlling Messiah’s Text is the answer to it all.” The wind blew and the metal wall before her rattled extra hard like something had struck it from the inside. Her lips parted to speak her own Text. ### Part 9 She didn’t hear her Text – she sensed its meaning. The very next moment, she found her mind floating in a void. The past memory had ended. That was the only thing she knew for sure. The last thing she saw was a very familiar memory. It was one of Berger’s memories related to her. She felt her mind falling and then saw herself through Berger’s eyes. First, she saw a memory from last month. She had Schwarz Löwe’s vision after it fell before the emperor. She saw her own back standing in front of it, but the black Heavy Barrel was trying to stand back up to move in front of her. She saw a memory of the Cologne schoolyard from last year. She saw herself about to be shot by a Live bullet. She had been trying to protect Berger, but he instead protected her by getting on top of her. She saw her own face with eyes and mouth squeezed shut and felt Berger breathing a sigh of relief. She saw a memory of returning to the same inn back in ’39. She heard a voice calling his name as her vision burst into the room and saw a girl trembling by the wall before anything else. She saw a memory from the college campus in ’37. A girl was running from pursuing gunfire while holding a pair of sandals. Her gaze looked down to the girl’s running feet, noting how she was liable to trip. The memory suddenly changed again. She was in a dark room with the faint light illuminating a naked girl sleeping in the bed. She was frowning and holding out a hand, so he held that hand in a firm grip and spoke to her. “It’s okay.” Her mind nodded at those words. … He never told me anything. “But he did agree to go to the past with me.” Her mind was being released from the memories. But she wanted to reward him in some way. … Maybe I’m just being a selfish nuisance with this. “You can be yourself. Don’t restrict yourself for anyone else’s sake.” She pondered her own words for a moment and then something burst deep in her mind. She felt a great heat. Then the memories ended. ### 789. Chapter 4: The Promise Races 8/24/1943 00:02 – 02:40 The battle begins. ### Part 1 The rainclouds began to pull away, revealing a palely-glowing sea. The vast sea was created from the fog and the light. It was colored a pale red and had to be at least 40 miles across. A great cross jutted toward the sky at the center of the light. The cross produced no light, remaining dark as it loomed over the glowing fog sea below. The glow came from the city below the fog. The city of Germania. The layered city had six underground levels and the lights of each level combined in the large holes before they were released into the sky. The lights shined on the fog from below, creating the glowing sea. At one point of the sea, small lights were constantly on the move. That was Tempelhof Airport at the south end of Germania. A few shapes were moving within the fog over the airport. The crafts in the standby zone bore a wyvern emblem on their dark, oblong sides. No one could be seen in their canopies. However, a large man in a black coat and a short man in a white coat stood next to them. A Grösse Panzer standing more than 20 yards tall towered into the fog across from them. The Grösse Panzer’s sight devices glowed red in the fog to view the white coat man. “Once the Himmelschild dome is in place, every Geheimnis Agency military division will take up defensive positions south of Tristan. The military’s main nine armies will be positioned outside the Himmelschild to the north and west of Tristan to form a defensive line fortified with heavy AA guns to prepare against the bombing. The field artillery and armored units will be positioned to the east.” “Do you think the bombers are coming?” “No. The AIF is coming. A small and highly mobile elite force will attempt to pass through Germania and reach Tristan. But I have also set up the military along a wide defensive line just in case. That should take time to break through. See, the AIF isn’t interested in how many of our forces they take out – they need to break in and break in fast.” And… “An abnormal number of aircraft and monsters have been detected entering Germany over the past two weeks. We managed to intercept 80% of them, but not all.” “And the AIF is like us,” said Elrich. “One of them is worth as much as an ordinary army. If the AIF has sent in all their forces, then that 20% will attempt to break into Germania.” Schweitzer nodded. “Chief Elrich, we need to hurry. I don’t even know if there are still any posts left for us.” “True. Okay, Karl, this might be the last time we see each other. Try to get along with that wife of yours.” “I would have done that regardless.” Karl slowly turned to face the east. His vocal device asked one last question as he turned his back. “What happened to Witzmann?” “He went to snap a photo of the Messiah.” Karl’s artificial voice made a “?” noise but then he continued, sounding satisfied. “Hah. So you know everything now. That could be trouble.” Karl completed his turn, facing east to reach his post. He disturbed the fog around him before fading into a shadow. Elrich watched the mountainous shadow rapidly leave through the fog. “Okay, let’s get to Tristan, youngster.” “What do you intend to do there?” asked Schweitzer. “Set everything up so I can see the truth.” “What truth?” “I trust our commander. I trust the Messiah too. But I trust the truth most of all. And at the moment, everything is working for the commander. The truth can only be found when no one has stacked the deck and all options are on the table.” Elrich looked back over his shoulder at Schweitzer and tilted his head. “I do not recommend aging. It makes you talk too much.” Schweitzer laughed bitterly. “That just shows how young you still are.” Elrich laughed bitterly too and slapped Schweitzer’s shoulder. That was when a wind blew through overhead. The giant cross visible in the fog had begun to produce a glowing umbrella. ### Part 2 A rebuilt inn had a parking lot bordering the forest behind it. It was a small parking lot with room for only four cars. It wasn’t even paved. But it was made to be hidden from the front of the inn. Germania and its dome were already visible in the northern sky. A camouflaging sheet hung from the inn’s roof to cover the parking lot. The sheet was made to look like a grassy field when viewed from above and it was even set up to work in this fog. Below the sheet, around 40 people sat holding their weapons. They all wore the gray uniforms of the AIF. One man stood in the center of them. He was a large man with two prosthetic arms. He had gray hair and only one eye and he currently viewed them all with a few documents in hand. “That concludes our review of Operation Glossolalia. The biggest change is Hazel using her Tuning to revive Neue Erde and use that to stop Tristan. Our time limit is 3 AM. At that time, the Allies will begin their ley line reversal in earnest and push Neue Erde to its limits. They will also launch their ACBS. That means our job is to stop Tristan by then. If we do, the Allies will not launch their ACBS and we can stop the Wheel of Destiny.” He took a breath. “If we do stop Tristan, this world’s history will connect to a new history at 4:42 AM. The destiny created by the Wheel of Destiny will be replaced by an unseen true history, which will erase the Messiah’s legend and revolutionize the world. So if this goes well, try to get along with them until the change hits.” They all fell silent, but they did nod with just their eyes. After that one nod, they all looked up at Pale again. Undaunted, he looked back at all of them, accepting their gazes equally. He checked his documents before continuing. “That about covers it. All the company commanders and higher have their new orders, right? We need to split up, so pay careful attention. And use of Moon Ash is forbidden since our enemy will include Hounds. …Corelle?” “What is it?” One of the seated soldiers raised her hand. Corelle did not look pleased. Pale looked to her. “Maybe it’s a little late to be asking this, but can you fly that big old transport ship through the gap in the dome?” “I can get it through a 30-yard gap if you need me to. I’m more worried about the RB arriving from the border in time. Coolers was part of the main unit, but he was apparently late to arrive.” “Well, we’ll destroy the roads with just enough left over to use as a runway, so the rest is up to you.” Corelle crossed her arms, pulled a card from her pocket, and viewed it. “Looks like you can relax. The card is still Strength. This should work.” “It should, huh? We’re a boring bunch, aren’t we?” “You can say that again,” said a male voice. “Only 20% of us managed to get here. And it was questionable if we could get an entire battalion’s worth to begin with.” That was Berger who sat with his back against the inn wall. He calmly accepted all the eyes gathered on him and stared at Gelegenheit held up in front of him. “Just take it easy, everyone. If Hazel dies, we’ll wish we still had the Wheel of Destiny option left. So if that happens, you might as well go on a suicidal rampage of revenge.” “Your damn pessimism is not what we need right now. Do I need to drown you in the spring out back?” asked Pale. Berger laughed. “C’mon, we were all thinking it. In a way, we’re the ones fighting to destroy the current world. Only the Wheel of Destiny is holding our world together and here we are trying to- ow ow ow!” He yelped in pain and everyone’s eyes focused on the person next to him. A much brighter color sat by the inn wall there. The blonde woman in a women’s AIF combat uniform was Hazel. Her left arm wore a military watch and held a white sword and her right arm was pinching Berger’s left ear. “Why. Must. You. Be. So. Cynical. About. Everything?” “Ow ow ow! Hey, hey, hey! Why are you in such a bad mood?” “Hmph.” She turned away from him and let go of his ear. She was comparing his current comments to the “joke” he had told a few hours prior. … He can’t open up around other people and he hides behind a wall of cynicism and sarcasm. She sighed. … Our new orders have us on different routes, but he hasn’t said a thing about it. Berger’s Neue Schwarz was key to their attack on Germania. He would go east and Pale would go west. Once those diversions were in place, Hazel would be using the elevated railroad to enter Germania from the south. She would rendezvous with the RB-21 there and fly up to the top of Tristan. The original plan had been to break in by force, but they had been forced to change that after seeing how many people had actually shown up. … It’s a shame our plans had to change. And… She narrowed her eyes and viewed the AIF members lined up in front of her. “I hate all of you.” Pale alone tilted his head at that and looked to Corelle. “What’s with her?” “Oh, we all spied on her afterwards .” “After what?” “You don’t have to tell him!” shouted Hazel, blushing. Then she noticed Berger had turned the other way and lowered his head. But his shoulders gave him away. “Why are you laughing, Berger?” “Because of you, Hazel. You really are – how should I put it? – the most serious person in the world when it comes to yourself.” “B-but it was my first time and then they did that!” She raised her voice in protest and everyone else asked a straight-faced question. “Your first time?” “Oh.” Her shoulders shrank down and she looked away. Pale, Corelle, and everyone else stared at her without even blinking. “Oops,” she muttered under her breath and turned to Berger, hoping for some help. He still had his back turned and his shoulders shaking. Realizing he wouldn’t be any help, she faced forward again. Everyone was still staring at her. Corelle raised her forearm and asked a question on the group’s behalf. “What is this about, Hazel? Don’t worry. If you anger me, I won’t do anything worse than kill you.” “B-but, um, uh.” Hazel’s voice and body shrank down and she clutched Rein König in both hands just in case. Then she heard a voice speaking from the foggy forest behind all of them. “Yes, I imagine it was your first time. The rest of you have a lot to learn when it comes to observing people.” Everyone turned toward the unfamiliar elderly voice coming from the fog obscuring the forest. They readied their weapons, but they remained seated and showed no killer intent. “Not bad,” said the voice in the fog as it approached them. The white curtain of fog parted and an old man appeared. He had a bald head and wore a three-piece suit. He stopped just outside the forest with his hand in his pockets. “Most of you won’t know who I am. I am Geheimnis Agency Intelligence Division Chief-” “Galue Witzmann!” shouted Berger. A moment later, everyone truly readied to fight. But a voice stopped them. It came from Witzmann himself. He spread his empty hands to show them off. “Calm down, why don’t you? If I was your enemy, you would all be dead by now. Isn’t that right?” Pale tilted his head. “What’s that supposed to mean, Mr. Witzmann? You aren’t making any sense.” “Maybe not.” Witzmann nodded deeply and pulled an album from his pocket. He flipped through it and showed off a few photos of Hazel. “You see, based on the intelligence division’s superb observation records, that would indeed have been the Messiah’s first time.” “Not about that.” “I’m only kidding.” Witzmann put the album away. “Destiny has gone off the rails and taken so many things with it. The Neue Erde has altered many things to oppose the Messiah and swapped out the mechanical gears to fortify her position.” He looked to the others. “You, on the other hand, are at severe disadvantage due to your ignorance. This battle deserves to be fought on equal ground. No one can complain about or resent the result then.” “So the intelligence division chief himself is going to leak intel to us?” asked Pale. Witzmann shook his head. “I never said that.” He turned toward Hazel and she bowed toward his narrow, smiling eyes. He nodded back. “To be cryptic about it, let’s just say I am ensuring this will be a fair fight.” ### Part 3 The top floor of Tristan provided a view of the glowing ocean and umbrella that covered Germania. That space doubled as a viewing platform and a large meeting room. The southern wall was a window of blast-resistant glass. The lights were currently off and the thick glass bent the outside light a bit as it provided a view of the scenery below. Two people stood next to the window. The man on the left was tall and had two prosthetic arms. The man on the right was short and plump. They were both lowering their heads to look down from the window. The fog covered Germania, its nearby forest park, and the river. Germania’s lights made the fog look like a faint white film and it rippled from the wind and the city’s movement. The fog on the surface below was mirrored by the dome above. The shorter of the men spoke in the light from above and below. “Sir Heiliger, the Allies have begun their reversal of the ley lines into Tristan. All of the world’s anxiety Tons are being sent to Germany and the management team has already detected a powerful reaction.” “It will grow even more powerful before long. We must increase Tristan’s output to push back the anxiety.” “According to the control team, the current pace will shift control authority to Neue Erde at 2:30 AM.” “Then our commander must protect it all with her own power.” Heiliger looked to the right, viewing the short man in profile. “I am sorry about this, Müller. I know Lowenzahn was your daughter for a time.” “It couldn’t be helped.” Müller sighed. “I still understand so little of this, but I do know that she wanted this herself.” “Is that why you did not give the Schallmauer Zerstörer his usual company and assigned him to guard Lowenzahn after he failed to show up at the appointed time? Was it out of sympathy for her?” Müller raised his expressionless head at that. But he did not look to Heiliger. He looked into the sky where some rainclouds still lingered. “I really hope the AIF does not show up.” “You never were any good at changing the subject.” “That is my answer to all of this. After all, most of this fog below us was likely created by an AIF divine spell team.” Müller stared at the fog and smiled a little. “But it is a shame,” he said. “Captain Hellard is the son of your former aide Bertecht. That former Schallmauer Zerstörer protected everything he held dear, but he lost his life in the end.” “I wonder if his son is a knight in the same vein,” said Heiliger. “If he is, he will attempt something similar tonight. The question is: can he protect Lowenzahn?” “What do you think?” “I live in the name of a promise I made – in the name of Tragisch.” That response wiped the smile from Müller’s face. His eyebrows rose a little as he looked to Heiliger. Heiliger was already looking at him. They exchanged a look between their very different heights and Heiliger spoke. “Of course, people are not bound by their names and their roles. But some people do fulfill their name or their role like they are fulfilling an inaccurate prophecy.” “Do you…” Müller started to say something, but his eyes flitted over to Heiliger’s shoulder. From his perspective it was the right shoulder. The armor there had to Phlogiston Plattes installed. Müller shut his mouth and swallowed his words. His silence was answered by the wind rattling the blast-resistant glass. It sounded like the strum of a string instrument and shook the floor below their feet as well. Eventually, Müller faced forward. He viewed the sky and then lowered his gaze to Germania. “I want to redo so many things once this war is over.” “Everything will be redone before long. Just not in the way you think. However…” Heiliger let out a bitter laugh and Müller turned to look at him. Müller saw Heiliger’s eyebrows drooping slightly. “There is one thing I would love to do if this war were to end. Even it can no longer happen.” “What is that?” asked Müller, his eyes on the two Phlogiston Plattes, but Heiliger did not answer. Instead he changed the subject with his eyes shut and his expression blank. “It is time to go see the predetermined answer. And to make a decision in the name of Tragisch.” He turned around, the bottom of his black coat fluttering around him, causing the light from the window to waver for just a moment. Müller frantically turned away from Germania’s nightscape. He saw that enormous back continuing to walk away and heard the loud footsteps refusing to stop. Past the large man, chairs were scattered across the meeting room and the north wall had an elevator leading down. It was all dark. The light from the window did not reach that far, so the red emergency lights were the only source of light. But the back walking away from Müller approached those red lights with no hesitation whatsoever. “I will send out Silber Löwe – my brother’s Panzer. It should protect this city well.” He continued walking even as he spoke. ### Part 4 August 24, 1:55 AM. Flames from what was thought to be a civilian riot burned on the eastern outskirts of foggy Germania. It occurred on the border between the Geheimnis Agency division and the military division sent to defend against the coming bombing, so confusion over who was responsible delayed the response and the Geheimnis Agency got things started by making the first move. At 1:57, the military groups defending the north, east, and west of Tristan heard gun and artillery fire from the fog around Germania and saw some people moving rapidly outside the warning line. But the military did not respond. They doubted a small ground force was a real threat and they were the foundation of Germania’s defenses. At 1:59, some of Germania’s defenders made their move a few minutes earlier than usual. The Geheimnis Agency moved through the fog, quickly set up a front line, and began a battle in a region only they could enter. ### Part 5 The battle started to the east. The Spree river ran east to west through Germania and violent sounds came from along that river in the Treptow borough located outside of Germania. The muffled, repeated sounds came from the fog. They were technically inside Germania, but still outside the dome. Germania’s eastern defensive line could best hear the sounds of combat. That line was set up at the confluence of the Spree on the eastern end of Tiergarten. Above the fog hanging over the river, they could see Tristan’s hazy silhouette in the sky and a giant figure standing on the ground. That figure was Karl Schmitt, a Grösse Panzer with a pair of Drache Kanone on his back. He stood on some elevated ground looking up at the edge of Berlin’s protective umbrella. He was near the end of the bridge on the eastern end of Tiergarten. The dome shined above him, with its edge covering the city beyond the bridge. The Spree flowed north to south in front of him. The river was over 200 yards wide at this point and the bridge spanning it was large enough for a four lane road. At his end of the bridge, they had set up a pair of 75mm field guns and four 20mm machineguns aiming vertically out from Germania. Karl turned his head to view the roads stretching left and right from the bridge. The soldiers manning the machineguns and field guns were generally from the military. They were dressed differently from the Geheimnis Agents, wearing ordinary uniforms. The black of the Geheimnis Agency Army Division was nowhere to be found here. Karl silently faced forward again. Five layers of low fence barricades had been set up along the bridge. They were simple metal fences that would let bullets through but not people. After one or two fence layers, the bridge faded away into the fog. The other end of the bridge could only be seen as a pale brightness with two large silhouettes standing in it. When Karl’s vision focused on those silhouettes, a woman’s voice rang in his ear. “Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar are itching to fight.” Karl used the compound eye device installed on the side of his face to view the slim person standing on his right shoulder. It was Jeanne. She fixed the collar of her combat uniform as she continued. “How far do you think they will get? It’s been 20 minutes since an unusually small group broke through the MPs in east Treptow. Are the AIF’s elites really as powerful as we are?” “Let us pray those soldiers are unharmed. Remember, those men were civilians just a few years ago. They don’t have as strong a motive to fight as we or the AIF do.” “This isn’t looking good. The end of the war is only just beginning, but a ground unit has already made it into our capital. Tactics change with every new war. The previous war primarily came down to group battles that questioned the need for the Panzers building our foundation, but this war is more focused on aerial bombings and blitzkrieg.” “Yes, and if the AIF manages to take Tristan tonight, they will have proven the effectiveness of a new tactic – assault warfare using individuals with outstanding skills and using high-speed Grösse Panzers.” “In a way, that’s how we fight. Those are the tactics of Neue Kavaliers, not of ordinary soldiers.” Meanwhile, sounds like shattering stone reached them from the fog. The enemy was close. So Karl and Jeanne both looked to the other end of the bridge. Several people were rushing in from the foggy roads to the left and right of that end of the bridge. The people fled behind the legs of the two Panzers standing there and then ran along the river bank. “Pretending to flee while actually fortifying the sides of the bridge and directing the enemy along a single route?” “Excited to be fighting again, Jeanne? You are smiling.” “So are you.” Jeanne reached out and slapped Karl’s face armor a few times. “It isn’t just the military out there in the fog. One of our Grösse Panzer units is there too.” “To break through that, the enemy must include a Neue Kavalier of equal or greater skill. And since Treptow is full of rivers, it would also require a weapon well suited for breaking through fortified bridges. They couldn’t have gotten any tanks in here, so my guess is a flight-capable Panzer. Either a French one or…” “Dog Berger in Schwarz Löwe. The world’s second best Panzer Kavalier who survived two run-ins with Kaiser and even fought Silber Löwe.” “If only the military had sent Rot Löwe to the east.” The wind blew and the fog across the river began to shift. The rippling fog showed a change beginning in Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar. They were activating their Ober Emblems. “Incredible that the Eisen Ritter Project allows a Sein Frau to activate an Ober Emblem by linking his mind directly to a Panzer,” said Jeanne. “We need to join the fight soon,” said Karl. Jeanne nodded and turned toward the large secondary cockpit on his back. The cockpit contained weapon controls and two female aides poked their heads out. They looked worried, so she gave them a reassuring nod and looked behind her just once. The two Panzers were no longer visible in the fog across the river. But the metallic noises of combat could be heard through the fog. ### Part 6 The western defensive line had pushed the enemy back outside of Germania. The Geheimnis Agency there was led by a Hound unit comprised primarily of Air Force Fallschirmjäger. But in front of that unit was a unit of 12 Grösse Panzers. The military’s tanks were stationed across the urban area facing west. When the enemy moved in, they would fire and fall back. If the enemy withdrew, they would move forward and fire. Their role was to blockade the roads. The only usable road was the wide-open major thoroughfare. The AIF group was a Heidengeist unit led by Pale. They hid behind or on top of the buildings lining the road as they fought. The battle had reached a standstill. In the borough of Charlottenburg, several Grösse Panzers fired machineguns on the surface. The shapes moving quickly down the road were attempting to slip past the Grösse Panzers and below the dome. But they couldn’t manage it thanks to the Hounds and the barricades set up behind the Grösse Panzers. The AIF front line was led by Pale Horse, a man with two prosthetic arms. The silver-haired one-eyed man refused to fall back with a male Grösse Panzer in front of him. The Grösse Panzer was the same color as his hair. It was covered by old-style silver armor. Its name was Neue Silber. Pale moved right to dodge the silver Panzer’s sword as it jabbed just off the ground. The sword shifted to the side to pursue him. “Oh!” he roared while raising his left prosthetic arm. The metal arm had an extra-large hand that slammed into the thick blade, producing sparks. With the sound of scraping metal, Pale was lifted from the ground. His large body was launched back into the sky. But he used his Hard Wolf reflexes to twist around in midair. He punched his right fist against the sidewalk curbstone at the end of the road to spin himself around and land on the ground. His boots slammed hard into the ground. And with a breath, he rolled forward. The massive sword flew over his head before crashing into the first floor of the building behind him. Air-splitting pressure exploded within the building. Dust and wind broke through the windows, pursuing rolling Pale as a wave. He kicked off the ground to stand back up. He ran forward, toward the feet of the silver Panzer. He kept his legs moving and his boots sounding loud on the road as he moved just his eyes to observe his surroundings. Grösse Panzer legs grew from the road like a scattering of great trees, but these trees were on the move. Past them, his subordinates had split into even smaller teams to obstruct the path of the Grösse Panzers. “Didn’t think we’d make it this far this fast! Our balanced division of troops threw you off, didn’t it, Heiliger Karlsruhe? Your brother’s Silber Löwe looks good on you.” About 20 yards in front of him, Neue Silber held a sword at the ready. Pale didn’t slow his run as he pulled both his fists back. His boots pounded on the hard road while his arms made sounds of breaking metal. His fists were transforming. The panels that had formed his upper arm armor had split into three side-by-side panels. The middle panel rotated inward toward his thumb. The other two rotated toward his little and middle fingers with their ends sticking out like a ram. The usual fingers were tightly clenched, sinking into the giant palm. The two three-fingered hands of metal jabbed sharply up into the sky just once. Then the new metal fingers formed their own fists. This created a pair of even bigger fists. He ran, holding his arms down at his hips and building up his strength. Looking forward, he saw a Grösse Panzer move between him and Neue Silber. The black Panzer looked down on Pale’s path forward and raised its giant right leg. It intended to stomp him. Pale looked up at that metal foot and opened his mouth, baring his canine teeth. “Outta the way!” he shouted, swinging his left fist. The arm shot diagonally out from his hip and steam burst from the elbow to accelerate it further. The metal fist split the air. And not just once. It accelerated thrice as it flew. It produced three roars before slamming into the sole of the dropping Panzer foot. The sound and power broke through in an instant. Pale pulled the fist back as soon as it hit and the impact sent the foot flying backwards. The leg swung backwards like the Panzer had thrown a reverse kick and its upper body lost its balance. It toppled over. The 8-yard metal warrior collapsed toward Pale on the road. Pale was already spinning. He had used the force of the impact to pull his left fist back and used the rotational energy to swing his right fist overhead. He twisted his body to the left while accelerating his right fist. His boots cracked and shattered the asphalt below him. But he didn’t care. He stretched his body out like a stick and his right fist shot out at the top of that. The metal fist accelerated thrice in midair, catching the collapsing Panzer on the jaw. The simple impact had a simple result. With the crash of demolished metal, the large figure was lifted from the road. Below the airborne Panzer, Pale Horse lowered his hips with his legs embedded shin deep in the road. The Panzer’s shadow slowly flew back behind him and his own shadow was cast on the road by the dome’s light. His gray hair was a mess, his fists were pulled back behind him, and his upper body was bent over and emitting hot steam. But his eyes were directed dead ahead. He bared his teeth in a smile. “Okay, let’s do this, Heiliger. In the name of our pasts and in the name of what we’ve both lost.” He was answered by the Panzer crashing to the ground behind him. The sound of breaking metal joined the sound of breaking asphalt. However… “I am much too old to fall for your silly provocation,” said Neue Silber’s vocal device. “Coward! You would run away!?” The silver Panzer fell back before answering Pale’s question. Two other Panzers identical to the earlier one stepped between them. That was when a great noise reached them from the mist to the south. Pale briefly glanced in that direction, seeing a small red light rising into the sky through the mist. “What is that?” Pale was answered by Neue Silber while it took another step back. “A flare from our southern vanguard. It means they have located the Messiah.” The silver Panzer turned around. “You sent most of your forces to the east and west to divide our forces while you sent a small assault team down the center to Tristan. Using the railroad, most likely. Anyone could have predicted such a simple plan.” “Then you knew but still came here to lure us in?” “Our primary forces remain within Tristan. We had no way of knowing which railroad you would use, but once inside Germania, there is only one track leading to Tristan. The solution was simple: keep our cool, lure you into that singular route, and send a defense unit there.” A deep roar of straining metal came from the northeast. That was the sound of several transport vehicles loaded down with cargo. Neue Silber walked toward that noise. “We will capture the Messiah. Because that is what Neue Erde desires.” With those parting words, Neue Silber stared to walk into the fog. Pale walked toward the two Panzers left to stop him. He pulled his feet from the ground to take his first step. But his eyes remained on the silver Panzer vanishing into the fog. Toward his true opponent who was attempting to leave with the fog enveloping him. He bared his teeth and let out a deep sigh. “That overconfidence is going to get you in trouble.” He sounded disinterested. “I have one warning for you.” Still showing off his teeth, he pointed a giant metal finger toward the departing silver Panzer. “A Neue Kavalier is supposed to clear the way for the Messiah. Lose sight of that and you are in for a rude awakening, Kommandieren.” ### Part 7 Hazel ran along an elevated railroad. She was surrounded by fog. The dome already covered the sky above and she could see wide gap of Tempelhof Airport through the fog past the east wall of the railroad. Her running feet took her toward a German military truck collapsed with its belly toward her. The two trucks used by the vanguard had rolled on their sides, blocking the way ahead. The people hiding behind the truck barricade were firing into the fog. … I thought it was odd things were going so smoothly. She kept running, hearing the elderly unit commander’s voice from behind her. “They lured us in. Everyone, we need to join the vanguard. Are you ready?” She looked back to see the 20 soldiers who had been riding the third truck. Seeing them all spread out across a decent distance, she nodded. She checked side to side and viewed the sides of the elevated railroad. Due to the proximity of the airport, the railroad was built about 15 yards high to allow cargo trucks and Heavy Barrels to pass underneath. … I can see armored trucks and special vehicles gathering below. She saw the metal Lives moving around below them. “Enemy soldiers will be climbing the support pillars soon.” Before that warning from behind her was even done, they arrived at the two trucks blocking the way. A few dozen soldiers were hiding behind them. Those were the four platoons who had ridden those two trucks. A few were injured and being healed by the Tuners assigned to their unit. “Situation report?” asked the elderly commander. The man firing from behind the truck didn’t even look back as he replied. “This is all of us now and they’re gathering over there. What about the rest? Were they taken out?” Hazel looked behind them and realized she couldn’t hear the fourth truck anymore. A woman pulled headphones from her backpack and put them on, but she shook her head after a bit. Gunfire and shattering glass could be heard from the other side of the trucks. Bullets would not stop hitting the trucks. Hazel sighed and then spoke her thoughts aloud. “I need to do something.” Her voice came out louder than intended and everyone turned toward her. The gunfire suddenly stopped at the same time. … Eh? She gasped and focused on her ears. All sound had vanished from direction of Tristan. As had the killer intent. She waited for three breaths. But even then, she didn’t hear a single bullet hit the trucks or even whizz past them overhead. The man who had been firing from behind the trucks tried firing into the mist. Still no response. He crouched down and peered out. “What’s going on?” Then a somewhat higher-pitched male voice spoke from the fog. “Is that you, Messiah?” Hazel recognized the voice. “Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief Herbert Müller?” “Indeed. I would much prefer you did not playfully bring down the railroad this time. We only ask one thing: to take the Messiah into our custody.” The fog vanished from the railroad. As did the trucks Hazel’s unit was using as cover. “An Erklärung!?” “You are within Germania now, so this is a simple task for us.” That voice came from atop the now-fogless elevated railroad. A black wall stood about 50 yards away. It was formed by armored trucks and black-clad Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers. They all carried swords or spears and their bodies were heavily customized with prosthetics. The short, elderly man named Müller stood out in front of them. “I borrowed some of the army division’s best troops for my vanguard unit. Our comrades are already closing in on you from behind and the rest of our forces should have left Tristan by now. And…” He used his right hand to push up the glasses covering his squinty eyes. Then he raised that hand skyward and snapped his fingers. “Once your situation sinks in, I do believe you will accept defeat.” Black figures instantly lined up along the concrete walls on either side of the railroad. They were all Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers. They all held weapons and directed their gazes down toward Hazel’s unit, but there was no emotion there. Hazel gasped. … I thought they were still down below. “I assure you this is no Erklärung,” said Müller. Hazel responded while ignoring the walls of Neue Kavaliers to instead look dead ahead. “If I surrender to you, will you let the rest of my unit leave unharmed?” “If those are your terms.” Hazel gave a satisfied nod and smiled with just her eyes. “Everyone.” She took a deep breath and spoke to the group behind her. “I intend to fight, so that I can accomplish something. Do you have the will to fight as well?” They didn’t respond, but the commanders of the three platoons there did slowly move. The elderly man, the man who had been firing earlier, and a woman holding a Device walked out in front of Hazel. Then the rest of the unit formed up next to and behind her. Tension filled the air. Müller and the Neue Kavaliers in front of them and the Neue Kavalirs on the walls crouched down a bit as they prepared to fight. But the gunner man in front of Hazel ignored that killer intent and spoke quietly while still facing forward. “The knight near the support pillar on the left has a sloppy stance. Focus on him.” The Device woman to Hazel’s right nodded and whispered back. “What’s the plan after we get down to the surface?” The elderly man to Hazel’s left held his empty fists by his hips and answered. “One of my men is from Tempelhof. We let him lead the way. But…no one here is going to say they don’t have the skills to jump down from this height, are they?” Everyone’s bitter laughter was all the answer anyone needed. Hazel could see the yellow Lives of tension in that laughter, but she also saw the warm crimson they all formed. The elderly commander pulled out a pocket watch. “2:28. Another 7 minutes until the artillery and RB-21 arrive.” “Another 32 minutes until the ACBS launches.” “And about another 2 hours until the world changes.” Hazel saw a brightness other than confidence in the three commanders’ voices. There was a calm composure there. … We can manage this, can’t we? Hazel gripped Rein König in both hands and Müller asked her a question from up ahead. “Is this your answer, Messiah?” “No.” She looked him in the eye. “It’s our answer.” “In that case,” said Müller, raising his arm and snapping his fingers. Killer intent formed and grew from the front and both sides. ### Part 8 Neue Schwarz moved as quickly as it could through the foggy city. It had not yet activated its Ober Emblem. It raced through the dark city with extra tanks on its back and a Word Rifle on its shoulder. It faced a four-lane road with the city’s buildings on either side. Its right hand held Gelegenheit and its left hand held a white sword. It had just raised the white sword to strike. “You still alive back there!?” shouted Neue Schwarz, receiving responses from a few men inside the secondary cockpit on its back. It had taken in five AIF soldiers to protect them from the high-speed combat. It looked out ahead after hearing their voices. “Then we can leave the rest to the others while we make the second biggest commotion in the world!” Two Heavy Barrels burst through the fog floating about 500 yards ahead. After seeing their blue and red coloration, Neue Schwarz ran forward. The two Barrels also moved closer. A Heavy Barrel’s forward propulsion could easily surpass 50mph on the very first step. They approached each other in a flash, tearing up the asphalt below their feet. The red one moved out front with a shield at the ready and the blue one stayed behind with a rifle at the ready. The black one responded by rushing straight toward them. Once they were less than 100 yards apart, it flapped its wings just once. The thrusters contained on those wings launched air backwards. The explosion of air accelerated it forward. The blue one’s rifle fired along the path of its speed. An 88mm bullet flew out, grazing the red one’s head on the way. The black one swung its black sword as it ran. The bullet passed by with a velocity of more than half a mile per second. At a distance of about 30 yards, the black one had crouched low, placing the red one between it and the blue one’s line of fire. As they got closer, the red one pulled a knife from behind its large shield. Both sides continued forward, speeding up as they did. Without warning, Neue Schwarz swung its white sword up from the bottom left. “Nh!” The red and blue ones both grunted and gently braked. The sword failed to find its mark and swished through empty air. Neue Zinnobar moved in after the sword strike missed. It swung its knife diagonally up from its left in a mirror of the path the white sword had taken. Neue Schwarz chose that moment to let go of the sword. The thick double-edge blade drew an arc as it rotated toward the red Barrel’s neck. The large shield could not be moved into place in time. “Kh,” groaned the blue and red Barrels before the blue one raised its voice. “Is that all you have!?” Its rifle fired. The bullet traveled over Neue Zinnobar’s head and struck the approaching sword. With a clang like a bell breaking, the sword sliced through the foggy air and flew off into the sky. Below the airborne white blade, Neue Blau fired its rifle some more. Gunfire sounded repeatedly, but Neue Schwarz kept the momentum of its rightward sword strike to collapse its upper body to the right. It used its right toes as a pivot point to swing its left leg upwards. Its black toes kicked up at the red shield. The shield lifted upwards and one of the rifle bullets hit it on the inside. The shield survived, but it triggered a shockwave on the back of the shield. The pressure first smashed Neue Zinnobar’s right arm and the primary armor on its torso and then it spread out as a white explosion. A gut-shaking boom raced along the street, shattering the windows of all the buildings. The glass shards sounded like spraying water as they scattered through the fog. But all of that was launched skyward a moment later. Powerful wind swept across the road, but just one thing was unaffected: Neue Schwarz which was crouched low directly below the shield at the center of the blast. The shockwave inside the shield failed to hit the Heavy Barrel directly on the other side. It slowly raised its wings within the rapid wind. Then it flapped them. “Ah,” it shouted while pouring all of its forward thrust into the left shoulder crashing into the red shield. With a crash, Neue Zinnobar was pushed from the ground by its own shield and the knife fell from its left hand. The defense field emitted by the red shield instantly reacted to the extreme mass slamming into it. Steam burst from the bottom of the shield, its surface grew red, and it emitted a launching force. Neue Schwarz’s left shoulder armor groaned for a brief moment and then began to break away. Behind airborne Neue Zinnobar, Neue Blau moved to support its red back. The two-against-one contest was evenly matched while the shield’s red glow grew. The black shoulder armor briefly bent and gave one final resistance before shattering, but Neue Schwarz did not stop. “You’re only the opening act, you third rates!” Neue Scwharz flapped its wings. The wind produced behind it was more like an explosion of heat and all three Barrels briefly came to a stop. The equilibrium broke almost instantly, creating new movement. “!?” With confused shouts, the blue and red Heavy Barrels were blasted backwards. The black one pursued them. The red one held its shield up in a defensive stance. Neue Scwharz did not stop. It had already moved too close to swing Gelegenheit. It raised its fists and threw a flurry of punches. It took aim, swung its body, and started by targeting the head. Then the right shoulder, left shoulder, the thighs, and the center of the shield. The red lion’s armor shattered, its Panzer Kleid shredded, and it pushed the blue one back. The blue lion planted its feet firm while holding onto the red one. Its feet tore through the asphalt as it tried to stop their movement. It wasn’t enough. The black lion kept running and slammed its supersonic fist into the center of the shield. It didn’t end there. The barrage continued, pushing further and further forward. The shield’s glow had passed red, reached yellow, and was approaching white. The steam coming from the bottom of the shield had lost its color, simply emitting a shimmering heat. Neue Schwarz’s right knee tore through that shimmering to slam into the shield. The striking ram extending from the top of the shin practically stabbed into the shield’s center, bending the shield. Wind blew out and the blue and red Barrels were pushed even further back. Their sight devices focused on the black one’s right arm. It had opened the fist and pointed the open hand toward the sky. Something fell into that black hand. It was the sword Neue Blau had launched skyward with its earlier gunshot. The white sword spun on its way down and the black hand swung sideways to snatch its hilt out of the air and then swing the sword in a sweeping horizontal arc. The thick blade sliced through the air and slashed the shield. The destruction only took an instant. With a loud clash of metal on metal, the sword completed its swing. Neue Schwarz let the sword’s weight propel it into a spin. Once the inertial force had weakened enough, it attached the sword to its hip latch. It fully opened its wings and dug its feet into the asphalt in preparation to leap. The red and blue Heavy Barrels landed at the same time. They smashed the pavement as their feet hit the ground and the red one’s shield had lost its light. The shield had been split in two by a horizontal line down the center. Neue Schwarz raised its wings while viewing the top half of the shield slide away along the cut. “Consider it a favor I’m using your master’s sword. I’m not accepting any complaints.” With that, its wings blasted air behind it. It shot forward. The blue and red Barrels turned around, trying to catch up. It ignored them. The road was a straightaway and the bridge it needed to cross was just up ahead, so it only needed to face forward. Neue Schwarz ran. ### Part 9 Just as Hazel’s group prepared to face the killer intent, a deep voice reached them from behind. “Our answer? Well said, fellow werecat!” A stream of motion raced forward, instantly splitting through the killer intent on the left and right. At first, she could only see the flashes of several blades moving quickly. A moment later, a tearing sound passed by either side of Hazel’s group from behind. A moment after that, the Neue Kavaliers on the walls were knocked back into the open air. Seven on the right and five on the left were launched from the wall. They all had holes in the chest of their uniform and the breastplate within was shattered. “––––!?” They shouted in confusion and looked to a point on the elevated railroad before they started to fall. Everyone was looking to a point in front of Hazel’s group. Four AIF soldiers stood between Hazel and Müller and at the center of the remaining Neue Kavaliers. They took combat stances in the center of the whipping wind and the man leading them looked back Hazel’s way. He had short blond hair and a scar on his cheek. He had green feline eyes. “Good to see you again. We met on Commander Corelle’s ship back in ’39.” He smiled with his eyes. “We got delayed trying to enter Germany, but I am AIF Army Anti-Hound Assault Battalion Commander Major Robert E. Coolers. Commander Corelle carried us here, so I hope we were in time to save the day.” Hazel nodded. “We can use all the help we can get right now.” “Perfect.” He faced forward while a light shined in from behind her. She knew what that light was. … The other truck. She heard Coolers’s voice. “I shamelessly survived after our humiliating defeat to the Gard-class in ’42, but after a year of grueling battle, it’s time to settle the score. I’m sure you’ll take issue with being matched up with an opening act kind of guy like me, but you’ll just have to deal.” A gunshot burst from up ahead. Coolers twisted his body to dodge the bullet. Hazel faced forward. Müller was aiming his handgun their way. “Such foolish resistance. Reinforcements are coming from Tristan as we speak. It will be too late to complain once they arrive.” “Once they arrive? You had better hope it isn’t already over by then. We’re already on the move, after all.” Coolers leaned forward with his feet spread somewhat apart. He shrank down and lowered his head to let his next line fall to the cement ground. “Hazel Mirildorf. We still have 5 minutes until the artillery fire from the east and west and my commander’s arrival. We will guide the way until then.” She nodded and watched him and his three men crouch even lower. Then the truck headlights behind her came to a stop. She heard footsteps kicking off the ground and several uniformed people gathered behind Coolers and around Hazel’s group. “Follow me, everyone, and don’t look back,” said Coolers. “The major will clear as long a path as he can manage.” Before he was even done, he took off running like the wind. Hazel’s group ran forward along with him. Killer intent exploded around them and grew into a torrent that attempted to surround the wind. The two sides clashed. ### Part 10 Neue Schwarz sprinted forward. It used the force of its wings to race down the road and slip through the 30-yard gap at the edge of the dome. It soon reached the western end of Treptow. Its movement could have been interpreted as low-altitude flight or a gliding across the surface. Its wind crashed into the buildings around it and its destination came into view after only 7 seconds. That destination was a bridge. The bridge over the foggy Spree was covered by a glowing roof. Neue Schwarz spread its wings to brake. A few lights flew in from straight ahead. Before identifying them as red-hot shells, it leaped to the left. High-speed shimmering heat tore through the air and passed by the black Heavy Barrel’s right side. Neue Schwarz raised its right arm, grabbed the Word Rifle sticking out from the right of its back, and swung it down. The forcible action bent the barrel, but it fixed the gun in place with its right arm and faced forward. The muzzle could see the enemy. It aimed along a straight line to the bridge, but it had to see beyond that as well. It had to look to Tiergarten located across the bridge and below the dome. “Tiergarten has a flat structure stretching east to west. An attack from the east will clear a path to the west!” The front and back of the weapon were boosted with anti-inertial weight emblems. A loud bursting sound rang out. The black lion’s wings opened wide and expelled a great heat behind it. Its forward-viewing compound eyes changed color from blue to red. A moment later, the fog split on the other side of the bridge. The two 75mm cannons on that side had opened fire. Neue Scwharz crouched and stayed put. It stared at the battlefield across the bridge, ignoring the metal shells passing by it on either side. Its vocal device spoke through the lingering reverberation. “Operation Glossolalia Phase 2 complete.” Its own weapon audibly split the air. While a Babel Cannon boosted a large quantity of Words and converted them into a great mass, the Word Rifle accelerated a small quantity of Words and increased the size of their mass. There was only one accelerator within the barrel, but the metal Words emitted from the magazine were passed through the barrel repeatedly using the linked transporter spaces situated in the front and rear of the barrel. The bullet made approximately 130 million loops of the 4-yard barrel in just two seconds, passing through the accelerator once each time. Finally, a great penetrative power was launched. ### Part 11 It took only a moment before the unboosted metal Words were scattered through the air. They traveled a much shorter distance than the projectile fired by a Babel Cannon. Only about 20 miles. But the Lives of the air, trees, mist, wind, ground, and everything else along that 20-mile path were pierced by the ultra-high-speed bullet. The bullet flew into the forest park, piercing the trees and ground, raced down a major road, and passed through the giant Brandenburg Gate in western Tiergarten. From there, it scattered. The bullet began to adapt to the surrounding Lives as it grazed the roads of Charlottenburg, passed below the edge of the dome, and vanished into the sky. All of this happened in less than a ten-thousandth of a second. It hadn’t even produced any kind of noise yet. It moved too quickly for anything else to keep up. It was only observable as a lightning-like flash racing through Germania from east to west. A line of shimmering heat followed after the light a moment later. After a few seconds, the air suddenly distorted and produced an indistinct but loud noise. Then the air exploded. The air explosion and the metallic impact produced by the metal Words covered the 20-mile line at the same time. An attack of that speed did not race out like a wave – it caused everything to burst in an instant. The Lives of the air and land had been converted into a metallic impact, so they seemed to have been struck by a hammer after the shockwave ran through and a 30-yard-wide rip created a 20-mile path. The troops and tanks waiting in front of Tiergarten, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Grösse Panzers battling on the roads of west Charlottenburg were all blown away by the impact. The Geheimnis Agency’s main force had been gathering near the Brandenburg Gate after leaving Tristan, so the collapse of the gate damaged them just as much. The 20-yard-tall stone gate could not withstand the shockwave passing through it, so its inner walls burst into flames while they were blown away by the scattershot hitting it at the center. Rubble sprayed out, instantly forming a shockwave from east to west. The air within the dome was split and the shockwave blasted that air skyward. The pressure of that air on the interior of the dome caused electrification that made the interior glow a bluish-white. A great roar and the crackling of ionization rang loud. The floating moisture within the dome gathered together and formed rain. A short but sudden downpour fell within the dome. A damp wind whipped up and blew across Germania. The wind and rain reached the underground portion of the city too, hitting the cross-sections of the different layers and producing a loud, whistling noise. It took less than 40 seconds for that noise to fade. By then, the destruction had left its mark on the ground, buildings, and weapons swept away over 20 miles. Only a powerful wind remained. The mist was gone and the night sky was visible past the dome. A nearly full moon floated in that sky. ### Part 12 Hazel’s group up on the elevated railroad saw the blast racing from east to west. They were in between Tempelhof and Kreuzberg. They were just starting to descend at the next station when everyone caught up to them. The view opened up in front of Hazel and she saw the dark forest stretching east to west in the distant fog. … That’s Tiergarten’s forest park. Then a line through the park exploded. First, the fog covering the forest appeared to be split between the north and south. Then the gray of dust and the white of a water vapor explosion shot high into the sky above the forest. It almost looked like a massive wall. It took a moment longer before the sound and the wind arrived. It was a powerful gust. “––––!” Everyone there on both sides ducked down to keep their footing in the wind. The AIF’s divine spell users and Greenhorners set up a defense field and their charm user used a windshield charm to deflect the wind. Hazel was protected by several layers of defenses, but she still had to hold her hair down and narrow her eyes against the strength of the wind. … I know this was part of the plan, but still! The wind was more powerful than she had expected. It hit her like a blast of sound, drowning out all the surrounding voices and trying to blow away everything here. The Neue Kavaliers near the railroad’s walls were swept away in an instant. Of course, that wouldn’t be enough to kill such well-trained warriors. … Still, I’m worried. Hazel held a hand to her chest just once. She confirmed the Wheel of Destiny card was still in her breast pocket and then looked around. Only a few seconds had passed since the explosion and she could tell the wind had weakened just slightly. So she stepped out from behind the protective layers. Coolers and the other unit commanders turned toward her while crouching low. Coolers gave a firm nod in the wind. She nodded back, said thank you, and let the wind push her as she ran. She made her way to the left wall. She staggered in the wind, but viewed the wind’s tone color and listened to its tempo to keep it from sweeping her away. Her Live-viewing eyes could see the wind swirling within the dome. This wind was blowing outwards from the blast. That included an updraft from the explosion. That updraft was drawing out an arc along the inside of the dome, causing it to spread outwards. All of a sudden, Hazel could hear her own footsteps as she ran. The wind had vanished. The wind traveling outwards and the wind arcing downwards from above were colliding at the edge of the dome, which caused this still air. It was only for a brief moment while the powers of the two winds were in equilibrium and they canceled each other out. Then large raindrops fell from the sky. Hazel ducked away from the rain striking her skin, but she kept running. She looked around to see everyone looking up at the rain falling inside the great growing umbrella. They were all silent and motionless. She was the only one running toward the edge of the elevated railroad. She arrived at the concrete wall. With a single loud footstep, she climbed atop the wall damp with rain. She heard a deep rumbling of thunder that sounded like a metal drum rolling along the ground. … The wind is breaking apart and canceling itself out. She had a clear view in all 360 degrees, so she saw white smoke appearing along the entire edge of the dome. Then she heard a voice from the railroad below. A few of the Geheimnis Agents were looking her way. “Hey!” They were telling the others to get moving because the Messiah was running away. But it was too late. … Now, then. Hazel gave a quick bow behind her and then jumped out from the wall. She briefly floated in the air 25 yards above the ground. She looked back before the floating sensation vanished. A shape passed below the rupturing cascade of wind at the distant edge of the dome and flew toward her. It forcibly slipped through the 30-yard gap between the dome and the surface. “Corelle!” That was the RB-21 two-hull transport ship. The larger ship kept its stability in the wind and accelerated without shaking. It approached in the blink of an eye. It enveloped Hazel in its defense field before passing her by. She felt a wall of wind for just a moment. But once she passed through it, she landed on the roof of the container tween the two hulls. The flaps on the sides of the ship made minute adjustments to keep the ship from stalling while flying at such a low speed. The bow pointed somewhat higher than horizontal to remain stable. Then it flew away from the elevated railroad crawling with Neue Kavaliers. The slightly upwards angle of its propulsion kept the heavy ship from falling before its powerful acceleration could begin. Hazel crouched low and held Rein König under her arm while grabbing ahold of a seam in the container with her empty right hand. The ship’s angle gradually increased until she could only see the back of the container and the moonlit sky. The defense field weakened the wind, but Hazel’s rain-wet hair still blew behind her, quickly drying out. After 5 seconds, the RB-21 suddenly tilted downwards to direct itself forward instead of upward. The remaining Gs of the ascending acceleration pinned Hazel to the floor when she would have flown off. Her wristwatch said it was 2:37 AM. … Another 23 minutes! They pulled out into the open air. They were surrounded by a great emptiness. Her view had been restricted to the moon and the container, but now it opened up. She could see the dome above and… “Tristan!” With that exclamation, an umbrella of white water vapor formed around the RB-21’s nose. With a roar of speed, the RB-21’s flaps caught the wind and its wings harnessed its lift. The two-hull ship took an arcing path as it broke through a wall of air and continued on ahead. Its wings sliced through the wind to reach the top of the giant cross. ### Part 13 Neue Schwarz saw the white trail stretching toward the cross. All the grass had been blasted from the riverbank to either side of the bridge. The 30-yard-wide rut torn in Tiergarten was visible on the other side of the bridge. Neue Schwarz spread its wings. “I can leave the ground troops to the others while I get to the sky.” That muttered comment received an unexpected response. “Fly and I will shoot you down.” A large green Heavy Barrel seemed to be straddling the path of destruction through the forest. The two towers attached to its back were dragon breath cannons. The pair of cannons were slowly aiming toward Neue Schwarz. The sounds of metal coils showed the cannons were operating. The green Heavy Barrel also aimed the Power Points installed in its forearms. “I had everyone take shelter after I sensed an extreme ether discharge, but it was not enough.” Tanks and AA guns were strewn about the forest. The green Heavy Barrel was crouched in front of them. The coffin-shaped secondary cockpit on its back had risen up and its lower armor had opened up, revealing a collection of microphone-like holes. The black Heavy Barrel recognized that. “A multi dragon breath cannon? You really are a mobile fortress, ‘Eisen Panzer’ Karl Schmitt.” “I challenge you.” “Do you have to?” sighed the black Heavy Barrel while slowly taking a fighting stance. Karl nodded. “I will fire on you until you reach me. If you make it through that, then I will leave you be. I will resist no further. However.” “You’re asking for an awful lot here. What more do you want?” “I will choose the battlefield. Because I must confirm whether or not you are what you claim to be.” “Aerial Words, huh?” whispered Neue Schwarz after hearing that. Then it nodded. “Fine. If that’s what you want.” Immediately, a pair of winds rushed in from above and behind. It was a red and a blue Heavy Barrel. Their armor had been destroyed, but their Ober Emblem remained intact as they flew over the black one’s head. They landed on either side of the green one. “Allow us to handle-” They were silenced by a single look from Karl. They exchanged a glance and nodded. They cleared the way and kneeled, but the blue one held up its rifle in both hands. “Please take this.” Karl responded by looking to Neue Schwarz. “Is that alright with you?” “With a monster like you, one more gun isn’t going to make any real difference.” The green one laughed at that and took the rifle from the blue one. That MP42 Heavy Barrel autocannon could perform full-auto fire of 88mm armor-piercing rounds, but even that looked like a mere handgun when held by a Heavy Barrel measuring over 20 yards tall. Karl held the grip with the hidden arm below his right forearm and held the barrel with his usual hand. The hand latched on with a metallic clang and the blue and red Heavy Barrels withdrew into the forest. “Good luck.” Karl nodded and lowered his hips. His 20-yard-high vision had been directed straight ahead the entire time. The black Heavy Barrel also lowered its hips a bit. “Didn’t expect a one-on-one battle with a knight here. My second shot was supposed to be for Tristan.” The bolt attaching the Word Rifle to the top of the secondary cockpit was released with a divine spell explosive. The 4-yard gun briefly floated up and the extra tank on the Heavy Barrel’s back fell away. The unneeded weapon fell to the ground behind it with a metallic clatter. The reduction in weight on the right caused Neue Schwarz to list to the left just a bit. But only for a moment. It spread its feet to shoulder width and adjusted its weight. The loss of that excess weight allowed it to stand taller. It lowered its hips and reached for the weapons at its hips. But after a moment’s hesitation, Neue Scwharz chose only Gelegenheit on the right. Karl nodded at the choice. Then the sounds of metal fitting together came from all over his body. It sounded like several clocks operating at once, but it was actually the many bullets being loaded. The sounds ended after two seconds. The last one to be loaded was the 75mm cannon at the chest. Silence followed. The only sound was the wind blowing by overhead. The green Heavy Barrel unintentionally leaned forward in anticipation, but then it looked to the sky. The wind was blowing there, but past that it saw the dome and the moon. It stared at the moon as it spoke. “Geheimnis Agency Army Division Chief ‘Eisen Panzer’ Karl Schmitt.” Neue Scwharz held Gelegenheit to the right with both hands. “AIF…‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger.” With those words, a black blade emerged from Gelegenheit. The black power stopped at a length of 5 yards and sliced through the wind. Neue Schwarz didn’t even look to its blade as its vocal device spoke. “You’re on.” ### Part 14 With those words, the pair of black wings rose sharply toward heaven. Then they swung down and back, sending an explosion of air behind the black Heavy Barrel and propelling it forward. Light flew toward it from dead ahead. All the sounds arrived after the fact. The lights were dragon breaths and a barrage of physical artillery. The physical projectiles flew straight in while the homing rounds drew out arcs to circle in from the outside. Neue Schwarz swung Gelegenheit while running. The barrage passed behind it. But more was already on its way. “That was fast!” With that expression of surprise, it prepared Gelegenheit for another swing. Just as it was going to swing the sword up into the incoming attack, it heard some Aerial Words. Aerial Words spoken in a deep voice made a request of this space. ### Part 15 The Aerial Words continued. Gelegenheit’s blade caught on the empty air, bent, and broke. Neue Schwarz immediately flapped its wings. The ground had disappeared below its feet, replaced by a white sea of clouds. It was surrounded by the morning sky colored a light purple. The thrusters in its wings gave a blast to propel it forward with sufficient initial velocity. Neue Schwarz shouted in recognition of a sky it had once flown in as Schwarz Löwe. “Kaiser’s sky!” The second barrage was incoming. And unlike the first volley, this one had no homing rounds. The lights of a third barrage were visible past this one. Its opponent was not found past that third one. He had disappeared. “Did he already shoot enough!?” That man had said to make it through what he fired. Not to dodge it. So Neue Schwarz roared. It slammed its wings into the air behind it to start forward with a loud boom. It left behind the white smoke of bursting air as it raced forward through the sky. It flew toward the space behind the two incoming barrages – toward where Karl Schmitt had withdrawn. Its wings’ thrusters sucked in more wind and created powerful turbulence behind it. A roar briefly exploded behind it. Then all sound in front of it vanished. Its head, the center of its torso, and its shoulders broke through a barrier of air. It had broken the sound barrier. The barrages were coming. The physical projectiles distorted the air as they flew in. But the racing black Heavy Barrel did not hesitate to charge in shoulder first. It closed its wings and flew with its legs behind it. The leading bullet grazed the right side of its head. It used its neck to absorb and correct for the impact. It had entered the barrage. It opened its wings just enough to soar through the destructive rain. It spun right, up, left, and then left again. And it never forgot to be moving ever forward. Just one shot was on a collision course for its left chest. There was no dodging it. So it swung its left fist out in front and struck the shell’s extrapolated course before the shell actually arrived The punch created a shockwave that collided with the shell. With a roar of air and a crash of metal, the shell was diverted off course. Neue Schwarz made it through. The Heavy Barrel and the barrage intersected over a distance of about 400 yards, but it took less than half a second. However, the next barrage – the third one – was already incoming. There was nothing past it. Distance-wise, passing through this barrage would mean reaching Karl’s previous position. So Neue Schwarz flapped its wings to fly forward. The color black accelerated through the artificial emptiness of the dawning fictional sky. It advanced. Then it caught sight of a shape flying in even closer than the barrage. It was hard to notice with the bright lights of the thick barrage spread out behind it, but that was definitely a single physical bullet. It was an 88mm armor-piercing round. It flew in like a black arrow surrounded by distorted air and it must have been fired by Neue Blau’s rifle. The entire barrage behind it had been camouflage for this one shot. “That was your plan!?” ### Part 16 The bullet was about to hit. Neue Schwarz tried to lower the left fist it had swung upwards to hit the shell earlier, but it was no use. The bullet would hit before the fist was in position. And Gelegenheit in its right hand was still without its light. Nothing it could do would be fast enough. It only had time to determine where the 88mm armor-piercing round would hit: the center of the chest. That was the hardest location to dodge. Neue Schwarz made up its mind. Its answer was to raise its voice. The black Heavy Barrel surrounded itself in wind and roared into the sky. “Fully open all weapons and abilities to respond to the enemy threat. Begin full drive!” A pair of wings spread in the purple sky. But these were not black. They were white. The Ober Emblem seemed directly dyed by bluish-white ether as it instantly covered Neue Schwarz. The armor was a nearly-blue white and the joints were black, creating a dual colored armored warrior in the sky. “Ober Emblem Weiss König – activate!” It pulled its left arm back against its side. The 88mm armor-piercing round struck the fictional armor still being formed from ether light. The Ober Emblem armor shattered. But the original black armor below survived with only a single crack. Its left arm strained under the force of the impact and its white body was covered by new ether armor. At the same time, it counteracted the backwards vector with a flap of its wings. The explosion of wind behind it was far greater than ever before. It shot out like it had been kicked forward. Weiss König’s metal body groaned as it flapped its wings again and reaccelerated. The third barrage was up ahead. The impact on its left side was still affecting it, but it didn’t care. Seeing the sea of clouds below, it tilted its body forward and moved its wings all the more forcefully. The power of its wings and its forward-tilting attitude caused it to tumble forwards. Its left hand stretched downwards and scratched at the clouds. It seemed to bounce from there and flew forwards. It all happened in an instant. It was practically flipping forward as it broke through its inertia and the air resistance. As soon as it was nearly upside down, its wings fully opened in the direction it was flying. Each wing worked independently. Their individual feathers blew out their own winds, accelerating the rotation. The eruption from the wings rotated the Barrel. It completed its flip and its feet were directed downwards again. The white Heavy Barrel landed on the cloudy ground with its hips somewhat lowered. Then it flapped its wings to accelerate again. It raced forward in its standing position. Its speed was so great it erased all sound. The thrusters on its legs and hips maintained its attitude while the power of its wings made it glide along the clouds. It twisted around as if sliding to the side and blew away the clouds behind it. The barrage reached it just as it released the white sword from its left hip. Nearly a hundred destructive projectiles attacked it from the left, right, and above. Each and every one of those winds could destroy the Weiss König. The white Heavy Barrel soared and swung its white sword within those many winds. It twisted its body toward the winds coming from the left, swung its blade toward the winds coming from the right, and ducked below the winds coming from above. It maintained its forward speed the entire time. The winds collided, beginning an explosive chain reaction. The Weiss König left light, smoke, and flames in its wake as it gracefully spun and advanced. It raised an arm, tilted its head, stepped on the clouds, and scattered those clouds while sliding along them. “I will make it through.” It did. After one more flap of its wings, it was past the last of the barrage. A giant explosion erupted behind it. But Weiss König continued gliding across the clouds, leaving the range of the blast in an instant. The pursuing smoke, flames, and even sound could not keep up. It was unscathed. But this was not over yet. Weiss König put away its white sword, readied Gelegenheit in its right hand, and shouted its Aerial Words. It sliced through the sky. The green Heavy Barrel was visible up ahead. ### Part 17 The white Heavy Barrel glided across the ground and accelerated with its Ober Emblem wings. Dirt was blasted behind it and the Tiergarten forest’s ground was thrown into the sky. It roared in, arriving less than 100 yards from Karl Schmitt. But Karl did nothing. His arms were at his sides and his cannons aimed upwards. Only his sight devices were directed right at Weiss König. “Do as you wish.” Weiss König responded with a nod. It approached, readied Gelegenheit in its right arm, and prepared to strike. But at the same time, its sight devices caught a certain truth and a certain movement. The truth was located behind Karl. Only after approaching this far could it see the green colors on the torn ground behind him. They were the military’s soldiers. All the injured soldiers from the overturned armored trucks and tanks were hidden behind Karl. The movement Weiss König saw was on Karl’s shoulder. A woman in a black combat uniform was standing there. She was Army Division Deputy Chief Jeanne Schmitt. She ran from his shoulder to his head and spread her arms out toward Weiss König. Her eyebrows were raised, her eyes were glaring directly at Weiss König, and her mouth was open. She was shouting. Weiss König was moving too quickly to hear her. It only had the visual information to work with. It saw the woman standing in front of Karl to protect him and Karl standing in front of the soldiers to protect them. That was all. So Weiss König ended it all with just one action. It slammed its wings into the air. With a roar and an explosion of wind on the ground, the Heavy Barrel soared high into the sky. It passed between the pair of cannons above Karl and flew toward the pitch black cross jutting up into the sky. ### 790. Chapter 5: The Promise Leaps 8/24/1943 02:41 – 02:48 You don’t need to know everything You only need To know a few important things Because that lets you Make a decision ### Part 1 Tristan’s cross-like shape was partially due to the launch pad sticking out from its side. That enormous space was 100 yards wide and 300 yards long. The top was built into a shallow depression to keep the wind off and the entire structure was constantly shaking from the wind. It had become a battlefield made of pitch black metal. A great bluish-white bird flew above that battlefield. A woman ran below, her shoulders heaving. That was Hazel. Several people were collapsed around her – all Geheimnis Agency soldiers. Her eyes were on the Tristan tower 200 yards ahead. A giant door was shut tight on its massive cylindrical surface. That was used to let Heavy Barrels and transport ships in and out. She was out of breath, but she kept her eyes on that door. … Neue Erde is through there! Witzmann had told her that. If she entered from this launch pad and continued straight, breaking through any doors that got in her way, she would arrive at the base of Tristan’s central Babel Gun. “Neue Erde is waiting there.” She swung Rein König to the right. The prosthetic left fist swinging toward her was sliced through horizontally. With the sound of metal being cut, several fingers flew from the fist. However… She heard Aerial Words. Her opponent reached his prosthetic right arm toward her chest which was wide open after swinging her sword to the right. She remained calm. She confirmed his action and then looked behind him. Another soldier was rushing in with sword raised. The prosthetic arms man was meant to hold her in place so the sword strike could hit. She dodged the incoming prosthetic arm by circling to his right. She stepped right as if pulling her body toward Rein König. She arrived next to his right shoulder, but she did not stop there. She continued to slip behind him. She moved further right and confirmed that his hand had grazed her chest before snatching at the empty air. “Nh!” grunted the one man as his fingerless metal fist thrust out in front of her as she tried to circle behind him. But instead of dodging the fist, she stopped her running feet. The metal fist passed rapidly from left to right in her suddenly-stopped vision. She even felt the wind on her cheek. “Sorry,” she said, sticking out her left hand and lifting his outstretched right elbow from below. She placed the base of his prosthetic arm in the path of the sword coming from behind him. And… Hazel gasped in surprise. The hand holding the prosthetic arm now held empty air. The two enemies were gone. Hazel did not look back. It would be too late by the time she did. So she took off running. She spun herself around while running and kept running backwards after turning. She stabbed Rein König below her arm and behind her. She could not see the enemy. The Aerial Words were rewriting their location. As she avoided them and ran, her foot caught on an obstacle. She stumbled on the leg of a Geheimnis Agency soldier she had defeated previously. Her heel hit the military boot while moving backwards. She cried out and fell back onto her rear. Her momentum caused her to bounce twice and topple onto her back. She saw the enemy in the air. The two men rushed toward her, preparing to leap. One directed his metal arm toward her throat. The other swung his sword tip down toward her hips as if to pin her in place. She felt the instinctual animal fear of being on her back, but she still managed to move. Instead of dodging, she opened her mouth and spoke a single word. “Come!” Before the word was even complete, power raced through the sky. A great bird’s wings released a gust of wind. The falcon wings captured the approaching soldiers and blasted them away instantly. The wind and the impact rang loud and only the night sky through the dome remained in Hazel’s view. She took a breath, stood up, and viewed the great bird flying away again as she got back to running. She took a look around while running backwards with a hopping motion. Men in black uniforms formed a circle around her at a distance of 20 yards. “You still aren’t through?” she asked, jogging away. They did not answer. She smiled just a bit and turned to face the door into Tristan. She was a bit more than 150 yards away. She raised Rein König in front of her and muttered “let’s do this”. Just then, a drum-like beat passed right through her body. It came from… “Inside Tristan?” After another beat, she was certain it came from the other side of that door in the distance. No, it came from even further in than that. Another beat. The Neue Kavaliers around her were also looking up and toward the door. Another beat. She could see the bluish-black Lives of confusion coming from them all. When they realized they had no idea what this sound meant, tension filled their faces. “Is Tristan overloading!?” she shouted, staring at the door. They reacted to her voice by retaking their fighting stances. But she ignored them. She crouched low and took off running while the beats continued. “Please move out of the way! Don’t you understand what this means!?” None of them obeyed. They only directed crimson killer intent her way. She groaned and kicked off the metal ground to accelerate. That ground kicked back without warning. She cried out in confusion and tumbled to the ground. She rolled to the side and noticed the continuing beat was growing louder and more intense. The deep pulse reminded her of an enveloping heartbeat and it was now coming from the floor as well as through the door. It started weak, but by the fifth one, it was like a pounding impact. … Is Neue Erde beginning its Ober Beweisen? Hazel listened to that preparatory pulse as she got back up and viewed the closed door. “Give me a path!” she shouted. She was answered by a power from the sky. The bluish-white wind falcon closed its wings to form its assault form and began to glide. It was aimed nearly identically to Hazel’s eyes – toward the door that would lead her into Tristan. The great bird opened its beak just once and let out a piercing screech as it approached the door. There was no warning at all. “Eh?” Hazel was more astonished than surprised. The door the enemy should have been defending to the bitter end had been thrown open, revealing the dark space beyond. That shadowy space looked entirely empty from here. But just as the falcon was about to fly inside, a giant blade stabbed out from the darkness. It was 20 yards along and made of glowing white light. No, there were two swords stabbing out from the darkness in perfect unison. They struck the approaching wind. The falcon shattered and became an explosion of wind. The air shook and briefly drowned out Tristan’s pulse. Then the blades slowly emerged from the door. Including their wielder. Hazel recognized it from the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg base a month ago. A black aerial warship emerged from the darkness. It was shaped like a 30-yard blade. She knew its name, so she came to a stop and spoke it aloud. “Erlkönig!” Erlkönig had the number 01 on its belly and it hovered above the ground as it advanced. Its full body was soon across the threshold. Hazel knew what the unmanned aerial warship had to be using in place of its own will. … Neue Erde’s request. That was proven by the Aerial Words coming from the sky. Lights began to shine across Erlkönig. The lights ran through the emblem patterns carved into its wings and surface armor and then ran through them again. It was using two Power Points on the front to produce the pair of glowing swords. Hazel faced Erlkönig from head on and exhaled with Rein König at the ready. Her breath was white. The Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers standing between her and Erlkönig cleared a path for Erlkönig. At the same time, she heard some straining metal. She frowned in confusion and noticed the door closing behind Erlkönig. Unlike when the metal door opened, the double doors were closing gently but with increasing speed. She moved forward. Erlkönig launched an attack from the right. It struck Hazel. “!?” The attack had been too fast for her to perceive. But her catlike reflexes had sent Rein König to the right. Her blade stopped the 20-yard sword of solidified light. However, the weight differential was too great. Her feet left the ground and Rein König’s rear blade dug into her right shoulder. It sliced through the shoulder armor hidden below her clothing and stabbed into her right shoulder blade. The bone creaked and she flew 11 yards before losing speed and tumbling along the metal ground. She let out a breath and stood up, but her thoughts couldn’t keep up. She had acted purely on reflex, so she didn’t know where the attack had come from or how she had managed to defend against it. She only knew that she had been hit by an attack, that she had been thrown backwards, and… … That I’m alright. Pain ran through her shoulder and she looked to the right to see blood on Rein König’s blade. She looked forward to see Erlkönig’s glowing sword floating within arm’s reach. “A single attack did all that?” She gasped and looked up to see the black aerial warship gliding her way. Its left sword was pulled back in preparation to swing. She saw the attack this time. The silver arc swung low, aiming for her legs. She gathered strength in her unsteady arms and attempted to get Rein König in place. But… “Kh.” The pain in her right shoulder loosened her grip on Rein König. The giant slash did not care about her pain or anything else. It simply continued along its arcing path. In that instant, something flew into view. It was a giant white wing. ### Part 2 “Eh?” Hazel clearly saw what had come to her rescue. The wing belonged to a Heavy Barrel in white armor. It was the Neue Schwarz. It sliced through the wind to move in between them and sent a high-speed knee into Erlkönig’s nose. The blow sounded like shattering glass. The speed overcame the mass differential, stopping the 30-yard aerial warship in its tracks. The Erlkönig seemed to float up a bit, but a moment later, it pushed the wind out of the way and shot up into the sky. Neue Schwarz glanced up at the fleeing ship, but that was all it had time for. The knee attack had thrown off its balance, so it entered a shallow vertical spin before crashing into the right door. Its right shoulder hit first, piercing through the door with a boom Hazel felt in her gut. Its white Ober Emblem armor instantly shattered and scattered as light with the sound of breaking ice. Tristan’s pulse was drowned out while the ground below Hazel’s feet bent and shook vertically. The shaking reached an amplitude of about 3 inches and almost seemed synched with the pule. Within that shaking and noise, Hazel looked to Neue Schwarz partially embedded in the door 150 yards away. The impact and the pointy Ober Emblem had torn through the door like paper, so its layered armor was splayed open like a flower blossom to devour the black warrior. … He can’t get out like that. But this prevented the right door from closing. There was a gap of about 5 yards from the closed left door. She could get in without issue as long as she could reach that point. Suddenly, Neue Schwarz’s secondary cockpit opened and five AIF soldiers emerged. Before she could look up and widen her eyes, the surrounding Geheimnis Agency soldiers prepared to fight. At the same time, someone stepped out from the darkness through the door. The enormous man had a prosthetic right arm and wore a black combat coat. He calmly walked out into the open air. Hazel knew his name, but she was not the one to call it. That voice came from the right where Neue Schwarz was embedded in the wall. It was a somewhat raised man’s voice. “I had a feeling you would be the last line of defense, ‘Schallmauer Zerstörer’ Hellard Schweitzer.” Hazel turned toward the speaker. Atop Neue Schwarz’s shoulder, she saw a black-haired man with his black coat whipping in the wind. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth. She breathed in and called his name in a much calmer voice. “Berger.” He gave her a smile in lieu of a response and nodded without taking his eyes off of Schweitzer. Schweitzer nodded back at him. “This is the final battle, Destiny and Messiah.” He took a breath. “And I have one thing to tell you, Berger.” “What’s that?” “I have abandoned a power just like you abandoned your divine power. I have thrown out my Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer.” “So you’re okay being a no-name soldier?” “Yes, that is who I am here. Keep that in mind.” “I see,” replied Berger, hopping down from Neue Schwarz. His feet sounded hard on the ground. He pulled Gelegenheit’s hilt from the connection staff at Neue Schwarz’s hip on the way. “I will keep it in mind, Hellard Schweitzer.” Hazel saw the corners of Schweitzer’s lips curl at that. But the distorted curl turned them upwards, not downwards. … Is he smiling? Hazel tilted her head at that smile between two men about to fight each other. She could only hear Tristan’s pulse and the blowing wind. The shaking from Neue Schwarz’s crash had weakened but continued below her feet and pain throbbed in her right collarbone, but the quaking and aching were not hindrances. … They prove I really am here. With that thought, she faced forward, toward the bearer of the destiny she needed to trust in. Berger was there. He held Gelegenheit and climbed down from Neue Schwarz’s hip to the floor before saying more. “Schweitzer, I have a question: how much do you know?” “All of it,” he answered quietly. “I came here knowing Tristan had begun to overload itself and knowing everything else as well.” He moved just his eyes to view his surroundings. His eyes landed first on Hazel and then on the Geheimnis Agency soldiers surrounding her. “Perhaps it is too late, but I should probably tell the rest of you about the Nibelung. You must first choose whether or not you wish to be a guardian of Neue Erde. Only then can you truly choose to fight.” Schweitzer looked up into the sky and glared at the top of Tristan. “Attention all knights within earshot!” ### Part 3 A dark space was filled with heat and had only red warning lights for illumination. The cylindrical space’s floor was about 50 yards across and the walls were about 30 yards tall. The ceiling was a circle just like the floor and there was a seam in the center. B6-18 was written in white gothic text across the seam. This was a storeroom on Germania’s deepest level. It was meant to hold VIP escape craft, so the cylinder was divided by 18 barrier floors that ensured absolute protection and a rapid escape route. But currently, an aerial warship sat in the center of the floor instead of a VTOL escape craft. Its coloration was hard to make out in the red lighting, but it had a blade-like silhouette. It was locked down on an elevated platform sitting on the floor and a veritable spider web of fuel pipes connected it to the surrounding walls. Several people were moving around it, all of them wearing white coats dyed red by the lights. The old man on the outer wall of the cockpit at the top of the aerial warship gave them all instructions. He was Development Division Chief Elrich. He called to the young researcher removing the rear protective cover. “How is Tristan doing?” “Neue Erde took over at 2:30. Its Ober Beweisen should be starting soon.” A pulse sounded and the researcher pointed toward the door leading further in. “But its power has very nearly overloaded already, making for a very dangerous situation. The structural materials cannot withstand this pressure for long, so if this continues for another half an hour, Tristan’s Tons may begin to break down.” Something was unusual on the back wall where a 4-yard door was located. There was a vein there. A blood vessel made from the same material as the wall was throbbing in time with the pulse. “So the overload has begun already,” noted Elrich when he saw it. “Isn’t this a tad quick? I thought it wasn’t supposed to peak until 3.” “Neue Erde appears to be gradually increasing the power on its own. Slowly and carefully.” “I see. The control room must be in a tizzy. Because there is nothing they can do to stop it at this point.” With that, he stopped paying attention to the wall. He instead viewed the cockpit hatch in front of him. “Is it alright that it only has room for one?” “Our commander said to assume the Messiah would be the only passenger since the Sylphide itself runs autonomously.” “Hmph. Let me guess: she also said to make the cryogenic storage device for one, didn’t she?” “You guess correctly.” “I was told in the past that only one person could return to the present.” A researcher turning a large bolt to release the ship from the elevated platform responded to Elrich. “But, chief, is what you said about the Nibelung really true?” “If you don’t believe me, why are you here working?” Elrich’s question contained a hint of a smile. He opened the hatch and took a look inside. “Because you lot got carried away and completed eight Erlkönigs while I was away, the power balance between Neue Erde and the Messiah has tilted heavily in Neue Erde’s favor. But that destiny only exists because Neue Erde was warned in advance…which is what I call cheating.” “Then why are we preparing the Sylphide in secret?” “Because engineers love nothing quite as much as a secret project.” He laughed bitterly, told them to “remember that”, and went inside. The cockpit was cramped. The floor was two yards long and one yard wide and the space was about a yard high. The cockpit existed as a tub-like sunken portion in the front. “I don’t see a cryogenic storage device. Does the entire cockpit itself double as one?” He was answered by the researcher standing outside the hatch. “After a triple-confirmation switch, the shutter lowers and seals the cockpit for freezing. The prototype and the wreckage found at Hamburg used a separate chamber, which obstructed the rear view from the cockpit, so we solved that issue.” “I see. Excellent work.” “The Hamburg wreckage gave us the hint we needed. It had a larger cockpit with a single chair-style seat, but we reassessed the design and lowered it all by about a yard to-” Elrich nodded and held his hand out toward the hatch to stop the man. His eyes were still on the inside of the cockpit. “Hm?” He saw something glitter atop the control panel. But not the metal or glass of the controls or gauges. “A woman’s bracelet? What is this doing here?” “It was within the parts collected from the prototype. A colleague said he had seen Marsch wearing something similar.” “Marsch Gant, huh?” Elrich narrowed his eyes a little and lowered his head, but only for a short moment. He nodded toward the bracelet on the controls and backed out of the hatch. He stuck his hands in his lab coat’s pockets and asked a question of the researcher waiting out there. “Have you completed the two modifications I requested via telegraph from the old HQ?” “Yes, it will all be complete in a few more minutes. First, the engine fuel bypass was switched to a fully external supply…just like with the Kaiserburg. It was 80/20 external/internal before, so as a stopgap measure, we blocked off the bypass from the internal tank and set the input sensitivity of the 8 external intake ports to 130%.” “Good. As long as the initial startup works, the Sylphide will be able to extract ether from its surroundings and fly without ever needing to refuel.” Elrich looked to the researchers working on different parts of Sylphide. “Have you removed the limit on the external supply? So that it can consume external ether at all times, even with its Panzer Emblem active?” “Yes. The Kaiserburg shut off the external intake when using its Panzer Emblem to ensure stability of the Panzer Emblem’s form. That created a momentary reduction of power immediately after ending the Panzer Emblem. Removing that limit will cause the Sylphide to consume its own Panzer Emblem, but…” The researcher paused. “But the real problem is compatibility with the next modification. As instructed, we extended the Panzer Emblem’s activation text to connect with the basic repair emblem text. That should allow it to repair its Panzer Emblem.” “I fail to see the problem. The Hamburg wreckage handled the issue similarly, I believe.” “The Panzer Emblem works by syncing any colliding matter with its ether armor Tons, destroying it. But this Sylphide will then consume the destroyed object’s Tons through its exterior intake.” A breath. “But even after being synced, a small portion of the original Rätsel remains. So instead of just consuming the Tons of whatever it destroys and using them as more material for the Panzer Emblem, the Sylphide must use its repair emblems.” “Yes, to repair the destroyed objects to their original form.” “An aerial warship with the power to Tune is terribly unstable! What if it loses control!?” “The prototype took in the Tons of the Schreibener and this one uses some of the prototype’s components, so it possesses Marsch Gant’s will and that will keep it under control.” Elrich did not sound remotely worried. He gave the gasping researcher a glance before looking around the area. The workers were looking up at him. He shut Sylphide’s hatch while looking down at them. He slapped his hand on its armor a few times, making just as many sounds. “The Messiah no longer wishes to destroy, so the same will be true of her guardian dragon. This aerial warship possesses the power to break through its opponent, but it will retune them afterwards.” He viewed them all. “Perhaps we should call it an autonomous Tuning Werkzeug.” ### Part 4 A battle was underway in the center of Germania. A silver Heavy Barrel fought a man with two prosthetic arms. They were Heiliger and Pale. The two inordinately large people ran southeast across a deserted wasteland. They were just inside the western side of Germania. Another 10 yards south and they would reach the large hole between Charlottenburg and Tiergarten. There was no road. A Word Rifle beam had torn a trench in the ground from east to west. If they ran much further, they would reach the main road and they could take that east to reach Tiergarten. The only movement beyond themselves was the occasional tree, building chunk, or sign falling to the ground after being launched by their battle. Sounds of combat came from far to the east and west, but only the Heavy Barrel and the man could be found here. Pale’s gray hair was matted with blood. Blood dripped down his forehead and the scar on his one eye had reopened. But he bared his bloody teeth and smiled at the silver Heavy Barrel. The pulse coming from Tristan was slowly increasing in speed and volume. “What’s wrong, Heiliger? Distracted by Tristan’s out-of-control pulse? It only took one good blow to throw your main force and your western unit into disarray. So what now?” “You are meant to command your entire army, so why do you seek a personal fight?” Pale didn’t answer that. The silver Heavy Barrel looked to the sky where the moon shined through the dome. “You will die soon. Tonight is not a full moon like it was during the previous war. You cannot draw on your true power as a Heidengeist, so you are struck relying on the Frühmond drug. Your Archetype bloodline cannot save you here.” “Really wish you didn’t know that!” A sword rushed in. The strike was made while running, but it was steady and drew a perfect arc toward Pale’s back. He swung his metal fist back and punched the blade. The metal clang coincided with Tristan’s pulse. With the roar of wind being pushed away, Pale’s fist was knocked forward by the force of the sword. He moved about 10 yards ahead of Neue Silber and landed on the shaking ground. “Too slow.” A powerful slash dropped down from directly above. Pale clenched his teeth and punched the ground. His metal fist went through its triple acceleration to blast away the dirt. With a trio of roars, Pale used the power of his fist to leap forward. As soon as he was away, the asphalt behind him exploded from a sword strike. He summed up his thoughts by whistling. He saw the ground was shaking even more than before. “An earthquake? No, his sword strike and the pulse were in sync.” A great hole had opened up within arm’s reach. When a shock ran through the ground, it could be seen as a vibration, especially on cracked and broken ground. Another pulse arrived from Tristan. On the nauseating pulse, Pale landed and faced forward again. The amplitude of the ground’s shaking was growing sharper and more focused as he viewed his opponent. Neue Silber straightened its forward-leaning body and began putting its sword away at its hip. Pale stood up and asked a question. “Why are you sheathing your sword? In a rush to go somewhere?” “You are only trying to buy time here. Your fists can never reach my Panzer.” The silver Heavy Barrel’s blade vanished into the scabbard at its hip. Pale viewed the black scabbard and frowned. “You think I can’t reach you?” The silver Heavy Barrel did not respond. Neue Silber looked up and away from Pale. It viewed the top of Tristan. That was the tallest point in Germania. An AIF two-hull transport ship was battling Erlkönig in the sky above that. Neue Silber spread the six wings on its back. It had already started gathering air in those wings. Pale clicked his tongue when he saw the shimmering heat rising from the wings. And just before that moving air became a wind… “I just thought of a great way of getting my fist to you.” The silver Heavy Barrel did not even look his way. But Pale still bent his left elbow and directed his left fist toward the ground. The movement came suddenly. His left fist clenched as tight as possible. The heavy metal frame made some noises as it formed an even larger metal fist. The elbow had already pulled back behind him in preparation to throw a punch. He bared his fangs but kept his voice relatively quiet. “So stick around a while longer.” After that, his voice and his fist gave a roar. His arm flew straight down toward the ground and it gained extra acceleration as metallic noises and steam came from the elbow. The fist parted the white steam. And not just once. It happened thrice before the swing was complete. The air was audibly destroyed three times before the fist struck the ground. With the sound of compressing dirt, Pale kicked off the ground. He used the force of the impact and his own strength to produce an incredible acceleration. His crouching body leaped to the left of the silver Heavy Barrel with the force of an artillery shell. “Nh.” In an instant, Neue Silber took a defensive stance and Pale landed to its left, blasting dirt into the air. Neue Silber turned toward him just as Pale punched the ground again. The triple blast of acceleration sounded in an instant and Pale launched himself behind the Heavy Barrel. All that remained was the afterimage of his silver hair, the cloud of dirt rising from the ground, and the powerful shaking of that ground. The silver afterimage moved behind Neue Silber. Neue Silber planted its feet firmly on the ground, drew its sword, and stabbed it backwards. The sound of a sword slicing flesh and the impact of a fist could both be heard from the direction it sent the sword tip. The white smoke of smashed air surrounded it and something leaped to its right. Another triple metallic noise followed. Pale left behind an afterimage showing a slashed cheek as he circled in front of Neue Silber. He bled as he lowered his hips and pulled his left shoulder back to stand at an angle. Sweat dripped down his brow and his left arm’s elbow was glowing red with heat, but there was a smile on his lips. “Let’s finish this!” shouted the beast. With another crash of impact, the ground’s vertical shaking increased and the silver-haired man left an afterimage as he leaped to his right and Neue Silber’s left, which was north. Pale landed with both feet firmly on the ground and faced forward. He was about 12 yards from the silver Heavy Barrel. The ground was shaking below him and the amplitude had surpassed half a yard. The repeated blows had formed waves that increased the shaking. He used that shaking to lightly kick off the ground and jump straight up. Just then, he heard a faint voice from the distant sky. It was a man’s deep but carrying voice. “Attention all knights within earshot!” Pale caught some of what the voice said next while in midair. “So the time has come for the Neue Kavaliers to learn of the Wheel of Destiny,” he muttered, spinning through the air and readying his right fist behind him. The ground below him had reached the lowest point of its amplitude. Meanwhile, Neue Silber grabbed the hilt of its backwards-thrusting sword with both hands. The silver Heavy Barrel twisted its body toward Pale and raised the sword to swing it down in a large arc. The quaking ground started to rise. With the threat of the ground below and the sword above, Pale’s eyes were on the sword. “Do you know how much force it takes to shake the weight of a city by half a yard?” It all happened in an instant. Pale did not dodge the slash. He opted for an offensive defense. He swung his left fist straight up to punch the blade. With a sound like shattering glass, Neue Silber’s blade instantly broke from the hilt and Pale’s left fist broke in return. The impact slammed Pale’s body toward the ground, but just before he hit, he shouted up at his foe. “You’re about to find out!” Pale’s right fist flew diagonally down toward Germania’s rising ground. That fist had applied its triple acceleration to the vector provided by Neue Silber’s sword strike. It struck the ground with all that built-up momentum. The fist smashed into the ground and Germania rumbled. Then the principle behind a ricocheting bullet gave Pale’s body great speed. He twisted his airborne body, giving himself a rapid spin that sent his right arm forward. He saw Neue Silber still in the follow through for swinging down its sword. Beyond that, he also saw a large pit opened in Germania’s ground. His metal right elbow clicked like a key turning in a lock and all of its steam ports opened. White steam blasted behind him for the primary acceleration. The same sound repeated and the secondary acceleration began. Shortly thereafter came the tertiary acceleration. Each time the fist’s speed increased, it tore through the air and created a ring of white vapor. The sound arrived after a short delay. The metal fist struck the Heavy Barrel in the chest. The impact pushed Neue Silber backwards. Its weight provided no real resistance as the chest armor shattered and the force of the blow passed through it and out its back. The six metal wings on its back ruptured like a flower. Pale then tackled Neue Silber’s chest with his shoulder. The Heavy Barrel staggered and tried to regain its footing, but… “Kh!?” It could not get its feet back on the ground. In fact, there was no more ground below its feet. It was already out over the enormous pit. Its wings were broken, so there was only possible outcome: succumb to gravity and fall. “Pale Horse! Why waste your time on a personal vendetta against me!?” “This isn’t personal.” Pale was out of breath with his right fist pressed against Neue Silber’s chest. “Those young fools are fighting up on Tristan right now. What’s so personal about keeping an old man out of their hair, Heiliger Karlsruhe?” Pale didn’t wait for a response. He took one look around as their falling speed picked up. He laughed bitterly as the growing wind of their fall rang in his ears. The surface of Germania was above them now. The wind grew, carrying away the sweat on his brow. “I doubt this fall is enough to kill you, so how bout we get round two started?” He accelerated his right fist with it still pressed against the Heavy Barrel’s chest. A loud crash followed. ### Part 5 All work had ended in the red-lit underground space. Only Elrich and Sylphide remained in the hangar. The open door on the back wall led to a large elevator and all the researchers were onboard. The space was filled with a pulsing and tremoring. Something like distant thunder came from the barrier floor up above. “I don’t know what happens next, so leave ahead of me,” said Elrich before turning to look at Sylphide. Sylphide was still connected to the pipes coming from the walls, but it had been released from the raised platform. Elrich was currently viewing a metal box about as tall as he was. The box had several gauges on its surface and their needles had all reached the red zone, but the hinged lever at the center of the box was pointed up in the off position. He pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. It was 2:45 AM. The researchers in the elevator behind him called his name and some told him to hurry, but he slowly put the watch back in his pocket. He reached for the lever in front of him. “I will activate you now. If the Messiah uses her Beweisen, she should detect your presence.” He yanked down on the switch. “When she does, call for her, Marsch Gant.” He took a breath. “Ask her for the Text needed to leave this place.” ### Part 6 In the wind, Hazel heard everything Schweitzer said in front of the door. … So he knows everything too. She gave a mental nod of understanding and looked around. No one was moving. The Neue Kavaliers surrounding her had lowered their heads a little, but they seemed frozen in place with their weapons in hand. There was one sound, however. The clank of boots came from Schweitzer planting his feet a little wider apart. “The world can undoubtedly be saved with Neue Erde or the Messiah’s method. At the very least, both are attempting to do so.” He viewed the Neue Kavaliers on the launch pad and told them to make their own decisions. He smiled before turning toward Berger on his left. “I will fight to keep my promise with Neue Erde. …Messiah, perhaps it is possible to save Neue Erde with your Tuning, but can you save every last part of her?” Hazel responded with a question. “What does that mean?” “She views it as her duty to be lost, so is there a way of saving her that does not allow even that duty to be lost?” He took a breath. “If you can do that and stop Tristan, then I will admit defeat.” Schweitzer took a fighting stance once he was done speaking. Berger responded by readying Gelegenheit. Only Tristan’s pulse echoed across the high-altitude launch pad. That heartbeat had a rhythm of one beat per second, making it sound like the ticking of a biological clock. That sound acted as a signal for two people to move. The first was Hellard Schweitzer standing in front of the door. The other was Dog Berger. Schweitzer raised his prosthetic fist and Berger shoved a Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit’s hilt while they both walked toward the center of the launch pad. Schweitzer had his back to the door and Berger circled in front of him, placing himself in front of Hazel. Meanwhile, the five AIF soldiers standing next to Neue Schwarz lined up alongside Berger. But the Geheimnis Agency Neue Kavaliers surrounding Hazel stayed put. Berger glanced over at the motionless knights and asked Schweitzer about it. “Not getting any help?” Schweitzer nodded. “You are short on time, aren’t you? And…” He raised his metal fist. “Do not think this will be easy for you.” Hazel nodded at that. “The plan was to get through no matter what it took. And once this is over…” She checked her watch to find it was 2:48 AM. But seeing that time made her smile. “Let’s try to be friends until the world changes.” Then she opened her mouth to speak her will’s Text – her Aerial Words. She activated the Messiah eye’s Beweisen and a thick dark blade emerged from Berger’s Gelegenheit. When the destruction grew past 4 yards, a voice spoke from the sky in response. A woman’s voice. That was Neue Erde’s Beweisen. A single powerful tremor ran through Schweitzer’s prosthetic right arm. Hazel saw Schweitzer lower his head for just a moment. He pressed his lips together and stared at the metal floor, but then his head sprang back up and he turned toward her. She noticed a change then. Wind ether was gathering atop the 3-yard overhang that formed the lip of the door. The bluish-white Lives of the high-altitude wind were forming something. … Just like the person standing atop the Gard-class. But this faintly transparent person was not the one she had seen in Cologne’s sky. This was a woman wearing a Geheimnis Agency combat uniform. “Lowenzahn Naylor.” Schweitzer heard Hazel speak the name, but he did not look back. He only shut his eyes and nodded. Standing above them all, Lowenzahn expressionlessly viewed the Neue Kavalier below and nodded. She opened her mouth and spoke gently. Her voice signaled the beginning of the battle. ### 791. Chapter 6: The Promise Soars 8/24/1943 02:49 – 02:58 I will run Run forward I don’t have to think about anything else Only running forward ### Part 1 Several powers crashed together simultaneously between Hazel and Lowenzahn. The wind roared and the pulse beat. Hazel’s wristwatch said it was 2:49 AM. … Only 11 minutes until the Allies’ time limit. She was not concerned about that. She pressed Rein König against the floor, held its hilt, and opened her mouth. Berger’s black slash grew thicker and shattered Schweitzer’s spatial barrier. Higher than the rest, Lowenzahn stuck her hands in her pockets and opened her mouth. The shattered spatial barrier regenerated. Gelegenheit’s black blade caught on the barrier and they both shattered. Hazel looked to Lowenzahn. The ether reproduction of the woman stood at the top of the door. “That’s only a speaker for Aerial Words.” But Hazel shook her head. … But there is still a will forming it. She couldn’t tell if the increased morale of those below was just a coincidence or not. But there was one thing she knew for sure. If a will was forming that image… … Neue Erde is still alive after becoming a component for Tristan. She started to say something more, but then Berger looked her way while shoving a new Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit. “Hazel! Keep those Texts coming!” “They aren’t drinks at a beer hall!” She shouted back and looked to the Geheimnis Agency commander atop the door. And she heard that woman open her mouth and speak some crucial words. “Eingeweide heart Neue Erde – Ober Beweisen.” ### Part 2 When Hazel heard Lowenzahn’s Text, she gasped and raised her voice. “No way! She’s already activating her Ober Beweisen!?” In lieu of a response, the dome grew brighter and the air shook. Something was moving and that rumble was the answer to Hazel’s question. She gulped and saw Berger click his tongue. “Neue Erde is activating her Ober Beweisen early to prepare for the peak of the reversed power!” he said bitterly. “I bet she’s going to increase the power gradually and carefully instead of trying to do it all at once. That way she can prevent the anxiety from scattering Tristan’s Lives.” He took a breath and suppressed a slight tremor in his voice. “She’s planning to drag out her Ober Beweisen until the moment of ruin!” Hazel realized what he meant and learned just how serious Lowenzahn was. “She’s going to keep singing until the last moment?” … Because she’s looking past 3 AM and believes the wheel will keep turning. And… … That means she thinks they can beat us! That thought made her gulp. Everything around her shook, but not because of a shockwave or quake. The shaking was in the very ether that traveled through the ley lines and formed all things. For a moment, everyone felt out of sync with themselves. “…!?” Hazel suddenly looked to the ground below. … Eh? She was supposed to be standing atop Tristan, but now she was in the sky. Her field of view was unusually high and wide. She was looking down on the world from nearly a mile up. She saw a river running through a forest below. Two adjacent cities existed on the river’s sandbank. A few of the houses had their lights on, revealing the shape of the walled cities in the night. She realized something while viewing the cities. “They look so old.” The cities were made of stone and wood, like something in a medieval painting. Her vision remained in the sky as she looked down at them. But her senses told her that this was not just a false vision. Her sense of sight picked up the lights and shadows, her sense of hearing picked up the sound of the wind, and her sense of smell picked up the scent of the river. It was all real. She realized what those two cities had to be. “This is Berlin’s past – when it was still a pair of fortress cities. That was in the 17th century, wasn’t it?” She had seen Berlin like this in the German Lives’ memories found inside Berger. She understood why she was seeing this moment from Berlin’s past. … The overloading has begun and the Spacetime Lives are being extracted in response. The view of the cities vanished. The cities, the walls, and the buildings vanished like she was watching a film in reverse. The forest grew and the cities became villages. History was playing out in reverse. “Has the extraction of the Spacetime Lives begun!? Is it moving even further back than the 17th century!?” Then the entire scene below her disappeared. She gasped and found Tristan and the dome in front of her. She could feel the sweat soaking her body. She looked around to see Berger, Schweitzer, the Neue Kavaliers, and the soldiers were all motionless. Confusion Lives hovered around them all. They were all holding their breaths and unsure if they should move. Hazel realized they had all seen the same thing. She gulped while focusing on something that bothered her. She could no longer hear anything at all from Germania below. Before, she had heard the many deep sounds of the battle being fought to support her, but all of that had vanished. She only heard the blowing of the wind. “Did everyone down there see that too? No, I bet everyone in the world did.” She felt nearly certain of that when another sound reached her: Tristan’s distorted pulse. … That means she really thinks we can’t stop her! “We will stop you!” Hazel raised her eyebrows and reflexively clenched her teeth. She forcefully raised her head to view Lowenzahn above the door. But Lowenzahn held her right hand to her left chest and did not look down at Hazel. She kept her eyes on the sky. And just as Hazel was about to speak to her, her lips moved. The pulse was like a deep drumbeat providing the tempo for her words. ### Part 3 In a world actively having its past stolen – in a world where no one could speak or even move – one woman’s Aerial Words rang loud. Tristan’s power boost was pushed to new heights. The pulse pounded. Tristan tremored. An indistinct groan left Tristan and synced with the pulse. The pulse and the groan harmonized and sped up. The Text traveled through the ley lines to reach the entire world. The Text pierced the voiceless earth and sky. <…that all forms, colors, sounds, and wills will be lost.> The Lives that resonated with the Text left the ley lines and were rapidly pulled toward Tristan. The Text gathered so many Lives while rising to a shout. ### Part 4 Lowenzahn was answered with a roar. All around Hazel, the Geheimnis Agency knights raised their voices and resumed fighting. Schweitzer and Berger also resumed their battle in the center, like the chains binding them had been broken. She heard Berger’s voice. “Hazel!” But she was still staring blankly up at Lowenzahn. Lowenzahn was only a translucent specter, but she performed dance steps in time with the pulse surrounding them all. She had already shut her eyes and her lips were moving to whisper her Ober Beweisen Text. Hazel repeated that Text to herself. “I do not want to lose any of that.” … She’s motivated by the same thing we are. “Hazel!” shouted Berger. His sharp voice snapped her out of her revery and she saw a shape flying in from the right. A black, blade-like ship was approaching from as high in the sky as the dome allowed. That was Erlkönig. The black aerial warship had shaken free of the RB-21 attempting to pursue it. It accelerated along an arc in the sky and turned its nose toward Hazel. The two glowing swords emitted from its nose had already been swung forward. The sword tips sliced through the wind and left a trail of white cloud. As soon as she noticed Erlkönig’s approach, Hazel felt an odd sensation in her right eye. Her vision was acting up. The Messiah eye had already gone red and was rapidly heating up. … Eh? She found her left and right eyes were seeing different things. The right one only saw the color red. She ignored the image coming from her left eye and poured all of her focus into the red light seen through her right eye. She felt like she was stealing someone else’s vision and that sense was growing stronger. Her left eye’s view was swallowed up and colored by the right eye’s red light. She gasped and held her right hand in front of her right eye, but she couldn’t see the hand. She saw a low-ceilinged room. The room had a circular floor and ceiling and it was lit by red lights. Several black pipes ran along the floor before reaching her. She could not see herself. But she realized her expression made no sense. Erlkönig was approaching fast and her eyebrows were crumbling in a way that suggested tears, but she had a smile on her lips. She heard Berger’s voice from beyond the red vision. “Hazel, does that mean what I think it does?” “Yes!” Her body fully recalled this familiar sensation. The resurrected memories spread from her right eye to the rest of her and she felt the wind on her skin. She could tell what she sensed was underground. It was trapped, but it was waiting to move. It was waiting for her. … And I’m waiting for you! So she raised her voice. “Can you hear me, Sylphide!?” ### Part 5 There was movement in the deserted underground hangar. The wind was moving. The blue ship had been resting on a raised platform, but its rear end suddenly lifted. It silently rose from the platform, causing the air to move and creating a wind. The heavy wind slowly swept across the inside of the underground hangar. The ship finished floating from the platform. The tubes plugged into its lower surface popped out and clattered to the floor. A pulsing sound surrounded it. Something like throbbing blood vessels covered the walls around it. But Sylphide ignored it all and paused in the air for a moment. Small lights ran through the emblems decorating it. The lights moved from nose to rear – from wings to body. The lights seemed to confirm the ship’s shape before gathering back at the nose. The sensory devices for a Schreibener were all gathered in a single black line on the nose. The lights all ran through that line before vanishing inside. At the same time, the Kunst Eyes on either side of the nose emitted pale white light behind it. The light was briefly radiated in all direction before narrowing down and forming a pair of Schwerts. They were 20 yards long, stopping just before reaching the room’s wall. Then Sylphide lifted its nose. It slowly tilted vertically like a pillar supporting the ceiling. A moment later, it emitted its Text into the air. The swords pulled back behind it were rapidly swept forwards. With a tearing sound, the metal ceiling was easily sliced through. At the same time, the windy pressure of ascent produced a roar and the Sylphide broke through the already broken metal. Then it rolled and accelerated. It used a quick slash to slice through the next barrier, breaking the seal. The blue power passed through the metal door that had blossomed open like a flower. It produced more destruction as it repeatedly accelerated. The blue ship focused everything on flying straight up. The broken barriers triggered alarms that drowned out Tristan’s pulse, but even those wails were left behind as Sylphide broke through 18 consecutive barrier doors. It ascended rapidly through the pit. The nose was directed toward the surface and the sky beyond. It rolled with delight as it worked to escape this underground space. After freshly awakening from its slumber, Sylphide poured all its strength into the ascent. ### Part 6 Hazel’s vision returned. She was on Tristan’s launch pad and she could see the tower, the dome, and the sky trapped within. A black blade-like ship was flying toward her from the right. She saw another color in the sky to the left. A line of white cloud was ascending into the sky surrounded by the dome’s light. At the tip of the cloud, she saw what looked like a blade splitting the sky. “Sylphide!” Sylphide answered her by turning its nose toward her. The tilting of its nose changed the shape of its shockwave before the shockwave vanished entirely. It had entered fully inertial cruising mode. Its turn transformed into a sharp reflection partway through. After turning its nose her way, it shot toward her along with the air gathered around it with its inertial control. The air pushed out of its way shook and rumbled. It sped up even more. Its blue shape instantly passed by overhead, leaving a wind in its wake. Its rumbling continued on toward Erlkönig approaching from the right. Erlkönig fired homing rounds from its three rear Power Points. The white bullets were freezing rounds. The bullets curved toward Sylphide, so Sylphide drew its pair of swords and took a certain action. It accelerated. It poured on even more speed. The blue dragon used its speed to slip between the homing rounds. The freezing rounds lost their target and exploded behind it, producing a white mist. Sylphide ignored that and continued its charge. It charged straight toward Erlkönig. Erlkönig immediately performed an evasive roll. It rolled right from Sylphide, spun around above Sylphide, and swung its two swords toward Sylphide as they passed each other. In that instant, Sylphide made a compact leftward roll. Erlkönig’s swords were swinging in from the left, so Sylphide’s fangs crashed into them with the force of its rapid spin. They shattered. With a metallic impact, shards of light scattered across the sky. Erlkönig rolled again into an escape route. Sylphide suddenly shifted its inertial cruising into reverse. It redirected its forward momentum to the rear. It reversed to stick with Erlkönig as it tried to roll away. Erlkönig had already veered off course, so now it was about to pass above the launch pad. That was when Hazel spoke some Aerial Words. Berger shoved a Size C Phlogiston Tank into the back of Gelegenheit’s hilt. That brought the total up to 20. Gelegenheit looked more like a spear now and it produced a black blade measuring more than 80 yards long. The Messiah’s Aerial Words made the blade grow denser and longer. The black blade-like silhouette was about to fly over Berger’s head. He sent Gelegenheit’s cutting power toward that supersonic action. One of Erlkönig’s wings was severed and the rest of the ship bounced in the sky. Sylphide caught up and spun its bow to the front. The black and blue ships arrived half a mile away from the launch pad in just two seconds. Their paths crossed. Erlkönig sent glowing swords from its back end and Sylphide swept them aside with its own swords. Sylphide flew in and tore into Erlkönig with the pair of fangs emitted from its front end. Ether light ran through Erlkönig and then light exploded from its back end. A deafening boom rang out just as seven contrails burst from the middle of Tristan. Those were Erlkönig’s mass production models. They initially spread out and then attacked with enough force to deal with the threat. The seven ships charged toward the lone blue ship floating in the sky. Hazel took action while watching that from the launch pad. She raised Rein König and ran forward. Her watch said it was 2:57 AM. … 3 more minutes! Her heavy breathing sucked in the chilly night air while she gathered strength in her legs and shifted her run into a sprint. She arrived alongside Berger while he added another Phlogiston Tank to Gelegenheit and then she moved out ahead of him. Schweitzer was up ahead and Lowenzahn stood at the top of the door. She continued sprinting forward and noticed Lowenzahn looking down at her. Schweitzer was watching her too. They opened their mouths at the same time and spoke Neue Erde and Der Held’s Aerial Words. Schweitzer ran forward, seemingly pushed onward by the Texts, and Berger rushed up by Hazel’s side to meet him. Schweitzer readied his prosthetic arm. He shouted with his metal fist raised. “Why would you try to block her will!?” Berger moved in front of Hazel as if to block Schweitzer’s words from reaching her. He hopped a step forward with Gelegenheit at the ready. He shoved two Size C Phlogiston Tanks into the bottom of the hilt. Schweitzer shouted toward the growing black blade. “Maybe it is all a lie! But!” Hazel realized she and Berger had been surrounded by spatial barriers. Lines of ether resembling bluish-white threads began to form 50-yard walls around them. Nevertheless, she looked to Berger’s back and did not give up on running. She leaned forward and kicked off the metal ground to keep moving. She heard Schweitzer’s words. “But she asked something of me.” Past Berger’s back and outside the barrier, Schweitzer was sticking his biological left arm toward her. His eyes were directly on her. He clenched that hand into a fist. “She asked me to believe her no matter what lie she told.” With those words, the barriers were complete. In that instant, the ether inside the barriers came to a stop. All light faded from her Messiah eye and the black blade vanished from Berger’s Gelegenheit. Then Schweitzer held his prosthetic arm and triggered its striking staff. An empty cartridge was ejected from the arm. A new barrier formed to surround running Berger and Hazel. He pointed his left thumb down to say “be destroyed”. “Can you stop the millennium wheel behind us now that it has begun to turn once more!? Can you stop her lies!?” Hazel listened to his shout. She thought about herself, about someone much like her, and about the person by her side now. So in the instant the interior of the barrier was crushed, she looked at Schweitzer. When their gazes seemed to audibly crash together, she raised her voice. “What are you trying protect!? The lies!? Or…” <…that all forms, colors, sounds, and wills will be lost.> I know it isn’t that, she thought before continuing. “Or the will of the person who told the lies!?” A pair of Aerial Words flashed just as she got the question out. Their devices had been forcefully stopped, but they were restarted with a Beweisen. Gelegenheit resumed functioning. The unstoppable black blade sliced through the barrier. With a sound like shattering ice, the blue ether barrier split and burst. While Berger made his follow through with Gelegenheit, Hazel raced past him. Schweitzer stood in front of her. He was frowning and clenching his teeth. He clenched his metal right fist enough to make a metallic noise and then raised it. “I…!” Hazel chose to ignore what he said. She raced in at full speed, her boots pounding on the metal ground. His fist flew straight toward her. Unshaken, she raised Rein König, crouched down, and slipped below the fist. Just as the attack whizzed over her head like a bullet, she swung Rein König forward with both her hands gripping its hilt tight. It was the exact motion she had done in practice countless times. The white curve sliced through the wind and severed the metal arm at the shoulder. When she heard the slicing of metal, she knew she had done enough. She threw herself forward and kept running. She heard the last line of Lowenzahn’s Aerial Words. Hazel nodded and saw an image of the past for one brief moment. She saw the overhead view of a river flowing through a forest at night, she saw the pair of small villages built alongside it, and then even that disappeared. But she said nothing. Her vision returned as she ran into the door sitting open before her. ### Part 7 She ran. She ran through the darkness, broke through another door, and found a lit corridor just like Witzmann had said she would. The place was deserted. She focused all her attention on her vision, ignoring all the sounds around her. There was a door ahead, so she swung Rein König to break through. She didn’t need an Up. Her heightened will and her experience from battling Lillie let her Tune with just her words. She didn’t know what it was she said. But a piercing power emerged from the corridor’s thin air. The power raced out and broke through the door, revealing the space on the other side. It was another corridor with another thick door at the end. A man stood to the side of that door. The tall, skinny elderly man wore a Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division combat coat. It was Schweitzer’s aide. She felt bad that she couldn’t remember his name. He faced her and bowed. The hand he held toward the door held a pistol. She heard his voice with her will, not with her hearing that had faded away thanks to her intense concentration. “Eingeweide gun Freischütz – Ober Beweisen.” The muzzle flashed, but no bullet emerged. Instead, Hazel saw a power. It flew toward the door and destroyed it. But instead of destroying it in an ordinary fashion, all the screws and rails used to construct the door came apart in an instant. The door became no more than a few metal panels and other components and collapsed away from him. Hazel bowed toward the elderly man as she ran by. She passed through the collapsing door in just three steps. The door past it had been dismantled as well, so she ran through the gap that created. She found a large space beyond. The tall cylindrical space was the core of Tristan. She found herself on a walkway crossing a seemingly bottomless pit. … Neue Erde is here! She saw a pillar running through the center of Tristan. There was a control panel where the walkway reached the pillar and a window was installed on the wall above that. “That must be it!” The sound returned to her ears then. She heard Tristan’s pulse and a deep tremor of the air. They both rang loud like a shouting voice. But she did not fear those sounds. She ran forward with Rein König ready in her right hand. The window was right in front of her. The metal and plastic tubes on the other side were pulsating to show the massive device was reaching the height of its activity. Something odd stuck out from the artificial veins that twisted around like serpents. Hazel confirmed it was a woman’s hand. The right hand had its palm up and an ear of golden wheat sat in that palm. She leaped, raised Rein König in her right hand, and slammed it directly into the window. The tip shattered the glass and pierced the metal pipes to stab deeper. She felt it reach something. Then she raised her voice to return the target’s Lives to normal. “Ah.” There was no hesitation in her voice. … Because she’s so much like me! Rein König’s blade shined bright, that light burned the pipes, raced across the control panel, and accelerated along the outer surface of the giant metal pillar. She reached out her left hand and grabbed the outstretched right hand, pressing down on the ear of wheat. “That’s enough. This can end.” She sent her thoughts into Rein König, trusting it would reach the woman. “This nightmare can finally end!” Light exploded inside Tristan. Everything was ending. ### Part 8 August 24, 2:58 AM. The protective dome of light covering Germania suddenly disappeared. At the same time, two surges of bluish-white light raced across Tristan’s surface armor. They were answered by one last gentle beat of its pulse followed by silence. The pulse’s reverberation lingered for around 10 seconds before vanishing into the night sky. Then Tristan and the shield facilities built in the four cardinal directions all went dark. The red lights of emergency power switched on instead. The red lights shined for a bit before vanishing as well. The silence from the massive structure was followed by the seven black aerial warships losing control and stalling in midair. They whipped up the wind as they crashed outside the city and stopped moving. Tristan and its defenses had lost all power, as had the control system that provided structural support. The massive structure could not support its own weight without that. It creaked and groaned before it began to collapse. The cross looming tall in the night slowly began to fall. ### 792. Chapter 7: The Promise Rises 8/24/1943 02:59 – 04:20 The battle is over The power is crumbling Or so I thought Or so I thought! ### Part 1 Tristan’s interior was collapsing. The roar of destruction began at about the exact moment Hazel took Lowenzahn’s hand and pulled her from the window. She heard the damage from overhead where the metal panels forming the ceiling were bending and popping loose. The creaking of metal came afterwards, but there was so very much of it. The cacophony of friction filled the pit and was joined by the sound of metal breaking. Once the ceiling and wall panels could no longer bear the stress they would break and pop out of place. Then it all fell. It scared her how the reverberating destruction shook her body, so she took a breath. … I need to hurry. She pulled on the hand, fully dragging Lowenzahn’s naked body out from behind the glass. Hazel held her slender body. The woman’s eyes were closed and her skin pale and clammy, but she had real weight to her and she was gently breathing. That breathing was steady and constant, so Hazel nodded. The destruction rang in her ears and shook her body, but she spoke the words in her mind aloud this time. “I need to hurry!” She turned back toward the walkway with Lowenzahn in her arms. And… “Eh?” She saw the color black in front of her. It was worn by a large man. She looked up to see Schweitzer standing there with the collapsing ceiling behind him. His prosthetic right arm was still missing and he came to a stop a few paces away with his eyes shut. “Could you leave her with me?” Hazel smiled at the way he waited for her response. She narrowed her eyes and showed her teeth. “I have no reason not to.” She recalled Eryngium’s song – the song that included the names of their devices. … Yes, the Messiah isn’t the one who sets foot in the new world. She spoke softly to Schweitzer over the din of the collapse. “I will leave the new world with you, future hero.” ### Part 2 Tristan’s launch pad provided a front-row view of the collapse. The groan of the giant cross sounded like the roar of a waterfall. The weight control and protective field needed to preserve Tristan had been lost, so the armor, the inner walls, and the frame were all bending and breaking. The waterfall-like sound was played by an orchestra of falling parts. Everything was stripped from the mile-tall structure and it all crumbled away like a sand dune. The bottom of the launch pad bent and the exterior panels that couldn’t absorb the distortion started to come away and fall. From the upper armor of the RB-21 flying next to the launch pad, the falling armor looked like autumn leaves. Several people were on top of the RB-21: the AIF and Geheimnis Agency soldiers who had been on the launch pad, as well as the people it had already picked up from the ground. Two people stood on the very edge of the upper armor, waiting for someone to board from the launch pad. Those two were Corelle and Jeanne. Jeanne looked to Corelle on her left. “What’s taking them? Are they still in there?” “They are taking their time. Hey, Berger, you go in after them!” Corelle called back behind them, but received no response. Jeanne frowned and looked back to see the black-clad young man sitting in a chair-like hunk of metal with a look of disinterest on his face. The hunk of metal was in fact a giant prosthetic arm. He pointed forward from there. “They don’t need my help. See, here they come.” Jeanne faced forward again to view the door that still had a black Grösse Panzer stabbing into it. A large man holding a woman wrapped in a black coat and a blonde woman were running out of the darkness beyond the door. The launch pad shook violently at the same time. “It’s collapsing!” shouted a Geheimnis Agent. That was exactly what happened. The giant launch pad tilted down from its joint with the cross. It pushed the wind out of the way while tilting with the weight and force of something sinking into water. It produced the windy sound of pressurized air and the crack of breaking metal. Schweitzer lowered his hips in the center of the launch pad to keep his balance. Then he ran up the slanted floor. The problem was Hazel behind him. She failed to keep her balance and rolled once down the slope. And she rolled forward like she had thrown herself outwards. Everyone on the RB-21 gasped. Hazel rolled a second and third time, but she somehow managed to get back up and held down her skirt. Everyone sighed when they saw her running toward them again. When Jeanne realized how relieved she was, she looked to the others. She smiled bitterly when she noticed similarly relieved looks on their faces. “Why are we so worried?” She was answered by an elderly voice from below. “Because she is our leader, of course.” “Witzmann!?” She looked down to see a military two-hull warship ascending from Tempelhof Airport. The black ship was about half a mile below them and she saw AIF and Geheimnis Agency soldiers and even her husband’s green Grösse Panzer on top of it. Two old men stood on the front of the two hulls: Witzmann and Elrich. Their ship was slowly but surely approaching. Jeanne wasn’t the only one to notice it. Everyone around her was watching the girl running toward them, the man carrying their commander, and the two-hull ship. It was that sight that led a Geheimnis Agent near her to reach a certain conclusion. “So it’s over.” That agent was an old man. He lowered his face a little while viewing the girl and the man carrying their commander. “Deputy Chief, are you seeing this?” The old knight did not wait for her to reply. “The Messiah has saved the new world.” ### Part 3 The AIF transport ship and the German two-hull warship approached in the sky. Someone far below the sky was watching that encounter between the two forces. That person was on the bottommost level of Germania. There was a small park there so far down that the moonlight barely reached it. A work of art could be found on the red brick ground at the center of the park. It was a silver giant. The 8-yard giant wore silver armor, except its metal body was smashed and embedded in the red brick floor. It lay on its back with no left arm, a smashed chest, and both legs broken and burst. The moonlight reflected off of several things on the sides of the hole that led all the way up to the surface. Those were the places the silver Panzer had struck on its way down, leaving pieces of its armor behind. Those armor fragments fell like sand on the center of the park where a man lay collapsed on his stomach. He wore a terribly disheveled Geheimnis Agency officer uniform. He was missing his left arm and his prosthetic right arm was stabbed into the floor. Its metal fingers were spread out and fibrous metal wires ran from the hand to the ground. His eyes were on the giant cross visible within the imperfect circle of the moon. And on the AIF transport ship and German two-hull ship floating next to it. Something spread from his body on the moonlit floor. The puddle looked nearly black in the pale moonlight. A change occurred on the floor stained dark by that liquid. A serpentine shadow formed on the red brick surface and that began to bulge out like a vein. That was the result of Tristan’s power surging out into the ley lines. A man’s hand silently moved above the red brick vein. He said nothing, put up no resistance, and didn’t move his broken legs. He simply grabbed the floor with his right hand. His finger armor came away and fibrous metal wires spilled out. They no longer took the shape of a hand, but those tiny metal wires moved thousands or tens of thousands of ways to grab ahold of the vein on the floor. A scratchy voice left a bleeding mouth and spoke up into the sky. “Is this compromise your answer?” His eyes were on the two aerial ships in the sky. He spoke as if savoring the flavor of the blood in his mouth. “Instead of redoing it all, you would stage a revolution and make it so none of it ever happened?” His forearm armor split and the metal wires controlling it were released. “If you refuse to redo it all, then you mustn’t just forget the dead.” The metal wires spread out across their moveable range and went taut, producing a sound like a string instrument. “You must not hide them behind revolution. You must have the courtesy to say out loud that their deaths were meaningless!” His eyes looked to his right shoulder without moving his head. There were two Phlogiston Plattes inside that shoulder armor. “If this world cannot even do that, then it deserves to be destroyed!” The man raised his voice, the words rushing from his opened mouth. He shouted a couple of names. And then… “Eingeweide arm Tragisch – Ober Beweisen.” The two Phlogiston Plattes in his shoulder shattered and the metal wires spreading out across the floor swelled out. Then he and the arm vanished. All that remained was the dark blood puddle and the moonlight. But a pulse pounded. The floor vein began to throb and beat. ### Part 4 Hazel jumped to the RB-21 in the nick of time before the launch pad fell. She kicked off the pad and leaped through the roar of bending and breaking metal. For just two seconds, she felt like she would be pulled away by a great movement of the air, but then she landed on the RB-21’s metal upper armor. She fell to her knees from exhaustion and the pain from when Rein König stabbed into her shoulder. Everyone atop the ship paused. But then they all shouted out loud and rushed toward her. She tried to catch her breath while looking to the chorus of voices and footsteps. Her allies and what had been her enemies were gathered around her. They gave off red Lives of joy with a hint of confusion and they had smiles on their faces. … They’re all okay. At least for this one moment in time, the distinction between enemy and ally didn’t matter. She heard Tristan collapsing behind her and smiled while still out of breath. But she lowered her head when pain stabbed into her right eye. … Eh? She felt a light itchy pain deep in that eye. The small pain was accompanied by a faint heat. … What is this feeling? She rubbed her eye and heard Corelle’s voice. “Hazel!” The sharp shout got her to look right, where Corelle stood within arm’s reach. “Hazel. Your eye is doing its thing again!” That freaked her out. Cold sweat instantly covered her back and pushed her to action. She quickly pulled Rein König out from under her arm and viewed her reflection in its blade. “My Messiah eye has turned red on its own.” Before she could ask why, the supposedly stopped and crumbling Tristan began to pulse again. ### Part 5 It was undoubtedly a deafening heartbeat. The sky, earth, and everyone listening were shaken equally. This was the same vibration as when Tristan was initially boosted. That was why Hazel held her right eye and stood up on the RB-21. “Tristan is starting back up!? But why!?” The giant cross did not answer. It only quickened its pulse and continued shaking even as it fell apart. The atmospheric reverberation resumed and everything shook. That tremor was answered by lights shining from Tristan’s surface. The lights came back on, starting at the bottom and gradually working their way back up, growing brighter all the while. An old man spoke from the two-hull ship floating behind Hazel. “It’s Tragisch! And he hasn’t just restarted Tristan with his Beweisen! He’s Schreibened into it with his Ober Beweisen! Tristan is so unstable right now this is sure to cause it’s Tons to collapse!” That shout was followed by some Aerial Words. They came from Tristan, carried by the tremor and the pulse. I grant power to those who were sacrificed So that those who have already been lost Are not erased by the hypocrisy of the survivors They were simple Aerial Words, but their effect was seen near instantly. Germania exploded. “–––––!” Everything inside the 6-mile-wide pit was obliterated and erupted from the ground. The people, the buildings, the dirt, the vegetation, and everything else was consumed. So much dust and ether flew skyward like a geyser. The gray pillar stretched far taller than even Tristan. Several layers of what looked like white umbrellas spread out around the rising pillar of smoke. A shockwave rushed out through the air. The roar slammed into the two-hull warship and the RB-21 just as they turned their bellies toward Germania. So many things cried out in terror and were blown away in the name of powerlessness. ### Part 6 The shockwave spread the dust outwards and engulfed Tristan in a mere two seconds. A new air current formed and the dust began to swirl. The electrification caused by the rupturing air created lightning that crackled outwards as bluish-white bolts. Below the dust, several explosive booms sounded from the surface and spread outwards. The gulping roar of the thunder joined another sound to race through the sky and along the earth. That sound was a rhythmic pulse that almost sounded like slapping flesh. It sent a tremor through everything. The giant cross could be seen as a faint shadow within the dust, but it was beginning to sink downwards. The pulse’s rhythm gradually sped up as Tristan sank. The swirling dust began to expand while the tower disappeared. The electrified dust’s rotation sped up as it spread, so it had already become a massive whirlwind. When the dust swept through, the earth and sky would crack open and the ether would destroy and consume everything in its path. It made an icy sound like glass breaking. That sound was incessant as the thunderclouds that appeared around Germania spread out in all directions. That movement and the pulse grew more intense and refused to stop. ### Part 7 Someone came to within the roaring wind and the trembling air. It was Lowenzahn. She groaned and twisted her body. Her blue eyes slowly opened below her wrinkled brow. She narrowed her eyes against the light while her eyes came into focus and an expression of puzzlement formed on her face. She moved her eyes to take a look around. She saw a low ceiling overhead and she was lying on something like a chair. Covering her body was… “A blanket,” she muttered as her eyes focused further. There was an unopenable round window on the wall to her right. Then she saw the massive thunderclouds rotating in the night sky. She couldn’t tell how far away they were. They were a gray so dark it was nearly black, they extended high into the sky, and they stretched out horizontally to fill her entire view. The different layers of cloud were rotating at different speeds, creating a surface pattern similar to braided hair. This space was a long way from the clouds. She could see the moonlit forest below. She had only been using her eyes, but now she slowly turned her head to see further into the distance. She hadn’t moved for a while, so her body cried out in protest. But she didn’t care. Her cheeks bent in pain as she turned her head to look out the window. “What are those dark clouds?” Her question was answered by a woman’s voice directly to her left. “Half an hour has passed since Tristan was restarted by Tragisch. We are on the bridge of an AIF transport ship above the forest near Hamburg, my commander.” It was Jeanne’s voice. Lowenzahn nodded and viewed the massive collection of dark clouds. The occasional bluish-white light would flash through them, illuminating their center. Even the dark clouds looked white in the light and they displayed the shape of the object inside them like they were a screen. She saw a moving silhouette within the clouds. It looked like a great serpent. “That devastating dragon has grown more than 30 miles long. Tristan’s Tons have scattered and formed that ether dragon which is beginning to consume this world.” That was Schweitzer’s voice. Lowenzahn sighed at the familiar voice and held herself inside the blanket. “I see. So I was removed from Tristan and Heiliger took over.” Her voice was scratchy. “So I lost?” No one answered her. But that silence was as good as an answer, so she smiled bitterly. Then she looked out the window again. The giant dragon silhouette was dancing within the dark clouds. “How much longer until the world changes, Jeanne?” “It is currently 3:45 AM. So we have less than an hour.” “That’s not good. You get what this means, right? That is the result of Tristan’s scattered Tons, isn’t it? Then it will contain the Spacetime Tons extracted before Tristan was stopped. And without Neue Erde, those Tons can’t be extracted anymore.” A few seconds of silence followed. Finally, Schweitzer spoke toward the floor. “The vision of the past we all had while fighting was of before Berlin’s twin cities period.” “Yes. Most likely, around a thousand years’ worth of Spacetime Tons are inside that dragon. Once its Tons scatter too much and it can’t maintain that form, it will explode and destroy those Spacetime Tons. Similarly, if we destroy that dragon before that happens…” She took a breath and then stated her guess. “If we destroy it, it will trigger the Nibelung!” She looked back. She grimaced at the pain in her body, but she looked to the two people there. Jeanne kneeled on the floor and… “Captain, you don’t have to force yourself into such a cramped space.” Lowenzahn laughed bitterly because Schweitzer was crouched down with his head bent over to look down at her. He accepted her laugh with a disheartened look. “But I cannot just leave you alone either.” “Thanks.” Her quick response helped soften his expression while he looked at her. She held her knees below the blanket and looked up at him with a smile. That was all it took to communicate what they were each thinking, so they shifted to tenser expressions. “Jeanne, do the others know about this? If Elrich is here, tell him to work out a countermeasure ASAP. We need a way to destroy the dragon but not trigger the Nibelung.” Lowenzahn held the left side of her chest below the blanket and looked directly at Jeanne. She saw Jeanne’s deadly serious face, so she spoke sharply. “Your commander was bested by your leader, so I will follow her will. If Fräulein Kitty wouldn’t let me die when I wanted to, then I’m going to assume she’s safe too. And I know what she must be thinking.” “About what to do now?” “Yes. So as commander, I transfer all authority over the Geheimnis Agency to her.” Lowenzahn shut her eyes. “Of course.” She lowered her eyebrows a bit and forced a smile. “I doubt anyone still trusts me enough to take orders from me anyway.” Jeanne immediately stood up and shook her head. “You needn’t worry about-” she began. Just then, a sound dropped between Jeanne and Lowenzahn. The sound came from a metal plate slipping out of Jeanne’s pocket. The dim reserve lighting caused the plate’s surviving text to shine bright. Lowenzahn’s eyes slowly moved to read the few shining words. “ ‘War’, ‘Nibelung’, ‘1943’, ‘sin’. And lastly…’take care of-’ ” Her expression changed as she read them aloud. Surprise colored her face and she looked to Jeanne. “Is this what my mother placed in the underground knowledge storehouse?” “Yes. Witzmann left it with me. He said to give it to someone who fit those words.” Jeanne picked up the plate, frowned, and viewed its words. She chose her words carefully while asking Lowenzahn a question. “Take care of what, I wonder. Of the Nibelung maybe?” “W-well,” started Lowenzahn, but she was interrupted by a deep, male voice from overhead. It spoke a longer series of words. “The next war will be fought over the Nibelung. In 1943, we will pass all of our sin on to the next generation. If you happen to read this, then please take care of my daughter.” The flowing words came from Schweitzer. ### Part 8 The two women turned to see the large man with a thick journal open in his hands. He closed it and held it out toward Lowenzahn. “I doubt anyone understands the true will of Frobel Naylor, who helped created the Geheimnis Agency. She hoped to bring about the Nibelung, but contradictorily, she was also concerned for your safety, Lowenzahn.” Lowenzahn’s eyebrows fell and she squeezed her mouth shut. She said nothing, so Schweitzer continued. “But,” he began. “At the moment, we are all safe and we are waiting for a new world. I choose to believe this is the answer she wanted and it is the result of fulfilling her promise.” When he finished, Jeanne held the plate out toward Lowenzahn. Lowenzahn accepted the items. And she held them tight. Her blanket rustled as she held those two physical remnants of her mother’s will and curled up. “It was awfully convenient how all this worked out,” she said, a smile of relief on her face. She took a breath. But then they heard a quiet tongue click from the direction of the pilot’s seat at the front of the bridge. The three of them gasped and turned toward the tongue click. Next to the cramped pilot’s seat was the seat for the navigator who also handled communications. The AIF soldier who stood from there threw his headphones to the floor and ran toward the door leading from the bridge. “What is it!?” asked Schweitzer in English. The answer came in a strong tone. It was a short answer. “The ACBS was launched!” “What!?” The navigator explained with panic in his voice while he ran down the narrow aisle between the seats. “They stopped the reverse pressurization, but as soon as they learned about the dragon, the high-speed bomber fleet flying this way launched the ACBS! They’re targeting the great black dragon. The ETA is 4:42 AM!” Jeanne stood all the way up when she heard that time. “Does destiny want the Nibelung to happen!?” she asked through clenched teeth. “If the ACBS collides with the dragon, it will destroy that millennium’s worth of Spacetime Tons.” Lowenzahn also stood up. “Jeanne! You and him hurry to the others!” She stood on unsteady legs that nearly gave out under her, so Schweitzer supported her. She accepted his assistance while clutching the two items left behind by her mother. “I can apologize or make excuses to the others later. Now it’s my turn to trust them. Trust that they will follow my orders. …So tell them this.” She took a breath. “Every last member of the Geheimnis Agency is to serve the Messiah. Because she is sure to make the choice that gets us out of this bind.” She smiled. “Because she is sure to decide she doesn’t want to lose the present.” ### Part 9 Hazel stood on the RB-21’s windy upper armor, staring east. She saw a massive black storm there. The clouds highlighted the black dragon’s shape whenever the lightning flashed. She clenched her teeth, furrowed her brow, and watched how the clouds moved. And she thought to herself. … Why? “Why would that kind Karlsruhe man do this?” She shook her head to cast the words from her mind. She viewed the clouds around her. The RB-21 had finished escaping, so it was hovering in the sky alongside the German two-hull warship. She saw Sylphide’s shape in the imperfect circle of the moon overhead. She sighed while viewing that shape in the sky and the lights coming from the windows of the two-hull ship. … This isn’t over yet, is it? So she gave a single deep nod before turning around. There were around a dozen people there. The people seated on the RB-21’s upper armor were the main fighters of the AIF and Geheimnis Agency with the exception of Pale and Heiliger. Noting Berger among them, Hazel’s expression softened somewhat. Am I too tense? she wondered, taking a step toward him. Then a shorter person stood up from the sitting group. The old man in a white coat was Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief Elrich. His head was lowered and he kept his hands in his coat pockets. “Are you ready now? Have you calmed down?” “Yes. I banished all those unnecessary thoughts from my mind.” “Then I would like to state my conclusion, starting from what I told you earlier.” His lips bent just a bit as he started to stay something, stopped, and forced it out anyway. “The dragon which has swallowed both the Spacetime Tons and the anxiety Tons will consume the entire world when its Tons collapse. And now that ACBS is on its way. If we are to break free of this…” He paused to choose his words and Hazel saw a certain color in his Tons. It was the yellowish-green of a troubled and uncertain kind of consideration. She viewed that extra-yellowish color while watching his face. He had strong-willed eyebrows, sharp eyes, and thin lips. … He looks like a very reliable person. But he was currently hesitating even as that reliable side led him to choose his words. So she made up her mind. She spoke before he could continue. “You don’t have to make yourself say it. I think this was always how I wanted to do it.” Elrich raised his lowered head. She spoke to the surprise and confusion on his face. “I already know how to break free of this.” She laughed at Elrich’s shocked reaction and then looked behind him. Someone in a black coat sat a short distance from the ring of people. He didn’t look back her way, but she still spoke loud enough that he could hear her. “When I stopped Tristan, it must have already extracted about a thousand years’ worth of Spacetime Lives – bringing it back to just before Berlin came to be.” She took a breath. “So,” she continued, but before she could say more, Berger spat out a comment of his own, his back still turned. “That’s no reason to believe in some stupid joke, Hazel.” His tone rather than his words deepened her smile. She organized her thoughts and resumed speaking. “Um,” she began. “If my Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen can identify the Spacetime Lives and I can tune them, then I will appear in the past as the Messiah. Just as a Tuner this time.” “Well done.” Elrich nodded and took over the explanation. “Of course, you cannot repair such a massive amount of Tons with just Rein König. That is why we must strengthen Rein König and use Sylphide’s Panzer Emblem. It should be possible for the Panzer Emblem’s ether to combine with the Tons emitted by Rein König.” “Really?” Hazel breathed an impressed sigh while looking up at Sylphide floating overhead. “Then is the only problem whether I am a good enough Tuner to pull it off?” “Correct. Since you are a Tuner, you must correct the contradictions in history and control everything from the past to the present. And this control must be carefully done because you need to preserve a present day where the Panzerpolis Project happens and where the next you is given a choice similar to the one where you become a Tuner.” So… “So I think whether or not you go to the past should be a choice made by you alone.” “Thank you for your kindness.” She smiled bitterly and bowed toward Elrich. He wasn’t sure how to respond, but finally nodded and held his head high. The bald-headed elderly man seated next to him jabbed him in the hip. That was Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann. “Since when were you so bashful?” “Shut up, youngster.” The bitterness left Hazel’s smile when she saw those two exchanging jabs. Then she walked toward the others, holding Rein König in both hands behind her and trying to remain cheerful. She viewed all those people seated below the windy night sky. Corelle, Coolers, and the various AIF battalion commanders were there from the AIF. Elrich, Witzmann, Müller, Jeanne, and some other deputy chiefs were there from the Geheimnis Agency. Schweitzer and Lowenzahn were not with them yet. Lowenzahn was still being checked over by the doctor. But Hazel walked up to the one man who had removed himself from that ring of people. The black-clad young man sat with his back to the others. ### Part 10 Hazel crouched to Berger’s left, looked at his face in profile, and asked a question. “Um, Berger?” She waited three seconds, but he didn’t respond. “Um,” she repeated. “Aren’t you going to answer, Berger?” Still nothing. She sighed and let her shoulders droop before gabbing his left ear and tugging. “Ber – ger!” “Ow, ow, ow! What is wrong with you? The Wild Hund’s ears don’t stand up, so stop pulling like that.” He brushed off her hand and she smiled. “So you can hear me. Then you need to answer. I have something important to discuss with you.” She kept smiling, but he looked less than pleased. “Something important? You mean your decision, right?” “Oh? If you knew what I wanted, why were you ignoring me?” “Oh, come on.” He jerked his chin toward her face without any change of expression. “Take a look at your face. I can tell you’ve already made up your mind.” “Eh?” She set down Rein König and touched her face. “See what I mean?” said Berger. “That bashful old fart was afraid to make you choose, but you’ve already got the look of someone who’s itching to get started.” He was right. The smile she felt on her face was just like that. … I’m just so happy I can do this the way I most wanted to. When she thought back on everything that had happened – especially what had happened in Borderson – the smile grew. “If I do this, I can stop the Wheel of Destiny…and everyone can stay almost entirely unchanged.” She removed her hand from her face and moved in front of Berger while still crouched. She tilted her head. “But are you worried for me?” “Course I am.” “But I’m not as dumb as you think I am.” “I’d noticed. Your way dumber than I ever could’ve imagined.” Once he said that, Corelle turned around from the ring of people. She looked to Hazel and spoke with some exasperation on her face. “I hate to interrupt your flirting, but have you made your decision? If Hazel is going to the past, then you’re going with her, aren’t you, Berger?” Elrich nodded. “Most likely, the German Tons placed inside them will react when the Spacetime Tons are tuned and returned to the ley lines. The History Tons in there will resonate with the Spacetime Tons and they might tear you apart if you don’t travel through time with them.” “Looks like you get to enjoy a nice trip through time together,” said Corelle. But Berger shook his head and frowned. “That isn’t happening. I don’t think those are inside me anymore.” His tone and his words wiped the smile from Hazel’s face. She took a breath, lowered her head just a bit, and muttered, “So he noticed.” “Yes,” she said out loud. “During our Live Session, I swapped out the German Lives inside him that weren’t affected by the serum with the ones inside me that were affected by the serum.” “Did you think the Wild Hund shouldn’t be bound by anything? Not by this country and not by you?” She nodded, bit her lower lip, and looked away from him. She looked to the Sylphide’s cockpit so far above. That cockpit was built for the Messiah and it only held one. “I think this is the happiest choice. It just requires some patience from me. So…” She lowered her gaze to look Berger in the eye. She smiled and then reached out her hand to take his. “I will do everything I can to make it work. Once I end up in the past, I will write letters to you in the AIF. And when I return to the present, I will go to Borderson and call myself Lehrer. And…” “And then go to Hamburg last month?” “Yes,” she said firmly, squeezing his hand. “But I don’t intend to sacrifice myself. I will go to the past, return to the present, and then do all the things I wanted to do after the war.” She kept his hand in hers and asked a question of him and the others behind him. “Maybe I’m being selfish, but are any of you willing to help me?” ### Part 11 “You only have to do it if you want to. Please make your own decisions.” Hazel smiled a little, let go of Berger’s hand, and stood up. Then she slowly, slowly looked around at the others. But none of them responded right away, so she asked again, still smiling. “What do you say?” “Yes, ma’am,” replied a Heavy Barrel on the rear of the two-hull warship flying alongside them. The speaker named himself before she could turn that way. “Geheimnis Agency Army Division Chief ‘Eisen Panzer’ Karl Schmitt reporting in. I agree with the Messiah.” A short man responded by standing up from the ring of people. That was Müller. “Air Force Division Chief ‘Standhaft’ Herbert Müller reporting in as well. I will provide what little assistance I can.” Someone else nodded next to him. Elrich pulled some plans from his pocket and breathed an exasperated sigh. “Development Division Chief ‘Dachs’ Konrad Elrich. I will help to clean up my own tech’s mess.” Witzmann pursued each of them with the click of a camera each time. “I, Intelligence Division ‘Hellsehen’ Galue Witzmann, shall serve you for my own amusement and for the practical benefit.” “Pipe down. We got to know Hazel before any of you,” said Corelle with a shrug and an exaggerated look of annoyance. “Not a fan of working with the Geheimnis Agency, but AIF Aerial Division Corelle Sevan is with you to the end.” “Same. I don’t like a lot about this, but AIF Army Division Robert E Coolers is in too.” It wasn’t just the ones who spoke aloud. The volunteers stood up and turned to face Hazel. Then a higher-pitched female voice spoke up. “Geheimnis Agency Commander ‘Neue Erde’ Lowenzahn Naylor will be serving the Messiah too.” A hatch on the upper armor opened and Lowenzahn emerged wrapped in a blanket. Schweitzer helped support her and nodded toward Hazel. Lowenzahn smiled with just her lips and viewed the others. Her eyes stopped on the black color standing up in front of Hazel. That was Berger. He sighed and looked her in the eye with a look of defeat on his face, but then he spoke. “You’re being way too selfish here, Hazel.” She didn’t say a word. She only listened to him call her name. “But I will protect you, even if it won’t last long, Hazel Mirildorf.” ### Part 12 At 3:59 AM, the RB-21 and Sylphide, with Hazel and Berger on its roof, accelerated through the western sky toward Borderson. Schweitzer, Bermark, and Lowenzahn rode the Neue Silber transport ship and flew toward Germania’s clouds accompanied by Neue Blau and Neue Zinnobar. They had decided the Tuning would have the smallest margin of error if the changed object was removed as far as possible from the location of the scattering, so their job was to pin the dragon in place. Everyone else moved to the German land where the Live breakdown had begun. They equipped themselves as they saw fit and formed a straight-line formation that created a path from Germania to the North Sea. Their plan was simple: intercept the ACBS when it arrived from the North Sea, use Sylphide’s Panzer Emblem to consume its destructive power and the scattered earth and structures, and create their own dragon large enough to compete with the Tragisch dragon. The anxiety Lives would be destroyed using the power taken from the ACBS and the Spacetime Lives would be tuned using Sylphide’s Panzer Emblem. If they pulled that off, the anxiety would be negated and history could continue on into the future. Their acceleration route was a 150-mile line that passed through Borderson on the way to Germania. At 4:20 AM, Sylphide was waiting on the border with Poland when it spotted a small light in the west and its engine gave a roar. The RB-21 noticed the ACBS as well, so it accelerated out ahead. The atmospheric rift created by the RB-21’s passage allowed the blue ship to accelerate without having to worry about a wall of air in front of it. Far in the distance, the great dragon released a short roar that resembled a pulse. ### 793. Final Chapter: The Promise Turns 8/23/1944 23:38 – 23:53 This is one answer It is an important promise that began with some small words It is a happy story protected by the wind and destiny And It is our hidden memories That we can continue questioning forever ### Part 1 A man sat in a room surrounded by metal walls. He was a large man in a black combat coat and he sat in the chair next to a small bed. The square face below his short blond hair was silently lowered. His eyes were on the book sitting open on the ordinary prosthetic right arm held in front of his chest. He was reading a picture book called the Neue Unreif Germane. The book had few pages, so he soon finished it, shut it, and reopened the first page. The only sounds were the flipping of pages and the wind blowing through the small round window next to the bed. The night sky full of clouds was visible out the window. The clouds were dark and positioned not far above the window’s position. Occasionally, a round light would shine on the clouds and sweep along them as if searching for something. The trembling sound of the blowing wind was interrupted by three solid knocks on the door. The large man looked back to the narrow metal door. “Bermark?” “Indeed, Captain Schweitzer.” “It’s open.” “Excuse me,” said a tall, skinny man as he opened the door and entered. The elderly Sein Frau was built as sharp as a pencil and he looked to the picture book Schweitzer held. “You have been glued to that thing.” “Yes. I never imagined she would give me this today.” Schweitzer shut his eyes. “I suppose that was half a day ago now.” ### Part 2 That morning, Schweitzer stood within a golden color below the sunny sky. He was atop a large hill. The color gold rippled in the wind across the hill thanks to the wheat nearing harvest time. A dark forest was visible past the gold and the mountains loomed high past that. While listening to the blowing wind and a distant waterfall, he turned around to view a dirt road with deep wheel tracks located a few paces behind him. A green military wagon was stopped about 100 yards down that road and Bermark sat in the driver’s seat. That artificial green stood out like a sore thumb in the natural gold. Schweitzer sighed when he noted Bermark wasn’t even looking his way from within the green. He faced forward again. The wheat swayed before his eyes and someone stood up from the wavy gold. The young girl with her brown hair worn in a braid was Lowenzahn. She stood in front of him in a dirt-covered shirt and skirt and with her hands on her hips. “You look bored. Yet I’m busy as could be tending to the field.” “I’m not bored. Just…surprised.” “By what?” He looked around to the gold, black, and blue colors around them before answering. “By…” He shut his eyes, nodded, and faced forward before opening them again. His eyes were on Lowenzahn, her hands on her hips and her head held high. He kept his eyes on her and only her. “By how well you’re doing.” “It’s been nearly a year now. And Lillie’s letters have taught me so much about the past. …So how is my adoptive dad doing? He sounds really busy from his letters.” “He has been burning the midnight oil ever since you appointed him commander-in-chief. I have been taking on some of the workload by commanding a unit to assist with the military’s retreat from France.” “Didn’t a prototype Wort Bombe stop something a lot like the Nibelung in France? I heard it eliminated some anxiety Tons there.” “Yes, Elrich has confirmed it. He said it turned out well because everyone there wished for happiness.” “Then next time you see Elrich, tell him we need to build a lot more Wort Bombes and launch them all over the world to clean up the rest of the anxiety Tons still out there.” “The countries that do not understand will see Germany as a villain. I doubt every country will see this as a happy ending.” “That doesn’t matter. I’m willing to play the villain if it can eliminate all the anxiety Tons.” “You really don’t change, do you?” Schweitzer smiled bitterly. “I still can’t believe the Fünf Leithammels chose to send you, our commander, to live in Borderson in order to preserve the Geheimnis Agency’s connection to the Neue Kavaliers.” “Is that something we can’t afford to lose?” “Perhaps so. But…how is the village?” “Like I wrote in my letters, the reconstruction is complete. Heidengeists are surprisingly interesting people. Their unique traits show through in their lifestyle, so…how should I put it? Their quirks really stand out when you live with them.” Schweitzer looked across the wheat field. A golden wave swept across the hill. Lowenzahn brushed up her bangs with a dirty hand and viewed the wind. “Germania is gone, but the country has still evolved using the Erklärungs created by several years of ley line modifications. It’s strange, really. A power meant to bring destruction ultimately protected the country and is now giving it its own unique power.” Schweitzer said nothing. And he checked the large military watch on his left wrist. Lowenzahn followed his gaze. “Sorry. I need to get going.” “Hey, wait a second.” She stepped out onto the dirt road. He followed in confusion to find she had a something sitting on the edge of the road. It was a patchwork bag primarily made of red cloth. She pulled a picture book from there and held it out to him. It was titled the Neue Unreif Germane. He accepted it and she looked up so their gazes met. “The people of the next village over gave me this the other day. You can have it. It’s pretty interesting, so make sure to read it.” Then they heard a rumbling engine. They turned around to see a truck driving up from the bottom of the hill. It was green. It drove past them, swaying gently on its way to the village. Schweitzer noted the license plate. “That truck is from Cologne. Is the village interacting with humans now?” “To a limited extent. A lot of people took shelter here during last year’s Battle of Germania.” “I see.” Schweitzer watched the truck driving away. “Heidengeists and humans interacting. I wonder what the Messiah would have thought if she were still alive.” “Oh? You think the Messiah is dead?” “Isn’t she? Even if she returns to the present day, she dies at Hamburg. And Sylphide travels through each new loop. The two of them will always meet the same…” He trailed off there. Because he had heard something. The wind was carrying a series of sounds to him from the Village of Pardons located beyond the forest. The gentle musical notes were played by an organ. The music seemed to grow and shrink as it rode the wind. “The Unreif Germane?” “Yes. The village’s school has its lessons this time of day. They’ve invited in children from the next village over and from the Cologne region where their schools were lost in the war. The one teacher and one assistant are doing the best they can.” Lowenzahn turned toward Schweitzer and gave him a teasing grin. “What’s that look for? I can play this song too. I’ve been practicing so I can help out.” A singing voice reached them as if continuing on from Lowenzahn’s statement. The female voice began with a flowing “la”. Schweitzer raised his head when he heard the voice. “That’s Eryngium.” “Yes, she’s the assistant.” The song was carried by the organ music sweeping across the hill. In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and sings It carries power in its hand and hesitates The one-armed man guides the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing looks to the beginning The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of surmounting the wall Follow the path to a familiar you / To confirm who you are Make sure your hand and voice reach them / Stretch your hand out to the moon The gatherers begin their party / A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same song The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The Messiah remains uncrowned / She leaves her words and her power with him Thus she is alone / She dreams in this land Do not fear your own pain / If you wish for the power to fight All is found beyond the screaming pain Do not fear your own trembling / If you wish for the power to protect All is found beyond the embracing sorrow Do not fear your own weariness / If you wish for the power to advance All is found beyond an unending new beginning The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out your own words All hesitation exists to tear through that wall Schweitzer lowered his head after listening to the song. He tried to say something. “…” But no words came. Lowenzahn smiled at that, but silently nodded for him to leave. He turned away from her and began walking. As he went, he raised his prosthetic arm’s forearm to say goodbye. That prosthetic arm was only designed to mimic ordinary human actions. But he did clench his fist. He heard Eryngium singing through the song again as he left. He heard the children’s voices and a new voice join in this time, but he did not turn around. ### Part 3 The song still rang in Schweitzer’s ears. In the cramped ship’s cabin, he looked to Bermark and shut the picture book. “It’s strange. I feel like the songs in this book used to be different. It’s like they changed at some point. Don’t you think so?” “You must be imagining things. You tend to overlook a lot of details,” replied Bermark, his expression blank. Schweitzer frowned and started to say something, but a loud noise ran through the entire space around them then: an alarm. “An enemy?” “Yes, that is what I came to tell you.” “Then be quicker about it.” Schweitzer clicked his tongue and stood up. He set the picture book down on the bed and grabbed a staff. He turned off the lights, opened the door, and stepped out. He passed by a lot of soldiers while choosing to climb the stairs to the roof. “Captain, that is not the way to the bridge.” “I know. I’m going to the roof. No Neue Kavalier goes to the bridge to protect people.” He placed his feet on the steps and climbed. And… “Which country is this? Nowadays, it could be France, America, or England.” “The navigator says this one is unidentified. It appears to be moonlight resistant because it is moving rapidly above the clouds.” Schweitzer came to a stop, his eyes on the thick metal door to the roof directly in front of him. “That might be Sylphide.” “Let’s not be ridiculous.” “It is possible. Because the Messiah intended to set everything free.” He placed his hand on the door’s opening ring and turned it. The door shook heavily and then moved. The chilly wind blew in through the gap. Walls of light shined all around him. The high-altitude air blew in from beyond those virtual barriers. Schweitzer ignored that wind and pushed the door all the way open. Past the thick door, he saw the dark and cloudy night sky. He walked all alone into the darkness and wind. He walked outside. When his feet were pushed by the wind and stepped on the darkness, he hesitated for just a moment. But he planted his hesitant foot down firm and looked up into the sky. His lips moved to speak a few names and the names of their devices. Vaterland. Freischütz. Sylphide. Mondnacht. Requiem. Tragisch. Kaiser. Gelegenheit. Messiah. Neue Erde. The last one he didn’t speak out loud. He simply held up his staff and opened his mouth wide in the wind. He listened to the song of the racing wind, narrowed his eyes, and released his voice. “…!” His roar raced straight up into the sky, but it did not stop there. He spoke his Text to fulfill his promise. He shouted a heaven-striking song and refused to stop. The wind roared in response and nothing could stop it now either. It was asking a question. A new question. ### Closing Words Despite the scale of what happened on that night, most of it never became public knowledge thanks to the Allies covering it up and the Geheimnis Agency and the AIF staying silent. But there was no hiding that the prophets around the world could suddenly read the future’s History Lives again after that night. This was given the following explanation: “For some unknown reason, the previously cut off and unreadable History Lives were reconnected to the ordinary flow of time at 4:42 AM on August 24, 1943.” Afterwards, the Allies began attacking Berlin which was no longer protected by the dome. On May 7, 1945, Germany declared an unconditional surrender, ending the war, and Berlin was split between the east and the west. In 1962, the Berlin Wall was constructed, physically dividing the city that had been so changed by the efforts of Heidengeists, machines, and humans. But that wall is no more. It was torn down and crossed in 1988 by a few youths. And it is said most of those youths were accompanied by machines that responded to their Words. You may be tempted to ask whether it was man or machine that put an end to that mistake, but that question has already been answered. 8/24/2001. On the morning a certain girl sang. -Michael Schrier ## Neue Unreif Germane ### 1 “This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.” In the deep darkness of the Black Forest Born from the abyss The wheel emerges It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon It reads the wind and sings It carries power in its hand and hesitates ### 2 “One day, a man visited a woman who was friends with a dragon. He referred to the woman as the Messiah and said that her power was needed.” The one-armed man guides the Messiah The moonlit pair returns to the earth The dragons gather and dance tonight Every last thing looks to the beginning ### 3 “The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.” The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon All is a path to the north star / All is a story of surmounting the wall ### 4 “A long battle followed. But after traveling north and defeating a large black dragon, the clouds cleared away.” Follow the path to a familiar you / To confirm who you are Make sure your hand and voice reach them / Stretch your hand out to the moon The gatherers begin their party / A wall separates the pair As they follow the same path with the same song ### 5 “Below the full moon in the sky, the Messiah smiled with everyone. The knights rejoiced, the people danced, and the dragon roared.” The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather The Messiah remains uncrowned / She leaves her words and her power with him Thus she is alone / She dreams in this land ### 6 “The one-armed man accepted a sword from the Messiah and departed the morning after everyone threw a party to celebrate their newfound peace. He went to inform the king that the fighting was over.” ### 7 “The king began an emperor and the knights rejoiced.” “But the one-armed man did not return. He left on a journey. The Messiah said nothing. She simply wrote many letters.” ### 8 “But one morning, the Messiah ended her silence and gathered everyone. Then she promised them that their peace would last for a thousand years thanks to their efforts.” ### 9 “Do not forget to develop ways to fight and to protect and do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.” ### 10 Do not fear your own pain / If you wish for the power to fight All is found beyond the screaming pain Do not fear your own trembling / If you wish for the power to protect All is found beyond the embracing sorrow Do not fear your own weariness / If you wish for the power to advance All is found beyond an unending new beginning The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out your own words All hesitation exists to tear through that wall “The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed man returned. He erected two gravestones next to the shrine and spent the rest of his days guarding them…until one evening he breathed his final breath as peacefully as if he were falling asleep.” “A thousand years has passed since then. Surely the Messiah has already awoken and is living somewhere in this country. All so she can hear someone’s words once more. Yes, I am certain of it!” “Hazel! Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf!?” Panzerpolis 1943 Erste-End ### 794. Afterword ### Kawakami Minoru’s Board Mode: Afterword – Pit In You are in Afterword, the Final Page of Virtual City DT. The current time is 3:57 AM. You are at home, but the details will be omitted. Let us just say it is messy. You spilled the heater’s oil all over the floor earlier. It caused quite a commotion. The damages were great, including your pajamas and your shoes. You aren’t sure what to do about it. There is no one else around. Kawakami Minoru: “Let’s get on with the usual then. “We’re back to a modern city for the first time in a while. “Virtual City DT is both like a fairy tale and like a video game, but all the talk of god and demons ties into the fact that there are many different interpretations of gods and demons in the City World. The interpretation seen here is not held across the entire City Series, so be careful there. “Now, the real Detroit is seen as an industrial city, but starting in the ‘60s, labor conflicts over automation of the factories led to riots and the population decreased considerably. They maintained parks and such to help improve their image and the industrial side has begun to recover in recent years. You might enjoy looking into the prosperity of this city. “I was fortunate enough to be allowed a high page count for DT. I have all of you to thank for that. So thank you very much. “Now, onto the late-night chat with a friend.” Kawakami Minoru: “Hey, are you doing well? We’re doing this even if you aren’t. Oh, yeah!” Friend Y: “Why do you always do these chats when you’re in a weird mood? You showed me most of this one, but what’s even the point of giving me those super outdated manuscripts? I checked the latest version just now and found Yuo’s panty flipping seen was cut way down. What a disappointment.” Kawakami Minoru: “It was her skirt that was flipped, not her panties, idiot. Anyway, how are you doing? You’re sort of on the leading edge of things like DT, aren’t you? Having another stupid meeting about selectively breeding humanity to look more polygonal since modeling humans with polygons is such a pain?” Friend Y: “You make it sound like I’m part of an evil secret organization. And that wasn’t what that meeting was about. The idea was to find someone who looked really polygonal and use them as our photo reference to make our job way easier. Anyway, I know this is a sudden change of subject, but you know how people in DT have an emblem appear on a body part accompanied by a shattering glass sound when they get serious?” Kawakami Minoru: “Yeah, it would probably surprise your partner if that happened when you were getting on, wouldn’t it?” Friend Y: “How did you know what I was going to say? Anyway, those subprograms sound handy.” Kawakami Minoru: “What subprogram would you want?” Friend Y: “One for the summer of my 18th year.” Let’s ignore the idiot while I give an update on my latest work. Zenon City – Tokyo and Image City – SF are being alternately published in Dengeki hp, released every other month by MediaWorks. Those cities are pretty standalone, so check them out if you have some time. And now for a list of my virtual activities: - My website: - Illustrator Satoyasu’s website: Anyway, my editing background music this time was Gimmick by Psy S, but I spent that time wondering: “Who was the real dropout?” Now, then. Next up is DT’s second half. December 2001. A morning of spilled oil. -Kawakami Minoru ### Satoyasu Page I finally got to draw the long-eared heroine I've wanted for so long. I hope you continue reading. See you. -Satoyasu ### 795. Chapter 1: Advertise Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” This is Racter Nosrup Txt, the member of the 13 Demigods who’s decided he’s gonna do a bad Kansai accent despite being American! With the information release tomorrow at 3, I’m starting this Japanese version just for Japan since they built Babel and all. So today’s theme is gonna be Babel. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:2-4) Comments: I’m not sure what to do -Hak Hi, I’m a 32-year-old housewife in the south district. The thing is, well, Babel is always casting a shadow on our district during the day. I haven’t been able to hang my laundry out to dry in the mornings for a few centuries now, so- 07/06/2000 DT 09:00 AM (-30:00) ### Help Text Visitor Introduction to DT Welcome to DT, where we can hear the voice of god. Please keep the following rules in mind during your stay. 0: Basic Rules 0-1: DT is the world’s first textual world that can be visualized and allows for multiple simultaneous users. It is also a high-speed city with its speed boosted 100x. You will live here in your PC Body which was based on your Lives data. Your Lives data can be summoned when necessary, but it is normally stored at an intermediary level to reduce the heat of virtualization. 0-2: When you are resonance controlling your PC Body, there will be feedback to your Lives, so if you injure your PC Body, your Lives will receive the same injury. Backing up your Lives data is forbidden as it would cause a resonance collapse in your existing Lives, so do be careful. Also, to avoid bringing back any minor trouble caused by your PC Body, it is recommended you register under a pseudonym if possible. 0-3: All records preceding the 2nd Godtact Experiment have been erased or hidden. Queen Akalabeth will release that data on July 7, 2000 DT at 3 PM to coincide with the change to the boost settings. 1: Page Rules 1-1 DT is made up of 3 concepts: Top Pages, Hidden Pages, and Word Passages. Top Pages are areas anyone is free to enter. Word Passages are the sky, passageways, and things like that. Hidden Pages are isolated areas meant for using Board Mode. 1-2 DT can be used in a text data mode called Board Mode or a visual mode called Sight Mode. 1-3 In Board Mode, visual information can be checked through textual updates. Actions are partially automated using subprograms, so you cannot make any actions requiring precision or high speed. If those are necessary, please enter Sight Mode. 1-4 In DT, word mail, programs, and data objects can be virtually transmitted through the intermediary layer, but doing the same with real objects is banned for safety reasons. 2: Conversational Rules In Board Mode, speech is enclosed in quotation marks. If thoughts are pushed to the surface, they will be enclosed in angle brackets. Thoughts can be displayed as word windows during Sight Mode. 3: Load Emblem Rules 3-1 When in Sight Mode, your willpower can load the Lives data of your body parts from the intermediary layer to your PC Body. This process is known as downloading. You can load 50% of your Lives data through downloading. With even more willpower, it is possible to load your full body in a Grandload. 3-2 Downloading greatly increases the consumption of virtual heat and empties your stomach, so you may be automatically placed in your high performance mode afterwards. Any other important topics can be looked up in the help program at any time. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: At DT Yard You are at DT Yard’s Top Page: Yard Captain’s Office. The current time is 9:00 AM. You just entered the room through the Yard’s newcomer lobby. The large room contains a large desk. The shelves on the wall carry awards and a shield. A single PC Body is in the room: Ogre Telyb Dll. Aoe: “Mh?” Aoe: Aoe: “What kind of room is this? It’s nothing like the lobby. Is this a new kind of textual world?” Telyb: “Ha ha ha. Precisely, visitor.” Telyb: “This conversation-only mode is DT’s unique Board Mode, Aoe.” Aoe: “Mh.” Aoe: “There must be someone here, but where are they? I can’t see anything in this mode.” Telyb: “Yes, I’m here. Right in front of you even.” Telyb: “If you want to see something in Board Mode, just think ‘Over Reload’ to yourself.” Mr. Telyb is seated across the desk from you. He is a fat middle-aged black man. A blue avian Mouse is standing on Mr. Telyb’s desk. A digital clock counting down to the Day of the Oracle is located on the wall above the window behind him. Aoe: “The Day of the Oracle?” Help: Day of the Oracle. A prophecy was received when the 2nd Godtact Experiment failed and the Questron exploded. It was a vague prophecy simply stating that everything would “get better” after a point 2000 years in the future. The day the people of DT lost their memories in the explosion was set as July 7 of Year 0 DT in the city properties, so 2000 years later would be precisely 3 PM on July 7, 2000 DT. DT’s dynasty paid a great price for that prophecy, so to ensure it was of some use, DT’s overall boost properties will be changed on the Day of the Oracle and the DT data from before the 2nd Godtact Experiment will receive an open release after previously being sealed away to prevent a panic. Aoe: Telyb: “The terminology help program loves to show off to visitors.” Telyb: “So how are you handling yourself in Board Mode?” Aoe: “Hmm. It feels strange, to be honest.” Aoe: “I rely on sensory information so much that not actually seeing things is bothersome.” The surroundings have not changed. Mr. Telyb is giving you a serious look. Aoe: “Are things around me in motion while I talk like this?” Telyb: “They are. You need to keep in mind that an Over Reload only gives you 2-3 seconds’ worth of data. Board Mode is for a high-speed exchange of the textual data at the foundation of DT. It isn’t meant for other uses.” Telyb: “If you want a visual-based experience, you have to switch to Sight Mode. But I should explain Board Mode to you before you try that. Do another Over Reload.” Mr. Telyb has stood up and is aiming a handgun your way. Aoe: “Mh.” Telyb: “This is the scary thing about Board Mode. I’ve been aiming this gun at you for 8 seconds now, but you didn’t notice until you Over Reloaded. If I had pulled the trigger, you would have seen a critical warning window at the same time you felt the shock and died.” Aoe: “And if you die in the Virtual City, you die in real life? Can’t you back us up?” Telyb: “Only if you want to trigger resonance collapse with your existing Lives. Just make sure to check on your surroundings periodically.” Mr. Telyb has put away the handgun and is seated deep in his chair. Telyb: “Yes, start out by keeping a close eye on things.” Telyb: “Board Mode only shows you a limited slice of the data. Your PC Body exists even if you can’t sense it and it operates using subprograms. That allows it to move, do work, and eat, but the subprograms are inaccurate and make mistakes. They’re efficient and fast, though.” Aoe: “The most difficult thing for me is holding a conversation without seeing the other person’s face or hearing their tone of voice.” Telyb: “That you’ll just have to get used to. Board Mode is the primary mode of life here in DT.” Aoe: “Isn’t that stifling?” Telyb: “There are people who can’t keep up with this high-speed exchange of emotionless data. They’re better suited for the slow pace of the harmonious Plus World outside the city, so the high-speed noisy Minus World of DT can be overwhelming.” Telyb: “I’ve seen hundreds if not thousands of people who neurotically Over Reload every single second watching for unseen changes in their surroundings. But on the other hand, Board Mode is fast and convenient.” Aoe: “What if I can’t get used to this?” Telyb: “Unfortunately, that’s the case for the majority of people. If you can’t read the rapid flow of emotionless text data and use your imagination to pick up on the emotions hidden in that text, then you’ll misunderstand the people around you, cause trouble, and claim you’re being treated unfairly. We have a word for them: dropouts.” Telyb: “So either get used to it or find people you’re comfortable enough around that you don’t need to Over Reload. Speaking of which, you’re forgetting to do it again. What do you think my expression was when I was talking about the dropouts?” Mr. Telyb is smiling in your direction. Aoe: “You look amused by the term.” Telyb: “Of course I am. I was originally a type of hacker called a phone phreak, which made me a Minus Elite. I never fit in in the outside world. It scared me how everyone assumed I was a Plus person, so they couldn’t understand me. That’s why I was so surprised when I came to DT. Here, everyone views people’s feelings and everything else in a Minus light and you’re considered the bad guy if you assume the opposite.” Telyb: “We got used to life here pretty quick, but there are always the people who just can’t see through the noise. They’re the mainstream of the outside world. It’s those Plus Elites who end up dropping out in here.” Telyb: “And we can only be the Elites here because the Minus extreme of stripping out all emotion causes that type to drop out. We don’t drive them out because of pride or anything. It’s this world itself that drives them out.” Aoe: “…” Aoe: “Did you ever think you fit in here because you’re missing something normal people have?” Mr. Telyb claps his hands once in delight. Telyb: “I like you, Aoe. You have the most wonderful look of disgust on your face right now, don’t you?” Aoe: “How did you know?” Telyb: “Because we’re Minus Elites. There’s always something off about us on the emotional, human, or moral front. But you can’t see any of that here in DT, so our imaginations have to act as a substitute. And…” Mr. Telyb is smiling bitterly. Telyb: “Those of us who find the outside world frightening believe in that power and praise the Minus.” Telyb: “This virtual city full of fakes is home to people like that. If a Plus Elite tries to lie in this Minus World, they will fall to the Minus side and drop out. They can’t give up the reality of the Plus and they can’t choose the dream of the Minus.” Aoe: “Algo said he was going to abandon the Plus and eliminate Words Warn.” Telyb: “Whatever his reasons, he has chosen the path of the Minus Elite. But which will you choose?” Aoe: “Well…” Mr. Telyb’s eyebrows are raised in a bitter smile. It is a subtle smile. Telyb: “You don’t have to agonize over the decision. Some aren’t on either side and some struggle either way. But remember this: if you can’t accept the fakes, then you are a Plus person.” Telyb: “But you did kill someone in the Plus World. That is a Minus act.” Aoe: “Algo said the same thing. He said I had dropped out of the Plus World.” Telyb: “Don’t look so troubled by it. Remember what I said? Some people aren’t on either side and there’s nothing wrong with that. Whether or not it destroys you is the world’s decision.” Telyb: “And if you aren’t on either side, it means you have more options open to you. You could choose the Plus, the Minus, or some third option. Give it some thought if you have the time.” Telyb: “But that’s enough chitter chatter. Think ‘Sight Mode’ to change modes. That one should be a lot easier to grasp.” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: At DT Yard Aoe felt like he had suddenly awoken from sleep and found himself standing in a room. “That was sudden.” It was a small room of about 5 yards in each direction. The flag of the city, discolored with time, covered the north and south walls. The city’s symbol depicted on the flag was a white cross standing atop a blossoming flower with a giant tower in the background. A large wooden desk with a birdcage on top was found in the center of the room placed between two copies of that image. A man sat on the other side of the desk with a digital wall clock above the window behind him. The middle-aged black man’s fat body was contained in a Yard uniform with an unusual number of latches. Amicable eyes smiled below his short hair. He leaned over the desk, offering his hand to Aoe. Aoe reached out his hand too, but… “Mh?” He couldn’t get his hand onto Telyb’s. Telyb smiled bitterly when he noticed. “You still need to optimize the subprograms that move your PC Body. Probably a good time to show you what a Download looks like. A nonstandard Download Text loads half your Lives into this Minus World.” I want to confirm my presence. A bluish-white light briefly gathered in Telyb’s hand. It formed an emblem that used a set of scales as a symbol. The emblem soon disappeared and a sound like shattering glass came from his hand. Then his hand was holding Aoe’s. Telyb smiled again. “Welcome to DT, the Minus City where we summon a god. And welcome to DT Yard, Aoe Shouzou.” “Nice to meet you.” / When that thought came to mind, a black-framed window appeared over Aoe’s head. Aoe viewed the window. So did Telyb. The latter frowned and shook their clasped hands. “Sorry, but the settings don’t allow criminals to hide their thoughts or to attack.” “To keep them from plotting, I’m sure. Sounds more effective than a truth serum.” Aoe checked the mirror on the wall to his right and saw a cartoony Shiba Inu on his shoulder. He saw his own short black hair and his sharp and somewhat slender face. His skinny but fit body wore a simple black tank top and white shorts. His hands and feet were covered by armored gloves and sandals. “We made your PC Body identical to your real body. I hope that wasn’t a problem.” “I look and feel the same as usual.” This body was actually the PC Body created when he entered the city. His actual body’s Lives were stored in the intermediary layer between DT and the outside world and controlled this body through a resonance effect. Basically, this was a false body used to live in this Minus World. When he needed his real body, he could switch to Sight Mode and perform either a Download or a Grandload. Another thought window appeared over his head while he came to understand several things. Then he looked to the top of the wall. The clock there said 29:53:54 and it was ticking down second by second. “That’s counting down until the Day of the Oracle that Algo mentioned, isn’t it? For that festival celebrating the boost tomorrow.” He nodded at his own words. The word “festival” inspired him to look out the window behind Telyb. He saw the city of DT there, but the image was weirdly blurry. Telyb noticed what he was looking at and addressed it. “That’s what happens when you try to look past the borderline with another Page. In Sight Mode, you need to Over Zoom instead of Over Reloading.” The view out the window grew clearer. A main street was located directly out ahead of the Yard building and all the buildings lining it were made of stone or wood. The road itself was made of dirt with grass on either side. There were a lot of trees between the houses and there was a well at the center of a distant intersection between two roads. Looking north, he saw a gray castle surrounded by fortress walls. That was the royal castle. Flags and other things had been erected throughout the castle town, so it really did feel like the preparations for a festival. But Aoe tilted his head while viewing it all. “Why the medieval look? I heard this used to be a major industrial city. Doesn’t this make for a lot of extra work?” “You know the city was virtually sealed away by the detonation of the Word Bomb during the war, right? When the people trapped there were rescued a decade or so later, they left DT in fear.” “So the place became deserted? That doesn’t explain this old-fashioned city.” “It wasn’t just that. When we were given this place as a testing ground for our experiments, we rebuilt it as a Minus City instead of an industrial one. We gave it a sky and a sea and we built the workshops and houses out of a false forest and false stones.” He took a breath. “Later on, the 2nd Godtact Experiment ended in failure and DT lost its memories just like it had lost its form and its people earlier. The data from the experiment told us the godtact would trigger a Great Godquake, so I and the rest of the 11 Demigods made a crucial decision: we would end the godtact experiments and make the best of the time we had.” “I see. So this easygoing city was created by those godtact experiments that are now known as Death Techno.” Aoe had heard about that incident from Yuo during their schooldays. The godtact experiments had attempted to reach into the ley lines and extract the Great God Lives said to be the foundation of the very world. Aoe had heard precisely three things about those experiments. One, the 1st Godtact Experiment held in ’73 had failed and resulted in massive damage to DT. Yuo and 12 others had been partially fused with DT’s OS and made into immortal beings known as the 13 Demigods. Two, the 2nd Godtact Experiment held in ’82 had failed and resulted in the erasure of most of DT’s memories. Archon Suedomsa, a Japanese national and #2 of the 13 Demigods had also lost his memories. Yuo also lost her memories after the formatting and is currently under the protection of the royal castle. Three, DT hid all records preceding that event and designated the experiments Death Techno. Aoe nodded. “I get making that Death Techno. No one would survive a Great Godquake.” “I suppose a Japanese man would understand that part. Before we knew the consequences, we believed we were doing the right thing by approaching god’s Lives. We even took our Urban Names as our last names – every one of them an enemy of god’s name spelled backwards.” “And now one of you leads the Yard, huh? You never know what life has in store for you, do you?” Aoe sighed and shifted his gaze away from the castle. He noticed something to the south. There was a mountain there and what looked like an amusement park. And past the Ferris wheel and white castle, he saw something much bigger. “Oh,” he said out loud. A vertical silhouette stood tall in the southern sky. It was a giant tower. “That must be Babel.” “Yes, it was moved here because we provided aid with your country’s Godquake. That Word Tower was remodeled into an extractor of divine prophecies in order to rescue Tokyo after it was sealed away in the summer of ’99.” “It looks complete to me.” “It is. It’s scheduled to start running after the boost settings change tomorrow. The Japanese corporate sponsor won’t shut up about it, you see. They want us to hurry up and start producing a lot of prophecies for cheap. The boost settings change was a request made by that Japanese company.” Telyb took a breath, rested his elbow on the desk and calmly viewed Aoe. “Anyway, that should be enough of an introduction to DT, so let’s get down to business. I gathered my thoughts in a Word Mail and it honestly contains a fair amount of me just bitching.” “How do I receive Word Mails here?” “I already sent it to you. Have the Mouse on your shoulder bring it up for you. Think of it like a terminal you carry around with you.” Aoe looked to his shoulder and saw the cartoony brown Shiba Inu looking up at him. Once their eyes met, the Shiba Inu raised its front paw and opened a window. ### Telyb’s Word Mail: To Aoe Shouzou To Aoe Shouzou, Team 4 Commander of the Government-Assigned Special Area Squad (GASAS). These are only my honest personal opinions. First, Yuo is one of DT’s 13 Demigods of the 9 Families, so I want to make it clear that having her as your assistant is highly unusual. Keep in mind that this was only allowed because of Babel’s presence in southern DT and because of the other “assistance” Japan has provided DT. She is currently being guarded as an adopted daughter of the royal family and receiving the treatment her age warrants. Fusing with DT’s OS during the 1st Godtact Experiment made us Demigods immortal in the sense that we don’t age, but we can still die. And when we do, our bodies and memories are reformatted back to the state they were during the 1st Godtact Experiment. Do not place her in danger. I assure you this is the last you will hear me bitching on this particular subject. Because I know the situation warrants some risk. The Day of the Oracle will arrive in 30 hours of our time. Tomorrow, Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb will use a Demigod program known as a Portal to change DT’s overall boost setting from the current 100x to 110x. Then she will activate Babel. At the same time, the memories from before the 2nd Godtact Experiment will be given an open release. Tomorrow at 10 AM, after the Demigod named Suedomsa gives the final approval, the 2000 years’ worth of memories sealed away in this city will be known to all. As diplomats for this open release, 7 of the 13 Demigods will leave the city. We don’t want a terrorist attack during that time. Ikemaru told us that your arrival was delayed due to some decisions on Japan’s part, but that means you may need to act quickly. I am sure you will be doing some investigation of your own, but keep in mind that everyone in this city uses a screenname. I heard Algo Everquest said he would be meeting with Alternative Kobayashi’s father and sister, but those two are very likely living under a false name. Also, I have no idea what he might have meant by eliminating Words Warn. That was determined to be impossible now that all godtact experiments have been canceled. Keep in mind that your investigation may be impeded by your position as a criminal. Criminals cannot Grandload and have other restrictions in place. Removing those restrictions requires a pardon from Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb, but she is busy until tomorrow morning preparing for the boost settings change. That is why I will be asking Yuo to look after you until then. To prevent misuse, any program given to a criminal by a non-administrator must be directly installed and given a time limit. The time limit is still necessary for an administrator, but the program can be left with the criminal as a trigon. If Yuo trusts you, I am sure she will give you the unrestricted programs you need. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: At DT Yard Mr. Ogre Telyb is seated in front of you. He is frowning somewhat. He looks serious. Aoe: “Hm.” Aoe: “This all sounds like a pain. So all of the data on the 2nd Godtact Experiment and Day of the Oracle is sealed?” Telyb: “Everyone who was there at the time lost their memories in the explosion and all their personal information was blown away. The only people who remember everything are the 11 Demigods, not counting Suedomsa and Yuo, and some of the older NPC Bodies. If you really want to know…well, wait until 3 tomorrow afternoon.” Mr. Telyb’s expression has not changed in the slightest. He still looks serious. Aoe: “I get the impression you wouldn’t tell me even if I punched you.” Telyb: “Your impression is correct. I recommend going to the Royal Library’s genealogy room and doing your own research. We can discuss anything you discover there during any free time we have tomorrow morning.” Telyb: “I don’t like it either, if I’m being honest. I need the other Demigods’ approval to simply tell old stories. Like I said in the Word Mail, tomorrow’s open release won’t go through until Suedomsa shows up at the castle at 10 and gives his approval. He has Words Warn and his day of destruction is tomorrow, so this will be his final duty.” Telyb: “Your pardon will take place after that, so probably around 11.” Aoe: “I thought my top secret investigation was important. Why make me wait so long?” Aoe: “Anyway, how has your research gone? Like you mentioned in your Word Mail, Algo said he was going to see Sis’s – Kobayashi’s father and sister. Do you know who they are?” Mir. Telyb is frowning a bit and crossing his arms. He looks troubled. Aoe: “No luck?” Telyb: “None. Everyone who enters the city has their passports and such managed by the providers around the city, but the corporations, research labs, and government providers like to keep the identities behind the screennames secret, so I can’t tell who’s who. This is a constant problem, but we can’t get after them too much when they’re basically DT’s sponsors.” Mr. Telyb waves his hand and a window opens in front of you. The dog on your shoulder waves its front paw and the window is absorbed into the paw. Telyb: “I received what data I could from the cooperative providers. Use it for your investigation.” Aoe: “Mh. I appreciate it.” Telyb: “There’s no time for appreciation. The providers are outside the city, so for them, there are only 18 minutes until the Day of the Oracle. There is only time to ask them one or two questions now.” Telyb: “Also, there were no providers restricting entrance to the city before the 2nd Godtact Experiment, so the personal information of anyone in the city then was resonance destroyed in the explosion when the experiment failed. Along with our own personal information. DT currently has a population of 4096, but around 2300 of those are the original residents or their descendants. Knowing someone’s ‘wild name’ from outside may not matter much.” Telyb: “Still, perform your search. In the time of the bible, it’s said the wise men seeking the king arrived from the east following a star. You’re Japanese just like Suedomsa and Yuo, so I’m sure you can find who you’re looking for.” Mr. Ogre Telyb is seated in front of you. His eyebrows are raised. He is smiling. Telyb: “Personally, I’m curious to see the look on your face when you’re reunited with Yuo. Did you ask to meet with your ex because you Japanese people can never let go of the past?” Aoe: “She’s not my ex. But…this is still a gamble.” Aoe: “My work here will likely require me to fight eventually. Using the deadly power I once used to kill.” Aoe: “If Yuo won’t accept that, then I will give up on martial arts entirely after this battle is complete.” Telyb: “You’re letting someone else decide that for you?” Aoe: “There is someone I cannot defeat and my power is steeped with killing. I don’t want her decision – I want an opportunity. I already made my own decision 6 years ago.” Telyb: “Sounds like you get over things fast. Oh, and Over Reload more often.” Telyb: “You can’t see people’s expression in Board Mode, so you need to Over Reload their expression to see their reactions.” Mr. Telyb is wrinkling his brow. He looks worried. Telyb: “For example, if someone calls you an idiot, you can’t know if they mean it affectionately or as an insult from the text alone. That kind of thing has caused countless misunderstandings in this world of text. Take good care of your relationships, okay?” Aoe: “Can’t we just do these things in Sight Mode instead?” Telyb: “DT’s OS isn’t perfect even in Sight Mode. It can overlook subtle differences.” Telyb: “Oh, and one thing about Yuo.” Aoe: “Yes?” Telyb: “I wouldn’t have assigned her to you if she had protested the assignment.” Mr. Telyb’s eyebrows are bent and he has a smile on his lips. Unclear what this means. Telyb: “Why are you staring at me like that? I’m flattered, but I’m a married man.” Aoe: “It’s not that, idiot. It just sounds like you’ve known Yuo a long time.” Aoe: “Why won’t you tell her what happened before the 2nd Godtact Experiment?” Telyb: “She doesn’t need to know any of it, so the old memories would only weigh her down. And they’ve been overwritten by newer things anyway.” Aoe: “But she was trying to remember what she had forgotten.” Telyb: “Even so. Archon Suedomsa also lost his memories and he has returned to his role of running the amusement park and hospital in the south district after his rehabilitation was complete. Although for him it seems to be a way of facing the fact that his life will end tomorrow at 3.” Aoe: Telyb: “Oh, we have visitors.” Two PC Bodies have arrived: Fooblicky Telyb Sys and Yuo Natas Wav. Fooblicky: “Hi, how’s my hubby doing?” Mrs. Fooblicky is in her small high-performance mode. She is a blonde-haired, green-eyed woman in green office clothing. Miss Yuo is in her even smaller high-performance mode. She is a girl with her brown hair worn in a ponytail. Mrs. Fooblicky is carrying a plate of fries. Aoe: “Mh? Where is Yuo?” Fooby: “Maybe that was too sudden. Since you’re in Board Mode, try Over Reloading and looking more carefully.” Mrs. Fooblicky is carrying a plate of fries on her left hand. Three flavors of fries are piled high on a 50cm plate. From top to bottom, the flavors are layered salt, garlic, and vinegar. A tiny Miss Yuo is sleeping hanging from Mrs. Fooblicky’s right hand. Aoe: “Why is she so small?” Fooby: “She’s hungry, so she removed her inefficient programs and entered high-performance mode. She probably hasn’t eaten much because she was so busy preparing for a certain someone’s arrival.” Telyb: “The same will happen to you if you don’t eat, Aoe. Is this not the reunion you had in mind?” Aoe: Aoe: “And there the city goes showing off my thoughts again. This place is creepy.” Fooby: “That’s only because you have criminal settings applied. There are a lot of downsides, so make sure to get your pardon ASAP tomorrow. Anyway, I fried this with a x2 boost, so I’ll leave them on the desk for you.” Yuo: “Hweh?” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: At DT Yard A small woman stood in front of Aoe. The blonde-haired green-eyed woman was Fooblicky. The large plate of fries in her left hand was tilting. The tiny girl who was hanging from Fooblicky’s right hand pushed up on the edge of the plate with her head. Aoe’s reflexes responded to the falling plate. He reached toward it. But he failed to reach it. The sub program moving his hands couldn’t keep up. Aoe recalled what Telyb said about Downloading. “I have superb hands.” Black light briefly surrounded his right hand and a sound like shattering glass echoed out. The black light formed an emblem on the back of his hand. An emblem bearing a black spear symbol. Aoe felt a light impact on his hand as he accurately caught the plate. “Hm.” He nodded and looked around in his crouching pose. Telyb behind the desk and Fooblicky were both staring wide eyed. “You’re a talented guy. Most people can’t Download so soon after arriving.” “This was nothing special.” He downplayed the accomplishment, but then felt a tug at the plate he was holding near the floor. His vision answered his visible question. Below the plate, tiny Yuo was holding onto it with her little, round hands. She looked sleepy, but she started grabbing at the fries. She ate one, two, three of them before looking up. Their eyes met with Aoe still crouching. She blinked her large eyes twice, thrice. “Senpai?” But before she recovered from her confusion, she looked back down toward the fries, reached out, and resumed eating. Her little hands grabbed at the three flavors of fries and consumed them. Aoe’s thought appeared in a window above his head, but Yuo didn’t even notice. She was too focused on the fries. He sighed. He had demanded this reunion after 6 years, so he had been concerned she might not be happy about it. Even if she had come to terms with her anger and confusion, it didn’t just go away. But at the same time… When he saw that tiny version of her still focused on the fries, his thoughts strayed. She was still ignoring him to eat. He suddenly remembered when he had brought her to a ramen place the day they first met. He smiled bitterly. His right hand wasn’t forming a fist since it was holding the plate. Giving up on that will have to come later, he felt rather than thought. He noticed Yuo was reaching for another fry. He yanked the plate back so her hand missed the fry. After her hand found only air, she swayed a few times below Fooblicky’s hand, but then she clenched her empty hands and looked to Aoe. “Uh,” she began before bursting into tears. She cries out loud and Fooblicky hid her behind her back. “Wh-what is wrong with you!? You made her cry!” “I was only doing what I used to do back in the cafeteria. She didn’t cry back then though.” “High-performance mode removes so many programs you can’t control your reactions!” Fooblicky lowered Yuo to the floor. Yuo resumed crying next to Fooblicky. She opened her mouth wide and bawled, so Fooblicky pulled out a handkerchief and died off the girl’s cheeks. “There, there. It must have been rough having him constantly psychologically abusing you like that. Don’t cry, okay? Try to forget about that cruel man.” “Hold on. You’re acting like I’m some kind of criminal.” “You are technically a criminal right now.” Aoe ignored Telyb’s comment and looked to Yuo. After staring at her for a bit, her bawling subsided to simple sobs. After an equal amount of time, those sobs settled down to irregular breathing. When Aoe grabbed the fries and crouched down, the crying had stropped altogether. Tiny Yuo was looking up at him with her shoulders shaking. She wasn’t crying. The shaking was just from wiping the tears away with her round hands. She viewed him with her blue eyes. Her gaze was direct but trembled just a bit. He held out the plate of fries, grabbed one himself, and ate it. The vinegar flavor was pretty strong. Seeing that, Yuo hesitated a bit but finally reached out her hands and grabbed some fries too. She held one of each flavor together, opened her mouth wide, and stuffed them in her mouth like she was going to eat her fingers off too. She chewed and swallowed with her fingers still in her mouth. A few seconds later, she sighed in a way that wasn’t quite childish but not quite adult either. “Senpai?” she said. At the same time, she wiped her hands off on her clothes and approached. He followed her with his eyes as she trotted over to him. She arrived next to him and patted his crouching thigh like she was confirming he was really there. He smiled bitterly as her small hand lightly slapped him. “You could at least describe her as like a cat or a dog.” Whether she heard Fooblicky’s comment or not, Yuo moved her patting hands from his thigh to his side and then his back. “It’s really him. It’s really Senpai.” She sounded surprised and then she ran around behind him. “Hey, you idiot! Don’t cling to my back!” He reached around behind him, but she was too small. He missed her and she scampered up his back. Once at the top, she clung to the back of his neck. She ignored how the dog on his shoulder moved out of her way in surprise. “Outside! Let’s go outside!” “Really?” Aoe turned his head to get a look at the small girl and stood up. “What am I supposed to do about this?” “Whatever you want,” said Telyb. “But I see your relationship was exactly as Yuo described it.” Aoe looked away from Yuo on his back and gave Telyb a dejected look. Telyb looked up at him with a toothy grin. “When you first met her, she says you flipped up her skirt, making her scream, and then took her outside the school to witness a fight. A fight between you and a group of 50 people.” “If she had shown any interest in going to class, I would have let her, but she was staring into the distance behind the school building. She was the new overseas exchange student and a princess, so I decided it would be best to show her the Japanese student way of life sooner rather than later.” “She was certainly influenced by that way of life when she returned 3 years later,” snidely noted Fooblicky. Aoe calmly nodded. “Yes, she grew strong enough to not cry when someone flipped up her skirt.” He pointed to Yuo on his shoulder and she reached her hands out toward his finger. He moved his finger around to avoid her hands, looking unsure what to do about this. “I finally got her to tell me her name and why she was in Japan when we stopped for ramen on the way back.” He sighed and pulled his finger away. He ignored how she cried out in disappointment. “So what do I do now?” “Why not visit the Royal Library like I suggested? Oh, and you should switch out of Sight Mode soon. You’ll waste the energy from those fries.” “Can we go outside? Stop talking so much, Telyb! Prove that fat belly of yours is worth something!” Yuo’s comment led Aoe to look at Telyb’s stomach. He did have quite a belly. “It’s true, but you can still get after her for pointing it out.” ### 796. Chapter 2: Popcorn Welcome back! Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent! Today’s topic is the same thing that brought us the Son of God: infidelity. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife.” (Matthew 1:18-20) Comments: - It’s about my wife -Wants To Be Anonymous I’m a 29-year-old office worker in the north district. We married 300 years ago as coworkers, but our relationship appears to have cooled lately. We used to always go home together, but our quitting times are different now and it seems like she’s found another guy. But I’ve always been a timid person and I hear she went to the nationals in high school girls’ boxing when she lived in the outside world, so what am I supposed to do? I’m still traumatized from the time she knocked me out with a blow to the temple, so- 07/06/2000 DT 01:13 PM (-25:47) ### Help Text The History and Concept of DT Today in 2002, DT is a virtual space surrounded by a wide-area modification barrier, but during the start of the 20th century, DT was developed as an industrial city and prospered as a major producer for the military during World War Two. At the time, an auto-ramming ship loaded with a Word Bomb was being secretly constructed in DT. Work was coordinated with the West Coast and it was meant to be an unmanned and electronically-controlled ship, but a mistake in the Word Bomb’s detonator caused it to explode. That created the modification barrier that gave us the DT we now know. Afterwards, many countries worked to study DT, but ultimately, Switzerland purchased DT’s management rights from the United States to give it permanent neutral status. From there, the Live engineers known as the Three Sages gained a greater understanding of DT, but most of the people rescued from the city left and it became a deserted and abandoned city. In order to find their own successors, the Three Sages selected 12 Live engineering researchers and electronic company elites and got to work modifying DT. Before those 12 arrived, DT appeared as the city it was before World War Two except surrounded by the bluish-white wall of the modification barrier. Their first act was to use that wall as a screen to display an image of the sky. They also reformatted the OS then. DT was originally created from the auto-ramming ship’s control OS, but it was replaced by a new OS based on the foundational Lives of cities from around the world. But after that, the failure of the 1St Godtact Experiment erased the Three Sages from existence and the 12 chosen people plus one ordinary person were made into Demigods by the godtact. After the 1st Godtact Experiment, those 13 named themselves successors to the Three Sages, worked to remake DT, created the foundation of the current city, and gave the modification barrier high-power transport functionality. That made it so the north, south, east, and west ends of DT loop back on each other. After DT was badly damaged in the failure of the 2nd Godtact Experiment, the city was remade to have a peaceful medieval theme. It has been said this was to reduce the mental strain of seeing the difference in development speed between the outside world and DT, where time moves 100x faster. Since the change, DT’s productivity has dropped, but far fewer people have asked to leave. The dynasty has decided this is because the people understand they live in a different world. Today in 2002, the only connections to the outside world are the Yard’s visitor lobby, the external link lines, and Babel since it links to the ley lines. DT is nearly closed off to the outside world, but it also remains closely connected to it, using its excellent industry to wow that outside world. ### Algo’s Board Mode: Inside the White Castle You are in the Top Level Hall, a Top Page of the Central Administrative Building, White Castle, South Amusement Park. The current time is 1:13 PM. You have just climbed the stairs from the hidden passage below. The only thing in the 30yd room is red carpet and four windows each on the south and north walls. Five old-style NPC Bodies are in the room. One is Alternative Kobayashi Asb. She is using a cartoony old-style NPC Body as a terminal for her Mind Lives. Her old-style NPC Body is seated on your left shoulder. Her rank is Michael-class. The other four are set to anonymous. Algo: “Hi. I see you all have your NPC Bodies ready.” Anon1: “We are the Quartet. If one of us ready, all of us are ready.” Anon2: “Yes, and we are also used to living in secret.” Anon3: “So what do you want?” Anon4: “I-is it finally time for Master Suedomsa to a-awaken?” Algo: “Yes, I managed to get everything ready in the 50 years since I arrived. And I believe I understand the truth behind the mysteries of the city’s past 2000 years – both the 2nd Godtact Experiment and the Memory Hazard.” Algo: “Not to mention the bible-based wish built into this city to summon god.” Alternative: There are four windows on the southern stone wall in front of you. The windows are open. An old-style NPC Body stands in front of each window. The light shining in through the windows obscures their features. The first on the right is a tall, skinny black man dressed as a butler. He is Anon1. His rank is Raphael-class. The second from the right is a woman in a white dress. She is Anon2. Her rank is Gabriel-class. The third from the right is a man in Japanese clothing carrying a long staff. He is Anon3. His rank is Uriel-class. The fourth from the right is a large man. He is Anon4. His rank is Uriel-class. Algo: “Master Suedomsa should awaken tonight. The restoration was a success.” Anon2: “That is good to hear. There is no preventing him from Ashing from his Words Warn tomorrow at 3PM, but I was worried his memories wouldn’t be restored in time.” Algo: “Just as you claimed, his memory loss was artificial in nature. The process was different from the people who lost their memories from the 2nd Godtact Experiment explosion. Someone had placed a hidden seal over his memories.” Anon3: “I had a feeling it was something we wouldn’t be able to remove.” Anon1: “Indeed. I believe Master Algo saved us when he invited us to assist him 50 years ago. The security prevents us from interfering with an individual, so we cannot even tell anyone we have been erased from their memories.” Algo: “A lot happened since then, but I never imagined I would be the one to do it in the end. Weird that it takes an illegal intruder like me to illegally break through that hidden seal.” Anon1: “The legal process for entering the city would alter your properties, making it quite impossible. I cannot thank you enough for restoring Master Suedomsa’s memories and removing the security restricting our own actions.” Anon1: “Now we can ensure the decisions of the past can continue into the future when the Day of the Oracle arrives tomorrow.” The four by the windows sigh. In relief, it would seem. Algo: “Don’t relax quite yet. The real challenge is yet to come.” Algo: “Alternative, I’m talking about healing your Words Warn.” Alternative: Algo: “Yes, the time has come to continue the battle to determine whether this city is a place of truths or falsehoods after it lost its form in the Word Bomb explosion and lost its memories in the godtact experiments.” Alternative: Algo: “Those words sound sad, Alternative. What kind of expression do you have right now?” ### Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside the White Castle Algo raised his head as if waking up and viewed the Sight Mode around him. “I still can’t get used to this lag when switching modes.” He faced forward. He was in a stone hall with a tall ceiling. The windows behind the four NPC Bodies provided a view of the amusement park’s lake and of Babel. The windows on the opposite, northern wall provided a view of the amusement park entrance and the city of DT beyond that. This was the top floor of the White Castle, an attraction at the center of the amusement park that doubled as the administrative building. “Now, then,” said Algo with a glance to Alternative on his shoulder. The small, cartoony girl had her long black hair falling along the back of her white dress. The white clothing was so bright it seemed to be emitting its own light, but her gaze was cloudy. She looked worriedly downwards with her back toward the ceiling of the dimly-lit hall. She opened her mouth, but no voice came out. A window popped up instead. Algo began his response with a nod. “I will, no matter what that answer might be. I’ve set things up to ensure it.” “The Son of God used a few processes to accomplish the same thing 2000 years ago in the outside world. When he and his disciples fulfilled the prophecies, it was no coincidence – they had set it up that way.” Alternative nodded in response. “I see,” she mouthed. “Yes, that all happened 2000 years ago in the outside world. And it happened 2000 years ago in DT as well. During the godtact experiment based on the ley line overload that occurred in Germania during World War Two.” He suddenly looked right and willed a detailed look at the view out of the southern windows there. Something like a giant wall rose into the blue sky above the southern mountain range. It was in fact a word tower piercing the sky and it was named Babel. “In the Bible, that tower of destiny was destroyed by god.” After viewing the massive tower, Algo turned around to look north. His heels audibly dug into the carpet as he turned. Alternative could not keep up with the movement and had to cling to his shoulder. He smiled a little when he noticed. He raised his left hand and propped her up so she wouldn’t fall off. The left hand emerging from his white robe’s sleeve was a prosthetic. It was made of artificial materials, but it grasped her light body with great care. He continued turning and, just before facing north, they both spoke as one. I won’t let you hold me. After their Text rang out, emblem symbols appeared on the back of Algo’s hands. The emblem was a transparent white and it depicted a long nail surrounded by a box. The same emblem symbol appeared in white light behind Alternative’s head. Algo clenched his right fist and spoke another Text. I will find the answer. Someday, surely. Once he was done, Alternative mouthed the same words. And… A noise burst from Algo’s right arm. It was loud and resembled shattering glass. Hundreds of windows rapidly opened in the space around them. They formed something like the pillars of an ancient henge. A character string emerged from Algo’s emblem. It extended from the back of his elbow with a spray of light. ●Type-Origin: God-class: Sudden Strike● Three diskettes appeared on the trailing ● of the character string on Algo’s elbow and began to rapidly spin. Then Alternative transformed. She shut her eyes and raised her head while her body grew. Her small, cartoony form regained its original shape in no time. She was also floating behind Algo’s back now. The same Sudden Strike string emerged from either side of the emblem floating behind her head and wrapped around her shoulders. A single curving line of light shot from the ● at the far right of Alternative’s emblem. It connected to the ● at the tail end of the Sudden Strike string coming from Algo’s right hand. They were linked by that line of light. Two diskettes about a yard across appeared on Alternative’s back. They pointed toward the sky like wings and rotated rapidly while spewing character strings. A metallic sound rang out. “…!” The rest happened in an instant. Algo’s clenched right fist flew forward. If DT’s OS recognized the loader’s willpower, they could perform a Grandload that sent their full Lives into DT. People could normally only draw on around 30% of their strength, but this let them draw on 100% and also shut out any additional data. Instead of the harmonic Plus that gathered things together, this was the extreme Minus that contained only the loader’s own will. Its strength was precise, accurate, and quick, leaving no room for lies or falsehoods. Algo’s fist pierced the empty air, powered by that technique, his own skill, and Alternative’s support. With a rupturing sound, the air within the room split and a wind whipped up. The wind swept across the room with a scream of air similar to tearing paper. Their Load Emblems vanished at the same moment. Their Grandload had ended. Algo spread his right hand, on which he wore a ring, and grabbed at the empty air. His grabbing hand was directed toward the giant crater at the center of DT. That crater had been turned into a lake and a medieval city preparing for a festival and a royal castle were visible beyond it. Unlike this amusement park castle, the royal castle was a giant stone structure with a fortress and towers. He clenched his fist again as if holding that castle in his grasp and spoke. “I will take that crucial answer for myself on the Day of the Oracle tomorrow – when everything was prophesied to improve. The powers of those from the past and the present will wipe clean the Minus compromise made so long ago.” As soon as he was done speaking, Alternative wrapped her arms around his back from his right shoulder. She had shrunk back down. But there was a smile on her again-youthful face. Her narrowed eyes were shut. All the strength faded from her body when that window appeared. She collapsed onto his shoulder. He looked to that shoulder and saw her sleeping with a smile. He tapped her on the back with his right hand. “A good answer? I promise you I will find that. Was that old decision right, or am I right to reject it? We will all know soon enough.” He nodded, picked her up as she fell asleep, and said one more thing. These words marked the beginning of the end and he spoke them with his eyes on the city. “Time to head out and prepare for tomorrow. As one who has fallen into the Minus World.” ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District You are at Amusement Park District Approach Road – South, a Top Page of the South Medical District. The current time is 1:15 PM. A shopping district exists along a 20yd-wide dirt road running north to south. An amusement park is visible up ahead to the south and there are jester and knight NPC Bodies walking along the road. You are on your way to the royal library in the south. There are many Bodies around. Your conversation is restricted to Yuo. Aoe: Yuo is to your right. Her head is still lowered and her brow still wrinkled. She appears to be thinking. She fails to notice when a jester NPC Body hands her a pamphlet for tomorrow’s festival. You accept it instead. The pamphlet says, “The whole truth will be revealed at tomorrow’s open release and the boost setting change will further speed up our world!” The text is written below a photo of the parades held in the amusement park. If you continue south for another three minutes, you will reach the amusement park entrance. Aoe: “We are almost there, Yuo.” Yuo: “…” Aoe: “Mh? Ignoring me?” The amusement park entrance gate and its two clocks are up ahead. The round clock at the top of the gate says 1:16. The digital clock below it says 24:44. You are on the move, but Yuo’s head is still lowered. Aoe: Yuo is in Sight Mode. Your thoughts are displayed in a window, but her lowered head prevents her from seeing what the window says. Aoe: “Hey.” Yuo: “…” Aoe: “I said hey.” Aoe: Yuo’s head is still lowered and she occasionally mutters something under her breath. She is teasing the bottom of her ponytail with both hands. Aoe: Aoe: “Hey, Yuo.” Yuo does not notice. The other people walking nearby take a step away after seeing the floating window. Aoe: Aoe: “Anyway, Yuo, could you look my way?” Yuo does not notice. Aoe: You look at Yuo’s face. It is a well-formed face. You look at Yuo’s chest. Her uniform’s fabric is stretched a bit tight. You look at Yuo’s waist. Her belt helps emphasize how skinny it is. You look at Yuo’s butt. Her tight skirt is stretched very tight. Aoe: The people around you begin chuckling at your thought window. Yuo notices that and turns around with a frown. Yuo: “What’s so funny?” Still frowning, Yuo views the window above your head. Yuo: “ ‘I see no problem with her boobs and butt’?” Aoe: “Mh. If I knew you were going to read it aloud, I would have come up with something much more embarrassing.” Yuo: “Hey, don’t put your pervy thoughts out where everyone can see them!!” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District Aoe switched to Sight Mode so he could see. He doubted he would ever get used to the way everything became so clear in front of him. It reminded him of when the aircraft bulkhead burst open and revealed the sky just before he was thrown from a transport craft on a special mission. He could see the sky now too. The amusement park’s white blimp floated in that blue sky. He saw a large road below the sky. It was an arcade leading to the amusement park. There were modern businesses like convenience stores and cafes, but they were made of wood or stone and run in an old-fashioned, time-consuming fashion. Most of the people’s clothing was a mixture of medieval and modern. All of the clothing had defensive padding and equipment latches. There were some people in purely medieval clothing and others in purely modern clothing. He also saw a jester from the amusement park exaggeratedly dodge around a carriage while laughing. A pleasant mood covered the street. A woman stood in front of him with all of that in the background. That was Yuo. Her eyebrows were raised and her fists clenched. “You haven’t grown up at all, have you?” The people in the immediate vicinity, the people who had passed them by a moment ago, and even the people on the other side of the road tried and failed to suppress their laughter. They made amused comments about the “cute couple” which redirected Yuo’s attention fast. Panic covered her face and she frantically looked around “Y-you misunderstand. We’re not a couple or anything even remotely like that.” She stammered and tapped her belt. Or rather, she tapped the white plate attached to the belt. That was her program control panel. Pressing the button on its surface caused light to move near her right hand. Green lines of light drew out a short keyboard. After pressing one button on that, the keyboard disappeared and the window above Aoe’s head was forcibly closed. “Oh, god.” Realizing nothing she said would convince the people of anything, she hung her head a bit. But she was still curious as well, so she stole glances at those people. She still hadn’t looked at Aoe who stood directly in front of her. With nothing else to do, he looked to her hands. They were tangled with and toying with the bottom of the ponytail falling over her shoulder and in front of her chest. He knew what that meant, so he spoke to her as cheerfully as he could manage. “Don’t worry about it. I was talking about you.” She finally looked his way, but she was glaring now. “It bothers me because you were talking about me.” “Mh. You don’t like being complimented? You are more modest than I remember.” She blushed at that. He added another compliment with his eyes a bit below her face. “You really have grown up.” “Just so you know, my chest and hips are the same size they were 6 years ago.” “They are? I take it back then. You haven’t grown up.” “ You certainly haven’t.” “Do I need to flip your skirt up like when we first met?” She let go of her hair, lowered her fists in front of her, and let her shoulders droop. She didn’t try to hide the weariness of her sigh. Then she adopted an exasperated smile and tone of voice. “Unfortunately for you, I now wear the Yard uniform’s tight skirt. Those aren’t as flippable as the flared ones from my old school uniform. Besides, your subprograms can’t handle skirt flipping.” “Mh. Then I’ll just have to do this.” I want to flip that skirt! DT’s OS comprehended Aoe’s will and authorized a Download of his hands. An emblem appeared on his hands and several breaking glass sounds came from them both. “Eh?” Yuo looked back toward the sound just as his hands grabbed the bottom of her tight skirt. With a nasal grunt, he flipped up her green skirt with all his might. It only took an instant. The skirt pulled up to her hipbone and she wasn’t immediately sure what to do. The flow of people around them had stopped. Everyone had fallen silent and motionless. Aoe used that silence to clasp his hands together to worship Yuo and a window opened above his head. have wondered one thing ever since the mid-80s.> “Oh?” Yuo thought about that for a second before screaming. ### Telyb’s Board Mode: At DT Yard You are in the Cafeteria, a Top Page of DT yard. The current time is 1:20 PM. You are seated at a long table. Several Bodies are present. Your conversation is restricted to Fooblicky. Fooblicky has shrunk to her high-performance form. She is seated in a kiddy chair across the table from you. You are eating curry with rice and she is eating sandwiches. Telyb: “Those two have had 3 hours to catch up, so I wonder if they’re actually getting along now.” Fooby: “You worry too much. They’ll be fine. This is the city of god. And did you read Nosrup’s latest Oracle Message Board? It was about the story of Joseph bravely accepting that Mary was carrying the Holy Spirit’s child.” Telyb: “Yeah, the favorite story of every unfaithful wife in the city.” Fooby: “It’s not like Yuo was cheating on him or anything. Are you really that worried?” Telyb: “How do you see this going? Aoe is a Plus kind of guy.” Fooby: “Someone too stubborn to accept anything fake, you mean? But Yuo isn’t and she wants to be with him. So it’ll be fine. A good woman can change a man for the better.” Fooby: “And Yuo herself was as worried as she was excited last night. It must be nice getting your immortality early so you’re stuck a girl forever. You can get away with that kind of thing.” Telyb: “If you ask me, your age setting is eternally stuck at absolute perfection.” Fooby: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn’t even Over Reload before saying that, did you? You aren’t very convincing if you don’t look at me first.” Fooby: “Anyway, what do you plan to do about the case that Aoe kid brought us?” Fooby: “That case could lead to a repeat of a past mistake.” Fooblicky is wrinkling her brow without even a hint of a smile. The sandwiches on her plate are untouched. Fooby: “According to the data sent by Ikemaru of GASAS, Algo Everquest said he intended to eliminate Words Warn from the world.” Fooby: “I doubt Ikemaru, Aoe, or Yuo have any idea what that means.” Telyb: “…” Fooby: “But there’s nothing we understand more. Since it’s related to our own sins.” Telyb: “Don’t beat yourself up over it. That was all my responsibility. Now, aren’t you going to eat?” Fooblicky’s expression changes in response to your words. Her eyebrows droop, but she does smile a little. She takes a bite of a sandwich. Fooby: “Thanks, but I’m more worried about what that Algo guy wants.” Telyb: “When we all gathered back in 1963, we all had our own desires while we worked toward the summoning of a great god. I wanted to eliminate discrimination from the world, you wanted an eternal partner, Akalabeth wanted a child, and Suedomsa wanted…to eliminate the Words Warn disease.” Fooby: “That was back when we were working hard to remake the industrial city of Detroit into the virtual city of DT, wasn’t it? But I have to wonder how serious this Algo is compared to us and Suedomsa back then.” Telyb: “If he’s as serious as Suedomsa was back then, then he’ll try to summon a great god.” Fooby: “Do you think that would be possible?” Telyb: “Not a chance. Things are different now. He can’t get all three factors needed for a godtact experiment: “ 1: The Questron used to accept the great god’s Lives. “ 2: The reactor used to power the Questron and the reactor used to extract the great god’s Lives. “ 3: The body used to contain the great god’s Lives. An unsullied, immortal body. “We know all this thanks to the data Switzerland took from Germany shortly after the war. The data on the Tristan tower built in Germania and the data on the plan to overload it. Nowadays, the royal castle gets you #1 and Babel gets you #2, but what about #3? Algo is a long-lived immortal after taking the rank of martial arts master, but he is sullied by the murder of his master. Is there anyone else out there willing to sacrifice themself like that?” A large flag hangs on the wall. It is stitched with the city’s symbol. The symbol is a white cross above a blossoming flower with a giant tower in the background. Telyb: “I wonder how many people know the true meaning behind DT’s symbol.” Fooby: “Hard to say. But even if Algo is desperate to save his lover who has come down with Words Warn, I doubt he came all this way without any kind of plan.” Telyb: “Are you suggesting Kobayashi father and sister he mentioned might know a better method?” Fooby: “My guess is he’s planning a terrorist attack. He threatens the city in some way and demands we perform a godtact experiment if we want him to stop. Was stating the time of the festival tomorrow preparation for that?” Fooby: “Um, hey. You’re stirring your rice without putting any curry in.” You pour some curry on your rice. Fooblicky breathes a cold sigh. Fooby: “That’s his likely scenario anyway. But I wonder if that Kobayashi father and sister really do remember the 2nd Godtact Experiment.” Telyb: “Whoever he finds that remembers it doesn’t have to be them, does it?” Fooby: “What do you mean?” Telyb: “It might be one of the old NPC Bodies that Suedomsa made. Unlike the modern NPC Bodies, they have individual memories and aren’t externally managed. Their production was halted after the 2nd Godtact Experiment, but there are a few hundred living in the south amusement park. Most have broken down by this point, but they weren’t actively disposed of either.” Fooby: “I really don’t like this. After 2000 years, I thought we could finally make all that a thing of the past by revealing the truth, but now someone wants to drag it all up again.” Telyb: “He said tomorrow at 3, but I hope whatever he does isn’t too obstructive. We’re supposed to receive the proper blame for our hidden past then.” Your rice with curry is gone. Fooblicky still has three sandwiches left. You grab one of her sandwiches. She has not Over Reloaded, so she fails to notice. Fooby: “These investigations are always such a pain. Nearly 98% of DT residents live under a screenname, after all.” Telyb: “Even the 13 Demigods don’t know each other’s wild names. Including a married couple like us.” Fooby: “I’ll tell you on my deathbed. Not that an immortal Demigod will have one of those. …We were already using these pseudonyms back when we were invited here in ’63, weren’t we?” Telyb: “With the aftereffects of the war still affecting everything, we decided it was best not to know each other’s pasts. And then Suedomsa suggested we add on last names that would help us summon a god.” Fooby: “He meant it as taking on the names of the apostles, but we all love irony a little too much and used demon names in reverse. In a way, that was when our sins began.” Telyb: “Those sins end tomorrow at the open release.” Fooby: “I don’t mind as much. In a way, I was already granted forgiveness.” Fooby: “The other 11 Demigods are ready too, aren’t they? Suedomsa will Ash from Words Warn at 3 and then we all need to confess our sins to the outside world. And…” Fooby: “Then Yuo, who chose to carry all of our sins, resigned herself to her fate, and lost her memories, will become DT’s new lead- hey, you ate one of my sandwiches, didn’t you!?” Telyb: “You’re thinking way too hard if you only now noticed.” ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District There are many Bodies around. Your conversation is restricted to Yuo. Yuo’s underwear is visible. Yuo: “Hey! S-stop that!” Yuo circled behind you, putting you between her and the road. Aoe: “What are you sneaking around for?” Yuo: “Oh, shut up! I’m too flustered to Download my hands to lower my skirt!” Yuo: “Oh, god. The subprograms are slow as molasses at times like this.” Yuo: “Ow, ow, ow. Stupid buttons.” Aoe: “Are you still not done?” Yuo: “No, I am not. Wait, did you switch to Board like this is none of your concern?” Aoe: “I did. My kinetic vision burned the image into my memory in mere moments, so there is nothing more for me to do.” Yuo: “Oh, is that so? Well, I’m glad you enjoyed my green underwear. Ugh, why is it so tight?” Aoe: “Unfortunately for you, you now wear the Yard uniform’s tight skirt. Those don’t pull down as easily as the flared ones from your old school uniform.” Yuo: “I see you still know how to get under my skin!” Yuo has turned toward you again. Her face is red, her eyebrows raised, and her eyes tearful. Aoe: Yuo: “Ugh…” Aoe: “Word of advice, Yuo. The problem is trying to force the skirt back down right away. Try loosening the belt and buttons first.” Yuo’s expression has changed. Her eyebrows have lowered and her eyes are widened. She looks impressed. Aoe: “Mh? Surprised, are you? You shouldn’t be. I am a skirt flipping expert after all.” Yuo: “Eh? Have you done this to other people too?” Aoe: “Like you wouldn’t believe.” Aoe: Yuo: “I can see your thoughts, Senpai. Because you’re a criminal.” Yuo: “Now, please don’t do this kind of thing in public.” Yuo’s head is lowered while she twists her body to try and get her skirt back down. You hear her belt loosening. Aoe: “Hm?” The program control panel hanging from Yuo’s belt pressed its button against her belt buckle. Aoe: Yuo: Aoe: Yuo: Yuo’s head is lowered while she fixes her skirt. You sometimes hear the quiet metallic clank of her belt moving. The passersby are paying the two of you no heed. Aoe: “…” Yuo: Aoe: You reach out and touch her window and it closes. Her work has reached her skirt’s buttons. Yuo: Aoe: “…” Aoe: You reach out and touch Yuo’s window and your own window and they both close. She finishes her work and straightens up. Her cheeks are flushed. Yuo: “Um, okay. I’m all done.” Aoe: “For your information, idiot, I can see your thoughts.” Yuo: “Eh? Oh, god. I didn’t show you anything embarrassing, did I?” Aoe: “Mh.” Yuo: “Oh, thank god. That was a close one.” Yuo: “This has its upsides too. A lot of the patients who come to DT either can’t speak or aren’t very talkative, so they need this.” Aoe: “Then why was everyone so afraid when they saw my window?” Yuo: “Because your window has a black border. That indicates you’re a criminal. It’s usually the thuggish people dressed like urban heroes who have their black border windows on full display. Get it now?” Aoe: “I do. I get that this city is a pain in the rear.” Yuo: “It’s really convenient too. In Board Mode, two people can set up a Side Page and remotely communicate that way as long as they know each other’s coordinates.” Aoe: “So like making a phone call?” Yuo: “More or less. Now, Senpai, um.” Yuo is looking up at you. Her eyebrows are drooping and her lips are pressed lightly together. Aoe: ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District Aoe could see once more. He saw a blimp in the sky, he saw the city, he saw the people, and he saw it all in motion. He and Yuo were the only ones standing still on the sidewalk within the arcade. Yuo looked down toward the earthen sidewalk once before breathing in and clenching her hands. She looked up with tension in her cheeks. “Um, Senpai? Can I ask a personal question?” “What is it?” She held her hands up by her shoulder where her ponytail fell. She tangled the hair around her fingers. “Um, uh, it’s about what happened 6 years ago for you and 600 years ago for me.” He suddenly remembered the windows above her head when she was fixing her skirt, so he spoke on reflex. “Yuo.” Calling her name sent a tremor through her shoulders. She looked up with some surprise on her face. “Y-yes? What is it?” He viewed the black border of his window before continuing. “I am a killer. I possess a deadly power. I am not who I used to be, so maybe discussing old times isn’t the best idea.” His more precise view of Yuo showed her shoulders tensing a bit as she started to say something. However… “…” No words left her mouth. He stared at her in silence. He punctuated that thought with a grunted “mh” and a nod. He began walking before she even agreed. She hurried after him and lined up beside him. Her head was lowered and her hands were teasing her hair. He did not match his strides to hers. Nor did he look her way. His two footsteps were matched by three hurried ones from her. He chose that moment to speak. “Do you remember the last time we met? That night when we were interrupted by a phone call and I hurried back to the dojo? When I got there, sis was…well, she was about to be assaulted by a challenger from another school.” “…Senpai.” “I won’t say I had no idea what I was doing, but I was not trying to kill him either. I simply hit him with the most force and speed I could manage using the shortest route available to me and he went flying across the dojo.” “Senpai.” “The next thing I knew, a GASAS commander was there.” “Senpai!” He ignored her and displayed his thoughts. He sighed and wondered what he was even saying at this point. “Maybe I am meant for this city. Because I have a Minus fist – a fake fist that couldn’t reach the level of the strongest.” He turned toward Yuo to find she had stopped walking, so he stopped to. Please stop! Yuo’s will stopped his thought. She had tears in her eyes and a green emblem briefly appeared on her right hand. A loud slap echoed from his cheek. After the noise, Yuo lowered her hand and bent over. She kept her face pointed toward the ground. “Please stop! I don’t have any answers for you about that!” The passersby turned toward her shout, but not for long. The people, including the NPC Bodies, soon looked away and kept walking. But when they were passing by Aoe and Yuo, they would give the two a wide berth, even stepping on the grass between the sidewalk and the road. The flow of people bent, but it did not stop. Aoe looked to Yuo from the center of the bend. Her brown hair fell down her right cheek. And she spoke. “Did you ask for me as your assistant so you could talk about killing and fakes?” There was no tremor in her voice. But her shoulders were quivering with tension and the breath following the words was heavy. He could tell she was trying to calm herself down. Her fingers reached for the bottom of her ponytail, but… “Please stop this.” She clenched the hand into a fist instead. “I still remember what you told me that night.” “I told you something then?” She lowered the fist, nodded, and answered him in a firm voice that suppressed everything she was feeling. “You did. After I told you the meaning behind my fake last name.” She then repeated the origin of her last name she had shared with him back then. “Natas is Satan spelled backwards. That might make me sound important, but Satan is actually the loner among the demon army. …And it’s an appropriate name. Because I was just some kid who lost her memories. But when I said that, you hugged me.” She paused for a moment. “You said that didn’t matter because you would always look after me.” She coughed. “I know that isn’t possible since I’m immortal, but…but…” She took a breath. “Are you telling me those words and all the time you spent fighting alongside me 6 years ago were fake, were a Minus thing, and were nothing but the leadup to you dropping out?” It was the suppressed emotion in her voice more than the words themselves that silenced Aoe. He viewed her in that silence. Her head was lowered and her shoulders were trembling. He stared straight at her. He shook his head and made sure she couldn’t see his window with her head lowered like that. He scratched his head in thought. He saw her trying to suppress her trembling. But… “Uh.” She couldn’t manage it. She held her right hand to her lowered head like she was brushing aside her bangs. Then a certain color fell to the dirt ground. A small dark circle of dampness formed there. Several more followed. Yuo didn’t say anything. She only wiped at her eyes while pretending to brush aside her bangs. Unsure what to do, Aoe scratched his head and looked above her head. There was no window there. That did make things easier, he thought with a sigh. Then he heard a sound so loud he could feel the vibration in the air. The wall of a nearby building shook and the windows rattled. “…?” He determined the sound came from the north. He turned that way and viewed northern DT, down the hill and past the lake at the center. Black smoke was rising from the short city. After a pause, the people on the hill raised their voices. Then an alarm began to sound throughout the city. Yuo raised her head when she heard the never-ending tone. She wiped off her eyes and her ears quivered, but she already had strength back in her face. Her eyebrows were raised in confusion rather than doubt as she stepped up alongside him and looked to the city. “Mh. Yuo, what does this alarm mean?” “I-I don’t know exactly. But in DT, an alarm usually means a monster or something has appeared.” “Dumb it down for me.” She complied with his request. “A monster is attacking, so we need to kick its butt!” ### 797. Chapter 3: Magical Sound Shower Welcome back! Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent! Today’s topic is the same thing happening out in the city at this very moment: destruction. The ancient people really worked hard at cultivating the land, didn’t they? A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; “make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3) Comments: - My House! -Destructive Fighter I just saw it! No, I’m seeing it right now from the office! My house – ahhhhh! No, it’s happening in real time!! The roof, no, and the wall, ahhhhh, its breaking away! Geh, even the porn hidden under my bed! Hey, don’t kick that away! Ahhh! It’s scattering in the wind!! Will insurance pay for that!? 07/06/2000 DT 02:19 PM (-24:41) ### Help Text The 13 Demigods of the 9 Families The Demigods are the undying, unaging people who partially fused with a portion of DT’s surface OS, instead of with DT’s city Lives, when the 1st Godtact Experiment failed. They can be separated out as an external function of the DT OS’s program, so they cannot be destroyed as long as DT remains. Thus, they are the de facto administrators of DT. None of the 13 Demigods’ origins have been revealed and, thanks to DT’s data restrictions, no one knows what they have done or how they have changed DT. Also, the DT OS has given them each a Demigod Program, a powerful master type program, and they use their programs’ powers to resolve problems within the city. Whenever anyone else uses these Demigod Programs, the DT OS will not provide boost support, causing it to consume a massive amount of heat energy. This generally prevents them from lending out those Demigod Programs. The 13 Demigods are divided into the following 9 Families: - Bubezleeb Family: 1 Member Administrative District: All of DT. DT Dynasty Representative and Director. - Telyb Family: 2 Members Administrative District: Mostly in the East. DT Yard Representatives. - Leab Family: 2 Members Administrative District: Mostly in the South. Commercial District Administrators. - Nosrup Family: 1 Member Administrative District: West. DT Prison Chapel Representative. - Noma Family: 2 Member Administrative District: North. Diplomats who travel between DT and the outside world. - Napaz Family: 1 Member Administrative District: East. DT Municipality Representative. - Suedomsa Family: 1 Member Administrative District: South. Medical and Entertainment District Administrator. - Laileb Family: 2 Members Administrative District: West. DT Prison Representatives. - Natas Family: 1 Member Administrative District: None. DT Yard Member. At the current date of July 5, 2002 DT, the 7 Demigods belonging to the 4 Families of Leab, Noma, Napaz, and Laileb are in the outside world as diplomats for the open release and the 6 Demigods of the remaining 5 Families are taking over their administrative duties while preserving DT from within. ### Ogre Tyleb’s Word Mail: To All DT Yard Personnel New orders for all DT Yard Personnel. A giant creature thought to be a Live Break monster has been reported in the central residential district. All personnel in the vicinity are to report there immediately. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District You are in 2629-E Street, a Top Page of the Central Residential District. You are moving at high speed. You just arrived on this street from 2630-E Street. The street is lined with homes on both sides. A single PC Body is using a weight reduction process to sit on your right shoulder. She is Yuo Natas Wav. Aoe: “The enemy is nearby.” Yuo: “Should I switch to Sight to monitor the enemy?” Aoe: “No, I can Over Reload until the actual battle begins.” Yuo: “That won’t work. Over Reloading does not receive data on adjacent Pages. Sounds and other data that arrive in this Page are a different matter, but you can’t see data that only exists over there.” Aoe: “Really?” The street is entirely deserted. You are moving at high speed. Out of the corner of your eye, you see sand spraying into the air as far back as 5 steps behind you. The loud footsteps and impacts coming from beyond the house roofs to the left are getting louder. Aoe: “I see. Or rather, I can’t see. I can hear it, though, so does that mean we are close?” Yuo: “Yes, it’s probably in the adjacent district. I’ll switch to Sight.” Yuo: “Done. I opened a window to describe the situation for you, so Over Reload to view that.” Yuo has typed text into a window and she points it your way. Aoe: “Mh.” Aoe: “Mh? A giant knight?” Aoe: “What is going on? Why would that appear out of nowhere?” Yuo: “That’s what I want to know. From what I can see…” The ferret on Yuo’s shoulder raises its front paw and several windows open. They are Word Mail windows. Several Word Mails have arrived for Yuo. They provide disaster information and describe the Yard’s actions. Yuo: “I think this is an NPC Body enlarging its display and effect ratios, but that should consume an awful lot of heat energy. He could even die from this.” Aoe: “Do NPC Body’s commit suicide like automatons do?” Yuo: “No, of course not. They can’t even Download. They might appear to have a will of their own based on their AI, but they don’t have a true will.” Yuo: “I can only assume someone intentionally implanted this suicidal rampage inside him.” One PC Body has arrived. He is Algo Everquest Asb. Two old-style NPC Bodies have arrived. One is Alternative Kobayashi Asb. She is using a shrunk-down old-style NPC Body as a terminal for her Mind Lives. The other is set to anonymous. Aoe: ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District Aoe stopped running after switching to Sight Mode. He held onto Yuo’s legs on his shoulder and dug his sandals into the dirt ground. The sub-programs controlling his legs were unable to handle the rapid stop and he nearly fell. He pitched forward and staggered like he was going to throw Yuo from his shoulder. “Stand firm.” A sound of shattering glass came from his feet and hips. Download. He felt a weight in his hips like he was holding a large stone, but that was his center of gravity. He lowered his hips. “Kyah!” Yuo grabbed onto his shoulder and shifted her butt back to make sure she wasn’t thrown off. He completed his stop. Then he heard sounds of the city’s destruction from the left. They were the sounds of wooden columns and roofs splintering and stone walls shattering. The chorus of damage burst out like spraying water. If he looked left, he knew he would see the giant knight Yuo had told him about. But he didn’t look that way. He stared forward, at the deserted street stretching out below the blue sky. Three people stood there. One was an unfamiliar man in a black hooded robe. The hood hid his face, but the visible skin was the distinctive brown of a black person. He was wearing a black vest and trousers below the robe. But the robed man wasn’t the problem. Aoe recognized the other two. One was a young man in a white robe and the other was a miniature woman in a white dress seated on his right shoulder. Aoe found himself speaking the name of the young man who stood there with his long blond hair flowing down his back. “Algo.” Yuo similarly spoke the name of the shrunk woman on his shoulder. “Alternative.” They both spoke quietly and Algo was the first to react. He cleared his throat and placed a hint of a smile on his lips. Then Alternative lowered her eyebrows as she stared at them. The last to react was the robed man. He took a step back without removing his hood. And he gave a shallow bow as he did so. Almost like he was letting Algo and Alternative handle this one. Destruction and an alarm could be heard from the city to the left. But Aoe’s eyes remained dead ahead. “Kh.” Unable to speak, he clenched his fists. The action stretched his leather gauntlets, making them creak. Algo raised his eyebrows at the quiet sound. Amusement appeared on his face and then he started coughing. “Excuse me. Were you hoping to attempt this again, Aoe-kun? When you are an ignorant Plus dropout?” “Of-” Before Aoe could say “of course I am”, small Alternative opened a window to speak. He shut his mouth, his shoulders trembling. Yuo turned toward him. “Senpai… Don’t forget that you have criminal settings at the moment. Your attack power is sealed unless I send you the unlocking program. You can’t punch him.” “Mh,” he grunted, as if to say he would do it anyway. After a moment, Yuo sighed and patted his shoulder just once. A moment later, a transparent keyboard appeared in front of her. He took a fighting stance in response. Algo turned his head toward Alternative. He calmed his breathing after the coughing fit and spoke with exasperation on his face. “Did you see how they communicated without a word?” “Of course. For now, we have no intention of fighting, Aoe.” “So you’re running away.” Aoe’s words were a statement, not a question. Algo simply nodded. Yuo asked a question, still typing away on Aoe’s shoulder. “What do you intend to do, Algo?” “To eliminate Alternative’s Words Warn- no, to erase the very disease of Words Warn from this world.” Aoe’s more detailed vision noticed a slight change to Alternative’s expression. Her gaze was directed toward Yuo on his shoulder. Her eyebrows were drooping a bit. Yuo must have noticed it as well. He could tell she was clenching the hand resting on his shoulder. Aoe and Yuo were confused by this visual data, but then they heard a bitter laugh. “You will find out soon enough what we are doing to achieve that. There is just one thing I can tell you at his point.” Still smiling, Algo shut his eyes. “We will be tearing away the false wilderness disguising DT and lay bare the wide, straight road build out of resignation.” Algo answered Aoe’s question with a nod. And he lowered his hips. “Yes, resignation. This Minus city once relied on resignation, but that fact was covered up. And the Demigods are using tomorrow’s open release to make their sins a thing of the past. They will claim the period of chaos has passed and it is all over, so they only need to apologize.” Aoe heard the destruction of the city along with Algo’s words, so he raised his voice. “What does that have to do with this terrorist attack on the city!?” “The Kobayashi School teaches us that combat is the cornerstone of all things, Aoe. Fail to understand that and you will only taste defeat.” Algo gathered strength in his body. His stance said he was planning to leap and then make his escape. The robed man behind him had already disappeared at some point. Aoe started forward to keep him from escaping, but then Yuo asked a question from his shoulder. “What do you two claim to understand about this city?” “You too will understand that, Yuo Natas…Demigod bearing the name of Satan.” Algo chuckled. Aoe’s eyebrows rose at the man’s words and laughter. “What’s so funny about Yuo’s last name!?” Algo’s laughter stopped there. “Hm. Satan is the loner of the demon army. But have you ever wondered why that is, Yuo?” “Eh?” “You might be interested to know that your name – Yuo – is the only wild name among the 13 Demigods. And the Natas name was only added after you were formatted in the 2nd Godtact Experiment.” “…? Th-then I had a different last name before that!?” “You can always wait for the open release tomorrow. Of course, it will be too late by then. You could say that is the last bit of deception that the Minus Elites who rule this city are betting their pride on.” As Algo spoke those words, his body sank even further down. Realizing he was about to flee, Aoe directed all of his body’s strength forward. He prepared to run, but that was when Yuo grabbed at his shoulder. “Don’t!” He soon realized why. A large boxy shape flew toward him from the left. It was a house. The knight had kicked the stone house such that it flew overhead. The house was made of dummy data and was thus no more than a shape. It had already started to flash as it collapsed, but it wasn’t completely gone yet. Aoe hesitated. Should he pursue Algo or avoid the house? But just as the falling house’s shadow encompassed him, he threw all his strength to the left in order to dodge. His Downloaded legs were still active, so he gathered his strength in them and leaped left into an alley. “Damn!” After seeing that, Algo leaped in the opposite direction. Aoe and Algo’s eyes met as the house fell between them. The house hit the ground just as Aoe noticed a gentle smile in Algo’s eyes. The splintering of the wooden roof and shattering of the stone walls rang loud. A moment later, Aoe entered the alley Top Page. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District You are in 2529-E Alley 5, a Top Page of the Central Residential District. You just entered the alley from 2629-E Street. The alley is lined with homes on both sides. It is about 3 yards wide. A single PC Body is using a weight reduction process to sit on your left shoulder. She is Yuo Natas Wav. You hear the city being destroyed in the distance. Aoe: Yuo: “Senpai.” Aoe: Yuo: “Senpai!” Aoe: “Mh?” Yuo is beating you on the head. Aoe: “Mh, what do you think you’re doing!?” Yuo: “C’mon, snap out of it! They already ran away!” Aoe: “Mh…mh.” You are facing west. The sounds of destruction come from about 30 yards away, beyond the roofs to the southwest. Yuo: “I know you have a lot to think about, but we can’t ignore this threat to the city, can we?” Aoe: “N-no, I suppose not.” Yuo: “Right? Right? Saving people takes priority.” Yuo: “I’ll help you investigate that other stuff later, so let’s take care of this, Sensei.” Aoe: “So, uh, since when am I your Sensei?” Yuo: “Heh heh. Don’t worry about it. So can you run?” Aoe: “…Mh.” You begin running. On your shoulder, Yuo pulls a 2yd 2in strip of cloth from her pocket. Aoe: Yuo: “The compression rate is different inside. Now can you circle around behind the knight?” Aoe: “Mh.” Yuo: “W-whoa, whoa, whoa! No need to rush! Just run normally!” Aoe: “What happened to this being an emergency?” You are running between simply-built wooden houses. The one on the left has a Day of the Oracle digital clock sticking out over the sideroad. The digital clock is approaching Yuo’s face. Yuo: “Eh?” You hear a loud impact. All the Word Mail windows open around Yuo disappear. The broken digital LCD frame is dummy data. It flashes and then disappears after being launched by the impact. Aoe: “…Yuo?” Yuo: “…” Yuo does not say a word. She is still holding a hand to her face. Her Mouse has climbed down onto your shoulder, looking nervous. But Yuo grabs the Mouse and pulls it back up. Your Mouse is hiding behind your head. Yuo: “Senpai. Do you mind?” Aoe: “Mh…mh.” Yuo: “Telyb gave me permission, so I’m not going to hold back.” Yuo reaches her left hand into her pocket, pulls out a fingertip-sized silver paper wrapper, and opens it. It contains a chocolate candy. The wrapper says “x5” on it. Aoe: “I thought only kids in movies devoured candy that quick.” Yuo: “I’ll use it all up with my boost soon enough. I’m about to show you what I can really do.” Aoe: “Hey, don’t litter.” Yuo: “I put it in my pocket.” Yuo swings the cloth out in front of her and taps the program control panel at her hip. Yuo: “Okay, let’s get started! Switch to Sight!” ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District After switching to Sight Mode, Aoe was already running. When switching to Sight Mode while moving, his sense of sight and hearing were stimulated first. He still couldn’t keep up with his body’s senses. His eyes saw an alley between wooden houses flowing backwards. His ears heard his own footsteps echoing behind him. It took 3 seconds for their voices and images to link with the senses of their PC Bodies. Once they did, the sensation of his running traveled across his entire body. Yuo was still seated on his right shoulder and he was running. He was now actively running as part of Sight Mode instead of passively running as part of Board Mode. Within those actions and movements, he saw window after window opening around Yuo on his shoulder. Bluish-white light drew a grid pattern across the entire surface of the cloth she held. The grid pattern moved and both ends of the cloth curved. The cloth formed a pair of solid arches. She pulled the arches onto her shoulders. The cloth was still floating, but it stayed in place. The excess cloth in the middle acted as a rest for her back. Keyboards instantly appeared on the two cloth arches. She slapped her palm against the Y button displayed in the air. The large keyboards became shoulder armor. “What the hell kinda magic trick is this!?” “It’s not a trick! It’s a technique!” Yuo crossed her arms and placed her fingers on the keyboards covering her shoulders. She began typing rapidly and she sent out a Text. “Faster!” Emblems of light noisily appeared from her arms, hands, and fingertips. Download. The light scattered and her hand movements changed. They moved more, more smoothly, and more accurately. The quiet sound of typing came from her fingertips. Green light began to flow around her. The light formed letters. The letters formed long strings and the strings drew out circular orbits that rotated rapidly around her like something from a planetarium. “That certainly is flashy.” “It’s called a Celestial Program Activator. It’s a high performance technique that allows for high-speed processing and parallel processing, but it’s so complicated I’m the only one who can use it anymore. I’m uniquely skilled, Senpai.” “I see, I see, I see. That’s a good girl. I’m so happy for you!” “A-are you trying to tick me off!?” He smiled bitterly at her response. “Wh-what’s so funny?” “Nothing. I was just noticing how little you’ve changed.” “How little I have changed?” She trailed off after that, but he didn’t pursue the matter. After 5 seconds of staring at her glowing character strings, Yuo hit the “approve” key on both keyboards. “Senpai, I’ll be providing back up from behind you!” All the strings orbiting around her shattered. And she hopped down from his shoulder. A gentle wind blew in and she flew behind him. She stopped while floating in the space behind his right shoulder. She continued typing on her shoulder keyboards, met his gaze, and smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t leave you. My coordinates are locked to yours.” “And what if I’m caught below a collapsing house?” “Not to worry. I can shift my coordinates away from you with a cursor key and button combo. You can enjoy being buried alive on your own.” “Is that so?” he sighed, raising his head. His running feet would bring them behind their opponent soon. “So what do we do?” “I want to see who this is, so move as close as you can get.” She hit the approve keys again. The character strings gathered in midair and took on a certain form: a yellow triangle of about 3cm. She grabbed it out of the air and held it out to him over his shoulder. He looked to the triangle held between her slender fingers. “What is that thing?” “Why, it’s a freshly-made program trigon. This one is dangerous and requires some real guts, so I don’t want to install it myself. Just eat it or have your Mouse eat it.” “Dangerous? Guts? What are you having me eat?” “You’ll see once you eat it. Oh, and ask your Mouse to remove it when the time comes. Also…it looks like you haven’t given your Mouse a name. That could be inconvenient.” Aoe looked to the Mouse on his shoulder. He realized this was his first time really looking at him. He had mostly ignored the cartoony Shiba Inu until now and the dog stirred now that Aoe stared directly at him. Aoe spoke to the small Shiba Inu. “Your name will be…Monkey.” “…Senpai.” “Monkey is the natural name for an ambitious man’s servant. Right?” The Shiba Inu looked him in the eye and nodded his head. “I don’t like that he agrees… But anyway, a Mouse provides Word Mail and program support, but they can also turn into an ordinary-sized animal, so take good care of him.” “Mh,” he nodded, placing the trigon in his mouth and biting into it. Just as he noticed it felt like sand in his mouth, it melted away into nothingness. He detected a strong flavor that seemed to exit through his nose. “I know this flavor.” “Yes, it’s the miso ramen from the Boss’s place we used to visit back in high school.” “You never did stop using a fork there, did you?” “I practiced using chopsticks after returning to DT, so the owner won’t laugh at me anymore.” “Mh,” he nodded, pouring more strength into his feet to approach the knight. Then he leaped into the Other Page airspace above the city. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Airspace You are in Low Airspace – Urban Area, an Other Page of the city sky. You have leaped 10 yards high. You are still ascending. You can see three house roofs widthwise and three lengthwise. For more, please Over Reload. You see the back of the black knight approximately 15 yards away to your left. Aoe: Aoe: “What the hell did you do to me, you idiot!?” Yuo: “I used a simple multiplication program to add a x5 modifier to your movement programs. Like I said, this takes a lot of guts. Anyway, please return to Sight Mode!” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Airspace Aoe’s vision returned. An artificially blue expanse was stretched out before his eyes. It took him a few seconds to recognize it as DT’s sky. Then he felt the sensations of being thrown into the sky. He slowly sucked in a breath and looked down to see the knight raising its right hand about 10 yards to the left. He was now higher up than the knight’s head. He was almost directly above the top of its head. He memorized the distance between them and where the destroyed houses were located. He heard Yuo typing on her keyboards and some text appeared in his field of view. It provided explanations along with arrows pointing to the roads, buildings, and people fleeing in the distance. “This is where the Yard members I can contact are located. Everyone within 500 yards has been evacuated. The Yard’s main force will arrive in about 2 minutes.” “Too slow. Can you show me what this place will look like in 2 minutes?” An answer to his question arrived just before he reached the peak of his jump. He looked down and an image of destroyed houses appeared over the intact ones. He counted 37 destroyed houses. Every one within a 100 yard radius was destroyed. “For the number of homeless, I would need to add in the mother and children from each house.” “So what are you going to do!?” asked Yuo. He felt his ascent end. He twisted his body, moving his center of gravity left, toward the knight. That diagonally shifted his parabolic vector, bringing the knight’s head and shoulders below him. Then he fell. “I get us out of here fast! And I do something about this knight!” He aimed for the knight’s right shoulder. The shoulder armor was about a yard wide. His momentum let him land perpendicular to the slanted armor. The edge of his sandals slammed loudly against the shoulder armor, but the impact to his knees and ankles was almost entirely erased. He used his excess inertia to hold himself against the slanted armor. Yuo opened a window at the same time. A window opened listing out the knight’s stats. “Puppy! Copy!” Yuo’s Mouse, a ferret named Puppy, gave a cry similar to a laugh, and copied the contents of that window. Then Yuo pasted the test onto her own transparent window. “Got it! This knight is an NPC Body! A lot of his programs and data have been corrupted, but he is definitely an NPC Body. But why is he so big?” Aoe gave a strong “mh” that silenced Yuo. With that thought, he kicked off the knight’s shoulder, jumping backwards. After the second impact, the knight turned toward Aoe. Aoe immediately moved 5 yards away and did a flip in the air to fall feetfirst instead of back-first. As soon as he took his landing pose, the knight jabbed his spear out. And that attack was accompanied by a Text. “Harsh Strike Release.” A sound like striking stone came from the hand holding the spear and the movement gained much more strength. A red transparent coin emblem appeared on the back of that hand. “A Download!? But I thought that wasn’t possible for NPC Bodies!” In this Minus World, Aoe’s emotion of surprise delayed his midair evasion. A giant blade was approaching from dead ahead. It was about a yard wide and thick. The tip was badly chipped from all the destruction it had wrought, but it still had some sharp portions left. Aoe did not hesitate. He threw his fist toward one of the non-sharp portions. He threw his right arm forward. He aimed for a chipped part on the upper edge of the blade. He slammed his right fist there. He didn’t have the support of the ground since he was in midair, so he twisted his body, swung his other arm, and sent all his movement vectors into his right fist. He swung just that one arm. His will produced a Text. “Hit. I’ll be mad if you don’t.” Light scattered from his right fist along with the sound of shattering glass. A black see-through emblem appeared there. Just then, he heard Yuo shouting from the air behind him. “All of your attacks are blocked by security!” His fist hit the approaching blade before she was even done speaking. Something odd happened then. The sensation of the impact vanished from his fist. He didn’t feel the force he had expected. That meant his blow hadn’t hit its target. He checked in a split second and found the end of his outstretched arm was stopped. His arm was extended and motionless, almost like it had been that way all long. He understood now. At the same time, the blade’s movement vector arrived at his fist and pushed it back. That heavy metal spear was wielded by an 8yd giant. He couldn’t stop that with his powerless outstretched arm. The arm was knocked back and the giant blade jabbed into his unguarded chest. The blade had reached him. “Mh!” He grunted and attempted a defensive stance. Then he noticed an odd floating sensation. He first felt it in his stomach and then found his vision rapidly rotating to the left. He was not in control of this motion. Someone’s unseen hand was spinning him leftward through the air. He had been facing the Knight, but now the city on the horizon to the left was coming into view. He heard Yuo’s voice in his ear while he tried to figure out what was happening. “I’m shifting your coordinates! Please don’t try to move!” “Mh,” he replied as the color white filled his vision. The white was the tip of the spear. Then he started to fall. He saw Yuo overhead as he fell into the Page below. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District You are in 2529-E Alley 6, a Top Page of the Central Residential District. You have just entered the alley from Low Airspace – Urban Area. The alley is lined with homes on both sides. It is about 3 yards wide. Your center of gravity is unbalanced. Aoe: “Kh.” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District After switching to Sight, Aoe saw an earthen wall before his eyes. Before he realized that was the ground, his hands reached it and his body bounced upwards. His feet were already on the ground. So he raised his upper body. “Run.” He forcibly drew out his leg and back strength while collapsed forward. He directed himself toward the end of the alley. He ran in a rapid dash given 5 times the speed thanks to the thing Yuo had fed him. He kicked off the ground and leaped forward in an instant. “Whoa!” He relied on his sense of balance and his vision. Instead of using his vision to see, he used what he saw with his vision to predict what would happen next. It wasn’t a difficult thing. With that thought, he crouched lower as he ran. The maximum human sprinting speed was a bit over 20mph. With a program multiplying that by 5, air resistance became a real problem. 100 miles per hour was about 50 yards per second. At that speed, the air resistance created lift that threatened to carry him from the ground. He leaned even further forward. Instead of running, he was basically pressing himself against the ground and “climbing” the earth. Two seconds later, he heard an explosion of dirt from where he had landed earlier. He did not look back. He knew what had happened. He heard a second and third boom too. His foe was accurately pursuing his 100mph run. “Y-yes! Th-the knight is after us!” “In what way?” “Um, do you remember that movie we went to see together a long time ago?” “Oh, yeah! That one with the eccentric female prisoner! That was a good one!” “No, I mean the kaiju one! Wait, he’s getting really close, Senpai!” “Mh,” he grunted before taking a leap. He did not jump high. He made a low dive to bring him as far forward as he could manage. He still flew above the rooftops and could see the sky again. First, he kicked off one of the roofs rushing by beneath him. The spear jabbed in, trying to scoop him up from below. But he was already airborne, so he ignored it. The spear shattered the roof, creating an explosion of sound behind him. He twisted around in midair, turning to face the enemy while continuing to leap from roof to roof. He checked on the knight while also moving away from him. The knight was about 50 yards away with the waves of rooftops at about hip height. “Mh,” nodded Aoe, viewing the city and noting the Yard personnel marker Yuo had created had only moved a bit closer than before. After spotting a flat rooftop, he stopped moving his feet. “The Yard is taking too long. The evacuees must be delaying them. Yuo.” The wooden roof bent below him as it negated his inertia. And he asked a question. “If I defeat that knight now, Yuo, it will mean you supported my fist – the fist that once killed someone and the fist of a Plus dropout. Are you sure you want to do that?” “…” Yuo said nothing, but he could sense she was shrinking down. He listened to her silence while watching the giant black knight race toward him. The 8yd giant would cover the 50 yards between them in no time. The knight’s massive body trembled and hemorrhaged blood, but he did not let go of his spear. The hands holding that spear possessed a power so much like Downloading. The grip was a bit loose, but the movements had real life to them. These weren’t the lifeless movements of a subprogram. His charge was about to reach Aoe and Yuo. But Aoe ignored that and opened a window to his right. He displayed the knight’s stats that Yuo had copied earlier. The very top labeled the knight an “NPC Body”. The stats gave a brief history for the knight. Aoe sighed and asked Yuo a question. “How do you think he managed to utter a Download Text earlier?” “I don’t know. An NPC Body shouldn’t be able to do this, but he’s doing it anyway. You could say we’re watching the unknown. And unfortunately, the Yard has given Level 3 authorization.” “What does that mean?” Yuo nodded and explained. “It incorporates both Level 1, authorization to destroy the knight, and Level 2, authorization for the highest ranking officer in the area to take limited command. But…” He looked up at her as she trailed off. Her eyebrows bent sadly and she hung her head, so he prompted her to continue. “But what?” “Well, even in this state, that knight is still an NPC Body. He either underwent some kind of Break or someone intentionally changed him, but he has a personality of his own.” “So you want me to save him?” Aoe responded with his thoughts and his voice. “My specialty is a deadly power. Keep that in mind when you ask me to do things.” “I understand that. Your power is to fight, not to protect.” She took a breath. “Anyway, Level 3 authorization includes support from the DT Yard commander. That means Commander Telyb and Lieutenant Fooblicky will use their joint Grandload to activate their Demigod Program. Then they will install their power into you.” “What is a Demigod Program?” “Help: Demigod Program “The unique programs given to each of the 13 Demigods. They are linked to the OS and thus unreproducible. “Non-Demigods can use them, but it requires special authorization and a massive amount of virtual heat energy.” “Now, Senpai. I have a question for you.” She took a breath. “When ‘not possible’ appeared in your window earlier, what tone were you thinking it in?” “Well…” He was hesitant to answer and heard her laughing quietly. When she spoke, there was exasperation in her voice. “Hee hee. You don’t have to answer. I’m a little scared to hear the answer myself.” Aoe faced forward without answering Yuo. The giant knight was right in front of him. The knight was two steps away. In that time, he heard a footstep behind him. Yuo had canceled her coordinate setting and landed on the roof. He turned just his head to look her way and saw her standing motionless. She gave him a serious nod and opened her mouth. “Let’s do this!” Light raced along the surface of the cloth keyboard spread out over her shoulders as arching armor. The green light drew out a grid. The glowing grid left the arches and expanded, forming a 2yd sphere surrounding her. Light green letters and function keys appeared all across the spherical grid. “I will now release the restrictions on your Word Race special ability, Senpai. Then I will create an attack restriction release program so we can both use our Grandloads.” Aoe heard a pulsing tremor run through his body. The cause was displayed on the window open in front of him. Then Yuo sang her Text. She sang a voice input program that accelerated the spherical strings typed out by her fingers. The distributed lines go to the multitude. The variable numbers bring us all together. The power I produce goes to your pure arms and pure legs. You carry no restrictions. This city has forgiven you. I have forgiven you. I use the forgiveness of all as the signal for the running program. She slowly moved her hands and feet to touch the spherical keyboard as she sang. Like a dance, her movements and voice worked in harmony to send more strings flowing out into the air. Her fingers and voice produced a program. The program was created at twice the usual speed and its characters raced out along the celestial orbit. She spoke from the center of all that light. “Senpai, I will be providing sub support for your Grandload. I will be using a Text we both know, so try to keep up.” “What Text is that?” “The song of the Chancellor’s Officers League. Sing it with me to help create the Load Emblem.” She opened her mouth and he followed suit. They sent out their Texts at the exact same moment. It was a Text they had once sung together. I shall move ever forward. A moment later, a black spear emblem appeared clearly on Aoe’s hands. The emblems gave a roar. The high-pitched sound was like breaking metal. A similar shattering sound came from Yuo’s throat. With the glowing orbits surrounding her, something appeared behind her head along with a great wind: a transparent green emblem. It depicted a prophet goddess facing left – the face of a divine princess who speaks only Texts. Yuo’s voice rang far louder than before. “I will directly release your attack restrictions! The program is a rush job, so it will only last 30 seconds!” A white transparent countdown of 30 seconds appeared over his head. Then she signaled for him to sing with her. “Sing the song of the forward march!” –– I shall move ever forward. I shall move forward to accomplish something or to solve a problem. No matter the strength or speed of my foe. No matter the destiny carried by my foe. I shall move ever forward. My hands shall tear down my foe’s every barrier and my feet shall trample their every trap. I wield the defensive power to block any wind. I wield the offensive power to tear through any wall. My power is a manifestation of my will. My Lives carry all this power with them. They carry the power of my hands, legs, head, and even the minute power of the tip of my toe. I shall draw on all that power and surround myself in my own willpower. I can fight. So I shall move ever forward. To accomplish something or to solve a problem. That is why I sing this marching song of progress. Any goal is achievable if you never give up. More sound roared from Aoe’s fists and Yuo’s back. Hundreds of windows opened around them in an instant, whipping up the wind as they did. They displayed the program and authorization text needed to load reality into this false world. There was no reason or need to refuse. The Grandload began. A window that said “run” opened. Then text ran from the emblems on Aoe’s hands, reaching the back of his elbows. ■Type-AA0765: God-class: Black Belt■ Three diskettes appeared on the ■s at his elbows and began to rapidly spin. Yuo’s Grandload began as if responding to Aoe’s. Strings raced out from either side of the emblem surrounded by a square on her back, circling toward her shoulders. ■Type-WB0573: God-class: Wish Bringer■ The text rippled and shined once before two giant diskette programs opened above the emblem behind Yuo. Her emblem was a collection of 2D images that rapidly spun with its character strings stretching out like wings. A black line of light extended from the ■ at the end of their Emblems and joined together. Their link was established. It only took a moment. A sound like shattering glass came from Aoe’s hands and feet and an impact ran through his body. His hands stiffened at the vibration and he his body shook for a moment, but then… “Gasp! My strength…my strength is back!” Then he tensed his entire body. He had strength in his arms. He hadn’t felt this definite arm strength since arriving in DT. … I can punch! With that thought, a dull light washed across the texture of the emblems covering his hands. He looked down and viewed the emblem and letters floating above his right fist. He opened a window and looked back to meet Yuo’s gaze as she stood somewhat crouched within her celestial keyboard. She glanced up and read his window, but… “Senpai. You might be mad at me for saying this, but I don’t see it that way.” She shut her eyes. “This reminds me so much of the past. Of the mere 3 years I spent in Japan 600 years ago for me. Of the short time when someone actually had a need for me.” She traced her fingers along the inside of the celestial sphere. “What about you, Senpai? Can’t you trust in this moment as a Plus person?” He froze for a moment. He felt a gentle pressure in his fist. He felt his Load Emblem’s link with Yuo’s Load Emblem. He placed his fingers on that faint power as Yuo asked again. “What about you, Senpai?” He hesitated. His hesitation was broken by the grip strength he felt in his fist. He felt his strength continuing to grow, like it threatened to break through his fingers from within. But he also felt something else on his hand. He felt Yuo place her hand on his. He doubted she would let go no matter how much strength there was in his fist. So he frowned and lowered his gaze somewhat. Before he could continue that thought, Yuo saw his window and changed her expression. She lowered her eyebrows and gave him an exasperated smile. She shook her head, telling him he didn’t have to answer. Seeing that, he stopped his line of thought and focused fully on his fists. A few lines raced out into the sky as if in response to his shift in focus. ### Fooblicky’s Sight Mode: At DT Yard Fooblicky was standing in front of Telyb on the roof of the Yard building in DT’s east district. A blue emblem forming a scales symbol floated in front of them. Some text ran along it. ■Type-Origin: God-class: Balance of Power■ The two of them wielded a single emblem. “DT gave us authorization to write our own original joint Load Emblem since we chose to share our settings when we exchanged our vows. It’s been so long since we last used this, hasn’t it?” The emblem shined bright as she spoke. It absorbed the wind and the light intensified. Out in front, she could see two young people in the city. One was a man and the other a woman. “I can hear them singing.” “Yuo is going all out this time.” “Do we have that Aoe kid to thank for that?” “Who knows. But…she looks a lot happier than before she lost her memory. You know, back when she gave up on everything and fell to the Minus.” “A good man can change a woman. …Okay, honey, we need to get going, so suck in that gut.” Fooblicky reached out a hand and spread the fingers. “Time to use our shared Demigod Program that takes this joint Grandload to even use.” <5th & 6th Demigod → Aoe: Spell Breaker: High-Level Field Transfer: Run> ### All DT Yard Personnel’s Sight Mod: Throughout the City All across the city, the Yard personnel assisting the evacuation or rushing to the scene realized they had been switched to Sight Mode. Before they could realize this was Spell Breaker, a line of light ran in front of their eyes. The light formed a mirror-like panel and a single line of text appeared in the center. It wasn’t much, but the Yard personnel all nodded after reading it. Those with swords readied their swords. Those with guns readied their guns. Those with fists readied their fists. Some had great power and some had little, but they all directed their attacks right into their mirror of light. Then the mirrors shattered. With a metallic crash, the mirror shards turned to light and raced across the sky. Thousands or tens of thousands of miniscule lights covered most every part of the city’s sky. And those who had wielded their power looked to the light’s destination. At the center of DT, a giant knight readied his spear and ran toward a man who took a fighting stance in front of a woman. ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District Light rushed in. Before Aoe could even question it, the light entered his right fist and then flames enveloped his entire right arm up to the shoulder. “What in the world!?” “That’s Spell Breaker! Telyb and Fooblicky activated their Demigod Program using their joint Grandload and gathered the entire Yard’s attack power here!” Aoe grasped the gist of what Yuo was telling him. “It is!” He looked at his fist. He did feel strength there for the first time in a while. And he had Yuo behind him. His Grandloaded fist was so much better than the Downloaded one and it reminded him of many things. He recalled who he had once been. And he recalled who he was now. It felt like having a great weight dropped into his gut. He wrinkled his brow and felt like something was going to spew from his mouth. That something was a shout. His emotional vomit was about to escape him in vocal form. So he clenched his teeth and neutralized his expression. He faced forward. The knight was nearly within arm’s reach and his spear was raised. So Aoe took action too. He stepped forward. The Dummy Data roof bent with the ideal curve below his foot. The creaking of the wood combined with the whoosh of the spear through the air. Aoe took a quick breath. That was his start sign. He gathered strength in his gut and stepped carefully on the wood panel to continued forward. The knight was charging in to jab with his spear. He pushed his stomach toward the edge of the roof where Aoe stood. He swung his spear with great speed. But Aoe showed no fear. He didn’t have the time. He immediately stepped forward. Feet, ankles, shins, knees, thighs, butt, hips, back, chest, right shoulder, right arm, and right wrist. After crouching down, he successively gathered strength in each body part, throwing it all forward. The incoming spear tip flew over his head. The knight’s gut was 2 yards in front of him. Aoe took another step, but instead of sending the force of the step down into the roof, he clenched his fist harder and threw the force of the step behind that. A sparking line of light ran through the black Load Emblem on his right arm. It ran from back to front. Yuo took the same action as if pushed on by the racing light. The two Mice on her shoulders did the same. They all launched their right fist forward. “Mh!” Aoe’s fist shot out and broke through the upper limit that a program usually placed on destructive force. His fist landed at full strength. The fist struck the knight’s side and the force propagated out from there. All the power in Aoe’s fist was slammed into the knight’s entire body, like he was pushing a cylinder. At the same time, Aoe and Yuo’s Load Emblem symbols grew larger. But that vanished after a mere instant and they shattered into light. The attack was already over. All that remained was a sizzling sound. The back of the knight’s armor had ruptured. Fire was burning in the hole in his back. His black skin and black blood were dyed crimson as they burned. A scream erupted from his entire body as he began to collapse. He burned and his data as an NPC Body broke down. The textures forming his armor, skin, hair, and blood came apart as tiny chips and scattered. They flashed in midair before disappearing. The fire burned his entire body evenly and he finally exploded. Light scattered from him, and… “––––!” Aoe braced for the coming blast. Just then, Yuo opened a window behind him. <13th Demigod: Ranged Effect – 5%: Shadow Keep: Degradation Seal: Run> A wall of light appeared in front of him. That was in fact one side of a giant cylindrical protection shield. The shield of bluish-white light towered high into the sky and had to be at least 100 yards wide. In an instant, the impact struck the shield’s inner wall and the flames pressed against it. The sound of the scorching wind and expanding air came from the blast and flames spreading beyond that wall. But Aoe felt no heat. “Yes, I couldn’t show you this in Japan since it’s limited to DT!” Yuo shouted her response just as the 100m-wide cylinder transformed. Aoe watched as the shield shrunk down to a single point only a yard away from him. Past the flames and smoke and wind, the walls forming the cylinder degraded. With repeated sounds like glass breaking underfoot, the wind and flames were absorbed directly in front of Aoe. In two seconds, all of the destruction was gone. The wind and smoke had all been concentrated down in front of him. A single data trigon now floated in the air at his eye level. The yellow pyramid of data shined once, rotated horizontally, and… It fell. “Oh,” he said while reaching out and catching the falling data trigon. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central District You are currently standing on a roof. You feel a somewhat heated wind. A 100yd radius hole has been torn into the city below. Aoe: Aoe: “Yuo, I…” Yuo is collapsed at your feet in her shrunk form. The excessive heat consumption must have automatically shifted her into high performance mode. She is sprawled out and sleeping alongside the two Mice. The rooftop is nice and sunny. Aoe: “Mh. You don’t make this easy on me.” You have collapsed as well. You are sprawled out next to her. The sky above is an adjacent Other Page, so you cannot see it in Board Mode. Aoe: “That’s fine. I’m sure it’s a picture perfect blue. Sigh, everything here is so fake.” Aoe: “This city is exhausting.” ### 798. Chapter 4: Beyond the Galaxy Welcome back! Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent! Today’s topic is trust. The Son of God worked his butt off to fulfill the many prophecies needed to sit at the right hand of god! He knew he would be betrayed, but he still entered the holy land to bear the cross, died, and was resurrected! The following passage is something he said during that process. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.” (Matthew 6: 22-23) Comments: - I Sense Someone’s Eyes -Mr. Vase Sorry about posting from outside the city. I’m a 19-year-old from Daytona. I heard I would get an answer in about 7 seconds if I posted it here. Lately, I’ve been plagued by a peeping tom or a stalker. Our house is a dump and I’ve been seeing a suspicious figure around at night. Some weird things have been happening lately, like a young idiot moving in and my retired dad going back to work 07/07/2000 DT 00:03 AM (-14:57) ### Help Text Bodies and Subprograms Generally speaking, no actual people exist within DT. People’s actual Lives were once sent into DT, but the heat consumption required to preserve their Lives at a 100x boost was too great and it was deemed a waste of energy. That led to a combination of the NPC Bodies and loading techniques being developed by the Three Sages and Archon Suedomsa. This allowed the people’s Lives to be placed in an intermediary level built between DT and the outside world and they would remote control a Body placed within DT. The technology was based on the Write Bring device used in Barrels. The Body was created from the visual data from the person’s Lives and a constant link is maintained with the Mind Lives controlling it. This kind of Body became known as a PC Body. The link to the PC Body’s senses allows people to use the PC Body like their own vessel and it feels to them like they are actually there. Also, loading techniques allow them to temporarily load their Lives from the intermediary layer, allowing them to move more like they are accustomed to. However, fully remote control of a PC Body is not possible. The PC Body can only “exist” by basing it on the person’s visual data and their Mind Lives must be placed within the PC Body for them to sense what it senses , so there is feedback between the PC Body and the person’s Lives. That means any injury to the PC Body is also applied to the Lives in the intermediary layer. There was an attempt to develop a means of backing up the Lives to avoid death in this fashion, but when identical data to a Lives-bearing lifeform is created, the erroneous one is destroyed through resonance and the duplicate data can never fully reproduce the abilities of the original data. In other words, the data can be fully reproduced but it still ceases to function for some reason . For this reason, it is forbidden to fully back up an existing lifeform, including people, even though cloning parts such as skin or flesh are done. Also, while Word Mails can be rapidly transmitted through the intermediary layer, transmitting data-heavy objects such as people is forbidden because it is unknown if the breakdown and reconstruction process would be safe. That process is only allowed at the Yard or the Visitor Administration Office where they have high quality Live breakdown equipment. PC Bodies have been created and controlled like this for a long time, but since people’s behavior changes with the times, data on their action and sensory patterns continues to be collected. That leads to the creation of more subprograms, but it is said we will always be plagued by poorly made subprograms and situations the subprograms cannot respond to. For a while, there were mass riots caused by the poor quality of the subprograms, but from the earliest stages, it has been strongly recommended to use a false name in DT in order to avoid undue responsibility and a shrinking citizenry. If any trouble does arise, people can adopt a new name or even a new PC Body appearance to avoid social attention and misunderstandings. This is not a fundamental solution, but it is the best way currently known of cleaning up after trouble inevitably occurs. ### Telyb’s Board Mode: In DT Yard This is the HQ Main Building Rooftop, a Top Page of DT Yard HQ, East District. The current time is 12:03 AM. A concrete floor stretches 20yd wide and 80yd long. You are leaning on the southern railing and smoking a cigarette. One PC Body accompanies you. She is Fooblicky Telyb Sys. She is in her small high performance form. Fooby: “So did you get details on the day’s battle from those two?” Telyb: “I did. It wasn’t easy, though. They both went to the central library at around 10. To search the city database. Yuo will apparently be returning to the castle.” Fooby: “To the castle, huh? So we won’t see her again until after the open release. When all the hidden data built up in that castle has been released to all of DT.” Fooblicky is smiling with her eyebrows drooping. It appears to be a self-deprecating smile. Fooby: “We really screwed this one up. She isn’t going to think very highly of us next time we meet. Because we’re the Minus Elites who can’t stop deceiving people.” Fooby: “Sad to think the chaos in her tiny form during the day was the last we’ll see of her before so much changes.” Telyb: “We knew this was coming eventually. We already had skeletons in our closets when we were summoned to create this city, but we were all Minus Elites who love revealing other people’s secrets. We tried to keep our secrets from the world after the 2nd Godtact Experiment, but that was never going to work.” Telyb: “We strayed too far toward the Plus side when we’re supposed to be Hackers and loners.” Fooby: “You realize you’re smiling right now, don’t you?” Telyb: “You didn’t even need to Over Reload to tell, did you? Tomorrow, we Minus Elites will be revealing all the secrets to Yuo, who was once a Minus Dropout. …We’ll be succumbing to our resignation at long last. The Minus tendency to find joy in self-condemnation and self-harm is so exciting, isn’t it?” Fooblicky is shrugging her shoulders in exasperation. Fooby: “But I bet Yuo is obliviously buried in windows at the library right about now. Delighted she can help out that stupid man.” Fooby: “Have you given any thought to what Algo is planning? I analyzed the Lives of that NPC Body based on the data trigon Yuo made, but I still can’t tell who modified it or how. This looks like trouble. Has Algo sent us any kind of message about his intentions?” Telyb: “A single Word Mail during the day. The address was unknown, but it was probably from Algo. It told us to immediately evacuate all of DT’s residents if we don’t want a repeat of today’s trouble.” Fooby: “Anything else? Like demanding a godtact experiment?” Telyb: “Nada.” The wind is blowing. You look up into the sky. Fooblicky tilts her head next to you. She is wrinkling her brow. She appears puzzled. Fooby: “Why not? Does he plan to send another message tomorrow?” Telyb: “Maybe. And if he does, I’m sure he’ll ask if we would like to break free of our resignation and turn around our past failure without worrying about the cost.” Fooby: “He thinks he’s a hero, but only the people who were there can truly understand.” Telyb: “Do you think he knows the three factors needed for a godtact experiment? “ 1: The Questron used to accept the great god’s Lives. “ 2: The reactor used to power the Questron and the reactor used to extract the great god’s Lives. “ 3: The body used to contain the great god’s Lives. An unsullied, immortal body. “#1 and #2 can be created since DT has the royal castle and Babel. But…” Fooby: “If the experiment succeeds, whoever is chosen for #3 will have their personhood stripped away and all their memories erased as they’re reduced to a mere vessel for the great god. That is death in a manner of speaking.” Telyb: “And the summoning of the great god will cause a Great Godquake. So many people will be harmed and the world will gain an almighty power as it accepts the great god as a Glossolalian. In other words, it will mean great destruction and rebirth.” The wind is picking up and Fooblicky leans against the railing. Fooby: “The link between destruction and rebirth is so exhausting. We’ve created this city three times now. Once on the charred remains after the Word Bomb blast, once after the destruction brought by the 1st Godtact Experiment, and once 2000 years ago after the destruction brought by the 2nd Godtact Experiment.” Telyb: “But we realized the error of our ways that third time. If only it hadn’t taken that girl’s sacrifice to teach us Minus Elites how horrifying destruction truly is. But that’s why we did whatever it took to protect the DT we have now. Even if that meant sealing away some memories and telling some lies to avoid confusion. Suedomsa and Yuo are the real victims here.” Fooby: “We acted out of guilt. Minus Elites aren’t supposed to feel that.” Telyb: “And that’s why we screwed it up. We didn’t want her to think we were deceiving her, so we left behind some hints. It’s the same reason Akalabeth Bubezleeb failed to perfect the Questron meant to enclose the vessel during the 2nd Godtact Experiment.” Fooby: “Yeah, Akalabeth and I gave Yuo her Natas name as a hint.” Telyb: “Yes, the lonely ruler who doesn’t fit in with the rest of the demon army. And the tempter of the Son of God. I doubt she knows the real meaning behind that name.” The wind suddenly stops. Telyb: “I doubt she knows it’s because she was meant to become a god, but never did.” Fooby: “It’s strange. When we were constructing DT, it was Suedomsa who kept quoting the bible and gave us divine names since we were working to summon a god. Even though he was the biggest loner among the Minus Elites. Ironic that he doesn’t remember any of it anymore.” Fooby: “And after she was formatted and had her memories sealed away, Yuo went to Japan and learned a song there. The very same song she had sung before losing her memories. And when she returned to DT, the OS chose the Load Emblem of the singing prophet for her.” Telyb: “Some people call the Son of God a prophet. And Aoe’s emblem is a spear – the same weapon used to confirm the Son of God was dead.” Fooby: “Hee hee. You make it sound like that stupid man is going to be checking to see if Yuo is dead.” Telyb: “You never know how fate is going to play out. And it’s only symbolic. Although I am curious what Algo Everquest and Alternative Kobayashi’s Load Emblems are.” Fooblicky is looking at you. She is wrinkling her brow a bit. She looks somewhat troubled. Fooby: “Don’t tempt fate.” Telyb: “Something about all this is bothering me, is all. I can’t put it to words yet, but I saw some kind of symbolism forming here when I saw that giant NPC Body today.” Telyb: “It reminded me that someone used to be able to create things like that at will.” Fooby: “Eh?” Telyb: “I’ll tell you more after I read Yuo’s report in the morning.” Telyb: “Now, I feel bad asking this now, but I have two requests for you.” Telyb: “First, please hurry your analysis of that giant NPC Body’s Lives. Make sure you’re done by the morning.” Fooby: “Fine, but that’s really pushing it.” Telyb: “I know. But I don’t want to act on incomplete information. I’ve had enough of failing at the last second for one life.” Telyb: “And my other request is that you deploy the Yard’s main force to the castle in the morning.” Fooby: “Eh? What are you planning?” Fooblicky’s expression has changed from her previous wrinkled brow. She is now looking directly at you with her eyebrows level. It is a look of determination. Fooby: “I can do that too. You always have been right about these kinds of- oh, a Word Mail.” A white mouse Mouse pokes its head out from Fooblicky’s pocket. Fooby: “It’s from Akalabeth and meant for both of us.” Telyb: “Why did she send it to you if it’s meant for us both?” Fooby: “Women can always tell who in a couple is really in charge.” ### Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb’s Word Mail: To Mr. and Mrs. Telyb 5th and 6th Demigods: Ogre and Fooblicky Telyb. It has been too long since our last correspondence. Are you doing well? We must be the only ones wondering if our current place in the world will end tomorrow. Because no one else knows what happened before the 2nd Godtact Experiment. In that sense, this is probably the last time I will send a personal Word Mail while feeling such fear about the past. More broadly speaking, tonight is the last time I will fear the memory of the sin we committed in the 2nd Godtact Experiment. Fooblicky, do not let any of this get between you and Yuo. How can we ever forget the requirements for a godtact experiment? 1: The Questron used to accept the great god’s Lives. 2: The reactor used to power the Questron and the reactor used to extract the great god’s Lives. 3: The body used to contain the great god’s Lives. An unsullied, immortal body. The 1st Godtact Experiment failed because #3 was imperfect, but the failure of #2 was my responsibility because I suggested you to fill the role of #3 based on the idea that the most “godly” body would be an unsullied and immortal body. You have no reason to blame yourself for what happened afterwards. Nor does Ogre. If I had to guess, I would say this all came from the fact that we are Demigods who failed to become true gods. My one small regret is that Yuo is not with me at the moment. I sent her to Japan for 300 of the past 2000 years and she learned so much and grew so much from it. After she returned, she stopped forcibly digging into DT’s datanet to search for her old memories (well, she still does it from time to time) and seeing her now makes me think she carries the past, present, and future with her. But that all ends tonight. I hear she is at the library with the man who looked after her in Japan. She has been in a very good mood of late. Suedomsa will be here to authorize the boost setting change and the open release tomorrow. I just sent Yuo a Word Mail asking her to be present for that. Maybe this isn’t fair to the rest of you, but the plan is for Suedomsa and I to tell her everything afterwards. We will reveal her hidden past to her. Then I will be pardoning the man who cares so much for her, but after that I plan to transfer all authority over DT to Yuo as my adoptive daughter (just like I suggested to you all 2000 years ago). But only if she wants it, of course. The prophet who once sacrificed herself out of resignation will hand everything to the divine child who can speak new Texts. Continue to protect the castle and city until then. ### Telyb’s Sight Mode: In DT Yard In Sight Mode, Telyb reread the Word Mail window open above Fooblicky’s head. His eyes ran along the text displayed on the backlit window in the wind blowing below the artificial night sky. “Hm.” He bent backwards and took a step back. He placed his hands on the railing and tilted his head in thought. Fooblicky closed the window and turned toward him with a similar expression. “That was an awfully mellow message, but the last line sure was concise. The Yard already has a station in the castle and they have their own knights for protection, but now she wants more?” “Either way, you still need to do complete the tasks I gave you.” “That just leaves the Lives analysis. I should also send invitations to the Yard ambassadors deployed around the world. They should come running back for the open release, so I think I can throw something together.” “Please do,” said Telyb before looking to the south. The distant details became visible. A giant tower jutted into the night sky to the south. It was Babel, the word tower with small flashing lights at a few points. Telyb lowered his gaze from that tower that looked so dark at the moment. Medical facilities, commercial facilities, and an amusement park sat the feet of Babel, surrounding the southern mountain. The buildings were only visible as silhouettes, but they were some of the few modern structures in DT. His eyes landed on the amusement park in particular. A blimp floated in the sky above it. His lips parted without even a hint of a smile and he spoke his thoughts aloud. “The problem is Algo Everquest. Who are Alternative Kobayashi’s father and sister he mentioned? Knowing that would tell us if he is a terrorist or a skilled idealist.” “Eh?” “That would tell us if those two are the kind of people who could have taught Algo the three factors needed for a godtact experiment. If he isn’t aware of them, then he is a terrorist dreaming of performing a godtact experiment. If he is aware, then he is likely skilled enough to have set everything up to realize his ideals. Then even today was likely part of that setup.” Telyb sounded disgusted by the idea and Fooblicky smiled a little. “Let’s hope Yuo and that stupid man’s investigation shows some results then. Hopefully they find something before tomorrow morning.” She grabbed the railing and stood alongside him. He spoke to her while she stood up on her toes to see out over the railing. “If those two do find something before then, then we can reveal a portion of the past to Aoe ahead of the open release. The other Demigods probably won’t like that, though.” Fooblicky shut her eyes. “I wonder how much Yuo has figured out about her hidden past.” “Yes, she did a lot of research in the past, so there are times when I wonder if she actually knows everything. Do you know what she said to me before leaving for the library earlier?” He took a breath. “ ‘Make sure to tell me even more after tomorrow’s open release.’ ” “It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s figured it out. Like you said earlier, the city is rife with evidence of our Minus guilt about Yuo and Suedomsa. All the divine symbolism could have clued her in to her identity.” Fooblicky laughed in an exasperated way before realization struck her. “Oh. Come to think of it, Suedomsa’s emblem is symbolic too.” “It sure is,” agreed Telyb before describing the symbol he had seen in the past. “His emblem is a cross.” ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Central Redford District You are in 3950-E Street, a Top Page of the Central Residential District. The current time is 2:18 AM. You are walking from the Central Library in the south to DT Yard HQ. The street is lined with homes on both sides. A single PC Body is walking alongside you. She is Yuo Natas Wav. Aoe: “Whew, I ate way too much.” Yuo: “Only you would eat that much at the library lounge. And the dog on your shoulder ate an awful lot for a Mouse.” Aoe: “He isn’t just a dog. His name is Monkey.” Monkey is seated on your right shoulder. He nods vigorously when you look him in the eye. Yuo frowns. She looks exasperated. Yuo: “It’s sad that Mice can’t choose their masters. Anyway, it was worth insisting the library opened the lounge so late at night. That place is British run, so the tea is superb.” Aoe: “Mh.” Yuo: “That’s no excuse for chugging my pot too, though.” Aoe: “You’re the one that scarfed down those fries along with your weasel.” Yuo: “I was hungry. Because I’ve been in Sight Mode for most of the day.” Aoe: “Huh?” Yuo: “Sight Mode is exhausting, but it ensures you don’t overlook anything or make any mistakes.” Aoe: “Mh. Really?” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Central Redford District Aoe switched all his senses over to Sight Mode. His sense of touch hit him first. Then he noticed the darkness around him. The night was chilly even with the summer setting turned on and the wind carried an earthy scent. The world around him had the perfection only found in an idealized falsehood. There were no streetlights. The stars in the sky were the only source of light. Without even moonlight, the city stretching out on either side of the road was a mass of dark shapes. But there was one other source of light to Aoe’s left. The many windows Yuo had open around her were shining. They were opened overhead and on either side of her, so they cast multiple shadows of the two walking on the sidewalk. He watched her as he walked. She had a see-through keyboard drawn with lines of light floating in front of her and she typed with just one hand while bringing her other hand’s fingers to a few of the windows. The ferret on her shoulder waved her front paws to open and close the windows indicated by Yuo’s fingers. Windows disappeared, more appeared, text scrolled along them, text spread out, and text came to a stop. It felt like watching the beginnings of a rain shower. After a few steps walked in silence, Yuo turned toward him. After observing him, she noticed his expression and smiled. “Hey, what are you staring at? You switched to Sight, didn’t you?” The words written in his window were the truth. She read them and her smile grew. She pointed at the few windows around her. “Yes, you can’t see these in Board Mode.” She focused on one window in particular. The file listed DT residents whose names had a similar sound or meaning to Kobayashi. Their wild names weren’t given, but the list did include the PC Body photo taken at the Yard’s visitor lobby when they first entered the city. “But none of them look very likely. I did send Word Mails to their providers asking for their data.” “And we have to wait 100x as long for a response, don’t we?” “Even if they respond right away, 3 minutes out there is 5 hours for us. Let’s try to have our answer by 10 tomorrow morning. It’s getting late.” Yuo showed him a Divine Mail with a bashful smile. “I have to head home soon. My mom in the castle sent me this message saying she isn’t staying up for me.” “Do you two get along?” “Eh? Yes, I suppose. But…she, Fooblicky, and the others sometimes give me weird looks. Oh, but I don’t mean like leering looks. It’s like they feel sorry for me.” “Probably because they see how you lack an ordinary level of tension. Anyone would feel sorry for you.” “It’s not that. In fact, it’s mostly when I’m in a really good mood.” She tilted her head. “A long time ago, Alternative got after me for looking so sorry for her just because she has Words Warn. I get that same feeling.” “Sis was really fond of you. It’s probably the same here.” “Hmm,” Yuo groaned in thought. “Anyway, shouldn’t you respond to your mother? What did she say?” “Oh, just that she wasn’t staying up for me and that I needed to get up early for the audience at 10 tomorrow morning. She says she and Suedomsa have something to tell me after Suedomsa gives his approval.” “I see.” Aoe nodded. “I know you said this Suedomsa guy’s Words Warn day of destruction is tomorrow, but what kind of person is he?” Aoe looked to Yuo. Yuo was looking back at him. Her eyebrows were somewhat lowered in the bluish shadows of the night. Below them, her largish eyes were directed his way with the windows’ light faintly reflected in them. He stepped back from the detailed expression. And… “Mh. What? Did I say something wrong?” “Eh? Oh, um, well.” She turned away, looking back to the window displaying the message from her adoptive mother, and nodded in renewed resolve. She looked back his way with strength in her gaze. She stopped walking, so he did as well. She placed a hand on her chest and breathed in. He took a breath of his own and waited for her to speak. She nodded again and started speaking with determination written plain on her face. “Archon Suedomsa is the only other Asian among the 13 Demigods.” “Mh.” “And during the explosion triggered by the 2nd Godtact Experiment, I was killed and he was badly injured. The rest were unharmed. That means he must have been near me. Why, I couldn’t tell you.” He thought on her words a moment and nodded with a frown. “Mh,” he grunted before she continued like she had been waiting for that. “And you know what? I was made immortal by the godtact at the age of 17 or 18. I wasn’t old enough to be a researcher, but I was present for both godtact experiments.” “Were you someone’s family?” “I think so,” she replied after a pause. “My mom’s message wants me to be there for Suedomsa’s audience with her. So I can’t help but wonder if, well, um…” She mumbled, looked away, and reached a hand toward the hair draped over her shoulder. Aoe sucked in a breath and spoke before her hand could reach it. “Tell me.” “O-okay.” She blanked her expression and brought her drifting hand back to her chest. She moved her lips like she was rehearsing her statement and then got it out. She stated her guess that she felt surer of all the time. “Suedomsa might be my father.” ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Central Redford District Yuo stands in front of you. Her eyebrows are somewhat lowered while she looks right at you. Meaning of the expression is unknown. Aoe: “Oops. That surprised me a bit, so I ended up in Board again.” Yuo is wrinkling her brow with tears in the corners of her eyes. She looks troubled. Yuo: “You’re hopeless. I finally get out what’s been on my mind since returning to DT and this is the response I get? You’re supposed to hug the heroine and try to calm her down.” Aoe: “Cut me some slack. …So you never gave up on searching out your past, did you?” Aoe: “But should you really be telling me this?” Yuo: “Don’t worry about it. This is almost certainly me jumping to conclusions. We both lost our memories, after all. I keep telling myself I’m just imagining this because he’s so kind to me and our circumstances are similar.” Yuo: “I could bear it when it was just a baseless guess, but after reading too much into that message and thinking about how tomorrow is his final day…well, I just wanted to tell someone.” Aoe: “Mh. You can always come to me if you need an ear to listen. I don’t mind at all.” Yuo: “Yes, you have always been a good listener.” Yuo wipes away the tears with her right hand. Her eyebrows are drooping and her mouth somewhat tense. Meaning of the expression is unknown. Aoe: “Is something still bothering you?” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Central Redford District Aoe returned to Sight. His lowered vision saw the dark street. He felt the bumpy dirt ground below his feet. But he could not feel the thickness of the weeds growing on the ground. Nor could he feel the softness of the soil. It was all fake. He had already known that, so he thought it was weird to only notice it now. He also told himself he had more important things to focus on at the moment. He only had to look up to see the proper target of his attention: Yuo. She was looking at him with her eyebrows drooping a bit. She had not Downloaded or Grandloaded, so that was only a piece of data known as a PC Body that was given her shape. Her Lives data stored in DT’s intermediary layer resonated with it and subprograms moved it around. But Yuo was looking at him, so he looked back at her. He thought he saw some sadness cast over her face illuminated by the windows. He realized the windows around her were beginning to close. They had been set to automatically close if left idle for a period of time, so they started flashing and then closed in the order they had been opened in. Yuo glanced at his window and responded. “No. I am…worried. You interpreted correctly. As weird as it is to say it myself,” she said with no change of expression. She moved her hands to bring two windows up next to her: the list of names possibly related to Kobayashi and the Word Mail sent by her adoptive mother. In their light, she seemed to be working up the nerve to say something. “Um, Senpai?” “Mh,” he grunted with a nod and she nodded back. “I said I think Suedomsa might be my father, right? Set that aside for the moment. We are searching for Alternative’s father. The father of the tiny Alternative we met during the day.” “Mh.” “Do you think her father is…an ordinary DT citizen?” He didn’t know what she meant at first, so he replied with confusion. “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” “This city is made of falsehoods. For example, the night sky you see above us has no moon.” Now that she mentioned it, he realized it did lack a moon. “The position of the stars is set to match the sky in the outside world, but doing the same with the moon had it out for around 1000 hours and I’ve heard there were complaints from Glossolalians.” “So you hid the moon?” “The Glossolalians are influenced by the real moon in the outside world, so it would actually be more accurate to show it that way here, but they say it feels wrong to see it up there for so long.” “Mh,” grunted Aoe. “Get to the point.” “This is part of my point. Again, the night sky only has stars.” When he looked up and strained his eyes, he could indeed see a very bright starry sky. “The moon received complaints, but no one has ever complained about how the stars are displayed. Do you get what that means? This sky is fake, but it’s close enough to the real one that no one cares.” Aoe said nothing as he kept his eyes on the sky above and waited for her to continue. After a bit, she spread her arms and gestured toward the city around them. “Similarly, DT has been remade several times, but its boundaries and the layout of the streets remain almost identical to before the Word Bomb destroyed it. It’s all nearly the same as the industrial city of Detroit that built cars and aerial ships.” She took a breath. “So don’t you think people would use the same basic image of their wild name when creating their handle?” Aoe looked down. Yuo was within arm’s reach in front of him. She wasn’t standing up straight, but she had a hand on her chest and looked straight at him. The shade of sadness remained on her face. She opened her mouth with only two windows illuminating her face now. “I will now explain my theory to you. I have a question too, so please answer if you can.” “Mh.” “First, think about the handle Archon Suedomsa. An archon is a type of governor. Suedomsa is the demon Asmodeus spelled backwards. Asmodeus is a demon of pleasure and fertility, so it is a good name for the person in charge of the amusement park and medical facilities and the person who led the creation of NPC Bodies long ago.” “Mh.” “Then there is Alternative. Her father would be her uncle’s brother, right? Even an idiot can figure that much out, right? Right?” “Mh? Mhh? Um, you mean…?” “Moving on. Alternative’s uncle was your and Algo’s master and his name was Kobayashi Ungyou. In Japanese, the ‘un’ is the second half of ‘aum’ and the ‘gyou’ means dawn.” “Mh. So the um is the ending and the dawn is the beginning.” “Now what are the opposites of both?” “In aum, the opposite of um is ‘a’. And the opposite of dawn would be dusk or ‘kon’.” “And what do you get when you combine those two?” He started to give the answer but stopped. He tried the name out in his mouth for a bit and subtly adjusted the pronunciation to end up with something that sounded very familiar. “Kobayashi…Archon.” ### Algo’s Board Mode: Inside the White Castle You are in the Top Level Hall, a Top Page of the Central Administrative Building, White Castle, South Amusement Park. The current time is 2:34 AM. The only thing in the 30yd room is red carpet and four windows each on the south and north walls. You are standing by the south windows. A single old-style NPC Body accompanies you. She is Alternative Kobayashi Asb. She is using a cartoony old-style NPC Body as a terminal for her Mind Lives. She is seated on your left shoulder. Algo: “I can’t see the adjacent Page since I’m in Sight, but I’m guessing it’s dark out.” Alternative: Algo: “The empty amusement park reminds me of when my mother abandoned me. It was also in an amusement park that I tried picking a fight with Master Ungyou when he was on a trip to America and got punched really hard.” Alternative: Alternative’s eyes are closed but bent. She is smiling. Algo: “My mother left me behind, but I wouldn’t have been taken in by my master or met you if she hadn’t.” Algo: “They say some of the fairy species like the long lived still have a habit of making changelings. Because that change is supposed to transform one answer into another.” Alternative: Algo: Alternative’s eyes are closed with the eyebrows drooping. She looks exasperated. Alternative: Algo: “It’s true. Because it makes me happy that Aoe is still searching for the ‘strongest attack’ even though he said he was giving up on fighting.” Alternative’s eyes are only partially closed. Meaning of the expression is unknown. Alternative: Algo: “Let’s see. Could you tell me what the strongest defense is?” Alternative: Algo: “Yes. So the strongest defense is the power to eliminate your opponent’s attack power.” Alternative: Algo: “In the simplest sense, yes. But your opponent can keep fighting even if their armor has been shattered. They won’t accept defeat as long as they still have their attack power. But as attackers, we can’t steal their attack power from them. Normally, we would stop them by breaking through their defenses and taking their life.” Alternative: Algo: “The answer is tricky but simple at the same time. Think about how you can use your strength.” Algo: “When you get down to it, a deadly attack is just another kind of strength.” Algo: “As attackers, the strongest is an ideology that leads to the best possible result where we break our opponent’s spirit without killing them.” Algo: “You could look at it like an equation of Plus and Minus – of attack and defense.” Algo: “So the strongest would be an equation where the attacker achieves both at once. The question is what kind of equation will end a battle without either side going Minus.” Algo: “But finding that answer requires understanding the equation and its meaning.” Alternative: Algo: “Yes, because people aren’t numbers. We can liken them to Plus and Minus signs all day long, but it’s the analog people who actually throw the punches. You can work out the perfect equation, but even that is only a guideline.” Algo: “I feel like you can express anything as an equation if you use Plus and Minus signs, but you’re really just using symbols. To achieve the strongest attack, you need to consider the true meaning behind the equation. After all, is it possible for people to calculate out two numbers using symbols…and do they even want to?” Alternative: Algo: “He hasn’t reached that point yet. Yuo must betray him again so that we can achieve the three factors. The Quartet said the past resignation will continue, remember?” Algo: “And all through the program we built to recover Suedomsa’s memories.” Alternative: Algo: “No one knows what will happen then. Tomorrow, on the Day of the Oracle, if either Suedomsa’s 1st phase or our 2nd phase goes as planned, the two of us will live on. We will preserve our lives. Although with the 2nd phase, that might not count as living.” Alternative: Algo: “I’m sure some of them have noticed, but most of them should see our actions as a terrorist threat. …Oh.” You are coughing. Alternative: Algo: “I’m fine. I was prepared for this. This cough is the reason I can never return to the Plus World of reality.” Algo: “Because it means I have taken on your Words Warn.” ### Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside the White Castle The dark hall stretched out before Algo’s eyes as his coughing fit settled down. He looked up at small Alternative on his left shoulder and then viewed the empty hall. The windows on the opposite wall were still open. They gave a blurry view of the dark DT streets. “Phew. Suedomsa said they lost everything in the 2nd Godtact experiment, so this is their revenge, atonement, criticism of their own stagnancy, and apology to those they abandoned.” He turned just his head to look to the sky behind him. The dark sky with sparkling specks of white light was blurry from here. Babel’s silhouette jutted into that sky. A window floated above Alternative on his shoulder. “He’s an idiot, so he’ll probably worry over it.” Alternative opened a window simply saying in response to Algo’s character assessment. Her eyebrows were raised in a look of reproach. But Algo’s bitter smile only grew. “But once he learns the truth about her, I know he’ll come to her. As long as he doesn’t fear the falsehoods and his own fists, he will try to save her and eliminate her worries.” Algo stretched his hand out the window and toward Babel before clenching his fist. “The shape of the falsehoods is plain to see in this city.” “Ever since the invention of writing, people have been fighting back against reality’s security and defensive measure that prevents writing along from expressing emotions. And…the power of a fist is the same.” Alternative lowered her gaze in response to Algo’s statement. She did not express agreement or disagreement. Then a footstep ran through the hall. Someone was standing in the landing connecting the hall to the stairs. The slender figure in green had a dove on his shoulder. His gray hair was swept back, but he had the face of a man in the prime of his life. He pushed his glasses up his nose and turned toward Algo and Alternative. Algo turned toward him and Alternative raised her gaze from Algo’s shoulder. ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Central Redford District The first place Aoe looked was Yuo’s hand after she said Suedomsa might be her father. Her hand was teasing the hair spilling over her shoulder. Then he looked to her face. He viewed the expression there. But before he could identify that expression and consider what that meant, he made a different decision. He took action before that decision could appear in a window above his head. He pulled Yuo toward him and hugged her. He took a step forward himself and held her in his arms. She twisted her shoulders in protest at first, but only for a moment. When he held her tighter, she stopped. She leaned into his chest, pressing her nose against him and bending her long ears. Then she let out a quiet breath resembling a cough. “I know I’m thinking too much and I have no real evidence of it. But if it’s true…then it means I met my own sister in Japan without knowing it.” “Mh.” “What if Alternative was so nice to me because I was her amnesiac sister and she never said anything for my sake? I-I just can’t stop thinking about it.” Aoe felt Yuo’s shoulders trembling in his arms. He wondered what he should do and settled on showing he was listening. “Mh.” It was only a quiet grunt, but she nodded, coughed, and sucked in a breath. “I-I’m jumping to so many conclusions, aren’t I?” She coughed again. She took another quick breath and calmed her breathing, but her voice grew scratchy in response. She used that raspy voice to speak directly into his chest. “I’ve lived in this Minus city for 600 years since then, but I still remember that brief time I spent living a Plus life in Japan and I just can’t seem to decide which one is for me. I have to wonder if I can never be an elite of either and that I might be a dropout who can’t choose one or the other. So if you’re a Plus dropout, then I’m a Minus one.” She hung her head further in his arms. “I know…I know I’m just stacking assumptions on top of assumptions,” she said, pressing her face into his chest with her long ears still bent. “So why does it worry me so much?” Aoe held her even tighter when he heard that. The hands he usually clenched into fists were open and rubbing her back that felt so small right now. Feeling her back below his hands, he suddenly remembered what Algo had once asked him. He responded to both Yuo and Algo’s questions and to neither. “Yes, why is that?” I’m no help, he realized afterwards. I’m so inexperienced, he added. He sensed Yuo moving in his arms. He looked down to see her looking up. Her eyebrows were gently angled and her eyes were closed. She still had tears in the corners of her eyes and her lips were somewhat parted. Those lips were moving a bit. “Why is that?” He didn’t have an answer for her, so he lowered his head. He brought his lips toward her face. He started with her tears and sucked them up. The tears left a piercing saltiness on his tongue. “Ah.” A tremor ran through her face, but he ignored it. He ran his tongue tip down the bridge of her nose to the tip. When he pulled away from there, she angled her face a bit upwards to accept him. And just as he brought his lips toward hers, the last two windows closed. His eyes instinctually searched for details, but he shut them to block that out. He pressed his lips against hers. And… A sound like colliding stones came from between their mouths. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Central Redford District Yuo is in your arms. Her eyes are bent and she is smiling. It is a bitter smile. Yuo: “Oh, god. You haven’t changed at all, have you? How did you manage to knock our teeth together? Were you trying to bite me?” Aoe: “…Mh.” Yuo: “Are you mad? I thought it was hilarious.” Aoe: “Mh.” Yuo: “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed. Seriously though, don’t let it bother you too much. Look at your arms, Senpai.” There is a slight gap between your arms and Yuo. Yuo: “Hugging requires two people, but the subprograms have trouble with that kind of thing since they can’t predict the size of the other person.” Aoe: “…Mh.” Yuo: “Don’t apologize. It’s the thought that counts and I appreciate it. Also…” Yuo has slipped out from your arms. Her eyebrows are drooping and she has a smile on her lips. Meaning of the expression is unknown. Yuo: “I don’t think you’re a dropout. Do you remember 600 years ago when stripped off all my clothes, swore you would look after me for the rest of my life, and then knocked our teeth together just like that trying to kiss me?” Aoe: “…Mh.” Yuo: “It was after that that Alternative called for you, that mess happened, you couldn’t see me the next day, and then I returned to DT.” Yuo: Yuo is holding a hand to her chest and looking at you. Yuo: “Let me apologize tomorrow.” Aoe: “You have nothing to apologize for.” Yuo: “Don’t do that, Senpai. You think I don’t have to apologize if you make yourself the bad guy, don’t you? I can’t blame the subprograms for this one, so there isn’t such a simple answer.” Yuo: “But I don’t play fair either, so I will apologize at the castle tomorrow. I’ll make sure to wear a cute dress so you can hug me again…and then we can continue where we left off 600 years ago.” Yuo: “If we fully share our personal settings, the DT OS will perform an artificial Live exchange and give us a joint Load Emblem like Telyb and Fooblicky have.” Yuo: “Don’t you want to see what kind of Load Emblem we can create together?” Aoe: “Don’t be stupid. You’re DT’s princess, aren’t you?” Yuo: “My official position has no bearing on what I need to do or what I want to do.” Yuo is looking at you with her hands clenched into fists. Yuo: “ ‘I shall move ever forward.’ I can accomplish anything if I don’t give up, right?” Yuo: “I might be worried, but I won’t give up on the past. So, Senpai…” Yuo: “Please don’t give up on the strongest you’ve wanted to find for so long.” Aoe: “…Mh.” Yuo: “Oh, you finally smiled.” Aoe: “Hey, are you still in Sight Mode? Won’t that make you hungry?” Yuo: “Nope, I’m in Board Mode. But I can still tell. Call it a hunch.” Yuo has turned her back and taken a step down the street toward the castle. Yuo: “Okay, it’s time to say goodbye for now. Take that street there and you’ll reach the Yard HQ. Your pardon is at 11 tomorrow, so don’t be late.” Yuo: “Oh, and just in case, I’ve altered your settings so you will be labeled a runaway if you aren’t at the castle by 12. That will shut down all of your nonessential subprograms.” Aoe: “Did you really have to do that?” Yuo: “Don’t oversleep and it won’t be an issue. And tomorrow morning, I will be Word Mailing Telyb the results of today’s investigation and the speculation I shared with you. They seem to be analyzing that giant NPC Body, so they might have figured something out by then. Bye.” Aoe: “Mh.” Yuo waves goodbye and starts walking away. She looks back once and only once. You clench your fists. Aoe: “The strongest, hm? Algo said that was some kind of equation between the Plus and the Minus.” ### Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside the White Castle The man standing on the landing was definitely smiling. His smiling lips parted and he spoke in a deep voice. “I’m sorry, Alternative. I had forgotten about you all this time.” The eyes behind his glasses remained somewhat unfocused as they moved from Alternative to Algo. “Algo, thank you for your help over the past 50 years. And for the rest of the help I am sure you will give me.” “Are you really going to do this, Master Suedomsa?” “I don’t want to hear that from the man who accepted Alternative’s ring and her Words Warn.” Suedomsa smiled bitterly and coughed once, but he soon swallowed the breath. “50 years ago, when Ungyou tracked me down based on my handle and informed me by Word Mail that Alternative’s condition was worsening, I had no idea what it meant. Because I had lost my memories.” “That message found its way to the Quartet and my master learned the whole truth. One day, Master Ungyou challenged me to a match and told me about you just before he collapsed.” Algo pulled a book from his pocket. That was an object from the outside world, which were very difficult to bring into the virtual city. It was the original bible he had received from his master Kobayashi Ungyou. Suedomsa finally looked to it with his eyebrows somewhat lowered. “Was my brother a good man? When I knew him, he was my polar opposite – a Plus person through and through.” Algo hesitated for a moment before swiftly forming his usual smile. “He gave everything his all. When I began drifting toward the Minus, he asked me if I was going down that route and then he did everything he could to teach me the strongest.” Algo put the book away and pointed toward his own face. The ringed finger indicated his eyes: one green and one yellow. That was the result of the Live collision that occurred when he took the title of Martial Arts Master through combat. “I see,” said Suedomsa. “So my brother did what he could to fulfill the Plus side with his Kobayashi School. That leaves the Minus side to me. I must restart everything that was stopped after the failure of the 2nd Godtact Experiment 2000 years ago.” After that, more people climbed the stairs behind them. Four to be exact. They were the same anonymous old-style NPC Bodies who had gathered here during the day. Suedomsa asked a question while watching them line up in front of the northern windows. “We are short on time, so can you show me what you have planned?” He took a breath. “How do you intend to bring DT under your control and carry out a 3rd Godtact Experiment tomorrow?” ### Anon1’s Word Mail: To the Group Preliminary Information A successful godtact experiment will summon a great god and also sublimate the ley lines over a wide area. Based on the Godquake records from SF, Japan, and various cities, a radius of approximately 120-200 miles will be sublimated to summon the great god, so this is currently considered Death Techno. This great sacrifice is worth it because the great god’s almighty power will save the entire world. The experiment will be held tomorrow at 3 PM, the same time prophesied as the Day of the Oracle. If Master Suedomsa fails, we will abandon the castle, transfer the duplicated Questron data trigon to Babel, and continue the godtact experiment there under Master Algo’s command. Necessary Steps 1: Take control of the castle where the Questron is located. 2: Take control of a reactor to power the Questron and a reactor to extract the great god’s Lives. 3: Set the properties for the vessel to contain the great god’s Lives. 4: Keep the guards away. Status 1: Several of the NPC Bodies in the castle and city have been swapped out in preparation to take the castle. This is thanks to the high-level old-style NPC Body creation program that Master Suedomsa manages as a Demigod. Master Suedomsa and we will use them to take control of the castle tomorrow after he arrives in the castle to authorize the boost settings change and open release. Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb has the Questron control program, the Babel control program, and Portal, her Demigod Program needed to alter DT’s settings. Thus, the key to our plan running smoothly is capturing the queen and stealing those programs from her. 2: Babel can play both roles. After stealing the Babel control program from the queen and fulfilling steps 1 and 3, we will surround Babel and the castle with a protection shield and use an enchanter’s spell to transfer its power to the castle. The equipment needed to repair the Questron has already been programmed during the past 50 years. 3: The vessel will not be a problem because we already know someone who is immortal and unsullied, and thus godlike. That person is sure to accept their role as the vessel to carry the great god’s Lives. 4: 7 of the 13 Demigods are in the outside world holding negotiations related to tomorrow’s boost setting change. Problems Not even making this world almighty can justify the possible consequences. We have already asked that DT’s citizens be evacuated from the city. And we will do everything we can to establish a separate defense shield to protect anyone who fails to evacuate from the Live sublimation caused by the summoning. ### Algo’s Board Mode: Inside the White Castle The night breeze blows in through the windows. Algo: “We can work out the details later, but it looks like things are progressing well.” Suedomsa: “First, I will begin a godtact experiment to make up for the past and, if that fails, Babel will be nice and warmed up for you to begin a second godtact experiment.” Suedomsa: Algo: “Let who get away with what?” Suedomsa looks up at the ceiling before nodding. Suedomsa: “My former companions for covering up the aftermath of the godtact experiment I put a stop to. All because they feared the destruction of the great Godquake.” Suedomsa: “They claim to be Minus Elites, but they couldn’t stick to the Minus path. Besides, I didn’t stop the 2nd Godtact Experiment for such a silly reason.” Anon1: “It was because you sensed the temporal separation between your immortal self and Lady Alternative who remained in the outside world, wasn’t it? You realized whoever was left with the great god would become separated and isolated from all other people.” Suedomsa: “You talk too much.” Suedomsa is smiling bitterly. Suedomsa: “But yes, I did say that back then. Yet here I am trying to summon the great god. I know I lost a lot of time from having my memories hidden away, but I never imagined I would be taking on Akalabeth and the others’ role from back then.” Suedomsa: “But this is far better than having it all swept under the rug as a failure. Algo, you say someone will come to stop us just like I did back then, don’t you?” Anon1: “You mean Aoe Shouzou? I saw him once during the day.” Anon2: “We have a very good reason to meet with that man.” Algo: “To prove your resignation?” Your words made the four by the window freeze in place. Algo: “Our method for achieving step 3 seems awfully dirty to me. What do you four think? We will be making someone give up on everything and sacrifice themselves to summon the great god.” Algo: “That means we are forcing resignation onto the vessel, doesn’t it?” Anon1: “That is fine. Because we once supported that same person’s resignation.” Alternative: Anon2: “During the 2nd Godtact Experiment, we supported that person when their resignation led them to take on the vessel role. And we fought back against Master Suedomsa. However…” Algo: “Just as that resignation was going to lead the experiment to success, Master Suedomsa’s intervention caused it to fail. Although even that fact has been scrubbed from history.” Anon3: “Indeed. We were not given the result our actions provided.” Anon4: “E-even though…we worked hard…to help.” Suedomsa: “Yes, and I had a member of my family stolen from me along with my memories.” Suedomsa: “I will be taking that piece of my past back from Akalabeth. Because only then can I be whole again.” Of the four by the windows, the man on the far right bows toward Suedomsa. Anon1: “We shall accompany you. To see if our past actions were correct.” Suedomsa: “Yes. And I will accompany you to the very end as a Minus Elite. Who needs the outside world? I will meet my end as a liar who took on a handle to pursue his own limits in the Minus World.” Suedomsa: “To help with that, I will be altering your settings later. That way you can remove that anonymous setting at any time. And I will make sure you can call her by the name that has been set to hidden.” Suedomsa: “You will finally be able to call her Kobayashi Yuo again.” ### 799. Chapter 5: The End of the Millennium Welcome back! Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent! Today’s topic is hypocrisy. Today is the day of the open release, so everything will soon be out in the open! The Son of God gave this warning before he visited a few different places and drove out a demon! “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5) Comments: My Daughter’s Eyes -Beer Bottle I’m a 47-year-old man who works as a racer in the outside world. I heard I would get an answer in about 7 seconds if I posted it here. So lately I’ve been thinking about doing some real work, but it sounds like my only daughter doesn’t trust me. Saying I’m doing it for her seems outdated, but that is part of it and I can’t decide if 07/07/2000 DT 09:34 AM (-17:26) ### Help Text Benefits and Products of the 100x Boost DT’s interior is boosted 100x, but that boosted speed is actually made by slowing the virtual world which naturally exists at the speed of light. After World War Two, when DT first became a virtual world, its speed was unstable and its OS was formatted to fix that. People normally function based on bioelectric signals, so when they are virtualized, their senses are replaced with virtual ones that give them a maximum sensory speed of about a million times normal. But only increasing reaction speed only makes time stretch out longer, so programs applied the boost settings to physical movement, chemical reactions, and such to transform DT into a world where everything moves at 100x speed. Thus, DT’s interior is actually a trick used to make the 100x speed look like a world moving at ordinary speed. But simply applying a 100x boost with programs would cause objects to overheat from the heat of their movement. Thus, a cooling program must be constantly running to reduce the heat as much as it is increased. Similarly, a tuning program is used to boost a portion of the metabolism to prevent accelerated aging, allowing residents’ aging to progress at the same speed as in the outside world. This tuning program is relaxed on individuals when they are injured or recuperating from illness, but it is generally applied to all of DT. The accuracy of the cooling and tuning has increased dramatically since the early days of DT, but for the settings change on July 7, 2000 DT, the plan is to first increase the boost from 100x to 110x and perform some research. There are a variety of benefits to spending so much money and technology on creating a 100x boosted world, but the primary ones are convenience of technological development, accelerated data processing, bug recovery using the resonance with backed up data, holding prisoners sentenced to long terms, and giving terminally ill patients some extra time. However, chemistry research is difficult since the chemical reactions related to the metabolism are so heavily tuned. On the other hand, engineering, design, and data processing are accelerated so that DT residents are often hired when the item being developed is worth the cost. Also, since adjustments to the tuning program can allow for short-term recovery from injuries, it is often used by athletes and soldiers. One virtual benefit that is less obvious while within DT is that being a virtual world means no physical wiring or chips are necessary for communications and computing. Anyone can buy a program trigon giving them authorization to reduce DT’s boost on them and they can borrow a portion of the DT OS’s functionality, open a keyboard anywhere in the city, and carry out their computing or communications task. The ability for anyone to create data can be seen as the greatest technology supporting DT. ### Algo’s Board Mode: In the Southfield District of North DT You are in Castle Entrance, a Top Page of Castle Street, North Castle District. The current time is 9:34 AM. There is a wooden bridge spanning a castle moat in front of you and a large castle gate on the other side. To your left and right, you see a large dirt road, a castle moat, and a castle wall. There are many Bodies around. Your speech is restricted to those immediately around you. Algo: “The morning market is even busier than normal what with the festival preparations.” A morning market is set up alongside the moat. It is bustling with energy thanks to the approaching festival. There are simple foods like fruits for sale, but most places are selling secondary products like sweets. Almost everyone is discussing the boost settings change and the open release. A digital clock is set up in front of one shop. It indicates five and a half hours until the Day of the Oracle. Alternative is walking alongside you in white. Alternative: Algo: Suedomsa is behind you in a green robe. Behind him are two robed figures with the hoods up. One is a black man dressed as a butler. The other is a young man carrying a long metal staff. The passersby make way for your group. Algo: “This market puzzles me. Almost none of the ingredients are grown in DT.” Suedomsa: “Because the DT OS’s metabolism restriction affects the growth of all forms of life. Just as the DT residents’ lifespans are about a hundred times longer than in the outside world, DT’s crops and livestock have their lifespan boosted 100x. A bean sprout that grows in a week in the outside world would require 700 days to grow in DT. Removing the boost setting for each individual bean sprout would be a pain and increase the cost, so no one bothers doing it.” Algo: “So any supposedly fresh meat I see here was imported from the outside world?” Suedomsa: “Pets and decorative plants are the same. They live 100x as long as in the outside world, but that means they require 100x as much food and water. Thus, they become luxury items that cost 100x what they do outside the city. That’s why most people get by with dummy data or an NPC Body.” Algo: “I see one place willing to pay for that kind of luxury.” A giant wooden bridge spans the castle’s moat. There is a checkpoint at the end of the bridge. Knights stand on the left and right sides of the bridge. They wear simple white armor and carry a long sword on their back and a submachinegun at their hip. Two dogs wait next to the knights. The large black hounds stand a yard tall. Algo: “Those are real, aren’t they?” The butler behind Suedomsa walks toward you. Algo: “There you are, Anon1 – no, Excel Raphael…what’s your Word Race?” Excel: “The Raphael-class acted as the foundation of the Sys Word Race. I cannot be anything else.” Algo: I see. Now, Excel, you’re up first today. Those two are both negative, so you win the initial bet. Prepare the virus program.” Alternative: Algo: “Whether or not the NPC Bodies at the castle checkpoint would be the ones swapped in by Excel’s group. 10 of the castle’s guard NPC Bodies were replaced using Suedomsa’s Demigod Program, Alter Ego. We were hoping all of them would be the ones guarding the audience chamber.” Alternative: Excel: “His praise.” Algo: “Excellent work. Have a gold star.” Excel: “I am truly honored.” Alternative: <…> Suedomsa: “Excel, what are the guards up to?” Excel turns toward Suedomsa and bows. Excel: “They are suspicious. The Yard’s main force was moved to their castle station this morning, but they do not appear to have considered the possibility of you entering the castle to perform a godtact experiment.” Algo: “Sounds like they don’t have any solid proof of a connection between Master Suedomsa and me.” Excel: “Once they realize the full truth, they will likely analyze my program and develop a countermeasure. Master Telyb is a strict man. …But it should still function for the time being.” Excel: “After all, the only person capable of opposing my programs is in this very castle, not with the Yard. Only Lady Yuo poses a threat and only because I once taught her my Celestial Program Activator.” ### Algo’s Sight Mode: In the Southfield District of North DT Algo looked around in Sight Mode. He could see the morning market set up alongside the moat. Even the wooden convenience store – blurry since it was in an adjacent Page – had firewood and charcoal stacked up out front. There was a flood of people around him, but there was no one in the approximately 5 yards from his group and the checkpoint. Everyone was whispering to each other and focused on his group. But he ignored the attention. “Now, then,” he said with a twist of his head. After cracking his neck a few times, he swished out the bottom of his white robe. “Excel, we’ll try to get in with your program, but if that doesn’t work, fight your way in with Daikatana’s help. Swiftly provide Master Suedomsa and me a dignified path to our audience with the queen.” Once he was done talking, he casually walked forward – toward the checkpoint. As he approached the checkpoint, the two knights approached him. They blocked his way. The faces below their military caps were not blank. The middle-aged knight on the right and the rookie knight on the left were both frowning in consternation. The easy to read expression was a common trait of NPC Bodies. They moved within arms’ reach of Algo. The middle-aged one look past Algo to Suedomsa. “Excuse me, but are you Sir Suedomsa’s-” Before the knight could even finish, Algo cleared his throat and spoke with his head lowered. “We are Master Archon Suedomsa Txt’s bodyguards. Our job is to protect him. As is yours, Sir Knight.” “I thought Sir Suedomsa was due to arrive alone?” Algo prepared to answer that question. “…?” But he stopped. He was looking down in puzzlement. The pair of castle guard dogs stood alertly to either side. The rhythm of their growls was unsteady. That confirmed they were real. Algo nodded and crouched. He ignored the knight and reached both hands toward the dogs. Both hands meant his left prosthetic hand and his right hand with the ring. The middle-aged knight gave a warning. “Touch them and they-” “Will bite me, as they are trained to do? However…” Algo easily rubbed the black dogs’ chins. After some thought, the dogs narrowed their eyes and pressed their throats against his hands. They did not bite. “They seem to know I do not need biting, Sir Knight.” The people watching on from a short distance breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that. The frozen ring of people broke apart and returned to the morning market. Before that was complete, Algo stood up and swished the bottom of his white robe. While the white cloth seemed to block out the sun, he took the two knights’ hands as if to shake them. He was smiling and spoke quietly. “Excel.” Immediately, character strings ran from his hands to the middle-aged knight and rookie knight’s hands. It only lasted an instant. The text was gone too fast to notice. In its place, a window opened in front of him. It was located between him and the middle-aged knight, so his robe hid it from the crowd’s view. The window disappeared when he let go of the knights’ hands. Then the knights relaxed their defensive stances. Neither one looked at Algo. They simply tugged on the puzzled dogs’ leashes and returned to their positions at either side of the bridge. A few of the distant onlookers tilted their heads at the knights’ silence, but none of them had seen what happened thanks to the robe in the way. Before long, the crowd went on their way. Algo sighed and the four behind him caught up. Alternative placed a nearly weightless arm on his left shoulder. “Dogs bite only because if you think they will. They obey anyone who looks like a master to them.” Algo began walking with Alternative nearly dangling from his shoulder. The wood bridge creaked below his feet. Excel hurried up alongside him. He looked back at the others following. “Hurry. This was thrown together in a hurry, so it will be eliminated in about 2 minutes.” “The Yard must not be aware we are working with Master Suedomsa.” “I believe you are correct. These NPC Bodies rely on the castle’s security system for their memories and decision making, so they are nothing but tools. We will have complete control over them once we take administrative control of the castle.” Excel had an obvious smile in his voice, which made Algo smile bitterly. “By we, you mean those of us working to fulfill the task that was left undone and erased from history out of compromise 2000 years ago?” Algo looked back. He saw Suedomsa and the black hooded man carrying a long metal staff. The city already looked far off. Past the checkpoint, most people were going about their business, with only a few looking this way. But he could no longer bring them into focus. He kept walking while he bowed toward Suedomsa behind him. “Time to begin the first phase of the plan. The castle knights are on our side, so no one can stop us. Myst and Mekton will deal with the Yard. That means Babel, the Questron within the castle, and the sacrifice we need for the great god’s vessel are all yours for the taking, Master Suedomsa.” Suedomsa coughed once while walking, but soon cleared his throat. “You have a ‘but’ to add, don’t you, Algo? There is someone who will doggedly pursue us no matter how much we fortify our defenses, isn’t there?” “Yes,” confirmed Algo, reaching a hand out toward Suedomsa. Suedomsa held out his own hand and took Algo’s. It was the right hand with the ring. Algo then answered the question with a smile. “This is only the prologue. We will not stumble at this early stage, but there will be an error at some later point. Someone will certainly slip through a supposedly nonexistent gap between frames, peel back the supposedly seamless textures, and attempt to get an attack to our hitbox.” He took a breath. “A fool like that is bound to show up.” ### Yuo’s Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle Yuo was pacing her own room in the castle in Sight Mode. She wore only light green underwear as she walked to and fro in the stone 12-square-meter room. The window was open, but that arch-shaped slice of the sky was 3 stories up and pointed south. Only someone right up on her windowsill would be able to see her. The feet sinking into the thick carpet in the center of the room were bare. That was a habit she had picked up during her time in Japan. She was humming and tossing several different colors onto to the bed located next to her desk by the western wall. They were dresses. She was trying to choose one. After throwing quite a few, she breathed a satisfied sigh and walked to the kitchen on the other side of the western wall. She opened the fridge, pulled out some diet orange juice with x0.5 on it, poured a glass of it, and drank it. Then she looked back over to her bed in the distance. The red, white, green, light yellow, and yellowish green were all bright, lustrous colors. But… “Knowing Senpai, he’ll show up in a black tank top.” Her shoulders drooped in a sigh. She returned the juice to the fridge, walked to the center of her room, and looked at herself in the mirror. After pushing some skin near her armpit below her bra, she looked to the color of her hair. It was brown. And a light brown similar to her skin tone. “That’s not the best balance. It would look nice contrasted with a white dress, but then my underwear would show through if I stood in the shadows during the day. What do you think?” She turned toward her Mouse, the ferret named Puppy, who was sprawled out on the bed. Puppy tilted her head and looked to the dresses on the bed. She eventually gestured her chin toward the yellowish-green one on the far right. Yuo smiled bitterly and looked down at herself. Her underwear was the same color as that dress. “You aren’t telling me to go to the audience in my underwear, are you?” Puppy tilted her head, deepening Yuo’s bitter smile. Yuo checked the clock sitting on her bed’s built-in table. The analog hands said it was 10 AM. “Puppy, any response from the providers?” Puppy nodded and opened four windows. They each displayed a list of names. “Good, good,” said Yuo as she tapped the side of the open windows to combine them into a single file. She then began a search of the data. The result popped up instantly. However… “No matches. I was afraid of that.” She sighed in disappointment. And after some hesitation, she shook her head. She mouthed her nickname for a certain man and nodded. Then strength filled her gaze. “Time to settle this. Puppy, I want to send identical Word Mails to Telyb and Senpai.” Oh, well, she concluded and approached the bed. She picked up the green dress just as Puppy opened the requested mail window and tossed it her way. She caught it and thought for a moment. “Let’s see,” she began. “Set it to voice input. I can dictate the message while I get dressed. Oh, and attach the program I made last night to the one going to Senpai. The modified version of his attack management release program. It’s a bit big, but the system can handle it.” Puppy nodded on the bed. The mic symbol indicating voice input appeared on the mail window. So did the triangle symbol indicating a program trigon. She started speaking after seeing that. She described her suppositions for Telyb. It was the same conclusion she had settled on during her talk with Aoe last night. While she was thinking and speaking, another window opened. It was a castle-level Word Mail window. It was sent by Akalabeth and was short and to the point. The white window said, ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Yard Aoe saw a large room. This was the machine force command center on the Yard HQ’s 3rd floor. The machine force command center was made of wood, but it provided the HQ’s central data, chain of command, and virtual armament management. The Yard was made up of the machine force, the strike force, and the gun force, but the machine force acted as the foundation that held it all together. The same was true during the office work. All data was centralized in the machine force command center. The command center was 30yds long and wide and had a single wooden pillar in the center, but a commotion was underway there. The green uniformed Yard members were giving each other instructions, asking for data, and sending handwritten memos when Word Mail wouldn’t be fast enough. It was faster to circumvent the entire mail program and instead send all the memos flying around with a small floating object program. White paper flew rapidly around and people called out names. But despite calling names, they spoke with their windows. They completed their work with a focus on speed. They all had a single goal: exchange information on the yesterday’s NPC Body and determine who had modified him. The center point of the voices and action was the desk on the south side of the central pillar. The desk contained an ultra-thin monitor, a foot-long white testing device carrying a data trigon, and lots of documents and memos. Telyb sat at the desk. Aoe stood by his side. The monitor showed them footage of yesterday’s explosion. The data trigon in the testing device contained the explosion Yuo had shrunk down within the shield. Telyb watched the looping explosion footage with a hand on his chin. “The data Yuo took during the battle tells us the knight caught in this explosion was an NPC body. But you said last night he Downloaded, didn’t you?” “Mh.” “And…you heard what she said in that Word Mail, didn’t you?” Aoe nodded toward Monkey on his shoulder. Monkey nodded back and opened the message he had just received from Yuo. She had already told him what it said. She was asking about what she had discussed last night. However… The pie graph indicating the transmission percentage was still only at around 60%. The program would temporarily remove the restrictions on his attacks. She said she had sent it to him “just in case”. He wasn’t just going to wait around. So he asked Telyb. “Hey.” “Yes? Do you have some thoughts on this matter?” Telyb looked back toward him, so he answered. “What do you think that giant knight’s Download really was?” Telyb adjusted his position in the chair and folded his hands atop his fat belly. “That knight must have had the complexity of his subprograms boosted to something close to the level of someone’s real Lives. That made them too big to use under ordinary circumstances, so a Download was necessary.” He nodded. “You could call it a Pseudo Download.” “How could someone modify an NPC Body like that?” “It would be possible with Suedomsa’s Demigod Program. But…we have no proof.” Telyb’s eyes turned to the wall clock. Aoe checked it too. “Time for the audience to begin. Which means Suedomsa has entered Akalabeth Bubezleeb’s castle.” “Has the Yard station there said anything?” “That Suedomsa and his bodyguards passed through castle security without issue.” “If there will be an issue later, what would happen?” Telyb turned toward Aoe and Aoe gave a snort. “Hmph. Yuo said she thinks Suedomsa might be her father.” “Can’t you wait until the open release for these questions?” “Waiting isn’t going to solve this problem, you fool. Who are these bodyguards who entered the castle with Suedomsa? I bet one was a man in a white robe.” Aoe sat on Telyb’s desk and crossed his arms. “Not telling us the truth doesn’t make it any less true. What will happen if Algo and Suedomsa have met?” Telyb sighed. He slowly let out the breath and then spoke quietly. “Then Suedomsa’s memory was probably restored.” “Is it possible to restore his or Yuo’s memories?” “It is. It just isn’t easy. Because their memories were only sealed away,” stated Telyb. He looked up, but not at Aoe. But when he spoke, there was no hesitation in his voice. “We sealed away his memories after he was badly injured. We felt guilty erasing his past, but we knew the Archon would be trouble if he kept his memories and turned against us again.” His tone was plain and emotionless. “It isn’t just this. It includes Yuo as well.” Telyb smiled bitterly. “Probably shouldn’t have said that,” he muttered, scratching his head. Just then, the command center door opened and a small figure rushed in. It was Fooblicky. Several windows floated around her while she ran over with a piece of paper in hand. “I’ve found it! I was just looking through the Lives data salvaged by the science team.” A mouse raised its front paw on her shoulder. A window opened in front of the pillar behind Telyb. A lengthy character string appeared in the window. Several pages’ worth of text were scrolling across the screen. Some of the characters in the string were colored purple. “These are the inserted diseased portion. It was hard to locate because it was distributed and networked together. And…” She kept talking while the mouse on her shoulder raised its front paw and displayed the very end of the string on the window. “Check the bottom line of the string!” Aoe saw a lot of text appear in the window. The patterns of some Lives data were written out in 0s and 1s. But some actual letters were tacked onto the very end of the binary. A message had been attached after a comment symbol. The message was emphasized by its altered color: It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! (Matthew 10:25) Fooblicky nodded in the now silent command center. “This is a distinctive trait of Suedomsa’s Demigod Program, Alter Ego. It attaches a bible verse to the created NPC Body as a form of divine protection. It’s been a while since I last saw it, though,” she spat out. “Beelzebul is also known as Beelzebub. Spelled backwards, that’s Bubezleeb, Akalabeth’s last name.” Aoe considered what that meant for a second before clicking his tongue. Without warning, Monkey raised a front paw on his shoulder. The opened mail window had frozen. The program transfer had been cut off and a “receipt failed” message had appeared. “The message from the castle was cut off? What does that mean?” ### Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: Inside DT Castle Suedomsa’s Over Reload You are in 1F Audience Chamber, a Top Page of the Royal Castle. The current time is 10:12 AM. The stone hall is 30 yards long and wide. The ceiling is two stories tall. The queen’s throne sits at the end of the red carpet stretching to the back of the hall. Many people are present. You are free to restrict your speech targets however you wish. The queen is accompanied by minister NPC Bodies and bodyguard knights. More knights are standing along the side walls. Your four bodyguards enter behind you. Queen Akalabeth is seated in her throne. She is approximately 15 yards away. The queen is a middle-aged woman. She wears no crown. She wears a white stole over a reddish purple dress and a fox Mouse is draped over her shoulders. Her graying hair is pulled back tightly behind her head. Her narrow blue eyes are directed your way. Akalabeth: “You seem awfully curious about your surroundings, Suedomsa. Why not switch to Sight Mode?” Suedomsa: Suedomsa: “Now, how about we get the approval process done with? Since I’m last and all.” A window opens to your right. It contains the final check for the matter you just mentioned. Suedomsa: “Y” Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “Take a look in Sight Mode. The ministers are applauding.” Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “I am.” Suedomsa: Suedomsa: “I hate to interrupt the momentous occasion, but I would like a word in private, Akalabeth.” Akalabeth: Suedomsa: Akalabeth: Suedomsa: Akalabeth: Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “Eh?” Suedomsa: “Can you not read? I said making an excuse. For taking something important from me.” Suedomsa: “You know what I mean, don’t you? I know you do, Akalabeth.” Suedomsa: Akalabeth: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “Suedomsa, then it’s true!?” Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “…” Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “What are you thinking!?” Suedomsa: “Akalabeth.” Suedomsa: Akalabeth: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: “I, Kobayashi Akon, have a request for Queen Akalabeth.” Suedomsa: “I ask that you grant me authorization to use the Questron in the underground ceremonial ground, Babel in the south, and the many programs you possess.” Akalabeth: “…!” Akalabeth: “Arrest this man!” Suedomsa: “Excel.” The knights by the walls begin to move. They run toward you, but six of them have removed their hands from their sword hilts. They draw their submachineguns instead. Those six aim their submachineguns at and open fire on the knights ahead of them and the NPC Bodies flanking the throne. Suedomsa: “Now, then.” Loud gunshots fill the audience chamber. The minister NPC Bodies standing around the queen are blasted backwards. The knights rushing toward you fall to the floor. The lingering noise is unpleasant to human hearing. It will take another 18 seconds for that to fade. The ministers and the knights begin to flash. Suedomsa: “Did you see all of that, Akalabeth?” Akalabeth: “…” Suedomsa: “Now that silence I like. It is brimming with emotion.” Suedomsa: “Allow me to quote the bible, just like I used to in my researcher days. This seems like a good time for a verse about not judging others.” Suedomsa: “ ‘You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’ ” Suedomsa: “Apt, don’t you think?” Akalabeth’s eyes widen in response. It is a look of surprise. Suedomsa: “But I suppose a Minus Elite should use a different kind of reference.” Suedomsa: “ ‘All your Lives and evil are belong to us.’ Is that better?” ### 800. Chapter 6: System Down Welcome back! Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent! Today’s topic is the collapse of a family. The Day of the Oracle is arriving fast, folks, so I recommend heading out and enjoying the festival with your families. And get in a fight if you have to! The Son of God once said he had come “not to bring peace, but a sword” and to turn people against their families. “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” (Mathew 10:36) - Things are getting kind of crazy… -Clay Pot Hi from outside the city. I’m a 24yo man who works as a race record keeper at Daytona. Lately, there’s been some trouble on the team I work for (which is run by my family). Today while we were trying to eat breakfast, the team’s big boss sumo-slapped my daughter, who works as a mechanic, hard enough to send her flying. It sounded like he was trying to explain why, but he stumbled over his words really bad. My daughter lost consciousness for a moment, but as soon as she was back, she threw table salt in his eyes to blind him and then headbutted him, giving him a real nasty bloody nose. See, it turns out my daughter had accused the big boss of being the flasher roaming the streets recently, but that’s actually me and the new racer who just joined… 07/07/2000 DT 10:15 AM (-04:45) ### Help Text Plus and Minus The concepts of Plus and Minus predate DT. They have their origins in the 19th century when networks of cable and radio communications began to appear. It began as petty crimes such as human rights violations and business solicitations done over the phone or radio, but it ultimately led to identity fraud abusing the fact that you couldn’t see the person on the other end. It was rumored that the mafia was behind it, but a largescale investigation run in the United Sates at the beginning of the 20th century revealed that the majority of arrested offenders were minors. This drew a lot of attention to the networked world. Those unproductive youths had used the networks to hide themselves, take from the productive adults’ profits, and yet didn’t see what they did as wrong, so the commentators at the time said they “lived in a minus world”' . But those people accepted the title with pride, returned to that life as soon as they were out on bail, and being arrested became a badge of honor among them . And since they were referred to as Minus people, they referred to the adults as Plus people. That is where the concepts of Plus and Minus – and of Plus Elites and Minus Elites – was born. After the war, the Great Canopy erased the global radio network and cabled networks of computers were developed instead, but that led to a few new problems. The benefits of computer networks – anonymity, a borderless world, and a record of statements made – led to a world that produced and accumulated hundreds of times more noise than the real world. In the real world, it is primarily valuable information that is spread, but on the computer networks, information on par with slander spread like wildfire. For example, if you posted some kind of information on the network, it might be stored in some cache somewhere even if you deleted it, so it could easily stick around indefinitely. It is not unusual for things written with no more care than an offhand comment to remain in the public eye, lead to misunderstandings, and ultimately develop into a major problem. This placed great pressure on the adults living in the outside world, so more and more of them left the networks. But there were others who did not fear that storage and accumulation – those who could say, “So what? It’s their fault if they misinterpret me. And frankly, they look pretty silly getting all worked up over something I didn’t even say and shouting impotently at me like this. This world is full of noise, so what if we learn to see through the noise and seek a truth we can believe in?” These were the Minus Elites who followed in the footsteps of the phone phreaks and radio phreaks. And when computer networks were developed in Japan after the war, they created the concepts of Harmony and Noise to match the concepts of Plus and Minus. Thanks to the oriental boom, Minus Elites the world over became familiar with those alternative names and will sometimes refer to the networked Minus World as Noise World and the Plus outside world as the Harmony World. These same Minus Elites still form the core of the virtual and data industries, so if they sense their territory is growing unstable, they will use the power of Minus – of Noise – to fight back. ### Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle Akalabeth stared forward after standing from her throne. Her shocked gaze viewed the audience chamber after the gunfire ended. Only she, Suedomsa’s group, and the 6 knights who had unleashed the gunfire remained standing. The ring of the gunfire had faded from her ears. Those on the receiving end of the gunfire flashed as if to count down the remaining seconds until they disappeared. The 6 knights armed with submachineguns lined up in front of Suedomsa and stood at attention. Someone was pounding on the door to the audience chamber. The other guard knights must have noticed something was amiss. However… The knocking stopped as soon as that window appeared. The castle’s security system had been shut down. Akalabeth knew what Suedomsa was trying to do. “You had my knights rebel in order to strip administrative authority from me.” Suedomsa had received emergency administrative authority in order to quell this rebellion. He viewed the 6 knights lined up in front of him. He approached one of the knights and snatched the submachinegun from the unmoving arms. And… “…!” Akalabeth raised her right hand and snapped her fingers, opening a window. The stone floor of the audience chamber yawned open. The entire floor became a giant pitfall. With a sound like bursting stone, the floor instantly became empty space. Wind blew from the newly formed pit, but a voice stopped the process. “It is too late.” Akalabeth looked to the speaker who stood past the knights behind Suedomsa. The kneeling man wore a black hood over his head and glowing character strings raced around him in circular orbits. “That’s how Yuo activates programs!” Just once, the red carpet emitted bluish-white light. The carpet gave a sound like breaking rock and the red coloration covering the floor hardened. Space below was distorted to create a great hole, but the carpet had grown rigid. It formed a bridge. Akalabeth unclenched her raised fist without thinking. Suedomsa crossed the red bridge to approach the dais on which her throne sat. Akalabeth, meanwhile, gripped the throne’s armrests to resist the urge to flee. “Why would you want to repeat a tragedy like the 2nd Godtact Experiment!?” He arrived at the foot of the three steps leading up to the throne. He stopped in front of those steps. He viewed his surroundings. There was no one else around. All the entrances had been locked tight with seals. Suedomsa took a breath and moved his lips to release his exhausted voice. “We will now carry out the 3rd Godtact Experiment which spans the past and the present. Using Babel, the Questron, and a sacrificial vessel. First, I require your management programs for Babel and the Questron, your Demigod Program Portal that allows alterations to DT’s settings, and…” He continued with a slight smile. “And Yuo.” “Yuo? Why her?” “You still haven’t figured it out, Akalabeth? You and the others are to blame for all of this. You are the ones who betrayed our Minus principles and chose halfhearted standards. I am here now to correct those mistakes.” He raised his submachinegun, aiming it at her face. She stared into the dark hole of the barrel and he no longer used his windows to speak to her. He stuck to his voice. “Such a sad story. 2000 years ago, when we thought no one but our own families mattered to us, we were betrayed by one of our own.” “Betrayed, huh?” “You heard me.” Suedomsa shut his eyes and continued. “Just before the 2nd Godtact Experiment, the chosen vessel abruptly lost the necessary qualifications. Yes, Fooblicky married Telyb.” And… “The next vessel we chose for the experiment was Yuo.” ### Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle Yuo stood in front of the small red side door into the audience chamber. She wore a yellowish-green dress and had reached her hand out toward the door. But she did not go in. In Sight Mode, she could hear the sounds coming from the adjacent Page that was the audience chamber. She was pale in the face because she had heard the gunfire and what Suedomsa had just said. “No…” Looking around, everything in the stone corridor had frozen in place. The knights, civil officials, librarian, and maids had all frozen while either walking or running. Everyone in the castle but her and Akalabeth were NPC Bodies. But Puppy the ferret shook her head on her shoulder. Her heart pounded once and a thought reflexively sprang to mind. That thought window was followed by a large window appearing in the corridor. It was a castle security program used to inform everyone of the situation. Yuo’s face lit up when she read the window. The Yard. The castle’s security might be on the fritz and the attacker might be one of the 13 Demigods, but security was being handed from one professional to another. The castle’s security was being passed to the distant Yard representative over Suedomsa who was right here. “And there is a Yard station on the castle grounds.” The voice beyond the door seemed to respond to her whispered comment. Suedomsa’s low voice spoke after a single dry cough. “The Telyb couple must atone for their sins. If they had not succumbed to their silly emotions, you never would have gone to Yuo. And…” “Eh?” gasped Yuo while staring at the door. The door covered in red leather spoke the words that defined her relationship with Suedomsa. “And then I wouldn’t have had to shoot her to death.” “…!?” She took a step back with a hand to her chest while hearing even more. “The Yard is meant to be the protector of the Minus World, so its chief must atone for the Plus sin of acting on emotion.” ### Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Yard Silence hung over the Yard HQ command center. Everyone had frozen in place when Fooblicky revealed the identity of their enemy. Everyone, that is, except for Aoe. Deciding to pay the castle a visit, he looked to the window in Sight Mode to view the castle there. But as he turned around, something in the opposite direction caught his eye: the southern amusement park. Below the blimp floating in the distant sky, he could see the white castle and the Ferris wheel in the blurry amusement park. And that Ferris wheel suddenly disappeared. “Mh?” “What is it?” asked Telyb. Aoe was preparing to do an Over Zoom when more buildings in the amusement park disappeared too. Five at once this time. But that wasn’t all. A light appeared in the amusement park. Five beams of light stretched toward the blue sky marred by Babel’s towering silhouette. The light curved through the sky, gathered together, and wrapped themselves into a single thick thread. They dropped back down nearby. Someone in the Yard spoke up in confusion. “Something’s wrong with the boost supply to the southern district?” Before the confused observation was complete, the light landed in the street directly in front of the Yard. The light shined on the interior of the Yard and everyone in Sight Mode turned toward the window. “…!?” While everyone else was reacting in surprise, Aoe reflexively ran toward the window. Then he saw what was outside that window. The image was blurry since it was in an adjacent Page, so he willed a clearer image. At 3 steps until the window, he gained a clear view of the large dirt road. Two people stood in the very center of the dirt ground there. One was an enormous man with short brown hair and a square face. His thick body was covered by a navy blue military uniform with torn shoulders. The one standing in front of him was a slender woman in a white dress. She had long blonde hair and a face that hinted at a strong will. The arms emerging from the puffy shoulders of her dress carried a giant staff. The staff was in fact a giant white virtual pen. It was a large Mouse Device. The descending light was crashing into the pen. “–––––!” When the light burst, Aoe saw both of them were looking up at him. They were separated from him by the window between Pages, but their gazes clashed with his. Their gazes audibly shattered against each other. The force of their gazes made him blink and step more forcefully against the floor. He still had 2 steps until he reached the window. He had no proof of that. It was an intuitive thought. But Telyb noticed the thought. “Is there something out there!?” At the same moment, Aoe saw the woman outside moving. She easily swung around her virtual pen Mouse Device that looked to be a yard and a half long. First, she swung it to the right, twirling her entire body along with it. The pen tip accelerated and drew out a line of light that blossomed into a self-expressive Download Text. “Behold the eminent Myst’s mastery of art.” With a sound like struck stone, the woman calling herself Myst’s arms and the tip of her pen flickered with a crimson light. A crimson emblem floated on the backs of her hands and the pen tip. The emblem used a writing slate symbol. Myst opened her mouth. She gave an additional shout on top of her Download. She expressed the free will of her Grandload – the variable Text that only applied to the present. “Listen, everyone. I, Myst Gabriel, am fond of accuracy!” “Grant me something immediately recognizable. “Grant me a hammer to purge silly selfishness. “Grant me the power of a master artist’s brush!” A sound like splitting rock came from her Mouse Device and the arms holding it. Around a dozen see-through windows opened in the air around her. Strings of text grew from the emblems on her arms and pen tip. The arm emblems grew to her shoulders and the pen tip one to the back of the pen. ●Type-XX076: Imperial-class: Premier● A large diskette appeared halfway down the pen and rotated. It only produced the sound of splitting rock. She swung her virtual pen’s tip toward the sky as if letting that sound carry it. At the same time, Aoe arrived within one step of the window. This close to the window, he had a wider view of the high-quality outdoors scene. He could now see into the sky above where something appeared above the Yard. It was a hammer. It was just like the kind used for DIY home improvement work, except that it was massive and floating in the sky. The striking surface alone had a diameter of about 100 yards. Its length was at least 400 yards. The steel edge and the cross-section of the striking surface were visible too. It was as realistic as could be aside for its size. However… “Is that a drawn image!?” The hammer was moving – swinging down toward the Yard. Aoe attacked the window to leap outside. He gave the shout needed to punch through the glass. “Mh!” He Downloaded his fist with a sound of shattering glass. But his fist failed to shatter the actual glass. His fist hit the glass and stuck there. As a criminal, his attack power was sealed. “Mh?” His puzzled grunt coincided with the hammer striking the Yard. ### Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake. Suedomsa: The castle is shaking. The stone walls of the audience chamber are groaning. It is a Shindo 3 quake. An alarm is sounding outside. It is the 3rd Alarm. An alarm starts to sound inside the castle as well. It is the 3rd Alarm. Akalabeth: “What did you do!?” Suedomsa: Suedomsa: “Akalabeth, this may be your fault for relying on the Yard and refusing to give me the programs.” Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “Are you saying that is why it made the wrong decision?” Suedomsa: “Y” ### Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle Akalabeth’s Over Reload> Akalabeth noticed what Suedomsa was doing while she looked down from the throne’s dais. He moved the submachinegun away from her and aimed toward the 6 knights instead. And he pulled the trigger six times. The Board Mode firing was handled efficiently by the subprogram. The six shots rang loud and pierced through the gaps in the knights’ white mobile armor. None of them screamed as their bodies shook and they were blown backwards. Six armored bodies clattered down onto the hardened carpet and began to flash. Suedomsa looked past the vanishing knights to view the center of the audience chamber. He asked a question of the black robed man among the four people kneeling there. “All of the NPC Bodies have been frozen. The knights are under my control, including the remaining four set to rebel. The foundation of their actions and ethics are all functioning properly.” Excel nodded once. “The Yard NPC Bodies in the castle station are on the move. They are granted independent command authority if the rest of the Yard is lost, so, while I can only provide estimates, I believe they will cause us some minor trouble.” As soon as Suedomsa’s window appeared, gunfire sounded elsewhere in the castle. Akalabeth’s eyes scanned across the stone walls. She heard gunfire from beyond those walls and the locked metal doors. She heard return fire as well. The question-and-answer exchange of gunfire continued for a few seconds. Then the castle was once more ruled only by the sound of an alarm. The alarm was as loud as ever, but everything else had gone quiet. In that cacophonous silence, Akalabeth faced Suedomsa. He had already turned back her way and he had a window open. He gave further instructions. “Place security on alert for outside intruders. Alert level: max. Any intruders are to be eliminated.”
Y. When Suedomsa closed that window, a new one opened. N. Akalabeth saw him close that window too. “Yuo isn’t your enemy?” And… He raised his right hand and walked to the bottom of the dais’s stairs. “I would like your management programs for the Questron and Babel and the Portal program that allows alterations to DT’s settings.” “Where is Yuo?” Then he spoke aloud. “I would like to settle this as peacefully as possible, but if you refuse to hand over the programs, I will once more set a rampaging NPC Body loose in the city like I did yesterday. So how about it, Akalabeth?” He waited a few seconds and swung down his hand. “Wait!” shouted Akalabeth on reflex. Suedomsa’s cheeks twisted a bit and he loudly snapped the fingers of his lowered right hand. “Excel, start up three of them.” “Yes, sir.” He was answered by a trio of explosions from outside. They came from much further away than before. Akalabeth faced south, staring at the unseen city beyond the audience chamber’s entrance. The triple sounds of destruction were coming from the south. She saw Suedomsa raising his right hand again. “Enough stalling. I will only ask once more: will you or will you not give me your programs?” ### Myst’s Sight Mode: In Eastpointe, East DT Myst, the artist in a white dress, shouted from the center of the road in front of the Yard. “Have a taste of the pain I felt being reduced to a mere Anon2 while awaiting Master Suedomsa’s return!” The Yard collapsed in an instant. The destruction came courtesy of the giant floating hammer. The power of the metal swung straight down. It crushed the wind and dropped hard onto the building. The contact and the crash of destruction were simultaneous. The hammer crushed the 3-story Yard HQ all the way down to the basement. The sound of breaking dirt and concrete was closer to a crashing wave than a rumble. And after the hammer reached the basement… It struck thrice. The hammer obediently vanished into thin air once its mission was complete. Meanwhile, similar explosive noises erupted from all over the city. Every single Yard station had received the same treatment. Alarms rang from every part of the city. And some new sounds suddenly joined them. The sounds were like collections of wood and rock bursting into the sky and of mounds of sand being broken through. Those sounds came from three distinct locations. Three explosions of destruction erupted into the city and giant dark knights stood from within. The knights looked to the sky and released deafening screams. Their voices were answered by the citywide alarms. The carriages traversing the road around her came to a stop and the cars stopped their wheels. People left their homes to see what was happening and fled after noticing the knights consuming the city. Cries and smoke rose into the sky and a destructive wind swept down the roads. Everything shouted louder and louder as if to confirm its existence among all the confusion. Myst, the cause of the chorus of screams, chaos, and destruction, spoke in front of the Yard HQ. Her voice was not like the many screams. It was a cheerful thing. She laughed loud enough to be heard over all the confusion. “Ah ha ha!” Myst followed up her laughter by opening her mouth and her will and shouting into the sky above. “Ecstasy!” She held her left hand to her mouth, bent backwards, and laughed. “Did you see that, Mekton!? I didn’t even need your protection!” “I feel like…I wasted my time…coming,” said the large man in the navy blue military uniform standing behind her. He gave a deep nod. “You are…useful. I am…not. You are…not like me. So you are…useful.” “You better believe I’m useful!” she shouted, slamming the bottom of her Mouse Device against the ground. “In terms of flowers, an artist’s true power is like the beautiful white cherry blossom!” She spread her arms to embrace the sky and she spoke loudly into the vortex of chaos there. “An author’s duty is to provide everyone with the same set of values. And everyone who saw this masterpiece must have had the same thing burned into their psyche! It’s like a dream come true!” After finishing her statement, she nodded at the echo of her own voice. It was a deep nod of satisfaction followed by a triumphant snort. Then she inhaled in preparation to say more. But at that very moment, a different voice raced down the street. It was a loud voice brimming with bared anger. “You’re no artist!” roared the voice. A man stood on the roof of the convenience store across the street from the Yard and to her left. He had short black hair, he wore a black tank top and white shorts, and his musculature was slender but well toned. He blatantly clicked his tongue. “You insult cherry blossoms by comparing them to a moron who mistakes silly games for being useful!” “Who are you!?” “Mh,” he grunted before answering. “I am Aoe Shouzou, GASAS Team 4 Commander. My Dance Combat style is the Kobayashi School and my martial arts rank is Superior!” ### Yuo’s Board Mode: In DT Castle You are in 3F Personal Room – Yuo’s Living Quarters, a Top Page of the castle. It is a stone room. A bed and a desk with a support calculator are located along the west wall. A kitchen and a closet are located at the east wall. You are the only one here. Yuo: “Wow.” Yuo: “What do I do now?” Yuo: “Um, uh, Puppy, lock this door for now.” Yuo: “And change the door’s wallpaper to match the surrounding stone wall.” A diskette appears over the door’s seam and begins to spin. The door changes to match the wall around it. The odds of it going unnoticed are 87%. Yuo: “…” Yuo: “What now? The knights will pursue me if I try to do anything. Can I send a Word Mail?” Yuo: “There are knight stations at both those options, so there’s no way I could pull it off.” Yuo: Yuo: “…” Yuo: “Does that mean dad shot me to death after I made the prophecy?” Yuo: <…> Yuo: “Oh, c’mon. You expect me to believe I was shot for such a pathetically vague prophecy?” Yuo: “Like that would actually happen. Ah ha ha ha ha.” Yuo: “Ha ha ha ha…ha…sigh.” Yuo: You are now seated on the carpet. The ferret Mouse on your shoulder is staring at you. She is tapping on your shoulder with her front paw. Yuo: “Trying to cheer me up?” Yuo: “Yeah, I’m fine. Really. So don’t worry.” Yuo: Yuo: Yuo: “It’s all real, even if you hide in Board Mode.” Yuo: “I can be hurt and I can hurt others. So can everyone else. We’re all the same.” Yuo: Yuo: “The Plus and Minus worlds exist whether I’m a part of them or not.” Yuo: “This is real. Every part of this is real. I’m not dreaming.” Yuo: Yuo: “Okay.” Yuo: “…” Yuo: ### Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle Yuo sprang to her feet. She used her restored sight to check out the window. Smoke was rising from a few points in the section of the city she could see from the castle. She could see the disastrous scene and hear the alarms blaring. She narrowed her eyes. A few silhouettes moving through the city towered above the rooftops around them. “Are they the same as yesterday’s knight?” she wondered with tension in her eyebrows. She was trying to make an impassionate observation. Her narrowed eyes looked to the city and counted the number of knights. She stopped counting after reaching 3 dark giants. Then she turned her gaze to east DT. The Yard was there. The HQ was a large building she could usually see from her room. It had been obliterated. The center of the building was smashed in as if a giant hammer had struck it from above. “Senpai!” She held a hand to her mouth. Or she meant to. But she had grabbed Puppy’s head without noticing and ended up smacking the Mouse against her jaw. Her teeth clacked together. After pulling her head back, she crouched down. After apologizing to Puppy who was shaking her aching head, she stood up. She viewed the distant rubble of the Yard HQ. “This is all real.” There was a bitter note to her voice. Tension filled her face as she reached a certain decision. “I know exactly what I should wear today.” She set Puppy down on the bed and ran over to the closet. She undid the door’s velcro and pulled out her Yard uniform. She embraced the uniform made of a tough, green material and sighed. Her shoulders drooped just before a window opened in front of her. “Eh?” It was a Word Mail from the castle’s Yard station. It had been sent during the slight gap between Suedomsa gaining administrative authority over the castle and him locking down all communications. ### DT Yard Castle Station Word Mail: To Yuo Yuo, I assume you have withdrawn to a safe location. We are currently engaged in combat with the castle’s knights as illegal intruders. To resolve this crisis, we plan to fight our way into the audience chamber. We have also managed to take back a portion of the castle’s administrative controls. We have control of the castle map. That means we control all DT knowledge of the castle’s layout. We have created a databank only you can read within the Yard station’s memory space and placed the control code there. The seal is weak, so check it ASAP. With that, you will be able to erase knowledge related to the castle’s layout. We leave it to you to decide whether you will use that to escape or to assist any reinforcements who enter the castle. ### Yuo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle Yuo heard gunfire in the distance. She could see out the window that the castle gate was closed. Outside the castle, smoke was billowing from the city and a trio of colossal knights pushed through that black-streaked sky. “The Yard is going to start with stopping those three.” An alarm rang through the castle. “Once the power output is in order, they should place a defense shield around the castle.” Yuo let the sounds of destruction and the alarms wash over her while she looked into the smokey sky. Her voiceless lips called for someone. Instead of a first or last name, she mouthed the title she had used so many times. She slowly inhaled and held the breath. Then she gave a firm nod. “I need to do whatever I can too!” ### Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle Akalabeth asked a question with her eyes on Suedomsa’s raised right hand. “You said you need Yuo. You aren’t planning to make the same mistake we made back then, are you?” Suedomsa did not answer her hurried question. She sighed and her shoulders slumped at his silence. And she said more with her eyes still on his right hand. “Three things are needed to summon the great god: the Questron to receive the great god’s Lives, a reactor to extract them, and a vessel to contain them. I assume you plan to use the Questron stored below the castle and Babel for the first two. Reconstructing and maintaining them should be simple enough for your skilled servants. “But,” she continued. “No matter how thorough your preparations, the process will take time. The great god’s Lives are extensive and the reactor can only be accelerated so much.” He finally reacted to her words. His bitter smile grew. His shoulders shook, his raised right hand shook, and he spoke. “You think time is a problem? Have you forgotten what today’s authorization was all about? Have you forgotten what settings we were changing? We will soon place a defense shield around the castle to preserve the peace. But once I receive the programs from you and acquire Yuo, the shield will be redefined to cover the area linking the castle and Babel.” “You expect that to keep everyone out? Do you really think you can even create such a large defense shield?” Suedomsa did not sound remotely concerned. “Once the shield has been redefined, I will use your Portal Demigod Program to change the settings within the shield. I will increase the current 100x boost to a 1000x boost.” Akalabeth frowned at the figure he provided. “1000x?” She looked up. “That’s too much. It’s 10 times the current boost.” “That it is. But DT can handle that with ease. Because we made it that way.” He clenched his raised hand into a fist. “And with that set, I will designate Yuo as the vessel. But not the current half-baked imposter Yuo who lives with you. I mean the full-on Minus Dropout Yuo who gave up on the world after seeing what people were capable of and left me while I suffered from Words Warn.” He pulled something from his pocket. It was a program trigon with a question mark printed on the center. “I created this from the program written to remove the seal on my memories. The seal you placed on Yuo’s memories is likely identical, so this should break right on through. But…” “But what?” “If her old memories are resurrected too quickly, her past and present personalities will clash. Her current memories will essentially be overwritten and erased by the resurrected memories. Her current memories will drop to the subconscious level and vanish.” He meant the current Yuo’s memories would be deleted. When Akalabeth realized that, she took a panicked step forward from the throne and took the first step down from the dais. “Y-you mean…you don’t accept the current Yuo!?” “The one you call Natas? She is no more than a half-baked imposter you cooked up. The Yuo I know was a dropout who was sick of the Minus. She was the kind of girl who would give up on her sick father because he couldn’t save her sister.” “But! The current Yuo has even learned how to smile, so why would you take that away from her!?” Once she was down on his eye level, she reached for the program in his hand. She reached out with a cry of desperation, but he swatted her hand away. And in exchange, he stepped forward and reached his left hand toward her. It only took a split second. He grabbed her throat while she reached her arm toward him. She groaned and looked up at him from below. “Don’t worry. This program contains reproductions of her memories from after the 1st Godtact Experiment. Memories of when she gave up on us and left us.” “Y-you can’t just implant false memories in her head!” Suedomsa barked a bitter laugh. “ You are the ones who filled her head with falsehoods. I bring her the truth, Akalabeth.” He shook his head. He took a breath and then spat out more words. “Now, the time to choose has long since passed. We are picking up where we left off 2000 years ago. Will you give up or will you stop me? …I will not be destroyed. And I choose to use my remaining life to hold a godtact experiment on the Day of the Oracle. I will boost this Minus World by 1000x at the time and date Yuo once prophesied.” ### 801. Chapter 7: Wilderness Due to an ongoing emergency, Nosrup’s Oracle Message Board is on hiatus. DT Prison is assisting evacuations into West DT. “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) 07/07/2000 DT 10:23 AM (-04:37) ### Help Text DT Yard DT Yard was established during the chaos following the 2nd Godtact Experiment and was originally a volunteer-only self-defense group. Eight hours of outside time after the destruction caused by the experiment’s failure, the people who had evacuated to the center of the city were starting to build up a new city. This effort was led by a young person’s group that provided protection and work in various engineering fields. The group itself was led by two of the 13 Demigods, Ogre Telyb Dll and Fooblicky Telyb Sys. They used their Demigod Program, Balance of Power , to send power to various sites during the post-disaster emergency. From this, they ended up at the top of the Yard that formed once the city settled down after the disaster had passed. During 1983 in the outside world, the American cable communication network industry was freed from a near monopoly. DT’s Akalabeth Dynasty responded to this by recommending the Yard establish itself as an independent virtual security organization for DT. At the time, the Yard’s official title became the Swiss Bank Knights Data Defense Department Independent Division Detroit Region Police . The most useful technology developed by the Yard was the shell creation system that allowed them to convert an ordinary data space into a virtual space with the same standards as DT. This allowed the Yard to operate within a government, corporate, or personal databank no matter where they were in the world. The excessive amount of heat this produced was a major flaw, but it still allowed DT to establish branch offices around the world. The precision Live converter used to bring people into DT could also be used to send people and objects between those branch offices. The Yard’s primary mission is to keep the peace of the virtual world inside and outside of DT, but as a representative of the Swiss Bank Data Management Department, they also provide storage, security, and debugging for the data that governments and corporations keep inside DT. They handle a broad variety of data from the corporate level to the national level, but they are only authorized to store national level data because DT is under Swiss management and because the Yard is bound to the data secrecy requirements of a public agency. The only problem is when disorderly data causes a Live breakdown and an object with real Lives is possessed, turning into a monster. When that happens, the Yard will suppress and seal it. They also provide technical lectures for the FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers), the USAF OSI (US Air Force Office of Special Investigations) , and police organizations, as well as business support for those groups. The criminals that DT Yard considers the greatest threat are the criminals with only a partial connection to the virtual world who access the virtual world from an outside computer and commit crimes that way. As Minus Elites, DT Yard cracks down on them with no mercy, saying “ Cyber is now a system, not a type of punk, the virtual world is now a space, not a web, and the people who operate it are boosted to 100x speed, yet some fool is trying to violate our virtual world from the 1x speed of the outside world. ” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District Aoe’s vision instantly grasped the situation while he stood atop the convenience store. This was a battle. A battle was about to begin. With that in mind, he looked to the street on the adjacent Page to the convenience store roof. The white dress woman named Myst and the large man named Mekton stood in the center of the large dirt road. Mekton fixed the color of his dark blue military uniform and looked up at Aoe with narrowed eyes. He frowned and looked back to Myst. “I-I saw…him. Yesterday in…the photo Excel…took.” “Yes. This is the man Master Algo was telling us about. The one who defeated yesterday’s enlarged knight.” “Algo?” said Aoe. “That’s right.” Myst nodded and lowered her hands holding the pen. Next to her, Mekton glanced toward Aoe. “Myst, be…careful. M-Master Algo said…this Aoe is…an idiot.” “That was definitely the real Algo who told you about me, then.” “I said it was, didn’t I? Anyway, I’m impressed you survived my attack.” Myst looked to the shattered Yard HQ. Aoe glanced that way for just a second, viewing the blurry adjacent Page. “You wouldn’t say that if you had been there. The impact from above shattered the windows before the walls, so I only had to jump out.” “I see. How fortunate for you. But what’s your plan this time, Mr. Idiot?” Aoe immediately took action when he heard her question. “The plan is to punch you!” he shouted and jumped down from the convenience store roof. At the same time, he heard Telyb’s deep voice coming from the collapsed Yard HQ. “Don’t let her provoke you, idiot!” He was already dropping down into the adjacent Page by then. He hadn’t set anything up, so his senses automatically switched to Board Mode. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District You are in 4549-A Street, a Top Page of the East District. The current time is 10:24 AM. You are currently falling. A road stretches out to your left and right. It is lined with homes. Two old-style NPC Bodies stand on the road. They are Myst Gabriel Avi and Mekton Uriel Asb. Aoe: Mekton: “A common…beginner mistake. F-forgetting to…switch modes.” Myst: “The subprogram won’t give him a smooth landing.” Myst: “Mekton, go punch that idiot.” You have not landed yet. Mekton has reached your predicted landing point with a single step. Aoe: “That was fast!” Mekton: “Get lost, idiot.” You have not landed yet. Mekton’s fist is wrapped in a bluish-white emblem. It bears a soldier symbol. Mekton’s fist is 8 inches in diameter. A direct hit may damage your Lives data through resonance. Please evade. ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District The instant Aoe managed to switch over to Sight Mode, he landed. But it was too late. The giant fist was already right in front of him. A window opened as if to tell him how powerful it was. But he could not evade it. Evasive action was taken with your next attack in mind. He did not have time to consider that, so he dodged it without considering what came next. “Duck!” He intentionally tripped. He had already been off balance thanks to the subprogram’s ineptitude, so his Downloaded feet had no trouble tripping and falling. Striking attacks only worked when they made contact with their target. Aoe broke free of those rules. But Mekton’s fist was more destructive than just a striking attack. It broke the sound barrier. A miniature shockwave formed for a brief moment and struck Aoe. Just as he was falling and preparing for a forward roll, the blow from above hit him. The sound pressure produced a great roar as he rolled thrice and was blasted six yards. His airborne body lost its inertia and he floated in the air for a moment. He used that moment to place his hands on the ground, bend and straighten his elbows, and propel himself backwards. He landed. He found the world tilted to the left. “Oh?” Then the ground circled around to his left side. The ground became a vertical wall, but still it approached from the left. He could not stop it and collapsed onto the ground. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District You were thrown to the opposite sidewalk. You have fallen onto your side. A subprogram is currently searching for damage. Myst and Mekton stand 6 yards away. A single PC Body is there as well. He is Ogre Telyb Dll. Aoe: You get up. You are unbalanced to the right. Monkey is clinging to your shoulder. Aoe: “Y” Mekton is looking your way. He has no expression. He looks bored. Myst is not looking your way. She is looking at Telyb who arrived from the Yard HQ Page. Telyb: “You two.” Telyb brushes the dust from his uniform. Telyb: “You’re Suedomsa’s old-style NPC Bodies, aren’t you? If I’m not mistaken, you’re half of the amusement park’s Quartet.” Myst: “Oh? I am honored you remember us, Master Telyb. It has been 2000 years after all. 2000 years since we brought Master Yuo to you after she gave up on everything on the day of the godtact experiment.” Telyb: “That’s right. It was in the lab where the royal castle now sits.” Mekton: “Telyb…remembers. Remembering…is good.” Mekton: “But he is…idiot. Idiots bad…at remembering.” Aoe: “Y-you mean me? Why do you keep calling me an idiot?” Myst: “Heh heh. Are you really so easily offended you can’t take a bit of trash talking?” Myst: “Besides.” Myst: “What’s wrong with calling an idiot what they are!? You idiot!” Aoe: “Y-you will pay for this.” Myst: “Oh, shut up. An idiot like you has no right to demand I pay for anything!” Myst is hiding her mouth behind her hand and smiling coquettishly. Aoe: “I had heard women love nothing quite like arguing and it’s certainly true for you.” Myst: “What is with you old-fashioned Plus humans and your obsession with gender stereotypes!? You idiot, idiot, iiiiidiot! Ah ha ha! I you don’t like it, then smarten up and prove you aren’t an idiot! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!” Aoe: “How dare you.” Telyb: “Don’t let her provoke you, idiot!” Telyb: “Quartet, Suedomsa and Algo are at the castle, aren’t they? What are they planning?” Myst: “You have to ask? They plan to fulfill Master Suedomsa’s wishes by summoning the great god into Master Yuo. They will boost Babel and the castle to 1000x speed and complete the godtact experiment all at once.” Aoe: “Summon a great god into Yuo? What does that mean!?” Myst: “What’s this, Master Telyb? You still haven’t informed this idiot?” Myst: “When the great god was summoned 2000 years ago, Master Yuo volunteered to be the vessel who would contain the great god’s Lives. And then she was shot by Master Suedomsa who opposed the godtact experiment!” Aoe: “What!?” Myst: “Afterwards, Master Telyb and the others sealed Master Suedomsa and Master Yuo’s memories…leading to the present day.” Myst: “We wish to use Master Yuo as the vessel for the great god once more. Just like she wanted during the 2nd Godtact Experiment. Yes, this will erase the Master Yuo you know, but it will also summon the almighty power of the great god into this world!” Aoe: “You fools! Are you planning to repeat the past!?” Myst: “Repeat the past? Oh, no. This is a continuation of the past. It may have been stopped once, but we are fighting for the divine summoning that was begun so long ago!” Myst: “Use your idiotic, inexperienced, Plus eyes to view the proper path we have chosen! This is the Minus path that DT has been following since its creation 4000 years ago!” Monkey drops down the chest of your tank top toward the stomach. Monkey extends a front paw while hiding in the stomach of the tank top. You have received a Word Mail. Aoe: “Mh? A Word Mail?” ### Fooblicky’s Word Mail: To the Stupid Man Most of the Yard members, Yard ambassadors, and ordinary citizens were rescued using an emergency shield. I am below the rubble putting together a time-limited attack program you can directly install. Without your manager Yuo around, you have to rely on what our privileges allow, so try not to complain. Listen. Wait just a bit longer. No, I should be more specific with an idiot like you. Count slowly to 5. ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District After switching to Sight Mode, Aoe raised his head. His vision was working fine. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a transparent circle indicating the progress of his auditory repairs. It had just filled up with red. He took a breath and centered Myst and Mekton in his vision. A moment later, he raised his right hand’s index finger. He stuck that finger into his right ear. He moved the finger in a circle so he could hear it rubbing against his ear hole. It sounded like wood rubbing together. He smiled since he hadn’t been able to hear that sound earlier. “Ha ha. Perfect.” He slowly pulled the finger from his ear and raised the forearm. “You will regret messing with me in another 5 seconds.” After that casual announcement, he pointed toward the blue sky. “Ooone.” Myst responded by twisting her eyebrows quizzically. But he ignored that and pointed his middle finger into the sky two. “Twooo.” He took a casual step forward, raising his ring finger at the same time. “Threee.” He also tilted his body forward and lowered his raised hand while also raising the little finger. “Fourrr.” He broke into a run. He first shrank down like a spring and kicked off the ground. He sensed his foot kicking sand into the air behind him. The cloud of sand blinked before disappearing. But that initial step also accelerated him forward. Myst shouted out ahead of him. “Mekton!” Before that giant man could approach, Aoe kept his running feet going and spread all of his right hand’s fingers. “Five!” He clenched those fingers into a fist. Monkey reacted from within his tank top. The Mouse waved his front paw to directly install the attack program sent over by Fooblicky. Gaining this power reminded him of when Yuo had been by his side during yesterday’s battle. “I want to trust everything!” He loudly Downloaded his right hand. A black spear Emblem appeared to perform the 50% Load. Mekton stood in his way. “Idiot go home.” That Text was followed by a fist emitting bluish-white light. The speedy attack was aimed at Aoe’s face. However… “Your aim is too precise!” Aoe had moved his body before the artillery-like attack was even thrown. He moved left, so Mekton’s fist flow past his left shoulder and behind him. A shockwave hit him. He slammed his fist into the wave of pressure from below. The program installed in his fist confirmed the hit. Lightning dropped from the clear sky and toward Aoe’s fist above the road. A white light drowned out all else. “Mh!” A great heat and an atmosphere-shattering impact bathed the morning street in pure white. The refreshing morning air exploded and a shockwave broke down. At the center of the ruptured air, vacuum blades scattered in all directions from the end of Aoe’s fist. His arm, shoulder, and cheek were lacerated, but he did not pull back. The damage that the defense program could not fully eliminate made the nerves bulge out on his upper arm. “But feel no fear now!” Shattering glass sounds rang from both his fists this time. The same black emblem appeared there. Smoke drifted from them and the wind whipped up. He readied his noisy fists within that smokey wind. Mekton had already raised his enormous fists. A high-speed attack was coming. But Aoe evaded that and made a strike to the bottom of Mekton’s arm. “Oh!” A shockwave and light crashed into the arm, the sound from in front of him and the light from the sky above. He made one, two, three strikes from the right, left, and left. Then another from the right. Each strike whipped up the wind, sent out smoke, and scattered deafening roars like spray. Mekton’s fist changed course. Instead of a straight-line punch, it curved down from above in a chopping strike that was harder to intercept from below. But Aoe still struck Mekton’s fist. He forcibly bent his body to unleash a barrage from below. The clash of strength was broken by their movement choices, not their speed. Aoe had thrown his fists before Mekton his, but not because he had predicted where the giant fist would be going. He had predicted when the fist would be thrown. Just as Mekton was about to send his right fist out from his shoulder, Aoe had moved forward and approached with efficient movements. His fist, jaw, shoulder, gut, hips, knees, ankles, and feet drew out a flowing curve as he moved forward and focused on his left fist. He was targeting Mekton’s fist drawing out a chopping path in the air and his left fist struck from below just before Mekton’s fist broke the sound barrier. He slammed his fist straight up into the thick tendon bulging out on the bottom of the wrist. “…!” Aoe’s blow did not send any kind of impact into his opponent. The program security was still active. But a replacement power arrived from heaven. It tore into Mekton’s arm located between heaven and Aoe’s fist. It sounded like a splitting tree. Bluish-white lightning and smoke surrounded the giant bare hand that hadn’t even broken the sound barrier. “Gah!” roared Mekton, holding his right fist and stepping back. “Damn…you.” Aoe pulled back his fists and held them near his hips. Lightning crackled around his left fist. The blood vessels and nerves bulged out from both fists and a few of the blood vessels had ruptured through his skin. But he still spoke. “If there is any pride to be found in these fists of a Plus dropout, it comes from their long experience and from the pride of the people they have defeated. I do not sense any of that in your fists. Your conceited fists carry only power and speed!” He spat the words onto the ground and pulled his fists back even further before raising them again. Monkey moved inside his tank top. <3 seconds remaining> “Mh!” He grunted and threw both fists upwards. Mekton responded with his first defensive stance. In front of him, Aoe struck his right fist with his left. The sound of his fists colliding with each other repeated itself 8 times. Light dropped from all across the heavens to reach his raised right arm. “Octuple power! Have a taste of the Thunderstorm Flower Fist!” Aoe raced forward just before the lightning gathered. Mekton abandoned his defensive stance and opened his mouth. He roared loud and launched his right fist. He clenched the five scorched fingers and sent the fist flying. He meant it as an interception. It took a shallower course than before, curving rapidly down from above to catch Aoe in the chest. Not even Aoe could duck below this attack. Aoe’s response was simple: a toothy grin. “Nothing reveals inexperience like a hastily thrown punch!” Then he did something else entirely. Instead of ducking down, he jumped up. “…!” He instantly cleared Mekton’s fist. The low path of Mekton’s punch passed below the legs Aoe tucked up below him. Mekton’s expression changed as his punch missed its mark: his narrowed eyes widened and his teeth clenched. Aoe stopped smiling and spoke through his window. He twisted his airborne body and somewhat relaxed his fist for a half-clenched chop. He aimed for the right side of Mekton’s neck. The eight heavenly strikes reached him then. He swung his chop, but it failed to find the NPC’s flesh. Just before he completed the chop, a new color appeared in his way. It was a transparent mass of blue. It was a massive ice spear. It had to be a yard in diameter and the icy tip was sharp. His fist shattered the ice. In that instant, the eight lightning strikes gathered on the ice fragments and vaporized them. Eight times the previous wind, smoke, and noise erupted. Mekton whipped up the wind and pushed aside the smoke as he fell back. Aoe twisted his body into a landing pose. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District Mekton has withdrawn through the wind and smoke. He is by Myst’s side. Mekton is holding his right arm and Myst is looking your way. Myst taps the program control panel on her hip. Orbits of light expand around her. Aoe: “That’s the same program activation Yuo used.” Myst: “Yes, it is. And if you want to know what that means, pay the castle a visit. We will explain everything in exchange for your insignificant death and the summoning of a god. Also…” Myst: “You should know that Master Yuo does not want your help!” Aoe: “What!?” Telyb: “Wait! Stay back!” A powerful wind envelops your surroundings. It is so powerful you cannot stay on your feet. The wind forms a vortex above the road. “Aoe: “End?” Myst and Mekton have vanished from the road. The powerful wind is gone. Aoe: “They ran away!?” ### Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle The audience chamber is quiet. A single PC Body is with you. She is Akalabeth. She is seated on the red carpet one step down from the dais. You hold the three program trigons you received from her. Suedomsa: “The control program for the Questron below this castle, the control program for Babel, and Portal, your Demigod Program that can alter DT’s settings. Yes, that’s all of them.” Akalabeth: “Suedomsa, do you really think you can reclaim everything using those program trigons?” Akalabeth: “Yes, you only need Yuo now, but did it really shock you that badly when she betrayed you during the 2nd Godtact Experiment? Was shooting her not enough for you to forgive her?” Akalabeth: “Like they say: time heals all wounds.” Suedomsa: “It’s true time has passed for Yuo and me while our memories were sealed.” Suedomsa: Suedomsa: “The Day of the Oracle prophecy was something Yuo said to me with a smile after she took my bullet and the great god Lives were erupting from her body.” Akalabeth: “You mean when she said everything would be better after precisely 2000 years?” Akalabeth: “I wonder if she had truly given up on everything then. Or did she still have hope for the future somewhere deep in her heart? And I still don’t know which of those the great god responded to.” Suedomsa: Akalabeth: “Well, why is it you are attempting this godtact experiment on the Day of the Oracle?” Akalabeth: “If you only want to continue what we started 2000 years ago, I see no reason it has to be now.” Akalabeth: “Is this meant as revenge against the daughter who betrayed you? It isn’t, is it?” Suedomsa: “You always had a bad habit of viewing things too emotionally, Akalabeth.” Akalabeth: “Not as much as you. It always seemed to me you left yourself in Board Mode to cut yourself off from all the emotion. Is that the result of being a Minus person who fears emotion?” Two old-style NPC Bodies have arrived. They are Excel Raphael Sys and Myst Gabriel Undefined. Excel: “I do apologize. Myst arrived in a hurry and Mekton left to take Babel and defend the amusement park. In maybe half an hour, once the power levels are sufficient, we will surround the castle in a defense shield. …Myst.” Myst: “I have returned. Boosted movement speed is exhausting. But are you sure Master Algo and Anon3 – Daikatana – are enough for that passageway? The Yard were moving through the courtyard.” Suedomsa: “They can handle it. Once you get some rest, prepare to head down with Excel. I need you to restart the Questron and then adjust and duplicate the texture needed for Algo’s second phase.” Excel: “Understoo- Master Suedomsa! Switch to Sight Mode!” Myst: “It’s the queen!” ### Akalabeth’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle The midmorning sun entered the audience chamber. The light shined on a large hole in the floor and the red carpet. When the two old-style NPC Bodies entered the audience chamber, Akalabeth ran to the right side of the red carpet. She placed her feet on the very edge of the black abyss and turned to face Suedomsa. He turned his head her way with the three program trigons still in his right hand. She attempted a closer look, but Suedomsa was only angling his eyebrows a bit. His eyes were not wide and his jaw was not dropping. He simply turned his lowered head her way. Her shoulders drooped in a sigh. “You’re still in Board Mode, aren’t you?” After Suedomsa’s window appeared, he frowned a bit and spoke out loud this time. “However…this world’s concepts have been changing since the city recovered from the format.” “Since you love quoting the bible so much, I have a verse for you,” said Akalabeth. “It’s the one starting with ‘whoever finds their life’. Surely you know that one.” Suedomsa’s expression did not change. He simply shook his head and responded. “It is no use. Even if you do find your life and defeat me, it will not stop the godtact experiment. Because even if you do stop me, Algo will take over and activate the Questron in Babel. Just like the Son of God was resurrected after his death. …My godtact experiment is meant to make amends for the past, but his is a trial run for a new age. So for the present day, his godtact is the more important one.” “He will take over? You’re being ridiculous. Besides, you do not have a vessel other than Yuo and you can’t transport the Questron to Babel!” The instant those words reached her, Akalabeth saw something fly toward her from the large door forming the audience chamber’s entrance to her right. It was a large icicle. It had been launched by the old-style NPC Body standing at the entrance. That was Myst, the woman in a white dress. Her virtual pen shined on the other side of the flying icicle that gathered up some of the audience chamber’s darkness. Akalabeth made a split-second decision. She lowered her hips and then leaped backwards. She also Downloaded. “Sorry, but none of this is over yet.” A shattering glass sound came from her back and her center of gravity stabilized. Her reddish-purple dress flew from the red floor and into the open abyss. The tip of the flying ice spear got a shallow slice in on her stomach and a reddish-purple scrap flew into the empty darkness. Past the scattering cloth, she had dropped below the floor and into the adjacent Page of the pit. That meant her voice would not reach Suedomsa while he was in Board Mode. So with her face pale, she opened her mouth with her back to the abyss. “I think I see your trick now. The Quartet will copy the Questron for you.” She twisted her lips and eyes into a slight smile. “I do appreciate the dedication of saying your successor’s plan is the more important one, Suedomsa! It means you are assuming you will lose! It almost makes you sound like the Son of God preparing for his own death and resurrection!” That was the end of it. She said nothing more. The fluttering reddish-purple was swallowed by the darkness and she fell into the adjacent Page. ### Algo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle Algo and miniature Alternative sat at the entrance to the audience chamber. There was a step tall enough to sit on below the large metal door. He sat on that and ate the portable food Alternative passed him. He coughed a bit and tore open a wrapper labeled x5. “Phew. Do we have any tea?” replied Alternative in her window and produced a juice box of tea from behind her back. He thanked her and looked forward again. He looked down the large corridor leading to the audience chamber. A battle was underway there. The blue smoke of tear gas filled the tall, wide, and long stone-floored space. But that smoke was swept away by a wind whipping up in the corridor – by a powerful wind pressure that stood in the smoke’s way like a solid wall. The wind came from a metal staff held by a black-robed man. He was the old-style NPC Body called Anon3. While wielding that wind, his black robe fell away. The man within emerged as the cloth rippled to the floor. He wore blue and white Japanese clothing with the joints tied tight. Above his sharp, slender face, his black hair was tied tightly back with a green hair tie. His hair shook after the falling robe caught it, so he pressed his metal staff against it to fix it. As far as Algo could see, he was only armed with the metal staff and a wakizashi on his left hip. The Japanese man stepped forward. He took a large step with his zori-clad foot to avoid stepping on the fallen robe. Algo swallowed his food while watching the man from behind. “Take it easy. The queen apparently threw herself into the pit in the audience chamber.” Algo’s words triggered a response around him. Six soldiers in blue Yard uniforms ran toward them along the corridor walls. They took up a semicircle formation around the metal staff man. One of them operated the program control panel at his hip. He turned a dial and hit a button. The numerals 1 through 6 appeared in blue light over the 6 Yard members’ heads. At the same time, they all drew their submachineguns and aimed them at the metal staff man. They took careful aim at his face, chest, gut, and legs. After seeing that, Algo stuck a straw into the tea juice box Alternative had given him. “I see.” He nodded just before those six pulled the trigger. A rupturing sound and scattering sparks signaled the beginning of the destruction. Metal bullets took flight. They fired from six different directions without any hesitation. The metal staff man in the center moved only slowly. Then he spoke the words of his will. “It is no use.” The Text came from the metal staff he held. The ring of Text produced a metal gray emblem from the tip of the staff. The emblem was surrounded by a laurel wreath symbol frame. The man released his Text and wordlessly raised the emblem-bearing staff horizontally. That was a defensive pose. He leaned to the right. While holding the staff horizontally, he shifted about a foot to the right. It was a small movement, but it created a slight difference in when the simultaneously-fired bullets would hit. The ones coming from the right would arrive a foot’s worth of time sooner than the ones coming from the left. He used the end of the staff to stop the first shot to arrive from the right. The bullet ricocheted off the staff, producing a loud clang and a spray of sparks. The bullet flew off somewhere or other. The footwork supporting that split-second defense took him slowly to the left. From there, it came down to a series of instants. After sharply deflecting the first shot with the right end, he caught the 2nd bullet from the right on the part of the staff a bit more than a foot left of the right end. The 3rd shot he blocked with the spot a foot left of that. The 4th shot he blocked with the portion left of that, where he held the staff with his right hand. The 5th shot he blocked with the spot where he held the staff with his left hand. The 6th shot he blocked near the left end. He deflected them all. By the time he had deflected the final one, his body was already moving left. While catching those bullets from his position a foot to the right, he had accurately moved himself two feet to the left. The enemy attack was still underway. They were firing with submachineguns. The second shots from each gun arrived less than a second later. Shifting himself to the left allowed him to catch this next barrage starting from the left. He blocked the 1st shot from the left with the exact same spot on the left side of the staff he had used to block the 6th shot last time. From there, he moved right to catch all 6 similar to before. Then the 3rd bullets were coming. This time, the ones on the right were closer, so he caught the 6 shots from the right. None of it stopped there. All the man was doing was holding his staff at an angle that let him sweep aside the shots coming from six different directions. The bullets used a batch program to sync their timing, and their aim was impeccable, but they were still only a barrage coming from 6 directions at once. A barrage was a wall. The man set up his own angle in relation to the wall, set up a priority list for himself, and deflected each bullet accordingly. He slowly backed away to compensate for the speed of the bullets. His first step was the only one taken forward. The rest took him slowly back. The submachineguns stopped after their 32nd bullet each. Gun smoke spread out through the corridor and the gunshots echoed on and on. After the six lines of fire used up their ammo, the man remained standing before them with his staff held horizontally. His feet were precisely planted in the center of the black robe he had dropped on the floor. He was unscathed and the metal staff was not chipped or scratched. None of the bullets had reached Algo or Alternative seated behind him either. Algo looked back to see the royal flag covering the side of the door had been shot to shreds. The red and yellow coloration made the scraps look like autumn leaves fluttering through the gun smoke. The wall where the flag had been had its texture half destroyed by the bullet holes. The audience chamber’s inner wall was visible through the broken surface image. No one pressed the Y or the N key. Algo ignored the message too. The metal staff man looked back while fixing the women’s green hair tie he wore. “How was that? I still do not think I have what it takes to take on the strongest opponent.” “Don’t be silly. That was excellent.” “Then may I name myself?” “Go ahead,” replied Algo, placing a slight smile on the other man’s lips. The man’s eyes remained closed. ### DT Yard Captain’s Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle Their chance arrived when the metal staff man finished retying his hair and turned toward the two behind him. A wind blew through. Someone had broken through the blue tear gas smoke with his shoulders while charging toward the enemy. It was an elderly Yard member with a sword raised to shoulder height. His hard boots rang loud on the stone floor, propelling him forward. He saw the six still holding their submachineguns turn toward him. “Captain!” He did not respond. He kept his focus forward, on the enemy. With every new footstep, the distance between them shrank. He ran through the gun smoke, scraped at the floor with his sword tip, and raised his voice. “I am Carl Asb! I am the Yard Castle Station Commander! I challenge you to a duel!” The metal staff man turned toward the rapidly approaching voice. His eyes remained closed, but his expression did change. His eyebrows rose slightly and his mouth opened. It was an expression of mild surprise. “Oh?” he sighed as the Yard Captain approached. The Yard Captain shouted like he wanted to destroy that breath. “Name yourself!” “Daikatana Uriel. I will define my Word Race soon.” The distance between them shrank to 5 yards. Carl opened a window. He sped up. Daikatana responded with his own movement. Daikatana had lowered his staff to the bottom right and he swung it behind him. He performed the swing with only his right wrist and fingers, spinning it around to his back. He raised the staff from his side to his shoulder and rotated it against his collarbone. Then inertia sent the staff past his shoulder and around to the front. He raised both hands toward his right shoulder and the staff spun over his shoulder and fell into them. He grabbed it tight. “No mercy.” A sound like splitting stone came from the staff and an emblem appeared from its end. Carl shouted in surprise when he saw that. “I thought you were an NPC Body!?” “Experience the answer for yourself.” Daikatana lowered his hips and swung down the staff in his hands. It took a rapid, straight line path. Carl swung his sword up toward the descending attack. Both lights intersected. The battle was over in an instant. Carl’s sword was shattered by the staff’s momentum. “Kh!” With a shattering glass sound, metal fragments scattered like sparks. Daikatana’s staff sliced through even the loud noise as it continued down. Then Carl’s hand reached his hip, where he wore a program control panel. He hit a button there. Carl’s body slid 2 yards backwards. It was a short distance. It did not bring him out of the metal staff’s range. So he took a defensive stance. He raised his left hand overhead and lowered his right hand to the submachinegun at his hip. Daikatana’s staff was a striking weapon. It might break Carl’s arm, but as long as his shoulder stopped it, he could still fire. Carl held his breath to endure the impact. That was when Daikatana spoke. He spoke the powerful Text that surpassed a Download. Daikatana’s voice rang out. “I am not entertained.” “Nor am I bored. “I am destined to dispassionately cut down foe after foe forever.” A metal gray light arrived in the staff. The emblem at the end of the staff made noise. The deep, loud noise was like a stone being split. Several windows opened in quick succession and surrounded him in no time. A string of text ran down from the emblem at the end of the staff. The 2D string drew out a spiral just once. ●Type-XX049: Imperial-class: Moebius● In an instant, the character string surrounded the top half of the staff. The staff now had a 1.5yd hilt and a 1.5yd text blade. This was not a standard Japanese or Western sword. It was a giant nagamaki. Daikatana took a large step forward and swung the nagamaki. The character string attack reached Karl’s raised left arm. The character string itself passed through his arm. The Grandload text was only the sign of a load, so it had no mass. What mattered was the power that Load Emblem had loaded. The staff’s power activated when it struck Carl’s arm. The corners of the staff had their sharpness increased. That right angle line possessed the sharpness of a thick blade carrying the full power of the metal. The nagamaki swung on through. The staff’s corner never should have functioned like a blade, yet it formed a rapid slash. The thick and short blade swept right through Carl with the character string still surrounding it. The staff sliced through the raised arm and straight on down to the man’s crotch. It sliced into 3 inches deep and continued down the entire way. Carl’s left arm flew through the air and the staff passed through his flesh, slicing through his left lung’s ribs all at once. The somewhat diagonal slash left through his side at crotch height. Daikatana had lowered his hips to bear the full weight and inertial force of the nagamaki formed from text. The muscles of his arms bulged and the metal staff bent. “Mh.” A low grunt escaped his mouth for the first time. A window opened above Carl’s head after he was sliced from shoulder to crotch. He raised his right hand, lifting his submachinegun. Just as he was about to get the muzzle up, Daikatana let go of the nagamaki. The simple action caused the nagamaki to float in the air. Daikatana leaped forward. He placed his foot on the back of the airborne nagamaki, near the tip of the text blade. The nagamaki’s weight supported Daikatana’s step and then spun downwards. Carl saw something then. He saw Daikatana drawing his wakizashi while leaping toward him. He wasn’t going to get his submachinegun up in time for the glinting wakizashi. The blade was only a bit over a foot and a half and it jabbed toward Carl’s right side as he attempted to raise the gun. It caught him on the side at the height of the solar plexus. It stabbed in all the way to the guard. His strength drained away. The gun fell from his hand and his voice escaped his mouth. The position of his body and arm made it look like he was embracing Daikatana. Daikatana responded by placing his right arm around Carl’s back. He moved without ever opening his eyes. He grabbed the hilt in a backhand grip and twisted it. That twist loosened the muscles that had tensed around the blade. A breath left Carl’s lungs. The blade slowly pulled out. Blood spilled from the gaping hole in his side. Blood also leaked from the split running down the front of his body. Daikatana stood up to avoid the blood. Carl tried to step forward and pursue. He saw Daikatana take a step back and bend his back. Daikatana spread his right hand’s fingers and raised it back behind his shoulder. The nagamaki he had kicked downwards from the tip had completed a single rotation there. The hilt spun upwards and right into his waiting hand. He grabbed it by the pommel. His next action was simple. He used his shoulder as a pivot point to pull the hilt down with the principle of leverage. The nagamaki’s blade accelerated and flew forward. With just his right hand, the sent the metal staff flying forward in whip-like arc. It whipped up the wind. For a second slash, the blade surrounded by a 2D character string struck Carl. The blade caught him in the exact same spot as before and it left through the exact same spot too. The blade easily pierced through to his back. The nagamaki passed through without a speck of blood or fat on it and Daikatana swung it around behind him. It spun through a second rotation and then he caught the hilt under his arm to stop it. His Load Emblem turned to light and scattered. The laurel wreath symbol expanded into the space around him and then disappeared. Daikatana turned to face Carl just as the emblem vanished. Carl stared back into Daikatana’s closed eyes. But then Carl’s vision began to tilt to the right. He looked left to figure out why. He saw a red cross section there. That was the left half of his own body. He saw various bumps with white or light pink tissue surrounding them. In the cross sections of his bones, he even saw the brown marrow wrapped in the more familiar white. His left half collapsed in the opposite direction. He tried to reach out and pull it back, but he lacked even a left shoulder. So he looked to Daikatana as he fell to the right. Daikatana spoke with his expressionless face turned Carl’s way. “I have eliminated all sight programs from my blade and staff techniques. The speed of assembly is too great for the eye to follow.” Carl could not say anything in response with his lungs already split. His eyes saw Daikatana moving. The man took a step toward Carl. “It has been 4000 years, yet I have yet to find an opponent who can elevate me to the highest level.” With that, he ran into Carl’s collapsing body. Except he did not physically contact Carl. His hair swaying behind him, he passed through Carl on his way to deal with his remaining enemies. That was when Carl realized his body was already starting to disappear. He flashed and vanished just before his two halves hit the floor. ### 802. Chapter 8: Final Takeoff Due to an ongoing emergency, Nosrup’s Oracle Message Board is on hiatus. The following is an apology message from Nosrup himself. Welcome! I’m so sorry about this. One of our own is causing some trouble and the prison where I work may be helping evacuate everyone. Anyway, this isn’t the time to be posting on a message board. There aren’t many connections to the outside world available and all of them are needed to exchange information at the moment. This should work itself out in less than a minute for those of you outside the city. Oh, god. I’m so busy and scared my 2nd personality named Akemi and my 3rd personality named Shizuka are about to rise to the surface. Wait, why do my other personalities sound like hostesses!? That was a joke, by the way! Anyway, I have to go tell people to evacuate, so read the following passage: “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:16-17) 07/07/2000 DT 11:12 AM (-03:48) ### Help Text Babel Babel’s official name is Babel 71. It is a global broadcast tower originally planned in 1971 and completed in Osaka, Japan, in 1999. Since the Great Canopy covering the earth cut off the world’s communications network, Babel was designed to act as the center of a global network that sent data even to parts of the world the cable network could not reach. The initial corporate plans had the top of the tower acting as a Babel Cannon in order to reproduce the word attack only launched twice in officially recorded history, both in Cologne during World War Two. The plan was for that to shatter the Great Canopy. But to avoid the hit to the corporation’s reputation if that failed, Babel was left as a broadcast tower as per the initial suggestion and, at the request of the plan designer, some Japanese students at the time were given the right to use it first. Babel acted as the divine pillar for a festival held in Japan after the country was reunified from its east-west split, but it also presented the possibility of tearing the country apart again. Babel’s presence placed the center of Japan in the west. A corporation worked in secret to stop that and to recreate the east-west split and there was some turmoil as a result. These issues are still not fully understood and the related court cases are currently on hold due to Tokyo’s closure. Babel was abandoned in March of 1999, but it was then moved to DT to search for a solution to Tokyo’s closure in August of 1999. To accomplish this, Babel’s lower levels were remade into a ley line extractor designed to receive the prophecy of the Great God Lives created during a godtact experiment. The ley line extractor modification received a lot of opposition around the world because it reminded people too much of Tristan, the German tower that caused a ley line disaster in World War Two and is said to have created the greatest blank period in Germany’s history . However, an agreement was finally reached when Japan created an international equal opportunity prophecy extraction system and assured every country would have a chance to use Babel as a prophecy extractor free of charge. Babel’s transport was carried out using a high precision virtual transfer from an artificial port constructed on Japan’s coast and a joint air transport led by the US and said to be the return of the West Berlin support transports. The transport was completed in only 3 months in the outside world and the settings changes and construction took only another half month in the outside world. During this period, many negotiations were held between Japan, Switzerland (DT’s managing state), and the US. Japan received the right to borrow the Death Techno stored in the Swiss bank and approval to use the Swiss bank as not just a money vault but as a symbol of trust . Japan also requested that entrance to DT be restricted while Babel was in use, preventing any tourists from arriving. Currently (March 5, 2002 DT), Babel is preparing for a prophecy extraction in DT and the operation will begin on July 7 when the boost settings are changed. ### Aoe’s Continued Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District You are in DT Yard HQ Street, a Top Page of the east district. The current time is 11:12 AM. There is a pile of rubble in front of you. A road stretches right to left. It is lined with houses. There are many Bodies around. Your speech is restricted to Telyb and Fooblicky. Aoe: The Yard members and NPC Bodies are performing rescue work in the surrounding rubble. You are surrounded by people evacuating to the park in the south district. Telyb is giving instructions to the gathered Yard members and sending them out into the city. Fooblicky has opened a word mail window and is sending instructions to the other Yard stations. Aoe: “Hey, old man. Can’t we do anything about the castle?” Telyb: “Sorry, but the people’s safety comes first. There’s a Yard station in the castle. Unfortunately, we can’t cut off power to the castle because that might delete the data stored there.” Aoe: “I thought we had lost contact with that station and the castle was under Suedomsa and the knights’ control.” Telyb: “That doesn’t change anything. The castle’s residents are our friends and our friends have to come last. Do you have a problem with that?” Telyb: “And there are only two of those residents: Queen Akalabeth and Yuo. If anything does happen, those two will be formatted and that’s it. Also…” Telyb: “Once they get the power stabilized, I’m sure they’ll place a defense shield around the castle. That will prevent anyone from getting in or getting out. Do you see what that means?” Aoe: “The enemy won’t be able to leave the castle?” Fooblicky crosses her arms and nods. Fooby: “That’s half right. Listen. Running their godtact experiment means having an enchanter transfer the great god’s lives and heat energy for the Questron from Babel. But…” Telyb: “But that requires opening the defense shield. That is when we will break in.” Fooby: “Our Spell Breaker counts as part of DT’s OS, so it can be transferred through a defense shield, but an ordinary enchanter is bound by the OS.” Fooby: “Since Suedomsa didn’t try to convince us to help, he must intend to do this with an ordinary enchanter. That means they must open the defense shield before the godtact experiment.” Aoe: “What if they create a shield connecting Babel with the castle?” Fooby: “A shield that large would require a connection to Babel. Besides, the city exists between Babel and the castle. Why would they bring their enemies inside their shield?” Aoe: “Mh. You have a point.” Fooblicky brushes her hair back. Fooby: “I think that about sums it up. But can I say one more thing? You aren’t thinking of rushing in to save Yuo, are you? When your power is being restricted?” Telyb: “That would not be as praiseworthy as it might sound in your head. I do not recommend it.” Fooblicky is frowning and glaring at you. It is a look of displeasure. Telyb is looking down on you with his mouth twisted. It is a look of displeasure. Aoe: “…” Telyb: “Listen. Like you pointed out, we have lost contact with the station there. So what could you accomplish by rushing in there? Everyone there is probably an enemy to you and to us.” Fooby: “What would you even do when you’re so powerless? Use your lack of power?” Aoe: “…” Aoe: “Just so you two know…” Aoe: Telyb: “You do, do you? And what do you propose you do about your powerlessness?” Aoe: “I do this.” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District As soon as Aoe switched to Sight, he saw the blue sky, the houses below that, and the pile of broken concrete. Telyb stood in front of Aoe with the broken Yard HQ behind him. Aoe swung his right fist before even checking the other man’s face. “Mh!” “I’ll find the strength somewhere.” A shattering glass sound came from his fist. The solid breaking sound was accompanied by a black spear emblem surrounding his fist as it flew out at full speed. The strike flew toward Telyb’s face. It whistled through the air and several display frames burst from it, turning it invisible. It struck Telyb in the forehead, but provided no force. The bone of the fist’s middle finger touched his forehead and stopped. It was stopped by the sweaty forehead. A stir ran through the people inundated by alarms and sounds of destruction. The Yard members came to a stop and looked to Aoe and Telyb. But Aoe ignored that attention and spoke only to Telyb. “You’re smiling.” He gained a detailed view of Telyb’s face. The face with his fist against the forehead was pulled back to look down at him and the cheeks were bent. The bend came from the small, stiff smile of someone testing something. Next to Telyb, Fooblicky was surrounded by windows and frowning while looking up at him in a troubled way. “So you didn’t fall for the classic trick using the OS’s terrible expression interpretation, huh?” said Telyb, grabbing Aoe’s fist and lowering it. “Mh,” grunted Aoe, brushing off Telyb’s hand and giving a quiet comment. “I will take back Yuo.” “Oh? Even though you have no real power? I might be willing to help depending on your answer. So let me hear the voice of your Lives. What does a Plus dropout have to say now that he has been stripped of his deadly power?” “Mh.” ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District Telyb has no expression. He is emotionless. Telyb: Aoe: Telyb: Aoe: Aoe: “Last night…” Aoe: “…” Aoe: Aoe: “And she told me a lot, but I didn’t have any kind of answer for her.” Aoe: Telyb: “That’s a will to fight and a fantasy, not an effective power.” Aoe: Aoe: “I have trained with the Chancellor’s Officers for 1 year, GASAS for 6, and the Kobayashi School for over a decade. I will make it work. And I will take Yuo back.” Aoe: “There is only one thing I can say for sure at the moment: As long as you have the will to fight, you can fight.” Aoe: Telyb: “But…” Telyb: Aoe: “Hah. That’s ancient history.” Telyb: “But nothing has changed since then. Are you finally going to stop giving up?” Telyb: Aoe: Telyb: Telyb: “A different word is more accurate and speaks the truth of your Lives.” Aoe: “?” Telyb: “You will be rescuing her from the enemy. Remember that.” ### Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle Yuo finished dressing in her Yard uniform at about the same time as a window opened in front of her. The system message window silently bloomed in the center of the room. A new window opened. Yuo reflexively reached for the Y. But she stopped just before pressing it. She pulled her hand back, shut her mouth, and flattened her eyebrows as she stared at the Y. That letter meant accepting all responsibility. So she kept that digital letter in the center of her vision and focused on her ears. She could hear a cacophony of alarms and destruction from outside the window. But none of that destruction came from inside the castle. Earlier, she had heard some automatic gunfire she assumed came from Yard submachineguns, but that had since stopped. “They really were wiped out, weren’t they?” She shut her eyes and frowned. She reached for the hair falling on her shoulder but stopped herself. Then she spoke more forcefully with her eyes squeezed shut. Her tone said she was trying to convince herself of the words. “Yuo Natas Wav served for three years as PR Chief of Japan’s North Kantou Chancellor’s Officers and has been trained as the machine force’s ace.” A breath. “Think back to 600 years ago when you first got into a fight in Japan. Remember those days when you worked under that stupid, ridiculous, laissez-faire, and harmfully perverted upperclassman – when you had such unique connections with your comrades, came up with plans, and went around both defending and attacking.” She opened her eyes, faced forward, and opened her mouth wide. The words that came out were from a song she had learned long ago. “I shall move ever forward.” After speaking the line, she restarted it as her Text. “I shall move ever forward.” Green light briefly surrounding her hands, followed by a shattering glass sound. She raised her hands as they shook from the impact. Then she slapped her cheeks with them. The slapping sound in her ears and the sharp pain in her cheeks made her flinch. But she soon straightened back up and viewed the window in front of her with tension in her eyebrows. “I accept.” She pressed the Y. She read that display, waited a few seconds, and took a deep breath. “That will tell my dad and the others…” She shook her head, forced the air out of her lungs, and restated that thought. “This will tell the enemy I am here. The management and authority transfer windows will have appeared all across the affected area. They would never miss that window.” She nodded and snapped her finger. “Puppy! Connect me to the Yard station’s memory space. Enter my password and gather as much data as you can get while making sure it can’t be traced to us! With the enemy here, this is going to be a battle over privileges!” She opened a transparent keyboard by her hands and opened a window that displayed her own abilities. “I need to set my voice to window only mode.” She looked up to see a window opened there. Puppy the ferret looked her way while rolling up a trigon. The Mouse knew how to optimize data, so he could tell what Yuo wanted. Bluish-white lines appeared along the movable range of the chair on the floor and atop the desk. Yuo opened a settings window for that space and set all the voice settings to “off”. All sound vanished from around her. Good, good, she thought, opening a transparent keyboard on the desk and fixing its coordinate there. She also opened a transparent display in front of her. The icons of various types of data floated inside the 20-inch flatscreen display. Then she pressed the button on the top right of her transparent keyboard. The icons in the screen emerged and floated above the desk. She flicked the 3D spinning icons to spread them further apart. She nodded once. Puppy barked. He let the data trigon float over his head, opened his mouth, and swallowed it. An icon immediately appeared atop Yuo’s desk. More icons appeared each time Puppy created and ate another trigon. Yuo pushed the new trigons around with her fingers to silently sort them. She said nothing, but her thoughts appeared on her window. She glanced over toward where the door would normally be. There was only a wall there now. That meant she could fight without anyone noticing her. She suddenly found what she wanted among the icons. The icon that appeared on the desk was a simple one depicting square rooms and hallways drawn on white paper. That was a collection of the castle’s map data. She smiled at the icon and her hands raced across the keyboard. Then she began to sing. A window opened to display her words, allowing her to sing in silence. First, she erased the castle map from DT in order to erase her own location, to obstruct the enemy’s movements, and… ### Aoe’s Continued Board Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District The corners of Telyb’s lips are rising. He is smiling. Telyb tosses you a data trigon. From your right shoulder, Monkey catches it for you. Aoe: “What is this?” Telyb: “It’ll probably be your trump card. It contains yesterday’s explosion. Once you contact Yuo and gain permission to open it, you can access the continuation of that explosion.” Aoe: “You’re giving that to me?” Telyb: “It doesn’t do anyone any good with me.” Telyb: “I wish I could give you an unlocking program trigon, but as your manager, only Yuo has the authority to do that. Watch carefully. This is what happens when we try to do it.” Telyb tosses you a program trigon. From your right shoulder, Monkey catches it for you. As soon as Monkey catches it, the program trigon explodes into light and vanishes. Telyb: “See? We can only directly install one for a brief period of time, so you need search out Yuo. She thought she was going to meet you at the castle today, but that backfired.” Aoe: “Can you forcibly take over as my manager?” Fooby: “Not in time. The OS has abandoned parallel processing and is assigning strict priorities to each task. A criminal manager authority transfer would be bottom priority.” Telyb: “Plus, we have our own posts to be at. Still, we can find some time to help out a brave civilian who decides to rush into the castle to try and help. Some remote help anyway.” Telyb: “Take the communications facilities once you get inside the castle. Once we can contact you, we will send you the best unlocking program for your Mouse and temporarily install it. You will automatically receive authorization to attack as soon as your Mouse receives the data. After entering the castle, move to the communication facility in the southeast tower. Then move to the castle roof where you can find the communications center in the central tower.” Aoe: “Will I be able to contact Yuo from there? If only we could send people like word mail.” Telyb nods with a bitter smile. Aoe: “Now, I need to get going. I doubt you will be giving me a gun or any other equipment anyway.” Telyb: “An unusable gun would only weigh you down. Still, you should take a backpack of disaster relief goods and several charms. In case they launch tear gas at you.” Telyb: Telyb: Telyb: “Someone might be attempting another godtact experiment. To go with Suedomsa’s bible obsession, the son of god will be resurrected even if he dies once. So they must be prepared for a second attempt.” Aoe: “Who is in charge of that second attempt? Algo? But who will they use as a vessel?” Telyb: “That I don’t know. Algo himself is unclean due to killing his master and he isn’t immortal, so he couldn’t be the vessel. That is why I only said someone might be. Just keep the possibility in mind.” Telyb: “Also, please be kind with Yuo once you find her. She was afraid you had given up on anything and everything. For the past 600 years, she was worried you had dropped out as well.” Telyb: Aoe: “Sigh. What about you? Is there some reason your wife always stays in that smaller form?” Telyb: ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In East Detroit’s Eastpointe District When Aoe regained his sight, he first looked to Telyb. Telyb was crouched down on the dirt road, holding his side. Next to him, Fooblicky had her back turned while she continued working at her window. But her ears were red. So Aoe scratched his head without speaking a word. Still not looking his way, Fooblicky held out a black bag and three papers. “I threw together some disaster relief goods and windshield charms. The charms are for use against tear gas,” she said brusquely. “Mh,” grunted Aoe, nodding and accepting them. Then Telyb stood up, still choking. “But…are you really going, Aoe? You must still have questions.” “There’s no time. And I doubt you would answer my questions if I did stay and ask them. Like why you sealed away Yuo’s past or why you have stayed with her despite your guilt.” Telyb shut his eyes and lowered his head. “Yeah, sorry. I honestly don’t think I’m the one who should explain all of that. I’m one of the ones who wronged Yuo, so if I explained it all…I just know I would downplay my own wrongdoing and present the facts to look more favorable for me. If anyone can properly explain what happened during the 2nd Godtact Experiment, it would either be Akalabeth who last spoke with Yuo when she volunteered as the vessel or Suedomsa who stopped the experiment.” “Make no mistake. If you want to learn what happened back then, you only need to ask them. But if you want to find the truth, you have to think for yourself about what they say. That is how we Minus Elites do things. If you want to know something, seek out the most accurate data. But if you want to trust that, you need to seek out the most trustworthy data.” “So I need to learn the truth first and then decide whether or not I can trust that truth?” “That is the system Minus people use to find which falsehoods to believe. Only fools are satisfied with no more than what they were taught.” Telyb’s lesson reminded Aoe of something Algo had once said to him. “The answer is not something that can be explained with words.” Only when Telyb tilted his head did Aoe realize he had spoken aloud. He shook his head. “Oops. People can see everything I think, so I’ve started saying it out loud myself.” “That might be for the best. The bible says-” “Don’t preach to me. Everyone’s been quoting the bible and giving lectures on Minus theory since I got here.” Aoe didn’t bother hiding the annoyance in his voice and Telyb laughed. “You have a point,” he said. “But do remember this. Suedomsa’s group is trying to summon a great god by following a biblical event while using Minus methods. In other words, they plan to recreate an event that occurred about 2000 years ago in the outside world in order to continue what happened about 2000 years ago in DT.” “What, are they planning to hang Yuo on a cross?” “Suedomsa’s Load Emblem is a cross actually, but he once led this same experiment to failure,” said Telyb. “But things are different now. He has exorcized Beelzebub, betrayed the one to become the son of god, and plans to use his cross to turn her into a great god. All to fulfill the prophecy. The prophecy Yuo gave 2000 years ago.” Aoe sighed at what Telyb said. Doubt colored his face. “What happens if Yuo is made into the vessel?” “If any of the great god’s Lives enter her, she will become divine. And there is no undoing it.” “I see. Then I will rescue the Yuo who I know. Because she would punish me if I was late.” Aoe sighed and swiftly turned his back toward Telyb to view the castle. “This is all such a pain. First, I have no idea what happened in the past. And now I learn that the godtact experiment might continue even if I stop Suedomsa and rescue Yuo.” “If you go, you will learn exactly what happens. So get going.” Telyb’s voice seemed to push him onward, so he took his first step toward the castle. He felt the dirt ground below his foot. This ground is fake, he thought before recalling the night before. He recalled his conversation with Yuo on the dirt walking path. He recalled the expression created by the subprogram controlling her PC Body. “Rescue her, huh? Appreciating the irony of how much the phrasing matters might mean I’ve finally grown up.” He clenched his fists and gathered strength in his knees. “But I will still work to save her.” A shattering glass sound came from his legs as he Downloaded his own legs. His running legs reached full speed right away. His ears heard the wind as he ran through the destroyed section of the city. He ran at his full speed. ### Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: In DT Castle Light shines down from the audience chamber ceiling. Excel: “The defense shield is in place. It will take several minutes before it is functioning since it uses a standard program, but this will keep anyone from entering the castle. Just in time too.” Suedomsa: “So the queen jumped down from here and the Yard station’s NPC Bodies have been eliminated. It seems strange to have everyone here. Well, except for Mekton who left for Babel.” Algo: “The only remaining issues are the timing of the defense shield switchover and Yuo.” A single NPC Body has approached. They are Knight31 Asb. Knight31: “Report: Data on the castle has been fully erased from our memory.” Myst: “Hm? Was that Master Yuo’s doing? There was a window saying Yard privileges had been transferred to her. Did she seal a portion of the knights’ shared memory?” Daikatana: “So she has taken their side.” Algo: “This could be tricky. When the son of god prophesied his own resurrection and one of his disciples expressed disbelief, he replied: ‘Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ ” Suedomsa: “It was clever of Akalabeth to give Yuo the name of human-minded Satan when she was meant to become a great god.” Suedomsa: “Excel, can you intervene with your program?” Excel: “If you wish. But I will need to do so while repairing the Questron, so I will have to resolve this with power rather than skill. An unfortunately inelegant solution, but it will have to do.” Algo: “Oh? I believe the floor is shaking.” A single NPC Body has approached. They are Knight24 Asb. Knight24: “Report: The defense barriers within the castle have begun to lower. The controls are not functioning. Someone else is controlling them.” Algo: “Yuo is not playing nice. Myst, can you draw out a map of the castle?” Myst: “Oh, dear. No rest for the weary, then. Right, Master Suedomsa?” Suedomsa: “Please do this for me, Myst.” Myst: “Yes, of course. Even if it is a pain. Have the knight open gridded drawing windows. Then I just need to take an hour-long stroll doing this the old-fashioned way.” Myst: “Please give me a moment, everyone. I will search out Yuo before long. Then I will assist Excel in repairing the Questron and begin the copy for the second phase.” Suedomsa: “Thanks for this.” Myst: “Do not mention it. I once ignored you on Yuo’s request and supported her resignation. I am fortunate you were willing to forgive me and allow me to serve you once more.” Myst: “So even if we are NPC Bodies…” Myst: “We are glad to be here now.” ### 803. Chapter 9: Fighting in the Street Hello! I’ll be starting this back up in another 3 seconds of outside time. All of the prison’s inmates have been evacuated and I’m the only one left here. Which means I can do whatever I want!! Wait, I already do that. I will be using this message board as a place for public statements by government officials from around the world and as an FAQ for people who want to know what’s going on. So earlier, a defense shield finally appeared around the castle, but the Yard is telling me a civilian volunteer is breaking in. I wish him the best of luck. Hopefully he can find some way of rescuing Akalabeth and Yuo from the castle. Well, Akalabeth can take care of herself, but Yuo is still young. I’ve also added a visitor counter to the site. Commotions in this Minus World are always someone else’s problem, fake, and something from a far-off world. But whether you’re here to see us die or to root for us, it means you see this false world as something real. I’m curious how many such people there are across the world. Now, time for another quote for the eternal #1 hit: the bible. This is what the Son of God said when he last entered the holy land after prophesying his own death and resurrection. “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” (John 12:15) 07/07/2000 DT 11:44 AM (-03:16) ### Help Text Relationship Between Words Warn and Existence Lives Words Warn is a Lives disease still shrouded in mystery that is said to have grown in prevalence ever since the creation of this world. Words Warn has a long incubation period and, once symptoms present themselves, it begins breaking down the body’s Lives, starting with the vocal organs. So after producing the symptoms of a lung disease, it causes the patient to Ash. This disease stands out from others because no one can escape destruction. Since ancient times, both humans and nonhumans, such as gods and spirits, have lost their lives to diseases thought to have been Words Warn. Lives researchers and Tuners have long performed research in search of a cure, but when a British Fast Reader accessed and read the Spacetime Lives at the end of the 19th century, it was discovered this disease did not exist in the 5 eras preceding our current world. That means Words Warn was a disease someone added to the Concept Existence Lives to create our current world. A research paper was submitted from a Japanese university in 1939 used this as a jumping off point. The paper predicted that the Words Warn system destroys the factors making up the target object. This implied that our current world has Concept Existence Lives for individual lifeforms such as people, but Lives analysis techniques were in their infancy at the time and it was impossible to observe them within people. The paper was laughed off at the time, but it was reexamined in 1984. The US’s cable communications had just gotten started and the Lives of the human race were being analyzed to test the global computer network when they discovered string data that could be viewed but not understood . The string was a second layer of data alongside the Lives data and it could be displayed on a computer as text or, inexplicably, perceived as an image, but it could not actually be read. It was eventually understood that these were the Lives in charge of inheriting Messages' . The language it used could also be represented in our current world’s language, but it could not be accurately displayed and it would not function when reproduced. British Tuners said this image, which possessed its own language, came from beyond our current world. When one of them went mad studying it, they defined the language as a transcendent language. It is said this is found in all beings with Existence Lives. Some are passed between people through the process of reincarnation, but others are created anew or broken down and reproduced in the ley lines to be constantly redistributed throughout our world. Words Warn occurs when this text string collapses (or more accurately, when it breaks apart), so no being can ever escape the destruction of Words Warn. ### Knight09’s Board Mode: In North DT’s Southfield District You are currently in Castle Entrance, a Top Page of Castle Street. The current time is 11:44 AM. A defense shield is in place beyond the street ahead of you. Passage between the castle and city is forbidden. The wood bridge behind you crosses the castle moat and leads to the large castle gate. A large dirt road stretches left to right in front of you. The castle moat and castle wall are also here. A single NPC Body accompanies you. He is Knight57. Knight09: Knight57: There is no one alongside the moat. Morning market shops are lined up alongside the moat. It is deserted. Fruit and other wares remain in the shops. A digital clock is visible past the shops. It indicates around 4 hours until the Day of the Oracle. One PC Body has arrived. He is Aoe Shouzou Asb. Aoe is a criminal. He is likely visiting the castle for his pardon scheduled for this morning. He has arrived from the eastern adjacent page, Castle Side. He is biting into a lemon likely from the morning market, skin and all. Knight09: Knight57: Knight09: “Did he get in before the defense shield closed over there?” Aoe is wearing a somewhat dirty black tank top and white shorts with full pockets. He wears sandals on his feet and a backpack full of disaster relief goods on his back. Aoe: “Hey, sorry about this, but could you let me in?” Kinght09: “We cannot. Leave at once.” Aoe frowns. It is a look of modest anger. Aoe: “I’m Aoe Shouzou and I was scheduled to receive a pardon inside, so can’t I get in?” Knight09: “The castle is currently on high alert.” Aoe: “Hm. And after I worked so hard to not be late. Who is in charge?” Knight57: “Our current top commander is Archon Suedomsa Txt.” Aoe: “Then how is Algo Everquest doing? Can you tell him his enemy has arrived?” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In North DT’s Southfield District Aoe entered Sight Mode as he spoke the words. His newfound vision showed the knights already in motion. With a complete lack of expression on their faces. “They really are just dolls!” The middle-aged knight reacted to his shout by drawing the submachinegun from his hip. The younger knight on the left drew the long sword on his back. But something else moved even faster: a pair of dogs. The two guard dogs leaped toward Aoe on their third step. Their red, open mouths displayed a pair of fangs each. When Aoe saw the four white canine teeth, he formed a smile on his lips. He took a step back, and… The dogs accurately filled the step Aoe had taken back. They attacked. But Aoe took control afterwards. As the fangs approached from either side, he first stuck his hands in his shorts’ pockets. When he immediately removed his hands again… “Have a treat.” He thrusted both arms forward with all his might. A black metal spear symbol appeared on the backs of his hands as emblems. A shattering glass sound came from the emblems. The dogs leaped toward that sound. Their jaws were opened wide to sink their fangs into his hands. After assessing all of that, he instantly pulled his arms back. He used a snap of his hands to toss the things hidden in his hands into the dogs’ mouths. The yellow, somewhat elliptical objects were early summer lemons sold in the morning market. The fangs tore right through the yellow skin. With a sound like popping water balloons, the two dogs twisted their bodies in midair. Both of them passed by Aoe without reducing the momentum of their jumps. They tumbled behind him with a pair of yelps. “A dog’s sense of smell is ten million times stronger than a human’s, so you need to watch out for citrus fruits. I know this is only your job, so no hard feelings, okay?” With that, Aoe ignored the two dogs. He faced forward and saw a submachinegun barrel. ### Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle Yuo stared at the castle map window floating above her desk. A locked padlock image was displayed on the bottom right. The corridors on the map had a few red and blue lines drawn across them. The red lines all said “working” on them. And the audience chamber in the center of the 1st floor of the map had a square of red line displayed on its floor. She spoke through her window and nodded. Her lips mouthed the words “this isn’t good”, but they only appeared on the window. She leaned back in her chair and viewed the map again. The word “warning” glowed red on the window’s upper right corner. Two other windows opened above that. The number of Yard personnel was displayed below the warning symbol, but that number was 1. She could not display the locations of the castle guards since they and the Yard were on opposite sides of this conflict. They had refused to provide the data. But in the same way, they couldn’t see her location. The map showed a red dot by the south wall of the castle’s 3rd floor, but that was Yuo herself. She silently spoke to herself while resting her head in her hand. Then she looked over to the bed. Puppy the ferret was sleeping while holding a box of pet food. The box was empty. He was surrounded by two or three empty plates and containers. He had just consumed all of the food there. Yuo sighed and checked the time: 11:50. The clock’s digital display also provided a countdown to the Day of the Oracle at 3 PM. She still had more than 3 hours until then. She sighed again, in exasperation this time. She twisted her neck to crack it and slowly stood from her chair. She turned toward the kitchen to the east. Just then, she heard gunfire from outside the window. The rapid noise came from a submachinegun. Curled-up Puppy raised his head and looked to the window. The gunfire came from the south, toward the edge of the defense shield. She could still hear the alarms and destruction coming from the city outside the shield. But the noises she had heard earlier had been even closer than this. Gunfire rang from the courtyard between the castle’s inner wall and outer wall. The repeated tone of bursting gunfire echoed through the castle. She looked to the window on her desk while she listened to the gunfire reverberate away into the sky. The Yard personnel number was still only 1. Only her. But… Her eyes widened slightly and she looked out the window. ### Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In North DT’s Southfield District Aoe ducked as the gunfire whizzed by overhead. The cacophony of gunpowder continued. It shifted downwards to pursue his duck. So he dodged to the left. He slammed his right fist against the lowering barrel, but… “No effect!?” The punch thrown at the gun barrel bounced right off. The force of his punch was sealed away. He threw all of his body’s strength leftward in order to escape. “Mh.” A shattering glass sound came from the back of his head as he Downloaded his center of gravity. He quickly shifted his coordinate left by taking a crouching leap. He hadn’t Downloaded his legs, so the movement was a bit awkward. But he still managed to arrive in front of the younger knight who had drawn his sword. He exhaled as a sword strike swung down from above. He stood up. As he did so, he moved back and left, shifting himself just enough to leave a slight gap between him and his enemy. The sword grazed his right shoulder as it dropped down. He heard the blade swish through the air while he thought. He placed his right hand atop the knight’s hands holding the sword. He matched the speed of the lowering arms and pulled back toward himself. The knight lost his balance. The subprogram calculating his center of gravity for the downward swing had been thrown off by Aoe’s hand. The knight staggered forward. “Oh.” When the knight planted a leg in front of him to catch himself, Aoe kicked that leg outwards with his right foot. That would have tripped the knight had it worked, but Aoe’s kicking foot bounced off. “Even that counts as an attack!?” He swiftly pulled his leg back and shifted his body left. The staggering knight passed him by on the right side. Aoe kept his eyes to the right. Because the middle-aged knight with a submachinegun had been there earlier. He gathered strength in his toes and swung his body forward, toward the castle gate. The bullets arrived just as his feet stepped on the bridge’s wooden floor. The gunfire sounded light, like it was only a toy. Eight shots flew and one grazed his right cheek, telling him these were not just a threat or a show of force. They were meant to kill. Since PC Body’s used Lives resonance to function, an injury would be sent back to the Lives data. If he was shot, it was all over. The Existence Lives of his real body could not be backed up because that would trigger a resonance breakdown. He only ever had just the one life. He kept that fact in mind as he moved right, toward the middle-aged knight. He sensed the sword knight recovering behind him. But he didn’t care. He kept forward with a click of his tongue. He approached the middle-aged knight. That knight moved the barrel of his submachinegun to pursue Aoe as he approached. Aoe charged straight ahead. The gun had him in its sights, but he didn’t dodge. He kept approaching, as if pressing his forehead against the muzzle. But his eyes were on the knight’s trigger finger. He saw that finger pull the trigger. Aoe crouched in that instant. The bullet grazed his bangs and the sparks flying from the muzzle singed his hair. But the bullet flew past him. Aoe knew the sword knight was standing there. The 9mm bullet, which was designed to supply an impact rather than pierce, hit the knight behind him. “Gah!” He heard a scream behind him and felt the air move. His thought appeared in his window as he checked ahead of him. The middle-aged knight was staring behind Aoe in shock. The artificial emotion subprogram produced a nice expression for the shock of shooting his ally. But that expression was erased soon enough. His management program as a guard had taken precedence over the artificial expression display. “Kh!” His expression was now one of anger. He glared down at the man crouched in front of him. Aoe said nothing in reply. He was accustomed to having angry looks directed his way. The knight swung his gun down and fired again. The stream of bullets pursued crouched Aoe, but it soon stopped. The gun was out of ammo. The middle-aged knight tossed the gun aside with panicked movements and reached the same hand toward the sword on his back. He grabbed the hilt. A sword strike was coming. But Aoe did not run away. He reached both his hands out and grabbed the knight’s hand on the hilt. And he pulled himself toward it. “Mh!!” With a loud grunt, he slid his hips forward while practically swinging from the knight’s arm. He slid right between the middle-aged knight’s legs. He kept his hands on the hilt as he pulled with his full arm strength. The knight was already swinging the sword down, so he ended up having his arm jammed between his own legs. “Oh.” As soon as he was through the knight’s legs, Aoe’s hands were repelled by the hand they were holding. This had been deemed an attack. But the determination had come too late. Having his center of gravity rapidly moved down and between his legs caused the knight to trip. And he rolled, his head thrown forward. He tumbled in a circle and then his head crashed into the ground. The metallic sound of his equipment sounded like splashing water. Aoe stood up and checked behind him. The middle-aged knight remained motionless after crashing headfirst to the ground. The shot knight lay collapsed on his back. And the two dogs fed lemons were retching and unable to fully get the fruit out of their mouths. “I wish I could say I was sorry,” said Aoe before taking a breath. He wasn’t even out of breath. I can do this, he concluded with a nod, looking to the front of the collapsed middle-aged knight’s hips. A ring of keys was attached to his belt with something like a carabiner. Aoe crouched down and removed it. Then he looked to the castle. Telyb had told him he needed to enter the castle and reach the communications tower if he was going to fight. “Monkey, do you have a map of the castle?” Monkey tilted his head but opened the backpack. He dove partway inside and eventually pulled out a thin paper folded in quarters. Aoe took it and found it was an old sightseeing pamphlet giving some history of the castle. It had a map of the areas open to the public, but no real details. But he frowned when he unfolded it. “What is this?” The map was blank. It had nothing on it. A window opened instead. “I can’t use this.” He clicked his tongue, balled up the useless paper, and threw it away. Then he frowned and asked Monkey a question. “Can you send a word mail?” Monkey shook his head. “Are you saying the enemy has complete control of communications in this area?” Monkey nodded his head. “Damn,” muttered Aoe with another look to the castle. His target was in the east. An antenna dish sat atop the stone tower on the east corner. That tower acted as the external communications facility. He had to take control of that, work around any privileges issues, and directly contact the Yard. “It shouldn’t take long to get there.” With that, he took off running. He soon passed through the castle’s entrance and made his way inside the walls. ### Algo’s Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle Algo switched to Sight Mode when he entered the audience chamber. A red carpet formed a bridge crossing the hole where the floor should have been. Three people stood on that bridge: Algo himself, little Alternative on his shoulder, and Suedomsa. Algo opened a window in front of himself. It displayed the status outside. It showed a tower jutting high into the blue sky. The footage came from a camera on the castle rooftop and it was a bit lacking in clarity. But the blue smoke rising from below the giant structure was still plain to see. “Looks like Mekton has successfully taken Babel. He might be cut off from us, but there’s nothing to worry about with his Pseudo Load Emblem, Tribes. That lets him become the commander.” Then he looked to Suedomsa. Suedomsa was looking at him, but his eyes were slightly unfocused. That meant he was in Board Mode. But Algo still smiled. “Is something wrong now that you’re actually doing it?” “I know they aren’t going to understand. It’s a feeling I haven’t felt in so long. The same one I felt during my Lives research in Japan, before I began calling myself a Minus Elite. No one but my family ever understood me, so I kept struggling and getting into fights with others.” He offered the three program trigons in his hand to the dove on his shoulder. The dove hid them all away in its wings. It had absorbed them. “So a great god will soon be born. We once created every part of this city in order to summon that great god. We erased all trace of the original industrial city, erased all human presence, and spent hundreds of years creating a Minus city.” Algo asked a sudden question. “Is that why I see biblical references around the city even after it lost its memory?” “Yes, it is. There were 12 primary researchers and we offered up a vessel to be turned into a god.” Suedomsa slowly turned toward Alternative on Algo’s shoulder. “Our vessel for the 1st Godtact Experiment was an NPC Body I had created. One equivalent to the current Michael-class. The Pseudo Load and Pseudo Grandload are both the result of us trying to turn an inhuman vessel into something greater than human…but that experiment was a failure. It all came down to my NPC Body.” “And the godtact ended up reaching Yuo instead, didn’t it?” said Algo. Suedomsa nodded once, but then he lowered and shook his head. “The 12 researchers became 13 with the girl included. They reached the number of betrayal. Then the girl chose to become the great god and quoted a passage from the bible to the one bearing the name of Beelzebub” A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. Small Alternative trembled on Algo’s shoulder. Suedomsa failed to notice and continued speaking. “I wonder what she meant when she said ‘for my Father is with me’. Was it because I had been ignoring her for so long with my research and staying in Board Mode? Any Minus-leaning person who has a family will have to pay the price eventually.” Suedomsa shook his head when he saw Alternative’s window. “I’m not going to blame you two, Alternative. As a Minus researcher, I was more a cracker than a hacker. I didn’t just want to show off my power, discuss all knowledge and phenomena, and reveal anything that was hidden.” He took a breath. “I wanted to actually use those things and that sometimes led me to forget what really mattered.” After a pause, Alternative responded. Suedomsa suddenly looked up and turned his somewhat unfocused eyes their way. Alternative accepted his gaze and placed a slight smile on her small lips. Alternative lowered her gaze. Algo cleared his throat to respond, but Alternative placed a hand on his shoulder and opened a window. She took a breath and patted Algo’s shoulder as his throat-clearing continued as a coughing fit. She also looked over to his face. “Yes, I am fine. I was prepared for this. This was the only way to combine my impurely-obtained immortality and the purity of someone with a finite lifespan.” He coughed again and spoke to Alternative. “Master Suedomsa’s Lives collapse from Words Warn will occur at 3 PM. Yours will happen at 3:40 PM. That is why I made this choice. Once Master Suedomsa is stopped as a representative of the past, I can carry on as a representative of the present.” He nodded. “That is why I chose to combine with your Mind Lives, including your Words Warn, so we could always remain together as a new vessel.” ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle You are in East Castle Communication Tower, a Top Page of the castle interior. The current time is 12:17 AM. You are in a circular stone space with a diameter of 7 yards. The only lights are the three windows on the east, west, and south and the lightbulb on the ceiling. There is a door behind you to the north. The door is currently blocked by tables and chairs. You are currently alone. Aoe: “Hey, Monkey. Hurry it up!” There is a parabolic antenna outside the southern window. There is a communication device by the window. Monkey is on the wooden table holding the device. He is operating the device with its cords in his mouth. There is a loud pounding on the metal door past the tables lined up behind you. Aoe: The pounding only shakes the door. It does not open. Above and below the hinges, nails removed from the chairs have been driven into the gap between door and doorframe. You did that yourself earlier. Aoe: Aoe: “Are you still not done?” Monkey looks back your way and raises his right foreleg. That is meant as an OK signal. Aoe: “It’s working!? Way to go! Have a reward!” You pull a x5 chocolate bar from your backpack and toss it to Monkey. Monkey perfectly catches it between his forelegs. But he tosses it back after seeing the wrapper. You catch the returned chocolate bar. Aoe: “Hm?” The returned chocolate bar is x5 milk chocolate flavor. Aoe: “You don’t like milk chocolate? But I doubt you like the bitter kind.” Aoe: “Then how about the white chocolate?” Monkey shakes his head. Aoe: “What about strawberry flavor?” Monkey nods his head. Aoe: “That one is mine, you fool.” You throw the bitter chocolate bar at Monkey. Attack assessments are not made in regard to your own Mouse, so the bar hits Monkey, sending him rolling along the table. Monkey weeps while lying on the table, but he still tears open the paper wrapping and begins eating the chocolate. Aoe: “What a pain. Now, how do I use this communicator?” Monkey raises his left foreleg while weeping with his back turned. A transparent keyboard appears. Aoe: “I’ve never been good with keyboards, but I guess I have to.” ### Aoe’s Word Mail: to telyb its me. what do? reply soon. in trouble if dont ### Telyb’s Mail: To Aoe This is Telyb. I am busy preparing to attack the large knight, but I do have two things to send you. The first is a map of the castle. The map is currently hidden by the management system. I had to access a certified copy from outside and convert it into an ordinary image file. Use it for reference. The second is your management program. You know how to use guns, I hope? I will send your terminal a gun usage authorization program. It works with small and midsized firearms. You will need to steal a firearm from the enemy. I put a lot of effort into increasing the time limit, so it will last 5 minutes. You need to reach your next objective point in that 5 minutes. That point is the top level of the castle where you will find the central comm room that handles all of the castle’s communication equipment. Once you take control of that central comm room, you should be able to contact Yuo. Ask her where she is and go rescue her. ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle Aoe read the word mail and sighed. He ignored the noise form the door behind him and looked to Monkey instead. Monkey was still lying down with his back turned, munching on the chocolate bar. But Aoe did not hesitate to raise his index finger and poke at Monkey’s side from above. Aoe saw Monkey’s limbs stiffen and back arch. Then he let go. “We don’t have time for sulking. Show me that map.” Monkey quickly turned around and swallowed the rest of the chocolate bar in a single bite. A window opened in front of Aoe. It showed a hand drawn map of the castle interior. There were 5 windows on top of each other, showing the basement, the 1st floor, the 2nd floor, the 3rd floor, and the roof. A large freight elevator to the north connected the roof to the basement and the central communication room was on the roof too. “I just have to get there. Hey, where’s my authorization program?” A circle showing the progress appeared next to the window. About ¾ of it was already filled with red and the number in the window next to it showed the numerical percentage ticking upwards. Aoe sighed. He checked the map window in front of him and pressed the settings button at the very top. He reduced its size and had it permanently displayed next to his head in transparent mode. Now he could check the map just by glancing to the right. Good, he thought, opening and closing his right fist. “I would love some kind of power, whether it’s a gun or whatever else.” He smiled bitterly at his own words. He looked to his clenched fist. “Will I be able to avoid giving up?” A shattering glass sound came from the back of that fist. A transparent black emblem displayed a spear symbol on the back of his hand. When he felt a slight impact on his hand, he loosened his fist. But he clenched it again immediately afterwards. He nodded and checked the window over Monkey’s head. The numerical progress had already reached 97%. The one’s digit ticked up to 8 and 9 before the number briefly showed 100. He gathered strength in his fist and said “good” to himself. The percentage on the window suddenly reduced to 67. “Huh?” He looked over to see Monkey backing away. Monkey press his back against the stone wall and frantically shook his head. He rapidly pointed his short forelegs toward a part of the window: the word “estimated” in “estimated download progress”. Aoe smiled when he read that. He shook his head and worked to keep some kindness in his voice. “Are you kidding me?” He grabbed Monkey. Monkey gave up resisting at that point. He didn’t even shake his head. The Mouse’s optimized decision-making process had concluded a lack of resistance was best by that point. Aoe grabbed Monkey’s cheeks and stretched them outwards. But he was distracted by a loud metallic sound behind him. It wasn’t more of the banging on the door. It was… “A program!?” The metal door shined bluish-white past the barricade. A splitting stone sound came from the door and then it fell. “What!?” The door hadn’t been opened or broken. The supposedly metal door had rippled and fallen like a poster torn from the wall. It hit the stone floor with a papery sound and gently folded up there. Aoe looked past the barricade. A man stood on the narrow landing through the open door. The tall black butler had the knights behind him. He wore a vest, a shirt, and black trousers and he stood tall, looking straight at Aoe. He pulled a pair of white gloves from his vest’s breast pocket and put them on. After applying the wrist clasps, he pulled a thin monocle from his breast pocket. He put that in his right eye and stared directly at Aoe. His thin lips parted and a low voice left them. “I am Excel Raphael Sys, one of the Quartet who serve Master Suedomsa.” Excel raised his right hand, rotated that in front of his chest, and bowed. He never took his eyes off of Aoe. Nor did he smile. He simply bowed. He straightened up again. Aoe responded by reaching behind him, grabbing Monkey, and checking the window over the Mouse’s head. A window appeared over his head. He gasped and looked up, but Excel was already speaking. “I see. How fortunate for me that your attack power is still sealed.” Aoe looked back down. “You know who I am?” “Master Algo has told us all about you. He says you are a Plus dropout who was defeated by him but has not given up on finding the strongest power.” “Not the best introduction I could have asked for.” “But it is the truth, is it not? I took the liberty of watching your battle yesterday and it all checked out. I heard you were here, so I thought, as a butler, I should come greet you on my way down to the Questron.” “Did you? So are you with that Myst and Mekton I fought before?” Aoe nodded and viewed Excel. The knights next to Excel reached out their legs and placed their feet on the tables being used as a barricade. They intended to kick the barricade away while simultaneously giving themselves a line of fire. Aoe sensed that deep in his mind while another thought appeared in a window. Excel reacted to the name in that window. He frowned. “Oh? Master Yuo, you say?” That question brought a change to Excel’s expression. He bent back a bit and gave a lopsided smile. Then he opened his smiling lips. “That is a simple matter.” He took a breath. “The Quartet worked as Master Yuo’s caretaker 4000 years ago.” ### Yuo’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle Yuo lay collapsed in front of the fridge. She was in her smaller size and sprawled out face down on the rug. The fridge in front of her was small, but it had both a refrigerator and a freezer. The former’s door was sitting open. All of the drinks in the door of the fridge had a boost factor of only x0.5. The snacks on the shelves were all x0.7 or x0.8. A window floated over her head while she faced them all. She sighed and got up, still in her smaller form. She crawled over to the fridge and leaned against it. She reached out and opened the freezer at the top. It was filled with frozen foods and frozen treats. The few frozen treats in the back of the freezer were x0.8 at the most. She opened the fridge again and saw a single x2 factor item. The small round container held… She got up again, grabbed that, and removed the lid. She sniffed it with a serious look on her face and then noticed a pair of eyes on her. Puppy the ferret was staring. Then she tilted her head and succumbed to curiosity. Puppy stood up and considered it for a moment. Then he quickly shook his head. He grabbed his empty food container and shook it to show how empty it was. Yuo smiled bitterly at that and waved her hand dismissively. Puppy stared at her, still holding the container. He didn’t believe her. Unsure how to respond, she scratched her head. She nodded, looked down at herself once more, and noticed her clothing had shrunk along with her like it was supposed to. She carefully grabbed the mounds at her chest from below and lifted them a few times. She looked to Puppy. Puppy paused for three full seconds before responding. He finally pointed his right foreleg at his own head. And jabbed it five times for emphasis. Yuo frowned just before hearing footsteps from outside the window. She started to rush over to the window but stopped. Being seen from outside would give away her position, so she used her ears to track the footsteps echoing in from the courtyard. These were the footsteps of knights wearing a type of mobile armor known as a defenser. It came from the left from Yuo’s perspective, which meant the east. After reaching that conclusion, she shouted her thoughts to Puppy who sat on the bed. ### Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT Castle Excel stands before you. Aoe: “You seem somewhat surprised. I should switch back to Sight.” Excel: “No need.” Aoe: “Why not?” Excel: “Because I too have switched to Board Mode. Because Master Yuo once taught me to never take cheap shots in combat.” Aoe: “Trying to sound cool, huh? And it all goes back to ‘Master Yuo’, does it?” Aoe: “If she is that important to you, why would you want to turn her into some great god’s vessel?” Excel: “Because that is what Master Yuo is meant to be. She gave up on everything 2000 years ago. She gave up on people – on Master Suedomsa – being able to heal Words Warn.” Excel: “In other words, she dropped out of this Minus World. And she did so by choosing to sacrifice herself.” Aoe: “How am I supposed to believe that!? I can’t speak to your experiences, but the Yuo I know is-” Excel: “The one we know is the real one. The one who gave up, dropped out, and chose to heal Words Warn through the summoning of the great god is the original Master Yuo. We only need to reclaim that one once we find her.” Aoe: Aoe: “And what is this about reclaiming her?” Excel nods and gives a shallow bow. Excel: “I will omit the details, but we will remove the seal that the queen’s group placed on her memories after the 2nd Godtact Experiment. However, this will erase all of the memories she has made since the seal was applied.” Aoe: “You mean…?” Excel: “Yes, she will lose her memories of you and everything else that has happened since then.” Aoe: “What!?” Excel: “Once that Master Yuo returns, she will likely want to become the vessel again. And the time of the godtact experiment will be very close to when the countdown to the Day of the Oracle reaches zero. So in about 3 more hours.” Aoe: “Mh.” Excel has lifted his head. The corners of his mouth are raised. This is a smile. Excel: “How does it feel to learn we know a Master Yuo who is beyond your reach?” Aoe: “Oh, shut up.” Aoe: “Even she’s forgotten about that part of her past, so what does it matter anymore?” Excel is frowning. Excel: “Oh? Do you have anything capable of resisting our past?” Aoe: “Well…” Aoe: Excel: “…” Aoe: “…” Excel: “What did you just say?” Aoe: “Mh. I was only thinking to myself. Ignore it. I can’t control it.” Excel: “…” Aoe: “Personally, I want to know why it matters that you know Yuo from the past.” Aoe: “If you’re going to drag out her Minus past and act like that’s all that matters, then I will present the Yuo I know and…” Aoe: “And the Minus Yuo I have started to get to know as of yesterday.” Excel: “Oh, really? How long-winded of you.” Aoe: “Mh. But…” Aoe: “Your past Yuo doesn’t stand a chance if I also present her underwear and nudity.” ### Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle When Aoe’s sight returned to him, he saw a knight kicking down the barricade. On the landing, Excel fell back a step to the side of the knights who were readying their submachineguns. They fired. But Aoe reached his left hand back and grabbed the table there before they could complete their action. “Kh.” With his right hand, he grabbed the communicator from the table. He forcibly swung the table around forward to use it as a shield. He did not place the top of the table directly in the line of fire. He held it at a shallow angle, so even if there was a gap at his feet, he could deflect the bullets rather than try to stop them. The gunfire began a moment later. The 2-inch thick table top deflected the 9mm anti-personnel bullets into the wall behind him. … Keep it together! The table gave him what he wanted. As the bullets ricocheted, the impacts caused the drawers to fall out of the table and onto the floor. He took further action while all of this was going on. He adjusted the table in his left hand, grabbing it by the leg. “I am not dying here.” A shattering glass sound came from his left hand as it gripped the square table leg. Then he ran right, which meant east, across the room with the table held up. There was a window there. That small window led outside the castle. He gathered all his strength in his legs. The communicator fell into a drawer that had fallen from the table, so he kicked that to the west side of the room. The drawer containing the communicator skittered across the stone floor in the opposite direction he was running. While the bullets and sounds bounced around, the cord on the back of the communicator reached its full length while moving behind the collapsed tables. It could not be seen from the bullets’ line of fire there. “Good.” Aoe looked to his running feet. Monkey was clinging to the right hip of his shorts. The circle displayed over Monkey’s head advanced from 99 to 100. He now had authorization to fire, so he gave a whistle as he ran. He snatched up his backpack from the floor and held its strap in his mouth. He shoved his right hand into the bag as it swayed from his running and he searched for what he needed for his escape. The enemy’s submachineguns needed to switch magazines at just that moment. What happened next came as a surprise to them all. A barrier suddenly appeared in between the stairs and Excel on the landing. The knights were split between the front group on the landing and the rear group on the stairs. “!?” they exclaimed while they and Excel looked behind them. But Aoe’s mouth twisted into a smile when he saw what happened. There was no doubt in his mind. He knew it had to have been her. His body obeyed that thought in its own way. “Run!” A shattering glass sound came from his legs and a black spear emblem briefly flashed there. He felt new strength there. At the same time, he threw the table he held toward Excel’s group. Excel’s cheeks twisted slightly behind the table. “I will not let you escape.” “He’s Loading!?” Aoe looked back to see the airborne table torn to shreds by the bullets of the new magazines. The pieces of the table scattered like a fine powder more than splinters. The sawdust produced a brown smoke. Excel spread his arms in preparation beyond that smoke. A sound of striking stone came from his arms. Red glowing emblems appeared not on the backs of his hands but below the palms. The symbol surrounded by a rectangular frame was a lotus flower. He looked to Aoe. Immediately, he produced his next Text. The Text of a Pseudo Grandload that surpassed a mere Pseudo Download. “Only one person may surpass me. “And that person is not you.” Low sounds came from his palms. Sounds of cracking stone. Several windows rapidly opened behind him. Character strings emerged from the emblems on his palms and moved behind him. ●Type-XX016 – Imperial-class - Lotus● The emblem’s lotus flower glowed red. As soon as that glow grew brighter, diskettes drew out a triangular formation behind Excel. The three circles rapidly rotated and launched light from their centers to link together. “In Eastern thought, the lotus is viewed as an expanding seat of data.” Excel’s words were punctuated by the knights on either side of him opening fire with their submachineguns. They fired every bullet they had. The gunfire produced sparks while the formation behind Excel moved. The triangle rotated once to the right as if loading a bullet. Bluish-white light surrounded the bullets soaring through the air. The four knights had fired a total of 124 bullets and Aoe saw them all combine into one. The bullets were now the size of a large artillery shell as they flew his way. “What!?” “A butler is meant to assist others. My Load exists to enhance others’ powers.” Excel bowed with the lotus emblem behind him. “This is goodbye. You may have been born in the Plus World, but you will die in this Minus World.” Aoe made a split second decision in response to those words of farewell. As soon as he saw the artillery shell approaching, he jumped out the window. ### Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: On DT Castle Grounds Aoe maintained Sight Mode as he jumped out and found himself approximately 16 yards up. A water-filled moat awaited him below. One of the castle wall’s viewing pathways was approximately 6 yards down and to the left, but the door into the tower was closed. He stuck both hands into the backpack he held in his mouth and immediately selected the items he needed. He chose a thin rope and a flashlight that had been part of the disaster supplies. He tied the end of the rope to the flashlight inside the backpack. A moment later, the tower wall exploded behind him. That was the result of the artillery strike. The shockwave from the sound pressure hit him before the flying rubble could. “Mh!” He didn’t allow himself more than a grunt while twisting his falling body to face the castle wall. He visually confirmed the viewing pathway sticking out from the castle wall to the left. The passageway extended due north, but it branched to the left partway through, connecting to the castle itself. The white-walled castle was visible to the southeast. It appeared to be a square fortress. He saw knights on the three-way junction connecting the castle wall’s viewing pathway to the castle. Those were reinforcements for the tower. “Not a problem.” He once more Downloaded his right hand and grabbed the flashlight in his spread fingers. The thin rope was tied to the middle of that and he threw it forward, toward the top of the viewing pathway. The flashlight flew around 10 yards forward – toward the floor of the viewing pathway there. His body drew out a parabolic arc as he fell. He held the other end of the unraveling rope in his left hand. His right hand put the backpack on his back while he avoided the rubble catching up from behind. He dropped lower than the top of the castle wall. The stone wall seemed to be rising on his left. A single metallic clank came from its top. That was the flashlight hitting the viewing pathway. “Please work!” He spoke his wish out loud while pulling in the thin rope. Still falling, he pulled on the rope without feeling it catch. But just before he reached the water below, he felt the rope go taut. He looked up. The fully extended rope was tight against the edge of the wall 10 yards above. A sharp tug pulled it even tighter. So he swung his legs. He used his swinging feet like a pendulum to accelerate himself forward while hanging just above the water. “Mh!” He kicked at the water’s surface to bring himself toward the wall. Pieces of the broken tower fell into the moat as they caught up from behind. The water splashed while he ran in his dangling pose. Pulling with his left arm shortened the pendulum and increased the inertia. He used that momentum to move left and plant his feet on the wall. “Go for it!” A shattering glass sound came from both his legs. A black emblem briefly appeared on his feet before disappearing again. He stood perpendicular from the wall and he ran up it. Up toward the sky. He sprinted, his left arm reeling in the rope, always accelerating to avoid losing his momentum. The 10 yards of vertical distance didn’t even take him 10 steps. With his right hand, he peeled Monkey from his leg and placed him on his shoulder. “Food!” he shouted and Monkey handed him a x5 chocolate bar from his backpack. After confirming it was the strawberry flavor, Aoe tore the wrapper open with his teeth. By the time he shoved the entire bar into his mouth, he had arrived at the top of the wall. His acceleration had been sufficient. Just before leaping from the wall into the sky, he focused on his vision. In that instant, Aoe saw the three-way junction atop the castle wall. The passageway leading to the castle’s 2nd story was directly in front of him. The other two directions were the pathways along the castle wall. Four knights stood on the left side of the junction. They were running toward the tower he had jumped from. After noting that, he forced his body up and leaped. He propelled himself toward the spot behind the running knights. His accelerated body flew high to circle behind them. He used that instant in the air to tug hard on the rope in his left hand. The flashlight attached to the other end of the rope was now 10 yards behind him and it flew like a whip at his tug. The flashlight acted as a counterattack on the knights trying to reach the tower. He saw them try to dodge. They ducked low with well-coordinated movements. The flashlight passed above their heads. Then they followed the flashlight’s movement to turn toward him. He smiled as all four’s eyes landed on him. Instead of catching the incoming flashlight, he let it fly behind him and swing around him. The rope swung with his arm as its fulcrum, so the flashlight took a large circular path. The knights stood up and tried to turn to face him. But it was too late. The rope anchored by the flashlight had already reached them. It caught all four of them at the hip. “…!?” Once the rope’s circular movement was stopped by the knights’ bodies, it rapidly wrapped around them. By then, Aoe had let go of the rope. He leaned forward, crouched low, and ran toward the knights. The rope wrapped around them hindered their movements, so Aoe approached one of them and used his left hand to swipe the submachinegun from that one’s hip. He used the one hand to switch off the safety, made sure it had ammo in the magazine, and looked to Monkey on his shoulder. Monkey nodded. The firearm control program had already activated, beginning its time limit. If he pulled the trigger, bullets would come out. “Mh.” He aimed the submachinegun toward the neck of the knights’ defensers. Four gunshots rang out. The control devices on the backs of their necks were all destroyed. That kept the defensers from operating, effectively immobilizing the knights. “Because Yuo would probably cry if I killed you.” With those parting words, he turned his back on the knights and took off running. A beat later, the knights started shouting protests, but he ignored them and directed his feet toward the castle’s entrance. He worked his mind while running one step at a time. He recalled what that man named Excel had told him in the communications tower. He released his willpower on a level exceeding mere thought. “I won’t let you!” A shattering glass sound came from his feet and he accelerated. He cleared the junction in mere moments and prepared to enter the Top Page inside the castle. The inside looked dark from the outside. But he did not hesitate to run in. “I don’t have to be the strongest. You can call me deadly, a fake, or a dropout all you want.” He definitely clenched his right fist just as he was entering that darkness. “Grant me strength!” ### 804. Prologue: Title Welcome to Nosrup’s “Under Construction” Oracle Message Board!! [Japanese Version] Site still under construction. Please wait a while longer. 12/29/2001 AD 03:18 AM ### Help Text The 21st Century World and Japan The world underwent several largescale turning points during the mid-20th century. Several wars were fought from the early to middle of the century. Attack power was developed to prevent those and defensive power was developed to survive them. But these conflicts brought cracks and fissures to the weapons and ideas the people had built up before that. In the late 20th century, this led to the creation of dangerous technologies and more international conflicts. Of course, technologies to support people were also created and conflicts were fought to create a new system, but the distribution of technologies capable of bringing about mass destruction began as well. That made it possible for the world to be threatened without war even being necessary. The biggest symbol of this would likely be Zenon City – Tokyo, which was sealed away in August 1999 after enclosing enough misfortune to destroy the world . The power of the stars that fall on Tokyo was used to gather up misfortune from all around the world and time was stopped within Tokyo, creating a frozen space no one could enter. That effectively sealed the misfortune there. This plan was carried out in secret, but due to the power of a certain boy, it became a looping seal with three days’ worth of time trapped within. The incident was made public, Japan lost its capital, and the world gained enough leeway to liberate the city from that 3-day loop, so the world was faced with a certain question: can we really place all of our misfortune on someone else’s shoulders? The West and the provisional government started in Japan were pro-liberation, but no one has found an answer to one crucial issue: What do we do about the misfortune flooding out from Tokyo once it is liberated? Tokyo is currently under UN observation and the world is split between pro-liberation and pro-sealing factions. Japan’s provisional government is searching the world for a means of saving Tokyo and they have made a number of different attempts there, such as their negotiations with a Swiss bank in 2000 to borrow the Death Techno stored there or their negotiations with Prague’s great library to search their underground archive. The work toward liberating Tokyo arrived in DT at the end of 1999 when Babel was urgently transported from Osaka to DT. Babel was built in Osaka as a 2mile-tall broadcast tower, but serious consideration was given to demolishing it as a forbidden technology. After its transfer to DT, its interior was remade into a pseudo-Tristan ley line contact device. Its new purpose was to contact the Lives of a great god within the ley lines and receive that god’s wisdom in order to receive a hint toward the liberation of Tokyo and to find a resolution to other international problems. The world is generally peaceful despite its many problems, but you could say that is only true on the surface . ### Aoe’s Past: In the Mountains of North Kantou The air was chilly that night. With no wind, the chill simply dropped down from the sky above. The icy air was born above and seeped into the ground below. The ground receiving that chill was located quite near the wintery night sky. It was a mountain ridge. White mountains jutted into the star-studded sky. The white of those mountains came from a thin layer of snow. The starlight shined on that snow, accentuating its whiteness. But the whiter the whites, the blacker the night sky and the blacker the shadows cast on the white of the snow. The white shapes were outlined by the shadows in the cold night air. The mountaintop contained a river, a ravine, a ridge, and a forest. The ridge was primarily composed of those two contrasting colors, but there was one other color there: scarlet light. The light came from a cabin positioned alongside a metal tower standing tall from the ridge. The scarlet light came from a lamp rather than electricity and it dyed the snow in its colors. The scarlet light also contained a white and a black different from the hues of the snow and shadows. They belonged to the two people standing there. One young man wore white and the other black. Their feet were buried up to the ankles in snow and they faced each other from a distance of 5 meters. The one wearing a white jacket had his back to the cabin. He was a foreigner. He had long blond hair and a tall, slender build. With the cabin light behind him, he stared out ahead with his right eye green and the left one yellow. The heterochromatic eyes viewed the young man in black. He wore a black mountain climbing jacket and black protective clothing. The chest of the jacket was torn open, revealing the slender body below, but that body contained plenty of strength. On the skinny face below his close-cropped black hair, two black eyes stared straight ahead. The one in black was shorter than the one in white. But the strength in his gaze was superior. On the receiving end of that gaze, the young man in white rubbed his chin with his right hand. Something glistened on the middle finger. He wore a ring with a white stone – a pearl. His stubble made a sound like sandpaper when he rubbed it. He opened his mouth and spoke with exasperation in his voice. “Six years can create some strange things, Aoe-kun.” The young man in black, Aoe, frowned at the other man’s words. “What do you find so strange, Algo?” he asked. “That you would ask for a rematch when you have never once defeated me, for one.” The other man shrugged. “But more than that, the fact that Yuo-kun is not by your side. After that innocent girl spent so much time searching for her memories, it really was strange that she returned to DT without a word 6 years ago. I always thought of you and her together as Chancellor and PR Chief as an inseparable pair.” “Yuo, huh?” Aoe clenched his teeth at the mention of that name, but then he shook his head. When he spoke again, his expression was blank. “You can’t threaten me using her, Algo Everquest. You criminal.” “Criminal? Are you referring to the crime of killing our master Kobayashi Ungyou, the great martial arts master of Japan?” “No, I mean the crime of kidnapping the Mind Lives of Sis – of Old Man Ungyou’s adoptive daughter Alternative Kobayashi. And I’m here with GASAS because killing a long-lived immortal martial arts master makes this a national problem.” Aoe thought about the bible-loving old man they had called master and the long-lived girl he had adopted. He also thought about the other long-lived girl who had been with him. … I haven’t met her since that final night when I killed someone in front of Sis. Yuo Natas Wav. That was the name of his former underclassman, a girl with a trademark ponytail who loved to sing like so many long-lived did. Aoe still could almost see her brown hair blowing in the wind by his side. But he shut his eyes and shook the memory from his mind. Then Algo spoke to him again. “I would argue my case when it comes to our master, but it is true I have Alternative’s Mind Lives with me. But you received that letter from the hospital too, didn’t you? Modern medicine has advanced far enough to determine her Words Warn day of destruction is the summer of next year.” Algo shook his head. “So she told me she wanted to spend her final days with her father.” “With her father?” … But her true father has been missing for 40 years. Aoe focused on his opponent’s limbs, trying not to get distracted. “Have you found him?” “Yes, I have. And I also learned that Alternative has a twin sister.” Aoe raised his head quizzically at the word “sister”. He gave Algo a questioning look, but Algo was not smiling. “Looks like that one is news to you. Let me be clear, her father and sister are in Virtual City – DT. A city you probably associate more with Yuo-kun, that happy-go-lucky member of the 13 Demigods.” “You mean that fake city that had its memories sealed away 20 years ago.” “Correct. Entering the city requires a virtual body, so everyone must change their name and live there as a fake. And, as you said, its memories were sealed away 20 years ago when they failed to summon a great god.” Algo shifted to the side a bit. That gave Aoe a better view of the cabin behind him. The open door did not reveal mountain-climbing gear or everyday necessities. The cabin contained a giant doll torso. Even with its head and limbs removed, it was about 2 yards tall. That was an average Light Barrel torso. “A mountain-equipped Light Barrel,” muttered Aoe under his breath. The Study used to Write Bring into it was sitting open and a bundle of black and red cords emerged from there. Aoe couldn’t see very well from his position, but he could guess what was further inside the cabin. “A virtual device.” Aoe looked to the cabin’s roof out of the corner of his eye. A thick wooden pillar stood up past the valley side of the roof. That was used to support a few power lines stretching out into the sky. The power lines crossed the cliff and arrived at the metal tower on the other slope. But Aoe’s eyes focused on one cord in particular. The thin plus line connected to the large plus line at the bottom of the tower. His expression changed when he noticed the stem rising from the plus line – from confusion to the surprise of an answer. “Are you planning to break yourself down into Live Data using the Write Bring device and then cross the Pacific plus line!?” “Yes. Now do you see why I was staying here? I was fortunate you GASAS fools decided to attack without taking a closer look first.” “Then you’re going to-” “Yes, just like I said earlier. I am going to the city of Babel, the tower of divine wisdom. To the city that lost all of its memories in exchange for prosperity. To Virtual City – DT.” A breath. “I am going there with Alternative.” “Why does Sis need to go with you!?” shouted Aoe. “The advanced speed of DT’s virtualization has made it a destination for anyone who needs to stretch out time: criminals with exceedingly long sentences, the terminally ill, and researchers. As a Words Warn patient, she only needs to check her Mind Lives into the hospital there in order to meet her father!” “Checking in with only her Mind Lives would put her in quarantine. Then her father could not stay by her side. …Her father also has Words Warn and another illness as well. Healing that will likely take until July of next year.” Algo looked away from the cabin and turned around. “And it seems healing her father is a job only I can do.” “Why? You aren’t a doctor.” “Some illnesses can only be healed by hacking into DT. Like artificial diseases that cannot be broken by legal residents who are restricted by the OS properties. I will abandon my life in the Plus World we call reality, enter DT, heal him, and…” He looked down toward Aoe and stated a goal that no one had ever accomplished before. “Eliminate the incurable disease of Words Warn.” “That’s absurd. Is this entire mess so you can achieve that pipedream of yours?” “Yes, it is. I had to gather all the necessary pieces.” Aoe considered the three pieces: killing their master to inherit the immortality of a martial arts master, finding Alternative’s father, and going to DT. … What does he hope to do with those three pieces? And what was that he just mentioned?” “The Plus World we call reality?” He had never heard that term before. He thought about it, but he couldn’t find an answer. He had too little data. But there was an easier solution than thinking in this case. He clenched his fists. The straining of leather came from the inside of his armbands. At the same time, Algo’s emotionless voice dropped to the ground. “Aoe-kun, when you left us 6 years ago, you told me to seek out the ultimate Kobayashi technique and then you abandoned the killer fist to join GASAS.” “I’m sure you have the killer fist yourself by now. How could you stoop to killing when you’re already guaranteed to be the strongest?” Aoe fully sat down. “That killer fist is pathetic.” Steam rose from the snow below Aoe. Algo commented on that steam. “Have you given up? Are you going to drop out of the Plus World and all of its killing?” The term “drop out” acted as the trigger. Aoe sprang up on reflex, like he had to deny Algo’s use of the word. “–––––!” Instead of using the crouching leap to gain height, he used it to propel himself forward. He was about 5m from Algo. He covered that distance with his quick leap, his raised left knee out front. His toes flew straight toward Algo’s throat. Algo avoided the jabbing kick by leaning backwards. The movement only covered 3cm, but the kick still found only air. Algo viewed Aoe’s kick attempting to stretch toward his chin. In that instant, Aoe moved the foot of his pivot leg. The heel had been pointed backwards, but now he twisted it forwards. He stood on his toe and spun the heel around to the front. That gave him one foot’s worth more reach. His kick extended by 3cm. Now he could reach. Algo moved his hand in response. He had held his left hand out front at a diagonal angle and now he moved it to scoop up Aoe’s ankle from below. He meant to grab the ankle bone and get a lock on the joint. So Aoe responded before he could. He grabbed the thigh of his kicking left leg from below. “Mh!” With a burst of breath, he tilted his body to the right to throw his own left leg clockwise. Then he made a side flip away from Algo. Instead of a light gymnastics move, this was a low, quick whirlwind of a rotation. Algo sent a kick toward flipping Aoe. His right foot flew out, aiming for Aoe’s head while he was flipped upside down. “Mh.” Aoe swung his right fist in midair. His fist struck the snowy ground before Algo’s axe-like kick could hit him. The snow scattered and Aoe’s flip accelerated. Algo’s kick grazed Aoe’s short hair but otherwise found only air. Aoe’s feet landed sharply back on the snow. Then he made another side flip to put more distance between him and Algo. He took a fighting stance the instant he landed and released a rough breath from his lungs. There were 5m between them once more. But the side flips had shifted Aoe’s position such that he now had his back to a ravine. A strong wind blew up from the ravine. Algo snorted in laughter with his long blond hair blowing in the wind. “Such a cold wind,” he said. “Do you know why the wind is so cold, Aoe-kun?” “Mh,” groaned Aoe with a frown. The look in his eyes said he didn’t find this the time for such questions. Algo must have understood because he put a hand on his chin and nodded. “From that, I take it you don’t know what it means to be the strongest.” “The strongest? What does that have to do with the wind?” “Do not jump to conclusions. Because I imagine you are starting from the very beginning on this topic.” Algo took a breath, pulled a small leather-bound book from his pocket, and showed its off to Aoe. “That is the original bible Old Man Ungyou owned.” “Indeed,” said Algo before reciting a passage from that book. Let there be light. And there was light. God saw that the light was good. God separated the light from the darkness. He called the light “day” and he called the darkness “night”. “Do you get it now? Everything belongs to one of two poles: the Plus and the Minus.” Aoe tilted his head at this. “Why do you keep talking about Plus and Minus? What does it mean?” Algo put the bible back in his pocket. “It is a concept spoken of in DT,” he began. “The Plus is to find truth in reality and to work toward mutual improvement.” He took a breath. “The Minus is to find truth in fiction and to kill your opponent.” “Are you going to DT so that you can give into the fiction you call the Minus? You were supposed to seek out the strongest power in my place because I strayed by killing someone.” “Make no mistake here, Aoe-kun. I have already obtained the strongest power.” Algo’s claim shocked Aoe and Algo nodded. “Yes, what is the strongest power? I have found an answer to that question. It is admittedly a partial answer since it is only the strongest power of the Minus World, but I learned it from Master Ungyou who was the strongest of the Plus World. And I know you want to know what it is.” Algo spoke calmly. “Defensive power can be used to protect, but our power as martial artists can only be used to fight. Ours is an offensive power with killing as its ultimate goal.” “Yes, which is why Old Man Ungyou said there was a power that surpassed killing.” Aoe spat out the words, keeping his eyes on Algo. “He said there is an absolute power that could be called the strongest fist. He never did show me what it was, though.” Algo’s initial reaction was to shrug. “Aoe-kun, you are clearly a Plus person who believes in reality. And Master Ungyou was the same. That is why he couldn’t show you that strongest power. But I think in the Minus way, so he could show me what it is. However,” continued Algo. “He never told me what it is. The answer is not something that can be explained with words.” A question mark formed in Aoe’s mind while Algo crouched down. Algo moved his left hand forward and his right hand back. “If I had to explain it, I would say it is an interaction of the Plus and the Minus. Killing powers and the strongest power are both equations written with the plus and the minus.” Aoe did not know what Algo was talking about, so he gave a snort and prepared to fight. Algo opened the left hand he was holding forward and raised the fingers. He moved that hand lightly, beckoning Aoe forward. “Come. This is the one and only way to reach the answer. I will teach you one of the rules of martial arts.” Aoe did not reply verbally, but he did pull his right fist back at eye level. He kept that pose while lowering his hips and taking in a breath. He tensed his right fist and his right wrist before relaxing both. Then he tensed his right arm and his right shoulder before relaxing both. He repeated the tensing and relaxing process in his chest, back, hips, butt, thighs, knees, shins, ankles, and big toes. He tensed his body to straighten out its lines and then he relaxed them to allow himself new movement from that corrected posture. The arm raising his fist and the foot on the ground behind him formed a single straight line. After confirming that, he slowly released his breath and spoke a single phrase. “I shall move ever forward.” Algo looked up when he heard that line. “This I didn’t expect. The song of the Chancellor’s Officers League?” Aoe did not reply. He kept his stance firm and silently sang the song to help himself concentrate on building his strength. –– I shall move ever forward. I shall move forward to accomplish something or to solve a problem. No matter the strength or speed of my foe. No matter the destiny carried by my foe. I shall move ever forward. My hands shall tear down my foe’s every barrier and my feet shall trample their every trap. I wield the defensive power to block any wind. I wield the offensive power to tear through any wall. My power is a manifestation of my will. My Lives carry all this power with them. They carry the power of my hands, legs, head, and even the minute power of the tip of my toe. I shall draw on all that power and surround myself in my own willpower. I can fight. So I shall move ever forward. To accomplish something or to solve a problem. That is why I sing this marching song of progress. Any goal is achievable if you never give up. He hummed the tune and spoke aloud for the final line. He made his move immediately afterwards. “…!!” He ran forward. He used the foot planted behind him to launch himself forward. His 175cm body leaped through the air. He tensed his body in the opposite order from before – starting with his toes and ending with his fist. His toes, his ankles, his shins, his thighs, his butt, his hips, his back, his chest, his right shoulder, his right arm, and his right wrist. Every part of his body sent its strength forward while he clenched his right fist. All the strength of his body was concentrated there. A single straight line connected his swinging fist, his extended body, and his toes. That line was a sharp one. The leading edge of the force was on the middle finger bone of his right fist. All of his speed and weight were placed on that small part of his fist. Algo responded with a slight smile. “Is that your killer technique?” he muttered. “Yes, you kill by pouring on more strength than your opponent. You outdo their strength and turn it to the Minus side, killing them.” He did not dodge. He swung his outstretched left fist to meet Aoe’s fist. He used a punch of his own to defend. His left arm burst with a sound like a water balloon popping. The left sleeve of his white mountain-climbing jacket was shredded by red spray. “Mh,” groaned Aoe as he kept his fist swinging. His right fist destroyed Algo’s left arm and reached toward the other man’s diagonally-angled left chest. At the same time, Algo’s right hand sent out a chop. It was a sharp strike, but Aoe did not even consider dodging it. He bet everything on his own fist. He kept swinging his fist. This all happened in mere moments. And just as his fist was going to fully destroy Algo’s left arm, Algo raised his voice and sent out his right chop. “But just because your strength is greater does not mean your opponent’s numbers do not exist!” Algo’s chop did not reach Aoe’s body. It instead jabbed into Algo’s own left shoulder that was just about to be destroyed. With a fibrous snapping sound, Algo’s left arm flew free into the air with the still-clean shoulder of the jacket. Aoe’s fist caught Algo’s now-separated left shoulder. But the man beyond it was gone. The right half of Aoe’s vision was filled by the red spray of blood. The left half saw whipping blond hair. His fist arrived at the extent of its reach and stopped. The force sent back into him from his fist felt heavy. “Kh.” He worked to endure the reactive force that followed such a powerful attack. He clenched his teeth and focused his willpower. But he saw green and yellow – the color of two eyes. Those eyes belonged to Algo, whose left shoulder looked like it had been severed with a sharp blade. The white and pink flesh cross-section was visible and contracting. That meant Algo was breathing in. The contracting flesh revealed the bone. He spoke quietly to not waste his inhaled breath. “Now, I will teach you one of the rules of martial arts.” That is… “Any question should be answered with your fists.” “What are-?” Aoe tried to shout “what are you talking about”, but then Algo placed his right palm on the center of his chest. He heard the man’s words. “Aoe-kun, your killer strength is no more than a Plus comparison that only works when your power surpasses your opponent’s. That is not what it means to be the strongest. The strongest is an absolute power that always exists.” The words were followed by a power that seemed to soak into his chest. “…!?” More than a blow, it was like a weight pushing him from his feet. While Aoe’s fist concentrated his strength on a single point, Algo’s palm evenly distributed his strength over its entire surface. Aoe’s chest armor was instantly shredded and intense pain filled his chest. Then he was blasted backwards. His limbs clawed vainly at the air. The weight of the blow wouldn’t leave him, so he couldn’t even right himself as he flew. … Oh, no. He felt regret but also confusion. … Why didn’t he kill me!? He heard a sound while his mind shouted that question. He heard running water because he had been thrown over the edge of the ravine. He looked up at the night sky. He saw countless stars in that sky as it grew more distant from his fall. Algo’s raised voice reached him from that starry sky. “Pursue me. Drop out of the Plus World for the killing you committed. Then you will find all the answers in DT on the Day of the Oracle. Your questions, your pathetic fists, and Yuo-kun who left you for DT can all be found once you abandon your place in the Plus World!” Aoe was briefly reminded of the past as that voice faded into the distance above him. But before he could realize what exactly from the past it reminded him of, he hit the river below. His last thought was that the memory was not an unpleasant one. He fell into the water. When Aoe opened his eyes next, he saw light. “Mh,” he groaned as his vision took in the blue of the clear sky. He was lying face up on the riverbank. He could feel countless stones at his back. They felt more ticklish than painful. He saw his right hand reaching toward the sky with fingers spread wide. He smiled bitterly at how tense that hand was. He breathed a visible breath into the sky and then sat up. The frozen footprints on the riverbank told him he had managed to crawl out of the river before passing out. “Good, I can still move my fingers.” He was starting to develop frostbite, but after crossing his arms inside his protective clothing for a bit, he could move them with some trembling. The majority of the pain came from his front side. He could see his torn armor and frozen blood. The pain extended from the left of his chest to the right of his stomach. A wound had been torn there. He stood up, applied first aid to stop the bleeding, and rested before setting out. By the time he climbed from the river back up to the ridge, the sun was high in the sky. The sun reflecting off the snow increased the air temperature. He dumped snow on his head to cool it and kept climbing the mountain. He arrived at the cabin’s location before long. There was quite a lot of dark red blood on the snow covering the ground. But there was one major change from last night: the cabin was gone. Only a pile of charred pillars remained. The building had been burned down by an incendiary explosive. “Was that to cover up the evidence?” Aoe approached the remnants of the cabin that were still smoldering and sending blue smoke up into the sky. He felt a scorching heat, but he didn’t let that stop him. He walked through the heat and grabbed a charred pillar. His snow-wet hand made a sizzling sound from the heat, but he did not bat an eye as he knocked it down. He grabbed the next pillar and did the same. He repeated the process again and again and again. He pulled some down with his hands and kicked some down with his feet. A thought came unbidden while he gathered his strength in his hand to push down a pillar. … I lost. “Damn.” The thought led to a voice as he threw the pillar aside. He had created a path through the pile of pillars. “Damn!” The wood broke, providing a glimpse of the ground. He was breathing heavily as he clenched his burned hands into fists. He could see the sky and he could see the mountain. The tower on the opposite side of the ravine was to his right. He could see the plus line passing between the tower’s legs. The cable had been connected to the cabin, but now it was severed and sparking. He stared at the sparks, gnashing his back teeth hard enough to make a noise. “Mh,” he groaned, wrinkling his brow. Then he grabbed the pillar next to him with his right hand. Smoke and the sound of burning flesh came from between hand and pillar. But he did not let go. He recalled what Algo had told him last night. … Maybe I am a Plus person who can only trust in reality, but I couldn’t trust in my own fists when it mattered most. “But trusting in that wouldn’t let me defeat that Minus fist that could take any of our lives.” His right arm swelled out enough to be noticeable through his protective clothing. Then his right hand crushed the pillar in its grip. “What am I supposed to give up on and what am I supposed to find!?” The pillar collapsed and he looked down at the lumber now lying at his feet. Then his expression changed from the tense wrinkled brow to confusion. Something had escaped the blaze and now lay on the ground at his feet. It was a photograph. It depicted two people. One was a girl in her mid-teens and the other was a woman in her mid-20s. The younger one’s hair was brown and the older one’s was black. They looked like sisters and they had one point in common. Their ears extended far to the sides. That was a unique trait of a long-lived with some human blood. Aoe spoke quietly to the woman smiling so gently in the photo. “Sis, I’m so very confused. But I suppose I have now dropped out of the Plus World.” He recalled what Algo had said. … Sis has a twin sister? “So many questions.” He reached his right hand down to pick up the photo, but blood dripped from his burned palm and got on the photo. His hand stopped when he saw the red. The blood had fallen next to the face of the girl. She was smiling while riding on the woman’s back and doing her hair. Aoe’s lips twisted downwards when he saw that expression. “Did you find your lost memories after returning to your hometown of DT?” He did not reach the rest of the way down. The blood-stained and scorched photo rapidly shrank from the heat of the collapsed pillar. After seeing the photo’s destruction, Aoe sat down on an unburned pillar and looked to the sky. He viewed the clear azure. He spoke quietly into that endless expanse. “Yuo.” He took a breath. “If I met you now, could you trust in my fists?” ### Ikemaru Kouichi’s Word Mail: To Aoe Shouzou To Aoe Shouzou, Team 4 Commander of the Government-Assigned Special Area Squad (GASAS). You are commanded to pursue and capture Algo Everquest who escaped to DT using a plus line in the mountains of Nagao, North Kantou. His charges are the same as before: the killing of Kobayashi Ungyou, Japan’s holder of the martial arts master title, and the Mind Lives abduction of Alternative Kobayashi, Kobayashi Ungyou’s adopted daughter and Words Warn patient. You must capture him before word gets out that Japan’s martial arts master was killed, but you are permitted to kill or seal your target if the situation requires it. Afterwards, the UN will hold a vote to determine which of Japan’s recommendations will be the next to hold the title of martial arts master. Your target is a fellow student of the Kobayashi school, but do not forget that the higher ups are questioning your assignment to this job after you and the rest of GASAS Team 4 were wiped out and fled. As for Algo Everquest’s mention of “the Day of the Oracle” when you met him, a Day of the Oracle was prophesied within DT approximately 20 years ago in real time. The prophecy occurred during the 2nd Godtact Experiment – an experiment in contacting a great god – held 20 years ago, which was 2000 years ago in DT time since it is boosted to 100 times the speed of reality. The prophecy said the Day of the Oracle would occur at precisely 3 PM 2000 years in the future. The city of DT was half destroyed in exchange for that prophecy. All the people there lost their memories with the exception of 11 of the 13 Demigods, the people who gained immortality when they contacted the god during the 1st Godtact Experiment. I have heard the tech used for the godtact experiments has been sealed away as Death Techno, but it is predicted the Day of the Oracle is when all of DT will have its boost settings changed and all the lost records from before the 2nd Godtact Experiment will be given an open release. Since Algo Everquest mentioned the Day of the Oracle, there is a good chance he intends to involve himself in that in some way. Investigate this with your local cooperators. You will have four in all: - DT Yard Chief Ogre Telyb Dll and his wife Fooblicky Telyb Sys. - DT Ruling Queen Akalabeth Bubezleeb Sys. - DT Yard Ensign Yuo Natas Wav. They are all part of DT’s 13 Demigods, but the fourth one, Ensign Natas, has no real connection to this mission. But we have asked for her participation because she served as PR Chief for your Chancellor’s Officers when she went to school in Japan, because she is now the adoptive daughter of the royal family, and because you requested it. However, this is a top secret mission, so you cannot rely on any of Japan’s excellent corporations or police organizations. For this reason, you will be given a temporary identity once you enter the city. We considered a researcher, a Yard member, a terminal patient, or a convict, but after consideration, the first two options were eliminated as they would increase the number of people required for the deception. The third is not possible because patients are only allowed to send their Mind Lives to the city. Thus, we decided to create you an identity as a convict who was pardoned within DT and had his restrictions as a criminal removed. Your Yard connections should be restricted to only the aforementioned cooperators and you must undergo the pardoning process upon arrival. That is all. Virtual City – Detroit +Plus -Minus Truth & Fake If you never choose the Plus side of defense and only choose the Minus side of offense, then come to Virtual City – DT and seek the Word of God.